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Showing posts from June 23, 2019

Carbon Monoxide!?

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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...
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My friend Pete passed away. I met him in 1982. We were friends the whole time despite all the competing circumstances. We picked up where we left off every time. I will miss him. I am glad I got to spend quality time with him over Memorial Day weekend a couple weeks back. I always had tremendous respect for him in all ways. The weirdest part is that he respected me. Very humbling, and actually disturbing. He confided with me and I with him. Ask me to tell you a story about him. Pic is from 2014. Blog post Blog post Blog post Obituary
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Interesting song I heard about today. The lyrics are important. Southern California Wants to Be Western New York Dar Williams There's a part of the country could drop off tomorrow in an earthquake, Yeah, it's out there on the cutting edge, the people move, the sidewalks shake. And there's another part of the country with a land that gently creaks and thuds, Where the heavy snows make faucets leak in bathrooms with free-standing tubs. They're in houses that are haunted, the with kids who lie awake and think about All the generations past who used to use that dripping sink. And sometimes one place wants to slip into the other just to see What it's like to trade its demons for the restless ghost of Mrs. Ogilvey, She used to pick the mint from her front yard to dress the Sunday pork, Sometimes southern California wants to be western New York. It wants to have a family business in sheet metal or power tools, It wants to have a diner where the coffee tastes like...