What did you do today? - 2023/2024 version

[pacergal]

Today is task day--accompany DH to Dr for hospital follow up, put up the sun shades for the windows (in the 90's starting next week), water the garden and trim the dead flowers, and some financial stuff.
Yesterday was play day with both younger grandsons!

 

[Walt34]

Thanks Walt. I never even heard of a pressure roller. Interesting.

It's an option to keep in mind if a situation calls for it. I love my airless sprayer, you can paint an entire room in less than an hour, but the masking time, de-masking time, and cleanup will take a lot longer. If you've ever watched a professional painter use an airless sprayer the speed is impressive.

A pressure roller is an "in between" solution that omits the overspray issue so you don't have to mask off as much but it is still much faster than a regular roller. The cheapest airless sprayer that Home Depot sells is $300 and that's a "project sprayer" meaning it's intended for a homeowner's project (albeit a large one) but it's not really serviceable at a reasonable cost when something wears out. But if your project is less than say 100 gallons of paint then it would serve that purpose. For a homeowner of course even 50 gallons is a LOT of paint!

One of the justifications/rationalizations for buying mine was painting some outdoor furniture with lots of slats in it. Using a brush would have taken "forever" and I wasn't going to do that. Even with cleanup time I was done in two hours or so. Spraying is really fast! These are some photos taken by DW:

Edit to add: These sprayers can spray thick latex paint strait from the can. No thinning required. But caution is called for: if you get a "paint injection" and don't get medical treatment for it, it can be fatal. The pressures involved are 2,000 to 3,000 psi. They even give you a handy little card to take with you to the emergency room to tell the ER doc to call a general surgeon for the cleanout.

 

[MC Rider]

Informative, Walt.


I never heard of a paint injection, don't want to go there.
Looks like the hot ticket for a bench like that or a house though.



Will stick with my old school painting methods.
The only spray for me is texture in a can, or rattle can paint.


For sure the pros will handle the outside of our casa.

 

[Walt34]

Informative, Walt.


I never heard of a paint injection, don't want to go there.
Looks like the hot ticket for a bench like that or a house though.

There were two reasons for the extension wand I was using. One was to keep the cloud of overspray farther away from me and the other was to keep that nozzle itself farther away, sort of like all pressure washers have that long wand on them. It's for the same reason, to make it harder to get your body parts in front of it.

 

[harley]

Spent the night in the parking lot of the Pet ER in Dover DE. Had to drive the hour+ up there because there was no availability closer. Poor little old chihuahua had been coughing and panting, barely able to breath. They say she has pneumonia, and possibly Covid. They put her in an oxygen tent and gave her drip antibiotics. They closed at 8 AM, and sent us home with a tank and mask for her. You can guess how well that went over. We then took her into the regular vet for more time in the tent, then when they closed we took her to the closer Pet ER in Salisbury MD. She'll spend the rest of the weekend there, getting more oxygen and meds. That place was so busy, they had a 4-6 hour wait before they could get to a person. We jumped the line because our vet had made arrangements. But while we were waiting to hear from the doctor, a couple showed up with their very sick dog. While the nurse was telling them they couldn't be seen for 4-6 hours, their dog died. It was devastating. Covid has changed so many things. There just aren't enough people to do the jobs, at least around here. The hospital situation is actually better than the vet situation. But not much.

Anyway, hopefully we'll get some sleep tonight. Unless I start thinking about the bills.

 

[Gumby]

Sorry to hear that, Harley. I hope your pup recovers. They become such a large part of our lives, it's hard to watch them struggle.

 

[street]

Started install of new cabinets. Got them mid-morning and stopped about 8 PM this evening. Got 14 mounted and 6 to go plus counter tops, sink and all doors to install etc etc...

I forget how much work a complete remodel takes.

 

[skyking1]

Harley we are so sorry to hear that. It seems easier to care for people, our furry friends are so much a part of us.
Last night was rough, our old chihuahua mix was suffering with post anesthesia dysphoria and soft howled much of the night until I could get some trazadone in her and we all got to sleep about 3 am.
I replaced the toilet water valve and had to replace the truck batteries. We are all ready to head to the mountains and hopefully Katie will be doing better.

 

[Walt34]

Harley, so sorry to hear about your dog's health. Like Gumby said they become such a part of life that it's so hard to deal with them having problems with no good solution.

Today I mowed the "front forty" and stopped there. I'll do the back tomorrow or the next day if it doesn't rain. By the time I finished I was dripping with sweat and had to shower so I could stand myself.

Also I got DW a little present from Home Depot, an electric pruner shears that she'll like. Granted it's a bit pricey but there's some shrubbery/bushes in the back that she gets agitated to prune every once in a while and none of the current tools work well for her. This tool is seriously strong and I'm sure it'll cut through any wooden object that will fit in the jaws. It's a bit intimidating to see it work and think about accidentally getting a finger in there. Yikes.

 

[harley]

Thanks for all the kind words. We had to put her down today. She wasn't responding to the antibiotics, and even in the oxygen tent her breathing was getting worse. We barely made it there in time to hold her for a minute while they gave her the shots. There are many tears in our house tonight.

 

[Hermit]

Harley, Sorry to hear about your dog. I'm struggling with ehavior problems with my dog. He is here bacause of those behavior problems. I am his last resort. He has become attached to me. And it didn't take long for me to become attached to him so I hope it all works out and he makes it to old age like yours.

 

[Hermit]

I just got a call from Starlink support. I had a very frustrating experience with them about a 6 weeks ago. After a very wet and heavy snowfall I lost connection. I got in touch with tnem and they sent me a new cable which I replaced. That worked for about a day and died again. I then got a series of weird troubleshooting messages from them that really did not pertain to the issue. In troubleshooting without any support I managed to remove the link between my hardware and my account. After several days of trying to get that fixed I managed to get it relinked, but that created a second account and they started doubling me. I was without internet for about 2 weeks. I think that was enough time for the antenna to dry out and it has worked fine since. I think the double billing has also been fixed. One thing I learned is that if there is not somene's name on a message its an automated message and may not be very useful.

Today I got a call from a support lady and she is sending out a whole new system with instructions to replace all components and return the old ones. That is quite refreshing after the frustrations a month ago.

Today I installed the new antenna, cable, and modem. I am on the new hardware and it is working fine. Starlink also gave me a month of free service for all the trouble. I didn't even discuss it with them they just said they did it. The contortions needed to replace the cable in the attic along with a trip up on the roof and a couple trips up a tall ladder are not so easy at 73, but it is done and I am happy.

 

[street]

Day two for kitchen remodel. Wife has been a trooper and has done a lot could not have done it out her.

We run into some snags today lost about half the day doing some work arounds to make things work out.

Day three tomorrow I'm hoping to make up for lost time and get the water back up and running in kitchen tomorrow.

Knocked of about 630 and went for a drive through the ranch. Still cutting hay because they broke down.

 

[cnocmmz]

Tried starting a YouTube channel about life and money in retirement for fun. Slowly coming along lol

 

[Sue J]

Thanks for all the kind words. We had to put her down today. She wasn't responding to the antibiotics, and even in the oxygen tent her breathing was getting worse. We barely made it there in time to hold her for a minute while they gave her the shots. There are many tears in our house tonight.

Many of us here have been through this and know how hard it is to lose our pet. You did your best for her. Let the tears come.

{{{hugs}}}

 

[pacergal]

Thanks for all the kind words. We had to put her down today. She wasn't responding to the antibiotics, and even in the oxygen tent her breathing was getting worse. We barely made it there in time to hold her for a minute while they gave her the shots. There are many tears in our house tonight.

So sorry to hear this. Take care.

 

[Philliefan33]

Today was a wonderful day made possible by our move to be closer to the grandsons. Late yesterday afternoon we made arrangements for my daughter’s family to come have breakfast with us this morning. After we ate, we decided to go to Longwood Gardens to let the toddler watch the little fountain show. (We live less than ten minutes away).

He enjoyed it so much that we decided to stay and let him see the show at the main fountains. We spent the intervening 45 minutes walking around the gardens, letting the little guy explore. He got very excited each time he found a fountain or pond. He’d exclaim “More water, Nana!” His little brother was content to have a “contact nap” in the baby carrier his mama wore.

What I thought might be a twenty minute diversion, that may or may not have entertained the toddler, turned into an hour and a half of fun for all.

 

[Walt34]

Thought about mowing the back yard. Walked outside and it was like a sauna. Checked, and it was 85% RH and 85°F. Nope, not doing it. Back into the A/C.

 

[MC Rider]

Took a drive up the mountains with DW. 86 degrees at the high elevations, over 100 here. Found a tiny town called Pine Flat (pop 146 said the sign) with 1 church and 1 store with grill, no gas station.


It was lunchtime Sunday and the small parking lot of the store was full.
So did not stop, but noted it for a future MC ride destination about 50 miles away.

 

[trirod]

Good day today - what retirement is all about. Played about an hour of tennis this morning, then went to watch the Thunderbirds air show at a local beach, and then went for a swim in our bay (water is now a pleasant 73°). Air quality was even great today for a change!

 

[street]

Day 3 on kitchen remodel. Actually 2 1/2 days working on it. Have a lot of work left to do but got the water back on today with the new sink. Countertop all done except a couple of small tops for stand alone cabinets.

Tomorrow will be the pantry cabinets and have power to deal and some other hurdles to cross on the cabinet install. Wife is getting pretty wore down, but she has been super good and has been the brains behind the project.

 

[pacergal]

I am getting the menus and grocery shopping lists down for our family trip.
A week of feeding 7 is very different than 2--it will be a large grocery shop, but luckily a Safeway is within 30 minutes of the beach house, so we do not have to pack it all from home!

 

[Walt34]

Well, I was going to mow the back yard. Really! Went out to the shed, wheeled the mower out, started the engine, and the rain began to fall. I shut off the engine, wheeled the mower back in, and went inside. For today anyway, I give up.

 

[MichaelB]

Well, I was going to mow the back yard. Really! Went out to the shed, wheeled the mower out, started the engine, and the rain began to fall. I shut off the engine, wheeled the mower back in, and went inside. For today anyway, I give up.

Close call, eh? You timed that pretty well

 

[Walt34]

Close call, eh? You timed that pretty well

Yeah, I almost had to do some actual work there. Just missed it by THAT much! (Credit to Maxwell Smart.)