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

[harley]

It snows pretty heavily in these parts, so each fall I make sure I am well stocked on all fronts. Why battle the snow to go to the grocery store ?

Just be careful as you get older, and possibly crazier. My mother, who lived in the boonies and could easily get snowed in, was always bragging about how well stocked her pantry was for emergencies. After she passed, DD got the job of emptying it, with the plan of giving any unexpired stuff to the local food pantry. Well, we didn't give them much. Most of it was well expired, and two of the cans exploded in DD's hand, covering it with black stinky goo. She's a good daughter, taking one for the team.

We found a few cans that had expired in 1998 (this was last fall).

I'm sure your pantry is well organized, with the stock being constantly rotated and all. It just blew me away when I saw hers. getting old cansuck, that's for sure.

 

[Walt34]

Most of it was well expired, and two of the cans exploded in DD's hand, covering it with black stinky goo. She's a good daughter, taking one for the team

That sounds like my Mom. She grew up in the Great Depression and had some hard times. They never had to stand in bread lines but there were times they were only a few days away from that. That had an effect on her for life.

The basement had cans and cans of food in it, almost enough to fill a car trunk. When she moved most of it was expired and a few were swelling but none exploded on us.

 

[MBAustin]

I truly was not intending to induce pantry envy among the nice folks here!

It was a nice pantry when we bought the house, but as part of the remodeling, we removed the big clunky fixed shelves and replaced them with adjustable bracket shelving, and also widened the door from 24" to 36". The door change was to accommodate DH's wheelchair, but it had the extra effect of making everything much more visible and accessible.

Today DH and I took Skittles (new dog) out for a practice walk since I'll be out of town next week for several days. Skittles isn't doing so well walking with the wheelchair so we have a call in for some dog training help. May need to get a dog walker to come in for a few days until we can get him trained.

Took Skittles over to see my friend who is recuperating from surgery and when we got home, realized he really needed a bath. Had no idea how he would react, but fortunately he was his normal calm self - sat in the kitchen sink while I lathered him up and rinsed him off. He's a great little dog!

Drove DH to the gym and worked on flight options for DD for Christmas. Off now to prayer group and choir practice.

 

[NW-Bound]

My pantry is smaller than MBAustin's, so I built more shelves in the utility room for more storage.

I won't count cans and jars to compare, but have a lot more than the amount of food shown in the above photo.

If one believes in reincarnation, he will say that perhaps we died of hunger in our past life, hence now hoard food. But I do go through it every so often to rotate and have not had a swollen can.

 

[Taxman59]

walked past this restaurant in Cleveland while visiting DM. Seemed appropriate for this group!


Have the day you deserve, and let Karma sort it out.

Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[REWahoo]

A few minutes ago a passing thunderstorm blessed me with a lightning strike. Blew out my home alarm system, wireless internet radio and DirecTV receiver. Still looking for other damage. I'm posting this from my phone....

 

[rodi]

Yikes, REWahoo! I hope that's the extent of your damage.

 

[pb4uski]

We have a deep and narrow pantry (38" wide and ~6' deep that we access from a 30" swing door at one end) and we still don't quite know what to do with it. It was just a small space in the floor plan that we didn't want to see go to waste. Right now, it has 16" deep shelving along the back wall and we have hooks along the sides where we hang raincoats, brooms, etc.

The best alternative I can think of is re-doing the shelving to have deeper shelves that roll out to be able to access things on the back of the shelves or perhaps a 37" diameter floor to ceiling roundtable of shelves (like in some corner kitchen cabinets) that would improve the storage.

The problem is that the pantry is so narrow and deep.

We currently have our laundry downstairs but I do have in the back of my mind to convert the pantry to a laundry if we get to the point that we can no longer negotiate the stairs as there is a power room on the back side of the pantry wall so access to plumbing would be pretty easy.

 

[rodi]

Took the dog for his morning beach walk. Marveled at the surfers who were there participating in the International Adaptive Surfing Competition. (I don't have good enough balance to surf with 2 legs - I can't imagine doing it with a prosthetic leg - but these guys and gals were AMAZING.)

Came home cleaned the house. Found more ants. (We are seriously infested despite my extensive cleaning/putting out traps/etc.) I am so over them.

Had a former roommate call to pitch a company/service she's selling. Interesting concept but it's a monthly subscription and isn't in my budget. While on the phone with her, got a phonecall from the school nurse... (Cue dramatic music)... my younger son injured himself at lunch today. Possible sprain on the top of his foot. Nurse doesn't think it's broken since he could bear weight.

I am over these injuries from my boys. Over and done!

 

[braumeister]

A few minutes ago a passing thunderstorm blessed me with a lightning strike. Blew out my home alarm system, wireless internet radio and DirecTV receiver. Still looking for other damage. I'm posting this from my phone....

Be glad it was only that.
I had a friend once who was using his amateur radio when his antenna got hit by lightning.
Knocked him through the back wall of his shack (just drywall, thankfully) but he got a concussion and a broken rib out of it.

Thunderstorms are far more dangerous than most people realize (although I'm sure you're well aware of it).

 

[braumeister]

Had the closing to sell our house, so I'm just a one-home owner again. Love the new maintenance-free condo and getting rid of the nagging concerns over maintaining a 1970s house on over two acres of land. Since the land was mostly trees, and we're just entering the season of falling leaves, it's especially sweet to contemplate not having to deal with all those brightly colored nuisances!

 

[MBAustin]

Congratulations on the home sale, braumeister. Assume you are hoisting a cold one to celebrate!

REWahoo - glad you didn't end up with a fire, as some neighbors here did a few years back. We just got a light thundershower - hopefully it's the first sign of El Nino.

 

[Walt34]

A few minutes ago a passing thunderstorm blessed me with a lightning strike. Blew out my home alarm system, wireless internet radio and DirecTV receiver. Still looking for other damage. I'm posting this from my phone....

The one we had blew out all the smoke detectors (they needed replacement anyway) a ceiling fan control, the ignitor for the oven, the motherboard on the computer, and a circuit board for the A/C and furnace. All that in spite of having a whole-house surge protector and another for the computer. Most of it was reimbursed by the power company because we rent the surge protector from the power company for ~$5/month. So far I'm ahead on that deal.

 

[aja8888]

I'm having a bad day, but not as bad as others here (Rodi, REWahoo).

The market is not doing well, I own an affected VW diesel, found out our dog has a bad hip ($234 x-rays), got my credit card lifted at a local restaurant.......

 

[spncity]

Today I got to spend two and a half hours at a kids zone for anyone fortunate enough to not know what that is it is a large warehouse area that houses numerous bounce areas and climbing walls that encourages kids to scream continuously while they also pipe in loud music . It's like chucky cheese on steroids . I was there for a birthday party . Seriously folks do the grandparents a favor & do not invite them to birthday parties at these places or chucky cheese we will still give presents .

DH used to think going to Chucky Cheese for a birthday party was punishment - and we were the birthday child's parents!

 

[rodi]

I'm having a bad day, but not as bad as others here (Rodi, REWahoo).

The market is not doing well, I own an affected VW diesel, found out our dog has a bad hip ($234 x-rays), got my credit card lifted at a local restaurant.......

If it makes you feel better my day has improved and yours is now worse than mine. Son can definitely walk (with a limp) so I don't think it's even badly sprained... just bruised. He forgets to limp sometimes, too. Apparently a bully shoved a friend of his, the friend fell, and the friends head landed on my son's foot. Friend might have a concussion... No teachers witnessed - so bully kid is probably going to have no consequences... Oh well.

 

[Accidental Retiree]

A few minutes ago a passing thunderstorm blessed me with a lightning strike. Blew out my home alarm system, wireless internet radio and DirecTV receiver. Still looking for other damage. I'm posting this from my phone....

Are thunderstorms/lightning on that list of yours?


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum

 

[MichaelB]

A few minutes ago a passing thunderstorm blessed me with a lightning strike. Blew out my home alarm system, wireless internet radio and DirecTV receiver. Still looking for other damage. I'm posting this from my phone....

Bummer. The damage seems kind of random. Computers and tv sets ok? Did you have any kind of lightning surge suppressor equipment?

Had the closing to sell our house, so I'm just a one-home owner again. Love the new maintenance-free condo and getting rid of the nagging concerns over maintaining a 1970s house on over two acres of land. Since the land was mostly trees, and we're just entering the season of falling leaves, it's especially sweet to contemplate not having to deal with all those brightly colored nuisances!

That's a big change. Have you noticed any noise from adjacent units? We (really me) still have a condo unit in mind as a possibility, and noise has always been my greatest concern.

 

[W2R]

I'm having a bad day, but not as bad as others here (Rodi, REWahoo).

The market is not doing well, I own an affected VW diesel, found out our dog has a bad hip ($234 x-rays), got my credit card lifted at a local restaurant.......

What a dreadful day! And ditto for Rodi and REWahoo.

The universe needs balance, so I obliged. While the three of you were posting about all of this and having such rotten days, I was off blissfully playing my new video game without a care in the world. Next time I'm sure it will be my turn.

 

[REWahoo]

Bummer. The damage seems kind of random. Computers and tv sets ok? Did you have any kind of lightning surge suppressor equipment?

Random damage seems to be a characteristic of lightning.

Surge suppressors on both the wireless internet power supply and the DirecTV box. The main TV and desktop computer are plugged into the same two surge suppressors but they are fine.

The DTV box damage is strange. It is the "master" for the system and has a DVR that my two other remote DTV boxes link to wirelessly. Those two systems work fine, and the master box also lights up and appears to be OK, but will not feed a signal to my TV. Tried multiple HDMI cables and TV inputs with no luck. I know the TV isn't a problem as it works fine with the DVD player on all HDMI ports, and receives OTA signals without a problem.

No other damage that I can find other than to our alarm system, which goes nuts anytime there is lightning nearby.

 

[MichaelB]

Random damage seems to be a characteristic of lightning.

Random for sure. I guess it could have been worse, although that's easy for me to say. Any chance homeowners insurance will soften the blow?

Have you ever considered a whole-house surge suppressor? South Florida has major lightning, so we had one installed, even though the electrician made it clear that it's benefit was oversold and a nearby strike would cause damage no matter what we did.

 

[REWahoo]

Random for sure. I guess it could have been worse, although that's easy for me to say. Any chance homeowners insurance will soften the blow?

Our deductible is far too high to be of any assistance.

The cost to repair/replace the DTV and internet systems appears to be relatively minor. Not sure what the cost will be on the alarm system - we've had so many lightning related problems with it that we rarely turn it on. I'm considering not getting it repaired.

Have you ever considered a whole-house surge suppressor? South Florida has major lightning, so we had one installed, even though the electrician made it clear that it's benefit was oversold and a nearby strike would cause damage no matter what we did.

Our rural electric co-op offers one but your last sentence expresses my lack of confidence in how much protection it would provide. Tough to fool mother nature...

 

[HFWR]

Our rural electric co-op offers one but your last sentence expresses my lack of confidence in how much protection it would provide. Tough to fool [-]mother nature[/-] a billion volts...

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/lightning-profile/

Fify...

 

[rodi]

Coached my FLL robotics team - they made great progress today. Yay. Dealt with a cable repairman... originally schedule for last night, but apparently they ran into issues on another job - so they rescheduled for today... He showed up EARLY... which wasn't good, since I had my robotics team. Hard to deal with a cable guy AND a bunch of 7th grade boys who need to be herded to stay on task.

Now I'm watching the global citizens concert... waiting for Pearl Jam in a few hours! Flashing back to pre-Pearl Jam days when Eddy Vedder lived in San Diego and played with Bad Radio at local venues. (He was awesome and it was clear he was going to be "big" someday.)

 

[braumeister]

That's a big change. Have you noticed any noise from adjacent units? We (really me) still have a condo unit in mind as a possibility, and noise has always been my greatest concern.

I hope it makes you feel better that we have been living there full time for nearly three months and we haven't heard a peep from either side. One next-door neighbor is a professional athlete and not home very much, but he has had a few weekends where 8 or 9 relatives, including small kids, have spent 2-3 days with him including lots of playing outdoors, and we still weren't aware of it unless we happened to go outside.

Our condo development is just 17 units on our own private street on a hilltop. Youngest resident is the athlete (31) and the oldest is 92, so we're probably around the median age. Everyone minds their own business so carefully that after three months we have only met half of them (all very nice and friendly). Partly our fault for being out of the country when they had their annual business meeting, but still ...