Good morning!!!!

[scott_vt]

Good Tractor Morning,

Hope this freezing rain coming tonight doesn't cause problems for you folks Scott.

GM Thomas, yep we got hit last night, probably shortly after Lou. Since he is slightly west of us, the freezing rain got to him first. We are covered in a fairly thick blanket of ice with the temp hovering right around freezing. My plow guy was here about an hour ago and sanded 800 ft of our DW. We have 3 vehicles up here so he really couldn’t do the top.

Yesterday I took the radio gear down to Lake St Catherine state park and did a POTA activation. I had 34 contacts in 47 minutes including Belgium and Prince Edward Island. By that time my feet were frozen even being inside my truck.

I’m surprised we didn’t lose power, but still keeping my fingers crossed. We have heat, propane heating stove in the kitchen and wood stove in the family room, but with no running water and 10 people, that could cause a big problem

Thinking maybe some wood shop time today.

Hope all have a great day

 

[Happy in NC]

Good morning TBN!!
57 this morning. Likely the high for the day. Wet all day yesterday but, no accumulation.

Spent the day in the garage watching football. Panthers lost. Seems they are an every other week winner.
Did do a little bit of welding and grinding on the shepherds hook and called it a day. Still needs paint and feeder.
Plans for the day is to get my 02 tank filled and run some more errands for the last time this year.

Time for a second cup
Everyone have a great and safe day!!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Thanks Don. Hope BIL continues to heal.

 

[riptides]

54 outside right now, heading to 60. Storm front moving through this afternoon. Temps will head downward, quickly.

Busy with family, friends and animals.

Unfortunate "not my dog" suffered a severe paw laceration while on a hike requiring emergency surgery. My daughter is beside herself. The dog will require at least 14 days of very limited activity. Luck would have it, or is it preparedness, that we had a first aid kit with us on the hike.

Hope all are ready for the New Year. Enjoy the last of 2025. Be safe.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Oldest son left last night to visit his grandmother.
Wngsprd, wild grape vines kill so many trees.

Wind to crank up again today

 

[Buppies]

47 last night when I went to bed 41 but cold air is coming. A wee bit of rain we are still behind pond down foot and half. For the next three or four weeks the southern and eastern parts of the country will be primed for big storms some even say Mississippi north to get in on snow action and the cold will stay.

I have had no help since since Wednesday but I made it

Prayers for your BIL TxDon

We have no Costco in our area closest one an hour away

Prayers for all our Country

 

[Buppies]

Hopefully pup heals quickly riptides

Safe travels for you alls son BEF

 

[Thomas]

You might be able to find my chainsaw in both pix.View attachment 4643670View attachment 4643671

Nice and straight maybe worth $$'s to local sawmill.

 

[Buppies]

I could not find the saw

Morning Thomas

 

[Thomas]

May your BIL road to recovery continue smooth Don.

 

[ArlyA]

Good morning TBN folks. We got high winds and a modest snow falling here at 18 degrees and its falling. Dearest said 1/2 the staff was at the hospital (her department) and they expect many cancellations. Looks like east of us like Marquette MI is getting the worst of it. Its still dark here but drifts will be the thing here.

 

[LouNY]

Well morning again;
Getting more power outages here, most of them to the West of me;

Quite a bit of soft ice outside on the concrete but wet slick, the driveway looks like a wet skating rink.
So back inside and I'll have a 3rd cup of coffee.
Listen to the scanner chatter and wait a few more hours and then look outside again.
Stay warm and dry if you can

 

[daugen]

perhaps foolishly I went sliding along outside to garage with arms straight out to sides, slowly placing
every step and managed to refill bird feeders, which were once again empty. Ok to walk on lawn but that driveway even with
it being gravel is slick as can be. Hopefully by this afternoon much will have melted.

Lou, that Scania would do nicely in my rv.
with that much torque probably would hardly ever downshift.

takes a lot of fuel and air to make that much power. Almost a waste without
a heavy load. Now that's an engine for Bill.

my fuel oil tank was nearing 3/8 and I called fuel oil company, and yes I was on their list for first week in January.
works for me. In five years they had never let it go below half a tank, actually makes more business sense to stretch out delivery date. Very good company in Ottsville, likely someone will shop up this afternoon regardless of me telling them no rush. If I'm sliding around out there, not good to have others fall too.
Gosh, if Scott were coming, I'd have hot coffee and a salted path.

 

[FriendwithTractor]

Good Morning To All Who Celebrate! Currently 39° going to a high of 46° dreary, rainy and then going to windy and bitterly cold. Fun!

We got the ice storm as well, but it didn't end up being nearly as bad as further east. Think everything was gone by mid day on Saturday.
The Holiday Hangover is in full effect here, Everyone recovering and Mom took down the Christmas tree. Tractor was tapped to unceremoniously dump it in the sink hole that I've been filling with yard waste. Kubota was a little cranky, took a minute to start but fired up eventually and did it's job. Now I'm back at work, catching up.

Parents shove off tomorrow for the beach house, following their New Years tradition to go down to the shore for the holiday. Myself, I'll stay here and visit Grandma for my dose of pork 'n sauerkraut for good luck in the New Year. God knows I'll need all the luck I can manage!

Drew, if you're looking for a peaceful companion, you should look into large rabbit breeds. Ex girlfriend and I had a Californian named Clemenza (Yes, after the Godfather Capo). He was all of 10 pounds with 1,000 pounds of attitude. They don't require much maintenance, can be litter trained and are more than content to happily munch some hay sitting next to you getting pet. Picture for clarification:

Our main problem with him was he would dig up the carpet when he was bored, Otherwise he was a very relaxed pet and had six long and happy years with my ex before he passed.
(Yes, I know they were bred to be meat and fur rabbits, I grew up hunting cottontails and eating them...one of the many reasons why my ex and I weren't compatible but that's another story.)

Glad everyone had such a nice visit from Santa!
Goals for this week: Survive the shortened week, get the Ryobi snow blower/shovel for grandma, get my act together for the New Year.
Stay safe out there y'all! Steady footing and remember! slow is fast when it's icy!
Praying for all Ailing or Recovering!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good evening!

Buckeye, Our church is in Leander. About 19 miles from home.

BIL continues to recover very slowly. he got pneumonia which he is being treated for and they installed a voice box. He still has his tracheotomy tube in. He is able to sit up in bed. He got a room out of ICU, it has been three weeks since his motorcycle accident. He may get to skip one surgery if his eye sockets continue to heal.

I called the Farm to asked about the Christmas tree sales and they reported that sales were slow as expected being the first year of sales for the trees growing for 5 years.

The cold front has blown in. 56˚F heading down to the 30s. My wife might get to use the hand warmers I got her for Christmas tomorrow.

Prayers for your BIL and his family. I can't imagine the pain he's enduring.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday 83F, this morning 41F with gusts up to 38mph over night, now winds are around 15mph.
Glad I got my scooter pop ride done.

Ovens: Older electric wall ovens had the lower baking element on the inside of the oven. For some reason, new ovens have it under the oven's steel liner in an enclosed area. There are no holes for convection, only the radiance of the burner passes through the bottom/sides of the oven. My wife and I prefer the old style. Mfgs claim it is easier to clean, but a sheet of foil under the old style baking element worked great. What this entails is 1) it takes longer and more power to preheat 2) after cooking it blows hot air into your kitchen for a long time and 3) the internal width of the oven is not as big. Her roaster pan does not fit into the model we now have . All this heat is very detrimental here while your A/C is trying to cool your home. The Frigidaire oven I bought a while back is the new style and my wife does not like it. It doesn't have convection. I want to get her an oven with the convection fan but she says, "If the other ovens are narrow too, then don't bother." My biggest issue with it is the heat it puts out. I don't like to run the oven during the summer. It is great for the 40 days down here that we need to run the heater but otherwise we try to use the air fryer and run it under the vent hood.
Momma got a new air fryer oven and she loves it. It has many different cook modes all the way down to dough proofing. Happy wife, happy life.
Amazon.com: Emeril Lagasse Extra Large French Door Air Fryer Toaster Oven Combo, 24 Cooking Functions and Digital Controls, 7 Accessories Included, Stainless Steel Finish, 26QT Capacity : Home & Kitchen

 

[daugen]

extra large it is, that's quite the gizmo. Happy wife for sure.

heavy eaters scaring the little birds away
still only 34 out

 

[ArlyA]

extra large it is, that's quite the gizmo. Happy wife for sure.

heavy eaters scaring the little birds away
still only 34 out
View attachment 4643821

Wow, you guys sure don't have no snow there.

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 33 going to 52 and rain.
Hopefully this melts off the ice.

So we got bored yesterday and went bowling. We both did awful. With the titanium rod an screws in my right arm, it never quite moves right, so adjusting aim was kinda random, but we had fun.

TxDon - hope the BIL keeps healing well, good to hear some improvements.

Be well,

 

[Popgadget]

Good Morning.
32° when i got up, 36° now on its way to the upper 30’s and raining.

Pavement and concrete are insanely slippery at the moment, but the grass and beds are navigable.

Plan is to get the tractor on the lane later in the day, and shovel/scrape the walks and patios once the warmer rain has softened them up.

Yesterday was spent inside the shop, lunch was prepared at my little kitchenette, microwave, toaster oven, electric kettle and conveniently, the large freezer and spare fridge live there as well. So plenty of raw materials without going outside.
Wife put crampons on her boots to go to the barn.

I did model that part for my friend, it came out well. I needed to reach out to my son for a little guidance though. It’s interesting that while he has been 3D modeling for a long time, he has always used solid works, not AutoDesk Fusion360 like me. So his conceptual guidance is awesome, but its up to me to implement it.
Here is the rendering of the part-

And the actual printed part-

Its not obvious, but transitions from 3”OD to 2-1/2 ID. It came out pretty decent.

When i mustered up the courage to go back to the Old Folks Home, i started a fire, and parked in the recliner until bedtime. We got another episode of Landman in, had some pork tenderloin and sauerkraut for dinner before calling it a night. Let the last log burn completely to ash as we slept.

Tested the walk with a snow shovel, ill wait some more and let things soften up later in the day.
Not sure what ill get into in the meantime, but ill find something.

 

[sodamo]

68°F and no rain

Enjoyed some football yesterday while waiting for time to advance.
Picked up son and dIL from airport later than expected. Long day for them flying from Wash Dulles. Actually got into HnL a bit early but flight to Hilo delayed.

They went right to bed once we got home

Happy Hour in town this afternoon. I had an Amazon return to drop at UPS

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day