The Coffee House

[snowbear125 56]

Currently sunny and 46 with a slight breeze; it's supposed to go to 61.

I need some dirt therapy but I'll have to wait a while. Peter's Mill Run is closed until next month. I ordered a senior lifetime pass for National Parks, so I'm waiting until it arrives before trekking to Assateague. I guess I could run up to the dirt loop at Frederick watershed. A good chance to really test out the ditch lights.

After MLW got home and we had dinner, it was too late to mess with the lathe. I still need to put in adequate lighting. Maybe today but there is no rush. I need to get the dishes finished and do some more work in the basement.

 

[smoke665]

Smoke: Any chance you can find black locust or redwood at a decent price? Cypress is impervious to rot but sometimes smells "sour." I don't know how well composites work.

8 Rot-Resistant Woods for Your Outdoor Projects

No on redwood and black locust. Cypress is available (Our house is rock and cypress) at a price. It's held up well but needs to be sealed every 10 yrs or so to keep it from cracking/splitting. I haven't noticed any unpleasant orders from it.

I have some asparagus beds that were built 10 yrs ago using recycled pressure treated 2x12s, that are still good. Unfortunately the post 2003 CCA ban treatments are useless.

 

[smoke665]

love the American Redbud trees!! Seeing that little hint of lavender through the trees always means spring. I think they grow up here, too - my lot is tiny but I hope to find one.

???, I'm confused I thought you were south of us? A closeup of one from our woods in previous years.

 

[jeffashman19 4]

Just curious what you're using I need to build a raised flower bed at the lake. My experience with newer treated lumber in ground contact isn't very good. May end up using concrete block for mine.

I use unfinished cedar boards. It is bug and rot resistant and lasts several years. In our old house, the boxes were still functioning after ten years of use, but we have a dry climate, which probably helps.

 

[smoke665]

use unfinished cedar boards. It is bug and rot resistant and lasts several years

Our wrap around deck sits on 8x8 cedar posts on concrete piers. The rest is pressure treated. They've held up better than the PT, but cedar now is really expensive.

 

[CherylL3 1]

Took the day off from work on Monday. I already do most of the cooking. Need to be creative. Maybe split pea soup. Hmmmm. Puréed liver and onions…

Speedy recovery for her! Soup sounds good.

 

[terri44 15]

???, I'm confused I thought you were south of us? A closeup of one from our woods in previous years.
View attachment 264371

Beautiful. Yes, we were Southern neighbors for many moons. I moved north to help my mom transition to assisted living. Very little I miss about the South, but late winter/early Spring is one of them. It's an explosion of gorgeousness this time of year.

 

[smoke665]

Guess today was not meant to be. DW had treatment today so I decided to tale Phoebe out to a local state park for a little hiking/photography. All the way to the park the road was lined with Redbuds. I pull in the gate, pay my admittance fee......nothing. no redbuds, no flowering trees of any kind except...................the %^&$#&%$ pine trees. They were in full bloom and the ^%&&$ yellow pollen cloud was everywhere. No photography and no hiking for us.

 

[terri44 15]

The pollen buds have burst already?! Booooo... seems a couple-three weeks early this year.

That cloud will send you running back to the car!

 

[SquarePeg45 7]

Just curious what you're using I need to build a raised flower bed at the lake. My experience with newer treated lumber in ground contact isn't very good. May end up using concrete block for mine.

I saw an ingenious idea on Facebook the other day. The person used those concrete footer blocks like this one to anchor some decking boards that they had leftover when they replaced a deck. Seems simple. And you can use the hole on the middle home to anchor with some rebar. I may give this a try for the short beds I want to put along my back fence for some zinnias and cosmos. Just something to contain the soil and make the dog think twice.

 

[SquarePeg45 7]

Found a car for Princess today. It was exhausting. So many unprofessional scammers selling cars using online markets. 4 of the 5 places we went to had a lot of false claims online only to disappoint us when we got there to look at the car. I don’t understand the point of the false ads if they know you’re going to be po’d when you find out they’re liars. I think because we were looking at lower priced older cars (for a student) they were expecting someone desperate with bad credit who they could scam into their high rate financing schemes.

One guy claimed to have a clean car fax but couldn’t produce it and the car had obvious front end damage and a door that stuck so probably damage to the frame. And that’s not even the guy we nicknamed Sketchy Freddy.

 

[smoke665]

So many unprofessional scammers selling cars using online markets

It's sad but true. We're looking for a small, run around vehicle and have encountered much of the same. It is a buyer beware market out there. One of my pet peeves is the car lot employee running ads on FB Marketplace. They make it look like it's their own, but in reality it's a car lot. FB stopped businesses from being able to post items for sale free in Marketplace, but is allowing employees to post for them.


"person used those concrete footer blocks like this one to anchor some decking boards that"

I've seen this done before, works pretty good. The weak link is still the wood used.

 

[bulldurham10]

No on redwood and black locust. Cypress is available (Our house is rock and cypress) at a price. It's held up well but needs to be sealed every 10 yrs or so to keep it from cracking/splitting. I haven't noticed any unpleasant orders from it.

I have some asparagus beds that were built 10 yrs ago using recycled pressure treated 2x12s, that are still good. Unfortunately the post 2003 CCA ban treatments are useless.

I use Marine PT Greenwood for everything. Florida is not hospitable to much of anything other than brick, concrete or stone.

 

[SquarePeg45 7]

It's sad but true. We're looking for a small, run around vehicle and have encountered much of the same. It is a buyer beware market out there. One of my pet peeves is the car lot employee running ads on FB Marketplace. They make it look like it's their own, but in reality it's a car lot. FB stopped businesses from being able to post items for sale free in Marketplace, but is allowing employees to post for them.


"person used those concrete footer blocks like this one to anchor some decking boards that"

I've seen this done before, works pretty good. The weak link is still the wood used.

That explains a lot of what we were seeing on FB market. Very deceptive ads. Photos that were obviously of a different car, sellers pretending not to be dealers.

The car we eventually bought we found through cars.com or cargurus. At this point I can’t even remember. It was a small legit dealership.

 

[smoke665]

That explains a lot of what we were seeing on FB market. Very deceptive ads.

Deceptive is an understatement. There's a scam going around here, where they list a vehicle on FB Marketplace at a low price compared to comparable models. When you inquire about it, the poster says they listed it for a friend and gives you an email address to contact. When you email the link they respond with a cock and bull story about the vehicle being out of state and will be shipped to you free of charge, blah, blah, blah. Or the other thing is an employee of a car lot, posting a low ball price, but when you respond they tell you that it's the down payment.