Well ...
I seem to be the only person ever posting anything on the blog anymore. Has everyone lost interest or is everyone too busy to jot a few lines every now and then?
I've been up in our Ossipee, New Hampshire plant this week, spearheading their efforts to get the manufacturing floor relabeled prior to their taking Inventory over the weekend of 4/1-4/2.
Even though we don't make refrigerators there, the best way to think about the volume of this is to think about the number of parts in a refrigerator. Then, think about making 300 different models of refrigerators. Over the past two days, I worked with plant personnel and we generated over 3,500 individual part bin labels that they have hired temps to take out to the floor, find the inventory location, and relabel each of the 3,500 part bins for those items.
We only have about 4,066 to go, if we label each item in each inventory location. I think we will probably limit the efforts to only raw materials, and not deal with work in process (finished product in some stage of being assembled).
In Some Non-Work Thoughts ...
It was encouraging to see some grass in front of the house when I pulled in last night. Then, when I opened the mailbox, it was also encouraging to see an add for Scotts Turfbuilder for a local nursery, the new issue of Sports Illustrated featuring the Major League Baseball Spring Preview (they have the Cards making the playoffs, but not making the Series). These few tiny things made me feel as if winter just might be over, even if we still have 5 or 6 inches of snow on the majority of the yard.
I'm tired of the snow, and I am ready to get outside. I guess the second order of business today might be chopping through the 3-foot-high plow mound our "snowplowing neighbor" leaves at the end of the driveway, that covers the end of the walkway between the drive and the stairs at the end of the deck.
The first order of business is to fill this,
which because of the squirrel family we have, who leave a lot of this on the ground,
seem to prove that grey squirrels are the most sloppy and/or discriminate eaters ever. I find it interesting, however, that bird seed seems to melt snow extremely well.
I am also going to have to clear that path for another important reason:
We are going to have to replace our water heater. Ugh. A couple of weeks ago, while I was outside (doing what else ... chopping ice/snow from our front walkway), Janice was doing some laundry and other chores, and she had to go downstairs to the unfinished part of the basement. There, coming from a point toward the front of the water heater, was a small puddle of water.
I called "Jim T's Plumbing and Heating" who had a large label stuck prominently on the front of the water heater, and arranged an appointment for him to inspect it. "Jim T's" diagnosis: "Looks like we have a leaker." My immediate thought: "Well, no s---, Sherlock!"
I chatted with him a bit, and he took down the serial number to check if it was still under warranty with the manufacturer. Apparently, he has installed the vast majority of water heaters here on this "end of the hill".
He called back later, and of course ... the warranty expired over a year ago.
I've looked around on both the web, and at both Home Depot and Lowe's. "Jim T" seems to be offering a pretty fair price. I am waiting on him to call back to let me know if there are any "On-Demand" water heaters that might work for us. I'm thinking "no", but it would be nice if there were.
Since It Is Such A Nice Morning ...
Looking ahead to Spring and Summer, however ... (which I would prefer to do) ... I see two good projects coming up.
Project 1 - Continuing Reroute of Drainage Into Lower Back Yard
This is to prevent this 20 foot by 20 foot area from becoming another mosquito haven without the use of napalm and/or a coat of burning diesel fuel:
I was happy to get this shot this morning, to prove my original thoughts on where the "low-water mark" would be for drainage. This is exactly where I thought it was, after we moved in. Unfortunately for the tree in the picture at the back of the point where the pond starts to drain to the left ... there may have to be a rather large tree root chopped through. Oh well ... the resulting dead tree would fall onto the neighbor's yard, anyway. :-)
This project scope also includes a re-routing of drainage to alleviate water accumulating in the corner of the yard closest to us, in that picture. That corner gets drainage that needs to be re-routed to dry up that area of lawn.
Project 2 - Create Seating and Fire Pit Area (And A Lot More Fun)
In the picture below, I see a nice little spot in the back corner of our property for some seating and a safe and ecologically friendly (eg: burning trimmed branches) firepit.
I am going to build a pressure-treated bridge across the 6 to 8-foot width of the gulley to the back edge of our property. I want the bridge to cross to an area slightly left of the little evergreen, beyond the little brush pile and over the rock-lined gulley. where I will clear the low vegetation, put down some rough stone, a bench, and the firepit.
If you go back to this area, here is the bit of nature that is your reward. Looking to the left of where I want to put this in, towards the neighbors' back yard drainage, this is what the gulley looks like.
Then, looking to the right, here is the view:
Below is the actual area I intend to clear for the seating area and firepit. In the foreground there are a lot of little sprigs and seedlings. Where you see these sprigs and seedlings ... this is the area that I have designated.
I think it will be a pretty nice little sitting area for the spring, summer and fall, especially after a rain. Believe it or not, once the foliage starts coming out, this is merely a green wooded oasis with a lot of privacy.
Of course, the area I have picked will probably be the only location on our property that is a natural morel patch. LOL
"After" pictures will be available once I can chisel through our globally-warmed glacial ice. With any luck, I can call Al Gore and get some recommendations on how to do this in a more ecologically friendly way than his Tennessee home that requires over $3,000 per month for energy. :-)
I've been up in our Ossipee, New Hampshire plant this week, spearheading their efforts to get the manufacturing floor relabeled prior to their taking Inventory over the weekend of 4/1-4/2.
Even though we don't make refrigerators there, the best way to think about the volume of this is to think about the number of parts in a refrigerator. Then, think about making 300 different models of refrigerators. Over the past two days, I worked with plant personnel and we generated over 3,500 individual part bin labels that they have hired temps to take out to the floor, find the inventory location, and relabel each of the 3,500 part bins for those items.
We only have about 4,066 to go, if we label each item in each inventory location. I think we will probably limit the efforts to only raw materials, and not deal with work in process (finished product in some stage of being assembled).
In Some Non-Work Thoughts ...
It was encouraging to see some grass in front of the house when I pulled in last night. Then, when I opened the mailbox, it was also encouraging to see an add for Scotts Turfbuilder for a local nursery, the new issue of Sports Illustrated featuring the Major League Baseball Spring Preview (they have the Cards making the playoffs, but not making the Series). These few tiny things made me feel as if winter just might be over, even if we still have 5 or 6 inches of snow on the majority of the yard.
I'm tired of the snow, and I am ready to get outside. I guess the second order of business today might be chopping through the 3-foot-high plow mound our "snowplowing neighbor" leaves at the end of the driveway, that covers the end of the walkway between the drive and the stairs at the end of the deck.
The first order of business is to fill this,
which because of the squirrel family we have, who leave a lot of this on the ground,
seem to prove that grey squirrels are the most sloppy and/or discriminate eaters ever. I find it interesting, however, that bird seed seems to melt snow extremely well.I am also going to have to clear that path for another important reason:
We are going to have to replace our water heater. Ugh. A couple of weeks ago, while I was outside (doing what else ... chopping ice/snow from our front walkway), Janice was doing some laundry and other chores, and she had to go downstairs to the unfinished part of the basement. There, coming from a point toward the front of the water heater, was a small puddle of water.
I called "Jim T's Plumbing and Heating" who had a large label stuck prominently on the front of the water heater, and arranged an appointment for him to inspect it. "Jim T's" diagnosis: "Looks like we have a leaker." My immediate thought: "Well, no s---, Sherlock!"
I chatted with him a bit, and he took down the serial number to check if it was still under warranty with the manufacturer. Apparently, he has installed the vast majority of water heaters here on this "end of the hill".
He called back later, and of course ... the warranty expired over a year ago.
I've looked around on both the web, and at both Home Depot and Lowe's. "Jim T" seems to be offering a pretty fair price. I am waiting on him to call back to let me know if there are any "On-Demand" water heaters that might work for us. I'm thinking "no", but it would be nice if there were.
Since It Is Such A Nice Morning ...
Looking ahead to Spring and Summer, however ... (which I would prefer to do) ... I see two good projects coming up.
Project 1 - Continuing Reroute of Drainage Into Lower Back Yard
This is to prevent this 20 foot by 20 foot area from becoming another mosquito haven without the use of napalm and/or a coat of burning diesel fuel:
I was happy to get this shot this morning, to prove my original thoughts on where the "low-water mark" would be for drainage. This is exactly where I thought it was, after we moved in. Unfortunately for the tree in the picture at the back of the point where the pond starts to drain to the left ... there may have to be a rather large tree root chopped through. Oh well ... the resulting dead tree would fall onto the neighbor's yard, anyway. :-)This project scope also includes a re-routing of drainage to alleviate water accumulating in the corner of the yard closest to us, in that picture. That corner gets drainage that needs to be re-routed to dry up that area of lawn.
Project 2 - Create Seating and Fire Pit Area (And A Lot More Fun)
In the picture below, I see a nice little spot in the back corner of our property for some seating and a safe and ecologically friendly (eg: burning trimmed branches) firepit.
I am going to build a pressure-treated bridge across the 6 to 8-foot width of the gulley to the back edge of our property. I want the bridge to cross to an area slightly left of the little evergreen, beyond the little brush pile and over the rock-lined gulley. where I will clear the low vegetation, put down some rough stone, a bench, and the firepit.
If you go back to this area, here is the bit of nature that is your reward. Looking to the left of where I want to put this in, towards the neighbors' back yard drainage, this is what the gulley looks like.
Then, looking to the right, here is the view:
Below is the actual area I intend to clear for the seating area and firepit. In the foreground there are a lot of little sprigs and seedlings. Where you see these sprigs and seedlings ... this is the area that I have designated.
I think it will be a pretty nice little sitting area for the spring, summer and fall, especially after a rain. Believe it or not, once the foliage starts coming out, this is merely a green wooded oasis with a lot of privacy.Of course, the area I have picked will probably be the only location on our property that is a natural morel patch. LOL
"After" pictures will be available once I can chisel through our globally-warmed glacial ice. With any luck, I can call Al Gore and get some recommendations on how to do this in a more ecologically friendly way than his Tennessee home that requires over $3,000 per month for energy. :-)
posted by Lee at
3/24/2007 06:50:00 AM
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