Good morning!!!!

[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.