Posted by admin on
March 18, 2008
I had a tree in my back yard.
Had.
I hated that tree. Not because I hate trees, I love trees, but because while this tree was arguably pretty it was only pretty for one thing- It had a beautiful English ivy fully engulfing it. It really was pretty in it’s own way. But it was what is called a “tree of heaven” and it is anything but.
In the fall it drops a billion, yes A BILLION seeds. They are everywhere. In everything. They are impossible to manage. Then the twigs that the seed pods were on fall, but only after the first snowfall. And it puts up suckers EVERYWHERE. It is actually considered a “weed tree” by the city. They won’t let you put them up anymore.
So I had it cut down. I will post a video of it shortly- I filmed the entire thing through one of my security cameras. But now the tree is gone. I have to kill the stump (if anyone knows a good way to do this let me know) before it starts to grow again or I’ll never get rid of it. The smell is gone. The seeds are gone. The leaves and twigs are gone.
The vine is gone too- I really liked that vine. It is the one thing I will miss. I did not miss, however, the opportunity to grab many many cuttings from the vine. In fact, I have about four or five dozen now in rooting soil. I’ll plant the resulting plants around the back yard, and train them up the lattice I put in last year.
All in all it was quite an exciting day, seeing a guy with a chain saw standing on a limb that I was fairly certain would never hold me…
Posted by admin on
March 16, 2008
I got so much done yesterday it’s insane.
The biggest, and most important thing I needed to get done was to start cleaning out my garage. I had mice living there this winter, before I finally caught them, but I had no idea what kind of a mess they made. I mean Woah, mouse crap everywhere. So I am busy cleaning, throwing out, and reorganizing the garage so the garage is actually USEFUL.
Right now it is a disaster.
The second thing I got done was a little bit of planting in the back yard. Not a lot, but the back yard is very close to being ready to roll. I’m really happy with how it’s turning out. Third, the front yard- Aside from planting five more plants, which I am going to get from the nursery today, the front garden is like DONE. All the plants are beautiful, AND perennials.
The difference between this year and previous years is that the front garden has taken HOURs instead of days to get ready. I basically had to clear off all the old plant matter that had been there since last year, put down a couple of inches of compost, some systemic insecticide to get rid of the evil bugs, plant a few seeds… Now I need to get some ornamental grasses as a backdrop and I’m *DONE*.
But lastly, I got some work done on the house electrical. First thing I did was replace the light switch in the kitchen. Yes, it is a $70 light switch, but it is an Insteon Keypadlinc: completely computer controlled, and can control up to seven other switches. I replaced it with a simple toggle, because I don’t have a spare Keypadlinc.
Next I replaced the dimmer for the front porch outside. This was a much bigger deal because whomever did the wiring for this box in the first place did a really crappy job. So now I have to live with their mess. But I eventually got a new dimmer in. Why a dimmer? It’s what I had there in the first place. No good reason.
I put the whole thing back in the wall (The dimmer for the outside porch is in a dual gang box with a keypad link that controls the inside porch lights. This keypad also can shut off all the other lights in the house, or selectively turn on whatever I want when I walk in the house. The whole mess of wires behind is really tough to get back in the gang box. So I get it all back in, and the front porch light won’t shut off. I pull the whole thing out again, check the wiring, and I am positive I am correct, but it still won’t shut off!
Then I remember: The outside porch light was replaced with a fluorescent screw in bulb because the incandescent bulbs kept burning out. These bulbs are funky in that they don’t dim, which is fine, but as well the Insteon switches are twitchy about them.
So I go back to the kitchen, pull out the toggle I had put in to replace the keypad, replace the dimmer in the front porch with the toggle, and hey presto the front light works. Not only that, but the dimmer I thought was dead is really just fine! So that one went into the kitchen.
Next was a new Venstar 1 day T1700 Thermostat. I have been longing for a new thermostat that is a) Insteon aware, and b) is easier to use than my old piece of poo. I should point out, for those of you that don’t know, Insteon is a set of protocols that you can use to control light switches, dimmers, appliances, and other things from a computer. The software I use is Indigo from Perceptive Automation, run on a headless mac mini that sits on top of a set of shelves in my office.The thermostat went in quite easily. I did not have a common wire at my thermostat, however, which means that this thermostat won’t power up.
That’s a bad thing.
So I go down to the basement and look at the wiring block on the furnace. Fairly simple. But wait- There is a common terminal on the wiring block, and whomever had run the wiring upstairs for the thermostat originally had simply not used the brown wire! Shazzam! Instant common wire. So I wired up the brown wire, the thermostat powered up, and I was half way done.
Next was getting the thermostat hooked up to the automation system on the mini. Only one problem: The Venstar is not hooked directly into the main electrical system, upon which Insteon uses to transmit/receive signals. This is a wireless Insteon device. I don’t have any wireless Insteon devices, and thus have no way of bridging the wireless signals to my wired Powerlinc receiver. So this is going to have to wait until a new access point comes in.
Lastly, a remote control for the upstairs fireplace. Yes, I buy a lot of stuff from Smarthome. This remote went in so easily that I’m going to put in a second one for the downstairs fireplace. It was REALLY easy to install. I was besides myself with joy at how easy it was to install this remote. It was just a matter of pulling off the faceplate of the fireplace control unit, plugging in two cables, training the remote to match the control unit, and hey presto you’re done.
I am so happy with the results that… why… I think I’ll just turn the damn fireplace on.
Aaaaaahhhh.. Heat.
