I was out for a walk today/yesterday, and I saw a young couple loading very large concrete tubs onto the back of a pickup. I heard the woman say, "When we've been to the recycling centre with these, well take the furniture to the charity shop." I said to the couple, "If you are getting rid of those tubs, I'll be glad to have them, and my place is just around the corner." They delivered them to my home and even took them into the rear garden. I offered them a reward, but they declined.
Congratulations Bert. Free delivery too. I assume a concrete tub is something you put plants in? Do you have a big garden? nAny pictures?
You are right, nancy, they are about 2ft diameter and about the same height and there are 5 of them. I'm so pleased that I was in the right place at the right time. I've got various shrubs growing in much smaller containers that I intended putting into the ground, but now, they'll have a new home in my new found tubs.
GC came by Thursday to pick up the check for the upstairs HVAC project. What he wanted to talk about is a serious fight he is having with his relatives. What he described sounds like an attack of "flying monkeys." You assume no one will believe you if you try to explain it to them, because, frankly, it's unbelievable, if you haven't experienced it. He kept repeating.. It's a learning experience. He is handling the situation the best way possible, imo. I imagine it's devastating when it involves family who all live nearby. Anyway, I didn't have to give any advice. Just assure him he is not the crazy one. In addition to that... He said a woman, who he just finished building a house for, filed for divorce from her husband during the process and she refuses to pay him now. He will probably have to take her to court. And he hired a man to build a pond on his property for $30K. The man hauled off dozens of truckloads of dirt. Then wanted more money to finish the job. He told the guy he wanted the dirt back. He didn't get it.
So many projects have started lately and never get completed in a timely fashion. As I said earlier, it might cause unnecessary drama if one posts about these delays in the meantime. Maybe there needs to be an abbreviation for this type of event. It happens so frequently. The new front door: It's beautiful. Fits well. Doesn't swing open by itself. Didn't realize how much of a nuisance that was before, until now. The problem: I left off last time where the man put the aluminum cladding on the side frames, messed it up on the top, and said he'd be back by Friday to finish. That was May 25th! I have only paid for half of the door/installation costs, so it's not like they would forget forever. Yesterday I was finally ready to send an email first thing this morning to the salesman at the door company and inquire what was going on. Guess who beat me to it. Eric (the owner) called this morning and said Mike (the installer) would be here around 3pm today to finish the job. Eric blamed the manufacturing company. I don't believe he ever makes mistakes. For some reason all this didn't bother me. All the speculation about what might happen is not necessary now. Of course there could still be some drama, but it will only be minor. I hope.
Everything went OK yesterday. There are a couple of things that could have been done better, but I didn't catch them soon enough to stop them. At first I was glad for some delay. The brickmold with cladding that came with the door was too thick for this installation. It left time to think about it and get something different from Lowes that was thinner. Looks much better. They all had the same story---that the delay was the manufacturer's fault. I suspect the stuff was sitting in the owner's garage for a month and he finally got around to checking inventory over the weekend. They said all they did for the whole day was finish 4 or 5 jobs all over NE Georgia that were never completed. Need to do just a little painting now. No plaster or siding to repair or replace.
The new heat pump is screwing with the upstairs room temperatures. It's either FREEZING up there, or too hot. I spent much of the afternoon yesterday trying to figure out what this new thermostat is doing, both by trial and error and searching the internet for hidden specs. The thermostat is in the hallway at the top of the stairs. There are no air ducts in the stairwell. In the hottest part of the day the optimum setpoint temp now is 82F. When the air temp reaches 83 the system starts cooling and keeps running, maybe 10 minutes, then shuts off. But the actual temp at the thermostat hasn't moved from 83. After a few minutes it starts running again and repeats. There must be either a timer that won't let the system run longer than a fixed amount, or maybe something overheats and stops it? Meanwhile the other rooms are registering around 75F. That is too cold except at night for sleeping. Set any higher than 82, the AC won't come on enough and gets too hot in all the rooms. At cooler times of the day, the best setpoint is lower. I figure the new front door is causing some of this. It is not letting in any air at all from outside so the air isn't circulating in the stairwell. It's just a pocket of stagnant hot air. I think the thermostat HAS to be moved ASAP. I also think I can do this faster than getting someone out to do it. Years ago I put a new receptacle in the bedroom up there. Right above that receptacle would be a perfect place to move the thermostat. It's on an inner wall and I remember the wall is hollow, because finding a hollow wall to feed a wire through for the receptacle was the highlight of the day. The existing thermostat wire should be long enough to reach, provided it can be cut loose close to the old thermostat. Last resort is a whole new wire. I swore I'd never get up in that attic again. However, this will not involve moving much insulation, the bigger opening makes it not so claustrophobic, and I have a whole stack of masks left over from Covid. So... the one job for this morning is to get up there, check the thermostat wiring, see if it is nailed down anywhere, and how hard it would be to put in a whole new wire. The ladder is still upstairs. No excuses. I have to make myself do this. Putting it in writing doesn't seem to work like it used to.
I am having a similar problem at the farm. It used to be a fancy duel zoned set up but I replaced the furnace and it only uses one thermostat. Not sure where the air is going or why. I cleaned the ac but still not right. I poked my head into the attic and there is an abundance of insulation so that is one less issue I have to address. When you are done and have experience with your set up, I could send you the address...
Hi Mary, Sorry for not replying sooner. The power was off here since 6 pm yesterday (22 hours). We had a heck of a windstorm. Both neighbors on either side, had large trees come down, one across the street. All over town like that. They originally said power wouldn't be up until midnight tonight, so I packed a suitcase this morning, left some extra food for the cat (she loves heat), and took off to the mobile home. Mowed the lawn out there. Just got back. High 93 F today ("feels like" 103). Steam bath. There is a new piece to the up/down AC puzzle, so I've changed my mind about moving the thermostat, for now.
Tonight these two little ones showed up with their mama. I'd guess they are about a week old. The doe was wandering around alone, and much fatter, one day last week. The poor angle is because I'm scrunched down low on the deck so they wouldn't notice me.
They were in MY yard yesterday but not so zoomy. I yelled at them though because Mama started tasting my only bearing peach tree.
Sometimes they are like puppies. I had 2 brothers and their mother in my yard a few years ago, and one of them would run circles around the other and then stop suddenly and put his head down, challenging the other to butt heads. The other one begrudgingly relented, mainly to get the feisty one off of his back. Then the feisty one would run in circles, come back, and issue another challenge.
The "zoomies." I'd never heard that before. Sorry about your peach tree. Squirrels would be worse. Something is rubbing the bark off one of my cedar trees at the base.
Definition of zoomies particularly refers to dogs just like you describe. This morning 3 more came back from the east (right side), then returned just now. Did they lose a little one, or is this a whole different crew? There is a large lake in a park about a mile east of here (across 3 major highways ).
We always have a lot of deer here. Babies can come in ones, twos, and threes and sometimes a yearling will travel with the mom for a while. With so much building going on, woods are getting smaller and less. And one is not supposed to shoot around houses so culling by hunting is done way to the north. My daughter got a picture of a huge 10 point buck right off our deck and made the men so jealous whenever they would talk about hunting, at brunch. Some years the deer are just nuisance. But the babies are darn cute. And turkeys are back again this year. Two or more hens bring babies through here for the water I give my silkie. Huge flocks on a hill remind me of tiny buffalo. Deer eat my roses, grapes, fruit trees, tulips... pretty much anything that isn't fenced and I am not up to fencing anymore. But when the apocalypse comes, I am not raising any more meat, I tell ya.