Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

43F, cloudy, and wet @ 10:30, headed up to a high of 57F for the day. Radar shows a band of showers running from the southwest to northeast heading this way. Should be minor compared to what has already moved through. Rain should end for the day by 11:30. Got 0.56" since midnight.

This Sunday seems like it could be fairly ugly: calling for just over an inch of rain and a high of only 46F.

Just saw a poor little bluebird picking at one of the empty suet feeders on the back deck so guess I better get those refilled along with putting out some mealworms. Checked the can in the feeder in the upper front yesterday on the way back in and it was empty so someone is finding and eating them. Might be about due to make a trip down to Eddie's Bait to pick up another container of them.

Need to finish up email to the local UPS terminal manager, which I purposely held off on sending until I calmed down further.

Otherwise normal stuff on agenda: feed fish, refill bird feeders, clean kitchen.

Not sure what else I'll get into.

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

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 48, going up to 78, a decent chance of a T-storm this afternoon.

A fairly productive day yesterday.... all while taking it easy... so it can be done! I was able to get the hydraulic side link mounted on the tractor. Works as planned, maybe a real world test this weekend will happen.



Then I was able to move the old 6' heavy back blade over to the shop. There are a couple of mounting points where the blade mounts to the arm that need to be fabricated. The old pieces are cast iron, so welding them back together would be difficult. The new pieces will be made of steel. The hardest part will be matching a curve that is in the plate.... I will probably have a lot of fun bending 3/8" steel in the press.... and have to do it twice....

Not sure if I will get to it this weekend or not, but everything is set to go....

There are a couple of other projects up higher on the list....
Some more plants have to get situated in grow bags (only 15), so shouldn't take too long.
Then the pond / waterfall needs to get cleaned and filled. Not a job that I am looking forward to doing.

Everyone have a great day and start to the weekend!

 

[daugen]

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.

Agreed. I took Latin and French and sure wish I had taken Spanish instead.

what gripes me is after ten years in this country they still can't speak understandable English.
And when they talk to each other they never do it in English to work on improving their verbal skills.
Isn't speaking English part of becoming a US citizen?

I think I may try an app on my Iphone.

 

[rswyan]

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.

Yeah ... I was pretty much amazed.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Popgadget, thanks for sharing the pic of your place, very beautiful. I wish we had half of the greenery you have there!

First hummingbird of the season showed up this morning.... we scrambled and made up some juice and got it hung up.

Drew, sorry to hear about your misadventure at the Giant... I was surprised when I went to Walmart a couple days ago. They had removed all the normal 'cashier' registers and replaced them with 'self checkout stations'. There is only one cashier station left... it had a long line.

Gotta get myself in gear.....

 

[rswyan]

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

Yeah ... I've been looking.

Kind of liking the idea of game cameras - given that they can be placed so that they aren't really noticeable, will run off batteries for an extended time and snap lots of images, and have invisible flash available.

Of course, there so many to choose from - and usually reviews are a mix of "It's the greatest thing since sliced bread" to "It's absolute junk" ... even with well-known name brands (Moultrie, Bushnell, Browning, etc.)

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

I would say: ... not really.

Particularly given the fact that anyone can make a report using the CDC's system.

The numbers are really minuscule ... given the number of doses administered and the amount of people vaccinated ... and in no way establish any sort of causal relationship between having taken a vaccine and a subsequent adverse event.

 

[daugen]

some of us had grandparents who immigrated through Ellis Island.
My grandfather "came through" in 1901 and knew instinctively that speaking
better English would help him succeed in business. As he did. And he pounded that lesson into
his sons and I was sure downhill of that family lesson. Take pride in your country and learn the language.
My Mother's New England side went back to Miles Standish so that concern wasn't all DNA apparently.

Part of the desire to fit in was likely due to wanting to get rid of the "Jewish accent" of their European home area.
Made even more poignant for my family learning that all the remaining family who didn't come over
died in the gas chambers in Belzec. Not like advertising your faith made anyone in my family comfortable...
Religious freedom is really, really important. Something we can't take for granted.

RS, I think you need a camera system there, catch these guys turfing your lawn.
Looks like they could have K turned there, maybe a double, but doable. Why drive on a guy's lawn?
Particularly one that has had a great deal of care lately and looked nice.

Ted, exactly. They need to pay these people 20 bucks an hour plus benefits and raise their prices accordingly.
Then they would get applicants showing up. And maybe even getting off the dole. Sounds like a fine ending.

 

[kenmbz]

I have had luck with the Browning so far:

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Giant pays a good salary. My neighbor the plumber has a hard time hiring people who will work. The govt handouts are too high.
I’m pretty pizzed at having to pay for the freeloaders.

 

[rswyan]

Pretty sure all have auto-stop (both of mine did).

Could very well be.

Stability is a good point...the model I have has a pretty wide track and larger wheels/tires which helps a lot pushing through slop after snow blowing.

The track on this one is 24" (overall length of axle) and the tires are either 14" or 15" in circumference.

That puts the height of the top of spreader at somewhere around 32".

I've had 100 lbs. in this spreader...seems pretty stabile to me (thanks to the wider track and larger wheel combo)

I'd have no qualms about putting 100 lbs of heavy material in this unit ... which would only fill it 2/3rds full.

Not sure whether I'd be inclined to run across the side of the hill on the east side of the though.

And I certainly wouldn't be inclined to go tearing around with it on a slope at speed like I'm sure some folks do.

After I bought the stainless model, I gave the plastic one to the company I work for to spread ice melt in the walk ways (partly for self preservation since my right leg doesn't work so good). Anyway, one winter season, they put it in a shed without any cleaning. It was totally useless last winter...I tried to free it up with PB Blaster (didn't work), so gave it to a maintenance guy at work. He used a lot of penetrating oil and finally got it apart and cleaned up as much as possible. He gave it to his neighbors who are elderly (like I'm not!) and somewhat handicapped.

LOL ...

I started working on our Craftsman unit last year. Wheels were pretty thoroughly seized on the axles and I used PB on them to try and free them up (it didn't)

Didn't have the torches at the time though ... so that may make the difference the next time around.

I have a new plastic spinner plate for it and a pair of new tires. Wheels and frame need repainted and the sticker for setting the spread rate and the gate needs re-attached.

 

[PJSprog]

Raise your wages folks and attract more help.

I sure wish it was that easy, Drew. Unfortunately, it's not.

Giant pays a good salary. My neighbor the plumber has a hard time hiring people who will work. The govt handouts are too high.

... and this is the reason why. My employer has been having trouble getting people to come to work since the additional "assistance" started. It's next to impossible to find people willing to actually come to work in the first place. They literally make almost twice as much on the seemingly endless enhanced unemployment. Many of the ones who do won't work a full 40 hour week. We raised the hourly pay of our skilled positions by $2/hour, and nothing changed. Every time the government sends out a "stimulus" check, half of our workforce stays home for the next week or two.

Every (no longer)fast food place in our area has one of those signs on their drive thru menu boards requesting customers to be patient, as they can't get anyone to come to work either. Frankly, all of this "free" money is making people lazy (and, of course, it's not free either).

Eh ... that's enough time on the soapbox.

 

[RoyJackson]

... and this is the reason why. My employer has been having trouble getting people to come to work since the additional "assistance" started. It's next to impossible to find people willing to actually come to work in the first place. They literally make almost twice as much on the seemingly endless enhanced unemployment. Many of the ones who do won't work a full 40 hour week. We raised the hourly pay of our skilled positions by $2/hour, and nothing changed. Every time the government sends out a "stimulus" check, half of our workforce stays home for the next week or two.

Every (no longer)fast food place in our area has one of those signs on their drive thru menu boards requesting customers to be patient, as they can't get anyone to come to work either. Frankly, all of this "free" money is making people lazy (and, of course, it's not free either).

Eh ... that's enough time on the soapbox.

I know you're a quality manager...what does your company produce?
IIRC, it's automotive and that's a tough racket....

My company...a large international aerospace supplier (not an OEM). The facility I work at makes fan blades. I'm a QE here, but my main focus is on Quality Systems (which I wish I'd never heard of, sometimes)

 

[Looking4new]

Rs, PM

 

[sodamo]

68°F and no rain.

Guys won, lead series 4-2.

Ophthalmologist appointment this afternoon. A bit unusual as we try to avoid afternoon appointments. I’ll get some project time before.

Need to make arrangements to borrow friend’s Sheetrock lift.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[rswyan]

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.

That's an interesting observation ... I found the tracks kind of mystifying.

The one thing that still doesn't jive though is that there are no indications that a turnaround was actually completed. No disturbed gravel, no additional tracks on the lawn, no "second bite" for maneuvering to complete the turn and make it out.

It's almost like the vehicle(s ?) pulled up to where the front wheels went down in the hole, tried to back up ... and then simply just disappeared, leaving no trace the they were successful in making it out.

A real mystery.

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.

While those numbers might appear to be rather dramatic, perhaps engendering an emotional response for some, they really aren't.

And for what should be fairly obvious reasons - assuming one is willing to do a little digging.

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.

Disagree.

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.

But of course that particular vaccine was rushed/pushed (possibly for reasons relating to a re-election campaign) for a pandemic that never happened ... AND used a live virus.

Medical science and our knowledge - although admittedly still incomplete - has come a very long way in the past 45 years.

 

[PJSprog]

I know your a quality manager...what does your company produce?
IIRC, it's automotive and that's a tough racket....

My company...a large international aerospace supplier (not an OEM). The facility I work at makes fan blades. I'm a QE here, but my main focus is on Quality Systems (which I wish I'd never heard of, sometimes)

We are a tube fabrication company. We have two main focuses here; one is tube bending, and one is stackable/returnable rack production. Most business on the tube bending side comes from the agricultural and lawn care industries. We bend a lot of steel handles and frame parts for a lot of well-known companies that get a lot of talk time on these forums. We also do a fair amount of business with the railroad tank car industry. The rack side gets most of our business from Tier1 and Tier 2 automotive suppliers and one of the big box home improvement stores.

It's been difficult to find experienced CNC machine operators. Most of the time, we just try to find competent people we can train. Finding welders is not as easy as we'd like it to be either. Most seem to be able to weld just well enough to pass the initial weld test, and their work over time reflects their work ethics. Many just know how to melt metal together. Reading a tape measure seems to be a rare trait, almost as rare as someone who can read a blueprint. These are things we can teach, but they have to be here, and they have to be willing to learn. Many just are not. They just want enough of a paycheck to get by until next week.

I spent a couple of years working for another division of the aerospace company you work for here in St. Louis (composites and metal structures for the F/A-18 program, among others). So, I completely understand wishing you'd never heard of Quality Systems. I have come to understand why many of my quality brethren have defected over to the dark side (production). QA is a mostly thankless job.

 

[rswyan]

Unless it's physically bent (you'd see a kink, I wager), it probably variation in the manufacturing process. Not that this should be an excuse or defense of sloppy drilling/tube bending though

I don't see any kink.

The one side of the axle measures 25 5/8" from the top of the hopper to the center line of the axle, the other side measures 27".

That's nearly an inch and half difference ... which could make the unit prone to tipping, depending on which way it was facing when you traversed across a hill ... and doesn't even begin to account for the front-to-back variation of the axle placement ... .

A couple of pictures to illustrate:

First, using the normal lens setting on my iPhone:

Second, using the wide-angle lens:

Can't really get an pics of the front-to-back variation, due to the gearbox obscuring the view.

My unit has one leg that sets slightly different than the other. Unit functions fine though...

Interesting.

Personally, while I'm certainly no engineer, I would think that the variations I've described/shown, would make the unit inclined to bind and place unnecessary stress on components, such as the gearbox.

I have seen at least one report of at least one wheel locking up and being drug across the grass when it was empty (no weight) that would seem to indicate binding.

 

[sodamo]

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.

Careful Don. Yes, that many people dies after getting vaccine, BUT how how died caused by the vaccine is unknown. I believe this is a self reported database, not a medical study.

Did you know that of 10,000 people that died 99% of them were breathing up until moment of death? Yet there has been no definitive study as to why these people died at last breath. Breathing can be, must be very dangerous.

But I also agree about the vax being choice - Take it or don’t. Then again taking any of the Covid benefits has also been a choice and should be consistent. Don’t want the vax, don’t accept the money. Be true to yourself.

 

[toppop52]

some of us had grandparents who immigrated through Ellis Island.
My grandfather "came through" in 1901 and knew instinctively that speaking
better English would help him succeed in business. As he did. And he pounded that lesson into
his sons and I was sure downhill of that family lesson. Take pride in your country and learn the language.
My Mother's New England side went back to Miles Standish so that concern wasn't all DNA apparently.

Part of the desire to fit in was likely due to wanting to get rid of the "Jewish accent" of their European home area.
Made even more poignant for my family learning that all the remaining family who didn't come over
died in the gas chambers in Belzec. Not like advertising your faith made anyone in my family comfortable...
Religious freedom is really, really important. Something we can't take for granted.

RS, I think you need a camera system there, catch these guys turfing your lawn.
Looks like they could have K turned there, maybe a double, but doable. Why drive on a guy's lawn?
Particularly one that has had a great deal of care lately and looked nice.

Ted, exactly. They need to pay these people 20 bucks an hour plus benefits and raise their prices accordingly.
Then they would get applicants showing up. And maybe even getting off the dole. Sounds like a fine ending.

Which means everyone else had to raise their prices, so you end up with net zero and high inflation.

 

[daugen]

I sure wish it was that easy, Drew. Unfortunately, it's not.
So what will work?
Don't we have a big infrastructure program coming?
When do we say working equals eating? As well as those minor things like personal self respect.
or will we continue:
Money for Nothing and the Chicks for Free
had to look that one up and nope not going to quote the rest.

we need to solve transportation and daycare issues for many low income people.
The truly lazy need a fairly firm smack of reality.