Among Friends

[gloriajean]

Looking forward to the Oriels coming here!

It should be soon so I'll get the grape jelly ready for them. Just so the Grackles leave it alone.

Anyone see any where you live yet?

[Desert Lily]

I found my lawn guy by talking to him while he was working on a neighbor's yard. It was the 2nd or 3rd time I saw him there, so I figured my neighbor must've been satisfied with his work to have him come back. He has a 2nd job, so scheduling around that & the weather gets tricky sometimes, but I'm in a rather rural area & there aren't many services here.

(That neighbor has since moved away.)

I found the 2 different lawn service people I used on the west coast pretty much the same way. One I went to talk to while he was working on a beautiful lawn across the street, & the other was recommended by my next door neighbor. The lawn workers were independent biz people & there were no contracts. I was happy with both services. 

I just recommended my lawn guy to a neighbor friend, and he had used him for snow removal at my recommendation too. 

Neighbors reaching out to neighbors.

[geezerette]

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@gloriajean wrote:

Looking forward to the Oriels coming here!

It should be soon so I'll get the grape jelly ready for them. Just so the Grackles leave it alone.

Anyone see any where you live yet?

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I've only seen singular Orioles once every few springs.  They stay a day or two and then are gone.  I've always left oranges for them but they don't stick around long enough to eat much.

[just bee]

I've always assumed that an encounter with an Oriole in New Mexico was watching the Baltimore baseball team on TV.

But, no, there really are orioles in this state.  If I've seen one in the wild I've probably thought it was something else.

But there are plenty of photos online -- mostly Bullock's -- and there are actually several other species here (Scott's, Hooded and Orchard).

In Montezuma, NM:

[viva923]

computer problems today

[Bird mama]

Good Morning, my new kitchen faucet was delivered on Sunday and I woke up yesterday ready to tackle a small plumbling job.  The shut off valves on the water supply lines wouldn't move when I tried to turn them off by hand so I went into the basement and shut the water supply to the house off at the meter.  I didn't think it was a big deal to shut off the entire house because this was an easy job, or so I thought

The Grohe faucet was attached to the underside of my double sink with a plastic nut.  The mounting plate between the nut and the underside of the sink itself was hard plastic and triangle shaped. There was a small lip on the underside of the sink right near the mounting plate.  I shimmied under the pipes, etc and studied how all of this was attached and then I worked on it for nearly an hour.

I often say that I am a walking example of God's favor.  A less religious way to look at it is that fate smiles upon me and favors me.

Here's what I mean.  There in an outlet under the sink that powers the garbage disposal.  There is nothing wrong with the outlet and garbage disposal works.  I took a jigsaw under the sink with me with the intention of cutting off the corners of the mounting plate so that I could rotate the nut and not run into the lip.  I unplugged the garbage disposal and plugged in the jigsaw.  The jigsaw wouldn't start.  I said hmmm did my jigsaw finally cr@p out?  No, it did not.  When I plugged it into any outlet away from the sink, the jigsaw worked.  

I said, okay, 'you' don't think it's a good idea for me to be in an enclosed area with this jigsaw, fine.  I won't use the jigsaw.  I used every tool that I own to get that nut off.  Finally at 8 am I said, okay, okay I will call my plumber.  This guy has been my plumber and my sister's plumber for years and he is always booked.  I wasn't going to pay for an emergency call, I would have just reattached the Grohe, turned the house water on and waited for Jeff's next appointment.

I called to find out Jeff's next available appointment.  I nearly fell over when his wife (part of the business) tells me a customer just cancelled and he had an opening (yesterday) from 11 am until 1 pm. 

Plumber came at 11 am, removed the Grohe faucet and told me the trick for getting the nut off.   I will never buy another Grohe faucet but I was curious.  He installed my new Delta and including conversation time in the house and driveway the entire event was over in an hour.

[just bee]

[just bee]

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@Bird mama wrote:

I called to find out Jeff's next available appointment.  I nearly fell over when his wife (part of the business) tells me a customer just cancelled and he had an opening (yesterday) from 11 am until 1 pm. 

Plumber came at 11 am, removed the Grohe faucet and told me the trick for getting the nut off.   I will never buy another Grohe faucet but I was curious.  He installed my new Delta and including conversation time in the house and driveway the entire event was over in an hour.

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@Bird mama 

I love it when things happen like... magic. 

[just bee]

[Bird mama]

You are not kidding @just bee