Good morning!!!!

[Popgadget]

Good Morning.
It’s 20 outside this morning and forecast to double that by sunset.

Yesterday was another day of shop and computer and paper work, son took care of getting the transponder tested. Had lunch with him and grandson when he got finished with that chore. Made a big batch of sloppy joe to use up a few pounds of ground beef in the freezer. Had Zoom odd fellows meeting after dinner.

Today will likely start with breakfast with my retired lawyer/ teacher friend as it does most Tuesdays. Then I’ve got to meet with engineers and people from the state bureau of aviation to check on the progress of projects at two of our airports. It will be cold walking around outside. The timing should work out for me to get my booster shot on the way from one airport to the other. It will be Pfizer as were my first two, I’m hoping for no reaction, like the first ones. Nothing planned after the second airport visit just to be safe though.

Tractor is just parked at the ready waiting to plow the well marked driveway, plugged into a battery minder in a heated shop. If the ground gets a good freeze, and no snow, I might put the grapple back on and clean up some downed trees and test out the new MS261C as well.

 

[daugen]

gosh would I have loved that plow rig as a kid plowing our farm lanes in the sixties. Metal steering wheel , metal seat, everything
was super cold. But the John Deere B pucka pucka'd its way up and down the lane. Manual blade angling, manual pumping on the blade raising.
Had big skids on ends since most driveways were gravel back then. Popgadgets are beautifully paved, pretty winding drive past the alpacas coming in.
Paul, is that yellow part super hard plastic? Or metal.

 

[Rich B1]

Good morning! Sunny 24° right now. Supposed to get to 42° today.

Truck is in for service today. After today, I am off work until 1-10-2022. Got to burn up that vacation before the sell by date!

Step son tested positive yesterday. He lives in WV. Seems to be having the common symptoms so far.

Got a lot I plan on doing while I am off. Hope to make good progress. Ordered another kit to rebuild the other revolver. So that will get done when the parts show up

Hope everyone gets positive test results and all the healing goes ok.

Your right Drew, you get to a point in life where you really don't need any more stuff at Christmas.......

Everyone stay safe out there!

 

[LouNY]

gosh would I have loved that plow rig as a kid plowing our farm lanes in the sixties. Metal steering wheel , metal seat, everything
was super cold. But the John Deere B pucka pucka'd its way up and down the lane. Manual blade angling, manual pumping on the blade raising.
Had big skids on ends since most driveways were gravel back then. Popgadgets are beautifully paved, pretty winding drive past the alpacas coming in.
Paul, is that yellow part super hard plastic? Or metal.

My first one was on a WD Allis Chalmers a fixed blade with no angle ability, but the lift was powered.
The blade had an L shaped lift arms with chains that came back to the rear of the tractor with another pair of L brackets and then chains up to the lift arms for the AC snap coupler hitch.
Sure was nice compared to that heavy steel grain shovel.

 

[toppop52]

29 high of 47 today never got out of 30s yesterday

See if I can get something done today

Results of biopsy come back today

Prayers for all

Prayers my friend.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 33˚F now was 31˚F and there is frost on the ground. Lots of sun and a south wind we are heading to the mid 60s. A good day to get some sun in the back yard. If I go to the pool I will scare everyone.

Drew if you were on my Christmas list I get you this:

https://www.forksoverknives.com/cooking-course/

Alien what a nice pile of gravel, it almost looks blue, it will compliment the barn nicely. I was wondering if you were going to put skylights in the building. Being in my grandpas and fathers dark barns I put skylights in every garage/barn I built. Take a pic for us.
If my physical therapist would use the gravel pile and tractor as incentive that would be really fun.

I'm on my own today to do PT so I need to really get self motivative and push/lift/pull/slide to get these swollen sore muscles working again. The actual knee joint is feeling better than the bone on bone joint that was replaced but the muscles above and below the knee need work and they are so sore and tight. I have incorporated mom's unused 3 wheel walker in my exercises trying to get a nice heel toe walking stride. I can see why she does not use it - it is less stable than the 2 wheel/2 leg walker.

It is interesting that the the incisions are longer now than they were years ago, I'll have to ask the Dr. about that when he removes the staples later this week. Bird I will get PT 3 times a week at home this month and starting in January - 3 times a week for 6 weeks at the hospital's neighborhood remote building about 4 miles away. Your PT every day at home sounds like it was a good deal, but insurance dictates treatment now days and that changes yearly.

Mostly you can take my neighbors that had covid off your prayer list they have been doing good for a year now. The ring bearer (cousin in Germany) is going through PT like me but for his broken back and had been in and out of the hospital with infections so he is still in our prayers.

 

[toppop52]

good morning all.
24 going up to warmer 46 today in clouds

nothing like a huge pile of gravel to contemplate moving around Doug, looks like a fun job for you. And it will finish things off nicely and keep your
new building cleaner.

I've been invited to my closest friends home over Christmas to see his family, his two kids, one of whom is my godchild, and four grandchildren.
Staying healthy and safe is a challenge. I think I'll mask up even if none of them do.
I'm around a bunch of folks this week. The idea of me being an unknowing carrier and getting that whole family sick is worrisome.

I wonder if the stock market will crash again today. Covid is fear and fear drives the market down. We need more greed. Not really...

RNG, how far away was the snow from you? I know you got lots of rain, which is great. Maybe filling up that Oroville Dam too quickly is not
such a great idea. Took a while for it to get empty...

RS, do you have a nice garden gift for your wife for Christmas?
You can't go making her a sheet cake and say that's it...

My oldest brother's son is doing the least well of all of us and while I sent him a big box of local apples a few weeks ago,
he is the one person I would give cash. But I made it an Amazon gift card.

There is an odd and perhaps old fashioned belief stuck inside me that money should be earned, not given. But once earned, and then given, well that is the spirit of the
holidays and birthdays. And if that money goes to local food bank in honor of someone, or buys a quarter of a heifer for some poor farm family, that
seems like a pretty good thing too. But most little kids sure don't want half a sheep...they want the latest Call of Duty or some virtual reality headset.

I like to give books at Christmas. Seems both a temporary and lasting gift.

We have so much already. Anyone else feel that way?
When one's family keeps saying to each other, we don't know what to get for you, well likely a sign you all
don't need much and should be charitable instead.
That's the meaning of CHRISTmas to me. Think about who holiday was named after and what it means to each of us.
Otherwise it just becomes/has become a giant merchandising event.

Buppies, Santa will bring you good news today.

We adopt a needy family every year for thanksgiving and Christmas, started about 25 years ago with my late wife. I’ll never forget the faces of the first two little boys, they had the biggest smiles, not when they saw the toys,but when they opened those winter coats. It was pure joy.
I heard my mom talk about walking to school after a biscuit for breakfast and wrapped in an old blanket because she didn’t have a coat. I never want to see a child hungry and cold.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 23, going up to 45 today, breezy. Still no precip. Maybe, just maybe, a slight chance on Friday.
RNG is wringing out the clouds with too much gusto..... all the rain / snow got left behind in Cali.... we just get the leftover winds....

Buppies, I hope you heal quickly and get a good report back.
Don, keep up the good work with PT. Sounds like you're getting good range of motion.

The surgeon reports that the problems I'm having with the knee is all soft tissue related. Mechanically it's great.... just everything around it is super irritated from 3 surgeries within a short period. Just not enough time in between for everything to heal completely. I guess it's just a wait and see type thing. My scar is 8" long, don't remember how many staples.

My daughter, MIL, and grandkids were going to come down from Colorado for the holiday for a few days.... nope... not happening now... the 2 grandkids are sick with RSV and fevers. Not worth the chance to spread it around. We will just videochat instead.

I had a nice email chat with Jay yesterday. He and Peg are both doing OK. He said he might check in here. It was nice to hear that they are doing well.

I have been doing OK.... been cleaning / reorganizing the garage / shop. Progress is little by little. Hoping to get the BH in its half of the garage by tomorrow, the tractor in its half shortly thereafter.

Didn't get the next 2 loads of gravel yet. Probably going to wait until after CHRISTmas. No need to rush and have it sit there. I still need to finish the pressure treated timber border anyway.

Update to the local Walmart fire: The authorities arrested 3 people in connection to setting the fire. They didn't give any further info about them. They did a number on the store.... almost all the goods were damaged and had to be replaced. That's a lot of merchandise. With the supply chain issues, the stock is really low and only about half the store is open. They have a giant divider wall up to the ceiling, separating the damaged part of the building. I wonder what the insurance payout was on the loss....

I hope everyone has a quiet week and all plans fall into place!

 

[kenmbz]

Thanks for the update on Jay and Peg LS. He is around where my uncle had his house.
Lot's of good memories from childhood visits.

 

[wngsprd]

The counties Covid case are really starting take off from 20 on the day of surgery to 183 a week later and the news is reporting the hospitals are filling up again. Won’t be long before elective surgeries are canceled again.

With the talk of hospitals filling up, I'm surprised there hasn't been a program like Operation Warp Speed to accelerate the final testing and mass production of the covid treatment pills, like Merck's molnupiravir and especially Pfizer's Paxlovid. Last I read, no one that caught the disease died from it after taking this treatment and it is taken at home, keeping many folks out of the hospital.

Some folks can't get the vax, so this would certainly help them, and us, if they catch this flu. I'm grateful that the large pharmaceutical companies have developed the vax and these other medicines...many years of large R&D spending