Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Scoreboard:
..Heater [#1] wins
..A/C [#2] distant second
..Water softener to the showers
..The others, also ran
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Heater vs. A/C--how exciting--our house has two units, one [#1 here] for each side or end. Our bedroom, the living room, dining room, and Mrs. Jim's study are on one.
The kitchen, my office, and two rooms upstairs are on the other [#2]. For a couple of months we keep #1 on heat, mainly for evenings, and #2 on A/C for the day. This week the heater, set on 66 for day, 65 or 64 at night, has been running quite a bit at night. The A/C comes on the warm days only. We have it set for 75 or 76. Today outside will only get to 68 here. This way we are all comfortable because our house is fairly open.
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The big action this week was with the water softener. It produced the most horrible salty water you could imagine Sunday morning. Worse than drinking from the Great Salt Lake and almost as bad as from the Dead Sea (I may mention that one day).
Good news, the water softener was under warranty. So the five-dollar microswitch was free. We ONLY had to pay the $94.50 service charge, $74.50 for a new drinking water filter, and $6.15 tax.
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Also ran:
Not so good news--our kitchen sink faucet is leaking. Just a little drip, drip, that I found when we, Mrs. Jim mostly, cleaned out under the sink for the softener tech's access. We might send it to the showers. Our plan is to (1) buy a new faucet from Lowe's or Home Depot to Mrs. Jim's liking. Then (2) call the plumber who will charge another huge service call fee. Let the (3) plumber assess the situation, hoping it can be (a) soldered for a long time repair, but being ready for (b) the new faucet installation.
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How to rationalize all this. If it had been a six-year-old car surely the A/C or transmission would need work after 90 to 120 thousand miles. Or if we were realtors or builders we would have been in new digs three years ago.
But we are here. Somebody has to be.
That reminds me of when I was a college dropout working in the Elgin Watch factory in Lincoln, Nebraska. The older married guys had a saying: they would leave town and go to Denver, the land of opportunity, if they could afford it. That wasn't my worry, I liked it there, away from the farm.
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The dog, an also ran. Adi missed her bath yesterday. It was plenty warm and we had our hour walk after Mrs. Jim dropped us off near the pro shop. Incidentally she had a good, for her, game. Adi is due for her Bordetella vaccination and nail clip, first I need to bathe her. We are also ready after my knee workover to start visiting at the assisted living home, first I need to bathe her.
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The computers, other also rans. This one, a one year-old laptop, needs antivirus update by January 31. That has paid for itself. It got a Trojan horse the other day. The antivirus warned me, but said it couldn't remove it. I didn't panic, didn't go to any other web site. Other site because this one is on-line any time it runs with our DSL wireless always on. Norton GoBack more than paid for itself as I just picked a save point from yesterday before the nasty horse and went back, no problem after that.
Old standby laptop just goes and goes. It uses GrisSoft, free version, for antivirus. A Trojan horse would get it but that is about all. We cleaned it out last January after getting this newer one. My desktop in the office has been down for a long time. A Trojan horse got it. Microsoft Windows software wouldn't work in going to any earlier save points to avoid it. After I save--one day--all the goodies on it I'll restore it. Tim and Billy helped us with the older laptop, I might call on them again.
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The cars. Mrs. Jim's, our family car, is ready for oil change. I have never changed that, I'm too old and it is too hard to get to. I sometimes change the Mustangs and always will the 50'. The golf cart has nails in two tires. So far it has been easier to add air before using it than to take tires to town. Now though, our pro shop has started tire repair so that will come soon.
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My knee. I go to my orthopedic doctor this morning for the final checkup after my arthoscopic surgery in September. He should give me passing marks, but not perfect. The last time I visited he said to just 'live with it' and see what happens. His prediction is that it will need a knee replacement by ten years.
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The son-in-law, Anthony. He got a good checkup from his cardiologist yesterday. Doc said he could go to work January 20. Also said 'after six weeks.' Doing the math says he needs to go back to school. Anthony's quadruple bypass was December 15, five weeks and a day before the 20th.
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That will be the end of this exciting update. Remember SOME of my students called me Mr. Excitement and SOME of the other teachers called me Dr. Excitement. How exciting!!
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ps--had an interesting visit from Chance, last night. His blogs,
On a Quest...(link) and The Church of the Great Oval (link), seem pretty different. Also had a nice visit from Paula with her GraceReign (link) site. There were others too, not new, some are listed as 'Fellow Bloggers I Read' on my sidebar. When I ran for office my yard signs said 'I Support Jim Hov. . . for . . .' I wouldn't put one unless the homeowner said I could. Same for 'Fellow Bloggers.' Right now I read some I haven't listed. Just lurking?
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Congratulations: three of our friends, L.A. B, John K. and Diane D, had hole-in-ones listed today in the Houston Chronicle. Mrs. Jim said she would keep trying! She said 'that would knock the socks' off a lot of people here.
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The end, Jim

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