Please wait...
Putting it in your calendar might not be a bad idea. Over time one will just start ignoring signs and stickers. They become 'familiar objects' and stop getting read.
Mon May 11 2026 22:04:32 EDT from IGnatius T FoobarOn the new one, I put a label on it, "installed April 2026, replace anode rod in 2029"
As I might have mentioned before, we're consolidating two electric meters down to one, because it was an illegal two family house in the past, and it's not now. It's not an enormous house, only about 2000sqft, but it's got two panels in two different parts of the house. Can't do the work myself because it involves a service change.
Today at lunchtime I got a panic call from my electrician. poco called him and said "we're doing the shutoff today" -- as in right now.
He advised me to let them do it, otherwise we'd end up back in the queue and could be waiting weeks or more. So the lower level service (right side of the photo) got cut at the pole, and the electrician showed up a few hours later to "jumper it back in" until they can come back tomorrow and do the permanent job. That disconnect on the left is getting replaced with a trailer panel that will feed the two other panels inside the house.
I love the way this looks. It has the vibe of someone stealing power in India.
Ya gotta love how the utilities treat us little people. For most people, its not like we can realistically flip them the bird and go elsewhere, its a monopoly.
Today at lunchtime I got a panic call from my electrician. poco called him and said "we're doing the shutoff today" -- as in right now.
Sparky came back the next day with his crew and did the permanent job. It's fantastic and I'm very happy.
Related. got an email from our gas company.
"we will have contractors out 7 days a week the next few weeks to look at your meter and will need access to your back yard" "if you are not there we will come back later" No, no scheduling at all, not even a hint of what day it might be. ( or even which week.. ) Just "you have to stay home and wait for us" ( and out on the weekends bothering us for non-emergency, really? )
And being a contractor, not actual gas employees, why do i get the feeling we will start getting targeted flyers " we can do x remodels and home improvements " here soon. Or even while they are there "ooooh, you need to replace xyz right away, we can do it for x dollars"
( and yes i know, i have lost all faith in everything. Its all a scam if there is a single dollar involved. And while i may be on the extreme end of this, i keep being proven right every time. And just getting fed up )
Much better now. They came the next day to do the permanent job (photo above) and I am pleased as punch with the results.
It's 200 amps to the upper level panel via feed through lugs, and a 100 amp breaker to the lower level panel (that's behind the LB you see in the photo). Now I have one meter, one electric bill, and room to add things out here.
And it's just a few feet away from the site where I plan to add a mini split heat pump. Perfect.
Speaking of.. still waiting to be bugged and marketed by our gas companies 'contractors' . Been nice if they gave us a ballpark.
Sort of ironic. And not judging here in either direction. Both sides have points, and both sides are a scam if taken as-is. Personally i think there is place for both if one stays rational, and the radicals on either side, can GTFO ( O = off the planet )
But back to the irony.... I feel its rather Ironic that a man ( Trump in this case since he is the current leader ) who is fundamentally against 'clean energy' has in fact, pushed more people and entire countries towards it than any other leader in history. And I hear that for the first time ever, US actually generated more power from solar/nuclear than coal.
( not sure what other room to stick this in, since electric generation directly effects our homes, and many of us have solar panels in addition to traditional supplies.. And i know a few people who that is their main source. And they paid dearly for that.. man its expensive )
Went to local harbor freight today to grab a stud finder. (cant find mine, and its old anyway, so i'm sure its just a metal detector and i need a capacitance one for this project ).
Woman at the counter, unless i misunderstood her, you now have to sign up for their constant ad-spam and be in the 'club' or you get reduced warranty.. Really???
Damned neighbors on both sides of me mowed their grass last night. I was going to wait until after the heatwave. soooooo i had to at least do the front yard this morning. 104 index, and its not even 10 am yet.
Going to do some more acid cleaning today. Not the super strong stuff like last time.. but it still eats the spray bottle so needed another.
Went to local hardware store cant find any, "you got" girl at the counter blinked and looked at me like i was nuts. Grocery next door, 3.50 for a EMPTY bottle. what the hell. they even sell bottles full of stuff for 1.99 right beside it... what a scam.
Family thing today. Far south end of my county. As i have ranted before, all being paved. There was a farm that was rezoned near the border. Still for sale. Had a sign. 40k per acre.
yes 40 thousand dollars an acre. What in the the hell.
Bleh. Plugged in one of the solar batteries yesterday. i routinely drain then charge them. Need to keep the cycle going every once in a while, so they last longer.
Nothing. Tried another battery, same thing ( so at least its not the batteries electronics ) check wires going to the closet.. Look fine. Get multi-meter out ( related to the BT post from earlier, was just seeing how much cheap ones were, in case i toast this one Its cheap, but its small so i use to carry it when i was on the road fixing stuff so would like to keep it, or one like it around.. ) and its got 12v.. but zero amps. Well, that is odd..
Pulled them down ( related to the falling post... sigh.. ill be sore tomorrow ) and turns out one is shorted. Not yet sure if its the actual cells or the junction box.
So ordered some Schottky diodes from FleaBay to fix my panel, since we dont have any electronic shops in town anymore, sadly, and i didn't see them at my normal mail order place. ( their stock varies widely )
ETA to arrive was like 3 days. So, i ordered it. Not here yet, checked status.. "Departed SHENZHEN" really? Not that i care that it came from there, most of that stuff does anyway, but been nice if they were honest for expectations.
Since i brought up 'the story' about the crawl space. Figured i might as well talk about it.
This was a 1970s tri-level. Standing in front looking toward the house, the right hand side was the living room, kitchen dining. To the left was the 'basement' and garage, and above that 3 bedrooms + 2 bath. In the 'basement' there was my room, laundry, another bathroom, one car garage, and the entrance to the crawl space under the living room/dining/kitchen, and a rear door to the back yard.
Stairs, were in middle of house, one went upstairs of course, the other went down to the basement as expected.
Oddity was that the stairs to the basement, you almost always hit your head going down, the 'ceiling' down there was a good foot or more lower than most houses like that which i had been in. Never really thought much about it until one day i was in the crawlspace nosing around ( i forget why now ). Note the crawl space concrete was perhaps a foot higher than the basement floor. Not a lot, but enough you did have to 'climb' in thru the access door. But in other houses of the same era i have been in, it was the same level.. yet another oddity.
( now it gets hard to describe )
In the crawlspace, over at the stairwell going down, there was a concrete block 'wall' sort of thing that the stairs went thru. Was only 3 or 4 blocks high, so not all the way to the 'floor' of the living room. Perhaps 1/2 up. Plenty of space before you hit the floor above. Seemed sort of odd to be that way and wasn't sure what its purpose was.. Went over to look, bunch of old newspapers stacked up on the ledge. Move them out of the way and look into the 'hole' to see if anything had fallen in that was cool, and it didn't stop at the floor of the crawlspace like i expected, it went into a dark hole, could tell below the crawlspace but too dark for details....
Went and got a flashlight, looked down, and the 'final' floor was at least 2' lower than the basement floor... Sort of accounting for the lower ceiling amount. And it was bone dry and was just concrete, unlike the floor of the basement, which had 1970s tile on the slab. "well,that is odd too". The crawlspace was somewhat damp, it had just rained heavy. Used to get water in the basement too, when it was really bad. But, this 'subfloor' could even see dust it was so dry. The garage and driveway, and back porch, was at same level as basement, so it wasn't like they raised up the basement due to water. ( which was a thought too )
Its like it was a secret room down there. But, due to it being the early 80s we didn't have a cell phone or camera to fish down there to see the full story. and tho i was going to try to climb, it was far enough and cramped enough i was afraid id not get back out without getting stuck. Tried a mirror on a string once but wasn't enough room to get it down and see with the stairs in the way. Was tempted to pull all the carpet out of the 'living' area to look for a secret access hatch or something. But oddly, it was all glued down to the slab, not just 'laid' so i never did. And in the utility area/bathroom, no carpet, and no access port.
After we moved out and i had the 'gear' years later, i used to watch to see if it went up for sale, as an excuse to be able to go in and crawl around, with a camera.. but i missed my chance a couple of times.