84F and 85%RH this morning. It got plenty hot yesterday, and we did get a sprinkle of rain, depending on where and when you were in town.
I managed to run some errands yesterday, despite having the kids with me. I’ve got more to do today. 8 days to the start of school for us, and I’ve got mixed feelings. There were things I’d hoped to do with the kids at home this summer, that didn’t get done. But I also don’t seem to get anything done while they’re home. I haven’t yet found the balance I need there.
Wife slept in, so I did too. Time to make the donuts…
n
With temps in the 100f + range I was thrilled that the AC repair guy responded so quickly (24 hrs) to our AC failure and was able to repair the unit almost immediately. Yes, it was the large can capacitor in the compressor unit. This was covered by my American Home Shield warranty so my only out of pocket expense was $75 to AHS for the call. American Home Shield also sent a service man out yesterday to repair our Whirlpool electric oven. It has been throwing an error code when we tried to use the self cleaning feature. The code indicated that the door lock was not engaged, but it was. Service guy simply cleaned the sensor and now all is well. Yes, I know both repairs are things I could do, if I had the knowledge, but I don’t, so I am happy to pay a little for a subject matter expert.
My experience with American Home Shield over the 11 years we have owned this house has been generally favorable. I know they have paid out LOTS more than my premiums over the years.
We also selected a contractor to rebuild our stall shower and picked out the tile. All the little things that need be done before moving out at years end.
One big worry we have had was how the other custodian of little Addie would react to our upcoming move. We have consulted our attorney and come up with reasonable changes to the custody schedule to reflect restrictions caused by going from a 5 minute to a 6 hr dive to their house. Last night we had a good discussion with the other party and she was happy to accept our proposed changes, even suggesting some improvements on her own. After years of expensive litigation, we found her remarkably accepting. We were worried that she was going to force us back to court but now we have another worry off our minds.
My experience with American Home Shield over the 11 years we have owned this house has been generally favorable. I know they have paid out LOTS more than my premiums over the years.
I guess it depends on where you live. We had AHS for free for a year after we bought our house (North Austin/Round Rock), and both service calls, for electrical and plumbing work, only made things worse, requiring more capable professionals after the year was up.
Just had sprinklers out today. $175. I’d say I’m in the wrong line of work, but I’d hate to be digging out a valve later this afternoon. I already have to dig out heads once a year when the neighbor tags ’em scalping the grass along the property line with his $99 Home Depot battery mower.
Time to install a two foot long one inch diameter steel rod driven vertically in the soil. Make the height about 1/2″ higher than your sprinkler head. Problem solved.
nice little psyop, where’s the msm with the outrage machine? Oh right, they applaud the sentiment.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-08-07/death-camps-trump-supporters-fliers-posted-new-york
Time to install a two foot long one inch diameter steel rod driven vertically in the soil. Make the height about 1/2″ higher than your sprinkler head. Problem solved.
Number One Chinese Son. I know the type well from dealing with the in-laws.
He has his mother out there doing the mowing some days so I just pack the replaced heads with 1/2 to 1 inch wide rocks. That should eventually kill the mower without hurting anyone.
The cost of the heads isn’t the issue as much as Number One Son doesn’t let me know whenever it happens out of fear that I’ll hold him responsible for the $175 service call. Typical. They’re loathed to pay for services themselves and don’t understand why Americans do it. It doesn’t occur to them that $10 at Home Depot would solve the problem, and I won’t even ask for that as long as I’m informed.
IMHO, decriminalize illegal immigration, and the influx from Latin America looking for work won’t be the problem. A few hundred million Number One Sons showing up from China will be the problem. And they will come.
I think this constant barrage of threats will backfire not just at the polls. We don’t appreciate having our wives and families threatened and will be more than ready to meet force with overwhelming force.
To quote Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve”. We normals will put up with a lot but leave our families alone!
Stay away from crowds….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7330445/Panic-Times-Square-motorcycle-backfire-sends-crowds-running.html
“Blind panic in Times Square as hundreds of traumatized New Yorkers run for their lives when the sound of a motorcycle backfiring is mistaken for gunfire after weekend of back-to-back mass shootings, sparking a stampede that left 22 people injured”
Rocks will fly when hit by a mower.
There are little concrete rings you can put around the heads… or get the plastic ones, and use them as a form to make your own.
Ground rod and a hack saw will provide about 3 or 4 short pieces of copper clad steel….
n
Gaslighting–
“In December 2018, The Trump administration banned bump stocks, the attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire like machine guns and were used during the October 2017 shooting massacre in Las Vegas.”
–the article is about a tweet that went viral about how to kill feral hogs. Of course the morons piled on, saying it wasn’t a real issue. So does the article, until the very last few lines, where no one will ever read it.
–why do I need an AR? Because Fukc You, That’s Why. BFYTW…
n
(in case it’s not clear, there is NO evidence that a bump stock was USED in Vegas.)
There are little concrete rings you can put around the heads… or get the plastic ones, and use them as a form to make your own.
I haven’t had a problem so far this year.
The only head which is out right now is in the middle of the yard. I had the sprinkler guy leave it.
There’s apparently some movie in the works about elite liberals hunting “deplorables” for sport. Yeah, let us know how that works out.
There’s apparently some movie in the works about elite liberals hunting “deplorables” for sport. Yeah, let us know how that works out.
Watching deplorables die for sport? That pretty much describes the setting of “The Hunger Games” books/movies, but the deplorables eventually triumph.
Outside of Portland and Seattle art houses, I don’t think there would be much of an audience for an extreme Prog movie where deplorables die and the elites triumph. The Oscars this year proved that there is a limit, even among Academy voters. Even after backtracking on their scheme to create the “Best Achievement in ‘Black Panther’ -er- Popular Film”, the voters stiffed Spike Lee’s relatively tame “Black KKKlansman” in favor of the much more bland “The Green Book”.
(I still think the Academy was scared that Tom Cruise would hoist that “Popular Film” statue for “MI: Fallout”. Even if you want a civil rights statement, “Fallout” arguably delivers more on that checklist item than “Black Panther”.)
I don’t think I’ve seen a movie in the theatre since the last Harry Potter…
although I’m kinda thinking we saw Big Hero at a brew pub theatre with the kids.
n
xkcd: Dark Matter
https://www.xkcd.com/2186/
Huh, I wonder which squirrel it is also.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2186:_Dark_Matter
“Windows is now officially irrelevant. Here’s why that makes Microsoft happy.”
https://www.computerworld.com/article/3429649/windows-is-now-officially-irrelevant-here-s-why-that-makes-microsoft-happy.html
“Sometimes it’s good not to get all the attention.”
Does anyone else think the site is loading slowly today?
Seems like it takes longer than it used to reload a page….
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7333579/Democrat-Socialists-Convention-goes-rails-heated-discussion-gendered-language.html
“Democratic Socialists convention is ridiculed as a ‘meeting of snowflakes’ after one delegate complains his ‘sensory overload’ has been triggered by ‘whispering’ – accidentally sparking a debate over gendered nouns”
Not so as I’ve noticed.
“Democratic Socialists convention is ridiculed as a ‘meeting of snowflakes’ after one delegate complains his ‘sensory overload’ has been triggered by ‘whispering’ – accidentally sparking a debate over gendered nouns”
Our future leaders unless things change in a big way.
Occasional thunder and rain here in the high desert, 95F and 20%RH.
Monday it was 103F and 4%RH, which feels very strange on the skin.
Still looking for a light duty pickup. I’ve more or less settled on the RAM 1500 Classic, it does what I want and doesn’t have the first generation hybrid junk. I thought I had a line on one but it turns out that the dealer wanted $900 for a pre-installed GPS tracker, KARR.
You can find the alarm-company-to-dealer sales pitch online: $50 hardware and $50 flat rate to install ( ***TEN*** vampire taps into existing wiring, and cutting the ignition wire!) and $150 to dealer activate. So…$650 profit. And it’s a unreliable POC.
Ah well, looking again.
Yeah Ed, give that a pass!
107F and 44%RH in my driveway. Nice in the shade with the lower humidity. Got the mid-week lawn mowing out of the way. For a month or a bit more, I really need to cut the grass 2x/week. If I don’t, it gets too long and bogs down the mower. And it looks better when cut.
Had to add about 3 inches of water to the pond in front of the house. That is a few gallons. One dead frog floated up, but no sign of the goldfish. I think they made some critter a tasty dish.
I checked the Texas Agrilife extension planting guide, and I’ve got another month before anything should be ready to go in. That’s good. I don’t want to miss the fall planting this year since my spring planting was such a disappointment.
I got email questions about an item I have listed, and I sold a related item today (car parts.) Maybe ebay sales will pick up. I certainly need them to.
n
Still looking for a light duty pickup. I’ve more or less settled on the RAM 1500 Classic, it does what I want and doesn’t have the first generation hybrid junk. I thought I had a line on one but it turns out that the dealer wanted $900 for a pre-installed GPS tracker, KARR.
Wasn’t KARR the evil twin of KITT on “Knight Rider”?
The GPS tracker might actually be desirable for a company buying the truck for employee use. Dodge passed Chevy as #2 in trucks partly because the Classic still sells well as a truck for people who actually need to do work and can’t justify $40-50,000 for a vehicle.
If the Classic didn’t survive into the 2020 model year, the dealer is going to take advantage. It sucks.
The new Dodges have a really cool tailgate. I’ve seen several on the road since seeing the commercial last weekend. Folds into a step, and other shapes.
n
I thought that was the Chevrolet/GM pickups.
One of the Chevy pickups has it.
Heh. I’d forgotten about KITTs evil twin…
Rumor has it the Classic will be held over for 2020, but yeah, I’m searching through the dregs of the 2019 inventory at this point.
That would be in addition to the factory GPS tracker and EDR (Event Data Recorder,) which are part of the electronics system and not removable. Must be some hack to disable it, although that would probably mess up other things. These things are getting very sophisticated.
Me, four years ago, I bought a beautiful private party 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 (the first year for the new body style which tremendously increased sales and started the industry trend. It is all original except for a dealer repaint at a year or so old by the original owner, due to adhesion problems. It was always garaged, and still looks like new inside and out. It has the venerable 360 small block, updated for EFI and roller tappets, two really good changes. It had 71k miles when I bought it, and 78k now. I drive it a LOT more than the car it replaced, a 1977 Dodge D100 short bed PU. Loved that one, too. Sold it to a friend who loves it, and see it regularly.
OK, this is not for everybody, but I like nice older things. This is definitely one of them. I wish more nice cars would come my way: that one was just by chance.
@Ed,
I am a handheld GPSr expert….But I have to leave shortly for the mobile home camper demolition derby at the OC Fair tonight. I can provide advice and answers tomorrow.
Yea, I have recorded trips from Barstow to Las Vegas and also up into the Sierras from Randsburg on 395.
Have we reached peak insanity? Nope, not yet…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7331661/Why-REALLY-avoid-vaginal-steaming-Woman-62-left-agonising-burns.html
“Dr Naomi Sutton, a sexual health consultant for Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘There is absolutely no medical or scientific evidence that vaginal steaming will help vaginal prolapse, cause vaginal tightening, or any of the other claims this treatment might make.
‘The vagina is a self cleaning tube which should never be “washed” or “steamed”. The vulva (external female genitalia) needs only be washed with warm water and soap if tolerated.’
‘Vaginal spas are preying on women’s insecurities about their bodies and shaming them into spending time and money on unnecessary products and treatments.‘”
sweet jebus.
n
Just spent five hours going through the 21 year old house on 1.2 acres with an inspector. I am exhausted. He went in the attic. He went on the roof. He investigated every nook and cranny of the house. No showstoppers, just a lot of little stuff that a 21 year old house has. I have a contract to buy this house with an option out that expires next Wednesday. I am not paying the list price, the guy took my lowball offer.
https://www.har.com/6111-bridlewood-drive/sale_32881950
If we buy this house, I am going to:
1. replace the single pane windows with double pane soundproof
2. paint the inside and replace the carpet
3. move in, paint and recarpet our current house, and sell it
4. build a man cave with an ADA bathroom and bedroom so my parents can visit
Wow, I don’t remember looking at that one.
Looks pretty nice, with room for simple upgrades to add immediate value.
Replace all the sinks and countertops with granite/marble and you have an instant upgrade for small money. New shower glass would do the same. Nothing to be done about the gold fixtures on the big tub, but you’ll probably replace and redo that at some point anyway.
You’ll need room in that big garage for your new riding mower!
n
You’ll need room in that big garage for your new riding mower!
Nope, I’ve got a guy that will mow it for $65 per weekly mowing. My allergies to grass just will not let me mow anymore.
Replace all the sinks and countertops with granite/marble and you have an instant upgrade for small money. New shower glass would do the same. Nothing to be done about the gold fixtures on the big tub, but you’ll probably replace and redo that at some point anyway.
I am thinking about replacing the tub / shower in the kids area with a walk in shower for my disabled daughter. She can just sit in there with a shower chair.
I am also thinking about rotating the Jacuzzi tub in the master bath 90 degrees so I can expand that shower into a walk-in shower with a sitdown bench. I have no idea what it would cost to move the drain for that tub.
[snip] nice little psyop, where’s the msm with the outrage machine? Oh right, they applaud the sentiment. [snip]
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want an assault rifle because Anne Frank didn’t have one. And she died of typhoid in a Konzentrationslager, run by barbarians who deemed her less than human and whose goal was her extermination.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want an assault rifle because Anne Frank didn’t have one. And she died of typhoid in a Konzentrationslager, run by barbarians who deemed her less than human and whose goal was her extermination.
+1,000,000
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I want an assault rifle because Anne Frank didn’t have one.
I want a Mossberg 500 because that is the weapon Joe Biden used to proudly talk about buying for his wife and paying for her lessons to learn how to use it.
I don’t remember the exact quote, but it was something like how the pump action noise “got peoples attention”.
I really need to take a basic AR class. I need something light and simple, not the expensive swiss army knife I bought at an estate sale years ago.
Probably should get everything out and polish it up, for that matter.
n
“Star Wars struggles to win over new generation of children as box office and toy sales fall despite Disney buying up franchise for $4billion ”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7335493/Star-Wars-struggles-win-new-generation-children-despite-Disneys-4billion-buyout.html
=–I think they might mean “because” rather than “despite”. And the whole SJW betrayal of the franchise and everything it stands for might have SOMETHING to do with it.
n
“Replace all the sinks and countertops with granite/marble”
Since we’re looking into this stuff, for building our new house: we decided early on to stay away from stone countertops. Even granite stains relatively easily – a big concern in a kitchen. Natural stone does look nice, but there are much better materials. One example – there are several others – is Dekton.
And marble? Stay far, far away from marble! We have marble in one of our current bathrooms as wall tiles. One cleaning with an acidic product, and the finish can be ruined. Someone, sometime will use the wrong product on it. In our case, this was perhaps more inevitable, because we have hard water – and those acidic products are the “go to” for getting rid of water deposits. But still, it only takes once…
I think they might mean “because” rather than “despite”. And the whole SJW betrayal of the franchise and everything it stands for might have SOMETHING to do with it.
As I stated before, Kathleen Kennedy and Bob Iger never opened a *Laser Sword* at Christmas.
Florida will open to 10 hour lines of bored South American tourists and everything will be right again in Burbank. If not, they’ll up the schedule on the Tron coaster and Ratatouille ride currently under construction in Orlando, the engineering of which was already worked out overseas.
Disney’s big long term problem is that Universal didn’t have to put their cards on the table for Florida last week, knowing that The Mouse has to make 2022 a big deal for the 50th anniversary of their property. If Universal drops Nintendo, opening in 2023, Disney can’t afford a fast, poorly-planned response or risk a repeat of “Toy Story Mania”.
My kids didn’t want to go *anywhere* this summer, preferring to stay home, watch anime and play video games online. *That* is the big problem for all the theme park and movie studio companies.
“Replace all the sinks and countertops with granite/marble”
Since we’re looking into this stuff, for building our new house: we decided early on to stay away from stone countertops. Even granite stains relatively easily – a big concern in a kitchen
We lost half of our deposit leaving Vantucky because the landlord developed a puckered sphincter about mineral deposits on the back granite backsplash behind the kitchen sink and claimed it cost them $700 to fix.
Again, divorced woman’s settlement money house. I doubt anyone actally cooked in that kitchen prior to my wife. The loss of deposit was on top of an $400 exit cleaning fee charged in advance.
(Of course, I turned them into the IRS. I had recourse in WA state, but the trip to appeal would have cost more than simply accepting the financial hit.)
@Greg: Yeah, security deposit arguments suck. Of course, it was BS: on granite, all you need to do is wash it down with any acidic cleaner. Personally, I just use concentrated acetic acid. If that cost him $700, I’ll eat a frog. Of course, more than likely there was nothing wrong to begin with, and he just wanted your $$$.
Here, over the last several years, a whole business model has sprung up: companies that will pay your security deposit for you, and collect it in the end. Of course, there is a catch: they charge you a crazy monthly fee. Sounds good, but actually stupidly rapacious.
We are wanting to replace the counters at our Bogey house. Wife HATES marble and was looking at concrete counters, I like those a lot. I will show her the DEKTON product and see what she says. They look good to me.
Of course, more than likely there was nothing wrong to begin with, and he just wanted your $$$.
Oh, I’m sure. It was partially the money and partially, as I stated, a divorced woman renting out a house for the first time that was financed with her divorce settlement.
Never again.
The work must have been minimal in actuality. They sold the house and closed within 45 days after we left.
Lynn, That’s a nice looking house.
The furniture is odd. Is anyone living there?
@brad, all those things are true for a rational person but homebuyers are NOT rational. They want fireplaces, granite, marble, “recently remodeled”, “upgrades”, “chef’s kitchen”, and a variety of other things. It used to be brick, walk in closets, wall to wall carpet, “rumpus room”….
Granite is sturdy, fire and scratch proof, and if you get good stuff, very pretty. It commands a premium even over Silestone, which is a superior product most of the time.
We’ve had an explosion of low cost granite, much coming direct and semi-finished from china, with hundreds of “one truck companies” to put it in and finish it. People will pay more for 1/2″ granite, with double thick edges, than Silestone or any other surface. It’s rare to even see full thickness counters anymore, but I’m always impressed when I do. Those people splashed out on ‘the good stuff’.
n