DeltaOne

3 hours ago, M8VER3 said:

Just under what the bottom of the slab. Maybe a foot. Only thing I noticed, your stuff goes downhill. The sewer went downward to the main pipe, probably about 4 feet. 

Here in Maryland they would be buried 36-inches deep.

Re: downward.  What's the old joke?  Three things a plumber must know?  1) payday is Friday; 2) poop flows downhill; 3) never bite your fingernails.

43 minutes ago, M8VER3 said:

We have what we call a Florida Basement.

Here in Maryland one would have to bury their plumbing deeper than what I saw in your pictures.  How deep was the underground plumbing?

ps: my parents built a house in Bethany Beach, DE in the mid-70's.  Same deal with the fill...dozens of truck loads of dirt to raise the lot.

30 minutes ago, reallyitsmema said:

 

We love Bermuda too. 

After three cruises to Bermuda we flew there and spent seven full days.  Rented a small condo from a homeowner for $100 a night.  Even had use of their private swimming pool.  Also rented a scooter for exploring the island.  

Best vacation we've ever had!

9 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

We got another John Wood, under warranty.  Third times a charm or it is tankless next time.
 

I forgot to mention that a while ago we added a timer to our hot water tanks a few years ago. At both MIL houses it runs once an hour in the middle of the night when hydro is cheapest and produces enough hot water for all day for them. They each live separately so an hour is enough. 
 

We have ours run 2 times a day, early morning and late afternoon into the early evening. Works great for morning showers or afternoon ones and the dishwasher at night.  It has worked great for reducing power bills, with the insulation wrap.

Years ago I put in a timer that looked like the one in your picture.  No time of use for lower rates here (back then and still not today).  But I had the timer shut the water heater off from 11 pm until 5 am.  Worked nicely, we did not notice a difference at all.  

I took the timer off during a little renovation about ten years ago.  Our electric rates here are about as low as one will find in the U.S.  Ten cents per kWh.

46 minutes ago, A&L_Ont said:

At the same time though we’re going to look to see what it will take to put in a tankless electric heater.

Our home is all electric.  I'm interested in a tankless water heater but my research seems to indicate the electric tankless water heaters leave a lot to be desired when compared to a gas model.  Would love to hear what others here think about an electric tankless water heater.

I'm also facing a full electric service panel.  Last month I had to install two "tandem" breakers to make room for a new circuit to charge our new electric car.  We have a 200 amp panel, maybe I could install more tandem breakers for a tankless water heater?  I don't know.

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

That's the thing I like about making a homemade pizza...no two are ever the same.  After over 40 years with my trusty pizza stone...we have a great relationship going.  The method I use, is it just simple for me and works.  😉  As long as the pizza is on the table and ready to eat...can't go wrong either way.  Pour the wine!!  😄 

 

That's true.  We're going to make a pizza tonight...green pepper and onion...one of my favorites.

3 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

Gosh no...cold stone.  I lightly flour it, then put my ball of dough on it.  Using large rolling pin, I roll it out very, very thin.  We adore thin crust pizza.  Once to the edges and uniform looking, into the preheated oven it goes at 400 degrees.  Pull it back out when starting to brown (about 8 minutes).  I let it cool on the pizza stone, then top it with any kind of creation of homemade toppings.  Yum!  😋

Interesting.  All the instructions we found say to preheat the pizza stone, which does make sense.

We use a mixture of flour and corn meal on the pizza peel.  But we got much better results after pre-baking our crust for a few minutes.  Without pre-baking it was tough to get the raw dough with toppings to slide off on to the pizza stone.

A few times we've pre-heated the pizza stone, but rolled the dough out on a thin metal baking tray we have.  Pre-bake a few minutes, remove the  metal tray and pizza crust...pile on toppings and then back in until done.  I haven't fully convinced my wife, but to me the pizza that used the thin metal baking tray was just as good as putting the dough directly on the pizza stone.

1 hour ago, island lady said:

 

Dough from scratch, roll out onto pizza stone, prebake for 5-8 minutes (insures crispy crust), then let cool a bit...start the toppings pile up.  🙂 

Roll out onto pizza stone?

We bought a pizza stone a few months ago and have been experimenting.  When we make dough from scratch we use a pizza "peel" to slide it onto the pizza stone for 5 to 8 minutes of pre-baking.  But your phrase "roll out onto a pizza stone" intrigues me.  A hot pizza stone?

34 minutes ago, John&LaLa said:

So, when you have a bad day in TX, head to FL and launch two rockets 4 hours apart. 😉 👍🚀 🛰 😎

Not sure why 18 goes before 17

Doubt I'll stay up late, or get up early

 

I try to watch the SpaceX launches.  I won't stay up late or get up early either...the replays are easy to watch on the SpaceX web site.

17 was originally scheduled for a few days ago.  Weather delays have pushed it back.  17 has an early morning launch window, 18 has an early AM launch window.

First time I've seen the Geoff Barrett web site.  Very nice.

I've been using spaceflightnow.com for the schedule.  And lately I've been using https://www.rocketlaunch.live/?filter=florida.  

Just now the Rocket Launch Live site was updated to show 17 has slipped another day, to Feb 05. But my other sites don't show that yet.

Rocket Launch Live has filters one can use to show launches for a particular area or for the entire country.

35 minutes ago, mo&fran said:

I have  LaCrosse  station  that looks similar to the Ambient station. The outside unit measures wind and rain, uses solar with battery for no sun, and displays NWS forecasts.  I am also on the Wunderground network. Outdoor temperature is a separate device that i have on my patio.

 I had an AcuRite  unit before, but did not like the display. Plus the outdoor unit also measure Temperature along with wind and rain, and used solar to power a  fan to blow outside air on the thermometer accurate, but it could not handle the Florida temperatures, and was unrealistically high.

I should have mentioned LaCrosse in my post.  Their stuff looks good too.

As for the fan in the AcuRite...some call their stuff AcuWrong. 😉  But overall it looks like good stuff.  I was just more drawn to the Ambient Weather hardware.

2 hours ago, bobmacliberty said:

 

Thanks for posting this as we're still deciding what to purchase.  I like the model that you bought...the more information the better.  It's too much for my wife though.  She wants to keep it simple with temperature, humidity, and maybe a short term forecast.  I'll need to check the Ambient Weather website.

I think most would consider Davis Instruments weather stations to be the best.  The price reflects that too.  They start at $350 or so and go up. 

The AcuRite stuff is very popular.  I almost went with AcuRite, but they seem to nickel and dime their customers.  Want to see the data on your smartphone?  Costs extra.  Want to push the data to a web site?  Costs extra.

The Ambient Weather stuff seems comparable to the AcuRite stuff.  But Ambient Weather doesn't nickel and dime their users...everything is included.  The biggest complaint you'll see about the Ambient Weather stuff is that the inside unit, the display, has a narrow viewing angle.  

Both AcuRite and Ambient Weather have units that would please your wife.  An easy to hang outside sender.  Inside display that shows outdoor and indoor temperature and humidity.  The forecast and barometric pressure too.  Prices start around $60 or so.  

13 hours ago, A&L_Ont said:

That vortex came from Western Canada.😉 I saw it on the weather network the other day, a double low. It’s quite the front, and I’m not looking forward to it. 
 

Andrew, your description of the weather station on your kitchen counter prompted me to do a little research.  I've always wanted a personal weather station and I was blown away by the technology in these things today.  No wires to run at all!

I ended up purchasing a model from Ambient Weather.  Outside unit is solar powered with battery backup.  Inside display shows wind (speed/direction/gusts), rain accumulation, outdoor and indoor (temp and humidity), barometric pressure, UVI and light indexes and phases of the moon.  This model also makes it very easy to share your weather data on the web.  Mine is sharing data to the Ambient Weather site, Weather Underground, PWS Weather and Weathercloud.

Here's a pic of mine after set up:

20 hours ago, vacationlover_mn said:

Speaking of food.. Every rib recipe we've tried (we've only done smoker and instant pot recipes), specifically tells you to remove the membrane prior to cooking.

We buy Smithfield three-packs of baby back ribs at our local Costco.  I always removed the membrane, but about two or three years ago I found the membrane had already been removed.  

Even though the instructions say to not rinse them (same for poultry) I always do.  I'm careful to avoid splashing outside of the sink area and do a careful cleanup afterwards.

7 hours ago, island lady said:

 

OMG...that does not sound fun at all...three layers...yikes!  Well, one good thing, I bet that makes that house very well insulated!  😉 

Besides the three layers of wall, the outlet below the TV where we tapped in for power was mounted at floor level...yes...right where the baseboard goes.  There are a few outlets like that in this house...mounted at floor level.  I can't imagine why they would do something like that.

18 hours ago, island lady said:

Finally finished up with the new TV set up.  Couple weeks ago installed the new 65 inch Sony on a swivel wall mount, bought sound bar speakers, and now a new Blu Ray DVD player.  

 

My cabinet arrived and fit well under the TV.  Next step was to hide that spaghetti mess of wires behind the wall.  Oh Joy that was.  Bucky did well to run them through inside the wall, but I had to connect everything up.  Was about to toss Bucky outside after a bit...he is not a patient type of person.  Was driving me crazy!!  😖

 

Got it all hooked up.  Last night it was a movie and popcorn after the Pizza.  😄 

I just helped my son wall mount his TV and hide the wires.  Hiding wires in the wall of a 90 year old house wasn't any fun at all.  We found three layers...drywall, then a weird hardboard with a printed pattern, then the original plaster and lathe.

He found some brackets that mount the sound bar to the bottom of the TV.  Worked great.

After two or three cruises to Bermuda we decided to fly there and spend the full 7 days exploring the island.  Best vacation we ever had!

We rented a small condo-type building from a resident...pretty much just a bedroom/kitchen/bathroom.  We had full use of their swimming pool.  If I remember right it was only about $125 a night...total.  

We rented a scooter from Oleander's and toured everywhere!  I'll never forget the beautiful beach views along the southern road.  Our favorite day was leaving from the dockyard along the southern road, towards St. George...and we stopped at each and every beach access along the way.

We cancelled a Celebrity cruise in July and have received our refund.  However, back in January or February I called the Captain's Club for a price reduction.  Was told they can't adjust the price and I was transferred to the regular number.  I was surprised...if they can't do a simple price reduction then I don't need them at all.

1 hour ago, drrich2 said:

I think I saw that, too. They followed the cruise over a week, and toward the end, there was this sort of 'nail-biting suspense' of waiting to see if all the onboard purchasing had tilted the overall cruise profit into the black, so to speak. It gave me the impression that just filling the staterooms wasn't enough; they had to generate a lot of income onboard to push over into profitability. 

Yes, that sounds like the same show I remember.

I remember a cruise show (maybe it was on the Discovery Channel?) from a few years ago (maybe even 5 to 10 years ago?) that said the ship had to be at 95% or higher capacity for them to make a profit.

That's why they use move-ups and price reductions to fill the ship, especially after final payment date.

I guess the unknown is can they make money at a reduced capacity with reduced staff and different itineraries?  Same question for restaurants...

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings owns Norwegian as well as Oceania and Regent Seven Seas.  I guess this means all three may go under.  

Norwegian is the third largest cruise line by passenger volume (8.7%).  It's hard to imagine how bad things will be when a company of this size can't survive.

I cancelled a cruise on March 10 (before final payment) and got the refund on April 6.  Almost a month.

I cancelled our July cruise on the Summit on March 10th.  The refund hit my credit card today, so just a few days short of a month.

Interesting that the credit hit my account today but it is dated April 1st...six days ago.

Just now, TBurr said:

Your local TV stations are good for you local people, but not for the rest of the country. We have nothing

Almost all the stations show their content live on the web.  Google Fort Lauderdale TV stations and choose one.

The normal cams are overloaded.  Google Fort Lauderdale TV station and choose one.  I'm watching live coverage on channel 7 in Miami.  

On 3/27/2020 at 12:13 PM, rosadilla said:

I cancelled on March 10th, still have not seen a refund, when I call and ask, they say it will be coming sometime.  They don't say when.  So when do I start worrying they can't meet all the refund requests?

We also cancelled a Celebrity cruise on March 10th.  So today is the 20th day and no refund yet.

I called on Friday...they said the refund had been "posted" (which I guess means "in progress").  The rep said to give it a few more days.  I'm hoping to get it by this Friday, April 3rd.

The frustrating part is that when I pay them they pull the money instantly.  Refunds take days and even weeks.  If they can automate pulling funds then they should be able to automate refunds too.