What did you do today?

[Flyover]

My friend had an extra ticket so I saw the Foo Fighters last night. Summary: mediocre music performed really really well.

Today I pulled up a bunch of poison oak vines out of my back yard.

@thebuilder20: I just noticed your signature about education killing faith. I saw a study once that showed % of religious people by education level. There is a dip as you go higher in number of years of education, but then the percentage climbs again when you get into people with 1 or more doctorates.

 

[zannej]

Took Mom to get her bloodwork, stopped at the Mexican restaurant for lunch, went home & was looking up parts I need to fix my water system. Waiting on my brother to get home bc he was supposed to help clean today, so he's hiding at a friend's house to avoid it. Friend actually came over today bc my phone still isn't fixed & he needed help. His mom technically owns the house he's in (although her mother wanted to leave the house to him but didn't have a written will). He gave her the $ to pay the taxes on the house. she apparently used it to buy meth or something & he just got a notice that if he didn't pay the taxes by tomorrow, the house (that he lives in) will be auctioned off this Wednesday. He already had to pay his grandfather's phone bill to get his phone turned back on, & someone skimmed the # off his tax return card & emptied it of all the $ he got from his returns (no fraud protection so he's s.o.l.) so he needed to borrow enough to not lose the house. On the way back into town I think he hit a pot hole & messed up his truck. I'm waiting to hear from him on whether he needs help with that. He can't seem to catch a break.

 

[thebuilder20]

@Flyover: Well, isn't that interesting. Did the study say which religions?

As for what I managed to do early in the day, I budgeted, listed the things that need to be replenished, squeezed in a re-read of Frank O'Hara Meditations in an Emergency we have in the house, and read about AmazonFresh on https://www.meccanohome.com/what-is-amazon-fresh/ which I just recently learned is available in the UK.

 

[zannej]

I got up & was getting ready to take Mom to her doctor's appointment & on my way through the hallway I heard her shouting for help. She fell down & couldn't get up- she said she'd been shouting for awhile. My brother's room is right next to hers but he didn't hear her and I was on the other side of the house so I couldn't hear her. I was trying to get over to help her but her little dog kept getting in the way & growling at me (he knew she was distressed & didn't understand why and was guarding her). We had to move his dog stairs bc they were in the way so when he tried to climb back on the bed, he couldn't get up so I had to help him. He wanted back up because we got her turned around so she could try to get on her knees to grab the bed, but she's got bad knees & kept insisting she couldn't do it. My brother & I both tried lifting her to her feet a few times but she kept complaining that she couldn't get her feet underneath her. I eventually got her to turn her back to the bed while I sat on the bed, reached down, hooked my arms under her arms & pulled her up on top of me. She initially started saying she couldn't do it and my brother just stood watching, stupefied, when I asked him to brace her feet. She wanted to give up but I insisted she at least try & that she could sit on top of me to get to a spot where she felt she could get her feet under her. Once I got her on my lap, she was able to get her feet flat on the floor & stand up- with my brother ready to catch her & help her steady herself. She's now sore where she fell & she twisted one of her ankles so she's going to feel it later. I'm already feeling it bc I pulled my arm again. At least she's lost enough weight that I was able to lift her this time. I got her a sports whistle that she can hang around her neck so if she ever falls again, she can blow it for help. I stressed that it was ONLY for emergencies and not just bc she wanted attention or something minor (which is what she does with the phone intercom). Her ears are burning bc she's paging me now.

Also heard back from my friend on what happened with his truck. Pot hole busted his rack & pinion- the jolt was so strong his grille fell off (taking headlights with him) and he ran over one of the headlights. My brother spotted him for the rack & pinion (and late fee on the property tax) but he needs a new tire 265/70R16 tire and a new headlight. He wants to replace all 4 tires & both headlights. He'll have to save up the $ to get them though.

 

[Flyover]

@thebuilder20 It's something I remember seeing maybe 10 years ago, so I'm hazy on the details. I know it was an American study, so presumably the sample set was mostly Christians or people with a Christian background.

Today was (is -- I'm taking a break) my first day back at work in a week. I was out in San Francisco/Palo Alto visiting family who were visiting there too: it was cheaper for me to meet them there than go where they live. I've lived in CA but had never been north of Los Angeles, so it was neat seeing the Bay Area for the first time. I wasn't expecting to like it but I had a great time. Still not a place I'd want to live, but nice to visit.

We didn't do a lot of conventional sight-seeing because we're not those kind of people, but we did walk through Chinatown and the piers a bit, and then on another day we went out to a redwood forest which was amazing. My best moment aside from that was one morning where I got up earlier than everyone else and just walked around Palo Alto near Stanford appreciating the landscaping, plants, and architecture. Here in Oh Hah none of the flora and fauna are very exotic, and it's pretty flat, so going out west is always a bit thrilling for me. Then I found a little park with lots of tiny lizards darting around, and worked out on an empty playground. Pullups, dips, and pushups, out in the California sun.

Right before I left for SF I built a simple little triangular shoe rack for the kitchen by the garage door, someplace we can put our flip flops. Just need to paint it.

 

[zannej]

I've been trying to keep up with housework but not doing so well bc I'm the only one even trying. My brother refuses to clean up after himself & actually lectured me for not cleaning his dishes for him or for not picking up stuff when there's no place to put stuff bc he won't take the trash out & I can't lift it bc of my back. Whenever he has a day off & I ask him to help me take the trash out, he makes sure to leave & go crash at a friend's house for the whole day to avoid helping me.

I had to help my best friend bury his yorkiepoo the other day. She was less than 2-yrs-old. His fiance used some kind of Hartz flea spray on the carpet & it killed the dog (but not the fleas). I've told the girl not to buy any Hartz products-- particularly their flea stuff, but to say she's not very bright is an understatement.

I still have a lot of stuff to fix up that I'm working on. I need to replace the phone jack (eventually need to do the whole line) bc the landline has been out for weeks. I also need to finish working on my bathroom floor. And there is a nasty leak from the suction side of the jet pump for our water. I just got the parts in to fix it & will try to do it tomorrow morning if it's not raining. I will lay out the parts & tools and make sure I have everything I need before I proceed.

I think I need to change the AC filters as well-- that one should be easy enough though.

 

[havasu]

I just cleaned all 4 of my a/c intake registers. Boy, with all the construction going on in here, they were really dirty.

 

[zannej]

I keep forgetting to change them. The one in my brother's room I have to change once every 2 months or so, but the one in the hallway I have to change at least twice a month because of all the pet fur. Dog likes to sleep right in front of it. I have to vacuum the hair out of the grille when I change the filter. I actually forgot to go change it though.

I did a lot of cleaning the other day & my body is now hating me for it. It hurts to walk, bend, or move. I'm hoping I'll be feeling better in the morning. I need to do something about the jet pump leaking. I finally got all of the parts but my pipe cutter disappeared. A 10" frying pan also went missing & I have no clue where it could have gone. Last I saw it, it was on the counter. I checked the floor, under the table, in the hallway, in my brother's room, in the living room, in the front room, outside... No idea where it could have gone. Also found my brother left a 1/4 full container of milk on top of the fridge. Even though I took the trash out, he couldn't be bothered to put it in the trash can 2 feet away. At least this time it didn't fall on my head when I opened the door. That's how I usually discover garbage that he puts on top of the fridge.

I'd purchased a bunch of fittings for the jet pump at Lowes but the bag ripped on the way home. I found some of the fittings on the floor of the truck & some on the front lawn the next morning, but one or two were nowhere to be found. I also discovered that I grabbed a fitting that was in the wrong bin (either that or it's defective). I wish I had tested it to see if it fit on the pipe-- it was supposed to be 3/4" and had the same OD as 3/4" but the inside wouldn't fit around 3/4" pipe. So, either it was meant to go inside a sleeve, or it was 1/2". I ended up getting the correct size fitting at the local hardware store. After assessing the space (or lack thereof) and taking into account the rigidity of the flex hose (not being able to flex as tightly as I needed) I decided to get another metal street elbow. Every other time they'd told me they didn't have stainless steel & the big box stores only carry galvanized so I was looking at the galvanized fittings, but they didn't have the right one & some of the things they did have were rusty. I mentioned offhand to the clerk that I'd really wanted stainless steel but they didn't carry it. She then told me "Oh! We have some! We were so excited at the trade show when we found the stainless steel bin!" So, new SS fittings wrapped in plastic and sorted neatly into bins w/ sizes marked on the outside. I got a replacement for the galvanized fitting I bought (maybe I can return it if I can find the receipt) and I got another SS elbow. I also got some spare PVC fittings just in case. I also started thinking about how I should support the PVC once it is attached to the SS because it will make it heavier & I'm worried it might break, but then I remembered I have some sort of packing foam I might be able to set underneath it. It's long enough that it might be able to support the full horizontal length lower down Nothing to support the vertical run, but maybe I can figure something out. Now if I could just find my damn pipe cutter, I'd be set. I'd hate to have to go buy another one so soon. Although, the older PVC that is already there might shatter so I'm thinking I might need my jigsaw. But both my cordless and corded jigsaws are at my friend's house. I may have to resort to using a handsaw & use a little elbow grease.

 

[Flyover]

I was tired of driving around with an advertisement for a car dealership on my car, so last night I attempted to remove the offending license plate cover and one of the screws on there was the most stripped, stuck screw I have ever encountered.

First I was frustrated because the screw stripped. Hammering the screwdriver in first, using a rubber band, applying vise grips to the screw head -- nothing worked, and I became annoyed. I tried every trick in the book and finally had to borrow my neighbor's Dremel tool and cut a notch in the screwhead so I could use a flat-head. I had to turn the flathead with my channel locking pliers.

I went from annoyed to impressed when the tip of my flathead screwdriver cracked as if it was made of dry lasagna noodles. I switched to a flathead bit mounted in a socket wrench, and as the notch I had cut began to also strip, I had to stop and cut it deeper and deeper, then go at it again with the socket wrench. Finally the head just split in two and I had to pull off half of it with pliers.

I managed to use the Dremel tool and remove the rest of the screw head and get the license plate off, and then the headless shaft of the screw was the only thing poking out of the back of my car. I cut a notch in that and tried to turn it with the flathead bit/socket wrench combo and that started stripping so I stopped, feeling hopeless and ready to give up.

Then for whatever reason I got the idea to try the vice grips again. With great effort, I turned them and when I had completed a turn, to my unbelieving eyes I noticed the notch was now oriented differently! I kept going until the whole screw was out, an hour and a half after I started my endeavor. I'm considering framing the broken screw and hanging it on the wall.

They don't call this the Rust Belt for nothing!

 

[topher5150]

I thought those were plastic nuts they used on license plate holders.

 

[oldognewtrick]

I was tired of driving around with an advertisement for a car dealership on my car, so last night I attempted to remove the offending license plate cover and one of the screws on there was the most stripped, stuck screw I have ever encountered.

First I was frustrated because the screw stripped. Hammering the screwdriver in first, using a rubber band, applying vise grips to the screw head -- nothing worked, and I became annoyed. I tried every trick in the book and finally had to borrow my neighbor's Dremel tool and cut a notch in the screwhead so I could use a flat-head. I had to turn the flathead with my channel locking pliers.

I went from annoyed to impressed when the tip of my flathead screwdriver cracked as if it was made of dry lasagna noodles. I switched to a flathead bit mounted in a socket wrench, and as the notch I had cut began to also strip, I had to stop and cut it deeper and deeper, then go at it again with the socket wrench. Finally the head just split in two and I had to pull off half of it with pliers.

I managed to use the Dremel tool and remove the rest of the screw head and get the license plate off, and then the headless shaft of the screw was the only thing poking out of the back of my car. I cut a notch in that and tried to turn it with the flathead bit/socket wrench combo and that started stripping so I stopped, feeling hopeless and ready to give up.

Then for whatever reason I got the idea to try the vice grips again. With great effort, I turned them and when I had completed a turn, to my unbelieving eyes I noticed the notch was now oriented differently! I kept going until the whole screw was out, an hour and a half after I started my endeavor. I'm considering framing the broken screw and hanging it on the wall.

They don't call this the Rust Belt for nothing!

This begs the question, did you get your plate back on?

 

[tuffy]

Cleaned all of the flower beds of dead leaves, sticks and weeds. Also cleaned the back sitting area and power washed it. Also mowed the yard. Now to go swimming with the grand kids!

 

[Flyover]

@topher5150: Some license plate holders might have plastic nuts. This one just had holes where you put the metal screws that secure the license plate.

@oldognewtrick: Yes, my plate and the new license plate holder (a simple black plastic frame with no writing on it) is now snug -- but not overtightened! -- on the car.

 

[bud16415]

Yes, my plate and the new license plate holder (a simple black plastic frame with no writing on it) is now snug -- but not overtightened! -- on the car.

I hope you used the nylon screws? :D

 

[bud16415]

I got tired of walking thru the house with the water can for all the hanging baskets and plants on the new Riverside front porch.

 

[oldognewtrick]

I had some leftover pvc pipe laying around, so I fabbed up a portable camper ceiling fan.

 

[zannej]

oldog, that's pretty cool! (pun intended)

I was exhausted today from cleaning yesterday. Had a 22-yr-old friend come over and help me haul out the trash bags my bro was supposed to haul out months ago. I can get them to the front room, but can't navigate steps & out to the burn pile with them. Just standing near the front door with 95+ degree heat was too much for me. So I got the bags to the door & my friend hauled them out to the burn pile & emptied the litterboxes my brother never emptied.

When I got up today I went into the living room & discovered that my brother left trash all over the couch from when he made sandwiches for himself earlier. I had specifically asked him to make sure he threw away the cheese wrappers & stuff, but there it was all over the floor & couch.

Ugh. My dog just licked the inside of my mouth. She started whining & I asked her what was wrong. I was talking to her when all of a sudden she jumped forward & licked.

I cooked dinner-- potato stroganoff again, but we hadn't had any for awhile. Still can't find the frying pan I usually use. It just disappeared one day & I haven't been able to find it. Cleaned up half the house looking for it. I still need to clean out some cabinets, sprinkle in peppermint oil to repel bugs & mice, & put away some stuff. I have a bunch of stuff sitting in bins on the floor. Need to clean them all out, clean the pantry again (which my brother was supposed to do-- but, I think you can see the trend when it comes to what he's supposed to do). I'm a bit cranky bc I've been having to clean up after him constantly bc he leaves messes everywhere & his cats have been using the pantry as a litterbox & knocked things on the floor. I know I'll have to clean it eventually-- sooner rather than later-- but it's frustrating. I'll have to enlist my friend's help since I still have trouble with bending. She even offered to come cut the weeds in the yard. I have a guy who is supposed to do it but never showed up. It's hard to find reliable people.

After we get things cleaned up more, we can do some major dusting & reorganizing. I need to use some pledge on a few pieces of furniture. I also still need to finish my bathroom floor. Been procrastinating on that since I had to work on the plumbing for the water well & work on other stuff.

I just had total brain freeze.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[thebuilder20]

Ugh. My dog just licked the inside of my mouth. She started whining & I asked her what was wrong. I was talking to her when all of a sudden she jumped forward & licked.

Ours did the same once to me, it was nasty. My sister tasted the dog's paw unintentionally too. We just try not to think where the dog goes... but now that I mention it, ugh.

Anyway, what I did today is look up information on what to pick for my gamer nephew - a laptop or a PC. I won't cover all the costs but would contribute to his father, but seeing that I am the least Luddite in the family, I was given the task to look the info up. Pros of a desktop: more bang for buck, better performance (I suppose the smaller device is more limited than the alternative?) and easier to upgrade; pros of a laptop: portability (source). Leaning on the desktop, obviously, but not sure what the nephew really wants.

Aside from that, I re-watched Godfather Part II, which is my favourite over the magnum opus Part I, looked up recipes for the next family gathering, and watched videos on woodworking. I can only dream of becoming like the Japanese woodworkers I see on YouTube... or maybe a little more practise and patience.

 

[Flyover]

Neighbor A had a big maple tree, maybe 60-80 feet tall, perfectly healthy, not leaning over anyone's house. Neighbor B kept complaining about the tree for some reason; maybe it blocked the light on her lawn or something silly like that. To everyone's surprise, Neighbor A had the tree cut down.

While the crew was sawing up the logs, I stopped by and asked if I could have a section of trunk to use as a wood-chopping log in my backyard. They said sure, they'd set it aside for me when they were done. I thought they were going to give me something the size of a suitcase. I showed up and there was a cylinder of wood the size of a short barrel. It was probably 30" across and 3 feet tall. I'm betting it weighed at least 200 lbs, maybe 250. I went in my garage and got four little caster wheels and screwed them right into the base, then used all my strength to get the thing upright, then started pushing it down the sidewalk. (The Google Street View car missed its golden opportunity at that moment.)

I probably advanced about 100 feet before two of the caster wheels broke and ball bearings spilled everywhere. Then I borrowed another neighbor's dolly (and the neighbor) and we got the thing all the way down the street, into my back yard, and over to the corner by my shed. This journey cost the dolly one of its wheels.

But now I have a huge luxurious chopping stump in my backyard. I broke it in with one of the logs from my woodpile, and it's fantastic! Level, plenty of room, just the right height. And it's definitely not going anywhere.

 

[zannej]

thebuilder, are you able to ask your nephew if he would prefer a laptop or a desktop?
From what I've seen laptops tend to be more expensive & have issues with battery life. You can't customize them quite as much as you can a desktop.
There are other options in between though-- All-in-One computers, but you want to make sure they can be upgraded. He'll want something with a mainboard that has an M2 slot for an SSD hard drive (faster than standard hard drives & more stable), a good cooling system, fast processor & good amount of RAM. Not sure what the options are for the All-in-ones but they tend to be pricey.
There are the workstation thingies (not sure exactly what they are called) that are basically like tablets but can work like laptops. Pros: small, lightweight, portable, touch-screen, better battery life than laptops etc-- cons: expensive, can't be customized much, & tend to have lower ram & processor speed & video card.
CyberpowerPC actually builds custom PCs w/ good stats. I've had a few built from them. I used the specs for their computers as a guideline to pick parts to build a desktop computer for my mother recently. Mice got into her old one & ruined everything but the power supply.
Speaking of power supply, if he goes w/ a desktop, he'll want at least 600w (800 or higher gold plus certified would be good).
I digressed... Desktops come in different sizes and there are some cases that even have handles on them so they can be carried. They have full towers, mid-towers, cubes, & other types. With the smaller ones it's important to have good cooling.
Base computer should have 3GHz 6-core or higher processor, 1Tb hard drive (game files take up a lot of space), USB 3.0 or higher, 2Gb or higher video card, 16Gb RAM, & probably a DVD or Blue-ray drive (if the case even has a slot for it). Case should have good ventilation. Mainboard should have at least 4 RAM slots.
My mother's computer has:
RAM: Patriot Viper 4 16GB Kit (2 X 8GB) 3400 MHz (PC4-27200) DDR4
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700 Processor with Wraith Spire LED Cooler
Heatsink: ARCTIC MX-4 2019 Edition
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450
SSD: Crucial P1 1TB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD
It's working well for her thus far. I'm not sure what the video card is bc my friend gave it to us. I have a Radeon RX480 4Gb video card in mine.

Been having a headache & feeling bleh. Did some more cleaning, been cooking, & re-filled all the pet waterers. My brother bought me all 3 seasons of the Syfy series Defiance on DVD so I binge-watched it. I can't stream movies or TV shows bc of bandwidth restrictions. We have about 4Gb left of our monthly allowance (which resets on the 12th). If we go over they can cancel our plan or we can pay $10 for every 1Gb over the limit.

I never watched the Godfather movies. My father was in federal law enforcement & felt the films glorified criminals so he didn't want us to watch them when we were little & I never made an effort to watch them when I got older.

Meanwhile, I've been compiling a list of things I need to buy for the house repairs & renovations. The back door has gotten a lot worse. We bought some awnings to put up over the back door & the sliding glass door but it's going to be fun getting them installed. I will need to get the weeds & a tree cut. We've cut the tree down about 5 times but it keeps growing back. It grew its roots under the stairs at the sliding glass door. Eventually we need to replace the sliding glass door.

I was planning to install our new door & put in a cat door after replacing the floor in the back area but with the current door being in such bad shape & the cat door having completely fallen apart, I might just have to put it in & do the floor after. I can always adjust the threshold and such later. I think I'll stick with Neal's suggestion for a header (having it at the ceiling instead of just above the door) so I won't have to move the electrical for the exterior light. I also want to add internal braces to anchor the awnings.

Yesterday evening (before the sun set) I went for a walk out in the yard. I need to do that more often but can't be out in the heat or direct sunlight so I have to go out when it's cloudy or the sun isn't in full force.