Coffee 8-4-12

Good morning! Don't be shy, come in, stay a bit & share. Food, coffee, hugs, stories, we share 'em all. Let's start with simply cold cereal with fresh blueberries. No measuring cups, just half cereal & half blueberries. Mmmmm There's half & half if you want something richer than milk.

Bam! It's August! It's been a busy year but come hell or high water we do take, will take a week off starting next Saturday. We'll be heading to the great north woods of Maine. Ahhhhh.... no TV, no phone, and with luck, no mosquitoes. A week of cribbage, kayak and nature. My cousin will stay here at the house.. we want to make sure some Craigslist scammer doesn't claim it as abandoned!

My ex next door neighbor & I got a *new* engine in the Geo Metro. It runs good! I think this morning I will finish getting the new convertible top on it & we'll get some use out of it this year. This winter it will get a lot of love....new carpets, new fender, repair dents. Man-o-man, it may be a small car, but putting in a new rag-top is not a job for the feint of heart! I now remember why I don't do them for money. I get half a dozen calls a year asking if replace tops and I turn them down. People think it should be done for $100.... HA! Move the decimal please.

OK! Enjoy the weekend!

Hey Freddy, is that a 427 Chevy that runs on distilled blueberry mash you're putting in the Geo?
A buddy of mine used to commute from Effort, PA to Dover, NJ in Geos, he had spares all over his yard.
I had a tonneau cover put on a sweet El Camino I had, the old timer that did it had massively arthritic hands from stretching vinly fabric all those years.

Leftover pizza for me today, there's nothing else in the place. Not looking forward to housepainting today but I suppose I'll wake up after some more coffee. Gotta be grateful for this much work. The customer is a little quirky but signs a nice paycheck every 40hrs. Still gonna be sweltering here today but here it is August already. Soon it'll be 75 in here with 1% humidity, now it's been 75 in here with 90% humidity.

Mornin all, good choice Freddy. Blueberries are having a great year. Gonna go help a neighbor put up some round bales this AM. My youngest girl has decided she is here for the long haul soooo, of course came home with a 4 mos. old golden lab--with her working full time, guess who gets to deal with her most of the time. At least she's older so it wasen't calfs or goats or a stray horse. Gottta run. Have a good week-end PS--so Freddy, you'd actually do a top for $1.00???

Good morning all,

I'm up and out the door early this morning - lots to do before we leave for DK's family reunion in Branson, MO next week. I'll be running the whole day doing this and that. I'm making progress on my "work in progress" of a backyard. This week I added an additional bird feeder and a hummingbird feeder. The hummingbird feeder wasn't up very long before I had a hummingbird stop by. That's the first one I've seen this year. I brought a new walk behind lawn mower, a Honda. It's a rear wheel drive mower and much lighter then my old one which was front wheel drive. It will take sometime getting used to. The back end is heavy already and my hands sort of push down as I walk along causing the front tires to raise up, losing contact with the lawn. I have to watch for that.

My son and I took our usually August trip to NYC on Weds. It wouldn't be the same in May or June when the weather is good, no we prefer it to be hot, humid and hazy with the threat of T storms. It did rain a bit but no thunder. we took the Mega bus from DC which was very reasonable at $22 round trip. Heck that's less then the tolls you pay along the way and you can sleep. The bus drops you at 34th and 8th Ave which is midtown and a hop, jump and a skip from Times Square. It was kind of weird. Kip is 18 now and at the Community College for his first year of college. This trip was the first time he took the lead on just about everything we did and made it easy for us to do what we wanted safely. He took care of me for the first time instead of me taking taking care of him. It was a passing of the mantle type thing. It felt weird but reassuring at the same time. I'll have to get used to that new normal.

Well, I'm out of here. Have a great weekend. Lisa

Morning. Blueberries had a barrier year here. We picked 10# and stashed most in the freezer. The we're the size of a nickel
Moving yard stuff around today and planning the motor home trip to potter county. Looking for nice state forest that can take a class a.

Humid as heck at 8am. I don't see much outdoor work getting done today. Got some home work I should be working on and maybe I'll bounce back and forth between that and putzing around on the Buick.

The oldest boy goes to scout camp for a week tomorrow and his mom is half a wreck. Not sure which one is more nervous.

I don't expect any problems. Hopefully he'll enjoy himself and learn a few things.

Ahhh good morning to all. Long day yesterday, site power decided on a friday to play with the 2 main 115kv lines feeding my machine and well lets say things went dark. Made for a long day but good learnings. Nothing better than loosing processor controls for steam vessels . But anwho, its gonna be a warm one out their today in northeast pa so stay cool.Might make a trip out to my mothers home today or tommorrow. My mother makes these popper type things that are awesome. Take a jalapeno pepper cut out seeds, fill with cream cheese, place a shrimp on the cream cheese and spread lightly some bbq sauce. Then to top it off wrap it in bacon and throw a toothpick at 'er. Chuck 'em on the grill for a slight bit and wow talk about good. Have a great weekend fella's.

Good Morning everyone.
Freetown: that's a great looking pup!! Make sure you train her to bring you your paper, slippers and a cold beer..!!

Hot as the breath from hell around here.. 94* yesterday forcast for the same today, and matching humidity.

DTE, my power company came by to check things out, after I presented photos of my voltmeter at a township meeting last week.. the
meter was reading 105volts.
The DTE folks looked things over, measured the voltage at the meter, it was early in the day, about 10am, so my meter plugged into the
kitchen outlet was reading 110. The reading at the meter was 111.2, the other leg 111.8.. DTE considers 114 minimum.
So I said, wait till 4pm, when everyone else upstream turns up their A/C units, it will drop another 5 volts..

So they have a little meeting, and decide my transformer must be at fault.. the transformer feeds only my house.. and the low voltage
varies with the time of day and OTHER consumers of current upstream of me... not with my use.. they didn't get it.. and of course, I'm
just a 'homeowner' I couldn't possibly know anything..

So yesterday morning, 8am i hear chainsaws, a trimming crew is cutting a path through the dry swamp to the pole. at around noon they are
done, and a 'forman' comes by and inspects the job and they move off.
An hour later, a different crew shows up, with big trucks with cherry picker arms, etc..
The lead guy comes to talk, tells me they are going to be changing the transformer. I say OK, do you want me to shut down my service,, nope,
he'll just pull the meter.
So he opens the meter cover and checks the voltage, 111.2/111.7.. I ask him if he'll check the output at the transformer to see if there is any
significant voltage drop from the transformer to the meter.. he looks at me, like you shouldn't know that stuff..

So they change the transformer, that was interesting, they couldn't get a truck anywhere close to the pole, so they used a block and tackle to drop
the old tranformer and drag up a much larger, new one..
And guess what?? the voltage at the meter?? 111.2/111.7..
NOW this guy and I have a conversation.. he did check the output from the transformer, and it was identical to what they get at the meter, so the
wires overhead and underground are not the problem..
We discuss that fact that I've been bringing up, that the voltage drops with time-of-day, from the voltage at the pole dropping as other users upstream
use more current.. and that the available current at the pole dropping was the problem, not the transformer feeding my service..
and he agreed.. said he'd write it up as low voltage at the pole.. and see what happens.

So I still have poor voltage, right now my meter is under 109v.. I'm sure it will be below 105v by 4pm..

We are supposed to get a line of thunderstorms through around midnight., maybe it will be cooler on Sunday.

I have a truck in the shop, has some valve-body issues in the trans.. so I need to get out there and pull the VB and strip it down, This trans broke
some parts in January, 'made metal' and no mater how much effort is spent trying to clean all the parts, you still have a few pieces of metal show up
after the rebuild.. and I think a small piece is causing a valve to hang up.. I hope it is obvious when I get it apart.. I hate finding nothing..

OK, time to get to work..

Greg L

Hey Greg I know your not a dummy so do not be offended. That low voltage 105v will slowly destroy all your appliances man. Might not notice it too bad but your gonna be generating some heat inside them thier small appliances. I'd be a flippen with the power company seeing how we pay the bill. Funny though usually you would see this problem with the unknowledgeable do it yourselfers home wiring guys who dont understand the difference with series and parrallel wiring. Hope they fix your problem quick in this heat.

Well I missed Freddie's CFM breakfast. Fresh peaches, golden plums and a few nuts for me. Toasted bread and a big slice of tomato, s&p and some mayo for lunch. Summer time eats. Getting ready to brine up some venison roasts for the smoker. Friends want another load from the smoker to help celebrate the engagement of their daughter.

Nice an hot here too. Not too bad in the shade, 85 right now. Sure was humid here this morning too. Picked up some Sour Black from my local brewery, Weyerbacher, last night. got one in the fridge to chase off the heat later this afternoon. Sure is a different drink but it grows on your buds just nicely

Freddy - is that Geo motor the one with only one oil ring? IIRC, I watched a friend rebuild a few of those motors but that was about 15 years ago. Neat little vehicle, have fun with the rag-top. I miss my '67 rag-top Mustang but I'll stay with a sunroof for an everyday car for now. Gotta watch the rays on the ole scalp

Tadaaaa! I survived getting the new top on. Woohoooo! Here's an awkward photo....it looks better in real life.

Greg.... Good to hear you now had a steady, solid 111 volts. That's just great. Grrrrrr Think they'll ever get it right?

Dollar tops! Yaaa.... I like the ring of that.

Awkward my ass. That came out real nice Freddy. I think maybe the new puppy has relaxed a little.

lowfog01 wrote:My son and I took our usually August trip to NYC on Weds. It wouldn't be the same in May or June when the weather is good, no we prefer it to be hot, humid and hazy with the threat of T storms. It did rain a bit but no thunder. we took the Mega bus from DC which was very reasonable at $22 round trip. Heck that's less then the tolls you pay along the way and you can sleep. The bus drops you at 34th and 8th Ave which is midtown and a hop, jump and a skip from Times Square. It was kind of weird. Kip is 18 now and at the Community College for his first year of college. This trip was the first time he took the lead on just about everything we did and made it easy for us to do what we wanted safely. He took care of me for the first time instead of me taking taking care of him. It was a passing of the mantle type thing. It felt weird but reassuring at the same time. I'll have to get used to that new normal.

What a beautifully written, witty, perceptive slice of an American life. I think there is hope for our future with so many like minded Americans.

Hi everyone. I hope your all having a great weekend. Freddie, nice job one the drop top and have a great vacation.

Fred, I'll bet it's nice having the little gal back in the house the pups are a bonus my friend.

Greg, that a good story and yep they do look at you like you have two heads when you make some sense. As Anthony stated, it will put a low burn on you appliances but you already new that.

Me, I chose the hottest muggiest day of the year to bring my new Glenwood 116 into the house and onto the base. Sheesh that buggers a brute.

The sad news is that my old gal, my house cat is on her last legs. She stopped eating a couple days ago and now drinking too. She was the best mouser and a true pal and I'm really gonna miss her. She's 16 and I guess it's just her time. I took her by the vets and blew $600 to tell me that there's nothing I can do. I'd have blown 6 grand if i could have saved her and I mean it. It's truly amazing how these pets can get to you. There is no malice in them and they are true buddys. She will be missed.

Hug your kids and give some love to those pets cause time with them is always too short.

VigIIPeaBurner wrote: Picked up some Sour Black from my local brewery, Weyerbacher, last night. got one in the fridge to chase off the heat later this afternoon. Sure is a different drink but it grows on your buds just nicely

Heyyyyyy, not that sounds interesting! What is the taste? does it have alot of bitters?

I started work on another McCormick Farmall Cub today, but only got the intake system checked out. Too darn hot !
I'll work on the electrical system / magneto tomorrow. Still has all original 6 volt POS-ground system.

Heading down to Raleigh tomorrow to another gun show. Time to get a plinker for my son