Good morning!!!!

[daugen]

But today I would not be able to afford the property let alone the house and buildings.
Ron, same here. I moved away to NC where on a beer budget I could drink champagne, but once back here,
particularly with what real estate has done in the last five years, the area simply offers very little affordable housing.
As in single detached small homes with an acre or so. What I could have bought in Washington NC for 240k is 600k here.
So I'm happy I found a decent place to rent.

I'm about 30 minutes from nearest ER. Would not want to live further than that. In Washington NC I was 15 minutes away and still in country/farmland.

looks icy out, truck is glazed over. Can hear the salt trucks go by. Decided not to get a car wash, good thing. We have some nasty weather coming up in a few days.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 49F @ 4:45AM. Considerable clouds this morning. Some decrease in clouds later in the day. High 58F. Winds light and variable.
The next bit of rain comes in again on Friday, then dry for the rest of the 10-day. Snow pack is well above average for this time of year.

Hope none of you were caught in that traffic mess on I95. People forget that being stranded like that happens often enough that carrying a sleeping bag, food, water, and a light source or two might just save your life. But there are nice stories of human kindness emerging from the emergency, too.

The Camp Fire took out the closest hospital here, so the ambulance ride would be at least thirty minutes. And probably fifteen minutes for the EMTs to get here from the closest fire station. Which two years ago the county tried to defund in the winter time because there was reduced fire danger. That was a lively board meeting, and they quickly came to their senses and found the money to keep it open.

Glad your power came back on, Mike. Hard to find the funds for a reliable stand alone power source, but with the increasingly unreliable grid, lots of us are having our hands forced to do so. And if you move, are you just trading one type of natural or man made disaster for another?

I've used the little Barbasol traveler size shaving cream cans for years, but prefer the gel types by Edge. After mistakenly buying a second six pack of them, I might just have a lifetime supply...

The S&P 500 was up almost 30% for 2021, a bit surprising what with all the gloom and doom in the news. Very easy to make money in a market like that, Paul, so if you're shopping for a new advisor, be sure to check their track record a good ways back to tougher times.

You've been to some marvelous places, Ken. Where to next?

Hope your flat track season gets off to a great start, Rich. You still wrenching for the same kid?

The latest CV19 results, from the week of 12/19/2021, show Omicron finally making an appearance in the county with about 25% of the new cases. I bet it's much higher now. New cases spiked to almost record levels Christmas week, but they're down significantly for the week of 1/3/2022. But the trend is still higher, and mandatory masking is required state wide now.

Probably be a paperwork kind of day today, but if the sun comes out later, might get some seat time limbing up some trees.

Happy Hump Day, folks!

 

[toppop52]

I don't think I would ever do a sips. If you are looking for land, etc., first thing to check is zoning; as far as permitting, make sure there are no "connection fees". It's getting harder to find nice land, privacy, and affordability. Good luck.

Why not sips? Looks like cost similar sometimes less than stick built and the energy use in the home is reduced. If I were building again today I’d certainly consider it. It wasn’t offered to me in 2011 when I started this house.

 

[toppop52]

Planning on staying in Maryland?
And, you folks still pronounce it as "Merleland"? (I do)

I say it more like Mer a lund. Of course I’m an Eastern Shoreman, and as we say, “there is no life west of the Chesapeake. “

 

[toppop52]

Wife & I lived in Va all our life, 67 her, 69 me.
What ruined our area was LU (Liberty University) & people not acclimating. They leave NY, CA, etc., move here bringing their ideas with them.

Same thing ruined the OBX, it was near paradise 40 years ago, local sheriffs and council members that were born there and held the values of those that love freedom. Now most officials are from the metropolitan northeast and they bring their gun control and educational ideas with them.

 

[Jkrez]

Good morning. 30 and chance of freezing rain in South Eastern PA

 

[Popgadget]

so let's be tolerant of those who are different.

And let’s keep in mind there are many kinds of different. Like how we vote, where we live, our thoughts on climate change, guns, animals, self sufficiency, and on and on. It’s a long list.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 36˚F, sunny skies, heading to the mid 60s.

One of our volunteer firefighters from the last place I lived, on the farm, died over the weekend. He was at the store and collapsed, Ambulance heard a faint heartbeat and took him to closest hospital 30 minutes away, but ambulance had already traveled 10 miles to get to the store. The closest hospital could not do anything and the air flight to Austin was called. The distance to a qualifying medical facility is very important and should be a consideration when you retire. To make the story more sad his brother died 3 days later.

My wife sure did like the close hospital during my last surgery. I like it also because the painful ride home was short. I'm on the knee flex machine this morning getting it warmed up for my afternoon PT. The knee machine goes back tomorrow. Only 3 weeks were recommended by the Dr., after that you need to use your own muscles more to flex, I agree.

 

[toppop52]

good morning all
30 degrees out and freezing rain this morning, should make the commute miserable for some.

I'm headed down for a haircut and it should be interesting.
Have to get there exactly on time, they are very serious about not having too many clients overlap.
Last time, which was my first time in this shop, I had a very nice 6 foot tall guy with flowing big blonde hair,
perhaps a little eyeliner and some really nice nails. ....Ok, here's a little of my DEI/tolerance training; sure a transvestite
cutting my hair is a new experience. Frankly he was a nice guy (lady?) so who cares.
I'm not sure if he was transgender, transvestite, or what.

This whole bit about how one identifies oneself is perplexing. I asked one lady at church why she signed her
emails with her name and then (her/she) afterwards. I guess it is solidarity with folks of different persuasions.
I'd like to sign mine Drew (me). Let them guess....

I'm sure if some of you have gay or alternative life style kids this would be more meaningful.
My home town was half gay when I grew up here, so we learned to be very tolerant of other life styles.
Sort of like growing up near Key West or Provincetown.

Just seems like there are more variations out there now. Probably more like folks are just coming out.
which I think is good.
Can't repress what you are.
My uncle was Captain of a US Navy destroyer and later on in life I realized why he never married.
He had to hide it all his life. We always thought he was a hard ass just because. But he had to be in that situation.
He retired from the Navy and taught AP high school kids in Alexandria VA for 30 years into his 80's. And he never brought a friend
home, which is what his family would have wanted. But back then, well for many, you just couldn't.

so let's be tolerant of those who are different.

Well hell Drew, we are tolerant, we put up with you!

Your point is well taken, I spent 37 years in the interior design business, if you couldn’t deal with alternative lifestyle folks you would lose half your clientele.

 

[riptides]

I prefer the word acceptance to the word tolerance. I think it is the next step towards understanding.

 

[RoyJackson]

2022-01-05, 0941
Late post today. Been up and about since 0500, but too busy to get on TBN between helping wifey and work-related duties

24 degrees right now...high at 40 today...bit warm for this time of year

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning.
I got up to let the dog out a few hours ago, it was 29 and freezing rain and sleet. Came back inside and got back under the warm covers until now. It’s gone all the way up to 31, with no precipitation, might make it to 40 under cloudy skies.

Yesterday was spent mostly in the shop fixing stuff.
I have been welding things together for almost 60 years, using most of all the available processes. I have avoided MIG welding for the most part, I always thought that it fell between TIG and stick for usefulness.
Then someone gave me a broken MIG welder, which I promptly fixed, and used sporadically. After a while, it started to be the machine I used for most quick repairs, it’s like a hot glue gun for metal. So when it stopped working yesterday, I immediately went out and bought a new Hobart. After I set up it up and welded what I was working on, I took a look at the old machine to see if anything was useable on the Hobart. That was when I saw why it stopped working. The electrical conductor in the gun connector had pulled away from the body of the connector. I made a new crimp sleeve out of a piece of copper tubing, crimped back together, covered it all with a piece of heavy heat shrink, and it’s as good as new. I’ve already found a new home for it, so it’s going to be someone else’s free MIG welder.
Next project was to look at another free device, this time a jumper box with air compressor and 100 watt AC inverter. It had a stone dead battery, and this time, I didn’t take the bait. I took the battery along with my other dead batteries to the recycler and got my $16 in dollar coins and two dollar bills. If you were local to me, that would tell you where I took them.

Today I’m going to have to find a few things to weld, and decide whether to MIG or TIG them…….

SIPS construction has intrigued me, but I have always stick built with sprayed in urethane from under the slab, to the roof. The end result is about as tight as you can get.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 30 and road is ice. had to get ice melt down to walk around the front steps without skating.

Cousins have covid and this is concerning as my Aunt is still battling cancer and in her 80's.

Ron - glad your son finally made it home- that will be a drive he will remember for a long time. And hopefully won't ever have to repeat.

Buppies - drive safe and take it slow

Stay safe and be well,

Being chased by a bull elephant in South Africa. Even in a truck it gets a bit scary.

 

[ronjhall]

Ron - glad your son finally made it home- that will be a drive he will remember for a long time. And hopefully won't ever have to repeat.

Ken, neat picture.
My son owns his own truck. Was/is taking a load to Miami. Spent almost 20 hours mostly setting. His truck has enough comforts to set for a day if needed. But there was no place to pull off and wait out the traffic jam.

 

[txdon]

Ken, neat picture.
My son owns his own truck. Was/is taking a load to Miami. Spent almost 20 hours mostly setting. His truck has enough comforts to set for a day if needed. But there was no place to pull off and wait out the traffic jam.

Did he have to stay in the driver seat and inch forward or was he able to stop on the road and take a nap? Did he report a lot of vehicles running out of gas? Did he see any Tesla electric vehicles on the side of the road being charged or towed?

 

[wngsprd]

32 and pretty snow still covering everything. We got 10 inches and lots of trees and branches down...including our magnolia and best bird perching cedar.

Lost electricity Monday morning...just heard on the radio news that we might get it back on next week. Got down to 15F. Crews have come in from co-ops from as far as Ohio, Indiana and Florida, so maybe we'll get lucky. Our record for power outage here has been 5 days after a big ice storm. Glad I got the genny and 5 little tanks of propane. Another 2 to 4 inches of snow expected.

Thank goodness for the woodstove...and sunny days since we have so many big windows.

Also lost all phone service...land lines and cell...got spotty cell service back this morning, so catching up here.

We filled bathtub with water before power went out, so can flush toilets with buckets, plus have a full rain barrel, if it thaws out today.

Ran the generator twice for a couple of hours to keep fridges cold, and to recharge a few batteries...of course also used the electric coffee grinder to get coffee ready for this morning's pour overs. Heating the water in my kettle on the woodstove. Don, I should get a manual grinder like yours (and sorry about your garden).

Funny thing is I'm reading a book about the history of the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains and how hard a life they had...we are so much better off.

BEF...move to Virginia! We need good folks like you.

Hope Sophie is doing well...more prayers said.

Safe trip, Bupps.

Great photos, Rip...I took some while snowshoeing but cell service not strong enough to post.

 

[txdon]

Being chased by a bull elephant in South Africa. Even in a truck it gets a bit scary.

That's when you realize you need a bigger tractor, a lot bigger and maybe a lot faster!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The distance to a qualifying medical facility is very important and should be a consideration when you retire. .

That’s part of the consideration. Most of the places I’m looking is within 20-30 minutes away from a hospital.
How good they are is hard to gauge.

I currently live about 20 minutes from 2 hospitals. When I had the GBS symptoms I had my wife take me to one 45 minutes away, associated with John’s Hopkins, because I felt they have better doctors. I was in the closest one when my back went out and wasn’t impressed. My FIL was in 3 hospitals in VA before they sent him to Hopkins in Baltimore and they found things the others couldn’t find, but he still died. One of those was UVA hospital.

 

[PJSprog]

34°F and clear skies this morning, falling through the day down to around 16° tonight. It was windy here yesterday, and continues to be today. The difference is that the wind was blowing up from the south yesterday, and switched around to the north overnight. That wind got a lot colder.

Enjoying your pictures, Ken.

 

[txdon]

Don, I should get a manual grinder like yours .

Yes you should, 60 turns makes grinds for one cup of coffee.