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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
How warm is your place? Laptops have infamously poor cooling. If it's hot enough it can start acting weird.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Not too warm and I haven't put any heat on. Wondering if a small fan might help.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Happy belated B-Day, Brenda.

I wish it were still 90 degrees here, Sigs. If I wasn't so cheap, the heat would have been on here the last two days.... *sigh*


Gutters are up here now, and they're wonderful.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thanks Jack.

Good job on your gutters. You are really getting ready for winter.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Dang but it's hot.

Not over 115F hot, but still hot. The day before yesterday it was ~105F. The next day (yesterday) was supposed to be 100F, and the day after that (today) 95F, and so on, dropping 5F every day. Well the day it was supposed to be 100F it was 105F. Today it's supposed to be 100F. The next day all the way down to 97F. And then 94F.

Be still, my beating heart! I can't take such a dramatic cool-down.
/ sarcasm



Though the Bobcat fire, one of the largest in SoCal history, isn't expected to be fully contained for another month, at least containment jumped to ~60% after the brief temperature break a week ago. Now fire crew are having to contend again with the high temps and ultra-dry vegetation, but at least there's no wind.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
How warm is your place? Laptops have infamously poor cooling. If it's hot enough it can start acting weird.

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Not too warm and I haven't put any heat on. Wondering if a small fan might help.

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The laptops I've had that died of the heat - had at least some cooling inlet vents and outlet vents on the bottom. Maybe just prop your laptop up on something to help air flow ... ?

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Happy belated B-Day, Brenda.

I wish it were still 90 degrees here, Sigs. If I wasn't so cheap, the heat would have been on here the last two days.... *sigh*


Gutters are up here now, and they're wonderful.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thanks Jack.

Good job on your gutters. You are really getting ready for winter.

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You're welcome.

Sure am. At least it's warming up for around 7 or 8 more days starting early next week after the passes through. I should still be able collapse the rest of the mole tunnels, clean out and seal the cracks in the garage slab, and get my new insect killer down before it gets cold again.


I just got my replacement ladder today. USED... AGAIN...

This one was in perfect working order though except for some cosmetic dings and scratches, so I decided to keep it for now and look into the discount option I saw when returning the 1st one. Very easy process. They just gave me half of my money back. Very pleased.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Man, you are having some rough luck with ladders.

Some money back is better than none.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Man, you are having some rough luck with ladders.

Some money back is better than none.

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I was actually half hoping they'd send another used one, actually. I figured as long as it was just a little cosmetic damage and they didn't send another trainwreck that I'd be able to get a 15% to 20% discount for keeping it. Kinda shocked me when they said 50%. That's about $150 cheaper (60% off the price) than the same ladder would have cost at the big box store by me. Plus, I never would have been able to get it to my house in my car and would have had to either rent a truck for $25 or put out a friend or neighbor to make the trip for me.


I hope the girl wasn't bullshitting me, but she says she's escalating the issue to the proper channels to get that listing moved to the "warehouse" where they sell used products. I verified that the Condition of the product is advertised as "New" for sure, and now that's 2 for 2 they sent me a used one. I let her know that despite the thousands of reviews that made it 4 1/2 stars, there were at least a dozen or two 1 star reviews that claimed they were sent a used ladder as well, but I took a chance anyway.


As long as they keep being so accommodating with the returns and discount policies, I guess it's the customer's fault if they allow themselves to be stuck with a bad ladder and not get their money back, but people should expect to get a new product when it's advertised as new, and if somebody was unfortunate to expect this ladder for use on a job they had planned, it might not work out for them.


So I guess now all I have to do is figure out where I'm going to put it in my garage. I don't have anything else I want to get rid of out there after the huge purge, but all the prime real estate in there is used. I suppose I could mount some huge brackets on the back wall that would be able to hold the new 12ft ladder with my old 7ft ladder in front of it, but I'll still need to remove 5 feet of tools I have hung on the wall now and find a new place for them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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The Landers earthquake [7.3] and the other large quakes associated with it in the Mojave region [Hector Mine 7.1] have been attributed to two possible long-term trends. One of these is that the San Andreas Fault may be in the process of being replaced as the plate boundary (between the North American Plate and the Pacific Plate) by a new trend across the Mojave and east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The other is that these quakes were a manifestation of the propagation of rifting coming up from the Gulf of California.[12] Research is ongoing.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
A head of the money is always good.

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Yeah. Love these little unexpected bonuses.

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I hope she does keep it going through channels. They will loose business if they don't get this corrected.

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I don't know if they will though. Amazon is really killing it in 2020 with all the small businesses hurting. Around me, there really isn't any small businesses in home repair anymore too. I haven't even seen an ACE Hardware for over a decade. You'd have to call Home Depot and Menards "small business" compared to Amazon.

The ratings for that particular ladder amount in the high 4 figures, and it's 4 1/2 star rated. People like seeing a high rating like that with a lot of people rating it that high, and many won't do much research beyond that. At least I knew going into it that there was a slight chance I could get a used one shipped to me, but to have 2 in a row is just unbelievable. I think something shady is going on unless I just had extremely bad luck here. I have no idea how so many people gave it 4 1/2 stars. My only guess is that Amazon lumps "like" offerings on the same page, meaning that any a-frame ladder offered by that company from 2ft tall to 12ft tall is all on the same page with the same pool of ratings. Maybe only the 12ft ladders are being shipped out used and most people are buying the smaller ones that are being shipped new?

I really hope she followed through with it just to save other people the frustration. It ended up working out nicely for me, but I can think of a lot of scenarios where this really ruins people's days.

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Do you have any more wall space in your garage? Or could you buy a tool stand. Something with multiple trays in it for your tools?

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
A head of the money is always good.

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Yeah. Love these little unexpected bonuses.

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I hope she does keep it going through channels. They will loose business if they don't get this corrected.

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I don't know if they will though. Amazon is really killing it in 2020 with all the small businesses hurting. Around me, there really isn't any small businesses in home repair anymore too. I haven't even seen an ACE Hardware for over a decade. You'd have to call Home Depot and Menards "small business" compared to Amazon.

The ratings for that particular ladder amount in the high 4 figures, and it's 4 1/2 star rated. People like seeing a high rating like that with a lot of people rating it that high, and many won't do much research beyond that. At least I knew going into it that there was a slight chance I could get a used one shipped to me, but to have 2 in a row is just unbelievable. I think something shady is going on unless I just had extremely bad luck here. I have no idea how so many people gave it 4 1/2 stars. My only guess is that Amazon lumps "like" offerings on the same page, meaning that any a-frame ladder offered by that company from 2ft tall to 12ft tall is all on the same page with the same pool of ratings. Maybe only the 12ft ladders are being shipped out used and most people are buying the smaller ones that are being shipped new?

I really hope she followed through with it just to save other people the frustration. It ended up working out nicely for me, but I can think of a lot of scenarios where this really ruins people's days.

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Do you have any more wall space in your garage? Or could you buy a tool stand. Something with multiple trays in it for your tools?

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I'm flush out of wall space right now. My problem is that the shed attached to the porch is not in a usable state and I still need to get that fixed. Most of the tools hung up on my back wall should really be in there, since it's mostly lawn stuff.

My other problem is that instead of having proper metal shelving on the far wall, I've got old dressers and cabinets against the wall holding a lot of stuff. It's good to keep dust and potential critters out of everything, but it's not the most economical use of space though.

I'm going to have to remove about 5-6 feet of hung tools off that back wall to make room for the ladder, which will probably be about 4 long tools. At least until I shore up some other stuff with that shed.

It's not the end of the world. But it will be better to have a rake and broom and shovel on the ground for now instead of a 12ft, 50lb ladder blocking access to things.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I'm glad it's back on! That (should) mean the battery is charging (if your laptop is plugged into power). But if that's one of the weird things it's been doing - not giving you the battery symbol when it's plugged in - I see what you mean.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:
See you later, then!

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Those things happen Jack. It's fall and we all know it means storms and power outages. At least yours was back on by the time you got home for supper.

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Are you all doing Halloween? It's quite controversial in my parts. And the divide is along political lines, as one might suspect. And the Halloweiners here are SO politicized I expect them to hand out sparkly MAGA 'treats' that will no doubt disappoint the kiddies. Because Halloween is all about drenching your innards in sugar!

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I'm sure we'll be doing Halloween around here unless some unconstitutional mandate demands otherwise.

Then just look forward to a bunch of kids breaking shit and egging houses.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Those things happen Jack. It's fall and we all know it means storms and power outages. At least yours was back on by the time you got home for supper.

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Yeah. Really weird though. No rain or even any wind when it happened. I was up early trying to doze off again and threw on some TV and was half up when it happened. 3 hours later by the time I left the power wasn't on still and I saw the work truck and cones out by the main drag. It was a very isolated incident that only hit less than 200 homes. My neighbor thought somebody might have crashed into a poll on the main drag, but there was no evidence of anything like that.

From the time the clock was flashing when I got back home I figured it was on about 2 hours after I left.


Got about 10 nice days in the forecast after the cold snap ends. I think I'm going to make some returns on extra gutter parts and buy the gutter guards for the front of the house. Still debating if I'm going to put them on the back too since not much makes it back there. I'm not going to put them on the garage since there aren't any trees anywhere close to it.

I'll be making trips out to help my friend wrap up his big issues too, in between that and doing final preps on the lawn and outside before winter starts.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by SignyM:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I'm sure we'll be doing Halloween around here unless some unconstitutional mandate demands otherwise.

Then just look forward to a bunch of kids breaking shit and egging houses.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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what would a traditional Halloween be without egging houses and TPing trees?

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Huh. What your neighbour mentioned was what I was thinking when I read your post. Someone hit something. Must have been faulty wiring then.

We get too more days of dry then rain for the long weekend. Nothing like a soggy Thanksgiving. But it is October as I said. So, I am expecting more rain and wind to be rolling through.

That's good that you're helping a friend out and have plans for what still needs to be done around your house.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Huh. What your neighbour mentioned was what I was thinking when I read your post. Someone hit something. Must have been faulty wiring then.

We get too more days of dry then rain for the long weekend. Nothing like a soggy Thanksgiving. But it is October as I said. So, I am expecting more rain and wind to be rolling through.

That's good that you're helping a friend out and have plans for what still needs to be done around your house.

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Yeah. I'm actually still debating on the gutter guards. Not for the money, but because the drip edge that I bought wasn't able to be installed before the gutters went up. Maybe it's not the best idea in the world to have a flat surface right up against the shingles where snow can build up. I might give it a season. The gutters are 5", and the downspouts are monstrous at 3"x4" (I've actually never seen downspouts that big on a house before and was kind of shocked to see how big they look). Helicopters should have no problem making their way down without getting clogged. I might just choose to put some mesh on top of the spouts for when the leaves are going to fall though, but even those really shouldn't be much of an issue.


My poor buddy... He didn't get to do any work on his rental property all summer because of his busted foot. Now that he can get to some of it, the season's almost over. He's got some major structural damage in the making because of a monstrous front porch slab and stairway that I can't even figure out how it hasn't collapsed. I told him he needs to get a concrete truck over there stat and fill up under the stairs before they cave in, and that is the main reason why various masonry work around the property is crumbling and why his carport fell down. I'm trying to get him to give this the seriousness that this situation deserves. It hasn't effected his house yet, but it's only a matter of time. It makes my structural issues look small in comparison, and the only reason he's not taking it seriously yet is because it's a pre-war house that was built like a tank and it hasn't yet given way to the weight.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Bought a tv tray with a gift card a friend gave me for my birthday. Only thing that will work in the spot for a writing/eating table.

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Originally posted by SignyM:
We had a power "blink". Just enough for the lights to blink, and the modem and computer to reset, not even enough for the microwave and other clocks to reset. Weird. It's like some substation relay took just a fraction too long to switch, our something!

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Well, Jack. Leaves when wet can stick together so you might want that mesh over your spouts. Just to prevent a leaf clog.

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Yeah. I think this first year I'm just going to let them fall and keep tabs on them. I can really get a feel this way for sure if I'm right that I barely get any debris on the back of the house and the garage too. And with regular checking I can see if the ultra-wide downspouts let everything out or if a mesh is needed.

Because if it IS necessary, it means I'm going to be up there constantly clearing them out anyhow.

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Ouch! for your friend. I think you are right about the house. Sounds like he should attend to these things before a major disaster hits. And just because something was built before World War Two doesn't mean it can't have serious problems now. Any money he lays out on repairs he should be able to recover with rent.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Bought a tv tray with a gift card a friend gave me for my birthday. Only thing that will work in the spot for a writing/eating table.

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Nice! Sounds like your home is getting into the shape you want!

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:

Well, Jack. Leaves when wet can stick together so you might want that mesh over your spouts. Just to prevent a leaf clog.

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Yeah. I think this first year I'm just going to let them fall and keep tabs on them. I can really get a feel this way for sure if I'm right that I barely get any debris on the back of the house and the garage too. And with regular checking I can see if the ultra-wide downspouts let everything out or if a mesh is needed.

Because if it IS necessary, it means I'm going to be up there constantly clearing them out anyhow.

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Ouch! for your friend. I think you are right about the house. Sounds like he should attend to these things before a major disaster hits. And just because something was built before World War Two doesn't mean it can't have serious problems now. Any money he lays out on repairs he should be able to recover with rent.

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WWI, actually. It's a historic building in the area.

I know he has the city on him about it, but honestly I can't believe they're not completely making his life miserable about it. You can actually stick your arm up to the shoulder underneath a massive concrete staircase/porch that probably weighs 50,000lbs and wave it around. I think the front of the house is holding it up. He needs to get something to fill that underneath and figure out why it happened in the first place so it doesn't happen again. Any work hes' doing beautifying stuff that has cracked is just going to crack again until he takes care of that.

The rent doesn't cover much though. In Illinois the property taxes are so high that the state is taking a majority of it. It's a real scam living in that state in 2020, particularly if you're trying to run a business or a rental property. At least his tenants, pigs that they are, have some money and haven't stopped paying rent during the Rona.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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