Good morning!!!!

   / Good morning!!!! #216,541  
Good Tractor Morning,
Vt, 12 to start with 50 mph winds.

Drew, yesterday I couldn’t stand up on the ice 😳 Today it’s absolutely brutal out there. The boys are taking our grands to the Children’s Museum in Rutland.

Have a Super Day !
Drove thru Rutland once, back in 2001. Wife wants to go to Stowe some time, visit the Von Trapp lodge.
 
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   / Good morning!!!! #216,542  
66°F and .1 inches rain dizzily day forecast

Happy Hour a mixed bag. Great group of 11, but venue seems to have shifted focus. No more HH prices, didn’t want to split check, mandatory 18% gratuity. We won’t be returning anytime soon.

Maybe be a slow wet day

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great tractor day
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,543  
So I needed to replace the door gaskets on the fireplace (which I should have done before burning season). I ordered the gaskets and some high-temp adhesive. Figured since I was going to have it apart I'd also replace the fiber baffle board and ceramic blanket again (previously done 5 years ago).

Forecast for Saturday was 73° so that was the day. After I got the thing disassembled it went south fast. The caulk tube of high-temp adhesive was solid and they sent the wrong baffle board.

Since there were multiple issues I got on the horn with 'em Monday morning. Told "Harlo" I just wanted to return the board since a) you sent the wrong one, and b) the one I took out was still good. No prob. He emailed an RA# and the return shipping info.

Adhesive was another story. Harlo said he needed to talk to his supervisor and call me back. Didn't get a call. Got an email asking me to, "Cut the tube open and take pics or take a video of me trying to use it and nothing coming out." I opted for surgery and sent the pics. Then a couple of hours later he emailed asking what the make/model of the fireplace was. :unsure: Obliged but also asked what that had to do with a tube of dried up adhesive.

Crickets after that.

This is the fireplace (stove).

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   / Good morning!!!! #216,544  
22F with a snow flurries @ 14:00, that should be the high for the day. Under a Winter Weather Advisory and in the deep freeze ... high temps will not get above the 20's for the next five days.

Snow has not amounted to much, ground mostly covered at this point but can still see grass (and weeds ... lol) poking up here and there.

Got food and fresh (warm) water put out for the feral kitty first thing yesterday. Noticed some had been eaten by later afternoon, by evening it was all gone.

Fired up the wood burner again. This time it was a medium box of old cardboard boxes and advertising paper. Really like having an app on the phone to control the HVAC thermostat. The furnace fan is normally set to "Circulate" where it runs occasionally (to reduce electric usage), just to move the air in the house a bit.

With the app I can turn the fan to "On" to scavenge the heat in the wood burner ... (y)

Got hopper and both suet feeders out on the poles refilled, also scattered some seed for the ground feeders.

Got 3 layers of new unfaced fiberglass insulation added to several cavities between floor joists on west wall.

Cleaned up wiring attached to sill plate on west wall, added more wire staples.

Debris bin on whole house vacuum emptied and cleaned out.

Rest of 2 x 4's @ the front door moved down to the basement.

Brought Dremel Multi-tool up to trim out the drywall in the laundry for the plumbing rework in there.

Moved 4 (of 5) hand pump sprayers that had Nutrasol soaking in them and were sitting along the west wall into the stationary tubs and emptied and rinsed them out.

Moved six 50 lb bags of softener salt which were also sitting along the west wall and got those out of the way as well.

Trimmed off about an inch of the pipe on the laundry room drain line ... which allowed me to move the pipe enough to piece in the last 16" wide section of polyiso that goes on the north wall. Reinstalled Fernco coupling.

Joints on that pipe did not look like they had been glued very well so had The Woman draw half a bucket of water and dump it into the stationary tube in the laundry room. No leak at the Fernco but later discovered that there was a slight leak at the 90 elbow where the vertical drop pipe goes horizontal.

Which means that all the existing joints should probably be cut out and replaced ... particularly if I decide to bury the pipe in the wall (the preferred solution)

Also discovered that there is lint build up in the bottom of the pipe on the horizontal run ... so will add a clean out on the vertical drop pipe so that the pipe can be snaked should the need arise in the future.

Got that last 16" section of polyiso foam board glued, placed, and braced on the north wall, then a 48" section followed by a 32" section on the west wall:

IMG_4117 copy.jpg

Was around 05:00 at that point so I called it quits and knocked off.

On the agenda for today:

Haul more papers downstairs and dispose of those in the wood burner.

Feed and water out for feral kitty.

Figure out supplies needed for re-plumbing the laundry room.

Put up more foam board on the west wall.

Maybe start hanging some of the 3/4 copper pipe.

Other than that, see what else comes up.

Hope everyone is having a decent Tuesday ... (y)
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,545  
Plowing all done. 3.5 hours and the temp gauge didn't get up to the normal range. Somehow the block heater extension cord came unplugged. You want to talk about a cold start? 2 cycles of the glow plugs and she almost started so I heated another cycle. She started but was NOT happy, let her run for 30 minutes at 1400 rpm and although the heater was blowing hot air the temp gauge still read cold. Outside temp was -1°F this morning and didn't move all day.
Got everybody plowed out and pumped 3.5 gallons into her.
Rerouted the extension cord so now it will take a very large dog to disconnect it from the BH.
We have a jack rabbit hanging around, about 6-8' between hops.
Tomorrow is the monthly trip to North Bay.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,547  
So I went to Lowe's yesterday and got a tube of hi-temp silicone sealant. $9 vs. Harlo's $50 tube. o_O

Installed/glued the door gaskets yesterday afternoon (24 hr cure time) then this afternoon put the glass back in with the new glass gaskets (no glue, just held in place by the glass) and hung the doors.


Gonna be cooking with wood shortly. Low in the morning supposed to be 23°.


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   / Good morning!!!! #216,548  
14F partly cloudy windchill got one attention real quick.

Couldn't get pickup load grit for the drive company on vacation reopens 1/5.instead good pickup load critter food.
Driveway ice was soft just before midnight 3/4" snow fell than turn cold,snow mix with ice gave good traction,just have to be careful no sharp turns until I get some grit next week.
Good day at work hours flew by boss walk by said " do you know what time it is".

Mrs. ask what I wanted to dinner it was no brainer on cold windy night,eggs homemade flannel harsh. :)

Plans for the evening watch little tv pillow time will come early tonight.

Enjoy your evening all.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,549  
The boys are taking our grands to the Children’s Museum in Rutland.
Scott, are you anywhere near the American Precision museum? I think its near Springfield. I really enjoyed it. Bridgeport serial number 001 is there.

Pretty sure we went there when i had an overnight in Lebanon, NH, and it was less than an hour away. But I could be wrong about that.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,550  
Good New Year's Eve (Wednesday) morning. Overnight Low of 6C and it's presently 19.4C, mostly clear with gusting winds.

Today is the official 'into town' day for groceries. After that It'll be contest to see if I can make it to midnight to 'ring in the new year' via my bell. Seeing as Scotty is @ Vermont, he can do the same with his front porch bell(s).

That's about it, take care all.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,552  
Used to think hard hats were unnecessary until working in a fab shot got hit by angle 20 foot long believe it was 4 by 3 punched thru hard hat but no damage to me. Lesson learned
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,553  
Used to think hard hats were unnecessary until working in a fab shot got hit by angle 20 foot long believe it was 4 by 3 punched thru hard hat but no damage to me. Lesson learned
I've told this story enough times that regulars might be getting tired of it, but it still makes me chuckle each time I remember it:

Middle school shop class, teacher reprimands one of the kids for not wearing their safety glasses. The kid objects, saying he's not even running a machine at the moment. The shop teacher opens his mouth to respond, but before he even gets a word out, a knot comes flying off the table saw some other kid was running across the room and bounces off the shop teacher's safety glasses. 😲 The "no glasses" kid's mouth just drops open, we all saw it happen. The teacher just pauses a second, then says, "that is why you always wear your safety glasses!" :ROFLMAO:
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,555  
Time for a little consultation with the TBN brain trust.

Below is a picture of the (sole/only) ground rod here at the house:

IMG_4121 copy.jpg

It appears to be a galvanized round pipe, roughly 1" in diameter. It also looks to have been replaced (or maybe just installed after the floor was poured ?) No idea as to it's length ...

The two solid copper wires connect to 1. 200A main breaker panel, and 2. 125A subpanel which fed from No. 1.

So far as I know we are not having any grounding issues, but I have not tested the ground rod to see if it has good ground.

No idea if there is a ground wire connected to the household plumbing at any point (perhaps through one of the circuit breaker panels ?)

There is an issue in the main bathroom with (at least) one light fixture where if you touch the light and grab the faucet at the same time you'll get a fairly nasty shock.

The present location of this rod would place it behind a wall as I finish off the room.

Have read that galvanized ground rods do not last as long as copper and since I think I have several 8' copper-clad ground rods was considering replacing it.

The picture below shows the amount of corrosion that has formed on the copper wire running from the main panel to the ground rod ... likely from the efflorescence from the concrete and being along the floor.

IMG_4122 copy.jpg

Don't figure that the corrosion is really too much of a problem as the wire should be solid copper, but thinking it can't be good long-term.

Figured the solution for that would just be to get the wire up and off the floor/wall/concrete.

Thoughts ?
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,557  
Good Morning/Evening!

This is a two day post. Yesterday Tuesday was a very fair day, clear cool and calm. Tems were in the upper 40's but in the sunshine and absent the wind it was actually very nice. We were able to get some demo done on the porch at the Old House and go pick up supplies for today, Wednesday.

I was pretty beat yesterday and went right to bed when I got home. Then woke up and am about to hit the hay again.

At 1:15am Central time its 32F and Clear. Predicted high today will be 64F and sunny. Should be a nice day!

Hope everyone has a peaceful night and wakes refreshed and ready to have a great day!

Prayers for our Nation!
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,558  
Coffee is done brewing. 16° with light snow this morning. Heading to 28° light and wind to move into drifts. Got yesterday's snow cleanup done. Then picked up the larger limbs. Fill all the feeders for the last time this year. Spent rest of the day inside conserving energy. Grocery shopping this morning. Then back into warm house.
Last picture of 2025.
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Everyone stay safe and well.

Good Morning All.
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,559  
Good morning, the low is 0 and only going up to 7°F. At least it is on the plus side of 0. Wind W 11 mph. A mix of sun and cloud.

North Bay trip today will encompass 6 stops including lunch. We always eat lunch before we go shopping for food.
Block heater for the car is turned on.

That is my day planned out.

Have a safe day all
 
   / Good morning!!!! #216,560  
have a safe drive Bill and stay warm.

25 here, only going up to 33 in sun and clouds
nothing on calendar for today which is wonderful
nice dinner last night with old friend, some shrimp dish over rice that was yummy.
got really chilled going out until car heated up
sitting by her woodstove last night first time I've really felt warm, something about radiated heat.

need to start wearing a cap in cold weather

put covers back on outdoor patio set for third time
these winds howl in from a direction that lifts up the covers on one side.
I stuck a big planter pot next to it yesterday but when I saw, belatedly, the covers came with
little tie down strings at the bottom, I had an aha moment and will go tie those strings later today.
When the sun comes out and we reach a balmy 33.

New Years Eve 2025
for those of you who have had a tough year, may the
new year bring more happiness to you.
 

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