We took the kids to their grandparents' over the weekend. While we were there, I got 21 text messages from the county informing me of tornado warnings at home. I think their system was going haywire, but it turns out that there were some tornados at home, just not in our immediate vicinity. I guess it's a good thing we were far away. We did have a bit of damage from the storms though. My crabapple tree was snapped off. I was sort of devastated by this. Deer rubbed on it and damaged it right after we planted it (which was only three years ago; I thought it had been much longer), and this year it was finally starting to look really good. It did snap near the deer damage, so they really did ruin it. Have I mentioned before how much I dislike deer?
While searching for a replacement tree online, I saw that Lowes had a bunch of crabapple varieties and many of them were on sale for half off. We ended up buying three since they were only $44 each. We also ordered more trunk protectors online. We like the heavy duty black mesh type and haven't been able to find more locally. We ordered from A.M. Leonard simply because they appear to be the manufacturer.
I always do a lot of cleaning while the kids are visiting their grandparents because it's just easier to do when no one is at home. While I was in their bathroom I noticed a high-pitched whine. I wondered about our radon fan since it is in the attic sort of above my son's room and the bathroom. I meant to mention it to my husband, but forgot about it until we were downstairs looking at the drywall in the spare bedroom.
We are planning to finish the spare bedroom next, but are waiting on some replacement windows from Andersen. We have two very large 100 series sliding windows in there that both leak from the corners. The tech determined that the windows were faulty and luckily they were still under warranty. Like I said, when it rains, it pours.
So, we were looking at the drywall to see what needs to be patched before I can paint. We remembered that the closet light outlet needed to be moved to the other side of the door. That wall backs up to the utility room, so it is a fairly easy switch since everything is open on the utility side. While in the utility room, I happened to remember about the whining noise and checked the radon pipe indicator. It is supposed to look like a lopsided "U" with the right side being higher than the left. Well, it was an even U. Which means something is wrong with the system. I tried to find pictures of how it should look and how it looks now. I didn't have much luck, but you can see it a bit. It's much harder to access now that the closet is in place and drywalled. Maybe I need a little window in the closet so that it's easier to see?
It's hard to see, but the pictures above show how the red lines should appear when everything is working properly.
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| When the red lines are even, you have a problem. |
So we then had to unload and dismantle everything in my son's closet because that is where the attic access is. The whining sound I heard was apparently the sound of the fan seizing up and dying. The fan was three months past warranty, of course. So we found the replacement on Amazon and it should be here tomorrow. There's something good about this situation, I suppose. I mean really, what are the chances that I heard it right as it was dying? I'm glad the kids weren't home since the contents of the closet take up the bed and the floor in his room. You may be wondering why this radon fan is a big deal. Read more about why radon is a hazard and why you should test for it here.
I am also working at filling nail holes in the trim this week. It's only been six years! Some of it has been done previously, some needs to be redone, and some was never done.
With all this, I haven't had much chance to sew. I did finish up replacing the borders on the FQS BOM quilt I mentioned last week. The top is still not very flat (due to the inner sashing strips not being applied properly) but it does measure the same all around the outside now.
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| Can you see that the end cut of this border was totally out of square? |
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| Here are the pieces I trimmed off of the borders to make them square. |
I'm hoping to get a chance to quilt it this week. The pattern I selected to quilt is Garland by My Creative Stitches. The quilt top is Fat Quarter Shop's Mystery BOM from 2013 and I finished piecing the top the first time in 2016.
I also made a few more book blocks.
I'm really hoping the next few days are quieter than the previous few have been.
Oh, I forgot: we are hosting a cardinal nest in one of our clematis vines.
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| Cardinal nest and eggs. |
And speaking of raining, I can see and hear another storm moving in, so it's probably time to take a break from using anything computerized until it passes.
Linking with Sew Fresh Quilts and My Quilt Infatuation.
