Ants

Basement Bookcase - TV Box Removed

My wife noticed ants in a spare room on the second floor. What kind of ants are they? Are they carpenter ants? Are they eating my house? Call the bug man, he comes out and sprays. Now we are seeing dead ants, but we've still got ants coming in, plus we've got ants coming in the back door in the basement. 

Normally I don't mind a couple of ants, but it's never just a couple. Those two are just scouts and as soon as they find something good to eat they're going back and tell all their brothers and sisters and pretty soon you've got an army of ants in your kitchen. No thanks, let's put a stop to it now.

I got to thinking about this problem. Why are we seeing ants on the second floor? The place we are seeing them is just above the gas fireplaces and there is all kinds of space back there. The fireplace on the main floor is pretty well sealed up, but the one in the basement is surrounded by cabinets. On top of the fireplace is a big TV box and that box can be pulled out to give access to the space behind. Last time the bug man was here we didn't spray in the basement, this time I think we will. So I pulled the box out.

Basement Bookcase - TV Box Installed

I don't remember who the numb nuts was that installed the electrical outlet on the side of the box, but it sure made getting it out a bit more difficult than it needed to be. All these wires are needed to support the Frame TV we have upstairs. If someone had planned ahead, they could have put a recess in the wall upstairs to hold the driver box, but they didn't. Instead, the wires go to the TV box in the basement.

Screw Hole and Depth Gauge

My wife helped me hoist the box up and set it in the hole. Eyeball the placement and then check the mounting holes for alignment. First time the charm!

This cabinet used to hold a 300 pound 36 inch CRT television. I think we bought it around the turn of the century and it was replaced by a flat screen a few years later. I keep thinking I ought to do something with this big space, but I'm not sure what.

P. S. The chairs in the top picture were a failed attempt to support the box while we fed the wires through the holes in the back. Didn't work, chairs immediately toppled over sideways. So we used the printer table. It wasn't as high, but it worked just fine.

P. P. S. Bug man tells me we have more ants than usual on account of we didn't have a hard freeze this winter.

Flat Tire Addendum

A Young People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn
4.1 rating on Goodread

While I was waiting for the flat to be fixed I notice a couple of books in the office. Don't often see books in auto repair joints, or maybe I just never noticed. Anyway, I'm always looking for something new to read, hoping I will find something that will grab me. So I take a couple of pics. It's quicker and easier than writing it down and the camera doesn't forget.

The Perfect Girl: A Novel by Gilly Macmillan
3.7 rating on Goodreads

Don't know that I will read either one of these.

Cheap Amazon Tire Pressure Gauge

When we got back to the house we checked the pressure in all the tires including the emergency spare. That spare needs to be inflated to 60 PSI and it was only about half that. Start pumping it up, stop and check the pressure and the gauge only goes to 50 PSI. What is this? When did we start cheaping out on tire pressure gauges? I used to have a couple of decent gauges but they got old and quit working, so I bought a new one off of Amazon. It was only $8 for a pair of them. Guess I got what I deserved.

Guns

World War II German 8.8 cm Flak 18/36/37 anti-aircraft and anti-tank gun

Italian Army personnel recovery operation using Agusta A129 Mangusta attack helicopter

Nose Gun

Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk

10th Cav trooper with Apache Scouts, 1885

Funnies

10 Short Videos #6117

10 Short Videos #6117

Rollerblade wheels on office chair

Ducklings leap of faith

Wrong spot? for splitting firewood

Machining a locking nut for threaded rod

Cute Girl Making A Amazing Lac Bangles With Unique Techniques

Airshow in NAS Corpus Christi, Texas. F-18 and stunt plane

Masterpiece of Engineering- BALLPOINT PEN in Electron Microscope

Inside the AC-130J Ghostrider

Bush plane touching the surface of glass smooth water

Air Tractor landing uphill

Aerometal

Lockheed C-121 Constellation

Found out Matt is working for Aerometal in Aurora, Oregon. A very niche business 'specializing in Continuing Airworthiness in Aging Aircraft.'

Blasting

Bachman Turner Overdrive - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet 1974 Video Sound HQ
NEA ZIXNH

It's a nice day today, so I've got the windows down in my car, cruising up Highway 217 and this tune comes on the radio. Actually, YouTube Music via my smartphone and then through a headphone cable to the radio. So this tune comes on and it's a banger, so I wanna hear it loud. But I've got the windows down. Ever notice that nobody ever drives with the windows down anymore? Anyway, back to the radio. Can the radio handle it? And more importantly, can the speakers? I've dealt with dead speakers before (for example) and I don't want that. Unfortunately the only way to find out if they can take it is to turn up the volume, so I did. All the way to 35. Normally I'll have it around 15 or so when I am driving around in town, 25 MPH or less. On the highway with the windows up I'll turn it up to 20 to 25. This 35 business is uncharted territory, but the radio and the speakers handled it just fine. I think full volume on this radio is 40 or 50. Never tried it.

I think somebody spent a couple of bucks on the sound system before I got the car. The radio is a Kenwood with a detachable faceplate. It has one big knob that, besides turning like a volume control, it also acts like joystick to do I dunno what. I kind of learned a couple of things, but then I started using my smartphone and forgot all about the front panel controls. Now I use the buttons on the steering wheel. On the right side of the wheel I have buttons for the cruise control, which I use the heck out of. The stereo controls are on the left side of wheel. They allow me to changed the volume and channel and also mode. It has five or six modes (USD, CD, Radio, Blank/Inactive?, and Auxiliary, which is the one I use with my smartphone). So I no longer even have to touch the front panel.