What did you do today?

[Spicoli43]

Well, but in your part of the country, a tux, is bib-overalsl and a holes in the sleeves flannel.

Nah, that's West Virginia... We are Cargo pants, Tshirts and Boots.

 

[havasu]

It's more for the gals. They like getting gussied up, but me, tee shirt, cargo shorts and flip flops are my designer threads.

 

[Snoonyb]

Nah, that's West Virginia... We are Cargo pants, Tshirts and Boots.

MINOT, WILLISTON & BISMARCK, ND, your not fooling me.

 

[Spicoli43]

ND is the same thing as West Virginia only colder.

 

[Snoonyb]

ND is the same thing as West Virginia only colder.

Take me home, country road.

 

[Spicoli43]

Take me home, country road.

You Betcha!

 

[Snoonyb]

You betchum tonto!

 

[zannej]

Spicoli, I'm glad you found out what was wrong with your truck.

Shan, I'm excited for you that you are getting things fixed.

Havasu, looks like you had fun. Not my idea of fun of course. LOL. The place looks neat but I *hate* dressing up unless its a costume like Ren Faire or some sort of scifi thing.

My Mom's SS got cut by $30 recently. And they have been underpaying her because they don't have my father's military service straight. They think he worked fewer years (she gets his SS bc she never worked & he didn't live long enough to collect it). We need to make an appointment to go to the SS office in Deridder with his DD214s (which I received two years after requesting them). Also need to renew her military dependent ID. Reminds me I need to renew my driver's license soon.

Yesterday I picked up mail and got some stuff from the store. Got hay for the cows. Found some microwave meals Mom likes. Tomorrow or Thursday I need to take the truck in for an oil change and see if the people can figure out why it makes so much damn noise all the time. Something with the wheel or suspension maybe? Not sure. But it makes all sorts of squeaks, rubbing sounds, spring popping like sounds, etc. When I reverse it makes weird noises, when I drive it makes weird noises that get faster as I accelerate. So something is rubbing/bumping somewhere. The replacement fender is mis-aligned so the tire was hitting the fender liner and tore a hole in it. But that is gone and we can't see what its hitting. Place that did the work is no longer in business.

Energy levels are still low but I'm being better about taking meds 2x a day. Got my new battery backup and am charging the battery. I read something in its instructions that gave me an idea for the other APCs that don't seem to be working properly. I think I need to change the settings on them somehow. Need to figure out how.

 

[Ron Van]

Most municipalities require a backflow preventer but you need an Atmospheric Vacuum Breaker (AVB)

"An AVB is a non-testable mechanical backflow preventer with a gravity opening poppet air opening, designed to admit atmosphere into the downstream sides of the unit under a no flow condition to prevent back-siphonage."

The literature says this:
Vacuum Breakers are required by many municipal governments to protect the drinking water from being contaminated by water from swimming pools, lavatory sinks, bath tubs, or toilets. It is an atmospheric-type back flow preventer. The seating and unseating of the diaphragm are accomplished by the presence or absense of water pressure, when the unit is open to the atmosphere. It is normal for the vacuum breaker to emit a small amount of water:

a) During the opening and closing of the shower control valve.
b) When used with a massage action, may emit water when changing spray selection.
c) When used with a push button shower, water may emit out of the unit when the shower is placed in the off position.

It is normal for the vacuum breaker to drain when it is placed lower than the hand shower, and the water is shut off.

The unit screws on to the water supply where your hose is connected now and then you screw your hose onto the breaker. It's inline with your hand held shower head.

I installed the Delta Atmospheric Vacuum Breaker today and it did not work like I hoped it would. The shower head still dribbles after the water is shut off. There has to be a way to fix this though. It is totally unacceptable.

 

[zannej]

Ron, you might want to ask on the plumbingforums.com to see if anyone can figure out why it is dripping.

Wednesday I went into town with my brother and got an oil change on the CRV (which is what he's been driving to work). Today we went to the local tire shop/repair place around 7:30am and got an oil change on the Ridgeline. Drove around a little, went into a few stores, then went back & they still didn't have it ready. I was almost 11am when they finally finished looking at it but they forgot to put air in the tire or check for leaks.

Diagnosis was that the wheelbearing is bad. So either it was defective or the dealership put it in wrong. considering they damaged the CV axle when they put it in, I'm betting it was the latter. Gonna be over $430 to get the new wheelbearing put in and another $150 for alignment. While I was kvetching about how lousy that dealership was, a customer behind me recommended a better shop down in Lake Charles. Said they do good work & don't jerk people around. Need transmission flush, fender adjustment/diagnosis (see if it is put on right), new fender liner put on, DRL reconnected/fixed, possibly need new bulb. And get the tailgate fixed so it opens properly. That might take another $200. The transmission fluid flush is about $310. $85 for diagnosing stuff if they don't fix it. If they fix it they don't charge for diagnosis. And I might have to temporarily rent a vehicle to use.

Anyway, I'm back home now and resting. The truck repairs are expensive but necessary.

 

[zannej]

I racked out yesterday for some reason. No energy & slept almost all day and all night. I probably need to go to the store today but I'll see if I have the energy.
I know I need to do some cleaning. My brother spilled stuff in the microwave again and he ate my food and left the empty container on the floor.

 

[havasu]

he ate my food and left the empty container on the floor.

Who the hell does this? That boy needs a good beating.

 

[Ron Van]

I installed new spark plug wires on our boat yesterday. I have a new coil too but I ran out of time so I’ll have to install that later.

These are the “make them yourself” type wires. I had to buy some special crimpers.

 

[Spicoli43]

Who the hell does this? That boy needs a good beating.

Most normal 2 year old's.

One nice sock right to the side of the head might deliver some common sense.

 

[Snoonyb]

If I had a sibling like that, they'd be living in a pup-tent at the far end of the property.

 

[havasu]

I'm sure it's a "love-hate" relationship. She'd love for him to move away, and hates him living there!

 

[HandyOne]

We went with a 29 year member of the Magic Castle. They pulled out the stops for us. We ate dinner in the private seance room, had a custom 5 course dinner with Fillet Mignon, were provided long stem roses for the gals, received custom Magic Castle challenge coins, got a private tour of the "behind the scenes" at the castle, completed the seance, where glass picture frames broke, we heard Harry Hodini's voice from a Victrola sound machine, and even had a levitating 10' dinner table. We then went to 4 different magic shows, some small, some large. Our hotel was the Magic Castle Hotel, where they serve popsicles on a silver tray 24 hours a day, and free snacks served all day. The rooms were a little long in the tooth, but the experience was well worth it.

The apartment next door was where Janis Joplin was found dead from a drug overdose, so we went to the shrine to pay our respects. We were saddened to see that the Mayor of Los Angeles, Fatass Karen Bass, turned Janis Joplin's apartment complex into a homeless shelter, with 3 armed guards. We asked to see the shrine at room # 105, but were ordered off the property.

OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!

The behind the scenes is what I would have really liked to see if I were there.

 

[zannej]

My best friend had an ex that we nicknamed Herpes. She would eat stuff and leave the containers on the floor. Only she wouldn't even eat all of it. She'd eat part of it and then chuck it. She also would cough up loogies and spit them on the floor & not clean them up. She'd open a soda can, take a few sips, set it down & leave it. Then go get another soda and open it and do the same. She would have about 10 sodas with only a few sips taken out of them all over the house. It drove my friend bonkers. His other ex, the one we call Jabba the ****, would just eat other people's food without asking- or sometimes after being told NOT to eat it. At least his current fiance is a sweetheart.

Brother earned his keep this morning. I was watching youtube tutorials when I kept hearing what sounded like bass from speakers. Then I thought maybe it was a cat or dog scratching themselves and thumping the wall. I heard another sound that I thought was maybe the little dog wheezing. I then realized it wasn't coming from him and decided to investigate. Mom had fallen and had been pounding on a door with a shoe and hollering for my brother to help. His room is directly next to hers but he has some hearing loss & can sleep through almost anything. I opened his door and hollered at him to come help. We got her to a position where my brother could lift her and have them both fall sideways onto her bed. She sat for a couple of minutes and then got up to go to the bathroom. She's a bit sore and bruised but she's fine. I could probably lift her now, but the problem is I can't get her up high enough. She's taller than me.

Went to Walmart to grab some stuff. The power surge this morning killed the new fountain I got for the kitties. I bought another one. I'm going to see if the other one can be fixed, but I want to set up the new one for now. I need a better setup though. Popped in to the post office-- good thing because some medicine for Mom arrived. Stuff that has to be refrigerated. She couldn't get the cap off of it and there was this plastic strip that had to be cut off. I got it open for her and am waiting for her to tell me what she wants to eat-- she has to wait 30min after taking it to eat.

Got some Vitamin D and took it this morning. No adverse affects thus far. Didn't sleep well last night so I'm a bit tired but not nearly as bad as I was the last few days. I'm not in zombie mode.

Been working on trying to get free amazon gift cards through various sites and stuff. Most of them are probably scams but I figure I can give it a shot. If the price on the processor I want won't go down, maybe I can offset a little with gift cards and stuff.

 

[Ron Van]

Ron, please explain how this vacuum breaker is installed. I too have a constant drip I'd like to fix.

I replaced the Delta AVB (Atmospheric Vacuum Breaker) with a Hansgrohe unit and it works as I expected it to. Problem solved. The Delta AVB was bad.

 

[Mastercarpenty]

Working in a 1955ish home today. Master bedroom door at the end of the hall had a site-built jamb which was constructed such that the casing trim on both sides wasn't ripped down to fit the walls. This left me fitting a door 31" wide at the top and 31 3/8" at the bottom, luckily the top was square to the hinge side. Hollow-core slab.. BUGGER!

New doors don't have enough wood on the edges so I fixed up an old door and ripped it to fit, which left me 13/16" wood to screw the hinges into and 1/2" at the knob. It works and is solid enough for the purpose but no way today's crap doors with 3/4" side stiles would have worked without adding wood inside the door to receive the hinge screws. I HATE how cheap everything is made now, nothing but junk. GRRRRR!