Good morning!!!!

[Buppies]

Heading to 88, but 72 now and heavy dew again. I usually time my trip to the gym and to run errands in the morning while the dew dries, but that puts me in the fields, woods or yard during the hottest part of the day.

Yesterday's 92 wasn't too bad since the humidity dropped, and only got damp, not sopping from sweat, while bush hogging two fields. Had the pleasure, and entertainment for about 2 hours of dozens of purple martins and barn swallows diving and swooping around me, to snatch the thousands of leaf hoppers, grass hoppers and other insects fleeing the attack of my Woods 72" cutter. It seems to always start with one or two birds, and then I guess they go get their friends, because it turns into a synchronized acrobatic feeding frenzy. This is one of the reasons I like the open cab on my tractor; however, the main reason is because I don't have a cab.

The agility with which the purple Martin flys about always amazes me. It almost looks like they are going to fly into you before they veer away

 

[Buppies]

First cup of coffee has been poured. 61° with mostly clear skies this morning. Heading to 73° with chance of late afternoon rain. Got .1" of rain yesterday. Cut all the lawn for first ime since June. Visit to sons was for them to show off their new camper trailer. Nice Popup. We were also suppose to take a trip to his local gun range for me to try out my new gun. A Ruger LC9s. But rain moved in at his place early. Canceling that part of trip. Instead we sat at his kitchen table dissembling and cleaning guns. Grand kids took over my gun and showed me how to do this better and faster than I will ever be able to. Both have taken classes on how to shoot and handle guns. 12 and 14 years old. I did get to show how well a UpLula Magazine Loader/Unloader works. My CPL class will be done without me ever firing my gun before. Unless I get time to go to local state gun range this week.
Wngsprd, had a bunch of swallows around me when I cut back lawn. Been a couple of months since they been able to do that.
Eric, my guess if we could take all the guns away from criminals we would not have a gun problem in the USA. I think we should come up with a new law for that. :mur:
Drew, going to be more damage than you think. If tow hooks got bent back. Did the bear walk away?
Good Morning All.

Some special Grandkids I would say

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning! 67F @ 5:00AM. Plentiful sunshine. High 92F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Sorry about your truck, Drew. But being new, parts will be readily available, and you already know the limit on the costs. It'll take time, but it'll be good as new when you get it back. And as you said, best of all the Jag is still safely tucked away in the garage.

RS, any plumbing supply house or even big box store should have that reducer, but I'd call around before making a 45 minute drive.

Hope all that rain hasn't had you out running rescue missions, Don, and that you and the folks in Texas are staying safe and dry.

Sounds like you and I are very much on the same page with respect to contentment, luck, and the eventual end of the road, Eric. But there's a big difference between just thinking about it and actually being faced with the end game short term. I admire my friend's tranquility and acceptance of his fate, as well as his long and colorful life that led up to it. I just know that whenever the time comes, I won't ever be ready. The longer I live, the more things I discover that need doing, and my biggest regret will be having not gotten around to all of them.

The big gun came out yesterday to seal the seams on the van body. We started by masking each side of the seams to provide a very narrow area for the sealer to go onto, and while my neighbor ran the gun I followed him closely using a gloved finger to smear the sealer into a level and even profile. Once mixed in the tip of the gun, the sealer would start to harden in five to eight minutes, so we had to keep going or risk clogging the tip. But we also had to pull the tape off before the sealer hardened on it making a mess, so we went through three tips before it was all done. There will be a small amount of sanding to do to clean off an out of place smear or a few spots where the sealer hardened before it could be finished, but overall the job looks good. We're starting earlier this morning to do the roof drip rails in hopes that the cooler temperatures will give the sealer more time to flow out and self level.

I also learned about guide coats yesterday, where just a bit of black paint was mixed with reducer and shot onto the primer. It changes the surface color and makes it easier to tell what has been sanded and what has not. Then we tried out some 400 grit paper on the DA that made very quick work of leveling the primer, while the guide coat showed us every low spot and pit. That led to a bit of Bondo and some re-priming, but better to find those blemishes now than after the paint goes on. And while there was primer in the gun, I prepared and primed parts for the A/C system and dash, so I actually got more done yesterday than I'd have thought.

Hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable Sunday...

 

[daugen]

unhappy to find after cutting off the low hanging air dam that the right side of the front bumper had been pushed back far enough to rub on the tire. So...off to the barn, get the Kubota and my portable Warn winch, hook the winch up to the end of the bent bumper and the drawbar of my tractor, and slowly bent it forward. Finally got full clearance and truck is drivable. :dance1:

Actually it did what a full frame truck should do, take a licking. The tow hooks btw are designed to push backwards but grab forwards, interestingly. Must be for crash safety. No damage to radiators, headlights, or grill. I'd say I was pretty lucky then hitting it at about 53 mph, whatever it was. Short black hair in the bumper, could be anything but I have a fleeting memory of something so dark I could not see it and usually I can see deer very well. Have dodged them all my life, hit a few, but this is what happens when you drive at night. Yeah, truck will be fixed just fine.

off to sharpen mower blades and putter in the barn. Warm day, up to 90, then a little cooler weather settling in.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

The agility with which the purple Martin flys about always amazes me. It almost looks like they are going to fly into you before they veer away

We have barn swallows that behave in much the same way out here, but they chitter and chirp as they fly. Makes me wonder if they aren't using some sort of echo location to find the insects upon which they feed, as I sure can't see the targets that they swoop, dive, and veer into. Makes for much entertainment, quite the contrast from the majestic soaring of the turkey vultures who often share the same sky.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good morning all. Thought last night that the rain was over, so we went to sleep with the window above the bed slightly open, the wind having dropped to a gentle breeze. Rain had different thoughts, it woke me at first light and I found I was half washed before even getting out of bed.

I guess I "pushed" the rain too far past Don's place all the way to you. Sorry you woke up wet. I would've got me soap out.

I had a dream a while ago in which my life was coming to an end, with only a day or two left and I just couldn't believe that all my time had gone. "I'm not ready yet" were the words in my head as I woke up. That day I thought hard about what I did each day and considered if I should draw up a bucket list. Nope, couldn't think of anything to put on it and when I asked my wife if she wanted to go on holiday, or do anything that we hadn't already got planned, she drew a blank too. At that point I realised how lucky we are to be content with what we have.

You aren't ready yet either RNG and not much we can do about it anyway, so keep on with what you enjoy, for as many years as you can. When the time eventually does come, those fortunate enough to have strong religious beliefs have plenty of great experiences yet to come. For the rest of us - well, we can look forward to taking one heck of a nap

I have had a great life, but my problem is with my young kids, I need to take a thousand videos to give them life lessons if I'm gone.

Good morning all. Has to be better than how I ended up yesterday.
Who would think I would have plowed into a bear...
Pitch black country road coming home from dinner, never saw it, dark instead of tan like a deer, low, big, and what a huge crash. Came out of a low ditch near the road, invisible. Hit hard enough to bend both tow hooks back, but did not break grill luckily.
One thousand dollar deductible. Expensive dinner....sigh.

Sorry Drew. That has to be a new one for the good morning thread IIRC. Too bad you couldn't have bearly missed it. Sorry, I just couldn't bear the thought of making cracks at your misfortune. I'm sure the bear is worse off. You can always drive your Cab Kubota if you put a big slow moving vehicle on the back. Maybe if you hit another bear with the Kubota, it could hitch a ride home in the FEL? I'm glad it wasn't the Jag too.

We got another .58 overnight. That's over 5"

Wifey made coffee. My daughter and I cooked up some leftover ham steak and mixed with egg and shredded cheese for some good taquitos.

 

[toppop52]

Got a shower valve that won't stop leaking. Swapped the working part, with the ball valve and rubber gaskets, with identical parts from basement shower, and it still leaks upstairs. One that was originally leaking upstars does not leak when installed in the basement. The part i swapped does all the work, opens hot and cold and mixes into shower outlet pipe. The base part of the valve has water inlets and showet pipe output. Maybe a hole has formed between an inlet and the outlet in the base?
Going to be a pita to replace, gotta tear out a wall, probably remove the sink cabinet also.

Buckeye, I don't know which style you have, mine uses cartridges that have the auto mixer to keep the temps even when someone turns on water somewhere else, mine last about 2 years in the master bath, so far so good in the guest bath. No amount of replacing individual parts will stop mine from dripping, only replacing the cartridge. BTW, mine doesn't drip-drip-drip, it does nothing for 8-10 hours then has a rapid drip for 20-30 seconds.

 

[toppop52]

Drew, the two worst animals in the southeast to hit are hogs and bears. They'll tear the whole bottom out, it's like running over a set of cement steps!
I fear you're getting into what I was worried about when you bought the Jaguar, never ending electrical and minor niggling issues. In those years, the Jags and Mercedes were notorious for that. I hope not, very cool car!

Hot and humid, just not as hot, now our cool week has turned into 1-2 days in the mid 80's then another 5 day heat wave! D@mn!

 

[farmer2009]

72 this morning and headed to 80 today. Rain chances are gone.

Well the plaining didn't go well yesterday. Lumber got rained on before I got there. Wet lumber and planers don't get along. So then I come home and need to put hay into the pin with the heifer calves. But the house washer was on the Kubota and with it being the only tractor with a loader on well I didn't want to unhook the washer. Rains coming so I'll just run back and grab the bale no big deal. That was until the washer started sliding sideways into the fence. A row of hay on one side and a fence on the other. Ended up having to take fence down and back washer through, then unhook to get out. Pulled the tractor into the barn just as the down pour started. Need to go get the washer today. But other than that not many plans. Maybe a nap.

Drew. You may be surprised at the extent of the damage. But that new of a truck they can do a lot of fixin' before it's totaled. But hey you know that. Wife had a wreck where it was a glancing front end hit. Radiator looked good no leaks but body shop found it was bowed. Went to replace it and the frame was bent. Not much but enough for it to need to go to the frame shop. Straightened it and put another 100k miles on no problems. Glad you're okay.

 

[rswyan]

73F and supposedly mostly cloudy @ 11:45 ... high today predicted to be 80F. Don't think it rained much last night. Looks like most of the rain has moved south and east of us.

Decided to watch some of the Olympics last night rather than head back up to the shop.

Need to run out and get some gas for the Simplicity and Trac Vac and then get the grass picked up.

Also need to cut up some 1/2" rebar into 2' stakes to pin the 6 x 8 landscape timbers down for the playground.

 

[sodamo]

68°F and .08 inches rain last 24 hours

Hope to get some mowing done

Be safe
Have a great day

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[rswyan]

Yesterday's 92 wasn't too bad since the humidity dropped, and only got damp, not sopping from sweat, while bush hogging two fields. Had the pleasure, and entertainment for about 2 hours of dozens of purple martins and barn swallows diving and swooping around me, to snatch the thousands of leaf hoppers, grass hoppers and other insects fleeing the attack of my Woods 72" cutter. It seems to always start with one or two birds, and then I guess they go get their friends, because it turns into a synchronized acrobatic feeding frenzy. This is one of the reasons I like the open cab on my tractor; however, the main reason is because I don't have a cab.

The barn swallows are a regular feature here as well every time I mow the front lawns. Same deal with starting with one or two birds and then having a bunch more show up ... yesterday it ended up being about 20 of 'em.

Never have seen a purple martin tho' ... guess I need to build a house for 'em and put it up.

Temp hit 89F ... which exceeded the predicted high by 4 degrees.

 

[rswyan]

RS, any plumbing supply house or even big box store should have that reducer, but I'd call around before making a 45 minute drive.

It's a hydraulic pressure fitting (2500 psi) ... regular black pipe or galvanized ain't gonna work ...

Love getting the blow by blow on the van restoration body work BTW ... :thumbsup:

 

[rswyan]

Drew,

Sorry to hear about the damage to the new truck ... glad you're ok though.

 

[sodamo]

Good morning all. Has to be better than how I ended up yesterday. Who would think I would have plowed into a bear... Pitch black country road coming home from dinner, never saw it, dark instead of tan like a deer, low, big, and what a huge crash. Came out of a low ditch near the road, invisible. Hit hard enough to bend both tow hooks back, but did not break grill luckily. One thousand dollar deductible. Expensive dinner....sigh.

Most importantly YOU are OK

Sent from my iPhone using TractorByNet

 

[daugen]

very satisfying to finish sharpening the blades and doing a full lube on my main mower, the JD garden tractor.
Even got the one hidden universal joint zerk that is impossible to get to unless the mower is raised in the air or the deck taken off. Almost makes me look forward to mowing, which I will have to start again tomorrow. Schools start tomorrow here and I lose my helper except for Friday afternoons and Saturday.

Blades on the mower were pretty dull, my helper has an affinity for roots apparently. Plus I hit my share of fire ant mounds out on the roadside and that's just mowing a big pile of abrasive sandy dirt. Usually I can get a front tire on them to squash them down enough to mow over but sometimes they are just lurking in the high grass. On my own property I poison them but I can't do that on all the roadsides I mow. The farm fields are full of them on the edges.

I also did a little cleanup and rearranging of my barn work area, and hung an old scythe and a very large two person hand saw on the wall for decoration over the woodshop door. Also a woven wood tobacco container, very shallow and three feet around, stamped Washington on it, as the tobacco that was carried in it and presented at the market had to be identified as to source. I had never seen one before in my life, thankfully did not throw it out as junk since it was left here by prior owner.

thanks for kind words on truck. Nice to be driving a heavy truck when critters decide to commit suicide.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Did a tankful of trimming. Need to mow but grass is really wet.

 

[toppop52]

We just had back to back storms, second way worse than first! Got so black at around 6:30 that we had to turn lights on to get around the house. A bunch of rain, no damage I can see.

 

[rswyan]

Sixty-five 2' rebar stakes cut.

Grass picked up off the front lawns with the Trac Vac ... only got a load and half ... looks nice. Still have some trimming to do though.

Mowed down the green stuff growing in the garden area.

Filled all bird feeders and changed out the juice for the hummers.

The Woman picked up sticks down around the house and I got that about half mowed, finish tomorrow.

Skipped the trip to Rural King ... will try Summer's Rubber for the adapters, since I have to be in that way tomorrow anyways ... hopefully they will have them in stock.

Coffee made, heading up to shop to see what trouble I can get into.

 

[sodamo]

Not only got some grass mowed but attacked some of my albizia growth.

Not exactly a before pic, but about 10-15 minutes into it today:




When I finished for the day: