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I've been playing chauffeur again lately. Monday was a pretty sucky day. A friend of mine let his wife's 18-year-old stepbrother crash at their house for awhile bc he was homeless. There is a lot of backstory on it that I won't get in to, but basically they were being nice to him and he was just mooching and giving them attitude. Basically he waited until my friend wasn't home to go be nasty to his stepsister and refuse to leave the house until his mother was called. Then he stole my friend's bikes and tried to steal another friend's bike. The wife caught him trying to steal the latter one and her husband called him to return the others when he found out they were gone. So the jerkwad threw one of the bikes down in the yard, but he'd stolen the kickstand, tubes, and rims off of it. My friend said if he didn't return everything the next day, he'd call the cops. This isn't the first time the cops have been called on this kid for stealing bikes.

Meanwhile, my friend's big dog gave birth to 7 puppies. His mother-in-law came over and brought her 16-year-old, deaf, half-blind itty bitty dog. My friend told her not to let the dog go in the kitchen near the puppies but she said "oh, she's fine". So about 2 hours in to the visit, little dog walks too close to the box of puppies and the big dog grabbed her and shook her like a rag doll. At first the little one seemed ok but then she had a massive seizure. There was a LOT of drama over that one-- I got to see the mother-in-law have a total panic attack. I felt bad for her because I know what its like to have a beloved pet be killed that way. Fortunately the dog seemed to be ok when I left. I hope she pulled through.

I still have to touch base with my friend and find out whether or not he had to involve the cops and if the dog survived through the night.

Yesterday was more calm. I took my little dog in to town and let him visit the house of my late friend while I checked on the place to see what kind of shape its in. The ceiling and mold problem are getting worse.

Today I get to play chauffeur again.
 
I think tomorrow I am going to take a look at the new garbage disposal and see if I can figure out how to remove the old one and get the new one installed without damaging the sink. Its a tight space so I hope that I can do it. My friend that was going to help me just got two jobs and doesn't have time to come out for awhile. Most of his free time is spent sleeping.
 
Thanks. I'm debating whether or not to mess with it before going to the grocery store. I still have to watch the videos I downloaded.

After I give my dog her morning medicine, I'll try to clear out the sink. I still want to throttle my brother for pouring rotten milk down it when he knew it was the side that didn't drain.
 
Ok. So, I went to remove the old garbage disposal unit and remembered that my wrench is over at the house of my friend who was supposed to help. So I used some tool with a rubber belt and I don't really know how to use it so I kept trying to figure it out. The fitting I was trying to detach was in a hard to reach spot. I wrapped the rubber belt around the plastic ring that I wanted to turn and started pulling. It didn't budge but the ring below that attached the P-trap of the garbage disposal to the upper pipe came off instead. Not what I was going for, but it had the same effect so I was ok with it. Then I tried to turn the metal ring just like I saw in the videos. Damn thing wouldn't budge because its rusted, but I did discover that the entire garbage disposal can now be rotated. Just the damn ring is stuck. I wonder if WD40 would work to loosen it...

I'm pondering just seeing if I can yank the disposal off and not care about the rubber part. Or maybe I can try to poke at the rubber part to see if it will come loose. and then I can get to the screws for the metal ring.

I also discovered that the ground wire is hooked to the garbage disposal but is just hanging loose inside the cabinet. I'm not sure quite what to do with it. I know I can't ground it to the sink. I don't want to attach it to anything that is likely to be sitting in water if there is a leak.

I'll probably go take a crack at the assembly again later tonight to see if I can get it to come off.

Any tips?

Also, the urge to throttle my brother still exists because the stuff in that pipe stinks.
 
I accidentally bent the damn snap ring when trying to install the new disposal. It wouldn't go on and the other parts kept falling. I tried taping them in place but there was still very little room to maneuver. I was trying to pry the snap ring far enough apart to get it to go around but it wouldn't open enough and then I applied too much pressure when prying and bent it. So now it won't snap back. I tried to bend it back and put it on the flange, but it doesn't sit right and when I try to screw the lower ring on tightly, part of the ring pops off. ARG... I guess I have to buy a new ring. The old one was too rusty. I wish they had a better design for this. It's pissing me off.
 
You don't need to spread the ring open. You just feed it on from one side to the other, similar to adding keys to a key ring.
 
havasu said:
You don't need to spread the ring open. You just feed it on from one side to the other, similar to adding keys to a key ring.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I couldn't get it to go on while simultaneously holding the stuff above it in place and not lifting the flange in the sink-- even with the disposal sitting on top of it to hold it down. The instructions actually said to pry it open and slide it on.

I contacted Insinkerator and they gave me the part # and gave me the number for their official parts distributor store. I called that number and was told its 27 cents for the part and $10.95 shipping. Another place had the part for 22 cents but $15 shipping... I'm about to go postal on someone. That shipping is highway robbery. There aren't any of them listed on e-bay. I'm tempted to call Home Depot and find out if they happen to have any spare rings.

Update. I called their help line and they said they will send me the part for free.
 
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Sprained my ankle really bad jumping into a ditch yesterday. At least, I HOPE that it is only a sprain. I am going to get my guys going this morning, and then go to a CentraCare clinic to get it checked out.
 
phishfood said:
Sprained my ankle really bad jumping into a ditch yesterday. At least, I HOPE that it is only a sprain. I am going to get my guys going this morning, and then go to a CentraCare clinic to get it checked out.
Click to expand...
Be well Phish. Speedy recovery to you sir.
 
After FIVE HOURS at the clinic, the doc says the XRays don't show anything broken, but the bruising and swelling worries him, so he is sending the XRays out to be looked over by a radiologist. Have to go back in for a checkup Saturday.

Crutches suck.
 
phish, Ouch. Remember R.I.C.E.-- Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Wrap it up, put ice on it, and keep it elevated.

I dislocated one of my ankles before but didn't go to the doctor because my medical insurance at the time sucked and it was too expensive. In retrospect I wish I'd gone. It was was swollen for quite awhile and I couldn't walk on it for months. It took 2 years before I could walk normally. It could be that you ruptured some blood vessels and it is causing the swelling. I know it starts to throb like the dickens after awhile. So the compression and elevation are key in keeping the swelling down. They may have to give you an anti-inflammatory medication though.

Hopefully there was nothing torn or permanently damaged.

So far today I went to the post office to see if any packages arrived, but all I had was a note from the Honda dealership saying I should bring my car in for maintenance. I did that a few months ago though. I would probably have to take it through the car wash first. I sort of hope that the guy who works at the carwash place will be out there to see all of the mud so it will piss him off again (he once came out and yelled at my father for getting mud in the driveway of the place). I mean, heaven forbid someone bring a dirty car to a carwash...
 
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