Week 13

Eight of ten Summertime Hybrid Geraniums (Ivy Leaf) germinated on 2/16/2011. The Wizard Blend Coleus just has one of 50 seed is up but the normal germination can be between 10-20 days.


This weekend is the 12 weeks out and I will be started several varieties petunias. They are: Easy Wave Hybrid Starfish, Blue Wave Hybrid, Easy Wave Red Hybrid, Easy Wave White Hybrid, Grandiflora Red Storm Hybrid, Easy Wave Hybrid Marble Mix, Opera Supreme Raspberry Ice Hybrid and Cascade Orchid Mist Hybrid.

I prefer to use self watering trays to germinate seeds. I built my own grow rack from a Fine Gardening Magazine article. A four shelf stand was made from 2”x2” pine boards and treated with a waterproof finish. The three bottom shelves are fitted with two shop fixtures per shelf and one shelf has a heating mat taped down with carpet tape. Each fixture is out fitted with two grow lights. I put the trays on the heating mat until the seeds germinate then they are moved to another shelf. I do not like to keep seedlings on the heat mat too long since I have lost seeds from the fungus that causes damp off. I usually put three seed per cell and transfer the plants into pot when the first true leaves develop.

Rewriting and Basement Update

The electrician finished looking over the wiring and fixed problem areas. He wired my bathroom exhaust fan, removed the 220 electric stove's outlet and replaced it with a 110 outlet by the stove. He added an outlet by the microwave, so I no longer have it on an extension. I asked him to replace the 2 plug outlets on both ends of the kitchen to 4 plug outlets. I could never get the back porch light to work; now it works. Last Christmas a received new fixture for the porch from my Dad and it looks great. Last thing I requested was an outside outlet near my gas grill so I would no longer have to run an extension through the porch window to run the rotisserie.


He never did find what was causing my TV screen to go black but the TV worked normal this weekend. My father, who is a retired electrician, said he may have tightened a connection when checking the house wiring and that may have corrected it. When I talked to him last Wednesday, I mentioned that I noticed condensation on the electrical pipe bring the outside line to the fuse box. When he opened it up, he found that there was no insulation place up the pipe. The warm house air was traveling up the pipe meeting the cold outside air causing the condensation. He remarked that in some cases the water drips back on to the circuit breakers. I had fiber glass lying around the basement from all the work I am doing and he used it to insulate the pipe.

I finished insulating the 7½ inch space between the sill and first floor in the unfinished basement section. Replacing the fiber glass with the foam board and spraying foam over the sill has cut down the heat loss in the basement. While working down in the basement I took sometime to clean out the dryer’s exhaust vent. I was reading that if your clothes are taking longer to dry than normal your vent may be clogged. I pulled the hose at the dryer’s connection on Saturday and it looked good. So I put it back together and assumed it was ok. But for some reason on Sunday, I went outside and lifted the vent cover and found lint completely covering the wire screening. This time I pulled the hose apart on both ends clean and vacuum everything. I will not be using the dryer until later this week so I will not know if this corrects the problems.

The weather been in the 30s and 40s since Saturday and so the thaw has begun. The repaired basement walls are holding up fairly well but I found some minor leaks. I applied more hydraulic cement over those areas and maybe I can start to paint the walls with waterproof paint next weekend.

Rewiring

I have been waiting six months for this. He called yesterday and said he was free for a few days. I called right back and he is in my house now!!! I can get the bathroom fan wired in finally; it was installed by me last October. He is trying to finger out why I have been having voltage drops in the house. My TV picture would just blackout for no reason and I would have to turn it off and on before the picture would come back. I tell you later, when I learn more.

Blizzard clean-up

Saturday was used to finish cleaning up from Tuesday blizzard. I start digging a path to the shed where my roof rake is kept.

While digging the path to the shed I keep arguing with myself about making a path from the driveway to the back door. My conscience won and I dug the path. Last Tuesday I decided that I just leave it snowed in until the spring melt, but the thought not be able to receive deliveries at the back door was something I did not want to do without.







After finishing digging out the path, I started to remove the three foot snow drift around the south side of the house. The gas meter and furnace exhaust vents are on that side. I removed the snow to about 4 feet away from the house. I hope when the snow melts, the water will run toward the back yard and not toward the house causing the fountain to leak.


The last job was to rake the roof. The roof's north side was fairly clean since the wind blew most the snow off. I did try to remove snow from in front of the bathroom vent and around the waste vent. The front porch roof had snow drift covering 3 to 4 feet next to the house and about 3 feet high.


The south roof had very little snow on the lower half of the roof but my three roof vents are near the ridge and were covered with snow. I was surprised at how much snow was on the upper half. Here is the snow and roof rake is used as a reference to show how high it was. After it was removed from the roof I shoveled the snow away from the fountain and then call it a day. Sunday was declared a day of rest.

The 14th week.

Ivy Geranium and coleus seeds √
Seed trays √
Soil less mix √
Grow lights √
Heat mat √
Water √
Timer √

Last Sunday was 14 weeks away from putting plants into the ground. It is time to start some plants from seeds.

Progress on the Basement

The last two weekends I was working on the basement walls. I finished applying the hydraulic cement to walls. It has been drying for two weeks now but you still can tell where the water wants to come through. Those areas are still darker in coloring then the rest of the cement. Last week I started to insulation the area above the sill and below the first floor with 2" insulation board.


Last year I use foam spray to fill in the bays with insulation but I found it to be messy. The foam would fall in on itself and out the bay ending up of the floor. So, I decide to try foam board instead. I was going to buy the 4" board but my local lumber yard only carried 2" and I am glad they did. The 4" width would have been to thick maneuver around the small bays. I just double up the foam board and it worked out just fine. If there are any quilters who read this blog, you may notice the Omnigrids lying on the foam. I once quilted until I brought this house and all my free time is now used to work on this house. The quilting tools still come in handy for measuring and rotary cutters are great for cutting plastic to put over your windows. Someday I hope to use them on fabric again.

Back to insulating the house, I pieced together the foam board around pipes or any other objects before permanently setting them in place. Once they were set in place I use the foam spray to seal any gaps around the board. I can feel the different; the cold air drafts had been reduced making the house seem warmer.


The picture above still shows that I have to spray foam in some areas but I am making progress. The unfinished south basement wall is completed. Unfortunately, I will not be able to complete the job this weekend since I will be still cleaning up from Tuesday’s blizzard. I need to rake my roof’s north side; the vents are covered with snow. The path from the back door to the garage/shed has a 4 to 6 foot drift between it. Those two jobs will not leave much time to do anything else.

Blizzard 2/1/2011

Here are some pictures before shoveling.








Front door had 17 inches at the end of the steps.


Three season porch storm door


Here is a picture of a tree beside the driveway. The tree had no snow around it before I started shoveling.


Finished putting the snow around the tree.


The sidewalk was shoveled open to the street before the plow went by. Here it is after the snowplow.


After 7 hours it looked like this.