What's everybody doing today?

[UrbanHunter]

Cool, how big is your greenhouse going to be?

 

[Weedygarden]

The place we lived in back when Juju was born was the same way. Broken glass and metal everywhere. I use to walk the yard with the garage roller magnet to pick up the metal scraps and rake the dirt for glass. I still didn't like Roo playing out there without doing a check first.

I wonder how common this is? Living in a 130 year old home, I have found so much glass and other debris in the soil.

 

[Neb]

This is the concrete we moved into the basement yesterday.

With the concrete and mixer in the basement, rain should not hold us up. So we moved on to getting things ready to pour concrete.

First we installed plastic (that is over-kill since I never saw water in the crawl space)...

and insulation over the plastic.

And then moved on to building forms for the concrete pour.

Unless there are delays, we should be pouring concrete on Saturday. I also ordered pair of farmers jacks that we will need to lift the corner of the house shown in the above image so that we can replace the beams that have been damaged due to termites. I really feel like we are making good progress.

Behave!

Ben

 

[Neb]

My house is 130 years old and the electrical has had various work done on it over the years, but could probably stand to be completely rewired. There is an old fuse box in the kitchen and a breaker box on the side of the house. In the hall closet upstairs is something that looks like a junction box.
Neighbor, whose house is a twin to mine, (built at the same time, same builder, for same family) had to replace his hot water heater about a year ago. That cost $3,000. But, with codes, electrical had to be upgraded before the water heater could be installed. By the time he was done, he said it cost him $11,000. I have no idea what electrical was done.
...

The old electrical installations used what is called "knob and tube" where ceramic tubes were used to run two separate wire through beams and ceramic knobs were used to turn corners. Since there very few electrical devices they first were used for overhead lights. Latter on they switch to using three wires in a cable but that came latter. So rewiring a house from knob and tube requires a lot of work and busting holes in walls to run the wires is to be expected.

Our place had been upgraded from knob and tube before I purchased it, but as I said, it was a do-it-yourself job and grounded outlets were used. While rewiring my place (as I mentioned previously) I ran into yet another "gotcha" with old wiring. the story goes as follows.

Sea Story TIme!

I was sitting on a ledge in the basement using a drop light to work since there was no power for the built in lighting. As I was stripping the insulation of of a cable I noticed some odd dust floating in the light of the drop light and it puzzled me. It was not long after that I noticed the brand name on the cable I was working on.

Techbestos


See the link above if you can not figure out from the name what that dust was.

As always, Behave!

Ben

 

[Patchouli]

Hearing of renovations and remodelings in old homes always gives me a bad feeling because of lead and asbestos. You just don't know and people swear everything will be fine because it's just this one time, this one house. I would suit up and take all the precautions necessary, HOWEVER, in some states they say you have to get the state inspectors onsite for removal of asbestos, not sure about lead. Dangerous stuff.

 

[Neb]

Hearing of renovations and remodelings in old homes always gives me a bad feeling because of lead and asbestos. You just don't know and people swear everything will be fine because it's just this one time, this one house. I would suit up and take all the precautions necessary, HOWEVER, in some states they say you have to get the state inspectors onsite for removal of asbestos, not sure about lead. Dangerous stuff.

My asbestos was gone before the rules were settled (mid 80s).

Ben

 

[Grimm]

I wonder how common this is? Living in a 130 year old home, I have found so much glass and other debris in the soil.

The house I am referring to was owned by one family from the time it was built in 1950s. It was very clear they didn't throw anything away but tossed junk in the yard. The hundred year old house we lived in before Roo was born had trash and debris in the yard as well. It had a trash incinerator in the yard. The owner of that house was a junk collector and his trash spilled out into the yard along with the trash from when burning trash was okay.

The house we are in right now was built in the 1990s. It has the worst yard of all. There is so much junk and trash in the yard it is hard to believe this isn't a much older home. But then the family who lived here before us were very dirty. I saw the work list from the property management just to get the house ready to rent again and I am disgusted. At least we got brand new carpet and paint out of the deal.

I think the turn over rate of the home can tell you alot. Rentals will have gross yards unless the lease requires a gardener/landscaper. Old single family owned homes will have gross yards because they just don't think about it and expect the next generation to deal with it.

 

[rusty]

I had looked for a specific rifle for many years. A Marlin 100 just like the one I had as a kid. Made 1955-1960. Found one today Gave $180. for it but it was worth it to me. A single-shot, bolt action, shoots S, L, LR. Pre serial number. It has the fancy M on it. Show it is one of the older ones.

 

[Amish Heart]

Kids are working on making tables for the greenhouse out of old pallets. I think they finished two. I did a big(ger) stock up at Aldi today, and it took awhile to date everything and put it in storage. Found a real cool yogurt last time I was there called SKYR. So bought lots more today. With homemade granola on it, it fakes out my brain and I think it's almost as good as icecream. Got most of the 4 gallons of raw milk separated and made two rolls of butter. Ran out of time, so will finish tomorrow. Bringing a few rolls of it (salted) to my cousin who supplies the milk, and the buttermilk tomorrow. It came out really beautifully fluffy. It's nice to work with raw. I keep ours unsalted, husband can't have much salt. Will keep going to stock our freezer with it. Can't find butter cheaper than $3 a lb, and that's an Aldi price. Cousin likes to use the buttermilk to make Amish church cookies, and they are my favorite, so I'm sure I'll get some of those.

 

[rusty]

Kids are working on making tables for the greenhouse out of old pallets. I think they finished two. I did a big(ger) stock up at Aldi today, and it took awhile to date everything and put it in storage. Found a real cool yogurt last time I was there called SKYR. So bought lots more today. With homemade granola on it, it fakes out my brain and I think it's almost as good as icecream. Got most of the 4 gallons of raw milk separated and made two rolls of butter. Ran out of time, so will finish tomorrow. Bringing a few rolls of it (salted) to my cousin who supplies the milk, and the buttermilk tomorrow. It came out really beautifully fluffy. It's nice to work with raw. I keep ours unsalted, husband can't have much salt. Will keep going to stock our freezer with it. Can't find butter cheaper than $3 a lb, and that's an Aldi price. Cousin likes to use the buttermilk to make Amish church cookies, and they are my favorite, so I'm sure I'll get some of those.

Our local Amish put cinnamon in everything they bake. Do they all do that?

 

[Neb]

The house I am referring to was owned by one family from the time it was built in 1950s. It was very clear they didn't throw anything away but tossed junk in the yard. The hundred year old house we lived in before Roo was born had trash and debris in the yard as well. It had a trash incinerator in the yard. The owner of that house was a junk collector and his trash spilled out into the yard along with the trash from when burning trash was okay.

The house we are in right now was built in the 1990s. It has the worst yard of all. There is so much junk and trash in the yard it is hard to believe this isn't a much older home. But then the family who lived here before us were very dirty. I saw the work list from the property management just to get the house ready to rent again and I am disgusted. At least we got brand new carpet and paint out of the deal.

I think the turn over rate of the home can tell you alot. Rentals will have gross yards unless the lease requires a gardener/landscaper. Old single family owned homes will have gross yards because they just don't think about it and expect the next generation to deal with it.

Let's be fair about judging the old homes.

Plastic and other packaging is a modern thing. Meat purchased at a butcher was wrapped in"butcher's paper". Toys form the five and dime where stored in bins for sale, ... Fancy packaging is used to market products. Aside from cans and bottles, most of the household debris was incinerated. I think it was the clean air act that squashed incineration of trash in highly populated areas. I used to enjoy setting the rubish ablaze with my g-father as a youth.

My other g-father used to be a garbage collector in NYC. He used to pick through the trash as he dumped"ash cans" from the incinerators that were located in high rise buildings. He had a side hustle of recycling. His backyard was filled with sorted copper aluminum etc that he would cash in.

His basement was a menagerie filled with wind up toys (including the monkey with cymbols) and old tools. Boxes of screwdrivers... My father augmented his work shop after spending a couple of days going through the collections. But now I digress...

At the north end of our private forest there is a spring that emerges from the base of a cliff. While excavating (are you suprised) the spring, I unearthed many bottles. Bottom line is that at one time, filling voids in the yard with bottles was a common practice.

Let's not judge the practices of our forefathers by the standards of today.

My 2 cents
Ben

 

[UrbanHunter]

I had looked for a specific rifle for many years. A Marlin 100 just like the one I had as a kid. Made 1955-1960. Found one today Gave $180. for it but it was worth it to me. A single-shot, bolt action, shoots S, L, LR. Pre serial number. It has the fancy M on it. Show it is one of the older ones. View attachment 51545

I was contacted this week by someone who has one that they want to get rid of... I will be adding it to my, "good to train the g-Ks with" locker.

 

[Grimm]

Let's be fair about judging the old homes.

Plastic and other packaging is a modern thing. Meat purchased at a butcher was wrapped in"butcher's paper". Toys form the five and dime where stored in bins for sale, ... Fancy packaging is used to market products. Aside from cans and bottles, most of the household debris was incinerated. I think it was the clean air act that squashed incineration of trash in highly populated areas. I used to enjoy setting the rubish ablaze with my g-father as a youth.

My other g-father used to be a garbage collector in NYC. He used to pick through the trash as he dumped"ash cans" from the incinerators that were located in high rise buildings. He had a side hustle of recycling. His backyard was filled with sorted copper aluminum etc that he would cash in.

His basement was a menagerie filled with wind up toys (including the monkey with cymbols) and old tools. Boxes of screwdrivers... My father augmented his work shop after spending a couple of days going through the collections. But now I digress...

At the north end of our private forest there is a spring that emerges from the base of a cliff. While excavating (are you suprised) the spring, I unearthed many bottles. Bottom line is that at one time, filling voids in the yard with bottles was a common practice.

Let's not judge the practices of our forefathers by the standards of today.

My 2 cents
Ben

I prefer old homes to the modern cookie cutter shoe boxes. The house we are in right now is from the 1990s. Every house before this is from the 50s or older. I grew up in a house built in the 60s. Before that my parents first home was built in the early 80s in Rowlett, Tx.

I remember the five a dime stores with the bins rather than packaging. I miss it. I use to ask my mom to take me to the stationary store so I could shop the toy bins when I got my allowance. That stationary store is now a vets office next to a Big Lots that was previously a PicNSave and an Alpha Beta before that!

 

[Weedygarden]

Let's be fair about judging the old homes.

Plastic and other packaging is a modern thing. Meat purchased at a butcher was wrapped in "butcher's paper". Toys form the five and dime where stored in bins for sale, ... Fancy packaging is used to market products. Aside from cans and bottles, most of the household debris was incinerated. I think it was the clean air act that squashed incineration of trash in highly populated areas. I used to enjoy setting the rubbish ablaze with my g-father as a youth.

My other g-father used to be a garbage collector in NYC. He used to pick through the trash as he dumped "ash cans" from the incinerators that were located in high rise buildings. He had a side hustle of recycling. His backyard was filled with sorted copper aluminum etc. that he would cash in.

His basement was a menagerie filled with wind up toys (including the monkey with cymbols) and old tools. Boxes of screwdrivers... My father augmented his work shop after spending a couple of days going through the collections. But now I digress...

At the north end of our private forest there is a spring that emerges from the base of a cliff. While excavating (are you surprised) the spring, I unearthed many bottles. Bottom line is that at one time, filling voids in the yard with bottles was a common practice.

Let's not judge the practices of our forefathers by the standards of today.

My 2 cents
Ben

I am very aware that the reason there is so much glass and other debris buried in my yard is because of a time when people had incinerators to burn trash, and then they probably buried what didn't burn. Just today, I was digging in a garden bed and found broken glass. I've lived in my home for 30 years, as of Labor Day, and we have not put any broken glass in the yard.

I also believe that there are properties with lots of broken glass, because they didn't know what else to do with it. If some people have to pay to have it removed, it isn't going to be removed. They might take it somewhere out in the country and dump it, or just throw it in their yard. At one time, a former owner of my house was a janitor with 13 children, 10 of them being boys, and he walked several miles to work to save from paying a bus fair. He was not going to pay for trash removal. He could probably barely keep his family fed.

Today's trash will be here for a very long time. I wish we had a better handle on trash production versus recycling, re-using, re-purposing.

 

[Amish Heart]

Cinnamon rolls are popular here, so there's cinnamon on that. I haven't noticed alot of cinnamon on other things. The cinnamon rolls here are as big as your head! I have a weakness for fry pies. The cherry ones are the best. And the blackberry cream cheese, a close second. They are small half circle shaped fried pies, hand held. Peanut butter stuff is really popular here, too. Peanut butter pie, cookies, peanut butter spread (p butter with marshmallow creme and maple syrup blended together). Even peanut butter on pancakes and waffles. Condiments are a big deal here, too. Excessive mayo, sweet mustard, lots of sweet pickle relish, barbeque sauce, ranch, even Freddie's fry sauce that they sell in big bottles at Walmart in the big(ger) town.
I'm being the grocery driver tomorrow morning for my lady cousins, and it's always interesting to see what they buy. But they are working on their stock up pantries, too, so there will be some of that. I think they want to go to Walmart, or the Kroger Store. I'll be checking the sock aisle. I hear there's a sock shortage locally. Anyone else seen that? I did find the heavy duty winter socks at Aldi today, and got myself and grandkids each a three pack.

 

[The Lazy L]

...I've lived in my home for 30 years, as of Labor Day, and we have not put any broken glass in the yard...

No broken glass, just entire bottles and such? (I'm kidding!!!!).

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Had company yesterday.
They brought gifts from the garden.
Had grand daughter yesterday.
She brought attitude.
Granny adjusted attitude for her.
Strawberry is sleeping beside me with her ear on my laptop.
She's still worn out from grand daughter yesterday.
Sipping coffee, relaxing,
Have to return new dog kennel to Wal*Mart.
I ordered 26 inch kennel.
I got 22 inch kennel.
Strawberry doesn't fit.
Heck grand daughter doesn't fit either.
If you can't find Strawberry and grand daughter and they're quite,
Maybe they're asleep in the kennel we have now.
Sometimes any way.
Grand daughter says that's her and Strawberry's room.
Have pot of bean going in crock pot.
Will be making fried chicken,potato wedges,cornbread to go with them for supper.
Crocheting various projects.

 

[snappy1]

Good morning!
Yesterday, after walking, feeding dogs and walking them, I went to thrift stores and found a few things to sell, and to local grocery for sale items. Took the produce manager a jar of mango jalapeno jam as he sold me the mangoes cheap.
This morning, it is raining so I will walk a little later (between rain bands).
Going to feed dogs in a few minutes and then clean baths, dust house and sweep. Then walk!
Also will saute up some bell peppers, onions, jalapenos, mushrooms and garlic to go in scrambled eggs. That's about it!

 

[Weedygarden]

No broken glass, just entire bottles and such? (I'm kidding!!!!).

I have literally been sieving soil since I bought the house. In addition to the glass, I have found pop tops from cans (many), toy cars, toy Army men, nails and screws, toy car tracks, lots of peach pits, older coins. When I am sieving the soil, I put all the rock into 5 gallon buckets. I have filled up a few of those. Many people would not bother with the rocks, but I figure if I have them sieved out, why not remove them and use them as needed. I have used them in the area where my small trailer is parked, to create a base there.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Today is a day off so I am trying to play catch up... did a load of laundry, went grocery shopping (prices are crazy), cleaned off 4 raised beds, harvested scallions, shallots, and turnips. I transplanted 2 parsley plants into beds that will be covered hoping to keep them going till next year... Visited with the neighbor, he speaks broken English... He is making raised planters using old pallets, Score!!! I have 3 that I need to haul away, now I just need to get them to his gate!

I was able to get the son's car put back together, everything works now... I drove it to the grocery store (15 miles each way) and noticed that the tags are expired , Texted son, his response, yea I knew that, I have the new stickers with me.... (Now that helps me a lot, don't it...)

Still on the list is planting for spring (Onions, shallots, and garlic), and planting the covered raised beds with winter crops. I also need to cut the final toe kick boards and a couple of baseboard sections.

I would like to get one of the new tops on one of the winter raised beds.... And then if time permits I would like to do a land fill run.....

 

[Meerkat]

I am very aware that the reason there is so much glass and other debris buried in my yard is because of a time when people had incinerators to burn trash, and then they probably buried what didn't burn. Just today, I was digging in a garden bed and found broken glass. I've lived in my home for 30 years, as of Labor Day, and we have not put any broken glass in the yard.

I also believe that there are properties with lots of broken glass, because they didn't know what else to do with it. If some people have to pay to have it removed, it isn't going to be removed. They might take it somewhere out in the country and dump it, or just throw it in their yard. At one time, a former owner of my house was a janitor with 13 children, 10 of them being boys, and he walked several miles to work to save from paying a bus fair. He was not going to pay for trash removal. He could probably barely keep his family fed.

Today's trash will be here for a very long time. I wish we had a better handle on trash production versus recycling, re-using, re-purposing.

We found some old green and brown bottles from 50s and older here where the old homestead was but no glass yet.Nobody lived here sinse 1950s. Was some old fire bricks in a small pile mostly buried under century of fallen leaves and trees. But his place has been gone over by the locals for many years so not much left.

 

[Amish Heart]

Picked up my favorite cousin and her daughter and went to the big town to Dollar Tree, Harbor Freight, and then to Walmart. We all filled up the pickup pretty good. I have alot to date and put away now. First year we'll be buying a turkey in a long time. Walmart had the Butterballs, so I got a 22lb one for the freezer for Thanksgiving. We are set with what we need for Thanksgiving. Just received an email that public school will continue in person next week. We find out on Fridays if things have changed.

 

[Neb]

Today was furnace day.

My son found the money and worked with my brother to pick out a replacement furnace for his place. I went to Lowe's to get it ordered. My son will pay my brother to do the replacement. Hopefully I will not be wrapped up that project beyond getting the call that the furnace is ready for pick-up.

Aside from that project I am takin git easy today and working the 1/700 scale model of the ship I served on while in the Navy. I would have been done with by now but I decided to add photo-etched railing and ladders. The tip of the dental probe gives you an idea just how small the railing is.

The railing around the deck of the missile launcher is not glued in place yet.

Behave,

Ben

 

[zannej]

I'm in the path of hurricane Delta. My parish (county) was supposed to be under mandatory evacuation but my mother was refusing to leave & I couldn't force her. By the time I convinced her, it was too late bc the roads flooded too badly. My roads are unpaved & the loggers filled in the ditches to run their equipment to get trees & didn't dig them back out. Just left them so water stayed on the road instead & the river is now running across it. Been raining hard since yesterday.
Raccoons managed to get the last of our MREs & were trying to hide in the cabinets behind drawers. Can't seem to get the door barricaded well enough to keep them out. I managed to cover part of the sliding glass door with the 1 sheet of plywood we had. At least it should provide some barrier. I also managed to drag the generator that was under the lean-to into the shed bc my brother was too lazy to do it. Mofo was heavy. Took me awhile & I was out of breath, but I got it done.
My best friend couldn't evacuate bc he doesn't have enough gas to make it far & didn't want to take his new baby on a bus full of strangers who might be sick. Bus was only going to another town an hour north that is still in the storm path anyway. He had tried booking hotels up north but they tripled their prices so he couldn't afford it.
The good news is the storm downgraded to cat2 & slowed it's roll so it will be arriving later. Internet has been going in & out & power has flickered. I heard my jet pump chattering a bit so I will have to check the wires to it after the storm passes.
Really hoping it will downgrade to tropical storm & that it won't be so bad. Got some contact info for people and offers of help in case we get stranded after the storm.

 

[zannej]

Neb, I love the scale model!
Sorry for glossing over so many posts. I keep losing internet. Hope everyone else is doing OK.
Right now I'm covered in cats who don't like this weather.

 

[Neb]

Neb, I love the scale model!
Sorry for glossing over so many posts. I keep losing internet. Hope everyone else is doing OK.
Right now I'm covered in cats who don't like this weather.

Thanks!

Stay safe!

Ben

 

[Meerkat]

Today was furnace day.

My son found the money and worked with my brother to pick out a replacement furnace for his place. I went to Lowe's to get it ordered. My son will pay my brother to do the replacement. Hopefully I will not be wrapped up that project beyond getting the call that the furnace is ready for pick-up.

Aside from that project I am takin git easy today and working the 1/700 scale model of the ship I served on while in the Navy. I would have been done with by now but I decided to add photo-etched railing and ladders. The tip of the dental probe gives you an idea just how small the railing is.

View attachment 51571

The railing around the deck of the missile launcher is not glued in place yet.

Behave,

Ben

Like em all but a little patial to Navu,My son sent me a key chain " Navy mom toughest job in the Navy" .He was on the ship his whole enlistment. Saw the world and still seeing it to my dispair. At least during the covid lockdown he was in country.
I told him not to join they would start another war [ and of course they didi,Iraq 2003 ] buy he just said " asking for your blessing,not your pemrission". So much making him independant,lol.

 

[Bacpacker]

Today was calm! Spent 3 hours doing a webinar with the rest of the supervisors. Wasn't bad. Left at noon and picked up a little hardware and installed some lights on our deck the wife wanted. Today is her birthday, so I took her out to eat tonight at one of our favorite resturants. We planned to have a little fire tonight, but the leading edge of Delta is starting to roll in. Light sprinkles now, and expecting rain thru the weekend.

 

[randyt]

yesterday I did plumbing and hvac, today I did plumbing and hvac and tomorrow I'll do plumbing and hvac. We are on 6 days a week now

 

[Grimm]

Got the girls dressed and left the house early. We went to the bank (girls stayed in the car), the pet store, Walmart and Target.

The pet store was a trip to get more rabbit treats for the cats. I grabbed some canned rabbit while I was at it. I also got a bottle of Nature's Miracle for the evac tote. Best to have a good cleaner in there so messes can be cleaned up.

I got dry goods and canned goods from Walmart. I did a bit of price checking before our Costco trip this weekend. I also grabbed some sweats for the 72 hour kits. $5 is a good price.

Target was meant to be a frozen foods trip only but I grabbed a few 40oz jars of peanut butter and some canned beans on top of a cart full of frozen veggies. Target still has the best prices on frozen veggies around here. I got about a month's worth of frozen veggies this trip and will repeat it in 2 or so weeks.