TV and Other Stuff Update

A couple of weeks ago I discussed the travails we were going through with our Dish TV Satellite and switching our local channels over to an Over the Air (O.T.A.) antennae.

Earlier this week, I called and canceled the O.T.A. service. We were unable to reliably receive channel 4, our ABC affiliate. We were not willing to save $10 a month but not have one of the major networks.

We I called they told me I did not have to return the antennae and so we continue to get the extra channels the O.T.A. antennae provides. And we continue to not get the ABC network via O.T.A. 

We do get it from the Dish. So, we're cool!

I was very cool yesterday because I was skiing. I drove up to Lookout Pass and met my friend Geoff Fanning up there, who has season passes that are transferable. So except for the cost of gas ($26.00) and beer ($11.00), I skied for free. 

But it was not free. When I got home it was time to pay the price in the form of body aches. I was soooooo sore last night. I dragged around the house for a while and then took a long bath, followed by passing out upstairs.

However, I am pleased with how I feel today. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ache free, but I can move around pretty well and I think I'm recovering nicely.

A good first day on the hill!

Handy Man Failure Update

I am happy to report that all seems to be well with the hot tub.

I went out tonight and it was up to temperature. I ran the pump and they spewed a little water and then stopped. They ran smoothly the whole time I was adding fresh chemicals and did not appear to have any small leaks.

I seem to have dodged a bullet but I think the bullet might still be out there looking for me.

Handy Man Failure Story of the Day

I went out today to add chemicals to the hot tub. We haven't been using it at all and it had been some time since I treated it. Like a couple of weeks.

I opened the lid and the water was cold. 

Uh Oh!

I messed with all the breakers and couldn't restore power. Finally, I found a tiny little reset button hidden out of the way inside the access panel and got the heat turned back on. I have no idea how long it had been off and we have had some cold nights. I turned on the jets and water spewed out of the both pumps. 

Uh Oh!

I decided to leave the chemistry issue alone and see if the thing will heat up again.

I'll get back to you.

Handy Man Success Story of the Day

Last weekend I noticed that the agitator in the washing machine was not agitating too much. Upon further investigation, I discovered that the agitator was not agitating because it might be broken.

Susan and I went out today to see what a new (to us) washer might cost. We were hoping to keep it in the region of $200.00. 

We drove up to Fred's Ding and Dent Center and found we could acquire an okay washer for around $350.00. 

Then we drove to our old reliable "Go To" appliance warehouse, the Appliance Warehouse. While looking at their selection (lowest price $239.00) I got to talking with the guy there and in the course of our conversation, discovered that the agitator could be repaired.

After a detour to pick up the lawn mower from a servicing, we returned home and I set to work to figure out how to remove the agitator. Prior to doing it, I thought I had better run a load of laundry since I did not know how long the washer would be down.

Once my load of laundry was done, I pretty quickly figured out the agitator. I jumped in the car and returned to the Warehouse. The guy was prepared for me and had checked to make sure he had the right part.

They took the agitator to the back and returned in five minutes. For that, I happily paid them $50.00 and went home victorious.

To make sure, I grabbed the sheets off the bed and threw them in for a wash. 

Suffice it to say that I am pretty pleased with me today!

Good Bye Snowbird

Back in November, I took a bunch of pictures like the one above.

It was time to sell Susan's old car. She has owned it since 1990. She was the second owner. She named it Snowbird,

Last week we put it on Craigslist and listed it for $1,800.00.

Today, we met a guy named Ryan at the STCU Credit Union by Northtown and signed ol' Snowbird over to him. We got the full price.

We had a number of people call about it, a couple came to see it, but Ryan was the guy that finally said yes.

Susan is a little sad to see her companion of nearly thirty years go away. I told her never to love something that can't love you back, but I understand the sentimentality of it all.

Now I have to get on Craigslist and cancel the ad.

Dish Success

It did not happen immediately and it was not a smooth transition but I am happy to say that the Dish guy showed up and we have Over The Air (OTA) channels.

The Technician got it all plugged in and it seemed to be receiving channels but it wasn't showing any of those channels to us. He said it probably needed to upgrade the internal software, which it would do overnight.

He gave me his cell phone number in case things did not go smoothly and he said he would return the next day if the update didn't work.

A couple of hours after he left, I was suddenly getting the over the air channels, but no programming information. A while after that revelation, the programming info started working. 

It seems like everything is hunky dory and I've had no reason to call Connor, the Dish tech guy.

I must say that I am pleased with the clarity of the picture. I didn't know what to expect but I am happy with things so far.

Still Waiting for Dish

Dish TV rescheduled our appointment for today but I just got a call that they are not coming. Even though I received e-mails today confirming the appointment, they say they did not schedule it. I think they forgot to tell the technician.

Anyway, we are on for tomorrow after I get home. Shall we hold our breath?

My big accomplishment of the day was making this wall

look like this.

I'm very pleased with the result.

I gave Susan the curtain rod for Christmas. This is something we've been trying to get done for a year. I finally found a rod design that I liked. Thank you Martha Stewart for personally designing and carving our rod.

The squares of the quilt were made by Susan's mom and they were put together by my mom. So I am calling it the Moms-In-Law Wall Hanging Quilt.

We got a call today on Susan's car. Did I mention here that we put her old Honda on Craigslist? We've had three people interested but so far, no takers. If this guy shows up, we are much more open to negotiation. I probably shouldn't say that until we sell it.

Waiting for Dish

We had our traditional Saturday morning sleep in. I got up at 8 and Susan slept until after 9. Once she got up and completed her morning exercise on the rebounder, it was time for cheese eggs. 
Yum!

One forecast calls for snow, another for early showers and then clouds while outside in the actual weather, the sun is shining and everything continues to be sloppy. 

I'm going to go out and see how much of the sewer drain I can uncover.

In the meantime, we are waiting for the Dish TV guy to call and nail down a 70 minute window for his arrival. I was initially told it would be between noon and 5 today. They said he would call day of to make a more specific time of arrival. 

We are making a couple of programming changes to our account which requires a tech.

And so, here at 11:19AM, we wait.

12:14PM: Still waiting.

12:28PM: I just got an e-mail that said the tech would arrive between 4:30 and 5:15.

So I now have time to run some errands.

It is now the end of the day. The satellite guy was here but nothing was resolved.

He arrived about 5 and tried to install an "Over The Air" digital antennae so we could receive local channels. 

I am learning that Dish TV is kind of running a scam. They are offering this digital antennae with free installation and $10 off our bill. What they are not saying is that the local Satellite operators that provide the local programming are trying to raise the price Dish TV pays them. Dish appears to be unmovable in the position to not pay more. Therefore, the local providers are set to pull the plug this coming Friday. 

So had I not decided to take them up on their offer, we would be losing local channels this Friday. I think there will be a lot of upset Dish TV customers next Saturday.

Twenty-Four Hours Later

I have the night to myself and I am trying to make the most of it. That means there has to be some work and some play. I have some drawing to do that actually pays me and I want to get everything together to hang Susan's Quilt. (More on that when it happens)

Yesterday at this time, it was thick with winter outside. Just 24 hours later and it has turned to slop. It is one of the unusual times when I timed things just right. It snowed. I blowed. It turned to rain.

Everywhere I removed snow is bare this evening. That means I am ready for the snowfall, which I'm hoping is tomorrow.

The neighborhood is looking pretty peaceful tonight. It's a night like this that makes me happy I live here. It's a perfect night to drink a beer, make a fire, putter around the house and then fall asleep in front of the TV.

Before I do that, I have a couple jobs to do.

Later: I got everything together to hang Susan's Quilt tomorrow. I got her the hardware for Christmas and tomorrow is the day to get it up.

I also did a little work on a series of architectural renderings I'm doing for a local guy who is writing a book on construction techniques.

I spent the rest of the night sitting next to the fire with a glass of wine in a darkened living room listening to random music from my i-pod. It was delightful. 

I was sitting there with only the fire lighting the room and thinking about how lucky we are to be living here. 

Winter Returns

After days of copious amounts of rain, the snow has returned. It was falling when I got up at 5:30 and was still snowing when I left for work.

Out at Liberty Lake, the snow was more rain this morning and it's warming up. Still, it snow/rained all day.

When I got home, it was snowing and had been all day. I had a good solid four inches on the ground, which needed to be dealt with before the forecasted rain commenced.

So I broke out the old reliable snow blower and went to work clearing my S.R.A. (Snow Removal Area) It took me about an hour and it was a tough slog. I was really worn out when I finished. Heavy snow is not the friend of the snow blower. Or the snow blower operator for that matter.

Friday is supposed to be calm and then, more snain on Saturday.

MantleVille is Closed

It is official now. MantleVille has closed!

That was Susan's big accomplishment of the day. 

I finished stacking wood and did some work on the sloppy sidewalks and driveway.

Here's a shot of how things look today.

This picture makes it look pretty and peaceful. It doesn't really show all the standing water and sloppy streets. Take a look at the next picture for an inkling of that. 

I'm fairly pleased that I made a little headway with the sewer drain on my corner. Since it is on my corner, I am personally responsible for it. It was iced over and needed to be cleared.

I managed to be mostly somewhat successful with that. I'll have to pick at it over the next several days to expand it.

I also did some poor mans plowing by driving my car down the curb line in front of the house to knock down the berm that has built up. I was expecting to possibly get stuck in the deep snow but it is so wet that the car blew right through the snow. 

Hopefully I'll get all cleaned up in time for the next snowfall.

Winter Mower Maintenance and Stuff

It has turned quite sloppy out in the world. The temperature is above 32 and all the snow is slowly melting away, leaving puddles everywhere. It's quite a mess. However, the driveway is clearing and that's a good thing.

I ran a bunch of errands today including taking my mower in for a service. When I bought it two years ago, I got coupons for free service, providing I bring it for service in January or February. When selling me the mower, the guy sold this as a great extra benefit. 

When I dropped it off today, the guy behind the counter wasn't quite selling it with the same zeal. He said it's a "production line maintenance" procedure where they sharpen the blade and check the oil.

I explained that the mower was difficult to start. It took several pulls on the cord to get it going. Having that problem resolved was not included in the coupon deal. To be fair, I did not expect it to be. 

In the end, it looks like it's going to cost me $30.00.

My other big accomplishment of the day was getting some firewood re-stacked. I have already gone through most of the wood I split back in October and stacked by the back door. 

I had more wood that I ended up piling at the back of the house and throwing a tarp over it. That's the wood I added to my orderly stack at the back door. I got almost the whole pile. I will finish it tomorrow.

I also got most of the Christmas Decorations moved up to the upstairs of the Carriage House.

Post Number Two

As one would undoubtedly recall from the last post, My New Years Resolution is to break my record of 154 posts in one year. I shall do this by posting repeatedly with banal useless information. 

Perhaps I should edit my resolution to break the record but do it with information of substance. 

Consider it edited!

I just had a cup of coffee and then I walked around the house.

More substance than that? This is going to be difficult.

It seems that coffee makes me dizzy so I have given it up. I'll have to try decafe and see if that that is better. 

We are in the process of closing down the Christmas Season and packing all the finery away for the year. While it is a slightly melancholy endeavor, it leads to the coming Season of January Rebirthal. It's my own made up season where one goes around in a fog and tries to return back to normal life.

I'm taking down lights on the outside while Susan is packing up everything in the house. Here's one last picture of Mantleville before it goes into storage.

Whilst I was taking of the photograph, I was informed that the Mantleville will remain for another week. I am told it is the first thing up and the last thing to come down.

Here Comes Twenty-Eighteen

I only had 84 posts to this blog last year. So my New Years Resolution is to beat that number. In fact, I want to beat my all time posting record of 154 set in 2010. Only 153 to go.

We slept in until almost 9 this morning. We had a nice night out where we watched the Seahawks in the afternoon (The Seahawks LOST!), went to a nice heart warming movie called "Wonder" at 6:45, hung out with the Karaoke kids at Das Steinhaus until 11 and then made it safely and undrunkunly home in time to see and hear all the fireworks go off around the city.

Today is the day we begin the process of putting Christmas away. As I was lighting the fire this morning and turning on the tree, it occurred to me that I haven't posted any pictures of the tree. After spending 60 bucks on it, I better have something to remember it by.

Also, I made this short video for all to enjoy.

Okay, now let's pack it all up and get on with the year.

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.

New Years Weekend

We are enjoying the final weekend of the year. Susan is just getting up from some powerful sleeping in and I've been up for a little longer.

One of my projects for today is to figure out how much trouble I'm in with regard to my Snow Removal Area (S.R.A.). It snowed a goodly amount yesterday, at least four inches and then it all turned to rain. I was able to get out there and blow the S.R.A. but then a couple of inches fell before the rain came. 

Now it's really sloppy out there. I can't tell how sloppy because I haven't actually gone out and examined it. It's still early so get off me.

I haven't had the opportunity to report on Christmas. We had a good one. What more do you need to know?!

Christmas Eve: We were up early for church and then to get ready for the next day. Our church partnered with Southside Christian Church to prepare and deliver "Meals on Wheels" on Christmas Day.

Saturday was a prep day with the cooking of ham, the peeling of potatoes and carrots, the cutting of cakes and the mixing of fruit salad.

We were out of there about 4:00 and immediately headed home for more prep for the evening. After a brief stop at the Hub. We were hosting the family for the Christmas Eve dinner.

We had Mom and my sister Stacey. Stacey's sons, Ferris and Torin joined us from California. Then all my DuPree nieces and nephews showed up as well...along with a couple of boy and girl friends. Finally, we invited Kelvin and Crystal Jones, our new Interim Pastor and his wife.

The food was a sort of buffet affair and there was plenty of it. I was a particular fan of the beef brisket. Then we sat around the piano and sang Christmas Carols and a few other popular songs.

Christmas Morning: Again we were up early, this time 6:00AM. Today was for final prep and then packaging the meals to be delivered. And then of course, the delivery.

Susan and I had a route with 5 deliveries on it. It went really well and fast but there was one meal we could not deliver. We could not get in to the apartment building and the intercom system was beyond our comprehension to figure out.

When we returned to the church building, most of the clean up was complete and we just had to wait around for everything to be buttoned up and then lock the building.

Again, we were home at by 2:00 and we opened some presents. 

We had to be at Mom's at 5 for Christmas Dinner featuring Prime Rib. I wasn't going to be missing that meal. And it was wonderful.

We didn't get to our final round of present opening until Tuesday night. Susan and I agreed to spend our money on a Grape crusher so we did not spend a lot on each other. But we did have a couple of gifts plus stocking stuffers.

All in all, a great Holiday! And then back to reality.

Mo' Sno

Some time during the night, we got a light snow fall, maybe half an inch. It's enough to cover my car and perhaps enough to make me break out the snowblower. I never need much of a reason to break out the snowblower.

But first...Church!

11:37 AM: My Christmas Tree hunt yesterday took longer than I thought. I started out at the General Store but did not care for their selection.

I decided to drive north on Division street and surely I would come upon a humble Christmas Tree lot that held the perfect tree. I had to go all the way to Nevada...and Francis to find my first lot.

It's a place I have gone to before so I thought I would give them a shot. They had a very nice tall busy douglas fir for $59.99. I took it!

I put it in the Carriage House so the snow would melt off of it. I'm just about to go pull it out and bring it inside.

But first, I have to attach an extension cord to my roof. I have an area of snow melt cord to prevent a giant icicle from forming up there. It an easy thing to do but the set up is time consuming. Especially since I have to go upstairs and get the ladder.

Later: I never got the wire attached. It is something I will need to do but as of today...no go.


Editors Note: This is being written a good month after this post. I was just reviewing a few posts and noticed the paragraph four up from here where, for some reason, I described the tree as tall and busy. I bet I meant bushy. I could have edited it and you would never know but I like the idea of a busy tree.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like...

I got home last night and broke out the snow shovel since my snowblower was still at the shop getting tuned. There was a good solid four inches of snow and the main thing I learned is that I really miss my snowblower.

Had I bothered to check the messages on my phone, I would have heard the message from Wednesday that my snowblower was ready. Once I heard the message, I piled into the car and went to retrieve it.

It cost $92.00. That's a tune up, new shoes and a new cutting bar. I brought it home and immediately went to work on everything I didn't get to with the shovel.

Man, it is great to have the snowblower back and ready for action.

And here is how we look today. Quite Festive!

My next job is to go out and hunt down a Christmas Tree. I know, Christmas is a week away and we don't have a tree yet. Well, we've been busy.

There have been lots of reports about a tree shortage this year. I'm thinking that going to be more of an issue in a big city, not here in the Evergreen State. I just don't want to spend more than 50 bucks. That may be a pipe dream. 

In any event, I won't know that until I get out there and get on the hunt.

Snow Fall

We got our second snowfall of the season today.

I measured four inches on the deck.

It was a typical nightmare out there on the roads today since people who live here have totally forgotten any driving skills from last winter. My motto; leave plenty of space between me and the maniac in front of me.

Our previous snowfall was back in the start of November. It stayed on the ground only a few days.

The bad news for me is that I took the snowblower in for a tune up last week and it's not ready yet. I have to go out and shovel. Just as soon as I finish my beer. I'm really savoring it!

2017 Carriage Ride

We have been busy decorating sky walks downtown. I am happy to say we are done being busy. We have completed painting ten sky walks, one office front, one coffee shop and the Hub Tavern.

It is good to be done!

Last night was the annual Corbin Park Carriage Ride. We had a much smaller turnout than we have had in past years. That was kind of nice because we didn't have to wait out there in the cold for 40 minutes. On the other hand, we paid $450 for this guy to come up and drive his horses around the park for two hours.

So we got through that with no problems. We are ambling along life's highway proceeding to the next hurdle, which may be Christmas itself.

We still have to get a tree, put together a Christmas Card, and organize a Meals on Wheels event for Christmas Day. I should say that Susan is doing the organizing, in conjunction with another gal from another church who we partnered with.