What significant things have I done today?

[Sibling Chatty]

What hedge material grows that fast...and will it grow here?

(We do not like the view of the neighbor's 7 abandoned boats...)

[beagle]

I'm not good on gardeny stuff but I thing it's an ordinary laurel bush. We've had alternate rain and sun all summer the last couple of years, which probably accounts for some of it. Also at about ten ft tall it's probably growing all along its length.  It has green waxy leaves so I guess it would be OK-ish in a hot climate, but doubt it would grow so fast. Also I exaggerate; it might be nearer 4.5 ft as the longer new growth that was coming off.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

What hedge material grows that fast...and will it grow here?

(We do not like the view of the neighbor's 7 abandoned boats...)

Any one of the bamboo family grows inches a week.  Usually referred to as "cane" round here.   They make excellent privacy hedges, but they are apt to take over... they send underground roots to propagate along.

But.

The cane is easily harvested, if  you like, and burns cleanly, if quickly.   

And if you've kids around ANYWHERE, it's too cool to play with-- very useful as a "kid project" building material.  Endless possibilities. 

Most are drought tolerant-- they just stop growing.    (it is basically grass, after all...)

[Opsa]

Chatty- check out the privet hedges (Ligustrum) in your area. If you know someone that has some privet, ask them for a bunch of cuttings (which they should gladly allow you to collect) that you can root and grow in your yard. Many types grow very quickly and there are many interesting varieties.

[Griffin NoName]

Struth!   This is supposed to be What significant things have I done today?  !!!!!!!!!!!

I've been out for a few days AND LOOK AT IT.

What significant things have I done today?  Cursed.

[pieces o nine]

I went through the house and garage like Grant through Richmond.

[Hmmm...not intended to antagonize my friends South of the Mason-Dixon Line.]

Every remaining objet d'electronique from my dad is sorted into one of two boxes:
1) potentially usable components which my brother can have first dibs on, going after that into a newspaper ad as a single unit, and after that (if necessary) to the electronics recycling here.
2) unusable components going to electronic recycling center.

Found the last [I hope!] of the auto maintenance & repair parts and sorted in two similar boxes.

Yay!   


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Next in my sights: Vacation Slides, starting in the 60's.
She actually brought them up herself this week, acknowledging that no one is *ever* going to look at them again. There are SIXTEEN FEET chock full o'slides, and that's not counting the boxes of happy snaps, boxes of 'antique' family pics, boxes of commercial tourist slide and pic sets, and scrapbooks lying hither and yon all over hell, if I may mix my pictorial metaphors.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I went through the house and garage like Grant through Richmond.

[Hmmm...not intended to antagonize my friends South of the Mason-Dixon Line.]

Every remaining objet d'electronique from my dad is sorted into one of two boxes:
1) potentially usable components which my brother can have first dibs on, going after that into a newspaper ad as a single unit, and after that (if necessary) to the electronics recycling here.
2) unusable components going to electronic recycling center.

Found the last [I hope!] of the auto maintenance & repair parts and sorted in two similar boxes.

Yay!   


~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Next in my sights: Vacation Slides, starting in the 60's.
She actually brought them up herself this week, acknowledging that no one is *ever* going to look at them again. There are SIXTEEN FEET chock full o'slides, and that's not counting the boxes of happy snaps, boxes of 'antique' family pics, boxes of commercial tourist slide and pic sets, and scrapbooks lying hither and yon all over hell, if I may mix my pictorial metaphors.

I suggest you donate the slides to a museum-- it could be a sort of cultural history of your neck of the woods.....

[Sibling Chatty]

Pieces...

Seriously, contact any college photography department.

The more...forward thinking ones are accepting that sort of thing for future educational purposes, as well as "museuming".

--------------

Hedges...

Wax leaf ligustrum grows beautifully here. And BLOOMS beautifully here, at which time I go cheerfully to the hospital because I can't breathe. (10 years ago, NO PROB. Now?? About 10 minutes to wheeze, and then I'd better be where somebody has massive amounts of medication or a vent system. i HATE being intubated.) Why? Nobody knows.

Bamboo is TOO invasive. I am intellectually opposed to any living material that will tunnel under a parking lot and pop up 600 feet away from the last bit of it...then proceed to crack through the concrete surface of the parking lot as well. (Might as well be Kudzu if you don't put in barriers for the root system.)

Did I just voice INTELLECTUAL opposition to a hedge? I did.

OK, for Griffin:

Today I became signifigantly insane(r). I intellectually opposed a hedge.

[Aggie]

Re: Bamboo

It should be mentioned that clumping bamboo has a different type of rhizome that does not spread as far so all that is needed to control it is to chop off the piece of the plant that is no longer wanted.  In general clumping bamboo is much slower growing and grows with more of a bush look then running bamboo that is more vertical in appearance but there are exceptions to this rule.

A pond or trees are good natural barriers for running bamboo.  Bamboo will not grow into wet area's and does not like to grow past the drip line of large trees.  If your water table is high then control with a small trench is easy also.

http://bambooworld.com/baminf.htm
(stopped into their physical location on holidays - but they are closed on Tuesday. Oh well.. ONE of these years )

I likes teh bamboo...  and in our nasty climate, most species which are invasive in the US wither and die.  Just keep the knapweed and rats out!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

I like bamboo, too.

Most folk are not allergic, so far as I can tell-- I suppose because most doesn't make flowers?  I dunno.

As a kid, playing with cane was heaven-- such an endless source of material to make things from.

If you allow 3-5 feet wide for it to grow in, it is sufficiently opaque that you cannot see past the growth.

........

The most significant thing I did today, is fix an A/C for a very nice lady who has a handicapped kid who cannot stand (health-wise) hot/sticky conditions.

As such, I made darn sure it was operating as best an old system is able*.

She was extatic, the kid was happy?  (I think-- hard to tell, but he wasn't laboring the breathing, so that counts? )


>>>>
<sub>... for the curious, the diagnosis went something like this:

Arrive on scene.  Had instructed homeowner to leave thermostat on 70 Deg (so it won't stop, once I get it started again), and in "COOL" mode.

Outside unit quiet, but close listening, I can hear the "bzzzz" of the relay/contactor.  This means the furnace IS running, and calling for cool.  Good.

Pull fuse block-- check each fuse for current-- they are both sound.

Open cover on fuse block, check actual inflow wires for presence of 220v.  Good.  Check each leg to ground-- (120v) Good.

Replace fuse.

Open unit's cover-- right away, a wire is burnt/melted.  Remove fuse block (removing power to the unit).

Fix wire.   (short piece of same gauge wire.  Strip out the burned section until I see "good" copper.  Splice in short piece with large wire-nut)

Now.  What caused the overload (that burned the wire)?

Well, one thing was the poor install method.  The wires were secured to the relay/contactor with two screws (one each) but the wire was just jammed in under one side of the screw.  Not good. Works when new, but after a few years of corrosion?  Not good.   This may have been why, but maybe not. 

Corrected other wire in the circuit that had not burned....yet.  It won't now.

Look deeper:  Replace fuse block, now that the wires have been policed up.  Unit starts.

Keep looking:  air coming out of the top of the unit is excessively warm-- dirty coils?

Keep looking:  suction pipe (large pipe) coming into the unit is too hot-- it ought to be cold enough to sweat.  A quick check of it's temp-- 88 deg-- WAY too hot.  45-55 deg is more like it. Low freon?

Okay, that was the "easy" diagnosis.

Connect pressure hoses.  Freon IS low.  Pipe in about 2 pounds of FREON.   Temp is better-- 75 deg, but still too high.  But-- the pressure/temp is rising too fast, it's at 55 deg, and the air coming out the top of the unit is way, way too hot.  Liquid line pipe (small pipe) is too hot, too.  Dirty coil?

Look for, and find garden hose.  Turn on--yay! it works.  Drag enough around to get to unit.  Wash carefully every square inch, while looking at the water flow inside (tedious, but only way to confirm I'm doing some good...) sure enough, water coming through into the unit is dirty-dirty-dirty-- looked like weak tea in color.  The unit looked clean on the outside, but was dirty-dirty-dirty!

Cleaned whole unit inch-by-inch. 

Now, the temp coming out the top was more to my liking:  warm, but not hot.  Say 10-20 degrees hotter than ambient.

Check FREON gauge and temp.  Temp still says 75 deg, but pressure/temp says 28 deg-- that is more like it.   This means, it's still low on FREON.

Meter in some more.  Temp/pressure (on gauge) rises to 45 deg, actual temp reads 53 deg.  Perfect!  10 degrees difference between the pressure/temp (on gauge) and thermometer's reading.  This 10 degrees is the actual "work" being done by the system-- and represents the actual heat being moved outside.   Too much heat, inefficient.  To little-- risk of damaging the compressor.  8-10 degrees is ideal.

Button everything up.  Done.

Happy homeowner.</sub> 

[pieces o nine]

Learnt a Valuable Lesson!

* ye olde back-storey *
My dad had a computerized wind-trainer stationery bike which he stopped using only after he got really sick. After he died, mom re-purposed it to a kind of programmable towel rack. Although the computer guts are kaput, the mechanics are fine; I've reclaimed it for faithful use every night during my favorite newscast. I find that watching one hour of politics helps keep me revved-up enough to pedal "furiously" for an hour...


* present day *
So, I'm going 60! -- 70! -- 80! -- maybe even 30 miles an hour!

Suddenly...a blowout!

Yes -- I blew a flipflop...
(Why I was on the Tour de Neb in flipflops, um, I can't say. I've been properly suited up in sneakers up until today.)

In the ensuing confusion, I found myself repeatedly smacked about the kneecaps by the now loose and flailing arm pumping handlebar thingies until I stopped pedaling. 

No damage done.
Good comedy image.
Lesson learned about Sensible Shoes!

Move over, Lance Whatever your name is! Ima gettin me a yellow t-shirt to wear on this hyere machine. And mebbe even some yellow flip-flops to match. Yeah, baby!

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

.... Yes -- I blew a flipflop...
(Why I was on the Tour de Neb in flipflops, um, I can't say. I've been properly suited up in sneakers up until today.)
....

Did you subsequently step on a pop-top?   Cruze on back home? 

[Darlica]

I met up with two childhood friends (whom I haven't talked to for ages) for dinner this evening.

A lot of catching up was done and memories of childhood sins was brought back to life.

[Griffin NoName]

I got my Diploma certificate.

[Aggie]