Good morning!!!!

[dave1949]

9F and sinking slowly.

I made it to the grocery store today and got pizza fixings. A ball of Portland Pie beer dough, pepperoni, fresh ground pork for sausage, baby bella mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and some 4-cheese shredded pizza mix cheese. I'm going to try out the Classico pizza sauce. I usually start with plain tomato sauce and spice my own. I've never tried the beer dough, we'll see.

My other big accomplishment of the day was buying, downloading and installing TurboTax 2014. $54.99 for the Premier version using Amazon Prime. I transferred my 2013 return info into 2014's return. I'm ready.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

33F and raining, not sure if it will get to freezing or not. Hope not.

 

[300UGUY]

9F and sinking slowly.

I made it to the grocery store today and got pizza fixings. A ball of Portland Pie beer dough, pepperoni, fresh ground pork for sausage, baby bella mushrooms, fresh mozzarella and some 4-cheese shredded pizza mix cheese. I'm going to try out the Classico pizza sauce. I usually start with plain tomato sauce and spice my own. I've never tried the beer dough, we'll see.

My other big accomplishment of the day was buying, downloading and installing TurboTax 2014. $54.99 for the Premier version using Amazon Prime. I transferred my 2013 return info into 2014's return. I'm ready.

Oooh I gotta get busy with that!

 

[wngsprd]

20 with a sunny 30 on the way.

Dave, your pizza is making us all hungry. At least feed us a pic when you get it baked.

I started my Turbo-tax this week, too.

I'll try to get the rest of my firewood from that oak split and stacked today, since we're looking at maybe half of an inch of freezing rain tomorrow night and Monday. I have to bring in some seasoned wood first to make more room to stack. I used a moisture meter and it maxed out at over 35% on this red oak even though it had been a standing dead tree for a year. Based on how heavy the rounds are, it hasn't dried any yet. so don't to plan to burn it this year.

 

[rswyan]

Currently -2F @ 05:00 ...

Temp in the house was @ 60F when The 'Cake and I got up ... threw a couple of rounds on the fire and now up to 61F ... getting any rise when it's this cold I consider to be somewhat of an accomplishment.

Was burning some new wood last night ... not really sure what it is ... but it's extremely dense and heavy, straight-grained, a bear to split by hand, and has long, wide shaggy bark.

I made two runs over to Bobbi's yesterday to pick up wood ... and even managed to outlast the kid, who announced that he was callin' it quits after I helped him take a limb down that was extended over her hot tub. He tied the limb high and ran the rope over a fork in the tree and tied it to the d-ring in the center of my bucket then cut it down near where it went into the main trunk and I then lowered it down. Was probably 25' long and 6" in diameter at the base.

UPS failed to deliver the parts for the log splitter from Surplus Center yesterday ... so no Happy Birthday for me

I'm guessing that the driver saw that we hadn't "plowed" the couple inches of snow off the driveway and was unwilling to drive on it. He's done this before and will refuse to come down ... even when he can see that we've driven our Sprinters in and out. Last time it snowed he stopped 300' from the shop (flat, level ground) and walked the package over thinking I might be up there (I was) ... what a wuss.

I managed to take a pretty good spill yesterday coming down the two steps from the kitchen into the garage. Had my insulated Carhardt jeans and Rocky Clodhopper boots on and my feet got tangled up. Managed to toss a cup of hot chocolate all over the wife's Passat before falling into it and then rolling onto the ground. My butt bone hit the concrete and shoulder caught the corner of lead-acid battery that was sitting on the floor. Just thankful that it wasn't my head.

Gonna see if I can get U.B. to come over today and give me a hand on the splitter. Got to get that thing done ... my right elbow ain't likin' this "split by hand" thing too much anymore ...

Hope every has a good day.

 

[wngsprd]

Rs, sounds like I missed your birthday, so hope at least some part of your day was happy and your butt's not too sore.

Your heavy, dense, shaggy bark tree may be a shagbark hickory. At least that's all we have around here that fits that description.

 

[mpham]

Zero here. Heading for a high of eleven. We got four inches of snow yesterday. Got to use the tractor for an hour"

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning all.

Well it's supposed to be the middle of winter, yet yesterday evening it was 57F at 8pm.
Didn't feel quite that warm though thanks to the winds rising again and they have been whistling over the roof all night long.

Earlier in the week I was wondering about the accuracy of old weather station instruments.
I think they were real good at temperature - wind is a bit trickier.
It seems man has been measuring wind speed for a very long time and not just by watching leaves and branches move around (as on the old Beaufort scale).
The first mechanical anemometers go back to 15th centuary. Quite elaborate 4 cup designs arrived in 1846, then in 1926 the 3 cup anemometer appeared.
By 1935 they had the accuracy of this to within 3%, but only for winds up to 60mph.
Still not sure how much to believe the historical records for winds higher than this.

Think I'll stick with simpler measurements :

Blows my cap off - it's a windy day
Blows my beanie off - it's a really windy day
Blows my socks off - it's a really wonderful day (calm or windy, who cares)

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

-16 c ....2 f. Here in Nova Scotia. Nice day with no wind and a fox on the lawn saying good morning.

 

[dave1949]

0F, calm & clear.

Rswyan Happy B-day yesterday. Sorry about your slip and fall. Hope the bruises heal. Have to watch out for that as you get older ... On the bright side, your head did not dent the Passat.

 

[Thomas]

7F clear high mid teens.
Not all that much plan for today,dump run gas up pickup couple wheel barrows loads of wood inside watch playoff game and what Mrs. decides.
Enjoy the day all.

 

[Buppies]

14 this morning up to 31 later even better tomorrow high in 40s. Happy belated birthday rswyan. My heat is fixed nice toasty 69 this morning. Off to get haircut and then just whatever.

Looking forward to big warm up that is coming

 

[bakerg]

Good morning, 0F here heading to only 11F. At least we have no wind at the moment.

How did I miss Rswyan birthday yesterday, Happy belated birthday.

 

[RoyJackson]

2015-01-10, 0747

12 degrees here...
Chores today: Get a haircut (way overdue!) and probably do a pass on the drive with the Gator's snow plow. We got about 1.5 to 2 inches yesterday.

 

[murphy1244]

-1 here and calm. Happy B day Rswyan. That pizza sounds good, need apicture. How do you stop getting all that grease with those toppings?

 

[wngsprd]

Just got back in from a hike with Coco. Temp has dropped 6 degrees to 14 since I got up. At least the sun is coming up.

I think the word has gotten out among the birds about where the easy pickins are to be found - our daily dove flock has grown from about 30 on average to over 50 today in the bird feeding zone - hard to count because they move around...but 50+ is a good number. IIRC we topped out at 67 last winter, plus 22 blue jays and over 30 cardinals, etc.

Buppies - congrats on the heat - we need it now.

I signed up for a daily email from our electric coop after seeing a post on TBN - get a daily graph showing the last 15 days...the last 2 days more than doubled last weekend's kW usage - even burning the woodstove and with geothermal. It was unusually warm last weekend.

 

[ronjhall]

Coffee has been poured. 54° with partly cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 70 with some clouds around. Hope there is enough cloud around to get some of the areas on motorhome that are always in the sun waxed. Then it's patio time again.
rswyan, Happy belated Birthday.
Good Morning All.

 

[JDgreen227]

I wouldn't do that, my company makes parts for that car.:laughing:

I have NO idea why anybody would want the Hellcat unless they had more money than brains...when the speed limit is 70 mph is most places, why would anyone need a 600+ horsepower car? My Saturn has 181 hp and it is WAY overpowered for a 3200 pound vehicle. BTW, that chain reaction accident near Battle Creek is now up to 193 vehicles. The local newpaper printed my opinion back in early October of 2014 where I stated that most traffic accidents don't just happen, they are CAUSED, and the three main causes are IMPATIENCE, INATTENTION, AND INEXPERIENCE. People drive too fast, follow too close, don't watch the road, or are just plain incompetent. I drove commercial straight trucks for a living for 31 years through seven states, sometimes in weather far worse than what mid-Michigan experienced yesterday and after driving since 1968 I have NEVER had an at-fault accident nor gone off the road. EVER. It's because I watch the road and pay attention and know HOW TO DRIVE when the vast majority of people are simply clueless about good driving. Or as my cop neighbor puts it, he says the accident reports he writes should have a checkbox for DWHA (driving with head up a**)

Time to climb down off my soapbox...thanks for listening.

 

[MossflowerWoods]

David, where do you find this old fruitwood?

I love dogwoods. But when they die, my do they make the best firewood.
Fully productive until the end.
Like all of us I hope.

Drew,

I got most of my fruit wood from the big flowering cherry I took down a couple years ago at my house in town. I also have some limbs etc. from trimming and winter damage.

But I do have a handful not so healthy peach trees scattered on the property and a plum that are only alive for the critters ad future smoker wood. I will smoke them some day.

Dogwoods have lots of value I was not aware of before.I am liking them more and more.
I too wish to emulate that ad be productive right up to the end...

14 and clear as a bell here.Moon was awesome at 3:45 when I added a log or two to the stove.

I'm rooting for Russell Wilson to go all the way today. I'm also it seems a Ravens fan just for the day (Not a Tom Brady fan, sorry).

Tomorrow I'm a Packer Backer as my other favorite guy Aaron Rogers is throwing. I can't wait for the Seahawks vs. Packers game! And then I'm rooting against John Elway (never liked that guy...).

Monday's game should be amazing. I'm from Oregon so I'd like to root for the run and shoot Ducks, but one of my besties who I will be watching the game with is a rabid Buckeye fan/alum... So I'll root for BOTH! This might be the best weekend of football ever...

Be well all,
David

 

[B7510HSD]

Now lets see a little accident investigation here.......A single guy with a hot tub that needs a few lively guest .........following a car load of women........day dreaming about (well this is a family forum)...anyways can't for the life of me figure out what could have caused this glad everyone is ok though.....Did you get any phone numbers from all this Drew?????? :licking: