Ever felt like this?

[marlingardener]

 

[CanadianLori]

Hmmm, wonder if I looked snooty at home depot or it was the orange shirt and measuring tape in my belt ....when I was asked where the chisels were. At least Iwas able to give correct directions!

 

[zigs]

I just ask them if they should be out on their own

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Nice one marlingardner.

A couple of weeks ago I was quietly standing near the toilets in M&S when an old lady and her daughter were walking past me; I moved a bit and the old lady jumped looking very startled and she started to laugh; she thought I was a model which isn't bad seeing as I'm still a young 71?

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[CanadianLori]

What about the condescending men who think all women don't know the difference between a drill and a hammer drill or how to putty or skim coat??

You fellows got any good lines for that ?

 

[Colin]

Hi,

The way things are going CanadianLori it will only be the gals who actually do know about tools and DIY; at times I feel ashamed to be a guy as I see so many other guys being bone idle letting their wife/partner do jobs around their home whilst the guy drapes in a chair watching football or other sport for hours on end; I saw a report a few years ago stating lots of DIY stores are closing because guys are no longer interested and the gals are now adopting DIY?

It's also possible there is so much money around these days it's a case of get someone in to do jobs; schools are no longer interested in teaching practical skills like cooking or woodwork but then the H&S lot also play a part; WOW a lass might scorch a finger taking a cake out of an oven or worse still a lad nick a finger with a chisel; I've bought machinery from schools and the machinery wasn't to be replaced so what is now taught in place?

Mobile phones and tablets have replaced marbles; skipping ropes; conkers; hoola hoops etc; obesity is rapidly increasing amongst kids as is violence. I also dislike hearing guys calling their wife/partner derogative names which appears to be a guy thing; if they regard their wife/partner so lowly why are they still together? The old fashioned standards are long gone with mostly the older generation practicing politeness and common courtesy; it even comes down to these forums where someone joins to ask for advice; being generously given the advice then not having the common decency to say thank you; I think in future I'll only respond to a request for help from members with at least ten posts to their credit; I've spent hours compiling text and locating images in order to try to help but these selfish new members are now putting me off. I'm not sulking but I think my time could be better spent elsewhere?

Here in the UK many able bodied people remain home on the benefit system because the benefit in money terms is higher than the wage they could earn so who really is to blame; lots of things have changed for the better but many things are a great deal worse.

Rambling on as usual but then it's too cold to play out today.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[CanadianLori]

@Colin I agree about some husbands lolling about. I had one of those! I'll do lots of my own DIY but I won't touch anything electrical near the panel. Light fixtures and other small stuff yes, but not the real shockers.

So I guess the next time I get condescending "help" from staff at the DIY shop, I think I'll tell him I also need a level, the one with the square bubble

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Please be extremely careful CanadianLori with anything electrical powered on mains voltage even light fixtures; these can and do kill just as easily as high power mains; I have a number of DMM's (digital multimeters) I use for testing and I also invested in one of these;

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/Fluke-Fluke-1ac-ii-Multi-testercat-IV-1000-V/1407584437?iid=191117204331

These pens are excellent but I still never fully trust any test instrument; AFTER testing and to make absolutely certain the circuit is indeed dead before touching I short out wires using a well insulated screwdriver; this must only ever be done knowing the power is SWITCHED OFF. Many years ago at my inlaws there was a fault on a lighting circuit; in those days I had never owned any electrical test kit but I did short the connections to be greeted with a bright blue flash and bang; this was my introduction to two way lighting circuits; yes one of the switches was switched off but a second switch was still switched on; it blew a lump out of the screwdriver but could have so easily killed me.

PLEASE DON'T PLAY WITH ELECTRICS IF IN ANY DOUBT AT ALL IT COULD BE THE LAST THING YOU EVER DO?

Sorry to bang on; I'm not electrically trained but I've done lots of electrical work over the years and paying a few pounds for a decent tester like the FLUKE could save your life.

Good on you though CanadianLori for tackling DIY jobs and I bet you enjoy doing them; do you feel the same as I do after completing a project and standing back saying "did I do that"?

Enjoy yourself and play safely.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[marlingardener]

I'm very fortunate in that my husband can and does fix almost anything. Very handy to have a "handyman" here on the farm!
We have an electrician, a very good one, that we call when we have an electrical problem. He comes promptly, does the work and explains how and why, and usually charges two loaves of homemade French bread. If the job is complicated he also charges a dozen cookies!

 

[DirtMechanic]

As I sit here at home watching my lights and equipment flash on and off while reading posts about electricity, I have decided today is electrical day, because my first inbound call was about one of my stores being in a brownout condition this a.m. and now the utility trucks at the street are making house lights twinkle for Christmas cheer.

Fire safety, personal and equipment safety, all have been on my mind this morning. I am glad I got out of the kitchen early enough to miss the ups and downs. I NEED coffee after a work week.

And now its down again..oh well.

So the one thing that always is bright in my mind about electricity is the 4th wire. Whether fed with one feed (often black) and having 2 grounds (often white and copper or green) or fed with 2 wires (often red and black) and having 2 grounds (thus the 4th wire) we interact with this system so often it just boggles to know how safe it has been made, and more importantly why it is safe, with certain hard rules of course.

The 4th wire is often referred to as a case ground. This is not part of the regular circuit, but interestingly it does ultimately tie back into the ground system. It is worth study.

Its also the absolute coolest thing to know your ground rod at your house is also tied to 10s of thousands of others. It turns out that dirt is a really poor conductor, and one little ground rod is not always enough to provide potential, but all tied together it is magic.

If you ever want to learn about electricty, start at the grounds and the grounding system and work backward. Safety first, so to speak. That way when you get through to how electricty is made by spinning magnets and coils of wire , you can come back down the line from the source, to your house and through your house, and you can say you have been over it backwards and forwards.

 

[Colin]

Hi,

You've got your electrical problems nicely sussed out marlingardner; home made bread and cookies now that's what I call payment in kind. I'm very much like your hubby in that I do just about everything including electrics but I dislike plumbing jobs and won't touch the central heating boiler it being gas so as I dislike plumbing so much these are the only jobs we'll get someone in for. I do normal plumbing but only when I have to.

Thanks DirtMechanic for your interesting information. Your electrics are a lot different to ours in the UK; as you'll know we are on 240 volts whereas you in America are on 110 Volts; lots of our professional quality trade power tools are on 110 volts but through site transformers for safety; for general home workshops the power tools are 240 Volts. We have a three wire system; Live; Neutral and Earth; modern colours are Brown Live; Blue Neutral and Green/yellow Earth.

Back on topic though the only thing I've felt today is idle; normally I enjoy time pottering around but today it's 1C outside but the wind chill makes it feel more like -7C so I'm waiting until tomorrow when it's forecast a more favourable 7C at least I'll be in the workshop with the fan heater on without frostbite.

Regarding snooty women; when Bron and I moved here 31 years ago we owned a Citroen 2CV it being new; our immediate neighbours owned a much bigger and more expensive Saab but ours being newer didn't please them at all. They moved and the new neighbours were golf mad as were other neighbours; these made my toes curl listening to their silly chatter; darling this darling that; I felt it all so false and highly shallow indeed; I'd rather watch paint dry than play golf. Another neighbour bought a new Porsche and wanting to show it off to his golfing chums found he couldn't get the golf bag into the car? It's very funny indeed watching our neighbours trying to outdo each other with flash cars; bigger foreign holidays and getting trades people in to modify their houses; we just sit back and do our own thing saving an absolute fortune running a car that suits us and doing all the work ourselves from installing new foul drains right up to building a new chimney stack even replacing the entire bungalow roof all on our own whilst these neighbours look on. We avoid snooty people and wish them well; we're happy being common as muck.

Kind regards, Colin.

 

[CanadianLori]

Yes, @Colin our regular wall outlets are 110v but our electric ovens, cooktops, clothes dryers etc are all 240. Played with that once. Wrecked a nice pair of needle nose pliers and gave myself a good cardio workout! Still learning at 65 beccause I like to play. Should have married a man with a Yellow Hat

 

[Colin]

Hi,

Many thanks for enlightening me CanadianLori; I knew American voltage to be 110V but hadn't realized two voltages were being used? What voltage is your 3 phase please ours is 415V? Long may you keep leaning but avoid electric shocks.

Here's something which really does annoy me. We have huge numbers front and rear attached to our bungalow plus big numbers on the top glass panel above our front door; it's amazing how many blind people deliver to our door; once again a few minutes ago another envelope pushed through our letterbox but not for us; I've pushed it through the correct letterbox.

Perhaps we need to install bigger number in BRAILLE?

Kind regards, Colin.

Magnifying glass needed. Numbers to front obviously too small.

Numbers to rear.

 

[DirtMechanic]

@Colin perhaps you should use a proximity sensor which flashes red lights and honks a buzzer from a sign that says "wrong address!"?

 

[Esther Knapicius]

I am also thankful that my husband can fix most things, But with the fixing of most things also entails the objects to fix those things, which create lots of "stuff" in the basement which makes it messy, or in the shed, objects that will go years without using them. I am also good at fixing stuff, have fixed the toilet, changed faucets, put new lighting in the outdoors, changed sockets and so forth. My beef is, once I changed the lights on the deck to a different looking one, ol husband never noticed the change, 6 months goes by and still no comment.

anyway, as far as snooty or condescending folks the later cannot recall when that happened. But I think, knowing me, if it did, they'd be right chastised for their remark. As far as snooty women, I guess I just ignore those folks, if I have to associate with them for a moment in time, I would talk past them, as I figure their mental status is such that they have to conduct themselves due to insecurities, poor women.