respublica

More trees down

I have to say right up front that the Ahler's Tree Service is the absolute best. These guys were amazing yesterday as they took down 4 of our big trees and chipped the branches into small bits and blew all that into a big covered truck. They were extremely knowledgeable about how to go about all this even in tight spaces. I should also mention, very efficient with no time wasted at all. They got here around 8:30 and were finished and off by a little after 11:30.

To top it all, every one of the guys working were affable and good humored all the while never taking their eyes off of their work. I'd recommend them very highly. The most difficult and demanding tree was the big old Pin Oak in the front yard, but somehow they got that down, cleared out in maybe an hour. Then it was on to the last tree which was a Birch tucked into the side of our house with branches hanging over the neighbor's driveway, almost to their roof. That came down piece by piece very carefully and cleared out.

Here is the Birch before it came down.

The guys had to move our neighbor's trailer and that even went very smoothly over to the Legion parking lot. Afterward, it was put back better than before.

This was not easy considering all the things on our neighbor's driveway including a second trailer which was left in place.

Now it is cleared up

A crazy noisy, very noisy day

Today is the day when a tree trimming company arrived to take down 4 of our trees. They showed up with multiple vehicles, trucks, chippers etc. Tillotson Ave is going to be tough to live on today because the sound of chain saws and the chipper began immediately. These guys all know their stuff. Each one headed for a specific spot and just got started working.

I do feel bad for all the noise which will go on today, but will be glad to feel much safer after these trees are gone.

And the Bradford Pear tree which worried me no end is already down.

 

 

 

Photos are more than just Facebook fun

For some reason our homeowners insurance people wanted information on when this or that was done to our house. Just when we thought we knew the years in order to find the information in our records file, we learned we were way off.

Time goes by faster than we realize. Some of the re-models were longer ago than our best guess. At least most were done in just the past ten years, none further back than that. The best way to find the years for these projects came from all the photos I took and I am thankful I document everything with my camera. All the photos have information on just when they were taken.

So much easier than digging through page after page of bills.

As Dale got engrossed in looking at the pictures of kitchen, bathrooms and back deck gutting and re-do, he said, "Boy I'm glad you took all these pictures."

Learning something new every day

On a whim I picked up a bamboo cutting board yesterday. I was getting tired of the white, hard, plastic type I've long used and replace frequently. This wood board looked pretty and was the right size for our food cutting things.

But boy was I surprised when I read the product notice on the back when I got home. It said to wipe a generous amount of oil on it every day for a week. Seriously? But then I wondered, what kind of oil, it did not say. So before I reached for the olive or canola oil I did some research and the most common recommendation was Mineral Oil which we did not have. Before I ran out to Walgreens I decided to check further and there are different Mineral Oils and some made specifically to use with food. As it happened, Bed Bath and Beyond carries this so off I went to get it.

I wiped it on one side and after a few hours turned it over and did the other side. This morning I wiped the first side again and etc for 5 more days. I have to wonder if all this mineral oil is necessary, but why take a chance on ruining a good thing.

Tracking property history

Since we purchased our cottage down on the Huzzah Creek in Davisville, Missouri, we've been curious as to its history. This dwelling goes back quite a long way from what we can tell from a very old photo which is framed in all its black and white glory and hanging on one of the walls. The original structure has obviously been added onto and done well, but it is easy to see what changed. Initially, the newer area went to the right. The first front door ( which now opens into a bedroom) was on the left, fireplace in the middle and the last set of stone was on the right. The left side has had something of an addition as well. We have no idea where the kitchen may have been. We do believe much of the cooking was done outside in the huge stone fireplace in the back. More adding on at some point in the back. 

We are curious as to who the first family was as well as those who followed. We do know the people we purchased the property from, but they did not do any of the renovations.

Lots of changes inside as well although we have no images of the old. Who were the first owners, what were they like, how did they live? Who came after?

Problem is I am not very knowledgeable on how to go about finding this information and it appears as though Crawford County is not online searchable.

Hot Air

Early last evening we realized the second floor was very hot even though the fan was running. Dale thought maybe that air conditioner's setting box needed new batteries. That did not work to cool things down so I started exploring options as to why. The filter was clean. So I went out to look at the outside unit and it was not running. The fan for the inside unit was running but not for the big one.

What to do? I finally googled what this might mean. The most common explanation was a problem with the capacitor.  More googling let me know that a homeowner can actually buy a capacitor and replace it. That won't happen here even though it does sound pretty easy. One piece of advice to learn if this is the issue was to slide a thin wooden stick through the fan grate outside and gently nudge the blades. If the blades take off and start running it's probably the capacitor. If the blades don't take off, it's probably the fan motor.

I tried this nudging the blades trick and the fan did not take off on it's own. Maybe I was too gentle, but most likely we may be looking at a motor. Either way, it's not a job for us so we called Viviano's who've worked with us several times and someone will be out between 9 and noon.

I am thankful this company does not have a worker shortage.

It was really hot upstairs last night after a day in the 90's, but fortunately, the night got nice and cool. We'd opened the windows and put a normal fan on which cooled things after a few hours. It was actually rather nice to have open windows.

Update: It turned out to be a bad, old, thermostat. It was Don Viviano who came here, a most cheerful and nice guy who knew his stuff.

Emissions testing

A few weeks ago I received a postcard notice reminding me that I needed to get a new license plate sticker. This was to be done in conjunction with an emissions test. Ugh. The issue for me was the emissions test. It's a bit of a hassle since there are very few places which are certified by the state to perform this test. Granite City (Pontoon Beach) or Swansea (Fairview Heights). Nothing in Collinsville. You'd think as populated as St. Clair and Madison Counties are, there would be more options.

In any event I head off to Swansea this morning to get this over with. But. I called the Air Team business with a question, all I got was a very long recorded message telling me to go to their website and everything I needed to know or do was there. Except there was no option for talking to someone which I wanted to do because not everything was actually on the site.

While my mailed card said we needed an emissions test, the website told me it was not needed. So before I make the trip, I wanted to know which of the two was correct. In the end, I'm making the trip and am interested in just why the contradiction.

Heading home is hard

We are heading back to Collinsville this morning after 3 days along the Huzzah. But, it seems like every trip we have to pile up more stuff into the car than we came with. Why is this? We bring our trash back with us which is bulkier than when it was in its original form. Dirty clothes take up more room than the clean ones. This stresses me out trying to get it all into the car while Dale is not bothered at all.

He spent some time over the weekend trimming out some trees and today he started early clipping branches from them one small piece after another.

I'll be happy to be home this time.

Planning meals is an effort

I needed to pick up food ingredients for the next 3 nights we will be at the Huzzah. I decided Friday would be air fryer chicken breast tenders, seasoned and shredded when done. They will go on good buns. I prefer Brioche buns most of the time, they have a nice flavor and aren't too hard/crunchy or too bland. I use Code 3 Spices to season just about everything these days and have several versions of them. Some fruit or a vegetable to alongside.

Where I had to do some checking was the Saturday meal which is going to be pulled pork. I put the slow cooker in the car already, but needed to refresh my memory on how to do this. I use the Coke version poured over it. Some people like Dr. Pepper or Root Beer. The sugar in these flavor the pork a lot. More Code 3 spices rubbed all over before the Coke. When it is fork tender after 8 or so hours, it gets pulled apart and then tossed with Barbecue sauce and left to simmer another hour or so. Hopefully there will be some left over for Sunday lunch. I did not buy a huge pork since it's just the two of us.

Sunday night will be light since we leave early the next morning. BLT's.

I'll go to Kruta's in the morning, nothing better than having some of their items around and they freeze really well.

 

The bookshelf windows keep on coming

While still living on the seminary campus, Dale rescued a lot of original faculty homes windows. These were taken out in order for new windows to be put in. The old ones date back to when the houses were built, probably in the 1920's. He did not want them destroyed and so kept pulling them out of the big dumpsters and stacking them up in the basement of the home we lived in. This saving of the windows caught on with others who themselves got some. One of those was Jonathon Parker who owns Parkers Table wine shop near the campus. He had purchased an old firefighters look-out building near Maryville, Illinois and was planning on turning it into something.

Anyway, Dale has restored a number of these windows and did attach them to the bookshelves he built in our Collinsville basement. He has a way to go since he has a lot of books and a lot of bookshelves. He does most of the work in the garage which has no seen a car in it for decades. It was turned into Dale's workshop and partly my lawn equipment storage area.

The past few days he has gone back to work on one of the old windows, stripping the old paint, framing it up, and putting the hinges back on.

Here is a look at the progress. The latest window will need painting now, which may or may not be left to me.

A true man cave, books, tv, small fridge, computer.