Coyote Urine Protects My Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

Coyote Urine Protects My Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Every night when the outside temperature drops enough, I open one of our three garage doors to the height of 4 inches to cool the garage down during the night hours.  This particular garage door is manual open and I can real easily set this to a small opening. The other two garage doors have motor drives and I found they can not open to just  a few inches but the smallest opening is just over a foot.  I do not want any humane or animal critter getting into our garage so I only open the manual operated door.

One morning I went into our attached garage to find my Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie box that I had just purchased from COSTCO was on the floor, partially opened, and some of the individual cookie bags pulled out, opened, and some cookies eaten.  I taped the box closed where it was torn open and put it back on the shelf after cleaning up the mess on the garage floor.   I did not take the box into the house because I already had a box of these cookies in our pantry.  I do like these cookies.  In three days the same box was moved to the front of the garage, as if the animal was trying to get the box outside of the garage.  The distance was well over 24 feet.  Not being able to get the large box out a 4 inch opened garage door, the critter then opened the box up again and more cookie bags pulled out, some eaten.  This time, I called animal control and was told the following:

  • Probably a Opossum.
  • Place the Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookie box in a safe place and keep all food items out of our garage.
  • Purchase coyote urine and spray it around the garage door outside should keep opossums out.
  • Do not trap the critter.  To do so, requires a license.
  • You can call a licensed trapper to come to remove the animal.

I went to the local feed store and purchased a 8 oz spray container of  Bare Ground Coyote Urine and sprayed some on the outside corners of the garage door and along it’s full opening just in front of the door on the cement.  I was told by the feed store employees to reapply the urine spray if the area that is sprayed gets wet from dew or rain.

I then placed the box of Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies into our pantry.  We still store quite a bit of packaged food items on higher shelving in the garage.

I then texted some selected friends what happened and what I did to resolve the issue and received some really playful replies.

Using A Nut Cracker To Remove A Rusted Nut

Using A Nut Cracker To Remove A Rusted Nut

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Our upstairs bathroom had been leaking water from a drain line for some time.  It took us some time to figure out we had this problem. We called a wonderful plumber and he had to repair three badly glued sewer line pipe joints.  It appears that the person who installed the sewer lines failed to apply enough glue to the inside of the joints but rather made the outside of the joint look quite nice outside.  I consider this an attempt of a trades person to sabotage our track home, possible out of spite due to it’s high cost or ignorance.  (We have one other instance of alleged delayed track home construction sabotage.)  Water came from an upstairs bathroom over part of our laundry room ceiling and down the outside wall where it rotted out a small wood wall footing.  After all the plumbing repairs were completed to the upstairs bathroom I had to face closing up the ceiling and walls.  A significant problem stalled any effort.  Next to the main sewer drain line coming down from the second floor bathroom at main floor slab level was a short wall footing that had rotted out.  All that was left was a singular rusted threaded bolt sticking out from the slab and a 1/2 inch course thread nut that could not be removed.

Frozen bolt
The ice was applied to cool the threads while I applied intense heat to the bolt. Note the black surface behind the bolt. That black surface is a carbon fiber fabric that is used to protect surrounding surfaces from fire.

I first tried to apply gas torch heat because an internet web site promoted this as a viable method for removal of the nut.  I even applied ice to the bottom of the threaded shaft thinking that that might help break loose the bolt when I torched that nut.  This did not work.  I tried twice.

One night I remember hearing about nut crackers.  It took a whole day to find one   It is a Craftsman Universal Nut Cracker CMMT14117 which cost me just over $16 with tax at Lowe’s.

It took me three tries to best figure out how to work the tool.  Soon as I tried the tool the first time, I came to realize that I needed to hold the tool in place with a crescent wrench.  The tool is clever because the top and bottom sides are flat for applying a wrench.  I used a socket driver to make tightening the nut cracker easy.  This method worked.  I did have to apply a lot of pressure to the socket wrench handle to turn the nut cracker threads as the device tightened against the nut.

 

The crescent wrench is necessary to keep the nut cracker from rotating. The blue box in the upper right corner is to help keep the crescent wrench from rotating. I had very little space to work with and had to resort to some tricks.

I knew that I was going to have a real problem cleaning up the bolt threads.  When the nut finally cracked apart by applying the tool, It did not fall apart but widened a bit due to one side being open from the tool wedging the nut apart a bit.  I was able to back that nut off the threads quite easily.  I quickly realized that the nut was helping to clean those threads to some degree as I removed it.  I really do NOT want to buy a die to clean up those threads  because a (14 piece) Dewalt set would cost me $60.  I put a wire brush tool on my drill and cleaned the bolt threads as best as I could.  My thinking is to put a new (1/2 inch course thread) bolt and hope it will do the cleaning.

 

This image shows the nut being FINALLY removed from the bolt coming out from the house cement slab along the laundry room wall. Not the really bad thread conditions of the bolt.

 

Close up image of the it nut being cracked by the Craftsman “Universal Nut Cracker” CMMT14117.

 

I next used this combination of techniques to clean the threads:

  • I purchased a stainless steel (I like better replacements) nut: 1/2 inch, coarse threads and used it to clean the threads by winding and unwinding it up and down the corroded bolt threads.  Almost every time I performed this trick, I was able to move the bolt a slight bit closer to the floor.
  • White vinegar soaked napkin squeezed up against the threads when I was away from the project.  I did this once and then cleaned the threads with water.
  • Drill with a wire brush attachment used to really dig into the threads to remove any removable coats of rust.

  • Applying Liquid Wrench to the threads and winding the bolt up and down those threads.

After spending a couple of hours cleaning the threads to the bolt coming out of the foundation, I was able to easily thread the bolt down to within one inch from the concrete floor. Because a 2″ by 4″ board measures close to 1 and 3/4 inches I now can place a replacement board into that spot and bolt it in place.  The replacement wood piece has no vertical wall studs laying upon it.  It is only there offer a backing for dry wall screws.

The tape measure confirms that the nut is now just above one inch from the cement floor.

Note the corrosion in the threads at the top and bottom of the bolt as seen in the image above.  The cleanest threads are where the pre-existing nut was.  My treading and un-threading this nut really gave me confidence that a new replacement nut will definitely work.

Summary:  The use of the heat method failed for me. What really worked was using a Nut Cracker.  It is way more safe than using a propane torch and resulted in perfect success.  In fact, being able to back off the nut after it cracks, helped to clean the threads above where the nut was attached.  I did not have to buy an expensive die to clean up the treads but just use a high quality nut and chemicals to clean the threads.

 

Posted August 10, 2019
Updated August 11, 2019
Updated August 12, 2019

President Trump and Republicans Allegedly Fail To Save US Citizen Lives

President Trump and Republicans Allegedly Fail To Save US Citizen Lives

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OPINION

With all the recent mass killings in parts of the United States it would be instructive to examine the statistical difference between the number of people killed when President Obama was in office and compare those numbers to those of President Trump to see if we can learn anything.

A pretty good source for this comparison is to examine the data within the study conducted by Mother Jones. It is called US Mass Shootings, 1982-2019.

To properly make a honest comparison, we need to only look at the same number of years both presidents were/are in office. Because President Trump is currently serving his third year in office, this analysis will only compare Obama’s first three years even though he served eight years in office because he was elected to two terms.

When comparing the administration of Barack Obama to that of Donald Trump, with regard to the number of mass shootings in the United States, we can see a huge number of deaths during Trump’s time in office.

  • Obama’s first year in office = 88
  • Obama’s second year in office = 11
  • Obama’s third year in office = 40
  • TOTAL = 139

 

  • Trump’s first year in office = 704
  • Trump’s second year in office = 152
  • Trump’s current year in office = 135
  • TOTAL = 991

 

Obviously, the president of the United States is not normally, directly, responsible for mass shooting deaths.  But, President Donald Trump shows huge number increases for every year he is in office.  So why the huge numbers? Is this just a national trend that he carries no responsibility?  Is the United States just getting more violent?

The answer for some of these deaths increases appears to be President Trump and the Republican Party.   Let’s list some possible factors:

As a result of the latest two mass shootings just one day apart, El Paso Texas and Dayton Ohio, the news media have put the blame on Donald Trump for his lack of clamping down upon white supremacy groups and his racist remarks to embolden white extremist individuals. The leadership of this country, Donald Trump and the Republican Party, just might be responsible for some of our citizens dying.

 

Recommended web sites:   Annual Gun Law Scorecard

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, PLEASE TAKE NOTE.

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Young people can generally register to vote if they will turn 18 by the next election.

Why vote? Elections are the mechanism by which citizens select and remove government representatives, giving politicians strong incentives to do right by their constituents.  You have a hand in deciding the course this county takes by voting.  Some opinions reflect that this country is no longer a democracy but a plutocracy.  Help bring back our democracy.

While the legal voting age in the U.S. is 18, voter registration and pre-registration rules and ages are different in every state.  Mouse click on the next link below to find out your state’s requirements.

Voter Registration Age Requirements by State

For more information on this subject check out the next web site below.

How Preregistration Works

 

The United States Government is ready to have you register, right now, on line at this web site:

U.S. Government Portal – Register to vote

 

A Case Against President Trump

A Case Against President Trump

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It is the purpose of Indivisible to ensure that the United States of America is the best nation it can be. A good part of that process is to abide by the guidance given to us by the founding fathers by adhering to the dictates of the US Constitution. Evolving out of the rules set down by the constitution has been a wonderful legal system and also a history of precedence and norms. Precedence is very important because it is a proven path to follow that works. It establishes a principle or rule that has proven to work in the past and thus is very important to follow in the future.  Norms determine the rights and duties of the people who serve us in government.

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, has allegedly, at numerous times, violated the US Constitution, broken the law and gone beyond the limits of precedence and norms. In sum total, this man is a despicable person who seems to only seek benefit for himself and his sycophants.

It is the purpose of Indivisible to oppose Trump’s agenda, and now to acknowledge that he is unfit for office and should be removed.  Because Donald Trump has failed to further the common good, committed criminal acts, and colluded with a foreign country to diminish this country’s standing in world opinion, Indivisible should now support efforts to remove him from office.

Here is a partial list of Donald Trump’s negative attributes followed by his alleged criminal acts to support this removal effort:

Alleged Personality Deficiencies:

Social Issues

Alleged Constitution Crimes

Personal Crimes

 

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Consider Joining Indivisible:

Find Your Group

 

 

The above blog post was asked by and written for the web site  IndivisibleCA39.org. and posted July 21, 2019

Posted July 25, 2019

Why This Child Tweets And Lies

Why This Child Tweets And Lies

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Have you ever wondered why President Trump Tweets so much?  Let’s take a look at some examples and we might find out why.

TWEET:  “President Obama is the worst president in U.S. history!”

TWEET:  Bill Clinton “the WORST abuser of woman in U.S. political history”

FACT:  Bill Clinton has been accused of sexual misconduct by 4 women as reported by Wikipedia.

FACT:  President Trump is accused of abusing 24 women.  Source for this is Business Insider.  Thus, Trump is the more abuser of women.

TWEET:  Ted Cruz “the worst liar”

According to Metro, Trump was averaging 6.5 lies a day and has just surpassed 3,000 lies.   So it is rather ironic that President Trump can claim anyone as being worse than himself at lying.

TWEET: “The Democrats in Congress are getting nothing done, not on drug pricing, not on immigration, not on infrastructure, not on nothing!”

FACT:  The Republican Senate failed to pass the following bills that were actually passed by the Democratic House of Representatives:

  • Repair nation’s infrastructure.
  • Equal pay legislation and barred discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
  • Lower prescription drug prices.
  • Universal background checks for all gun sales.
  • The People Act of 2019 which includes:
    • Expand voting rights
    • Limit partisan gerrymandering
    • Strengthen ethics rules.
    • Limit the influence of private donor money in politics.

TWEET:  Mitt Romney “one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics”

FACT  According to Foreign Policy:  Donald Trump Is Proving Too Stupid to Be President


Summary:  From the examples above, one can easily conclude that President Trump Tweets or lies to all the citizens of the United States and the world to gain some self benefit.  This boy has to attack other people to deflect anyone from realizing his own deficiencies.   Putting others down and hoping you can elevate yourself in comparison is a rather childish endeavor.

Help Put America Back Together

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Find Your Group

 

 

The above blog post was asked by and written for the web site  IndivisibleCA39.org.  And posted to their web site July 19, 2019.

 

Posted July 25, 2019