In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, September 7, 2026 11:50
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 794 of 834
Noice!!!!!
Hey Sigs! I figured out how to clean those frosted glass vanity shades that I told you had soot on them.
When you said Crud Cutter, I knew I didn't have any of that, but I remembered I had maybe half a can of Easy Off left from when I cleaned out that oven after the kitchen cabinets were done, but before the new flooring was put in. Hadn't used it once since then.
While my power was down and I was installing that ceiling lamp in the basement that I'd sprayed down, I also gave a really nice coating of Easy Off on the shade and let it cake up and sit there for about a day and a half before I scrubbed it all out today.
If you don't count the lip that's still dark, that got rid of at least 90% of the darkness.
It was actually good enough for me, so long as I could now put that part of the shade in the rear and it wouldn't be easily notible to anybody, but no...
Now I have to do the other two as well.
Apparently these things were FILTHY, and my rub down with wipes didn't accomplish anything. Either that, or there was a yellow tint applied to the frosted glass that the Easy Off removed too. I know nobody smokes inside my buddy's house, but what I'm assuming now is that the people who lived there before him did. That's what it looks like to me when seeing the clear one next to the other two. Nicotine stains.
So all 3 of them are getting a treatment now. The first should sparkle by the time it's done. Maybe I'll do the other two a second time too, but I want to see how they look in a day or two after a good scrub. Since they weren't charred, 1 application might clean them up really nice.
It's kind of crazy because i just used up the rest of my wood stripper for that bookcase the other day in my garage, and it basically behaves exactly the same as easy-off does. You apply it liberally and just let it dry out as it's doing its chemical thing. Since it's glass, I don't have to be babysitting it and just get to it whenever and it works, apparently. With the wood though, you wait until it dries enough for a shell to dry on the outside and it turns from pink to green, that's when it's done working and you scrape and scrub it all off.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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I think I'll install those other 3 grates right now. Hopefully they go at least somewhat smoothly and I don't drive myself nuts with it. They're not fun to do, but I think I figured out the trick on the 3rd one. Finger's crossed.
If I get all those up, I'm going to do some touchups and get the screw tips covered with my spray can, while shielding everything else from the spray with probably some newspaper in the other hand. I should probably put down a drop cloth underneath each one as I'm going along just in case. I don't usually spray anything inside the house, so I'm not sure how much of the paint would actually get anywhere else and if you'd notice it if it did.
I've got 10 days left now to finish my aunt's chest. I'd better get a move on that soon too.
I'm going to finish what's left to clean up in the basement, which now is only about 30 minutes worth of work, probably. After doing that, I'm going to move my miter saw off of the sawhorse table in the nasty back bedroom and just put it somewhere down there off the ground for now, and I'll put the wood sheet I've been using as a table top in the closet on some bricks where I've got a few very large sheets of cardboard for drops and to protect anything behind the miter saw from getting sawdust all over.
I'll then be able to have all 4 of my bifolds on horses in the other room as I already do, while also having her chest on the horses in the back bedroom and I can work on the doors, the bookcase and the chest all at the same time.
I love it when a plan comes together. 
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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I'm going to need to bring more horses down. If I don't get those bifolds done yesterday to free those sets up, I'm going to need a set for the top and for the bottom. I don't know I was thinking I could do both on one pair.
I did get the inside of both pieces stained. I can do that and put all the coats of poly I want on the single set of horses, but if I don't finish those doors pronto, I've got to go out and get my ratty set of lumber horses that I'd rather not have in my house ever for any reason.
Didn't even touch the vents yet, but that was mostly because I couldn't remember where I laid my drill down after doing the first 3. Never found it in the basement by the time it was clean, but just found it in the kitchen by the sink so now I can do that.
I forgot that I should have drilled the holes for the new handles before I started doing anything, but once that stain dries I'll put a bit of painters tape on the insides to prevent blowout and just take it easy when drilling the holes.
Got my half can of clear gloss water based poly ready and my 220 grit sandpaper to scuff sand each layer before the next layer goes on. I'm probably going to be doing about 4 or 5 layers here. I want this thing super shiny.
I think I'm going to try doing the grates first. If they go smoothly and don't start driving me nuts, it will be one more think knocked out and I can put my pure focus on everything that's down in the basement for me to work on.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Wow! Bathroom just got another upgrade and I didn't even install the vent yet.
I put the vent up in the bedroom and the trick helped, but every single diffuser is different, and it appears that the octopus arm vent system has different ends upstairs than the ones that were downstairs, because of course they are. Each one is presenting its own little unique problems, but they're eventually getting done.
I was just going to do all 3 of them, but the sun is on the other side of the house now and I'm not getting the daylight I was getting earlier. So when I moved to the bathroom I decided now was the time to clean those glass shades off if they were ready.
Boy were they...
No need for a 2nd application on the two that weren't burnt. You can see just the faintest residue of it toward the edge of the last one, but I'm done messing with that. Easy enough to turn that shade a particular way where nobody is ever going to know.
I can't wait to see how different these look now. I snapped a picture of the first one I cleaned compared to the other two, then another one with a really clean and dry piece held up with the groady unclean one and the burnt one that was getting a 2nd application, as well as all the YUCK that was on the sink from the now clean and dry shade.
It had to be nicotine. I'm convinced of it. Just turns an orangish brown color of yuck. These shades weren't amber. They were frosted white.
Who knew? 
Gonna get my last 2 vents up and figure out what I'm doing next. So many choices now, but I'm under the gun with my aunt's box with all the drying time in between coats, so if I don't have a plan by the end of tonight how to tackle all of this going forward, I'd better come up with one tomorrow.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Finally got all the vents up. Wish I hadn't tried to spray the touchups and the screws though. Got a little damage to clean up on one of the diffusers now. I ended up taking the cap to the can and spraying a bunch of it inside of the interior "cup" that protects the nozzle and I just painted the screws and the minor touchups with an artists brush. I'll fix the other one tomorrow after everything has had a chance to dry out.
One more piece of the puzzle solved.
If I do more tonight, which I probably will, it's likely going to be a coat of primer and maybe the first coat of paint on the bifold that still needs it in the back and the bookcase. I'll have 9 more days tomorrow to get the box done. If I keep with it tomorrow even on the single horse, I should get enough coats of poly finished on the inside to be done with that part and I can move on to the outside after I get the doors off the horses... hopefully tomorrow if everything goes well.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Sweet...
All ready to start painting now. I forgot that I had to remove all the crappy old hardware from the linen door, and boy was that interesting...
The roller piece I had to cannibalize and put in the louvered door, otherwise I would have had to buy a new track and all new hardware for that door. And getting that in required wedging a whole lot of other stuff in with it in that 3/8" hole because it was only about a 1/8" hole with spiky metal shoved into it. The same with the top bar that SHOULD spring but didn't with this ancient track.
And, I kid you not, the bottom nub of a bar that I thought was rusted and broken to only 1/4" actually was adjustable. it was basically the end of a super beefy wood screw, and I could have adjusted that the entire time by breaking the paint seal and screwing it counterclockwise. OMG... That would have saved me so much drama 1/3rd of my life ago... laugh:
Fortunately, whoever did those actually did a nice countersink on them, so it was really easy for me to get my 3/8" drill bit out and make the larger holes I needed for the new hardware.
Took the time to actually scrape off all that dripped paint on the back of that bifold door even though I said I wasn't going to and it's ready for primer and paint.
So all my vents up and hit with touch up paint on the screws and any nicks. Vanity light glass shades sparkling with that Easy Off treatment and back in place. Inside of my aunt's box is stained and ready for poly after I drill out the holes for the handles and clean up the mess. And I'll be getting at least one coat of primer on the back of the linen bi-folds and the bookcase tonight. Maybe even get to painting if I'm still feeling the work.
ETA: Primed everything.
That bookcase takes FOREVER though. Don't know if I've got a coat of paint in me tonight or not. I don't feel like trying to sleep yet, but my next step is either putting poly on the inside of the chest or painting for another hour and a half.
Maybe I'll have some pics, but I don't know with how the site has been acting tonight. Worked straight away for the first time since evening yesterday sometime, so maybe we're back up?
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Hi SIX. I bit the built and did a restart this morning. Really basic turned off the monitor and the drive then turned everything back on. Walked away and let it do its thing.
Nice... Yeah. I just saw that and posted in the thread for you.Quote:
As I said in the other thread. This is a refurbished drive and the monitor was as well until it died earlier this year. I am thinking I may have to call the person who got it for me and let him know it might be on its last legs.
Nothing you've told me so far makes me think that the computer is dying, but you never know. Like I've been saying, you should have a backup laptop. It doesn't have to be expensive or even new. As long as it can run at least Windows 10 and get you on the internet even temporarily while things like this happen, it's so much better for you than worrying and trying to catch me or somebody else while at the library.
And if you had that laptop and your computer does die, you at least have a way to still get online while you're figuring out another desktop solution.
In the meantime, please answer these questions.
1. Do you still have your book backed up on at least one thumb drive?
2. Do you know all of your online passwords?
3. If you don't know them all, do you know how to backup your passwords? (You can also backup other settings in your browser, such as all of your bookmarks).
Any backups you make should also be copied to your thumbdrive with your book on it. That way, if your computer dies, you can use the same browser on your new computer (and also a backup laptop right now) and you can import all of those things and it will behave exactly as it did before your computer died.
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Also SIX, the Chrome updates that was in the upper right corner, because I wouldn't deal with it. Could that have caused a problem? I doubt but I am just asking.
I could never say for sure, but I seriously doubt it. If Google was holding computers hostage like that for refusing to update, I know I would have heard about that story already.
Quote:
And I could have hit another key on Monday as I said both my hands were shaking.
Occam's Razor here leads me to believe that this is probably the culprit. There are an awful lot of hidden "hotkey" combinations that can do a wide variety of things from copying and pasting text, to sticky shift keys, to blowing up the image on your screen 200%, and I'm sure at least 100 things I'm not even aware it's capable of doing.
I wouldn't let that bother you. 99% of the time that you do something like that on accident, as long as you know how to restart the computer it should fix the problem when it comes back up just like it did now.
Glad to see you're back, Brenda.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
Yes, it is good. I've been as careful as I can be today.
Yeah, it was just weird and you know I have a tendency to freak out. I do look every so often at laptops but that again leads to refurbished.
Yes, my book is still on a memory stick.
I don't and I can't remember my password.
Everyone has told me I should have them written down.I know nothing about backing up something like passwords. I sort of understand that you can transfer things like that to another computer.
Yeah, I didn't think it would. My mind is just looking for a reason.
I was already blaming my left hand more than my right. My left was bad on Monday.
Me to.
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Before I say anything else, Brenda, we need to back up your browser passwords immediately. I think a LOT of people who used to post here over the years stopped posting because their computer died or they changed computers and forgot their password after most of the functionality of the website broke down.
If you don't have it, you can email haken at the address he's given according to Ted, and hopefully he could get you back into the site.
But this is one less thing you have to worry about if you get it done.
I'm going to give you some info on how to do it, but I need to know for sure what your browser is. You have Google Chrome, correct?
I don't have much experience at all with that browser, but I should be able to walk you through it.
If it's anything like Firefox, you should be able to open your own personal "Passwords" screen and see all the passwords Chrome saved at your direction. The usernames will be visible, but the passwords will likely be only dots or astericks until you hit the "eye" icon next to them to make them visible. If it's like Firefox, there would be a "Copy" button right next to it too, so you could copy it and then paste it into a word document or text document.
This is kind of complex stuff, but nothing that you should get into any trouble with. But I think it's important because if you don't back up at least your passwords, if your computer fails on you, you're locked out of everything.
If you'd like, you can let me know a good time to meet here tomorrow night and maybe we'll just go back into the thread I made for you and we could communicate much more quickly than if we were playing it by ear like usual. I won't be able to see your screen but hopefully I could walk you through this stuff fairly easily that way.
My only caveat is that me and one of my friends are supposed to get together soon, and he's been really busy so I might find out mid-afternoon that tonight is a good night for him. Otherwise, whenever you want to meet up to try to do this let me know.
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Yes, it is good. I've been as careful as I can be today.
Yeah, it was just weird and you know I have a tendency to freak out. I do look every so often at laptops but that again leads to refurbished.
Yes, my book is still on a memory stick.
I don't and I can't remember my password.
I know nothing about backing up something like passwords. I sort of understand that you can transfer things like that to another computer.
Yeah, I didn't think it would. My mind is just looking for a reason.
I was already blaming my left hand more than my right. My left was bad on Monday.
Me to.
Glad your book is still backed up. We're going to give it some company soon.
While that scare is still in your mind, I think we should get you backed up proper so you can feel much better knowing if your computer crashes you still have everything that is important to you.
In the meantime, if you could get yourself something affordable as far as laptops go, that would be a great way for me to teach you how to do some of this stuff too. We could get your browser on the laptop, then take the backed up settings and passwords that we will back up on your thumbstick, and import them into your browser on your laptop. Then you can log right into here on your laptop the same way you do your desktop.
Trust me. It's all pretty simple. You've got to let go of some of that fear. I was messing with these things back in the day when everything was a terror and I would regularly have to reinstall windows at least twice if not three or four times every year because the old versions didn't fix themselves when they got messed up like Windows 10 and 11 got really good at doing most of the time.
Once I had an 80GB hard drive outside of my case but sti
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Before I say anything else, Brenda, we need to back up your browser passwords immediately. I think a LOT of people who used to post here over the years stopped posting because their computer died or they changed computers and forgot their password after most of the functionality of the website broke down.
If you don't have it, you can email haken at the address he's given according to Ted, and hopefully he could get you back into the site.
But this is one less thing you have to worry about if you get it done.
I'm going to give you some info on how to do it, but I need to know for sure what your browser is. You have Google Chrome, correct?
I don't have much experience at all with that browser, but I should be able to walk you through it.
If it's anything like Firefox, you should be able to open your own personal "Passwords" screen and see all the passwords Chrome saved at your direction. The usernames will be visible, but the passwords will likely be only dots or astericks until you hit the "eye" icon next to them to make them visible. If it's like Firefox, there would be a "Copy" button right next to it too, so you could copy it and then paste it into a word document or text document.
This is kind of complex stuff, but nothing that you should get into any trouble with. But I think it's important because if you don't back up at least your passwords, if your computer fails on you, you're locked out of everything.
If you'd like, you can let me know a good time to meet here tomorrow night and maybe we'll just go back into the thread I made for you and we could communicate much more quickly than if we were playing it by ear like usual. I won't be able to see your screen but hopefully I could walk you through this stuff fairly easily that way.
My only caveat is that me and one of my friends are supposed to get together soon, and he's been really busy so I might find out mid-afternoon that tonight is a good night for him. Otherwise, whenever you want to meet up to try to do this let me know.Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Yes, it is good. I've been as careful as I can be today.
Yeah, it was just weird and you know I have a tendency to freak out. I do look every so often at laptops but that again leads to refurbished.
Yes, my book is still on a memory stick.
I don't and I can't remember my password.
I know nothing about backing up something like passwords. I sort of understand that you can transfer things like that to another computer.
Yeah, I didn't think it would. My mind is just looking for a reason.
I was already blaming my left hand more than my right. My left was bad on Monday.
Me to.
Glad your book is still backed up. We're going to give it some company soon.
While that scare is still in your mind, I think we should get you backed up proper so you can feel much better knowing if your computer crashes you still have everything that is important to you.
In the meantime, if you could get yourself something affordable as far as laptops go, that would be a great way for me to teach you how to do some of this stuff too. We could get your browser on the laptop, then take the backed up settings and passwords that we will back up on your thumbstick, and import them into your browser on your laptop. Then you can log right into here on your laptop the same way you do your desktop.
Trust me. It's all pretty simple. You've got to let go of some of that fear. I was messing with these things back in the day when everything was a terror and I would regularly have to reinstall windows at least twice if not three or four times every year because the old versions didn't fix themselves when they got messed up like Windows 10 and 11 got really good at doing most of the time.
Once I haNOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Get some sleep. We'll figure it out.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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