What's up today (bullchiting) thread.

Will a picture of the endangered Wyoming middle finger flutterer do the trick?

 

If there is one thing I hate more than shopping, it's shopping on Friday evening. The rain made it even worse. Didn't feel like burning a perfectly good Saturday morning though, so it worked out.

 

I thought about running into the city to shop yesterday after work (I WFH). But traffic is all kinds of special starting around noon on Fridays during ski, boating/camping/hiking and leaf peeping seasons in NH. Add in NASCAR weekend, and no thanks.

Mowed my yard instead so I could get the wet areas before the rain hits again today. It has been so humid this week that even though it hasn't rained for several days, my ramp and back porch are still damp. Bare ground is still damp, low areas are still wet, and the drainage area at the side yard still has a small pond (I couldn't mow that area). By the time I got done mowing, at 8:30 pm, although the temp was only 76*, I was soaking wet. Even my hair looked like I'd taken a plunge into that pond in the drainage area . Didn't help that my mower with the forward start assist wouldn't start, so used the completely human powered mower.

Gotta mow the neighbor's lawn this morning and I'm sure I'll be in about the same shape by the time I'm done.

 

"Dwight"

"Dwight never meant to harm a soul.
He just got off to a bad start before he was very old.
Probably only took one quick mistake,
Sometimes that's just about all it takes.

Dwight was a friend, Dwight became family,
He wasn't perfect, but he meant a lot to me.
But I couldn't give him the help he needs,
I with I could, for all the times he helped me.

Dwight had a relapse, lost what he had.
I couldn't seem to help myself, I just got mad.
I said that was his last chance, I couldn't forgive him,
And I said I never wanted to see him again.

Wasn't the first time I did something wrong,
You don't know what you got until it's gone.
I woke up soon after, not once but twice,
Screaming his name out into the night.

I hate to think of him out there alone,
Noone to help him, totally on his own,
Walking the wrong road, only going down,
Far too far past the fork to turn around.

The worst feeling of all was when I realized,
I was just dealing with my own demons inside.
I was also in a real bad place again,
And I was just taking all my problems out on him.

I'd been doing so well for a while until that time,
I did the crime, and now I'm doing the time.
The memories flash before my eyes again,
I'm a worse person than Dwight has ever been.

When I close my eyes I see his face, by the light of the flames of hell,
I'm scared to death for his soul, and terrified for mine as well.
I ran out of chances for him, well do I deserve any more myself?
I'm sorry now for everything, we both tried if nothing else.

I wish I could see Dwight again,
But if he knocked I couldn't let him in,
I've got too many problems of my own,
I can't handle his, though I'm sorry he's alone.

Maybe we'll both get ourselves where we want to be,
Or we'll meet again in prison, if that's where we're meant to be.
Sometimes I just don't understand the demons in our minds,
I'm trying to be a good man but I'm sure not doing fine.

I see Dwight again,
When I close my eyes at night in bed,
I wish things could be different,
Its one thing to repent,
It's another to never make the mistake again,
After long enough you won't know any different.
It's to the point I'm not so much sorry, I'm just empty inside,
My mind is not my own anymore, my body's just along for the ride."

 

You'd like Hawaii. Have a GTG once you move there.

 

Well, I was really hoping to salvage the decking. At this point I don’t think that’s going to happen.

 

Thanks! There could have been some more thought put into it. The overhang of the roof drips directly on the steps. Also having it all closed in makes for no air flow.

 

Oof, those look like the same posts as on my old house in Wareham. Had to replace the beams under the joists. They had been sprayed for carpenter ants, but a little too late, they had weakened the beams. They were slowly crushing/collapsing. Jacking the roof up and then the floor up just far enough to replace the beams without ripping the roof off the house was lots of fun. Original posts were short cedar logs on a big flat rock. Tongue and groove floorboards.

 

This is all water issues from a poor design. The bones of the structure are good. I have investigated on the sides of the posts out of the pic. Thinking I’ll do some fake wrap for the bottom of the posts where the junk finger jointed pine is rotted.

 

Are there real posts under the posts or are they hollow boxes ? Mine were hollow boxes just on top of the decking and I had to do decorative trim on the bottom of each post to hide the deterioration and to try to at least slow it down a little. My deck was higher with railings with 50 or so coats of white paint. The previous owner must have loved to paint. Luckily just trim. I removed a lot of trim paint in the dining room to expose the original wood.
Kinda glad the house I live in now is a plain old ranch plain old crap design house of no historical significance whatsoever.

 

Went to turn on the A/C for the first time and it is dead.
Sigh.
Fan in the window is OK, the A/C would have been nicer/faster.
Home Depot is out already (local) but I can pick another window unit up in the morning elsewhere.
Which means the hot weather is over, right ?

Hard to justify a mini=split when it doesn't get used that often but I'm not getting any younger and popping window units in isn't quite as easy as it used to be. An extra grunt or two at least.
Small house doesn't need much.

 

There are pt 4x4’s under the pine. Just goes to show what you get at the depot or blows. Porch is 2008 construction.

 

Getting the current concrete slab ready by adding 24" addition to it for a new 12' x 28' shed. It is a sweaty mess out there this week. Took many breaks as to the sweat running in my eyes and took my glasses off because I was tired of drying them. Trying to get the stone in place to give it some time to settle before finishing it with concrete.

 

Rainy day. I repaired some drywall and I don't do that very much. Watching a few YouTube videos helped a lot with process and technique. Also, getting the right tape, mud and knives helped. Usually, I just use what I have available in the basement.

 

No rain today but sure is wet outside. Usually by this time of year we are mowing every other week....it's still about every 4 days. Tomatoes hate it.

Got trim done in the bathroom and started making the recessed cabinet.

Smoked some cream cheese and pork butts....both were 10/10.

 

My Craftsman mower (circa early 2014) has not started the last couple of times so I've had to use the Honda. I like the Honda, but it is pure manual push where the Craftsman has the assist. Since I do two 1/3 acre yards, I would change between the two. I got a new air filter yesterday morning (I just changed it at the beginning of summer and the mower has only been used maybe 10 times since them but it was still nasty). Still wouldn't start. It has never restarted after it has gotten hot. I had a local guy work on it last summer and he didn't really help it besides putting on a new blade which cost $80. I was not a happy camper mowing my neighbor's lawn yesterday suing the push mower. With the humidity sky high I was soaking wet, with my hair dripping salt water into my eyes by about the 3rd pass. Got tired of the BS and I had a 10% off coupon from HD that was about to expire. Had planned on going to HD anyway, so I decided to use the coupon to get a new mower.

On the way to the big city, the A/C in the Explorer went out and it started blowing hot, very humid air. Perfect . I had just taken a shower after the mowing, and I already needed another one by the time I got to Concord . The compressor was replaced in 2018, 3 months after I bought the truck (used with 100k on it). Since then, I've only put on about 20k miles and most of those have been winter miles, so the AC hasn't been worked that much. Hoping it just blew a line or something because replacing the compressor is very expensive.

Started raining last night. Have at least 1.5" (It's still dark so can't see the numbers on the gauge yet). Have a stream trying to start up in my back yard, I can see the reflection from street lights in that area.