08:56 – It was 48.4 (9C) when I took Colin out at 0645, mostly clear. Barbara is off this morning to volunteer at the friends bookstore, filling in for someone who had people coming in from out of town.
Yesterday, we got the second shelving unit set up in the lab/work area downstairs, and a lot of stuff moved from stacks on the floor onto the first shelving unit. The second one will remain empty until I decide what I want to go where.
As we arrange and reorganize down there, I’ve been thinking about installing a couple more LED shop lights as grow lights. We have a couple of worktables that we use only for binning chemicals when we’re making up chemical bags. They’re empty 99% of the time, and we could use one or both of those to hold herbs and vegetables in containers. The environment is climate-controlled, and free of the animal and insect pests that often attack our outside plants.
The big question is how much light they’d need. The LED shop lights we have consume only about 40W per fixture and provide about 4,000 lumens. I could put them on a timer and let them run 12 or 14 hours a day. They’re bright in terms of indoor lighting, but nothing close to actual sunlight. More like daylight in open shade.
When I read about home grow light setups, the articles were talking about very large lighting units like 1,600W metal halide lamps. That’s a lot more than I want to get into.
I can see it now: You set up the indoor grow lights and everything is going well. Then “perfectly normal and fully justified” monitoring of electrical usage shows that you’ve had an increase. The DEA bursts in the front door well before dawn one day, shoots the dog as a matter of course and then shoots you and Barbara because you looked like you might be thinking about making a threatening move. The DEA investigation of the DEA “officers'” actions shows that not only were they fully justified but that you had unidentified herbs growing in the basement, a large number of chemicals which could be used to make WMDs, and components to make illegal firearm suppressors. All of the neighbors would be published as saying, “They seemed like such a nice couple. I never dreamed they could be up to no good!”
Oh, well. Barbara nixed it anyway…
47 and very bright overcast with patches of blue sky and a very light breeze; should hit low 70s by Wednesday but no rain in the week’s forecast at all, making two weeks in a row without it. Fotties at night; perfect weather IMHO.
Off to cah dealership in a bit for overdue maintenance and then down to beeyooteeful Shelburne Bay to retrieve wife, back from Syracuse and effed-up flights with United. Off for three weeks and IIRC the next gig is in Albany and she’ll drive it, just about four hours each way, most of it on the Vampire State side of the lake.
And I see the usual shitty nooz; yet another purge of the Cabinet and Oprah is running for National Administrator. The next national election should be a doozy, if we have one; twenty Repubs, thirty or so Dems, all running against Adolph tRump.
I’ve been thinking about installing a couple more LED shop lights as grow lights
I don’t think that LED fixtures would have the right wavelengths of light. The light produced by the LED is blue leaning heavily toward UV. That is converted to white light by a phosphorous chemical in the LED itself. There is no truly white LED emitter. Shine a white LED through a blue filter and you still get lots of light. Shine the LED light through a red filter and the light level is significantly less.
The DEA bursts in the front door well before dawn one day
That was almost my immediate first thought. Any significant spike in electrical usage over more than a couple of months will trigger a visit from the local authorities. Acquaintance of mine who installed some pottery equipment, as in a fairly good sized kiln, received a visit wanting to know why his electricity usage jumped. He explained he told them to get a warrant and until then they could go pound sand. The authorities never returned to my knowledge. Come to think of it, I have not seen Zane around in a couple of years. Hmmm.
A significant drop over several months will also trigger a visit from the electrical people wanting to check the meter, yank the meter, and check for a bypass. Had that happen to the neighbor after his wife died and he moved out of the house.
My local city monitors your water usage. A significant increase will get you notified you may have a leak. A significant decrease will trigger a visit to check your meter to see if the meter has jammed. If the meter has not jammed they will dig around your meter looking for bypass plumbing that bypasses the meter. Several people in our city have done so stealing hundreds of dollars of water.
“I don’t think that LED fixtures would have the right wavelengths of light. The light produced by the LED is blue leaning heavily toward UV. That is converted to white light by a phosphorous chemical in the LED itself. There is no truly white LED emitter. Shine a white LED through a blue filter and you still get lots of light. Shine the LED light through a red filter and the light level is significantly less.”
I’ve looked at a lot of CFL/LED light sources with a spectroscope. The spectrum with sunlight or incandescent is continuous, although intensity varies at different wavelengths. With CFL/LED sources, the spectrum is discrete emission lines at many different wavelengths, but all spectral colors are represented. With “daylight” and “cool white” sources, the emission lines on the blue and green end of the spectrum predominate. With “warm white”, the intensity on the yellow and red end is better represented.
“Acquaintance of mine who installed some pottery equipment, as in a fairly good sized kiln, received a visit wanting to know why his electricity usage jumped.”
Interesting; I will so inform wife. She just took delivery recently of a larger kiln for her jewelry workshop/studio out back. Also a food dehydrator for the same purposes. And if I ever get the attic workspace configured, another jump in usage up there. We’re on our well, so no town or city water.
I’ll also be looking into small-scale grow lights to get seedlings going in our cellar, nothing major, just a little boost to extend our pitiful season and plot here.
I got my wife some serious grow lights a couple of years ago. One basement window glows pink in the Winter and early Spring. No visits from the cops yet…
The manufacturer is in the US, and the advertising was funny, because clearly they think the only reason for a grow light is weed, but they can’t say that. Garden seedlings and herbs are apparently not on their radar.
Hydroponics is the same, there have been stories of cops surveilling the local shops and running tags. Wanna end up on a list? Buy some grow lights.
n
San Juan and PR continue to be a disaster:
Current Situation
Life safety and life sustainment efforts in PR and the USVI are ongoing
• Shelters
o PR: 159 (-3) with 11,326 (-49) occupants
o USVI: 7 with 590 (+201) occupants
• Health and Medical:
o PR: 64 of 69 HHS/DoD hospital assessments complete; one hospital
fully operational, 59 partially operational; 4 closed
o USNS Comfort departed Norfolk, VA, expected arrival mid-week [hospital ship]
o Fuel rotation plan in place to ensure hospitals have continuous power
Airports:
o PR: San Juan operating commercial flights; 11 airports open with
restrictions; Six military/hurricane relief flights per hour
o Replacement generator for San Juan Combined Center/Radar Approach
Control arrived/anticipate operational by October 1
o USVI: Limited commercial air operations into St. Thomas; inter-island
commercial flights scheduled to resume Oct 1; St. Croix airport
scheduled to receive commercial flights Oct 5
• Communications:
o PR: 10.7% of island with cell service; Public Safety Answer Points/911
centers operational, but many continue to have generator/fuel issues
o USVI: Operational cell towers – 30.2% overall (St. Thomas: 41.8%; St
Croix: 21.4%; St. John: 0%)
• Shipping: DHS waived the Jones Act shipping restrictions; non-US built
ships now allowed to transport passengers and cargo through Oct 8
• Power:
o PR: 90% of damage assessments completed; 20% of overhead
transmission lines need replacement
o USVI: St. Thomas and St. Croix power plants returning to normal;
reenergizing feeders to allow restoration of service to critical facilities
• Generators:
o PR: 55 generators on hand, five installed (nine in progress); 63 of 108
preinstall inspections complete
o USVI: 49 generators on hand; 16 (+1) generators installed (Six in
progress); 114 of 141 pre-installation inspections complete
• Water: 45% of PR customers have access to drinking water; Nine of 52 PR
Aqueduct and Sewer Authority wastewater treatment plants operational, 19
non-operational; EPA continuing to assess the remaining 24
• Government offices/schools:
o PR: 58 of 68 government buildings closed; 49% of grocery and big box
stores open
o USVI: 15 of 19 government buildings closed; Public schools to re-open
on Oct 9
• Search & Rescue:
o FEMA US&R saved or assisted 843 individuals total in PR and USVI
o FEMA US&R teams have searched 2,649 structures, 110 were
damaged, 93 failed and 94 destroyed; teams visited all 78 municipalities
FEMA Response
• NRCC: Level I (24/7); NWC: Steady State
• National IMAT East-2: PR
• FEMA Region II; RRCC: Not Activated (staff deployed); RWC: Steady State
o IMATs: Deployed to USVI and PR
• FEMA Region X IMATs: Deployed to USVI
It was 48.4 (9C) when I took Colin out at 0645, mostly clear
I am envious.
It was 80 F when I stumbled out of the house at 1145 am to take the dogs out. The wife had already taken them out at 8am or so.
A significant drop over several months will also trigger a visit from the electrical people wanting to check the meter, yank the meter, and check for a bypass.
Yup, I finished replacing all the 100+ incandescent bulbs with LEDs in the office. Our August electrical bill was $350. It was $550 when I bought the building six years ago. They came and grabbed the electrical meter last Wednesday for “recalibration”. All of my computer UPSs worked for the first time, usually one or more of them fail.
I hate computers. Acrobat can no longer print on my home pc but the printer test page facility works like a champ. And Firefox can print just fine also.
And I found the problem. The default printer in Acrobat is not my printer but the stupid fax machine built into my printer. Why Adobe cannot use the default printer for my system, who knows ? The first 20 characters of the device are the same may be the problem.
Acrobat can no longer print on my home pc but the test page facility works like a champ
Had this happen on a W10 system at the church. Deleted the printer and let W10 reinstall. Still no joy. Deleted the printer and restarted W10. Then reinstalled the printer (network printer) driver using drivers from the vendors website. That seemed to work.
I hate computers
Yep, I do to. Even iPads and Android devices are becoming too complicated for mere mortals. Wife struggles and I have to fix a lot of stuff.
I hate computers. Acrobat can no longer print on my home pc but the test page facility works like a champ.
Networked printer or direct via USB?
I have my doubts about newer HP equipment, especially the “pro” Inkjet printers designed in Vantucky.
“San Juan Mayor to Liberal Media: We Are Getting No Help From Trump – As She Stands In Front of Pallets of Aid”
http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/09/san-juan-mayor-tells-liberal-media-getting-no-help-trump-stands-front-pallets-aid/
I guess that she does not believe her lying eyes.
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
As noted on that link, it was four pallets of water, three pallets of meals and 12 pallets of infant food, which they shared with another town in even worse shape.
As noted on that link, it was four pallets of water, three pallets of meals and 12 pallets of infant food, which they shared with another town in even worse shape.
Something is a whole lot better than nothing. And where is the town’s stored supplies ? Puerto Rico gets hit with a major hurricane at least once per decade (SWAG!). Some water filtration equipment ?
I’ll venture a guess that most of the infrastructure which held stored supplies was destroyed when most of the infrastructure was destroyed.
I guess that she does not believe her lying eyes.
Someone dropped a dime on the mayor. Among other things, the Democrats want to win both state-wide races in FL next year, and Gov. Rick Scott is a well-known Trump supporter. The media blitz is targeted at the PR diaspora living along the I-4 corridor.
The 2018 political season just kicked into high gear.
WRT computer issues: I had two hard falls last night here at the top of our hobbit stairs and the upstairs hallway, the second fall I cracked my head on the bathroom doorframe. The first fall I made the stupid mistake of trying to also carry down my new gummint laptop in my left hand and went down hard, with the laptop bouncing all the way down the stairs. I figured the worst.
But no, folks; takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin!’ HP ProBook 460, now running Ubuntu Gnome 17.04 instead of nasty and intrusive Winblows 10. Not a scratch or dent on it, but it would only boot to BIOS. Opened it and found the tiny 256GB SSD (wow, they make them small now, about the size of my little finger!) had been jarred loose. Popped it back in and Bob’s yer uncle.
Will be calling the VA docs on Monday with an update on my steadily worsening condition, to wit, several falls or near-falls per day now; too-close calls with the pee; mostly useless right leg; losing strength in my right arm; having to haul myself up the stairs one step at a time, slowly, while hanging onto the wall trim and partial railing; going down the stairs one step at a time on my butt now; and the ever-present pain. Assuming I can even get off the bed by Monday morning.
Wife smacked her bad knee again down in Shelburne at her mom’s place earlier; both of us took a hard physical beating on that funeral caper for her uncle in early July and have not only not recovered, but gotten worse. So she’s got ice on it and will put the knee brace back on tomorrow and try to make it home.
I’m starting to worry I’ll have to drop outta school until I either get this fixed somehow or permanently.
Not what I had planned for this fall, just goes to show…something….
….and needless to say, nothing’s gotten done around the house for weeks, other than the most rudimentary tasks, each taking inordinate amounts of time and effort.
But we still have the roof over our heads, a couple of cords of firewood, and a month or two of food, plus the well. With the juice still on. No hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes and no walking dead.
WE’RE the walking dead! Or in my case, crawling.
I’ll venture that there were no stored supplies for the country and the municipality. Puerto Rico is just a failed banana republic with failed leadership and failed promises. The infrastructure was destroyed by the lack of maintenance before the hurricanes.
Will be calling the VA docs on Monday with an update on my steadily worsening condition, to wit, several falls or near-falls per day now; too-close calls with the pee; mostly useless right leg; losing strength in my right arm; having to haul myself up the stairs one step at a time, slowly, while hanging onto the wall trim and partial railing; going down the stairs one step at a time on my butt now; and the ever-present pain. Assuming I can even get off the bed by Monday morning.
Good luck ! My experience taking the father-in-law to the VA is very hit and miss. When he got lung cancer, they had him on a table in two weeks. When his heart was alternating racing and afibbing, they gave him placebos. He took himself to a heart doc and got an ablation. His heart is in better regulation than mine now and he is lying in a nursing home. But, the VA is contributing $3,100/month for his nursing home. And that is non-taxable income to him since it is disability pay.
Obviously PR was a mess before the hurricanes, but nearly total destruction of nearly everything still means you have next to nothing left, no matter where you started.
I keep thinking about how a big tree falling on my house and about two inches of rain would totally wipe me out. I’m not sure how to be prepared to deal with such a trivial emergency, much less a major hurricane or earthquake.
Oh, well, at least I have the condo in the big city, and the remote cabin in the mountains, and the lovely beach house, and the golf resort in New Jersey… Maybe I can manage.
” But, the VA is contributing $3,100/month for his nursing home. And that is non-taxable income to him since it is disability pay.”
I dunno how much the nursing home costs and it’s none of my biz, but that VA disability surely can’t even be a drop in the bucket for him, can it? That’s the max disability they give us for being 100% kaput, and I’m at 60% as it is. (I was also told that they CAN take a chunk out of disability pay, for other outstanding Fed debts, maybe not taxes, though)
I got the distinct impression the last time I was in for the VA visit a week or so ago that they were just gonna keep giving me meds and sending me to PT and pain management sessions. They did not seem enthused about doing much beyond that and I even got the sense that once they handed me a new jumbo walker and a Guardian Alert gizmo, I should be all set for life. Well, we’ll see, I guess. My brother keeps insisting I get surgery but what if it doesn’t work? And is, of course, irreversible? So I could be even worse off with it.
But I can’t keep doing this falling down shit; sooner or later it will be a bad one somewhere and my invalid wife will be alone. Though I suppose one or the other child would take care of her.
“…at least I have the condo in the big city, and the remote cabin in the mountains, and the lovely beach house, and the golf resort in New Jersey…”
Now THAT is some serious prepping!
I had two hard falls last night here at the top of our hobbit stairs and the upstairs hallway, the second fall I cracked my head on the bathroom doorframe.
Geez! Take it easy, buddy. Somethings going on in that decrepit body of yours. I pray the VA docs can figure it out. Do the stairs have room for one of those chair lifts? The VA would probably pay for it. Or Medicare.
”Now THAT is some serious prepping!”
I would have thought that the golf resort in NJ would have been a hint that I was making fun of somebody else who has been acting like PR lives don’t matter.
” But, the VA is contributing $3,100/month for his nursing home. And that is non-taxable income to him since it is disability pay.”
I dunno how much the nursing home costs and it’s none of my biz, but that VA disability surely can’t even be a drop in the bucket for him, can it? That’s the max disability they give us for being 100% kaput, and I’m at 60% as it is.
His nursing home cost is $5,100/month for a private room. He is there on rehab status that will go on until the day he dies as he gets a private room that way. My wife writes the check each month. There are extra costs if he does some rehab as his girl friend is pushing him to do (us too).
This is his third nursing home, the first was cheaper and the second was more expensive. The first nursing home smelled of urine. If you are looking for a nursing home, just walk out if they smell of urine.
I visited him last Saturday. He was groggy and did not talk much. But he did remember that his grandson (my son) and I visited him when my wife called him on Sunday. So that is a small positive as he usually does not remember anything the next day.
Dave, what you need to do is put on weight. A lot of weight. Stage 1, you’ll bounce when you hit, with no damage. Stage 2, you won’t even fall, you’ll just roll forward or to the side. Your goal is to look like the one girl in the original Charlie Chan and Willie Wonka’s Candy Factory or whatever the movie is called, the one who ate the experimental candy and turned blue and swelled into a sphere.
” If you are looking for a nursing home, just walk out if they smell of urine.”
It smells of urine here; not sure if it’s mine or the cats. And I can’t just walk out anymore….
….yeah, I do know what you mean, though; we dealt with this when my dad was dying of early-onset Alzheimer’s over twenty years ago.
“…I would have thought that the golf resort in NJ would have been a hint…”
Actually no, it was the mention of the “lovely beach house.” Wife’s cousins’ condos in Florida are totaled. But they can afford it and don’t seem much concerned.
“I pray the VA docs can figure it out. Do the stairs have room for one of those chair lifts? The VA would probably pay for it.”
They said “degenerative spinal stenosis.” OK, I get it, but what about fixing whatever is shutting off the nerves to my legs? A chair lift would take up the whole stairwell; this house was built by hobbits nearly 200 years ago. I have the paperwork to apply for VA $ to install railings and a walk-in shower and high-rise toilet. Wife and I will use our own dough to put in new back stairs, landing and railing for the back porch. That will help quite a bit right there, for both of us, and also her 89-year-old mom, who right now is in better shape than me! She got up out of her chair this afternoon to let me sit there ’cause it’s easier to get out of.
“…the one who ate the experimental candy and turned blue and swelled into a sphere.”
So not only eating to blow up into a giant blue sphere but also get the tranny surgery? Am I getting that right?
Gee, I dunno….
@ofd, I’m not a dr, and don’t even play one on tv, but something is wrong. you are getting worse, not better.
I can only speak to my issues, but when MY leg was collapsing at random, and my back hurt so bad I wasn’t even consciously aware of it, I had swelling in my lower back that was pressing on the nerves.
Dr got the swelling down with meloxicam and the pain relief was stunning. Until it stopped I really couldn’t quantify how bad it was. It HURT, but the meter was pegged at HURT, and wasn’t reporting the levels above that. When it stopped, I could finally say, OH, I was really hurting.
Anyway, you have something going on with the nerves in your lower back, pinching from bone, or pressure. Something will help, inversion therapy (which you can do in your home, look on craigslist for an inversion table) or fake with hanging your legs over the end of the couch, or chiropractic, or drugs, or a combination. Yoga or even the simple stretching you already know,—start trying stuff. If you fall down the stairs again, you can really get messed up.
Most of these things are very low cost, and you can get started right away.
Your current plan ain’t working man, start trying some other stuff…..
n
When you only have the one house, just barely enough to maintain it and to try to accumulate some supplies, and you hear about people being totally wiped out, as you would be in any sort of disaster, you realize that there are people who have no clue about how to care about victims of a major disaster who have lost everything.
Roger that, Mr. Nick. My brother uses a Teeter Table which he says gives him pretty good relief for a while; supposed to use it daily. (he also needs to get a ton of weight off). Will go back to trying some of the other low-cost home stuff, but this mobility/numbness stuff only started up fast-and-furious in August. I suspect I damaged something down there during our funeral trip in early July.
Will look into the meloxicam situation, too; thanks!
“Your current plan ain’t working man, start trying some other stuff…..”
What he said. Definitely time to think outside the box. I hate to suggest, but if your mobility doesn’t improve and soon, one thought might be to look for a ranch style floorplan. Fall from a lower altitude.
The real issue is getting mobile in a pain free way. If the VA isn’t the answer then look afield.
A hopeful anecdote: My own dad had some herniated discs in his lumbar region that were unbearable. His near Cadillac plan with one network didn’t have the local surgeon with the then new! improved! superglue injection procedure at the other local network. But if you went in thru the ER of the hospital where the wunderkind worked, as the first network whispered, Dad could get the surgery and the usual network paid the bill. Best, the procedure worked and he was then pain free.
Thanks to you, also, Nightraker; am mos def thinking outside the box in addition to inside the box. The two previous epidural shots helped to the point I could then negotiate the shower mostly pain-free and lie flat on the bed (after sleeping in a recliner every night for six months), so there’s that. But obviously the unusual strain on my back in early July probably did something bad and it’s more the mobility and balance now than the pain.
We’ll figure it out, as my wife likes to say, whenever things get dicey here. And we usually do and we usually get through all kinds of chit.
Regards and Pax vobiscum to all; the old crip will try to get some sleep for a while…
From a thread elsewhere:
“Puerto Rico is suffering not from a disaster – they are suffering from consequences.”
https://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/340602-Sitrep-from-Puerto-Rico-post-hurricane/page1
Interesting post. Can skip the comments.
n
And here’s an interesting exercise in reading between the lines and teasing the reality out of the reporting, good pix too.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4936946/The-devastation-thriving-Puerto-Rico-town.html
“People have to loot and try to sell supplies to survive because many businesses are still closed ”
“”‘People are walking to the nearest Walmart and looting what they can to sell on the streets. It’s easy to judge us from the safety of a hotel room in San Juan but out here that little amount of cash can keep you alive.'””
So WHO exactly are the looters using the “little amount of cash” to buy FROM? Other looters who made better choices of loot?
Anyone see anybody actually TRYING to recover?
n
added- the caption kills me…
“Sharier David Cruz, 2, tries to pull his cart of supplies home in his toy red wagon ”
Supplies. From where again? Walmart? Or is there actually stuff available?
“Puerto Rico is suffering not from a disaster – they are suffering from consequences.”
https://www.northeastshooters.com/vbulletin/threads/340602-Sitrep-from-Puerto-Rico-post-hurricane/page1
Interesting post. Can skip the comments.
Wow, very interesting. And I liked his lists of good things that he already had and things that he wished that he did have. My favorite, “11-Holsters for every pistol!”. Old generals are always refighting the last battle and laying out new ways to fight the battle. Not always a bad thing.
Unfortunately, Puerto Rico is an island. There is nowhere to retreat to as many in the Houston area and Gulf Coast did as Harvey approached. And unaffected people by the hurricane who could easily enter the area to help and bring in supplies. As is such, PU is limited to stored supplies, C130s, and ships. I am not sure how many pallets a C130 can carry but I doubt more than 20 pallets. And ships take time to load, travel, and unload.
@OFD good luck finding a solution. Here’s hoping your VA doc finds the problem, and actually wants to fix it.
Lynn…
Oil at $100 a barrel?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-01/oil-at-100-dollars-a-barrel-possible-again-futures-market/8999876
one who ate the experimental candy and turned blue and swelled into a sphere
Violet Beauregard.
@OFD, @Dad feels your pain and understands your frustrating situations. I can only offer my prayers and best wishes for you. The folks on here have been pretty good with advice/suggestions that I really can’t expand upon.
The one suggestion I would encourage you to seriously consider is to find a ranch house, with wide doors that has other possibilities for modifications for senior living.
Thanks, Admiral DadCooks; yes, you’ve just been promoted.
Further investigation reveals that the VA facilities up here will do chiropractic and acupuncture treatments, and at this point, given the evident futility of more pharmacological rubbish and the hazards of irreversible surgery, I will see about getting referrals accordingly from my PCD and/or anyone else willing to do so. My next actual appointment, for more “pain management” and/or PT, isn’t for three more weeks so I’d like to get something cooking sooner, if possible. Preferable to messing around with more MRIs, shots, surgeries, drugs, etc.
Oil at $100 a barrel?
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-01/oil-at-100-dollars-a-barrel-possible-again-futures-market/8999876
Sure. Oil is a commodity, the number one commodity in the world. If Saudi Arabia
has a revolution tonight, the price of crude oil will be $200 in the morning.
The price of oil, like any other commodity, is set by the last barrel sold in the market. If there are multiple bidders for the last barrel available, then the price will rise quickly and radically. If there is just one bidder for that last barrel of oil, then that price dominates.
BTW, one US Barrel of oil (a volumetric measure) = 42 US gallons.
BTW, the crazy man boy in North Korea is mad because we are not giving him three oil tankers of crude each day. Bill Clinton started that policy and George W. Bush ended it. It was a danegeld policy and the pirate is now upset that we don’t give him free stuff anymore.
I have the paperwork to apply for VA $ to install railings and a walk-in shower and high-rise toilet.
Dude, I would take that money and build a bathroom on the first floor, on the back side of your house. You may not be able to climb those stairs in the near future to the ONLY bathroom in your house on the 2nd floor.
Or maybe get a single wide for the backyard to match the double wide next to you. Just something where you do not have to climb stairs.
Huh. I thought “doublewide” referred to the alleged womynz next door. 🙂
Or maybe get a single wide for the backyard to match the double wide next to you. Just something where you do not have to climb stairs.
I wonder if somebody sells just a ADA bathroom trailer that you can park in the backyard ? Something with a walkin shower and is completely ADA. All you would have to do is hookup cold water and electricity. And maybe a propane tank.
https://royalrestrooms.com/portable-showers/single-ada-shower-trailer/
Probably way cheaper to build an ADA bathroom on the back of your home.
I imagine heating one of those things would be rather pricey.
@OFD, thanks for the promotion but I’ll have to respectfully decline. I worked hard for my enlisted rank and I’d like to keep it. If you must give me a title, “Chief” is okay as that is what I attained just before Uncle and I parted ways.
That add on bathroom idea is a good start at a suggestion. Turn it into an extra bedroom and bath addition and you should get a good return on your home value.
We looked at the first-floor bathroom idea and can’t really see where it would fit together with existing plumbing and electrical conduit/wiring. But we may get someone (like our building inspector) to come in and give us some input. A toilet and shower would suffice. But we’re gonna do the walk-in shower, high-rise can, and railings on the stairs anyway. And the back steps/landing/railing ASAP.
This is sort of a prep FAIL; I’ve had on-again off-again back issues for years but we hadn’t figured on me losing mobility, too. What to do if one or the other adults in a household, previously nearly indispensable for all kinds of chit, is now messed up medically/physically? We kinda didn’t see this coming…
That add on bathroom idea is a good start at a suggestion. Turn it into an extra bedroom and bath addition and you should get a good return on your home value.
This is a capital idea. A downstairs bed and bath is always a good idea. And much better than sleeping in a recliner.
We looked at the first-floor bathroom idea and can’t really see where it would fit together with existing plumbing and electrical conduit/wiring. But we may get someone (like our building inspector) to come in and give us some input.
I would find a house addition contractor and talk to him. I knew a guy at my church who ended up building our addition for us. We talked for a year before starting the addition. I spent $190/ft2 but I did all kinds of crazy things like put in a 10 ft ceiling throughout and added a new AC / gas heating system. I also put in two new external doors and nine new 6 ft by 3 ft windows. Plus the bathroom has washer and dryer connections.
This is sort of a prep FAIL; I’ve had on-again off-again back issues for years but we hadn’t figured on me losing mobility, too. What to do if one or the other adults in a household, previously nearly indispensable for all kinds of chit, is now messed up medically/physically? We kinda didn’t see this coming…
Life is a series of prepping fail. It is how you react that counts.
Lynn, I know instantaneous spikes can go high, I was thinking of long term. I think you once said that fracking, which is currently uneconomic, is always waiting in the wings and can produce a lot of crude *fairly* cheaply if required.
Lynn, I know instantaneous spikes can go high, I was thinking of long term. I think you once said that fracking, which is currently uneconomic, is always waiting in the wings and can produce a lot of crude *fairly* cheaply if required.
I used Saudi Arabia on purpose. SA is supplying 8 Mbpd (million barrels per day) of the world’s 80 Mbpd crude oil production (SWAG !). If SA goes down over time, this would be incredibly hard to replace in a time period of 5 to 10 years (SWAG). Maybe never. Here are the 2016 gross numbers, SA uses 25% of their crude oil production internally IIRC.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_oil_production
Wells are still being fracked here in the USA. Just a lot less than before. I have heard several numbers ranging from 90% less to 40% less. And the cost of fracking has dropped significantly, maybe by half in certain situations by controlling overtime, equipment usage, contractor fees, payroll, etc, etc, etc.
The USA might peak, with fracking all applicable wells, at 12 Mbpd in 3 to 5 years from the current 9 Mbpd. I have no idea what the peak could be though, it might be 15 Mbpd. And Mexico could double their 2 Mbpd crude oil production in 3 to 5 years with a huge capital injection (10s of billions) and fracking / directional drilling technology on their side of Eagle Ford.