Well…just got the package that had parts for a piece of equipment that failed the other day and found out that it is permanently shot…but, I guess I shouldn’t bitch too much about the failure since I have been using it since 2007 with only one breakdown in all that time….so, I upgraded to a much more modern piece that only cost 59 bucks and has lots of features that I’m not sure I’ll use but it is cool that they are there…and now, I need to stop spending money completely until the third wed in December…oh, I did get my new hose today, too and it came with a nozzle and a hanger for the back of the house…all that for 24 bucks and if I give them my order number, they will upgrade me to a lifetime free replacement warranty so I think I’ll do that in the next few days…have to drain the other hose when it gets warmer and get that put away in the garage…and will probably never take it out again…the new one only weighs about 2 pounds and that is pretty cool…so some good, and some bad today…
All posts by James DeVol
I have a garage!
Well….have been trying to find a political topic…a little anyway…with little success today…I have been distracted by the crappy cold weather and the snow on my car this morning when I got up…and I couldn’t find my scraper so that irritated me even more…so, when I was getting the trash bin filled for pickup tomorrow, I kind of got lost in cleaning the garage and seeing if I could pack stuff well enough for me to get the car in so I don’t have to scrape in the mornings….and after about an hour’s work, I have a garage! It was actually pretty easy to get everything stashed and there is plenty of room to even work on every side of the car…so, everyone…if you don’t see my car in the driveway, I could still be here…this is the first time ever that I have had a garage to put MY car in…there was always room for everyone else’s cars to go in the garage but mine was always out in the snow and rain…so, I really don’t know how to act other than to smile a little…and now I can work on the car inside for the first time ever…that is going to be weird…but, cool….
November 7th
Well…it appears to be a normal morning with getting up a little after 5 but it is damn cold outside at 27 frickin degrees…just not ready for it to be this damn cold…and it is going to keep me off the bike for a second day and that is annoying…I finally broke down and took some ibuprofen for my thumb last night and that was a good idea since it doesn’t hurt much today…not sure why I have been resisting using pain killers since I hurt all the time and I do need to keep the inflammation down…I did get my errands run yesterday and I am still surprised by how easy it is out here…even found where the daily deals is and got some smoked turkey breast for 1.29 a pound…had to buy over 6 pounds but that is still a deal and half of it will go in the downstairs freezer…I had to laugh about some stuff I ordered from Amazon yesterday that was not supposed to get here until next week but is coming today…that is pretty cool since I need it…I am going to make a run out to HF today to get a new battery switch for the car…the one that is in there appears to be shorting out and takes too many turns to disconnect it…and I am going to buy a cordless drill/driver for 16 bucks…not sure why I haven’t bought one before now since they are pretty handy and will keep me from having to drag my 100 foot extension cord around the house and yard….I am thinking of just driving the Miata through the winter and then buying a new one in the spring since this one has rust in it and needs a lot of money put into it….and I like the “B” body style so maybe that’s what I’ll do instead of getting a winter car…but, that still doesn’t help with hauling stuff but that is pretty much done with this house so I think I can get by…more later…
Blue wave, part two…
Well…you know, maybe trump is not the great politician that the repubs are holding him up to be…okay, we all know he’s just an idiot and any political success is due to Russia and Mitch McConnell…the rest of the country just hates trump with a passion that started to be shown in 2018 with the dems re-talking the House in a “blue wave” that saw us gain 40 seats…and last night, the blue wave part two flipped the Kentucky governor’s office over to a dem and even in Virginia, where the repubs have controlled the state for decades, the dems flipped both the house and senate to run the entire state with the dem governor. In Kentucky, idiot boy trump even held a rally for the repub, whining that if they didn’t elect Bevin, “you can’t let that happen to me”, of course since everything is about the idiot all the time. When you dive deep into the numbers from last night, the repubs really should be shaking in their boots with almost all of the suburbs going for dems everywhere and the enthusiasm to rid the country of trump and the repubs is at tsunami levels…now all we need to do is turn that into votes next year and maybe sanity can return to this country and the repubs will be gone for generations…at least until I’m dead anyway…
November 6th
Well…I wonder if the earplugs are helping me sleep…slept through until 5:21 this morning and the only change was the ear plugs….well…that’s not entirely true…I finished the gate yesterday so that was off my mind so I think that had something to do with it, too….whatever it was, I’ll take getting a whole 5 and a half hours and hope it continues…it won’t but I can hope…I did get a nice, cold bike ride in yesterday and I think it’s full thermasuit from here on out….only have about 40 miles left to do to get to the record so that should be easy if the snow holds off…I am wondering if they plow the trails here in GR like they do in Kentwood? I know they clean them but it would be cool to be able to ride all winter…I was pretty sore yesterday from wrestling the gate into place but I feel better this morning and didn’t even take an ibuprofen last night…so, I think I try going without again today if the pain isn’t too bad today…I did hurt my thumb again but that even seems okay right now…not much to do today…have been thinking about running all my errands today since I do need to get out to get the hasp for the gate and I do want to try to find the daily deals out here so i can get some smoked turkey breast for 1.29 a pound…have to buy 8 pounds but that is such a deal that I don’t think I can pass it up…and I can freeze most of it….and they have roast beef for around 2 bucks a pound so that might be good, too….more later…
Got the gate done….
Well….after building the new gate yesterday, I went out to depot and got the hinges to hang it and got that done this morning…I also got some exterior adhesive to attach the stop to the side of the house without drilling any more holes…now, I only need to get a hasp and install that tomorrow and the job will be done…and before winter! I did take Tom’s advice and got some powder coated black hinges that look pretty stylish and are rated to hold 60 pounds each so I think they’ll handle the gate okay….one cool thing about them is that you can just pull the hinge pins if you want to remove the gate for maintenance and I think that is a pretty cool feature…they weren’t cheap at 17 bucks but I think they’re worth it…so now, the last big job outside is done before winter and that is kind of a relief….
This should end it but it won’t…
Well…with ambassador Gordon Sondland going back to congress to “clarify” last weeks testimony and confirming in no uncertain terms that yes, he did tell the Ukraine that they wouldn’t get any military aid unless they issued a statement saying Russia had nothing to do with helping trump in the 2016 election and that they were opening investigations into the Bidens. On top of that, trump and his minions dictated the statement that they wanted Ukraine to say….I think that Sondland saw the transcripts that were released this week of the other people testifying and saw that, crap, he was in big trouble and then used the typical liars dodge that the other testimony jogged his memory and NOW he really remembers…all the while hoping that this “clarification” will keep him out of jail. Now, with this testimony that, yes indeedy, trump and his cronies did try to extort Ukraine to lie and help trump in 2020, this should be enough to end trump but it won’t be with the repubs carrying around their own moveable goalposts…and now saying that a crime isn’t a crime. One thin is certain, that even if they do keep trump from being removed and he serves out his term, he will be prosecuted after he is out of office and, with the evidence that is now public against him, a first year law student could get a conviction and send him away for the rest of his life…can’t wait for that perp walk…and for everyone else from Barr on down who will go to jail too…
November 5th
Well…running a little late this morning with not getting up until almost 6:30…but that included getting up for the first time before 3 and then getting a new set of ear plugs to use to try to get back to sleep…that only took about an hour and a half so it was another night of 5 hours…ick…I am sore again from wrestling the new gate around yesterday…the dang thing must weigh more than 60 pounds and it is going to take more fitting today…I think I have to trim another inch or so off the width since I made it a little too wide for easy fitting in the hole…and I need to trim the height, too since I need clearance for the uneven ground…going to try to work on that this morning….but, it’s too damn cold out there right now and I haven’t had my coffee…oh, and it’s dark out there, too…I did get the last bike ride in wearing shorts yesterday and now the weather is going to go to hell and be cold for the next three weeks with highs almost 20 degrees below normal for this time of year….I am dreading getting my first heating bill for his place…it could be over 300 bucks a month and that is going to hurt….more later….
Getting close…
Well…yep, running late again today getting the political one out…I wanted to get the work started on the new gate while it was not the freezing temps we are going to see for the next 3 weeks…it was not a good day for the criminal trump when a federal appeals court ruled that Mazars has to give up trump’s tax returns to a grand jury that is investigating trump’s crimes in NY…and, of course, his lawyers have said they will appeal to the SC but with losses in two courts, there is a chance that the SC may just let the appeals court ruling stand and not take the case…but, with beer boy Kavanaugh on the court now, he needs to pay trump back for getting him there and will break any precedent to do it so it appears that they are going to say that trump is above the law as his lawyers have been contending for months now. I think the first thing we need to do when we take back the government in 2020 is to codify in law all of the norms of our society that trump and the repubs have been shredding for three years now…a law an order commission that would pass a law that says that all presidential candidates must release their tax returns…and finally get rid of the DOJ guidance that says a sitting president can’t be indicted…saying that the law apply to everyone at all times and when a crime is committed, indictments come as a matter of course….at least then we wouldn’t be in the situation we are in now with a criminal running the country…
November 4th
Well…running about on time this morning with getting up at 5:15 but that followed the first 3am wake up…feel a little worn out today but that is pretty normal these days…just don’t have a lot of energy today so far and I hope the coffee works soon…it is nice to have the electrics sorted out and have everything back to normal after the repairs I had to make this weekend…I still need to put all the covers back on the electrical boxes but that’s pretty easy…going to get started putting stuff away today starting with the fence stuff outside and start measuring the boards to see how much I need to cut off the bottoms to make the new gate fit that I am going to build…the ground is not flat and I want it to follow it…I am going to get one last warm bike ride in today with the weather getting really cold for the next two weeks…so I need to get out the full thermasuit with it going to be in the 30’s…I am going to get the final 60 miles in outside then I need to make room downstairs for the trainer and the little tv so I can ride the rest of the year…not much to do today…I am going to get the front door masked off so I can paint tomorrow and finish the vestibule and then just putter around here and do more detail work…more later…