NotCigs refugee thread

[markfm]

DW wanted another trellis for climbing vegetables - getting close [emoji3]

A weird year, for sure. Just after Memorial Day our elder Aussie, Sidney (my avatar here) came down with something, couldn't walk at all (vestibular problem - sense of balance shot, kind of like being seasick) and had several other things go west. After a couple weeks most things seemed to clear, but as an already old pooch with arthritis in the rear legs he still couldn't walk (too weak).

We've been working with him slowly, trying to get him weight bearing and take a few steps each day (with us supporting much of his weight).

He does seem to be in good spirits, and trying to be objective I do believe he's making very slow progress towards weight bearing and walking, so we'll keep chipping away at it.

 

[FranC]

DW wanted another trellis for climbing vegetables - getting close [emoji3]

A weird year, for sure. Just after Memorial Day our elder Aussie, Sidney (my avatar here) came down with something, couldn't walk at all (vestibular problem - sense of balance shot, kind of like being seasick) and had several other things go west. After a couple weeks most things seemed to clear, but as an already old pooch with arthritis in the rear legs he still couldn't walk (too weak).

We've been working with him slowly, trying to get him weight bearing and take a few steps each day (with us supporting much of his weight).

He does seem to be in good spirits, and trying to be objective I do believe he's making very slow progress towards weight bearing and walking, so we'll keep chipping away at it.

Poor pup. I wish him, and you much luck.

 

[El Dee]

Dang Mark......I'm a dog man from the git go....Here's hoping Sydney gets better fast....

Last Saturday I opened a fresh gallon of Sherwin Williams from Lowes....I saw two marks on the lid looking like it had been off but no paint visible on the can's exterior....Eggshell White and latex....I'd finished the ceiling and had that taped off....This paint was for the walls....I'm on a step stool cutting the edges in so I'm not painting farther than I can reach...I like to get it completely coated and then hit it with a couple of long strokes smoothing everything out....Well I haven't been off the stool and the long stroke pulls little balls up where I started painting....Paint hadn't been on there 90 seconds and was pulling up like it was dry....I speed up and use a wetter brush and get through cutting in....I load the roller tray....I had to do over the top of a door and then move to a wall....Same thing as with the brush....I get it on good and then smooth everything out with lighter pressure on the roller....I'm maybe 3 rollers wide on the wall and when I try and smooth it out a sheet load of dry paint balls pull up....What the????? I solve that by rewetting the area with a boat load of paint and applying enough pressure to almost penetrate the wall....It worked out OK but happened again a few minutes later....I combated that by using a really wet roller and moving at light speed...I took the roller and a piece of sheetrock from the trash and painted a wet coat on....2 minutes later it was dry enough to touch without getting paint on your hand....What the ?????? Lowes gave me a free gallon of paint and denied there was any fast drying additive for said paint....I got a friend who rehabs rentals.....he said "Yeah we got a bottle of accelerator".....I must have gotten a juiced up gallon...the second gallon cut in and rolled out as usual...Got the walls and ceiling finished minus a spot where the tape pulled paint from the wall...No biggie there....The cabinets were all that was separating me from freedom....Sunday was my Niece's HS Graduation party....A guy in attendance approached me about buying my big boat....I explained that I'd been busy and hadn't had time to prep the boat for market....The windshield though polished like a diamond was sitting in the shop....the floor was out so I could add new a new fuel line....I explained perfectly what I'd do and what I'd take at that point...So that afternoon I jump in and start cleaning....It takes until Wednesday to get my end done and I call him over....Exactly what I'd said and he agreed to was performed....I managed to kill my left big toe with the pressure washer while using my foot to hold a hatch open and wash the bottom....No shoes for a while and yesterday a dang fire ant hit me about two toes over....My foot is murdered....The potential customer now wants to water test the boat....A water test is gonna require @ $300 in registration and tags plus a lot more work than I'd agreed to at the price I'd given....I was perfectly clear about everything and pulled off the kitchen to get the boat ready....The cherry on top was still coming though....I told the customer I'd fire it up and let him hear it run but that was all at the quoted price....He leaves and I go to find the keys....They're no where to be found....Gone from their storage area in my boat bag....Now I've got three huge tool boxes completely clear of years of accumulated stuff I'd need later.....no keys though....Some places have been searched multiple times....I cave and hit the boat dealer with a photo of my build sticker that google said would get me a key....Kid at the dealer says there's a code on the switch....I gotta get in the console and pull the switch and Hell Yeah it's been HOT!!!!! Thirty minutes later and under a strong magnifying glass there's no sign of any code ever being present....Pretty sure google is correct and the Kid.....Well....I've got a list of numbers for every Mercury dealer within 100 miles....I've burned the internet down looking for information and google says I've got what I need.....Top that with there are only 24 different keys and there is a Mercury part number with 24 keys on a ring.....Hopefully tomorrow I can get a key....It's break time if and when I do....Then I'm finishing those cabinets boat be damned.....Those cabinets outta the way and about a weeks worth of work on the boat and several more thousand will be added price wise....That old customer has me just a little warm....He's got one more shot and then I'm off to bigger and better....Between people not doing what they said.....fast dry paint....lost keys.....murdered foot.....Dammitt Bob!!!!!!!!

 

[FranC]

Dang Mark......I'm a dog man from the git go....Here's hoping Sydney gets better fast....

Last Saturday I opened a fresh gallon of Sherwin Williams from Lowes....I saw two marks on the lid looking like it had been off but no paint visible on the can's exterior....Eggshell White and latex....I'd finished the ceiling and had that taped off....This paint was for the walls....I'm on a step stool cutting the edges in so I'm not painting farther than I can reach...I like to get it completely coated and then hit it with a couple of long strokes smoothing everything out....Well I haven't been off the stool and the long stroke pulls little balls up where I started painting....Paint hadn't been on there 90 seconds and was pulling up like it was dry....I speed up and use a wetter brush and get through cutting in....I load the roller tray....I had to do over the top of a door and then move to a wall....Same thing as with the brush....I get it on good and then smooth everything out with lighter pressure on the roller....I'm maybe 3 rollers wide on the wall and when I try and smooth it out a sheet load of dry paint balls pull up....What the????? I solve that by rewetting the area with a boat load of paint and applying enough pressure to almost penetrate the wall....It worked out OK but happened again a few minutes later....I combated that by using a really wet roller and moving at light speed...I took the roller and a piece of sheetrock from the trash and painted a wet coat on....2 minutes later it was dry enough to touch without getting paint on your hand....What the ?????? Lowes gave me a free gallon of paint and denied there was any fast drying additive for said paint....I got a friend who rehabs rentals.....he said "Yeah we got a bottle of accelerator".....I must have gotten a juiced up gallon...the second gallon cut in and rolled out as usual...Got the walls and ceiling finished minus a spot where the tape pulled paint from the wall...No biggie there....The cabinets were all that was separating me from freedom....Sunday was my Niece's HS Graduation party....A guy in attendance approached me about buying my big boat....I explained that I'd been busy and hadn't had time to prep the boat for market....The windshield though polished like a diamond was sitting in the shop....the floor was out so I could add new a new fuel line....I explained perfectly what I'd do and what I'd take at that point...So that afternoon I jump in and start cleaning....It takes until Wednesday to get my end done and I call him over....Exactly what I'd said and he agreed to was performed....I managed to kill my left big toe with the pressure washer while using my foot to hold a hatch open and wash the bottom....No shoes for a while and yesterday a dang fire ant hit me about two toes over....My foot is murdered....The potential customer now wants to water test the boat....A water test is gonna require @ $300 in registration and tags plus a lot more work than I'd agreed to at the price I'd given....I was perfectly clear about everything and pulled off the kitchen to get the boat ready....The cherry on top was still coming though....I told the customer I'd fire it up and let him hear it run but that was all at the quoted price....He leaves and I go to find the keys....They're no where to be found....Gone from their storage area in my boat bag....Now I've got three huge tool boxes completely clear of years of accumulated stuff I'd need later.....no keys though....Some places have been searched multiple times....I cave and hit the boat dealer with a photo of my build sticker that google said would get me a key....Kid at the dealer says there's a code on the switch....I gotta get in the console and pull the switch and Hell Yeah it's been HOT!!!!! Thirty minutes later and under a strong magnifying glass there's no sign of any code ever being present....Pretty sure google is correct and the Kid.....Well....I've got a list of numbers for every Mercury dealer within 100 miles....I've burned the internet down looking for information and google says I've got what I need.....Top that with there are only 24 different keys and there is a Mercury part number with 24 keys on a ring.....Hopefully tomorrow I can get a key....It's break time if and when I do....Then I'm finishing those cabinets boat be damned.....Those cabinets outta the way and about a weeks worth of work on the boat and several more thousand will be added price wise....That old customer has me just a little warm....He's got one more shot and then I'm off to bigger and better....Between people not doing what they said.....fast dry paint....lost keys.....murdered foot.....Dammitt Bob!!!!!!!!

I highly recommend a day or two of rest,Dee

 

[FranC]

Pic of Dallas with my gd's bf.

 

[FranC]

My grand=daughters post

3d ·

143 days
2 intensive care units
3 ambulance rides
1 cardiac arrest
4 resuscitations total
Heart failure
Respiratory distress and failure
7 specialities
4 surgeries
1 infection
5 Covid-19 swabs
6 blood transfusions
Hundreds of tests and scans
Many one step forwards and two steps back
4 discharge dates
3lbs 12 oz to 13 pounds
From isolette to crib
1 national pandemic
And 1 strong little boy who took this world by storm and is finally home. A boy who has absolutely amazed me. Dallas, may you never lose your sass, your fight and your desire to hand out eye rolls to whoever you feel. I’m so lucky to have you. Welcome home monster

 

[Bovinia]

Knowing that you and wife will give Sidney the best love and care possible, Mark!

Dee, that is the kitchen from Hell As for the boat deal? Nobody got time for that guy's foolishness! He knows what it's worth, and if is doesn't already, he'll know you won't be taken advantage of.

Beautiful pic of Dallas, Fran. What an amazing journey this has been for you all

My fence and deck man's wife's covid test came back negative, thank goodness...but they have decided to take all of July off because of skyrocketing materials prices. So I wait some more.

 

[Bovinia]

 

[FranC]

View attachment 893951

What a cutie

 

[El Dee]

Well I've got the boat where it's ready for some gasoline and a test fire...Title remains in Bro In Law and Sis' name and they're in the Virgin Islands for a while....Cuzzo gets a text last night from the Ex saying she wants the boat....When can she see it and drive it....I plainly stated the price was as is where is....Cuzzo dealing with his Ex is unhealthy at best....She owes us 3k for 2 months now....The hell with the boat I told Cuzzo to tell her send us our money and it was now 4K or we never go back to that dang lake house....I'd just as soon never here her name again....Bottom line I got a deal for the boat and I pulled off that to paint those cabinets and I'm not doing anything boat wise until I'm finished in that kitchen...The deal working is 1K less than I told Cuzzo's Ex....Money ain't everything and you jack me around you're gonna get my undivided attention....Cuzzo had 4 16 foot 2x4s reserved for my laying out those cabinet doors....1 got missing so I've got 3 16 footers in the shop with 13 cabinet doors on top....There are 26 doors....Gonna have to hit the lumber yard and hope the other 13 fit on 3 more 16 footers....That still leaves the drawers needing a resting place...Took a couple of days just organizing the shop for the space needed.....Trust the humidity is brutal....My resting spot has 2 of those adarondike chairs....They got overtaken by spiders and I got hit 2 separate occasions....Probably 7 or 8 bites that sometimes burn and hurt and other times itch like wildfire....One bit me a couple weeks back and it healed OK so no Brown Recluse or anything....I did see they looked quiet nasty as they scurried off covered in spidey spray.....Bite me again.....

So another Cuzzo owns the grill across from my crib....Covid plus him and wifey being full blown alcoholics they shut the grill down....Cuzzo's son steps in and gets the grill financed some how or the other....My whole take is if you can't afford it don't get it....That philosophy has gotten me where I am today.....that's not very far but I'm good and no payments minus that tractor....Well anyway there's a new grill manager hired and she has the Rona....The new grill owner sees me sitting in my spider chair Sunday as he rode by to the grill....I'd went back to work when I heard gravel crunching....Sure enough it's him with a box of vacuum packed pork chops....Says all his freezers are full....Tells me he's the new owner....I figured him boasting was the real reason for the stop....Next day I get a call....I'm informed about the new manager with the Rona and the new owner is gone to be tested....I gloved up and those chops are in the landfill....they were in Mom's freezer and she touched them before they went in....He never got out of his truck and the closet I got was when I took the chops.....He was out at the grill today trimming the bushes and cutting grass....in violation of his quarantine....My first dump trip he was in the grille....I had to hit the landfill with sheetrock scraps and such on my next trip and he was outside....I buzzed right on over there....He was gonna walk to the truck window but I held my hand up and said stay a word that will get censored over there....I asked about his test results....110% sure he didn't want me knowing....The results aren't back but I take it as a good sign he's not sick yet....Trust I don't give a damn about him but it burns me he stopped here Sunday knowing he was gonna be tested the next day....Cuzzo's wife is my info source....She's in the hospital now due to the alcohol...She said the unemployment office left a message saying there was a change in her status...She was getting 800+ a week due to the covid bonus/ grill shutting down and suspects the new owner who is her step son has called her in....She ain't happy and I'm hoping like Hades I haven't been exposed.....Trust that boy will never make a go in that grill....The grill has been there 30 years....The OG owner and I were great friends up until he went to Heaven....Every other owner has failed....I don't know about any calls to unemployment but I do know he came in my yard knowing where he was going the next day....He knows my situation taking care of Mom....I've thought about it and been worried sick.....I pulled up on him and asked him directly about that test because he thought it was a secret....Hoss I run the damn neighborhood....I got neighbors on both sides of Mom's house that I care about and when I see them the old cat is gonna haul buttocks outta that bag....Be a damn shame if no one goes into the grill outta fear from covid.....Like I said.....Jack me around get my undivided attention....He deserves much worse

 

[Bovinia]

Dee, if that boy hasn't learned yet, he'll find out who not to feck with!

I've had it up to my ears with irresponsible, selfish people. I thought I left that crap behind me when I left Ct, but none of us figured on a pandemic that takes more than our own sense of responsibility to contain. I'm dumbfounded by the people who believe wearing a mask is striping them of their freedoms...and one of those types is my pesky neighbor. Sumter City Council set a mandatory mask regulation that went into effect today. I wear one any time I'm inside a store anyway, but lots of folks around here are mad as hornets about it.

 

[FranC]

Most folks up here wear masks.

 

[908Tracy]

Wow, I didn’t realize I’ve been away so long!

Mark I sincerely hope Sydney is going to be alright. <3

ElDee, you’ve got a whole lot goin on like you always do! Rest bud!! Just a little? Praying for you and your mom that all stays well!

Fran I am so happy you shared that post with us. Celebrating here in NJ for baby Dallas and your family!

Bov I am SHOCKED at the number of people who truly believe covid and mask wearing is all connected to politics!!! Seriously? There are a large amount of the 21-30 something year olds that come into our shop and the majority of them do not want to wear a mask. I make them on my shifts or offer to bring whatever they want to their car in the parking lot, their choice! I also clean each morning before my shift. It just makes me feel better.
I am getting hammered through fb messenger from a few friends/family members who believe the nonsense we mentioned above

 

[908Tracy]

...and they seem so desperate to change my way of thinking. Not gonna happen.
I am wondering if I can uninstall messenger; it’s so annoying!

 

[908Tracy]

Well I figured out how to at least silence messenger. I’m doing that for now...(you have to do it each day as the longest setting is 24 hours)

If it still gets on my nerves I’m yanking it all together. You can have fb without messenger. Why not?

 

[markfm]

On android I've found Friendly pretty decent to handle Facebook. I signed up for the Beta program to get the latest features.

 

[Bovinia]

...and they seem so desperate to change my way of thinking. Not gonna happen.

THIS!! I ended up pissing off my neighbor enough that he picked up his lawn chair and stormed off the other evening LOL! He thinks I'm being an alarmist by being concerned about my distancing rules. I told him I have no control over who he mingles with except me. And now I'm the bad guy?

I don't even have FB or messenger on my phone since I use my desktop all the time. I even have a copy of my text messaging app on my desktop. But I'm not on the go as much as most people.

 

[El Dee]

You can block who you want on messenger....I'm working most of the day with the phone nearby...I hear that beep notification and if it's the same person with a dip sheet message or video....El Blocko

If two people meet and both are masked the risk is much lower....I've found hitting Lowes @ 7pm is the best....Those fat stooped people are in a food coma along about then...not that I'm skinny....

I rolled up on the new grill owner twice....First time it floored him that I knew...7 days later his response was "What Test"....Then "Oh, oh yeah.....negative"....Trust he knows I ain't happy....Plans are not his daughter to run the grill starting next week....Last week she was down with Covid....She's gonna wear a mask...That's all according to the new owner...There are gonna be 4 girls at the grill....The sick one....her sister that got tested with the owner and two Mexican ladies who do all the cooking and cleaning...the Mexican girls are unaware of any Cover anything and have been out there working in preparation....Was talking with a friend about that and he said well they probably need the work....Yeah I blew a damn fuse...They both got kids...I told my neighbors and family members who eat there...Otherwise I'm keeping my distance...The best thing is I still feel well and it's been past 10 days...I've spied on him and he's still moving so I guess that's a bullet dodged...

Still working in that kitchen....walls, ceiling, doors and trim done....The cabinets are getting their first of two coats....I've got the doors and drawers in the shop waiting....Took 4.5 hours yesterday taping off what didn't need paint....Can't see the light at the end of the tunnel just yet.....

 

[FranC]

Hopefully, that light will shine for you soon, Dee

 

[Bovinia]

Dee, I'm glad you dodged that BBQ guy's thoughtless bullet! Even with our new mask ordinance, some people are defying it. And not many stores are enforcing it outside of their employees.

Deck update! Hopefully will have an 8x6ft done the last week of this month Can ya tell I'm excited??