That and its hard to find areas that have similar politics to me, I like CA’s politics. Dont like the morons running it, but i like the internet protections and the policy that protects lgbtq and POC.
Been there done that, but I’d rather rip the bandaid off than just continue to bleed through it… (That anology fell apart halfway through) If you are paying 3k a month or more in rent then you can move with a couple grand in hand. Assuming you have jobs already lined up at least, and that would be my sticking point. No job, no move, at least not as a family unit. I’d take that plunge on my own back in the day.
But in this case you wouldn’t even have to move all that far away to get some relief from what I understand. Sure, I am sure the city appeals, but an hour or two out has to be significantly cheaper.
im an hour out from SF, its not much better due to it being wine country. You have to go about 2 hours further, and there is nothing out there.
Obviously you know your situation better than I do, good luck with it.
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Jobs are most definitely the sticking point. But also a moving truck and all the associated expenses. And thankfully I’m not paying 3k a month in rent.
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Well, the heavy rain we had after the drought has returned my back door to perfect function!
It didn’t repair the bricks, though.
My neighbor’s house was affected more than mine. They had 1/4 inch cracks appear inside over doorways, and they could not get the front door to open at all - well and truly jammed shut.
They hired a basement “specialist” firm who dug a trench next to the house, deep enough that they could get under the foundation. They forced some kind of cement slurry under there to raise the foundation, then piled the dirt they dug out back into the trench.
The soil level was easily a foot, maybe foot-and-a-half higher then the original, blocking their two basement windows and raising the A/C compressor by that same amount.
That was in the fall.
Here’s what the yard looks like now:
(Well, crap… can’t get the pic to upload.
Here’s a Dropbox link if anyone wants to see it:
Dropbox - OEMs side yard.jpg - Simplify your life)
The ground looks like a platoon had dug in for trench warfare. The A/C compressor is tilted at about a 30 degree back lean, and some of the depressions near the house are at least a foot deep.
ETA: The depressions are worse today than two days ago, when I snapped that pic. Some of them are foot-and-a-half deep - I can’t see the bottom from my window.
Looks like the Underminer was busy there!
Hope this can be fixed properly before any major damage can happen…
That’s why you always put fresh gravel at the bottom of a large dig like that for drainage and to keep the old soil from washing out underneath.
Silly buggers.
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I’ve done my first landscaping project. Don’t laugh. I know the cinder blocks aren’t close to even.
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The chicken yard has been fenced in. I’ve moved my girls out and in a few weeks I’ll be able to move the tenants chickens out there too. That will give me space for another garden bed or two. I need to rearrange my quail pens to make room for the new celadon line that should be hatching in three weeks or so.
The vandalism of my greenhouse wiped out the celadon line that I had, so I broke down and ordered a batch of celadon eggs from Myshire. Zack has a wide variety of colours in his celadon line, so it will be a good replacement for the one that I lost.
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Threadus Resurectus!
Well, Postus Resurectus?
This same toilet valve is still running, and since I wrote that post in 2019 I have only once, just this week, had to re-clean the valve seat.
This is an amazing valve, running maintenance free and with only the three, easily remedied, stated failures since installation in Jan 2017.
Dual level - flush half or full, and the water feeds across the bottom of the tank, which keeps the tank clean.
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A quick addendum:
After that most recent cleaning (which was just hold the valve open and swipe my finger around the valve seat), the toilet decided to run again.
“Oh, no! It’s actually failing? After all these years and my singing it’s praises?”
Nope - one more run on it’s own… and none since. The valve is apparently self cleaning! I might have not had to do the single-finger-swipe if I had just waited.
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Goodbye, pretty pink balloon - a cautionary tale.
My house has two commodes, one used all the time, the other much less frequently.
The one in the basement is basically a backup if the primary is in use.
Unfortunately that means we often forget routine maintenance. Which in turn means a black ring of mildew grows just above the water line.
To clean mildew, the easiest way is to immerse it in a bleach solution. Just pour some in, right?
Wrong - the water level is determined by the internal trap in the commode, and any fluid you add will just trickle out the back. So you can’t immerse the mildew. 
So I bought a cheapie package of punch balloons, like you’d give out a kids party. You know the kind with a rubber band that you hold and go punchapunchapunchapunha.
I picked one - pink - filled it with water so it was of a size that would stop up the outlet of the commode, and sealed it.
It worked great! I gently wedged it into the outlet, and with the new stopper in place, was able to pour in enough bleach to cover the mildew. I waited a brief period until the mildew was bleached out, then removed the stopper and rinsed it all for a completed job!
Months, maybe a year passed, and I rediscovered I had neglected the same situation. 
I got the balloon from where I had stored it, still sealed from the first use.
I wedged it into the outlet, same as last time.
“Maybe vinegar would work,” I thought to myself. “Less toxic, and vinegar works on mildew on walls…”
So I poured in enough vinegar to cover the ring. However, more than an hour passed and the ring was still there.
So I gently reached in and tugged the balloon from its resting place. My plan was to flush, removing the vinegar, rinsing off the balloon, and starting over, just with bleach.
The balloon was slippery, though, and slid right the hell out of my grasp. Right down and out the outlet! 
I’d have a h3ll of a clog!
It was stopped just past the outlet… the rubber band was still where I could grab it. So I did, and worked my way back to the balloon and hooked a finger into it.
Success!
I pulled and worked my way back up the balloon, trying the whole time to pull it back out.
Then the fabric of the balloon snapped off my fingertip. The elastic reaction made the balloon shoot off to its demise. My worst fear - that I’d have stopped up the WHOLE FREAKIN HOUSE - never came to be. The toilet flushed, the utility sink and shower that share the same drainage line ran just fine.
Whew. Dodged that bullet.
But somewhere out there is a water-filled pretty pink balloon.
Goodbye, pretty pink balloon. 
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Bruce from Drain Cleaning Australia will have a ripper of a time when he finds your pink balloon inside a drain!
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Goodbye, pretty pink balloon
Went down the loo too soon
If it stayed intact
It’s driftin’ its way away
Back to the place where all things flushed go
Baby gators and goldfish
And other things we don’t want to know
Best not to talk about them
I guess it decided its future lies
beyond the commode
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A couple of side-opening casement windows almost fell out of the house today when the Dragonlady tried to close them. Now I have to find someone who will replace the rotted out alumium hardware instead of the whole window. I never thought to check them. A little preventative silicone spray on all the moving parts would have prevented this, I’m sure.
$100 cash and our new window guy fixed everything.
It’s always good to have a stable of ‘guys’.
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That’s what she said. 
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So much kf getting stuff done is “knowing a guy”.
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