Mischief Managed

The demolition party on Saturday went amazingly well, thanks to a dozen friends who showed up with trailers, hammers, and wrecking bars and proceeded to gut my basement in record time. People showed up around 9AM. We spent a half hour carrying out some shelves and cabinets (note to self--get those posted on Craigslist), and then got to the mayhem.

According to the good folks at the landfill, we dumped 0.97 tons of debris, mostly drywall. We were done at the landfill by 12:30, and eating lunch by 1PM.

To everyone who helped, thanks! That saved me days of work.

There were three tasks remaining after the wrecking crew (suitably stuffed with food prepared by my lovely wife) headed out. Most importantly, the existing electrical equipment needed to be removed. Most stumble-inducingly, three bolts (used to anchor sole plates for walls) needed to be removed from the concrete. Most obnoxiously, the tack strips for the carpeting were glued down excessively well.

Tonight, I got those bolts removed. But I'm happiest about figuring out that a chisel will relatively easily separate the glue from the cement. Once I have some light to work by, pulling the tack strips out should take less than an hour.

Then it's just a matter of mapping out the electrical connections, yanking some wires...and unless I'm missing something (*), starting on putting everything together!

* It's a construction project. Of course I'm missing something.

Destruction! Mayhem!

With a baby due in two months and two weeks, a garden that still needs attention, and a nursery to finish outfitting, we have decided that this would be an excellent time to start a remodeling project that was deferred last summer due to the Iowa floods.

It's as simple as refinishing most of the basement. And by refinishing, I mean re-wire, re-insulate, re-drywall, re-paint, and re-floor. That's all.

This Saturday is demolition. The basement has been entirely emptied, except for the ceiling, walls, and floor. Now it's time to get rid of the drywall and insulation. The wiring can stay for now.

In the meantime, Rocky the turtle is living on our screen porch. I hope he likes it okay.

We're fortunate to have good friends who are willing to come over to our demolition party. They're volunteering their time, tools, and trailers to join in tearing apart the basement. Their help could turn two weeks' worth of work for me into a half-day's work.

I'm pretty excited about this Saturday. I get to spend it with friends. And we get to cause mayhem. What's not exciting about that?

Don't Rush Into Anything...

Now that it's early-mid-June, it's about time to get the garden started. Yeah, that's a month late. I have a few good excuses. Unfortunately, excuses don't grow into produce. They do, however, seem to grow into weeds.

I'm sure there's some sort of spiritual application there, but I'm not heading there. I'm talking real, green, seedy, spreading weeds. I pulled the biggest ones, hand-spaded (*) part of the garden to kill or stunt the smaller ones, and got the zucchini and yellow squash planted. There's still a lot to do, but now I've got momentum on my side. I also have mulch on my side now, too (**).

Next up: carrots, beans, peas, lettuce, cucumbers, and possibly radishes. And if the tomato plants manage to start growing again (seriously, get growing!), they'll get a patch of ground too.

There is a bonus today, though. The strawberries that went rogue years ago managed to produce a bumper crop this year (at least 1 1/2 quarts), and the weeds around them kept the birds away. Add a little rhubarb, add my wife's magical skills, and we'll have a tasty strawberry-rhubarb crisp. Yum!

* Yup, I'm a treehugging organic hippie that uses human power, compost, and patience instead of tillers, artificial fertilizers, and Miracle-Gro.
** Last fall I piled shredded leaves on half of the garden. They worked pretty well as mulch. Some of those leaves are now mulching around the summer squash. The rest of those leaves are protecting about 60% of the remaining garden. Take that, weeds!