Wednesday, March 20, 2019: Pruning Dog Wood and Asparagus

For the first time this year, I took my Wednesday walk through the MoBot. I noticed that both the ornamental asparagus and the red twig dogwoods had been pruned down to the ground. When I got home, I did the same to mine.

Sunday, March 10, 2019: Squirrels

The weather has been warming up a bit. Last week while I was out of town, I got a notification of movement in the attic. Sure enough, a squirrel was roaming around. It did not seem to pay any attention to the trap and it appears the bait in the trap has been disturbed.

When I arrived home two days ago, I went up with a fresh cracker with peanut butter. The trap had been jostled and the old bait was underneath the cardboard tray I had put it on. I replace the bait and reset the trap.

Yesterday afternoon, I got another notification for movement in the attic. Sure enough, the rodent was back.

Again, it paid little attention to the trap. Today, I took the new ultrasonic boom box up to the attic. I had had it in the sunroom. We will see if that makes any difference. I have not gotten any movement notices from the eave camera is some time. That's where the other boom box is located.

Tuesday, February 12, 2019: Mind the Gap

Today was not exceptionally cold (around 35F) but the wind is strong and variable. I have often experienced an occasional draft in the entryway between the main house and the sunroom. I had previously installed a foam barrier in the vent above the east window in the entryway during the winter season. This eliminated the vast majority of the draft, but I still felt some. Today, I finally realized where the draft was from. There is a gap between the Sapele paneling and the brick on the main house. I could actually see daylight on both sides of the entryway.

I ordered some GE Silicon 2+ caulk. It is clear colored.

Update:

Sunday, February 17, 2019

I received the caulk on Friday and today I filled the gaps on both sides of the entry hall where it meets the brick house. At least now you can not see any sunlight through the gaps! I used all of the one tube of caulk. Seems like pretty good stuff.

Friday, February 8, 2019: Chiminey Cap

Holy Smoke Chimney Services finally came out to install the cap on our southwest chimney...the one that blew off last Summer.

They did not check with me before they left. Obviously, there is some tuck pointing that is not complete. As long as they guarantee that it will not blow off again, I'll accept it. They decided not to install the first cap they came with because it was the wrong size and they explained at the time that the didn't proceed because they could not guarantee it would stay in place. I will wait to hear from them.

Thursday, February 7, 2019: Deicer Thermocube and Squirrel Chronicles Continued

Last week, I decided to buy and install a Thermocube. This is a thermostatically enabled electrical receptacle. Power to the deicer will not happen unless the ambient temperature has dropped to 35F and it will shut off power when the ambient temperature rises to 45F. This will save energy. The cube is a dual outlet so I put a child guard in the open port. The Thermocube is not weather proof so I also purchased and installed a silicon "rain block" at each exposed plug in point. Since the deicer is plugged into the same GFCI as the pond circulation pump, as long as the waterfall is falling, the silicon seals are working.

While down in the sunroom this morning, around 8:00 am, I got the first motion notification in the third floor eave in the past week. There were actually four back-to-back videos caught. The one below shows the squirrel attempting to get to the bait, moving the cage around. It did not knock the ultrasonic boom box off the top of the trap, as was done once before.

While the boom box obviously did not deter the creature from entering the eave, the creature did not stay very long. Maybe it is working. Another question is whether this was a new animal or was it the one I transplanted over to the Tower Grove Park who has come back?

Wednesday, February 6, 2019: Tile Work

It was back on June 18, 2018 that I first noticed the subsidence of the tiles at the south door of the sunroom and contacted Mike S. He promised to come out and take a look, which he did on June 20. After looking, he promised to be out the following week to effect repairs. There were numerous promises over the next seven months. Today, he finally came and made a repair.

While the slab has certainly settled (Mike estimated about 1/4"), the settling appears to be in the slab and not the foundation. There is no indication of foundation settling at this time. Mike suggested the reason for the broken tiles is that they were more tight communication with the foundation.

He thinks that if he replaces the broken tiles and allow them to "float" independent of the foundation, they will not break again. Hopefully also, the slab has found its "home" and will settle no more. To actually address the settling issue would be a massive and expensive proposition.

We have a lot of extra tiles. Why we have so many, I do not know. It appears we bought about 50% more tiles than we needed. What we do not have is much remaining grout. The original bag of grout has pretty much solidified, although there was enough to grout the new tiles.

If future replacements are needed, the grout used is a Polyblend Sanded Grout and the color is #60 Charcoal.

When Mike reattached the floor molding, he also attached the molding on the left hand side of the fireplace, which was never attached originally.

Overall, Mike was here about 2.5 hours and charged $150.

Friday, February 1, 2019: Another Promise

Today I called Mike S again and this time he answered. I had called over three weeks earlier (January 9), as I told him I would. I left a message telling him I was back in town and asked him to give me a call. I wanted him to let me know what to expect with respect to the work he promised he would do at the south door of the sunroom.

Just like the last time he actually answered my call, today he said he was finishing a job and could probably be out next week. He said he would give me a call on Monday or Tuesday. Based on experience, I am not holding my breath.

Squirrel Update:

On Tuesday, I declared victory in the ATO due to a lack of any noise or motion detection in either the southeast eave or the attic. As you might have expected, early Thursday morning, I heard rumblings and foot steps above the bedroom. I did not however get any movement notifications. I checked both the cameras and both are still working and the traps appear undisturbed.

Last night however, I heard nothing. Perhaps a potential new guest I heard early Thursday morning looked the place over and decided not to check in. Or, the guests are now in another area not covered by the cameras. I've ordered another P7816 Ultrasonic Attack Wave Pestrepeller to put into the closet behind T's desk...where I saw the bat. It should be here Superbowl Sunday.

Wednesday, January 30, 2019: Squirrel Chronicles Part IV

It has been four days since Andy's relocation from the attic and to Tower Grove Park. Since then, no noise and no movement notifications. Last night we had a cold front come into the area. This morning, the ambient temperature is -3F with a wind chill of -24F. If someone was thinking of moving back in, I think they would have done so last night. While I will leave the traps in place for awhile, maybe all season, I am prepared to declare victory in the ATO (Attic Theater of Operation).

The pond fared well over night and the new pond deicer is doing its job.

Sunday, January 27, 2019: New Deicer

The new deicer arrived today and I have air tested it and installed it in the pond. The ten foot cord is just barely long enough to reach the receptacle box. The ambient temperature today is up to freezing, but the temperatures are supposed to fall this coming week. Wednesday's high is only going to be 7F.

Squirrel update, no noise or movement notifications in the eave for the past 48 hours or in the attic for the past 24 hours. With the falling temperatures over the next few days, we will see if more guests arrive.

Saturday, January 26, 2019: Squirrel Chronicles Part III

I had not received any movement notifications from either camera since early Friday morning. Before retiring last night, I checked the cameras. The eave camera showed nothing had changed and the boom box was still in place and functioning (it gives off audible clicks every few seconds). The attic camera however showed the trap had been tripped and rotated clockwise about 45deg. I watched the trap for a few minutes and could periodically see the reflection of an eye. So, Andy the Squirrel had finally checked in to the Attic Hotel.

This morning, I went up to see how Andy was doing and to suggest we find him a new residence in Tower Grove Park, about 1.5 miles away.

I was not surprised when he expressed displeasure with the current accommodations and my hospitality. I brought him down to the Sunroom to allow him to enjoy the warmer environment before our journey began.

We drove over to the western most end of the park and Andy was released. He didn't even say "goodbye", but zipped over to the closest oak tree.

Returning home, I rebaited the trap with another rice cracker with a dollop of peanut butter and returned it to the attic to await the next guest's arrival.

I am very hopeful that the boom box in the eave is discouraging any potential guests from moving into that trap. Time will tell.

Friday, January 25, 2019: Squirrel Chronicles and Pond Deicer II

Well, that did not work very well!

The new deicer is frozen in the ice. It did get relatively cool last night. The 1:00 am auto report I get every morning from The Weather Channel said the temperature, at that time was 13F with a wind chill of -1F. At 7:00 am, when I got down to the Sun Room, my thermometer said the outside temperature was 10F and the pond water temperature was less one degree above freezing.

I decided  to return the new deicer to Amazon and order another which is from the same company but is higher wattage (1,250 watts) and a floater. The average review is lower and, as with most of these devices, most of the negative comments involve short lifetimes. I will try to be diligent in regards to cleaning the heating element at the end of each season of use.

Afternoon update:

The ambient temperature never got above freezing, but it was a bright sunny day and I was able to extract the old/new deicer from the pond. The water temperature was still about 33F, but the heating element was cold. I brought the element inside a quickly plugged it into an outlet. The element started heating immediately. I got a work light out of the garage and plugged it into the dry-box receptacle at the pond. No light. I tripped and reset the GFCI (the indicator light went off and then came back on) and retried the light. No light!. I plugged the light into the receptacle right next to this one (the one that supports the pond pump) and the light lit. I plugged the light into the dry-box receptacle north of the chess board and the light lit. Obviously, despite the indicator light, there is no power to the dry-box receptacle at the pond. This is why the heating element did not heat, but I'm going to return it and get the floater anyway.

Squirrel Update:

Yesterday, I had put the ultrasonic boom box in the southeast eave and crackers, with peanut butter, in both traps. Very soon thereafter, I got notice of movement in the eave. For the next hour or two, I watched a squirrel try to get to the bait by various means except to actually enter the trap. The animal got so violent at one point that it knocked the boom box off the top of the trap. It seemed to give up at that point.

Awhile later, I went up to ensure the bait was still in place and to reposition the boom box back on top of the trap. I got another notification or two the remainder of the afternoon, but it was much less frequent. Last night, I got no notifications until about 8:00 am this morning when I captured a clip of a squirrel running by the camera.

Jury is still out. Undoubtedly, the squirrel was attracted by the peanut butter. Whether the boom box was responsible for the stop in the attempts to get to it or not will be found out today. The fact that I've only had one "hit" over the past 12 hours is encouraging. Yesterday, even before adding the peanut butter, I was getting movement notifications several times an hour.

Afternoon Update:

As of 2:00 pm, not a single motion "hit" since the one at 8:00 am this morning.

Thursday, January 24, 2019: Squirrel Chronicles and Pond Deicer

Two weeks ago I had some "guests" show up in the attic...squirrels. Since we cut down all but one tree that had given them access to the roof, it has been quite a long time since their last visit. At 4:30 am that morning however, it sounded like they were moving furniture in the eve just above the master bedroom. I hoped they would just be passing through, but it turned out they appeared to be moving in for the winter.

Over the weekend, I ordered a small animal trap from Amazon.

I also sent a note to my neighbor (Morgan) thinking he might have a trap. He did and handed it to me on Sunday, January 13. I originally put his trap in the attic. I also installed one of my Cloud Cams so I could see what was going on and be notified when it sensed movement. To get a WiFi signal, I moved the Net Gear booster from the garage (where it never worked too well) into the attic. Works great with the signal strength going from one bar to four bars. For bait, I put some raisins in a Styrofoam bowl. During the first night, I was notified of movement and watched as a squirrel run past the trap without paying much notice of it.

On Monday, my new trap arrived. I baited it with raisins and put it in the attic, moving Morgan's trap to the cedar closet on the third floor behind T's desk. Why there? Because I was hearing so much noise, there was enough "stuff" in that closet I thought that's where they might be. Most of the stuff in the closet is Christmas stuff.

It did not take long before I got notified of movement. What I saw as not a squirrel, but a bat. I quickly concluded that, while interesting, this was not the source of the noise I was hearing, and this trap was not going to trap a bat, the gaps in the wire are too large to keep them in...or out. I left the trap in that closet for a couple of days just in case someone else showed up.

I got a few more notifications and clips of squirrels running by the attic trap, but they didn't seem to be very interested. After a couple of days, I decided to move Morgan's trap to the eave above the Master Bedroom.I supplemented the raisins with some dried tomatoes and some cheese. I got a lot of movement notifications and clips of squirrels running around and over the trap.

Since they did not seem to be attracted to the bait in the trap, I added some slivered blanched almonds to both the eave trap and the attic trap. I got no more notifications from the attic, but continued to get some from the eave. Finally, I got one in which a squirrel had actually entered the trap to eat the bait. The squirrel stood on top of the plate which is supposed to trip the trap door, but the trap did not trip.

I tried to adjust the trap so that it was more sensitive to a squirrel sitting on the plate and reinstalled the trap.

Early this morning, after being woken around 4:00 am by the noises in the eave, I remembered that many many years ago, we bought a ultrasonic pest repulser.

Today, I went hunting for it in the basement and, after giving up, found it. I took it up to the third floor eave along with a brown rice snap with a dollop of Jiff creamy peanut butter on it.

I put one cracker in the eave trap and the other in the attic trap. I installed the ultrasonic thing on top of the eave trap. We will see if the peanut butter is a more powerful lure for the squirrels to visit the trap or if the ultrasonic thing drives them away.

Now, for the pond deicer.

In late September 2016, I purchased (through Amazon) a K&H Thermo-Pond Perfect Climate Deluxe Pond Deicer 250W. It cost about $40 and had an average 3.2 Star rating (61% were 4/5 Star and 34% were 1/2 Star with 719 reviews). Most of the complaints were that the device did not work at all or did not work for long.

The one we bought worked well the first season but failed sometime during the 2017 season. I am not convinced we need a deicer since the pump and water fall seem to keep the pond from freezing over completely. But, as a safety matter, I have decided I want to have a backup to the waterfall. The purpose of the deicer is to keep the pond from freezing over completely. 

Today, I received the next attempt to find a good deicer. I purchased (through Amazon) a Farm Innovators Model C-500 Submergible Cast Aluminum "Around The Farm" Utility De-Icer, 500-Watt. It has an average rating of 4.0 Stars (82% with 4/5 Stars and 16% with 1/2 Stars with 141 reviews).

Unlike the previous deicer, it is not a floater. It is cast aluminum and will sink. I did an "air" test, as prescribed by the instructions. It suggested, if the ambient temperature was less than 32F, to leave the unit outside for at least an hour and then plug it in. It should start to heat immediately. The temperature this morning was less than 30F so I sat the unit outside for about two hours and then plugged it into the receptacle by the pond. It did not heat up. The instructions said an alternative was to put the unit into the freezer for a hour and then plug it in. I next tried this and when plugged it, it started heating immediately. It only has a six foot cord, which is not sufficient. 

The biggest issue is that it is not a floater and, while the whole pond will probably never completely freeze solid, I need something to ensure the surface does not freeze over. This is important for the health of the fish in the pond. The description claims this device will work for containers up to 50 gallons. Our pond is closer to 300 gallons. Being able to float is also important since the water level is variable. If the level gets too low and exposes the heating element, it could damage it. The reviews on Amazon says that short term exposure to air has not demonstrated any damage, but the manufacturer does not recommend operating it "dry".

I thought I might be able to remove the heating element from the old floating deicer and insert the new element. I in fact did that successfully. Unfortunately, the new element is so much heavier that the original one, the floater sank in the pond.

Therefore, before I make any significant alterations to the new deicer, like lengthening the cord, I need to ensure I am satisfied I can use it properly.

When I pulled the old deicer out of the pond this morning, I checked to see if the GFCI had been tripped. I had not, i.e., the indicator light was still on. I unplugged the old deicer and brought it inside to thaw and for me to disassemble. This afternoon, I started thinking about harvesting the cord off the old deicer. First however, I decided to do an "air" check on the old deicer, as I had done with the new one. I stuck the old heating element in the freezer for over a hour and then plugged it in to the kitchen wall plug. It immediately shorted the kitchen GFCI. Hence, the old unit was defective somewhere. I could not find any obvious breaks or faults in the cord, so I cut the cord off for future use.

I needed a female plug for the cord if I was going to use it as an extension to the cord on the new deicer. In searching through my electrical stuff, I found a five foot appliance extension cord, so I used this to reach the pond receptacle. the extension cord is a 3-wire and, while not marked, appears to be an 18 gauge. The deicer cord is also 18 gauge. Extended, I had enough length of cord to be able to sit the new deicer element on a stone ledge just a few inches below the pond water surface. I use electrical tape to insulate the deicer to extension cord connection. It is now in service...we'll see what happens.