Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

Good morning! 53˚F heading to the 80s with clear skies - nice day! heading to the gardens to spread gravel on the interior road, after the snows and rains I noticed it was starting to get muddy. Yesterday was a recovery day from the park so I just washed the truck, moped out the epoxy floor in the garage and mowed the back yard.

RS those tracks look like a vehicle pulling a heavy trailer (darker inside tracks - sunk lower) making a turnaround out of your curve in the road.

Drew my wife was wanting to know what you were trying to tell the painter to see if she could quickly say it in Spanish. Since this is her second year of being in the Spanish club.

Also Drew, between Dec. 14 and April 23, there were 3,544 deaths reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System [VAERS], along with 12,619 serious injuries. The vaccination should be kept to a personal decision. Each person should decide for themselves if they want to take the risk. People need to remember this before making vaccinations a requirement or treating unvaccinated people different.
In 1976 during the Swine Flu pandemic the U.S. attempted to vaccinate 55 million Americans, but at that point the shot caused about 500 cases of paralysis and 25 deaths.
The program was killed, at 25 deaths.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 56F @ 5:00AM. Sunny. High 83F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
A new Fire Weather Watch starts late tonight, running through Monday. TV weatherman said it would likely be upgraded to a Red Flag Warning at some point. So much for firing off the burn pile. Humidity was down into the teens by the time I got the rocks moved yesterday, so mowing is still on the agenda for today.

Maybe it's time for some security/game cameras, RS?

Those are some startling statistics, Don. Very disturbing that this isn't being covered in the usual media sources.

Sure you got enough bar clamps on that speaker housing, Paul?

Swapped the forks out for the grapple, and for once got the hydraulic fittings to lock without having to relieve pressure by breaking connections. Hour meter said it was time to grease the FEL, which also went off without a hitch. I've switched from the Tractor Supply red grease to some sticky green stuff from Lucas. It's a bit more expensive, but supposed to have better staying power and be better under impact loads, and it's got no moly in it. I hate getting grease on my clothes, but I do every time I touch the grease gun. That's bad enough right there, but the moly won't come out in the wash. I've got some grease nipple caps on the way from Lock'n'Lube. It'll be interesting to see how long they last before something rips them off.

The smoke alarms here are going on ten years old, and needed replacing. Got a three pack of new ones that are supposed to work with the new alarm system, but it turns out there's an undocumented incompatibility. Once that's worked out by the alarm people's programmers, I won't need the adapter I mistakenly purchased and can get a small refund. Finding this out took a swarm of phone calls to both the alarm manufacturer and the alarm monitoring outfit, and I was pleased that the wait times were short, and the folks on the other end of the line were more or less helpful. All with only a small bit of trouble understanding some of the accents, if you know what I mean. Told the monitoring outfit to put the system on test mode and to ignore the alarm triggers for a couple hours, then did some testing. Everything worked, with boat loads of alarm messages going into the system logs and out via email and text. What I wasn't happy with were the tiny images taken by one of the motion triggered cameras. Quality was far worse than the examples shown in the catalog, not even good enough to make a positive ID of anyone caught in the photo, so that device will also be going back for a refund. It's redundant anyway because of the security camera network. Which seems to have benefited from the WiFi tuning I did earlier this week.

I still hadn't heard anything back on the building permit, so I logged into their online system and found that it had been approved, but not issued. Shot an email off to the person I'd been working with there, who got back to me promptly to let me know the approval had just come through, and to please fill out and e-sign a couple of documents. Which I did, and now I have to speak with the chief inspector to find out what inspections are required, and when to call them to make those arrangements.

Based on that, I ordered a 10,300 gallon water tank, and will swing by that outfit this afternoon to pay for it and make delivery arrangements. They said they have a tilt trailer that will drop it right where I want it. Now all I have to do is get busy with the backhoe and cut the terrace where it will sit. And order gravel for the pad. While I'm at it, I'll get enough to extend the solar panel pad the rest of the way around the house. Thanks for the landscape rake tips, Billy, and Ted, you're welcome to drop by and supervise/demonstrate.

TGIF gang!

 

[kenmbz]

Mornin all, sunny and a chilly 43 this morning.
Got some driveway patch down, but the tarmac is getting bad. have about 700' not including my neighbor and my driveway. Seems like that would cost a lot, any ideas from any of your resurfacing experiences?

Today will get a haircut and see if I can't get the rest of the plants my wife just bought into dirt.

Kyle - I have the same M12 Stubby impact I I really like it. was able to get the bolts off the tractor to put on spacers and get the over torqued bolts off my jeep.
I have quite a few M12 tools and now M18 Quick-lok trimmer/pole saw and have been quite happy with them.
No ratchet though, that looks nice. Let me know how you like it.

RS-I have people miss the driveway and make deep tracks all the time here. Placed some big visible rocks on the corners, but can;t believe someone could do that to your lawn. Hope they get a flat tire!

Drew since Puerto Rico is part of US, Spanish is here to stay - they should find someone to assist though to make it easier since you don't comprende.
Also waiting for my Burpee tomatoes, they told me everything is backed up due to covid and due to weather only started shipping veggies this week.

RNG - glad your permit is given. I have had some fun with permits and the town. 2 years to finally get a close on my pool permit etc. But they have been reasonably nice since my first altercation with them 5 years ago. An expensive story for another day.

Yes still in dog house.

Stay safe and be well.

Ken

 

[Looking4new]

Covid is a likely excuse for everything now a days. Covid jacked up the price of building supplies 3 times what they were 2 years ago. Covid is to blame for the PO and other shipping and delivering companies to screw up shipments. Covid is the reason someone drove over some else's' lawn, and on and on.

 

[PJSprog]

44°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 73° today. Nice day in store for us today, but the weekend still looks wet both days. This will put a serious crimp in the mowing schedule. Might try to get some done after work this evening.

The foster dog - Cecilia - has been sleeping in a large soft crate in our bedroom ... until last night. She suddenly decided she wanted to sleep out with the rest of the pack, and started barking nonstop as soon as we put her in the crate. What a bark she has, too. We found this out a couple of days ago when our dogs started barking while playing and she lifted her head and joined the chorus. Not completely deaf, apparently. Wife brought out a shepherd's whistle, and she could hear that, too, just couldn't tell where it was coming from. End result was she slept in the sunroom last night, and was quiet all night again. She seems to like that room and the kitchen best.

It's been interesting watching her map out the house. The first day she was walking around bumping into stuff, sometimes pretty hard. By the third trip around the house, she was already starting to soften the bumps, as if she knew there was a cabinet coming up, but not exactly sure where. Now, she just skims along stuff as guides to get where she wants to go. Wife took the gate down blocking the living room yesterday, so she's been mapping that new territory. The legs of the piano seem to be perplexing her.

 

[PJSprog]

Sure you got enough bar clamps on that speaker housing, Paul?

I love seeing that. Having worked for Ampeg for many years where we glued and pinned during cabinet assembly, it's nice to see someone taking the time to build a cabinet right. That cabinet is never going to loosen up and buzz from the normal wear and tear of moving music equipment all the time. Large manufacturers can't take the time to do that when they have to build a couple hundred each of a dozen different cabinet designs every month.

This is why boutique builders can charge premium prices for their stuff ... because it's just made better.

 

[Looking4new]

kenmbz, can you lay your hands on some grindings? The stuff that is ground up asphalt when the paved roads get resurfaced. If you lay that down, shape and level it and pray for some real hot days the tar that is still in them will help them to bind together and make the driveway hard again without the high expense of fresh asphalt.
As for the lawn drivers, booby traps come to mind. 2x2 lumber cut in one foot lengths and drive 4" spikes all the way through so that you have about 2" of pointy end of spike sticking out of the lumber on all 4 sides might deter them from driving on the lawn. Only put them along the edges of the lawn beside the driveway. One thing is for sure, you will know who is driving on the lawn, they will have holes in their tires and not be going anywhere. When they ***** about how you ruined their tires, you can tell them that they ruined their own tires AND your lawn, which will cost about 5 times what a new set of tires will cost them.

 

[kenmbz]

L4N - was looking at millings. But heard they can get moved by water and have a tendency to track on shoes/tires.
Not sure how much heat and coordination to get them set, as these would be a lot lot cheaper.

I guess I need to find someone who has done this locally for the right answer.

We had a guy at my uncle's place in MA try to do some four wheeling, on purpose, with his car one time.
We knew as his car got stuck with 4 flats. Cost him some $ from the local garage for the tow and some used tires to get home. Who knew a regular car could not drive fast through a pasture in mountain country.

 

[LouNY]

In some places you will get in trouble for making a device to disable a vehicle even on your own property.
Something like a a 2x4 with spikes going in all four ways.
However if the spikes are only driven from one side and it was not built to purposely damage a vehicles tires,
but must have simply fallen out of a wheel barrel and just hadn't been picked up yet, oh well so sorry about that.

 

[daugen]

Popgadget, put the squeeze on me Baby... Your place as usual looks like a 9 hole golf course mated with a short runway. Just perfect.

Ken, thanks for good info. I emailed Burpee this morning before I read this.
Is it me or is half the world a little dysfunctional now? Shows you how much we took for granted
and how easy it is to rattle the works.

I walked out of Giant this morning giving up when at 9am they only had one cash register going and forcing everyone through the self checkout.
That is almost impossible to do wearing a sling. Two huge filled carts ahead of me, all I wanted was sugar for the hummingbirds.
So I left and went to McCaffrey, and I think the sugar cost twice as much there. I didn't care, they had staffed lines and I just zipped through.
When I chewed out fairly gently the one employee up front I could find at Giant, someone else took me to task and said they can't get help, no one wants to work.
Interesting, and I agreed with him not her fault but management. Raise your wages folks and attract more help.
All I can do is vote with my feet and wallet and next time I go to the more expensive store.

Don I went to that site and could not find the stats part or how to run a search. Seems like a good place for someone with database/query experience, not me...
I wonder if cause of death has been so politicized now that the Covid numbers are skewed. Lot of folks just die normally...
And since flu deaths were way down this past winter, I think overall mortality was not that much greater than normal.
But I'm guessing, would love to read source material.

headed out to water the veggies. Pollen coming down heavily, and any day, the cicadas will arrive. Gazillions of them.