Shed #2 project is just about complete. What that means is that all the interior wiring is complete and the XM is playing. Lights too. It means the work bench is assembled and installed; corner shelf assembled and installed, storage rack assembled and installed, peg board up and hooks attached with many of my tools now in sight and instantly accessible. Everything has been distributed between shed #1 and #2 and we both have plenty of room to do whatever it is we want to do in a shed. I think I need to add a shop light and maybe a few more hooks over the bench but that’s a no brainer at this point. Maybe a little light landscaping – maybe. Toward that, an interesting point. I bought a semi-portable automatic sprinkler system at Costco. It was manufactured in Bountiful – Orbit – so I knew it had to be good. It’s designed to be used with hoses so the whole thing, including two control valves, is above ground. Battery operated so it requires no elaborate wiring. I hooked it all up and it works like a world champ – no leaks, no mess.

The small, plastic shed is also in a higher state of organization such that I can install the generator next week. So all is still on target to be complete with the total project by the end of this month. The big task ahead is burying electrical cable from the shed to the main house. Not looking forward to that but it shouldn’t be too brutal.

We’ve got a party on Saturday – a handful of our GD reunion friends – here at the lake. Several of them have never been here so it should be a fun day.

Oh yeah – I hope you noted that both of my picks for American Idol are finalists. I watched it first when there were about 16 left and picked Kathleen and Taylor as the two best talents. Actually I picked 3 of the last four – I thought Chris would go a little sooner – he was talented for sure but a more limited appeal. My favorite to win is Taylor. I think he’s the best talent and comes from Alabama. I originally felt his gray hair would hurt him but I was wrong on that. I also acknowledge that Chris too thought Taylor and Kathleen were the best talents! We discussed that a couple months back.

Our new shed was delivered Tuesday. I had estimated almost correctly how it would just fit. The almost was one small tree in the way of making the final corner. Turning a 12’x16′ shed just takes a few more inches than I had reckoned. As it was there was about 1” to spare getting it between the well tank and a major tree. Took us almost 5 hours to get it off the truck and into position. As soon as Nancy came home she noticed that it was a different color than the one we already had. I called it color blend – she called it a screw up. It sits up a bit higher than the other one due to ground leveling irregularities resulting from miscellaneous tree stumps so I need to add stairs and maybe a skirt but other than that, perfect.

Wednesday we went to work on it. I brought power to it and Nancy laid linoleum squares on the floor. The wiring was conceptually simple – break the line running from the pump to the old shed and splice in a spur to the new shed. Too easy. I decided to attach a light to the outside of the shed which could be switched on and off at the carport. Still sounds simple but all that involved a trip or two to the local hardware store and then trying to splice 4 pieces of 12 gauge wire together at several places. I was fairly well convinced by noon that the sheds could be without power for quite some time but I finally threw the breaker at 4PM and oila! Both sheds powered, both AC’s and dehumidifiers hummed, and all lights except the new outside lights worked. I think those will when I get the correct halogen bulbs installed. I thought the fixture took conventional bulbs but turns out, not true.

The floor looks great. Nancy got it about 90% finished on Wednesday and finished up before noon today. I lucked out and her bridge dates were cancelled at the last minute so she jumped all over the floor job. That’s a job I would have screwed up for sure.

Started moving stuff from “hers” into “mine”. It’s been all peaches and cream so far but I’m sure there are some discussions coming about just where some items will end up. I’m proposing a rule that says anything in either shed falls under the discretion of the shed manager. So if she wants to toss anything in her shed, she can. Me too. I’m thinking that’s the only rule needed to divy up the storage responsibilities. One thing driving the move is the new cabinets we bought for “her” shed. We need a bit more space to assemble and install those and that space is currently occupied by “stuff”. Not stuff I particularly want, just stuff. So you can see where this is all going. I plan to get a nice work bench and for the first time ever in my life, really put my tools away and organize things like plumbing parts, electrical parts, hardware etc etc. And a nice little area for my fishing gear. Set up the old Mac, a place for the XM and my doghouse starts to look pretty good. Already moved the aerobed.

And part of the reorganization is to clean out the plastic shed and set it up exclusively for garden tools and the new generator. Plan is to set up a 5.5KW generator inside the shed. The generator will have 120 VAC and 220VAC outputs and will run the well, the sheds, the septic tank pump and selected items at the house. I’ve already bought the wire to run from the shed to the house and found an electrician in Pierson who can connect the well. I’m reluctant to mess with that even though I understand what needs to be done. I had enough trouble with the simple stuff. I’m wanting to get all this done this month – then bring on the storms.

You are probably waiting for a freeze damage report since we were in the freeze zone for the past two nights. No problem at all Monday. Tuesday was colder and I awoke to find George and Grover’s lawn/field totally white and the lake totally invisible with steam/fog rising from the surface up at least 10′ above the surface. The windshield on the Toyota was frosty. I knew it could be ugly. So, what got nailed! I had covered a few items that I really care about and left the rest to Darwin it through.

Elephant ears – the ones by the house and up towards the shed, creamed. They were getting a little too thick anyway and will come back in the spring. I was mostly curious about the ones down by the lake, under the tree cover. Not quite as bad. Nailed a few upper leaves but a few bigger leaves still survived.

Poinsettias – nailed big time. Look green down by the base so probably ok after a major trimming which was scheduled for next month anyway.

Impatiens down by the lake – the top few inches nailed but most showed good green close to the ground. I’ll wait a few weeks and then cut them back. They were overdue anyway and I only left them long in anticipation of a freeze. Maybe that strategy worked – time will tell.

So for sure the area down by the lake, under the tree cover faired better, so there must be a few degrees difference between that area and the house.

The item I was most concerned about was the grapefruit tree I had transplanted a year ago which was still struggling to produce a few leaves. About 2 weeks ago it broke out with a load of new leaves and blossom buds. So that meant the tree was in it’s most vulnerable state. I figured if it could get one good year to fill out, it would be set. I covered it and held my breath when I removed the cover. Not too bad. I’m guessing it lost maybe 25-30% of the new leaves; too soon to tell on the blossoms. It’ll be obvious in the next few weeks exactly how it fared but I know for sure the tree survived. It sure has had a tough life so if it makes it, the fruit will probably be the best.

That may also be true for the banana tree. I think it survived but the foliage got burned badly. What I don’t know is what that means for a summer crop. I think the tree makes it but maybe no bananas this summer.

Let’s hope we’ve seen the worst of it. We can still for sure get frosts on into March but the odds improve daily now.