Around The House

7 Things To Do To Your Gas Grill

Ah, summer.  It’s here or right around the corner.  If you’re like me, then pulling out the grill is an integral part of the summer season.  I’ve always been someone who prefers a gas grill.  If you fall into the same category, here are some tips to make sure you’re ready for grilling season.

Check  Your Hose And Connections

The hose that carries the gas to the grill needs to be checked every year.  The hoses can crack, the fittings could come loose or crack themselves.  It’s important to make sure that you don’t have a leak.  Inspect the hoses for cracks.  To test the connections, use soapy water.  Put the soapy water over the connections and turn on the gas.  If any bubbles form, you have a leak.  If this happens, you need to replace your supply lines.

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Sump Pump Floats And Floor Drains, Oh My

Yesterday, I got one of those phone calls from my wife that I never want.  “There’s water in the basement.”  My wife heard one of our water alarms going off and found a puddle of water in the middle of the basement.  She couldn’t figure out where it was coming from.  I only work a few minutes from home, so I was able to get there pretty quick.  I didn’t even have to go to where the puddle was.  As soon as I went down into the basement, I knew what the issue was.  The sump pump wasn’t pumping.

Why You Don’t Skip Routine Maintenance

Remember how I said I knew right away what the problem was?  I knew that it was the sump pump because when I went downstairs, I saw that water was seeping up through the cracks in the floor, as well as around the perimeter.  And this had happened once before, many years ago.  That time, I went downstairs to feed our cats, and saw the same thing.  And it was the same problem.  The sump pump wasn’t working.

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March 2017 Updates

It’s March!  Did you know that even though Spring doesn’t officially start until later this month, that from a meteorological standpoint, spring has started?  That’s right, from a meteorological perspective, the seasons start on the 1st of the month of the calendar change.  I guess they know something we don’t!  I hope that things are going well.  Here are some March 2017 updates and goals.

Fitness

I recently wrote about some renewed focus on my fitness.  So far this is going well!

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My Stump Grinding Tip – Hire Someone

To grind or not to grind?  Here is my best stump grinding tip: Hire someone to do the work!

A Few Stumps To Grind

One of the features that drew us to purchase our home 10 years ago was the number of mature trees on our lot.  Our

Image from Morguefile via dhester

house is relatively new (built in 1999), but the developer kept many mature trees.  We love this.  However, with a number of mature trees, we had to have some removed.  A few years ago, we started losing quite a few elm trees.  After the dust settled, we have a few less elm trees left, but had a few more stumps.  I wanted to get them ground out and put grass seed down, so I debated whether to do it myself or have someone do it.

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Appreciation For A Working Snowblower

Tonight we’re supposed to get our second snowstorm of the season, both coming in the period of a week.  I am feeling a lot better about this one.  Why?  Because we have a working snowblower once again!

Snowblowers Are Easy To Forget About During Warm Novembers

It’s been a few years since I’ve had the snowblower worked on.  It’s a really old but dependable unit.  I think my parents bought it in the 1980’s.  It worked great for them, and they gave it to me when they started having someone do their snow.  By that time, pretty much the entire guts of the machine had worn down, but the frame and the engine were still going strong.

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My Black Friday Plans

Many people, including my dear wife, will be getting up early and hitting the stores this Black Friday.  Not me.  I am proud to say that I do not plan on shopping at any stores.  Here are my Black Friday plans for this year.  What are yours?

Spend Time With My Kids

It’s pretty rare that I spend a big chunk of time with both of the kids.  Usually it’s all four of us together, or the times that my wife is gone is just a few hours.  This will be most of a day.  While they are a handful when they start fighting (what 7 and 5 year old kids don’t?) we manage some fun times.  I’ll plan some activities and fun meals.

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Why Don’t Timers Keep Good Time?

Timers are built into different devices that serve a variety of purposes.  You’d think that they would all have one thing in common, right?  Keeping accurate time.  After all, it’s right there in the name!

But, while this may be true for many devices, it doesn’t seem so in our house.

Four Timers, Three Fails

While we have many things that keep time, we have four timers in our house where keeping accurate time is pretty important.

  • Lamp Timers (x2) – We have one each in our living room and our family room, which of course turn lights on and off at designated times.  They’re two completely different brands of timer.
  • Thermostat – Our programmable thermostat adjusts the temperature at various points of the day, keeping us comfortable and saving us money.
  • Lawn Sprinklers – They’re currently turned off until spring, but our sprinklers water the grass overnight to keep the yard looking good throughout summer.

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I May Never Buy A GE Appliance Again

For years, I’ve followed the trials and tribulations of the front loading washing machine issues surrounding mold and mildew.  Why?  Because the GE  front loading washer that we have has been plagued with these issues since we bought it in 2007.

At the time, I thought it was great.  The community where we moved had some of the highest water rates in the area, so it was a HUGE win to save money on the water bill with the new type of machine that used significantly less water.

The honeymoon quickly wore off.

Moldy Gasket

When we first got our machine, we did what any sensible person would do and closed the door when it wasn’t in use.  Sound, reasonable, right?  Well, we quickly found out that was a bad idea when the rubber gasket around the door started getting covered in mildew.

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4 Reasons Why I Love My Smart Meter

Do an Internet search for ‘smart meter’ and the results aren’t pretty.  Most of the top results are articles or blog posts complaining about smart meters and pretty much suggesting that everybody that has one is going to get cancer.  To that, I say, hogwash.  In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that I love my smart meter.  Yes, I used the word ‘love’ and even if I’m the only person in the world, so be it, but I think as time goes on, more people will find that their smart meter is not something to complain about, but instead something to embrace.

Smart Meters 101

First of all, what is a smart meter?

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