Garage floor

The garage floor is taking longer than expected. Either today or tomorrow the drain, shown here, will be replaced with one that isn't damaged.



The building inspector also said that we have to run the wiring here, with the lovely exposed ground, through conduit. This means that we will be replacing the wiring from where it comes out of the panel in the garage all the way to the subpanel in the basement. This is another $1500 that we hadn't planned on. That price includes the wiring for 100 amp service and running additional conduit next to it for the future upgrade to 200 amp service.

Photographs, of course, by A.

The End of an Era

This morning, I took my van in to my mechanic, The Lusty Wrench. It's a little hole in the wall place on Lee Road, near Cedar, in Cleveland Heights. They're the best, most honest mechanics I've ever met.

The airbag light has been on for a while (clockspring needs to be replaced) and there have been some problems of late with acceleration, which I had attributed to the slow demise of the transmission. Yesterday, they became more pronounced. This morning, on the way to the shop, they became really bad. I adjusted my position in my seat, and saw that the "check engine" light was on. It's unclear just how long it has been on and I simply failed to see it, hidden behind the steering wheel. As I drove on, the check engine light started flashing.

They called me back this afternoon, a mere $30ish of diagnostics later, to inform me that my car needed the following items addressed:

• airbag clockspring - while airbags are really really nice, even nicer is having cruise control again for those long drives.
  
• rusted out shock tower
  
• misfiring engine
  
• an outer tie rod end or two
  
• rusted out muffler

Further, the transmission probably doesn't have more than 20,000 miles left in it, and the front tires look to be near the end of their lifespan.

They strongly encouraged me to look for a suitable replacement.

I'll pick it up from the shop tomorrow morning. Unfortunately, we can't start looking for a (used) replacement just yet. We'll be waiting until the state legislature manages to put together a budget for the next fiscal year. The proposed budget the governor put forward cut state funding to public libraries in half. As one of the last librarians hired by my library before the hiring freeze, things wouldn't look good if the proposed cuts went through.

The above photograph was taken while I was in grad school and taking a class in Columbus, OH, a 2 and a half hour drive away. I wanted to see just how much I could improve the gas mileage of the van. With the seams taped, window shut, and the cruise control at about 55, I managed 35mpg, a personal best. With the tires inflated a bit more, synthetic motor oil, and a bit more weight taken from the van, 40mpg seems quite possible.

How did I get in? Through the window, of course.




This series of four photos show the van after it was stolen, in Baltimore, Maryland. Note the trail of transmission fluid behind the van and the hole in the transmission pan - I knew that there had to be a reason that the transmission hung so low in the vehicle - I didn't realize that it was a theft-recovery mechanism.



In Shenandoah National Park.



Shortly before we got stuck in snow in the Bighorn Mountains, in Wyoming.



As the über camping van, in Mant-La Sal National Forest, near Arches National Park.



Stalking old milestones on the National Road, near Frederick, Maryland.



And finally, in front of our house, the first or second time we saw it.

I guess I should start looking for an "Obama 2008" bumper sticker now.

The internet is for corn!

(or: Knee high by the 25th of June!)



Given our very late start, I was quite surprised that the corn reached knee high by the 23rd or so of June. Especially given that my knees are rather higher than average.

Photo by A.

Our Garden

Our garden is doing incredibly well this year, especially considering how late we (read: A.) planted everything. The corn was knee high by the 23rd of June. This translates to waist high for most other people.



We've got melons and squashes.



There are beans, okra, and onions in the foreground, as well as horseradish, rhubarb, and two varieties of peppers that don't seem to be doing anything. In the midground are four varieties of tomatoes. The back patch includes two types of corn and beans. It also has what I strongly suspect to be garlic.



In this patch are lettuce, carrots, and potatoes. Off to the left, one can see the multi-grafted fruit tree, which seems to finally be doing well.

Most surprising about all this is how late we were in planting - most of the seeds have only been in the ground 30 days, and none of them (except for the two watermelons) were transplants.

Finally, an update!

Day lillies and our neighbor's garage, at sunset.

Trees!

Yesterday, A, E, and I went out, looking for a weeping cherry tree to plant in the memory of my late grandfather.

I wanted one with pink flowers, until I found one with white flowers that had very small cherries on it. The pink-flowered trees cost at least 50% more than the white flowered weeping cherries, so the combination of the fruits, the price, and the quality of the foliage sold me on the white weeping cherry.



E seemed to appreciate it too.



Yesterday I also planted the multi-grafted fruit tree I purchased on eBay. It should produce two varieties of peaches, two of plums and a nectarine. The tree is planted on the location of our former tree, which was ground out earlier in the week. I hauled about 400 gallons of mulch from the stump grinding to the community garden site that I'm working on at work. Once the mulch was cleared, I was able to plant the tree.

I also ordered some blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries from an eBay seller - they offered seven of each plant for a total of $16, shipped. I'm starting to doubt that I'll ever get them. While they had excellent feedback, their account is no longer registered with eBay and they haven't responded to any of my emails. The plan was to take the one or two best plants of each berry and use them as replacements for the Home Depot berries, which haven't grown at all. The rest of the berries would go in the community garden.

Now both trees have been planted, close to the location of the two dead trees that have since been removed.

All photographs, of course, were taken by A.

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I should mention that our garden is also doing very well. Four varieties of tomatoes, two of corn and beans, melons, squashes, and more. I've never had everything sprout so nicely. The only thing that doesn't seem to be doing well are the potatoes. I credit the garden doing so well to the fact that A planted everything.

Cleveland Craigslist alert - ribcage shower!

I found this marble enclosed ribcage shower on the Cleveand craigslist. They're looking for offers. You know it's exactly what you want for your house!