Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #142,831  
It was 38F and sunny @ 13:30, 31F and clear now. Almost made it up to 40F for the day but not quite (39.7F)

Calling for a big cool down tomorrow, high will only reach 31F. Then back up to 40F on Thursday, followed by high 40's and rain on Friday and Christmas Day. So no White Christmas here this year ... :cry:

Hopper feeder was still about half full, doves, squirrels, and others feeding earlier. All the whole corn I put out the other day was gone the next morning ... can see lawn was torn up pretty good from the house from all the deer that were out there.

Two of the White Feather Hostas are starting to pop through the soil in the pot they are in. Need to water those today, as the soil mixture in the pot is mostly peat moss and it dries out quickly. Once they all come will probably re-pot them into larger individual containers. Still need to figure where put them once they come are they poisonous to the cats. Might have to put them down in the utility room in the basement, since that can be closed off.

Got a little raking work done yesterday to completely fill in the rest of the holes where daffodils were planted but it was too wet to do much else.

Got a call from a guy at Menards yesterday saying orange driveway markers did not come on their truck, wanted to know what I wanted to do, offered to substitute yellow instead. Told him to leave them on backorder and give me a call when they come in.

Spent most of yesterday working on paperwork though, plus more clean up in basement.

Woman was texting with a dear friend who lost her husband unexpectedly this past year. That turned into FaceTime phone call with us that lasted over an hour and blew a good part of the afternoon. But was good to get caught on how things have been going her and the family. They seem to be doing well.

After that we got those bottom two wires put up on the electric fence today, plus four strings of tin cans.

Then a run over to that hardware store to get the two elbows for the flue for the wood stove, plus another 1' length of stove pipe. Took the recyclables up to the can on our way out to do that.

Woman wanted me to run and grab some Coke since the grocery store was right there. That was questionable ... spent 5 minutes grabbing the Coke and a few other items and then spent better than 20 minutes in the check out line waiting to get rung up.

Stopped by the good Mexican restaurant on the way back since it was close and pretty much right on the way. Good as always.

Guy from car repair shop called yesterday and the call went to voicemail. I'm guessing parts may be in. Got distracted today and forgot to call him back. Will have to do that tomorrow.

Tonight probably work on drilling stove pipe and get that all screwed together and hooked back up.

Hope everyone had a great day ... (y)
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,833  
Work today.

Forgot to do something before I left work last week, so had to restart a test I thought would run while I was away. But the project manager was in a happy mood and didn’t seem to mind.

Traffic still pretty heavy coming home, should be light this week.

Now to get caught up at home.

Did clean pellet stove out last night.

Nice looking pile of gravel. I need to order a load, put behind the barn where I store the trailers.

Ordered 4 new tires for the pilot today, over $1k. They will ship to Costco and made appointment to install for 3 Jan.

Trying to make a booster appointment. County health dept must have hired someone to administer, they now want health ins info to bill. Original jabs did not need insurance info.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,834  
Thinking this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09LHC41RM/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1UZHLJF13JCG9&psc=1
May be a better phone mount. Think I can attach to the cross piece that runs over my dash
FWIW, I just took delivery of a phone mount that uses a 1/4"x20 threaded hole for mounting, so it fits most camera tripod heads. Fits the iPhone 12 Pro Max just fine in the short direction. It's all metal except for the cushions around the phone and the tightening knob. Easy on, easy off with the tripod shoe. The tolerances aren't the tightest so the bracket has bit of an angle in the middle, but there's no flex in it at all. Very solid. If I were going to use it in a high vibration enviornment, though, I'd put an o-ring under the tightening knob so it wouldn't work loose. Pretty sure you can get a 1/4x20 adapter for the RAM stuff, too.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,835  
Good evening all. 39F for the start, light rain, light breeze. Not much rain, overcast cleared of some and light wind. High temp was 49F, DP 32F. Restoked insert after removal of some ash, Need to put more wood in wagon. was groggy till after nap then went for bike ride, what a difference the nap made.

A little nap always seems to help ... ;)

RS sorry to hear about hospital overload.

Yes, it's unfortunate and very hard on the healthcare workers.

Are you moving the stove?

Nope, just hooking it up primarily as a back up heat source if need be ... but it will probably also get used for burning waste paper and the like.

prayer for all, ... RS wife/ dog bite recovery ...

Yeah ... you can drop that last one off the list too ... she's fully recovered at this point ... ;)
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,836  
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.

(y)

Saw a good bit of mask wearing while we were out today, but not as much as wisdom should dictate, given the current COVID circumstances.

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.

Can you imagine what it would be like to cause someone else to get sick and have them get seriously ill or even die ?

Definitely not anything I want to cause.

RS, do you have a nice garden gift for your wife for Christmas?

LOL ... no ... at least none that she hasn't already received ... ;)

You can't go making her a sheet cake and say that's it... ;)

Well ... I had considered seeing if I could pick up a fragrance she used to wear when we first met. She had expressed some interest in it in the last year or so and I really like it on her as well.

Unfortunately it was discontinued at some point. I did see that there is a little still out there, but at $350 for an unopened 11ml spray bottle of Eau de Toilet (in a damaged box), I'd be in the dog house for sure ... ;)

(She says I can get her a cat sling ... so she carry them around ... :LOL:)

At any rate, beings as you were talking pies and needing pie crusts, The Woman sends the following along.

It is the recipe She uses ... and She makes the best pie crust ... EVAH !

It comes from Mom's First Edition Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook(4th Printing, 1950):

For a two crust (top and bottom) 9" pie, mix together:

2 cups sifted GoldMedal Flour, 1 tsp. salt

Cut in:

2/3 cup of shortening, if using hydrogenated shortening add 2 tbsp more.

Woman says this next part is absolutely critical:

The shortening must be CHILLED, and the water used in the the next step must be ICE WATER.

Ya mix the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and then use a pastry blender to cut in about half the shortening finely until the mixture looks like meal. This makes for tenderness.

Then cut in the rest of the shortening coarsely until the particles are the size of giant peas. This makes for flakiness.

Next you mix in the ice water one teaspoon at a time, mixing it lightly with a fork until all the flour is moistened.

Gather the dough together with your fingers so it cleans the mixing bowl and press into a ball.

After that it can be rolled out or stored in the refrigerator in wax paper until needed.

The above recipe will likely horrify Don.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,837  
BUPPIES..... GREAT NEWS!

RS, that's the same recipe my wifey has been using since she has been baking. You are correct---- best EVAH!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #142,838  
Good evening all. 28F for the start, fog, near calm breeze. Light wind day, partly cloudy sky and high temp was 62F, DP 38F. No rain till the end of next week and only 25% chance then. Restoked insert in morning after ash removal. Kept insert running till noon and let fire go out. Worked on wood pile, goot most of the dead choke cherry cut to length got big branch that fell on GC cut up, need to get that wood stacked, got some of the branch ends busted up and in big trash can, it's full now. Bike ride after lunch got to ride with another Saturday morning crew today :). Nap and take wife to dinner and shopping.
Covid update: Cooke 4308 confirmed cases, 93 active cases, Montague 2778 confirmed cases, 83 active cases, Grayson, 16,792 confirmed cases, 246 active cases. Cooke 3, Montague 5, Grayson 10, new cases.
Doug referring to the tree the ROPS hit and made your wife made :( Otherwise you are doing great on the remodel :) good thing Ted taking break or he would be drooling big time on that gravel
Bill enjoy your plowing
Roy what is a day without meetings
Ron glad you got Sassy's meds hope cancel order worked. Nice sunrise.
Buppies praying for biopsy result
Drew enjoy all the visiting, do your best to isolate if you don't feel 100%. Yes I am with you on having so much.
Mike Sorry about the cost of plumber work
Billy glad you got a long hike in
Ken good luck with shelve, sorry about son's Covid contact.
paul hope booster went well, tractor all dressed up and no place to go :)
Rich sounds like you can practice being retired :)
Don hope your PT goes well, and thanks for the update on neighbors.
Randy great tradition.
Ted good to hear from you, thanks for update on Jay and Peg, sorry about Family visits over Christmas canceled.
David good to hear gutter garden is showing results.
RNG good to hear more rain. Sorry your seat time did not go as planned.
Thomas give them an inch ...
Doug love our skylight in living room.
Buppies great report Yeah!!
Don you mean we won't be able to call you Don zipper knee?
RS Sorry about white Christmas, got a lot done
Dennis sorry about test not completing correctly. Good to hear life goes on :)
RS good to hear dog bite healing complete.
RS & Ted Wife has similar recipe, but has egg and vinegar in it.
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle's daughter/friend PT from Covid, Bird/aging issues/, Don/knee recovery /ring bearer/back broken & infections, Randy/FIL living alone adjustments /MIL covid, /cancer surgeries, PJ/FIL death, Dennis /wife wrist surgery and recovery, Roy/ palpitations/ angina, wife/ankle recovery, Billy/ wife fall, David(moss)/remodel/divorce, Buppies/good biopsy report, Thomas/gout, Phil/reflux/wife's eyes, Steppenwolfe/son-auto immune disorder, Grev/wife's eye, Ted/knee recovery/retirement, Doug and wife/health issues/nerve and pain/ wife's eyes, Ken/aunt fall injuries, David(sadamo)/Sophie's new eye surgery, Chris/neighbor's granddaughter and Covid issues, Scaredy/injuries from fall, Paul/ wife's disc issues, Gale and KY/ tornado victims, Bill/ getting care for DIL and Country.
stay safe and healthy you all.
 

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