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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Fall in Georgia -- rethinking buying an old defender--Honda lawn mower engine with stuck valve

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Fall is definately upon us in North Georgia. We have been burning leaves and brush. There is an unlimited supply in the jungle here.. every year.

I have been doing more with the cooking hobby lately. I made a nice beef roast on the charcoal weber grill... and I got to use my new commercial slicer. The slicer was definately an indulgence, but a better indulgence than the mid 90s defender I was looking to buy. It was a police vehicle in Ghana, West Africa. I am glad I got talked out of it. I have too many projects already. The guest bath is almost done. I think I have been saying that for at least 6 months.

It looks like we are going to be in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade again in NYC. We will be banner carriers again. We said we weren't going to do it again, but here we go planning some cool vacation travel beforehand.

I put some old gas in the lawn mower by mistake. It ran, but it caused the intake valve to stick open. That ruined the Saturday afternoon time budget. But it is repaired and I got to use some tools I haven't used in a while.

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