Drywalling, Beating the Buzzer and Recreational Plumbing...all in one day

The drywall work proceeds apace. The pressed-paper tiles were removed and I added a 1-1/4" long crown staple to the 1"-by-3" furring strips every place it touched the bottom of a truss. Drywall is heavier than paper.

I need to purchase the correct junction box for the ceiling fan before I go much farther.

My shoulders and neck are sore. I anticipate headaches in my future. Still, life goes on.

Buzzers on GE dryers (offered for entertainment purposes only)

The dryer at Southern Belle's house is directly below Quicksilver's bedroom. The end-of-cycle buzzer is identical to the buzzer at a basketball game. Of course, the most convenient times for Southern Belle and Handsome Hombre to do laundry is when Quicksilver is down for her nap or in bed for the night.

First review on this model at Lowes:

Great dryer but horrendous end of cycle signal. Simple dryer that works great. Dried towels in 30 mins!...Now to the end of cycle signal, it is just horrible and unbearable! It alerts you two times for about 13 seconds long. With all windows and doors closed, you could still hear it outside. It doesn't have an option to turn it off....

Buzzer for that model of GE dryer according to V&V Appliance Parts

The piezoelectric buzzer unit is a black "ice cube" with two, 1/4", male, spade connectors on top.

OH! GEE GOLLY! Look. A black ice cube!

Theoretically, after unplugging the unit one might remove the back panel to the back-splash that holds the controls and find the black ice cube with the two, 1/4", male, spade connectors on top.

And, hypothetically speaking, a fellow might remove one of the wires to the black ice cube and generously wrap the exposed metal end  with electrical tape. If he were extra-special careful, he could also zip-tie the wire to another wire so the end was suspended in space distant from any of the metal panels. He could then plug the unit back in and verify that the buzzer was disabled.

Of course, leaving it in this condition probably violates the warranty, so if a person were so foolish as to do this, he should IMMEDIATELY return it to its as-delivered-from-the-factory perfection. And after returning it to factory condition, to re-install the back panel to prevent curious engineers from messing with its innards.

Recreational Plumbing

The other "little favor" Southern Belle requested was to replace the valve that feeds cold water to the washing machine. The old one had fractured where the threaded inlet screwed into the Tee, leaving a portion of the "nipple" stuck in the Tee.

I would say "No sweat" but removing the old Tee at the solder joints and replacing it was the order-of-the-day. It is what folks in the turd-herding business call "A sweated joint". It was not my prettiest work but it didn't leak and Southern Belle was cheerfully whittling down a pile of laundry when I left. 

Paul Anka cover

One of my Dad's favorite songs.

They did a great job capturing the feel of the old-time recording studio's reverb.