Some Progress

We made some progress today. Our washing machine has been repaired. The machine had "broken down" just before we went to WI, and this was completely independent of the water disaster. But, we really need it now to start washing some soaked and dirtied items, so it was good to get it back online.

Because we now know that a valve "blew up" rather than a pipe bursting, we decided to have the companion valve on the cold water side replaced as well, just to be prudent. The plumber brought the failed valve to us so that we could give it to the insurance company. Here is what it looks like. The part you see on the bottom of the picture somehow broke free of the main valve (top). The insurance company will send it to a lab, and if they determine it was defective, they will go after the manufacturer for damages, including recovery of our deductible amount.


The ServiceMaster folks were here again this morning. They added another dehumidifier, and that has helped quite a bit. The bitter cold outside and the 80% humidity in the house were combining to make all of our windows and exterior walls sweat. We were worried about paint and wallpaper damage, so this seems to be helping. The humidity is down to 75% as I write this. ServiceMaster also decided that the north wall also needed to be demoed, so here is that result.



This was a little hard to watch, but it was incredibly wet behind the plaster walls, and the insulation was soaked, so this was the right thing to do. The exterior sheeting was also soaked, and everything is drying much better now. I had the folks who installed that new front bay window come out and inspect it. They believe it will be fine, as long as we take care to thoroughly dry everything.

The insurance adjuster was here this afternoon as well, and he did a thorough walkthrough. We feel good about what he has had to say so far, and so now we can begin to work on cleanup and making lists of lost or damaged items. I asked my cousin from Clarence to come out tomorrow to bid doing repairs for us. We'll see what he has to say. There is still some question on ServiceMaster's part as to whether or not the ceiling can be saved. It may yet need to be demoed as well.

I think that's it for now.

Quick Update

No more pictures just yet, but I thought I'd provide a brief update.

It turns out that the water break was not due to a frozen pipe. Instead, one of the two, one-and-one-half year old shutoff valves for the hot and cold lavatory water faucets in the half bath just "blew apart" (the plumber's technical description, not mine). He said it wasn't a very high quality one, and so we have brought that to the attention of the firm that handled our bath and kitchen updates something like a year and a half ago! What this also means is that we no longer have any idea when the break actually occurred, as we are now unable to relate it to weather conditions. Nevertheless, it is likely, given the amount of water and damage, that it was pouring out for two or more days.

ServiceMaster was back this morning to check on things. They will return each day to take moisture readings and adjust the drying process. There is still some possibility that they may have to rip the sheetrock off the north wall of the living room in order to fully dry the area on that outside wall where the leak was concentrated. We noted this morning that you can see an arc perfectly below our half bath and imprinted on the outside brick. That part of the brick facia is completely soaked.

Our bathroom is beginning to dry out. The living room is going most slowly. The basement is showing quite a bit of improvement in terms of drying out. However, we have been asked to keep the temperature at about 73 degrees (really hot and uncomfortable for us). Even with all the fans and the heavy duty dehumidifiers, the humidity in the house seems stuck at about 80%. We are getting lots of condensation everywhere, especially now that it has dropped to near zero outside. I guess this is just something to have to live through for a short while. ServiceMaster says it will take from 3 to 5 days to dry, maybe more.

I spend several hours this morning polishing the beds and tables of my power tools with steel wool this morning. The rust was almost exclusively surface rust--tightly stuck to the beds and tables, but no pitting, thank goodness. I was able to get them quite smooth again (most important), even if quite discolored, and I put a heavy coat of paste wax on them right away. This is something I had just done last week before we went to WI, but it wasn't enough for the amoung of water we got on them. Anyway, I'm feeling mostly better about my tools, though several table extensions, made of particle board, are swelling up and deforming and will need to be replaced. Most of my individual small tools, router bits, and similar items seem to be OK so far. I'll be able to tell more in a day or so.

We have lost an older (not critically important) laptop computer, a number of books, and probably at least one overstuffed chair. We aren't sure yet about what else may be damaged.

One problem is that the insurance adjuster hasn't gotten back to us yet or stopped over. I'll be complaining to the company in the morning. That has kept us from moving ahead on very much, since we have questions about what we can/can't do and also want her/him to see the damage first hand before we change anything.

Living with all of this noise (it really does sound like being inside a jet), the very high humidity, and the high temperatures is making the place somewhat unpleasant. However, we have to be here to handle calls and certain repair calls. So, we have found a couple of places in which to retreat, including a bedroom where we can just close the heat registers for comfortable nighttime sleeping conditions. And this afternoon, we just took off and escaped to a movie for awhile. We saw Atonement, which we recommend.

So, I think that's all there is to report for now. I'll surely have more news and, I hope, progress and pictures to report in the days to come.

Learning the Hard Way

(Warning: This is something of a "feel sorry for myself posting.)

I wish I could look back at that prior posting and still feel playful. Today has not been a good day. At about 10:00 this morning, while still in WI, we received a call from our valiant house cleaner to say that when she had arrive at our IA house to do her usual cleaning, there was water pouring into the living room. I immediately launched into helping her get to the basement to find the water shutoff valve, which she did and which she turned to the "OFF" position. Throughout our phone conversation, I was getting unsettling comments about the condition of our living room and basement and whether or not she would be able to clean. (I encouraged her to just leave things as they were and leave.) It turns out that a pipe had burst in the half bath in Kathie's and my bedroom. This is a pipe with which we had had previous trouble over the 18 years we have lived here, but it always recovered after we nursed it through any seriously cold spells while we were here. The problem is that we weren't here for the nursing, and it burst, evidently. This pipe is probably not installed to code, since it is very close to the overhang of our second story. (Indeed, it may be in the overhang of the second story. Anyway, it burst, I'm guessing on January 24th, when I understand the Iowa City temperatures dropped to something like 12 below. Today is the 28th, so water may have been spewing into our home here in IA for four days!

Kathie and I, in spite of a serious wish to veg out in WI at our lake home, knew that we should head for IA. First, we called ServiceMaster and asked them to go to our home to begin cleanup processes. (Later we learned from Rob that he would have chosen Steamatic, but by this time, it was too late. By the way, so far, ServiceMaster is doing OK.) We also called our favorite plumber, Muller Plumbing and Heating (note: Amber), to come out and repair whatever was wrong or to isolate the upstairs bathroom. Then we packed up and headed south for a quick (8 hour) trip home. To add to complications, Kathie has a bad cold, or possibly a flu, and the ride home was agonizing for her. She was a real trouper, though, and we got back at about 7PM, after several phone consults with ServiceMaster.

We are now back in IC, and we are endeavoring to get life back in order. As I write this, I must admit that I am under the influence of a stiff drink before bed, and so please ignore any typos or incomplete sentences or whatever.

When we arrived, we opened the back door and were greeted by a sound something like that of a ride in a commercial jetliner. The house is full of something like 15 dehumidifiers and fans that are attempting to dry the house out. Here is the "scene of the crime" where the pipe burst under the sink in our half bath. The linoleum in our bath had to be removed, and about 1/4 of the carpet in our bedroom is soaked. It could be worse.



Once the flooding began, the water flowed into our living room. Evidently, the entire north wall of the living room was saturated and spilling water into the living room. In addition, water spilled into the center of the living room from our shower area, probably destroying a favorite living room chair in the process. Now there are numerous fans and dehumidifers in there endeavoring to set things right, and there are lots of new holes in the walls and ceilings, which were introduced to allow water to exit.


From my biased point of view, the worst problem is my beloved woodworking shop. Once the water seeped into the basement from the living room, it spread out and effectively "rained" all over the basement. My shop seemed to take the worst hit. Power tools are rusting and wet. I'm going to have to spend all day tomorrow with steel wool and wax to try to maintain their integrity. Here is what things look like now. I'd be down there right now working, except that it is so incredibly humid that I can't make progress. Do you see the rusted table saw table and the rusted jointer/planer table? Yikes!!!


The things we had stored in the basement have gotten soaked, including Christmas decorations, my electric trains, and who know what else. Here is some of the damage.


All the way home from WI, we imagined the worst and kicked ourselves repeatedly (at least, I did) for not having taken precautionary steps. For example, we are extremely careful with the WI property to shut off the water when we aren't there and to take other steps to make sure that the home is safe. Why do we think we can leave the IA property and not do the same? Duh!!!!!!! Also, since this pipe had given us some minor problems in the past, why didn't we get it fixed much earlier??? Hindsight!!!!

Right now, the house is so humid, that you could start an Environmental Rainforest Project here. And I feel like I'm sitting in my window seat in a 737--the fans are something else.

I guess I'll just go to bed and hope that tomorrow is a better day. At least this isn't a health problem, and I still have a terrific set of kids and grandkids to make me smile! (By the way, thanks to Rob for stopping out when he was very busy at work to check on things for us while we were driving back!! You're the best, Rob!)

Snow Angel

Many would say that I'm not the playful type. Well, I'm here to prove you wrong.




Quite a nice end result, don't you think? Good wings. My blue jeans are still damp, however. Kathie thought Henry would like this. The other two grandkids are too young to care, though.

In case you can't tell, we are in the great north woods. We stopped to see Will and Sandy on the way up, and they treated us to -17 degree temperatures. It was +4 here when we arrived but dropped to -14 the next morning. Since then, we are having a heat wave, with temperatures in the 20s. Yah sure and you betcha, eh? There is quite a bit of snow, and so everything is very pretty (for those of us who like this kind of weather). Josey and I have walked on the lake, and I think cross-country skiing will soon be taking place. For those of you who wonder what it looks like now, here is a glimpse.




P.S. If you are on a PC and have access to Internet Explorer (won't work with any other browser), you can click here to get a view out the back of our cabin on the webcam I have installed. When you get to that web page, click on "View Video." It works all the time, even when we aren't here. This allows me to get a little dose of pleasure, even when I can't be here. And, when we are here, you might even catch an occasional glimpse of us roaming around on the deck or down in the yard. I could wave at you if I knew when you were looking. By the way, if you are on a Macintosh, like I am, and still want to look at the webcam, I can help you get some special software installed that will do the trick in place of Internet Explorer.

Babysitting Eleanor

Last night, we babysat Eleanor in her new home. The parents were attending a belated holiday party. Eleanor has one of the coolest toys I've ever seen for an infant. She sits/stands in the middle of a circular array of gadgets designed to stimulate and entertain. Her dad said it is a kind of self-contained babysitting machine.


Standing with a goofy grandfather in front of a mirror is just not as entertaining.


Grandma is more interesting.

Granddaughter Report and Other News

I know you have all been waiting for a report on our trip to the Chicago area to meet the new granddaughter and to catch up with the rest of the family. So, let's get to the important part first. Here she is, Miss Clara.



As you might be able to tell, she is a great sleeper at this point. We got a glimpse of her eyes only a few times. As Henry says, she sleeps and she nurses. Actually, she also has a cute way of trying out all kinds of little sounds and practicing various movements with her lips--pursing, pouting, smiling, etc. She is a delight to hold and is giving her folks a relatively easy time so far. Her pediatrician says she is already growing. Her weight was up 4 ounces the last we knew.

Next are the requisite photos of her grandparents getting some cuddling time. Gosh but it is easy to forget how tiny these newborns are and how much time you can spend marveling at their existence.



Henry is going to be a wonderful big brother, I'm sure. He seems to have adapted well to Clara's entry into his world. Of course, I think he and Clara are lucky to have two excellent parents who will always have the best interests of each of their children first in mind. The fact that they made sure that Henry was the first person (after them) to meet and to hold Clara told me a lot about the importance of everyone in that little family of four. Grandpa loves them all, of course. Here is my first chance to hold these two grandchildren at the same time.


We had waited for Clara's birth to make our trip, including celebrating the holidays together. I had thought she would come much earlier and that a December trip might be possible. Alas, she decided to wait until January 8th to show up, and so we pretty much missed out on any holiday festivities. Nevertheless, we finally had a chance to exchange gifts. I previously posted photos of the other gifts I made for family members. Here is the wine rack I made for Betsy and Pete.


And here is Henry with the toy boat I made for him. He tried it out in his bath that evening and gave his orca a ride in the cargo hold. I have had the plan for this boat for a very long time. In fact, it was in a book called The Boy Mechanic that my mother gave to me in 1957. Years later, I made my first one for Will, when he was quite small. He, Rob, and Betsy all played with it so much that all the paint was worn off and several parts lost by the time they were grown. I think Will may still have whatever is left of that original one.


Henry had received a fun toy for Christmas that allows you to build various kinds of marble tracks. I thought it was great. He and I built a couple of different versions. Here he is with one that we started giving various names, the last of which was Henry's Giagantic Globular Gooble Gobbler. Try saying that fast several times in a row! Your tongue will get tangled in your eye teeth, and you won't be able to see what you're saying!


We ordered pizza one night and watched Disney's animated version of Tarzan. Some parts were a little intense for Henry, and so he appreciated the safety of Grandma's lap.


It was a great visit. We look forward to the next one, of course.

And so, we come to the end of the story.

It's A New Granddaughter!!

For those of you who may be wondering about the arrival of Betsy and Pete's new child, please wander over to their blog site by clicking here. Mother, father, new daughter, and big brother Henry are all doing well.

As soon as Grandma and I have made our visit, there will undoubtedly be more pictures to post here.

Christmas Gifts

This year, I made almost all the Christmas presents I gave to family members. Although I've been as yet unable to deliver the gifts to certain family members in Northbrook, Illinois due to a so-far uncooperative future grandchild, I thought I'd go ahead and post pictures of everything except those gifts. They can be posted later.

I failed to get a picture of the coffee grinder that I made for Mike (Jessica's friend), but here is one like the one I made.


Will and Sandy were able to be with us for a couple of days the weekend before Christmas. Quite a long time ago, Sandy had asked about the feasibility of lining an old chest of hers with cedar. So, I agreed to do that, and because I didn't get it done very soon, it turned into her Christmas present.


In Will's case, I had to repeatedly ask what I could make for him. Finally, he suggested a set of stands for his stereo speakers. I didn't get them stained and varnished in time, but here they are. Will said he would do the finishing, but maybe I'll get that done before we deliver them and Sandy's chest to Minneapolis.


In the case of Kathie's mother, I decided to turn something on my lathe. I made her a shoe horn, using metal parts that I obtained from a woodworking supplier. My contribution was the handle, which I turned from a piece of ebony. The gold-plated hardware made it quite attractive, if I do say so myself. The best part is that she likes it and is using it daily.


For Kathie I made a game called "Shut-the-Box." It is an old "pub game" that involves dice and the goal of turning down the nine digits from 1 to 9 to enable closing the box. Gambling can be involved! I made the box from a wood called bocote, and I made the flippers for the nine digits from nine different woods: oak, blood wood, purple heart, maple, walnut, rosewood, leopard wood, zebra wood, and cocobolo.


Jessica and Travis were able to be with us for the actual Christmas holiday. For Jessica, I made a jewelry box out of walnut. I had a chance to try a couple of new techniques, including using a table saw to make coved pieces for the sides. It has a little tray too that lifts up when you open it. All the hardware is brass, so that dressed it up nicely, along with velvet linings for the "floors" of the box and tray.


Since Travis doesn't yet own have many furnishings for his apartment, I made a floor lamp for him from cherry. It is built with a sliding center post so that it can be made taller or shorter depending on where it is used.


Rob, Carrie and Eleanor were in Chicago for the holiday, but they were able to come out after they got back and before New Years. I had made a "bath pantry" for Rob and Carrie. This was a modification of a plan Rob had spotted some time ago in a Lowe's publication and wanted for a spot in one of their bathrooms in their new home on Ronalds Street.


For Eleanor, I had found a plan for a xylophone fashioned as a cricket pull toy. The mallets can be stored in two holes in the head, so that they look like the cricket's antenna, and the legs hop up and down when you pull the toy across the floor.


When I gave this to Eleanor, her parents threatened to make it their own toy, as you will see in the little video clip below.



Watch this space for a future posting of Betsy's, Pete's, and Henry's gifts, which will be given whenever we receive our summons to Northbrook to meet the new grandbaby, for whom, alas at this point, there is as yet no grandpa-constructed gift.