Behold the New Solar Clothes Dryer!

Sunday afternoons are typically a good time to catch up on house projects which were not successfully completed on Saturday. Or take a nap. Whichever comes first.

I tried, really tried, to get a nap this afternoon, but there were just too many interruptions. Kids running around, telephones ringing, cats meowing in my face. I finally gave up and went downstairs and into the garage to finish the project we'd started so long ago. The Solar Clothes Dryer.

It really wasn't that difficult, simply a matter of taking the 2x4 and mounting it to the back of the house. I'd already put the mounting bolts in place, the bolts that hold the actual spring-loaded dryer line case onto the 2x4, so all that was necessary, was putting a bizillion screws through the board into the house. I hope they actually got hold of some wood or something inside the house. I'd hate for it to pull off the wall the first time we load down the lines with a ton of wet jeans.

After the 2x4 was mounted, then the dryer case goes on. Simple.

The dryer case contains five lines on a spring-loaded roller. They're attached to a metal bar which pulls out and is then attached to the pole at the other end.

There's a metal bracket on the roller bar which attaches to another bracket mounted on the pole. It's a simple operation to pull the bar up and onto the bracket, and voila! the clothes dryer is up and ready to load.

Naturally, it was all ready to go, and a storm started rolling in.

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Friday Night

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Oh, but you had asked about Friday night.

Well, we'd promised Adam that we'd have a game night, so we were planning on doing some card games around the table, but it ended up being just the kids playing euchre because, frankly, I just don't get that game. It's too complicated for my feeble brain. So we (the parents) contented ourselves with just watching the kids play. Then after they'd played a couple rounds, the girls got bored and decided to move on to something else.

Leaving me and the boys. And we were going to play Settlers of Catan. (Note that we had an extra boy, James's best friend, who was spending the night, so there were enough players.)


Interestingly enough, even though we had a good game and actually completed it, the boys seemed to have a few ... distractions. Guitars. Adam and James. I couldn't tell if they were trying to play with each other, or against each other. If it was supposed to be some kind of harmony thing, they need more work.

James got hold of some tune and just wailed on it. It was interesting to watch him play his old 3/4 Martin instead of the electric, or his bass. It used to fit him like a glove, and now that he's much bigger, it looks almost like a ukelele in his hands.

Adam was playing Cheryl's old classical guitar, the one I used to play at her house when we were dating. That brought back a lot of memories! And he's worked out some pretty cool tunes. He likes to pick out melodies from Queen, Led Zeppelin, etc.


At one point, he must've hit a really cool chord. The look on his face was amazing!

All Scream (at Ron) for Ice Cream!

Thanks to Ron for "spilling the beans" about someone's birthday, the very nice folks at Wimpy's treated us to ice cream! And we were really in a kind of a hurry, not wanting to be late to the memorial, but, hey, what can you do? When life hands you ice cream, you eat it! And then ... DRIVE LIKE CRAZY!!

(Not really. Dad was driving, not me. So we got there safe and sound. And on time.)

Mother's Day Activities

What do you get the Mom who has everything?

Landscaping bark, of course.

So first thing Saturday morning, I rushed over to the landscaping place and purchased three yards of cedar bark (my favorite!), which was to be delivered in the early afternoon. While waiting for the delivery, we put together the wheelbarrow, which had been taken apart at the end of last summer (so it could be stored up in the loft).

There was a bit of a problem with the wheelbarrow. I couldn't find one of the bolts that hold the legs on! So I had to be a little creative, modifying another bolt to fit. That was fun.

There was also a bit of a problem with the tire. Last year, I had noticed that the tire was leaking, so I purchased a self-sealing replacement tube and installed it. It has some goopy green stuff in it that supposedly seals up a hole should one occur. When I pumped it up, it started spraying goopy green stuff all over the place. And not in just one little spot, either. Nope, it turns out an entire seam was cracked and leaking! Kinda hard to self-seal an entire seam (although it was trying valiantly), so I pulled the new tube out and put the old one back in. At least the old one was only a slow leak.

Or so I thought.

Actually, I must've damaged it further while removing it from the wheel, because it was leaking faster than before, and, as a result, the tire would stay up for only about ten minutes before going flat.

Just about the time we (finally!) got the wheelbarrow back together, the landscaping company dropped off the three yards of bark - before noon! That was way ahead of schedule. So we spent the next few hours shovelling the bark into the wheelbarrow and rolling it over to the garden area and raking it out over the plants.

And pumping up the tire every ten minutes.

But we finally got the job done, and now the front yard looks great!

Ah! But we weren't done with our day of activities yet; there was more fun to come.

See, Cheryl wants to save money on our electric bill this summer, so she purchased an outdoor "solar" clothes dryer, one with five pull-out lines which are coiled up inside a metal box; the five lines are attached to this bar thing which is pulled out and stretched from the metal box to a metal post some distance away from the place where the metal box is attached to the house or the deck. It actually came with the post, but we have to provide the house/deck.

The post has to be mounted in concrete. The concrete (in which the pole would be set) had already been purchased, back when Grandma and Grandpa Green were here. The hole had already been dug (mostly), although it still needed a bit more depth. So now it was time to finish digging the hole, set the pole in place, and pour the concrete mix.

James "volunteered" to help, so I let him finish digging the hole. It had to be twenty inches deep and eight inches wide. So he took the digging tool and deepened the hole to the appropriate size while I mixed up the concrete, and then he got to pour the concrete in the hole while we set the pole in place.

We had to set up and level the post in the concrete during the initial cure phase - about five or six hours - and then we were able to pull out the pole (since, by neighborhood rules, such devices must be "temporary") to let the concrete complete the final cure, which is supposed to take a couple days.

Now that the concrete is curing and the post hole is in place, all we have to do is wait a few more days before trying it out. But ... is it appropriate to let her hang out the first wash, or should I volunteer for that duty?


Happy Mother's Day, Cheryl!

Adam's Birthday

We celebrated Adam's birthday in grand style, heading out to Steak & Shake for dinner, followed by opening presents at home.


Adam had a lovely cake, nicely flavored, sweetly sugared, and surrounded by chocolate!
Afterward, we (naturally) played some games - in this case, "Bang!", which is an hilarious card game full of surprises and lots of table-chatter.


Even though he didn't win the last game, Adam still had a marvelous time, as you can tell.