Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

Looks like the gravel + water is about double the density of water alone (30 lbs ± vs. 15 lbs ±) ... about what I figured. I think I have around 50+ lbs of that gravel.

Whether that will be enough, who knows ?

 

[300UGUY]

Yep, it took us 10 days to get our new cards after they were skimmed using a gas pump after closing hours.

Must be something going on. I got a text message about 2 weeks ago, asking me to call the fraud dept at mc. I was asked if I had used about $1100 in travel rewards on my mc account. I hadn't they stopped my card, sent a new one. Later I was called by the fraud investigator, he told me that some hackers, probably overseas, had hacked into visa / mast card rewards systems. It was some thing they were working on. They put back the money in the rewards account, and all that is ok. I think Willy Sutton was right - they rob banks because that's where the money is.

 

[300UGUY]

39.9 degrees and mostly cloudy @ 12:00 ...

Picked the machined PVC pieces last night on the way over to Home Depot, so I should have everything needed to put the PVC piping for the supply from the Magnum filter to the reverse-flow UGF together ... just need to glue it up, mebbe after a little trimming for correct lengths.

Returned some unneeded plumbing items to The Depot and picked up a Stanley Surform Shaver last night, along with two more tubes of GE Silicone I and a few other odds and ends that will be needed for this project. Still have to pick up the mortar, colorant, and acrylic bonding agent.

On the way back I stopped by the shop and grabbed some files, the two die grinders, and a set of rotary rasps for the die grinders.

After I got back, I commenced to whittlin' on the foam ... very, very messy. Kerosene heater is still up in the shop, so the only way I had to heat the garage was to just leave the kitchen door open ... which meant the cats came out to explore. Mainly it was Mister Kitty (the Little Squeak had been put away for the night), who seems to want to hang out wherever I am. After rubbing himself all over the powerhead/engine of the Stihl polesaw (in utter delight), he managed to track thru the styro shavings repeatedly, before settling down on the floor mat for my van which was right next to the chair I was whittlin' in. When I finally quit I had to clean him off ... I didn't even try to clean me off ... just took off shirt and pants and left them out in the garage.

Worked for about 5 or 6 hours and managed to get about 1/2 of the styrofoam I had cut shaped into rock-like pieces. It's time-consuming and gave my right arm a bit of a workout ... but it's nice to see it take shape.

I'm at about 12" or so in height with the backdrop, and the aquarium is 21" tall ... so I have around another 7" of pieces still to cut (backdrop needs to be a couple inches lower than the water level, to allow for water flow over the top)

So far I have just been stacking the pieces up on top of the undergravel filters to see what I've got, but that's a bit precarious because they tend to want to fall over, with their roughed up surfaces. Dug some skewers out of the kitchen last night ... might be time to start pinning the pieces together. Might also be about time to dig out the heat gun and smooth the pieces I've got done and then start siliconing them together ... simply because of the cure times for the silicone.

I think I'm going to try and find some cardboard and make a template to represent the back and sides of the aquarium so I can see how the backdrop fits inside.

I also need to get out the bathroom scales and weigh a container of gravel (with water) and compare that to a container full of water only of the same size, to get an actual idea of how much more dense the gravel is than the water and whether I have a prayer of achieving negative buoyancy ...

On the more mundane side of things, since the low tonight is predicted to be 22F, I need to run into the commercial property later and add the RV anti-freeze to the boilers and toilets, and hook up the heat tape around the incoming water supply coming up out of the floor, throw an insulation blanket over that, and hook up a pair of 500w floodlights in the boiler room to try and keep things from freezing. Have a little electronic thermometer that I need to dig out that displays the temp and what the low/high temp was within the last 24 hour period. Be good to check and see what kind of short-term heat retention the building has.

We have one cat we had to rehome to my wife's shop. It didn't get along with the other cats, and it won't leave us alone , it has to constantly be in your face. It is happy at the shop, it is the queen there, and we don't have to deal with her at home.

 

[NoTrespassing]

This morning the national weather service claimed we would get less than one inch of snow. A few hours later they changed their forecast to 2-4 inches. I have about 4 inches right now and it's still coming down. Luckily it looks like it's about done. I hope this weather pattern isn't a sign of things to come for the rest of the winter that hasn't even officially started.

Does anyone know what the farmer's almanac predicts for the Midwest?

Kevin

 

[farmer2009]

Good afternoon everyone. Got up to 57 today before the rain and front came through. Now about 41.

Had a family breakfast this morning. It's an annual thing. Most of the people I didn't even know. Then off to Kubota dealer. He has 2 models I think will work. A MX5200 and a M5660SU. Thoughts?

Ended back up at doctor yesterday and he removed thumb nail so swelling would go down. And I could get the feeling back. I hadn't felt the thumb since I smashed it. Constantly tingling.

RT2 welcome but not all of us are retired. I still have 30-40 years.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good afternoon. Picked up my college son from the airport this morning. Took down the flagpole utilizing the backhoe this afternoon. Tie it off high against the hoe, pull pole out of the ground sleeve, then lower the boom. Installed new rope, reset the pole, and a new flag. Last weeks wind had shreaded the old flag, and it got caught at the top the pole and the rope also broke.

 

[sodamo]

Tried, but gave up mowing. Hills just too slick.
Did make a mess along driveway where pigs had rooted around my coconut palms:

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. Front came through about 3:30 AM, winds were 20 to 35 mph out of the north. Temp was 42F at ride start, and took 3 hours to do the 39 miles. Lake Ray Roberts had 2 ft + waves breaking on the dam. High was 52F at about 3 when the wind died. Otherwise did get a nap in today :thumbsup:

 

[rswyan]

Made the run into town ... but I stopped along the way and scoped out Coral Reefs, a marine fish store near the house, since it seemed like a really good way to avoid and put off what I was supposed to be doing :laughing:

Spent some time talking to the owners, a husband and wife. Nice little place ... didn't even realize that they were there until fairly recently ... turns out they've been there for over 20 years.

Got the RV anti-freeze put into the two boilers - 4 gallons in one and 2 gallons in another. Trained a pair of 500w halogen lights on the water pipe coming from the meter and used the old hot water insulation blanket to seal off the draft from the window. Flushed the toilets and then put some RV anti-freeze in the tanks and bowls.

Last thing I did was take the Sawzall upstairs and cut the pipe in one place, just to ensure there was no water in it. It was dry as a bone ... blade didn't even get wet.

Called it complete, and then called Chips Chicken and Pizza and ordered an Italian Hoagie as my reward ... salami, pepperoni, capicola ham, cheese, and sauce ... hadn't had one of those in probably 30 years ... was quite tasty.

Now back to the really important stuff (carving styro) ...

 

[bakerg]

Good evening, woke up to snow on the ground this morning and it got me in the Christmas mood so I put up the tree and install the lights outside.:cool2: