Coffee 9-15-12

Coffee's on! Watch your step, just painted the door stoop. I'm thinking a high calorie breakfast is in order. It's going to be a work day & lunch is a long way off. How about eggs over easy, sausage patties and toast with home made raspberry jelly? Today's project is to finish the skirting on the trailer next door.

I bought coal this week. A pallet of rice for the stove in the barn & 3/4 ton of Blaschak Pea because it was cheap.... $5 a bag, not bad. A neighbor bought 4 pallets of rice from Center Farms and I added a pallet to the order. It's funny how a farm 2 hours north of here sells coal for less than a place 15 minutes away. They haul potatoes to PA & bring coal back.

Mud wasps! The darn little creeps found their way into the garage wall via an electric wire hole. They weren't noticed until they built an exterior addition. I sprayed it with wasp killer at 10 PM, the next day was like I never was there! The mud would not soak up the spray. I got some foamy type & that worked. That stuff smelled different too. It drew them out & they dropped as they exited. I didn't count each one, but over 24 hours I sprayed several times and they kept coming out & piling up. Easily over 100 dead ones, I'll bet closer to 200. I caulked the hole & that should never happen again.

Enjoy the day!

Make mine to go. Busy day today. To be continued…

The breakfast menu sounds great. I am on my way out the door to feed dad's chickens while he is out of town...if you guys are lucky I will bring back a few dozen cider donuts from the local orchard.

Freddy wrote:I bought coal this week. A pallet of rice for the stove in the barn & 3/4 ton of Blaschak Pea because it was cheap.... $5 a bag, not bad. A neighbor bought 4 pallets of rice from Center Farms and I added a pallet to the order. It's funny how a farm 2 hours north of here sells coal for less than a place 15 minutes away. They haul potatoes to PA & bring coal back.

That is a good buy on the coal. The trucking company that brought my coal said they were bringing a load of potatoes to Harrisburg, so they were happy to cruise up near Pottsville and bring me back a load. Operation "buckwheat" started at 0600 this morning...I dug out the last of the rice (and fines! ) from the bottom of my drum and filled it with the buck that just arrived. I think it is sized very well, I snapped a picture with a jar of UAE buck for comparison. Crunch crunch goes the auger...it will probably be tomorrow before the new coal makes it to the pot. Freddy - you could consider buck for your next 50 ton delivery...the AA and LL will both burn it.

I have been battling wasps and hornets as well. They have one nest that I can't hit with any spray, and I'm not crazy enough to climb on a ladder and see if the spray has any effect on them...I guess I will hope for an early frost.

Housing tobacco today, hard dirty work, boiler building is done and pex is buried in pvc and insulated. More pics later when there is time. OFF to the barn!

Bk

Good morning all,

Believe it or not I have nothing on my schedule this weekend but I'm sure something will come up to grab my attention. The hummingbird feeder is busy with birds returning to Central America and the other feeders are hosting migrating birds as well; not to mention a few squirrels. It would seem winter is just around the corner but for me I won't see temps below 50* for a couple of months.

I did want to mention a recent trip to eye doctor. My bifocals weren't working right, I couldn't see the computer screen clearly and I had to tip my head way back to find the sweet spot of my near vision lens. That's was giving me a headache and pain up and down my neck and back. I didn't think anything about it except that my prescription had changed. Nope, I was trying to use glasses prescribed to clear long distance and near vision to focus on things, i.e. the computer screen, in the mid range. The doctor gave me two choices, get tri focals or get a pair of glasses just for while I'm at the computer. I chose the later since my bifocals weren't the problem and a single lens pair of mid range glasses were a lot cheaper. They just sit at the computer. I was worried that I might forget I had them on and leave the house but no way. With them I'm blind after 15 or 20 ft. It's made a big difference in my computer use. I thought I'd mention in case anyone out there is having similar issues; maybe it will help you connect the dots.

Have a great day, Lisa

Mornin. Outstanding choice for breakfast Freddy Got some much needed rain last night. I've got a little bush hoggin to do up the road & that's it for this year. Something real weird's going on with the plow truck 4 wheel drive wise, so that's what I'll be doing the rest of the day:( Have a good week-end all. Very few wasps/bee's or any of that around the old homestead this year--I'm sure they'll be back next year.

I'm gonna need a little shot of something extra in my coffee today after the week ... and MORNING I've been having so far!! Crap - I just stepped on the threshold and tracked paint through your house Freddy! That's the way my day is going ....

SO I got the Focus together. Runs great .... but of course, the check engine light is on for the o2 sensor heater circuit. Wouldn't be a problem in 47 other states .. but of course I was cursed to this wretched bastion. So now I've got to figure out a way to get the monitors to run, all without having registration. Yeah, that should be fun in MA!!! Just what I need. More fines. But that's neither here nor there ... because something else has sidetracked me from that for the moment. The Blazer.

I'm so pissed off right now I can hardly contain my head from exploding!!!! Last year at this exact time I had that damn engine on a stand - could've done ALL the gaskets then, right? No - of course not! Lets cut some corners! Well, that bit me right in the ass!! Oil pan gasket leaks like a seive. SO I figure no prob, I'll just jack the engine up. Nope - still no room. SO I'll unbolt the tranny mount - NOPE! Well, if I spend all day removing the front diff bolts, welding up a tool to fit in the frame & hold the nut, & droppping it down, that'll work ....................NOOOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!! Wasted 3 days on this damn thing when I should've just pulled the engine to start with. Nothing like doing a job twice!!!!!

To top it all off, it started raining the second I got up. Blazer is outside. OF COURSE!! Then I jump on the computer, and see an email about the new Can-Am Maverick -- a 101hp UTV that was just released yesterday - send the email - BAM! Error message - this message has been determined by Verizon to be spam. REALLY??!?! Spend 30 minutes on Verizon's USELESS website .. then 5 minutes on hold pressing 1, 4, 8, pound, 1, 1 ,1 3, 3, 7 ... finally connect with an agent. Spent another 20 minutes on phone with them & got ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE ... EXCEPT REALLY REALLY PISSED!!!!!!!!!


GRRRRRRRRRRRRRSKJNDKLKLDF'A'p;mae;mb;bm eama
tjoph!!!!!!!!

Sorry - just smashed my keyboard with my head ......

Easy big fella Good morning! I'll have a large cup with a bunch of skim milk to cool 'er down a little. Busy, busy, busy today. Piping in another boiler for myself. Shouldn't be so bad. gotta stop to the junkyard and get a regulator for the window on the commuter car. New electric window regulators only cost $45 new including the motor. New manual regulators cost $275. Junkyard, here I come! Looks like it's going to be a great day to work.

Rob R. wrote:That is a good buy on the coal.

Sorry if I confused anyone.... just to be clear... The $5 a bag was a good buy, but that was just for the pea coal. It came from someone that didn't need it. The rice coal from up north was "normal street price" at $325 a ton plus $25 the first ton and $10 a ton for the rest for delivery. I just wanted to make sure no one call Center Farms & said " I know someone bought it for $5 a bag!".

OK... time to get to work!

Aw crap! I had the phone in my hand too ......

A couple weeks back I did my season prep--final clean up/paint whole stove w/ rustoleum hi heat Soooo, I'm bored & decided to dump in a bag of Wally World self light briquettes & light the old Hitzer off to burn off any excess anything--WD, paint, whatever--window stats are all open w/ ceiling fan on high---not bad, minimal burn off---I'm ready for whatever old man winter throws this way.

Not much breakfast here; I've been running a couple potatos through a salad shooter, nuke em for a couple minutes, fry up in olive oil. Good with a couple eggs over easy on it.
Reached 3/4 done with that big house I'm painting; the lady is gonna have somebody else fix her high porch roof and columns next week. Some people want to get ripped off. She's the one with the 71 Impala kind of for sale. I want that car but have no place to put it! Biggest production car Chevy ever made. It's a boat, a land yacht, a Detroit chrome mountain. No computer, no foreign parts. I see myself cruising in it with a bumper sticker that says "There's a Prius in my trunk." And "The alternator in this vehicle puts out more power than your Volt."

Had my first fire last week, just put some tulip poplar in the Monticello and the place baked. Took it from 60 to 80 in no time, and the heat stayed in the place long after the fire went out.

I've gotta shovel a ton of coal from a makeshift bin in the shed into the old shed attached to it. I cut a hole in the old wall to make it easier. Respirator required for the old basement coal. The act of shovelling seems to bring all the stove size to the top of the pile. Gotta run a conduit for 110 into the shed before the ground freezes, put off from last year.

That would be PERFECT!! My buddy has a vinyl machine - he could make that sticker up easy. Now I've gotta buy one. "Prius? It's in the trunk!" LOVE IT!!



Don't know what's in store for me today .... but this can't be a good sign .......

Morning all. Just coffee and english muffin for me this morning. Got to shed a few pounds, (read 50 ). Got to be in shape when the little lady get backs from the UK in Oct. .
Freddie, Center Farms is where I get my bulk deliveries from and heck yeah it's even further for them to get here and they are still cheaper then the two local guys by about $25 a ton (more where you consider the mileage charge the locals add on). The old shipping and handling fee . Good people though and they mix up my bulk as asked no extree charge. 4 tons stove and 2 tons nut.

I had the wasps between two storm windows up top of the window frame. Impossible to hit with the spray. Well not impossible but hard. I ended up getting this hi powered freeze type spray like shooting dry ice at them. Worked like champ and non toxic since the cats like to eat an wasp they find as a crunchy treat.

Time to wax the old Honda for the winter. Twice a year, once in spring once in fall. That's about all I'm doing today besides mowing.

Smitty, is there anyway to get into the dash on the focus and pull the bulb for that pesky light? At least till ya get the sticker. My Accord kept giving me a light for the antilock breaks and there was nothing wrong with the system. NO ONE could figure it out so I finally just pulled the little bulb out of the dash cluster since there was another normal red idiot light for the brakes themselves.
Have a good weekend everyone.

I've been absent from the Coffee house for a few weekends. Lots going on.

Other than the new health issues, all is well, just too many things on my 'list'.

I'm out in San Leandro Commiefornia, at a buddy's place. He and I just installed an overdrive in his '25 Pierce Arrow sedan. It has
Mountain gearing. 4.89:1, with a 2900rpm engine.. do the math... it's a 38-40mph car. Great for climbing mountain passes,
and for high altitude touring, but SLOOWW on the downhill stretches and on the flat.

With the new overdrive engaged, [new, separate shift lever] the car has 3.62 final drive gearing.. and its a 50+mph car now.
My buddy has a silly grin on his face that won't go away.. he's owned this car for decades, and it was always a rolling roadblock,
except for the tours in the mountains.. now it will be used much more for short errands and local tours.

He and I and his GF are headed to NE Commiefornia to MODOC county, where we will be on a week long tour, getting into Oregon,
and touch nevada too. Beautiful, high mountain desert country, ghost towns, old mining towns etc.. pretty rough, not much but
old mom&pop motels, and burger diners, but it's a LOT of FUN..

This will put a check in the box next to one more item on my 'bucket list'.

I'm scheduled for my first Trabulectomy on Sept 24th.. trying to save my eyesight.. had a sudden [over several months] reduction of
sight [20%-40% loss of visual field of view], Doctors tell me it's 'normal pressure Glaucoma'... my vision stinks right now.
Hopefully after both surgeries, the decline will stop. I'll get some glasses so I feel more comfortable driving at night..which I now avoid.
Tunnel vision sucks.
And I'm 99% sure the flying career is over.. I'll argue with the FAA after my vision stabilizes..

So for now, out to the shop to give George's '25 a quick chassis lube, and brake adjustment.. got to be ready for the downhill
side of those mountain passes !!

Take care everyone,
Greg L