what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by daylatedollarshort Most of our floor surfaces are hard, too, so I think that would work. I hadn't thought to check at Costco. I'll check it out. Thanks.

I got a Neato for in between vacuuming. I think it has one of the highest ratings for picking up pet hair. Don't have a pet at this time but getting a new buddy this Summer. Anyway, it does a great job but you don't find out it's short falls until you read the manual. It doesn't tell you on Neato's web site. You need a good size space along a wall for the charger/home base and unit, think it is 3 sq. feet. The thing gets confused on dark surfaces, I have dark brown rug in living room and dark wood floors in dining room. It does come with these strips that you can lay across a doorway so it doesn't go into a certain area. I thought a high marble threshold would stop it but it climbed right over it. It does a great job in all the other rooms. If the battery is getting low, it returns to the charger and after it's recharged it goes back to the spot where it stopped cleaning. You can schedule it to clean a certain times and the menu is easy to operate. Don't know if a Roomba has the same issues. You still have to vacuum but this thing does a pretty good job for in between vacuuming.

[Hermit]

The thing I didn't like about my Roomba was I spent as much time cleaning pet hair out of the brush as it would take to vacuum. The pet passed away a couple of years ago, so I will try it again when I get my house built. It should work pretty good in the dusty conditions up here, but I don't know about the small rocks that are tracked in.

[traineeinvestor]

And done. After two wonderful and occasionally wacky years, I uploaded the final assignment (creative thesis) for my part time MFA in creative writing.

It was a blast but I have to ask - what will I do with all the free time that is now cluttering up my calendar?

[38Chevy454]

Quote:

Originally Posted by traineeinvestor And done. After two wonderful and occasionally wacky years, I uploaded the final assignment (creative thesis) for my part time MFA in creative writing. It was a blast but I have to ask - what will I do with all the free time that is now cluttering up my calendar?

Write a sequel PhD thesis?

[Hermit]

I've been updating the Sketchup model and floor plans for my home theater. The room is about 22' x 12' with a 3' wide closet under the stairs and front entry at the screen end of the room. I decided I needed to make the raised floor part go all the way to the back wall, so I have to build the cabinets in the back on top of the raised floor. All that means I have to include the home theater details in the building plans and submit a change order. Hope I don't run into any issues with the County. (The attached picture got squished when I uploaded it.)

[pb4uski]

Today I got around to a spring cleaning task of cleaning the dust bunnies from the gable end of our great room. What a mess! I have a nice 7 point whitetail buck neck mount at that gable end and it was caked with dust bunnies. I also have my first pair of downhill skis, bear-trap bindings and leather laced ski boots mounted in a "V" with the mount in the middle of the "V" and the boots were caked with dust bunnies as well.

It continually amazes me that the ceiling fan that we have running all winter collects so much dust bunnies since it is moving all the time.... how do the fan blades of a moving fan collect dust?

Anyway, that task is done for a while. Then I made a small pot of refrigerator soup for lunch. Cold, rainy, windy day here... it was actually snowing for about 10 minutes while I was cleaning the mount and it accumulated slightly but is all gone now. Enough!

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit I've been updating the Sketchup model and floor plans for my home theater. The room is about 22' x 12' with a 3' wide closet under the stairs and front entry at the screen end of the room. I decided I needed to make the raised floor part go all the way to the back wall, so I have to build the cabinets in the back on top of the raised floor. All that means I have to include the home theater details in the building plans and submit a change order. Hope I don't run into any issues with the County. (The attached picture got squished when I uploaded it.)

Looks pretty cool. I sometimes have perspective problems with Sketchup. Are your bar seats offset from the big seats? And is the grey area beside the big seats a dropoff? Or just a blank space? No matter, really, looks like a nice place to hang out.

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley Looks pretty cool. I sometimes have perspective problems with Sketchup. Are your bar seats offset from the big seats? And is the grey area beside the big seats a dropoff? Or just a blank space? No matter, really, looks like a nice place to hang out.

Thanks. There is a wall on the right side (removed in picture) of the room as you are facing the screen.

[davemartin88]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hermit Thanks. There is a wall on the right side (removed in picture) of the room as you are facing the screen.

Hermit, like the theater layout, nice mix of seating types. What size screen will you have and how far back is the front row of seats? Our theater is is 12'x18' and we have a 106" screen with the front seats about 10' away- we find it to be perfect. Our projector is mounted just over the back of the front row of seats on the ceiling which keeps it out of the way for the space between the rows of the seats.

We would have liked to have put 4 seats across in the front row but with only 12' and needing an aisle, just wouldn't work so we have 3 like you are planning. The middle one is mine! Recliners and cup holders make it the perfect area to doze when the movie lags- my son rates a movie as "two eyes open" if I stay awake through it. We ended up with 2 matching rows of seats and we have a kitchen area in another narrow room behind the theater.

Good luck with your house build, hope your weather improves enough to get some work done!

[Hermit]

Quote:

Originally Posted by davemartin88 Hermit, like the theater layout, nice mix of seating types. What size screen will you have and how far back is the front row of seats? Our theater is is 12'x18' and we have a 106" screen with the front seats about 10' away- we find it to be perfect. Our projector is mounted just over the back of the front row of seats on the ceiling which keeps it out of the way for the space between the rows of the seats. We would have liked to have put 4 seats across in the front row but with only 12' and needing an aisle, just wouldn't work so we have 3 like you are planning. The middle one is mine! Recliners and cup holders make it the perfect area to doze when the movie lags- my son rates a movie as "two eyes open" if I stay awake through it. We ended up with 2 matching rows of seats and we have a kitchen area in another narrow room behind the theater. Good luck with your house build, hope your weather improves enough to get some work done!

Thanks Dave. Sounds like mine will be set up about the same as yours. I have 9 foot ceiling, so the projector will not be a problem. I was a little worried about the screen being a little too large, but sounds like the size will be good. I will have a little less than 8 feet across for the screen. I am planning on an acoustically transparent screen because I will need to put the speakers behind the screen.

Using theater seats in the middle row allowed 4 seats. I don't think I will have room for four back row stools. I originally wanted a wall across in front of the wet bar area, but there just was not enough room. Putting the wet bar up on the raised floor allowed the third row. The guest room is also in the basement so having the bar stools and table along with a sink and small refrigerator will work nicely for guests.

[NW-Bound]

The day is still young, so I don't yet know what we will do. However, our motorhome made it out of Death Valley, and was facing the Sierra Nevada.

[aja8888]

NW, nice photos, thanks. Be safe in your travels!

[Ronstar]

Nice shots, NW. Better gas up that RV before climbing those mountains

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar Nice shots, NW. Better gas up that RV before climbing those mountains

And check your coolant!

[outdoorgirl02]

NW - that is stunning!!

[splitwdw]

NW, wow!

[Cassie]

NW, stunning photos, thanks for posting. I went to a monthly breakfast @ Denny's with my walking group. Afterwards went to the movies to see Paul Blart 2, not as funny as the 1st...I enjoyed it as it was filmed at Wynn Las Vegas.

[aja8888]

Added a yard drain collection point to the lowest part of our yard. I guess the contractor who built the place 15 years ago didn't notice the low point?

Also, the sprinkler system zone valves in the photo are not where I would have put them, and I wouldn't have buried them in the ground! It would be a mess to relocate them so they are staying. At least they won't be totally underwater when it rains and for days afterward. Since it has been raining here quite a bit, the soil is pure mud and I was covered with it afterward.

Drain.jpg

[NW-Bound]

It seems people enjoyed the scenery in Death Valley, so I am posting a couple more photos as a free advertisement for this underappreciated National Park (it was upgraded from a National Monument to the NP status in 1994).

Death Valley has the dubious honor of being the hottest point on earth at 134F (56.7C), or the 2nd, depending on whom you listen to. And it was recorded at Furnace Creek, where our campground was. It also has the record of highest low temperature at 107F (41.7C) at night, and also the highest average temperature of 117.5F (47.5C) averaged over a 24-hr period.

Death Valley also has the lowest point in the US at 282 ft below mean sea level (MSL), called Bad Water (our campground was at a mere -190 ft MSL). The water table at Bad Water was only a few inches below the surface, but it was so laden with salt that the sand was encrusted with salt as seen in the photo.



Borax was mined here, and a mule-drawn wagon train was on exhibit at the ruin of Borax Works. I will have a bit more to say about this.

[NW-Bound]

While Death Valley is below sea level and the lowest point of the US, the photo that I took of the Sierra Nevada Range to the west of Death Valley included Mt. Whitney which is the highest point in the low 48 states at 14,500 ft.

So, climbing out of Death Valley on CA-190 was an ordeal for my motorhome, as it was pulling a car behind it too. They did not post the grade of the road, but it was worse than the road going west from Jackson, Wyoming, that I had driven the motorhome on, and that road was posted at 10% grade. CA-190 was both steeper and a lot longer. Thank goodness, my motorhome never overheated, though it had to climb out in 1st gear, and its speed dropped as low as 19mph.

But, here's what's more impressive. The wagon train I posted a photo of earlier weighed 36 tons when laden with borax, and it was pulled by a team of 20 mules. They covered 165 miles in 10 days! What an abuse of these poor animals!

Here are some photos when I made excursions with my towed SUV on roads not suitable for a motorhome.