Good morning!!!!

[m7040]

Good morning! 20 now, high of 31 today. Not sure about that prediction.

Frits will appreciate this one….

I never could grasp Turkish. I dealt with a steel mill a lot in SW Turkey. I knew the people and their lack of maintenance. I also knew the broker who sold machines there. He had an interpreter that I took a dislike to and didn’t trust what he was telling me. The broker had a service company that was very good and I had become friends with the owner. Sadik was smart, learned I could trust him. He understood English, but could barely speak English. But he let me know I was right about interpreter.

Near the end of a long visit to the mill, we had a meeting with their equipment people. I was tired and was really irritated with our broker as I felt his company was not being supportive. The meeting started off poorly when I told our broker and his interpreter that the only thing wrong with the machines was “the mill has no f@#$ing maintenance program”. Being in Turkey for a first thing in the morning meeting, they served Turkish coffee. I drank my first cup straight, no milk, no sugar. I asked for another as the meeting was really testy. I ended up drinking 5 cups of Turkish coffee. I noticed the meeting started going vastly better and the mill people even admitted they had “no f@#$ing maintenance program”. After it was over, Sadik, owner of the service company, had one of his technicians (who did speak good English) tell me the tone of the meeting changed because the mill people decided that anyone who could drink 5 cups of Turkish coffee straight was to mean to argue with.

Shortly afterwards, Sadik was awarded a contract to do all of the service and maintenance on their mobile equipment.

That wasn’t the only interpreter that I had trust issues with. One in Greece convinced me to try to pick up some of the language.

Everyone stay safe out there!

I follow your story and can recognize the interactions at the meeting. I was on the other side as the buyer of equipment and maintenance or installation was always an issue the suppliers brought up as a defense for warranty repairs. Not being able to pass on warranty to suppliers creates problems on the prime contract

 

[Rich B1]

Equipment used in a steel mill have a very clearly defined end of warranty. In that meeting, the 2 machines they were upset about were out of warranty. Both had multiple problems, all clearly maintenance related. I had already had the laptop connected to both of them and the stored codes told a story of lack of maintenance. The most telling was the amount of overheat codes. Both machines had plugged radiators and oil cooler and fan clutches inoperative due to contamination.

They weren’t the first, pretty typical in most mills everywhere. North American mills are just as bad, some cases are even worse.

 

[txdon]

This just in;
Special weather statement in effect for:
Consider altering plans through the holiday weekend as travel conditions may become dangerous. Extensive utility outages are possible. Temperatures Friday night into the weekend will likely be the coldest of the season to date.

What temps are they predicting?


Here is our Thursday weather statement:

Day: Some clouds early mostly sunny along with windy conditions during the afternoon. Morning high of 53F with temps falling sharply to near freezing. Winds NW 20 to 30 MPH. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 MPH.
Evening: Clear skies gusty winds early low 14F. Winds N at 20 to 30 MPH.

It's even suppose to get down to 19F in El Paso where they have declared a state of emergency. It's even suppose to freeze in far South Brownsville TX. Ron did it ever freeze when ya'll were in far South Texas?

 

[scaredychicken]

Looking4New - i'm coming to your place for coffee. Kahlua is my fave

rswyan - She also made chocolate peanut butter fudge and I got to lick the pan and spatula ... Unfortunately though, She went over to neighbor's for dinner and left all the fudge there ...
- I agree, that's just not right

 

[m7040]

Equipment used in a steel mill have a very clearly defined end of warranty. In that meeting, the 2 machines they were upset about were out of warranty. Both had multiple problems, all clearly maintenance related. I had already had the laptop connected to both of them and the stored codes told a story of lack of maintenance. The most telling was the amount of overheat codes. Both machines had plugged radiators and oil cooler and fan clutches inoperative due to contamination.

They weren’t the first, pretty typical in most mills everywhere. North American mills are just as bad, some cases are even worse.

We bought most of the fabricated steel from China but the last one I did was from Prospect steel in Arkansas to have better control of changes.
Worked out well. Delivered 4000 ton of steel shipped to Ohio

 

[Looking4new]

txdon;

temps are ranging between 5°F, tonight to 41°F on the 23rd.
https://weather.gc.ca/forecast/hourly/on-139_metric_e.html

 

[Wagtail]

Good mid (Tuesday) arvo. Overnight Low of 9C and it's presently 19C, overcast with a constant breeze. There was 0.4mm in the gauge at 0900.

The trip into town yesterday was productive: My Nespresso coffee order had arrived at the PO, we then went to the Providore for some local meat then had a quick lunch at "Banjo's" bakery (meat pies, yum). Then did a somewhat large food shop at the grocery (meals planned for a good portion of the week coming) and then over to the bottle-O to pick up a case of beer & a couple of bottles of sweet sparkling wine for my neighbour/hosts for Christmas day.

Whilst my Aunt had a nap, I drove the beer/bubbly over to the neighbours house as they've got a larger fridge capacity, then I got stuck into tree branch collection from around the property.

The evening was spent drinking very smooth, triple filtered Bundaberg rum & coke, watching a T20 (limited over) cricket game.

Today has been dedicated to removing a good portion of the vine that has got way out of control on the front of my house. It's probably going to take a few days. But that's the reason that I bought that adjustable ladder at AGFEST last August.

That's it for now, take care all.

 

[Wagtail]

Oh, and I remembered to ask my Aunt about tipping on a cruise ship. Yes, there is a 'tipping' surcharge (Holland-America Line) of C$300, which her tour company included in the package. That was C$300 total for the 40 day cruise and you were free to add your own gratuity as the occasion arose.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 44ºF for the start, overcast, light breeze. light to moderate wind, overcast, and high temp was 48ºF. Take out trash to start day, then start fire in insert after ash clean up. No drafting issues putter and feed fire till town run time. Lunch, meds, groceries on agenda. Bike ride after get home, build fire up, and put away groceries. Nap after bike ride .
Frits thanks for the excellent explanation of the water cycle in the plant. I recall airlines would not follow the procedure to change jet engines in DC10. Some of you may remember the resulting crash.
Helo hoarfrost not that common as wind rarely still. Most time here frost is probably rime ice forming on objects when water vapor condenses to ice. I did not follow World Cup
Billy no smoke detector alarms went off as it is in back by the bedrooms. I turned furnace down to shut off circulation fan. Smoke dissipated quickly, without smoke going down hallway to detector. Glad good family time at MIL house. Hope you get more wood split.
Drew glad jaw less pain. Sorry to hear you lost your landscaper. Also sorry about 207 electric bill . Understand about wood stove insert fells good last 2 days.
Bill enjoy your energy conserving. It seems to me there should be a way to verify if motor or switch is bad.
Bird temps were just as flat up here.
Kilroy glad chickens are going in voluntary, as opposed to forced. Hope you enjoyed your reading.
Buppies hope you have safe trip back. Christmas day temps are forecast to start recovery. Prayers sent.
Don sorry about the lack of clarity of Farm open or closed.
Paul thanks for movie set pics. Sorry to hear about your neighbors Christmas tree business. Hope business improves.
Ken glad Philly trip good, sorry about tree lot closed. Hope day job and panel install both went well.
Frits hope trip in town and wife Dr visit went good. I was poor college student on small enduro bikes so no heated clothing.
Jim glad you found power cord. Hope chimney guy has good news.
Rich great story about dealing with Turkish people. Never had Turkish coffee.
Ken thanks for link and info.
Frits glad daughter not on bombed bus. What is being served in pic?
David hope Zoom happy hour went well and dinner with Sophie.
Scaredy not the weather you want to have a wreck in.
Bill thanks for recipe.
Ron sorry about door lock issues, hope new lock fixes problem. Hope Sassy doe not give to much trouble before Christmas grooming. Just going to be cold here. Nice Yellow Ear pic.
RS glad batch 2 of enchilada better than first one. Sorry about fudge left at neighbors Hope you had productive day.
Gstrom really sorry about chainsaw. I can but shake my head Good luck fixing it.
Bill enjoy your winter storm
Thomas sorry about long day at work. Dump sounds expensive.
Dennis and tea was taxed more than coffee.
Frits neat service station and pics
Frits same daughter that went to Egypt?
Rich most places good maintenance programs hard sell.
Don our temps will start the fall about 6AM, and drop to 10ºF at midnight.
Randy(wag) glad town run was successful. Hope vine trimming went well.
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle /Daughter, /mom's breathing, /learning new job, /friends upcoming new baby, /son's migraines, Bird /aging issues, Don /brother medical procedure, Ron /broken arm and heart, Billy /mom hypertension & congestive heart failure, David(moss) /remodel, /divorce, Buppies /new skin cancer spot and treatment, /elbow healing, /wife knee healing, Thomas /gout, Phil /reflux, /wife's eyes and fall, Frits/ daughters hip replacement /veteran son with mental issues, Ken /dad possible dementia, /uncle's surgery, Steppenwolfe /son-auto immune disorder, Grev /wife's eye, Ted /knee recovery, /retirement & disability red tape, /family issues, /wife feeling bad, Lou /eye issues, Doug and wife/health issues, / hand nerve and surgery, /fall and recovery, / wife headaches and heart eval, / David(sadamo)/Sophie's new eye surgery recovery, Chris /neighbor's granddaughter and Covid issues, Scaredy/shoulder dislocation, /marriage not doing well, / friend stop drinking, Paul/ wife's healing from back surgery, Dennis /retirement, /coughing, /neighbor issues, /land development, / brother "alligallyitus" and back in hospital, Drew /foot heel issues, /friend's wife cancer diagnosis and recovery, mike /wife's surgery, Scotty, /back pain, Frits /daughter recovery from surgery, Helogabals /second opinion, /wife's friend situation, Mark /wife colon surgery, Fatjay /father broken hip, Ukraine war, and Country.

 

[Looking4new]

Good morning, the low temp is 16 (forecast 5) and the high to 28°F. Wind WSW 3 mph. 40% chance of flurries. Light snow starting near noon today, about 1" expected.

We don't 'do' Christmas presents in this house. Both of us feel that the wrapping paper is a colossal waste of money. Yesterday Junior handed me a cigarette case. It is one of the flat ones that opens up and both sides holds ten. I had one of the box ones (like a pack of Lucky Strikes hard box) but they have a tendency to fall out of my shirt pocket, so I gave it to him. The day after boxing day we will be going to North Bay, weather permitting and I will buy lunch. All totalled Christmas will have co$t me about $150.oo

I am up way too early again, but the good news is that I can go back to bed.

I am thinking seriously about putting a sliding screen door on the front of the house. I can't have a swing open door because the snow load off the roof dumps right in front of the doorway. With the slider I can put 1/8" Plexiglas to cover the screen in Winter and make it into a storm door. 1/4" hardware screen on the inside so the cats wont destroy the bug screening and real bug screen on the outside. It is just a matter of figuring out a latching system that will work both in and outside the door. That will be a spring project.

Well, it is back to bed for me, have a good day all