Haste Makes Waste…..A Bison Returns…..Thanks Dad!

Welcome back fans of Middle Earth. I’m glad you’re hanging in there. I’m not going to have time for much this week but I’m still hoping to pour the slab this coming Saturday. We shall see.

Anyway, haste does make waste and I am definitely guilty of rushing things on more than one occasion. This occasion being the installation of the electrical panel box last week. I picked up this panel box at Home Depot and just figured I need a 200 amp service panel and that they are all the same. Well, you guessed it, they’re not all the same.

One day during the week I sat down and wanted to figure out exactly how many circuits I was going to need for the house. I was thinking 25 to 30 would definitely be the maximum. The panel box I picked up at Home Depot has 30. So I’m sitting down making my list of circuits and I get to about number 22 and I break out into a bit of a cold sweat. Oh boy Jim, there’s no way you’re going to fit everything into this panel box. Not even close. I think my final count was 35 circuits. If there was somehow a way I could have kicked myself in the you know where I would have done it right there and then. I couldn’t believe it. What a dope I was. I think I spent $125 on this panel box and now I have to take it out. Ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yet hope remains….While company is true.

It was at this time when all hope was lost that I thought of my father. Or maybe it was his spirit cracking me upside the head.

Just a little background. I did a number of houses in the past and I had always involved my father in the electrical wiring end of things. He was so into it. He wasn’t an electrician but he had learned the work and taught me how to do most of what I know about electrical wiring today. Anyway he was always thinking of the future and  he had bought a whole bunch of stuff for quote unquote ” the next house we do.” So I go to the garage back where I grew up and at the top of the stairs there isn’t one but two 200 amp panel boxes all ready and waiting to go…..and for the record these ones of course have 40 circuit breaker locations. Thanks Dad! Pretty cool though, right? And so I have the panel box for Hobbit House number II when that happens!

Take it easy Jim. One hobbit house at a time.

I breath a sigh of relief. I think I’m going to use the Home Depot panel box as a sub panel in the garage over at the house when the time comes.

Haste still makes waste though.

So I got to install another 200 amp service this weekend. I’m getting pretty good at it. Check it out.

200 amp panel box with 40 breaker locations..
200 amp panel box with 40 breaker locations..

 

I was up early on Saturday. I think I got over to the house around 5:30 a.m. It was beautiful out. What a gorgeous morning. It was nice installing the panel box and thinking of my father.  He always got so serious with this part of the electrical. I wish you all could have met him.

I went home for breakfast after that. There was a disturbance in the Force which kind of threw a wrench in the gears for the balance of the morning. Terence and I did go over late morning and we really got a lot done in an hour. Very productive. Didn’t take any pictures though. Sorry about that

Then we got the phone call. The Bison had arrived. Yes, Jude is home from college and there was much rejoicing! We had a long lunch together which was really nice. So good to see him and have him back.

The Bison.
The Bison.

Almost forgot. It was the Kentucky Derby this weekend. You know I finally have this Off Track Betting thing figured out. I mean the tickets. They’re a little confusing. I had a system this time. A good one, too. I had to place bets for like 10 people so it’s important I get this right. Anyway, I fill out all the tickets and before heading to the counter I say to myself “Let me just do some quick math and make sure I have enough money for all of this.” My mother in law of course stiffed me for her share with the admonishment, “I pay my bookie when I have my ticket in my hand!!!!” I didn’t really put enough exclamation points in there. It was loud though. Really loud. Trust me. Anyway, I figured it was about $176 in bets. Which I had. So I hand in my tickets and the lady at the counter says, “That’ll be $319 dollars please.” Gulp! Double gulp!……Forget that triple gulp!!!…Now my hands are shaking….and beads of sweat are forming. Did I somehow forget to carry a 2? “Huh…that sounds kind of high for some reason,” I say.

Okay Jim, the short ending please.

The ticket lady messed it up. I filled out the tickets right and my math was correct, as well. Only problem was I was in there straightening this out with her for like 20 minutes. And…I lost anyway. Meanwhile, my mother in law picked American Pharoah to win. It figures. There were no Irish horses in the race so the the Long Islander wasn’t interested. Oh well.

So we are meeting with the building inspector tomorrow at 3:30. Slab rebar and floor insulation inspection. Hopefully all things are in order and we’ll be doing our slab pour next week!

Enjoy your week!

Jim

Oh yeah the moth from the Fellowship returned. I actually had an interesting conversation with him!

Moth from the Fellowship returns.
Moth from the Fellowship returns.

 

 

7 thoughts on “Haste Makes Waste…..A Bison Returns…..Thanks Dad!”

  1. For filling my roll as nature commentator I ask: Jim, do you know how to tell the difference between a month and a butterfly?

    Reply
    • Yes Sally, a month is part of our calender year and a butterfly is a beautiful insect that little children try to catch with nets on a stick.

      Okay Sally, I finally caught you misspelling something. Watch it, I’ve been working in the world of concrete too long to pass that one up. It’s nothing personal, it’s just business.

      Anyway I believe a moths wings lie flat when it sits still whereas a butterflies wings lie in a vertical position.

      Cheers! I hope I got that one right.
      I also hope you are enjoying the spring. I certainly am!

      Take care,
      Jim

      Reply
      • Interesting guess, but not quite. And if I’ve made only one spelling error in our correspondence, it is only thanks to spell-check 🙂

        It comes down to: moths are fuzzier. They have fuzzy bodies where butterflies have smooth, and fuzzy antenna where butterflies have smooth stalks with a bulb on the end. _Generally_ moths are more active at night, and butterflies during the day, but there are exceptions.

        I’m off to build chicken housing today (not using concrete.) Bought chicks with no safe place prepared, and it is past time to move them out of the bathroom.

        Reply
  2. very lovely thoughts of a father remembered, and this I say very proudly of a good guy,my son-in-law. so now where are my winnings from the race??? luv ya!

    Reply
    • What winnings?

      The way I see it you owe me. With everything that I’ve had to put up with over these last 27 years or so I should be getting your social security check as well?

      Jeez….winnings?

      I’ll stop by after work tomorrow. Just don’t send over that Luca Brasi guy again to collect. He scares me. The kids think that the broken finger accident happened at work.

      Jim

      Reply

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