Well today didn't go as planned! Planned on having lunch with mom n dad after church, BUT, wifey said the fridge seemed warm this morning, maybe even last night, but wasn't sure then, she was sure now though! Greeeaat, on a Sunday, and a long holiday weekend to boot! So it was obvious that it hadn't defrosted lately, and the evap fan motor was not running...this model is kinda known for bad control boards, which I have already replaced once...thought I bought a reman with lifetime warranty, but after looking it up, nope, went back to oem for some reason, crap. Went looking for a replacement online...found a new one on ebay that was only 1/2 hr drive away...and they were home, and available for pickup...score!!! Ok price too. Picked it up and got it installed...evap fan still not running...ruh roh...tested the motor windings...bad...dang it! Went looking for one of those too (should have had a spare here since I have 2 fridges with the same motor...and the other one has went out on me once already!) and I found one on ebay a half hour away...I think it was the same people (under a different user name) but they did not respond when I messaged about coming back to get this part too...oh well, price was highway robbery anyways. Desperate for a solution I started tearing apart all the small fans in the house (same type of motor) but didn't find a candidate...even called around to some family members (pretty sure the fridge that my inlaws just junked a few weeks back had the same motor) but no luck. Then an idea hit...I have a pancake style computer fan that may fit in the cavity above the fan...took a lil rigging, but it worked, at least so far! The only thing that bothers me about it at all is that this fan has a lil higher electrical draw than the original...hope it doesn't burn out my new control board before the correct motors (ordering a spare now!) gets here! Pics proof...git 'r dun!
So I'm cutting the lawn for the third time this year on the riding mower and as I go by the old white oak tree I almost get hit by something white and tan that seemingly fell from the tree. As I make a second pass I get hit again in the same spot. Third time around I'm over a bit more and this time it misses me, but not by much. This time I stop and pick up the pieces. It's an asian pear core and some skins. Thinking it's some bastard squirrel I back up to see the top of the tree and it's a crow. And now it's squawking. SoI start trying throwing rocks at it and after about 5 misses it finally flies away. I always thought it was squirrels eating my pears. I have just stared at them before and apparently they don't like it much as they always fly off. Some days there's as many as ten of them. Some of the neighbors complain about their antics and I think the lady two houses down throws stuff out on the lawn for them as they hang around watching her yard.
Cleaned out my garage Friday and then yesterday morning cleaned out my holding area for might-be-usefull-someday-and-I-don't-want-to-deal-with-it pile that was sitting next to a tree. Usually things disappear pretty quickly from in front of my house, but I seriously doubted much of it would go. But at least it would be easy to put in my truck to take to the dump. Friday afternoon the first two pictures of stuff went out. I figured the 3 pallets would go quickly. Meanwhile, I went to the dump with all the cr*p I pulled from the garage. 3 pallets, gas can no lid, cat litter (from the former neighbor across the street - not a kind I use), rubber mat, and a tempered glass piece. Oh, and that random small piece of plywood. Old metal shelves. Those were here when I bought this place and old/rusty then and I had painted them with rustoleum at least once. and two grass catchers from mowers I no longer have. One of those grass catchers has to be from the mower that the previous owner left as it had been used - I always mulch and don't use the bags. The other bag was like new. Well, nothing left my yard Friday so Saturday morning I put a post on the town's FB page with an honest description of each. Before I even went anywhre for the day, the cat litter was gone. Then I went for an early run to Home Depot (30 miles away) to buy some plastic shelves to replace the ones I was getting rid of. When I got back, the shelves were gone as well as the rubber matting. Sunday morning, I laid the 3rd pallet on top of the other two, and realized that dinky piece of plywood went BEFORE the pallets did. Totally strange as people are always looking for pallets around here. Als0 put out the landscape timbers, took this picture, put it on my town's FB page, and less than 5 minutes later a neighbor drives up and loads them up. We talked for a couple minutes then he leaves and I start on the next stuff. So then I dig out the 16 full-sized cinder blocks that used to be raised beds those suckers were heavy). The holes are full of (wet) dirt and rocks, and again, they were old when I bought this house. I snapped this picture and put it on the town's FB page, the next town's FB page, and the town's freecycle page. I had little hope the cinder blocks would go as I did describe them as probably only good for a firepit or fill. Well, this is getting too long. Let me just say that last time I looked last night, only the glass plate and a couple of small plant pots that I put out late yesterday afternoon were still there.
Going to our friends house for labor day fun today. We were out on their boat yesterday on the lake. I'm making my semi famous pork ribs on their grill. I got the dry rub on the ribs on Saturday evening. All set to do the grilling today. I'm bringing my ez up so I don't roast while grilling. Shade will be nice. It's going to be a hot one again today.
My wood delivery yesterday was to one of my black locust regulars. I enjoy talking wood and fires with him as he really knows his stuff. "I use a rittle faggot to start the fire" he explained to me. Being Chinese Canadian he has a heavy oriental accent so i was 100% sure i heard that right until he said it a second time later in the conversation. I contained my laughter and remembered the term from my Catholic school days. I guess he didnt attend Catholic school!!! For those who are confused look up the term and its second meaning.
Happy Labor Day everyone! And to those of you who are still working (not retired) a big thank you for continuing to pay into social security!
Started on the desks today, but only made it till 3:00. Too hot and humid for any more. Cutting $150 sheets of veneer plywood is a little scary but I didn't mess up any so far.
With these last few days in the 90's, I've been reluctantly using the AC for 24 hours a day. Keeping the blinds closed helps prevent solar gain through the glass of the windows and doors too. Yesterday, we had a dinner at another residence. There was no AC; only fans blowing hot air around. If you thought about it, it was really stifling but the good conversation going on kept your mind off of the heat. Reminded me of all those decades without AC.
I finally turned on the air conditioner yesterday and wondered why I had to do that. It was on for 2 hours before I turned it off. Surprised the house temp raised so fast and it was then I noticed a window was open. If I would have seen that earlier no doubt I would have not had to run the air. So our hot spell did not turn out as bad as predicted. My son left for his home in PA early and when he got home it was 96. He so wanted to turn around and come back.
Yesterday we tied the all time high for the date - and may do that or more again today. Turned on the mini split yesterday afternoon and left the livingroom head going all night. One of a handful of times I've done more than just run it until sundown and then just use the ceiling fan for overnight. Was going to open windows and start the window fans this morning, but it is not really cool out and waaayyyyy too humid to be doing that just to lower the house temp a degree or two by sunrise. With the humidity inside presently at 70%, don't need it to add to it. Late yesterday afternoon I had to do some minor work outside; move a couple of things and do some painting around the back door, and it wasn't hard to remember exactly why I put that mini split in a couple of years ago!
Still plugging away on the desks a little at a time. I'm never doing a job where I don't buy the materials again. I'm way too close for comfort on having enough...had to get creative on a couple things. No one but me will ever be able to tell where I had to glue up some boards, but it takes a lot of extra time figuring out how to do it.
