Marley, Lori, Taz, and Binq

Monday, September 11, 2017

Mayhem Monday

With all the problems in the world today with hurricanes, earthquakes, and landslides (and recognizing it is also 9-11) there is a place for taking problems with some humor.  This is a bit long but we hope you will bear with us...

You all may have noticed that we talk about how, when TBT has something go wrong with the house, yard, and contents, it it usually weerd. 

A repair to the heat pump fails and TBT tells the repairer they need to come back out "because..." and they say "it cant be that, that never happens", and it IS and it DID".  The kitchen fluorescent light wont come on when the attic gets hot and they "that doesnt happen, your bulbs are burned out", but they arrive because he insists on a ballast replacement and they find he was right because the bulbs werk perfectly in other fixtures. 

The best one was a few years ago when TBT wanted an additional staircase light added at the bottom of the stairs.  OK, this may be tricky.  We have a split-foyer house.  The door is 6' above the lawn.  You go up steps to open it and there is a half flight going down to the basement and a half flight going up to the main floor.  There is a big light at the top, but the bottom of the stairs was dark.  There are 3 switches.  One at the top, one at the middle (the door) and one at the bottom. 

So he had a guy come out to add a light at the bottom, wired to the existing switches so both would come on.  Simple, right?  Wrong.  This is TBT we are talking about.  Nothing is ever that simple.  The electrician guy stood at the bottom switch where he had done the connection and flipped the switch several times.  Both lights came on and both lights went off several times.  Thank, here's your check, goodbye...

Only the next day, he discovered that flipping the OTHER 2 switches made one light come on and the other go off, alternating each time he flipped the switch.  He called the electrician company and they said "that's impossible, cant happen".  Like TBT was making it up?

But they came out and discovered he was right.  The previous electrician had done something really stupid about 3-way switches.  And they wanted to charge him again for the visit.  To save going to small-claims court, TBT finally agreed to pay half.  And wrote nasty things on AngiesList about them.
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Well, TBT has topped himself for weerd problems.  Yesterday, he discovered he was nearly out of gas in the car.  He wanted to go to the Safeway 10 miles away today because he had would have had 30 cent per gallon bonuses accumulated.  But he wasnt sure he had enough gas to get there.  So he used the 3 gallons he had in the portable gas can  (for mowers and stuff) and poured it in.  That part was fine; same gas.

Only, when he turned the can up high to get the last of it out, the gas can spout popped further into the car gar tank.

AND STUCK THERE!  It wouldnt come out!  Fortunately, the gas CAN was empty then, so it just sort of hung there while he contemplated the situation... 

Would pulling on the metal spout cause a spark igniting the gas in the car (in the garage, which is in the basement of the house?

Would pulling case the tip of the metal spot to come loose in the car gas tank and cause a problem?

Would it force damage the cars gas filling tube so the cap wouldn't fit?

Most Beins never have to answer these questions...

And of COURSE, it was Sunday and he couldn't call a dealer and ask what to do.  So he looked it up on the internet.  Beins have to add gas from cans often enough, this MUST have happened before.  Apparently not.  Nozzles from certain older gas pumps and gas stations have gotten stuck in some odd capless filler Ford used a decade ago.  Beins have driven away from gas stations with the gas station pump nozzle still in their car.  And plastic gas can tips have come loose and fallen into the car gar tank.

He couldn't find a single case of a metal gas can spout getting stuck in the cars gas filler opening!

The closest he found was about station pump nozzles getting stuck.  One site showed how to use a cut-up plastic bottle to slide it around the nozzle and the pull it out.  Werked great on the video.  An hour of TBT trying that in many ways did not...  Slightly differnt problem apparently, he says.

So TBT unscrewed the gas can spout from the gas can and secured plastic over it with twisties.  Stuffed another plastic bag in around the car gr filler opening and put duct tape in there to keep the bag in place.  It is about as secure as a gas cap. 

He is driving to the dealership 3 miles away as soon as they are open and LEAVING IT THERE until they can fix it.  They have a nice shuttle service and will drive him home and pick him up when the problem is fixed. 

WE are fine.  We have a months worth of canned food in the closet.  TBT is not.  He is out of lettuce.  That was why he was going to the Safeway today to grocery shop.  A day without a good tossed salad makes him cranky. 

We will let you know the end of the story when we learn it ourselfs...

And thanks for reading this long post without pictures.  TBT was just NOT in the mood for processing pictures last night.