Awwww Shit.
by Jake on Aug.06, 2010, under Garage Mahal
I don’t swear much, if at all, on this site but it’s appropriate for this post. Our house is tied into city provided sewer lines but, to my surprise – and that of the heavy lift truck driver – my bathroom in my shop is not. This afternoon, a fork lift driving two pallets of cinder block into the back yard crashed through the lid of an active septic tank that I never knew was there. Fortunately, the driver is perfect fine – though he was pretty concerned about roll-over (I’m not sure how possible that was) and he engaged immediate C.Y.A. maneuvers by somehow blaming my wife, Bonnie, for the problem (?!). Anyway, all is well – nobody is hurt and it’s really not as bad as it sounds. I’ll need to clean out the septic tank, repair the discharge tubing, and put a new lid on it. The tank appears quite large and should be able to support both the existing and new bathroom…hopefully the drainfield is of reasonable size. If it’s not adequate for the new bathroom, it won’t cost me any more later than it would now to run a new sewer line to the street – so I can wait and see. While it’s not a great thing to figure this out in such a manner, there are some fortunate things to it; A) the tank is under a natural / grassy area I had planned and not under future pavement B) it appears to have plenty of overcapacity and C) the drain field, amazingly, isn’t under where the footers for the new building are going.
Awww Shit
Garage Mahal!
by Jake on Aug.02, 2010, under Garage Mahal
I believe it’s time. Though it’s certainly time for another post on here, that’s not what I was referring to. It’s time for a new project space for Bonnie and I. Lord knows I like to build stuff and I have in mind a new 4′ x 4′ winged R/C trimaran but I’ve already had to put tools and equipment on “extended loan” to friends so I would have space to build the projects I’ve built thus far. There’s no way I can build (or store) a trimaran with an 96″ wing. That’s also not to mention trying to work on a real boat in the winter time can be tricky with picking weather windows. Bonnie also runs a graphics business that is bulging it’s in-home space as well and is in need of more room….so I believe it’s time for GARAGE MAHAL! {insert evil laughter}
We’re just breaking ground today on what will be a 24×36′ two story garage with an upstairs studio. I would really enjoy building the structure myself but I do have to work and there’s just not enough time in the day for me to build it in under 5 years. So, I did the next best thing and with the input of experienced friends (Tim, Mark, and Ted), I’ve designed and drawn up my dream garage – which is a pretty simple, but roomy, structure. I’ve been through five bids and selected a contractor, Vicars Construction (www.discountgaragesc.com), who is tasked with getting the structure in the dry with a finished exterior. I’ll take over at that point and work as my time allows and contract out finishing tasks that I can’t afford the time to complete . The bid process was long and wrought with tough decisions – but I feel very good about the value and the contractor we’ve selected. I’ll chronicle the experience of building this sucker here to share with you and to function as my own personal scrap book (as I’ve always done).
First, a few basics about the structure. I want it to be large enough that I can roll in a Nacra20 catamaran (or my A-cat), on the trailer with the 32′ mast horizontal, and close the doors. The doors have to be 8′ tall which then means the lower level ceiling must have 10′ clearance (for garage door / opener clearance). Because the garage will be situated close to the side of my property, I’m putting in a garage door on each gable end. One 12′ door will open into the backyard and one 18′ door will open to the side of the property. A considerable amount of concrete will go in to and will provide ample parking space for one or two boats (one may or may not live in the garage) and my RV. I can’t wait to be able to cut the grass unimpeded by trailers! Eventually (if not immediately) the downstairs will be heated and cooled so things like insulated garage doors and the like are a must now. The structure will connect to my existing shop so the existing shop can become a compressor tool room – a place to keep things out of the dust of creation. There is a bathroom already in that shop so it will be very handy downstairs and provide the plumbing tie in for an upstairs bathroom. The upstairs is to be a full 8′ wall / ceiling and both upstairs and downstairs areas will be unimpeded by posts or columns. The staircase to the upstairs will be external – that was a bit of a compromise to make but, if they were internal, it would eat up a good bit of real estate. Besides, with the current small shop (12×19) attached to the house only by an open carport, I figured you would have to go outside to gain access to the upstairs anyway. The yellow part of the structure below (which is NOT it’s final color BTW), is the new building.
So in an effort to get things caught up here, I had a jungle in that corner of my yard. There were two significant sweet gum trees (70+ feet tall) and one large Maple (50 feet) that needed to come down among some other smaller trees. “Lupe” with Trim All Tree Service made short work of them on one of the hottest days of the year and they were all gone and ground up in a day.
The Jungle
Jungle Removed
Currently, there is a subcontractor working to remove the large remaining stumps (four feet of the trunk was left so they could grab it with a backhoe) and dig the footers. In my rather inexperienced opinion, I think these guys are a little outgunned by these stumps with their small track hoe – but…I’m no expert. The worked for about 2.5 hours on site today. They made pretty short work of an old telephone pole and spent most of the time digging around the maple tree stump. They disappeared around 2pm or so and the hood on the backhoe was open as if something happened to it. They should be able to dislodge these stumps from the ground with that equipment – but it’s going to take some time and I’m not sure it will be able to lift the stumps – so I’m wondering how they’ll remove them from the site (and glad I’m paying by the job and not by the hour). I don’t want to sound like I’m second guessing these folks though. I don’t have much experience with this other than some mild research and some moderate intern experience as a residential gas service installation supervisor a couple of decades ago.
I think I can!
No worky.
And no, I’m not sure what’s going on with the images in this post…my image plugins don’t seem to like this newly updated version of WordPress.
Well Crud
by Jake on Jul.29, 2010, under Garage Mahal
I’m actually planning a new series here with a new BIG project I have that’s starting soon…so I updated the site – and my old presentation theme is apparently not compatible with the updated software….bear with me on this bare-bones theme while I work out something new…and stay tuned for some Garage Mahal construction!
Let me tell you what to do
by Bonnie on May.10, 2010, under 2010 Tybee 500
At almost exactly 6pm Team Bugaboo hit the beach to a hearty round of what we here in the South like to call whoopin’ and hollerin’. Seacats Orange and Royal Yellow, who have been sling-shotting and duking it out by turns all day long, are next up and in view from the beach.
How do I know all this? Well, the surfside applause part was because I was on the phone with our team manager Tim Owens during the first beach landing of the 2010 Tybee 500 in beautiful Hollywood Florida. The why and how of how I followed the race all day from the comfort of my home back here in South Carolina is that I spent the day checking in with the live tracking provided on the Tybee 500 web site. According to their places on the map at the top of the hour, it looks like Seacats Adrenaline were in 5th place around Miami Beach while Seacats White were in 7th and still at Key Biscayne.
I would heartily encourage you all to play along at home as well and not spend your time waiting for me to supply you with the trickle down theory of catamaran race coverage. Like the original theory of that name, it is an inherently flawed manner to expect anything of real value to be received by the truly needy. My goodness, in the time it takes me to write this, post it, and then for you to patiently sift through it, things have undoubtedly changed in one or several very important ways.
Here’s what I want you to do tomorrow at 10am: Make some popcorn. Open a beer. Make an event out of it, as it is indeed a sailing event. This plan should probably be undertaken only if you happen to work from home. If that’s not you then I would advise clearing it with your boss first. Tip: Offer him a beer before asking to spend the day watching live tracking and posting comments on Catsailor. Tell him I said it was all good. Watching the little icons move today upon each page refresh, I felt so voyeuristic, so powerful, so very in-the-know. This must be the way the race looks to God every year when He watches it. Only He can prolly hear them as well, mostly shouting and swearing, and so turns the volume waaay down.
Rick White, from Catsailor (both a cyber place as well as a being the name of an equally fabulous magazine) will be covering the event this year. He is the O.G. of Tybee coverage, so bow down. There will be photos and daily reports on the site for your amusement and perusal, as well as lots of information, analysis, and scuttlebutt to be found on the site’s forums.
I’m not certain if I’ll be posting much at all this year as my ramblings have been made extra unnecessary due to all of the other fine team coverage that continues to sprout up every year. Well, that and the fact that I’m not physically present at the event. That’s just the tiniest bit of a handicap. Whatta dorkus. I wanted to go and had planned to do so but I thought we were leaving next (that is, the now upcoming) weekend and so didn’t have my ducks in a row, work-wise.
No big loss for you though, our most wonderful and loyal armchair Tybee fans, as there are links to both individual web sites and blogs from other teams that can be found on the official Tybee 500 race site. Hell, the RC is even Tweeting this year. Holla! So I’m sitting here with my old, whiny dog wishing I had my tootsies in the warm Florida sand instead. C’est la vie. C’est la guerre. I wish everyone the best. If you miss me, or have any questions I can answer about our three Seacats teams, Medieval history, or Postmodern critical theory, then feel free to contact me via bonnie at teamseacats dot com.
Update: Apparently, some of the tracking stats were faulty, or some teams’ little icons were disappearing into the Hollywood Triangle or something. In any case, Seacats Orange was in 4th place instead of 2nd. Still, not too shabby for the first day on a boat where the guys barely sail together more than once a year. They were still the second place boat in the I-20 fleet. See how incorrect and obsolete I’ve been rendered by a combination of technology and its inevitable glitches coupled with the inability to astrally project myself to a beach in Florida?
Tybee 500 Coverage
by Jake on May.09, 2010, under 2010 Tybee 500, Racing!
Tybee coverage is going to be light here at teamseacats this year because my gorgeous and talented wife wasn’t able to join us owing to being challenged by concepts regarding the space/time continuum as it relates to daily life on the planet Earth.
The official Tybee 500 website should have good coverage including live boat tracking! You may want to check in with other teams’ coverage/blogs as well. Their links can also be found on the Tybee 500 site. Also be sure to follow Rick White’s news and photos every day over at Catsailor.
Note: Jake was not the author of this entire post. He usually calls his wife “beautemous” as opposed to merely gorgeous, or so I’ve been told. Regards, Housekeeping…just dropping off some extra towels.
