Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

So shocked and sorry to read of Roy's passing. A true American! Prayers said for Roy and his family.

 

[Popgadget]

Good morning.
It’s 65, which is going to be the high for today as temps fall into the 40’s overnight. Skies are clearing, we got 1.2” of rain yesterday.

Yesterday was another day that kept me occupied all day. Started by cleaning leaves out of the gutters before the rain, I am going to rig up a way to do it from the ground with a leaf blower, ordered a kit from Amazon, that should be a good start.
Moved some some grain into the barn and retrieved the toters from the street. Then the rain forced me inside.

I picked up a restaurant style dish sprayer to use in my concrete utility tub, but was disappointed to find that they use straight thread connector that seals with a washer, that only seems to be used on commercial kitchen faucets, which aren’t cheap. I had planned on adapting it to the garden hose thread on my utility faucet, but couldn’t find an adapter to do that. After some head scratching, I used the brute force method, and silver brazed a garden hose connector to the hose connector. Not pretty, but effective.

Next was the pump up sprayer that my wife uses for round up. She said that it was “wonky”. Found the wonky and removed it.

Next was to cut out some sandblast mask on the plotter for the rock man. Stopped at the grocery after lunch to get some sauerkraut, put it in the crock pot along with hotdogs and beer to feed the musicians that came to finish off the day with me.

Sorry to hear about Roy, he will be missed.

I’m not sure how to answer the question if I’m retired. I still work and keep busy, but I only do what I feel like doing, and have no boss to answer to other than myself, and very rarely feel like I’m going to work.
As far as doing contracting and mechanical work, the same thing applies, I do enjoy my young mechanical contractor friend and often work with him for the camaraderie and we usually both learn something.
I guess the plan is to avoid the rocking chair for as long as I am able. I am on Medicare and waited for full benefits before collecting SS.

 

[txdon]

She said that it was “wonky”.

I'm always amazed at the words used to describe things not quite right. "Wonky" is a good one.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Using the computer version of TBN is wonky, after using my phone app. Had to get on here to find out I'm member 20169.
nice water nozzle, until you said you had to braze on the hose adapter... There's no GH to threaded adapters? I think I used GH to pipe thread adapter for my geothermal pressure test jig I cobbled together. I also need to order gutter cleaner adapter for my leaf blower.

 

[daugen]

got the leaves sucked up, mower washed off and put away, and still no electrician.
pulled the mums pots from out front, they were looking pretty dreadful. Took the hedge trimmer to tops of them, and then thinking
about planting them somewhere. Ground is soft, good time to do it.

the absolute number one thing I miss about not having my tractor(s) is not having a phd any more for planting. Digging in PA rock and clay not much fun.

 

[B7510HSD]

got the leaves sucked up, mower washed off and put away, and still no electrician.
pulled the mums pots from out front, they were looking pretty dreadful. Took the hedge trimmer to tops of them, and then thinking
about planting them somewhere. Ground is soft, good time to do it.

the absolute number one thing I miss about not having my tractor(s) is not having a phd any more for planting. Digging in PA rock and clay not much fun.

Drew maybe a Kubota BX series is what you need you could also get the mower deck.

 

[daugen]

Drew maybe a Kubota BX series is what you need you could also get the mower deck.

gosh, electrician's wife tested positive, he's not coming for at least a week. Sigh.

I have looked at them, lusted after them, envied them, and just couldn't justify it.
My relationship with head of house and grounds at church sadly has fallen apart.
I have expressed my unhappiness with the recurring failure to properly maintain the graveyard, which
now that I'm back from NC, I sure can see what has happened over time.
And my family is all buried there.

I was all set to buy a small BX or B, and give it to church. But when I found out they wrecked the last tractor I gave them, while
I was in NC, I got really turned off. I don't want to be an "in between now"...but have no storage here, and between the tractor going in the garage and
my car during a PA winter, the car wins. I suppose I could get one of those temporary sheds.
My luck with sheds has blunted my enthusiasm too...

perhaps I should bet a big enough cheap enough shed for tractor, golf cart and mower. That would sure be nice.
Too bad I don't own this place...

if stock market goes back up and recession avoided, I might just do this.
Since my young friend has that new LX3310?, which I can borrow any time I want and he will deliver it on his trailer, part of my motivation is also lessened.
So I got a nice lawn mower instead, and with Popgadget's marvelous hitch on the front of it, it's the right tool for me. Plus the leaf bagger works really well.
And I can tow it around if need be.

what I need to do is be patient until June when I can replace that problematic head of house and grounds.
currently making love, not war, refuse to let confrontation spoil my Sundays.

best friend's wife has breast cancer. I sent her a nice warm fuzzy blue blanket with lots of inspirational sayings on it.
she sent back a nice pic of her curled up with blanket. She has to go through radiation soon. The look on her face was not good.
2 out of 3 do ok. Good score in hitting a baseball. Scary score for life. This is my friend already taking care of a 102 yo mother.

might go see if I can buy a basket of apples from different orchard, now that my plans for today went out the window.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 67 going down to 45 tonight. about 3/4" of rain last night. Was warmer at 9pm than it was at 4pm and was in the 70's.
Lost power for a bit with the high winds, but all is looking a bit calmer now.

Taking dog to vets in a bit. She has a little bald spot that we noticed last night.

Starting a garage insulation project. 2 bay under house is not insulated, wife complaining.
Will start with FiberBoard screwed to cement block.
So start clearing out garage today. Xmas stuff will go out early to get it out of the way.

So sorry to hear about Roy, he was one of the first people I talked to when I joined TBN.
His advice and updates will really be missed and may he RIP and have a great meetup with the TBNers up there.

 

[LouNY]

Morning to all,
It sure was a shock to see Roy's name as deceased. He had been having a few problems and such but was still fairly young.
When I first saw it I was assuming it was false or a different Roy but I guess not.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

In 2001 we went to NH and explored the Franconia and White Mountain area. On our return, we stopped for worship in White River junction VT, just down river from Roy, and close to Thomas. Course this was before TBN so didnt know either. Roy lived in PA at that time anyways. But it got me looking at pictures.

Need to order one of the gutter cleaner pipes for my blower.
Amazon is $20 more than HomeDepot, will see if one of my local echo dealers have one in stock. It’s only good for front, back too high. Unless I get on roof.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 18°, only going up to around 40°. Light breezes, but sure is chilly! The next 5 days won't get out of the 40's for highs.....

Another shock About Roy's passing. He really wasn't complaining about anything recently.... I guess one really doesn't know when the time is up.
RIP Roy -- you will be missed.

I missed posting yesterday... too much going on. Had to take Max to the vet, then had back to back eye dr appointments for the wifey and I, then had to run into town to return all the old wireless internet equipment. Then pick up Max later in the afternoon. He has a nice bright white smile now!

New fiber internet is fantastic! No glitches, no down time, super fast! Have had up to 6 devices all using at the same time, download speeds hanging around 960mb, upload around 850mb. Very happy with it.

Decided to box up my desktop PC, I haven't used it for almost 2 years. It definitely cleared up some more desk space! I still have to box up the cables and peripheral stuff.

The wifey's new Kitchenaid "Pro" mixer got delivered yesterday. Unboxed it this morning, went to put it on the 'fold down' mixer shelf (that lowers down into the cabinet), and it hits on the top of the cross stile under the drawer. Need to lower the mounts about 2 inches. This WILL get done today.

Not sure what else I will get into today.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[sodamo]

Just read of Roy’s passing. Feeling a bit numb.
RIP, Roy. You will be missed, my friend.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

BEF, if it is at all possible, retire NOW! Look at it from a different perspective.... time is flying by at an exponential pace.....You can MAKE it work.

When I had my cardiac arrest 8 years ago, I came back with a very different perspective of life. A really different way of thinking. Went back to work 3 months later.... nothing had changed for the better, only got worse (work stuff). It was hard to deal with, but I persisted to overcome 'working', trying to adapt my new 'outlook on life' to fit.
It wasn't until my injuries to my knee made me realize that I was pretty much "spinning my wheels" in place still working. The decision to retire was essentially made for me (no longer able to perform my work duties). My salary had been cut to 40% of what I had been making. Within 6-8 months, we 'learned' how to live on that reduced salary. Are there challenges? Absolutely yes.... but they can be overcome.

I don't know anything about your personal situation, but just offering my experience. I would have never thought that we could pull this off.... at the time, we were planning on me working another 8 years.

I hope you can come up with a plan that works for you!

 

[sodamo]

think I’ll be retiring very soon.

After just reading of Roy’s passing…

I suspect you’ll retire comfortably.

 

[rswyan]

36F and cloudy @ 12:00 ... only heading up to around 39F for the high for today ... with the chance for some snow ...

LWS reports that total precip from the remnants of Nicole was 1.35" ... so everything got a good watering.

Yesterday ended up being a Recovery/Energy Conservation Day, outside of moving the Woman's car out of the circle so the Amazon driver could pull through and getting a couple of bills scheduled for payment.

Was nice to take a bit of a break. Woman did the same.

Today She is cleaning out the hall coat/boot closet after I suggested yesterday that I was going to get into the bedroom closet and start going through my old clothes to see what could go to Goodwill.

I probably have close to a dozen jackets and coats in there (hall), most of which I never wear ... somewhat puzzling how I wound up with so many. At any rate, I certainly don't have a real need for all them so it will be good to get them packaged up and sent off to new homes for folks that really need them.

I guess yesterday marked the start of Winter Hibernation Mode, where most of our time will be spent here inside the house.

Some discussion about heading over to the barn to work but I seriously doubt that's going to happen given the temps. Might go over and blow out the water line with the new air drain valves/fittings that Amazon dropped off yesterday.

What will happen in the coming days will be the (long, painful) process of gathering up most of the tools over in the barn and bringing them back over to the house. Along with finishing cleaning up the outside and getting stuff put away.

Ten Day forecast is calling for 7 days with low temps in the 20's, 1 day with a low in the teens, and the other 2 in the 30's. Nothing higher than the low 40's for high temps. Not much in the way of precipitation after today though.

Probably head out at some point and check the hopper feeder, suet feeder outside kitchen window needs refilled.

Very sad to hear of Roy's passing, will definitely miss his contributions here ...

 

[sodamo]

66°F and .29 inches rain.

Never rained hard yesterday, just in an annoying on and off way all day.

Trip to town was a success, but forgot being a Fed holiday the PO would be closed. Still a good stop as our state tax rebate was in the box.

Took advantage of the wx and set up my new MacBook Air to replace my 2013 model. The fact I had upgraded the hard drive to 1T years ago made Migrating to a 256g drive a challenge, but I finally got it done (I think)
If this one last me 9 years I wonder what computers will be like?

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[PJSprog]

It was 29°F and snowing this morning. SNOWING! There was the possibility of some snow in the overnight forecast between 2-4pm, but it was still snowing at 8am. We ended up with 7 inches. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow this early. To think we had a record high of 84° just three days ago.

Got the top of the driveway cleaned off after breakfast, had a phone interview with a placement consultant about another job, then cleaned off part of the deck for the dogs to get out to the yard.

Guess it's time to put the heater back in the chicken coop, so I'll do that today as well. Not sure what else I'll get into beyond that. Limited outside options today.

Wife finally got her new KitchenAid Classic mixer earlier this week. She's been talking about wanting one for years, but never thought we had the space for it. A little creative rearranging of the countertop occupants fixed that. She's loving it. Can't say that I hate it either, as her mashed potatoes are a whole new level of creamy now.

Still not caught up with the reading here yet.

Good afternoon, gents.

 

[txdon]

Look who just got to the "Farm".

 

[Thomas]

It was 29°F and snowing this morning. SNOWING! There was the possibility of some snow in the overnight forecast between 2-4pm, but it was still snowing at 8am. We ended up with 7 inches. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow this early. To think we had a record high of 84° just three days ago.

View attachment 770140
View attachment 770141

No thanks passing the left overs of storm my way.

 

[Thomas]

When I had my cardiac arrest 8 years ago, I came back with a very different perspective of life. A really different way of thinking.

Had my cardiac arrest 10/15/10 it was bad,also and still do "very different perspective of life".