Good morning!!!!

[gstrom99]

Need to get more firewood stacked.

View attachment 772773

Nice pile 'o wood. I don't double up, because I then can't use the "first in - first out" selection method.

Going up to 49F today, then a front hits and the bottom drops out, with wind advisory for 55mph gusts. Gun season one starts tomorrow.

 

[PJSprog]

43°F and cloudy this morning, going up to 54° today. Looks like it's going to be a windy one.

Have a date with The Wife today! We're going to see a matinee movie, then dinner somewhere as yet undetermined. Been a long time (pre-alligatoritis) since we've gone to see a movie.

I have a cheap Energizer LED headlamp that I've been using for about 15 years now. Very handy when you're trying to fix things in tight and dark spaces.

Nice pictures, gents.

Good morning, all.

 

[sodamo]

65°F and .32 inches rain.

Off to town this morning. Appointment with eye Doc, some sort of tape test that measures my droopy eyelids and start process for surgery.

Will do some food shopping and stop by brewery to swap out empty keg.

Canadien friends , that was Dave with the PW wand, coming for dinner and cards.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[sodamo]

Frits, awesome stack of wood

 

[rswyan]

47F and sunny right at the moment, heading up to a high of around 49F. Of course it will feel chilly with winds out of the south @ 10 - 20 mph.

Did not get hopper feeder refilled yesterday ... so that's definitely on the list today.

Amazon arrived yesterday while Woman was out and dropped off two boxes. One was a (partial) order we had placed for the utensils which are safe for non-stick cookware plus suet that comes wrapped without the plastic tubs ... which was a special request from The Woman (She's getting tired of cleaning the plastic tubs so they be recycled, sending the fat down through the septic isn't good for it anyways)

The other was Her Christmas present ...

Still waiting on the rest of the order (more utensils and the anti-fungal powder for the tubers/corms) but Amazon now says that will be here Sunday - which is a day earlier than what they were originally predicting ...

Got what I thought were the last two dahlias removed from their grow bags so they could dry, discovered that I had forgotten about the one dahlia that She had saved from the previous year ... so still have that one to do.

Also got the sanding done on the mud yesterday, both spots will need a skim coat which I will get put on today.

Once Woman got back from the store I helped Her unload the groceries and get them inside.

After that I headed downstairs and continued on with maintenance/clean up in the fish room. One of the LED tubes we picked up from Wally World was DOA so that will have to be returned for an exchange at some point.

She came down at some point and worked some more on unloading the shelves and moving things into the closet.

Got lots more algae removed, sponge filters and a bunch of glass cleaned, and all the rest of the water I had drawn put into the tanks, also drew another 18 gallons which will get put in today.

Just finished helping Her move the Spike Plant in from the garage to the dining room, now just have to move the Elephant Ear plant in there from entry way. She's now looking to repot some of coleus ... while we have a bunch of potting mix inside and available.

Agenda for the rest of the day:

Refill that hopper feeder.

Take Cub and dump cart over to the pole barn and retrieve the small compressor and bring it over to the house.

Move more grow bags downstairs so they can be washed out in the stationary tubs.

Do the annual drain the sediment out of the hot water heater. See if I can locate where the anode is so it can be replaced.

Change out/add water to fish tanks.

More filter cleaning.

Hope everyone has a good Friday ...

 

[m7040]

The appointment with the Cardiologist went well. We both are fine with cholesterol, kidney function, liver function, blood pressure, EKG results. Recommended that I have another stress test in 6 months or so.The last one was 4 years ago.
Like he said you are aging gracefully. Our daughters comments below:

Y’all are hidden gems.
Sassy. But I’ll keep you.

 

[pennwalk]

Its a blue sky day. 43F. Pretty nice afternoon.(Amazing how our standard for pretty nice changes as the season advances.)
I got the scattering of leaves in the front yard chopped up. Now I am waiting for the EGO battery to charge up so I can hit the backyard.

We went out and got a Christmas tree this morning. My wife is not going to be doing last minute Christmas this year.

"A price war between Circle k and the Texan gas stations. It may have come down more yet. It was $2.69/gallon here and diesel $3.95/gallon today."

WOW, I wish a price war would break out here.

Good day to you all.

Chris

 

[LouNY]

Morning to all,
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas season, guess I'll have to start shopping in a few days.
Been staying busy in the house till this week got the Kitchen remodel and living room touch up done.
Easy way to spend as more money as my first house.
Now getting a garage resided 50 sheets of T1-11 and a couple of new windows.
Gas still $3.80 a gallon here and diesel at $5.70, kerosene at a ridiculous $7.10

 

[txdon]

The Dr. confirmed plantar fasciitis and gave me an injection in the heel and a good taping and sent me on my way with instructions to take it easy today. Feels better already.

Now the next problem which is not easy to fix. Mom's cell phone not ringing and AT&T cannot let me help because I'm not an authorize user and sending to confirm on her phone does not work because it is not receiving. A loop even the supervisor's supervisor could not figure out how to get out of. At least she can still make calls out.

 

[daugen]

went out and hoed the little raised garden, nice to get some exercise with a little sun on my face.
got all the muffins made for the school Snowflake Festival tomorrow. In the rain...

chocolate ones very good but cooked too much. A little crunchy.
found these nice muffin boxes on amazon, they work pretty well, like the fact you can see in them.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

BEF, I hear that land calling.

So do I , but rain tomorrow. I still got a cough, now looks like wife is getting it, and she’s not happy about that.

17° when I left for work. Car showed 51° leaving work. High at home was 49°, dropped to 42° already.

So bored at work today.

 

[KilroyJC]

How low can you turn it down and still be burning on the catalyst. Do you run it on low with the catalyst off? Says for up to 2400 sq ft. Just wondering

Daily routine:

around 5-6PM I add some wood to the remaining coals and get the flue temp up to about 325-350 and then flip to cat operation. After about 20swconds, the stove starts to take off and I have to turn the air supply down by about 75% or it will start roaring and shaking in runaway fashion! This is with 3-4 pieces of wood. Once it stabilizes, I can reduce the air to about 15% for another hour or two (Depending).

just before heading to bed, i distribute the coals and then I stuff in enough wood to fill the firebox, and cut the air down to about 4%. That will burn all through the night and when I get up around 5:30 there is a 2-3 inch bed of coals remaining, and the flue temp is usually still in the 225-250 range, and I can add another piece or two to start the day in cat operation. If the temp is 200 or less, I’ll add a couple of extra pieces, go back to open exhaust and open the air to about 30%.

SHORT ANSWER:
I can run in cat with the air almost completely cut off.

 

[KilroyJC]

The appointment with the Cardiologist went well. We both are fine with cholesterol, kidney function, liver function, blood pressure, EKG results. Recommended that I have another stress test in 6 months or so.The last one was 4 years ago.
Like he said you are aging gracefully. Our daughters comments below:

Y’all are hidden gems.
Sassy. But I’ll keep you.

I get a stress test every time I turn on the news. . . If I don’t throw something through the screen, I passed

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I get a stress test every time I turn on the news. . . If I don’t throw something through the screen, I passed

I rarely turn tv on any more.

 

[txdon]

Problem 2 (mom's phone) fixed. Ring volume was turned all the way down. Had the guy that runs cattle on her place drop by and he checked it out. Saved me 3 hours of driving. Strange how the ringer got turned off, she never messes with it and did not know where it was on her antique flip phone and of course AT&T could not tell me the model # of the phone so I could look it up.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

went out and hoed the little raised garden, nice to get some exercise with a little sun on my face.
got all the muffins made for the school Snowflake Festival tomorrow. In the rain...

chocolate ones very good but cooked too much. A little crunchy.
found these nice muffin boxes on amazon, they work pretty well, like the fact you can see in them.

New Hope is a beautiful town, everyone should look it up, all the nice homes, etc. Right on the NJ border.
6.5 hour drive for us but worth it for those muffins!

 

[rswyan]

47F and mostly cloudy @ 17:30.

Hopper feeder refilled.

Air compressor, hoses, and some other items moved over to the house from the pole barn and put inside the basement.

Woman brought in some items that were sitting out back.

Got some rough measurements taken back in the utility room. The length on that outer south wall in that room looks to be just under 15', height is just under 7.5'.

After that, a slight change in plans: since it was fairly tolerable outside temp-wise we collected up five of the remaining plants in pots and got them put in the ground over in the east planting bed. Three hosta of various types, one astilbe, and one that was supposed to be an Alexander's Great Brunera (which I think is actually an astilbe)

Then we did some clean up out front (still a ways to go), also pumped up the front tires on the hay wagon and took the little dump cart over to the pole barn and parked it in there.

Now heading downstairs to get back into fish room work and other mischief ...

 

[daugen]

I wonder what the operating temp range is on my Makita air compressor. Maybe I should bring it in too.
Like I did all my waxes and freezables.
Things sure seem to make a lot more friction when cold, wonder how the piston rings in compressor do in cold weather.
Don't want to find out. I did all the tires a while ago while it was warmer.
you certainly can't bring in a big air compressor. The one on the farm in NC, a nice one, I had to turn it off when near freezing and be careful to keep
draining the condensation water.

nowhere in here does it say minimum operating temp:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001Q2VPK?tag=911metallurgist-20&th=1&geniuslink=true

 

[KilroyJC]

How low can you turn it down and still be burning on the catalyst. Do you run it on low with the catalyst off? Says for up to 2400 sq ft. Just wondering

I forgot to mention that I also added outside air intake, which greatly reduces drafts because the fire is consuming air fed by a pipe which comes into the foundation, up through the floor, and into the back of the stove. Well worth the extra effort!

 

[Wagtail]

Good (Saturday) morning. Overnight Low of 9.5C and it's presently 23C, clear sky with a slight breeze.

I did get in a tip run yesterday. Today is a trip up to St Marys for an afternoon Christmas get-together... I'll have to use Elephant Pass to get there as the St Marys Pass is still closed and being worked on to shore up some major road undermining + a lot of rock caissons to hopefully prevent future landslips. 'They' are guesstimating it will re-open around Christmas..

That's about it, take care all.