coffee 5-12-12

Good day friends! Come on in, have a bite to eat & share a thought. How about some home made donuts? Ohhhh, there's a hand held heart attack for ya! I can remember as a kid the smell of Mom dipping donuts in the boiling pan of fat. Yummmm

The TV watchers among us have a dilemma tomorrow. 'Survivor' finale, ABC - 'Once Upon A Time' season finale, 'Housewives' series finale and NBC - 'Harry's Law', all in the same night & most conflicting each other. Oh no! Let's see... VCR DVR eye witness accounts....how will people keep up?

The latest thing with my neighbor moving.... a driveway permit. A what? Yup, shoulda done it first but no one knew, or at least realized, that he wouldn't be allowed to use the existing driveway. The new law (2002 but who knew?) says every new house must have a driveway permit. That is, a state person inspects and tells you where you are required to put the drive. Joe must move his driveway 70 feet down the road and "is darn lucky you are allowed to have one at all". Ahhh... 'scuse me? Is that to say "Sorry you can not build on that land"? The new law, for safety, when you pull out of a driveway you must be able to look left and right and see traffic in both directions to such distance that when you pull out, you can attain 70% of the speed limit within the stopping distance of any vehicle that just came into sight.

OK! Hope you all have a fine weekend. Happy Mothers day!

Good morning. I must tell you it was a beautiful morning in Bangor, ME yesterday but it should be a much nicer day right here in central PA today. We received much needed rain the last two weeks and hopefully more to come the week ahead. The grass needs mowed and there is work to be done in the garden. We are only a couple or three weeks away from planting tomatoes and peppers, most everything else except for cucumbers are in or hopefully will be in by the end of this weekend.

One of the first things to do today will be to trim the privet hedge. A few weeks ago I fired up my Echo hedge trimmer only to have it spraying me with gas as I trimmed. Getting sprayed with gas while running an engine did not seem like a smart thing to do so I quit and upon inspection of the machine I found the gas tank grommet was swelled and cracked. I have a new one installed and it is ready to go. The dealer where I ordered the new one from said the alcohol in the gas is to blame and that the gas line will probably deteriorate as well. When I replaced the grommet I could see that he was right, the gas line is starting to go. Some friends of my wife are moving and last week they sold me their Stihl gas powered hedge trimmer. Now I have a spare. More good news, my chain saw leeks gas when I lay it on its side. More work, more money…maybe I need a spare chain saw.

Freddy, don’t feel bad, Pennsylvania has needed driveway permits for quite a while. I would never be able to have my driveway where it is under the laws now but the house and driveway were here long before the law so it is grandfathered. The law here requires X number of feet of visibility in each direction. When my cousin built his house the official that came to inspect and approve of his proposed driveway just stood there and looked both directions and said it was OK, he did not go through a long complicated process of measuring to see if it met the requirements and my cousin was glad for that because he was almost certain that he did not have the required amount of visibility in the one direction.
Another driveway story for Pennsylvania, my uncle had his driveway paved to the state highway. One day a car is parked at his driveway and someone is measuring it. He goes out and it is someone with the state and he is told his driveway is too wide. He ended up having to cut a few feet off of the end of his driveway where it connected to the state roadway. Don’t you love gubment?
Our neighbor when I was growing up owned property on both sides of a township road. There was a spring on one side and the water flowed under the road through a culvert. The culvert was caving in and he had the township supervisors there to look at it and he told them it needed replaced. He was told that because the spring was on his land it was his responsibility to repair the culvert. He then took them up the road where there was a drain that flowed down a corrugated pipe into the old deteriorating concrete pipe that our neighbor wanted fixed. He told the supervisors “if that is my pipe you get your pipe the hell out of my pipe” The Township then agreed to replace the old deteriorating culvert with new concrete pipe.
Have a nice weekend.

Mornin. Outstanding donuts Freddy Frost again this AM & the 50-93 continues to idle along just nicely. Let's see??? driveways??? In Freetown you need 25' entrance for emergency vehicles--that is--fire trucks & ambulance--if you get the culvert, the Town will set it. ONE TIME-- If you choose not to have a driveway, then you get to fight it out with your home insurance company. Richie Havens covered it in a song back when--" ain't nobody's business but my own" Have a great week-end all. Freddy, for the record, I'm a Once upon a Time follower myself. Who-da-thunk, huh??

29 here.....missed fred on the high speed low approach this week,.....stay away from the donuts as you get 'more senior', PLUS, you wouldn't want the PD's in the USA to have a shortage!
Great weekend weather they say..get out and feed the black flies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Permits ... for a friggin driveway ........... proof positive that government is out of control ...

Donuts ... my favorite! I shoulda been a cop! ( just kidding fellas .... except you - the one that cost me $300 )

Ethanol in gas ...... The government wins at everyone's expense, yet there's no outcry whatsoever. 3 mpg less in your cars, more taxes paid to the government, and endless problems for small engines.

Hey GAW - if you need lines for your Echo, this guy can't be beat! I've bought my 5th one from them to fix mine, & the neighbors. Tygon lines, so they'll last 10x longer than the stock lines. http://www.ebay.com/itm/160603499714?ss ... 1423.l2649

Just mowed for the second time yesterday. Grass & dandelions were knee high! Thank God for the John Deere power bagger - the grass was a little damp by the time I got to it (late in day). I gotta learn how to make booze out of those bastards - my whole 2 acres is solid dandelion! So far my chinese deck bearings are holding up fine. Nice & smooth.

38° this morning! House 59°. No heat going on when the forecast is for 70's today.By the time I finish polishing the Roadliner, it should be ridin' time.

I wish I had taken better pics of the inside of my brother's carb on his bike. It was GREEN!! Even the main jet was clogged!! Just one year prior, this bike started first kick! Fuel today is just unbelievable crap. My theory is they're doing this on purpose. Ever wonder why so many things are in place to make you angry? Crappy quality products .... crappy gas ... permits ..... Makes you wonder if they're just stirring the pot ....

I leave you with the inside of an S & S "E" series carburetor off a Harley Davidson, AFTER I cleaned it, of course.

44 here and hoping now to be able to finish burning the last 500# of coal in the bin...
Gonna give Gretel a good cleaning and try to finish hand shoveling the 3 yds of top soil in the yard as well as continue to "probe" the yard for the location of the cesspool, or whatever kind of hole they put in back in 1910....

so far I dug down 3 feet in a 2 foot circle twice and missed it. yet there are nice perfectly formed spruce trees in the spots...

cant waste a good afternoon of "rock moving" by just filling them back in!! darn poconos...Rocks,Rattlesnakes,&Republicans!!

guess the belong together

HI everyone,

I hope everyone has been well and reveling in the beautiful weather. Here in VA we are experiencing "San Diego" days while not having to travel to the left coast. It's been perfect for just about anything. I have been busy putting out what seems to be a million tiny fires. It's always something. One thing I've gotten done is my bee hive; it's up and buzzing. This afternoon I'll be opening it up to check for the presence of the queen and moving some of the internal frames around to check that the bees are building comb uniformly throughout the box. After that I'll not do anything with it for 7 to 10 days while the bees are making themselves at home. It's the strangest thing - we see bees leaving and we see bees coming back but we have no idea where they are going. They aren't stopping in our yard and the neighbor's haven't seen any of them. They come home with their pollen pockets fill of something bright orange. We don't see any bright orange blossoms anywhere around here.

Got to go - my son's poor planning has once again created another emergency for me - just because he's going with a friend who is a girl (as opposed to a girl friend) to the prom tonight he thought he didn't need to get her flowers or show up for the pictures. Obviously, he is wrong; so I'll be running around looking for last minute flowers this morning. Thankfully, he has a suit because of his sister's wedding. He was planning on going in shirtsleeves.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets at least one thing done on the "to do" list. Lisa

Morning all.... Coffe is good. Wish I had one of those donuts Freddy.
Last night our neighbor had a "Neighborhood Social Event" which we attended. I got to "Sample" his homemade Blueberry-Raisen wine. Wow, it went down smoooooth, but had a kick! Then I sampled his Green Apple Wine, then another variety that I can't remember! Good thing we could walk home! Head is a little sore this morning....
I fired up the DVC500 to take off the morning chill. It was in the 40's last night.

Driveway permits! Never heard of that one!

Smitty, that carb looks just like the carb from my nieghbor's Big Bear 4x4 that you helped me with. Tell him to just use Premium gas. Less, or no, ethanel.
For all small engines, everyone should use Premium Gas. Also, add some STA-BIL to each 5 gallon can you fill.

Nice hive Lisa! I would shorten up the supporting boards so the rain doesn't bounce off them, then run under the hive? I'm assuming the hive is not Pressure-treated wood?

Working on a neighbor's CASE 1150-MC (Marine Core version). BIG dozer, with a clam-shell loader attachment. The alternator did a good imitation of a grenade. I'm helping him put it back together, but I noticed the upper Alternator mount is MIA. Anyone have a Parts diagram, or part number for the upper Alternator Mount?

Good Morning All...

I made it through the frost warning last night (thank god since my garden's' in already).

My daughters also going to her prom with a "friend" (same kid who shot her with a BB gun at age 12 Grrrrr.) and it did not prevent me from having to obtain some custom dress and sit at a tailor's shop for 4 freeekin hours, now its on to shoes and earing selections... im trying my best to make diamonds out of potatoes ova here =\ (be glad you got a son! LOL)

The Gov. control of driveways is old news to me as a Realtor, its insane how specific and at time costly these rules can be.... cul-de-sac radius's, paving width for a hook N ladder truck LOL, entry radius, site line distance, etc... it goes on and on until your flat broke and they suck every nickle out of you possible.

Good morning again.... so many subjects to address... Heeheeee!

Ethanol is not REQUIRED in Premium gas so it may or may not have ethanol. It varys from place to place. If the gas station offers three grades, regular, medium and high test, you can bet your sweet pateeta that the high test has ethanol.

Cpoy & pasted quotes: The blendstock is made to meet the specifications AFTER the ethanol is added.
Effective January 2010, ethanol is not REQUIRED for public road auto fuel as long as it's premium fuel (91 or higher octane rating), but they're not required to label it.

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/forum/portland ... z1uf0tt17N

Next subject:

freetown fred wrote:I'm a Once upon a Time follower myself. Who-da-thunk, huh??

I think finally a show with some imagination! Marty & I just find it fun. Big doings tonight. Don't know what, but "The show will change forever".

Next:

SMITTY wrote:my brother's carb on his bike. It was GREEN!!

Yup, yup, that's why we call it "green slime syndrome". Yucky stuff.

Next:

lowfog01 wrote: They come home with their pollen pockets fill of something bright orange.

A few years back we had an amazing amount of bees show up to suckle from the flower garden. I phoned the university & spoke to a bee-ologist (if that's what they are called). I was told bees will tell each other where the good stuff is and the next trip more and more will follow. They will go....I can't quite remember...it was either 5 or 7 miles to find pollen. Cool stuff! Lisa.... how close can a bystander get to a bee hive before they should fear?

Next:

009to090 wrote: then another variety that I can't remember!

Ya know.... if you had tried that flavor first, it would have been the Blueberry-Raisen that you couldn't remember. Dats good stuff! LOL

And last but not least:

dcrane wrote:it goes on and on until your flat broke and they suck every nickle out of you possible.

Ain't that the truth!!

PennDots requirements on to a 2 lane road for a residency. Guess you best be sure theres these distances exsit before you buy that pretty parcel of land if road has 55MPH speed limit, if you want a driveway. Unobstructed from 10ft back from road., now who sits back that far before they enter a road anyway?

Table 1—Safe Sight Distance for passenger cars and single unit trucks exiting from driveways onto two-lane roads.
Posted MIN safe sight left Min safe sight distance right
Speed MPH (Feet) (Feet)
25 250 195
35 440 350
45 635 570
55 845 875

So do you have to cut down trees to make a clear sighting distance?? We have several obstructed driveways and roads entering the dirt road I live on, and the county usually manages to cut the weeds obstructing the view oh... once a summer..
there is one intersection that I use often, and when the grass gets 2' high, i take the tractor down with the brushhog and mow it..
With 2' high weeds/grass, I can't see oncoming traffic sitting in my van or my tall 4x4 truck.. so what chance does a Jetta, Saturn, or Fusion have?? NONE..

And since they changed the speedlimit from 25mph, to 'safe and prudent', people do 45-55mph on a less than 2 lane DIRT/GRAVEL road, with trees close enought to remove your mirrors, and obstructed roads and driveways.. we have a T-Bone accident at least once a year. Had a nice swerve to avoid to years ago, and the car ended up in a swamp, on it's side, and sinking.. I looked, made sure the idiot driver got out and walked away laughing.. they wanted me to go get a tractor and pull them out... NOPE let 'em sink.. if they'd been driving safely they'd not have been in the swamp !! let 'em learn..

Besides, If I'd damaged their car pulling it out [very likely] I'd have been liable for it.. let the wrecker service with liability insurance do the job..

Raining today, about 60.. I was working on the Koi pond yesterday and noticed that the Japanese red maple got a lot of frost damage, I lost about 30% of the leaves that had budded out too early, with the 'trial sprintime' a month ago. I hope the tree will survive. It should, it's still got a pretty good amount of leaves.

Greg L

Good morning all and yes I would like one of those donuts too Freddy. I would like to thank all of you so much for this forum and all your posts. I have been laid up for the better part of 7 weeks with a ruptured disk and I am going nuts not being able to do much of anything.My neighbor came over and put the battery in the lawn mower so the wonderfull wife could mow the lawn. I have spent many hours and days reading all the great posts.I hope to be able to burn coal this coming winter also. I live in northern Maine next to the Canadian border and it does get mighty cold up here at times but the peace and quiet is so worth it.
Thanks again,
Herb

I hear that peace & quiet my friend. Hope you're up and about soon. Until then, sounds like Momma's got it covered.

I missed the coffee this morning. Out the door early, and too busy to check in until now. I was out mowing the lawn this afternoon when about a dozen cars pulled up in front of my house and people starting getting out and walking to the cemetary across the street. I shut the mower off and walked over to see what was going on - turns out it was a group of local history buffs and they were looking at some of the old headstones in the cemetary. Turns out there are six soldiers from the Revolutionary War buried there, and the wife of the man that had my house built in 1910. The town historian also told me that there is an unmarked grave "near" the cemetary with seven brave marines buried by the British during the war of 1812. They don't know which side of the road the grave is on, so it could be in my lawn for all I know.

Lots of history in my little corner of the world; it was nice to meet some local folks that had some stories and pictures to share.

Coal news: The EFM is still running, over 7 months of continuous operation - but I think I will shut it down tomorrow. I have to do some maintenance, clean the fly ash out of the smoke pipe, and put the jackets on it. Good excuse to "burn off" some old fuel oil.