Thanks everybody. The Sharkbite has been installed. Getting the old compression fit valve undone was, as I predicted, not fun because there’s just no space to work wrenches, but once that was out, the prep and installation was easy.

I can sweat copper old school style and I have PEX tools as well, but this was just one of those one-off situations where I really, really, really wanted the easy fix rather than have to remove the toilet and make a bigger project out of this.

I already have another project to move on to. Both my MIL and my sister have townhomes that were built in the late 1980s/early 90s, so absolutely everything that wears out is at the end of its usable life. Now the hot water valve on the MIL’s laundry shutoff is dripping a little… So that’ll mean the cold water is shot as well, so let’s just replace everything… New valves, new hoses, new drain hose.

tswoboda wrote:

It’s not like it was the real Herb Brooks… it’s just a Disney movie mashup with the current players.

Lol. Yes, I’m pretty sure most of us knew that it was not the real Herb Brooks. My inside sources tell me that despite Disney’s dogged pursuit, he was unavailable to do a live appearance due to the fact that he is presently deceased.

By the way, who comes up with these brand names?

Gooloo?
Yaber?
Zeus?
Noco?

This has the makings of a quiz show category. Is it a jumpstart pack or part of a bad pickup line?

Hey baby, I’m bringing out the Gooloo tonight…

When the Canadians pulled even 2-2, I told my son that Canada would win this one in OT. Again. The USA was just not generating anything other than brief rushes and then right back the other way, it was like watching tennis.

Not much more to say about Binnington, just when the Canadians needed it, he came through. What can you say, I don’t think anyone is under the illusion that you’d want Binnington to be the guy to win you a 7 game series of this type of game, but that wasn’t what this was.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Anyone else annoyed with the redo of the “Miracle” pregame speech?

Yes, I thought it was completely lame and as someone who watched the Miracle game live, I will tell you that even as a 10-year-old, that game had VASTLY more meaning and symbolism than this game. The idea of recycling one of the great moments in sports and trying to shoehorn it into a modern-day context that it doesn’t fit, was just wrong.

Musky Ed wrote:

Not only that, the main distributer for Ionic, sells and recommends a Noco jump pack for lith batteries. If you are getting one for lith boat batteries or any battery for that matter, what you want is one that will work with a battery that has gone below the 10 volt area, as if it doesn’t have that ability, it will not allow any charging or jump to take place, similar to most stand-alone chargers that will not charge a battery below a certain voltage.
Noco’s and Gooloo’s have an override that will allow a dead battery to take the jump, not all do, and this is an important feature.
On lith starting batteries this is extremely important as sometimes they will go in protection mode and shut off but can be woke up with the right jump pack.

This is great information. I have had the same issue with so called smart battery chargers. They will not charge a severely deleted battery because they read the battery as having a dead cell if it is below a certain voltage.

I gave Gooloo battery packs as Christmas gifts to my dad and BIL last year. Sooner or later they’ll need it.

Okay hockey fans, what are USA vs Canada final score predictions for tonight?

I hate to say it, but IMO Canada will come out on fire. National pride is at stake on a totally different level and they’ve been lackluster so far and the Canadian media have let them know it. They don’t want to be “that team”, as a Canadian best-of it doesn’t get any better than what they’ve got.

USA needs to stay out of the box and Brady and Matthew both need to be at the level they were at in the first meeting. Hellebuyck has to be lights out as usual.

Final score:
USA 3
Canada 2

No editing now. State your predictions.

Nodakk wrote:

The main times I have seen any issues with stab on stops is if the pipe is not round (ie ovaled). Just make sure the copper looks good

Thanks, I’ll make a clean cut and clean up the ends. This whole thing wouldn’t be a problem if I could get in there to put on a compression fit stop, but I should take a picture of how this stop is boxed in between the toilet and tub. I doubt this is code but it’s in a townhome so they must have done it the same and gotten away with it in all the units. It’s not a problem until the toilet is installed and then there’s just no room.

I already went and got the Sharkbite fitting from the Home Despot. Shouldn’t be a big deal but wanted to ask if guys had bad experiences with these as I’ve never used them.

I agree with Randy and BC in that the 90 and 110 ATVs get outgrown so fast that I don’t see them as being worth it. My kids were big and didn’t even fit on the 90 size when it was within their recommended age range.

I ended up buying Coleman mini-bikes and the kids have had endless fun on these. They are simple to ride, go anywhere, and they are Chonda (Honda clone) powered so they are as simple and reliable as the day is long. We’ve kept one of these bikes because the kids still ride it even though they are teenagers and it’s great for a run-around utility ride just to go back and forth to fetch tools, etc.

Thanks for the feedback guys. That’s what I was hoping.

The crappy thing is that If they had put the stop on the other side of the toilet there would be 3 feet of open space to get at it.

Nodakk wrote:

I take it that it’s copper pipe coming out of the wall?

Yes. Good old 1/2 inch copper.

NHL trade deadline is March 7 at 3 PM EST. Do the Wild and BG make any moves?

I don’t see it. I don’t think Nelson wants the disruption and the Islanders are showing a lot of interest in a new contract plus they have their own playoff picture to worry about. If he comes here, it’ll be as a UFA this summer.

Do the Wild make any moves?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>AK Guy wrote:</div>
35 seconds in and that bum Kreider scores.

yeah, he must have been fueled by Mathew Tkachuk’s energy from the press box….

Brady looks ready to join him.

PM sent.

If DT is willing to freeze his blue line off, he deserves support. Please donate if you can.

Matt Moen wrote:

We have a solo stove…I like it because you don’t smell like a campfire. We can use it for a couple hours in the evening and don’t have to wash our clothes. My wife wouldn’t use our old fire pit because of the smell.

Also have a Solo and I like it for exactly the same reasons. Once they get hot, there is very little smoke smell.

One thing I have noticed is because the steel sides reflect heat, they are not as warm to sit around. They don’t throw radiant heat sideways off the red hot coals. So that limits when Mrs Grouse wants a fire.

Guentzel was an absolute stud in that game. #oneofus. What a game.

Anyone seeing any upsets in the next 2 games?

Well we’re 9 seconds and 3 fights into the USA vs Canada game…

Granlund with the OT winner for the Finns against the Swedes. Fina played a terrific game to win that one.

USA vs Canada tonight.

fins wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jwellsy wrote:</div>
If Canada does join the US, I imagine there would be a pretty large redistribution of people. Lots of people from California and Washington would probably move to BC and people in the Midwest would probably move to Ontario and Manitoba.

I’ll have to check out that Kenora area.
I was wondering where the roads end in the different provinces, like Red Lake in Ontario.

That would get really interesting. Those French Canadians hate Americans. Wonder how that would work out?

A completely stupid assertion. Odds are you’ve never even been to Quebec.

Also, I think with some actual experience, you’ll find Americans in general aren’t hitting popularity highs with anyone, anywhere in Canada. It may have something to do with ridiculous talk about taking over their country.

Quebec is fantastic, I love the food and culture and, of course, the Atlantic salmon fishing. Winter sports are also great up there.

Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are beautiful and the accent makes me smile. Legendary brook trout as well.

BC is beautiful in the summer, especially Vancouver Island. Spent 2 weeks out there last summer.

BigWerm wrote:

Also, was anyone else having flashbacks of Granlund with the puck on his stick sitting behind the net doing nothing, or was that just me?

Granlund is actually having a good season, He’s at 49 points and 15 goals and 5 of them came on the PP. Granted he now has to contend with a new system in Dallas and he won’t be on the #1 unit, but he could end up being a 20+ goal guy this year.

I believe he’s a UFA at the end of this season.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>TheFamousGrouse wrote:</div>
We don’t have any JoJos, Hartmans, Merrills etc out there, every player in this thing is a key player for the Wild if we’re going to make it beyond R1.

No team in the league has those types of players in the tournament.

Shockingly, I don’t care about every other team in the league. I want a playoff run without having to wait for BG’s next 10 year planning cycle or whatever.

Mrs. Grouse had to go to a convention/corporate rah-rah fest in Las Vegas in January and she came home and promptly got sick 3 days later. It was some kind of respiratory crud and it hung on for 2 weeks. She got tested for flu and covid, both negative.

Hearing from parents/friends who have kids at school. Lots of strep, but you can never tell if it’s worse or better than an average year. A doctor friend of mine did say that RSV cases are higher than an average year and this is highly concerning for infants, so if you have babies, be vigilant. Our youngest son got RSV when he was 2 weeks old and it was scary.

Winnie the Greyhound says happy Valentine’s Day as well. She has finished thrashing the purple worm unicorn thing, so that job is done. And so to bed.

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_20250208_171955052-scaled.jpg
   

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

February 14, 2025 at 5:17 am#2317461
I’ll admit I was skeptical of this Tournament. But it has been nothing less than spectacular!! Both games so far have been exciting and kept me drawn in watching

I’m not skeptical of the tournament, I’m wary of its season-wrecking potential should there be an injury. We don’t have any JoJos, Hartmans, Merrills etc out there, every player in this thing is a key player for the Wild if we’re going to make it beyond R1.

So far so good, only one stick to the face of Ek and we’re 2 games in. Hope our luck holds.

Things are going to get a little heated in USA vs Canada. The Canadians need to win in regulation and the desperately need to avoid a regulation loss.

USA just overpowering the Finns now.

Great play by all the Wild players so far.

I have been using Mobile 1 synthetic since 1988 when I went to 5000 mile change intervals. Never had an oil related problem and wear/oil consumption on these engines is absolutely minimal compared to what you used to see with conventional oils.

IMO, the new change intervals are too long. I could not see going to anything beyond 6k on any vehicle and I’m sticking to 5k.

IMO the bigger discussion is whether or not to ignore manufacturer recommendations for these weird super thin motor oils. 0W-17, 5W-20, 8675309W-W18.5, whatever…

In my GMC recommended is 5w-30 and I used that it’s whole life in at 150k it started using oil in high heat conditions. I upped to 10w-40 for the summer. Mich lower oil consumption.

My wife’s Lincoln was more of an issue. 5w-20 recommended. I couldn’t do it. It got 5w30 it’s whole life. No issues.

And yes, yes, yes I made these changes AFTER warranty was up. I just do not like these super thin oils.

Baitwaster wrote:

My bet is most don’t know trailer tires take higher pressure than their truck tires = sidewall flex and blowout.

And watch for signs of UV cracking and sidewall damage, especially for trailers stored outdoors. I’d bet many tires are shot because of UV damage long before the tread wears out.

Erik Swenson wrote:

It’s because we have an atmosphere enabled by our magnetic field that prevents solar winds from stripping it. Your mass has much more pressure applied to it inside of it. That combined with the continuous spin of the earth on it’s axis, as well as, it’s orbit around the sun all produce gravitational forces that prevent you from “falling out” into space or perceiving an “upside down” orientation.

I can confirm through personal experience that this is true.

I have been to the southern tip of New Zealand, which if you look at the globe, is way down at the bottom. Surely, anyone standing there would be aware that the are obviously upside down?

But nay! Despite my fears, I had not the slightest feeling of being inverted. And I never saw anyone fal off the earth the whole time I was there.

BigWerm wrote:

Our district has had a cell “ban” for a while. I do think it’s kind of funny, seemingly everyone agrees cell phones are bad for kids and don’t belong in schools, but so far no one has said they didn’t allow their kid to get a phone until they are 18. Seems like this would be the answer to the problem.

Part of learning and growing up is that we all had to learn to manage ourselves and the world around us. That was no different in the 1700s as it is in 2025. Technology may be different, society may be different, but we still need to learn to navigate both.

I have uncle, classic military go getter. Up a 4 am, workout at 4.30, everything was about hard work and discipline. When his kids were young he decided the great evil in 1970s society was TV. It was turning kids brains to mush. He smashed both their TVs and the house was limited to one radio for news only.

Every year we would see my cousins at Grandma’s where we got dropped off to spend the week. They were hopeless TV addicts. They were like crack addicts, they would stare with glassey eyes at anything on the tv, dawn till dusk. Grandma would kick them outside and they’d sneak back in like fiends. They had not learned how to navigate that technology and still function in life.

Obviously there are age-appropriate introductions to technology and they’re always needs to be limits with kids. But IMO trying to just keep kids totally away from a technology doesn’t only producers problems down the line.

glenn57 wrote:

what really freaks me out is the change in teaching methods from the time i went to school even to the point of when my kids went to school….trying to help them with homework was NOT how i was taught!!!!

Like anything else, many things have changed for the better as well. I’m with you it wasn’t how I was taught, but that’s a good thing in some cases.

The math program my kids use in junior high and high school is vastly superior to the way it was taught when I was in school. Way less focus on outcome alone, way more focus on understanding the process and multiple ways of accomplishing a concept. They know way more about what they are doing, why, and how it might be utilized than I ever did.

Mrs Grouse, who BTW certainly does not believe that a woman’s place is only in the home and raising children, studied math, physics, and chemistry on her way to a geophysics degree from the ultra -traditional British schools also prefers the math programs used now.