62F now. Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds today. High near 85F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
jerrybob, sounds like hunter ed has come a long way in 40 years. When I took it, we sat through a morning of lectures and slides, got a pamphlet, and we were on our way.
Thomas, when I was picking the bed up off the RTV I used a fork attachment on the tractor FEL. As I was positioning the forks under the bed, I almost stuck my hand into a 3" wasp nest next to one of the forks. When I hooked up the forks I'd noticed a wasp (kind of hard to miss, as it was black with bright yellow stripes) buzzing around, but didn't give it much thought as they're pretty common. But finding the nest a foot from my nose sure got my attention, especially when I saw it crawling with wasps! Ran inside and snagged a can of Raid wasp & hornet killer, and boy did it do the job! One good squirt and the wasps were dropping to the ground. Not a single one got airborne or tried to attack. Big difference compared to other brands I've tried, as usually it's a shoot and run affair! :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
Buppies, good to see you and the rest of the Virginia contingent finally getting some rain. Doing paperwork is always a shame, but it's even worse when it has to be done on a sunny day.
Kyle, Northern California might have a shower or two between now and October, but it won't amount to more than a drop in the bucket. The media's been making a big deal about the drought already, but wait 'till September when all the reservoirs are drained and there's still no rain in sight. Wanna know what's controlling reservoir releases now?
The salmon migration! Yep, there are laws on the books that require certain flow rates and temperatures be maintained in the streams that are fed by the reservoirs, and that's what water managers are tied to. Not water demand!?! Now I love salmon as much as the next guy, but I love flushing the toilet, watering plants, and drinking water a whole lot more. I think this state is about to learn a hard lesson in water management, where city folks are going to be standing in line to get a five gallon jerry can filled just so they can brush their teeth in the morning, all while rice and cotton farmers continue to flood irrigate their fields. Since there are way more city folks than farmers, I'm guessin' there will be some radical changes made to the water rights system now in place. That or there will be water riots in the street.:shocked:
I'd noticed that all the welding I'd been doing on the RTV bed had bowed the front to the point where it was catching on a plastic cab molding when I dumped the bed, so yesterday I figured I'd better do something about it before I painted it. Years ago I'd purchased a "pull together" cylinder for my ancient Harbor Freight porta power, but had never used it for anything. It was on sale, and I figured sooner or later something like that would come in handy, and today was the day. Got out a piece of 3" I beam to go across the open end of the bed, chained one hook on the cylinder to it, then dropped the other hook over the lip of the bed in the center. I put a piece of 1/4" plate under the hook to spread the load and started pumping. Took out about half the bend on the first try, then got the rest of it with one more. The hook left a little wowie in the lip, but nothing to get excited about.
The painting went better than I thought it would, as I'd fought the wind just trying to get the masking paper taped into place. The wind died down enough to get it done, but it was still strong enough to dowse both me and the gun in orange paint when I tried to shoot upwind. And I had a little trouble doing the inside walls of the bed, as it was difficult to reach over and in and not get into the wet paint on the outside. It was also hard to see how much paint was going on. So I was surprised when it all came out nice and shiny with no obvious dry spots or runs. I was also surprised with how quickly it dried. Less than an hour 'till it was touch dry, but I resisted the urge to put the bed back onto the RTV. That'll come tomorrow, as I'll be running errands in town for most of today (sigh).
With the bed off, I'm tempted to run it down to one of those spray on bed liner outfits. Anybody ever use one? Or the paint on coatings offered by the mail order companies or Harbor Freight?
Happy Hump Day everyone!
DANG,your one lucky man you did get stung.
