Wed Off--Little things that became large and things which could have been small, that also got large.

I had high hopes for my day off but they went down the drain quickly:

Wife was doing some early morning vacuuming (I know, right?) and jammed the machine. I thought it would be easy to remove the agitator and shake-out whatever piece of FOD she managed to suck up. No. Whatever it was, was up in the impeller and would not come loose. There were a bunch of screws on the bottom of the vac that were down long tunnels. One of the tunnels was slightly narrower than the rest. Why? What engineering problem could only be solved by making one hole a little narrower? My screwdriver would not fit down the hole. I went through some desultory efforts at grinding a makeshift screwdriver, but it was a Phillips and can be somewhat challenging.

It was off to Lowe's.

I checked-out the Christmas trees first and they had some nice ones, but nobody was back in the garden center so I put that off till later. The store was crawling with associates but I suppose none of them wanted to camp-out in the unheated part of the store. I got a set of screwdrivers and it was tough deciding which one to get--there were sets of 9, 14, 24 and a bunch of others, maybe 10 combinations in all. What you really need are long ones and short ones in Phillips and straight slot, so four will do. There were no kits of four. I also obtained a metal tool box. I had settled for a plastic one when I had been at Walmart since all they had were different plastic ones, but it was not up to the challenge of holding its shape under the task of having metal things (tools) in it. It might be good for housing a collection of small stuffed animals though.

While I was checking out, I asked the cashier if the garden center would be manned or would I need to haul a Christmas tree through the store to buy it? She picked up her phone and did some paging, so all set! I put my things in the truck and went to the garden center. Still very like a morgue, cold and no living people there--or dead ones (as far as I could tell). I carried the tree through the store to the checkout, a bit amazed that I didn't cause any end cap slides. I had parked down by the garden center just to avoid a long walk punctuated by balsam fir needles sticking into my neck--God laughs at people who plan.

Once home and equipped with a screwdriver that was the right size, it took a mere 5 minutes to fix the vacuum cleaner. Later at dinner, I was regaling the family with my day's travails and our eldest daughter opined that she would have just bought a new vacuum cleaner. I pointed out that it would have taken just as long to buy a new one as it took to fix the old one, plus I saved the $200 it would have cost. As she disinterestedly left the room, I called out after her, "If it took me 15 minutes to save $200, then I earned $800/hour"! She still thinks I am an idiot.

After that, I roasted coffee and worked on wife's treadmill: I removed the motor with the idea that the motor could be removed from the frame and flywheel, which would not come with a new motor. While at it, I realized that the brushes were shot. I ordered some and realized that I could have done this with out removing the motor or cutting any of the wires. Hopefully when the brushes come in, this will fix the problem and I will be able to reassemble the machine.

Since it was pouring rain, I decided to bag running and have lunch. While I ate, it cleared-up. Or rather, while I over-ate massively, it cleared-up. I did some small tasks, like setting up the tree and cleaning the kitchen, to buy my stomach a little time. Then I want for a run. A very painful run.

I did not get a chance to work on the cherry coffee table project but did pick up some sanding belts for the belt sander and these might come in handy for that work.