Heat pump installation ; electrical repair ; pex installation ; basement floor demolition and trenching

(posted from home)

(This post covers April 25 to 30, 2012)


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Monday, 30 April -

Brian from Gohn and Stambaugh and Rob from Red Oak Remodeling (the prime contractor) were here today. Brian began rattling-out the concrete with an electric jack-hammer to expose the existing sewer pipe connection and to make a trench for the new soil pipe for the new bathroom and its toilet, shower, and sink. Rob helped with the trenching by hauling out the debris using buckets and a wheelbarrow. He also removed drywall from the old mud-room walls to expose the electrical connections and start preparing for the concrete pour later this week. Once Brian finishes installing the drain lines and the inspector gives the okay, the team will pour a two-inch slab to elevate the bathroom floor to the same level as the guest room.
The demolition actually went well. Brian had the jackhammering done in about an hour and a half and didn't have to deal with any reinforcing rod or wire (perhaps that's not a good thing!). The guys used a trenching shovel to dig and a very small (about a four-inch blade and a 20” handle) hand-held shovel to load the bucket.
Late in the day Brian came upstairs to work on our bathroom faucet. On Friday when we turned the water back on after draining and elevating the water heater our bathroom sink faucet was suddenly running very slowly. Brian had to go Friday and we were okay with it for the weekend since we had a trickle for washing our hands. Over the weekend we dug out the installation manual for the faucet and learned there should have been filters on the water lines. But the filters supplied by the manufacturer didn't appear to work with a standard US water-supply line. It appears the plumber who installed the faucet had simply skipped the filters and now there was debris in the flow restrictor. Brian cleaned the debris out and we tried again. The flow was good at first but soon slowed.... more debris. This time Brian removed the flow-restrictor and we had good pressure.... perhaps a little TOO good.
That evening we skipped the Mad Men episodes and just watched some local tv.

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Sunday, 29 April -

Today I painted the color coat on my bedroom closet and then took a motorcycle ride. After my regular Starbucks run I rode over to Rocky Ridge Park and walked my five-mile route in 1:47. I felt stronger today than I've felt since the Florida trip. We've been having cooler weather lately and today was a very, very nice exception.

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Saturday, 28 April -

The contractors have the weekend off, of course. I painted the two closets we had emptied for the duct work with a good primer. While Labashi went to the garden center for supplies for her flower beds, I got out the air tank and blew up the Miata's leaky tire and then took it for a clean-off-the-brakes run. I need to get that sold sometime soon.
That evening we watched two 'Mad Men' eps.

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Friday, 27 April -

Today Brian-the-plumber ran the pex water lines for the utility sink, washer, whole-house filter, acid neutralizer, and water softener. We also drained the water heater and put it up on two concrete lintels Brian brought for the purpose. When I had saw yesterday that he had to cut off the pipes to and from the water heater, I realized I had a chance to remedy a mistake I had made seven years ago. When I installed the water heater, I had put it in a plastic pan but had put that on the floor. When we had our flood, the pan merely filled with water via its drain. Yesterday I asked Brian if I could get some bricks to elevate the heater and he said he'd bring the lintels.
I was happy to see the water we drained from the heater was barely discolored from the sediment in the bottom of the tank. I know we're supposed to drain the tank once a year but the last time we did it was about three years ago. At the Chambersburg house we had had problems even getting the water to flow out of the drain valve at all (because of sediment blocking the valve). Maypo had a Rube-Goldberg-style device he connected to his portable compressor to blow air back through the valve to clear it and that did the job. But think about how much sediment is in there if it's thick enough to block the valve.
That evening we watched more 'Mad Men', season 4.

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Thursday, 26 April -

Today Chris and Eric finished the installation of the heat pump (as far as they can go until the electrician comes in). They only needed about two hours today. The original plan had been to finish by end-of-day yesterday but they didn't quite make it.
Brian from Gohn and Stambaugh started the plumbing today. Hajoca delivered all the equipment for the bathroom (shower, vanity, and toilet) and the water treatment equipment. The first task is to plan where to run the water lines and drains for the utility sink, washer, acid neutralizer, and water softener along the north wall. Brian spent the rest of the day installing the 2” drain lines.
I mowed the lawn today. After Brian left Labashi and I went in to Home Depot and had dinner at Chili's. While there we received a call from Dad about Mom's surgery drains so we zoomed up to their apartment to ensure that all was well (and it was).
That evening we watched 'Mad Men' 4.5 and 4.6.

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Wednesday, 25 April -

Today contractors from Strine Plumbing (Chris and Eric) pressurized the heat pump lines and ran the ductwork down through two of our closets. With the air handler in the attic, the ductwork is necessary to get the cooled or heated air down to the basement level. One duct descended through our hall closet and down to the ceiling vent in the guest room while the other goes through my bedroom clothes closet into the mud room and then on to the new bath off the guestroom. Chris was amazingly efficient, particularly at cutting the holes for the duct through the closet shelves. The loss of storage space is minimal and does not cause any problem. Eric also ran the electrical wires to the panel area for the electrician to connect next week.
We also had Mike from Miller Electric in to work on the electrical problem uncovered in the attic. Mike had the unenviable job of climbing back through the small attic space which was rapidly heating up on this sunny day. He emerged to confirm there's indeed a nail through the wire from the outside (as Chris had said) and he volunteered that he wasn't sure how to go about repairing that wire. The break is down in the wall and it's likely the wire is stapled somewhere between the break and the panel so pulling another wire behind the one being removed won't work.
As we talked we realized there's no reason to repair it. That run only services the fridge and two counter outlets. I suggested we might be able to connect in to another circuit. But Mike saw we have a drop ceiling between the electric panel and where the wire would have to go up to the fridge and suggested he merely make a new run. He didn't even have to drill new holes in the joists ; there was enough room to add a wire through existing holes.
After Mike completed the new run, I asked him about the outlets on our counter. They had been installed before the code change to require ground-fault protection for kitchen-counter outlets and I wondered whether I should have them updated. He happened to have two GFI outlets in the truck (and that would serve the three outlets on two different circuits ) so I had him go ahead and install those. Mike had arrived at 1115 and was done by about 1345 so the whole visit only took about two and a half hours.
That evening Labashi and I watched 'Mad Men' 4.3 and 4.4.



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The contractors have started!

(posted from home)

(This post covers 17 – 24 April, 2012)


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Tuesday, 24 April -

Today the HVAC contractors completed installation of the air handler and compressor (and its pad) and ran most of the wiring, condensate lines, and the coolant lines. The main air distribution box was also put in place.
We also met with the plumber this morning and laid out where the water treatment and purification systems will go and where he'll relocate the washer and dryer.
I spent an hour assembling one of the wire shelving units over at the storage unit and already I can see it's going to make a difference, both for storage volume and ease-of-access. I had put five of these in our basement several months ago but it was only this week that we needed to move them. As soon as I saw the lack of space at the storage unit I knew I needed to put two of them over there also.

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Monday, 23 April -

Our contractors started today. Two of the guys started demolition on a brick wall and floor which had been put in place for a wood stove back in the late Seventies. We had sold the stove and taken out its ductwork more than a decade ago but had never taken out the brickwork. Now that the construction guys are about to dig up the basement floor (to run drains for the new bathroom), it seemed like a good time to also have the old brickwork removed.
The HVAC guys are installing a heat pump and got off to a grand start this morning-- within an hour they almost started a fire in the attic! When one of the techs tried to move an attic wire to the side a bit, he saw sparking and smoke erupt from the hole where the wire goes down through the end wall. That knocked out the kitchen outlets and refrigerator. He took a look down through the wire passage (as best he could) and it appears a nail had been driven in from the outside wall right into the wire passage at some point in the past. It appears this may have been a fire waiting to happen for many years since that nail is under the siding-- it would have been done back in 1977 or so! We temporarily ran a heavy-duty extension cord to the fridge and called our electrician to make an appointment.
I learned of the problem while in town this morning. After we got the contractors started, I went into Lowe's for some wire shelving for our storage unit. Space is limited so we need to do the old rolling-shelf-unit trick. Once we open the door to the storage unit, we'll be able to roll out two of the shelf-stacks for access to the ones behind. I bought two units and wheels for them and dropped them off at the storage unit on the way home to look at the electrical problem.
I climbed up into the attic and found the problem pretty much as described to me. I had thought I might be able to fix it myself. It might be possible to chisel away the 2x6 joist to relieve pressure from the tautly-stretched wires and perhaps even get down to the nail. But once that point is reached I don't know how to fix the wire other than to pull it out. I think I need a pro for this one. The shorted-wire may have damaged the others and I'm guessing one or more of them will have to be pulled back from the panel.
Other than the electrical problem, by day's end both teams had made a lot of progress. The brickwork was removed, ceiling registers have been installed in all the rooms, the air-handler is in the attic and installation begun, and the cold-air return was installed.
That evening we watched three episodes of 'Mad Men'- Season Four.

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Sunday, 22 April -

I didn't get a chance to make my regular Starbucks Sunday-morning run today. Weather wasn't great (light rain) but we're also preparing for contractors to start work tomorrow-- mostly just cleaning up, making room for them to work, and covering up stuff in preparation for the dust we expect to have stirred up. We made a late-afternoon run to Lowe's and Home Depot for some additional plastic draping material, then had supper at Chili's (Max-a-Ritas and shrimp fajitas!).
That evening we watched 'Fair Game', the story of Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, and Scooter Libby.

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Saturday, 21 April -

I did some minor cleanup work today to prepare for contractors coming next week. I made a run into town for stackable plastic storage boxes, then cleared out the closet which has the attic-access door in its ceiling. We will have to do more as we go.
That evening we watched 'Moneyball' with Brad Pitt. Good story but it doesn't quite make sense at the end. It's not clear to me why the A's made their historic run.

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Friday, 20 April -

I again spent the morning on the web and by mid-day needed a ride. I took the back roads to Starbucks then walked my five-miler at Rocky Ridge (1:50 today)
That evening we finished up 'Intelligence'- Season One.

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Thursday, 19 April -

Labashi accompanied her Mom and Dad to the hospital for Mom's surgery today. All seemed to go well.
I spent much of the day looking for a way to improve my shotgun's 'feel'. The gun has an adjustable stock but I need a little more adjustment range than it affords. I've also been looking for a center bead sight. I had found a 'bird-buster' magnetic sight I thought would work well for this but it didn't fit the rib on my shotgun properly so I returned it.
I ended up writing an email to Mossberg's customer service to find out if additional adjustment shims are made and whether there's an adjustable-comb stock made for it.
We got back into 'Intelligence'/1 tonight. We had watched a half-dozen episodes of this Vancouver-based police procedural but had dropped it in favor of 'Mad Men' DVDs.


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Wednesday, 18 April -

Labashi is again off to her Mom's for the day today. I spent the morning on the web and ran a few errands, then rode the GS over to the shooting range. I shot the 9 millimeter pistol on the steel-plates range for 50 rounds, then set up a paper target and blasted away another 60 rounds or so. I'm tending to shoot low and right somewhat and need to figure out why.
That evening we finished Season Four of 'Mad Men'. Loving it!

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Tuesday, 17 April -

I updated the blog this morning. Labashi went over to her Mom's to help out during some medical appointments so I fended for myself today.
I took my regular Starbucks ride but otherwise spent most of the day on the Web.
'Mad Men'/3 tonight!

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Preparing for our contractor....

(posted from home)

(This post covers 11 – 16 April, 2012)


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Monday, 16 April -

Today I took the F650GS out for a ride on this unseasonably warm (88-degree) spring day.
I rode down to Gander Mountain to pick up fox urine to keep groundhogs out from under our barn. I also looked for 'One-Shot', a gun-cleaning spray, at Dick's and Gander.
Because I didn't find the One-Shot there, I rode over to Columbia to Backwoods Outfitters but had forgotten they're closed on Mondays. And since I was now most of the way to Lancaster, I continued on to the Apple Store at Park City Mall. I bought an Airport Express to extend our home wireless system and bought a second power supply for the laptop. I need the latter to more easily move from my home office to living room chair. I routinely use the laptop for streaming Netflix movies and for googling various questions about movies or news. That's in the living room. I use the office more for concentration on my 'work'. To date I've been depending on the battery but it's limited to about two hours so I found myself moving the power supply time after time.
After the day cooled down a bit I mowed the remaining half of the lawn.
That evening we watched 'Elegy' with Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz. It didn't ring true. I couldn't buy into the beautiful 24-year-old (returning) college student falling in love with the old-guy professor/loser/liar/philanderer. It seemed more like an exercise in storytelling where the writer is given a story line that doesn't make sense yet tries to pull it off.

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Sunday, 15 April -

Today we continued working in the basement to prepare for contractors. We took down five hanging wall cabinets after removing and storing their contents.
Late in the day we went outside and dug out three stumps from arbor-vitae trees. We had had these trees ever since moving in here 30 years ago and they had gotten quite huge. But last year they been badly damaged by snow storms so Labashi had cut them down to within a foot of the ground. We needed to remove the middle of the three stumps to make a place for the contractor to place the central air conditioning system's compressor.
Fortunately these trees had shallow, easily broken roots. I rigged up a chain and come-along between the root-bunches to make it a bit easier to pull them out but it could have been done by shovel-and-axe (and a lot of pulling and pushing) without that.
After supper I mowed the lower half of our lawn.

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Saturday, 14 April -

We spent the day preparing for the contractor. We worked in the basement all day, emptying storage cabinets and storing them away. We had enough space in another part of the basement to store the contents in our rolling wire racks. We were going to haul the five cabinets to our storage unit but then I realized they'd fit in the front of the ATV's enclosed trailer. They fit well and I don't think it would even be a problem to take the trailer over to the ATV trails. All I'd have to do is put a big strap around the upright cabinets to keep them from shifting around. But since the ATV trails at Michaux are closed until Memorial Day, I'm thinking we'll have the project done and the cabinets back in place before then.
More 'Mad Men'/3 that evening.

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Friday, 13 April -

Today I tore down the shotgun for the first time. I reviewed the manual but found it a bit confusing. Fortunately, there are several good Youtube videos for this model and they were very helpful.
Once I had it torn down and laid out in an orderly fashion, I thoroughly cleaned everything with solvent and dry-lube and then re-assembled it several times for familiarization. I will sometimes need to change barrels in the field (at the range, actually) and want to be able to do that without hassle.
I also tore down and cleaned my squirrel-hunting pistol for the first time. This one is a Western-style single-action .22 and was very easy to dis-assemble and clean.
We're into 'Mad Men', Season 3 now.


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Thursday, 12 April -

Today the big project of the day was to meet with our contractor and sign the contract for our big project for this year. This project started out as having a bathroom installed next to our lower-level guest room. It quickly ballooned to that plus having a central air-conditioning system installed and having the attic insulated. And once you decide to do central air, you really ought to make it a heat pump.
We've lived in this house for 30-plus years without central air. Each year we haul up one or both of our window-mount air conditioners from the basement once we can no longer stand the heat of summer. Most years we only brought up one of the 12,000 btu units and tried to run it as little as possible. Last year was an extra-hot one and we both started early and used both window-units.
The decision to go to central air started with having overnight guests during a heat wave last summer. We thought we'd be able to keep the guest room downstairs cool enough if we'd get the upstairs units started by mid-day and depend on our foyer fan to push air down to the guest room. That didn't really work well enough.
We talked about simply putting a small window-unit in down there but we have other concerns. We're finding it more difficult to handle the window units, particularly on our steep steps. Also, the window units always were noisy and not very efficient at cooling the house. We'd place multiple fans through the house. And we didn't like to have the air conditioners running at night and since Labashi doesn't like to have a fan blowing over her at night the hotter nights weren't very comfortable.

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Wednesday, 11 April -

I spent the morning patrolling the web and updating the blog. That afternoon we did a whirlwind cleaning of the house in preparation for a meeting tomorrow with our contractor for the house project.
That evening we watched 'The Story of the Weeping Camel', a wonderful little storytelling-film about a Mongolian family dealing with a camel 'colt' abandoned by its mother. There are many lessons in this film and we highly recommend it.


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Battery charger ; post-Florida cleanup ; shooting range trips

(posted from home)
(This post covers 1 – 10 April, 2012)

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Tuesday, 10 April -

At mid-morning today I drove Mocha Joe over to West Shore Sportsmen to shoot the squirrel-gun even though it was quite a windy day. I had bought a .22 revolver last fall intending to use it for squirrel hunting but had instead done my hunting with my old .22/20-gauge over-and-under (for various reasons). So today was the first time I've shot this gun.
I had Range 7 to myself and started plinking away at some cool little shoot-n-see targets I had picked up at Wal-mart. The gun worked well but I'm really rusty on my pistol-shooting skills. I need to get out here and practice!
I shot 100 rounds and at least improved by the end of the session. I then headed into town. I went to Gander Mountain to return a shotgun sight, hit the Starbucks in the nearby Target, and then looked around at Dick's, comparing prices for shooting supplies.
That evening we watched 'Tales of the Script', a documentary about Hollywood screenwriters. It gave a less-than-flattering but realistic picture of the screenwriting profession and how things work in Hollywood.

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Monday, 9 April -

Around mid-morning today I drove Mocha Joe over to the trap range at West Shore Sportsmen. I assembled and set up the target thrower and its battery well off to the side. This model has a step-trigger which can be extended using an electrical extension cord so I took advantage of that to put the thrower well away from me. Unfortunately, when I started shooting I couldn't hit a thing!
After a box of shells with only one or two hits, I moved closer to and behind the thrower so I'd be shooting more down the flight path of the 'bird'. That made a difference but the biggest difference was just getting my cheek down against the stock and getting a proper sight down the barrel. After settling down, I was typically hitting two to three birds out of each round of five (the shell capacity of the shotgun) and had two four-for-five rounds.
After disassembling and stowing the thrower and cleaning up the range, I hit our local Wal-mart for four boxes of shells then went on down to Gander Mountain for two more boxes of clay targets.
Back home I found myself completely worn out so took a short nap before supper.
That evening we watched 'Indochine' with Catherine Deneuve. It's a 1992 French movie about pre-Vietnam Indochina and the life of a woman who owns and runs a rubber plantation there at the end of the French colonial period. It's visually sumptuous but the story-line left me puzzled.

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Sunday, 8 April -

Today I planned a trip to the range for tomorrow. I cleaned and re-organized the gun-cleaning gear and my shooting bag and cleaned one of the guns. I had thought I'd also clean the shotgun today but after reviewing the manufacturer's recommendations realized I didn't really need to quite yet. After tomorrow would make more sense.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge (via Starbucks, of course) and walked my regular five-mile course.
Today was the last day of my second antibiotics course and I'm feeling better, though not quite back to normal yet.


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Saturday, 7 April -

It's Easter weekend so I thought it better to avoid going into town today. Yesterday I made up a list of things I want to look at at Harbor Freight but think I'll hold off for a few days. I'm thinking of adding e-tracks to the ATV trailer so I can use it as a cargo trailer whenever I want. E-tracks are punched-metal tracks which allow you to mount tie-downs where needed. When I had the trailer empty yesterday I planned out where to mount the e-tracks and which sizes to buy.
My decision to stay out of town didn't last long. I realized I could sneak in to the new Starbucks using all back roads on the motorcycle and did that, then walked a bit at Rudy Park.

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Friday, 6 April -

This morning I cleaned up the ATV trailer and its contents from the Florida trip and then washed the trailer's exterior. It still had dust from our trip back the Turner River Road in the Big Cypress National Preserve and from my camp in the Picayune Strand State Forest.
The trailer doors have dust seals and they work fine below something like 25 miles per hour. I know this because we drove back the heavily-washboarded Turner River Road to our campsite at Bear Island at 15 to 25 miles per hour and we found no dust inside the trailer as we unloaded the ATV and set up the cots for the night. But when we left the next day we took the turnoff toward Route 29. That put us on road with much less washboard so we sped up to something like 35 miles per hour, raising a lot more dust behind us. When I opened the trailer that evening I saw there was a fine coating of dust on everything. It didn't matter by then because I had dropped off the guys for their flight home that afternoon.
After its wash job the trailer looks great. I removed three of the four footlockers with their sleeping bags, pads, pillows, etc and moved them to our storage unit. I cleaned up all the ATV gear and re-stowed it in the other footlocker and cleaned up the target thrower, deep-cycle battery, and shooting supplies and moved them to Mocha Joe to use next week.


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Thursday, 5 April -

With another good-weather day I was anxious to get out on the cleaned-up GS today. I took the back way down to the new Starbucks. While there I met two other motorcyclists. They were 'Avery' and 'Skyler', from New York and New Jersey. They were just stopping in at Starbucks on their way back home from a road trip to Skyline Drive. Avery was on a BMW 1200 GS and Skyler a V-strom.
We had a really nice, friendly chat about everything from problems with the bikes to future rides they have planned and other bikes they've owned.
I then stopped in at Action Motorsports for a look around. They have an older ST1100 and at first I thought I might be interested. The tag said it was a 92 and only had 15K miles but the odometer showed 59K. I didn't see much else of interest though I did pause at the TW200's. Now THAT would make more sense than an ATV for my travels.
After lunch at Five Guys in East York I walked over to Dick's and tried the feel of a few shotguns. I really liked the Benelli Super Black Eagle II. As I walked back to the motorcycle I ran into a guy in the parking lot with an ATV on a trailer. He was just walking up to his car so I asked where he rides and told him I'm having a hard time finding a place to ride this time of year (the state forest trails are closed until May 25). He said he mostly rides on private land but said he's surprised how many guys go down to West Virginia to ride. I'll have to look into that.
Back home I did some research on the Benelli gun I thought I'd like but saw reviews suggesting I might be disappointed, both in value and felt-recoil. I also learned they're built by Beretta and after my experience with Beretta customer service in the past, I'm probably not their biggest fan.
I then finished out the day mowing the lawn for a couple of hours. That evening we tried watching a farcical 'reality' film called 'Man Bites Dog' but didn't like it at all and gave up after only 20 minutes or so.

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Wednesday, 4 April -

Today we put House2 back on the market. We had signed a deal but when the house didn't appraise as high as it should, the buyer's agent tried to change the deal, insisting his client didn't have cash for closing unless we agreed to additional concessions, some $4000 below the appraised value. Thanks, but no thanks!
Around lunch time I rode down to York for a coffee-and-news run , then came home and washed the ATV and the GS motorcycle. I felt rather slow as I worked and was exhausted by the time I finished the washing and oiled the motorcycle's chain. I did have an 'aha' moment, though. I found a great cleaner for one of the tougher problems. The rear wheel had heavy soiling from chain oil which had been thrown off. I tried several grease cutting detergents without success but then tried an asphalt remover I had picked up at Lowe's. That worked wonderfully. The grease I couldn't get off with detergents came right off in one swipe. And, best of all, the remover didn't affect the painted finish.


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Tuesday, 3 April -

What a beautiful day today. I drove Mocha Joe down to Wal-mart in west York for an oil change. While waiting I went to the camera department and asked for 'Elaine'. I had bought a camera from her last summer as we were prepping for our Botswana trip. As we talked I had learned she badly wants to go to Africa and she said she'd love to see our Africa pictures when we return. I had forgotten about it until last week when I found a note on my desk with her name along with titles of several books she had recommended. Elaine had moved to the photo-finishing department. She told me she had, like me, just found a note a few days ago from our conversation of last July. I showed her 35 photos from the trip and she loved them. She considers our both finding the notes from last summer to be a sign that she's supposed follow her life-long dream and to Africa. I hope she does!
After the oil change I drove to the nearby Gander Mountain store and bought a few boxes of shotgun shells and another case of clay targets. My brothers and I had such a great time shooting clay birds at the shotgun range in Ocala National Forest last month and I want to keep it up locally. Hopefully I can find a way to shoot with my brothers again, too.

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Monday, 2 April -

This morning I had an appointment for a chest x-ray, still in pursuit of the source of my month-long sickness. Hopefully we'll find I don't have bronchitis.
I spent an hour or so on the web researching automotive battery chargers this morning. I had put the Schumacher charger I bought yesterday on the deep-cycle battery overnight and had been monitoring voltages. On its 'AGM' setting (AGM is the battery type in this case), it charged the battery at 10 amps and 15.5 volts. Once the 'fully-charged' LED lit, the charger switched to a maintenance mode at 13.4 volts. And after I disconnected the charger, the battery settled in on a steady 12.99 volt reading.
When I bought the charger I had seen another one, a 15-amp 'marine' model with an intermediate 10-amp setting. Its packaging said it was for deep cycle batteries. I chose the 10-amp-max model because the Optima batteries web site recommends a maximum of 10 amps for its batteries. I figured I'd be taking a chance with the 15-amp model; I'd eventually forget and leave it on the high setting. But I was curious why the 15-amp model was marketed as a deep-cycle model.
I called Schumacher Tech Support and learned the only differences are the maximum amperage setting and a digital display (vice an LED display). On the 10-amp setting they charge the same. I decided to keep the one I have; there's nothing to be gained by trading up.
That afternoon I rode the GS down to Rocky Ridge for a walk. I felt great at first but faded quickly. I only lasted 45 minutes.

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Sunday, 1 April -

Today was another cool-and-cloudy one. We spent the morning watching Sunday Morning and on the web and then decided we couldn't stand it any more-- we had to get out. We drove in to Chili's in East York for lunch. We LOVE Chili's Max-a-Ritas. Order an El Presidente margarita and then “max-a-rita” it with an additional shot of Commemorativo, Especial, or Patron Silver. We shared shrimp fajitas as we sipped our really-strong drinks.
Afterwards we drove to Wal-mart where we picked up a few little items and I bought a Schumacher 10-amp battery charger for the deep-cycle battery. I'm going to have to take the battery to Chambersburg for Maypo to use on the fishing boat and I want to be sure it's fully charged.
We then went to Lowe's and Labashi looked for gardening stuff. We drove across town to the Tractor Supply looking for a hose cart I had seen on the web but no luck.
Back home I cranked out a blog update and we watched a special about a giant green boa skeleton recently found in Columbia. It lived 60 million years ago and had been 48 feet long (!!!!!!!!!).
“Titanaboa”, indeed.

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