Barking part of the front yard

[Barberian]

Sorry for the wall of text for a simple story, OCD tendencies in effect. Top paragraph is the meat to the story.

I put the first 4 bags of red, woodchips (often referred to as bark) down 2 bags at a time, 2 days apart. The pain was too much to do any more than just 2 bags per day. Today I did three bags and had the reserve energy and pain tolerance to do another bag or two, but the section was done. Doesn't seem like much, but meh. Today I got it done and I still feel surprisingly good. As good as I did before I started.   With no painkillers or anti-inflammatory meds, before or after.  

Now I wait to stop sweating my arse off. I'm in my truck and it is around 90F inside it. I sit in the airflow of my little window air conditioner, so it is a little bit cooler for me, but not by much. It is a small baby, undersized air conditioner.   I put in just a small one because I had no insulation in the truck when I put it in and was only counting on it cooling me at night. It is still almost 90F outside so I keep the door closed. When it cools down to around 80F, I'll turn off the air conditioner and I'll open the door a bit and turn on my tall cylindrical fan that fits well in the door crack of it being only open about 5"-6". It does a good job at room changes per min (airflow). My truck is just a little 14ft U-Haul so I don't need a big fan. I can't leave the door open during the day because of flys, and at night because of mosquitos (gave Grammarly a workout on that one  ). leaving it open only a few inches seems to keep most of the bugs out. (I REALLY HATE flys and mosquitos, and just hate the rest of the bugs). With around 700 cubic feet minus the things I have in the truck and the flies only want to land only on me!

[foxgrove]

Getting away from the heat seems to be the necessity of the week.  We're relatively roasting up here in Winnipeg right now.  It's not as hot as down south but we got NO chance to acclimate before we got late summer temps bearing down on us.  Good golly Miss Molly but we're sweating up a storm!  Sadly, the A/C in the van is out and we have to clean the condenser coils in the furnace before we can get the A/C in the house working... so, praise God for ceiling fans!!!  Personally, I'm sitting here in my shorts just waiting for the heat to die down before I go outside again.

Barberian, have you ever looking into magnetic mosquito screens?  I imagine they would stick quite well to the opening in your U-haul.
There's a couple of different types that I've seen.  The one I'm thinking of has magnets around the edge as well as a strip of magnets down the center where the "door" is.  Most of the guys that seem to carry these are awning places.  You should check out your nearby guy and see if one could be whipped up for your exact size.

I also dug around in case that doesn't really do the trick and found some other ones.
Here's one that covers most of the door but gives you a screened window: https://www.shadepro.net/product/cargo-add-a-wall/
This was one of the more elaborate pull down ones that I've seen...  https://www.stoett.com/product/sportscreen/

In any case... stay cool, brother.  I'm thinking about you with every drop of sweat.

[Barberian]

Thanks for taking the time to look stuff up for me. I can't afford those nice screens.

Ya, we went from the mid to low 70's to the mid to high 90's in ONE week, It will be over 100 tomorrow (Wed). I'm not complaining because I loved the cool weather while it was here. It was unusually mild much later into the year than normal.  

I have a screen as you mentioned with the magnetic pieces for a few years now. I intended to use it when I bought it but I'm paranoid of tripping on it getting out of the truck. I know I am probably being unreasonable, but that's paranoia for ya. I'm not the most graceful of people and the steps can be a bit tricky at times. The stairs used to be a three step affair, but the whole structure for the bottom step broke off and I've never fixed it. The stairs were poorly designed and crafted. Also, the step rise is a bit taller than most steps. As it is, I've fallen a few times getting out of the truck, but luckily didn't hurt myself too badly, except my pride. I usually turn around and back down as I go down the steps so I don't plant my face on the concrete outside the truck. My legs are not as strong as they used to be. If I'm coming down going forwards off balance, I'm in danger.

Even if I rebuilt the stairs into having a landing and proper steps, I'd still be too paranoid to have a potential trip hazard of a screen to worry about. As it is I'm trying to keep the steps small and not very noticeable. I can't put handrails on the stairs because of the door swing. I don't want people to suspect I spend much time in the truck. That is kind of hard in warm to hot weather because I run my small air conditioner. You need to be in the driveway to hear it though.

I need to tighten some screws on the stairs, and redrill/re-screw a few others. It is starting to concern me about how rickety it is getting. Hopefully, I get off my arse and do it before it collapses under me. We'll see.  

[foxgrove]

I totally get the paranoia about tripping... and about being too visible.  I have a number of friends living in non-typical housing situations.  Sadly, many of them continue to get moved on from their spots almost on a daily basis.  I'm so glad that things have worked out for you so far living in the driveway.  I think you've done a darned fine job of making your life liveable.  Serious kudos, brother.  I never would have figured out how to get the A/C plumbed in.  Hoping that your weather isn't too unbearable.

[Barberian]

 

I can't sleep until between 3 am to 6 am. This puts me sleeping late into the afternoon. My AC is on a smart switch that turns it on at 10:00 am. The Mrs. forgot that the same electrical circuit near all the sinks and one in the garage I'm plugged into are connected on a GFI circuit (ground fault interrupt - instant trip if say an appliance is dropped in the water) If she turns on a cooking appliance on that circuit and my AC is on, it trips the circuit. It got over 100 outside today and she tripped the circuit twice today leaving me in well over 100F truck. I forgot to look at the inside temp but it was HOT.. My little AC can keep the truck from getting too much hotter than the outside temp. SO if it is around 100f outside, it is 100f'ish inside. With a metal roof I feel that the AC is doing its job. I sit/lay in the air path of the AC so for me it is a little cooler than the rest of the truck. I'm just not sure how much.

She said she was leaving early today so I figured she started cooking before she left and that caused the circuit to trip. I reset it and went back to sleep sweating my arse off badly. I don't know how long and once again the circuit is tripped and it is MUCH hotter in the truck this time. I stumble out of the truck and reset the circuit then go into the house. The Mrs never left and was trying to cook. She forgot about the circuit and my AC. I felt this could have been life threatening due to heat stroke. I was very upset but was able to talk to the Mrs. in a controlled voice. She was very defensive about it which didn't make it any easier for me to play "nice" with her. I'm not sure if I will try a second time to talk to her. This has been going on since I started staying in the truck and she should be familiar with it enough to not do it. She does ask me sometimes in the evening if she can cook (if my AC can be turned off, at least long enough for her to cook)

[tojo]

Barberian,

Have you ever thought about getting someone to put Snow Cap for house trailers on the roof of your truck? It's white so it should help with the heat. It is also great at stopping and preventing leaks. Very easy to install, it is just mopped on, so it shouldn't cost much to have it done.

[Barberian]

Barberian,

Have you ever thought about getting someone to put Snow Cap for house trailers on the roof of your truck? It's white so it should help with the heat. It is also great at stopping and preventing leaks. Very easy to install

I'll look into that, I've been trying to figure something out that won't blow off. thanx

[foxgrove]

Snow Cap???  Is that an applied coating like plastic or something that is sprayed on??  Sounds very cool!

[Robby]

Snow Cap???  Is that an applied coating like plastic or something that is sprayed on??  Sounds very cool!

Maybe tojo can correct me if I'm wrong but from how he described it, it's what we around here call Cool Seal. It's similar to a tar like substance, it comes in a 5 gal (18.92 ltr) bucket, you climb up on top of the structure, open the bucket take a mop dip in the bucket and start mopping on to the ceiling of the structure. We always applied to mobile homes, the guy I worked for had a bunch of rental properties and he would have me and another guy come in on the weekends and redo the roofs of those mobile homes. This stuff was supposed to add insulation, and seal up leaks, and block the sun preventing heat from coming in. But that's what it sounds like to me.

[foxgrove]

White tar... way cool!!  Yeah, I know it's not tar but still... kinda cool.  Hope you're able to do something like that for the trailer.

Good idea Tojo!! 

[wmoore]

Years ago I put white cap on my then trailer roof. It went on with a roller, a little thicker than paint.

[Barberian]

I need to tighten some screws on the stairs, and redrill/re-screw a few others. It is starting to concern me about how rickety it is getting. Hopefully, I get off my arse and do it before it collapses under me. We'll see.  

Well. it finally happened. The center step Broke loose, Luckily I wasn't on it at the time I was just getting ready to step on it when it broke loose. It is a bit of a challenge getting in and out of the truck now.

Sorry if this reads poorly My brain fog is really bad right now and my vision is blurry, and I'm using the dictation

[Robby]

At least you weren't on it at the time. Let that brain fog clear up, and then you can repair it.

[ronr]

At least you weren't on it at the time. Let that brain fog clear up, and then you can repair it.

[foxgrove]

Wow!!  Thank God you weren't on it when it went. 

[denny]

Did you lay down landscape fabric for that bark.
I put some down yrs ago;its amazing how fast they work there way into the ground. You wouldnt know i ever had any.

[foxgrove]

Our front yard is a playground with river stones for ground cover.  Of course, it's been 20 years since we did it but in the last few years, plants are starting to take over the ground again.  Even the best fabric covering will only last so many years.

[denny]

Or you could do like i did and cement them in...  im so glad its over.i can hardly believe we did it.