What did you do today 2025

Shoveled snow. Going to choir practice tonight.
 
HFWR said:
Awaiting plumbers to visit. Need to replace both commodes in my forty year old shack. Could do it myself, but my back is prone to act up, and besides, can’t take it with you!

Working lately on adding off-grid solar. Prices for panels and battery units are dropping, plus I took advantage of some holiday specials. Payback is probably never, but my base usage is 200-300 kwh, and I’m replacing a couple of kwh/day. But helps satisfy my need to putz around with tech.

As the photos illustrate, I have two arrays of four 100w panels each, mounted on racks. I decided to buy kits design to move a table saw or whatnot, one of which is shown. From about Oct to Mar, I can scoot the panel nearest the garage wall fully against the wall, but with the sun being higher starting around the spring equinox, the eaves start shading the panels, so I can wheel the rack to adjust. The other array has a different problem, which is the distance it needs to be away from the other array to avoid shadowing.

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That sounds like a very elegant solution. I don't know how heavy they are, but are you concerned about anchoring them in the event of high winds?
 
Returned from an overnight trip to Death Valley. Nice but long driving tour. Weather was perfect. Bought a lifetime National Parks pass.
 
MarieIG said:
I've always thought when we took the fur babies to the vet that I wish I could take on the pain / anxiety in their place (although obviously that's not an option).

Hopefully she'll get out of their quickly with minimal anxiety and proceed to a speedy recovery.
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Couldn't have said it better. The pain of going to the vet was worse than the 'illness'. Turns out it was a lesion on the side of the nail that just needs some ointment to speed the healing. Although we're concerned that she's lost almost a pound in 4 months when she was at the vet with a UTI. Her lab work at that time was normal, however, we suspect early kidney disease as she'll be 14 in two months. She goes in again in 6 mos. for labs.
 
Gumby said:
That sounds like a very elegant solution. I don't know how heavy they are, but are you concerned about anchoring them in the event of high winds?
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Weights is about 15# per panel, and rack is 38#. They are shielded pretty well from prevailing winds. Walls on the north and west. They survived the windstorm last spring, with took trees down all over the area. Units never moved.

To clarify, the unit near the wall has been there for about 1-1/2 years. The other was the recent purchase.

For cost comparison, the first unit is Harbor Freight panels, on sale for $100 each, and the rack was $180 or so. Ecoflow Delta 2 w/ extra battery was ~ $1800.

Fast forward, Ecoflow panels were $50 each, rack was $120, Delta 2 w/ extra battery $900.

Plus some cabling and other misc….

Delta 2 w/ extra battery (LFP) are rated about 2 kwh, but real world supplies about 1.1. Includes battery management, charge controller, 1800w sine wave inverter.
 
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More like all week and still working on it. Installing new vanities in the upstairs bathrooms. Of course nothing has really gone well. DW and I getting the 5 ft cabinet upstairs was a chore and then making the turn. I am surprised we didn't break the cabinet or ourselves Two shutoffs not working that had to be replaced. The short wall near the toilet is not plum by 1/4 inch so the new cabinet would not slide into the new place. Had to use a 2X4 and a couple of blocks to lean/jack the short wall over enough to get the cabinet in. Hot water line on the left was right where the drawer rail bracket is screwed in. Had to cut a new hole in the back for the water line to get through, cut off the back of the rail by 3 inches, build a landing for the drawer rail on that side and mounted the bracket there.
The new granite top shows up on Friday so hopefully that will go better than the cabinet did. Also I will take what I learned from the other one and the next bathroom will go better.
 
Super windy today, which is my least favorite kind of weather.

So, I packed for our upcoming BTD trip, did some laundry and played with the pups.
 
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Installed an office wall of cabinets. One of the lowers has a safe in it. Had to make the lowers 40" tall to fit it. Got to w*rk with a buddy on the install. Now off to the 4 day vaca with them.
 
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Took my previous next door neighbor who still lives in the 55+ community to get a pain relief injection in her spine between C1 - C7 to stop the pain in that area. She's a widow and has no one to help her, so I took her there and back. She 82 and not in good shape besides being a two time cancer survivor.
 
I stopped by the city hall and spoke to the inspector about the solar panel installation. He will do it as an addendum to our original permit and kick it back to me in a day. I am drawing that up tonight.
 
aja8888 said:
Took my previous next door neighbor who still lives in the 55+ community to get a pain relief injection in her spine between C1 - C7 to stop the pain in that area. She's a widow and has no one to help her, so I took her there and back. She 82 and not in good shape besides being a two time cancer survivor.
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How Ironic. I drove to Same Day Surgery today to get steroid shots in my back. During "intake" I sat next to a guy who is 87 (I'm 78). HE and I both drove to and from our procedures (his was in the cervical spine while mine was lumbar).

The most ironic thing was I was siting there wondering "What if I were no longer able to drive myself to/from this procedure? What if DW were unable to help me."

Thank God for folks like you aja8888 for sharing your time and love with your neighbor. I hope you are richly rewarded in heaven (a long time from now!!) :flowers:
 
Went out to lunch with DW at a local family owned "hole-in-the-wall" restaurant that serves excellent food for a fair price. The kind that you don't find in chain restaurants. Yum.
 
Heading out for a nine mile walk along the beach under chilly but sunny skies. Should get to about 68 degrees today, which is perfect for walking. We'll share a carnitas burrito on the return route thru town, then stop for coffee at completion point. Hours of scenic enjoyment while in motion, plus some good food and coffee (or beer, or wine depending! :)) is one of my favorite ways to spend the day.

Cheesecake Factory leftovers plus a streamed movie back home should make for a nice finish.
 
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Yesterday, I helped my son strip the paint off his kitchen cabinet doors and drawers, I expect we will do some more of that today.
 
DS and DGS are bringing dinner over and DD will join with her family. We are finally feeling more normal and it will be nice to see everyone again. Grandma is having grandkid withdrawal!!
 
Woke up to wet snow falling. Got around 4". After breakfest used snow blower to clear driveway. Shovel to clear patio and cut path to my outdoor Sauna. . Then off to the coffe shop for a brew.
On the way back got one small onion to fry up and add to my crockpot slaving away at making stew.
 
Went to the annual Whiskey Flat Days parade in Kernville. It's a long weekend event with a bunch of vendors, music, etc. Big traffic jam, but from prior years we know to just park along the road at the end of the line of parked cars, and walk. Lots more cars behind us when we left, and cars sitting in the road, so looked like a big crowd.

Then I organized stuff in the garage some more. Getting there slowly.
 
Completed DGF's taxes today and she has already paid what was due. She was subject to a $1575 clawback from ACA as she started Medicare last July and SS in September so her income went up substantially from her original forecast. Total tax was inline with our estimate so no big surprise there. She made the decision to withdraw more IRA income late last year with her eyes wide open re the tax consequences.

Finally the ACA income games are over for her.
 
Finished up and filed our federal and state income taxes. Both were accepted within an hour or two. We had to pay a little bit to federal and we're getting back a little bit from the state. So it was about as balanced as it can be.

UPS delivered a Milwaukee hand-held vacuum cleaner that I'd ordered from Home Depot yesterday. It was on sale for 53% off so I bit. While a bit on the heavy side it has good suction so I think it'll be a useful addition to the shop. If DW doesn't steal it from me.
 
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