RoundAbout San Diego

We were sitting out back with our gin and tonics and these butterflies came into our yard and started flirting with each other. It was very relaxing watching them flit around

I knew the title of this post would make you look and yes, Alex vacuums our new pathway. We have a large tree that constantly drops leaves so Alex thought we should buy a leaf blower/vacuum to keep it leaf free. Alex cut quite a comical figure as he vacuumed away so I couldn't help but post a few photos









The path always looks great when he's done. Now, if only he would do inside the house as well.

So, after the installation of the whole house fan it was time to actually get it working. For this a new circuit had to be installed. A couple of weeks ago we had our circuit box upgraded by Mike Kennedy of M.J. Kennedy Electric who we found on Craigslist. He did a fabulous job and really stayed on top of SDG&E and the inspector for us. So if you need some electrical work done give him a call at 619-666-4167 or email him at mjkennedyelectric@hotmail.com.

After reading a book from Home Depot and spending some time researching the web Alex decided he could install the new circuit himself. What a man I married! Not only a great blogger but a handyman as well. Who knew?

Here he is looking looking at the new circuit box as if he knows what he's doing


And look at that super cool tool belt that he just received as a birthday present



Through trial and error and a few bleep-bleep words the new circuit was installed. Alex had to crawl in the attic and in the crawl space under the house and thread wire through the walls to get it all working.

While Alex was doing all the dirty work I set up a cool spot in the back yard. While we love to sit on the patio it can get incredibly hot especially during a heat wave. Up in the back of the yard, under the trees, it is much cooler. I set up a table and 2 chairs with the sun umbrella.



Relaxing with his gin and tonic and some bread with olive oil.



What a guy. And here he is with the final word

It was very gratifying when I flipped the switch and the fan worked perfectly! If it hadn't worked, I would have cried.

Alex

We celebrated the big 40 with Alex today. He had a couple of unusual presents that he had wanted for a while. He received the skull of the Piltdown man from his parents and a Fiji mermaid from me.


I try to be as tolerant as possible but these objects just don't fit in with my idea of a sophisticated, welcoming, living room. And yet, there they sit!

We had tried to do the path down the side of our house ourselves but there are some things we just don't like doing - digging trenches for instance. You can see what a mess it was before anything was done


The path was first turned over and smoothed out with it falling away slightly towards the front of the house for drainage


A couple of steps being set up to lead into the front yard


And this is the finished path.


So much neater than what we started with. Eventually I would like to see a few large pots of plants or herbs with more paving stones to make for easier walking

Finally, after living here for 6 years we have the whole house fan that I've wanted since we moved in. Living in La Mesa the temperatures can get up into the 90s during a heat wave and a few times have been well over 100 deg. F. We both decided that it wasn't worth the cost to install and run an air conditioner and have learnt how to get by on a hot day. However, the nights were a completely different matter. Who can sleep when the house is steaming? Now that the whole house fan has been installed we can turn it on in the late evening to cool down the house making for a comfortable night of sleep.

Alex installed the fan himself taking a few days to do it. It can be done in a day but because the attic was so hot he worked for a couple of hours early each morning. Here are a few photos to show the installation.



He first had to cut into the ceiling beams and create a box big enough for the vent hole. As you can see we have the old style insulation which sticks to everything as you move around.



Next he had to install the ducts and attach to the vent hole. I helped lift the ducts into the attic - wish I had photos of that to show you all. They are really long and flexible and I had to push them up into the attic while standing on the bottom rung of the ladder and Alex pulling from the top.



The end of each duct had to be securely attached to the roof beams.



And there you have the finished product.

And now, here's a word from my personal handyman to give you some more information on the fan:

My memory of installing the fan: squatting in the attic, sweat pouring down my face as the temperature climbed over 100 degrees, choking on the dust of insulation. The phrase "Hell on Earth" kept going through my head.

So I wouldn't say it was easy to install, but in the end it was worth it since the fan is powerful and quiet -- our two main priorities.

The hardest part of the installation was cutting the rafters to make a space for the vent hole. The vent would have fit between rafters, without the need for any cutting, but not in a position where we wanted it to be. So I had to cut rafters.

-Alex