Taking the Quads for a Ride

Now that we are getting back into a groove with our trips to Payson, we have started making plans for changes we want to make this year.  The top priority items are interior painting, door trim/baseboards, and crawlspace insulation.  Laurie will be doing much of the painting and trim with some of her planned extended stays at the house and we hope to be able to work on the insulation using some of Mike's vacation time.  But for now, we are just enjoying the weekends and getting the house back to a settled state.

Speaking of that, we decided to change our temporary front window paper shades with another temporary solution.  When Matt and Danielle moved in, they put up tension rods in the spare bedroom and den windows with sheets as a shade.  We have been waiting until the painting is done to put up real shades, but the paper ones on the front window are losing their adhesiveness.  So we bought another tension rod and put up a sheet.  Now the room has a little color.  We also livened up the back deck by purchasing a couple of outside deck boxes to replace the totes we have been using out there for storage.

The red sheet adds a splash of color to our main room

This deck box is a much needed improvement over our age-old tote

We decided to get one more deck box to hold the chair cushions and some covers.  The small tote is for Zena's stuff.

Our quads had been at Four Seasons Motorsports since we dropped them off on our last trip.  Mike received a call on Friday about replacing the battery on one of the units, but no indication as to when they would be done.   Since Four Seasons is closed Sunday and Monday, we wanted to see if we could get them back instead of waiting another two weeks.  So before it got too late on Saturday, Mike called to check on the status.  He was told they were done and went down to pick them up.  Once they were back at the house, we took them on a short trip up the trails behind our neighborhood just to see how they ran.  They both worked much better than before.

This weekend was another windy one, so Mike could not take care of the dead grass with his propane torch.  Hopefully we will have calmer weather one of these weekends, but he was able to cut the grass in the front and do some cleanup in the yard.  The grass is mostly weeds, but definitely looks better when cut.  He also set up the water timers for the front and back since the temperatures are staying above freezing and there has not been much rain.

Mike went to the Payson MVD Monday to finish the registration on the quad we got from Laurie's dad since it now has the street legal components.  Now both vehicles can be taken on and off road.  Later that morning, we took the quads down to Country Club drive near the golf course and went west, just to see what was out there.  We did not want to do any off road stuff yet as we still do not have helmets, but the countryside was beautiful and the quads rode nicely on the mostly paved roads.  We looked at maps later to see what roads we could take back in that area.  We found some that loop back to the trails behind our neighborhood and some that will take us to the East Verde river.  Can't wait to get helmets and make one of those trips.

We left a little earlier on Monday so we could get back to the valley in time to go to the movies with a friend of ours whose husband is out of town.  We saw "God is not Dead" which was a wonderful movie.

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 4/02/14-4/14/14: $6
Remodeling expense to date: $40,025

More Power Captain

Mike went back to Hawaii the last week in March for work.  He came back late on Friday night and we left first thing Saturday for Payson.  Since he had to work some overtime while traveling, he took both Monday and Tuesday off to extend our stay.

We didn't accomplish much in Payson this weekend, however we did get a new power source.  We bought a good sized generator to use for the workshop (right now it is not hooked up for electricity) and to have as a backup if we lose town power.  We unboxed it, installed the wheel kit and then gave it gas and oil.  Right out of the box, it ran like a champ.  We took it back to the workshop and hooked up lights and a power tool.  It did not even put a dent in its performance.  Mike thinks it may be a little loud, but much preferable to running a slew of extension cords across the yard.

Big enough to run 7000 Watts (8750 Watt peak) of power

Mike wanted to burn some of the dead grass with his new toy (aka propane torch), but it was too windy.  We will have to wait for a calmer weekend.

We went to the Payson MVD to title the quad we got from Laurie's dad and it is now licensed for off-roading.  We still need to add the street legal parts before we can get it registered for regular road use.  After getting the off-road tags, we took a test ride down the forest roads which run behind our neighborhood.  We did not go too far as we don't have helmets yet.

We were given a recommendation to use Four Seasons Motorsports in Rye to have the quads serviced.  We knew it had been awhile since Laurie's dad's quad was serviced and we were not 100% sure when the last time the quad we bought was serviced.  Four Seasons is not open on Sunday or Monday, but since we were going back Tuesday, we were able to schedule a time to drop off both ATVs on the way home.  We were even able to leave our trailer there so we didn't have to tow it back to Gilbert.  Hopefully they will be done by the next time we come up.

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 1 Walmart trip
Remodeling expense 3/17/14-4/01/14: $595
Remodeling expense to date: $40,019

A Weekend with Our Nephew

We have a nephew in Texas who became a truck driver in 2013.  He has had many different routes since he got his first job, but a recent change in trucking lines has started to bring him through Arizona.  This week he decided to take some extra time off during his load change in Phoenix and spend a few days with us.  He was hoping to go fishing while he was here with some of Laurie's brothers (Mike is not a fisherman), but found out from them that the fish were not biting well and both of the uncles had to work the weekend.  So we asked him to join us in Payson for the weekend and he agreed.

Mike had pulled almost a 24 hour shift at work due to some resource scheduling issues and made up some of the time by taking Friday off, so we went up earlier than usual.  This worked out well because we had to leave Payson early in order to get our nephew back to his truck by Sunday night.  On the way up, we stopped at Laurie's dad's place to pick up the quad that he is going to let us use up in Payson.  They rarely use it around his property and said we could keep it as long as he could get access to it if they needed it for hunting.  It is a little bigger than the one we bought for Laurie, but still fit in the back of the truck nicely.

When we took up the quad for Laurie on our last trip, we decided we would need a place to store the quads instead of leaving them in the open.  We found a 10x10 "Shed-in-a-box" on Amazon which would house both quads.  This had arrived in the mail just before our trip and we were able to fit it in the truck with the quad.  Mike was happy our nephew was joining us as it would be another set of hands to help put up this structure.

We did not have any tasks this weekend, except to erect the shed and spend time with our nephew.  We had a great dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants on Friday night and then hit the ground running Saturday on the shed.  The best place to put the new shed was next to our small wood shed in the Northeast corner of the backyard.  The only problem was this is where Mike had put many tree cuttings over the past year or so.  We spent a few hours cutting the branches into smaller sizes that could be used in our fire pit (the plan all along) and then clearing the area of dead grass.  Then we had to make the area a little more level for the shed as it had quite a slope to start with.  Once the area was well prepared, we began construction.

Chopping up the old tree branches

Area cleared and mostly levelled

The shed was not hard to put together, but it definitely required some extra hands and we even had to solicit Laurie's help from time to time (in between her picture taking duties).  Laying out the frame seemed to be difficult at first, but once we started on the shed cover, we found that the frame was the easiest part.  It did not help that we had some very strong gusts of wind while we worked, causing the cover and shed to move about until we finally got it secured.  All in all it was not a bad project and came out quite nice.  Both quads fit inside with room to spare.  Many thanks to our nephew for helping out.

Our nephew waiting for instructions from Mike

Laying out the frame pieces

Frame set in place

The front and back panels went on before the combination side/top

Our nephew making sure the ladder was secure

Mike was challenged to roll open the door by himself (not an easy task).

Four thumbs up for a job well done

Amazingly, both quads fit

When we went to transfer the quad license from Laurie's dad, we found that the title was missing and we would have to do it another day.  In addition, we need to make his quad street legal as it is missing a horn, a rear-view mirror and a license plate holder/light.  We plan to take the quads in for service soon and will have some of that added at that time.

Sunday was a great day of rest and a safe trip back to our nephew's truck depot in Phoenix and then home.

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 2 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 2/18/14-3/16/14: $15
Remodeling expense to date: $39,424

Water Heater Revisited and More

We are back on schedule for weekend visits to our Payson place.  During the winter, we try to visit only one weekend per month due to the cost of heating since the crawlspace insulation is not done yet.  But this weekend was like spring with daytime temperatures in the 70s and 40s at night.

This trip was special as we brought up our very first ATV that we bought last week from a neighbor who buys them and fixes them up.  We had been wanting one (actually two) for awhile, but the timing was never right.  Our neighbor usually only resells 2x4 units, but found a 4x4 and knew we were interested so he picked it up for us.  It is a smaller unit (Polaris 330) and will work well for Laurie.  It fit in the back of the pickup just fine and the truck had no issues getting to Payson with it on board.  We got the unit for off-road activities, but also to use for store runs (cheaper on gas).  An ATV needs to have certain items to be street legal in AZ and this unit was missing two of those requirements: a rear-view mirror and a horn.  Mike bought the necessary parts online and was able to install the mirror before our trip, but brought the horn parts with us.  After a run to Home Depot (cheaper than the auto store) for the necessary connectors and wire, he was able to install the horn.  The unit is now ready to be licensed for the road.  We planned to get the title transferred on Monday, forgotting that it was a government holiday, so now Laurie will need to visit the Chandler MVD sometime this week.

Laurie's new quad

We did start to look for an ATV for Mike, but Laurie had lunch with her dad last week who has a larger ATV they rarely use and they agreed to let us keep it in Payson and they will just swing by and pick it up if they need it.  We did not have room to take it up this trip, so we will get it next month and have two ATVs up north.

Last month when we were at the house, we had an issue with running out of hot water when taking showers.  This has not happened since we replaced the elements many months ago.  In addition, we have not been able to drain the tank the last few times we have tried.  We decided to look at replacing the unit (it has a 6 year warranty and we have been there 3 1/2 years), but found that Home Depot is changing from the GE brand to Rheems (who makes the GE units) and they will be more efficient than the GE; however, they will not be available in the store until March or April.  So we decided to hold off for now and see if we could find out what was troubling our unit.  We spent most of the afternoon slowly draining (bucket by bucket) the tank.  Then Mike removed the elements and found our fairly new lower element was completely coated with crud.  Looking though the element hole, we could see the tank had quite a bit of sediment at the bottom.  Mike used the shop vac to suck out most of the garbage.  We had heard that white vinegar will dissolve the build-up so we poured a couple of gallons into the tank, with some water, and let is sit for a few hours.  We drained the tanks, cleaned off the elements, and put the unit back together, then filled it and drained it again.  After this, our hot water situation was much improved.  We will see if this lasts or if installing a new water heater is in our future.

Water heater torn apart again

Tools of the trade to clean it out

The more corroded one on the left has already been cleaned some. Bottom of bucket has some of the tank crud.

In the valley, we have powered Malibu lights in the front and back yards.  Mike has had to repair and replace a few of the Malibu lights since we have lived in the house.  So instead of running electric for lights at our place up north, we installed solar LED lights in the front yard.  We thought they would be better to have and easier to maintain - not true.  Not only do they not put out a lot of light, every year you have to replace the batteries and then, in a couple of years, the plastic gets all cracked and they have to be completely replaced.  This weekend was that time for our two post lights, which were the first ones we installed.  We found a good price for them through Home Depot online and bought two sets, so now we are ready for the next replacement - hopefully at least 2 years down the road.

Both posts got new lights

One night we took some time to build a fire in our outdoor pit.  We have not had one in quite awhile and really needed to burn some tree branches that Mike has cut down over the year.  We have decided to burn them rather than have them go in the dumpster. While it was still light out, we broke up quite a bit of the branches and stocked up the pit.  We used some of the dry grass left in the yard for a starter.  After dinner and once it got dark, we lit the fire and that old dried wood made quite a roaring fire.  We had to wait for it to settle down before Laurie could roast her marshmallows.  Now we need to have about 20 more of those fires to get rid of all the wood we've been stacking.

Last year was the worst year for our back yard and dead grass.  The yard was clean in July, but infrequent visits after that, combined with lots of rain, brought a sea of green to the yard.  While Matt was there, he was able to apply weed killer and cut down the growth, but it left quite a bit of dead stuff in the yard.  Mike had tried one of those weed torches a year or two ago, but it did not work very well and we returned it.  However, with the current weed issue, apart from rototilling the whole yard, we could not think of another way to get rid of the dead grass.  So we bought a new unit at Home Depot and this one uses a long hose to hook up to a 20 gallon propane tank, like you would use on a BBQ.  At the first attempt, the flame was very lame.  It would not stay lit and took forever to burn just a few spots. Mike had just taken the tank to be filled and had found that it was only low a couple of gallons, even though he could not get anything out of it when it was hooked up to our grill.  The station attendant said the valve can get stuck and to bang the tank on a hard surface.  After hitting the tank on concrete and banging on the valve with a wrench, he tried the torch again and it was like a jet engine.  It shot a flame out that started burning up big patches of dried foliage.  We had to double team the effort to keep the fire from getting out of control.  We did just a small section of the side of the house and, part-way into it, our smoke alarm in the house went off.  The windows were open and the smoke was blowing into the house.  It was starting to get too windy, so we stopped burning and made sure all small fires were out.  Cannot wait to do the rest of the yard and have it all cleaned up, hopefully without burning up the neighborhood.

This whole area was covered in dead grass

The darker spots are burnt grass, which we dispersed with our shoes.

The weed torch

Since we did not take pictures of the new gutters last trip, here is what they look like.

The new gutter system

Cannot wait to see how they work in a rain

Part of the work here included raising the center post to remove a dip in the porch roof

I got this picture of the gutters in the back, but not of the ones on the next patio.  The sun was too bright.

Stats: 4 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trip
Remodeling expense 1/27/14-2/17/14: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $39,406