REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 1, 2022 17:55
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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 6:19 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Wow! Jack. That is some kind of cold you got going on down there.

Yeah, we do.



Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sounds like you were bearing the brunt of the storm, SIX! Sis texted me to say they got a whopping 4" of light fluffy stuff.



Yeah. It's so gross. Buildings around here and in Chicago have actually had their roofs collapse because of the snow/ice weight. I haven't heard anything about house roofs collapsing yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people's gutters start to fall off.

I just knocked off about 200lbs of icicles from my gutters today. 5" gutters and they're full of ice now and spilling over. A house across the street from me and a few doors down from front to back on the side of the house I can see has 7 foot icicles nearly touching the ground. I can't believe somebody hasn't gone out there and knocked them down. I don't know them, otherwise I'd go over there and do it myself. I know they have a few small kids there, so I hope they're going to make sure the kids don't play around that when it warms up until they knock them down or they fall off.

5 more days of this frigid cold before we get some highs above freezing. And there's still a possibility that we get another foot of snow before the temps become warm enough to start getting rid of the nearly 40" we've got over the last 3 weeks.

:(


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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 6:29 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.



Knocking off icicles! I remember that being a lot of fun! ... especially when the big chunks of ice from up near the gutters came down. Another fun thing was kicking off the ice buildup on the car behind the tires, especially when it came off in one big chunk and you could actually see the way it cast the underside of the car in ice. (And then you drive over the ice chunks and smoosh them flat!)

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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 6:53 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Yeah. It actually is kind of fun.

Really being ginger with it though. Took me nearly 10 years to finally put those gutters up and I don't want them to be trashed the very first winter after they were installed.


I wonder if it was probably good that I didn't install gutter guards? They might have all blown out by now with ice expansion.


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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 10:25 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Getting digital backups of manuals for products you own is a huge PITA.

Totally worth it though when you can use your tablet to view them down the road.


Unfortunately though, I can rarely ever bring myself to throw out the originals until I go through my manual folders every few years to pitch manuals for things that broke and I threw out.

That's because every damn manual you ever get has a revision number on it, and rarely do the manuals online ever match the revision you had. In many cases, even with the big companies that should do better, you have a hard copy manual that is more "up to date" than the one on their official website.

I'm sure it's just an OCD thing on my part. These revisions are probably just minor typo corrections at best, and additional languages added to them at worst and probably don't matter to the end user in the slightest. On one of my new tools, there were two "addendum" sheets to download which had actual legitimate additions that would matter to the operator. And out of 20 different products, that's the only one which did this specifically. One of those important addendums was over two years old too, and did not come with the product when I bought it on Black Friday.

So I'll just keep my big bulky folders of product manuals even though I have digital versions at my fingertips and backed up in several locations, even though I could probably count on my fingers and toes how many times I've ever even looked at a product manual in my entire life.




I'd say the one worthwhile thing about how I've spent my day outside of my painting shift is that along with the product manuals, I've also been able to download "repair sheets" for all of my new tools, and I've also found a website that will sell you any parts you need rather cheaply. Might come in handy one day if any of them break after warranty. Some of the tools are fairly cheap to replace, but it could save me a hundred bucks or more on the other ones.


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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 10:48 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.



When I was working, I often had identical instrument models, with identical PNs, and identical exterior appearance - but completely different guts inside. Different valves, different plumbing, different configuration, different servo motors ... different a lot of things. I sometimes think it was because the company had outsourced its manufacturing, and when parts ran short, adjustments were made on the fly.

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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 11:48 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:

When I was working, I often had identical instrument models, with identical PNs, and identical exterior appearance - but completely different guts inside. Different valves, different plumbing, different configuration, different servo motors ... different a lot of things. I sometimes think it was because the company had outsourced its manufacturing, and when parts ran short, adjustments were made on the fly.



That's interesting.

I just recently bought a gallon of white enamel paint on sale from the same brand I always buy. I already had roughly 3 quarters of a gallon of the stuff left from when I was doing the trim/doors last year, but I'm easily going to go through that and another gallon so I figured why not?

But when I looked at it after I got home it said "paint AND primer" in one. I NEVER buy anything labeled paint and primer.

But then I compared the two pails and they both have the exact same UPC code on them.

Same company, same design on the bucket, same UPC barcode. But now it's a different product? Or are they now claiming it's a primer too and the formula didn't change at all?

What gives?


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Wednesday, February 17, 2021 11:54 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Wow! Jack. That is some kind of cold you got going on down there.

Yeah, we do.



Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sounds like you were bearing the brunt of the storm, SIX! Sis texted me to say they got a whopping 4" of light fluffy stuff.



Yeah. It's so gross. Buildings around here and in Chicago have actually had their roofs collapse because of the snow/ice weight. I haven't heard anything about house roofs collapsing yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people's gutters start to fall off.

I just knocked off about 200lbs of icicles from my gutters today. 5" gutters and they're full of ice now and spilling over. A house across the street from me and a few doors down from front to back on the side of the house I can see has 7 foot icicles nearly touching the ground. I can't believe somebody hasn't gone out there and knocked them down. I don't know them, otherwise I'd go over there and do it myself. I know they have a few small kids there, so I hope they're going to make sure the kids don't play around that when it warms up until they knock them down or they fall off.

5 more days of this frigid cold before we get some highs above freezing. And there's still a possibility that we get another foot of snow before the temps become warm enough to start getting rid of the nearly 40" we've got over the last 3 weeks.

:(


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That's even happened in Washington State from all the snow they've gotten over the last week. And down in Portland Oregon too.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 12:23 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Yeah. I heard about that. I guess it's freakin' abnormally cold down even by Texas right now too and a lot of their power went out.

We maybe got an inch last night. Not too bad. The only snow remaining in the forecast until our first day above freezing is 2 to 3" on Sunday night. Monday is going to be cloudy and just 33 degrees, so probably won't help much.

But then Tuesday and Wendsday look to be highs of 40 degrees with the sun! Yay!

Hope my gutters don't fall down before then and that my roof is still okay under all that snow and ice.


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Thursday, February 18, 2021 2:31 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Knocked off the icicles again. That will be a daily thing for a while now I guess.

Don't know why it took me 10 years to figure out I can open up my 2nd floor windows top-down and knock them all down on the back of the house with a long pole instead of going outside and hitting them from the ground while crotch deep in snow though.

That's sure a lot easier, and a lot less messy.




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Thursday, February 18, 2021 4:21 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.



One of the things I used to notice was that some houses had lots and lots of snow on them with no icicles and some houses had no snow and lots of icicles. The difference was insulation. The houses with no/ minimal insulation lost a lot of heat through the roof which melted the snow which refroze as icicles when it hit the colder edges and gutters. And the houses with lots of snow and no icicles were far better insulated.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 5:04 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yeah. I heard about that. I guess it's freakin' abnormally cold down even by Texas right now too and a lot of their power went out.

We maybe got an inch last night. Not too bad. The only snow remaining in the forecast until our first day above freezing is 2 to 3" on Sunday night. Monday is going to be cloudy and just 33 degrees, so probably won't help much.

But then Tuesday and Wendsday look to be highs of 40 degrees with the sun! Yay!

Hope my gutters don't fall down before then and that my roof is still okay under all that snow and ice.


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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.



Washington State and Oregon have also experienced power outages. Not to the extent of Texas. Washington and Oregon it's been mostly the coastal areas from wind.

All I am looking at right now is rain and that is for the next few days at least.

It was dry when I went out this morning for my walk but by the time I was ready to head home the rain had come. Good thing I took my umbrella with me.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 7:26 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 1KIKI:

One of the things I used to notice was that some houses had lots and lots of snow on them with no icicles and some houses had no snow and lots of icicles. The difference was insulation. The houses with no/ minimal insulation lost a lot of heat through the roof which melted the snow which refroze as icicles when it hit the colder edges and gutters. And the houses with lots of snow and no icicles were far better insulated.

I liked to notice the differences. Usually the houses w/ no snow on the roof were the ones built in the early 1900's when there was a big steel mill boom. And the houses with lots of snow were the ones built in the 50's during the post-war industrial and housing boom, where there was at least the concept of some insulation. Next time you're driving around Jack you might find it entertaining to check that out.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 7:30 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.



Data is as of Tuesday, Feb 16. You'd think all the storms and snow would have taken a bite out of the drought most of the western US is experiencing.





Sigh. And no rain forecast here through the end of this month.


I read that global warming has weakened the jet stream, which used to contain the polar vortex. And the reason why the country got slammed with the vortex is because it's now free to wobble further south. The other thing that I've read is that the weakened jet stream no long shepherds low and high pressure systems along west to east. And that allows for long-term weather patterns to set up for extended periods of time instead of blowing by in a few days. In the case of SoCal, that means that the high-pressure systems that keep us dry will be staying in place for an indefinite time.

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Thursday, February 18, 2021 8:05 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Well the sun beating down cleared the snow off the front of the gutters.

There is literally 2 feet of ice on top of the gutters all along the front of the house. It's an insane sight to behold. And we're still 4 days away from any of this shit melting. I think the only reason the gutters I just had installed haven't all come crashing to the ground is because that's just the tip of the iceburg that is on the entire front half of my roof.

I'm half tempted to risk electrocution tomorrow and spend all day outside on a ladder with a space heater to melt it.



We've now had more snow in the last three weeks than we typically have in an entire winter, and with the sub zero temps, none of it has gone anywhere. My sump pump hasn't gone off in weeks.


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Friday, February 19, 2021 12:14 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Uggg..... I forgot how expensive decorative wall switches, outlets and screwless covers were. And you can't really save any money by buying them in bulk either unless you buy contractor packs which are enough to do two houses.

The worst part is, after you've done that for all the single switches and outlets, your house is going to look pretty dumb if you don't do it for the double/triple ones and the cable and phone jacks too. That's where they REALLY get you. Those decorative covers increase exponentially in price the more outlets you add to them. Really, it's way too much money for plastic, but they know they've got you.


I've got a two gang box with 4 small standard switches on the wall right when you enter the kitchen. To update that one piece alone with two double-half-sized paddle switches and a double sized screwless cover to match the rest of what I've been doing so far is going to cost $25 plus tax. Cable and phone jacks are going to be another $4 each and a $2 cover for them.

GCFI outlets aren't cheap either, but I'm going to be putting two of them in the kitchen anyhow, so I'll buy a 4 pack and put one in each of the bathrooms too when I get to them.

Wasn't really considering that it was going to cost me around $130 to replace a bunch of perfectly working switches and outlets on the first floor and the bathroom upstairs, but they look great up there in the bedrooms and the hallway with the remodeling I've already done.

For the basement though, I might just use regular stuff once you go beyond the room that you can see from both the living room and the kitchen. I'll probably save $100 doing that.


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Friday, February 19, 2021 10:24 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Do you think a GFCI oulet on the sump pump is a good or bad idea? I'm thinking bad idea.




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Friday, February 19, 2021 11:39 PM

BRENDA


Rain today and rain tomorrow.

Got home a little after 5pm from work and it was still light out through the rain.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 12:04 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:
Do you think a GFCI oulet on the sump pump is a good or bad idea? I'm thinking bad idea.




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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

IMpersonalO, I think anywhere where there's water - kitchen, bath, sump pump - it's a good idea.

The NEC (National Electrical Code) may have been adopted in your area as applicable code, so you might want to look into that, and what is required.
Quote:

NEC 210-8 At dwellings, ground-fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) protection shall be provided for all receptacle outlets installed in bathrooms, garages, grade-level portions of unfinished accessory buildings, crawl spaces, unfinished basements, at kitchen countertops, wet-bar sinks, and outdoors.
I didn't see any mention when I googled the ubc (uniform building code). That doesn't mean it isn't in there, just that it wasn't in the first page of results.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 12:35 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Yeah... My first instinct would be that because water is involved, it might be a good thing to have one for the sump pump.

But then knowing that my house will surely flood if it's not on 24/7 roughly 45 months out of the year, I think I'd be better off with the devil I know and not switch one in. It's just one more possible point of failure. I could always easily put one in when I go to sell the house if the buyer's home inspector brings it up.


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Saturday, February 20, 2021 12:39 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I spent more hours than I care to admit workign on that kitchen fan tonight. And I spent more hours not realizing that it only spins at one speed in reverse because it requires a remote that doesn't exist. Did I say hours? I meant years.

(But duh... Not only isn't there a reverse switch, but how could you change the speed on it when there isn't a pull chain either?)



Guess I can't blame that one on Uncle Bob. I gotta put that one on the previous owners that put the fan in reverse and then took the remote with them when they ripped out the gutters and the A/C.



It's good though. They installed it like idiots and it's a major reason why there is cracking on the kitchen ceiling and why even with a large cover it never completely hid the gaping hole up there.

I've got it mounted properly (and level) now and ready for patching/sanding before I repaint the ceilings.

I've also got a universal remote on its way. Fingers crossed that it works.


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Saturday, February 20, 2021 4:08 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


ACH! Our kitchen fan! It needs cleaning! Just one more thing on the "list of things to do"!

But I did manage to get a new trainer for dear daughter's virtual gym session. The lady who was doing it before was so disorganized, the office called wondering why dear daughter wasn't participating and I said... "Well, she's been participating according to her schedule all the way thru January until now, except the two days that the trainer didn't set up a session."

"Ohhhh??"

"And I know we're supposed to sign a sheet at the end of every month but she never came by with the form"


"Ohhhh?"

"I mean, we can see her on Duo, and we can see ourselves, so she can see us, right?"

Anyway, I got fed up with her, she was always calling late, changing schedule without letting us know, not acknowledging dear daughter's participation. I could have really unloaded on her but I didn't, I just asked for a different person.

*****

Haven't been doing much outdoors except sprayed the weeds in the backyard. But I need to start putting in the work ... after we clean the house, which needs dusting and vacuuming every 2 weeks.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 10:54 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Oh... You're supposed to dust every 2 weeks? I've been doing it wrong.



Um... yeah. You're ceiling fan can't be THAT dirty.

It turns out after 3 hours of cleaning it on a stepladder that my 80/90's computer case colored ceiling fan in the kitchen is actually a bright white ceiling fan that's going to match all the cabinets and the trim I'm putting up.

Only wish I had pulled it down two days ago before I cleaned it and saved myself a lot of time and stretching. But I thought I was being clever since I was already washing my ceiling and soffit which was as equally discolored and looks like I put a roller with fresh paint to it compared to the stuff that hasn't been washed with TSP yet. If it weren't for all the cracks that need to be repaired, I wouldn't even have to paint that ceiling once it's clean.

(I didn't clean the fan with TSP. I was using that to take a break from stretching directly overhead to wash the ceiling, and just haven't gotten back to actually washing the ceiling yet).

That's the first time that fan has been cleaned in the 10 years I've lived here, and since I never knew it was white I'm going to guess it had been at least a couple of years with smokers in the house before I got it.


The thing weighs a bajillion pounds compared to the one out in the porch that I completely restored, so after my stepdad tried to fix it years ago (a two man job) I never tried again. I had to pull my fridge out from the wall and put my tool box and a few books under it to support everything while doing work on it.



My buddy called me late last night to invite me over but I told him I wanted to keep working on that, so as long as he didn't forget he already had obligations tonight I'm probably going over there later today after I get my paint shift done and take some time to properly rewire the fan back up (It's not a safe wiring job now since I was only doing some testing on it with the intent that it was going to be pulled down while I patched the ceiling.

It turns out that after my alterations, I won't need to have the fan down to patch/sand and paint. I just won't put the blades back on it until everything is painted up there, so I'll still have the four lights to really light up the room when I'm working after dark.





Sorry to hear about you're daughters trainer. Jobs aren't exactly easy to come by these days. You'd think she'd be a little more into doing hers. Hope she gets a good one this time.






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Saturday, February 20, 2021 1:46 PM

BRENDA


Out for a walk and hopefully I will miss the rain.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 4:57 PM

BRENDA


Back from my walk and no rain. Been invited out to supper and I should take my umbrella with me in case.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 5:18 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I just spent hours outside shoveling snow away from my house and the gutters. It hasn't snowed in a few days, and it's still not close to 32 degrees, but the sun was out and one of my downspouts was actually working. Bad news was that it was going nowhere except for right up against the foundation of my back porch with slushy ice water that is going to freeze again shortly now that the sun is going to go down.

I'm hoping what I did today doesn't backfire. It feels nice not having several feet of snow up against my house, but depending on how it melts and how much rain/snow we get in the future, I could have possibly just built an ice moat that is going to hold water in later.



Several good things to report though...

Even though my back yard has snow so deep that it's still almost up to my crotch while walking through it, there is hardly any up against the back of my house where the flooding through walls typically occurs. The gutters seem to have kept that area somewhat free of snow, and whatever melting has taken place there hasn't ended up in my basement at all yet.


I also saw what could only be racoon tracks from the street right up to the mature maple tree closest to my house, yet there is no evidence of even a paw print on the roof of the house. Maybe I was actually able to manage to cut the branches back far enough with the 12' ladder and the telescoping cutter.

So even with the additional height and padding of the snow and the ice on the roof, it looks like mama racoon must have climbed back down and decided that she could find a better place to try having her babies this year.




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Saturday, February 20, 2021 7:24 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and no rain. Been invited out to supper and I should take my umbrella with me in case.

I hope you have a nice supper, BRENDA!

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 7:30 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I just spent hours outside shoveling snow away from my house and the gutters. It hasn't snowed in a few days, and it's still not close to 32 degrees, but the sun was out and one of my downspouts was actually working. Bad news was that it was going nowhere except for right up against the foundation of my back porch with slushy ice water that is going to freeze again shortly now that the sun is going to go down.

I'm hoping what I did today doesn't backfire. It feels nice not having several feet of snow up against my house, but depending on how it melts and how much rain/snow we get in the future, I could have possibly just built an ice moat that is going to hold water in later.

I suppose if there's a pathway where the melt can run off to, like to the driveway and street, you shouldn't have problems with accumulation?

Quote:

Several good things to report though...

Even though my back yard has snow so deep that it's still almost up to my crotch while walking through it

Jeezus effing christ that's a lot of snow!

Quote:

there is hardly any up against the back of my house where the flooding through walls typically occurs. The gutters seem to have kept that area somewhat free of snow, and whatever melting has taken place there hasn't ended up in my basement at all yet.
that IS good news!

Quote:

I also saw what could only be racoon tracks from the street right up to the mature maple tree closest to my house, yet there is no evidence of even a paw print on the roof of the house. Maybe I was actually able to manage to cut the branches back far enough with the 12' ladder and the telescoping cutter.

So even with the additional height and padding of the snow and the ice on the roof, it looks like mama racoon must have climbed back down and decided that she could find a better place to try having her babies this year.

sounds like you won the battle of the raccoons!




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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 7:47 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Another "windy" day for the flatlands of LA.

Managed to get the backyard sprayed a couple of days ago, and the weeds in the front yard are beginning to die (the weather has been sunny but cool so the weed killer is taking about a week to work) so now I can see where I need to hand weed. I think that's how I'll manage the battle of the weeds: spray where I can, flame where I can, and minimize the hand weeding.

Watered front and back yards since it hasn't rained since whenever, cut up the fallen palm flower stalks, raked and swept up the miscellaneous fallen stuff, did some adventitious hand weeding out front and in back, hosed off the wood cover (from when we had a rack full if wood from a tree that we had cut down many years ago) and in general tidied up.

Since it's still windy I expect there will be more to sweep and rake tomorrow. Nature's pruning job at work.

Tomorrow I'll bin up the green waste and we'll do the dusting, sweeping and vacuuming, sort the mail, and curb the bins.

The coyotes must have passed thru our neighborhood and moved on bc dog saw a big possum in the backyard (but lost interest bc it was literally playing possum) and a big old fat-tailed skunk a couple of evenings after that. Plus, our neighbor's cocker spaniel is still alive. (I wish they'd take that dog in at night, but they're Korean and prolly aren't that fond of dogs in general.)

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 8:13 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 6ixStringJack:
I could have possibly just built an ice moat that is going to hold water in later.

As a kid we lived one lot over from the base of a small hill. And when the snow and ice melted, it formed a little lake on the far edge of the neighbors yard that spanned the entire block, that was draining in a nice sheet of water over the curb and into the storm sewer right below. I don't remember who thought of damming that stream up with a rather long wall of ice, snow, and slush, and letting the water build to good levels (iirc about 3'), then breaking open a section and watching the water torrent furiously through and down to the sewer below ... but all the neighborhood kids had a great time doing that over and over the whole day. (And I don't remember being cold though we were all soaking in ice-water the whole time).

Anyway, much later, after all the snow and ice had melted, it turned out there was a HUGE hole maybe 4' deep and 3' wide in the street at the base of the curb, where the asphalt, rock bed, and dirt had washed away and exposed the side of the concrete storm-sewer pipe. I didn't connect it up with how we were playing in the snow, but somebody did. And we were told very sternly never to do that again.


So the answer to your potential ponding I think is - break open a downslope hole and watch the water rush though. The caveat is - be mindful of where you direct the downstream flow because it could get severely damaged if you have a lot of water built-up.
Quote:

Maybe I was actually able to manage to cut the branches back far enough with the 12' ladder and the telescoping cutter.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 8:18 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:
Back from my walk and no rain. Been invited out to supper and I should take my umbrella with me in case.

Have a lovely time, Brenda.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 8:22 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.



Holy jeeze that's a busy day, Signy! That to me would be a busy week or two.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 10:07 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Holy jeeze that's a busy day, Signy! That to me would be a busy week or two.



Well. In all honesty, that was over two days after I took a pregabalin and a meloxicam.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:32 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and no rain. Been invited out to supper and I should take my umbrella with me in case.

I hope you have a nice supper, BRENDA!

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.



It was good. Just a nice early evening out and it did rain. I could see it through the restaurant windows. Caught up a bit on one of the other ladies from mah jong.

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Saturday, February 20, 2021 11:35 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:

Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and no rain. Been invited out to supper and I should take my umbrella with me in case.

Have a lovely time, Brenda.



Thanks Kiki and I did. Rained while we were in the restaurant.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 3:18 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I just spent hours outside shoveling snow away from my house and the gutters. It hasn't snowed in a few days, and it's still not close to 32 degrees, but the sun was out and one of my downspouts was actually working. Bad news was that it was going nowhere except for right up against the foundation of my back porch with slushy ice water that is going to freeze again shortly now that the sun is going to go down.

I'm hoping what I did today doesn't backfire. It feels nice not having several feet of snow up against my house, but depending on how it melts and how much rain/snow we get in the future, I could have possibly just built an ice moat that is going to hold water in later.

I suppose if there's a pathway where the melt can run off to, like to the driveway and street, you shouldn't have problems with accumulation?



The joys of a flood plain. There's always accumulation.

Instinct tells me it's a good idea to get the 2 feet of snow as far away from the front and side of the house as I possibly can. But after I do it I realize I have 3 feet of snow all around my house, and a fairly good chance that a lot of that is just going to melt back where I don't want it to go.

Once it starts melting I really have no power over it anymore. Finger's crossed.

Quote:

Several good things to report though...

Even though my back yard has snow so deep that it's still almost up to my crotch while walking through it

Jeezus effing christ that's a lot of snow!


Yup.... we had 40" in about 3 weeks. That's more than we typically get in an entire Chicagoland winter... Not the first time I've ever seen that in my life, but it is the first time I've never seen any of it go anywhere because the temperature was so cold for so long. What's really crazy is how late into February it is.

But I think we made it. Nothing but 30's in the 10 day forecast, and after tomorrow night, no snow for about a week. Hopefully at least some of that ice melts off my roof and gutters before we get another big one.

Quote:

there is hardly any up against the back of my house where the flooding through walls typically occurs. The gutters seem to have kept that area somewhat free of snow, and whatever melting has taken place there hasn't ended up in my basement at all yet.
that IS good news!

Quote:

I also saw what could only be racoon tracks from the street right up to the mature maple tree closest to my house, yet there is no evidence of even a paw print on the roof of the house. Maybe I was actually able to manage to cut the branches back far enough with the 12' ladder and the telescoping cutter.

So even with the additional height and padding of the snow and the ice on the roof, it looks like mama racoon must have climbed back down and decided that she could find a better place to try having her babies this year.

sounds like you won the battle of the raccoons!


/quote]

Perhaps...

It still bothers me that I even saw the tracks at all though.

I'm about 99% sure it was a raccoon. Seems far too big to be those of a squirrel, and it wouldn't be a rabbit that bee-lined straight for a tree.

Even more compelling is what looks like a single track. I don't give much credit to the dumber rodents, and it would seem to me that a crafty raccoon would be the animal who took the exact same path back out of the snow that they took in.

I'll be monitoring the situation now. She may have just decided it wasn't worth trying to jump down only to have to eat through a foot of ice to then eat through the roof.

It might look more appealing to her once everything melts.

This was right around the time last year the hole was made in the roof. If a few more weeks pass without any incident I should be fine.


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

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 3:42 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Weird...

I managed to go back and find a post on March 9th of last year about how I went up on the roof and found the hole that I thought was made by squirrels a few weeks earlier, but for the life of me I can't actually find any mention of the night where I heard something in my attic again and after banging walls and barking at it, I heard it scurry out and never come back in.

I guess maybe I didn't mention it here when it initially happened and only brought it up when I had discovered the hole.

Doesn't sound like me.

Oh well... I was hoping that I could date the occurrence last year. But if I was right about "a few weeks back", that's almost exactly what the 20th would be compared to March 9th, so it seems like these little critters sure like to keep on a schedule.




Sad that I didn't mention it here though. It wouldn't be in my photo album either because although I use that as a journal of sorts, I don't just post missives and happenings if there weren't pictures to go along with them. I might not even have anything about that incident in the album until I was up there taking pictures of the proper roof repair as I did it a month or two later.


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

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

Collection of links to Second's, Nilbog's and Marcos' death threats: https://cutt.ly/tkCvEX6

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 2:14 PM

BRENDA


Lazy Sunday in the rain by me. It started raining after I got home last night and was still raining when I went to bed after midnight.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 2:35 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 always liked going to sleep to the sound of the rain. Since I was actually cozy and dry it made me feel even cozier. And now that you're cozy and dry, I hope you find it enjoyable too.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 6:55 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


So, what is blooming now.... Believe it or not, the borage from last year is still blooming. The cosmos is always blooming, setting seeds, and sprouting if you keep watering it, so cosmos are blooming. I've been doing some plant selection on those, so most of my cosmos have dark eyes.

So are the camelias (red, pink, white). Nasturtium is always happier in winter and spring, so those are blooming. I have some potted mini daffodils from a few Easters ago, which I didn't expect to survive, some of those are blooming.

Most surprisingly, when a few sunflowers fell over they scattered seeds across the garden, and I have a few sunflowers blooming. Altho they're small I'm sure the bees will love them.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 9:08 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


After deciding I wasn't going to do much today after playing in the snow and having a late night at my bud's house yesterday, I did get around to spending about 5 hours scraping off old adhesive on the kitchen sub-floor by hand. Crappy, boring work, but nothing very strenuous and it eventually needs to be done. Hit the area behind the fridge plus a foot or two, about a foot and a half in front of the sink and a few feet in from the entry door.

Taking a quick break right now, but I'm going to hit it all with primer like I did under the stove and dishwasher tonight. It's still going to get dirty for sure, but nowhere near as dirty as the still somewhat active adhesive has after 45 days or so of being exposed and pulling every stray speck of dirt off of my boots. I need to seal in what could possibly be asbestos sub floor, and that will be all the areas most likely to take on any water.

Eventually I'll get the rest of the floor, but I really only need/want to do a bit of it at a time in between other tasks.


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

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 10:01 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
After deciding I wasn't going to do much today after playing in the snow and having a late night at my bud's house yesterday, I did get around to spending about 5 hours scraping off old adhesive on the kitchen sub-floor by hand. Crappy, boring work, but nothing very strenuous and it eventually needs to be done. Hit the area behind the fridge plus a foot or two, about a foot and a half in front of the sink and a few feet in from the entry door.

Taking a quick break right now, but I'm going to hit it all with primer like I did under the stove and dishwasher tonight. It's still going to get dirty for sure, but nowhere near as dirty as the still somewhat active adhesive has after 45 days or so of being exposed and pulling every stray speck of dirt off of my boots. I need to seal in what could possibly be asbestos sub floor, and that will be all the areas most likely to take on any water.

Eventually I'll get the rest of the floor, but I really only need/want to do a bit of it at a time in between other tasks.



Wow, I get tired just reading about what you've done!

Say, what do you do in your downtime?

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 10:06 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Over here, I manged to do a little more weeding, bin up the greenwaste (fallen pine branches, weeds, dead plants), water the property (again, to make sure the water goes deep), dust the house, dd and I swept and vacuumed, she scrubbed the toilets, and I stripped and flattened a bunch of boxes. And, of course, walked the doggie. Sent off a couple of important emails, and ... that was my day! As much as I could accomplish, anyway.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 11:05 PM

BRENDA


Quote:

Originally posted by 1KIKI:

I always liked going to sleep to the sound of the rain. Since I was actually cozy and dry it made me feel even cozier. And now that you're cozy and dry, I hope you find it enjoyable too.



It couldn't have been too heavy because I didn't hear it even when I was doing a bit of reading before I went to sleep.

I don't mind listening to it now as you said I don't have to worry about it.

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Sunday, February 21, 2021 11:07 PM

BRENDA


Think there is rain for tomorrow then dry for two days. Have to see after that.

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Monday, February 22, 2021 3:56 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wow, I get tired just reading about what you've done!



I get that a lot, actually.

Quote:

Say, what do you do in your downtime?


Sleep.

Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Over here, I manged to do a little more weeding, bin up the greenwaste (fallen pine branches, weeds, dead plants), water the property (again, to make sure the water goes deep), dust the house, dd and I swept and vacuumed, she scrubbed the toilets, and I stripped and flattened a bunch of boxes. And, of course, walked the doggie. Sent off a couple of important emails, and ... that was my day! As much as I could accomplish, anyway.



That sounds like a lot.

I hate chores... at least the indoor ones. At least DD does the toilets. I hate bathroom chores more than anything else.


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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Monday, February 22, 2021 11:32 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I made a last minute decision before I finished working to go shopping last night. I'd forgotten it was Sunday and things close earlier. Of course, when I chose to go out was right during the middle of the hard snow.

From what I saw in just around 20 minutes being out, I was sure that our 1 to 2 inch forecast overnight was going to end up being 6 inches with how hard it was falling.

But I woke up to nothing more. It must have stopped right after I came back and never picked up again all night




Even better? 5 straight days of near 40 degree temps with only 2 of them dipping below freezing overnight. After today, all of them are sunny. No more than a 10% chance of rain/snow on any of them too.

There's still plenty of time for winter to come back, but hopefully it's just normal winter if it does.



Now I just have to start worrying about spring and all the rain that comes with it. :(


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A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

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Monday, February 22, 2021 1:23 PM

BRENDA


Out for my walk in a bit but first I have to use some eye drops. Stupid allergies waking up. Not sure if I need my umbrella today or not.

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Monday, February 22, 2021 3:23 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Got my painting shift done for the day and thought I was going to strip the final things that needed stripping out in the garage. But the high temperature isn't coming until late afternoon and pretty much staying there overnight into tomorrow where it will be sunny and nearly 40. I'm going to put a pin in that today since it still feels pretty damn cold out with the dark clouds everywhere.

I did some test sanding with my new cordless sander. Dollar store sandpaper sucks, but we've already established that. But it is probably what I will be using for the narrow faces of the cabinets and not only seems to do an adequate job without any stripping necessary, but the vacuum feature leaves almost no dust on it. Very pleased.

I'm going to have to use real sandpaper on any flat surfaces though, unless I want to put 1,000 man hours into sanding after I've already taken the time and money to strip the insides.


Not sure what I'm going to do next. Plenty of time left in the day.




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

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

Collection of links to Second's, Nilbog's and Marcos' death threats: https://cutt.ly/tkCvEX6

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Monday, February 22, 2021 8:57 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Didn't do all that much more, actually. I sanded completely bare the side of the cabinet that ended before the fridge. It was super dark compared to the rest of the cabinets... I never noticed that. Just poly and stain, but I ate through 3 batteries to finish it. It's essentially ready for paint now though. I got the entire front of that cabinet too as well as a little of the one next to it, and just spot tested how well it might work in other ares when I get to them. I didn't want to make too much of a mess.

I pulled out my curio cabinet after straigtening up some other stuff on the floor and started scraping the adhesive off of there too. I knew I wasn't going to finish what I wanted to today though, so I just wrapped up early.

I think after I'm done with my paint shift tomorrow I'm going to come back upstairs and hit the sanded bottom cabinet with primer and see how it looks.




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

A government is a body of people usually, notably, governed by Mark Zuckerborg and Slack Dorsey.

Collection of links to Second's, Nilbog's and Marcos' death threats: https://cutt.ly/tkCvEX6

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Monday, February 22, 2021 11:31 PM

BRENDA


Think there was a brief hail storm in my area at around 5pm then after a bit it turned back into rain.

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