Hand Rail Hell

The hand rail on the stair leading to our basement keeps getting loose. It happens near the top of the stairs. I thought I was set when I added a second bracket near the top of the stairs. But now that bracket had screws that were stripped. This was getting old. Wall anchors did not help any.

I can up with a plan. I got a small piece of sturdy wood. I drilled holes in it spaced to match the bracket. Then I put two piece of rope around the wood. I jammed the wood in through the dry wall. I used the rope to pull the wood taught against the back of the dry wall. Then I screwed the bracket into the wood.

It is holding tight for now. This is just a work around. I figure I can have my handyman find some studs and screws the brackets into the studs. I do need to patch the hole I made in the drywall. At least the hand rail is sturdy now. Everyone probably uses this think when going downstairs.

Dead iPhone

Every time I took my iPhone off the charger, the thing would go down to 10% or even 1%. Then it would turn off. I finally got around to making an appointment with the Genius Bar at the Apple Store. I went at lunch time today. Went to the mall. Got a good parking spot. The Apple Store was on the other side of the mall.

I walked over. The Apple Store had no sign on it. Just a picture of an apple. I saw a queue at the entrance. I asked if they were in line. One guy mumbled that he had an appointment. A couple employees came up. I told them the queue order. Eventually I spoke to a guy. He told me to start a diagnostic test on my phone, and have a seat.

The tech guy eventually fetched me. He said my battery was fine. The phone was bad. The could not fix it. They did have an updated version of my phone. I bought it for $429. While walking to the food court, I was behind an old dude and a couple kids. I spied a girl in black dancing by a kiosk. She singled me out. I determined she was trying to sell lotion. I got outta there.

At the food court, I spied all the vendors. Ended up going to Chipotle. I bought s steak burrito and chips plus queso. The bill was a whopping $16. Big spender today. I drove home and ate my food. I had a meeting to attend. So I could not immediately set up my iPhone. After dinner, I found the new phone would not connect to my PC to restore the backup.

I ended up backing my old phone to the iCloud. Then I setup my new phone using that backup. I moved the sim card. My password manager had been updated and would not show my passwords. I downloaded a new one and manually set it up. I tested the phone. It could make and receive calls. I ordered a new case.

Lawn Mover Flat Tire

Ten days ago, I noticed my lawn mower rear left tire was shredded. It was affecting my ability to cut the grass. I went to the manufacturer web site. I tried to order a new tire online. It redirected me to a local dealer. No reason to ship it from there. I could just pick it up.

The local store did not have my tire in inventory. So they ordered it. They said it would take a couple days. I waited 4 days and called them back. They said they had it. I used Apple Car Play to navigate me there.

Traffic was heavy close to the shop. The navigation took me to some other building. I called them up and they told me they were across the street. Inside they did not have lawn mowers, just a ton of motorcycles and some ATVs. I brought my tire home.

Today I found out why the front and back wheels are different. This is a self propelled lawn mover. It has rear wheel drive. The back wheels has a gear to help the engine turn the wheel. I installed the new wheel and I am good to go again. The other tires now seem really worn though.

Shed Ramp Repair

Our next door neighbor has a dead tree in their back yard. The branches hang over our property. Sticks and branches fall down into our yard. Normally I just clean them up and send them with the county collection. The other day, a huge branch fell. It had the size of a log. It smashed down on the rails of the ramp leading up to our big shed.

Half the rails were destroyed by the falling tree branch. I asked my handyman to repair it. Then another log fell. I thought I had better hold off on the repair. The rails looked terrible. I decided to perform some makeshift repairs. I went to Lowes and bought 2x4s and 2x6s. Today I measured and cut the wood. Then I nailed in some supports to get the pieces in place.

One 2x4 was cut too short. I shored up one side with a shim. The other side required a whole 2x4 to bridge the gap. Now at least it does not look horrible. Who knows? This fix might have to stay for a long while.