I’m sitting here enjoying my coffee and morning, and thought I’d update a bit.
My eldest son and GF got engaged. He proposed while they were vacationing in Mexico. No word on when a wedding might be yet.
A few months ago, son had asked me about proposing. He (and GF) has been wanting to propose for a while now but was thinking he should wait until he graduates and has a better job and so on. My advice was, if you wait for the perfect time, you’ll end up waiting forever. There is always another hurdle, a better job, or another course, or some task to do; life gets and is full. The best time is your present moment. Guess it resonated with him.
Second oldest son and DIL finally got the keys to their new house. So many missed deadlines and such by the bank, municipality, and contractors. Was one delay after another. Anyhow, they moved in with the help of her Mom and Dad. The next night, Saturday, I arrived (3 1/2 hours away) so to be there first thing in the morning to help hook up the appliances, satellite internet, etc. We had lots of work and having a full day would be beneficial.
However, the first problem was no hot water. The breaker would just trip in less than a minute. Investigated that night. A look at the tank’s nameplate showed it has 4500W elements and the installer only provided a 20A breaker. Needs at least 25A, however 30A is preferred. Thankfully the wire size was correct for the current flow. The local store is open on Sunday and we made plans to go buy the required breaker, even though the installer should have to replace it. Warranty is good and all, but you’ll be having cold showers until then, so we decided to just look after it.
So Sunday morning was another morning of no hot water. We had some breakfast and then while waiting for the store to open installed the washing machine and dryer. The levelling of the machines went smoothly as did the plumbing hook up. The dryer venting, as I suspected, less so. The manufacture provided flexible vent piping is next to impossible to attach without ample room around the machine. And it has no crimped end so it does not affix to the venting to outside without modification and plenty of tape.
I did bring my crimping tool, though on such coiled piping it does a poor job. And we really only want the joining pipe to be attached to the dryer and then lined up to the outside vent so as the dryer is pushed back it slides in. So, along with a 30A/2P breaker, we got a 4” adjustable angle piping.
The dryer vent was then easily attached and secured to the machine. The vent, now a rigid metal piece, was then adjusted to the level of the existing venting to the outside, and the machine was moved into place.
The hot water tank breaker was replaced and worked fine. While I had the electrical panel open I also corrected how the installer had mounted the cover. One row of breakers were not quite fully pushed into the bus bar connections, thus the cover actually was sitting out, not on the correct mounting part of the circuit breakers. This was easily seen and felt because when one screws the cover on, the screws cross thread and do not seat fully. The very manner in which I found the electrical panel. Sigh. It’s what happens when one prioritizes money over quality/safety. I also checked, and tightened the loose terminals on the other circuit breakers since I had the panel open.
Son and I then moved on to the internet satellite dish install. Son had already purchased a required twenty foot ladder (so I didn’t need to bring mine) for us to access the roof and peak of the house. I scampered up the ladder with tools and supplies in tow. Made my way to the peak where the dish was to be mounted to the fascia. The house’s style has a sloped roof with an interior ceiling height of twelve feet. The house is sitting on a nine foot basement with five feet of that above grade. So pretty nice view from up there.
I laid down flat on the frosty slippery shingles to work. At a peak of a house there is nothing to really hang on to. Anyhow, held the dish mounting pipe in position while son ensured it looked fine from ground level, and marked the mounting hole. Drilled the hole, screwed in one of the bolts, levelled the mount and marked the other holes, and drilled and installed them. Then attached the dish and ran the cable down the side of the wall mounting it every foot. Then drilled through the wall into the basement. Good thing I brought my drill bit extension as we had to drill through around 15 inches of wall to get to the inside. Good thick wall, with plenty of insulation. Ran the cable and blocked up the hole. Plugged in the cable and the router, and the internet was up and running in less than five minutes.
We then cut through the plaster wallboard and the metal duct for the exhaust vent above the stove. The kids have an exhaust hood/microwave combo which was then mounted above the range/stove.
Next was the dishwasher and running water to the fridge’s ice maker. Unfortunately we did not have the correct attachment part to get to the 1/2” PEX water supply line. By this hour, 5:00 pm, the local store was closed. We searched and a store was open until 6:00 pm in city which was 30 minutes away. So a nice drive, some more parts, some take out food, and we were back to the dishwasher around 6:30 pm. Got the washer and fridge both plumbing in, and they worked well.
I left Sunday night and got home after midnight.
The next weekend, two days ago, I returned to help with the sump pump, and trim the counter top as the provide measurement of the space for the fridge was incorrect and the fridge fit quite tightly. We also mounted the TV and set up the surround sound.
The basement is an ICF construction so the TV mount needed to be drilled into the concrete within the insulated block. Some sleuthing and a couple of trips to the store were required before we had our needed mounting materials. Five inch self tapping concrete screws and similarly long concrete bit. The block insulation is three inches all around with concrete center. That TV ain’t going to fall off the wall. lol.
The weather was just horrible. Rain and sleet, iced up everything and I stayed another night. The three of us rewatched Lord of the Rings as the TV/Surround Sound’s maiden voyage in the new home. That’s pretty much all of our’s favourite movie. And in the big open basement it sounded great!
The next morning I returned home, stopping by my third eldest son’s place for a visit. He showed me his new monitors - birthday and Christmas gifts from me - and the new curtains and furnishings he installed. We went out for lunch and he filled me in on the latest with his university and his current graduate school/master level learnings of the quantum world. OMG! The math is so boggling. The main course, basically deriving the thermodynamic properties, the why of things, those formulas, from the very first principles/building blocks.
Son is now, as he said, at the cusp of actually understanding the math and work he did as a undergrad student years ago. He laughed as he recalled asking his then professor about the math and what they were proving/illustrating. She told him, it would take many years for him to get enough understand before he and she could even discuss it, as he has no basis or language for it yet. And she was absolutely right.
Son is one of four grad students enrolled in this course. The next, and significantly more advanced class is not even offered at the university. Son would have to go elsewhere to take it. He is very interested and is looking into that. He is also seeing if perhaps he and his professor could work one on one on it, or something like that too. Not sure what might happen.
I got home to a bunch of snow. I’ll have to do some shovelling. I’ll finish decorating for Christmas and get ready for the concert/sing-a-long this Saturday. I even got a piano tuner coming over tomorrow to give the piano a once over. It’s been a few years and although it sounds good, it does need some tweaking here and there. Second octave B flat has a noticeable twang as an example.
Most of my presents are wrapped. I still need to get a few more stocking stuffers though.
Otherwise, after this upcoming concert and 25-30 house guests, I’m pretty much in easy mode now for this holiday season.
