Good morning!!!!

[m7040]

good morning, 14 to begin with and high of 26 today wind gusts to 24 MPH, COLD

Cranked up the wood stove and burning a little fuel oil to eep warm

Plowed the driveway and the adjusted plow did a good job getting down to pavement. Only a few spots with ice this morning. Hopefully the sun will go to work on those during the day

 

[daugen]

sure wish I had a wood stove to crank up. 18 degrees outside
and I have to head out and feed the birds.

Ken Jeeps are very cool and capable cars
but gosh do they have a long term reputation of being unreliable
Doug Demuro included the Grand Cherokee in the list of five cool cars he would like
to own but wouldn't due to unreliability. Like an American Land Rover, very cool but
they sure break a lot. Probably a good car for a mechanic to own.

 

[daugen]

Don, how is the new truck running? Can you compare it to the last one?

friend of mine is about to buy a Maverick compact pickup. They appear to be built ok and a good value.
But if you want something nice, probably have to go up to what Don bought
and of course it has to have enough suds to keep up with the bull haulers...

 

[Engineer42]

sure wish I had a wood stove to crank up. 18 degrees outside
and I have to head out and feed the birds.

Ken Jeeps are very cool and capable cars
but gosh do they have a long term reputation of being unreliable
Doug Demuro included the Grand Cherokee in the list of five cool cars he would like
to own but wouldn't due to unreliability. Like an American Land Rover, very cool but
they sure break a lot. Probably a good car for a mechanic to own.

I had one identical to this for a company vehicle for a while. I'm glad I didn't have to put gas in it for mileage was poor, and it had rattles that could not be found. But the leather seats and plenty of legroom suited my 6'5" frame well.

 

[kenmbz]

Well, the Jeep is from 2011 and has 140,000+ miles on it,
But the stuff that fails is mostly due to poor design decisions.
The TIPM module has a lot of issues, one of them led to a recall that took the relay off of it and put it on a wire to a remote relay mounted on the front radiator support.

A fuse box with a lot of logic in the chassis is never a good idea, but Jeep....
So all the fuses and relays sit inside this thing, which has all kinds of stuff inside of it as well as the connectors.

 

[txdon]

Don, how is the new truck running? Can you compare it to the last one?

friend of mine is about to buy a Maverick compact pickup. They appear to be built ok and a good value.
But if you want something nice, probably have to go up to what Don bought
and of course it has to have enough suds to keep up with the bull haulers...

It is running good. It is bigger than the RAV4 and has better acceleration. It seems the same size as my F150 except a smaller bed. They still come with a 6' bed and manual if that is a requirement. The Maverick seems so much smaller.

 

[FriendwithTractor]

Good Morning to All Who Celebrate! Currently 22° heading to a high of 24° real feel of 11°. Cold, Windy and Just plain miserable to be out in.

Weekend was uneventful, helped Dad cut up some more wood for the pile. The stuff that was too small to bother with splitting but for some unexplainable reason he wants to keep. I suppose it all burns in the end. Two bucketloads of that stuff taken down to the pile. After that, swapped to the snow-push just in case. However that was unneeded as we got maybe three inches. Of which only an inch settled on the driveway that quickly melted away in the sun.

While I was futzing with the snow-push, I took another look at the three-point. The sway bars aren't keeping the hitch arms in, and as such, especially on the right hand side, rub against the tire. I'm afraid they do this even with an implement attached. The turnbuckles are turned all the way out (Which should keep them tight, if I'm not mistaken) but even with an implement, they still sway a good bit. When there's no implement, I keep a piece of cordage through the eyebolts and tied together to keep them tight and stop them from rubbing the tires. Any suggestions to keep them stiffer than suffer the sway would be appreciated!

Other than that, just a cold, but relaxing weekend. Goals for this week are to finalize my holiday shopping and get our EOY schedule figured out.

Y'all stay safe out there and be well!
Prayers for all ailing and recovering!

 

[LouNY]

For those of you that think Maple Syrup is too expensive, check this out;

Very interesting

 

[LouNY]

Well Morning all,

11:30 AM and I've finished breakfast finally.
That was an interesting video on the various syrups.
We had an inch to inch and half of light powdery snow Saturday/Sunday morning.
Swept some Sunday and should have scrapped the driveway when it was in the low 20's but I waited till this morning and went out to start scrapping about 8:30 AM at 3F. My contractor was supposed to show this morning but "school" issues are preventing that, of course he didn't text me that till 9:15 this morning. Got in the house an hour ago and started breakfast. Scrapping that inch down clean to the dirt so ill equipped vehicles can make the driveway is a pain and I drive slowly as the blade is bouncing up and down a lot. Should put the winter covers on the equipment but then it's forecast to warm up considerably later this week. Took the tractor quite awhile to warm up much today. Later on this week is a miserable forecast.

The temps will be nice for a bit, but then a bunch of rain, then turning cold again.
Rough weather for livestock outside getting rain soaked then chilled.
3F this morning forecast 52F Friday with rain then back down to a high of 28F Saturday.

All stay safe and warm,
house is setting at 71 but feels chilly to me and cold to my wife, extremely low humidity
making it feel cool.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and no rain. Sure don’t envy all that snow you guys post.
Relaxing Sunday. Neighbor took me to property he has under contract. Very nice but a tad different. 20 acres of ag in a gated community. Had to tease him as several months ago he sold his BX as he was scared of it. Yes, more a city guy. If we we didn’t pass at least 20 tractors, mostly Kubotas, a couple of JD, we didn’t pass one. All inside the gate. Ground crops and orchards. Then dinner at a local eatery he didn’t know about

Need to trim dogs area, getting a bit high.

HH at friends. Food and our annual White Elephant

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day

 

[WinterDeere]

67°F and no rain. Sure don’t envy all that snow you guys post.

15°F here this morning. Extra load in both wood stoves, today!

We often see 15°F mornings mid-winter, in fact that's probably not far from our "regular low" in January, but it's cold for this early in the season.

 

[ronjhall]

I find it interesting about how high or low current temperatures compared to records. Even though we have low temperatures lately. They have not hit record temperatures. I took this from WU site. Does not show up on their APP.

 

[daugen]

had minimal expectations for lunch since last time I was at Plumsteadville Inn the banquet food
was horrible. This time lunch was awesome, real veal spaetzle made fresh, not frozen, and it was delicious.
And such a big piece I brought half home.
Room in restaurant was cold, sniffled a bit.
no plans for today, too cold to stay outside.
will make one more trip out, am sure the birdfeeders are empty again.
in cold weather they sure chow down

I think today's Ranger is the same size as an F150 15 years ago.
nice looking truck

 

[rswyan]

Was 10F @ 10:00 with a windchill of -5F when I first looked after getting up. Currently 18F.

Low this morning @ Clinton Station was 1.5F. Brrr ...

Ventured out yesterday after I got a report of the entry to our driveway being blocked with a snow pile from the city plowing. Turned out that was not the case, city had pushed the snow off to the side as they normally do.

Total snowfall was maybe 2" to 3" (at most), not enough to even bother with clearing.

Got hopper feeder refilled (was empty), also scattered some seed for the ground feeders.

Another 36+ hour marathon down in the utility room.

Got that 16" piece of foam board cut, glued up, and braced on the east end of the north wall. Also turned the corner and got the 32" leftover piece glued up and braced, on the north end of the east wall.

Now need to unload the 2 remaining 3' sections of shelving on the east wall so more foam can be put up.

Took measurements for height of north stud wall so I can get the studs cut for that, 89 3/4" on the one end, 90" on the other.

Washed and cleaned off six 10' sticks of 1" pvc, four 10' sticks of 3/4 copper, and five sticks of black pipe. A mix of old and new product.

Also cleaned off the old 3/4" SDR 21 condensate line from the HVAC ... which I had trimmed off, in order to allow putting up the foam board insulation and stud walls.

Drain line for the brine tank cleaned.

Got the old microwave cart/table cleaned off and lubed one of the casters which was tight. Will be handy to use as rolling tool table as construction continues.

Gathered up all the glass jars that were down there and brought those up and sorted them out. The ones that will take Mason jar lids will be cleaned and packed away for canning, some of the smaller ones will go to a local friend who puts up jelly, and the rest will go to recycling now that we have a place to get rid of them.

Got one KO cut out in the plastic box for the Cycle Sensor using a small Stanley utility knife with a snap-off blade. Turned out ok, but will use a regular X-acto knife on the next hole which should make it a little easier.

Drained a couple gallons out of the hot water heater, still need to check the relief valve. Also still need to change the furnace filter.

Beyond that lots more cleaning and organizing ... including finishing up The Woman's 4' plastic container She stores wrapping paper in. I swiped that to use to de-rust some long pieces ... She swore that it was ruined ... but it's cleaned up really well. Almost like new ...

Woman made enchiladas yesterday ... deviated from Her normal recipe but they turned out great nonetheless ...

Woman got back from the eye doctor's earlier, some improvement with the high pressure after a change in meds. Likes the new eye doctor, more involved procedure after the New Year ... possibly a combo treatment for the glaucoma and cataracts.

On the agenda for the rest of the day:

Refill feeders.

Water plants ... if I can find the watering can ... which I recently located ... but now appears to have disappeared again ...

Sort out paperwork and pay some bills. (Done)

Finish up small Menard's order and get that placed.
Cut the studs to length for the north wall while I have the garage warmed up. (Done)

Get those hauled downstairs.

Some cleaning and organizing out there while it's warm as well.

Maybe process that one Dickinson pumpkin into puree and get it in put in the freezer later.

Beyond that just see what else comes up.

Hope everyone is having a decent day ...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Spending time with BB in the garage. Got pellet stove installed and running on low, now up a notch.
Took over an hour to move stuff to other locations in order to get it in place. Had to scoot work table over couple feet.

 

[Thomas]

14F clear sky light wind.

4am doing chores temp -0F with sharp wind I scamper like squirrel getting chores done.
Good day at work,afternoon couple hours outside windchill 2-5F wood furnace sure felt ooooohh so good
Maybe this evening start sorting filing 2025 wildlife photos I feeling pillow time will come early tonight.

Enjoy your evening all.

 

[Thomas]

Spending time with BB in the garage. Got pellet stove installed and running on low, now up a notch.
Took over an hour to move stuff to other locations in order to get it in place. Had to scoot work table over couple feet.
View attachment 4582806

Wonder what BB thinking.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Wonder what BB thinking.

BB was loving it.

 

[rswyan]

Wonder what BB thinking.

“Why are you NOT petting me ?”

 

[daugen]

RS, I think you need to look into your productivity, really dragging lately,
not getting much done. I know your wife nags at you to get out of your recliner all day long.

that to do/got done list looks like the results of some strong coffee
as they say on the you tube test channels, very impressive

a few more presents came in, and I wrapped them, including a bamboo backscratcher for my older
brother who just needed a bunch of stitches on his back from skin cancer.
Down the road those stitches are likely going to itch, says the voice of experience.

with a shoe horn and a back scratcher, you can achieve anything