Friday, July 18, 2008

Busy, yeah. But Life's Looking More "Normal" Than Anything.

Weekend Plans:

  • Seed the front lawn. I plan to enlist R's help picking out the rocks and smoothing out the soil on Saturday. The goal is to get the seeds down by the end of the day.
  • Cut in the flagstones for the bench. At this point, I need to fill in the gravel and set the stones. That's it.
  • Cut down side junipers. Making room for the french drain along the east side of the house.
  • Install UV film on the picture window.
  • Maybe. Just maybe, I'll finally get the back door hardware (doorknob, escutcheons, hinges) swapped out.

C is getting information from the city today about how we comply with the new "Downspout Disconnect" program [stormwater management manual]. Anyone in the Portland area knows about the combined stormwater/sewer system throughout the inner neighborhoods. Too much rain and the stormwater overflows into the sewer line, washing raw sewage into the Willamette river. Not good. That's why the city is spending $10B to build the big pipe under the river... so as to separate stormwater management from sewage management.

Well, one of the programs is to return as much rooftop rainwater as possible back to the ground, rather than channeling it directly into stormwater.  It makes sense to me. And, the city is paying residents to unhook their downspouts as an incentive.

What if, say, we could not only disconnect but also capture the runoff for use as irrigation water in the summer? Yep, a classic rain barrel approach. Why not? That's one idea we currently have on the table.

Outside of working on the house, we also plan to do ALL of the following on Sunday:image

  • Support our friend, John, as he flies a t-6 like I did last year.
  • Attend at triple Eagle Scout Court of Honor in Hillsboro at my old troop.
  • Transfer kids to grandma and grandpa for more beach time.
  • See Ringo Starr in concert.

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