Carbon Monoxide!?

-
Image
Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
Post a Comment
-

I am still having problems with the server, so I have no photos posted. I have some really nice photos of llamas, fish from my pond, muzzleloader shooting and others. I have a real server fix in process.

I am in Wisconsin most of this week for work. I was up in Brantford and Missisauga Ontario Canada a couple weeks back.

I have been skidding trees out of the woods for firewood. I learned just how big of a log I can drag. I had to cut one in half to make it around a corner in the woods. The tractor easily pulls these things from anywhere almost. I broke a chain yesterday on a log. The new Stihl Model 290 is a huge difference. That saw blasts through these logs. I have a new spliting maul as well. I am getting wood put away. Although we don't heat primarily with wood it is nice for the spring and fall for evening fires and you have to get coal burning somehow.

The jeep has a new lease on life. We were thinking that we may have to put it down because the 4 wd wasn't working. It turned out to be an easy fix. The vacuum line was pulled off the front axle. I love easy fixes... once I knew what to look for.

The masonry and paint is done for the most part on the south side of the barn. Bonnie sprayed a lot of paint. I painted the flail mower orange. It looks much better.

It always gets busy this time of year getting ready for Winter. I still have a lot to do.

My new class is going well (Valuation of Investments). I am not all stressed out like last class. This professor is a human being, a smart one at that. The class is challenging and I am learning bunches. There is a considerable amount of review/reinforcement from the last class which is good. One of the quotes in one of the texts is something like; "You cannot learn finance until you have learned finance." I agree. There is a ladder approach taken. There is a lot to learn. There has been enormous progress in the last 20 years or so in the field of finance. Now anyone with a desktop computer can do complex analysis in the privacy of their home.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Carbon Monoxide!?

-
Image
Weird. The smoke alarm went off, not incredibly odd when I am using the fireplace, but it wasn't the smoke detector. It was the CO alarm. I was totally surprised. It had never gone off as long as I have had one, over many many years. Yep, after resetting it a few times. It was getting a reading over 200 ppm CO. When I took it downstairs I got a reading near 300 ppm. I started getting light headed at this point. After thinking maybe the furnace heat exchanger failed and puzzling around a bit I figured out what happened. As part of the huge winter storm that recently covered almost half of the US, we lost our electricity. So, being well prepared, I rolled out the generator and started doing what I normally do. The generator (although it was completely outside) was creating CO to get in the house. Using the fireplace draft (and possibly other leaks) the whole house created a vacuum around the seal of the basement garage door. After the CO got into the house the forced air heat...
Read more
-
Image
DJ and I climbed Stone Mountain today. Stone Mountain is an "impordent" part of Atlanta life. In any culture high places often have spiritual significance. No different in the modern-day growth-region of Central/Northern Georgia. It is an interesting walk. Stone mountain is a largely monolithic mass of granite. I had become familiar with the obvious out-crop just like the skyline of downtown Atlanta. I see it from the cockpit of my C-172 as well as the very-top overpass of "Spaghetti Junction". The walk gets steeper as you get nearer to the top. My altimeter watch indicated that we scaled a 70 story building, albeit in nature. I saw no one turn back. That also seems to be part of the culture. People as everywhere around here are openly conversive with strangers. It is a regular walk for exercisers and urbanites that need to do something different. It is close to Duluth and Atlanta. It took about 30 minutes by car to get there from Duluth. We spent about 2 hours on t...
Read more
-
Image
One of the things I find interesting in SoCal is the workman waiting outside Home Depot to help you with your projects. They flag you down and wave to you as you leave. I have not seen this behavior any other HD I have been too. And I have been to many in many different states. Illegal immigrants are a significant component to the economy in SoCal. It is expensive here. You have to find desperate people to work at low (affordable) wages. The politicians will pull at heart strings through words like justice, fairness, compassion, but only to get the economic boost for their constituents.
Read more
-
Image
My kayak trip was awesome! So what happens when three restless boys want to do something exciting in Atlanta over the Thanksgiving holiday? Shoot the Hooch. Traverse the Chattahoochee river in grand style. We did it in a combination of couchsurfer, thrillseeker, and urban explorer (mostly Couchsurfer). We met for the first time last week. The participants, one from France (a recent MBA grad from Georgia Tech), one from California (a 20 something Mechanical Engineer) and me. We put in at the Buford Dam at Lake Lanier. We put in illegally since the park was closed. (I mean who would want to use a park on a holiday?) We parked illegally at both ends of the run (not sure of the reasons, but an accumulation of a $50 parking ticket). And, we camped illegally for two nights. So, let's add some danger with two beginner kayakers, and very fast water. It is very dangerous, at least one person has died in the Chattahoochee in the last year from swift water. The risks were fully assessed. This...
Read more