Leaves Frozen to the Ground

I have long since collected all the leaves in the yard. But that is just the fenced-in portion of our property. Then I go rake the leaves on the hill in our back yard. It is a somewhat steep incline down to the creek at the end of our property. I save this chore for last. Can't just run the lawn mower over these leaves. The hill is just too steep.

I had made a dent in this task. Then I went out after the snow had melted. Turns out it was so cold that the leaves stuck to the ground. I wrestled some free with the rake. It was tough work. The high temperature for the day was 20 degrees. My ears were cold even though I wore a hood. My legs were frozen through my pants too.

The next day was a bit better. Some leaves still stuck. But I could rake them up a bit easier. Then on the third day all was well. I actually got a bit hot with my lumberman plaid jacket on. Unfortunately I only had a little time at lunch due to all my meeting at work. I think this third collection will have to do for the week. Tomorrow it is scheduled to rain.

I am also planning to go meet my buddy for lunch tomorrow. That usually takes a couple hours total. No time left over to rake leaves. I was happy this past week where the yard collections team came and hauled away 25+ bags from the curb. I also had a couple trash cans filled with tree branches that they took. This is our tax dollars hard at work.

Secure Login

I have to log into some payroll system to see my pay stub from work. I print it out each pay period. Like to have a hard copy of it. Some time ago, the company set up some security. I had to use this little device that had a changing number on it. It served as my password to log into the payroll system.

Well, my device expired last year. I got some emails about that. Was supposed to sign up for a new type of password generator. I went through the motions. Said I wanted to access the site from my Windows computer. Apparently Windows was not supported.

I asked for a new device. Never got one. So I was stuck. I called my company. They told me I had to download an app for my phone. Well I don't want to access the site from my phone. I want to access it from my computer. Apparently a new app serves the purpose of the old device.

Tried to download the app. My iPhone has too old of an iOS to run the app. Tried to upgrade the iPhone one generation forward in iOS. Did not work. Tried to jump two generations forward. Did not work either. I need this access. So I had to download the latest iOS.

Now I can generate the password to get into payroll. But there are all these weird changes in the iPhone that bug me. Maybe I should have asked my company to provide a work iPhone for this purpose.

True Vacation

Momoko and I went to visit her mom and dad for Christmas and New Years. We decided to make this trip a true vacation. We had to catch up on a lot of movies. Here is what we saw in the theater:

• Aquaman
• Fantastic Beasts the Crimes of Grindenwald
• Spiderman Into the Spiderverse
• Bumble Bee
• Mortal Engines

We also watched a bunch of movies at home:

• The Happy Time Murders
• Sorry to Bother You
• White Boy Rick
• Replicas

I caught a few films on Netflix too:

• Samson
• David and Goliath

Momoko's dad added another Amazon Echo to the house. Trouble getting it to recognize devices and understand commands all the time. And that is before the power went out and it got hosed.

Carbon Monoxide Scare

Momoko had smelled something like gas in our carport. Kit Kat narrowed the source down to a PVC pipe on our patio. Kit Kat thought it was the dryer exhaust vent. Momoko and I determined it was the furnace exhaust vent. We scheduled a technician to check it out. Little Kat manned the house. The technician came and same carbon monoxide was being emitted and was dangerous. Some cracks in the furnace were the source. He shut the thing off.


Time to replace the furnace and A/C. I checked the top 10 picks for HVAC professionals in the are per Yelp. Some of them did not answer their phone. Others did not have insurance for our area. I had two firms come out to look at the setup and give me an estimate. One of those companies seemed to want to wait until after Christmas to deliver the quote. Come on man. The family is freezing. I decided to go with the other company. They were cheaper too.


The kids picked up an extra space heater. We did not want them to use the dangerous one with exposed flame. It was still cold overall in the house. I had my brother write a check for the deposit on the work, plus another one for the balance. Kit Kat manned the house while the company came and removed the old equipment.


Now the company plans to return in 2 days to install the new system. I was happy I found this company. Their pricing was very reasonable. They also are providing exactly what I want, and not upselling my anything more. The lesson learned here is to not delay getting old systems replaced. Next up - our roof has reached the end and I must research options from local contractors.

Water Trouble

I went downstairs to start my next load of laundry. Stepped into a puddle of water in the utility room. Traced the source to the pipe leading out of the furnace to the drain in the floor. I lifted the drain cover. The water was high and not draining properly. I tried to move the pipe to the side, but it snapped near the furnace.

I tried to use a plunger to deal with the stuck drain. No help. I could not get good suction at the mouth of the drain. It is not a uniform lip around the opening. Also tried using a coat hanger. The drain is deep and the hanger would not bend at the J-trap.

Soaked up all the water with some towels I was washing anyway. Used some duct tape to perform a makeshift repair on the broken pipe coming out of the furnace. Made good use of the many towels I bought for the kids' bathroom water troubles. Got to get a plumber in here ASAP.

Tough End to a Semester

Today was the day for the final exam in my college class. I discovered a problem at work. Asked another team to help get us back on track. They said they needed all kind of management approval for that to happen. I called my boss and tried to get him to intervene. He wanted to deal with it this afternoon. Turns out my boss was extra busy. I kept pinging him to meet and get this done. I had a final to attend. He got free at the last minute and I kept him on task, and figured out what we needed to do.

Then I bolted out of the house and headed for school. I figured there was still time to drop by the school cafeteria and pick up a sandwich. When I got to school, the front door to the cafeteria was half closed. WTF? There were no employees serving pizza or sandwiches. I asked a cashier what was up. She said they stopped serving food at 2pm today due to finals. Oh snap.

I went to the building that my class is in. Tried to calm down by reading my book I always bring to class. This is the latest fiction novel I am reading. At first it got my mind off food, until I smelled something delicious in the waiting lounge. Eventually I headed up to class. As usual, the teacher was late. When I booted up the PC I normally use, I found that I could not remember my school password. Oh boy.

Tried a lot of combinations for my password. Was getting confused with other passwords I use for my job. I decided to try and reset my password. I had trouble remembering the security question for my favorite book. Eventually I reset my password and took my final exam. There were 50 questions. A lot of them were very familiar (the instructor gave us a big bank of questions to study). I answered all questions correctly except the last one. I had no clue on that one. My good grade on the final did not affect my grade at all it seems. Same grade as I had going into the exam. Finis.

Reinstated to Community College

Today Little Kat went to his college. He asked to speak with a reinstatement counselor. Luckily he got to speak with one, and got his school suspension lifted. He is still on probation and capped at 8 credits maximum per semester. If he fails again or his GPA gets too low, he is out.

While at college, Little Kat signed up for 3 courses for next semester: ethics, 1st year college experience, and film. Two are online. One is a night class. It is time for Little Kat to get serious about school. There is no other option other than dropping out.

I bought all of Little Kat's textbooks for next semester so he can start reading them now and get a head start. I actually bought a copy of all his textbooks myself so I can read along. Come on Little Kat. Learn from what rapper Nelly sings about:

If hard work pays off then easy work is worthless
My work habit ain't no habit man, I do it on purpose
I push myself to the limit so my talent will surface...