Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 47F @ 6:15AM. Generally cloudy. High 62F. Winds light and variable.

No rain in the forecast for at least the next ten days, so it'll be nice down in the Sacramento River delta for next weekend's No Football campout. Good thing, too, as the mechanic has given no signs that the van will be on the road in time. No surprise there, right?

I saw what you did there with those big lazy esses in that field, Drew. You're gonna make all your farmer neighbors jealous with all the fun you're havin'!:laughing:


Well, I did manage to get the front fender on yesterday, something that should have been trivial, but having never seen that fender in place before, became something of a puzzle on just how it went on. The first attempt saw the front and rear mounting holes not lining up because I'd offered it up backwards, and even with the ends swapped it wasn't clear which bracket on the fork got used for which fender stay. So it took a trip or three back to the computer in the office all the way on the other side of the house to find a picture or two showing how it should be done. I should start wearing the iPhone to see how many steps all these back'n'forth trips are amounting to. Anyway, then the bolts in the stainless steel fastener kit ol' Johnny had purchased weren't exactly the right length, and the numbers stamped into their heads looked awful, so a little sawing, turning, sanding and polishing was in order so that their mirror surfaces matched other polished bolts on the bike. That got me to the point where the brake shoes needed to be mounted on the front end, but I hadn't noticed that one spring was two coils longer when I put the rear brake together, and that longer spring should have been used on the front brake instead, so I took two steps back to go one forward and undid the back to swap the two springs. It was at that point that I found , or actually didn't find, that somehow the spacer washers had disappeared for the front brake, so that installation is on hold until parts arrive later this week. Still plenty to keep me busy though, so I'll temporarily mount the front wheel, knowing I'll have to pull it back off to finish up with the brakes later. Haven't looked at the carbs yet, and I have a feeling there are some rubber parts in there that'll need replaced, so that's on the agenda for this week. And the parcel rack for the back fender arrived painted black, and with the nice warm temps we have coming, I might be able to get it blasted and painted, too.

Hope everyone's week gets off to a good start...

 

[DABSGT]

DABSGT: thank you sir, for maintaining the high standards of care and training that you provide. I too started as a medic back in '79, went 10 years that time, got into firefighting for a short time. As jbrumberg said.. It's in the blood... Came back to EMS. Climbed the ladder and work as a front line field Captain now.
Gonna start thinking about a slow-motion exit strategy. Getting too old for some of this!

LS after 10 years in EMS I did 33 in Law Enforcement still keeping my hand in EMS mostly teaching for Fire Departments and the Police Academy. Retired a year ago and still miss the Adrenaline rush something about the flashing lights, siren and a sincere thank-you. Digging holes is a good relief just for the fun of it did that after stressful days quite often (including days wife was mad about something)
Stay Safe and know you are making a difference.

 

[jbrumberg]

Good morning everyone.

"... and still miss the Adrenaline rush"- DABSGT That's in one's blood too.

An overcast mid20F's to start the day. It may break freezing today. MY weather station is now down to windspeed and indoor data. Now I need to get my local data from WeatherUnderground, AccuweatherPro, etc.

I too must must "own" my weather model ranting. MidFebruary still looks interesting though. The NWS was posting about this weather system stalling off/near the MA CONUS coast. That system really stalled. Some areas that really needed the rain got a decent amount from this system. I saw no rain from this system. Lots of nuisance snow is predicted this week.

Mud season starts around midApril here, then the dreaded Blackfly Season. No one really plants their garden until ~Memorial Day around here.

I have a gastroenterologist appointment today and a neurologist appointment Thursday. I have such a hectic social calendar

My + thoughts, prayers, and wishes for all.

I hope that everyone has a great Monday or at least a manageable one.

 

[Bird]

I just can't get used to some of the new vehicle maintenance schedules. I seldom check the oil in the cars anymore, but thought I ought to do that this morning. The 2017 Ford Escape has 8518 miles on it, is 10 months old, and the oil level showed on the dipstick to be almost down to the "MIN" (minimum) mark. So I took it to the dealer and got the oil and filter changed first thing this morning.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Looks like these guys are havin' almost as much as Drew on their tractors...

Sky Sports F1 - Kimi Raikkonen + lawnmower +...

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

For me, it came down to location and money. Motivation was provided by a steady decline in the working environment; sounds like you're already there.

I put together a spreadsheet that had all my yearly and monthly expenses, then all my anticipated income after I pulled the plug. I wanted to exit the San Francisco metro area, so I also started getting estimates for what my current home would bring. From that I came up with a budget for both cost of living and what I could afford for to pay for the new property. I did all this about five years before I thought I could retire, and reviewed the cost of living and income projections every year. When the real estate bubble popped in '08, I really started looking hard at properties in the areas I was interested in. By '10, the market was starting to recover and when I saw a place that fit within the spreadsheet green zone, I was outta there, the only thing left behind was a trail of smoke.

Having that level of confidence in my financial future helped deal with a lot of stress at work, like having a get-out-of-jail-free card in Monopoly. Making big changes all at once like retiring and moving also caused a lot of stress, but nothing like what I was seeing at work. And here we are, eight years later, and, with the possible exception of insurance costs, the spreadsheet projections are still holding up well.

You are the captain of your ship. Understand what motivates you to make change, what things around you that you can change, and the array of futures that are at your beck and call. Then go out and chart a course to the life you want.:2cents:

It's actually kind of funny that you outlined what we started doing about 1-1/2 to 2 years ago. We initially formulated a 'plan' just to change our lifestyle now that the kids were grown. It morfed into a substantial 'downsizing' plan, but was for "easy living" and "travel" (traded some everyday costs to use for travel trailer and towing vehicle). Without even realizing it, the plan works nicely for an 'exit strategy'. There are still a few variables in the plan such as moving or staying put, but we have the groundwork done. Just need to set the date. After all the things that go on in life, I've become more 'spur of the moment' decision maker, which is sometimes scary, sometimes not so much, usually resulting in "why didn't we do this a long time ago":laughing:

 

[jbrumberg]

RNG- I never saw lawnmower racing until I spent time in FL tending to ailing/failing parents. Awesome..... Thanks for sharing.

I did not plan on my body "retiring" me at 55. I wish that I had more income earning years, but we had a "plan" even then. We (wifey/CFO) always ran our home economies like a business. We have been very fortunate.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Back to the norm: good morning all! Low of 18* this morning, dry(as usual) going to 56*. As reported in another post, there's going to be a 'super moon, blue moon, blood moon, and a lunar elclipse' all at once in our area.
I wonder if this phenomenon is what is causing all the crazy's to come out! I was watching the news again this morning (I almost think I should stop watching) and there was a shooting /death right at the ambulance entrance at one of the local hospitals. This past week had so many calls of a violent nature and the trend keeps continuing. The city fire dept. has issued bulletproof vests to the firefighters..... Scary stuff. It's not just here with all the school shootings and other violent crime that you here about. I need to go find some property on top of a mountain!, or at least in the middle of nowhere. :confused2:

 

[PJSprog]

30°F and cloudy this morning, going up to 34° today. Windy and some snow flurries today. Our next appreciable chance for snow looks like Thursday.

I survived the strange Chinese dance thingie Friday night. In fact, I quite enjoyed most of it. They did get a little pushy with some weird new Chinese religious thing, and were quite political on several occasions regarding their views of the government of China (with which I did not disagree, it just seemed an unnecessary distraction from the program). Other than that, though, Shen Yun was quite an entertaining visual and musical experience. It was performed in the newly renovated Peabody Opera House in downtown St. Louis. I hadn't been in there since the mid-'80s, and back then it had become what our current President would have called a sh**hole. When they tore down the old Kiel Auditorium attached to the back and built the new Kiel Center arena for the STL Blues, they'd promised to renovate the opera house as part of the deal. Well, they put it off and put it off for years, until the threat of a lawsuit finally motivated them to finish the work. They did it well. It is a very nice place once again.

I spent a fair amount of time in my home studio this weekend as well. Finished recording all of the tracks for the current project early Sunday, and began working on the mix. Got most of that done before calling it quits around 9pm last night. It was a very productive weekend, musically anyway.

I've had one of those Theracanes since about 2002. A studio I recorded in back then had one sitting in the control room, and I gave it a whirl. Went to a Relax The Back store the next day and bought one. It's a well-used tool in our house. I bought another one for The Wife before we were married, so we have his and hers.

As for Honda Goldwings ... I've been a "Winger" for the last 6 years. Had a Yamaha XS1100S and a BMW R100RT before that. I like the big dressers. It's a nice, comfortable ride. I'm planning on selling my 'Oldwing this year and finding something newer. It will definitely be another Goldwing, though. I really like them. It won't be a new one, though. Man, are those things spendy.

 

[majorwager]

Had a pointed discussion with a member a while back. In retrospect, doesn't matter what we believe individually. Each person has the right to agree or not, if it does not directly impact our own path through life. The salient point is that I have since learned this member is dying from a debilitating disease and the discussion noted above now seems petty and trite.