Coffee, May 2nd, 2015

Welcome to the coffee house! Come in, enjoy a few minutes with friends, neighbors, odd people. Yup, we are the odd ones. Who burns coal when you can write a big fat check and turn a dial on the wall? We do! Although, as I speak, I'm burning some oil. LOL It's below freezing right now~! So... come on in, share a quick story & a sausage burrito. I'm becoming addicted to them. Making them dirties two fry pans....one to brown the flat bread tortillas & one to scramble the eggs...a bowl, a plate, a spatula, a fork & a knife, but, they are ohhhh, so good. Today I'm adding some sweet peppers for added flavor.

Quitting smoking is the best thing I ever did. When I get the urge for a new toy I say "It's the money I saved from quitting". I bought a four wheeler this week! It's an ol' Polaris...well, not that old, it's a 2009. I got a pretty good deal on it. After I get it "on the road" I'll show a picture. It needs a tire...one has a giant sidewall slash....and of course change fluids & such. One fancy thing it has that I'm going to appreciate.... Power steering! Gotta love how lazy we humans can get!

I'm off to a mud truck show with my buddy Joe. He's got the "Redneck Vette" all set to go. I'll get a pic of it during breakfast & post it.

Hug your loved ones & enjoy the weekend! It's suppose to be a real grass growing couple of days.

Mornin everyone.

Sausage burritos sound real good Freddy. I love burritos personally.

Supposed to get a taste of summer this coming week. Highs in the upper 70's, maybe even touching 80. I'm ready for it, as I'm still burning coal here. With nightime lows in the low 40's, I still need heat.

Take care and be safe all.

Morning Freddy,
Yep, its chilly enough that I'm still burning coal down here. Today MIGHT be the last day this season. I am seeing warmer days in the forecast.
Isn't it fun to buy toys, and not have to justify them? I still remember that feeling before the kids were born
My latest (Justifiable) toy, a 2008 F250 XLT crewcab 4x4 is slowing being fixed up. I just got the OBD2 port working, and discovered there were no stored codes Whoo! Whoo!
I got the side steps installed so that my wife can get into it without the need of a stepstool I found a used tire and used rim, and used my tire irons to create my new spare tire. Found a jack for the truck too. Gotta love the local junk yards and Craigslist. Got a new Trailer Brake Controller installed.
I still need to replace the carpeting in the cab. I already peaked under the old, oil-soaked carpeting, and theres no rust on the floor. I got all the lightbulbs in the cab replaced, so now there are lights inside. Easy fix. Lots of little stuff like this wrong, so much I pointed out to the owner he gave me $1000 off his "book" price.
Time to head up to our yearly "Cow Pasture" farm equipment auction up the street from us. I sure like the looks of those 50ft treated power poles and the 30ft I-beams alongside them, they would make a nice pole barn to house the tractors, cars & truck. Depends on whether anyone else at the auction is thinking the same thing.

Get better F_Fred. I'll be thinkin of ya as I step between the cow patties

Morning Freddy....I'm going for scrambled eggs today....

I heard the propane furnace kick on last night so the house must have dropped below 64*...I'll have to lower that 'stat!!

We are due to get that tank filled up, its been three years since the last time. We use it for hot water, dryer and for the cooktop and the occasional furnace firing. Hope the price is still below $2/gal.

I'm shopping for a winch for a couple water tank antenna jobs I have coming up. I saw harbor freight has one on sale for $50. If I can get two jobs out of it it will have paid for itself and anything after that is gravy. The discs in my back can't take pulling the stuff to the top any more so my plan is to take a pulley & rope to the top and use the winch from the bottom. I hope it works out as I planned.

Mornin all. The old HITZER idles along. Gotta love neighbors. Looks like a day for sittin on the porch & watchin other people do things. Enjoy the week-end people. Thanx Chris.

Only in Maine would you get the term "70 degrees" and "Frost" in the same forecast, but that is what we have today.

That being said, the saying has always been, "do not plant your garden until after the full moon in May", so this year that means May 5th. That means the weather has finally broke and we are onto greener pastures...I hope.

I got to get my sheep onto more pasture because there is VERY little for them to graze on, and even less in the hay mound. Little by little I have been fixing the fences that the heavy snow load has puled down over the winter and acre by acre get them grazing more and more. After that it is on to picking up the yard, reclaiming the driveway again from the mud pit it was, and then onto happier thoughts.

The kids will be gone latter tonight so me and their Mom might just go out on the town, painting it red with her very short red paint brush!

titlelist1,
Do tell more of what a "water tank antenna" is.

Good morning Freddy and compeny, boy Freddy you sure like your sleds!! I would have to agree with you on the smoking my wife and I quite 22 years ago and haven't looked back.
Good too see you Freetown and I hope your feeling better!! We're just enjoying a nice morning buy the fire( the only wood fire I enjoy) camping just outside New Philadelpia, went to some wineries yesterday maybe some fishing and zip lining today just going too play it buy ear. Take care friends and enjoy the rest of your weekend

Mornin' all,
I stop in for a short visit every week, with a cup of coffee. This week I've been planting 'Fraser fir' Christmas tree seedlings. I've got 20 left to plant today, before it warms up. We're looking at 70* for Sunday, and maybe 80* for Monday-Yahoo! You gotta love it!
Fred, sit on the porch and do nothing. At our age, the healing process is slooow.
Take care all,
Cheers

Here's a pic of the "Redneck Vette". Graphics my yours truly. He has fun with it. I suspect this year he may even win some races. He added a new transfer case that gears it down big time. For the first time his engine will be able to rev and make some horsepower. In the past it would lug down & while it make the trip, it was tough going. Now the engine will stay at redline and deliver some real ponies to the wheels. He has yet to race it, but, in his yard, for the first time ever, it will lift the front wheels when you make it bark. Heeheee! Today is just a show, next Sunday is the first race.

FFred.... enjoy that porch!

Keepaneye.... it's not another sled....it's a ATV Four wheeler. I'll get a pic of it later today & post it.

Morning all....beautiful start to the weekend here. Hey NoSmoke, did you say frost and 70's? It was 34 just north of me here and going to be mid 70's today. It happens many places, just not in the middle of summer like Maine!!! Got plenty of work suddenly but still planning a run to Maine for an extended stay this summer. Just got to take care of things left behind and some repairs to my home. Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the porch FF.

Kevin

Crap Freddy I missed the 4 wheeler part sorry!!

McGiever wrote:titlelist1,
Do tell more of what a "water tank antenna" is.

I work with municipal water & waste water systems to install data radios at the water tanks, wells & lift stations so they can monitor and control the panels at those sites. The water tanks are ideal with the antennas nice & high can act as repeaters back to their control rooms and cover lots of mileage.

I've had three installs in the last month and more to come. Pulling the stuff up by hand (10' of 2" pipe, the 8' antenna, ~125' of antenna cable, brackets, ground kits, hangers, etc) gets my back locked down with spasms. Climbing back down the ladders isn't fun in that condition.

My plan is to mount the winch on the truck and use it to pull the stuff up. My only question is whether I'll run out of spool before the rope gets it to the top. If I do, I'll just move the truck to get it the rest of the way up.

Pic from a tank just south of Dover, DE a few weeks ago...pretty flat in DE....

That Vette looks like a pulling truck with the headers coming through the hood.

Looks like today is going to be a beauty, it is already 65 degrees and supposed to hit 70 this afternoon. I have a spot on the lawn that looks a little rough after the water line repair in December, time to get it raked out and toss some grass seed on it.

In other news, now that both my wife and I have jobs in Vermont, we are considering moving. We are meeting a realtor in St. Albans later this afternoon and taking a look at a house nearby. We are starting our search in the area that would give us both the shortest commute.

My very very old mower took a dump and the grass is growing as I watch it. A friend of a friend is moving to Florida and unloading everything, so I took a chance. 500 Hobbs, I got my fingers crossed but the price was very right. Yanmar 35HP three cyl diesel and 60". It hauls a$$ (until it breaks). I know he barely used it but I don't know why. Oh well, in for a penny as they say. I have a feeling I am about to find out why I was stupid.......