Time in The ED

I was busy working outside today getting some of the old pane glass basement windows re-glazed when Kris comes outside and tells me she just got a call from the Arboretum and her dad is going to the ER (or in modern terms the ED – Emergency Dept.).  Apparently he was having a lot of trouble breathing and when they checked him he had a fever, so they sent him over to be checked out.  So that means we have to stop everything and go spend a few hours sitting in the ER waiting for the doctors to run tests, etc.  Just what I want to do on a nice day when I have stuff to do outside. 

When we got there we found out that the attendant at the Arboretum reported that they think he may have choked on something at dinner and had foreign material in his lungs, which may be causing aspiration pneumonia.  He definitely had a serious wheezing problem when he breathed.  So after running some tests, they were going to keep him overnight at least.  So this is going to lead to him not being allowed to go back, I just know it.  

Trampoline Is Closed

How do you know summer is really over?  It’s when the trampoline comes down for the season.  I think if I look back, it is coming down earlier than normal this year, but no one has been on it since school started.  And with all the other things happening, I didn’t have time to get the trampoline taken down in one fell swoop, so I set about taking it down in stages over a couple of days.  Than went much easier.  First was the net.  That wouldn’t have been bad except for having to untie all the stings that were woven in and out of the net to keep it secured to the springs.

Day two was spent removing springs and taking the supports apart.  Both went fairly smoothly.  I did notice that I will definitely need to replace some parts next year.  Some of the spacers between the upper support arms of the net and the legs are crushed/cracked and I should have them replaced.  I also need to order a new net, and maybe a new pad to go on the springs.  I really should make a list and buy them one at a time so when it is time to put it up next year, I don’t have $200 worth of parts to get.

Phone Line

What I thought would be a quick, 30 minute set-up for the new printer turned into about a 4-hour ordeal.  Proof that nothing is EVER easy.  I got the printer out, plugged in, and all the assorted tapes and holders from the box removed so that I can start using it, and then hit the point where I needed to install the “software” to run it.  You would think that in 2017, installing software drivers for the operation of a printer would be something that took 30 seconds, but no.  It was a 25 minute install cycle.  Oh, and the fact that I put the CD into the drive, and the drive would not read it.  I’m not quite sure why, but it is a DVD RW drive and it appears that no software/data CDs work in it.  I don’t know if that is the reason, or if it is just because the computer is that old and the drive is just worn out.

Anyway, after nearly half an hour I go to check and I get a pop up window that says, “Installation failed. Try Again?”  Sure, I have to get this stupid thing working.  But in order to do so, I have to start all over from the beginning.  Another 25 minutes.  Then when I finally got the software installed, it was time to plug in the phone cord.  That was a whole ordeal in itself.

I had installed a phone jack in the den years ago, but since it was never used, I disconnected it.  No big deal, right?  Wrong.  I had to get a length of phone wire to hook up to the jack, and then splice into the existing line.  I go to my bin of electronics supplies (speaker wire, stereo patch cords, plugs, extra coax cables, Cat 5 and Cat 6 network cables, HDMI cables, but no phone wire.  I had about 75 ft. of phone cord about 6 months ago, and when I was cleaning things up, I figured, when am I ever going to need to wire in a new phone jack anymore?  So I tossed it out.  No big deal, I’ll just run to Home Depot or Menards and get about 25 ft worth of phone cord and I’ll be good to go.  Again, easier said than done.  NO ONE carries phone cord anymore.  After weighing my options, I ended up just buying longer phone extension cord and cutting off the spring loaded plug.  Then I just separated the wires, stripped them, and connected it to the existing wire with wire nuts.  Total time of playing around, about an hour and a half, maybe two.  The good news is that I FINALLY got the jack working.

Once it was ready to plug in, I discovered that I needed to have my existing phone plugged into the printer.  I tried to get around it when setting it up, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the fax part working unless I had the actual phone base plugged into it.  As a result, I ended up having to move the phone in by the computer.  I suppose that is a small price to pay.  

The Government At Work

I often wonder how government gets the rap of being as backwards as it is (not that I disagree, mind you).  Well now I know.  We are currently in the process of updating Kris’s dad’s paperwork for all of his benefits.  We got the letter a week ago saying if they didn’t have updated forms by the end of the week, he would lose the benefits that he does receive.  So after doing a lot of scrambling to get all the right forms and make sure they are filled out properly (at least as far as I can tell) we find out that we cannot just scan and email it.  We either have to submit the paperwork manually thru the mail, or it has to be faxed.  Faxed???!!!  Who still uses a fax machine anymore?  Fax machines are like the VHS player of communication.  They went obsolete a decade ago.  I remember one of the Back To The Future movies (I think it was II) that had a scene where Marty was fired by fax in the year 2015, so they were obviously around in the mid 80’s.  And I remember having to fax things at my first job back in 1997, but that was also when email and the internet were pretty much still in its infancy.  But now?

So in order to make sure that the stupid government agency has his paperwork, we went out this weekend and bought a new scanner/printer that also has a fax machine.  We sort of needed a new one anyway, but it is still the fact that we actually needed to buy a new one that had a fax feature really sort of rubs me the wrong way.  Isn’t government the best?!  

Finished In The Dark

I started sealing the driveway around 4:00 and I figured it would take me three hours to get everything spread.  Well I wasn’t too far off.  The only problem was that the sun goes down at around 6:45 and that meant finishing spreading tar in the dark.  It really wasn’t all that bad, though.  By the time I was in the dark, I only had about 8 feet left of driveway to go.  I finished with a flashlight in my mouth while I was spreading tar.  I had asked Alison to come out and help me by holding it, but I got attitude so I just did it myself.

It wouldn’t have been all that bad, but cleaning up got to be a bit of a challenge.  I ended up stepping in a spot of wet tar that I hadn’t spread yet because I didn’t see it.  Then, when I was finally finished and spraying off the squeegee in the road, a little kid from down the road came cruising up the sidewalk on a motorized scooter.  I saw him coming and tried to tell him to watch out for the hose I had stretched across the sidewalk.  He either didn’t hear me, or just didn’t listen.  He rode over the hose, and then up into the wet tar on the driveway.  I didn’t know about it until the next day when I woke up, looked out the window, and saw black tire tracks going all the way up the neighbor’s sidewalk toward the corner.

A Few Stragglers

So far so good.  There have been no swarms of yellow jackets around the foundation and I haven’t see any that have managed to burrow thru the foam barrier.  I have found a couple of dead yellow jackets in the house the last couple of days however.  Two the first day, and one today.  Again, still not sure where they are getting into the house but at least when I am finding them they are either dead, or practically dead.  I just need to make sure that the cats don’t find one and decide to lick/eat it (because at least Sam is curious that way).

Death To The Queen!

After spending every other day dousing the “crack” in the foundation where the yellow jackets were flying in an out of, I had finally had enough.  I had a can of foam crack filler on my work bench and since I needed to fill a few other cracks in preparation of winter, I decided to stick the nozzle in and fill it.  It actually took a little more than I would have expected, although I don’t think the foam actually filled where the nest was, it more likely filled the opening they were using to get at their nest.

After I filled it a bunch of yellow jackets began flying around the foundation looking for a way to get in.  It always seemed like the only time I ever saw them was when I sprayed the stupid thing.  I gave them a good spray with the poison as they were hovering around the foam that was oozing from the crack just to be thorough. 

My big worry was that once I sealed off the opening to the outside, they would find their way into the house thru cracks and holes in the walls.  I went into the basement to look around the foundation I didn’t see anything, so I thought everything was good.  The next day when I was cleaning the little boxes, I found about 10 dead yellow jackets in the utility sink.  They were mostly curled up and dead, although a couple were still twitching. 

I still didn’t see any obvious openings anywhere.  I didn’t see any cracks at the top of the walls and no holes in the floor/ceiling between the joists.  The only thing I could think of as to where they may have been coming from was around a couple of opening in the ceiling where a couple of water pipes and a drain pipe went thru.  After I got them all cleaned up, I noticed one very large yellow jacket that was dead on the floor.  It was at least three times the size of the ones I washed down the drain.  It makes me wonder if that was the queen.  I think that if it was I won’t be seeing any more yellow jackets.  But I will keep checking, just to make sure.