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Quick update

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Just thought I’d post and give a quick update on the last two days.

Yesterday, Tara and I tackled a long overdue project that I’ve been dreading since it involved a bunch of time in the crawl space (well, 30-45 minutes). We replaced the dryer exhaust vent. The old one was one of those wedge shaped ones that directed all the flow downward, and had a flapper below the “wedge” that keeps outside air and critters out. Well, the vent was situated right above the ground (it comes out from one of the crawl space vents). So, the vented air goes right into the ground, and if there was any soil/debris buildup in the herb garden, it would block the flow of exhaust. The other problem being the flapper had long since stopped working/been clogged with lint and debris. So outside air came down the vent into the laundry room, making it even colder. So, we replaced the vent exhaust with a modern louver style (one of these). The advantage is supposedly they have better flow, they don’t blow down into the ground, and they actually close, so no more air coming down the vent pipe. YAY!!!!

Then today, the other project I’ve been meaning to do: repair the front sillcock (a frost-free Nibco 90). Back when we bought the house, I noticed that if the sillcock is open, but there is no flow (a sprayer on the hose, a Y with both sides closed, etc), it would leak at the stem. Opening it up, the packing was all torn up. So, I tried to rebuild it at the local hardware shop with various parts. Afterward, it wouldn’t leak, but it was a bitch to turn on and off, and it didn’t turn on all full flow unless you opened the valve all the way. So, this year, while wandering around the local hardware store, I noticed they had rebuild kits for “Fu San” Frost free sillcocks (not that I can find such a thing exists… the receipt, however, says “Flor Repair Kit”) that looked like they had the right parts. So, I pulled it apart again, and brought in the stem. Then at the store, put it all together with the new parts. Similar to this. Turned the water back on, and viola, it works like brand new! And the vacuum breaker seems to work again (it was kinda weird between the first time I fixed it, and now). Cost of repair kit, $2.99.

Other than that, Tara and I are going to be on cleaning duty the next day or so since Tara’s mom and aunt’s are coming to visit. Hopefully we’ll be ready for them. We’ve been struggling to control a sugar ant problem in our guest room (of all places, that doesn’t ever have food in it). Here’s hoping it’s somewhat better by then.

So, there it is. Have a great weekend!

More yard/house care

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So, last week before leaving for Portland, I fertilized the blueberries again. They’re looking quite nice, though I’m still confused why only two are flowering. My hope is that with some judicious pruning this winter, we can get them all flowering (from reading, flowers are borne on 2 year old wood, so it could be that there’s just too much young wood on them. *shrugs*). Then yesterday, we went and picked up a yard of doug-fir sawdust. Turns out, this was way too much. So, we now have sawdust about 3-4″ thick under the berries, as well as all the way to the fence. =P Oh well, it should really keep the weeds down, and will certainly make the blueberries happy.

Now I’m reading up on lawn care. The front yard at our place looks the best it has, well, ever. It’s extremely healthy, very few weeds, and all and all very nice (bit of crab grass, but I hope to take care of that soon). The back, on the other hand, not as nice. TON of weeds on the north side, I’m guessing due to the lower light levels. So, I’ve been trying to weed-n-feed there. Hopefully that too will work.

We also finally got around to removing the very sick/dying rhododendron that had been planted next to the front door (in a built-in planter). It doesn’t get any rain in that location, and because of the make-up of the planter (mortar, bricks, etc), it was probably WAY too alkali for it anyway. I put it in a 25gal nursery container with a rough 70/30 mix of peat/perlite, some acid loving osmicote, and a good drench of Superthrive. Hopefully it’ll perk up. The one that was sick and dying elsewhere on the lot I did the same thing to last year, and it’s extremely healthy now.

Tonight I’m going to double the RAM in the web server/file server/energy monitor, etc. Hopefully everything will work. I tried turning on mod_deflate on the system yesterday, and was dismayed by the performance. I hope to just enable it on some of the stuff I’m working on that will be a lot of data (further using google visualizations for power use, which 3 days of data would amount to 700KB uncompressed).

Mac OS 10.5.7 came out yesterday while I was getting sawdust, and I’ve installed it at work. So far, so good. They said they fixed some error with Dvorak keyboards, but I never noticed anything. My hope against hope is that it will fix the longterm issue we’ve had with AFP crashing on the server. Somehow, I doubt it.

This month will be the first time I can check my utility bill against the TED. I’m hoping it’ll be close… I really don’t want to have to call the local utility company to check my meter, though a newer digital one would be sweet. PGE up in Portland has been going around replacing analog ones with digital ones. I’m somewhat jealous.

At work we’re writing up a proposal for what amounts to “grant” money to offset probably budget cuts this coming year. I’m really really hoping to get 1-2 servers out of the deal. 2 servers would let me switch all critical systems over to Intel Xserves, and jettison 5 original Xserve’s. 1 server would let me upgrade the mail server and implement CalDAV. I would still need to dual purpose a machine to take up the slack from not getting the 2nd server… so, I’m hoping for 2. Mind you, this should also lower our power usage.

That’s all for now, since I can’t think of anything else.

Links for future reference:
http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1957/19232/ec1521.pdf
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/details.php?sortnum=0616&name=Lawns

Blueberries

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Back when we had gotten our bid accepted on the house, but before we had moved in, the previous owner had let Tara and I come plant some blueberries in the yard. We planted 6 of them, 2 3y old bushes, and 4 2y old bushes. That year, we didn’t do what we were supposed to, and remove the blossoms, so they produced the first year. Last year, the didn’t really produce at all (they were exhausted), and this year, only 2 of the bushes are really producing flowers.

But, this year, I’ve started fertilizing with Ammonium Sulfate to see if I can re-awaken them. They look extremely healthy, and are growing quite well, but just don’t seem to produce flowers (except the two). =/

At this point, I think we’ll just have to deal with the fact that we’ll only get two bushes worth. But, since this is the 3rd year, this winter I will need to prune. And, low and behold, the only reason I like Oregon State (=P) is their Botany/Horticulture programs.

Caring for Blueberries in a home garden: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/html/ec/ec1304/

Hopefully with the fertilizer, and the fact I think I’ll add some doug-fir mulch this year, I can get them nice and happy(er). Hopefully the mulch will also help with the weeds, but we’ll have to see. Now if I could only find a good source of Doug-Fir sawdust…

UPDATE: http://laneforest.com/bedding-ground-cover/bedding-sawdust/ or if we want something less “sawdusty” in color: http://laneforest.com/bedding-ground-cover/bark-dust/ (should have a similar PH).