Two and a half years ago, I brought these fresh Tulips from Holland. They are not plastic, but “embalmed” with something magical. The stem is reinforced with a steel wire ( I noticed that when I tried to cut them )
They look as good as then and did not get any water. So if you’re ever at Schiphol AirPort and want to take some really long lasting flowers, get these. Paulette has had them a year (or maybe even two) longer and they survived a move and still look as they were just cut.
The Hot Tub is in place and I’m filling it with some water, to make sure it stays there. I made an extra outdoor outlet for the tub and for now used the hot water faucet that was already in place on the other side of the house. I will get an extra piece of PEC tube and run a cold water line to the west side, so that it’s easier to refill the tub with cold water.
As you can see, the deck leaves space to have chairs around the tub, and you’d still be able to easily walk around it.
The Hot Tub deck is now stained in Federal Blue. I remember that color from childhood as I was playing with those 1:72 toy soldiers; In the civil war, the south had uniforms in this color.
It’s always surprising how many screws go into a project. The Hot Tub Deck took almost 300 screws, just for the top boards.
The sisal ropes are also in place.
Each post has its own solar cap light;
The wood (pressure treated pine) is still greenish,but today I bought a gallon of Federal Blue stain, to make it the same color as the rest of the deck.
I will do that tomorrow, after which the deck will be ready to get the Hot Tub installed.
As I was in Wimberley anyway, I did my groceries and checked out the PCR test facility. They have a 24 to 48 hour free test, so if I time it right, I can use that to fly back to Amsterdam. The result is emailed, so if I schedule my test 48 hrs before departure, I should be good. Luckily the 24hr rule only applies to flights into the US.
Problems that can be solved through technical solutions have always been my favorite. In this case the problem was that due to my high ceiling (almost 3 stories) and the natural tendency of hot air wanting to rise, heating downstairs to 68F (20C) meant having to set the temp to 75F (24C) making it 79F (26C) at the ceiling.
The solution I came up with (with a little help from Arnoud) was forcing hot air collected at the ceiling down to the floor.
The ceiling fan does that too, but creates a draft when you set it high, which makes it feel even more cold.
The end result looks like this;
In between logs 1 and 2 there now is ventilation channel with a ventilation system that is controlled by the black switch with 8 speed indicator. That switch drives this in duct fan;
Which is located in the technical room. It pumps air down from the ceiling, where I made this air inlet;
The duct is going through the (unfinished) upstairs bathroom;
Which easily connects to the technical room in a straight a line as possible. All ducts are be completely out of sight.
So when it’s cold, the guests can choose the amount of redistribution of hot air from upstairs to downstairs.
I’d like to test it, but for the next week there won’t be a cold front and temperatures will not drop below 15C (59F).
This morning I went to Home Depot in Bulverde to pick up deck boards and other items, such as the post lights.
The deck is about halfway in now; tomorrow I should be able to finish it.
Two old posts were cut, as the deck now extends westwards. For the hottub area I will also use Sisal rope as a guardrail, but as the 1″ wasn’t in stock, I will use 3 smaller diameter lines. There in a bucket of water now, so they shrink to minimal size. As the rope dries, it expands. That way, the ropes are an indication of rainfall/humidity; the more straight the lines, the wetter.
Of course I wanted to see how big the hot tub is and if all works, so I unboxed it and inflated it.
Don’t worry, it won’t stay indoors; that’s just for testing. It’s capacity is up to 6 people, but that wouldn’t leave a lot of legroom. But for two it’s more than large enough and four probably works too. It takes about 960 liters (254 gallons) of water, so it will almost weigh a ton. That’s why I built the deck on 9 piers. the center one being as thick as a tree. Before I can put it in place, I will need to strengthen the deck a little more with some 2×6’s in the center, going from the left pier to the right pier, to evenly distribute the weight to all piers. I probably let the concrete gain some strength before I fill it up; concrete reaches 70% of its final strength after 7 days, which means I will be able to use it before I leave.
Now that the concrete is dry enough, it was time to build the deck foundation.
It’s 12×12 ft (3.66 meters) and the hot tub will be positioned in the center, leaving space to walk around it or even put some chairs there. 
The hot tub was delivered here today (Amazon now does deliver in my subdivision; two years ago they still left things at the post office for pickup).
I will probably unpack it and have a look tonight.
My Ford F-150 safety inspection was long overdue; the last one was valid til April 2020. So today Reliable Auto in San Marcos did the inspection and after replacing one break light I’m good to go for another year.
I ended up not replacing the car battery yet; it kept starting fine, so I’ll replace it next time.
Not that I don’t get enough exercise here digging trenches and such, I try to keep up my running too. The easiest loop I can do is this one;
Due to lower temperatures, this is my fastest time on this loop.