What did you do today? - 2023/2024 version

[braumeister]

Paid DW $206 for losing our year long weight loss bet. $10 a pound. She lost 23.8 lbs. I lost 3.2. Now that this is over, I had an apple fritter for breakfast, ice cream for lunch and going out for pizza for dinner.

Sounds like you'll quickly find those lost pounds again!

 

[5Miler]

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours at the VA Dermatology Clinic having a Basal Cell carcinoma surgically excised from my left shoulder. I had the biopsies (2) done in early May and finally had the procedure done Aug 1. Today my shoulder is pretty sore and stiff with a boatload of sutures which I have been duly warned to baby so I don't pull them. I had three surgeons working on me at times but they said it all looked good even though it was somewhat large. Should get lab results on the margins in one to two weeks to make sure it was all removed.

I was given the alternative choice of a freeze and scrape procedure with three rounds which has about an 88% to 93% effective rate or the surgical excision route I opted for with a 97% to 99% efficacy rate.

Good times.

 

[skyking1]

It was the hottest day of the year so far, and we stayed out in it till noon or so. Then we made a run for parts and pieces in the air conditioned truck
It had not cooled off but we went out in it and got more done, then went down to wade in the lake and cool off.
The subfloor is going on now.

 

[Gumby]

We had a sudden violent "microburst" storm yesterday evening, with 48 mph winds and over an inch of rain in about half an hour. It ripped some of the branches from the trees in our yard and around our town, and caused power outages in the area (although we did not lose power). So this morning I had to get up early and go out to clear the debris from my yard. A good sized branch just missed my car in the driveway, for which I am grateful. Then I went out to my garden to see what happened there (it's about two miles from the house). Some of the youngest corn blew over, but I was able to move it back upright. I also had a few tomato cages pushed askew. But all in all not as bad as the damage some storms have brought in the past.

 

[scrinch]

I went to my sister's place and picked a few bushels of Gravenstein apples yesterday. Then ground and pressed them in my homemade apple processing cart. This morning I pitched the yeast to get the fermentation started.

 

[pacergal]

Today, we are doing tons of laundry, snuggling with puppy, and in general, resting up from our trip with kids and grandkids. Wonderful week in Hawaii, but Grandma and Grandpa are tired!

 

[skyking1]

Modeling the bannister post coming up from the basement at stacked landings

 

[Walt34]

We also had a strong thunderstorm yesterday with over an inch of rain in half an hour or so. I noticed a downspout seemed to be clogged and this morning I got out the short ladder and had to disassemble a section with two 45° bends close together to clear the clog. I suspect a couple others are also clogged but those are much higher up and I'm going to call someone for those.

Then I mowed about a third of the yard yesterday, another third today, and maybe I'll do the last third tomorrow. Or the next day. Or the day after that....

 

[street]

^ Following very interesting!

Wife and I left early for the city to pickup building material for new line shack/cabin. Haven't had rain in for every so today it decided to rain. The Menards Crew helped load and was all under roof so that was nice. we tarped stuff up and drove to son's huge shop and dropped trailer off inside and went shopping. Eat lunch and head to ranch and dropped off trailer with supplies.

Didn't get enough rain back home to say it rained.

 

[skyking1]

Yesterday I did not stop moving until that stairwell was safed off. This bumble does not bounce!

Some young carpenter framer types showed up to help for the week. They are doing some interior walls in the basement while we get the first course of logs down and get our system going tomorrow, then hopefully full speed ahead with the stacking crew and me on the forklift.

 

[pacergal]

Awaiting a call from Urology referral.
Forgot to mention that I ended up in Kaiser ER in Honolulu during our trip--kidney stones! Never had one before.
Very painful, but feeling better. Other than that, the trip was wonderful.
As I was typing, got the call. Have appt tomorrow to see urologist.

 

[Walt34]

Wrote the check for the property and personal property (car) taxes - $1,963.62. It's not really due until the first of next month but it's not earning anything in the checking account so I might as well get that done. This will get us a 2.5% discount for paying early, and then because we paid it all on time, next year it gets us a break on state income taxes worth several hundred or more. Maybe, I'm a bit fuzzy on the details. Anyway,...

Stopped by the post office and mailed that, then onward to Home Depot for ten 40 lb. bags of salt for the water softener, then on over to the grocery store because DW wanted to "pick up a few items". That turned out to be $86 and change worth. So we're home for the day and glad the pickup truck has a really good A/C in it. Unloading the salt bags will wait until tomorrow when the temperature is about ten degrees cooler. I put those in a garden cart and haul them to the basement about three at a time.

 

[Gumby]

As I do every Tuesday, I went to work in my church's food pantry for 4 hours. I enjoy giving food to people who really need it. And it's a great reminder to me that even when the stock market is melting down, I am still extremely blessed in life and I should be grateful.

 

[street]

Back to the ranch today to plug away at that 16x16 foot small shack I'm building. I got the plywood down and one and half walls up yesterday. I would like to plywood the walls before I set them in place but too heavy for me to lift alone. So, I'm doing it the slow hard way, but it is the only way.
When I got the first wall built, I called a young rancher over there to see if he was around to help me lift it in place. He was moving bales from a field, or he would have.
Any II did get it up with some ingenuity and all the muscle I had. Lol
A little while later he showed and another 80 year old rancher. I didn't get as far as I wanted, I always get company and but that is good too. I needed the 1.5 visit and rest any way.

 

[sengsational]

Got up early to watch my cousin's son in the Olympics. He lives in Florida, but he's on the Italian team (his Dad is Italian). He came in third in the first round! I smell metal in the family

 

[athena53]

The plumber is here.

Last month I had a leak in my sprinkler system develop just after I'd left the house for a 4-day absence. Turned off the water supply to the sprinkler system as soon as I got home and had the leak repaired but I ended up with a water bill of $1,100. The water company gave me a "break" of 10% off the cost of the water.

So... I'm headed to Europe next month and now I'm paranoid so I'm getting a smart valve installed that will detect leaks in the system and notify me, giving me a chance to cut off water to the house. It will be $2,850 (and he doesn't take credit cards so no cash back!) but I don't want to give an unnecessary dime to the water company. They have automated metering so they could have allowed customers to set up notifications when water usage spikes. Instead, they sent me a pretty graph of daily usage- 2 weeks after the fact.

I have a smart thermostat, a smart sprinkler system and now this. I sure hope when I sell the house it's to someone who likes technology!

 

[sengsational]

Got up early to watch my cousin's son in the Olympics. He lives in Florida, but he's on the Italian team (his Dad is Italian). He came in third in the first round! I smell metal in the family

Well, he didn't win, but competing in the Olympics is a kind of win. The pressure must be high...you have 3, 45 second runs. Your years of preparation comes down to 135 seconds.

 

[Walt34]

I hauled that 400 lbs. of salt down to the basement and stacked it next to the water softener.

Then took out the old clothes dryer vent pipe that attaches to the dryer and replaced it with the new magnetic one. The photos are a bit awkward; not being able to see well it was a matter of aiming the camera behind the dryer and hoping for the best. The first photo with the big "U" is the original installation, the second one is the huge improvement.

Edit to add:
This is the link to the magnetic vent if anyone is interested.

 

[tulak]

I hauled that 400 lbs. of salt down to the basement and stacked it next to the water softener.

Then took out the old clothes dryer vent pipe that attaches to the dryer and replaced it with the new magnetic one. The photos are a bit awkward; not being able to see well it was a matter of aiming the camera behind the dryer and hoping for the best. The first photo with the big "U" is the original installation, the second one is the huge improvement.

Edit to add:
This is the link to the magnetic vent if anyone is interested.

Thanks for sharing. I struggled to get the vent installed properly because the dryer is in a tight space. This looks like it could save me a lot of pain. Next time I have to pull out my dryer, I’m going to order one of these to install.

 

[Gremlin]

Well, he didn't win, but competing in the Olympics is a kind of win. The pressure must be high...you have 3, 45 second runs. Your years of preparation comes down to 135 seconds.

Agreed. Just making it to the Olympics is a win in my book. The amount of dedication those athletes have is incredible.

 

[pacergal]

Still taking it easy from the lovely kidney stone diagnosis while on vacation. Spoke with urologist yesterday for plan moving forward. Watch and wait for month, will repeat scan and possible removal and stent placement if stone has not moved on. At least the pain is tolerable with some narcotics. Which I don't like taking but necessary now. They wreck havoc on my gut, but I have preventatives going for that also!
Back to ER if pain increases between now and repeat scan/lab work

 

[street]

Day three at the cabin build started Tuesday and have been on schedule getting what I want to get done. Tomorrow plywood and windows and go get tin from a local ranch friend that a couple miles away to get metal/tin for the roof. He said I could just came take all I wanted.
It is going to be just a place to hang out and spend a night or two and come in the winter for the day or so.
It will be nothing fancy just a roof over my head and a wood stove.
Here is my progress after day three. My hands hurt so I'm hoping to get it closed than I can rest a few days.

 

[aja8888]

Annual wellness Exam today. Seems kind of mute after my week in the hospital recently, but my PCP needed to renew my one old med.

 

[Gremlin]

Annual wellness Exam today. Seems kind of mute after my week in the hospital recently, but my PCP needed to renew my one old med.

I love that your dog has a friend!

 

[Gremlin]

Still taking it easy from the lovely kidney stone diagnosis while on vacation. Spoke with urologist yesterday for plan moving forward. Watch and wait for month, will repeat scan and possible removal and stent placement if stone has not moved on. At least the pain is tolerable with some narcotics. Which I don't like taking but necessary now. They wreck havoc on my gut, but I have preventatives going for that also!
Back to ER if pain increases between now and repeat scan/lab work

I had a kidney stone, and they are the worst. Hope the pain ends soon!