Time to Stop Mowing the Lawn

Twenty-eight years ago, when we bought our first house in Arizona, I jumped on a chance to buy a used McLane reel lawnmower with an electric motor. It has served use well all these years, but it does require that someone guide it which makes one more thing on our list when we're gone for our summer travels. While our friends at Glory Farm were installing a sprinkler system for their yard, I was cutting and capping the line to our lawn sprinklers.

We did a bunch of research, leveraging direct experience and a friend in the business before deciding to install artificial turf using a new 'cool touch' technology.

The crew to remove the old turf were "headed our way today." Eventually, on the fourth 'today' the sod crew arrived and made quick work of removal.

The old turf was folded up and hauled out to their truck.

I was really impressed. As always, having the right tool makes the job much easier. The heavy knife behind the roller vibrates rapidly and easily cuts the turf into strips. It also cuts the heads off of sprinklers that might be in the way.

It took longer to clean up the edges than it did to remove the bulk of the turf.

I couldn't resist a picture of one of their shovels. No, it's not stuck in the dirt. They just get their money's worth out of their equipment!

Less than 90 minutes after their arrival, the crew of four, and the old grass was gone.

The next morning two other guys showed up. They stacked up bags of "stuff," hauled in some fine sand, and got to work doing some final leveling.

It took at least twice as long to do the prep and compaction of the base as it did to cut out and remove the old sod.

The new turf was laid out and nailed in place before the edges were trimmed.

At last the mysterious bags went into the spreader and were thickly spread over the turf. After applying the first material, it was power swept into the turf and then the second material was spread and swept into the turf. The first layer was an anti-urine material because of the dog, while the second material was crushed copper slag which makes the turf stand up.

I suppose I should have taken the lawn mower pictures on the old sod, but... Some time soon I should put together a Craigs List ad to find this one a new home. It's served us very well.

Just Chillin'

A couple months ago our air conditioner showed signs of distress and wasn't keeping up with our 100 degree+ weather. We called our son-in-law's cousin to check it out. He was able to get it working temporarily while we got a new unit on order.

Josh, and his helper, Josh showed up with a trailer load of new gear.

They started at both ends of the system - removing the old air handler & furnace combination and the really strange angled return air duct.

The pile in the front yard grew taller. It took ALL day for the two of them,

but by later afternoon the compressor was in place and the system was charged with freon. This unit uses a current version of freon which is supposedly safer for the environment.

By 7 p.m. or so they had the new furnace and air conditioning coil in place as well as new transition ducting. This return air box includes a filter at knee level instead of filters at 'top of the ladder' level like the old system. The supply duct is insulated like the old one should have been.

We selected the Goodman system because it is built in the US and is very basic in nature, making maintenance calls much easier. We should be good to go for years to come.

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I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We gave thanks for having a new air conditioner as we enjoyed a 90 degree day.

Chillin

When we moved into our home in 2001 one of my first project was to install a swamp cooler in the garage. I was able to locate one that had the duct oriented vertically so that it fit between the wall studs. Wasn't cheap, but was an easier installation.

The pan has been rebuilt a couple times but last year was the end of life for it. This summer, since we returned to the valley earlier than usual, I decided it was time to replace the old swamp cooler with a thru-the-wall air conditioner. The swamp cooler was 110 volt and was on the same circuit with the rest of the garage.

When I went shopping for an air conditioner, I expressly wanted a 220 volt unit so that I could move the load to the circuit that was only carrying the table saw.

I thought about a 18,000 BTU unit but that wasn't going to allow me to run the AC and the table saw at the same time.

After getting the parts in stock, I got up my nerve and ripped out the old swamp cooler. Pretty sure the bottom was rotted out!

I couldn't put it off any longer. Time to start cutting out some drywall,

and frame up the new structure for the air conditioner sleeve.

I should have finished up the drywall patching before I installed the air conditioner, but I had to see if it would fit and if it would work. The answer to both questions was yes!

It struggles to cool the whole garage in 110+ degree heat but it does a great job keeping the area around the workbench very comfortable! I'm just chillin'

And yes, I did get the drywall finished - and some geocaches started.

That's Done, Finally!

With the length of the trench dug and approval from the Architectural Review Committee, it was time to get the drain holes in place for the French drain.

It took a bit to find someone with the equipment to drill the 2" cores from the wall footing. Easy to find big companies for big jobs, but tougher for a small job. Turns out our son-in-law knew someone who knew someone. About an hour later, all of the drains had been wet cored and he was on his way.

On the left is the exposed side of one of the core holes, on the right is the same hole on the inside of the trench. I learned to not get to close with the camera as the bit was coming through the wall - the cooling water splattered each time.

With the drain holes in place, I pressured washed the wall footing

and troweled on a heavy coat of wet patch once the wall had dried. Intermittent rain showers gave me legitimate excuses to take a break while the wall dried again and again.

The drain went in easier than I expected. The trench was wide enough, but just barely. The tube has a "sock" on it to keep dirt from working through the holes into the pipe.

The drain was set in 1" - 1.5" river rock and then covered with the same.

Once the trench was full, it was topped with the rip-rap behind the hot tub that I'd moved piece by piece before digging the trench. The remainder of the trench was topped with 1" screened landscaping rock.

The job should allow the ground on this side of the wall to dry out, and the waterproofing will protect the wall from further seeping. Done! Time to go play.

I Got Stuck

Least you think that all I do these days is geocache, I'll include a post about home improvement. A few weeks ago we received a letter from the Home Owners Association requiring waterproofing of the retaining wall that borders common space. Our wall is the ONLY one in the neighborhood was wasn't built with a French Drain in place and the wall is now starting to seep, so...

We had a couple raised beds along that wall which meant the roses needed to be transplanted. Turk's not too happy since one of the beds was host to grape tomatoes in season which he really liked - he's been known to eat them off the vine when no one is looking.

As long as we were transplanting, some of the cactus got new containers as well. The original clay pots survived for over a decade, but were now falling apart, so they got re-potted and I got stuck

with tearing out the raised beds and hauling off dirt. The beds had been two blocks high, and the mortar and stucco held the blocks together much better than I expected. The sledge hammer got a good workout!

Turk kept a close eye on things. I had a bunch of rock that I moved by hand while he kept insisting on getting in the way. I'm not sure if he wanted to help or if he thought he could protest the project.

The trench for the French drain hasn't happened magically but it's getting a bit easier, as it gets a bit shallower and I've gotten past the tight clearance behind the hot tub.

I've still got about 20' to dig, but by the time I get to the end it's only 16" deep which will be easy. The challenge at this point is to find someone affordable to drill eight 2" holes through the wall foundation.

All the dirt from the raised beds and the trench is going to the landfill. The good news is that clean fill dirt is free since they need it for the cap. The other good news is that one of the very few Dutch Bros outlets in the East Valley is on the way home from the landfill so I get to reward myself for each trip. 15,000 pounds of fill dirt with another 4,000 pounds or so to go. Then I can reverse the process with clean river rock... which isn't on the route past Dutch Bros. :-(

Greedy Trees

Our lime tree has produced bumper crops the last couple years. Now I think I understand why. When I got home from Alaska, BJ mentioned that the drip system for the flower beds was not shutting off. That usually means there's a very small stone somewhere in the valve. I expected an easy fix, but when I pulled the cover off the valve box, I discovered three inches of water standing in the bottom of the box, and the flower valve leaking at its outlet. Its apparently been doing that for years!

On closer inspection, it seems that the tree has grown a large root that pushed against the side of the valve box, putting pressure on the control valve closest to the side of the box – the flower valve, of course!

The next challenge was that the box needed to be dug out so that the root could be “modified” and the valve replaced

It’s going to be interesting to see how the greedy tree does with a big chunk of root amputated. I’m sure the effect will show up in the tree, and rather soon I’d expect.

The box is back in place, everything is working, and I’m wondering why I’m working on drip systems when we could be somewhere cool.

My Part's Done

I managed to make the job last at least six weeks, but I've finally got my part done. Now my favorite library clerk is figuring out which books to put back on the overflowing shelves.

There are stacks of books everywhere,

and hopefully many of them will be traded off to Changing Hands, leaving a place for other titles.

The canyon books will stick around, but the house design books are headed out. It's time to cross that dream off the list.

I don't know what we'll do with the collection of Beverly Gray books from my mother's childhood. Maybe one of my siblings wants them on their shelf.

It's a slow process deciding what goes where and what's worth saving, but she's doing a great job.

Meanwhile, I've got my nose stuck in my favorite website, looking for someplace to go that isn't as hot as it is here. I've got two weeks open in my schedule before I need to be back for a couple more Rebuilding Together commitments. After that we'll head to Alaska for a couple weeks to install a solar system in our son's travel trailer. (After all, if I can stretch a paint job for six weeks, I ought to be able to make a solar install last a couple weeks easy.)