What are you doing?
 

Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year, I
think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort of
maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in CaCo3
crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer 3 mm
thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne dirt and
dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty, crusty brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the GH
receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to replace
the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through the pads
was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed, the GH in
full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the shade (on July
4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block out bad news).
July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling pads, and working in
the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not to - am I stupid or what? -
I set about tearing the cooling pads out of their panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and rusted
so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand. The old
disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve the
CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would have
moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware store
trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this *now* are
you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my heat stroked
countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered 'Of Course Not!'.
He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always depended on the kindess
of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads cut
to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp cooler at 8
PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the swamp cooler was
still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one panel - so it was
sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F inside the gh. By 8PM
the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing the one panel dropped it to
82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw the second panel repaired in
the same way, and today July 7th I'll complete the project, which I've
gotten pretty quick at, though the cordless drill isn't happy. I think its
suing for new rechargable batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:

What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software Ltd

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.

http://www.easynn.com

What are you doing?
 

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year,
I think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort
of maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in
CaCo3 crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer 3
mm thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne dirt
and dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty, crusty
brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the
GH receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to
replace the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through
the pads was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed,
the GH in full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the shade
(on July 4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block out bad
news). July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling pads, and
working in the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not to - am I
stupid or what? - I set about tearing the cooling pads out of their
panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and
rusted so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand.
The old disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work
began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve
the CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would
have moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware
store trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this
*now* are you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my
heat stroked countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered 'Of
Course Not!'. He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always depended
on the kindess of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads
cut to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp
cooler at 8 PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the swamp
cooler was still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one
panel - so it was sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F
inside the gh. By 8PM the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing the
one panel dropped it to 82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw the
second panel repaired in the same way, and today July 7th I'll complete
the project, which I've gotten pretty quick at, though the cordless drill
isn't happy. I think its suing for new rechargable batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett

I should mention that today the marine layer has moved onshore and its now
freezing outside. Had I but sat and dithered for 48 hours I could have
saved myself a ton of work... *G*! Never do today what you an put off till
tomorrow.

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

K Barrett wrote:
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year, I
think.

It was on one of these hardware store
trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this *now* are
you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett



Well, there IS something to be said for doing things at night when it's
cooler, but then you can't always see well enough to do them, even with
supplemental lighting.

What am I doing this weekend? Well, it depends on how one defines
'weekend'. If that's 'Saturday and Sunday', well then I'm working long
hard days, as I always do on weekends, as does everyone else in the
restaurant business (and many, many others). If, however, it means what
I've come to know it as for the last twenty-five years or so, the two
days off after one's workweek, in my case, Monday and Tuesday, well then
I'm finishing attaching the shadecloth to my newly-built GH (got the
shadecloth on and the sides attached but held off on the far end til I
got the gutter on - which was done this week) and building benches and
hopefully (if my roommate has run out the utilities as planned) moving
plants out of the growrooms and into the GH.

Wish me luck! Mothing else has gone as quickly or smoothly as expected
with this project!

What are you doing?
 

"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:

What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

The aquarium water is good for your orchids!

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
I'm finishing attaching the shadecloth to my newly-built GH (got the
shadecloth on and the sides attached but held off on the far end til I got
the gutter on - which was done this week) and building benches and
hopefully (if my roommate has run out the utilities as planned) moving
plants out of the growrooms and into the GH.

Wish me luck! Mothing else has gone as quickly or smoothly as expected
with this project!

A new GH! How fun! I loved framing/sheathing mine, but found the finish
work tedium. Many skinned knuckles. And I only sawed partway through the
saw horse, I *never* actually made it all the way through. (True story)

Measure twice, cut once and still be bewildered that it isn't right. That's
my motto.

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

Puppy sitting!

Our chocolate Labrador, Baci, had a litter of 6 pups (4 chocolate and 2
black) last Monday night and they have been keeping us busy ever since (see
pics on ABPO). It was quite a traumatic evening as the first one was born in
the back seat of the car outside the vet's surgery, the next one came about
40 minutes later at home but after a wait of another two hours with no
further births we had to take her in for an emergency Caesar. Found that
Baci had a ruptured uterus and one of the pups had blocked the birth canal
and had died blocking the birth of the other ones. Another was deformed and
didn't make it but we managed to save the other four. Baci is now stitched
up and doing fine.

Ever since it has been a case of watching the pups eat and sleep
continuously all day. They have doubled their weight in 5 days!

Unfortunately the orchid collection is being neglected.

~John


"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:

What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software Ltd

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.

http://www.easynn.com

What are you doing?
 

On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 08:09:08 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:


"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:

What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

The aquarium water is good for your orchids!

K Barrett


I don't know. It's very alkaline for the Lake Tanganyika fish. Do
orchids like pH 8 ?

Steve

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software Ltd

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.

http://www.easynn.com

What are you doing?
 

"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 08:09:08 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:


"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:

What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

The aquarium water is good for your orchids!

K Barrett


I don't know. It's very alkaline for the Lake Tanganyika fish. Do
orchids like pH 8 ?

Steve


oof! No they don't! They like the, er, detritus.... But pH 8 is no good.
Lake Tanganyika fish, eh? I had to google those...
http://i.ugtz.com/gallery/Lake-Tanganyika-Fish There are quites a few more
than just ciclids, eh? Another fellow here used to have ciclids and we
discussed using the old water on orchids. Others I know have used old koi
pond water for orchids. Amazing what one learns online.

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Puppy sitting!

Our chocolate Labrador, Baci, had a litter of 6 pups (4 chocolate and 2
black) last Monday night and they have been keeping us busy ever since
(see pics on ABPO). It was quite a traumatic evening as the first one was
born in the back seat of the car outside the vet's surgery, the next one
came about 40 minutes later at home but after a wait of another two hours
with no further births we had to take her in for an emergency Caesar.
Found that Baci had a ruptured uterus and one of the pups had blocked the
birth canal and had died blocking the birth of the other ones. Another was
deformed and didn't make it but we managed to save the other four. Baci is
now stitched up and doing fine.

Ever since it has been a case of watching the pups eat and sleep
continuously all day. They have doubled their weight in 5 days!

Unfortunately the orchid collection is being neglected.

~John

AAACK!!! Poor sweet Baci! She does look good in the photos though. Y'all
must have been worried sick.

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

John Varigos wrote:
Puppy sitting!

Our chocolate Labrador, Baci, had a litter of 6 pups (4 chocolate and 2
black) last Monday night and they have been keeping us busy ever since (see
pics on ABPO). It was quite a traumatic evening as the first one was born in
the back seat of the car outside the vet's surgery, the next one came about
40 minutes later at home but after a wait of another two hours with no
further births we had to take her in for an emergency Caesar. Found that
Baci had a ruptured uterus and one of the pups had blocked the birth canal
and had died blocking the birth of the other ones. Another was deformed and
didn't make it but we managed to save the other four. Baci is now stitched
up and doing fine.

Ever since it has been a case of watching the pups eat and sleep
continuously all day. They have doubled their weight in 5 days!

Unfortunately the orchid collection is being neglected.

~John
The puppies are beautiful! I just love puppies. Used to breed Shar-Pei
puppies. Sorry you lost some; that's why I quit - it was just too hard
to lose a puppy. One of the chocolates looks consistently darker than
the others - is is a trick of the light or is it really darker?

What are you doing?
 

What am I doing? Beats me, but I seem to be busy always. We're trying to
finish repotting, but it appears to be an endless loop. As usual!

As for this board being quiet, IIRC it gets this way around the turn of the
seasons. Same holds true for many businesses. People go into a different
mode for a while, and then settle back in. One of my sons is in sales here
in FL. Business always falls off for him at the beginning of summer, and
then picks back up around the second week of July.

Still, if you want noise here, I'm sure I can go outside and find a problem
plant to talk about, LOL!

Diana

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
I'm finishing attaching the shadecloth to my newly-built GH (got the
shadecloth on and the sides attached but held off on the far end til I
got the gutter on - which was done this week) and building benches and
hopefully (if my roommate has run out the utilities as planned) moving
plants out of the growrooms and into the GH.

Wish me luck! Mothing else has gone as quickly or smoothly as expected
with this project!

A new GH! How fun! I loved framing/sheathing mine, but found the finish
work tedium. Many skinned knuckles. And I only sawed partway through the
saw horse, I *never* actually made it all the way through. (True story)

Measure twice, cut once and still be bewildered that it isn't right.
That's my motto.

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

Yes they are adorable and yes, you are right about the colour. The male
chocolate is a darker chocolate colour than his sisters. Might be a new
strain for breeding purposes. Heaven forbid I have to start looking at
hybrids and genetics!

I can certainly understand why you gave up breeding. I am paranoid about
Baci sleeping on one.
~John

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
John Varigos wrote:
Puppy sitting!

Our chocolate Labrador, Baci, had a litter of 6 pups (4 chocolate and 2
black) last Monday night and they have been keeping us busy ever since
(see pics on ABPO). It was quite a traumatic evening as the first one was
born in the back seat of the car outside the vet's surgery, the next one
came about 40 minutes later at home but after a wait of another two hours
with no further births we had to take her in for an emergency Caesar.
Found that Baci had a ruptured uterus and one of the pups had blocked the
birth canal and had died blocking the birth of the other ones. Another
was deformed and didn't make it but we managed to save the other four.
Baci is now stitched up and doing fine.

Ever since it has been a case of watching the pups eat and sleep
continuously all day. They have doubled their weight in 5 days!

Unfortunately the orchid collection is being neglected.

~John
The puppies are beautiful! I just love puppies. Used to breed Shar-Pei
puppies. Sorry you lost some; that's why I quit - it was just too hard to
lose a puppy. One of the chocolates looks consistently darker than the
others - is is a trick of the light or is it really darker?

What are you doing?
 

Not to detract from Baci and her troubles, but in case you missed this about
cats:

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/...ence/29cat.php

K Barrett

"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Yes they are adorable and yes, you are right about the colour. The male
chocolate is a darker chocolate colour than his sisters. Might be a new
strain for breeding purposes. Heaven forbid I have to start looking at
hybrids and genetics!

I can certainly understand why you gave up breeding. I am paranoid about
Baci sleeping on one.
~John

"tennis maynard" wrote in message
...
John Varigos wrote:
Puppy sitting!

Our chocolate Labrador, Baci, had a litter of 6 pups (4 chocolate and 2
black) last Monday night and they have been keeping us busy ever since
(see pics on ABPO). It was quite a traumatic evening as the first one
was born in the back seat of the car outside the vet's surgery, the next
one came about 40 minutes later at home but after a wait of another two
hours with no further births we had to take her in for an emergency
Caesar. Found that Baci had a ruptured uterus and one of the pups had
blocked the birth canal and had died blocking the birth of the other
ones. Another was deformed and didn't make it but we managed to save the
other four. Baci is now stitched up and doing fine.

Ever since it has been a case of watching the pups eat and sleep
continuously all day. They have doubled their weight in 5 days!

Unfortunately the orchid collection is being neglected.

~John
The puppies are beautiful! I just love puppies. Used to breed Shar-Pei
puppies. Sorry you lost some; that's why I quit - it was just too hard to
lose a puppy. One of the chocolates looks consistently darker than the
others - is is a trick of the light or is it really darker?

What are you doing?
 

On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700 in K Barrett wrote:

Ah the joys of trying to induce heatstroke.

Events since Canada Day started...
1) Cussed and swore at how bad Canada Day messes up traffic if you're
trying to get to the airport to head back to the US.
2) Started recovery and detox from the technical conference that had me
in Canada.
3) Picked up 42" walk behind mower from the 'rents on the 4th and mowed the
lawn. Was quite amused that I was able to mow what normally takes 4-6
hours with a 21" push mower in 2 hours.
4) Watered herb garden
5) Recuperated from jogging behind the mower.
6) Looked at fridges, stoves, and tubs, while picking up replacements
for the perennials the puppy ate. Picked up low wire fencing to keep puppy
out of perennials.
7) Placed perennials, put up fence, and watered herbs.
8) Picked and chopped herbs for spaghetti sauce to feed to the step kids
I haven't seen in 3 weeks as well as the wife and myself.
9) Started pondering the honeydo list of chicken coop, shower in the 2nd
bathroom, landscaping, greenhouse, tree removal, gutters, siding, painting...
--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

What are you doing?
 

Been there done that! Had the same type of cooler & even coated the bottom
part with special rubberized
paint. You did a good job Kathy.

Well today is 7/7/07 & hoping our luck will change.
The bad luck started Memorial day like a "Domino Effect" when the hot water
copper pipe in the roof//attic sprung a leak.
It was a tiny hole & it was spraying the water towards the wall & down the
2x4's. The water slowly seeped down
under the hallway floor which started lifting!
My hubby is a good handyman & decided to fix the copper piping
himself. He set up a light in the attic, a
board to work on. I was getting the torch from my potting area & came back
to see this leg hang down from the
ceiling in the hallway!!! Anyway he was ok & as it turned out, he just cut
away more of the ceiling & could reach
the dread pipe with the hole in it. (Dust everywhere though)
Now he has never done drywall, so we decided to get it done. The
guy put in a new piece of ceiling about
4' x 8', did the mud thing etc. His charge was just the repair.
All the ceilings have this popcorn stuff!!!! We got a quote for the whole
house, this was too much.
My hubby was adament that he would remove the popcorn ceiling himself,
spray with water & it scrapes off.
So I suggested that maybe we just do the hallway & extension hallway first.
We put up plastic & used drop cloths but still somehow (More dust!)
Ok we clean up & have this ugly ceiling. "Don't worry dear there is
this special ceiling texture" That turned out
well & had to be painted.
We then decided that before doing the floor we may as well paint.
(More dust)
Anyway my son came home with a bad summer cold, gave it to my hubby on
Fathers Day then I got it, one who
never gets colds or flu! My house is nothing but dust!!!!
Long story short, Cee has just finished the floor & is busy putting up
new baseboards. Then comes
the big clean up. Oh & a little more touch up painting.
Cheers Wendy

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year,
I think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort
of maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in
CaCo3 crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer 3
mm thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne dirt
and dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty, crusty
brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the
GH receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to
replace the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through
the pads was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed,
the GH in full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the shade
(on July 4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block out bad
news). July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling pads, and
working in the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not to - am I
stupid or what? - I set about tearing the cooling pads out of their
panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and
rusted so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand.
The old disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work
began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve
the CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would
have moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware
store trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this
*now* are you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my
heat stroked countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered 'Of
Course Not!'. He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always depended
on the kindess of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads
cut to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp
cooler at 8 PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the swamp
cooler was still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one
panel - so it was sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F
inside the gh. By 8PM the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing the
one panel dropped it to 82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw the
second panel repaired in the same way, and today July 7th I'll complete
the project, which I've gotten pretty quick at, though the cordless drill
isn't happy. I think its suing for new rechargable batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

Brought home my new BMW bike....

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"?" wrote in message
g...
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700 in
K Barrett
wrote:

Ah the joys of trying to induce heatstroke.

Events since Canada Day started...
1) Cussed and swore at how bad Canada Day messes up traffic if you're
trying to get to the airport to head back to the US.
2) Started recovery and detox from the technical conference that had me
in Canada.
3) Picked up 42" walk behind mower from the 'rents on the 4th and mowed
the
lawn. Was quite amused that I was able to mow what normally takes 4-6
hours with a 21" push mower in 2 hours.
4) Watered herb garden
5) Recuperated from jogging behind the mower.
6) Looked at fridges, stoves, and tubs, while picking up replacements
for the perennials the puppy ate. Picked up low wire fencing to keep
puppy
out of perennials.
7) Placed perennials, put up fence, and watered herbs.
8) Picked and chopped herbs for spaghetti sauce to feed to the step kids
I haven't seen in 3 weeks as well as the wife and myself.
9) Started pondering the honeydo list of chicken coop, shower in the 2nd
bathroom, landscaping, greenhouse, tree removal, gutters, siding,
painting...
--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

What are you doing?
 

Steve Wolstenholme wrote:
On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 08:09:08 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:


"Steve Wolstenholme" wrote in message
. ..

On Sat, 7 Jul 2007 07:43:15 -0700, "K Barrett"
wrote:


What are you doing this weekend?

Earlier today I changed 25% of the water in my big fish tank. Then I
sat out in the Sun for a hour. Now I will continue implementing all
the user requests in my software.

I don't know what I will be doing tomorrow - it's too far in the
future for my planning.

Steve

The aquarium water is good for your orchids!

K Barrett



I don't know. It's very alkaline for the Lake Tanganyika fish. Do
orchids like pH 8 ?

Steve

I don't dare use my fish water on the plants either. I raise only
guppies and I add a fair amount of salt to the water.

Steve (the other one)

What are you doing?
 

LOL! I *knew* there were good reasons why its been quiet around here.
However the leg-thru-the-ceiling story takes the cake!

K

"Wendy7" wrote in message
...
Been there done that! Had the same type of cooler & even coated the bottom
part with special rubberized
paint. You did a good job Kathy.

Well today is 7/7/07 & hoping our luck will change.
The bad luck started Memorial day like a "Domino Effect" when the hot
water copper pipe in the roof//attic sprung a leak.
It was a tiny hole & it was spraying the water towards the wall & down the
2x4's. The water slowly seeped down
under the hallway floor which started lifting!
My hubby is a good handyman & decided to fix the copper piping
himself. He set up a light in the attic, a
board to work on. I was getting the torch from my potting area & came
back to see this leg hang down from the
ceiling in the hallway!!! Anyway he was ok & as it turned out, he just
cut away more of the ceiling & could reach
the dread pipe with the hole in it. (Dust everywhere though)
Now he has never done drywall, so we decided to get it done. The
guy put in a new piece of ceiling about
4' x 8', did the mud thing etc. His charge was just the repair.
All the ceilings have this popcorn stuff!!!! We got a quote for the
whole house, this was too much.
My hubby was adament that he would remove the popcorn ceiling himself,
spray with water & it scrapes off.
So I suggested that maybe we just do the hallway & extension hallway
first.
We put up plastic & used drop cloths but still somehow (More dust!)
Ok we clean up & have this ugly ceiling. "Don't worry dear there
is this special ceiling texture" That turned out
well & had to be painted.
We then decided that before doing the floor we may as well paint.
(More dust)
Anyway my son came home with a bad summer cold, gave it to my hubby on
Fathers Day then I got it, one who
never gets colds or flu! My house is nothing but dust!!!!
Long story short, Cee has just finished the floor & is busy putting up
new baseboards. Then comes
the big clean up. Oh & a little more touch up painting.
Cheers Wendy

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year,
I think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort
of maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in
CaCo3 crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer
3 mm thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne
dirt and dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty,
crusty brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the
GH receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to
replace the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through
the pads was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed,
the GH in full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the
shade (on July 4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block
out bad news). July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling
pads, and working in the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not
to - am I stupid or what? - I set about tearing the cooling pads out of
their panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and
rusted so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand.
The old disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work
began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve
the CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would
have moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware
store trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this
*now* are you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my
heat stroked countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered
'Of Course Not!'. He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always
depended on the kindess of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads
cut to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp
cooler at 8 PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the
swamp cooler was still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one
panel - so it was sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F
inside the gh. By 8PM the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing
the one panel dropped it to 82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw
the second panel repaired in the same way, and today July 7th I'll
complete the project, which I've gotten pretty quick at, though the
cordless drill isn't happy. I think its suing for new rechargable
batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

K Barrett wrote:

LOL! I *knew* there were good reasons why its been quiet around here.
However the leg-thru-the-ceiling story takes the cake!


I did that once and it wasn't even my house! When I was a kid, my
cousins showed me how they get into the attic from the garage. They
didn't mention that you can't walk on the upper side of a dry wall ceiling.
It must have been a shock for my parents, aunt, and uncle, who were all
in the kitchen, to see my leg appear out of nowhere.

Steve

What are you doing?
 

On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 02:24:21 GMT in pVXji.298$475.91@trndny04 Ray B wrote:
Brought home my new BMW bike....

Oooh, is it one of the ultra stable beasts where you can get it up to
highway speeds, take your hands off the handle bars, give the
handlebar a good whack and nothing happens?
Just a warning, cops get real ****ed if the only reason they can catch
you is because you slowed down for traffic.
(No, I don't know this personally... anecdotes from a friend on the
left coast...).


--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

What are you doing?
 

That's quite a tale, Wendy! I am really LOL!

Diana

"Wendy7" wrote in message
...
Been there done that! Had the same type of cooler & even coated the bottom
part with special rubberized
paint. You did a good job Kathy.

Well today is 7/7/07 & hoping our luck will change.
The bad luck started Memorial day like a "Domino Effect" when the hot
water copper pipe in the roof//attic sprung a leak.
It was a tiny hole & it was spraying the water towards the wall & down the
2x4's. The water slowly seeped down
under the hallway floor which started lifting!
My hubby is a good handyman & decided to fix the copper piping
himself. He set up a light in the attic, a
board to work on. I was getting the torch from my potting area & came
back to see this leg hang down from the
ceiling in the hallway!!! Anyway he was ok & as it turned out, he just
cut away more of the ceiling & could reach
the dread pipe with the hole in it. (Dust everywhere though)
Now he has never done drywall, so we decided to get it done. The
guy put in a new piece of ceiling about
4' x 8', did the mud thing etc. His charge was just the repair.
All the ceilings have this popcorn stuff!!!! We got a quote for the
whole house, this was too much.
My hubby was adament that he would remove the popcorn ceiling himself,
spray with water & it scrapes off.
So I suggested that maybe we just do the hallway & extension hallway
first.
We put up plastic & used drop cloths but still somehow (More dust!)
Ok we clean up & have this ugly ceiling. "Don't worry dear there
is this special ceiling texture" That turned out
well & had to be painted.
We then decided that before doing the floor we may as well paint.
(More dust)
Anyway my son came home with a bad summer cold, gave it to my hubby on
Fathers Day then I got it, one who
never gets colds or flu! My house is nothing but dust!!!!
Long story short, Cee has just finished the floor & is busy putting up
new baseboards. Then comes
the big clean up. Oh & a little more touch up painting.
Cheers Wendy

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year,
I think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort
of maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in
CaCo3 crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer
3 mm thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne
dirt and dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty,
crusty brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the
GH receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to
replace the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through
the pads was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed,
the GH in full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the
shade (on July 4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block
out bad news). July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling
pads, and working in the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not
to - am I stupid or what? - I set about tearing the cooling pads out of
their panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and
rusted so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand.
The old disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work
began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve
the CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would
have moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware
store trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this
*now* are you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my
heat stroked countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered
'Of Course Not!'. He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always
depended on the kindess of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads
cut to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp
cooler at 8 PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the
swamp cooler was still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one
panel - so it was sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F
inside the gh. By 8PM the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing
the one panel dropped it to 82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw
the second panel repaired in the same way, and today July 7th I'll
complete the project, which I've gotten pretty quick at, though the
cordless drill isn't happy. I think its suing for new rechargable
batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett

What are you doing?
 

Steve, I was in the real estate business for a good number of years. One day
I accompanied a home inspector whom I had not met before.He turned out to be
around 6'4 and built like steel - big shoulders. (You know my stature -
small!) He pulled down the attic stairs, which were really rickety.
Automatically, I reached out to steady the staircase. He looked down at me
as if I were absolutely off my rocker. I thought to myself, Well, what
exactly do you think you could do if this guy topples off that ladder? Uh, I
backed off. PS: He fell *up* the stairs!

Diana

"Steve" wrote in message
...
K Barrett wrote:

LOL! I *knew* there were good reasons why its been quiet around here.
However the leg-thru-the-ceiling story takes the cake!


I did that once and it wasn't even my house! When I was a kid, my cousins
showed me how they get into the attic from the garage. They didn't mention
that you can't walk on the upper side of a dry wall ceiling.
It must have been a shock for my parents, aunt, and uncle, who were all in
the kitchen, to see my leg appear out of nowhere.

Steve

What are you doing?
 

Naaah.

I'd rather cruise at 45 all day than "crotch rocket" around.

Got my first bike (after a 35 year hiatus) about two years ago. Totaled it
last January. I've ALWAYS wanted a beemer, and this was a deal I couldn't
pass up.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"?" wrote in message
g...
On Sun, 08 Jul 2007 02:24:21 GMT in pVXji.298$475.91@trndny04 Ray B
wrote:
Brought home my new BMW bike....

Oooh, is it one of the ultra stable beasts where you can get it up to
highway speeds, take your hands off the handle bars, give the
handlebar a good whack and nothing happens?
Just a warning, cops get real ****ed if the only reason they can catch
you is because you slowed down for traffic.
(No, I don't know this personally... anecdotes from a friend on the
left coast...).


--
Chris Dukes
elfick willg: you can't use dell to beat people, it wouldn't stand up
to the strain... much like attacking a tank with a wiffle bat

What are you doing?
 

Ray B wrote:
Naaah.

I'd rather cruise at 45 all day than "crotch rocket" around.

Got my first bike (after a 35 year hiatus) about two years ago. Totaled it
last January...........................................
............................

Oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh, don't do that! We need you here. Be careful!

Steve

What are you doing?
 

Hmmm... my boss said the same thing, as did the other boss, my wife.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"Steve" wrote in message
...
Ray B wrote:
Naaah.

I'd rather cruise at 45 all day than "crotch rocket" around.

Got my first bike (after a 35 year hiatus) about two years ago. Totaled
it last January...........................................
............................

Oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh,oh, don't do that! We need you here. Be careful!

Steve

What are you doing?
 

-mental note- never get a swamp cooler.


on 7/4 reduced and repotted five AV's. it was fairly traumatic. two
of them are still sulking.

thinned two pots of baby charismas.

made a pot of coconut thai sticky rice.

spent most of the weekend sweltering. too hot to do anything. :p

--j_a

What are you doing?
 

"K Barrett" wrote in message
. ..
Others I know have used old koi
pond water for orchids. Amazing what one learns online.


That's what I use. I also use it on the garden and for assorted
houseplants.