Daily Stuff

I spend yesterday in the basement.  It needed some work...

I had too many things sitting out that needed to be put away.  I had leftover pansies that needed to be under lights until I get them outside.  I had garden supplies all over the place that needed to be put away in some orderly fashion.

I had an outside plastic watering can that was ruined because I kept unscrewing the top off to get toads out.  Why they loved being in the top is beyond my comprehension, but eventually the screw top broke.

My in-line vent humidifier had failed, so I had ordered a few new parts.

I had 4' fluorescent bulbs in the light stand that had died.

There was ice under the basement fridge freezer.

So I got to work at it all...

I replaced the dead bulbs in the light stand.  I'm fussy about the bulbs.  The best for seedlings are 5000-6000 lumens.  I don't have garden seedlings growing, but I'm growing celery, basil and 4 kinds of lettuce.

I have 2 shelves under a part of the stairs, so I organized them all by type on the shelves, and got my table saw top cleaned of them.  I have a sliding cover system for the shelves, but that is for another day.

I looked at the watering can and decided it might be repairable.  If I cut the spout to allow te spray head to just fit in, rubber contact cement might work.  So I tried cutting it with my hack saw and made no progress.  But I had a 2nd hacksaw (small and designed for narrow cuts) it cut right through.  Apparntly, I need a new blade on the larger hacksaw.

I shook up the rubber cement contact cement as directed.  Applied it to the water can and the sprayer part separately.  Now, understand that when you use contact cement, it wants to adhere immediately.  No twisting or anything.  "CONTACT", right?

And I wanted to move it a bit.  Well, I decided that it could be fast but not "intsantaneous".  So, I set the watering can into a vice, held the spout in position, and then smacked the spout with a rubber mallet!  And then brushed more contact cement around the joint.  I'll find out if that worked tommorrow.

Then I went at the humidifier.  My original one was a turning sponge in a tray of water.  That worked well.  But it eventually died and I tried one that had water dripping over a ceramic honeycomb.  That was wasteful.  It was like a badly dripping faucet.

So I bought a new one like the first.  It was good for several years.  But you had to remove all the water mineral deposits from the rotating sponge and tray water once a month.  I'm not great at routine maintenance...

But it is better than wasting water like the drip system.  So I bought a new rotating sponge and some other parts.  And set about installing them.  What a frustrating experience.  Every connection leaked.

I finally surrounded all the threads with pipe tape and tightened them as hard as i dared.  The floater (that controls the level of water in the tray) was counterintuitive.  A screw adjust the level where the float shuts off new water inflow.  But loosening the screw REDUCES the inflow.  That threw me off for a while.  Because when you put pressuse on the adjustment screw, it actually increases the waterflow while you are adjusting the screw to reduce the waterflow.  The pressure of the screwdriver fools you.

I finally figured that out.  It's working perfectly now.

The basement refrigerator is 25 years old.  It probably costs me more money than the stuff I keep in it.  Last month, I noticed a lump of ice in the refrigeration area and chipped it off.  It's growing again.  My currebt refrigerator is 15 years old and it doesn't recoup the cool temp very well.  I'm thinking of buying a pure refrigerator for the kitchen and a separate dedicated freezer for the basement.

Anyone who has done the like it?

Lots more things to do in the next few days.  I looked at the trees and they have no more leaves, so I can mow the leaves into the lawn when it gets dry in a few days. 

Shopping On Black Friday

Well, I don't.  I hate crowds.  In fact, the only place I will shop today is the grocery store.  I'm out of fresh fruit, lettuce, and milk.

In fact, I probably won't be in any store until after New Years Day.  So thank you Amazon!  No crowds THERE!

I placed an order there Wednesday (why wait?).  My sponge mop sponge fell apart and wasn't available locally, so I needed a new replacement sponge.  I ordered 2.  I doubt they will be available in a few years. 

I ordered a pack of tank top undershirts.  If that seems odd, its because I twist and turn a lot in bed and rip the seams of regular V-Neck ones.  Walmart never has the tank tops in my size. 

I ordered a cheap plastic watering can.  The reviews suggested that most more expensive models all had the same problems, but the cheaper one sometimes had pinhole leaks.  I can fix that easily.  So if I have to repair a pinhole leak in most, cheap is OK.

Mom sent me 2 microwave-safe plates decades ago.  I ruined one recently by trying to cook bacon on it.  The plate was M/W safe, but not "hot-oil" safe. 

Finally, I was watching an episode of 'Good Eats" with my favorite cook, Alton Brown.  He was using a mandolin.  Now, I ENJOY prepared veggies and using knives.  And I have some really good knives (Wusthof Classic - Got it 30% when a store went out of business).  But as I get older, my hands are wobblier.

So the idea of a mandolin was interesting.  Consumer Report said Zyliss had the best of basic models.  Safe, accurate, easy to use, and dishwasher safe.  So I ordered one as a gift to myself (who knows what you really want better than you do yourself, right?).

I have a Vegamatic in an closet.  It works but takes forever to clean.  I'll be glad to throw it away...

You ever buy As Seen On TV stuff?  Sometimes I do.  The Ginsu knives were good.  I actually tossed a ripe tomato at one of the knives and it did fall into 2 halves!  So was a stackable food container system (and wish I had more of them). 

So shopping is going to be entirely online for 6 weeks...  Except food.

Cleaning Leads To More Cleaning

All I wanted to do was clean the bathroom.  I did the usual from up to down and then it came time to mop the floor.

The sqeezie sponge disintegrated!  The local stores did not stock a replacement.  So, I wiped the floor with small towel from a bucket.  And then wiped it again with clean water.  The mats were drying after being soaked in the laundry tub with a bit of laundry detergent.  After they were rinsed several times the next day outside (garden hose and I left them out to be rained on), I waited for them to dry.

They wouldn't.  Cold humidity is really useless for drying.  It took 5 days for them to get half dry and then I just dragged them into the basement and waited.  And waited.  So they eventually dried and I was ready to put them back in place.

But there was dry grit on the floor, so I decided to vacuum the floor with my stick vacuum.  After a pass, there was more dirt on the floor then before.  Oh damn.  So I dragged the larger cannister vacuum out.  That was useless!  No pickup at all.

So I checked the both for being filled.  The stick bagless container was empty.  The cannister bag was empty.  That meant problems.

I'm not the world's best fix-it guy.  But I can try some things by logic.  It took 15 minutes to figure out how to take the cannister suction head apart.  I got the screws all loose easily, but nothing wanted to come aprt.  Which made no sense.  What were the screws for?

It occurred to me to turn the suction head over.  Then the top came right off.  You wouldn't belief what I found inside!  The entire suction head was packed with cat hair.  There was almost an entire cat in there.  And to be fair given the length, a fair amount of my own hair.

I started by just picking stuff out from the brushes.  Then I realized it was far more involved.  I got some pliers to pull more out. But if I had it to do over again, I would have brought it to the garage and used the air compressor and blow it all out faster.

On the other hand, I know more about the insides of the suction head, so maybe it was worth it.  In any case, when I put it back together, it worked like NEW!  Dang the sucker (literally) worked great.  So I did the rest of the house.

That's how things go sometimes.  You try to do a small thing and it turns into a big thing and you are glad you did it.  I did the whole kitchen like that last week.  Started with cleaning the M/W and the entire kitchen was clean 3 hours later.

And I did get the bathroom mats set back in place...

Product Question

I have a 60" LED TV.  The sound is "OK".  I've looked at ratings for sound bars at Consumer Reports and Amazon.  What I can't figure out is whether a sound bar would actually provide better sound than the TV already does that I would care about.

And the price varies so much!  Is any of it worth it?

Pansies 2

So, I had the pansies randomly sorted by colors (and a dozen of unknown colors).  I had the bed rototilled with a small electric tiller, my measuring stick, a large piece of plywood to reduce soil compression as I kneeled on it, knee-pads to save my aching knees, and a sharp trowel to dig holes for the pansies...

The first row was 12, the second, 11, the 3rd 10, the 4th 9, and the last 8.  It went better than I thought it would.  I get a bit better each time.  Each row is slightly offset from the previous.  And I had a dozen with no flowers, so I didn't know what colors they would be,  so I placed them in the center.  You can't get more random than that.

They will grow larger all Winter.  

Meanwhile, I had set aside some for the deck pots.  I planted those this afternoon and even some leftovers in planters to set out front (surrounded by wire mesh cylinders so the deer can't get at them), but it was too dark to take more pictures.  Sometime soon, though.

Pansies

I love pansies.  They flower in Winter and Spring.  Few plants do.

The local DIY store had a great deal on them.  18 pansies in cell-packs for $16.  Can't beat less than a $1 per plant...  I bought 6 flats of them 3 weeks ago.  Then it turned nasty outside.  When it wasn't raining, it was cold.  Or windy.  And then we went to DST, so it was dark an hour earlier.   I couldn't find a good day to plant them...

But then there was a day good outside, sort of.  Up to 54F and not much wind.  But then I realized I really needed to sort the colors out.

My sunken patio is a good height for that, so I spent an hour doing that.  But then I realized that to plant them "randomly", I needed to have all the colors mixed in the trays where I could easily reach the different ones.  Nothing is simple, LOL!

By then it was getting dark.  DST is a real change here.  Exactly when the DST change happens, the sun path is blow the elevated house west of mine.  I get TWO hours loss of sunlight.  It gets dark at 3:30 pm and cloudy days make it worse.  When I get up and about at 10 am and eat breakfast and read the newspaper by Noon, that doesn't leave much of a day.

But I got them planted.  Descriptions and pictures tomorrow...

New Faucet

OK, it was a couple weeks ago, but I'm just catching up on projects sometimes.

The 33 year old kitchen faucet failed. 

I took a look at it in hopes that maybe some washers would fix it, but no luck.

A plumber examined it and said the parts were no longer available.  I agreed, as the parts were in pieces when revealed.

He brought out some good parts.

After some work, I have a new faucet.  It works very nicely.  In fact it is guaranteed to work longer that I am likely to live.   Ceramic valves etc...

I showed some of this before.  It was to show you this...

The undersink is both clean and organized...

Don't hate me for that.  I promise not to do it again...

Venus Fly Traps

Venus Fly Traps...  They spent a grand Summer out on the deck.  Caught all kinds of small bugs.  And I helped.  Many of those large ants that decided my kitchen compost bin collection bucket was a great buffet came to sad ends.  

I loved watched the traps close on them.  But to be fair, they caught most insects on their own.  I just added a small amount for the pleasure of seeing the traps close.

It's not like insects have much self-awareness.  I once watched a grasshopper caught by a praying mantis and it just kept eating the leaf it had until the mantis finally got to the head.  It didn't seem to know it was being eaten.  So I don't worry about the insects the VFTs catch or are fed.  

And, yeah, I have a certain lethal admiration for plants that can catch and eat insects, since it is usually the other way around.

But it is getting too cold for them outside for the year.  So I brought them into the garage to adjust for the Winter.  By keeping them dark and cold for a few months, they live longer.  Next year, they will grow stronger and send up more traps.

Love them!

Why The Washington Nationals Won The World Series

I caused it.  Yes really...  

Yoy know how some people think that if they root for the home team and wear all the team stuff, it helps the team win?  Even if you just watch the team on TV?

I'm the opposite.  If I wear team stuff, they lose.  If I watch the game, they lose.  If they are winning 4-1 went I'm not watching, they get to losing 5-4 if I watch.  The same thing happens with mens or womens Univ of MD basketball.  If I watch, they lose.  If I come back, they are winning.  If I keep watching, they get behind again.

I know that is all rubbish logically, but the pattern persists.

At the beginning of the last year season, I bought a team hat.

The Nationals went to 19-31.  I stopped wearing it, and they won the World Series.  Is that evidence or what?  OK, it isn't, but the hat sat off my head all after and they won...

And as the announcer says "and another curly W is in the books"!

I will continue to not wear the hat next year...

3 Shots

I never used to worry about getting sick.  I haven't had the flu or even the common cold since I was a teenager.  But I started getting a flu shot when Dad was here because, just because I didn't get sick,  I could carry it.

Now I'm at an age when several things might get past my natural defenses.  So 3 weeks ago, I got the flu shot, a newer shingles shot, and a pneumococcal shot.  All on the same day.

I normally have no reaction to shots, but the 3 combined left my shoulders stiff for several days.  I felt like a baseball pitcher who threw too many pitches.  That's gone now, but OUCH!

I need a 2nd shingles shot in 2 months and another pneumococcal shot next year.  Which is fine.

But I think I won't accept 3 shots in one day again, LOL!

Aquarium

I've had aquariums since I was 20.  My first was built of scrap plastic I found at college.  I kept a few guppies in there.  Then, one day, I visited a department store with a fish area and was offended by all the dead fish in the tanks.  The department manager was drunk.  He asked if I wanted a job.

I should have said "no".  It messed up my college work.  But I was SO broke I accepted.  I cleaned the tanks of dead fish for a few days, started changing the water, read up on fish a bit, and made other improvements.

The company fired the manager and the Assistant Manager was promoted.  She saw what I was doing and asked me to do more.  I set up display tanks, breeding tanks, and even a self-maintaining guppy tank in a 2 gallon "brandy snifter" (I stole it from elsewhere in the store).

I set up Betta breeding tanks, kept the regular tanks perfectly clean.  And flunked out of college (I went back and aced all the classes later).  I had a job and focussed on that.  Bad decision but it made sense at the time.  I was starving and sharing an bad apartment with 5 other guys at the time.

Sadly, the department store closed.  The fish company offerred me a job as manager of their top store location, but I didn't want to move to New Jersey.  I left .

But I've always had an aquarium or two.  50 years of fish that come and go in their short lifespans.  I have sometimes become too casual about them.  I'm down to a couple corydorus, a red-tail shark, an algae-eater, 1 tiger barb and a dwarf gourami.

But I have a glorious amount of live anachris plants so the water is good.  Time to replenish the tank.

I want high fin red minor tetras, cherry barbs, and swordtails.

So I went to Petsmart 2 days ago.  They had fish on sale.  I wait for sales; I'm sensibly cheap.  If waiting a few weeks gets me something I want for less, why not wait.  The freshwater fish only live a few years at best anyway.

I got 5 highfin red minor tetras and 2 painted platys.  They were sold out on the swordtails.  And apparently no one sells cherry barbs anymore.  Which seems odd because even *I* have bred them (decades ago), but who knows the economics of breeding small fish for sale...





I just like to see something moving around in the aquarium.  And they give me something easy to be responsible for...

If you are worried that my hobby is depleting the natural population, my understanding is that these small community fish are bred and raised commercially en masse.  I would stop buying them otherwise.  Just saying...