Coffee 5-19-12

Good morning! The coffee is hot & we're ready to ease sleepy eyes open. Fresh fruit to get things started, then dropped eggs on toast and corned beef has to give us some BTU's to make it through the day. Do join in!

I gave my air conditioner a lobotomy. We have a "split unit". The compressor is outside and inside is a box on the wall. Mice got into the compressor and destroyed a circuit board. I did manage a repair, but, come to find out, the inside board also smoked because of them. Soooo, rather than spend $500 on new boards (Crazyness! There's only $9 of parts on each board) I got a $10 thermostat and a relay. I stole low voltage from our doorbell and voila, the AC works! Just in time too...they say hot this weekend.

Another week or so I may shut down the AA for the season. I broke down and bought a GE Geospring how water heater for summer use. I talked Lowes into a deal that I couldn't refuse. So, in my spare time Hahahaaa, I'll get that wired and plumbed.

Enjoy!

Fred

Who can resist a breakfast loaded with cholesterol and nitrates? If we don’t succumb to a heart attach or stroke we will surely develop cancer but we only go ‘round once and since birth is a terminal illness count me in. Double up on the eggs and corned beef, go light on the fruit.

Warm temperatures and rain earlier this week = lots of grass to mow. The same thing that makes the grass grow is making the garden grow and what makes the garden grow is making the weeds grow…its all screwed up. I guess that is why we call it Mother Nature; a man would have done a better job of scheduling. Father Nature, where are you?

Outstanding breakfast choice Freddy. First morning w/o frost here on the hill in a few days.I'm gonna hop in the p/u & take a day trip today. Don't know where to or why. I just need to get off the lil horse farm & work on my social skills. Just goes to prove gaw, the Creator DOES have a sense of humor. Got maybe a few days of nut left, so after that, the old 50-93's due for her spring time TLC. Got my mowing done yesterday,sooo tonight I'm due to throw a nice steak on the grill & just kick back. Have a good week-end all. Pix is a lil fuzzy, but it's the best I can do this AM.

Your camera has my eyes Fred! And you don't need no stinkin' social skills -- I get along just fine here.

Mmmmm .... nitrates ......

Yeah Freddy, you know how I hate electronics. I did the same thing to a Kenmore A/C unit I bought 6 years prior to it self destructing for no apparent reason. Except it cost me ZERO - but I have to unplug the unit if it gets too cold. At least it works though!


A bit chilly this morning at 45°. Motorcycle season is in full swing. Sweepers have finally been out removing the 55 tons-per-mile of sand that was dumped this past winterless winter.

Tried to get an inspection sticker for the new-to-me bike last weekend. Gotta love Massachusetts! Always an adventure to comply with the zillions of laws here. I get to the shop doing stickers (has to be a "certified" motorcycle shop, which limits your choices, BIG TIME) and the line is 5 deep! I figure it's a nice day, so everyone just showed up at once. Well after sitting there for 10 minutes I find out the computer is down. This is on the state's end, OF COURSE. I hung around and shot the *censored* for a while. After about 45 minutes I'd had enough & left. There were 5 guys behind me by that time, and 5 more had already left! No sticker for me. Sometimes I wonder if they do that on purpose as an excuse to generate more revenue .... Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

I've got my brother's bike back in here this week. A couple years back I completely overhauled the engine - piston, rings, valves, etc., but he hasn't even ridden it enough to break it in yet! The carb was completely clogged with green crap as I mentioned last Coffee. He wanted some new tires, in addition to it RUNNING after you kick start the thing. As it always goes with these things, I found some loose stem bearings. Lower one was almost completely dry with quite a bit of rust. 21 years with no grease, I suspect. He's tight on cash (as we all are) so I cleaned it up as best I could, loaded it up with Amsoil grease, and torqued down the stem nut. Good to go. Got one hell of a workout levering off those 20+ year old tires, I'll tell you that! Talk about STIFF!

Smitty to the rescue! Had to come to the rescue of a buddy of mine last week. His wife took their '88 Isuzu Trooper to drop the kids off at school when the transfer case decided it had enough, & seized solid. His father-in-law had just drove it up from VA, and by mid CT it was making some noise, so he nursed it the rest of the way. Then my buddy took it to work one day and it locked up on him once in the parking lot. Was able to free it up & get home that time. I had to winch it onto my trailer dragging the rear wheels! So here's the good part - the thing is parked on a fairly steep hill, and of course I forgot my chock blocks .... you see where this is going! Yep! As soon as the rear wheels shoved my ramps in, then were yanked over the tail of the trailer, my rear wheels of the truck were now too light to handle the load ..... off she goes! So I chased the truck & trailer down the hill & dove for the brake just before it went into the woods!! Just another day in the life of me, I guess, LOL! Had to throw it in 4x4, then try again. My next thought was the Trooper was going to suddenly free up as I was winching it up, then pin me between it and the truck, so I threw some boulders up on the front of the trailer to keep that from happening. It didn't ... so that was good! Looks like a T-case R&R for the next Coffee!

Off to Cherry Springs for a one night camp.
Good riding, good stars.

Good Morning Everyone, I'll take a coffee and Advil to go Freddie. I had a roof to install over the last 2 days and my back is out of shape for that kind of work. Or maybe it is my being 48 that has something to do with it? Nahh. Looks like a beautiful day shaping up around here today. Told the wife to grab some nice steaks for the grill tonight, now where did that idea come from? Lawn maintenance is on the docket for today then a fire and grill to top it off. Enjoy the weather folks, Ken

Good morning, thanks for breakfast Freddy, supposed to be mid 80's this weekend, the place if fully leafed out, and grass is growing.
I'm still working hard at getting all the work done on the farm for the big BBQ/CarShow/gettogether in late June..
I'm slowly getting the place looking fairly respectable.
And on top of prepping the farm, I've been prepping the cars for the National Meet in western Michigan the following week [last week of june].
So I've been very busy..

But last night I took time off and drove over an hour each way down to the heart of Detroit, to go to the Republican State Convention. I've become
active in local level politics and thought I'd see if I could get elected to go to Tampa as a state delegate.. It was a close vote, and for a new guy in
the system I did well. I had to address ~290 fellow conservatives to attempt to convince them that I was the guy to send to Tampa..
Well when the votes were counted, I was runner up to the last alternate.. Which isnt' too bad, really.
Politics being what they are, the 'old-line' people who'd been working in the local elections etc, won the vote..
I figured I needed to get seriously involved to earn 'Bitching Rights' for this election.

Well, with the sun up and very warm already, I need to water the new grass, to keep the little green guys growing,, It might have been smarter
to just sod the areas, but I like seeded lawns,,.

And, since the roads are dry, I'll road test a car or two!

Have a great weekend !!

Greg L.

Solar eclipse Sunday

The full "ring of fire" spectacle should be visible from much of Asia, the Pacific region and parts of western North America, weather permitting. Other parts of the United States and Canada — with the exception of the East Coast — will still see the eclipse, but not the complete ringed effect.

http://www.space.com/15729-solar-eclips ... al%2Bmedia

Morning all,

Too much going on around here - my dad's dementia has progressed to the point of terminal and I've been up and down I -81 between here and GA so many times I'm now recognized by the staff at numerous restaurants along the way. I'm in VA right now. DK and Kip are in GA for a couple of weeks helping Mom until school is out, then I'll switch places.

The weather is beautiful and my bees are doing well: no stings yet although I gave them the perfect opportunity last evening when I went to close the door. I close the door at night until the colony is strong enough to defend itself from various pests that may sneak in. That ended in a quick retreat as the bees were unhappy to say the least and I hadn't even put on my veil. You'd think there would be a lesson in there somewhere but probably not; generally, these bees don't care so I just do what I need to do and forget the safety equipment. I actually deserve to be stung.

Well, life - like my school bus - waits for no one so I'd better get busy. Take care, Lisa

Morning all, Freddy you always seem to come up with a good variety for breakfast. Found some fire blight on my pear trees so I'll be spraying if we get a calm day. First order of the day will be the annual Bair's Corvette Cruise In, normally a couple hundred cars on nice days like this. Takes a couple hours &eems there are always more coming, makes one wonder where they all come from, ain't that much of a population around these parts. Hope everyone has a safe productive day, enjoy & don't work too hard.

Morning everyone!

Just a quick cup for me this morning. Have to get out on the mower then down to check on my oldest boy on his first Boy Scout campout.

I'm sure he's fine but his mother is a nervous wreck.

Luckily it's not far. We got down there for 5 yesterday and I left around 10. Have to pick him up around noon tomorrow.

They are camped out next to a pond in what turns out to be a local farmers front yard! Tough way to make a living but sure seems to have some rewards!

Tis a beautiful day!

A reminder to all the married men.... treat your wife right....sharpen the lawn mower blades!

I just went out & mowed a bit, but am all done until I DO sharpen the blades. In order to go full speed you need razor blades under you.

Lisa.... You're not a "real" bee keeper until you get stung at least once. Geepers!

Later!

Today is Armed Forces Day.

I snatched a cup of coffee first thing this morning and headed for town. Load of groceries, had the tires rotated/balanced, and got some chemicals for the water treatment system. After that, same as everyone else - I mowed the lawn. The John Deere really does a nice job, I even took a picture to share:



This week I shut down my EFM and replaced the burner plates. I had one that was cracked, and the others were 30 years old...so I figured it was time for a fresh set. It came apart easy enough that I left the stoker in the base and did the job through the front door. Before anyone asks, yes - I used anti-seize when I reassembled everything. Next I changed the oil in the stoker drive and got that all cleaned up. The jackets are next...once I figure out where all the pieces go.