Ordered flowers for Joe and Christa, Gerbera Daisies. Went to Home Depot and got more plumbing and reworked the filter. It took almost all day. Broke down the benches and moved them outside until we're ready in the greenhouse for them. Went to Trader Joes then stopped into Great Clips on the way home to get a haircut. They're having a 5.99 haircut sale. The filter still leaks. Dinner was lobster pasta from Trader Joes. I'm having trouble catching a mouse on the porch. He keeps eating the bait. I decided the problem with the relays is the transformer. It's too small to drive 2 relays. Ordered a bigger one from Graingers online for Will call pickup. Its a 24VAC, 40 VA.

Didn't sleep well last night. First thing this morning Lib and I went to the Post Office to drop off 3 boxes, then over to Lowes for some plumbing parts and Krogers for Senior day. Did all those errands and started hooking up the water under the porch sink while Libbie called Craig and got the details about the early delivery. All 3 were lost and didn't have a chance when her water broke. Lots of sadness going around.
I pressurized the water when done and almost immediately a pipe let loose in the new greenhouse. The Tee coming into the building was not glued so it opened up and shot water all over the place. In the meantime, Libbie started moving Orchids into the greenhouse. She moved about half a bench into the new place.
Dinner was Briyani.

Fixed the glue on the tee and tried again. The filter is leaking under the sink. Will cut the filter out and tighten the fittings going in and also switch from teflon tape to pipe thread compound.

Met with the realtor this morning about leasing arrangements for our greenhouse. I'm more interested in selling the place than leasing it. Had a frustrating time with the USPS website. It was taking approx 10 minutes per click. Went out to work on the plumbing. Had to buy a new torch from Home Depot. The new torch did a great job of soldering the fittings in. Still need some 1/2 inch pipe and elbows to adapt to the 3/4 inch pipe I'm using. Joe told us tonight that Christa is having a miscarriage this evening. All 3 babies will be lost. Dinner was chopped BBQ on a bun.

I spent the morning finishing up the Bluebird website and actually finished it and published it. This included pot pricing update, additional pictures, inventory update and the addition of used pots.
In the afternoon we went to RLT for Miss Firecracker. It was enjoyable but I'm getting tired of the RLT performances. Too much stuff to do. We came back and Libbie made a fresh batch of dough for her pizza which we had during the Oscar telecast. The Artist won bext picture, a picture that I actually saw before the Oscars thanks to the newsgroup copy.

Spent the morning working on the Bluebird website until it was time to go to the opera. It is quite windy today. We went to the opera at the wrong time, one hour early, so we used the time to go to BJ's and then take the food home. I thought Ernani was great and the signal held up despite the windy weather. Dinner was ribs with brown rice, broccoli and Shiraz.

This morning I started taking apart the plumbing under the porch sink and sketching out how to tie in the filter. Went to Home Depot and purchased brackets and a few plumbing parts and started the project. Took a break at noon and did some click and ship for Libbie. She has a large batch of orders to go out. We did a grocery run in late afternoon to Trader Joes and Krogers for wine and Salmon. Dinner was Salmon, forbidden rice and Broccoli with Shiraz. We heard from Brad our realtor this evening. He has a proposal to lease the land. We will think about this and talk with him Monday morning. He is talking about $2,000 per month. I'm more interested in selling the structure outright and leasing the land with option to buy.

I started the day by working on the panel over the bathtub faucet. Finally mounted it and the toilet paper roll. Next stop was the greenhouse. I finished nailing the door frame insdie the greenhouse then went to Home Depot to exchange the Kwikset door handle and purchased a Schlage model which matches the others in the house. Installed the handle which went well. Tackled the CPVC plumbing next. Put a tee off the water line coming into the greenhouse and ran one branch to a spigot next to the bench and the second branch to under the shutter. I'll use this second branch to rig up water to some veggies I want to grow in the deadmen. Dinner was bean burger then I left at 5:45 for sculpting. Spent the night sculpting Katlyn's hands and feet. Jim told me the proportion was wrong on the hands and feet so I made them bigger. They still may not be proportional. I also finished the face and put hair on her. Will return Tuesday to clean it up. Libbie was home when I got back. Nancy and Coleman picked her up at the airport then toured the plant room and greenhouse construction. Her plane arrived at 6:45 while sculpting downtown went from 6:30 to 9:30.

Used the saw inside the porch and cleaned up the opening for the new door. I ended up retaining the 2x4's in the corner where the hinges are mounted and removed one 2x4 on the door handle side of the door frame. Brought the door into the greenhouse and tacked it up with three nails but did not fully secure it. I'll do that tomorrow. Dinner was more of the baked chicken from yesterday. Listened to Butterfly live from the Met this evening. Incredibly nice.

Moved the pile of dirt inside the greenhouse to the gate of the fencing. The ground slopes away under the gate so it needs to be built up level. Next step was to remove the window and the frame around the window. I also had to remove the small wall under the window. There is an issue of which studs to remove for the door. I may shift the door more into the corner to retain the double 2x4 next to the towel rack. Dinner was baked chicken which came precooked from Kroger. I watched Property Virgins which featured Dunellen. Good stuff, I recognized some of the homes or maybe they all look the same.

Today I finished the two bench tops, cutting off the excess and securing them to the bench frame. This went well. Spent some time working on the relay wiring for the vent system. I hung the shutter but also had to cut 2 2x4's for framing the opening in a little more. The shutter was too small or the opening was too big depending on your point of view. Got it all done then found the shutter motor doesn't work. Boo! Joy called this morning. We chatted over how Joe and Christa are doing and the snow today. Her husband had to go to work at 4:30 am to cover the icy roads. Our backyard was half dusted, especially in the woods. The bare ground was not touched. I worked on carrying more of the tree crowns to the brush pile. The ground is wet because previously this morning it was sleet covered. Carried what I could before needing some more chain saw cutting which I'll defer to another day. Dinner was bean burgers and cheesecake for desert.

Cold and rainy today. I rebuilt the shutter motor this morning, drilling the rivets and putting light grease on all the gears and gear spindles. Need long 6-32 screws to hold the motor together again.
I picked up some French Bread pizza and had that for dinner. I watched Woody Allens "Midnight in Paris" this evening which I loved. It showed many of the places we visited on our trip there. The scenery was also very moody and paris like along with Woody's choice of Cole Porter for the sound track. It completed the movie experience of Paris for me.

Hooked up the chains and come along and dropped 3 poplar trees along the creek in back. The goal is more light in the backyard. The trees came down easily but wore me out. Came in, had some fried chicken, then settled down to listen to Barber of Seville. Talked to Libbie who is in RI this week. She had trouble calling. I checked the phones and Line 1, 362-853, has a constant beeping tone. I unplugged a few phones but still have problems. Tried switching the Vonage box over to the same box the greenhouse line is on. One box supports two lines. Still no dice. Something is wrong somewhere. Will unplug phones one at a time to debug this problem. When I woke from Barber of Seville I went into the greenhouse and re-assembled the shutter that I painted. Dinner was the rest of the fried chicken.

This was a busy day. I started by finishing the sanding of the shutter then I put a coat of Rustoleum on one side. Returned several hours later, flipped the shutter and did the other side. I'll check tomorrow, it may need 2 coats of paint. Temp got up to 88 today in the greenhouse, one of the reasons I want the shutter functioning. This was with the outside door propped open. Set the toaster on fire by leaving toast cooking in the thing and forgetting about it. The Smoke Detector alerted me but not before the kitchen was filled with smoke and there were flames coming out of the toaster. I'm afraid it has reached the end of the road. Installed the fence wire up Longo's side of the property today, this completes the fence job except for retrieving my mason line. Spent some time with the Adobe Lightroom tutorial today. I'm not sure of the worth of this program but I will keep at it. It may not buy me anything from what I see so far. I also downloaded Family Tree Maker 2012 from Pirate Bay. My version was 2010. Not sure what's new and improved. Dinner was fried chicken and cherry pie. Too much food, I'll never learn.

Got the shutter from the Jessie Rd greenhouse before it started raining at noon today. Patched the hole where it came from. It's rusted badly, so I'll have to sand and paint it. Easier said then done, it needs to be disassembled first and the motor rebuilt. Dinner was tuna sandwiches before going over to Litmus to sculpt. My piece is doing fine. I want to complete hands and legs as well as a complete head with hair. Came home and played with the Nook, looking for another book to read since I finished "Sahara" by Clive Custler.

Straightened up the house and got the lunch buffet ready for the Violet club which stared shortly after noon when Sheila arrived, then Sylvia, Ed and Joanne. It was a pleasant get together. Sheila demonstrated a Pave technique for design which was nice. Sylvia gave me a bunch of comments about the new AVSA website. After the meeting I put the shutter up over the fan and completed the strip tape around it. I took a walk to the top of the hill and looked over where I need to put the fence wire but I didn't do anything about it since i was a little tired. Lunch today was cookies (too many of them), cupcakes, tuna salad, chicken salad, macaroni salad, potato salad and Hawaiian rolls. I ate too many cookies, too many sandwiches which I also had for dinner. Listened to Barber of Seville in the evening live. It was truly a delight then read "Sahara" on my Nook until 11:30 PM. It's a great read, I really like Dirk Pitt. This is like the old James Bond but a Geekier version.

Got up at 5 to take Libbie to the airport at 5:30 for her 7 AM flight to PVD. Came home tired. Read the Wall Street Journal then did some online reading of Arduino and Pachube. My feed is still frozen for unknown reasons. Visited downtown Raleigh then went to Northern Tool, Lowes and Home Depot looking at reciprocating saws. Milwaukee makes a made in USA model for $119 but Lowes sells a name brand Skil reciprocating saw for $59. Did the Tuesday groceries at Kroger and picked up a Lowes $50 gift card which I spent in Lowes for the Skil saw. The lady running the register, Gwen, was tall, slim and attractive. I mentioned to her how tall she was and had a pleasant conversation. Nice. Dinner was Lima beans and cranberry-orange cookies. Not great.

Went to Home Depot and got more nails and 2x6's. Although it was around 50 outside, it was hot in the greenhouse. The temp got to over 100. I was sweating and ended up finishing the walkway without my shirt. Libbie took pics of everything which I downloaded from her camera and put on her computer for her. I made a photographic Valentine for her which I picked up at Walgreens and assembled to give to her. We checked her very late into her flight but she still got an A ticket. Dinner was BBQ from Trader Joes which we had on buns.
Tomorrow in the greenhouse I need to install the fan since it's getting hot in there. I also have to take LKibbie to the airport at 5:30 am.

Leveled the walkway and built the ramp to the stairs. Next job was to cut the boards into 2 foot lengths and nail down the planks. I ran out of nails and wood. GMA this morning devoted the whole show to Whitney Houston. I'm not sure why. She had a great voice but I wasn't excited by her music. Libbie made her great pizza which we had while watching the Grammys.

Carried the wood and bricks into the greenhouse this morning and pounded a pipe into the ground for the walkway near the steps. I want to stay clean because we're going to the Opera at Crossroads. Left at 11:15 for a noon showing of Gotterdamerung. The music was transporting. The transmission was lost for 10 minutes at about the 5 hour mark when the power to the theater glitched. Afterr the performance it was very cold and windy outside. ?The car thermometer said it was 37. We had Chinese tonight with Ravenwood Shiraz and an eggroll. I really like this stuff.

Put together the walkway for the South Bench. Next I have to build a ramp to get to the stairs platform. I spent somr time on the Srduino project. I can now pick up the Zigbee stuff but it's not being displayed correctly by the web server. I went to the top of the hill and put the new fence post into it then nailed the wire to the fence. this repairs the back section of fence. Next job will be to run a wire down the Longo side of the property and attach it to the posts. Dinner tonight was scallops, broccoli and Brown rice with shiraz.

Busy day. Went to the Credit Union and deposited the 3,000 Feb rent check. This will help with cash flow. Priced lumber in lowes, they raised the price of treated wood. Bought 6 2x6's in Home Depot for the walkway. It's 40 cents per foot. Pachube still not working. Created a stripped down program to try. Went to the top of the hill and pulled the staples from the broken fence post. Will finish mending the back fence tomorrow. Finished the second half of the South bench. It still needs a covering and the first half still needs blocking. Nailed down the stairs and examined the cement job from yesterday. Very nice. While the stairs were in place I used them to remove the window frame on 3 sides. Getting ready to break through but first will build the walkway.

Adjusted the string along the property line early this morning then went into the greenhouse to begin bench construction. Mixed up some hydraulic cement and patched around the hole where the gas pipe and conduit pass through. Cut the riser boards for the stairs. I'm one short, probably the bottom step when I get them all nailed down. Cut the wood and assembled the second Southernmost bench. I want both benches in place before I start building the boardwalk. I hung the Bluebird thermometer which I retrieved yesterday from the Jessie Rd greenhouse. Best place for it seems to be over the thermostats which is out of the sun. Dinner was Chicken peanut Thai. Yummy.

Went to the greenhouse and picked up 20 2x4x12's to work on the benches and walkway. I bought some mason string and located the fence line between us and Longo. Kids have been playing in our woods, we found a teepee fort made out of sticks in the woods. I want to stop this so will run a wire fence for a few hundred feet from the corner of the property. I used the fence digger and dug one hole and located the corner post. Ran the mason string from there for about 300 feet. Dinner was Lobster pasta. We finished the chicken from last night today. Had it for lunch with baked beans.

Jack Shannon came over today to help Libbie and her shipping. I painted the gas pipe in the greenhouse. It's a hot day inside the greenhouse structure with no fan to exhaust the air. I also worked out the problem with receiving comma separated data with commas for the Meistersinger energy collector Arduino. This is the last day of the current charge cycle with Sparks Visa. Tomorrow Ii can spend again! We need to book the rest of the New Orleans trip but I'm waiting for a new charge cycle. Dinner was baked beans and a rotisserie chicken from Kroger.

Picked up some more 2x6's from Lowes then added the decking boards for the stairs landing. Cut and fit the stair stringers and bolted them to the wall and to the landing. Placed the treads over the stringers but did not nail them because I need to move them to paint the pipe. Libbie made her very nice pizza which we had while listening to Tales of Hoffman from the met instead of the Silly Bowl.