imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

What are you doing today

I just had the house painted so all my stuff is all over the yard and garage. I have had to park in the driveway for the last two weeks. Today I finally cleaned the garage. I did not throw much out, but at least I got the car back in the garage. And I actually had more room on the side of the car than usual. Of course the other stuff is still in the yard.

I have 6- 5 gallon buckets of leftover paint to harden, 6 or 7 gallons of paint and a couple of quarts. I have two packets of hardener left. I have to get more. I have hardened 3 of the 5 gallon buckets today. I have room for more in two of them so I am going to get more hardener and build on those layers. I found more ironite and varathane, so I need to start another hazmat bucket for that.

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applestar
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I didn’t know that’s how you need to get rid of used paint. I guess I’m ...sort of... lucky that the municipal hazardous waste and appliance collection site is not too far away from my neighborhood — though thankfully not TOO close. I only needed to take the cans in various conditions including *very rusty*. It was so bad I was worried the cans would fall apart from being jostled in the car and spill out inside the dusty old cardboard box.

I think another option is to donate unused paint if there is sufficient quantity in good condition?


...Today, I’m thinking of breaking down the big vermicomposter. I don’t have room for it in the garage again, so I will just collect enough worms to start a 2 gal bucket stack to keep in the garage, and put some worms in each of the container plant pots indoors, then the rest will be released in the garden beds to fend for themselves over the winter. It’s not supposed to rain today, so if I spread out the castings on a tarp, I should be able to harvest some mostly-bug-free vermicasting to use for winter fortification potting mix conditioner.

HoneyBerry
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Thank you imafan26 for taking time to do it right.
It is a good feeling to get things cleaned up. Myself, I've been purging and getting things better organized. Currently, I'm spiffing up the bathroom. New toilet, new fawcetts, etc. It's fun.

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applestar
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I read some more about using hardeners to harden paint to be considered non-hazardous.... I don’t think I would be able to survive the process. Only kind of paint I can tolerate are natural, 0-VOC paints anyway. And alcohol in dishwashing liquid causes various degrees of asthma attacks.

Is pre-processing paint prior to disposal a common requirement?

Heh — I react to neighbors painting stuff in their own yards, or houses, and last time, somebody somewhere was using some kind of citrus-oil based solvent ...cleaner or paint-stripper... forcing me to keep my windows shut until they were done. :roll:

HoneyBerry
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Here paint must be hard if you want to put it in the garbage can for pickup. The hazardous waste place won't take paint. They will tell you to take it home and harden it and dispose of it as regular garbage. It is alot of work so I try to be careful when I buy paint.

imafan26
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I called the hazmat center. I was told that today's paints even the oils, can be hardened or dried and put in the trash since they don't contain lead anymore. I was told to harden the paint by leaving the can open if it only had a couple of inches of paint to dry out, or mix in an absorber. You can get the paint hardener from the paint store. One package will harden 2/3 of a gallon of paint. You can use oil absorber as well. It is cheaper but takes a little longer to harden, especially if you are hardening 5 gallons of paint. I used shredded newspaper in some of the paint cans so the absorber would have less liquid to absorb. The buckets can be put in the trash, left out for bulk pick up, or taken to the convenience center with the lids off. They will not take any cans with the lids on. Lacquers like varathane, acetone and paint thinners still have to wait for hazmat pickup. Rags soaked with volatile chemicals should be stored in a metal can full of water. What you do with the can afterward, I don't know. The other way was to dry the rags flat and then they were o.k. to throw away in the trash. They are not to be kept in a wad, since they can spontaneously combust, in the sun. One youtube site said they could be burned in a furnace, but heat is free here, furnaces are rare.

It is better to use or give the paint away. I only have a couple of cans that are relatively new. Most of the paint have been around 8 years or more and are spoiled. I have been collecting them, because even though I told the painters not to leave paint, they leave paint and I did not know what to do with them. Since I had to pack so much stuff to paint this time it was a good time to purge. I still have a lot of purging to do.

I found a lot more buckets of fertilizer and pesticides. Most of them will keep since they are in powder form and I can use sulfur and dipel. I think I have enough fertilizer to last at least 10 years. I don't fertilize that much anymore since I test my soil and don't really need a lot fertilizer except for the potted plants and a small amount of nitrogen for the garden. I found more ironite, which I need to send to hazmat because it is made from mine tailings so, it could be contaminated with lead and arsenic. When I bought, it I did not know about that, and I bought the products years ago for the grass. Amazingly, it is still being sold in stores.

I have a lot of pots. There are some broken ones to get rid of, but there are still a lot of pots left.

I found some snail bait. Well, that will be an easy one to use up since it will take the whole box to do the yard one time.

HoneyBerry
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Here we don't have curbside pickup for hazardous waste. It's a hassle but I take it to the drop-off site. Because it is such a hassle it makes me wonder how many people avoid disposing of it correctly. I have been slowly cleaning things up so I don't have any old gas or pesticides in the garage anymore. Here, pressure treated wood isn't considered hazardous waste, just regular garbage. I was surprised about that.

I grew up downwind from an arsenic plant, at the edge of the southern flume boundary. That plant has been closed for a while now and there was a huge superfund clean up. I was the official weed puller for our yard and garden. I would be covered from head to toe with the dirt that probably had arsenic in it. My classmate who lived down the street has lung cancer now and she believes it is from the flume. That plant had a huge effect on the entire city. Most of the time people just don't talk about. What can you do? It doesn't do any good to worry about stuff. But we all need to do our part individually. I wonder what kind of world the children born today will end up with.

PaulF
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I am watching the snow fall from inside the warm house...just woke up from a little snooze and it just keeps floating down. Hibernation coming up.

HoneyBerry
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Sounds nice PaulF. I am picturing a winter chalet with a warm fire.
It got cold here last night, about 32 degrees for the predicted low, actual likely warmer or colder than that. I usually read the predictions as +/- 5 degrees. But not as cold here as Brownville NE. According to the weather report Brownville is to have severe weather for 3 days.
I have a touchy hose bibb so I just spent some time wrapping it real good. It's supposed to get cold again tonight.
Last edited by HoneyBerry on Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I have curbside bulky pickup. Bulky pickup will do things like small or large appliances like refrigerators and heaters, furniture, tv sets, some small remodeling waste, No asbestos so tiles, and some old ceiling material has to be taken down to the landfill separately. They will take small tree branches or stumps if they are cut into 2 ft lengths. Otherwise, all green waste goes to the composting facility or to the convenience centers that take green waste. Old empty propane tanks will be taken by the convenience centers as well. They will take computers (unless I can drag them down to the computer recycling places), rechargeable batteries and fluorescent bulbs can be taken to home depot for recycling. Best Buy also recycles but they charge. Hazardous waste is scheduled every 2 months. I have to call and say what and how much I am bringing and they give me an appointment time. The next drop off will be January 5.

The convenience centers take most of the things you can put into bulky trash. They do not take construction or commercial waste or dead animals. The convenience center I usually go to does not take green waste so I have to take green waste directly to the composting facility that is a mile further down the road from the convenience center. I can take up to two household loads a day. If I go to a different convenience center, I can take an additional 2 loads. I usually go during the week since there is less traffic and less likely that the bins will be full. I have bulky trash collection on the curbside the third week of every month. The city does not require an appointment now, but is considering doing that again since the trucks waste gas and time driving down every street looking for the bulky items to pick up. They send different trucks depending on what is being picked up. Sometimes my trash does not make it into the trucks. Every now and then people will pick up furniture and I have thrown out and decide to take it home. They did that with a tiller and a couple of rattan chairs I put out. I picked up a metal watering can from one of my neighbors. "One man's garbage is another's treasure. "

Sounds cozy Paul. Still, I think I would go crazy after awhile if I could not have the windows and doors open. When I did visit the mainland and they had heat on, I never liked the smell of cooked air. Fireplaces are rare things here. A few people have them, but it is too warm here for it to be practical. The closest thing we get is an open fire pit or an oven rack on some bricks with some mesquite burning and cooking oysters on the half shell, making ramen, or cooking lobsters and fish when they are in season. Not to mention the hot dogs, burgers, chicken, and steaks. In the old days, they would cut a hole in a 55 gallon half drum to fit a special round bottom rice pot to cook rice. These days, it is all done in the rice cooker, but we pretty much eat rice every day. Every local household will have one or more rice cookers. One for everyday use and a larger one for parties.

HoneyBerry
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Here we have 2 cleanup weeks per year, 1 in the spring & 1 in the fall. The service trucks will take 3 containers of extra garbage & 3 containers of extra yard waste & 1 large appliance such as a fridge or range or dryer etc. I don't use the appliance pickup service because metal scroungers sometimes take them only for copper wire and then abandon the appliance in the woods. I had that happen to a dryer that I set out for pickup. There is a huge drug problem in my area and I believe it is tied to that. I really don't need appliance pickup anyway. If I have something to get rid of, I just take it apart, and then take the pieces to the metal recycle place. It takes longer but I don't do it very often. I like seeing how things are made. All appliances have some copper wire. Baseboard heaters have an aluminum core and copper wire inside and they are easy to take apart. I preter to cash in on the aluminum and copper rather than give it away.
We have a really nice recycle center for dropping stuff off. I can recycle just about everything there so I go there often.
Curbside pickup is not so good. No glass, no plastic that isn't 1 or 2 and bottle shaped. So I don't use curbside service much.
Sometime dog walkers will toss their dog poop filled plastic bags into my garbage can if it sits out there by the road very long after pickup. I hate that. Do they think that I don't notice? I wish I knew who is doing that. There are so many dog walkers so it's hard to figure out.

imafan26
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I only got 4 hours sleep last night since I stayed up to 2 a.m. after work. Sometimes, it takes awhile to wind down. So, I am really tired today. I did a load of laundry and called my mom and did some shopping at Costco for her. I got dinner at Costco, so I don't have to do any more cooking tonight. I don't even have to heat up the leftovers. I pulled a few weeds, the neighbors' yard guy busted my sprinkler again ( this is the 4th time.) Luckily, I learned my lesson and had it on a flexible riser but the concrete block that protected it is broken and I have to get another one again.

I wish I got around to doing more. I don't have to go to work till the afternoon tomorrow, so I will try to go to bed earlier tonight and see if I can get some more things done in the morning. I did not even have the energy to go out and water the yard today. Good thing it is cooler this time of year and we get some rain at night. If this were in August, I could not miss a day of watering.

Bulky pickup has to be put out by 6 a.m. on the first day of pickup. It may take a week for them to pick up everything. Except for people taking the things I throw away, there is not a lot of stripping or dumping going on. If I had a truck and help, I could take it to the convenience center, but it is hard enough to drag some of these things down to the curb. I used to put out my empty garbage can the night before pickup and fill it in the morning, but I stopped doing that after the neighbor that was moving out next door filled my can up with her trash to the point where I had a hard time getting my one bag of trash into my own can.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I finally got around to mowing the grass. It was still a little wet. I have 7 orchids blooming now. Most of my collection is from the clubs at Christmas time, so I have a lot of winter blooming orchids.

I took some of the training wires off the bougainvillea. I need to get another consultation on how to handle the top. I don't know how to get it to stop growing taller. I have to ask if it is time to trim the roots and move it into a smaller pot.

I caught 3 snails around my nursery bench, so I put out snail bait. The Round Up worked. I only found a few of the bindweed to pull out.

I have successfully hardened 4 cans of paint. I have 7 more to go. I am looking to see if someone can use the primer since it is still good.

I moved more of the things back where they belong and purged another 2 bags of trash. I even found my small concave cutters and fencing tool. I still have not found the happiness meter or the light meter. I still have only moved about half of it back. More to go. I missed green day, my cans were empty.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I just got home from work and unloaded the mail from my mailbox. My first catalog from High Mowing seeds has arrived! I am spending some time leafing through it.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Yesterday, I went to the herb garden and fixed some sprinkler heads where the stakes had rotted away. I intended to roundup the main herb garden, but my friend insisted we pull a lot of the weeds first. The three of us did pull a couple of barrels of weeds and covered the bed with a large tarp to try to kill off the rest of it. I ended up spraying a small section of grass and malabar spinach. The malabar spinach might still be a problem since it has shiny leaves. I ended up spending more time than I planned, lost my keys which took 45 minutes and three people looking to find it in the shade house where I fixed the sprinkler heads. I missed the bee hive checks and I barely made it to my 10:30 a.m. orchid club Christmas party.

I got home around 3 pm and tried to do some things on the computer, but my head kept hitting the table. I gave up and took a nap instead. I got up at around 7 pm and fed the cats and went right back to sleep until 4 am the next morning.

Today I have to go to my mom's house after work. Somehow, she has 2 operating systems on the computer ? How, I don't know. My sister told her to have me remove the word program to see if that works. The computer has been working for 3 or 4 years now, so I don't know why it suddenly now does not want to work. I have no idea how to fix a computer, so this is really going to be a shot in the dark. My mom does not understand that if the computer crashes, there is no way to save any files she has because she does not back up anything.

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webmaster
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Adopted a new member to my family. Been busy getting him acclimated and ready to be introduced to the resident cat and dog. :D

Hasn't been named yet.
play.jpg

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digitS'
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We sell surplus garden produce, including flowers and plant starts.

So ...

I'm completing sales tax forms. Not gonna be able to get them in the mailbox before letter carrier arrives because DW wanted her new garland and Xmas lights hung around the door. Lazy light snowing had the deaf guy singing Winter Wonderland ♪ ♫

Steve

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digitS'
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webmaster wrote:Adopted a new member to my family. Been busy getting him acclimated and ready to be introduced to the resident cat and dog. :D

Hasn't been named yet.
play.jpg
Stringfellow
Bowstring
Shoestring
Secondstring
Whipcord

If a female: Lacy and Chenille

:wink: Steve

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

Kittenhood! It has been a long time. My cats just wake me up to tell me to feed them.

Today it is raining. I have no more excuses, I have to clean the house.

Yesterday, I planted Red romaine and butterhead lettuce, choi sum, long beans, beets, corvair spinach, kale, kohlrabi, green onions, Italian parsley, Moss curled parsley, and Tasty green cucumber. Some of the seeds were very old so I don't think they will pass the sprout test, but I have been surprised before. The rain will help keep the birds from eating the seeds at any rate and it usually does help speed up sprouting.

My two rain barrels are already full.

I got my seeds from Tomato Growers Supply. Pumpkin Nook has closed down and they cancelled my seed order.

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applestar
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For various reasons, we didn’t have any company visiting for either Thanksgiving or Christmas, nor New Years celebrations. What this means in realistic terms is that we had no forced full-house cleanout looming over us. :roll: (I’m sure you all know what I mean :> )

Funny thing is that especially now that we are starting a new year, I am pumped to get organized and clean, even though nobody is telling me I have to. I have been voluntarily (without needing to whip, demand, or cajole myself to get to work) and almost joyfully sorting and organizing, and cleaning. It’s not I HAVE to do this or that, it’s I WANT to tackle this or that today —- I like this feeling... I hope it lasts for a while. :wink:

Today I used the rubber broom I bought last year (to better sweep up my DDs’ long hairs from the carpet) on the kitchen floor before having my new toy run a damp mop run — I wanted to make sure it had no issues with crumbs, hair, or debris, and could fully execute it’s task.

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tomf
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My new knee is getting stronger and I am getting more energy so I started to build a garage for the tractor. Wife had her wrist operated on been to lots of doctors. I am playing lots of music mostly blues.



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