Rocks, Leaves, Lights, Gas, and Crap
Dec. 2nd, 2006 07:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianThis morning I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find out exactly what the voodoo was behind finding "stones - crushed." I looked under "rocks" (really, I did,) and "gravel" and "quarry" oh my! Finally, I tried an online search, and one of the hits mentioned the secret phrase - I looked in the local yellow pages and lo! this was not the quarry I was looking for. I finally found it in the online yellow pages - verified in the hard copy white pages.
And they didn't answer the phone.
I called the local nursery - out on Fairyland - and talked to an 8 year old. I think he took down my information, but I never got a call back and don't expect I will. Professional-type customer service advice: if you're going to publish your home phone as a business line, teach everyone how to answer it in a professional manner and *not* as if it was a home phone. Even better advice (50% off list price!) - get a separate phone line and send it to a nicely recorded machine if someone can't get to it to answer it in a professional manner.
I then called the masonry place out by Country Junction, and 9-10 tons of 2B (3/4") gravel will be arriving at 10:30am Monday morning. Scratch one long-standing item from the to-do list.
In this fit of phone calls, I also called the septic service, and the woman who answered the phone not only spoke in a professional manner, she knew her shit (and, by extension, that of other people.) With one and a half questions she verified we will have to expose gobs of the front lawn to get at the two openings on the septic tank, because she knew the large ugly cement opening down by the sandmound was just that of the dosing tank (full o' piss, maybe vinegar) and not full o' crap. She also knew this was not the best time of year to dig up ground just because we may want to suck that stuff out - in the absence of a bona fide overflow, the best bet is to wait for Spring. Grass will recover better to patch itself up if we wait, as well. She also arranged so that as soon as they are in the area - so we don't foot the bill for them driving over here - she'll call and schedule them to stop by and fix the beheaded washout pipe on the sandmound. Scratch another thing off the list.
Justin and I went to Evil*Mart to get some SAE 10W-30 oil, to check their stock of GE Frost Blue Icicle lights (3 boxes,) outdoor extension cords (need 4,) timer or light-sensitive power strips (two, with at least 4 outlets each,) a 223 battery, and milk. We wound up with the oil, some clips to hang the lights (which I had forgotten to add to the list,) and Justin's present for Rachel. We went across the street to Giant and got the milk and some Stash green chai. Still no battery. We circled around again because I realized maybe, just maybe Radio Shack might have the battery - and they did. Said hi to their pet box-bug that was crawling around the card reader.
Got back, and added the headlight and usage meter to the DR, prepped the lawn deck, filled it with oil and gas, and fired it up for a leaf munching run. After reading a review, I expected to be tossed about by the differential - even on low speeds - so I took it very easy, but I did about half the lawn in third gear, after doing second for most of it. First gear was way too slow for the lawn. It took about a half hour, and I did a lot of do-overs, to try and get the hang of cornering around trees and so forth, just for practice purposes. After finishing it all off, I took a few spins in fourth, and expect I'll be doing most mowing in high gear. We cleaned the deck off, and then put it away, leaving the plow attached for spreading gravel on Monday.
We realized it was a bit darker than we'd like, as we wanted to put up the 6 strings of lights I picked up at KMart the other day (the last 6 they had.) We wound up putting only one of them up, and had to turn the lights on half-way through because it was too dark to see. This will be the "first string" - starting things out just a bit around the corner, basically where porch roof meets house. We had to shift the existing 4 strings over about two feet (they were starting along the front edge of the porch.) Tomorrow we'll finish the front, and maybe start to do the roof edge on the garage wall - although that part won't be lit until I can find a power solution. I want to do something automated so we don't have to yank plugs out of the wall before going to bed.
And they didn't answer the phone.
I called the local nursery - out on Fairyland - and talked to an 8 year old. I think he took down my information, but I never got a call back and don't expect I will. Professional-type customer service advice: if you're going to publish your home phone as a business line, teach everyone how to answer it in a professional manner and *not* as if it was a home phone. Even better advice (50% off list price!) - get a separate phone line and send it to a nicely recorded machine if someone can't get to it to answer it in a professional manner.
I then called the masonry place out by Country Junction, and 9-10 tons of 2B (3/4") gravel will be arriving at 10:30am Monday morning. Scratch one long-standing item from the to-do list.
In this fit of phone calls, I also called the septic service, and the woman who answered the phone not only spoke in a professional manner, she knew her shit (and, by extension, that of other people.) With one and a half questions she verified we will have to expose gobs of the front lawn to get at the two openings on the septic tank, because she knew the large ugly cement opening down by the sandmound was just that of the dosing tank (full o' piss, maybe vinegar) and not full o' crap. She also knew this was not the best time of year to dig up ground just because we may want to suck that stuff out - in the absence of a bona fide overflow, the best bet is to wait for Spring. Grass will recover better to patch itself up if we wait, as well. She also arranged so that as soon as they are in the area - so we don't foot the bill for them driving over here - she'll call and schedule them to stop by and fix the beheaded washout pipe on the sandmound. Scratch another thing off the list.
Justin and I went to Evil*Mart to get some SAE 10W-30 oil, to check their stock of GE Frost Blue Icicle lights (3 boxes,) outdoor extension cords (need 4,) timer or light-sensitive power strips (two, with at least 4 outlets each,) a 223 battery, and milk. We wound up with the oil, some clips to hang the lights (which I had forgotten to add to the list,) and Justin's present for Rachel. We went across the street to Giant and got the milk and some Stash green chai. Still no battery. We circled around again because I realized maybe, just maybe Radio Shack might have the battery - and they did. Said hi to their pet box-bug that was crawling around the card reader.
Got back, and added the headlight and usage meter to the DR, prepped the lawn deck, filled it with oil and gas, and fired it up for a leaf munching run. After reading a review, I expected to be tossed about by the differential - even on low speeds - so I took it very easy, but I did about half the lawn in third gear, after doing second for most of it. First gear was way too slow for the lawn. It took about a half hour, and I did a lot of do-overs, to try and get the hang of cornering around trees and so forth, just for practice purposes. After finishing it all off, I took a few spins in fourth, and expect I'll be doing most mowing in high gear. We cleaned the deck off, and then put it away, leaving the plow attached for spreading gravel on Monday.
We realized it was a bit darker than we'd like, as we wanted to put up the 6 strings of lights I picked up at KMart the other day (the last 6 they had.) We wound up putting only one of them up, and had to turn the lights on half-way through because it was too dark to see. This will be the "first string" - starting things out just a bit around the corner, basically where porch roof meets house. We had to shift the existing 4 strings over about two feet (they were starting along the front edge of the porch.) Tomorrow we'll finish the front, and maybe start to do the roof edge on the garage wall - although that part won't be lit until I can find a power solution. I want to do something automated so we don't have to yank plugs out of the wall before going to bed.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 03:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 02:49 pm (UTC)My favorite part about it is that you have to know the lingo, and, even though they deal with (mostly) end users, they have things geared towards the insider.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 07:17 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 02:56 pm (UTC)These lights are still a new thing for us - our first year here, we put out 2 strings of blue frost icicles on the roof edge, and one string of colored lights on the porch rail. We repeated that modest display the next year, and last year we added 2 more strings of icicles.
I promised the kids - Deb, really, she "twisted my arm" - that we would set up lights as soon as we owned a place. I grew up with a handful of colored light candles and maybe a string of lights hung inside - Deb didn't quite realize that I had always wanted to put up more lights. I still like it a bit on the understated side, though... nothing too gaudy or overdone.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 01:54 pm (UTC)I'm glad the yard vehicle works well. Why is it called a deck? At first, I "saw" you driving your porch deck around!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 03:02 pm (UTC)Hmmm... I thought I had (or haeb? =) Chris Mouse. I know I have Rudolph.
We may decorate the tree today - Deb straightened out the branches yesterday. Brandon loves it - "pretty lights!" We go outside every night to look at the pretty lights, but he mostly ignores them, looking for "Luna moon" (who was particularly nearly-full and beautiful the past couple of nights.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-12-03 03:40 pm (UTC)