Rebar

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Hey A.M.....I think I need to run to the hardware store" (hour drive away) "What do you need?" I need a rebar bender. "What does it do?" Umm...It bends rebar.
She sensed a hesitation on my part so I explained they were expensive, I only needed it for a day, no one has one I can borrow... "What does it look like? Can you make one?" Well, yeah, I guess I can. I did.
Dug the trench for the utilities. Ran the dihydrogen monoxide line and the conduit for the power, then refilled the trench. Got the base rebar done, too so productive day.
People keep asking when I'm gonna start building. In my mind I started two years ago when I bought the lot and played with plans. Then followed methodical steps since. Maybe people don't consider you starting 'til they see lumber going up. That's real soon.

Finished Digging

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Since digging the foundation on the last cabin took all Summer, my time budget for this one was the same. The goal was to finish by Summer's end.
Last one, though, was digging through bedrock. This time, though, the biggest stone encountered was around 50 pounds. A lot of that was luck---when we dug the leach field, we came across some huge boulders that are now part of a retaining wall.
Father's day---Woke up at 5:00 and made the kids waffles (my request was to have my permanent ban from the kitchen lifted for Father's Day) cleaned up and started digging by 6:00 a.m.... My Summer cold hit the night before but chose to ignore it.
The jackhammer broke after an hour. Not a big deal---the digging bar was almost as fast. The first long handled shovel wore out last week so I was down to the old one; it broke around 10:00 am. So the rest of the day was with short handled shovels. So close to being done, though, so I didn't want to quit.
Finished the last side about 5:00 pm. I still have to dig a little trench for utilities, but that's no big deal.
The cool part---digging was completed the day BEFORE Summer.
Next up, forming the foundation for the big pour

I've Got The Power

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Building really IS 90% digging....Unless you count in the bureaucracy.
Case in point---Electrical power. I followed SD County's instructions and downloaded pole requirements from SDG&E, then followed all requirements. Then called County for the inspection. "Do you have this and that?" well, no, they weren't on SDG&E's requirements, but I'll gladly do this and that...So OK get through the inspection...Now what? "Call SDG&E and get them to write a work order so I can release it"
OK done. Ask the SDG&E guy---(who wanted to run the power in the front were the view was, instead of the rear where the pole is) what else do I need to do? Nothing, we'll handle it from here.
Two weeks, nothing happens.
SDG&E---"County hasn't released it"
SD County---"Wait..What project?" (gave address) Did you mitigate the discrepancies? (no. You said there were none) Is there a work order?
So the work order....It's the key to the whole thing, I never see it, have no influence over it, it's between County and SDG&E. (Work orders done! I declared, having zero idea what, where, or if any work order exists)
SD County---OK I release this project.
Me to SDG&E on phone--"They released the project"
SDG&E----"What project?"
Get home from work, power's in. I love having power there. I plugged in my radio, and little 12v cooler. Then the jackhammer, which greatly increased the speed for digging the foundation. The picture's hard to tell but that trench is 21' long. Now I've rounded the corner and have a second side done. Turkeys are not scared of jackhammers, by the way.
Got my building hands back again, too

Can You Dig It?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I remember telling my brother, Bob, 90% of building is digging. Now I'm starting to think that's low.
Not going to hire out the dig. It's too complicated and steep. Besides, I spent most of the budget on the materials, so hand digging will slow the project some while I save up more capital.
What looks like holes left by giant square gophers is the footings for the piers. They were supposed to be 18" cube (18 wide square, 18 deep) but with the slope I think going bigger is cheap insurance. There are 5 piers, each 24" cube.
Here's what I don't get. Each hole was 8 cubic feet of soil removed, so you'd think it would be 1 1/2 wheelbarrow loads. (the wheelbarrow is 6 cubic feet level full, and I was piling it up higher) but it was 4 loads. The dirt is getting re-distributed to flatten out spots around the lot...To add to the mystery, I know from experience that if you take dirt out of a hole then put it all back in, it doesn't completely fill the hole.
If all the soil remains cooperative, I can get 10-12 feet dug per day. Not counting the piers, it's 80' total, plus some for the utilities trenches.

Cultural Fix

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Pageant of the Masters is a community event City of Laguna Beach has done for the better part of the last century. It's very difficult to describe but well worth attending every 10 years or so.
AnnaMarie can't wait; I think Shoo's wife Pam is pretty excited too. Shoo's resigned himself but I think he'll be glad he went. Byron and Paula will love it as will Mike F. I don't know Mike's date so there's a wild card involved.
I'm really looking forward to it. It will be my third time; Once in high school, once when AnnaMarie and I were dating.
There's a real 'Wow' factor. So here's what they do--- they take famous works of art and replicate them lifesize, but use real people in the paintings or sculpture. The way the light it you'd swear it's a flat painting. Every now and then someone wiggles a little though. The curtains close, they quickly change to another one. There's narration, music, and a theme--this year's is "Eat, Drink and be Merry". We will follow that theme before and after the Pageant with dinner out and a Hotel stay (Laguna Beach is a few hour drive from Cuyamaca)

New House, $18,500

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The foundation isn't even dug yet but lumber prices were creeping up, so took delivery on materials. We lost most of the driveway for awhile.
Even though it's a tiny house, it's lots of lumber. The fire resistive codes for this region call for lots of heavy timber. The seismic zone we're in (directly over part of the Elsinore Fault) calls for heavy bracing for those heavy timbers. Since I wanted a 'green' building, the walls are extra thick for more insulation.
It's a small lot with a big septic system. Actually, it wasn't even supposed to be a buildable lot so I was lucky to get to build at all. I ended up with a 20x20 area on which to build, so I'm going up, and also cantilevering out. More heavy timbers.
So, new houses are going for $18,500. Self assembly required. Land, utilities, permits, plumbing, electrical, propane tank, appliances, and fireplace not included.
There's really no suitable location for the materials at the building site. That's why they were delivered to our home

Work Like an Egyptian

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It wasn't easy finding a pole to purchase. Once located, the delivery cost was more than the pole itself so loaded it (550 pounds) on the truck. I drove uphill from the hole. I just sort of untied it and got out of the way; it rolled right into my new fence, bounced off with no damage, and pointed itself pretty much at the hole---wrong side down. Pivoting it around on a slope without having it roll away involved lots of rope and anchors.
You have to put a board in the hole for the butt end to scrape against, otherwise the pole gets stuck and you collapse dirt back into the hole. Once in position you just lift the end of the pole as high as you can. The butt end frictions against the other board so you can re-position. (No pictures of the actual lifting because I was actually lifting)
Then a PVC pipe is strapped to the pole. This is so the inspector can run a rod down the pipe to make sure you buried the pole deep enough (5' is required; I went 6.5') Then a grounding rod is pounded in, 8' deep. Then all the electrical service stuff is built up and attached to the pole.
With everything dome according to County of San Diego and SDG&E specs, I called for an inspection. Over the phone the inspector said I needed a second 8' grounding rod pounded in at least 6' away with 4AWG copper wire bonding the two rods. I can't find that anywhere in the literature but, keeping the inspector happy is worth $15 in copper and 2 hours with the sledge.
He comes today while I'm at work. Hope it goes well; also hope he doesn't find some major flaw with the whole project (not likely, just one of those deep in the pit of the stomach fears)

The Lauren Trap

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

I took time out from building to dig a Lauren Trap. I dug one about 7 years ago, same size--even though Lauren was much, much smaller back then.
The last one took three days. Dunno if it's softer soil, recent rains, better shovel, or what---but this one was done in about 7 hours. I even got some concrete poured the same day.
Wasn't long before I captured a Lauren. She's a beauty, too. Now AnnaMarie says I have to fill the hole back up since we don't need any more Laurens. I'll stick my telephone pole I got for my birthday in the hole to mark where it was.

The Best Travel Pics I Ever Took

.























Were ruined.







The first one is a nice truck driving between me and the exact spot the levee broke in the ninth ward. I was standing on the K rail trying not to fall into traffic.
The next one shows the Empire State Building with a delivery truck in the way.
Finally there's a picture of a New York pedestrian. Just past said pedestrian is a very touching memorial plaque, right where the towers fell.
There's a button on my camera that says 'timer' but I don't think it really helps with timing

Anza Borrego Ride

I was invited to a desert bike ride through Anza Borrego. At first I said no, since I was fresh off the plane from NY but AnnaMarie encouraged me to go.
Then I found out we were meeting at 7 am. Okay...So I got to Banner at 7 am. It was 38 degrees out. Ummm how far are we riding? "28 miles, give or take". Couldn't wimp out at this point.
San Diego county is pretty unique. We live in the mountains, but you can drive 45 minutes to the beach, south to Mexico, or east to the desert. Today we were going east.
Banner is a town on the outskirts of Julian. We headed down the highway, it was FREEZING cold. As we headed into the desert (pretty much all downhill) it warmed up to absolutely perfect temperature. The ride was very pleasant--just a cruise. We were able to converse the whole way. The desert was in bloom, too.
Two hours later we were at Agua Caliente. There's a natural hot springs that feeds a few pools, and a very nice campground. We were met there by family members bearing food and conversation.
They say no one needs a vacation like the man who just took one; this was a perfect little get away after my big get away. What a contrast, Manhattan one day then Man its hot here the next.

New York stuff

The staircase is a wooden escalator in Macy's. Macy's is HUGE. Bigger than most malls.
Central park is big, too. Very well kept.
My overall impression of New York is, clean, big and friendly. It surprised me a bit that the people here are more fit in general than the rest of the nation. Maybe all the walking or the fact the food's expensive. Everyone dresses pretty nice too. Glad I got to see all this, but I won't be moving soon.