Dan Delcollo’s Blog

The other day I noticed a blue puddle under the Xterra. A little investigative work revealed that it was windshield wiper fluid. I tried to see where the leak was coming from and discovered that it was deep inside the front wheel well. I got all scratched up trying to reach around inside only to decide that the leak wasn’t coming from any of the hoses and was probably going to be a bigger job than I could easily handle.

I called Nissan service and asked how much it would be to fix and was quoted $100 plus parts, and parts would be another $50.

On a whim I started searching the internet for info and ran across a forum where someone had the same problem which pointed to an article someone else in the forum wrote. It was a step by step guide complete with photos and instructions for removing the reservoir.

Inspired with the new info I went back at it and very quickly was able to completely remove the tank. At the very least I was going to save $100 bucks. Now I only needed the tank.

I couldn’t pinpoint the leak, but it didn’t seem like a problem that couldn’t be fixed with plumbers goop. I cleaned a applied a layer where I figured the leak had to be coming from. After it was dry I tested it and put it all back together. So far so good.

I am pretty excited about this because it was one of those cool times when the internet proved to be useful for more than just porn.

I other news to update: We have decided on our Au Pair candidate. She will be arriving in mid October. She is from Mexico.

Today we went to Folsom Lake just to check it out since we have never been there. It was actually pretty cool. The kids played in the water and we waded. It seems like it would be a nice place to be able to go for day trips and let the kids dig in the sand and run around in the water. A day pass is $10, but a yearly pass is $90 and it is only 20 minutes away from home.

I have been inspired by Sara to start painting in acrylic on canvas. My first piece was supposed to be something simple and has already spiraled way out my control. It is taking a long time but is fun to work on.

The kids are getting better and better at walking, but they still do quite a bit of crawling. They are learning to express themselves more with more whining and crying when they don’t get what they want, but occasionally can be helpful with dressing and diaper changes since they seem to accept the routine a little better. They are easier to take care of, but I still get completely overwhelmed by even just two problems at a time, and often problems don’t line up to be handled single file. Oh and we took them to the zoo Monday since it was free. The kids seemed to like being out and payed little if any attention to the animals. But it was a nice foreshadowing of things we may be able to do with them as their abilities increase. I am trying to start calling them kids now instead of babies but that’s just me.

I have been continuing to buy books in spurts, mostly centered around hobbies, arts and crafts and things. Someday I hope to have an awesome library of how to and inspirational books for hobbies and stuff. Home LibraryThing has been invaluable in keeping me from buying the same book over and over. 124 books and counting.

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I think I have to admit defeat on this air conditioner problem. I assumed my sump pump fix had the problem well in hand and was hopeful that the water damage was minimal without really being able to truly assess how bad it really was. I never heard the sump pump activate and assumed it was because the water was only a problem when the AC was completely maxed out like during the birthday party.

Today at 1am Sara came and said “I hear dripping in the wall and the carpet is damp again!” I went back up in the attic to discover several bad things. For starters the tub was completely overflowing and the sump pump hadn’t reached the point that would turn it on. Apparently I had not set the limits tight enough and the start point was too high. An hour of painful mucking around with it got it to a working state, and I tested it by pouring buckets of water in the tub to ensure that it would indeed turn on before overflowing, and would actually turn itself off at some point since that was problem I encountered during early testing.

Another problem was that not all of the dripping water was even making it into the tub. The way the pan was situated with the tub underneath, the majority of water was dripping into the tub, but every few drops was hitting the rim and splashing. Additionally some water was running back under the pan since the lowest point was apparently not right at the edge. The pan is toast anyway, so bending it a little to make the edge of the pan over the bucket and re-positioning the bucket make it so now all the water should make it in. The problem is that the bucket had been overflowing for who knows how long, and the splashing and running drips.

All of which I think add up to needing to seriously consider tearing open that wall. Sheetrock and I don’t get along well together, so I imagine that I we are going to have to pay someone to do the work which means contractors, estimates, budgets, over-budgets, under-estimates, over-due dates, discovering additional problems, cascading work, etc etc etc. plus I still haven’t fixed the freaking evaporator pan leak.

Oh yeah and our HD cable isn’t working. We don’t get any channels after 915, which means pretty much all HD. The fence still isn’t fixed. The door to Jadis’ room hasn’t arrived which means the demolition and installation is stalled. And Susan freaked out because our electricity bill was almost $300. I think I planned this break all wrong.

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I have been in a long, heavy, deep seated funk for a while now. My energy has been at near record lows. My apathy has been high, motivation low. I have had little patience. I have been grumpy, irritable, and probably very little fun. While I have no immediate solution to this problem. I am hopeful that recognition and hopefully announcing the problem will eventually lead to some sort of resolution.

It may be a little ironic that I spent the last 8 days off of work, and have only one more day before I have to go back, but I am hoping that late is better than never.

At least the creative juices feel like they may be loosening up a little. The other day I finally got around to tackling a little project that I have had floating around inside my head for months. Normally it should have only taken me a couple of hours start to finish. It wound up taking me a whole day, but at least I finished it. Basically I hopefully ended the black hole that is things being lost under the couch. I installed a series of kick plates under the couch that should prevent things being lost under there. Both the kids and the cats have toys that are the perfect size for sliding under there and out of reach. Never mind the food. I should have painted it so that it would be even less noticeable, but as it stand now if you weren’t trying to see it, I doubt that anyone would notice. About 3 or 4 inches back from the edge, inside the legs of the couch I installed a board that runs the entire perimeter of the couch. It is pretty much floor to couch, so things can’t get pushed back far enough to be out of reach, but the boards aren’t easily seen.

Also I have begun to think about other projects. Much larger ones. I have been toying with the idea of bee keeping. I also have had a desire to revisit my failed blacksmith forge. I have also been thinking of a brick oven.

I have to look into it further but I have dreamt of building a portable gas fired brick oven. It is kind of a crazy idea because it departs from the usual eccentric ideas of a brick oven in multiple ways. For one, I am thinking it should be portable. Making it portable, or at least movable solves a couple of problems. If it is portable then it doesn’t need a building permit. Even if it never moves, if you can argue that it could be moved, then it solves that one hurdle. Another idea is to make it gas fired, or at least gas assisted. Most brick ovens are wood fired, but thinking about it I don’t see why this has to be. I have heard people say its because a propane oven wouldn’t get hot enough, but that is crazy because people build propane fired forges and kilns that go up to 1500 degrees which is hotter than even the most aggressive brick oven. I have heard people say it wouldn’t heat evenly which is also wrong, because an improperly fired wood oven is one that is heated unevenly, which is nearly always solved by firing it for long enough for the temperatures to even out. The same would be true of a gas fired oven. The one argument about flavor may possibly be true, but many accounts from backyard brick oven builders say they burn 2×4s and scrap lumber in them to fire them, and that certainly is not going to contribute to a better flavor. Having the oven be gas assisted wouldn’t prevent it from also being fired with wood if properly constructed. Anyway I still need to think more about it. I am imagining a welded steel frame supporting a red brick floor and red brick dome, but that may make the whole thing so heavy that it would be impossible to move. I have also been toying with different idea’s on how to build the dome. I saw online how one guy made the igloo shape by making a cardboard dome to support the bricks as he made it. After the bricks set he just pulled the cardboard out. I suppose I ought to do the same thing, but I have been wondering if there is a different way by possibly using something like a partially inflated exercise ball. I am staring at the lampshade over the Cuddle Lounger and thinking how perfect of a dome that would make.

Anyway, at least I am thinking. It is a nice change from being a zombie which is how I have felt for at least a couple of weeks if not months.

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Along with keeping chickens, one idea I had a while back was beekeeping. While the idea of keeping stinging insects close by does not immediately sound exciting, it seemed like one of those kind cool/different hobbies that caught my attention. I have read a few tiny blurbs about how easy it is to do, many of which claimed beekeeping is as easy as gardening, does not expose your family or neighbors to additional risk of being stung if properly planned, and can actually have several benefits, not least of which is free honey. I have read that even city people can successfully raise bees.

The other day I met my parent’s new neighbors at my niece’s birthday party and while we didn’t get into details, they made it sound like it was super easy. They said their 6 and 11 year old kids who play outside all the time have never been stung, and that they were getting more honey than they knew what to do with while living in suburban Hayward before moving to El Sobrante. I told them about the size of our yard and they said it was more than large enough. I told them that I had heard of some people raising bees on their roof, and he was actually against the idea saying that it made accessing the hive too difficult, and that it would be better in a corner someplace.

Anyway I haven’t made the plunge yet, but I took the next step and ordered a book on backyard beekeeping on Amazon. After looking it over I will decide if it something to pursue further or not. Ill be sure to post if it does indeed happen.

In case Susan reads this and wants to veto the plan, I might mention that another idea I had heard of that I found equally interesting but have so far avoided looking into because of the potential negative side effects is worm farming. Beekeeping doesn’t sound so bad now does it dear?

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As I was laying in bed wishing I had gone to bed earlier I was suddenly struck with the notion that while the fireworks had gone well and that we had done a good job cleaning up and put the trash out, we had only put out the trash for pickup and not the green waste. I remembered that our green waste can was already overflowing and couldn’t handle another two weeks so I drug myself out of bed to go and put out the green waste.

I go outside and discover that for the last hour and a half after cleaning up after the fireworks, the trash can had apparently been smoldering away. I was staring at it across the driveway with the green can I was bringing out when I saw it. Big plumes of black smoke was pouring out and blowing down the street. I stood there shocked for a few seconds trying to decide if my hose was going to stretch all the way out to the can when, whoosh! The thing lit up in earnest. Big flames squeezed out from where the black smoke had been just a few seconds earlier. The whole lid was ringed with fire. Instead of running for the hose like I should have, I ran towards the can thinking I should save the lid by getting it off the fire. Big mistake.

The lid was the only thing keeping the fire small. As soon as I flipped the lid back the fire had more oxygen and what was just a lot of smoke and a ring of fire squeezing out of the can was now a roman candle with a four foot flame shooting out the top. I ran for the hose and discovered it was about ten feet short, but from where it reached I could shoot water in the can like a deck gun. I knocked the flames low enough that I could drag the can closer to the hose, then shot water in the can as I pulled smoking firework detritus off the top to get to smoldering stuff more in the middle.

Then I noticed the smell. Before all the fireworks our trash had only one bag of trash and one bag of dirty diapers, the rest was filled to the rim with burned out fireworks. Baked dirty diapers are not more pleasant than uncooked dirty diapers. Not that either is anything good, but if you are ever given the choice, ask for your dirty diapers to be rare rather than well done.

As I sit here and think about it. I had better go check one last time that the fire is indeed out for good. The last one smoldered for an hour and a half before it went up. I do not want to wake up to sirens. I will have to check in the daylight, but I think the can is salvageable. It is all wavy and bubbly and melted in a few places but hopefully will still work. I need to get back to bed!

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We had the Twins Birthday party on Sunday. I still cannot believe they are one already, but I imagine that is what most parents say at this point, and many keep telling me it only gets faster. The bounce house was great for the 5 kids that were old enough to use it, but I think they had more fun with the sprinklers than with anything else we had. The littler ones had lots of holding time as there were more than enough willing attention givers. The kids got a large haul of toys which prompted Susan to begin purging the older stuff to keep the pile manageable. The twins were only moderately interested in their cupcakes. Both would nibble at them when offered, but didn’t go crazy on them. I think they were more interested in all the attention and many faces.

We cranked up the AC because of all the people and having the doors open and closed as people came and went, plus it was like 100 degrees anyway. I came home from work the morning after to have Sara and Lily tell me there was wet spots on the carpet in the hall. It didn’t take long to realize the problem was much much larger. The water on the floor was the result of water coming down through the wall from the attic, and we now had water spots in the ceiling in the hall, and on the wall. I got into the attic to find all the water was coming from the AC. The condensation pan was leaking and had probably been doing so for a long time. The increased use of the past 2 days had just make the problem large enough to finally get noticed in a big way.

I panicked and put a tub to catch the leak, and quickly realized that the scope of the leak was larger than could be contained in a tiny tub. So I got a larger tub, but since this is one of those, “you can’t fix a leaky roof in the rain” problems, I needed to figure out a way to limp along until the weather is cool enough for me to find a more long term solution. It is hard enough to get into the attic, so I needed a way to drain the water out of the tub to prevent it from overflowing. The easiest thing I could think of that would be fast and simple was to buy a sump pump with a float valve to pump the water out. I haven’t had a chance to check on my solution, but I am hopeful it will hold together long enough for me to solve the true leak. I doubt many people have a sump pump in their attic, but who the hell wants to be normal? Certainly not me!

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The other day after being up at 4am to deal with a screaming Isaac I had trouble falling back asleep. Eventually I ended up on my computer when I heard a really strange sound from outside. It sounded like it was coming from the chicken pen, and was really weird. It sounded like a rooster crow but wasn’t quite loud enough and was missing a few of the usual elements. If you have ever heard a real rooster they don’t actually sound like “cock-a-doodle-do” but it is a useful point of reference because this chicken was crowing “cock-a-do”. I was quite shocked and went out in the dark to stare at the pen to see if there was any chance of figuring out which one was making this racket.

It turned out to be the new orpington. Upon recognizing it, I remembered that the day before Susan’s mom had asked if it was a rooster because it had a more prominent comb than the other new hens. But when I compared it to the other older orpington it looked just about the same. Either way, either a rooster or a hen that crows, having a chicken that makes that kind of racket at 5 in the morning just isn’t going to work out. I resolved that night that the problem was going to have to be “dealt” with.

I didn’t think I could actually wring it’s neck nor use a cleaver the whack it’s head off, and while I could probably shoot it, I didn’t think I could get away with discharging a firearm in my backyard. So I did what I feel was the most humane thing I could think of, even though I know many people would disagree. After catching the chicken and cramming it into a pet carrier the chicken and and I went for a little “drive”. I headed on the route I take to work to an area where I have seen farms with chickens wandering about and showed it the meaning of the term “free range”. Problem solved.

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For whatever reason I am having trouble sleeping. I went to bed at a totally reasonable hour and fell almost immediately asleep only to wake up less than an hour later wide awake and toss and turn for the next 2 hours becoming more and more awake until I couldn’t stand it anymore and got up to monkey around on the computer. Hopefully posting will put me in a better frame of mind and able to sleep.

I am feeling better after being so sick for a while. I suffered through several days at work of being sick. Outwardly I was able to fake it enough in order to see patients, but inwardly, yuck. My ass was a firey ball of death due to flaming diarrhea. I was going more than once an hour and there was nothing anyone could do about it, least of all me. I know no one likes to hear about stuff like this, but it was a very tough time for me and I am glad that it seems to be over.

Susan and Lily are away in Philly for a week to celebrate Sara’s graduation from getting her Master’s in Public Health. They are also helping to pack her up so she can move here for the summer and then go on to UCLA in the Fall for her PhD in Public Health. Go Sara! I am excited that Sara not only got into a PhD program that she wanted, but that it is 3000 miles closer than Philly, but puts her in the same town as both her Boyfriend Kevin, whom I like very much, but more importantly puts her in the same vicinity as Disneyland, which makes for an awesome opportunity to double up our vacation time. Season passes anyone?

The kids are doing well. They have gotten into a much more manageable routine of wake, play, eat, play, nap, play, eat, play, nap, play, eat, play, sleep. got it? Basically they eat three times a day, nap two, and sleep close to 11 hours at night. Each separated by a couple of hours of play, mostly stuffing things into their mouth and occasionally banging things together. They both cruise at will, but neither shows much interest in wanting to let go and walk on their own. They crawl well, and have gotten the hang of the sippy cup. They can both babble and say mama and dada, but they don’t mean what we want them to mean. “dadada” usually means I am happy, and “mamama” usually means I am angry.

They have learned to fight, and it sucks. They fight over toys. No matter how many toys are out, and even if there are duplicates, whatever she has, he wants and will come over and take it. If she doesn’t give it up he will grab hair or step on her. If he succeeds or annoys her enough she will bite him. I wasn’t sure she was really doing it until I saw her scowl and deliberately bend over and bite his arm. If unchecked it happens quite a lot, and the other day we counted at least 6 raised red marks on his arms where she had bit him hard enough to leave teeth marks. That was just his arms. You cant ignore them for more than 30 seconds if they are near each other or one will be pulling hair and the other biting. So much for playing quietly together.

We have been trying to get them to eat more table foods with limited success. Both like Mac and Cheese and will pick up and feed themselves. Unfortunately their aim isn’t great, and they aren’t successful enough to make a meal out of it. Some other things one will eat but the other will not, and introducing new foods is hard. They both love cheerios and a couple other snacks which they are able to feed themselves, but don’t eat enough to do anything other than snack. Their main contribution to meal times is to make feeding difficult rather than help out and eat something. Don’t think I am complaining, I know they are easier to feed than some, but I look forward to the day when they will help out more. Although it will probably mean the beginning of the extreme pickiness.

Well now I am 700 words into this, and I am still not working towards getting any sleep. I am going to force myself back to bed for another try.

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I sliced a couple of slices off one of the chops and fried it up to see how it came out. Results were not good. There was definitely not enough fat in the chop for it to come out anything other than jerky like. While not inedible, Susan remarked that it was the saltiest thing she has ever eaten. Obviously she has never eaten a spoon full of salt, because that would beat this, but only barely. Without buying actual uncured bacon, I am not sure how to increase the fat of the meat since so much of it is trimmed off by the butcher. Decreasing the salt ought to be easy enough. Don’t re-apply the mixture daily and rub it on, not coat it. But I am not sure this is something that can turn out without figuring out the fat part of it. Food for thought.

Did I already write about the Bounce House? I can’t remember. I bought a relatively inexpensive one that seemed like it had good reviews and a few more bells and whistles than just being a bounce box. I wanted to test it out before unveiling it at the party so I convinced Susan to move the coffee table out of the sitting room so I set it up indoors. I figured if it turned out to be a bust it would be much easier to return if it wasn’t covered in grass and stuff. It came out ok. It would be fine for 2 or 3 kids, and adult can sit and crawl around, but jumping seems like too much for it. Jadis was scared by how much noise it made. It would be less loud outdoors, and they are too young for it anyway, but it was fun to put it up and test it.

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While watching a episode on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives I was struck with a whim to try making Tasso. What is Tasso? I actually didn’t know until about 5 minutes ago when I looked it up online. Wikipedia says it is a kind of Cajun pork used in seasoning. On the TV program they made it into its own dish and called it a cross between bacon and a pork chop, which sounded heavenly at the time, so I jotted down the 30 second recipe and directions they gave. When I got a chance I went to the store and tried to find the cut of meat I needed. The recipe called for top loin with a good deal of attached fat. At one place I found one with hardly any attached, and at another I found only loin chops. Since I didn’t want to experiment with a $15 dollar piece of meat I went for the loin chops for the experiment. Ill list the instructions I wrote below, but don’t rush out to try it since I haven’t cooked it yet to get an idea how it might turn out. also since the instructions were amazingly vague and I didn’t have everything, my version even if edible will be far from the real thing.

Here are the instructions I wrote down on a post-it note:

Tasso
Pork Loin slab with fat
2 parts salt, one part sugar. Dry rub, pat on. Refrigerate in zip-lock bag for 2 days. Drain off excess water and massage rub to redistribute daily. Rinse and pat dry.
Dry rub of sugar, salt, granulated garlic, onion powder, paprika, Cayenne and allspice. Pat on and refrigerate for 3 days. Rub off excess. Slice into strips and fry.

Now when I did this I found that when I drained off the excess water in the first part the rub was basically gone, so I had to re-apply. When I made the second dry rub I didn’t have onion powder or allspice. I made mine 2 parts salt, one part sugar, one part granulated garlic, one part paprika, half part cayenne and one part pepper since it seems like it ought to fit. It is sitting in the fridge now and possibly may need to drain and re-apply since it still seems to be generating excess water, but not nearly the same as before. The meat definitely seems to be firming up and consolidating. I am hoping that it will turn out like super meaty bacon, although since it doesn’t have enough fat, may turn out to be too dry. I may have to go to a butcher and specifically ask for a top loin with more fat attached.

Anyway stay tuned to see if it turns out at all. 2 days to go.

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