Good morning!!!!

[daugen]

I am ready to tighten

I am also ready to spray more grub control now in front lawn after killing most in back yard.
there must be some kind of yummy bug under there for them to dig this up like this. I found bits of wood several feet away.
I really need a big backhoe...
going to be quite the hole out there when I finally rip that stump out.
as it rots into its final years.
my approach has been civil. I have put flowers on top.
But now the ground is crumbling
Might take a while with my Makita cordless chain saw.

Or perhaps just drill a deep one inch hole down the center, drop in a stick and get on other side of house.
I bet that would work. And I'm sure the township supervisors who are across the street and down maybe 300 feet, they wouldn't mind
would they?

might need a blasting barrier to protect the house.

back to reality and legality, I need to figure out how to get Ken's little TLB up here for a day.
He might like to beat on this stump. I don't have any backhoe seat time
surprisingly. I rented trenchers when I needed to lay pipe or line.
Seemed to make less of a mess. But my younger friend with his lovely trailer might enable this.
This is right off my driveway coming in and easily accessible, thankfully.
Actually I'm going to repair this with some topsoil and bug killer and grass seed. It's right out my front door and I need to get it right.
I have time. The other stump ten feet behind this is a mess with pecked on chunks all over the lawn.
Organic carrion being picked on by the vultures.

as long as they function as plant stands, they are fine.
But if I rent a big backhoe I might take three of them out. Five. A five stump day.
I'm good with the soil prep and seeding.

Another bag of grub control in the spreader today
have to kill the food source.

 

[Buppies]

Drew you should have been a writer

 

[LouNY]

Good morning! 68˚F heading to 78˚ North wind partly cloudy. Hail last night but no rain.
The pic is of my Mom's hay field being mowed yesterday with this incredibly fast hay cutter - 20 acres in less than an hour.
Got moms mailbox relocated and her new pink (her favorite color) coffee machine set up. She really like the Tuna/no Tuna sandwiches with chickpeas and seaweed we made her for lunch and she made sure the leftovers stayed there. Delivered her some potatoes of course and had a good visit. The fields, hay and corn, look very good with the Spring rain coming just at the right times.
View attachment 801348

Yep, amazing the ground that can be covered with a half a million dollar mower then of course the $250,000 merger to be used along with that.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Pour a cup of warm coffee. 48° with partly cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 62° with a mix of sun and clouds. Got 1/2" badly needed rain overnight. Did take long to find something to do. Bule Heron showed up at Garden Pond. Have not had one for several years. Very persistent. Put out normal protection. Still came back. Now have wire crossing from one side of pond to other side. Will see if it works. Looks like fish count is now down to 9 from 11. Did get rake off tractor and put away in barn. Got invited to go to ice-cream shop. Never pass up that kind of invite. Strawberry sundae tasted very good.
Today I will be keeping a eye on Garden Pond and for Heron coming back. Will also be helping neighbor take down a over grown pine tree next to their house.
Unwelcomed visitor at Garden Pond.

Everyone stay well and safe.

Good Morning All,

Ron, great photo but....the 3 SSS come to mind. I can't talk, We've had multiple herons and greater egrets eating our fish for years.

Kilroy if you have a lot 20 feet by 25 feet equals 500 square feet divided by nine equals 55.5 round up 56 sq yds. For 4 inches compacted stone multiply 400 times 56 equals 22400 pounds divided by 2000 you get 11.2 tons round up 12 tons should do the job. Variations can occur for sandstone base vs granite. If granite add 10 percent to 12 ton number

59.9 this morning high in 70s rain and showers later. Nice work BEF lot looks good.

Cyst gone mostly sugar level running way too high 350 antibiotics really screwed me up working hard to get back down wears me out this roller coaster ride of up and down

m7040 and Jay prayers for wives and you all dedicated people you are

Kyle the ideals and what we were left with in this world our generation were not good stewarts at all. In my opinion instead of saving the world we really screwed it up.

Don nice things you are doing for your mom

Prayers for all silent or spoken our Country

Yes, the old Volvo that 7040 showed was a prime example of building cars to last. Hope you get your sugar level down.

Here's a question for you guys up north, why don't the manufacturers spend $20 more and put stainless or copper nickel brake lines on vehicles? They know the salt eats the plain steel type. Stainless Steel

My kids are worn out. My son has gone to the fair after school for 2 days in a row now, and he wants to go back today. I figured he'd be tired of it....just standing around, watching other groups of kids just standing around. LOL.

The senior daughter, her entire class got to go to Sea World yesterday. 3 busses full. They had a good time.

Need coffee, guess I will make my own. Wifey is worn out from painting and housework yesterday. She's not up yet.

 

[wngsprd]

57 and foggy...going to 82, likely rain tonight. Got sidetracked and didn't post this earlier, but had a chance to read even more posts.

Prayers for your wives, J and m70.

Nice job, Kil!

Looks good, BEF...nice wildlife there.

Kyle, I'm with you! Since '89, all of our vehicles have lasted over 12 years and 250K...the 4Runner was going strong at 366K when it was rear-ended and totaled. Dang, you gotta make your own cofffee...cruel world!

Ron, that's a beautiful cascade and pond, and my wife's favorite bird...therefore, my avatar. Sorry it is such a pest at your place. We have them fly over to the neighbor's pond a lot. I'll have to post the pic of "ours."

Buppies, glad your cyst is better. Looks like your bear might need a new name.

Looked into the cordless string trimmer some more...decided on the 60V...learned the battery is downward compatible with my other tools, and is quite stronger and longer lasting...which I need...plus got encouragement from my wife. Picked it up on the way to fill my trailer with 3 yards of mulch...nice clean pine bark. We picked up some other things on the list, then some 5 Guys while we were out, so overall made it a pretty expensive Thursday. Now the hard part...moving it from the trailer and spreading it.

Most of the years we’ve been here I’ve had 2 changes of clothes going, what I call Town clothes vs work clothes. Usually by the time I’m done with work clothes they aren’t even suitable rags. Lately I’ve noticed that sometimes the work clothes sneak into town if no holes. Just yesterday my trip to Kona I noticed my work jean shorts (stained by whole) were accompanied by a town shirt.

My wife insisted I change out of my work clothes just to go to HD and the mulch lot yesterday...says a lot about how bad off they are, too.

"...as I was motorvatin' over the hill..."

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 65F @ 5:15AM. Sunny. High near 90F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.

I only managed to get in a couple hours mowing on the tractor yesterday, JKC, and by the time I got off I was stiff and sore. Not as young as I used to be. Don't worry too much if you get some dirt mixed in with your gravel. It'll help the gravel pack down harder.

Government meddling is what got us into the engine mess we find ourselves in today, Kyle. Imagine what kind of life you could get out of an old school long stroke overbuilt V8 built on modern high precision tooling, without all the pollution controls and computers?

Beautiful flowers, RS. I'm especially fond of the irises...

Do herons taste like chicken, Ron? Might be time to find out...

Can you have camp fires at your place, Drew? If so, you could make rocket stoves out of each of your stumps and not cause much fuss for your neighbors.

Got a text from the contractor yesterday morning letting me know the stucco guy wants me to water down the scratch coat three times a day. I had tentative plans to attend a camp out, so those plans went out the window. And the watering involves climbing up on the roof, and I don't like heights, especially wet, slippery ones. So far I've managed not to Humpty Dumpty the climb, but I'm definitely not having fun.

Did the usual dance trying to get the bushog hooked up for the first time in over a year. The one where I jump on and off the tractor a hundred times trying to get the 3PH stuff connected, and then find out that the PTO shaft is stuck, both at the coupler and where the two parts are supposed to slip. Had to unhook everything, then use a ratchet strap to get the slip shaft to slip, and lots of Kroil to get the coupler moving again. I smelled like Kroil after that.

Ran over lots of dirt clods and rocks after that, not surprising after all the digging and grading last summer putting in the big water tank. And I didn't get the tractor anywhere near the deep road cut above the driveway, leaving that to the weed wacker. Even with that, I get a little dizzy when I get close to the edge. What I did cut came out looking like a bad haircut, mostly because I let the grass get too tall and it got pushed over instead of cut down. But now that the clods and rocks have been smoothed out, I can go over it again with the flail and clean it up. Still have more rough ground to cover, so hope to get that taken care of today.

I did make it to the Dodge dealer for a test drive yesterday, after a quick wash up and change of clothes. Met the fleet manager and one of his salesmen, both really nice guys. Ended up driving a 159" wheelbase high roof van almost 20' long, but between the good rear view mirrors and the backup camera, it was easy to drive. Good thing, too, as I had to back up three feet closer to a new car just to get out of the parallel park spot it was in, and the short turning radius made that easy, too. The engine didn't seem to have as much poop as the one I tried in the Transit, but both are rated at about the same horsepower. But this V6 made nice engine sounds when it got stepped on. This van had a metal divider between the cab and cargo area, and lots of metal shelves along the sides in back, so it was hard to tell how noisy an open van might be. But I heard more wind noise than anything once we got up to freeway speeds, probably from those giant mirrors. I got the salesman to show me some bumpy/pot holed roads, and the suspension was supple and smooth. That was a 3/4 ton truck, though, and he said that the one ton would ride a little stiffer. The one ton comes with a rear sway bar, but the 3/4 ton doesn't, but one can be added for not a lot of money. I'd be OK with either one. But that was the only one they had on the lot, and only a few were due in at some undetermined time in the future. The one I found in Idaho is relatively luxurious compared to what I drove, but it's advertised at a price below MSRP, so would at least be a fair deal. Just need to figure out how to get it home. There are cargo tie downs in the floor, and all I'd need to do is figure out a way to block the front wheel of a motorcycle, and get it into the back of the thing and tie it down...

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I have some horrible work clothes, that somehow sneak into town with me sometimes. Driving my hail damaged car, Crumpled Steelskin, has really lowered my humility and pride, and raised my humbleness levels.

 

[m7040]

Ron, great photo but....the 3 SSS come to mind. I can't talk, We've had multiple herons and greater egrets eating our fish for years.


Yes, the old Volvo that 7040 showed was a prime example of building cars to last. Hope you get your sugar level down.

Here's a question for you guys up north, why don't the manufacturers spend $20 more and put stainless or copper nickel brake lines on vehicles? They know the salt eats the plain steel type. Stainless Steel

My kids are worn out. My son has gone to the fair after school for 2 days in a row now, and he wants to go back today. I figured he'd be tired of it....just standing around, watching other groups of kids just standing around. LOL.

The senior daughter, her entire class got to go to Sea World yesterday. 3 busses full. They had a good time.

Need coffee, guess I will make my own. Wifey is worn out from painting and housework yesterday. She's not up yet.

Yes the old Volvo is great example of a car that will last. Wish I still had it, bought it for 1500 dollars. Drove 200000 miles and never broke down on me. Never had it at a repair shop or dealer It had the 1800 cc engine and I changed that to the 2 liter 4 cylinder. Upgraded that engine with complete balance ae job on all components, higher compression and ported head, more radical cam and it was a performer. Would do 90 MPH in third gear at max rpm. The highway patrol stopping us for 90 MPH clocked us over 25 miles was amazed but gave us a ticket anyway. The drum brakes were not very good by todays standard and faded on us in Zion Nation Park pretty bad but thankfully I had it geared down to control it. One time when we moved it towed the Volvo P1800 from San Fransisco to Houston with no problems using a tow bar. We filled the gas tank getting change back on 2 dollars. Suffered in Mohave desert days with the heat but added AC scrounged from junkyard components

On brake lines the Sprinter brake lines started to leak right over the gas tank and had to be changed. It also caused a failure of the gas tank with swelling of the nozzle for the fuel pump. Those plastic tanks will not do well with brake fluid on top of it

 

[daugen]

Frits,
I had a 244DL with a four speed, blue, blue cloth interior, and a burgundy Turbo wagon with tan leather interior.
I'm sure they are both still running. Early rwd turbo wagon challenging to drive in snow even with snow tires
when peaky boost kicked in. Early Mazda turbos were like that also.
I think P1800 one of the classic all time good looking sports cars.

bought the first Volvo when I was a new insurance agent. Then bought the turbo wagon when I earned some
decent money. Comfort of Buick Lesabre and Mercury Marquis then sucked me in and then a couple of Infiniti sedans.
Couldn't be fancy or loud, for sure not in church
parking lot.
am happy to be surrounded by a lot of air bags.
from what I read, Tesla has good airbags and protections, for such a low riding car.

Am early Lexus LS430 is a good value if nothing major wrong with it. I liked the quiet style, the glossy wood inside a little less.

and where shall I find my medically necessary therapeutically oriented massaging car seat.
I wonder who makes the best. I'm guessing MB.
Not just lumbar pulsing in and out, some have little control panels giving you a range of massage options.
I still get the squirms in my Volvo after three or four hours but that's due to a bad back at L5. I was actually wondering what an aftermarket
massage seat would be for the rv. I bet someone makes it.

Buppies, long ago my siblings told me to write novels.
Humbly it's perhaps more my being FOS, full of stuff...

 

[Buppies]

You are very knowledgeable Drew on lots of things and your writing skills are magnificent your teachers are to be commended

 

[daugen]

I also had a silver Saab 9000 for a few years, with a stick.
that was a nice car, not fast but fun to drive, felt very sturdy.
It's become a classic and more rare.
That Saab was also used as a platform for two other cars, so it had a lot of modern
engineering and safety built into it. I thought the 9000 was better looking than the 9-3.
But I would feel safe with family driving a classic 9-3 convertible. I see a few of those around here.
And before that the first gen Audi 5000, burgundy sedan, charcoal grey cloth interior, 5 cyl and a 5 speed.
Nicest car I had ever driven. True German engineering and wonderful handling.

I've never owned a Corvette.
if I sell the rv, that's a possibility.
If I sell the rv I have a garage again.
I would never have a really nice car and leave it outside.
But California still in planning for next year so truly miles to go before I sleep, in a Corvette...

Buppies, getting deep, I'm going for my waders.
Just got lucky having smart literate parents
I think I was really happiest in wood and metal shop.
but I read a great deal, have read heavily all my life, always want to learn more.
And as my body seems to fall apart at a steady pace
am hoping my marbles stick around.
There's still more to learn...

since I don't want anyone to die, a TBN murder mystery is out.
Perhaps the ghost of Bobby Doc, the drunken NC farmer, coming back to haunt
the new owners...
In the historic town of Washington, Beaufort Co, NC
and how my friend next door has a special little boy I happen to know
who goes out to shoo away the ghost. Driving his old Cub Cadet tractor
pulling his wagon full of ghost repeller.

and when that doesn't work, he comes back to Dad who says hop in son,
and they fire up the JD 5 series with the magic grapple from Everything Attachments.
It's specially engineered to grab ghosts.
and off they go.

that kind of story?...

the fun part is my BIL could illustrate such a tale wonderfully. I have praised him for years about my
apple tree avatar. He has already written the one children's book, with my very own Drewataur in it.
Time for him to illustrate the great TBN kid's books. Something you could give your grandkids, very PG.
Need to draw Muhammad into it, with discretion and respect, and hopefully humor.
I'm sure he must have some ghosts that need catching, so off goes the John Deere to Southern California with
the magic grapple.

a few details to work out. What does one bait a ghost with?

 

[jbrumberg]

Kyle- Thanks for the + thoughts. There are 100’s of psych “labels” none of them “good.” How about: “Anticipatory Anxiety”? Funny how it “disappeared” with the BF.

rswyn- Nice looking flowers despite the weeds.

RonJ- Thanks for the + thoughts and sharing your petty Blue Heron picture.

Buppies- Thank you for the +’s. I am happy to read that your cyst is resolving, but saddened about the med and blood sugar challenges.

Billy- Thanks for the +’s.

Drew- I always enjoy reading your posts.

It was a cloudy, drizzly 44ºF for this morning’s low temperature. These weather condition continue and it is 54ºF ATM. I anticipate a rainy afternoon with a high temperature in the low 60ºF’s.

I made the dump run earlier than normal in anticipation of the electrician’s arrival. He arrived on time and switched out the 2 60A fuses. He charged me 50% of what the installers would have charged, <$200. The system is up and running again and Don- I could have changed those fuses.

With the rain I have no real plans today.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning! Low of 41°, heading to a high of 66°. Yesterday's high only made it to 60°. The rain total for yesterday was just over 1-1/8", spread over 8 hours. Nice steady soaking rain.

Currently very foggy, not sure about any cloud cover....can't see if there is any yet....
Rain chances are only at 50% today, so might be able to go after the gravel pile again.

I was able to see where the rain wanted to go, so a good plan is now visioned for diversion. Hopefully, it can be directed towards the tree line.

Wifey transplanted a bunch of juniper clippings yesterday, in hopes of propagating them. Time will tell if it works....
If successful, about $300 worth of plants will be worth the effort.

Kilroy, looks good! There is definitely a learning curve on any new machine. Don't have too much fun....
Oh, by the way, do you remember any white / black Olds 442 zipping through Trenton and Newark? Well, back in the day.......

Drew, maybe rent a stump grinder? Might be easier than digging those big boys out....

Kyle, I can't believe your daughter is a senior already.... time sure is flying by.....

BEF, good job on the mowing. Seems like the neighbors keep a good watch.... mower would be safe in a shed?

Everyone have a great day!

 

[ronjhall]

Drew, there is always a good chance you will own a Corvette. A good friend turned 80 yesterday. He bought a 2023 Vette to celebrate.
I bought a Corvette when I was 26. It was a great car. But do not need to do it again.

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning
58 and going up 10 degrees under a grey sky. Not really raining, more like a visible mist. Neither weather station recorded measurable rain, but got wet while walking with Zoe.

Yesterdays trip went well, the friend that took us up to Stewart told me on the way to the airport that he didn’t sleep well, he was intimidated at the thought of flying with my partner and I in his Grumman Tiger. Between the two of us, we have over 40,000 hours of flight time, but are probably the easiest going people he could ever have in his plane. On the way home he admitted that he had fun and lost sleep for nothing. Mission accomplished!

Got home in time to go out to lunch. After lunch went and looked at neighbors broken chisel plow to strategize a repair. I’ve got a plan for it, he will disassemble it and bring me the parts to weld.

Did a little mowing with the Lazer that I forgot the other day. Loaded the wife’s suv for todays farmers market, filled the Prius and some Jerry cans with gas, using the .50 discount from grocery points. The Prius is usually an 8 gallon fill up, and I wanted to get the 20 gallon limit.

Never made it back to the little plane, that will be after lunch today.

I’ve collected to tools and supplies I need to take with me, and have been getting prepared for the upcoming fencing as well.

 

[Looking4new]

Drew, can you get your hands on some saltpetre or potassium nitrate?
If yes, then punch a bunch of deep holes into your stumps and pour the saltpetre into the hole along with some water. The stump will rot away. The deeper the hole the better rot job.

Kyle, car manufacturers might make some profit on the cars, but the most profit is made on parts. If the brake lines last 20-30 years there is no profit in that.

Buppies, your bear does need a new name. D.B. Dead bear.

Drew, if you have back problems and bending problems, then a Corvette is not for you. They also ride like a lumber wagon. I would rather have a '69 Camaro Z 28, they ride like a lumber wagon too, but if you get going faast enough you will skip right over the bumps.

 

[jbrumberg]

I've been tracking House Wrens for quite some time and finally was able to capture one this morning. I used the truck as a blind. Tomorrow the "Big Gun" comes out.

 

[check]

57 and foggy...going to 82, likely rain tonight. Got sidetracked and didn't post this earlier, but had a chance to read even more posts.

Prayers for your wives, J and m70.

Nice job, Kil!

Looks good, BEF...nice wildlife there.

Kyle, I'm with you! Since '89, all of our vehicles have lasted over 12 years and 250K...the 4Runner was going strong at 366K when it was rear-ended and totaled. Dang, you gotta make your own cofffee...cruel world!

Ron, that's a beautiful cascade and pond, and my wife's favorite bird...therefore, my avatar. Sorry it is such a pest at your place. We have them fly over to the neighbor's pond a lot. I'll have to post the pic of "ours."

Buppies, glad your cyst is better. Looks like your bear might need a new name.

Looked into the cordless string trimmer some more...decided on the 60V...learned the battery is downward compatible with my other tools, and is quite stronger and longer lasting...which I need...plus got encouragement from my wife. Picked it up on the way to fill my trailer with 3 yards of mulch...nice clean pine bark. We picked up some other things on the list, then some 5 Guys while we were out, so overall made it a pretty expensive Thursday. Now the hard part...moving it from the trailer and spreading it.


My wife insisted I change out of my work clothes just to go to HD and the mulch lot yesterday...says a lot about how bad off they are, too.

"...as I was motorvatin' over the hill..."

Wow - 366,000 miles on your 4runner! Wife wants to know year was it? ( I just bought her a new 2021 Limited in December of 2020, and she thinks it’s the cats meow.)

 

[RedNeckGeek]

I made the dump run earlier than normal in anticipation of the electrician’s arrival. He arrived on time and switched out the 2 60A fuses. He charged me 50% of what the installers would have charged, <$200. The system is up and running again and Don- I could have changed those fuses.

Way back in high school, the electronics teacher taught us to keep one hand in your pocket if you have to work on a live circuit. The idea being that if you touch something hot, your finger might get a shock, but the electricity won't run through your body and stop your heart. And that assumes your feet aren't somehow grounded, so don't be standing in water, and wear dry shoes with thick rubber soles. Keep in mind that the teacher kept a large, fully charged capacitor on his desk that provided a teaching moment to anyone that picked it up and foolishly fingered the terminals.

On the solar power system here, the contractor supplied me with a device to track battery bank state of charge, but left the installation to me. I did what I thought necessary to de-energize the system before I started the work, but on checking with him later learned that I had not. The one hand in the pocket rule may have saved my bacon that day, but I was also very careful to not get across or even touch any of the terminals and buss bars in the cabinet.

 

[jbrumberg]

RNG- It was drizzling during the fuse replacement. He was wearing those thick insulated rubber boots, he put on some heavy duty rubber gloves, and used a large plastic fuse puller to pull and replace those fuses. The system self-rebooted and T-link(?) communication to my computer was established. I have a healthy respect for electricity since I built that drone. Those Li-Po batteries pack a punch.