Author Topic: Life in America - I made the move. (Read 1281799 times)

Welsh · « **Reply #7180 on:** April 26, 2019, 08:09:26 am »

Ja Zog, I hope your mum is ok, I am in Wales at the moment sorting out stuff with my mum, she is not great, but at 90 it is to be expected.

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7181 on:** April 28, 2019, 04:29:26 am »

Thanks for all the well-wishes for my mom guys & girls

I spoke to my sister today and she says my mom is doing better, may even be going home Sunday!

So Saturday is almost over... but it was a busy one. Started off with a phone call at 06:37 for a call-out. Left home at 06:45 and got back at 09:15. A simple and easy fix for the problem, but it was a long drive either way.

Back home I did some work on the drain for my new water softener, and made some fine adjustments to the salt consumption. Then I made a start on taking down the old rotten awning over the side door to my workshop. The screws that whoever put it up were very badly rusted, so getting them out was a nightmare. Some I had to break off, others needed to be cut away. But eventually I got it down.

Then I needed to fix the one corner of the clamshell awning that I had. It's made from aluminium, so pretty easy to work with. Fixing it was no big deal.

Then I fixed a 2x4 to the wall above the door, and screwed the attachment bracket to the 2x4. I slid the clamshell awning into the bracket, and used two shorther bits of 2x4 for the attachment points for the poles that hold the awning up.

I took a quick break from the construction work to do the weed eating and mow the lawn. Then I got another call... yup, work again.

Another long drive, and a nasty well repair, that I made a temporary fix on until Monday when I can go back and do a proper job. Got home at 9:15pm and demolished my plate of supper.

I took pics of the old awning, and of the "new" awning repair. I'll get pics of the rest tomorrow.

Bed time very soon

BMWPE · « **Reply #7182 on:** April 28, 2019, 11:53:36 am »

All ways something to do or fix at home
never ends

Ri · « **Reply #7183 on:** April 28, 2019, 08:33:11 pm »

That awning looks very neat!

Can you claim for the hours it takes you to get to a job and back when you're on call?

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7184 on:** April 29, 2019, 03:42:15 am »

Quote from: Ri on April 28, 2019, 08:33:11 pm

That awning looks very neat!

Can you claim for the hours it takes you to get to a job and back when you're on call?

Thank you Ri

Yes, I claim from when I leave the house until when I get home again.

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7185 on:** April 29, 2019, 04:06:46 am »

So my mom wasn't well enough to go home today.

But I did call her on WhatsApp and had a chat. She says she is feeling a bit better, but then she had a coughing fit that really didn't sound good at all. Hopefully she gets well enough to go home again soon.

Today I decided to take a "light duty" day. My body just can't take the continuous strain of physical labour without a break.

So Mrs Zog and I took a drive out to the beach in Melbourne. We parked the car and went for a bit of a stroll along the waters' edge. It's amazing how salt water can reset your brain. The walk was short, only about a half-hour, but that was all we needed. Then back in the car and up route 192 to a shop called Tractor Supply Company. https://www.tractorsupply.com What an awesome shop! They sell everything from live day-old chicks to kayaks to tools, hardware, animal feed, clothing, auto spares, you name it! I wanted to check the price of the wild bird seed there, it is about half the price of Home Depot! So when my current supply runs out I will get my next batch at TSC!

Finally we stopped off at a little mom-and-pop diner for breakfast. Simple, cheap, but tasty food. Bacon, eggs, fried potatoes, etc... LEKKER!

Back home I put a coat of paint on the wood frame of the new awning.

Then I called my son. The bad news is that he won't be coming to visit me this December. He will be spending this Christmas with his mother in SA. But the good news is that he will come over for the July holidays next year, which means he will be here for his 13th birthday

and it gives me an extra 6 months to come up with the money for his air ticket. So I am very sad that I won't be seeing him this year, but at least he will be here in just over a year.

After that chat I hauled out the vacuum cleaner and attacked the carpets and the floor in the house and the garage. Cleaning can be quite therapeutic too...

I started watering the garden, but then the pump stopped working

So I hauled out my toolkit and took a look. The pressure switch had burned one of it's contacts, so I replaced it. Luckily I had a good used one that I had salvaged some time ago, so the repair was free.

Finally I fired up the braai and cooked two pork chops for dinner. I just felt like a nice piece of meat.. Mrs Zog put some sweet potato fries in the oven for veg.

Maggie has been scooting on her bum the last few days, so after dinner I took a look. She has infected anal glands, I squeezed out quite a bit of pus. Hopefully that was all it needed to clear out, and she will be better soon. I'll have another look tomorrow evening, if it's not much better then Mrs Zog will take her to the vet on Tuesday.

Below are the pics of the completed awning over the side door of my workshop, and a pic of the sprinkler working again against a backdrop of the sunset over Florida...

TeeJay · « **Reply #7186 on:** April 29, 2019, 07:02:08 am »

Hopefully your Mom gets better soon and can go home. You don't rest in a hospital.

Awning looks great. Garden looking fantastic. Wow you have a big plot there - so much space - nice man

Your son - always a bright side - you'll have him for his 13th birthday - and have extra time to save up as you say.

Have a good week!

grizz · « **Reply #7187 on:** April 29, 2019, 08:02:42 am »

Really glad you took a break.

I did a year of 7/7 working a long time ago, and it killed me.

You and Mrs Z have really turned the home around.

Sprinkler looks good too, and that sound....💙💙💙

Tiger8 · « **Reply #7188 on:** April 29, 2019, 12:41:47 pm »

Even Energizer ZOG runs out of oomphf, if you burn to long. Take care of yourselves guys, if you don't rest your body will hate you. Glad you took a drive and a meal together, often a few hours down time is like a holiday.

All the best to your Mom

Welsh · « **Reply #7189 on:** April 29, 2019, 12:49:57 pm »

Mr Zog, my Bull Mastiff suffered with AG, my Great Danes get it and OMG when they express them, the stench

Ri · « **Reply #7190 on:** April 30, 2019, 06:19:45 am »

Dear Mr Zog,

Thank you for not posting a pic of Maggies infected anus

Beautiful garden, I'm envious. Mine is still a work in progress, and is going to take a year or two to look nearly as good

Fudmucker · « **Reply #7191 on:** April 30, 2019, 06:52:35 am »

Don't water the lawn too much...

you'll just have to mow it more often !

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7192 on:** May 01, 2019, 02:47:08 am »

My sister sent me a message this morning that she was fetching my mom from the hospital and taking her home.

But that was it, no further messages from her, and I had an absolute c&nt of a fucking busy kak day, shit went wrong and got worse from there. So I neglected to ask my sister any more info. Eish

Maggie's bum seems to be better. I drained the anal glands again last night and they were a lot better. Today she wasn't scooting at all. So I'll leave her be and observe. Tough little fucker that, she spent her day digging up my lawn trying to catch moles

Looks like scenes from the movie Caddyshack…

This weekend I'll be helping a work colleague out fixing up the side of her house. It's going to take much of a total rebuild of the one wall... luckily it's wood, so no mixing cement and laying bricks

The weather is getting hotter, we are hitting the 90's now. That is around the 32 - 34 degrees mark. And immigrant is having snow... eish boet, come to sunny Florida

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7193 on:** May 01, 2019, 02:48:18 am »

Quote from: Welsh on April 29, 2019, 12:49:57 pm

Mr Zog, my Bull Mastiff suffered with AG, my Great Danes get it and OMG when they express them, the stench

yup, no matter the size of the dog, the stench is worse than a skunk

Mr Zog · « **Reply #7194 on:** May 01, 2019, 02:49:37 am »

Quote from: Ri on April 30, 2019, 06:19:45 am

Dear Mr Zog,

Thank you for not posting a pic of Maggies infected anus

Beautiful garden, I'm envious. Mine is still a work in progress, and is going to take a year or two to look nearly as good

Quote from: Fudmucker on April 30, 2019, 06:52:35 am

Don't water the lawn too much...

you'll just have to mow it more often !

Getting the garden nice is fun, hard work, but fun.

and I have a ride on mower... yee-haa

Mrs. Zog · « **Reply #7195 on:** May 02, 2019, 05:10:26 pm »

My cactus is blooming. Just sayin'.

I'm especially proud of myself. I grew this from seed when we first got here, I was up for a challenge. I threw away the seed packet (stupid), but I believe this is Mammillaria sp.

Again, I have no idea why these pictures are sideways. They're fine in my folder. I give up.

Welsh · « **Reply #7196 on:** May 02, 2019, 05:14:11 pm »

Why is it called Mammaryalia? Do they always come out as a nice pair?

Mrs. Zog · « **Reply #7197 on:** May 02, 2019, 05:20:57 pm »

The first species was described by Carl Linnaeus as Cactus mammillaris in 1753, deriving its name from Latin mammilla, "nipple", referring to the tubercles that are among the distinctive features of the genus.

Close, Welsh, real close.

Welsh · « **Reply #7198 on:** May 02, 2019, 06:31:14 pm »

Quote from: Mrs. Zog on May 02, 2019, 05:20:57 pm

The first species was described by Carl Linnaeus as Cactus mammillaris in 1753, deriving its name from Latin mammilla, "nipple", referring to the tubercles that are among the distinctive features of the genus.

Close, Welsh, real close.

Tom van Brits · « **Reply #7199 on:** May 02, 2019, 08:08:36 pm »

Beautiful plant Mrs Zog, I think there must be a lot of beautiful plant species in Florida. Not to speak of the birdlife, I have seen very nice pictures on fb of a guy who has returned from a birding holiday in Florida and some part of Texas.