Re-Seating the Toilet

We found a wet spot on the basement ceiling under the master bath drain. Oh goody. The toilet has been rocking, so I suspected a wax ring failure.

We got all the water out, and the bolts came off easily (a miracle). Here's the lovely view, with a bit of wax ring still attached...

And an inspirational pic of the hole in the floor. Not for the germ-phobic...

Hey, tile installer... way to leave out a tile under the flange! We decided to try the Fluidmaster Wax-Free Toilet Bowl Gasket. It seemed like a good idea, and makes for less mess if we ever pull this toilet again. Maybe for new tile?? Like, not-made-in-1976-tile?

It went on easily enough, but the toilet is still rocking. It doesn't seem to be leaking though. I suppose the stoopid tile around the flange is uneven, which would make it match the rest of the tile in the bathroom. Of course we didn't have any shims in the house, so they're on the list for the hardware store.

While the water was off, I opened up the flush valve and cleared the gravel and grit out. Now the tank fills really quickly! The flush valve is a Fluidmaster, and their website is great for troubleshooting.

That's all that's been going on. Next project will be having the gutters replaced, after which it won't rain for three months, guaranteed.

Fence Project Gets The Go-Ahead

Behind the scenes here, we've been waiting for our community association to approve our plans to fence in the yard. We have two dogs, and I'm determined to have a yard that we can all enjoy, without leashes or electro-shock collars.

I was told that "no fences are allowed here". I checked the covenants, and it only says that the plans have to be approved by the association. It's taken TWO MONTHS, but they've finally approved our revised plan. We don't get the front yard fenced (boo!) but the whole back and side yard area is fine (where I spend all my time - yay!).

In other projects, (which we will also not be doing ourselves) we got an estimate on replacing the gutters, downspouts, facia and soffits. Trust me when I say that the old gutters are TOAST. They've been crushed by tree saplings against the house, and Bittersweet vines. The new ones will be extra high capacity, which is good, since we have the largest roof area in the universe. The facia and soffit cladding should be nice - no more painting!

I'll be sure to take pictures of the sad gutters before they go away.
Technorati Tags: fence, gutters

We Missed Community Cleanup Day!

I cannot believe this. The dumpsters were to be there for 3 days. I finally convinced B to load up the SUV with the stinky wall to wall carpet I ripped up (in April!) on day 3. "Let's drive down and make sure there's room first" says I.

Dumpster is GONE. It's 4:00 and I know they aren't going to bring us a fresh one for the few hours left. I want to weep........ I've been planning for this day since April. It was on my calendar like a holiday.

So. I guess the guest bathroom will remain the "carpet storage facility" until NEXT YEAR!
Not that I am bitter or anything.

Scribefire Photo Problem Round Two

I'll try again! This is one of the Daylilies. If this works, I've figured out the photo posting problem in ScribeFire for Firefox when using Blogger...

Here's how I got it to work... In the message window, right click anywhere, and select "Upload file", and browse your computer and select the file. It will "upload" it, and give you it's URL. Click the button that says "Copy URL to clipboard". Back in the post window, click the icon for "Add an image" and paste the URL in the space next to "From the web" and click "Insert Image". It then appears in the post preview window. Then when you are ready, publish the post. Voila! Fingers crossed...

That should be a photo of a double pink azalea blossom. If it worked. Crikey! It worked! If you blog and use Firefox, it's worth checking out.

In house news, we cut down a massive 20' tall Japanese Holly "shrub" that had overgrown it's place. It had stupid Bittersweet vines up it that were over the roof of the house, and when it came down, it pulled some of the (already shot) gutters off with it. Now the holly can regrow from the stump and I will trim it to keep this from happening again. And we can call the gutter guys to come and give us new working gutters!! Woo-hoo.

Scribefire photo problem figured out?

Well now! This is one of the Daylilies. If this works, I've figured out the photo posting problem in ScribeFire for Firefox.

All I did was select the file in Windows Explorer (I'm still using Win 98SE) and "Copy" it, and "Paste" it into the text box in Scriptfire. Voila! Fingers crossed...

Okay, well that didn't work after all. I'll keep trying to figure this out. Meanwhile, I've done no work on the house today at all.

ScribeFire for Blogging, and Flowers?

I'm trying out ScribeFire, an extension for Firefox that lets me post to my blog from within my browser. Not sure if this is quicker, but it's cool looking.

In house news, we spent this afternoon bundling up the branches and yard waste for recycling. I also cut down some 3" diameter saplings in the back yard, and the accompanying two foot tall grass around them. I know I'm ruining some dandy wildlife habitat, but it's OUR back yard - and there is plenty of room in the woods to the back.

There are some flowers here after all. There are azaleas that are old and thriving, and they bloomed like crazy this spring, and two coreopsis flowers left over from a wildflower attempt in the past. Lately there have been a couple of blooms from some thin daylilies in the front yard. They're reddish ones, very pretty. There is also a small thicket of Queen Anne's Lace that is dainty and gorgeous. I'm glad it's in an area that is easy to avoid mowing.

The raspberries along the woods in the back yard are ripe! We've been eating them as they ripen. There are some left for the deer and turtles too.

I see that I have no clue how to add photos in ScribeFire. Rats. If I upload them to flickr, I think I can get it to work... (It's still not working. Will try tomorrow.)