It’s 57°F and cloudy right now. It’ll remain overcast today, with an expected high temperature of 69°F. However, starting this weekend, the days will become sunnier and temperatures will climb into the 80s.
FCM, wishing you and FCD an exciting, but smooth trip.
I’m very sorry about your friend, pavo.
Nice sofa, lily!
Sticky, I’m sorry to hear you’ve been feeling unwell. I hope things can get sorted soon, and that your healthcare provider is also soon on the mend.
Boofae, troublesome people can ruin a whole day. I’m sorry you had to deal with that.
I need to call the vet and set up an appointment for the doggos. They need their nails clipped, and I need to see about getting them on Apoquel. The paw licking and head shaking have become extreme. I also need to make sure there isn’t yeast for some other infection going on. It’s not fleas; they both wear a Seresto collar.
I put together my electric thatcher/scarifier yesterday and ran it through the dog-free zone. I was impressed at how well it did. I need to spread some high-quality lawn soil and sand and scatter some seed. Given the time of year and the upcoming temperatures, it’s not the ideal time to do this, but we’ll give it a try. I’ve got nothing but time. Besides, that section of lawn was nothing but thatch interspersed with creeping clover and a few blades of green grass here and there.
I expect I’ll either be working in the yard or taking care of indoor chores today, unless I can get the pups in for an appointment.
The plumber showed up at 0700. I politely told him to fuck off for an hour. Our water is still on; I’m wondering if the work will get postponed on the project until it’s done raining. The ground is really saturated after yeserday’s deluge.
Can you set it on a counter/table so it drains into a sink? We put the dehumidifier in our basement on the mini-fridge next to the deep sink.
First chore today was a trip to the credit union for some cash. Dishwasher has been emptied. First load is in the washer. Outdoor plants have been watered.
And I have a question for our beloved night nurse - BBBoo, are you there?? OK, when a Dr or nurse asks if you’ve fallen, is it accurate to assume they mean you hit the ground for no apparent reason as opposed to tripped over a canine who decided he needs to be in the middle of the kitchen while you’re trying to make dinner? I won’t be seeing my doc till December, and I don’t want to wait that long for an answer.
What prompted this was when I was trying to push the laundry basket with my foot and it stopped, causing me to crash into the counter (extent of bruise TBD.) I don’t think that counts as a fall, nor does unsuccessfully transiting a room cluttered with toy trucks and blocks and stuffed animals. Is my assumption valid?
Bags are packed and well below the 50# limit. All but the carry-ons are in the trunk. And I’m glad we’re below the weight limit - that gives us some room for souvenirs for the grandspawn and my requisite t-shirt purchases. Guess I need to call Holland America and try to straighten out FCD’s app login. I’m kinda pissed he waited till the last minute to mess with it and now it’s a crisis. Dammit.
I live in a small apartment. The good news is that means the total volume of air to dehumidify, and therefore the total volume of water to remove, is small. But …
My choices are drain into the bathtub, the toilet, the bathroom sink, or the two-basin kitchen sink. That’s it. The machine is about 2’ high and 1’ x 1.5’ footprint. The bathroom is already small and crowded with little counterspace, so that’s out. Setting it up like a shrine in the middle of the kitchen counter with hoses and power cords draped across is a non-starter aesthetically.
But you did get me thinking about how I might connect its drain line to the HVAC system drain line if I can rearrange enough other stuff to give it a home near there. So thank you for that. My place isn’t a submarine, but it is a bit of a Tetris game to fit the bigger items into the space. Moving stuff a couple of feet may cascade into rearranging furniture and shelving all over the house.
You didn’t ask me, but one approach is to tell them: “I tripped over my dog, does that count?”
My own view as an older person is that I bet 20yo you would not have hit the ground after colliding with the dog. But 70yo you did. Heck, 20yo you might have noticed the dog first, or heard the dog coming into the kitchen that 70yo you did not. Punchline being all those things: hearing, noticing, speed of reactions, quality of balance, etc., are all incremental hazards of aging. If you’re going to continue to have a dog, you’re going to continue to be exposed to the hazards a dog represents.
That doesn’t go towards any diagnosis of balance problems, but it does go to the total risk score for falling in your home. Distinction make sense?
In my case I find myself leaning awkwardly or tripping over tiny stuff more frequently than when I was e.g. 40. Not progressing to falling, but still evidence that I’m not lifting my feet as much, nor am I as aware of the surface around me as was once the case.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. I need to make a couple of phone calls today, then I’ll get sheveled and take the box of coins to the credit union to get folding money for it. After, I’ll swing through Kroger for a few things.
New plan! Since moving nixed our lighthouse trip Saturday, I’m going to mow the front lawn today. She insisted that she will do it Friday, and told me not to mow. But I suggested that if I mow today, then we can go down to the Admiralty Point Lighthouse tomorrow. She said, ‘That’s a good idea!’ We’ll need to make it a morning trip, as she needs to be back in Bellingham for a banner-hanging on an overpass.
Good news: the plumber used his big-boy snake and was able to clear the drain. He said there was a ton of hair in there, which doesn’t surprise me in an apartment building. So no demolition required! Now if I can get the maintenance guy to reattach the molding in the closet, I can get all this stuff stowed away again.
Way back in the '90s, I signed up with Netcom dial-up. Netcom was bought by Earthlink, but I still had the (complicated and confusing to some people) Netcom domain. A few years ago, Earthlink got rid of the old Netcom websites. So basically, I’ve been paying every month to have an email address. Everything is linked to that address. Way to much trouble to change everything all in one go.
So I’m moving things to gmail as they come in. My new Labcorp account goes there, and today I moved REI and Amazon. It will be a slow process, but it will get done eventually. (I just hope I can use gmail reliably. I’ve had trouble in the past, getting in.)
Finally got FCD’s app up and running. All it took was a 2 minute conversation with a guy who knew what to tell me. So yay! Part of the problem was that I thought his account was tied to an email he no longer has. Nope, it’s the email that’s on the screen next to this one. So DUH! Anyway, he’s good to go. We’re good to go. Last load in the dryer, then the bed needs to be made, then around 4, we’re heading to my sister’s house.
I checked cab fare from BWI and figured it’d be less than $10 to take us the 2-ish miles back to her house. The driver will get $20 because no one should have to lose their place in line for a skimpy fare. So our return is set. Except for the 90 minute drive home that night - ugh. But that’s a July problem. It’s June.
It is a 3ft tall piece of plastic that is molded to look like a real piece of bacon. It has a twin which is currently mounted on the wall along with a giant fork, knife, and spoon as well as a giant sunny side up egg that I made out of clay. The bacon in the picture refuses to stay mounted on the wall and travels around the house for a variety of pranks.
I am so tired and weak after putting the table together. It was much more difficult than I expected. Even considering that my mom helped me, I still had to take several breaks. So, it’s done and Annie and I are sitting here happily doing not a thing other than reading the Dope.
FCM I’m glad you got the app figured out.
I’m not sure if you were thatching roofs or making scarecrows…
sticky buns super cute charcuterie set up! The bacon really brings it all together
metal mouse hope you can get rested and bounce back to enjoy the rest of the trip.
cookie with luck your latest round of hassles is almost done…
FCM and FCD enjoy the cruise!!! I hope your flight is smooth, and the hotel should let you stash your bags even if you can’t check in yet, so you could at least venture out to get a decent meal.
I struggle with high humidity in my house and run a little dehumidifier like what you bought. It does a great job and it’s rare that I need to empty it more than once a day. Miami is obviously much more humid but it sounds like your apartment is smaller than my house so it probably cancels out.
A couple of things to consider - the dehumidifier noise can get annoying so I recommend placing it in a way that the sound can be deflected without impacting airflow. Also I had the motors on three different dehumidifiers self-destruct shortly after being placed into service so I personally am not comfortable leaving it running when I’m not home or asleep. I’ve had my current one for two years now with no issue but it’s still made me leery. YMMV.
We didn’t have any issue with Princess when we went to Antarctica, at least not that I recall. Something I like about this app is the chat function. So we shouldn’t lose each other aboard.
Now just counting the minutes till we head to my sister’s place.
Here we are about 3 hours after that post and 6 hours since the dehumidifier was activated. My humidity gauges all say I started with not much humidity compared to my norm and I’ve made some improvement, but not all the way to my goal. IOW, we’ve gone a short distance in easy conditions; nothing compared to what we’ll really need for more difficult days once summer really gets going. And the tank is already half full!1!?1!! Clearly emptying the tank 2-4x/day is a non-starter. I need a better plan.
Fortunately FCM already gave me one.
My HVAC closet has the typical apartment stacked arrangement of a shorty HWH sitting on the floor and the HVAC air handler unit hanging from the wall above it. Just a few inches of clearance on all sides for access and airflow. I poked around in there and found the condensate lines arranged so I could not tap into them. Crap. Then I noticed the HWH was sitting in the usual catch pan to contain leaks. Which pan has an open drain line of 3/4" PVC. The dehumidifier’s drain line of thinwall 1/2" flex tubing slips in there handily and still leaves plenty of space for any future HWH leakage to flow around it down the drain.
A bit more head-scratching and I realize the dehumidified fits inside the closet in the corner space left over when a round HWH is put in a square closet. No need to rearrange anything out in the den room next door. Yaay! I can almost smell the triumph.
Now all I need is electricity. There’s no exposed outlet in the closet. But there is in the den next door. I realize a 6’ extension cord routed behind a filing cabinet will get power to where the dehumidifier is. I even have such a cord laying around as a spare.
A few minutes later the machine is back in business and the only visible evidence of its existence is about 8" of power cord snaking out from under the HVAC closet door, turning a wall corner, and then burrowing out of sight behind a filing cabinet.
Yaay FCM; you have the best ideas. Such an engineer!
And ref @liirogue’s points …
While it was in my living room I did find the fan noise a bit objectionable. Now that it’s in the HVAC closet it’s inaudible. I also changed the HVAC from Auto to On, so it’ll run 24/7 to ensure the closet has a continuous supply of different air to dehumidify. Which fan noise isn’t zero, but very close to zero.
I’ve certainly had various electro-whatevers fail and emit some smoke. I’ve never had an appliance failure or fire and really don’t understand people who refuse to run appliances while gone, or turn off absolutely everything and run around unplugging stuff before leaving the house. Smacks of phobia to me. YMMV.
Anyhow, I’m gonna live dangerous and let this run 24/7/365 out of sight out of mind. I will, as my usual habit with any new installation involving power, gas, or water, check on it a couple times a day for a couple of days looking for anything suspicious.
ETA Do NOT look at your baseboards. You can’t do anything about them for two weeks and it will make you even crazier than you already are!
So I have a stoned theory to share, please fact check me if you think I didn’t think this through.
In the mornings I put a little hummingbird syrup in the feeders and take them out. The syrup is kept in the fridge until use.
So, I hung the cold syrup out around ten and by 11 I couldn’t see it in the bottle, but if I touched the feeders I could tell that the opaque plastic bases were full. Now that it is cooling down, I can see syrup in the bottle again.
My theory is that because the feeders get the morning sun, the air in the bottle expanded in the heat and pushed all of the syrup into the base. Now that it is cooling off, that allowing the air in the bottle to shrink and pull the syrup back up into the bottle.
And that’s what happens when you mix a half forgotten high school science education with a really nice joint on a lazy afternoon.
Clearly emptying the tank 2-4x/day is a non-starter. I need a better plan.