What's everybody doing today?

[Bacpacker]

Peanut, Midland makes fairly inexpensive 2 way radios. Distance with them is crap. But for use in a house they may be just the ticket. IIRC Walmart carries them, as does most bigger outdoor stores. Ill try and put a link up in the morning

 

[Haertig]

This reminds me… I need a household alarm, a button either of them can press and alert me if there’s an issue. We have no cell service here so that’s out, need a simple stand alone system with remote controlled light, horn, something.

Are you looking for something that will alert you when you are inside the same house as your parents, or when you are in a different, remote house?

 

[Haertig]

I need a household alarm, a button either of them can press and alert me if there’s an issue

Do you have reliable internet (and reliable WiFi routers) at the house(s) in question?

 

[Haertig]

Not very high tech, but might be effective (within the same house) until you decide on something better:

Air Horn

 

[Peanut]

Not very high tech, but might be effective (within the same house) until you decide on something better:

Air Horn

It's a big duplex, but still have outside chores, have to keep an eye on the farm. If i had a flashing light downstairs, maybe a horn or bell at the shop. I'd need an electronic triggering device of some type, preferably more than one trigger. The internet is via satellite... nope i need low tech, very low tech. The air horn would make a handy failsafe. It's actually a good idea.

I was thinking a doorbell system from the big box store. They'll have something simple, works out of the box.

 

[Neb]

It looks like the break was on your property. Does that mean you have to pay for the repair?

No sir!

It was a break in the main line. See the repair coupling.

Guessing 8" maybe?

It is a main line problem not mine.


Ben

 

[Haertig]

The air horn would make a handy failsafe. It's actually a good idea.

It sounds like your parents are still mentally with it. So you shouldn't have to worry about someone calling for a glass of water at 2:00am with the air horn. Wouldn't that make your day?!

 

[Haertig]

I need a household alarm, a button either of them can press and alert me

You can also look at something that uses your home 120v wiring to communicate. Basically, you plug in a sender into an outlet in room A, and then you plug in a receiver into an outlet in room B (or multiple receivers in in rooms C and D also). You plug a lamp or something that will get your attention into the receiver(s). The sender could be a wall switch, or an RF do-hickey.

I had this as my first "house remote control" many decades ago. The system is called "X10", and it's still around I believe.

https://www.x10.com/pages/allaboutx10
If your shop is "nearby" (electrical wire length) then you might be able to even transmit a signal out there. X10 works by piggybacking a higher frequency signal on top of the 60Hz of your home 120v wiring. There is a finite range that these X10 signals will travel. My house - and I'm sure all houses - are fed 230v and that is split into two 120v legs. Each house circuit will be on one leg or the other. So if you install a sender on one leg, and trying to communicate with a receiver on another leg, that signal has to go a long way - out to the transformer and back. And it may not be strong enough to work by the time it gets back. What I did when I ran into this problem, is I found a 230v appliance. In my case, that was the stovetop in the kitchen. I went into the 230v plug that powers it and bridge the two legs with a small capacitor. So that effectively looked like a short circuit to the higher frequency X10 signals while looking like an open circuit for the 60Hz main power. So then the X10 signals no longer had to go out to the transformer to cross legs, they did so right there under my stovetop. This cleared up my low signal strength problems that were the result of heading out to the transformer and back.

I can't remember the carrier frequency of the X10 signal nor the specs for the capacitor I chose. That was decades ago. But I did find some things on Google by searching for "X10 bridge capacitor". Here's one of the hits:

https://electronics.stackexchange.c...itor-to-bridge-x10-signals-in-household-power
There are other systems that send communications over household wiring. I played with a system named "Insteon" once. Don't know if they're still around. I did not replace my X10 with Insteon, so my knowledge of Insteon is very limited and basically totally forgotten by now. My current home control system works via WiFi.

Depending on the range that you need, you may even be able to get by with radio communication (just how far away is your shed?) What we are talking about is basically a wireless burglar alarm system. Your parents push a "panic button" and you are alerted by the noisemaker (horn, gong, flashing lights or whatever). Maybe you could buy a cheap RF based local burglar alarm with a couple of panic buttons and a couple of alerting horns. Pretty much the same concept as the canned air air horns I mentioned earlier, but without the side effect of deafening the people when they push the panic button.

 

[Neb]

No sir!

It was a break in the main line. See the repair coupling.

View attachment 121301


Guessing 8" maybe?

It is a main line problem not mine.


Ben

Just about 7 hours and they are done.

Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

It’s been an eventful 6 days. Mom was in the hospital for what was finally diagnosed as a cracked vertebra in her neck. She fell 2 wks ago getting out of bed. She’s in a hard collar now. Dad stayed with her, refused to come home, slept in a chair until I bribed the maintenance guy to find a cot. Official channels or family weren't getting it done. I gave a guy a $20 and had one in 15min. Simple, problem solved.

For me it’s been driving back and forth to the hosp and juggling a ‘dozen eggs’ at the same time. Making all sorts of arrangements, part time care was the big one. Still no final agreement but the plan is coming together. Folks have needed care for 3 yrs now but dad refused… that’s no longer acceptable. Thankfully I’ll have several relatives here in the morning to help me put our collective foot down… things are changing, period. I’m disabled, I can’t provide full time care for 2 90yr olds by myself. If i were healthy it'd be a full time job!

Well, tonight my folks are home, I got everyone fed, got their meds then came down and made myself dinner. Just went and checked on them. Dad’s asleep in his chair with the tv at full volume, mom’s asleep and every light in their house was on. I left it like that… I’ll check them a few times before I crash.

This reminds me… I need a household alarm, a button either of them can press and alert me if there’s an issue. We have no cell service here so that’s out, need a simple stand alone system with remote controlled light, horn, something.

I bought those several sets of wireless door chimes and placed buttons all around the house, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen; then I placed the chimes on the main floor and around where I work so if there is a problem I am alerted to it... Only problem the Da#n thing rings all the time, "can you get me a drink of water?"

 

[Amish Heart]

Yep...that's what my cousin has....wireless intercom from house to house with a buzz bell. Good idea with your buttons, Urban. I stick my flip phone in my apron pocket for husband because he is always glued to his smart phone. He just calls me. And yep, it's usually something like he needs ice water.

 

[Pearl]

Heading out to feed Buddy in a few. Going to work, coming home stacking firewood Hubby cut yesterday. Hopefully an uneventful day!

 

[Amish Heart]

Leaving in a bit. Brought breakfast up for husband from downstairs. Need to get the med stuff together for him for the day. Tag and turn in a sputum sample when we get there first thing. Doc appts and experimental med inhalent and we'll see what the day brings. Got my comfy shoes on to maneuver the wheelchair all day. Have a great day, guys!

 

[Magus]

Stiff as a board from yesterday's burst of productivity, maybe I'll write more on a story that is going nowhere. get all the dirty and violent parts just right so I can scrub them all PG-13 clean so I can put a copy in here. I don't write anything nastier than any teenager has ever done normally. most of them have seen worse in music videos, but really... some of the crap kids find on the net makes me cringe!

 

[sonya123]

just got done taking care of the animals, oh my I did something bad yesterday, left a little goat outside ( not baby but not a year yet) . Usually they all run in when we feed them in the evening, and scream their heads off if left out but this one must have been sleeping or totally not paying attention. I hope she doesn't get sick. She did have hay out there. I gave her some warm electrolyte
Husband counts them when he puts them in, but I forgot

So not much got done on my list yesterday, but we did do the laundry and I sent a few cards out
husband did the porch posts, he did both since the other one was starting to rot on the bottom also

today i will probably do the kitchen cabinet. They are huge and go all the way to the ceiling which is high, so I will need a latter. Who knows what's on the top shelve....lol maybe I will find something good there

 

[LadyLocust]

just got done taking care of the animals, oh my I did something bad yesterday, left a little goat outside ( not baby but not a year yet) . Usually they all run in when we feed them in the evening, and scream their heads off if left out but this one must have been sleeping or totally not paying attention. I hope she doesn't get sick. She did have hay out there. I gave her some warm electrolyte
Husband counts them when he puts them in, but I forgot

So not much got done on my list yesterday, but we did do the laundry and I sent a few cards out
husband did the porch posts, he did both since the other one was starting to rot on the bottom also

today i will probably do the kitchen cabinet. They are huge and go all the way to the ceiling which is high, so I will need a latter. Who knows what's on the top shelve....lol maybe I will find something good there

I never used to keep anything in the top shelf of the cupboards. Now I have "extra" food stuff up there (baking soda etc.).

 

[UrbanHunter]

Yesterday was trash day, but because my day started at 02:00 and ended at 17:00, I just didn't do it.... So I woke up at 04:00 and did the trash chore, then I went to the medical center to give blood for lab work, I was number 2 because I was polite to the old lady who arrived with her son while I was sitting there sucking on a bottle of water (just in case I needed to fill a cup)... Then I went grocery shopping and headed home to do laundry.. Got notified that some of my lab results were in, A1C is down from 11+ to 6.4 in 5 months... So I'm happy, eat a cookie happy now I'm going to put myself in time out......

 

[LadyLocust]

Today is my Friday. I'm happy - get things cleaned up and presents all finished wrapping tomorrow. Sat. we'll make our trek up the mountain and get a tree. I need to go get cream for real European drinking chocolate which we take each year.
It's been a nutty week so ready for a weekend. Might try to find a moment of stitching time in there somewhere.
It's been grey and froggy for a couple weeks and the forecast is more of the same. Temp is only 30-40 which is great nighttime snow weather - don't know why it won't.
Town has been eerily quiet for a week and a half before Christmas. Weird.

 

[Amish Heart]

Ugh. We are exhausted. Long day at the hospital. The whole day was a hurry up and wait kind of day. The last 2 hrs of it was a wait at the hospital pharmacy. Just got husband settled in at the hotel room, so he needs to breathe and rest.

 

[LadyLocust]

Ugh. We are exhausted. Long day at the hospital. The whole day was a hurry up and wait kind of day. The last 2 hrs of it was a wait at the hospital pharmacy. Just got husband settled in at the hotel room, so he needs to breathe and rest.

Do you get to head for home tomorrow?

 

[Mountain trapper]

Another day of frozen fog. High today 24 degs. Been splitting firewood. Called Medicare to get some money back.

 

[zannej]

I meant to do laundry yesterday but ended up catching up on some much needed sleep. Mom's sugar is doing better and not needing to be checked as often. Last night she was weak and needed my help to get back to her room. Sugar got too low so I got her something to eat. She's been eating better. Got up and went to the living room this morning as I was about to leave to go pick up my friend for a dental appointment. Her sugar was like 188 but she felt fine. My brother got her something to eat and she took her insulin while I was gone.

Dropped my friend off at the tire place (which is where I picked him up-- was getting new tires on his fiance's vehicle). Showed the new wheelbearing for my truck to the owner of the place and asked if his people could install it. He said yes. Went to the bathroom and left wheelbearing on the back of the toilet. Realized later and called, they said it was there and put it on a desk for me. Went and got it.

Opened the box of wet wipes and stocked up mom's bathroom cabinet with them. Stocked it up with toilet paper. Took out empty boxes. Took out the trash. Brought in a case of water. Stopped at TSC (when I went to retrieve the wheelbearing) to get sweet feed for the cows. Saw a neat dump cart I want to get but want to do price comparisons and see reviews first.

Grabbed takeout from Flying Wok on the way back from dentist. Mom ate some of the green beans and enjoyed them. I had a couple of chicken sticks and a lot of green beans. I used to hate green beans but I love the ones from Flying Wok.

Ordered my sister's Xmas present and have been chatting with her.

Landline is finally fixed.

Back is sore so I'm lying down.

 

[LadyLocust]

Another day of frozen fog. High today 24 degs. Been splitting firewood. Called Medicare to get some money back.
View attachment 121334

At least it's not too deep.

 

[Amish Heart]

Yep! Insisted on it. Especially when the main doc says...oh, how about a bronchoscopy, but we'll get you scheduled and do it in patient, and we can biopsy the mass in your lung, and talk about a partial lung removal if we can't get rid of it. And watching husband's face, and he says, we're going home tomorrow morning. What do you expect to accomplish? That's always the thing. They love to say he's a complicated, unusual case. But the last bronch they did a few years ago did put him in the hospital for nearly a week. He really can't have any pieces of his lung removed. One big section is shut down. I try to keep my opinion out of it, he has his own. Rant over. Yes, we are leaving in the morning.

 

[Bacpacker]

Glad you are getting to head home tomorrow. Prayers for safe travels

 

[hashbrown]

Well I’m going back to work, my uncle and I bought several pieces of heavy equipment that will be delivered next week and my new work truck was delivered today.

 

[backlash]

I finally got around to replacing the controller for the heated and cooled seats in my F150.
There is a know problem with them.
Ford used 2 power wires but only 1 ground pin and it over time it will corrode causing the pin to get hot and melt the plastic connector.
You can clean the pin but the plastic is melted and you wind up replacing the control box and the connector.
$180 OEM part on Amazon or $400 from ford.
You have to cut and splice all 12 pins.
It took me about an hour because you have to work under the front seat.
Then it did NOT work.
I ordered the one that Amazon and the seller assured me was the correct part only to find out it is not.
The one I received is for a truck without cooled seats.
So on to the next repair.
My trailer brake controller went bad. Was working just fine, I stopped to get gas and the trailer breaks were locked up tight.
I had to remove the fuse for the trailer breaks in order to drive home.
I replaced the trailer break controller a couple of weeks ago and was waiting for a little warmer temps. I have to connect my laptop up to the OBD2 port and enable the controller.
Downloaded a program called Forscan and got everything connected and was just about to go to the settings an enable the controller and my laptop just shut down. Dead battery.
I guess it wasn't charging today.
It was not my day.
If you have a Ford the Forscan program will allow you to access all the setting in your car or truck.
You can brick you vehicle so you need to be very, very careful.

 

[Bacpacker]

Congrats HB. Nice ride

 

[ClemKadiddlehopper]

Made another 30 lbs of scalloped potatoes. This time with corned beef and peas. 16 pans = 4 for the freezer for short term quick meals and the rest in the freeze dryer.

 

[zannej]

Nice truck!!

Scalloped potatoes sound delicious!

Been napping, watching videos about ICF, and checking on Mom. Got her to eat a chicken stick. Went to check on her a few minutes ago and she was out of it. Sugar was 89. If it gets below 100 she starts to be confused and feel cruddy. Gave her just a little apple juice and will check on her in awhile. She was so out of it she wouldn't even lift her hand up to let me prick her finger and I had to hold her finger up myself. Could just be because she's tired though.

Was having arrhythmia earlier that annoyed me. She wants to go into town for some stuff tomorrow.

I ordered the 12cu ft poly dump cart from TSC. Last one in stock. I'll toss it in the back and secure it with a tie down. I'll use it to haul some trash and yard debris. Will have to do that when my brother is home so he can check in on Mom while I'm outside.

Her little dog is crabbier than ever with everyone else but her. He was snarling and snapping at me (doesn't actually bite but threatens to and makes contact but not hard). I picked him up and he was all snarls until I turned him toward her and he started wagging his tail and licking her face.

Reminded my friend to check on the property taxes for the house so he doesn't get screwed by City Hall again. They NEVER send the notice of how much his taxes are and they have to be paid by Dec 31 but they close the last 2 weeks of December. I believe they also close at noon on Fridays so he has to pay before noon.

Trying to wind down and get some sleep but my brain won't let me.