(no subject)

The air conditioning was fixed yesterday morning, just in time. It was a cooler than usual night and we weren't so uncomfortable that we couldn't get through our usual evening and morning.

Yesterday after work i went out, clumsily hacked into tree and shrub trunks, and applied high concentrations of glyphosate to the wounds. I'd done some tests with autumn olive a few weeks ago, and it seems promising. I was delighted to find that the goats had girdled the mimosa and that it was quite dead. They'd done some trunk damage to the trees of heaven, but not enough. I do worry that there will be mimosa suckers for ages -- although maybe if we get the copper phosphate in the septic field that will be addressed.

In repairing the HVAC, Ken (the HVAC guy) noticed some other issues. He gave his advice, but i'm going to run it by my dad before acting on it. I also posted my thoughts to the county BBS. The county BBS certainly seems to have plenty of folks ready to dismiss liberals as the evil that is ruining the country. Then there's the right wing rumor machine at work: yesterday some one was pushing the theory that H Clinton is having transient small strokes. Nonetheless, i'm finding it fairly easy to filter the political noise from the neighborly signal. And for local politics, such as the preemptive zoning of the whole county, it is useful to read everyone's concerns.

So, before we bought our place in April, we had the sellers install a new condensation barrier in the crawlspace. Yesterday morning we had our HVAC friend out (heat pump had stopped due to a poor design of its condensation drain - again), and he noted that there was now condensation pooling on top of the barrier. He said he'd seen a lot of this recently, and the answer was sealing up the crawlspace instead of venting.

It seems to me that sealing up would be an amplifying choice: as long as it's dry, great, but if any moisture did get in, it would be harder to dry out. I suppose one could run a dehumidifier in the crawl space, but i'm not thrilled with yet another system to keep going.

Finding a way for pooled water to drain down through the moisture barrier seems like it would solve the current issue and still not allow much moisture to rise. Or maybe more effective venting? Some fan system? (Although that's another active system to maintain.)

I do like the hickory flooring, and i really hate mold.

(no subject)

Great answer about the sealed crawlspaces

http://www.bestofbuildingscience.com/pdf/Closed%20crawlspaces%20do%20double%20duty%20HEM_SP05_p32-36.pdf

Of course, buried in there is the bad new$. The prices are ten years old. Maybe they're about the same -- real cost going down because it's more common countered by inflation?

Might do fans this year, if it's ever dry again.

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In other news, my California dentist & her assistant would check me in, take xrays, inspect, and clean my teeth in 30 minutes. The new dentist plus assistant plus hygienist plus receptionist plus bill person took an hour an a half. No x-rays, but my gums were probed.

The dentist was impressed with the state of my mouth, which was a pleasant confirmation that the California dentist was really doing a good job. (The California dentist never probed my gums, so i always had a back of mind worry that my gums were in trouble.) Whitener advice was proffered by the new dentist, but gracefully dropped when i indicated i was OK with my (yellow) teeth.

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The number of law firms that watched the local traffic ticket docket and offered their services by mail has now reached 5. I guess getting a lawyer is the sensible thing to do, but it feels like i'm gaming against justice when the lawyer is just "getting me off" and not talking to me about the details.