123a1758e78a
tech



Hello Matt - 

--8<--cut 

CA>> You _have_ been rather 'quiet' lately. :-) 

MM> Just got too busy to take time to type, but been keeping up
MM> with the reading. 

MM> Last Fall my younger daughter got fed up with the continual
MM> water loss from her swimming pool and shut it down. I had
MM> previously pressure tested all the plumbing, and there were
MM> no leaks there, so it had to be the pool itself. By mid
MM> February when it warmed enough down here to do 'wet work'
MM> we tore into the pool, discovered it was an old in-ground
MM> pool that had deteriorated and previous owners had put a
MM> vinyl pool liner into. The four corners had completely
MM> separated, and in a dozen or more places tree and plant
MM> roots had worked their way completely through the concrete
MM> and were poking into the vinyl liner. Wherever there had
MM> been long-time leakage, the chlorinated water had literally
MM> dissolved the concrete. When dry it just crumbled and could
MM> be brushed away, when damp it had the consistency of warm
MM> butter. 

MM> I spent a good month pressure washing out all the rotten
MM> stuff, chiseling out the edges of cracks and re-cementing
MM> the side walls, 

I have been told that the spray on gunnite(sp?) is the only
permanent 'cure' for such damage to a pool. 

MM> then we discovered 'considerable' rot on the decking all
MM> around the pool. We 'lost' March and most of April as we
MM> were getting 2" to 6" of rain per day, and it was all I
MM> could do to merely keep the area pumped out. 

Seemed almost continuous rainfall here in Michigan for April
and May and also interfered with a few of my outdoor 'projects'. 

MM> When we got to ripping up the decking we found all the
MM> bolts mounted in the concrete walls of the pool had rusted
MM> off, so I had to drill another 50 holes to mount new 1/2"
MM> bolts and start over. Once we had the base bolted to the
MM> pool sides, she had a contracter build a new deck. 

You're making me feel tired. lol 

MM> While this was going on, my eldest daughter had a very
MM> minor fender bender, but it so happened that she had _just_
MM> removed the headliner from her car to replace it, and a
MM> sharp edge on the roof caught her scalp peeling back a flap
MM> about the size and shape of a male shoe heel. She spent 25
MM> hours in the ER just getting the bleeding slowed enough so
MM> they could stitch it, took 72 stitches. 

Sorry to hear that - sounds painful and embarassing too. 

MM> Of course, that means her car is here while I paint and
MM> install a new fender and grille, and she has my car. Once
MM> again, we're back to daily rain, and I haven't been able to
MM> paint, and between the rains it's just been too danged hot
MM> to work outside. My 'backup car' which I've been using,
MM> lost its computer last week and is running in 'limp home'
MM> mode; takes a full three blocks to get to 30 MPH, and
MM> mileage has dropped a good 50%. :-(( Four more days until
MM> the new computer arrives! 

You've been having a run of bad luck eh? 

MM> And then, I had promised the younger daughter that I'd cut
MM> her yard fence and install a gate on the far side so she
MM> wouldn't have to drag the lawnmower across the new deck to
MM> cut the lawn on that side of the yard, as well as extending
MM> her pump shed to have a storage place for the lawnmower. 

MM> Ahhh! Such a great feeling being retired and having NOTHING
MM> to do! :-)) 

Similar to my situation but after my bicycling accident
injuring both shoulders I'm unable to do the heavy lifting etc.
and can duck a few of these things now. :-) 

--8<--cut 

CA>> I also noticed mention at SlashDot that the idea of the
CA>> 'space elevator' is alive and well (surprised me) and that
CA>> the Navy is talking about their new 'rail guns' that they
CA>> intend to mount on their ships some time in the future. 

MM> I have noted brief news articles on both of those projects
MM> over the past few months, and a 'somewhat decent' writeup
MM> on the Space Elevator in Christian Science Monitor on the
MM> Web. I've seen no mention however as to what they plan on
MM> doing during Tornado season though, or what may happen when
MM> the jet stream moves across that 'cable'... 

I find the space-elevator to be more entertaining than
realistic but I may be wrong. 

>
>        ,                          ,
>      o/      Charles.Angelich      \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >          USA, MI           < \   __\__
 

--- * ATP/16bit 2.31 * 
... DOS the Ghost in the Machine! http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/