Coffee 6-25-2011

Good morning! Fresh hot Folgers awaits to get you started on the weekend. Lot's to do & so little time! Sliced ham, eggs sunny side, and oatmeal toast is almost ready. Gotta cram in the calories if we're going to produce the work.

Here's a true story for you of how our government spends it's money. If you don't have the time to read it, skip it & have a smooth weekend!

Was it Reagan that said "The closest thing to perpetual motion is any government program." ? Well, I stopped the motion! Several years ago the DEP popped in here unannounced and did a surprise inspection. They wanted to make sure that I was not storing anything outside that would get rained on, washed by the rain, and the resulting pollution ending up in the ground or the river. They found nothing, but sent me 15 pages of official government paperwork to fill out and entered me into the "Non Point Source Pollution" club, so to speak. I got this official certificate that showed I was in the "club". Every year they send me another 15 pages that I am mandated to fill out in case something changed. One other time another federal agent popped in for a surprise inspection. I was not home at the time but they left a full page report of what they found after snooping all over my property....nothing. So, here it is a year or so later. A few weeks back I received my 15 pages, but, it was only 2 pages this time, yet, so confusing I did not fill it out. Instead I typed out a paragraph and sent it to them. Basically it said: " This form you sent it confusing to me, so rather than try to fill it out I am writing a paragraph or two that I hope serves the purpose. I am a one man band, a home based Upholstery occupation. I do not store stuff outside as cotton and foam rubber are best kept inside. I will never store stuff outside as all my materials are best kept inside, yet, year after year you pop in with surprise inspections and force me to spend time keeping up with your paperwork trail. You are most welcome to come anytime, but there will never, ever, be a time that you will find me storing anything to do with upholstery out of doors. Thank you, Fred." And I mailed it off. Yesterday I got a phone call from a lovely lady from the DEP. She was all apologies that the form they sent was so confusing. The letter I typed was not only sufficient, but she took it upon herself to bring it to a supervisors meeting. It has been agreed that I was right... it's a waste of time and resources to keep me in the club. I have been banned and no longer am a member! Wooohooooo! She said they will send two more things.....one, a paper that is 100% fillled out that I do need to sign and return. Two, and final, will be a certificate thanking me for being an outstanding member of the club, but will list some official reason why I am no longer a member that I can show it to future recruiters that try to get me back in. Sheeesh!

Good Morning all,

Thanks for the coffee but I'll just grab a seat with a window view and watch the sun come up and listen to the conversation. Fred, congratulations on your victory over your local government. What a pain! Jeez, you got to wonder where these guys left their common sense. It reminds me of the time the county tax appraiser came by just after we had the addition put on. He was snooping around checking to see we had not exceeded the work indicated on the permit.- "to insure the new tax appraisal was correct." Fortunately, by that time I'd had enough experience with the county to know I could say no when he requested to come in and look around. We hadn't but I knew that if I'd let him in he would have found something. It's like the old story of what happens when you give a mouse a cookie. He'll want milk to go with it, then a napkin, then ... it never ends.

Not much going on here, we have a beautiful spring day in store - about time since the first day of summer was a couple of days ago. They tell me it's going to be 83 with no humidity or pollen. I've got a little more mulch to put out and then I shouldn't have to touch anything out back the rest of the year; except for mowing the weeds a couple of times. it's been a good spring for moving my yard projects ahead. Next year everything should be filled in and looking good. DK appears to be finally getting a move on the patio so maybe by August we'll be able to sit out there in the cool of the evening. Probably not, but maybe. Well, I see the sun is up and the time is streaming by. Take care, have a great weekend. Lisa

Morning, outstanding breakfast choice Freddy sipping Folgers & reading funny poli stuff, it don't get no better--well done my friend sorry about your removal, yet you did it with dignity. Rain here pretty much all week from Wed. on--oh well. Have a good week-end all.

The sun is out...looks strange. Thunderstorms forecast for later.

I'm having a "Smooth" Weekend knowing that Yuengling Beer is finally coming to Ohio. Hooray ! Fred,I'm glad to see you've exited "Club Ridiculous". For some reason,the Folgers' is tasting particularly good this A.M. ! Freetown Fred claims he's dropped off a new morning Bakery delight known as "Meadow Muffins"! Now,before you run for the door on his approach,do realize they're composed of blueberries,cranberries,honey,oats and a mad dash of cinamon/nutmeg. Trust me, when that 'Ol Sodbuster bakes,it sure 'aint ending up on the scrap or spoil pile !

OMG!!! Freddy, don't you love the regulatory tattoo you got pinned to your tiny butt!!!!!!!!!!!!!????????? This kind of baloney needs to stop, and is long overdue to STOP!!! Once they have a GPS location and a person to hunt down, there is no peace.

Still rainy here; the feet are permanently webbed, Whitey and his Honey are safe in the lockup.....with politicians and others shaking like a fairy at a weenie roast hoping he won't' drop a dime' on them............

The low temps have made the year round burners happy, so there will be no more talk of a hot summer.....not this week for sure! Blueberry muffins today, home fries with Maine Russets (of course) and life is OK. Busy day, so off to the trenches........

Folgers in the morning! My favorite....
We spent the night down here, dodging severe thunderstorms. The big cells had quartersize hail and 60mph winds. One cell went by us, 10 miles to the north, heading east, and another cell went by us, 20 miles to the south, heading east. Somebody must've got hammered. We got about 2 drops of rain out of it.
Finally got my HDTV antenna hooked up yesterday. While the scaffolding for the chimney work was still up, I snuck up there after the workers had left for the day, and mounted the mast & antenna. I got the wiring completed last night. MY GOSH! What a clear picture! I swear its a better picture than the "Pay-me-monthly" satelite system we had. Total cost for the antenna, $70 which includes the amplifier, the rotater motor, and controls. Another $20 for the 10ft mast, $15 for the chimney strap kit. We get about 20-30 channels. I haven't counted them all yet. Its strange to see channels numbered "11.1" or "53.2" I guess I'll get used to them.
For my outdoor water hydrants, I got a roll of 3/4" IPS 160psi Endopoly PE-4710 Water pipe. Its so thick, I doubt a steel clamp will seal it on the barbed fittings. Anyone know if I could use a PEX crimp ring on this stuff?

Both chimney's were finished yesterday. Total cost: $1400. Most of that, about 70%, went towards labor just setting up and removing scaffolding.

Looks like is gonna be a nice clear day today.

I'm sure your picture is clearer. Most systems have to compress the signal so much to fit all the information into their available space, then decompress it on the other end, it degrades the picture.

You are getting pure uncompressed signal.

When I switched from cable to Verizon FiOs, the difference was significant.

Well I'm late today due to crappy electronic devices. Wasted most of last night & this morning trying to straighten out my computer's printer issues. Wow - if anything is going to push me over the edge, that will be it! Damn I hate those things!! By the time I gave up on the printer & began shopping for a new one, it was after noon time. Only thing I got done today was removing a spike from my neighbor's tire & plugging it, & I got the lawn done. Better than nothing I guess. GRRR!!

Still working on my brother's girlfriends Nissan. Stupid OBD-II again. Gotta waste all day driving around aimlessly in order for the monitors to run so I can get a sticker on this damn thing. Typical government mandate - force automakers to design this ridiculous system to save the environment .... but you have to drive around for no reason & waste fuel & pollute the air just to make the system do it's job! What a joke!!

Sorry I'm a little bitter today. Think I'll continue the drinking that began at 2pm today. C-ya'll later.

DVC When you connect the water pipe heat the plastic with a hair dryer or heat gun, while it's hot tighten the clamps. (2 clamps on each)

Smits,I'm thinking the same guys that made the Jimmy also made your printer.......To me,they're all a crap-shoot. I've always bought the type that had individually replaceable cartridges for all colors. Lexmark is not on my good list. Been treated fairly well by the Canon brand. Am seriously looking to try Kodak on my next purchase,but I've got to do my homework on them.........Drinking and OBD-II don't mix....

I think your on to something there Bob! Lexmark must've designed the electrical system on that galactically craptastic vehicle!

OBD-II .....

Good morning everyone. I got some coffee on and some grits cooking on the stove. You are welcome for a cup. I will be making some bacon in a few minutes. Nice story Freddy. You may have opened up a new hornets nest as the Dept. of Environmental Persecution doesn't like to be upstaged!! They may find some endangered mosquito or flea on your land and shut you down!! They are not above introducing evidence into an area in order to get what they want!!!

Saturday’s coffee was in a dirty cup. The wife was complaining for a year or more that the dishes were not cleaning properly and the dishwasher would put a puddle of water on the floor. Yesterday it made a nice puddle on the floor and the dishes were barely washed. The dishwasher is a Whirlpool portable model about 6 ½ years old. Usually they stick a cheaper dishwasher in a metal cabinet with wheels and add another $200 - $250 for the cabinet and power cord and hoses, other than that it is a regular under the counter dishwasher. I started to take things apart and found that the filter was broken, cost $70, earlier investigations indicated that the water pressure was too low to properly turn the sprayarms and clean the dishes. Now we add a pump kit, new tub seal and centering tool to put it back together and we are at $95 plus the $70 filter or just buy a new pump and motor assembly and new tub gasket for $230. This is crazy money for a 6 ½ year old low end dishwasher so I thought I would go to one of the big boxes and find a cheaper Whirlpool under counter to stick in the metal cabinet. I thought it would cost $300 to $500 for a new unit. I thought I found the one I wanted at Lowes when the salesman was looking at his inventory and said he had a Whirlpool that was in the store for 18 months and was now selling for just under $200, if he can find it. He found it, I took it home and when I opened it up it was identical to the dishwasher I had! This made putting it in the metal cabinet a very simple task. The only changes I had to do was reuse the old inlet valve because the old one had male hose threads on the inlet and the new one does not and the power cord had a modular plug and the new one has two wires in a metal box. That was easy enough to deal with. Yesterday evening was spent putting the new one in the metal cabinet and tearing the old one apart and robbing parts and accessories, just in case. While doing this I found other items that were on their way out and I figure the new dishwasher has a reasonable life expectancy of about five or six years also. If you have a cheap plastic tub dishwasher that is ten or more years old it is probably running on borrowed time. I wonder how the pricier stainless steel tub units do.

Other than playing appliance repairman we took the puppy for her last puppy shots. Keep your dog’s shots up to date especially rabies. My aunt had to take shots because a rabid raccoon was in her yard and had contact with her dog. Her son killed the raccoon and it tested positive for rabies. She was advised to get the shots and destroy the dog. Our vet said the state always recommends destroying the animal but he said if it is up to date on its rabies vaccine they would quarantine the animal and give it a series of rabies boosters and it should be OK. The state wants to play it safe but there is a protocol that veterinarians have to save a pet after a known encounter with a rabid animal otherwise why bother vaccinating for rabies?

Congrats to Freddy for being in the club to get out of the club.

Whistlenut, your not insinuating Billy knows anything, I’m sure he had no idea.

SMITTY, printers are like dishwashers, when they stop working throw them out and buy new. OBD-II works fine as long as the check engine light stays off. Where I live it doesn’t matter anyway, at least for now.

Have a good week.

Checking in late again. Yesterday was a blur, we had lots of things to due in-between the rain clouds. I must be getting soft, last night I stayed up till midnight watching a movie and didn't wake up until 0830 this morning...I think that is the latest I have slept in years. With a baby due any day, I suppose I should enjoy the extra sleep.

Smitty, I have always used HP Laser printers. They seem to last forever and are very easy on toner.

Not much news on the coal burning front. I changed the oil in the EFM yesterday and it continues to idle along making hot water.