Creative Electrical Repairs

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Damaged Electrical Box I Reported
Damaged Electrical Box I Reported

I pulled into a client’s facility a month or so ago and noticed an electrical box that had been knocked loose.  I know how these things can be overlooked.  Sometimes they are noticed, but then forgotten by the time you walk inside where something could be done about it.  I snapped a picture, sent it to my contact and suggested that we could fix that for them since it was a code violation and potential safety issue.  We weren’t called, but someone “repaired” it.  While the solution was creative, it doesn’t exactly meet code.

Someone's Zip Tie Solution
Someone’s Zip Tie Solution

Let us help you with simple electrical maintenance issues like this.  Creative electrical repairs are generally frowned on by code officials.  Something like this is a safety and liability issue.  It’s not the best place to skimp.  A “solution” like this can actually increase liability!  If something happens now, there is no doubt that someone knew the problem existed.

 

Marshall County Economic Development For the Future (cont.)

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Last Wednesday I attended the third MCEDC Economic Development For the Future Meeting at Swan Lake.  Culver was represented at this meeting by Bill Githens, Dave Schoeff and Ginny Munroe.  This meeting had a “report card” kind of feel.  In the previous two meetings we talked about what MCEDC needed in order to help the communities and about a list of goals for each of the communities.  At this meeting we listed all of those goals along with all of the associated action steps on poster boards and asked the communities to report on their progress.  All of them were able to point to some of the good things they have done and areas where work was needed.  A couple even added additional goals to their list.

Culver Objectives 8-13Culver’s list was one of the longest, but that is partly due to me being an activist, as you can see from my comp plan map   The Culver list is shown at the right and you can blow it up to see what is on it (feel free to step up and accomplish anything on there you would like to!)

This meeting was the first that Ginny had attended and it was interesting to hear her comments on how it energized her. Seeing how other community representatives were stepping up and taking ownership on projects was an important goal for MCEDC in these meetings. We hope to instill some civic pride and civic competition and we seem to be achieving some success.

We have already scheduled a follow up meeting for the fourth quarter of 2013 and hope to build on the successes we have seen so far.  This program is already paying back with some exciting dividends.

Cell Phone in Public

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After a tiring day, a commuter settled down in his seat and closed his eyes.

As the train rolled out of the station, the young woman sitting next to him pulled

out her cell phone and started talking in a loud voice:

“Hi sweetheart. It’s Sue. I’m on the train”.

“Yes, I know it’s the six thirty and not the four thirty, but I had a long meeting”.

“No, honey, not with that Kevin from the accounting office. It was with the boss”.

“No sweetheart, you’re the only one in my life”.

“Yes, I’m sure, cross my heart!”

Fifteen minutes later, she was still talking loudly.

When the man sitting next to her had enough, he leaned over and said into the phone,

“Sue, hang up the phone and come back to bed.”

Sue doesn’t use her cell phone in public any longer.

Would Your New House Look Good in High Heels?

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Image borrowed from blog.armchairbuilder.com

I’m not talking about stripper shoes!  I’m talking about truss construction.  This is something we’re seeing and recommending more in new construction.  Installing a truss with a raised heel detail allows for more insulation at the perimeter where often the insulation is compressed or absent due to the proximity of the interior ceiling to the roof deck.  The detail to the right shows how a standard truss is built.  As discussed here before, venting and insulation is important to shingle life and to prevent ice damming.

Image borrowed from Building America Solution Center

A high heeled or raised heel truss (see left) is created with the equivalent of an additional wall section separating the bottom chord and top chord of the truss at the exterior wall.  This allows full thickness insulation to extend out to the wall and complete the protection of the building envelope.  If care is used in selecting your roof slope and eave extensions, this is never noticed as your soffit can be installed to return at the same height as the interior ceiling making the construction look like a standard cantilever truss.

When you’re planning your new home or addition to your existing home, make sure and ask us about this and other “Green That Save Green” solutions.

Grandma Murphy

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Many of you have given me your condolences on the passing of my grandmother.  Thank you.  I’ve been blessed more than most to have had my Grandma in my life for as long as I did.  Not many people live to see their 100th Birthday, which she celebrated in August of 2012.  Grandma had 95 very good years before her health began to fail.  Even at the end, she was able to smile and enjoy some of the things in life.

Wilma Murphy ObituaryThe family struggled to put together the obituary (see right); there is only so much that can be said in the limited space.  I have a wealth of stories I could tell about my Grandmother, so for those of you interested, indulge me in some rambling memories of some of our good times together.

When I was little, I would spend a lot of weekends with them in their home in Winamac.  During a lot of this time she was working at the bank, so Grandpa would entertain me Saturday morning (often watching Saturday morning cartoons with me) until she got home at noon.  She and Grandpa woke me in the middle of the night so I could witness some of the Apollo space missions live.  They taught me to mushroom hunt.  They taught me to fish.  Grandma Murphy was probably the only fisherman out on the lake who always had her hair done and was dressed in her good jewelry and full make-up!   That didn’t stop her from baiting a hook and taking her own fish off the line though!  Grandma had an aging uncle in Monticello she looked after.  Grandpa and Grandma would take me with them to do yard work for him on the weekends.  Grandma would direct the activities, but would also be right in there working with us.

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