Shopping Day
Nov. 12th, 2011 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kevin_standleeToday being my only full day in Fernley in this week, it was Shopping and Errands Day. Also, the 10% off coupons we have from Lowe's are about to expire, so it was time to fish or cut bait on some intended purchases. After spending the morning doing laundry, we went to Lowe's Fernley and bought two sheets of plywood and some 2x6s from which Lisa intends to build a wood rack. We also got some foam insulation sheets with which she has been blocking off some of the windows (and it's making a substantial difference in keeping in the heat). We also bought some grout in a tube. The floor-joist work caused the kitchen floor to dip about 3 cm before they pushed it back up into position. This not only caused paint to crack from the ceiling and walls, but it also caused the decorative brick on the kitchen wall to crack along the mortar line where it meets the counter. Lisa, sensibly enough, doesn't water to get into that crack, so it has to be grouted before water can be restored to the kitchen.
As I mentioned, we did laundry this morning. With no water in the house, we have to walk to the laundromat, which is only a couple of blocks away, and at least we can do several loads simultaneously. Although the big dryer downstairs isn't in service yet (see below), the small dryer upstairs in what will eventually be my office does work, so we carry the wash back and dry it at home.
Laundry Tragedy for Bears: Among the things in today's wash was![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
travelswithkuma's blanket with its cute bear pattern, which as been wrapped around the Bear for years and was very much in need of a wash. Taking the laundry out to put in the dryer, Lisa discovered that Bear's blanket had been badly mangled and torn by the washer. As a substitute, Bear is now wrapped up in a Hello Kitty blanket. Lisa says that he's warm, but unhappy. And unfortunately, we never found that bear pattern cloth again after buying a bit of it years ago.
Then we went into Reno to search for replacement filters for her Shop-Vac, the Fernley Lowe's being out of the filter. The Sparks store was also out, so after getting groceries from Winco, we went to the Reno Lowe's and lo and behold they had about eight of them; we bought four, since it seems like almost everything of this sort we want is permanently discontinued when we go back from more. Besides, she reckons that she'll end up using an entire filter when she uses the Shop-Vac to clean out the mess under the old dryer vent. A previous owner vented the dryer into the crawl space, not outside. There's an awful mess down there that has to be cleaned out as part of the process of installing the full-sized washer-dryer.
After Lowe's, there was a brief stop at Whole Foods to mostly check out whether they actually sell real heavy cream as opposed to the stuff that says cream and also has a bunch of additives. They do; the big grocery stores do not. That's one other thing we miss about Roth's of Stayton; they did stock unadulterated cream, which is an ingredient in shrimp pan roast. Speaking of which, we initially were going to go by the Atlantis and have dinner at the Manhattan Grill, but the Atlantis' parking lot was sold out and even the overflow lot on the west side of Virginia Street was mostly full, so we instead went to the Nugget in Sparks, which was also busy, but at which we could get dinner at the Oyster Bar. After dinner, Lisa played the Paradise Fishing slots for around 45 minutes, and when a biggish win got her back to the $20 with which she had started, she called it a night and we headed home.
I got a bit of a fright driving back to Fernley as I hadn't been paying attention to the gas gauge and the needle, which had started at about 1/8 as we left the Nugget, had gone clear to empty in the 30 miles between Sparks and Fernley. I was wondering if I was going to run out of gas and have to coast in to that same abandoned truck-inspection area in which I broke down a couple of months ago. I made it back to the Pilot in Fernley, and based on how much it took to refill the tank, I still had three gallons (about sixty miles) left. But the gas gauge is not to be trusted. It is good to know that I have at least 500 miles of range on a tank of gas, though.
As I mentioned, we did laundry this morning. With no water in the house, we have to walk to the laundromat, which is only a couple of blocks away, and at least we can do several loads simultaneously. Although the big dryer downstairs isn't in service yet (see below), the small dryer upstairs in what will eventually be my office does work, so we carry the wash back and dry it at home.
Laundry Tragedy for Bears: Among the things in today's wash was
travelswithkuma's blanket with its cute bear pattern, which as been wrapped around the Bear for years and was very much in need of a wash. Taking the laundry out to put in the dryer, Lisa discovered that Bear's blanket had been badly mangled and torn by the washer. As a substitute, Bear is now wrapped up in a Hello Kitty blanket. Lisa says that he's warm, but unhappy. And unfortunately, we never found that bear pattern cloth again after buying a bit of it years ago.Then we went into Reno to search for replacement filters for her Shop-Vac, the Fernley Lowe's being out of the filter. The Sparks store was also out, so after getting groceries from Winco, we went to the Reno Lowe's and lo and behold they had about eight of them; we bought four, since it seems like almost everything of this sort we want is permanently discontinued when we go back from more. Besides, she reckons that she'll end up using an entire filter when she uses the Shop-Vac to clean out the mess under the old dryer vent. A previous owner vented the dryer into the crawl space, not outside. There's an awful mess down there that has to be cleaned out as part of the process of installing the full-sized washer-dryer.
After Lowe's, there was a brief stop at Whole Foods to mostly check out whether they actually sell real heavy cream as opposed to the stuff that says cream and also has a bunch of additives. They do; the big grocery stores do not. That's one other thing we miss about Roth's of Stayton; they did stock unadulterated cream, which is an ingredient in shrimp pan roast. Speaking of which, we initially were going to go by the Atlantis and have dinner at the Manhattan Grill, but the Atlantis' parking lot was sold out and even the overflow lot on the west side of Virginia Street was mostly full, so we instead went to the Nugget in Sparks, which was also busy, but at which we could get dinner at the Oyster Bar. After dinner, Lisa played the Paradise Fishing slots for around 45 minutes, and when a biggish win got her back to the $20 with which she had started, she called it a night and we headed home.
I got a bit of a fright driving back to Fernley as I hadn't been paying attention to the gas gauge and the needle, which had started at about 1/8 as we left the Nugget, had gone clear to empty in the 30 miles between Sparks and Fernley. I was wondering if I was going to run out of gas and have to coast in to that same abandoned truck-inspection area in which I broke down a couple of months ago. I made it back to the Pilot in Fernley, and based on how much it took to refill the tank, I still had three gallons (about sixty miles) left. But the gas gauge is not to be trusted. It is good to know that I have at least 500 miles of range on a tank of gas, though.
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no subject
Date: 2011-11-13 04:32 pm (UTC)Back when I had my Jeep (1995-2000), I had it run out of gas on a long road trip (Chicago to south of Nashville and back by way of Berea Kentucky) when it showed about 1/4 of a tank. After the trip was over (a trip in which I filled up as soon as it hit the 1/4 tank sticking point) I took it in for service. When they were servicing it, they discovered a factory problem with the initial gas tank installation (which made it tricky to fill up without stopping the pump), and had to replace the tank.
The problem - they replaced a 16 gallon tank with a 20 gallon tank - but still put in a 16 gallon tank sensor. Not that long later, I was driving up to near Milwaukee when I realized that my tank was empty and after putting more than 16 gallons in, realized the problem.
In 2000 when I sold the Jeep to a high school student, I told his mother that the tank still had about 4 gallons when the gauge was pegged on "empty," but didn't tell him.
no subject
Date: 2011-11-13 09:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-11-13 11:11 pm (UTC)I would be less worried if I hadn't had to spend that $15K premium to actually buy the house; had I gotten it for my original bid, I'd have that $15K now to do repairs more quickly rather than having to spread it out over time.