My brother would be so proud...

Chris did an amazing job helping redo some crappy 1927 plumbing in our house last month. The washer and dryer now make for a functional laundry room, and no more unsightly sewer line hanging below the basement ceiling.

Of course with this house, it seemed like every time he fixed one thing, another problem cropped up. The last fix he made was to the garbage disposal which required re-aligning an old galvanized vent pipe to stop water from pouring out of the separation. We fixed this, and everything seemed to be good again in the world.

Lo and behold, the first rainstorm we get and water is pouring in from the vent penetration on the roof. It's running down the outside of the pipe, into the guest bedroom floor, and into the basement. I should mention at this point that re-sealing that vent penetratoin was the only part I helped with on the entire plumbing job. Read into that as you like.

So the next morning I decided to take the day off, move the vent away from the roof valley channel, and install a new vent penetration. Plus, I removed the old galvanized pipe and replaced it with newer piping, and subsequently found out the vent pipe had a hole in it and was leaking sewer gas into the attic crawlspace since who knows when. (mmm, sewer gas)

Long story short, I did a decent enough job to keep water out (for now) and the vent penetration is actually installed to code. (Found out needs to be 18" away from all roof valleys) Good thing I took a break to ask Chris a bunch of questions while he was here.

All in all, not too bad a job to undertake, but definitely punching a hole in my roof was extremely nerveracking. More pics of this adventure here.

Notorious W.A.L.L.

Finally got around to creating that ole retaining wall we have been working on for awhile now. With my two weeks off work, I dug the trenches, filled them with gravel, ordered the stone, obtained the help of a few friends, and set to work laying a dry-fit wall. Needless to say, I'm glad my friends knew what they were doing with this puzzle.

We used a few basalt columns to visually break up the height shift up the embankment so we didn't have to bury the stone only a few feet into the slope.

Also added a french drain to capture the rainwater off the gutter downspout instead of letting it runoff the side of the neighbors driveway. In the end, it turned out even better than we expected. More pics found here.

Trillium at 15+

This past weekend we took an annual trip with friends to a ski cabin at Trillium lake. As remote as it is (a 1.5 mile hike into the cabin) it still provided many of the comforting features of home. Such items as a Sauna, keg of beer, more food than we knew what to do with, 9 dogs, and a whole host of friends. Weather was great and we all had a blast snowshoeing, XC skiing, and sledding down a hill at totally unsafe speeds.



Also, a little late on the vids, but here's two new ones of the dog:

Xmas gift

Good scratch

Fancy Feast

The Bert is now eating out of the lap of luxury. I spent a good two months sawing, sanding, bolting, routering, staining and assembling this wonderous marvel of modern times. Behold: No more eating a mere 2" inches from the floor for our dog!

Apparently some barrel-chested dogs can actually get twisted stomachs from inhaling too much air with their food. So this helps Duke not have to "Giraffe" it while he scoffs down his kibble. Took a little getting used to at first, but now I think he actually likes it.

Ok...next project, something for the humans.

Y200K

She made it. Ole Blue passed 200k earlier this month. A few facts:

73k when I bought her back in 1998.
11,000 miles added summer of 1999.
3 times going coast to coast.
Original clutch.
Go Honda.

Dog of the mountain

This past weekend Sean, Duke and myself set out on a long roadtrip to Southeastern Oregon to hike in the Strawberry mountain range. Weather was supposed to be amazing everywhere in Oregon so we figured hitting up a nice trail in the desert would be fun.

We left Friday afternoon and got to the town of Prairie City around 5:30pm. After an hour long hike, we settled on a camp spot on a somewhat dodgy terrain. Namely, a 45-degree slope. Clouds were overhead, but no rain was forecast, so we slept outdoors next to a campfire we painstakingly prepared. Lucky for us, ashes kept it going even through the coyote howls about 50 yards away at 3:00 in the morning.

Next day was beautiful and we hiked into high country and up to the 9,038 ft peak. Dog included.


Made some lunch, and found our way back down towards the bottom to Strawberry lake, where amazing views of slide mountain and the lake were ever-present.




Afterwards, breakfast and a beer at the ole' Grubsteak in John Day, and a stop at the painted desert in the Fossil Beds made for good breaks on the long ride home.

Mo' pics here.

A Lil' repair

Ok, so long time no update. I know, I know. But we've been busy doing some house work, trying to make some improvements to the place that have gone undone for literally years.

Take for example the kitchen paint. We just got around to finally painting it the same color we picked out the week we moved in. That and the trim around the big single pane windows in the kitchen that desperately needed painting. Behold....

Before:


















During:













And....after:














Now all that's left in the kitchen is to install the concrete countertops, rip up the floor and install radiant floor heat, overlay it with tile to match the adjacent fir floors, and place the faux column to catch the beam separating the kitchen from the brown room. Sigh...look for the 2009 update.

Anyway, let's just cut to the chase and give you (mom) what you REALLY come to this site for....