So... What are YOU doing? - Part 7

[tango]

I got my first splined frame corner to work, and then realised I'd cut the spline the wrong way. The way I'd cut the wood meant that the spline would be vulnerable to cracking in the same direction as the natural movement that would break the frame apart, which essentially means it achieves nothing at all. Thankfully I was just using offcuts to work with. Cutting it the correct way is going to be trickier, but necessary to make a spline that's strong enough. If needs be I can always widen the slot in the frame to take the spline on the table saw.

Yesterday I got back to house breaking. I've lifted the floor over another room, got a good chunk of the insulation lifted out and bagged up, and now starting to pull another wall down. Hopefully this one will be the first room that gets fully rebuilt. I had hoped to preserve the ceiling, even if only to save the mess associated with pulling everything down, but a long-standing slow leak in the roof (now fixed) meant that it suffered water damage so I'd rather just replace the whole thing than do everything else and find I have to replace it later on.

But before I do much more of that today, I want to go for a walk in the woods. It's sunny, and it's been a week since my last walk in the woods, and the mountains are calling to me

 

[Lamb]

Got back from a walk since it's nice and cool out again this morning.

 

[Michael]

What am I doing? Today, still recovering from a bout of cellulitis in my elbow on my dominant arm :-_-: , drinking my coffee & doing some paperwork :read:, and delving into the mysteries of the Kingdom of God in conversing with some of the saints here on this site! :ange06:

 

[Lamb]

I spent most of the day sealing the grout in the kitchen with Grout Renew that's a paint and sealer. I've used it before and it's great because it makes the floor look brand new! I only got half the kitchen done because it's so tedious so tomorrow I'll be busy again trying to finish it up.

 

[tango]

Looking into timed switches for a bathroom fan. It would be nice to be able to have something a little more than flicking a switch to operate the fan, so you could do something like press the button for 30 minutes, then take a shower, and know that the fan would keep running for long enough to pump steam out of the room without also having to remember to go and turn it off again.

The trouble is many of them need a neutral wire, which the current setup doesn't have. It's not difficult to run a 3-wire cable to replace the existing 2-wire cable and provide a neutral, at least from an electrical perspective. I'm just not sure how easy it will be to physically get at the space, it's right in the very corner of a crawl space that gets unfeasibly warm in the summer and unfeasibly cold in the winter. Maybe I'll see to it this fall....

 

[Lamb]

Working on the grout again today and making my kitchen floor look pretty. This is slow going so I might not be back online for a while.

 

[NewCreation435]

I've been out jogging and then took a couple of loads of stuff to the landfill and then to charity. The landfill was very busy it took over 30 minutes to get through the truck and car line to drop off our stuff

 

[tango]

Bit of a zany day today.

First off was a walk around town with my wife. We like to get some exercise in early before it gets warm, so we at least take some exercise during the day if the rest of the day is spent with indoorsy stuff. Then I set up a temporary light on the wall over the table where she does her crafts, because it's in a temporary location while its normal room is torn apart.

During the afternoon I got to lose what felt like most of my body weight in sweat as I dealt with some cracks in the concrete at the front of the house. I figured I'd do the work while the sun was bright so it would dry quickly. As it turned out everything was drying fast enough I struggled to use the cement before it dried on my slate, so I had to keep mixing up small batches. Now I just hope it sticks in the cracks where I pressed it. Then I pulled down some more wall and got some baseboards removed. Sadly in the process of cleaning it all up my shop vac died. It's been a faithful workhorse but I fear the sheer amount of fine dust going through it has led to its untimely demise. So now I need a new shop vac because I've still got a load of dust on the floor and more wall to pull down. I think I'm going to get a smaller shop vac (the HEPA bags I have are for 5-8 gallon units, and I use a separator so not a lot of dust makes it to the actual vac unit) simply because they are much cheaper. I wish they'd make them with sealed motors because what I'd really like to do is attach a hose to the output vent and do away with the bag and filter, simply blowing any dust that made it past the separator straight out of the window aided by a fan. But I fear that's not an option, since everything is made down to a budget these days.

 

[NewCreation435]

went up to Virginia today to borrow my mother in law's car for a while until my daughters car is repaired. She is driving my car. I forgot how pretty Virginia is.

 

[tango]

Bit of a stroke of luck today. I'd been looking at prices to replace my dead shop vac and stumbled upon an ad for something similar. Then I noticed the seller was a friend who was helping a parent downsize, so now I have a new shop vac that didn't cost me much at all. It was a bit grim cleaning the thing up - it had sat in a basement for years and hadn't been emptied - but it has really good suction. As long as I can get the filters and bags for it, it will hopefully last me a while. If not, maybe I can botch something together.

Interestingly, given my previous post, this one has an exhaust port designed to double as a blower so it's not entirely out of the question to attach a hose to it and vent it out of a window. Failing that, I can probably take the air pressure meter off the dead vac and attach it to this one.

 

[NewCreation435]

off to the gym in a few minutes

 

[tango]

My wife is out this morning so I'm going to take the chance to get a quick walk in the woods done. Not sure if I'll get another chance this week, got a few things that need to get done.

 

[Lamb]

Waiting for the dealership to call and tell me how much more money they're charging me to fix my car that they didn't fix the first time

 

[psalms 91]

Waiting for the dealership to call and tell me how much more money they're charging me to fix my car that they didn't fix the first time

Did you point out that it might be their fault? Also a threat to go to the BBB works wonders if they dont want to stand behind their work

 

[Lamb]

Did you point out that it might be their fault? Also a threat to go to the BBB works wonders if they dont want to stand behind their work

They said this type of thing happens "all the time" where changing one part uncovers MORE problems that the car had. I think they failed to uncover the true reason and took the most expensive repair first to get my money.

 

[tango]

Got back from my walk in a bath of sweat - my shirt was soaked. Although admittedly not as soaked as the last time I did that loop and got caught in a rainstorm a mile from the end. That day I really did get wet, but at least the rain was cool and refreshing.

 

[Lamb]

The car needs something major and it will cost us a small fortune in labor/parts This is not the news I was hoping for. I'm having to spend time taking my daughter to work and picking her up and I don't know when they will be done with my car.

Shark Week is on tv! Time to watch and relax :shark:

 

[NewCreation435]

They said this type of thing happens "all the time" where changing one part uncovers MORE problems that the car had. I think they failed to uncover the true reason and took the most expensive repair first to get my money.

dealerships often seem to do that. We had one last week tell us they needed to do a computer upgrade before they could look at the transmission. The transmission is one that they put in less than 18 months ago. Then they find a fuel pump issue also

 

[Lamb]

dealerships often seem to do that. We had one last week tell us they needed to do a computer upgrade before they could look at the transmission. The transmission is one that they put in less than 18 months ago. Then they find a fuel pump issue also

So it's not just the women they take advantage of?

I'm glad I told my husband to drop me off and go back home on Saturday when they first said the car was ready (and it still made the noise) because they had to give me a courtesy car to use after that. If my husband had stayed there's no way I would have gotten a car to drive.

Today I have to drive my daughter to an interview because she can't drive the courtesy car.

 

[tango]

I just picked up a load of scrap wood for the change in my pocket. I saw a place was selling some but I didn't want anywhere near all of it, so I asked if I could take some. I had three boxes with me and said the chances are all I'd need was to fill the small one. They took a look over the wood I'd taken and put a really low price on it. The shop in question makes cabinets so it's all offcuts to them, so whatever they get is a bonus. I plan to upcycle the wood scraps and make picture frames for greetings cards out of it.