Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, Are you still getting CEL's on van?

Shhhhhhh! I don't want to jinx it, but the run down to the Bay Area Wednesday and the drive into Chico yesterday failed to produce the dreaded P0505 DTC and the resultant CEL, Ron. Could it be the engine just needed more break in miles, or is that just wishful thinking? Anyway, fingers crossed that darn red light stays out!

 

[hawkeye08]

Both of the narrow ends had multiple stickers saying "Oroville" in large letters. Yet the FedEx facility serving my area is in Chico....:

There is an Oroville Washington it was destined for likely.. Seattle would be on the way.. glad you finally got it.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Looking forward to next year, I was hopping Turbotax came in a flash drive because some of the new Apple laptops do not have a CD.

I ended up buying an external DVD burner/hard drive combo because of that, Don. And an adaptor that let me continue to run the 27" Apple monitor. And a new USB hub with the special Apple Lightning connector, and other stuff I've probably forgotten about, all because Apple in their infinite wisdom keeps deleting functionality and changing connectors on the next generation of computers. But they've been doing that for decades now, so it's nothing new.:muttering:

One thing I never understood is how TurboTax has somehow inserted itself between taxpayers and the government when it comes to e-filing. I'm sure that TurboTax electronically transmits the returns to Uncle Sam, and I see no reason why we couldn't submit the taxes directly instead of letting Intuit root around in all that private and sensitive information, and charge us for the privilege.:grumpy:

 

[txdon]

I ended up buying an external DVD burner/hard drive combo because of that, Don. And an adaptor that let me continue to run the 27" Apple monitor. And a new USB hub with the special Apple Lightning connector, and other stuff I've probably forgotten about, all because Apple in their infinite wisdom keeps deleting functionality and changing connectors on the next generation of computers. But they've been doing that for decades now, so it's nothing new.:muttering:

One thing I never understood is how TurboTax has somehow inserted itself between taxpayers and the government when it comes to e-filing. I'm sure that TurboTax electronically transmits the returns to Uncle Sam, and I see no reason why we couldn't submit the taxes directly instead of letting Intuit root around in all that private and sensitive information, and charge us for the privilege.:grumpy:

Like you and buckeye suggested it looks like to keep the saved tax info from being saved on turbotax's cloud I'll have to buy a new computer and a external cd drive. I was hopping there was another way but at least I have a year to shop.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Like you and buckeye suggested it looks like to keep the saved tax info from being saved on turbotax's cloud I'll have to buy a new computer and a external cd drive. I was hopping there was another way but at least I have a year to shop.

Like RNG said, TurboTax still gets a copy of your tax return when they submit it to the IRS. You should be able to encrypt before sending. Not sure format TT used to send the file. Binary isn’t good enough.

 

[txdon]

Like RNG said, TurboTax still gets a copy of your tax return when they submit it to the IRS. You should be able to encrypt before sending. Not sure format TT used to send the file. Binary isn’t good enough.

It goes through them when you file but do they keep a retrievable copy. They say an advantage on the downloaded version (as opposed to the cd) is that they keep a copy for you to retrieve.

Next year for Turbotax to run, your Apple computer will need OS version 10.14 or higher.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 43F @ 7:15AM. Abundant sunshine. High near 65F. Winds light and variable.

I think I remember that the storm on the east coast is the result of two storms merging; one from California, one from Texas. Nice to have someone to share the blame with, eh Don? Regardless where it came from, that freezing rain is horrible, used to get it a couple times a winter back in central Ohio. Last year I lived there, one storm was so bad they closed Ohio State down for the first time ever. My college room mate and I went out in our backpacking gear taking photographs and helping people get their cars moving again. Temperatures were well below zero, so cold we saw two dogs stuck together running down the street tail to tail.:laughing:


Finally got the steel pipe home yesterday. But not before I had a little talk with the salesmen at the steel yard. One of 'em, the one that ordered the wrong stuff, tried to weasel out of it by blaming the engineer that designed the array supports. I stopped him cold in his tracks by reminding him that the engineer had specified the size, grade, and finish of the pipe, and it was the salesman himself that ordered material that didn't meet spec, and his boys in the shop that accepted it and then cut it to length. He even had the gall to complain that they're going to eat a thousand bux on the deal; I hope they learned something but I doubt it. While waiting for a forklift driver to load the trailer, another customer in line for his order commented that mixups like that happen all the time there, and he had several colorful stories to illustrate his claim.:shocked:


Kind of a crappy photo, but just as I was walking into the bank yesterday, I heard a jet engine unlike anything on a commercial craft and looked up to see this U2 over head. I think they're based out of Beale Air Force Base not far to the south of Chico, and I've seen them a lot lower than that in the past landing at the local airport, but not in a long time. Thought they'd stopped using them, but I guess not...

I'll need the pallet forks to get that steel unloaded, but I've still got some dirt to move before I take the bucket off. So that's how I'll spend much of today. Nice day for it: bright blue sky, mild temperatures, and not much wind. Hope this weather finds its way east sooner rather than later.

TGIF gang!:drink:

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 31, going up to near 50. Windy again, but not as bad as yesterday.

Today will be cleanup duty for all the dirt that blew over here. The idiots across the road disc the field last week, thinking that the seed they placed would grow.... you need a lot of moisture to get seed to sprout.... oh and warm temps.... absolutely idiots!

Ok, done with that rant.... at least on here....
Not much more to say..... got to go start cleaning

Everyone have a great day!

 

[PJSprog]

28°F and partly cloudy this morning, going up to 39° today. Some snow expected in the early evening, but no consensus on how much.

Wife was working late last night, so I spent the bulk of the evening in the studio working on guitar tones. Yes, mostly_, it is indeed more of a tool than a toy. It's quite fun to play around with, though. Kind of like tractors, they are a little of both. Was up until about 11:30 again last night working/playing with it.

I have an expansion card in one of my synthesizers called Keyboards of the '60s & '70s. There are some fantastic Hammond B3 organ sounds on it, including one called "Whiter Shade," which is a very close approximation of Matthew Fisher's organ tone on that Procol Harum song ... which even to this day 53 years later is considered by many to be the ultimate Hammond organ tone.

The Wife and I drove into a tornado about 15 years ago, BEF, on our way into Highland IL to pick up dinner. We knew there were severe storms in the area. As we were driving into the southern part of town, the trees and power lines started flapping sideways. As we got another block farther, chunks of the roof and insulation from a church started bouncing off my minivan. It was oddly quiet in the van as all this chaos was swirling around us outside. When a power line dropped across the road in front of us, we took that as our cue to turn around and go back to her house (we were still dating then). That was a very strange experience.

Nice that you're having a date night (day), Kyle. We used to do that all the time. When we were dating, she had her kids every other weekend, and I was always playing somewhere on weekends. Wednesday night became our date night every week. These days, we set aside a day once a month to go out and do something together.
Enjoy your date.

 

[jbrumberg]

It's been 31ºF here since midnight with freezing drizzle/fog/rain. I needed my Yaktrax® just to get to the bird feeders; the crampons would be required going much further. The temperature just hit 32ºF which should be today's high temperature before the cold front moves in later this PM. No snow here other than my reported .75" of frozen slush, and it looks to be 1/4" of ice on the tree limbs/branches. Brogen could/can barely walk outside on the driveway with the glare ice. Wifey cancelled her OT appointment; it's not worth the risk for falling and breaking some other bone somewhere. With lowering temperatures and seriously increasing winds here this PM I could see a power outage later. I need to see what happens later before I start throwing woodsheds around the driveway. I do not anticipate much snow here with this part of the weather system(s), maybe an inch. I could see using all 30 gallons of stored wood ashes.

I hope everyone is having a manageable day weather/health/project/personal situation-wise.

My + thoughts, wishes, and prayers.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Cummins RS22. Propane fired, 22 kW, four cylinder, iron block, water cooled.

Apparently Cummins is making one last batch of 40, then they'll be gone. The RS25 uses the same engine, but puts out 25 kW, for a few thousand dollars more...

Schweet Genny.

Good Morning!!!! 43F @ 7:15AM. Abundant sunshine. High near 65F. Winds light and variable.

I think I remember that the storm on the east coast is the result of two storms merging; one from California, one from Texas. Nice to have someone to share the blame with, eh Don? Regardless where it came from, that freezing rain is horrible, used to get it a couple times a winter back in central Ohio. Last year I lived there, one storm was so bad they closed Ohio State down for the first time ever. My college room mate and I went out in our backpacking gear taking photographs and helping people get their cars moving again. Temperatures were well below zero, so cold we saw two dogs stuck together running down the street tail to tail.:laughing:

View attachment 640534
Kind of a crappy photo, but just as I was walking into the bank yesterday, I heard a jet engine unlike anything on a commercial craft and looked up to see this U2 over head. I think they're based out of Beale Air Force Base not far to the south of Chico, and I've seen them a lot lower than that in the past landing at the local airport, but not in a long time. Thought they'd stopped using them, but I guess not...


TGIF gang!:drink:

U2...wow. I like most of their music, but not much of their politics.

 

[sodamo]

64°F and .23 inches rain. Expect today’s wx to be similar to yesterday.

Dave’s brisket was melt in your mouth good after more than 15 hours on the Primo. Mmmmm

Hope to work on some tubular brackets today.

Need to replenish at the brewery this afternoon. Stop in HD.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Quote - - Jay - - “ I need to see what happens later before I start throwing woodsheds around the driveway. “ - - -

Would that not make it hard to drive up and down the driveway?

 

[jbrumberg]

Ted- Thanks for the laugh. I am really hoping that the temperature climbs higher than predicted before I do anything to the driveway. Maybe some seat time tomorrow? We have plenty of food, booze, and meds to wait this system out and the next if needed.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

It goes through them when you file but do they keep a retrievable copy. They say an advantage on the downloaded version (as opposed to the cd) is that they keep a copy for you to retrieve.

Next year for Turbotax to run, your Apple computer will need OS version 10.14 or higher.

I don’t know if they do, but very possible. Everyone else, like your email companies harvests and sells your personal data, I wouldn’t put it past TurboTax to do the same.

 

[sodamo]

I’ve used Turbo Tax since it was MacInTax, before that a floppy disk product that ran on my Apple //c. My USB CD drive predates my current laptop which is getting along in time also.
Have been tempted to look at the cloud based product but always defer to the CD convincing myself that if I have the program, my historical data is always accessible - not true. At some point the actual program doesn’t run any more.
If anyone is using one of the higher end versions on line would love to read comments.

 

[hawkeye08]

34F this morning.. foggy and dreary..

coworker from old team wanted to met and discuss some new products, she really wanted to vent about things.. so glad I am out of that. Attending a "all hands call" now with second level manager (my old manager).. so glad I applied for early retirement.. praying I am approved and get completely away from this circus.

Stay safe, prayers for all

 

[sodamo]

I can’t remember the source article, but as I recall Congress mandated some sort of limited free tax computation/filing. TT, H&R etc negotiated the “we pay” portion to balance the free portion. Naturally, it favored them.

 

[Big Barn]

Dave’s brisket was melt in your mouth good after more than 15 hours on the Primo. Mmmmm

Without a lie, my stomach rumbled when I read that! Looks like an early lunch is in order

 

[Looking4new]

I had 4 snow pics saved on my phone for you guys that don't get it. BUT, although I can load them into the 'puter, I can't seem to get them onto this forum.
I scaled them down from 4000 x 3000 to 800x600