Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[phenomshel]

POOH!!!!! What have you done???? It had to be you, we don't KNOW anyone else with a Maine Coon!! I suppose I'd better explain. I was relating the latest Stella story to Chris and he comes up with, "Well, as much as I hate to say it, when the time comes that we have to mend our broken hearts with a new cat (he means after one of our two passes on), I think we should look at getting a Maine Coon kitten."

My jaw hit my chest. I'm all for the idea, of course, but what I want to know is where HE came up with it!!

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

POOH!!!!! What have you done???? It had to be you, we don't KNOW anyone else with a Maine Coon!! I suppose I'd better explain. I was relating the latest Stella story to Chris and he comes up with, "Well, as much as I hate to say it, when the time comes that we have to mend our broken hearts with a new cat (he means after one of our two passes on), I think we should look at getting a Maine Coon kitten."

My jaw hit my chest. I'm all for the idea, of course, but what I want to know is where HE came up with it!!

Excellent choice! I had nothing to do with it! Really! Perhaps he's enjoyed all my Stella sagas here!

A Maine Coon kitten is very much like a "cat/dog" mixture - Stella loves to be thumped along her ribs, like a puppy, and has learned to fetch! Plus walking on a leash.

She has enormous energy, and is VERY intelligent! She has learned that the older cats will not play with her if she jumps on them (she can flatten them) - so she has learned to leap-frog over them when playing tag. She takes turns when playing with toys too - so the other cats don't feel left out.

Maine Coon cats are "people cats" - they bond onto a human parent rather than another cat. When I'm home, Stella has to keep within sight of me, and usually has to be touching some part of me.

Grooming is not as bad as I had feared. I have a steel tooth comb to unsnarl or remove tangles, and a "slicker" brush to de-thatch the coat. The Furminator comb works great during the shedding season. I've just started trimming her feathers on her rear legs and her tail - a regrettable incident in the litter box prompted this [will post the grisly saga later]. She enjoys grooming - even lets me brush her tummy.

Did I mention lots of energy? Stella enjoys throw & fetch toys like a puppy. I have a Zoom-o toy (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2627308) that shoots little discs that she's learned to fetch. I also have a Nerf Ball gun to shoot balls that she chases. And she is a bug hunter too!

So .... can you tell I'm slightly biased?

[phenomshel]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Excellent choice! I had nothing to do with it! Really! Perhaps he's enjoyed all my Stella sagas here!

A Maine Coon kitten is very much like a "cat/dog" mixture - Stella loves to be thumped along her ribs, like a puppy, and has learned to fetch! Plus walking on a leash.

She has enormous energy, and is VERY intelligent! She has learned that the older cats will not play with her if she jumps on them (she can flatten them) - so she has learned to leap-frog over them when playing tag. She takes turns when playing with toys too - so the other cats don't feel left out.

Maine Coon cats are "people cats" - they bond onto a human parent rather than another cat. When I'm home, Stella has to keep within sight of me, and usually has to be touching some part of me.

Grooming is not as bad as I had feared. I have a steel tooth comb to unsnarl or remove tangles, and a "slicker" brush to de-thatch the coat. The Furminator comb works great during the shedding season. I've just started trimming her feathers on her rear legs and her tail - a regrettable incident in the litter box prompted this [will post the grisly saga later]. She enjoys grooming - even lets me brush her tummy.

Did I mention lots of energy? Stella enjoys throw & fetch toys like a puppy. I have a Zoom-o toy (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...ductId=2627308) that shoots little discs that she's learned to fetch. I also have a Nerf Ball gun to shoot balls that she chases. And she is a bug hunter too!

So .... can you tell I'm slightly biased?

Yep, just a tad biased, there, Pooh. Even though we don't expect to lose either of ours for a looooong time, I think a Maine Coon should be a good fit for us.

[bjones6416]

I rarely go to movies, but tonight my sister and I went, on the spur of the moment, to see the remake of "Footloose." Probably not the greatest serious film I've ever seen or anything, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The best thing that they did in this one was to actually cast dancers in the lead roles, so no need to cut away like they did in the original. I left the theatre with a smile on my face, and that's pretty much what I look for in a movie. I used to go to the more serious and "important" films when I was younger, but these days I just like to be entertained. There's enough serious stuff in real life!

[phenomshel]

Waiting for the adrenaline to wear off so I can go back to sleep. I went to bed a few hours ago, and had been dozing on and off. Chris came in and said he was going to get in the shower. A few minutes later, I'm just about to doze off again and I hear REALLY LOUD STATIC and smell burning electronics. I yell for Chris, but of course he can't hear me, he's in the shower. So I get up and try to track down source of sound and smell. Sound has stopped, but smell hasn't, but I don't see anything...
So I go get Chris out of the shower, and we tracked it to the central unit of our home theater system.
The darn thing is 7+ years old, which for electronics these days has got to be something like 180, right? Well apparently it decided to fry its internals. Just glad it happened while we were home to unplug it...but now I am too amped to go back to sleep.

[Rumpelteazer]

Hoping that my heater can be fixed because it's only 14C in my room at the moment. Me and my father tried to fix it on Wednesday but we couldn't get it to work so now we're going to take it apart. We think the pipe of the pilot light is dirty causing the flame not to heat the sensor properly.

that we can fix it!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

Hoping that my heater can be fixed because it's only 14C in my room at the moment. Me and my father tried to fix it on Wednesday but we couldn't get it to work so now we're going to take it apart. We think the pipe of the pilot light is dirty causing the flame not to heat the sensor properly.

that we can fix it!

If it's one of the gas fireplaces, please take it to a pro.

An old friend of mine had a problem with his. He decided to fix it himself. His SO found him dead of Carbon Monoxide poisoning the next morning.

This is not something to play "do it yourself" with.
______
Dennis

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

If it's one of the gas fireplaces, please take it to a pro.

An old friend of mine had a problem with his. He decided to fix it himself. His SO found him dead of Carbon Monoxide poisoning the next morning.

This is not something to play "do it yourself" with.
______
Dennis

My father knows about gas fireplace well enough to be careful. The pipe needed cleaning but the pilot light still won't stay on so it's something else. What's going to happen now I don't know. Knowing my father getting in an expert is too expensive (even if I pay it) and he doesn't want to get a new second-hand one because it can probably be easily fixed (if I buy one myself he won't install it).

He's going to call a friend to see if he knows what it might be. I'm not getting my hopes up that I have heating any time soon.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

My father knows about gas fireplace well enough to be careful. The pipe needed cleaning but the pilot light still won't stay on so it's something else. What's going to happen now I don't know. Knowing my father getting in an expert is too expensive (even if I pay it) and he doesn't want to get a new second-hand one because it can probably be easily fixed (if I buy one myself he won't install it).

He's going to call a friend to see if he knows what it might be. I'm not getting my hopes up that I have heating any time soon.

The most common thing is that the thermocouple itself needs replacing. This isn't surprising when you consider that most of the time it's in or just above a flame.

But I agree with the other poster that gas stuff should not be repaired by amateurs. Especially open flame gas heaters in bedrooms!

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

The most common thing is that the thermocouple itself needs replacing. This isn't surprising when you consider that most of the time it's in or just above a flame.

But I agree with the other poster that gas stuff should not be repaired by amateurs. Especially open flame gas heaters in bedrooms!

We called a friend who's a contractor and he told us that he's 95% certain it's the thermocouple. As I said before my father knows what he's doing.

He's going to pick up a universal thermocouple that our friend has, if it fits he can test if that's the problem and we can order a new one. If it doesn't fit we order a new one anyway, it doesn't cost a lot.

Just to be on the safe side I'm installing a carbon monoxide/smoke detector. I have been thinking about installing one for a while now and you two reminded me, luckily we had one left in stock so I got it.

Now I'm hoping that it's resolved quickly because it getting really cold. I've just changed my summer duvet for my winter duvet (wrestling it into the cover is a good activity to warm up when your cold!) and I put my electrical blanket on my bed too to pre-warm it before I go to bed.

[maianhvk]

I'm waiting for Puss in Boots to be out.

[phenomshel]

That reminds me, Anh - two new US tv shows coming out I'm interested in. This is somewhat unusual, as I can't remember a season I've been interested in current TV in..oh, forever. I like Glee, of course, and I liked Heroes when it was on, but usually the current TV lineup leaves me "meh". So two shows?? In one season?? Yeah...

So anyway, looking forward to Once Upon a Time and Grimm. Grimm's teaser says, "Remember those fairy stories your parents told you? Those weren't stories, they were warnings."
The one for Once Upon a Time is: The series is loosely inspired by the classic fairy tale stories except set in the present day, hence the series name. The stories hold a key to the mystery that will draw a bail bonds collector and the son that she gave up for adoption 10 years earlier to a New England town called Storybrooke, Maine. This town is actually a parallel world in which fairy tale characters look like normal people and don't remember their true identities or anything about their true lives.

Should be good, I hope. Now all I have to do is carve out time to watch them...
I don't worry about watching when they're on, I can get them 8 days later via Netflix or Hulu or somewhere, most likely but even trying to find time when I HAVE time is a challenge, LOL.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

My father knows about gas fireplace well enough to be careful. The pipe needed cleaning but the pilot light still won't stay on so it's something else. What's going to happen now I don't know. Knowing my father getting in an expert is too expensive (even if I pay it) and he doesn't want to get a new second-hand one because it can probably be easily fixed (if I buy one myself he won't install it).

He's going to call a friend to see if he knows what it might be. I'm not getting my hopes up that I have heating any time soon.

Sometimes even the pros can mess things up. When I lived in a home with radiator heat, the pilot light went out, and my wife refused to let me relight it; insisting on getting a professional. We did, and the professional left the unit running on manual instead of auto. We didn't realize anything was wrong until we returned that night to see steam bellowing from the expansion tank and called the fire department. The tank was ruined, but fortunately our homeowners insurance covered the damage.

After that, she always let me light the furnace.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Sometimes even the pros can mess things up. When I lived in a home with radiator heat, the pilot light went out, and my wife refused to let me relight it; insisting on getting a professional. We did, and the professional left the unit running on manual instead of auto. We didn't realize anything was wrong until we returned that night to see steam bellowing from the expansion tank and called the fire department. The tank was ruined, but fortunately our homeowners insurance covered the damage.

After that, she always let me light the furnace.

It's working now, or rather: for now. The thermocouple needed replacing, it worked great when testing outside the heater but with everything installed, it takes a long time for it to go on so my father thinks the gas block (that's what it's called in Dutch) needs replacing. According to him it isn't dangerous, it's just annoying when you need to switch it on, so for now I'll leave the pilot light on.

I've just bid on a second-hand heater on a Dutch auction website. Hopefully they'll accept the offer and we can pick it up soon. But for now I can heat my rooms. I've also put up the carbon monoxide detector.

Each year when I switch it on I'm amazed how noise that heater is, and each year when I switch it off again in spring I'm amazed how quiet it is.

[WT Sharpe]