Saturday, November 28, 2009

Grey Be Gone!

Well good day all, told you I'd be back soon! Been busy working on my place, and not sleeping quite enough due to increased night time kitty activity! Added the banner above just to remind myself(and of course you,)that I used to golf, saddly, even though it was +9 today again, every night it is well below freezing, and the courses are all closed.(I kind of wish it would just snow a foot and then I would stop thinking about it so much, like I'm ready to set a basket in the bush and just start chippin, I mean I got lots of old balls,(yes more then just two!)) And to make my suffering even worse, about 5 miles from my home, a brand new, top notch looking, golf course is being built!

Coal Creek is being built on an old coal mine, and has old equipment laying around the course. Some of the slag heaps, and dredge mine scrap hole, are left to enhance the playing fun!(nothin says fun like losing you ball down a bottemless pit!) On one of my drive passed, I saw what looked like coal black bunkers, witch would really make the ball stand out, if I was ever to be in one.(but why I'd ever be in a bunker, I dont know...maybe I'll just throw a ball in to see how cool it looks!) As I said, this is the old coal mine, the new one is only 2 miles from here, and a winters worth of coal, is about $30!(depending of course, on the weather, and how warm a person needs to be.)This winter has been warmer then normal, so that might be a high estimate.

My Brother Carlin has come to the Commpomfarms for a while, and is fixxing up his own old dog trailer to live in,(mines bigger! but also older, and so far about 100x more work, so I guess it must about even out.) together we sided the woodie shed, with some metal siding we found just laying around,(after we peeled it off the side of a couple of Atco trailers, that is, theres more trailers around here then I could shake a stick at...although why I'd be wastng time standing around shaking sticks at old trailers is beyond me!) pictures of that project are being saved for the next blog.(have to clear the trailer park censor board first!)
Ok, on to the Grey Be Gone bit. Remember a few blogs back, Grey Power, in witch I give several reasons why having a grey beard was good? Well two times in the last month, people have mistaked my Mom, for my wife! So I decided to get the Grey be Gone! On my Moms next hairdresser visit, I tag along. This first shot is of the "old grey" me.( My brother Carlin use to shot weddings, not like me who just shot at weddings! hehehe! and He came along for the fun, and took these shots of my ordeal.) Norma, the hairdresser, whips out this paintbrush looking thing, and just starts swabbing it on, then sends me into the bleachers to wait it out. While in limbo, I had plenty of time to ponder things, like why are cows so funny to me? and do deaf cows mooo differently? and of coruse, how whould you tell if a cow is deaf, or just ignoring you?
This is my cow pondering look...oh and thats my mom in the background, the one wareing the same stylish brown reverse cape,(and the same hair varnish eating into the brain glaze! Bleary eyed indeed!)


A few minutes latter, it was time to kneel at the rince alter, and low and behold, Grey Be Gone!(and as I feared, instantly people started to expect more from me!, naw, just kidding...no one expects anything from me!) After the rince, the hairdresser decidied to shave my head for me, its been a long time since I got a pro haircut.(only 1 time since the biker chick redid my dreads, and that was over 15yrs. ago! she was funny, her card said," Cut-Kurl up&Dye!" I wasn't sure if she was a hairdresser or maybe a part time assassin!) Apparently, my last shave was alittle crooked/ragged/uneven, so Norma took it "down to the wood", as she would say. Its a very sliming type of haircut, like now Im more steamline or something. Good thing its not -40,(yet). So these next two shots are ones I took myself, note the bags under the eyes, and extreme onset of bleary eyes, must have been after my bed time.(I only look younger, Im still the same old fart I always was!)



Well as for the trailer restore, I got the bathroom all hooked up, and the wall behind the shower boarded, still have to varnish it though. Also got my computer room drywalled, and tonight my bro and I did the subfloor in that room.


I found out that the old window I changed from my bed room is the same size as the puter room window, so did a double window,(hope two old windows are almost as good as one new one.) And dont worry, soon the flower print wallpaper will be gone!
Well the hell kittins are quite for the moment, so should off to bed be gone,(no telling how many will wake up in the middle of the night for a game of jump on the sleepin duffer!) will update the trailer status as things get done, Carlins trailer is done enough that he will try sleeping in it tonight, although I think its because little Muligan the kat took his dead mouse in to Carlins room to enjoy, and some times they dont quite finish them. Oh well another week shot to hell, golfless! Have a good one, DufferKev!

Friday, November 20, 2009

"I HAVE THE POWER!"



Hey hey, every one, sorry its been so long since my last blog,(like almost a month!)but I have been busy!(like keeping 6 kittins off the table isnt a busy enough life!) This weekend promises to be justs as busy, so thought I'd at least start writing this morning. So, what have I been doing? whats up with the kitties? whats with the weird He-Man referneces? All will be told! O.k., as for the He-Man thing, I hooked up my power! so indeed "I have the Power!"(and of course with this victory, I assumed the classic He-Man pose, thrust my screwdriver high into the sky, and by the power of grey skull, I looked just like the hero of old!(except for the thinning hair, grey beard,& beer belly, of course, but its been like 30 yrs, I'll bet prince Adams traded in his six-pack for a keg by now too!)and turning to find mighty Battle-Cat...gone, all six kittins choose this moment to run away, quickly!(cowards!))
So in order to have power at my trailer, I had to run a trench to the dog house,(witch use to have power,)then hook my trailer into a splitter, then trench to the side of moms trailer, crawl underneith,(i got the privilege of crawling under all three trailers in the park, and my moms was the worsed! the axles are removed, sand piled under to reduce the cold, and tons of bugs!)and stick a fat wire through her floor, cut her main power, hook another splitter,(from her house to the dog house, from the dog house to my house,) turn on the main power and pray it all works!(witch it did!) Here is a shot of the inside of her wall, with a thisle plant growing
up through the hole in the floor, and up past the main power box.(had to have been at least 9 feet long, and never saw the sun in its whole life! weird!)


Here is a couple of almost finished shots, after the hooking up work was done!(ever try to stick a quarter into a dime slot? this was about as hard! the bigger the wire the harder it is to bend/stuff into the holeBut at the end of the day, all was working! On the left is a shot of the main power cable into my trailer.(Some of you may notice the trench, its suposed to be almost 3ft. deep, and it may not look like it is, but as any man will tell you, things look smaller when its cold out!)(thats my story and Im sticking to it!)

After I had power/lights/heat, I started the drywall prosess, witch really helps to make things feel like a house, instead of a 40yr. old trailer! Also helps drive home the fact that I've still got a long ways to go! I also hooked up my sewer, and water system. Here at the CommPomFarms trailer park, there is a well, but the water is too salty, so its undrinkable,(also the well is right next to the barnyard, so its doublely undrinkable now.) I burried a 240gal. tank, that is filled from a system in town that pipes fresh water out from Edmonton. After the tank is filled, the insulated line runs under my trailer to a jet pump, that presserizes the water before it gets into the trailer.
Here is the tank before it was buried, and the jet pump under the trailer, notice also the very sturdy skirting, with 2inch styro foam and 4x4's/landscape ties etc. in event of tornado, I'll be under my trailer, it'll be the last thing standing!

So on the day I(and my Mom went to get water, it was a clear, cool day of about +2, and I got a little wet when we took the tank to a local car wash to clean before use, no big deal the old truck has a good heater, so we fill the neibours tank first,(I also burried/hooked up her water and sewer system, just cause Im soooo nice!)then back for the second trip to fill mine. The water fill station has a big pipe with a hose on the end, hanging about 15ft. up.(for trucks to pull up undernieth and fill from above.) There is a pipe to connect the hose to the top of your tank,(helps to keep the water goning where you want in, in your tank!) On this attemp the hose/pipe suddenly seperate, and about 30gal. of barley above freezing water pours directly onto my crotch! Stunning! The best part was my Mom, who instead of hitting the off button, just stands there and giggles at me!(she laughed for about an hour after too!) So by the time I realilize whats happening, and what to do about it, ie. put the hose and pipe back together, the water stops,(you only get about 80 gal. for a $1 token,) Luckly for me we're only about 7min. from home and a hot shower. After I fill the tank, and we are testing the system, I got a small amount of revenge. The old trailer water lines had a few leaks. I had moved the bathroom sink, so had shutoff valves on the pipes, and while I was checking out the leaky kitchen sink, both of the stoppers blew off!(jet pump kicks ass! indeed.) So Shes got a finger stuck in each pipe, and waters spraying all over my new bedroom! Mom is yelling,"shut it off! Shut It Off! SHUT IT OFF! And Im running around the out side of the trailer to unplug the jet pump, before my drywall gets totaled.(Oh yeah, and before my Mom gets too soaked,) Too bad I didn't have the time to really enjoy her soaking, the way she got to enjoy mine!
I fianlly got my shower installed and hooked up...wait for it..."I have the Shower!"(this time Im holding a rubber ducky skyward, waring a bathrobe, and shower cap on my beard!) Today I'll have my bathroom sink installed, and hopefully the kitchen sink repaired, so will try the water system again.(just have to wait for my mom to get home first, hehehe!) Well thats about it from the land of the Duffer, will really try to blog again before a month passes, there is always sooo much to do around here, but will try to share the fun with you all. Oh, yeah, the kitties are getting really big, they are almost the same size as "momma cat" now, Stripe face cat, was remamed "Slice", and grey ghost, renamed to "Putter", so we may have to keep all six, since they all have golfing names now. Have a great week,(or month, depends how busy I stay,) DufferKev.