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Post by Phalon on Mar 5, 2016 8:39:07 GMT -6
Yep, that's part of the plan. Up until now, all the electrical upgrades were done piecemeal. The house was built before electricity was even invented. When we moved in there were actually two electric boxes next to one another. The downstairs was on a circuit-breaker box. The upstairs used old tube and knob wiring that ran to a box with glass fuses that blew quite often. We put in central air, had the tube and knob wiring disconnected (though some of it still remains within the walls because it can't be fished through the plaster and lathe), and everything wired into one box. Only BP's room though, which we gutted completely, is up to current standard code with outlets every so many feet; all the other rooms upstairs only have one outlet. Though the wiring downstairs was more modern, it's still not quite right; things don't loop like they should. I think it was a DIY job by Mr. Fix-It, who lived in the house for 50 years, and did all kinds of strange updates.
When it's all done, everything will be code...if it ever gets done. Electrician cancelled again - we were second on the schedule for yesterday, but they were still at the first job - what the electrician called "the house from hell". Meanwhile, we are stuck in purgatory.
They got the name lupine because of wolf-like growing characteristics; they grow in "packs", and because they typically grow in infertile soil where not much else will, the ancients thought they "robbed" the soil of nutrients, like wolves rob herders of their flock.
We have no delusions that this is going to be anything less than a nightmare.
That's kind of a rude question, don't you think? But no. I am getting a closet though!
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Post by stepper on Mar 5, 2016 13:07:23 GMT -6
Congratulations on the closet.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 8, 2016 7:27:34 GMT -6
I'm excited! As large as this house is (not huge, just a comfortable size) it is woefully lacking in closet/storage space, except for the basement. Mom said that during the era that the house was built, people often only had a few articles of clothing they wore during the week, and their "Sunday Best". That's pretty evident from the size of the bedroom closets - they're only as wide as my shoulders. We're also getting a big coat closet in the mudroom (there aren't any coat closets anywhere in the house). No more hooks with coats and jackets hung three deep on them!
The electricians were here all day yesterday. They redid all the wiring in the living room, redid "my office" and put an additional outlet in there, as well as another outlet in the downstairs bath. They'll be back later in the week to do the dining room, mudroom, and possibly the kitchen, though they might wait on the latter until the ceiling is redone.
It's all been a long time coming. Exciting stuff.
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Post by stepper on Mar 8, 2016 22:35:00 GMT -6
Our home in NJ had a coat closet next to the front door, and all the bedrooms had a decent closet (as opposed to a small square box that many homes called a closet), plus a basement and an attic which were both good for having lots of additional space.
Here, they have no idea how to make an attic with space for storage, and there are no basements because the ground shifts way too much. The house came with a coat closet by the front door - it's a bit bigger than a box but not by much - the master bedroom has a lot of closet space (technically it has three closets all of which have a good amount of space) - and one of the bedrooms has a good one - the second bedroom was built to be a nursery so half the closet is shelving and the other half is one of those box sized closets. The thing is, with no basement or useable attic space, there's no place to store "stuff" like a Christmas tree and boxes of decorations and lights, other holiday stuff, etc. The only thing left is the garage. There is space for the cycle, but no space for the truck. And down here, quite a few of the garages are converted into additional living space. I can't imagine how they stow things away. Sometimes I have to admit the problem is me - I have too much stuff.
It'll feel like a whole new house. You just did the roof and now having all the interior redone too! Maybe you'll get really lucky and find a Superman #1 stuffed in the wall as insulation - now that'd be a find! What’s next? A finished basement?
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Post by Phalon on Mar 9, 2016 7:31:23 GMT -6
One of the great things about Mom's house was all the storage. You heard about the attic, but there was also a full-sized basement with two fruit cellars, and a huge walk-in closet under the stairs (all of which was really unnecessary because they used the entire basement as storage), and a 2 1/2 car garage. Two full-sized coat closets, one in the foyer by the front door, and the other in the mud-hall; each bedroom had a full-sized closet also. The coolest thing though were all the built-ins in that house - wall pocket shelving and cabinets all over the place, and OMG - the full bathroom! There was more closet/storage space in that single room than in my entire kitchen (which is actually quite large). The builder of the time was quite famous in the area for all the extras his houses included.
You've got three bedrooms, and just the two of you, yes? I'd make the smallest bedroom into a storage room. My brother Mike's house sounds similar to yours - no basement, no attic, and his garage was only a 1 1/2 car. He had four bedrooms though, and converted one into a good sized storage room with shelving units on every wall.
I dunno...I'm thinking we need to get the entire house, inside and out, covered in thick layers of bubble-wrap, and a custom-made accident proof suit for Hubs.
Stepped outside last night to put something back in the garage before going to bed. Rolled his ankle and broke it. We left ER after three hours with a temporary cast, and we're off to the orthopedic guy this morning for something more rigid and a boot. Hopefully no surgery - ER doc was pretty sure of that, but couldn't guarantee it.
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 9, 2016 19:44:33 GMT -6
Ouch! Sorry to hear that. Hope the ER doc was right.
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Post by stepper on Mar 9, 2016 21:38:41 GMT -6
First off, I hope he recovers quickly with no residual difficulties.
Second, only three hours? Wow! That's actually pretty quick - especially since he wasn't holding on to a limb that needed reattached or being there because he'd been shot.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 10, 2016 7:48:33 GMT -6
It went well at the doc's yesterday - he said 'if you're going to break an ankle, this is the best way possible to do it'. He broke the tip off the bone on the outside; the inside ankle isn't compromised at all. They put him in one of those boot casts - the thing is pretty nifty actually. It's like a giant ski boot with an air pump that can be released or pumped to keep the ankle immobile. There's still a lot of pain and swelling, and he's not supposed to put any weight on it at all for 2 weeks, so he's using crutches. If all looks good after that, he'll wear the boot for an additional 4 weeks, but can lose the crutches.
This was his "good ankle". He broke the other one when he was in his early twenties, and it still gives him difficulty at times.
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Post by stepper on Mar 10, 2016 20:32:25 GMT -6
Tell him lock his elbows. If he carries his weight on the area of his shoulders/arm pits he’s going to give himself sores. And I’d strongly suggest pads for both the tops and hand bars of the crutches. Most pharmacies will sell those.
Good thing this is after the big wet snow huh!
Double compound fracture from ice skating when I was in 8th grade. I know about being reminded of past indiscretions. Broke both bones in my leg with a fracture above the breaks. I ended up with 55 pounds of plaster. And a leg that was 1.5” shorter than the other one.
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Post by stepper on Mar 11, 2016 22:30:37 GMT -6
Remember how I keep saying that I haven't seen a robin in years? The local weather guesser was talking about his home located in the NW corner of the county - and in passing he mentioned his robins were still around.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 12, 2016 7:47:39 GMT -6
I was probably close to that age when I "suffered" from the only broken bone I've ever had...a broken pinkie. I didn't even know I broke it; I just thought it was sprained or jammed. When it was healed though, I ended up with a very crooked finger - crooked enough that it concerned Mom, who took me to the doctor, and BAP! He re-broke it with a little hammer, and taped it to my other finger. It's still a little crooked - if I hold my hand flat with all the fingers together, my pinkie swerves a little away from the others, and there's a little knot on its knuckle.
The whole incident was so minuscule it doesn't qualify for one of those "when I was a kid..." horrific "war story" injuries that people retell - Hubs has lots of those!
I've been hearing the robins sing for a couple of weeks now, but haven't seen any until yesterday (except for the flock that was in Xena Sis's yard mid-winter); it seemed like everywhere I went, there was a robin. Aside from the first robin of spring, which is always a big deal, I've never thought of them as being anything special. They're as common here in every season but winter, as mud.
Have you ever tried putting out fruit to attract them to your yard? They like cut up apples, grapes, raisins, dried cranberries and such.
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Post by stepper on Mar 12, 2016 15:56:10 GMT -6
Euw Euw Euw! The idea of intentionally allowing someone to BAP me hard enough to break something makes me cringe.
I have only one, but like the Everlasting Gob Stopper, one was enough.
They were a favorite for mom. Several of them nested in a huge cedar tree right behind our house and it seemed that at least a couple of them over wintered there. Mom had us put up a feeder on the other side of the driveway directly across from the kitchen window. That way she could watch them all year. Somehow she was partial to having them show up all year - especially when it had snowed. Maybe she liked the red in contrast to the white. We had a white birch tree there too and sometimes they'd perch there. For her it was a winter treat - no matter how ugly life got she could always count on the robins showing up and singing.
Unfortunately, the evil thieving black hearted squirrels are fond of that stuff too. And since they are already in the neighborhood...
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Post by Phalon on Mar 13, 2016 8:11:52 GMT -6
I don't know if Dad had a particular fondness for robins, but every year on April Fool's Day, his 'joke' would be that he saw a robin. When we were little, we'd run to the window to look, and of course, there'd be no robin. Back then it was unusual to see them as early as April; now it'd be weird not to see them by April 1st. It's still very unusual to see them in winter, but the last few years there has been a flock in this area that you hear about that hasn't migrated. Robins, btw, are Michigan's state bird.
If you ever want to feed the birds, but don't want to attract every squirrel within a five mile radius, just douse whatever it is you're putting out with hot sauce, ground cayenne pepper, or anything with capsaicin. Birds don't even notice it, but squirrels won't come near it (once they taste test).
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Post by stepper on Mar 13, 2016 20:36:19 GMT -6
I haven't been fond of practical jokes for a long time, but when I was young mom would let me call grand mom who'd play along as if she didn't know it was me. I got to do one of two: the ole "Is your refrigerator running?" or "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?" I remember thinking the punch line was really funny.
I had to look up the state bird for Texas. Turns out it's the Northern Mockingbird which was chosen as the state bird because they have extraordinary vocal abilities; they can sing up to 200 songs, including the songs of other birds, insect and amphibian sounds, even an occasional mechanical noise. The northern mockingbird is also the state bird of Florida, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi.
I'll try it. Thanks for the idea.
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Post by Spock on Mar 14, 2016 2:07:59 GMT -6
As a teen, I was sitting in the back seat of a car while others were getting in the front. For some reason I had my hand on the post through the open window, not even thinking about what would happen when the person finally got in and closed the door.
Surprisingly, I calmly requested they open the door again but when they didn't understand what had happened quickly enough, I started yelling at them to, "Open the F-ing door" ...
The closing door caught the three middle fingers of my right hand when it closed. I don't know how much room there was but it was extremely uncomfortable.
That's not my worst story though. Years later I was home alone putting up paneling in a family room of our house in New Mexico. I don't remember the exact year but I was in my mid-20's.
For some reason I wanted to see what the maximum extension was on the sabre saw bit I was using. Holding it in my left hand, I used my right thumb to extend the chuck. When it got to it's maximum extension, it wouldn't travel any further, so the entire body of the saw moved. Unfortunately, my finger was over the trigger ...
For a fraction of a second, my thumb was the minimum distance, which wasn't very much. To this day, I can still see the scar on the tip of my thumb and the tip of the bone if splayed and flattened.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 14, 2016 6:33:38 GMT -6
Northern Mockingbirds, I think are quite pretty and very cool, but OMG!, they can be incessant vocally. When we lived in Kentucky, one took up residence in a huge lilac right outside our bedroom window. Did you know they sing at night? At least this one did, although I wouldn't call its vocal arrangements singing. Its favorite songs were dogs barking, cats meowing, and lawnmowers mowing. Even with the windows closed, it was loud enough to keep us up some nights!
LMAO, Spock, only because I did the exact same thing when I was a teenager, right down to calmly asking someone to open the door and then when no one heard me, repeating my request by saying, still quite calm but much louder and with a lot more emphasis, "OPEN...THE... F***ING...DOOR." Even my same three fingers were smashed...they were kind of flattened actually, though amazingly nothing was broken.
I think it's kinda funny also, that both your stories contain that phrase. We never quite know why we do the things we do that end poorly; if we thought them through, of course we'd never do them. Hhmmm. Or would we?
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Post by stepper on Mar 14, 2016 19:19:47 GMT -6
No I didn't, but I can say that many mornings when I go to work I can hear birds in the neighborhood "singing" - and it's always dark when I go to work. But, I've never heard anything other than what I'd call normal bird sounds.
I think we wouldn't, but that's mostly because the disasters are almost always spur of the moment things. If we thought them through it'd be too late for those things to happen. Of course, if we thought them through, we wouldn't be talking about when we were teenagers.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 15, 2016 5:55:14 GMT -6
Personally, I was talking about one incident out of the many of those teenage moments, but the 'for some reasons' never ended; I still have those 'WTF was I thinking' moments. Eh. It sometimes works, though. If you thought every thing through thoroughly, or never took a chance in the spur of the moment, life would be pretty boring.
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Post by stepper on Mar 15, 2016 19:40:09 GMT -6
Well, yeah, okay. I just chalked those up to the fact that I'm a guy who mentally writes programs while I'm walking around. That's the most logical explanation, right? But for some reason, things keep happening.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 19, 2016 7:26:52 GMT -6
Nope. Absolutely not. "For some reason" defies any logical explanations.
HA! You know what that means, don't you? Mr. Logic Himself, Spock, isn't completely as logical as he claims.
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Post by Spock on Mar 19, 2016 10:35:38 GMT -6
... I had to look up the state bird for Texas. ... I lived in central Florida for a number of years. I don't care what the Internet indicates, I'm fairly sure that the actual State Bird for Florida is the Mosquito. We used to have to wear lead diving weights to keep from getting carried off ...
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Post by Phalon on Mar 19, 2016 14:02:39 GMT -6
Adrian found her forever home!!!!
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Post by stepper on Mar 19, 2016 18:27:33 GMT -6
Congratulations! It's nice to know all your efforts paid off. I'm not so sure. In Spock's world if you have reason, you must also allow for anti-reason. Because for some reason, that makes sense. Spock I heard a theory that the real reason pterodactyls died off was starvation - they couldn't compete with those Florida mosquitoes which are believed to be the spawn of Satan.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2016 6:45:23 GMT -6
I doubt that me and BP walking her for 20 minutes once a week had much, if anything, to do with her overcoming her fear of people. There are so many dedicated volunteers who spend hours a day with these dogs. When Adrian first came to the shelter, a woman volunteer would go into her kennel, and just sit with her, talking soothingly, until eventually the dog got comfortable enough to crawl into the woman's lap, and fall asleep. It was actually quite amazing to see the transformation week by week of this poor abused dog. The last time we walked her before she got adopted, she was wagging her tail, and prancing in comparison with when she first came in, and had her tail tucked between her legs.
I think many states lay claim to the mosquito as their State Bird - in addition to Florida, there's Minnesota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Louisiana...and Alaska.
Weird bit of history: Alaska used to practice execution by mosquito. The criminal would be stripped, and sent to float in a canoe on the Yukon river. The mosquito population is so thick, that if he didn't die of suffocation from inhaling mosquitoes, he'd die of blood loss.
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Post by Phalon on Mar 21, 2016 14:19:01 GMT -6
More good news - Momma goes to her new home on Friday!
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Post by stepper on Mar 21, 2016 18:07:59 GMT -6
You may not deserve ALL of the credit, but you can't say you deserve none of the credit. You both committed your time and effort which is more than what many others have done.
See? You have a magic touch and all the doggies you help will be better for it.
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Post by stepper on Mar 27, 2016 18:32:17 GMT -6
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Post by Mini Mia on Mar 27, 2016 21:52:30 GMT -6
Happy Easter!
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Post by Phalon on Mar 28, 2016 7:02:59 GMT -6
Happy Monday to all!!! I meant to wish everyone a Happy Easter, as well as Stepper's Mom's Birthday, but unfortunately never got back to posting. You'd mentioned earlier, Step, that you were getting flowers for her birthday - did you, and did she have a favorite?
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Post by stepper on Mar 28, 2016 20:14:57 GMT -6
I don't know that she had 'a' favorite, but I can tell you she loved the purple spring hyacinths - maybe because they seemed to be the first to come up and that meant Spring. She made a flower bed that stretched nearly the length of the back of the house and planted it all tulips. She had tons of tulips - all colors. And she liked red roses; when she died my uncle asked me to be sure to pin a just budding red rose in her casket. (He had it ready and I did the deed.) The white carnations are because that's what I like. I sent Bro-1 a check and he saw to it they were delivered in time for her birthday.
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