Yesteryear

Hulu Desktop software

I have been using Hulu desktop software for a couple of days now and I must admit I find it a mystery.  I am also not impressed by the 0.9.??.?? software.  When I first tried it the software lead me to some old movies that were mildly interesting.  Today the new V tv series was made available.  I could not get it from the Hulu software but I did get it from Explorer.  It is a complete mystery how I get from point to point with HDS.  There is nothing intuitive about it and the colors are very hard to see on my LCD monitor.  On second thought – wait for a while before you install the HDS.

Waiting for something

OK, I am waiting.  Waiting for what?  Waiting for RTV Blue Silicone Form-A-Gasket to dry.  The instructions say it dries in one hour and fully cures in 24 (whatever that means).  Why am I waiting for it to dry?  OK here is the full story.  I awoke to a drip this morning.  My great plumbing job of yesterday had a very slow leak – about 1 drip per hour or two.

I went in to the hardware and bought a tube of  RTV Blue, came back home, found the dishwasher churning away and no SAM.  So I waited the 2 hours for it to complete its cycle and shut the pump off.  I opened all the valves for the faucets around the house and waited some more for the water to drain from the pipes.  Then I drained a gallon or two from the water heater to break the siphon action and removed the shutoff valve that I installed yesterday.  About another gallon of water gushed out into the pan I had in the cabinet where all the trouble started a few days ago.  I liberally applied the RTV Blue to both the female valve threads and the male nipple and assembled the two parts.  Now I await the verdict – no leak (yes, please) or still leaking.  I hate to even think of the work that is going to occur if it leaks!

Now I am waiting some more.  It is a beautiful day out there and temperatures are in the high 50’s.  What more could you ask for on a weekend Fall day?  NO LEAKS……..

PS:  The Leak appears to be stopped up..Added 1653 hrs 22 November 2009. CWM

Somewhat related articles

• How To Conserve Water Indoors (howcast.com)
• How to pick out a plumber (seattlepi.com)
• How To Fix a Leaky Faucet (howcast.com)

Repair needed

Yesterday we noticed a drip-drip-drip from the downstairs kitchen.  I messed around a bit and learned the secrets of the faucet.  I turned off the water pump and opened the cold water upstairs and down to let the water drain down.  When it slowed to a trickle I removed the cold water valve and it looked ok;  however, I went into the hardware to see if they had a new one and they did.  I bought two – one for the hot and one for the cold.  On return to home I installed both and turned on the water pump.  Drip-drip drip – drat – and back inot town to Menards to get a new faucet assembly, shutoff valves and connector hoses – all for a measley $58.  This would be tomorrow’s project.

Tomorrow (today actually).  Using a couple of small pipe wrenches, I removed the two elbows, installed the teflon tape and the new shutoff valves.  After re-energizing the pump and bleeding out the air, the new shutoff valves were checked for leaks.  The new faucet was installed and the whole assembly checked for leaks.  There did not appear to be any so the job was finished.

The rest of the day was spent sort of cleaning up the house for the Thanksgiving dinner.  Now we are watching Hulu, via the new Hulu Desktop, and this has occupied the past 5 hours.  If this Hulu thing continues we will be real couch potatoes.  Night all.

Related articles

• How To Fix a Leaky Faucet (howcast.com)
• How To Replace a Faucet (howcast.com)

Here is to the heros

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL-0mdEg0U4&feature=player_embedded

East Winds remain

There is a pesky Low that remains down around St. Louis.  It show as a surface low but there are traces of an upper low as well.  Today was intermittant rain and into this evening as well.

Pretty much finished http://www.tsahangars.com site today and got the search engines verified and activated.  All is good at the TSA Hangar Partners, LP.  The site is perched at Live.com and using a “Resource Manager” setup.  I did this so anyone can take over for me.  Life is good.

We were at Church tonight and taking care of the pre-teens.  Had a few sick ones that were picked up early.  All went well and there were 42 tonight.  The weather was warm for this time of year but steady drizzle and sometimes rain were negative factors.  Security duty was without incident with all our people.

East Winds

Ha, the East Winds have blown some leaves back to the neighbors who always want their scapled lawns to blow Westward.  I am gratified but not satisfied.  This was a 30 load year and that is OK.  If it is 35, then I am not even gratified.

Today happened.  Barry called and made me a great offer of a $3K kayak for $1.3K.  This is a deal but I want to spend my limited $ on a solar panel &/or windgenerator. 

The new Medicare really sucks.  If it changes much then the Obamacare will be the death of us.

Related article

• “Obama talks money in China” and related posts (foreignpolicy.com)

Indian Summer

Today was a perfect most beautiful day.  I used the opprotunity to take aout SAM’s kayak – a 16′ x 22″ Perception Shadow – and did a turn around our lake.  It is not too far, perhaps a mile, but it was fun none the less.  While out I noticed the rudder did not see to act correctly.  It would turn to port fine but the starbord turn was very slow with full rudder against an unusual feeling stop.  When I returned and carried the boat up to the shop, I looked into the problem.  I had to laugh.  There was no way the rudder ever worked correctly since someone had changed the foot rests.  One of the foot rests had a tab sticking down that would not let the slide fully back.  I took the assembly apart and removed the tab and re-installed and, walla, now it works.  I was surprised that SAM did not complain sooner.

Now I am wasting my time writing blogs, answering emails and working on the TSA Hangars website.  SAM is out at a church function and who knows when the return will be.  It was a fun, relaxing day with nothing to do.  I talked with Jerry Moeller this morning and he is in Sarasota with his boat.  He hit someting with the props while going down the Tenn-Tom and spun one of the props.  The water is so high due to hurricane Ida that he just pulled the boat and trailered it down to my very favorite marina – Sneed Island Marina – and will repair it there.  So that is it for this blog post, maybe later as SAM just got back and will have some tales to tell.

Other articles I saw today

• Sea kayaking off Newfoundland can take you where the fish go (thestar.com)
• Maine Kayak Source (coolhunting.com)
• Plantraco’s Micro Butterfly (geardiary.com)

No leaves

Looking at the lake through trees with no leaves.

Look everyone – no leaves on the trees.  That means we are almost finished for this season – oh, let me count the loads.

We installed new cables in a hangar yesterday and it took less time than expected.  It is a good thing we did as one cable was about half gone.  Seriously, it looked real bad and the owner was sort of shocked when he saw it.  Anyway, we are pro’s at it now and there were no hitches at all.  Two ladders helped a whole bunch.

Today is Friday the 13th and there are lots of sales and better yet the stock market is in the green.  I like green.  This morning I had my eye exam and everything appeared to have healed properly from my torn retina surgery 6 months ago.  I am happy about that.

This has been a busy week but a rewarding one.  Now for next week, hum, lets see – Monday at 1615 hrs old AHS school building for a meeting.  Tuesday if nice will be a kayak trip somewhere.  Wednesday is security detail at the church.  Thursday and Friday are open but I have to finish the sailboat companionway doors so maybe that will take place.

Interesting articles I found

• Energy Sector Leading Negative Run in Stocks (blogs.wsj.com)
• By the Way, Stocks Soar! (blogs.wsj.com)
• Beware The False Profit (liveactivecultures.net)
• Market rebound fuels 4.6% gain for CPP (thestar.com)
• The mother of all broadband? (nevillehobson.com)

Global Gamechanger

The video below describes a global gamechanging plan for the USA.  It is very simple, straightforward and can be accomplished within 10 years without hardly any pain on our part : switch to natural gas based transportation schema.  The picture on the right show natural gas production by country.  Please take the two minutes to view the video and you will see. 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4kMSzjX5bc&feature=player_embedded

Related articles

• 2007 oil sands frenzy dogs new Horizon project (financialpost.com)
• What will be the active rotary rig count in the US on 9-Oct-2009 (hubdub.com)
• Enbridge to build Gulf of Mexico pipeline (cbc.ca)