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Hopefully it will downgrade. The rain can still be a problem for some areas, but hopefully no one will die or lose their homes.
 
Looks beautiful there.
I went to the post office, kept my brother company during his doctor's appointment & chatted with our doctor a bit. He's a nice guy. He was giving diet tips for sustainable diets & we discussed various foods that taste like high carb ones but are healthier. I got on the scale while waiting & found that I lost weight. Then we went to the store. I forgot a few items I'll need to go back for though.
Tomorrow I'm going to bring a friend out to cut the weeds before it gets too hot. The guy who was supposed to cut them has no-showed for a couple of months now.
My sister just got a new house but the sellers took their washer & dryer (which they announced in advance) so I'm trying to research good models for her. Waiting to hear back from her on whether she wants top load or front load. She lives in a dry area in New Mexico so she needs something that uses water efficiently.
 
We survived!

Went without power for a few days, kind of. I have a generator for the house, but internet was down until power was restored to my area this morning. There’s still 100,000+ people without power though.

It got pretty hairy here. Lots of damage in the city but the hurricane changed direction and didn’t make landfall where i live after all. We still saw 150km/hr winds. In the city construction cranes fell over and everything. It was wild.

Luckily, not a single casualty reported from the storm. I thought for sure there would be a couple because dummies around here like taunting death by getting too close to the shore at Peggys Cove
 
What a beautiful place. I'm glad that it is not damaged.
 
Glad to hear you're on your way home, Havasu.

Matt, I'm glad you made it through. I hope you didn't have any property damage. Sucks for the people who are still without power-- especially with this heat.

Things were starting to look up for my best friend but life keeps kicking him in the balls. He & his fiance were letting a 14-yr old girl spend the night & hang out at their place after a creep tried to rape her (the guy had just raped a 12-yr old) but she managed to escape. Her mother is at work most of the time & her father is in prison so they took pity on her. After about a week of staying there she got entitled & bratty. She started making threats of physical violence against my friend's fiance (who is 22yrs old, 5' & weighs 80lbs). The 14-yr old is larger than her & outweighs her by at least 50lbs. The 22-yr old is also bipolar & has a heart condition. She told the girl to leave after the threats were made but the girl refused & continued to make threats. She called the girl's mother who said to "do whatever you need to do to make her leave". She put her hand under the girl's chin to make her look at her (bc the girl was ignoring her) to tell her to leave. The girl kicked her hard in the stomach and knocked her back. So she reflexively threw her phone back at the girl. It clocked her in the head & left a gash on her forehead. The girl then jumped up & started slapping her and shoving her. She managed to maneuver the girl to the door & shove her out & shut the door & locked it. The mother then called the cops who came & arrested the 22-yr old & charged her with felony assault of a minor. They put her in the prison overnight. She's going to be having panic attacks & crying all night. I don't think they gave her the meds she needs. I'm hoping they will drop the charges. Throwing the phone was stupid & she recognizes that, but I'm hoping they will let it drop bc she's bipolar & she was threatened & attacked. Not sure how the touching of the face will play out but I know the gash on the forehead will be against her.

I'm going to sit in on the bail hearing (if they will let me) tomorrow morning.
 
Ok. There was no bail hearing bc the judge took his sweet time to sign the warrant. He has to sign the warrant within 72 hours of the arrest & then she is supposed to get bail hearing within 48 hours of that. But, they are keeping her for much longer without a bail hearing. The warrant wasn't signed until 6pm yesterday but they won't let her have a bail hearing until Monday. They haven't allowed her to make any phonecalls from the prison to check in with her family & they haven't let her see a lawyer (at least last time we spoke). My friend is going crazy worrying about her.

Plus he caught some idiots on Facebook openly plotting to attack her when she gets out. They were trying to get a group together (including a guy who has a lot of firearms) to go to my friend's house & attack her when she gets out. Fortunately my friend & other people screenshotted it all & showed it to the Parish police, got a restraining order on the lot of them, and contacted each one of them & told them that my friend can legally beat the crap out of all of them if they try anything & if they survive they will go to jail. These are grown women who have kids who were planning this. What a bunch of trashy morons!

We did get to visit her before they took her to the prison though. She mentioned that the teen dramatically threw herself on the ground and rolled around pretending to cry before the cops showed up. It's entirely possible that the gash on her head was not from the phone but from hitting her head on the paving stones.

My mother said she can stay with us while my friend is at work at work so they won't know where to find her. I've also offered to go over and sit with her when he's gone. Seeing another vehicle in the driveway will probably deter them from violating the restraining order. I've seen all of their pictures on social media so I know what they look like if they come around. I can take pictures/videos of them & call the police if they show up.

The charge right now is 2nd degree battery- even though the cops we talked to thought it was justified bc she was attacked. The teen was released immediately (after being given a restraining order to stay away from my friend's house) and went to the house directly across the street (nowhere near where she lives) & was grinning & mocking my friend when he got home. It took all of his self control not to go throttle her.

Small town drama... Make me glad I live out in the woods away from these idiots.
 
Work, followed by watching television in the sofa. I ate in between, of course.
 
Turns out we were wrong & the judge had signed the warrant at 8:30am but we were lied to about it bc they didn't want to schedule a bond hearing that day & knew that the next day they could do it was Monday which exceeded the maximum time they were allowed to hold her without a bond hearing so they pretended it didn't get signed until 6pm to make us think she was being detained for less time after the warrant was signed. Friday was a parish holiday but not a federal holiday so it counted toward the timer.

To make a long story short, when my friend went to put his house up for collateral to bail her out, he discovered that the city was claiming ownership of his house under the pretense that he didn't pay tax. But he paid the tax months before & they had been adding $100 a month to the amount they claimed he owed since he had paid. So it was now up to $610. They said he has to pay it all up front and next month it will be $710 if he doesn't pay this month & if he doesn't pay he'll lose the house. but they never once sent him any notice about it. Only notice he got was on a Monday months ago when they said if he didn't pay the taxes by Tuesday his house would be auctioned on Wednesday. He paid, auction never happened, he thought it was done. But apparently they are liars & thieves & are trying to screw him over.

The bailbondsman cut his fee in half & gave my friend more time to pay the fee (after paying a percentage of the bond & other fees). He's a really nice guy. He said he'd never seen someone given such high bail & given such a high charge under the circumstances- so it seems someone has it in for the fiance. We did manage to get her out & I told my friend he can pay me back by helping me fix stuff up & do yardwork at my house once his back has recovered. I'm really hoping my friend can find a lawyer to help him with the property tax thing. He actually has a homestead exemption so he shouldn't be charged taxes at all. At first the parish claimed he didn't pay them bc he was exempt but then saw that he had paid.

The fiance confirmed my suspicions that the brat was not bleeding or all that injured when the phone hit her head. The brat jumped up after the phone hit her & started punching, slapping, and slamming the girl against the wall. The girl had to grapple with her and managed to get her to the door. Brat was trying to knock her down and climb on top of her, pummeling her. She used her leverage to shove the girl out the door so hard she flew right off the porch & landed past the steps. Then the brat melodramatically threw herself on the ground, wailing, and rolling around (that's when we think she hit her head on something & it started bleeding). The brat also stole the girl's shoes-- that was what part of the argument was about. She was wearing her shoes & she told the brat to take them off & give them back (prior to the attack). Brat refused, called her names, & said she'd hurt her if she tried to take them back. The brat's mother encouraged the girl to put her hands on the brat to make her leave- while probably knowing the brat would get violent with her.

Speaking of the mother, she was one of the people involved in trying to organize a group to attack the girl when she got out of jail. My friend pressed formal charges against her & everyone involved. He also pressed charges against the brat for trespassing, assault, battery, theft, & violating the restraining order. But at this point he's lost faith in the justice system bc of how things worked out today.

On the upside, it turns out the furniture pieces I thought had been sold at the flea market were still there & I was able to get one of the pieces that matches my bedroom furniture for $25. I just have to clear a path & move some furniture for it to be put in place.
 
No one has posted here in a long time. I hope everyone is doing well.
Today is AlefromItaly's birthday. Last I heard from him he had a new baby in the house (which was probably over a year ago) & was busy with work & fixing up his grandmother's house.

Since I last posted I went on a trip to see my sister. She just got a new house & wanted us to visit. The house has 4 bedrooms (a master and 2 smaller rooms upstairs and a master bedroom downstairs). My sister & her husband took the downstairs master bedroom. My mother and I stayed in the upstairs one-- although my mother preferred to use the hallway bathroom instead of the ensuite because the configuration makes it easier for her to grab stuff to stand up in the smaller one. The kitchen is very nice & open with plenty of storage. It has cathedral ceilings for the entryway, kitchen, and living room. The backyard is nice although we didn't go out there (could see it through the sliding glass doors). There is a little sort of loft area that they use for their computer desks. The seller didn't want to pack up his large computer desk & asked if it was OK if he left it behind. It's an upgrade to the desk my sister had before so the answer was "yes". There's also a small dining room to the right of the entryway. The garage & laundry room are to the left & there is also a small powder room.

I'll have to upload pictures at some point, but the tiles in the upstairs ensuite are strange. Some of them look like they have eyes on them (due to random patterning) that stare at you when you're on the toilet. I found it funny. Unfortunately, none of the bathrooms are ADA friendly so Mom wasn't able to shower while there. I started discussing some options for more ADA friendly showerheads with my sister, but apparently it upset my brother-in-law as he felt territorial & didn't like people making plans without his input (but he didn't say this to me, he just got irritated & was rude to me for the rest of the trip). He made it very clear that he only wanted my mother to visit & would prefer it if I didn't come the next time. My mother didn't say it to him, but she told me that he can suck it up and deal with my presence because she needs me to help her out when we visit. I get her medicine, carry her stuff, drive her places, etc. Fortunately, she's still able to clean herself. I was thankful for that when talking to my best friend recently. His grandfather is very demanding & constantly calls him to ask him for stuff & we joked that he'd call up to say "Come wipe my a$$!!" and we all laughed about it-- but it turns out the other day his grandfather actually called him for that purpose. The man really needs to get a home healthcare provider. He's lucky my friend is a nice guy (and also somewhat of a doormat). He basically screwed my friend over financially (stuck my friend with several of his phone bills + late fees as well as not repaying him for vehicle parts & not even giving him any compensation for his labor-- not even $ to cover the gas he used running errands for him). My friend lost his phone plan because of it & is now on a sort of pay-as-you go plan with much less data (they had been on a family plan together with the grandfather as the primary but the phones kept getting shut off bc the grandfather refused to pay his portion of the bill-- which would have been lower had he not accrued late fees for nonpayment). A few times my friend paid the bill (meaning he had to go without food in exchange) to get the phones turned back on but the last time it was over $500 & he couldn't afford it.

On the drama with the 14-yr old: Apparently she and a younger girl lied about a local man & accused him of sexual assault. The other girl later recanted (to her mother, but the mother didn't report it to the cops). Apparently the 14-yr-old had been trying to flirt with the guy & was mad that he wasn't interested so she lied & said he attacked her & convinced the 12-yr-old to claim he raped her. The brat used the false assault as an excuse to stay with my friend but the real reason was bc her mother is monster. I found out after all of this drama that the mother was once arrested for locking her own mother in a closet for nearly two weeks without food or water. She's currently in jail for assaulting the 14-yr old. She went off on her in public-- choke-slammed her against a wall, strangled her, and beat the hell out of her in front of witnesses. The brat is now in foster care. Oh, we also found out from a witness that it wasn't the phone that caused the cash on her head. A witness outside saw her get pushed outside (no blood or wounds on her head) turn, trip "over her own two feet" & fall forward where she hit her head on a piece of metal (part of some scrollwork on a column on the porch) and busted her head. But she lied to the cops about how she got the head injury. No court date has been set & there has been no communication from the police since the fiance's release. Unfortunately, the relationship with my friend is rocky right now & they might break up. Honestly, I think my friend can do better & his fiance needs some serious therapy.

On the upside, his kitchen is coming along better. The countertops are not yet secured to the base cabinets, but they are stained and we added a pantry cabinet that I stained on my birthday (along with a wall cabinet for above the range). Found a range hood on clearance & my friend installed it while I was visiting my sister. I brought back a stepstool from my sister's old house (she was going to throw it away). He used it to put up insulation in the walk-in-pantry (formerly the kitchen).

I helped clean the ensuite bathroom in my sister's old house (which she wants to use as a rental property) & I will never again feel guilty about the clutter in the bathrooms here bc at least it wasn't covered in bandaid wrappers & hair shavings. I had to scrub the counter, floor, and shelves to get bandaid wrappers unstuck. There was stuff she was throwing out-- a bathroom shelf (which was something I'd been looking for on Amazon) & a cut-down scrap of closet rod (almost the perfect size for the laundry room) so I brought those home. I still need to clean the shelf more thoroughly and trim the closet rod, but it saves some $ in the long run.

I still need to stop procrastinating and finish my bathroom floor. I don't know why I keep putting it off, but I just keep telling myself "I'll do it later". I downloaded a video that was supposed to be a guide on how to stop procrastinating but I never got around to watching it.

This is what my friend's kitchen looks like on the part with the range hood & sink: mwallcabinstalled2.jpg

This is the part with the microwave & pantry cabinet:Mkitchenpantrystained1a.jpg

Ultimately we plan to add more wall cabinets but the ceiling & floor are very uneven. The ceiling slopes downward from the side with the range hood to the side with the pantry. We were wanting to find cabinets that were the right height to line up with the top of the pantry but we couldn't find matching stock cabinets that were the right height that would still allow enough clearance for the counter appliances. We could only find them in 30"H for the right widths to fit. The minimum height of corner cabinets was 30". So I drew it out in sketchup (although I haven't made revisions since additional measurements were made- the wall cabinets should be bumped down about 3" because the ceiling is lower than we realized. Sketch:sketchupcabinetlayout2.png

This is the walk-in-pantry now that my friend installed the Reflectix insulation we got him-- before it was a cold/hot zone depending on weather but now it is sealed up tight & no more air leaks: mwalk-in-pantryinsulation2.jpg
 
No posts since November? Hope everyone is doing OK. My friend has run in to more financial issues (his debit card was stolen at a gas station-- we think it was the clerk but cameras were "broken" & then his ex committed fraud to claim he was in arrears on child support so they more than doubled his payments & started garnishing his paychecks-- he never missed a single payment but she is a greedy lying piece of trash & screwed him over-- caused his utility payments to bounce & he got overdraft fees & fees for bouncing + late fees). His fiance is now pregnant-- it's going to be a rough ride bc she's so panicky she goes to the ER over a head cold (not an exaggeration-- she had me bring her to the ER over a cold more than once). So, no progress on his kitchen since then but I made progress on putting in a pet door on an exterior door I need to install. Old back door has fallen apart, pet door fell out of it & there's just a big gaping hole letting cold air in.

The door is steel clad & was supposed to be "solid core" but it's foam core so it gave me some trouble with the cutting (battery ran low on my jigsaw so that didn't help). Had to use a Dremel metal cutter to fix things up a bit more. Couldn't use the screws that came with the pet door to anchor it to the foam for obvious reasons so I got #6 bolts, washers, & nuts. Getting both halves to line up was a pain, but it eventually went together & I had to tape the inner half over the steel with white duct tape. Took some finessing but I got the first 2 bolts in w/o too much trouble once I redrilled the holes a couple times. Third bolt gave me more trouble but I eventually got it-- had to wallow the hole a little and angle the bolt to make it go. Last bolt was a P.I.T.A. It did not want to go through. I had to use a flashlight to make sure the hole was clear-- turns out trying to move the bolt inside the hole shredded the foam too much so it was moving out of whack and not going out the other end. When I put it through so I could see the end of it, it would go out of alignment when I tried to turn the screwdriver so I ended up having to use a mallet to tap it through. I'm naming that mallet Mjolnir because I used it several times on the project and I used it to slay several wasps that got in. I think there's a hole in the wall or roof letting the buggers in. The workshop needs roof repairs and some major TLC.

I'm thinking of looking for a trustworthy handyman that does work for a reasonable price, will actually show up, & won't steal stuff. The guy who was supposed to finish clearing branches & stuff from the yard never came back & didn't contact me until a few days ago when he was planning to come out Wednesday to help with stuff-- but Tuesday night his house burned down. He got his kids out, turned back to go get his pets, and the ceiling fell in. He lost everything but the kids & the clothes on their backs. Very relieved the kids are OK but it still sucks. Friend who lost his house to a fire in 2016 knows exactly how he feels so he's trying to help out but he's the one who got financially screwed so there's not much he can do.

The cows won't go in the barn anymore so we need some sort of shelter for them to keep them out of the elements, put down some stall mats, and provide food & water.

My oldest dog (who is between 16 & 18-- can't remember the exact year we got her) is doing poorly. My brother didn't take proper care of her while we were gone (didn't feed her every day-- and I know bc I counted the number of cans of dog food before I left & they should have been gone by the time I got back if he'd fed her every day), there was no water for any of the pets in the house, & she was on death's door. She was positively skeletal. I got her to put a teeny bit of weight on & have been checking on her every couple hours, giving her pedialyte, and making sure she eats. She hadn't gone in to the kitchen for several days but she finally got up the strength to do it today-- she left me a trail of brown "gifts" in the kitchen. She needs help standing up sometimes & she's got a large lump on her chest that is very soft but has a hard lump inside- pretty sure it's cancer. I'm torn between seeing if she will feel any better or having her put down. She still eats, drinks, and wants to be petted so she doesn't seem ready to give up, but she doesn't do much but eat, sleep, pee, crap, and yelp when she wants help. At least she's learned that yelping will get us to come check on her. I just finished giving her a round of antibiotics but it didn't seem to do anything-- she's got bed sores that I have to frequently clean. I'm hoping she'll make it to the new year, but I'll wait and see. I have to heat her food and drink up to get her to eat it now & she refuses to eat dry dog food. She'll eat dog biscuits though.

Back to the pet door, I took some pictures of the process.
Outline marked & holes drilled: bdholesdrilled1.jpg
Hole cut (the steel folded & tore when battery went low): bdholecut1.jpg
Clamped to hold it together while I added washers (purchased after when I realized I'd need them): petdr-clamp1.jpg
Bolts before & after trimming w/ Dremel: petdr-bolts1.jpg petdr-bolts4.jpg
Bolts, nuts, & washers covered in tape & caulk applied around pet door: petdr-caulk2.jpg
Outer side of door before putting caps on: petdr-outerside2.jpg
Outer side capped & caulked: petdr-caulk1.jpg

I took a lot of these while the door was up on it's side on the work table so the red & green will be at the bottom once door is installed.
I'm going to use Behr Marquee white on the door frame & trim. The door will be Behr Marquee Deep River blue. If weather permits tomorrow I will use some filler primer on the scratches the door got during movement & then cover with white primer when it dries. I'll give it at least 24hrs to cure before I apply the blue. After that it will be on to prepping the house for installing the door. I'll need flashing & have to fix the floor under the threshold. But at least I'm slowly making progress.

How about the rest of you guys? What have you been up to?
 
I spent most of yesterday working on an electric water heater, and I’m still confused.

The thermostats tested good, and the elements both tested out at 12.7-Ohms, between terminals, which is close to right for 4500-Watt, 240-volt elements. (Ohm’s law says 12.8-Ohms). I checked all the terminals to ground, and got open circuits so they weren’t shorting.

I replaced the thermostats because I had a set on the truck. Still didn’t work. I was getting 240-volts to the terminals on the upper element, but I waited half an hour and still no heat.

So i bought a pair of new elements and put them in. Now it works.

I’ve never had elements check right for resistance, and not work. Anybody got an explanation?
 
I have absolutely no idea FishScreener. Is it possible the tool wasn't registering the resistance properly? I don't know enough about water heaters, heating elements, or electrical stuff to even have a clue. Only thing I could think of is some sort of defect that didn't register on the meter.
 
81aefJ6J3qL._SL1500_.jpg

s-l1600.jpg

I bought a servo motor and a Chinese cobbler patcher machine, and am put together a leather sewing machine that will sew very thick leather.
This is 2 pcs of 9oz veg tan leather total 3/8''
20191221_052802.jpg
Doing a lot of grinding and buffing on the machine to get rid of the foot marks that you see in the picture
 
I spent most of yesterday working on an electric water heater, and I’m still confused.

The thermostats tested good, and the elements both tested out at 12.7-Ohms, between terminals, which is close to right for 4500-Watt, 240-volt elements. (Ohm’s law says 12.8-Ohms). I checked all the terminals to ground, and got open circuits so they weren’t shorting.

I replaced the thermostats because I had a set on the truck. Still didn’t work. I was getting 240-volts to the terminals on the upper element, but I waited half an hour and still no heat.

So i bought a pair of new elements and put them in. Now it works.

I’ve never had elements check right for resistance, and not work. Anybody got an explanation?

It may be possible that the elements open up when the get hot. It is unlikely both would, but based on what you have said, there aren't many options I can think of.
 
Had to get my oldest dog put down this morning. I really hated to do it, but she was very old & miserable. I kept thinking I could get her to live longer and be comfortable but she developed bed sores & started having severe mobility issues. She kept having to yelp for me to come help her stand up. She'd really gotten skeletal while I was away but I got her to put some weight back on (but not a lot). She got strong enough to start walking in to the kitchen again but she kept falling down. She fell and scraped one of her bed sores badly- it opened up into a huge wound & she was miserable. She'd had some urinary tract problem where her urine was very dark but after a round of antibiotics and lots of water & pedialyte it cleared up. She'd been peeing all over herself so I'd been constantly cleaning her up and changing puppy pads under her. This morning she wandered into the kitchen and fell in front of the fridge and started yelping very loudly & wouldn't stop even when I came over to pet her. I got my brother to help me take her to the vet. We put her on a dog bed so she'd be comfortable. I don't know if she was just exhausted or if she was too scared to move or if she was just resigned to her fate bc she stopped struggling an was mostly quiet on the ride out. The vet told me her breed usually only lives to be 11 and we had her at least as far back as early 2005-- possibly 2002 or 2003 even & she was full grown when she showed up so she was very old. She went peacefully at least & didn't seem to be in pain, but it still sucked. I won't have to clean up after her anymore but I'm going to miss her. I still haven't moved her food bowl or taken her mat out of the hallway. At least she's not suffering anymore.
 
I spent most of yesterday working on an electric water heater, and I’m still confused.

The thermostats tested good, and the elements both tested out at 12.7-Ohms, between terminals, which is close to right for 4500-Watt, 240-volt elements. (Ohm’s law says 12.8-Ohms). I checked all the terminals to ground, and got open circuits so they weren’t shorting.

I replaced the thermostats because I had a set on the truck. Still didn’t work. I was getting 240-volts to the terminals on the upper element, but I waited half an hour and still no heat.

So i bought a pair of new elements and put them in. Now it works.

I’ve never had elements check right for resistance, and not work. Anybody got an explanation?
I just saw a video that said you should check if the element is shorted. While still checking ohms, touch one meter lead to one of the element screws and the other to the element nut or tank. if there is a reading, it has a short. ???
 

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