What did you do today?

[Tpt life]

On 5/5/2026 at 9:05 AM, Mark J said:

That's surprising, not the part about her being right, but that cutting back on lighting use would have such a significant effect on your bill.  I would have thought HVAC to be the biggest power consumer.

Most kitchens are in the center of newer homes, without plans for permanently setting up in that space. The regular resting spots are closer to the natural light. This means a lot of occupied homes have some form of light on there, 365 days a year. If that is only $.03 a day, that’s still $100 a year. Trackable at that level. 

[gee-dub]

On 5/5/2026 at 6:05 AM, Mark J said:

That's surprising, not the part about her being right, but that cutting back on lighting use would have such a significant effect on your bill.  I would have thought HVAC to be the biggest power consumer.

AC is definitely the heavy hitter during our triple digit months.  Fortunately out here on the left coast we insulate the heck out of things.  Massive attic and wall insulation, double-paned everything, etc. Our HVAC rarely runs except for July and August.  We live in a near constant breeze area so opening a front and rear door pretty much regulates everything.

As we age we find we need more and more light around the house.  The lights in the new master bath rarely get turned on except at night since the amount of light from the solar tube during the day is almost too much. 

The lights in the kitchen are also almost never used except for the decorative LED strips under the toe kicks and upper cabinets in the evenings.  I cannot emphasize the benefits of good insulation enough.

[Botch]

On 5/4/2026 at 7:05 PM, gee-dub said:

Same goes for the "solar tube" in the kitchen and the bathroom.  Our electric bill has dropped drastically.  She's right again!?!

 

I installed one of those in my kitchen, and it helped a lot.  I noticed that, during June and July, algae would start growing in my dogs' water dish, directly below it; had to keep it scrubbed clean when I got them fresh water!  

[gee-dub]

Yeah, our dog has passed on but the wife's herbs and houseplants love it.

[Botch]

Local store has a box of “Dubai Chocolates” next to the cash register, and this afternoon on a whim I bought a bar.  I was very impressed (‘cept with the price), and Wikipedia tells me it was developed by a chef in UAE, a Belgian chocolate shell filled with pistachio paste, tiny noodles of phyllo dough fried in butter, and tahini (quite the combo, for a candy bar).  UAE did not have a trademark agreement with either the EU nor the US, so they’re made everywhere now, it’s become a generic term.  Some tic-tocker made them go viral and supposedly caused a shortage of pistachios. 

EDIT: Oh, @gee-dub, thanks for the idea!  I don’t have a good window to grow herbs in, but have a mostly-unused pull-up counter behind my stove, directly under the skylight!  I’ve got some herbs to buy/plant tomorrow.  

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 5/5/2026 at 6:22 PM, Botch said:

Local store has a box of “Dubai Chocolates” next to the cash register, and this afternoon on a whim I bought a bar.  I was very impressed (‘cept with the price), and Wikipedia tells me it was developed by a chef in UAE, a Belgian chocolate shell filled with pistachio paste, tiny noodles of phyllo dough fried in butter, and tahini (quite the combo, for a candy bar).  UAE did not have a trademark agreement with either the EU nor the US, so they’re made everywhere now, it’s become a generic term.  Some tic-tocker made them go viral and supposedly caused a shortage of pistachios. 

I've always wondered about those, but the price has scared me off so far. Maybe I'll man up and give it a whirl. 

[Botch]

On 5/5/2026 at 5:24 PM, Ron Swanson Jr. said:

I've always wondered about those, but the price has scared me off so far. Maybe I'll man up and give it a whirl. 

If you end up buying a boxful from amazoid, like I just did, I’m not responsible!  

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 5/5/2026 at 6:27 PM, Botch said:

If you end up buying a boxful from amazoid, like I just did, I’m not responsible!  

Quite right. Quite right. 

I shall have Jeeves make the purchase when he's finished polishing the dog's Bentley.

[Coop]

Might have been a good idea to have bought brother’s SawStop when I had the chance. Surgery today went well.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 5/8/2026 at 11:34 AM, Coop said:

Might have been a good idea to have bought brother’s SawStop when I had the chance. Surgery today went well.

Sorry to hear about this one Ken. 

 

I'm glad the operation went well. Hopefully that's not your wagging finger! 

[wtnhighlander]

Ouch! Ken, I hope recovery is swift and smooth. This should be a reminder for all of us, experience alone does not prevent accidents!

[Dave H]

I'm glad you didn't lose you finger Coop! When I was a kid my folks were adding an new kitchen bump out on our house. It was summer and I was out of school, so that made me the boy on the job. My dad hired a carpenter who was missing his index finger I wanted to ask him about how he lost it, but I knew my old man would think that was rude and I definatly didn't want to piss him off. One day the carpenter and, I were alone eating lunch so I ask him about the missing index finger he thought about it for a bit then he said "I was working as a guide in a state park and I wore it off pointing at the mountain... I learned my lesson once I stopped laughing!

[Sergio Escudero]

Painting day. A slow process that I don't really like. Preparing the paint, doing tests, etc., takes a lot of time. I've been painting this shield, which is covered with horse rawhide, with paint made from hide (that one made in little cubes) glue along with a natural French chalk and an Italian beige earth. The resulting color is a light beige. To apply it, it must be done while hot, since the hide glue needs to be melted in a double boiler.

The paint doesn't seem too opaque when applied, but that's because almost all natural white pigments are calcium carbonates, which when hydrated are practically translucent; they're not very covering anyway. As it dries, it becomes opaque and reveals its true color, since while wet it looks darker and more saturated than when dry. This is quite noticeable when using this hide glue binder; with casein the effect is not as noticeable.

I might give it a third thin coat. Still to do is paint a blue stripe on the periphery and put the central wooden piece in place, also painted blue.

The beast, by the way, measures 128 cm tall.

This paint could be used for woodworking, though I would probably need to adjust the glue to water ratio and the resulting pigment load. If anyone wants to try it, just write me.

[Jfitz]

I finally got some old Stanley router planes I bought online.  I have wanted one for a long time, and jumped at the chance to get 3 of them (one 70 1/2, and two  70s).  Here is the 70 1/2 - I spent time today doing some wire brushing and light cleaning.  Need to do the cutters tomorrow before using.

[fcschoenthal]

@Sergio Escudero, that shield is really impressive. Please post pictures when you're done.

[Mark J]

20 hours ago, Coop said:

Might have been a good idea to have bought brother’s SawStop when I had the chance. Surgery today went well.

Really sorry about this injury!  I hope you have a full and speedy recovery.   

[richard arveaux]

On 5/8/2026 at 11:34 AM, Coop said:

Might have been a good idea to have bought brother’s SawStop when I had the chance. Surgery today went well.

My same finger now points around corners to the right, after a table saw error on my part.  Table saws seem to like to bite when you least expect it.

[Immortan D]

Made a laptop stand for a keyboard and trackpad I haven't used for many years. They now command the  computer I have connected to my TV.

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

On 5/10/2026 at 8:17 AM, Immortan D said:

Made a laptop stand for a keyboard and trackpad I haven't used for many years. They now command the  computer I have connected to my TV.

Well done! Looks great!!

[gee-dub]

Giving the back yard area a brush off in anticipation of a multi-family Mother's Day get together.  My daughter will cook all the chicken and haul it up, I'll handle the burgers, another will bring one of his legendary fruit trays (I don't know where he finds this stuff but it is always the best), LOML will handle the grape-jelly-BQQ-sauce meatballs in the crock pot, the vegetable platter, pies, and a couple of cakes.  I'm already experiencing food-coma just talking about it.

[Tom King]

Coop, I'm damned sorry you got hurt!!!

In building the barn apartment, there is so little clearance that I'm having to build the plumbing in as I go.  I have the toilet flange set and hooked up to a combo tee below. Behind that tee will be a4x3" combo tee for the vent stack.

Next step after the picture is to set the wet wall sole plate to plumb the 3" turn up from the 4x3" combo tee below set with a 22-1/2 degree street elbow, so it can stay low but not be horizontal, that goes to an almost horizontal short run to a long sweep 3" 90 turning up through the wall plate.  I'll need to set the wall plate to pinpoint locate that 3" stack.

After that 3" is stubbed up through the plate, the plate will come back up, the sheet of sheathing set that will be under the tub, set the tub to pinpoint the drop for the tub drain, then take the tub and that piece of sheathing back up to put together the 2" trap plumbed into a 4x2 combo tee also at 22-1/2 degrees.

There will be a cleanout easy to get to in line with that 4" main line that will be exposed on the aisleway.

I've built some weird structures but never had to squeeze so much plumbing in so tight of a space.

I couldn't dig it in lower because the permit for the septic tank won't let me put it on the same piece of land the barn is on.  There is plenty of room for the tank itself, and it would be most sensible to set it near the barn, but the drain field needs to go out in a pasture.  They won't let me put the tank on one parcel and the drain field on another.  There will be about a 70' run once that 4" line makes a turn towards the tank 15' out from the barn exterior.  Fortunately, it all goes downhill a little bit, but I'm using absolute minimum drop all the way to the allowed maximum depth of the intake to the septic tank.  A cleanout is required every 50' but I'm going to put it in the ground and just put a paver over it flush with the grass.

It would have simplified things if I had combined these two pieces of property into one, but we never got around to doing it.  It would take too long now, so I'm managing like this.

When I'm framing a house, I like to center the toilet drain between two joists 8" apart.  I've had inspectors ask me, "How did you get that pipe in that wall", and my answer has always been: " I put it in there when I framed the wall".  This one, all of it goes in as I'm building it.

It's been a slow go working by myself with three litters of puppies here and all the regular work I have to do just to keep this place up, but I am making progress.  BIL says no one else could do this, but I wonder how many could.  It will be right and to code when I'm done with it.

[legenddc]

Busy weekend here. Kids had activities Saturday morning and then played with friends here in the afternoon. I chipped away at the cabinet and cleaning up the house some. Yesterday we met my in-laws in DC at the Natural History Museum and got some lunch after. Took forever to get home. Cleaned more and made dinner for Mother's Day.

House is being cleaned right now while we work. I'm getting really tired of cleaning up all the tools that are out while I very slowly chip away on this cabinet. Might have to take a day off of work to get real progress and put tools away for good.

[Tom King]

Waiting on a few oddball fittings to come from Supplyhouse.  8" thick wet wall will give me plenty of room to play with and allows plenty of support over on one side while leaving plenty of open space to come up under and through.

  I buy clear treated boards when I see them on top of stacks when walking through a store and put them under a shed to dry for years before I have a need.  They work good for things like this.

[Botch]

On 5/5/2026 at 5:27 PM, Botch said:

If you end up buying a boxful from amazoid, like I just did, I’m not responsible!  

The Man in the Brown Shorts™ just delivered my box, it's only 87º out and it was sitting in the shade:

This was rather disappointing...

[gee-dub]

On 5/11/2026 at 3:42 PM, Botch said:

The Man in the Brown Shorts™ just delivered my box, it's only 87º out and it was sitting in the shade:

This was rather disappointing...

Interesting choice by the seller.  We have hot weather out here al the time and many items show up packed with frozen cold packs.  It seems the seller does not understand their target consumer(?).