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July 13, 2021 – Sealing Air Leaks For Comfort

July 13, 2021 /

Having lived in old and new houses, they both have their advantages. New houses are energy efficient, provide the conveniences that are desirable and laid out in a way that appeals to our sensibilities. I prefer the old personally, I like the character. But that does come with many drawbacks.

One of those drawbacks is that retrofits often damages the integrity of the building envelope (said more plainly: holes where there didn’t used to be). Another one is materials built for one function but used differently. For example, windows were built to operate. Because they were made of wood, tolerances needed to accommodate for thermal movement and swelling due to water. So, there was some play in how tightly they fit in the jamb. So, if there is no weather stripping, this becomes a perfect place for a lot of air leaking.

One of the podcasts that I listen to, the Fine Homebuilding podcast talks a lot about this subject. Believe me, it seems like there is a lot to know on this subject particularly when it comes to HVAC sizing, efficiency and comfort. In my case, I don’t have to go to higher tech testing or solutions to find some high value and low cost improvements.

When I started working in the basement, it was winter. The normal temperature was around 57 degrees before the heat came on. If I ran the heater all day, I would see the temperature come up to 64 degrees by the end of the day. As we have moved into summer, the ambient temperature changed to around 62 degrees. It is still too cold to be comfortable in most cases. This was the first driver to build my office space was the desire to be more comfortable during the day.

As I moved to the north end of the basement, I could actually feel the temperature get colder. I knew that there was outdoor air leakage, but I took some pictures that your could see a couple of problems.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination that when you see daylight that there is air leakage happening (not to mention water and vermin). I was looking around right before the heat wave and I saw something that not only could I address but it would be helpful. Under our kitchen is a crawlspace and that is vented directly outside. Essentially, the basement has the leaks shown but also 2 square feet of holes directly to the outside.

I had leftover rigid insulation so I built a box around the hole. As a result, I have seen morning temperatures move from 62 to 68 degrees. I have no doubt that in the winter it will be somewhat colder I am guessing add five degrees to 57 but I guess we will see.

There is one drawback to this modification which I have considered. Potentially, the air leakage in the winter provided a degree of warmth that kept pipe freezing to a minimum. I have had freezing on the hose bibs before but never in the kitchen plumbing. I may decide to remove this modification if the temperatures get significantly below freezing.

I do have one other option. It is not clear from the picture, but there is heat tracing on the piping. Most of it is in suspect condition and I have been removing it wherever it is in the way but I could hook it back up and then I wouldn’t have to remove my new box.

End Your Programming Routine: While there is no doubt that my results are anecdotal and not scientific I saw immediate change the day after installation. The cost was free since I did not have to purchase anything additional and it took me about two hours to build, fit and install the box. I expect that this will not only make the basement more comfortable, but also I think it will have an small energy impact on the whole house. At the very least, I will not need to run the heater so much in the basement.

July 12, 2021 – The Struggle is Real

July 12, 2021 /

This is a phrase that I have heard. I thought maybe it was a movie quote until I looked it up. It seems like there is a song with the title but the origin is unknown (at least from the site that I looked at ).

So what is the struggle anyway? In this case the struggle is reaching your full potential when constrained by your environment or conditions beyond your control. Take a look at this sunflower.

This should be eight feet tall with a stalk around two to three inches thick. In this case, this full sized sunflower is giving what it has got in a 1 inch cube.

These plants should have been in the ground during the first of May. I started working the ground a bit on the week that I contracted Covid. Things got busy and I was keeping the plants on life support under the lights. My wife and I were having some challenges agreeing on exactly how to proceed so nothing got done.

Last year, I moved the starts from the lights to the greenhouse in May and June and got them in the ground around mid-june. They did not yield much because they just didn’t have time to grow. I suspect that this year may be a zero yield as this is really late. But, hey we will see.

Since I completely tore up my garden beds last year, I decided that I wanted to plant in the front of the house. It is south facing, irrigated and we only use it one day of the year. My ultimate plan was to tear up the grass but that was before Amazon and then full time employment and office building and a super busy summer.

This year is just a get-in where you fit-in approach. This bed is full of bulbs Most of which I dont want anyway. It did have a huge butterfly bush that I think I finally killed. It was always touching the house so wrong plant, wrong place. I think it might be a good place for some rose bushes. Or, we have talked about that location as a future bay window.

All of that is kind of secondary to the other projects that I need to get started on now. I need to use what time I have to accomplish things that are best done in the summer time and that is not beds that won’t be used until next year at this point.

End Your Programming Routine: The only thing in life that you cannot buy is time. I am already at the point where I don’t have enough time to do all the things that I would like to do. Even the period that I was not working, I did not have the time to do everything that I wanted to do. I definitely spent more time doing things that I wanted to do, there were very few days that were wasted. The garden will go back on the list and reprioritized to it’s appropriate place.

July 9, 2021- Close, But no Cigar

July 9, 2021 /

I am still dealing with the post 4th of July sluggishness. It has been a super busy week again with lots of moving parts. I didn’t get any more read in 1984 and I made slow progress on my project.

I had set a move in target of July 1 for my office. Here on July 9, I am close but not there yet. I am still messing around with the door and jamb. I need to get that set so that I can nail the trim on. Once that is done, I can move in (without the door). Here are some pictures of the current state.

I am currently at 105.5 hours and my estimate was 100 hours. I forgot to include time for trim, but that is not the real reason for my overage. I am going to give a full accounting when I completely finish. I would guess that I have 10 or so more hours to go. It depends on how much door modification I ultimately decide to do.

It is the summer time, so the temp is much more bearable in the basement. In fact it is staying 68-70 degrees F. The urgency has subsided a little bit but it is a far cry from sweatshirt, coat and stalking cap with the heater on. Truthfully, when it was over 100 degrees last week, it was still 68 degrees down here. When I was working in shorts and a t-shirt, I was cold.

End Your Programming Routine: I the end, a goal is just that. There were things that I could have re-prioritized to finish this faster. But, I have no need to push it. Despite that there are other things that also need to get done, so the longer this drags on the more things get backed up. Ultimately, I am happy with where I am at and still motivated to get this done.

July 8, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

July 8, 2021 /

If you are like me then you have kind of given up on looking for ammunition. After over a year of nothing on the shelves, the entire pursuit has dropped off my radar. I wrote about the struggles to buy enough to participate in the trap season. Luck was on our side with that.

I have heard via radio and other sources that it is starting to come back. I thought that I would take a look for myself. To be fully transparent, I heard that it was always available online but my searches were pretty spotty. For instance when looking for trap, I did find cases available at $16/box (3-4 times what it cost the previous year) and sold out within hours. I hesitated as I was working multiple other deals and watched the inventory disappear on the screen.

I checked a few of sources in the last couple of days. What I have seen is some of the most common choices were on the shelf. The options were limited and the prices are elevated, I would say that this is far from over. In quasi-reporter style, this is what I have seen consistently in the last three months

  • 7.62×39 FMJ
  • 28 gauge target
  • 20 gauge turkey loads

In my check over the last couple of days I saw

  • 7.62×51 FMJ
  • 223 FMJ
  • 9mm FMJ and HP
  • 30-06 hunting
  • 10 gauge hunting
  • 12 gauge target and hunting

I know there aren’t many people like me (that don’t own a 9mm and don’t really care) but that is a bellwether indicator that ammunition is on the shelf. Industry insider’s public statements indicate that it is going to be at least a year and a half before a return to normal. I give that a hard maybe because that presupposes that everything including politics stay status quo. However, it does seem as this years news cycle is much more calm then last years. It only takes one event to change everything again.

End Your Programming Routine: If you are looking for ammunition, now might be a time to start. I know that I have scaled my shooting down quite a bit from the the previous years so I am still sitting in a good spot other than trap. At some point, this will have to change. The market will market.

July 7, 2021 – July 4th Tom Foolery

July 7, 2021 /

This was definitely a fourth to remember. Three days later I am still dragging because of late nights and on the go activities. I am not totally sure why I feel different this year than previous but I saw a lot of idiocy like never before.

  1. LAPD blows up their own bomb containment truck with fireworks

Despite what the caption in the picture says, they detonated the fireworks on purpose. What was unexpected was that the truck blew up.

2. Heat Wave Death Toll now Exceeds 100

It is pretty rare to see temperatures above 100 degrees. Many anecdotal reports (mine included) saw gauges reading 117 on Monday for a brief period. Now we are seeing the damage from the heat wave. I don’t think I have ever seen reporting from heat related deaths locally.

3. Ousted State Representative Receives Most Votes to Replace Himself

Mike Nearman was voted out of the Oregon House of Representatives 59-1 for opening the a capitol door January 6, 2021. He was caught on video and subsequently disbarred from the house and capitol. The committee to replace him initially voted to replace Nearman with himself. They have subsequently identified a different candidate.

4. US Evacuates Afghanistan in the Middle of the Night

How do you like that? Finally it looks like my generation’s Vietnam is going to end (officially). We have secure freedom forever now… does that sound sarcastic? It is and it is going to end like it started without a purpose.

There was a lot more that I observed but didn’t get a news article

  • June 29: Portland Oregon bans fireworks. Since they can no longer enforce mask mandates they decided to further make their subjects miserable. My county declined to enact a ban because they said it would end up with a majority of nuisance calls (thank goodness for sanity).
  • July 2, 5PM: Our local celebration stopped selling admission tickets and tickets were not available at the door. We did not buy them cementing our first time not participating locally since we have lived here.
  • July 4, 12PM: The first fourth of July parade not sponsored by the Rotary. With three weeks to go, Paralyzed Veterans of America stepped up and I thought that it was better than usual.
  • July 4, 7:30PM: Our first Fourth of July Rodeo in over twenty years. The crowd was in the mood to get loose. The lady next to me wanted to buy me a drink and I hardly said a word to her. I declined.
  • July 5, 1AM: I watched a man try to put diesel into a pickup when the station was closed. When that failed, he drove to the adjacent truck stop and I lost track of him. About five minutes later he came back and tried three additional pumps before parking (I am hoping for the night).

Over the years I have grown significantly less patriotic. I want to feel good about stealing land from the Native Americans to build something that was special. At least we could claim that even though we took it, we created something better. I think we did for all of the white, protestant males for at least for 200 years.

The philosophy and romanticism of our country’s founding is appealing but either I am watching it change with my own eyes or I was lied to from the beginning. From the ‘Patriot Act’ to the ‘CARE Act’ to a middle east military quagmire so much of the illusion of limited government is gone. With non-essential business’ arbitrarily closed and mask mandates of the last year, this is not my country. Sorry to end on a bit of a downer, but if you saw me staying seated instead of giving a cheering ovation at 245th anniversary of our country, you know why.

End Your Programming Routine: All this writing today was suppose to help me correlate and reconcile all the craziness from last week. I do believe that it was crazier than normal and I suppose the cause was all of the pent up emotion from the previous year. I am going to leave it here.

July 6, 2021 – Didn’t Quite Make it Today

July 6, 2021 /

**Note that this was mostly written on Friday of last week. I didn’t quite finish it before the holiday weekend**

I read a couple of times this week, but the chapter 9 in 1984 was long and dense. I will save all the details for the next posting on the book save to say it is the explanation of ‘War is Peace’ and ‘Ignorance is Strength’. I wanted to get some of this down pat before I write about it.

We are burning to beat the band this week. So many activities are happening that we are jumping from one thing to the next. Every night has something through this week. Another thing that I have been trying to close the loop on is my employment status.

For the first time ever, I needed to provide some references to secure this job. I was also being hounded to get them turned around in one day. I asked three people and got three yeses. One of my references sent me a copy of what was written. I could not believe what was written. I have an excerpt below.

I was very flattered by the response. I know that there was some magic when I took over the role. I had created a very strong and highly performing team quickly by just empowering people to become their full potential. All they needed was to feel like they belonged and were valued, nudged to flex some muscle and do the right thing.

I am not totally sure if my reference wanted me to read this to sort of prove how this person valued our relationship or it was really under the guise of making sure the message made it through the system. I kind of think that it is the former rather than the latter.

I still have conversations with some of the people that I used to work with. In fact, one of them organized a reunion of sorts for a golf outing later this month. I have never really continued meaningful relationships with former co-workers. It must be unique if I am deviating from my typical personality.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose that it is self-evident that relationships should be maintained. I have provided a number of references for previous coworkers before. There is just something humbling about people going out of their way to give compliments. I am thankful that people are willing to speak their mind in such short order. It is why I believe that there is something to karma.

July 1, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

July 1, 2021 /

When did this segment devolve into everything not Tacticool? Originally, I came up with this idea to help me come up with daily topics. Lately, I have been thinking about putting it up on the shelf again because it seems like I have other things I want to say.

I have fumbled around with firearms and preparedness as topics in this area. I can try to shoehorn a lot of different topics like I will try to do today but I am not sure that I want to do it every week. I guess that is the luxury I have, I can do whatever I want.

For today I wanted to talk about vehicles. This week, our Navigator rolled over 200,000 miles. That means that both vehicles we own have are over the 200K mark.

My wife has been binge watching ‘Fear of the Walking Dead’ lately. I know that the show is just for fun but how many vehicles are still functioning and clear roads seem like a miracle. I would think that fuel and maintenance would be would quickly disappear.

I am in new territory myself as I intend to drive these vehicles as long as they are functioning reasonably. Both vehicles, both Ford have developed a tick or knock over time. I am sure that it is not good and I have had them looked at but without any resolution or even prognostication about diagnosis.

With my pickup, I think it has something to do with the valve train, but it may also be with the timing chain. I haven’t investigated it thoroughly but I have heard that it is impractical to repair due to the amount of labor to do so. I hate to tear into the valve covers, but it is probably something I should do before some real damage occurs.

On the Navigator, I think the tick is related to an exhaust leak at the manifold connection to the engine block. This is another common problem where the aluminum warps or cracks and you can hear the ticking of the valves. I do think it is not a need to fix as the studs are prone to breaking making much more work than I want to take on right now.

I pretty much hot swapped the alternator in the Navigator a few weeks ago. So that will be good for a while. But, all in all things have been pretty reliable given that the vehicle has so many miles. I wouldn’t have a hesitation to take off for a long road trip for the vehicles so hopefully the last for a couple more years.

End Your Programming Routine: You never know when you need to ‘bug out’. By definition, you get very little notice and you have to grab what you can in the time you have. Last year’s wildfires are a perfect example of why you would have to leave with a moment’s notice. Make sure to keep your vehicles in good working order in case you really need to use them.

June 30, 2021 – The Year is Half Over

June 30, 2021 /

With today being the last day of the month of June, this ends the first half of 2021. It is a good day to reflect on the accomplishments and failures of goals set at the beginning of the year.

January 4, I wrote a post about my goals at least professionally https://altf4.co/january-4-2021-altf4-co-looking-forward/ I stated my goals were

  • Q1 – Solidify branding and develop a marketing plan for AltF4.co
  • Q2 – Develop and implement a membership program
  • Q3 – Replace at least one blog post with a podcast a week
  • Q4 – Generate positive revenue

Those of you that have been following religiously know that life circumstances have changed dramatically since the beginning of the year. I will summarize the events of the last six months.

January – I was working for Amazon and doing a little side work. I had no real other prospects but I was running out of savings. I was hoping that I could make this a growing concern as well as build a business.

February – Suddenly a recruiter found me and tripled my salary from what I was making with Amazon. I had no choice but to follow the money and take a replacement position.

March – I started working to build a reputation and do what I could to get integrated into my new position. I needed to at least attempt my best effort. I also realized that I needed a separate space from the rest of the household and it needed to be conditioned.

April – After spending some cold weeks in the basement, I started in earnest building my office project. This has turned out to be taking most of my free time (of which there is not much).

May and June – More and more of the same. I am focused on finishing this project before spending time on other things.

So, by my own admission I have accomplished little of what I set out to do at the beginning of the year and therefore I am not on track to meet my overall goal. Largely, the biggest excuse is that my circumstances have changed but it may be because I didn’t really want to do it anyway. I think that I do, but a lot of that could have been done despite me working a new job.

My kids did buy me a microphone for Father’s Day. I am waiting to set it up when I have a little more time or maybe the weekend. That removes another excuse from getting started. It is always good to go back and review the ‘Toolbox Fallacy’.

End Your Programming Routine: As I sit here writing, I can’t say that this will become something more than it is. I am not even sure if this is precisely what I want to pursue. I can say that I enjoy it and I do put effort into it. So… I have to change my expectations, it doesn’t matter. I am going to throw a hand at podcasting this quarter. I have everything that I need to do so and I am going to find the time to do some pilot work.

June 29, 2021 – The Morning After and the Calm Before the Next Storm

June 29, 2021 /

Over the course of the last week, several events have been top priority, the weather, family events and my anniversary. Much of that comes to conclusion today. One of the most bizarre weather phenomenon happened yesterday, a return to normal.

At 1pm yesterday, I went to go get flowers and it was hot. Both the thermometer and the weather app said 108. By 2pm the thermometer said 111 and by 2:30pm it was reading 115. It was supposed to be cooler and the forecast said it was coming, but when?

It turns out that was the peak, because by 6pm the temperature was down to 85 and by 8pm it was down to 72. In the course of six hours our temperature dropped over 40 degrees.

When I say normal, I mean that it is normal to be highly scheduled because Fourth of July is this weekend. The Boy Scouts have a bunch of activities planned Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The annual children’s play performances will occur Thursday, Friday and Saturday (my son is in the lead). There are other family activities still to come like my mother-in-laws birthday party today. At least the temperature will be in the eighties.

Yes, they were already working on the hotel at 6:30am this morning. But that was the view of the serenity from our room. So you could see the serenity of the location. In a few short days there will be fireworks going off and throngs of crowds (to the left of the picture).

I think that we as parents want to give our kids the best experiences that we can. That includes enabling participation in all of the extra curricular activities. Especially after last year. Even though I went out of the home to go grocery shopping and miscellaneous errands, I think that my kids were homebound from mid-March through late April until we went to the airport to drop off our exchange student.

Most of the traditional activities were cancelled like summer camp, youth groups etc. Maybe I just notice it more because it was so quiet for so long and now it is return to normal with activities. Or maybe they are more involved because they are at the age where they can be. I am not totally sure.

End Your Programming Routine: I know at some point my wife and I won’t necessary have to escape to a hotel to spend time together. It doesn’t make the fact that we have very busy schedules easier, but it does mean that we took the time despite all that was going on to be together. Fantastic evening.

June 28, 2021 – What is Hotter, the Temperature or …?

June 28, 2021 /

Yesterday, an all time hottest temperature record was set at 113 degrees. That was after a previously recorded highest temperature recorded in June of 105. Needless to say it is hot for a place were I can remember a summer that didn’t get into the 90’s until mid-August. Even this morning it was 85 degrees at 4:30 AM.

When I was growing up, no one I knew of had any form of cooling in their houses, not even window air conditioners. The advent of the heat pump started showing up in the mid-eighties but it was still very uncommon. When it got into the upper nineties we were hot. We tried to slip and slide, eat popsicles and stay in the shade. Night was a sweatbox in the bedroom that I would estimate was at least twenty degrees above ambient.

Saturday, we had the state trap tournament and it was hot. We were outside all day, but at least when you were in the shade, it seemed bearable. Yesterday felt like nothing I had ever seen before (here). It was like an inferno being outside. Our struggling heat pump did manage to keep the main floor below 80 degrees. We only have central heat on the main floor. As long as you stayed inside, it wasn’t too bad.

I don’t want to just talk about the weather today. When I looked back to last year, I was roofing this time last year. Roofing is nearly always a hot activity at least every time I have done it. The real reason that I am writing this is today is my 23rd wedding anniversary.

It felt like the hottest day of the year even though I looked it up this morning and it wasn’t. It was eighty-five degrees. But, it had been raining all week and we were having an outdoor wedding so it was more humid than normal. Add to that, more layers of a black tuxedo and black rubber shoes and sweat was pouring out of me before the ceremony started. I remember that my feet were actually burning inside those crappy rental shoes. By the time we left on a limo ride to the hotel, we were both sapped and we needed to be at the airport by 6 AM the next day. I think that we were asleep by 9 PM.

When we first met nearly thirty years ago, my wife had a yin/yang flag hanging up in her dorm room. I don’t have any idea where that ended up but it should have been a sign for us because it really describes our relationship. Her family is big and loud, mine is small and quiet. She is passionate and wears emotion on her sleeve, I am stoic and guarded. It makes it really difficult at times because we would both prefer our partners to be more like ourselves.

That is what makes it work because we need what each other brings to the relationship. She needs my temperance and I need her free wheeling. Over the years, we have learned how to push each other’s buttons which have led to some pretty strong disagreements because we are so entrenched in our camp of belief or yin and yang if you will. For instance, I was essentially threatened that if I didn’t quit my job over two years ago then we should consider other relationships. I doubt that I would have ever been so bold as to quit without a parachute. But I can see her side as that I was miserable to be around. I was scare to do it but I was more scare not to.

Not having many comparisons to personally draw from, I would speculate that this yin/yang relationship is more difficult than couples who are more similar. I am sometimes envious of friends where they work on projects together or share the same interests. I think, wouldn’t it be nice if we both wanted to do the same things? It is the reason that I signed up to play softball this summer so that my wife and I could do something together.

I recognize that I have my flaws and contribute quite equally to the difficulty of our relationship. It is definitely not all bad and we don’t live in constant conflict. When we get time alone, we can enjoy time together. We had many years without children and lots of experiences together. We have travelled the world, lived in different places and made many memories. It takes work. I credit my wife for taking the rudder on keeping us on course because I avoid conflict if possible. As much as I don’t like it I recognize that it is necessary to iron out our differences.

End Your Programming Routine: So I ask again, what is hotter, the temperature, our conflict over beliefs, our reconciliation when we get to the root or something else? Every year we take time to do something special, this year we are staying at a new hotel in town. We have the best room in the place with a huge view (and serious air conditioning). It is still forecast to be 109 outside and maybe hotter inside. Hopefully we can make it last another 23 years.