REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 17:55
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PAGE 59 of 231

Monday, October 21, 2019 7:46 PM

BRENDA


Well, all missions for today well and thoroughly accomplished.

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Monday, October 21, 2019 8:15 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, all missions for today well and thoroughly accomplished.

Congrats! You persevered despite the rain!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Monday, October 21, 2019 10:30 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


What's the word for turning a crisis into an opportunity?

That was my day today...


I didn't get to test my drain pipe fix like I was hoping to with the thunderstorms we were supposed to get because of the goddamned winds from hell this morning. They completely destroyed my yard, and they blew out one of my porch windows (now at least I know to keep the rest of them as spares and I'm glad I haven't had room to throw them out yet).

Got all the big stuff to the curb, but I'm going to be cleaning up sticks for hours this week before it's clean again...


The wind knocked the power out for about 6 hours too.

Started that fiasco with a nearly full sump well. So I figured out that I have at least a 30 gallon well because I used a large drinking glass to fill a 3 gallon bucket 9 times, and had to crab walk my happy ass back and forth to the toilet to dump it out.

Rain wasn't nearly as heavy as expected, fortunately, so in between I had to dump out another 9 to 12 gallons (I don't remember if I did another 3 or 4 trips down there before the power went back on). Had I known when the power was going to come back on, I didn't need to manually empty any more. I actually had to do a load of laundry and it wasn't until halfway through the rinse cycle that the pump went off again. (Only did the load because I wanted to test that the pump was still working).


Knowing that the well is 30 gallons, I'm now convinced that I was severely underestimating how much was being dumped right outside of my house every time the pump went off. I think we're looking at anywhere from 15 to 25 gallons or more of water that was being left right along the foundation of my house and right back into the well. That's probably why it was going off every 3 minutes during the heavy storms. I honestly can't wait for another big storm (that doesn't knock out the power) to see how well everything works now.




Also, when the power went back on, my computer didn't work. The CPU fan, which has sounded like it was about to break for at least a year, finally took a crap. The computer knew this and wouldn't boot beyond the BIOS and automatically shut down. I could tell the fan was trying upon boot though, so there was still some hope. (It's a very expensive proprietary fan to replace, and I also didn't want to wait 7 to 10 days for it to ship either).


I took this touchscreen unit apart, piece by piece, then pulled apart the fan casing. Using some 409, I cleaned everything out really good, and I used quite a bit of canned air to further clean it out and get the fan moving both ways.

No dice...

Got out my trusty 3-in-1 oil and worked it around a bit. Had to put out a newspaper and get the fan going a few times with a few PC bootups and it finally started loading windows.

I'm hoping I got all the residual oil out and it doesn't leak, but I was afraid to keep hard booting and turning it off before Windows loaded just to air out the fan.

Everything seems good now. Fan is quieter than it's been in a year... not making a peep in fact. The computer even seems to be running better than it had before.


All in all, not a bad day. Glad that it's over though.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, October 21, 2019 11:33 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, all missions for today well and thoroughly accomplished.

Congrats! You persevered despite the rain!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY



Yes, I did. Which was something. It was nasty out there today.

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Tuesday, October 22, 2019 3:59 PM

THG


If you're going to make up quotes in my name or change the context they were posted under I'll post that post here. Guess what you did with this one.

T



Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:



TRUMP and his cronies??? Like ... Ivanka got a job with Energoatom (Kiev's nuclear power plant operator) for $50,000/ month and Trump got a $500,000 "speakers fee"? You mean ... something fact-free, like that?
Don't you mean Biden, his son, and a gaggle of DNC cronies and operatives have been extorting Ukraine for a long time?


You're just to stupid and dishonest to post anything with factual content comrade sig.- TUGR

Oh goody! You just reset the "defamation" clock!


Quote:

Originally posted by THUGR: Stuff completely unrelated to Ukraine or to anything
FIFY

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY


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Tuesday, October 22, 2019 5:27 PM

BRENDA


Everything done for today in the dry.

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 7:08 AM

THG


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
"You Could Fit All the Voters Who Cost Clinton the Election in a Mid-Size Football Stadium"

Shit, you could fit all the people who cost Clinton the election in one chair.



She was the one who ran such a lousy campaign it was that close over many, many states.

MEANWHILE, we still have the electoral college because GUESS WHAT!! it's written in the Constitution. Get over it ... unless you really like being anti-American.


The insane never-Trumpers will be driven even more insane in the wash/rinse/spin/repeat/ cycle they mistake for reality.




Even the Legacy Media is turning against Hillary.

I'm starting to have my doubts that she will be a late entry into the race. It's not good when the Clinton News Network is taking jabs at her over her comments on Tulsi.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/22/politics/tulsi-gabbard-hillary-clinton-
russia/index.html


This is just one of quite a few articles and videos from CNN on the topic. They've gone as far as to actually say the words "conspiracy theorist" when referring to Clinton here.

And as far as I can find, none of the other Democrat candidates still in the race agree with Clinton's tweet either. Sanders and Buttigieg have both come out defending Gabbard.








But, overall, the Democrats are scared. They know they have nothing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/22/us/politics/democratic-candidates-2
020.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur


Quote:

Anxious Democratic Establishment Asks, ‘Is There Anybody Else?’

Party leaders who are fatalistic about Democrats’ chances in 2020 are musing about possible late entrants to the race. Sherrod Brown? Michelle Obama?




This has even given AOC the opportunity to make the tweet of her short political career:

https://twitter.com/aoc/status/1186633016807964673

Quote:

If ~2 years and 20+ candidates aren't enough for ya, I don't know what to tell you.


Priceless.

Do Right, Be Right. :)



T


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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 8:57 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
What's the word for turning a crisis into an opportunity?

That was my day today...


I didn't get to test my drain pipe fix like I was hoping to with the thunderstorms we were supposed to get because of the goddamned winds from hell this morning. They completely destroyed my yard, and they blew out one of my porch windows (now at least I know to keep the rest of them as spares and I'm glad I haven't had room to throw them out yet).

Holy fuck, SIX. What kind of windstorm did THAT???

Quote:

Got all the big stuff to the curb, but I'm going to be cleaning up sticks for hours this week before it's clean again...


The wind knocked the power out for about 6 hours too.

Jeezus

Quote:

Started that fiasco with a nearly full sump well. So I figured out that I have at least a 30 gallon well because I used a large drinking glass to fill a 3 gallon bucket 9 times, and had to crab walk my happy ass back and forth to the toilet to dump it out.

Rain wasn't nearly as heavy as expected, fortunately, so in between I had to dump out another 9 to 12 gallons (I don't remember if I did another 3 or 4 trips down there before the power went back on). Had I known when the power was going to come back on, I didn't need to manually empty any more. I actually had to do a load of laundry and it wasn't until halfway through the rinse cycle that the pump went off again. (Only did the load because I wanted to test that the pump was still working).


Knowing that the well is 30 gallons, I'm now convinced that I was severely underestimating how much was being dumped right outside of my house every time the pump went off. I think we're looking at anywhere from 15 to 25 gallons or more of water that was being left right along the foundation of my house and right back into the well. That's probably why it was going off every 3 minutes during the heavy storms. I honestly can't wait for another big storm (that doesn't knock out the power) to see how well everything works now.

I can see why you're so curious. If it was me, I'd be want to know too!


Quote:

Also, when the power went back on, my computer didn't work. The CPU fan, which has sounded like it was about to break for at least a year, finally took a crap. The computer knew this and wouldn't boot beyond the BIOS and automatically shut down. I could tell the fan was trying upon boot though, so there was still some hope. (It's a very expensive proprietary fan to replace, and I also didn't want to wait 7 to 10 days for it to ship either).


I took this touchscreen unit apart, piece by piece, then pulled apart the fan casing. Using some 409, I cleaned everything out really good, and I used quite a bit of canned air to further clean it out and get the fan moving both ways.

No dice...

Got out my trusty 3-in-1 oil and worked it around a bit. Had to put out a newspaper and get the fan going a few times with a few PC bootups and it finally started loading windows.

I'm hoping I got all the residual oil out and it doesn't leak, but I was afraid to keep hard booting and turning it off before Windows loaded just to air out the fan.

Everything seems good now. Fan is quieter than it's been in a year... not making a peep in fact. The computer even seems to be running better than it had before.

Do you have a lot of dust in your area? I would guess probably not because you get reguar rainfall, but in the process of cleaning did you see a lot of dust coming out of the heat sink? A clogged heat sink will kill anything, according to hubby.


Quote:

All in all, not a bad day. Glad that it's over though.
Jeezus, no kidding!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 9:08 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Happy to say that at this end the big trash pickup people hauled away about 200 pounds of scrap wood. I'm VERY happy whenever something crosses the perimeter in the outbound direction! Decided to work on cleaning up the office and dear daughter's bedroom in-between helping with the bathroom. I figure that's the most productive that I can be. It's very picky work because there are so many "little things" to decide on, but at least it's not like the garage where there are (were) a million unsorted screws, bolts, nuts, and washers.

We have set aside a 33 gallon bin for scrap metal ... of which there is still a surprising amount despite the fact that DD and I trolled the backyard and garage a couple of months ago. Looks like another 50 pounds of metal.

Didn't get to take my papers to the city shredding event, nor did I manage to get to their free mulch event. Been too busy with Dr appointments and home repair and family events. But at least I can box up all of my shreddable stuff while I'm cleaning the office and see if I can find another place for them to be shredded and recycled.

Well, back to the cleanup!



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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 9:56 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Holy fuck, SIX. What kind of windstorm did THAT???



I couldn't even tell you. I've been living her over 8 years and having a window blown out is a first for me.

At least the city came around again and picked up all the large branches I'd gotten to the curb. They only come around once a week now, on different days in specific areas. Mondays are our days, so I figured I'd have that on my driveway for a whole week, but it was gone by noon on yesterday. They must have known how hard we got hit.

Quote:

I can see why you're so curious. If it was me, I'd be want to know too!


I already know that it must be working much better. There was a decent amount of rain the other day even though we missed most of it. Had I not fixed that pipe a few days before I'm sure I would have gotten a full well or two during the day just from the residual stuff that had been dumped with the broken pipe.

I'm not awake 24/7, but as far as I know, the only time it's gone off since the power was restored was when I put that load of laundry into it and the well is still not even full.

I'm hoping we get a good storm to really test it out soon though. I don't want to leave it all open very much longer now that we're going to start seeing overnights go below freezing.


Quote:

Do you have a lot of dust in your area? I would guess probably not because you get reguar rainfall, but in the process of cleaning did you see a lot of dust coming out of the heat sink? A clogged heat sink will kill anything, according to hubby.


The computer is weird. A single touch-screen unit with all the innards, including a full sized hard drive built in right behind the screen. The CPU fan is right at the top, and is only connected to the CPU via a flattened copper tube, with the filter itself right on the outside of the case. Videos showed that you had to remove the whole thing to get to the fan, but I was able to manage removing the fan casing without having to do all of that.

No dust on the board or the CPU at all. The fan was dirty as hell though.

The funny thing is that there's a second similar unit for the GPU. That fan didn't seem to want to move much at all when blowing it with the air. The computer doesn't have a problem booting up despite that though, and the (likely inaccurate) program I have to monitor temps shows the GPU at quite a lower temp than the CPU.

It's a 13 year old beast at this point. The only reason it keeps up with today's technology at all is because my brother must have paid a mint for it when it was new. I'm just going to miss it when it's gone because it's perfect for my needs. Laptops are pretty cheap these days, but I'm going to miss that big screen, so I'd have to have the laptop attached to my TV whenever I buy something new.


Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, October 23, 2019 12:05 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Well the last few days, today, and the next 3 days are in the 90-100F range with a 'red flag warning' - high fire danger due to the hot, dry Santa Ana winds. After that temps are predicted to drop as onshore airflow returns.

The recharge basins under the 'wings' of the T-shaped interchange of the 605N/S and the 210E/W (the 605 abuts the 210) were full when I went past them on Sunday. The ppl who manage the system must be purchasing water from elsewhere to recharge the ground water basin.

And as I was wandering through a local newscast, a long-term prediction for this winter is that it'll be very dry in terms of rain - 8" - which is about half the normal amount.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 7:53 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I know that you don;t have AC KIKI, you must be looking forward to the cooldown even more than I am, and I'm counting the hours! At least it's cooling down at night ... over here roughly sixty-ish. But that means an almost 40-degree swing from hottest to coldest. Crazy, huh?

Yep, there's no way the recharge basins could be full with local water, mist be the expen$ive imported kind. I sure hope Raines is wrong with his forecast! Funny thing, we had so many years of sparse rain and then last year with so much, as I walk the dog I ee a lot of re-roofing going on in preparation for THIS winter. I wonder what people will think if the rains don't come? It's Mother Nature, and her practical jokes, again!

*****

Over here the cleanup continues - hubby and I (the trusty helper) fixed a couple of HVAC vents that had come down partially, and are cutting tile to fit around the sink.

On my end, I'm cleaning out the office. It's hard to stitch together more than an hour or two for the cleanup, and it's kind of detailed work because I have to look at many small items and papers. But since the office is one of those places where things have collected over time I have several large giveaway boxes that I'm sure I'll fill. Some of my giveaway items include a few small items of "vaseline glass" given to me by a colleague. Vaseline glass is a transparent form of uranium glass which was made with ... yep, you guessed it! ... uranium, which was added to the glass before the melt.

Uranium creates a bright greenish yellow color, and some items have iron oxide melted in them which turns the piece more distinctly green, but the cool reason why the glassmakers used it wasn't because of the bright color but because it glows under UV light! If you put the pieces in bright sunlight then run into a dark room you'll see it glow for few minutes from absorbed energy. Apparently it was quite the novelty in Victorian days and later. Also it's slightly radioactive, which I have duly noted on the box.

Anyway,finding lots of items to give away!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 11:04 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Wow... Uranium glass? Kind of crazy the things we used to make things with before we knew better. I don't blame you for getting that out of the house.


Man.... I know you don't want it, but I'd trade weather with you Kiki. Staring down the barrel of 4 or 5 cold months and high energy bills over here. Down in the 30's again tonight. The days in the 60's are probably over now unless we get some weird fluke weather.




Kind of been having a bad week. I think my SAD has started popping up.

At least my friend is coming over tonight and we're going to work on the floor and possibly on installing the new door if there is time for it. We won't probably have either of them done in one night, but at least 80% of the floor should have a surface to safely walk on.

Going to get my haircut today. I've waited a bit too long between cuts this time. I never feel good when I get this shaggy and I always feel great after getting it cut. Maybe that's just what the doctor ordered.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 11:12 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


SAD ... I hope a haircut takes care of that! At least for a few weeks!!

I have posted to Brenda that getting a bright full-spectrum light might help, if that's what you have. 20 minutes a day works, or so "they" say!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 12:11 PM

BRENDA


Couple of more days of rain expected then drying out again for the beginning of November.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 12:50 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Signy, I hope you're not too terribly frustrated with the pace of things. But it sounds like things that need doing are getting done - and that's a good thing! (I mean, imagine them not getting done, and more and more household disasters just continuing to pile up over time - right?)

UH ... could we arrange for me to have some of that glass? I normally am NOT one for decorations and tchotchkes but those sound unique.


Yeah, I'm waiting for a cooldown as well.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 1:01 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


I don't envy you your winters, Jack! It gets somewhat cold here - sometimes down to below freezing - but not like where you are! Have you considered an electric blanket? Sleeping cold is a real problem and for not much cash outlay or electricity cost you could be reasonably comfortable while you sleep.

Aside from being cold at night, I think what makes me most bugnuts about real winters like what you have is the driving. And though you pay for your beautiful green summer biome with winter snow, what makes me most bugnuts is the driving in snow. I could personally can put up with the cold, but the snow makes everything that much more ... difficult.

I get SAD. It's no bueno.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 1:02 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Enjoy the dry you've got coming Brenda!

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 1:04 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


As for me - I spent hours - HOURS - yesterday looking for my cellphone. I did find it - a black phone on a nearly black floor tucked away near the chair - but what a waste of time!


Going to do some generic cleanup at home today - what I call tasks as opposed to projects. Projects would be me continuing to 'move' from my entire house into the front half, in preparation for tearing the back half down. But today is going to be focused on dishes, bank, laundry, shopping, cooking, and ordering some things online as gifts, replacements, etc.

ETA: one of the things on my list for today was to try on new sneakers I bought online. I haven't had a real pair of sneakers in probably over a decade, or a real pair of shoes in 3 decades because I have godawful wide feet. So I measured and measured and looked at all the online size charts and figured my feet are a mens's 10/6E and ordered from NewBalance because they have actual widths (thanks for the tip, Signy!). And I JUST tried them on. I CAN WEAR THEM! They're a little loose in the heel, but differential lacing can take care of that. For the first time in AT LEAST 10 years, I have sneakers!!

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 1:37 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Oh sure Kiki, you can have the whole box! I think it's only five small items iirc, but it's all boxed up and ready to go. I'll PM you.

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 2:36 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SAD ... I hope a haircut takes care of that! At least for a few weeks!!

I have posted to Brenda that getting a bright full-spectrum light might help, if that's what you have. 20 minutes a day works, or so "they" say!



I might have to look into it. Not having a job at the moment is alright, but if I'm going to mope around all day until mid-April, that's not doing me any good. I can't justify it if I'm not always making progress on my house issues.

Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I don't envy you your winters, Jack! It gets somewhat cold here - sometimes down to below freezing - but not like where you are! Have you considered an electric blanket? Sleeping cold is a real problem and for not much cash outlay or electricity cost you could be reasonably comfortable while you sleep.

Aside from being cold at night, I think what makes me most bugnuts about real winters like what you have is the driving. And though you pay for your beautiful green summer biome with winter snow, what makes me most bugnuts is the driving in snow. I could personally can put up with the cold, but the snow makes everything that much more ... difficult.

I get SAD. It's no bueno.



I'm warm enough when I sleep. Got a lot of blankets. The problem comes with not wanting to ever leave the bed because it's so cold in the house. I put the heat up a lot more last winter and had higher bills, but I was also making a decent buck at work. Hopefully the heat is going to perform better this year after messing with the ducts a few weeks back.

Yeah... snow sucks so bad. Lots of really bad driving to work and back last year. One more reason why I hope I can get a gig working overnights on weekends at a local grocery store. It's less than a mile away from me.





-----------


So.... I had a strange experience with my car last week when I was changing the oil. The metal washer for the drain plug was disintegrated. I don't want to blame it on the SeaFoam that I had put in there, but in the 12 years I've had that car the washer was always fine.

Unfortunately, I didn't really realize the implications of that until after I had drained the oil. There wasn't enough washer left to put back, so I had to just put the plug up there without a washer (and not tighten it too much, because like I said before I have a tenancy of breaking things by over tightening them). It's been leaking all over my cardboard in the garage since.

Got a $2 plastic plug washer from autozone today. It seems to have done the trick. I really would like to know if the SeaFoam did that or not though. Kind of leery about using it very often if that's the case.




I forgot it was trash day today too. Got my cans out before I ran errands, but they haven't picked them up yet. I'm hoping I didn't miss the pickup. They usually don't come around until 1 to 3PM. Going to be pretty angry with myself if I missed a pickup with all the stuff I still have to salt out over the next few months.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 2:47 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


"I have posted to Brenda that getting a bright full-spectrum light might help, if that's what you have. 20 minutes a day works, or so "they" say!"

I had one many years ago but stopped using it because 1) it was fluorescent and 2) it didn't seem to help that much (though maybe I wasn't either using it enough or consistently enough). The fluorescent bulb kind used to be poorly coated on the inside with phosphor and a LOT of UV leaked out that could wreck your eyes! Check to see if they have LED versions now, or low UV emissions.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/seasonal-affective-diso
rder/in-depth/seasonal-affective-disorder-treatment/art-20048298


Quote:

* Is it made specifically to treat SAD? If not, it may not help your depression. Some light therapy lamps are designed for skin disorders — not for SAD. Lamps used for skin disorders primarily emit ultraviolet (UV) light and could damage your eyes if used incorrectly. Light boxes used to treat SAD should filter out most or all UV light.
* How bright is it? Light boxes produce different intensities of light. Brighter boxes will require less time to use each day, compared with dimmer boxes, to achieve the same effect. Typically the recommended intensity of light is 10,000 lux.
How much UV light does it release? Light boxes for SAD should be designed to filter out most or all UV light. Contact the manufacturer for safety information if you have questions.
* Can it cause eye damage? Some light boxes include features designed to protect the eyes. Make sure the light box filters out most or all UV light to avoid damaging your eyes. Ask your eye doctor for advice on choosing a light box if you have eye problems such as glaucoma, cataracts or eye damage from diabetes.
* Is it the style you need? Light boxes come in different shapes and sizes, with varied features. Some look like upright lamps, while others are small and rectangular. The effectiveness of a light box depends on daily use, so buy one that's convenient for you.
* Can you put it in the right location? Think about where you'll want to place your light box and what you might do during its use, such as reading. Check the manufacturer's instructions, so you receive the right amount of light at the proper distance.




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Thursday, October 24, 2019 3:14 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Here they give you bins for trash, but since they use trucks with "arms" to pick up the bins, anything else (requiring hand loading) requires a call to the trash pickup company and ... my oh my ... they seem to have a lot of requirements on what theywill and wont pick up! So I'm always holding my breath a little bit when I call in a special request until I see the stuff disappear.

I feel ya, SIX!

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 9:23 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


So, I thought I smelled wood smoke and of course I ran to my computer and the CalFire website and google - but nothing in the area that I can see. Phew!

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 9:24 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Enjoy the dry you've got coming Brenda!



I will Kiki.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 9:29 PM

BRENDA


Well, I told my boss that I bought myself a small Christmas tree and got almost the same sort of reaction that I got from my brother on FB. Only she didn't verbalize the "Why?" that I am sure she wanted to ask me.

People don't understand that this is the FIRST time in 10years that I have been able to do something for me.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 9:31 PM

BRENDA


The place where I got my hearing aides is moving their office into another city. Seems the company is consolidating all their offices into 2 offices. One in a city across the river from me and the other office in Vancouver. What a pain!

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 10:25 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, I told my boss that I bought myself a small Christmas tree and got almost the same sort of reaction that I got from my brother on FB. Only she didn't verbalize the "Why?" that I am sure she wanted to ask me.

People don't understand that this is the FIRST time in 10years that I have been able to do something for me.

Oh my gosh! It's been way too long!

I hope your Christmas tree adds to what becomes a heartful of holiday happiness.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 11:03 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, I told my boss that I bought myself a small Christmas tree and got almost the same sort of reaction that I got from my brother on FB. Only she didn't verbalize the "Why?" that I am sure she wanted to ask me.

People don't understand that this is the FIRST time in 10years that I have been able to do something for me.

Oh my gosh! It's been way too long!

I hope your Christmas tree adds to what becomes a heartful of holiday happiness.



It has Kiki.

It will definitely make me feel better for the holidays. Something pretty to look at. I don't want any lights on it but I got some decorations and that is good.

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 11:10 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Here they give you bins for trash, but since they use trucks with "arms" to pick up the bins, anything else (requiring hand loading) requires a call to the trash pickup company and ... my oh my ... they seem to have a lot of requirements on what theywill and wont pick up! So I'm always holding my breath a little bit when I call in a special request until I see the stuff disappear.

I feel ya, SIX!



I got it out there in time. :)

All the stuff I have these days is either small enough to fit or I can cut it down to fit. The problem right now is the weight of it all. Those patio pavers aren't light, and even beyond the two layers I put in the porch and all the ones I'm keeping for putting underneath where the gutters will eventually go to keep the divoting from happening anymore in the bare dirt, there were a ton of broken ones and ones that had bad ends or other defects that I'm throwing out. I really can only put in about 7 or 8 of them on top of whatever else I'm throwing out. I have a huge lawn, so they give me two cans, but it's still taking a very long time. Maybe 3 or 4 weeks and it will all be gone.

I also cleaned up the sticks from 2/3rds of my lawn this afternoon and filled an entire can today, so I was only able to put about 4 pavers on top of it. I didn't want to risk making it too top heavy.

Going to get the rest of the sticks from the wind storm from hell tomorrow...



But that's not exciting.


Want to know what's exciting?


I FINALLY GOT THE PORCH FLOOR IN WITH MY FRIEND TONIGHT!!!


Got some tweaks and other things to do for the two cutouts on the end that shares a wall with the shed, so those are only tacked down for now, but the floor is in and rock solid and looks totally professional. We even got the flooring for the doorway looking great.

We know what sized storm door I need now, so I have to figure out how expensive I want to go with it, and hopefully we can get that framed out and installed and get a proper threshold down there this time so this crap never happens again. :)



Other than that, just have to put my visqueen up on the louvers to keep the snow out until I install windows in the spring and get the gutters up.


Going to be re-doubling my efforts to find a job as soon as those two things are done. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, October 24, 2019 11:44 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.






Quote:

I FINALLY GOT THE PORCH FLOOR IN WITH MY FRIEND TONIGHT!!!


Got some tweaks and other things to do for the two cutouts on the end that shares a wall with the shed, so those are only tacked down for now, but the floor is in and rock solid and looks totally professional. We even got the flooring for the doorway looking great.

We know what sized storm door I need now, so I have to figure out how expensive I want to go with it, and hopefully we can get that framed out and installed and get a proper threshold down there this time so this crap never happens again. :)



Other than that, just have to put my visqueen up on the louvers to keep the snow out until I install windows in the spring and get the gutters up.


Going to be re-doubling my efforts to find a job as soon as those two things are done. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

So happy for you!


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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Friday, October 25, 2019 2:13 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I FINALLY GOT THE PORCH FLOOR IN WITH MY FRIEND TONIGHT!!!

Many congratulations! I bet that feels awesome.

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Friday, October 25, 2019 1:05 PM

BRENDA


Got the last of jewellery cleaned last night. Just need to separate what will be donated tomorrow.

Couple of things to do today. Rained early this morning. Gotta see if I need an umbrella today. Also expecting some wind.

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Friday, October 25, 2019 6:48 PM

BRENDA


Puzzles dropped off at my local senior's centre, shopping done, some shredding down and a mess of negatives sorted through.

It is windy out though folks.

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Friday, October 25, 2019 8:47 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


I was hoping that the red flag warnings and fire danger would be over at the end of today ... but even though temp peaks are expected to drop below 90F after today and the red flag warnings are supposed to be dropped, the low humidity and winds will continue and create a fire watch condition.

* San Gabriel Valley - that's me.

Quote:

Issued: 2:36 PM Oct. 25, 2019 – National Weather Service

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE HILLS AND CANYONS OF THE LOS ANGELES COAST AND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY*...

...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE HILLS AND CANYONS OF THE LOS ANGELES COAST AND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY...

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles/Oxnard has issued a Fire Weather Watch for wind and low relative humidity, which is in effect from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon.

* Winds...In the Hills and Canyons, Northeast 8 to 15 mph with gusts to 25 into this evening. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph possible Sunday night and Monday.

* Relative Humidity...As low as 2 to 9 percent into this evening, and 5 to 10 percent Sunday night and Monday.

* Impacts...If fire ignition occurs, conditions will be for favorable extreme fire behavior and rapid growth which would threaten life and property.

As I've learned over the last few fire seasons - even from Fort MacMurray - I shouldn't assume any longer that there's protection even in a place that seems too downhill, too well-developed, or behind too many freeways, or even all 3.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 1:29 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Well, I butchered 2 pork shoulders and 2 beef briskets for stews, and now they're all snug in their dutch ovens and keeping each other company in a low slow oven.

The pork is going to be a comfort-food pork and white bean stew, into which my pig's feet broth will also go; while the beef is going to be a caliente and picante beef, potato and green chili stew.


Also, my neighbors have got to stop using their wood-burning fireplaces. It's make me nervous!

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 2:33 AM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I was hoping that the red flag warnings and fire danger would be over at the end of today ... but even though temp peaks are expected to drop below 90F after today and the red flag warnings are supposed to be dropped, the low humidity and winds will continue and create a fire watch condition.

* San Gabriel Valley - that's me.

Quote:

Issued: 2:36 PM Oct. 25, 2019 – National Weather Service

...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE HILLS AND CANYONS OF THE LOS ANGELES COAST AND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY*...

...FIRE WEATHER WATCH IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY AFTERNOON FOR WIND AND LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY FOR THE HILLS AND CANYONS OF THE LOS ANGELES COAST AND SAN GABRIEL VALLEY...

The National Weather Service in Los Angeles/Oxnard has issued a Fire Weather Watch for wind and low relative humidity, which is in effect from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon.

* Winds...In the Hills and Canyons, Northeast 8 to 15 mph with gusts to 25 into this evening. Northeast winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to 40 mph possible Sunday night and Monday.

* Relative Humidity...As low as 2 to 9 percent into this evening, and 5 to 10 percent Sunday night and Monday.

* Impacts...If fire ignition occurs, conditions will be for favorable extreme fire behavior and rapid growth which would threaten life and property.

As I've learned over the last few fire seasons - even from Fort MacMurray - I shouldn't assume any longer that there's protection even in a place that seems too downhill, too well-developed, or behind too many freeways, or even all 3.



Getting that on the news up here. I can't imagine being in the midst of that.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 2:35 AM

BRENDA


Big wind storm blow through British Columbia today. Ferries delayed and sailings cancelled. Trees uprooted and branches blown down. Power outages up the Interior because of the wind. Stanley Park was closed because of the wind. Safety measure since it sits right on the water and trees and branches were being blown down there.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 2:45 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


I hope your power stays on Brenda, and there's not too much damage overall.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 1:42 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I hope your power stays on Brenda, and there's not too much damage overall.



I hope so to. But I don't think there were any power outages in my area and by that I mean the Lower Mainland which is my city, Surrey, Burnaby and Vancouver.

Some trees down in Vancouver which is where Stanley Park is. News showed a couple of cars damaged.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 4:01 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


So I had a little adventure that gave me a window into American business.

For the first time ever, I decided to order jeans online from Levi Strauss. Reading the negative reviews, I noted that the most frequent reason for return was poor quality, with one reviewer specifically mentioning that the turning point was after the company moved its production to India* (I didn't find a date for the move after a cursory search, but indeed, they're manufactured in India). When I got them, I noticed that the fabric was far thinner than in the past* and one leg was 2" longer than the other*. So I got a return authorization*, and, using the pre-printed FedEx label*, with all the appropriate paperwork*, returned them the very next day*. After 5 days I started checking my credit card to look for the itemized return, and after 10 days I checked the FedEx tracking number. Indeed, the company had received and signed for the jeans within 4 days of me sending them back, but nothing happened after that*. So I called to find out where was my money, and what the person on the other end told me was that yes, they'd received my return on the date indicated by the tracking number, but for some mysterious reason, the return hadn't been 'processed'* (I have no idea how they could have such a faulty return system for one that was -timely, -preapproved, -sent with paperwork, -to the correct place. Perhaps refunds don't happen automatically as one would assume, and they wait for irate customers to call.). That's when I found out I got charged for shipping using their return label* (it wasn't free, I should have checked). If I hadn't called, I wonder HOW long the 'processing' would have taken. It only took the person on the phone a few clicks on the computer.

Well, the company went public earlier this year, and I guess they have to keep those stockholders happy. But every step of the way looks like a company chiseling its customers at every turn, down to keeping my money to make that bit of interest on it, long after they received the return.
ETA

Well, darn. Today was supposed to be cooler - out of the 90-100F range - but it's not. I guess the weather didn't get the forecast memo.

But Signy - I see you're significantly hotter than me! Your predicted high was 88F and your current temp is 107F. There must be a pretty good offshore airflow, even if there's no wind per se. And I'm sorry you're having to deal with such hot temps!

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 6:41 PM

BRENDA


Dry where I am and it looks to stay that way through Halloween. So at least the little ghosties and ghoulies won't be wet.

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 7:01 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


That's good news for the little kiddles!

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 10:37 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.




Quote:

Well, darn. Today was supposed to be cooler - out of the 90-100F range - but it's not. I guess the weather didn't get the forecast memo.

But Signy - I see you're significantly hotter than me! Your predicted high was 88F and your current temp is 107F. There must be a pretty good offshore airflow, even if there's no wind per se. And I'm sorry you're having to deal with such hot temps!

Oh I don't think it was THAT hot! I took puppy-wuppy out for a walk between 10:30-11:30AM and it felt cooler than yesterday. I think the temps were about as predicted ... about 88 deg F.

But I was working inside, so even if it had been hot I would have been OK. Still working on cleaning up the office. Not a "detailed" cleaning where I do thru every single paper, but I did set aside a box of files for shredding, recycled a whole bunch of old work diaries, boxed up a bunch of stuff to give away (saving the vaseline glass for you!), tossed a bunch of stuff ... altogether prolly got rid of/ set aside five or six boxes of stuff from the room. Not that it looks TOO much better because now I have to call St Vincent de Paul, but at least I recycled/tossed out four boxes-worth! The desk is cleaned off, I just need to go thru a couple pre boxes. But tomorrow I have set aside to go thru dear daughter's room. Sigh.

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Saturday, October 26, 2019 11:11 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
That's good news for the little kiddles!



It is. It's no fun when it is wet and windy out.

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Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:02 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I'll catch up with everyone soon... I'm freakin' beat. What a night....


We got that rain I wanted to test out the pipe, and then about 8 tons more.

Things were going well. Hours into the storm, I did my first test and it was 53+ minutes before the pump went off. The next trigger was 74 minutes. This was after a few hours of decently heavy and persistant rain. I thought everything was going well.

I was on the phone with my brother and kept taking measurements while on the phone with him.

37 minutes... not great, but not the end of the world.

18 minutes... mmmmmmmmmmph

4 minutes.... shit.


That entire hole I showed you pictures of? Completely filled to the brim with water that wasn't moving anywhere (I should have clued in on this being somewhat good news at the time, but I was in panic mode so I did the exact opposite of anything smart for the next few hours).

My dumb ass spends the next half hour manually bailing water out of the well, and after god knows how many gallons I crab walked to the toilet, I still wasn't keeping up and the pump was going off every 3 to 4 trips or so anyhow. Probably got around 80 gallons out this way before I couldn't do any more and my moral was so low because I was fighting a losing battle here.

Then I finally smartened up a bit and said to myself, why am I going to give myself a heart attack here. The power is on. The pump is working...

I then wasted the next hour or so manually forcing the thing every few minutes after it went over the inlet hole to see if it ever "caught up". It didn't...

But after all of this, I went outside and noticed the water in the hole was quite a bit lower at least.


Then I finally got the "genius" idea to take my bucket outside and dip in in the trench and just throw it on my lawn. That's a whole hell of a lot easier and quicker to do than trying to bail it out from inside the house. Not fun when it's in the 40's and your soaked to the bone, but at least I was actually making progress this way.

Not sure how many buckets I (quickly) got out of the hole (10... 15 maybe?), but I finally got down to the pipe and to my surprise (since what was really going on hadn't clicked in yet), the PVC and rubber seals and straps were all still intact and tight.


WTF, right?

Then it dawned on me...

Unlike when I had the cracked pipe there to slowly (or I dunno, quickly) drain out water to the street through the hole, the cleanout shows that shortly after the pump stops that no water goes to the street at all.

So the three to five minutes between the pump going off, the ground around the house just keeps getting wetter since I have no gutters and the hole eventually gets filled with water until the pump goes off and allows more water inside to get pumped out.

Now that the rain has slowed down a little I'm almost 6 minutes between cycles again.



Jesus... Until tonight, I had no idea how much potential damage I've been doing to my house by not having gutters all of these years. What an asshole.



By fixing the pipe, the fact that I don't have gutters is probably 5 times as bad as when the pipe was cracked. Water used to be constantly going toward the street every second when the pipe was cracked. Now it only goes to the street as fast as the well can fill up from whatever french drain system I have, allowing much more water to sit around the perimeter of the house.

To further illustrate this, with only around 1.25 inches of water today, I have more water in the living area of my basement than I've ever had (maybe around 3-4 gallons worth). When we had the 8 to 12 inches in the monster flood a few weeks back I didn't have as much water in the living area of the basement.

First thing in the spring I better get those damned gutters up. I might just call around and see how much it would cost to get them professionally done and bite the bullet and pay 3 times as much to have somebody else do them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:38 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


weather.com is apparently freakin broke tonight. For the last half hour it's said 0% chance of rain by me, but it's never stopped. Holding steady at 5 minute pump intervals with the hole half filled with water. Should be drained by the time I wake up. The heavy rain is behind us but since the dark cloud has apparently stayed right above my house even though we've only had a 30 to 50% chance of rain the last 3-4 hours, I'll probably be the guy on the block who's still getting rain at 7AM when it's only 10%.


Oh well. Can't afford to lose any more sleep over it. Too much crap to do tomorrow.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, October 27, 2019 11:54 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.



Quote:

By fixing the pipe, the fact that I don't have gutters is probably 5 times as bad as when the pipe was cracked. Water used to be constantly going toward the street every second when the pipe was cracked. Now it only goes to the street as fast as the well can fill up from whatever french drain system I have, allowing much more water to sit around the perimeter of the house.

To further illustrate this, with only around 1.25 inches of water today, I have more water in the living area of my basement than I've ever had (maybe around 3-4 gallons worth). When we had the 8 to 12 inches in the monster flood a few weeks back I didn't have as much water in the living area of the basement.

First thing in the spring I better get those damned gutters up. I might just call around and see how much it would cost to get them professionally done and bite the bullet and pay 3 times as much to have somebody else do them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I think I'm having a hard time picturing how this is happening.

Quote:

Water used to be constantly going toward the street every second when the pipe was cracked


I can interpret this two ways, neither of which makes sense

1) Because water was "recycling" back to the sump, the pump was on much more frequently and therefore doing an overall more effective job keeping the house dry. That doesn't make sense because it seems like the pump was on just as frequently during this storm as before, but unless that water is being efficiently moved away from the house you'll still have lot more standing water around your foundation.

2) The crack in the pipe was acting as an INflow and draining water away from the house even when the pump wasn't on. Hmmm... it looked to me like the crack wasn't big enough to act as an efficient drain, that it could only potentially move a lot of water if the water was under pressure.

You did mention, if I understand you correctly, that the hole that you left open (so you could observe the repair) was filling up with water, to the brim. That's a LOT of water!!! What was the source? Was is just rainfall off the roof running into the hole? Seems like a lot of water to account for that! Or was it undergound water flowing across your property? Isn't it possible that the hole itself was the source of your problem? That it was acting like a sump, collecting water near the foundation of your house, and allowing it to seep into your living space? That once you fill the hole and put pavers under the drip-line the problem will disappear, or at least mitigate?

Or, what am I missing here?

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:49 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

Quote:

By fixing the pipe, the fact that I don't have gutters is probably 5 times as bad as when the pipe was cracked. Water used to be constantly going toward the street every second when the pipe was cracked. Now it only goes to the street as fast as the well can fill up from whatever french drain system I have, allowing much more water to sit around the perimeter of the house.

To further illustrate this, with only around 1.25 inches of water today, I have more water in the living area of my basement than I've ever had (maybe around 3-4 gallons worth). When we had the 8 to 12 inches in the monster flood a few weeks back I didn't have as much water in the living area of the basement.

First thing in the spring I better get those damned gutters up. I might just call around and see how much it would cost to get them professionally done and bite the bullet and pay 3 times as much to have somebody else do them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

I think I'm having a hard time picturing how this is happening.

Quote:

Water used to be constantly going toward the street every second when the pipe was cracked


I can interpret this two ways, neither of which makes sense

1) Because water was "recycling" back to the sump, the pump was on much more frequently and therefore doing an overall more effective job keeping the house dry. That doesn't make sense because it seems like the pump was on just as frequently during this storm as before, but unless that water is being efficiently moved away from the house you'll still have lot more standing water around your foundation.

2) The crack in the pipe was acting as an INflow and draining water away from the house even when the pump wasn't on. Hmmm... it looked to me like the crack wasn't big enough to act as an efficient drain, that it could only potentially move a lot of water if the water was under pressure.

You did mention, if I understand you correctly, that the hole that you left open (so you could observe the repair) was filling up with water, to the brim. That's a LOT of water!!! What was the source? Was is just rainfall off the roof running into the hole? Seems like a lot of water to account for that! Or was it undergound water flowing across your property? Isn't it possible that the hole itself was the source of your problem? That it was acting like a sump, collecting water near the foundation of your house, and allowing it to seep into your living space? That once you fill the hole and put pavers under the drip-line the problem will disappear, or at least mitigate?

Or, what am I missing here?

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

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY




Well... I've learned a lot overnight, although I don't have the entire picture yet. I can really only speculate on things, so maybe I can bounce some ideas around here and you ladies might be able to tell me if you think my logic is sound here or not.

Rather than answer your questions directly, I will just paint the entire scenario as I know it and hopefully this clears things up a bit.


1. Although I've never dug deep enough, I'm really quite confident that I must have some sort of french drain system around the perimeter of the house. (Absolutely unsure if it was original installation, or if it also extends to the porch foundation). There is a 4" inlet pipe toward the middle-bottom of my sump well.

2. Once the pump started going off every 4 minutes and I was doing all the craziness, I saw several dozen times over a few hours that while the pump was going off and immediately after it stopped there was a constant heavy flow of water going right back into the well from this inlet. (Constant enough to keep the pump going off every 5 to 6 minutes until around 2:30 AM when the rain had completely stopped and the intervals steadly increased over the next 4 hours until I went to sleep).

3. All of that bailing I did, as well as forcing the pump to go off quicker than it was set by manually lifting the float actually was doing quite a bit for my situation. After doing all of that, the water level in the trench outside never again reached up to the level of the dirt surrounding it, and the pump never went back below 5 minute intervals between pumps.

4. Doing a reading between pumps after 11:00AM after I woke up, we're now at 17 minutes and 17 seconds between cycles.

5. The pump carries water through a drain pipe to the sewer in the street. Since the seal was good all night (unverified, as of yet, but almost completely sure this is the case), any water the pump removed was out of the equation.

6. When looking through the 4" cleanout valve, a great flow of water could be seen going to the street when the pump was on. About 10 seconds after the pump turned off, the flow was down to nothing.

7. Before fixing the pipe, this behavior was much different. The hole up against the house would fill to the top of the soil when the pump went off and you could see steady flow of water to the street. But when the pump stopped, it took much longer for the water to stop flowing to the street, because immediately after it was off you'd see the water in the hole quickly retreat until it was completely gone. (This was when the water would go out to the street straight from the crack in the pipe, and it never once happened last night which is why I think the whole fix is still sound).

8. If the water was staying steady at the level of the ground outside, the dirt all around the perimeter was completely saturated up to that level. So when I bailed out 100+ manually and started forcing the pump to go off at quicker intervals I was actually accomplishing a lot even though it didn't feel like it. At no point in the night did the water in the hole ever get that high again, and by 4:15 AM, nearly 2 hours after it stopped raining, the water in the hole was low enough to expose the top half of the pipe which is about 2 1/2 feet below the surface.

9. This would probably explain part of why it felt so quick to bail from the top and expose the pipe. I was directly removing about 100 gallons straight from the top of the hole with very little downtime (3 minutes as opposed to 30 minutes or there about). This quickly exposed the pipe, but when I checked back only 20 or so minutes later that water level in the hole was much higher. The water from the soil slowly filled the hole again along with the new rain, although never again did it get to the top.

10. The pump, as it's set now, doesn't go off until it's about 2" from the top of the well. This is probably 10" to 12" above the very top of the 4" inlet pipe.

11. The outlet pipe from the house to the street is about halfway up the foundation and requires the pump to push the water vertically about 3 to 3 1/2 feet from the top of the pump before going out of the house because of the depth in the well. I believe the 4" inlet pipe is at or very near the bottom of the foundation.


So...

Here's a few ideas I have about my situation.

1. I need to shorten the float and get the pump lower into the well so it goes off earlier and stays on until the level gets lower before shutting off without going too low as to make the pump suck in air.

2. If I can do it without having water constantly make the pump go off 24/7 even without weeks of rain, I need to try to get the pump to go off before it even reaches the 4" inlet pipe to the well. (If successful and it doesn't cause it to go off all the time, I'll know that I actually don't have a high water table. This might very well be the case and the only reason it went off so much before when it was lower was because most of the water was being thrown right back into the dirt around the foundation)

3. By the time the pump started going off every 4 minutes, it was already far too late to really keep up with it like it should have been doing all along. Though the water was steadily flowing into the well from outside via the inlet, it was still takign 4+ minutes to fill up entirely before the pump would go off, meanwhile the constant rain was adding all that new water to the situation because there are no gutters to divert any of it. At this point, the drainage system to the well was a bottleneck to getting all of that water in the completely saturated ground out to the street and never started making any headway until the rain stopped and it could start catching up.




So... Obviously I REALLY need gutters.

Other than that, if I can get the pump to go off much sooner, keep it below the 4" inlet pipe, and go off more often than 1 hour in between pumps at the beginning of a storm, I think it will solve 90% of my problem even without the gutters up.

Those readings of 50+ and 70+ minutes fairly early into this somewhat heavy and long storm cycle was not something that should be celebrated. That was a lot of wasted time where the pump could have been getting water away from the foundation well before any of this would have been a problem.

If the pump was going off once every 8 minutes or so from the start, it probably never would have gone off more than every 8 minutes all night. Even if it did, it would be just because it was keeping up with the flow instead of working overtime because of a bottleneck that let it get out of control.



What do you think?

Please ask for any clarification if I was not clear on something. That's a lot of info bouncing around in my head there and I might not have stated it very clearly.





Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, October 27, 2019 12:54 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Signy
My interpretation was that the crack was acting as an inflow for the gutter water ... and that the hole (while recycling some water back to the foundation) was additionally mostly just a large flow ballast for the sump, filling up then draining away, filling up then draining away ... (and so not entirely defeating the sump's work to remove water from around the foundation)

Hey Jack - I guess we X-posted! This was to Signy, posted before your expl came up.

I have one quick comment off the top of my head - before I think about I too deeply - "1. I need to shorten the float and get the pump lower into the well so it goes off earlier and stays on until the level gets lower before shutting off without going too low as to make the pump suck in air." Is your pump submerged or above the well? Submerged pumps might rely on water for cooling, so if submerged, you probably shouldn't allow the water level to expose it.

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