Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Still Here, Still Busy!

Just doing all the normal home-owner stuff that comes with moving into a new place.

We are now "100% LED Lighting", with the last of the offending bulbs being sought out and eliminated. All the hallway lights have "65 Watt Equivalent" soft-white lamps as well as all the basement lights and exterior lights.

So far, no increase in my noise level, and I'll be setting up again on Thursday, 7 Dec, to see if I can contact the Iowa again. The fiberglass case for the SGC tuner should be here tomorrow, and "all" I have to do is drill a couple of holes, and redrill the plastic cutting board I was using for a backpanel, mount the tuner, and reassemble the 33' vertical, making sure it's well staked down, and with as many of the longest radials I can squeeze into the backyard.

And after installing the new disposer in the kitchen sink, the wife decreed the old drain in the other sink looked "all funky", so another trip to Home Depot for a nice, new shiny-pretty drain and stopper.

The wire rack I ordered arrive and I assembled it and loaded the other rack back up with gear I'd moved into the "study" area of the basement. I've got 90% of my books unpacked, sorted, and loaded into the bookcases built in to one of the walls in the Radio Room, and it's empty enough now to easily get at, troubleshoot, and repair the baseboard heater. As soon as that task is finished, I'll get my carpenter buddy in there to build a nice workbench, and add a shelf above the work surface so I can keep some test gear and small parts cabinets there.

And even the garage is showing signs of improvement. I've gone through ALL of the boxes in the garage, inventoried them, and moved a good size pile of stuff downstairs where it belongs. I hung both of my fiberglass cross-booms for my satellite antennas from the bike hooks in the ceiling, and have just about finished "weatherizing" the 9' semi-portable tower. That will get "stored" out on the patio in it almost final resting place until spring, when the satellite station will go back on the air.

Wednesday we're going out to get our Christmas tree, the first real tree we've ever bought. The guys who whacked the big dead cottonwood tree in the backyard also run a Christmas tree lot in Laporte, so we're going to go check them out. And since it's so close to where we were staying, we'll swing by there and pick up a load of these funny green rectangular steel boxes I have that seem to weigh "too much" for their size, and bring them back here, too. I also have to make an effort to make sure I brought home all of the radio gear I had there. As of right now, I can't find find my Drake R4-B receiver, and it's got me a bit stressed over where it is.

I'll come back Wednesday night and add some pix to here......

19 comments:

  1. So, have you gotten your washer and dryer yet? I am interested to see if you and yours are as happy with Speed Queens as I and mine are.

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    1. Awwww...the wife went and bought a "40% OFF On The Pair!!!!" deal at Home Depot because I was "taking too long" to buy the Speed Queen units.

      I'm still on the hook for the $950 she spent, but we didn't get what *I* wanted.....

      Delete
    2. You can get even, I mean, you can get what you want when she is tired of those pos thingies she bought that won't clean her cloths.

      May take a year. Maybe surprise her. Toss a brick into the dryer and accidentally break it. Wash a load of tar-infested jeans.

      Then, when she looks on in horror, tell her sweetly, "See? I suggested we buy some Speed Queens..."

      Okay, a fantasy, but better luck next time.

      Delete
    3. HAH! She was complaining how poorly the dryer was working, so I went outside and looked at the vent. It had a piece of "Critter Prevention" screen screwed on, and it was PACKED full of wet lint!

      After I cleaned out the screen, and removed about HALF of the length of exhaust hose the "installation" crew from Home Depot used (the used the entire length, and just coiled up the extra!), it started working like a clothes dryer should.

      Delete
  2. Damn, I got tired just reading that.
    Yer a busy feller!

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    1. I'm trying to get two or three "easy" tasks done per day, although sometimes getting those two items done can take 14 hours!

      Delete
  3. I'm glad that you are settling in to your new life in Colorado. There's always too much to do. Thanks for keeping us updated.

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    1. Yup....probably take a couple of years before "we" have the house they way "we" want it.

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  4. Your first real tree? You've been living with plastic trees all this time? Welcome to tradition, Dr. Jim.

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    1. We've been using the same plastic LED Christmas tree since 2008, and she had it for years before that.

      It was looking a lot like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree last year, so when we were packing things up to get here, it's one of the items that "1-800-GOT-JUNK" carted away.

      We didn't get out for the tree today as she had some other errands to run, so we'll get it Thursday or Friday.

      Delete
  5. Glad things are coming together... And the radio will be in the LAST box in the back corner of the garage... :-)

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    1. Yeah, the garage in Bellvue! I thought I got all of the boxes with radio gear out of there, but it's beginning to look like that particular box may be buried with the ammo cans.....

      Delete
  6. We've been in our new home since June of last year and we're still doing 'improvements'.

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    1. It's a never ending battle, Ken!

      One of my in-laws has a collection of old barbed wire. The next time I'm over there I'll take some pix for you, and see if he's got "doubles" on any wire types he might have. I'll get you some "Colorado" barbed wire if I can!

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  7. You are getting all settled in. Funny how much fine tuning you have to do with a new place to really make it "home." At the end of every day though, you have a sense of accomplishment when you are doing that. With all the bizarre goings on in California, sounds like you escaped just in time. That place is going to go down the drain before too long.

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    1. There's always repairs and modifications to do. Every_Single_"New"_Fixture the previous owners installed like towel racks and stuff is either crooked, wasn't installed with wall anchors in the drywall, or has the wall anchors improperly installed!

      They ALL have to be redone, along with some of the funky plumbing "repairs" they did.

      They really wanted OUT of this place!

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  8. Glad to hear that things are mostly going well. Hope you find your receiver soon!
    God bless.

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    1. Thanks, Linda. We haven't hit anything major that we didn't know about coming in. The tree, fence, light bulbs, washer/dryer and roof cost us about $18k. These were needed, so we knew that cost going in. Other stuff like the woodworking I want done in the basement and garage ($2500), and her kitchen/bathroom remodels ($45k and rising!) are things that don't "need" to be done, but will be in the next year.

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Keep it civil, please....

Gloomy, Gritty, Grey Day

 At 1700 local it's as described in the headline; 30*F, 88% RH, completely overcast, snowing like crazy (small flakes, but lots of them)...