What did you do today 2025

Completed the second day of our moving sale. A third day is scheduled tomorrow, but there isn't much left. One of the people who stopped by will be the next owner of our house. Nice young couple with a toddler and a baby on the way.
 
imjustawarrior said:
Dogs can be expensive, but worth every penny.
Click to expand...
We shower our pups with love and care. I just avoid knowing the cost of that care.

One of our rescues had a particularly rough early life that required surgeries and other treatments. The only thing we told the vet at the time was, "Do whatever you think is necessary. We don't care about cost."
 
Another ski day today! Snow was good above 11,000 feet and I'm ending the season with right around 70 days of skiing.

Given that our ski season lasted 20 weeks this year, I was on skis every other day on average this winter.
 
Yesterday I hand-dug two trenches in our back yard. One was 2-feet deep by 40 feet long, the other was 1-foot deep by 30 feet long. (the frost just came out of the ground last week so luckily for me, the ground was super-soft and easy to dig) At the bottom of the 2-foot deep trench was the existing buried cable for the 110V power from the house to the garage, which called for careful digging. Once that cable was fully exposed, I removed it and replaced it with a 6/3 underground feed (uf) cable to feed a new 50A sub-panel in the garage.

Next, I inspected the old 12/2 uf cable for damage and finding none, I cut that cable at the house, and then ran it in the other trench from the garage to the shed in the back yard. Once both cables were ran, I filled the trenches back in and put the grass back on top. (the forecast calls for rain on 6 of the next 8 days so I wanted to get this done) The cable to the shed is not complete, but only coiled up alongside the shed until I figure out how I'm going to get it inside, as the shed was installed on top of an old 1-car garage slab that is quite deteriorated, but not deteriorated enough for me to easily punch through the concrete so I'm probably going to have to rent an electric rotary hammer to finish the project but that's okay. I still need to buy the receptacles, boxes, and a light for the shed anyway.

I had already installed the 50A sub-panel in the garage last year, but it was only being fed temporarily by the 110V line, so I had to remove the jumpers I had installed, (so both circuits could be fed from the one line) switch what was the incoming power to a 15A breaker which will now feed the shed, and land the new 6-gauge conductors on the main terminals. Then I buttoned up the garage panel.

In the house, I had to finish running the 6/3 from the wall to my main breaker panel in the basement. I had removed an unused 30A 2-pole breaker a couple of weeks ago, so all I had to do was snap in the new 50A breaker and land the conductors on the ground bar, neutral bar, and then on the breaker. Then I buttoned up the main panel, switched on the new breaker, went out to the garage and Viola! - everything worked.

After cleaning up all the dirt I had tracked into the house along with the sawdust from drilling holes in the joists, my total time yesterday was almost 12 hours. Today I just have to label the breakers in the sub-panel and re-label the breakers in the basement panel.

IMG_5697.JPG

IMG_5704.JPG
 
ArmchairMillionaire said:
Yesterday I hand-dug two trenches in our back yard. One was 2-feet deep by 40 feet long, the other was 1-foot deep by 30 feet long. (the frost just came out of the ground last week so luckily for me, the ground was super-soft and easy to dig) At the bottom of the 2-foot deep trench was the existing buried cable for the 110V power from the house to the garage, which called for careful digging. Once that cable was fully exposed, I removed it and replaced it with a 6/3 underground feed (uf) cable to feed a new 50A sub-panel in the garage.

Next, I inspected the old 12/2 uf cable for damage and finding none, I cut that cable at the house, and then ran it in the other trench from the garage to the shed in the back yard. Once both cables were ran, I filled the trenches back in and put the grass back on top. (the forecast calls for rain on 6 of the next 8 days so I wanted to get this done) The cable to the shed is not complete, but only coiled up alongside the shed until I figure out how I'm going to get it inside, as the shed was installed on top of an old 1-car garage slab that is quite deteriorated, but not deteriorated enough for me to easily punch through the concrete so I'm probably going to have to rent an electric rotary hammer to finish the project but that's okay. I still need to buy the receptacles, boxes, and a light for the shed anyway.

I had already installed the 50A sub-panel in the garage last year, but it was only being fed temporarily by the 110V line, so I had to remove the jumpers I had installed, (so both circuits could be fed from the one line) switch what was the incoming power to a 15A breaker which will now feed the shed, and land the new 6-gauge conductors on the main terminals. Then I buttoned up the garage panel.

In the house, I had to finish running the 6/3 from the wall to my main breaker panel in the basement. I had removed an unused 30A 2-pole breaker a couple of weeks ago, so all I had to do was snap in the new 50A breaker and land the conductors on the ground bar, neutral bar, and then on the breaker. Then I buttoned up the main panel, switched on the new breaker, went out to the garage and Viola! - everything worked.

After cleaning up all the dirt I had tracked into the house along with the sawdust from drilling holes in the joists, my total time yesterday was almost 12 hours. Today I just have to label the breakers in the sub-panel and re-label the breakers in the basement panel.

View attachment 55369
View attachment 55370
Click to expand...
Well done. I added a 50 amp subpanel to my new garage years ago. I wish my digging was as easy as yours looks.
 
finnski1 said:
Well done. I added a 50 amp subpanel to my new garage years ago. I wish my digging was as easy as yours looks.
Click to expand...
If I would have done it in August of last year, when I installed the panel in the garage, it probably would have taken a few days, as the dry dirt is so much harder to dig. That's why I waited until just after the frost came out. The ground was so soft and easy to dig.
I still have sore arms and a mild sunburn, but it sure beats paying someone thousands to do it for me. :biggrin:
 
Dodged rain clouds for a quick ride/workout today.

After workout went over to visit Mom at assisted living for a couple hours this afternoon. Try to get over there at least once a week to check up on her, chat about old times (she has Alzheimer’s) and see if she needs anything. Got to take care of Mom!
 
Waited around the house today for the washer repair person to show up, replace the broken part, and (hopefully) have a repaired washing machine. They ran a test cycle, but I'm doing a load of laundry now, so.... 🤞
 
Spent 3 hours trying to find buried water meter to turn off water due to a water line break. Then $1500 for repairs....

Flieger
Meter copy.jpg
 
Last edited:
Mowed the back meadow in the morning, 24 mi/ 2,600’ of hill climbing gravel bike workout mid-day. Mowed the front pasture this afternoon. A full days work in retirement land!
 
Went to the nursery and bought a hydrangea tree, 6 boxwoods and a barberry. And established Rons rule # 2 - " I will no longer buy, plant, water, or maintain any annual flowers". This ends a 40 year streak of planting flowers only to watch them eaten by deer, rabbits and whatever.
 
Well, this time last year we picked over 30 mangos, all beauties, getting close to 300 by the end of May. So far this year we’ve picked 6, mostly small and that’s it. No more. The tree flowered in January but then something happened. DW thinks it was a couple of very cold nights.

Such is life, and nature.
 
Costco run for walnuts, a few if which are crumbled into my morning oatmeal. Fueled the vehicle while there. Walked 2.5 miles. Laundered towels. Put away the humidifiers. Loafed.
 
Heading over to my sisters house to visit and give hugs/prayers--my BIL lost his battle with liver cancer late last night. He survived longer than the drs expected which was a blessing for the family. He also passed quickly and peacefully at home the day they decided on hospice. Which was also a blessing. I am grieving, I have known him since I was in 12.
A happy moment today will be picking up grandson from preschool and watching him for an hour or so while Mom is at the dr.
 
My A/C chose to stop working last night. It’s 12 years old, so depending on the repair, a new unit may be needed. Terrible timing.
 
MichaelB said:
My A/C chose to stop working last night. It’s 12 years old, so depending on the repair, a new unit may be needed. Terrible timing.
Click to expand...
That is rough, especially in South Florida.

When I was a kid, our A/C went out on the hottest day in DFW history. I remember sleeping in my underwear with wet washcloths on me in front of a box fan.
 
Drove DW to the surgical center to get a cortisone shot in her back for back pain. This is the second time, and this one was much less painful for her. So much so that she wanted to go out for lunch instead of home. This was way out of character for her, but we went and she enjoyed it. She's now zonked out on the downstairs couch, which is where she should be. Sound asleep, I mean, I guess it doesn't matter where.
 
imjustawarrior said:
When I was a kid, our A/C went out on the hottest day in DFW history. I remember sleeping in my underwear with wet washcloths on me in front of a box fan.
Click to expand...
When I was a kid growing up in the piney woods of East Texas we didn't have air conditioning - at home or at school. I vividly recall those miserable nights trying to sleep.

That's probably why I have both a battery back up system, a portable generator and two available window units...just in case.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

aja8888
How many miles are you driving in retirement?
3 4 5
Koolau
Koolau
F
What hobbies have you quit and how did it affect you?
4 5 6
planuntilthefisthits
P
M
Retirement - Year Two
CO-guy
C
RamStride
FIRE away! Resigned/Retired today (3/21/2025) - Numbers listed
2
RamStride
RamStride
S
Year 1 update
Koolau
Koolau

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom