Category: Home repair

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I’ve been putting off this little project…

Several months ago I got a nifty server. 5 drives, I configured it in a RAID array with two drive redundancy.

For those of you that think I just spoke Greek. I didn’t. Simply put, I have a server with 5 hard drives that work as a set. Any two of these drives can fail without me losing all the data stored on the server. I can pull the bad drive out, replace it and tell the server to fix the problem. A few hours later the server will be back up to full operating speed and while it’s fixing the problem, I still have access to the data.

Anyhoo, I’ve been meaning to put the thing on the shelf in my wiring closet. It will be protected and I won’t have to worry about the dog bumping into it when he comes in to the office to ask me to play. He doesn’t just ask, he’s a bit aggressive about it. He’s a dog… He doesn’t understand that some electronics are fragile and don’t like being bumped around while they’re running.

So I decided the other day, that the time had come. I’ve been putting it off because 1) nothing with computers is ever as easy as it seems. 2) I knew there was a rats nest of cables I’d have to sort through. 3) The other half had to get a new computer (The second hard drive in 6 months failed and I didn’t really want to mess with it.

I start shutting things down. Then I started pulling unused or un-necessary cables out of the wiring closet. I finally got to the point where I could route power and network cables and encountered a major problem.

The cables I wanted to run were too thick to run them the way I’d done in the past. I’m standing there holding a shelf in my hand thinking, “Well damn, this isn’t going to work.”

Then I remembered my nifty new RYOBI tools in the garage. I knew I had a 1″ hole bit in a bit set I’d recently purchased. I take the shelf downstairs and grab the new drill and the bit set. That’s when I noticed that I’d also gotten with the set, 4 different sized hole saws.

OH Goody! I’d wondered what I’d use those for and now I know and have a good excuse to boot.

I set the 1.4″ hole saw on it’s bit, locked it down and fit the assembly in the chuck of the drill. 10 minutes later I’ve got two beautiful holes in the shelf right where I need them. The drill didn’t even breathe hard.

I was standing there looking at my work, for the briefest instance I considered where else I might need a convenient hole. Thankfully something in my brain hit the emergency stop on that thought process!

I put the tools away without drilling anymore holes. I patted the new drill appreciatively and put it back in it’s case.

I suspect that I’ll be drilling and cutting some things in the near future as I run antenna cables for the HAM rig. (Yeah, that’s another project on the list. I need to get some better antennas and get them installed so I can get out a bit better. HAM is another of those hobbies where getting a new radio just leads to a bunch of supplementary purchases.)

I head back up into the house, shelf in hand and put it back in place. The cables routed easily and I was able to put the power cabling through one hole while putting the data cables through the opposite end of the shelf. That keeps potential interference from power away from my data. As I’m standing there on the ladder I was thinking, “I’m a moron. I should have done this exact thing years ago! I’d have saved myself a lot of aggravation over the years.“

I put the server in place, and powered everything back up. Simple and it’s a nice looking installation.

Well, that chore done… I turned my attention to another round of data recovery. That was 48 hours of pure hell. Thankfully, my computer is fast, my network is fast, and I’m pretty good at this sort of thing. Corrupted backups and a person who has no concept of a data storage plan, not withstanding. Recovering data is just plain tedious in the first place. Not having specific documents stored in logical folders to assist in targeting the important stuff makes it very frustrating.

So to any of you out there who just spatter documents and files anywhere and everywhere on your computer. I’ll give you this advice. If you value your relationship, tell your techie other half what is most important, and keep the booze coming. One other thing, move your files into some kind of logical order to start with!

As it turns out, the backups were corrupted from the previous three hard drive crashes. The other half hadn’t done any organization after any of those crashes. In fact, after me telling them that the backups were corrupted, they kept using them anyway, compounding the problem.

With 10 Terabytes of storage available, the other half had also not copied the important files out to the server for redundancy. Sigh… and I’m the bad guy for being pissed off about it.

Mischief managed. The other half is running on the new computer. The server now has copies of all the files I recovered in a non-backup related directory and there’s a duplicate scanner running on my computer looking at that directory eliminating duplications and preserving edits in chronological order. When that’s done the files will be moved to a directory structure where Documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Photos, Music, Musical Scores, and other files will each have their own directory path.

Now to create a scheduled process that updates those directories once a week from the other half’s computer. As things stand right now, I burned 4 Terabytes on the server in recovery. I’ve got the other half sorting through tons of their own shit to figure out what is important and relevant to keep.

Just punishment, I think.

When they’re done with the space, I’ll be able to delete the corrupted backups (Hanging on to them for the moment in case I have to dive in to find some super important thing I missed. Then the recovered directories (except the one I’m processing) will be gone. I’m not going to be surprised to see about 2.5 – 3.5 Terabytes suddenly be available again on the server.

While I’m at it, I may go out and access one of my really old archival backups to consolidate more storage. I can move the files and documents to the main server in my home folder and then delete the old archive backup too. Then I’ll keep only the important stuff that provides history back to 2008 when everything was destroyed.

This has been my week, I hope your’s was better and in the midst of all of this I’ve managed to apply for jobs… Not that anyone is responding to my inquiries.

But I’ll keep at it.

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Yet more home repairs

I’m sharing this for no other reason than to remind all Men,

“You’re not alone brother!”

My morning started out pretty normal. I got up, had a cup of coffee or two. Looked at my ToDO list and started working.

First up, was completion of some edits on and troubleshooting a website. Problems with this site had befuddled me for a couple of days, and this morning I decided to hit it like Spartacus!

Magically, the problems I’d been having melted before my awesomeness! “That was easy,” I said. Then moved onto the next thing on the list with confidence.

Perhaps I was too cocky.

The rest of the morning unfolded as follows;

I began by cleaning the gutters, The back gutter was a solid mess. Pine needles and about a quarter of an inch of dirt filled the entire 40 foot length of the rear gutter.

I was amazed that it wasn’t simply over-flowing when it rained. Using a ladder on the deck, I was able to remove the pile of pine needles. This process was annoyingly slow but simple manual labor. Grab the pine needles by hand toss them into the yard, move ladder to the next section. Repeat as needed. I finished by flushing the dirt out with a high pressure spray of water from the hose and bingo, the rear gutter was clean.

With even more self assuredness I moved to the front gutter. Oddly, it wasn’t nearly as blocked up as the rear, and it is overflowing when it rains. The front gutter is problematic to clean because unlike the back one, there is only a short deck to work from in the front of the house.

Using my handy dandy fiberglass poles and a little creativity with a bit of metal I fashioned a two bladed hook that allowed me to hook the pine needles and other plant debris raking it toward me. I didn’t have to move the ladder which was a good thing because there’s no place to move it to.

Due to the slope of the yard, one end of the front gutter is 20 feet off the ground and I don’t have a 25 foot ladder. After all, I’d only use it once a year.

Debris removed, I grabbed the hose attached to the front hose bib. The intention was to rinse the dirt and small bits of loose debris from the gutter, as I had done in back. Hose deployed and unkinked, I walk down stairs to turn the water on full blast. I run back upstairs climb the ladder and direct the spray nozzle into the gutter rinsing the detritus from the bottom.

It is approximately at this point that two problems become apparent.

Problem 1 is that the water is not exiting the gutter as anticipated.

Problem 2 is that I hear water running even when the spray nozzle is in the off position. I’d noticed that the water pressure wasn’t quite as high as I’d experienced in the back but thought little of this rather obvious clue.

I’m curious why I still hear water running.

I head down stairs and had 2 inches of one stair break off as I stepped on it, and damn near sent me down the rest of the flight, face first.

Priorities dictated that I find the source of the water sound, before dealing with the broken stair, other than swearing loudly, and profusely, as I caught myself.

Ladies, we guys don’t always get hurt doing something stupid. Sometimes we get hurt because we’re trying to make sure that things are maintained and safe for our families. It just happens that in that process we’re the ones who find cleverly covered up broken, or ignored things. My Dad had a knack for finding the one live wire in a bundle of “rat fucked” wires that one of us kids had tried to fix before being distracted by something shiny in the yard. It was a miracle that nothing caught fire, and my Dad wasn’t electrocuted during my childhood.

Once safely down the stairs, I notice that the sound of running water is louder, but it is not coming as expected from the hose fitting. I head into the basement to discover a quarter to half an inch of water pooled directly under the pipe leading to the hose bib on the exterior wall.

Being thankful for my foresight 8 years ago, I grabbed the nifty ball valve on the water line to the hose bib that I usually only use in preparation for Winter, and shut off the water to the bib without having to kill the water to the entire house.

Okay, now the water problem is managed.

I head back up to the deck pausing to check that the offending stair will not crumble under my weight and back up the ladder to see what’s going on with the gutter. It is still full of water. Great! My front gutter downspout is clogged and I don’t have a ladder tall enough to allow me direct access.

In an attempt to remedy the clog, I began disassembling the segments of the downspout hoping to be able to snake the clog with what I had on hand. A.K.A. my handy dandy fiberglass poles.

Unfortunately, during this process I discover another problem. The clutch on my drill is broken and I can barely unscrew the screws holding the downspout in place without the drill slipping. I question if I can drive a sheet metal screw back through the retaining straps when I’m done clearing the drain spout. However, I’m in it now, and going for the gold, I will finish this one task!

(You know, some days you get the bull and other days you get the horn. You can surmise which I got.)

The fiberglass poles are not able to make the sharp turns leading to the clog, (which appears to be, in or beyond the last “S” leading to the short straight section connected to the gutter itself. Of Course! The clog couldn’t be in any of the sections that I can access, it’s just out of reach, (kinda like my dating life!)

I’m able to reassemble the gutter and get it strapped back to the side of the house. Broken drill notwithstanding.

I am curious about why the drill is broken, and why there is a suspicious big white scuff mark on one side of it indicating that it may have been dropped from a height.

I briefly think about beginning a grand inquisition as to who was using my drill, and how it came to be damaged since the last time I had need of it. I do not recall dropping the machine, but it was at least put back in it’s case where it belonged so that is progress in the right direction.

Nah, there shall be no inquisition today. I just have a great excuse to go pick up that sweet Ryobi set I’ve been wanting. I’ll count it as a win!

With the drill broken, I can’t repair the stairs. The plumber will be here in an hour or so, to replace the broken section of pipe.

In the mean time I’m having a coke. I’ve been at my home repair follies for over 3 hours. I’ll have another shower, then go to Home-Depot to see if I can get a suitable drain snake and a new drill / impact driver set.

Other that that Mrs. Lincoln… How was the Play?

See? Now you can laugh your ass off! Misery loves company doesn’t it?

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And just like that…

Fall is beginning.

I know it’s not fall according to the calendar but this morning it was 63° in the house when I got up. The high today is only supposed to be 80° and the maple tree next door went from being mostly green to having a lot of yellow in just a few days.

This morning there was a lot more red. It’s like someone flipped a switch.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I think we’re going to have an early Winter. That’s not really a bad thing if it means rain.

This tree has in years past been a good predictor of Winter and Spring. It’s often the first tree to bud, and the first to signal the coming of Fall.

This year’s signaling of Winter is about a month & a half early, so it’s probably time for me to get the winter chores started and hopefully I can be done with them before it’s super cold.

I’m hoping for some nice moderate days up here because I’d like to do some digging in the yard. Digging up here is a bit of a misnomer.

Technically I can “dig” with a broom, just sweeping away the loose dusty topsoil. The tough part is getting the rocks out of the ground. There has been more than one occasion where I’ve wished for dynamite and a jackhammer.

I’ve also broken a number of shovels trying to pry rocks out of the ground. You know it’s bad when the local hardware store has double the number of shovels and digging tools that Lowes has in stock.

I want to see if I can install a bit of a retaining wall around the steps leading up from the driveway. Every year the ground creeps toward the stairs and the house. I’ve got some pressure treated scrap lumber that would fit the bill nicely.

If I’m looking at things right, the lumber should form a nice looking retaining border. Once that’s done, then I’ll relocate the path lights from the ground to the retaining border. That’ll solve the problem of the lights being buried in the winter by snow and also the problem of them falling over as the snow shifts & melts.

While I’m at it, I’m thinking I’ll install a landing pad for the garbage cans that will get them out of the drive way for the Monday pickup. It’s always interesting to find where the trash cans end up on Monday evening when you’re trying to pull into the driveway.

There are a lot of other Fall / Winter chores to do but the retaining border is probably the biggest. If September plays out more or less “Normally” I’ve got warm dry days ahead, so I may get some painting done too. I hate painting only slightly less than plumbing so I may be grumbly off & on over the next few weeks.

Have a great weekend.

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Have I mentioned that I hate doing Plumbing?

We replaced the kitchen faucet about a month ago. We went the whole route, had a plumber come in and do the job and everything.

Yesterday, I washed my hands at that faucet and turned the water off normally. No problem… A few minutes later, the other half turned on the same faucet and got only a trickle of water from both the hot and cold setting.

It looked like the water had been turned off. But the other faucets in the house were still working fine. Hmmm.

A bit more diagnostic work, a phone call or two, and it looked like the new faucet had something wrong with the cartridge. Cartridge? What cartridge? What is this, a printer?

A replacement cartridge was going to take an indeterminate length of time to obtain as this particular faucet wasn’t normally stocked at Lowes. We’d ordered the unit from Lowes but it had taken 5 weeks to get here. Doing the math, if they couldn’t get us an entire faucet in a timely fashion, who knows how long it would take them to get a part to us. Meaning that without the piece, we wouldn’t have a functioning kitchen sink for as long as it took them to get the part to us. This was clearly not gonna fly.

Okay… I make a run to Lowes and purchased a new 3x more expensive faucet from local stock. Now the problem was installation. I get home and open the box. reading through the instructions it doesn’t look too hard. Ahem!

I go get the tools, pull out the crap out from under the sink… (Don’t judge, you all have crap under your sinks.) then thread myself through the maze of dishwasher, garbage disposal, reverse osmosis, drain pipes, and hose connections for the existing faucet.

The goal I’m seeking is in the form of two small valves hidden in the far recesses of this labyrinth. The first of the valves I encounter is the Hot water inlet. I turn the valve easily to the off position. Further on in my journey, I find the Cold water inlet. It’s almost unreachable and is firmly locked in the “On” position and there isn’t enough room to get a tool into the space to turn it off. Attempting to turn it by hand does nothing but tear up my knuckles.

Ugh! The only option is to turn off the water to the entire house. Fine! I unthread myself and return to the real world of light and being able to stand up without having my back bent 90° the wrong direction. (The latter, took some time reminding me that I’m not as young as I used to be.) I tromp down stairs into the far reaches of the basement and turn off the main valve.

I tromp back upstairs to rethread myself under the sink. Part one of the replacement procedure is to unscrew the lines from the existing faucet from the inlets. Part one goes okay, dripping water everywhere of course. Part two is to reach up into the narrow space between the sink bowls to get a screwdriver into two small screws so that I can remove the bracket that will allow removal of the faucet assembly. RIGHT! To get the longest screwdriver and my hand into the space so that I can twist the screwdriver is a near Sisyphean task. Eventually, after much counting to 10 rather than letting my true thoughts on the matter be known to the entire neighborhood I’m successful.

Next comes the interminable unscrewing of the bracket down the mounting pipe. Job done and I’m ready to remove the weight and the retractable sprayer assembly that’s a simple two screw affair. The problem comes when I need to remove the hose loop. so that I can pull the whole assembly up through the top of the sink.

Yeah, the mounting hole in the top of the sink is too small to pull a looped hose and the feeder lines up through it. The looped hose has a disconnect on it that is completely non functional without some kind of special widget. I’m seriously thinking about just cutting the hose. I don’t want to do that because this is a one month old faucet and I’m returning the sucker.

I note that the hose is compressible and reason that if I can get one of the feed lines through the hole then I should be able to get the rest through. After some gentle persuasion, (Alright, you caught me. Brute Force!) The whole assembly pulls out and I dang near tossed it through the ceiling.

YEA! I take the new unit and drop its hoses and pipes through the hole and consult the installation guide. The gasket is still sitting in the box. Okay I should have consulted the manual a tad sooner, but better to have figured this out before I bolted everything into the sink.

I pull the hoses back out of the hole, put the gasket in place and thread it all down the hole again.

Now comes the hard part. Threading myself back through the labyrinth of pipes and crap to put the mounting plate and bolt onto the pipe that mounts the new faucet to the sink. The manufacturer does provide a nice tool for tightening the bolt in tight spaces. Mounting complete I’m patting myself on the back and thinking, “That was easy,” then happen to notice two things.

One, the fittings on the new faucet are female. So are the fittings on the hoses attached to the water inlets. Hmmm. This is a problem.

Two and more significant is that the fittings on the inlets are 1/2 inch and the fittings on the hoses to the new faucet are 3/8 inch. OH SHIT! This is why I hate plumbing. There are no standards. Why the hell are there no standards?

Time to head to the local hardware store to see if there is an adaptor to address this kind of issue. Grrrrr! The local guy at the hardware store is helpful and laughs with me, not at me, saying that this is why he hates plumbing too. He casually reaches to a hangar on the display next to him and pulls out a package that contains exactly the two parts I need. He smiles and says, “Happens all the time.”

$7 later I’m heading back home to complete this damn installation.

Old connections removed, new adapters installed. Sprayer hose threaded, weight attached, and I’m ready to turn the water back on. With fingers crossed I turn on the main and run back upstairs from the basement praying that there’s not water spraying all over the place.

God must’ve smiled on me. Everything was dry. New faucet installed! Whoo Hooo!

While I was at the local hardware store, UPS delivered part of the other half’s birthday present. A brand new iPhone SE 2. This gift is early, I decide to unbox it anyway because We’ve only got 14 days to decide if we’re going to keep it.

I’m not going to worry about setting this up tonight. I’ll save that “Fun” for tomorrow, A nice quiet Saturday morning.

The other half is seriously resistant to change. I’ll get up early tomorrow and set up a workspace with my Goal Zero battery pack on the dining room table. With it, I can provide power to the old iPhone and the new iPhone without having to be tied to a wall socket.

Then I’ll walk the other half through the setup process in a calm logical way where we can work without scrambling over each other to see screens.

Hopefully this will not result in a fight.

Pray for me…

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To Quiet days

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It’s my weekend. 

I slept soundly, and late for me. It was 5:00 when I finally woke up.

I lay there in bed enjoying the contrast between the cool air in the room and the warmth of my bed. My morning wood put a smile on my face, it was nice to just “Be” for a while. 

I’d silenced all the electronics the night before, so there was nothing of the modern world to drag me into my day.

I dozed off & on until about 5:30 then got up made coffee and took a long satisfying morning piss. That’s a highly under-rated experience that we often miss in our rush to get ready for work and get out the door. 

As I get older and the world gets more complex, I find that I’m appreciating the simple things in life. 

I don’t have to be anywhere until my annual physical at 11:20 am. That’s the good news, the bad news is that I can’t have anything to eat, and no sugar in my coffee until afterwards… Grrrr. I’m going to have to work very hard to not be “Hangry”.

By the time I’m finished at the Docs office it will be the middle of the lunch time rush and I’ll be ravenous. The Doc usually has some kind of munchies around his office maybe i’ll make do with something from his place until after the rush then stop for a civilized meal.

A civilized lunch is something I rarely get these days, so I’m looking forward to that.

Iu

I have mixed feelings about seeing the Doc. On the one hand I don’t see him that often and am generally healthy, so our visits are pretty mellow.

On the other hand…

Well he’s gonna do the ol finger up my butt trick. Meh, gotta be done. I just feel like it should have a “Happy Ending”. I mean he’s gonna push and prod a part of my anatomy that is involved in happy endings, so I figure In (ahem) for a penny, in for a pound.

At least I’d leave with a smile on my face!

I don’t mean that disrespectfully toward my Doctor, I just feel like the indignity of the situation should have an up side.

From there, the plan is to meander home to the mountain where I’ll do a mountain of laundry, and shut down the irrigation system for the winter. The irrigation system shutdown shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.

After that I’ll probably nap. The laundry won’t need me hovering over it. I’ll set the computer to do most of the monthly maintenance on the home network automatically. It’ll ask me for help if it encounters anything out of the ordinary. The washer and dryer will do their thing and beep at me when they’re done. So I can put on some favorite music and just relax.

Friday, I’ll slug my way 100 miles back down to San Diego and get ready to start the work week. But that’s still a day away, so I’m not going to think about it.

Have a good day