Jay Gaulard Blog

RIDGID 3000 PSI Gas Pressure Washer

Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

A few weeks ago, I realized I needed three new tools…a pressure washer, a leaf blower and a snow blower. I am going to have to wait on that snow blower, as they are pretty hard to find these days.

Yesterday, I picked up a RIDGID 3000 PSI Gas Pressure Washer. I got a pretty sweet deal. I had a 10% off coupon as well as $100 worth of Home Depot gift cards, so I didn’t feel too guilty buying this thing.

I put it all together this morning and let ‘er rip. Everything works as expected, but the soap is a little quirky. I can’t get it to turn off. I am going to have to look at that. I tried it on one side of the house and I think it worked ok. I may have not been using the soap in the beginning. All I know is that the green stuff needs to come off the siding. I got some of it off, but not all of it. I will try again in earnest another day. My fiend also does this a lot, so I will ask him for advice.

This machine came with four nozzles. The first one is for soaking with the soap and the other three are high pressure, “tear your hand off” nozzles. I have to be careful with them.

Stonehenge, Solar Power, Global Warming, Energy and Noise

Monday, June 2nd, 2008

Secrets of Stonehenge unearthed

Now that’s a pretty impressive tombstone. New research suggests that Stonehenge was used as a cemetery for more than 500 years, much longer than previously thought. The new findings also show that people used the area as a burial site long before placement of its trademark stones (or sarsen stones) was complete.

How to harvest solar power? Beam it down from space!

The satellites would electromagnetically beam gigawatts of solar energy back to ground-based receivers, where it would then be converted to electricity and transferred to power grids. The floating power plants could provide round-the-clock clean, renewable electricity.

Scientists Invent Machine to Suck CO2 & Fight Global Warming

Scientists say they have invented a machine that can suck carbon dioxide out of the air – potentially creating a vital weapon in the war against global warming. The blueprint for the CO2 ’scrubber’ raises the prospect of a generation of machines which would help reduce the billions of tonnes of greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere.

The Coming Energy Wars - A Bargain at $200

Oil prices could hit $200 a barrel in the next few months. How the spike changes everything. This spring, America hit a historic point. With average gas prices per gallon edging toward $4, America’s notoriously profligate ways started to change fast. Americans are driving less, using mass transit more, buying fewer gas guzzlers.

How Man-Made Noise May Be Altering Earth’s Ecology

The contamination of biophony may soon become a serious environmental issue — Scientist Bernie Krause says that man-made sounds are already wreaking havoc with animal communication. We worry about the carbon emissions from SUVs and airplanes; maybe we should be equally concerned about the racket they cause.

Lots of Raking Leaves Out of Gardens

Thursday, May 8th, 2008

We took another trip to a different town today. We went food shopping at Stop and Shop in Colchester. Colchester was a pretty neat town, but a little busy for my taste. It was cute with a nice park right off main street. I think it may have seemed busy because rush hour was getting close.

While in Stop and Shop, I felt a bit tired. I kept wondering why. Then, I remembered what I had done all morning…raked leaves. By the way, Stop and Shop’s prices were waaay lower than Whole Foods. We got about triple the product for just a little mo’ money. That’s cool with me. I think we are still going to go back to Whole Foods because I like the atmosphere. Stop and Shop seemed much more like just buying food to survive. If I am going to go out somewhere, I like to have an “experience.”

Anyway, back to those leaves. Since this propery is a bit larger than our other one, it is taking a little while to get used to. One thing I noticed was that there needs a lot of raking to be done. There are many gardens (which are very nice and right up my alley), but they need a bit of TLC because of the Winter. The good thing is that they have a nice variety of plants already planted. There isn’t much in the way of running out to the nursery to get new stuff. Yesterday, we went to Home Depot for some spruces and pachysandra. I got the spruces, but there was no pachysandra to be found. When we got home, I noticed there was pachysandra already scattered throughout the front. They were just kind of buried with leaves.

A few days ago, I decided to it would be best if I picked one area per day to rake. There is no sense me killing myself and I can always use a nice break from the computer. I already did about three or four areas and things are starting to come together. Today, I did part of the big front garden and along the front of the house.

Believe it or not, this area had three tarp fulls of leaves. One tarp full equals about four wheel barrow loads. Crazy. If you are wondering what the heck a tarp full is, it’s me laying a big tarp on the ground and raking the leaves onto it. When it’s full, I pick it up like a big sack and carry it into the woods.

The front of the house was easier with only one tarp full. I needed to get the leaves away from the house because, well, it looks better and I can also get to the foundation for insect spray.

After I am all done getting all the leaves up, I am really going to focus on getting the lawn in order. I already have been doing some stuff, but it needs to be raked and reseeded.

Also, this is the month I get my new ride on lawnmower. I am planning on this towards the end of the month, so there maybe one tough day with the push mower.

We Signed the Real Estate Contract

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Well, we visited the house again this afternoon with the realtor. We liked what we saw and headed back to the office to sign all the paperwork and give a deposit. Before we did, both Laura and I took lots of pictures and even a video of the road the house is on.

Just a few minutes ago, as I was resizing the pictures, I thought to myself, “How would I like it if someone posted pictures of the inside of my house on the internet?” I mean, I know the realtor posted them in the online ad, but still, we took pictures of all the bedrooms and stuff. I don’t think it would be too cool if I posted them. After thinking about it, I decided that I will just post the outside shots and then the video of the road. That way, no one will get mad at me if they ever come across them. Hey, you never know.

So, without any more fluff, here you go.

This is obviously the front of the house. The master bedroom is over the garage and is pretty big. It also has that nice dormer to let in the sun.

This is the back of the house, looking up from the woods.

This is looking into the woods from the back porch. There are 4.25 acres of land.

This is looking into the woods from the backyard.

This is me asking, “Where’s my room?”

House Offer Was Accepted

Saturday, March 15th, 2008

I thought I would give you a little update on the house. The homeowners accepted our offer. The real estate agent is drawing up the contract and we are going to visit it once more on Monday. We are going to walk up and down the road for a second once-over. I guess it would be called a twice-over. If everything is cool, we are going to head to the real estate office and sign the contract. I will be sure to take photos of the neighborhood and post them.

I already called the mortgage company and gave them the revised numbers and I have an appointment on Tuesday morning to get everything done. He says that we could have the closing before the end of the month. I would say that’s pretty fast. He told me that he had a closing in four days, a few weeks back. That is just nuts.

Needless to say, I am a little nervous. We are going to be swimming in the house, but at least Laura will get her own office and so will I. There will also be another bedroom with a bathroom, so if we ever have guests, they will be hooked up. We can then have another whole family living in the finished basement. Also, the two car garage is something I have always wanted. No more scraping ice off the windshields. Ye haw.