Off Topic

[Bruno]

What's everyone's plans for the weekend?
Yesterday I found out that I'll be digging up my front lawn because the cable company found a bad connection in my line, When we moved in here, I discovered that a previous owner had put his shovel through the cable and I fixed that myself, however the line quality is starting to go down. The guy told me they'll fix it in place, but it's probably best if I dig it up and replace the entire section.

I could also choose to let them do the work, but they'll be doing it for god knows what per hour.
Plus I'm going to put in a 5" PVC pipe I think so that if they need to access it again or replace it with fiber, they can just it in without a problem.

 

[Bruno]

I had hoped it would not have happened but here we are: green clay.

The doofus who built this house raised the top soil so my house is high enough to not risk flooding in a downpour. The problem is he was a cheapskate and used green clay someone was desperate to get rid of. You need to use a pickaxe. And even then the pick just drops to a dead stop with minimal penetration.

I'm down to 18" but the legal minimal depth is 24 so i'm calling it a day. Total length for digging is about 12 yds

 

[jomomoa]

Looks like a lot of hard work.
Think of the money you're saving and the muscles you're building!

 

[32t]

I know a guy that i could borrow a trencher from.

if it is that hard digging why are you going the long way with the 90' bend?

 

[32t]

my granddaughters are coming for a visit today. weekends don't mean as much to me anymore unless i am matching someone else's schedule

 

[Bruno]

Looks like a lot of hard work.
Think of the money you're saving and the muscles you're building!

And the only reason I have to do this is the original doofus did not put the cable inside a 2" pvc pipe like he was supposed to and instead he probably had 2 feet of pipe at the junction box to pretend he followed code and put the rest in the soil.

 

[Bruno]

I know a guy that i could borrow a trencher from.

if it is that hard digging why are you going the long way with the 90' bend?

Good question. The problem with taking the direct route is it goes underneath the japanese cherry blossom tree my wife likes so much.

to avoid the tree i would have to make some ugly 45 degree corners. So i figured I'd bite the bullet and do it properly. At least this way i know where everything is and it's not going to interfere with anything else.

I'd have to rent a trencher but that would get expensive in a hurry. Though i did choose that option when i had to replace the sewage pipes

 

[32t]

Good question. The problem with taking the direct route is it goes underneath the japanese cherry blossom tree my wife likes so much.

this explains it all!

 

[Bruno]

Bought a special trench shovel to make scooping out the bottom of the trench more easily. It's narrower than a regular shovel so you don't have to oversize the width you are digging out. These sometimes have fiberglass handles to make them less prone to breaking if you are using the handle as a lever.

 

[32t]

thinking positive, one good thing about the clay is that the sides won't collapse easily

 

[Bruno]

Tomorrow is going to be bad.

So i dug well below 24". It took several hours in uncomfortable positions to dig it all up. Then i had to jackhammer a hole through my concrete foundation from the crawling space. Then i could finally put in the pipe though of course i had made everything borderline too tight.

Oh and while a narrow trench is less work, it turns out putting in the pipe and connecting them properly is annoying and very cumbersome if you have no place to stand and need to reach armslength into the trench. But, i did put it all in, and put in the cable. Took al day. I filled it in most of the way. Letting the rain settle the dirt first before filling in the rest

I was happy that at almost 50 i could still do heavy work. I did sprain my ring finger trying to twist a pipe sleeve in a bad position.

But now i'm sitting in the sofa and my shoulder muscles are putting in their notice, telling me that Tomorrow there will be a reckoning.

 

[jomomoa]

Imagine how it would feel tomorrow if you didn't swing heavy hammers as often as you do.

 

[Bruno]

Turns out, the mechanics of lifting and shoveling and jackhammering are different from those you need for hammering.
turning around in bed was painful. This morning my wife had to help me put my arms through my shirt and sweater because raising them above my shoulders was too painful. My entire upper body has been reduced to moving in slow motion today.
The only saving grace is that it's only my muscles, not joints or disks or such.

My ring finger is still sore and a bit swollen. Wedding ring doesn't fit though mobility seems fine.

 

[jomomoa]

I can relate to that.

Do you wear a traditional, metal, wedding ring?
I switched to silicone a few years back and will never go back to metal.

 

[Bruno]

My wife and I have 2 each. Our first was solid platinum. At some point I misplaced it and it was gone for years. We bought simple stainless ones as a replacement and then my wife found it again when we were deep cleaning the living room. I'd had placed it in one of those tealight candle holders and then forgot. Thankfully we didn't throw it out
Anyway now we wear one left one right.

I see how silicone would be more convenient, though I like the weight and the hardness of my metal ring.
I remove them whenever I go to my workshop or work in the garden.

 

[32t]

my wife and i made ours. i lost mine one day at work and think it came off while stuffing used air filters into the box on a cold day on the roof. i haven't worn one since. my wife's started out with a diamond that she said she didn't want and we thought it came off while she was cleaning an aquarium. we looked through all the gravel! my setting is not that good and it has been replaced by a few stones over the years. i think it is a topaz at the moment.

 

[Bruno]

I used to take mine off when I was working around the house, but left it wherever I thought was a good idea at the time. That particular time, I'd taken it off and put it in the tealight holder, underneath one of those little candles. And promptly forgot I did that. My wife found it when she was dusting on new years eve to receive guests, and removed the empty tealight.

 

[Bruno]

Wife is watching a movie with Adam Sandlers, quite possibly the most annoying person ever to stand in front of a camera.

 

[jomomoa]

I'll see your Adam Sandler and raise you Gilbert Gottfried
There are quite a few annoying people but those 2 are at the top.

 

[Shawn]

I had to work on an outlet at the grandbaby's house today. The excitement when she saw me get the toolbag out was awesome. I had to use every screwdriver that I have in there... non insulated flat and Phillips, insulated flat square and Phillips in multiple sizes... then on to the pliers haha. She would pull something out and hand it to me to use, then smile and giggle when i did. She is definitely going to be grandpa's work buddy for sure.