Hello there

This skylight might not get taken care of today, as apparently the wrong one was sent out...we'll see...

Classic...

Really comforting to know that someone was finishing off a cold one as they finished repairs on the roof at some point in Clearydome history...This is from the very peak of the roof, taken from outside as I assessed the insulation situation...

Hit the deck...

Some detail shots from the decking, which is the old-school 1x6x10 rather than the 4x8 style of the "modern era..."

Live updates from the Clearydome

NY Times has nothing on the Clearydome publications department, live coverage division...

The roofers showed up early, and got right to work today...

Mulch-tastic

Finally got the chance to mulch the place, and didn't bother with the bags from Lowes, going instead right to the source for 4 cubic yards of "Mock Cypress." What a decision with the radical color change.



It took two trips with Rusty to get it all, but despite the big pile, ended using it all...although in the future, I might just opt to have it "delivered." Don't tell that to Rusty, though. I don't want him to feel like he's not needed...

Introducing the Raincatcher 4000

Thanks to Nana for these two rain barrels, with a shout out to K man for the installation assistance, as some gutter-engineering was required...

Hopefully these will keep a couple parts of the yard from becoming "Full time puddles"

That was quick

The two trees out front came in pretty fast; Took a shot before leaving for a race, and then one soon after getting back...although there were two weekends in between, still quick to come in...

Update-Made in the shade

We needed to do some field testing on the new hammock, and wanted to present the users point of view...

Best-smelling

More springtime color

Dome in bloom...

On-line poll

Well, there has been a lot of polling going on here in Indiana with the primary coming up, so to that end...thought we'd get into the spirit with a poll @ a tree.

The pine tree has been nominated for removal, with an oriental maple slated to go in there instead...

Made in the shade...

The fence move created a perfect new spot for a hammock, since before the two trees were separated by the fence. Hopefully this will be a nice shady spot when it gets warmer out...

Ta...da...the incredible floating bed

Well, that cleaned up ok.

Dateline:Project Bedmake

Decided that a headboard was in order, and that I'd make my own design/measurements**. So I got a piece of birch cut at Lowes, stained it-just one layer seemed to be fine since I didn't really want to deal with cleaning another brush, and it took to the wood well enough to keep going.

Used the clamps I originally bought for the pedals on the racing game seat to lock the "frame" into place with glue and then screw in at the corners after sanding everything in sight down. Note brilliant use of blanket to catch said sanding debris. Also note that blankets were not used in previous sanding efforts.





**look for future blog posts about "head board problems//head board falling off"

Update:Bed

There has been a lot of feedback here for Clearydome Management, with folks feeling anxious, not knowing how things are progressing with the bed project. So two updates to follow...

First...Stained and ready to go... (spent a lot of time trying to decide what to get-the recommended water based stain and then polyurethane, but ended up getting two-in-one stain/poly combo. spent what felt like fifteen minutes staring at rows of paint, thinking about the huge implications of this decision. and after dealing with turpentine to clean my non-water-based stain, know that i made the wrong decision...)

Anyway, two layers of stain, but only where the mattress wasn't going to be...

The Clearydome would like to welcome Mr. Beaux, who will for the next week or so be responsible for possum control, kitchen floor spill clean up, and the occasional security detail**. Not to mention a variety of pitiful "is that all you are going to feed me?" looks.


Thankfully the new back yard fence, yet to be covered here, now has "hooks" to "keep the door closed" so we don't have the problems from his last visit...welcome to the dome, Beaux!

**Just kidding. He won't bark.

Bedmaking

Well, adding to the list of "I can do that," or it might be more accurate to at least say I'm adding to the list of "...I've tried to do that...once..." Set off to upgrade the downstairs bedroom/office, with the thought of a nice hotel room in mind. Stole the paint color for the room from yet another home improvement show. But we'll get to that later.

For now, here are the fist steps in my bed-building debut; thanks for the how to and inspiration from Todd Oldham's book "Home Made Modern," a recent library borrow...


Started with just some plywood and some plumbing parts for the legs (base to screw in the 8'legs, which were fresh enough from the plumbing supply store to make my hands all black when screwing them in), and got my first experience with "counter sinking" for drilling, once I learned what that was...

Up next...stain fun...

Turning Japanese

Going through some photos, came across this great shot from the late fall. Wish it could be this color all year round

FInal contender

There has been a lot of feedback regarding what the ultimate selection was in the coffee maker category, so without further ado...the winner in the programmable coffee maker is...

Big decisions

The coffee maker apparently lost its job description, and stopped doing what it was meant to. I called the manufacturer, and had to laugh when she asked if I had a receipt for it (it was a gift from Thor, further making the receipt concept so preposterous).

So I needed a new coffeemaker...

Since I use it every day, I felt comfortable going large and getting a top-notch maker...so I went, 20% off coupon in hand, over to Bed Bath and Beyond and scored what appeared to be the updated version of my old one, only with the added benefit of a built-in grinder...

Turns out, it just didn't keep the coffee warm enough for long enough, and you had to push a button every time you WEREN'T going to use the grinder...so back I went...


I went down market with try number, two, but made the mistake of keeping with the "carafe" set up (versus plain old glass...").

SO That one,too, had to be returned...SO I ended up getting the same exact one I started off with, just without the seemingly ubiquitous stainless steel. You'll have to trust me for now...no photos yet.

Side note-In my photography class, we were showing pictures to the class that we'd taken during the week. I'd documented the various coffee maker visits, and ended up showing them to the class. It was clear that people wondered why I had photos of my household appliances.

Home warranty company children heard crying

"I'm not sure exactly how I feel," said Cleary. "I mean, that this home warranty has saved my skin so many times, that it's been an MVP around here no question. But when I found out that the family vacation for the home warranty company president was canceled directly because of the latest Clearydome adventure-the water heater donating it's innards to the outside world, well, my heart, and my deductible, go out to them."

There are several experiences you want to avoid as a homeowner. Too many to list, in fact. But one sure one is the "hopping down the stairs to the basement and wondering, 'whats that sound of water dropping onto water? that can't be good."

Sure made using rubbermaid stuff for basement storage seem like a really good idea...

So it was, another element to the list of things that the warranty co. has had to replace around here (furnace, A/C, a toilet...). Thank goodness for those guys!

That other dome....

Technically, yes, unrelated to the dome...

More from the library...

Also, across the street is a church that they are converting to condos.