60+ year old thread.

Pretty much the same thing here, then 8 to 10 inches of snow. And I'm a truck driver so I gotta drive in it, gonna suck today.

 

Lots of decent choices for an upgrade. When I put fog lights on my 09, first go round, I used a set of CIBIE. Great pattern and really cut through the rain/fog/snow. When I added round fog lamps to the existing cut out in the bumper, I went with PIAA. Both were halogen and decent choices. Seems that when a manufacture sells a LED unit as a fog lamp the beam pattern is more floodlight which is a solution you do not want, unless you are off roading. When I was looking to upgrade, I was surprised at what the makers of LED lights were touting as fog but resembled more of a flood pattern.

Low Beams? LOL

At least 2-gauge 4 conductor. This is a link, expensive option, IMHO, to an aluminum solution.

$211 NASSAU ELECTRICAL SUPPLY 100' Aluminum URD Dyke 2-2-2-4 Cable Direct Burial Quadruplex Secondary Wire

100' Aluminum URD Dyke 2-2-2-4 Cable Direct Burial Quadruplex Secondary Wire - Electrical Cables - Amazon.com

Running out of home winter projects. Think I might paint my music/computer room.

 

Alan: TY for the suggestion. I will look into the option. This is a link to my providers webpage on the lenses. The practice does offer the option. ICL Surgery in Greenbelt, MD | Dr. Jonathan Solomon (solomoneye.com)

 

I've been blind since I was eight. Wearing glasses has kept me from doing so damn many things. Next time I go in for an eye check I expect to get the approval for cataract surgery and I can't wait to get those lenses. Waking up in the morning and being able to see without reachng for glasses, having to worry about breaking them or some kind of accident that would make them missing or unusable, will be a miracle.

 

Good Morning Porch Peoples! Looks like prep day around here - don't think you guys get ALL the weather. I don't have a gennie plug for the whole house, but I do have cords and space heaters. Not planning on using any of it, but they are talking 32 overnight, 20's tomorrow, and teens Thursday night - with an ice topping. Estimates are 0.1" to 0.25", but no estimates of not getting it! Not likely to get above freezing until maybe Saturday afternoon!(?)
Got a list for the day, and nothing else to do but get ready. Nothing pretty about ice storms - cant' make snowballs or shovel it. At least they are promising the Grid can handle it (well, except for the ice )

 

Missing is "how long is that trench?" I've learned it's cheaper to upsize wiring when installed and not mess with it later. Our 600' deep well installed by a low bidder who used undersized wiring, two pumps later had to up to heavier wiring.

Mike - my back hears you. We put the above-ground pool (doughboy 18' diameter; wood deck) in Sacramento. The deepest part was about 6'. The first 12" was that #$%! Hardpan clay. Just under that, and it was easy, but the pool bottom had a slope down to the bottom. The beveled edge took a while of scraping to form.

One Italian farmer took advantage of the hardpan, building his home below the ground (year-round warming/cooling). Fresno, CA.
https://www.undergroundgardens.com/about

I wanted a 200Amp for my workshop (matching tools, big old welder, etc.). Challenge was the house already had a 200 Amp Service, and going over 200Amps meant commercial electricity rates (much higher). So the power company dropped a new pole and I went from the pole to the shop with its meter. Separate meters, but both listed as "residential," so $22 a month for hook up (pays for the grid).

Due to limestone and quartz, trenching around here needs a rock saw. Not cheap to hire those guys. Ditch witch is great in soft soil but not an option. The irony is the propane run for the pool/spa heater was put in by propane folks using the roc saw, so helps build a water channel. Grass does much better with deeper roots and remains green long after the rest of the lawn goes brown. We are on well, so there is no need to water 1.5 acres.

I had looked at NEC code figured I could run all the wiring through a 1" conduit. I couldn't pull it! Damn. My brother was a commercial electrician and laughed that "ya, you spec'd correctly, but that needs a commercial wire puller for those runs!" Ended up using 1.5" conduit and no problem. Still lots of lube (wire glide) and the kids to help. There are four gang outlet boxes on two separate breakers (220 into each box) every 4' along the wall.

 

Good morning fellow Porchatonians!!

Waiting for the rain to start here in northeast PA - to be followed by sleet/snow/freezing rain/snow. The good news is that snow total is 2", the bad is the ice is .1 to .25. We've got the automatic whole-houe generator to keep us powered, though, so no worries.

Anyone priced garage doors lately? When we built 18 years ago, we put on doors that were faced with wood - somehow thought that was a good idea when our doors face west and take the brunt of the sun and weather. The bottom panels of all 3 now need to be replaced...and of course they no longer make the door/design we have. First quote on a similar door...$25k for 3 doors, installed. Next, after dropping to another manufacturer? $15K. Finally spent some time in the shop looking at other options and ended up with a good middle grade door - foam filled 2" steel with wood look vinyl overlay, R18, all new tracks and garage door openers for $10k. Slightly different look than before but it will save us from constant painting and wood replacement.

Stay safe!

 

I'm putting sliders on my building. They free up the space overhead so I can pull an engine from the rafters or hang a deer. The track is less complicated and I can build the doors out of anything I want. Mine will be rough cut pine 2X6 and if I get industrious I can carve something.

About $350 for the track hardware and $200 for the wood.

 

TY for your insight. I have worn glasses since 3rd grade. Sometimes it is hard to break old habits. I read the literature that the office gave me and there are 4 options which I am sure we will discuss.

I live in a Levittown, developer, suburban community. I replaced both garage doors 3 years ago with Dalton doors. Installation, door cost, and two new garage door openers set me back $2600.00. Not too bad. The new breed of garage door openers now have an app.

Raining here today and probably tomorrow. I do have to go out and purchase some bird food.

 

Prices on the doors have skyrocketed these past two years. Our door company said they cringe every time they send out a quote.

 

Morning all:

$25K is a bit much Mark, there are plenty of other nice options out there.
Funny how that works, only the bottom panels need to be replaced, but NA, so now you need to buy complete doors, think a lot of us have been through something similar!

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gals! Well, about 3/4" of cold rain that hasn't frozen yet, will be soon. We're sitting at 32* for quite a while now, but the wind is supposed to pick up, and drop us more. Just remembered to go open the top spigots on the rain barrel that I forgot to do yesterday, and the rain was courteous enough to stop for that long. Our local lines are underground, but the rest of the city isn't, so that's the main worry. We've been "promised" all the power they can deliver! Good day to get that chili going in a few; sorry, pepperoni was not voted on..."I'm sure it's tasty, but all that grease..."

Anyway, so nice to be sharing the same Winter Storm Warning with so many of you. Have a great day!

 

porchies, wannabes, Susan. Hello from an official "gentleman of leisure".

Okay, lessee here. Yes yes yes 4-gangs EVERYWHERE. There are never enough outlets. We're going through the process of getting a 24KW generator and our electrician friend tells us he is putting 15 day caps on all of his estimates because prices are changing that fast. So I guess the lesson is do it now rather than pay more later.

Cataract surgery and intraocular lenses: I went through that last year. I have glaucoma and therefore could not use any of the fancy lenses, had to go with straight single vision. I was extremely nearsighted before, now I'm farsighted. It has taken some getting used to. I still wear glasses most all of the time, but now when I drive I can slip on a pair of drug store sunglasses instead of needing prescription stuff and that's nice. Working on cars was a PITA but I discovered that drug store cheaters are a great solution; I take off my multifocal "progressive" lens glasses, put on readers, and it just a whole lot easier to see stuff. Especially when your head is at some weird angle in a footwell or under a hood or staring sideways around an exhaust pipe under the car.

Garage doors: we went with an insulated door, vinyl outside and metal inside. The windows aren't huge but I was more interested in keeping the heat in than seeing out. I can get the specifics if anyone is interested. We got two conventional openers and one of the wall mounts, for the bay that has the lift; that door opens as flush to the ceiling as we could make it so that we could have a vehicle on the lift and still operate the door. I can provide details on that too if anyone wants more. We did that rather than a rollup to preserve the look of the structure; it faces the road, plus I'm married and wanted to stay that way!

 

Welp, it's dropped to 30*, the rain is now sleet, and THIS JUST IN;



Both flying fish windsocks turned to fish-cicles, the poles froze, and have snapped. The entirety coated in ice.
I picked up one, went to get the camera, and too late. Second gone.


If this is the worst thing today, I'll take it!

 

We got our first dose(s) of snow yesterday and last night. 6 inches first then 3 more last night. My daughter lent me her birthday and Christmas gifts. I normally shoot with a Canon 7D mk2 -nice camera but..... she has a 1DX MK3 and her new lens a 100-400 ver2.
Some samples :

 

Understand these were hand held --this combo is heavy. Also they were from inside in our "kitchen expansion" and through some not so clean glass windows. I am still in awe of the abilities of this combo. I am thinking of getting rid of my "prime" 400 5.6 and getting this lens for my camera.
The birds were happy as well, I am keeping them well fed.
Sorry to bore anyone, but this is my primary hobby.

 

Nice shots!

 

A couple more to lull off to your naps:

 

They DO look well fed.
We only get color with the cardinals and the blue jay. All the little birds are just brown.
I feed them all anyway!

 

If anyone gets a chance to use one of these camera bodies, and knows something about using same -do not miss the chance. I am amazed at this camera's ability to focus and pull your desired subject out of the clutter (tree branches in my case) If my daughter will give me some time, I hope to teach her the little I know about this amazing piece of tech. This is Canon's best DSLR body, and it acts like it.