Good morning!!!!

[wngsprd]

Coffee is done brewing. 52° with clear skies this morning. Heading to 80° with partly cloudy skies. Got all my chores done yesterday. Then enjoy some quiet time on back porch. Friend is bring his Ford Escape Hybrid over to install a base plate. Have not done one for a few years.
Bright moon.

Buckeye, glad you able to make AC run better.

Drew, being older means I have listened to all the songs mentioned.

Wngsprd, take it easy. Maybe time to take up mountain climbing?

Everyone stay healthy and safe.

Good Morning All.

Beautiful. we've got too many clouds to see the moon this morning. Ron, I hear the mountains calling me almost everyday.

 

[wngsprd]

BEF, have a great time camping. Looks like a nice place. Last time we were up at Big Meadows, we drove through the campground just to get a sense of the layout and see how pretty it was. Your trailer would look perfect there. I don't think they have any hookups, though.

 

[Bird]

Another day starting at 82 degrees and going for a high of 101. Have I mentioned more than 40 or 50 times that I hate summers in Texas? It's hard to believe now that I never lived or slept in a house with air-conditioning until I was 20 years old. Don't know how I survived.

 

[daugen]

good morning all.
Dennis, have fun camping. May nothing leak or break in the rv, which you know is a big ask...

lovely out now, much cooler at 55 going up to low 80s, super nice weather.


Funny thing, Drew, the thing won’t start until you make about three or four times, and each time it makes six attempts at starting. This was on gasoline. Does yours do that?
Thankfully no. So far I have only run mine on propane, takes about three seconds of cranking for fuel to get where it needs to go and then it starts right up. I keep ten gallons of gas
ready for it (which I use in mower to keep the fuel fresh) but so far haven't had to put any gas in tank, so have left it dry. If I get a big outage, when the propane runs out, I'll switch to gasoline if need be.
almost sounds like your carburetor is gunked up which makes no sense on a new unit.

Hope Mostly got off ok on his early morning bike ride and has a good time.

I have spent the last hour emailing church members on a called meeting on Sunday to discuss Covid and recent CDC announcements.
No question our kids will wear masks this Fall but now adults are considering remasking. Need to determine whether Bucks Co is high, medium or
low SARS incidence. If not low, we will surely consider remasking inside.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

 

[Popgadget]

Good morning.
It’s 52 and won’t quite make it to 80 today. Low humidity, and clear skies. A great day to be outside.

Yesterday’s trip was effortless, no weather to deal with at all, and I was home before noon. When I went to the end of my lane to get the mail, I heard an alarm from across the road, it was my neighbors septic system pump tank. I called him to let him know, and they were out of town, so he asked me to go over and silence the alarm, and check to make sure there wasn’t a toilet running in the house, which was easy because nobody locks anything around here. After that, I took the Makita hedge trimmer and blower as well as the little Stijl pruning saw for ride down the lane cleaned up a bit so you could see what might be coming from the opposite direction around the bends instead of finding out by Braille.

For today, I’m going to try to get back to the hangar and change the contactor if I can get someone to hold the nuts on the cockpit side of the firewall. This evening, We’re going to play at a summer festival that’s only about 25 miles from here. It should be a good time and little work, we only have to walk onstage and play, don’t have to move or setup any gear. Show starts at 4, we go on at 9, I plan to get there in time to see most of the performances.
Might even clean up in the shop some, but I’m looking forward to a relaxing day.

 

[daugen]

Paul, I'll be up your way later with a propane tank to fill up at TSC.
The one I left on all night...
paying for my mental sins

get someone to hold the nuts on the cockpit side of the firewall
pretty hard to reach around isn't it?...

 

[buckeyefarmer]

BEF, have a great time camping. Looks like a nice place. Last time we were up at Big Meadows, we drove through the campground just to get a sense of the layout and see how pretty it was. Your trailer would look perfect there. I don't think they have any hookups, though.

Have tent camped at big meadows several times. Twice we got soaked in heavy rains. One year my son burned his hand in a fire pit, and rangers opened their access road for us to get him to Luray hospital faster. They do have some electric hookups. Most nat and state parks don’t have water/sewer hookups but usually have a dump station. Prevents people from wanting to stay too long.

AC is too noisy, had to turn it off and use fans. It got cool in the night, had to turn my fan off.
Cat is getting strength back, in the night it was able to jump up into sons bunk.

 

[Popgadget]

pretty hard to reach around isn't it?...

Yes, unless you’re Reed Richards……..

 

[txdon]

Good Morning! 75˚F, Clear skies heading to the mid 90s.

Bird we did not get A/C in my parents Houston house till I was 13. I was a window unit in the living room. We mostly used the Attic Fan (3'X3" whole house fan in the hallway ceiling that sucked the hot air out of the house and blew it into the attic). They eventually got another window unit in their bedroom after I had moved out. With the humidity in Houston my mom would complain of the mold in the closets.

My neighbor here across the street had a whole house humidifier installed during the winter and now during the Summer has added a whole house de-humidifier. Now she can have what she thinks is the perfect humidity in the house all the time - 54%

I have two more hedges that struggled ever since the February super freeze week that have finally died that I need to dig out. I'm watching 4 others that are slowly loosing limbs and believe they will soon die also. The prolonged below freezing and low of zero degrees must have messed with their ability to transfer nutrients to the leaves. Anyone else having 5 month delayed freeze damage?

 

[toppop52]

Have tent camped at big meadows several times. Twice we got soaked in heavy rains. One year my son burned his hand in a fire pit, and rangers opened their access road for us to get him to Luray hospital faster. They do have some electric hookups. Most nat and state parks don’t have water/sewer hookups but usually have a dump station. Prevents people from wanting to stay too long.

AC is too noisy, had to turn it off and use fans. It got cool in the night, had to turn my fan off.
Cat is getting strength back, in the night it was able to jump up into sons bunk.
View attachment 707680

Pretty cat.

 

[toppop52]

65, dew point of 55, feels like early fall this morning. 83 later.
Looks like my birthday cookout is going to be an eat in with tomorrow’s forecast. Oh well, what are you gonna do?
I have an extremely busy couple of days so I’d better get to it.
Since we are doing old goofy songs I’ll leave you with this.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The flash pic of the cat took as a short video, so I had to screen shot from the video. I keep live picture turned off, hate that mode, but yet that’s what it did for flash.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 78F @ 6:32AM. Sunshine and clouds mixed. Hot. High around 100F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.
Could'a sworn I heard rain earlier, but it must have just been the tinnitus. I can't remember the last time it rained here.

Guaranteed I'd hit a different button on the radio every time that song came on, Pop, and no way I'll punch the play icon now... Remember how you'd hear the same "top ten" songs on the radio over and over all day? Now if I hear the same song the next day, I wonder if the DJs (XM/Sirius) have lost their minds. We've come a long way from AM radio!

Smoke was extra thick, and super unhealthy yesterday, even in late afternoon when it usually lifts. No work on the wiring as a result, but I did get some paperwork done, as well as making some onliine purchases of stuff I've had trouble finding in the stores. I did get through to both helpful neighbors, and it looks like Monday they'll get to trucking some water. That'll be a relief.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Was watching the news and they showed all the damage in Bucks county....when they tacked the Pennsylvania on the end of it, I told my wife, "Hey, I have a lot of online friends up there!" Prayers y'all are alright. Haven't heard back from everyone up there yet???

Billy, glad you're in the next phase of recovery. Hope you continue to be careful. I almost strained mine, flipping up the Beast's 72" mower deck. (It was only my 2nd time). I have to raise the deck off the ground first. Was fortunate. Not as bulletproof as we once were.

HPX Gator update: Still not running properly. Will idle, but falls on it's face when given any throttle for over a second or 2. Have been through carb twice, replaced float and needle seat. Trying to use a clear line on carb's drain, as a float bowl level indicator, but not sure exactly where gas level should be. I eyeballed the point where the needle's contact is made....but not sure how deep the floats' waterline should be....Anyway, it seemed all over the place as I couldn't get a good reading due to the air box and accoutrement in the way.... I saw a video with similar symptoms that showed the muffler's tailpipe having a screened spark arrestor that was clogged with fiberglass type noise reduction crap. Will check that today. Also seemed like either thermostat, or waterpump might be out, not getting hot coolant up to the radiator. Could be an air pocket? More research needed. Unit is 17 yo, with minimal maintenance. Mea Culpa.

The guy that is doing our hay has been here a few times, maybe for an hour or 2 each time. He still has maybe 4-5 acres that are mowable. He's dropped off his rake and baler in the last 2 days. I actually hope he rakes and bales what is laying, and hoping it doesn't rain.

Might go to Brenham Tx tonight for a free outdoor concert by "The Spiccoli's", they play 80's music out of Houston. It was supposed to be a Journey tribute band. I was trying to lookup what a tribute band would have to pay, to play the songs. Seems confusing.

Wifey just made me coffee. Today is going to brutal hot, around 100F and humid.

 

[MoKelly]

Good morning. Today and tomorrow will be below average temps and wonderful. High today will be 77F! Unreal for late July.

I got all I needed to do complete at the farm yesterday. Overdid it a tad as my back barked last night. Didn’t sleep great.

So, today and tomorrow will be relaxing days.

I got a new laptop and can’t figure out how to get it linked up to the printer. Tech stuff is so frustrating. I hoped that by just plugging the laptop into the printer would work? Seems like it should work. But nope. I’ll try again later as once frustration hits my brain doesn’t work well.

Have a great weekend all.

MoKelly

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Fried sausage and eggs on the griddle for breakfast, then took a short walk around part of campgrounds.
Got hickories dropping on us.

The old farmhouse is pretty.

Start walking and my feet just burn from all the nerve endings still messed up. Legs felt a little weak also, therefore just did the short loop.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 63, going up to around 85 with a cold front moving across sometimes late today. With that front, our chances of rain increase tonight and tomorrow. A couple of weeks ago, the weather guessers were predicting 70-80% chances of rain / storms the for the entire week..... we got one storm which dumped 1 inch over about 45 minutes. That's it for the week. Lots of places around us had flash floods and 3-6" rain totals.

It is amazing how just a small amount of rain turns everything green within a few days. I may have to cut the fields in another week or so.

I took a break from all social media, basically just hitting my 'reset button' For a while. Too many things going on, too many daily obstacles to overcome. Overall, just stepping back and taking it as it comes, slow but steady.

We got a lot of outside stuff / landscape work done. We transplanted 25 or so trees and shrubs that have been growing in large containers. They were large enough that I had to use the tractor to move / lift them. They should have been transplanted a year or two ago.... they got really big. It was good therapy, even though I can only work for an hour and have to rest for a half hour..... rinse and repeat for a few times. At most, 4-5 hours at best, then I am beat. Slow but steady....

The knee is still acting up, which is causing the aforementioned 'new' method of daily activities. The surgeon says "everything looks great" and the swelling and pain is normal and can continue to happen for maybe another year..... not what I wanted to hear. He will probably finalize the MMI report at my next visit in September. Don't know what will happen after that... the next chapter starts.

Today's agenda will consist of reconfiguring the drip irrigation system. Some plugs are needed where some of the containers are no longer, and some new taps elsewhere. Not hard work, but being bent over / sitting low creates difficulty getting back up. The new landscape beds where all the transplants went will get a new system over the next couple of weeks.

Everyone have a great weekend!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

LS, thanks for checking in. Been wondering how you were.

 

[daugen]

Nice picture Dennis.
Good to hear from you Ted. Slow and steady.

planted four shrubs I bought at Bountiful Acres this morning, and
replaced the two totally dead butterfly bushes. The other two are iffy but have some green leaves so
they get a second chance. Also planted a hydrangea in the front of the house where I have afternoon shade.
And one more afternoon sun flowering plant with unknown name to go along side the garage among a motley group of other plants.
That whole area needs to be dug up, replanted and mulched.
RS, you going to be out this way any time soon? You'd have this done in an hour.

now have to decide whether to go mow the next door neighbor's lawn, the middle aged flower child with a push mower.
As she walks through the long grass just teeming with little ticks from the deer who have been chowing down in her back yard.
Free delivery of ticks and they will surely jump up on her clothes. I wonder if she doesn't understand how bad Lymes disease is and how
permanently screwed up you can get from it.

I have enough neurological issues so I may go mow her lawn to keep the ticks away since the deer look for taller grass, not freshly mowed lawn.
I'd like to go spread some neutering powder out there...get rid of the deer, the ticks mostly go away, and much less
harm to people.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

BEF, looks like a nice camping spot! We still need to get out in ours... probably won't happen until next year.

We were very surprised to hear about the tornadoes in Bucks Co.
Glad that major damage wasn't more widespread. My SIL and BIL live outside of Ottsville and they had a bunch of trees go down and their driveway was washed out. No damage to the house or outbuildings.

Drew, glad you didn't have too much damage.

Kyle, hope you get the gator up and running.

Wng, glad to hear you're getting up and about.... recovery is not fun nor fast.... take care.