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WEEK 33 2018

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Saturday 18 August 2018

Saturday - Hot.

I screwed magnets to the four corners of the frame, and it holds very nicely to the metal door. There is very little risk of it blowing off, unless we see winds in the 80mph range from just the wrong direction. It really cuts down the light coming in, more than I expected actually. There is about a 1/4" gap, which will allow some convection behind the screen.

Since I don't have fabric for the other door side I have reflective foam in that and it's quite dark in the kitchen. Once that's gone, and if I also remove the unnecessary bug screen in the over sink window it will be OK.

The metal on the outside of the door was quite warm by 10:30, but the inside was cool. There must be insulating foam in between.

I do need to remove the bug screen in the east bedroom (office). It's not needed since the solar screen provides that as well, and it - together with the extra solar screen - really cuts down on the light - and more importantly the airflow from the swamp cooler. I should also remove the bug screen in the master bath for the same reason. I'll use weatherstripping around the new frames to make everything bug proof.

If I remove the solar screens in winter I can put the standard screens all back.

The new frame and related stuff took up much of the morning. I didn't get to the final coat of paint on the last frame, it was just too blasted hot. I did clean up the garage a bit.

Did some indoor chores and continued setting up the new office.

The foot and ankle are much better, the bruise fading away and I can even wear thick socks with the tennis shoes. With ibuprofen I can spend four or five hours on my feet now.

Still can't get my boot on though.

There were vague plans to meet with R&S and K&J and have dinner out, but K&J didn't get into town until after 7:30pm, and essentially just ate dinner in and fell asleep I'm told. Well, I'll see them for a bit tomorrow, I'll be in town to do some shopping with S.

Exchanged a couple of texts with my brother M. He is obviously tired of the AV in general, and Palmdale in particular, and has been looking at some properties out here in the Antelope Acres, and mentioned getting a property in Idaho...

Must be genetic.

Friday 17 August 2018 Friday - Unpleasantly hot. The smoke is clearing up though, which is good.

Working on various things. Another coat of primer paint on the other french door screen frame. I've noticed that on some of the other frames it has come off. It's Valspar brand, a good brand, and I sanded everything with 60 grit beforehand, and left everything to dry for 24 hours between coats, so ??? Oh well.

The magnets arrived. They have plenty of "oomph" in them - and a nice countersunk hole and non-magnetic screws. I thought I'd ordered 10, but there are 8, and that's what the invoice says as well, so I guess I clicked on the wrong amount. No big deal, four per screen should be plenty!

I found my piece of bar, it was buried under another purchase.

I ordered some more fabric. I actually meant to get 80% opacity for the front of the house, but ended up ordering the 90% again. It should arrive next week. I can make more frames, or just replace the existing screening on the lower part of the windows, since there is already reflective film on them.

K&J should show up for a couple days this weekend, on their way to San Diego. S said she'd let me know when they arrive.

S sent me some stuff, but to be honest I was too tired to look at it.

Thursday 16 August 2018 Thursday - Hot and humid.

I spent the morning stapling the solar screening to the frame, and adding the molding. This took up several hours.

I've run out of screening, I'm about 4' short, so I can't finish the last piece.

The molding dimensions aren't consistent - I actually realized this before I cut them, which is an improvement over the 1x4 framing. About a 3/32" difference in widths, for a 1.5" strip. It would look terrible at a corner. I also had to go get some more #6 screws halfway through, so I just went to the local hardware. It cost more than Home Depot, but less than the 25 miles of gas a round trip would cost.

I then couldn't find my metal flat bar that I just bought, so I ordered some magnets, with holes, from Amazon. Should be here soon. I don't know if I left the bar in the shopping cart or what. Did I perhaps set it on the bumper when opening the rear hatch? I once did that with a coffee cup, and found it when I got home.

I then showered, had lunch, and started swapping the house room contents. Office stuff to the back, assorted junk to the front. I was dripping with sweat by the time I finished - the outside humidity never dropped below 25% and it was also 100F or so, so the inside temperature was in the 80's and probably near 100% humidity. It's fairly rare to need a bandanna indoors around here.

I turned on the computer long enough to see that it was working again, then turned it off.

Wednesday 15 August 2018

Wednesday - Hot and kind of humid again. It was supposed to be in the 90's temperature-wise, and in the teens for humidity, instead it's over 100F and the humidity is in the 20's.

Paid the registration fees for the Explorer online: $123 for a stamp essentially.

I was working on the app in the afternoon and the video displays froze up - I guess 86F is too much for a laptop.

I shut everything down and will move the office to the cooler east room tomorrow.

Tuesday 14 August 2018

Tuesday - Hot and humid.

I thought I'd attach the magnets to the frames for the french doors. Opened the package and realized I'd bought the kind without a mounting hole. "No problem" sez I, "I'll just drill a hold in them..."

Ever tried to drill through a ceramic magnet with a steel twist drill?

It doesn't work.

You do get a pretty little yellow glowing blob of molten steel at the end of your wrecked drill bit though.

I could try gluing them to the painted wooden frame, but I think the paint would just fail.

I am thinking of embedding a piece of mild steel flat stock in the frame (easy to drill), and using that for the magnet attachment.

At the smog check place the weather report was reporting "103F, feels like 110F". Just the kind of day where you want to spend time in a shop with a metal roof.

The Explorer passed OK, so I'm good for a couple more years. AH says hot days are actually better for smog tests, the car stays at operating temperature better. I drove up to Mojave and back, to make sure it was warm throughout, and to boil any condensates out of the oil.

I picked up a little piece of mild steel flat stock and some wood countersink bits at Home Depot afterwards, before heading home.

Monday 13 August 2018

Monday - Hot. Felt a little foggy in the head all day - I don't deal well with interrupted sleep any more.

I meant to take the Explorer in for a smog test, but didn't quite get around to it, some other chores intervening. I did get a replacement air filter and some gas cleaner - with 272K miles it needs every advantage it can get, I think. I can't find the last test's result, but as I recall it was a bit high on the HC and NOX side. It only has about 500 miles on the last oil change, and I put some good Chevron low octane gas in it.

Trying to work on the app, but it's just too blasted hot in the office, despite the little window a/c unit and the window film. I guess it's time to move the setup to the rear office.

One of my nieces wrecked her car - that's it in the photograph below. Off the road and rolled into Niles Canyon Creek. She walked away, but it looks to be totaled. She was lucky we are in summer and a drought - my sister says that someone else went into that creek last year and drowned.

Sunday 12 August 2018

Sunday - Hot. Pretty tired.

Did some shopping in the morning, and some weekend chores around the house. Got the T-50 type staple gun from S, it doesn't have quite as much oommphh as my old PowerShot, but with the aid of a hammer to tap the staples down it should get the job done.

I'll take the old PowerShot stapler apart and see what the issue might be. If it's age related wear and tear I'll just toss it, but it could just be a foreign object in the works or something easily fixable.

I had checked out a bunch of home improvement books, before the 4th of July holiday. I finally ran out of extensions and brought them all back - having essentially not read any of them.

Watched for meteors for about an hour and a half, from 9:30pm until 11, and then again from 3am to 4am. I saw a grand total of six meteors, only one of which was "bright". I don't know if it was a bad year for the Perseid's, or whether the smoke and haze is thicker and more opaque than I thought.

Observed Mars for a bit, but it was windy and the seeing was bad - I couldn't make out any detail, not ever the polar caps. I think that Mars is in the midst of a planet wide dust storm as well, so maybe just a round ball is all there is to see right now.

The winds were bad enough that the awning from July failed. My friend's stitches were intact - the canvas material itself failed. Well, it was more a proof-of-concept thing.

Picture of the Week

rolled the little suv

Niece rolled it into a creek, note the branches embedded in the wreck.
She then crawled out the window on her own.
Kudos to the Mazda designers.

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