Monthly Archives: February 2006

359 miles

Posted on by

359 miles is the number of miles that I can drive on a single tank of gas in my Honda. My tripometer reading this morning was 359.4 miles. Can you guess where I was sitting? If you guessed on the shoulder of the Telephone on-ramp of 101 South in Ventura, you would get a prize.
What communications device was missing from my pocket where normally lives? If you guessed my cell phone, you get a prize. I had left it at work the night before. I almost never take it out of my pocket, but it was bugging me on Monday.

I knew I was pushing the edge of the range of my car this morning, but I thought the little dashboard light would come on. It didn’t.

As I was walking down the on-ramp headed to get a gas can from the not-so-near nearest gas station, a CalTrans driver stopped and asked what was wrong. I told him that I was getting a gascan. He said he had some gas and would put some in my car so I could get to the next gas station. He was very professional and courteous and refrained from laughing at me (at least to my face).

I got his name thinking that I could call and commend him, but after 4 different transfers to get to the Ventura office of CalTrans, the operator told me that they didn’t have anyone by that name.

I submitted a webform, but that was pretty generic and goes to Sacramento.

My co-workers had a hearty chuckle when I told them the story. Now I know that I need to get gas when the tripometer rolls to 355. (I want to allow a little cushion.)

26 Feb 2006 : Holes

Posted on by

We worked under the house this weekend, digging 4 of the 14 1-foot deep holes for the cement pads that will interiorly support the second floor. These 4 will support the stairs so they overlapped quite a bit. The final space ended up being 6’x7′. When last we were digging under the house, we learned that it was extremely difficult work to remove the dirt from under the house through the single access point on the West side (even though we had significantly enlarged the opening. We were piling the dirt on tarps and dragging the dirt half the width of the house before removing it.
So we took some time to cut 2 new access points in the existing foundation. This was tough jackhammer work, but Dad brought over his newest toy, a recently acquired Makita 1 1/2″ rotary hammer. While this didn’t make cutting the concrete out easy,
it made it easier. We had to move a big camillia bush from the back yard
where we wanted to access point. In the previous post, there was a picture with Max
standing in the raised planter. That is where the camillia bush was transplanted.
As usual, Lucy slept through all of the banging, including the 5 or so times I hit
my head on the floor joists in the 18″ crawlspace we were working in. But on Friday,
about 4 pm, Toby asked us that we take a break from jackhammering to allow Lucy to
fall asleep in the room above where we were working (apparently, the noise will keep
her from falling asleep, but not wake her up once she is asleep). So we trekked over
to Dad’s favorite Carpinteria watering hole, Island
Brewing Company. We walked (the whole 2 blocks) over and had pints of Jubilee
Ale with pretzels for munchies. New east side access point where the camillia
used to be rooted. East side access point

New south side access point under the current master bedroom. South side access

Under house excavation. Notice that the sewage pipe has been wrapped
to protect it from the stress of the concrete. Also, you can see the depth of hole
from the grade at the base of the cement pier. 6'x7'x1' pad for stairs

Our Blazing Hot February

Posted on by

Craziness! For a couple of days in mid-February, it was almost 90 degrees here. It was so warm that we broke out the kiddie pool. Max as you can see had a super time – and Lucy finally got in (with all her clothes on). The day was finished with some half-nekked bike riding. 🙂

Oh Lady of Perpetual Infection

Posted on by

Well, Lucy is finishing her 3rd ear infection in 3 months. My pediatrian told me to go see an ear, nose and throat doc now – to check her out and see what we can do. It’d be super nice not to have to get ‘tubes’ but we’ll see. Please pray – thanks. 🙂

12 Feb 2006 : We go under

Posted on by

The garage doors have been ordered, and we are waiting on an installation date. In the meantime, it is time to go under the house. We have to dig out 14 3’x3’x12″ cement pads under the house as foundation to the posts that will support the new construction. This is very slow work and is not conducive to good pictures. However, we have been moving the camillia (sp?) bushes into the new raised planter.

Bushes Diggers And
a fun pic of Lucy Lucy with mod glasses