Good morning!!!!

[daugen]

good morning all.
A little warmer today, 37 going up to mid 40's with some possible snow flurries this morning from a small system working its
way through here later this morning.

headed back to local orchard this morning, hope they still have some apples left. Bought some organic gala apples at Giant
and they were awful, pulpy, brown inside, etc. I try to eat an apple a day for dessert and what I bought at store barely qualifies as a pie apple.

Ron, hope your heater gets fixed today.

 

[RoyJackson]

2020-12-30, 0513

13 right now...high in the lower 30's today...
Wifey and step daughter made the store run...I just paid for it...
My chores today...dump run, no doubt...assuming it's open so I need to check the schedule.

I'd like to do something with the tractor...just can't think of any chores and I hate just starting and letting it idle (1500 RPM)...****, must be getting bored!
Writing about the tractor, my neighbor sent me a listing (Facebook, I think) for a used hydraulic front (loader mounted) snow blower. I contacted the seller who wasn't very responsive...out of curiosity, I looked at the manufacturer's (Quick Attach) website...expected pricing for a 72" blower and hydraulic power pack...about 13K (+/- 500). The manufacturer's sales guy called me...looks like the package is on sale for $10K. Technically, the sale ends 01 January, but the sales guy told me the sale would probably go on through January and maybe February (guess Quick Attach had a bad year in 2020). Of course, the way Minnesota and soon, Wisconsin, is getting hit with blizzard conditions...surprised those snow blowers aren't flying of the shelves. I told the sales guy to contact me (phone, but preferably e-mail) in January. It'd be nice snow blowing driving forward rather then in reverse. My 3PH blower, a Frontier (Deere brand), has been an outstanding implement these last 5 years and it's paid for... Well, something I'll think about come the New Year. Nice thinking about it though...

 

[Eric Salop]

Good morning, a smattering of wet snow on ice is making it tricky to cross over the concrete parts of our yard. I am thankful that most of our hard surfacing is gravel, higher maintenance but at times like this, much less of a potential bone breaker. Pandemic or otherwise, fields always seem a lot safer place to be than city streets when the weather is like this.

One of today's new years eve kit drop offs was a friend who is a nurse working most nights in Covid ward.
She told us numbers are going down, finally.

, Covid numbers have dropped to numbers that were being reported before Thanksgiving here. Still over 2.5K per day But not 8 and 9K.

Ron, Ken, that is very encouraging, it suggests most people must be doing a good job of keeping well away from one another.

Another vaccine got approval in the UK this morning and will start to be used next week. This is the one developed by AstraZenica/Oxford University which does not need to be kept at such low temperatures. They have also approved an increase to 12 weeks between receiving the first and second dose. Initial immunity comes 2 weeks after the first jab, this extra delay maximises the rate at which it can be rolled out before receiving the 2nd jab which is needed for longer term immunity. I understand the American government has also pre-ordered a large supply of this one at just $4 per dose.

 

[ronjhall]

No coffee this morning. 28° with light snow this morning. Heading to 41° more snow then rain. Got 2" of snow overnight. Shoveled walkways.Dr appointment this morning. No plans for rest of the day.
Hard for a redheaded bird to hide from the camera.

Drew, furnace is on order I think. My wood stove that has gas logs in it has been doing the major portion of house heating for over 2 weeks now. I can make furnace run by manually telling furnace that a flame has be detected. Kind of like keeping a wood stove running without having to carry any wood. I can wait awhile to get new furnace. I want a new furnace with all the features that were on old furnace. Warranty company is paying the bill.

Roy & David, Sassy is a lap/bed dog. More like wherever I am at she is there. Never had a dog large enough to take up a whole portion of the bed.

Eric, todays news says 71k have been vaccinated in Michigan. There is a long way to go to get to 10 million in the state.

Roy, front snow blower dreaming. :thumbsup:

Randy, flag back up. :thumbsup:

Everyone stay safe and healthy.

Good Morning All.

 

[Buppies]

25 high of 46 today still working on parking lot

Prayers for all

 

[RoyJackson]

Thought you folks (especially, Canadians, and folks in the upper Mid-West) might get a kick out of this...

 

[wngsprd]

23F going to 47.

Roy, always interesting to watch how the world looked and worked decades ago.

Don, I replaced the heating element in our dryer about a year ago, $22 part, and was tempted to replace the moisture sensor while I had it all apart, but was too cheap. YouTube helped a lot. Good luck with yours.

Worked on the house siding some more yesterday, and brought in some cherry wood to burn in the woodstove...my wife commented on the aroma when she got home.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
It’s 24, headed to 40, snow showers, the mostly clear by 10am.

Emily likes to get up on the bed, when she first gets up, she will literally lie on my chest for me to scratch her head. But once she has had enough she will move to the foot of the bed. If you encroach on her space, she will get up and sleep on the floor.
In the morning, as soon as one of us vacates the bed for any reason, she hops back up. And she is not a small dog.


Yesterday, I did make progress on the speaker, all that’s left to do is the testing and to install the corners and grill. Then I’ve got to pack it up for the trip to Quebec.
I actually did some shop cleanup as well. I got the lane cleaned up, but didn’t make it to the windsock. So it was a generally productive day.

 

[Looking4new]

Good morning, the temperature is 19°F and going up to 32. Wind SE 11 mph. Snow! Another 6" or so coming.

Thanks for the video Roy, other than the snow clearing I do for myself, I have always worked for private contractors. The 401 East of Toronto, the 400 North of Toronto, two City of Toronto yards/camps and York Region, North of Toronto. We call them 'sand camps', there are guys that live right in the camp (that would be me and 8 other guys) and then there are guys that are called in. When the snow starts to stick on the roads, the salters go out first and shake salt for one or two rounds. Then the plows go out, but we didn't have truck mounted snow blowers. I have plowed with tandem drive trucks and on city streets with a grader. I much prefer the grader.
Snow removal was always a treat to me. I had a sidewalk plow, a 450 John Deere dozer with street pads and push it off the sidewalk. A following grader (on the street) would pull it away from the curb and into a windrow. A second grader would push the first ones windrow back into the lane and a huge snow melter would come along, scoop it up and melt it and down the storm drains it would go.
Torontos' snow melter went to buffalo on a couple of occasions to bail them out from a big dump. As far as I know, Toronto never got paid for that.

Today is an energy conservation day.


Have a safe day all

 

[daugen]

Nice speaker Paul. Big voice coils, what will the bass go down to +/- 2db?
Does the speaker have an orientation, like voice? percussion? bass?
What ohms does the amplifier see?
Cone material?
I started reading Stereo Review and HiFi 50 years ago, it's been fun watching
the industry change, yet much remains the same in speakers. Amplifier
and switching electronics now have so many acronyms
used to market their design, so much of which I think is overkill since the speakers have more
of an impact on what you hear.

Which is why a 300 dollar pair of headphones has amazing sound, 1/10 the cost of comparable speakers.

 

[Thomas]

Roy.
"I'd like to do something with the tractor...just can't think of any chores and I hate just starting and letting it idle"

Same here...either the ground to icy or soft and no need to make extra work repairing come mid spring. :confused3:

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 48F @ 4:00AM. A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 57F. Winds SSE at 5 to 10 mph.
Chance of a rain shower tonight, then rain starting Sunday through the rest of the 10-day. Looks like David is turning on the Pineapple Express for us.:thumbsup:

Thanks for the info, Paul. I'm gonna look into the 5606 hydraulic fluid and paint. Very handsome speaker; wish I could hear it in person. I was able to speak to a nice gal at the Kaiser Tool Company that fixed me up with a few ThinBits in D2 carbide that matched the HSS version I had on hand. I do have a tool post grinder for the lathe, so thanks for the Plan B option. The HSS bit did cut at the very end of the shaft, Bruce, but not at all where the groove needs to be. Not quite sure what that means, and no way BMW is telling anyone what their stuff is made from. I've read accounts where other folks successfully cut the groove with "carbide" cutters, though.

Last bag of apples I got, Drew, were Red Delicious, but had the same problem as yours. Two were even rotten. I usually buy Fujis, and pick them individually, but was in a hurry to get out of there. I'll spare a few extra seconds this week and do the job right.

Glad you're staying warm and getting it your way with the warranty, Ron.

Nice to hear some good news on the Covid vaccine. Thanks for sharing, Eric. The infection rate is down slightly this week here, but the southern part of California is running out of ICU beds and supplies.

I'm on the second set of hammers for my flail, too, David. Rocks are pretty hard on 'em.

Got word yesterday that my local BMW motorcycle shop is only open by appointment this week. Hope the closure is not Covid related. Next closest shop is in Reno, NV, and has a web store. They ship for free and don't charge sales tax for out of state purchases, so I ordered the seals and gaskets for the transmission rebuild from them yesterday. I'll probably be using them more in the future since the local dealer isn't stocking parts for my older bikes like they used to.

Found an ad on Facebook for a new Clark pallet jack, priced lower than what most folks want for a used one of unknown pedigree. The outfit selling them is also in Reno, but I've asked for a quote including shipping to save me a trip over the hill.

Did a little puttering in the garage yesterday, taking care of a couple small jobs and doing some clean up. Got most of another pallet hoop welded up, but need more of the bolts that attach it before I can finish.

Headed into town early for some blood work, then find a takeout breakfast before running some errands. Be nice to finish up with the pair of pallet hoops I'm working on this afternoon after I return.

Happy Hump Day, folks!

 

[Thomas]

12F clear sky 30 for high.full with what little snow we have lite the area well critters could be seen coming going even in the woods.

Outside chores done E muffin time. :licking:
Plans for today...town couple stops for critter food,fill Mrs. kindling bin,try check out area of game activity just take the rest of the day as it comes.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning! 28 as I sip on a cup of coffee, 46 and rain later.

Coffee still doesn稚 taste right, but better than it did taste, which was a bit tough. Forced it down for the caffeine. :laughing: This morning while I was making a cup, I could faintly smell the coffee. Smells like it tastes, but I will take the progress.

First day on my own. Wife took vacation as soon as I called her I was released to stay home to be my nurse. She went back to work today. I am largely self sufficient now, even though I still may be a bit slow. Made 2 separate trips out to the garage yesterday! That was huge progress in moving about. Going to force myself to do it again today. Lungs must be healing, the cold air didn稚 bother them like last week.

She wants to go out to dinner this weekend. I have a lot of trepidation about it, but she deserves it after what she has been through. Gonna compromise and go early before there is any crowd.

Everyone stay safe out there!

 

[daugen]

I have plowed with tandem drive trucks and on city streets with a grader.

There are a number of Mack sponsored videos on YouTube about not only their historic truck
trip to the radar stations of the original DEW Line, but also today's Granite dump trucks running front and side plows
over Alaska passes that can get five feet of snow in a day.

Differential GPS in trucks so you know exactly where you are
in whiteout conditions. Accurate to within two inches. Of course, if you can't see due to the weather, what is to stop you from running
into the back of something already in the road, like a stopped semi. So unless one has navigation electronics like planes and boats do,
at least Level 3 self driving, how can you operate any moving machinery when you can't see where you are going?
I think of you Bill when I watch them, thinking you'd be mighty comfy in the cab of that new Mack.

In fresh deep snow hard to see where the road goes, concrete abutments hiding under those big white mounds. Hitting one of those would truly ruin your day.
But if your truck's navigation was set one foot away from all solid/damageable objects, and it actually worked, down go the damage claims.
Focus On Alaska DOT's Granite Snowplow - YouTube
Plowing Roads in a New Mack Truck - YouTube
Arctic Convoy With Giant Mack Trucks - YouTube

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 65˚F raining. .03" so far. The rain saved a few cedars today, the chainsaw gang is hibernating. Cooler temps tonight as a cold front pushes through.

Eric the new UK virus B.1.1.7 has made it debut in Colorado. The Christmas weekend lag time of reporting new covid cases hit yesterday as 540 new cases were recorded for the county.

Here is what the vaccination card will look like.
Covid-19 Vaccine - H-E-B Newsroom

 

[Rich B1]

RNG, think getting older parts from the local BMW dealer is tough, try going to the local BSA dealer for parts! :laughing:

To eat up time, got back to reading. Love to read history, so first book I grab is 撤residents of War by Michael Beschloss. It is a history of war time presidents. We think political divide and coarseness in political discourse is new......it isn稚. He is using a lot of quotes from newspapers, journals, and letters and it is eye opening..... Large book, about 600 pages. Should keep me busy.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

34° and sunny.
Guess they got the truck removed sometime last night.
Started converting my home DVDs to mp4s, after doing 5 realized there was no sound. Had to change a setting, now have to redo them.

 

[daugen]

"The snow beats down the grass, and the sun melts the snow.

good friend's father's quote regarding minimizing property maintenance

got spray paint at hardware show, then more apples from local orchard. Already tried
one apple, crunchy and sprayed juice everywhere. Now I have to cut up the supermarket ones and bake
something with them.

low air alarm came on in car, hand held digital gauge showed they were all about five pounds low, I'm guessing it's the cold temperatures at fault
but I topped them off anyway. Hopefully buzzer, text message and light bulb will go out next time. If not, need to drill down in
owners manual to find out what the reset procedure is. I never paid extra for the nitrogen gas in my tires, maybe that would eliminate this.
I have an air compressor in the garage so now I know I have to stay on top of this.

 

[LouNY]

"The snow beats down the grass, and the sun melts the snow.

good friend's father's quote regarding minimizing property maintenance

got spray paint at hardware show, then more apples from local orchard. Already tried
one apple, crunchy and sprayed juice everywhere. Now I have to cut up the supermarket ones and bake
something with them.

low air alarm came on in car, hand held digital gauge showed they were all about five pounds low, I'm guessing it's the cold temperatures at fault
but I topped them off anyway. Hopefully buzzer, text message and light bulb will go out next time. If not, need to drill down in
owners manual to find out what the reset procedure is. I never paid extra for the nitrogen gas in my tires, maybe that would eliminate this.
I have an air compressor in the garage so now I know I have to stay on top of this.

Nitrogen will make very little difference, it is a larger molecule so very small seepage is slower,
it is a dry gas so expansion from heating is a little bit less.
I have used it back in my racing days but only because I had access to N2 cylinders at no cost
so I used them instead of a gas powered compressor. Both for air tools and tire inflation.

Most TPMS monitors will reset themselves when the tire pressure is brought back up to or close to the door jam listed ideal pressure.