Good morning!!!!

[txdon]

Good morning! Beautiful day in central Texas - a few high clouds, 49˚ heading to 69˚. WOW!!!

I was wanting my alligator Niece to send me a action pic for the local newspaper and I needed to get a few words with her for the caption but that did not happen. She made me get in line. Apparently after getting on ABC World News Tonight yesterday I will have to go through her agent. - No, just kidding about the agent, but I did get through to her Mom who said she was getting so many texts per second she could not keep up, and started naming off all the news agencies. I guess our weekly local rag will just have the weekly high school football game and automobile crashes to report again.

Just google "Christy Alligator Sugarland" to see all the news agencies that beat me to the story.

With the 1.5" rain this weekend, on the already soaked ground, my sand hill is like a wet sponge, so no ground engagement activities today.

"Today's Minimal Achievements" I like that expression Farmer2009. So the TMAs of the day will be: mulching, weed eating, removing fence and taking the Farmall steering apart. If I get at least one of those done that will be an achievement.

 

[riptides]

38 out this AM. Mid 50's today, rain might make an appearance.

Yesterday we looked for Mr. Beaver. Walked over a mile along the creek bed and did not find them. They must be upstream from where we started.

Too bad for my trees.



Feeding area, pretty new.



They will not get these...

 

[farmer2009]

44 this morning and headed to 50 today. Light rain moving in.

Need to start calling around to see what everyone has. I put a set of Michelin M/S2's on wife vehicle back in the spring. Really like them but I want something more aggressive.

Drew thanks for the link. I like those m/t BFG's. Will just see what's in stock. I know a couple of people with the Goodyears and they would rank them higher than that.

Riptide becareful what you say. We have beavers here that would try to cut that tree. I've had them drop 18"+ trees.

 

[300UGUY]

New install on the woodstove.

Really surprised at the mileage you guys get with tires. I thought anything over 50K would be a gift.

 

[daugen]

I sure wouldn't want a diet like those beavers have...talk about al dente
very destructive rodents but kinda cool too
do beavers only eat/use part of the tree? What are they looking for? food? building materials?
and did I hear that sometimes they are protected so you can't shoot the things?
Now if they used 100% of the tree, somehow that wouldn't bother me. Just an animal in its domain.
I wonder if all beaver pups need to take structural engineering classes...

farmer, if you get sidewall wear banging in to things I think those Goodyears with the reinforced sidewalls would be a good choice. If you don't mind the noise, even these open aggressive tires today get pretty good wear. I've run up to AT's, never MT's. When I was a fireman we all ran AT's because we needed to get out into fields at times responding to brush fires. And of course in snow. Where I live now there a large number of 2wd trucks, which is interesting and very different for me. Hey, flat terrain and no snow, well, very little, and if it does snow, most people stay home. Even a hint of snow shuts things down here. So this winter, which is supposed to be wet, should be interesting. Since 98% of the males here drive trucks, it's a mix of street and offroad. Lot of cruiser chrome dripping Silverados. Glad Chevy is reintroducing painted grills...and some of the younger guys with the fronts jacked up and the rear down. Very strange to see go by. How do they see?...
Lot of used tire dealers. Never saw those before, lived in too affluent an area before. Hispanic and black used tire stores with piles of tires outside.
Simply a function of a low income economy. Not everyone can afford four new 230 dollar truck tires, for sure. So they wait for someone like me who thinks his tires are starting to ride hard at 40k, and get the new and improved model, and some other guy now drives my old tires for another 40K. The second half of the tread life wears longer so if one doesn't drive in a lot of rain, owner number two got a good deal. I always like deep tread...

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning! 45F @ 7:30AM. Periods of rain. Thunder possible. High 52F. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.

Don, your niece made the local news show out here, you know that humorous bit they show right at the end? I'd say she's got bigger balls than that gator...

RS, customer service is a dying art in this country. Besides, who needs to be nice to people when everyone knows that the world owes you a living?:banghead: I've had good luck buying used appliances off Craig's List, but I always make sure that replacement parts are still available before dragging any particular one home. If they're of fairly recent manufacture, it's also easy to find reviews on line, too. And as far as LEDs go, no way I'd drop to anything near 60W equivalent. As my eyes age they need more light to see anything clearly, so I've held off replacing anything until the 100W equivalents start dropping in price. And even then I'll be comparing lumens. But even that isn't always accurate as demonstrated by the 4' florescents I just replaced. The rating on the LEDs was actually lower than that of the florescents, but in practice the LEDs appear much, much brighter.

Yeah, Irv, I used to climb trees like a monkey when I was a kid. Now when I get half way up an extension ladder my knees shake so bad the ladder top almost bounces off the gutter.

Farmer, hope you're feelin' better soon! Both front Coopers developed the same problem on the F250 last month, and I ended up with Michelin X-Radials from Costco. Reviews said they're the same as the LTX M/S, and they come with a 70K mile tread life warranty. So far I like 'em. They work find on the jeep trail that passes for a driveway here, but they're not mudders. You couldn't pay me to buy Goodyears: Last set I had took way too much weight to balance and never did run right.

Eric, the trial and error can be frustrating, but practicing on an old gas can has helped. The real payoff comes when I see the final result. It may not be perfect, but it's better than it was, and there's a lot of satisfaction in knowing it came from my own hands. As for music, mostly 60s and 70s rock'n'roll, but some days smooth jazz is better, others folk, and when things go really sideways, silence is best as music would only interfere with my own enthusiastic vocalizations :laughing: I got the same lecture on decimal precision in a freshman physics class. At the time a new four function calculator cost upwards of $100, and those that owned them were quite proud of the eight digit display.

Yesterday was cold and wet outside, a great day to spend inside stoking the wood stove, watching a good movie, and cooking a nice dinner. Today looks like it'll be a carbon copy of yesterday :thumbsup::laughing:

 

[txdon]

Don, your niece made the local news show out here, you know that humorous bit they show right at the end? I'd say she's got bigger balls than that gator...

Yep she finally answered my e-mail and sent me a few pics and told me she will get a pic for me when they release the gator today.

She said CNN and other world news agencies have been contacting her, here is the one from Germany.
Auf Parkplatz in Texas: Mutige Blondine überwältigt Riesen-Alligator - News Ausland - Bild.de

Eric, she also said to look for her story in the UK news.

Just remember the "Good Morning" group knew her before she got famous.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good morning all. 51F this morning and overcast, light north breeze. Forecast for 64F, partly cloudy and not much more wind. After bike ride mostly putter jobs today or as Don puts it TMA.

 

[sodamo]

68°F and 2.05 inches rain last 24 hours.

Exciting morning planned. Drop wife at dentist for her permanent filling at root canal site, small trip to HD, and visit the AT&T store to get a new sim for MIL phone.

Be safe
Have a great day

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet

 

[sodamo]

Don,
Your niece and her gator were on the Honolulu news last night.
Of course I had to tell my wife, Hey, remember the tractor forum guy that..., she's his niece.

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[buckeyefarmer]

Saw the gator video on fox news. cool.

 

[Eric Salop]

Eric, she also said to look for her story in the UK news.

She is well and truly syndicated here too !

Typical headlines go :-

Twelve-foot long alligator wandered into strip mall

and

Woman wrestles giant 12-foot alligator in car park


I didn't see anything on the BBC, but maybe they had already used up their quota of America related stories - amongst which the only "good news" story I caught was "Recipe tweak could beat US haggis ban", so I think they missed her - unless the tweak to the ingredients included alligator.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Even if that gator wrestling job doesn't pan out, Don, your niece will be more than prepared for those midnight shopping sprees come this holiday season! :laughing:

 

[300UGUY]

She is well and truly syndicated here too !

Typical headlines go :-

Twelve-foot long alligator wandered into strip mall

and

Woman wrestles giant 12-foot alligator in car park


I didn't see anything on the BBC, but maybe they had already used up their quota of America related stories - amongst which the only "good news" story I caught was "Recipe tweak could beat US haggis ban", so I think they missed her - unless the tweak to the ingredients included alligator.

There's a ban on haggis? I just thought that no one wanted to eat it?

 

[300UGUY]

She is well and truly syndicated here too !

Typical headlines go :-

Twelve-foot long alligator wandered into strip mall

and

Woman wrestles giant 12-foot alligator in car park


I didn't see anything on the BBC, but maybe they had already used up their quota of America related stories - amongst which the only "good news" story I caught was "Recipe tweak could beat US haggis ban", so I think they missed her - unless the tweak to the ingredients included alligator.

There's a ban on haggis? I just thought that no one wanted to eat it?

 

[sseelhoff]

There's a ban on haggis? I just thought that no one wanted to eat it?

Haggis is the victim of both sides of the economic equation. Supply and demand.

 

[rswyan]

48.7F @ 21:00 ... and another day in Paradise is almost in the books ...

Since it was relatively nice out today, I decided I'd tackle getting the gutters on the house cleaned out. I can reach about 2/3rds to 3/4 of the one on the backside with a step ladder on the deck, the remainder requires the 27' extension ladder. Got the nasty stuff all cleaned out of that easy-to-reach section ... and then started blowing out the granules from the shingles with a 3' long blowgun and the little Craftsman compressor. Decided to switch over to the 5hp Coleman in the garage for more air flow.

Put the cats away in a bedroom and routed the air hose from deck thru the dining room and kitchen out into the garage and fired up the compressor. Got almost 3/4 of the easy-to-reach section blown out ... and then wandered out into the garage for some reason or another. The compressor is sittin' there hummin' ... but not spinnin' ...

Shut it off and pulled the guard over the pulleys and belt to check and see if it was seized. It wasn't ...

So I turned it on and tried to give it an "assist" with my hand ... still nada ...

So the next step is to loosen up the bolts and pull the belt and check it that way, with no load. Do so and it spins right up and takes off ...

It's the original (30 year-old ?) MagnaTek motor and it's capacitor start/capacitor run ... the thing looks essentially brand-new.

Bad capacitor mebbe ?

So I admitted temporary defeat on the gutters and decided to see if I could get the masonry crown around the chimneys sealed up until I can replace it next summer. Go down to the basement grab the caulking gun and a couple of tubes of GE Silicone II, head back upstairs, up the ladder and onto the roof. Start squeezing out silicone into the cracks but I ain't liking the look of it ... real grainy. Check the "Use by" date ... 2008 ...

Another stopped project ...

So I figure what the heck, at least I can sweep the shared chimney for the woodburner and gas water heater, and get that ready to go ... you know: just in case. So I have The Woman go down into the basement for the brush and the fiberglass rods ... she comes back in a couple of minutes and says she can't find them. So back down the ladder I go, thru the house and down into the basement ... they weren't where I told her they would be ... had already pulled them out and set them just inside the family room door in anticipation of this job.

Head back up onto the roof with tools and commence to sweepin' the chimney ... get down about 4' and it becomes almost impossible to push the brush down any further. Grab the flashlight and have a look ... deposits on each wall of the chimney liner are about 1" to 2" thick. So basically I had to use the rod only to knock off enough creosote to get the brush down there. Ran either 20' or 24' of rod down, knocking off the deposits but I still hadn't hit bottom. Ended up only getting down about 12' with the brush so far ... the sun was getting low at that point and my arms were getting tired so I decided to call it a day on that project. Will have to get back to it on the next dry day.

Came inside and headed down to the basement, opened up the clean out and the creosote was piled up above the level of the clean out door (18") ... filled a 12 x 18 x 24 wastebasket full of the stuff. Got about 1/2 of it burnt in the WBF so far.

About that time The Woman announces that the washer is broke ... naturally with a load of clothes in it. The safety switch in the lid that prevents it from agitating with the lid open has a been a little flakey for some time ... you couldn't just close it and have it work, you had to drop from an inch or so. Of course there doesn't appear to be any real easy way to get to that switch ... Lord only knows what all will have to be taken off/apart to get to it.

So I tells The Woman that she can use the washer in the basement I normally use for dirty rags.

"But it leaks ..."

Yeah, I know .... but it's minimal and it's on concrete so it ain't gonna hurt anything ... runs right into the floor drain. You just need to clean it out a little ... nothing that some Dawn won't handle.

"It's YOUR mess ... YOU clean it out ..."

"... Schnickelfritz ..." (under my breath of course)

One run with hot water, some Dawn Platinum, and Iron Out ... and a little work with a Scothbrite pad ... and it's ready to go.

She did manage to get the refrig and the flower beds at the front entryway cleaned out today, so she gets a gold star and a cookie.

I went over the aquarium stand with a rag and some mineral spirits to smooth out the globs of half dry stain that had puddled while I was waiting for the washer to finish. Today's score:

Projects attempted: 5 (gutters, chimney crown, chimney sweeping, aquarium stand finishing, clean out of washer)

Projects I got completely stopped on: 2 (gutters, chimney crown)

Projects I made progress on: 3 (chimney sweeping, aquarium stand finishing, clean out of washer)

Projects completed: 0

New items that need fixed/repaired: 2 (compressor, washer machine)

Projects on which no work was done: A number too vast to mention ... :laughing:

 

[txdon]

Rswyan - at least you made progress on 3. Before I could start the repair the Farmall the weed eater quite running and so did the golf cart. I fixed the weed eater and start on the golf cart tomorrow - the farmall just gets pushed back more and more. . .

Eric haggis sounds pretty disgusting - heart, liver, lung, served in a stomach, ugg.

Christy sent me an update on the release of the gator today.
800-pound alligator found in parking lot taken to farm | Latest News - Home

 

[300UGUY]

RS, that would be a good day for me lately. I was putting the chimney together, took a section out of it's box, to find that the end of it was mangled, so I had to go back down the ladder, close up the house and barn, drive 10 miles to Lowes, swap it out, get back and get the roof closed back up before it got dark, and before the wife got home. I just barely made it. Now I looked at it, I left off the insulation shield, so I gotta go back up, take it apart, put the shield in, put it back together, and not injure myself in the process... Basically a whole day shot. Today I had a leaky tire - only bought the tires 3 months ago, back to Belle Tire, wait 2 hours, then back home. Btw, another 10 mile one way trip. The good thing today, the tire store is right next to the new Harbor Freight store here. I didn't buy much, but it beat watching Judge Judy in the waiting room at the tire store. The tire thing was after running errands for my wife, getting her lunch, checking on the her shop. Btw, still no renter, so I will drop the price, I guess.

 

[sodamo]

Well the AT&T store visit proven unfruitful we provide my MIL with an iPhone by passing one of ours on to her when we upgrade. Her number is on our account. And almost every time the procedure changes and is a PITA. So this time I called CS first to ask. They verified not a problem, just take the newer iPhone 6 into the store, get new sim with her number but not activated, then it can be activated via a phone call once she gets the phone. My wife will be taking the newer phone to her and retrieving her iPhone 5c which I'll pass on to my step daughter. Tech couldn't do it, says they have to have both phones because different sims. Yea, different sims, but I don't believe that is correct answer. Should be able to program new sim but not activate, then activate the new and deactivate the old. When I mentioned that I could by a new phone online using my number and activation didn't take place until I configured the new device his reasoning was the factory had different capability. So I guess we will see what happens.

David Sent from my iPad Air using TractorByNet