Good morning!!!!

[kenmbz]

those are the widest 12 inch tires I've ever seen, but very happy to see they are Made In USA Carlisles. I had Carlisles front and rear on my JD garden tractor,
front ones made in China and wore halfway down after 600 hours, had to replace them, while rears (USA) still looked like new.
Those lug tires look like they will last forever.

Drew - Jay lives near where I spent part of my child hood in MA. We talked about mt Greylock and other places in the area. I hope he is ok - really great catching up with him on changes in the surrounding towns. Have not been up there since my son was born, he is 12 now...hope you can send him a note to see if he is ok.
The lugs are holding up well as I do spent some time on tarmac between work areas, but I only have <70 hours on the tractor.

 

[riptides]

Ugh....like toppop says a virtual dust bowl out there today mowing. What a difference a few weeks make. Grass is already browning out. Need to do the fence line and we are done for days. No measurable rain and the heat is on...at least 90 something. Hopped in the pool to get the dust off and chilling out now.

Hope all have a good holiday weekend. See you Monday.

Caught this guy spying on my wife this AM.

 

[txdon]

We have new laws in Texas today. ALL counties with more than 20 cases must wear face mask ($250 fine) and no gatherings larger than 10 people. I had to read the signed law to find out if I'm required to wear a mask walking Whipper. The answer is probably not. The gathering group restriction will really cancel a lot of July 4th parties.

Our city law was to go into effect tomorrow. At the Home Depot, before the governor's 2PM law, I saw only 2 people without a mask ( a mother and an adult daughter).

 

[Rich B1]

Well, after dreading changing the starter on my Triumph.....gotta say, the dread was worse than actually doing it. First project in a long time that went smooth and easy. Never dropped a tool, never dropped a screw or bolt, everything came apart, everything went back together. It was time consuming, and I definitely took my time.

Seemed at one point, half the bike was laid out in pieces.

New starter works awesome, especially when the engine is up to temperature. Old one was getting weak. Gonna take it apart to see if the brushes or bearings were failing. Both are known weak point in that starter. The new starter is an upgrade and was slightly larger that the original.

Took the bike for a test ride. Realized during the ride, I brought that bike home 8 years ago today.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 73F for the start, sunny, light wind. Wind light to moderate wind, partly cloudy sky, areas of rain just not here. High temp was 93F, feels like 107F. Went fishing this morning with stepdaughter's boy friend, we both got 10-12 fish about half were keeping size. Went to town, med run, flag pole for golf cart, groceries and haircut. No nap, so headed to bed early tonight
Covid update: Cooke unchanged, Montague unchanged, Grayson 594 confirmed cases, 34 active cases
Don hope your neighbors get well soon. The only good recovery is a day of A/C
Roy sorry to hear about the vertigo, do you carry meclizine with you?
Drew probably a good decision to stay put until chemo done, thanks for sending card.
K5lwq I don't understand happy to be in office
Billy glad you gly got to dry off, hope you get rain soon
Mike make sure the new toyhouse, err doghouse has heat and A/C
Ron great pic of bluebirds, hope you now have thistle under control.
RNG get 2 steps forward, take 1 back.
Rick hope the change over goes ok, must be nice to have A/C cab on tractor
Ken nice job on the spacers.
Ted hope get rain and are able to start on the R/C stuff.
PJ thanks for update.
RS Sounds like a lot still going on, hope you start getting better order fulfillment from HD
Roy, glad nothing serious
Dennis, nothing like close call to get you going. Good news on cat
David, no rain, what will your garden do?
Dennis that is one tall tree
Don is that active cases or total cases?
prayers for all, especially Drew and Jay and Country
stay safe and healthy you all.

 

[rswyan]

78F and clear @ 21:30, high hit 89F today ... granted, I wasn't out physically exerting myself in it, but it seemed very tolerable.

Blueberries watered - each plant with two watering cans worth of H2O - first can got 2 tbsp of vinegar and 2 scoops of what I think was MirAcid stuck in it. Think the can is 2 1/2 or 3 gallon ... so 5 or 6 gallons per plant. The small bird's nest on the third plant had been tipped over and the eggs were gone when I got out there this morning. Did discover that the green Rubbermaid container that I was going to use for the red worms is about 1/4 to 1/3 full of peat moss ... so I'll start incorporating that first thing tomorrow morning.

Shortly after my last post this morning I got an email for Home Depot saying that the second order was ready for pick up ... :thumbsup:

Called to see if the part for the Simplicity was in and the lady said no ... but there was still stuff from yesterday that they hadn't yet checked in, plus whatever comes in today. A short time later the phone rang and it was her calling back to say that the Scotch-Ply disc had arrived. Told her that I didn't know if I'd make down today but if not, I would be by tomorrow for sure. After thinking about the possibility that she might have gone to some extra effort to find it (after I pestered her ... ), I checked the time and headed off for Massillon to pick it up.

The plan was to head straight to the Kubota dealer after that ... but then realized that I failed to grab the two seal kits that I was going to return before I left, so had to swing back by the house before heading to Copley. Not a real big deal but probably added some time. Got the extra seals returned and the new seals picked up and replacements for the two damaged hard lines ordered and paid for. One is in Columbus, the other one is coming out of GA ... so probably a week.

After that went by the Depot and a very nice young man brought the orders out to the van. Had planned to swing by the county Hazardous Waste drop off before that, but then I remembered that Home Depot takes fluorescent bulbs for disposal so I skipped it and gave the bulbs to the young man at the Depot.

Once I got home got the new blade installed on the radial arm saw and cut all the kerfs on the inside of the front board for Northern Flicker nest box.

After that fired up the grill for some chili dogs ... and drilled and screwed front of the nest box onto it's sides.

Somewhere in there I snuck up to nest box no. 4 for a quick check on the bluebird hatchlings ... they were all hunkered down with their eyes closed ... there's at least four still in there ... maybe five. Hard to say for sure ... can't touch the nest and have to keep the inspections to a minute or less.

Hope to get the mealworm feeder put together tomorrow and set up.

All in all, it felt like a decent day ... even if most of the activity was just running around ... :laughing:

 

[rswyan]

Good evening all. 73F for the start, sunny, light wind. Wind light to moderate wind, partly cloudy sky, areas of rain just not here. High temp was 93F, feels like 107F. Went fishing this morning with stepdaughter's boy friend, we both got 10-12 fish about half were keeping size. ...

Sounds like fun ... :thumbsup:

White bass ?

RS Sounds like a lot still going on, hope you start getting better order fulfillment from HD

No real complaints today ... friendly, quick customer service from the young man who brought my order out to the van.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Yes, that’s the Way I like it.
View attachment 661690

Rip, yes it was Bendersville. Beautiful area.

Wngsprd, Pirates fan.

Brings back a lot of memories. Some really good tunes on there.
Doug Drabek grew up a few blocks from me.

I am a very happy camper for sure.
Got results of today's Pet Scan back, no spread of cancer at all, and affected area has shrunk/gone away by at least 75%.
Oncologist delighted, and so am I. Just might be around for awhile...
More chemo on Monday, bring it on.

HOORAY!!!! Drew, I'm really tired after a long day's work, but you just made my week. So glad to hear this. Now, about that bundt cake with some hacksaw blades...

I got a PM from Molalla1 .. earlier this evening. He went thru a tough back surgery, on 6/11 but .. is getting better.

Now .. where is Jay?

Glad to hear Molalla is getting better. I hope Jay's alright. If he got attacked by that bear, I'm coming bear hunting.

Finished brushhogging, just under 6 hours. Time for a nice shower and a cold one.

I need to spend another 4-6 hours on the tractor to finish our place (about 12 more acres).

Doctor's appointment went OK..
BP is low, so I'll be dropping one of the two meds I currently take..per the doc's instructions
Also, since I had all my remaining teeth pulled, I've lost 25 lbs. Just little appetite ...
Getting some blood work done as well...
So, went to work...

Hope you get the BP figured out. 25 lbs is back to fighting shape.

Well, after dreading changing the starter on my Triumph.....gotta say, the dread was worse than actually doing it. First project in a long time that went smooth and easy. Never dropped a tool, never dropped a screw or bolt, everything came apart, everything went back together. It was time consuming, and I definitely took my time.

Seemed at one point, half the bike was laid out in pieces.

New starter works awesome, especially when the engine is up to temperature. Old one was getting weak. Gonna take it apart to see if the brushes or bearings were failing. Both are known weak point in that starter. The new starter is an upgrade and was slightly larger that the original.

Took the bike for a test ride. Realized during the ride, I brought that bike home 8 years ago today.

Glad it went smoothly. I remember working at the bike shop when I was 16, and some guy brought in an old BSA to have the rear tire replaced while he waited. They stuck me with it. I had no idea. I just remember the rear axle and chain tensioner system was different than anything I'd ever seen. I remember struggling, and maybe a curse word or two. Sunny Beach.


PJ, glad you were able to miss the biker. It would've ruined both of youz days.

I got a lot done at work today. Along with my regular job, I had a side job. My friend brought me the MFWD front axle knuckles off of his Deere 3155 to recut the tapers for the tie rods. He had struggled with 2 different magnetic drills, 2 drill bits, and an annular cutter. They all kept burning up (high speed steel). I was able to awkwardly get it mounted and slightly shored up. I ended up using a smallish 1/4" bullnose endmill (carbide), to cut through all of his hard weld and work hardened material. I had to baby them. It took about 8 hours total of programming, setup, and running to get them done. I stayed late last night and tonight. Got them both done. They weigh probably close to 50 lbs each. He already took me and my wifey out to eat, to help grease the wheel. Sure helps having a CNC shop handy. He could have bought new ones aftermarket for about $1200. He had already spent days, and probably $500 trying to do them himself.

Also helped a guy do a maintenance on our 30 hp scroll compressor...but the new belt is squealing. It might be old stock. Will try some belt dressing. Unit has 112,000 hours on it....we did a major rebuild/overhaul on it at 57000 hours.....Now that we are at double that amount of hours, they might need to consider a new unit.

Came home, went to pick tomatoes....ARGGHHH.....something is eating them, almost all the ripe ones. I bet I threw 10 lbs into the compost pile. So frustrating. Some critter is going to get shot if I catch them in the act.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

PJ, sorry about your company slow on work. My buddy has a small shop, and he's having trouble staying busy, had to lay off 2 guys.

Some people are taking the layoff, and collecting state and federal pay out. In Texas it was near $1066/week combined if you qualified.

 

[txdon]

Don is that active cases or total cases?

To be exempt these three things must happen:

1. The county must have 20 or less active COVID-19 cases.

2. The county judge of a county with 20 or less active cases must submit an exemption form affirmatively opting out.

3. Counties approved for exemption from the GA-29 face-covering requirement will be listed below.

Executive Order GA-29 – TDEM


So far there are no exempt counties in Texas (July 2). There are probably100-200 counties that could file for the exemption. I counted 78 counties that have never had more than a total of 20 cases. I would keep checking the web site listed to see if your nearby counties have applied and have been approved for the exemption.