2014-05-20 - Tuesday - Decking and salt kiln firing

Tuesday the deck was built and the Trex was installed.  Things are starting to look good.

I think the stars were aligned in my favor today.  Several things happened at once where timing was everything.

First, some background info:

1. The builder needed the information on the shingles that were installed on the house in 2007, so I called our roofer.
2. The pressure washing people were coming today and they were also going to clean our dryer vent.
3. We need an inspection before we can finish the footings.

Stay with me on this...

We decide that the building crew will go to lunch when the pressure washing people arrive and we should start washing the house on the corner where the deck is located.

The pressure washer arrived and the building crew left.

While the pressure washer gets started out back, I talk to my neighbor for a few minutes in the front yard about her new drip irrigation system.  Two more of the pressure washing people arrive.  It turns out they are the dryer vent people so I let them in and escort them to the dryer.

Just then my cell phone rings and it's our roofer.  He's in the front yard, so I go out to meet him.  He tells me that our shingles are GAF Timberline Charcoal Gray Natural Shadow style.  He points out that my neighbor has the other charcoal gray style, High Definition.  Good, now we can match our original shingles.

He mentions to me that while the pressure washing is going great on the soffits, there are a lot of catkins from our willow oak trees on the roof and he recommends that we get them removed.  I ask the pressure washer if he can get that stuff off the roof and he says no, but the dryer vent guy has a blower.  The roofer asks the pressure washer about getting his daughter's house washed and I notice a guy with a clipboard walking down the driveway.

I go inside and ask the dryer vent guy about cleaning the roof.  He says sure, gives me a reasonable price and I give him the go-ahead.

Now there is a guy on the roof with a leaf blower, a guy pressure washing the house, two guys building the deck, and my head is spinning.

I walk down the driveway and the building crew is filling in the footing holes since they passed inspection (ah, the guy with the clipboard!).  Progress.

All this happened in less than 30 minutes.  It was insane.

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The day got even better since we fired the brand new salt kiln at Clayworks that night.  There were some tense moments when one of the burners wouldn't stay lit because of a thermocouple failure, but Adrienne and Rich figured it out and the heat continued to climb.  Soon we were pushing salt "burritos" made of newspaper into the ports, dumping salt into the flame channel from a piece of angle iron, then spraying soda ash.

It was hot work, but it was fun and there was a high level of excitement for our first firing.

We should be able to unload it on Thursday.

Screen under the decking.
The Trex is installed using hidden fasteners.

A close-up of the fasteners.

Inspection permit.

Forced air burners on the salt kiln.

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April 17 - Wednesday catkins

Wednesday the catkins were coming down in like rain.  The willow oaks in our front yard produce enough catkins to completely cover the house and yard every year.  Like many natural processes the tree's reproductive season is very short and very intense.  The catkins emerge and unload their pollen onto the wind.  Before you know it they're done and fall off the trees, piling up everywhere.

Nature spends amazing amounts of energy to accomplish one task.  The process of creating all those catkins, spreading the pollen, and then dropping them only takes a few days but the payoff must be worth it or evolution would have changed the process by now.

Another example of nature's excess is the cicada.  This year the 17 year brood will be emerging once again.  Think of it:  These creatures spend 17 years underground, emerge, shed their skin to become their adult form, and live for one or two days to mate, then die.  The astounding thing is that they spend all those years underground storing up enough energy to change to their adult form.  That form is one of the largest, heaviest, flying insects in our area.  Not only do they have to have enough stored energy to fly, but also to mate ensuring the next generation.

After the catkins are gone we will be piling up shed cicada shells and a few days after that, dead cicadas.

Nature is messy.

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2010-04-08 Thursday - Backyard

Thursday I took a quick tour of the backyard to check on the pollen, catkins, peas and lettuce.  Things change so quickly this time of year you have to take a look every day or two.  By June I won't be able to keep up with anything but the tomatoes.  We'll see if I can do better this year.

Pollen drift from the tiny bit of rain we received.

Catkins everywhere, silky dogwoods in the foreground.

The grill cover itself covered with pollen and catkins.

The grill that the cover should be covering.

The peas struggling in the 80 degree weather.

It's a small patch of peas and a row of lettuce in the foreground.

More wild violets in the lawn with the catkins.

A cast iron thing that has been by the fence since we moved here.

The wound on it is where I hit it with the lawn mower last time.

I have no idea what this thing is.  I will post a better picture of it soon.

2010-04-07 Wednesday - Part I

Spring has sprung here.  The willow oaks in the front yard have leafed out almost overnight.  Just two weeks ago we had our sale on the front lawn and there was no shade from the trees.  Now they almost look like they do in Summer.

The azaleas are in bloom, the pollen has coated everything (and everyone), and the catkins have fallen off the trees --everywhere.  They pile up like leaves in Autumn and generally make a mess of things.  Now the maple seeds are falling and that will be the next mess we have to clean.  It really never ends. 

Willow oak leaves have popped.

Here's how it looks now...

...and here's how it looked just two weeks ago --no shade.

Have I mentioned that I like our lichen?

Azaleas are blooming like small explosions.

Lenten roses and azaleas in the front part of the yard.

Catkins everywhere.

They pile up in the gutters.

Man, that's some good lookin' lichen.

Close up of the azaleas.

Closer...

Hey, wait a minute!  There's tree pollen in those flowers.

(I told you it was everywhere.)

Catkins on the back deck.

The hostas in the saucer have unfurled.

(Thanks Becky!)

Binkley doesn't mind the catkins.

Pollen all over the mower.

Wild violets in the lawn.

Dancing azaleas.

Catkins falling from the willow oak trees.