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Spicoli, you may be able to get sort of partial refund if you complain to customer service on the phone. Point out that it has been 7 weeks since you ordered and this is inconveniencing you by making it so it will be even hotter when you go to use it & that you should not have to deal with getting jerked around and told it was delivered when it was not.

In defense of the snake guy, he wasn't initially planning to crawl all the way under the house and I think a lot of people assumed I had a trailer from the photos. So there would not be much ground to cover. He said he had some sort of protective suit but he'd forgotten to bring it. Keep in mind, he did get his degree from a college in Louisiana and the schools here aren't the best. My high school in Singapore had a better curriculum and more professionalism than colleges here. Since the snake was photographed near the opening, I think he was hoping it would still be somewhere visible and easy to see. However, I did question the attire- bare legs when snake hunting is not a good idea. He did mention that he has experience searching for and capturing snakes. We weren't expecting to actually find the snake but he was hoping we'd get lucky and it would still be somewhere visible.

Trying to find actual professionals who aren't morons is very difficult in my area. The best and brightest have moved far far away from here.

Mentioning stuff that gets left outside. I was at a small shop that was selling PVC pipes and they were all sitting out in the open in the sun on a shelf thing (no shade). I told them that it wasn't a good idea and when they wanted to sell me some, I declined. I hate when stores leave stuff out in the elements that are not supposed to be left out.
 
Ok, maybe I'll take back the Moron part. He's a Moron to me and would be up here, but if that's normal in Louisiana, and people dress up like Steve Irwin to go catch snakes, so be it. All I see is a Darwin candidate.

"Crikey, look at those teeth! If you try this, have protective gear, don't be like me, who forgot his protective suit 2 blocks down the road. No time for that now!"

Good idea on the partial refund, but HD won't refund a penny most likely. I will tell them they owe me the cost to hire someone to mow 2 times, or I'll return the mower. They have one of these at the local store, which proves it can be shipped here. They sold it, they have to deliver it in a reasonable timeframe. If they rely on XYZ shipping company to bring it to a local shipping company to deliver it to the UPS truck with a trailer to deliver it to Uhaul with a trailer, to deliver it to Jim's bait, tackle, gas and delivery, then that's on them. They are Home Freaking Depot, they can have their own semi pick 20 of these up and drive them to locations real easy.

That being said, the other 50 percent of the blame is on Cub Cadet, who can also drive it themselves for the mortgage people have to take out to buy the damn things!

(100% of the actual blame is on me for being an idiot and going to HD)
 
I've got my live trap set and am hoping to get the coon tonight. I'll bring my repotted pineapple tomato indoors at night until I catch it. I'll post a pic if I get him.

As for snakes, I wouldn't crawl under anything hunting one but don't mind catching them in the open. If you're a golfer a putter is good to pin their head to the ground until you verify if it's a pit viper or not. If it's not just grasp it firmly behind the head and drop it into a bag or pillow case for transport.
 
I installed the downspout elbows so they "S" out over the rain barrel and into the bung hole. (Still feels funny to write that...didn't the people who make those barrels ever watch Beavis and Butthead?) It was drizzling so I'd be surprised if it filled much; hopefully it's not too hard to move again if I need to. If it is I guess I can just drain it. I have to do another hardware store run before I can finish it, and then I should be able to install the second one too.

On that same run I need to pick up some steel or aluminum plates (something I can drill through) to fabricate some missing parts for a dip station I bought at auction. I've been hitting this gym in my basement 6 days a week for 6 months but that whole time I haven't had a good way to do dips, which I miss. I'm thinking maybe four 1/8" steel plates, each 6"x9" ought to do the trick. Not sure if I have the right 3/8" drill bit for those....
 
I've been seeing webs on the patio chairs in the backyard so today, I took off the cushions, flipped the chairs over, and sprayed them with Home Defense. I found 4 black widows, just waiting to bite us while eating dinner. I'll feel much better sitting out there now.
 
Flyover said:
(Still feels funny to write that...didn't the people who make those barrels ever watch Beavis and Butthead?)
Click to expand...

I could be wrong, but I don't think Beavis or Butthead were even born at the time the word was coined.
But again, I could be wrong. I usually am.

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English bunge “bung, bunghole,” from Middle Dutch bong(h)e “stopper”
 
homerowner said:
I could be wrong, but I don't think Beavis or Butthead were even born at the time the word was coined.
But again, I could be wrong. I usually am.

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English bunge “bung, bunghole,” from Middle Dutch bong(h)e “stopper”
Click to expand...
It was a joke; I figured the term had been around longer.

I could say the same about whoever named Lake Titicaca.
 
One rain barrel is fully installed. The second is ready to install (I affixed the faucet and overflow to it already) just need to choose a location.

I drew the lines on my steel plates, but haven't had a chance to cut them yet. Maybe tomorrow if I get a chance. I think this is my first time fabricating metal parts. It will be great once I can do dips again.
 
Spicoli, LOL. Yeah, that was my feeling on it. Man, it's a shame about Steve Irwin getting killed the way he did, but Darwinism. Feel bad for his daughter, but it seems she's done well for herself. His son seems to be doing OK as well.

Beavis and Butthead was great! My mom was the only one who didn't really like it, but the rest of us would sit and watch it and laugh hysterically. I think some of my favorite skits were the ones at their work when people tried to ask them questions or order stuff. The principal ordering and them saying "No. We're like closed or something". And the "Are your shakes made with real milk or constituted shake mix?"

Eddie, glad you caught the raccoon. I wonder what happened to the ones that had been invading my house. I'm pretty sure one of them got hit by a car. I saw it dead on my road.

The guy who owes us $ (and promised to do yardwork in lieu of it) actually showed up. Bush-hogged the front 10 acres. He's supposed to come back tomorrow to cut the blackberry bushes and haul a fallen tree out of the way. We'll see if he actually shows up or not. He put in a good 5 hours mowing (he had to pick up debris so it took longer). I suspect he might not feel well today. He's not terribly reliable.

On the upside, the new doorbell works (although it only rings in my brother's room and the living room so I can't hear it unless I'm watching TV).
 
If Steve Irwin had kids, especially more than one, then that's not Darwinism! (Though maybe if his inclination toward risk-taking got inherited to where his kids meet a similar fate before they have kids...)

I like to think I was the first one to notice that Principal McVickers or whatever that character from Beavis and Butthead was called, sounds exactly like Bernie Sanders, but apparently one other person on YouTube noticed it too.

For the past couple months I've been getting covered in flea bites. Nobody else in my family, just me. It makes no sense. The fleas bit up my legs (I probably have 20+ bites on each leg) then moved on to my arms and torso. Not a single bite on my wife or any of my kids. But we did finally find a couple fleas. No clue where they came from: we have no pets, and some of our neighbors have dogs but none of them have fleas. Like I said, it makes no sense. But one way or another we're bug bombing today which means a long day outside at the park and in the back yard. Weather should be nice.
 
zannej, why cut the Blackberries? It's one of the only acceptable fruits in my opinion because it isn't a sugar bomb. I know how much a pain in the *** the bushes are, but are they where you need something else?

I don't think Irvin was a Darwin candidate because he knew what he was doing and probably took all precautions off set. Being that he was taken out by a Stingray, it was just a freak accident. If he jumped in a pool of Bull or Tiger Sharks, different story.

Beavis and Butthead was awesome during my rebellion years. I ran away and stayed at my buddy's house in his basement without his folks knowing. We both worked at Mcdonald's, and I parked my ratty beater around the corner to go to work. I lived on Mcd's cheeseburgers with my employee discount. Saying "Heh Heh Yeah Yeah, Shutup Beavis" at work, which I can do perfectly to this day, got old and I went home after 3 days. Ah, to be 16 again! No worries, Bulletproof, and dumber than Asphalt.

Flyover, something you are eating, something you are excreting. That's the only explanation. I have maybe one Mosquito bite a year if that because I eat Garlic relentlessly.
 
After walking around (briefly) in stores this weekend without a mask, I am apparently hypersensitive to the smell of Human Funk! I guess people either cut down on their body cleansing routines because it's difficult to smell with a mask on, or stores stopped filtering the air as much for the same reason. Either way, the mask went back on and I took a big whiff of my own odoriferous technicalities when I got home to make sure it wasn't me. It wasn't. I would take 3 showers a day, just don't want to do that much laundry.

"Hey honey, we saved $2.97 a month every month not using deodorant during the pandemic. No reason to change that! That's like half a gallon of gas every month for free!"
 
I recall a guy that had several cats and has some itchy spots on his ankles. He puzzled about it for several days then came to work and said problem solved. He discovered it was fleas and had a flea collar around each ankle. I wonder what effect that had on him if he wore them long term?

Going out to sound Taps on my patio. I should have done it yesterday on the real Memorial Day.
 
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Eddie_T said:
I recall a guy that had several cats and has some itchy spots on his ankles. He puzzled about it for several days then came to work and said problem solved. He discovered it was fleas and had a flea collar around each ankle. I wonder what effect that had on him if he wore them long term?

Going out to sound Taps on my patio. I should have done it yesterday on the real Memorial Day.
Click to expand...

I bet he had neurological issues if he wore flea collars like that. It constantly amazes me, as I sit here unable to put my Flag out because of the pesticides in the air, how people constantly ignore the chemicals involved in killing bugs and somehow think it won't affect them, as they reach for that Bayer badge product, while also ignoring that Bayer is by far the most lethal killers of humans with their death camps in WWII.
 
Flyover, he *does* sound like Bernie Sanders! LOL! That makes it even funnier now! As for fleas, as Spicoli said, you may be the most tasty one in there to the fleas. If it's been raining in your area, it drives fleas inside. Fleas were gone for winter but they have come back with a vengeance. I just had one crawling on my foot.

Spicoli, I am absolutely guilty of being one of the human funk people. Haven't been able to wash stuff in hot water (only cold) and only been able to take cold showers. I sweat a LOT even when it's not summer (something to do with my thyroid even with the meds) and I've gone to the store right after cleaning or doing something that made me sweat more. Even the 48hr deoderant/antiperspirant doesn't do jack (and I do wash my armpits with soap and water when I shower). My pits still sweat anyway and overwhelm the deodorant.

I need to get a hair cut so maybe my neck won't sweat as much. My neck and the backs of my knees sweat.

Worked up a sweat today helping my mom try to organize stuff in her room. She's got a ton of stuff piled up in cardboard boxes and lying around. So I bought her a bunch of see-through plastic bins. She's been filling them up and organizing her stuff into them. But because she has balance issues, she can't carry the bins. So I have to pick them up and put them where she wants them, bring other bins and boxes over, etc.

She's waiting on me to make lunch. I'm about to go see what she wants to eat. Hoping she wants roast beef au jus since I'm hungry too and it's easy to make & makes portions for 2 people.

As I expected, guy who does yardwork no-showed again. I figured he wouldn't feel up to it today.

Oh, on the blackberries: They are wrapping around my outside AC unit, blocking entry to get under my house, blocking walkways, and are just growing like crazy and the thorns are grabbing people who try to walk by. They are trying to grow up on to my porch. They've surrounded the house. As much as I love blackberries, they are the perfect cover/home for venomous snakes. Copperheads and Cottonmouths LOVE blackberry bushes. If they had remained in the back field/garden area, that would have been fine. But birds carried the seeds over to the house.

Speaking of birds, I saw the female cardinal, male cardinal, some sort of brown finch, and a small yellow bird (too big for hummingbird but smaller than the cardinals) all taking turns having a go at Mom's bedroom window. Male cardinal chased the little yellow bird away though.

Ok, off to go get something for Mom before she gets mad.
 
I made lunch. I forgot to address the thing of Steve Irwin. He's got a daughter and a son. The son was just a baby when Steve died. He infamously put the baby near one of the crocodiles and sparked outrage. The son and widow work at some zoo. I believe the daughter worked at one as well but she recently got married and had a baby. I think they have both learned to be a lot more careful around animals. So they learned from their father's mistakes & don't take as many risks.

While typing one of my cats climbed up no me and started licking my nose. I think he wants attention. LOL.
 
Sprayed Crossroad herbicide on white clover invasion of front lawn. I used to like white Dutch clover but this stuff seems to be more of a vine and is overtaking my Zoysia grass. I am also trying to grow dwarf Mondo grass so am trying to spray carefully to avoid it.
 
zannej... I don't think you have that smell capability since besides your freak winter storm, it's always 200 degrees with 4000 percent humidity... I would think everybody is a sweat ball and nobody knows that smell is different. I can't ever go to LA because the smell of shrimp, crab, lobster etc. is enough to make me hurl. Just the smell alone.

I see your Blackberry problem, you might have to do it yourself apparently.
 
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