Good morning!!!!

[LS Tractor Owner]

I wish a very MERRY CHRISTMAS to all my forum buddies and their families! Hope everyone has a peaceful and joyous time on this special night!

Rich, WOW! That was quite the story... glad you were able to make it home! Some really scary stuff!

Dftodd, CONGRATULATIONS on the new grandson! My sister was born on Christmas Eve.... she hated it.... I thought it would have been cool!

Rick, great news on a successful 'fryday'..... do you do any shipping?.... might be something to consider... I would pay to have one shipped.

Bef, yes, I eliminated all other possibilities of faults.... definitely the igniter. A simple fix, only 4 screws to access it, 1 holding it in place. I spent 2 hours this morning trying to find a local supplier that was open. Seems they all closed for the holidays yesterday afternoon....
The wifey was baking and cooking all day, so that warmed up 1/2 the house. I manually lit the stove about an hour ago using a propane torch..... not my preferred way of starting it.
The stove is 3 weeks out of warranty, I will call customer service on Monday and see if they will do anything for me.

The other event of the day that lifted my spirits a bit, the package containing the only gift for the wifey that has been stuck in Irving Tx. Since the 13th, miraculously showed up today in the mail.... I am a happy camper!

Everyone have a great evening!

 

[txdon]

Eric, Is it really "Happy" Christmas in the UK?

"But, because of the potentially rabble-rousing connotations of “Merry Christmas,” high-class Brits—including the royal family themselves—chose “Happy Christmas” as their default greeting. That’s why you’ll still hear it today in the U.K. This likely also helped cement the popularity of “Merry Christmas” in America—newly independent Americans were determined to specifically not do and say things the British way."
Why Do We Say "Merry" Only for Christmas? | Reader's Digest

 

[buckeyefarmer]

LS,
I ordered my igniter on Amazon. Use the gel to manually start. My old pellet stove in garage is manual light, so I keep the gel around. My FIL used to soak some pellets in rubbing alcohol to light.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Worked a few hrs for work.

Then just went thru several years of digital pictures, logging what I did, who we visited, who came here. Figure a searchable list will make it easier to find pictures. I do have some info in the picture names.

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all!!!!

 

[sodamo]

Rich
Thanks for sharing the details of your ordeal. Very sobering.

 

[txdon]

Rich B1 did you have a COVID-19 cytokine storm?

 

[Rich B1]

Rich B1 did you have a COVID-19 cytokine storm?

No, my lungs were not ravaged by that. Just Covid pneumonia. The storm overwhelms your lungs with a poor outcome likely.

Dftodd....congrats on the new grandchild!

 

[lostcreekranch]

Yep... that is what I purchased the castors for (previously mentioned), everything is on locking castors. Your setup sounds great with the outfeed tables. When I had this saw setup before (back East), there was a 4x8 outfeed table that doubled as an assembly table and underneath was the cutoff / drop scraps storage.... worked great. Unfortunately there is no way to do a table now... I just use 2 of the adjustable roller stands.

We just developed another problem.... pellet stove worked all night, now won't ignite.... of course the tech service line / customer service won't answer......
NUTS!

This is my present OF table / assembly table. The construction, of it's 48" x 48" replacement, will be similar but .. with a set of 5" casters. The pictured table will probably get a set of 5" casters .. as well.


How to change casters on a heavy table? It always involves .. a tractor.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 26F this morning, clear, windy. Windy again today, mostly clear, and high temp was 54F. today was feed the insert day, and conserve energy except for nap.
Covid update: Cooke 1836 confirmed cases, 179 active cases, Montague 1087 confirmed cases, 57 active cases, Grayson 6311 confirmed cases, 150 active cases, local unchanged.
David there is always later to be productive, trip to town fulfilled it's purpose.
RS busy day. sorry about the duck
Buppies big roller coaster om the temps
Phil hope you can get everything done.
Billy, my productive days at work were then ones with no one there
Drew Have fun with the cleanup, quite the load of bird houses built.
Billy glad Coco not skunked, sound like not nice weather but a great hike.
Ron enjoy your Christmas visit. nice squirrel, looks like he ready to jump
Mike glad you could see family
Roy hope the red light does not appear.
Bill enjoy tomorrow's snow
Paul yes more stuff takes up more room. Moving stuff sounds familiar
Eric sorry about your ash tree, Emerald borer is killing them here.
Thomas you know Santa uses rainX
Dennis Good for you for visiting your Dad.
Rich most sorry about the bout with Covid, glad you are home now
RNG Glad town trip went ok, sorry about Airgas, nice finish to the day
Don hope your list is short!
Rick glad Fryday went well, planning ahead sounds wise.
Ted sorry about the pellet stove
James enjoy your snow tomorrow
DF congrats again on the new grandson. sorry about Covid issue, hope visit goes well and they don't get Covid.
Rich glad you are now back home and got the medical care you needed.
Roy your first Christmas gift !
Will finish tomorrow
Merry Christmas to all.

 

[toppop52]

We’ve had exactly 1” of rain from the first line of storms, waiting for the line just ahead of the front.
Our wind has gusted to about 30 mph so far. Hazardous driving, but not that bad overall, yet anyway.

Don’t forget, at midnight Christmas Eve, all the animals can speak.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

1.6” rain so far today. Still 55° might turn to snow by morning.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good morning! 46 now, supposed to drop later and snow.

First post in a long while.....I will get to that

But first....MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!

My Christmas was Monday after being in the hospital for 3 weeks due to severe complications from Covid. My advice is....don稚 get it. And I have no clue how/where I caught it. None.

I have many things to be thankful for this Christmas season

Rich, I'm so glad you're better, and thanks for sharing. Prayers. I can't imagine what all you went through. Certainly would be some soul searching time for me. I'm sure it has put some things in perspective for you. I've never heard of that form of Covid. I'm thankful you're having the best Christmas ever. Your story made my Christmas better too. We just lost a neighbor due to Covid complications. He was late 60's, retired a few years ago, IIRC. I'm praying for cures and healing for this Covid. I hope to get the vaccine before I get it.

Dftodd, congrats on grandson....another good Christmas gift. It's my sister's birthday today.

For whoever requested a recipe on the Almond Balls I haven't located my Grandmother's recipe (they were to die for ) ... but I'm still looking ...

In the meantime, here is Mom's recipe for Bourbon Balls (it is likely my Grandmother's ... as she always made them for Christmas, along with Almond Balls and fruitcake):

Mix 3 cups of Vanilla Wafers (fine crumbs)

1 cup ground nuts, particular type not specified (I'd guess walnuts and/or pecans)

1 cup confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons of Light Karo syrup

1 1/2 T of cocoa (I assume that is tablespoons ... )

1/2 cup of bourbon

Make balls (they were around the size of a quarter or so), roll in powered sugar.

Hope every had a great day ... :thumbsup:

Thanks for sharing. whomever asked if cooked....no. Put in tin, refrigerate, and let vapors permeate. Like I said, wifey made hers with home made shortbread. Used to use vanilla wafers.

Merry Christmas to all my tractor friends!!!
Next two days will be filled with running around trying to get everything done.
35 now going to low 50's but heavy dangerous winds in the forecast. I will be out taking in the flags and whatever else that can fly. Power outages in the forecast due to this.
We are doing immediate family only this year (just 7 of us). Last years summer cookout idea was great so we are doing it again. Burgers and dogs on the grill with potato and macaroni salad. Yum Yum!
To answer some of the questions:
The unattached garage holds just the toys. It is 30X30 foot with 20X15 foot storage above. It was built for the Crossfire and the tractor. Hopefully plan to add a 70's vintage mopar some day.
My attached garage 24X24 holds the work vehicles.
Both roadsters are parked November to May. To much road salt used here!
The mustang is hers and is a v6 automatic. Just right for her to use in the summer.
I think that answered everything.
Hope everyone has a great Holiday and stays safe and healthy!

We met up with our North Carolina son and his girlfriend and their dogs at Richmond's James River Park System yesterday...had a great hike along the river to a place called Texas Beach...a sandy area with huge river-rounded boulders where the river is about a quarter mile wide. The trail was pretty busy with families and mountain bikers. It crosses the old James River and Kanawha Canal and the CSX tracks using a spiral staircase tower and pedestrian bridge. Saw deer, herons, ducks and geese. A real jewel of a park where you'd never know you're in a city. Hiked up to the old Pump House that was used 100 years ago to pump river water up the hill to a big lake used as a reservoir for the city. Then had our family "feast" and gift exchange in the parking area. While we were at Texas Beach, I thought I kept smelling turkeys frying.

Sounds like a wonderful Christmas get together.

2020-12-24, 0631

33 right now...high at 50 and rain...heavy rain to night and flood watches are in effect. Boy, I was hoping for a white Christmas (but not as white as the upper Midwest is getting...be safe there, folks)

Not much going on today...need to make a bank run ($$$ for wife and stepdaughter). Also need beer...

Last weekend I wrote about they tractor not starting on Saturday...just click...click. Sunday, one click, then the engine kicked over. My assumption was a bit of ice in the starter motor. Anyway, when it did start, a service light also illuminated. Called the dealer on Monday since I've only put 5-6 hours on it since it was delivered, after being serviced at the local dealer. Due to the holidays, they can't get anyone to the house to check it out. Although I'm not much of a mechanic (used to be OK, but my skills have not been kept up to date), I asked the service manager if he thought there was a way to reset the service light (owner's manual doesn't go in to this. Nothing in the service manual other then resetting using a Deere service laptop. However, from previous experiences, I have found that disconnecting the battery for a few minutes might do the trick. Deere service manager agreed but said if the service light does come back on to get the code that appears on the instrument cluster.
So, that's another project to do today since it will be relatively warm compared to the cold front coming in this weekend. I hope it works...
The service manager suggested that even if the light does re-illuminate, continue using the tractor. If there's a real problem, a red STOP light comes on. If that light comes on, park the tractor...
A bit of a bummer, but I won't get excited if this is a one time occurrence. Hopefully, this tractor isn't a lemon (what we referred to as a "Hanger Queen" in Naval Air). But it did have 321 hours on it since new (2015-2016) and I would think if this machine was a lemon, it'd show up long before 321 hours...
Wish me luck, Team!!

Anyway, after that, I'm going to take a page from Thomas' book...just putter about

Roy, I've had to do the "click, click, click" maybe 5 or 6 times on our 5420 after it has sat for a while. It is like the solenoid is hanging up, and eventually it will throw and start cranking.

My son appreciates the minibike, but I'm figuring he knows I like to tinker on stuff.....when he is older, and has to do this stuff himself, hopefully he'll have fond memories of me trying to explain why and how piston rings go on a piston. I'm sure it went through one ear and out the other for now.... He just needs to learn to ride for now. haha

We were very poor when it comes to money, growing up. My friends got minibikes in early '70's. Not me, I had to watch them ride. Yamaha JT1 models, sold for $299 back then. New equivalent (better) costs $2399, but has better shocks and forks, and 4 stroke. I have to thank my friend for giving me the basket case of parts, and the good Lord for giving me what I needed to get it going. PS, my 15 yo daughter can ride it now too.

Prayers for our team, and our country.

I hope you all have a happy, bucolic, Merry Christmas!

 

[Eric Salop]

Happy Christmas To All

 

[ronjhall]

Poured first cup of hot coffee. 18° with light snow this morning. Heading to 24° with some snow. It's a White Christmas after all. Got about 2" overnight.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
everyone.
From Sassy and Me.

 

[Buppies]

Merry Christmas

24 high of 29 today about one inch of snow on the ground beautiful sight in the dust to dawn light shadows just beautiful

Rained most of the day started getting colder last night turned to snow about 9:45 PM

Prayers for Jay and wife, Rich, Ron and family, Kyle and family, Dftodd and new grandbaby, Farmer hope all is well, MFW and his new house, our Country

 

[Buppies]

Great picture of Sassy Ron Merry Christmas

 

[daugen]

Merry Christmas all.
still raining lightly, 2.11 inches so far and 56 degrees, high of the day
Temps will be falling all day and weather clearing out.

Great pic Ron, Merry Christmas to you both.
Hope everyone has a wonderful day with family.
The Christmas of the mask...hopefully not again.

Enjoying my coffee and some spice cake, and will go open presents in a little bit.

 

[wngsprd]

Joy to the World!

 

[RoyJackson]

2020-12-25, 0541

Merry Christmas, All!!

52 and raining...
High in the mid-50's and more rain...bummer...rather have snow...

Wifey, Stepdaughter and I sat around the dining room table...they were drinking brandy, I was drinking beer with the occasional shot of Jameson's...listening to a variety of music (no Christmas carols though)....laughing and giggling. A nice evening!!
No plans today, of course...just celebrate the day

 

[Popgadget]

Merry Christmas morning!
It’s 55 and still raining. 2.13 inches so far, add the snow melt to that, and you eat a sloppy swampy mess. Temp is supposed to be below freezing by 7pm, and 20 by tomorrow morning. Paved areas should be interesting.

Yesterday was spent making deliveries, wrapping, and socializing from a safe masked distance outside.
I’m hoping the rain lets up so I can cook the bacon and sausage outside this morning.

Looking forward to a leisurely day with the family, watching the kids all enjoy each other’s company, and seeing the grandson’s first Christmas. It really brings home how blessed I really am. As others have pointed out, a month or so in the hospital really helps you to refocus on what’s truly important in life.

I wish that everyone else has a wonderful day as well.