Coffee, June 1st, 2013

 
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Freddy
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Post by Freddy » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 5:35 am

It's not a heat wave, but summer sure has lifted it's finger. It hit 94 yesterday and looks to be the same today. So, along with coffee & tea we have their iced counterparts as well. Come in, have a drink, share a thought, all good people here.

I smell bacon & I see eggs on the counter. Good farm fresh eggs. Any home made bread for toast?

We went out to a local diner the other night. They serve breakfast all day so I had a "welders special" It came with two eggs any style & I asked for "over difficult". The waitress was like "Huh?" I said "They are like over easy, but when the customer is a pain in the butt". Anyway, the food was good, but the eggs were like "eggs light" or "imitation". I'm sure they were fine, but the yolks were so light in color and just weren't as rich and tasty as the eggs we eat. The farm fresh ones my sister in law brings are much better.

Chores to do this week: Mow the lawn, mow the lawn & toward the end of the week, I think I'll mow the lawn. I want to invent "slowterlizer" for grass. It makes your grass green, but slows it's growth by 80%!

Hope you all have a smooth weekend & a productive week!


 
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freetown fred
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Post by freetown fred » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 5:59 am

Mornin all. I hope these 2 loaves of homemade potato bread works for ya. Some homemade Amish butter to top them off. Mowed twice so far this week. In the 90's for the past 3 days---HUMID????? you betcha. Great breakfast choice Freddy & outstanding coffee as usual. Time to close all the windows & draw the shades. Keeps the old homestead nice & cool. Gotta finish bush hoggin the pasture today--goin slow & drinkin plenty of water. Time for serious stove clean out. Enjoy the week-end people:)

 
waldo lemieux
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Post by waldo lemieux » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 6:25 am

Good morning Fred's and all you sleepy heads,

Hot everywhere these days but we don't have the wind those poor folks in the mid west. Bad night again last night :shock: Details just commin in :( Anyhoo Id take a cup for the road, got a stampcrete job at 8 an hour away so I gotta git. Have a good day all and give a thought to those folks out west, theres a lot of things that divide us these days but the thought of the suffering out there makes me feel like a group hug....

Best,
Waldo

 
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Rob R.
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 6:30 am

Good morning. We roasted Thursday night, so last night I made sure there was an air conditioner running in our bedroom. It is amazing what one 10,000 BTU window unit can do if you keep the house closed up and the shades drawn...much more comfortable. The electric meter is sure getting a workout. A/C, dehumidifier, and pool pump are all online. :o

Coal news: I replaced the aqaustat on my EFM with a unit that allows a pre-purge of heat from the boiler before the stoker starts, and it "learns" how hot the boiler needs to be to satisfy your demands. So far the boiler has been running 15-20 degrees cooler and running about 1/3rd less. :)

 
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lsayre
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Other Heating: Resistance Boiler (13.5 KW), ComfortMax 75

Post by lsayre » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 6:32 am

Freddy, I could seriously use some of that slowterlizer? Have you perfected it yet? :)

 
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gaw
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Post by gaw » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 9:02 am

Good morning. Mow grass, drink beer, go back to work on the list for the weekend. Lawnmower woes continued through last week. Everything is fixed now (hopefully) I was pleasantly surprised while fixing the two mowers that called it quits last week. The Woods finish mower had a seized idler arm. Because it was a casting and I did not realize it at the time, I managed to break the damn thing. :mad: It was nice to see that the new part is beefed up in the area that mine broke. I guess mine was not the only one to break. The new part is twice as thick in the same area but nothing was done to prevent it from seizing again. Maybe better preventive care but that requires major teardown of the mower to access this pivot point and I doubt that was their intent when it was designed. The other mower, a 20 year old Dixon, had a loose blade that ruined the bottom of the shaft. I ordered a new one online and had it in a week! Not bad for a 20 year old machine that has not been made for about 18 years. The new part had a ½” grade 8 bolt to hold the blade on and a ½” grade 5 bolt to hold the pulley on. The original used 3/8” bolts. The new design will allow higher torque on the blade bolt and hopefully prevent blade slippage from happening again. Something tells me mine was not the first shaft to get ruined by blade slippage. Oh! Another thing, the ½” bolts and washers were included with the new shaft, I didn’t have to purchase separately as is the case many times these days. :D

Freddy, my dad used to say that the flavor and color of the yolk was largely determined by what the chickens ate. Down here the norm is white eggs in the store. Many locals that raise their own have brown eggs. They say the brown eggs have better yolks but like anything you eat this is all subjective. When we would get brown eggs at home I would not eat them, I told mom and dad I did not like brown eggs. Dad would get pissed and say their was no difference, but then went further to say that brown eggs tasted better to which I said “If there is no difference how can they taste better?” Then he got really pissed! How dare some teenage know it all use logic to destroy his argument. :rofl: :rofl:

Have a good weekend.

 
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wilder11354
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Coal Size/Type: nut or pea, anthracite
Other Heating: crown oil boiler, backup.if needed

Post by wilder11354 » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 9:06 am

All coffeed up for day, been planting garden since 7am this morning, Peppers(green, red, jalapenos) and big boy tomatoes ( < salsa makings),onion sets are all regrowing from last season, but got some new red onion sets. Taters been in for a month(tire method) need another tire, and recover plants. waiting for middle GS to get back from mucking horse stalls at his uncles, then we go up to farm to finish hay wagon today. Baler well it keeps fighting me on geting done. another small (pricey) issue that slows done gettin it done. all enjoy the weekend and yes summer is here now.


 
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009to090
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Post by 009to090 » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 9:19 am

Hey all...
Been outside mowing before it warms up.

Yep, time to clean out the coal stoves. That'll be today's job. We were still heating less than a week ago, but hopefully summer is here to stay.

Last week's chore: repairing an old Mossberg Model 380, 22LR Semi-auto. It was given to my neighbor as a Basket case. Entirely disassembled. He couldn't figure it out, so he gave t to me. Loader/Mag tube was cut in half. Looks like someone took a hammer to the guts too.
Repaired or fabricated most of the guts. Even made a Cartridge cutoff spring for it.Try to get a spring for a 1946 rifle! Guess were I found one.... Thank you ebay! :D
Video attached.


 
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Hambden Bob
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Post by Hambden Bob » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 9:43 am

Good Morning! Getting ready for the possible Monsoon heading our way. We'll see what that cooler Northern Air has to say about it all. Well,Freetown & Rob,the Vermont Tractor Deal pancaked !(Lil' Syrup Pun). I thank you for all your help publicly,and will pm you with the sordid details...Craig's List does have a skeezy side to it,and I found it ! Here's to you all having a great,half the year's gone,early summer weekend ! :lol:

 
waldo lemieux
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Post by waldo lemieux » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 3:22 pm

Bob

lets not rush it , it aint half till the end of june. :D party on anyway :punk:

 
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anthony7812
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Post by anthony7812 » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 5:36 pm

Holy smokes its toasty out thier fella's! The pregnant mrs sure is a snortin heat hating machine right now :doh: Anywho, pork roll and egg samwhich, breakfast before the long nightshift weekend. I loaned my truck out too some friends of ours last night for use today, very respectable people so no worries. Brought the truck back just before I started getting ready for work. Said thanks for the pickup have a good one, hopped in the truck and whammo nice full tank of gas and a 20 dollar bill. Take another look, with a post-it note attached that read.. "your rachett straps suck ass and broke, bought you some better ones." Couldnt ask for some nicer friends. :yes:

 
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SMITTY
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Post by SMITTY » Sat. Jun. 01, 2013 10:58 pm

What is it about Craigslist that brings out all the freaks?? Must be that chicken foot symbol they use ....

Every nutbag in the world calls at all hours of the night when you sell things, asking stupid assed questions. What the hell do you plan to look at at 1AM??? Had one guy ask if I performed a compression test on a WEEDWACKER!! It ain't a friggin car for chrissakes!! WOW! :doh: Back in the day when we used to have The Want-Ad, you never got crap like this. And if you went to look at something, the people were about 90% honest. Nowadays they describe things like they're showroom condition ... then you get there and it looks like a '78 Pinto that's been parked in the ocean since it left the showroom! I'll tell ya .... Want to lose faith in humanity? Deal with CRAIGSLIST!! :lol: Most of the people that actually SHOW UP are decent people though. You get what you pay for, as they say.

Yep - hotter than hell here ... and I'm loving it! Except for that part where your skin acts like a heavily oiled air filter. I have grass, paint chips, metal flakes, beer, pollen, bugs, and dirt stuck to me from head to toe. This crap never happened in Phoenix! Humidity has put the head index up over 95°, according to the weather unit. Hit 90° yesterday, and just under that today with higher humidity. Started off at 90%, then gradually dropped to 53%, and now back up again. Still 73° out there right now!! Couldn't ask for better nighttime motorcycling weather. 8-) My house is a sticky 83° right now. The coal boiler is right where I need to put the A/C. Gotta do some shuffling around in here. Still too early for $110 electric bills though ...

Looks like my lawn got a dose of meth like the rest of you folks. Already on my 3rd mow this season. My yard is sooo saturated from all this rain that I almost stalled the 25hp engine mowing up WATER in one section. Sounds just like an airplane when that happens. :lol: Great for the bearings .... Good thing I use Amsoil! What a mess ...

Got some entertaining work today. A guy was mowing when he high-centered the deck when coming up off a hill. One of the blades was bent to start with, because he said right before "it" happened it was vibrating like a bastard. So when he high-centered, the bent blade drove DEEP into the dirt, which tweaked the blade and proceeded to bust all 4 ears off the center spindle! I found all this out after - got a late start today, and saw it sitting in my driveway ... so I go out to see what it;s here for. Deck belt is hanging out the side. So I look at the deck for quite a while before I noticed one pulley 5" lower than the others and at an angle to boot! Once I got it all apart I could see how the blade wore down as he dragged the spindle down the road. :funny: Husqvarna for ya - you could never bend a mower blade 20 years ago unless you mowed a rock garden! When I did bearings on this thing a few months back, one of the ears EASILY broke off the spindle in my press. Not very strong for what they're asked do! Buying Chinese replacements would be an UPGRADE, sadly.

The kitties love the heat too! Got a pic here from last year. Was close to 100° that day, and she's stretched out on the porch window sill where it was about 115° due to the A/C condenser blowing out there.

Stay cool!

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anthony7812
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Post by anthony7812 » Sun. Jun. 02, 2013 12:24 am

3RD MOW OF THE SEASON!!! *censored* I was thier about a month ago. Must be nice.

 
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lowfog01
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Post by lowfog01 » Sun. Jun. 02, 2013 4:47 am

Morning all - Sunday morning that is. :) We've been enjoying - not - August weather around here this last week with highs in the 90s and lows dropping to 70*. That will all end today if the severe weather arrives as forecasted. Before the bad weather gets here I have to visit the bee hive and try to answer the mystery of what's going on with the queen. It's like playing "Where's Waldo" with everything the same size and wearing black and gold. Oh well, maybe I'll find some answers to my questions. Maybe not. The one thing I do know is that you can do everything right and still lose the bees.

The school year is quickly winding down - we only have 12 days of school left. I'm driving a special needs bus this summer but still have a couple of trips lined up. One in July to Salt Lake City and another to North Ga. I'm thinking the summer is going to fly by - again.

Speaking about mowing the lawn, the work I did in putting the zoysia grass down and landscaping is paying off. By leaving the grass a little longer, it's thicker and crowds out the weeds. My new double bladed recycle mower eliminates the need to bag the cuttings. I generally don't have to spend time applying weed killer and if I do small spot applications are in order. I took out all of the hardscape bed edgings put in place by the previous owner and left a 6 inch flat edge of mulch to define the flower beds. Now I can run one mower wheel on the mulch and one on the lawn, eliminating the need to use the string trimmer. I can have the place looking like someone cares within 30 mins by just walking behind the mower. I can deal with that.

I hope everyone gets something done on their to do list. Be safe, Lisa

 
samhill
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Post by samhill » Sun. Jun. 02, 2013 8:59 am

Good morning all, gonna run out for breakfast today but with gas prices just can't justify a trip to Freddy's but it sounds good. Lisa, it's been a real hard spring on the bee-keepers in these parts I hope others & yourself continue to keep the much needed hives. If I cut today or tomorrow it's gonna be the fifth cut, at least the hot humid weather is gone for awhile, my heart goes out to those folks it OK. & surrounding states & still yet another fire out west, last few years have been strange indeed going from drought to floods & fires & tornado's with hurricane season starting yesterday. Hope everyone stays safe.


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