Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

Webster Groves Ranch, super cute exterior, large front tree for optimal shade. Living room entry, warm inviting paint color, gleaming hardwood floors, large windows for optimal natural light. Great eat-in kitchen, stainless steel appliances, mosaic tiled back splash, custom cabinets. Two bedrooms, both with ample closet space, hardwood floors, ceiling fans. Modern full bathroom. Spacious finished walk-out basement, utility room, over sized closet, plush carpeting. Impressive fenced backyard oasis featuring covered patio for outdoor entertaining, potential areas for gardening, shed to house lawn equipment, and fire pit for hosting evening get-togethers. Home was fully renovated 5 years ago and brand new roof in 2017. Convenient location! 15 minutes to Downtown, Zoo, Science Center, City Museum, the Magic House. Walking distance to restaurants and shopping, plus Blackburn Park. Quiet neighborhood, great neighbors, welcome home!

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Originally posted here:
Affordable Starter Homes in the St. Louis Area - Elko Daily Free Press

ITHACA, N.Y. As Cornell's new North Campus dormitories take shape, the next phases of its North Campus Residential Initiative are becoming more clear; next on the to-do list, an extensive renovation of Balch Hall.

The 167,000 square-foot Collegiate Gothic dorm at 600 Thurston Avenue is the last all-female freshmen residence maintained by the university. Completed in 1929, Balch Hall serves as a visual focal point for those passing over the Thurston Avenue bridge. Its ivy-covered stone walls and mullioned windows have provided a proper thematic backdrop for countless Cornell photos, and its famed central archway has served as the makeshift stage for hundreds of decent if slightly off-key acapella performances.

However, as with many of Cornell's older dormitories, deferred maintenance has been a concern. Some features, like the ancient wrought-iron closet racks to store fancy hats, have a quaint old-fashioned charm. Leaks, outdated utilities and physical impediments for handicapped students and visitors are not so charming.

Cornell is aware of this. While most of the attention to their North Campus redevelopment has been on the new structures and 2,000 new beds, the plan also calls for renovations to several existing buildings. As soon as the first phase of the brand new dormitories are ready for occupancy, Cornell plans to begin renovating its older residences, with Balch Hall being first on the list.

According to Site Plan Review documents filed with the city, the "full-gut renovation" includes replacing all the windows, replacing and rebuilding some gutters and non-structural exterior walls, general masonry repair new accessible walkways, landscaping and lighting improvements. On the inside would be four new elevators and modernized mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems. The interior reconfiguration would increase Balch's student capacity from 436 to 470 beds, and the university hopes to obtain LEED Gold certification with the improvements in energy efficiency.

For those concerned about Balch's collegiate charm, visually the exterior changes will be fairly minor. Since Balch Hall is visible from the Arts Quad Historic District, the Ithaca Landmarks Preservation Commission will weigh in, though only in an advisory role. The new elevators will result in four new dormers designed to match the rest of the building. The new handicap-accessible path will result in the removal of four mature trees. The Balch arch stairs and other exterior stairways will be rebuilt with similar materials as before.

Assuming all goes to plan, the renovated Balch, which will remain an all-female dorm, would be ready to welcome freshmen again in August 2022, as the renovation work shifts to other existing North Campus dorms (Clara Dickson Hall).

Goody Clancy Architects of Boston is in charge of design work, with local firm T.G. Miller providing the civil engineering work, and Cornell favorite Thornton Tomasetti of New York on tap as sustainable design consultant. IBI Placemarking of Boston will be the landscape architect.

See the rest here:
Cornell plans "full-gut renovation" of Balch Hall - The Ithaca Voice

A new report from Bloomberg this week claimed that Apple is planning to announce the transition from Intel processors to ARM chips in the Mac lineup this month at WWDC 2020. While theres still more than a week before the Apple event, tech analysts are speculating on how Apple will make this transition and what are the potential benefits and downsides.

John Gruber (Daring Fireball) points out the fact that Apple may reveal its plans to bring ARM chips to the Mac at this WWDC doesnt necessarily mean that the company will release any new hardware this year.

Apple needs app developers to get ready for ARM Macs with a new version of Xcode, otherwise this new Mac wouldnt have any compatible apps at launch. He compares this to the end of 32-bit support on macOS, which was first announced by Apple back in 2018 and discontinued last year with macOS Catalina.

Some developersthe smart onesare effectively ready to go, and will be able to recompile their apps for ARM as soon as Apple makes a new version of Xcode available. But others will need time. I mean just look at all the consternation this past year over MacOS 10.15 Catalina dropping support for 32-bit softwarea transition Apple announced several years in advance.

An architecture transition will certainly have an impact on which apps will continue to work with new Mac models. When Apple migrated from PowerPC to Intel processors, the company offered a way to emulate legacy software on newer Macs with Rosetta. But now, Gruber thinks Apple will focus only on ARM-ready software.

If I had to bet right now, Id say no, there will be no x86 emulation on ARM Macsand that factors into why Apple is pre-announcing this transition months ahead of releasing hardware. But thats just my guess. In the 90s in particular, and the 2000s to a lesser degree, there was a lot of important third-party software that wasnt easily ported. I dont think thats as much the case today.

Developers and users may think there are a lot of things that will change with ARM-based apps. For Gus Mueller (The Shape of Everything) not much will change, actually. There are still several apps, including Apples own, that still use the Cocoa framework and are written in Objective-C rather than Swift, so its very unlikely that Apple will require ARM apps to be rebuilt with Swift or SwiftUI at first.

Cocoa is the framework that drives pretty much every app on MacOS. Without NSWindow, without NSView, youve got no apps on the Mac [] SwiftUI is barely one year old. Look at how long its taken Swift to get to a point where its not incredibly painfully to use. [] Objective-C isnt going anywhere anytime soon. Too much of MacOS and too many important applications rely on it.

The idea of a Mac that can only run Catalyst apps, which are basically apps ported from iPadOS, is also unlikely. While there are great apps available for iPad, not all of them are as advanced as the native Mac versions, so forcing users to use them would be a drawback.

This would be a serious downgrade for users of these apps on MacOS, and would be a major departure from the way the apps currently behave on MacOS. And even with Catalyst, its still a lot of work for an iPad app to look and feel like a Mac app.

Mueller believes that Apple will probably let almost every app to be updated to run under the ARM architecture, except for legacy apps like the ones based on OpenGL.

OpenGL and OpenCL have been deprecated for a while now in favor of Metal. Apple will use this opportunity to drop them.

As Dieter Bohn wrote on The Verge, there are already some Windows computers running on ARM processors that can give us an idea of what Apple should and shouldnt do with the Mac lineup. On the Windows side, the experience of using a computer with an ARM processor is still not good. There are performance issues and although some 32-bit apps can be emulated in ARM, 64-bit apps cannot.

Speaking of things Apple wouldnt want: ARM-based Windows computers are slower. [] Weve all been assuming that Apples much-vaunted prowess at making fast ARM chips for iPads will translate well to Macs, but theres no guarantee thats true until we get to test them ourselves.

He mentions that Microsoft still has plans to keep both ARM and x86 versions of Windows for a long time, as the vast majority of computers still runs with Intel or AMD processors and companies are unlikely to change that any time soon.

The problem is that since Windows ARM is not going to replace Windows x86, developers are not committed to updating their apps to take advantage of ARM hardware. Apple, on the other hand, has plans to update all the Mac line-up with ARM processors in the coming years.

When ARM-based laptops and tablets started getting released, the message was Heres a cool new thing you can get if you want, but the reliable old thing isnt going anywhere. Thats the Windows way. [] Windows on ARM simply isnt getting the developer attention and support that standard Windows gets, both within Microsoft and outside it.

There are still many questions about Apples transition from Intel to ARM, but hopefully they will all be answered at WWDC 2020 on June 22nd.What are your thoughts on Apples plans to replace Intel with ARM processors on Mac? Let us know in the comments section below.

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

See the original post:
Ahead of WWDC, speculation over Apples ARM Mac transition grows - 9to5Mac

Before the Surface Pro X though, that battery life came at a heavy price. Older Windows PCs on ARM chips felt slower than laptops I used to use when I was back in college. In tech years, thats prehistoric.

Its not enough even for someone like me, whose usage mostly revolves around a million tabs on Chrome, word processing software and now, thanks to the pandemic, about a thousand video calls a week.

But though the Surface Pro X is a huge leap forward, its just not enough to be the solution just yet.

The big accomplishment here is that the Surface Pro X doesnt make you want to throw it against the wall. Neither does it feel like a cheap laptop with very little RAM and an older processor. If anything, the Surface Pro X isnt just modern in its looks, but also in how it performs.

To spare you a lot of jargon, running Windows on ARM is sort of like switching chassis for a car with a different cars chassis. You can make it run almost as well as the original, but it will be wobbly at times. ARM chips assume software will be built for a certain processor architecture, but legacy Windows software hasn't been made for that. Microsoft tried to fix this by adding an emulation layer to Windows, which is akin to hammering the new chassis to fit the other car. It just doesnt work for all software.

The bottomline is this, the Surface Pro X and devices that follow its example in future, will be almost ready to replace laptops, but wont quite get there. Who will this really matter to? Well, power users come to mind. Companies like Adobe arent fully ready to embrace these processors, and the work theyve already done is better suited to Apples iPads than Windows on ARM.

The result is these little lags when Im selecting all the typed text on a long Google Docs document, or updating my notes on Evernote. It doesnt hamper how fast I work enough to really complain about them, but I can see why it will matter to a heavier user than myself.

The real qualm here is that while Microsoft does have a solution to Windows 10s problems with ARM, its not a foolproof solution yet. Theyre getting there though, and thats heartening.

Having said that, the problems with the Surface Pro X dont end there. $1000 price tags are more acceptable in the US than they are in India. At this point, the Surface Pro X is a device that works. But Indians dont pay Rs. 98,999 for devices that just work, nor should we be expected to.

The value proposition is worse if you consider the fact that the Pro X is only a laptop replacement with Microsofts TypeCover keyboard case. Thats an additional Rs. 13,699 and the new Slim Pen" stylus will add Rs. 14,299 more.

The complete Surface Pro X is too expensive for a journalist like me, who is the ideal user for it right now. Assuming you have that kind of money and are bent on an always connected device with SIM support, the new iPad Pro with its Magic Keyboard costs about the same. In fact, if you pair the Magic Keyboard with last years iPad Pro, you will actually save some money.

Theres another problem here. While Windows 10 on ARM promises over 20 hour battery lives, Microsofts claimed battery life for the Pro X is much lesser. And in my experience, I could never get past the 10-hour mark. Thats good for an ultrabook, not good for an always connected mobile device.

If you can give up the always connected part, the Dell XPS 13 is a viable alternative. In fact, even Microsofts own Surface Pro 7 is in the lakh rupees range. If I cant leave my charger home, Im not settling for the wobbles.

On the other hand, the Surface Pro X covers the thin and light part easily. It weighs under a kilogram without the charger and is extremely loud. The display is great too, though not quite as bright as the new iPad Pros Liquid Retina display, and the Slim Pen is as good as any other stylus Microsoft has made so far. It also has two USB Type-C ports, which I really hope Apple adopts too.

In sum, the Surface Pro X is a big leap for Windows 10 on ARM. It would have been a viable solution for many who want a PC-like mobile device, if it wasnt for the price. Perhaps enterprises would want to hand it to their CEOs as a productivity tool. It also benefits from Microsofts enterprise features.

But most importantly, we know Windows 10 can work on ARM now. Microsoft better refine things as fast as possible.

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Microsoft Surface Pro X review: Windows is almost ready for ARM - Livemint

Wellington Regional Hospital has the worst electrical infrastructure in the country, and ranks in the bottom three of the country's hospitals for its mechanical infrastructure.

Most of its high-voltage cables need replacing, as well as the main switchboard, and its site generators are in poor condition with replacement being investigated.

READ MORE:* The state of our hospitals: Major stocktake paints dire picture* Disruption for patients as Wellington Regional Hospital replaces 28km of faulty pipes * Hospital building with earthquake rating as low as 9 per cent passes another deadline

The dire picture comes as part of a major stocktake of the country's hospitals, released on Wednesday.

It comes just a day after Wellington Hospital was forced to run its back-up generators after a Newtown power outage and years of issues with leaky pipes.

On top of the hospital's electrical problems, the report found its steam pipes and hot water storage were also in poor condition.

Rosa Woods/Stuff

General manager of corporate services Thomas Davis says the facilities and infrastructure are safe and will remain so while improvements take place. (File photo)

Stormwater drains, medical gases, heating pipes, fire water and cooling pipes, as well as windows and doors were described as in average to poor condition.

General manager of corporate services Thomas Davis said the DHB had not had time to fully consider the new report and wasn't able to comment in detail.

But he gave assurances the facilities and infrastructure were safe and would remain so while improvements took place.

CCDHB has a programme for the prioritisation and completion of planned and deferred maintenance," he said.

"This ensures our facilities and infrastructure undergo continued maintenance and management as our campus is upgraded through a staged programme of work."

Robert Kitchin/Stuff

Wellington Hospital was the only facility whose electrical infrastructure was rated as 'poor' in a new report.

Many of the issues won't be a surprise for users of the hospital, which has long been beleaguered by leaky pipes.

Capital & Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) is suing contractors after the hospital's pipes sprung 300 leaks in a debacle reported to have cost $19 million.

And every part of the hospital is due to shut down over the next six years as more than 28.7 kilometres of faulty copper pipes are replaced.

The DHB reported issues with Wellington Hospital's electrical infrastructure in 2017.

An independent report released to Stuff at the time painted a picture of tired infrastructure with a high potential for a complete outage to the hospital in a major emergency.

It found a "high risk of catastrophic failure" where patient and staff safety was at risk.

Kevin Stent/Stuff

A major stocktake of infrastructure at the country's hospitals says a fix-it bill of $14 billion is needed.

In the latest stocktake of hospital infrastructure, the Hutt Valley District Health Board and CCDHB were two of 10 DHBs found to have poor financial management systems.

Hawke's Bay DHB had electrical infrastructure which was near or beyond end of life, according to the report. Its high voltage supply had regular failures and its major switchgear was vulnerable to failure, affecting theatres.

Executive director of financial services Carriann Hall said the DHB aware of the issues.

It was working to upgrade the electrical systems and high voltage supply and was in the final stages of replacing its main electrical switchboard for the boiler house.

The report said many of the country's intensive care units, operating theatres and emergency departments were in "poor or very poor" shape - with a fix-it bill set at $14 billion over the next decade.

Originally posted here:
Wellington Hospital has the worst electrical infrastructure in the country - report - Stuff.co.nz

Job Summary: The Gutter Installer is responsible for all aspects of installing company products according to work order, manufacturer, quality and safety guidelines. The Gutter Installer is also responsible for observing and following all OSHA and Company Safety policies and procedures. Experience: Previous experience is desirable but not required. Experience in the construction industry, including roofing, siding preferred. ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: *Gutter installers must be able to use common hand tools - snips, down spout crimps, end cap crimps, hacksaw, hammer, cordless hand drill, blow torch and caulking gun. *Able to read job instructions and load truck with materials to work order. *Basic math skills required *Must be able to drive a box truck, have a valid insurable driver*s license. *Manage extension ladders up to 45 Ft., and must be able to lift a minimum of 50 lbs. frequently. *Able to climb up and down a ladder. Comfortable with heights and working on/from ladders and roofs *Must be able to bend, twist, and turn body at shoulders, waist and knees to handle and install gutters. Must be able to stand for extended periods of time. *Maintain safe and clean work environment *Perform routine maintenance and keep trucks clean *Track equipment and supplies Work Environment: Works in a construction environment; able to work outdoors in all weather conditions.

Link:
Job Summary: The Gutter Installer is responsible for all aspects - goskagit.com

When you become an owner of a home, foundation maintenance cannot be ignored. If you end up with a foundation crack or other damage, the repair cost will likely be very high. About $12.5 billion are spent on foundation repairs every year.

Foundation issues can often be prevented. Usually, a lack of preventative maintenance causes most issues. Here are some of the foundation maintenance tasks you can take on to ensure you dont end up with a massive repair bill.

1. Annual Foundation Inspections

Having your foundation inspected every year is one of the easiest ways you can prevent damage. You can learn how to do it yourself or hire a professional to come out and do an inspection. Either way, taking the time to look at your foundation will help you to see if there is an issue.

Its a good idea to check around your foundation after a big rainstorm, as well. You will be able to see if the water is pooling in specific areas where drainage may not be great.

2. Compact Backfill Areas

When a home is built, backfill areas are created to allow water to drain away from the foundation. These areas are usually filled with loose soil and created with a slope away from the foundation.

Over time, the soil may flatten leading to ponding around the foundation. Homeowners should use a heavy piece of wood to tamp down the backfill areas. Adding more soil may be necessary to maintain the proper slope.

3. Annual Inspection of Other Concrete Structures

Patios, driveways, and sidewalks can act as a barrier to help protect the foundation. However, they can also cause foundation damage, if they become cracked or damaged from moisture.

Every year, you should inspect these structures and look for cracks, pooling of water, and other potential issues. This is most important during the first five years of owning a new home since the foundation will adjust the most during this time.

4. Make Sure Gutters and Downspouts Work Properly

Usually, you need to clean the gutters at least twice a year; once before the winter season and once in the spring. Clean gutters and downspouts will work together to move water from the roof away from your home. They are a great defense system for your home.

However, if your gutters or downspouts become clogged, you could end up with a very big issue. Clogged gutters lead to the pooling of water on the roof, which can lead to major issues. Downspouts can also become clogged causing even bigger issues.

Along with clogging, gutters and downspouts not installed correctly may cause water to pool in specific areas around your foundation. Make sure the downspouts are installed with the proper slope so water moves away from the foundation and doesnt come back

There are many things you should pay attention to when it comes to foundation maintenance. A proper inspection each year will go a long way to ensure you dont end up with a huge repair bill.

I would love to be part of your journey when the time is right for you. If you ever have a real estate question or need, or know someone who does, trust that you can turn to me. I will help you make the right move! Anna Granger 704-650-5707 | annagrangerhomes@gmail.com | http://www.1stchoicepropertiesinc.com

Read this article:
Foundation Maintenance: Avoiding a Costly Home Repair - Mint Hill Times

Learn how to raise backyard chickens!

Keeping chickens and producing your own eggs can be rewarding, therapeutic and loads of fun.

Learn how to get started during an online Backyard Urban Chicken Program from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 24, on Zoom.

Kalan Taylor, an agriculture and natural resources agent for the University of Florida/Volusia County Extension, will discuss chicken breeds, housing, health care, nutrition, manure management and food safety. She will also explain how to find out if your property is approved for chicken farming.

The $10 registration fee includes a certificate and teaching materials. To register, go to http://www.eventbrite.com and type in backyard urban chicken program. Registrants will receive the Zoom link on June 23.

For registration questions, contact Cynthia Rabey at 386-822-5778 or cynthia.rabey@ufl.edu.

Watch the weather, wait to water

Volusia Countys Environmental Management Division is encouraging residents who irrigate their lawns to take advantage of the summer rainy season and watch the weather, wait to water.

From July through September, yards need no more than a half-inch to three-quarters inch of water up to two times a week. If your lawn has received enough water from rainfall, turn off the irrigation system and turn it back on when needed.

The simplest way to determine if your yard needs water is to look for these visual clues:

Grass blades are folded in half lengthwise on at least one-third of your yard.

Grass blades appear blue-gray.

Grass blades do not spring back, leaving footprints on the lawn for several minutes after walking on it.

If your yard is showing signs that it needs water, check your local forecast to see if rain is on the way.

Use a rain gauge to determine how much rain your yard has received.

Install a rain sensor on your automatic irrigation system, and make sure its working properly.

Take full advantage of the rain. Make sure gutter downspouts are directed into landscaped areas or lawn.

Install a rain barrel to capture excess rainwater.

According to Volusia Countys water conservation ordinance, residents may water their lawns twice a week (if necessary) until standard time resumes Nov. 1, when the once-a-week schedule will return.

People who live at odd-numbered addresses may water Wednesdays and Saturdays, and people at even-numbered addresses may water Thursdays and Sundays. Businesses may water Tuesdays and Fridays. Each zone of your irrigation system may be watered no more than one hour or three-quarters of an inch a day. Watering is not permitted between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

The watering restrictions apply to all county residents, including those who live inside city limits. They cover city and county water, private wells and pumps, but do not include reclaimed water.

For more information about water conservation, visit volusia.org/water-conservation.

CARES Act funds available for homeless assistance

Volusia County has received nearly $450,000 in federal funds that are available to nonprofit organizations that are working to lessen the impacts of COVID-19 in the homeless population. Application for the funds, a total of $449,809, are being accepted through June 30. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Developments Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and are part of the federal coronavirus relief, or CARES Act. The money is designed to help prevent, prepare for and respond to the coronavirus pandemic among individuals and families who are homeless or are receiving homeless assistance.

Not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organizations are eligible to submit responses for these special funds, which can be used for:

Emergency shelter renovation: $125,000

Emergency shelter operations: $50,000

Street outreach: $54,809

Rapid re-housing: $220,000

All programs must serve the entire county and comply with the Commission on Homelessness for Volusia and Flagler Counties written standards. Use of Volusia County ESG funds is limited to Volusia County only.

Applications will be accepted through 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 30. Applications, including the written standards, are available by calling Edina Toth at 386-736-5955, ext. 12908, or 386-564-0387.

Continue reading here:
Information from around the county: backyard chickens, water conversation, homeless assistance - The West Volusia Beacon

Ive always worked at least two, sometimes three jobs. My dad said it built character. Maybe so, but what I noticed was it built my bank account.

In 1972 when I was 11, I began mowing yards, raking leaves or doing anything else that paid. There were plenty of elderly folks in my hometown who were no longer able to do this type of work and I was only too glad to help them.

That same year a man in my hometown hired me for $1 a day to help him in his bait shop.

Mr. Bill (I dont think I ever knew his last name) was a jack of all trades. In addition to growing worms and raising minnows, he made the signs for the local grocery stores that hung in the windows and advertised the weekly specials.

While I broke up the dirt in the worm beds and ground the cornmeal to feed them, Mr. Bill would pull a piece of butcher paper and tear it off from the roll that hung on the wall and freehand the name of the item for sale in one color and its price in another.

As I ran the loud grinder for the cornmeal, Id watch him finish one sign, hang it up to dry and begin another. Every now and then hed yell out to me, telling me to use less meal, or to remind me to mist the beds with water before feeding them.

All of this came back to me as my wife and I recently discovered hundreds of earthworms in our concrete gutters at the top of our two driveways.

Our property is a rectangle, but from front to back its shaped like a bowl. We installed the concrete drains to catch and redirect the runoff during heavy rains. When we bought the property, we noticed that when it rained hard, our driveways turned into Niagara Falls. In turn, the water ran through the yard and washed away just about anything in its path.

We hired lots of folks who said they could fix the problem, but it was my idea to install the concrete gutters deep in the ground and top them with metal grates. I remembered a design Id seen as a kid. At the top of the driveway, a deep concrete gutter ran the width of the drive and removable metal grates covered them. The runoff ran into drainage ditches, which went into a creek.

I hired a fella to build the same thing.

The first rain came, and it worked great. So did the second, and the third. But by the fourth heavy rain, we noticed the dirt from the runoff had filled the concrete gutters and was coming up through the grates.

I pulled a shooter shovel from the garage and began to scoop out the dirt into a wheelbarrow. My intention was to use this fertile soil in my wifes garden. There was only one problem. We had guests. They had moved into the gutters and were calling them home.

Worms. Earthworms. Lots of them.

The loose, black soil and the cool, underground concrete gutters provided the perfect domicile for one of the earths most basic creatures. These round, segmented organisms eat, digest, and redistribute things that help farmers and gardeners grow food. They also provide food for pigs and other farm animals.

Of course, fishermen rely on them to catch what they need to fill their freezers.

Which brings me to the next part of this story.

My wife mentioned that a friend of ours at the end of the street buys worms and that they were expensive.

He and his wife arrived and took about half of the worms and headed back home.

The rest of the worms went into my wifes gardens. But the wheels in my old noggin started turning.

What had started out as a drainage problem has turned into a business opportunity. I currently only have a couple of jobs, so I have an opening for another one. One that I first learned at age 11.

Im going to call it, Johns Grate Bait.

John Moore is a Whitehouse resident. His column appears Friday. His books, Write of Passage: A Southerners View of Then and Now, and Write of Passage Volume II, are available from Amazon, and TheCountryWriter.com. His weekly podcast appears on Spotify and iTunes. Email john@johnmoore.net .

More here:
Moore: I'm back in the worm business - Longview News-Journal

Ive always worked at least two, sometimes three jobs. My dad said it built character. Maybe so, but what I noticed was that it built my bank account.

In 1972 when I was 11, I began mowing yards, raking leaves, or doing anything else that paid. There were plenty of elderly folks in my hometown who were no longer able to do this type of work, and I was only too glad to help them.

That same year a man in my hometown hired me for $1 a day to help him in his bait shop.

Mr. Bill (I dont think I ever knew his last name) was a jack-of-all-trades. In addition to growing worms and raising minnows, he also made the signs for the local grocery stores that hung in the windows and advertised the weekly specials.

While I broke up the dirt in the worm beds and ground the cornmeal to feed them, Mr. Bill would pull a piece of butcher paper and tear it off from the roll that hung on the wall, and then free hand the name of the item for sale in one color and its price in another.

As I ran the loud grinder for the cornmeal, Id watch him finish one sign, hang it up to dry, and begin another.

Every now and then hed yell out to me, telling me to use less meal to feed the worms, or to remind me to mist the beds with water before feeding them.

All of this came back to me as my wife and I recently discovered hundreds of earthworms in our concrete gutters that we installed at the top of our two driveways.

Our property is a rectangle, but from front to back, its shaped like a bowl. We installed the concrete drains to catch and redirect the runoff during heavy rains.

When we bought the property, we noticed that when it rained hard, our driveways turned into Niagara Falls. In turn, the water ran through the yard and washed away just about anything in its path.

We hired lots of folks who said they could fix the problem, but it was my idea to install the concrete gutters, deep into the ground and top them with metal grates.

I remembered a design Id seen as a kid. At the top of the driveway, a deep concrete gutter ran the width of the drive, and removable metal grates covered them.

The runoff ran into drainage ditches, which went into a creek.

I hired a fella to build the same thing.

The first rain came, and it worked great. So did the second, and the third.

But by the fourth heavy rain, we noticed the dirt from the runoff had filled the concrete gutters and was coming up through the grates.

I pulled a shooter shovel from the garage and began to scoop out the dirt into a wheelbarrow. My intention was to use this fertile soil in my wifes garden.

There was only one problem. We had guests. They had moved into the gutters and were now calling them home.

Worms. Earthworms. Lots of them.

The loose, black soil and the cool, underground concrete gutters provided the perfect domicile for one of the earths most basic creatures.

These round, segmented organisms eat, digest, and redistribute things that help farmers and gardeners grow food.

They also provide food for pigs and other farm animals.

Of course, fishermen rely on them to catch what they need to fill their freezers.

Which brings me to the next part of this story.

My wife mentioned that a friend of ours at the end of the street buys worms and that they were expensive.

He and his wife arrived and took about half of the worms and headed back home.

The rest of the worms went into my wifes gardens.

But the wheels in my old noggin started turning.

What had started out as a drainage problem has turned into a business opportunity. I currently only have a couple of jobs, so I have an opening for another one. One that I first learned at age 11.

Im going to call it, Johns Grate Bait.

John Moores books, Write of Passage: A Southerners View of Then and Now Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, are available on Amazon and on Johns website at http://www.TheCountryWriter.com. His weekly John G. Moore Podcast appears on Spotify and iTunes.

Read more from the original source:
John Moore: Worm weather | Opinion - Marshall News Messenger