It was cold yesterday. It was 12 degrees when I got up at 5 AM, but then the temperature dropped to 10 degrees by 7 AM. Pam went to work for the 5 AM shift so one of my duties was to feed Jeremiah the Horse.
I waited until 8 AM when I had good daylight. It had warmed back up to 12 degrees. I started the old Buick and while I was letting it warm up a bit to defrost the snow and ice on the windshield, I fetched firewood for the woodstove. I filled two gallon jugs of hot water and I was off to Judi and Earl's.
The horse's water bucket freezes, of course, so I figure that putting hot water in it will at least keep it unfrozen for a little while. I gave him his pellets, a few treats, and a half a bale of hay.
Back at the Unabomber Cabin, I set the two plastic water jugs on the table and was amused by this.
After dumping out the hot water, I screwed the cap back on, sealing the bottle. The hot air inside super cooled in the 12 degree air, collapsing the bottles. Yeah, I hear you. It doesn't take much to amuse me.
I decided it was time to fix Pam's brand new Jonsered chainsaw. We bought it over the summer and used it for only a few hours when it quit. Chainsaws have pretty simple engines, and since it quit so abruptly, it had to be the coil. Even though it was under warranty, I ordered a new coil online for $20. I didn't want to deal with all the paperwork at Tractor Supply.
Some of you have been inquiring as to my recovery after my neck breaking tree-on-the-head accident. It's OK. As the doctor suggested, I'm slowly easing back into things. My only problems are limited movement turning my head side to side, which really only impacts driving and looking at intersections, so I do that slowly and deliberately.
The top half of my right foot is still numb, and that really only affects my driving. I can't feel the gas pedal, and so its difficult to gauge how much pressure I'm applying to it. Picture jackrabbit starts here. Once I'm underway, things are a little better. I've always braked with my left foot, so stopping isn't an issue.
The biggest problem is my right hand. My thumb and index finger are 90% numb. I have difficulty doing simple things like buttoning my shirt, picking up small things like screws, and picking up light things like potato chips, and typing (I was a 50 WPM touch typist). I've been doing most of these things with my left hand which is inconvenient, since I'm right handed, but not a big deal really.
I suffered a concussion. Getting whacked by a tree can do that. The doctors at Albany Med were amazed that I didn't have a headache after the accident. I'm a thick headed Pollack, so no surprise there. I do seem to have a slight bit of trouble concentrating though. That's something I was very good at and served me well during my computer programming days. I could shut out distractions and totally focus on what I was doing.
Perhaps the most interesting thing happened when I went for one of my doctor's visits. They weighed me. I hopped on the scale and set the weights for 187 pounds. The scale didn't move. The nurse played with the weights.
"175", she said.
175? I've been 187 for a long, long time, and I'd spent the past two months sitting and doing nothing. I've had a loss of appetite, and I guess that and muscle atrophy has made me thinner. That's a heck of a way to lose weight.
Then they measured my height. I'm 6' tall, and have been since high school.
"5 feet 10 inches", she said.
"What? No. I'm 6 feet tall", I said boastfully.
She checked it again.
"Actually, you're 5 feet 9 3/4" tall."
Getting hit square on the head with a tree has made me two inches shorter.
I waited until 8 AM when I had good daylight. It had warmed back up to 12 degrees. I started the old Buick and while I was letting it warm up a bit to defrost the snow and ice on the windshield, I fetched firewood for the woodstove. I filled two gallon jugs of hot water and I was off to Judi and Earl's.
The horse's water bucket freezes, of course, so I figure that putting hot water in it will at least keep it unfrozen for a little while. I gave him his pellets, a few treats, and a half a bale of hay.
Back at the Unabomber Cabin, I set the two plastic water jugs on the table and was amused by this.
After dumping out the hot water, I screwed the cap back on, sealing the bottle. The hot air inside super cooled in the 12 degree air, collapsing the bottles. Yeah, I hear you. It doesn't take much to amuse me.
I decided it was time to fix Pam's brand new Jonsered chainsaw. We bought it over the summer and used it for only a few hours when it quit. Chainsaws have pretty simple engines, and since it quit so abruptly, it had to be the coil. Even though it was under warranty, I ordered a new coil online for $20. I didn't want to deal with all the paperwork at Tractor Supply.
I gave the saw a few pulls and it sputtered, so I think it's fixed.
I don't put things away in the kitchen much. Pam always does that so that she can find things when she cooks. I do the dishes, so the only thing I know about our kitchen is where the dishes go. There was a bottle of Clorox sitting on the floor, so I thought I'd put it in a cabinet. I opened the doors below the sink, and sitting there was a five gallon bucket under the drain, just like there was in the bathroom to catch the leak there. I fixed that one, but I didn't know about this one. I should have guessed.
The bucket was overflowing, so I bailed it out partly. Not having anything crappy to put the scummy water in, I used my beer cooler.
The more astute of you will look at the photo below and recognize the problem.
Even in Bleecker, water doesn't run uphill. I sorted that out, but it still leaks a bit. The vertical drainpipe doesn't line up under the trap properly, just like in the bathroom. I'll fix it the same way I did there, by installing a flexible pipe. It's a minor job. I only need to remember to buy a new pipe when I'm off the mountain. I'm not making a special trip just for that.
In the cute puppy pic of the day category, I present Olivia, snoozed out on the dog bed.
Some of you have been inquiring as to my recovery after my neck breaking tree-on-the-head accident. It's OK. As the doctor suggested, I'm slowly easing back into things. My only problems are limited movement turning my head side to side, which really only impacts driving and looking at intersections, so I do that slowly and deliberately.
The top half of my right foot is still numb, and that really only affects my driving. I can't feel the gas pedal, and so its difficult to gauge how much pressure I'm applying to it. Picture jackrabbit starts here. Once I'm underway, things are a little better. I've always braked with my left foot, so stopping isn't an issue.
The biggest problem is my right hand. My thumb and index finger are 90% numb. I have difficulty doing simple things like buttoning my shirt, picking up small things like screws, and picking up light things like potato chips, and typing (I was a 50 WPM touch typist). I've been doing most of these things with my left hand which is inconvenient, since I'm right handed, but not a big deal really.
I suffered a concussion. Getting whacked by a tree can do that. The doctors at Albany Med were amazed that I didn't have a headache after the accident. I'm a thick headed Pollack, so no surprise there. I do seem to have a slight bit of trouble concentrating though. That's something I was very good at and served me well during my computer programming days. I could shut out distractions and totally focus on what I was doing.
Perhaps the most interesting thing happened when I went for one of my doctor's visits. They weighed me. I hopped on the scale and set the weights for 187 pounds. The scale didn't move. The nurse played with the weights.
"175", she said.
175? I've been 187 for a long, long time, and I'd spent the past two months sitting and doing nothing. I've had a loss of appetite, and I guess that and muscle atrophy has made me thinner. That's a heck of a way to lose weight.
Then they measured my height. I'm 6' tall, and have been since high school.
"5 feet 10 inches", she said.
"What? No. I'm 6 feet tall", I said boastfully.
She checked it again.
"Actually, you're 5 feet 9 3/4" tall."
Getting hit square on the head with a tree has made me two inches shorter.
Congrats on the recovery. Slow and steady wins the race.
ReplyDeleteThe plumbing has two issues. 1-the one you pointed out. 2-that drain line appears to be sloped uphill. Unless you live on some mountain in Bleeckest, NY, that won't work. It needs to be plumbed properly.