Vehicular Paperwork

We continue on NewOldHouse, of course, but there is little interesting to talk about. We have been preparing the interior for paint, and the exterior for the inevitable arrival of autumn rains. I'll describe some of these efforts, but today I renewed the license plates for Hapy, and I thought that might be more interesting. Yeah, like the difference between watching paint dry and watching grass grow....

Prepare for Paint

As with anything paint-related, it is all in the prep work. We started with laying paper on the refinished wood floors and then checking for nails, screws, picture mounts and holes in the walls. Before we got after repairing the holes, the walls and ceilings were washed and rinsed. Then, we solved the holes with spackle. Next, we masked the windows and caulked seams. After removing the light fixtures, I masked those, and the exposed electrical outlets and switches. This took all of 30 seconds to type, but it has taken many days. On the right, here, is the only picture I've taken inside in a while. This is not a terribly informative picture, but is what is.

Prepare for Rain

The seasonal rains are arguably late this year. I usually reference Columbus / Indigenous Peoples' Day as the normal start of rainy season in Northwestern Oregon. Today, it is still sunny and dry. This will not last and we have some things to solve quickly.

First, NewOldHouse has 4 foundation vents which are below grade (meaning the garden dirt is above the bottom of the vent). Recall we had the crawlspace cleared of debris and the vapor barrier replaced. These below-grade vents will allow water to drain into the crawlspace, upsetting that clean and dry space. To remedy, I started by digging out around the vents down a few inches below the concrete lip. I will add a sheet of clear Lexan to the outside to cover the bottom half of the vent opening and seal it with clear caulk. Unfortunately, some of the existing grates are not small enough to prevent mice from getting through... though they fortunately aren't. So, enter Orkin to chase the buggers and replace the grates. Fortunately, they solved all of the other possible access points when they diagnosed the problem; they just ran out of tight-mesh grate stuff. So, once Orkin solves for those grates, I will apply the Lexan to keep any water potential away.

Other than keeping rain out of the house, I needed to set up the carports so Zed stays dry. Recall, Zed still does not have glass installed, so weather can get right in. The car ports are easy to dis-assemble and reassemble, so moving them and getting them set up was not hard. I have discovered, though, that the plastic sheeting is not hardy enough to withstand year-over-year sun and rain battering. They are starting to split, so I will need to replace them more-than-likely before this winter reaches it's end. Still, for now, they are up and the one closest to the NewOldHouse is ready for Zed. Since Zed is not yet a driver, I may be towing him over with the lawn tractor Boo bought from the prior owner. I expect a full comedy of errors that will result in a future post. This picture on the right shows a few things. First, that post is from the carport and that boot is Boo crawling under the house through one of the foundation grates. This one is pretty much at ground level, so I may create a little berm at it's leading edge to keep water from trickling in. That grate is the only entry to the crawlspace.

Vehicle Registration

Now, for what I intended to write about: renewing the registration for Hapy. As has been well documented, I have a few cars. Only one of them is from before 1974 when motor vehicle emission testing became a thing. So, Hapy doesn't need a smog test, but like everyone else, we need to renew his plate stickers every other year. This year is that year. So, I went to OregonDMV.com to renew him and noted that my fee is based on his projected mpg, based on model year, etc. Apparently, the 1972 VW camperbus was expected to get 19mpg or lower. My fee was then driven off of that fact. truth-be-told, I was not getting 19mpg before I started the engine swap, so their assignment was fairly accurate. Curious to see if my fee would be measurably better if my mpg was better, I went looking for their schedule. It turned out that the better your mileage, the more you pay. I suppose this is to offset the loss in tax they get from you when you buy fuel. That just proves that the man will get you coming or going; either way they are gonna get theirs. I had thought about doing the paperwork to tell the state that Hapy was running 30+ mpg on diesel, but I have to pay a fee for that too. And then, I would be paying and extra $30 to register him every 2 years from then on. Clearly, there is a counter-incentive to be transparent.

Another thing worth noting is how low the fee is for car rental companies. They can register almost 2 cars to our one. That hardly seems fair. We individuals need transportation sometimes, for life conditions outside our control. Car rental companies are buying and renting out cars as a business, and the person renting the car is paying the fuel taxes when s/he fills up. I suppose the rental car companies get the sweetheart deal because they can influence our representation in Salem better than we individuals can. Anyway, enough soapbox, it just seems like we are underwriting the rental car companies in the form of a corporate handout. Must be nice.

I meant to publish this last week, and time got away from me. We had a bunch of adventures over this past weekend. I will write them up for sharing in the next few days. thanks, as always, for following along-