Coffee 2-18-2012

Welcome! Come in, come in. Fresh hot coffee is ready. Join us for a spell, share a tale. I'm smelling toast and eggs. I'll bet it's scrambled egg sandwich day.

We continue the most odd winter on record. No snow on the ground and it hit 40 twice this week. On Monday they predicted a possible big snow for Friday. Come yesterday it landed as a slow rain. Fine by me! It is certainly taking less fuel to get through this season. Last year I had to change the oil in the snow blower half way through the year. This year I have not used two gallons of gas yet! I've been going two and three days between emptying the ashes of the AA. I know, I know, we can get some stupid large snowstorms in March & even April, but, they don't last long.


Enjoy the day!

Good simple breakfast choice my friend. Got an Amish barn raisin goin on up the road, soooo, I'm gonna go up & make sure they are doing it right, after this cup of JOE. Have a good week end all. We've got a couple of inches on the ground since yesterday. More called for today????

Yeah guess that crap is headed this way. I knew it. How? Because I washed my truck.

Definitely been a bearable winter this year. If only it would stay around 70°. I started leaving all the bikes & cars running for the winter, because Al Gore said it would warm the earth. Who knew he was full of sh*t?

Not much happenin' here. No heat in the barn this year, so not spending much time out there. Got to do a welding favor for my buddy after that crazy ATV outing last week.

Glad to see the days getting longer, & only a couple flips of the calendar left before cleanout/shutdown time - my favorite time of the year. Put away the coal & break out the bikes.

Morning Fred and Freddy. It certainly has been an unusual winter. No snow on the ground here. We've only had a total of maybe 3" all year so far. They say we may get some this weekend but I'll beliece it when I see it. Gotta work this morning so I'm going to grab my scrammbled egg sandwich and run.

Still on my first match but almost blew it yesterday. My BBQ thermometer saved me. Came home after running some errands, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at my computer to look into getting a Maine registration for my trailer. Glanced over at the BBQ thermometer and it said 118* out, 116* in. Yikes! Ran downstairs and found my stoker was pushing air. Hopper was empty and the fire was not visible. Just a big hunk of stoker ash. So I flipped on the auger and loaded up the hopper and adjusted the feed rate to balls to the wall. Within a few minutes there was a tiny little flicker of flame. Orange first and then some blue. I hadn't lost the fire. I would hate to get this deep into the heating season and have to use that second match.

Got back to the computer and found out I can get a Maine registration for 5 years for $90.00. Marylands more than twice that for 2 years plus a bunch of other fees too numerous to mention. Thanks Maine! Paper work is in the mail. Here's my new coal hauler.

Nice Happy Trailer CK !....
Been an amazing Winter here,that's for sure ! It's nice to have a cup on the outside porch in February,Freddy ! I'm not up for any eggs,so pardon me if I dive right into that Oatmeal with Strawberries/Blueberries dressing and your homemade freshly ground lean sausage. In our neck of the woods,the "real" Bob Evans used to say "Pick the pink one",and with his batch of spices and freshness,he wasn't kidding. Think I miss that 'ol Boy from Rio Grande,Ohio ! Have a great day,everyone,play nice,and I'm going for an overnight on The Bay !

What a week. Eight hours at the shop then collecting and boiling sap till 11:30
every day this week. We got a good freeze last night so that ended the latest run.
No sap till tomorrow. Carrying 5 gallon buckets up and down hill in the woods will
kill a man. Don't know if I'm getting older, or gravity is getting stronger. I'm beat.
Beer helps, but it doesn't make the day any shorter. Maybe some naps today.

Instead of a nap, I ordered another truck load of rice ( 6 tons ). That will hold me till
next year at this time. Hope it burns better than last years load.

Nice trailer, Terry!

34 degrees with no wind or rain...what a winter! Last night marked exactly one year since our house got hit by a serious blast of wind that knocked out a basement window. It won't hurt my feelings if that never happens again.

Where is Smitty? I have a job for him to tackle...just the kind of thing he likes . The driver's side exhaust manifold on my Grand Marquis blew out this week. It sounds like I am driving around firing an M16 out the fender. I took one look at the seriously rusted studs and decided this was a good job for someone else. I hope the studs don't break off in the head.

Nice looking dump trailer...what are you pulling it with? When I got my trailer the first thing I did was pull all the hubs and repack the bearings with a high quality grease. Good thing I did...I think the factory was running out of grease the day it was assembled, it looked like someone just dipped a fingertip in some grease and wiped it on the bearing. A bearing-repack will also give you the chance to put a little anti-seize on the wheel studs. If it didn't come with a fullsize spare, you might as well locate one. They never seem to go flat at home...

Speaking of trailers, I decided to sell my 16' flat-deck car hauler, so I'm finally going to put the new tires on it and give it a good once-over before taking pictures and listing it for sale. Not much on the agenda for this weekend. Probably stack some coal bags and maybe wash the salt/sand off the cars.

Morning everyone. Got a nice Valentine gift from the UK the other day. A kilo of Kenyan AA peaberry coffee! It's my favorite and she knows it. So that's what I'm sipping on with a toast and butter & marmalade. I have to agree with Freddie that this is an odd winter here in Maine this year. I told you the story about the old woman in the grocery store telling me that if the frist snow of the season is followed by rain, that will be the pattern all winter. Well I laughed it off but she's been right. Every time we've had any snow (and it ain't been much) it's rained a day or two later. I'm still on my 2.5 gals of gas for the blower too! I swore I wasn't paying $30 a go again this year for the driveway so I broke the blower out. Last year I sold the old plowtruck I kept for the drive because the little lady was telling me that this isn't a junk yard blah blah......So, i sold it and of course last year I spent $400 on $30 increments for plowing! Anyways, it's a gorgeous day on the coast here. I woke up early and went down to the shore to shoot some pix with my new camera. It's awesome what they can do with these camera's these days. This one has a 35x optical zoom that goes from 28mm wide angle, to a 800mm telephoto and it can shoot macro and super macro too! Sharp as a tack images besides. Between this one Canon SX40 HS and my trusty Canon G10, I have no need for the DSLR and bag of lenses I used to have to carry around! Super day at any rate and I'm idling the stoves and getting some Vitamin sunshine. Have a great weekend all.

34* and very windy,, The dog thinks it's great, he doesn't feel the wind at all,, but the wind dries my tears quickly.. need that this morning.

Supposed to stay above freezing during the day for the next week, with nights in the mid 20's.

Greg L.

HI guys,

Another 3 day weekend and another trip to the after hours medical clinic. I have a severe sinus infection which I didn't pick up on earlier because it was masked by the side effects of a newly prescribed medication -- that's some nasty stuff. When I stopped taking that medication, the sinus infection was obvious and well entrenched, complete with fever and throwing up. They gave me the 5 pill mega antibiotic but there is little improvement at 18hrs although I do feel some movement in the sinuses as well as the other orifices of my body. Oh, well, this too shall pass. It's a good day to lay in bed and watch BBall. I taped some key games I was interested in last night so BB has virtually been on in the back ground since I woke up.

I made arrangements to pick up my water barrel tomorrow morning but while I'm not contagious, I shouldn't be driving so my teenage male slave will drive me. I'm blessed to have him in my house and do not look forward to the day he gets serious about "getting a life" and moving on. That too will happen sooner rather then later, I'm sure.

Greg, my thoughts and prayers are with you and Brian. Know this, I have a testimony that everything is a part of my Heavenly Father's plan. Be strong. Sometimes we can't see that right off but the outcome should never be in doubt, maybe it's not the solution you'd like but it is what it is and what it needs to be. It's hard but good things can come out of bad things. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Lisa

Had my Foldgers at 8:00am this morning, and immediately started chores for the day. It was hot. Mid 60's. Down to my T-shirt. This is February???? The news says theres a chance of snow tomorrow, but I won't hold my breath.
Had to take down a couple big Oaks alongside the house, that were threatening to fall on the house every time we got wind over 20mph. Hurricane Irene really hurt them, they must've broke a main root or something. My neighbor came over and sat on my tractor while I made the wedge cuts then he pulled the tree with a cable while I made the falling cuts. The trees went right where I expected them too. That really means they can fall anywhere except on the house. .

The Capt of our local Fire Dept stopped by with a gas-powered fan that wouldn't run. The carb was all gummed up and rusty on the inside, must've been sitting a while between uses. Its a simple little Honda engine that drives a huge fan blade to pressurize burning houses.

I was supposed to start a new job on Monday, but that was delayed for some reason. I can't wait to get back to real work.

Working weekend here...
12 hour day but not bitchin'...
Had to move a Patch Panel because the new switch made too much noise...
This was in advance of running fiber to the new switch thank god...
42 lines. phone system, internet and wireless...
All had to move...
To the other side of the wall...
Got that done...
Then had to reengineer the office of the owner...
Lucked out just had to layout most of the job...
Had other people do the cutting on the big desk...
All this had to happen off hours...
Not to interupt regular work hours...

Rob R. wrote:Nice looking dump trailer...what are you pulling it with? When I got my trailer the first thing I did was pull all the hubs and repack the bearings with a high quality grease. Good thing I did...I think the factory was running out of grease the day it was assembled, it looked like someone just dipped a fingertip in some grease and wiped it on the bearing. A bearing-repack will also give you the chance to put a little anti-seize on the wheel studs. If it didn't come with a fullsize spare, you might as well locate one. They never seem to go flat at home..

Pulling it with a 2001 dodge ram2500 diesel. She's got just over 200k on her. Just getting broken in. I do plan to pull the wheels and repack the bearings, check brakes etc. This trailer is a 2007 but has not been heavily used. Previous owner was a masonry contractor who said he probably put less than a thousand miles on it. Tires look new but are original. I do need to pickup a spare.