Return to DIY

Put this (gutter guard...) up the other day in advance of the three-month Attack of the Leaves. Great to have so many trees of course, but the fall is ridiculous in terms of gutter clogging and the like...

Not DIY, rather, YDI

So after my back and arm and shoulder and hand-breaking experience of crushing all the sidewalk out back and the front walkway as well, and then subesquently taking all that debris out back (out of sight, etc...), I really knew that I wanted to end my hands-on relationship with said pile of debris.

So when a guy stopped to see if I had anything I might want hauled away....I was glad to part with some dough to see this pile go.

Not Do It Your Self, but rather, You Do It.

Pile Before

The result of the sidewalk removal....

New Find In Clearydome-land

It's like the farmers market, all week long. Just about 1 mile (its right at the turn-around point for me on my runs down the Monon) south of the Clearydome is Locally Grown Gardens Market. Run by ROn Harris, who is a Culinary Institute of America grad who was a fancy-pants chef in big-city environs like NYC, but somehow ended up back at home in Indy. The location, which I failed to photo, was an abandoned gas station before he took it on...Heres to the harvest!

How I got it back to the rental place

Since I only had Trusty (with the red sweede being parked in NH and of course Rusty having departed...), I had to use him to get the jackhammer back.

Since I made a big grease stain on my ex's car when I picked it up (she doesn't read this, I don't think...although shout out here to Danish dish soap VEL--I used it to get that grease out of the upholstery...VEL, is there nothing it can't do?), I shrewdly decided to protect the seats with a sail that I got at a garage sale last spring.

Fletch-Fest

I was back in town in time to attend the most brilliantly-conceived party, Fletch Fest 2009 to raise funds for Juvenile Diabetes. They had a screening of the worlds best movie, and some folks dressed up as characters from the movie and there was even a Fletch trivia contest. I got nine of ten right; I suspect the person who got them all right googled the answers; I mean, who could possibly know THAT MUCH about one movie??

Thanks to Sarah (who is a Fletch fan, but still seemed bemused that someone would go to the party just to Support the Fletch Cause), for putting it all together.

Famos Amos

Even though I hadn't been in the area for over a month, when I got back for my visit, I was in the local free bi-weekly paper, the Broad Ripple Gazette. It wasn't about the Dome or anything I'd actually done, it was just because I joined the Broad Ripple Village Association.

Now to figure out what to do...

....With the matching (see below) hole in my back yard.

Fun times

The jackhammer was very key to this program,although it was "fun" for about four minutes of the several hours I actually used it. Also, when I dropped it on my shin, that hurt. Still does, in fact.

Sorry, BTW, to my neighbors. I had ear plugs on, but you probably didn't...so sorry for the noise!

Back yard during

Same thing...on the back side

End, for now

Here is the newly-created hole in my front yard.

During

Mid-process. The front looked like it was going to be "easier," since a lot of the walkway was already broken up, but it wasn't as the concrete was very deep.

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Especially when things have been in place for a 100 years. And they are concrete.

My first weekend home in 10 weeks or so, and I decided to spend it sweating and generally trying to break my back and arms by breaking rocks all weekend long.


Here is the before/Front...

Looking up

As part of the "cool it now" program, changed the light to add a fan in the upstairs bedroom.

Grass Update

Quick shot of August grass...not perfect,but better than a hole in the ground...

Closet Space

Remember this first attempt at making a little more closet space in the upstairs bedroom?

No? Here's that disaster....

Well, finally had another run at it. Using a little more on the "support" side of things. Also, did another round of "this should really go, pleats edition" to help reduce the weight. It was still up when I woke up the next day, so that was an instant improvement.

Dig done

The weatherhead now has nothing attached...

More of the modest dig, pt. 2

Also had to dig underneath the deck, which was a pain.

So I ran the tubes and lines through my perfect ditch myself, and then Randy from Dowty sorted out the "hot parts" at the ends and then I got it all covered and planted some grass, which actually took quite well...

Very nice to have the deck not have that line hanging there. Of course, the umbrella I bought...the stand I had for it doesn't fit.

Diggin' it

So, the big idea is that with the power line running between the house to power the garage being alittle in the way, and seemingly a lot threatening, to bury the thing. I've had this in mind for a couple of years and finally, with the purchase of a mega umbrella for the deck, decided to move forward on it. Since it's silly to pay an electrician to dig, it was voted that an english major might be best suited for the job.

Donna pointed out that "it looks too perfect" about the subsequently-dug ditch. Goes to show, you shouldn't underestimate what an english major, and his cultivator that actually works well to loosen the soil and then be dislodged, can do.

Some shots from the first segment of the project, including the patent-pending "Mole-Cam" view....

Window Dressing

Again...Picked a little bit better in terms of ones that "don't die instantly..."

Hopefully.

Green Piece Indy--

Turns out I'm not the only blog in town...

Meghan and Renee run Green Piece Indy, a twice-weekly blog eblast about things we can do to sore a little higher on the Green Index*.

So check it out and sign up, they have a ton of good ideas and information, as Indy has a "lot of improvement" possible in this category...

They also do videos, and even though this isn't the Broad Ripple Farmers Market...we'll still post it...

Publish Post

*I just made that up.

What's this 'gravity' you speak of?

Well, let's call it "Rain Barrel 2.0" Last year's deployment of of the RainCatcher 2000* was pretty successful. I barely used the water from the house to keep things growing in the back yard.

However, my extraction method was pretty poor. Namely, I'd unload water into a bucket, and then take the bucket to wherever I was watering. Paging caveman. So while it was a good way to re-use water, it also made me feel pretty stupid, suspicious that there might just be a better way somewhere out there.

Indeed, this year I am targeting two improvements-1) use this "gravity" situation to my advantage, raising the barrels and attaching much longer hoses to them so I can just water away without having to carry anything. 2) Last year, the mosquitoes were pretty bad, since it was kind of like I was hosting a party for them all summer long. But I've got "mosquito rings" in them this year, so we will see if that works....I can already testify that they seem to be better, but it's early yet...

In anycase, this is a much better set up and even though (see below) I do have the outside faucet up and running, this is a good way to put the rain water to good use...

Fairly slopping looking in this photo, I know...but lets just call it "for illustrative purposes...."

*actual name.

Farmers Market...

I'll admit; I didn't even actually end up buying anything.

But I was, not having been home for a weekend since early April, no less happy to be at the BR Farmers Market this weekend...