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Pool Shoes
I finally got around to winterizing the swimming pool today. I usually do it around the second or third week of November, but this is the first year I can remember it dragging on until Thanksgiving. It’s been a mild November, with only 2 or 3 nights dipping below freezing. As long as it’s not…
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How to Save Money on Pool Chemicals
I’ve learned a few things about swimming pools after owning one for 12 years. #1, pools are a huge money pit. #2, pool chemicals, particularly when sold as such, are extremely expensive. And #3, for a lot of pool chemicals, you can save a significant amount of money by purchasing the equivalent product from an…
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Instant Hot Water Tank Repair
One of the must-have appliances in our kitchen is an instant hot-water tap. Once you’ve gotten used to instant cups of hot tea, you’ll never want to be without one. Unfortunately, while these gadgets are a great luxury, they have a reputation for being unreliable. The most popular brand, In-sink-erator, is well known for lasting…
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T-Day Week
Well, our unseasonably warm and wet autumn has lasted into Thanksgiving week. The weather for this morning’s ride was around 58° with fog. I took a longer ride this morning, because it wasn’t raining, rain is predicted for tomorrow and Wednesday, and I actually managed to get out of the house before 8:00am. Last Friday…
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Farewell 2011 Pool Season
The weather is finally starting to turn fall-like. Yesterday evening, under the lights, Andrew and I took the ceremonial final swim of the 2011 season. We beat last year’s date, September 26, by 3 days. The kids’ first swim was on May 22, the same day we uncovered the pool. That made for a swim…
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Grout Removal Finally Finished
So yesterday, about a year after starting, I finally finished grinding the grout out around the master bathroom tub. This is not a job I’d recommend doing with older tile, unless it is really valuable and/or has historical significance. It’s boring, dusty, tedious, and time consuming. Did I mention that it’s dusty? That cannot be…
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Grout Removal
Nothing much exciting to write about on the biking front lately. I was off work last week, and didn’t do much biking, but this week I’m back at it again. August has brought some slightly more pleasant weather so far, but still not much in the way of rain, other than the occasional torrential downpour. …
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Disabled List
2011 has been a bad year for me in the injury department. A couple of Saturdays ago, I messed up my ankle during a home improvement project (I should know better by now — it’s physically impossible for me to get through any home improvement project without some kind of injury. Maybe that’s why I’m…
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Battle of the Bulge
Well, as it always seems to now, summer has arrived in May in the Mid-Atlantic. We opened the pool last weekend, and the water temperature is already pushing 80°. By Sunday, it’ll likely be up to 82 or 83. Amusingly enough, we had the cover off the pool at 9:30am and the kids were in…
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Peeling Onions
Among the many joys of home improvement projects, are the little complications that come up and make a project take longer, cost more, etc. Certain kinds of projects are more likely to result in this than others, and a prime example is installing replacement windows. I decided I was going to install 6 replacement windows…