I used to have pen pals when I was a teenager. It’s like having friends online (but before the internet). Anyway, I’ve only kept in touch with one in particular, Laura. We met two other times, but it has been a while. Around Christmas, Laura suggested that we get together again, and that’s what we did yesterday. She lives in York, so we landed on Chambersburg as a meeting point. We went to a great Peruvian restaurant called INKA Kitchen. They were not busy so we chatted for a while in the restaurant after we were done with our meals and probably for another hour in the parking lot. We’re not going to wait so long to meet again. It was great catching up! Laura also treated me to lunch since my birthday is this week. That was so nice and unexpected. It really made my day.
memorial day weekend
I had an extra long weekend this holiday. I always take the Friday before Memorial Day off because there’s nothing better than the official beginning of summer!
I didn’t have much going on, socially, but I did get a lot done inside and out. On Friday, I tackled a couple of electrical projects. This winter, I noticed that one of the side entry lights wasn’t working, so I swapped that out. And, the instructions for the smoker I bought recently said that it should be plugged into a GFCI, so I swapped that outlet out. That turned into a bit of a headache–there was something wrong with the outlet I bought so I had to run to Home Depot to get a new one. So, I got to install the outlet twice. On the plus side, I ran into my friend Carol and her husband at Home Depot. That was a nice surprise. They, too, were working on a project this weekend.
Also on Friday, I noticed that my upright freezer was leaking water, so I attempted to fix that on Saturday. I found the same problem online, but I’m not convinced that taping the copper wire to the tube will do the trick. I will say that it’s no longer leaking, though there is some condensation. Side note: I did not use electrical tape because I didn’t think that would stick. I used something called E-Z Fuse Tape, which I happened to have on hand in my emergency plumbing box. What luck! I had to remove the foam pipe insulation to fix it. No one in Johnstown had that size in stock, so I’m waiting for my Amazon order to arrive so I can wrap this project up. Maybe next week…If this doesn’t do the trick and the freezer stops working, I will buy a new one rather than repair this one. It’s 8+ years old so it’s near the end of its lifespan. So, it doesn’t make sense to put a couple hundred into it when I can buy a new one for not much more (since it’s just me, I don’t need as large of a freezer anymore).
I tried turning my dehumidifier on last week and it didn’t seem to be working. I messed around with it for a few days and finally gave up and went to Home Depot on Saturday to buy a new one. The old one was only 4. Nothing seems to last anymore. I had to buy a new one for the office recently, too, so we’ll see how long these last. The most annoying thing about this (besides having to spend $260+ on the new dehumidifier) is that Cambria County had appliance recycling recently, so I will probably have to hold onto this until next spring before I can dispose of it.
On Sunday, Jake returned to Virginia. I didn’t get to see much of him the past few days because he was busy running around getting all of his visits in. But it was nice having him around for two weeks and I’m looking forward to our July vacation! After getting him packed up and out the door, I cleaned the inside of my car. It hadn’t been cleaned since last fall and it really needed it.
As soon as I told my dad that I bought a smoker, he was asking about ribs, so I had my parents over for ribs today. This was my first ribs attempt on the smoker. I think they turned out pretty well!
I also managed to do a bunch of gardening and yardwork over the weekend. The garden is in. There’s still plenty of yardwork to do, though. It never ends.
top trash
This week is one of my favorite weeks of the year–spring cleanup. I must have the best trash in the neighborhood, as the scavengers took all of it (so far) except an old rug and a piece of PVC pipe. It’s always interesting to see what people take and I’m glad things are getting reused rather than ending up in a landfill. It’s a win-win for all of us!
the birthdays
We celebrated 3 birthdays (me, my brother, and Jake) at my parents’ house yesterday. That worked out well since Jake was in! We had some nice weather for a change, so we ate outside, much to the chagrin of half the attendees.
Last week, Brian, Jake, and I went out to dinner at Franklin Street Bar & Grill on Jake’s actual birthday. Brian treated us to dinner. I swear that’s not why I invited him. Haha.
And, today happens to be Sylvia’s 8th birthday. Happy birthday, Sylvia!
johnstown symphony orchestra
I saw the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra for the first time last night. They played songs from The Police and Sting along with a full band. The band and symphony sounded great, but it was geared more toward people who like the symphony and less toward those who like rock music, which was probably their intent. I am of the latter group.