Good morning!!!!

[sodamo]

66°F and no rain yesterday.

Semi annual dental visit yesterday. Curious. We don't have dental insurance, just pay as we go. Could get the Delta dental plan for retired military, but every time I've run the numbers the insurance comes out more. I guess if we anticipated more major work that could change. Any comments from anyone with a plan they pay ?

Be safe
Have a great day

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[sodamo]

I don't think that roof will hold a snow load.

Or keep out much rain

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[sodamo]

Speaking of rain, now raining here

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[MossflowerWoods]

...Wood stove newbie here: How do you put out a fire in a wood stove?

I've got a handful of those chemical flare like things, but they're just for emergencies, right?

So far I've just been closing the dampers and leaving if I have a morning fire in the stove. Am I being careless?

RNG - I'm a wood stove newbie also and worse I have a giant home built leaky monstrosity.

I have no dampers, so I let the fire die down and spread out the embers, keeping the inlets wide open, so they burn way, way down and then when I must leave, I open the door for a bit of air, and reclose it sealing up the inlets.

Once when I just left it burning, the wind kicked up and reversed the direction and filled the basement with smoke...

Someday I will replace it with a REAL wood stove... But it is heavy steel, and the basement (where the big screen lives) was frigid... So I needed the warmth.

Be well,
David

PS - I am pretty much a Red Neck Geek myself. Been in high tech & computers since 1982, mostly hardware/solutions, and been in sales/biz dev since 1999...

 

[JDgreen227]

Just got home, have a huge smile on my face because I just got a reminder of how fortunate I am in life. Put the third seat in my GMC this morning before my fiance's sister and her boyfriend arrived, they sat around chatting for a while until about 10:30, then we all headed south about a half hour's drive away and picked up my fiance's older brother and his wife. After treating the other four to brunch, we took the brother and his wife home and I spent a while fixing things there. The poor man has mental issues as does his wife and they are in such poor health they are limited in most daily activities. They live on assistance in a subsidized 700 square foot 1 bedroom apartment with sticks of furniture and aging appliances and a tiny bathroom.

So I drive a 15 year old truck...well, it must look pretty good to someone with no car at all nor the ability to drive. So I live in a house that is expensive as (bleep) to heat, alone care for and maintain...well, it must look pretty good to someone who lives in a crappy 700 square foot 45 year old apartment. So, I cannot hear, and my eyes are going bad, and my knees are shot....well, I must look pretty good to a couple my age who can barely walk to the elevator and ride downstairs and wait for public transportation to take them places...and they cannot even have a pet of any kind. Sad to say, I don't really think they are living...only going through the motions.

I wish I could see this couple more frequently...they help me appreciate how wonderful my life actually is.

Thank you for understanding my feelings.

 

[txdon]

Very good JD. Most people tend to look up the social ladder and see what they don't have instead of looking around and seeing what they do have.

 

[sodamo]

Sometimes we complain too much, but when if we evaluate our situation against others, life can look pretty sweet. I know I can't think of any relative I want to change lives with. Even friends who may have more than we have also have factors in their lives I'd rather not have. We tend not to share the downsides or challenges of our life, but we try to be generous on the good side because on balance we think our life is pretty darn good.
Thanks for the reminder, Bill

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG - I'm a wood stove newbie also and worse I have a giant home built leaky monstrosity.

...

Once when I just left it burning, the wind kicked up and reversed the direction and filled the basement with smoke...

...

PS - I am pretty much a Red Neck Geek myself. Been in high tech & computers since 1982, mostly hardware/solutions, and been in sales/biz dev since 1999...

Yow! That's a monster! Bet it kicks out some heat when it gets goin' though :thumbsup:

Never thought about the wind forcing air down the stove pipe. I'm running a modern stove, but it's an EPA one with an outside air kit. I'd hate to think that a strong wind could force air through the ember bed and back out the outside vent. That would torch the duct, and the wall it goes through, for sure. :shocked:

Cut my eye teeth writing assembly for 8080 and 8085 CPUs, then "graduated" to Fortran and C on DEC minis and main frames. Man, that was a LONG time ago, and probably the best part of my career, before all the politics crept in. But I started as a weldor, and picked up a lot of trade skills along the way. Love them big V8s and huntin' an' fishin', too, but the best part is livin' out in the middle of nowhere... :cloud9:

 

[RedNeckGeek]

There but for the grace of God, eh Bill?

Well done. I suspect your kindness earned you a few points with your new family as well.

 

[daugen]

been very quiet here all day. Did some food shopping this morning, then went home, and the snow started. Ah, just a few flurries. Nope, it just kept coming down. About three inches so far, enough to keep everyone off the roads.
And while I have a long lane, those good old boys with their old trucks and dual glasspacks sure can't be heard today.
Now if I could keep the flocks of starlings from stripping every single bird feeder I've got. Like locusts descending on the local birds; they don't stand a chance. The birdfeeders were rocking back and forth from those big birds constantly jumping on them, sometimes five or six at a time. Now everything is pretty much empty.

Going up to mid 40's tomorrow, hopefully I won't have to go find my snow shovels packed away down in the barn.