A very busy week, got a lot done……………………

As always, first the chronology:

6/7/20 – Sunday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Downstairs and did the blog. Then upstairs to await the arrival of Julie and the grand children. We had lunch on the grill then out to the pool. Spent most of the afternoon in the pool. Julie got the grand kids ready and took off. Kathy and I had a light dinner. Downstairs and submitted my contest log and upload everything to the online logging programs I use. To bed, TV and sleep.

6/8/20 – Monday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Kathy was up and out early to watch the grand children. I did some chores around the house. Kathy was planning on bring the grand kids over to go swimming but things changed and she called me around noon to advise me. I made myself lunch. Then outside to power wash the railing on the front porch and the garage doors. Inside to cool down and chat with my friend Jim for awhile. Kathy came home and we had dinner. Downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs, bed, computer work, TV and sleep.

6/9/20 – Tuesday – Up a little early this morning. Kathy was off to babysit the grand kids. I did chores around the house and put up some lights on the back deck. Kathy came over with the kids and we had a quick lunch then out to the pool. Inside and cleaned up and more to eat. Mike come over to pick up the kids. Kathy went over to give blood. When she came back we went to Lowes to pick up an extension cord for the lights and we had dinner at the Cattleman’s Steakhouse. Home and put the extension cord in place with a remote switch. Downstairs for computer work and play radio awhile. Then out on the deck for awhile. Bed, Big Bang and sleep.

6/10/20 – Wednesday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Downstairs to do some phone and email work. Kathy wasn’t feeling well and took a nap. I had a snack for lunch. The Septic Tank folks came and replaced the effluent filter and got them lined up to put a riser on the tank so I don’t have to keep digging it up. Back inside, Kathy was up so we did some burgers on the grill. Waited for the overhead door guy to arrive. Then out to the Morton building. He identified the problem and fixed it. Inside and Kathy was ready for dinner. Helped make dinner. Then downstairs to chat with the guys on 2 meters. Upstairs to bed, Big Bang, computer work and sleep.

6/11/20 – Thursday – Up early today and usual morning routine. Out to pick up Carter and we went to get our hair cut. Took him home and stopped at the bank to take care of some business there. Then home. Had lunch and out on the motorcycle around noon. Rode till 3PM and put 132.6 miles on the bike. Kathy was tired so she laid down to take a nap. Was late getting dinner ready so I signed on with the guys at 6:30 and when dinner was ready at 6:40 I signed off. Had dinner. Back downstairs to finish computer updates. Upstairs and some chores. Bed, Big Bang and sleep.

6/12/20 – Friday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Out around 10AM and started the yard work. Humidity was low so that made it easy going. Kathy still wasn’t feeling top notch so I did more trimming and less with the lawn tractor and she did more with the lawn tractor and less trimming. Finished about 2:30. Inside, cooled down and got cleaned up. Checked email and we are now assigned as election officers so we had to watch some videos and sign an oath that we did it. Dinner, downstairs to chat with the Gary on 2 meters. Then computer updates. Upstairs, dessert, bed, TV and sleep.

6/13/20 – Saturday – Up at the usual time and usual morning routine. Took a ride over to Lowes and Walmart to do some shopping. Home and lunch. Outside for some chores. Didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. Kathy went back to Lowes and stopped at Tractor Supply. Then Korger. When she came home we had dinner. Downstairs and chatted with Mike and Gary. Upstairs, dessert, bed, TV, computer updates and sleep.

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Now the specifics:

I’m not going to reiterate the things that are already in the chronology as that would bore the hell out of you.  Unless there’s more to the story than what is in the chronology.

We had vinyl railings put on the front porch of the house because Kathy was afraid someone would fall off.  She said she was concerned for the grandchildren but I think it was more her.  Anyway, things around here gather mold and mildew quickly.  Since that didn’t look good and I had this new gas pressure washer I decided to use it.  Looks really nice and brightened it up a lot.

I got a hair up my ass and decided to put some deck lights up.  Actually, a couple years ago we got several canopies at Harbor Freight and I picked up two strings of these lights with the intention of putting them around the canopies.  Since I wasn’t allowed to secure them to the decks, the weather managed to destroy two of the canopies.  I was allowed to secure the last one to the deck at the pool and since I had these light strings I decided to put one up on the back deck.  At the far end is a remote switch so we can control the lights from inside the house.

Wednesday we had two visitors.  First was the septic tank guy.  The last couple times I had the tank pumped the guys told me the effluent filter was in bad shape and was coming apart.  I searched the internet for a replacement cartridge with no luck.  They would only sell the complete filter assembly.  I opened up the tank and took a look and decided that job was for someone else.  So for $250 I got someone else to crawl down there and replace the filter assembly.  While he was here he told me this particular filter should be cleaned twice a year.  I guess I gave him a funny look and he suggested I get a riser installed on the tank so I wouldn’t have to dig it up all the time.  I had looked at those and they ran anywhere from $85 to $125.  He said he would charge me $150 to install one so I got him to do that as well.  So for $400 the septic system is taken care of.

Later in the day the guy came from the Overhead Door Company of Louisville.  I’m not sure if you remember but last year I had a company come look at it.  It is a screw type opener rather than the chain type and it seemed like it would skip a tooth on the drive every now and then.  The first guy did a 21 point inspection on the door and told me the door needed to be replaced along with new tracks and opener.  That was to the tune of $3,000.  I told him I’d think about it but for just a noise problem I couldn’t understand replacing everything.  About a week later they called back and said the had a promotion on the type door I needed and it would only cost $2800.  I told them I didn’t think they were very reputable and if they called me back again to charge me a couple thousand dollars just to fix a noise problem I’d take legal action.  I never heard from them again.  But the noise kept getting worse and I was afraid the door might not open some day.  So I called this new company since they handled this particular type opener.  The guy on the phone did some research and determined that the opener was sold by Lowes and it was so old there were no replacement parts available.  I asked him to send someone out to look at it and if it wasn’t repairable to give me an estimate on a replacement.  Well, the guy came out, took one look at it, watched me open it and said he knew what the problem was and should have it fixed quickly.  I mentioned what the guy said on the phone and the repair guy said the parts are mostly interchangeable.  So he got the part out of his truck, put it on and problem was resolved.  Cost me $60 for the service call, $26 for the part and $24 for his labor.  About $110 rather than several thousand.  Moral of the story, if something doesn’t seem right about a deal, it is probably not a good deal.

At the suggestion of our insurance broker we changed out automotive insurance and home owners insurance from Safeco to Travelers.  That saved us a bunch of money.  But, since my home owner’s insurance is paid out of escrow and they had already paid the premium for this year, I got a refund check from Safeco and had to take that to the bank to have it put back into my escrow account.  So Thursday I was up in the area of the bank and I stopped by to see our “Preferred Customer Representative”.  What a pleasure.  Beside the fact she was very helpful and got things taken care of, she looked hot.  She is what you might call a thick girl but had a beautiful tan.  She was wearing a brightly flowered dress that accentuated all the curves in the right places.  It was definitely a trip I will remember for awhile.  Oh, and we saved about $800 on our home owners insurance.

Just a quick note that after taking Carter to get his hair cut Thursday and doing the banking stuff, I took off on the motorcycle around noon.  I rode for 3 hours and put over 130 mile on the bike.  It was a great ride.  Of course my usual watering holes are still closed because of the COVID crap but the ride was still nice.

Friday was yard work day.  We were out around 10AM and worked till 2:30PM with a break for lunch.  Kathy wasn’t feeling top notch so she did more with the riding mower than usual and I did more trimming.  Think I did something to my left knee but I’m sure it will work out.

Got a notice this week that we are no longer alternates as Election Officers.  We have been assigned to the one and only polling place in Spencer County.  This will be very different this year.  Not sure I’m looking forward to it.

Sorry for the long blog this week but it was busy and a lot happened.  Hope this finds everyone safe and healthy.  Blog at you again next week.