little house in the desert

What's New

2011-09-11T21:49:00.001-07:00

I have yet to take a picture of our new floors with the baseboards in, and the toe-kick in the kitchen. In the meantime, here's something else we've done. Remember the window we closed some 1.5 years ago? Well, it's finally serving its purpose now!

Yes, it took a while to find shelf brackets that are small enough to fit a 4.5" deep shelves. We finally got them online. Now they can hold all of our ceramic creations, and a few other things.

And then there's the squacumber:

It was growing on the cucumber plants, that were right next to some acorn squash plants.

When we opened it, it looked more like a melon:

It tasted like a cucumber, but has much crispier bite.
I made a salad with some basil, also from our garden:

It was good :)

Almost forgot: the great gnome and plant invasion:

They situated themselves near our front door, next to our new brick path. Here's a close-up:

Grout

2011-06-26T15:01:00.000-07:00

We are about half way through grouting. We started in the kitchen and dining hall, and then went into the hallway. We used an epoxy grout, so we don't have to seal it every year. But that means that the grout needs to be cleaned from the tiles immediately after applying it, otherwise the tiles will be covered with a shiny haze. The epoxy grout we use is Laticrete Spectralock in the sand beige color. It matches some of the shades in the tiles, and I'm very pleased with our choice.
Here's what it looks like in the hallway:

The grout in the back of the hallway. Closer to you are non grouted tiles

Tiles!

2011-06-12T22:32:00.000-07:00

Since January we've been messing with the tiles. We already got the tiles we wanted before we started with the destruction, but we encountered a bunch of problems...
When we opened the tile packages we found out that the small tiles don't match in color with the bigger tiles. I guess the lighting at the store wasn't ideal, and we didn't think to look to hard into it, so we only found out later. That meant that we had to find small tiles that match the large tiles. We finally found some, after visiting a couple of Home Depots, and stared tiling. We knew that some of our larger tiles are also not of the same dye lot, but we thought they were close enough. Just in case, we thought we'd spread them around, so they'll blend in. Well, that didn't work so well... These tiles were too obvious. We tore them down. Destruction again. Ruining a couple of adjacent tiles while we were at it. Then we had to find 4 boxes to replace the different dye lot boxes. We found some that were of a different dye lot than what we were looking for, but thought they were close enough. We bought them, but still kept looking. We went to every single Home Depot in Tucson, and finally found 4 boxes of the exact dye lot at the farthest Home Depot in town. They were close to closing the store, and we couldn't take them right away, because we had to get a bigger car and return the old ones, but they agreed to keep them for us if we come early next morning. The next morning we had to bring the car to the body shop (to repair the damages of the accident Mark was involved in - at no fault of his own - in December). That meant that we had to take the van at night, put the tiles in it, drive it first thing the next morning to the other side of town, get the tiles, bring them home, return the minivan, and bring the car to the body shop by 8 am. BUT, finally we had all the tiles we needed!
So we continued tiling, a bit at a time, ripping some of the off when they weren't perfect, and about 3 weeks ago or so, we finally finished laying all of the tiles!

That's what the tiles in the hallway looked like before grouting.

As you can see in the picture, we used a nice pattern - hopscotch - that combines 18" tiles with 12" tiles. Well, the small tiles are a tiny bit thinner than the larger tiles. That means that leveling them is not always easy. That's why they weren't always perfect, and sometimes we had to rip them off and put new ones... That also means that there's a lot of tile cutting to be done!

Anyway, now we're in the process of grouting. It's very exciting to see the floor transform so much. first, it was nice to see how the concrete floor dresses itself up with tiles, then the cut tiles that filled in all the empty spaces by the wall came along, and made it look much nicer, and now, the grout just adds so much! Plus, it prevents little snakes from finding homes in the cracks in between the tiles (yes, we had a little threadsnake invade our home)!

[By the way, the tiles are porcelain Catalina Canyon by Daltile]

Thinset Removal

2011-01-06T20:07:00.000-08:00

After removing all the tile, we had to spend 2 whole days removing thinset. It was fairly easy to remove from the part of the floor that is covered with a vinyl sheet. Not so much (and that's an understatement) from the concrete.

In the picture above you can see the part that we already scraped off (in the back) and the 16 ex-tiles we still have to scrape. It also shows some of the tools and protective gear we're using. You can imagine how sore we get after each day of doing this... I'm looking forward to start tiling soon!

Destruction

2010-12-31T18:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was arguably the coldest day of the year. Did we cuddle on the sofa with our Cuddlies and a nice cup of hot chocolate? No. The result of what we did you can see in the picture below.

To be exact, that's actually the result of prior days of work. We started on Sunday, but it was kind of late, so we only got to remove 4 rows of tile, that is 48 tiles. Tuesday we removed a lot more: 140. Yesterday we removed everything else - that means another 184 tiles. As you can see in the picture, some of the tiles were laid on a vinyl sheet floor, which made it a lot easier to remove. There were some tiles that were almost impossible to remove, and instead we had to scrape them off, in a process not unlike carving in stone.
Needless to say, Mark did most of the work, but I also helped as much as I could. We got me a lighter drilling hammer (only 2.5 lb, as opposed to the 4 lb Mark was using) and I managed to remove with it quite a few tiles.
It was a long day of hard work, and it kept us warm. When we finally finished we were completely dusty and all of my muscles were exhausted. Just opening and closing my hand to a fist was painful. My left shoulder was crying for help. But after a good night sleep, all the pain was gone.
We now have a mountain of broken Saltillo tiles in the back yard. We'll see if we can do something with larger pieces - maybe use them as pavers.
We still have to scrape off all the thinset that was not removed completely with the tiles. Some of it is extremely stubborn. Hopefully we can finish that tomorrow, so our floor will be ready for some new tiles.

Why So Quiet?

2010-12-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I last wrote about our work in the house. This is not because we haven't been working. Though we did slow down quite a bit, we also did accomplish a thing or two.
First, we finished the windows. After installing the windows, we needed to plaster around them, caulk inside and outside, prime and paint the plastered area. So we did that, and with the exception of the bedroom, where we still need to paint (the problem is the paint for the bedroom no longer exists! But we will paint it with a similar paint and pretend it was intended), we finished everything.
Outside, we needed to take care of the garden: remove summer plants and plant winter plants. We planted snow peas and sugar snap peas, spinach, kale, lettuce, artichokes, and maybe a few other things that I can't recall. The peas seem to be doing fine, but we'll see what else grows in the future.
We also bricked the path from the driveway to the house, where there used to be a large, dangerous blob of concrete.
In addition Mark did lots of relatively small projects, such as caulking around the roof to prevent crickets from getting into it, and adjusting the seat of the AC on the roof.
Back inside, we started painting the office, and we still have 1.5 walls left, but that can wait.
We are still in the process of deciding what to do with the floor.
First we decided to get rid of the Saltillo tiles and put something else. Then we realized that it will be a lot of work. So we thought maybe we can clean them. However, an expert tile cleaner came over and said the oil stains will not be removed. Well then, what's the point of cleaning? We decided again to rip them off. It's going to be a lot of work, but I don't think we have any other option at the moment. We have to decide what to put instead of Saltillo. One option was hardwood floor, leaning toward stranded bamboo. The other option is tile. At the moment we are seriously considering tile because it will probably be easier to install and be a lot cheaper. I also think it will befit the house better, because it already has lots of wood, and it's harder to match another one that will go along with the existing wood, without being exactly the same.
Hopefully the process will be done in a few weeks...
Now, about Saltillo tiles. These are non-glazed ceramic tiles that are intentionally uneven and non-leveled. They are supposed to be sealed every 6 months to a year, depending how used the area is, and how good the sealer is. Of course, our tiles were sealed with the worst sealer ever. It doesn't seal at all and is impossible to strip, which is what you're supposed to do if you want to remove the stains. If a peanut falls on the floor - it's stained for life. It is also easily chipped and cracked. Possibly the worst floor option one could ever make. It might look nice in the beginning - as all the visitors to our house indicated - but it's bound to look bad eventually - and eventually doesn't take long to arrive.

Our first (and probably last) watermelon

2010-09-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

We had many watermelon babies, but then, to our disappointment, they blackened and shrunk. Only one, probably due to the protection of the lettuce forest, grew to a significant size.

It is very sweet, too.

We are also enjoying the other veggies that manage to somehow survive the heat, though there aren't many of them...

This picture is from a while ago, and it features some of our biggest veggies. The more recent tomatoes were the size of blueberries, as the plants withered, and by now they have completely succumbed to the heat.

Windows

2010-07-24T09:55:00.001-07:00

In the last couple of weekends we've been working on installing the new windows got. We started on the weekend of the 4th of July - exactly one year after we moved in. Boy, do these things take time!
We wanted to install the windows much earlier. During the cold nights of winter (it does get cold here in the desert, you know) we could feel the coldness getting through single pane glass sheets of our metal windows. Zero insulation. Mark looked up dozens of window makers, and finally chose Clear Choice. On the day removed the window that used to open to the garage, the window person came and took final measurements and half the payment. Yes, it was on the 2nd day of January! He said it would take a couple of weeks. Then, when Mark called to inquire about it 3 weeks later, they said it would take another week or two. Then he called again, and they said "next week". Then he called again, and only got an answering machine. When he tried to file a complaint he found out that the Tucson office closed. We still wanted the windows, so we tried contacting the main office - no answer! Damn!
All of a sudden, dozens of complaints appeared on the BBB regarding Clear Choice. They weren't there before - all unhappy customers that didn't get their windows. We decided to file a claim on the credit card to reverse the charge for the windows. It took 60 buisness days, but we finally got our money back, since they didn't hear a word back from the window company.
Well, then we had to look for another window company. This time we went with Window World. It took longer than they said for the windows to arrive (about 4 weeks) than the time they said they would (2 weeks), but they finally arrived, as I said, in the beginning of July. Yeepee!

Our new windows in the garage - waiting to be installed

So every day on the first weekend we worked on one window. It's a lot of work: First you have to removed the old window, which is never easy - it is attached with nails that are not always in their designated holes. Sometimes there's more than one nail per hole. You have to scrape all the caulk and paint and other gunk that makes the window really stick to the brick. Then you have to carefully, without hurting yourself, remove the window (they're heavy!) and carry it away. The most time consuming part, though, is leveling the openning - scraping all the plaster, cutting the metal sheath under it in the upper part of the openning, and scraping off the bulging parts of the bricks. Next, you fit the window, make sure it's level, drill some holes, put some anchors, and screw it in.

I didn't mention the ceiling fans we installed, ha? That was quite an achievement in itself, including permit requirements, running cables through walls, etc...

Same window, from the inside - a lot better at keeping the heat outside!

Finally, insulation and caulking. We finished 8 out of 9 windows in 2 weekends! The last one is a tiny bathroom window, so it doesn't count :)
Oh, but we still have to plaster. Again! Will this ever end???

The Enchanted Lettuce Forest

2010-05-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken a week ago. Since then a major deforestation event took place (the fennel forest was uprooted as well, and basil was planted instead). We still don't know what will come instead of the lettuces and the spinach.

Cilantro is next on our uprooting agenda.

It seeded and is now dead. The seeds were collected, and we will plant a few of them soon.

Small Projects in the Kitchen

2010-05-02T10:35:00.000-07:00

Our kitchen is mostly done by now (as you'd expect!!), but it's still not completely done. That will only happen years from now, when we've replaced the tiles (well, I hope it'll be sooner than that, actually, and more about the tiles some other time - it's a LONG story!). But in the meantime we've managed to do some things, like install all the cabinet doors, install the cabinet hardware (you know, drawer pulls and little knobs. Other projects took more time, like the AC vent that comes out of the over-the-range cabinet. Last time you saw it, it probably looked like this:

We had to cut the door on the right side to fit under the shaft. We also put some boards around the shaft, so we can later attach the grill onto them:

You can see the doors and knobs here, too!

Then we had to paint the grill, because, for some reason, they only come in white! (or some ugly brown, but not for the size we needed). Spray-painting is much harder than I thought. You have to apply just the right amount to cover everything, but not too much to make it run. I can't say I succeeded, but since it's hanging up above the microwave, it looks mostly fine:

Besides that, we also installed lights, and now our kitchen is a lot better lit! We replaced the little fluorescent light in the kitchen that was hanging perpendicular to the kitchen layout, thereby not lighting a lot of the counter space. Instead we got a much longer fluorescent light that hangs parallel to the kitchen layout, and lights up most of the kitchen without much help from any other light.

We also removed the old '50s-style chandelier that was hanging in the dining hall:

And instead put an oil-rubbed bronze chandelier, that goes nicely with the ceiling and our kitchen faucet and cabinet hardware:

With fluorescent light bulbs, of course!

Garden Snippits

2010-04-19T19:59:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we had our first fennel! It was ginormous!

I roasted it with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was good, but a bit on the dry side. Next time I will try roasting it covered up.

This weekend we noticed that the persimmon has flowers! Lots of them, too! They are very pretty:

In addition, we transplanted the plants in the greenhouse. Unfortunately the artichokes did not survive the heat when we left the greenhouse closed during the day we went to Tempe about a month and a half ago. Some of the tomatoes were affected as well, as were the eggplants, but most of them seem to have recovered. Especially recovered are the tomato plants that got transplanted on the weekend of April 2nd.
We also planted some herbs (lemon verbena, mint in the backyard, rosemary in the front yard), cucumber seeds, melon seeds, and some sunflower seeds. The melons were planted where the peas used to be - I can't believe we still have some fresh peas! They don't taste quite as good as the earlier ones, and they are the last ones, but we have more that we froze.

Spring!

2010-03-23T19:40:00.000-07:00

You can tell Spring is really here:

New leaves on the fig tree!

Our first fig!

New growth on the grapefruit tree!

Leaf buds on the persimmon tree!

This past weekend we almost finished preparing the summer garden for planting: dug another bed, for a total of three, and installed part of the irrigation. We also planted the thyme in a smaller bed, to which mint and lemon verbena will be added at a later date.

Finally, we planted some summer wildflower seeds in the front yard. Hopefully, we'll have a colorful summer!

Greenhouse Plants, Etc.

2010-03-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

Last week, when I took these pictures (I know, I'm lazy), our garden turned 4 months old. It has provided us with many peas, arugula, mustard, and spinach. Actually, it was a lot more arugula and mustard than we could handle, so we took them out. Plus, they had tons of aphids. It was neat to see some biological control agents coming to the rescue - ladybugs, parasitoid wasps - but I took them all out. We really didn't know what to do with all that mustard, and the arugula, when not young and tender, is too strong for my taste. We also had arugula and mustard, as well as endive in the mesclun salad mix, so we took them all out, finding little lettuce plants struggling for some air and light. Well, they have plenty of both now!

The area between the struggling lettuce and the green onions, where the arugula and mustard were, now features little lettuce babies, planted 2 weeks earlier:

The greenhouse plants are doing pretty well too:

Four artichokes, 8 bell peppers, 2 eggplants, and the rest are various varieties of heirloom tomatoes.

Even though we didn't really have any below-freezing days since I built the greenhouse, I like to believe that the greenhouse helped these plants grow. As I mentioned before, these pictures were taken last week, and now they are even bigger. Plus, we also purchased another pepper plant and a thyme plant from the Tucson Organic Gardeners Sale last Sunday. As you can see, some of the seeds didn't sprout - 2 of our Taos tomatoes and 3 of the bell peppers. We resowed them yesterday. We also removed most of the doubles and triples to leave a single seedling. The recommendation is to transplant them sometime between mid to end March. I think we will wait until they're a bit bigger to do that, though 2 of their beds have been ready months ago.

Yesterday we dug another little bed for some more herbs we are planning to grow: mint, thyme, lemon verbena, and anything else that will strike out fancy.

If you are interested in spinach, parsley or cilantro, let me know - we have way too much!

Greenhousette

2010-02-07T20:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while Mark was fixing the skylights, I finished building - all by myself! - the little greenhouse we're going to use to grow seeds. I started last Sunday, when I built the frame, and yesterday I painted and attached the plastic sheet and the hinges:

I'm happy to report that the greenhousette passed its first rain test - it rained a lot this morning, and yet the greenhouse was unharmed (albeit very misty).

The longest dimension is about 2', and it's only meant for holding small pots with seedlings. I planted some today - artichokes and bell peppers. We're also supposed to get seeds of seven heirloom tomato varieties in the mail. I can't wait to taste them!

This is what it looks like open:

You can see how the sugar snap peas are going wild. Here's a picture of the main winter garden as it reaches the ripe old age of three months:

The empty-looking part in between the mustard greens and the fennels occupies the green onions and leeks. I sure hope they will grow some more...

And this is not all of the peas I could have picked (it was getting dark):

Peas Now! [snow peas on the left, sugar snap peas on the right]

Lots of Diggin' and A Compost Bin

2010-01-31T20:39:00.000-08:00

The past week we spent the evenings digging till our backs broke and our arms would put Marge Simpson to shame.

Apparently, Marge was into body-building at some point (more specifically, during an episode called "Strong Arms of Ma").

This is not a WWI battlefield... it's our front yard, with the main water line exposed.

The reason we were digging so much is that our drain clogged. Since we'd have to bring a plumber to unclog it, we figured we might as well also prepare for the replacement of our old, rusty main water line.
We're having some trouble with the permit issuance for that, so we'll have to wait with this project a couple of days, but we did get our drain fixed. Lloyd came Thursday morning, in the pouring rain, and put his snakey machine through the hole in the drain, that we exposed the night before:

Unfortunately, the hole is right under our herb garden. Poor chives, they suffered the most, and they're still so young and tender, you can barely even see the ones that were spared. Yes, they're in between the parsley and cilantro (coriander).

And now for something completely different:

We started piling our kitchen and garden scraps back in December or late November. But the pile was getting so big, we had to do something to contain it. So we built this 3-faced compost bin out of wood and chicken wire. The extra green is from our mustard bed - it's been going wild, and so have the aphids, so thinning was unavoidable. Encouragingly enough, I did see a ladybug too, so there is at least some measure of biological control.

Plastering and Eating

2010-01-29T21:43:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago we started plastering the bricks on the closed window. Then we ran out of plaster. We had enough for 3 layers of plaster mixed with sand, but not enough for the last layer of pure plaster, for a smooth finish. So we finished that a week later. Now all we have to do is prime, paint, and put some shelves. We'll see how long that'll take...

The same day we finished the first few layers of plaster, Mark made this pizza:

He made this pizza many times before, and it's always delicious. But this time it was extra special, because he used spinach from our garden! And homemade yogurt! Yum!

And last week we had our first crop of snowpeas!

The yummy green pods went straight into our yakisoba! Yum!

Windows XP Removed

2010-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

(XP stands for Extra-Professionally)

Our house didn't use to have a garage, but a carport. Sometime along the way the carport was converted to a garage, but the windows to the dining area and the bathroom remained. This is not up to code, according to our inspector, so we have to remove the windows and brick them up. We decided to do it now, because we are also getting new windows, and they will cost $450 less if we remove the old windows ourselves. The window that needs to be bricked, is therefore, the practice window -we can see how it goes, and decide whether we would like to pay someone else $450 for the pleasure or not. Turns out it's not so difficult! Sunday Mark removed the window in about 1 hour, and that included finding hidden nails, and dealing with the fact that the window didn't open all the way, because of the garage door tracks that run across it. Now that we know there are nails on both sides of the window, and as all other windows open all the way, it should take less time per window, we hope. The window person, who came to measure the windows, was very impressed!

Mark bangs on the sides of the window to loosen it up.

All the nails are out, and the window can finally be pulled out.

Next, we had to brick it up. But first we had to find bricks. We wanted to use burnt adobe bricks, to match the rest of the house. You'd think it would be easy to find in Tucson, but no. The new adobe bricks are made differently - they're more stable - and the one place that sells them, although they said they have bricks with a color that matches - was too busy to help us. We finally found a place that sells burnt adobe way out west - Walter's Wholesale Mesquite. They mostly sell firewood, but they also have adobe bricks of various sizes. We wanted 4" wide bricks, so that we can have a little niche for built-in shelves -- the house bricks are 8" wide. We got 50 of them and started laying them. Six hours later:

Mark reinforced the bricks with reinforcement bars drilled into the bordering walls. It was already 11 pm and we ran out of sand, so we had to close the rest of the window with some cardboard and continue the next day.

Monday, 8:30 pm, after acquiring more sand and cement, we started again. Five and half hours later (yes, it was 2 am when we were finally done!):

From the inside: the bricks will be painted, and shelves will be hung to show our smaller ceramic creations.

From the garage side: as you can see, the garage door tracks didn't make it any easier laying the bricks in the last couple of rows. Also, not that the new brick sizes are different - they are shorter both in length and height than the original bricks.

And on a different note: On Sunday our garden veggies turned 2 months old:

The snap peas are blooming!

Copious amounts of mustard, arugula and salad greens result in a lot of greenery ending up in our meals.

Grout

2009-12-21T20:19:00.000-08:00

We finally grouted the new tiles in the kitchen. We first had to clean them and then soak them really well with water, so that they don't absorb all the moisture from the grout and make it dry too quickly, without letting it stick. The reason it took us so long to get to this stage, is that we first thought that we'd seal the tile before grouting. We thought that if the tile is not sealed, it will absorb the grout that would inevitably land on it, and so get stained. But we then realized that if the tiles are soaked, the grout can be cleared pretty easily off of them while it's still wet. So we finally did it, and it took us two nights. Last Tuesday we did the part under the oven and by the sink:

And also the part under the fridge (on the right):

We finished the rest on Wednesday night, including all along the cabinets.

I'm glad we ended up not sealing the tiles before grouting. The grout does leave something on the tile, but it makes it match the old tiles, which were probably also not sealed before grouting. The difference between old and new tiles that was obvious before, all but disappeared after grouting. Of course, the old tiles are way dirtier... We'll need to scrub them with ammonia and then reseal them, but we'll do that only after we seal the new tiles under the oven and fridge, and then move the oven and fridge - finally - to where they're supposed to be. And we can only do that after the tiles and the grout are completely dry.

Grouting was mostly done by Mark. My job was to get clean water and clean the buckets. This was not fun: I had to wash the bucket and sponges in the cold water outside, where the temperatures dropped to somewhere in the 40s, plus a chilly breeze... Brrrr... I'm glad it's done!

Guess What! Our Oven is in the Middle of the Kitchen Again!

2009-12-05T17:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, we had to move it and now it's blocking the access to one of the cabinets, not to mention making our kitchen even smaller.
But we got the tiles laid out under where it's supposed to be:

We also got a lot of little pieces laid out right next to the cabinets. Sometimes as narrow as less than an inch! We couldn't have done that without the wet saw that Mark's dad gave us! Here's a picture of it in action:

Our Veggies are 1-Month Old!

2009-12-05T17:42:00.001-08:00

They turned 1-month on Thursday, which is when I took these pictures:

Don't they look great? On Sunday we put the first string for the peas to climb on.

Our little mixed salad bed. Tomorrow we will thin them out and have a delicious salad!

The fennel is starting to look like fennel!

Also, last night was freezing, so we had to cover the fig tree. Hopefully that helped.

Tile Redoing

2009-11-29T16:51:00.000-08:00

Today we redid almost everything we did yesterday. Yes. It's sad, I know. But Mark found that the tile wasn't set very tightly on the floor, and decided to take all but 4 pieces off. Indeed, these 4 tiles were the only ones that didn't come off way too easily. So today we got some thin set and tried over. It seems to have worked better than the cement, but we'll see. Hopefully we won't have to do it yet again.

Kitchen Floor Tiles!!

2009-11-28T19:34:00.000-08:00

We finally got to work on our kitchen floor. You see, until today, our floor looked like this:

This is because there used to be cabinets over there. Now the corner will house the refrigerator, which awaits patiently in the dining area. Some of the other tiles we had to remove because they got damaged. It's very easy to get them damaged - you don't have to even touch them. But don't get me started on Saltillo tiles - which is what these tiles are. Suffice to say that if you ever consider installing new floors in your house, do yourself a favor and do NOT install Saltillo tiles. Any other floor would be better, I assure you. Anyway, we prepared the floor by removing the tiles and parts of the grout, and now they're ready to accept the new tiles. First, set them up, to see if they look okay:

Now, attach with mortar. We got some cement, and at first tried to use it mixed with sand. Didn't work - it dried out too quickly, and was too tough to squeeze out from under the tile. Since the tile is not flat - neither at the underside nor at the top - you have to make adjustments with the mortar, so soft mortar works better. This is why we had to remove what we started, and do it over, this time without any sand, just straight cement. We found that the tile also needs to be completely soaked, otherwise it would suck up all the water from the cement and dry it out really quickly. Well, this is what it looks like now:

Now we need to wait for it to dry, which should take 1-2 weeks or so, seal it - since it's unglazed tile - and grout it. We also have to do the part under the stove, because the stove is now standing were there used to be cabinets.

When we were done with the tile, we went to the garden and thinned our mustard greens. From the thinning, I made these open sandwiches:

They were good! Mustard greens have a distinct flavor that I like. I tossed them with some balsamic vinaigrette and put them on some lightly toasted bread, topped them with some avocado salad (avocado, diced tomato, toasted walnuts, lime juice, garlic powder, salt), and finished with some crumbled feta. Our first garden crop was delicious!

Growing Veggies II

2009-11-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Here's how much our veggies have grown in a week! Cool or what?

And the mesclune leafy greens are starting to look like a salad mix!

Growing Veggies

2009-11-22T10:14:00.000-08:00

While visiting in Israel I heard that our peas came out, and also some of our lettuces. I couldn't wait to see them! It was so much fun to see green in our little veggie beds!
The following pictures are from last Sunday.

Our peas

Pea close-up

Leafy greens

The mantid lives on the fig

The next post will be of pictures from today, so you can see how much more they've all grown!

While I was gone Mark also made another bed for the herbs, and planted oregano, parsley, chives, and cilantro. The picture I took of that is very blurry, so I'll wait till we get some seedlings to show you.

Veggies!

2009-11-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

The last couple of nights we spent preparing the beds for the vegetable garden, setting the irrigation, and, finally, planting. Monday night was for the peas - we planted sugar snap peas and snow peas - and Tuesday night was for the leafy greens - mesclun mix, spinach, mustard, arugula, leeks, green onions, and fennel.

Do you think they'll be green by the time I get back from Israel (in 10 days)?

To prepare the beds we basically repeated what we did with the trees: gypsum at the bottom to loosen up the soil, then mixed layers of compost, peat moss and soil.
As for the irrigation, the peas have a dripping hose, and the greens have sprinklers. Note that when the label on the sprinklers package reads "1' to 6'" it means that it actually can barely reach 1.5 feet. Lame!

Three Trees

2009-11-02T23:19:00.000-08:00

With sore muscles from Saturday's tree hole digging, we continued with the same motion and kept digging some more on Sunday. This time it was for the vegetable beds. We dug one little trench for peas - 1 by 17 feet, and one for leafy greens and other vegetables - 3 by 17 feet.

Then we went to get trees from the Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery, which happens to be the largest nursery in town. They have a huge selection of everything, and they got very good reviews. Indeed, they helped us find the most beautiful trees:

The farthest away, by the shed, is a semi-dwarf redblush grapefruit tree. This means that it will only grow to about 12 feet. On the left is a Janice Seedless Kadota fig tree, whose fruits were rated best-tasting at a 1996 Dave Wilson Nursery fruit tasting. And at the front - hopefully the largest tree, so its canopy might shade the office in the hot summer mornings - Fuyu persimmon! I always thought I hated persimmon, but I guess I just never had good ones. We recently bought one to try, and I realized that it is an absolutely delicious fruit. I can't wait to try ours!

Before sticking the trees in the ground we put some (2") gypsum and mixed it with the hard bottom of the hole. This is supposed to soften the soil. On top of it we layered compost, peat moss (for increasing the acidity), and the original soil, mixing the layers as we went. It took about an hour to finish each of the trees. We did the same with vegetable beds, one of which, the little one of the peas, you can see in the tree picture above. We ended up working on it in the dark, with only the moon and the measly porch light to show us what we were doing.

Tree Holes

2009-10-31T20:06:00.000-07:00

Today we finally started working on the garden! We dug 3 large holes for three fruit trees. We're hoping to get fig, grapefruit and persimmon.
Tucson is known for its hard clay alkali soil, and also for its caliche - a really hard layer of deposited calcium carbonate. We heard that sometimes you need a jack hammer to penetrate it, otherwise your plants will die either because their roots can't go deep enough, or because the water would be trapped and suffocate the roots. Luckily we don't have a hard layer, but we do have some fragmented caliche. You can see it here as the white material in the hole:

Here's a look of the pile of soil we removed:

Because of that caliche-like stuff, we decided to test the soil for drainage, as recommended in a publication about caliche from the U of A. We partly filled the hole with water and measured the level to see if we get 4" of drainage per 4 hours.

It drained way faster than that. Actually, we got to test it again, just in case the water creates an impenetrable layer with the caliche. It drained pretty quickly the second time as well. So yay! We don't have caliche problems! What a relief!

Tomorrow we'll add gypsum to the bottom of the holes, and then mix the soil with some compost we got a huge pile of:

This will hopefully create a suitable rich substrate for the trees to grow, and the gypsum will hopefully make the soil softer.

Just in case you're wondering how we'll get all that compost to the garden area in the backyard, here's the answer :)

Today we also started digging the beds for the vegetable garden. We still have a lot to do tomorrow!

Countertop is in!

2009-10-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Monday morning, way before our wake up time, the phone rang. It was the countertop installation person, asking if he could come an hour early. "Sure", I said, "since you already woke us up...". He apologized, and a few minutes later showed up ready to install the countertops.
We got them from the Home Depot, and they are made by Corian. They came with a free integrated sink that fitted our sink base cabinet, and a free edge upgrade; we chose the bullnose edge. Very classy. We ended up paying around $1700.

Here is the installer drilling holes for the faucet:

After the countertops were installed, we could start working on the installing the faucet. Here's what it looks like under the sink now:

The drain is not attached yet, because we keep finding more tubes that need extensions. Maybe tomorrow!

But we do have our sink:

Isn't it lovely??
We got it from the online Home Depot for about $90 less than they charge for the same thing at the store (we paid $100).
And just a general look at the countertop by the sink, even though there's still a lot of work-related mess:

Oh, and yes, on Sunday we installed the dishwasher!

So we almost have a functional kitchen. Perhaps tomorrow!

Hurrah!

2009-10-19T22:06:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we installed the LAST CABINET!!
We started the last section, which lies against an adobe brick wall, by preparing it. First, the we have a tall cabinet - 90 inches, that goes beyond the brick wall into a wood board that supports the ceiling beams. The board extends from the wall, so we had to cut it, and fill it with something else, that doesn't stick out. We also attached another board to the beams, so we can use them to support the wall cabinets with bolts. This is because the adobe brick crumbles easily, and we don't completely trust it to hold all of the cabinets' weight.

What you see here is the brick wall, with a piece of the board cut out (using the dremel) and the space covered with a think piece of plywood. Above it is the board that we attached to the beams for extra support for the cabinets.

Then we installed the tall cabinet, and aligned the base cabinets with it. This was the first time we installed the base cabinets before installing the wall ones. This required some help with holding the cabinets in place, which we got from some paint cans:

Finally - the wall cabinets were installed:

See the Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World on the "countertop"? Yes, I made some delicious cupcakes in the kitchen, even though we still don't have a sink, and all the ingredients are in boxes.

Tomorrow the countertop people will be here to measure the counter surface to be topped, and next week they will come to install it! Finally - after more than 2 months - we will have a sink!

A Bit More Progress in the Kitchen

2009-10-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Yes! We have the essential kitchen in! That means, all the wall and base cabinets that are against the plaster walls, that hold or surround the fridge, microwave, stove, sink, and dishwasher. The non-essential kitchen is the part of the kitchen that will be against the brick wall and will give us extra storage and counterspace. That's pretty essential too. Especially for bread baking. We're working on this part now.

The microwave took all of Saturday to install. We wanted to make sure it's gonna stay where it's supposed to be, so we took extra precaution, in the form of extra screws and attachments to the cabinet above it and to the wall. Also, as I mentioned before, we made sure the cabinet above it is securely fastened to the wall and the ceiling beam.
It took a long time also because of vent that comes out of it and needed to be attached to ducts in the cabinet:

And then we had to seal the opening to the outside with some Great Stuff.
And cut it when it dried.

Can't wait to be done and remove all that protective plastic off the microwave!

A Bit of Progress in the Kitchen

2009-10-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we finally finished installing the wall cabinets on the southern wall. It took a long time because we had to deal with the most difficult of cabinets: the one that goes above the stove. That's because this single, 30 inch cabinet is the home of the air-conditioner vent, the microwave exhaust vent, and the microwave outlet, which means: a) it has to have a bunch of holes of various sizes; b) it has to be very strong, to hold the heavy microwave. So we had to measure and plan everything carefully, add extra support in the form of a bracket from the top and extra screws to the studs.

Once this cabinet was up, it wasn't too hard attaching the next two cabinets!

While Mark tried to figure out stuff, I was sitting in the living room, and I noticed that front yard plants cast lovely silhouettes on the corridor's wall, which reminded me of Japanese paintings:

I assure you, it looked much better real life. The wind also added a nice effect. Lovely.

Cajoling a Cabinet

2009-09-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

The last cabinet on the eastern wall of the kitchen was indeed a bit too large to fit (mostly because the walls are crooked), So it took us pretty much all of yesterday to cajole it to go in. This involved sanding, planing, removing pieces of wood from the wall, sanding the wall, etc., etc. Today we finally got it in!

Twelve more to go!

The Hardships of Installing Wall Cabinets

2009-09-26T23:53:00.000-07:00

So far we installed four wall cabinets. Boy - was that much harder than we expected! The corner took us a while to get leveled, but wasn't too bad, especially considering it was the first one. Attaching the two small 12" cabinets next to it - that was pretty much horrible! First of all, they're so narrow, you can't fit the drill in to screw it to the face frame of the corner cabinet. This means we had to HAND-DRILL the holes 3 times each: once with the small drill bit that goes all the way, then with 2 subsequently larger drill bits that only go through the first cabinet's face frame. Hand-drilling is not easy! Second, the corner cabinet's diagonal face frame made it very difficult to align the cabinets to each other, and also made it impossible to use the cabinet claws (see picture below), so we had to use regular C-clamps. Because of the hardships of alignment and leveling, the toggle bolts were hard to align as well (with toggle bolts, the anchor needs to go inside the wall before the cabinet is up, and the screw then should go through the cabinet and into the anchor). And yes, the 12" cabinet to the right had to be attached to the wall with toggle bolts, because it completely misses the studs.
By comparison, the last cabinet we attached so far, the one over the sink, was very easy. Although we had to use toggle bolts for it too, because there's only one stud behind it, it aligned perfectly almost without adjustments. It was also finally possible to use the cabinet claws, and to drill with a machine. Much better!

We work at night - hence the glare...

Even though we could use the cabinet claws as clamps and guides to drilling, we nonetheless could not use them for screwing through, because our screws' heads are too big. Figures! Still, it wasn't too bad. Now we'll need to see if the 36" cabinet can fit in the remaining space!

First Cabinet In!!

2009-09-24T22:53:00.001-07:00

This is such an exciting event, it deserves its own entry!

(...And a rather fuzzy picture...)

Operation Duststorm

2009-09-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

The title may sound like the kind of war a George Bush would start, but ours was actually quite constructive. If you remember, we had to remove parts of the walls in the kitchen to accommodate the electrical wiring.

So now we had to close these openings.

Which we did with sheets of gypsum, in which we punched holes to hold the plaster. The electrical outlets didn't make it any easier...

Again, the outlets didn't make it any easier to apply the plaster - they were always in the way! The result was too much plaster, that needed to be sanded. At first we did it with a hand-sander, but we soon realized we might need the help of a professional - in the form of a power sander. It sure helped! But soon enough the whole house was covered with a thick layer of plaster dust! Lesson learned: covering the dining table with plastic is not enough! Next time - use the plastic to create a barrier between the place to be sanded and the rest of the house!

Took us ages to clean up!

But then the fun part started:

Painted!
We used FreshAire paint, which is supposed to not release toxic volatiles, but it still had some paint-scent to it. The color is earthenware, if you're interested. I think it'll go well with our cabinets, countertop, tile floor, and exposed-beam ceiling. But we'll see!

Up next: Installing the cabinets!!

Brush 'n Bulky

2009-09-16T22:45:00.000-07:00

Tucson collects brush and bulky twice a year, and it happens this week. We had to get our trees trimmed and our kitchen leftovers sorted out, which was a nice change from inhaling dust in the kitchen (more about that in the next post).
Trimming the trees was a lot of fun! We got a pair of loppers* that were SO good, it felt like cutting butter, even if the branches were thicker than 2 inches! Incredible! While I'm here, I might as well mention how pleased I am with the lawn mower we got. I used to mow the lawn at my parents house all through my teen years, and although the activity gave me time to come up with solutions for some troubling issues (e.g. my English teacher), and shaped my triceps for years to come, I never really liked it. First, it was a HUGE lawn. Second, the lawnmowers we had - and we had a few of every kind! - were never as much fun as the one we have now. We had fuel-powered push mowers, electric mowers, and rider mowers, and each had its problem. But our reel push mower is excellent! I always thought it would be hard to push a non-motorized mower, but it turned out to be even easier than the heavy gasoline push mowers. Not to mention the fact that it's not half as noisy. Anyway, I highly recommend it!
So our pine tree got a hair cut,

It's not the best view of the tree before the trim, but you can see how low the branches hang

Now it looks more like a tree!

...and we also had to thin the mesquite, so it won't fall off (we will have to do it twice a year, as per previous owner's recommendation). We also had to cut down a really nice agave plant that was in the way of the ditch we will have to dig to connect the main water pipe to the water supply. As I mentioned some time before, Lloyd the plumber found that it's too corroded and needs to be replaced. Removing the agave was really sad, but its 3 kids were spared at least, and I think they're doing well.

Finally, here's the pile of brush and bulky, which I'm pretty sure is the largest in the neighborhood:

Left to right: scrap in bin (shouldn't have done that - they took the bin!), poor agave in cardboard boxes, pine branches, old kitchen, mesquite branches.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Our loppers are bigger!

Considering the State of Our Kitchen...

2009-09-03T20:21:00.001-07:00

You might wonder, like Dani, where we eat these days. Actually it's a matter of what we eat. We still eat mostly at home - we don't have time to eat anywhere else. But we do spend a lot of time buying a lot of frozen food! Our freezer is full of frozen pizzas, fake meat chicken nuggets, buffalo wings, chicken patties, veggie burgers, etc. That's what we usually end up eating for dinner. Sometimes we carry out pizzas. But every now and then we feel like having something that resembles a real meal, you know, the kind with vegetables, so we experiment with dishes that don't take too many dishes to prepare, like roasted green beans (wash the beans, spray them with olive oil, salt, and parmesan, and bake for 1o-15 minutes), shakshooka (tomato and eggs mixed together - one of the few real Israeli foods), salsa fresca (tomatoes, corn, and beans), black rice salad (black rice cooked in the microwave, edamame, and sesame, tossed with some sesame oil and a bit of rice vinegar), or just plain salad.

This has been the case for exactly 2 months now. And now that we don't have a sink, we're even more limited - by the size of dishes that fit in the bathroom sink. For example, In the days we still had a sink, I discovered a fabulous recipe: melon tapioca soup (courtesy of the Vegetarian Times): you soak 1/4 cup of small tapioca pearls in 1 cup of water for about 45 minutes. Then you cook it with a can of coconut milk and 3 T of sugar for 5-10 minutes (until thick and pearls are translucent). Then you turn the heat off and add 1/2 cup of milk, stir well and let cool. Next, you blend a melon, and when the tapioca pudding is cooled enough, you add the liquefied melon and chill. It is SO refreshing and delicious! You have to try! Now, where can I wash my blender?? :(

So we are really motivated to finish up with the kitchen. Here's what we need to do next:

close up the kitchen walls and plaster them (we can finally do that, now that the electrical wiring got inspected)
paint the walls (either before or after installing the cabinets, or both)
connect a new AC duct and a vent duct over the range (the latter will be connected to the microwave)
remove floor tiles from areas where cabinets are to be installed
install cabinets (I suspect this will take us a while!)
call the countertop people to come and measure, so they can prepare out fabulous Corian countertops with integrated sink. It will take them about 10 days to prepare the countertop, and then we will FINALLY have a sink, and we could FINALLY unpack all of our kitchen equipment and all the raw materials, and FINALLY we could eat some real food.
in the meantime, we will need to install new floor tile in places where there used to be cabinets but there will not be in the future.

At least there are still a few things that don't require much dishes and are awesome nonetheless, like a scoop of ice cream in a glass, topped with a bit of Irish Cream and some soy milk. Pure indulgence!

A+ in Electrical Wiring

2009-09-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

If you need some electrical work done, I've got the person for you: Mark the Electrician! Yes, Mark did all the work (I tried to assist, but sometimes I felt I was more in the way) and the inspector thought it was PERFECT!
But I should start at the beginning. We needed to add 5 new circuits: 4 to the kitchen and 1 to the office. This is because we got new appliances, and each requires pretty much its own circuit. A kitchen, according to The Code, also needs to have at least two circuits for the countertop outlets. We thought we'd get an electrician to do most of the work, but somehow ended up having to do it all by ourselves (electricians are very busy these days, apparently).
In order to get all the wiring done we had to break holes in the walls, remove some old outlets, put knew ones, run wires through the studs, etc. Better I explain it with pictures!
So here's what our kitchen looks like now:

Hopefully you can read the text in the callouts. It explains what each electrical element is for. You can definitely see the absence of a sink - we kept it as long as we could, but finally had to get rid of it on Sunday before the plumber's arrival.

Here are some details of the big picture:

On the right you can see a hole where an old outlet was removed. Next is the refrigerator's outlet, with its own circuit. Then our first ground fault protected outlet that we connected to an existing circuit, and that feeds the rest of the outlet on this wall and the next (total of 4 outlets).

Here you can see the old oven outlet, which was connected to the same circuit as all the other countertop outlets. This outlet will be removed and the box will be covered and hidden behind the oven. Above it is the microwave outlet that will reside inside a cabinet. We got an over-the-range microwave, and it will be connected to wall and to the cabinet above it. I bet it'll be neat! Below is the new oven outlet, connected to the microwave circuit. We have a gas oven, so it doesn't take much electricity. You can also see a part of the new gas pipe that the plumber installed - nice and yellow.

This is where the sink used to be. Lloyd the plumber removed old pipes and put shiny new ones. Don't they look good?
on both sides of the corner are two more outlets connected to the same GFCI, and on the lower left is the dishwasher outlet, that will be share a circuit with an outlet to a disposal, that we are not going to install. This outlet will be inside the sink cabinet.

Two light switches that will connect to under-the-cabinet lights and final outlet inside a junction box where all the indoor Romex wires (yellow) connect to the outdoor ones (grey). The wires go up and to through the wall to the garage, where they are running along the ceiling. From there they go outside and run along the wall under the eaves all the way to a conduit that is connected to the main service panel.

First we had to remove the LB that connects the AC conduit to the panel. It used to be where the little hole is now at the bottom, blocking all access to knock-outs. Only then could attach our new conduits in.

Attaching the new circuit breakers was my most worrisome part. One has to be careful not to touch the exposed live wires that are connected to the main circuit breaker. Fortunately, there was a very small part of them that was exposed, so it wasn't too bad. Just in case, though, Mark stood on a wood board while working on the panel, and I had a wood stick on hand to hit him with in case of an accident. I was relieved when this part of the electrical work was done!

The work also involved digging into the brick walls, because we're adding cabinets to the north wall, and they require outlets and a new circuit.

We drilled two holes in the wall, and widened them with a chisel. It took a long time...
And this is what it looks like from the outside:

I should say something about getting an inspection. We got a lot of raised eyebrows from different people when we told them we're getting an inspector. Apparently not many people get inspections for small projects. We were worried at first, because getting an inspection means you have to know all the rules specified in The Code, and there are so many things that no one could tell us if they are acceptable or not, because they vary with inspectors. We had to do a lot of research. We were also worried about the required procedure of acquiring a permit, and about the expense. It turned out not to be too bad. I had to draw plans of the kitchen and where each electrical element is to go (outlets, switches, lights, etc.) and mark them with the right circuit number. Turns out the guy at the Residential Review was pretty impressed with my plan. The pricing for the permit is hard to figure out. There's a 40-page pdf file on their website that tells you how much you have to pay for each outlet and switch, and for a visit, but it's really hard to figure out the final number. We thought it would be around $200, but it came up to $76.
So getting the permit was not a big deal, and I'm glad we got the work inspected, because otherwise, if something happens and there's a fire, the new work would have invalidated the insurance on the house.

Anyway, did I mention the inspector was very impressed with the work? Of course I knew he would be - after all, Mark is a perfectionist, and now he's also an electrician :)

This and That

2009-08-30T11:39:00.001-07:00

When the roofers were here with their dumpster, we had a chance to get rid of a few large, bulky, heavy things.

The roofers removed the concrete slabs that led to nowhere in particular. I have plans for this backyard... It'll just have to wait till we're done with the house, though...

Here there used to be a large concrete slab. Mark removed it by himself - using a sledge hammer - for two reasons: a) it was cracked in the middle, which made it a safety hazard; b) the plumber, in his previous visit, found that the pipe needs to be changed (too old and corroded) - so we will need to dig a channel between the faucet (where the green hose is connected) and the main line, which lies in the curb, and to replace the pipe.

Since the roofers were here we've been working on electrical wiring to the kitchen and office - we're adding 5 new circuits! That's a lot of work, especially when you need to get a permit, find out what the code is, etc. More on that - with pictures, of course - later!

Carpets and Roof

2009-08-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, at 5:45 am I woke up to the stumping sound of people walking on the roof. It was indeed the roofers who came 15 minutes early. By the time I got up to the roof, about 10-15 minutes later, it already was stripped to the boards!

Luckily, there were backerboards, so no hot asphalt drizzled through the exposed wood ceiling boards underneath it, though we were prepared for that scenario as well.
It took them a little longer to scrape all the old asphalt and prepare the roof for the insulation boards and the multiple layers of new asphalt.

These are the insulation boards, with one of the roofers showing off

Preparing the asphalt: first, take the paper cover off...

Then, carry it to the hot oven

Put it inside...

And this is what you get after some time: hot liquidy asphalt...

...that you mop onto the roof sheets that are layered on top of the insulation

The result:

The old roof is in the dumpster, the new roof has a step - that's where the insulation ends (no need for insulating the garage, the porch or the eaves.

The roofers had to come multiple time later to finish up things, remove the old cooler's vent, put in a new double dome skylight, and coat the roof twice, and now it's finished.

Our snowy roof. Notice the "step"?

The roofers we used are West Coast Roofing. They were the ones who gave us the lowest bid, which was about $2000 less than all the other bids. The company is fairly new (though the people running it are experienced) and that's how I explain the difference in pricing. We did ask for references, which we got, and they seemed okay. After they started they explained all the staged to us very clearly and were very informative and seemed to know what they were doing. They also saved us more money when the saw opportunities for it. For example, the front porch roof seemed okay to them, so they reduced the price a little and left it there. They also promised to give us a $50 gift certificate to a restaurant, but somehow we didn't end up getting it.
There was one problem though: in one southern edge of the house the eaves were not as deep as on the other sides, and since the roofers assumed equal distance between the edge of the roof and the beginning of the wall, they left a bit of roof uninsulated. This was noticeable more before the white coating, so we complained. Of course, once everything is in place, you can't go back and add more insulation, so instead they gave us the new skylight for free.

All in all, the expenses on the new roof amounted to $5040. We already feel the difference. On Tuesday, when the carpet people were scheduled to come, Mark went to Tempe for work, and I had to come back from work around noon. Before leaving the house 4 hours earlier, we turned off the AC, especially since the roofers had a few spots open around vents and skylight. When I came home, the temperature was only 84 degrees F - something like 15-20 degrees less than the outside temperature! Pretty neat, ha?

And yes, the carpet people came around 12:30 - pretty good for a window of 12 to 4 - and finished installing it by 3 or 3:30. It looks so nice! I don't have "before and after" pictures, because I'm not sure the differences would show, especially since the old carpet didn't look too bad. Instead, I will post pictures when the rooms will be completely done. The carpets were from Home Depot and cost us about $1100, including installation and waterproof padding. The installers were from Western States Flooring, and seemed very knowledgeable and ready to explain whenever I had questions.

So now we have a new roof over our heads and new carpets under our feet. Which feels nice. But there's still a lot more to be done!

Meet the Neighbors

2009-08-17T06:54:00.000-07:00

We had the new roof installed this weekend. It's a built-up roof (more on that in a later post), which meant that hot stuff was to be poured on top of it, with the risk of its dripping into the house. We were therefore recommended to leave the house for a couple of hours (which turned out to be 5). This gave us an opportunity to get to know our neighborhood!
First, we talked to Silvia, one of the first people to move into the neighborhood. The very first one was our neighbor to the south, Ray, who together with his dad built the house in 1946. Silvia lives right in front of Ray, and that makes her our SW neighbor. She has the reputation of knowing anything that goes on in the neighborhood. She told us some very interesting stories about people who lived in our house and how one time our large mesquite tree fell off but was pulled up again and somehow made it through. Right next door to Silvia is a house that has some interesting characters - both inside and out. The owner (who apparently can play some tricks of dubious nature) rents it to a couple who has lived there for more than 6 years. However, they recently got divorced, so the wife is hardly ever there. Not clear where the guy is now and whether we met him or not. We did meet a few of the inhabitants (or should I call them outhabitants - they live outside in a tent!). One of them has a couple of pitbulls - I met the female, Diamond, who is very friendly and loaded with milk - she recently gave birth to ten pups - and a cockatoo! The cockatoo can say "pretty bird" and "close the door", but most of the time we just hear her SCREAM HER HEART OUT.

Next door is a couple who has 5 cats and 2 dogs, but we haven't met any of the pets, because they live indoors. We did meet the owners - Carla and Bob. They've lived there since 1991, and they have a bunch of fruit trees. Apparently Carla makes her living by selling dolls and toys on EBay. Bob just left before we made our approach, so we didn't get to talk to him.
To the north is a rental that was just re-rented to a couple of roommates this past week. The old tenants, who we've met as we moved it, just bought a house and moved out. The new tenants are students at the University, and one of them is called Brian. The other is still in NY, so we didn't get to meet him.

In between meeting all those new people, we also needed to go somewhere and have breakfast. I asked the roofer for a recommendation, and he, without hesitating a second said "Frank's!" It's only about a mile away, and fairly cheap, non-presumptuous and tasty.

Mark had Frank's Veggie Burro and I had French Toast With Lots Of Sugar

Both were very good.

And to finish it up - here are a few pictures from the neighborhood:

Hummer dealership and the Catalinas from the road. Our house is to the right, where all the trucks are parked - these are the roofers' trucks.

This lizard lives around our house.

A bird on a tree

Good to have an animal hospital (or two) around. This is one of them. the other is across the street.

Kitchen Demolition - Part II

2009-08-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Find the differences:

Hole in the Wall

2009-08-07T20:09:00.000-07:00

Remember the plumber from a previous post who left a hole in our closet walls?

Well, we had to fix it. It's not as easy as you might think... To start with, it seems impossible nowadays to find materials for fixing plaster walls! I guess everybody's doing drywalls, but what about the old houses?
We had to go to a specialty building materials store (A&H building materials), and they gave us instructions and patching material, and also a sheet of drywall for only $2.00 (it was damaged, but good enough for us).
First, we had to straighten the holes in the wall, so that the pieces of drywall can fit. We did that with a drywall saw. There were also pieces of metal lath in the corners that we had to remove or push in so they won't stick out of the plaster. Then we cut the drywall to pieces of the right size. We attached the drywall pieces to the studs with drywall screws, and drilled holes in them so that the plaster will have something to hold on to.

That's what we did last Saturday:

On Sunday we had to apply the plaster. We knew it dries quickly - the instructions said to only mix enough material for what we can use in 15-20 minutes.
But by the time Mark spread about a square foot of plaster - about 10 minutes - it was already starting to harden. It dried up even quicker that the instructions said!

We had to throw away a bunch of hard plaster and work with smaller batches. That was very tiresome, because we had to wash the bucket well before mixing the next batch.
Anyway, after many hours of mixing and cleaning, we finished the holes in both closets.

This is the bedroom closet.

The next day we sanded the plaster. Not surprisingly*, Mark did a much better job than me, both at applying the plaster and sanding it. He worked on the bedroom closet, I did the reading/hobby room closet.

Here's the hobby room closet after priming:

It doesn't look too bad here, but if you look up close you can see bumps.

Finally, the walls were painted. This is the hobby room closet, painted white (blame the lighting for making it look like it's yellow)

Not bad for a couple of inexperienced homeowners, is it?
Of course, only time will tell if we did a good job or not. Hopefully this will keep for a while!

___________________________________
* Not surprisingly because Mark is a perfectionist and I'm not.

Plum, Plum, Plumbing! AC!

2009-07-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

As per the inspector's recommendation, we had to change the route of the temperature and pressure relief (TPR) valve drain. As it was, it went up to the roof, and that was against the code since 2001. The heater was installed in 2005! Shame on you, water heater installer!
So yesterday we gave Lloyd the plumber $385 and this is what he did:

Actually, times two. This is the closet in one of the two adjacent bedrooms that are directly against the water heater closet. The TPR valve drain starts to the left and continues to the right where it goes into the next bedroom closet, and then through a hole to the outside of the house.

Now we have to fix it!

Lloyd also installed a pressure regulator on the main water source because the pressure was too high (as per inspector's diagnosis). This caused a few problems, one of which I will talk about some other time. The other was the evaporative cooler's float that wasn't set up for the lower pressure and started to act up, which caused the cooler to shut down. Temperature in the house got to 96 degrees F (about 35 C?). Mark had to go up to the roof to adjust the float to the lower pressure.

Hopefully this problem will not recur because now we have a new AC! A good, energy-efficient AC, to be precise. The evaporative cooler idea is nice, but it really doesn't work all that well when you need it most - when it's hottest in Tucson it's also the most humid. AC works much better in these conditions.

This nice looking system cost us about $5200, but will qualify us for a $1500 tax refund!

Kitchen Demolition - Part I

2009-07-27T21:50:00.000-07:00

We got the estimate back for remodeling the kitchen, and were struck by the amount we'd have to spend for someone to wreck our old kitchen down. Pay $2700 for someone else to have all the fun? No way! So yesterday we started knocking it down ourselves! Yes, we removed all the wall cabinets in just a few hours!

First, we had to put all our kitchen stuff away:

As you can see, a lot of it is not even unpacked yet.

Here's a BEFORE picture:

The doors had to go first:

The hood, on the right, was a pain in the b**t to remove! It was also the black widow's house.
Note the handsome new refrigerator!

Removing the doors from the base cabinets was much simpler - their screws weren't painted over like the wall cabinets, so Mark could use his favorite toy, featured here.

Next, removing the cabinets. Our kitchen was built 50 year ago, and it wasn't the kind that you'd buy from the store and screw to the wall. This one was built on the wall. Which means, we had to remove a lot of nails!

Here's what it looked like AFTER:

We started removing some of the tile, just to get a feeling for it. Next weekend we'll do the rest of the tile and the base cabinets.

After removing all the wall cabinets we ended up with 2 sets of shelves for the garage and a bunch of boards that can be used later for a chicken tractor!

These Things Take Time

2009-07-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Take for example the ordering of carpets. Our house has carpets in all three bedrooms. They don't look too bad, but also not very good. To start with, they're not very high quality. So we wanted to replace them from the start. Naively I thought that I can get them replaced even before we move (what, we had 3 days from the time we got the keys till we actually moved in!), but I was soon disillusioned when we talked with the carpet person at the Home Depot: first one needs to get the rooms measured, then it takes about two weeks to get the carpets prepared, and only then can they be installed. OK, so there goes my plan to move into a house with new carpets!
Never mind, we can keep all our books still packed in the garage for a few week.
Soon after we moved we visited the Home Depot again, this time the one in Tucson, and scheduled a measuring appointment. We chose a carpet that is on sale now - it is of good quality - with a 15-year wear warranty - we like the way it looks, AND it is made entirely of recycled materials. But of course the main reason we chose it was its sale price:$1.88 per square foot. You can't get any lower than that with 15-year warranty.
The measuring people were supposed to come a couple of days later, but we postponed their visit due to an unexpected problem: ASBESTOS! Yes, we have asbestos tiles under the carpet. This is not uncommon for houses built 50 years ago. What worried us immensely was the fact that the tiles were damaged during the installation of the present carpets. In fact, it is so damaged that we could take a piece for testing ($25, through Environmental Strategies). One option is to completely remove the tile. This is a long and tedious process that is preferably done by professionals who wear wet suits, masks and such. The rooms have to be shut closed with plastic to avoid any asbestos dust getting to uninfected parts. The floor has to be wet before anything else is done, also to reduce dust formation. Did I mention it's also kind of expensive? We got two quotes of $12K and $16K.
We were then advised to leave the floor as is, and cover the broken parts with the material used by carpet installers to level the floor. This makes sense, because once the asbestos is covered and held in place, and protected from damage that can make it friable, it is safe.
OK, so the measurers can now come and measure the rooms.
We measured the rooms too.
The measurers results were then sent to the installing company, who decides how much carpet is needed. Carpets come in rolls that are 12' wide, so it's a matter of how long it needs to be.
We didn't like the way they laid out the carpet. It was very wasteful, and required us to buy 42' of carpet, while we calculated that 34.75' would be enough. So we went back to Home Depot and talked to some carpet guy. It wasn't Amy, who we ordered the measuring through. This guy didn't give the impression of understanding what we're saying. Instead, he just nodded and said: "sure, no problem!" and "I get you". He did not get us, because by the time we got back home there was a message on our phone from him, saying he talked to someone and they explained to him why they couldn't do what we suggested to make the layout less wasteful.
So we had to go again to Home Depot, this time when Amy was there. We talked to her, and she seemed to be more knowledgeable and understanding. But she had to send out our comments to the measuring people, who will then have to approve it and then send it to the installing people, and only then can we know how much carpet we'd need to get.
Another day or two. Finally, last Tuesday we went back, they had the numbers for us, and we'd end up getting 37' of carpet. That's more than we expected, but that's because we didn't include the extra 3" the take for every room (and every closet) just in case. Well, it's better than 42'!
We then chose a pad (the thicker one that comes with a protective layer) and the color (Malt), and finally made our order! Whew! Hopefully in two weeks we'd have them installed!

Critters

2009-07-19T19:05:00.000-07:00

First thing we noticed on the first night we moved in, is that the house is already occupied -- by hundreds of roaches! Not the kind I'm most familiar with, my friends from my PhD, the German roaches (though I probably would NOT consider them my friends if they came to visit), but brownbanded roaches. The pretty ones. I don't think they're pretty when they're in my kitchen (and, in fact, all over the house!). So we immediately declared a war, and filled our house with anti-roach WMDs.

What looks like shelters and tanks for roaches are actually COMBAT gel baits in roach motels and liquid baits (don't remember the brand), respectively. The white powder is a mix of flour, borax and sugar.

Boric acid goodies: The solution is based on one of Chad's papers, the "cookie" is a mix of the ingredients described above for the powder on the paper, with some water to make it stick. I don't think the roaches could eat it once it hardened.

We still see a few of them every now and then. I think we'll have to use the professional gel baits that Rick sent me.

A few days later, probably because of the potential for extra prey, we found a black widow dangling from inside the above-the-stove hood. [It looks like the perfect place for things to hide. I'm glad we're going to get rid of it soon.] She spun her webs directly onto our pots (which we kept on the stove, because we don't want to use any of the cabinets for the following two reasons: 1) there's no point in unpacking the kitchen boxes before we get our new kitchen installed; 2) there's too many roaches running around!) She didn't last very long... It wasn't easy to catch her in a jar, because of the position she assumed (though I did try to persuade her to get into a jar, baited with a roach -- it didn't work), so we just had to squish her -- well, Mark did it -- with a rolled piece of newspaper.

The black widow's hiding place. Nasty!

Another thing we noticed as soon as the sun went down on our first day in the house, was a hoard of beetles attacking every wall and window that happens to stand in their way. They looked familiar to me, and sure enough - they are Khumeini beetles (better known as Maladera matrida). It reminded me of my days in the dorms in Rehovot, when every summer the hallways and window sills were covered with beetles who did not make it in the fight against the hard surface... We don't see quite as much of them anymore - they were mostly abundant on our first few nights in Tucson.

One of the few we still see around - still banging into walls! One website described these beetles as a non-intelligently-designed specimen used as an example by non-creationists.

Here are a few more creatures we found and got to take pictures of:

A wiser black widow decided to build her web outside

A newly eclosed sphynx moth

Same moth, a few minutes later

Ha! Feels much better with some air in the wings!

Palo verde beetle -- one of the largest beetles in North America!

A cat, belongs to one of the neighbors, but spends a lot of time in our yard.

** I really shouldn't pretend I know all that much about insects... Turns out the scarab beetle I identified as Maladera matrida does not really exist here in North America. Instead, there are apparently similar scarabs here that behave in a very similar way.

Our Little House

2009-07-11T22:12:00.000-07:00

We moved into our new house last week, on the July 4th weekend. We got everything loaded on a U-Haul truck, thanks to the help of my hard-working (former) lab members the night before. When we got to the house, first thing we needed to do was to clean it up a bit, before we bring in stuff. For that, I needed a vacuum cleaner. I knew exactly were it was in the truck. I climbed on the truck to get it, but there were too many things in the way. I jumped off the truck (the ramp was latched) to call Mark to help me, and hit my knee on the towing bulb. Ouch! It really hurt, because it hit the knee. But then there was also blood coming out. Yuck! Mark came and thought he'd have to take me to the emergency room. It didn't look good. After a short while it didn't hurt much anymore. We wrapped it with a bunch of bandages (thankfully the box that contained the first aid kit was pretty accessible!) and I was ordered to sit still. How long can one sit still when there are so many things to do? Mark got the vacuum cleaner off the truck, and I went back to work, doing at first only light work. In the meantime, the Cox guy came over and started working on installing the internet and phone, and Martin, a custom-home builder who is also a handy handyman, came over to rekey the doors. Soon after that Mark's brother, Gregg, arrived and helped Mark unload the truck. I had a great excuse not to go on that truck again. I am now convinced that trucks are not for me. Last year I slipped as I came down the ramp. Yikes! Next time we move I'll be sure to get pods. They are so much nicer! Anyway, Here's a photo of my knee, as it looked a couple of days later.

Now enough about me! Let me tell you a bit about the house!
It's a 1000 square feet (90 square meters) 3 bedroom house, with a good-size back yard, and a nicely landscaped front yard. It is old, exactly 50 years old, and with age, as you know, come problems. This is one reason to start the blog - I wanted to write about all the different projects we're gonna be doing in the house. Maybe it can be helpful to others who plan to do similar things. Who knows? Later, when all the problems are solved, I plan to get started on some more interesting projects, like installing rain-water collection system, getting chickens, starting a vegetable garden, landscaping the back yard, etc. These things will surely supply me with plenty of writing material!

And now, finally, I stop babbling and show you some pictures!

A view of the house from the street.

A view of the back yard from our porch - plenty of room for a garden and a few chickens, don't you think?