Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

And with the yucky weather, ground saturated to the point walking is squishy and mole tunnels erupt like volcanos when you step on them.....I am staying inside today.

I had one erupt on me today, too.

 

[rswyan]

Temp in the garage was down to 35F this morning.

There were five of them of out there this morning:

​

Just filled up a bucket with the last of the whole corn to refill their feeder.

Will probably wait until it's late in the day so the squirrels don't clean it out before the deer have a chance to get to it.

Out of safflower seed and low on sunflower as well. I see a trip to Menards in the offing.

Coffee made.

Woman picked up a couple of bags of Peet's whole bean. Must have been on sale.

It's Major Dickinson's this morning. Hope She approves ...

Working on getting the pegboard hooks over the tall workbench on the west all rearranged and stuff hung up.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 37F @ 6:00AM. Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 58F. Winds light and variable.

Curious 'happening': using a "Total Tools" birthday gift card I bought a LEATHERMAN Wave multitool (A$189.00)... all of a sudden I'm receiving FB adverts from an Aussie leathercraft company that makes leather belt pouches for, said multitool. Hmmmm... and, no, I don't have an 'Alexi' or 'Siri' thingy.

Are you using an ad blocker plugin with your web browser? I've had good luck with AdBlockPlus (free). No ads here on TBN, or FB, or anywhere.

And for perhaps the first time ever around here, the U.S. Post Office has announced there will be no mail deliveries until further news.

Yet another sign of the approaching apocalypse...

worked on MIL's USDA Census of Agriculture..."Mandatory due by February 6, 2023." Anyone have to ever fill one of these out? 24 pages, what a bear. So many questions Do Not pertain to agriculture, either, but are what I'd politely call NOSY.

Does the form say you have to answer the questions completely and truthfully? And if you don't, are they gonna come knocking and take you away?

Block heater for the tractor plugged in, I'll go out and plow about noonish.

That reminds me of something that happened in town last week. I came out of the grocery store and as I walked up to the truck, I noticed something hanging down from the front bumper. It was a 120V plug, and I can only assume it goes to a block heater. I've had the truck a dozen years now, and never saw it before. It was probably being held somewhere out of the way with a plastic zip tie that finally gave up the ghost. I retucked it, but thank for the reminder that I need to do something more substantial with it.

Pretty birds, Doug. Are they quiet at night? Saw a video just yesterday of a man stomping a bird cage flat while a Cockatiel screamed obscenities at him. It was in my Facebook feed somehow. Anyone's guess of how it got there.

Installed the fifth replacement hard drive into the file server yesterday. Turns out there's a lawsuit, or was, claiming Western Digital didn't make people aware that this kind of drive wasn't suitable for using in file servers. But I'm too late to the party to claim a benefit. And none of the drives I've replaced so far have been within the warranty. They've all gone bad with either bad block or SMART errors, and this last one has lasted 2000+ days. Quite a bit of variation in the life spans; the first one went out at only 1300 hours.

Got a pretty prompt and useful response from Pfister yesterday with information on replacing the shower valve that broke on the back porch when the porch roof went flying. Very rare to find a company that actually answers email, at least in my experience. The good news is that the valve is easy to replace (they also sent a link to a video), and only costs thirty-five bux. I had Moen faucets in the last house, which were guaranteed for life, but that cost seventy-five bux. You had to mail the old one in before you could get a replacement, though. And if the shutoffs to that fixture didn't work, well, you can guess the rest.

Speaking of flying porch covers, updated the personal property damages list, adding ages for the broken items. I had receipts for some of the stuff, found dated photos of some of them, but a few I just had to make a WAG. It's all about depreciation, and how many pennies the insurance company will save by not making me whole for the loss.

Headed south again this weekend, this time to meet a realtor and look at some houses. Two of the ones I'd hoped to take a look at have already gone pending. Not surprising, as most of what's on the market now has been for sale for quite a while. They're homes from the '50s and '60s that have seen very few upgrades, and for which the sellers expect a king's ransome. But this trip is mainly to meet the realtor, and get a better feel of who he's working for. My expectations aren't very high based on what communication we've had so far, so I've already put out some feelers for someone with a little more initiative.

Looking forward to today's meeting with contractor and civil engineer. Might get to town for groceries, or might just let it slide until I get back next week. But I still need to make a shake down ride on the touring bike, so might kill two birds with one stone.

Hmmm, Hump Day already?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 18°, going up to 43°. Sunny, no precip, no wind... should be a nice day!

Mark, prayers sent for the wifey's speedy recovery.

Fritz, prayers sent your way too! Hope the wifey is ok....

Drew, that pool sure looks inviting.... even though it's only 24° here now.

Don, thanks for the ice pictures.... that storm system just brushed by us... now I'm glad it did! Stay safe and be careful!

Going to try and get out to the shop today. I need to pick up the GS's at school today, early dismissal. They'll stay with us until dad gets home from work. Of course, they'll get some snacks.......

RNG, best of luck for your meeting today. Hope they provide some answers to what should be involved in the repair. Realtors are tough to grade... there are great ones and not so great. Always hard to peg who they are working for....

 

[wngsprd]

Yes, I filled out Mom's. Since she leases her land out I had to answer questions on only 2 pages. There is a thread about it on TBN here:

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/threads/anyone-get-usda-forms-to-fill-out.461566/

Thanks. Interesting perspectives.

 

[check]

Good morning. Went down to 0° last night, going up to a balmy +12° today. We keep getting little bits of snow, almost constantly for the past several days. And because of the cold, it is sticking around. We have maybe 16 inches on the ground, and the driveway is now nice and clear since I blew it out, but the nice thing is that the snow is sticky and crunchy so I don’t have to worry about slipping around when I’m driving the truck out of the driveway.

Wife may come up this weekend, but she was hesitating when I told her it was going down to -33°C Friday night! But that has now been revised to -28°C so she says maybe that’s not so bad(!).

In any case for sure we will have to put Jasper’s booties on and also his faux sheepskin coat. It looks hilarious for his first few steps out the door, because it looks like he’s trying to walk without touching the ground! But then he gets used to it after a few seconds and off we go!

It is now February, which means next month, Spring starts!

Have a bunch of computer work to do today, plus going on the recombinant bike for an hour. Then out to get firewood for tonight‘s fire, and will cook a marinated spatchcocked chicken tonight- mmmm! Maybe even share a bit with the dog. But first I will sit out on the deck in the freezing cold all bundled up, and watch the sunset, while having a Caesar (the Canadian equivalent of your Bloody Mary, only more spicy, with Clamato instead of tomato juice).

Have a nice hump day everyone!

 

[Looking4new]

I am back up from my 'power nap'. Went back to bed at 6 and got up at 10:30, some power nap.

We got about 4" overnight and that was on top of the 2" from yesterday.

You guys that got the freezing rain, be CAREFUL. Although it looks pretty on the trees it can be a killer, too. Did I mention how much I hate that stuff??

I've got a hydraulic leak I need to find and fix. I can see the evidence on the snow. A little spot here and a little spot there after the hydraulic oil gets warmed up good. Probably a fitting that needs tightening. I have it narrowed down to the right side of the tractor (when you are sitting behind the wheel). That covers a multitude of fittings.

 

[sodamo]

66°F and .02 inches rain.

Got a good start on my PV wiring yesterday until the rain kept me off the metal roof. Would like to get that finished today depending on the wx. May have a conflict as I had suggested we visit the Waimea farmers market today where our chocolatier friends have their wares.

Dinner with friends was excellent. Her baked ziti quite reminiscent of something my Mom made and we called American Chop Suey. She made with elbow macaroni instead of ziti. I overate.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Maybe the coop is too hot for them? You might try leaving the heat off for a couple of days.

My new 250' lb torque wrench came today, time to tighten up some nuts. My other one wouldn't go to 166 lbs, so that is the reason I got the new one. Both are 1/2" drive, the smaller one of the two is 40 years old. I will cross check the old one with the new one on the front wheels of the tractor.

Let us know how your torque wrench works out and what brand you bought. I need a 1/2" drive one myself, I already have 1/4 and 3/8 cheapy Harbor Freight and they do alright for my needs.
The coop is not too hot. It might warm up to 60's if all the doors are shut and they are in there.

Wife is home and doing well, thanks for the prayers...Took out 10" of her colon..She looks like a pin cushin with 5 holes around the navel about 1-1/2" long and 1 long 4" cut at ****** level.. Only problem is sitting up to get out of bed..She is walking around and doing well..Doctor was pleased with everything.. Again thanks for prayers..


Mark

Prayers for continued healing.

Good Morning!!!! 37F @ 6:00AM. Clouds and some sun this morning with more clouds for this afternoon. High 58F. Winds light and variable.

Are you using an ad blocker plugin with your web browser? I've had good luck with AdBlockPlus (free). No ads here on TBN, or FB, or anywhere.

Yet another sign of the approaching apocalypse...

Does the form say you have to answer the questions completely and truthfully? And if you don't, are they gonna come knocking and take you away?

That reminds me of something that happened in town last week. I came out of the grocery store and as I walked up to the truck, I noticed something hanging down from the front bumper. It was a 120V plug, and I can only assume it goes to a block heater. I've had the truck a dozen years now, and never saw it before. It was probably being held somewhere out of the way with a plastic zip tie that finally gave up the ghost. I retucked it, but thank for the reminder that I need to do something more substantial with it.

Pretty birds, Doug. Are they quiet at night? Saw a video just yesterday of a man stomping a bird cage flat while a Cockatiel screamed obscenities at him. It was in my Facebook feed somehow. Anyone's guess of how it got there.

Installed the fifth replacement hard drive into the file server yesterday. Turns out there's a lawsuit, or was, claiming Western Digital didn't make people aware that this kind of drive wasn't suitable for using in file servers. But I'm too late to the party to claim a benefit. And none of the drives I've replaced so far have been within the warranty. They've all gone bad with either bad block or SMART errors, and this last one has lasted 2000+ days. Quite a bit of variation in the life spans; the first one went out at only 1300 hours.

Got a pretty prompt and useful response from Pfister yesterday with information on replacing the shower valve that broke on the back porch when the porch roof went flying. Very rare to find a company that actually answers email, at least in my experience. The good news is that the valve is easy to replace (they also sent a link to a video), and only costs thirty-five bux. I had Moen faucets in the last house, which were guaranteed for life, but that cost seventy-five bux. You had to mail the old one in before you could get a replacement, though. And if the shutoffs to that fixture didn't work, well, you can guess the rest.

Speaking of flying porch covers, updated the personal property damages list, adding ages for the broken items. I had receipts for some of the stuff, found dated photos of some of them, but a few I just had to make a WAG. It's all about depreciation, and how many pennies the insurance company will save by not making me whole for the loss.

Headed south again this weekend, this time to meet a realtor and look at some houses. Two of the ones I'd hoped to take a look at have already gone pending. Not surprising, as most of what's on the market now has been for sale for quite a while. They're homes from the '50s and '60s that have seen very few upgrades, and for which the sellers expect a king's ransome. But this trip is mainly to meet the realtor, and get a better feel of who he's working for. My expectations aren't very high based on what communication we've had so far, so I've already put out some feelers for someone with a little more initiative.

Do you have an idea of what you'd like to move into? Barndo? Home with some land and small shop? I could ask another 64 questions, but I better leave it to a few at a time.
Hope your trip works out, and your property damage works out. It's sometimes hard to squeeze money out of insurance companies. I would think your place would bring a hefty price if you can find a buyer who appreciates all the off grid power and fire suppression money you've put into it. To bad you can't find an insurance company that appreciates it.

I live in a manufactured home. I did it in 2004 for property tax reduction reasons. I used to live in an Austin suburb (nice home) for 10 years and got fed up. Here in Lee County, my taxes were lowered a big amount 2-3 years ago, when my home reached 15 years of age and when the state lowered taxes. My property tax strategy has turned out to be a bargain. On a tangency, with all the inflation, a replacement manufactured home would cost $200,000. I need to up my home owners insurance now for how much my home would cost to replace. They are telling me that when the home reached 15 years old, they quit doing replacement cost insurance. The home is still in decent shape (needs new windows), but I've put on a metal roof and we hope to stick it out for the long haul. They said they might send the local office team out here to assess. I'm thinking everyone in a similar situation, has the same problem. Hopefully they'll offer to raise the limits of liability without much fuss for a reasonable amount.

I keep seeing manufactured homes going up in flames in our county. Seems like nearly 1 a month. Probably a multitude of reasons. We had a close call last week. We have an older Lakewood parabolic radiant heater we use in the bathroom. The other day I went to unplug it at the wall (GFCI), and the plug/cord nearly burned me. I believe the cord had internally shorted out, causing resistance, causing heat. Glad I caught it. I'm contemplating putting a new cord on it, but the internal connections are siamesed soldered with other wires. I'm afraid if I don't get it properly done, I could have a ticking fire starter. Don't want that.

We are having a winter warning day. I'm off work for the 2nd day in a row. Doing a little mastercam at home. the temp is hanging at 32F, and it is raining. The cold air mass only goes up about 1000ft altitude from ground. Above that, they said it is 50's. So no sleet but everything not connected to the ground is getting a layer of ice.

Have a great day.

Prayers for our team.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

These cold days are going to stunt the rose bushes that had already come out with fresh green leaves....

 

[kenmbz]

Ma

Let us know how your torque wrench works out and what brand you bought. I need a 1/2" drive one myself, I already have 1/4 and 3/8 cheapy Harbor Freight and they do alright for my needs.
The coop is not too hot. It might warm up to 60's if all the doors are shut and they are in there.

Prayers for continued healing.

Do you have an idea of what you'd like to move into? Barndo? Home with some land and small shop? I could ask another 64 questions, but I better leave it to a few at a time.
Hope your trip works out, and your property damage works out. It's sometimes hard to squeeze money out of insurance companies. I would think your place would bring a hefty price if you can find a buyer who appreciates all the off grid power and fire suppression money you've put into it. To bad you can't find an insurance company that appreciates it.

I live in a manufactured home. I did it in 2004 for property tax reduction reasons. I used to live in an Austin suburb (nice home) for 10 years and got fed up. Here in Lee County, my taxes were lowered a big amount 2-3 years ago, when my home reached 15 years of age and when the state lowered taxes. My property tax strategy has turned out to be a bargain. On a tangency, with all the inflation, a replacement manufactured home would cost $200,000. I need to up my home owners insurance now for how much my home would cost to replace. They are telling me that when the home reached 15 years old, they quit doing replacement cost insurance. The home is still in decent shape (needs new windows), but I've put on a metal roof and we hope to stick it out for the long haul. They said they might send the local office team out here to assess. I'm thinking everyone in a similar situation, has the same problem. Hopefully they'll offer to raise the limits of liability without much fuss for a reasonable amount.

I keep seeing manufactured homes going up in flames in our county. Seems like nearly 1 a month. Probably a multitude of reasons. We had a close call last week. We have an older Lakewood parabolic radiant heater we use in the bathroom. The other day I went to unplug it at the wall (GFCI), and the plug/cord nearly burned me. I believe the cord had internally shorted out, causing resistance, causing heat. Glad I caught it. I'm contemplating putting a new cord on it, but the internal connections are siamesed soldered with other wires. I'm afraid if I don't get it properly done, I could have a ticking fire starter. Don't want that.

We are having a winter warning day. I'm off work for the 2nd day in a row. Doing a little mastercam at home. the temp is hanging at 32F, and it is raining. The cold air mass only goes up about 1000ft altitude from ground. Above that, they said it is 50's. So no sleet but everything not connected to the ground is getting a layer of ice.

Have a great day.

Prayers for our team.

Many of the plug in heaters are 1500+Watts, which on a 15A circuit is full load.

The plug will always get hot when the heater is on high for a long time and many people don't realize that those outlets/plugs can burn.

My little heater on a 20A circuit, the plug stays relatively cool, on the 15A it will burn you.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Do you have an idea of what you'd like to move into?

You do know I'm an engineer, right?

Back in 2010 when I bought this place, I put together a spreadsheet with criteria that were important to me. The usual basic stuff like cost, location, price, size, number and kind of rooms, etc. Then I added a bunch of things about the area, like terrain, distance to various things (like Home Depot, groceries, hospital, etc.). Then things like motorcycle roads, attractions, fun things to do nearby. And things I didn't want, like close neighbors, HOA, flat roof, that sort of thing. Well, now that list has grown to 52 items, with links to various websites that have information on crime statistics, hospital quality, fire safety, Public Safety Power Shutoffs, weather/climate, and a bunch more. For any home I'm seriously considering, I'll take the hour or two needed to gather up all that info, then stew on it a while before I even think about taking a look in person.

It's worth the effort, as I hope this'll be my forever home. It better be: The last move nearly killed me, and this one's gonna be even worse!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My mistake, we did have a blizzard in the night

Got a couple Amazon returns dropped off. Went on a Mission for BBQ for lunch, then gas and Costco trip.

Still sunny and just hit 36°

 

[Mark P.]

Good Morning - currently 43° going to 45°

Wife is getting better everyday, again thanks for the prayers..
I went to ortho doc this morning for my wrist, been sore for a month, figured it would get better but hasn't.
Got xray and tendons were inflamed - cortizone shot into hand at ring finger and a wrist wrap to keep it from moving to much..not how I wanted to start day- hand is sore from the shot...

Pop - that is a great deal on subsoiler

Kilroy - is their a brand of pickled eggs you would buy if you were in a desperate need...

Everybody have a great day..

Mark

 

[pennwalk]

Kyle, I always thought Texas was southern but you guys keep getting hammered by old man winter. I thought Texas was one of the low tax states. Might as well live in Pennsylvania if you want winter and high taxes.

Chris

 

[m7040]

The first thing today was getting the RTV 1100 loaded up with firewood from the airline baggage carts up on the hill and load up the tub inside.
The mini split may be here end of week for an install as early as next week.
Yesterday we ordered Brisket from Mission BBQ for lunch. It was ok but not as good as our own. Not a lot of smoke flavor. Used to fly into Austin a lot and always looked up Salt Lick for the best brisket around. They use Mesquite wood for the smoker.
Also upgraded the access road for bringing down fill for the pad across from the tree cutting neighbor. I want to seriously lengthen and widening the pad and then park the two ugly American Airlines baggage carts there to block his view. Then on the inside of that will extend our wood fence a couple of sections to block our view of the carts. Then on the property line will drill in 8 inch poles that I already have on hand that are about 10 ft tall. Then a row of forsythias and then there is the row of Leeland Cypress already planted.

 

[Thomas]

M7040... hope mrs. getting around better now.

 

[Thomas]

Saw on the news icy mess Midwest south states dealing with strong thoughts for warmer weather for you folks.

 

[Thomas]

22F cloudy. low teens over night.

Short work day was blurr,afterwards dump run and 2 stops for critter food,spent couple hours giving wood furnace darn good cleaning before cold snaps arrives,this evening just going to numb it.

Enjoy your evening all.

 

[m7040]

Let us know how your torque wrench works out and what brand you bought. I need a 1/2" drive one myself, I already have 1/4 and 3/8 cheapy Harbor Freight and they do alright for my needs.

I have a CDI 250 ftlb torque wrench . Works great. It is good practice to offload it after each use and calibrate it once in while with a luggage scale.

cditorque.com