Hey girls, gather round
Because of what I'm puttin' down
Oh, baby, I'm your handy man
I'm not the kind that uses pencil or rule
I'm handy with the love and I'm no fool
I fix broken hearts, I know I really can
James Taylor-I'm Your Handyman
Today's Post lead is is not about fixing "broken hearts" but about fixing a broken Ice Machine which was something we discovered the first day back in our Stowe Condo. Yes I like to consider myself quite the "Handy Man" particularly when the solution seems so "simple" . Somehow nothing is ever as simple as it first appears, particularly to a guy who is not the kind to use a "pencil or a rule".
Having noticed that our ice machine no longer worked I first suspected it was a clogged filter so on to Amazon to buy a new filter. This arrived two days later...oops wrong size. No problem we returned it and ordered the correct one which arrived the same day that Barbara's sister Maria and her husband Vern arrived for an impromptu family reunion! Time spent on "Filter" 2 hours.
it did not solve the problem.
Pulling out the refrigerator Vern and I quickly determined a simple "splice" of my ice makers cracked tubing would solve the problem. Confident of an easy solution we went to the local hardware store purchased some new tubing, and a couple of in-line fittings spliced the line and promptly "restarted" the refrigerator's ice maker. So what if the tubes were a slightly different size the splice held up just fine..for an hour or so.
No problem I assured my brother in law-I would order a new correct size tube on Amazon and install it when it arrived. Time spent splicing 1.5 hours.
Three days later the tube arrived and I promptly pulled out the refrigerator. I removed the entire old tube from the valves and installed the new tube and bingo I soon discovered (via a new leak) that when I removed the old tube from the electronic valve at the base of the Refrigerator I destroyed the valve's simple plastic fitting. Time spent 2 hours.
Back to Amazon where after about 40 minutes of research (including a U-Tube video) I found and ordered the part (a new valve) that I now needed.
Three days later my part arrived, I pulled out the refrigerator removed the old part and...wait a minute this is not the same part. S0 back on line , cursing my stupidity, I found I inadvertently ordered a part for the top valve assembly. Back to Amazon where with further research I found that I typed "A" instead of "B" in the part number. I told Amazon I was returning, and ordered a correct part. Time spent 2 hours including a trip by my faithful and obedient companion to the post office to return the part for a refund.
Three days later my faithful and obedient companion advised me my part was "In'. OOPs, I had it sent to Winter Park by mistake. No problem-Eric my son was going up to our Winter Park Home (unbeknown to us he got engaged to his girlfriend "Erin" on that trip! This is my first official announcement of that!). They took some time out of their big weekend to mail the part to us in Stowe. Thanks and Oh by the way congratulations Eric and Erin (I wonder what Erin's thoughts are about her future "handyman Father-in law are?) Their time spent remailing from Winter Park (estimate )1.5 hours
Finally the part arrived a couple of days ago and I actually successfully finished the job! Time spent 1.5 hours
I was so proud of my accomplishment (all in a "days work" so to speak) that at a meeting with our property manager here yesterday I bragged that we now had an ice machine again! Her response- that's great but all you really needed were a few ice cube trays for renters.
My takeaway from this whole experience maybe I need to think "outside the "(ice))box".
With that I bid you a "Handy"
Adieu
.
Aug. 08, 2018
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Vermont’s capital city is trying a natural way to get rid of poison ivy — grazing goats.
On Wednesday, three goats munched on the plants along the small city’s bike path behind the high school and near a river.
The goats graze on the poison ivy, causing stress to the plants so that they retreat, said the goat’s owner Mary Beth Herbert, of Moretown. It’s expected to take several years of cyclical grazing to eradicate the poison ivy, she said.
The goats named Ruth, Bader and Ginsburg, got their start. Herbert brought the 6-month-old Kiko goats in her Subaru, and enclosed them in fencing where they grazed while an occasional bicyclist passed by. The poison ivy doesn’t harm the goats, she said.
The city had tried to eradicate the poison ivy but has been unable to do it using organic treatments, said assistant city manager Susan Allen.
The poison ivy has been so bad this year that the city posted signs warning bikers and walkers about it.
“The city did not want to ramp up to chemical treatments for many reasons, including the fact that the path runs next to the river, and young children and dogs might get over into the undergrowth,” she said.
They wondered if goats could work and contacted the University of Vermont extension service.
“I love that we’ve gone back to an old fashioned solution — a shepherd and her goats — to our modern-day problem,” Allen said.
___
This story has been corrected to show the goat breed is Kiko, not Kiki.
After reading this Mr. Roberts continued:
It all made me start thinking: How can we utilize a goat based economy using the principles outlined by Susan Allen and the Vermont extension service.
It all made me start thinking: How can we utilize a goat based economy using the principles outlined by Susan Allen and the Vermont extension service.
Why not expand the program exponentially.....think big I thought.
First I figured why stop at the now famous 3 goats (Ruth, Bader and Ginsberg)...why not several million free range goats whose by-products could be available, for free, to all Vermonters. The acquistion of these goats could be financed by a tax on the purchase of vehicles other than the Vermont State approved Subaru's and since in 2020, when Bernie Sanders became president of the Old United States of America, the expropriation of excess profits from Green Mountain Coffee, Burton Snowboards, Cabot Cheese and Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream as well as revenues from Vail Corporation etc. Once we had enough Money to buy 3 million goats the rest became easy.
First we encouraged enterprising Vermonter's to use the goats as they could, making Mohair Coats, Goat Cheeses and Goat Milk as a basis of exchange. Not only would we eradicate all poison ivy health care costs but Doctors and Hospitals could take these economic products as official rates of exchange. The same would be true for all businesses left in Vermont.
Yurts would become the official Vermont building available to all, with the basic building material (Goat Hair etc) now "free". Fuel as always could primarily be wood culled from forests cut down to make room for more goats pastures. The reduced demand of burning oil, gas etc. from -fossil fuel burning cars, now replaced by "Go"(at )Carts available to all would make up for the greenhouse gases emitted from woodstoves.
Enterprising Vermonters could milk the goats and sell it to the only remaining approved Vendors (Cabot Cheese and Ben and Jerry's) for International Currency needed to buy cell phones and other products manufactured elsewhere in the world. Since the fundamental economic base-goats are owned by all only individual initiative determines "wealth". For those Vermonters unable unwilling to work with goats a guaranteed allotment of goat products could provide a subsistence way of life for all. We just need to tax a portion of enterprising Vermonters "excess wealth" to finance it all.
Mr. Roberts then ended his speech with the simple child ditty he used when he first outlined his thoughts on his now famous blog (required reading in all Vermont Schools since 2031.)
and with that I bid you
Adieu
Enterprising Vermonters could milk the goats and sell it to the only remaining approved Vendors (Cabot Cheese and Ben and Jerry's) for International Currency needed to buy cell phones and other products manufactured elsewhere in the world. Since the fundamental economic base-goats are owned by all only individual initiative determines "wealth". For those Vermonters unable unwilling to work with goats a guaranteed allotment of goat products could provide a subsistence way of life for all. We just need to tax a portion of enterprising Vermonters "excess wealth" to finance it all.
Mr. Roberts then ended his speech with the simple child ditty he used when he first outlined his thoughts on his now famous blog (required reading in all Vermont Schools since 2031.)
and with that I bid you
Adieu


