Here we go again........

I do declare, if I'm not crawling through renter sewage, then I'm playing in a roach motel(well at least this time it's by choice).  Yeah by choice ya see when momma mandy and daddy Dave were rental shopping they came across this one particular house which needed a lot of work. This would deter most home buyers but  not ol daddy Dave, he saw the potential. Needless to say it needs a lot of work and Davy had decided to take a week off from work so he could work on this particular house. Well the kitchen is a complete tear out so while taking down some cabinets he kept finding these remnants of past visitors. Yep, those are roaches, not just one or two but a city full. It was like this everywhere, behind light switches, baseboards, trim, drywall, these little boogers were everywhere. 

At least they all were dead, no food no life. While tearing down molding I would get showered with roach carcasses and fecies. When tearing out drywall, behind it I would find tons of them just laying around. Here's a pic of some behind a piece of drywall I removed. It looks like a roach lava lamp, I guess this spider was eating good. Feel free to enlarge pics to get the details, enjoy.

O malia where are you.?........

Well while outside puttering around in the garage, I let Malia run around and get into trouble, often she does. But on this occasion when I turned around I did not instantly see her, I knew she was just there so time did not permit for her to be far. As I step around my truck into the back yard I here a noise coming from under the trailer. It seems that malia has seen mr Barkley relaxing under here during the dog days of summer on occasion. She was just laying under there playing with the dirt.

what a little stinker.........

Decorating time.......

It's that time of year again, for all those Christmas crazys(ya momma mandy is one of these) to come out. Here momma mandy twisted dads arm and set a decorating date. So up to the attic daddy Dave went and down came with the tree(ya fakester makester). So with the tree set up and decorations a hanging you would think daddy's Dave's work is done but nooooooooo, now outside he goes to hang some Christmas cheer.

Golden touch

That girls has a golden touch, everything she touches turns to gold(as seen in the pick, yep thats golden cutlery). What better way to eat such a fine bird on thanksgiving than with the finest silverware, or shall I say Goldware.

Bye bye birdie..........

It's that time of the year the famous turkey day, thanks giving. Once a year we gather to give thanks and stuff our selfs silly. This year was no exception, the above pic is the bird of the day nicely done up by brother in law #4, and his wife. The skin disappeared shortly and the bird was ready for carving.

Here is grandpa Anderson slicing up the bird, and what a mighty fine job he did.

After all the stomachs were full and left overs packed away i snapped a quick pic of the delicious birds remains, all which was left was just some bones. Which might make a good broth for a cold winter day soup

Not gonna leaf it alone........

Well it's that time of year, with the leaves falling and weather growing colder. It was time for daddy Dave to take a Look at an old backpack leaf blower that he had acquired (free 99). The man who had thrown it in with a past Craigslist purchase said it was running strong but looked to be leaking gas and he didn't have time to fix it. Well leave it up to ol handy dandy daddy Dave, to take a look at it.

upon opening the blower up daddy Dave was soon to see at least one potential problem.  It seem that someone had tried to fix a leaking fuel line, with it looks to be electrical tape. Now don't get me wrong ol daddy Dave has been know to rig up a couple things in his day and time but electrical tape? I guess, why not as long as it works which it doesn't seem to be doing as of now. So daddy Dave will pick up some fuel line in the next couple of days(being a busy time of the year), replace the old and see what we're working with.

Psd......devices?.......

It seems we have began to collect these psd's.......(personal safety devises). They seem to have gathered in the hallway being the center of the home. We may need to combine/condense in the near future, they tend to be an eyesore. Click on pick to enlarge and to read the labels. The two fire detectors was suggested by our security company, as to not be liable if there's fails.........which it actually has at the moment. We're awaiting a service call.........

fresh on the mind..............

Sense I already done some garage door mantiance. I figured I should Just go ahead and replace a couple of rigged pulley components. after a couple eBay Purchases, I ended up with two new pulleys to replace the old worn out set. After replacing these, I had also bought an extra gear and went ahead and replaced a worn gear in back up garage door motor I had in storage. While the whole process was fresh on my mind. The pulley on left is the old one you can see the worn out bearings if ya zoom in.

Malia+fireworks=mommas girl........................

 at first Malia enjoyed the firework show while perched on her fathers arm.

 but half way through she wanted her momma and was holding on tight..............

quick pic of sister #4 and her hubby...........the blue hair did create a stir among the youngsters.

shooter on the roof........

 in the above pic we have captured a rare clip of two actual shooters atop of a parking deck in concord. dressed in black their white faces give them away (face paint?) with a growing crowd below many of which were oblivious to the shooting about to take place..........

  a zoomed out pic, the shooters are barley visible, they think there slick, what are they armed with AK, explosives, a sweet sniper rifle?....soon the crowd with find out ........at 7:35pm the silence is broking by a loud boom.............................................................................................................................................
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did people start running in every direction? people falling to the ground and running for cover?....no they just stand and cheer..........ya see the shooters were actual shooters, but of the firework sort. momma Mandy, daddy Dave, sister #4 and her hubby meet up for  the annual Christmas tree lighting in ol concord. yeah a little early ya may say, jump the gun they did, but it seems their just ready to get the Christmas spirit rolling.

perched a top........

perched a top the couch back rest, here Malia is enjoying some cartoons.

open door policy...........

 old gear out........ new gear in.........as easy as loosening three screws and a pin, replace gear and installation is the opposite of removal easy as pie

open door policy at lenmore.......... cost saving $150-200 depending on price of new unit. gear cost $6.50 ebay. another successful do it your dang self.

shed up where?.......

 
the goal was to get this shed up on this trailer....but how one may ask? with the use of concrete blocks, leverage, gears and pulleys, and of course uncle Nate's help. Story line: this shed was donated to Anderson Property's by sister #4 and her hubby, it seems they had no need for this outbuilding having plenty of storage elsewhere. being that daddy Dave has a few rentals he thought this would be a great bonus feature for a renter. the problem is how to relocate to the property with minimal cost and frustration.

as darkness sets in the process is well  underway. here the front of the shed is lifted and blocked. this was done with just some 4x4's and leverage.

once the front sleds have reached trailer height, the trailer is backed into place and a winch is attached. this went well for a couple of feet but we needed to lift the back to make the process easier, so back to the 4x4's and leverage.

here the back has reached trailer height and daddy Dave ditched the winch and just hooked it to his truck, pulling it the rest of the way.

here's a pic from the back

finally its up and on the trailer, with a couple of things left to do. replace a couple of 2x4's along the bottom and patch a spot on the roof then a pressure washing and strap it down, then a trip across town for a drop off. but as of now it will sit high on the trailer, until daddy Dave grabs a spare moment to do some repairs. its as if the trailer was made just for this shed it fit exactly, length and width.

how did i attach the tow strap someone may ask? well i drilled a hole with a spade bit the same size as a couple of scrap pieces of pipe i had lying around. stuck the pipe through the hole and then looped the strap around hooking it to itself. in this pic you can see some of the 2x4's in need of replacement, but overall shed is in good shape its even wired for electrical.

sweet potato........

 while daddy Dave was off messing with something heavy momma Mandy and Malia were out digging up sweet potatoes in the garden. here's a pic of Malia getting dirty, shes a hands on type of helper.

i spy something heavy...............

 Question:       how do you get that super heavy object down, gently and with just one man?

 first shove a couple 4x4 under, three 4x4's on this particular application.

 tilt the center of gravity

let the object slide down the 4x4's

walla....safely on the ground............now how the heck am i gonna get it back up there. another problem to solve for another blog. but for now just bask in the glory, yeah that's me basking away.

skyping crazy.................

well this past weekend my lovely wife's favorite football team was to be playing. but being able to watch this exciting game has not been in the cards for Mandy. ya see we don't have cable, just some of the old fashioned free stuff, so its rare any of her games are on the few channels we get. but with the introduction of a little new technology......... skyping, she was not only able to watch the game but hang out with her father and enjoy some good ol fashioned team spirit.(football language and all). here daddy Dave snapped a quick pic on his way out the door on his way to work. its better to be at work than home, especially if the favorite team score takes a turn for the worse, to bad i had to leave Malia. here the ladies enjoy lunch while watching the game. Mandy really enjoyed it, although this particular games outcome was not the desired one.

Dog food.......

As I sit Indian style on the couch cozeyed up, with the warmth from the wood stove and playing around with some new technology. I catch out of the corner of my eye my youngest daughter quickly move towards the kitchen. She moves with the quickness of a three year old although she is just one and a half. The sound of her feet piter pattering across the cool wooden floors grabs my attention. her slyness dose not go unnoticed and As my curiosity overcomes my comfort, I stand and quietly follow her into the kitchen. as I arrive on the seen I see Malia crouched over Barkley's food bowl shoveling crunches into her mouth. A smile creeps across my face but is quickly hidden as not to show my weakness. Young as she is she can smell weakness, as well as a trained Labrador on the hunt and often try's to play the cute card to escape trial. The memories of my own past crunchy taste testing comes to my mind and i can all most taste the crunches as if it was i who had a mouthful. I ask her what is she doing, but of course there is no reply she does have a mouth full of crunches which have not yet had time to soften. As I take my tool of choice, my finger and insert into her mouth to dislodge the crunches within. She doesn't really put up any resistance and seems to comply. The taste must not be worth fighting for, although this is not her first crunchy taste test. I guess she always sees Barkley enjoying his dinner and decides to give it a try. all ends well but it is Barkley who must suffer, with dinner put upon the counter top, he patiently  awaits Malia's  bed time so that he may eat in peace.

 Barkley was not to upset with her as seen in this pic she took a fierce licking, her hair is still a little wet.

time to change that diper.........

when momma Mandy say's "its time to change that diaper", its as if a start gun  goes off Malia is up and out, running down the hallway as if she can escape the inevitable diaper change. here she has been cornered and is hiding behind some curtains.

...............................................gotcha

garage con..........

 well i thought i had the problem fixed and well.........i did.......... but a new problem has arose probably contributed from the first problem, the worn out pulley. whats wrong with this pick....well the garage door motor is missing it seems that the motor stopped shortly after i fixed the pulley(3hrs after). great now ill  half to cough up some mulla for a new garage door opener.....or will i?  can handy dandy Dave put his do it yourself skills to work and some how salvage this motor....stay tuned.

after taking down the motor dave took of the cover only to find the source of the problem..........it seems that quality is a thing of the past. see the problem is a cheap part.....if you take a look at the pic you can see the gears operating the chain are made of plastic? it seems that wear and tare and a stubborn pulley have caused the plastic gear to strip itself. the plastic gears may have been used so they would fail under strain  as not to cause further damage to more expensive parts or that's what ill tell myself. you can see the plastic shreds left in the cover, almost as if a mouse was chewing on it. mission to see if i can replace the gear....ebay here i come.

Tidy cat.....for tidying up....

When I went back to the rental to check up on things I took two items with me. A gallon of tidy cat and some rat poison. Why the tidy cat you may ask, I spread this under the house in the areas which standing water use to be, just to help absorb any odor and detour any pest. And of course the rat poison for the obvious reason. Because of the sewage spillage, it looks as it a couple local rats have found a new home......nope not in my rental....not if I can help it. So eat up fellows...enjoy your last supper. the crawl space is closed off so that the local felines should be safe.

soon to be gun toting.......

hopefully ill soon to be gun toting fool. as of this weekend i went and took the 8 hour class needed to be certified to carry a concealed weapon. The plan was for momma Mandy to go with me but work scheduling did not permit this. if all goes well and i can get through all the red tape and billing associated with, i will be a gun shopping. Just call me pistol Pete.

Land lord test #1............

Well while out preforming the normal monthly rental duties, one of my tents told me that some times when they come home they notice a weird smell in the house. Thinking that it was probably nothing big i let them know i would crawl under the house just to check things out. So on went the head lamp and under the house I went. Once under the house I noticed water puddling up under the bathroom area. Under closer inspection I could not find a leak however the water was a little fowl and looked to be coming from else where. Long story short I discovered a leaking main sewer line toward the front of the house. A broken sewer main is a better description. None of the sewage was making to the street, it was all dumping under the house(nasty). My only option was to replace a 14foot section of castiron piping. After a quick trip to lowes(before they closed) too pick up supplies, and then dropping off Malia at sister #4's house, back to the rental i went. To get to the area in need of repair i had to crawl through maggots,raw sewage,rat droppings,spider webs,black widows(I killed at least 5),standing sewer water, and who else know what. I threw up in my mouth at least 3 times, and all most cried(just keeping it real). However I completed the job, even under these extreme circumstances, And was thrilled that I had done it myself(do it yourself Dave does it again). Time frame was 9:00-12:00pm. Why do they call it raw sewage? Do you have an option to cook it? And what would it smell like then? I am happy to have passed my first extreme landlord test. i went back a couple days later to make sure the problem had been fixed and to snap a couple pics for i was not in the picture taking mode at the time...imagine that.

 here is a pic of a 4ft section of the old sewer line, this crack went all the way down a 14ft section.

 this is a pic of the new pipe, the main sewer pipe ran alongside the duct work, making it hard to get to. now remember these pics were taken 4 days after the fix so the standing water/maggots are not visible. there was about 2-3 inches of raw sewage almost everywhere there were a couple of high spots which is where i tried to stay but to no avail.

 another angle of the new pipe, you can see the old cast iron pipe on the ground. i had 3ft clearance at the best and down to 2ft in some spots of course Ive worked in less, but not in waste run off..

joys of home ownership.............

 well recently that dang ol garage door has been giving me fits. not wanting to close and i have had a time with it. well it finally quit closing all together, and so it was time to finally find and fix the root of the problem. after some inspecting i saw that because of the unwillingness of the door to close it was putting such a strain on the top that it had broken the frame of the door.

 well after a couple spare scraps of metal and some sheet metal screws the frame was re-enforced and ready for action, however this was not the source of the problem just one of the results from an existing issue.

 finally after much lifting and lowering of the door(manually) the root of the problem was found. the pulleys on both sides had worn out their bearings and had begun to cut into the railing, this caused unnecessary friction causing the motor to have too much strain and shut off.

well with a little rigging and a couple of over-sized nuts this problem was temporarily fixed........cost free 99.

well problem fixed?................not so fast........ stay tuned for an update on the garage door fananza.