Kids let me sleep and I guess I needed to.
A balmy 94F with only 60%RH this late morning.
Open thread for your enjoyment!
n
Sat. July 7, 2018 – awake, blurry eyed, but awake
37 Comments and discussion on "Sat. July 7, 2018 – awake, blurry eyed, but awake"
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Sounds like someone has Caffeine Deficit Disorder.
Vacay at Lake Tahoe for a week. MrsAtoz has a gig, so we brought 15 people with us and got a large Airbnb.
Ordered a trailer hitch and wiring harness for our 2015 Crosstour today. Main use will be to attach a bike rack, but can be used to tow a small trailer in a pinch.
The wife and I have been discussing adding a pool to the house. I spent late high school and college maintaining an Olympic sized pool, so I know what’s involved. I know it’s a money pit. I don’t mind doing the work to keep it up. I guess my question to the masses is, if you could do it again, would you install a pool? I don’t expect to recoup the investment when I sell the house. I’m also guessing I will need a heater so I can use it in spring and early fall here in N. Alabama. Sigh…why is it the older I get the more expensive the projects are?
Rather than a heater get a solar blanket. It can raise the temperature of my 25K gallon pool two degrees a day. Also consider salt rather than chlorine.
ITguy can put in a regular pool, put some water in it, and then invite a bunch of feminists to come lounge in his pool. Feminists, by and large, are rather large and generate a lot a heat, thus warming the pool. Moreover, plus-size feminists (which is practically all of them) sweat like pigs (which is an insult to pigs) so the pool will be converted to saltwater in short order. The only drawback to my plan is that he’ll need to install a livestock hoist to help get the feminists out of the pool.
Have I attained the level of Hate Speech yet? If not, I can riff further on this theme.
My (second hand) experience with a solar blanket is that they work really well to raise the pool temp and might be enough without a heater.
Our association pool sucks up money faster than it leaks water…
Wife and I have talked about putting in a pool if/when the tree in the center of the yard dies. What will the home buyer for your neighborhood look like when you are ready to sell? If older with no school age kids, then the pool is probably a minus. If young families, then the pool is likely a plus.
Real estate agents have opinions, unless they have some facts to back them, remember they’re just opinions.
One last consideration. Are pools common in your area? That should affect the desirability too.
n
Watched the new Jumanji movie last night and enjoyed it a lot. Well made, respectful of the original, funny, and some funny video gaming tropes were poked at.
‘couple of penis jokes, and some very mild swearing…
n
““In this context, burning fossil fuels can come to function as a knowingly violent experience, a reassertion of white masculine power on an unruly planet that is perceived to be increasingly in need of violent, authoritarian order,” Daggett argues. ”
Huh, all that word-vomit and she got this right. I guess a million monkeys typing and all that….
CV – coal rolling !
n
Totally true in my neighborhood.
Lat: N 33°42.77′
Lon: W 118°02.22′
But Slim, in CA isn’t a pool considered water hoarding by the rampant liberal crowd?
And Mr. Steve your consideration of pool heaters failed to consider yeast infections.
@ITguy1998
Would a seasonal pool be a reasonable alternative?
Last summer I set up an Intex above ground pool for our then 5 year old. Only about 1,200 gallons. Alaska isn’t reasonable for an in ground or permanent pool. I used a solar cover (glorified bubble wrap) to help make the temp tolerable. While I like SteveFs solution I couldn’t fit more than one in our tiny pool and have it still be usable. Instead I may honky hack a heating solution next summer with a pump and black garden hose. For the past week we’ve had above normal temps and the pool has reached 84f each day. Glorious.
Intex makes adult sized pools too. When we were visiting MN the Costco in Staples carried a ‘real’ pool that would have worked for laps. I want to say it was under $1,000.
Might have been this one:
http://www.intexcorp.com/store/above-ground-pools/ultra-frame/26351eh.html
Growing up in CA my folks installed an above ground Doughboy, partially dig down to give it some depth. It was a lot of work for dad to keep clean, especially the spring I filled it with tadpoles (early arrival of hot summers and the tadpole ponds were drying up).
Trailer hitch / wiring harnesses. I installed trailer hitches on our CRV, Grand Cherokee, and Honda Pilot. The installations were easy, a pleasant way to spend an evening on a warm summer night in the driveway. The wiring harnesses were frustrating and not so pleasant.
ewwww.
n
When I had to sell my late sister’s house, which has a pool, my agent told me that people who want a pool will gladly pay extra for one. People who don’t want a pool won’t even look at the house.
Sanding fascia board on a hot day (75f is HOT for Alaska) is not as fun as it sounds.
I revised my initial estimate of 65’. I am certain it is closer to 740’.
Or maybe it’s only 50’. But oh it’s hot.
A clever, prepared person would have done this earlier in the season, May perhaps, well before the rainy season kicks off. A very clever prepared person would not have spent the last 9 years procrastinating and the work would have been less arduous.
But that’s not how we roll in this household.
Half done with the sanding. Water break then paint what I’ve accomplished so far as a change of pace for the muscles.
I haven’t been on the roof since my bad car crash in 2014. The gutters are a disgrace. I’ll get them taken care of too. And maybe pull down the defunct Christmas lights.
Not to worry, Ray. Yeast eat carbohydrates, preferably simple sugars. Feminists are all blubber, bile, and blue hair dye. Nothing for yeast to eat.
Let’s not act in haste. It may be better to give it another year, to make sure they really need to come down.
And Mr. Steve your consideration of pool heaters failed to consider yeast infections.
And then there’s this. Dunno if she’s a feminist or not.
WARNING: Not for the easily ausgesquickt!
@SteveF
Oh Christmas lights are universally accepted as year round here. The winters are so darn dark they turn on around September and off around May.
Some police department put up a billboard announcing that they’d pulled 27 bags of heroin from someone’s rectum, then asking “Where did your heroin come from?” That’s probably the cleverest anti-drug ad I’ve ever seen.
When it comes to playing the “squick card”, I bow to Mr. SteveF! 😉
“Dems blast booming jobs report, Trump worker agenda, ‘reckless’”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/washington-secrets/democrats-blast-booming-jobs-report-trump-worker-agenda-reckless
The dumbocrats are becoming irrelevant to the point of idiocy. Or is that the dumbocrats are becoming idiots to the point of irrelevance ?
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
Also via Drudge:
Celebrities risk backlash with vulgar anti-Trump rhetoric
“Trump is considered vulgar Enemy No. 1 in much of the entertainment world, and more and more performers — from Robert De Niro to Michelle Wolf — are following him into the mud, though their harshest insults may actually be giving Republicans a boost.” (Emphasis added.)
Takes one to know one! 🙂
Translation: we’re sick of the entertainment world’s shit. Tell me, Hollywood, how are your US sales doing? (Adjusted for inflation, it looks like gross receipts were down four of the past five years. Apply caveats regarding “Hollywood accounting”, known in the broader world as “fraud”.) How’s the NFL been doing? Oh, that bad? And the mainstream
newspropaganda organs are being called fake news or, worse, being ignored? Wow, who could have seen that coming?I guess my question to the masses is, if you could do it again, would you install a pool? I don’t expect to recoup the investment when I sell the house.
I bought a house with a pool 5.5 years ago. I needed the house so I had to get the pool. Each year we use the pool less and less. And the costs just keep on growing. $400 to $500 per month plus the extra cost of the house. The waterfall from the spa to the pool is nice to look at though and makes a very pleasant sound.
If we ever move again, I would prefer to have a house without a pool. I just want an above ground hot tub so I don’t have to pay property taxes on it.
Is that average for 12 months per year or for the X months per year that you can use the pool? Either way, ugh.
$400 to $500 per month
Is that average for 12 months per year or for the X months per year that you can use the pool? Either way, ugh.
12 months a year. $180/month for a weekly cleaner and chemicals. $100/month electricity. $100/month repairs. $50/month makeup water.
Hurrah to Jenny for getting some stuff done! Although, I have to laugh (snicker a bit anyway) at 75 F being HOT. The females in my family think that is too COLD to keep the house in summer…
The flip side is I’d probably shiver apart in -40F weather. Heck, I’d probably shiver apart in 40F weather.
How in the heck did you find the time to prep and paint? Is there a lull in the raising animals/kids/and running the household I’m not aware of? Or did it just get to the point where it moved to the top of the “This stuff needs doing now” list? ‘Cuz that is a list I’m very familiar with.
n
Oh my I am beat. 7 hours with two 30 minute breaks (both to swim). Everything but sanding and painting got ignored today. Kiddo and dogs entertained themselves. Phew.
We redid the roof in 2009. We were going to repaint the house trim that year however after the roof was done our gumption departed. I’ve been working on the trim and window trim most years since then. Child birth one year and a horrible car crash another year derailed our progress pretty well. And my husband and I are too good st procrastinating. I like handy man work but have more enthusiasm and willingness to attempt than skill.
This is the last stretch of fascia board that must be done that isn’t buried under a gutter. After this I have three sets of windows that we started last year but left late and rain got us. They need to be thoroughly sanded and redone as the primer is peeling. Too wet last year.
Typical summer in Anchorage can be wet. If you don’t get off your hiney and paint in May or June, you may not get another stretch of days to hit ‘er done.
I lucked out pushing this to July.
Roof – the sanding is done and first coat of paint is complete. I was smart and heeded Nicks model. I drank an ocean of liquid. Wore a hat. Remembered to have a towel between my tender hide and the asphalt shingles. The sander is too heavy for me. I need to either become more fit (though it was too heavy even when I was lifting 60 pound printers regularly) or find a smaller lighter sander. We’ve had such a warm summer I am optimistic I’ll get another crack at the last coats of paint before summer ends.
Sorry do disjointed, really really beat. There’s a lesson in all of this.
@ITguy1998
http://www.intexcorp.com/support/28211eh.html
Pool – I wrote something earlier but the internet ate it. Short version – would an above ground pool suit your purpose? Intex makes an adult size pool you could do short laps in which I saw at the Costco in MN. We have this one which suits our youngster very well. Today I too was grateful for a dip in the pool as a relief from working up on the roof.
Ibuprofen, gin n tonic, bed.
A throwaway Intex pool could be way cheaper than a permanent in ground pool. And no property taxes. Just make sure that you get a water cleaning and circulation system.
The HOA would string me up if I put in an above ground pool. The looks on their faces are almost enough incentive…
And thanks for the cost estimate son the inground pool. I figured it was expensive, but holy cow. I can afford it, but I think I’d rather spend that money on something (anything) else. And we do have a neighborhood pool, and it takes us 90 seconds to walk to it. It’s just a little small, though the pool committee is working on trying to get a bigger one built.
Would another small, continuous flow pool make sense for their needs?
All the big developers down here are putting in “lazy rivers” and splash pads.
n
Nope, our neighborhood pool is really small – really about the size of a backyard pool. Everybody complains about it, but it was there when everyone mocpved in, so I have little sympathy. We just need more cubic feet. The plan is to build another pool beside the existing. This would essentially turn the existing pool into a kids pool.
I’ve done some reading on the endless pools, as I was considering it for our house. For me, it’s not a good fit. I would really want a pool close to 25 yards if I did one so I could swim laps.
Unless you’re practicing your turns, why do you need laps? You swim laps in a pool because it’s not infinitely long rather than because you simply love having to turn around. (That was a generic “you”. If you personally simply love getting to the end and having to turn around, more power to you.) In an endless pool, rather than swim 20 laps you set the speed and swim for 20 minutes.
The HOA would string me up if I put in an above ground pool. The looks on their faces are almost enough incentive…
We had an Intex 16 ft by 48 inch above ground pool at our previous house in an HOA. We had it well hidden behind the house and our close neighbors did not tell on us.
https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/intex-16-ft-x-48-in-round-ultra-frame-pool-set
We took a week’s vacation and the breaker tripped for the pool pump. We came back to an algae mess. We drained it, cleaned it, and set it up again with new water.
Above ground pool can also be used as a cistern come SHTF, or as aqua culture, or just an algae farm……
n
I comes down to what I’m used to. Though I haven’t tried one, an endless pool is more like swimming ina river -constant current. You must maintain the same speed. I’ve also read that you sometimes unconsciously change your stroke to adapt to the flow, and the adaptation is not always good. Turns don’t bother me since I’ve been doing them for years.
I really should see if there is one I can try out somewhere. I swim an average of three times a week. I don’t do a lot of distance anymore, but I do vary the workout. I don’t just jump in and swim a set distance or time. I do modified/scaled down versions of workouts we did in high school.
Intex makes adult sized pools too. When we were visiting MN the Costco in Staples carried a ‘real’ pool that would have worked for laps. I want to say it was under $1,000.
Might have been this one:
http://www.intexcorp.com/store/above-ground-pools/ultra-frame/26351eh.html
That is still way cheaper than an in ground pool. Trust me, the other nine months where the in ground pool is just a backyard visual attraction eat me alive in cleaning, chemicals, makeup water, and electricity. BTW, when the air temperature goes below 37 F, the pool controller turns the pool on 24×7 to keep the pipes from freezing. Lots and lots of electricity.