project "new shed" FINISHED

yeah the new shed has been finished for quite some time. but many things have been going on and postings of pictures of days past were more important to me than showing the completed shed with ramp. but i have just moved the slideshow to the main page and on we go.
look at the inside. i can fit things in it. like mowers and ladders and...stuff. i can fit stuff in that shed and i don't have to worry about the shed falling down.





now the ramp was a different creature all together. my man the engineer was in charge of the ramp. i say that like he wasn't in charge of everything else but that is neither here nor there. it took mr. man a while to get the right angles on the ramp. my yard slopes every so slightly and the ramp was...well something to think about. but it's done.



yes the hole in the middle of the ramp was thought out. yes there is a hole because we ran out of wood but i like it. it's very i ching. i will like it until i fall through it and out it will go. i am trying to figure out what i can put on the ground that you would be able to see. colors stones, glass a cool plaque?

and finally landscaping.

all my rowdy friends are coming over tonight

as promised. then and now pictures. i do have to apoligize to shannon and wendy. i couldn't find any up close picture's of you back then. so i just included the now. but wendy i do have a good one of you at halloween. i would have liked to organize them but i can only do so much on the blog. but do check out the slide show. i do have a disclaimer. not all of the now pictures came from me but from dollie and shannon who own a digital camera. i hope you guys don't mind.

reunion

que the 80's music-

time goes on but somethings remain the same

it was mtsu’s theatre alumni reunion weekend and of course i didn’t go to any of the functions. the reasons can be listed on a regular sheet of lined paper but the readers digest version is “been there, done that”.
but the reunion brought back to the boro several people who i haven’t seen in a long time. mike and dollie hosted a small gathering on friday night. those in attendance were, mike & dollie of course, me, craig (el badger), jenny from new zealand, shannon from miami, wendy from springfield (tn), lee from west (by god) virginia and derek from the lovely city of la vergne. if i have forgotten someone i am terribly sorry, i wasn’t drunk but my memory sometimes is.
anyhoo, friday night was great. i don’t know if it’s me or not but i have found many times that when i am around friends from college i feel relaxed. there is no having to explain who you are. no hoping to god that they get your sense of humor, or in my case not to piss someone off because a tactless comment has come out of my mouth. i had several circles of friends in college. friday night was a cross section of them. and if i remember correctly these people love a good argument, they are very bright and charismatic and it’s hard to get a word in edgewise. so if you got something to say you need to bring your stage voice. and if you don’t have anything to say then why the fuck are you there?
we all looked great. none of us look a day over 25. i am convinced that our perception of age is skewed when it comes to people we knew and loved in our 20’s. of course there a few more wrinkles and a lot more life experiences but the energy is the same.
we rehashed old memories danced to 80’s songs and showed pictures of our lives now. i found old pictures from the college days and brought them over so everyone could remember how much we partied and drank ourselves silly. a lot of “oh my god, i remember that party” or “hey that’s so and so with hair”. and pics of people who are no longer with us on this earth.

saturday night was another round of drinking and hanging out. an ex-professor showed up and for the out of towners it was a good time to get caught up with her.
hopefully then and now pictures will be coming later.

project "new shed"...almost there

well the deck was easier to put up than the shed. it also took longer to put up the shed. however, it wasn't difficult.

so 2 weekends ago the whole crew came and put up the thousand piece shed. not really but at times it felt like that.
so what you see above is the bottom track and the corners going in first. the kids helped. every exterior screw or bolt had to have a plastic washer on it so they prepared the screws for us. they would also hold up the metal if we needed it. and after a couple of hours of that it was all down hill for them. craziness insued. but i felt that they could have been alot worse so it was all good.



here is eli coming out of the finished bottom half. and then a pic of the thingy's that go across the shed to help hold up the roof. eli is a good helper. they all are but eli does what you ask and doesn't ask alot of questions. unlike ethan who can always find a fault or give a suggestion on how you need to do something. just like his father.

anyhoo, at this point it was hot outside. brad has already sliced his finger and bled on the metal and the deck. at least it was a clean cut, that metal is SHARP. but that helped me out. him slicing his finger and all. i was wondering how i was going to bless the shed and brad did it for me. to me it's good luck to bled on your work. i'm a seamstress for the theater by hobby and it is good luck to prick your finger while sewing and then spread your blood on a seam, if your lucky to get to a seam. so when he bled on the shed it was good luck. i don't think brad shared the same thought. but that's what he gets. i had started out as the one screwing the shed together but i was going to slow and methodical so he took over. men. they have to rush through everything. well rushing will get you sliced.

finally got the roof on that evening just as the sun was going down. all the screws weren't in but it was good enough. the next day, i think. i made brad finish the roof. and secure down the shed to the deck. he was quite nasty about it. he wasn't in the mood to finish his work and he didn't like me asking questions. but i knew heavy winds were coming and he needed to finish the job. so whatever.




it n' it cute? i like it. from the front of the house it has opened up the back yard. BUT it's still not done. there is one last thing to be done. the ramp hasn't made it. i need the ramp. that was one of the reason's i got a shed was to house my new mower. and to do that i need a ramp. it's taking some time and with it raining every day. that and the fact that i have a slightly sloping yard. so hopefully my big new shed project will be done soon...hopefully.

toodles

blessed beltane to all

In your neat garden iris grows
Bright yellow, mauve - in stately rows.
This one you’ve picked’s a lovely thing,
I know it brightens up our spring.
But in the forest, springtime’s child,
A purple iris growing wild,
Can melt my heart as spring melts snow,
It’s spoilt me for the sort you grow!
- Jude, Wild Iris

happy beltane or may day everyone. may day is all about fertility, sensuality, and delight and flowering of life. a beginning of growth.

a mayday or beltane tradition is to fill a basket of flowers and give to someone in need of caring or healing. here is my gift to you.

project new shed day 4ish

wow, the dek block system rocks. put the block down on a semi level surface and then cut a 4 x 4 block to level out the joist. i kept wanting to square things up and make things perfect. brad was constantly saying "you don't need to, it will take care of itself." but seriously, if you have lot's of rocks in your yard. or you don't want to dig and don't care about seeing a couple of blocks underneath your deck. (i'm sure you can hide them somehow). then dek blocks are for you.

i'm sounding like a commercial. so far it's been a couple of hours each night and brad doing all the work and last night the deck boards started to go on. (yes all by themselves)

on these pictures you can see the 4 x 4 post cut to size to level out the joist. they are toe nailed (screwed ) in. then it's easy peasy from there. (like i would know). so far brad hasn't really let me doing much of anything. i don't exactly know why, but i think it may have something to do with him thinking it would slow him down. and he is right, i would be slow but it's not like i've never used tools before. when i was in the theatre i built a lot of things and used a lot of tools. big tools. tools that i wouldn't touch today. but where was i? oh yeah. the top deck boards have started going in. soon i'll be ready to set up my new metal 8 x 10 shed. that came in a 3 x 6 box. doesn't seem quite right, sizing wise that it. but...when it comes to assembly i don't question, i just pull out everything, make sure all the pieces are there and i read the instructions.

until next time.

project new shed...day uhh 3ish?

things have been happening a little at a time on the new shed. we stopped work last thursday. we took the weekend off. well brad took the weekend off. he had the kids and was working on his plot of land. so on saturday i dismantled the old shed 1 screw at a time. no using the sledge hammer. i patiently unscrewed each corroded, molded, painted over screw on the old rusty shed. now the pieces are stacked up in a pile waiting for haul off.

monday we set the corner blocks for the deck. pictures will come later. yesterday we laid all the other blocks and the floor joist. oh wait. we laid all the blocks but 1. that will happen tonight. so maybe by tomorrow we will be ready to put the floor boards on.

oh concrete ye will nary get the best o' me

this specific concrete that is. ok-so last night was the night to see if we (brad) could break up the concrete enough so we (brad) wouldn't need the jack hammer i was going to rent. i had an idea of what to do with some of the concrete chunks. i am recycling them to make a flower bed wall. they have a rustic flare and lots of edges. and frankly i don't give a shit. what else was i going to do with the concrete pieces? i have sink holes but i really didn't want to fill them in with concrete and my other option was to throw them out into the woods.


i get home, change clothes and head out to start putting the big concrete chunks into my new red wheelbarrow. that i of course cover with thick plastic so the concrete wouldn't scar my new red wheelbarrow. anyway, i soon find out that there is of course a wire mess sheet underneath the concrete. after a lot of hitting and smashing from brad we realize that what we really need to do is remove the wire mesh and then just maneuver the concrete pieces around so we can set the dek block underneath all the rubble. cause that's what it's going to be. rubble. i mean look at it, thousands of rocks. we both vote to hide it.


a little into the job brad has to leave, before he goes i try out the sledge hammer. not to bad. kind of fun. got safety glasses. (i did have brad take a picture but it was staged and didn't turn out good) while he is gone my goal is to pull up the wire mess embedded in the concrete. which i did. i am proud to say. i was exhausted and i could barely lift the sledge hammer but i did it.

the wire is NO longer embedded into the concrete. there is still concrete attached to the wire, but as brad says "no problem, take a sledge hammer to it". which i plan on doing tonight.

to recap-in the beginning my intentions were to remove all concrete from the area so the dek block could set on the earth. now after the destruction and the realization that there is way to much rubble the the rubble will be moved around to accommodate the block. brad and i are too lazy to really clean it all out. and since a deck will be going above it it sounds like the perfect solution.

i need to add that after a good 30 or 40 minutes welding a sledge hammer, not constantly of course, that i only feel pain in the sides of my lower back. and even that isn't to bad. i have a splinter that is causing me more pain.

project "new shed" day 1....kindof

so after all the spending i have been doing fixing things that were breaking around the house i decided to go further into debt and start a project that i was more or less in control of. i have needed a new shed for...well...longer than i have lived at the house. when i bought the house the shed came complete with rusted metal panels and leaky roofs and doors that wouldn't shut completely and were dented. well maybe that is my fault. my car decided to run into them one night when i forgot to pull up the hand brake. but anyway. the shed sat on a reasonable facsimile of a concrete base. it was crumble and crackly and hopefully will make the extraction of said concrete base easy.

project "new shed" was officially started yesterday. even though i cleaned the shed out on sunday...mostly.

one of the things i forgot to do was to take a before picture. so when i came out with my camera phone brad (who i need to mention is a stud) held the shed back up so you could get the idea. it was already on it's side by the time i remembered.









at this point i should say that i was close to being a little stressed because all the screws wouldn't come out of the shed. i was wanting to destroy the thing in an orderly fashion. that didn't happen. that wont happen. bf brad just explained that it was no big deal that he could break it apart using the sledge hammer and proved it. "let go, let goddess".


look at it now. all compacted into one flat pile. it will still need to be dismantled a little more but i feel much better about it.





now onto the concrete base or the reasonable facsimile thereof.











this is the base that will have to come out. with the help from brad i am going to put the new shed on a deck. using lumber of course and dek block. cause i HATE to dig.
i have reserved a jack hammer for friday. but brad tried the sledge hammer and is thinking we may not need it cause so far it seems soft enough to break. or whatever allows concrete to break easy. so if he wants to use his he-man muscles to break apart the concrete who am i to argue. he's good like that.

let's see how the rest of the project goes. luckily i follow directions well. but i do tend to become over whelmed if i am allowed to look at the big picture. as long as i can keep focus on the task at hand and brad doesn't loose patience with me it will all be good.

today i need to buy a wheel barrow. so until next time.
toodles.

i love a rainy night

oooooo weeee. i love me some sleepin' in the rain with the windows open. i don't know what it is about that but i love it. i sleep better and deeper. i especially like the faraway slow rolling thunder. not that i know that it's there most of the time cause i have been known to sleep through thunder storms right over my house. which doesn't bode well for me if a tornado decided to show up. but i so enjoy listening to the sound. before i had my gutters replaced back in december the old gutters had many, many holes in them. most of the holes happened to be right beside the windows. you knew immediately that it was raining. it was also loud but not in a obnoxious way. i remember the first time it rained after i had new gutters. the sound outside wasn't quite right. i missed the loud fast dripping right beside the window. now if the windows are closed it's very hard to tell if it's raining. my house is very sound proof. it's because my ceilings are thousands of pyramids. but that's another story.

link's iron boots

i am ready for this year to be over.
in one week alone my water heater burned up. yep, there was a hole burned through the metal of the water heater. this happened on a sunday. went to home depot on monday and bought a new water heater and then had to take a half a day off from work so someone could install it.
after the install water heater dude went to turn on the breaker to the water heater. the electric panel started crackling a little. now at this point i would like to add that i have heard the electric panel do this before and wasn't too concerned however, since the breaker didn't trip when the water heater burned a hole through the metal cover i decided to deal with the problem. so....2 days later an electrician came out to check out the electric panel. when electrician dude tried to trip the breaker, nothing, nada no sound, no crackling. electrician dude said nothing looked bad or over heated. so ok fine. at least i dealt with it and nothing was wrong.
this monday, i had taken a vacation day and i woke up to a strange noise. when i got up the outside heating & a/c unit was making A LOT of noise. so i called roscoe brown to come and check it out. heating dude shows up, listens for a second to the noise and says "i know what the problem is, the motor for the heat has busted, and it's not cheap" me-"how not cheap is it?" RB dude went to get his book and it would be around $400. well i need the motor for heat. and i would rather deal with it now than later.
today is thursday and nothing else has happened. i am hoping the the mystery of things happening in 3's is working for me.

through all of this i keep going back to the 'LEGEND OF ZELDA:TWILIGHT PRINCESS" game. or whatever the name of it is. the main character "LINK" in the early stages of the game gets awarded iron boots. these boots allow him not to moved. he can be knocked over but not really moved. it's like when he puts them on his is stuck to the ground. walking is hard. so he only puts them on when he doesn't want to be moved. i feel like i have been wearing those boots all year. wearing iron boots and slowly trudging through the months. and i'm kind of tired of being knocked over. money is flying out the door and sometimes i think that i would rather be renting. AND it's only march.

in just-spring

in just-

spring when the world is mud

luscious the little

lame balloonman

whistles far and wee.

e.e. cummings.

today is the first day of spring 2008. at my house the forsythia's have popped their bright yellow color, the trees are budding and the crab apple tree that i planted last year has made it through the heat of summer and the cold of winter and is getting ready to do it's thing.

i am so ready for warmer weather. i'm ready to open up the windows and let the breeze take away with it the old closed in winter feeling. bringing in fresh new allergies to take with me into summer.

easter is coming really early this year. if you don't know already or haven't realized it, easter moves around. easter falls on the 1st sunday after the 1st full moon after the spring equinox. hmmm sounds kind of pagany doesn't it. please forgive my constant references back to paganism. i just don't believe that any religion should get on their high horses about the meaning of holidays that didn't belong to them in the first place. i don't have a problem with them celebrating them but to be honest about where they came from.

i like holiday's of all sorts. especially when there is candy involved.

HAPPY SPRING

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY HAPPY

man of many hats

you know...sometimes i hate my job. my offical title is accounts payable. i pay bills for a living but i also seem to be the one who gets handed all sorts of different jobs. how does that saying go? "man of many hats". well fuck the hats, i don't really care for hats. i think they can be pretty to look at but i don't want to wear them.

for some reason my boss years ago thought it would be a good idea for someone who never travels and had only been on a plane once in their life to handle travel for people who travel all the time. are you freakin' kiddin me? personally i think it's because the higher up's at my place of business either can't make flight arrangements for themselves or their position is too important to make those arrangements. and i can't complain too loudly because i "do travel" for the ceo and cfo of the company and my boss is the...i don't know what you call them...they have been together for decades but never married..."life partner" of the ceo. so of course she does his bidding as quickly as possible. my ceo can appear to be laid back but i've seen him pissed off. so i can't go to her and say "i'm so tired of doing his travel, he changes his mind at least 3 times before he leaves." seriously, he changes his mind a lot. sometimes inflight. and recently he has been asking what kind of planes he will be traveling on. huh? whatever.

"they" say money can't buy you happiness but i would like to try and see if it could buy me a person who knows travel to handle my travel.

oh the weather again

hot-cold-hot-cold. that's how the weather has been running here lately. a couple of weeks ago it was warm and with it came tornados killing dozens of people. the tornado's came through in the night. it always seemed to me that tornado's came through in the morning or evening but not usually in the late night.

i've lived in tennessee all my life, i have seen the funnel clouds and the destruction that it leaves behind but i have never been directly affected by one other than minor hail damage. i consider myself very lucky. i do know that you never know how or where they will strike. i remember seeing a path of destruction from the 1974 tornado's in east tennessee. an old brick house that was built 3 bricks thick was gone and then right across the road another building was standing strong. all you can do is shake your head and wonder.
also in the 1974 tornado's i remember standing outside with the family watching the storm come.(why we do that, i don't know) we lived in a rural area with lots of farmland. we could see the funnel cloud over the next rise. my dad told my mom, sister and me to get in the car and drive to the access road so we could get on the interstate and drive the other direction if it got to bad. i remember sitting at a gas station listening to the weather and looking outside to see what was going to happen. hail started falling...really big hail and then nothing. the eerieness gone. and it was over. we headed back home to find everthing as it was. and through all of that i never felt a sense of fear from my family. no freaking out. no "oh my we are going to die". no panic.
just another day in the country. you take it as you see it.

back to the present-2 days ago it was in the 70's this morning it was snowing. yep, we southerners seem to be always talking about the weather. it's because there's always something going on with it.