Creeker's Past Week's Accomplishments

[Dennis Peacock]

14 May 2023
Greetings,
Oncall duty for work is about all I can say......I'm truly ready to say "I retire from IT work" but I probably should hang on for another year before I say that. I want to find work after I retire from IT to be helpful to others and do something that really means something to those I hope to help. The LOML graduates college this coming Saturday and tomorrow is her last final exam. See her good vibes and prayers along her way. I am very proud of her for all that she's accomplished in college.

That's it for me, so what did YOU do this past week?

Best of weeks to you all.

[Malcolm McLeod]

We've downsized our housing, and that came with a 100A/20space main electrical service, with no spaces for 240V tools in my new gara-shop. Saturday I pulled out that entire panel and replaced with new service feeder wire, 150A/30space panel, replacement CBs, and 3 new CBs for tools.

Congrats to your graduate; my youngest will be similarly engaged on Saturday.

[Jim Becker]

Dennis, I look forward to the day when you are able to pronounce that "every day is Saturday", even if it's only for a short period before you engage in whatever comes next. Your other half is amazing and I'm very happy for her graduation!!!

Malcolm, congrats on the new place! It's been two years for us now and was totally worth it despite the various projects that have been either necessary or desired to get things where they need to be. I'm sure you'll have fun!

Another eclectic week for me...the overgrown puppy can be exhausting, but he's doing fine and the fencing company completed their work on Saturday. Oliver now has a yard he can actually run in...that's hard to do on a leash without killing the human on the other end of said leash. I have a little more landscaping work to complete and the backyard is back to "normal". Finally. Also worked with my younger daughter's SO to install a hitch receiver on her MY16 Outback Limited...we'll be doing the wiring this week. Why? They bought this cute thing to start adventuring with this summer when their lease runs out. They are heading to Maine and then Ontario after returning from a business trip to Germany.

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I'm hoping to get back in the shop soon...there have been a lot of distractions for sure, but there's stuff to design and build and it's not going to do it by itself!

[Paul F Franklin]

I spent a little time in the shop, first trying to remember where I left off on the laundry table project, and then swerving to build a Pickleball dink board. Essentially a flat piece of plywood with different zones marked to practice dinking and volleys. I made it so it clamps onto the inside of our garage door.

The tree guys I hired showed up to remove all the dead trees from the front half of our lot. They were mostly ash; some standing, many on the ground or leaning. It was a *lot* of work. They had a crew of 8 and spent nearly two full days working at a pace only the young can maintain. I hated to spend the $$ but I hated the idea of spending months doing it myself more.

We did have a bit of excitement one evening, and not the good kind. Around dinner time, we got a text from the local emergency listserv that an armed and dangerous man was on the loose in our neighborhood and to lock everything down, stay inside, and shelter in place.

It seems a semi had broken down on the highway 5 or 10 miles to our south. Apparently the driver pulled a gun on the repair mechanic that came to his aid. The police were called and they located the truck but the driver disconnected the trailer and took off down the highway in the cab before the police could talk to him. A chase ensued and ended when the local police deployed stop sticks on the highway causing the tractor to go off the road and crash. The driver jumped out and ran for the woods. This was at a point about 1-2 miles from our house. The police closed the freeway and started a manhunt with a search plane and chopper. We got the word after a few hours that the man was found unconscious at the bottom of a steep ravine that he apparently fell into and was taken to the hospital and placed under arrest. I'm glad it ended OK, but I am amazed at the series of bad decisions made by the individual...