Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

The water softener expert came out today and replaced a few seals to fix the salty water after a regeneration cycle. He was the son of the original installer and has been doing repairs/instllation for 20 years. I knew he was good when he turned the control knob and could tell by listening to the delays between cycles that the seals were bad. He then started to take apart the valves behind the control panel without even looking at the the location of the screws. I knew then that he was the right person for the job. He had all the parts and finished in 30 minutes and will come out free next time if that does not fix the problem. Worth every penny.

 

[two_bit_score]

Dennis, naaaa, prt of my motivation to mow

That would absolutely motivate me!

 

[two_bit_score]

The dump and town run went off without a hitch. The PO has finally got around to sending me the mail that they didn't deliver while they were on strike. So I paid all the bills that came in and some more on the oil credit for next season. I found an extra 5 grand that I had forgotten about. That came in handy for the bill payments. The credit union I deal with used to take x dollars out of my account to pay my taxes with. 4.5 years ago they stopped doing that and I had them take $100.oo/month out of the checking account and deposit it into a savings account and it wasn't accessible through online banking. I had forgotten all about it. Then I paid the taxes out of the general account. About $600.oo every 6 months. If I had remembered about that account then there would be peanuts in it now. So I am kinda happy that I forgot about it.

That's what is called 'found money'!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The water softener expert came out today and replaced a few seals to fix the salty water after a regeneration cycle. He was the son of the original installer and has been doing repairs/instllation for 20 years. I knew he was good when he turned the control knob and could tell by listening to the delays between cycles that the seals were bad. He then started to take apart the valves behind the control panel without even looking at the the location of the screws. I knew then that he was the right person for the job. He had all the parts and finished in 30 minutes and will come out free next time if that does not fix the problem. Worth every penny.

I’ve gotten good at repairing them. Most are made the same.
I have new set of seals and new rotor plate in stock. Last time the problem was a hole in the side of the resin tank, but I didn’t see it until after I drained the tank.

 

[Wagtail]

Good (Saturday) morning. Overnight Low of 16.1C and it's presently 24.7C [heading to 29C], lightly overcast and fairly calm.

Well, yesterday's 'puttering' got turned on it's head; The "Mad Agisting Horse Woman", and daughter, requested a paddock shift. So I quickly changed into my work 'uniform' (we've all got one of those, eh?) and, with their help, set up the water trough from Paddock #5 to #6. After that I had some 'tractor fun' by chain-harrowing Paddock #5.

Seeing as I was 'dressed', I lubed the deck spindles on the Z-turn deck then mowed (at 3.5" height) the horse exercise area. I'd purposely let it 'go to seed', so it was pretty high.

Later in the arvo I called the "Centrelink" phone number ('on line' was useless) to enquire about my "Pensioner Concession Card"... after jumping through quite a number of security steps AND a 40 minute wait I was answered by a clear and 'English-speaking' lady who quickly ascertained that my card had not been issued and would do that immediately. Basically a very pleasant call, so that's 'sorted'.

Back to puttering today.

That's about it, take care all.

 

[two_bit_score]

Two_bit hope you stayed warm.

Sure did, mostly! Even got out the big coat. But it was 50F by the end of the day. Overall, not a bad day but somewhat still TBD. Had to remind a lot of folks that someone who agrees with you 80% of the time is a friend and ally, not an enemy. Thought it was over by last night but calls started coming in early this morning.

Good news from the insurance co. yesterday! They will give us a good fair amount for the car and added more for the new tires!

Glad they treated you right!

doing some food shopping this morning, hope to get car back from shop
waiting for the call with the total bill, should be eye watering.

Hope it wasn't too bad!

The San Antonio Livestock and Rodeo kicked off this morning with the Cowboy Breakfast.

It's been 15 years since I went to the Cowboy breakfast. It was always cold. I usually only drank coffee because the food got cold too quick. I went to Jim's later for a good hot breakfast.

One of life’s simple pleasures on a cold January night !

Nice woodstove. We didn't even light a fire in ours so far this year. I do need to burn some of the wood I accumulated.

Hope everyone had a great day and your evening is warm and relaxing!

Prayers for our Nation!

 

[Thomas]

thomas, something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/Terminal-Repairing-Accessory-Electrical-Connector/dp/B09R9G18M9/ref=asc_df_B09R9G18M9?mcid=3ef3bb1d522c3827b1bf5e87aecb18bb&hvocijid=11313914483295937399-B09R9G18M9-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11313914483295937399&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007195&hvtargid=pla-2281435178098&psc=1

Thank you for taking time to research.

Looking cleaning tool one end tightly slide down the male pin inside twist fine file to clean,female end push tool wire brush and twist.

Again thank you.

 

[Thomas]

this was kind of fun looking up
learned about an entirely new type of tool
I guess if I was maintaining a fleet of trucks having the pro model
would be good.
probably not a high demand item

Truck Lite Terminal Connector Cleaner Master Kit - 96193

www.vehiclesafetysupply.com

most of us have the round chrome one that spins on the battery terminal

then the question is always what to clean the junk off with besides just plain water.
and where is that acid going as it runs down the inside of your engine compartment?....
lot of preventative sprays out there
why would a battery in one vehicle corrode a lot while one in another doesn't?

DeOxit is always good to have. I use that on electrical plugs and receptacles on my rv and generator.

not the kind of weather you want to be using this, unless you have a warm garage
my kingdom for a warm garage, and a lift

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I don't have any of the bikes on part time plans with Markel. I'd be interested to see what Markel charges for a plan like that, and how CA DMV would handle it. Somehow DMV knows if I cancel the insurance on a bike because they send me a nasty gram demanding I either non-op the registration or purchase insurance again. The rub is they'll charge you in arears for the full year of registration if you put the machine on non-op for less than a year's time. Kinda stings when the fee is getting pretty close to $200/year/bike, even for a Honda Trail 90.

How's that Yamaha handle in the snow?

Ouch on the $200....Yamaha snowmobiles handle great in the snow, but I may have heard they are going to stop making them?
The FJR handles great, still getting used to it, but no riding in snow or freezing weather...I don't like to ride below 65F to be honest.

Drinking first cup of hot coffee. -9° with clear skies this morning. Heading to 11° with cloudy skies. Yesterday's conserve energy went away early. Neighbors that are on vacation asked me to check their house for any problems. Found that second bathroom toilet valve had failed. Causing continuous flow of water for weeks. Shut water off until they get home. Another neighbor need to have car keys delivered to hospital so they get home. Got that done then cleaned driveway so husband could be brought to go on Hospice. He has been fighting liver cancer for 4 years. Rest of the day was spent staying warm. Going to try to get a conserve energy day in today.
Everyone stay safe and well.

Good Morning All.

Ron, you're a better neighbor than State Farm!

Tonight is Dad and Daughters at our favorite sushi place. Been a while for that.

rip, is your one daughter still trying to do the RV thing in Montana?

7 this morning high in upper 20s

Today is Holly's birthday the big 70. Great tribute on Facebook by our son to his mom

Two more skin cancers on face oh boy rump scrape off just sore.

The cold will retreat for a little bit until end of month then return. Son had 5.5 in of snow at Pawleys Island SC

Prayers for all our Country

Happy Birthday Holly from Texas! Prayers to the both of you.

good morning, cold but it is about to get better

Up too early due the cramps. Not enough water yesterday

Wife was in bad shape yesterday. She took her weekly Methrotrexate meds so hopefully better today

Prayers for y'all. Hard to drink enough on these frigid days.

Della needs a hike today (me, too).

Hope your hike was a good one.

Good morning! 28.2˚ clear skies heading to the mid 50s with full sun. One more night of temps in the twenties then all the plants get uncovered and moved out of the garage as there will be mild temps for the next nine days.

Got an Email from the hiking club. We will start a new project in Berry Creek Park which is the model airplane park in the neighborhood. We are starting up the old trail making group. We will be removing cedars along the creek, moving rock and making new trails starting next week. I need to spruce up my equipment, its been a while because of the estate liquidation and shoulder surgery, PT and cold and "Farm" job (play).

Don, just so happens that I talked with a young student that had a Berry Creek Tennis jacket on. He played competitively for 12 years, but got hurt his senior year in HS. He plays pickleball. I told him I still like to play "stand around" tennis. If I can get to a ball in 3 slow strides, I will take a swing at it. Hahaha. Maybe I should play pickleball.


Work is busy.
Making samples at work out of simple 1018 steel for the first metal our metals class teaches to use the Rockwell hardness testers on. We have some really old but still working testers. At first I was having my young student workers make them on a manual mill, but taking way too long. Moved process over to cnc mill and included a debur chamfer which is what was taking all the time up, trying to do a post face mill with a file on a 3/4" round short part. Still have to make samples out of 4140 and 52100.

We had bought a new manual 14" lathe with all the bells and whistles. I'm just now getting to really setting it up for the class. I found out before Christmas that the morse taper in the tailstock quill did not have enough clearance at the back and the centers would not quite fit tight. Sent that back, they are shipping it back to me. I hope they fixed it right. We'll see. Another issue is the Made in California collet closer system. I prefer the Royal brand but they sent it with a different brand. One of the components has about 24 holes on a round bolt circle for a pin to fall into, when you get the collet adjusted. Well, the bolt circle is off centerline TIR is about .013" radially. And the pin doesn't drop into the respective hole properly. Arghhh... I will have to right them another warranty claim I suppose.

I have so much to do to get the labs ready, and while some professors are very proactive and self sufficient, others are at the opposite end of the spectrum. We all put our pants on 1 leg at a time....unless we are in the space station.

Prayers for our team, the sick, our Country, Israel and Ukraine.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 25ºF for the start, mostly clear sky, light breeze. Windy, brisk gusts, partly cloudy sky, and high temp was 56ºF. Made coffee to start day, made oatmeal for breakfast. Got toll tag deactivated that was on sold SUV. Split some rounds with new splitter, seems to have a lot better capability. Bike ride, trip to bike shop to drop off Peugeot for new brake cable and rear derailleur and 8 speed freewheel. Got Volagi back, will try out new shifter tomorrow. Got nap in.
David thanks for the compliment, glad no bent equipment at end of day. Hope you can get some grading done on the area.
NHBX glad you are getting tax docs gathered up and organized. Glad delivery items stores and packaging in with dump run collection. Hope day went well.
Ron glad shopping successful and not crowded. Good to hear progress on pin attachment. Glad you could help neighbors with stuck car. Hope good progress on pin attachment. Nice squirrel pic.
Phil glad you are happy with the settlement. Glad leak easy fix. Looking forward project pics, what you showed in your post is way cool.
Drew hope you warm up some. Glad you got shopping in. Hope your eyes didn't water too much from car bill.
Thomas good luck finding required tool.
Drew yes DeOxit good to have, surprised how far down bottle is with out spilling it My garage never gets much over 50 during most of the winter.
Billy we have had 2 weeks of 15ºF below normal temps, so I know what you mean about cold January. Interesting about all the planets visible and almost aligned. Glad tractor started and got more firewood to porch and rounds to splitter, and got Della out on hike.
Ron glad you had the big boy with muscle.
Billy saw that video on TV news. Thanks for cool pics.
Mike sorry about driveway hope upper 30's will help melt. looking forward to pic.
Dennis glad temps rose overnight, and geos keeping up. Hope you get started on taxes soon.
Frits glad driveway is mostly clear of ice/snow. Glad fire still going in stove and still enjoyed. Hope wife's day was better.
Happy(NC) glad you are warming up. Glad you got to test the wife's baking, one of my favorite jobs. Hope dog enjoys extra steps.
Frits glad mouse is working.
Bill glad you are keeping up with what you need to do.
Ken(tin) I think the Fort Worth show was last weekend, and it was cold then too. Glad you are warming up.
Scott(VT) hope you get everything done in Vermont.
Ken(tin) never had PB cookies with chocolate drops.
Happy(NC) glad your wife loves you and bakes for you.
Don glad your temps on the rise. They were here too. Hope mowing went well. Sorry about the second robot showing up, that's for when 1st replacement fails .
Ken sounds like your temps are moderating as well. Hope it was fun talking to old neighbor and coworker. Hope pick a project and made progress. Neat pic
Friend(trac) sorry about the no coffee thing. Hope the dog doesn't run off this weekend.
Ken(tin) I still have about windshield scrapers.
Dennis you will find out very soon what she will get into
Buppies hope your weather starts warming up. prayers sent.
Paul glad you everything done yesterday. Nice you still have the manual for the turntable you still have Sorry no music tonight.
Drew he is an imposter, I didn't get my first bike til I was 5
catch up later.
prayer for all, especially Jay/Peg, Kyle /Daughter, /mom's breathing, /son's migraines, Bird /aging issues, Mike /BIL in FL, Ron /heart, David(moss) /remodel, /divorce, Buppies /cancer,parathyroid,blood sugar /wife, Thomas /gout, Phil /reflux, Frits /veteran son with mental issues, /granddaughter with Evans Syndrome, Ken /dad dementia, /chronic fatigue, Diet not working, Randy(wag) /sister stoke, Steppenwolfe /son-auto immune disorder, Grev /wife's eye, Ted /knee recovery, /retirement & disability red tape, /family issues, /wife back issues and cancer, Lou /eye issues, /heart issues, /wife hip replacement, Doug and wife/health issues, / hand nerve and surgery, /fall and recovery, / wife headaches and heart eval, / David(sadamo)/Sophie's hip or leg pain, /back issue, Scaredy/shoulder dislocation, /marriage dissolving, / friend stop drinking, Dennis /retirement, /neighbor issues, /brother's lymphoma, /dad surgery recovery, Drew /back operation issues, /friend's wife cancer diagnosis and recovery, Scotty /back pain, Helogabals /wife's friend situation, Fatjay /father broken hip, Israel, Ukraine war, hurricane victims, and Country.