What did you do today? - 2020 version

[BritD]

Amazon Smile is mostly free advertising for Bezos.
[mod edit]
but we've been focused on supporting local charities right now.

 

[aja8888]

Busy day today:

7:00 am - walk dog.

7:30 am - Meet ROMEO group at Burger King

900 am - Take DW to a quick breakfast at IHop

10:00 am - Costco for gas and groceries

11:00 am - Walmart to pick up DW's prescriptions.

11:30 am on - Relax

Later - Walk dog, watch ball game.

Tough day!

 

[RobbieB]

Drove over to Livermore to get the 20 lb CO2 tank refilled. Stopped at the hardware for some sheet aluminum and picked up a couple of Ramens at Ramen 101

 

[Walt34]

Went to the drugstore to pick up some prescriptions, then stopped in at Home Depot to get some dowel rods (no particular reason for those but they're handy to have around from time to time and I was running low) and several bags of top soil for some remediation projects in the fall.

Now of course my back hurts from moving bags of top soil.

I found the fertilizer and grass seed I want are cheaper at Amazon so I'll order those online and of course I won't have to move them around so much. The UPS guy can have the sore back.

 

[harley]

Amazon Smile is mostly free advertising for Bezos.
[mod edit]
but we've been focused on supporting local charities right now.

Interesting. I've used it to donate over $1600 to the Chicago Chamber Choir over the last couple of years without ever seeing Bezos' name or thinking about him. Pretty crappy advertising technique.

 

[BritD]

Wow. That's awesome. If Bezos gives .5 % of your purchase back to the Chamber, that means you've spent around 320,000 on Amazon purchase over the last "couple of years."

 

[harley]

Yes, easily. I have a small purchasing business, and actually have spent more there, but I don't always remember to purchase through smile.

 

[Chuckanut]

Amazon Smile is mostly free advertising for Bezos.
[mod edit]
but we've been focused on supporting local charities right now.

 

[KarlH]

Still going to work every morning, dreaming about FIRE. Things are incredibly slow, and I ponder whether I am just being kept on to fulfill PPP loan requirements. Hopefully we will see some progress on my wife's health insurance so I can pull the plug. Dreaming about making breakfast for our DD and helping her with her remote schooling. Maybe I can take a morning to walk down to the lake and do some fishing.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Enjoyed some cool and refreshing rain this AM while sitting on the patio enjoying some coffee from my favorite island paradise. This afternoon, I will go pull some weeds that are getting a little out of control. Need to swing by the grocery store for a few items, but I am afraid that will have to wait until tomorrow since I missed the 10a-11a retiree shopping hour.

 

[Walt34]

AM minor grocery run for some more steaks and minor other stuff. Tomorrow is 32 years of wedded bliss with DW; usually we go out for dinner but that isn't gonna happen this year so I'm cooking steaks on the grill at home.

Also gathered up some soil samples to send to the WV extension service lab for analysis. In WV this is free for state residents. I'm not sure what good this will do since I'm pretty sure the reason the grass is brown is that we haven't had any significant rain for a month and the daytime temperatures have been in the 90's. Even the weeds are dead. The ground is so hard I had to use one of those bulb-planting auger things in a drill to penetrate the ground. I hesitate to apply the honorific of "soil" because there are more rocks than dirt particles - it's miracle anything grows at all. I expect the results from the extension service to be sending back a picture of some guy convulsing in laughter.

 

[Venturer]

I picked up my motorcycle from getting new tires installed. Came home and rewired my trailer in prep for my 20th Anniversary ride in of my online motorcycle club. Helped DW, trim some bushes then went in for supper. After supper I got a message about our ride in-- it has been planned since last October. The location was to be in Northern KY. but since covid many of the plans had to be reinvented. The main folks who were organizing it worked their A** off setting up group meeting places,eating places and ride routes ect. Then yesterday he got a call from the state park which we used to host a catered meal for our group in 2010. They say because of the governor's new restrictions we could not use the facility. Then he got a call from another restaurant that we were going to meet in with the same problem. I'm just really bummed now because this Covid crap has ruined a lot of peoples plans this year. And before I get jumped on I know some folks have died or been really sick from it too & I hate that too. It still really sucks!

 

[Markola]

Holy smokes. I started my “indefinite sabbatical” on July 8 and what I’ve “been doing today” is waking up with, usually, nothing on the calendar. It’s delicious! So grateful.

 

[calmloki]

AM minor grocery run for some more steaks and minor other stuff. Tomorrow is 32 years of wedded bliss with DW; usually we go out for dinner but that isn't gonna happen this year so I'm cooking steaks on the grill at home.

Also gathered up some soil samples to send to the WV extension service lab for analysis. In WV this is free for state residents. I'm not sure what good this will do since I'm pretty sure the reason the grass is brown is that we haven't had any significant rain for a month and the daytime temperatures have been in the 90's. Even the weeds are dead. The ground is so hard I had to use one of those bulb-planting auger things in a drill to penetrate the ground. I hesitate to apply the honorific of "soil" because there are more rocks than dirt particles - it's miracle anything grows at all. I expect the results from the extension service to be sending back a picture of some guy convulsing in laughter.

Fond memories of an ex-tenant years ago - there were three alcoholic buddies. Frank was a mean drunk, Elmer was pretty passive, but John Lizam** was the old master drunk. A Guamanian, he spent lots of time in the jail for driving drunk without a license repeatedly, but he was just the sweetest guy you would ever want to meet. And could he grow plants? Yes sir he could! There was a long time gravel parking lot/driveway next to our triplex and John somehow scratched up or scuffed a spot and in short order had all manner of vegetables growing. Couldn't believe it - squash and corn just jumped up out of hard dusty compacted drive and rock to please him! I'd go over to collect rent - lucky to get $20/visit - and John would be out swaying in his garden. He'd offer me a beer, without fail, and often try and send me home with a bag of produce. Mean old Mr. landlord was just in it for the money though. God love you John - can't imagine you are still alive, but I hope you have a fertile patch to tend in whatever promised land you ended up in - and if the Devil got you I bet Hell has flowers now!

 

[Gumby]

I've been busy harvesting at the garden and then processing the harvest at home. In the past two days, I have canned 3.5 pints of pickled beets and have dried 1 pint of Principe Borghese tomatoes and oil packed them. Today, I'll can some dill pickles. Looks like 2 pints.

I've also been succession planting for a fall harvest. So far, I've put in seed for a new zucchini (even thought the two we have are fine, they usually die off in August), beets and green beans. I'll be putting in lettuce and endive at the end of August. I'm not sure I have time for more cucumbers. The current ones have reached their end.

I dug up and brushed off all my potatoes yesterday. They are fine, but it's a lot of work for not much reward, and they don't really taste any better than the ones at the store, so I 'm dropping them from my lineup next year. I may also drop the artichokes, which take up a lot of space and are not doing all that well (three of the four plants have died off)

 

[braumeister]

I had a nice six pound brisket flat I needed to do something with, and just didn't feel like smoking it as usual. So I ground it up instead. Man, that makes the greatest hamburger!

 

[MichaelB]

I had a nice six pound brisket flat I needed to do something with, and just didn't feel like smoking it as usual. So I ground it up instead. Man, that makes the greatest hamburger!

Party on! Brisket makes a fantastic burger.

 

[aja8888]

Party on! Brisket makes a fantastic burger.

Especially if you have 6 pounds of them!

 

[braumeister]

Especially if you have 6 pounds of them!

Half went in the freezer. But 3 pounds is only 7-8 burgers the way I make them, so not that much.

 

[Gumby]

Big excitement today. I got my first pension COLA - $23 per month. I'm surely livin in high cotton now!

 

[street]

Hand digging in a sandpoint water well. Dug a 6 inch hole 3 feet down and built and 1.75 inch auger that I attached to a 10 foot 3/4 inch piece of pipe. Attached a vise grip and twist and pressure to auger out dirt. I hit hard pan and now I'm stumped how I can break through hard pan. I only got about an hour in to it and down 10 feet but need to dig or drive won to about 17 to 20 feet for best quaintly of water.

 

[Gumby]

I am unfamiliar with digging wells, but I did find this discussion among people who seem to have had a problem similar to yours. Might find something useful in there. https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/can-i-pound-through-hardpan.14717/

 

[street]

Gumby >>> outstanding! Thank you so much.

 

[NW-Bound]

Nice work! It's always nice to see the fruits of your labor!

Thanks.

The sad thing is, my fruits are shriveling under this heat.

Got to the peak temperature at 118F (48C) today at 4:30PM. Yesterday was 117F. Last night, it took all night to cool down to a "low" of 93F (34C) right before sunrise, then the cycle repeated.

I used to be able to run the pool pump off the solar system, and still had enough juice for the water heater. And even after cooking, still had power to run the ACs through the night. Oh, the larger of the two fridges also ran off the solar 24/7.

Now, the solar system is feeding just the two mini-splits (3/4-ton and 1-1/2 ton), plus the fridge. And its battery ran out last evening at 6PM. It's bleak.

It's quite feasible to be off-grid here in the SW. The current technology can support it. And it is not too expensive either, if you have the sunshine as I have here. The problem is space for all the solar panels that you are going to need.

 

[aja8888]

Thanks.

The sad thing is, my fruits are shriveling under this heat.

Got to the peak temperature at 118F (48C) today at 4:30PM. Yesterday was 117F. Last night, it took all night to cool down to a "low" of 93F (34C) right before sunrise, then the cycle repeated.

I used to be able to run the pool pump off the solar system, and still had enough juice for the water heater. And even after cooking, still had power to run the ACs through the night. Oh, the larger of the two fridges also ran off the solar 24/7.

Now, the solar system is feeding just the two mini-splits (3/4-ton and 1-1/2 ton), plus the fridge. And its battery ran out last evening at 6PM. It's bleak.

It's quite feasible to be off-grid here in the SW. The current technology can support it. And it is not too expensive either, if you have the sunshine as I have here. The problem is space for all the solar panels that you are going to need.

Wow, that's hot there. We are seeing high 90's F but with 70+% humidity. And that humidity is tough, but we are not being dry roasted! Great job on saving money on power, and you are correct saying more panels and capacity are required there. Your system would probably work well here with no added capacity.

Last month we used about 1500 kWh at a cost of $161. Next month is the hottest and last year we used about 1700 kWh. Our house is one level, 2,000 sq. ft. and with tree shade 1/3 the day. Hard to justify solar.