After Much Putzing,...

Procrastinating, farting about, head scratching, getting sore and filthy hands, bleeping about with a DMM (digital multi-meter), the troublesome circuit has been diagnosed and reconnected.  It will eventually be separated into more than one circuit, but until the magical day arrives when the floor is replaced on the east side of the attic and it is possible to rip up the floorboards on the west side of the attic, pull out the old insulation, vacuum 70+ years of crud, pull new electrical supply runs to the main breakers in the basement for dividing the circuit, adding vapor barrier, adding 2x2's onto the floor joists, re-insulating, and laying down new flooring - it will have to stay as it is with a watchful eye kept on the total load that the circuit pulls.  Here's a picture of the final diagram.

 Ain't it a beauty, lots of daisy chains, some 3-way switching, some 4-way switching,.....  What was that electrician thinking???

Oh, and there was an unintended casualty of all the disconnecting.  Before re-connecting everything to the breaker box, continuity checks needed to be run with the nifty 100' extension cord with alligator clips and the DMM.  In order to do this, it was necessary to disconnect the transformer for the upstairs doorbell, so that line and neutral would be completely isolated.  Unfortunately, one of the solder connections broke while unscrewing the terminal and removing the supply wire.  Oh well, perhaps it is not such a good idea to have an original steampunk house.  This poor transformer has been working hard since 1939; it is time to give it a rest.  It has a patent number on it.  The patent was issued in 1926.

Thankfully, 120VAC to 8VAC doorbell transformers are still sold.

Perhaps the newer ones might be slightly more energy efficient too.

Speaking of energy efficiency, to reduce the total load on the circuit, we decided to replace as many of the light fixture bulbs with LED bulbs as possible.  Reading the legal-speak on the new LED light bulb packages, it says that they are not to be installed in totally enclosed fixtures (lest the heat sink be unable to dissipate heat and cause the bulb to burn out before its estimated expiration date).  Not wanting to waste the wad of money spent on new light bulbs, we are having to get a bit creative about some of the shades for ceiling fixtures.  The new pull chain fixture over the sink was retrofitted with longer tightening screws to accommodate the old shade, because the new one that came with the fixture is enclosed.  It looks dorky, but the variety of pull chain light fixtures on sale these days is very limited.  The new fixture in the center of the kitchen ceiling has the same enclosed globe trouble; we will probably pull out an old hang-below shade we saved from a bedroom light and rehang it using fishing weights and safety wire.  If I had noticed that design restriction before I installed the fixtures, I would have bought a different one.

That said, I wonder if lighting manufacturers will make note of this new design requirement and start providing aftermarket globes that are open on the bottom or have vent holes.  It would also be nice if they designed standard bulb base light fixtures that are LED bulb friendly.  Note to lighting manufacturers, LED bulbs also tend to be fatter than standard bulbs (especially the 3-pack Phillips 60W replacements that use 10.5W).  Please make your bathroom wall sconce globes wider.  Of course, narrow LED bulbs are available, but they cost more.

In the News

Finally, some of the members of the list of shame are going down!

Bogus Charities Convicted of Fraud

Of course, that doesn't stop others from changing their address and starting all over again.  There was a new pledge form mailing in stepfather's mailbox today.  Of course with his Alzheimers he cannot remember promising them anything.  I have already sent back two pledge forms to two separate presidential candidates with the note of "I don't remember promising you anything, pledge canceled" attached.  Technically this is true.   Of course stepfather can't remember what he had for supper yesterday either.

Ok, back to the new pledge form in the mail.  Are the sheisters getting sneakier or is Veterans Action Network a legitimate organization?  They don't claim to be a charity, they claim to be a facilitator for helping returning veterans "by bringing together different organizations and companies.....veterans are for the first time (yeah sure, for the very first time?) able to access a menu of resources catered to their varied needs - for themselves and their families."  Sorry, but this is pegging the B.S. meter.  It screams of the same old telemarketers pocketing 85-95% of donations and only a small percentage going to the "cause".  Oh, and the return address is in such a trustworthy (not) place - Washington, DC.  Internet searches only seem to bring up their website which has no financial accountability records posted (no IRS 901 forms).  There was another Veterans Action Network, Inc. based in Houston, TX (lots of crooks moved there and set up shop after Katrina), but there is no mention of the group without the Inc attached to the name at the new address.  Does anybody know about this group?  Are they legitimate or not?

Ambient Sounds

The neighborhood sounds vary as the seasons progress.

Winter is filled with the silent swoosh of cars driving by, then the grinding sound of plows, scraping of shovels, and put-put of snowblowers running a bit rich.  These sounds are a bit muffled,
because windows are closed and sealed with window insulator kits.

Spring is finally the time when on a warm day it is possible to open the windows.  Sounds are much sharper and clearer as a result.  The birds start chattering as dawn arrives.  I swear there is a robin in the neighborhood that chirps grumpily in the morning.  Jackhammers are once again pounding away on the roadways.  The fellow with the basset hound takes his doggy for a car ride down our street, barking with its head out the window. - Here comes doppler dog Woof, Woof, Woof--there goes doppler dog wooF, wooF, wooF.  (How exactly do you denote the pitch change in text format?)  And not to be outdone, here comes the person playing a very boring song on his subwoofer.  It must be the only speaker in the car, because I can't hear any of the treble.  Perhaps it is being used as an alternative treatment for shattering kidney stones.  Unfortunately he is a bit confused about which end of the auditory frequency range to use.

Loaded.....Trees

Apple Blossoms!

Either the winesap is bouncing back,

or it is giving one last try at going to seed before croaking.

More flowers!

Come here bees

and get a snoot-full.

With the winds today, the petals will start blowing away.

Please, no frost tonight!

We could really use a good crop of apples this year.

Happy Mother's Day

To all you mums out there,

Happy Mother's Day!

To my mother, just a reminder that I do care.

Otherwise I wouldn't have reminded you not to eat the entire basket of sugar free chocolates all at once.

If you do eat too many, you will pay for it with diarrhea tomorrow.

Oh, and I mowed the lawn, so stepfather can return to obsessively picking the dandelions while never managing to start the mower.

One Name

Stoffel
Sunday dawned beautiful and sunny.  A little girl named Selah attended her Sunday school class, where she was greatly outnumbered by the usual crew of little boys (sounding like purple minions).  The lesson was on how Esau forgave his brother Jacob for stealing his birthright.  The story made no bones about the forgiveness taking a great many years.  The craft was a coloring page with the word forgive colored with many colors of markers and decorated with shiny things and fuzzy things glued to it.  Class was dismissed and the parents took their children and craft projects home to enjoy a sunny Sunday afternoon.

By the end of the day Selah's father, older sister, and another man were dead, gunned down by a random shooter.  Selah's mother was critically injured with three gunshot wounds, but she valiantly managed to get Selah and her brother to safety before losing consciousness from blood loss.  Then the shooter took the cowardly way out by shooting himself in the head.  It is possible that the craft from Sunday is hanging at home with other children's art projects.  How I wish that Selah and her family were spared the horror of those events and the long process of grief.  I hope that they can eventually come to forgive the shooter, but that is their pain and something only they can do.  All I can do is pray, and donate a little for the widow and family's expenses.

One family member in his anger is calling for gun control.  Guns are not evil in and of themselves.  It is the person who chooses do evil that should be held accountable.  The shooter killed himself, eliminating any further judgement here on earth.  The judgement seat of Christ awaits him later with a punishment far more severe.

I wonder if the situation would have ended with fewer dead if there had been someone on that walking bridge who had a concealed carry permit and was actually carrying.  Of course most people with conceal carry permits would avoid the trestle bridge like the plague because it is a strategic nightmare.  It is very long, with no place to go if things go sideways.  Sorry folks, there is evil in this world.  This is earth, not heaven.

If you are inclined to help the Stoffel family, here are a few links.
Love Offering or
GoFundMe