Brunch with the Lithgo's

Slept in until almost 8am, and even then I probably could’ve slept a lot longer, but the thought of sleeping that late drives me up a wall. Downstairs I started coffee and played on the internet. We were meeting Ben & Ryan at CBC for brunch but not until noon. It must’ve been about 930am when I finally headed out for a run. Ran three miles under mostly cloudy skies and 65 degrees.

After my run and before a shower, I decided to do a little electrical work in the basement. My goal was simple: removed the 50amp/220 breaker that was used for the hot tub effectively freeing up two breaker spaces in the electric panel for 110v breakers. At the same time I removed the hot tub wiring and checked out the breaker box rail system to determine if the new tandem breaker I bought would work in our box. As it was, the documentation was unclear, so the only way to tell was by visual inspection. For it to fit, the rail would have to have slots in it to accommodate the hook clamp design of the tandem breaker. I removed the wiring and 220v breaker with the power on but was very careful.

With the breaker removed, I could see that the rail system did not have the slots required to host the tandem breaker model I bought. Dang it! I was more than a bit discouraged. I asked Mindy if she minded stopping at Lowes after brunch so I could return the tandem breaker as well as the 20amp GFCI single breaker I bought. While researching the tandem breakers I learned that we’ll be much better off going with a standard 20amp breaker and using GFCI protected outlets where required because anything on the circuit with a motor – I.E. bathroom exhaust fan and/or a fridge- can trip a GFCI.

We left for CBC near 1130am and arrived well ahead of Ben & Ryan. We opted for the same table we had the week prior with David and Anita and soon ordered drinks. Mindy went with a spicy bloody Mary and I went with a Bodhi. Ben & Ryan showed up at 1205pm. Once seated and settled, they ordered bloody Mary’s too – the same one as Mindy. Mindy ordered some pretzel bread as an appetizer.

Once everybody had their drinks, we placed food orders. Like the week before, I went with the Brew House breakfast. Ben followed suit. Mindy again ordered the chicken and waffles, and I believe that Ryan did as well. Breakfast was delicious. Stayed with just the one beer. Guessing we were there until 1pm or so. Parted company in the lot, Mindy and I off to Lowes. Ben and Ryan heading for home.

Arrived at the Hilliard Lowes near 130pm. Mindy opted to wait in the car while I headed in to return the breakers. No questions. It was any easy return. Instead of heading back to the car, I decided to look a bit deeper at their breaker offerings, possibly looking for the other QO load center tandem breaker type. Sure enough, they did in fact have the other type in stock though this model in a sealed package. I couldn’t open it to reveal the seating type but on closer inspection it appeared to have the seating type used in my QO load center. I picked up a 15a & 20a model. All told, the two of them were $10 cheaper than the two I’d just returned, but more importantly, they seemed to be the more in line with what I needed.

At home, my first order of business was to play a little guitar and then taking a nap. Together, that lasted about half an hour. With the front still off my load center panel, I popped in one of the two new breakers to make sure they fit. It fit perfectly. Yeah! And since I will need future access to the panel to run new electrical feeds, I left the cover panel off.


Upstairs, I got comfy in the family room chair watching NFL preseason football, and once again fell asleep. At the same time, Mindy headed upstairs for a nap. The kids got home around 330pm, and I am pretty sure that Mindy was still asleep. I woke a few times feeling sticky and warm. I figured Mindy mis-set the AC thermostat settings. It was set on 72 degrees, blowing, but a balmy 76 in the house. I checked the vent nearest the thermostat and realized that it was blowing air but it was warm and moist. Not good! Having been down this road twice past, the first think I did was visually inspect the AC lines to the compressor from the window. No ice build-up, which was a good a thing. But I also noticed that the fan in the compressor wasn’t running. Uh-oh!

I headed outside on the deck and tapped on the unit thinking I might jar it free. I could hear a steady humming sound as if it might be stuck. No such luck. Anyone familiar with Occam’s Razor knows that the simplest solution is generally the one. And thinking of my recent actions, I headed to the basement and to the electrical panel box where I found the A/C breaker mis-seated. It sparked as I pushed it back onto the rail and immediately I heard the compressor kick on. Relief! Apparently knocked it loose when I removed the hot tub breaker earlier that morning. Cool air was now flowing into the home. A little bit later when Mindy was up, I asked if she noticed how warm it was. Said she did. I told her what happened.

The grandsons were coming over to stay the night and spending their Monday with Mindy since base would be closed ahead of the start of the new school year. Mindy asked Lindsey to bring them around 730pm. That time came around fast. Even before Rocky & Landon showed up, our kids were barking about being hungry. Mindy had talked about grilling burgers but neither of us were hungry so we put those back in the fridge. I agreed to order the kids pizza, or more accurately stated, pay for pizza.

The kids of course wanted something other than Minelli’s, which as far as I was concerned, I wasn’t having any, so I didn’t care where it came from. They opted for Poppa John’s and Bella agreed to order it. I helped coach her, since she wasn’t sure how to do it. We reviewed the script but she got flustered once they answered so I asked for the phone. I did the order. We had a coupon for two large pizza with ip to 5 toppings each for $11 each. I ordered one with pepperoni and the other with double pep and double cheese. The woman advised that they would have to charge us more since cheese doesn’t count as one of the ingredients. What? Yep, fine print on the coupon that extra cheese will result in an additional charge of $2. Hell no! I changed it to quad pep then. What a farse.

We ended up not only with our own kids and grandkids, but all the island kids too. I didn’t mind sharing but I insisted that our four kids get to eat first since we didn’t plan to have the entire neighborhood over for dinner. Proved to be plenty of pie for all.

Headed for bed near 9pm where I watched Sunday Night football from bed.