Good morning!!!!

[Engineer42]

And a question for all the smart people on here, what is this ?
It's located on a National Grid power pole.
View attachment 879656


and a close up;
View attachment 879657

Thanks
Lou

Shot Spotter?

 

[Wagtail]

Good (Friday) morning. Overnight Low of 9.1C and it's presently 12.6C, overcast & calm. There was 0.5mm in the gauge @ 0900.

There's not much happening 'down here'... which is fine by me. The lagging that was put on the shed tank pump has sure quieted the sound of pump when it engages. Which, of course, makes sense as the metal siding that the spigot was attached to (and still is) was acting as a sounding board. After 11 years, I'll have to adjust my "listening for trouble/out of the ordinary" background 'normal'.

That's about it, take care all.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

76F cloudy nice gentle breeze.

Been a ho hum afternoon and evening had very little interest doing anything.
Surgery went well but instead 1/2' cut ended with 3 3/4" cut lot more needed to be remove follow by shot of radiation appointment in 10 days to remove stiches last dose of radiation.
Scooter the smaller kitten keeping watchful eye upon me sooo I better follow Dr. rules or Scooter will throw me under bus and tell Mrs.

Think I'll share bowl ice cream than take pain pill cuddle into bed.

Enjoy your evening all.

Hope the pill and the kitten take the edge off and you can get some sleep. Glad the surgery went well. Hang in there.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Up way too early wife threw son out of condo got me up to tell me he wasn’t here. Sat in car all day yesterday wanting to go home. Took car Saturday took off had police stop her now car on side of the road. Trying to convince her to get out of car sugar level dropped to 46 dehydrated passed out another ambulance ride have urinary track infection low blood pressure 70/40.

Beautiful day yesterday just could not enjoy it at all
Prayers for all our Country

Prayers for your wifey. Hope they get her sugar leveled out and UTI healed.

Good evening all. 70ºF for the start, overcast, light breeze. Light wind some showers heavy at times, High temp was 80ºF, HI 86ºF. Made coffee to start day, putter, bike ride, lost wallet off bike somebody I did not know picked it up and called me and gave me his address and I picked it up. Made trip into town insurance and grocery shopping. No nap. VFD board mtg, then grilled brats. 69th birthday today.

Happy Belated birthdays to:
Mostly and NHBX !!!

Forecast is 103F today with at least 3 more days at 100+.

Electric cost is .12c per kW in NV. Our bill averages about $300/mo but this month is over $400. Electric cost at our CA property varies from .40c - .60c per kW depending on time of day. I bet the neighbor bills over there are eye popping.

Everyone have a great day, and try to stay cool !!!

That is eye popping on that bill. Good thang you got another state to run to...

At the Appraisal hearing they took away my smoking gun by not allowing any sales information after April 2024 (we bought in May 2024) however I was prepared and had a list from my realtor of all the homes similar to ours that sold in the last few years, which they could use. The county's Comparisons were computer generated and I pointed out the flaws in their fantasy values. I got the market value reduced to the sales price this year, a win for us, since they were about 30% over. Yeah.

Wow Don, you should've been an attorney. Glad you got it done. I tried comparables in my session and they shot those down, even though they were plainly stated ON THEIR WEBSITE... ARGH!

Bigboy 4014 is coming down the canyon near RNG northern cal place either today or tomorrow. Will stop in oroville

Impressive isn't it.

God is mad at me.
Went to the local deli.
All, except the parking space furthest away is taken.
Just as I park the sky's open up.
Cursing I walk in soaked.
Takes a few minutes to get my order and I can see through the front window that the rain has stopped.
After waiting for a few old biddies at he cash register I get out just as the monsoon hits.
Now I'm really soaked to the skin.
My ball cap is dripping through to my head.
Driving home, 15 minutes, the cloud breaks and just a touch of clear sky.
Just before turning into home, flash of lightening, and monsoon starts again.
The paper bags from the Deli are soaked and threatening to fall apart.
I'm leaving a water trail through the entrance.
I put the stuff down on the kitchen counter just to see through the window the rain is just a drip.
Like really?
What did I do to deserve all this?
Ah, to Hell with it!

God still loves you though. You just have to work on your Beryl storm timing.

Dad's grandmother on his dad's side was born in Germany. She died in 1951, I wonder what she thought of her grandson going off to war to fight the germans. Also have relatives from Ireland.

My dad was 17 and got in the Navy, his brother was 20+ and joined the Marines. Both were either 2nd or 3rd gen Germans.

Good Afternoon,

Dennis, my grand parents on my fathers side immigrated from Germany in 1923. My Uncle was 4 or 5 at the time and my father wasn’t born until early 1925. All the old Germans that were here in America wanted my uncle Gunther and my father to join the Bundt ! That was basically the recruitment for the ****** youth corp ! My father and uncle wouldn’t have any of that and enlisted ! My father was in the Pacific Theater and my Uncle was in Europe. I would say they made the right decision!

Glad they fought on the right side.

My opinion, when Ireland declared "neutrality" in WWII, I chalk it up to cowardice in their gov't. Sure, nobody wanted to be in a war. But to contemplate what things would be like if we had all just threw the towel in like they did.

So continuing with the ring doorbell camera the app said I might need an extender, so I got the chime pro and connected it to the door bell via wifi. The chime did not work and support turned on a few things in the app and we could hear the test chimes but when the doorbell is rung no sound. Ring thinks the chime pro is defective and is sending me a new one. My wife thinks this house has some sort of blocker blocker in it maybe was once owned by a spy. Or it could be the motion detector in the hallway that we don't use.

Ok on hold again to ring support because the ring connected to the ring chime extender and won't release. So the doorbell is offline again. I need to reconnect directly to the wifi but it is not that easy to find in the multi layered menus.

Don, maybe your home has radiant barrier plywood, or lead paint, or radiant barrier paint, or maybe you're too skinny to set it off? After all of your trials, it has to be something other than the product itself???

73F cloudy rain ending soon might reach 90F partly cloudy sky...rain was much needed.

Outside chores done E muffin time.
Plans for today...AM 4 hours at part store,PM hospital have small tumor remove afterwards not sure depending on the outside temperature how sore I feel.

Enjoy your day all.

Prayers Thomas.

RS, your garden reflects the hard work you put into it. It is beautiful. Bounty time soon.

My wife and I have been helping with our church's youth program for 7-8 years or so. We are now the "main stays" of keeping it going. We have kept it going through some tough periods of change at our church. It is rewarding, but sometimes challenging. Last night we had a youth fund raiser car wash. Something that hasn't been done in a decade or so. We worked our rears off for about 2.5 hours, maybe washing about 20 cars. The people of our church gave freely. There was over $800 to start a fund for next year's youth church camp. Some kids worked harder than others....

Work is extremely busy. 2 years ago, they asked me to start assessing the program's equipment. A year ago we started a spreadsheet list of needs and wants. We just got about half the long list funded, and now it's a gasoline fire to get purchase orders going, and get the stuff coming. Next will be to get it working in place prior to Aug 19th. First day of fall semester. Meanwhile, I have a bunch of other projects going. We are clearing out a lot of old equipment. I think I already mentioned buying a 15" Powermatic planer. We are sending a nice 3 phase big Delta wood planer/joiner to surplus for auction, and many other items.

Prayers for our team, our nation, Ukraine and ******.

 

[Popgadget]

Thanks, did not see any leaks on the two condenser flare fittings. The two upstairs ones are buried in a thick brick wall and not easy to access

Murphy says your leak is buried in the brick wall!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Popgadget, that's a really really nice plane. Wondering why it would take a year to fix? I would be so worried about peripheral issues after sitting for a year... So you're a test pilot too?


Thomas, hope the pain stays away as much as possible and you can get some rest.

 

[Popgadget]

Some of the new acoustic detectors are amazing, they actually check with the system down and pressurized..

I have various leak detection tools, the sniffer is the least helpful, my go to is the ultrasonic listener-

VPE-GN (Gooseneck) Ultrasonic Leak Detector

The AccuTrak® VPE-GN Ultrasonic Leak Detector is designed to find leaks in hard to reach places. The VPE-GN is ideal for finding refrigerant leaks, compressed gas leaks, vacuum leaks and more.

superiorsignal.com

And the next most used is the simplest and cheapest-

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Refrigeration-Technologies-RT100S-Big-Blu-Micro-Leak-Detector-1-Qt?utm_source=google_ad&utm_medium=Shopping_tm&utm_campaign=Shopping_TM_New_users&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_WAytmb069md0NVn24uMpf_Wiqc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyMmY3LughwMVg59aBR0dFw9SEAQYASABEgJiF_D_BwE

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I have various leak detection tools, the sniffer is the least helpful, my go to is the ultrasonic listener-

VPE-GN (Gooseneck) Ultrasonic Leak Detector

The AccuTrak® VPE-GN Ultrasonic Leak Detector is designed to find leaks in hard to reach places. The VPE-GN is ideal for finding refrigerant leaks, compressed gas leaks, vacuum leaks and more.

superiorsignal.com

And the next most used is the simplest and cheapest-

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Refrigeration-Technologies-RT100S-Big-Blu-Micro-Leak-Detector-1-Qt?utm_source=google_ad&utm_medium=Shopping_tm&utm_campaign=Shopping_TM_New_users&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD_WAytmb069md0NVn24uMpf_Wiqc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIyMmY3LughwMVg59aBR0dFw9SEAQYASABEgJiF_D_BwE

Here's another that works well, but not sure about liquid leaks.

Swagelok Ms-Snoop-8Oz Leak Detector,27 To 200 Degrees F,8 Oz. | eBay

 

[Looking4new]

Ireland declared itself neutral because after being screwed over by Britain for centuries, they certainly were NOT going to help them. They also didn't want to help Germany.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 73ºF for the start, mostly clear sky, light breeze. Light to moderate wind, some cloud build up, and High temp was 99ºF, HI 103ºF. Humidity dropping during day helps keep HI lower than it typically is. Some rain near end of 10 day, but will likely evaporate. Made coffee to start day, some putter then bike ride. Lunch then mow backyard, not a lot of golfers, put ice in neck cooler, got backyard done without serious overheat. Cool off, cleanup then nap. 4014 pic from August 2021 Pilot Point visit.
Resuming July 8 4:32 PM CDT posts:
David bet feeding the siding out took a while.
Drew sorry you will miss the balloon event.
David glad no heavy lifting, Is barn air tight enough to paint in?
Dennis nice info and pics Sorry to hear about water softener.
Thomas glad you are pacing your self.
Randy(wag) glad you got pic to plumber. Hope tank refilled soon.
Scott(vt) bet you get a lot of brownie points with that.
David thanks for birthday wishes.
July 9 3:51 AM CDT posts:
Ron hope not too much rain from Beryl, Hope conserve energy day was successful. Thanks for update on Eddie. Thanks for Birthday wishes
Billy hope you got your rain. Thanks for the birthday wishes. I was starting to climb the walls when I found his voice mail. Enjoy your Della duty
NHBX Thanks for Birthday wishes. I am glad to get wallet back too
Drew thanks for the birthday wishes, it's nice to still be a young pup. Hope service shop can fix your cylinder.
Drew interesting thoughts on John Deere.
Thomas thanks for the birthday wishes and vote of confidence.
Thomas after 8 hours, feet up time
Bill no z-turn on roadway is a revolting development. Hop JR can haul the gas. Not holding my breathe
Frits thanks for birthday wishes, yes very glad to get wallet back. Glad Cody all groomed up, hope vet can find paw problem.
Don sorry no Beryl rain. Hope old model works. Thanks for birthday wishes!
Paul glad progress on old folks home continues. Hope test fight good. Glad you are getting the warranty work done.
Scott(vt) sorry about the hot & humid weather. Thanks for birthday wishes. 2 generations of experience, grands and great grand Good to hear back to Vermont soon.
Plowhog sorry about the heat and electric bills.
Buppies hope you had good trip back. Thanks for the birthday wishes! prayers sent.
Ken good to hear progress on the table, lot of work goes in a table like that. Like the deer pics. Thanks for birthday wishes and glad to have wallet back
Ted sorry no rain yet, hope you were in the lucky 30%. Thanks for birthday wishes, and very glad to get wallet back Hope weed whacker went well and brought on rain .
Dennis thanks for birthday wishes and yes glad to recover wallet.
David hope next round mowing goes well. Really hope you get LS back running!!
Don congrats on big win and being so well prepared!!
Drew glad good lunch sorry not sitting better. Hope good news from service shop.
Dennis sorry having trouble pinning down water leak in softener. Pipes don't look good
Frits sawzall will fix brace
Dennis hope pipe is an easy fix.
Dennis thank for original pic for comparison.
Dennis interesting process.
Dennis all hat driving for 800 in store credit, wonder if the credit has a expire time.
RNG lot of notes! Nice links
Oosik thanks for stopping by. Sorry about the heat, at least no much humidity.
Dennis glad stuck float was all leak was.
Frits congrats to D for the awards.
Randy(wag) good to hear tank mostly refilled. Hope good run into town.
Scott(vt) sorry about burned hand. Hard to work outside here as well.
Paul impressive rain
July 10 a2:11 AM CDT posts:
Dennis sorry I misread your post. Glad upstairs doing better.
Dennis 4014 really worth seeing.
NHBX lack of rain common here too. Hope dump run went well.
Ron you are getting much more rain than a lot of Texas got from Beryl. Nice flower pic.
Phil sorry to hear about the flooding, hope Beryl doesn't make it worse. Good luck with wagon wheel project!!
Paul sorry it took so long to get turboprop finished, but glad you got it back and in service. Hope your Wednesday went well.
Drew hope garden picking was fruitful. Thanks for the compliment, I think of it as having a conversation. Hey you just called me a young pup a few posts ago, no which is it Glad good visit with friend. BTW I have fear of heights and have no problem flying, no sensation of height.
Paul neat pic, 4014 younger brother.
Paul wonder if that was a DDA40X, basically two locos on one frame.
Bill hope you can get your license back soon.
Billy sorry about the heat. Hope vet visit went well for Della, and you had a good hike.
Plowhog sorry about record, we consider 61ºF dew point low humidity.
Scott(vt) understand about the heat, neck cooler helps.
Don are the road private in the neighborhood? Hope ring decides to cooperate. nice pic of Hospice.
RNG good to hear progress at new homestead.
Bill must be frustrating to be so close and yet so far. Glad all essentials covered.
Dennis sorry about overflow, is float sticking? Hope nap good.
Bill sorry about grass cutting rain out.
Ken hope table gets done before deadline. Hope you got your rain. Neat pics
Frits hope good new from podiatrist. Hope D had good trip.
Buppies sorry antibiotics doing their usual number on you. Hope wife and son have good walk.
Drew sorry no parts list on cylinder repair. Good to hear rotating the disaster gas.
David good to hear good day mowing, sorry no call from LS tech. Hope trip is fun.
Ken sorry no rain.
Buppies hope you get some out of the change.
Massyrider sorry God mad at you, please tell me what you did so I don't do same thing. Loved the story.
Dennis good luck planning trip. Sorry calculations may not be right for upstairs , hope easy remedy.
More catch up later
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle /Daughter, /mom's breathing, /son's migraines, Bird /aging issues, Ron /heart, Billy /mom hypertension & congestive heart failure, David(moss) /remodel, /divorce, Buppies /cancer, parathyroid,blood sugar /wife healing, Thomas /gout, Phil /reflux, Frits /veteran son with mental issues, /granddaughter with Evans Syndrome, Ken /dad possible dementia, /chronic fatigue, Diet not working, Steppenwolfe /son-auto immune disorder, Grev /wife's eye, Ted /knee recovery, /retirement & disability red tape, /family issues, Lou /eye issues, /heart issues, /wife hip replacement, Doug and wife/health issues, / hand nerve and surgery, /fall and recovery, / wife headaches and heart eval, / David(sadamo)/Sophie's hip or leg pain, Scaredy/shoulder dislocation, /marriage dissolving, / friend stop drinking, Dennis /retirement, /neighbor issues, /land development, /favorable winds not in the forecast there, /dad surgery recovery, Drew /back operation issues, /friend's wife cancer diagnosis and recovery, Scotty /back pain, Helogabals /wife's friend situation, Fatjay /father broken hip, ******, Ukraine war, and Country.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

So I need a good AC design guy.....

Got my cheap anemometer ( I gotta look at it to spell it) today, and tried to get readings from all vents in ft/min. I then measured all vents, guessed at a K value to reduce the area blocked by metal (2 downstairs are wood vents), and got CFM numbers at each vent. Hard to get consistent numbers from the ceiling vents, numbers jumped a lot as I held it up. Avg button didn’t seem to avg.

downstairs is OK, but it's 3 ton, with 11 vents. Manual J said I needed around 500 CFM total, it's pumping out around 600 according to my measurements. The only room that needs more air is the last one, and one other room has more than it needs, so I think I can balance it. Downstairs is not a problem, the geo unit rarely if ever runs in high speed, stays in low.

Upstairs is off some. Manual J says I only need 361 CFM. Measurements says it's pumping out 616 CFM on a 2 ton unit, way more than it should. At 80 deg out and under, it works ok, except the 2 rooms over the garage stay warmer.
Original system was middle feed, had 2.5ton unit (I think). it split 2 ways into a 8x12, then drops to 8x8 on each end.
I changed to an end feed, so I increased to 8x16 on the feed end. But then i did another 8x16 to the rooms over the garage, which also reduce down to only 2 outlets, that is way oversized, but i was saved by having the unfinished room blocked off.

My numbers say the air is proportional split, 2 over garage flows 20%, the 8 original flow 80%.

I just think my manual J is off for the upstairs and the unit is undersized. With the rooms over the garage, it's more sf than downstairs, and the upstairs has the attic load. Supposively that was accounted for in the manual J, but the CFM required numbers are much lower. (361 vs 500).
If I use only one 8x16 off the AH, it will support more flow (fpm) for the 800 cfm coming off the AH, but since it's proportional, it works out ok.

The original attic install uses flex ducts to the registers, which is part of the problem. That reduces air flows. I put solid metal on the new ones I installed over the garage. I also put in dampers to adjust, the original does not have them.

It's only an issue when temps get above 90s. Winter is fine for heating.

since the rooms over the garage have a separate duct split from the AH, the fix is to remove the garage room from the geo system, and put those rooms on it's own dedicated system. I'm thinking a Mr cool with AH system will work. only need about 1 ton, and let the geo just handle the original load. The ductwork change in the attic looks good from my numbers. I'll run it again with the full 2 ton capacity, and see how it changes. Later today, it's 2 am. time to stop this fun.

I’ll add, since today only got to 84°, the upstairs is keeping up, it’s actually cold set at 73°.

 

[Buppies]

Thomas prayers you get a good nights sleep

Up now could not sleep oh well such is life

 

[Wagtail]

Thomas prayers you get a good nights sleep

Up now could not sleep oh well such is life

Hang in there Mate.

 

[Buppies]

Thanks wagtail

 

[NHBX]

Good morning all,
71° now highs in the upper 80’s, clear this morning clouding up as the day goes on. Winds SW 5-10 mph dew point 67°, may see a stray shower or boomer late afternoon. We did get a surprise shower yesterday, 0.01” again, just enough to keep the weeds growing well lol.

No love with the truck inspection yesterday, needs front brakes, rotors and calipers. Really not surprised as the only thing ever done to front was pads at around 50 or 60k miles, only has 88k on it but sits a lot now. Get that fixed next week.
Usual water and weed this morning, also need to get to mowing and trimming again.
Maybe a grocery run or?

Thomas hope you heal up quickly
Buppies prayers things get better for you

Enjoy your day everyone
Stay safe and healthy

 

[mpham]

Morning all!
Currently 68 going to 87 or so.
Up to early this morning with arthritis pain and acid reflux flared up!
3 tons of pellets were delivered and put away yesterday.[might be some of my pain issue]
Not sure how much we will use as we want to run Monday's new furnace install as much as possible this winter.
Tree planting seems to be taking ok so far. All this rain is helping with that.
Grass needs cutting but we have somewhere to go today and a visitor coming in tonight.
Oh well, There's always next week.
Made some progress on the wheel repair. That might have to wait a while till my fingers and wrist work again without pain!

Hope everyone heals up quick that has been having issues!
As always. Hope everyone stays safe and healthy!

 

[ronjhall]

Coffee is done brewing. 61° with mostly cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 80° with chance of midday rain. Grocery shopping went good. Turns out there were only a couple of branches down in front of house. Should have mowed grass yesterday. But ran out of energy. Back on list for today. No sounds of generators running in the distance this morning.
Holding on.

Everyone stay safe and well.

Good Morning All.

 

[daugen]

good morning all
was nice to sleep last night without whirr of a/c going
today the rains come, they even issued a flood watch (for less than two inches?...)
and into tomorrow. This dry ground will just suck it up, I bet Lake Drew doesn't form; I mowed there yesterday and the ditch
was dry as a bone.

slept well last night
food shopping this morning, then I need to work on a small project that has me puzzled.
There is a foam insert product that goes inside rv a/c unit that is supposed to greatly improve the cfm and reduce
noise level. And the reviews say it works but has to be customized. I believe the foam insert creates cleaner air paths for
better flow. I looked at the a/c yesterday and don't see how it can work, will have Ken come look at it with me.
Need two minds on this...

funny how the garden reacted so nicely to yesterday's half inch rain. Everything was darker green. My spigot water is so acidic
due to the well (all the house water is filtered but outside water is y'd off and goes direct) I wonder if the acidic water makes the plants unhappy.
have half a dozen tomatoes ripening, looking forward to a nice sandwich with one of them.
I rarely buy bacon, very rarely, but have some thick slices to try on a nice BLT.
RS I'll make one for you because I know you like them.

high in low 80's today, rain comes in after lunch.
first I have to go out and take the trash cans out.
Have to clean the one out so I can get the storm door cut up and put in.
I don't have to put trash out every week, one person doesn't generate enough.
But if I had corn on the cob, oh boy does that have to get hauled off. That stuff really starts
to stink inside a hot trash can outdoors. The worst stinkers I've seen are the leftover salmon or shrimp
packaging.

 

[daugen]

I wonder how Thomas does with Boo and trash cans?
would think a bear would go through anything you put out there
this group can probably count a dozen bent bird feeders to bears

what's worse on trash cans? ground hogs? probably raccoons, they seem pretty smart
squirrels already pull stuff apart outside, knock plants over, etc.
no one taught them to pick up after themselves....

I look out and see the cutest rabbit munching on the clover right next to the garden.
I wonder what else he is eating. I have two melons growing, sketchy future

 

[wngsprd]

71 going to 79...flood watch issued, but no rain yet.

RS, garden looking really good...your work really pays off and makes you feel proud, I'm sure.

Prayers, Buppies and family.

Thomas, you're gonna need to take it easy, which will be hard for you to do. Hope you are feeling good this morning.

Popg, beautiful stone and masonry. Your new place is coming along swiftly.

Hiked Della all the way to the river for the first time...down the cliff and in for a swim in the rapids...she loved it, of course...already up to 33 lbs. Wife got back last night from staying at son and DIL's to babysit GD for a couple of days due to their work schedule, and absence of regular babysitter...had a good time and says our son is a great cook and father. Of course.