In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, June 8, 2026 04:56
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VIEWED: 277148
PAGE 149 of 149

Sunday, June 7, 2026 12:10 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Looking good SIX. That light switch you showed you can find them up here all over the place but mostly in newer buildings.

Oh, really? They're probably in newer buildings here too then. I know that under-the-cabinet lighting has become the new thing, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this type of stuff built into the new houses.

My solution is going to be quite a bit different. The one benefit those switches have is that they'd be under the cabinets in the hollow space where you wouldn't normally see them. There's nowhere I can put my switch that will be hidden. So I've just bought a plastic junction box that I'll need to screw a hole into the back side for the electric that I'll be sticking out of the wall for it. Even found me a nice white metal cover, unopened, that has the wide rectangle opening for a paddle switch. I'll paint both the box and the cover. I'm not going to paint the paddle switch.

You're only going to have about a 1" clearance for your fingers on that switch when it's done. The paddle will end up very close to the wall. So not exactly hidden, but I figure if I paint it the same lighter grey as the walls that it should blend in nicely and not look so much like a part of the cabinet as it would if I painted it the darker grey that I used on the cabinets.

This is all going to work. I just need to do it now is all.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

I'm sure they are. I've seen them in numerous new buildings or buildings that have had some remodeling done. When my boss and her husband added a shower to the basement bathroom, they put in paddle switches. Every where else in the house has toggle switches.

You definitely are the man with a plan.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 12:43 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Oh... were you just talking about the paddle switches themselves, Brenda?

I thought you meant the whole $60 aluminum enclosure that I wasn't going to pay that much for.

Oh yeah... I LOVE those paddle switches. I even have two that still glow faintly orange in the dark with a little LED they've got in there for the master bedroom and the bathroom switches. Installed them way over 10 years ago and nice to see they still light up like that.

I even spring the extra money for the "screwless" plates. They're two parts. The part underneath is where you screw the screws into the outlet, and then the other piece is just flat and snaps in over the switch. Then I also make sure all my plug outlets are the big single rounded rectangles instead of two separate circles, so they all fit in the same plates and they all look the same.

We had paddles in my grandma and grandpa's trailer at one of those Yogi Bear parks when I was a kid, and I'd never seen them anywhere else back then.

Not every switch in my house is a paddle switch. Just the rooms I've finished. Eventually they all will be.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 1:34 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Did you ever take care of your photos, Brenda?

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 1:44 PM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh... were you just talking about the paddle switches themselves, Brenda?

I thought you meant the whole $60 aluminum enclosure that I wasn't going to pay that much for.

Oh yeah... I LOVE those paddle switches. I even have two that still glow faintly orange in the dark with a little LED they've got in there for the master bedroom and the bathroom switches. Installed them way over 10 years ago and nice to see they still light up like that.

I even spring the extra money for the "screwless" plates. They're two parts. The part underneath is where you screw the screws into the outlet, and then the other piece is just flat and snaps in over the switch. Then I also make sure all my plug outlets are the big single rounded rectangles instead of two separate circles, so they all fit in the same plates and they all look the same.

We had paddles in my grandma and grandpa's trailer at one of those Yogi Bear parks when I was a kid, and I'd never seen them anywhere else back then.

Not every switch in my house is a paddle switch. Just the rooms I've finished. Eventually they all will be.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

I was talking just about the paddle switches.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 1:47 PM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Did you ever take care of your photos, Brenda?

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

I tried last week but my right hand was shaking badly, then I screwed up something, then on top of that I couldn't remember how to get into my USB stick. So, I have given up for a bit.

Also have make my instructions into one cohesive thing that I can understand. My instructions are on several pieces of paper and that confuses me.

Hopefully, I will get up the courage to try again and just hope I didn't screw up my book either.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 1:48 PM

BRENDA

Lazy and a musical Sunday around me.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 3:44 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

You shouldn't worry about having screwed up your book. The only thing you could have done to it is delete it, but that would have to be a very unfortunate random sequents of button presses to get that to happen.

And even if it did, you've got a backup.

Let me know if you need any help.

I think I just finally finished moving my millions and millions of files around today.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 6:34 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Got all my electric stuff now, but I'm going to get a length of flex conduit tomorrow. I really don't think that I have enough on hand for the job and I don't want to be stuck in the middle of the job wishing I had more.

No way around it, I'm going to have to make some kleets on the wall to help keep the cabinet in position. I might get away without having to do that on the medicine cabinet since it's light and there is so much wood everywhere to screw into where that's going, but there's zero chance I still have it in me to be holding that thing up against the wall with one hand while trying to screw it in with the other.

I'm going to need to build the "skeleton" of the electric before I affix anything to the wall too, so it's not like I can just do one box and move on or wait until later to get the flex. I don't want to mess with the integrity of the wall at all, so all the knockouts have to be knocked out while it's not in the wall, and I don't want to be trying to add flex attachments to the thing while it's attached to the wall either, if that's even possible. So until all the wiring is done and I've had a chance to test that it all works, everything is just hanging where it lies. Only then do I attach the two boxes to the drywall.

I gotta get in there with some painters tape and start marking off some measurements with it. I still have no idea how high I need to go with any of this. I can't be cutting out holes for electric until I know all of that to the 1/8".

At least I know what I'm doing now thanks to this video:

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 7:12 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Beautiful. 64GB version is done. I still have to verify that all the files are good, which is easy enough to do since I mirrored the build as I was going along. Should be able to just set and forget that for a few hours. Looks like a burn takes only about 25 minutes to fit on a device that costs about $3 today.

I think I'm kind of... done.

Huh...

I wonder what I'm going to do with all of that free time now.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 9:51 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Took some time out to go to a Greek festival this year.

Food!
Music!
Dancing!
Beer and wine!

OPA!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 10:07 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I'll tell you what...

When somebody talks about the Mandela Effect, I've always shot it down and almost always have figured out a way to explain how so many people could have been swayed over time to believe something was different than it actually was.

But after this bathroom I'm going to have to double down on that...

Taking a tape out and making real measurements earlier today made me realize that when it comes to trying to visualize all of the things in my mind when I'm not looking at any of them, I'm absolute shit at it. I've been spending a crazy amount of time in that room and looking at that wall compared to any other time I'm not working on it, and I'm amazed at how much more room I have on that wall above the toilet than I thought I did.

My biggest concern was that I'd have to hang the toilet cab so low that the top of that decorative shelf would be just plain stupid there underneath it if it's going to be high enough where there's no danger of the hand towels touching the top of the tank.

Being conservative, after tile my wall will still be at least 94" tall.

The toilet I'm looking at is 20" inches for the bowl.

*And not nearly as expensive as I imagined either... Guess the old man was right.

But the tank is a little higher. Nearly 34".

So we've still got 60" to play with.

I'm sure there are shorter hand towels out there, but mine are the standard sized and are about 13" on either side when hung.

There are 6" from the top of the towel rack to the top of the sides of the decorative shelf.

If I went 15" for the top of the towel rack above the 34" tank, that means the top of that shelf is 55".

Still got 39" to play with, and the box itself is 30" tall.

Boy... A 20" tall toilet bowl. That had to be what my grandma was rocking the last decade or so. I loved that thing. My old man seems to think his is just as tall as hers was, but he's told me that his is only 17", and I can't believe hers was only 2" taller than mine is now. If 20" is taller than my grandma's was, I'm going to be in heaven when I finally get this done.

I'm a short person. My old man who is very much not a short person must have HATED taking a crap here when he spent the night a few nights on this rinky dink 15" tall seat made for Hobbits.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 10:26 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I'm so used to a taller seat, when I have to use a standard seat I can't believe how much farther down it is! I start to think "Well, surely I'm about to touch down" and find I've got another 3" to go.

My knees... they hate it!

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 11:06 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm so used to a taller seat, when I have to use a standard seat I can't believe how much farther down it is! I start to think "Well, surely I'm about to touch down" and find I've got another 3" to go.

My knees... they hate it!

How tall is yours then? You've got the 20" tall boy? Or just the 17" that is considered the minimum standard for the health standard? If it's 20", you must love that, huh?

I've never pooped on my old man's toilet since he did the remodel, but I don't have any memory of it being large like my grandma's. 17" from 15"is only a 2" difference. I can't imagine that's going to be what I'm looking for. 20" and I'll barely have to lean back and I'm already in it.

Unfortunately, this means that the days of me being able to have Robert Reich over for dinner will be no more unless I also invest in a step-stool.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 11:17 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I've only ever bought towels of any kind once in my life when I moved into my first apartment, so I got no clue about these things.

Looks like Finger Towel was the search term I needed. They're only 18" long instead of 24", which means I get an extra 3" to lower that shelf with them, vs. what I have today.

I think I'm going to treat myself to either a 4 or 6 pack of them. My old green towels would look kind of dumb in there anyway after all that work. I'm not going to be buying a bunch of full sized towels though. I've got a ton of them in great shape. If people are coming over I don't need to have it up anyway.

That should be good. Because the standard height for the bottom of your wall cabinets is 54" off the ground. And that's exactly where I have the top of the decorative edge of the towel rack/shelf now, considering clearance for towels that are 24+" long.

I won't be bringing it down to 54" still, but even in kitchens people raise the top cabinets another 2 to 4 inches above 54" all the time, either to fit larger appliances or because they are taller people.

But I think 56-57" will be good for the bottom of the cabinet and still give the top of the shelf for the towel bar a purpose for existing underneath it. It'll have about 6" to itself. I'll be reaching for my beard trimmer, but I already did that with that tiny crappy ikea shelf I had installed a few feet above the light switch on the right of the old medicine cabinet. I'll just be reaching left instead of right.

I don't know what anybody else would do with it, but I think all I'm going to do is go through all of those seashells I've collected in my life since my mom brought a bunch back for us when she was walking on the west-coast beaches during a work trip when we were kids. I've got some really nice looking ones. One of my uncles had a few really nice looking ones that I took from my grandma's house before it was sold too.

I'll pick the best 3 of the bunch and put them above the toilet and see how many people get the joke.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Sunday, June 7, 2026 11:34 PM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You shouldn't worry about having screwed up your book. The only thing you could have done to it is delete it, but that would have to be a very unfortunate random sequents of button presses to get that to happen.

And even if it did, you've got a backup.

Let me know if you need any help.

I think I just finally finished moving my millions and millions of files around today.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

Thanks I will let you. I just need my nerves to allow me to try again is all.

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Monday, June 8, 2026 12:29 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm so used to a taller seat, when I have to use a standard seat I can't believe how much farther down it is! I start to think "Well, surely I'm about to touch down" and find I've got another 3" to go.

My knees... they hate it!

How tall is yours then? You've got the 20" tall boy? Or just the 17" that is considered the minimum standard for the health standard? If it's 20", you must love that, huh?

I've never pooped on my old man's toilet since he did the remodel, but I don't have any memory of it being large like my grandma's. 17" from 15"is only a 2" difference. I can't imagine that's going to be what I'm looking for. 20" and I'll barely have to lean back and I'm already in it.

Unfortunately, this means that the days of me being able to have Robert Reich over for dinner will be no more unless I also invest in a step-stool.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

I had to go measure. At the time, these were primo low flow ADA compliant at 17". They're still ADA compliant, minimally, since that's 17-19".

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

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Monday, June 8, 2026 1:03 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm so used to a taller seat, when I have to use a standard seat I can't believe how much farther down it is! I start to think "Well, surely I'm about to touch down" and find I've got another 3" to go.

My knees... they hate it!

How tall is yours then? You've got the 20" tall boy? Or just the 17" that is considered the minimum standard for the health standard? If it's 20", you must love that, huh?

I've never pooped on my old man's toilet since he did the remodel, but I don't have any memory of it being large like my grandma's. 17" from 15"is only a 2" difference. I can't imagine that's going to be what I'm looking for. 20" and I'll barely have to lean back and I'm already in it.

Unfortunately, this means that the days of me being able to have Robert Reich over for dinner will be no more unless I also invest in a step-stool.

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

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
I had to go measure. At the time, these were primo low flow ADA compliant at 17". They're still ADA compliant, minimally, since that's 17-19".

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

See? That's what I mean. My dad thought his was as tall as my grandma's too, but I know hers was taller than 17". It might not have been 20" like the one I'm looking at, but it was probably on the higher end of that ADA minimum requirement.

That two inches alone though must really seal the deal though, because I'm sure that this 15 incher is by far the shortest one I've ever sat on, and I've had some really crappy apartments in my time.

The one I'm looking at is termed "Extra Tall", if that helps.

And yes... I did just finally find the real specs for it, and the top of the tank is indeed 33.75".

I won't be wasting any space on that wall.

I just hope maybe I'm not overdoing it with 20. I should probably stack some books or something on it and sit down and see what the action would be like 5" higher.

2 or 3" sounds trivial, but if 2" already makes that huge a difference, another 3 might make me wish I went shorter. There's probably a reason why everyone doesn't have a 20 inch bowl on their toilets. It's twice the price of what I could by another small one at Costco for, but at the same store it's really only like $30 more than a 17" model with comparable specs.

If everybody's putting in 17" bowls just to save $30 on a one time purchase, they might really be screwing themselves over.

But maybe I'd better check to see that my legs won't be dangling off of a seat on top of a 20" bowl.

I think I would hate a toilet that felt like a barstool more than the one that's designed for Warwick Davis.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Monday, June 8, 2026 2:20 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Hmmmmmm....

Looking at how far I need to go with two whips, I don't believe I needed to buy all that flex. There's a pretty good chance that I have just enough to get the job done already. Oh well... I got it for a good price, and I know I'll be using it all up down the road if I don't use it in the bathroom.

Especially now that I learned something new about flex. I was always told that you couldn't run lengths of flex over 6 feet long or you'd fail an inspection. This is not true. You just need to add an extra wire for ground, make sure everything is properly grounded, and secure the line within a foot from the box and every 4.5 feet after that. Then there's theoretically no maximum length.

Well holy crap. That makes my sump pump electric job a lot easier than I was going to make it out to be.

I still have hard pipe I want to use up and I will be using that for straight runs and wherever it's easy, but the fact that I can just flex pipe it all up if I wanted to makes me not sweat some of the jank that's kept me from doing the work up until now.

If I tap into that new flex for the bathroom even just a little, I'll call that money spent on the bathroom. If not, it won't be making that invoice.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Monday, June 8, 2026 3:05 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

I love it when a plan comes together.

...

Tentatively, at least.

Won't really know until I figure out if I really want to go with a 20" tall bowl.

But check this out (open in new tab for full screen if you can't read it here).

Do you think I could go a little higher than just under 6.5 feet for the door knobs? (If I have to guess, it's 74" or just two inches shy of 6.5 feet for the knobs in that picture).

Since I'll still have 8" clearance up top, I figure if I could move everything up even a little more that I could probably fit any regular sized 24"-25" hand towel or just have more than 2" of clearance above the top of the tank using the finger tip towels.

What do you both think, considering your own ability to reach for things? Is over 6.5 feet too high?

ETA: Oh right... The depth of the cabinet matters when asking that question. Both the shelf and the cabinet are just about 6" deep. Nothing protruding too far from the wall so it's not like you'll be burying things on that top shelf that you can't ever reach without standing on the toilet seat.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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Monday, June 8, 2026 4:56 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK

Holy crap...

I think I'm really done.

For the first time in nearly 2 years straight, I have nothing in particular I want to work on with my computer project.

Like I said, this is work that could be done forever, but something happened a few years back that allowed one definitive break-off point for me where everything was usually nebulous, and I spent the last 2 years designing and documenting this in such a way where I could break off completely from working on it, but also come back to it whenever I wanted and not worry about knowing where I left off in every aspect.

And getting those large clones made was the final definitive endpoint for me. That was closure. Doing that all over again would take several weeks and a ton of downtime, and that's nothing I look forward to doing ever again, to be honest. I'd probably never do it again unless I had another year or two of work put into it first.

Anything I do now while making adjustments for my own personal use may one day be added in a new build I work on, but for right now I did everything I was ever aiming to do when I started this work over 20 years ago.

And if my computer ever blows up and I lose what I've created, I've got it all backed up in 3 places here as well as remotely and it's easy to recreate in about 6 hours time on a new $120 hard drive.

Feels good.

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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

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USER	POST DATE
SIGNYM	06.08 00:29
6ixStringJack	06.08 01:03
6ixStringJack	06.08 02:20
6ixStringJack	06.08 03:05
6ixStringJack	06.08 04:56