Not that I really went anywhere, but we were on vacation and I wasn’t around much. If you noticed, that’s why. We were going to go do a few things last week when we had the time, but the weather didn’t cooperate. It was either:
A) 4000º on the Hyperbole scale (Too Danged Hotº C, or Not Even a Dry Heatº F)
or
2. Raining.
But finally the weather screwed up in reverse and cooperated. So we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. (Because currently, that’s the closest zoo to us and we have a membership.) That was a good time. Now in the Children’s Zoo area they have little goats you can feed. They have goat food in giant gumball machines and you can get a whole handful of the stuff (approximate value 2¢) for a quarter and then feed their goats for them. Since I had a quarter in my pocket, Katcha and I went to feed the goats. Soupo decided to hang out outside the goat enclosure with the Little Woman (who he calls “Mom”).
Goats are a lot like dogs in that when they see someone coming, the first thing that goes through their little brains is “Hey! They might have food!” As far as that goes, they’re a lot like kids too. And since the basic form of communication employed by goats is bashing their heads into the other goats, (which could be why they call little goats “kids”, I dunno) I guess they’re more like kids than dogs. Anyway, as soon as you go into their pen, they swarm around you looking for food. If you want to fake them out, just go into their pen with your hand balled up into a fist. They won’t know the difference and think you actually have food even though you just have an empty fist. Goats are stupid that way.
But they were just the little bitty goats and we fed them some. There was a bigger goat that smacked all the other littler goats away so that goat (I didn’t check out the goat tackle, but I’m going to guess it was a girl goat since having a boy goat could be a little too educational in a zoo setting.) could get all the food. But I outsmarted that goat. I just didn’t give it any food. Ha! The joke was on (probably) her! But the little goats… that reminded me, I always wanted (when I remember) a little goat like that. It would be great to have in the backyard. And think of the mowing I’d save! Why, the goat would pay for itself! (Someone, and I’m not naming names here, said I couldn’t have a goat.)
We saw other animals (like the skunk and the bison) and stuff (just unspecified stuff) at the zoo. It was a pretty good day.
While we were on vacation, I also got the new ceiling fans up.
“But you already HAD ceiling fans up” you say.
“What?” I reply. “You’ve been looking in my windows?”
“Maybe,” you admit.
“Stop it!” sez me.
But, yeah, I already had ceiling fans up. But they were ugly and the one was way wobbly.
“But you can get a ceiling fan balancing kit to fix that” you helpfully point out.
“Weren’t you paying attention?” I come back with. “They. Were. Ugly.”
“You could spray paint them or something,” you try.
“Shuddup,” sez me.
When I was putting up the fan in our room (not, like “you and me”, but “the Little Woman and me”, that “our”) there were two wires up there. There were really more. There was the green “ground” wire and the white wire and then there were the two wires I’m talking about, a red wire and a black wire. Now, the black wire is usually the “hot” wire that makes the juice flow through, say, a ceiling fan, or less optimally, you, but the fan was hooked up through the red wire. Why? I wasn’t sure. So I experimented. With all the wires bare, I turned the circuit breakers back on (they were off for safety- I’m so keen on safety, I turn all the circuit breakers off every night when we don’t need to use any electricity) and took my circuit tester thingy and, yup, there was juice just a-flowing through the red wire and the black wire. Weird. But I didn’t experiment quite enough (say, but flicking the wall switch off and seeing what that did) and just hooked my ceiling fan up the way the one I just took down was wired. It worked well enough.
The next day I hooked up the ceiling fan in Soupo’s room. (Katcha doesn’t have a ceiling fan. His room is little and I’m not climbing up into the attic to fix his light-junction-hook-up box thingy until this Fall when it’s not so hot up there.) Sure enough, a red wire and a black wire. And the whole fan, lights and everything was hooked up to the red wire which ran to the wall switch. But being experimental the way I am, I decided to check out that black wire a little more. Hey! It stays “hot” even with the wall switch switched off! Which means I could hook the fan to that circuit and the light to the circuit that turns on and off at the wall switch and I can run the fan all the time and be able to turn the light on and off at the wall. Genius!
So that’s what I did.
Hey, here’s a thing. That white wire? That sucks the used up electricity back into the wall so it can get re-energized or whatever it does there back in the wall. Anyway, when you have the black wire, that doesn’t turn off at the wall switch hooked up along with the red wire that does turn off at the switch to the white wire (with the ceiling fan and the ceiling fan light in between) and the white wire jiggles loose because you didn’t turn the wire nut (That wouldn’t make a very flattering nickname, would it? “Wire Nut”.) tight enough, just shutting off the juice running through the red wire at the switch doesn’t do squat about all the electricity running through the black wire. You really have to go into the basement and flick the circuit breaker on that bad boy. That’s all I have to say about that.
But I got Soupo’s fan all hooked up so it can run and you can turn the light on and off at the switch. A very well done job. But that meant MY fan was hooked up less goodly. Which meant I had to take my ceiling fan apart pretty much all the way to fix the hook up on it. But now, it’s all hooked up just dandy.
Also, for the learning portion of the show, I learned that when you get a new refrigerator with an ice maker right in the freezer, you should get a new water line. Even if the old copper water line still looks good.
I also learned that it’s better for the water line to your ice maker in the freezer of your new refrigerator to break on a day you are home rather than a day you aren’t.
I also learned how easy it is to swap out an old water line to the ice maker in the freezer of a new refrigerator for a new, improved plastic water line.
That was enough learning.
-Rue.
! Was the poor little skunk cold and damp, which would make its smell worse by adding Eau Du Damp Skunk to it’s normal Le Pew stink? Or did it smell like a mollusc, which would be even worse, in my opinion. Granted I really hate clams, even when they’re hidden in chowder, or anything else people try to sneak clams into. Evil, evil clam-loving people. (And boy, is that last sentence going to get taken the wrong way or what? :eek: ) Skunks are kinda cute, though, in a “back away slowly while making no sudden moves” kinda way. I saw a skunk in someone’s yard one night when I was on my way home from a friend’s place. It was right there in the open, no zoo in sight!
At least it was just my face this time. :smack: