Cypress Sun

Turned on the tv to see totality. They show it for a few seconds and then a minute of some idiot telling us how beautiful it is. Oh well, next one is due in 2045 and should intersect my location with totality.

60% here in My locale. Kind of like cloud cover with a chip missing out of the sun.

If it was attacked and blew up during the eclipse...how would you know?

Since when did the UN turn into a group?

Why stop at the statue? Get rid of the UN entirely.

Many civilizations, and people, over the years have been manipulated through the knowledge and use of astronomical events. Since it'll only be 60% coverage here, I'll take a quick peek, look at the shadows on the driveway and throw my Apocalypto DVD in and watch that. I thought that was an excellent movie.

And another!

In honor of all the people sitting in traffic...

That don't take much!

Congratulations...Gramps!

Beautiful Loser

I've seen at least two vehicles in the same position as the one in the picture, while humorous, they weren't the best I've witnessed. There used to be a launch site that had a website to view all of the stupid stuff people would do. These are my favorites even though they took place before or after launching. #1 - A guy sitting on an old, wooden dock that deck level was about 4" above the water. Put his skies on, sat on the dock and told the driver to "go for it"...he did. He didn't make it far and when he got out of the water, the wood slivers that stuck out of his buttocks were plain to see. #2 - Didn't even happen at a dock, happened at a small apartment complex I lived at. He had one of those high-top, custom vans, owned a Checkmark speed boat and would park where ever he wanted to regardless of assigned spaces. On occasional weekends, he would hook up the boat trailer to his van at night and park behind a group of cars until morning. One morning I went out to witness him taking off with his boat. Trailer immediately came off the hitch because it wasn't locked down, lower assembly/prop slams the ground. He hears it...stomps the brake....BLAM goes the trailer hitch into the custom painted rear door....he nails the gas....boat motor hits the ground again, SMASH....he stomps the brake again...BLAM goes the trailer hitch into the other custom painted rear door. At this point he stopped and got out cussing up a storm At this point, I was laughing so hard that I went back inside before a fight started. He moved out shortly after but I remember that vividly even though it was 1982 and the entire episode only took about 15 seconds or so.

Notice the colors in the title? Kinds of explains things.

All places are only one or two election cycles away from being a "blue" state. Be vocal, very vocal...and vote...every time.

You didn't answer the question...have you seen the movie. Yes or No.

Hey, kid...Santa Claus is at the front door...why don't you go take a look.

The Golden Beatle (spelling meant to be like that)

It's not about climate...it's about money.

And like all wars, it's the civilians that suffer the most...us. The movie sound interesting, I'll go see it.

As others have stated, sounds like the tank needs flushing/cleaning at the minimum. Because of the "sand", the bottom element probably needs to be replaced also. If the tank isn't leaking, I would replace both elements and both thermostats. BTW, that's not sand, it's actually deposits from hard water. Replacement of these items and the flushing/cleaning can be done by either a plumber or by you if you want to save money. If the work is done by a plumber, get a quote (price) first. Tell them that you'll have the tank drained BEFORE they get there as this takes time and they charge by the hour. Assuming that the wire that goes to your water heater is a #10, which almost every electric water heater is wired with, the breaker should be no more than a 30 amp breaker, not a 40. Based upon what I've seen around here, element/thermostat replacement is $200 -300. Tank type water heater (40 gal) is $800 -1200 which includes them supplying the heater. If you do the job yourself, make sure that you turn the breaker for the unit off before draining it. For the record - I replaced my water heater a few years back, doing the work myself. It was actually pretty easy to do. All I really needed was a plumbers tubing cutter (already had), emery cloth, Teflon tape (white tape for the threads), a pair of Shark Bite flexible hose connecters (bought at HD), short piece of 3/4" pvc w/male connector (for the pressure relief valve to drain into the pan if needed) and two red wirenuts (already had). I reused the pan under the old heater. The Shark Bite hose connectors are a GREAT invention. One of the SB flex hose connectors was just a normal one with a threaded male connector at one end and a slip on connector at the other end. The other SB flex hose connector was the same thing, only with a shut off valve for the cold water side. The secret to do it yourself water heater replacement is to match up the heaters as close as you can in height, width and connection location. It helps tremendously to have room to work on the heater also. Mine in the garage with about a foot of room on either side and nothing above it, so that helped and was easy to work on. Being in the construction trade for 40+ years and seeing how plumbers do things helped a lot also.

I can't speak for the plumbing, only for the electrical portion of the deal. The below only applies if your existing water heater is electric, not gas. For each unit you install, you would need a separate circuit to each unit. You can't just tap off of an existing circuit for this purpose. Wattage and voltage depends upon the unit. Each circuit would need to be installed from your electrical panel to each unit. An electrician is going to get expensive, real quick...more than likely negating any savings on not needing to run the water to get hot. Keep in mind that the under sink ones will not heat your shower without an (somewhat) extensive plumbing repipe also. No matter what the salesmen claim about the inline/on demand water heaters, they don't save you money. The water still takes as long to get hot as it did before, only now it has about twice as much power consumption as a regular 4500 watt water heater does. The wiring that is presently at your existing water heater will, more than likely, be inadequate for an on demand water heater as most of the on demand units require a #8 conductor and a 40 - 50 amp breaker. Many people get a unwelcome surprise by this when the plumber comes out to swap out the water heater and the wiring/breaker is not adequate. Another thing about on demand water heaters is that the very second that the hot water is turned on, that entire wattage/amperage of the on demand water heater is at full load amps, in other words...it's more expensive powerwise. Everyone I know that had an on demand water heater installed, replaced them with a standard water heater after a few years. I would go with a tank type water heater. I installed a 30 amp, 2 pole switch for mine. I turn it on for an hour in the morning and an hour at night. Works great, saves money and is easier on the unit as it doesn't cycle on/off all day and night. YMMV

And here I thought the oldest sandals were crocs.

Had a RO trainee on one of my shifts at the range. Told me that he had just moved to Florida from California. My exact words to him were this "As a refugee or a reformer?" He hesitated for a second and answered "Refugee".

For some reason, I just can't help but remember a book I read many years ago called "The Day of the Triffids".

Isn't that why they make edged weapons?