Rant for the Day (keep it clean)

[The Lazy L]

Past Mondays at 8 AM.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?!
Me: Yes. They pick it up at 9.
Wife: I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

A past Saturday afternoon.

Wife: What are you doing.
Me: I'm emptying the wastepaper baskets now so "we" don't have to do it at the last moment on Monday.
Wife: You're throwing away my good bag! (Wife lines the wastepaper baskets with plastic shopping bags. I had removed one of those plastic bags from a basket to emptying the other basket into. The plastic bag color matched the wastepaper basket I had removed it from. She didn't want THAT bag thrown out).
Me: So much for me helping.

Tuesday at 8 AM. Trash pickup service change their schedule from Mondays to Tuesdays. Now the wife has all day Monday to empty the wastepaper baskets.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?! I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

 

[zannej]

Billyjack, that is horrible! I'm so sorry that happened. I can understand why you would want to annihilate mosquitoes after that.

The Lazy L, that sounds like something my mother would do.

I just got back from driving my friend home from the ER. Kidney stones and enlarged prostate. Could be cancer. :-(

 

[Morgan101]

Past Mondays at 8 AM.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?!
Me: Yes. They pick it up at 9.
Wife: I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

A past Saturday afternoon.

Wife: What are you doing.
Me: I'm emptying the wastepaper baskets now so "we" don't have to do it at the last moment on Monday.
Wife: You're throwing away my good bag! (Wife lines the wastepaper baskets with plastic shopping bags. I had removed one of those plastic bags from a basket to emptying the other basket into. The plastic bag color matched the wastepaper basket I had removed it from. She didn't want THAT bag thrown out).
Me: So much for me helping.

Tuesday at 8 AM. Trash pickup service change their schedule from Mondays to Tuesdays. Now the wife has all day Monday to empty the wastepaper baskets.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?! I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

Sounds like my house. Everything I do is wrong, and everything I don't do is wrong.

 

[Weedygarden]

Sounds like my house. Everything I do is wrong, and everything I don't do is wrong.

Been there!

 

[Peanut]

Most farm supply stores around here have 1" galvanized chicken wire in a 150ft roll, 6ft tall. Except now... I couldn't find a roll in the little town yesterday. No one had it in stock.

One store had the wire size I wanted but with a special black plastic coating on the wire for longevity. $270, yes $270 for a roll of chicken wire, absurd.

Making a trip to the big town today. Hopefully I'll find what I need without fancy coatings for a reasonable price. Not holding my breath... reasonable seems to have left the country.

 

[Supervisor42]

Past Mondays at 8 AM.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?!
Me: Yes. They pick it up at 9.
Wife: I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

A past Saturday afternoon.

Wife: What are you doing.
Me: I'm emptying the wastepaper baskets now so "we" don't have to do it at the last moment on Monday.
Wife: You're throwing away my good bag! (Wife lines the wastepaper baskets with plastic shopping bags. I had removed one of those plastic bags from a basket to emptying the other basket into. The plastic bag color matched the wastepaper basket I had removed it from. She didn't want THAT bag thrown out).
Me: So much for me helping.

Tuesday at 8 AM. Trash pickup service change their schedule from Mondays to Tuesdays. Now the wife has all day Monday to empty the wastepaper baskets.

Me: Getting my hat and coat on to wheel the trash out to the road for pickup.
Wife: You're not taking the trash out already are you ?!?! I haven't empty the wastepaper baskets yet !!!!!!!

I do the garbage-can dance every week too.
The last minute = "Oh, you're not taking the can out now are you? We haven't done our litterboxes yet!"
Me: Just give the bags to me and I will take them out to the can.
Them: "No! You must wait!"
(And of course, if we miss getting dumped, it is all my fault for not getting the can out)

 

[Weedygarden]

My trash and recycling bins usually goes out the evening before trash day because they start pick up at 7 a.m. I am usually up, but not always, and if I am up, I may not be public presentable. I hear my neighbor taking his bins out at 6 a.m. along with an elderly neighbors. I hate to hear the trash truck coming when my bins are not out.

 

[Pearl]

I do the garbage-can dance every week too.
The last minute = "Oh, you're not taking the can out now are you? We haven't done our litterboxes yet!"
Me: Just give the bags to me and I will take them out to the can.
Them: "No! You must wait!"
(And of course, if we miss getting dumped, it is all my fault for not getting the can out)

That's darn right, get on the ball!! Lol!!

 

[Amish Heart]

We have a farm dumpster. Emptied every other week, and it was emptied this morning. I don't care if all the trash is out or not. But I remember mom being like that when I was growing up. She would almost chase down the garbage truck for a few pieces of kleenex. I learned that on garbage day it was easier to just flush it. Then she wouldn't stress so much. We went to the farm dumpster because it was a pain getting on to the grandkids to wheel the cans to the road. Figured they won't live with us forever, so this is one less chore we have to do.

 

[zannej]

They don't even pick our trash up here. We either have to burn it or haul it off to the dump on and hope it's open. I think it's only open for like 2hours at a time 3 days a week. But they often are not open when they are supposed to be. So, burning is the main method of disposal.

I get blamed for not knowing that my mother wanted something when I was at the store (when she didn't bother calling or waited until I was in the store with no signal to receive calls). She got mad earlier because I told her I was going to the bathroom and going back to bed (after bringing my friend home from the hospital). A few hours later she paged me on the phone to say "You said you were going to come see me after you went to the bathroom". I told her "No, I said I was going back to bed afterward". Then she whined like a child "I'm huuuuuungry". I started to ask her what she wanted and she hung up. I went out to see what she wanted but she wouldn't speak to me for 10 minutes. Then she asked me about the beef stronganoff mix. I told her 5x that we didn't have any but she kept asking about it. Then she finally figured out what she wanted when I mentioned we still had yellow rice. I wish she would actually listen to people. It's so frustrating. I know it could be worse though.

 

[Peanut]

I’ve posted about these magnifying lamps before. They are great for disabled people or those with vision issues. I’ve used them for years. One attached to my kitchen table (usually the only light in the house on at night), and another to the end table by my chair.

I bought two new LED ones a couple years ago. I could no longer get florescent bulbs for my old ones. I needed one right away but it was 3 months before I needed the second one.

3 months later I discovered there was something wrong with the second lamp but it was too late to return it. I took it apart, could find no reason for the problem. It wouldn't stay where I moved the arm, kept moving out of position. So I bought another one, $95, but I kept the problem (new) lamp, put it back in it’s box.

One of my current lamps died a couple days ago. So I got out the problem lamp I had saved and tried to fix it again. My best guess is that one of the internal springs was broken and a little too short, but they used it anyway during assembly.

Last night it occurred to me that a shorter spring acts as a stronger spring. I could kick myself for not thinking of it two years ago… if I made the end of the lamp heavier, this should counter act the stronger spring.

So that’s what I did… I found 2 pieces of machined steel in the shop. Each about an inch long and put them in a sandwich bag. They weighed 5.5 ounces total. I used a rubber band to connect it to the lamp arm.

Now the articulating arm mostly works (instead of pointing at the ceiling). It stays close to any position I moved it to. I think I need to add about one more ounce of weight…

But at least now it’s usable and not a total waste of $95. It’s still cheap chinese junk but better than my other options. I hate having to modify items to make them work.

 

[billyjack]

They don't even pick our trash up here. We either have to burn it or haul it off to the dump on and hope it's open.

On the farm, we can either burn it (when not during a burn ban), haul it ourselves, or pay for a weekly trash pickup in a dumpster.

In town, it's a bit different. There are dumpsters in every alley. You can pay to have a dumpster in the alley behind your house, but it is not for your exclusive use. Anyone can dump their trash in any dumpster in town. The city dumps the dumpsters as needed. If nobody wants to pay for the dumpster oin any particular alley, the city just puts two or three dumpsters in the alley anyway.

One Saturday morning, I was talking to the director of utilities for the city and someone drove up with a question. They were cleaning out an old house and wanted to know where they could throw away whatever they needed to dump. The were surprised at the answer -- in any dumpster in town. The director of utilities asked them to use the dumpsters in one particular alley. Sure enough, by the end of the day, the dumpsters in that alley were full for several blocks. And on Sunday afternoon, he got the trash truck out and dumped every one of those dumpsters.

We no longer have a dumpster behind my office. Across the alley is the recycling center. We had the city move our dumpster across the alley to the recycling center to make it clear that it could be used by everyone -- not everyone understands that. The city added two more dumpsters. It's an extra fifteen feet or so to take the trash out now.

Interestingly enough, if we tell the director of utilities that we are going to have a lot of trash that week, they'll bring us a dumpster for the week and set it up by the back door. I hate it when they do that, though, because I often park in the alley at the back door.

The system works out real well. I almost laugh when I hear someone talk about taking their trash out on trash day. Everyone in town can take out their trash any day of the week and don't have to store it until trash day.

 

[The Lazy L]

The wife preparing for a hen party this morning. She's washing her good coffee cups (we don't drink coffee). She's stressed because she's running out of time (typical). So I start drying the cups. "Do you want the cups on the table?" I ask. "NO. They go by the coffee maker."

As I dry a third cup to place it over by the coffee maker with the first two I had dried. The dried cups are no longer there. Wife has moved them away from the coffeemaker to a different countertop. I finish drying and decided now is a good time to go to my den to pay bills and post on the Internet.

I'll reappear after the party to dry dishes ...

 

[Morgan101]

The wife preparing for a hen party this morning. She's washing her good coffee cups (we don't drink coffee). She's stressed because she's running out of time (typical). So I start drying the cups. "Do you want the cups on the table?" I ask. "NO. They go by the coffee maker."

As I dry a third cup to place it over by the coffee maker with the first two I had dried. The dried cups are no longer there. Wife has moved them away from the coffeemaker to a different countertop. I finish drying and decided now is a good time to go to my den to pay bills and post on the Internet.

I'll reappear after the party to dry dishes ...

Probably a wise choice. My standard tactic is to ask if there is anything I can do to help. If the answer is yes, I will do as told (there's a good joke there). If the answer is no I will disappear, and stay out of the way. Fortunately, I do have a place to hide when she has a hen party.

 

[Weedygarden]

I’ve posted about these magnifying lamps before. They are great for disabled people or those with vision issues. I’ve used them for years. One attached to my kitchen table (usually the only light in the house on at night), and another to the end table by my chair.

I bought two new LED ones a couple years ago. I could no longer get florescent bulbs for my old ones. I needed one right away but it was 3 months before I needed the second one.

3 months later I discovered there was something wrong with the second lamp but it was too late to return it. I took it apart, could find no reason for the problem. It wouldn't stay where I moved the arm, kept moving out of position. So I bought another one, $95, but I kept the problem (new) lamp, put it back in it’s box.

One of my current lamps died a couple days ago. So I got out the problem lamp I had saved and tried to fix it again. My best guess is that one of the internal springs was broken and a little too short, but they used it anyway during assembly.

Last night it occurred to me that a shorter spring acts as a stronger spring. I could kick myself for not thinking of it two years ago… if I made the end of the lamp heavier, this should counter act the stronger spring.

So that’s what I did… I found 2 pieces of machined steel in the shop. Each about an inch long and put them in a sandwich bag. They weighed 5.5 ounces total. I used a rubber band to connect it to the lamp arm.

Now the articulating arm mostly works (instead of pointing at the ceiling). It stays close to any position I moved it to. I think I need to add about one more ounce of weight…

But at least now it’s usable and not a total waste of $95. It’s still cheap chinese junk but better than my other options. I hate having to modify items to make them work.



View attachment 84360View attachment 84361

I know people who do counted cross stitch, in their 70's and use these to see what they are doing.

 

[Weedygarden]

The city of Arvada, Colorado, where I have a few friends who live there, has never had a city trash service, like some other cities have a service. Their city council had tried to start a city service maybe 25 years ago. City council people received death threats! Why? There are local services that people can sign up for, that are owned and run by the Russian mafia, who work several services in the Denver area. They run parking lots downtown and other things where they rip people off. I've parked in a lot downtown Denver, paid my fee in a box, and received a ticket for not paying. That was the last time I parked in any of those lots, but I rarely go downtown Denver anyway.

 

[Eli]

I have a aluminum truck bed tool box, not in the truck & ai store tools in it all winter, the Red Wasp/paper wasp love it.

I am currently battling a queen building somewhere in the engine of my rv. I have tried spraying a whole bunch of wasp killer everywhere I can with no luck. I'm pretty allergic to bee stings and don't want a trip to the ER right now... I've been trying to bait her with meat and a very low dose of boric acid. I think mine isn't pure enough for wasps... going to get better on Amazon soon. Anyone have some recipes for baiting them?

I will be buying wd-40 now. TY!!!! But I'm pretty nervous about doing this. Maybe if I soak down the engine and it gets on the nest? Idk if they sleep in the nest...
Also hung some fake paper wasp nests around... I want to keep bait out and kill this nest.

Alabama has 4+ species of red wasps. Nasty, disagreeable and aggressive, they will attack in mass… And they hurt! As a kid we robbed red wasp nests for their larva, make great fish bait. So I have a lot of experience with the little nasties!

Last night I was reintroduced in a most unpleasant manner. In early spring and late fall there are always a few in my house. A few survive winter in my ceiling. In early spring they start flying around and I kill a few.

I got in bed early last night and laid back on a red wasp. It was in my bed!!! It stung my backbone! Dead center of my back. At first I thought a screw driver or some tool had fallen out of my pants or something. But the sharp pain continued to increase as the 1/10th of seconds ticked by. It was like a hot spike was being driven into my spine.

I hate red wasps!!!

Here are two that call my state home, paper wasps… the smaller one with the black body is particularly nasty. They kill 100's of caterpillars to feed their young so do serve a purpose.

View attachment 83819View attachment 83820

I am currently battling a queen building somewhere in the engine of my rv. I have tried spraying a whole bunch of wasp killer everywhere I can with no luck. I'm pretty allergic to bee stings and don't want a trip to the ER right now... I've been trying to bait her with meat and a very low dose of boric acid. I think mine isn't pure enough for wasps... going to get better on Amazon soon. Anyone have some recipes for baiting them?

I will be buying wd-40 now. TY!!!! But I'm pretty nervous about doing this. Maybe if I soak down the engine and it gets on the nest? Idk if they sleep in the nest...but I only spray at night. I can open up the hood for a better look after dark.

Also hung some fake paper wasp nests around... I want to keep bait out and kill this nest. I could buy meal worms to bait her? Coat them in the boric acid?

A neighbor suggested very concentrated dish soap spray so she can't fly and then stomp her. Again.... I really don't want to find out how long I last while driving to the er...

 

[Supervisor42]

Rant for the day: The 'security stuff' is getting out of hand.
I know we are up against some very good robots, and I want my stuff to be secure, but do not make it impossible for the actual user.
I checked in on one of my substantial stock accounts that I rarely look in on, (I like reading the quarterly paper statements) and I remembered why.
Username and password= nothing.
Security question: Make and model of your first car? Answered correctly= nothing.
Them: "We are going to email you a verification code that is valid for only 60 seconds".
"So, how fast can you check your email, old man?"
It takes 12 seconds just to show up in my inbox .
After the second try, I got in.
But that is not what blew my lid.
After I was done, they sent me a nice email, saying that my email had been verified...
And if I ever needed any help, (no phone number to call, no email address, no website link) all I had to do was... simply log into my account (which would be impossible).
Are they really that stupid?
They do not want me to come visit, trust me, they WILL NOT like me.
I need a beer.

 

[Cascadian]

@Eli you could try covering as much as you can with plastic and putting a raid bug bomb under it. Worked for me.

 

[The Lazy L]

I am currently battling a queen building somewhere in the engine of my rv. I have tried spraying a whole bunch of wasp killer everywhere I can with no luck. I'm pretty allergic to bee stings and don't want a trip to the ER right now...

Fire up the engine and bring the coolant up to temperature. I'd think the engine heat would encourage the queen to move on.

 

[Cascadian]

So I met my new general provider. She is nice, but she is 3 inches shorter and 50 to 75 lbs heavier than me. Talking about diet and exercise. To be fair just because a guy rides a bicycle to work doesn't mean he isn't the best mechanic in town.

So I said I have been really tired lately. How about a B12 shot. She said well we would have to do blood work first to see if you need it. I said really? It's a vitamin. Then she offered me the jab, shingles vaccine and some other injection I never heard of. I said aren't you going to test me for antibodies first. Well no she answered. I laughed and said but you need test me for a vitamin first, uh huh. Actually she did me a favor in retrospect I don't want anything in a syringe.

 

[zannej]

Supervisor, I hate the things where they say you have to login to your account to send a message to get help with something but you can't login. Mom has not been able to login to her OPM account to tell them to send her paycheck to a different bank but they won't e-mail her. They said they have to send something via snail mail (which they never sent) and the past 4 months she has been calling their number and getting hung up on after an automated message says they have a high volume of calls. Also, she's upset bc her state tax exemption (since she gets federal pay) is no longer available on the state tax forms. I think they did away with it.

Meanwhile, I'm frustrated with my friend. Awhile back he got a puppy- which I knew was a bad idea- and now he doesn't want her but instead of rehoming her like a responsible person, he just kicked her out of the house. He hasn't been feeding them pet food. I bought puppy chow and kitten chow the other day and noticed a few days later that he hadn't even opened the bags. They are getting table scraps. No wonder the one gray kitty looks so terrible. He's not getting fed right. The cats were just dumped there so I can understand him not wanting to deal with them, but he wanted the puppy-- despite getting mad at every dog he's ever gotten bc they pee on the floor. He locked the poor thing up in a cage for 12+ hours a day when his ex was staying there (bc she has a habit of literally kicking puppies and kittens). So its not house-trained. He's not doing anything to train her. He didn't potty train his own daughter-- a rebound gf did that for him when the kid was almost 4yrs old. Granted, the kid's mother made no effort to potty train her either. But, he should not be a pet owner and if I didn't have so many pets already, I'd bring the kitties and the puppy home so they would be better taken care of. Poor puppy is probably going to get run over like the last one.

The only reason I'm not ripping him a new one over this is bc I know he has brain impairment from the blood clots.

 

[Supervisor42]

So I met my new general provider. She is nice, but she is 3 inches shorter and 50 to 75 lbs heavier than me. Talking about diet and exercise. To be fair just because a guy rides a bicycle to work doesn't mean he isn't the best mechanic in town.

So I said I have been really tired lately. How about a B12 shot. She said well we would have to do blood work first to see if you need it. I said really? It's a vitamin. Then she offered me the jab, shingles vaccine and some other injection I never heard of. I said aren't you going to test me for antibodies first. Well no she answered. I laughed and said but you need test me for a vitamin first, uh huh. Actually she did me a favor in retrospect I don't want anything in a syringe.

I still have 1,000mg B12 tablets in case I should ever need to punch the TURBO button. They still work.
It affects me like 'speed'. Haven't touched them in years since I retired, these are my 'relax years'
Of course, if you looked at my 'turbo button', all of the letters are worn off it except the "T" and the "O" from being punched so much over the past decades.
My solution these days is to open a beer, and call some young, vigorous person to take the abuse.
I am done being the stuntman.

 

[Supervisor42]

Supervisor, I hate the things where they say you have to login to your account to send a message to get help with something but you can't login. Mom has not been able to login to her OPM account to tell them to send her paycheck to a different bank but they won't e-mail her. They said they have to send something via snail mail (which they never sent) and the past 4 months she has been calling their number and getting hung up on after an automated message says they have a high volume of calls. Also, she's upset bc her state tax exemption (since she gets federal pay) is no longer available on the state tax forms. I think they did away with it.

Mini-rant: For me, it is Allstate. I have my truck policy with them and it is setup on auto-pay. Every time it renews, they send me multiple emails (all cookie-cutter emails with my name pasted in, but no information) telling me I really needed to login to see any changes they might have made, or if I needed to make any changes.
I have never set up online access and it their job to send me info about it, not mine to go 'look&see'.
Almost all of the emails come from no-reply bots.
Since I like to mess with machines, last go round I sent a very scathing, nasty reply to one of them.
Ooops! That email was actually one from my agent! and I had to send her an apology and explanation.
She said she was still going to forward it to headquarters.
Now for the good news this go-round, the 9th, (yes, ninth) email actually had a total on it.
...it's the same as last time.

 

[ABR]

People who get butt-hurt when they are required to...(gasp) actually do their job!

 

[Magus]

I have two days of ten minute jobs to do, I can't bring myself to do any of them.
I'm losing the will to live, all I do is sleep, post and game since I came back from my trip to the woods.
I saw this happen to a caged woodchuck once, it just sat there and stared at the world. fortunately we let him
go when his paw healed, me. I'm getting worse. I can't stand to listen to the news anymore and all my friends are dead
or forgot I exist. I can't drive more than an hour without being bedridden three days, I can barely carry groceries in
without help from an eighty year old man, let alone a pack and a rifle any distance, I can't even get drunk anymore
and weed is only for my stomach and I don't even like it anymore, I'm getting meaner and more cynical by the day
and my love life is crap and will be, I have no focus and my life is one long sucking sound. the only purpose I have
in my life is my mission and helping others with what I know, and I catch hell from fellow pagans and non Christian
friends for helping "Christians" Christians tell me I'm going to hell and I need their religion for completeness, what
they don't know is, I HAD their religion and was more miserable than I am now, I don't need a girlfriend, last one
ripped me off, screwed my boss and then he fired me when they got back from the vacation I payed for. yeah, love is
blind, its also retarded and stoned off its A** huffing glue and riddled with ADD. I don't know what I need, and if
I did, I doubt this world could supply it. I'm bitter, evil angry and getting older by the key stroke. it's 6:00AM and I
already need a nap. lets see what else I don't get done today.

 

[Cascadian]

Well that sucks. I have thought about what it would be like getting to a similar point once a long time ago.

 

[Magus]

Try not to, it blows entire herds of chimps if you know you'll be alone.

 

[zannej]

Sending virtual hugs your way, Magus.

The pole-mounting didn't go as planned. My friend had a harder time lifting the pole into place, it took 3 of us to get it set up, and my brother was goofing off and dropped a ladder on my head. I wasn't under it or anything. I told him to leave it alone but he was messing with it and I had my back turned to organize tools. He lifted it over his head, lost his grip and it fell backwards and the top rung landed on my head. He did apologize and I'm not mad about it, but I wish he would be more careful. My friend was worried but I told him I'm hard-headed.

Turns out the eaves aren't as stable as they need to be and the pole can move too much. I don't like my friend's suggestion of a solution though. He wants to put the pole in a different mount, drop it about 3' lower (which would mean it would be obstructed) and try to get a mount that I think is not long enough to reach the wall. Right now we have a paracord securing it to the chimney and car port, but really need something that can anchor it better but there's nothing really tall enough. I'm thinking maybe guide wires and anchors on the roof though.

Also, my friend already caved and is letting his ex come back to his house to watch the baby. He's sort of given up hope on some things I think. He's too much of a doormat.

 

[joel]

Are Blue Jays protected?




These days you could get in a lot of trouble for plinking a blue jay, which, like all songbirds, is protected by the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.