The BIG chZill...

Last night was the first time this year it turned out to be really nippy outside. After a pretty nice, but cold, day mixed with thunder, rain, and hail, the clear skies in the evenung sent the mercury down into high 20ies territory. In October? Yikes, I have not yet winterized the boat...

Evening ended with an excellent dinner over at John&Jan's. Thanks guys! As always a great treat and a wonderful evening!

Fall dayZ

Even though we actually did see some (serious) amounts of snow the other day at the pass (OK, maybe not compared to parts of the Rockies, they've gotten several feet...), the weather in town has been all but wintery. Past couple of days have called out for shorts, and today, just back from mowing the yard and the leaves, it feels more like a great day in September. Sky is light blue, sea planes coming and going, not a cloud in the sky. Think it is time to take the dog for a run! This will not last...

After nice run with the (BIG) dog, we went over to Woodinville for a GREAT evening of fun and food with and for Magnus. He has after years of indecision, finally decided to go back to the motherland and settle in Gothenburg. This was really his last night wit the "gang", even though we sort of chickened out at the end and decided to return to (or with) spouses to respective homesteads. Could have been a great night out on the town, but this was just not the time. Everyone was tired (thanks to the Bergenheims' great cooking - big thanks).

Magnus, we wish you the best of luck in your (new) homeland and especially in your new profession. We sort of know you will not show in the Seattle area anytime soon, but it will not surprise us if you DO show up in the (southern) US again.

Apart from that, it was a great evening at Stefan & Yvonne's house. Good food, friendship, wine, desserts, cocktails, you name it! Just too sad we do not do this more often.

Electrical inZpection

Prior to all the work, had called the city to inquire about my expired electrical permit. The lady was nice and asked "are you ready for inspection?". Told her "no, have not even started the work yet, should I pull a new permit?. Did not want to start w/o a current permit." She tells me to "hang on a minute".

She comes back and tells me "go ahead and if you are ready within the next 20 days or so, just call for an inspection, you have the number?. Don't think there will be any extra charges."
This was great news. No need to pay yet another fee...

So yesterday I called the inspection "hot line" and asked them to come out today. When he (most of them are males) showed up, turns out it is the same inspector who signed-off on my furnace installation, more or less exactly a year ago. He remembered me (I did not remember him but didn't tell him...). In an case a good guy.

Took him out to the newly installed ground rods, explained what I'd done, then to the inside and the SE panel. "Looks good, you did a good job, where's the paper so I can sign?". Handed him the old permit, got it signed and he left, after putting a new sticker on the meter box.

Only left now is re-sealing of the meter. PSE is about to come out today or tomworrow.

First Znow...

Today we saw the first snow fall up on the pass. Early, just as last year, and seem to have been a good dump. Wonder what the ski season has up its sleeve? Same/just as good conditions as last year? The experts calls out for a "la ninja" year with warmer temperatures, and wetter conditions, than normal. If the pass is high enough, it might be good...

Electrical GremlingZ...

Part two.

Friday. Mike is coming back to hook up John&Jan's hot tub (across the street). Since he was heading back, I had decided to tackle the BIG wire. Rather get it over and done with. Mike warned me that it would be tricky to pull new wire through all the floor joists. Recommended me to drill up the wholes a bit, something I was not looking forward to. They were hard to get to as they were, but now I had to clean out everyting underneath them as well.
But, Mike left a surprise. He dropped his heavy duty angle drill and a few serious drill bits. The drilling was done in less than 20 minutes. Wow!

Rolled out the cable, made sure there were no kinks or twist, since that'd be inpossible to correct w/o pulling it out again. Calling down the wife, she at least could help me feed this monster while I pull and feed it thorough the new holes. To my surpise, this was easier than pulling Cat5e cable. This "monster" was in location in less than 10 minutes and wife could return to her books.
Now only termination left and house - from this perspective - will have left the 60ies and entered the 21st century...

Electrical GremlingZ...

...is something we have not had many of. When we bought the house I went through the entire electrical system to make sure it was at least properly "connected" (poor connections easily overheat and is a real fire danger). That said, even though it was safe, it was time for an upgrade.

A few years ago I did install a new sub panel, to take care of newly installed circuits in and around the garage. That panel has served us well since we've added circuits and protection along the way. But the feed to the panel has been severely underdimensioned (still safely protected though).

In order for doing the properly, we really needed to replace the service entrance (SE) panel as well. But, I had no intentions on working around a hot meter panel. Pugest Sound Energy wanted over $300 to disconnect me at the transformer, with no guarantee of a re-connect time. Time to find a good electrician!

Thanks to a neighbor (Scott) we did find not a good one, but a great one!. He did the heavy lifting (working on the hot meter panel and connecting beefy 250 kcmil wires to the new panel) and leaving me to do everything else. Perfect. It cost me less to have Mike Morgan to all this, than just to have PSE disconnect me out in the street.

Mike also brought in 90 feet of #4/3+1 so I finally could get a good feed to our sub panel. Should have done this years ago, when he cable was only about a $1/foot, now it is closer to $4/foot. Copper prices have risen sharply in the past year...

Looking at the big (and heavy) spool... Well, I'll do this some other time. Not really up for this one right now. We did put the spool in the garage and left the sub panel on its existing 30A circuit, to be forgotten for now.

This being an older house, one could not be sure that the wall studs were sitting on 16" cc. and of course they were not so a bit of chiselign was needed for the new panel to fit. Also decided to remove the old meter box (hidden inside the wall behind new meter panel). This turned out to be the toughest job of the day, since we did not want to remove the siding, but just cut through this box and "pull it out of the way". These boxes are however designed for protection, and it was a long fight until we finally had it out. I patched up the wall and covered the exposed area with a moisture barrier and a layer of primer.

From here on, it was pretty stright forward. Mike installed a huge elbow and routed new wiring into the new panel. Man, as I glad I did not try to do this part on my own.

By the time Mike left, I was terminating the old circuits into the new SE panel, adding pig tails in cases they were not long enough. Yurgen (neighbor) came over and held the light for a while and also when I placed the meter back in location. Always good to chat for a while in good company!

The only drawback of this, is that I totally forgot about the Steinklinkers meeting this same evening. I had picked the micro brewery (Big Time Brewery in the U district), but had to concede and call in "can't come, need to finish the wiring, else wife will be VERY grouchy".

About 8.30PM that evening, meter was back in its place, house was powered up and all was "just like before". Funny, these small upgrades, so badly needed, but once done, you really do not know they are even there or remember all the hard work.

BzzzT: OASIS (KOAI) is gone

Was just going to the OASIS web site to point it out for some friends in Sweden, and see it is "dead"!

According to news reports, ths tation "flipped" (aka changed format) in the hour between 4 and 5 PM on Monday October 2nd. And this w/o any preceeding rumors. Changing a radio "format" from smooth jazz to hip-hop, is like spraying graffitti over Mona Lisa!

I moved to DFW in 1993 and OASIS quickly became part of my life. 107.5FM was number "one" on the dial in my cars, albeit the music selection was a bit "thin" in the early years. If you listed one full day, it sounded like all the records had been played at least once. That changed over time though, and many are the fun events/parties arranged by OASIS. Many of them at Sambuca in Addison.

In 1998 I left DFW and moved to the Seattle area. Many visits earlier I had found KWJZ, a great station that unfortunately has somewhat poor reception in the area where we live along the lake (Washington). Price we pay for a beautiful topography...

Upon any visit to DFW afterwards though (about every two months..) 107.5 was on the dial long before leaving the new rental car garage at DFW.

Oh well, with OASIS gone, one less reason to visit the DFW area...

For those left in DFW, CBS Radio needs to understand that LOYAL listeners (aka current customers) are more valuable than the "lure" of a younger more movable audience, that will not hang around for too long anyway. I hope that the (new) radio format quickly dies and that DFW get back its only TRUE radio station - aside from KERA/NPR.

TerrieoriZt

Well, today it happened. Our Yorkshire terrieorist, Herbie, BIT Jan (neighbor) when she walked in to the house, just like she does everyday. She's certainly no stranger that one need to scare away! This little bratty dog managed to bite her up on the thigh, leaving a big blue bruise. Was that as a thanks for taking us out last night on my b-day? BAD DOG!

Terriers have a nasty personality. No wonder they have named Mr. Bush's nemesis, terrorist, after them. Is there a dog that can be as "yappy" as a terrier? Or as aggressive?

A dog that weighs hardly 10 lbs should just accept their position in the pecking order (Phoebe, the cats, and then Herbie) be happy with the food and housing provided. Not make a mess (peeing inside, barking, being overly "tense", etc, etc) and being generally just a nuisance!

An example. In the morning when about to be let out for "doing duty" (what's not already been done overnight in the kitchen...) he can go nuts. I manage to have him be quiet and sit down - orderly - before basement door opens up to the backyard. Wife just lets him "run out", barking his lungs off, waking both me and neighbors in the process.

The BIG (real...) dog, Phoebe, she just sits nicely, waiting for the "command" to let her out. She's happy with that and knows she will get out. No need to get railed up over that. Door will not open any faster just because one is barking - just the opposite!

But, if anyone tries to approach the house, or worse, the front door, unannounced, Phoebe will show who reqally onws this house. No strangers are passing by her! GOOD DOG!