What did you do today?

House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
The sign looks awesome, Gary!
I tried to upload pictures of my shower knob but for some reason they didn't go. Internet has been terrible.
The dog has been moving around even more & comes in to sleep on her dog bed on my floor when she can't get in to the living room (or when she's not asleep with her face in the cat food bowls).

The weather here absolutely sucks & bc there is no insulation in the laundry room, it is boiling in there so I've been putting off doing laundry. I have a large pile to do on a day that is hopefully cooler. Heat index today got up to 111. My brother & I had to go in to town to get mail & cat litter. My mother went nuts on Amazon Prime day so there were some large heavy packages (badly beaten up, but the contents seemed ok).

We stopped to visit a friend and for some reason sat outside in his car port despite being hot as balls. I ended up being distracted by the plight of a carpenter ant. My friend's gf had fed some rice & beef stew to the dogs & 2 grains of rice fell on the ground. The ant found the larger grain & spent about 10 minutes trying to pick it up, but it was almost as large as the ant and was stuck to the ground. Then when it finally started making progress, one of the dogs noticed it, ran over, pushed the ant with her nose, and ate the rice. At which point the ant lost it's damn mind & started running around in circles trying to figure out WTF happened. The gf took pity on the ant and saw another grain of rice. She put it down right in the ant's path as it was running. At first it started to move away, but then it realized it was food. This was a slightly smaller grain that was lighter. Ant picked managed to pick it up, retraced some of it's steps, and worked it's way off the pavement to the grass where it disappeared under some leaves. In retrospect, I wish I had recorded some of it.

Can't seem to find the source of the fire ants & they have continued to bite me. Got about 3 bites on my little toe on my right foot. Still trying to figure out the best way to get rid of them without endangering my pets or getting anyone in the house sick.
 
Is that an OSHA approved scaffold system?
 
No it's home made. I'm a sole proprietor, 1 man shop, OSHA does not apply. I went through that extensively when I built it about 10 years ago. The only place it does apply is if I'm working on the property of a company that is under OSHA rules, then they supply scaffolding for me. But, I haven't done that kind of work for many years.
 
If your scaffolding is as good as your work Gary, ya got nothin to worry about!
 
When I lied in Southeast Asia, I used to see scaffolding made from bamboo. I always wondered how sturdy it was.

But right now I'm distracted because I just saw this video and am geeking out over how cool the dinosaur is.


(I've always liked dinosaurs and I wish I were a billionaire and could have one of those in my yard).
 
It should say "lived" in Southeast Asia not "lied". LOL.
I checked the store yesterday for a replacement hot water knob-- all they had was one really cheap acrylic one that is hard to grip and turn when your hands are wet. So, I was planning to go to HomeDepot and/or Lowes today but my mother insisted that she had to go with me & she wasn't feeling well today so she wants to go tomorrow (this will probably mean we will have to wait a few more days bc she will do this where she says "tomorrow" and then it ends up being two weeks later).
After I went to the store, my friend called & asked if we had a blood sugar meter. His grandfather was having some sort of problem & he wanted to know if he could come borrow one. I offered to drive in (to save time). His grandfather was getting confused & couldn't remember my friend's name. We checked his sugar levels and they were fine. He'd had a blood pressure spike though. I also think he might be in the early stages of dementia. Stayed for a couple hours afterward to make sure he was ok & then went back home. It's apparently hot enough outside that my cats didnt' want to go out. They are spread out in my room and on my bed.
 
Got a call from a friend of mine asking if we'd like to go halves on a beef again. He shows livestock at the State Fair and will be at the auction this weekend. I said sure, then decided now might be a good time to replace the freezer down in the dungeon that expired a few weeks ago. I just unboxed it and set it up and was surprised by warning labels both inside the unit and outside that said WARNING THIS UNIT USES FLAMMABLE REFRIGERANT. Then it goes on to warn NOT TO USE MECHANICAL DEVICES TO DEFROST and DO NOT PUNCTURE REFRIGERANT LINES. Two actions that honestly, hadn't even occurred to me until I read, DO NOT DO THAT. (but, 1 or more people have apparently).
I didn't realize refrigerant was flammable. Is that just the new stuff or has it always been? Back when I charged Auto A/C, nothing was said in school about it being (explosive) flammable. They did however, impress upon us that being exposed to heat turned freon into a deadly gas. A heavy gas that could and would find it's way into low places, like a grease pit, and adversely affect anyone working in the grease pit in a very serious way, very quickly. So, don't let the freon get sucked into the carburetor, they said! (Notice the reference to ''letting freon escape'' and a vehicle with a ''carburetor'', sort of dates my A/C experience).
 
Flammable refrigerant? I never heard of that before, but then I don't know much about refrigerators or AC units.
I do know that if you mix acetone & bleach & keep it iced & cold it becomes chloroform- but that if you don't keep it cold it gives off toxic fumes of hydrochloric acid & chlorinated compounds.

I went to some stores today with my mother. It was 99 degrees outside (actual temp-- not heat index). WTForecast said it was hotter than a redneck's *** on chili night.

Got a new handle for my tub to replace the old one. Had to use the metal adapter spud with 3 little screws to make sure it gripped the splines on the stem properly. Turned it and saw that the stem turned. Still no water came out. :-(

I wonder if there is a cartridge inside that is clogged. I'm really hoping I won't have to open up the wall to get to it. Ugh. I really want a shower and it's the only working shower in the house.
 
Hi guys. Long time no talk. Today I trenched my neighbors property to get irrigation water to my property
 
Chris! It's great to hear from you. Sounds like you've been very busy. I hope the irrigation works well. How is live treating you over there? How are your wife, kids, and dogs?
 
Chris! It's great to hear from you. Sounds like you've been very busy. I hope the irrigation works well. How is live treating you over there? How are your wife, kids, and dogs?
Everything is great, had the inlaws living with us for a bit but finally got rid of them.
 
Still got Rik up there?
 
Its vacant other than my wife and kids. We have two weeks off before the next guests show up
 
It must be nice to have the place back to yourself again-- even if it's only a short while before more guests arrive.
Do you have any current photos of the house & stuff? Have you changed much with it?
I know you've put a lot of work in to the landscaping. Hope the wife and kids are enjoying the place.

Since I have trouble with bending & get out-of-breath easily, my friend's fiance came over & helped me clean (although, she did most of the cleaning because she has tons of energy & moves a lot faster-- but she's also 20 years younger than me). Got the living room picked up quite a bit & made my mother happy. Still needs some more decluttering, putting stuff away, dusting, vacuuming, etc. She also got the kitchen cleared up quite a bit too-- needs the same things done-- need to find places to put everything as well as clean up the pantry to make room. We have a few rooms where cats are not allowed so the mice were playing-- one of my cats got in & went on a mouse catching spree. She got at least 7. My elderly dog is doing better & has started rushing in to the living room when the door opens. She just seems a lot happier now and she has a much easier time moving if we try to get her to move out of the way. Before she wouldn't even try to budge, but now she is much more cooperative.
 
To make a long story short, while riding with my bro in his truck, the sun roof started to fly off (screws had come out). He tried to tape it down with gorilla tape, but it didn't take. So, we made an hour-long trip to the Honda body shop (on my suggestion) with me holding the sun roof on from inside. When it first flew up and I went to grab, I made the mistake of grabbing the side, and the plastic trim on the underside came loose. So, I ended up having to hold on to the glass part from behind it. Made it to the Honda place & one of the people took pity on us-- particularly since my bro was supposed to have a traffic court appearance at 5pm (according to the ticket). He helped my brother pop the sun roof back in place & temporarily fixed it with a screw. Said not to operate it & sent us on our way with his business card. Nice guy.

Turns out there was no court house & my bro was confused about what the cop said about Oberlin (which isn't even in the same Parish). We went there 1st & were told we had to go back to McNary-- which does not have a court house. Got lost trying to find the place bc GPS for it was wrong, but google street view showed it was the tiny building with the "CLOSED" sign. Turns out it wasn't actually closed. The mayor was inside & handled everything. We had tried calling the phone # on the ticket multiple times but nobody ever answered. The mayor was nice. Knocked out the citation for inspection sticker bc my bro got a new one (old one had come off somehow) & reduced the speeding ticket to a moving violation.
 
Back
Top