Good morning!!!!

[LS Tractor Owner]

Hello everyone. Been busy trying to get things done around here. Not real big projects, but numerous in quantity.

Our massive heat wave and drought seems to have broken for at least the week. Rain here has been sparse, so far only 2/10ths in the gauge. We were watching the flooding going on in the SE part of the state .... they got over 6" of rain over 3 days.

The knee has been 'status quo'. Still swells to the point of causing limited movement. Pain / irritation keeps me up at night. I haven't done PT for about 3 weeks now, but, the knee has slowly felt better since not going to PT.

Stopping PT was not my idea.... the insurance adjuster stopped the sessions. The report written by the therapist was a summary of the initial consult with us, when we explained all the injuries and surgeries occurring over the last few years. The way she worded it caused the adjuster to believe these injuries happened AFTER the most recent surgery. Now the insurance is freaking out and won't approve any additional treatment until I am evaluated by my ortho surgeon. GEEZ...... I told them all the things she had reviewed were all documented previously.... they won't believe me even though I have all the supporting documentation......

I am scheduled to see the orto doc on Thursday. Hopefully he will get it all straightened out.

Randy, sorry to hear about another loss of a fuzzy family member. Always a sad time.

I / we have been dealing with our own fuzzy butt issues. My little girl Kassie developed an abscess on her cheek about 3 weeks ago. The Vet suspected a possible spider bite, with subsequent infection and fever. She gave us some antibiotics for her and cleaned up the wound area. She seemed to be doing better, then stopped eating and would occasionally vomit. Back to the Vet.... more meds for the vomiting and some fluid injections for dehydration. Again, seemed to be doing better, almost back to her normal self a couple days ago. Today she stopped eating, stayed in her bed all day, and is sleeping almost all day. She is 14 1/2 years old.... I think this might be too much for her to get over....

I have been following you guys, but just not partaking in conversation..... a few other things going on, just trying to keep my sanity....

I'll try harder not to be a stranger.....

Hope everyone has a great rest of the week.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Looks like USPS lost another Amazon package.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 72F for the start, light rain, .8 inch in rain gauge, near calm breeze. Sky cleared off, rain did not redevelop, light wind, and high temp was 87F, HI 94F DP 70F. Started off puttering in office, got tube patched, 3 holes with 1 patch Bike ride, saw another rider out and we rode together. Nap time accomplished.
Covid update: Cooke 3245 confirmed cases, 8 active cases, Montague 1790 confirmed cases, 9 active cases, Grayson, 11374 confirmed cases, 13 active cases.
Doug the rest of the question why lock everyone down. In the US spread happened even when there was strict lockdown.
Roy the humidity bothers me more than the heat.
Drew Good to hear shot helped, sorry about the high HI. Good luck with pots and mulch.
Ron Hope you get mowing in before it becomes baling time. Pretty sunrise. Good luck with nap time vs conserve energy.
Buppies sorry about hand in door, good to hear good report on mole.
Eric or 5/16-24 UNF thread.
Dennis sorry about your sprayer
Paul hope trip was safe.
Randy I do not recognize the airport names
RNG glad you got the carport frame gone. Good news on the tank water pipe run.
Don sorry about your H&F problem, hope ranking not hurt too much. Have not found a helpful hardware store here, Had a great one 5 miles from house in STL
Drew hope the pool is cooler than 87F.
Ken nice pic
Ron smart move to delay mowing.
RNG sorry to hear about you fire.
RNG hope tarp works for you.
Randy condolences on you kitty Missy.
Thomas too big for 1 stick?
RS sorry about escapee, glad you are getting rain hope you miss the severe stuff.
Drew that is very warm water.
Kyle sis moved in from Ca to Austin, the cold snap did not scare them away. None of us like to brag about our faults
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter and car crash,Bird/aging issues, Billy/skin cancer surgery, David(moss)/remodel/divorce, Buppies cancer surgery/ diarrhea, Phil/reflux/wife's eyes,Steppenwolfe/son-auto immune disorder, Dennis/older brother/son, Grev/wife's eye, Randy/recovery, Bill/DIL home care, Ted/knee recovery, Doug and wife/health issues/nerve and pain/ wife's eyes, Ken/uncle, Drew/tendon healing, David(sadamo)/Sophie's eye surgery,RNG/fire season, and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.

 

[sodamo]

Sorry for loss of your furry friend, Randy

 

[sodamo]

Did get another area mowed this morning, but rained out rest of the day, still raining. By the time I get this round finished it will be time to start again.
At last dump run went as expected.

Would like to find one of those mini chainsaws in a Ryobi variety to avoid another battery system.

This one is a bit larger

RYOBI ONE+ 18V 8 in. Battery Pruning Chainsaw (Tool Only) P5452BTL - The Home Depot

Expand your RYOBI 18V ONE+ System with the 18V ONE+ 8” Pruning Chainsaw. The 8” bar and chain and powerful motor tackles branches up to 6”, making it ideal for pruning and light limbing. With up to 23

www.homedepot.com

Looks like I can buy a 2 battery special and get saw for free. May be worth a look.

 

[Bird]

Gonna be a long day today. Younger daughter fell recently, and of all things, broke some bones in her foot. I'll get her to the hospital by 5:30 a.m. today, Covid test first, then 6:30 prep for surgery and 7:30 a.m. surgery on that foot. She expects/hopes to go home without spending a night or more in the hospital. At least the forecast rain for today is down to 20% and only in the middle of the day, when I expect to be staying inside at the hospital. Glad I'm accustomed to getting up early.

 

[RoyJackson]

2021-06-30, 0335

75° right now...high in low 80's today (next few days will be in the mid-70's). Probable thunderstorms and rain...

After reading the posts about mini-chainsaws, thought I'd give a look...ordered this one:

Amazon.com: 6-inch Mini ChainSaw, SeeSii Cordless Chainsaw with 2x 2.0Ah Batteries Auto-oil System One-Handed Electric Chain Saw Electric Pruning Chainsaw for Wood Cutting Garden Logging Trimming Branch: Home Improvement

Amazon.com: 6-inch Mini ChainSaw, SeeSii Cordless Chainsaw with 2x 2.0Ah Batteries Auto-oil System One-Handed Electric Chain Saw Electric Pruning Chainsaw for Wood Cutting Garden Logging Trimming Branch: Home Improvement

www.amazon.com

From Amazon. Should be here in a week.. Won't get a lot of use, but for trimming low branches up to a few inches in diameter...should be OK.
Like a couple other posters, I wish DeWalt or EGO made something like this...just to keep the number of chargers down

 

[daugen]

good morning all
still 77 out now, up to 97 today, a real swelterer.

feeling pretty good this morning, off to PT early.
Then home to assemble new Makita shrub clipper and hope to prune a few bushes.
As hot as it will be today, rain coming in for next few days and I'd like to get this done.

It was really nice to float in my friend's pool yesterday. Helped to move my shoulder around in the water,
basically very gentle resistance therapy. I looked up his address on Google Earth and found that half the homes on his block have
pools, though friend said his went in first. Lot of work to maintain, particularly with a lot of privacy landscaping around the pool.

due to inability in getting my new Ridgeline in, still no word at all, looking at Volvo's large SUV tomorrow with a friend. Have a good deal where another
friend's son has a truck and closed trailer, I can call him up any time I need a pickup, so as much as I want a truck, maybe I can make do with a larger suv.
My size audi is too small for me and I need a bigger door opening to get in without gyrations to my fused neck. I basically need a Tahoe sized door but don't want
overall vehicle that size. This is just not a good time to be buying cars, everything being sold at top profit. But a good excuse to meet a child hood friend for lunch
and then we go look at cars together. He's 6'3" and a perfect "size" guy to bring along.

 

[ronjhall]

Coffee is done brewing. 71° with partly cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 81° with chance of thunderstorms in afternoon. Doing things outside was to much yesterday. Spent most of the day inside. Will work on table and chairs today. If it drys out enough will mow grass.

Bird, prayers for your daughters surgery and recovery.

LS, good to hear from you. Hope Dr visit gets you back on track to healing and PT.

Randy, sorry for loss of your fur baby Missy.

Eric, I still can tell thread sizes just by looking at them. Until someone throws a metric one into the mix.

Mostly, was getting my bike out to ride couple days ago. Found it had 2 flat tires. Still not fixed.

Everyone stay safe and healthy.

Good Morning All.

 

[Rich B1]

Randy, codolences on the passing of Missy.

 

[Popgadget]

Good morning
It’s 74 and climbing to the mid 90’s today.
No rain forecast until tonight and most of the day tomorrow.

Yesterday was an easy day, trip went well, stopped at a friends shop, he sells Stihl, Honda, ExMark and a batch of others as well.
I picked up a few chains for my Makita saws, and had a nice visit.
Next stop was the ATT store to check out new phones. I had no intention of getting one, but wanted to see what my upgrade options were, as my present iPhone was getting old.
I left with an iphone 12pro max and my monthly bill went down by $45. They gave me $700 for my old phone, which still has me scratching my head.
Got a little work done in the shop when I got home.

Today I’m going to pick up a plane from maintenance in Washington, PA. Son will fly, I’ll be in the right seat, grandson and DIL will be in the cabin. First plane ride for grandson.
Then back to the shop when I get home.

 

[Alien]

Mostly-gas. Lockdown is 'supposed' to give the gov't time to do their contact tracing whilst limiting public movement.
Too much contradiction between State and Federal governments statements here that just leads to confusion. General concensus is that the 'experts' have no idea what they are doing.

 

[Thomas]

Thomas too big for 1 stick?

Always remember popsicles were 2 sticks and today it's hard to find 2 stick popsicles and good tasting one.

 

[Thomas]

71F morning clouds mid 80+ for high tad cooler chance t-storm afternoon.

Outside chores done E muffin time.
Mother Doe with her fawn and mother fox with her 4 pups show up last evening while setting on the deck,fawn keep real close to mom.

Today last day of mask policy than as they say it's free for all....hmmm.

Plans for today... trip to town for critter food couple other stops,other than that take the day as it comes.

Enjoy your day all.

 

[MoKelly]

Good morning.

Wife leaves today for Little Rock to visit family.

I stay to hold down the fort.

Kitty will not be pleased again that his favorite human is away. But, she’ll be back Saturday.

Youngest son turns 23 on Sunday. A July 4th baby.

Rain today then, hopefully, mowing can commence Thursday. It’s been 10 days and grass looks like it needs a cut.

Stay safe.

MoKelly

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 77F @ 4:30AM. Abundant sunshine. High around 100F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph.
The Excessive Heat Warning expired last night, but I'm not enough of a snowflake to tell the difference between 101.3F (yesterday's high here) and a mere 100F (which is apparently below the EHW threshold).

Sounds like you got a pretty good deal on the Max, Paul. Enjoy! FWIW, my Verizon bill went UP when I went from the old SE to the Max, even though I purchased the phone outright.

Popsicle "progress", Thomas? All I see in the grocery store out here are the ones in plastic sleeves, and they're not even in the freezer section. Somehow the taste of plastic will never replace that of syrup soaked wood...

Comparing the infection rates between our two countries, Doug, I'd say your authorities have done a much better job than ours.

I have old Echo yard tools, a string trimmer and a blower, that have also been replaced with newer versions. Yesterday I got them out and tried to get them started so I could sell them, too. The blower was first, and I couldn't even get a pop out of it. The plug has spark, but it looks pretty weak, and the carb leaks. A knockoff carb is $15 on ebay, so that's probably what I'll do there. The trimmer started right up, but wouldn't take any throttle. I drained the gas, put a little Chevron Techron in the tank, and ran it until it shutoff, thinking Techron might unplug whatever's causing the problem. But it's probably gonna need an ebay carb, too. Between all that cord pulling and wrestling with the billboard tarp, that was enough outside work for a hot summer day.

Got in another siesta, then after looking at yet another indecipherable PG&E bill, decided to call them and get some help. The guy on the other end was very helpful, explaining the acronyms and answering a boat load of questions. The bottom line seems to be that they count killoWatts I buy and sell, and at the once a year True-up date, tally one against the other to see who owes what to who. If I owe them, they go through the rate plan and convert kWh to dollars at about $0.30/kWh (it varies by season and time of day). If they owe me, I get a credit of $0.027/kWh. Apparently their electricity is much more valuable than mine! We also spent a lot of time looking at the various rate plan options, all of which boost the cost of power in the late afternoon and evening (which they call Peak Hours), just when the output from the solar panels is falling off, and demand from the A/C system is peaking in the heat of the day. Funny how that works to their advantage, huh? I'm allowed to change rate plans twice a year, which may or may not trigger a True-up, and the rate plans may or may not have a lower Baseline rate for the first dozen or so kWhr/day. If they had set out to create the most Byzantine rate structure imaginable, they have succeeded well beyond anyone's wildest dreams. My head was literally hurting by the end of the conversation. The only saving grace is that the system here as accumulated a bit more than a mega Watt of credit since last July when it was first connected to the grid, and even though the A/C is chewing through the surplus, it's probably big enough to get to the True-up date.

I recuperated with a big bowl of chili and a glass of wine while watching a '50s era SiFi thriller, complete with advanced aliens, flying saucers, monster slaves, and a hysterical female scientist. To balance that out, a more recent Tom Cruze movie called "Oblivion" showed that the good guys still win in a post apocalyptic world.

Happy Hump Day, folks!

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, still hot and muggy here.
Got the flail roller adjusted. Chainsaw cleaned up and the gardens watered.
Too hot for much else.

Randy - sorry to hear about Missy. We miss having cats here.

LS - hope your knee gets better, Insurance companies own us :-(
Hope Kassie pulls through ok.

Our dog is doing better, finishing up the antibiotics- she loves getting medicine since we put it in almond butter.

Bird sorry to hear about your daughter-hope operation goes perfect. But she will still lose most of the summer.

Caught the squirrels up in the peach tree-probably won't get any for us again this year.

20" bar on my chainsaw (2 of them) keep choking up the nose when cutting up the dead ash, 19" bar does not do this. Tried upping the oiler a bit, did not help :-(

Stay safe and be well.

 

[txdon]

due to inability in getting my new Ridgeline in, still no word at all, looking at Volvo's large SUV tomorrow with a friend. Have a good deal where another
friend's son has a truck and closed trailer, I can call him up any time I need a pickup, so as much as I want a truck, maybe I can make do with a larger suv.
My size audi is too small for me and I need a bigger door opening to get in without gyrations to my fused neck. I basically need a Tahoe sized door but don't want
overall vehicle that size. This is just not a good time to be buying cars, everything being sold at top profit. But a good excuse to meet a child hood friend for lunch
and then we go look at cars together. He's 6'3" and a perfect "size" guy to bring along.

Drew have you looked into the new Ford Maverick. Hybrid. It is supposed to be here in the Fall. I might have bought this instead of my Ranger. I really liked the hybrid Prius and the Maverick is supposed to get 40mpg in city. It also has lots of goodies standard.

https://shop.ford.com/configure/maverick/model/customize/xl

 

[kenmbz]

Is it my imagination or are the truck beds getting shorter ?

 

[daugen]

The new Maverick has a similar small bed to the Ridgeline and gets phenomenal gas mileage though thankfully it is offered with same
more powerful four as in Ranger. Yes Don, looks good but I'd be a totally early adopter and I'd rather stick with tried and true Honda.
I need this truck big enough to drive cross country in it and not sure the Maverick is suited to that. But I saw that too and agree the packaging
is very close and very competitive. Hyundai is also making one but it's even smaller and more like the old Subaru Brat. Yes, you can make the bed so small
the thing does get kind of useless...

Used to be 6 foot was minimum truck bed size and 8 feet was the long bed so that lumber/building materials could lay flat.

Remember the Ford Explorer that tried to chop the back off and put a tiny cargo bed back there? It just wasn't big enough apparently for even the suburban warrior.
I think they called it a Sport Trac. So it wasn't a truck...it was a sports action adventure transportation module.

I don't need to haul heavy loads or carry a lot of weight, so front drive/awd unibody setup is ok for me.

PT went well, hurt but ok, now out to trim a bunch of forsythia bushes before it gets even hotter out.
Yesterday I felt flushed and surely was when I came in with a very red face. Today I'm not pushing it...