A job well done! Very satisfying.
What did you do today?
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Fires are west of me, but the 80 mph winds got me bad. I've spent 9 hours cleaning up damage. Ripped the door hinge on my truck. Ripped up my car cover, bent my garage door. Bunch of crap
Blueskyhigh, the tower is only 50ft high, but the dish is mounted on the side. I got an L pole with a mounting thing that was designed for a bigger pipe or something thicker to attach to so the whole mount can turn a bit. Need to figure out how to secure it. Friend initially stuffed some wood wrapped in duck tape to pad it out but the wood rotted. Need something metal that won't rust I think. Too high up to mess with welding. We do have some metal pipes lying around that I might be able to pull up though, need to find something short enough that can be tethered on.
The app says the dish needs to be adjusted by 12 degrees.
Havasu, that really sucks. I'm glad you're OK but wind damage can be terrible.
Slept in til about 2pm. Read the news about Bacpacker passing on homestead forums. Cried while reading through posts. Got up and started cleaning again in the living room.
I still need to tackle the east side of the room, but it is mostly cardboard boxes and stuff. Need to get things organized and find places for things. But the bottle mountain is gone. The bottles got up higher than Mom's desk in some spots. Once I got all the bottles from around the old TV sitting on the floor I pulled out trash and bottles from under furniture. Was having trouble getting stuff to move with the broom (old catalogs and junk) so I ended up moving stuff with my feet.
I need to be able to get a higher angle so the floor is visible but got some before and after pics. In my defense, my brother had promised to clean this up as I'm responsible for other tasks. But of course, he doesn't keep promises. He did haul the trash bags out for me though.
It is full of clutter and I eventually need to go through all this stuff and get rid of things we don't need. I kept some of the larger empty bottles as storage containers. I put chicken bones in some of the gatorade bottles (which are not visible here). This pic was before I finished cleaning up on the left side of the room.
There's an old flatscreen TV on the floor that needs to be moved out but I can't lift it on my own. Arms would not cooperate. This was behind it:
White thing under French desk are some dog stairs Mom got for Fippy that he hated and wouldn't use.
That carpet needs major cleanup.
I need to find a working vacuum and should try working on that tomorrow (if I can find the vacuum).
Brother made a bonfire with some of the trash bags he hauled out. The pile was over his head.
I was surprised he cooperated. Also, when Mom thanked me for cleaning she hadn't realized I'd gotten rid of so much of the bottle pile. She did a doubletake and kept thanking me and told me I did a good job. This is a woman who doesn't give thanks or appreciation often. Normally says something is just "ok" and finds fault. but she's happy and has been putting her trash in bags I gave her to use. Mint scented ones to repel mice.
The app says the dish needs to be adjusted by 12 degrees.
Havasu, that really sucks. I'm glad you're OK but wind damage can be terrible.
Slept in til about 2pm. Read the news about Bacpacker passing on homestead forums. Cried while reading through posts. Got up and started cleaning again in the living room.
I still need to tackle the east side of the room, but it is mostly cardboard boxes and stuff. Need to get things organized and find places for things. But the bottle mountain is gone. The bottles got up higher than Mom's desk in some spots. Once I got all the bottles from around the old TV sitting on the floor I pulled out trash and bottles from under furniture. Was having trouble getting stuff to move with the broom (old catalogs and junk) so I ended up moving stuff with my feet.
I need to be able to get a higher angle so the floor is visible but got some before and after pics. In my defense, my brother had promised to clean this up as I'm responsible for other tasks. But of course, he doesn't keep promises. He did haul the trash bags out for me though.
It is full of clutter and I eventually need to go through all this stuff and get rid of things we don't need. I kept some of the larger empty bottles as storage containers. I put chicken bones in some of the gatorade bottles (which are not visible here). This pic was before I finished cleaning up on the left side of the room.
There's an old flatscreen TV on the floor that needs to be moved out but I can't lift it on my own. Arms would not cooperate. This was behind it:
White thing under French desk are some dog stairs Mom got for Fippy that he hated and wouldn't use.
That carpet needs major cleanup.
I need to find a working vacuum and should try working on that tomorrow (if I can find the vacuum).
Brother made a bonfire with some of the trash bags he hauled out. The pile was over his head.
I was surprised he cooperated. Also, when Mom thanked me for cleaning she hadn't realized I'd gotten rid of so much of the bottle pile. She did a doubletake and kept thanking me and told me I did a good job. This is a woman who doesn't give thanks or appreciation often. Normally says something is just "ok" and finds fault. but she's happy and has been putting her trash in bags I gave her to use. Mint scented ones to repel mice.
Glad you have been spared........... relatively speaking. I had no idea the Santa Ana winds were that damaging! Simply devastating!
Yeah, they are fairly heavy. Dad built those shelves nice and sturdy to hold Mom's clutter. She has over 150 elephant thingies. Started with the elephant I made in ceramics class. I'll have to get a better picture of it at some point. There are a few of my ceramics projects on the shelves. Mom also likes blue and white porcelain and cloisonné. A lot of those things are from Singapore.
The French Desk is an antique she's had for at least 40yrs.
Was it here that people were talking about earbuds earlier? I found a pair in their box while cleaning. I can't use earbuds though. They won't stay in. Especially in my left ear. No matter how small the adapter thingy they just pop right out. I don't like having them in anyway.
I like headphones that go around my ears instead of smooshing them. I'd really love to get the bone induction type (I've seen they make computer glasses with bone induction sound). Not noise canceling but sound can be great. I tested some out at BestBuy.
Friend got notice today that 2nd inspection passed and everything is good to move forward on the house. He's going to try to close today and we can start moving stuff over. They've already been packing. He will miss having a washing machine & dryer and the fiber internet. Not sure how they will deal with stuff on that front as there's no internet at the new house yet. They are leaving their washer and dryer behind for a few reasons. One is they keep breaking down/having problems. Another is friend's Mom just barges in as she pleases to constantly do laundry there. The wife only wants a washing machine and no dryer. Partially to discourage the MIL from demanding to do her laundry there but also bc she has a phobia about fires started by dryers. I think she'll find that it takes way too long to hang dry stuff so might eventually cave but not tell the MIL about the dryer being there.
Friend will have to shut off his utilities to the current house asap bc his mother already runs them up when she comes over. Not sure how he'll deal with her threatening to not babysit the 4-yr-old though. The only reason the house he's in now wasn't seized by the city for not paying property taxes is bc we helped friend pay them all these years. His mother never contributed a dime to the place but she collected rent on it for years. He's going to see if it can be rented out and he might throw a little $ her way but deed is still in her name since she reneged on the deal to sign it over to him if he fixed it up well over 5 years ago.
One thing he's really looking forward to is that his grandfather doesn't know where he's moving and won't be driving by to lay on the horn at him. Last time I was over the old man rolled up and honked the horn twice. Waited like 30 seconds and then just held the horn down for another 20 seconds. There's a church right next door to my friend and they were having mass (or whatever Baptists call it) and they were not happy with the old man. Old man laid on the horn a 3rd time for even longer so friend went out and screamed at him and slammed the door so hard the whole wall moved. He's told the old man that if he honks more than once he won't come talk to him and first thing he did was honk more than once. Told him "If I don't come out with the first honk it means I'm busy". His harassment is so bad that the daughter asked my friend to stop putting minutes on her phone bc the grandfather constantly called her at all hours of the night and would yell at her wanting her to wake her dad up, wanting her to come out to meet him, or swearing at her for not being around when he wanted or not wanting to go anywhere with him. He doesn't have friend's phone number bc he would call our friend 100+ times per day. He showed me the call log mid-afternoon one day and already over 100 calls. Said that was regular from the old man.
I think I've vented about that before. LOL.
Trying to wake myself up, scrounge something to eat, and then look for the vacuum.
The French Desk is an antique she's had for at least 40yrs.
Was it here that people were talking about earbuds earlier? I found a pair in their box while cleaning. I can't use earbuds though. They won't stay in. Especially in my left ear. No matter how small the adapter thingy they just pop right out. I don't like having them in anyway.
I like headphones that go around my ears instead of smooshing them. I'd really love to get the bone induction type (I've seen they make computer glasses with bone induction sound). Not noise canceling but sound can be great. I tested some out at BestBuy.
Friend got notice today that 2nd inspection passed and everything is good to move forward on the house. He's going to try to close today and we can start moving stuff over. They've already been packing. He will miss having a washing machine & dryer and the fiber internet. Not sure how they will deal with stuff on that front as there's no internet at the new house yet. They are leaving their washer and dryer behind for a few reasons. One is they keep breaking down/having problems. Another is friend's Mom just barges in as she pleases to constantly do laundry there. The wife only wants a washing machine and no dryer. Partially to discourage the MIL from demanding to do her laundry there but also bc she has a phobia about fires started by dryers. I think she'll find that it takes way too long to hang dry stuff so might eventually cave but not tell the MIL about the dryer being there.
Friend will have to shut off his utilities to the current house asap bc his mother already runs them up when she comes over. Not sure how he'll deal with her threatening to not babysit the 4-yr-old though. The only reason the house he's in now wasn't seized by the city for not paying property taxes is bc we helped friend pay them all these years. His mother never contributed a dime to the place but she collected rent on it for years. He's going to see if it can be rented out and he might throw a little $ her way but deed is still in her name since she reneged on the deal to sign it over to him if he fixed it up well over 5 years ago.
One thing he's really looking forward to is that his grandfather doesn't know where he's moving and won't be driving by to lay on the horn at him. Last time I was over the old man rolled up and honked the horn twice. Waited like 30 seconds and then just held the horn down for another 20 seconds. There's a church right next door to my friend and they were having mass (or whatever Baptists call it) and they were not happy with the old man. Old man laid on the horn a 3rd time for even longer so friend went out and screamed at him and slammed the door so hard the whole wall moved. He's told the old man that if he honks more than once he won't come talk to him and first thing he did was honk more than once. Told him "If I don't come out with the first honk it means I'm busy". His harassment is so bad that the daughter asked my friend to stop putting minutes on her phone bc the grandfather constantly called her at all hours of the night and would yell at her wanting her to wake her dad up, wanting her to come out to meet him, or swearing at her for not being around when he wanted or not wanting to go anywhere with him. He doesn't have friend's phone number bc he would call our friend 100+ times per day. He showed me the call log mid-afternoon one day and already over 100 calls. Said that was regular from the old man.
I think I've vented about that before. LOL.
Trying to wake myself up, scrounge something to eat, and then look for the vacuum.
Here's an OCD observation of mine and a question regarding 1/4 turn ball valves: All of the valves that I have purchased are CW to turn off and CCW to turn on. The OCD part of me would have liked to see them CW to turn on and CCW to turn off. Are there any of them out there that work that way?
Yesterday after vacuuming I went to help my friend start moving into his new house. The 4-yr-old kept coming up to me and calling me "gramma". No matter how many times other people tell him I'm not his grandma, he still does it. But he did start trying to call my brother "uncle" after friend said "That's Uncle Dave". He always runs up to hug my leg and wants to show me things and tries to tell me about things but I don't understand more than half of what he's trying to say.
Today it is a bit warmer and I'm thinking of going for a walk after my nap.
Cooked for Mom and got cat food out of the truck for kitties. If friend says he needs more help today I'll go help move stuff again.
After vacuuming pics:
Need a more aggressive vacuum and some rug shampoo I think.
Today it is a bit warmer and I'm thinking of going for a walk after my nap.
Cooked for Mom and got cat food out of the truck for kitties. If friend says he needs more help today I'll go help move stuff again.
After vacuuming pics:
Need a more aggressive vacuum and some rug shampoo I think.
My daughter unknowingly put me in my place today. She finally expressed interest in understanding my work life because she really didn't understand what I had been doing over the past 43 years since I graduated high school in 1967. I committed to her to provide her a written account of what I had done over my life. Little did I know how almost insignificant I would feel to know that in less than twenty minutes and within one and a half pages in Times New Roman font, I could distill 43 years of my life into such a "short" story.
The lesson I learned? Seek the help of "Alexa" to write my life's story, or my obit, for me next time!
The lesson I learned? Seek the help of "Alexa" to write my life's story, or my obit, for me next time!
Hey Brother throw those that 1-1/2 pages out there and let us be the judges! LOL If by chance you been married more then once???? You have a best seller and or TV series in your hands! 
Third times the charm for me!
Regarding the other thing, I am not sure my delicate psyche could withstand the potential for ridicule
Besides, not many people would find being awarded a lifetime achievement award as a Walmart greeter very worthwhile not that I am knocking a career at Walmart.
Regarding the other thing, I am not sure my delicate psyche could withstand the potential for ridicule
Besides, not many people would find being awarded a lifetime achievement award as a Walmart greeter very worthwhile not that I am knocking a career at Walmart.
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I encourage others to not collect ex-wives, That is one very expensive hobby that will leave a nasty taste in your mouth for many years! 
Agreed. I was very lucky in the first two failures in that we had no children, no real assets, they chose not to try and take my retirement, and we simply moved on.I encourage others to not collect ex-wives, That is one very expensive hobby that will leave a nasty taste in your mouth for many years!
And the hits just keep on coming! My wife and I sort of happened upon a windfall of sorts this morning. We found out that one of the grocery stores of a major chain in the area was closing its doors for good because the foot traffic that they had counted on with the opening of a new Metro line serving our area in and out of Washington, DC, when deciding to build the store did not materialized due to the fact that COVID shut down everything and the fact that the government continues to allow unmitigated teleworking for most employees.
The windfall is that all of the wine and beer in the store is being dumped for from between 50% and 80% off the marked price and this included some relatively nice bottles of champagne and other higher end wines. The checking account is considerably lighter, and I pulled several muscles lugging the stuff into and out of the car because of the windfall.
The windfall is that all of the wine and beer in the store is being dumped for from between 50% and 80% off the marked price and this included some relatively nice bottles of champagne and other higher end wines. The checking account is considerably lighter, and I pulled several muscles lugging the stuff into and out of the car because of the windfall.
Unfortunate for the store owners, but for sure a WIN, WIN on your end! That's Awesome.
I need to check and see how many pages my dad's memoir was and it wasn't even complete. But he was in a war, travelled all over the world, and even testified before Congress a few times.
Friend didn't secure his cat tree in the back of my truck and it fell out when I was driving. Fortunately, I saw it starting to fall, hit the brakes and pulled into the center lane, and it didn't go too far. Also, the vehicle behind stopped in time to not get hit by it. He must've seen it going. Brother was screaming and swearing at me bc he didn't know why I stopped. Blue lights came on from the truck behind me. It was parish police. Not their jurisdiction. They blue lights warned people off while I got out to go get the cat tree. friend was behind them and he stopped to help. Guy from a hardware store ran across the street to see if I needed help. Cops waited until it was put back in (on its side) and secured. A 2nd truck had rolled up and they were in a hurry to get out of there. A couple pieces broke off the cat tree but friend got them back on. Hopefully it will stay together.
Friend needs a few more things hauled today and will want to haul the old fridge and stove from the new house over to the old. He was hoping to use the old one as a rental property but his mother decided to move in. She's completely reneged on the deal to sign it over to him. Not surprised though.
Also, his grandfather found out where he moved. Heard someone mention the street name and the stalker went looking for my friend. That man will drive all over scouring parking lots to find my friend's vehicle and either look for him or wait for him. He was outside turning the water back on when the old man rolled up and said he wanted to see the house. Friend told him "No". But I'm sure the old man will be back and will be blocking his driveway and laying on his horn in no time. The neighbors have guns and like to shoot though, so he might end up with some bullets in his vehicle if he pisses them off.
Mom has been sick the past couple of days but is feeling a little better and discovered that her laptop gets full bars signal from the new modem all the way in her room. So she's happily watching Dimash videos and singing along off-key.
Friend didn't secure his cat tree in the back of my truck and it fell out when I was driving. Fortunately, I saw it starting to fall, hit the brakes and pulled into the center lane, and it didn't go too far. Also, the vehicle behind stopped in time to not get hit by it. He must've seen it going. Brother was screaming and swearing at me bc he didn't know why I stopped. Blue lights came on from the truck behind me. It was parish police. Not their jurisdiction. They blue lights warned people off while I got out to go get the cat tree. friend was behind them and he stopped to help. Guy from a hardware store ran across the street to see if I needed help. Cops waited until it was put back in (on its side) and secured. A 2nd truck had rolled up and they were in a hurry to get out of there. A couple pieces broke off the cat tree but friend got them back on. Hopefully it will stay together.
Friend needs a few more things hauled today and will want to haul the old fridge and stove from the new house over to the old. He was hoping to use the old one as a rental property but his mother decided to move in. She's completely reneged on the deal to sign it over to him. Not surprised though.
Also, his grandfather found out where he moved. Heard someone mention the street name and the stalker went looking for my friend. That man will drive all over scouring parking lots to find my friend's vehicle and either look for him or wait for him. He was outside turning the water back on when the old man rolled up and said he wanted to see the house. Friend told him "No". But I'm sure the old man will be back and will be blocking his driveway and laying on his horn in no time. The neighbors have guns and like to shoot though, so he might end up with some bullets in his vehicle if he pisses them off.
Mom has been sick the past couple of days but is feeling a little better and discovered that her laptop gets full bars signal from the new modem all the way in her room. So she's happily watching Dimash videos and singing along off-key.
For Real? All of It ?
