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A while ago I started a project to add air return ducts to 3 rooms. The main duct ran through some dead space behind walls to a closet which had my clothes including my work garb. Suit coats, white shirts, and black pants.

Everything got moved to storage bins in The Princess's boutique. Well the duct project was completed and today she has been repopulating the closet. No suit coats but bib-overalls on hangers. She claims she would rather be sitting on the front porch reading but everytime she turns around she is smiling ear to ear with all the gems she is finding.

Regardless what she claims, she is having a grand time. :thumbs:

Ben
 
Got up and went to post office to pick up and restart. Had to get a box to bring it in.
Gonna run the truck thru the car wash that does the under carriage to wash off all the salt and crap from up north. Unload the rest of the plastic boxes we use in the truck bed to transport stuff in for trips. Take care of the birds and gather eggs. Not sure after that. Probly smoke a stogie at some point
 
I received a call from our tenant two days ago asking if we had been at the rental property pounding on the door. No.

Long story short.

A neighbor had found their stray dog in the backyard of the rental. But could not figure out how to open the gate. She tried knocking on the door and scared the tenant. Police responded and put the puzzle together. We decided to add a SimpliSafe with cameras to the rental.

I ordered a new system with cameras and all of the fixings. Got a 50% discount and now have one less item on my to do list.

We will be checking the elderberry wine and bottling same if it ok.

Life is good.

Ben
 
I received a call from our tenant two days ago asking if we had been at the rental property pounding on the door. No.

Long story short.

A neighbor had found their stray dog in the backyard of the rental. But could figure out how to open the gate. She tried knocking on the door and scared the tenant. Police responded and put the puzzle together. We decided to add a SimpliSafe with cameras to the rental.

I ordered a new system with cameras and all of the fixings. Got a 50% discount and now have one less item on my to do list.

We will be checking the elderberry wine and bottling same if it ok.

Life is good.

Ben
Last year an elderly friend ordered Simplisafe, I installed it! Pretty easy, got motion sensors, cameras, etc. where she wanted them! Ran through the test process! Their customer service is great!!
 
Last year an elderly friend ordered Simplisafe, I installed it! Pretty easy, got motion sensors, cameras, etc. where she wanted them! Ran through the test process! Their customer service is great!!
Ditto that.

Only thing I would want is the ability to temporarily disable a smoke alarm when I am grilling steaks.

"You know the steaks are ready when SimpliSafe calls."

Ben
 
I received a call from our tenant two days ago asking if we had been at the rental property pounding on the door. No.

Long story short.

A neighbor had found their stray dog in the backyard of the rental. But could figure out how to open the gate. She tried knocking on the door and scared the tenant. Police responded and put the puzzle together. We decided to add a SimpliSafe with cameras to the rental.

I ordered a new system with cameras and all of the fixings. Got a 50% discount and now have one less item on my to do list.

We will be checking the elderberry wine and bottling same if it ok.

Life is good.

Ben
About 1.5 gallons of elderberry wine.

20241228_134505.jpg


There are enough berries in the freezer to make another batch.

Ben
 
Went out this morning and checked on the backup generator. Noticed that it had a fault. Everything looked fine, then I checked the fuel level in the 55 gallon day tank, empty. So I filled the tank, bled the air out of the system and the generator started right up.
Even with this heavy fog we're still generating more power than we're using.
20241228_131155.jpg
 
did not take Otto for a hike today....
I was just about to take him this afternoon when a truck drove up our road and stopped . The dogs went absolutely nuts, I thought the little mutt was going to jump through a window. Went out to investigate and it was full of hunting dogs in crates in the back barking like crazy. The two guys in it told us they were looking for their missing dog and a bear that they chased clear over the mountain from the other side. Wow! I haven't seen a bear here since we first moved here. They had lots of high tech equipment and the dogs have GPS trackers. Dog didn't come , neither did the bear. They eventually left and told us if we find the dog give them a call. So far no dog ( their dogs were friendly to people) . So I did not take Otto up the mountain with a strange dog and bear on the lose. I wonder were they went
A reminder I should be armed hiking up there .....
 
Filled a cart at Walmart, and they had the half gallon mason jars in stock, so got two boxes. I love them for dry storage. Went to the feed store and loaded up. Surprised to see that they had seeds out for 25% off, and probably last years, but a nice display anyway. Got some snap pea and lettuce seeds because those will be going in the ground soon enough.
 
Are you getting ready to move? Or reclaiming the summer kitchen building for something else? IMHO, moving is one of the least fun things I have ever done.
Like AH said- the fire burned the entire garage and the back corner of the summer kitchen. They only just told us the summer kitchen will be coming down also (makes sense). But we have to get everything in there moved out freezers, garden stuff in one corner and all my canning and food processing stuff. That’s would be a chore, but everything has to be thoroughly scrubbed before putting it in storage due to the smoke.

We got a fair amount done! I have been scrubbing stuff since we got permission to go in so that part helped. Got two freezers in the house (have some great decor going on I tell ya) and one cleaned out and to storage. Have 1 more, not full - will have to figure that out. Still more to do but making progress. We are both whooped this evening.
 
Saturday December 28th 2024

Wow! 28f today 😯 so warm !!!
Supposed to rain and snow tomorrow and 38f

Very happy and nice surprise
I had the visit of *Kitty Hope* 🐱for dinner 🩷

Slept a bit like crap last night
hope I will sleep 😴 better tonight

Not ready for bed yet ...even if I am yawning LOL

Hope I will sleep better than last night :rolleyes:

Have a great evening and night !




Elīna Garanča age 48 years is a Latvian mezzo-soprano.
She began to study singing in her hometown of Riga in 1996
and continued her studies in Vienna and in the United States.
 
Drove 600+ miles back home. Over 400 in heavy rain and low clouds/fog. I am beat
I am jealous of you folk that get the good storms. About 4 nights ago we had a light sprinkle from about 10pm to 4am. The nearby mountains had some snow accumulation but nothing even close to our area.
I miss good weather. That's the lame part of desert life.
 
Had furnace trouble again so called for a repairman. Service calls are included in the oil contract but not everything is covered. Most of the techs just do what is covered. This tech went the extra mile for me. Cleaned the delivery tube from the tank to the boiler. It was really gunked up (we had a delivery a week or so ago and the speed at which they pump into the tank really stirs the sediments up). He also treated with some chemical that keeps the gunk from building up. $150 well spent if I don’t have further problems this season.

Took Dad for his pre admission testing. This surgery can’t come soon enough. Poor fella is in agony—hurts to swallow, can’t really chew; but he is working on the cheesecake. I’m spending the night here so I can straighten the place up. Got room darkening curtains to block out the street lamp outside the window. A new mattress pad because that mattress in the spare bedroom might as well be made concrete.
 
it's warm and raining today, warmest since before Thanksgiving probably. I haven't even started a fire yet.
Animals are in the barn and since it is supposed to be pouring soon they will stay in, so we will have to rotate them around.
Will start cleaning the house today, everything except the floors since the dogs will track mud in anyway
 
Her summer kitchen building caught on fire.

OK, enough goofing from me this morning, time for outside work.
Like AH said- the fire burned the entire garage and the back corner of the summer kitchen. They only just told us the summer kitchen will be coming down also (makes sense). But we have to get everything in there moved out freezers, garden stuff in one corner and all my canning and food processing stuff. That’s would be a chore, but everything has to be thoroughly scrubbed before putting it in storage due to the smoke.

We got a fair amount done! I have been scrubbing stuff since we got permission to go in so that part helped. Got two freezers in the house (have some great decor going on I tell ya) and one cleaned out and to storage. Have 1 more, not full - will have to figure that out. Still more to do but making progress. We are both whooped this evening.
I knew that the garage burned down, but didn't realize that the summer kitchen was damaged. What a chore! We had a house fire when I was a young teenager. Smoke damage was the worst part of it.
 
Well..I did it!
I got a newer ride.
I got the subie crosstrek AWD Sport. She is a pretty 🧊 icy metallic grey with a lite blue undertone n black trim. Full coverage warentee n them some for up to 100,000 or 5 years still on it. She has 44,000 miles and was kept by the dealership as the loner n errand runner, so I have the full maintenance log on her too.
She is pretty fancy but will be a good ride to n back from work, handled the muddy slushy road last night like a champ and if anything happens she goes to the dealership n it gets fixed.
I really dislike being in debt but I'm done breaking down , wondering how much it will cost to fix, being stranded. I know that can still happen but it's less likely and between me n the dealership..she is covered..and affordable. If something happen with my job, the mill catches fire again or ? I can afford the payments even if I had to go work at the local grocery store.
If I had bought a truck..that would be pretty difficult to pull off.

So today I'll be putting stuff in the new subie n getting her ready to start commuting. I'm not sure I'll drive her tomorrow to work. I believe I'm covered from my insurance policy for 10 days on anything new but I'd rather make sure. I'll have to stop by dmv at the county office after work too n get her all good there too, so she might stay home untill I get that all square.

Last night me n my buddie maggie stopped by the local dive bar..she wanted a glass of wine n I was parched for some cranberry juice. I ended up having a 7 up with my juice n watch some local boys play pool for a minute. It had been at least 3 years since our first stop at this bar. They had a old dog who took bills (tips) to the tip jar for a treat. He had passed since then but they had gotten a new pup who learned the same gig. He earns the bar maid a dollar , brings it to the tip jar , sits down n gets a treat in exchange..lol..very smart.
The folks were chatty n nice like before , the dog was a hoot so we decided the bar will be our regular stop on our way back up when we go down to Onterio to have the new Subie serviced. I won't be drinking alcohol of course but my friend can since I'm driving. It will be a fun way to end a day of gallivanting down below.
 

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