Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

Good Morning! 46˚F heading to the mid 60s clear sunny skies North wind.
Got back from Houston Thanksgiving #1. 29 people attended. Niece alligator Christy was there. Former alligator hunter, she is now an experienced real estate agent and doing well and has scored her first Mil+ sale.

She was wanting me to make something in the wood shop she could give to clients that had her business card logo. I was thinking wooden coasters and using the the laser to burn in the logo. Any other suggestions? (This may take some time because the laser software has changed and new classes fill up fast.)

Today we cook WFPB meal #2 for the second Thanksgiving. Mostly, I hope to get a pic of the finished product. The "Turkey" recipe needs some revision on how to prepare the jackfruit in the turkey loaf. I think waiting to put the jackfruit into the food processor at the very last so it hold it's meat like texture instead of being ground to a mush would be an improvement. The spices were perfect. The rice paper "skin" was realistic and did keep it moist. I also have a new pecan pie recipe, it uses almond flour for the crust and dates instead of eggs and sugar.

Wngsprd, hope your wife does not have covid so your Thanksgiving plans can continue.

Drew, I use my siding mold/mildew brush 20' extension rod, coat hanger and duct tape.

Ron the birds seem to have a blueish tint, is that the lighting or the feathers?

Popgadget have an exciting day with the new grapple. Do you have hydraulics to it already?

Step, sorry your friend did not survive covid, the symptoms are all over the board for different people on this strange disease.

My wife says she ordered a new WFPB "machine" for me for CHRISTmas, I'll be shaking that box a lot, I thought I had them all.

 

[txdon]

I always went by the number of hours and not time for the maintenance on my tractor. The garden tractor here does not mow so it's in use only about 100 hours a year. That would make the oil change once every two years. For the owners of tractors do you change your oil yearly or after 200 hours?

 

[PJSprog]

30°F and cloudy this morning, going up to 44° today.

Didn't feel like I got a lot done this weekend. Spent much of Saturday running errands for The Wife. She had started cleaning out the spare bedroom downstairs, planning to move her sewing room down there, across the hall from my studio. She wanted to have a space big enough to have everything together, including the over-10'-wide longarm quilting machine. No sooner had we started moving stuff out of the room, when the boy showed up. He'd broken up with his girlfriend and needs to stay with us again. So, there went that plan ... for now, anyway.

Sunday started off as another errand day, then settled just after noon into a studio day. Wife planted herself on the couch closing up a stack of quilts she'd just finished quilting on the big machine. Turned into a productive day for both of us.

Congrats on 20 years here, Roy. I always admire your contributions.

The two Pauls having a bass jam. That could be interesting. We could start with Big Bottom by Spinal Tap, then go anywhere we wanted from there.

That is looking to be an impressive barn Doug.

 

[pennwalk]

I have been wondering what makes the leaves fall one day and not the previous days. The trees in the front yard are pretty much down. There are still a lot of leaves on the trees in the back yard. Today they are falling. The sooner they fall the sooner we can get them up and put the equipment away and make room for the snow blower.

Yesterday afternoon I was trying to figure out why one of the lights on the trailer was out. Opened it up and found both bulbs blown. I replaced the bulbs but the running lights still weren't working. I found a broken wire on the plug. Of course my box of trailer wires had 4 of the wrong plugs. I got it patched up but still isn't working then the rain started. I know the right thing to do is just go ahead and rewire the whole thing and it would be smart to replace the bulb lights with leds. I looked on Amazon. They must of had 10 different brands of Chinese lights. I guess even if you could find an American brand they would be made in China.

I need to get up to the Farm and get the leaves up there. I would welcome a couple more mild days.

Chris

 

[sodamo]

68°F and .01 inches rain
Need to make a P.O. run, at least 1 parcel available for pick up

Long day ahead. Picking up Canadien friends from Kona airport. 10:33pm arrival means we won’t be home until after midnight

Opportunity to visit Costco. Also check HD for the countertops not available here in Hilo.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 53F @ 8:15AM. Sunny. High 63F. Winds light and variable.
Not long ago I would have killed for a day like today: No suffocating heat, no smoke, very little wind, and no fire danger. Gonna enjoy them while they last.

I do tractor maintenance by the hour clock too, Don. But the BMW literature I've read says that engine oil becomes contaminated and forms an acid, and should be changed at least yearly. I usually use the tractor enough to get enough hours for an engine oil change every year, but the hydraulics can go longer than that. A key fob with an inexpensive key ring through it would use less wood, but the logo would shrink, too.

If I ever get to make a shooting bench, Eric, I'd use cinder blocks for the legs and seat, and cast a concrete top. That's assuming it will be outside in the weather. If it sat under a roof, wood would be OK, maybe two sheets of 3/4" marine plywood glued and screwed together with 4x4 legs and plywood seat.

You could use 3' sticks of welding wire for the balls, Ken. I had a bunch of 1/8" and 5/32" bronze wire I used to make hoops for a project. Used the HF break/shear/bender to roll the hoops, then silver soldered the ends. If you use steel, a quick tack weld with steel rod would work. Is your new outfit GMAW (MIG)?

I liked being able to pick up the EA grapple at the local freight terminal, Paul. They just forked it into the back of the truck while I was in town running other errands, so it was very convenient. I'm not so thrilled with the Kubota port forward setup, though. It has a tendency to leak down, letting whatever is in the grip of the grapple slip out. Not much of a problem when I'm just moving stuff because I can punch the close button every so often, but I'd like to be able to buck trees with the grapple, and it's not much fun when the tree shifts or falls out when I'm chainsawing. I had the same problem with the top'n'tilt valves from Kubota, and ended up replacing them with valves from FitRite Hydraulics. Should have gotten the port forward setup from them.

I rebuilt the cylinder on a floor jack once, Bill, but couldn't break it open. Took it to a local hydraulic shop where I was able to purchase replacement seals, and they charged me maybe ten bux to open it for me. I did the rest myself, and it wasn't difficult or complicated. Maybe it's the same for your tractor cylinders?

Habanero sauce almost sounds worse than the disease, Rich, but I'm glad your senses are coming back. Especially this time of year!

On a hunch I've had the van on a battery charger for the past couple days to see if that helped with the hard start problem. I'd read somewhere that if the battery voltage drops to less than 10 volts while cranking, the electronics don't have enough power. Tried it again yesterday and it started right up, and the volt meter on the dash didn't drop below 10V. So maybe that one is fixed. Maybe.

Got something of a late start on the transmission yesterday, and after some fumbling around got it put back together. It doesn't shift as easily as it should, and I suspect that that the end play shims aren't correct on one or more of the shafts. Working with someone watching was also a bit of a distraction as well. I think today I'll review the videos and notes again to see if anything jumps out, then pull it back apart to see what I find. I figure I can do something over several times and still come out ahead of what I'd have to pay a pro to do it.

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

 

[Alien]

Looking4new.
I had to smile when I saw your chimney comment. We don't have chimneys here. No need. It can get cool and being a sook I may get a diesel heater if needed. We have never even had a frost since we have been here. (17 years) I will need a large fan for the hot days. For the house we have reverse cycle air con.
Some areas can get hard frosts and further south they get snow sometimes but never here.

Barn Builders were here today and hope to sheet in the front tomorrow and maybe start fitting the doors and controllers. They are also supposed to be bringing the windows and sliding door for the barn tomorrow.

Also 4 new windows for the house arrived and a new sliding door for the back laundry. Lots of work for me to do. Windows and doors everywhere.....

Meantime the electrician finally turned up today and immediately had a altercation with our kitchen installer because he couldnt get to where he wanted. Electrician should have finished his work 2 weeks ago so we are not impressed with his performance. I would sack him but getting another one is nigh on impossible at present so I have to bite my tongue.

 

[rswyan]

33F and clouding up @ 11:00 after being sunny earlier. Low was 28.4F, headed up to a high of 36F.

Was very windy late last night as the front came through, more leaves on the ground this morning but not too bad. Winds currently out of the west @ 9 mph with gusts of 13 mph so they may continue to fall.

Got some maintenance and clean up done on fish tanks downstairs, along with drawing water and filling all the plastic milk jugs. Water should have warmed up some by this point, so will continue with topping off the tanks later. Need to move some fish around as well.

Plant order was incomplete, only had 2 items out of the 10 that were originally ordered which was a bit of a disappointment. The included pick ticket makes it confusing as to what is going on, as it only lists the quantities for the original order, with no indication as to whether they were shipped or not. This is the first time these guys have shipped an incomplete order so will need to contact them and see what's up with that.

Need to move bulbs and plants down into the basement where it's cooler (but not freezing ... )

Appointment at the Cancer Center down in Canton later to get COVID booster.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe day ...

 

[daugen]

Rich, as someone who also went through a miserable health year last year, all I can say is I sure smile a lot now
and am thankful every morning. And why I get every shot they give, have no idea what my post chemo immunities are like now.
I think once we've been sick, really sick, the reality of taking one's health much more seriously is pretty common.
Really glad you came out of that experience in one piece. Lots of lingering neuropathy issues for many.
thankfully our bodies are pretty remarkable about healing.

as I get older I worry more about Parkinsons, MS, the awful stuff.
So maybe it's just mental but I take a lot of supplements like Curcumin and CoQ10 that hopefully will keep the grey matter going.
And broccoli. So much broccoli...

glass guy left after fixing windshield, no cost to me.
Don, if you put 10-20 hours a year on something, and it's stored in a heated area, I think you can go two years.
But if you put 100 hours a year, that's a normal oil change for most small engines, plus changing it gets any condensation out.

got leaves sucked up and some xmas lights put up. Thankful at least one out of two receptacles worked on my one outside ac outlet.
Amazed gfi isn't tripped, cover missing on the receptacle, exposed
to rain and weather. One side filled up with mud dauber wasp dirt, probably whole thing should be replaced.

hoping for friend to come over this afternoon and try to fix my Office for me. Paid for a subscription but it keeps getting to end and install
fails.

 

[RoyJackson]

Congrats on 20 years here, Roy. I always admire your contributions.

Thank you!!
I just wish I'd done 20 in the Navy!!

I've learned a lot and have always enjoyed both the experienced and novice (like me, way back when) members, as well as the friendly (for the most part) camaraderie