Outdoor / Deck / Garden Sink Needed

I've been looking on and off the past year or so for the perfect sink to put on my deck. And I haven't found it so I'm hoping someone has seen it and can let me know where to look. I had hot & cold water plumbed outside, I want to have both in my deck sink. Though I'll have to use it only in the summer.

Anyway, I've been looking at lots of these garden sinks.

And I like them. Either style would work. They both close up when not in use, and will be easy to clean. I don't really want or need the hose reel, but I could live with it. The real problem is they are made to be hooked up to a garden hose, so they are either hot or cold, but no mixing. Bummer.

So then on e-bay (which I love) I found this sink built into a wooden frame. It could work. I really like the fact that the 2 side's fold up to cover the sink when it's not in use. But it's wood & metal, not heavy plastic like the first 2. And I don't really want the decorative splash guard.

I may end up finding someone to build me a sink. If that's the way I end up going, then something like the 2 above will probably be it. I can just go to Home Depot and buy an acrylic sink and a faucet to install in it.

Hmm, should I consider some sort of splash guard to protect my siding?

If you run across something I should look at, let me know. I want to get the sink in place sometime this summer.

Retirement Sendoff...

One of the Otter Pilots is retiring today. So the DOT guys arranged a little send off for his last official flight. Though I didn't get a very good picture. The jet was in the way.

HRV System

Patty sent me a few pics she took yesterday. Looks like the ducting for the Heat Recovery Ventilation system is in.

Redoubt 7

Redoubt was really pouring out a huge steam plume yesterday, but this morning it's very quiet. I had to post this photo I took off the AVO website. It's taken from their webcam. You may need to copy this to your desktop and view it at 200%. But you can see the new lava dome with ash rising from it, and falling down the front of it. And below you can see a waterfall created when the hot ash melts the snow & ice around the dome.

Interior Walls Framed

The concrete is all covered with Tyvek. It will allow moisture to evaporate out of the floor, and still protect it a it. So the guys are inside, hard at work. The interior walls are framed up and the plumbing is about done. Next week the electricians will be in to do some work. But next week is also Russian Easter, so sheet rock crew won't be available. But with a little luck, they'll be able to start on the 27th. So when I get home around May 3rd, the sheet rock should all be up. That's pretty exciting!

Here are a few pics from this morning.

The shower pan is in the guest bathroom and the walls are framed.

Tim is smiling, and finishing the plumbing for the wash machine :-)

Here the guys are putting up Tyvek and then painted plywood to cover the insulation under the canteleavered living room and bedroom floor.

Concrete Part 2

The guys were back at my house today. They got the 2nd half of the floor poured. I got to watch part of it, it's going to be a great floor when we get it all done.

Step one is the pour the concrete, 1 wheel barrow at a time. That's a lot of work. This concrete has a dark gray dye in it. It will get a bit lighter as it cures, but should be a 'smoke gray' when it's all said & done.

Then, after it's set up for a couple of hours, the guys are sprinkling some aluminum filings and black glass chips on it, then trowling them in. Once the floor cures for a month, we'll polish the surface which should expose the aluminum & glass to give the floor a bit of sparkle.

Concrete Part 1

I got back to Homer yesterday, and went up to my building site. The guys got the first half of the concrete poured on Friday. I thought they were going to finish today, but Rob had to go to Anchorage. So hopefully he'll be back in a day or 2 and they can get finished.

I wiped down all the windows & doors, the water evaporating from the concrete had condensed on them, they were soaked. I opened all the south facing windows this morning, since it's nice & sunny. Hopefully the house dried out a bit, I'm going to go close all the windows in a few min.

Redoubt 6

I spent Saturday in Soldotna with mom & dad. Had to stop and watch Redoubt steam for a while on Sunday, when I was driving home. My little camera doesn't have much of a zoom, but I got a couple of decent pics.

When I got down by Anchor Point, there was a lot more ash. Driving through it wasn't good. My throat still feels raw from it. I'm sure my car wasn't very happy with it either. Though once I got out closer to home, the amount of ash really dropped off. There is very little this far out.

Redoubt 5

OK, I promise to get off my volcano binge, eventually :-). With some luck the concrete guys will pour my floor next week, and then I'll be back posting house pictures.

But, today I pulled a couple more off the AVO web site. Thse were taken by Bretwood Higman last night and early this morning. Lightning in the ash clouds...it's really beautiful.

Redoubt 4

More cool photos taken from the AVO Web site. I really like this first one. These were all takend on Thur, 3/26/09.

MTSAT National Weather Service

Geographic Info Network of AK.

Anchor Point, Dennis Anderson

Redoubt 3 - AVO

The weather at home is clearing up a bit, so the AVO (Alaska Volcano Observatory) Web Cam is capturing photos of Redoubt. It had quite the eruption this morning at 9:24 am. The ash cloud went to 65,000 feet. Shut down our planes for a few hours, but we only had to cancel 1 flight, though several others were delayed.

I've been watching the web cam, it updates every 3 to 15 min. Here are a series of shots, sort of a time lapse effect.

1:39 PM

1:54 PM

2:23 PM

2:38 PM

2:50 PM

2:53 PM

3:10 PM

3:13 PM

3:25 PM

Redoubt 2

It continues to be cloudy and stormy at home, so we can't get pictures of Redoubt erupting. I'm sure the eruptions are spectacular.
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/images/recent_images.php

But the folks at AVO did a fly around yesterday. Their pictures are on their web site. Here are a couple that I down loaded, but the have lots more.

In Floor Radiant Heat

These pictures were taken on 3/11/09. I'm just getting a chance to get them loaded. The tubing is being put in for my in floor heat. Patty should have some shots for me once the mesh is laid over the top of them.

With a little luck, the concrete will go over them by the end of this week.

Redoubt

Well, Redoubt Volcano finally erupted late last night. We've been on volcano watch for a couple of months. The ash cloud is drifting north and has bypassed Anchorage so far. But we can't fly through it to get up here, so today's flights are on indefinite delay. Oh Joy! :-)

Anyway, it's cloudy and maybe snowing at home, so the web cams for the volcano aren't showing anything. Just low clouds. But I did find this photo, it was taken on 4th of July, 2003. That's Redoubt in the background, just behind Valda.

Vermont

Last week I went to Burlington Vermont. My friend Debbie was having a birthday party, so I decided to go visit for a few days. Really had a great time, just did a bit of sighting, saw a couple of hocky games and enjoyed some great food and even better company.

Guest's arriving...

Deb has a wonderful house, on Lake Champlain. Here are a few pictures from her deck. What a wonderful view!