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Today I want to make a gift to my wife, since we have an anniversary of 6 years of life together. But I still don't know which is better to buy, a new phone, or still go for the weekend to a suburban complex, but I don't want to ask, I would like to make a surprise
Congratulations, tomorrow is our 49th anniversary and we are way past the stage you are in...I can tell without hesitation go the romantic route. Secure the most romantic location you can handle nearby. Make sure there are things to do around that will allow you to concentrate on her and she will remember forever. Buying things never worked for me, it was always about the memories. Good Luck!
 
I say a phone might be the way to go, but make sure you get one you know she would want.
 
May have been exposed to Covid last week (maskless person who had been exposed & was afraid to visit family bc of it sat near me and started blabbing her head off at the tire shop when I was getting new tires put on) and am having some of the symptoms. It's probably just seasonal crud (at least I hope) but I'm isolating for now. I had to send my brother to help my friend with installing a door and got really frustrated bc my brother broke the threshold bc he wouldn't listen to me (we were facetiming so I could see how things were going). Frame was level but door was sagging & kept hitting threshold. I told him repeatedly to check the hinges. He just kept interrupting me, talking over me, and being a dismissive jerk. Turns out it was the hinges-- top hinge wasn't installed properly and had bent slightly. So, now my friend's brand new door has a broken threshold bc my brother is an idiot.
Now I'm trying to figure out what size storm door my friend needs. He got a 32x80 door with brickmould. It's a Therma-Tru brand. Friend still isn't feeling great bc of his blood clots but can't get in to see a neurologist.
I was sick pretty much all day. Still feeling cruddy but am a bit better than I was this morning. I had to wear a mask, frequently wash my hands, and be extra careful not to touch my eyes while I was cooking for Mom.

i hope you are feeling better soon. And I hope it is not Covid. While I know there are many opinions out there, everyone has a right to their own. What I had was worse than anything I have ever experienced before. Best wishes to you for a quick uneventful recovery.
 
Congratulations, tomorrow is our 49th anniversary and we are way past the stage you are in...I can tell without hesitation go the romantic route. Secure the most romantic location you can handle nearby. Make sure there are things to do around that will allow you to concentrate on her and she will remember forever. Buying things never worked for me, it was always about the memories. Good Luck!
Good advice here. If there was a LOVE button instead of a like, I would have used it.
 
Thank you, Trailrider. I seem to be feeling worse in the mornings and a little better in the afternoon. Right now all the fat on my gut is bothering me. Makes me feel like it's interfering with my breathing. I really need to take the weight off. I seem to get most of my weight on my belly like my father did.

I had a headache and nausea earlier. Just mostly feeling tired now, but I ate recently and I always feel tired after eating. My brother checked on our friend and he seemed to be feeling better today. He got another friend to fix his car (he gave instructions). He reported that his vision is starting to return in his left eye a little bit.

I've been getting a lot of cuddles from my pets. My dog seems to understand the word "cuddle" and will climb into my lap, nuzzle my face, and cuddle with me if I say the word. She also shows me her teeth if I say "smile".
Friend sent me pics of the door. First pics are before the new door was installed.
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Was outside playing with my kids when we noticed one of the large trees in the yard was dripping wet even though it's been clear and sunny out all day. I remembered by the leaves, back before they all fell off, that this was a maple tree. I let some of the liquid drop on my hand and tasted it; it was sweet. So, I think we've got a sugar maple! Woodpeckers had created the holes this one was dripping out of.

My kids are excited; we're going to look into tapping it and making our own syrup. Apparently you can tap many other types of trees, but sugar maples give the best yield to sugar content.

Still not sure how I'll do the boiling part...probably a stock pot placed on the grill, with a wood fire instead of charcoal. Should be able to filter it with coffee filters, into mason jars. I'm excited too, to be honest.
 
Flyover, that is so cool!
Hopefully you can get some good maple syrup out of it.

I helped my brother take out some of the trash today. Still need to do more cleaning. I'm trying to figure out the best mix for a slurry with corn starch to thicken the stew he tried to make. It's too thin still.

Friend is still having drama. His ex has already blown her new relationship with the guy she left him for. Guy was so mad that he changed passwords on all of her social media, stole her medicine, and overdosed on it. His family kicked her out and threw out all of her stuff. Her dumb a$$ also blew her entire stimulus check on cigarettes and junk rather than paying her fine and court fees. She can't get a job until she has paid them. She's back on my friend's couch temporarily. He gave her up to 1 month to get a job and find a new place. He also told her if she causes drama or breaks the rules in his house she will be out before the month is up. I think he's being too nice considering how she physically and emotionally abused him the past couple years.

We may go over to see him today bc my Mom wants to see his baby.

Meanwhile, his mom's boyfriend has Covid. He's highly at risk but we were discussing how if he dies, his mom won't even wait for quarantine to end before she finds a new boyfriend. She probably has Covid too so she's having to quarantine. She sees other guys behind his back but then gets upset that he suspects she's cheating (because she is) and he gets jealous anytime someone other than her son or daughters drive her someplace. No wonder my friend has terrible taste in girlfriends.
 
Was outside playing with my kids when we noticed one of the large trees in the yard was dripping wet even though it's been clear and sunny out all day. I remembered by the leaves, back before they all fell off, that this was a maple tree. I let some of the liquid drop on my hand and tasted it; it was sweet. So, I think we've got a sugar maple! Woodpeckers had created the holes this one was dripping out of.

My kids are excited; we're going to look into tapping it and making our own syrup. Apparently you can tap many other types of trees, but sugar maples give the best yield to sugar content.

Still not sure how I'll do the boiling part...probably a stock pot placed on the grill, with a wood fire instead of charcoal. Should be able to filter it with coffee filters, into mason jars. I'm excited too, to be honest.
Too bad inspectorD isn't hanging around anymore. He used to run syrup lines in the fall.
 
Replaced the mortised lock box for my Milgard swing-in patio doors today. I then spent 3 hours adjusting it until it works flawlessly. There are hidden allens in the hinges that drop the level of the door, hidden allens on the hinge plate face, which brings the doors together, adjustable up and down rods that throw another verticle pin to double lock the door, and yet another hidden allen to suck in the door. I guess you can call me an expert on door adjustments now.
 
@havasu That reminds me, we needed a kitchen pantry since we were short on cupboard space in our new house. Not enough time right now to stick my wife with all three kids for a day or two while I build one from scratch, so we had to shop for one. I saw Wayfair had brand new ones for about $180 and up, but they also had an "open box" one for like $109. You can guess which one my cheap @$$ went with.

Got it in the mail in a couple days, put it together. The very last step was the doors, which I definitely put on correctly. But then "open box" came back to bite me. I will say it has character though!

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What the hell? They drilled the door handles wrong?
A quick fix, use a two holed handle. I bet if you drill one hole low and the other high, they will match and possible cover the holes.
 
Yeah, I'm guessing they must have changed the design but shipped that particular one out with one door from the old design, one from the new. Or maybe it's a door from a different piece that accidentally got packaged with this one because it had the same dimensions. I imagine they make these things in huge batches. Who knows...

My plan was to drill a new hole and fill in the other one. But I think I like how hilarious it looks and so far we've decided to just let it stay the way it is. We've had one guest so far and she didn't notice it until I pointed it out, then she laughed and laughed.
 
It's not just an "open box" issue. A lot of those laminated pressboard/particle board things have holes drilled wrong or they don't even drill them at all. I've bought a few and found that out the hard way. So I've been watching videos on how to build stuff myself.

I got good sleep last night. Slept in til almost noon. Phone kept ringing and woke me up a few times. I've finished off my antibiotics and prednisone. Nose is still a little stuffy. The stew my brother made is starting to thicken up just a bit now.

Went over to my friend's house to take a shower. After only taking cold showers at my house, the water over there was way too hot. LOL. But the water is currently too cold for showering at my house. He has to keep reminding his ex (who is now staying there) that they aren't together, she doesn't run things in the house, and she better treat him with respect. Yesterday, she started giving him attitude. He pulled her aside and told her that from now on she will treat him like he saved her from being out on the street-- because he did. She's still under some illusion that he will take her back eventually.
She just got hired for a job but she doesn't have a vehicle (her fault-- she would have had one if she hadn't quit her job and cheated on him). Her hours require night driving and because she gave him a blood clot and caused him to have a stroke, he can't drive at night. She's going to have to find other means of transportation.

Havasu, I'm glad you go that door thing sorted out.
 
@Flyover, I have a sugar maple and have wondered if one tree could yield enough sap to make a little syrup. The sapsuckers have done quite a bit of drilling on it over the years. It's the prettiest tree in the neighborhood when it turns yellow in the fall. If I remember maybe I'll post it next fall.

With regard to the pantry doors I wonder if it's two left (or right doors)? Someone else may have the opposite version. Being an engineer I would probably measure them just to satisfy my mind then forget it.

I am currently procrastinating regarding a plumbing repair that is going to require removal of a 4x8 wall panel behind a toilet and possibly cutting into drywall behind two tubs. Years ago I had to reroute plumbing to the overhead due to a leak in a copper pipe under the slab floor. I think behind the panel I still have some under the slab copper but won't know until I remove the panel. At present I keep the water off except when needed and there is no leakage into the house. I hate plumbing work!

That's the bad news, the good news is that I will replace the toilet stop valve that ruffled feathers on the plumbing forum. I will have to remove it anyway to take the 4x8 panel off the studs.
 
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@Eddie_T Apparently one tree can yield between about 20-80 gallons of sap, and every 20 gallons of sugar maple sap yields 1 gallon of syrup. A gallon of syrup is way more than I've ever had in my house at once.

I had the same instinct about the doors, but didn't need to measure because I noticed both handles are on the upper side of the middle hinge. If it was two left (or right) doors one of the handles would be below the hinge. Both are above, just by different amounts.
 
Good news on the maple sap maybe we should give it a go when the sap starts rising. As for the knobs It's easier just to ignore them but you could fashion thin wooden escutcheon plates and find a position that covers existing holes on both doors and start afresh.
 
From what I've read, the time to tap the trees is mid-Feb through mid-March. And like I said you can tap lots of different kinds of trees, not just sugar maples. It just affects how much sap you need to collect.

For now we're leaving the knobs alone. I think they're growing on us.
 
When we bought our house a month ago there were a couple large holes in the rotted wooden soffits where I was sure critters were going to get inside. Sure enough, maybe 5 or 6 nights ago we started hearing them scurrying around in the attic. Sounded heavier than mice. I thought raccoons. A pest control guy took a peek and informed us they were squirrels.

Yesterday I rushed out and bought an extension ladder off someone on Craigslist, and today I did my first soffit repair. I was up on that wobbly ladder in the snow, my boots slippery with mud, hoping to heck a squirrel didn't decide to jump out and attack me. I saw a squirrel tail disappear inside the third and final jagged rotten hole right before I was about to go up there, so I put it on pause, went inside, slipped plastic bags on over my muddy boots, tromped upstairs, pushed open the attic hatch with a broom and started barking like a dog, LOUD. Scared my wife and kids half to death because I forgot to tell them what I was doing. But then I told them and they thought it was funny.

(My wife tells me my dog bark is uncanny and weirdly accurate. I should think so, I've been practicing since I was a kid! My neighbors' dogs loved 8 year-old me, but some of my neighbors did not.)

Then it was back out to patch up that last hole. It was full of squirrel debris and smelled really strongly of small animal. It was intense. I was thinking to myself, "Can I get a disease if I breathe in some fleck of something from this nest?"

It was a quick and dirty job but those soffit holes are now all firmly closed with 3/8" plywood. Fingers crossed the squirrels don't think to just chew a new hole a few feet over. My crazed barking must have worked because I haven't heard any scurrying up there since -- none trapped inside.

I got those soffit holes patched up in about half the time I expected it to take, so I had some spare time to properly install our new mailbox. (Wife didn't like the old one that was meant to look like a barn.) I was done before lunchtime. That must've been enough productivity for one day because I didn't get anything else of importance done after that.
 
Went to the post office on Saturday. Got home just in time to watch my video card die. Monitor suddenly said "No signal". I looked at the side of my computer & it had cat pee dripping from it. It has side vents (there used to be a fan on the side, but we reconfigured the fan placement) and one of my brother's cats sprayed the side. I turned off my computer, pulled the side panel off, cleaned it, and checked inside my computer, careful not to tip it to let pee drip toward the motherboard. There only appeared to be pee in one spot on the video card. I cleaned it up, let it dry, then tried to see if it would work. No dice. Told my brother his cat had just ruined my video card. All he said was "That sucks". If he'd used his stimulus check to get his cats neutered they wouldn't be spraying. Cost of neutering all 5 of them is lower than a replacement video card. I got on his computer and messaged a friend to help me look for a video card. All sold out. Only ones comparable were $600. Lesser ones were all over $300. Friend told me to pack up my computer, bring it over, and bring 70% or higher alcohol.

I got it over there and another friend helped me with it (had to pass it over a baby gate)- he didn't want me trying to step over it. The two of them worked on taking it apart. I got some disinfectant wipes and cleaned the outside of the case and the removed side more thoroughly. Other friend was busy cleaning the video card, while the friend who called me over was working on cleaning the inside. Put it back in, tested it, still no dice. Pulled it out & other friend was meticulously cleaning ever cm of it while my friend got my brother's old video card out. It had stopped working but my friend managed to fix it. It's a better video card than the one I had but still same amount of video RAM (8Gb). He put it in & it worked. He downloaded the new drivers reset resolution, and had me test one of my graphics intensive games on it. So, I went from a Radeon 480 to a 590. Looks like this one has better cooling.

I made a trip to the store to get some plastic sheets and clear packing tape. Friend taped them over the vents both inside and out on the side. Now if the cat's spray the side it won't go on the inside. I'm working on designing something for the top in case they puke or pee on top of it. I'm very relieved the 2nd graphics card worked bc I was about to bean my brother over the head with a frying pan. He had no intention of replacing it.

Other friend was telling me to keep my door closed to keep the animals out. I reminded him my door won't stay shut even when locked and even if I could, the dogs tore a hole in the bottom of my door so they could get in and out whenever they wanted so the cats can get through. I have tried stuffing blankets in the hole-- they manage to get it out. So, I need a new door. LOL.

Anyway, got my computer home and made dinner. So glad my friend is good at stuff like that. He used to have a repair thing going where people would pay him to repair stuff, but things got too hectic. Before we started helping him out financially, we used to pay him to fix stuff. But, at this point he says he owes us his kidneys. LOL.

Today I felt like absolute garbage. Woke up sick. Stayed in bed most of the day. Got up to reheat leftovers from last night.

Flyover, I'm glad you didn't fall off the ladder & that you weren't hurt when the squirrel attacked. Hilarious how you scared the squirrels out. I've had to chase raccoons out of my house but I mostly just yell "Get the f*** out, motherf****!!!!" at them.
 
@zannej Your door reminds me of my soffits! I can't believe your brother wouldn't replace your video card. I'da dragged my brother in front of Judge Judy before I let him off the hook for that. Careful about taping up those vents, they're there for a reason...if it were me I'd get the cats neutered and then drag my brother to court if he didn't pay the vet bill. (Judge Judy and I would be on a first-name basis I guess.)
 
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