You don't like the frustration of having the string break (or the wrapper just oddly contort) in your moment of need? They were great when they worked, but there was a certain failure rate.
So, the day was going good, replacing a Square D breaker box in a house with about 20 or so breakers including 4 220 volt breakers and I get a cut from a barb in the ground wire when my hand slipped whilst pulling the wire through. (wasn’t wearing my gloves) I generally keep band-aides in my wallet or a small kit in the truck but not this time. Already aggravated, I go the two blocks to our house and then struggle for 10 minutes trying to stop the bleeding enough to throw a band-aide on it and ya’ll know the rest of the story. Ya know, I’m really good at a lot of things and can generally figure out the solutions to stuff I’m not even studied up on but taking a derned band-aide out of the wrapper without screwing it up is a talent I have yet to achieve!! I guess I could have asked Yvonne to do it for me but, well, ya’ll know. Thank you mommy but I’m a big boy now and can fix it all by myself.
Hope what's left of the night is better and you heal fast. I'm sure Yvonne is a good nurse substitute too.
And what about getting plastic bags open? The rolls of them over the vegetables or garbage bags on a roll. Without a bit of spit on my fingers what am I to do? Not advised during covid.
Next day, same house, same breaker box. I had some breakers to re-install today after finally getting the new box in and the main cables hooked up yesterday. So, I string my cord through an empty lot and to the house so I could have lights again and spend the next hour hooking up breakers. Note before the rest of the rant: The reason I picked now to do the box is because the renters didn’t pay their utility bill and the utilities had been turned off. Hence, since the utilities had been turned off anyway there was no need to spend the bucks to have them temporarily turned off. Now, the rest of the story. Who should show up but the good people with community development. The officer said he saw my cord stretched from our house to the house I was working on. In short, can’t do that. Why? Because the law says so and because the utilities had been shut off so it’s illegal for anyone to be in the house. What if I had a generator? Nope. The house is being rented by someone and of course the utility company will tell you that they will install a temporary pole until you get the work done. They know I’m here, says I. Doesn’t matter. You can be arrested for trespassing on a piece of property that has the utilities turned off. That’s absolutely ridiculous, I said. Yup, I agree with you but it’s the law. Matter of fact, since the utility company turned the utilities off we have to put a condemned sign on the door until someone pays to have the power turned back on. What idiot passed that law? Don’t know but it’s the law. I wanted to say something but it would have gotten me arrested……… The story goes on for another half hour but needless to say, I lost.
That is beyond stupid. It's a rental property...the renters have the contract with the electric company. New tenants never move in the day after old tenants move out. There's no way the owner has to pay New Account fees to bridge every short-term gap in tenants so that the owner can go on the property to do work. What about yard work? In many of these "We love rules so we can fault-find" areas, uncut grass is a violation. Can you go go on the property to cut the grass if there's no power inside, or are you a trespasser who's gonna get fined twice? I won't ask if you got in trouble for the extent of the electrical work you are doing... Go watch "Falling Down." You'll feel better. At least you're not that guy.
No wait! What is that movie with Melanie Griffith, Matthew Modine and the actor who played Batman. (I hate this alzheimers stuff) where Batman Actor used all the laws against the nice, gentle new landlords? I bet I can remember tomorrow. It is a horror story all people who are thinking of getting rental property should watch.
Pacific Heights. (I had to use the internet, I did not remember.) My mother had rental property. "But they looked like such a nice clean young couple." Makes one want to move the word "vigilante" to the "Acceptable Behaviour" column.
Went to bed at 2200 and am now up at 1230. I’m having a hard time sleeping all over the idiocy displayed by our local government. The basic thing is that I can’t stand to be told what I can and cannot do especially if logic dictates that I’m doing what I should be doing. 1. I can’t string a cord from my house to another house sans utilities in order to perform maintenance on the inside of the house. 2. Because the tenants didn’t pay their utility bill and it’s been 2 weeks since the cutoff, community development condemned the house which prevents me from entering the house until the utilities are turned on. 3. If I enter the house I can be arrested even though I represent the owner of the property and am trying to help upgrade the house. 4. Just stringing MY cord from my house to another house can be considered a commercial thing and Huntsville Utilities will charge me commercial rates. 5. Contrary to all of that, the inspector told me that whilst I cannot even use a generator to perform the work, Huntsville Utilities will gladly set up a commercial temporary pole with a meter such as is found on a construction site. Now, so far as exactly what I am doing in the house, the inspector has no idea and I’m not about to tell him. The box is in a closet and the new codes call for an exposed box. I’d have to do a lot of re-wiring to do that or hire a licensed electrician which would cost about $5K. (I checked) Cutting the grass? If I had an electric lawn mower and had to string a cord then yeah, I’d probably get a ticket from the city and charged commercial electric rates. Or……I’d probably be asked if I had a business permit to mow someone else’s lawn.
Set up a big solar cell panel on the driveway, use a battery mower, and wear a mask. Park your Tesla out front and no one is going to mess with you.
Laws!!! My neighbor to the north, a developer, found he had put in a retention pond that was backing up water onto his sold properties. He dug a dead end trench onto my property that eventually flooded my pasture. I called the cops who told me it was a civil issue. This meant I had to hire an attorney to go after someone who obviously trespassed to do damage to my property to settle this...