In the garden, and RAIN!!!!
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
PAGE 258 of 1154
Decided to finish emptying the one bin left that had my earring trees and jewellery boxes in it. Found the mates to a couple of pairs that I thought were lost. That was good. A mess of book marks too. Also a couple of pairs that must have fallen out of a box into the bin and both are there.
Shredded another pile of old papers. Then decided to look up the old addresses that I lived when I was a whole lot younger. 
Before and just around the time my dad died.
One the address still comes up but looks like the house is gone. The other house is still there but looks like it has been added to and repainted over the years. I still remember walking from those houses to the elementary schools that I attended.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Street music thing going on in my city today. Food trucks out and little stalls selling stuff.
Electrical fields setting off my hearing aides again. Left one is the worst.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
I couldn't be more pleased with myself right now. 
Well... I guess if I'm being honest, I could be if I'd finally gotten around to doing the rest of the tuck-pointing that needs to be done, but tomorrow is another day for that.
I started the day off working on the windows on the back side of the porch. Plastic wood is all up there now and laid on thick, and the new wood is installed. Built everything out in a way that nothing should grade to the house this time when it's all sealed up. It's not pretty since I'm bad at that, so I'll have a lot of sanding to look forward to. Also prepped the other two windows that hardly had any damage and re-caulked them. I will probably have to wait at least 2 days for the plastic wood to properly dry, but then I'll primer everything up in preparation for the finish coat or 2. At that point, I'll take a garden hose and spray all over and see if any water is getting inside before new floor is put down.
That's not what's got me giddy right now though...
I may or may not have mentioned my (expensive) shop vac was on its last legs. My cheap/stupid ass neglected many years ago to buy a new filter when the one I had was in super bad shape. I didn't really know any better. The insides of things like that were a complete mystery to me all those years before I took that Mechatronics class. I've since replaced it once or twice, but that thing had been wheezing every time it turned off for years now.
Last week, after vacuuming up most of my house and a lot of crap in the porch, I was working on vacuuming the basement and it really started behaving poorly. Then I smelled the burning.
Damn...
It set me back about $90 back in the early 2000s. A quick Amazon search later I discovered that if I wanted to replace it with a new one of the same brand and caliber I was looking at around $150 after taxes. Not only that, but I'd just sprung $15 for a brand new filter for that one, and if I went with a cheaper model this time that filter would likely go to waste.
But today, without any youtube videos, I took the entire thing apart down to the bare motor.
The housing for the motor was filthy. Not with dirt and standard dust, but everything was coated with white. It was the super-fine white powder you create when sanding drywall. Every square inch of the motor and the housing inside was coated in it.
So I pulled all of the plastic I could safely pull away from it and washed all of that in the sink. I took a new bottle of canned air I had when I repaired my computer last year and sprayed the motor and wiring down as best as I could, and the rest of the plastic housing that I couldn't safely remove from the wiring and motor I cleaned by hand with some Clorox spray and paper towels.
Grabbed some 3-in-1 oil I had in the garage and oiled up the parts that needed oiling. I could already tell just by hand at this point that everything was running much smoother.
Then I went out to the garage to get the Yellow weatherproof gasket sealer tube I had leftover from the car repairs last summer. There's a gasket in the vac that has seen better days which I had pulled out carefully. Loaded up with the sealer, placed the gasket back in, then loaded another bead on top of it all around, fitted it back together and used the screws to bond it all tight.
Screwed all of the various parts back into place, put on my new filter.
Fingers crossed, I plugged it back in, turned it on and it works like brand new!
No weird sounds or wheezing, and I'd forgot just how powerful this beast was when it was brand new.
Not going to celebrate until I've got a few weeks of hard use on it, but it looks like I may have just saved myself $150 for about 45 minutes of my time and a bunch of stuff I already had lying around my garage.
Even cooler that I knew where everything that I needed was and didn't have to spend 3 hours looking for it all. 
Now I'm kind of
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:It's so satisfying when things like that get finished!
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Congrats on the box.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Thanks Jack. It feels good to get that done.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:It's so satisfying when things like that get finished!
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Congrats on the box.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
Thanks Jack. It feels good to get that done.
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY
It is.
Now, I can take my time transferring things into it.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Rain last night at about 1am. Heavy. Silly seagull on the roof of the apartment building next door enjoying the water that collected there.
Flipside Environment Canada is predicting a warmer fall for BC.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Found my note book with 3 Firefly stories in it yesterday evening. It was under my recipe book which I dug out to make my birthday cake in 3weeks.
Anniversary today. My Blair's been gone 8years today. Didn't really hit me until around suppertime. Guess that is time softening the day.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Dropped off one small bag of video games to Goodwill (I know I said I was done with that, but my step brother didn't want old sports games I was going to have my dad give back to him and instead of just throwing them out I wanted to give them away). Picked up the right masonry concrete this time. 80lb bag with a 90 minute work time for 7 bucks and change. WHAT WAS I THINKING BUYING A 10 LB BAG WITH 5 MINUTES SET TIME FOR 9 BUCKS!!!!
If that works out well, I plan on pulling up all of those patio pavers before the floor gets put down and building a 2nd wall on the south side to buttress up the cinderblock wall I need to finish repairing before sealing everything up. Then I'm going to put all of the sand in the hole too and put a ton of ant poison down. Might as well use that hole to get rid of everything instead of renting a dumpster or spending 6 months salting it out with my trash, right?
Rainy and overcast all day long. Didn't feel like doing much, but didn't mind the break from real life. Just got all my monthly paperwork and bills sorted out. Taking a break now before I go and try to figure out the 11% Menards rebate stuff and get that ready to mail out tomorrow.
BTW... Just got another credit card with a $200 bonus if you spend $1k in 3 months. Should be quite easy to do with the work coming down the pipe. Even if I don't think I'll hit it, I can always just pay my internet bill for the next 10 months or something if I run out of time.
Between that (20% off), the 11% menards rebate and the 2-3% cash back on the card, I'll get nearly 35% off the next $1k of materials and tools I need for the upcoming jobs. Even more if I catch stuff on sale.
Just found out Aldi takes cards now? They've been doing it for 3 years and I didn't even know it. My dumb ass was paying with cash like I used to do and missing out on rewards points. Can use that to get to the $1k too now.
Bro is coming over tomorrow to get the rest of the big furniture I'm not keeping out to the garage, then my neighbor is going to have the Christian outfit she volunteers for come pick it up with the two bed frames. Somebody is going to be thrilled when they get that nice furniture for free.
Didn't give my newly restored shop vac the workout I was planning on giving it today. I really want to put that thing through its paces and make sure it's going to give me more years of great service. I'm hoping that a replacement gasket isn't too costly if I need to open it up again. I will destroy it completely if and when I ever need to get back to the motor.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Man...
Menards rebates are simple as could be. Can even stuff as many in a single envelope as you get too, so since I have until the 21st to mail in the first batch, I'm just going to hold on to all of them that I acquire until that point and then start a new batch after that one.
So far, I'm looking at nearly $32 bucks coming back my way. And once you get them, anything you buy with the in-store credit they give you doesn't get sales tax put on it (double bonus).
I'm going to have to start paying attention to Menards mailers too. From what I read online, not only do you get the 11% rebate on everything, but certain things from week to week get additional rebates, and some items you can just get for free after the rebate. I might have already missed out on some cool free stuff these last two weeks.
Hmmmmmmm...
Might have to decide quickly if I want to start buying stuff for other things that need doing in the house.
Got some pre-fabbed shelving units that have a good rebate on them that I could use when I get to finally finishing the closets in the bedrooms. You don't realize how nice it is to have a few shelves in closets in your home until you've lived 8 years without any.
Do Right, Be Right. :)
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:That's some serious savings, SIX. Heck, I'm happy to get a decent grocery coupon!
Between that (20% off), the 11% menards rebate and the 2-3% cash back on the card, I'll get nearly 35% off the next $1k of materials and tools I need for the upcoming jobs. Even more if I catch stuff on sale.
Sounds like you had a rain delay and took it easy. Good for you! Everyone needs a mental and physical recovery period once in a while.
As for me, I took an unplanned 5 day vacation. I just couldn't get my rear in gear! But we finally got the big cooldown that was predicted ... it'll be pleasant for four days or so ... and that triggered a restart on that VERY long list of "things to do" so the bedroom floor is now cleaned up 100% of paint (Yes I know, I said I wouldn't get involved, but I did) and I helped out in the garage modifying the woodworking bench, plus puppy-wuppy finally got a decent walk in.
Today I have a service tech coming in to do a top-to-bottom cleanout of the AC system. I know we have a less-usual refrigerant so I had to dig out the file to show them DON'T put in the "usual stuff" if the system needs a top-up! Fortuitously, today is one of those cooler days, so we won't mind the AC being turned off.
Also we are finally going to stucco the holes that the plumbers left. Since the mesh is already in place they've been critter=proof for a while.
Just OOC ... what do you all do for fun? What do you do in your spare time?
-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake
You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME