Been on strike for 3 weeks now, getting a nice healthy tan (burn), but I'm running out of things to do. It's not like a vacation - wife and daughter are off doing their own things (as previously planned) and there is only so much stuff you can do around the house - working in the yard is O-U-T after standing in the sun all day. I don't want to spend any money on new entertainment, and I'm just about at wits end.

Thankfully, there is a conference next week (previously paid by the company), and a vacation the week after that (already paid for before the strike, and too late to cancel, so may as well make the most of it).

Then I'll come back and the strike will hopefully be over. If not, at least I'll have some vacation laundry to do, and the yard might just need mowing (the heat wave the last few weeks has killed it dead, not that I mind). There's lots of free books on the Kindle (some more worth reading than others), and of course, picketing always fills at least 5 hours of the day, which feels like a lot more given all the walking in the sunshine (aaugh! natural light! get it off!).

Maybe I could bring the Kindle and just sit in the shade and read, like some of the other lazy butt holes who are out there to "picket" - you do get paid just for showing up, after all. Maybe as picket captain I should set a better example. Right now I'm walking the line like a diligent little soldier, but I have no frickin' idea how I got this job. I didn't volunteer, I don't even go to union meetings, so what the hell? I will find out who set me up for this, and that person will pay, how, I haven't decided yet, but it will be creative.

I do have some models to paint (OK, just one tank, but those take a while if I do a good detailed job). I do have that "Prince of Persia" game for XBox I haven't started playing yet, but the idea of playing video games, or watching TV or movies, just makes me feel like a total lazy-ass, and I'm not quite there yet.

Hmmm...lighting just flickered and there is supposed to be a thunderstorm heading this way - I think I'll wrap this up and post. Maybe it will be nice and cool for walking the picket line tomorrow.

Front Yard Project - Part II

I have miscalculated. I knew I needed 22 ft3 to give 2" coverage of mulch/stone in my front yard. Mulch is sold by the ft3. Decorative stone, however, is sold in 18 kg bags. I though I could get reasonable coverage with the same number of bags of stone as I would need as mulch (with stone the 2" coverage isn't quite as necessary.

I was off. By half. That's another $100, and worse, a great deal of lifting.
At least this time, I can go straight from the trunk of the car onto the lawn without taking the much longer trunk/sidewalk/lawn route (I purchased all my materials up front before beginning the project).

Also - anybody have a need for 3 x 8' railway ties? THOSE I overestimated, but they're comparatively dirt cheap.

Front Yard Project

I'm planning to tear out all the weeds from my front yard, and replace all of it with crushed red brick. The whole thing will be framed by railway ties.

I tried this with red cedar mulch three years ago, and it worked reasonably well until last year when the mulch, well, mulched, and the weeds started to set up shop. The mulch also spilled into the sidewalk. So this year, it's crushed red brick framed in with railway ties (the plan is to have two rows deep, that should be enough to set a deep enough foundation for the ties but still have enough wall left to hold in the brick).

The red brick is very similar in appearance to the cedar mulch, but doesn't have the nasty tendency to biodegrade over time. Maybe I can get five or six years out of this...or more?

I finished digging up the yard today - got the trenches dug for putting down the lower level of framing. I found a cultivator almost exactly 4" wide - it was PERFECT and made the trenching much easier (and faster) than I expected.

I laid the first few railway ties to border the yard, but I don't figure the neighbors would appreciate me running the power saw at 10 PM to cut the last boards to fit (fireworks tonight notwithstanding). I also don't want to lose a finger to the power saw in the dark.

What's a socially acceptable time to run power tools in the yard? 9 AM? I'll probably roll out of bed about then and head straight to the yard. I only have until about 2 PM before the sun finds the front yard and sends me scurrying for cover. Of course, if I'll goes we'll I'll only be running the drill and the saw (the shoveling and the hauling of lumber and bricks is done) so I might be able to power through work through the afternoon.

IF everything goes well tomorrow, I'll have all the frames laid and assembled, set out the plastic sheeting, and start spreading the crushed brick. Depends how long it takes to saw the railroad ties to fit screw them together. If I can finish tomorrow I will be very happy with my long weekend project.

Last and most important - it's the 12th anniversary of marrying my Darling Wife! I let her sleep in while I worked on the yard, then we had a movie date and a late lunch at Baton Rouge.