good news

It looks like Forestfen may have found a home for the kitten. A friend of hers was considering getting another dog as a companion for his 9-month old Scottish terrier, and when FF suggested the kitten instead, he said we could try it out and see if they get along. So we took the kitten there, and at first I was quite dubious about the kitten not being terrified of the dog, since the dog kept trying to jump up on us. But they seem to actually get along ok. The dog wants to play with the kitten, and the kitten seems curious about the dog. When the kitten gets tired of being chased by the dog, it goes somewhere the dog can't get to, and then comes back out a little while later to do more exploring. The kitten even started eating and drinking from the dog's food and water bowls, and the dog didn't seem to mind. So we left it there yesterday, and hopefully it has a new home where it will be happy. We went to go buy some catfood, and when we returned, the kitten was sleeping on top of the chair the guy was in, and he said it had been purring on his chest before too.

I do miss the kitten a bit (the cute little soft purring playful thing), but I'm sure I'll get over that soon. Now I can use my computer again, without a kitten jumping on my keyboard all the time.

(no subject)

A very cool version of Ravel's Bolero from Angelique Kidjo's new album.

updated link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqjqvkAXXD8

(no subject)

Some more music I like...

Malouma

Kiran Ahluwalia



Cool bits story generator...

house wiring notes

The 2 outlets in the kitchen to the left side of the sink are on a 20 Amp circuit breaker.

The outlet closest to the sink is the last in the circuit, with a single cable including a ground wire. It appears to be wired correctly, but the tester shows the ground is not good. This one has a blue plastic box.

The other outlet's ground was testing as good.
It has 3 cables in it, and a metal box.
1 of the cables is plastic(?)-clad and has a #12 ground wire... but the ground wire was cut off and not connected to anything. This is the cable going to the other outlet, and this explains why the ground on the other outlet was bad. The black and white wires from this cable are connected into the holes in the back of the outlet.

white - left side
black - right side

The other 2 cables appear to be older, with a different cladding material. These are connected to the side-screws.
One of them has black and white wires, size #14. This one presumably is connected to the light and fan over the stove.
The other has black and white wires, size #12. This one presumably feeds the outlet. This one also has a thinner copper ground wire connected to the receptacle's ground screw.

I think I just need to connect the thin ground wire, the plastic-clad cable's ground wire, and a jumper wire together with a wire-nut, and hook the jumper to the receptacle's ground screw. I don't like that the one wire will be thinner than the others.

How do you twist 2 #12 wires together? Dang hard. And my wire-nuts aren't large enough.
Need to go to the store, I guess. And then it will still be difficult. Eep.

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http://www.ehow.com/how_117546_replace-receptacle.html
Receptacles have a single ground screw (why don't they have two separate screws, like for the other wires, to make the connections easier?), so the ground wires need to be connected to a jumper with a wire-nut.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Electrical-Wiring-Home-1734/20-amp-GFCI-outlets.htm
You can have a 20 Amp receptacle on a 15 Amp breaker.
You can also have a 15 Amp receptacle (with #12 wire) on a 20 Amp breaker, but only if there is more than one receptacle on the circuit.
You can't use #14 wire on a 20 Amp circuit, because then the overcurrent protection from the breaker exceeds the max rating of the wire (needs to be #12 wire).

http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?p=1198418
Should be ok to have a T-type connection at an outlet.

http://www.rusticgirls.com/electrical/wires-wiring-3.html
Types of electrical cables.

http://groups.google.com/group/alt.engineering.electrical/browse_thread/thread/6f0b210aa2e98822/c0d08f89cef7579f%23c0d08f89cef7579f
There are wire-nuts big enough for at least 3 #12 wires.

(no subject)

dammit. It took me about 1 1/2 hours trying to reconnect all those wires to the receptacle and getting them to bend in order to fit back into the box, but I had it!!! Then, on the last step,screwing the outlet cover back on, I screwed too tight, and the receptacle cracked through the middle!!!!! ARGHHH!!!!

Can't I get an electrician to do this?!! I don't wanna do no more damn outlets!!! They say, pull it out gently, but those wires are so stiff that gentleness sure as heck isn't going to get them pulled out, or pushed back in. An electrician will probably say the outlet shouldn't be wired like that, feeding the stove fan/light in addition to the other outlet, in the first place. But how else can they rewire it? Maybe connect it to one of the circuits from the attic?