What did you do today?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Flyover, I'm sorry to hear that. I hope your foot is OK. Sounds like my kind of luck. I wonder if something just got jarred loose or if the dent is in the way of something. I'm hoping you can fix it.

My brother-in-law got territorial & was bothered by the idea of someone else picking fixtures for his house so we didn't get to add any of the ADA features to the shower so my mother wasn't able to shower there-- but she did wash her hair in the kitchen sink. I feel sorry for whoever has to clean the hair out of the drain later. The trip was OK but my brother-in-law made it clear he only wanted my mother to visit & not me (but she needs me to drive & to help her carry stuff & bring her stuff). I helped clean their bathroom in their old house & I will never again feel guilty about how dirty my mother's bathroom is because I clean it more often than they cleaned their bathroom. I have never seen so many bandaid wrappers strewn all over the place. And so much hair from shaving just coating everything... Q-tips everywhere. I scrubbed the hell out of the counter, the mirrors, wiped down every single bottle & item on the shelves, cleaned out the drawers & wiped everything down with clorix wipes. I switched to lysol wipes for the floor because there was a litterbox. I wasn't afraid to touch things without gloves because I've touched worse stuff & I knew I could always wash my hands afterwards. My sister spent a long time looking for gloves. I guess my brother-in-law must have been bothered by me touching his stuff because my sister didn't want me to help clean the next day. I put most stuff back where I got it from, didn't throw away anything that wasn't obviously trash, and I didn't break or damage anything.

The upside was I found some stuff she was going to throw out that I wanted-- I'd been actively looking for a couple of the items for the laundry/bathroom reno. Got a little bathroom shelf and a cut down closet rod that is almost the right size (just needs a little trimming). I also snagged a little stepstool she was going to throw away & gave it to my friend who then used it when putting up insulation in his walk-in pantry.

We were only gone a week but when I got back our old dog was on death's door. My brother had not been feeding her every day & had forgotten to give her water. The waterers in the house were all empty so the dog was dehydrated. She was too weak to stand up & could barely sit up. I think she also thought we were never coming back & was upset. I got her some warm water, petted her, wiped her down, cleaned her bed sores, and got her to eat. At first she was barely eating but now she's feeling better & her appetite has improved & she's walking around. We got her a thin memory foam mat to sleep on. It gives more cushioning without being difficult to walk on. She got stuck a few times when her feet slipped on trash (did I mention there was trash all over the floor when I got back?) and once she walked behind the trash can & couldn't figure out how to back up so she started yelping. Apparently she yelped in distress constantly while we were gone & my brother was annoyed. It was bc she couldn't get up & wanted food or water. I have been bringing food & water to her so she doesn't have to get up and walk to a bowl, but she's now feeling well enough to go to the waterer (which I refilled). The last time she yelped was a few days ago when trash from my brother's room spilled out into the hallway & got under her feet so she kept slipping when she tried to stand up.

I did some cleaning and cooking yesterday. Today I'm feeling a bit meh & it's raining outside but I'm trying to get myself up to do something productive. Things got really rough for my best friend & he's having some relationship problems with his fiance (might be ex soon). I'm staying out of it & letting him handle it, but am still trying to help him with his house. He needs to replace his breaker box which is 10"x8". He hasn't specified which is width vs height but he said he doesn't think he can go wider but he can go higher when he gets a new box. He's mentioned his walls have a lot of wood spanning the studs underneath the wood paneling so cutting through stuff isn't going to be easy. I think he can probably go a bit wider if he figures out where the studs are and only cuts away or moves the blocking that is around the box. Trying to figure out which brand is affordable but still reliable.

I hope everyone else is having a good day-- also hope Flyover will have better luck.
 
Thanks, @zannej. Today I took out every nut and bolt from the thing I could find, removed the wheel, tried to open it up, but found I could not. Then I noticed a reset button. Pressed it, then it worked!
 
Hooray for the reset button! I'm very glad that worked out. Hopefully the motor stand is working as intended as well.

It's been raining here & somehow we hit our bandwidth limit which means our internet is severely throttled until midnight (which is when the billing period resets). I wish that I'd actually gone outside yesterday when it wasn't raining. I need the exercise. I'm also putzing on changing the HVAC filters. I need to get up and do some cleaning today & maybe hit the store to get some stuff we ran out of.
 
Happy Veteran's Day, especially to anyone here who's a veteran! Hope y'all had a good one.
 
I bought a canoe and I'm gonna go pick it up tomorrow, which means I have to quickly build a rack to store it on.

My grandfather's been canoeing all his life (he's the reason I grew up canoeing) and he never really stored his canoes properly except in the winter when he'd bring them inside -- the rest of the time he'd just leave the thing upside down on the dock -- but everything I've read and everyone I've talked to has told me I need to store it off the ground and covered, so that's what I'm going to do.

I don't have room in my garage so I'm attaching the rack onto the outside of my shed, and I bought a canoe cover.

The rack is basically a couple 8-foot 2x4s cut in half and butt-jointed into two big Ls. Each L is at a slightly acute angle. The "vertical" pieces will go flat against the all of the shed, and the "horizontal" arms are oriented up-and-down for strength and stability. I'm installing tie-down anchors at the tips of each piece, and then I'll have a loose tie-down strapping running from the top out to the end of the arm. The canoe will sit in the strapping so its weight will be spread out. Kind of a fun little project, but also pretty brutal in this weather.
 
Flyover, Nice canoe rack! Hopefully it will keep the canoes safe. Do you plan to put anything over the boards on the top to prevent scraping? Like foam insulation tape used for plumbing or pool noodles? I think the hollow pool noodles can be cut to fit right over the 2x4s.

I've got kidney stones again so I'm taking it easy today. Yesterday I went over to give my friend some pepto bismol & hang out. He wasn't feeling well & his fiance had some creepy guy over that no one else liked. Dude had been hitting on her & making inappropriate comments to everyone. I had a bad vibe about him. Last time I had a similar vibe about one of the guys she had over he turned out to be a rapist, so this time I told her & she got pissed off at me about it & sniped at me. I didn't care about that but then she started a big argument with my friend. It escalated to a shouting match & then she started sobbing like a 2-year-old. Remember how Lucy would do that loud "waaaaaah" on 'I Love Lucy"? That's what it sounded like. All the drama makes me glad I'm single. I want no part of any of that.

Another friend who owes my mom $ & promised to do work to pay it off but never showed up just contacted me and wants to come out tomorrow to do yard work & work out a repayment plan. I guess things are finally calming down for him financially.

I have been working off and on with the pet door trying to get it in but it's not wanting to line up properly. I'm going to try again in little bit. I may have to do some re-drilling, but I am determined to get this thing on. If I have to glue the damn thing on, it will go on! LOL.
 
Pool noodles split down the middle and then zip-tied in place were my first idea, but instead I'm going to have the canoe resting on top of the tie-down straps, which I'll probably have to adjust so the buckle isn't near where the boat is touching it. That way the weight will be more evenly distributed. Sorta the same idea as this design, which you see on a lot of commercially available canoe and kayak racks:

1494337979346


Sorry to hear about your friend's fiance's...uh...mismanagement of her social life? I think I've said this before, but your day to day is a lot more exciting than mine. For whatever it's worth, I'm really glad I'm married; it's basically drama-free. My wife and I have a civilizing influence on each other.
 
That's a nice canoe rack Flyover. Anxiously waiting to see it loaded with the canoe.

My wife is still nauseous, this coming Monday will be 7 weeks now. She's lost somewhere between 35-40 Lbs. to date and getting weaker by the day. Just getting up for the restroom (20 ft. trip each way). wipes her out. She has to take a break to get the energy to return to her recliner. Then her nausea is stirred up until she can settle back down. Her day consists of eating what she can early in the day, when she feels better. A meal is usually 2-3 bites then she feels full. Then she lays very still so she can digest the food, before getting sick later in the day and at night. So, she sleeps when she can. A little good news, she's had a couple full nights of sleep here and there lately. She's on anti-nausea medication, without it she would be in worse shape.
Thursday we sent her files to Mayo Clinic and are waiting for them to process her request for an appointment. The waiting list is long, but they get people in quicker if there's a need. The doctors here sent referral letters explaining the dire situation she's in, we're hoping that will help expedite her case. It's been suggested to just go and they would take her in. If we were closer we might try that, but since it's a 7 hour trip we don't want to go, then get stranded there because we cant't get an appointment right away. Cheryl isn't in a position physically to go through something like that. So, we're waiting by the phone, answering phone questions by all involved as they process her request. We're praying the doctors on our end can convey to the doctors in MN just how critical her situation is and get her in sooner rather than later. Not much we can do but wait at this point. I've changed the oil and gassed up the car. Cheryl is on temporary disability and I've told my regular customers why I may not be available if they call. We can be gone in a matter of a few minutes if we get the call.
 
Last edited:
Flyover, that sounds like a cool idea. Maybe you can use pool noodles on the tie-downs to cover the buckles and give more surface under the canoe- and it might add a little reinforcement that way. I'm happy to hear you and your wife get along well. I think I've only met 2 couples that got along very well & didn't bicker like crazy or have a lot of drama.

Gary, I'm so sorry to hear about your wife being ill. Did the doctor tell you to check her blood pressure? anti-nausea medicine can cause blood pressure spikes. My mother had to be given something to lower her BP when she got nauseous. Sounds like your wife may need to get some IV fluids & nourishment. I really hope they will take her in to the Mayo clinic very soon & that it's something that can be treated.

Yesterday I meant to go down to the workshop to try to work on my pet door but I ended up getting back from the store too late so I worked on it today instead. I managed to get the inside half secured to the door mostly & got 2 of the bolts through but the other 2 bolts don't want to go through. I decided to take a breather before I break something. LOL. I may resort to just drilling through spots where there aren't supposed to be holes on the inner side just to make the damn bolts go through and secure them with a washer & nut. The top left corner & bottom right corner are secured with the bolts but the other two don't want to cooperate. The bolts bent slightly so I may just have to go buy more on Monday. I'm going to take a flashlight down and shine it through the holes to see if it goes through and maybe just do more drilling if need be. I may end up adding some washers so the nuts don't slide partway in to the holes & get stuck (that happened to one side). I will get this damn thing secured before I paint!

I'm trying to figure out what type of caulk to use around it bc I don't trust the weather seal on the outside to be sufficient.

I've also been obsessively watching this over and over because I find it hilarious
 
Here's the rack holding the canoe, finally. The actual canoe is just green, but I've got it covered to protect it from the elements. When I went to pick up the canoe I learned it's almost a foot longer than I was told initially, and probably 50 pounds heavier than I expected. Makes my shed look small. Anyway, you can't see it but the straps are keeping the gunwales off the arms and the hull slightly tilted away from the shed, and none of it is touching the buckles. Those same straps can then be used to help secure the canoe to the truck when we take it places.

1215191233-00.jpg
 
That's a nice looking canoe rack Flyover. Stored away for next year.

zannej, yes, she's been checked, prodded, scanned, and re-checked several times. Every test comes back normal. They put her on a heart monitor & test her blood every time we go to the ER, which has been often. So far her heart has been staying in rhythm since the cardioversion, so at least some good news there. She's had a brain CT scan for tumors, all her digestive organs scanned/scoped. The good news everything checks out normal, the bad news is that doesn't get us any closer to an answer. We've been to 3 specialists and a hand full of hospital doctors and nurses, none have come up with a solution. They've all pretty much said we've tried every test we can think of. I told one doctor I worried that mayo my not take her because all the test come back normal. She said, no, they specialize in taking cases where no one else has come up with a solution. I hope that's true, because we've been striking out so far. Meanwhile, she is still getting sick and weaker.
 
Flyover, that looks really cool! My brother would joke that he can't see the canoe (bc of the camo cover). Hopefully you'll get some good use out of it.

Gary, that sounds awful & nerve-wracking. Sometimes doctors only look at individual results instead of the big picture. Things will be within normal parameters individually but there are times when another doctor needs to look at the combination of results to see if anything is even slightly off. I'm trying to think of what could be causing that nausea but I'm at a loss. Wish I could help. All I can do is wish you both the best of luck & hope the Mayo clinic will call soon & find something.

I went down to the workshop with a flashlight and took another crack at the bolts on the pet door. With a little fiddling I got the 3rd bolt through. The last one gave me more trouble but I eventually got it with the help of a mallet. I bought some washers that I'm going to put on later. I also got some door & window caulk to use around it.

Meanwhile, my old dog isn't doing well. Her urine is very dark but I can't get her to drink enough water. She hasn't been getting up as much anymore & gets tired before finishing her food. Poor old girl is still hanging in there but I don't know if she'll last until the end of the month.
 
Thanks, everyone. I'm excited the design actually works and didn't just collapse like I half expected it to for some reason.

zannej said:
My brother would joke that he can't see the canoe (bc of the camo cover).
Click to expand...
That's exactly the idea. The side of the shed my canoe is hanging on faces my privacy fence, but the other side faces the neighbors behind me, and their houses are on a road that gets a lot of traffic, and there's a lot of crime in a couple of the surrounding neighborhoods. So when people go down that busy road and get a fleeting glance between the houses, I want to minimize the chance that the part of my canoe sticking out past my shed will be noticeable. There's a row of "junk" trees between my yard and the back neighbor's, too, so during the warmer months when more crime happens my canoe will be even better hidden by blending into the foliage.

I get a lot of things that are camo but always for a practical reason. I'm not into the "tacti-cool" fad and can't wait until it's over. Hah, kinda reminds me of people now who are putting those "furrowed eyebrow" pieces on the front of their Jeeps to make them look angry. When I see those I have to stop myself from pointing and laughing.
 
@Gary: Back in 2014 the son of a friend of mine mysteriously came down with all these symptoms exactly like what you're describing about your wife: super nauseous all the time, weak, etc. Similar deal where they went to all these doctors at all these hospitals all over the country and did all these tests and nobody could see anything wrong with any part of him. The poor kid basically spent age sixteen in bed.

Then finally one doctor in Dublin OH figured out that a rare kind of virus had destroyed some of the nerves in his inner ear or something like that. Your inner ear tells your brain what's up and down, so that's why he was nauseous all the time. (I'm probably way oversimplifying because I don't remember all the details.) I'm not sure what all the doctor prescribed, but after a few months of whatever the treatment was, the kid was like 80% back to normal, and after a year or two he was back to 100%. Now he's in med school!

So, I don't know if any of the doctors your wife has seen have looked into that kind of possibility, but it might be worth asking about.
 
Ah, since you have trees in the area the camo cover does make sense. Hopefully no one will see it. Thinking about boats and thieves, I still remember the story of my father being told by the police to come listen to a dispatch call from one of his subordinates. The guy called & said he was in pursuit of a vehicle he said the road, direction, license plate, and said it was towing a stolen boat on a trailer & gave the license plate. Dispatch operator asked "How do you know the boat is stolen?" and the guy screamed "It's MY BOAT!!"
Apparently he was returning home just as some thief was pulling out of his driveway with his boat & trailer attached. He was with INS & back then he didn't have the authority to pull someone over for theft (didn't have sirens or anything in his vehicle, but did have a radio to call in).

I've seen people put things that look like eyelashes on their headlights & it looks pretty dumb. I've also seen mustaches on the grille.

People do weird stuff. LOL.

I didn't get to do anything but go to the store today. It was raining & there were tornadoes hitting towns north & south of me. I was going to go to the workshop to get pictures of the door but my friend's fiance called & asked me to take her to the store to get food & vitamins. She just found out she's pregnant. I wish I could be happy for them but she is not emotionally equipped to be an adult much less a parent & my friend is not in the right financial state to have another kid (especially with his ex having lied to the court to get half his paycheck). She's a major wuss who sobs like a baby over minor injuries & goes to the ER over having a cold. Pregnancy will not be easy for her. Plus she has a heart condition that makes it dangerous for her & the maternal mortality rate in this state if very high. On the selfish side, I really don't like babies or kids & I don't want to be around them. She's already talking about how she's going to want me to hold the baby-- not gonna happen. I held a baby once & have no desire to do so again. I'll stick to furry things like cats & dogs.

Speaking of the baby I held, it was my cousin's baby & she just announced that her oldest daughter is now engaged.
 
Thanks Flyover. That's not so far off from what one doctor thought. He thought it was something like vertigo but he had a different (long) name for it. We went to the Nose Ear and Throat specialist. We thought we were on to something. But after running test on the ears and inner ear, etc., he said everything was normal. I guess it's good that she's passing all these tests she's taken over the last 7 weeks now, but the bad news is we are still at square 1. It's starting to wear on me, I can only imagine what she's going through. The inner ear was the last hope for finding something with the local doctors. They all feel bad for her, but they have all said "we've gone as far as we can go". We're hoping Mayo can find what no one else has been able to find.
 
@Gary, I'd definitely try and check with a virologist if you get a chance. ENT doctors will probably tend to look for different things. (But what do I know...)
 
She's been tested for viruses though blood tests. They've even taken biopsies from her stomach and intestines and had them lab tested for a microscopic cause. Everything comes back normal. I can't say for sure there isn't a virus, only because we don't know what is wrong, but the doctors seem convinced is not viral. I, however, am convinced we need a new set of eyes looking at her case. The great thing about Mayo is she'll have a team of doctors consulting together, what one doesn't think of another one will. It's not individual offices like we're going to now. In spite of what they're saying, I'm not convinced there's very good communications between the separate doctors here. We get the impression from each doctor that they've done what they can in their field, and it's up to "the other specialist" to come up with a cause. And in the meantime, she got sick again last night, after eating a couple bites of a hamburger yesterday morning and a fish stick in the afternoon. Not a sustainable diet. Other than a few steps to and from the restroom (which wipes her out) she pretty much needs a wheelchair to go any distance. We're just going to have to be the squeaky wheel, until we get an appointment. There are other good teaching hospitals we can try, but none of them use the team approach like Mayo as far as we know. Mayo does their tests one right after the other, in a matter of 2-3 days. Other hospitals, the tests are drawn out and take time. Time is one thing she doesn't have.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top