Alaska Wittig Family Blog

Mosquito Season

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 09:11:50 -0900

Our mosquito season began on June 5 this year, the same day as it did last year. I [Michael] use the 5th because Becky's birthday is on June 4, and I don't want to discourage people from coming to Becky's birthday party. In truth the mosquitoes appear in April, and their numbers slowly build through the spring, but for the last two years they haven't really acquired their taste for blood until early June. I didn't have to start using bug spray until after the party this year.

Until then, our little acre of forest is a paradise. Our lot straddles the terminal moraine of the Mendenhall Glacier, a pile of sand and small rocks (and a few larger ones as well) left behind when the glacier began retreating from here about four hundred years ago. There are trees now, hundreds on our property alone, predominantly spruce and hemlock with some alder and cottonwood (I think) thrown in, several of which are more than a century old. We have many blueberry bushes below the trees, and a layer of moss that covers over the slight ridgeline our house straddles. There are two creeks on the property, both of which tend to go almost dry this time of year, and a lovely variety of small plants pushing up all along the banks. It's all lovely.

Like last year, we hosted Becky's party in our back yard. Also like last year, we were greeted with warm and sunny weather. This year's bunch of kids was much more active than last year and were a treat to watch. They took full advantage of the swings and the woods, running, playing, pretending, investigating, and doing all the other things kids just out of Kindergarten might do. The kids were busy enough with each other that the adults even had a chance to socialize! A good time was had by all.

Becky lost her long hair again. I was keeping up with it during the school year, brushing it out and tying it up every day, but once summer set in I didn't. Her hair soon became quite an annoyance, and she quickly agreed that she wanted it short if short meant no more tangled hair. Sheryl was so eager to stop fussing with it she even allowed me to cut it!

We had a wonderfully dry spring with many sunny days and very little rain, allowing me to get much of the foundation insulation done. The day after Becky's party I dismantled most of the rear deck and began trenching along the north wall. Most recently I built a small landing for one of our back doors and finished the surround for the crawlspace entry; the next task is to remove the rest of the old deck and complete the below grade work along the north wall, which I hope to have done before my dad gets here in July.

Throughout the dig I have been pleased to find very few rocks and about the easiest digging I have ever done. This is especially pleasing because I'm not young (48 today) and I really do want my projects to go as easily as possible. Fortunately, our house apparently rests on top glacial deposits rather than on the bedrock our nearby river had to carve through.

Despite their numbers, the mosquitoes have been almost a non-issue. When I go out in the morning I'll dose myself with a little Off (it smells better to me than their competitors), and even when I'm out for hours, sweating hard from digging, I'm not getting any bites. The mosquitoes are certainly there, and it's a little unnerving at times when I start to look at how many are flying nearby, but the bug spray does its stuff, allowing me to do mine.

Sheryl is administering a summer camp program for the next two weeks. My dad gets here when that concludes and we all go to Anchorage together (to visit Sheryl's family and attend her 30th high school reunion), I come back here with my dad to meet my brother and spend some quality time together working on my insulation project, my dad goes home and my brother goes to Anchorage with me, and we all come home. But wait, there's more! After that, I fly to Austin for my 30th high school reunion (even though I graduated in Oakland) and to see my mom and my oldest daughter. Then Sheryl will need to get ready for her new teaching assignment.

The rest of the summer will be busy.

And the Rains Came Tumbling Down

Tue, 26 May 2009 22:03:30 -0900

Rain? In Juneau? An inch of rain fell into the rain gauge on our back fence in the last twenty four hours, the first appreciable rainfall we've had in over two weeks. It's been a lovely spring.

And it's been a busy spring too. Even before the ground thawed I [Michael] was out on the east wall of the house, digging down to the foot of the foundation and out. We're enclosing the crawl space and installing "wing" insulation in accordance with the latest advice from the cold-climate construction people, as a part of the overall insulation project on the house. Before the summer is out we plan to completely wrap the house inside of four inches of foam from the footer up to the ceiling, and seal up the attic above the bedrooms while adding more insulation up there.

The work is going well. The digging so far isn't hard at all, compared to my last endeavor at our previous house (where every foot met with many large rocks). The original plan was to rent a backhoe to save time, but once I started digging I just kept going, and it was soon apparent that the expense wouldn't be worth the limited time I would save. The trench pictured here took two afternoons to complete.

And this first trench is already filled back in! The insulation package and drainage system went in without any hitches. The only unanticipated delay came with the discovery of a nest of finch eggs outside a bedroom window, which meant delaying the insulation on the upper part of the wall for a few more weeks. No matter: I moved on to the lower south wall and dug another long trench in a very few hours, then put in a part of that insulation before the weather began to change.

To say that I am happy with the progress so far would be fair enough. Actually I am quite pleased with the whole affair, and especially tickled to be cruising through this kind of work at the rate my 47 year old (48 next month) body is allowing. Stiff? Sore? Nope! Even my back has stopped giving me trouble!

The ground work along the east wall was especially gratifying because of the weather. This was the only wall with a drip line (no rain gutter). No rain meant no time dealing with tarps, and no struggling to keep water out of the trench. Dry weather also made each shovel of dirt that much lighter.

And in two more weeks Sheryl will be out of school, and I can devote even more time into the project. Lots to do, but if the work so far is any indication, it won't be so much that I don't get it all done.

Other events...

Sheryl will be transferring jobs and schools next year. She's been teaching the extended learning program (and music for a while) at Riverbend Elementary since before we met. Today she was formally offered (and accepted) the split post of music teacher/librarian at Auke Bay Elementary. She's looking forward to the change, especially since this is the school Becky is and Michael will be attending.

We got most of our firewood for next winter yesterday, months ahead of when we stocked up last summer. My neighbor, the same one who gave me half his wood last year in exchange for splitting the rounds he harvested from several trees he had cut, needed the OTHER half moved to get equipment in to landscape part of his back yard! I volunteered to help him out, and even gave him a little money for the wood. So for four hours yesterday I moved about a cord and a half of wood four times (once into the trailer, then from trailer to wheelbarrow, wheelbarrow to shed floor, and finally from the floor onto the stack).

And we're finding time to work on the sailboat too, scraping and cleaning, cleaning and scraping. In truth, the boat is seaworthy now, but we want it to look good too. We're also hopeful that we may be able to get a nearly new outboard for it from another neighbor of ours...

This would be the neighbor who had something of a feud with the previous owner of our house. The story I heard was that my neighbor wanted a place to park a boat one year and there was space in the corner of our property. Once upon a time that corner was the end of the road and there was a turnaround (it's a through road now), and there was disagreement whether the easement for the turnaround still existed (it doesn't). There were some hard feelings between them. The first week we owned this house I went over and introduced myself, told my neighbor that I had no plans for the space and he was welcome to use it if he needed it, and that I would let him know if that ever became a problem. He's never parked anything there, but we've been on good terms from the outset. We talk regularly. He came over when the sailboat appeared in our driveway and we got to talking, and he told me about his outboard: a little loud and more vibration than he wanted on his skiff, but probably just right for my needs.

Seems that getting and staying on good terms with the neighbors has benefits.

Someday Sailing

Fri, 8 May 2009 20:43:48 -0900

We have a sailboat!

Once upon a time, I [Michael] owned a small sailboat. It was a 19' Cape Dory Typhoon, seaworthy and simple, and for several years I took it out in all kinds of weather, plying the waters around Juneau. I liked the boat for many reasons: a fixed keel (retractable keel hardware needs extra care in salt water and retractables aren't as suited to heavy-weather sailing), shallow draft (a 30" draft meant that I could see the bottom before the boat could touch it), low freeboard (the height of the deck above waterline, low freeboard means less wind resistance and an easier climb back on in case of falling off), and simple rigging (to make single-handed sailing practical).

I especially liked the CD (Cape Dory) for its seaworthiness and handling. The design was such that the only way to sink it would have been to puncture the hull, an unlikely event unless I piled into rocks, in which case the water would be shallow enough to jump ship. The handling was stellar, with sails easy to manipulate and balanced to allow for hands-free sailing (so I could lash the rudder in place and go work on the bow if need be while the sailboat proceeded on course, or if I just wanted to sit back and watch the scenery). It was a wonderful little boat, especially in rough weather when all the power boats (and other saiboats too) retreated to shore and I had the water all to myself.

But the old sailboat had its limitations. Mostly, it was small and could only sleep two. It also lacked a trailer, so the boat had to be based permanently in the water (sea plants had no trouble with this, which made the boat sail slower) and I couldn't take it to the other launching areas around town.

When I went into the MAT program a decade ago I thought I would probably leave Juneau afterward, so I reluctantly sold the Cape Dory. Even before I sold it, I already knew what I would be looking for in my next sailboat. For the last ten years I have been waiting.

It was with some surprise that I saw the ad in the newspaper on Wednesday last week. I called right away and was the first respondent, and that afternoon when Sheryl got home we all got in the car and drove downtown to look at it (I waited until Sheryl got home despite my eagerness to check it out). A cursory inspection was all I needed. This was the boat I had contemplated a decade before.

Ironically, the Alberg 22 was designed by the same man who designed the Cape Dory, Carl Alberg. I didn't know this when we bought it, but it made perfect sense in hindsight. The 22 and the CD are very close cousins, sharing many of the same design features (and it was partly this similarity that made the boat such an easy sell). The 22 is a better boat for us, with berths for four, a small galley and sink, a toilet (port-a-potty), and a trailer. The 22 is also a decade newer than the old CD, a fact reflected in updated rigging details and a few other niceties. The draft is a little deeper (37"), but still very shallow for a sailboat, and quite practical for our waters.

I was originally going to offer less than the $4000 asking price but didn't. Sheryl pointed out on the drive down that with the price as low as it was, if we offered less and the seller wanted to "think it over" somebody else was likely to offer more and we'd be out of luck. Her logic was pretty sound: six other people called on the boat that same day, and at least four the day after that.

So we bought the boat on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday I towed it home. My weekend was mostly spent cleaning the inside (the boat belonged to a woman but was her ex-husband's idea, so it had been mostly unattended for the last seven years, taking up space in her yard while the biodegradeable portion of its contents slowly rotted). As luck would have it, the inside cleaned up very nicely and was stocked with [mostly salvageable] spare hardware and safety equipment.

And that may be about all we do with the sailboat for a while. While a sailboat has been on my "short list" for some time, I did not anticipate actually buying one for another couple of years. But of course, we had to buy it: in a small community like ours, finding the thing you want at a good price is very uncommon, and when such things present themselves it's best to buy them, ready or not. Failing that, the only other option would have been to buy a boat out of Seattle and sail or barge it here, which had been our plan until this boat came along.

This doesn't really change our plans. This summer the house is still the priority, getting the weatherization/insulation completed. We may put the sailboat in the water to check it out (a boat is an excellent platform for watching fireworks on July 4, for instance), but any real sailing will have to wait until next year.

And now that we have a sailboat,we can start thinking about all the real sailing we want to do!

The Slow Thaw

Sat, 11 Apr 2009 10:00:44 -0900

Spring has come to Juneau. The transition comes slowly but arrives suddenly, when the nightly lows begin to stay just above freezing rather than just below, and the weather forecast changes from intermittent snow to intermittent rain.

While some areas of Juneau are already almost snow-free, there is still a lot of snow on the ground on our property, nestled as we are in the northern end of the Mendenhall Valley, less than two miles from the glacier that gives our valley its name. There is snow on the ground. There is snow and ice filling the basins of East and West Creek. There is snow and ice on our rooftop too, over a foot of it in many places.

I [Michael] mentioned the ice dam problem back in February. Not only did we have leaks in places I expected, we developed some new leaks that were unexpected and very unwlecome. All of them manifested themselves by draining into the cavity of the exterior wall, and the ones I noted emerged through the top of the windowsill. Those were the ones I noted: I have no doubt that other leaks flowed where we have no windows, causing troubles unseen but no less problematic.

And so I spend parts of my days now tracking around the house with tape measure in hand, looking at the existing structure and reasoning out details of the new construction. I'm also working with pencil and paper, drawing rough (and some not-so-rough) diagrams of new components, getting an idea about the scope and design of the coming project, and making materials estimates.

And until the snow melts and the ground thaws, there is really very little else I can do towards the project.

This summer's project will be scaled back from our original plan. The addition will not be possible, but the remainder of the work is still pretty much the same. We will be changing the roof from composite to metal. We will probably modify and extend some of the eaves. We will replace some windows. We will insulate and reside the walls. We will more properly insulate the attic above the east section. All that, plus some other little changes.

More than enough to occupy a summer.

A Really Big Bid

Wed, 1 Apr 2009 11:25:00 -0900

We won't be using a contractor for our home improvement project.

That's the stark conclusion Sheryl and I [Michael] came to upon examining the bid from Bicknell Construction. They want over $130,000 for their part of the work: the shell of an addition, insulation and siding, and extending some of the eaves (they were still waiting for a subcontractor on the roof repair estimate). That's more than I envisioned for the entire remodel, and way beyond what we can afford.

We were disappointed with the level of financial detail in the bid. The only money itemized was the total of each bid (there were three), and the terms of payment. If there was any enlightenment in the numbers, it was a notice that "extras" would be billed at cost plus 15% overhead plus 10% profit; it probably isn't too much of a stretch to believe all the materials in the project were similarly billed.

So last night I started drawing rough sketches and estimating quantities. Time becomes a really big issue too, since I'll be doing much of the work, so the sequencing of what happens and when is now much more important. We want an addition. We need roof repairs. What is desirable versus what is prudent, or even possible within our time frame: the clock is ticking on our energy improvement rebate from the state (assuming they honor it when the time comes).

The most likely scenario is that roof repairs, siding, and windows will take precedence over expansion. That's probably a big enough bill for any handyman, but I'm still working on the plans for the addition, just in case I can figure out how to do a little more.

Getting the Ball Rolling

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 12:59:22 -0900

Here is the latest version on the remodel plan:

What's different from the last plan? Sheryl's brother Mark mentioned that the location of the new bathroom in the last plan seemed awkward given its proximity to the new family room. Likewise, Sheryl didn't really like the main bathroom opening onto the main hallway.

So...

We changed the configuration of the new master bathroom so that it could also serve as a second bathroom for the rest of the house, eliminating the need for an additional half bath. The closets for the master bedroom have also been relocated to provide better flow through. We reconfigured the main bath to accomodate the changed entry, making room for the heating system hardware in the process (this was going to be out in the garage before, but that was not a great option as it would require sectioning off an area plus enclosing and heating the space).

We need to have a clear idea of where we're heading with the remodel very soon. We had an energy audit done earlier this month, in which a man came out with some equipment to test for airflow (leakage) through the house, made some measurements, and plugged everything into a piece of software that told him our house is an energy hog. We knew that already, of course, but now we have outside data.

The audit was step one. In the next 18 months we need to do what we can to upgrade the insulation package and get the auditor back out for a follow-up. Depending on how much we can decrease the energy loss we can get money back from the state of Alaska, up to $10,000 (depending on how much we spend and how much better the house is as a result).

Step two comes on Tuesday, when the folks from Bicknell Construction come over to look over the house. If the price is right (and we have no idea how much we're talking about), we'll have them build the shell of the addition, reroof the house, and reside/insulate the walls, replacing old windows as they go.

We've also got an architect coming to visit. Sheryl won four hours of architectural consulting in an auction a few months ago. We're not quite sure what that means, but I [Michael] am hopeful it will get us toward working drawings that the construction company can use to erect the addition.

So here it is, the new floorplan, as it currently sits. Any comments?

Star Warriors in a Lego World

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:33:16 -0900

It's a Wii world we live in.

We got a Wii for Christmas. It was about the only thing Sheryl and I bought for Christmas (plus the first round of games and accessories). Becky quickly became a MarioKart superstar of such caliber that I [Michael] lose to her much more often than I win.

Then came the Lego series: Star Wars and Indiana Jones. These are games rated for 10+ years, partly because of the violence, partly because of the level of difficulty. Even so, both of the kids can do almost everything the games call for, and they are both thrilled by them.

As for the violence I tell the kids – and myself – that they are just Lego pieces. They aren't even real Legos! Sheryl and I have both talked to them consistently about this, and they say they agree that hurting people (and getting hurt) for real is a very bad thing.

On the plus side, the two-player mode is a spectacular team exercise while still allowing both players considerable opportunity for independent action. I have worked through some of the more complex puzzles with both of them, but I've also seen them work together to unlock levels on their own, and I'm amazed at how well both of them work through the intricacies of the games. The other day playing with Michael I didn't activate my character (I kept it in single player mode) and watched as he maneuvered his way through well over half the level before he needed my help.

In short, the games provide a demonstration that both of our kids are adept at working through complex, multi-step challenges. Lovely.

Water in Unwelcome Places

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 19:19:24 -0900

We've had very little precipitation for the last couple of weeks, coupled with temperatures that stay mostly below freezing back in our part of the valley. Mostly. Unfortunately, we have been seeing a couple of hours almost every day where the temperature does creep into the thaw zone. This is unfortunate because it means we have ice.

Snow I can handle, it's the ice I have trouble with. I spent nearly an hour breaking up the inch of ice on the front porch today, and sprinkled gravel on the worst parts of the walkways. Did the same thing last week. Our two entry corridors to the front door each follow under an eave of the roof, and with the gutters full of ice any water that comes off the roof drops directly onto the walkways and porch. We've recognized the problem since we first moved in but it's always been a secondary priority, at least until now.

It's the ice dam on the roof that's pushing the eave issue front and center. Snow and ice melt slowly from our roof, even slower on the bottom edges which do not get any warming from the house envelope. As a result water tends to collect just uphill from the dam on the roof, water looking for a way to oblige the pull of gravity. The weight of the water is enough to push past the gaps in the shingles down to the tar paper underneath, then to the nail holes left by the shingle nails (which in a thirty-five year old house have enough space to channel water).

Where this is happening under the eaves (as in this picture) it isn't a big problem. That threshold is crossed as the water level on the roof rises and water starts coming in above the structure itself. I have one such water leak right now, or did until I put in a deflector to draw water out beyond the exterior wall. I saw this last winter too, in a different location. I see evidence of this kind of leakage on three of our roof surfaces.

SO...

I guess we'll be reroofing the house during the remodel. We'll get rid of the water leaks, the whole roof will match, we'll extend the eaves out over the front walkway, and we'll be able take out the furnace chimney (we might put a skylight in in its place).

And we'll be doing our part to put money into the economy!

The Snowball Effect

Mon, 9 Feb 2009 14:29:41 -0900

It's funny how life can sometimes coast along for long periods of time without very much out of the ordinary. Then one little event comes along, then another, and then a whole flurry of events both little and large, often interrelated and amplified by each other.

This week is a little busier than most. This is my [Michael's] week for shoveling the walks at Michael's preschool. The National Weather Service has accomodated me by offering snow in the forcast for the next couple of days (after a record snowfall for the date yesterday). This means clearing snow in two locations, here and there. Make that three: my neighbor is going in for foot surgery today and I told him I'd look after his driveway for him too.

Tomorrow will be further complicated by the moving of pianos, although I have hired a crew to do the heavy work. We bought the grand yesterday, and they liked our piano too. This is a good trade. They get a Kimball that looks bad but plays well, a piano they can let anybody use without worrying about it getting damaged. I get an antique Sohmer that looks great and has great potential, and is marginally playable (the one unglued hammer will have to be secured first) but will require extensive work to restore its playability.

I bought the first piano as a non-playing hobby, so that I would have a musical/mechanical instrument to tinker with (my Industrial Mechanics degree is one manifestation of my love of tinkering). I only learned to play piano because I couldn't play the guitar for a couple of years (blog history) and we just happened to have a piano. Now we're buying a piano that will require a great deal of tinkering, especially if I intend to continue playing!

I broke the Metro yesterday so we're down to two cars. We never sold Sheryl's Trooper after buying the Mariner last summer, and it wasn't even running during our last cold snap (moisture in the fuel line probably), but it has come in handy a couple of times when the Metro has been unavailable. And the Metro is currently unavailable.

It doesn't make me feel better that the only initial problem was loose lug nuts on the right front wheel. I started my investigation with the right front axle, which has joints on either side that typically make the kind of noise Sheryl and I heard on Saturday night, and in order to gain access to the axle I needed to drop the front exhaust pipe. Ordinarily, taking the four bolts off and one rubber hanger that attach pipe to car isn't a big deal and I didn't treat it as such... until one of the bolts snapped off, preventing me from putting the pipe back on. Not only did it snap off, but it remains off more than a day later as the tools I had available were unable to extract it, even after removing the entire exhaust manifold. I did buy tools to extract the bolt today and will eventually make it all right.

The irony, of course, is that I needn't have removed the exhaust in the first place. It wasn't until after I was unable to find fault with the axle (without removing it, thankfully) that I determined the actual problem. It still seems implausible that the lug nuts got loose but that is exactly what happened, and on the bright side there appears to be no damage to the threads. It's possible I didn't tighten them – or tighten them enough – when I changed tires over (I change the tires myself twice a year between summer tread and winter studs, which gives me the chance to look at the brakes and suspension, and I always try to ensure the lugs aren't so tight that I can't get them off in case I ever have a flat). I once had a boss in Reno who had a posessed car with lug nuts that were continually loosening themselves, though I doubt my car has become likewise posessed. We bought new studded tires this year and they've always felt rather odd on the road, so it's also possible that the vibrations of the new studs could be loosening things. I'll check all the studs before the Metro goes back on the road.

And Sheryl's dad is in town for a visit and meetings too! He stayed with us over the weekend, and volunteered to watch the kids while Sheryl and I went out to dinner on Saturday night (when we had the car trouble and cut short our drive) and Sunday afternoon to hear the symphony (and later to drive home through snow that fell so hard it covered over our headlights, which then cast a uniform glow out in all directions that lit up the snow-filled sky much better than the snow-covered road).

Do I know how to show a date a good time or what?

An old piano in our future?

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 10:56:48 -0900

Once upon a time, not too many months ago, I [Michael] mentioned a passing interest in finding a baby grand (piano) to Sheryl. Sheryl said it was worth looking into, and that was pretty much the end of the conversation; how often do baby grands change hands in Juneau?

So, while Sheryl was in Anchorage last weekend I took the kids to a garage sale hosted by the Church of All Nations. They placed an ad in Friday's paper about the sale, in which they also noted a baby grand piano. The kids were extraordinarily well behaved while I played a song on it and gave it a cursory inspection, standing close beside me and gazing at the strangers and strange surroundings. The church was asking $3400 for the piano, way out of my price range, but they said they'd consider any serious offer. I left my name and phone number and offered my hope that somebody would offer close to their asking price, but to call me if it didn't sell (I didn't offer a price). I let the kids pick any toy they wanted from the toy racks as a reward for their behavior, and they both brought home airplanes for a dollar apiece.

I emailed Sheryl about it. She said to buy it if I wanted it.

Not too surprisingly, I saw an ad in Monday's paper offering the piano and listing the price. I called and said I might be willing to go $1500 but wanted to look it over again before commiting, and if they wanted more cash than that I needn't waste their time. I inspected it last night, then came home and showed the pictures to Sheryl.

According to my Interent research, Sohmer was a good name in pianos for many years. This one was made between 1915 and 1919 according to the serial number. The piano has obviously seen a lot of use. The action feels loose in places. There are problems with at least four keys: a sticking dampener, a poorly installed hammer, and two keys (the exteme high and low) that have apparently been cannibalized for parts. There is only one major mar in the finish, about four square inches of abrasion on one side, and the finish is also worn along the strip where sheet music and fingers would frequently be expected to rub during normal use. The finish on many of the black keys is heavily worn. Overall, the piano appears to have been reasonably well taken care of despite its heavy use.

So I made my $1500 offer and they said they'd get back with me, that there were a couple of other people who expressed interest. I suspect I may be one of the "other people" because of the note I left on Saturday. This morning I also offered to donate my current piano to them (I was planning on giving it away if I got a replacement) in addition to the cash offer, plus I'd pay to have both pianos moved.

Is there an old piano in our future? Stay tuned...