Last Day of the Year

It is 34 degrees outside but it feels much colder. I have undoubtedly said this before in this blog but it bears repeating. As I get older, winter gets colder.

We have nothing major planned for the day. The Seahawks play in an hour or so and we will probably go over to the Hub to watch the game. (The Seahawks LOST!!!)

I have an ongoing battle with the new garage door. Not the door so much as the motor that opens and closes the door. It started on Friday when I got home from work about noon.

It had been snowing all morning so the driveway and walks needed attention.At the end of my work I had an issue with the door closing properly. It was open and when I hit the button to close it, it went down about a foot and then stopped and went back up. I pressed the button a couple of more times with the same results. On the third try, it went down properly.

Later in the day, Susan and I were returning from the Hub. She pressed the button. The door went up about two feet and then down a foot and stopped. I kept trying the button and again, continued getting the same result. 

The problem was that I could not get under the small gap. Finally after several tries, it went up another two feet and down one. That provided enough of a space to slide under and get inside the garage. Once there, I was able to disconnect the door from the carriage and open and close it by hand.

Last night Susan had to work a Hockey game, Before she left, I showed her what to do to open and close the door by hand. It goes up and down quite easily but it did require some sort of rope to grab in order to close it.

After Susan left for work, I cut a short strand of rope and went about the task of attaching it to the door. Once that was accomplished, I decided to try the opener one more time. I don't really know what possessed me to try it. However, when I pressed the button, the carriage traveled the whole length of the span and stopped in the door up position. Again I pressed the button and the clasp covered the span to the door closed position and stopped. I kept this up a few more times until I was satisfied it was working and then reattached the door.

For now, it seems to be working. 

One thing that may be causing the malfunction is that there is a small hole in the garage roof directly above the motor unit. I noticed that it get rained on. That may be causing the problem. So I need to get up there and patch it. I'm going to try and do a temporary patch from the inside.

As for now, it is time for the Seahawks. (The Seahawks LOST!!!)

I forgot to mention anything about the fun I had yesterday with the sidewalks and driveway. 

After I finished snow blowing on Friday, it continued to snow for a couple of inches and then the snow turned to rain. I was hoping it would rain enough to wash away the excess snow. It didn't. It only made for a thick crust of snow and ice on all the walks.

So I spent a good hour with my shovel scraping up the ice. I had great success on the sidewalks and not such good luck with the driveway. Nonetheless, I'm happy with the results because my sidewalks are passable.