What did you do today?

[highup]

That makes for a nice Christmas. I keep buying a Powerball tickets thinking I could do that sorta thing.
There are a lot of good people out there, they just don't get noticed except for the locals who are blessed with their kindness.
......those kinds usually don't like a spotlight anyway.

 

[C.J.]

It’s Christmas Eve and this is what I’m doin today. Look at the size of this apple fritter.

 

[Floorist]

Eating chocolate covered chocolate donuts.

 

[highup]

It’s Christmas Eve and this is what I’m doin today. Look at the size of this apple fritter. View attachment 15971

Just wondering how that would taste with a big pat of butter melting over the edges.

 

[highup]

I'm just having coffee but earlier I was hand feeding dry roasted peanuts to the chickadees and shooting at the blue jays with my airsoft gun. We put bird seed out on the railing on the far side of the deck. All the little birds scatter when the blue jays flies down to eat all the good stuff.
They're quite persistent and they'll fly away for 2 to 10 minutes and come back. Sometimes I'm armed and ready for them and sometime I go out there and there's no bird seed left.

 

[highup]

I went to a major remodel job yesterday at the request of the shop owner. They wanted me to drive over there and do a look see to find out the conditions on the job. They were trying to schedule the job for just after the first of the year if it was ready but she wanted me to go in advance so the installers would be prepared for prep work or any unusual circumstances.
Well it gave me a chance to try out Mr laser. The kitchen cabinets are installed but the countertops aren't. I didn't throw in my tripod, so I just put the laser on a cabinet base where it couldn't get knocked over. Well, it shoots from one end of the house to the other because I could see the green line 55 ft away in the bedroom.

 

[highup]

ONE of the major issues is coming from the carport into the laundry room then straight down a hallway.
The first 8 ft coming in the door is perfectly level but starting at a seam in the plywood, it tapers half an inch (maybe only 7/16 ) in just four feet. From that point it remains level the rest of the way down the hall and throughout the house. Because of the way the foundation was done, I would think it possible to lower that high spot maybe a quarter of an inch which would help a lot. There's no way to convince the homeowner or contractor to crawl under the house with a jack so they can remove a support, cut it a quarter inch and put it back. The sheetrock and painting is already done and I don't know if a quarter inch would bother any of that.
If it was possible to lower that high spot you'd have to do that old army crawl 20 ft from this point.
When looking into this access area I noticed the bottom of the beam was wet, damp feeling. The dirt look quite damp also
I talked to one of the contractors employees and he said the pest control company came the day before and sprayed the entire underside of the house using a hose. Assuming it's just boric acid or whatever they use or treating termites. I don't think they had termite issues this is a just because deal
From the picture you can see the ground clearance and also the fact that there's no vapor barrier.
It's funny the day before I'd mentioned not seeing in an eighth plywood for a long time then I turned around and see inch and 1/8 plywood. It might be inch and a quarter, I didn't measure it.
This post and beam method is what is causing the high spot. The rest of the house is really quite good, possibly because they use such large piles of cement
The material to be installed is a Provenza rectangular lvp tile looking product.
Back to the leveling issue. I would prefer that someone cut another 4x4 access in the laundry room to get closer access to this location so they could trim down one or two of those 4x4 posts maybe just a quarter inch. I think it would settle down that far without causing issues elsewhere and it would fix a problem. Then we would only need to worry about a quarter inch slope in 4 ft.
I believe it's worth trying but....
....you know

 

[highup]

The laser came pretty complete with a lot of dense foam to keep everything safe and secure. It can operate on the rechargeable lithium ion battery or you can use AA alkalines or lithium, (included in), but if all fails you can remove the battery, plug in the charger and run it off an extension cord. I think it's waterproof too, not that I really care about that.
They say it will run 8 hours with all three lasers operating.
Between measuring and checking the floor out I probably had it running for 3 hours with one laser and it only dropped 25%.
I spent a lot of time bsing with the contractor and the homeowner.
I also spent a lot of time seeing how well this laser works for mapping out the floor instead of just using a straight edge.
There were five or six 5-gallon paint buckets and boxes in the center of the room. Using my angle aluminum as a target, I could stick it in between all that crap, looking for more high spots. Otherwise, I'd have had to move all the stuff to use my straightedge.
Anyway, this job gave me some learning and play time with Huepar.
I like it and this was the perfect job for a test run.

 

[C.J.]

Just wondering how that would taste with a big pat of butter melting over the edges.

I heated the whole fritter up in the oven so the pat of butter melted nicely on top.

I like your new laser tool. I was pondering getting one of them but the need has passed so I’ll just admire yours.

 

[C.J.]

Driving around down below Chandler today. Bought a bag of oranges from a van parked on the side of the road. It’s $12 for a bag of oranges and all I had was a $100 on me so I bought this thingy as well not even knowing what the heck it was other than cool looking. Turns out it’s an ironwood chiletepin pepper grinder. I’ve heard of this ironwood but never had the chance to play with any. Just holding the grinder you can tell it’s heavy for what it is.

 

[highup]

Guessing you don't buy the $1.99 metal cans of pepper dust.
You don't have to use the Lazer, just possessing a miracle of light control is fulfilling.
He who dies with the most tools wins.....
....or is broke. Actually his kids win.

 

[Tile Tom]

I'm just having coffee but earlier I was hand feeding dry roasted peanuts to the chickadees and shooting at the blue jays with my airsoft gun. We put bird seed out on the railing on the far side of the deck. All the little birds scatter when the blue jays flies down to eat all the good stuff.
They're quite persistent and they'll fly away for 2 to 10 minutes and come back. Sometimes I'm armed and ready for them and sometime I go out there and there's no bird seed left.

Blue jays are the ass holes of the bird world. I swear they congregate outside my bedroom window whenever I get a chance to sleep in a little and squawk their asses off….. just to be a dick!

 

[Tile Tom]

Driving around down below Chandler today. Bought a bag of oranges from a van parked on the side of the road. It’s $12 for a bag of oranges and all I had was a $100 on me so I bought this thingy as well not even knowing what the heck it was other than cool looking. Turns out it’s an ironwood chiletepin pepper grinder. I’ve heard of this ironwood but never had the chance to play with any. Just holding the grinder you can tell it’s heavy for what it is. View attachment 15982View attachment 15983

The random vans selling shit in NY definitely don’t sell oranges or Knick knacks…..

Shit, it’s in your best interest to just go ahead and cross the street if you see a random van selling anything in NY. Lol

 

[Floorist]

Went out to a new house once and walked through with the trim guy. Stairs leaned to the side. They changed those from wood to carpet hoping it would not show. There were no two doorways the same size and none were standard size. There was a 1/2 wall behind the cabinets. The cabinets touched the wall on both ends but there was a 2 inch gap in the middle. There was a utility room on the end of the kitchen. It was 3 ft deep and the outside wall ran off 3 inches in that 3 ft.
Do you know how there is a lip on the end of a shower unit? Normally they cut the drywall back and mud it in so it is flat. These guy bowed it around the unit edge.
Downstairs in the basement, the concrete wall bowed so much it had split. They were trying to figure out how to cover it all up. I guess they did, they sold it after I put carpet and vinyl in.

 

[C.J.]

The random vans selling shit in NY definitely don’t sell oranges or Knick knacks…..

Shit, it’s in your best interest to just go ahead and cross the street if you see a random van selling anything in NY. Lol

Shit, that’s where you find the good stuff. You’ll be cruising down the road in the middle of nowhere and next thing you know there’s a pick up parked on the side of the road and they’re selling something. Oranges, watermelons, honey… They’re fresh, plump juicy oranges. So good.

 

[zannej]

If anyone sells stuff out of a van in my area it is probably stolen. I can't imagine weather being as cold as it is where some of you guys are. Here it rarely gets below 40 much less below freezing but the past couple of days it has been colder than usual. Got down to under 20° and stayed under 39° all day yesterday. The one hose bib that didn't have a shutoff on the bottom ruptured. I turned off breaker to the pumps but because there was still water in the cistern, it kept supplying water to the pipe. Which was a problem when I tried to glue on a shutoff valve. I had the hardest time getting the cap off the pvc cement (which won't work under something like 45° so I had to wait for it to get above that today). So, water keeps coming up and pvc cement won't take so I went to shut off the main in the shed, but it was jammed. I kept trying with all my might to turn it and then lost my balance and fell on the pipes. Broke off in 3 spots-- below the tee to the pressure tank, just before the tee to the outside water areas, & under the ground going to the house water. Dirt stated falling into the pipe.

I rushed to the store an hour away to get replacement parts but by the time I got home it was already too cold for the PVC to set AND I accidentally rammed my injured shoulder into a tp holder in the bathroom stall and my arm could barely move. I'm hoping it will warm up enough tomorrow that I'll be able to fix it all up. Might try to streamline it better. I'm hoping my friend can come help bc I'm not sure if my arm will cooperate enough. At least I got the shutoff on the hose bib pipe. Will need to put on pipe insulation before the water is back on.

Meanwhile, I was flossing between my teeth and a chunk of my back molar broke off. So, I'll need to see a dentist soon.

On the upside, I discovered that the heater part of my vent/light/heat thingy in my bathroom works.

My friend finally got his ex to get ALL of her stuff out of his house today. HIs new gf (who is a longtime friend and who has been in love with him for years and he's been interested in her for years as well) will be moving in soon. We're just waiting for her ex to not be home so we can go get her stuff without confrontation from him. As it is, she had to block him because he was sending her verbally abusive messages. My friend's ex is now staying with her bf's mother, who is not putting up with any of her bullshit. She made her go to the therapist & get back on her meds because she's a danger to others while off her meds & she can be committed if she doesn't take them but my friend didn't have the balls to have her locked up while they were together. Now she's someone else's problem.

 

[highup]

Shit, that’s where you find the good stuff. You’ll be cruising down the road in the middle of nowhere and next thing you know there’s a pick up parked on the side of the road and they’re selling something. Oranges, watermelons, honey… They’re fresh, plump juicy oranges. So good.

Rollex, Gucci........

 

[highup]

Plumbing I the winter sounds miserable. It's 58 outside and almost 9pm it only got down to 49 this morning.
How long is the freeze supposed to last Rusty?

 

[kwfloors]

Got a call from the neighbors that their pump quit to their well. We were opening gifts but our well guy took care of him. Another neighbor had his water freeze since we were -33 degrees the other day. Now tonight coming home from Church we have like a freezing rain. Drove down a cool road where the firemen put bag lights all the way down 1 mile of road and you can turn your lights off and it looks like a runway. My oldest boy was sick and also his girlfriend so they stayed home. Cooking lamb tomorrow on the traeger for something different. My youngest son came over and we spent the afternoon watching football til my wife got home. We talked about his deployment and stuff, good times. Merry Christmas everyone!

 

[zannej]

It's 23°F right now. I hope it warms up enough in the morning for me to work on the plumbing bc I need to get water back.