Good morning!!!!

[Looking4new]

I tried to convince my wife that it was a public safety imperative that I buy a spreader for the tractor so that I could throw salt. Oddly, she didn't see my altruism as being credible.

If she slips and falls on her azz she will see.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 44F @ 9:30AM. Sunshine and a few afternoon clouds. High 63F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

LS_mt125_owner, if not for guys like you, guys like me wouldn't be around. You're among the first on the scene of the accident, snatching life from the jaws of death, giving people another chance. I agree with Jay, though, you shouldn't have to deal with the mentally ill, but the budget cuts imposed by our so called leadership have made it that way. My heart goes out to all those suffering through the mental trauma of these situations; I know I wouldn't last long in a job like that and I hope there's someone you can talk to when it gets bad. If blowing off a little steam on Good Morning!!!! helps, have at it. I think you'll find a very sympathetic ear or ten here.

Quit screwing around and get to a doctor, Kyle. A messed up back is not something you want for the rest of your life, especially at your age. Don't worry about what someone thinks, either, because if they think you're trying for a fake workman's comp claim, they don't know you. Hopefully it's just a muscle strain, but you won't know unless you get a little help.

I awoke to noise on the back porch at about three this morning, and when I flipped on the lights there was that pesky gray fox up on the BBQ trying to get the lid open. I whipped up a batch of chicken drummets (thanks Farmer!) for dinner last night, and he was probably as much a fan of good Q as I am. I rapped hard on the bedroom glass door and he jumped down, ran about ten steps, then turned around to see what made the noise. I opened the door and yelled at him, and he just stared back at me. I had to slide the screen aside and step out to get him to take off, so he's pretty much lost his fear of people. I think it's time to get the Have-a-heart out and give him a new home. I'd been tolerating his tricks (crapping on the door mats, etc.), hoping he'd help keep the ground squirrel population down, but there are as many fresh tunnel mounds as ever and it's clear he's not gonna pull his weight. And now I know what to bait the trap with...

Made some good progress on the old bike yesterday, installing the rear swing arm, final drive, and brake shoes, and getting the shocks on that end hooked up. Also mounted and balanced the tubes and tires; I don't think there's a dirtier job on a motorcycle and I'm glad that one's finished. Finished up by installing the shift and kick start levers on the transmission, and verifying that it'll go through all the gears. Today's goal is to get the front fender and wheel on so I can use the wheel chock on the lift and stabilize things a bit better. And maybe make another batch of BBQ!

Hope everyone enjoys their Sunday...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Take it from a guy with 35 years of serious back issues, do not attempt to work through it, make appointment with a GP or wherever you can get in and get to specialist ASAP. If it’s more than muscle strain, it will not cure its self and it will get worse.

When my back went out last fall, they said it was a slightly bulging disk, just recommended take it easy.

So I put on some eagles music, it didnt help much.

 

[jbrumberg]

"LS_mt125_owner, if not for guys like you, guys like me wouldn't be around. You're among the first on the scene of the accident, snatching life from the jaws of death, giving people another chance."- RNG

I agree.

I had 3 "911's" and wifey had one. The response times were under 5 minutes. Living 23 miles from any local hospital is a long run. EMT's saved my life- they kept me somehow going until we got to the ER. How you guys can do IV's and PICC lines bouncing down the road is truly amazing. On one of those "trips" I was "with it" enough to refuse permission to the ER staff to remove the PICC line the EMTs had inserted. I knew a good job when I had one. It stayed in 3 days.

At times it is easier and maybe "safer" to "vent" amongst one's cyber-friends rather than those around us.

 

[toppop52]

When my back went out last fall, they said it was a slightly bulging disk, just recommended take it easy.

So I put on some eagles music, it didnt help much.

Next time try Easy come, easy go.

 

[jerrybob]

51F right now........no rain but lots expected tonight......possible river flooding in some areas.....we'll see. Lots of geese in the skies.

 

[RoyJackson]

Well, between an ice chopper, snow shovel and the Deere's FEL, I got the drive and walks about as clear as I'm going to get them.
I think I'll be looking for a sand/salt spreader come warmer weather...too late in the season now.

 

[ronjhall]

Got the gun safe anchored and guns safely put in it. Installed it in 7X10 walk in closet. I wanted to put it behind closet door. But safe interfered with full opening of door because knob hit safe before fully open. Would not be a problem. But pull down stairs that give access to attic needs door fully open to drop down.
Switch some of wife’s cloths on hangers to behind closet door. Then put safe in the cleared place. Somehow I seem to have lost all the cloths that were hanging behind closet door. We have a trip to Salvation Army planned sometime this week.

 

[txdon]

. . . .
Switch some of wife’s cloths on hangers to behind closet door. . . .

Be very careful when messing with the allowed square footage in the wife's part of the closest. That is some valuable real estate!

 

[DABSGT]

LS, CONSIDER this post your EAP form it's good to RANT and vent after a long shift. Certified/licensed Paramedic in 82 and still carry a currant card, became an EMT in 74 infant stages of EMS was an interesting but fun time. Emergency Medical Service instructor for 36 years.
Keep up Keeping up If you love the job I know that you are good at it. Wish I kept notes back then would have made a great book lol.

 

[sseelhoff]

Bike is cleaned and ready to go. Chain and cassette degreased, cleaned and lubed. Brakes retensioned, risks cleaned. Saddle removed, reconditioned and reset. Frame washed and tires filled. Now I just need some new pedals, time to ride and decent weather.

 

[ronjhall]

Be very careful when messing with the allowed square footage in the wife's part of the closest. That is some valuable real estate!

 

[txdon]

Drew glad to help out with your storage problem. Safe fast delivery. Sorry Rick you did not qualify for the senior discount.

 

[txdon]

Is there a device that can detect when someone is trying to scan my credit card? I know there are shields but I'd like to be alerted if someone close by is attempting to scan my card?

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 35F for the start, clear. calm wind. High temp of 64F, light wind today, clear sky. Went to Chapel, made breakfast for us and then slowed down for the rest of the day

 

[Buppies]

52 for high today almost half inch of rain drizzle tomorrow before cold air comes again 50 mph wind tomorrow night and snow west of here 2 to 4in. Lazy day today nothing happened. I believe I'm getting lazy

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I dated and labeled a couple thousand previously scanned digital pictures today. Digital pics are great, a script pulls the date and prepends to the filename. Then i add location and info about the pic. The problem is the old photos. Ones taken with dates on pics are a little easier, but still have to manually put in the date. For older undated pics, i had them in albums by date already.
In the days of film i took 600 - 800 pics a yr. With digital its 2000 or so.

 

[Einthewoods]

Sunday night...almost midnight. Going to bed means Monday morning gets here along with the work week. I think I'll stay up a bit longer.

The dog (Brittany) had a great time tonight chasing two flying squirrels. They would jump (fly) from a tree to the bird feeders and then back. Drove the dog nuts for hours! Funny as heck to watch though.

Plans bouncing through my head about putting the crushed gravel down for the driveway this spring along with building the extension to the barn for a rabbit room, building the new trails through the property, etc.. So many projects, so little time and so long until spring gets here.

Traveling to Denver next weekend to work from the office at the company I work for during the week. I work from home 90% of the year. It'll be good to see some folks in person I only see 4 or so times year though talk to and see on video everyday....but dreadful to be back in a city for a week. I can already see the sea of stop lights and cars....and....and....people! I've gotten to used to living in the woods and only seeing folks if the neighbors stop by for a beer or the trip to Lowe's or TSC.

Looking at how much I just vented....me thinks I might have had more than a couple fingers of bourbon and should probably shut down for the night. LOL

Have a great night and morning everyone! With that I'll leave you with a winter pic of the homestead (truck in the way).

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Thanks guys for letting me empty my frustration with the system! Went out to the shop shortly after posting that this morning and was able to "release" some more of the tension. Then while watching the evening news... There's the story about the grandmom.. All came flooding back. Had a mandatory Captains meeting tonight at work... I wasn't the most pleasant one there for sure! Did find out some statistics from our last quarter of 2017: out of 32,000 calls, our service made 6 min response times 92%. Our patient satisfaction score was 96% 4th quarter and 94.5% for the whole year. I guess it was a good consolation prize. Then the bad stats: our service responded to 143,000 911 calls last year, 75% of all of our transports last year were Medicaid recipients... Just goes to show the govt. care plan and the type of patients we have to deal with on a frequent basis

Thank you guys for the kind words. I still have 3 days to chill, well 2-1/2 anyway, got to go to the dentist tomorrow morning for some work. Then I think I'm gonna come home, take out the tractor, and just dig a hole... For the fun of it!

DABSGT: thank you sir, for maintaining the high standards of care and training that you provide. I too started as a medic back in '79, went 10 years that time, got into firefighting for a short time. As jbrumberg said.. It's in the blood... Came back to EMS. Climbed the ladder and work as a front line field Captain now.
Gonna start thinking about a slow-motion exit strategy. Getting too old for some of this!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Gonna start thinking about a slow-motion exit strategy. Getting too old for some of this!

For me, it came down to location and money. Motivation was provided by a steady decline in the working environment; sounds like you're already there.

I put together a spreadsheet that had all my yearly and monthly expenses, then all my anticipated income after I pulled the plug. I wanted to exit the San Francisco metro area, so I also started getting estimates for what my current home would bring. From that I came up with a budget for both cost of living and what I could afford for to pay for the new property. I did all this about five years before I thought I could retire, and reviewed the cost of living and income projections every year. When the real estate bubble popped in '08, I really started looking hard at properties in the areas I was interested in. By '10, the market was starting to recover and when I saw a place that fit within the spreadsheet green zone, I was outta there, the only thing left behind was a trail of smoke.

Having that level of confidence in my financial future helped deal with a lot of stress at work, like having a get-out-of-jail-free card in Monopoly. Making big changes all at once like retiring and moving also caused a lot of stress, but nothing like what I was seeing at work. And here we are, eight years later, and, with the possible exception of insurance costs, the spreadsheet projections are still holding up well.

You are the captain of your ship. Understand what motivates you to make change, what things around you that you can change, and the array of futures that are at your beck and call. Then go out and chart a course to the life you want.:2cents: