The Pool Build Begins
Posted: September 26, 2010 Filed under: General | Tags: Kubota BX24, pool build, rock wall build, stones, Swimming pool 8 Comments »
The first rocks placed
The rock wall begins
Madaghan helps.
Day one complete
So that line of rocks will extend further and start to curve around. After the rocks are laid out, we will order clean fill and level the area to prepare for the pool. Long way to go!
Related Articles
- Landscape Ideas around a Backyard Pool (brighthub.com)
My Vacation Part 1
Posted: September 8, 2010 Filed under: Landscaping | Tags: back hoe, footings, Kubota BX24, Landscape project, new tires, patio, standby generator 7 Comments »I had a great vacation! Hurricane Earle was a no show and the weather could not have been better: sunny and 80s. Everyday of my vacation, I felt like the first 2 minutes and 24 seconds of this video:
What did I do? Well you know about the Bash in the Bush already. Surely, that party was a fantastic way to kick off a vacation. But what the else did Chubby do you ask?
The Sunday after the party was a slow motion day . Everyone was barely moving, not really hung over, just really tired. I drove down to Long Island to pick up the cherub, Laurie drove down last time, it was my turn.
Monday, AJ came down to the house and we took the tents down and cleaned up the yard. The party was officially over.
Tuesday and Wednesday was wake up whenever, eat breakfast, play x box until Laurie and the Cherub came home from work.
On Thursday I got tires for the V dub-ya. While waiting for the tires to be put on, I walked on down to Luigi’s, the local pizza place, and got myself some lunch. The place was packed at 11am on a Tuesday. Seriously good food and they know the O’Shea’s by name. I would like to think it’s because I leave a nice tip for the counter peeps, but really I think Luigi has a crush on my wife.
Standing room only
New tires, new cabin filter, and an oil change set me back 500 clams. Not too shabby. I bought really nice Cooper Touring C64 tires, because well, I travel a whole helluva lot. They come with a 80,000 mile tread warranty and is also backed by a 45-day road test, allowing you to return the tire for a full refund if you are not satisfied.
All that factored into the buying decision. Plus I deserve them because I am beautiful.
Here is what the V dub-ya looked like when I left the shop:
Makes the VW look more betterer.
I am kidding of course.
After the tires were slapped on, I returned home to prepare for Hurricane Earle. I surveyed the yard putting all my daughter’s toys away, mowed the lawn, took the umbrella down and secured it, checked on the propane level then promptly called the propane company for a delivery. We were down to 60% and with a Hurrican a comin’, I wanted to be at 100%. A full propane tank should run my house for a week. I also checked the engine on the generator to you know…make sure it was still there:
The engine is trying to communicate with me. It is telling me something.
On Thursday and Friday, I dug holes for my friend Doug. See, Doug is building a deck that me and my ladies will be hanging out on alot. So I thought I would surprise Doug and have the holes for the footings well, dug.
Since the tractor was already at Doug’s, I hopped into the V-dubya and drove over with happy thoughts of digging bouncing around my empty head. Upon arrival, I discovered the fact that I am a forgetful jackass and promptly turned around to get the key for the tractor. On way back to mi casa, I tried to run down a deer that was mocking me. As he pranced off into the woods, I could have sworn he yelled back:” I got the tractor keys fat ass!” That future venison burger is just lucky I am not a hunter. What a dick.
Future BBQ meat running in Doug's driveway
Sept 3rd 12:31: First Rock in Bucket
Sept 3rd 12:38 Taking the f***ing rock to its new home.
Sept 3rd 1:17 pm: Another F***ing ROCK!! GRR.
Sept 3rd 1:30: Me telling that rock how I feel.
Sept 3rd 15:28: ANOTHER ROCK! ARRRGGH!
Sept 3rd 3:29: Me telling the rock how I feel.
Sept 3rd 3:35: All the Inglorious Basterds together.
Sept. 3rd 3:35: All done!
Special Shout out to Karl K. for fixing the Big Mean Orange Machine. During one of the many battles of Chubby vs. Rock, one of the hydraulic lines could not take the pressure and leaked hydraulic fluid all over the place. Karl fixed it in about 10 minutes. Rock on Karl.
On Saturday I worked on the patio. It was already done but see what had happened was…Laurie and I kinda, sorta, installed it to far down below grade and had to be raised up. Water was collecting in a nice little private pond in front of the garage door. I tried chanting: “ Rise patio rise!” which did not work. I then tried lifting it up like Yoda lifting the X wing out of the swamps on Dagobah, but my Jedi powers have recently weakend, so back to the old fashioned way with levels hanging from a string, tampering, and a hammer. It took alot longer this time and in fact as of press time is still not done.
I start with a Before Pic:
“A true before pic would have included the fucked up patio!”
Yes, yes you are right Capt. Obvious. Thank you for that…helpful…<sigh>..information. I hate it when the Capt. is right. I did not take any pictures before I got to work ripping up the old water collecting patio. Instead, after I ripped up said fucked up patio, I hopped on the ye old tractor and began dumping dirt onto the low spots making it nice level. Chubby even used a chalk line to get the dirt all pretty like.
“I would have taken a before picture.”
Somehow I do not think so. I think you would have called a professional for fear of getting your khakis dirty. Please go away. Where was I? …Oh yeah! The Semi- Before Pic:
Before pic (sorta)
See the yellow sting in the middle? Making sure it be level yo.
First stone laid! Nice and easy, nice and level.
See the blue chalk line in the above picture? That lines the top of the pavers up, so they come out nice and true. Yes, true. Not level. The pavers are not level themselves, so I want them to be nice and straight relative to one and another, hence…as Holmes on Holmes would say:” Nice and true”.
Busy vacation so far huh? Stay tuned for part 2…
.
Snowicane 2010, Broken Saturn
Posted: March 2, 2010 Filed under: Winter | Tags: dig out, Kubota BX24, neighbors helping out, Plowing, siberian husky, snow, snowicane 12 Comments »Holy shit did it snow.
When I came home from work on Wednesday, Februaury 24, here is what I came home to:
Those are my foot prints.
..And this is before the real storm was schedule to hit. My little Jetta could not make it up this fucking hill that is the bane of my existence. I bought the house in the summer thinking 2 wheel drive will be fiiiinnnee…no worries…
I had to park my car in a neighbor’s driveway. Now, I never met this neighbor so I was hoping and praying they would’nt mind. I secured the wuss Jetta and then knocked on the door. A very nice older woman answered. I introduced myself as the fat guy that lives a few houses up the hill and that my name is Brian. I also asked if it would be o.k. if I parked at the top of her driveway as my car did not feel like climbing the hill today. She told me I can park there anytime and I promised to plow her driveway anytime it snows. She was thankful, as she was paying someone to do it. Got to love the barter system.
As a result of global warming, the power was out for 3 days. The standby generator worked like a charm. Did I mention I love my stand by generator? While everyone was in the dark, I was enjoying cold Killian’s on tap. Ok, not everyone was in the dark, truth be told most people on the mountain have a generator that plugs into the dryer outlet and backfeeds into the panel. Blah blah blah yeah yeah yeah, I want to be special dammit.
The generator runs everything in the house except for: stove, microwave and central air. Those appliances draw waaay to much power, and I would have had to buy the next step up generator for a couple thousand more just to run the stove and than another grand for the A/C. Forget we can ” rough it”.
- That is not “roughing it”
Yes, thank you I realize that. Where was I? Oh..roughing it..
So, it is rotissere for us! Set it and forget it during a power outage baby!
Oh and having the bar on a generator lets you have this:
Mudslides during a power outage!
And another kicker? Laurie’s beloved Saturn bit the dust. The engine decided it did not want to be engine anymore. Instead, it wants to be removed from the vehicle and melted down to be razor blades. So, on Sunday, my friend Joe (who happens to be the best mechanic in the world) did me a solid favor and followed me to his shop in case the Phaturn (that is what we call it, because we are uncool)…in case the Phaturn could not make it. Of course his shop was on top of mountain only accessible via mountain goat. The little engine that couldn’t, actually did make it-barely. The oil light came on:
I hate that oil light.
What about the storm you ask? I will let the pictures speak for themselves:
Please stop snowing.
A fort is a must during a blizzard. Yes, that is my Princess blanket. Don't judge.
Look what I made!
Overnight, the wind picked up and it was nasty as hell outside. So bad, we forced our Siberian Husky to come in. Now, we know he could probably take it, but they are built for cold. The wind was to much and we felt bad leaving him out, it was a tough call. We decided him being 14 years old, it was time for him to come in wether he liked it or not.
We tried to let him walk outside to pee, but the wind decided to dump 80 million pounds of snow on our front door. The snow was sticking to the door frame:
3am: Could not get out the front door to pee.
Front door was a no-go. Let’s try the garage:
Ok, Sierra, climb over the mound o' snow to pee.
WTF man? You kidding me? I am a Siberian..I am not built for this shit...oh wait a minute..
02:51 am: Made it outside whoo hoo!
Please stop snowing.
- “That sure is alot of snow ya got there!”
Thank you Capt. Obvious. You are still a dick.
Even the plow with 350hp V-8 got stuck! AJ looking like a traffic cone.
Mini Bobsled track
Jetta was buried in there.
Snowberry beret...
Still not plowed yet
It was a bad storm, worst the area has had in 20 years or so. It also brought neighbors together, helping each other out. I think we have each dug each other’s vehicles out more in 4 days than most other neighbors will their whole lives. Good times, good times.
That about says it all.
Let it Snow
Posted: December 21, 2009 Filed under: Winter | Tags: Kubota BX24, snow, snow plow Leave a comment »
Here is my driveway
See? Like Yukon Cornelius says:” Nuthin’ “
Long Island got 83″ of snow I think. This does not happen all to often so I’ll take it.
Still, I plowed the driveway. Why? I did not want that white stuff to turn to ice or we get hit with another storm next week and this layer freezes, Fed Ex guy thinks it is lava, blah blah blah…
For my new readers, here is my snow plow toy:
You can read on how it came to be I got this thing by clicking HERE.
Bring on the snow,bitch!
Side view...and the Jetta with it's delicate ass being all lazy in the garage.
Pictoral History of the Mighty Septic
Posted: August 19, 2009 Filed under: Madaghan | Tags: House Projects, Kubota BX24, Leach field, morons, Pictoral History of the Mighty Septic 3 Comments »What the hell are you doing with a tractor?, Why is it orange? What will you do with a tractor? or You’ll shoot your eye out kid!
Here is the story:
One day while raking leaves, I stepped on a white pipe. I thought to myself: “That’s peculiar…” Now, I do not know much about the engineering and design of a good septic system, but I am willing to bet that criss-crossed pipe sticking out of the ground is not in the design schematics:
November 4, 2004. Here we go...
I love my house builder. Thank you sir, you are a gentlemen and scholar. And a douchebag.
I think the pipes need to be connected? I am no expert....but....wow.
Given the house at that time was not even a year old and already having problems with its digestive system (sorry), I held a flint glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe it could be a quick fix.
At first, I dug just a bit and uncovered two pipes that were not connected! Whoo Hoo! mystery solved. All I have to do is dig up the one pipe and replace it. I am home free. I thought this pipe was the reason my backyard was a swamp. Thought I could dig it out, replace it, and problem solved.
I know I would fix it licekty -split.
November 11 2004. I think someone was drinking when installing the shit disposal system.
So here is what I dug up at first:
We've only just begun....
Well little did I know that the pipes were in 10 foot lengths and as a bonus were not even close to being on the correct slope. One might concludethat the morons who installed this either had one leg shorter than the other or were severly retarded. While I applaud hiring the handicapped and giving everyone a job, could it not be the job that ensures my shit flows down hill at a 1% slope?
Once unearthed, it was further revealed that now two pipes needed to be replaced. April 2005-I took vacation and started to dig with visions of fixing the shit system Either that or striking oil:
I really like digging long rectangles.
The project was moving along. Pipes were being replaced a little at a time on weekends and after work. Digging in my backyard is not easy due to the rocks and boulders every few shovel fulls.
April 10 2005. Digging rectangles by hand is fun.
I enlisted some help, and got some observers. They thought this was a union gig. Day one: Dad Curin and Sierra went on strike.
Break time again?
April 16, 2005: I Fired my helpers.
April 27 2005 Done?
A little more than a year later and what is this? A brand spanking new Kubota BX24:
July 29 2006 Orange colored hickmobile -with cruise control
Why? Swampland. So, what went wrong? I neglected the stone, and the landscaping fabric, and some other pipes needed to be changed. My backyard from April 05 through July 2006 was hanging in there until one day, while mowing the lawn, I discovered a puddle near the fence. I as sure as shit (ha ha) was not going to dig that mess up again by hand.
I would have dug it up again.
You again? Go sew something. Anyway, I got a few estimates ranging from 15-17K. It just so happens that this safety orange beauty is 17K. Sure, I would have to dig again, but this time I would have hydraulics and 24 horses on my side. Oh, and an orange bucket. Than at the end of the project, I will have a new septic AND new tractor. Capeche?
The Kubota worked nicely. The rocks are still a pain in the ass, but still better than with a manual shovel. Pretty soon I was back digging rectangles. Only this time, I will dig loooong rectangles because I am silly like that. So in April 2007 I took more vacation time and got back to work.
New Distribution Box and grey water. Yummy.
View from the deck
May 12 2007 Even more rectangles
BONUS PIC!! A special mention from Google Maps!!! I looked my house up one day and could not believe it! There I am on the tractor getting stone from the pile in the driveway and dumping them into the trenches. One might notice a Jeep Liberty in the driveway. Dad had to come up from Long Island to watch Madaghan so I could get some work done. I think Maddie had a fever and could not go to daycare.
I am google famous.
I carefully placed the stone over the pipes checking for grading all the time. If the grading is off, the shit runs back into the distribution box and well, I am not digging this a 3rd time. Carefully,the stones fell into place and the landscape fabric was over the top to keep the dirt out. Water goes in, dirt stays out.
Fabric, Stone, Pipe, oh my.
Distribution box covered by landscape fabric
Tractor drag racing..
June 06 2007 Covered with fill. Or perhaps covered Phil.
Here is what that mess looks like today:
Much more betterer
