Good morning!!!!

[kenmbz]

Morning all, hot yesterday (over 90) so just did some pool work and put out Japanese beetle traps as they are starting to proliferate.
Have them about 50 or so from their targets so they don't go through the bushes to get to the traps.

PopG - how are you feeling? Good to see you back.
NHBX - Groundhogs are why my 7' high chickenwire fence is also stapled down. They are very good at getting under things and lifting. I went from 50'x50' garden to 2 3x6 gardens, just so I could control the situation better.

Some famous Rome sights:

Leaving Rome for Naples - note the train speed

They are also in a drought and heatwave - was around 90 when in Rome-went up to 100 the day after we left.

 

[RoyJackson]

2022-07-14, 0851

64° right now...high in the mid-70's....maybe some T-Storms later today

Wife and stepdaughter left at 0130 for Lebanon NH to catch a bus to the Boston airport. They're at the airport now...flight leaves in about half an hour. They're going to visit another stepdaughter in St. Augustine, FL
I'm home, dog sitting. That's the Plan of the Day.
Was up when they prepping to leave and back up about 0700...not enough sleep so I think I'm going to lie back down. Margeaux is lying in the hall...looking for her mom, I reckon. She'll climb up on the bed soon enough...

 

[NHBX]

let me guess, they had to read off a ton of legal notices and repeat everything twice...if they are pros, they have a ton of rules to follow.

No, to explain a little further I’ve had my investments with this company for over 30 years. The rep I’ve had for year’s retired and the new rep is a younger one and apparently new to the company and not really trained well enough. (IMHO) The issue was something as simple as renewing a deferred annuity that had matured. He wanted to mail me some forms to fill out and I told him no we can do it over the phone and use an electronic signature. He was sure it couldn’t be done like that, funny that’s that’s how it’s been done in the past. Finally got him to transfer me to someone higher up, voice mail who would of thunk it! Finally called the main number and explained my situation and got transferred to a rep that knew what to do and in less tha 20 minutes all done This is the first time I dealt with the new rep but it probably won’t be the last unless I demand a new one which I won’t do.

Now on to TSC, we have 3 in area and if you don’t have a real good idea of what you need and where it may be in the store you are out of luck lol.

Before Rad shack we had Archer Kent, staffed with folks who knew their stuff and could offer advice and solutions.

Anywho just venting,

 

[daugen]

you should vent, and shows why asking for a supervisor makes sense. I have to sometimes to get someone who speaks better English.

having a deferred annuity with some performance guarantees was always attractive to me as the one part of investment portfolio
that you could totally count on. When you can't count on anything else,(except CDs) you can only hope. with market down so much now, those guarantees show their worth
if your timing is good. Trick is to get annuity with low fees. I always felt that anyone who wanted more than 1 percent was simply greedy.
I used to have software that would highlight every fee in the food chain.

why did my portfolio go up 4 percent when the market went up 6 percent? Well, sir, there are fees and expenses.
But it's all masterfully buried in nice presentation graphs.
This is why I always liked Vanguard, cheapest rates around for most.

 

[PJSprog]

67°F and partly cloudy this morning, going up to 95° today.

Everyone at work enjoyed the relative quiet yesterday. No tires screeching in and out of the parking lot across the street, no prostitutes and drug dealers screaming at each other, no crackheads defecating on our sidewalks, and no gunfire. The gas station / convenience store did reopen at some point yesterday, but it was very quiet there, too, as there was a police cruiser parked on the lot most of the afternoon.

Got most of the rest of the grass mowed after work yesterday evening. There were some areas of the pasture that had grown fairly high, so I just mowed the whole thing. Still need to mow the front yard this evening. I wasn't going to, as it's not too bad, but The Wife reversed that decision for me.

Drew, I remember enjoying frequent trips to the Radio Shack in my home town. I got interested in electronics at an early age, and was always repairing or modifying or building something. The Shack always had what I needed. Then, sometime in the '80s, that started to change, as they began switching over from an electronic components supply business to a consumer electronics sales business. Suddenly, about 90% of their store was computers and telephones, and the isles of electronics parts were mostly replaced with a giant catalog on a stand from which they could order the parts I needed. Well, the internet came along shortly after that, so I just stopped going there, and they eventually closed anyway. The last real electronics store I knew of in the STL area (Gateway Electronics) closed it's doors a couple years ago. They'd moved into an indoor mall right before alligatoritis shut everything down, and it killed their already struggling business. Now, everything has to come from the internet from places like MCM/Newark and Parts Express. Leaves me wondering if all brick-and-mortar stores are heading for that same fate.

Good morning, gents.

 

[daugen]

I sold that store when I realized after five years I was an outdoors person, missed being outdoors too much.
Worked 6 1/2 days a week. Not enough outdoor time.

funny I bet today Ken and Paul locally would be great fans of my old store. I wish I had taken pictures of the inside. Only have pic when I sold the place.
To a genuine rocket scientist.

After I sold the business I was promptly contacted by old acquaintance who wanted help growing his electric power industry combustion turbine parts business.
And off to walking on top of the Conowingo Dam I went. We were selling Schlumberger measurement sensor pods, hardened industrial stuff, mostly to replace
strip recorders. Analog going digital. We got the scraps GE and Westinghouse left behind. What a fun place to poke around if you liked machinery.
Sure didn't touch much...

if you had to think of the most interesting job you had, while not on a tractor.
I never had kids so had freedom to try different things.

well, rest is over, should be dry out there by now after cleaning everything off.
Time to grease while sitting up high. I think I have enough air hose.

front bumper on mower not all that sturdy. Might need some reinforcement for tow ball.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low was 59°, going up to 88°, slight chance of a storm. I swear the meteorologist just get together and coordinate a generic forecast.... "Yep--- that will work for a while... we'll just say that"....

Shame about the flash flooding in SW Virginia. Tough on the small community.
There have been a few flash floods in the burn scar areas. But nothing devastating like back there.

Going for the neurologist appointment this morning. Hopefully will get some answers. Being I'll be in town, going to do some errands, Costco being on the list. It will be hot by then, so probably won't procrastinate too long.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I got to ordering my electronic parts from digikey back in the late 70s or early 80s. Digikey is still around. RS just stopped carrying the parts. Used to get my free battery every month in early 70s.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Shame about the flash flooding in SW Virginia. Tough on the small community.
!

I missed that news.

 

[daugen]

Radio Shack battery cards. S&H Green Stamps.
things of the past

terrible localized flooding in mountains of SW Virginia, remote area, wrecked a lot of homes
Buppies, how far from you?

mowing done. Taking a load off and cooling off.
Now to put that trailer away manually for hopefully the last time.
Going to try putting my fairly heavy duty garden cart under the hitch, so if not dragging through the gravel, could work.