Coffee 3-18-2017

Smell that? The best coffee ever is waiting for you. Come in, enjoy a minute or two of company as you sip that wonderful black liquid. I hear bacon sizzling. I'll bet eggs & toast aren't too far behind. Who's got jelly?

What a crazy winter it's turning out to be. The storm wasn't too bad here..... only 14 or 15 inches as it turned to drizzle before midnight. Man-O-Man, didn't it snow for a while! With 15 inches I would normally snow-blow twice. At 6PM we had maybe 2 or 4 inches. I figured I'd go out around 9 & snow-blow it. By 9 we had the entire storm! I got done around 10:15 & in the morning we had less than an inch more.

Linda & I are going to go checkout "Pickle ball" this morning. Ever hear of it? I never did until last week. It's like tennis, ping pong, & bat-mitten. Played on half a tennis court, it uses a "giant ping pong paddle" and a Wiffle ball. $5 for 1 1/2 hours....seems like cheap fun. I'll report back.

Old man Winter is having his way so we gotta keep the black rocks burning. Stay safe & have a good weekend.

I thought I smelled coffee brewing! Couple of poached eggs with toast, butter, and peanut butter. Just right. Not too much, not too little. Protein, carbs, calories but not too much, and just good taste.

Gotta start getting ready pretty soon to go to work. I got a gig that I am sharing with another couple doing interior painting in a 15 unit apartment building in Shamokin Pa. We finished the 4th unit yesterday and starting on the fifth this morning. Two color, paint supplied by the owner, painting by the hour, with fixed deadlines for each unit. The building is heated with a two pipe steam system which keeps the apartments toasty warm. Perfect for winter painting as the steam rads dry out the air and the paint evaporating on the walls and trim put the moisture right back. The trim is always going to be semi-gloss white and the walls will always be what I call rental cream. It's that creamy looking paint that tends to show up in just about every rental property. Don't even have to think on this job. Just spread the paint.

Pulled a boo boo last night and forgot to give the Vig it's nightly feeding. Got home later than planned as the unit we were in got it's deadline moved up by a day. We busted our hump and stayed later than normal and got it reasonable. Not great, not completely done but reasonable enough. The tenant showed up while we were doing the touch-up stuff and loved it. So I guess it was better than I thought.

I came down this morning to a feeble glow right in the center of the ash that I immediately recognized as the glow of death. I put a shovel of coal on the edge of the glow hoping but knowing it was a futile action. It's not great to be right sometimes. Now I have to clean it out, get some charcoal and fire it back up this afternoon after I get back home. I had to turn the thermostat up on the backup oil burning boiler. I had to do something I haven't had to do since I fired the stove for this season. Set the thermostat on 70 and put on my hoodie. Normally it's just jeans and T shirt but this morning it's jeans, T shirt and hoodie over the T.

I miss that nice warm glow toasting my back while I sit at the table.

-5 at my house, and a beautiful morning at that. All of the trees are covered with bright white frost, and judging by the woodsmoke coming from my neighbor's stove, there is no wind.

We had a little bit of excitement this morning. My son set a leprechaun trap last night, and this morning discovered that the leprechaun had escaped from the trap, taken the pot of gold (cereal dish of change), and left him an onion. Our boys vow revenge and a more rugged trap next year.

No plans for the weekend other than some family dinners. Corned beef and cabbage at my house tonight, eye round roast on the rotisserie at mom and dads tomorrow. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Hmmm, mornin all, slept in. Outstanding coffee as always Freddy, thank you! Went to a horse auction yesterday around Ovid, NY 15 hrs travel & auction. The Amish from Lancaster, pa put it on every spring & fall--hundreds of draft & buggy horses, thousands of people. Way to big for my liking & the $$$ were amazingly out of my league--$5000.00 for a 6 yr old standard bred buggy horse--yep, pretty enough but like I said--out of my league!!! LOL Came home to my drive being full of snow AGAIN--damn stuff came off the roof yesterday!! Enjoy the week-end people.

Fred, to get that plow truck in motion.

Just went to get the paper, Brrr!

Beautiful photo, Rob.

Rob, beautiful photo and farm. I was ready to move up there until you told me it as -5*. A paper? Now there is a blast from the past. What is the camera?

Yes, we still get the newspaper. In our community there are a lot of things that are only announced/advertised in the paper, and I like that I can read it on my own schedule.

I took the picture with my Motorola cell phone, and was quite impressed with the results. It is a panoramic picture that requires moving the phone for a wider field of view, so it loses some clarity...But still nice a nice job for a "cheap" phone.

A still shot is noticeably clearer.

I was going to send an iphone pic of our drive but the CIA has not finished downloading yesterdays activities.

coalnewbie wrote:I was going to send an iphone pic of our drive but the CIA has not finished downloading yesterdays activities.

I hear you. Google definitely keeps close tabs on me via my phone. I have considered just getting a "burner" cell phone for every day stuff and a CB radio for the shop. My family lives close enough that a CB would reach them in the event of no cellular coverage.

Rob, I personally think that your 1st pic is an award winning type of pic...
Something about that panoramic view of a super clear sky with that big pine tree standing in the glare of the sun to allow you to get such a unique photo..
That picture oozes the frigid temperature while showing the cheery brightness of the sun.

I wish it was sunny here,it's heavy clouds that lets some rain & sleet fall lightly & periodically.

We did have pretty good sunshine yesterday tho.

Rob R. wrote:My son set a leprechaun trap last night,

Love it! *smile*

freetown fred wrote:$5000.00 for a 6 yr old standard bred buggy horse-

Holy Moly! I had no idea that "common" horses sold for that much.

freetown fred wrote:Came home to my drive being full of snow AGAIN--damn stuff came off the roof yesterday!

Speaking of snow coming off a roof.... I went to get an inspection sticker this week. Across from the shop is a large building with a metal roof. My mechanic was telling me that after the blizzard a month ago, the snow had not come off that roof. The next day he heard it rumble & looked out just in time to see a lady had parked her car & gone in to ask questions. She parked "just wrong". Luckily, no one was in the car. The snow came down, took out her rear window and FILLED the car with snow. It also crunched her roof and trunk lid. Sheeesh!

windyhill4.2 wrote:Rob, I personally think that your 1st pic is an award winning type of pic...
Something about that panoramic view of a super clear sky with that big pine tree standing in the glare of the sun to allow you to get such a unique photo..
That picture oozes the frigid temperature while showing the cheery brightness of the sun.

Exactly!

Freddy wrote: Speaking of snow coming off a roof.... I went to get an inspection sticker this week. Across from the shop is a large building with a metal roof. My mechanic was telling me that after the blizzard a month ago, the snow had not come off that roof. The next day he heard it rumble & looked out just in time to see a lady had parked her car & gone in to ask questions. She parked "just wrong". Luckily, no one was in the car. The snow came down, took out her rear window and FILLED the car with snow. It also crunched her roof and trunk lid. Sheeesh!

I have the same issue with the metal roof on my pole barn. The snow slides off and it's all at once. Took out the hood on a company vehicle I used to have. I installed snow stoppers (SnoBlox) on the front roof, I only have half of the amount the manufacturer calculated I need for the anticipated snow load here, but so far they are working. I'm probably going to install the third course (there are two rows installed now) and install the pieces for the 4th course on the back of the building's roof. The snow falling there won't damage anything, but it makes a hell of a noise when it goes. The other issue in the front is when the snow slides off it blocks the bay doors, and clearing a 3 or 4 foot pile of compacted snow and ice is no picnic. I'm very happy with SnoBlox, I didn't screw them into the roof, that would have made hundreds of additional holes in the metal. I used the adhesive the manufacturer supplies. They asked for all the info on my building, my location, and calculated the number of pieces and the exact layout for me.

CH, I ben gonna do that for about ten yrs now--since my shovelin slaves (kids) all went off to conquer the world. I keep getting side tracked during the spring & summer though! Maybe this summer.