What's in YOUR tool box?

As far as tool boxes go, I have an embarrassment of riches.  Remember my Just In Case blog?  Well...

My Tool Box

I believe I have pretty much any non-electrical  tool and/or repair item I'd need for pretty much anything that might come up.  Just In Case.  It's not like I have a lot of repairs to do, but you just never know.

Top Tier

The top tier has mostly fasteners and TV stuff.  Little things that need to be in their own section to keep them together.

Second Tier

This has larger, longer tools that are flat enough to fit.  

Bottom Tier

This tier has the rest.  I do have an electric drill, which can be plugged in for a while, and then used with just the charge, but it's the only tool that plugs in.

Here are the tools in the side pockets:

Middle and Two Side Pocket Areas - 13 Pockets in All

My tool box weighs 33.5 pounds, but sure feels heavier!  Jealous, guys?  ; )    Well, don't be.  When I start loading my motor home, which will probably be a small class C, you can imagine how much weight I'll be able to load in it.  This tool box may come along, but probably not most of the contents.  I can hardly lift it, and I probably won't need most of the things in it.  I might need to have an RV owner-person go through it with me to see what to bring and what to leave out.

I have to say, though, when someone is over and offers to help fix something, I love the look of incredulity when he sees my tool box.  And I can always find my tools.  My dad would be proud. : )

That does it for today.  From Me and My Dog, have a nice Thursday, everyone!  : )

Blogger stats, and gadgets

I have a couple of little gadgets on my blog that tell me some stats on what's happening with traffic to the blog. They are fun to check to see how I'm doing as far as traffic being up or down on a day-to-say basis.

I was playing around with Blogger last week and came upon this statistical information right in Blogger itself.  I think they added it a couple of months ago:

 

The part I found most interesting was how many visitors I've had from different countries.  There is a place to set whether or not you want translations, and I now have mine turned to "yes," I don't know if my foreign visitors read English, but if not, hopefully they will still be able to follow along.  

It looks like one or two visitors aren't going to show on the map, but at least they are detailed in the numbers below it. If you have Blogger and haven't noticed this "Stats" tab, click on it and see what your blog has been up to.

I love gadgets, and always click on the ones I find in other people's blogs. That's how I got all the little things on my Blog.  I don't want it to be messy or too commercial, but I have to admit those things make this more fun for me.  I like checking on how many people have clicked on ads, and on different pages.

And just for your information (in case you didn't know), when readers click on the ads, I make money.  It isn't much, and it takes a lot of clicks, but I figure over time I'll eventually get a check for something.  If you go into your Blogger "Monetize" tab, it explains it all and you can do the same thing. 

I chose the option that puts up ads relating to what I'm writing about that day, so the ads change.  Sometimes they are about crafts, sometimes pet products, depending on the subject of the post.  I can't click on my own ads, so if I want something, say from Amazon, I go to someone else's blog and click on their ad and purchase through them.  Then they get a small payment for my purchase.  Like I said, it's not much, sometimes nothing in a day, sometimes only pennies.  But it is fun to follow and see how it grows over time. 

I also have an icon on the right for a website called Site Meter, which is free.  You can upgrade it and pay for the upgrade, but the free part has everything I want, including a world map that shows where your visitors are located. Now that I've found the stats here in Blogger, I don't know if I'll keep Site Meter.

Then I have a gadget at the bottom of the blog on the left side.  This one has the weather, although it doesn't have my exact location, it's around a 15 minute drive from my house. (Here in San Diego, I don't say 15 miles, it's 15 minutes, depending on traffic of course.)  The reason I picked this one is because it was pretty, and if you click on it you can see the vegetation moving in the breeze, if there is one, and also it changes from day to night, and you can see the sun and moon moving along.  

NOTE: I figured out that I could get my city (San Marcos) for this gadget, and have corrected it.

And there are others, as you can see by moving around in the blog.  I hope they don't become too distracting, but as I find new ones, I'll add them and try them out.

Yesterday I found and added the one under my profile, which is fish swimming around.  If you click on their swimming area, fish food will appear and they will swim toward it and eat.  Same with the turtles at the end of the week's postings.  I have to admit I can't pass them by without feeding them. : )

I'm not a computer geek (wish I was!), but these simple gadgets are easy to set up and enjoy, or visit from time to time to see what Me and My Dog is doing. 

I have actually learned a lot about how the web works since I've started my Blog.

From Me and Katie, have a nice Wednesday, everyone!  : )

Record heat wave, and my swamp cooler

WELCOME to B.W. and Carol!  Thanks for signing on to follow Me and My Dog.  I appreciate it, and hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as I am enjoying reading yours. : )

Yesterday was soooo HOT in San Diego.  Here in San Marcos (north county) my computer showed this at 4:30:

 107 DEGREES - WOW

SDG&E actually did turn off my air conditioning in the afternoon.  I realized it was getting warmer and muggier, even though the A/C was cranking away, and then I realized it wasn't putting out any more cold air.  

On the 5:00 news they had a story about the heat, and said we set an "all-time power usage record" in San Diego and Monday was the hottest day of the year in San Diego County (actually it was an all time record breaker for the whole area including Los Angeles).  I'm lucky I was off, I was able to stay inside with my A/C until it was shut off (only for a few hours).

I have a back-up system, which I'm going to bring with me when I'm full-timing, if I can fit it somewhere in the rig, and it doesn't use too much power.  I'll have to check on that before I decide for sure.  (I still have to learn about the energy stuff, solar, propane, batteries, deep charge batteries, deep cycle batteries - HELP! - but not yet. )

It's a portable swamp cooler.  I just roll it wherever I want it, add lots of ice and water, plug it in and turn it on.  The one I have now has lots of different settings, and a remote control, so I don't even have to get up to use it.  It has a timer in case I want to use it for specific period of time then have it turn itself off.

This isn't the exact one I have, but very similar.  Boy, do they make a difference! 

When I was in Pollock Pines, we had a very hot summer and I didn't have air conditioning in my house.  I was working at Chile Bar Slate Mine at the time. I worked in the office for the General Manager, but I was still considered a miner, had to wear jeans and steel toed boots, and had a full face respirator that I used occasionally when the slate dust wasn't under control.

I'll tell you, I'd get home from work, turn on the swamp cooler, throw all my clothes in the washer, jump in the shower, and when I'd finally sit down in the living room (which was upstairs in that house) it was already cooling down.  I'd sit right in front of this little baby, and it was heaven.  

I don't use it much here in San  Diego, but I've brought it out a few times this summer.  Sure was glad I had it yesterday.

From me and Katie, have a nice comfortable day, everyone!  : )

My weekend, the HEAT, and new app for Kindle

WELCOME to my new follower, Gypsy Jane! I am a gypsy at heart, myself, and appreciate you following along with us.  Welcome aboard!

WOW, on the TV news they just said it's 105 degrees at my office in San Diego right now at 11:00 a.m.  That's HOT, especially for San Diego.  I'm home today because I worked on Friday, and it's 98 at my house and climbing.

Today I slept in until around 9:30 and it was hot already, sun streaming into my living room, so I closed everything up and turned on the A/C (probably only the third or fourth time this year I've used A/C).  Catch it early and I'm usually good for the day in weather like this. Plus, I'm on a special SDG&E (San Diego Gas & Electric) program where I allow them to shut off my A/C periodically at peak usage times during summer months and I get a credit of $100 in December.  That paid for my December and most of my January bill last year.  Since I don't usually turn my A/C on, unless it's super hot, that's a total win for me.  I have a feeling they might shut me down for a while this afternoon, so I'm cooling things down now. 

I must be getting old. When I get home from a trip, after all the driving, visiting, playing with grandkids, etc., it takes me weeks to get back to normal. I've been so tired since I got back-and a little under the weather, but I've also not been able to sleep, which is unusual for me. Today I'm finally back to normal.

Saturday I slept in late, did virtually nothing all day, then dressed and took Katie out to grocery shop in the early evening, had the car washed, and stopped at the pet store to get food and treats for Katie.

I got her a cool new toy, a ball with both sides cut out, and you put a treat into the cutout, and the dog has to work at it to get it eaten.  She loves it! It was kind of expensive, but it has kept her busy now for two days, and she hasn't finished it yet. I bought a refill, too, which I'll give her in a couple of days.

Double sided Everlasting Treat Ball.

The ball comes with one "edible" insert, so you have to buy a spare Everlasting Treats, and use one of them.

This is what I usually give Katie:

It's just a simple ball with a hole in it - you put in treats and the dog noses it around and the treats fall out as it rolls.  It takes Katie a while to empty it.  I don't put "treats" in, I put in another kind of dog food, so although she thinks she's getting a treat, she's actually getting good, nutritious dog food.

Sunday I woke up early and realized it was going to be hot. It's was 100 degrees, or close to it, on Saturday, with the same predicted for Sunday and today. So, I brewed my cup of coffee, put the laundry in the washing machine, dusted the house, vacuumed, put the laundry in the dryer, stripped and changed the bed, cleaned bathrooms, hung up and/or put away clothes from the dryer, got everything done that I've been putting off for three weeks. The house is shining!  Then I scrambled some eggs, made another cup of coffee, and sat down to catch up on my blog reading. I turned on my air conditioner yesterday, too.

My condo isn't insulated, at least I don't think so, but the previous owners put in double paned windows and I have a neighboring wall on the north and south, so I stay warm in the winter without the heater and cool in the summer without my A/C.  Most days.

My plan for today is to catch up on my blog reading, maybe play some computer games, and do a bit of  Kindle reading.  I'll probably take Katie for a walk in the evening when it cools down.  My house is clean, my shopping and laundry are done, and so I can just take it easy and rest up for work tomorrow.

By the way, I've downloaded a free Kindle app on my new Droid2.  I found out this morning there's a free Kindle app for the computer, too, either PC or MAC.

 I like the way the Kindle app looks.

Amazon.com has lots of free books you can download, which is what I usually do.  If you download one free book, usually other free ones will come up on your screen.  Just double check before you download it to make sure it IS free.

I just downloaded the app, and all 158 archived Kindle books from my account at Amazon.com are now on my computer to access whenever I want.  Some I've read, some I haven't, but now they are all available to me on my Kindle, phone, or PC.  I don't need to have my Kindle with me to read them.  Pretty amazing!

That new Kindle looks pretty nice, but I wonder how the sales will be now that they are offering free apps to use your phone and computer just like a Kindle.

Before I finish, I just checked The Weather Channel for San Marcos, the (north San Diego county) city I live in, and it's 107 degrees right now, at 12:15.  I haven't been outside yet, but it sure is nice having A/C!!!  The little weather gadget at the bottom of my blog is for Encinitis, which is on the coast directly west from me about a 15 minute drive.  The closest I could get to San Marcos for the gadget.  It's where my son and his family live and since it's on the coast, it is a little different, but usually pretty close.

From me and Katie, have a nice Monday and a good evening, everyone!  : )

Do you like taking polls?

I've noticed there are a couple of bloggers putting polls in their posts.

I LOVE taking polls!  Unless it's something I want to keep to myself, I always answer them.  I thought I'd add the poll below to this post to see if you like polls.  If so, I'll add some to my blog from time to time.  I'll always have it set to show the results to the voters.  You can't vote more than once, but your answer will be anomymous, only your vote will be recorded.

If the result is negative, I won't add polls to my blogs (often) - but remember, I LOVE polls. So I hope you do, too.  : )

FIRST POLL:

(Apparently after a period of time the link to the poll times out and isn't accessible in the blog. When I came back and looked, the poll is gone.  Check October 10, 2010 for a photo of the results.)

There you have it.  Voting will be open for two weeks, or until October 10 at 6:00 p.m.

Let me know if you have any good ideas for future polls. ; )

By the way, my chicken soup is delicious!  I'm saving some to bring to work for lunch in my "soup thermos." 

From Me and My Dog, have a great Sunday!  : )