REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

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

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, July 2, 2026 01:50
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PAGE 153 of 153

Monday, June 29, 2026 6:33 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
They're only doing greenwaste bins bc they're running out of landfill space, I kid you not! They truck it to these big commercial composting operations, and just to incentivize people to use them, we get them for free, no monthly fee.
Eat your heart out!


Wow. Who was responsible for some common sense legislation in your neck of California? I didn't know they built them that way on the West Coast. They're a keeper.

Quote:
Yeah. No kidding¡
Do you get the idea he was picking up house and garage debris too?
In any case, it sounds like a well- coordinated response.
I still can't imagine a storm that fierce. I've never experienced anything like that. It almost sounds ominous.


I don't know. I'm certain that truck was capable of helping out with that work if they wanted to. It depends on what their focus was. There were so many trees down everywhere that I'm sure the two of those truck drivers could have had their hands full all week and still not come anywhere close to having it all done. There might have been several pairs of those guys all around my city and even in the other cities that got hit all at once without even factoring in people doing the houses. I would think that the fallen houses would probably be left for later, after the insurance companies came out to assess the damage first.

Yeah. I can't say I'm displeased at all.

There were 3 times as many houses without power in Illinois just a month or so ago when my Dad lost power for 3 days, but I think we were probably just hit way harder in a much smaller radius. I really think that a lot of the wait time was cutting down trees. I did notice that several hours before the power went on by us, they did have trucks coming by and people checking out everybody's houses. I think that was probably one last sweep that they were doing to check the power lines in case somebody was really sleeping our out-of-town and didn't report any line/tree issues by them. That's when I got them to re-anchor that power cable to the side of my house for free.


Yeah... It was so quick, but it was devastating. I can't imagine the whole episode was more than 5 minutes long from my perspective. It rained for a few hours afterward, but it was all calm after that brutal front left as quickly as it came.

Thank god that whole tree didn't fall on me this time and I really hope I put the fear in my neighbors to finally get it taken down before the next big storm. I hated saying what had to be said, but I've hated resenting them for that damn thing for all this time too. He seems cool, but he says his wife is pissed. That sucks, but they'd be a lot more pissed next year when that tree falls on me and they're being sued.

But if you look at the damage on both the street west of me and that east of me, it was as if Moses parted the sea on my block and it went around us on both sides. We had two roofs crashed in houses behind us and all those downed power lines and about 30 trees was just one block in front of us. I just found out the guy directly two blocks behind me who came and mowed my front lawn with his rider mower when I let it get too long last year had a tree fall on his house. Miraculously, it looks like there wasn't much more than some shingle and gutter damage.

I don't scare easy, but I was upstairs when that hail started coming down and you could hear all the booms going on outside. This one really had me worried there for a minute, especially when part of that tree slapped hard against my window with a force that still leaves me in awe that I didn't have a single broken window. It just sucks that all 3 of my windows on that side of the house have tears in the screens, when 5 days ago only the basement window did.


Quote:
Oh gosh no, no lawn clippings. Sorry to say I'm catching up on months and years of yardwork. My front yard has been in the process of being re-landscaped to a low water version since before I got sick, and without a lawn weeds just take off and grow pretty tall. Bc around here, if you water it, it grows 24/7/364.
I'm sure my neighbors hate me.


To be fair, about 1/2 of my bin and bag usage this week was cleaning up about 2 prior years of pure neglect outside of mowing. I was already out there, filthy and wet. Might as well get it all done while I'm fully committed to it. My inner thighs are still on fire this morning though.

Quote:
But, to be fair to me, half of that was pine needles. The Canary Island pines that I planted cast the shade I was hoping for, I just didn't realize they came with so many needles!


Pine needles??? Oh... That's why there's no clippings. You don't have any grass.

Quote:
Hahaha! I wish!
You accomplish more in an hour than I do in a week!
I'm following along with your home repair and renovation and decluttering and landscaping and emergency preparation and honestly I'm in awe.


Bah. I'm pretty slow, but I'm thorough. I'm running out of time before I need to be finding a job that I don't absolutely hate, so I'm trying to get some pretty big things done before I do that. Two of those things should really help out in the future with storms. I really think my generator can probably power a TV, a computer and my internet along with teh sump and fridge, so next time this happens I might be out of power in style.



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

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

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Monday, June 29, 2026 1:15 PM

BRENDA


Out soon for groceries and other things.

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Monday, June 29, 2026 4:14 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I think I'm taking that day off, Sigs.

Every time I try to get up to do something, my inner thighs remind me why I'm not going to feel bad about chilling for a day or two while it's over 100 outside.


I might hang that shelf later if I feel like it. I think I was initially planning on doing that 6 or so days ago by now.

I've got a lot to clean up, re-org and throw away too at this point. Even more once I get my contact paper down everywhere I want it to protect the painted surfaces. Not that I can throw anything else away until trash day.

I already bought 4 more of these really nice plastic trays with rubber feet and lightly ribbed rubber padding on the inside bottom, and another cat litter tray for under the plumbing like I did with 2 of them in the kitchen sink cabinet to hold all the cleaning supplies that weren't in the bathroom.

Got some cleanup to get to in the basement too. Nothing serious, but I've got to get everything off one set of horses down there so I can pull out all the plastic that I had protecting the tile from paint drops because there's water between the plastic and the tiles now on about half of it, and I don't want any of that getting gross when it doesn't need to. If I'm going to do anything today, that's probably what should be getting done.

Nothing was on the floor that shouldn't have been, so only saw horse legs and the legs of all the shelving units I built even had any contact with the small amount in the living area. The only casualty was a deck of playing cards a friend got from Vegas with a hole punched through the entire deck. I don't even know how it got down there and it must have fallen behind and onto to the floor while I was digging for something I needed on that shelf. Oh well... I still have 2 or 3 more somewhere.

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

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

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Monday, June 29, 2026 6:13 PM

BRENDA


All done, all done, all done for today.

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Monday, June 29, 2026 9:04 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Did nothing today of consequence, except for catch up a bit more on sleep.

Looks like the water in the basement isn't causing any problems yet under that plastic. I'll probably just do all that tomorrow. I need to be up and about anyhow since I should have the cable guy coming to fix that downed line that somehow still miraculously works.

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

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

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Monday, June 29, 2026 11:33 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Stay safe SIX. Oh and your neighbor is a dick.


I didn't miss this message from you Brenda, it just appears that I never replied. Sorry about that.

We're safe. Especially now. Just have to stay out of the heat for the next 4 or 5 days or so as much as possible is all now.



Did I truly paint my neighbor out to be a dick?

If I did that, I promise it is out of frustration.


Though there are two things I've held them in resentment for, which is the tree and being suckered into voting for a massive property tax increase for the local schools on an non-presidential primary where nobody votes and nobody knew that was even on the voting table. They were told it would raise our taxes $20 or $30 per year. It raised theirs about $200 and and mine close to $300 per year.

But overall they've been decent neighbors. The third thing that always bothered me is how lousy they took care of their lawn, but they've been paying a crew to do it this year and it usually looks better than mine now.

We hang out sometimes. I'm sure we'd hang out more if I tried being more friendly than I am, but when we do get together it's not a bad time.


I'd just had it when I saw all of that tree still against my house 2 days later without an attempt from them to move it or even a "sorry".

Maybe they still believe that it's on both of our properties, I don't know. It's not. I let them know it's not 4 or 5 years ago now. I would think that if they haven't looked into it themselves that it would behoove them to do so now.



And really, I can't be too mad about it... most people aren't empaths, nor do they even go about their day exercising a shred of empathy for other people since they're so wrapped up in their own little world. It's not their gutter that gets clogged up twice a year to the point of uselessness... and even if it were, they haven't had 2% of the water issues inside their house as I've had since I've been here. I might see their gutters cleaned out about once every 5 years because it isn't a big deal to them.

The seeds don't fall on their house or lawn, the tiny little leaves that the leaf blowers don't work on do not fall onto their yard or their gutters, and every time a limb falls off of it, it's either on my house or in my yard. They pulled two piddly ass branches to the curb compared to the 15% to 20% of the whole tree I had to get out of mine.

The tree isn't looking like it's bending 20% toward their house when the storms come in. It's always doing that to me.

I just had to let them know what's going to happen if that thing falls on me. It's so tall and so thick that there's zero chance it wouldn't absolutely flatten my entire house if it did.



I'm just hoping they do what's right now that they know the stakes. I don't want to make an enemy out of them.



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

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 12:14 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Just OOC do you know what kind of tree it is?

It sounds kind of weak- wooded, but maybe just thinning it would help.

-----------

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 1:50 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Just OOC do you know what kind of tree it is?

It sounds kind of weak- wooded, but maybe just thinning it would help.


It's an Elm tree, which is all I know for certain. Trunk goes straight to the sky like a lighthouse, and the limbs don't start until it's quite a bit up there. They begin well over the roof of my neighbor's house. Mine is taller... I would have to actually go outside during the daylight and look again to tell you whether or not they start above my much taller house as well, but I'm almost absolutely sure that they start way higher than my roof. I'm just not as confident about these "eye witness" accounts of mine after misremembering a few things in the bathroom when talking about or diagramming them here.

From what I can see online, there is little help unless I knew exactly what species. It could very likely be American Elm, which is supposed to be very strong wood and ideal for suburban planning. But there are other species that do have weak wood too.

I don't think that the fact a tree bends is necessarily a bad thing. I've never seen anything on their tree that made me imminently worried about anything like both of the trees I got cut down had been showing me. No dead branches. No obscene carpenter ant activity on or around them. No squirrels popping in and out of holes that shouldn't be there. No obviously dying limbs anywhere without leaves on them.


Like, to give you the idea of the type of tree, I'm sure whoever cuts this one is going to be mighty happy with the money they're going to get on the side because unlike either of my two gnarled and dying trees, I'm sure they could turn this one into a telephone pole if they wanted to. Somebody is getting options for some really long lumber here, and it wouldn't surprise me with the price of wood these days if the tree place makes 50% or more just selling that to somebody else on the side.

I learned quite a bit about the side deals they had going on that helped keep the price of the jobs reasonable just from bullshitting with the owner when he came by with tamales for his crew and offered me a few. He said they'd get something for mine, but it probably wasn't going to be all that much after the costs for hauling it out and disposing of all the useless stuff. But he said they had all that figured in their percentages and they don't win them all. What little there was to use of mine would probably be turned into pallets or something.

And I didn't disbelieve that, since I still have pictures of how hollowed out a good deal of both of them were. And even though I got same-day service because both of his crews found that it was too early in a very wet spring to do other houses that had more difficult situations to work around, I know that saved him money for a totally busted day, but I'm sure he wasn't planning on having to pay his entire team just do do the one job in about 6 hours after losing 2 or 3 earlier in the day.

I really don't think they ended up making a lot of money on my job. He may have actually lost some, but he didn't strike me as the type of guy who was going to bitch about that to a customer and he had a firm grip on his business and my job probably salvaged the day.

But it really sounds to me like I lucked out and benefited from their system.


I remember my mom and stepdad having a tree cut down maybe 5 years earlier and it cost them over $4 grand. I know part of that is because they were in Illinois and that's just inevitable, but I'm POSITIVE they went with the crew that promised the least amount of damage possible and 100% cleanup of everything. (I had a quote that was almost twice as much, but I'm sure I would have been a lot happier with the way the lawn looked after they left). But the biggest cost I'm sure was the location. It was a tall and straight tree like that elm, and it had nowhere to go. They said the two guys they had working up there on ropes were like monkeys going limb from limb. Sounds like they paid for a show too.


ETA: ALL Elms give off "samaras", which I always just called seed pods. They're little floating discs that have the pod in the center. Evil little bastards always clog up the gutters. If you don't have clear gutters already, they'll plaster themselves all over whatever sticks or leaves are up there starting a dam and will just completely seal it off. They render the foam gutter guards useless and even turn them into a liability almost immediately.

Looks like they all have those small leaves, though some are smooth and others are rough. Might be a way to narrow it down a bit.

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

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 12:47 PM

BRENDA


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Stay safe SIX. Oh and your neighbor is a dick.


I didn't miss this message from you Brenda, it just appears that I never replied. Sorry about that.

We're safe. Especially now. Just have to stay out of the heat for the next 4 or 5 days or so as much as possible is all now.



Did I truly paint my neighbor out to be a dick?

If I did that, I promise it is out of frustration.


Though there are two things I've held them in resentment for, which is the tree and being suckered into voting for a massive property tax increase for the local schools on an non-presidential primary where nobody votes and nobody knew that was even on the voting table. They were told it would raise our taxes $20 or $30 per year. It raised theirs about $200 and and mine close to $300 per year.

But overall they've been decent neighbors. The third thing that always bothered me is how lousy they took care of their lawn, but they've been paying a crew to do it this year and it usually looks better than mine now.

We hang out sometimes. I'm sure we'd hang out more if I tried being more friendly than I am, but when we do get together it's not a bad time.


I'd just had it when I saw all of that tree still against my house 2 days later without an attempt from them to move it or even a "sorry".

Maybe they still believe that it's on both of our properties, I don't know. It's not. I let them know it's not 4 or 5 years ago now. I would think that if they haven't looked into it themselves that it would behoove them to do so now.



And really, I can't be too mad about it... most people aren't empaths, nor do they even go about their day exercising a shred of empathy for other people since they're so wrapped up in their own little world. It's not their gutter that gets clogged up twice a year to the point of uselessness... and even if it were, they haven't had 2% of the water issues inside their house as I've had since I've been here. I might see their gutters cleaned out about once every 5 years because it isn't a big deal to them.

The seeds don't fall on their house or lawn, the tiny little leaves that the leaf blowers don't work on do not fall onto their yard or their gutters, and every time a limb falls off of it, it's either on my house or in my yard. They pulled two piddly ass branches to the curb compared to the 15% to 20% of the whole tree I had to get out of mine.

The tree isn't looking like it's bending 20% toward their house when the storms come in. It's always doing that to me.

I just had to let them know what's going to happen if that thing falls on me. It's so tall and so thick that there's zero chance it wouldn't absolutely flatten my entire house if it did.



I'm just hoping they do what's right now that they know the stakes. I don't want to make an enemy out of them.



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

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


No worries. With these storms blowing you've got a lot on your mind. Yeah, bad heat isn't good either. Lots of water, sun blocker if you have to be out for anything real length of time.

Maybe I took what you wrote the wrong way too.

Frustration with neighbours can happen.

Sometimes people don't think when they vote.

And trees always seem to be a problem between neighbours. It's mostly because of the roots I would guess and how strong they are in the ground. If the dirt becomes loose then the tree will lean one way or the other. They will have to cut down what is left and dig up the roots. Depending how much of the root system went on to your property you may have to do some digging as well.

Yup, just not thinking. That happens a lot.

I hope they do to and do the reasonable stuff. I doubt you'll turn into the Hatfields and the McCoys.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 12:49 PM

BRENDA


Out and about in a bit. Gotta meet my boss in the local mall and straighten something out that she forgot about last Tuesday and I just remembered last night.

Other things to do as well.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 1:07 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


LIKE THIS?

AMERICAN ELM







Wow, they have a HUGE crown. Casts a lot of shade, but also offers a lot of wind resistance. They take being pruned, but only in winter. Seems like a good pruning to thin out the canopy and narrow it out would solve the potential hazard, but it doesn't solve your leaf and seed- litter problem. And given how ginormous that crown is, that's a big problem!

Yanno, if your neighbors really want to keep that tree they should pay to have your gutters cleaned and your lawn raked once or twice a year.


-----------

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 4:48 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Yardwork for 2 1/2 hours today bc the weather is cool and cloudy. Supposed yo be almost as good tomorrow but warming up after that so I won't be spending so much time and I'll have to get out pretty early.

Still, looking forward to making progress!

-----------

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 5:11 PM

BRENDA


Done for today in the clouds. Still sitting at around 70F.

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 11:09 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
LIKE THIS?

AMERICAN ELM



Yeah.... erm... No. I mean, kinda. That's why it's so hard to decide what it would be. Maybe if I had a book with examples of all the different kinds right next to each other I could pick it out in a lineup.

That's what the leaves and seeds look like. But that crown looks much more like my remaining Silver Maple than it does their Elm. I would imagine their trunk goes quite a bit higher before you even get the first large limbs showing up, and it didn't really split like that into thick branches out the top with a wide crown.

If the elm in the picture were a paddle ball racquet, my neighbor's elm would be a Tootsie Pop.


Quote:
Wow, they have a HUGE crown. Casts a lot of shade, but also offers a lot of wind resistance. They take being pruned, but only in winter. Seems like a good pruning to thin out the canopy and narrow it out would solve the potential hazard, but it doesn't solve your leaf and seed- litter problem. And given how ginormous that crown is, that's a big problem!

Yanno, if your neighbors really want to keep that tree they should pay to have your gutters cleaned and your lawn raked once or twice a year.


My neighbors hardly do anything regarding regular maintenance outside beyond mowing. There's no way they're paying somebody to prune that thing, let alone paying to have my lawn taken care of.

They've got money. They're not engineers or anything, but they've both got good jobs and they've paid other people to remodel everything in their house, including tearing down an entire wall between their living room and kitchen and installing the island and dining area where the wall used to be.

I paid my $2,750 to get rid of my tree problem. I think they can swing it.

Up until the other day that tree has never been a problem for them. Because it's only a problem for me and I just take care of it.

Now they know what the stakes are. Not that I desire it, but they're probably losing sleep over that as we speak. My hope is that they just finally cut that thing down and look at it like taking out their own insurance policy.


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

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

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Tuesday, June 30, 2026 11:19 PM

BRENDA


yay. Someone around me is cooking onions. Yuck!

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 2:32 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


A little late at night to be cooking onions, ain't it?

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

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 1:26 PM

BRENDA


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
A little late at night to be cooking onions, ain't it?

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

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


They do that here. Doesn't matter if they aren't suppose to. They do it. They started at around 7:30 pm, my time. No fun.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 1:29 PM

BRENDA


Out soon on a nice Canada day. Going to buy an air fryer hopefully. I found them on sale.

So, I have to do that first as they are heavy then go back out to get other things done.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 4:52 PM

BRENDA


Back and done with air fryer. Tired now and so are hands.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 4:59 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
A little late at night to be cooking onions, ain't it?

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

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


They do that here. Doesn't matter if they aren't suppose to. They do it. They started at around 7:30 pm, my time. No fun.


Aren't supposed to?
Is there some kind of cooking restriction in your building?

-----------

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 5:13 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


"A little late to be cooking onions", says the guy who will be painting shelves at 3AM.

Don't mind me...

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

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 5:19 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


If I don't talk myself out of it, I do believe I'll be hanging that shelf today. Got my anchors and screws ready. Already cut out the contact paper for the surface once it's installed. Put contact paper on the 2 solid shelves on the over-toilet cab and will put the last piece on that for the floating shelf once I go out into my 200 degree garage and get the pegs for the height of the shelf off my work bench.

While I've got that contact paper out, I really should do the insides of the vanity and all the drawers in there too.

When I was going through my big tote of various things I pre-bought for the house when they were on sale, I found an entirely new roll of that white contact paper I'd used for the kitchen cabs and drawers and my curio cabinet and some other things. I didn't remember still having a full one, and knowing me I would usually have returned it. I appreciate the fact that Jack from 3 or 4 years ago knew I'd have further need for it eventually and kept it on hand. There wasn't much left of my old scrap that was useful from the looks of it, and this roll will be plenty for anything I do in here. I'll probably have enough leftover for whatever I eventually do in the bathroom downstairs since there won't be a vanity and it's just a pedestal sink.



That'll be nice. If I get all this done tonight, I can clean up a LOT of stuff and start reorganizing things I no longer need upstairs. Maybe until the heat dies down I'll just focus on doing a little dehoarding after that. Not that I'm going to have any real space for new trash until after pickup day next week, but no reason not to start making piles of stuff to get rid of. Most of that would be going to goodwill anyhow.

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

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 5:20 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I think you're under a heat done, SIX. AFAIK it extends all the way to DC.
Welcome to global climate change!

I think it was way back in late April we had summer for three weeks. Now, we're having spring. AM temperatures are very comfortable so I've been getting out before noon to do yardwork in the front yard, which is usually sunny that time of day, and yesterday eas DO cloudy and cool I managed to clock in over 2 hours, and fill up one of those ginormous greenwaste bins with weeds and grasses. Too bad I forgot to take "before" puctures!

Today shifting the yardwork to the afternoon just bc I got tired of yardwork first thing in the AM. My mission today: pruning. Gonna try out my new pole saw! And this time I won't forget to take pix.

Tomorrow, all being well, gonna round up dear daughter for some afternoon backyard work. She'll be weed whacking while I start prepping the yard for a professional cleanup and tree trimming/ removal.



-----------

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 5:23 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Hey hey, SIX!

PIX or it hasn't happened!


-----------

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 5:37 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think you're under a heat done, SIX. AFAIK it extends all the way to DC.
Welcome to global climate change!

I think it was way back in late April we had summer for three weeks. Now, we're having spring. AM temperatures are very comfortable so I've been getting out before noon to do yardwork in the front yard, which is usually sunny that time of day, and yesterday eas DO cloudy and cool I managed to clock in over 2 hours, and fill up one of those ginormous greenwaste bins with weeds and grasses. Too bad I forgot to take "before" puctures!

Today shifting the yardwork to the afternoon just bc I got tired of yardwork first thing in the AM. My mission today: pruning. Gonna try out my new pole saw! And this time I won't forget to take pix.

Tomorrow, all being well, gonna round up dear daughter for some afternoon backyard work. She'll be weed whacking while I start prepping the yard for a professional cleanup and tree trimming/ removal.



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


Yeah... I don't know what it is around here right now. This is the 3rd time in 15 summers here that we've had these abnormally high temps stick around for any more than a day or two. I think this one just feels really bad because of how much rain we've gotten so late and are still getting this late into the summer and you can cut the humidity with a knife. My 10 day doesn't look much better than right now, and there's a lot of rain and the possibility of a few thunderstorms again in the mix too.

Glad to hear it at least cooled down by you. How much could possibly be left for the professionals after what you've gotten out of there?



Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Hey hey, SIX!

PIX or it hasn't happened!



You know me. If it's done, I'll have 'em.



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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 6:27 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Well it is done, so I do have them.

Not just yet though. I forgot the last thing I did was put spackle on that trimed out side of the cabinet and never sanded it down or touched it up. I'll do that too and get pics of that since that should be quick and easy and it can dry while I'm doing other things like getting the trash out and staging all the stuff that needs to be ready for next week. So I should have a few pics of that too.

Probably won't have much pics of anything regardless of what I'm doing for a while. Not much that's really picture worthy, until I get to the bathroom floor or painting up those two remaining bi-folds so I can finally have all the closet doors up in the house. The bannister, eventually...

Got that 2nd sump well and electric and that generator switch I want to be working on before fall's done, so that's nothing to really make any pictures about. I'll still be taking them, but just kind of boring behind the scenes stuff that most people get to take completely for granted is all.

Maybe one day I'll make a video of that generator plug in action. That would be cool, especially if I can still have internet and TV along with the well and the fridge going during the next long power outage. If it works like I plan it to, I'll be blowing my dad's mind when I show him what it is and what it's capable of. He'll probably be asking me to come over and do it for him.



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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 8:03 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


All the contact paper is up on the shelving and cabinets except for the vanity. I think if I do that tonight it will be after I use the daylight remaining to do some more cleanup and reorg. All the trash is out with other stuff staged to immediately fill the bins back up after they're dumped.

Touchups done. Waiting on that to dry before I take any pictures. I noticed I've got some little paint spatter on the basin, and I'll have to clean that up with a razor since I'm keeping it. Probably do that before I take the pictures too, although I doubt it would matter with the lower quality stuff I've been snapping recently.

I was thinking about going out to get some more food, but I'll probably just wait on that until maybe tomorrow now. I was out there getting dirty for only about 20 minutes and I was head to toe sweating and my shirt was soaked. It's really gross out there right now. 82 on the 2nd floor of my house where the A/C is, so that ought to tell you all you need to know.

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 9:03 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


If you don't count the contact paper in the vanity and a little bit of clear silicone around the basin, and a new faucet and drain, bathroom is now done except for the floor and toilet.




Three shots of the vanity with the trim painted the dark gray:




Shelf with towel rack finally installed. The painters tape pieces that I took down after this photo show where the tank of the toilet I want will sit, several inches higher than the current one.




And I don't know how you handle your business, but this here is a Three Seashell house.











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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 10:25 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Nice...

When I was looking for shells, it looks like at some point I got rid of all the ugly, malformed and broken ones I had, and was only left with about 6 of them. Those were all shells my mom got from the ocean on the west coast while she was on some sort of 2 week job training two lifetimes ago. I knew I also had some that one of my uncles had collected when he was at my grandma's house. Inside of that batch though, there was quite a few different really nice polished rocks of all various colors too.

So while I was at the dollar store just now, I was looking around for anything that might look good with that stuff and I got two small glasses that have a rainbow effect to them... they look like they might be designed to be candle holders. They were perfect for this, and now it's just one less thing that's been sitting in a box for years.




Got all that plastic up off the ground once I was able to move some things around in the basement, so that should all be drying out right now.



Getting late. Might not do any of the contact paper tonight. If I do anything else it might be cleaning up more of the crap in the small bedroom. I already see more floor in there now than I have for about 2 months.

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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 10:46 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Damn... I probably didn't mention but I got a slight upgrade on my photo taking capabilities and didn't realize just how large those were. I was having a hard time bringing the full images up on my own crap computer.

Sorry about that, if you couldn't see them before. I cut the sizes down 50% and reuploaded them. You should be able to see them now if you couldn't before.



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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 10:52 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

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.



I'm still betting Brenda and Sigs haven't watched this video.

I'll bet Second has though. And I'll bet he laughed even though he really, really didn't want to.



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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 10:59 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I know I have some real good pictures of how bad the bathroom was (in HD!) somewhere. I know I also have full shots of the toilet and medicine cabinets as well as everything I salvaged and used in the remodel even before I'd sanded any of it down somewhere too.

If I ever do find them, I'll have to show comparison pics. Of the stuff I just took or did manage to find and put in the history here, this is what all of that all looked like this in the middle of May...







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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 11:20 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


One more from before the outage to see the difference from that last pic in the post above...





And here's what we look like from down low up to the bottom of the medicine cabinet. You can see the second switch off to the right side of the bottom of the cabinet for the vanity light, and the dark trim fleshing it out to the wall on the side (although not too much at this angle and you can see it better in pics above from earlier today).

Plenty of room above the basin for a tall boy oil rubbed bronze faucet if I want one, and I could still install some things on the wall like toothbrush holders and such if I want to.

GFCI up on the wall to the right there, protecting everything in that room. Did the shimming I needed with some nuts to get those plates to sit solidly exactly where they needed to.





And the post-contact paper, post Dollar Tree acquisition reimagining of the 3 Seashells.



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

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 11:42 PM

BRENDA


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
A little late at night to be cooking onions, ain't it?

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


They do that here. Doesn't matter if they aren't suppose to. They do it. They started at around 7:30 pm, my time. No fun.


Aren't supposed to?
Is there some kind of cooking restriction in your building?

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


Well, not really. But being respectful would be nice.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 11:44 PM

BRENDA


That bathroom of yours looks fantastic SIX.

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Wednesday, July 1, 2026 11:45 PM

BRENDA


Off to mah jong tomorrow.

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Thursday, July 2, 2026 1:13 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That bathroom of yours looks fantastic SIX.


Thanks, Brenda.

I've hung a total of 5 paintings in rooms that I've finished and I regret 3 of them. I put that plastic privacy film on all the windows because I don't even want to damage the walls to put drapes or the windows to put shades in.

I'm sure somebody will do all of that one day, and they'll have a really nice canvas to work from.

I don't do too much decorating beyond the work itself. I think people will be amazed when they see the glasses and the rocks and shells up there.



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

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Thursday, July 2, 2026 1:17 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


That's a fine- looking bathroom, SIX!

I really like your color scheme. Very calming. And painting that insert the same color as the cabinet was an inspired idea.


But what's with the seashells??




-----------

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

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Thursday, July 2, 2026 1:50 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
That's a fine- looking bathroom, SIX!

I really like your color scheme. Very calming. And painting that insert the same color as the cabinet was an inspired idea.


Thank you, thank you. I'm rather pleased with it.

I think I just may have to deep clean that gross tub that has never made it into a picture, very much on purpose.




Yeah... 4 colors to choose from on that trim after Brenda added poly/wood grain into the mix, but I do believe that was the right choice.

Unfortunately, I will have to do just an additional bit of repair and touchups over there. I keep forgetting that they did old school lathboard and plaster on these walls, which means that every single inner and outer corner of the original walls of this house has a BEEFY 1.25" steel corner piece that puts the modern aluminum corner beads to shame. And I shot a brad nail right into it.

Nothing I won't be able to hide that I did completely, but it's clear what I've done so far hasn't done the trick yet.



Quote:
But what's with the seashells??


Oh... I left the video link for a scene from the movie Demolition Man.

Sylvester Stallone has just recently been thawed out in the future after being a renegade cop who made a very bad call and his punishment was to be imprisoned in cryosleep in the late 90s.

When he wakes up, the entire world is Woke times a Million, and their pop music is commercial jingles. When he tries to go #2, he has to come out and embarassingly ask them for toilet paper, because all he saw in the room were 3 seashells. And Rob Schenieder, one of the perpetual desk-jockey cops in a world that never has any crime (that isn't hidden), starts making fun of Stallone for not knowing how to use the 3 seashells until he makes it clear that Rob's about to get a pounding if he doesn't shut his yap.





I figured you and Brenda wouldn't have any clue about it, but I know my brothers will, and I'm pretty sure my dad and my friends will too.

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

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

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