Piping [s]

The master bathroom fixtures: Moen mixer and three way diverter valve, Moen shower head, Kohler body sprays. The valves are pull-on push-off so you don't have to fiddle with the temperature. I went with flush mount body sprays.



Pops taught me how to sweat pipe this weekend. Left to right: flux, solder, pipe abrasives, sparker, tape, propane.

1. Clean the pipes with a wire brush.
2. Goop some flux on.
3. Connect.
4. Heat them with the propane torch.
5. Add solder when the pipe is hot enough to melt it, the flux will magically suck it inside the joint.
   

The piping is installed, supported, and pressure tested.



The potted items on the deck now have drippers controlled by a single valve.



I still need to buy a lawnmower, but the grass and vines are growing plenty.



Sweet coincidence of Port au Prince!

Broader fov [s]

My 20mm f/2.8 came today, the one with the 62mm diameter. Doctor Daddy wants me to shoot his kid's first birthday party and the 50mm and 105mm won't cut it. The plan is to foreshorten the crap out of them (below) so they all look like bobbleheads. That's cute, right?



The 20 will likely be my default lens, good for shooting renovations, people, and events.



Speaking of renovations, I've started on the fiberglass insert in the master bathroom. Jon and I learned form the first one that you want to detach the edges first since they're the most solid parts. Though you still have to rip it apart, piece by piece.



I've cleared the rocks out of the top terrace, irrigated it, and tossed on some seeds.



The middle terrace is still greenifying. Also I've patched the various holes made from reducing electrical boxes and carelessness.



Monday is the day one at work. There was some casual celebration.



My next vehicle is going to be a truck. But that's only cause the ft86 is a year away. That'll round out the dream stable: Itie sport bike, high power tourer, beater truck, and light rwd with low miles.



This week is my first head to head with Jon. He was apparently so overcome with confidence in seeing the schedule that he drafted two kickers with the same bye week. He's either still optimistic or unwilling to spend $5 on a trade.

Said by R: '... and then let me homestead on your land.'

Normally I outro with a cute puppy photo, but I found something cuter.

Looking for more green [s]

The grass is growing steadily, though not evenly. No worries there, I'm in no rush, but I'm happy with the color and consistency of the Bermuda.

Nevergreen terrace [s]

R, Dan and Dave came down this past weekend. Besides the requisite Halo, Winner, surfing, and tasty food/drink, we were on a mission to clear the rocks out of the second terrace. It's difficult to describe the size of the task. But I should add that Dan cleared out the three juniper stumps that confounded the other two a year ago. Also the pier for the late satellite dish was hammerdrilled down to size.

The surf session at Fletcher's was pretty exciting. Cleanout sets in September, E says he had an overhead. Warm water, too.



Now that the lower portion of the wall is exposed, I'm inclined to give it a fresh layer of paint since that light blue and tile is ugly. I'm inclined to go very dark green to match the house/deck trim and work well with the red brick.

We planted some grass seeds and I'm keeping it very damp. Out front I've set up the drippers - keeping them pretty close together. They do a good job of wetting down the whole area. I just need to partially bury them, though the grass will do a good job of that.

My first F [p]

I had always coveted the F100, but until now I've languished in the N series (or, properly 10-99). With many miles on my D70, the time has come to move up to the D700 (image source), derived from the F100. I'm looking forward to the full frame, cmos, and five fps. Perhaps a Saturday morning at Palomar might be in order.



Barely related, I came upon a circular polarizer for my 105mm. It's amazing what eliminating reflections will do for color - I easily maxed out what jpgs can represent (check out the obvious stepping). Of course, the above image is straight off the camera.

This piece will be clutch when I get back out to autocross since it's always quite sunny and reflecty.



The house has gotten plenty of attention too. I swapped out the crusty old exterior fixtures for shiny new ones.



The new valves throw much easier and, naturally, don't leak.

The irrigation is coming along. I ran a half inch line to the front yard with drip inserts in the necessary places. I'll be good to go should I decide to plant anything under the front windows.

I wanted to run a dripper to the fern next to the steps, but there was no easy way to go across or under the path. So I used overhanging branches to go above the path, where just a few inches of dripper can be seen. With the newfound supply of water, I don't imagine the trees will take too long to span the remaining gap.

The poly pipes were not handling the water pressure very well at the fixture, they leaked out the twist-couplings. To remedy this I epoxied some parts together and added a splitter to the faucet so the other branch could relieve some of the pressure. Tomorrow will be the first test.

The pile of trimmings, sauna pieces, and random junk leftover from the previous owner has been divided between the trash and a nicely stacked woodpile in a useless corner of the side yard. That was most of a Saturday, but I now have an empty area in the front yard and a decent stash of firewood.

And on a final programming note, I'm slowly updating all the tags from my previous posts. E.g. "renovation" will give you all of the home improvement material.

Full frame [s]

I rented a d2x this weekend. It handles quite well, all the extra frills don't diminish usability. A d3 is probably out of the question for the next camera purchase, but I'll be interested to see how the d700 compares. The most noticeable differences are the focus speed and frame rate, also the color management blows the d70 away.



This afternoon I had a jonesing for ditch digging, so I bought some materials for a drip system. I have a half inch line running along the fence on the upper terrace and several quarter inch drip lines branching off. The big [known] unknown is how close the drip lines have to be to irrigate a continuous area. I have a patch of Korean grass with a drip underneath serving as the guinea pig. Either way, the papyrus and birds will be better off.

Said:

• Took a long walk, no pee. Back in the house one minute, pee on the bed. ... A sleepy puppy is a good puppy. - Another new puppy owner.
  
• Hey you over there with the big white butt! ... You got a puppy? What a little flirt! I thought you've already got a girlfriend. ... I may be willful but I'm still innocent! ... Ew ew ew. I have to scrub my eyes out! - Lover of exclamation marks.
  
• I'm not one of your kind [not a cannibal] so I wouldn't call it that [cannibalism]. - Indulger of jokes.
  
• It's a good thing I don't believe in karma or I wouldn't have a chance in hell at happiness. - Introspecticus.
  
• I'll just piss in the car on the way home. - Locked out of a bathroom.
  
• Went to work instead [of surfing]. Bad life choice, I know. - Hobbyless.