So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[tango]

More electrical work today.

A run of sockets in the guest bedroom is now replaced and wired to the dedicated circuit for that room. It was slow going because my wall studs aren't very thick so as far as possible I'm drilling holes through them slightly below the floor level and as close to the brickwork as I can, to protect the wires against unexpected puncturing by nails or screws to hold the trim in place.

When I started the process I had two nasty old sockets on a nasty piece of old wiring with no grounding. I had two sockets on a generic "random upstairs stuff" circuit. Now all of them are on a new circuit for that bedroom only, and there's a new socket thrown in for good measure. Because I disconnected two sockets from the "random upstairs stuff" circuit I could also recover a long piece of cable that joined them together, that I can use elsewhere. There's another piece of cable that's still connected to the previous socket - I would have liked to have removed it but that would have meant getting at the previous socket, which is tricky right now. So I coiled up the surplus cable in the attic and put red electrical tape around the ends to cover the live metal and provide a suitable warning that the cable is live.

Now I've done all the work in that room I wanted to do before blowing insulation. There are a couple of things I want to do downstairs and then I can look at renting the machine.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to be able to hang the new ceiling fan we got for the porch. I hope will make a difference in the summertime, helping cool us and keep bugs away.

 

[tango]

More electrics today although not as intense as yesterday.

Gentle walk first of all - the regular route around town with my wife. No speed records broken, today was just about getting moving.

The porch fan is now hung and working nicely. It creates a reasonable down draft, hopefully enough to keep smaller bugs away in the warmer weather. I also got the piano moved out and replaced a nasty old socket with a nice new socket. The old socket had a stub of old wiring attached to it (I cut the wiring to it months ago) so I used the old wire to pull a new wire and got it all replaced and put back. The other end of that cable isn't connected to anything yet but now I can go ahead and blow insulation into that wall cavity.

All I need to do now is finish cutting drywall scraps to pin behind the baseboard and it's all ready to go. I really hope it will make a difference to the thermal and sound insulation.

 

[Lamb]

Watching tv. We went on a nice hike this morning at a new nature preserve that opened up last month and it was nice that hardly anyone was there.

 

[Lamb]

My husband and I went for a walk before it gets hot outside today.

 

[tango]

Took a couple of days break from tinkering with the guest bedroom and got back to it today. Nothing major, just cutting some drywall to fit the gaps where I took the lath and plaster off behind the baseboard. Now if all is well I can get the tool to blow the insulation over the weekend and put the room back how it was before. That will be nice.

 

[Lamb]

Working on sewing shopping bags for my sisters-in-law as well as some graphics projects for my sister.

 

[Lamb]

Waiting for my daughter to let me know she's back home and then I'm hoping to get a walk in before it warms up.

 

[tango]

I managed to get access to the ceiling cavity to rewire the ceiling fan in the kitchen, without pulling down anything in the kitchen. Now I need to run a fish tape from the fan to the access point to pull a string, then from the switch to the access point to pull another string, then use the string to pull a cable from the fan to the existing switch. Then a short piece of cable from the switch to the basement where I can connect it to the lighting circuit, and a short temporary run of new cable across a room under construction will mean all the knob and tube in my house is disconnected.

I found the nastiest piece of wiring yet - a couple of pieces of bare wire. I didn't have time to kill the circuit and get tape around it but that will be a priority for tomorrow. Obviously unless they touch each other they are safe(ish) but if a bug or mouse or something gets at them and makes a connection I have a blown fuse as well as a dead mouse.

I would look at it this evening but we also went to a graduation party for next door's daughter and I had a margarita, which had a lot more tequila in it than I expected. Working with cables doesn't seem like a good idea right now...

 

[Lamb]

I slept really well last night! I am eating breakfast and hoping my allergies are okay today.

 

[tango]

It took a bit of tinkering and a few unexpected requirements to drill holes in wall studs but I got my fan rewired. Now all the knob and tube wiring in my house is disconnected. I put some green electrical tape over the exposed ends as a reminder and will start physically removing it to the extent I can physically get at it. A lot of it runs through ceiling cavities in rooms I haven't yet pulled apart so it will have to wait a while.

It feels good to know all the nasty wiring is disconnected. It also means that unless we decide to add some more switching (which we probably will, at some point) the downstairs lighting circuit is fully fixed up and complete.

 

[Lamb]

Going for a hike this morning and then I have errands to run.

 

[Lamb]

Time to get the groceries!! Hope it's not too much money.

 

[tango]

Time to get the groceries!! Hope it's not too much money.

Let me know if you need a connection to a mortgage advisor

 

[Lamb]

Let me know if you need a connection to a mortgage advisor

It was about $20 more this week. But we haven't heard a mean tweet in a while so that must be good for the country? haha

 

[tango]

It was about $20 more this week. But we haven't heard a mean tweet in a while so that must be good for the country? haha

Oh yes, with gas north of $5/gallon I'm so glad we don't have mean tweets any more.

 

[Lamb]

My daughter is on her way to bury her guinea pig who lived 8 years. She had a great life filled with berries, raisins, broccoli, spinach and fleece tunnels.

 

[Stravinsk]

At the moment I'm just relaxing, but my main activities this week were troubleshooting/updating my Linux system, creating some backups, downloading some media, and playing poker online. Oh, and I made cold-brew coffee and cold-brew coffee concentrate for the first time, that was cool. Beats grinding beans every morning and filtering.

Still pursuing a poker career, atm, grinding it out at low stakes, often for 8 hours or more a day. Not my dream pursuit, but it's something I can do for $$ at the moment. It's tough though. Many people imagine this is a game about luck and chances, but it's so much more. It is about these things, but it's also about people, and crucially, it's a form of psychological warfare. A new nemesis has taken some things I've said on the site and chosen to use them against me during games. Finally I decided it was in my best interest to not engage in chat with him. Doing so was hurting my game - because when ego and emotions get involved, one's game is going to suffer. And it did, as a week's profits were wiped out in a day of playing badly. I disabled the chat and got them back in 2 days.

 

[Lamb]

I did a mile walk, went and got some groceries for the week and then went to the park to walk over 2 miles in the heat. I stayed to the shady wooded areas as much as I could. Watching Catfish on TV right now.

 

[tango]

Went to check out a local flea market with my wife today. It was disappointing, a few people selling some interesting stuff but an awful lot of junky stuff. What really confused us was a vendor we've seen at craft shows who makes some really nice stuff, but her really nice stuff was overshadowed by two tables of cheap tatty trash she also had for sale. Her nice stuff was on the side table and the junk was front and center. Oh well, her space I guess....

Then we had breakfast at a little cafe we like. We had planned breakfast and then market but the cafe parking was rammed so we went to the market first, then when we were done the cafe was quieter so we had our breakfast.

There's some kind of sale going on at my local hardware store today so I'll go and check that out. I don't think I need a whole lot at the moment but sometimes their sales are good enough to persuade me to buy something for future use. In previous sales I've gone some good deals on tools but for now I think I've got just about every power tool I'm likely to need for the foreseeable future. Maybe I'll get a smaller spirit level, or they might have some useful drill bits or some such. There are a few small things I could use.

I might also take in a gentle run. It's supposed to be hot today and nasty and stormy tomorrow so I might try and get a run in. I ran yesterday but wasn't pacing hard so should be OK for another gentle run today.

 

[Lamb]

Went to check out a local flea market with my wife today. It was disappointing, a few people selling some interesting stuff but an awful lot of junky stuff. What really confused us was a vendor we've seen at craft shows who makes some really nice stuff, but her really nice stuff was overshadowed by two tables of cheap tatty trash she also had for sale. Her nice stuff was on the side table and the junk was front and center. Oh well, her space I guess....

Then we had breakfast at a little cafe we like. We had planned breakfast and then market but the cafe parking was rammed so we went to the market first, then when we were done the cafe was quieter so we had our breakfast.

There's some kind of sale going on at my local hardware store today so I'll go and check that out. I don't think I need a whole lot at the moment but sometimes their sales are good enough to persuade me to buy something for future use. In previous sales I've gone some good deals on tools but for now I think I've got just about every power tool I'm likely to need for the foreseeable future. Maybe I'll get a smaller spirit level, or they might have some useful drill bits or some such. There are a few small things I could use.

I might also take in a gentle run. It's supposed to be hot today and nasty and stormy tomorrow so I might try and get a run in. I ran yesterday but wasn't pacing hard so should be OK for another gentle run today.

Maybe that junky stuff is what people at that particular market like to buy?