Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #104,971  
2020-01-14, 0330

31 right now...high in the mid-to upper 30's. Maybe some snow tonight (an inch or so). This has, so far, been a very mild winter for Vermont.

Drew, I'm really happy you're still with us!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,972  
Good morning
temp here is 4 °F and going to a high of 27. Wind E 11 mph. 40% chance of flurries. About an inch +/-.

I've got a town run today, D-I-L needs to see the vampire, then groceries and hardware store for more of Scotts shop towels.
When one gets 'caught short' and must do his/her business in the bush, those blue paper towels are much nicer to clean up with than regular paper towels. They are almost as soft as toilet paper. You just cannot run them through a septic system because they are designed too NOT breakup like TP.


Have a safe day all
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,973  
45 and raining, going to 57.

Ted, it always seems to me that the filters that are stuck the tightest are the ones located where it is hardest to get a good grip. Sounds like you deserved the treat afterwards.

Yesterday was the day that state government designated as visit (lobby) your state senator and delegate. Never done it before, but my wife and I felt strongly about an issue being heard in our legislature, so we drove down to Richmond and joined the crowds. Great turnout for those supporting our issue, and we talked with a number of people, including a farmer that lives 3 houses down from us (a little over a mile away). Our senator and delegate were on our side and turns out I know the delegate's chief of staff's dad and brother. We sat in one of the hearing rooms and listened to the committee hearing. Then met the mayor and walked around the city to some of the historic sites and had a great lunch. Never saw so many law enforcement officers in one square mile before...never felt safer.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,975  
Poured first cup of coffee. 33° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 43° with a slight chance of sun in PM. Bird feeders should thaw out today. Need to get some shop time. My bench is getting cluttered with incomplete projects. Need a trip to Sam's Club, Menards and HF first.

Drew, glad it was something easily fixed. Sure wish there was a way to check if you are hydrated at home.

Looking, Quote of the Day. Get????

LS, had to check if there is a 20" channel locks. There is. I have couple of the 16". Glad you got filter off.

Mostly, damp road. Wet bottom.

Wngsprd, get out the vote!!!

Good Morning All.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,976  
Neighbor came over yesterday to saw up some fallen widow maker branches for his firepit. I could tell by the time/sound/struggling that his chain was dull. New Stihl MS171. But since he's recently transplanted from up north, his tools are still up north. I loaned him my old trusty Deere CS-40 (Efco). The chain on it was about 90% sharp, but it still impressed his wife and kids how fast it went through the wood. I used my round file to sharpen his chain, but the consumer safety chains have such a bump in front of the cutting edge tooth, they hardly cut IMO. I told him he needed to grind them down a small amount.

Kyle, if that is a "Pico" chain, I grind it down slightly below the recommended level too. Flush with the top of the Stihl profile gauge doesn't seem quite low enough for decent sized chips. One thing to consider though is the type of wood being cut, you can take it down quite a bit if only cutting small diameter soft woods, but not so much with hard woods or that little MS171 will soon run out of torque.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,978  
Good morning all. I am enjoying a late breakfast and a warm up after a bit of a soaking outside. Can't complain, the rain started just when the forecasters said, things just took longer than expected.

I was too late getting onto tbn to realise you had ever been missing Drew - still, it's great to hear it wasn't permanent !

Wng, I don't have you down as a raving political activist, so that meeting in Richmond must have been something you felt strongly about. It must have felt good to see there were so many like minded people.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,979  
Anything that kills the moles quickly is humane.

That's my thinking too, yet working out which traps do that is not that easy. In this country most spring traps have to be certified, which involves passing tests that prove the trap kills quickly. For some reason moles missed out on that legislation, allowing a lot of poor quality traps to be sold. Maybe this was because up until 2006, most moles were killed with poison by professional mole catchers. They placed worms dipped in strychnine into the runs. Curiously, it had been determined that the painful symptoms exhibited by most animals that die of strychnine poisoning did not apply to moles.

It is said that it is easy to kill moles by placing marshmallows in their runs, however causing the death of a wild animal by asphyxiation is illegal - I'm not sure how humane it is either.

Traps have once again become the main method of removal in the UK. Many have found the quality of cheap traps from the far east to leave much to be desired, a mix of poor design (or poor copy of someone else's design), inconsistent manufacture, inadequate springs and inferior galvanising are common.

My original Talpex, bought over 7 years ago, have no signs of rust and operate as good as new. The handful I bought recently cost only 6 pounds each, which seems a very fair price for the real thing. This particular trap is well suited to my light soil. Yesterday I had 8 traps out (I try and set 2 per expected mole), which had caught 4 moles by this morning. The buzzards are about to tuck into an easy lunch.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #104,980  
Good Morning!!!! 45F @ 4:00AM. Sun and clouds mixed. High 54F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.
Not much rain overnight, but the wind was sure makin' a racket with 40 MPH gusts. Be interesting to see what ended up where outside once it gets light.

Good to hear that the people of Virginia are standing up for their rights, Wng!

I've never been able to make any sense out of the Stihl profile gauge, even after reading the instructions that come with one of their chains...

Those are giant channel locks, Ted! Once I had to drive a Philips screwdriver through an oil filter to use as a lever to get it off. What a mess!:eek:

Why not just carry a small roll of toilet paper in a zip lock baggie on trips, Bill? Learned that lesson the hard way, but it's saved my a** a few times since.:laughing:

The environmental services lady relented on her boss's suggestion for the electrical trench routing yesterday, and it was a huge relief. Amazing how stupid people rise to the level of their incompetence, and unfortunate the impact that can have. Got the order for the solar panel support grid hardware placed, but then discovered I'd left off a part, so I'll be on the phone with the outfit again today. Tried to get them locally, but apparently business is so good at the place I called they don't need mine. Would have saved me $400 on shipping, but probably wouldn't have been able to match the online price on the hardware.:muttering:

Made an appointment with a new ophthalmologist recommended by my internist. Hopefully this one'll have some ideas to deal with my wonky tearing issue.

Got the idle air control valve on order, and also tried to order a new power steering pump. The one on the van now has howled since day one and ex-mechanic refused to do anything about it, saying "they all do that". Learned that Subaru no longer makes 'em, so took the parts guy's advise and got one from AutoZone, who offer a lifetime warranty. Sounds like I'm gonna get good at changing 'em.:shocked:

Not sure what I'll get into today...
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

16ft T/A Flatbed Equipment Trailer (A50323)
16ft T/A Flatbed...
1980 AM General M35A 2.5 Ton 6x6 Cargo Truck (A50323)
1980 AM General...
2006 John Deere 650J LGP Crawler Tractor Dozer (A50322)
2006 John Deere...
John Deere 850 Tractor (AS IS) (A50774)
John Deere 850...
2016 Big Tex 24ft. T/A Flatbed Trailer (A50322)
2016 Big Tex 24ft...
1985 AM General M35A2C 2.5 Ton 6x6 Fire Rescue Truck (A50323)
1985 AM General...
 
Top