Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

58 again this morning...spoiling me. Low H, too. Looking for mid 80s.

Buppies, sounds like it will be a long healing process for her. I know you will take good care of her. I like your 51 temp this morning.

RNG, sorry about your bike. Must have been a big problem since you seem to be able to fix most anything on the fly.

I was talking to 3 hikers on the Appalachian Trail yesterday from Chicago...told them I was gonna have to start camping overnight since gas prices made day trips so expensive. They asked the price here.. 4.69 was the best I saw, but some over 5.00. They said that is cheap compared to where they live. Wow!

Saw the CEO of Sheetz on the news this morning...reduced Reg 88 to 3.99 for Independence Day weekend...nice family owned business. Is Reg 88 a higher ethanol blend? He said all cars and light trucks since 2001 could use it. Seems crazy that 3.99 gas is a good deal since still twice as high as recent past.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
It’s 65 with a high above 80 forecast under clear skies for today.

Yesterday’s trip to Maine was quite uneventful. Weather was very nice, had a good lunch at the “Cheesey Skillet” which was right on the airport. Not surprisingly Mac and Cheese figured prominently on their menu.

On the way home from the airport, I picked up a couple of bags of charcoal for the smoker, and a chimney type starter.
After getting home and changing my clothes, I cleaned out the firebox on the smoker, and managed to get the CarryAll stuck while dumping the ashes. Interestingly, it didn’t sink into the mud, the ground was pretty firm, but had a very greasy layer of clay at the surface. I could get it to move by pushing it while stepping on the gas with one foot. Ultimately I called my neighbor to come pull it out while I drove it.

Today will start out with breakfast with the professor, then I’m thinking I should get some baby backs and chicken wings ready to go in the smoker this afternoon for dinner tonight. If that happens, I’ll make some bbq sauce while the smoker works it’s magic.

Might take the string trimmer for a walk, I’ve got never ending fence lines to clean up, but they look good where I attacked them last week, making what’s not done look pretty bad.

 

[txdon]

Good morning! 64˚F - surprisingly cool. The high yesterday was only 90˚. Today's high will be 95˚. No clouds.

I noticed a nail in my Ranger's tire yesterday but it's not leaking. Went to Discount tire and ordered a new set of tires since the treads are worn and may not pass inspection next month. They also noticed an un-natural inside wear on a tire. I'll get the wheels aligned after I get new tires, hopefully today or tomorrow. The Discount tire was extremely crowded took an hour wait just to find out they did not have the tires in stock. Too many people are moving to this fastest growing town in America.

They are also building too fast and the water supply is being maxed out. Yesterday they imposed new restrictions to yard watering to once a week by the last number of your address.

Mostly, I did not notice any fountain but they also have a pump on order for the dead pond, so any fountain they have might start up once the pump is replaced. The buzzards are still hanging around but on top of the street lights instead of the railing by the pond.

The pond is on top of a hill so it gets no run-off. It gets recycled treated water that comes from the sewer treatment plant. it acts as a water storage for irrigating the golf courses and roadways landscape. Since it is recycled it is not regulated by the town's restrictions. However with the pump out of service the pond is getting about 2-3 feet low. I have seen walkers walk in the sprinklers on the side of the sidewalks on very hot days, I doubt they know that is treated poo poo water.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 68F @ 5:00 AM. Plentiful sunshine. High 98F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.

The only wilderness touring I see in the immediate future, Drew, will be to mount the backhoe onto the tractor and start a couple of new trenches.

Didn't take long yesterday to see that the doodoo was deeper than I thought on the red motorcycle. After removing the head pipe from the damaged side I could see the head of the valve sticking sideways out of the valve seat.

Turns out the valve is non-magnetic, and very likely it's a Black Diamond stainless steel valve. They're infamous for galling in the valve guide, sticking open, and breaking off when hit by the rising piston. My records aren't clear on the history of this head, other than that the second spark plug hole was put there by a machinist that also uses those Black Diamond valves in his rebuilds. I'll give him a ring today and see what he says about repairing the head, but I don't hold out much hope for that. I might have a spare up in the rafters, and it's likly to be less expensive to recondition that one than repair this one. There's a good chance the rod is bent, too. And I can see that the bore of the cylinder is damaged, so that'll have to be sent out for repair as well. That can't happen until I have a new pair of pistons in hand, so this is going to be a long, expensive, repair.

I did get some seat time cleaning up some ground under an oak tree and spreading some gravel there to make a new home for the backhoe. Got the new flail mower off the driveway,, too. And got the boys paid off for the driveway and clearing work, and have a plan in place for the remaining trenching. Maybe as soon as next week that'll get done.

Hump Day already; yesterday seemed more like a Monday than it should have.

 

[Rich B1]

I don’t think that is gonna buff out @RedNeckGeek!

 

[PJSprog]

58°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 92° today. The heat has returned, and the humidity is to follow on Friday.

Got the last of the grass mowed after work yesterday evening, just the pasture. Took the walk behind down to the road and did some trimming down there. Also got some cleanup done from the driveway rework, rearranging and breaking up with a garden rake large clumps of dirt left behind in places, and pulling rock from the dirt before the grass grows back there. Gathered the trash and walked the can to the road, then cleaned up and cooked some burgers on the Foreman Grill. Productive evening.

RNG, management here kind of pretends it's not a big deal, sadly. They've been here for 45 years, and have watched this area steadily decline over time, so it's not as big a shock to them as it is to many of the employees who haven't lived with violence like this. And that's really the sad part to me; that the people who live around here have to live with this every day and night. This is "normal" life for them. And no, telecommuting is not an option for me here. The Wife has been sending me daily text messages reminding me that "You need to get the **** out of there." She's not wrong, and this might do it.

Good morning, gents.

 

[Popgadget]

RNG-
Yikes. That looks ugly, but repairable if it’s the only option. It’s probably a good thing that you have a spare. Do the rods bolt on the crank, or does it all press together?

 

[wngsprd]

Good morning! 64˚F - surprisingly cool. The high yesterday was only 90˚. Today's high will be 95˚. No clouds.

I noticed a nail in my Ranger's tire yesterday but it's not leaking. Went to Discount tire and ordered a new set of tires since the treads are worn and may not pass inspection next month. They also noticed an un-natural inside wear on a tire. I'll get the wheels aligned after I get new tires, hopefully today or tomorrow. The Discount tire was extremely crowded took an hour wait just to find out they did not have the tires in stock. Too many people are moving to this fastest growing town in America.

They are also building too fast and the water supply is being maxed out. Yesterday they imposed new restrictions to yard watering to once a week by the last number of your address.

Mostly, I did not notice any fountain but they also have a pump on order for the dead pond, so any fountain they have might start up once the pump is replaced. The buzzards are still hanging around but on top of the street lights instead of the railing by the pond.

The pond is on top of a hill so it gets no run-off. It gets recycled treated water that comes from the sewer treatment plant. it acts as a water storage for irrigating the golf courses and roadways landscape. Since it is recycled it is not regulated by the town's restrictions. However with the pump out of service the pond is getting about 2-3 feet low. I have seen walkers walk in the sprinklers on the side of the sidewalks on very hot days, I doubt they know that is treated poo poo water.

I saw a chart in the paper this week that showed cities with the highest increase in rent prices over the last year. You (Austin) win! Almost 50% increase in just one year...it talked about how there are bidding wars in many cities for rentals, meaning that potential lessees offer to pay more than the asking rent and beat out others, just like buying houses. Nashville was 2nd highest. Chicago and LA were ranked lowest on the chart.


PS. glad I'm not a golfer.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Forgot to mention another wildfire that sparked up yesterday to the southeast of here. It's called the Rices Fire, and the smoke plume was visible from the back porch. It looked a lot closer than the 25 miles it turned out to be. I remember that last year's Dixie Fire ran 28 miles in one night, but if winds hold in the current direction, this one won't be a threat.

The Watch Duty app this morning reports the fire has grown to 769 acres with 0% containment. Evacuation orders are in place and approximately 500 homes and buildings are threatened. The wildfire spread from a structure fire. Apparently the owners didn't create enough defensible space. Most people think defensible space is to protect homes from wildfires, but in reality the authorities put defensible space laws in place to protect the surrounding communities from structure fires and carelessness on private property.

Not only is Summer officially here, so is wildfire season.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG-
Yikes. That looks ugly, but repairable if it’s the only option. It’s probably a good thing that you have a spare. Do the rods bolt on the crank, or does it all press together?

The rods bolt on, Paul. This'll be the first time I've had to go into the bottom end of one of these engines, though.