Good morning!!!!

[sodamo]

67°F and .30 inches rain.

Lookin like a pretty day. Just continue piddling about.

My piano time hit a bit of frustration yesterday. These 75 yo hands not as dexterous as they used to be, but slow progress is still progress.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Drew, what part? ...... the water collection part or the decorative part?

Maybe for me -- the catchment part?.....
Maybe for Don -- the decorative part?.....
Now I'm confused....

It's actually funny that you posted this.... the wifey and I were just talking about doing a water catchment system yesterday while we were out. It would serve some purpose, but it doesn't rain enough to provide a continuous supply. It will probably still happen, but only for some "extra" water.

 

[rswyan]

That's a big beautiful lawn.

Thanks.

Yes, if you don't look too closely, it looks pretty nice from a distance.

Other than mow it do you do anything with it?

Core aerate it, fertilize ... hopefully one of these days I'll get around to spraying it for weeds ...

Host large lawn parties? Play frisbee?

Back in the day we played softball out there during the annual company picnics.

In the past we've have had neighbors come over swat golfballs around a bit ... but that hasn't happened in some time.

These days mostly just enjoy the view and watching the deer look for lawn grubs to snack on.

 

[rswyan]

rswyan - great photos, i love seeing photos ... i need to figure out how to retrieve photos from my flip phone still

Glad you are enjoying them.

Good luck on the chicken tractor project ... looks interesting ...

 

[rswyan]

RS, your lawn looks fabulous! Along with all the flowers! You and the woman should be very proud of the work!

Thanks.

Loved the photo of your Asiatic lilies ... quite beautiful ...

Unfortunately ours have been heavily pruned at this point ... probably by a groundhog.

I need to get back onto the groundhog deterence project ...

 

[daugen]

Drew, what part? ...... the water collection part or the decorative part?

Maybe for me -- the catchment part?.....
Maybe for Don -- the decorative part?.....
Now I'm confused....

It's actually funny that you posted this.... the wifey and I were just talking about doing a water catchment system yesterday while we were out. It would serve some purpose, but it doesn't rain enough to provide a continuous supply. It will probably still happen, but only for some "extra" water.

well that sure isn't decorative so it must be catchment....you know for the rain spout around back

I learned about water conservation mostly in caribbean, particularly Bermuda. Everyone has cisterns.
We have basically learned from them. And I guess the Egyptians or whoever invented cisterns.

 

[rswyan]

RS, the squash pic is for you, I couldn't resist for 1.49 at grocery store this morning.

Like waving a 99 cent hosta in front of you...

LOL ... no doubt irresistible.

and what a great name, who wouldn't want Weezie's squash?

George Jefferson ?

Sorry you are experiencing difficulties with the tie-down.

When drilling metal I've always found slow speed and lots of lube to be key.

And a sharp bit of course.

Sometimes you just have to walk away for a bit.

Hope you have better luck with the automatic watering set up.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low was 52°, currently only 61°, forecasted high is 67°. Heavy cloud cover, but no rain yet. I hope the "heavy rain expected" wasn't all hype with no prize....

Got the planter out to the courtyard and the hole punched in the ground. Going to take the PHD off and get the tractor put away in a few. I might try and move a few more materials to a staging spot first.

The knee was really complaining last night, must have been from the walking around Costco, then sitting too long in the car not being able to straighten or move position. Better this morning. Just over 2 weeks until the neurologist appointment..... I am still hopeful to get positive answers to the problem.

Drew, sometimes it's better to walk away and rethink when something gets that frustrating. I'm sure you'll come up with a solution.
For clarification.... the second part of the video shows him painting a smaller trash can with stencils .... thought that part was odd.....

RNG, consider your trip this morning to be a success! The contractor now knows you mean business, and probably won't pursue any court action on their part. Now, if they don't come through with the repairs, you have more ammunition on your side. I hope they take care of everything to your satisfaction.

Wng, beautiful pic of the waterfront. Thanks for sharing.

RS, have you ever counted how many plants you have put in? I bet you would be amazed. There sure is a lot!

Busby, welcome to the GM thread!

Gonna get back out there.... I want to get the materials moved.
Everyone have a great day!

 

[sodamo]

Welcome to GM, Busby. Where you at?

 

[sodamo]

RNG, that’s good news on your solar. Hope you can get him to restore your FNDC (assuming it was part of the factory wired package) so you get more usability and he removes any passwords.

 

[sodamo]

Drew, replace the washers with appropriate length pipe/nipple.

 

[daugen]

the second part of the video shows him painting a smaller trash can with stencils .... thought that part was odd.....

oops....fast forwarded over that part. No idea. It was building the thing I thought was well explained.

David, yes. I'd prefer delrin but will take steel. Thing is a bear to elevate, good way to wreck my back. I need it a couple inches higher.
Sure miss my floor jack... clamp goes around back but nothing other than pressure to hold it in. Born to fail. I will likely take a small strap and strap the tire on also. Visions of it bouncing down the Thruway at some family van full of kids. Belt and suspenders. Particularly since this is not the oem position. Again, this needs a couple of tack welds on it and never have a problem again.
next week, time to look at an Everlast or some small combo welder. I want to work smarter, not harder. My hands and wrists aren't happy at all from getting scorched by the hot drill.
The fun went out of that at the third ouch.

 

[RoyJackson]

...was solid as a rock in its hole, decided with my new 18 dollar drill bit to go zipping
through the last two. Wrong. I now have four dull drills. Could not even get to bottom of the next hole.
Wow sure understand now what a magnetic drill is for.

My lesson from this is drilling hardened steel is nuts; I'm going to get a small welder. Could have done this really easily and without breaking a sweat with the welder.

Drew, don't know if you did this, but it's better to drill a pilot hole with a smaller bit first. The smaller drill will go through faster and easier...and the "full size" drill will be less likely to dull or heat
BTW, did you use any lubricant?

 

[daugen]

Roy, yes and yes. My hat is off to the folks who made this steel.
I sprayed oil down in the hole and had the drill on slow, after drilling pilot hole.
But I was stumped on the last one, I kept dulling everything I stuck down there.
Even the new bit wouldn't work.

So....in this case one grinds them to death. Back to get a smaller cobalt drill. Something to more easily drill through bottom.
That big drill, and its operator, were clearly not up to the task. So yes, I need to get a smaller hole in first.

What is so weird is first corner went perfectly, drilled through reasonably easy, admit as I went on things just got harder and less little bits
of metal produced. I had a vac there and constantly vac'd the mess so nothing got in the driveway. Got one sliver in my finger. Got that out in a hurry.
So first three holes went fine all the way through, bolts on, mission accomplished. Then a fail on the fourth, the guy popping through that opening, and a total fail
on the fifth. I quit. I need a welder.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, that’s good news on your solar. Hope you can get him to restore your FNDC (assuming it was part of the factory wired package) so you get more usability and he removes any passwords.

Not sure that's the thing to do or not. I filed a ticket with OutBack Power a while back, asking them about FDNC use with lithium batteries, and was told that due to the flat V/A curve of lithium batteries, FDNC use was not advised. The gurus on the OutBack forum seem to disagree, so I have some more homework to do before pressing that issue.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

If the steel in the part you were drilling was hardenable, Drew, just the heat from drilling could cause what you saw. In those cases, a low drilling speed and lots of down pressure is needed to keep the drill cutting. If it just spins, it generates heat, and when the material cools, even carbide has a tough time cutting it.

I once tried to drill a pilot hole in a railroad rail so I could more easily cut it with a plasma torch. I used carbide bits, and burned up three of 'em before I gave up. Just can't get the control over speed and downforce with a hand drill that's needed to do the job.

 

[rswyan]

92F @ 15:00 ... which is down a degree from a bit ago. HI 94F. Hoping we get some rain soon, it's getting real dry out there. At this point, doesn't look good until next Sunday.

Got all potted veggie plants out front watered. They were seriously drooping. May have a partial/temporary handle for that for that later today.

Plants in the garden watered except for the two established blueberry plants. Half of the plants got watered twice. May go back out later and do the ones that weren't, along with the two established blueberries. Then get on the mulching later.

Am seeing deer tracks in the garden, so they're checking it out ... but so far no damage there.

Ran up to the shop and turned the AC on. Was 78F inside ... but only 16% humidity.

Woman has been taking a little siesta ...

Probably go water the flowers out front now.

After I set up the chipmunk traps ...

 

[rswyan]

Good morning to all! Low was 52°, currently only 61°, forecasted high is 67°. Heavy cloud cover, but no rain yet. I hope the "heavy rain expected" wasn't all hype with no prize....

Just noticed WeatherBug is saying a 50% chance of thunderstorms here tomorrow, which is very different than what Weather Underground was saying.

Hope all that need it get some.

RS, have you ever counted how many plants you have put in? I bet you would be amazed. There sure is a lot!

No - but I know if I count the bulbs, it’s easily over 1000 total.

Probably at least 200 - 300 plants - if the hosta are included. And that might be low.

 

[daugen]

Good question Ted. The 64,000 dollar question?
How many bulbs do RS and his wife have coming up?

sorry RS, can't refer to her as The Woman, I think I'd deserve a boxed ear.

I bet there are 200 hosta.
Time to charge admission.

 

[daugen]

On Wunderground they say living in the Rust Belt is the best place to avoid climate change problems.
Take heart guys. You may be rusted half way through, but we'll be under water or blown away or covered over by a volcano.
Let's hear it for Cincinnati..., give a cheer for St Louis. The cheers will continue through all the pubs in Pittsburgh.

Ken will come over in several weeks with his welder. maybe I'll get a new one and he can work through it with me. Really liked my old
Everlast stick welder. I bought a nice one last time because it would be my last welder. Hmmm, that didn't work out well.
I think I only have 120/20a to work with.
Let me rethink that. Can always fire up the 9kw generator ten feet away.
Power to the people.

I'm thinking a spot weld on that bolt though that little hole would both work, for reasonable forces, and be easy to see if coming loose.
Like my own inspection window

left palm is part cooked and right is muttering unsweet nothings to me.
As in get a welder.
I have a nice grinder, flap wheels galore, and am very good with a black rattle can.
Welding just makes more sense but I tried to do what I thought I could do.
And I can't.
I'm not that stubborn, one more hand to fold, and play another.