Instead of posting a blog about it: I did this too: Installing A Vinyl Siding J-Block For An Outdoor Electrical Outlet

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/exterior/siding/vinyl/accessories/j_block_01/outlet_box.htm


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Ribs

These are the second set of smoked ribs I did this summer. These were dry rubbed the night before then smoked for 2-3 hours over cherry and mesquite.  Then wrapped an put back in the smoker for 1 hour.  Last they were unwrapped and baked in the oven for an hour or until they reached 175 meat temp.  The classic smoker is 3-2-1 but these baby back ribs don't need as long  in fact they would be dried out if smoked too long. 

Fishing trip

This week (the week of July 8th) I went fishing.  This week I was off and planned to fish a bunch; instead I went once due to weather forecasts and not being able to get up some days.  It was good day to be out there.  I caught loads of fish including this 12 inch rock and many perch.  The second picture shows a perch I caught on a bloodworm fly I made. There is something satisfying about catching fish on a lure you made.  Although just before this one, I caught a perch on the hook below this one that wasn't baited at all.  That day I did catch a rock on another fly that I made, but that teaser fly has worked before.  I ended up with dinner for a few days in the form of the perch you see in the last picture.  The largest was 11", not bad. I gave arepreive to the smallest one which I put in the pond behind my house.  I guess I am trying to establish a perch source closer to home or I just fed the snakes, turtles and birds that are in that pond.       

I'm on a plane!

This was coming into Baltimore from St. Louis somewhere over Ohio.  

 

 

I knew the position from Southwests WiFi service.  For free you can track the flight and watch selected Direct TV shows.  If you want to browse the internet it is $8.  Looking straight down I could see a fireworks display which was pretty cool, but due to the angle I couldn't get any pictures. 

Recessed lights redone

Here is a quick project post of redoing my recessed lights.  I had originally installed these small halogen lights into accent my bar area.  There was a problem with the distance that the bulbs required to go into the fixture.  These halogen lights were a press connection to the fixture  and due to the drywall, when it was installed, being uneven with the fixture the one bulb would be intermittent.  This was because the fixtures were put in place before the drywall was mounted and they were not perfectly aligned or parallel.  I removed the old fixture seen in the first picture.  I was worried that the wires wouldn't be long enough to be reused, because I remember I had a time getting the fixtures wired into begin with.  The original fixture boxes were very small.  The second picture shows the wires are long enough to work with. the third and fourth pictures show the new 4" Halo recessed lights going in.  I took a picture from the one hole by sticking my phone into the hole for the second light to see what the wires were doing in the ceiling.  I was concerned that the wires would be stretched or pinched, because the box was offset so far from the light housing.  As you can see there is some slack.  I had a time getting the lights specifically the installation clips to lock in place (see the blog on that whole issue).  Once in they look pretty good (last picture).          

Halo recessed lighting installation clips: the secret to mounting them

So once again I am contributing the body of knowledge of the internets.  If you have a Halo Recessed Lighting fixture and cannot got the clips to hold it to in the ceiling here is the secret.  

I got the lights in to the (1/2 inch) ceiling and pushed up on the clips.  They would not lock into place.  I would push the bottom of the clip and one would hold, but as soon as I went to push on the next one it would slip out of place.    I did a search online and saw there were references to this same problem.  At first I thought my ceiling was the wrong thickness,  but a check of the datasheet showed it was within the range it should work.  One post mentioned pre-flexing the clips.  I tried this spreading them out from the fixture.  This made the situation worse (wouldn't hold at all).  I then flexed them down toward the housing.  This actually got one of the 4 to lock in place, but this wasn't the solution (the other 3 didn't hold).  Finally, I noticed with my repeated attempts at locking the clips in had worn the foam off of the surface of the clip (see the gray foam in the pictures below) and there was the secret. In the second photo you see a raised rectangular bump on the face of the clip.  This was hidden by the foam. I placed a screw driver on this bump and pushed up.  This push may have been more of a whack with the end of another driver, but this did the trick.  Now I reread the documentation and there is no mention of this bump as the place to push this clip into place, which I don't understand why it isn't.  Maybe this is an easier way to do it.  The bump did it for me. So there is no need to flex the clips.  Just push the fixture into place with the clips folded inside the housing.  Once it is against the ceiling in place place screw driver on the "bump" and push (or it they are stubborn whack the end of the driver) the clips up, locking them in.       

The screw driver pushing up on the bump:

This "bump" exposed under the foam:

 

The finished product:

Once again...

A little later in the summer this year but the Ice Luge was brought out again.  This year I didn't have to remake the holder; although, I think it should be 2 inches wider to handle the potential in balances.  I wasn't going to bring it, but the host said people are counting on me to bring it, so I did:   

First fish and Verizon fios app is awesome

So it wasn't a monster in fact it looked a lot like the last fish I caught in 2012, but it was the first fish of 2013.  I need to start getting up earlier so i can fish a bit more this year.  I set my daily alarm for 5:30 so I can condition myself but it isn't working real well. 

 

 OK so I finally got my Verizon ID set up after 5 years and downloaded their app.  I really did it to be lazy because I didn't want to get up and change the station and I knew there was a remote function built into the app.  See I was on one end of the sofa with my iPad and the remote was on the other end.  How lazy is that? There is a Samsung app too, but they updated it and made it nonfunctional which is the craziest thing in the world BTW.  Anyway this app  not only has a remote function, but also you can watch live TV on your iPad and set your DVR.  I don't know if you can watch your DVR recordings or if it works over the internet (versus local wifi only).  It works great and I love it.  It actually might save me a significant amount of money by allowing TV watching on our first floor where we don't have a TV at this time. The funny thing is we got another TV last week for the office on a whim and due to a great COSTCO price on Samsung LEDs.