Brief Morning Post

Today was my first morning wearing a jacket as I left the house. The Stanometer 2000 said it was 33 degrees at about 7AM. It was up to 40 when I got on the freeway and saw my first Time/Temp sign.

In any event, Autumn is here, both in spirit and actuality.

Eclipse Sunday

We had a very busy day starting with church, then a visit to Mom, then church business, then a memorial service for Dad's girlfriend, and finally the day was ours about 3:00.

I got to work in the bathroom trying to finish my electrical work. I had to hook up power to the switch to the mirror lights and to the fan. 

Everything went pretty well but I did have one problem.

What is wrong with this picture?

Once I figured out what was wrong with the picture, I had to re-organize everything. The wires for the timer come off the right side which made everything very confining. That box is packed full and not the neatest packing job.

Once I got everything in and re-packed, I had a problem with the main switch. There was no power. 

So again, I unscrewed everything, checked all the connections and re-packed the box and tightened everything up. To my amazement, it all worked!

Phew!

There was a Lunar Eclipse tonight. It was supposed to be all very historic and exciting. Unfortunately, my crummy little camera was not able to capture all the histrionics or excitamentation.

Frankly, I'm surprised it did as well as it did.

Here's one final shot with a bit of the yard.

Fan Installation

It took me a great deal of all day to install the fan. The tough part was cutting through the outside of the house for the exhaust port.

I started from the inside wall above the ceiling line by drilling a hole to the outside. That gave me a start to place the template for the exhaust door. 

The problem was the space from the outside wall to the inside wall was about 8 inches. It was tough to cut through because I didn't have a saw blade that was long enough to cut through the span.

I had to chip away at it little by little.

Installing the fan itself was easy. Attaching the hose to the exhaust port was easy.

The hole was a bitch!

This action picture shows the exhaust port actually working, showing the door slightly open as the air blows out.

Morning

It is the morning time of year when the morning sun is at just the right morning angle in the morning that it is right in my morning eyes during my morning drive to work in the morning. This shall continue morningly for the next couple of morning weeks until the morning sun rise (the best time for a sun rise) moves to an earlier morning time.

The Autumnal Equinox took place on Wednesday and you can definitely feel it in the air in the morning. We have also noticed the sudden and dramatic change in many of the trees around the park. Additionally, it gets dark by 6:00.

We are now preparing for the weekend. We are going to the Greek Festival tonight and taking Mark along because it's his birthday tomorrow.

I have to get the bathroom dry walled and I have a couple of things to finish up before that happens. My goal for tomorrow is to get the fan installed and complete the wiring for the mirror lights.

I also want a beer!

Boiler Game 2015 Conclusion

If  you guessed that I would turn into a giant puddle of Wimpy Girlie-Man Ice Pussy on Monday, September 21st at 6.38 PM, then you win this year's Boiler Challenge Game.

I fired everything up because I needed to feel confident that the heat was working and there were no leaks prior to actually needing the heat.

The good news is that it works great.

So now I have shut the thermostat down and am awaiting a truly chilly day that deserves a furnace. 

But technically, I've fired up the boiler so the game is over. This is undoubtedly the earliest I've started the boiler since the beginning of the game back in the early 50's.

Saturday Successes and a Failure or Two

A fabulous weather weekend has allowed us to be fruitful and accomplished.

Saturday started out with Susan sleeping in while I went to church to help out with a Maintenance Day.

The task I was assigned was to remove a small tree. It was growing too fast and it would eventually cause power line problems as well as encroachment issues in the parking lot. As I was heading out to the tree, Neil Huggins drove in and offered to help me. 

We dug at the roots to try and break it free and eventually succeeded.

That took about half an hour altogether.

My next task was to fix a slow filling toilet.

Our church has toilets that I covet. If they ever decide to get rid of these, I want them. All toilets today have these piddly little tanks that fill to 1.6 gallons. It's supposed to save water, but not when you have to flush them three times.

The church toilets were made in the days when nobody cared about how much water went down the drain. I don't know the capacity but I know it only takes one flush.

So this one toilet takes forever to refill. We figured the hose may be plugged with calcium and needed to be cleared.

So I turned the valve to the off position and I flushed the toilet to drain the tank.

I started removing the hose and was surprised that it still held a lot of water. Well, it is a huge tank. Water was leaking out and creating a small puddle on the floor.

Just as I was coming to the conclusion that I might have a problem here, the hose blew off the connection and I was suddenly deluged with a torrent of water. It was hitting me in the face, covering the floor. I felt my knees becoming damp. 

I thought, "Shit! I turned the valve the wrong way!" So of course I struggled with getting the valve to even move for me and when I finally turned it to the other position, the tsunami continued.

I am alone in the basement and there is no drain in this bathroom. (That turned out to be untrue because there is a floor length urinal in the opposite corner)

Nonetheless, I cannot just abandon the space. So as I continue to get submerged, I struggle to get this hose screwed back onto the valve that is exploding water at full force.

This how I know that God is with me. I managed to get the hose back in place and screwed down tight.

My next task is to find a mop and bucket. That was easy compared to the ordeal so far.

I can tell you that the bathroom floor is now the cleanest place in the building.

With that task unaccomplished, we called it a day and I went home.

Susan managed to get out of bed at some point and was painting on the front porch when I drove up. Shortly after getting home, Shaun showed up to finish covering the heated floor wires in the bathroom. That went very smoothly and we finished in about an hour.

I did a couple of other little chores while Susan finished up the porch and then we enjoyed a cold frosty beverage on the front porch and watched the paint dry.

I enjoyed a glass of wine because I am not drinking beer at the moment. I'm trying to see if it is the source of my gout. More on that on my Personal Health Blog, www.porkymccorpulent.blogspot.com

Around 4:00, we went to the fair. It was our second trip to the fair this year. We went because a friend gave us a pair of unused tickets to get in.

It took us about 30 minutes to travel the last two miles to the fair. The weather was perfect for the fair and everyone decided to go with us.

I remembered my camera this time so I was able to get pictures of our wine. 

We went to a magic show that we really enjoyed and we went to a Hypnotist show that was kind of fun too.

Then we had some delicious fair food for dinner and hit the road.

Boiler Game - 2015

I'm getting a head start on the Boiler Game this year. I filled the radiator system tonight. I had been concerned because of a small leak on a return water line that goes to our main drain. 

I used some Plumbers Putty to plug the leak and then filled the system.

So far, so good. The leak appears to be sealed and the heat is ready to be turned on. I don't think we are going to make it out of September this year. After a very nice weekend with Summer-like temperatures, it has turned pretty chilly. 

And of course, Autumn is approaching and the days are getting shorter. I have to get out and adjust the timing on my lights in the front yard.

I haven't fired up the gas yet, but I can at a moments notice.

In the meantime, I'm going to hunker down in a sweater and wait for Susan to complain.

Blue Ribbon Sheet Shopping

With all of Susan's jobs and everything we have going this week, we only had a couple of opportunities to go to the fair. Tonight was one of them and we seized upon it.

So I met Susan after work at her office and we trundled over to the fairgrounds. It was a chilly night and Susan wasn't quite properly dressed. We tried to stay in buildings as much as we could.

We have a specific set of criteria on our fair agenda and it must be checked off just so.

The first thing was a quick trip through the varied industries portion of the fair. This is the section with all the vendors hocking their wares. We made it through without buying anything or even wanting to buy anything.

Next, I got my Elephant Ear and Susan got her much coveted, much desired, much cherished Corndog. She had been gravely disappointed by the Corndog she got at the Iowa Fair. Then we went back to the second portion of the varied industries and bought some sheets.

The next agenda item was to see how we did in the wine competition.

At this point we must accept the ruling of the judges and offer our congratulations to Ellen Miller who got a Reserved Grand Champion for her Red Moon Wine.

She also got a Blue Ribbon for her label which we feel was not deserved, even though we must accept the ruling of the judges.

Our Petite Verdot got a third Place Ribbon and our faded Cabernet which we called "Pink Cab" got a Blue Ribbon.

I also got a Reserve Grand Champ for the "Pink Cab" label which really surprised me. I thought Susan's label for the Verdot was much better, but only garnered a Blue Ribbon.

I forgot to bring my camera so I have no pictures.

A Harbinger

I woke up this morning to another less than stellar day. That is, if your measure of value is a bright sunny end of summer day.

The main thing on the agenda for today is to attend the Spokane Symphony Labor Day Concert at Comstock Park. However, if the weather is going to be sketchy, I'm leaning toward bagging it and staying home.

That is not a very likely scenario because we haven't missed a Labrador Concert in...like...forever.

In any event, I prefer to look at the weather of this Holiday Weekend as a foreboding harbinger of the wicked winter to come. It's not like I'm having a premonition or psychic flash. I just prefer to think this way.

The coming months will bare out the flashiness of my mystical psychicness.

Later that day: The weather came around to favor us and we went to the Labor Concert. It is a tradition for Susan and I, one that nobody else who regularly attends with us, decided to keep this year. 

Everyone we invited to join us canceled on us today. I went up to the park at 3 to stake out some real estate and it turned out to be much much more than we needed.

As always it was a great event to be a part of...even if it was only Susan and I...and 3,000 other people. They breezed through their program and even deleted a couple of songs because of the chill. It's not good for some of the instruments. 

They usually do the same concert in Liberty Lake on Saturday but the weather was so bad they moved it to Sunday, and then canceled at the last moment on Sunday because of the cold conditions.

Now we are back at home at a decent hour and can wind down our Holiday weekend in front of the TV.

Labrador Sunday

It is the Labrador Weekend which means that after a summer of looooooong stretches of stifling heat, it will rain. It is Day Two of the weekend and Day Two of the Rain.

No biggy to me because I'm working in of doors. I hooked up the thermostat for the heated floor and it in itself is quite cool. I have powered it up and it appears to be working. It has a full color touch pad display. It is programmable, which is something I wanted and it appears to be easy to use.

I have it set to heat up right now and I'm waiting to see if it is going to work. That is complicated by the fact that Phil is here working on the ceiling prior to placement of dry wall. The big panel is off the former doorway so the chilly air has free range.

That being said, I can confirm that the heated floor is working. In less than fifteen minutes, it brought the floor temperature up from 64 to 67 degrees.

So, since that is working, I need to move on and find something else to do. Perhaps I can offer my assistance to Susan who is painting the front porch.

I just removed the air conditioner in the kitchen. Now I need to stow it away. Then I will find another project.

The project I found next was helping Susan on the front porch. She painted the whole ceiling and has been working on a few little areas. She has wanted for some time to paint access stripes on the pillars. Today we did! We painted the rings at the top and bottom of the pillars. They are a nice burgundy, as you can see in the pictures.

We are heading up to visit Mom, who is still suffering chronic back pain. It's pretty frustrating to not be able to do anything to help her feel better.

After Mom, we are having dinner at Webster's. They have all their menu items priced at $6 on Sundays. Plus, they have $2.00 PBR's, so it's very classy.

Back from InterWeb Oblivion

I'm back! Did you miss me? Did you even know I was gone?

My modem crashed on me. I had a couple of connection problems on Thursday night and when I got home from work yesterday, it was dead. I tried resetting it several times to no avail.

So then I went on a search to solve the problem but I am locked in old guy technology that hinders my ability to make smart shopping decisions.

Century Link is my InterWeb Service Provider (ISP). I called them, waited on hold for ten minutes, only to be told that it looks like my modem is dead. They then confirm the modem was not a leased modem and I owned it. They told me to go to Best Buy and get a modem that is ADSL2+ compatible.

So I drove out to Best Buy last night because that's where the person at CenturyLink told me to go...and of course, they didn't have any.

The moddem issue would have to wait until today because we were heading down to "Pigout in the Park", Spokane's annual Festival of Gluttony. We went down last night because I wanted to see Junior Brown.

Susan and I each had our traditional Pigout meals and then we went to the Clocktower Stage to catch Junior at 9.

Junior was great as expected and played for almost an hour and a half. If you are not familiar with Junior Brown, do something about that. The man can strum a gitbox.

So now it is today and I managed to get out of bed by eight. I got dressed, got some coffee and breakfast and headed out to get a modem.

My mind that has a 1980's operating system. I decided to try Radio Shack and if not them, perhaps the Home Depot would have a selection of modems. 

I was wrong. Home Depot has a few modem but none with parameters that matched my needs. 

As far as Radio Shack goes, I can't seem to find any. They may be all gone. They have four locations listed in the most current phone book, (more old technology) but I can tell you at least two of those locations are empty storefronts.

Then I recalled that one of those big box office supply places like Staples or Office Office Office might have a modem.

Staples turned out to be the helpful place. Staples is six blocks from the house. So sixty dollars later and after a little work on the phone with Sonjay at NetGear, I'm back on the grid.

The really big event of the day was the installation of a heated floor grid.

Here are the pictures.

The house smells like someone is getting a perm. I hope that doesn't last! We are not finished. We still have to lay down another bag or two of self leveling compound to get a final depth and a level floor.

Phil is coming in tomorrow to start dry walling.

Heated Floor Day

I can't believe I have been talking about temperatures in the hundreds only a couple of weeks ago and now I am turning on my heat in the car in the morning.

Well, I shouldn't be surprised. It is September, afterall.

Today is the day that the heated floor gets installed. I'm taking the afternoon off because I want to be there and be a part of this installation. I would like to install a heated floor in my closet at some point and I want to know how it is done.

So I'm leaving work at noon and planning to meet Shaun at 1. Once the fun begins, I'll report on it here.

10:25AM: I just the call from Shaun to cancel for today. He is having some back issues (back pain) which has slowed him waaaay down and has to finish some other project that he is now behind on.

I'm still taking the afternoon off. I have plenty of things I can do.

7:35PM: Well, I think I had a successful afternoon off from work. I did a little cleaning in the Carriage House...not much, but enough to create some work space.

Then I mowed the lawn.

Then I did some work on the upstairs bathroom. The faucet on the bathroom sink has been a problem. I got underneath and discovered the hoses were pretty badly kinked. I had to clean out everything in the cabinet and pose in many uncomfortable positions but I got it done.

That felt like a major victory.

I then proceeded to play the piano for a while. 

Then I did some vacuuming upstairs.

I also began the process of filling the radiators with water. I had a fear that I had a small leak and it turned out to be true. 

The leak is very small and not in any of the radiators. The leak is in a connection to the main drain line from the water fill line. It appears to have some corrosion and a small rusty pin prick of a hole has developed.

I shall consult some of my construction experts to see how I should proceed.