Mindless Chatter - TGIF!

Benedict

It will be a pale gold colour, except for the small wall covering a now-blocked-up chimney breast, which will be a terracotta colour to act as a stronger backdrop for a bunch of framed photos which are going to be on there. 

That sounds beautiful. I hope you'll share pics when it's all done.

Yay - it's Friday!! We're supposed to break or tie for high temps today (78ish). Normally it's cold and gloomy by now, so I'm thrilled that it's still so sunny and nice. We really do need the rain here and snow in the mountains or we're going to pay for it in the spring, so hopefully we start getting some soon.

The fires are burning again in So. Cal and there are some beautiful and expensive mansions that burned last night. It's so sad to watch. They showed an animal rescue person with a horse they'd gotten out and she just wanted the owners to know the horse was safe. I love those kind of people .

 Well I just did something I never want to do again. I chopped up deer ribs for the dogs snack time. I hate touching raw meat.

JJ's mom's friend came by with a whole deer rib cage. Last year a neighbor gave me about 2 months worth of deer meat. Which I discovered Lillie loves. 

Now I have 3 very happy dogs. Joker didnt know what to think of it at first. He had to watch Lillie chomp away on hers for a few minutes. But now he's going to town on his.

Benedict

 It's Friday morning here Ron....LOL....half the US isn't even up yet.

Dadgum time zones.

Well, I'm glad it's Friday but I still have to get up tomorrow. Keeping my state license requires having continuing education every year. I do mine tomorrow with the IAEI (International Association of Electrical Inspectors) - Texas Chapter. It cost the same as any of the other providers ($55). But they have sponsors (manufacturers of products used in the electrical industry) and those sponsors underwrite the rest of the costs because it is held at the Holiday Inn Select in Richardson, Tx. Coffee and rolls in the morning, lunch at noon. When you register, you get a number. They do a lotto or drawing with the numbers and you get door prizes. Last year, I got a coffee mug from Bussman and a GPS. I gave the GPS to my BIL and he gave it to his son and now noone knows where it is. Probably have to get another GPS to find it. I like knowing what the inspectors are thinking about the National Electrical Code because they affect my work. We have to pass inspections from them. And I know some of the inspectors that are there from previous experience at work. The chief inspector of Carrollton is a really nice guy. When I was in charge of a project in Carrollton in 2005, we took turns "schooling" each other. My system ground was too small and he busted me fair and square on an honest mistake. The service conductors were 600 kcm and the table shows #1/0 awg. Me and a co-worker made the same mistake. The inspector pointed out that the in the case of multiple parallel sets, you have to find the equivalent size. We had six runs. Therefore, the system ground had to be #3/0.

Another time, I called him out for inspection on pipes that would be under concrete feeding parking lot pole lights. He thought he had me, again. Pipes under a pedestrian walkway only have to be 4 inches down. I had these at 24 inches down to the top of the pipe, right on the money. I said, "Yes, but this is a parking lot, subject to vehicular traffic."  "Oops," he said. "You got me."

Ah, good times.

I know that sounded totally boring and cryptic but you had to be there.

It can be fun, if you're in my trade and all you have to do is stay awake. And once in a while, I still get off a joke. Last time, the were talking about the needs of fixing a pipe under concrete and how would fix that. I said "an eighth of an ounce of C-4 (military explosive)." That brought a chuckle. Yeah, I know, I'm a geek. It's worth it to get up at 5 in the morning.