Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 68F @ 6:00AM. Partly cloudy. Areas of smoke and haze are possible, reducing visibility at times. High near 95F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.

You're very good with that camera, Ted. Thanks for sharing the photos. Any fires as a result of the lightning strikes?

Looks like you're acclimating well to your new neighborhood, Don.:thumbsup:

We never had an old wall phone like that, but did have a party line with the rotary dial phone. I think I still have that phone somewhere in a box (you know, just in case).:laughing:

Very busy day yesterday. My buddy wanted an early start for his ride home, so we were up at 5:30 and he was gone by 6:30. Said the smoke on the way was so heavy he had to stop and wrap a wet handkerchief around his face to breathe. He went right by the southern border of the River Fire, one of the two Mendocino Complex fires burning to the southeast of here, and the source of our overcast skies. We've had ash raining down from it on and off here; very surprising since it's almost 100 miles away. Got some things cleaned up and put away and did a few little jobs on the old BMW before another buddy showed up with some Trail 90 parts he wanted to clean. While we were standing by the parts washer the phone rang and it was my friend with the motorcycle shop in Chico calling, asking to use the GTA welder as he'd just run out of shielding gas. Turns out he was working with a young customer of his to build a custom set of exhaust headers, and it was the 23 year old that would be doing the welding. So while Dan was washing parts on the back porch, Chris and I continued to work on my old BMW, while Dustin welded on the header, and Rebecca, Chris's wife, made photographs of us with her new-to-her Hasselblad camera and digital back. it felt like a mini tech day.:confused2: We got the the new timing gear back on the crank OK, but it took Rebecca's tiny fingers to get the master link back into the cam chain. I managed it once, but it had to come back out when we couldn't get the plunger back into the chain tensioner with the chain in the way. Helped Dan use the tire machine to remove two ancient tires from the Honda wheels, then Justin finished up, and just as quickly as they'd all come, I was on my own again and thinking about taking a nap!: So I did. laughing: Enjoyed a light dinner and caught a program on the 2015 Valley Fire that flashed through the Clear Lake area where the Mendocino Complex Fire is burning now. The focus seemed to be on how first responders had to risk life and limb to evacuate people that either missed or ignored the evacuation warnings; some real hair raising stories.

Hope everyone's week gets off to a great start!

 

[hawkeye08]

Air is mostly clear this morning, with just a little haze. Was heavy smoke over the weekend as the winds changed and moved smoke in again. We drew names for Christmas (adults) when camping. My wife wanted me to help her find a serger for the name she got (I use app for CL that has alerts). A new ad showed up Friday morning, I asked her if she was interested, she was, called lady, scheduled appt (couple hour drive) and went to look at it. It was not set up, but my wife brought her bag with threads, fabric, etc. She tried the machine, it promptly broke a needle. She replaced needle, it was still hitting on plate. She looked at me and said she was not interested and that it would need $100 service and perhaps parts (which are hard to find since it is old unit). I offered the seller $25 with me taking risk of whether it was repairable or not. She thought about it, and took my offer.

When the girls went to an event at church Friday night, I got the serger out and had a look. After studying the manual and setup, determined that the needles were in the wrong spots (there are 3 front needle positions, 2 rear needle positions, needle position is determined by which stitch you are going to sew. You only use one or two needles at a time). When the wife got home, asked her to bring her bag in from car (forgot to bring it in before she left). She threaded it and tried it, it did not break needles, but did not stitch either. It took several attempts to get the threading right (order is important). It will use up to 5 threads and does both overlock and coverlock. It was a deluxe machine in its day. Works great, put away for Christmas. Now if I can find a for the name I drew.

I bought AMP Research electric steps for wife's Tahoe a few weeks ago, put them on this weekend. It went well except for me forgetting things when putting door panel on passenger side back on. Steps are awesome, makes it much easier to get in and out.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

LS, neat pics.

 

[sodamo]

71°F and only .14 inches rain.
Just maybe get a bit of mowing in later.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[PJSprog]

72°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 96° today. Last day of our current mini heatwave, then back into the 80s for the rest of the week.

Hope you avoid the serious parts of Hector, David.

Hawkeye08, you're a much braver man than I am. I have watched my Wife thread her serger twice, and I felt like I was going cross-eyed both times. What a crazy machine. The Rube Goldbergs of the sewing world.

Got a lot done over the weekend, and paying for it today with nagging back pain. Got the Husqy rider started, but still haven't found the loose connection at the starter switch. Sprayed the connections with a little Ballistol and used insertion friction to clean them (used the vulgar term with the Wife, who giggled at me). Some jiggling of the wire harness until I hear the power click on got it started, and I got most of the yard cut. Dragged the rotary cutter around the pasture yesterday morning before it got too hot. Lots more swooping barn swallows than normal. Still haven't gotten the trees trimmed along the pasture fence lines. Maybe next weekend. Helped the electrician get the power line to the barn tightened and reattached at the well house side Saturday morning. Will need to get the power company out to put in a second pole on the barn side, though. Still too low back there by the chicken coop, and that looks like the best fix.

 

[toppop52]

Sergers are part skill, part magic. I have an old Merrow serger from the 40’s. Threading the upper and lower loopers is tricky business. You can get it wrong and it will sew a regular stitch but won’t serge, or it might not sew at all. I do love it though.

I was mowing and ran low on fuel, none in the cans, so I ate lunch and was going to get gas and a severe storm has hit. I got 10 minutes of mowing left!

88°, feels like 97° just before the storm.
This storm popped up from nowhere.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Sergers are part skill, part magic. I have an old Merrow serger from the 40’s. Threading the upper and lower loopers is tricky business. You can get it wrong and it will sew a regular stitch but won’t serge, or it might not sew at all. I do love it though.

I was mowing and ran low on fuel, none in the cans, so I ate lunch and was going to get gas and a severe storm has hit. I got 10 minutes of mowing left!

88°, feels like 97° just before the storm.
This storm popped up from nowhere.

I was supposed to get gas for mowers last night and forgot.

Widely scattered pop up storms today.

 

[hawkeye08]

Sergers are part skill, part magic. I have an old Merrow serger from the 40’s. Threading the upper and lower loopers is tricky business. You can get it wrong and it will sew a regular stitch but won’t serge, or it might not sew at all. I do love it though.

I was mowing and ran low on fuel, none in the cans, so I ate lunch and was going to get gas and a severe storm has hit. I got 10 minutes of mowing left!

88°, feels like 97° just before the storm.
This storm popped up from nowhere.

I have trouble with colors some and trying to follow the color diagrams was difficult at best. My wife can figure out the serger threading but sometimes it is nice to have a second pair of eyes having a look. The manual indicates in several places, if it doesn't sew correctly, rethread the machine. When learning to thread, it is best to load contrasting threads to get it down (of course you will likely have mostly the same color threads when actually sewing).

Before our serger adventure, I did get the lawn mowed. It looks much better even when leaving it high to handle the hot weather better.

 

[Ed of all trades]

Got the lawn mowed this afternoon. Even after 1:00 the grass was very wet. NWS says dew point is 65 but I have to wonder. Taking it easy now, looking on line for a metal lathe. Not found the right one yet. Found some I would love to have but to far away.

Don, sounds like you got your heart workout today. Glad it turned out well.

Have a great afternoon. Ed

 

[PJSprog]

Sergers are part skill, part magic.

Best description I've ever read.