In Search of the Leak's Source

Once the leak above the wetbar in the kitchen manifested itself, it was left to my general contractor Pete LaRoque to see if he could figure out where it's coming from. He also needed to get the leak captured so that we would minimize the possibility of damage from it, at least so far as the wetbar area is concerned.

By cutting a hole in the ceiling where the leak was showing itself, and checking from above in the Van Gogh bathroom, Pete was pretty confident we do not have a leaking toilet or supply line to that commode. Best he can see, the water is coming from the direction of the outside of the house, across the subflooring, and down the plumbing cut in the OSB to the drywall of the ceiling below, where the wetbar is. A bucket is catching the drip for now.

Meal No. 132: Beef Tenderloin

I really loved having the guys who lived together in UNC's Avery House, back in 1986-1987, at the house this weekend. It was a blast, and I think all of us enjoyed ourselves and enjoyed each other. After yesterday's brunch meal and some time sitting around visiting, the crew took a stroll up Fourth Street and checked out some of downtown Winston-Salem, which is not the place most of them would have remembered from when we were younger.

Last night, as kind of a grand finale of the reunion weeked, the dinner was a roasted beef tenderloin with spicy horseradish sauce, stuffed baked potatoes, French-cut green beans, and homemade bread. By late afternoon, it was time to get going with prepping the meal, and Jimmy Randolph snagged some shots of me tackling the stuffed baked potatoes:





If it's not gauche for the cook to remark on it, I must say that it all turned out pretty darned good:







Dessert was some homemade frozen lemon custard ice cream, made using the recipe from Donna Whitley-Smith's mother. Here is a shot over Galen Black's shoulder:

Meal No. 131: Brunch for the Boys

A special Saturday morning at the Roediger House, and as part of the Avery House suite reunion, I wanted to whip up what I just call the "brunch meal." I didn't quite go all out, but it did include freshly-cooked bacon, a fancy pot of souped-up scrambled eggs, a Bundt coffee cake, fresh fruit (helpfully cut up by Ronnie Hall), and some creamy cheese grits.



Just as we sat down for the meal, Galen Black [R] arrived, and he is shown here along with Mike Sports [L].



The guys seemed to enjoy it. And I enjoyed the fact that, for the first time in a long time, the coffee cake actually dislodged cleanly from the pan and didn't come all to pieces. This might improve my reputation for my kitchen labors.



After the morning feast, there was time to just sit around and hang out, visiting and looking at photo albums and digesting the morning's repast.

Avery House Suite 208-211 Reunion

What an awesome, awesome start to the weekend.

In spite of a leak above the kitchen wetbar and the problem-plagued upstairs air conditioning, this evening was a coming together of a great group of guys that all lived together in an Avery House suite at the University of North Carolina. Michael Sports was first to arrive and came with many bottles of wine in tow. Ronnie Hall and Arnold Miller soon followed, and Jimmy Randolph was not far behind. Galen Black is due tomorrow morning.

To keep it simple, with all the different arrival times, I just whipped up a pot of Vierling Saloon's Chicken and Wild Rice Soup (Meal No. 130 in the new kitchen, mind you) and we had ourselves a late but light evening meal.

Some of us had not seen one another in as many as 15 years (probably for whoever got married last). The evening was light-hearted, full of laughter and memories, and we all fell into an easy resumption of our friendships from long ago. For most of us, it was probably the most we'd laughed in quite a long time. I'm really glad we decided to do this.

Pete LaRoque was here again mid-afternoon to work on the leak above the wetbar, and I also managed to get a serviceman from Reedy's down the road on Brookstown to come work on the upstairs HVAC system. Turns out he had to add another 3 pounds of freon to the unit outside, which makes it pretty clear that there's a leak somewhere in the HVAC for the second floor. It's been almost exactly three months since they came out because the upstairs was not cooling and they had to add freon. That's an average of a pound of freon a month that I've lost.

That's the joy of having a system mis-installed by Barnette Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc., of Mocksville, NC. Having another HVAC service provider come out for the emergency call (it's been hot, and I've got guests all weekend!) cost me $235, but my general contractor Pete LaRoque promises to reimburse me. Of course, that cost is really the responsibility of the very irresponsible Barnette crew. I still cannot believe they are in business.

Barnette's HVAC System Is Still Malfunctioning

Now that there's a leak above the wetbar to deal with, isn't it just dandy that the upstairs air conditioning has started to struggle and is not keeping the second story very cool? Sounds like the problem with the A/C that showed up back in May was not actually resolved, which is not a big surprise, because fixing things correctly does not seem to be a Barnette specialty.

Did I mention that tomorrow I'm expecting my college suitemates, because the Roediger House is the scene of a reunion of the guys this weekend?

Barnette Heating & A/C, Inc., of Mocksville, NC, was the subcontractor responsible for putting in the HVAC system when the renovation work was done in 2008-2009. They have been a very frustrating firm to deal with. And there has been such an extensive number of problems with the system that I marvel that they are still in business, if this is how they normally do things.

And the extra rub is this: Greg Barnette, the "manager" of Barnette Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc., insists that he will not return to address any more issues with the system. Imagine that: an HVAC firm that puts in a system that has thus far been seriously plagued with problems, and he thinks he can just walk away from it.

We'll see about that.

Strange Leak Above Wetbar

Here's another unfortunate turn of events:



Sometime today, a leak somewhere up in the ceiling managed to course its way down to a seam in the drywall and worked its way to a low point and started dripping down on the wetbar. It is not possible to know yet where the leak is coming from or how long it might have been going on before it manifested itself by busting through.



I suppose a lucky thing is that the seam it traveled along brought it out over the quartz countertop, rather than on top of the glass cabinets above or onto the hardwood floors below. This also helped make it noticeable more quickly, thank goodness. A call has been put in to Pete LaRoque, who is due tomorrow evening to check it out.

Meal No. 129: Chicken-Asparagus Salad

It's good to have some grub on hand for a week of working like this. This particular recipe is for a chicken salad with asparagus spear cuts, and it's pretty refreshing.

Meal No. 128: Grilled Filets & Stuffed Potatoes

Yet another awesome meal of filet mignon on the grill, but this time I whipped up some stuffed baked potatoes that were pretty darned delicious, even though this was the first time I'd tried making them this way. By the time you add half-n-half, butter, sour cream, mayonnaise, horseradish, bacon, chopped chives, freshly-shredded sharp white cheddar cheese, and some salt and pepper, it's amazing it will all reasonably fit back into the skin.

No complaints on this end: it was a fine meal.

Meal No. 127: Bacon and Pancakes

Sunday morning back home in the good old Roediger House, and my hankering was for some bacon and pancakes. Doesn't matter that plans are in place to grill up some steaks tonight; I had to have me some breakfast on this beautiful summer weekend day.

Meal No. 126: Garlic Chicken Stir-Fry

After a week on the road, it was most excellent to come home and be back in my kitchen. I think I was a bit off, though, because this will not go down as one of my finer meals.

I mean, it was edible, but nothing about the recipe I was following seemed to match in results to what was happening as I prepared this dish. This was the first recipe I tried from a new Chinese and Thai cookbook I picked up cheap at Sam's Club. I snagged a few essential ingredients at the Asian Grocery just down Peters Creek Parkway from the house, and the prep was reasonably quick. If I hadn't been so hungry, I'm not sure I would have been able to eat it all.

It was rather on the healthy side, though, so at least I've got that going for me.

Holy Rub-down, Robin!

Maybe one of my bird-knowledgeable friends can tell me what I caught this robin doing not so long ago. The pictures do not do it justice, but he was all splayed out like he was practicing as an eagle understudy for a national seal, then he'd rub around a bit, and then perk up and strut. At first, he looked ill and I thought I might be doing some grave digging.





Was he cooling off in the hot, hot weather we've been having? Feeling the good vibrations of Marky Markworm below the surface? It was a rare sight for me, regardless, and in fact, I think it was a first.

That's Easy: Not My City Sky Line

One of my evenings in New Orleans this week involved an excursion down to Bacchanal down in the Bywater, and that meant there was a chance to step up to the Port of New Orleans when no one was looking and step out for some views of the city looking across the Mississippi. It was only as we were all exiting that a Port Police officer came rolling up with a suspicious stare at us.

More Issues with Gutters

"Gutters to match existing."

This was the promise from Peter LaRoque of LaRoque Construction of Mocksville, NC, when he wrote up the bid that I accepted on the renovation and addition to my house. When he advised me after he'd begun the job that he was going to have to substitute cheap but similar gutters, my only stipulation was that they must function equally as well.

Alas, that is not exactly proving to be the case.



As I blogged about back in March, the debris shields are not functioning properly and serve as reservoirs and catchers of debris, and that leads to overflow and spillage. There was quite a washout from the corner juncture of the gutter directly above the heat pump units with last week's heavy rains, and the picture above shows you why this would be the case.



When changing floodlight bulbs not so very long ago, I also had a chance to see that the rain guard shields on the south side of the house were either not properly installed or they have not remained in place.





And the screen that was in that March blog is no longer sitting on top of the gutter; it fell through to the bottom of the gutter and now it's just a big ol' opening there.

Dusk Lust

Sure, I fail to make it up on the upstairs porch nearly enough, at the right times, so I probably miss a lot of really nice views of the city skyline when the sun is going down behind the house. But I managed to see this one not too long ago, and it was just a great array of evening color. Hope this picture captures it.

Humpty Root Dumptied in the Yard

A while back, I wrote about the trash trees and their nefarious roots that were wreaking havoc on the north end of the retaining wall along the back of the property, behind the new kitchen addition.

With another storm and some more transition and movement of the stability of the wall, this is what tumbled down, along with a few more bricks.

New Orleans Night Life

Not quite the same thing as the dancing that breaks out with reasonable regularity at the Roediger House, but this was the bar scene at d.b.a. off Frenchmen's Street in New Orleans last night.

Bound for the Big Easy

This is the day that I jump in the rental car and head down to New Orleans for the week. I might post some things from there, or I might use this to catch up on some other random posts that need making. It's a fun city but my primary obligation while I am there will be providing staff development at New Orleans College Prep, where this year there's a mess of new teachers.

Rushed Grass-Cutting / Hair-Cutting

With plans to be gone all of next week, it was pretty crucial to get both the grass cut and my hair cut. I think I've made a habit of combining those chores on the same day, with some frequency.

Meager Remains of the Monster Chip Cookies

While working this week with teachers in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, and in the face of all the budget cuts that eliminate good things like snacks at professional development sessions, I went ahead and did a bit more baking. And I think they liked the result:



This was all that was left after taking in monster chip cookies to the session on Thursday.

Master Eli in the Master Bath

On a recent visit to the Roediger House, a nephew seemed to enjoy the amenities of the master bathroom. The soaking tub probably seemed like a small swimming pool to him, and he thought the shower might just be big enough.

Cinnamon Chip Cookies for the Teachers

I'm working all week with teachers from Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools. Budget cutbacks mean there are no snacks. I like to bake. Therefore, this was my evening's endeavor:



These are very delicious cinnamon chip oatmeal cookies. The cinnamon chips come from King Arthur Flour, but the recipe was on the bag of Hershey's cinnamon morsels, which I can never find anymore.

Meal No. 125: Bama Chicken

It is nice to be working in Winston-Salem this week. After the late hours of last night's movie night, it felt good to have a productive day working with teachers here in town, followed by the good but simple casserole known as Bama Chicken. Some sugar snap peas were a good side to this while watching another episode of the original Star Trek series.

Meal No. 124: Burgers ('cause it's summer)

It was a brutally hot day in Winston-Salem today. Here's a screenshot of the forecast from Accuweather.com:



The promise of storms was a bit nerve-wracking, because this was also to be another outdoor movie night at the Roediger Theatre, and there have been too few screenings so far this summer as it is. (This evening's fare: Return of the Jedi.)



As for the meal tonight: I'm not ashamed of the repetition of grilled burgers for a meal. I'm sure I'll get tired of them by the end of summer, but for now, it's just a summer thing. And having a movie night makes it seem like extra fun if a few people don't mind coming over early for a bite to eat. I decided it was time to have a go at making mac-n-cheese from scratch again, and the result was pretty pleasing.




It was also a good evening to break out the triple layer cheesecake I made yesterday, which proved to be dee-licious.



For the 13 people who came to the movie night, I also had some fresh-made butter rum toffee cappuccino chip cookies available for snacking.

Meal No. 123: Rosemary-Garlic Leg of Lamb

What a great night to have the Phillis brood over for dinner...

They've all been here the whole summer working at Governor's School West but this (the last day of their duties there) was the first chance to get them all over to the house for a visit and a meal. On the menu: rosemary and garlic leg of lamb with roasted vegetables, a wicked-good pan sauce, some green beans, and some yeast rolls.








Unfortunately, their schedule didn't permit them to hang out, so they had to miss out on the triple-layer cheesecake I made this afternoon. Guess I'll save it for tomorrow's burgers on the grill gathering before the movie night...

Meal No. 122: Beef & Mushroom Stir Fry

This is what was happening in the Roediger House kitchen tonight:



After a multi-month hiatus, the wok was back in action, and the menu included morsels of beef tenderloin stir-fried with cremini mushrooms, onion, garlic, and sweet bell peppers. It was delicious.