DIY Attic Insulation

In May we remodeled our kitchen. Part of the project included raising the ceiling and we knew we would have a colossal mess pulling down the old drop ceiling. To minimize the disorder I corraled the attic insulation that sits above the kitchen by packing it into giant hefty bags and then storing them in another part of the attic. That took about 8 or 9 hours of work in the attic using a giant BBQ tongs to grab gobs of cellulose, stuff it into a bag, and drag the full bag over the living room portion of the attic. In areas of the attic roomy enough to stand up I just shoveled the insulation out of the way. When the target area was all clear I used a shop vac to suck up the remainder of the fibers—we didn’t want to be breathing that stuff in our house.

After the remodel we scattered the insulation back into its proper place but over 25 years it had compacted and lost much of its effectiveness. So, two weeks ago we blew in enough new insulation to create an R-38 effect, far superior to the original R-19. We like to save $$ by doing work ourselves so Craig checked out that possibility for beefing up the attic R-factor. We could do the entire thing for $475: $400 for the pink stuff and blower machine (free use w/ purchase of insulation), $20 to rent a Home Depot van to transport the stuff in one trip, and $55 to a friend for installing vent panels in the attic first.

This project was a blast! Craig did the attic duty and Daniel and I kept the machine full. Here’s how it works. The machine is about the size of a small refrigerator with a very long hose that goes up into the attic. The huge bales of pink insulation are wrapped in tight pink-panther plastic, and with a ripper we cut each one in half. We took the half-bale and pushed it into the machine, cut side first, plastic still on. A blade of sorts mounted on the machine cuts the plastic off and we yanked that back out. The insulation instantly expands to 16 times its volume. A beater separates and fluffs it up, then it flies up the hose and all Craig had to do was aim. The actual blowing part of the job took only 2 hours.

Bonus: Energy Trust of Oregon is rebating 25 cents per square foot of ceiling which amounts to $325. That leaves a $150 cost out of our wallet. But we’re very conservative with our utility use, never turning on heat until Nov. 1, which just passed. However, 5 days into November we still haven’t turned on the heat. It has gotten down as low as 62 in the house, which isn’t bad considering we had two nights this week of 35 degree temps. Could it be the new insulation that’s keeping the house livable? If it's that effective then with what we save on our heat bill, we’ll pay for the rest of the insulation job in just one winter!

U2 Rock Concert or H1N1 Shot Clinic?

Steven had a voice lesson at Liberty High School on Tuesday. We rounded the corner by the high school and were greeted by the chaos of hundreds of people milling about in the street and jockeying for position in a line that appeared to wrap around the campus. There were police cars with lights flashing parked on the street and in the parking lot and officers were keeping order the best they could by directing the heavy traffic away from the school.

My first thought was that some rock star was making an appearance or something. Why else would there be such madness at an obscure Hillsboro high school? But what would a rock star be doing at said obscure campus? We only wanted to park in the lot to make it to the voice lesson on time. The lot entrances were blocked by orange cones or police vehicles and cops were directing cars to bypass the school and keep going down the road. At one point I was able to tell a cop we had a voice lesson. He directed us to the furthest lot entrance and gave us permission to enter there.

Then we came upon Mr. Grouchy Deputy who was adamant that no one was going to get into that lot, even to save their lives. He violently gestured at to me to do something--he kept yelling while pointing at the ground in front of him, and I didn't know what that meant, so through the open passenger window I told him what was up. He wasn’t pleased. In fact, he looked downright scary and maybe he was going to impound my car or something. He hollered, "Are you here for the clinic?" Ah-ha, could it be that we had stumbled unknowingly onto an H1N1 clinic? No wonder the “rock star” vibes. He let us in, we went our way, and we confirmed with the voice teacher that there was an H1N1 clinic. By the time we left the line had no end. Hundreds must have been turned away. Oh well, there’s another 'rock star appearance' coming up on Saturday at our very own Westview High School.

Grandchildren

A wise person once said, "Grandchildren are your reward for not killing your kids." And a wonderful reward they are. You have paid your dues for 30 years, and now receive all the fun and enjoyment while skipping the discipline and hard labor. I agree with every other grandparent I know, that my grandchildren are the best behaved/ cutest/ cleverest/ sweetest/ nicest/ handsomest/ smartest/ and every other positive "est" you can mention.

No two of our six grandchildren were born in the same state--we cover Utah, Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Vermont and Idaho. We are lucky to have three living close by. The others we see when we can, which works out to several times a year. I'm pleased that all the moms post weekly pictures and videos on their blogs, so that we can keep up with these special little people.

And here they are!

Brooklyn

Miriam

Magdalena

Eli

Jonah

Paisley

Showdown at the Stevenson House

On April 6, 1970 my Dad went off to work as usual while we kids prepared for school. Ten minutes later he returned home and frantically ordered us all to get in the car, that there was something we needed to see. We drove out of our neighborhood up Lyons hill toward the freeway. Dad gestured towards the old Robert Louis Stevenson house which for over eighty years had sat on a small plateau overlooking the valley where we lived. What looked from a distance like the motion of ants crawling up the slope towards the house turned out to be scores and scores of armed officers crawling on their bellies up the hill carrying weapons in their hands. Dozens of police vehicles from surrounding jurisdictions were stationed in every direction.

I’m surprised they let looky-loos like us pass close enough to watch. A cop finally directed us onto the northbound freeway and Dad dropped us at school. We found out by bits and pieces through the day that around midnight two criminals had shot and killed four local CHP officers in a gun battle at a nearby coffee shop, called J's. One of the gunmen fled into the river bed and was captured. The other fled to the isolated Stevenson house, and took the resident family hostage. The son in that family was in my grade at school, although we were not particular friends. Eventually the family was released and the perpetrator committed suicide. The four dead officers were all under the age of 25, and left seven children between them. Shock waves reverberated through our community and a pall settled on our valley that took years to fully dissipate.

the four officers

Alleyn, Pence, Gore, Frago

This grim calamity, “The Newhall Incident”, was the “shot heard round the world,” as far as law enforcement departments were concerned. Due to the tragedy, changes in police tactics and improvements in training and equipment were made in jurisdictions all over the country, saving many officer's lives in the almost 40 years since that dreadful day. The memories of this incident came back to me recently because I read in my hometown newspaper that the other perp recently died in prison.

memorial sign on I-5 near the site of J's coffee shop where the four officers died

this book about the incident was published in 2012

coverage in our hometown newspaper

For further information see:
http://www.the-signal.com/news/archive/1255/
http://www.chp.ca.gov/memorial/newhall.html

Why?

Why Top O' the Mountain for a blog title? It's a hiking goal, to make it to the top of the mountain. Around here are scores of mountains to summit. Most are reasonable day-hikes, some are very tough, and a few I will never do, like Mt. Hood, which is in a superior class that's out of my league.

A sample of do-able hikes that are fairly close by (mileage is one-way):

*Angel's Rest (@ 1500 foot climb over 4 miles; on a clear day view downtown PDX)

*Dog Mountain, pictured here (3000 feet over 3 miles; in spring a solid carpet of wildflowers)

*Coyote Wall (zig-zag up the mountain, then lie on your tummy to look straight down the vertical cliff)

*Devil's Rest (farther than Angel's Rest but not much of a view on top)

*Saddle Mountain (@3 miles; on a clear day a great view of the Oregon Coast)

*Mt. St. Helens (@4500 feet over 5-6 miles; the most difficult (for me) but most amazing hike ever--at the top look down 2000 feet into the crater and watch the creation of brand new rock)

*Hamilton Mountain (@3.5 miles; fabulous view of Columbia Gorge)

*Beacon Rock (@ 1 mile; Lewis & Clark climbed it for a bird's-eye-view of the Columbia Gorge)

*Multnomah Falls (@1.3 miles and 800 feet up; view of river; if you keep going 5 more miles you come out at Wahkeena Falls)

The list could go on . . . . another day I'll write about the scores of waterfalls nearby.

A Rare Three-Percent Day

Pittock Mansion on a 3% day

A post a day in November . . . .

It was shocking and wonderful to wake up to bright blue sky today after weeks of mostly heavy gray clouds spouting on-and-off rain. Around here (Northwest Oregon), a day like today is called a "three-percent day," meaning no more than three percent of the sky is covered with clouds. It's a rare event, and likely happens about three percent of our days annually. Which if true, would give us only eleven days a year of pure blue sky. So how did I gain maximum enjoyment on this extraordinary occasion? After church I mostly laid on the couch reading and enjoying the sun through the window!

I've been working for the US Census Bureau, knocking on doors, and have polished my skill of dodging raindrops. It's not the getting wet that's bothersome as my water-repellent clothing works well. It's keeping the paper materials from getting soggy that's tricky. Yesterday I spent ten minutes in the car doing paperwork waiting for the biggest drops to quit falling.

Going door-to-door for my job I have learned:

1. 98% of people are at the least, cordial, most are pleasant, and many are downright friendly.

2. Roughly 75% of people own dogs. Some are yippy dogs but more have deep, daunting barks. Most are untrained, thus badly behaved.

3. You can usually will the weather to hold just long enough to get the job done.

4. Being friendly, easy-going, and forgiving can fend off hostilities.

5. You can get some great landscaping ideas from neighborhood yards. You also clue in on some great big landscaping "don'ts" and that goes for paint jobs too. And yard decorations. And the storing of trash cans, old cars, useless junk, old toys, etc.

Yay! Day one is done!