Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

67F and cloudy @ 06:30. High today expected to 85F, with a 20% chance of isolated thunderstorms this afternoon.

Ran out to hardware store yesterday afternoon and picked up a small tube of blue Loctite Threadlocker. Hardware store owner was there, which I always sort of dread. He seems like a very nice guy (always very willing to be helpful) but I find his demeanor a little irritating, in that he always wants to "chat up" everyone who comes in. I'm not generally looking to flap my gums with store personnel of places I patronize (especially now) - usually it's more like I'm on a mission, get what I came for and get back to whatever I was doing. With the way he goes at it, he could end up being a super-spreader. To his credit however he and the rest of the store were all wearing masks.

After that I came back and got the remaining capscrews coated with threadlocker and the jaw installed on the other half of the vice. I did notice there still seemed to be something a little funky on that last side: even after I had the screws tightened up, there to be the slightest movement or flex in that jaw. Dunno what could be causing that, I cleaned up ways on both halves where the jaws set with a fine file - just to be sure they would seat properly. But since I had already applied the threadlocker, I went ahead and let it go. If it ends being an issue it may have to be redone. I won't use the vise until at least tonight to allow the thread locker to fully cure.

By the time that was done it was too late to make it to the gas store, so that's likely on the list for today.

Think I mentioned that I haven't been seeing any hummingbirds at the feeder. There have been two exceptions: a couple of days ago I walked out the front door to the feeder and had one come down from out of nowhere to within about foot of my right ear. The buzzing of its wings was fairly impressive ... Then yesterday when I was walking out to the van, one zoomed off away from the feeder to up around the tv antenna on the roof. Need to change out the juice today as it's overdue ... will be interesting to see if I get buzzed again.

Thomas - had similar issue here ... I think it was this past fall ... with the van which hadn't been driven in a while. Fired it up and turn on the heater and fan and wee-ooo ... Turned out a couple of mice had crawled up into the fresh air intake and set up housekeeping in the fan wheel on the blower motor and then expired at some point. Nasty. Hope cigar was not mouse-flavored ... :thumbsup:

MG - nope no storm damage here and yes, I was able to get the other vise half securely clamped to the welding table so that I could drill it. Had to use a piece of 3/8 plate to block one end of it up to get it level, but it worked out fine. Just used a C clamp. Was actually kind of surprised it worked as well as it did (the part I was clamping on is kind of rounded)

On the machinery safety issue from a while back, yes thanks. I don't wear any jewelry (and don't have any tats or piercings for that matter) or a watch, keep my hair short, and am usually not inclined to wear long-sleeve shirts while working (up in the shop in cold weather, or while welding might be an exception though) There was a PDF (with pictures) I think that someone linked on TBN quite a while back of farm machinery accident investigations which I have seen. It was pretty ugly. Machinery can be pretty unforgiving.

Hope you can track down that squeak on the reel and get it properly lubed up ... :thumbsup:

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe day.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning! 66 now, supposed to get to 83 or so later.

Got very humid here yesterday before the storms came through. Was doing some outside work on my 吐urlough day. Shirt was soaked in sweat, then the skies opened up. Was hustling to get a trailer of wood covered, just made it.

Hauled the first load of wood in yesterday from a local farm. They have had a number of wild cherry and ash trees come down. Called and asked if I was interested in 1 trailer full....you don稚 have to ask me twice for free wood. Showed up yesterday morning, about half of it is already split, and they ended up giving me all of it, since the other people they called acted like they weren稚 sure. Also got some free plastic pallets to stack it on. I am guessing there is at least 2 1/2 cords there, maybe a bit more.

Condolences buppies

Get well soon Drew

Everyone stay safe out there

 

[lostcreekranch]

Yes to all the prayers. Condolences for your cousin. 63 is too young.



Drew, hope you can get a straight answer. Are they concerned for your well being if they let you out?



Rick or Don, how can I get my hands on some old fire hose? I need some 2", what do the departments do with it? No big deal if I can't find it. I just need to hook up some 2" discharge hose to my septic so I can work on it.


P.U. dead mice....what a nuisance. Glad you figured it out.

“Rick or Don, how can I get my hands on some old fire hose? “

Check with your local VFD Kyle. We’re a pretty small VFD so .. don’t cycle out hose often but, seems one of the members always has a use for it.

Last we cycled out .. was some 2 1/2” off our brush fire truck. One of the guys had access to a motorized fabric cutter and we cut it into 12” and 18” sections to use as protection sleeves on all our 2” ratchet straps. They really help when your strapping around sharp metal edges. I think every member got several of both sizes.

You can buy “used” fire hose on the Internet but it’s not cheap. Look at Tractor Supply if you don’t want to wait.

Eagleflo Blue PVC Discharge Hose Assembly, 2 in. x 25 ft., Coupled Male x Female (CXE) Camlock, 8 PSI , -4 deg. F to 15 deg. F at Tractor Supply Co.

 

[txdon]

Don, do not know who to believe anymore.

Easy - look at the studies, the data, if it's a better than study, and the published possibilities of conflict of interest. For example the headline says "butter is now good for you" but the study was by the butter company and the study compared butter to poison. Just don't read the headline and believe it just because you want it to be correct. In the covid case the data of the study was not provided on the headline and the many other flaws - in other words a flat out lie. What would be the motivation?

Kyle the Houston Fire department replaces their 2" hose occasionally and they sell it in a city auction after they cut off the couplings (Liability of pressure in an outdated hose.) I would just use the 2" blue discharge hose from Home Depot.

I had a welfare call to check on me yesterday when the head of maintenance noticed the barn door open and the tractor gone at 3:00 p.m. in the heat. We had a lady get heat exhaustion in the garden last week in the afternoon. I told him my arch rival was probably was using it as I had it in the cool morning hours. Later I had to drive by to make sure it did not wanter off and forgot to come home, all was OK.

I need to dig into the chainsaw today and get the parts ordered.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 71F @ 5:00AM. Sunny to partly cloudy. High near 90F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph.

RS, are you sure the screws on that loose side aren't bottoming out in their holes?

Gosh, Billy, I feel like we led parallel lives yesterday. Spent the morning sleuthing around the installed solar equipment, documenting and photographing, and by the time I started on the little backpack spray mission, it was noon and 90F. Sound familiar? It had been a while since I'd used the sprayer, so I put a gallon of water in it and pumped it a few times; worked fine. Added the RM43 and another gallon of water, but when I went to put it on, the shoulder strap broke. Glad nothing else broke when it landed on the concrete driveway. Took the strap off, found some webbing the same width, and repaired it on the sewing machine, then did the same thing to the other strap. Walked around the house and pad where I store the implements, zapping weeds, actually kinda fun, but a little on the warm side. I'd just finished when a FedEx truck came down the driveway with the the new MacBook Pro. Driver hands me the box, doesn't collect a signature, then proceeds to try to drive across the gravel pad and down the back of the house. I holler at him to stop, and tell him he'd get stuck back there if he tried it because that first turn is very steep, covered in deep gravel, and is too sharp to make without backing up, which you can't do because of the gravel and the hill. I guided his backwards progress and sent him on his way, but sheesh, I wonder where else he'll get stuck?

Came inside and ate some lunch, unboxed the MBP, and used the Migration Assistant app on the old one and the new one to move my data over. By then it was 95F out and I had no desire to be outside again, so did some online shopping and a little puttering to finish out the afternoon.

On the power system front, I learned that 12 gauge stranded wire strung to 100' won't even support a 15 amp circuit, let alone 20 amps, so that wire run needs to be replaced, too. The 110 VAC leads are in the same conduit as the signal leads, so it needed to move anyway. They don't need to come out, as they could provide additional signal leads in the future. But they're black, one more signal lead in there is black, and the other signal lead is red, a color usually reserved for power.:confused3: And of course, none of them are labeled. In fact, there are no labels anywhere, so that's also on the new punch list I started.

The fella that augered the solar rack holes came over to drop off a new trailer axle hub he needed me to make a spacer for, and we had a nice catch up chat while sharing a couple beers. It was shaping up to be a nice evening, and we both enjoyed the time.

I'm up early to use the "open data" window of the satellite plan to update the OS on the new laptop, but thought I'd back it up first. Started that around 3:30AM, but the new security features in the new OS wouldn't allow the external HD to connect. Worked around that, got the backup done, and now need to hit the go button on the OS update. Then a little more shuteye, me thinks.

TGIF, Gang!:drink:

 

[wngsprd]

Ron, I think it is a house wren...good pic...it may nest there, or be hunting for spiders to eat. Our Carolina wrens have brought their "babies" to our porch azaleas yesterday and today.

 

[wngsprd]

RNG, I also test my sprayer with plain water. I only spray with gly at 2 to 2.5%...have never had a problem killing any "bad" plants.

RS, glad your hummers are back. When I took mine back outside this morning, I had one land and start feeding while I was walking it over to the hook. I stopped and slowly raised it up to my face so the hummingbird was only about 15 inches away while it gulped and gulped. How do they get so much liquid into so little of a body?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 56, going for 98 today.... way too hot. The weekend forecast calls for 98 both days, but wind advisories have been posted. Blast furnace? ? . At least this is bringing in a cold front and temps will be dropping into the high 70s to low 80s all next week.

Ron, no pics of the painting... yet. I am going to take some this morning before we get started.

We have had only a few hummingbirds coming to the feeder this year, seldom at best. Maybe see one every other day. Last year, there were a bunch swarming around all day long. Wonder what changed?

David, nice garden area, good size! We did one that big years ago, set up rows and rows of drip irrigation. It was doing fantastic, a few days before big harvesting..... then a bad hail storm obliterated it all. Looked like someone took a weedwacker to it! Nothing was left. We never did a big garden since.

RNG, I hope you can get the installer onto the same page as to what you are expecting. Are those guys employees or is the crew a subcontractor? Seems like they are the latter, being paid a flat rate, resulting in just throwing a bunch of stuff together. Then let the next guy fix it.... hopefully it will get straightened out soon.

RS, hope the vice fix worked.

Drew, we are all hoping to hear some good news....

I am done with first cup of coffee... not even going to have a second one... getting warm outside already!
Everyone have a great day and start to the weekend!

 

[kenmbz]

Good morning 72 going to 81 , calling for 1.5" of rain later today with lots of Lightning.
Power is back on, but who knows for how long. Stopped generator yesterday to do an oil change, and during the oil change the power came back on!

Found the Doe that I see everyday is now sleeping under a bush by my front door, she does not seem to be scared of anything. Wonder if it's the same doe that was sleeping under my back stair when is was just losing it's spots?

Stay Safe and be well

 

[rswyan]

... RS, are you sure the screws on that loose side aren't bottoming out in their holes?

Good point ... :thumbsup:

No, I'm not.

They shouldn't be ... but I wasn't using the depth stop on the press when I drilled the holes and cleaned up the countersinks in the jaws so it is possible I guess.

... I'd just finished when a FedEx truck came down the driveway with the the new MacBook Pro. Driver hands me the box, doesn't collect a signature, then proceeds to try to drive across the gravel pad and down the back of the house. I holler at him to stop, and tell him he'd get stuck back there if he tried it because that first turn is very steep, covered in deep gravel, and is too sharp to make without backing up, which you can't do because of the gravel and the hill. I guided his backwards progress and sent him on his way, but sheesh, I wonder where else he'll get stuck?

That's why they don't want them going down driveways.

Obviously that's not workable everywhere ...