In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Out for my walk on a cloudy day. 17C which is 64F.

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 4:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for my walk on a cloudy day. 17C which is 64F.

That's pretty chilly.
So far this summer you've been as high as the low 90s (right?) and as low as the low 60s. That's a 30-degree spread!
I assumed that being near Vancouver you'd get the moderating effects of the ocean. I guess not.

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

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 4:24 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Today was the first relatively cool day (88 max) where I didn't have anything else going so I tackled the front yard weeds and grasses, again. Took out my weed whacker and whacked most of it b4 it got too hot. Tomorrow I need to chop, rake, and bin. Not the best job in the world. but, as Alexander Mercouris (The Duran political commentary) says

They said "SOMETHING must be done!"
So, "something" was done

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

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 4:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Out for my walk on a cloudy day. 17C which is 64F.

That's pretty chilly.
So far this summer you've been as high as the low 90s (right?) and as low as the low 60s. That's a 30-degree spread!
I assumed that being near Vancouver you'd get the moderating effects of the ocean. I guess not.

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

Had a jacket on and got spat on a little while I was out. But nothing serious. It's a little muggy now.

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 5:00 PM

Fire alarm went off about half an hour ago. I went down just after the fire department arrived. They checked the building and found nothing. Have no idea what set it off. They managed to turn it off without getting a hold of the building temporary manager. The regular one is on medical leave and when they called her, she couldn't help them.

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 5:12 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

IF your bldg has a sprinkler system (not sure if it does) if water pressure in the sprinkler system dips too low, it can set off a fire alarm.

We had that happen at our agency- they were installing digital controllers in our working AC system and shut off the sprinkler system water by mistake. So we all wandered out, and in came the FD! It took a long time for them to figure out what had happened and fix the problem.

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

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 5:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, I forget to mention- the okra is blooming! It's been blooming on and off for a few days and I have okra pods forming, But the interesting thing is that they look like pale yellow hibiscus flowers with burgundy centers. In fact, they ARE related to hibiscus and you can really see the resemblance in the flowers.

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

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 5:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
IF your bldg has a sprinkler system (not sure if it does) if water pressure in the sprinkler system dips too low, it can set off a fire alarm.

We had that happen at our agency- they were installing digital controllers in our working AC system and shut off the sprinkler system water by mistake. So we all wandered out, and in came the FD! It took a long time for them to figure out what had happened and fix the problem.

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

It does and the company that installed the fire alarms and everything checked it out the other week. One of other tenants told the fire department guys that. It looked like the fire department was leaving a note for the manager but will have to see what happens next week.

ETA: Someone else thought something had happened on the 5th or 6th floor but the fire department checked their and the stairwell along with the parking and the air ducts. But they came up with nothing.

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Saturday, August 27, 2022 8:47 PM

More or less got done what I aimed to do today...

Structural work is done. Finally.

I didn't install the new J-channel on the outside though. In fact, it might be a week or so before I do it. I took off the bottom layer of siding and screwed the plywood up tight to my new wood inside. I was surprised to see that the vinyl siding was on top of ancient siding there. There was no old siding on the front or back of the porch at all, so I assumed that old siding was before the addition was put on the house. Weird.

Anyhow, I cleaned it all off then I used my copper wheel to clean the concrete slab up to the new wood where I could and up to the old siding where I couldn't and used my watertite to seal all of that off. That's going to take a few days to dry. Once it is though, I'm just going to slather on a coat of tar on the side of that slab after it's trenched out and go up past the watertite and onto the old siding too. Might as well before I put the new channel up and wrap everything up.

Then I did a final cleaning of the slab crack, blew it out with my leaf blower and got to work with the patch. I had to do a lot more than I was expecting though since the only way I could really work it in to the bottom was by going pretty high with it. I used up my 25lb bag of cheaper stuff and still had to use about 5-7 lbs of the expensive stuff I had to drive out of town to get, just to get the whole crack filled. I wasn't too happy about that, but I also wansn't about to get all cleaned up to buy more cheap stuff and come back to find that the stuff I'd already put down was too dry to be adding more. I probably don't have enough of the expensive stuff to finish the job now, but that's fine. Per the directions you're supposed to be doing this stuff in layers anyhow. I'll get more sometime during the week if I need it.

So yeah... I think I was right when I said I got rid of around 40lbs of sand and rock out of the crack. That tracks. It wasn't full all the way to the top, but I'll easily go through 45lbs of patch before this job is finished.

No rain until tonight, but I doubt anything I did will be dry enough to work on tonight. It's been hot and hasn't rained since I mowed the front yard, so maybe I'll just mow the back yard tomorrow before the rain and relax the rest of the day.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 2:08 PM

Another Sunday

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 6:46 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Another Sunday

Not a day of rest for me!

It was supposed to be cooler today so I was hoping to rake up and bin up after yesterday's weed whacking. But I wound up being delayed (thanks hubby. not!) and working in the heat of the day. Plus it didn't seem like it would be such a big job, I guesstimated somewhat less than a binful, but it wound up being two PACKED binsful. I kept seeing more things to rake up, like the branchlets that the star pine is always dropping, and decided to finish with a sweeping. Phew!!!

But anyhow, that's done and tomorrow I need to go in with hubby for his Dr appts take care of hubby's DMV renewal and finally take in our tax papers and I will have taken care of the most pressing chores.

On the plus side, we have been enjoying garden-fresh tomatoes nearly every day this past week. I roasted some tri tip again yesterday and made extra, so today we had roast beef, tomato, spinach, onion and mayo sandwiches on toasted sourdough, and even tho I can't taste much even I thought it was pretty good!

By Tuesday it'll go up to 90s- 100 for the foreseeable future, so my outdoor work is either going to be limited to watering or at 9AM!

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

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 7:09 PM

LOL Doesn't every project you set out to do end up taking longer than yu thought it would? I don't remember a single time where I finished something and said "Wow. Look how much free time I have that I wasn't expecting".

I mowed the back yard, got the siding and downspout extenders back up temporarily for the rein expected in the next 36 hours and did a little cleanup in the garage since it was starting to look like a bomb hit it with all the simultaneous projects going on at once and the empty shed clogging up what space I did have.

Super hot and humid today though. Grossest day outside we've had in a while.

Rain tonight won't give any heat relief, but the rain storm coming in tomorrow night will. Tonight's LOW temperature is going to be closer to the high temperature most days next week than today's and tomorrows high is. Should be perfect weather to wrap up the outside work I wanted to get done this year.

That being said, if I don't make it outside for a single second tomorrow I'll be okay with that. I think it's a light day with a little indoor cleanup tomorrow.

The crack in the shed looks great. I was tempted to try putting another layer on it seemd to dry so fast, but no sense in doing that and not giving it a few days to dry if I can't do anything outside until Tuesday anyhow.

That vinyl cement patch has a really cool consistency to it. Supposedly as long as you prepped the surface right it's supposed to be twice as strong as the concrete that surrounds the crack.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 7:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Another Sunday
Not a day of rest for me!

It was supposed to be cooler today so I was hoping to rake up and bin up after yesterday's weed whacking. But I wound up being delayed (thanks hubby. not!) and working in the heat of the day. Plus it didn't seem like it would be such a big job, I guesstimated somewhat less than a binful, but it wound up being two PACKED binsful. I kept seeing more things to rake up, like the branchlets that the star pine is always dropping, and decided to finish with a sweeping. Phew!!!

But anyhow, that's done and tomorrow I need to go in with hubby for his Dr appts take care of hubby's DMV renewal and finally take in our tax papers and I will have taken care of the most pressing chores.

On the plus side, we have been enjoying garden-fresh tomatoes nearly every day this past week. I roasted some tri tip again yesterday and made extra, so today we had roast beef, tomato, spinach, onion and mayo sandwiches on toasted sourdough, and even tho I can't taste much even I thought it was pretty good!

By Tuesday it'll go up to 90s- 100 for the foreseeable future, so my outdoor work is either going to be limited to watering or at 9AM!

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

It's only gotten to 76F today around me.

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 7:48 PM

Gotta get up and get some supper and watch some tv.

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Sunday, August 28, 2022 8:55 PM

Oh... Right. I forgot about another new toy I got. Caught a major sale on a huge 16TB external hard drive. I know I still could have waited even longer and got an even better deal for more storage, but space has gotten a little tight around here with my other/quicker/smaller storage solutions and the fact I back up everything twice and the super important stuff 3 times. Plus, at that size there's really not a reason for me to wait any longer. Prices don't really go down much outside of sales because over time the hard drive sizes just get larger to keep up the same price point and now that I have my first drive ever that's over 5TB by quite a bit, I can't even imagine how long it would even take me to come close to filling that up or even come close.

A lot of work on a decades long project is going to have a 4th backup now, and once I get everything properly organized and cataloged I should have a spare 1TB and 2TB drive laying around, which for me is a quality of life improvement that I've put off for too long.

I'll be doing that tonight and while I clean up the house tomorrow. Most of the time spent on it will just be background noise while transfers are taking place. I'll have to figure out a good spot for it now though. Although I'd love to have another small drive that is self powered by the USB cable, this is a large drive that requires an external power source. And they still make those STUPID BIG BRICKS at the end of the plug instead of putting it in the cord, so you end up losing 3 outlets on a power strip instead of only one.

Once I get that thing totally organized it won't be powered on very much, but I would like to have a proper home for it that doesn't require unplugging something else or having a cord floating in the air as a tripping hazard like it is right now.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Monday, August 29, 2022 1:24 PM

Out for my walk. Got a couple of things to do today.

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Monday, August 29, 2022 4:19 PM

Back from my walk and got a call from the physio office, appointment moved up to this afternoon. Which is a good thing. I can feel it around my right shoulder blade more than my arm.

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Monday, August 29, 2022 11:23 PM

Physio went well and the therapist gave me some exercises to do at home.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 12:51 AM

Got some cleaning done. Deeper than usual, but not close to everything.

Taking forever to transfer the files to the new backup too. Hopefully that's done by tomorrow night.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 9:23 AM

Time to trench out the side of the slab where the crack was so I can get it cleaned and tarred. No rain in the forecast for at least 4 or 5 days, so I'm not going to try to put up the new J-channel and get the bottom layer of siding back up until it's had several days to bake in the sun and cure.

I'm also going to use up the vinyl patch I've still got left on the crack inside and see how far it gets me. It may or may not do the trick. If I have to pick up some more I will, but hopefully I won't since any excess would probably go wasted unless my buddy could use some on his place.

Because of drying time, that might be all the outdoor work I can get done today. Lawn doesn't need mowing and it would be too wet until tomorrow anyhow.

And thankfully, even in the areas that aren't covered in rock and weed fabric, I think it's late enough in the year where weeds aren't going to be a problem anymore until next spring.

Oh well. Plenty of cleaning to do inside if I can stay on target.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 11:05 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Physio went well and the therapist gave me some exercises to do at home.

Did s/he tell you what s/he thought was wrong? Sprain? Tendon tear? Just nosy.

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 11:13 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Time to trench out the side of the slab where the crack was so I can get it cleaned and tarred. No rain in the forecast for at least 4 or 5 days, so I'm not going to try to put up the new J-channel and get the bottom layer of siding back up until it's had several days to bake in the sun and cure.

I'm also going to use up the vinyl patch I've still got left on the crack inside and see how far it gets me. It may or may not do the trick. If I have to pick up some more I will, but hopefully I won't since any excess would probably go wasted unless my buddy could use some on his place.

Because of drying time, that might be all the outdoor work I can get done today. Lawn doesn't need mowing and it would be too wet until tomorrow anyhow.

And thankfully, even in the areas that aren't covered in rock and weed fabric, I think it's late enough in the year where weeds aren't going to be a problem anymore until next spring.

Oh well. Plenty of cleaning to do inside if I can stay on target.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

Well, we're getting one of our late summer/early fall furnace blasts that makes So Cal like So Cal. I see 105F in our near future. It's hot AND dry. Too bad we don't have a swamp cooler ... it would work great in weather like that! Fortunately our AC works. We set the temp at a modest 77F for the daytime.

Curiously, you shouldn't water natives in such hot weather, no matter how tempting it might be bc while they tolerate hot and dry, or cool and moist, hot and moist will rot the roots. They have no resistance to fungus that thrives in hot moist soil. So I took the oppty to water some of the more needy plants this AM to prepare them for the onslaught.

Got the paperwork done that I was planning in doing yesterday but discovered a medical bll bomb in the mail. I'm sure it's an error, I just need to straighten it out.

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 1:02 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Physio went well and the therapist gave me some exercises to do at home.
Did s/he tell you what s/he thought was wrong? Sprain? Tendon tear? Just nosy.

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

Strained and pulled muscles and tendons.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 1:03 PM

Out for my walk soon. Couple of things to do.

Had my internet disappear on me for a bit even though everything was on and plugged in. Don't know what happened. Had to step away from goggle for it come back up.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 1:39 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Physio went well and the therapist gave me some exercises to do at home.
Did s/he tell you what s/he thought was wrong? Sprain? Tendon tear? Just nosy.

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

Strained and pulled muscles and tendons.

Muscles heal pretty quickly. Tendons not so much. I hope you heal soon!

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 1:42 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

cleared up the insurance billing error by checking insurance payments online and confirming by phone call. Panic subsides.

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 4:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Time to trench out the side of the slab where the crack was so I can get it cleaned and tarred. No rain in the forecast for at least 4 or 5 days, so I'm not going to try to put up the new J-channel and get the bottom layer of siding back up until it's had several days to bake in the sun and cure.

I'm also going to use up the vinyl patch I've still got left on the crack inside and see how far it gets me. It may or may not do the trick. If I have to pick up some more I will, but hopefully I won't since any excess would probably go wasted unless my buddy could use some on his place.

Because of drying time, that might be all the outdoor work I can get done today. Lawn doesn't need mowing and it would be too wet until tomorrow anyhow.

And thankfully, even in the areas that aren't covered in rock and weed fabric, I think it's late enough in the year where weeds aren't going to be a problem anymore until next spring.

Oh well. Plenty of cleaning to do inside if I can stay on target.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
Well, we're getting one of our late summer/early fall furnace blasts that makes So Cal like So Cal. I see 105F in our near future. It's hot AND dry. Too bad we don't have a swamp cooler ... it would work great in weather like that! Fortunately our AC works. We set the temp at a modest 77F for the daytime.

Curiously, you shouldn't water natives in such hot weather, no matter how tempting it might be bc while they tolerate hot and dry, or cool and moist, hot and moist will rot the roots. They have no resistance to fungus that thrives in hot moist soil. So I took the oppty to water some of the more needy plants this AM to prepare them for the onslaught.

Got the paperwork done that I was planning in doing yesterday but discovered a medical bll bomb in the mail. I'm sure it's an error, I just need to straighten it out.

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

Ew... That's hot. At least it's dry though.

Got the side of the slab trenched, cleaned and tarred and I put the final-ish coat of concrete repair on the crack. It went further than I thought it would at the end there. I've got about 5lbs of it left. I'm going to clean it up in a day or two after it dries and get the high spots down, mix up the rest and give it as smooth of a final skim coat as I can. I'm not as good at this as my friend's dad is, but it doesn't look bad right now.

I'm beat. There was other things I could have been doing outside to kill time, but I'm just going to shower and maybe clean a little inside now.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 5:59 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Physio went well and the therapist gave me some exercises to do at home.
Did s/he tell you what s/he thought was wrong? Sprain? Tendon tear? Just nosy.

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

Strained and pulled muscles and tendons.
Muscles heal pretty quickly. Tendons not so much. I hope you heal soon!

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

Thanks. I've already started her exercises and I will keep up with the heat. So, it will be okay.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 6:00 PM

Back from my walk and all done for today.

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 9:31 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
SIX

Ew... That's hot. At least it's dry though.

Thankfully!

Quote:
SIX: Got the side of the slab trenched, cleaned and tarred and I put the final-ish coat of concrete repair on the crack. It went further than I thought it would at the end there. I've got about 5lbs of it left. I'm going to clean it up in a day or two after it dries and get the high spots down, mix up the rest and give it as smooth of a final skim coat as I can. I'm not as good at this as my friend's dad is, but it doesn't look bad right now.

I'm beat. There was other things I could have been doing outside to kill time, but I'm just going to shower and maybe clean a little inside now.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

Since you haul around tons of rocks and do other heavy duty work I'm surprised that tarring a slab side and finishing a crack repair would tire you out. Was it bc it's the kind of work that you have to do bending down? Or am I missing something?

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

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Tuesday, August 30, 2022 9:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:
SIX

Ew... That's hot. At least it's dry though.

Thankfully!

Quote:
SIX: Got the side of the slab trenched, cleaned and tarred and I put the final-ish coat of concrete repair on the crack. It went further than I thought it would at the end there. I've got about 5lbs of it left. I'm going to clean it up in a day or two after it dries and get the high spots down, mix up the rest and give it as smooth of a final skim coat as I can. I'm not as good at this as my friend's dad is, but it doesn't look bad right now.

I'm beat. There was other things I could have been doing outside to kill time, but I'm just going to shower and maybe clean a little inside now.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus
Since you haul around tons of rocks and do other heavy duty work I'm surprised that tarring a slab side and finishing a crack repair would tire you out. Was it bc it's the kind of work that you have to do bending down? Or am I missing something?

I think being on my knees or my ass is getting to be harder on me than it used to be. I'm much better hauling around heavy loads standing up or using my upper body to do things than I am kneeling or sitting cross legged for too long a time at once.

I've got to do something about building my cardio back up. I haven't really gotten any decent cardio workouts since the last layoff.

I've also felt a little "off" the last week or so. It's been a while since I worked until 9 or 10PM and I'm usually wrapping it up quite a bit earlier. It appears I have an ear infection right now... I woke up with it this morning. We'll see how that's doing tomorrow morning.

Talked to my friend's dad and he's going to come over next week to do the door. I'll have everything I need wrapped up by then with time to go over to my grandma's for a few days and get some work done there over there.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 1:04 PM

Out for my walk on a bright sunny day. Couple of things to do.

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 4:54 PM

Back from my walk and all done for today. Did one of the exercises recommended by the physio and now a little sore.

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 7:04 PM

I was really set on not doing anything today...

I was thinking about possibly doing electric in my shed and up in the attic above the shed and porch, but after re-assessing it and remembering that because of the way the idiots did the work I'm going to have to pull wires so I can take down conduit to cut it shorter and add additional boxes and wire to add slack to the existing lines instead of just installing a light and a switch in 5 minutes, I quickly decided against opening that can of worms right now with everything else going on. Let's not forget it would be over 100 degrees in that attic right now too.

So I sat there outside figuring I'd just go back inside and relax. But then I didn't do that...

I sanded down the slab crack patch and the patch I had over any of the divots in the surface, cleaned everything up really good, and mixed up the last of my patch to give it one final skim coat. Looks freakin' great.

Then I decided that even though the tar will take more time to cure I was going to add that new piece of J-channel and get my bottom two pieces of siding up over the wall repair that I did, but that turned into a much bigger project...

That is the wall that I probably mentioned before had three pieces of siding that were warped. For years I didn't know why it was warped, but my aunt saw it one time and knew it was because somebody was using the grill right next to it and it melted. DUH!

So I looked up high at the back of the garage where I'd cannibalized all the siding I needed to use to wrap up the porch after the new windows and door was installed and I had 3 perfect pieces up there for the job (when does that ever happen???)

Putting up siding from scratch is a one man job. Taking pieces out and putting new pieces back in halfway up a wall is a two man job. So is installing new J-channel underneath a wall that is already sided. I managed to do it all on my own while pushing through a lot of frustration and difficulty.

Except for a 2ft length of J-channel that needs to be replaced on the left side of the shed door, all of the siding on the house is complete now. And I didn't even have to start taking any siding off the side of the garage.

At least there is a layer of siding under the vinyl siding on the back of the garage, so I never had to wrap it up with anything. It's also roughly the same color as the vinyl, so it's not even a major eyesore for the neighbors until I get around to fixing it.

--------------------------------------------------

Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 7:29 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So much for not doing anything, SIX!

A lot of chores today and watering the veggies and avocados bc the heat is just wilting them! But I harvested the very first okra pods today. I also rescued a baby skink (long-tailed lizard) from the bathroom.

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

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Wednesday, August 31, 2022 11:11 PM

Off to mah jong in the morning then a couple of errands.

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Thursday, September 1, 2022 12:55 PM

With friends coming into town to see a concert the next few days, I decided against any more project work today and to do some chores. It hasn't been said that anybody will be meeting up at my place since it's close to me, but that probably will be a thing that happens.

Lawn is mowed, and all of my floor mats were already out to get the sand from the pit beaten out of them so I can properly sweep and vac the floors before putting them back in. Probably got around 6 1/2 hours to get the place presentable and clean myself up.

I do intend to put my anti-mole nets in the trenched out slab and back fill it tomorrow though, along with some other final touches to the shed before we get the new door installed.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Thursday, September 1, 2022 5:02 PM

Back from mah jong and was beat by another lady at the table I was playing at. She finished the morning with over 10,000 points. I had half that at over 5,000 points. One of those days.

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Thursday, September 1, 2022 10:56 PM

All of my buds who were coming out except for one made it.

I'm glad I cleaned the house, although it was just the guys tonight. The families are coming out tomorrow night, so the house will still be clean if they gather here first again. (In fact, if somebody doesn't peek too deep into the basement, this might just be the cleanest the house has ever been).

Good concert. I'm sure the food was amazing. It sure smelled amazing. But Jack doesn't pay $12.00 for cheese fries or a Funnel Cake or $10.00 for a chili dog.

I don't even want to know what they were paying for those little beers, so I didn't ask.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Friday, September 2, 2022 1:02 PM

Out for my walk in a bit. Gotta drop something off at the library and do a couple of other things.

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Friday, September 2, 2022 1:41 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and was beat by another lady at the table I was playing at. She finished the morning with over 10,000 points. I had half that at over 5,000 points. One of those days.

Better luck next time.

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

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Friday, September 2, 2022 1:42 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
All of my buds who were coming out except for one made it.

I'm glad I cleaned the house, although it was just the guys tonight. The families are coming out tomorrow night, so the house will still be clean if they gather here first again. (In fact, if somebody doesn't peek too deep into the basement, this might just be the cleanest the house has ever been).

Good concert. I'm sure the food was amazing. It sure smelled amazing. But Jack doesn't pay $12.00 for cheese fries or a Funnel Cake or $10.00 for a chili dog.

I don't even want to know what they were paying for those little beers, so I didn't ask.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

I'm glad you had a good time, SIX. But concerts sure can be expensive!

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

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Friday, September 2, 2022 4:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from mah jong and was beat by another lady at the table I was playing at. She finished the morning with over 10,000 points. I had half that at over 5,000 points. One of those days.
Better luck next time.

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

You never know.

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Friday, September 2, 2022 4:11 PM

Walk in and movie returned to the library along with a bit of grocery shopping. Suppose to cool down where I am for the weekend. Have to wait and see.

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Friday, September 2, 2022 9:47 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
I'm glad you had a good time, SIX. But concerts sure can be expensive!

It was free. Local thing. I think my friends probably spent $200 on beer and food though.

I can't even imagine what food and drinks are at the Taste of Chicago is these days if it's that much around here.

I got a freebie today. Nobody called me while I was working, so I just pushed on through since the plan turned into a major project with cleaning the crap out of the earth and meticulously grading everything with my garden tools and level before putting any rocks down. I had to pull out my lights for the last half hour to even finish the job.

I've got 2 bags of rocks left. Out of 190.

I was able to get everything set up to where my drain pipe extender from the porch goes out to the driveway, so I was able to finally get that thing back up for hopefully the last time. The rocks actually went a little further than I thought they would, although I'm sure it would be beneficial at some point to "top them off".

Before I even buy any more rock, I'm going to have to remove a lot of that sand in the pit. With no other options for grading since the driveway is higher than the shed slab, I have to grade away from the house the shed/porch and the garage, to a low valley in the center of the sand pit. Once most of the sand is out, I'll put a bunch of pea gravel in the valley and then top off the rocks above that. I guess if that's still an issue down the road I could build a well in the center and have a sump pump put out there to pull out the water.

Honestly, it's such a STUPID design that I'm forced to work with.

I'm going to have to figure out walkways too, and I'll be buying much nicer stones for that than the ugly cinder block patio they used to have in here.

I think that's going to be a project for next year though. I'll get the foundation work all around the sand pit finished and graded, which will just leave the back of the house and the garage, and my plan for the sand pit outlined above for next year.

I'm really happy with how it's turning out.

EDIT: Just realized now I didn't follow up about the friends. I DID end up calling them after I finished after 8. Only one of them was still thinking of going with his wife and their daughter, but when he heard that I wasn't feeling like going and the other two had already bailed he wasn't going to go either.

It was still cool seeing them last night. I was always the guy that got the group together back in the day. I know it's tougher because everybody's got their own thing now, but maybe I can slip back into that role again. We're not all exactly in close proximity these days, but it's nice that we're not super far apart either.

I bet that if I hadn't been so busy and I got on all of their asses early in the day we'd all be listening to a good band right now.

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Saturday, September 3, 2022 1:06 PM

Off to do my laundry in a bit. Lots of clouds, so will need jacket when I get my walk in. Suppose to rain tomorrow.

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Saturday, September 3, 2022 1:36 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Off to do my laundry in a bit. Lots of clouds, so will need jacket when I get my walk in. Suppose to rain tomorrow.

Rainy and cool? Sounds GREAT!!!

Yesterday it was 102F, tomorrow it's back up to 102F, and it will stay between 93F and 103F until next Saturday. We've set our AC to 77-78, and even then it's working overtime. I guess that's what makes SoCal what it is: scrublands.

Made up a new recipe yesterday, it was a variation of my zucchini Parmesan. I guess this would be turkey-cottage cheese-zucchini lasagna. I had one of those "I didn't see it intil now" zucchinis to cook, so I cut it into 1/4" slices, softened them in the mwave and then use them as a base for a layer of cottage cheese, ground turkey cooked with Alfredo sauce mix and fresh basil, topped with a sprinkling of Italian blend shredded cheese and baked for 20 minutes. The family loved it, so now I have an easy healthful recipe to add to my rotation.

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

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Saturday, September 3, 2022 4:51 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Off to do my laundry in a bit. Lots of clouds, so will need jacket when I get my walk in. Suppose to rain tomorrow.
Rainy and cool? Sounds GREAT!!!

Yesterday it was 102F, tomorrow it's back up to 102F, and it will stay between 93F and 103F until next Saturday. We've set our AC to 77-78, and even then it's working overtime. I guess that's what makes SoCal what it is: scrublands.

Made up a new recipe yesterday, it was a variation of my zucchini Parmesan. I guess this would be turkey-cottage cheese-zucchini lasagna. I had one of those "I didn't see it intil now" zucchinis to cook, so I cut it into 1/4" slices, softened them in the mwave and then use them as a base for a layer of cottage cheese, ground turkey cooked with Alfredo sauce mix and fresh basil, topped with a sprinkling of Italian blend shredded cheese and baked for 20 minutes. The family loved it, so now I have an easy healthful recipe to add to my rotation.

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

Cooler today anyways. Sunday is suppose to be rain day unless some arrives tonight.

That sounds good. I haven't eaten a zucchini in years.

My supper tonight will be rice with broccoli mixed into it and a chicken leg.

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Saturday, September 3, 2022 11:35 PM

I didn't end up going to grams to help either...

I'm trying to be more positive about things that usually would annoy me, so I told myself that I've been presented with a new opportunity today.

Had another issue with my car. This time it's been overheating. Of course, I didn't realize it at first, since all of my trips have been local for the last 4 or 5 weeks. But when I'd pull into the garage I'd smell "burning". I mean, the car leaks oil right on to the tailpipe from the top of the engine, so it's always got a scent to it. The other day I checked all my fluids and saw my coolant was low... I'd just filled that to the top about 2 months ago.

I'm glad I thought about it last night and watched some videos and did some research. I learned a lot about the wiring, the fuses, the relays and what not.

Long story short, I went from one Serious Problem to one (hopefully) inconsequential problem. Instead of both of my radiator fans NEVER coming on, now they're ALWAYS on. Fortunately, I've lucked into a well engineered model car that shuts them off when the car is turned off. Some cars will run the fans until the battery dies. I drive so infrequently and so few miles per year, I'm not worried about them. Most people with average driving will use their fans far more in a year than I do even though they're not on until the temp gets over 234 degrees.

In the process, my car codes were reset. Since a faulty temperature sensor is the likely culpret now, this could impact my next emissions, but that's not for another 1.5 years and I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

My aunt and grandma are going to come here for lunch tomorrow now. It was nearing the end of my aunt's vacation and she was kind of relieved that I wasn't coming to do the help this weekend because she's enjoying relaxing before going back anyhow.

So I took a break from pretty much everything else except for errands after that.

And tomorrow except for some extremely light cleaning before they get here, I don't intend to do anything tomorrow either. First full weekend I've had off it what seems like ages.

I did have a good score at Goodwill today with the sale. Got a new pair of Levis and 4 tee shirts for $21. Although black really isn't my color of choice for jeans, I'm not going to pass up a pair of Levis that fit me this well for $6.50. Especially not when it's so hard to luck into 30" length and I usually have to settle for 32".

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Falsus in unum, falsus in omnibus

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Sunday, September 4, 2022 2:07 PM