Good morning!!!!

[sodamo]

Ted, no Sophie doesn’t know yet. Have made it almost 6 months without slipping, came close a couple time. Really hoping to totally surprise her.

 

[daugen]

good morning all
cooler 41 going up to 53 in cloudy weather all day
other than making a trip to apple orchard to get likely last batch of apples, not much planned for today.

a surprise tractor present, how cool!
truly shows the love

 

[wngsprd]

45 going to 66 and rain comes in this afternoon.

Happy Birthday to Sophie! Hope the tractor comes in soon.

Nice clean up job, RNG.

Buppies, get well! ...and be careful.

BEF, good luck on the retirement decisions. It is never a one size fits all situation. For instance, if your SS benefits are higher than your wife's, then waiting to take would not only boost your payments about 8% per year but also her survivor benefits, if you go first. It is sort of like insuring older age. On the other hand, it will require you to live past age 83 to recoup what you will give up from 62 to age 70. Glad you got the Mission BBQ dinner. There are a lot of free models/calculators/info on the internet. I use one reco by The Wall Street Journal called opensocialsecurity.com/

My wife and I hiked up Nicholson Hollow yesterday...great spring day and the river had a really good flow...lots of cascades and big boulders to sit on for lunch. Mountain wildflowers were already starting to bloom...such as bloodroot and hepatica...the corn-lily was also emerging. Saw trout jumping at flies, deer wandering and old stone fences built over 100 years ago by settlers. Parking lot had a lot of cars with out-of-state plates, but they were all hiking the Old Rag trails. We saw no one on our trail for over 4 hours. Stopped by Yoder's on the way home and picked up an orange juice cake.

 

[Buppies]

55 high of 63 heavy rain amd storms today

Happy 98th Birthday to BEFs father

Mostly tires will be in mid to late April for wife’s car

Truck was also broken bad battery and computer lost memory

Knee sore and swollen this morning

Prayers for all our country Ukrainian people

 

[Looking4new]

Good morning, low temp is 27 and going to a high of 32°F. Wind E 16 mph. Periods of snow mixed with ice pellets. None so far.

I collected CPP (American SS) at age 60 one month before my 61st birthday. Got it retroactive back to my 60th birthday a lump sum payment and then regular monthly payments after that. We had a scheme where if we continued to work we could continue CPP deductions (which I did) until age 65 and they would add on to our payments later, which they are. Another 4.5 years and I will have broke even on what I paid into it over the lifetime (40 years) of working. Working for me pays the utility bills and the CPP puts some jingle in my pocket. There is a cap on what I can make before CPP starts 'clawing back' their payments. I think it is around $129,000.oo. Old Age Security (OAS) we have to apply for at age 65, it comes monthly, you don't have to pay into it and their threshold for clawback is around $76,000.oo they only had to clawback for 1 year on me, I have since worked smarter. Only work 4 months of the year and don't collect Unemployment Insurance...YET.
Unemployment insurance, IF you collect it 3 years in a row, you are considered a frequent flyer and will have to repay them 35% come income tax time. That is why I stopped collecting it, that and you have to prove to them that you are actively looking for work.
The Canadian system of CPP is fully invested and making money. Therefore it should never run out of money. We hope. OAS comes out of the tax coffers, I think, as does GIS (Guaranteed Income Supplement), which I cannot collect, I make too much.
I think, now don't hold me to this, but I think the Canadian system was modelled after the US system. We started in 1965.
I think after I get the Dodge paid for I may fully retire. There is only $8500.oo owing on it. That is going to depend on how my license medical goes, I have to get one every year since age 65, to maintain my Class "A" license. Otherwise my license gets downgraded to a 'G' good for a car/pickup.

Enough of a 'wall of text', I'm going to conserve energy today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEFs Father!

Have a safe day all

 

[txdon]

I don’t really know. I do want to be within 20 minutes of a hospital when I do find retirement land.

Make sure the hospital can handle emergencies. A good way to find out is ask if it has an ICU. A lot of hospitals in Texas do not and for a "real" emergency they have to fly you out wasting valuable time. Another way is to ask the local Ambulance service which hospital is best for __________ emergency.

Good morning! 42˚F heading to the upper 60s, clear skies NW wind. Today would be a good day to wash vehicles.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 39 going up to 52 , sun is up but calling for rain in the forecast.
Leaner is down, now just a stack of rounds.

Finally gave up and called a local HVAC guy, he was perplexed too.
Seems the pressure sensor (not switch) is too far off the needed voltage, so stopping the furnace from firing. He had to get the manufacturer tech on the phone to figure this out, they knew this sensor has issues. Sitting at 3.0 V when it should be a little over 3.9V.
So they ordered the sensor and will only charge me the 1 hour call and the sensor + a few percent and will come back to install.

Buppies - when you fall, think through why and fix the area if you can to add a support/rail etc.
We had our parents go to the mall to walk a bit, since they have nice even floors.

BEF - happy birthday to your dad, planning anything special for his 100th?

Mostly - glad no damage-been a crazy weather year already-can't wait to see what's next

Stay safe and be well,

All that's left is stack and split for the leaner that caused me so many problems, only about 70' tall and 18" at the first cut. Baby ash.

Now that area is all done so I don't have to worry about them falling on new neighbors work crew when they start next month.

And 5 more from that area. Now on to the next area to down the trees along my current neighbors property.

 

[Buppies]

Ken was on the job stepped over mesh type safety fence hooked foot down I go. That old asphalt was hard

 

[kenmbz]

Buppies - I guess it was the not safe, safety fence! I've tripped over fence before, not fun.
Res up and Heal quick !

 

[txdon]

Youtube of a Chevy pickup caught in tornado Monday.

Just a few scratches:

We found the red pickup truck that flipped over in Elgin tornado

“He was in shock; he was crying,” said Ruben Briones, who said he helped the driver of the red pickup truck seen flipping over on Highway 290 in Elgin in a widely-circulated video.

www.kxan.com