After a morning run Monday, a visit to the Sand Run Parcours Trail cemented my revelation that, yeah, I'm out of shape. Compared to last time running the exercise course, my final numbers weren't too, too bad.
Considering how far I've fallen off the workout wagon, I was surprised that I could still do six pull-ups. However, I cut back on most of the exercises on the course to ensure I didn't feel utterly broken afterward. And success! There is some soreness in my shoulders and back, but all in all not too bad.
Yesterday was Mrs. Viper's birthday, so we both took off work and hung out. We had planned to do some yard work, but the 16th straight day of rain put the kibosh on that idea. We came home from our day out to water in the basement. I was impressed it hadn't flooded already.
Last night and this morning were spent sucking up the water with our wet/dry vacuum unit and mopping the floor. There are still some puddles that I'm hoping will dry while I'm at work today so I can go for another run today instead of slopping around in the basement. I guess we'll see what happens when I get home.
Showing posts with label trials and tribulations of a house owner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trials and tribulations of a house owner. Show all posts
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Flashback Friday: Spider Beard
The Rose of Sharon had me pinned close to the porch slats, which made painting the porch slats an awkward and uncomfortable affair. The spider crawling across my face only added to the experience.
When you reach your mid-30s, are married and pay a house mortgage, I guess this is what happens. For my birthday, I asked for a gift certificate to a big-name home improvement store to go along with the one I had asked for at Christmastime. Now, we could finally stain the porch.
Mrs. Viper and I bought our house in the fall of 2011, and the porch was new. It needed a year and a half to season, apparently, so we waited until this summer to add some color.
Wednesday, my pregnant wife did what she does best (i.e., not take it easy) and spent her day off painting the spindles, railing and the margins around the floor of the porch. When I got home from work, she was exhausted and didn't have the energy to let me finish the job.
We both were home from work by 6 p.m. yesterday, and we almost got the rest of the porch finished. She worked on the spindles and railing on the porch steps and did some touchups while I was on roller coverage duty, staining the floor and slats around the base of the porch.
The landscaping around the porch is a deathtrap. First, the Rose of Sharon, which, yes, fine, it provides some privacy from our neighbors, but it made painting on the westward side a bitch. My wife warned me it was "tricky" — pfft! Ha! Downright deadly it was.
Did I mention the spider? On my face! In my beard! Yes, call me Spider beard! Not the superhero name I need, but the one I deserve.
The rose bush at the front of the house reminded me of the Poison song. Indeed, every rose has its thorn. I know because they were stuck in my backside. My next home improvement project will be to replace our bushes with couches for the next time we have to stain the porch.
Unfortunately, the job isn't done. We have so little left to do that it felt silly to stop where we were last night, but it was getting dark and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We were both tired and rushing our work.
For Happy Hour tonight, I'll be finishing up the last bit. Five more slats on the eastward side of the porch and the last three steps, and it's done.
BackTalk
Wherein some people have a hard time working the Internet
Some of you (e.g., Jess, Sun Runner and Redhead) expressed shock this week when you showed up to see the layout to this site has changed. Never mind that the redesign went into effect TWO WEEKS AGO, but whatever. Let me show you around.
You get only one post per page, which lets you quickly view any witty comments from your fellow readers. All past posts are linked to the left. There's a sidebar to the right that hides until you scroll over it, and that has most of the same crap that was there in the old layout (i.e., mileage, PRs, other blogs, etc.), but not all of it would fit.
You can also change the layout to suite your preferences in the bar at top. I like the clean look, and I hope it works on whichever platform you use. Mrs. Viper hates how it looks on her iPad, so sorry guys. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comments, so I can easily ignore them.
Happy Hour is nearly upon us, teammates! Have a finely brewed weekend. Run well and drink well. Cheers!
When you reach your mid-30s, are married and pay a house mortgage, I guess this is what happens. For my birthday, I asked for a gift certificate to a big-name home improvement store to go along with the one I had asked for at Christmastime. Now, we could finally stain the porch.
Mrs. Viper and I bought our house in the fall of 2011, and the porch was new. It needed a year and a half to season, apparently, so we waited until this summer to add some color.
Wednesday, my pregnant wife did what she does best (i.e., not take it easy) and spent her day off painting the spindles, railing and the margins around the floor of the porch. When I got home from work, she was exhausted and didn't have the energy to let me finish the job.
We both were home from work by 6 p.m. yesterday, and we almost got the rest of the porch finished. She worked on the spindles and railing on the porch steps and did some touchups while I was on roller coverage duty, staining the floor and slats around the base of the porch.
The landscaping around the porch is a deathtrap. First, the Rose of Sharon, which, yes, fine, it provides some privacy from our neighbors, but it made painting on the westward side a bitch. My wife warned me it was "tricky" — pfft! Ha! Downright deadly it was.
Did I mention the spider? On my face! In my beard! Yes, call me Spider beard! Not the superhero name I need, but the one I deserve.
The rose bush at the front of the house reminded me of the Poison song. Indeed, every rose has its thorn. I know because they were stuck in my backside. My next home improvement project will be to replace our bushes with couches for the next time we have to stain the porch.
Unfortunately, the job isn't done. We have so little left to do that it felt silly to stop where we were last night, but it was getting dark and we hadn't eaten dinner yet. We were both tired and rushing our work.
For Happy Hour tonight, I'll be finishing up the last bit. Five more slats on the eastward side of the porch and the last three steps, and it's done.
BackTalk
Wherein some people have a hard time working the Internet
Some of you (e.g., Jess, Sun Runner and Redhead) expressed shock this week when you showed up to see the layout to this site has changed. Never mind that the redesign went into effect TWO WEEKS AGO, but whatever. Let me show you around.
You get only one post per page, which lets you quickly view any witty comments from your fellow readers. All past posts are linked to the left. There's a sidebar to the right that hides until you scroll over it, and that has most of the same crap that was there in the old layout (i.e., mileage, PRs, other blogs, etc.), but not all of it would fit.
You can also change the layout to suite your preferences in the bar at top. I like the clean look, and I hope it works on whichever platform you use. Mrs. Viper hates how it looks on her iPad, so sorry guys. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know in the comments, so I can easily ignore them.
Happy Hour is nearly upon us, teammates! Have a finely brewed weekend. Run well and drink well. Cheers!
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
House Owner Chronicles No. 762
What I've learned about owning a house is that maintenance requires trial and error, as well as making do with all the tools you don't have. My latest venture was fixing a toilet leak from the tank to the bowl, causing the water to run incessantly.
Diagnosing the problem didn't take too long. Toilets are simple machines, even though mine is a Mansfield with a slightly different flush mechanism than more common varieties. All the parts were moving properly, but the flush valve seal was corroded and folding up to create the leak at the flapper.
After some online research, I saw that at worst the fix would require replacing the entire flush system for about $20. Determined to get the problem solved Sunday before going to a local old-time music jam, I visited my local Sears hardware store.
The only problem was I didn't actually look at my toilet to learn that it was a Mansfield (rather than, say, a Douglas style) until afterward, but I was confident I could look at the products on the wall and figure it out.
Of course, I didn't see a valve seal like the one on mine (basically, a simple four-inch diameter rubber gasket). Instead, I got a thicker tank-to-bowl rubber gasket for about $3 and a universal flush valve replacement system for about $13, just in case.
When I got home and read the instructions for installing the gasket, it said to remove the tank from the bowl. And that's where I ran into a big problem.
I needed to detach the water supply and loosen the locking nut to get the tank off. My large crescent wrench and vice-grip pliers went missing between moving from the apartment to the house last winter. There was no way for me to remove the tank.
By this time I'd discovered the type of toilet I had. There was a short-cut guide for installing a flush valve seal without removing the tank. The next problem was that my tank-to-bowl gasket was a bit different than the Mansfield flush valve seal I needed. The one I bought had conical shape to it, but it seemed about the same diameter. I figured I'd give it a try.
I managed to get the gasket in place. I turned the water back on and let the tank fill. At first, I thought I had won. No leak. But then I flushed the toilet. The problem returned.
I tried repositioning the gasket, but nothing worked. It was the wrong part. But now I knew what I needed.
By that time, though, I had to leave for the jam. There was another Sears at a mall on my way. I would stop there, exchange my wrong parts for the right parts and fix the toilet when I got home that night.
Next problem? That Sears is fucking worthless. Once upon a time, it had a nice hardware section along with its old-people clothes and appliances. Now, the hardware section is stuffed in the back corner of the store and is just a glorified tool section on par with your local Walmart. No toilet repair parts. Hell, the guy wouldn't even let me return what I had bought from the other Sears store.
After the jam, which ended at 8 p.m., I tried Lowe's (closed) and Walmart (didn't have the right part). My mission had to be delayed until Monday.
When I got off work last night, I went straight to the Sears I had gone to in the first place. Guess what? They didn't have the right part. I returned the items I purchased Sunday ($16.17) and drove around the corner to Lowe's. There it was: a Mansfield flush valve seal, $1.98.
It took to me two seconds to fix the toilet when I got home. No more leak. My next task? Mow the lawn, which grew a foot overnight because of our recent flash floods. The work never ends.
Diagnosing the problem didn't take too long. Toilets are simple machines, even though mine is a Mansfield with a slightly different flush mechanism than more common varieties. All the parts were moving properly, but the flush valve seal was corroded and folding up to create the leak at the flapper.
After some online research, I saw that at worst the fix would require replacing the entire flush system for about $20. Determined to get the problem solved Sunday before going to a local old-time music jam, I visited my local Sears hardware store.
The only problem was I didn't actually look at my toilet to learn that it was a Mansfield (rather than, say, a Douglas style) until afterward, but I was confident I could look at the products on the wall and figure it out.
Of course, I didn't see a valve seal like the one on mine (basically, a simple four-inch diameter rubber gasket). Instead, I got a thicker tank-to-bowl rubber gasket for about $3 and a universal flush valve replacement system for about $13, just in case.
When I got home and read the instructions for installing the gasket, it said to remove the tank from the bowl. And that's where I ran into a big problem.
I needed to detach the water supply and loosen the locking nut to get the tank off. My large crescent wrench and vice-grip pliers went missing between moving from the apartment to the house last winter. There was no way for me to remove the tank.
By this time I'd discovered the type of toilet I had. There was a short-cut guide for installing a flush valve seal without removing the tank. The next problem was that my tank-to-bowl gasket was a bit different than the Mansfield flush valve seal I needed. The one I bought had conical shape to it, but it seemed about the same diameter. I figured I'd give it a try.
I managed to get the gasket in place. I turned the water back on and let the tank fill. At first, I thought I had won. No leak. But then I flushed the toilet. The problem returned.
I tried repositioning the gasket, but nothing worked. It was the wrong part. But now I knew what I needed.
By that time, though, I had to leave for the jam. There was another Sears at a mall on my way. I would stop there, exchange my wrong parts for the right parts and fix the toilet when I got home that night.
Next problem? That Sears is fucking worthless. Once upon a time, it had a nice hardware section along with its old-people clothes and appliances. Now, the hardware section is stuffed in the back corner of the store and is just a glorified tool section on par with your local Walmart. No toilet repair parts. Hell, the guy wouldn't even let me return what I had bought from the other Sears store.
After the jam, which ended at 8 p.m., I tried Lowe's (closed) and Walmart (didn't have the right part). My mission had to be delayed until Monday.
When I got off work last night, I went straight to the Sears I had gone to in the first place. Guess what? They didn't have the right part. I returned the items I purchased Sunday ($16.17) and drove around the corner to Lowe's. There it was: a Mansfield flush valve seal, $1.98.
It took to me two seconds to fix the toilet when I got home. No more leak. My next task? Mow the lawn, which grew a foot overnight because of our recent flash floods. The work never ends.
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