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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, tried out the record player on the Victrola 7 in 1 piece I bought last Christmas and it plays beautifully.

Dug out "Hogan's Heroes" and it has really held up after all these years. Never thought Richard Dawson could make me cry but he did. He attempts to sing "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" talking to Larry Hovis character of Carter. Then on "This is Worth Fighting For."

Have to be careful with that part of the machine as it won't be easy to get replacement needles for it.

But it was definitely well worth the money.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Heh... We got the wind.

Cold front came in and told the warm weather to GTFO last night. Once the rain and colder air set it in calmed down, but I was half expecting the air raid sirens to go off for a while there.

Leaves from 2 cities over are on my formerly pristine lawn now. I'm starting to remember why I'm usually not very proactive on the leaf cleanup.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

SIGNY: One weird thing I noticed about LA weather... but not sure it holds for anywhere else... is that it always seems to be the BACK end of the cold front that does the most damage.

As I understand it, air moves in masses, and altho there is some diffusion and mixing between two air masses it's not enough to overcome the speed with which they move. Cold air, being heavier (warm air rises) tends to slide in under warmer air, lifting it up. As the warm air is lifted, it cools, water vapor precipitates out and forms rain.

But for some reason, the cold fronts here come in perhaps a little more slowly... clouds form, it gets a little breezy (downdrafts, because what goes up must come down) and drizzly, or rainy ... but it isn't until the front is on its way OUT that we get hail, downpours, lightning and thunder, and strong winds.

What about where you are? Next couple of storm fronts, I'd be interested if you kept track and let me know. Just as a point of curiosity, bc I never paid attention to that in WNY.

SIX: I'll try to remember to pay attention. I don't think I ever really looked out for it before, but it was just so obvious last night since we went from record warm weather to a cold front sweeping in and bringing a hell of a storm with it.

Glad we didn't get the worst of it. It wasn't another deracho, but my old man said that north of him there were 75MPH winds and videos of trees uprooted from it.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, tried out the record player on the Victrola 7 in 1 piece I bought last Christmas and it plays beautifully.

Dug out "Hogan's Heroes" and it has really held up after all these years. Never thought Richard Dawson could make me cry but he did. He attempts to sing "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" talking to Larry Hovis character of Carter. Then on "This is Worth Fighting For."

Have to be careful with that part of the machine as it won't be easy to get replacement needles for it.

But it was definitely well worth the money.

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Sweet.


My grandma is really thinking about the downsizing she's going to need to do and out of the blue asked me if I was the one who wanted her Victrola that's been in the basement for decades. It still looks beautiful, although it doesn't have any needles and I've never heard it play. I'd love to have that piece even though my Uncle must have either threw away or sold around 300 old school, hard, one-sided records for it... :(

I still have a couple though. I've looked and none of the ones I have are worth enough money to ever deal with the hassle of selling. I hope that my Uncle didn't get rid of a goldmine. I was so mad when I saw all of those things were nowhere to be found a few years back.

I had made up my mind last year that I wasn't going to take it anyway because of the de-hoarding process, but I feel comfortable enough now with the level of possessions I have and the progress on the house that I'd gladly take it and showcase it in my living room, even until and/or if I ever get it in a working state.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
When my grandma passed away lo these many years ago, we were given the oppty to take one thing that we wantedfrom her house. I took a big seashell. As little children, we used to try and hear the ocean waves that the adults said that you could hear if you put it up to your ear.

My choice was emotional, but my cousin's was more mercenary: She took the old windup Victrola which was, at that point, just vintage but has since become a true antique.

Thinking back, I should have taken the treadle sewing machine, which would have been useful.

Anyway, that's one item I think you SHOULD take, SIX.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It was sweet to hear that music again.

Jack if your grandma is offering her Victrola to you, I think you should take her up on it. You might be able to get it working again. Never know.

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
When my grandma passed away lo these many years ago, we were given the oppty to take one thing that we wantedfrom her house. I took a big seashell. As little children, we used to try and hear the ocean waves that the adults said that you could hear if you put it up to your ear.

My choice was emotional, but my cousin's was more mercenary: She took the old windup Victrola which was, at that point, just vintage but has since become a true antique.

Thinking back, I should have taken the treadle sewing machine, which would have been useful.

Anyway, that's one item I think you SHOULD take, SIX.

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I've probably missed out on a lot of things because I refused to be a vulture hovering around and grabbing whatever I could. When my grandpa died, I didn't even go there to root through his old things. When my grandma passed, I managed to get one thing from each of them that meant something to me by having my uncle look specifically for them right away before the vultutres started picking. Neither thing is particularly valuable, but they're the most important reminders of them that I could think of. They practically raised us 1/4 of my childhood while we were being carted around from house to house before I was deemed old enough to do the babysitting.[/b quote]

It can be the little things from our childhoods that mean the most.

[/b quote]That being said, I will have to make arrangements to get it out of there. She seems to want me to have it now. My aunt is in the process of slowly clearing out stuff out of the house, and in the spring I'm going to go over there and work on clearing out the garage with a dumpster. My grandma is in good health, but they're being surprisingly proactive here. I might have to rent a truck. I don't know how else to get it to my house since I don't think it will fit in my car and I don't want to put anybody out.

I definitely don't want to be dealing with that after she passes in a no-will situation.

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That too can be a good thing if the person in question is making their own decisions on things.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
It was sweet to hear that music again.

Jack if your grandma is offering her Victrola to you, I think you should take her up on it. You might be able to get it working again. Never know.

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Yeah. I think I probably could get it working again. There has been a sort of resurgence of interest in all things that were old. Those needles might not have been produced for a few decades, but I bet you could find a new line of them somewhere online if you looked hard enough.

I just have to figure out how to get it here. It's about a 60 mile trip.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Exactly and you would have an original article not like my item which is modern and just built under that label. Mind the label is what interested me as anything like that from my grandparents is long gone.

I've got all the instructions for my item and it includes how to get new needles but I don't want to damage it right off the bat. I might play one record a week or so.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, my heart has been mostly behaving itself lately

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I might have to rent a truck.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SUCCESS!!

I added the ball valve to the busted PVC pipe, and pressure checked all of my repairs and modifications and they all held. So I can put on the riser and sprinkler head and re-bury the pipe.

Some day, in the distant future, when I have a LOT more time and energy and less to do I'm going to unbury and reconfigure the whole irrigation system. I'll try to digup all the old iron pipes too, while I'm at it. It's a snake's nest down there. Last summer, when I had someone helping me (pre-Covid) I had him unbury a tangle of four pipes that were criss-crossing under a part of the front yard. With two cuts we replaced that tangle with one straight-thru PVC pipe. I can't imagine what's under the rest of the yard.

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Also had the battery replaced on our van. I'd run the damn thing every week, sometimes for a half-hour, hoping I could charge up the battery but it must have had an internal short because half the time I'd have to jump-start it. So that's another headache, gone.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SUCCESS!!

I added the ball valve to the busted PVC pipe, and pressure checked all of my repairs and modifications and they all held. So I can put on the riser and sprinkler head and re-bury the pipe.

Some day, in the distant future, when I have a LOT more time and energy and less to do I'm going to unbury and reconfigure the whole irrigation system. I'll try to digup all the old iron pipes too, while I'm at it. It's a snake's nest down there. Last summer, when I had someone helping me (pre-Covid) I had him unbury a tangle of four pipes that were criss-crossing under a part of the front yard. With two cuts we replaced that tangle with one straight-thru PVC pipe. I can't imagine what's under the rest of the yard.


Also had the battery replaced on our van. I'd run the damn thing every week, sometimes for a half-hour, hoping I could charge up the battery but it must have had an interal short because half the time I'd have to jump-start it. So that's another headache, gone.



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

#WEARAMASK

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
I might have to rent a truck.

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It might be cheaper to rent a trailer hitch and small lightweight trailer, or, if you see the potential to do much hauling in the future, buy a used setup.

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SIGNYM:
SUCCESS!!

I added the ball valve to the busted PVC pipe, and pressure checked all of my repairs and modifications and they all held. So I can put on the riser and sprinkler head and re-bury the pipe.

Some day, in the distant future, when I have a LOT more time and energy and less to do I'm going to unbury and reconfigure the whole irrigation system. I'll try to digup all the old iron pipes too, while I'm at it. It's a snake's nest down there. Last summer, when I had someone helping me (pre-Covid) I had him unbury a tangle of four pipes that were criss-crossing under a part of the front yard. With two cuts we replaced that tangle with one straight-thru PVC pipe. I can't imagine what's under the rest of the yard.


Also had the battery replaced on our van. I'd run the damn thing every week, sometimes for a half-hour, hoping I could charge up the battery but it must have had an interal short because half the time I'd have to jump-start it. So that's another headache, gone.


SIX: Words cannot express how much I envy your ability to still do any meaningful work outside...

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SIX: Not only is it 40 degrees again today, but the wind has been steady at 25MPH all morning with gusts over 50MPH. I put off cleaning out the gutters one last time yesterday when I saw how many of those evil little leaves were still up in my neighbor's tree. They're still there today, but about half as thick. Hopefully I can take care of it all by next weekend.

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SIX: Congratulations on your successes, and I'm glad you're still feeling well enough to do it.

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SIX You may want to reconsider digging the snake's nest up though. It's been my experience that some secrets are best left buried. If they're not in your way or causing you any problems, you should probably just forget about them. Not only is it going to be a crazy amount of work, but you might be opening up one can of worms after another and if you're anything like me it can tend to drive you crazy.

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SIX: For example, finding out about my windows being aluminum placed over the old rotten wooden windows is just the beginning of what's hiding on the face of my house... That crappy vinyl siding is likely hiding another truckload of sins that I don't even want to know about too. Whoever put it up didn't take the old siding down first, so just like the 2 layers of shingles I've got on my garage, I have 60 year old siding hidden under the new-ish stuff. Normally I'd be enraged about this, and I still kind of am, but it might have not just been out of pure laziness that they did it. When my buddy was over he was walking around and getting some crude measurements to see what kind of a "deal" price he could give me on a gutter install through his extremely expensive company, and when he spotted the siding he said right away that they wouldn't even do it because I have asbestos siding on my house. I haven't verified that this is true... he is a salesman and not a pro contractor, but that's just one more awesome thing hidden below and one more reason to get out as quick as I can.

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Lazy dry Sunday by me.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I guess what you don't understand, SIX,is that MY ability to work outside is pretty much limited to the winter months! Maybe if I were younger and in better shape, I could work in 85+ weather, but I can't. That's why I let things go thru the summer months and am playing catch up now.

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True... I'd still trade you though. I'd rather the hot weather be what keeps me inside than the cold weather and snow. Especially now that I've got A/C and figured out that it was super cheap to run compared to what I thought it would be. Winter heat bills suck so much.

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Still, I don't envy your weather.

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It's just cold and dead around here for the next 3-4 months. At least it keeps the mosquitoes small and we don't have things like scorpions or a lot of snakes.

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Thanks!

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Oh, that particular item is so far down on my "list of things to do" that it translates to "Not in my lifetime"

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Yeah... probably for the best. You've got enough to deal with right now. You don't need to be putting a monster project on yourself like that. Maybe if you ever catch up with everything else and have nothing left to do.

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AFAIK, handling asbestos in our area is covered by local, state, AND Federal regulation, so even if you don't have any additional regulations, there are those Federal ones.

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Yeah. Probably like the mold. Technically, I don't think I was supposed to legally remediate the mold issues the house had when I first bought it on my own. But I followed the rules and wasn't stupid about it. It was gross work, but with the suit and mask/goggles, it wasn't dangerous.

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But as long as it's "encapsulated" you're golden. And if it's really asbestos, it's not likely to rot.

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Yeah. It was under there for 7 or 8 years without me even knowing it. The only reason my friend saw it is because it was on the "outside" wall of the three season room addition after I removed the cedar paneling. At that point I thought it was only left in the porch because they were lazy (because it's NOT on that wall in the porch attic). It wasn't until I was getting at the windows last week that I figured out that the vinyl siding is covering it all over every inch of the house that isn't part of the porch. And since the house was made in the early 60's it wouldn't surprise me if that is asbestos.

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Speaking of siding ... good thing you don't have termites and such. We have the origianl wood siding, but there are places where it is DEFINITELY termite eaten. I'd hate to see the studs underneath. And one area that keeps spilling cricket shit. (yes, I know what cricket shit looks like compared to termite shit.) The thing about crickets is that they only eat rotten wood. So, what does that tell you...?

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I didn't even know crickets ate wood. Thankfully, no termites. Just carpenter ants. And now that I'm keeping things sealed and dry and putting down the poison I don't think I have any more worries on that front. I just hope that the damage wasn't too extensive behind the scenes before I got to it.

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Also, here is CA there is a disclosure law that says you have to disclose anything that you know or think might be wrong with the house, and that includes lead paint, asbestos, and (I assume) structural damage.

Your mileage may vary. But considering that your potential asbestos siding seems like it can neither harm anyone nor be harmed by insects or the elements, I agree that you should just leave it alone.

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I'll leave that one up to the future buyer's inspector. Like I said, I didn't even know it was under there for almost a decade.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

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Originally posted by Brenda:
Lazy dry Sunday by me.

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That sounds good to me!

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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I'll leave that one up to the future buyer's inspector. Like I said, I didn't even know it was under there for almost a decade.

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And, in reality, you STILL don't know. And you won't- unless you get it tested.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX, it sounds like you're making great progress! I like the idea of seeing how your neighbor's mud jacking turns out.

*****

At this end, I had my stress echo cardiogram today. There's nothing wrong with my heart except beats unccordinatedly at times. It's an interesting test: they take an echocardiogram of your beating heart (baseline), then add a contrast agent (lipid-encapsulated microbubbles to help visualize the cardiac walls). Then they jack your heart rate up with medication to maximum while watching it beat, then reverse the effect with another medication and that's it.

But while that, I told them I felt that pressure and like my heart was flipflopping, and they saw that on the ekg every time. Apparently I'm acutely aware of premature beats ... "symptomatic palpitations" ... but there are medications to keep the atria from contracting too soon. Beta blockers, among other things.

I have no idea why my heart suddenly started to misbehave. but all things considered this was a relatively benign diagnosis that I can follow up with my regular doctor.

*****

BRENDA, speaking of wind... eldest sis texted that they had a windstorm come thru with 75 mph gusts. Must have covered the entire state because they felt if from Lake Erie to NYC. Some downed power lines and no roof damage as far as she knows, but a portion of the fence was blown down.

Oy.
I won't complain about LA wind again!!!

Just be careful out in the wind. If it's too strong it can knock you off your feet.

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

#WEARAMASK

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Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Glad your heart issues seem to be easily treatable Sigs. Still though... I know it's your time of year for outdoor work, but just pace yourself until you know that you've got them under control, huh?





Got two whole 60 degree days without any rain now to button up the house, and I'm not giving them away. I keep getting gifted with them only to re-gift them.

Not any serious projects that I'm planning on tackling, but just a bunch of minor stuff that I'd like to do for final weatherproofing and general winter readiness.

While I'm sipping on my coffee and posting here, let me think of the list...

1. Put visqueen up on back porch barely-windows (permanent application until I tear out all bad windows and the door in porch and replace everything... hopefully in the spring).

2. Clean and caulk livingroom window and the garage window I cleaned and put the vinyl on a few weeks back. (Caulk between the window itself and the vinyl siding like windows are supposed to be caulked).

3. Put a little caulk on the bottom of the garage door I repaired at the bottom. (The door had heavy rust damage to the point of holes toward the bottom, and I've noticed two very small holes develop where I had caulked along the bottom track. A single good bead of my expensive white caulk should do the trick and hopefully blend in nicely with the paint job. In retrospect, I would have used this caulk for the job originally, but it's too late for that).

4. Two minor siding repairs on the garage as the wind has made a corner and one other piece a little "flappy".

5. Either buy some chicken wire, or fabricate covers out of aluminum scrap from the gutters to cover up the holes in the front of the overhang where the pillars go and I currently have my pole jacks still standing. (Not only to keep any potential racoon mother out in the early spring, but apparently birds like the spot too since I woke up to them hovering around and going up and checking out that area for a potential nesting spot last week when it was warmer and they were still around).

6. Clean up and organize what I've got out of place in the garage from recent projects for a clear work bench when I start up outdoor work again next spring and enjoy my first winter with enough space for two cars while parking my car in the garage for the first time since the driveway was restored.

7. Clean up debris from recent wind storms, possibly mow the lawn one last time for the rest of the leaves if time allows after blowing the leaves that have "stuck" themselves on the front porch into the lawn first.

8. Help my neighbor move stuff in his garage while the mudjackers are working if they need stuff moved. Have them come over and give me a quote on my shed slab.

hmmmm.......

I know there's a 9 and 10 ... Maybe an 11, 12 and 13 too.

Hopefully they come to me while I'm working outside and I'm not beating myself up for having to do stuff in the 40's because I forgot to do them now and mowed the lawn for about 500 leaves instead.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, only maybe 13 things to do?? Everywhere I look, I see a dozen!

But I know your list is season-limited, and mine isn't. Still, it sounds like you're able to put in hours of hard physical labor for many days in a row while I can only manage one, maybe five days a week, so my progress is necessarily slower.

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lol... Well, there's probably a billion things to do, but yeah... that's the stuff that I still reasonably have time for in the next 24 hours after what I got done today.

That being said, after doing an intense bathroom gutting earlier this week and the work I did outside my house today, I seemed to have tweaked my lower right back. Even took two ibuprofen since I was going out shooting pool with friends, but it didn't do anything (which means it's pretty bad since I'm so straight edge now that just one pill knocked out a killer headache in 5 minutes a month ago).

Only knocked two things off that list today too. Got the plastic up on the back windows and the chicken wire in the hollow parts under the porch overhang (I also figured out how to fabricate "medallions" out of aluminum and pad them so I could drive aluminum nails through the plastic since the staples were not going to work as they just ripped the plastic with the wind blowing it.

Oh yeah.... and the wind. 20MPH constant with 55MPH gusts all damn day long. That made literally everything I did today harder and longer than it needed to be for sure.

Can't let my back get in the way tomorrow though. Still a lot to do and not a lot of time to do it. Probably going to stop being so anal about leaves though and not worry about mowing the lawn again since half the neighborhood still hasn't raked their own damn leaves yet.

Except for prepping the windows for the caulk, the other stuff on the list is actually pretty small and should go quickly.



Probably the best news is that nothing new came to me. I really think I'm ready for winter after that list is done. In any event, I'm more prepared for it than I have been in the last 10 years.

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For today, I need to make a grocery list and do shopping with dear daughter and of course, make the family dinner. But I plan to finish the PVC-to-hose-reel repair: I put in a new valve and pressure-tested that repair (and the zone that I repaired, and while I was at it I checked and adjusted all of the irrigation zones and watered the entire property because altho it's been relatively cool lately it's also been dry. Also cleaned the floors again. Our neighborhood is VERY dusty!)

But I need to put an elbow onto the pipe, plus a PVC-to-metal hose bib, and then replace the female end of the hose with a new fitting because the old one corroded onto the old hose bib.

Finish cleaaring out the palm fronds and whatnot from the windstorm and do some general cleanup, then it will be trash day (Monday).

Thanks for your concern, SIX. I have a telephone appt with my doctor tomorrow so I hope to get it all sorted out.

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Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Did you find out at such a last-minute? That's annoying.

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