Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #60,581  
My afternoon started out poorly, the shed with my tractor ZTR, power tools, an air compressor, commercial sewing machine, pressure washer, tow behind sprayer, and much more, burned down. Blistered the siding on the house, and garage. What a mess!

OMG!!!! Randy I am so glad you are OK. That was a lot of stuff, but in the end it was just stuff. That looks like it was a horrifying fire!!!

So Glad you are OK. I hope the insurance treats you well.

Be well Brother,
David
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,582  
70 looking to 83 and maybe our first real rain in 3 weeks tonight.

Drove up to Fredericksburg the other day. Noticed a number of oaks that looked brown...like the leaves had been eaten away and only the leaf skeletons remained...wondering if the gypsy moths have made it this far or some other pest. Moss, or Rip...know anything about? Saw quite a few in the Carmel Church/Ladysmith area.
I clearly need to look around at other people's property it seems because I did not notice it was that widespread...

Japanese beetle is what has hit my place. I've got 4 old fruit trees up by the gate that were getting old and destined for my smoker wood pile, but now I have to cut them down because they are devastated, dead or dying due to Japanese beetles. I did not discover the problem until late in the season when I bush hogged and it was too late to get traps etc.

Lucky for me, there was not really anything else right there so they seem contained to that spot. Hopefully they will be gone next year...

Interesting...

Be well,
David
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,583  
70°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 88° today. Rained on and off most of the day yesterday, and that was much appreciated. Looking like sunny and mid-80s for the weekend. I'll take it.

Wow, Randy, sorry you lost so much equipment and a building, but very glad you were not hurt. Stuff can be replaced.

We're having a bad year at our place, too, David, with the Japanese beetles. We planted two new hawthorn trees and four new cherry blossom trees this year, and those infernal beetles have chewed them down to almost nothing. I joked to my wife that they were just enjoying a taste from back home. At $125/tree, she was less amused by it than I was.

My list of things I hope to complete this weekend may have been a bit over-zealous, especially if I intend to get in any golf. Even The Wife cast a jaundiced eye over it.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,584  
Good Morning!!!! 76F @ 6:45AM. Sunny. High 101F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

I don't think a career in weather forecasting looks very promising for you, Eric, and suggest you keep your day job.:laughing:

Very warm day yesterday, downright hot working at the mechanic's shop. Soaked a shirt in the first few minutes, then wised up and started the 4' box fan by the door to get some circulation. Finished wiring the power mirrors, but couldn't get them to work. I'll do a little probing with a multimeter today and get 'em goin'. Short talk with the mechanic, who isn't happy with the lack of progress, either. First he tried to blame his helpers, the majority of which just aren't showing up for work. But when I pointed out that last week he said he personally would be working on the A/C, he didn't have an answer. Still no engine, but he said he's actually going to pick it up today. I'm going to ask to accompany him so I can meet the man that put it together. Might be interesting to hear his side of the story...

Those of you that like music from the rock group Yes may also like the album covers painted by Roger Dean. I've long looked for examples of his art online, and at last found a good collection of his work here. It's well organized, and each painting is presented with a bit of background information. Clicking on the painting itself displays a larger version, some of which will fill the screen. It's also interesting to see that some of the original paintings are offered for sale as well.

TGIF!:drink:
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,585  
Toppop52
Sorry about the fire, hope everything works out for you. Glad that you are ok.

The low this morning was 45* the high yesterday was 84*. Today is going be partly cloudy and a chance of showers. With the temps in the mid 80's.


I'm going back to work on some more of that fence today.

Hope everyone has a nice day.
CWB
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,586  
Randy, glad you weren't hurt and sorry about your loss. Hope insurance takes care of you. Like Drew said, replacement cost insurance is better at this type of loss. I don't know if my insurance company even knows what replacement cost means. They keep depreciating my claims. Even for my hail claim on my home. Mostly siding and windows. Is this legal?

Don, I saw the news about the 2nd fire. We are in a burn ban and not sure what is causing them. The pop up storms keep getting near me, but stop just short of reaching me for the 3rd day now. :(

Wife made me some organic decaf coffee this morning. It taste good. She had to grind the beans.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,587  
71.8F and partly cloudy ... chance of a thunderstorm, mainly later today ... high of 78F, which is a little below normal. Got barely enough rain yesterday to settle the dust.

Ended up getting quite a bit done yesterday, even though I had to cut it short for the chiro appointment.

Trimmed some more forsythia, then emptied the cart onto the burn pile, refilled tube feeders, and added another mothball to each of the four groundhog den holes on the west side of the house and dumped some more used cat litter in one.

Then I parked the Trac Vac and hooked up the big dump cart up and brought it over to the house, checked the air pressure in the tires and pumped those uppulled the side boards and unscrewed the plywood off the bottom of the bed and took it up to the burn pile. Why one doesn't want to leave dirt sitting on plywood for an extended period of time :rolleyes::

Dump cart.jpg

I blew off the bed with compressed air and took it around back and hosed it off. The PT floorboards were in good shape surprisingly. Next time I get down to Menards I'll pick up a piece of PT plywood that is ground contact rated, and replace it with that ... and then try to make sure it's cleaned out after every use ... and stored in the barn ... :rolleyes:

The dump cart is in need of some mods to beef it up ... but I probably won't get to those until it gets too bad to be working outside (aka winter time) I would at least like to get the hydraulic cylinder painted and put back together and get some hoses for it so that I can use it this summer.

After that I moved on to the sprayer. The boom was in pretty bad shape with lots of peeling paint and the hoses on it need replaced ... so I pulled it off and removed the hoses and nozzles, since I won't be spraying the lawn until fall and only need the spray wand to spray Roundup. I have a 65 gallon tank for it ... might end up pulling it all the way apart and redoing it with that tank and painting the boards.

Pulled the water buffalo out of the woods and brought it up to the garage and checked the air pressure in the tires on that and topped them off, then took it around back and hosed it off.

Brought up the water hose reel for here at the house and checked the air pressure in the tires on that and pumped them up. One of them had a bad tube in it, need to check up in the shop and see if I have one in stock.

After I finished that it was time to head out for the chiro appointment.

Stopped at the hardware store on the way back home and picked up a box of mothballs, tossed some more mothballs in the groundhog holes on both sides of the house after dinner and then did some trimming on the japanese yew on the east side of the house. That thing is huge ... probably 15' tall ... would really like to tear it out and transplant it elsewhere ... but I'm not sure if it's worth the effort.

Have to pay bills today and clean up the trimmings from the japanese yew ... beyond that not really sure.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,588  
   / Good morning!!!! #60,589  
Tractor backfired and I assume blew the line off the fuel filter and the electric fuel pump just kept pumping out fuel. Thankfully I was standing behind it or my right leg and foot would have been in the gasoline spray.

My zero turn mower backfires sometimes if I don't idle down for a bit before shutting off. I will be more diligent now.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #60,590  

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