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We got back home from Santa Fe at about 1:00pm and then proceeded to take the next four hours or so unpacking, doing laundry and getting a bit of grocery shopping done. All that and still watch the final round of the Masters.

I usually leave the desktop PC on all the time, but for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to give it a 2 week vacation while we were on ours. When I went to turn the HP Pavilion 590 back on, it just wouldn’t do anything. Tried to start it by holding down the power button for 15 to seconds before letting go, but that didn’t work. So I tried a trick that has worked in the past on computers, maybe even this one, unplug the power cord, hold down the power button while replugging in the cord. Didn’t work. Is it the power supply? The power switch itself? The motherboard? Or the little bitty board the switch plugs into? Where have the days gone where the switch was just a switch?

Our new Dell Inspiron Desktop 3891 by Tuesday.

Home Base

Miata and Outlander

Got back in town around 1:30 and 4 hours later and we are all unpacked, clothes washed and put away. It’s almost like we never left… Except for the weird garage combo.

I received a text on Thursday that the Mini is done and ready for retrieval. On Monday morning we will stop and refuel the Outlander Sport, pick up the Mini and on the way back by drop off the rental. Then once again the garage contents will back the way they belong.

Changing Filters

Today was change filters day.

I have been changing all the filters in the house every 2 months ever since we have been here. This not only includes the two HVAC filters (one upstairs, the other down), but also the Keurig coffee maker and the Brita water pitcher.

When we got the A/C fixed last month the tech mentioned that if we set the fan to ON instead of AUTO it would run all the time, but at a slower speed, which would cause the air to be kept in constant circulation which would help filter it better. And as well, possibly increase the motor’s lifespan because starting up from stopped was harder on it than just increasing and decreasing speeds to match demand, so, this is what we started doing. The ON setting will cost a few bucks more in electricity, but the extra filtering might help Donna’s dust allergy. With the added airflow through the HVAC system we figured that those filters probably should get changed every month starting now.

Although the current HVAC filters have been in there for 2 months they have actually only been in use for a month because in July the A/C was broke and didn’t run at all. Can you guess from the picture below which filter is new and which one is used?

That is the dirtiest filter I have ever seen, and both of them were that color. I don’t think the level of dirt captured has anything to do with running 24/7, but more to do with the air quality here in Klamath Falls.

The first days of the month were the only ones in green, AKA Good, and the A/C was still broke then. So for the rest of the month we got 5 days of Poor, 9 Unhealthy, 10 Very Unhealthy and 4 Dangerous. The skies have been smoke filled from wildfires to the east of us and then when they were finally under control, Northern California started burning.

Maybe I’m going to have to change the HVAC filters every two weeks during Oregon’s 5th season, the months of July to September are called Fire Season.

Making It Ours

We have been slowing putting our stamp on our Oregon home. When we bought it, its style was Plain Jane contractor flipped (we think in 2012), because every ceiling light in the house was a bronze “boob light” and the upstairs walls were sprayed a sickly tan.

The first thing we did was, tear up all the tan carpet in the three bedrooms and replace it with “wood” flooring. We also spruced up the kitchen, the walls got a bright yellow coat of paint, changed out the ratty faucet and updated both the over sink and room light fixtures. Then the two upstairs bedrooms and baths got coats of paint, blue for one set and green for the other.

That was last year, this year we have freshened up the 2 upstairs bathrooms with new size appropriate vanities, brushed nickel fixtures, new mirrors and lights (even a new vinyl tile floor in one.) Next up were changing out all those ugly ceiling light fixtures, a total of twelve of them. Up went 9 LED lights and 3 ceiling fans, almost all in the brushed nickel finish. Recently the living/dining room got a nice coat of light green paint. The original tan paint still adorns the walls of only the stairwell going downstairs and the area right at the top of them. These are still that color only because I can’t figure out how to paint the top of the wall from the bottom of the stairs.

The bottom floor walls are all white and adding some color down there is next on the list. The hallway might get some wall color, the bedroom will probably get a feature wall of color, the bath/laundry room is also a candidate for a bit of paint. The den/family room might stay white, but who knows, but I have a lot of leftover paint in most of the upstairs colors…

Oh, I almost forgot, we had the outside of the house painted as well, from dull gray to a bold blue:

Switching Switches

My latest home improvement project is changing out all the old style electrical toggle switches and putting in the more modern flat ones. All told there are 24 switches and switch plates in this plastic bag that is sitting on a shelf in the work shop area of the garage. Eighteen are single pole and 6 are of the 3-way variety.

Two of those 3-way switches, one upstairs by the front door and another downstairs in the garage, are a total mystery because they controlled nothing at all as far as we can tell. I hate to tell you just how many trips to Home Depot it took to complete this project, it seemed like a half dozen, but was probably less. The first time we went we bought a 10 pack of the flat switches, four 3-way switches (2 each for the garage light and the downstairs hallway and several varieties of switch plates. Of course I had miscounted (in my head) how many switches I needed. Not only was I unable to count straight, I was surprised by the mystery 3-way switch in the set of four by the front door.

Even with the help of my lovely bride and a tour of the house, when we got back from a second trip to HD we still missed a couple places that needed switches. Then after installing a remote controlled ceiling fan I needed a blanking plate because I removed the light switch entirely. This necessitated another trip to the big box home store. There may have been another trip in there somewhere too, I’m not sure So when I was surprised by the second mystery 3-way switch in the garage, that did nothing, I just put a single pole switch in its place (taping off the extra wire.)

Garage Flooring Part 2B

I didn’t hear from RaceDeck for a full week, so I called the 1-800-NUMBER again this last Monday. When a person answered I told them I placed an order a week ago, but have yet to be contacted by a Sales Rep. She said, “Hmmm. I don’t know what happened, but I can transfer you to someone that can help you right now.” Next thing I know I’m placing my order.

This afternoon the UPS man dropped off 4 big boxes. I managed to get the second half of the floor down in a couple hours. All except for the last 4 tiles by the door into the laundry room. I will need to trim about and inch and a half off the left edge to get them down to lay down flat because of the threshold.

Because the garage entry is flat, unlike Aiken, I bought the small leading edge pieces to finish off the front of the floor. When I got through, I thought that maybe I should buy them for the other end facing the “shop area” as well, so I wouldn’t trip on 1/2″ elevation gain. What’s another thirty bucks? Not going to get finish edges for the sides as they are close enough to the walls that it isn’t really that noticeable.

Garage Flooring Part 2A

Last Friday I went to the RaceDeck website and used their floor design tool. When I was done I clicked the Submit for Quote button. Like last time I did this we have revised the design a couple of times over the weekend, playing with the check size, adding more carpet pieces, etc. By Monday I had still not heard back about the request for a quote, so I started calculating costs based on the pricing I received back 2-1/2 years ago. In the end I have decided to keep those 24 carpet tiles in between the two “designated” parking areas, it didn’t seem like it was worth and extra $90 (in 2017 pricing) to buy the blue and silver free-flow tiles to make one big checked area.

After finalizing the design for the last time, I called the 1-800-NUMBER to go ahead and place my order. Turns out this is sort of a misnomer, the person who answered the phone was just a front person. She took my information and what I wanted to buy and said she’d be passing it along to a Sales Representative and they would get back to me. Twenty-four hours later – crickets… I’m not real sure, but I think this might have been the way it went in July 2017 too.