Good morning!!!!

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 48F @ 5:00AM. Sunny. High 69F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
Rain is back in the forecast starting a week from today. I'll wait on that one.

Yes to the note taking, SC. Very much the same experience here, including the lawyer bailing, and even more antics. Don't be afraid to ask pointed questions to any new lawyer you might interview, including temporary or long term support, their case load, if they or a subordinate will actually handle the case, and how long it will all take. Here, the American Bar Association keeps a database of lawyers, maybe your country does the same? In my case, it was all about the money. Whoever had less got more from the one that had it. A good lawyer can help minimize the amount; I didn't see anything fair and truthful in the process. You'll get through this; it'll just take some time.

Contractors got the new chimney chase framed in yesterday, all but the special strong ties that'll hopefully keep it from coming off again. Though I don't think all the strong ties in the world will keep it on if it gets hit by a flying patio roof again.

I hooked a winch up to the box blade and used it to rescue the tractor, first time I've had to do that. More than enough cable to reach a good sized tree, and used a lifting strap around the tree to save some bark. It was a little awkward backing up and keeping the slack out using the winch pendant control, but it worked. Took longer to rig it up than it did to do the actual winching. Whew! I used a winch mount from Harbor Freight, and I was afraid it would bend or break, but it worked fine. Didn't take long for three guys with shovels to fill the bucket twice and get the rest of the dirt moved. That would have taken me most of the morning, and I wouldn't have been good for anything the rest of the day.

Pulled the fuel filter off the side-by-side one more time and verified that plenty of fuel was coming out of the tank. I could blow through the filter, but it felt restricted. Picked up another one in town and installed it, and the buggy was still having problems starting. The shop manual said it shouldn't need priming, so I kept cranking, and finally it caught and ran. Just took longer than I thought it should. Hope that problem is put to bed.

Speaking of oil, I tried to buy a case at the Toyota dealer in town, but all they had were a couple of quarts. Said they had 350 cases on back order for a couple months! I asked if their mechanics use Toyota oil, and he said yes. Must be a heck of a backlog on service appointments there. I called around when I got home and found two other dealers with plenty of oil. But Amazon has the best deal by a few cents, and free shipping.

Off to Lompoc this morning, rumor has it there's a midnight launch tomorrow night. They're supposed to be quite spectacular, and my buddy's front yard is a front row seat.

Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!

 

[LouNY]

Skip this post if you'd like, I just wanted to give an accurate update

Good Morning Everyone,

just wanted to check in, as the ongoing saga here continues ... prayers always appreciated, here's an update ... (sorry, tough to explain, I'm describing, not venting, I am so numb by this process, but I have not been angry.)

- wife's lawyer expects a response to an email sent
- I will do nothing until I have retained a lawyer (long story, last lawyer bailed on me on Thursday just befor Good Friday - as I attempted to set up an appointment, said that she was too busy), so after 6 months since initial contacts, I am back to square one - uggh).
- I just called a lawyer that was earlier recommended to me, left a message - I hope that I can arrange a retainer
- in the meantime, wife has been selling assets
- one of the tenants recently passed away (2 weeks ago), so there is a vacancy upstairs that wife and other tenant anticipate filling - with absolutely NO DISCUSSION with me. I don't want a complete stranger, barely screened, living on / in MY property, with access to everything here. (it's not as simple as locking doors ... the tractor, equipment, vehicles are all at some risk, and one vehicle (registered to me) was sold from under me, a month ago.
- I need a lawyer to draft a separation agreement so that I get the accounts separated, and secure the money for bills, while this whole process goes on.
- mediation is fine with me, but of no interest to wife
- reconciliation is not an option (she's said that all along - I agree)
- oh, and wife told her lawyer that the separation date was November 16/21 when she left town to assist her family ... rather than October 28/22 when I first learned about the separation via a friend responding on FB. That change in date CHANGES EVERYTHING.

It's a bit of a mess, wife clearly has no idea what the consequences of her actions are, she's just merrily cruising along without regard for anything that needs to be decided. I have lots of notes, to detail expenses etc.

stay well everyone

now back to taxes and bookkeeping

I went through this much the same over 30 years ago, I tried to be fair and even handed about everything actually bent over backwards to be fair. Was doing this all for the kids. NEVER again all a spitefull woman wants is to screw you over for every imagined sin of every man in the world. Get the best lawyer you can find, the worst conniving shyster around, the judge will still treat the woman much better and easier then you will ever be treated.
Everything that you do out of consideration will be twisted around and be made to seem as if you were being a miserable bas****, so just go for it and hammer her constantly.
Do I regret my divorce, heck no. I do regret that I wasn't harder on her for all the garbage I put up with for so long during and after the marriage.
I ran single for many years till 2015 when at 64 I decided to try it again, so far so good this time.
A slightly different tack then many here are advising.

 

[LouNY]

Haven't heard from Lou lately. Hope he is doing ok.

Thanks for asking;
Doing OK most days, had a slight scare a bit back had some kind of flare up that put me in the hospital for 2 days, initially diagnosed as congestive heart failure now they are thinking it wasn't but don't really know what was going on.
Still going over to my brothers former farm when my nephew needs a hand. Working on my older tractor when the weather and I are on a good day. Slowly cleaning up a bunch of downed and broken trees from our last bad storm that brought a lot down, just about closed off my driveway for a bit, but a 10,000+ pound tractor chained up all around can shove trees around fairly well. Between a bit of working, lots of doctor visits, family gathering for Easter been staying busy.
It's been a beautifull week so far here quite warm and dry 70's yesterday going for the 80's today and tomarrow likely have the AC on for a bit in the late afternoon, then after Saturday back down to the 50's and 60's, may even be past the last frost even though we often get one in late April.

 

[KilroyJC]

Trusting God - there is a plan. I just need to do my part and continue to do the right thing. I believe that the truth will come out and the emotional / mental health issues will become evident. i'm just crunching all the costs as i go. Trying to be fair, amidst chaos.

Echoing what others have said: get the best lawyer you can afford, it worked wonders with our HOA lawsuit several years back. We went so far as to hire one who was out of our judicial district, so there were no “good Ol’ boy” issues - he didn’t have to kiss anybody’s posterior! And when the HOA persisted in their stupidity and “invited” us to the Annual Meeting after we won, we’ll, we walked into the room and saw a room full of torch&pitchfork-wielding villagers —- and then our attorney walked in behind us. Not was well worth the expense of travel + after-hours billing rate just to put those @#$&ers in their place.

probably the best thing to dry to do is find an attorney who went through his own nasty divorce!

 

[gstrom99]

I changed the chain and went out again today. The new chain cut real nice, and I filled my pick up bed with rounds, but then the chain started jamming on me. May have a problem with the oiler on it. It’s a Stihl, and not very old.

Check the sprocket - damage or debris. I replaced my Husky one with an Oregon, with the sprocket part separate from the clutch drum (Stihl's may be different though...).

 

[gstrom99]

Thanks for asking;
Doing OK most days, had a slight scare a bit back had some kind of flare up that put me in the hospital for 2 days, initially diagnosed as congestive heart failure now they are thinking it wasn't but don't really know what was going on.
Still going over to my brothers former farm when my nephew needs a hand. Working on my older tractor when the weather and I are on a good day. Slowly cleaning up a bunch of downed and broken trees from our last bad storm that brought a lot down, just about closed off my driveway for a b

Good morning to all.
A special note to all Veterans: If you are not currently involved in a VFW / American Legion or other organization, please check into this. Just a tweak to remind people like me who for a long time after my service did not check into this. Well worth the time and very likely an org. close to home.

USAF rumors: Project Mayhem. A replacement for the SR-71. hypersonic Mach 10 bomber. Artist rendering:

Hope all have a great day!
View attachment 795059

Thank you for your service! Support is a wonderful thing.

 

[gstrom99]

IF IT SNOWS THIS WEEKEND YOU CAN ALL BLAME ME. I AM TAKING THE PLOW AND CHAINS OFF THE QUAD TONIGHT.

I too, would be to blame (some). I ran the gas out of the snowblower the other day, and put it and the shovels away yesterday.

 

[pennwalk]

The age old question about dogs. Who's training who?

 

[riptides]

....

RIP would foxes be scaring the turkeys away?

....

Doubt that, the foxes gorge themselves on my neighbors eggs and chickens. Very rare to see them in the back forty. LOL.

I have "city folk" that moved here a few years back. I hear them rebuilding their coops and fence lines.....every other day. LOL.

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning! Low was 43°, heading up to 71° today. Light breezes this morning, but the wind expected by this afternoon. Now gusts have been upped to 50 mph. Supposed to be cooler tomorrow, high of 60°, but the winds persist until tomorrow night.

No rain in the 10 day..... California used it all up.....
Strange for sure, we normally get a few spring showers a couple times a week. Humidity has consistently been under 10% for the past week.

Fritz, the son's divorce was finalized a couple years ago. He had a good divorce attorney that "specialized" in representing the "Man side". It cost him quite a bit for the retainer and fees, but was well worth it!

David, the project looks great. A question: why are the horizontal supports sticking out past the back wall and braced as they are?

Drew, sounds like you're going to have fun with the musical chair vehicle swapping. Hope you can get the cart and garden tractor back into the garage. Glad the tire experience was great.

RNG, have a good trip to Lampoc. Hope you get to see the launch.

I can't believe how green some of your areas are already. The weeds are just barely starting here. At least I don't have to cut or weedwack yet. It will be soon enough....

Might try to spread the gravel. At least get a start on it before the wind gets here.

Everyone have a great day!