Is this Siberian elm tree really okay?

Back in July, a City of Ottawa Forestry inspector came at my request and checked out the Siberian elms next to our house. I was particularly concerned about this one because it had a big brown streak on the trunk and the leaves did not seem to be doing well. 

The inspector assured me that both elms looked great to him and were doing fine.

But yesterday, we got an indication that this Siberian elm is not happy. It is definitely more threatening if you ask me.

My new marble shelf

I have a new marble shelf in the window of my studio.

I've been wanting to make a lot of things in the past while and when I opened a box that had lots of old jam jars with marbles in them, I decided it was time to act on this project.

So I cut some old wood scraps to the right size, got out more jars and marbles from my jar and marble hordes, painted things, drilled holes, and stuck everything together.

Now we just have to figure out what will go on top of the new shelf.

 

My new slightly quieter Corsi-Rosenthal box

Here is the TL:DR - I made a new Corsi-Rosenthal box with a disassembled pedestal fan that is 5 decibels quieter than my old Corsi-Rosenthal box made with a box fan.

This summer, I noticed that our pedestal fan was a lot quieter than the box fan mounted onto our Corsi-Rosenthal box. Louder enough to make a difference to a guy like me with a certain amount of hearing loss who wants to hear his visitors when they speak.

It occurred to me to see if I can get a quieter fan for my next box. I knew I'd be making a new box before long because the filters have to be replaced every few months.

So I went on line to find a quiet box fan. I actually found a couple of sites that said certain box fans were quieter than others and ordered one that was supposed to be quiet. But it was not. In fact, it was louder than the box fan I already had.

Next, I thought about disassembling our pedestal fan and using it.

But then I thought a little more and it occurred to me that the other resident here might not be pleased if I disassembled her pedestal fan even for such a good cause.

I did some looking. There were people selling pedestal fans for $10 on Facebook Marketplace, but I did not fancy the idea of driving to somebody's house, asking them to plug in the fan and then maybe driving away empty-handed if the fan didn't work or was louder than I liked.

So then I looked at the Belfast Road ReStore and the Cyrville Road Value Village. The ReStore had a pedestal fan that worked but seemed a bit noisy. Value Village had a $20 pedestal fan that didn't seem too noisy. And guess what. It was Tuesday, Senior Discount Day so 30% off!

I used five 20" x 20" filters for my first two Corsi-Rosenthal boxes. This meant I had to build a frame to raise the bottom filter off the floor. A worthwhile thing to do, but it was finicky.

It occurred to me that having the Corsi-Rosenthal box made from four 20" x 25" filters would give the same surface area of filters as five 20" x 20" filters but no frame would be required. (The old math classes came in handy. Check it out: 4 * 20 * 25 = 5 * 20 * 20!)

So I searched the local hardware stores' websites and Amazon, determined that Canadian Tire surprisingly had the best deal and ordered four 20" x 25" x 1" Merv 13 filters. I don't know why, but Canadian Tire gave me free same-day delivery.

These are the steps I took in making the new Corsi-Rosenthal box:

1. Disassembled the pedestal fan and reassembled it with the rotating mechanism removed and the power cord lengthened between the fan and the control box by about 12" with wire I've had hanging around and Wagu clips to connect the wires. (This is my first time using Wagu clips and I love them. They make joining wires incredibly easy. It might seem like $0.50 per join is a lot compared to a bit of solder and shrink wrap, but the time and effort saved is worth every penny. Plus, I'm not very good at soldering, so there's a high chance that my splices would fail.)
   
2. Cut a sheet of fibreboard I had in the basement into two 21"x 21" squares.
3. Cut a circle that was the size of the round fan grill into the square for the top to make a cowling.
4. Drilled eight little holes around the circle to attach the fan grill, and a bigger hole on the side of the circle for the fan's power cord to come out.
5. Drilled two holes 4" apart in two opposite corners for rope handles.
6. Took two pieces of 12" cord, threaded them through the holes in the corners and tied knots so they'd stay in place to make the rope handles.
   
7. Mounted the fan head in the cowling, attaching it with twisted binder wire and taping it down with duct tape. Making sure that the power cord came out through its hole.
   
8. Duct taped the filters together to form a box, being sure to orient the filters so that the arrows indicating the air flow direction pointed into the box.
9. Duct taped the fibreboard for the base onto the bottom of the box.
10. Placed four fuzzy floor protectors in the corners of the base and one in its middle.
11. Found a little box to put the Wagu connectors and wire that led into the control bar for the fan.
12. Painted the box black, cut holes for power wires and for a piece of cord to hang the control bar from. Put the stuff inside the box, duct taped the box to the cowling, hung the control bar from the box and put the lid on the little box.
    
13. Plugged in the fan and turned it on.
    

After trying the new Corsi-Rosenthal box, I realized that it still made some noise. That's when it occurred to me to download an app to measure how loud it is. I went with one called SPL Sound Meter. It was free and had a good rating.

According to the app, the new Corsi-Rosenthal box is 50 decibels loud at top speed and the old Corsi-Rosenthal box is 55 decibels at top speed.

I'm okay with that. And next time I'm in a Value Village, I'm going to see if they have an even quieter pedestal fan.

Home repair with squid tentacle

Many years ago, way back when I was a solo act, I found it necessary to cut a hole in the wall in the bedroom/office area to access some coaxial cable. I cut a rectangle out of the drywall, accessed the cable and then put the rectangle of drywall back in place with green masking tape.

This wasn't particularly obvious to the other resident who came to live here because I had a dresser, a bunch of empty boxes, a clothes tree, and a sort of nightstand thing in front of this wall. But I've been downsizing a bit and moving things into my new studio space and the taped rectangle became entirely obvious.

It was gently suggested that I replace the taped-up rectangle with an access panel. I had to agree that this was a very good idea, so I got an access panel, removed the taped-up rectangle, and enlarged the hole so the access panel would properly fit.

Alas, in doing so, removal of the tape that had been on the wall for at least 20 years caused a section of paint to also come off, and I put a longer mark on the wall than I had needed.

Some people would probably have addressed these unsightly blemishes with some sort of paint solution. But I do not know much about house paint and am not good at using it.

However, I can draw a squid tentacle with a Rotring Tikky Graphic C.7 and a set of coloured pencils on a piece of fine tooth surface sketch paper and then use an exacto knife to cut out that tentacle so it perfectly covers unsightly blemishes on a wall.

And that is what I did.

If the other resident of your home has an affection for cephalopods, this is a home repair solution that I can recommend.

 

Halloween is over

It's November 2, but before I can make my devilled eggs, the monsters had to come down.

I set the time lapse to go a little faster, so this one will only take you 12 seconds to watch.

Time lapsing the monster mounting

It's late October, so time to put the monsters up on the windows.

To encourage myself, I used my new lifehack of setting up the time lapse camera.

Here I go. You might notice that after I put up a set in a narrow window, I took the monsters down and put them in the other window. This is because I used a picture taken from outside as my reference and got my left and right mixed up. This won't happen again because I've given myself a graphic guide for next year.

And here's the well-drawn, professional reminder I've attached so that in future years I'll know which monsters go on which side of the big window.

 

Improving air quality with our new Corsi-Rosenthal Box

This morning, Ottawa has a "Special Air Quality Statement" that says "High levels of air pollution have developed due to smoke from forest fires" and "Wildfire smoke can be harmful to everyone’s health even at low concentrations."

So I am glad that I made a Corsi-Rosenthal Box with five MERV-13 air filters this week!

In case you're thinking of making one, here are some assorted notes:

• There are a ton of videos out there on how to make a box. I started with How to Build a Corsi-Rosenthal Box featuring Dean Richard Corsi from UC Davis (I mean, his name is on the box).
• Dean Corsi uses 2" filters. They are probably better than the 1" filters I used. But I couldn't find any 2" filters locally.
• I got my filters from Home Depot: Filtrete Healthy Living Maximum Allergen Filter MA02DC-3PK-2, 20 in x 20 in x 1 in, 3/Pack 
• The fan came from Home Hardware: HOME ESSENTIALS 20" Box Fan - with 3 Speeds, White. (An inexpensive fan seems to be fine.) [Edit: 2024-08-03 - I've been thinking that it would be nice to have a quieter box fan, so I went online looking for reviews that identified quieter fans. A couple sites recommended the Lasko fan. So I ordered one. It just arrived. And it is at least as loud as the Home Essentials fan, and has a high-pitched squeal that would probably be more annoying]
  
• The inexpensive basic blue tape I had on hand was easiest to work with, but  I ran out and had to switch to heavy-duty black Gorilla tape. Next time, I'm going to have lots of the cheap blue stuff around.
• Corsi demonstrates a 4-filter version that sits on the floor without extra leg supports. That's what I would have done, but I had a fifth filter and a bunch of scrap wood in the basement to make legs so I went with a 5-filter design.
• On TikTok, I saw a guy from California advocating a version that has a single filter taped to a fan. Apparently, this doesn't help much according to a UC Davis case study: Testing different configurations of do-it-yourself portable air cleaners. 
• There are different views on how long the filters are good for. I figure that if the forest fires die out and I only use the box sporadically when people are over, the filters should be good for about a year before I have to get a whole new set.
• Some people say you don't need cowling to block off the corners of the box fan. But Corsi recommends it, so I went with cowling.
• The little piece of wool that shows the fan is on and shows the direction of air flow is not strictly necessary, but I figure it will do until I can get a miniature version of one of those tube man air dancers they put outside car dealerships.

My new way to display marbles

 When you and your spouse both have enormous hoards of marbles, you are always looking for new ways to display them.

This morning I hit on something that had never occurred to me before: hanging them with a spring. I'm sure others have thought of this before, so I'm not the inventor of the technique, but still I'm inordinately pleased with this.

As an added bonus, my habit of hanging on to bits of junk because they might come in handy some day has been rewarded! I have a nice collection of old springs to go through now.

Other marble display methods:

• Window display 1
• Window display 2
• Dinosaur shelf 1
• Dinosaur shelf 2
• Staircase marbles
• Marble run
• Light shade

Now I am being watched

I might have thought I was safe from being surprised by things looking at me because all the googly eyes are in my pockets.

But on Monday, I noticed the melon was missing his eyes. I wondered where they were gone.

The next morning, when I went to get my coffee, I found out.

This fellow was ready to give me my morning cup of coffee.

Then on Wednesday, this is who greeted me in the bathroom.

More fun with googly eyes - Fruit Friends

Today I was inspired by the gifted Miranda Hart to use the googly eyes to make fruit friends.

Here is a taste of her show that features Fruit Friends:

And it is possible to watch all the episodes on Dailymotion in your browser without paying any extra money. It seems to good to be true, and it may not last long, but it looks like all 20 episodes are currently available at https://www.dailymotion.com/playlist/x6t6c7

An attempt to increase comfort with houseplants

Yesterday, Clo Willaerts at Bnox delivered this clip from a Saturday Night Live episode:

In the evening at TV watching time, where I share a carefully curated selection of programs and clips with the lovely Manon, I played the clip. Manon appeared to enjoy it very much.

This morning, I heard a scream from the living room and then Manon came upstairs and slapped my shoulder. Yes. She literally slapped me.

I had almost forgotten that I had been inspired by Christopher Walken to humanize one of the peace lillies. It never occurred to me that it would frighten someone.

p.s. The fact that I had googly eyes on hand illustrates why it can be good to be a hoarder.

p.p.s. Long time readers may recall that peace lillies are my favourite house plant.

I have the best home office

Don't be jealous, but I have a better home office than you do.

You might have two large screens on your monitor. Maybe they're bigger than mine. Your high-speed internet might be faster than mine. And you might have a window view of mountains or a lake and not a house being built across the street.

But you don't have a raygun rack, three lava lamps, two plasma lamps and a marble run.

Like I do.

And here's a video so you can see things in motion:

Chimney Repair

It has been a while since I have mentioned evidence that I live a charmed life.

This is partly because I've been reading about how social media has a tendency to make people depressed because they see all their "friends" having amazing lives while their own lives are humdrum. 

But this week's adventure is too remarkable not to share.

On Thursday, we had heavy rain. While I was working at my desk, I heard a steady drip, drip noise behind me. I moved around and determined that there was dripping behind the wall that covers the chimney from our fireplace.

We had some water damage repaired there last winter, and I'd meant to get the chimney looked at, but with the whole Covid business and my own laziness, I never did.

Manon noticed that where we'd had the water damage repaired, there was starting to be new staining.

So, Friday, I woke up knowing I would have to deal with it. Go on social media, ask for roofer recommendations, do online searches, read Google reviews, check the Better Business Bureau. But I just didn't get around to starting.

Friday afternoon, I stepped outside to drive to the library and pickup a DVD (Season 8 of Vera - we're really enjoying her.)

A guy on the sidewalk greeted me. "Hi, we're doing some work on your neighbour's roof and our ladder might be going onto your property. Is that okay?" I noticed a roofing company truck parked on the street in front of the neigbour's house.

"Of course," I said. "We're not doing anything there and the neigbour owns most of that driveway, we only have about a two-foot strip."

He thanked me and turned to go back to work.

"Say," I said, "I've got this issue maybe you could have a look at." I pointed out the fireplace chimney and described the drip. He figured it probably just needed some caulking. We discussed which kind to go with, and I went with the longer-lasting choice over the high heat choice because we've stopped using the fireplace anyway.

"No problem," he said. "I've got some of that in the truck. We can go up and do it today or tomorrow."

It turned out they didn't have time on Friday. And I thought that they'd run out of time on Saturday because it had gotten dark, but then as we were having supper we heard a ladder going up in the driveway.

Shortly after there was a knock on the door and the guy showed me pictures on his phone of new caulking. "Should be all set."

It was the easiest home repair project I've had since I bought this place in 1993.  

While I hope you are feeling happy for me, I hope this story has not depressed you about your own life. It is true that something very lucky happened to me. I had to do no work to find the roofer, and I'm pretty sure the price I paid was a lot less than if I'd had him especially drive over here. But I did have water dripping inside the walls of my house. Hopefully, you do not have water dripping inside your house.

If my post is still leading you to feel like your life could be better, may I suggest you try watching Vera. If you have an Ottawa Public Library card, you can watch seasons 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 on Hoopla. Don't despair that Hoopla does not have seasons 3, 8, 9 and 10. You can borrow seasons 3, 8 and 9 on DVD from the library. As for season 10, it recently aired on VisionTV or PBS, perhaps it will again. Or the library will get the DVDs. Don't waste your money on Britbox or Acorn. They haven't got season 10 yet.

Fully charged ray guns

It gives me great peace of mind that if aliens invade, my workstation has these ray guns all ready for use.

Crockery marketing?

The free crockery is still available.

Collectible Crockery at 200 Lebreton

I'm not an expert on this sort of thing, but it looks like all that is needed is a gentle cleaning.

A Solair Mystery

Can you guess where we bought our new Solair Chair?

Farewell to the Urban Inukshuk

Remember my Urban Inukshuk?

He's been inside endangering our dinner guests for almost 6 years.

But now because he was day 4 on my 30-day De-Cluttering Challenge, he is gone. All that is left is this animated gif.

I have to admit that I still have the karaoke machine, the video camera and the Beta-max recorder.

Lightbulb Art - Shade 2

Last weekend, I put together a new lightbulb shade out of burned-out Christmas lights. It is similar to the one I made for the bathroom in 2007, but it has several innovations.

• Instead of filling the bulbs with oil, I filled the bulbs with fruit-flavoured gelatine - cherry, lemon and orange. I want something non-toxic and inexpensive with a high index of refraction. The oils I used last time have these properties, but even after 5 years, the oil still sweats out of them. Also, if a bulbs smashes, I figure a blob of jelly will be less messy than a puddle of oil. But, maybe mold will grow in them. I hope if it does it will be artistic. Either way: Science!
• I used fewer bulbs, but this time, I was more careful about placing them to block the light of the working bulb from people's sight-lines.
• Little jars with coloured marbles - very popular with certain fans of lightbulb art.    

Our Screened-in Porch

One of the things that has distracted me from blogging for the past two months has been all the work being done on the ScrimChateau and Manonsion.

Last week, three projects got finished. The one that has made Manon the happiest is our porch. As you can see it is not just a porch. It is a screened-in porch. And it has been finished in time for her to sip tea, read a depressing novel and enjoy the sunset before winter sets in.

The carpenter who did the work is Kevin Miller. Lots of people, especially other trades workers, who have seen the work have told us they're really impressed. One element of craftmanship you can see in the photo - notice how the wood next to the wall matches the curves in the stucco? I don't know how he even did that.

Do you have a screened-in porch? It's a big deal in certain circles we hang out in.