What did you do today? 2019 version.

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Well, in preparation for washing and painting at least a few of the (decorative only) window shutters I started on taking them down but found out the idiot who installed them just ran screws into the brick facade until the heads were flush and bent/stripped almost all of them.:mad:

So rather than fight getting all the screws out and then reinstalling new ones in the now-enlarged holes in the brick, which would probably just make a bad thing worse, I'll just leave the shutters where they are, very carefully mask them off, and paint them in place. DW does not like this idea as she is concerned about getting paint on the brick. I think if I can do precision painting on R/C airplanes I can handle masking off the shutters.

Home Depot is starting to really like me. I just ordered a bunch more of painting stuff to make this happen, will be delivered Thursday. They didn't have everything at the nearest store 30 minutes away and I'm not in a rush anyway so I'll just wait for it to be delivered.
 
Installed Ring home video surveillance system. Doorbell, wifi amplifier chime and 2 wired stick up cameras. Pretty easy and pretty cool!
 
Played a private gig last night...local motorcycle club had their 25th anniversary (drummer is a long time member) and we were one of 3 bands that played in stage built in a spacious barn.

Ensuite build continued today...today I finished the loose ends so I could hang drywall in the new bathroom. I re-routed a couple plugs, framed for the medicine cabinet/mirror (inset into the wall), and put an electrical box above the cabinet for an overhead light.
 
DW and I went to a Mexican restaurant for a Mexican breakfast. Later we adventured to the local hardware store for some hardware!

Went out for a drive and found a mother mule deer with her newly born fawn. It looked like it was still wet! When I first saw them I thought it was an adult mule deer with a kitten following it around. That obviously didn't make sense but a tiny fawn did. Normally I expect to see them around the 4th of July but this little thing had other ideas. I'd expect to see a twin but sometimes that doesn't happen.
 
Moemg said:
I threw a post Father's Day party for my SO ,his four sons and several grandchildren . It was fun.
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My children invited us out last weekend. Yesterday, we still hosted a late FD party for the extended family, as my brothers took their families on a European trip, and would miss the official date.

It has been my custom to host both Father's Day and Mother's Day family parties, in order to maintain the closeness with my siblings who all live in town. My children and their cousins are also very close, and that's good to see. In recent years, I was often traveling and missed one or both of the dates.

The parties are more like potlucks, because everybody wants to bring something. The one yesterday was even more fun, as people exchanged travel stories, such as pickpocket attempts on them.
 
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DW, SIL, and I visited Los Angeles' Grand Central Market. Parking fee was $10 which was less than what we spent at the market. It's a cool place to hang around for food and drinks.
 
Last night we saw an Agatha Christie play at an outdoor amphitheater. It was well done and had a great twist ending. Today we've been catching up around the house. For dinner I tried a new recipe for a frittata in the rice cooker that turn out pretty good and was very quick and simple to make.
 
Went to Durango and had an EMG(Electromyograph) AKA the "frog test" performed on my left arm. It turned out fine, meaning my issues are in my cspine. Wasn't what I wanted to hear, but hey that's life.

They'll perform one more cervical epidural on me to try and shrink the compressed nerve; after that I'll be sent to a surgeon. Sucks cause the last 4 times I've seen a surgeon they said the risk was greater than the reward and refused to cut. I believe them.
 
We went wine tasting in Napa and had a picnic lunch at one of the wineries.
 
Got my boot off Friday and it was replaced with an 8 brace sleeve. Apparently I now have CRPS. My foot turns blue at inappropriate times, like when it gets too warm?, and always feels like its leaking even though it isn't. Not serious. PT called / I will call back tomorrow am. Anyway I started walking again today. Only did a few city blocks but did have elevation changes. Trying to go around Heather Farms pond tomorrow. Longer but flat. Dull throb but that's it.
 
Got rid of my ancient iphone and bought something less ancient. Ported my phone number from AT&T to Consumer Cellular. Hope to convince DW to switch too, which would cut our mobile bill by more than half. Waiting for the next big trip to "road test" the new service before porting DW's phone.

The cable modem/router I bought to replace the Xfinity rental continues to function almost seamlessly. The wifi is not quite as strong as with the rental box, but I bought an older, slow modem for only $65. Tweaked wireless setting on devices, and everything w*rks as well as before.

Cooked spicy Indian chick peas (chana masala) in the big instapot. A successful meatless Monday. Not bad for this meat eater...

DW have become such decent cooks that we almost resent "having" to eat out at restaurants. Yesterday's blackened tuna off the Weber charoal grill was just amazing!
 
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Finally wired another home circuit to the solar "power plant". This one is a 20A circuit that runs the main fridge, the microwave, and a couple of outlets in the kitchen.

This adds a bit more load to the system, which so far feeds only the newly installed 1.5-ton mini-split AC, and the auxiliary 50-gal water heater.

The mini-split AC runs off a 230V inverter, but the water heater and the fridge run off a 2.4kW 115V inverter. Running the water heater off 115V? Yes, and the load becomes only 1kW instead of 4kW, and that does not require a super beefy inverter. It only takes longer to get there, but the sun shines for many hours so why rush it?

I put in a DIY auto-transfer switch for the fridge circuit. If you look inside a transfer switch for a class C motorhome, you will see that the main component is just a 30A DPDT relay. I can buy the relay for a lot cheaper than what they sell the whole transfer switch for. And I was able to mount the relay inside the new auxiliary breaker box mounted next to the 200A whole-house panel.

Got a good deal on eBay for a lot of 6 new relays, but their coils run on 230V, not 115V. At the lower voltage, the relay does not pull in, but only buzzes. And the high coil voltage is the reason for the low price on the surplus market.

No problem. If one remembers the basic electrical network stuff in college, he will know that a capacitor of the right size wired in series with the relay coil will cancel out part of its inductive reactance, and boosts the current such that you will have a higher voltage across the coil. I will spare people the math (need to measure the coil resistance and inductance), but suffice to say that a 0.47 microfarad capacitor works very well. Got some polypropylene metallized caps with a voltage rating of 600V. Good stuff!

Will wait to see when the inverter shuts off if the relay action is quick enough so that the fridge does not light up its power loss warning display.

The motivation for doing this work now instead of later is that the temperature high recently has been only in the low 100F's, and the mini-split AC does not work hard enough to bleed off the generated solar power. The lithium battery gets full in the late afternoon, and the charge controllers start to shut down. All that wasted solar energy, and I do not care to go take another shower to have the water heater cycles on.

Still planning to add another 2kW of solar panels later when it gets cooler. Still have a 3rd 2.4kW inverter that is still in the box. Next year, I will run a 2nd mini-split. More power is better than less. Same as with money. :)
 
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PS. I am going to take a shower now after the above work outside, before having lunch. The water heater shuts off already, and I need it to turn on to bleed off some solar power.

The fridge draws only 300W, and it hardly makes a dent.
 
Today is our 36th wedding anniversary. We just got home from Estes Park/RMNP last week, so we are having a quiet day at home. We are going to cook out hamburgers and hot dogs later today, and have some drinks by the pool. We are also waiting for a wine delivery, first time we have ever done that.
 
Just wrote a check fort about $30 K to our local food bank to help them buy a refrigerated truck.
The state will reimburse them, but only after they buy the truck. I am basically giving them a bridge loan.
I am using my margin account, and consider any interest as a gift to them. They have executed a promissory note to me to cover me.
 
A busy day. I did some mulch which means I now have to buy 10x more. I wish I was joking.

DW and a walked around our circle and saw a lone mule deer doe. We played hide and seek for a while but she, the deer, politely ran away.

Tonight we were enjoying the door and windows being open. Out two little dogs decided they didn't like our guest. You can't tell in the photo very well but that bear has a bit of a cinnamon color. I see one of them every year.

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Our get out of the house event for the day was a Motown tribute band in the park. I've also been watching tidying Up with Marie Kondo on Netflix and threw out a bunch of 10 year old books that were gathering more dust than sparking joy.
 
hope you didn’t actually toss them in the trash. Goodwill or similar organization will always take them.
 
rk911 said:
hope you didn’t actually toss them in the trash. Goodwill or similar organization will always take them.
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These were tax and tech types books. Too out of date to be useful after ten years. I put them in the recycling. All other books not marked up too much I donate to the local library for their used book sales. I don't see many books in our local Goodwill stores these days so I think they have a better chance of finding a new home at the library sales.

DH had some expensive suits that no longer fit and were out of style. I'm not sure if anyone wants them but those have been going to Goodwill. It is weird it was hard to donate them because they cost so much at one time, even though they are probably close to worthless now. But Marie convinced us they weren't sparking joy, either.
 
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Today is the 4th anniversary of the day when I bought my Dream Home! Closing was on 6/26/2015, and moving day was 7/1/2015.

Life has been pretty good to me. :)
 
W2R said:
I just looked up where Bear River Resort is, on Google Maps. What a beautiful area!
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It was part of my research of marijuana farms for my next book. From my upcoming newsletter:

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Went to pain mgmt MD @ 9:30 who has me starting PT @ 12:30. So a 2.5 hr wait in Martinez. Popped into Walmart. I dont have one in my town and wanted to see what all the noise was about. Got granola bars & cream cheese frosting for $1.28. For both. I know the brands and 'use by dates' are in 2020. No idea why so cheap.

GS1 texted that he's waiting for his flight to Buenos Aires. 2 tickets- 1 for him, 1 for french horn.

GS2 dropped off at Bart for SFO (not same time) as his LA tour begins in 2 days. Both busy until early July. Good luck. Hard to make a living as a performer
 
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