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

[Sea Kayaker]

DW and I are really in a groove... this is the first time that we will come home from Mexico in better shape than when we arrived. We have extended our morning runs to 10k - by the end of our route in is really getting hot and we are literally dripping. We usually have some fruit and yoghurt for breakfast... a light lunch... and we will seek out amazing food for dinner - usually fresh fish caught that same day from the Sea of Cortez - parrotfish, dorado, tuna, wahoo....

Have I mentioned how much better "vacations" are when you are not dwelling on a return to work? What a difference.

 

[rodi]

Yesterday was a busy day - started with an Italian test (last one before the final). It was pretty easy - so I don't think I jeapardized my A. Came home and swapped the location of two pieces of furniture. We'll see if the new arrangement works ok. Later had 3 of my robotics team members over for some final tweaks on the project and programs. They go to the regional tournament this Saturday.

Today I walked the dog on the beach. It was interesting to see the storm impact - super high waves, Channels cut in the beach where street runnoff found it's way to the ocean, etc... Nice thing was the entire beach was fairly hard pack - so not as strenuous to walk above the tide line.

Came home and put together a 20 lb turkey I got for $7. Yeah, we just had turkey last week - but this was such a bargain I bought another. Our T-day turkey was smaller and there weren't a lot of leftovers - so we'll be able to do all the leftover recipes with this one.

Also started organizing for our Festa di Natale, 7 fishes dinner on Christmas eve. There will be 16 of us - and I have 2 new recipes I'm going to try.

 

[braumeister]

Annual physical this morning. Passed with flying colors, so you'll have to keep putting up with me for a while.

I love my doc. I've been seeing him for over 20 years, and we have a great relationship.

 

[ChainsBeGone]

Coffee/paper in the morning then off to DW's allergy shot. Lunch followed by quick dog walk before heading to see the Maze Runner at the dollar theater (actually costs $1.75 except on Tuesday's when it actually is a buck). The movie was good, I hadn't had big expectations for it but we went with DS and his friend. Now, settling in for NFL Thursday Night Football!

 

[Hermit]

Just finished installing a CO and Propane detector in my RV. I got a large propane tank delivered and the gas furnace up and running a couple of weeks ago and thought the detector would be a good thing to add. There was an old propane detector but no power to the wires that connected to it. I put the new one in a better place according to the installation directions.

Also finished putting plastic on the interior of all the large windows. I have enough left over to do the smaller windows. I finished skirting the RV with 1 inch insulation board a couple of days ago. I'm just about done with winterizing the RV and ready to go back to [-]work[/-] fun on my house. The weather has been warm but very windy the last few weeks. Hoping the wind dies down and the warm days continue.

 

[freebird5825]

I'm trying to decide what to do today...I've been home all week in the house and have a bit of cabin fever developing. If the forecast is good, I'll venture north to the VFW.

I made a pineapple upside down cake (requested a few days ago) from scratch this morning for the Legion morning coffee crowd. Mr B just took off for the Legion with the still warm cake.

I've been reading up on bonsai. I planted 3 Granny Smith apple seeds a while back. The baby trees are now 4 inches high with normal root systems. I discovered online that apple trees grown from seed will not grow fast enough to be a viable apple tree outdoors, so
[-]torturing them with scissors and wire[/-] bonsai seems like another fun thing for me to occupy my time during the winter. There are all sorts of info sites online for bonsai techniques.
I picked three styles to attempt...informal upright, canopy, and arch (from left to right in photo).
The poor little things are now clipped back and held into the basic beginning shapes with wire loops. I ordered 3 inexpensive ceramic bonsai pots at Amazon, on sale as the last ones in stock. I'll do the regular branch wrapping and root trimming once they recover from the severe clipping I just gave them.

Other than that, I've been goofing off.

 

[splitwdw]

Freebird, Post some pics of your bonsai progress. I love bonsai and miniature landscapes. To practice you can use any "weed" tree and torture away. I teach a class on miniature landscapes and tell the students to use any tree seedling (FREE) they find outdoors to practice on. Since the tree seedlings grow fast you can see pretty fast how the wires and tie downs effect the seedling. Don't know if you can see in the picture that I've attached but I use rocks (FREE) to balance the space while the trees grow. To simulate shrubs I use woodland moss (FREE) and dwarf sedums (FREE from my garden).

 

[Philliefan33]

Day off for me today (aka practicing ER). DH drove past me at noon as I was finishing my run and he was returning from his part-time job that he does to stave off boredom. When I got home he asked what I had been doing all morning. "Changed the sheets, did two loads of laundry, baked cookies, mopped the floor, and ran 8 miles". I think he's starting to catch on that I will not be bored in retirement.


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[freebird5825]

Freebird, Post some pics of your bonsai progress. I love bonsai and miniature landscapes. To practice you can use any "weed" tree and torture away. I teach a class on miniature landscapes and tell the students to use any tree seedling (FREE) they find outdoors to practice on. Since the tree seedlings grow fast you can see pretty fast how the wires and tie downs effect the seedling. Don't know if you can see in the picture that I've attached but I use rocks (FREE) to balance the space while the trees grow. To simulate shrubs I use woodland moss (FREE) and dwarf sedums (FREE from my garden).

I'll definitely catalog progress as I go. I am a total beginner at this. I'm still reading up on the techniques online.

But I am a retired engineer so using wire tethers to spatially balance out the growing tree in 3D will be pretty easy for me. And I have a natural green thumb.

According to some online articles I found, Granny Smith apple trees are fast growers compared to other apple varieties. I am giving them periodic doses of diluted fish emulsion for kick up their growth rate. I have them under grow lights at least 10 hours a day. And I mist all of my babies almost every day to offset the low humidity in the room.

Maybe you could start a new thread for this ? I'll bet there are some other FIREd folks out there who experiment with bonsai or miniature plant stuff.

 

[freebird5825]

I am organizing my outside screened porch. It's raining out so the temps aren't too bad for doing this today. Snow is coming later and tomorrow.

I left a few planters outside on the surrounding covered walkway and haven't had the ambition to get out there and place them under cover inside the porch. First I have to make room for them inside the porch by stacking the planters in there. It all fits, honest.

It's good light exercise and something to do on an icky rainy day.

 

[Walt34]

Stopped by the motorcycle shop to pick up a light bulb for one of the driving lights and they were giving away free 2015 calendars so I picked up two, one for DW's nephew and one for us.

For some unfathomable reason DW doesn't like it. Perhaps because the blocks for writing in the dates are too small? Anyway she wants a different calendar for the kitchen.

 

[aja8888]

Stopped by the motorcycle shop to pick up a light bulb for one of the driving lights and they were giving away free 2015 calendars so I picked up two, one for DW's nephew and one for us.

For some unfathomable reason DW doesn't like it. Perhaps because the blocks for writing in the dates are too small? Anyway she wants a different calendar for the kitchen.

Maybe if you blocked out Rachel and Paris's names she would be OK with it?

 

[pb4uski]

Maybe she dislikes blondes. Try some different months and let us know the results.

 

[Hermit]

W*rked on the house today. The sun set behind a fairly close mountain top. It was thinly overcast. There were these awesome white streaks radiating out from the mountain top. There was one small dark cloud just above the mountain and the bottom of that cloud was tinged in the most iridescent emerald green I have ever seen.

I love the sunrises, sunsets, and night stars here in the mountains!

 

[harley]

DW and I experimented with various chemicals today. Our snow bird house has tile floors, and the grout is extremely dirty looking. We know what color it's supposed to be (off white) because you can see the original colors in the small closets. We tried an Oxyclean mix, a fun baking soda and vinegar recipe (like making a volcano back in school), hydrogen peroxide, Clorox (diluted), Krud Kutter, and Sno Bol (a hydrochloric acid (15%) based toilet cleaner). The Sno Bol is the clear winner, although nothing actually got the grout back to the original color. Tomorrow I'm going to try scrubbing it in and leaving it for 15 minutes or so, see if it makes a difference.

Anybody got any other suggestions? Trying to get nearly black looking grout back to off white.

 

[Gumby]

About a year ago, I had some disgusting grout in a bathroom. After trying most of the same things as you, I resorted to this stuff that was intended to remove rust stains from porcelain sinks and tubs. It worked where everything else failed. Sadly, I used it all up and don't recall the name, but it should be a fairly standard product.

 

[harley]

Something like CLR or Rust Out?

 

[travelover]

About a year ago, I had some disgusting grout in a bathroom. After trying most of the same things as you, I resorted to this stuff that was intended to remove rust stains from porcelain sinks and tubs. It worked where everything else failed. Sadly, I used it all up and don't recall the name, but it should be a fairly standard product.

Two products that I have used that have oxalic acid (rust remover) are Zud and Bar Keeper's Friend.

 

[travelover]

....... and Sno Bol (a hydrochloric acid (15%) based toilet cleaner). The Sno Bol is the clear winner.......

Be careful with toilet bowl cleaner. That is potent stuff. I ruined a bathtub with it.

 

[Gumby]

Something like CLR or Rust Out?

It might have been called Carbona. As I recall, it could even be used for fabrics, so it might be in the fabric care section of the supermarket. It was a liquid that I squirted on, spread around with a sponge and then let sit for a while.

I found the ingredients for Carbona. It includes Oxalic acid, so maybe anything with that might be helpful.

https://www.carbona.com/productingredients/Carbona Stain Devil No. 9 Rust & Perspiration.pdf

 

[seraphim]

Stopped by the motorcycle shop to pick up a light bulb for one of the driving lights and they were giving away free 2015 calendars so I picked up two, one for DW's nephew and one for us.

For some unfathomable reason DW doesn't like it. Perhaps because the blocks for writing in the dates are too small? Anyway she wants a different calendar for the kitchen.

Maybe it's those girls posing on the motorcycles...?


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[outdoorgirl02]

Spent a few hours this morning hiking in the mountains on a snow packed trail. Such a perfect way for me to start the day. Then we build an ice fort with our kiddo, attended a small town holiday parade, and had dinner at a yummy restaurant. Overall, a fabulous day with my DH and DD.

 

[freebird5825]

Today, I sorted out 187 beanie baby toys into boxes by type...and had a blast doing it.

The bears will be dropped off to Santa tomorrow for his upcoming trips to 2 small sized nursing homes, and the rest of the assorted lot is going to the Marine Toys for Tots dropoff point at my credit union.

Toys for Tots has been in existence since 1947.
http://toysfortots.org/Default.aspx

Tomorrow Dec 8th is the last day to bring toys to the collection points.
You can find a local drop off location using this website.
Marine Toys For Tots Foundation

I love doing this for the holidays. I have no children so it puts me in the holiday spirit to donate toys to such a wonderful program.

Before anyone nominates me for sainthood ....I kept a set of matching bright cobalt blue bears in 3 different sizes for my own teddy bear collection.

 

[bbbamI]

Well, it's official...I can wear the smallest clothing I have in my closet...things I've kept for years. Was even able to wear a tee shirt I bought at a nightclub when DH and I were dating....38 years ago.

I still have a little 'weighs' to go tho...as everything seems to have moved south since 1976.

 

[Moemg]

Well, it's official...I can wear the smallest clothing I have in my closet...things I've kept for years. Was even able to wear a tee shirt I bought at a nightclub when DH and I were dating....38 years ago.

I still have a little 'weighs' to go tho...as everything seems to have moved south since 1976.

Congratulations & why did you still have a t shirt from 38 years ago ?