Good morning!!!!

[toppop52]

I love honeysuckle and some species are native to North America, I grew up in the south where honeysuckle like sweet tea, was a religion. I’ve bitten many a bulb on the bottom of the bloom to get the nectar, sweet as sugar. I’ve had trouble keeping mine because of several briar vines that tend to grow in the same spots. But they’re worth the effort.

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning all. Not much of a view here today, low cloud and heavy rain obscuring everything further than a couple of fields away. Good day to catch up on some machinery maintenance in the shed.

I haven't watched any professional sports in over a year now, and honestly don't miss it at all.

Most sports that pay individuals obscene amounts of money are an instant turn off to me too.
I remember a time when amateurs could have a "normal" job and still compete at world level. Our physical education teacher at school was one such keen yet modest athlete, even after winning a bronze medal in the 1968 Olympics. John Sherwood

 

[daugen]

I agree Randy, honeysuckle is marvelous to nibble on, that sweet part was a kid's delight.
Had a big patch of it over the remnants of the chicken coop in NC, but trimmed it up nicely and left it alone.
For about a month those flowers would be so pretty, and the sweet smell would waft in the air close by.
Almost like being near a big lilac bush.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
59 going to 90 today with clear skies.

Yesterday was similar weather as well, started the day taking son to pick up a car from the shop. Got a call from a neighbor that their AC was dead, could I find the time to look at it. I was on my way home and a couple of minutes from their place so I stopped and took a look at it. I always keep some tools, clamp on snd multimeters in the Prius. Turned out to be a bad capacitor, I ran home and got one, it was up and running within 15 minutes of the call. I apologized for taking so long.
Then it was back to the shop to continue on the speakers in progress. Ran a few errands, and finally got the little airplane buttoned up.

Today starts withe getting the cars down to my son’s because they are going to seal coat my lane and parking areas starting around 8am. I’ll leave the Carryall out, we can use that to shuttle down to get our cars if we have to go out. Then it’s back to making speakers and a leisurely afternoon. No band activity this weekend, looks like I might have to spend all day and well into the evening in Saratoga Springs on Sunday, which would cause me to miss a pool party.

 

[Bird]

My first shot I had mild symptoms for 2-3 days, second shot, zero.
I got Moderna.

I wonder what makes the difference, and why is it different for different people. It seems that my wife had no symptoms from either shot except for a sore arm. I had no symptoms except for mildly sore arm each time AND after the second shot I came home, when to bed just for a nap (something I normally NEVER do), slept a couple of hours and went on as usual.

And we also got the Moderna.

 

[daugen]

Home Paxson Hill Farm New Hope, PA

Paxson Hill Farm - a farm and plant nursery in beautiful New Hope, Bucks County, PA, Bruce Gangawer, horticulturist, creative unique gardens, perennials, trees, ponds, dwarf conifers, koi, koi fish, plants, trees and woodland plants, flowers, grower of rare perennials, rare trees, rare shrubs...

www.paxsonhillfarm.com

headed here later this morning to look for some property line shrubs.
Nice place though I sure wouldn't pay 7 bucks to walk around. Place is less than a mile from here and very close to landlord's farm.
Lot of nice old places around here.

I like their service for overwintering your favorite outdoor pots:

Do you love your container tropicals and don’t have the right space or condition to keep them inside during the winter?
We offer overwintering services in our greenhouses. We pick them up before the first frost and deliver them back to you in the spring!

 

[Bird]

In another month or two it will be time to renew (or replace) the insurance on both the Homeowner's policy AND the Auto policy. We currently have annual, instead of 6 month, AAA insurance policies. When we had the roof replaced recently due to hail damage, the roofing guy said there is sure better insurance.

Anyone have anything good, or bad, to say about any particular insurance company? One that I'm curious about is Liberty Mutual Insurance.

Thanks to all of you who responded to this question. I've gotten a quote from Liberty Mutual, and I've gotten one from Farmer's Insurance (which I had many years ago) and still waiting for one from State Farm (which I also had many years ago). So far it appears that there is very little difference in them and the AAA that I currently have.

 

[daugen]

Bird, those are all good companies. At issue is how they handle your age and the storm risks to your home.
The Insurance Services Organization, aka ISO, sets a basic rate based on all shared carrier claim info for each state.
Each insurance company can elect to "deviate" off the basic rate for marketing purposes to attract for example the better than
average driver or lower risk home.

If I were over 75 years old, I think I would try to stick with one company and not move around.

If one carrier offers full replacement cost on building and contents while another won't, I'd pay more for the full replacement cost.
Keep the total premium down by electing a 500 or 1000 deductible, but in a major fire or hurricane, full replacement cost coverage is
enormously helpful. Just remember you have to replace the item first to get the full value, otherwise even a replacement cost contract
only offers ACV if replacement or rebuild is not performed.

I adjusted hundreds of claims myself and wrote checks on the spot where needed. Always property claims, no agent ever had liability draft authority
to my knowledge.

If you can find a long standing mutual insurance company to insure you, with a local claims office, that's where I'd look first.
Mutual companies vs stock shareholder owned companies all want to make money but mutual companies ultimately report to their policyholders,
not the investors, which is usually a good thing. For example, my LTCI is with Mass Mutual, a true mutual company going back forever, and while they had to
raise my rates for the first time last year since I took out the policy almost 20 years ago, I knew they were doing so because they absolutely had to.
And they held off raising my rates long past most other competitors. Any of you who still have LTCI will know all too well about rate increases.
Bottom line is I trust the mutual company more.

So first I'd stay where I was if I was at least satisfied with them. Second I'd pick a mutual company first if same price.

Oh, I'm with Westfield too. Old, expensive (likely full ISO pricing) and handled by an agency who is more important to me than the premium.
I went from a 700 dollar loaded policy in NC to a first quote of 1500 here and I said no way. Got it down to 1100 but I know I can
get it cheaper elsewhere. But for a couple hundred bucks more, this is a fifth gen Quaker owned insurance agency and if I have a problem,
they will take better care of me than I could wish for. I was the neighboring Quaker owned agency to theirs in the next town North.
So sometimes it's the agent, not the price, assuming no crazy differences. Like a tractor dealer you come to really like, with the parts guy who always
has what you need, and yes, you pay a little more for that. I'll save money elsewhere.

 

[LouNY]

Good Morning
59 going to 90 today with clear skies.

Yesterday was similar weather as well, started the day taking son to pick up a car from the shop. Got a call from a neighbor that their AC was dead, could I find the time to look at it. I was on my way home and a couple of minutes from their place so I stopped and took a look at it. I always keep some tools, clamp on snd multimeters in the Prius. Turned out to be a bad capacitor, I ran home and got one, it was up and running within 15 minutes of the call. I apologized for taking so long.
Then it was back to the shop to continue on the speakers in progress. Ran a few errands, and finally got the little airplane buttoned up.

Today starts withe getting the cars down to my son’s because they are going to seal coat my lane and parking areas starting around 8am. I’ll leave the Carryall out, we can use that to shuttle down to get our cars if we have to go out. Then it’s back to making speakers and a leisurely afternoon. No band activity this weekend, looks like I might have to spend all day and well into the evening in Saratoga Springs on Sunday, which would cause me to miss a pool party.

If that is Saratoga Springs, NY your getting towards my area. I'm just a bit East of that area.
During track season especially, I try and avoid Saratoga Springs actually all year to crowded for me.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 72F @ 4:30AM. Sunny skies. High 102F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Winds are from the north right now, so I'm expecting another smoky morning. By noon or so they'll be moving up canyon again, to the northwest, and hopefully that'll clean up the air.

I had a morning paper route when I was a kid, and fondly remember the heavy, sweet smell of honeysuckle in summer when the wind was still. To me, the scent was very similar to the orange blossoms we get in the winter out here.

I just got a sore arm out of the first Moderna shot, but had a few hours of fever and chills the night of the second one. It showed the vaccine was working, and I was glad to have the reaction.

Went to drill the hole for the new electrical lines into the pumphouse yesterday, and didn't have a masonry bit large enough. Got that ordered on Amazon, then got sucked down the rabbit hole when a fraudulent credit card charge showed up resulting in a long phone call to make arrangements for a replacement card. Fortunately I don't have any automatic payments going to that account, so that should be the end of it. New card is supposed to show up today.

Uneventful trip to town, except for the three huge smoke plumes on the horizon after I came up out of the canyon. No place to pull over to take a picture, but it was a tragic site considering all the damage being done to so many places. Dixie has now grown to over 360,000 acres, 100,000 acres in the 24 hours of Wednesday overnight into Thursday alone. It's now the 6th largest fire in California history. I think I heard on the radio yesterday that 8 out of the 10 largest have occurred since 2010. And it seemed like every ten minutes or so they were breaking into the broadcasts with emergency evacuation warnings using a robot voice that mangled the pronunciation of the place names so as to render them nearly unrecognizable. Very apocalyptic.

Heard back from my widow friend, who turned out to be vacationing safely in Washington. The fire near her place has tripled in size, but is moving away from her home's location.

No work on the water tank yesterday, but I did bring home PVC fittings to hopefully finish off the plumbing. Except for the float ball for the shutoff valve on the bottom tank, which should be in next week. It sounds like the neighbor with the water truck is begging off on any future deliveries because he has more business than he can handle. So I'll spend some time on the phone this morning trying to make alternate arrangements, but don't anticipate much luck. Big fires and drought have kept tanker drivers very busy lately.

TGIF gang!