Knotholes

I noticed the other week that there were two knotholes in the dogwood tree in front of the house. I stuck my finger in one and notices what seemed to be loose dirt in the cavity...or was it ground up tree from some insect that had been eating on it? Termites maybe? I decided to look on the internet for a solution. I came across a YouTube video where an arborist was saying that you could fill the hole with urethane expanding foam, the kind to fill cracks around your house. I bought a can to try it out. First, I cleaned out the hole as best I could. That's when I noticed some little white worms in there. I scooped them all out. I think perhaps they were the culprits making the holes bigger. Then I squeezed in some of the foam from the aerosol can. It expands quite a lot and causes a large bulge. Here's how the holes looked a few minutes later.









Kinda kooky, huh? I let the foam cure and set like that overnight. Then the next day I took a handsaw and cut off the big blob evenly across the surface.





Then I took some old brown paint I had in the basement and painted over the top of the foam and blended the edges with the surrounding bark.



It's been a week and it seems to be holding up. I think it looks okay...and it's certainly better than having insects eat away at the trunk from the inside. I think it will help.

Shoo Goo

I love saving money. It comes in handy for those of us who are unemployed. So when I find a new way to pinch pennies, nothing makes me happier.
Not one but two pairs of my sneakers, my Converse lo-tops and my running Nikes, were falling apart. This was making me pretty angry because they both looked like they had lots of life in them. The soles on all four sneaker were getting detached from the tops. I couldn't wear the Converses when it rains because my socks would get wet! And the other day when I took my FitBit walk around the village my Nikes were practically flapping in the wind. Not good.
I went to the hardware store to see if I could find some sort of epoxy that would work on rubber. Lo and behold I found a product called "Shoe Goo", made exactly for this purpose. It's an extremely strong clear glue that adheres very strongly.



When I applied it liberally to the soles of the Nikes I thought it would be a good idea to clamp them shut with some carpenter clamps and duct tape to hold them together as the Shoe Goo dried.




That worked out well. There was a little bump inside the toe on each foot from where the clamp was holding. You can feel it a little bit when you walk. At first I thought it would be very annoying or give me a blister, but it's fine. I can live with it. It's better than spending another $50 or $60 on a new pair.
The Converses are perfect. You'd never know how bad they were. I highly recommend this product and will definitely use it again in the future...and it was only about 4 bucks! Can't beat that!

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Seen in the village

One of the prettiest streets in the village is Glover Street. There are many restored houses on this block. This is a picture of one of the nicer ones that I spotted on Instagram. Very beautiful. And the car isn't too shabby either!

Turn buttons & mending braces

The finishing touches were done on the house painting project last week.
I hated the white plastic butterfly shaped "turn buttons" on the bay window screens, so I found some black wrought iron ones not he internet. I installed them myself, it was fairly easy. I think they blend in much better with the dark blue paint color. Here are a couple of pics:





The broken dining room window that happened during the job was replaced and painted. You'd never know it had been damaged.



Lastly, the old hinges from the discarded screen doors that covered my bedroom French doors were removed and the resulting gaps were filled with wood bond and painted. Much cleaner.



When my contractor, Ken, stopped by to get his final payment he pointed out to me that the screen door to the front porch was broken. The wood pieces across the bottom were loosening and getting detached from one another. Great. Another problem. He mentioned that those kind of cedar doors cost $900! REALLY? Not gonna happen. I decided that I'd fix it myself. I bought some metal "mending braces", those little pieces of metal that come with holes and screws to hold things together. I've used these before with great success on furniture. First, I took down the door and wood glued the bottom pieces together. I held them together with some long clasps that I've had forever. They come in handy for any number of handyman projects.



Here's a closeup of the braces themselves. I drilled some small guide holes first with a power drill, and then attached four screws per brace.



Here's the bottom of the door in place. It's not the most elegant of solutions but the $4 the braces cost sure beat $900, thank you very much!!