What did you do today?

[shan2themax]

I got the tomatoes in the ground. I don't have a good picture, might add one in a bit. I had my MRI this morning. The machine kept turning off so it ended up being 3 hours instead of 30 minutes so my back hates me now.... lol
Now to wait on results, they gave me a CD and I see one place where there is a bulge but I can't figure out how to find it on other views.... so I am not sure. So, the waiting begins

 

[zannej]

I hope the machine didn't mess stuff up because it kept shutting off. That must have been so annoying. I remember having to be in an MRI machine for 20 minutes straight while lying on my back with my arms above my head- really uncomfortable. Then several hours wait, more radio-isotope IV and then another 20 minutes in the MRI. Those same ones can now be done in about 2 minutes now.
I hope your back gets feeling better. Does heat help at all? I've found that I use the heated seats in my truck for back therapy rather than keeping warm. LOL.

Did mostly nothing today because I felt like garbage. My friend's fiance was asking for $ but I'm out & stores aren't doing cashback. Been exclusively using credit card. Always pay it off before it can accrue interest. Which reminds me, I saw a credit card "offer" my brother got where there was an annual $200 fee to keep the card plus monthly interest where the minimum payout (even if there was no interest accrued) was $10. What a crock!

Makes me cheer on the guy who re-wrote a contract sent to him by a credit card company. He printed out, signed it, made copies, mailed it in, & they signed off on it. His terms were no annual fees, no late fees, 0% interest permanently, unlimited spending, and if they tried to cancel his card they would have to pay him something like $250k. When they tried to charge him interest he called them & told him according to his contract their was no interest. They balked at first but then checked. So they tried to cancel. He told them they had to pay him to cancel as per the contract. They took him to court to fight it saying he scammed them. Judge was not sympathetic to them & told them they had to abide by the contract and that they should have read what the contract said before signing. I think they ended up paying up to cancel the card. The judge knew it was a bit dishonest on the guy's part, but companies hold people to contracts they don't read-- especially small print stuff-- all the time.

Anyway, I did actually get up and do a little bit of cleaning in the kitchen. Discovered there is some condensation reservoir on the pressure cooker that was filled with nasty gunk. It smelled horrible when I dumped it out. Scrubbed the hell out of the pressure cooker since I knew my brother wasn't going to do it. He actually pretty much told me he wasn't going to clean it and insisted that I clean it for him. He's 40 & still won't clean up after himself. I only did it because it needed to be done & it would start to stink and attract fire ants if I didn't.

Kittens are doing well. They keep throwing their poop emoji toys in the litterbox. I can't be mad about it because they *are* poop emojis. LOL. They have learned to drink from the rabbit waterer well & are starting to climb the side of their cage to get up. Namir rushed up to the top level & jumped on my shoulder when I opened the door. Temjin ran up the ramps and joined him. They climbed all over my shoulders and head for a bit, but jumped back into the cage on cue.

My oldest cat is missing but I hope it's just that he is in the barn or napping somewhere. I will check the workshop in the morning to make sure he didn't sneak in there when we unloaded the shower stuff.

I need to get some exterior paint & paint the outside of the workshop on a day when it's not raining. Paint is peeling & the wood is starting to look rough. I'll need a ladder to reach some of it.

 

[zannej]

Cat turned up fine. Been busy still trying to help my friend & his pregnant fiance. She's due late August but she only weighs 107lbs (she weighed about 80lbs prior to getting pregnant) and she's got very small hips & doesn't have much room to expand, so she might have to deliver early. She consulted a lawyer about her upcoming case (Arraignment is early August) & was told not to worry. Said cops were idiots & never should have arrested her. She has texts & audio from the other girl saying she wants to drop charges.

My friend has been sick but it's not Covid, fortunately. He's doing a lot better now, but the day he was supposed to go back to work his tooth broke off & exposed a nerve. He went to the hospital Tuesday (I think) & wasn't able to drive himself home so he called me to come get him. I took him to the dentist on Wednesday & they weren't able to do anything until he took antibiotics. The dentist is right near a Lowes so I went in there while he was being seen. Ran in to a retired plumber who was in business for 40 years. He gave me some tips on installing a shower drain & showed me where to find the copper pipes & gave some good suggestions and such. Nice guy.

Today I got up at 6:20am so I could go pick my friend up for an early dental appointment to have the tooth removed. Required surgery & took an hour. I spent about 30 minutes in Lowes & ran in to a guy who claimed to be a contractor who was buying the P-trap kits with the accordion thing. He said he loves them and uses them in every home. I told him they weren't to code & he said they were & kept saying over and over that he was a contractor. In my head I was thinking "Must be a lousy contractor". I told him why it wasn't to code & that I would never use those things. I feel sorry for his customers if he puts those things in.

I found some cool new "patent pending" braces that fit between studs & have holes in them for different size water pipes to stabilize them. Pretty neat looking so I grabbed a couple. I'll use them to hold the pipe for my tub spouts. The plumber told me that I could use CPVC for the spout but that it broke more easily than copper & the type of spouts I got can't fit over galvanized steel. He said if I got the sharkbite fittings that slip on to copper there could still be some movement- hence the stabilizer.

There's a sickly kitten over at my friend's house. She has some crud in her eyes so I cleaned her up and put medicine in her eyes. She's a sweet little kitty. She actually enjoys being wiped down with a damp cloth.

I also delivered some packages that Samsclub left in my driveway (again) to a neighborhood woman. She wasn't home but I wrote a note on the packages saying they left them at my house again. I took pictures of the packages & the labels so next time I go to Sam's I'm going to CS to complain about it & say I don't want to keep delivering her packages to her. If they had been my nasty neighbor's packages, I would have dropped them back off at Sam's and told them to take them to him or have him come pick them up, but this lady is nice so I decided to bring them to her.

It was 97° outside and I'm still trying to cool off (I ran back in to grab mail bc the post office was closed when I dropped my friend off). There was some stuff I forgot to give him so I dropped it off for him. He seems to be doing OK. Bleeding from the tooth is almost stopped. His boss was very understanding- he was worried his boss would think it was too convenient of a time for his tooth to break, but he had the report from the dentist to confirm & I think the boss knows by now what bad luck this guy has.

I'm still thinking ahead to when we can work on replacing Mom's shower. Plumber said he's installed hundreds of the Oatey no-caulk shower drains & said the pipe should come up about 1-1/2" from the floor to fit properly. He also said the metal key for turning was junk & to use two screwdrivers crossed over to turn it instead. I mentioned the idea of using some low expansion foam in a few spots (inside front apron of the shower pan & front apron of the tub) to reinforce it & reduce noise-- with the tub it can reduce heat loss & he said it should work. I'll be using it inside the shelves on the wall panels too.

I looked at the Delta tubs & shower walls & compared them to the Sterling. Delta feels super flimsy. I'm still debating whether or not to replace the tub in my bathroom or to just find a universal surround to put up around it & try to fix the part where the porcelain got scraped off the cast iron.

Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[Art W.]

Did some work via the computer (work from home you know) and listened to classical music via YouTube. If you are Baroque does that mean you need Monet?

 

[zannej]

I took my friend to look at a vehicle he was thinking of buying for parts. Took over an hour to get there & he was very disappointed. The two parts he needed most were broken (the motor & the computer). The motor would have been fine if the catch on the hood hadn't smashed the cover on the top & allowed dirt & water in to corrode the motor.
The rims were in better shape than the ones on his vehicle but he wasn't going to buy a whole car just for the rims & they wouldn't sell just the rims. They said they are going to take it to U-Pullit so my friend will keep checking to see when it's there so he can go get the rims & cheaper parts that weren't worth buying the whole car for. Front end is so smashed it has to be towed & having it towed would not have been worth it for him.
My stomach isn't agreeing with me this morning.
My cat Predicate apparently missed me while I was gone because he started following me around as soon as I got home, has been sleeping on me all night, and followed me to the bathroom, then followed me back to my room and is sitting on me. I helped deliver him when his mother was in labor so I held him before he was fully born, wiped the crud off his face, & held him a lot when he was a kitten so he's very attached to me and vice versa.
Looks like it's going to rain again today. At least my sinus headache seems to be gone for the first time in days.
Hope everyone else is doing well.

 

[zannej]

It's been too quiet here. I had a dental abscess that popped but I broke a tooth trying to get a piece of popcorn shell out of my gums (which is what caused the abscess). I also had a filling fall out so I have exposed nerves in two teeth-- both my top left molars. The pain has been radiating through my upper jaw, lower jaw, nose, left eye, to my left ear, and down my neck. It feels like being stabbed in the face from the inside. Went to the doctor & he prescribed some Tramadol but I have a high resistance to pain meds & they take awhile to actually kick in. Supposed to take them every 4 hours as needed but they don't even start working for 4 to 6 hours after I take them. I was given a week supply but the earliest dental appointment I could get is the 14th so I will have to stretch it out. I've been going 12 hours in between & swishing warm water around in my mouth to sooth things. I will get a root canal done on the 14th and then a week or two later they said I could get the back molar pulled (which might allow the wisdom tooth go grow down in it's place) and get a crown/cap on the tooth that gets the root canal. I hope they can burn the nerves to the last tooth while doing the root canal so I won't have to worry about the exposed nerve while I wait.

Haven't been able to focus since I've been having headaches related to the nerves in my mouth. Head has been throbbing. I managed to get a little bit of cleaning and cooking done but I have been sleeping more. I couldn't sleep for two days when the dental pain got really bad. I had to go outside and kick something to relieve some tension. My brother went to the ER over the same pain before.

I've been told the dentist I'm going to is very nice. I've talked to some of his patients who said that he was very reassuring and that he gave them soup to take home after treatment. I need to see if there is some sort of discount card I can find though, bc it's going to be expensive.

My best friend's fiance had her arraignment. Someone working for the DA's office talked to her before she went in & said they were reducing the charge from felony 2nd degree battery to misdemeanor simple battery. While waiting they called my friend's sister's name to appear before the judge for some charge (he thinks a traffic ticket) but she wasn't there so they issued a bench warrant for her arrest. My friend called his sister afterward to inform her & she said they never sent her notice to appear in court. With the mail slowed, she'll probably get it later if at all. The fiance is due to give birth this month. Her due date was the 30th but they said they would induce on the 25th if she hasn't gone into labor yet. She's gained a lot of weight (for her). Went from 80lbs to 110lbs but she doesn't have much room for expansion. The baby already has his head pointed downward and she says she can feel the head pushing on her cervix from time to time. She showed me the baby moving in her belly and it was creepy like the ghosts moving behind the walls in the movie The Frighteners. LOL. My friend stopped going to work bc customers kept coming in, taking their masks off, and refusing to put them back on then arguing with him when he told them to put them on or leave. He had to get security to remove a family that refused to wear their masks. He's worried that if he gets exposed he won't be able to be with his fiance when she gives birth.

Mom has been wanting my version of shepherd's pie almost every night. I mix velveeta with hamburger meat and add in potatoes and butter. She used to make something similar when I was a kid. I tried adding things like mushrooms and corn a few times but she didn't like it as much as just the meat, cheese, and potatoes. It's sort of like a deconstructed cheeseburger & fries.

Been having trouble with the jet pump. The pressure switch was chattering & cuts off the pump when we do laundry or run the water for extended periods of time. I had to go take a shower at my friend's house so the water wouldn't cut off on me. I'll have to get the pump guy out to look at it. If it's like last time, probably some fried wires going to the pump. I really need to find a way to get some kind of surge protector for the lines so they don't keep getting fried by storms. I hope it's not something to do with the pressure tank or the check valve that the pump guy installed incorrectly.

 

[tuffy]

Been stripping and refinishing some doors that go better with the style and age of my house. Boy is that some time consuming work. I think I went through about 30 sheets of sand paper. Trying to make them look like they have been here the whole time . The doors that the previous owner put in here were hollow core cheap pieces of junk, also started doing the trim , cabinets and wainscoting in the kitchen .

 

[oldognewtrick]

Been stripping and refinishing some doors that go better with the style and age of my house. Boy is that some time consuming work. I think I went through about 30 sheets of sand paper. Trying to make them look like they have been here the whole time . The doors that the previous owner put in here were hollow core cheap pieces of junk, also started doing the trim , cabinets and wainscoting in the kitchen .

Nice!

 

[tuffy]

Some more pictures of the other doors I got done. Didn’t get before pictures, but they were also painted. The cabinet picture is a before picture.

 

[covingtonm355]

Lamented with the kids that school will officially be all virtual.

 

[zannej]

Tuffy, the doors look so much better after you worked on them.
I haven't been able to get much done with this heat. I step outside & get exhausted. Managed a trip to the grocery store and Monday we had some rainstorms. Water pressure got very low and then stopped working altogether. I went out to check the pump & the pressure switch wouldn't turn on and was silent. Messaged my friend but it was too late at night. After his fiance's medical appointment I brought him out (his car can't handle my road) & had him look at it. The heat got to me & I only showed him the D-Box switch on top of the cistern. I wasn't clear when I tried to communicate to him that I wanted him to look at the pressure switch on the jet pump, but I didn't realize that until after we went to the store. I said I wanted new wire & a new pressure switch. They don't carry the switches at the local hardware store but they do at Tractor Supply. My friend was looking at the D-box switches & I told him that was the wrong one. I pointed to the right kind & told him which of the two options I thought it was. Pump is a 1HP 115/230 power thing. He checked his phone to look up which switch was needed so we grabbed it just in case. Then we headed to the hardware store to get some 10/2 w/ ground. Headed back & I showed him the switch. I handed him my flashlight & he traced the wire & was able to spot that the wire running on the ceiling of the shed was burned & the switch itself was burned too. He replaced the wire & the switch for me-- which was a total pain in the *** bc it was like 110° in the shed & its in a hard to reach spot. To be honest, that shed needs to be replaced and I need to repair the structure that covers the gap between that shed and the generator shed. I will need some 1x6s as I saw some were rotting. The shed is made of steel & is starting to rust in spots. The horse kicked it at one point so there's a hole on the back. The cow leaned against the doors & broke them. I need to get measurements to know how long the 2x6s need to be. Should also get some new tin for the roof part and then I want to get a plastic or wooden shed that is at least 3ft deeper so there is more room around the pump. I want something that can be better insulated than that crappy steel.
My brain is still slow from all the heat & my very back tooth started hurting again. The dentist said I have to wait at least a week after the root canal to get it pulled. I'm actually hoping I can hold out until September because the crown for the other tooth will be expensive.
I'll talk to them sometime this week and see. I will have to get on antibiotics again before having it pulled though.
At least we have running water again.

 

[zannej]

I know I already said it, but I really love how the doors turned out, Tuffy. Perfect color stain on them. Looks better than some professional jobs I've seen. The paper towel holder is very cool as well. I also like the tri-basin sink.

 

[tuffy]

I know I already said it, but I really love how the doors turned out, Tuffy. Perfect color stain on them. Looks better than some professional jobs I've seen. The paper towel holder is very cool as well. I also like the tri-basin sink.

Thank you.

 

[zannej]

Tooth was bugging me so I spent almost all day sleeping. Phone woke me up a few times but the meds had me out for a bit. I got up briefly to lean the litterbox, feed & water the kitties, cleaned the toilet, and reheated leftovers for Mom; but I was otherwise useless today. Stomach is now bugging me a little.

My best friend called to say his fiance went into labor 10 days early. They have a healthy baby boy. He said the baby has his toes. They are in for some sleepless nights ahead. Mom got them a white noise machine for the baby to help him and them sleep. They are dreading the family members wanting to come around because they don't want visitors just yet. Funny thing was, my brother was over at their house watching movies with my friend when the fiance wanted to go to the hospital. My brother complained about her being a whiny wuss who was being melodramatic & blowing things out of proportion again. I said that she might actually be in labor. He said she was most likely just being a big baby about stuff again bc she freaked out over every twinge. Turns out I was right. The girl does have the lowest pain threshold of anyone I've ever met, but she apparently toughed it out for the 4 hours before they gave her an epidural. Hopefully she'll recover quickly. She's likely going to be in pain the next few weeks. She was terrified she wasn't going to be able to give birth w/o a C-section or that something would go wrong, but she made it through.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking of just buying the materials to build my own shed for the water well. I may be able to build some of the framing by myself but I will need my friend's help removing the old shed and installing the new one. It will have to be done quickly & on a day with no rain. I'll have to make sure we have all of the materials together & ready. I may have to place a post in the middle temporarily to hold up some of the electrical that is currently mounted to the ceiling. I might keep the center ceiling beam just to hold that stuff. I wonder if a baseboard heater could be installed anywhere in there without risk of fire or it getting shorted by a water leak (so long as I have it high enough up and protected from any spray).

Can 2x4s be used for a shed wall studs or would I need 2x6s? I'm thinking I could use studs, have plywood on the outside w/ house wrap, insulation between studs, waterboard (a waterproof cementboard/sheetrock) on the inside, metal roof on top. I could make it just as tall as the current shed but make the doorway taller (since we bump our heads in the current one).

 

[tuffy]

Some more pictures of the other doors I got done. Didn’t get before pictures, but they were also painted. The cabinet picture is a before picture.
[/QUOTE

 

[tuffy]

This is the after picture. Still have to put the other front on but, I need to get another tray that you put sponges in. and there is a hinge that makes the front tilt out.

 

[zannej]

Tuffy, the last image didn't show up. Not sure if it's just my internet or what.
Ah, the tip out tray like this? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004ARM9CG/
If we could build a kitchen from scratch again (which is what my dad did 30+ years ago when we moved in to this house), I would have that tip-out-tray under the kitchen sink. Dad loved the idea when he saw it years later, but it was far too late to add it to the cabinets as he just had the doors go all the way up.

He did what he called "meatball carpentry". He learned a bit from the Army & had some DIY books. A lot of the outdoor stuff is starting to deteriorate from water damage so I have a looong list of repairs. Like painting the workshop, replacing the roof on the workshop, adding rafter ties, adding some custom gusset plates, repairing/reinforcing the posts for the "porch" of the workshop. Gonna be "fun" finding a ladder tall enough to get to the top of the roof to install stuff. I don't think they make stepladders that high. My dad hired a handyman to do the insulation & I'm not sure quite how the guy got up there. Poor handyman died pretty young from cancer.

I spent the day watching videos on how to build sheds & taking notes on what to do & what not to do. I'm thinking of combining techniques I've seen from several different ones as well as from different plans. It's not going to be a terribly large shed so I think I can get away with 2x4 structure. I plan to notch the overlap where the rafters meet the top of the wall. Rafters & studs will be 16" on center. Rafter boards will connect to a ridge board & they will all be tied together with custom gusset plates that have a notch for the ridge board and small angled blocks on the inside to line them up properly against the angle of the rafters. I may use hurricane ties to attach the rafters to the studs. I'm thinking if I pre-build a lot of the stuff and have it ready to put together it will make it faster since I want to have it all up in a single day- but I'm going to allow for time to tear down/remove the old metal shed too. Having stuff ready to put together can help with that.

Although, maybe I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I really need to replace the back door first. But in order to do that, I'm going to need to get the weeds cut and get a couple of trees cut down (again-- damn things keep growing back).

I need to start forcing myself to do something productive every day again like I did in January.

 

[zannej]

I forced myself to clean the litterboxes & the toilet, but other than that I wasn't feeling well today. I think it's the barometric pressure changes. My limbs feel heavy & I feel bleh. I did watch a lot of videos & read stuff on how to build a shed. I need to replace the one around my well & pump.

Question: What forum section would be the right one to post about building a new shed? Garage & workshop or something else?

 

[zannej]

Dentist bumped my appointment to 8am instead of noon so I could get out of there faster. I think they had some cancellations. Everyone was very nice. I'm allergic to some of the stuff they normally use for anesthetic so they had to stick to lidocaine. I was mostly numb. I felt some pressure & a few twinges but I've had more pain from picking between my teeth with a toothpick. They were all worried that I was going to be in severe pain or that I would be freaked out by them having to break my tooth up into pieces to get it out without damaging the tooth next to it. One of the roots curved so it gave her a little trouble, but she got it all out rather quickly. I mentioned being more concerned about the hurricane than the tooth pulling & that I was probably going to lose power & being on a well system I would not have running water. So she gave me three 1 gallon jugs of distilled water. Wouldn't let me carry any of them either. Her name is Dr. Honey and it fits. She's very sweet. If my phonelines are working they will call in the morning to check on me. I let them know the lines might be down.
It bled quite a bit at first so I had to change the gauze a few times before getting home. Stopped at samsclub to grab more stuff. I ended up having to lift a 25lb cat food bag and I leveraged a case of 48 0.5liter bottles of water.
Stopped by the bank so mom could take care of business, went to the post office to get packages-- postal employee was more chatty than usual. I explained I had gauze in my mouth from having a tooth pulled. She was concerned that I was up & about after having a tooth pulled & said she'd had it done before. We commiserated about toothache being worse than kidney stones. She gave me some advice-- like how to avoid "dry socket" (which was in the instructions from the dentist). Hopefully she won't have any damage to her home from the storm & the post office won't get hit.
Stopped by to see my friend briefly to say Hi and saw some other friends who had moved out of town. They just finished paying off their trailer last week but had to evacuate without their trailer. They could only bring 40% of their stuff (but they got all of their pets). They are staying at my friend's house and are certain they will lose their trailer. I don't think they have insurance as they couldn't afford it.
I'm hoping my cows can find a safe place to stay during the storm. Not much I can do for them though. Cats are all in, kittens are moved away from the window, truck is parked away from the tree.
Bleeding seems to have stopped from where the tooth was pulled. Hardest part will be not poking around in the opening with my tongue. I'm still keeping gauze in there to keep my tongue from wandering. I subconsciously poke around at things that feel odd in my mouth.
I also stopped at a local store to get some beef stew & was able to eat it by chewing on only one side of my mouth. It just took awhile. I think I hear thunder kicking up now. I saw that the hurricane has made landfall near Lake Charles.

If I don't post for awhile it means I lost electricity/internet for a bit.

 

[tuffy]

Zannej hoping for the best for all you guys in the path of the hurricane. Stay safe.