My Shed

As part of our landscaping overhaul this summer, we considered ways to store and organize our outdoor items. The side yard in particular had all our winter tires stacked up, our garage was cluttered with wood and tools, and it was a pain to have to back the car out every time we accessed our lawn mower.

At first we thought we could build a long and narrow shed for the side yard, but ruled that out quickly. We shopped around for shed kits and pre-built sheds, finally deciding on a 12' by 8' shed kit from Costco. We saved a bundle of money, particularly compared to having one built.

The kit was delivered and it sat a few weeks while my cycling injuries healed some more and we decided where to put it. Sadly, we had to use some of our garden space as that was the best option.

Then there was the underestimated job of preparing a foundation on the sloping ground. We used landscape timbers for borders and then gravel for the foundation.



We hauled the kit materials around from the garage to the side backyard as we needed them, following the kit directions.


Walls going up.


Got greatly appreciated help from Blair, Emily, and the kiddies.




It turned out to be quite the consuming project for about four weeks. Used all our spare time weeknights and Saturdays, working until all daylight was gone. There were numerous trips to Home Depot for random supplementary materials, most notably paint, roofing, and replacement lumber for warped pieces. I felt like I was feeding a habit.

Once we had the roof on the kiddies decided to sleep overnight in it, but lost their resolve before going to sleep.

I put our garden tools in it, the lawnmower, winter tires, garden chemicals, paint, propane bottles, and various lumber. It served to clean up our yard and clear out our garage admirably. We are very proud of it, and it was an extremely satisfying project.

Billions served

The summer after I turned 16 I got my first hourly job working at McDonald's on University Ave. in Riverside, CA. It was summer of 1968. I needed the money to buy a car and a stereo. I bought a blue 1961(?) Pontiac Tempest for $200, but that could be another post. I earned $1.25 per hour. Minimum wage was $1.45, but they docked $.20 for the food we were permitted to eat.

If I remember correctly, fries were $.18, burgers .20, and milk shakes .25. They had double burgers and fish fillet, as well. The Big Mac was introduced while I worked there, starting at .49 or .55. There was a counter on the sign showing how many millions of burgers McDonald's had served--in the hundreds of millions, I believe.

Our store looked a lot like this one:



When I started there we cooked french fries from scratch, meaning we hauled up 100 pound sacks of potatoes from the basement, peeled them in a large peeler machine, sliced them into long shapes in another machine, then thoroughly washed them by hand in a large sink. We had to get excess starch out of them, or they would be sticky and gooey fries. Then we would blanch them in a pot of cooking oil and have them staged in metal baskets ready for the final frying. I'm sure all these manual steps led to inconsistencies in product. While I worked there we started using frozen fries. Much simpler and more consistent.

New hires started out working in the grill area, and worked their way up to the counter, which was generally thought of as more desirable work. After a time, though, I decided I preferred the grill, and soon became a top notch hamburger cooker. We would cook in 12 patty batches, and could get as many as 60 down at once during lunch or dinner rush. I loved the rushes and the satisfaction of putting out the burgers quickly and efficiently. The lead would call out how many to put cheese on, or if a special was needed like no onions. "Cheese on 6" might be the shout. If we heard "peanut butter on three" it meant a cute girl was at the counter at register #3. Sometimes someone would call out peanut butter, everyone would look, and there would be a weird looking old lady there, and we'd all laugh. Needless to say, we had an all male workforce for the most part.

By my second summer in 1969 I had significant seniority, and was working full time or longer. I had the responsibility to open the store, so I'd arrive a few hours before opening, clean and set everything up, and be part of a skeleton crew until more workers arrived for the lunch rush. If they were in a pinch I might stay through the dinner rush for extra hours. I don't recall that we got time and a half, and it might even have been illegal since I was under 18. By then I was earning $1.45/hour. Other times I had the responsibility to close the store. The newer workers would typically get short shifts for just lunch or just dinner.

I feel like I learned some valuable life skills working at McDonald's. Being a responsible employee and showing up reliably and on time, an hour's pay for an hour's work, customer satisfaction, feeling satisfaction in hard work and seeing the fruits of labor, how to work more quickly and efficiently, how to cook (burgers, at least), how to mop floors and clean, etc.

In the fall of 1969 I finally quit my job. I think I was a little burned out and felt like the pay was too low. But mostly I was starting my senior year and didn't want to miss out on so many experiences by working nights and weekends. I wonder, though, how many thousands of burgers I contributed to the billions McDonald's has racked up now.

Crossword

My favorite computer games these days are FreeCell and Sudoku. I have both on my iPhone and play them when I have a few minutes to kill.

Suzanne has been a regular crossword puzzle solver, and each day she tackles the puzzle in the newspaper. I was never interested until late last year I must have joined her in figuring out a few clues. I immediately saw the value in finding an iPhone app that would let you fill in the letters you knew and search for dictionary words. Upon installing it I began to supplement her efforts, referring to my iPhone as my "brain". I also use wikipedia on my iPhone to solve clues. Usually, I would tackle the puzzle after she filled out everything she could.

Here is a book we use, as well as the daily paper.



When Suzanne went out of town a few days last December I took a big step in trying to do the whole puzzle myself. Suzanne is such a wiz at it I didn't have much confidence. I would snap a picture of the puzzle and email it to her, and she would contribute answers via text or email back. We solved each day's puzzle and it was lots of fun and satisfying. When she went into the hospital for gall bladder surgery I bought her a book of puzzles to work on.

Now it is a regular activity for us, often solving a puzzle together. I still think she is so very good at it, and I tease her saying she is so smart. I still enjoy utilizing my "brain" to solve clues. Sometimes we'll polish off the newspaper puzzle before I head to work. Other times I'll help finish one after work where she got stuck. As often as not, though, she'll have filled it all in.

This is a fun little trifle we are able to work on together.

Ta da!

Here is our new front yard, showing the paver walkway.



And the front rock retaining wall.


The pathway leading from front to side yard.


Side yard pathway and steps.


Back patio, including steps to sliding door.




And the back block retaining wall that we did ourselves.


We are quite pleased with the result!

Hired help, and a new yard

There has been a growing list of ambitious yard projects on my list of things to do the past few years. It finally took my cycling injuries to force the issue this year, realizing that I wasn't going to be tackling any this summer. So we took the difficult (for us) course of hiring contractors. We got bids from three and the project got underway in June.

Our back deck was the first to go. It was just too much trouble to maintain and was having some issues.



We took out the junipers and rock wall in the front, and removed the grass on the steepest portion.




We decided on pavers for a front walkway, side yard, and back patio.


Here's the new front wall under construction.




We also removed the landscape timbers in our back yard and built a block retaining wall ourselves. And we built a backyard shed.

Stay tuned for the finished product!

Christmas tree gone berserk

Soon after moving into our house 26 years ago our backyard neighbor planted a fir tree. He said the plan was to let it grow a couple of years, then cut it down to use for a Christmas tree. All right.

A few years later the tree remained and continued to grow. We built a back fence and the tree was right next to it. For the next several years we periodically asked the neighbors about removing the tree. Didn't happen. At some point the people moved, and we thought seriously about cutting down the tree ourselves before the new people moved in. Missed opportunity.

Over the years we dealt with the reduced sunlight in our back yard, fir tree needles and cones debris, fear of it blowing onto our house in a storm, depriving surrounding plants of water and nourishment, and provoking needed fence repair.

In May this year we finally convinced the neighbor to have it taken out, and we split the cost. What an exciting and successful project it was! And we got some decent firewood in the bargain. Our backyard has opened up nicely, and suddenly other plants are growing so well.

Here is the tree in its full grown majesty.



While we were at it, we took out some other trees that had just grown too large.


Just underway.


High up on the trunk.






Can you count the rings? Should be twenty something.


Continuing with the other trees.


And a video (sorry about the orientation).



We are so pleased with the result.

Imponderables

I think of myself as a very practical and down to earth guy. I mean, after all I am an engineer. And I have a firm faith in God, life after death, and our purpose on earth. So it strikes me a bit odd when I catch myself thinking in the abstract, or outright fantasy, from time to time.

For example, have you ever thought about the possibility that the whole world is fabricated and all revolves around you? Kind of like "The Truman Show"? Bizarre.

Or that the colors and shapes that you perceive are not like what others perceive? I mean, who is to say what you see as "red" is like what someone else sees as "red"? In fact, color blindness is sort of a flavor of this thought.

And here's an unsettling one--what is nothingness like, or what if we became extinct as a person or being? I can't fathom such a prospect, yet I suppose this is what many believe happens after this earth life.

In a related vein, I can't comprehend why anyone would take their own life. I love life, and, in spite of my belief in bright prospects in our life after death, cherish each day and wish for longevity. Is this mostly because I have had such a blessed life (which I have)?

I also have a hard time fathoming the immensity of the universe. Our solar system for starters, then our galaxy. And to think of innumerable galaxies, with sizes and distances beyond comprehension.