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Off Key - General Discussion

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A place to talk about whatever you want

  • Pinned threads

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    Great!
  • My latest project

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    The difference between cleaned veneer and uncleaned. I'm about half way down the bentwood panel. This is nothing more than cleaning--no polishing, etc. I'm not sure if I will replace the entire end panel--on the left--or simply patch it. Same with the other end of the organ. I'm afraid new veneer might not match the old. [image: 10171.JPG]
  • Knee pain? Just walk it off.

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    ShiroKuroS
    Back to @axtremus 's OP... I have osteoarthritis in both knees. I do (shallow) squats, a whole set of legs exercises lying down, ride the exercise bike almost every day. Take the stairs up every chance I get. I have the ongoing problem with my foot/heel/achilles, so I can't walk long distances, I can't run or jump. And, like the findings about knee surgery, I suspect that the surgery that's being recommended for me is something to avoid at all costs. (that's a topic for another post) But all the things I'm doing for my knees really help. Not moving is the kiss of death.
  • Guess what I'm doing today

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    Well, it's like living in a mansion compared to my previous place. It's a double wide. It's huge for 1 person. I have a kitchen of course, a dining room, a huge living room, cathedral ceiling, I can't touch the ceiling with my fingers in the bedrooms. I need to stretch another good 3" no matter how hard I try. I have a bedroom with attached bathroom. I have a second bedroom that is much larger than the master. The guest bathroom is his and hers and it has the washer and dryer. I have a sun porch with a 2nd door to the outside. It the same tile floor as the rest of the mobile home except the bedrooms, storm windows of the kind of quality from time back, an Art Deco style wall light, a ceiling fan of the kind of build quality from time back, and even a a Bell System phone cord outlet. Lol. It's a very strange floor plan. Clearly the large bedroom should be my study. But I did run into one major renovation issue. There's a very slow but constant water leak. It seems to me for various reasons that vent caps got worn out or destroyed that lead to, or led to, ducting for the bathroom ceiling fans. I think this is because my bathroom ceiling fan's ducting has been removed (how anyone got access to it and why they took it away and didn't replace it? A complete mystery. Unfortunately, the water had caused minor ceiling and wall damage. Sadly, it's rotted some of the floor boards under the past its prime wall to wall bedroom carpet in both bedrooms. There are 3 bad spots where your foot will actually sink down if you put your weight on them. One in the large bedroom opposite the bathroom wall, one in my bedroom opposite bathroom wall, and 2nd one in my bedroom in the far inside corner, where water travels in a line leading back to the position of the ceiling fan. Strangely, the ceiling looks brand new until you get to the far corner. Then obviously the water travels downward with gravity. I'm not upset from a due diligence point of view. We don't do licenced home inspections. I haven't heard of it. The sales are "as is" no matter what, and the sellers have no obligation or incentive to renovate anything. There could be a lien holders, in theory, but I never heard of anyone not paying cash. So there have never been lien holder requirements. I don't have an estimate yet. I haven't had time. The rainy season is about to end. I plan to figure out what's happening and what will be involved in repairing the leak asap for sure. I don't know what I'm going to do about the floor. I can't think about that now or my head will explode. The entire subfloor for this many sq ft can be replaced (and the work is made possible by the fact the structure is raised about 4 ft off the ground) for 7k. I don't want to spend 7k. I might let the water damage "dry out" (except it won't really) as long as the floor will hold. Unfortunately, the previous owners lived here for 3 months a year. Of course they factored this in (and their plan to sell- of course) when making maintenance decisions. It is what it is. The large bedroom's carpet makes it unusable except for storage for now. Carpet's great but it has to be taken care of on a daily basis. You can't ignore it for 9 months of the year. Clearly they were not going to replace it because they knew about the floor. But I like it! It is c. 1972 and was the highest price point everything brand and options possible built in the original 1/2 of the park. It's one of the nicest mobile homes (I mean top 10 out of 400 not to brag about it) and the street is the nicest street in the park IMO. It's kind of a "grande dame" complete with a little water damage. Lol. It's like a '70's time capsule in a way. You know I love that. Right now I'm doing security upgrades. I have a plan I spent months researching. I'm almost done. In fact I have 10 solar power perimeter stake lights arriving today. The locks were just changed. I have the keys. What other keys are floating around after all these years? There aren't any now. But yes! My life here is much less stressful. I mean just the fact of having electricity doesn't suck. I like living alone. Imagine- this is the first time I've done it. It's all good. Thanks for asking.
  • Word association thread

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  • There goes Scaramucci's record

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    MikM
    You knew this would happen if you saw her first totally 4th grade book report press conference.
  • Daniel's Music

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    @mark I was never a dancer either. Just wasn't. I don't know why. Dance was the foundation of Madonna's work in music videos and concerts (and I guess still is but she's got a lot of injuries). She went to Martha Graham's school. Martha Graham named her Madame X. Hence, Madame X, her last great album. I wish I could sing! Not pop music. Classical music and church music.
  • Op 72. No 1.

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    Thank you jon! We would have liked to have one this year and I am not completely 100% sure we won't, but it will more likely be some time next year.
  • Election Season Dave Barry

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    Dave is always good. I remember a column he wrote on dating. Sent a copy to a friend - and the next thing I knew it was being faxed all around the country.
  • Marjoe Gortner, the “boy preacher”, 1944-2026

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    That may be what is called a "shirt-sleeve" relative. Marjoe Gortner reminded me of the creepy guy who insisted upon showing me a gospel music technique that used chords. I was too busy looking for an exit to learn anything.
  • Hegseth

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    Not to sound morbid. No, nothing morbid here.
  • Surf’s up!

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    Waves are measured from the water level up, not from down in the trough. 15 feet is big. Was in 8 foot waves in a 36 sailboat in the Gulf of ah, you know, that Gulf down there. Thought I might die. Didn't.
  • Another one for Dol

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    Lol.
  • Music is wonderful

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    AndyDA
    Very little information about the band is to be found. It seems to be the only recording available by the original City of London Brass. The band was made up of students from the London Music Colleges and other London educational institutions, so had youthful, talented, semi-pro players. Formed in 1971 and lasted maybe only 4 years. Guessing it depended on their conductor, Geoffrey Brand who died recently at the age of 97, and was an influential and inspirational band/trumpet man over decades.
  • Can someone who knows Zoom...

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    @shirokuro Thanks!
  • Laughter is the best medicine

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    [image: 1000005846.jpeg]
  • Continuing to redecorate Washington DC

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    wtgW
    Pirro must have gotten hold of the report and that's why she dropped the charges against the Olympic guy. She dropped the charges on August 4th; report is dated the 6th. The blue coating applied to the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool this summer failed in at least 85 places because of errors in the renovation, including the premature refilling of the basin before the liner had fully dried, according to an inspection report obtained by The Washington Post. The Aug. 6 report, commissioned by the contractor that did the work, documents far more damage than has been previously reported. President Donald Trump has generally attributed the damage to vandals, but the report makes no mention of vandalism to the liner and blames the problems on the use of improper materials and a rush to complete the job. The administration wanted the project finished in time for the celebration of the nation’s 250th anniversary. The 75-page “failure analysis” by Atlantic Coating Inspection includes scores of photos documenting the liner’s deficiencies — ranging in severity and including blisters, peeling and cracks — and identifies their likely causes. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/reflecting-pool-liner-failed-in-85-places-after-flawed-renovation-inspection-found/ar-AA2edde0 tl;dr - The report notes a ton of reasons the paint peeled; none of them involved vandalism. There was also a lot more damage than previously reported. The Delusional One gets the last word: Last Tuesday, as the repairs were nearing completion, Trump told reporters that the latest fixes would make the pool “as vandal-proof as you can get.”
  • Harry takes his act home...where...

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    Link to video This isn't AI. It isn't "fake". I said some of these people are serious people. Paula is a former diplomat. Her work is impeccable, even if I think her long form videos ramble on. She needs an editor. But, yes, this is what it looks like when the admiration a nation has for a person implodes.
  • Bloomscrolling--what's in bloom where you are?

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    AndyDA
    [image: 13842.jpg] Cyclamen and violas
  • Rosecliff Mansion, Newport

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    Marble House, Newport Link to video Caim to fame- childhood home of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Her Grace The Dutchess of Marlborough. Doesn't do it for me at all, not the exterior, not the interior. Narrator attributes it as an homage to the Petit Trianon. https://www.chateauversailles.fr/decouvrir/domaine/domaine-trianon/petit-trianon In any case, everything the Petite Trianon is- Marble House is the opposite, imho.