Never thought retirement would be like this

Nancy, our next door neighbor (the house you can see to the right) is a professional house painter. He does a lot of high end homes in the Atlanta area. He stained our deck and front porch and steps. He told me to get Behr Deck Stain & Sealer. He said it was the best. We furnished the stain and he did the work when he was between jobs.

Only because I love Fall, I like to put some decor out. They stay up until after Thanksgiving. I used to do Halloween decorations but after the kids out grew that holiday, I went with just some Fall things.

I think our hummingbirds left last week. Gotta take the feeders down and clean them up for next year. Don't they migrate to South America? Seems like I read that somewhere.
 

No rain in sight. Might do just the deck floor again. That would be a quick job. I'll try the Behr if I do, or just do the linseed oil again.

If I decide to get a new roof, this is the guy I want to hire. He works just like me. :)

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If you redo your deck, be sure to pressure wash it first (you probably already know that) and after a day of drying apply the stain. I like the Behr because it comes in colors and you can pick what you like.

LOL, looks like some of the guys that drive around here wanting to give you a roof replacement quote! Gosh, I know we need a new roof. The back side was reroofed when the tree fell on it 13 years ago but the front has not ever been replaced and this house is 32 years old. I am pretty sure the warranty has expired! LOL The maintenance is never ending but I would not have it any other way.
 

The best I can remember my roof is about 15 years old, but it wasn't a good job. First time I ever hired a roofer. Didn't know what to look for or ask. The experienced roofers have probably all gone to Florida or Texas now anyway. I might just go with the linseed oil on the deck, since I've got some left over, and not put much time in pressure washing (like none ;)). I think it would be better than nothing. Save all that for the *next* time.

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..9/29: 1110 calories
..9/30: ..940 ...."
10/01: ..880 ...."

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hollydolly said:
What a beautiful house...I love that colour, it's all the rage here at the moment, everyone is having shades of grey outdoors as well as indoors..
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Thanks, Holly, my Wife picked the color and deserves the credit. We hope to add black shutters, as a future project.
 
The deck: Took a dry scrub brush, brushed dust out of the cracks on the floor, vacuumed it, and put a 2:3 mix of (linseed oil:mineral spirits) on today.

The clear Cabot wood preserver is probably as good as any other kind for protection, but I don't like the way it left the wood looking---pinkish in some places, like a stain, and a white film in others. The white seems to be clumps of tiny little chips. Could that be all UV protection amounts to---just chips that block out the sun? :rolleyes: They turned white over the winter. I put it on with a brush, so there wasn't much "puddling." :confused:

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All I want to do is make the water bead off a little more over the winter. Will redo it correctly another time, and scrub all that white/pink stuff off. The deck was 35 years old in September. :)
 
Yer playin' with a marked deck, Nancy!:)
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This is a bit off topic. Oh wait, there isn't a topic is there? :) This is going to be one of my favorite pictures.

Truman on the USS Missouri

President Harry Truman, wearing a shirt that reads “Coach Truman, Athletic Department,” leads exercises on his return trip to Washington from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, September 1947. [Born in 1884 would make him 63, right?]

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He reminds me a lot of my grandfather.

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TRUMAN'S LOST RIDE The secret of Harry Truman's lost 1953 Chrysler

Writer Matthew Algeo wrote a book about President Harry Truman touring the country in a 1953 Chrysler New Yorker after retiring from office. He didn't know what happened to the car, until it found him - Ed.

In the summer of 1953, Harry and Bess Truman, just five months removed from the White House, took a road trip. Unaccompanied by bodyguards or attendants of any kind, the former president and first lady drove 2,500 miles from their home in Missouri to the East Coast and back again.:):)

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"In Harry Truman's Excellent Adventure, my book about the trip, I mentioned that the ultimate fate of Harry's 1953 Chrysler New Yorker, the car in which he and Bess undertook their excursion, was unknown. But at an event in Kansas City shortly after the book came out, I was approached by Carey Creason, an animal feed saleswoman from Kansas who insisted her father had bought Harry's Chrysler back in the 1970s, and that the car was stored in a barn on her family's farm. She showed me an old Polaroid of the car, which, I had to admit, looked a lot like Harry's".

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Great article, Meanderer. Wonder why the Truman Library wouldn't want that car. Maybe they have others already.
 
NancyNGA said:
Great article, Meanderer. Wonder why the Truman Library wouldn't want that car. Maybe they have others already.
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It is junk. The guy who bought the car in 1973, knew what he had, yet he parked the car OUTSIDE the barn for 25 YEARS. YIKES!
 
Nancy, the deck looks good! I am like you, if it "beads" up when it rains, it is protecting the wood.

Meanderer, what a treasure and let it go to waste!
 
I've found a good excuse not to dust. I'm conducting an experiment to compare dust in the house---upstairs dust versus downstairs dust---under the microscope. I can't find much difference so far, although I did find a dead microscopic bug downstairs which I can't identify. It blew away when I sneezed. So today I'm going to collect some dust from out at the farm and see if that is different. Can't ever have too many samples when you are doing a scientific experiment, so dusting is on hold for now. :playful:

Seriously though, there seems to be a lot of fuzzy looking dust in the house, and there is more of it upstairs than downstairs. I'm wondering if that vintage loose cellulose insulation in the attic is getting in the heat/air ducts, or through cracks somewhere. It is supposed to be one of the best types of insulation, and it does not burn at all. I tried it. :)
 
Cute bunny!

Meanderer said:
House dust might be increasing your body fat: study
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Oh great! More good news. Something else to make us fat.:rolleyes: Wonder what pre-fat cells are. If we could just get rid of those, we could nip the fat in the bud. (Don't say it)

There wasn't as much dust out at the farm. The farther from the main entrance the less dust. The cabin, which doesn't have heat or air, had almost no dust inside after being closed off for more than a year. Goes to show it's the HVAC and traffic that stir up the dust.

Quick look shows that the dust at the farm is definitely different. Probably the carpet/rugs. Will try it again later more carefully. You all thought I was kidding about the microscope, didn't you. I have an $89 microscope that I got when we got the goats. It has paid for itself many times over.

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Maybe this is a good time to post this, following the posts about Harry Truman...

Conolus Scott, who was my plumber for 35 years, died earlier this year at the age of 96. The last job he did was to run a water line to the goat barn. I believe he was 90 at the time, still working. He had an interesting background which I only learned about from talking to others.

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...""As fine of a man that ever drew a breath. My condolences to the family." ~ D. Langford

Mr. Scott was a World War II veteran. He spoke to the local newspaper about his war experience in a 2013 interview:

Before going to Europe, Scott, who was 22 years old at the time, trained at Fort Meade in Maryland.

“When I left, I didn’t know if I’d ever get back,” Scott said. “They blow ‘Taps’ when you leave and they give you a pep talk and tell you to be a good soldier. I tried to be a good soldier. We went to England, France and Germany. We went all the way together and we came back together,” he recalled. After the war, many of those men remained friends, but then the years rolled by. “I used to write them and they’d write to me. We stayed in contact and then we just lost sight of each other,” he said.

Scott said he’s always wanted to go back to Europe to see some of the places he was at during the war, but figures he never will now. But he’s glad for the experience and for the chance to serve his country. “I done seen some parts of the world.”

They videotaped 5 very short interviews with him for a website, Witness to War (http://www.witnesstowar.org). I picked out one. (requires Adobe Flash):

Mr. Scott describes having to help transport over eight hundred deceased soldiers during an air raid.
 
:lol: (Churchill, Truman, and Stalin with banjos)
The Banjorchestra - 1914

A (new) D. C. Ramey Co. Banjorchestra playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown


The purchase price of a Ramey Banjo-Orchestra is $78,000.00 for the "standard" quarter-s?awn oak model. It also comes in mahogany.
"To date, there have been 27 new Ramey models made."
 
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Back to the insulation...

Under the microscope the cellulose insulation looks like little blades of grass, uniform in length. There are some blades like that in dust around the house, more upstairs than downstairs, but not *that* much. Regardless, there is definitely a "fuzzy dust" problem upstairs. I'm thinking of removing that insulation, and replacing it with fiberglass batts, starting behind the closet. It is filthy dirty, and mixed with nails, and chunks of old cedar and asphalt shingles. It's the kind of busy work I don't mind doing. I could do it in 2 days, I think. But...

It would be much easier if the sheet rock in the closet were torn out first. That needs to be replaced no matter what, because holes have been cut in it over the years, and a lot of dust might be coming in through the closet. I think I will tear out the closet walls tomorrow, or the next day. That will force me to get started, doing something, at least. I'm good at demolishing things.

The upstairs attic space is literally the worst place I've ever been in my life. It's too low to stand up, up there, it's almost pitch black, the upstairs HVAC air handler is up there, along with ductwork and electric wires all over the place. It also has the cellulose, covered with fiberglass batts. The batts got damaged and moved around the last time I crawled up there. The insulation contractor said he would recommend tearing everything out up there and putting in spray foam. I think I'll let a professional deal with that place.:p ....Good night.
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10/02: 1290 calories
10/03: 1200 ...."
10/04: 1140 ...."
10/05: 1380 ..."​.. (ugh)
10/06: 1280 ...."
 
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NancyNGA said:
:lol: (Churchill, Truman, and Stalin with banjos)
The Banjorchestra - 1914

A (new) D. C. Ramey Co. Banjorchestra playing Foggy Mountain Breakdown


The purchase price of a Ramey Banjo-Orchestra is $78,000.00 for the "standard" quarter-s?awn oak model. It also comes in mahogany.
"To date, there have been 27 new Ramey models made."
Click to expand...

i absolutely love this, Nancy. Almost jiggled right out my chair playing this. Better start saving my pennies if I want one. :sentimental:
 
I would go with the "batt". I have heard with the blown-in insulation, you have to leave your house for a certain number of hours because of the fumes it creates. Also pets need to be gone also. Not sure how accurate this information is.
 

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