My outings...

[chesterx]

It's been pretty mundane the last few weeks. Mostly short trips to get groceries. Nothing worth adding to this journal. But this past Saturday was worth noting. It started with a trip to the salon for a waxing update. A couple of hours later, and several winces later, I made it to the local HEB for groceries. Not sure why, but I got an unusually high number of compliments. Not sure why people were so nice this time, but I really enjoyed the compliments, it was a real pick-me-up. Mostly for the dress I was wearing, but I suppose that was more of a reflection on JC Penny than me, but I will take it! I did get a compliment on the rings I was wearing, which was a 1st, & had to listen to this older lady go on about how her grand daughter has similar rings to the ones I was wearing. No comments on my heels, but they were rather conservative, as I wore a pair of my mid heeled pumps from Macys. I much prefer my taller ones but my feet were a little sore from measuring pipe work all week long, so I took it easy on them. Glad it worked out nicely as I don't have anything planned for the next few weeks...

 

[chesterx]

Not much happening for me lately, other than some quick trips to the grocery store, or to pick up some lunch, a couple hours seems to be the best I can manage. I wear my heels as much as I can but sure miss the full Saturday outings. I try to visit my locale Red Robin at least once a week as a take out. The hostess there has taken a shine to me, as she always comes out & compliments me, she even remembers my name. Says she is a heel lover too, & was wearing some modest pumps herself. I wore some new pumps I got in from Macys. I like their INC brand pumps as they are well made & fit like a glove. Only problem was they were 3", & I prefer 4". I was happy to see them offer these O'Dorsey style pumps in a 4 1/4" height! I ordered 2 pairs straight away, these in a white crock print (I didn't have a white pair of heels, so this worked out great) & a pair covered in purple gemstones in the same style (I hope to get a chance to wear them somewhere). I will post a pic of those in the "new shoes" thread once I get around to snapping a pic. Waiting for the black Friday sale to pick up the leopard print pair they are offering. I have the same print in the 3" heels, but I cant resist the higher heel.

[chesterx]

Got to have a little fun today, starting with a visit to my mechanic to get my annual tuneup, then the salon for a fresh set for the holidays. I wore low heels for that as the desk they have are too short for me when i am wearing high heels. After that I switched over to my 4" Calvin Klein pumps & got a burger for lunch. Had a nice chat with the gals behind the counter but they were not busy & seemed desperate for anyone to talk to.  Final stop was the AMC theater as I wasn't ready to go home yet & all the retail stores along my route were packed. Sad to think but it seems theaters are doomed. I was the only one in the room @ 5:00 pm. Had to find someone to start the projector. Went to the restroom half way through & no one was in the halls. There were a handful of folks in the lobby as I left, but this time last year there were plenty.  Its a shame, as it was a good place to go heeling when nothing else was available. At any rate, I had a good day for a change...

[mlroseplant]

Glad you had a good day! Maybe I had a good day too, you tell me. First, in opposition to you, I had to chop all my nails off because it's winter (like 5º F yesterday), they're dry as bones laying in the desert sun, and I haven't been taking care of them. As a result, one broke badly. However, I went with my elder son to my favorite coffee shop to buy 7 pounds of coffee as Christmas presents. The owner recognized me immediately, even though I have only come in there once a year for the past several years. It's hard to believe she's been doing this for 28 years! We were all so young back then. Merry Christmas!

[chesterx]

7 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Merry Christmas!

 

Thank you! Just back from visiting with my siblings. Felt so awkward having  Christmas with out my mom around but it was good to see my kin again after so many months apart.

[pebblesf]

3 hours ago, chesterx said:

Thank you! Just back from visiting with my siblings. Felt so awkward having  Christmas with out my mom around but it was good to see my kin again after so many months apart.

I hear ya buddy, lost my Mom almost a year ago....Am somewhat relieved before this pandemic came around though, she never would have survived being quarantined in the assisted living....I guess she knew when to let go....

All the best, glad you are having some nice outings and got to see siblings....

[RonC]

13 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

Glad you had a good day! Maybe I had a good day too, you tell me. First, in opposition to you, I had to chop all my nails off because it's winter (like 5º F yesterday), they're dry as bones laying in the desert sun, and I haven't been taking care of them. As a result, one broke badly. However, I went with my elder son to my favorite coffee shop to buy 7 pounds of coffee as Christmas presents. The owner recognized me immediately, even though I have only come in there once a year for the past several years. It's hard to believe she's been doing this for 28 years! We were all so young back then. Merry Christmas!

A bit cold to go without socks or stockings, no?  Hope you had a Merry Christmas!  Hope everyone did!

Edited December 26, 2020 by RonC
Added a sentence.

[chesterx]

Not much to journal about lately. Mostly short outings to pick up groceries or restaurants for take aways. Mostly the same odd compliments on my heels or nails. One amusing moment a few weeks back while browsing through the produce section in my Jessica Simpson nude pumps, two teen ladies turned the corner & one of them fairly shouted "OH MY GOD!". Startled though I was, I think she was more embarrassed about her outburst. She sheepishly whispered "Those heels are so cute" as she walked by. I got quite a chuckle out of that. Last week I got a chance to wear my new white heels I got from Macys, with a nice snake skin texture. Had an appointment with my tax advisor. I have been using her for a couple of years now so she knew what to expect. I wore an ivory pantsuit along with my heels for the  meeting. I always enjoy our appointment as she is super nice & fun to talk to, so I try to look as nice as possible. Unfortunately, the end result was not so good, as I had to pay into the tax system for the 1st time that I can remember. Trump's economy was so good for me that I got bumped into a higher tax bracket, even after the economy was stifled by the virus. I suppose that is a good problem to have. I also included a pic of the only pair of boots that I own, as I am not usually that interested in them as I am with pumps & wedges. Yesterdays grocery outing was near the freezing point, so it seemed appropriate to wear them. As I was paying for my vittles at the checkout the lady behind me said she loved my boots. This caught the attention of the checker & bagger, as they usually don't notice, and I was caught in a flurry of compliments, enough so that I left my bloody atm card on the machine shelf. The bagger ran me down as I was leaving the store to return it to me. How embarrassing, but otherwise an enjoyable outing.

 

[pebblesf]

So cool, haven't gotten any compliments in awhile...Except the other day, while passengers were boarding my flight, a young guy said:  "nice boots sir"....  I looked down quickly, he had a nice pair of cowboy boots as well, I told him I like his boots as well.  Oh well, was only wearing my Tony Lamas, but was happy to have a compliment.  I was very careful to spot the fellow while deplaning and said:  "take care of those nice boots buddy....".   My coworker looked at me strangely, I advised her that us boot guys are a tight knit group indeed...

[chesterx]

Spent all day fixing a burst water line in my attic. Did not find any other damage other than a broken shut off valve that was easy to fix. Unfortunately, I was not wearing heels while making the repairs...

[jeremy1986]

22 minutes ago, chesterx said:

Spent all day fixing a burst water line in my attic. Did not find any other damage other than a broken shut off valve that was easy to fix. Unfortunately, I was not wearing heels while making the repairs...

Well at least it was an easy fix

[chesterx]

3 hours ago, jeremy1986 said:

Well at least it was an easy fix

The shut off valve was easy, i just removed it at the unions & jumped across it with a short piece of tubing until i can get a replacement valve. The one in the attic is one of those that takes 10 minutes to actually fix, but 5 hours of dismantle work just to get to it. I still have to put all that panel & framework back together again tomorrow. Shouldn't be too hard as I know how it all comes apart / goes together now. I was very fortunate in that 1) I just happened to have just the fittings I needed to fix the breaks as you can't find anything right now, & 2) the split in the attic tubing was facing outward towards the eaves & that is all plywood decking that i was able to dry out with a fan & didn't suffer any warping. If it had split on the other side of the tubing it would have sprayed directly onto my expensive to replace vaulted living room drywall ceiling. This happened to my neighbor across the street, & half his ceiling came down in the middle of the night, ruining his furniture & electronic equipment in the process. This could have been so much worse for me...

[Jkrenzer]

Glad things worked out, but if this also happened to your neighbor I'm thinking the construction is poor. One reason i won't buy a home built after 1970. To keep costs down builders really skimp on materials. Modern home construction is sub par.

[Cali]

As a person who constructed his last house in the 90's and is planning on building another one very soon, it all depends on your builder, construction manager, and construction materials you choose. What @chesterx needs to do is to insulate that cooper pipe in the attic., especially if it is near the eaves. As we get more dramatic climate shifts in our temperatures, there will be more and more polar vortex visits, droughts, hurricanes.  

But many of these homes (especially in Texas) were not build to withstand prolong exposure to freezing temps with no heat generated by the house. You should find this type of construction in snow country but not in many parts of the south, especially close to the Gulf.

We would leave the heat on at 50F, open the cabinets to expose pipes when leaving our ski cabin for a few days.

[Puffer]

11 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Glad things worked out, but if this also happened to your neighbor I'm thinking the construction is poor. One reason i won't buy a home built after 1970. To keep costs down builders really skimp on materials. Modern home construction is sub par.

The situation is similar with many homes in the UK.   I think I would say 'pre-1870' would be safer here - my present house is 1883!   Certainly pre-WW1, after which far too many homes were built with unseasoned timber etc.   Fortunately, I can and do put most things right but there is a limit on what can be reconstructed.

[Jkrenzer]

18 hours ago, Cali said:

 

We would leave the heat on at 50F, open the cabinets to expose pipes when leaving our ski cabin for a few days.

True enough. The other  trick if you know its going to be particularly cold is to leave your lines on a trickle of flow. Keep the water moving and allows for expansion even if it does freeze.

[at9]

10 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

True enough. The other  trick if you know its going to be particularly cold is to leave your lines on a trickle of flow. Keep the water moving and allows for expansion even if it does freeze.

Doesn't always work. I know somebody who thought this would stop the pipes freezing. The water pipe was fine but it froze in the waste pipe from the kitchen sink. Very nearly caused a flood and took a lot of thawing out. Much easier to thaw 15mm copper than 40mm waste.

[p1ng74]

1 hour ago, Jkrenzer said:

True enough. The other  trick if you know its going to be particularly cold is to leave your lines on a trickle of flow. Keep the water moving and allows for expansion even if it does freeze.

This is a must-do.  We literally have a mile of outdoor water lines supplying troughs and I was amazed that even after 4 days below freezing, including the night that it dipped 24 degrees below, those faucets were still running!  And when the power went out on the 5th day, nothing broke because as things froze it allowed for expansion.  

Edited February 22, 2021 by p1ng74

[mlroseplant]

I wonder if folks who install heat trace will have a business boom in the weeks and months to come? The whole thing seems absurd, kind of like the fact that on new commercial/industrial construction, we have to install seismic bracing in Iowa. But hey, you just never know.  .  .

[chesterx]

17 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

I wonder if folks who install heat trace will have a business boom in the weeks and months to come? The whole thing seems absurd, kind of like the fact that on new commercial/industrial construction, we have to install seismic bracing in Iowa. But hey, you just never know.  .  .

Heat tracing didn't work for me. I have three locations outside that I added tracing to under the insulation. It was useless once they cut off my power for 16 hours. Fortunately only one of those pipes froze enough to fail. I resisted for the longest time on buying a generator but i have ordered one that is large enough to run the 3  trace lines & 2 space heaters up in the attic. Hope i never have to use it but hurricane season is coming soon...

[Jkrenzer]

5 hours ago, chesterx said:

Heat tracing didn't work for me. I have three locations outside that I added tracing to under the insulation. It was useless once they cut off my power for 16 hours. Fortunately only one of those pipes froze enough to fail. I resisted for the longest time on buying a generator but i have ordered one that is large enough to run the 3  trace lines & 2 space heaters up in the attic. Hope i never have to use it but hurricane season is coming soon...

Run the generator every month or so to keep it exercised so when (if) you need it it'll run.

[mlroseplant]

5 hours ago, chesterx said:

Heat tracing didn't work for me. I have three locations outside that I added tracing to under the insulation. It was useless once they cut off my power for 16 hours. Fortunately only one of those pipes froze enough to fail. I resisted for the longest time on buying a generator but i have ordered one that is large enough to run the 3  trace lines & 2 space heaters up in the attic. Hope i never have to use it but hurricane season is coming soon...

Well there's a big dope slap moment for me. I guess heat trace doesn't do you much good if you've got no power to it! I also resisted buying a generator, though I'd thought about it for years. I only eventually bought one because my wife's farmer's market business demanded it. What size/model did you end up buying?

23 minutes ago, Jkrenzer said:

Run the generator every month or so to keep it exercised so when (if) you need it it'll run.

Yes, yes, absolutely! Preferably with a load on it (like a space heater or hair dryer), so it's not just coasting.

[pebblesf]

3 hours ago, Jkrenzer said:

Run the generator every month or so to keep it exercised so when (if) you need it it'll run.

Great advice for sure....Today's gas gums up quickly ruining carburetors...Use stabilizer and run the generator frequently.  

[chesterx]

4 hours ago, mlroseplant said:

What size/model did you end up buying?

I got a Generac 2200i. I probably should have gotten something with a little more wattage but I simply do not have the room to store anything larger than the generac's footprint. These inverter type generators have gotten small enough now that i can store it out of the way. I got rid of all my 2-cycle engines & only run 4-cycles. I run them on trufuel. The exception is my lawnmower that i run on pump gas until the last couple of cuts of the season, when i run trufuel through it as well prepping it for storage. This system has worked well for me for 4 years so far...

[mlroseplant]

On 2/25/2021 at 9:38 AM, chesterx said:

I got a Generac 2200i. I probably should have gotten something with a little more wattage but I simply do not have the room to store anything larger than the generac's footprint. These inverter type generators have gotten small enough now that i can store it out of the way. I got rid of all my 2-cycle engines & only run 4-cycles. I run them on trufuel. The exception is my lawnmower that i run on pump gas until the last couple of cuts of the season, when i run trufuel through it as well prepping it for storage. This system has worked well for me for 4 years so far...

I currently have a similarly sized unit, though if my wife gets the bigger farmer's market gig she has recently applied for, we're going to have to upgrade. Believe it or don't, a 2000 watt unit is not even close enough to run a commercial fryer. As far as hooking it up to the house in times of need, I have no plan yet. It seems rather foolish, but I'm an electrician. Why would my home wiring be up to snuff? That violates some sort of rule, doesn't it?

[p1ng74]

@mlroseplant I just picked up a a Champion 3650 watt.  During this last storm I realized it will be nice to have the option to power the 240V 1HP pump that keeps our water moving.  It’s kind of the sweet spot in size as weight, as it is about 100 pounds and I was able to lift and move it across the property by myself (in 2.5” heels).  

Champion is also the only brand that has a 100-hr oil change service interval.  Most other brands are calling for an oil change every 20 hours, which might be annoying during extended outages. 

Now I just have to figure out how to rewire the water pump to have the option of plugging into the L14-30 outlet.  

Edited February 27, 2021 by p1ng74

[pebblesf]

9 minutes ago, p1ng74 said:

@mlroseplant I just picked up a a Champion 3650 watt.  During this last storm I realized it will be nice to have the option to power the 240V 1HP pump that keeps our water moving.  It’s kind of the sweet spot in size as weight, as it is about 100 pounds and I was able to lift it up and down the truck and across the property by myself (in 2.5” heels).  

Champion is also the only brand that has a 100-hr oil change service interval.  Most other brands are calling for an oil change every 20 hours, which might be annoying during extended outages. 

Now I just have to figure out how to rewire the water pump to have the option of plugging into the L14-30 outlet.  

Yeah, and it seems like many of the OHV engines require frequent valve adjustment also.  My sister lives in Naples, I have been patching their little generators together for some years now.  They finally bought a behemoth Generac, am hoping they will have it wired into the breaker panel, it will easily handle most common loads.  I am frustrated because I don't see any  easy way to drain the fuel from the carburetor bowl.  Yes, there is a fuel shut off valve, but "running it out of fuel" by shutting the valve off doesn't remove every bit of fuel from the bowl...And, that little bit of left over fuel is all it takes to muck up the carb.  I'm trying to find a fuel station in their area that offers ethanol free fuel.....

[p1ng74]

1 minute ago, pebblesf said:

Yeah, and it seems like many of the OHV engines require frequent valve adjustment also.  My sister lives in Naples, I have been patching their little generators together for some years now.  They finally bought a behemoth Generac, am hoping they will have it wired into the breaker panel, it will easily handle most common loads.  I am frustrated because I don't see any  easy way to drain the fuel from the carburetor bowl.  Yes, there is a fuel shut off valve, but "running it out of fuel" by shutting the valve off doesn't remove every bit of fuel from the bowl...And, that little bit of left over fuel is all it takes to muck up the carb.  I'm trying to find a fuel station in their area that offers ethanol free fuel.....

I have a feeler gauge and don’t mind checking the valve lash every 100 hours.  All these generators call for running fuel stabilizer.  We have a station 30 minutes away now that offers ethanol free so I usually have a stash.  I figure I’ll do both.  If I like this generator I may get another one with dual-fuel that also runs propane.

[RonC]

Had I put one in my previous house, it would have hooked up to the natural gas line.  Hence, no worries about gasoline or empty propane tanks.

[mlroseplant]

Ironically enough, in Iowa, champion of ethanol and ethanol plants (I've wired a few), getting straight gasoline is easy. I would never run ethanol in any of my small engines by choice.