Connecting the Loose Ends

Today was a good day.

We awoke to temperatures in the 40s which would be balmy in many parts of the country.  It was a wee bit chilly for my tastes, but at least we did not have five feet of snow to slog through this morning as some people did. In fact, the weather was getting better by the minute, so we decided after breakfast to start with the outlet to the backyard.

Although code in this city is that a house have an electrical outlet at the front of the house and another at the rear, I would guess that this house was built before such a code ever existed. We have an outlet in the garage near the front of the house that serves us adequately when we need to use something electric in the front yard.  The back yard, however, is a different story.

Rick works on hooking the wires to the
outlet at the back of the house.

We faced the decision of spending $30 - $50 on yet another extension cord to string together with the three that we already own just to reach all sides of the house, or we could spend just less than $30 for the materials necessary to add an outlet outside behind the garage.  Since the electrical box is in the back of the garage anyway, adding an outlet simply meant drilling a hole through the wall, running wire through a conduit, installing a GFCI outlet in a box approved for outdoor use, and connecting it to a separate 20 amp circuit breaker to handle the load.  We already had the GFCI outlet and Rick had the tools necessary to do the job.  With a couple hours of work, we had a new outlet that is safe and easy to use.  If we someday add a lanai to this house, the outlet will be an added bonus.  (Dream of the future: being able to have a covered lanai under which I can house a small chest freezer!)

Rick has been not-so-patiently waiting for our cement mixer to arrive.  He received an e-mail this morning that it finally was ready for pick-up at Home Depot, so we went to the store to pick it up.  The box was heavy, but the personnel at the Pick-Up desk were very accommodating, and a fork-lift soon had the box safely placed in the back of the truck.

While I waited in the truck, Rick went to the contractor's desk to see about our still-missing 17 pole caps from our order.  They have been promised to us twice, but no one at that desk seemed to be able  to follow-up on our order.  I am glad that I stayed in the truck.  Rick eventually came outside with his mouth set in a straight line.  That is never a good sign.  He said that the Home Depot Pro that we had been dealing with tried to come up with more false promises.  Long story short... we got our money back for the missing caps and went another Home Depot store to buy the caps.  We bought all that they had in inventory -- 14 -- so now we are only missing three.  In the end the caps will cost us $1.00 more for each one, but paying $17 to avoid the hassle of dealing with promises that never come true is well worth it.  Our order is now complete (for the most part) and totally in our control.

When we got back from buying the caps, we worked together to assemble the cement mixer.  The directions were terrible, but Rick was able to get it together without too much trouble.  It seems to be very easy to wheel around, and our test drive of the motor shows that everything is in working order.  Rick is like a kid with a new toy.  We'll see how much fun it is after we install a few sections of the fence.  Actually, it will probably save me from damaging my muscles further, and it will save Rick's shoulders, back, arms, and heart.  The price we paid for the mixer is small compared to the health benefits that we will get in the end.

The new cement mixer will save us hours
of back-breaking mixing.

I laugh because we had one "spare part" when we were finished.  Apparently it was welded together for shipping purposes only because it certainly does not belong anywhere on the machine!  When we started to take the pieces out of the box, Rick was a little upset when he pulled it out.  "Look.  They spray painted over rust," he said.  That is true, but as it turns out, the piece is only going into the garbage anyway.  I am sure that if I put it out on the magic curb, someone will haul it away before the garbage men come on Monday.

The "left over" part turned out to be a rack used for shipping.

We hope this fellow has a good appetite for the
rodents and snakes that roam the neighborhood.

We had a noisy visitor at our house today.  We have noticed a huge hawk flying around the neighborhood.  Yesterday he was in the trees behind our house, and today he was almost in our backyard.  I will put up with the noise he makes squawking because I know that he rids the neighborhood of unwanted visitors like moles and rats.  Compared to the other creatures, he is welcome at my house at any time.