I’m really embarrassed to admit that the project to install a new flag pole, which we had planned for a weekend back in July, is only just now complete.  We, of course, have lots of excuses … it was too hot, digging up the old one was more work than anticipated, we had other things going on … but, mostly, we’re just lazy.  So, enough of that – the new flag pole is installed and operable … and we’re excited about that!

As a reminder, here’s what we started with:

It was about 20′ tall, non-removable and rusted with hardware beyond its useful life.  We pondered initially whether it would be worth trying to fix up the old flag pole rather than replace it.  We figured it could look better after some time with a wire brush, a fresh coat of paint, a new pulley, and some fresh rope, but the logistics of painting a 20′ tall pole stumped us.  Plus, we found a nice collapsable, removable one by Uncommon USA that shared none of the problems of the old one.  We decided it was clearly time for a replacement.

So, we moved on to Plan B:  Dig up the old flag pole and replace it with a shiny, new, collapsable, and removable one.  Brilliant plan!

We decided the first step should be to cut the pole off at a more manageable height so that it wouldn’t be so unwieldy while we dug it up.

That done, we started digging around the concrete footing … and dug some more … and kept on digging.  After making a mess out of the flower bed around the flag pole, we resigned ourselves to the fact that digging out the old flag pole was easier said than done.  We seriously think that flag pole had a more substantial footing than some homes.

While the top portion of the concrete looked like a typical do-it-yourself pour that should be easy enough to dig up, further down, it became obvious that a form was used to pour a proper footing.  We also found some metal rods reinforcing the concrete.  And to top it off, the flag pole concrete appeared to be “connected” to the section of sidewalk that leads from the driveway to the flagpole.

This was when we decided (back in July) that the flag pole project warranted some more thought before proceeding … the amount of “thought” that would take until the weather cooled down at least.

And, so, the flagpole sat for about 2 months, looking like this …

… until a 2 weekends ago when we decided to tackle the project again, this time with a new approach.

So, plan C for the flag pole project was born:  Cut off the old flag pole and install the new one in a slightly different location.  After more time spent trying to dig to the bottom of the concrete the old flag pole was set in, we decided to give up on that effort completely.  Instead, we figured we’d cut the flag pole off even with the concrete, take a sledge to the top of the footing to chip away at it until it was a few inches below ground level, cover it with dirt and mulch, and forget it was there.  Then we could move on with installing the new flag pole a little to the left and closer to the driveway, which would be more centered in the flower bed anyway.

So, Chad took the reciprocating saw to the remaining half of the flag pole and cut it off at ground level … success!

And then he attempted to break out the top portion of the concrete … but this time with little success.  That concrete was just not budging.  So, we decided to leave it there … and even talked ourselves into thinking it was the right thing to do.  After all, it was preserving the history of the old flag pole that had been lovingly installed by a previous owner … they even wrote their name in the concrete.

So, we decided to move on to installing the new flag pole.

For the installation of the new flag pole, we used a post hole digger to dig a hole about 30″ deep and 15″ in diameter.  Our hole turned out a little bigger than the manufacturer’s recommendation, but we figured bigger was ok … we wouldn’t want the flag pole to fall over after all.

With the hole dug, we then added gravel to the bottom for drainage and leveling and such.  We added enough gravel so that the top of the plastic sleeve (which holds the flag pole) was level with the ground and the bottom of it was filled with about 2″ of rock.

We weren’t sure how much concrete we would need to fill the hole around the plastic sleeve, so we started by mixing up 2 60 lb. bags of Quickrete, which we found filled the hole only about 2/3 of the way, so we wound up using one more bag.  We did decide, though, to stop the concrete about 2″ below ground level so that the footing could be more easily covered with mulch to blend in to the flower bed.

As we added the concrete, we periodically checked the sleeve to make sure that it was pointed straight up (nothing worse than a crooked flag pole!) using a post level.

Once all of the concrete was poured in the hole, we even temporarily set the flag pole in the sleeve so that we could check to make sure it was straight.  We were really worried that the flag pole would come out crooked, but we found that even wet concrete does a really good job of keeping the sleeve in place so it doesn’t move around too much and was pretty easy to level.

With the concrete poured, we cleaned up for the night and waited for it to cure before inserting the flag pole into the sleeve and raising it for the first time.

The next day, we we really relieved to find that the flag pole was, in fact, straight!

It feels like we have been looking at a rusted out, inoperable flag pole for so long and it’s really nice to finally have one that’s functional and that looks so much nicer than the old one!

The only thing we’re missing now is proper lighting so that we can leave the United States flag out at night.  With our current arrangement, we have to bring it in at night, so we find that we aren’t flying a flag as often because of that.

Chad, however, found another flag that doesn’t have that problem … a John Deere flag, of course.  :)

Here are the “official” before and after photos for the flag pole replacement project:

And so the project to install a new flag pole is finally complete – only a couple of months later than planned.  Overall, we’d say there isn’t anything overly difficult or challenging about the installation of a new flag pole … the removal of an old one, which was planted in an extraordinary amount of super-strength concrete, however, is a different story!

Our house came with an old fashioned horse hitching post at the point of our circle (ok, maybe more like tear-drop shaped) driveway.  One of the previous owners was into horses and welding … hence the hitching post.

the horse hitching post ... hiding behind the bush

We never paid a whole lot of attention to the horse … mostly because it was hidden behind a bush and surrounded by other plants when we moved in.  When we put new landscaping in this spring, though, we asked the landscaper to include the area around the horse in his design.  With the new landscaping, the horse is much more of a focal point than it was before, which we like.

the horse with the shiny new landscaping

We’ve been noticing, though, that it’s a little rusted and not looking the finest … and now that it’s more of a focal point, we thought it would be a good time to fix that.  I’ve been waiting for the weather to cool down to an acceptable temperature before tackling the re-painting of the horse and decided that this morning would be good enough.  It was below 90 degrees, not raining, and below the humidity threshold for the spray paint … so I figured there was no point in continuing to wait for the perfect day.

wire brushing the horse

I started by taking a wire brush to the horse to knock off any loose paint or rust.  By the time it was done, I was covered in a fine layer of black dust, but the horse didn’t look too different.  I was kind of surprised by that, but I think the brush did it’s job since the painted surface is a lot smoother than I think it otherwise would have been.

all ready for paint!

the spray paint

After wire brushing the horse, I rinsed it off with a garden hose and then got a bucket of dish soap and water to remove any remaining residue before rinsing it again and leaving it sit in the sun to dry.  With the horse dry, I then applied a couple of light coats of Rust-olium Rust Reformer primer followed by a couple of light coats of flat black spray paint (as a top coat).

as good as new

I’m giving the horse a good 24 hours to make sure it’s completely dry before replacing the mulch at the base, but otherwise, this quick project is pretty much done.  For as quick, cheap, and easy as this fix was, I’m super excited about how it turned out.

It’s been really gross outside the last couple of days … hot, sticky, humid, just plain gross.  And we’ve been enjoying our swimming pool a lot … it’s a great way to cool off and feel refreshed!  The last few weeks have been so warm out that the pool water has been heating to bath-water like temperatures on its own.  The recent challenge has been cooling the pool off rather than heating it.

About a month ago, though, the situation was pretty much opposite.  Back then, the pool was actually on the chilly side (such a foreign thought now!) and we thought we’d run the heater for a bit so it would be more comfortable in time for our Fourth of July cookout.  Unfortunately, though, we just couldn’t get the pilot light on the heater to stay lit.

removing the access panel to light the pilot

We were bummed and thought we would have to call a plumber (or pool guy?) to come fix it.  Before we made the phone call, though, Chad decided to Google the problem and found that a likely cause could be that the powerpile needed replacing.

Some (not-so?) little-known pool heater facts:

1. A pool heater works a lot like a water heater.
2. The powerpile converts heat from the pilot to electricity that’s used to power the thermostat and gas valve … just like in a water heater.
3. Our Pentair Minimax CH 200M heater is full of Honeywell parts

removing the old powerpile

To be sure this was our problem, we removed the old powerpile from the heater and tested it by connecting the leads to a volt meter and holding the conductor over the flame from a lighter.  We got no reading on the volt meter, which told us that the power pile wasn’t working correctly.

the pilot that just wouldn't stay lit

We looked online and found a few plumbing / HVAC supply sites that sold replacement powerpiles (Honeywell part number Q313A), but no retailers that we were really all that comfortable ordering from – they all looked pretty small and chances were good we wouldn’t be able to get the part in time.  So, I called the local pool store who happened to have the replacement part in stock.  After talking with the pool guys, I realized part of my problem with searching online was that I was using the Honeywell part number rather than the Pentair part number (6270-27B) … under the Pentair part number, the powerpile (or “pilot generator” as it’s labeled in the Pentair documentation) was available on a number of swimming pool supply sites for a little less than we paid at the local pool store.

the reading on the volt meter after the new powerpile started generating

Once the new powerpile was installed, we still had to hold the pilot switch for a few minutes for things to warm up enough that it would start generating enough electricity to keep the pilot going, but, after a few minutes, the pilot stayed lit and we’ve had no problems since.

It was such an easy fix that avoided a service call, so we thought we’d share in case anyone else runs into similar problems!

Kirby "helping" to diagnose the pool heater problems

When I posted last week about all of the raccoons that have been invading our yard, I’m sure you thought “oh, what’s one or two little raccoons.”   Yeah … right.

This was the view outside our patio doors tonight … the picture isn’t too good (I wasn’t quite fast enough), but there are five.  FIVE raccoons … all enjoying our mulch and sod.

We’re really going to have to work on a raccoon-relocation program …

I was looking through some of our web site statistics this morning and a new referrer popped out at me.  I clicked the link and found a post on eHow.com about how to install picture frame molding in a dining room …

eHow Article on Picture Frame Molding Installation

Sure enough, I scrolled down a bit and found that our posts on installing picture frame molding in our dining room are listed as a resource for this article.

We're a Resource!

Wow … feels like we’re famous now … or at least our dining room is … well, sort of … maybe … indirectly …  :)

This weekend, we’ve decided to tackle a long overdue project: replacing the worn out, rusted out flag pole in the front yard with a new one.  The flag pole’s never looked great, but since the new landscaping work in the front yard, it’s really started to stand out … and not in a good way.

Replacing the flag pole actually wasn’t our first thought about how to fix it up.  We had originally planned to wire brush it, paint it, fix it up with new hardware and re-use it, but we just couldn’t find a good solution to how you’d go about painting a 20′ tall flag pole that can’t be taken out of the ground and that has a little more sway to it than we felt comfortable with when it comes to supporting a ladder.  We were pondering all of that when we went to a local store that sells flags and banners and saw a telescoping flag pole there that solves so many of the problems we have with this one – it’s shiny and new, it collapses to a manageable size, it comes out of the ground for easy storage … all good things.  So, we decided maybe this one was beyond its useful life after all and decided it was time to get a new one.

We bought the new flag pole and flag about a week ago … and this weekend’s project is to replace the rusty old one with the nice new one.  We got a head start tonight by cutting the old flag pole down to a manageable height and digging out a little around the concrete at the base.  After looking over the concrete situation a little more closely, we’re thinking the project to dig out the old pole may not be as simple as we’d originally thought … guess we’ll find out for sure tomorrow.

Anyone ever replaced a flag pole before?  Any tips on how to make this a painless job?  Or were we silly to think it had to be replaced in the first place – any great ideas on how one would go about cleaning up and painting a non-removable 20 ft. tall pole?

Over the last couple of weeks, we’ve been reminded about the large population of raccoons we share our yard with.  Normally they will get into the trash every now and then, but otherwise, they don’t make themselves too obvious or cause too many problems.  This year, though, is a different story.

On the Fourth of July, we went outside to get ready for our cookout with the family and found a baby raccoon asleep on the sidewalk between the house and the deck.

He was a cute little guy, but he didn’t seem quite right.  We aren’t sure if it was just because he’s nocturnal and we had the nerve to wake in at 9:00 in the morning, but he was none too alert and sure had problems waking up enough to relocate.  Normally we might have left him alone, but since we were having people over, we didn’t want him to decide to get aggressive once everyone showed up, so we got out a broom and nudged him awake in an attempt to convince him to relocate.  He started to get up and move away, but when we came back a few minutes later, we found him less than 3 feet away, half under the deck, asleep again.

We again prodded him with the broom to wake him up enough that he relocated himself completely under the deck, which we thought should be good enough, but shortly after people started to arrive for the cookout, he made another appearance on the same sidewalk.  Chad and his dad then persuaded him into an empty garbage can and relocated him behind the garage that way.  We aren’t sure if he was just really tired and separated from the rest of the raccoon family or if there was something a little wrong with him – it was just such strange behavior.

Then, a couple of days ago, the rest of the raccoon family attacked the new sod we had installed around the driveway in the front yard.

The sod has been doing pretty good and has taken root in most of the yard, but there are some spots on the east side of the driveway that have stayed so wet that the sod can still be lifted up … and the raccoons sure took advantage of that.  They’ve peeled back corners of the sod before, but never anything like this.  This was more like a whole strip had been torn up.  We did our best to piece it back together, grass side up, but we’re not sure how to prevent this.

We just seem to be overrun with raccoons … they’re everywhere, tearing up the sod, getting into the garbage, peering in the patio doors at night, and napping on sidewalks.  Anyone else similar experience with raccoons?  Have you had any success in getting them to relocate … or at least leave fresh sod alone?

A few weeks ago, we decided to try making better use of the back entry way … it’s a nice enough area, but we never use it and always go outside through the side door by the kitchen instead, which makes no sense considering that the pool is straight out the back door.

So, we started by ordering an apothecary chest through JCPenney that we could use for keeping pool-relevant items (test kits, etc.) closer to the pool.  So far, so good … it’s working out fine.

Linden Street Cherry Road Apothecary Chest

After seeing what a difference it made to actually have furniture in that space (it’s the whole thing about more stuff making an area seem bigger and more usable, which always seems counter-intuitive to me), I ordered a new rug that would cover most of the tile to capture dirt and leaves before they get tracked all over and keep the tile floor from being slippery if we happen to still be slightly damp from the pool.

"Rebecca" Rug from JCPenney

The New Rug by the Apothecary Chest

The new rug is 3-5′, which we really like in comparison to the smaller 2×3′ one that we had before.  This one feels like it’s the right size for the space.  The colors worked perfectly for us, too … it matches the blue paint in the foyer really nicely (although I managed to not get any pictures that show that).  We also really like the texture of the rug.  We’ve had it now for a couple of weeks and it’s holding up great so far.  The reviews online weren’t so great … I’m so glad we didn’t listen to them!

In addition to the new rug, I also ordered a new Peterboro basket to leave by the door filled with beach towels.  We’d been keeping all of the towels for the pool upstairs in the linen closet, but decided there wasn’t really much sense in that – they take up so much room in the closet and we never use them up there … hence the new basket.

Peterboro House Holder Basket ... for Beach Towels

New Basket, New Rug

Although I guess the colors of the towels don’t do much for our interior decorating, they are really accessible by the back door, which was the goal after all.  The basket just showed up a couple of days ago so we haven’t had much of a chance to comment on the usefulness of the new location for the towels.  I can’t help but think, though, that this is going to be much better than having to run back upstairs because we forgot the towels … which always seems to happen.

As much as the new additions to the back entry way are a definite improvement over where we started, I can’t help but feel like something’s still missing.  We’ve been thinking about replacing the flower arrangement on the apothecary chest with a lamp on a timer (since this part of the house is so dark after the sun goes down and we’ve discovered how nice it is to have “night-light” lamps on for a few hours every night between the time it gets dark and when we go to bed).  I actually did buy a new lamp with the thought of putting it in the back entry way, but liked it better for the living room when it came, so we’re still minus a lamp.

The lamp for the back entry ... that never made it past the living room.

Aside from the lamp vs. flower arrangement issue, I’m also feeling like the entry way is now suffering from the same problem the rest of the house has with regards to lack of wall-hangings.  Everything in the space is in the lower half of it, which never feels quite right.  I just have real trouble picking out artwork … it always seems like I should be in love with the piece for it to warrant a hole in the wall and I guess I just don’t love that many wall hangings.  Not that this does anything to help the problem of bare walls.  I’m thinking maybe this is a case where I need a new approach (since the old one clearly isn’t working).  Walls are easy to patch if I change my mind, right?

So, some progress on decorating the back entry way in the last week or two, but definitely still a work in progress.  Any thoughts on what might be good in addition to (or in place of) what we’ve already got?

Just wanted to post a quick promotion for a new website we’re starting up called HouseBlogging.com … check it out when you have a couple of minutes.

The goal of this new site is to fill the void that was left when HouseBlogs.net went off-line by pulling together a community of house bloggers under a new name.  The basic concept, though, is similar to HouseBlogs.net.  At HouseBlogging.com, we’ll aggregate posts from a whole list of house blogs and present the content in one place for easy browsing.  As we get going, we’ll also pull together posts around common themes, feature a different house blog every month, and grow the site to include more blogs, more features, and more content.

We’re just getting started so things are still pretty basic, but we have plans for so much more.  Check us out at HouseBlogging.com and let us know if you have any feedback!

Happy Blogging!  :)

I went shopping with my mom a couple of weeks ago and we found some really cute curtains that (after much discussion) we decided would be perfect for my kitchen. Remembering from last time, though, how frustrating the curtains / curtain rod / shade setup in the kitchen is and how much patience is needed before digging into that project, I brought the new curtains home, laid them in the dining room, and didn’t touch them for a couple of weeks.

Last weekend, though, when it started raining right in the middle of our yard work and we were forced back inside, I decided it would be a good time to tackle the project of hanging the new curtains … and I was promptly reminded of all of the reasons why I had chosen to delay that task in the first place (i.e., too long, unmanageable curtain rod, brackets the rod must go through instead of hooks, set screws that scratch the finish of the rod if you’re not careful … argh.)  So, it took a couple of hours (and a lot of up-and-down on a step stool), but the curtains are finally up.

At the same time, I decided to remove the clip-on liners that I bought for the roman shades when I was concerned that the weave wouldn’t be dense enough to provide any privacy in the kitchen. As it turned out, the weave was plenty tight when the shades came in (so the liner probably wasn’t really necessary) and I kept having trouble with the white fabric bunching up weird and hanging below the rest of the shade when it was pulled all the way up. Anyway, I decided it was time to stop fighting with the liners and just get rid of them – so glad I did!

Here’s a picture of the finished product:

The Kitchen Windows (+ new curtains, - old privacy liners)

At first it was bothering me that the new valances were short enough that the shades show even when they’re pulled up all of the way, but I got over that pretty quickly and I’m now I’m really liking the extra color in comparison to the old yellowy-green striped ones.  Just as a reminder – here’s an old picture of the curtains we had before:

The Old Curtains

I love how something as simple (and relatively inexpensive) as curtains can make a room feel so different.  It makes me think maybe it’s time to step up the project to replace the old teal window treatments in the living room that we inherited when we bought the house.  I’ve been putting off dealing with them, but I’m sure that something fresh in there would make a big difference too!  Guess I’d better start looking for some inspiration for what we might like there instead …

Teal Living Room Curtains