Worked a little on timer software then went outside and experimented with the sprinkler hookup to the greenhouse water. It puts too much water out all over the bench but that's the best I may do. Worked on the bench and finished installing the greenhouse center bench. We went to kroger and picked up pork chops and steak for weekend dinners.
Dinner was steak, potato and beets along with shiraz. Chocolate cake for desert.

Worked on the autoroute of the relay 4 board. My version of Orcad does not have Autoroute but it does have an Allegro router which is what I used. It works OK. Sent the job to AP circuits. Went to the greenhouse and removed the rest of the shrubs and planted them next to our brick sidewalk. Dinner was Lobster pasta. After dinner I went to Krogers for a gift certificate because of 4x points then used it at Home Depot to pick up a solenoid, pressure regulator and misc plumbing fittings. Out on Old Raleigh Rd a construction project started this week to put sidewalks along the road all the way to Foodlion. Yes!
Took a trip to the Farmers Market. It was disappointing since the shed building was closed for maintenance. The vendors were in the parking lot. There wasn't much in the way of plants to choose from.

Doing the schematic entry today for the relay 4 board. I also put in an order to Adafruit for some Boarduinos for the relay 4 controller. This will plug into the board I get from AP Circuits next week. Went to the greenhouse and took some of the shrubs and the rest of the phlox. Planted them at home and mulched the phlox with pine bark from Home Depot. Dinner was spaghetti with chicken chunk and curry sauce. This morning Libbie came with me and we did a Trader Joes run.

Violet club today. Linda Ablanalp was guest speaker talking about design. She did a nice job. We served lunch beforehand which consisted of salads and buns that Sheila brought and Broccoli salad that I made yesterday. The meeting went extremely well. After the meeting Libbie and I planted the packages of seeds into 6 packs. I need to come up with a watering scheme. Dinner was BBQ sandwiches.

Getting ready today for Violet club tomorrow. I went through and got the wood scraps out of the greenhouse and into a trash bag. I also took the opportunity to chop some of the wood scraps into smaller pieces so that they will fit into the bag as well. Did some rototilling in front of the greenhouse deadmen. Took 3 of the phlox from the Jessie Rd greenhouse an relocated them to Downing place. For dinner we went out to La Cosina where I had a Quesadilla La Cosina.

Spent some of the morning on Orcad then left at 10:30 for the Bolshoi performance of Le Corsaire. It was a spectacular. I'm glad we went it was so good. My favorite spokeswoman was there, Katarina NoviKova. She had on a black sheer lacy top. The woman is gorgeous. This performance was a large company spectacular. At one time we counted 50 tutus on stage along with another 50 other dancers and none of these were the principals. Wow. Dinner was Libbie's fantastic pizza.

The low temperature alarm went off last night at 11 am. I was in a deep sleep. It was supposed to go down to 33 but only went to 39. The outdoor temp when the alarm went off was 41. Tried swapping sensors with the good heater but no dice. The heater starts uo but quits after a few minutes and then won't restart. I cranked up the porch temp to 70 and turned the fan on full blowing hot air from the top of the hot tub into the greenhouse. This morning when I woke at 7 I tried jumping out the flame rollover sensors and all worked well. I read online that on some heaters the upper rollout sensor was prematurely tripping. Tried the upper then the lower sensor individually. Either sensor by itself causes gas valve shutdown. For now I removed the rollover sensor. It's the end of the heating season so there is no rush to get a rollover sensor in there. I will probably put one back in mounted on a bracket away from the flame but close enough to detect anything bad in the firebox. Cut the bench legs while listening to Don Giovanni on the met Saturday broadcast. Installed the Northernmost bench and moved the half bench inside and placed it on top temporarily until I cut proper legs for the upper bench. I'm pretty tired this afternoon! Dinner was ribs, brown rice, broccoli and Melbac wine. Tonight is Daylight Savings switchover, we went to bed early but I read a little more of Jules Verne.

Tackled the greenhouse this morning and put straps on the water pipes. Also put a shade on the vent thermostat ot keep the sun off it. Removed the last of the Mondo grass and started cutting bench legs for the next bench. The Orchids are getting burned so Libbie and I put the shade up inside the greenhouse on the deadman shading the orchids on the Southernmost bench. Yesterday I ordered the shade for the tops. In the afternoon I resumed reading 20000 leagues under the sea. I never read this book by Jules Verne before. It's quite good. Dinner was Scallops and brown rice with Chardonnay. Went over to Krogers in the evening to get an apple turnover for desert.

Nancy came over at 9:30 this morning to help Libbie move back into the greenhouse. So far the new sensor is working fine. Stopped working on the walkway while they were in the greenhousse, then cut the rest of the boards when they left. Used the morning time to work in the flower garden removing the old fence and out in the woods taking the downed trees to the wood pile. Finished the walkway today. it looks pretty good. Dinner was spaghetti!!!! We had red velvet cake for desert.

Started putting down the wood for the next walkway. the heater worked flawlessly all night long. Yeah!!! The Honeywell IUniversal sensor is working as advertised. I will still send back the old sensor to Dornback. Dinner this evening was curry chicken with Broccoli. Very nice!!! I studied some of the control system I will need for watering the next round of plants in the greenhouse. Will order from Sparkfun and Adafruit to prepare for our early April vacation in New Orleans.

The low temp alarm went off at 1:30 this morning. The heater is going into lockout. Adjusted the sensor again and monitored it. Lockout happened again. I set the fan up and blew the heated porch air into the greenhouse for the night. Overnight low was 28.
Called Dornback again. I have to send back the controller to get a new one. Went to Trader Joes and Krogers for Tuesday groceries. On the trip I began to think about the sensor. If it opens up when heated the controller will lockout the heater. I think that's what's going on, we're getting intermittent at high temperatures. I went to Home Depot and picked up a Honeywell Universal ignitor. Will try that tonight to see how it performs. The great news is that it works at all!!! It's shaped differently. Managed to shovel up the dirt for the next walkaway. Removed 7 wheelbarrows worth of dirt. I'm now ready for the walkway framing. Dinner was lobster pasta. Afterwards I listened to Kovaschina live from the Met.

Went outside in the new greenhouse today from 1:10 am to 5 am fooling around with the heater. The flame only runs a few minutes before going out and the green led blinks indicating a lockout. Libbie and I moved the orchids into the porch at 3 in the morning. We went to bed and slept until 7:30 am. This was a groggy day because of the lack of sleep. Talked to Dornback and they suggested moving the sensor probe which Ii tried. Also swapped the controller. I picked up a thermostat and buzzer in Home Depot and worked the rest of the day wiring a low temperature alarm in the greenhouse. Dinner was BBQ pork from Trader Joes on a bun.

I waited for it to get warmer today then turned the greenhouse fan on and moved the rototiller into the space and tilled the space for the new walkway. This worked well. This week I'll shovel out the dirt, rake and level it and build the walkway. I also moved some of the logs in the back onto the pile. I want to do a little bit of this each day. Dinner was Libbie's nice pizza once again.

How did we get to March 3 already? It rained pretty hard overnight. In the morning Libbie and I went to Home Depot and got white paint for the back porch. When I got home I finished the door threshold but the sweep I bought is too short. Needed to buy a 2 inch one. Stopped by Krogers and bought Burpee seeds for $1 per pack. The package says #2.49 on it, wow! Dinner tonight was pork chops with apple sauce, broccoli and shiraz.

Picked up some trim boards from Home Depot then started trimming the door out on the inside of the porch. Finished this, now I
need to work on the threshold and get a door sweep. OpD was called, I got the money this morning and bought more WSR and also added SPH, an old friend from years back. Stopped by Litmus for First Friday then did Artspace and went out to dinner at Boku. Service was not great. I had prawns in a nice spicy rice. Also had some Annabelle Cab which was $10 per glass and very good.

Nancy came over this morning to help Libbie. I drove to Graingers in North Raleigh to get the transformer. Of course, they didn't know about the will call. They took one out of stock and I mounted it in the relay box. The fan and the shutters now work as expected. This fixed the problem of the chattering relay. Next step was to work on the door frame. Got the frame cut and mounted as well as some shims installed. Next step is to complete the inside trim. moved to the backyard to move logs. It's a glorious 80 degree sunny day so I went and knocked myself out which is satisfying. Libbie watered the orchids in the greenhouse for the first time today. this is goodness although the water pipes still need clamping down to the structure. Dinner was a center cut pork chop with broccoli, apple sauce and Chardonnay. Wagner Tannhauser on WCPE tonight which is nice. I contacted the Modine distributor today and getting my money back for the warranty heat exchanger last year sounds positive. We shall see. I also had to deal with the Post Office because of multiple charges for the postal labels. The Feb 27 labels were charged 4 times for the same item. Their records only show 3 charges so I have soe work to do when the bill comes!!!

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.