Randall's Blog

First of all, a warm welcome to Eve Lynn Fox. Heidi was in labor most of the weekend and Eve arrived on Sunday afternoon. We were checking Daniel's Facebook page for updates while we were in Boston for Danielle & Rob's wedding. It seemed like it was taking forever - I can only imagine how Heidi and Daniel felt! I dug up an old photo of the new parents when they were just kids themselves:

Congratulations Heidi & Daniel!!!

Danielle and Rob's wedding was very nice and they made sure that we had a wonderful vegan dinner option as well as vegan cupcakes & cookies! We sat next to Beth & Thomas and had time to chat with them most of the evening. Danielle & Rob had some interesting music played by a string quartet including selections from Pearl Jam and The Who!

Congratulations Danielle & Rob!!!

On Sunday morning we had brunch at the Red Lentil - a new Vegetarian & Vegan Restaurant right near Rebecca & Ali's place.

The dishes (and company) were great!

I find myself as a parent again, sort of. I haven't gotten someone pregnant or adopted a child. The "child" isn't really a child at all. In fact, *I* used to be the child and roles long forgotten have become reversed. My mother is aging. That's a good thing, as she says - "better than the alternative." As my mother ages she seems to be regressing, though - I know I'm not the first one to notice this kind of thing. She won't take her dirty dishes to the sink. Getting her into a shower is a challenge. Am I dealing with a four year old or an 84 year old? My brain strains to cope with the reality of an 84 year old that seems to becoming more and more like a child. How will it end? My own children are adults now. It's natural that children should grow up and become adults - I welcomed it. They are fine adults - responsible, caring - a parent's fondest wish. But my mother is different - what do I wish for...

My mother has Alzheimer's-like dementia, whatever that is. She also has COPD and has difficulty walking. She is mostly pleasant and agreeable (remember to be thankful here). She certainly can't live on her own and nursing care is very expensive. So, she lives with me and my wife. An ancient arrangement - much like the other life arrangements I have found myself in. It's all been done before, but not by me. For me it's new.

My mother's memory is fading, but selectively. She got a Christmas card from one of her nephews. She had no idea who had sent the card. I tried to "walk" her through it but it wasn't going to happen. On the other hand, I found a photo in Florida and neither of her brothers knew who was in it. It was my mom's mother and aunt and another woman. I knew this because I had been told before. I asked my mother and she knew who all three people were. The third woman was a family friend named Sibela. She was watching "Citizen Kane" the other day and I poked my head in and asked if they were still trying to find out what "Rosebud" was. She said "I know what Rosebud is, it's a sled." So, she remembers some things but not others.

The ever present coughing and throwing up do get to me sometimes. Explaining things over and over is a drag. Sometimes she forgets that she has just eaten and is ready for a second supper. I worry that if she gains any more weight her mobility may get even worse or she could fall and break something - this is to be avoided at all costs. There was a scare the other morning when she somehow found some sleeping pills and in her "junkie" migraine state she took one (or more) during the night. Her speech was slurred and she could barely stand up - I thought she was having a stroke and called her doctor and was just about to call 911 when I saw the pill bottle and realized what she had done. All pills are now out of her reach....

On the other hand I talk to a lot of people and read a lot of stories and my mom is actually not doing all that badly. Many people (and their care-givers) are much worse off. My mom is fairly stable - she does slip but not that fast and she has recovered some.

What do I think about it - how do I feel? I'm not sure - lots of different feelings. I try to look at the big picture - there are a lot of worse fates that I could find myself in. I could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time and been busted on drug charges in the '80s - spending the best part of my life in prison. It could have happened.... I also could have gotten in at the bottom of the computer revolution of the late '70s - early '80s (what my father wanted me to do) and become a Silicon Valley millionaire. You can't go back and change things. Things are what they are or "It is what it is" as my friend likes to say. I'll just have to make the best of things as they are.

It's been a while since I wrote a blog post. Debbie has started her Fall semester of law school and I haven't had many big projects. I have been working part time with NERFI and I don't have a lot of money for big projects anyway. At the end of August I met Rebecca, Chris, Shannon & Jennie in the Berkshires for a nice day of hiking and Shakespeare.

Debbie & I spent the Labor day weekend in the Catskills and the weather was awesome.

The garden wound up producing some food. We got a dozen small cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, lots of basil, a few small carrots and some lettuce. Considering the problems it was better than I expected.

We had some people over last Sunday for a deck gathering and harvested some things:

I was able to find some cheap tiki torches and put them on the deck. The duck has been bugging me for a long time and he was so happy when he saw them.

People came by in shifts and it was late when Chris, Shannon & Matt had to head home.

On Saturday I went to Heidi & Daniel's baby shower. It was nice to see them and their families as well.

I did build a shelf in the greenhouse and fill some planting boxes. I was thinking that I could grow some cold tolerant stuff until it gets really cold but I have probably waited too long again.

A view of the garden in its fading (not too glorious) glory:

It will be better next year!

My latest project was to install a gas fireplace in a corner of our living-dining room. I have felt somewhat fire-deprived in our new house. In the NH house I had three fireplaces - one had a wood-burning insert, one had a vent-free gas log set and the last one was unused. Debbie's condo has two nice working fireplaces. This house has an interesting wood furnace in the basement that works with the oil burning furnace but no cheery flame that can be seen and enjoyed. This was my favorite old fireplace:

I decided that we should install a gas fireplace or stove. These run on LP gas that we already have for our cooking stove and are mess-free yet produce supplemental heat even without power and a nice real flame. I had installed a vent-free gas log set in the beautiful fireplace in the dining room of my NH home (above) and liked the simplicity of it. Vent-free gas appliances are somewhat controversial. They claim to be safe and 99% efficient but there are lots of detractors. They can produce carbon monoxide (CO) and use oxygen from the room they are in as well as adding water to the air. I had experience with the log set in NH and never had any problems but I looked into it further anyway. They are illegal in California and Canada as well as other places but the "Vent-Free Gas Products Alliance" claims they are safe.

I guess it depends on how well they are installed and maintained and how much they are used. The house in NH was BIG and drafty which means that there was a lot of outside air coming in. We just tightened up our new house and reduced the air leaks so I will have to keep an eye on our indoor air quality. Adding moisture to the air in the Winter is not a bad thing - in fact I just installed a humidifier on the heating system. Oxygen depletion and CO are bad. On the other hand I can't see how it would be any different than using the gas oven if we baked a lot. I am also looking into a heat-recovery ventilator for the house which should help.

We did look at direct vented stoves and fireplaces but they are expensive. We were quoted $3K to $5K for a good stove or fireplace at various dealers. This was out of our price range. They looked very nice but way too much money. I liked the idea of a small stove but Debbie preferred a fireplace with a mantle. Most of the mantles are pretty large, though, and our room is pretty small. We did see a nice tall & thin corner mantle in one place that we both liked.

I decided that perhaps I could purchase a firebox and log set and build a mantle for it. I even looked at recycled mantles at Historic Albany Foundation's Architectural Parts Warehouse. Some were pretty cool but many were just too big. It's a great place to find windows, doors etc. I also saw some vent-free fireplaces at Lowes that were pretty cheap - $500-700 range. The mantles were not real wood, however. I briefly thought of taking the firebox from the Lowes fireplace and building a mantle for it. A conversation with the local building inspector put a damper on that idea.

I decided to take the easy path and just purchase a small gas fireplace from Lowes ($450) and enhance it a bit. It is sized correctly for the room at 20,000 BTU. It is made by the same company that makes the more expensive stoves and fireplaces sold at dealers. This made the permit process much easier. I decided that I could raise the mantle up a few inches without clearance issues. This would make the mantle more visible in the room and allow it to fit against the wall better. I made the platform out of 3/4 in. cabinet-grade plywood and added some tile to the top. The tile was left over from a bathroom remodel that was done before we purchased the house. I looked into having some stone cut for the top of the mantle and a small insert above the firebox. This too was very expensive - I was quoted $375 for the cheapest stone. Debbie said she liked it without the stone anyway so I just got some thin marble (sold as a threshold for $12.50) and trimmed it for the decorative insert. Running the new gas line was straightforward, once I got the correct fittings...took a few tries.

Now we can have a nice fire for our groundhog party and it came in well under $1,000!

After the main deck was done we started to think about some built in, or built on, seating. I did some Google searches for ideas. Many of the seats I found were bench type seats and Debbie wanted a back to lean on. Our friend Laura has some on her deck so I looked at photos of that seating to get ideas too. I wanted something that was simple to construct out of 2x4 PT lumber and PT decking. I came up with my own plans when I couldn't find any on line. This is what I came up with:

Debbie & I were both very happy with the result. The seats are comfortable and I even put a board on top to rest drinks or anything else you might want knocked off to the ground. Here is how I made them.

First, I wanted a plan that would use only a single 2x4 (8') for each seat support. I was able to cut the 4 pieces of wood from a single 2x4 with a few inches on each end to cut out knots if necessary. The seat backs are about 38 inches above the deck surface and the seat height is about 17 inches above the deck surface. I used an angle of 10 degrees as a slant for the seat back. It doesn't seem like much but it feels right.

The four pieces are the seat back, the front support and two cross pieces. The two upright pieces are rhomboid parallelograms - the angles are 80 degrees and 110 degrees. The two cross pieces are isosceles trapezoids with the same angles. These are links to a graphic with a sketch of the seat and cutting plan in PNG and PDF format. I assembled three of the pieces inside:

I used a 2 7/8 inch FastenMaster Headlok screw to attach the pieces together. I just discovered these screws when I was shopping for deck screws and they work great!

To attach the lower cross piece to the deck I used an 8 inch Scorpion Tie-Master landscape fastener. I drilled pilot holes 4 1/2 inches from the end of the long side (top) of the lower cross piece. Each lower cross piece was positioned over a deck framing member and screwed on to the deck:

The rest of the assembly was then screwed to the lower cross piece:

Once all the supports were together and aligned I attached the decking to the supports using standard decking screws. Getting the supports aligned is important (I found this the hard way...). I used 1/2 inch spacing between decking boards.

I was a bit concerned that that the whole assembly might not be sturdy enough. I had thought of attaching some diagonal braces if necessary. However, once it was all screwed together it felt quite sturdy.

Here is a rear view:

And a view of the top board:

I hope someone finds this information useful!