And Food

Happy Sundee! Back from LI and NYC. Our weekend started with a very furry ferry ride from New London to Orient Point, after which came...


foods...


and other foods...


and food...


and near-death experiences...


all the statues had their arms bent in unusual ways...


followed by new fingerless gloves...


and (you guessed it)... food.

Supply Girl

Happy holidays, friends!

So, that X-Pando (knock on wood) seemed to be just what was necessary for our radiators. We can happily report zero leaks.

In other news, it's rainy. On Monday night we found a good sushi spot called Haruki. Rob tweaked his hamstring playing basketball last night. We're giving Kayne West's new album two-and-a-half of five stars, mainly because it's so unwaveringly downbeat and navel-gazing, and auto-tuning your voice is not our style; it does have some good elements and tracks though - RoboCop cracked me up yesterday at work.

In any event, Sue and I share many thanks, and we wish all you guys the very very best. Rock on.

PS
Remember Socket Man? We have yet to put her all together, but this is Supply Girl.

X-Pando

When the heat was on, two of the radiator supply valves we replaced (and re-replaced a couple weeks back) were still leaking steam and moisture. Even the double dose of pipe dope (Gasoila pictured below) we applied the second time around was not doing the trick. So we went to the plumbers' supply shop and got some X-Pando.


After you take everything apart, and clean the pipe threads, you mix the X-Pando up with water, apply it with a brush, then reattach everything. After 24 hours, it dries and hopefully expands, and we can turn the heat on again.



Since we can't turn on the heat tonight, Sue's in a sleeping bag as we watch Raising Arizona. Also, the Redskins won!

Busy and productive weekend. Cheers, everyone!

Which is Which

Old spark plug. New spark plug. Can you tell which is which? Hee hee.


Ever heard of yak shaving? Well, that's what the spark plug replacement was all about. We just wanted to chip leaves for compost. Finally, we were able to chip and chip and chip!

We chipped nine more bags we snatched from the neighbors' front-walks. Julie was in charge of the mowing.

Replace the Packing

When Bessie's really got the water hot, the steam system is highly pressurized. She builds up so much pressure that steam will burst from any minor leak. The radiator in the guest room had a leak from the stem of the supply valve. I looked at this video for a repair demonstration. Pretty simple.

Remove the cap. Remove the packing nut. See that inside the nut the old gasket, packing or rubber seal is worn away. Replace the packing, winding it around the base of the stem. Press the nut down hard over the packing, then twist it tight. Screw the handle back into place.








PS
I realized today a supply valve has the shape of a mushroom.

Some Cheap Roofing

We built the compost bin roof in the garage, because, man, is it cold today.

I need to add a center board to the frame. The way the frame is now, I think the corrugated fiberglass would sag then break under the weight of snow. Cutting the fiberglass was the hardest part of the whole operation -- ended up using an angle grinder, which turned the fiberglass to hot dust. (I didn't inhale.)

It's sort of flimsy stuff, but good enough for some cheap roofing.

Joe Onions

Happy Friday, peoples! Sue is healthy again. Her big application is on track for completion. A couple of our radiators are leaking steam again, from below the supply valves. It's currently 21-degrees, and it's going to get as high as 32 today. We're told this is cold for Providence.

In other news, the skeleton of Joe Onions was found: Body of Slain Mobster Unearthed in Riverside.

And this doesn't count as a ProPil Pop Quiz, but maybe it can be a ProPil Super-Stumping Scalp-Scratcher. Did you know, because cigarettes were outlawed in federal prisons in 2004, the currency of inmates is now mackerel?

We've got a weekend of home repairs and studying ahead. Should end up with some decent pics of the progress.

PS
More mushrooms. These were growing in Julie's backyard a couple weeks back. Pretty neat. Orange peel mushrooms. Totally edible, though we didn't try any.


PPS
Scrappy! Best pup yet. We're not going to get him, but... Scrappy!

Inflatable Dinosaur

Honestly, if you have five minutes, you have to read these. They're from today's ProJo. Sometimes they say television shows are 'ripped from the headlines,' but reading these it seems like the headlines are 'ripped from the movies'.

Police allege 18 involved in a 'criminal enterprise'

After 30 years, new clue in mystery of missing mobster

If you don't have five minutes, here're a couple choice excerpts:

* * *

The flea market owner, Lloyd Morse, 50, of 46 Cliffdale Ave., Cranston, was also arrested, accused of acting as Pari’s “criminal partner.”

Morse’s prior claim to fame was a publicized feud with Cranston City Hall over the city’s efforts to force him to take down a 25-foot inflatable gorilla in his yard. The disagreement prompted Morse to add an inflatable dinosaur to his menagerie and to run for mayor as an independent in 2004 with the slogan, “It’s Gorilla Warfare in Cranston.”

* * *

A key witness in the trial was Scanlon’s girlfriend — Sandra Surprise. She testified that she saw Pari divert Scanlon’s attention in the social club by punching him in the face. Then, she said, Merola approached him from behind with a handgun and pumped a bullet into the back of Scanlon’s head.

A second witness, Edwin DiFonzo, testified that he helped Merola wrap the body in plastic garbage bags and stuff it into the trunk of Merola’s red Cadillac. Another witness, an FBI informant, told the jury that Merola came to his home in Brooklyn, N.Y., and told him that he had killed Scanlon because he was a “stool pigeon.”

Pho Doctor

Sue was having some significant trouble breathing during her long stretch of leading groups today. She ended up at the doctor's office this evening. She has the VA Plague, otherwise known as bronchitis. Now she's on an antibiotics regimen and has an inhaler loaded with steroids.

I am not to be trusted. I told her this morning I thought she'd be fine in a few days. No need to go to the doctor. Then a colleague at work heard one of her coughing fits and told her she had to go.

I am only a pho doctor (not even a faux doctor). We went again for dinner tonight. The beneficent double heat - temperature and spice - gave her an hour of easy breathing.

Fungal Harvest

Today was the first ever fungal harvest of my life.

BEFORE


AFTER


What remains on the block is kinda gross. Big recommendation... harvest when the mushrooms are all white and boingy crisp. Ours were not boingy anymore. Brown is mushy. I had to clip off lots of brown stems.

We had that storminess all day on Saturday, and the air was so humid, our appetizer potato chips (for the pasta party) got sort of mushy in about a half-hour. Point being, I wonder if the extreme humidity caused the ripe white mushrooms to brown a little. I may have let them grow too long, too; who knows.

Chip-Chip-Chipping

Two months ago Julie said chipped (i.e. chopped) leaves were great compost. So a month ago I got a lawnmower on Craig's List. The mower needed a mulching bag. I ordered it from MTD and waited ten days.

While we were waiting for that, we grabbed eleven bags of leaves from neighbors' sidewalks. Then the mulching bag was delivered to the house. So we built the garden beds, because apparently putting chipped leaves in there now is great. It decomposes right on top of the turned soil, and in the spring, you're ready to go - a layer of dark topsoil in which to plant.

Today is a very nice, blustery day outside. Perfect for chip-chip-chipping.




First, the bag didn't fit the mower. Gotta send it back. Then I couldn't start the mower. We opted to use the weed wacker after yanking on the mower cord too many times. And we wacked and wacked with mediocre results. Then after eight bags of wack-wack-wacking, the weed wacker's thread ran out.





We did get a lot done though. We filled the garden beds and continued to build the pile in the compost bin.

If you look close, you can see Sue inside... work-work-working and cough-cough-coughing.


PS
Jonathan opted not to work on his siding today. Sounds like it's time to get some pho to sooth Sue's throat. Then voyage to Trader Joe's in Warwick - first store in RI opened two weeks ago. Obama on 60 Minutes at 7. Redskins-Cowboys at 8:15. Wonderful.