Previously I had wrote about my attempts to do some maintenance on our bathroom tub/shower sliding glass doors. A project that went so extremely well....NOT...that I decided to share a couple of additional maintenance battles that I have had. My story begins on a nice Summer day. We have a Crepe Myrtle tree that is planted adjacent to the driveway. When this tree is in bloom, the tree is not sturdy enough to hold up the flower laden branches and the branches dip down into the driveway in such a way that when you drive the car into the garage, the branches rub against the top of the car. Being the ingenious maintenance person that I am, I figured that I would just pound a few steel poles into the ground and use something to wrap around the branches and the pole in hopes of pulling the branches up and out of the driveway area. What I would call a simple and easy no brainer fix. I had three 4 foot steel "posts" that we had got from Home Depot. Before pounding them in the ground, I looked around to see if I might hit or damage any piping for the underground sprinkler system. It appeared that the coast was clear and I could proceed without a hitch. The 1st post went in without a problem at all. I then started to pound in the second post. I was just about done when I decided that it needed one more whack to be in the ground deep enough. As soon as I gave the post that last whack, the next thing I know is that the earth is moving and a flood of water is bubbling up and shooting into the air. The usual verbiage flows out of my mouth as soon as I see the water gushing up...it went like this...oh sh*t, wtf and of course the typical WHY ME???!!! with a few hair pulls thrown in for good measure. It turned out that with all of the yard area that I could have placed these posts in, I just happened to pick the 1-2 inch area where the main water line runs into the house and I ruptured the pipe. Now I am running around like a swarm of bees are after me trying to figure out what to do next. I ran into the garage and turned off the water to the house...DUHHHHH...a lot of good that does me...that only closes the water valves from the garage into the house. I finally figured out that I would have to go to the end of the driveway and turn off the main valve that feeds into the house. Unfortunately the water company people are the only ones that have this specially designed water valve turner offer gizmo. I had to call them and eventually they made it out to our place and shut off the water. I then called a plumber so that I could get the ruptured pipe fixed. Of course I had to dig about 2-3 foot down in order to get to this pipe so the plumber could fix it. You know what really amazed me is that the main water pipe that feeds into our house is so small in diameter. I was expecting a 4-5" diameter pipe but it was an inch or less. Several hours later, all was back to normal, poles were securely placed in a safe area in the ground, the water filled hole had drained and was filled back up with dirt, all of the water and mud caused by the burst pipe had been cleaned up off of the driveway and the tree branches had been pulled up and were blowing in the wind, a full 5 inches higher than where we started this adventure at.
Oh, but I am not done quite yet. Another day, another job. I had planted a young Weeping Cherry in the center of our front yard. I planted it in the late Summer to early Fall. After planting this tree, I placed some landscaping concrete bricks in a circular pattern around the tree. I had then put mulch around the tree to make it all look nice. By the time the following Summer came along, the tree had died. So I quickly dug it up, took it back to the nursery and got a replacement. Before planting this second tree, I had to dig some of the dirt out so that I would have a bigger hole to put this tree in. So now I have concrete blocks moved out of the way, a pile of dirt on the grass from the hole I dug and another pile of mulch that I had to move aside. Now please understand...I am flat out in the middle of our front yard. There is no way anything could go wrong...yeah right. While digging out the hole for the tree to go into, maybe 18" deep, I end up hitting some type of pipe. Well wouldn't you know it, the next thing I know is that I have the fountain of youth squirting up in the air and water filling up the hole that I had dug. Once again, of all the areas in the yard that I could have dug and had absolutely nothing bad happen, I ended up digging and rupturing the water line that they bury for the sprinkler system. Who runs the sprinkler system pipes diagonally in a yard???? They should run from one sprinkler head to another and the sprinkler heads are usually on the outside portion of the yard...not in the middle. I ended up turning off the sprinkler system in the garage, got the sprinkler man to come out and fix the damage I had done to the pipe and several hours later, finished getting the new tree planted. Although both jobs went wrong very quickly, I did manage to complete my tasks. I will take my wins anyway I can get them even to the point of "fudging" on my scores. Maintenance Man 2 Murphys Law 0. But something strange has come from all of these challenges. When my neighbors are doing some type of job outside and are having a hard time and they see me
putzing around in the yard, they make sure that our eyes never meet...I never ever get asked to help them out. For the life of me, I can't understand why. Is it something I said?
Now This Is What I Call Serious Ice Fishing
Thanks again to Ken Gauthier up in Ontario, CA for sending me this great video. Not sure who took it but whoever it was...Thank You for sharing.
Tale of 6 Bears
My friend Ken Gauthier, from Canada, passed along this great story and photos. The story and photos were done by Tom Spears. Thanks go out to both Ken and Tom.
Black bears typically have two cubs; rarely, one or three. In 2007, in northern New Hampshire, a black bear Sow gave birth to five healthy young cubs. There were two or three reports of sows with as many as four cubs, but five was, and is, extraordinary. I learned of them shortly after they emerged from their den and set myself a goal of photographing all five cubs with their mom - no matter how much time and effort was involved. I knew the trail they followed on a fairly regular basis, usually shortly before dark. After spending nearly four hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks, I had that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and photographed them. I used the equivalent of a very fast film speed on my digital camera. The print is properly focused and well exposed, with all six bears posing as if they were in a studio for a family portrait.
I stayed in touch with other people who saw the bears during the summer and into the fall hunting season. All six bears continued to thrive. As time for hibernation approached, I found still more folks who had seen them, and everything remained OK. I stayed away from the bears as I was concerned that they might become habituated to me, or to people in general, as approachable friends. This could be dangerous for both man and animal.
After Halloween I received no further reports and could only hope the bears survived until they hibernated.
This spring, before the snow disappeared, all six bears came out of their den and wandered the same familiar territory they trekked in the spring of 2007.
I saw them before mid-April and dreamed nightly of taking another family portrait, an improbable second once-in-a-lifetime photograph.
On April 25, 2008 I achieved my dream.
When something as magical as this happens between man and animal, Native Americans say, 'We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow.'
And so it is with humility and great pleasure that I share these photos with you.
Black bears typically have two cubs; rarely, one or three. In 2007, in northern New Hampshire, a black bear Sow gave birth to five healthy young cubs. There were two or three reports of sows with as many as four cubs, but five was, and is, extraordinary. I learned of them shortly after they emerged from their den and set myself a goal of photographing all five cubs with their mom - no matter how much time and effort was involved. I knew the trail they followed on a fairly regular basis, usually shortly before dark. After spending nearly four hours a day, seven days a week, for six weeks, I had that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and photographed them. I used the equivalent of a very fast film speed on my digital camera. The print is properly focused and well exposed, with all six bears posing as if they were in a studio for a family portrait.
I stayed in touch with other people who saw the bears during the summer and into the fall hunting season. All six bears continued to thrive. As time for hibernation approached, I found still more folks who had seen them, and everything remained OK. I stayed away from the bears as I was concerned that they might become habituated to me, or to people in general, as approachable friends. This could be dangerous for both man and animal.After Halloween I received no further reports and could only hope the bears survived until they hibernated.
This spring, before the snow disappeared, all six bears came out of their den and wandered the same familiar territory they trekked in the spring of 2007.
I saw them before mid-April and dreamed nightly of taking another family portrait, an improbable second once-in-a-lifetime photograph.
On April 25, 2008 I achieved my dream.
When something as magical as this happens between man and animal, Native Americans say, 'We have walked together in the shadow of a rainbow.'And so it is with humility and great pleasure that I share these photos with you.
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