Cordless Drill

ARGGH!

The 2 batteries on my 2007 Dewalt cordless drill finally died, so I needed replacements.  The original equipment batteries are no longer available.  So I searched for replacements.  Eventually, I decided I just couldn't trust the replacement sellers.  Doing reviews of the companies, 2 came up "suspicious" and I doubt the others were any better.

So, new drill needed.  I checked 3 sites about the best new drills.  Wood Magazine, Consumer Reports, and a "Best tool" site.  Each varied considerably in recommendations.  That sort of thing can drive you crazy!  You would think ratings from a woodworking magazine and Consumer Reports (both of whom do detailed tests) would mostly agree.  They didn't.  And a "best tools" site might have a commercial bias. 

Reviews of all of the top few drills had many negative reviews on other sites.  It is altogether maddening!

I settled on one Dewalt drill based on experience with Dewalt tools in general, their consistently high brand rating, and some ratings.  And then couldn't find it for sale ("not in stock").  So I gave up.  

I went to Amazon, thinking I had found it.  It had a 5 star rating.  Yay.  Ordered it immediately. When I got the order confirmation from Amazon, I realized it wasn't the one I thought I was buying.  (GRRR).

Well, a drill is a drill is a drill and it got 5 stars from purchasers.  So, I won't cancel the order.  It comes with 2 batteries, a case and a charger.  If it lasts 17 years like the previous Dewalt drill, it will be well worth it.

The old one built 400' of fence, a 2 level deck, paneled the basement, and did endless odd-jobs for 17 years.  That's enough.  Time for a new one.

The Non-Joy Of Repairs - Resolution!

The current heat pump company was jerking me around a bit.  The Boss did call, but he was giving me conflicting information too.  So decided to consider a brand new company.  I tired of replacing these units every 8 or so years! 

I trust Consumer Reports, so I visited their website.  I was shocked.  The brand I have used for 30 years was near the bottom of the ratings chart.  It was listed as below average in virtually every category!  At the top were Trane and American Standard.  

Everything Consumer Report said about both was outstanding.  Most modern technology, quiet, efficient, long-lasting, etc.  Other good news from CR was that the energy and durability saving would pay for the unit in 12 years (less than the life-expectancy of the unit.  The bad news is that it is (of course) more expensive.  I've never heard of American Standard, so I called the local Trane dealer.  

A dealer Rep came out the next afternoon and examined my existing system, estimated the cubic feet in the house, measured the available space where the indoors portion would go, examined the ductwork capacity, etc.  He said the duct capacity was fine, that the indoor unit needed to be replaced  (the mechanical parts of course, but also the fan and condensation-removal mechanism.  And BTW "Your current 1.5 ton unit is underpowered for your house".  Which meant that the previous heat pumps had been laboring both too long and too hard (thus wearing out faster and costing me a lot in electricity).

He sent a proposal later that day.  He offerred a unit that Consumer Reports said was their better one.  He upped the capacity to 3.0 tons, applied a State and my energy co-op credits to the proposal (they simply reduce my costs immediately in the proposal and Trane gets it back on their own).  They will also haul away all the old equipment and install a better thermostat.  The unit can be expected to last 15 years.

Then there was the cost.  It was higher than I expected.  Let's just say "ouch"!  But it seems worth it and I can afford it.  I sent a 50% deposit immediately and received acknowledgement immediately.

Unfortunately, they can't install a new unit until Friday.  And the poor A/C from the existing unit failed that evening.  My house was not designed for good cross-ventilation.  And while it is not mid-Summer with 90F temperatures and high humidity, it got to 80F inside quickly.  I opened 2 screened windows and turned on the kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans, but it stayed warm inside.  In fact, despite it being cooler outside than in, I couldn't get it below 78F.  

I can't sleep well above 70F.  You probably think I'm a wimp (and I suppose I am).  So some history.  As I kid, I grew up in New England.  Staying warm was the whole point there.  When I was 13, we moved to Virginia.  Staying cool there was the effort.  At first it was pre-air-conditioning.  I lay in bed sweating every Summer night.  

After a couple years, Dad bought a used stand-alone A/C.  But he was (koff, koff) "thrifty".  It was only turned on in the evening.  It was often hotter in the house than outside.  We used to sit on the front or back steps after dinner and watch the "heat lightening" until it cooled down enough to stay inside.  I was still miserable at night.

When I was 13, we moved to Maryland (which is not exactly New England either).  Dad tried to get away with installing a 3' fan in the bedroom floor ceiling, but that never helped much.  Finally, he bought a 2nd hand window A/C (again, only to be run at night).  

Couple years later, I left for college.  The dorms had rooftop A/C units.   Later I was in A/C apartments and then a house and A/C offices.  I have not been without A/C for 55 years!  You get used to what you live with I suppose.  If there was no such thing as A/C, I suppose I would have gotten used to the absence of it decades ago.  And houses would have remained designed for the lack of it.

So this week without A/C is a bit hard.  I sure will be glad when the new unit is installed.  

More Computer Woes

I feel like a broken record sometimes...  computer, computer, computer.   I'm almost surprised anyone reads this blog lately.

I mentioned previously that the HD was backed up, so I erased the HD to try and try to restore the most likely "OK" apps a few at a time to see where the frequent restart problem was.  Great in theory, but it is not ( have learned) easy to restore some apps selectively.

I am probably misunderstanding some things, but it seems that some apps won't restore directly, but need to be re-installed via the original download installer packages.  I can't find some of them.  Maybe some kinds of files don't get included in the backup program or I need to change settings to cause them to backup.

They say "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".  True.  I know enough to think I can fix things, but that same knowledge is "just enough" to get me wading in computer fixes that turn out to be too deep.

So I decided the better part of valor was just to restore the whole HD, and think of something else to try.  Eliminating all apps I could do without and or re-download free was one.  Getting the computer to a repair place was another.

I restored the HD successfully.  It took 9 hours.  Not that I had to do anything those 9 hours, but I had to stick around because sometimes the computer asks a question.  It didn't, so I spent the time cleaning windows and finishing my existing Civilization 2 game  (I won).

As an aside, I cleaned the windows using balled-up newspaper and home-made "windex".  Worked well, but finished with more "windex" and lint-free cloth.  And since the outside of the bottom half can be swiveled inwards, I was able to do the outside too. The Civ 2 game got my colonists to Alpha Centuri successfully in spite of all the opposing civs allying against me.  Well, I needed something to be successful!

So the HD was restored about 10 am (yes I stayed up all night).  There was some minor success in that (aside that it worked at all).  While it did that auto-restart upon turning it on, it didn't crash while I used it the next day.  Sounds great, right?

Nope.  The computer case became very hot!  That means death to the HD.  There is no point is trying to have it repaired.  I've gone through hot case issues before and it is never really fixable.  So I am just going to replace the Mac Mini.  It wasn't expensive itself (a renewed 2018 model from Amazon).  I should stop buying "cheap"...

"Cheap" is an old family habit.  My parents lived through The Great Depression and my Dad's side of the family were struggling farmers and small merchants.  As the eldest child, I was taught to be cheap.  Childhood training dies hard even though I don't have to be.

But I still have a dilemma.  Apple tends to release a new Mac Mini every couple years.  I have a 2018, there is a 2020, and I found some discussion that there will be a new one in 2023.  So rather than buy a factory-issued 2020, it might make sense to buy a renewed 2020 to last a year or 2.  Amazon sells them for around $400.  

That's not "going cheap".  It's more like buying a used car to just last 2 years while waiting for one of the good new all-electric cars expected to become available in 2024.  I won't bother you right now about all-electric cars, but one would suit my needs just fine (I do short errands frequently).

OK, I've talked myself into a renewed 2020 Mac Mini.  Will order one tonight.  I have to make these constant computer problems go away!

Birdie Surprise

While sharing the view of Birdie-TV with Ayla a few days ago while sritcinbg her on her windowsill, I noticed something odd.  At the goldfinch thistle-feeder, there was a bluish bird very likje te finches eating seeds.  There's a "blue finch"?

I tried to get a picture right away in case it was an "exotic" but it flew away too fast.  I had a pair of "exotics" once in a front yard tree.  I could only think of them as "small black egrets".  A few weeks later, I saw a 'Wild Bird Seed' store newsletter mentioning that a pair of "Enhingas" had been spotted in the area and it showed a picture.  That was them and they had spend time in MY yard!

The newsletter is a bookmark in my Peterson Guide.  They are tropical to semi-tropical.  Why they were here, no one knows.  There hadn't been a freak storm to pull them here.  Maryland is hardly even semi-tropical (though you wouldn't know that i most Julys and Augusts).

So I thought this might be something similar.  I considered flipping through my Peterson's Guide, but quite frankly, the internet is better.  I typed in "images of US blue birds"  It showed several and one was a direct match.  I have a male Indigo Bunting in my yard.  I've seen it at the feeder several times over a few days, so I hope it is staying here.  I hope there is a female and a nest.

Reading up on Indigo Buntings, I understand they are natural here and I am practically in the middle of their Summer range.  But I have never seen one before.  My guess is that my yard has slowly evolved into a place that attracts them.  They like wood edges and shrubs; insects and small seeds. 

Much of the backyard used to be wooded, but over the 33 years here, I have been changing it smaller specimen trees and shrubs.  I have planted a patch of meadow flowers and one for bee/butterfly/hummingbirds.   The yard is mostly organic (but I can't keep the poison ivy at bay with careful herbiciding).

So here's a free internet picture...


Wouldn't it be spectacular to see some male Indigo Buntings, Goldfinches, and a Cardinal in the same picture?

I've read there are Baltimore Orioles in my area too, but they stay high in trees and I've never seen one of those either.  That would be nice too. 

New Neighbors

My new neighbors appear to be new to home-owning.  I've mowed my lawn 3 times.  Theirs is 12-18" high!  I was looking for an opportunity to ask them if they wanted me to use my riding mower on their yard (without seeming like a pest) while they shopped for a mower of their own.  I mean, for all I know, they are saving up to buy a mower.  When I bought this first house, I was down to "dollars and dimes".

So I was surprised to see the front lawn was mowed while I was out grocery-shopping 2 days ago.  They even mowed the few square feet in the corner of my lawn I can't get to with the riding mower and often just use a string trimmer on (My own regular push mower won't start and the battery string trimmer needed recharging).

Today they took a whack at the back yard and I was amazed.  They would push the mower forward 5 feet, then pull it back, then push it in a different direction, and pull it back again.  I'm not sure what their idea was, but really tall grass is hard to mow.

They stay inside almost all the time.  First, that makes it hard to figure out what the family structure is.  For the first several months, it appeared to be a husband and wife and a child about 5.  But the husband was almost never there.  I figured out that the husband is there when the car is in the driveway (the garage must be full) and may not actually live there. 

And a new surprise.  A 16 or so female showed up along with the usual crowd of high-schoolers walking down the street from the bus stop further up the neighborhood.  I haven't seen her before.  And she was the one who started mowing the back yard in the weird pattern. 

This has become a diverse neighborhood over the 32 years I've lived here.  And I rather like that.  There are sometimes very interesting smells coming from outdoor cooking.  And I see interesting decorations around holidays.  All that makes MY differences stand out less.

These neighbors are hispanic, I think.  At least, I assume so from when I noticed from the mother taking the child inside when the hispanic guys started cursing at some tree limbs they were fighting with (I guessed by the tone of voice).  I took Spanish in high school, and trust me, they did NOT teach us curse words.  But you can generally make a good guess in almost any language, LOL!

I'm outside a lot, so I tend to be aware of my neighbors...

So the teenager was mowing the lawn in a strange way, and all of a sudden, I heard her cry out and saw through the fence she was lying on the ground holding a leg.  The child yelled "Mama, Mama".  I was just reaching for the 4' stepladder sitting next to the shed to get up over the fence to see if she was injured when the older woman (30?) of the house ran out.  But she didn't seem distressed.  So I guess the mower hit a rock and it hit the teenager's leg.  She was up and mowing again in a couple minutes.

Have you ever just wished you could knock on a neighbor's door and say "Can I help you learn how to do yard-things"?  But knowing you didn't speak the same language?

I guess I have to just watch and wait.  *SIGH*

The New Samsung HDTV

Well, the Samsung Plasma HDTV repairman arrived Wednesday.  The Samsung Service Center was sure it was a power supply problem easily fixed in spite of the fact that I told them the red indicator light on the set was on.  Well, OK, maybe the power goes there first and then to the TV components.

And I had bought a 24" Samsung HDTV for $138 to use for the week it took for the repair visit (and to show the rest of the system was working).  Half of my TV use is really just listening to political talk shows and science shows, so the small picture was "OK" for a week.

The repairman instantly recognized the problem wasn't the power supply.  He said, if that little red button is on, you have power.  He waved some gadget across the screen and found a tiny crack in the front panel that caused the screen to fail.  "The gas escaped slowly until it failed".    He arranged to have a new front panel shipped, total cost $1,000.

But the next day, I got a call saying that front panel was no longer made or available from secondary sources.  And that Samsung would call me.

Which they did.  They prorate depreciation over 5 years, mine was 3.7 years old, therefore, I will get 30% back.  Aside from that, I was out of luck and was free to purchase any new TV (or not).

So I read up on the newest 60-65" HDTVs at Consumer Reports website.  The bad news is that there are no more plasma HDTVs.  I liked them; the colors are better and the refresh rate higher than on LED HDTVs.  But the LED HDTVs are better than they were a few years ago.  I set my sights of a particular one (another Samsung - the slightly higher rated TVs were a brand I don't know anything about, and I have all these Samsung remotes, LOL) and went looking.

The nearest place turned out to sell ONLY Samsung!  Well, they have a price-matching guarantee and I had already looked up the prices of the model I thought I wanted and the prices were all with a couple of dollars.

So I was expecting to buy the model from Consumer Reports.  The salesman asked to show me one before I told him what I was looking for.  It was a newer more advanced model.  2160 instead of 1080, many times more pixels, double the screen refresh rate, etc.

I am suspicious of tech advances; some don't mean anything.  But he showed me a special picture on it.  Granted, it was designed to show off color and black background (which creates "depth").  I sure don't know everything about TVs, but it was noticeably better than the same display on the standard Samsung LED  HDTV.

As I said I don't know every about TVs.  But I can follow wiring, and both TVs were receiving the same signal through optical fiber.  Well, if they faked that, they are too good for me to tell.  While the salesman was away briefly selecting the surround sound modes, I looked at the 2 TVs .  The lesser picture quality was the exact model I had come in to purchase!  I had not mentioned that to him.

So I was looking at what I expected to purchase vs one with a noticeably better picture. And I understood why the picture was better.  More smaller pictures equal better picture resolution.  The better TV cost $1,000 more, but came with a 5 year repair guarantee, free delivery, and free removal of the old unit.  That adds up.

I chose the better one.

I was delivered today and the picture is WONDERFUL!  Well, showrooms are designed to make the TV pictures look best.  I know about those tricks.  I watch TV ads seeing the tricks and smiling to myself about them.  But the picture of this 4000k HDTV is really good.  It's worth it.

They tried to sell me a surround sound system.  I didn't go for that.  The Bose soundbar in front of the TV was $700 and the wireless speaker to go behind me and the subwoofer was another $700.  Actually, the subwoofer was so strong, it vibrated the chair and that would have made me nauseous.

I have my TV "audio out" going to my stereo system controller.  My floor model DCM speakers give fine sound after a decade )I don't play music load very often).

But there is an odd effect right now.   I was seeing people speak, but silently.  If I had the TV-only speaker on, they spoke.  Something about the system is separating the audio channels.  For now, I have the TV speaker and stereo speakers both on, But I will have to look at the plugs in the TV control box  soon to see if I can connect them better.

Because right now, If I want to change the volume and keep it balanced, I have to change both the TV and stereo volume, and that's a pain.  There will be a way, I just have to find it.  And I've explored the TV controls and seen many options.  For now, a great picture and good sound is enough.