Folks enjoy this thread but remember no politics!!
Replies (1530)
"...where the gas filler was located?"
Thinkin' that was along about when it was behind the flip-down taillight?
Heard they had to move the location, as too many people thought that was where the blinker fluid went in, which didn't end well. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 12:45 PM
Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 12:45 PM
Yep, it was the left flip down taillight. First time I got gas couldn't find it and luckily an attendant came out and showed me where it was act!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 1:59 PM
fxpwt beat me to it. Wonder what the sticker was on that ‘56? I brought a ‘55 2 door sedan home for parental permission when I was 16. Rebuilt straight 6 w/3 speed hurst on the floor. In primer with all new rubber trim stuff in boxes…….$400……and got the big NO.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 4:42 PM
Rock: Bought the 56 for $300 in late 1964. It had a little 265 V8 that was a contrary running car - when it wanted to! It had a vacuum control wiper system that would quit when accelerating and once up to speed would start working. Remember traveling from Alton, IL as newlyweds going down Route 66 to Springfield, MO, and being stopped by a Highway Patrol officer who thought that I had stolen the car. After talking with him and showing my papers to him my big mouth said Sir if I wanted to steal a car it sure wouldn't be this piece of stuff (google friendly). Kept it for a couple of years and traded it in on a used 1959 Chevy!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 6:09 PM
Going down the 'life experiences' path, after a previous share and related reminiscing on another thread about time in Quebec -
Gots to travel quite a bit on the various companies' dime throughout my career, neat to see how other folks carried on, but always good to finally get home where things were back to 'normal'. Grew an appreciation for those reportedly getting off the plane and kissing the ground of home.
Boss and I were early-birds, usually the first ones in the building by a half-hour or so. Not sure about his reasons, mine were that I'd rather put any needed extra time on the front-end of the day where could still quiz or snag night-shift guys if needed, rather than the back-end.
He leans in my office one morning - hey, fxpwt, gotta passport? Replied 'yes', before the caffeine fully kicked in to wonder why he'd even be asking that. D'Oh!
So, off to Quebec for a six-month rotating stint, basically taking pieces-parts from a shutdown plant up there to use at our plant of similar process.
Ended up being 83 semi-truckloads of stuff to take-apart, pack, and ship - learned way more than I cared to about trailers - flat-bed, drop-deck, double drop-deck, rack-n-tarp, box, etc. - needed for the various equipment, with regular calls to the trucking company to order the needs for the next day, and forecasts for the next week. Then there was the fun of scheduling the special rail-cars and related engines for the large oversized transformers which couldn't be trucked.
Had to fill out an invoice and a pro-forma thing for each truck crossing the border, listing the equipment and assigning the various codes and costs for the equipment shipped, then snapping a pic sent to the plant back home to correlate which was which being received. Goal being to start with the blanket bulk purchase price for all, and ratchet down the assigned value of each truckload such that the last truck leaving would leave a balance of zero. Was told that this was way easier than before NAFTA. Ugh.
De-construction manager liked to yank my chain and have five or more trucks loaded, queued up, and ready to hit the road by the time I got there, nothing like scrambling to get paperwork ready for a bunch of antsy truckers hollerin' a bunch of unfavorable sounding stuff in French. Didn't see none of the above in my job description of fixing broke stuff when I hired in...
Interesting with the high-voltage breakers containing SF6 gas, apparently a nowhere near environmentally-friendly substance, with the accompanying regulations to boot. Not wanting to go through all that special paperwork, rationalized that the gas was an essential part of the breaker, and told the de-construction group to box the gas cylinder in with the breaker as a 'unit', which was then declared as '230kV breaker, complete' on the Customs forms. Fortunately, everything went right on through without a hitch. :-)
Thought it was weird, being in the middle of French Quebec and all, with town names such as Shipton, Danville, Warwick, Victoriaville, Sherbrooke and such - didn't sound very French to me. Of course, the town of Asbestos was true to its name, with a HUGE and deep hole in the ground from its former Johns-Manville quarry of the same substance.
The people were very friendly, once they understood I was American, and not from any part of the rest of English-speaking Canada, with whom they apparently carry a fair amount of distrust. Actually, was coached before I left for there, to always wear something identifying me as from the States - a US flag, American sports team attire, etc.
Language was an obstacle, but their English was better than my French, since Spanish was taken all-through high school. Where verbal language failed, some entertaining sign languages and gestures kicked in.
The landlord of the place we rented wanted to be paid in cash in Canadian dollars, so once a month, a trip to the bank was needed to exchange US dollars to Canadian dollars. Found that US dollars were represented by the dollar sign ahead of the number, where Canadian dollars always had the dollar sign at the end - so one way for determining what kinda money we were talking about.
Interesting that the first month's rent was pretty much even - $1100 for 1100$, but the last month's rent, six months later, was $800 for 1100$. Eh, that's what they get for having that monopoly-looking paper money. Yeah, rent was high, but it did include all utilities and cable, as well as three-times per week housekeeping services - vacuum, sweep, trash, recycling, bed linens, dishes, etc. Nice being on the company dime! :-)
Summertime was kinda weird, highs only got up in the low-80s, but the daylight lasted til almost 11pm. No A/C needed, but geez, Louise - I would guess four out of five houses had an above-ground pool, and never saw so many motorcycles and convertibles running around, especially them weird cycles with the two wheels up front and single wheel in back, like a reverse trike - guessin' they get all they can out of their six weeks or two months' worth of summer.
Always flew from here into the Burlington VT airport, then rented a car from there - figure to be less peoples than going through Montreal. Freaky how the US radio stations suddenly dropped out, and the Canadian stations picked up within miles of the border. Always was easier getting into Canada than getting back into the US. One time going home, the US agent had everything out of the car, and I swear he was fixin' to start tearing seats and upholstery out, all while Quebec-tagged cars were just zipping right on through. How is this right? Perhaps the rental Mustang convertible with Florida tags raised suspicions with him, maybe they watched Miami Vice up there or something...
Along about 01 November, heard all this banging going on outside the apartment, people hammering long 6-foot (or whatever that is, in their 'meters') stakes in their yard along the street, and a couple folks were putting up temporary canvas garages. Was told the stakes were to guide the snowplows. One of the remaining guys at the plant said my car was illegal after 01 November, as tires had to have the snowflake on the sidewall, rated for winter. Said they didn't like when temps got up close to zero (that's 32 degF in real units), because that's when it snows - a lot, preferred the -20 temps and below. Brrrrrrrr!
Yeah, gettin' way past time to wrap this job up fast, quick, and in a hurry!
Whew! Too much news, eh? :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 7:17 PM
fxpwt: I got tired just reading the activity more the less actually doing it!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 26, 2022, at 8:21 PM
"...made and measured in Metrics instead of standard US of A measurements ." -- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 5:08 AM
Have felt that pain many times, making it a practice to quiz and to clarify which units whenever bare-naked numbers were thrown around.
Another unsolicited and extended band camp story - this one time, on a brand-new aluminum foil processing machine, running off lengths from a 30,000 lb master roll to the various customer-spec size rolls which were then sold / priced by the actual length of material.
Process engineer kept beating on our Maintenance group about the x-ray in the rolling mill not controlling to the correct thickness, just 'giving metal away' coming off the mill 10% too thick over spec.
He kept broadcasting that he wasn't getting enough yards out of the roll, based on its poundage and target thickness, thus just had to be 'their' x-ray problem.
Hmmm, really? German machine, previous experience with Germans as being arrogant, cantankerous, and not in the least bit friendly to their customers kinda people - so what's the deal with these US 'yards', especially versus the more traditional US 'feet', if the Germans even were to be out-of-character accomodating?
Rather than spending time and energy bellowing back at the process engineer about the x-ray being right on target, sat down and cracked open the manual - yep, right there in plain sight and big font, measured in METERS - and consistent with the Germans not giving you what you think you want (yards), because their all-knowing selves will give you what you really need (meters).
Hmmmm, a meter is about 10% longer than a yard, so yeah, indeed giving metal away - not because it was too thick due to the x-ray, but because the process engineer was simply running the rolls off too long, counting and selling the reported length numbers as yards, rather than the actual meters. Heheheh, could see why the customers weren't complaining.
Career mostly spent here fixing all kinds of broke stuff - but the challenges with fixing that process engineer's thinking really pushed the limits... :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 9:24 AM
Heheheh, could see why the customers weren't complaining.
fxpwt: No doubt, 10% savings in raw material.
Went on some customer complaints with the Technical group, they would take me along to explain how Tolls, Swaps, and Hedge buying works that would help them to save money while at the same time helping our company to make more money!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 9:40 AM
Seems we are on work related stories and I have a ton but this one stands out. Lately there was some questions and confusion about boil water orders in Jackson I believe.
Years ago I had an appointment for some work at a home in Illinois. There was a public water system in this area. When I got there and the lady let me in I saw all four burners on her kitchen range boiling water in big pots. I asked if she was canning and she answered “No. The TV said there was a boil water order so I’ve been boiling water.” I told her it was just to boil some for drinking and cooking because there was a problem with the water supply. She had been boiling water for three days from her own well. Never got tied onto the public supply.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 3:22 PM
Seems we are on work related stories and I have a ton but this one stands out. Lately there was some questions and confusion about boil water orders in Jackson I believe.
Years ago I had an appointment for some work at a home in Illinois. There was a public water system in this area. When I got there and the lady let me in I saw all four burners on her kitchen range boiling water in big pots. I asked if she was canning and she answered “No. The TV said there was a boil water order so I’ve been boiling water.” I told her it was just to boil some for drinking and cooking because there was a problem with the water supply. She had been boiling water for three days from her own well. Never got tied onto the public supply.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 3:23 PM
Rock: Did you give that woman her sign?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 5:12 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 3:23 PM
Was she a blonde? :-)~
Which brings to mind the wayback memory of the radio station in KY which stirred the pot as they liked to do, reporting the KY legislature was looking to require the vehicle headlight dimmer switches be located back down on the floorboard as a safety measure, as it seemed too many blondes were getting their feets tangled up in the steering wheel...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 5:29 PM
Note to all Blondes: This thread is not to be held responsible for blonde jokes told by posters!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 5:54 PM
Guess I should have mentioned she was about 85 (and mostly grey).
May have related this before. There was a rather backwoods fella in the Bootheel that finally wanted electric run to his place. He came in to pay his bill and told the clerk it was nice but having electric only at night was all he had. It went on about dark and shut off at sunrise. It had been that way for several months. Found out the crew had him hooked up to a photocell line running a nearby billboard. That’s a true story.
Kinda like the guy who bought a new chainsaw and brought it back to the store complaining he couldn’t cut any more wood than he had with only an axe and crosscut saw. The store clerk looked the saw over and it started on the first pull. Startled the guy asked “ What’s that noise”?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 6:04 PM
Has anyone noticed that all drug stores have their drug dept. at the very back of the store so anyone sick has to walk and spread their germs all the way back to the end of the store. Also, the braces for bad knees, backs, and canes/walkers are also way in the back of the store - how many folks struggle to pick up their needed items in great pain?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 27, 2022, at 8:53 PM
Dt. Please tell us? Schaefer, they do that so you can pick up an $8 candy bar on the way back.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 5:39 AM
Is it just me or has January seemed to had been 2 months long?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 4:48 PM
It’s not just you but I was thinking at least 3 months. Used to absolutely love winter. I tent camped at -18 once. Now I get frozen fingers below +40.
Finally looking to head south next winter.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 5:50 PM
Gots a wild hair to do a little (very little) updating around the house, with it being cold outside, figure an inside project would be preferable.
Going by a rule-of-thumb that one should re-invest from 1-4% of the home's market value back into the house every year, as a target for maintenance and upkeep and refreshing costs, good a time as any to get this year's investment underway.
Continuing on from the previous electrical upgrades on the now 57-year-old home, where the fuse box had previously been replaced with a regular breaker box, a whole-house surge suppressor installed since the original two-wire ungrounded circuits limit the effectiveness of surge strips for TVs and computers and the like, and the original construction two-prong receptacles were changed out with the current 3-prong style, which also required the ground fault (GFCI) protection be added to be 'legal' - had noticed then that most-all of the over 50-year-old two-prong receptacles seemed kinda sloppy, not gripping the plug tightly such that a light timer or such boxy plug-in would tend to try to slip and lean outward.
Figured a loose connection presents an opportunity for a hot-spot, likely not an issue for low-load stuff like lights and phone chargers, but a good place to let the smoke out (plant electricians' joke for broke electrical stuff) or worse, a fire, for the higher loads such as a vacuum or dehumidifier or space heater.
At any rate, the general goal was to update the original almond color receptacles and light switches with what I hope is the more current and trendy white stuff, with a secondary benefit of changing out the older three-prong receptacles added since construction and seeing high use which seem to be well on their way to being worn, with the observed loose plug-gripping.
No good deed goes unpunished. Never realized just how many receptacles and switches a house has, some in places not easily accessed, such as the disposal receptacle way in the back under the sink as well as the receptacles up underneath the kitchen cabinets, before getting to the short wire leads barely clearing the wall, making it a challenge to undo the old and to install the new.
$58 spent on stuff this go-round, and about 12 hours labor into this 50-something component change-out this go-round, with a bit more to go - trying to guess the cost had I just 'called someone', as well as smiling at my many elders who took the time to show me how to do it myself.
Just hoping one of my mentor's previous observations after a work-related foul-up doesn't come true - FXPWT Electric - if your lights don't burn, your house will. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 6:03 PM
I sympathize with the rewire upgrade. This old cabin had 2 wire asphalt paper wiring when I moved in with a 60 amp fuse box. Only been upgrading for 40 years. The ceiling lights are still that old two wire/no ground.
Did a “favor” for a friend selling their home replacing outlets. The buyers inspection determined any outlet within 20 feet of a window should be a GFI so I had about 30 to replace. Thanks to the original electrician he wasted no wire. Trying to pull enough slack was a real….. can’t say that. Then I hit the kitchen sink area with two outlets and a disposal switch with one feed wire. Two hours later I got it all to work without snapping a breaker.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 6:38 PM
Finally looking to head south next winter.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 5:50 PM
DA,
Good luck to you and enjoy. Wife and I did it for 20 years. Due to illness we have not done so since 2018 and I miss it. Do it, you will never be able to do it any younger!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 10:48 PM
You gentlemen wear me out with all the electrical work lol. Honestly, thank goodness I have not had to replace mine yet as this house likely has 50 outlets or more. It's handy but apparently my father was obsessed with them when he built this house. That and weird locations for light switches. I am in the process of updating the inside. It is dizzying trying to pick out light fixtures,flooring etc. At this point I got the new roof on and the hvac so waiting for prices to go down and supplies increase. May be a long wait....
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 5:50 AM
Turtle: Just because it's SOUTH Dakota doesn't mean it's warm there. 😎
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 8:14 AM
Posted by dbennett on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 5:50 AM
Ms, Deanna, good luck on your project. In 2018 we purchased a Villa which is kinda sorta like a condo but different. No more grass cutting etc.. It was s disaster inside and I think designed and decorated by a wino. My daughter looked at it and asked.... what were you thinking? My response was.... spending some of your inheritance. We liked the location. The kitchen was the worst, with 4 seperate ways to get into it and short on cabinet space. I hired a young man who I had used before and put him to work and told him what I wanted done. He asked when do I stop. I said when you get to the sub floor. And remove this kitchen. I came in one day and there were switches hanging from wires coming out of the ceiling which is Cathedral Style in all rooms but bathrooms. Why the electrician took the wiring from the basement to the minimal space attic and back down I will never understand. Our plan was to stop the new kitchen walls at 9 feet like the outside walls to have an open, airy feeling. What to do with the light switches? First thought I can fix this. Second thought, I don't really want to so I rode for help. I called a smart guy and now we have a mostly smart house calling on Alexa to turn on lights etc. Alexa is the first woman I have been able to boss around and get away with it. I want to go to bed and one wireless switch just inside the bedroom turns out all of the lights I left on and turns one back on at 10% for a night light. Now we have cabinet space but only one way into the kitchen. And we changed all fixtures to LED lighting. Same genius picked out the fixtures with one that looked as if should hang over a pool table.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 8:19 AM
Finally looking to head south next winter.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 5:50 PM
Rock: We prefer southern Texas because it's cheaper and fewer folks but with all the Illegals coming into Texas bypassed it last winter and this one.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 8:26 AM
Neighbor has a motion detector light on the front porch....with all the wind it kept going off and on all night.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 9:00 AM
I have one front and back by the doors. Might get a false come on occasionally but not often. They're a real help when my daughters come by and try to work the lock keypad before I know they are there and unlock the door for them.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 9:10 AM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 8:26 AM
Try Gulf Shores, reasonable and less people.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 9:13 AM
Talk of North and South Dakotas brought to memory a chuckle.
Used to be a TV show on the now-defunct Family Channel called Bordertown, about a US Marshal and a Canadian Mountie sharing duties in a town that spanned the borderline.
Produced in Canada, one episode had the US Marshal reminiscing on his time in the Civil War, about how sad that brothers from South Carolina were fighting against their own brothers from North Carolina.
Guessin' US geography wasn't one of the producer's strong suits... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 10:33 AM
Too many folks head South IMO . Gimme those wide open spaces...
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 10:01 AM
Dunno. Rick, but I did have a local guy in Gulf Shores tell ne once... "they say we ain't too bright down heah, but you don't find us retiring and moving Nawth!"
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 10:49 AM
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 11:07 AM
Rick, I admire your dedication. Good job. Try to stay warm.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 12:48 PM
Turtle: Safe travels!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 12:59 PM
DT, I know how to wire lolol. And how to plumb, do drywall and change the oil in my car. Some of us women aren't helpless. Wheels, the house is actually quite large and mostly well designed. But designed specifically for what my father wanted. He also built the house I grew up in (he and his brothers). Sold it when we were grown because it was too big. And built a bigger one but with some odd things. Very well built and tight house but needs some tile replaced and living room carpet. And the urinal OUT of the main bathroom. Gross. Only my dad. I miss him so much lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 3:16 PM
DT, be safe!
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 5:39 PM
"I sympathize with the rewire upgrade." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 28, 2022, at 6:38 PM
Interesting to see how things were done in days gone by, as well as the equipment from then.
Recall one even-older house I had looked at - I think it's called knob and tube wiring - but there were bare wires strung across the attic, with only porcelain stand-offs at various points to lift and isolate the wires. Whew!
The 'shaking my head' find today was the few original construction outlets that were three-pronged.
Eh, OK, house was built in 1965, and the National Electric Code referenced that grounded outlets were first required only in the laundry room in 1948, adding the kitchen and bathrooms in 1956, with grounded outlets all around required in the 1962 revision. The Internet's a wonderful thing for researching history.
Pulled the bathroom outlet, to find two-wire romex to the three-prong outlet. They had soldered a wire from the Neutral, attached to the ground terminal at the receptacle, also done on the kitchen and outdoor weatherproof 3-prong outlets. Kinda resigned to what I'll find in the laundry room.
Survey says -- ERRRRNT, intents were good but that just ain't right - on the other hand, have made it over 50 years without an incident. Maybe better to be lucky than good here.
Not sure how fast Cape kept up with Code revisions then, figure a couple years behind the latest-and-greatest is normal, by the time ordinances and such are reviewed and approved, but suspecting some slickery and the clearing out of old, obsolete stock going on which the inspector didn't catch, if there were even inspectors then. Pretty sure filing a warranty claim now is out of the picture. :-)~
/*****/
Towards your GFCI replacements - would had to throw the BS flag at the home inspector. Geez, 20 feet within a window would pretty much cover every outlet, just don't sound right. Not up-to-date with current regs, but was thinking used to be something like within 6 feet of water, such as sinks, bathtubs, toilets, etc.? Maybe his cousin worked for or owned stock in a GFCI manufacturer, or something. Though, understand the value of doing what ya gotta do, and just movin' on.
Ah, electricity - one of those few things that can knock ya flat on your keister, and you can't hit it back. :-)
/*****/
"And the urinal OUT of the main bathroom." -- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 3:16 PM
I think I see my next indoor project, would be a real conversation starter! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 6:18 PM
fxpwt, that ridiculous gfci replacement was the least of that inspector and the buyers. Some of the demands the buyers made on my friends were beyond the norm but they did them just to get the place sold. If and when I decide to sell this old cabin it’s “AS IS”! Inspect all you want but what you see is what you get.
And pray tell just what is uncivil about that??
Is it a political comment that I’d like one of these global warming celebrities/politicians to circle their jet around here a few times and warm it up?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 7:18 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 6:18 PM
Fxpwt, I know you like to save money, perhaps you could get Ms. Deana to sell you hers. 😊😎
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 29, 2022, at 9:24 PM
I have seen home inspections ask for ridiculous minute things and others I think just walked in and looked around and left. The farmhouse we bought in 1998 had 4 outlets in the entire house. Itty butty fuse box with 4 breakers. Actual breakers. We lived in it for a good 5 years before we could afford to upgrade it. Fyi you dump a bunch of money in a 110 year old house you still have an old house.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 4:52 AM
My opinion only on this house business, design (with Professional help) and have built your own. Do yourself, only that what you are qualified for. Did two that way in my lifetime. No more, staying where I am until they take me out feet first. Hate moving. Reason for professional help, getting building permit, they can tell you what is not possible or practical and what is absolute insanity. I am hung up on hillsides. Walk in on one level and out the back on a lower level. I scratched one out once for a lot we purched. Then took it to the pro. He came out to look at the lot and my scratching and looked into his eye piece whatever it was and I kept hearing him muttering, oh my ***. We didn't build to that plan.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 8:13 AM
Luckily my father and his brothers were excellent carpenters. They could all do roofing, framing, etc. One did all the electrical work, one the plumbing, one all the waterline trenching and backhoe work and my dad a lot of the finish work. Us kids were either given fake projects or the gofer jobs or even other things depending on how old we were. You NEVER told my father you were bored,he found you something to do. It was not usually fun and I don't remember ever telling my parents no. I'm still alive. Back then there were no codes or building permits. We still don't have codes here. That said, my father spent a lot of time with us outside, especially me as I was all about nature and my mother was wonderful.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 2:11 PM
"You NEVER told my father you were bored,he found you something to do. It was not usually fun and I don't remember ever telling my parents no."
Ms, Deanna, I didn't even have to look bored to be given something to do. I was hoeing cockleburrs out of the corn roads at about 6 years old and working in Mom's garden was a fact of life, plus feed the chickens, water the chickens, feed the pigs etc. A kid type never ran out of work on the farm when I was young.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 2:18 PM
"That said, my father spent a lot of time with us..." -- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 2:11 PM
Kinda same, being showed, then allowed to do real stuff just like the grown-ups did, while I was too young to understand what was really happening - mow grass with the vroom vroom power mower, flare copper tubing, operate the powered pipe threader, change oil in various equipment, etc.
By the time I figured out I'd been played, that this was work! - too late.
Well done, dad!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 7:34 PM
Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 7:34 PM
Pxpwt, you had a mower that went vroom vroom, ours went clatter clatter clatter as I pushed it and made the reel turn. And a powered pipe threader, you must have been rich. I was the power pac for anything they ever put a handle on from the sickle grinder to the kid powered cream seperator. And oh, that delightful corn sheller that I got to use when I was making mishief I could always go to the barn and shuck some corn so I could use that corn sheller. Then there was the well pump with a handle on it as well. And there was a meat grinder with a handle on it and the sausage stuffer that had a handle on it. I am sure there were some more machines I am forgetting as I left the farm almost 66 years ago.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 8:23 PM
Sorry Fxpwt. I slappped a P instead of an F in there earlier and just saw it. Little excuse for that as far apart as they are on the keyboard. But typing is not my thing.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 10:06 PM
When Schaefer's World was a little kid, these crisp mornings were a treat on the way out to the outhouse!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 8:33 AM
What was going on early this morning? The Paper's string wasn't stretched tight enough maybe?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 11:59 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 30, 2022, at 8:23 PM
Ya got me on the reel mower. Had the 'opportunity' to use one only a couple times - way on up there on the scale of 'grunt and groan'.
No idea what happened this morning, perhaps the digital equivalent of their printing press losing its do-right. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 12:06 PM
Probably an update on non-civil words not to be used by us mere mortals!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 12:30 PM
I remember trying a reel mower as a kid and deciding I would have the woods 2 feet from my house. I can also remember pulling weeds in soybeans that were over my head and helping sort rotten potatoes in 100 degree weather all day That was in the 70's and eay 80's. Child abuse now lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 12:40 PM
Anyone remember having "Cotton Vacation" during the school year to help pick cotton?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 12:57 PM
- Posted by Schaefer's World on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 12:57 PM
No cotton vacation where I went to school. I lived I'm the first county north of cotton country. My wife had two uncles who went to Portageville in their early years and her oldest sisters used to go down and make a little monet picking cotton.
I picked it once, I stopped alongside a cotton field that had been harvested and there was a couple of stalks left almost in the road ditch and I rescued one of them out of curiosity.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 1:29 PM
Cotton Vacation: This was when I lived in Oran, the time off of school varied from year to year depending on the "cotton picking time". My older brother had a school buddy whose parents grew cotton so we would ride our bicycles out to the farm and spend 2-3 days overnight there. I was too small for the big white bags so I used an old tote sack. The trick in picking cotton was to only use the 3 fingers and a thumb that matched the cotton boll (saves from pricking your fingers). I remember the buddy's Mom was a good cook which was an extra benefit!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 5:10 PM
FWIW, thinkin' the young'uns over in KY during my time working over there in the late 80s got two weeks off in late Sept/early Oct for those to help out picking the tobacco crop. Of course, this meant they started in mid-August, during a time when most schools didn't start until just before Labor Day.
Kinda funny, the town (Russellville) used to have a Tobacco Festival in late Oct, I suppose originating to celebrate bringing in the crop. I guess social correctness is creeping in, as it's now called the Tobacco and Heritage Festival. https://www.tobaccofest.org/about
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jan 31, 2022, at 5:22 PM
We never grew cotton, I don't know of anyone around my area that grows it. I remember my husband got some tobacco seed from a cousin in KY so we planted it, just to see what would happen. Came up great and looked wonderful. Came home from work one day and it was pure stalks lol. I guess worms. Kind of like when I had a beautiful crop of iceberg lettuce and every day one would just be gone. Groundhogs....
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 4:35 AM
Guess it takes a while for one to become accustomed to a region's quirks.
Couple examples being in KY - took a while to wrap my head around the dirt being red, versus the more familiar brown.
Going down a country road for a drive, no particular place to go, no particular hurry to get there - came upon a barn with smoke just rolling out of it. Heart started racing, started to get involved with the situation, then noticed people out-n-about in the area, carrying on business as usual. Later found they were just curing the recent tobacco crop.
Down below Crowley's Ridge, close but not quite in the actual Bootheel, had a vendor from St. Louis visit the plant. Made a comment that it seemed too warm for snow. ??? Finally figured out he was talking about all the errant post-harvest cotton, lining the sides of the road and being blown around.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 6:31 AM
Girlfriend's grandfather would buy from a relative in Kentucky some "Hands of Tobacco" and then twist/cut them up for Pipe smoking - when he would lite up that pipe - Strong Smell phew weee!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 8:22 AM
This supposed weather hitting here Wednesday and Thursday is eerily similar to the blizzard of ‘79. That record snowfall was preceded by a day in the 60’s,a day of heavy rain(that forecast was rain changing to sleet and snow accumulating about 2”. They missed that one,eh)then reality of over 2’ of snow.
So,my truck said 64. Heavy rain tonight and tomorrow and 1-3 or 3-5 or “however”.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 3:31 PM
"This supposed weather hitting here Wednesday and Thursday is eerily similar to the blizzard of ‘79. " -- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 3:31 PM
The predicted ice accumulations tucked in the forecast has me hoping it ain't nothing like the ice storm of 2009 - no joy working down South.
Heading to work was reasonable until cresting Benton Hill, then everything was pitch-black dark as well as slicky-slick, so no zoomie-zoom the rest of the way to New Madrid.
Massive destruction of the power grid, from the big high-voltage towers to the distribution poles strung along the county roads and such. One co-worker was out of power at his house down there for 18 days.
Figure a lotta snow can be handled easier than a lotta ice!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 4:49 PM
Gxpwt, I am with you on the ice! The last huge one was horrible! I don't mind staying home but not without power and a not so great alternate power source plus a generator that won't run!. I do have bread and milk. So I can have milk sammiches while I freeze in the dark.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Feb 1, 2022, at 4:56 PM
Still waiting on the weather.....I think they lowered ice predictions for my area. Sitting at work trying to stay awake
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 2:01 PM
Waiting here in SEMO on the ice/sleet/snow to start. We have a new package of baloney and a loaf of bread to make sandwiches. Also, have 2 bottles of wine - my question is, what wine goes best with baloney?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 3:49 PM
"...what wine goes best with baloney?" -- Posted by Schaefer's World on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 3:49 PM
No idea here, always heard it was bad practice to mix the grape with the grain-fed... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 4:00 PM
Turtle: How is the weather at the Rez? Ice coated streets/highways here!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 6:33 PM
Public Service Announcement:
Thursday has been officially canceled!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 6:44 PM
Here in st. Peters MO, it looks like about 4 inches but I did not measure it. Supposed go get more tonight. Our trees do not seem to have ice on them. And we have power. Due to wife's illness, I had a standby generator installed 1 1/2 years ago and so far we haven't been down 30 minutes. Having heard the forecast, I went down To the basement on Monday afternoon and turned off the main and did a trial run. I stood in the dark for a few moments and on came the lights. Let it run a bit and turned the main back on. Hardly a flicker as the transfer switch handed off to Ameren, the generator ran a cool down cycle and went back to sleep. Then I came back up and discovered a house full of blinking clocks, with one battery powered Atomic clock for a reference.
Let er snow!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 7:21 PM
I don’t have that fancy smancy auto generator setup but being a former Boy Scout I am prepared. Takes me about 30 minutes to get generator online. Hardest part is tapping into the deep well power supply with 220. Couple of heavy extension cords to run some essentials and we golden.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 7:52 PM
- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 7:52 PM
DA, I have been providing electric to my commercial building for 22 years when the power went down in bitter cold weather. Done with a 7.5 KW generator that I purchased used and housed in a enclosed trailer along with 7 LP heaters and LP bottles. It took a written procedure and two men to make sure the main was pulled to not backfeed the electrical grid. We prootected the building which is total electric, but I am getting too old for that kind of fun and the young man who worked for me and my now former company for just short of 46 years is now retired. We are looking to invest in a permanently connected standby generator there as well. Peace of mind and a secure building is worth a lot to me. That building freezes up, the rent stops and the plumbers start and pretty soon a generator looks cheap.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 8:20 PM
We have had a bit of ice not much, it's sleeting pretty hard here but I have seen worse. Power may go out, may not. My husband has ONE job, check the propane level. Well I checked it out of the blue after work. 15%. SMACK! Thanks husband. As long as we dont lose power for an extended time we will be fine. This happens every time it snows. I guess I will just fire him. Oh, best wine for baloney is Boone's Farm.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 9:07 PM
Never ceases to amaze me that some people will run a generator inside an attached garage,basement and even inside a house. Can’t fix ******. Sure thins the herd,though.
What is not common knowledge if the main isn’t pulled and the generator is somehow hooked into the house system it can back feed even reverse the transformer and really mess things up when the power is restored. That’s why utility crews listen and track them down before throwing a switch.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 9:08 PM
Totally appreciate Wheels' situation with generators, both with his residence and rental property.
Looked at one several times over here, just can't get the numbers to work for me, over the Scouting 'Be Prepared' and just riding out the expected probabilities on the durations of a given outage, versus the given thousands of dollars spent for a maximum of a few hours use per 8766 hours per year, mighty expensive dollars per KWH electricity that way.
Agree that backfeeding onto the local grid is bad news - the generator will be way-overloaded trying to feed everyone else tied on, plus the hazard to the utility guys out there in bad weather and related nasties just trying to get things going again.
Ugh, dbennett, Boones Farm? My head hurts all over again from its consumption dating decades back. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 9:37 PM
"it can back feed even reverse the transformer and really mess things up when the power is restored."
Yes and it can mess a lineman up working on a pole. Our checklist required turning off the 600 Amp main first thing. Don't do anything until that is done. And two men are there until the generator is shut down. All the heavy load breakers were turned off. Only necessary lights and receptacle circuits were left on. It got us by a couple of times. I am tired of the worry and stress.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 2, 2022, at 9:55 PM
The backfeed is one reason generators make me paranoid. Fx, I too consumed Boone's Farm as a young person. And Mad Dog and the ever gross Purple Passion. Yuck lol. I can't drink any wine now, instant migraine. I just drink coffee, water, juice and Pepsi.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 5:57 AM
Ms Deanna properly installed with a transfer switch there is no backfeed, or managed by a knowledgeable person on duty. Not a job for an amateur who needs to read the directions to change a light bulb. One way or the other the utility's line must be disconnected from the home's system before connecting a generator to it. Those who do not understand it need to limit themselves to generators with extension cords to their table lamps and lighter wattage space heaters.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 9:11 AM
All parts of the Bible are true!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 11:38 AM
Wheels, That's why I don't mess with the generator lol. My son and brother know how. It just will not run. I need a new one. I would LOVE to have a whole house generator but too many other projects that are taking precedence. DT never tried any Night Train. Sounds delightful though. Not a big drinker, never have been. Can't hold my liquor as they say.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 6:52 PM
DT, excellent article you linked. Very interesting.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 6:58 PM
The TV program Ancient Aliens have had programs with the Star People as the subject matter.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 3, 2022, at 7:47 PM
Ancient cultures are very interesting to me. Every one of them I have read about seems to have some theme of Star People or something similar.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 5:31 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 6:39 AM
We have been to Mesa Verde in the 4 corners area in the Southwest USA a couple of times in the past. We were able to back then explore the dwellings which are off limits today - very interesting as to why built there and what happen to the builders!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 7:49 AM
DA I only eat ketchup on hotdogs lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 8:07 AM
Schaefer I am jealous
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 8:10 AM
Been a fan of Clint since those Spaghetti Westerns - I only use mustard on hotdogs!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 8:19 AM
No idea why I married into this family but what one finds out may have changed my mind! Ketchup on hotdogs then pure blasphemy putting it on braunschweiger!
A memory of warm baloney on cheap white bread slathered with yellow mustard(no poupon) from my Roy Rogers lunch box and a semi cold chocolate milk. BTW-Roy Rogers was an upgrade from the brown paper bag I was required to save for another baloney sammich tomorrow.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 8:40 AM
Rock & Turtle: Braunschweiger is good (plain) with just crackers! Can't eat much of it - too high in cholesterol!
Only had paper bags for lunch while growing up and even during the working years!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 9:34 AM
Turtle: Don't know if you knew of this about Waylon Jennings:
What would we had done without those Willie Nelson/Waylon Jennings classic songs!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 9:39 AM
Braunschweiger is something I eat maybe twice a year. Not 100% but there’s liver in it and liver isn’t on my list of fine eating. Never willfully and knowingly eaten it although at a buffet once thinking it was kettle beef I had a nice mouthful when my dining companion remarked about the tasty liver. Right into the napkin. Just not an “innards” eater. Don’t even get started on chicken livers and gizzards
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 10:11 AM
DA, nothing like an order of chicken gizzards and a couple of cold ones at the Hawk Point Scocial Club after a hot afternoon of cutting grass out at the farm. Also known as Cliff and Ella's.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 10:28 AM
Rock: Don't knock those chicken livers - just save them for me. However, they have to be well done. Now gizzards are to be saved for the dogs to eat.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 10:39 AM
Just proves each to their own tastes and have no problem with that. I have learned to never talk down a persons beer selection,to their face anyway. If your in their castle and offered a cold one,take it.
In the back of my beer fridge there are bottles that have been there for perhaps years. Brought by relatives at various functions. My castle and my discretion but some of those tasted like moldy wet cardboard glue. I got gifted some kind of bourbon infused beer. $28/20 oz bottle. No idea what the market is but I’m thinking it may be a better ice melt than drink.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 12:48 PM
Braunschweiger refers to a type of pork liver sausage which, if stuffed in natural casings, is nearly always smoked. Commercial products often contain smoked bacon, and are stuffed into fibrous casings. Liverwurst (another type of pork liver sausage) however is never smoked nor does it contain bacon.
The USDA requires that the product contain a minimum of 30% liver.[3] A typical commercial formula is about 40% pork liver or scalded beef liver, 30% scalded pork jowl, 20% lean pork trimmings and 10% bacon ends and pieces. Added seasonings include salt and often include white pepper, onion powder or chopped onion, and mace. Curing ingredients (sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite) are optional.
Braunschweiger has a very high amount of vitamin A, iron, protein and fat. The meat has a very soft, spread-like texture and a distinctive spicy liver-based flavor, very similar to the Nordic leverpostej. It is usually used as a spread for toast, but can also be used as a filling for sandwiches, often paired with stone-ground mustard, sliced tomato, onion and cheese. In the Midwestern United States, braunschweiger is typically enjoyed in a sandwich with various condiments such as ketchup, mustard, and dill pickles, or simply spread on crackers or pancakes. There are also a few recipes for pâté and cheese balls which use braunschweiger as a primary ingredient. However, pâté is creamier than braunschweiger.
Wikipedia
Yummmmm
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 1:02 PM
Nothing better than my Grandma's homemade liver sausage. However there is meatshop off I55 and I believe it is KK. South of Perryville. First time I tried it, I asked him if it was as good as Grandma used to make. He comes back with..... "Well I made it just like she did.
It is good,but I haven't had the opportunity Togo in there for a couple of years.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 2:12 PM
Just proves each to their own tastes and have no problem with that. I have learned to never talk down a persons beer selection,to their face anyway. If your in their castle and offered a cold one,take it.
In the back of my beer fridge there are bottles that have been there for perhaps years. Brought by relatives at various functions. My castle and my discretion but some of those tasted like moldy wet cardboard glue. I got gifted some kind of bourbon infused beer. $28/20 oz bottle. No idea what the market is but I’m thinking it may be a better ice melt than drink.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 2:54 PM
DA, i prefer a German beer for the most part. Especially some of the Oktoberfest beers. There are a few reasonable clones around. I would sooner have a glass of water as a Busch.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 3:58 PM
Wheels,you may want to check out Mothers Brewing Company. They are out of Springfield Mo. Not familiar with all their products but I have taking a liking to a seasonal Winter Stout.
If there’s a beer I really miss it’s Falstaff.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 5:08 PM
Remember my Dad tried to make some home brew beer but it didn't age well with Mom!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 5:43 PM
Love love love Braunschweiger. Plain, sliced on a plate. Not keen on gizzards or livers. Which is odd because I love hot dogs and baloney which are the stuff you can't use anywhere else. Do not like mustard. Bleck. Love pickleloaf too.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 6:17 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 5:08 PM
DA, I like the darker beers. There is a Colorado beer I like, Brewed by the Breckenrige Brewery. Sometimes I will drink some Guiness Extra Stout. Then there is a German Beer that is just a smooth Lager called Spaten. They also brew a really good Seasonal Oktoberfest beer. They been doing it if I remember correctly since 1397. They have had time to work the kinks out of it. And they are one of the breweries approved in Germany to make the Oktoberfest brew. Scnucks and Dierburgs both have it on the shelf here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 6:21 PM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 5:43 PM
My Grandfather used to make it. A guy I knew that did refrigeration service used to make it. When the gauge was right for bottling, his wife contacted him and all work ceased and he went home and bottled beer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 4, 2022, at 6:26 PM
I have honestly never liked beer but on my bucket list is to go to Ireland and get a pint of Guiness. I have read it's different than what we have here. I remember my dad drinking Stroh's. We always got that and a candy called Fudgies from Schnucks when we all went shopping. I always followed my dad, he would do funny stuff. And of course, Fudgies lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 6:08 AM
Ms Deanna the way you order in Ireland is...
I'll av a pint or I'll av a aff! You will get a Guiness Draft.
Once thought I would be cool and drink their whiskey. I told the bartender, I will have a Paddy's and water. He shoves a shot glass of the booze and a glass of water at me and with a rich Irish voice says "I don't mess with another man's wife and I don't water his whiskey!" OK! So I drank the whiskey and took a drink of the water.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:01 AM
Rick, I think that was the Carling Brewery in Belleville and I believe Falstaff was made in California when it left St. Louis. Still Brewed today??
The Lemp Brewery was near Busch. They were trying to revive it few years ago and they had a great restaurant in the Old Lemp Mansion. They had a great Family Style Dinner on Sundays. Does it still exist??? Haven't been able to get there for 4 or 5 years for one reason or another.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:12 AM
Braunschweiger is SPAM on steriods , no ?
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 7:38 AM
Turtle: There you go again with your anti-Braunschweiger comments. LOL
BTW, what's wrong with Spam? I've got 6 cans of it in my emergency box along with other essentials! LOL
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:21 AM
I have a foolproof recipe for Spam that I also use for those mud trout from Jackson’s Rotary Lake:
Take piece of cardboard,spray it well with Pam and put the Spam or trout on it in a 350 oven for 15 minutes.
Remove and throw away the Spam/trout and eat the cardboard.
I think Spam doesn’t have an expiration or use by date
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:29 AM
I think Spam doesn’t have an expiration or use by date
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:29 AM
Rock: That's how come I use it in my emergency kit! When girlfriend and I celebrated our 50th with a trip to Hawaii found out that the Hawaiians are well stocked on Spam that they got addicted to during WW2. The convenience store near our resort had half of the store stocked with Spam of every favor imageable.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 8:53 AM
Oh, to be on a beach eating Spam on crackers with an adult beverage - what a life!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 9:37 AM
Americans are too well fed to enjoy the delicacies of life. There was a nice little restaurant on the western edge of Pencicola Fla cannot recall it's name but it had Dollar bills all over the walls.. they served a Liverwurst Sandwich. Liverwurst being a higher grade of braunschweiger. Cannot remember all it had on it, but it was 3 half inch thick, or better, slices of Liverwurst, each with a perfect slice of white sweet onion with a bun sliced to accommodate some between the layers of Liverwurst. You had to disassemble it to eat it. The guys would eat and order a go order to take with them. Took a couple of days to get eat all of it. I don't care what people say about it, I liked it. Eat one of those sandwiches and they could smell your breath across the room.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 9:40 AM
Wheels: Liverwurst is a rich man's Braunschweiger! Good ole German food!
*************************
2 things that I can't make myself to ever eat are Blood Sausage and Head Cheese. My Mom would fry up some flesh blood sausage purchased from someone that had a recent hog butchering. Looking at all that blood in the frying pan was like watching a Vampire movie. Now head cheese is something that words can not ever explain - maybe if I had a blindfold on, nope not even then!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 10:00 AM
On my first squirrel hunt with Grampa we did well and I was getting a lesson in cleaning the tree rats when I tossed a head into the trash. Squirrel brains were Gramma’s favorite part. I can still see her cracking open the tiny little skull and dipping the brains out with a teaspoon.
What in the wide world of snowflake teared up googlers is the part that may not be civil about a squirrel brain story?
Anyone in this community have an issue?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 11:39 AM
St Louis is known for brain sandwiches?
New one on me but I’ll stick to the other city favorites pork steak and mostaccilli(sp) or as my young daughter called it “mustard chili”.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 12:49 PM
Rock: Hadn't tried squirrel brains and probably will never. Have had squirrel and dumplings, actually pretty good.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 1:05 PM
Rock: You did have a drink or two before hand - right?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 2:24 PM
One or two New Hamburg home brews can talk a feller into trying most anything…once.
Went to a wildlife feed once and the spread was like nothing I’d ever seen or tasted. Everything from carp patties,Mountain Oysters,smoked raccoon to black bear. Quite an affair and some serious illegal hooch brought by the local sheriff. Long time ago in a county far far away.
Not much on kidney beans says the guy that eats sardines with chocolate milk.
But hey,each to their own.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 4:42 PM
Can't say as I ever heard of St Louis being known for brain sandwiches either . Any kind of wild life is good if it's made the right way . Don't care for kidney beans so much though .
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 3:45 PM
Rick I can't remember St. Louis being known for brain sandwiches, but there was a small restaurant on Chouteau just east of Grand Ave. a couple of blocks that used to advertise brain sandwiches on their building. I never went in the place the sign was enough to scare me off.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 10:48 PM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 10:00 AM
I liked the Liverwurst and I thought blood sausage was good when I was a youngster and have eaten head cheese but not wild about it. After butchering we would pickle pigs feet, heart, tongue and a few other delicacies when I lived on the farm with my parents. I liked most of the pickled meat but not the feet. Some might pucker up and say you eat tongue that comes from the animals mouth..... and then order their eggs sunny side up for breakfast. Did they ever think of where the egg came from.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 5, 2022, at 11:00 PM
I love Spam! It's made from a Spam Animal! Slice it and fry it up in some bacon grease. No brains, thank you. Liverwurst yes. Blood sausage I have never tried. No kidneys for me. Kidney beans are great. No haggis either or head cheese. No squirrel unless I am starving but like venison. Sardines? No. Lol. I'm not much on fish anyway.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 6, 2022, at 5:47 AM
"I love Spam! It's made from a Spam Animal!"
Would that be Squirrel, Possum and Mouse" 🤭🤭🤭🤣🤣🤣 😏😏
Sorry, the devil made me do it!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 6, 2022, at 10:40 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 6, 2022, at 10:56 AM
Wheels I love that quip and I am stealing it lol. Schaefer I have actually used spam in omelettes, on a sandwich and with pineapple lol. DT, we seem to have had an influx of armidillos here in the last several years. You sure don't want to run over one. Egg your rim out.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 6, 2022, at 2:43 PM
Sorry George Strait, but here is an update on Amarillo by Morning:
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 7:58 AM
The average number of noodles in a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup is 216. Don’t ask me how I knew that.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 8:36 AM
Bwahahaha thanks gentlemen! 216 noodles. I may get bored and count those at some point.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 8:59 AM
At my last “roto rootering” as I’m laying there with my best side up and just before the lights went out I remember a young fellow putting on a yellow poncho. Seemed to me he must have been the new guy and I asked if he got hazard pay. Next thing I knew I was sipping a Sprite.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 11:30 AM
Haha you all are a mess. I got sick when I got home. Only person ever to get sick from a colonoscopy. DT that's really great song.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 6:10 PM
DT your dr obviously had no sense of humor. DA my son has to wear a yellow rain poncho at work. So now that will be forever imbedded in my brain. 😁
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Feb 8, 2022, at 6:12 PM
DT, yep I will live to be annoying another day. 😁. Thanks for asking!
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 5:04 AM
dbennett: 👍👍👍
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 6:31 AM
At least Ms. Deanna will be pleasantly annoying. 🤭🤭
Just kidding. Jump in here feet first and kick some tail as needed. We used to have Guru's Mom, or just plain Mom back in the day to keep us straight. Still miss her. And then there was Turnip. Couple of us wanted to teach her 3 year old some basics like cussing and chewing tobacco but she wouldn't go for it.
Miss her also.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 8:53 AM
Yeah , Wheels and Turnip helped me get rid of an old lawn mower ..:)
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 10:52 AM
Rick you're forgetting, we also had to remind you to wear a hard hat when working in the kitchen or at least turn off the fan when changing the light bulbs. 🤔😊😉
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 1:38 PM
Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 8:53 AM
Wheels: You left out your buddy Theorist!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 2:00 PM
Wheels: You left out your buddy Theorist!
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 2:00 PM
Semo471,Theorist dropped out when she was required to expose her real name, like the rest of us did. And she and I agreed on almost nothing! Which I am happy with as I don't have a Leftist nerve in my body.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 7:27 PM
Yep, remember Theorist well - she could come back on here as "Theorist" now!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 7:41 PM
Cottage cheese and doorknobs. Someone needs to really check a mirror before going out in public. I will hand it to those gals in the FLP walking in the Park. They are out getting exercise which is commendable but wearing your little sisters yoga pants doesn’t do a thing for that deuce and a quarter figure.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Feb 9, 2022, at 8:11 PM
I thought I put a comment on here. Either it got deleted or I didn't save it. I can be mean too guys lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 4:39 AM
Son! Y'all been busy here. :-)
Never been much on those identified German-based delicacies which mostly come in some kind of tube. Oh, but-for some Esicar's wurst summer sausage, though - mmmmmm.
Have to say the internal plumbing inspections have gotten better through the years here, both with the effects and effectiveness of the janitor-in-a-drum cleanout chug-a-lugs as well as the after-effects of the anesthesia from feeling loopy and disconnected the rest of the day from the earlier look-see's, to now ready to get after things, firing almost on all 8 immediately afterwards.
Can't add much on the fashion observations, other than it's been a long time since I've heard/seen reference to 'deuce and a quarter'. Heheheh, that was one big-A vehicle, particularly in the early-mid 70s, also referred to as a land barge.
Tossing in my own off-tangent share, perhaps of interest to those getting their TV feeds over-the-air (antenna), not willing to regularly put the effort in with the noodling-around challenges for scrounging up something to watch on streaming - looks like Channel 27 out of Marion is promising four new channels 'coming soon'.
Likes the simplicity of just mindlessly hitting the 'up' or 'down' button repeatedly to get where I want to go, over the difficulties of the varied sequencing with 'up', 'over', 'back', 'OK', etc.
At any rate, that's the station that started out with a couple of religious-based broadcast channels, but has previously expanded to some comedy and action channels, although the one religious retro-channel showing the old Jimmy Swaggart melt-down come-aparts could be seen as a now-comedy+drama.
Would make for ten different channels in the 27 slot. Suggests the other stations in the Cape viewing area are gonna have to step up their game, as Ch 3 has 5, Ch 6 has only 3, Ch 8 has 5, Ch 10 has the same 5 as Ch 3, Ch 12 has 5, Ch 23 has 6, Ch 29 has 4, and Ch 49 has 5.
Too much news, eh? We now return you to the normal programming... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 7:57 AM
IMO, some type of clothing should have labels with them similar to the baby diapers - weight limits!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 8:00 AM
DT, seat up is fine. Better than me having to wipe it off before I use it. Ya'll ever have so much to do that you stop doing anything? That's my day today. As far as clothes, I am 50 and dress modestly. And for comfort not for style.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 12:11 PM
I have not watched television in at least 2 years. We have an inside antenna that doesnt pick up much. Husband complains so I told him if he wants something better he can get it lol. I got REALLY sick after my procedure. I do not do well with any anesthesia
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 12:16 PM
"I believe Theorist is still around with another name but Me'Lange never came back yet ."
Could be, but if so, she must be too embarrassed to identify herself.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 6:29 PM
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 12:16 PM
Narf - looks like the lurker sad-sack done pinged Ms. D with a Don't Respect, on a rather non-controversial post.
Have noticed during periodic check-ins here and there, that all of a sudden, a buncha these negative ninnies pop-up, as if someone just goes down the line of comments and fires away, without any rhyme or reason, and certainly no feedback as to what tripped their trigger.
Not totally innocent here - flagged one of Wheels' posts on our beloved CPU thread, but came clean later that it was an unintentional fat-finger, thanks to a twitchy laptop touchpad-mouse.
Dang, can't have nuthin' nice anymore...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 6:52 PM
"I got REALLY sick after my procedure. I do not do well with any anesthesia." -- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 12:16 PM
Sorry to hear, modern medicine has come a long way, but perhaps hasn't got it all figured out yet for all people.
Stuff they gave me this last time was jokingly referred to as Michael Jackson's fave - pheno(gobble-dee-pffft)something.
The first-time stuff I have no idea, while not sick, just didn't feel well the rest of the day, along the lines of recovering from a bad hangover.
Back to the wonders of medicine - cousin's husband had his knee replaced today, eight hours later, after the required physical therapy walks and stair-climbing at the hospital, he's back home struttin' around, although required to use one of those rolling walkers for now. Wow.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Feb 10, 2022, at 7:14 PM
Fxpwt, that is FAST for a knee replacement. I am just one of those people who tends to get sick after I get put to sleep. My stomach is always weird though. Sometimes I wonder if people don't phat finger those respect buttons. I do this on my phone and numerous times have accidentally done that or even hit the report button. I do also think sometimes people just randomly hit them to bait people lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 4:32 AM
Fxpwt
I didn't realize they had advanced to go home same day on a knee replacement. I have had both of mine done going on 15 years ago. Last one I had on Monday morning and was at a Family reunion the following Sunday with only a cane.
But technology keeps advancing, wife had a gall bladder removed a few years ago, went in as an outpatient at 6:30am and was home for lunch. I remember yhat being a procedure you migh take weeks to recover from. About 60 years ago I had a hernia operation. My grandfather warned me that when he had one he was in the hospital about 3 weeks. I was in 5 days. My nephew had one recently and went home the same day.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 7:57 AM
As for as the "Respect comment Don't respect", it's just a grade school thing done by the paper for what reason - who knows, I don't care how many of each that I get.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 7:58 AM
Ms Deanna, what makes me sick is some of these pain medications they give you. I can put up with a little pain better than the feeling they leave you with.
Rick, guess I really don't care one way or the other if she is posting. What I don't or didn't need was a woman I never even met telling me what I needed to do or think and what was wrong with how I thought. I already have one of those that I married 64 plus years ago. 😏🤭🤫
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 8:07 AM
When I had my mastectomy I was in for 24 hours, never had anything but iv Tylenol, never took anything after but that
Tylenol. Hard 8 weeks at home with healing issues, then another 6 at work. Finally got healed but due to some neuropathy afterwards in that area I take Lyrica. DT, idk about that raw egg....also I would never tell any of you how to think. May voice a dissenting opinion but would do so respectfully.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 2:36 PM
also I would never tell any of you how to think. May voice a dissenting opinion but would do so respectfully.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 2:36 PM
Ms. Deanna, I am hard to convince on that end anyway. In the case I was speaking of, it was a waste of effort, it never took. 🤔😃👍
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 4:32 PM
This thread is not for any dissenting opinions other than something like - if you like Spam or not. lol
The other threads are only limited to "discussions" by those of the newspaper's rules.
Girlfriend just brought some fresh Turnips so tomorrow it's cooked turnips, white beans, and cornbread - good to live high on the hog!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 4:48 PM
That sounds like some gone to heck eatin’.
I’d rather have my turnips raw with lots salt and pepper. Couldn’t jam greens down my gullet as a youngster either but love em now.
Could care little or less about that game on Sunday but it’s a good excuse to fire up the grill and smoker for an all day eat-a-thon. Prob be in my “pre-sleep” before that game.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 11, 2022, at 6:55 PM
DT for once we agree on food!!! Even on another thread, which I rarely comment on politics, I would not be rude. Won't change anyone's opinion lol. Well, I will have the wee lad grandson today while mom works and dad goes to a men's church dinner. Taking him with me to my haircut. I told my girl I am not liable for damages. 😁
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 5:16 AM
Glad that some folks don't like Turnips which means more for me.👍👍
Kale and Sushi are 2 things that I can live without - can't see why anyone would want to eat fish bait!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 8:24 AM
CHICKENS: The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead. Think about it!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 9:09 AM
Fish eggs and fish count but Mountain Oysters don't. lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 11:02 AM
Sometimes what you think you’re eating ain’t. Used to have yard parties and sort of a potluck type affair and play Gorilla Rules volleyball(unrelated to story).
There was a fella in Smelterville that had live turtles he kept in big tubs that you could pick one and he would kill,clean and butcher while waiting. Thought that fried turtle nuggets would be an interesting addition to the potluck but when it arrived the hungry hippies dove into the platter and someone remarked on how good the “dove” tasted. Just let that one go until the platter was empty then told the crowd it was really turtle. Never seen so many people gagging and trying to upchuck the “dove”.
Same thing happened with beef tongue. Always had an aversion to tongue but that was thin sliced and crockpot slow cooked. Might have been the tastebuds were a bit “oiled” by the time the tongue showed up but it sure was tasty.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 11:21 AM
Rock: Had turtle stew once but it didn't taste like Dove!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 11:35 AM
Can’t remember who said dove but there was a moment of honesty that quickly dissipated and let it ride.
The turtle man said the secret to turtle is put them in clean clear water for several days to flush out the mud taste. Wouldn’t swear to it as that’s the only time I ate turtle.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 12:49 PM
"Sometimes what you think you’re eating ain’t." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 11:21 AM
During travels, came across some unusual local fares.
(Band camp story) This one time, in Italy for acceptance testing on a diaper machine, things were wrapping up, and the plant crew invited us Americans out for dinner, to celebrate the finishing up of the tests.
The drive was about 45 minutes out of Milan, where things got rural. Mind wandered from being in Italy, where the Mafia came from, a long way to go for a dinner, and now in an area with lots of places to hide bodies - but I digress.
Came up to what looked like a farm house in the middle of this nowhere, where the family apparently offered dining for groups by appointment.
Family-style eating, with the bowls and platters and such passed around the table. Looked like a typical American meal with the potatoes, carrots, salad, pot roast with garnishments, etc.
Chomping away on the pot roast, became aware I was being watched. One of the plant guys asked if I liked it - sure, good stuff Maynard - then asked if I knew what it was - pot roast?
He laughed, then put his hands to his ears with index fingers extended up, and said it's booroo, then went 'hee haw hee haw'.
Booroo .... burro? Oh, lort! Eh, still tasted like pot roast. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 12:54 PM
Don't like turtle, kale, sushi or caviar. Never tried mountain oysters. Don't want to. Don't like froglegs either. I think because I just love watching and listening to frogs and toads. Random: Is anyone having issues finding crackers in stores? My husband said he is. He buys most of the groceries.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 1:03 PM
Looks like this thread is becoming the food channel. lol
Also like froglegs and they do taste like chicken. Had a little Buffalo steak once not bad that was all no tongue or anything else. Have had all kinds of seafood from shark, squid, octopus, and nameless things in a sample platter.
Watch who you call Cracker!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 4:10 PM
Getting off the food subject. Wasn’t intending to watch much of these Olympics but being winter and not much else on the tube we got caught up in it. Amazed at some of the things these people can do on skis and snowboards but what attracts us the most is curling. Maybe because it’s something I could do. I know its really hard to master but it’s given I could never do a full turn double back flip on skis and live to tell about it. Curling is a lot like watching Bob Ross paint. Good time for a nap.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 7:33 PM
Curling is a lot like watching Bob Ross paint. Good time for a nap. -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 7:33 PM
Now that brings back some good times - they still run his shows on the PBS channels.
Between him, and Patsy Cline's greatest hits - guaranteed nap times - so soothing, you're getting sleepy, very sleepy...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 12, 2022, at 7:37 PM
I love watching the people ski off those ramps and flip. I would never be able to do that. Don't know that I have ever watched curling. Have always liked figure skating. And let's not forget bobsledding. I have never been good at sports but always wished I was.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 13, 2022, at 5:44 AM
Schaefer: 😁😁😁😁😁😁 cracker
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 13, 2022, at 5:47 AM
DT, hockey is awesome! My brother took me to a Blues game and I was instantly captivated. He had to explain rules to me but I loved it and can't wait to go back. We were in the cheap seats but I would be happy to go to a pre season game to get better seats.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 13, 2022, at 6:45 AM
Patsy is a LEGEND. I bought a nice Blues shirt. Too small for my chunky belly now. I like my shirts loose.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 13, 2022, at 7:04 PM
You all do know who wrote the song Crazy?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 13, 2022, at 7:48 PM
Schaefer that would be the one and only Willie Nelson.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 4:59 AM
dbennett: Do you know what Willie first named the song?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 8:36 AM
Today's music sounds like a raped cat .
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 5:43 AM
Pretty well sums it up, I think!
Yes Goggle, it is civil.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 8:38 AM
No Schaefer, do tell. DT, I don't like new country, pop or rap. I will stick with my old country, classc rock, metal, BeeGees and such. 2 of my favorite country singers were Sonny James and Tom T Hall.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 1:22 PM
dbennett: Heard Willie in an old video interview say at first he named the song "Stupid" but then changed his mind.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 2:21 PM
Perhaps video really did kill the radio star (Buggles from ~1978/9).
Seems like the popularity of today's music, regardless of genre, comes from what is seen by the eyes, rather than heard by the ears...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Feb 14, 2022, at 4:01 PM
Looks like Jackson is serious about replacing the low water bridge. Moving in the heavy equipment.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 15, 2022, at 11:29 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 15, 2022, at 8:05 PM
Bobby Bare isn't my favorite but he was popular. Not sure why I never could get into his music.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 4:31 AM
Bobby Bare is one of my favorites who is one of the last remaining old school country singers still putting out songs - here's his latest which has some truly meaningful words in it.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 8:12 AM
A few years ago we took a couple of Grandkids with us to an RV Rally. They had Bobby Bare perform for us. My Granddaughter got to meet him and have her picture taken with him. She was about 12. I ran across that and wondered if anyone had ever heard of him. The Grandkids liked him and took home a couple of CDs. My daughter didn't quite know what to think.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 8:38 AM
Also , did you know there is a lint filter on a Clothes Dryer? It took me 6 months to find out this was a part of a Clothes Dryer and a fact of life..
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 6:56 AM
Rick, I remember that day. Do you remember my question? I remember your one word answer.
For the rest of you, I am the guy who taught Rick to wear a hard hat when he works in the kitchen.
Rick always tells on himself when things go astray. I like that in a person. If you take yourself too seriously, they could find you floating down the creek beside a sack of cats.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 8:45 AM
Here is the best thumb picker of all time who also was a great songwriter. BTW, Buddy in the song is the name of a mule!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 9:34 AM
Good Lord DT, its a wonder you didn't burn the house down. Schaefer do like Merle Travis. And I almost burnt my pizza reading and making comments on here in several articles lol. I'm eating it anyway.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Feb 16, 2022, at 4:56 PM
Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Feb 19, 2022, at 7:16 AM
Rick, don't know about the super glued garage door. But on the stubbed toe thing, I would suggest wearing a pair of steel toed construction moccasins to bed after you take your hard hat off from working in the kitchen.🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣😉😉
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 19, 2022, at 7:58 AM
Bedposts and rails are designed to break your toe.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 19, 2022, at 12:08 PM
Went to breakfast with the daughter in law and grandbaby. Had all these big plans to organize and clean. Got home and took a nap. Now I'm wondering why I took a nap. Naps are risky.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 19, 2022, at 12:10 PM
Video concert of Thom Bresh who is Merle Travis son (long story) thumb picking like his dad!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 19, 2022, at 3:55 PM
Lookin' outside the window at the rain coming down in 31 degreeF temperature, brings back memories of the days in the all-electric house with the air-source heat pump HVAC.
Heheheh, times like this is where the heat pump lost some serious economic luster over its forced-air resistance heat predecessor.
Outdoor unit would be freezing over faster than the defrost cycle could deal with, effectively sheeting over the fan discharge on top, rendering it almost useless.
Used to keep a broom handle by the back door to bust the ice-over apart, so's I could get my cheap heat going rather than visualizing the electric meter spinning itself into a frenzy supplying the backup/emergency resistance heat.
Ahhhh, fun times. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Feb 24, 2022, at 12:31 PM
fxpwt,had thoughts of a heat pump long ago when upgrading this old cabin but the technology just wasn’t there then. I opted for central LP forced air but that was a misers mistake as I scabbed together an old unit that on its best day may have been 30% efficient. Wasn’t the E meter but the LP gauge that could watch dropping. That mistake of something free didn’t last long and now I have a nice high efficiency unit that I seldom use. Always had a nice big ol’ wood stove but the mess,the dust,the carrying in wood not to mention the occasional wintering critter that woke up when brought inside. Stove still here for emergency service but installed a pellet stove last year. No muss no fuss no dust and 40 lb bags easier to carry.
Runs about $3/day with an early morning boost from the furnace. It’s 71 in here today with it setting on about 1/3. Also has a nice homey look with the fire through the glass. Jarbo II loves it. Drawback is it won’t run without AC power,hence the wood stove until I get the generator running if needed.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 24, 2022, at 3:14 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 24, 2022, at 3:14 PM
DA, loved the heat pump, knocked 40% off the winter utility bill as compared to the resistance heat. Just had to keep an eye out for temps in the 30-38degF range when it rained or sleeted. Found this out the hard way, as it wasn't in the manual. :-)
Looked into the then-new cold-climate heat pumps, supposed to keep temperature down to -30degF. Errrnt, not quite ready for prime-time, as the company folded with oodles of complaints on reliabilities.
As it was, the standard Heil high-efficiency unit would keep up down to +15degF before it lost traction, then running 100% of the time to maintain the indoor temp target of 70degF.
Current house has an uber-high efficiency natural gas unit - love that gas heat, so toasty! But, like you, got the backup plan with the Franklin stove here and a stash of a couple days' worth of firewood - which may come into play the way tree branches are falling onto power lines with the ice currently being experienced.
Saw on the NextDoor app a buncha people hollerin' about their utility bills - double and triple. Ehhh, OK - compared to what? Looked at last year's billing for the same month - usage was down 20% in both electric and gas, and the bill was about 5% higher - so agree the purchased gas adjustment is a bite in the shorts, pain in the keister but really - two and three times as much compared to what?
Me thinks some people exaggerate to better play the part of the helpless victim.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Feb 24, 2022, at 6:36 PM
Had what I call the old 1-2-3 power outage a few minutes ago. Things blink off and count the reclosers 1-2-3 and thank the UE gods it came back on.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 24, 2022, at 7:02 PM
I would LOVE a pellet stove. Grew up on wood heat and it's so nice. But agree about the mess. Well guess I don't have any excuse to stay home today. Roads are ok I think. It's ok, I get nervous when I am off work for more than one day. Too much to catch back up on!
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Feb 25, 2022, at 4:13 AM
Rock: Did you use to have two older dogs that you walked at the Jackson park?
Nope,but probably familiar with him. He got out there earlier than me most days. If it’s the same guy the little brown mutt passed away and the black lab mix wasn’t doing very good.
Lost my Mountain Fiest a few years ago then Jarbo II popped into our lives. Morphidite Beagle I like to call her.
Want exercise? Forget all those new fangled contraptions that you’ll just use for a clothes hanger and get a dog.
Today may be one of the only that we don’t get to the park. Been feeding that one lonely Duck someone dumped there. No bread or chips but real duck food.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 25, 2022, at 7:33 AM
The other duck was found dead and removed. Prob not the best thing to feed the one but started when the lake was frozen over. Bread,popcorn,chips are bad so I bought real duck food. Once it sees me with Jarbo II it follows us till I dump some feed.
Is it just me but does anyone else have a problem of losing the bread twisty somewhere between the bread storage area(top of the fridge here)and the sandwich assembly spot? The bread ends up with the old wrapper spin/fold maneuver then find that twisty later to be thrown away and continue the spin/fold maneuver till I lose the next one off a new loaf.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 25, 2022, at 8:56 AM
Pretty sure the different colors on the twisty ties are a code for the shelf life. Then again Shirley at Bunny Bread liked blue today??
I used empty pill bottles like that till I took two 1/4 20 nuts twice a day.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 25, 2022, at 10:35 AM
Spot on DT. Bread twisties go in the junk drawer. And I think there is a conspiracy amongst the twisties to run when the bread is opened.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 26, 2022, at 4:40 AM
I googled. The color of the twisty depends upon the day of the week the bread was baked. Now, I do not like the little plastic dealybobs. They just break and then you once again resort to the spin and flip method.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Feb 26, 2022, at 4:44 AM
Schaefer, that song has a great meaning.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Feb 27, 2022, at 5:52 AM
Oh i love that song and the movie!
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Mar 1, 2022, at 4:52 AM
DO NOT WATCH THIS IF THE CONSTANT USE OF “F Bombs” OFFENDS YOU.
If you’ve never heard of The Winnebago Man this may the outtake of all outtakes:
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 1, 2022, at 1:47 PM
DA, Bwahahahaha that is me every single day at work talking to myself.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 2, 2022, at 4:57 AM
No idea about that double dribble.
There’s a documentary about Jack Rebney,The Winnebago Man,that’s very good. Kinda like a where is he now film.
Interesting man that became a semi-hermit later in life.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 2, 2022, at 7:08 AM
Im a semi hermit now. Maybe we are related.....
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 2, 2022, at 12:07 PM
Semi hermit. I was going to start a school during the Dempanic for social distancing and quarantine but then it meant having people around.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 2, 2022, at 1:21 PM
I guess it’s us taxpayers job to protect the idjuts amongst us. $550,000 to replace the Hubble Creek low water crossings. Only this afternoon saw a young baby momma letting a couple of children (maybe 3-5) playing in the water still flowing over the crossing.
Can’t fix stuqid but you can spend a ton to try to save them from themselves.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 2, 2022, at 6:16 PM
Went to the store for grapes. $114 later I came out with a cart full of healthy food and 3 cans of Pringles. They were on sale. Balance lol. And yes, it was one of those tiny carts. DT, this one's for you: In 1937, Hormel produced its first batch of Spam. Due to food hoarding, the second batch is now under production.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 4:46 AM
If I remember correctly the master plan is to replace the one in the Park then the Mary St crossing.
Ya know if anyone of those waders had stepped off the upstream side that would be thinning the herd for sure.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 8:07 AM
Went to the store for grapes. $114 later I came out with a cart full of healthy food and 3 cans of Pringles. They were on sale. Balance lol. And yes, it was one of those tiny carts. DT, this one's for you: In 1937, Hormel produced its first batch of Spam. Due to food hoarding, the second batch is now under production.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 4:46 AM
Now that is thought provoking. May even be true.
Bought a small package of Aged Gouda Cheese at Aldi's the other day. It stated that it had been aged for 1000 days. And it is good. The kicker on the whole deal.... it had one of those Best if Used by stamps on it stating that it should be devoured by a date about 2 weeks out.
I haven't fully understood the logic there yet. Appears to be Committee work to me.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 8:37 AM
A couple of questions. I think I know the answer if you are still using a 3G phone, you're screwed.
What about all of us 4G users. What happens to us? 5G is supposed to be better than sliced bread but I still haven't used my 4G to it's full potential.
Anybody else remember having to drive around looking for a phone booth? At least one that didn't already have someone in it. I think they should put a speed limit on data delivery speeds. At least until some of us oldsters can catch up. Or maybe leave a slow lane open for us.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 9:49 AM
Protecting the big D-Azzes among us from themselves. But there’s always those that lack any form of common sense and be the first to sue. It’s CYA.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 9:51 AM
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 10:39 AM
Rick, when I traveled I used a wireless hotspot from AT&T. With it I was able to get service almost anywhere due to AT&T's widespread network. I kept the service because I could use it when I was at the farm in Hawk Point where civilized phone service is still not available. Had to put in a signal booster to use my cell phone as well and played off that to use the HotSpot. Actually using it right now, because sometimes Spectrum Internet is less than desireable and I am in a CenturyTel neighborhood where I live in St. Peters MO and other than wireless, AT&T is not available here. What caused my questions was the fact that my wireless hotspot is also 4G. In some of the places I have visited in our highly technical country, two tomato cans and a piece of string appear to be near high tech.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 11:00 AM
Anyone have any interesting collections? Not empty ink pens or used bandaids!
Not searching of late but I have lots of buffalo stuff. Carvings,original art,old bottles and placards with buffalo images. Prob not a valuable collection but just things I like.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 11:05 AM
DA, teacups, band merch and concert memorabilia and vintage clothing. Oh and like 300 paintings I have done lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 12:44 PM
DT, what do you eat??? No sour cream or Spam. 2 delicious things lol. Cottage cheese is clabbered milk but i love it! Wheels, I never understood the aged cheese logic either. Probably still be gouda after that date. See what I did there????
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 12:46 PM
300 paintings? A regular Ms Bob Ross!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 1:22 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 1:55 PM
March sure came in as a lamb this year.hope it doesn’t leave as a lion.
Seed displays are up,bugs are waking up(could do without those darn gnats at the park last evening)Even had a few honey bees checking out my lemonade. The fish in my garden pond all survived when the cover came off,even Helen Keller the blind gold fish. Tempted to pull the pool cover. Only tempted.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 2:09 PM
And my woodland of daffodils showing some green.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 2:11 PM
And the spring peepers singing/croaking their songs. Another sure sign of spring.
I used to be crazy and run down those hills like that. Might as well put me down as a lame horse after one of those tumbles. That’s why I have a hitch in my get along now.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 5:14 PM
Mmmmmm, SPAM. Been a long time since a pan-fried, slathered in mustard sammich, but good stuff Maynard!
Not sure about 4G stuff, would figure if 3G is just now biting the dust, 4G should be around for several more years, although no idea about the challenges until then. Figure to just roll on until I can't, kinda like putting off paying taxes until you have to. Keeping current is getting too complicated, not to mention expensive.
Anyone have any interesting collections? -- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 11:05 AM
Wouldn't go so far as a 'collection', but I do gots a lot of old stuff I enjoy keeping running. Mower just finished the 1st run on its 20th season opener, weedeater fired off and ready for its 33rd season also doubling as a mosquito-fogger with its 16:1 two-cycle mix. Jeep just made its 41st model year, still serving as my poor-man's convertible with that vroom-vroom 304 V8, mostly for show and sound effects, as the early 80s carbureted versions were not kind to the 'git-up-and-go' factor at its rated whopping 125hp. And then there's me, striving to maintain putting those two feet on the ground in the morning, rather than being put six feet under... :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 5:53 PM
I had a friend now deceased that saved a lot of things. Wheat pennies . He had at least three of those 5 gallon glass water jugs full of them. He also had some property on Whitewater River where he discovered that some ancients had an encampment and did a lot of flint napping. He share cropped a few acres and would scour it for all kinds of relics,mostly arrowheads after his tenant disked the area. The occasional spring floods would really uncover some treasures.
No idea where all his stuff ended up.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 7:12 PM
DT, never had buffalo. I just figure since we like opposite things, thats more left for each of us! DA, I didn't say they were GOOD paintings. Watercolor. You mess up its almost impossible to fix. FX, you make me feel dumb you must have a huge brain. CHEEZE WHEEL. My grandbaby comes over goes right to the fridge and says cheeeeeeeze over and over until he gets a kraft single lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 8:33 PM
All the cheese talk is making me hungry. I like cheese. Blue Cheese is one of my favorites. Found a cheese I like made in Oregon at the Rogue Cresmery. Found em on the internet. They won a prize for the World's best tasting blue cheese a few years ago. But they make some a little more affordable and sold through Amazon. A fine beer and some good cheese can make your day.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 10:00 PM
I had to break out some HI HO's a coke and some Blue Cheese and have a little snack before bedtime.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 10:31 PM
5 gallon glass jugs. I have one. Stashed away in the cellar. It’s got a chunk broken off the collar. Found it when roaming around some old abandoned homes looking for treasures. That’s where I got into bottle collecting. Amazing what got thrown into old trash piles. Lots of tinctures,bitters,corked whiskey bottles. A few local soda bottles but that big old 5 gallon was the biggest so to speak. Half buried next the cistern and full of dirt. Had its own mini eco system. Had an old metal detector but without any metal discretion we were digging up lots of cans so gave up finding that buried stash of gold coins.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 3, 2022, at 11:44 PM
A good cheddar,crisp apple,Oberle sausage and plain old saltines. That’s a back packing standard. Replace the cheddar with the red waxed Gouda is a treat. Dang. Little late for a fridge raid.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Mar 4, 2022, at 12:03 AM
Hubby used to have one of those glass jugs. I don't know if he still does or not in all his stuff.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 4, 2022, at 5:02 AM
I think the whole county smells like Catholic fried fish. Almost makes a heathen want to convert.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Mar 4, 2022, at 7:15 PM
Dateline on NBC, a Missouri Murder started at 8:00pm. Happened in New Florence, MO.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 4, 2022, at 8:13 PM
I guess if the SOTU crown ditched masks suddenly I can restart venturing out a bit more and enjoying some music again.
Ya know after seeing all those maskless faces of the “plorables” it’s gonna be tough making up new voting rules for “deplorables” this Fall.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Mar 5, 2022, at 10:33 AM
Nothing like the smell of freshly mown wild onions and garlic in the Spring.
Just noticed my daffodils are starting to bloom.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Mar 5, 2022, at 7:47 PM
I need to get mine out and do my spring service. And hope my hydraulic leak isn't worse.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 5, 2022, at 8:40 PM
Shamelessly borrowed an eyebrow-raising, what is wrong with you term today with great results.
Shared with a friend about getting all kinds of busy with the housework and the extra-credit, above-and-beyond washing - going so far as to break out a new jug of 'laundry sauce'.
The look on his face was priceless... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Mar 6, 2022, at 5:12 PM
Porter Wagoner. I remember watching the Grand Ole Opry with my dad when he was on there.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 3:52 AM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 8:12 AM
...and only a bit farther than 40 miles from Poplar Bluff he and Dolly sang about... :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 8:42 AM
Anybody on here remember Onie Wheeler? He used to play at Tiny's Danceland and The Ozark Coral among others. Ended up in Nashville playing with Roy Acuff I believe. You can Goggle it and find some of his music. Ended up dying while performing and playing Gospel Music with someone I cannot remember who. Gospel music was a stretch from some of what he played at Tiny's.
That was a couple of days back. Closing time at Tiny's and a stop at Mutt's in Advance made getting me up on Monday morning for my last year in High School was a little bit of a challenge for my Mother. I finished my sleep on the school bus. Sometimes I had to settle for a Pine Float at Mutt's as my meager funds were pretty well depleted by that time.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 9:34 AM
"Wheels: I remember the name Onie Wheeler but he was before my listening time. lol"
Well I couldn't legally buy beer yet.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 10:21 AM
Don’t know how it is with any other cable/over the air TV signals but I’ve been getting EAS(Emergency Alert System) break about a child abduction this morning. I think this is a great thing and the EAS warnings about potential weather impacts. Can’t complain about it EXCEPT it pops up on the screen with a garbled techno voice completely unintelligible.
Is it just my Charter/Spectrum cable or is the EAS just a POS?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 10:42 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 10:42 AM
Ehhh, haven't noticed anything unusual today on over-the-air channels 3 and 6...garbled or otherwise.
The weekly tests seem to come through clear.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 10:58 AM
"Wheels: The owner of "Tiny's" wasn't tiny!"
That he was not. Tiny Ford as I remember it. Does that fine establishment still exist?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 11:05 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 11:14 AM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 11:21 AM
Sorry to hear that. A fine establishment like that needed to be preserved, right up there with the Daniel Boone Home and the Jesse James Birthplace. Or somewhere in between. 😎
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 11:26 AM
The EAS probably on my cable provider.
I was gonna go off script and liken it to someone but better keep it non-political!!
BTW-what’s the most bestest part of having this type of forum?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 2:55 PM
Yep and that means it’s a special circle of people who can do this without it which in turn means,well,he that can’t,doesn’t.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 4:36 PM
Several years ago I was in the northeast and saw an alert on one of those digital signs over the interstate about a an elderly couple that had wandered off in their car. About missed the message but SOAB it wasn’t a mile till we saw the description of car and couple on the side of the road. Traffic was heavy and couldn’t get pulled over. Ya never know about 911 when traveling but a dispatcher answered,gave her the info,mile marker,etc. Figured that was the Good Samaritan deed and never hear anymore about it. Low and behold that dispatcher called me that evening to let me know it was the couple and it was all good now.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 7, 2022, at 7:49 PM
DA, awesome story! I turned my phone alerts to vibrate after I got a blaring mini heart attack once at 2am about a flash flood warning. I live in the hills. Schaefer, my dad loved Narvel Felts.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Mar 8, 2022, at 4:37 AM
DT, I use my phone as a computer until better internet is available in my area. I also use it for business purposes. My fbi agent is realllly bored watching me go home and to work. Schaefer, I think you would have had a lot in common with my father. Oh hey guys! I start a new job next week. After almost 21 years at the same company. Hard decision but I feel the right one for me. Some have asked what if I regret it. I think I would rather take a chance and regret it than pass up this opportunity and regret it.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 4:52 AM
Don't know if this falls under the 'fun stuff', just wanted to share either how complicated things are getting, or simply how far behind I'm falling back on things.
Tried to electronically submit my 1040s - Mr. TurboTax kept coming back 'rejected', something with a security feature about last year's Adjusted Gross Income entered not matching with what the IRS had.
Found where one can get one's IRS records fast, quick, and easy through an ID.me account. For better or worse, set up an account. Perhaps fast and quick, but would argue the 'easy' part...
Buncha account validations - email address and text number bouncebacks and such.
Finally got to the point to log in - more fun to be had. A text was sent with a link where used the mobile phone to take front and back pictures of my driver license, then the fun part - some kind of biometric face scan for validation.
App was intuitive and automatic, walking one through the various actions - picture of this, picture of that, turning the proper back and front cameras on as it walked me through. Even so far as to prompt to move camera closer until my mug was centered and sized where it wanted.
At any rate, after going through all this, found the IRS had the same AGI number on file that I was using, so back to Square One, where I then punted, printed, and filed the old-fashioned way - by snail mail.
Other than risks and concerns of putting more of my data out there to be breached, hacked, and otherwise abused - dang, nothin's easy anymore...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 8:45 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 8:45 AM
My tax filings are a snap. Nothing to it.
My daughter is a CPA. She has been doing it for years. Told her when she started, give the government all you want, just understand that 1/3 of it is yours someday.
Always believe in giving people an incentive.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 9:34 AM
I use a cpa for my taxes.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 9:59 AM
I use a cpa for my taxes.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 9:59 AM
Ms Deanna, a wise move on your part. A good one will demand proof of what you are claiming for income and expense and know all of the tax laws relevant to your situation or they will know someone who can answer any question they have, pertaining to it. My daughter had all of her college credits for her degree by Christmas of her senior year. She spent the next several months studying for the CPA test, graduated with her class and passed all sections of her CPA test the first time through. Those were the days when they had to go to Jefferson City to take the test and sit there for about 3 or 4 days while taking the entire test. Very few people ace it on their first try.
By the time her son/our grandson took the test, you were required to take another year of Post Graduate work, and then the tests were given at different locations a section at a time. He also passed each section, the first time through, but it was much easier as you didn't have to do the whole thing at one time. He also has his CPA certification. There is a certain amount of leg work to be done after the tests to be completely certified.
Not completely sure of all requirements. Fortunately I knew a little more about HVAC than I do about CPA.
I can honestly say I do not know if the old Accountant we used for all of the years we had in business was a CPA or not, but he was qualified and gave me some sound advice. he told me, early on, do not depend on SS and start planning your retirement now. Also told me to build a building bigger than what I needed, rent it to my company and others and get it paid for. Then when we retired, we had supplementary income for our retirement without touching the principal. I followed his instructions and it has worked well for us. By the time he passed my daughter was able to take over.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 11:54 AM
"DT, I use my phone as a computer until better internet is available in my area. I also use it for business purposes."
Ms Deanna, I do as well. For my building, I use my phone to change thermostat settings to suit my tenants needs. Our different zones only have a temperature sensor located in them. T-stats are located in a central lockable room. I learned many years ago, 1 thermostat was not enough in an area with 3 women, 3 men or a combination of the above. They can decide among themselves what a desirable temperature is and I can make it happen from my phone where ever I am, so long as I can get a signal on my phone. And I won't be jacking it up and down 27 times a day. Also lets me keep an eye on remote locations with another system where water might freeze if someone had done something brilliant like set a monitor under the sensor and let it on all night giving a false signal and essentially turning off the heat when the ambient temperature was in the sub zero range.
Also my phone allows me to monitor the security system and when someone leaves without setting it on AWAY. I check it in the evening and when there is no motion sensors showing movement and all doors show closed, I will set it to AWAY for them. It happens, a late working secretary couldn't get the alarm set, because it showed a fault. She just goes home and an outside door could have been standing open all night. Fortunately it was an inside door left open and I could bypass it for the night set the alarm and go to bed.
I have my thermostat and security system at our home set up the same way and can be operated remotely by phone.
Those little boogers are handy and I could not afford to be without one.
And another feature, if I am asked a question where the answer, if on my computer and I am miles away from it, important information is saved continuously on a Cloud backup system which I can access by phone and normally find the answer.
A cell phone can be a pain in the rear at times but the good side outweighs the bad for my situation. Besides I religiously block robo dialers, so don't get bothered too much with them.
I look upon a phone as a tool and it has to help me or I wouldn't tolerate one of them.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 12:26 PM
yep, me as well Semo471
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 9, 2022, at 1:56 PM
Wheels, at one point in college I considered being a cpa. Then I flunked calculus. Flunked it big. Changed to biology which is what I truly loved anyway. My career of 20 plus years involves science in no form or fashion lol. Another reason I like a cell phone is if I have a breakdown or my uncle I help needs me, or another family member needs me. Makes you wonder how we ever survived with that rotary phone hanging on the kitchen wall with the cord completely stretched out and no way to know who was calling. I remember when cordless phones came out and everyone sat by the charger to talk because they got no signal lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 4:44 AM
DT, thanks! It was absoutely based a lot on a gut feeling. When I left my old job, which I liked although my stress level was really high, I left happy. My car guy even told me I looked happier than he had seen me in years. Not leaving my company on bad terms, I had a great boss. This is just kind of a different path and I think one that will better utilize my strong points.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 4:49 AM
Ms. Deanna, I remember those old wall phones with the crank on the side, three longs and a short, or whatever and you were talking to someone. And the whole neighborhood was listening in. As I stated before, when my Grandfather turned his tractor over, my Grandmother called my uncle and the whole neighborhood showed up. Could that qualify as Bollinger County's 911 system?
We never had one, the line didn't stretch that far.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 9:54 AM
Daughter #2 also got her CPA, but that was after changing her major more times than I care to remember. I finally told her many more changes and they will hand you your Diploma and a letter at the same time from SS announcing your retirement eligibility.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 10:24 AM
A friends family had a party line as late as 68/69,maybe longer in Cape. If I remember correctly there were at least 3 others on that party line. They had their ring. Kind of a Morse code and they were only supposed to answer that ring but nothing kept the curious from listening in. Where I grew up almost all the phones were party lines and gossip was a sport. There were no dials on those black phones. You picked up and an operator asked “number please”. Then things went high tech and everyone got a new phone with a dial!! New phone books and new numbers. The switch was done one Sunday morning as it was assumed everyone would be at church. The switch went ok but when everyone started dialing up the new dangled phones the system overloaded but got back up after playtime with the phones slowed down.
I heard most people keep their land lines so they can call their cell phones that they “lost” somewhere in the house.
One thing about land lines is the phone never gets lost.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 11:02 AM
I heard most people keep their land lines so they can call their cell phones that they “lost” somewhere in the house.
One thing about land lines is the phone never gets lost.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 11:02 AM
Get an Alexa Device from Amazon and she will find it for you.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 11:10 AM
Does the time change this weekend . -- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 11:35 AM
Yep, Spring forward Sunday morning. On the bright side, figure this means one less hour of rain... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 12:17 PM
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 10:17 AM.
Yes and they lived up to their name. I believe even real systems had them back in the day. I remember SBC having 40 call limited systems for those on a tight budget. Think about that, 40 calls a month. There was a day when my kids could have limited that out in about 4 hours.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 12:24 PM
Wheels,about that Alexa thing. My wife received a similar one that’s google. Myself I think it’s kinda creepy. She uses it occasionally but now and then it just starts “talking”. Couple of days ago I heard this voice talking about Paris,France. The geography,the history,the food,the tourist attractions. Don’t know what started it but I finally gave it my first command “Google,SHUT UP” and by golly it did.
At least there’s “someone” here I can order around.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 2:40 PM
The Alexa thing.
We purchased a villa about three years ago after selling our now to large home after the kids all left. We lived in our motor home and traveled, with the intention of buy a condo scheduled to be built and which did not happen due to the economy. They finally built where we wanted to be but apartments. So we decided to join the human race again and rented one. My wife wuickly tired of paying rent so we purchawed a villa because I was way past tired of mowing grass and trimming shrubs. Now the villa was where we thought we would like to be but had been rented and was a disaster area plus poorly designed in our opinion. So we purchased it and went to work, Upon moving a couple of walls we found some light switchs hanging from a wire coming out of the ceiling, which to add to the fun was vaulted. The electrical contractor must have been on time and material because he took the wires from the basement breaker box to the attic and back down and the attic was very close to begin with being built using scissors trusses. 5-12 pitch outside and 3-12 inside. What to do, what to do. We left a ahort wall about 18 iinches long as a divider of sorts and installed 7 switches a central vaccum outlet a 120v receptacle and a TV connector in this wall. It was a trip from the bedroom to this location. So turning out the lights and going to bed would have been an adventure. I got on the internet and found some switches that could be controlled by Alexa. I can do this, no I don't want to do this, so I called a smart guy, All but bathroom and basement lights are now controlled by Alexa as is the TV. This and a couple of wireless switches control things. I have one switch in the bedroom labeled Good Night which turns out all lights except the breakfast room light which goes to 10% for a night light all of this is done with a panel which also has control of the alarm system and the cameras outside front and back. Additionally we have 3 ceiling fans with lights controlled through the system down to the fan speed and light intensity. It is a now a semi-smart house and you can shout directions to your hearts content, Not too expensive to set up and certainly cheaper than rewiring the house after the butchering we did to the walls. It is a system born out of necessity in our case. Plus I can wake up and ask Alexa for a weather report first thing in the morning.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 5:09 PM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 5:25 PM
Could be I suppose, but what are they going to fo with me at my age?
I think they have us by the arse in that department with multiple new devices we have should they want to. Primarily what prompted some discussion earlier, these cell phones, like the one I am typing on now. Food just arrived. Later!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 5:37 PM
All this new gadgetry made me think of an episode of This Old House. They were working on a place in New Orleans and the host took a tour of the city flood control system. After being shown pumps,gates,dikes the city engineer tour guide claimed there would never be a hurricane that would defeat the foolproof system with all its fail safe backups.
Cue Hurricane Katrina.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 10, 2022, at 6:57 PM
My friend's daughter set up some Alexa devices in her house in case she falls. So my friend and a friend of hers played a trick on the son in law and kept saying his name through it. I would like to have an Alexa or Google but guarantee my hubby would tear them up lol. He can't even operate the house alarm correctly. He went to his office one night and stayed late, which I was unaware of. I set the alarm and went to bed. 1am jolted awake by blaring and talking. So, what do I do? Jump up, no glasses and run right out front. Good thing it wasn't a robber. I couldn't see to dearm it, so the company called......
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 4:49 AM
Nothing surprises me anymore Turtle. And you must get up early like I do. No reason I need to be up at 3:30 or 4am.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 10:39 AM
"I still get up around 4 or 5 ..it's quiet , peaceful -- things to see , do , and learn everyday.."
Me to Rick, but after I use the facilities, I usually go back to bed. Back in the days when I was still in Grade School, I would stay up late and read a book. My Dad would usually address the situation from the bedroom with one of those, blowout the lamp and go to bed, you are using up the coal oil. Then I couldn't drag myself out of bed the next morning.
When in business I would stay in the office until maybe 10:00pm or so and price out bids and do other necessary paper work without interruptions. Go in a couple of hours early and you were going to be interrupted soon. After 5:00 pm and the office closed, you knew nobody was coming back to bother you. Besides, come in early and you wasted half of your time making and drinking coffee to stay awake, or maybe fully wake up. I am not a morning person.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 5:25 PM
Used to be a late-night person in the earlier years, where much like Wheels described, could get the heavy-thinkin' and concentratin' stuff done without interruptions.
As time marched on and job responsibilities changed, became more of a morning person by necessity, finding it most beneficial to arrive early so as to get the first-hand scoop from night shift as to what really caused the come-aparts towards solving the right problem, as well as to get these solutions underway before day-shift upper manglement rolled in to cobble things up with their 'guidance' and 'wisdoms' - we need to get this fixed, have you tried / what about, we used to be able to run this, I remember this one time...
Additionally, became tuned in more to my then-elders advices - hard to soar with the eagles when you're out hooting with the owls, nothing good happens after midnight (which has now become after dark), and you'll get your best sleep before midnight which seems to be quite true for me.
Still roll with the alarm at its regular early work time alert, most days I can still get with it, but so nice to have that optional, guilt-free nahhhhh, not today. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 6:59 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 6:59 PM
Fxpwt, I carried my habits into retirement. When I hung things up in 2000, and my daughter and son-in-law took over things, our longtime head of accounting decided to retire also. Nobody trained to do the month end checks and crosschecks and close the accounting system. Since I had what was called Bookkeeping in high school and had trained myself on computers started with a Radio Shack Model I. I had the task of findinig a computerized accounting system. Also had the job of setting up the Chart of Accounts from what we had used in the old Manual System. So, knowing the system thoroughly, I knew what it took to close the books at Month End, Quarter End and Year End. So I was elected to do the month end closes. Being gone for about 4 months every winter I had to do this remotely and it was just a lot easier to do it at nights when everyone else was in bed. Not wanting to sit in an office and do it, I also started doing it remotely even when in town. I finally quit that also when my daughter sold the business and they were still using the system I had set up. So it was my assignment to train the new owner's head of accounting about three years ago. Having kept weird hours for the past nearing 60 plus years, it is not easy for me to change. I still burn the midnight oil most nights and I try to get up as late as possible. However with an ill wife I have had to figure out a way to get up earlier than I desire. So I find myself sleep deprived at times.
Right now I have to pump myself up to try and stay awake to watch that series on a local murder in our area. They are repeating Episode One tonight which I sat on the couch and slept through a few nights ago. Thing has to do with a Pam Hupp. I have heard of it but do not know if this woman was the murderess or the murderee. Just got a text about the re-run from a daughter a few minutes ago, Channel 5 NBC at 9:00pm here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 8:05 PM
fxpwt: I most generally was at my desk an hour before the rest of the crew arrived and before the phone calls started in. That one hour was worth two regular hours.
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 7:39 PM
Semo471, my philosophy was my perfect day started when eveyone went home and I was free to work, yes way more productively and I knew there was absolutely no one coming in to screw up my productive work time. And I was wide awake, not still rubbing my eyes and wondering why I was up at this hour. If you think you got two hours done in one, think what happens when you multiplied that 1 hour by 5.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 11, 2022, at 8:40 PM
I always preferred to go in early rather than late. I am just an earlybird. Eons ago worked in a truck stop diner on swings. Nope not for me. Also ran my own business for a few years and hated every minute of it. Love what I have been doing for the past 20 plus years and will likely retire from this field.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 4:39 AM
Wheels,neither is my husband. He is semi retired from a job that is commission based. He also has a few rentals. I told him he needs to sell the rentals and get a night job he can do, bring in steady income and get his own insurance lol. He is at home too much and it's nerving me.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 4:42 AM
Ms. Deanna,
Was self employed for 37 years and retired 22 years ago, then helped the kids as I stated for another 18 years on my own schedule, then other than managing the rentals I should have plenty of free time, but I get next to nothing done. I don't think I am employable at this stage, unless it would be to come in about 4:00 pm to set up the office coffee pot on a timer so it would be ready when the first worker arrived next morning. Then go home.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 7:32 AM
I've done the 12 hour a day thing. One reason for the hard decision to change jobs. I just think the new job is more in my wheelhouse. Will be left alone to do the job I know I can do, will utilize skills I have not been able to. Also this company is very into work/life balance and treat their employees very well. I know employees there who all tell me that. Don't get me wrong. I was treated well at my old job after we got new management, just a lot of types of expectations I felt I could not reach. Had a great boss. Am leaving on amicable terms.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 9:15 AM
Schaefer: Exactly. Oh. Does anyone have a problem with these potato bugs? I don't know how they are even getting in.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 9:28 AM
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 8:02 AM
My shift was about 9am to 10pm. We opened at 8:00am but if things were handled properly the evening before, they did not need me at 8:00am
In the early days my shift started at 8:00am and stopped whenever. And if it was 10 degrees and the phone rang at 2:00am I was on duty. Go out and get into a truck where the wheels were frozen to the ground and get somebody's heat back on line. You had to keep a well stocked truck as there were no supply houses open at those hours. But you sure wasn't held up in traffic at 2:00am. As we grew and hired people, that emergency service was done on a rotational basis so all got to enjoy the fun. And those on duty were compensated on a percentage rather than hourly pay. Wouldn't ask anybody to crawl out of bed for just an hourly salary even at overtime.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 11:21 AM
DT, we called them st1nk bugs. Googly would not let me use the word sti*k.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 12:24 PM
I just realized we spring forward tonight. Anyone else think they need to just leave it alone?
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 3:27 PM
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 3:27 PM
I like things the way they are with the seasonal time changes, benefits of daylight in the early mornings during Winter, and extra daylight in the evenings during Summer.
If it has to be one or the other, would prefer sticking with Standard time.
Suggest those promoting Daylight time don't appreciate the challenges and safety hazards presented with not getting light out until 7:30-8:00am in late Dec / early Jan
The times below are Standard time, just add an hour...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 3:43 PM
"Another reason you have my respect ...that takes total dedication , determination , and gumption that I ever even thought about having"
Ms Deanna, it all goes along with my business plan. You know the experts tell you when going into business uou must have a Business Plan.
Well I had one. It was to try to keep from starving to death. I had a wife, 2 kids, a car and a truck, and none of em paid for and I quit my job and started a business. Crazy, right? Worst thing could happen was I go broke. It would have been a very short trip.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 5:45 PM
Wheels, I admire you quite a lot for that leap and I hope you enjoy the success of what you have EARNED. As far as the time change. I don't care which one they pick. Just pick one and leave it alone. It messes up my circadian rhythm horribly. Fx, why did someone disrespect your comment? Smh. It's just about the time change lol. Some people....
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 6:17 PM
"Fx, why did someone disrespect your comment?" -- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 6:17 PM
Eh, appears a few of us have our own hit-n-run fan club, coincidentally or not showing up when certain users also post at around the same time. Won't mention any names, but certainly suspicious when there ain't no Sunshine when he shows up... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 6:24 PM
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 6:17 PM
Thank you Ms Deanna, it was a good run and I had a lot of help, wife was in there every day and so were the kids as they grew up with it and earned college money during their summer breaks. It was a family project.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 12, 2022, at 10:38 PM
Jim Croce. That song makes me sad so I rarely listen to it.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 13, 2022, at 1:14 PM
DT, yes they are all bald. More aerodynamic. The chalk guy is the shortest person in the squad. Idk about chiropractors. They are doctors but they can't cure as much as they say they are able to.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Mar 14, 2022, at 5:34 AM
-- Posted by Diseased. . Turtle on Mon, Mar 14, 2022, at 7:34 AM
Rick, if this is true confessions and everybody is honest, you may not win the (less than brilliant) trick award.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 14, 2022, at 7:40 AM
Rscaggs, med names are based on mash ups of chemical names and elements. Some of mine are almost impossible to pronounce.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Mar 15, 2022, at 11:27 AM
So i am getting ready to nap. My 9 lb dog is somewhere buried under my sheet and 3 blankets. I swear she is like 50 lbs under there lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Mar 15, 2022, at 11:32 AM
Rick, I would say the second person was trying to help the first person. Camels are irritable by nature and certainly can kill a human. Just like a horse or deer or moose can. I don't have to tell you deer look all sweet until you get near a doe with a fawn.....
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 6:17 AM
-- Posted by rscaggs on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 8:02 AM
Rick, remembering still using mules on the farm after the end of WWII and having to ride those ill mannered animals back and forth to the field, I have no desire whatsoever to get on another four legged animal. I have been on the back of a camel and have ridden a horse down a narrow trail into a valley in Jordan where I thought I was going to slide right over that beasts head, then back up again when I thought I was going to slide off his, well you know. I really appreciate the invention of the wheel.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 8:28 AM
"Don't drink too much of that green beer..." -- Posted by rscaggs on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 8:02 AM
One of the many things stuck in my head from days of irrational exuberance past, is that 10cc of green food dye colors a keg nicely.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 8:49 AM
Guness Extra Stout is a fine drink!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 10:41 AM
Visited the Whiskey Corner once and I am now a certified Irish Whiskey Taster.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 10:43 AM
I looked down into the Grand Canyon. Walk down there? No thank you very much. I am pretty much a dedicated non walker. Got my walking in a couple of years ago, when I was walking to and from school my first 7 years of grade school.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 11:30 AM
Actually I walked home from school in the 8th grade more than I would like to talk about. That was when I was held after the bell rang just long enough that you could see the tailights of the school bus going around the corner.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 17, 2022, at 11:32 AM
Always wanted to travel. Always broke lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 18, 2022, at 4:41 AM
I have been to Niagra Falls. It was amazing. Been to Mt Rushmore and thought South Dakota was beautiful.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 18, 2022, at 4:43 AM
What caught my attention in S. Dakota was the Crazy Horse Memorial and the story that goes with it. And while developing slowly they were keeping government out of it. Hope they still are.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 18, 2022, at 7:40 AM
If I could I would move to South Dakota. A little afraid of the winters though.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 18, 2022, at 8:15 AM
Rick, this was on another thread but I don't want to take it over. Who are The Lost Ones exactly? People who don't make it to the other side?
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 6:29 AM
Ahhhhhh. I am very interestedin religions and beliefs of all types. Have been since college when I took Sociology as an elective.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 9:30 AM
If you get a chance check out Iktomi "eek-toh-mee" the Trickster..
-- Posted by rscaggs on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 11:13 AM
And there began a history lesson! That hopefully I can continue.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 11:56 AM
Posted by Schaefer's World on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 12:18 PM
Well, I reckon I'll jinx the interesting-part, then!
BTW: Hello, WHEELS!!! ☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 12:46 PM
Hey, hi there Bruno, did you just awake from your long winter hibernation? We're all primed from more good tales/history from your place on the map.
"This Thread is full of information from interesting folks!
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 12:18 PM"
You mentioned it and one just pops up!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 2:46 PM
Things been a little slow here, I just woke up for about the third time this afternoon.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 2:47 PM
I took a nap this morning and it was a nap fail. Woke up feeling worse. It's always a gamble. I am a professional napper and carve out nap time on weekends lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 6:49 PM
Welcome Mr. Bruno!
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 6:50 PM
Rick, did some Google searching on Iktomi. Fascinating and I need to find some books that have wider explanations of your culture. I believe Lakota? I have always been the type of person who finds peace in nature. Perhaps that is why cultures of The Peoples have always fascinated me. I constantly watch birds and animals.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 19, 2022, at 6:59 PM
Schaefer, I have never been to the beach, but want to go. And lounge in a chair. Don't know that I would want to get in the ocean. There are hurty things in there. I like storms as well, not dumb enough to stand out in one but will watch.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 6:07 AM
Rick, my husband said the same thing about the beach. Daughter in law was born and raised in FL. Plan to take a trip down with her at some point. I will check out your link. My husband was adopted but his biological mother was half Sioux. He has never pursued his bio parents so he doesn't study that. His REAL parents who raised him are fantastic people. Well his father has passed but his mother is a fine person and I love her.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 8:03 AM
Warning - when you get hooked on Geneology many hours will take up your time.
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 11:48 AM
You will never get an argument from me on that.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 12:53 PM
No argument here either although I’ve not gotten into it I had a relative that did and it consumed him. He got into it way before the internet. Used to take his vacations going to various places and searching archives,etc. I’m sure he had more time than I’ll ever know invested.
Something interesting that he was originally doing what I would call his side or the maternal side but kept coming across the paternal side and of course that led to doing the whole family tree. He even took a trip to Ireland to investigate some family and old name alterations that happened.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 1:12 PM
We only gotta go to the Dakotas .
-- Posted by rscaggs on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 1:20 PM
You might be surprised when you start digging.
I once found myself in a Library in Amsterdam. And on the paternal side, while I think I have found the correct family in Holland, I have not been able to confirm their passage to Cincinnati where all but three minor children were wiped out in a Cholera epidemic. Have not been able to find immigration, death or burial records. Which was not unusual during an epidemic and there were 20 plus people dying per day in cities. They were sometimes buried pretty much non ceremonially, especially if they were newbies with no relatives there. Again, while I found a family that fits down to some known names and they came to America, but where for sure?? All three of those minor children ended up in Missouri, my Great Grandfather at roughly 14 or 15 and a younger brother, with the slightly older sister coming later after she was married. Younger brother was killed in the Civil War in Bollinger County. On Maternal side first in Missouri, GGG Grandfather came in 1856 from Germany and was killed prior to Civil War in a disagreement with men over getting his horse and going with them, where??? Buried in the woods in an area which was then called Flat Woods.
I have hit some frustrating dead ends that I still hope to find an answer to.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 1:57 PM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 4:13 PM
My Great Grandfather's little brother was shot by what I would suspect were Bushwackers as I cannot imagine it being with Regular Army. But he was tied to a tree and shot with about 6 men from the community. Not sure what their crimes were supposed to be. My Paternal Great Grandfather joined the Union Army as soon as he was old enough but was not out of training when the war ended, so he never saw any fighting. Great Great Grandfather and his brother on the other side of the family both were in the Union Army but am not aware of their service or where it was.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 20, 2022, at 8:03 PM
Start today at 8. I'm nervous. Was at my other job almost 21 years. But I think I will be fine. Very nice people. Thanks for asking!
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 6:30 AM
Thanks gentlemen! My boss just texted and said come in at 9. Here I am sitting here ready to go since like 7:15 lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 8:18 AM
I spent a lot of time on Genealogy until my wife became ill. Should be working on some of the information I gathered. You find things in the most unlikely places. One Great Grandffather's obituary listed him as being born in an unlikely area, too far South in Missouri to fit. Likely reported that way at his death by a close relative who had some bad information. One day while in the Archives in Marble Hill I found a notation on something that said Fredericktown on it. A call to the Court House there and with the help of a very friendly and helpful clerk, since I was not able to make it there for awhile, and we find out he was born in that area and with the informtion copied and sent to me, further exploration at a Church in Fredericktown bore out the birth information along with the prior marriage of my Great Great Grandparents at that Church. All fit a pattern as they were settled on a farm off DD highway, I believe the name of highway is, in the NW corner of Bollinger County with closest town with a Church of their Religious affiliation being Fredericktown. Later relocated further East and Great Great Grandfather was an early Sheriff of Bollinger County. He might have had some business with another Great Great Grandfather from the Paternal side of the family as I found his name in some old archives of court records that went on for about a year before he paid a $25 fine, where most of the fines were $5. Found that the $25 fines were mostly alcohol related, and with him owning a store, I don't know for sure, but I suspect he may have been selling some of the locally refined corn squeezings in his store. I cannot prove this but it is what I suspect and the governments objection at that time would have been that there was no taxes collected on it as this was well before Prohibition.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 11:00 AM
Darn Revenuers!
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 11:51 AM
Yes, they caused another relative by marriage to pick up his marbles and family and move out of the state during the middle of the night I am told. He returned home to be buried many years later.
I have never really seen a "still" but I did find a coil out of one of them many years ago. hidden under a porch on an abandoned house on a farm my Grandfather had bought during the Depression. This coil had been manufactured on a machine somewhere as I have never seen copper wound that tightly and handling copper tubing was a part of what I did for a living in HVAC in my working life. This tubing was wound tight and uniformly, doing it by hand you would have ended up with a kinked up mess on your hands. Don't know what became of that bit of history, but haven't seen it for years.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 12:14 PM
hey , bruno...back in the asylum , aye ?
-- Posted by rscaggs on Sun, Mar 20, 2022
......................................
Yeah, Rick, I had to return.
Tried sneaking out with the "others"-crowd...but unfortunately I stood-out like a strangulated-hernia amongst the "original" Glugites, that WHEELS-brought back as stow-aways hangin' onto the mudflaps an' chassis of his-motorhome.☺
So, I used an-alternate spelling---Glug-Lite---for my-name, and wound-up banished, scorned, and banned-for-life from the Temples Of The Great-Glug, a.k.a., Wally-Worlds, be they local and/or worldwide! ☺
..................................
And to all the "non-Gluglite's" on here, and I know I missed a few, but: Wheels, dbennett, Schaefer, D.A. Braswell, FXPWT, and of course, Rick:
Uhh. Umm---hi??? LOL!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Mon, Mar 21, 2022, at 8:25 PM
I thought I addressed the Glugglites last night before going to bed. Guess I failed to hit go. Anyway they are hanging out in Northern Illinois these days.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 7:06 AM
Rick S., it looks like you and I are the only ones up tis morning. And I am on my 2nd cup already.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 7:30 AM
Wouldn't surprise me if Bruno was up and polishing on his 2nd Tractor by now.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 7:31 AM
Can-t remember if it was an email or I saw it in the paper, but did see a note about a new writer.
Do you know her Rick? I am assuming it is a her???
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 8:22 AM
-- Posted by rscaggs on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 8:11 AM
Yep. Nice intro and all, just wondering what drove this?
Perhaps cynicism learned across the years of fixing broke stuff, regardless whether a change is for the better or for the worse, just this enquiring mind wants to know why. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 8:23 AM
-- Posted by rscaggs on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 8:35 AM
Heheheheh, thanks. Ignorance is bliss, and I was all kinds of content until you pointed this out.
Closer look at the email suggests the sender email address seems legit, but the browser link given within takes one to a secondstreetapp.com site - which throws shades of hinky.
Nothing flagged here by the firewall or virus scan stuff...yet?
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 8:51 AM
Posted by rscaggs on Tue, Mar 22, 2022
No, I read that the same-way, and it's never shown again?
Let's use some of Schaefer's-guts, instead! He'll never know what hit 'im.....!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 1:44 PM
Hey, Rick: You're right, no place. Doesn't fit.
And I remember it the other-way around, that you did-NOT just imagine. (I think somebody pressed-Enter, when it shoulda-been the ANY-key, lol!) Flash in the pan, give 'em one-month, an' Vi-ola, gone. But it'll leave a burning-sensation in the ol' gluteus-maximus for a long-while.
And, believe it or not, I'm as rock as a sober----arghh, as sober as a rock. Which is scary, since that means I'm normal at least til midnight!☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Tue, Mar 22, 2022, at 7:53 PM
Bruno, that your AC in your avatar? I love it!
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 4:14 AM
Oops didn't finish my post. I'm an Allis Chalmers girl. My dad has a D-10 etched into his headstone. You gentlemen have done a massive amount of work on geneology. That's interesting. And I actually know someone who drives his RV to Cape and parks at Wally World and stays there for a few days. Like, why????
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 4:18 AM
Posted by dbennett on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 4:14 AM
Yes, it is. But it's a 1945 Case VAC "Victory-Tractor", originally-intended for shipment to Great Britain after the war, or at least that's what the Serial-#'s match-up to?
But, no, it isn't anymore. Sold it a few-years back, after I'd gotten too-old & bunged-up to take care of it properly.
I've downgraded myself to old-garden tractors, now and YES, one of them is an-Allis Chalmers(mfg. by Simplicity), and the other is an-IH Cub Cadet(mfg. by Wheel Horse). Both have been-retrofitted with totally-different styles of horsepower, so they're my current workhorses!
But, I "grew-up" in hay fields with Allis-Chalmers, esp. the WD, WD-45, and a cute-little D-14 the owner kept clean as a whistle!
Nah, none of them were mine, but I operated 'em like they were, which is why the owners would send me out to work with no-supervision. Oh, they'd bring out water, food, and fuel after the first six-hours or so, but otherwise? It was all-mine!
WHOOPS! Sorry Schafer, I didn't intend to "hi-jack" your thread, but I didn't wanna leave DB-hangin' in interest...!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 11:14 AM
Posted by Schaefer's World on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 12:46 PM
Eahh-yaa, that'll dood guud-'nuff 'round-heah...☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Mar 23, 2022, at 7:12 PM
Schaefer, I now count you as a farmboy. Truck patching is hard work, my grandpa did that. Us kids got the jobs like sorting out rotten potatoes. Bruno, my uncle still has an old AC he is working on. I bet he has had that thing in half 23 times lol. Started a new job and found an old photo of a Gleanor in a wheat field framed and it's going up on my office wall!
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 24, 2022, at 5:03 AM
Schaefer, I now count you as a farmboy. Truck patching is hard work, my grandpa did that. Us kids got the jobs like sorting out rotten potatoes. Bruno, my uncle still has an old AC he is working on. I bet he has had that thing in half 23 times lol. Started a new job and found an old photo of a Gleanor in a wheat field framed and it's going up on my office wall!
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 24, 2022, at 5:03 AM
Oops double dribble.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 24, 2022, at 5:04 AM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Thu, Mar 24, 2022, at 9:04 AM
Semo471, I didn't recognize any of those folks, but I sure recognized the look of things.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 24, 2022, at 11:06 AM
It's Friiidayyyy! First full week at my new job. Still love it! Hope you all have a great day.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Mar 25, 2022, at 4:28 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 25, 2022, at 9:12 AM
- Posted by Schaefer's World on Fri, Mar 25, 2022, at 9:40 AM
What's worse is to look up and see a work tool hanging up there.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 25, 2022, at 9:44 AM
Posted by rscaggs on Fri, Mar 25, 2022
OHH, it hurts to hold-back on this one!
But, I think he may be serious, so---I'll "take the 5th" on it, just to be safe...!☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Fri, Mar 25, 2022, at 2:18 PM
Wheels, LOVED IT lol. Put that on my playlist. Rick, don't know about the elephant ears. Both of my grandmas had them when I was a kid. I triedgrowing them once, no luck. I love them though.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 26, 2022, at 4:45 AM
I wondered where in the world you can find them. That said, my grandma used to transplant ones that had come up. But she could grow anything.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 26, 2022, at 7:38 AM
Saw a blurb that made me chuckle - Sick of high gas prices? You might have the CarOwnerVirus. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 26, 2022, at 10:55 AM
Fx thats a good one!
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Mar 26, 2022, at 12:50 PM
Take a q tip amd tickle the roof of your mouth. Alternatively hold yoyr breath.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 8:28 AM
Scheafer, I love Marty Robbins. Thats the country I grew up on. Rick, had a thought, have not researched it. Should elephant ear bulbs be plantedin the fall like tulips?
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 8:30 AM
Elephant Ears-always plant them but never save the bulbs. Tried once. Failure. Wallyworld had the giants for $5/each but I opt for the smaller ones.
Little bone meal,good drainage,full sun and water they get big enough for me.
Had magnificent ferns this year but nowhere to winter them. Sad to see them freeze. I have 2 Shefflera(sp) that are about 30 years old I bring in and put under a grow light. Can’t seem to kill ‘em.
Took the cover off the gold fish pond and I swear they grew. Those are at least 20 years old. Not bad for $1/dozen
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 11:17 AM
Goldfish are cool in a pond. A species of carp I think? I need to re-landscape around my entire house. I am thinking a rock garden full of tacky gnomes. I love gnomes lol. Keep my Japanese Maple and azaleas. Plant a ground cover under a couple trees. Modern country is twangy pop with some redneck rap.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 11:49 AM
Feeders is probably right. Or bait fish.
I had a couple dozen at one time in a smaller pond. I’d bring them into a large aquarium in winter but the shock would thin the herd inevitably. Put in a way bigger pond with the 12 or so survivors and have 9 now. Lips to fins most are 10-12”. One blind one that just keeps keepin on. Eye sockets are empty but hangs around the same spot until the food hits the water and it must sense the others feeding and it gets its fill.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 11:57 AM
Schaefer: do it do it do it! Tell me when. I will put it on the Tick Tock lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 5:11 PM
Tomorrow is Monday! Time to see what all I messed up last week. :>D
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 5:12 PM
My new setup is about 3’ deep and I keep the waterfall,actually an old cistern pump head running all winter. I cobble together a wood frame and cover it with clear plastic. Seems to keep it from icing over. I run another pump for filtering in warm weather. Now if I can keep the squirrels from eating the lily pads later. Who knew lily pads were a squirrel delicacy? And those little sob’s seem to know when the BB gun comes out.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 6:45 PM
Rick, that is gorgeous!
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Mar 28, 2022, at 4:49 AM
- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sun, Mar 27, 2022, at 7:36 PM
Semo471
It's the land of fruits and nuts. Try driving a motor home pulling a car in that freak show. Found out, gotta switch lanes, only way to do it, make sure they see you, then act like you don't see them. They'll get out of the way. Otherwise you will have to stay where you are, which sometimes doesn't work well when your exit is coming up.
Regarding west county traffic around St. Louis, if you're planning on going east on 70 might want to consider a bullet proof vest and helmet. Or re-route yourself through Hannibal or Perryville.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 28, 2022, at 8:02 AM
I could care less about what they do with PooHole. I won't be paying any of his salary.... unlike government officials who are living off our tax dollars.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 28, 2022, at 1:37 PM
I know why Pu$ol$ hasn’t had much success lately. My wife did some voodoo on a cloth puppet with pins. And some say voodoo doesn’t work.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 28, 2022, at 1:51 PM
Ha! I’ll show that to my Voodoo Queen
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 28, 2022, at 5:15 PM
-- Posted by rscaggs on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 5:06 AM
Rick, seems as if you're doing your share of forgitten, just like me.
First thing you forgot is to wear your hard hat when working in the kitchen and turn off the ceiling fan before changing the light bulbs.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 10:16 AM
Every time the infamous ceiling fan incident is brought up I think of the rowdy night at a local watering hole when a guy decided dancing on the bar was appropriate. Went well and became a real crowd pleaser when he power jumped up into the ceiling fan. Think he took down 3 of the blades.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 11:58 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 11:58 AM
DA, after my younger single days, I didn't frequent the water holes a lot. Could not afford them early in married life, kids took about all I could come home from work with. Then as things got a little better I preferred paying a dollar plus for a good beer at home rather than pay a dollar and a half for a Busch in a bar. That and there always seemed to be somebody wanting to challenge you on somthing at the watering hole.
I well remember the night this buddy and I had a little side job we were doing to earn some extra money and we decided to stop at this watering hole close to home. We parked in the back parking lot and got out and started towards the back door when suddenly it burst opened and some drunk came charging out head down with someone right behind him. They started rolling around on the parking lot. I looked at my buddy and said, I don't think I am thirsty any more. Neither am I he said and we got back in the pickup and left, being careful not to run over the two guys rolling around in the parking lot. I like a good German Beer, Spaten or at times a Guniness Extra Stout, both bumping about $10 a six pack. As I said drink goof beer at home as cheap as drinking Busch at a bar.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 12:33 PM
Wheels,if you like a stout and coffee I suggest Mothers Winter Grind. It’s a seasonal from the Mothers Brewery in Springfield,Mo. just about the time of year now that it’s not available,though. I know the local distributor had orders to pull it in the Spring. They sold out and I think it’s handled by someone in Festus???? Anyway it’s been my go to for a few years. Never ice it as about 42 degrees is perfect.
My tastes for this “Lite” sody pop excuse for a beer waned long ago.
BTW-gave up that bar stuff long ago.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 2:04 PM
Rick, you are a walking disaster. I can't judge I am just as bad. I find myself doing odd things sometimes and I have always been a clutz. You know you're old though when you fall down and instead of laughing people rush to help you.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Mar 31, 2022, at 4:41 AM
Ohh the S&S did a cover of a Nightwish song called Sleeping Sun with their former lead singer Tarja. I prefer the original version better though.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 4:16 AM
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 4:20 AM
They've started a support group for people that talk too much......
It's called "On and On Anon'
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 11:34 AM
Didn't want to miss anybody so a tried to hit most of the active threads with this.
Kind of goes along with....
The only sane ones left are Thee and Me, and some days I have my doubts about Thee.
I have already signed on to the "Anon" group! See you at the next meeting!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 11:38 AM
Any good April 1st stories?
Either on you or by you?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 4:39 PM
Wheels,if you like a stout and coffee I suggest Mothers Winter Grind. It’s a seasonal from the Mothers Brewery in Springfield,Mo. just about the time of year now that it’s not available,though. I know the local distributor had orders to pull it in the Spring. They sold out and I think it’s handled by someone in Festus???? Anyway it’s been my go to for a few years. Never ice it as about 42 degrees is perfect.
My tastes for this “Lite” sody pop excuse for a beer waned long ago.
BTW-gave up that bar stuff long ago.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 30, 2022, at 2:04 PM
DA, been meaning to respond just can't keep up.
I have had some beer from that brewery, but not that one and forgot what it was. We have a place no more than about 10 blocks from us that is called Beer and Sauce and they have lots of different stuff in there. Will have to check it out.
Normally I have only looked at coffee and spirits at different times of day with the only commonality as they both produced the same results, lots of trips to the facilities.''
100% with you on the Lite stuff. Like my beer just a little more chewey than that stuff. And most good beers taste improves at a little warmer temperature. One of my criteria is to let a couple swallows in the bottle and go to bed. If it tastes as good or better before breakfast, you have found anther good one. Do that with some of the lite stuff and it might have you leaning over the thunder mug.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 4:49 PM
I have no good April 1 stories. Had I remembered someone at work would have gotten pranked.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 5:32 PM
Still chuckle on the commercial with greasy Gus asking, hey lady, where's the rest of your car?
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 6:53 PM
Any good April 1st stories?
Either on you or by you?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 7:19 PM
How did that get repeated? April Fool?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 7:23 PM
I did pull one on my wife a few years ago involving brown clay(mixed in with some red streaks). Let’s just say that clay got rolled to about 24” long and left in the thunder hut. Thought I would hear some kind of scream or a “oh my Gawd” but there was silence. My good wife thought it was real and the red streaks had her concerned for my health.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 1, 2022, at 7:28 PM
Why am I up at 3:45 reading Speakout? Growing up my neighbors had a Gremlin. I bet us kids rode 6 million miles in that thing. He worked swing shifts and would fire it up late at night and it sounded like a train wreck but kept rolling lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 2, 2022, at 3:48 AM
I did not know Travis Tritt still even toured. I am not in the country music loop anymore.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 2, 2022, at 6:51 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 2, 2022, at 8:02 AM
Saw Willie a few times. Always good and always a wild crowd.
Now I digress. Watched what I guess is a documentary by Oliver Stone about the JFK assassination. “JFK Through the looking glass”. Makes one think about trust in government. Very thorough delving into everything from “magic bullet”,multiple shooters,Lee Harvey Oswald’s history and connections,Warren Commission,CIA coverts,fingerprints(or lack of),doctored autopsy photos,JFK’s plans for Vietnam,segregation,Cuban connections,etc,etc,etc.
He may have been a popular President but not within the government.
Very compelling stuff and still leaves more questions than answers.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Apr 3, 2022, at 7:37 AM
Rick, just one comment on Kennedy. Re: Religion. They did not live what is preached. From the old man on down through the sons at least... pretty much womanizers.
Why did the wives put up with it? Love? Money? or The love of Money?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 3, 2022, at 9:22 AM
Yep, highest paid prossy in history has been my opinion from the get go.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 3, 2022, at 9:45 AM
Rick, I think you have a pretty good idea of the situation.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 3, 2022, at 1:09 PM
I thought i put a comment in here yesterday. I guess not. No telling where it is...
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 3:41 AM
-- Posted by rscaggs on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 5:44 AM
Rick was you wearing your hard hat?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 8:13 AM
Rick, didn't you grow up over around Fredericktown somewhere? Didn't they have rocks around there?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 9:11 AM
Rick as i remember hearing it....
Readin, Ritin and Rithmetic
Taught to the tune of a hickory stick.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 10:50 AM
Rick, I didn't like touching a snake even after they were dead and lizards wasn't a lot better.
So far as rocks, there was a time when I thought Bollinger County was where they were grown for the rest of the country. We lived at the edge of the hills and right where it leveled off into flat country. Farm had about 40% rocky hill and about 60% flat which was floodable as it lay north of the Diversion Channel, with ground owned by my Grandpa laying between the two. You might say we had waterfront property in a wet spring.
The neighbor to the north of us has a rock pile that would make anyone envious. Right in the edge of the woods.
I had no desire to be a 4th generation farmer when I grew up. They didn't control cockleburrs with spray when I was a kid. They controlled them with a kid and a hoe.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 11:09 AM
"We had a tin roof , it's great sleeping hearing a rain shower falling on a tin roof , there's nothing like it ."
You're right about the nothing like it part. My Grandfather had a tin roof and I remember trying to sleep under it during a rain storm.
We had a wood shake roof. Something that is very expensive today and desirable, but was conidered belonging to the poorest of the poor when I was a kid. Second house I lived in had Pecky Cyprus siding on it. Something was again, considered poor, but very desirable for a finished basement these days. Barn siding we called it. Our home was wall papered inside. But I don't think it was for the decor so much as it was to keep the wind out. And you could almost get a sunburn in the winter time from the sides of the stove glowing red on a really cold night with a big fire.
Final thought, I am of the opinion that the wall thermostat & associated machinery was the greatest invention of mankind.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 11:24 AM
Yeah, outhouses, and they sure weren't equipped with nice soft rolls of Charmin either.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 7:30 PM
Rick, I am still of the opinion that the only good snakes are dead ones. Many years ago, just at the edge of town, working for an appliance dealer, I had to go on a call to work on a freezer in a shed out in the back yard. I am working, and answering the owner's questions and suddenly it got dark. I looked up an here was a good sized kid standing in the doorway with a snake wrapped around his arm. I told the owner, if you want this freezer fixed and you don't want another door in the back of this shed, you best get that kid out of here with that snake.. He says the snake won't bite, it's a black snake. I told him I didn't care about the snake's genealogy, I was out of there. He made the kid leave. Working in people's homes should qualify a serviceman for hazard pay.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 8:16 PM
Semo471, I liked the song but I am about as excited by the idea of a glass of Watermelon Wine as I am of petting a snake.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 10:21 PM
Black snakes bite , it don't hurt much , but they'll bite .
Rick they aren't going to bite me if I see them first and it is within my power to avoid it happening.
In fact I think I will sip about a thimble of some snake bite medicine and go to bed.
Good grief Goggle, what possibly can be in these three sentences that is not civil.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 4, 2022, at 10:27 PM
I love snakes lol. Will never ever kill a black snake or any other harmless snake. Don't kill the more venomous ones unless they are a direct threat. I have a huge king snake living in my shed/shop. I call him Bernie. Love lizards too. I guess I am weird.
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 3:40 AM
I got a civil warning on that comment lol
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 3:41 AM
PooHole can come or go, doesn't matter to me one iota.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 8:28 AM
"Wheels
I voted for you again this morning ."
Rick, I will make you a great alderman.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 8:31 AM
You got my vote in 2020 too .
-- Posted by rscaggs on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 9:08 AM
Thank you Rick, your dedication to electing me as an alderman overwhelms me.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 5, 2022, at 7:28 PM
Here I sit, listening to thunder,while the grass that needs mowing is mocking me. I can literally hear it growing....
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Apr 6, 2022, at 3:55 AM
"It is a great mower , he cut my lawn in record time ."
Rick you,re going down as the Tom Sawyer of Jackson in my book.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 6, 2022, at 9:48 AM
"Rick you,re going down as the Tom Sawyer of Jackson in my book."
And Rick, please, that is just a figure of speech. I am not writing a book that nobody cares about.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 6, 2022, at 11:32 AM
By exactly 2 hours Semo471! The early bird gets the worm you know!
And Tom S., I taught you how to get rid of unwanted Lawn Mowers not how to con your neighbor into cutting your lawn for free.
🙄🤨🤔😏😎😎😎
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 6, 2022, at 11:00 PM
My brother and son do a full service on my mower every spring but it's good for one mowing first. I'm thinking Saturday. Then I won't have to clean under the deck twice in a row. I still have the original book with every oil change, new part etc. It's a JD, I THINK a 1984. 445 Diesel. Love it. And I write my stuff in the book too.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Apr 7, 2022, at 4:07 AM
This could be political but here goes. Saw a piece about the new Hummer EV. 1000 horsepower. 0-60 darn fast. Articulating steering. This ain’t the Hummer made popular by Arnold and the Iraq invasion. Base price $110,000!!
What wasn’t mentioned,or avoided was range on a charge. Not mentioned but caught it right at the end was plugging into a gas or diesel powered generator for a charge. I assume with 1,000 HP it has enough power to trailer that generator.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Apr 7, 2022, at 11:29 AM
-- Posted by Diseased. . .Turtle on Thu, Apr 7, 2022, at 10:34 AM
Rick those guys a full bubble off.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 7, 2022, at 1:29 PM
Rick I have seen that photo numerous times. Thats a big nope from me on the heights. Tough men.
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Apr 8, 2022, at 3:50 AM
Not many awake yet in SEMO it appears.
But MS Deanna and Rick are probably about prepped for lunch already. Unless of course they did the sensible thing and went back to bed at that hour.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 8, 2022, at 8:01 AM
Awake since 5. Overslept and wondering why the RV is ready for a weekend camping trip??? Could always cancel but I have the fillets ready for a fish fry tonight.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 8, 2022, at 8:41 AM
Ha. I just stay up on work days
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, Apr 8, 2022, at 11:18 AM
Termites are bad. And expensive. I am constantly poking around my house looking for signs. I went to one high school reunion years ago. Not really interested in another. If I havent looked you up in over 30 years safe to say we will both be ok if I don't go.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 9, 2022, at 5:03 AM
Oh yeah, GO BLUES
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 9, 2022, at 5:03 AM
It's a Finnish symphonic metal band called Nightwish. My favorite band. Very melodic, no heavy distortion, which I really don't like. Yes, surprise I am a metalhead lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 9, 2022, at 8:21 AM
DT look up wacken 2013 concert, tampere or wembley. After 2013. If you want heavy, Romanticide. celtic, My Walden Wembley Arena). Epic, Ghost Love Score (Wacken 2013), ballad Dead Boys Poem in Buenos Aires or Sleeping Sun , Wembley or Tampere concert. Floor Jansen is their 3rd lead singer and my favorite. Incredible vocalist.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 9, 2022, at 3:06 PM
Schaefer, DAD JOKE lol. I love it. I lay down, because you know I am a professional napper. Woke up to the sound of my husband mowing. Aaaack. I hate when he uses my mower. He cannot see and refuses to get glasses and he is just hard on equipment. I don't think he has broken any windows yet though.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 9, 2022, at 3:09 PM
Well thanks Rick. Not for everyone but it relaxes me.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Apr 10, 2022, at 11:48 AM
Very nice day out! My allergies will blow up but worth it.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Apr 10, 2022, at 11:49 AM
DT, isn't that a beautiful song? This version you linked is by Tarja, their original vocalist. I like all 3. Each brought something special but Floor is my favorite except on a few songs. Also, yes Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Apr 11, 2022, at 5:56 PM
Yep!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 12, 2022, at 11:14 AM
I'm hungry for seafood at Gulf Shores Alabama.
You may or may not know but Jimmy Buffet's sister Lucy owns a restaurant called Lu Lu's at Gulf Shores, Alabama. And I think recently opened one in Destin Florida. She had a smaller place a little west on the river. I think she lost her lease there because they were going to demolish the place, she moved to Gulf Shores and built a great attraction there. It's on the north side of the Inner Coastal Waterway and just east of Hy 59 going into Gulf Shores. It is said Jimmy Buffet visits her there and lands his seaplane on the Bon Secour River close to where we spent a good number of winters.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 12, 2022, at 1:11 PM
Semo471, you left your flip flops at Lu Lu's??
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 12, 2022, at 3:25 PM
Margaritaville is where ever Jimmy happens to be playing.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 12, 2022, at 5:24 PM
Yes I can tell when the barometric pressure is ready to drop. All my aches get worse. Hope everyone stays safe. Go Blues!!!!!
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Apr 13, 2022, at 5:38 AM
Got stung by a wasp yesterday. It was in my purse. But how???? I don't know but I made him gone.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, Apr 13, 2022, at 5:46 AM
A shamelessly stolen observation - Easter would be easier if you just change the 't' to an 'i'... :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Apr 13, 2022, at 3:41 PM
We have no water........
Rick, I am saving that pic and quote.
Fx, hur hur. I liked it.
We didn't get anything bad here. I was kind of hoping for a rip roaring thunderstorm.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Apr 14, 2022, at 4:55 AM
Very good, I enjoyed!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 15, 2022, at 8:47 AM
Happy Monday! That dragging sound you will hear today is me. 🥱
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, Apr 18, 2022, at 4:33 AM
Ms Deanna, they won't hear yours for mine.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 18, 2022, at 10:01 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 18, 2022, at 3:43 PM
A lively place tonight
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 18, 2022, at 10:24 PM
I'm still tired from yesterday!
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, Apr 19, 2022, at 4:38 AM
Pause!
Find Hard Hat!
Secure in place!
Check for Pot stealing intruders!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 20, 2022, at 8:46 AM
Maybe you had an earthquake.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 20, 2022, at 11:31 AM
Rick, you and that kitchen have been a thing ever since I have known you on here.
Wish Turnips was still posting. She would help with getting you organized. 🤣🤣🤣🤨🤔🤔😎
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 20, 2022, at 12:26 PM
So, once a person hits 50 or even say 45, do they just immediately start falling apart? Sitting here with my eye and cheek swollen and red. Dr gave me antibiotics. It's called cellulitis. SMH.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 4:25 AM
Ms Deanna. Sorry to hear about your problems. But it's different strokes for different folks. Genetics play a part also. Been going through a long stretch of problems with wife for just short of 4 years. To go along with it lower back starts acting up currently and you can add a pain doctor to the list.
Then you get to where you can remember what happened when you were 5 years old but not what happened yesterday.
Welcome to the Golden Years. That's where the gold in your teeth turns to lead in where Google won't let me mention.
If all of a suddenly things get better and you start feeling like a teenager again, please let the rest of us know what you're drinking.
Wait until they start sticking new metal joints in knees and things and you're afraid to walk by one of those huge magnets they use to unload scrap metal.
Is that enough encouragement for one morning? I remember when I was 50..... I think.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 7:32 AM
I think mine is too many years of taking care of other people. This thing is an anomoly. I thought it was pinkeye lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 10:36 AM
I think mine is too many years of taking care of other people. This thing is an anomoly. I thought it was pinkeye lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 10:36 AM
If you stop to think about it, that is what life is all about, isn't it?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 12:20 PM
Got a good reminder today why I lost interest in golf….ugh. My best iron was when I hit my ankle with a wedge.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 8:06 PM
DAi was over 50 when I played my first game of golf. Finally when I was in my upper 70's I decided I was never going to be on tour so I hung it up.
Cannot say I didn't enjoy the frustration and I have a great picture where you had to stay left to keep out of the water. I stayed a tad left and had to get my ball out of the woods. I chipped out a mite too hard and my ball scooted right across the fairway and down the bank towards the water. I walked over to assess the damage. Ah there is my ball about a foot from the water and laying right up against an alligators jaw. I guess they have jaws..
My partner said I think I can reach that ball with my retriever. I said I have another ball leave it be. No I can getit. I said go ahead I think I can outrun you even if I cannot outrun the alligator. He decided to leave it be. We took a picture and left.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 10:28 PM
It's a surprise, I think you will get a laugh out of it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 23, 2022, at 10:41 PM
I have never played golf. I think I would try if I had little kid size clubs, I'm really short. Or I can just drive the beer cart lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 5:44 AM
Well Wheels, you have a good point. But I think it should not be to the exclusion of taking care of oneself. Tookme 40 plus years to figure that out. That said, I am a tough nut to crack. Oh, Rick. Do you have a poltergeist? Or just need to clean out your cabinets? 😁
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 5:47 AM
Ms Deanna, Rick wears a hard hat when he works in the kitchen.🤔🤭😊
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 7:40 AM
It has been nice! That said, i love thunderstorms. Too bad we cant give them half our rain. Too much to get the crops in here. I think they are talking frost warning Tuesday night. I haven't seen any corn up yet but I haven't been all over checking either. Took a nap with the young un. Now my schedule is off kilter lol.
-- Posted by dbennett on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 2:11 PM
Golf was so bad I decided to give it another run. Not real great but better.
Humbling game Ms Bennet. If you never have then never do. It had me for 40+ years. 70% fun,29% WTF am doing here and about 1% ecstasy. I believe the 29% finally over rode the rest and the 1% was way too infrequent.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 5:01 PM
DT-wish I had a house on a golf course. You have a low view of it I know but it’s a great pastime for millions that will never live on a golf course.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 7:07 PM
-- Posted by Diseased. . .Turtle on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 5:18 PM
Rick that wasn't what rattled your pots and pans was it?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 8:52 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 7:07 PM
DT, I did for a number of years with a creek between us so they couldn't come after their lost balls. The way I hit them out of bounds and into the water hazards, how else do you think I could afford to play. The Tee was on our side of the creek with a low water bridge. We were across from the landing zone with sand traps on the north side of the fairway and the creek on the south. A little slice and a breeze out of the northwest and I owned that gold ball. I had buckets full of golf balls at one time. I gave my Grandson my clubs and dozens of balls about 6 months ago I had a set of those irons they outlawed for professional play. Cannot remember the name of them at the moment but they had the square grooves and they would stop a ball on the green like you wouldn't believe. That is when you could hit the green.
DL, I played in a tournament once and with my handicap I got a free stroke on a Par 3 over a water hazzard. I hit the ball and landed on the edge of the green to the left. Made the longest put you can imagine for a technical hole in one. There's your ecstasy!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 24, 2022, at 9:14 PM
Rick, I am sorry but I did everything from blow it up to full screen to shrink it and I didn't see the Peace Sign. Thought I saw half of the Peace Sign once but was mistaken there also.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 25, 2022, at 10:26 AM
Now Rick, that is not very comforting.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 25, 2022, at 11:57 AM
Azalea Gardens
I am not much on flower types etc. I can easily tell a Tulip from a Rose. I think Azaleas were what they had so many of when we went South. And don't they have an Azalea Festival somewhere not that many miles south of Cape, trying to remember where I saw a reference to it. Oak Ridge sounds a little far north for an Azelea Garden, but I suppose what ever trips your trigger and you can get to grow. I'm kind of lucky if I get weeds to do well in my planting experience. My daughter and granddaughter usually come by and put some flowers, like Impatients I think they called em out for us.
I got railroaded onto the HOA Board in our small Villa Development and I got the job of calling our Alderwoman and sending her some pictures of the backyard abuting one of our units. They are apparantly trying to start a junkyard of used lawnmowers and other junk. It is a duplex and most likely rented. Of course I get the story, well our code enforcement people have to get permission to go onto private propery and they usually won't grant us permission. I told her that there was also common ground abutting that back yard from which my neighbor gets to view the mess and consider yourself and your code enforcement officer as having permission to go onto that Common Ground and view it and I will submit the pictures that I took. So now I get to deal with some of the frustration Fxpwt is having fun with.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 28, 2022, at 12:22 AM
Rick, you have to tell us where the peace sign is......it's killing me.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Apr 28, 2022, at 5:03 AM
My favorite flowers are Sweet Williams. I love them.
-- Posted by dbennett on Thu, Apr 28, 2022, at 10:02 AM
Rick, I love that song! Willie is eternal. I saw that about Naomi Judd. I remember when they first got popular. I wore out my cassettes listening to them.
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, May 2, 2022, at 4:59 AM
What's the difference between partly sunny and partly cloudy?
-- Posted by dbennett on Tue, May 10, 2022, at 5:36 AM
"I'm not trying to be a smart a__"
Yeah he is Ms Deanna.... he's stomping around where angels fear to tread!
Sic em!🤭🤔😏🤫😉😊
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, May 10, 2022, at 7:55 AM
Suppose this may qualify as fun stuff, as it's been part of my entertainment and related opportunity to excel after cutting the cable TV a couple years ago.
Been monitoring Channel 27 out of Marion, been promising 4 new channels 'coming soon' since February.
Seems Channel 27-10 went live just recently - doggone, a shopping channel - pffft. Worse than that, it's a chick-focused shopping channel, used to be The Jewelry Channel, now branded as ShopLC. https://www.shoplc.com/
Gathering that 27-7 will be the Quest network, another yawner, but at least something different when the mood hits - https://www.questtv.com/schedule
No idea yet on 27-8 and -9, but still maintaining a sense of bucking the 'norm', going against the now-conventional and mainstream thinking, pursuing the no-cost, over-the-air broadcasts rather than paying 'hard-earned' dollars out for cable or premium streaming services solely for the privilege of being entertained while being otherwise unproductive sitting on my keister.
Eh, of the 48 channels now received over-the-air, after culling the duplicate broadcasts and the no-value-to-me stuff - still getting about 35 different broadcasts to scroll through - big improvement from the basic 3 available (ABC, NBC, CBS) when I was a young'un. Plus still have the fallback of the freebie streaming stuff with the FireStick, as well as the DVD collection assembled back when that was a thing to own forever rather than rent one-time.
Been off-and-on watching my Bearcats DVD in between the all-them-channels-and-nuthin-on spots with antenna TV - a short-lived, half-season series from 1970 starring Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole, about troubleshooters in the 1910s driving a Stutz Bearcat - sort of a late Western thing.
Odd realization that the time between when it was set (1910s) and filmed (1970) isn't that much distant from the time it was filmed (1970) and now (2022). Whew, life moves fast.
At any rate, back to a movie I never get tired of - Big Jake.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, May 11, 2022, at 9:31 PM
Posted by Diseased. . .Turtle on Thu, May 12, 2022, at 6:02 AM
Pretty much all I watch is the news and weather and we both know about how accurate they are.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, May 12, 2022, at 10:35 AM
Meh Rick's probably right about some women lol. But we are still tougher than men 😁. As far as television,I have not watched it in at least 3 years. We have anywhere from 2 to 9 channels I think, depending on weather and if the leaves are on the trees. Is it partly cloudy today or partly sunny?
-- Posted by dbennett on Fri, May 13, 2022, at 5:24 AM
Go Blues woohoo!!!!
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, May 14, 2022, at 5:23 AM
-- Posted by Schaefer's World on Sun, May 15, 2022, at 12:06 PM
SEMO471, I am running a little behind these days. Bet the traffic was just awful out there with all of the traffic lights and everything. 🤭
With wife sick it has been better than 4 years since I have been out there. Did you run up past the County Seat and check on the Bollinger County Sage(brush) while you were out that way?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, May 17, 2022, at 6:34 AM
From what I gather the shortage of birds is from Avian Flu. Thats why they tell people no birdfeeders. I haven't been seeing the barn swallows. Can only hope the bats will keep the bugs knocked down.
-- Posted by dbennett on Wed, May 18, 2022, at 5:40 PM
Hope this works out. Solar eclipses pictures from around the world.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, May 20, 2022, at 11:33 AM
-- Posted by Dissident on Fri, May 20, 2022, at 6:02 AM
Rick, I think a lot of it had to do with debris blocking drainage inlets from what I saw on TV last night. But??
Many, years ago, (about 1956) I was living in the Grand and Arsenal area and went out to Olivette for a job interview. Then Girl Friend went along. The interview was like at 4:30 - 5:00 pm. There came a horrible hard rain storm. Not having all of the interstates of today, I cut through University City on Midland to Delmar. There was storm sewers erupting, with man hole covers blown off and water just gushing up out of them. Got into a situation where I was driving through water bumper deep, these man hole erruptions of the storm sewers continued from place to place into the city and actually tore up the streets in some areas. It was a long and nerve wracking trip home. In St. Charles County at least we did not have nearly that kind of rain last night. But we were pretty much promised a tornado that did not happen in St. Peters. Thankfully!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, May 20, 2022, at 12:30 PM
"Who decided a 100 mile yard sale was a good thing on a Holiday weekend?" -- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, May 27, 2022, at 4:43 PM
No idea, but it is what it is. Stay safe, or at least consider the damage a water buffalo will do to your vehicle. :-)
/****/
In the useless-for-many news category, found another channel in my over-the-air scannings. Seems Channel 49 has added a sixth channel - CourtTV.
Hmmm, so between Channel 3-4, and the local WSIL CH 3 translator rebroadcast on Channel 10, which shows up as a duplicate of 3-4, and now 49-6 - can watch the Amber Heard / Johnny Depp trial in triplicate.
At any rate, now 49 channels received over-the-air in Cape, but with the duplicates and outright uninteresting=to-me stuff - approaching the level of the Bruce Springsteen ditty - "57 channels and nuthin' on" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAlDbP4tdqc
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, May 27, 2022, at 7:22 PM
I am so glad I don't live near the 100 mile yard sale. Is that a uniquely American thing? People just unloading their cr** onto someone else so they can turn around and sell said cr** to other people????
-- Posted by dbennett on Sat, May 28, 2022, at 4:04 AM
The folks interviewed by KFVS along the 100 mile sale route seemed to enjoy it....different strokes for different folks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, May 28, 2022, at 7:54 AM
The Sun is up and looks like a great day to be alive! Everyone enjoy the day!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, May 29, 2022, at 7:53 AM
Oh people love yard sales. I seem to accumulate things by osmosis though.......where does it come from?
-- Posted by dbennett on Mon, May 30, 2022, at 4:52 AM
Stuff accumulates because one of these years I might need it!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, May 30, 2022, at 8:59 AM
I used to have a “you don’t want it,I’ll take it” problem. Made good use of most but then it accumulated and then I made a big FREE sign,put stuff down by the blacktop and it would be gone by noon. One man’s trash is just another man’s trash.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, May 30, 2022, at 12:12 PM
-- Posted by Dissident on Mon, May 30, 2022, at 12:58 PM
I missed this post until now.
I had to show Rick an easy way to get rid of it. If they won't take it for free, put a for sale sign on it and someone will steal it, and he did and someone did. How long did it take Rick?
Then as I remember it they didn't take the sign, just threw it in the yard and Rick complained that he had made a really nice sign to put on the mower also.
Did I remember that correctly Rick?🤭😊
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 1, 2022, at 3:46 PM
Wheels: I remember this Life Lesson!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 1, 2022, at 4:46 PM
Was it Turnip or someone else who thought that people wouldn't be that way?
I remember having to teach Rick to wear a hard hat when he worked in the kitchen as well. 😏😉
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 1, 2022, at 6:48 PM
In other news of little use to many - appears over-the-air TV channels 27-7 and 27-8 finally went live yesterday, after months of teasing 'Coming Soon', as 27-9 continues to do.
On another note, kinda wondering about the marketing plans, can't recall seeing any press or public announcements on social media, etc. about these new offerings.
For example, the local Channel 23 now broadcasts six channels, but their website shows the schedule line-ups for only three.
Channel 49 is similar with 5 channels broadcast, but only three schedules shown on their website.
Channel 12 does list the schedules for all five of their channels, although suggest the web people might ought'a consider making them more intuitive to find, for those not inclined to scrounge and poke around the pages.
Still likin' the https://www.ontvtonight.com/guide/ page, where one can set up and then view all the various channels' schedules on one page
Guess I just don't understand big business... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jun 2, 2022, at 7:45 AM
I don't remember turnip being of any help at all besides a smart a_s..:)
-- Posted by Dissident on Thu, Jun 2, 2022, at 7:52 AM
Rick you're a brave man. She reads this she may hunt you down and hurt you.
Wish she had kept posting. I always enjoyed arguing with her. Spank, rest his soul, and I were going to take her youngest son, about 5 years old I think, and teach him.the basics to get along, like smoking, cussing and chewing tobacco.
We had some good times back then. Also there was Guru's Mom and Pops, but he never posted. They lived over in Marble Hill. I stopped and visited them a few times. But I didn't get there much and we drifted apart.
Also there was Melange, who was kind of the female version of Leftau. Thought she knew everything about anything.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jun 3, 2022, at 9:28 PM
Things change and then they change again.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jun 4, 2022, at 7:14 AM
- Posted by Dissident on Sat, Jun 4, 2022, at 5:56 AM
I think you are correct on people leaving. It is what it is.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jun 4, 2022, at 12:38 PM
Personal note:
Today is girlfriend's and mine 57th wedding anniversary!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jun 5, 2022, at 12:20 PM
Posted by Dissident on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 7:35 PM
Thanks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 7:50 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sun, Jun 5, 2022, at 12:20 PM
Semo471, you surely found a good woman to put up with you this long.
Just kidding.... Happy Anniversary, would it be fair to say you deserve one another? Tell the young lady Happy Anniversary as well. We just got off the phone from wishing our Grand Daughter in Dallas Happy Birthday.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 8:13 PM
Wheels: True, the Pope should nominate girlfriend for Sainthood!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 8:44 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 8:44 PM
My phone went dead and my computer is inthe computer hospital. Therfore the delay.😊😊😊😊😊😊
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jun 6, 2022, at 9:06 PM
Just saw the movie Top Gun, Maverick.....great movie recommend it!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jun 7, 2022, at 4:40 PM
- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Wed, Jun 8, 2022, at 12:40 PM
I have finally stopped laughing🤭🤭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Well almost anyway!
Dang it Rick, what are we going to do with you?
We buy you books, we send you to school, and all you want to do is.....
Oops, I better not go there.
Please be careful, we want to keep you a while longer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 8, 2022, at 1:59 PM
Rock ‘N’ Roll Drive-In whose prior name was the Montgomery Drive-In back in the day, our ole stomping grounds back in the 60s. Sure brought back good memories when we saw a movie there last summer! Some trivia: when the drive in first opened in the late 50s the owner wanted to have someone special to be there for the grand opening - Elvis Presley who was in the area (not famous yet) made an offer to appear for $150 of which the owner refused to pay so there was no Elvis!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 8, 2022, at 5:00 PM
WOW, it's hotter than Hades today, everyone take care and don't overdo yourself - it can wait till tomorrow or the next day!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 13, 2022, at 1:13 PM
Or next week!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jun 13, 2022, at 2:02 PM
Believe it's Mother Nature's time of the Month!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 13, 2022, at 3:41 PM
That kid was probably Rational J.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jun 14, 2022, at 7:12 AM
"...no respect for anything or anyone ." -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Tue, Jun 14, 2022, at 6:51 AM
Perhaps a biased perspective here, but agree in that growing numbers seem to plunder, blunder, stumble, and fumble on about exercising their rights, with bare minimum being only an idealistic stretch goal when it comes to the rest of the story - the responsibilities, obligations, courtesies, and considerations from being a member of a civilized society.
Eh, or maybe I've just turned into the grumpy grampy-geezer that even I used to laugh at so many years ago... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jun 14, 2022, at 9:27 AM
I always appreciate KFVS weather folks telling me what to wear for the day....does anyone wait to dress till they are told what to wear by them?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 15, 2022, at 7:50 AM
dbennett: Haven't seen any comments lately - you ok?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jun 16, 2022, at 8:37 AM
Didja hear about the big fat obese “Plus size model” that a horse ranch wouldn’t let ride one of their horses? She’s about a Deuce and a half(that’s 250) and there’s a weight limit for the horses she exceeds. She all wormy about it on Tik Tok so the horse ranch is getting the business from her supporters.
The place has weight limits posted.
Hey,Slim,a few less cheeseburgers and you coulda rode. Get a quarter and try the plastic one at the Fair but don’t think breaking down a horse is a fat lady constitutional right.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jun 16, 2022, at 4:15 PM
Just like lawn chairs, ladders, elevators, and other items there are weight limits to keep from having accidents or failures....just life!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jun 16, 2022, at 5:16 PM
Given the new recurring series of adventures in sticker shock for grocery-gobblins here lately - if there's ever a time for this frugal one to drop a few pounds, this just might be the motivation needed. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jun 17, 2022, at 8:15 AM
Well,won’t have to water the tomatoes for a few days.
May have to push the driveway back up the hill.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jun 17, 2022, at 8:38 AM
No rain here and if it wasn't for the neighbor's dog watering the fire hydrant there wouldn't be any moisture around at all!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jun 17, 2022, at 8:46 AM
Remember that conversation some where on here about buying a backup generator near 2 years ago and we had not been out of electric 5 minutes since.
I awakened about 5:30 this morning with one of those, what's that noise, what's that noise. It was lightning and thundering and between thunder I could hear a continuous humming. We were without electricity from our supplier of such and making our own. Then the generator would stop and in about 37 seconds it would start up and run for a few minutes again. It repeated that cycle about 3 or 4 times before Ameren finally got it to stay on. Now I have clocks blinking all over the house. I probably shouldn't wait for Ameren to show up and reset them for me.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jun 17, 2022, at 9:33 AM
If anyone is interested, the Riverboat American Melody is docked at the Cape Riverfront ....don't know when it will depart.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 20, 2022, at 1:30 PM
Holy Batman!! What the heck kind of prices is that!!
Girlfriend and I have cruised numerous times on Carnival for 7 days at the same price for 2 as for one person on this river cruise line 7 day trips.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 20, 2022, at 2:33 PM
Have to brag about my gas mileage. Round trip to Branson driving the speed limit with mostly the A/C going with no tail/headwinds I averaged 42.2 mpg! (KIA Forte GT)
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 7:01 PM
I averaged 42.2 mpg! -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 7:01 PM
Pretty doggone good there!
Had a Honda CRX HF back in the mid-aughts, flippin' itty-bitty roller skate, with big ol' me looking like a circus act folding up like George Jetson's briefcase to get in and out - best I ever got was about 35 mpg.
Bought it to save on gas...right before gas prices dipped, thinkin' in '09 with that recession, where interstate traffic was reduced to me being the Lone Ranger on many of the straight stretches.
No good deed goes unpunished - buy a car to save on fuel expenses, then prices tank so the savings were minimal over driving something bigger, more comfortable, and safer should a tangle with a tractor-trailer ever come along - such as a Buick LeSabre with a front bench seat that sat better than the sofa at the house.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 7:54 PM
I buy a car I like and I keep it until it is pretty much used up. What extra I spend on fuel, I save in not constantly trading. Current car I purchased, I traded an 2004 on a 1 year old 2016. I have never checked the miles per gallon on it. I am afraid I would feel bad.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 8:04 PM
Wheels: The onboard computer measures the mileage just set it to zero when leaving. For just the 2 of us there is plenty of room!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 8:42 PM
Semo471, I have owned cars from a 60 Falcon to a Lincold Mark and several in between size wise. Even owned an Opel GT 2 seater once. I still like the bigger car better.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 22, 2022, at 8:54 PM
Wheels: That's how come they make many car models for different driving styles. We started off in a used 1956 chevy and have had a used GTO, Van, Station Wagon, and other assortments in between in our 57 years of marriage. When you guys were first married what kind of horse buggy did you own?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 7:24 AM
Semo471
We started off in a 1953 Ford 2door Sedan that I had traded in my little 41 Ford Coupe that I had paid $100 for. From there it was a new 60 Ford Falcon, then a new 64 Ford Galaxy 500 Hardtop followed by a used 69 Ford T-Bird, a 71 T-Bird, 75 Lincoln Mark IV, all used from the 64, then a new 77 Mark VII?, ?? Mercury Mid Size Wagon, a couple of Jeep Waggoneers,an 04 Mercedes Sedan an a 16 Mercedes S550 the 04 was like new when > traded and expect this one to be the same in about another 6 years. In between I had a 3 Mazda RX 7's the last one an 89 Convertible which I still have with 42,??? Miles on it and is a first for me, it is worth more than I paid for it.
And you sir are a newly wed. 65 years in about 4 months here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 7:50 AM
Life is not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 4:13 PM
65 years.....if your wife doesn't realize by now that she made a mistake she never will. lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 4:16 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 4:16 PM
Be nice!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jun 23, 2022, at 4:33 PM
Back in the day it was tough spreading butter on bread that had numerous holes in it.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jun 25, 2022, at 6:47 AM
Sounds like I was chosen for another gully washer with tornado speed winds today. Only seen my two creek confluence over the bridges about twice in 40+ years. Now twice in about 10 days. If anyone sees my driveway there’s a reward.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jun 26, 2022, at 11:49 AM
"...gully washer ..." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jun 26, 2022, at 11:49 AM
Yep, whole-buncha water all at once here also, but only got up to the toad-stranglin' level of intensity :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jun 26, 2022, at 2:02 PM
As the farmers say - It was a million-dollar rain!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jun 26, 2022, at 3:26 PM
Patriots and Guns freed the Colonies from King George and England starting on 7/4/1776!! Have a Great Independence Day and Salute Old Glory, our Military, and our 2nd Amendment!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 2, 2022, at 4:04 PM
Thought Nars was going to make it 5 but it fell short!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 3, 2022, at 7:27 AM
DT,The robins are probably writing to “Birdseed Weekly” complaining about the guy tearing down their nest and what to do about him.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 4, 2022, at 3:49 PM
4TH of July.
This was always one of the ultimate days of summer as a kid. Having a nickel pack of Black Cat firecrackers and looking for something to blowup but the lucky kid was the one who had bottle rockets.
Usually some part of the family would have the rest over for a feed. A couple of times the outing would be within driving distance to somewhere special like Johnson Shut-ins. Way before the state took it over and eliminated fun. Swim,eat,swim some more,burn a few sparklers and fall asleep on the deck in the back window still wearing a wet pair of last school years Roebucks Mom cut off cause they were too short now.
Not that it was the good old days but my how times have changed. Money spent on personal fireworks is crazy. It’s not just bottle rockets but full on sky exploding displays. Not to judge,either,but are EBT cards acceptable at fireworks stands. P*ssing away money when the locals put on a pretty fair show then those obviously skipping some essentials to blow it up seems ludicrous. Everyone knows at least one of “them”. In fact I’ll bet fxpwt had “that” family next door.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 4, 2022, at 4:08 PM
Rock: Yep 4th of July was one of my favorite holidays while a youngster. Those "cherry bombs" before they were outlawed were the bomb. Food cans were almost sent into earth orbit....well almost. I had a piece of angle iron that was a good launch pad for those bottle rockets - good times!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 4, 2022, at 5:32 PM
Remember dad had a weekly route he drove 'up North' - which was a loop through Frohna, Uniontown, Brazeau, etc., making stops at the various small markets.
After the 4th, he'd make time-appropriate offers for the stores' remaining stocks of fireworks that didn't sell. By the time he finished his rounds, the back end of the ol' Kaiser Jeep panel wagon would be wall-to-wall.
Talk about fireworks overload, we'd work diligently on the stockpile for a couple days before everything was gone. Out in kinda remote area, so not bothering anyone.
Actually got challenging to think of new ways to entertain ourselves, such as progressing from shooting bottle rockets up in the air, to shooting multiple fuse-twist-tied sets up, to target practice at various stationary things, onto targetting moving things like each other. Roman candles added a whole 'nuther degree of entertainment on that last item. :-)
Simpler times, simpler fireworks. Some of the stuff set off these days - wow, multiple colors and phases of release, and heights achieved - whew!
With one night to go here (hopefully), hasn't been as bad as last year's stimulus-enhanced extravaganza by the livin' off gubment aid and proud of it crowds. Figured then, they were approaching, if not well into the 4-digits of dollars' worth - with warm-up extended every-night outbursts starting on 29 June leading to the 3 hours (10p-1a) of continuous and even paralleled launchings on the 4th. The trash they left behind was indescribable as far as the volumes and affected radius of deposits spanning across several yards.
Still think it's ironic for them to celebrate independence, well, except for that full dependency on someone else buying their groceries, paying their rent, etc. Seems gubment aid turns people's minds to mush and removes all ambition.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 4, 2022, at 6:18 PM
Gotta love great fireworks stories.
Some of the best involved the “professionals” one of which I witnessed in Eminence,Mo years ago. Sumpin’ went wrong and the whole shebang went off scattering them and the crowd. Great finale.
Another whole shebang story I didn’t witness but heard it from both sides. An ex brother-in-law was at a family gathering with a yard full of cousins. One in particular had procured several paper bags of assorted fireworks and guarded them with his life generally PO’ing the rest of the cousins. Bobby(the ex brother-in-law) couldn’t resist and in a unguarded moment sneaked up on the porch and lit the bags. Bobby’s story was “I know nothing” and the cousin’s was “I’ll kill him”. Years later as adult it all came out.
Bobby said it was beautiful and fun till the cabin almost burned down.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 4, 2022, at 6:54 PM
Rick, regarding the Robin..... you do understand you are dealing with the female of the species? You may as well give up. She isn't stubborn, just determinied
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 5, 2022, at 7:09 AM
Rick, the bright side, she is just trying to help you. With more help she will eliminate a lot of pesky bugs.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 5, 2022, at 7:12 AM
Towards the robin thing - had one trying to set up shop on top of my porch light.
Had some success with clipping a coat hangar (note of experience - the white painted ones are a lighter gauge wire and easier to work with than the traditional ones), then winding a very loose coil-spring assembly laid on top of the lamp.
Gotta give it to them, they tried, but eventually gave up and moved on.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jul 5, 2022, at 7:43 AM
Robin Lives Matters!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 5, 2022, at 8:10 AM
Is it just me or bad year for tomatoes?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jul 7, 2022, at 10:04 AM
DT: Why not just be friends with the Robin and she will sing you a song every day and probably name one of her little ones after you! Just kidding!
**********************************
Glad you went back to "Disease. Turtle" - my error!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 7, 2022, at 5:48 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 7, 2022, at 6:30 PM
Fxpwt, it takes a lot more than that to amuse me these days!
My daughter just told me she did see gas for $4.24 or something like that and filled up her car.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 7, 2022, at 6:54 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 7, 2022, at 6:54 PM
Saw prices here today drop to $4.299 - but just seems wrong to be celebrating a return to $4 gas...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 8, 2022, at 5:18 PM
fxpwt,$4.299 didn’t stop me from putting on another “I Did That Sticker”!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jul 8, 2022, at 5:53 PM
Remember this is a no political thread and don't blame anyone for those high gas prices!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jul 8, 2022, at 5:58 PM
This weekend weather should be a little more like normal around here.
***********************
Will the Cardinal's bats be active tonight? Last night the Cards were swatting mosquitoes!
***********************
Charleston's own James Naile is still holding his own in the big league as a relief pitcher for the Cards!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jul 8, 2022, at 6:06 PM
Hello, hello!
All I hear is an echo!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 8, 2022, at 8:26 PM
The Cardinals blow another game! Replace the whole team with the Cape Catfish!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 9, 2022, at 4:54 PM
Whew, it's hot! Get asked if it's hot enough for me - dang, it was hot enough 10 degrees back, this is just misery piled on top.
Oh, to be 5-years-old again, so I could run through the sprinklers...without looking like a freak. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 23, 2022, at 7:11 PM
Some wisdom from the internet....
Buckwheat says....
Men are from Mars
Women are from Venus
All those other genders, you just pulled from Uranus!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 23, 2022, at 9:08 PM
Guess it's a sign of the changing times, was watching pieces-parts, here and there, of the 'Major League' movie trilogy on Ch23-5 last night.
Interesting at the beginning before the intro and after coming off EVERY commercial break, there was a disclaimer screen, with something along the lines of "Some scenes may have content which certain viewers may find offensive by today's standards. Enjoy!"
Actually, the station's feeling they had to post that, but then rolling the movies anyway was funnier than a lot of the content, especially for the 3rd installment. :-)
Pretty stark contrast from my new-hire job goals sit-down talk with my boss, once upon a time wayback, shortest one ever with only two directives assigned - the second of which was, "if you have feelings, lose 'em!"
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 24, 2022, at 1:29 PM
IMO, the Cards need both starting and relief pitchers - how about a 3 for 1 trade?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 1, 2022, at 10:42 AM
Juan Soto would be a great addition but can the Cardinals afford him?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 2, 2022, at 8:14 AM
Whew!
"Un-retired" for a few days to help a former employer out of a bind, as well as the opportunity to learn the young'uns on the stuff that isn't in the equipment manuals, much less on "there's an app for that" or a YouTube video that they seem to rely on nowadays. :-)
Rewarding in being able to pass down things occupying space in my brain, as well as help to get things out of the ditch and back on the straight-and-narrow.
Can't say a home-run was hit, but there were quite a few singles and doubles towards getting the processes back on their feet, putting right what had gone wrong.
Definitely re-affirming the decision to call it a day on the career. Ugh, I is getting too old for this every-day show up on time and ready to gitter-dun shtuff.
Given the number of employees shared in trouble there for attendance, and on the verge of being terminated for such - apparently, the young-uns are already getting too old for the regular employment gig shtuff too... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Aug 4, 2022, at 6:35 PM
WOW, the Cards Swept the Yanks by winning today 12-9....way to go!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 7, 2022, at 6:50 PM
-- Posted by Deseased Turtle on Mon, Aug 8, 2022, at 4:10 AM
Rick I hate to ask dumb questions but what are the Cardinals doing playing the Yankees? We are not into World Series season already are we? I am not an avid sports fan. Cannot begin to tell you when I watched the last sports game of any kind. But it may have been somewhere like about Super Bowl in about 2016 or 2017 when it was kind of a requirement when we got together to drink some of the spirits at someone's condo in Gulf Shores.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 8, 2022, at 10:28 PM
-- Posted by Deseased Turtle on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 4:31 AM
Rick, I guess you now know my lack of enlightenment on the subject.☹️
Thanks for the explanation.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 9:16 AM
I know you have been lying awake at night wondering why baby diapers have brand names such as "Luvs",
"Huggies", and "Pampers', while undergarments for old people are called "Depends".
Well here is the low down on the whole thing.
When babies crap in their pants, people are still gonna Luv'em, Hug'em and Pamper' em.
When old people crap in their pants, it "Depends" on who's in the will!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 9:28 AM
In agreement with baseball games should be played only in the league that a team belongs in. My biggest peeve is the infield shift which IMO distorts a player's overall performance. Also the designated hitter which allows those players that should have retired but allowed to add to their stats. Other than that -play ball@
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 9:52 AM
I was a St Louis Cardinal fan. I was a St Louis Cardinal FOOTBALL fan till the move to AZ. Made me realize what is was all about…..it’s the money,stupid.
I remained a St Louis Baseball fan. Not a crazed fan but still a fan. Watching when I could and going to several games a year admittedly on someone’s else’s dime. Every seat from bleachers to those high end “greens” behind home plate. But then I saw Pu$ol$ saying it was about the World Series and not the money right before he took the money and ran West. My wife being a huge Cardinal and bigger Pu$ol$ fan stuck voodoo pins in a Pu$ol$ doll when he left. She about shredded his pristine rookie card I gave her for Christmas. Stopped short on that though. Might be worth something one day.
All that being said the only game we have watched was the last three innings of the 1-0 snoozer over the Yankees a few days ago. Molina was the only player I knew on the field. My wife goes up about a once a year on a girls trip to a game and that’s about it. The area around the stadium is shady to say the least. Last time there we heard gunshots. Just not worth the drive,the parking,the people,possible muggings to watch a game,eat crappy food and drink a warm 3.2 draft beer.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 11:03 AM
"...St Louis Cardinal FOOTBALL..." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 11:03 AM
Heheheh, gots a set of smoked glassware somewheres around here resembling the shape of the bottom of an eggplant, with the STL football Cardinals logo and name printed on one side and the NFL logo on the other - think it was some filling station giveaway of the time, a 'free' glass with each fill-up of 10 gallons or more, or such.
Had to chuckle when the niece quizzed about that football team ever being in STL. Had to bring Chicago into the history lesson.
Almost as entertaining as watching her doing hokey-pokey push-button dialing on the rotary phone without the obligatory twist-and-shout motions.
She wasn't amused when I told her she gots to be smarter than the machine, and that machine predated her cell phone and 'all-that' by about 50 years.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 5:47 PM
It is a hoot watching a young un trying to figure out a rotary phone.
I remember having the old black phone with no dials. Pick up the phone and a voice would ask “number please”. Then the little town went high tech. SW Bell employees came around and switched that no dial unit to one with a dial. That’s when you didn’t and couldn’t own your phone. Then one Sunday morning while everyone was at church they switched over to using the dial. About noon the system overloaded when everyone started dialing all the neighbors. New fangled stuff.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 9, 2022, at 7:21 PM
Been going to cardinal baseball games since the late 1950s and IMO the players should play in their original designated areas.
Speeding up the game is a good idea!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 10, 2022, at 7:14 AM
16 to 5 Cardinals lost last night, what an embarrassing game!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 10, 2022, at 7:16 AM
"The Yankees played 4 outfielders against O'Neill"
Saw that and thought that I was watching a little league game.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 10, 2022, at 12:11 PM
Hopefully, the Cards will have gotten use to that thin air out in Denver and send the balls over the fence for a victory tonight!!
When our daughter lived out in the west part of Denver, I always had a headache on the first day of our visit with her.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 10, 2022, at 5:30 PM
The Cardinals always have had fans at most ball parks due to their consistent winning seasons.
Got to see Stan Musial and Bob Gibson play at the old Sportsman Park for $1 for beacher seats!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 11, 2022, at 10:41 AM
Whew! Been tied up with getting the new laptop up-n-running and dialed-in with preferences and such, loading all the various specialty software and anti-virus as-best remembered from the old laptop, transferring files wisely backed up and lamenting those files too new to be archived now lost to that infernal bit bucket, etc.
Amazed by the differences between the previous unit now 'just' six years old - well, it was six years old at the time of its abrupt and complete loss of do-right last week.
On the brighter side, the new unit doesn't have the drywall screws wrapped in duct tape poking me in knees - a self-installed feature from a couple years ago in the height of the Rona where the screen separated from the keyboard, and nobody was selling laptops at prices I was willing to fork over.
Ain't got no CD/DVD drive which I suppose is a sign of the times with progress and all the downloadable stuff now available...or that I just bought a cheaper unit.
No Ethernet port for a hard-wired connection either - apparently have to get a double-secret special Ethernet-to-USB adapter (not included, of course).
Gots a solid-state hard drive, so no more comfortable whirring letting me know it was doing some good.
On first-time fire-up, the thing about set itself up - a loooooong way from the days (yes, sometimes it took that long) of the good old floppy-swappy - what was it, something like 25 floppies, required to be inserted in sequential order, to load Windows back then, before the pre-installed phase came along?
Seriously impressed with the speed, at least for now. Files open so fast, hardly have time to think, and barely get a blink in. The wireless speed test (https://www.speedtest.net) has been coming in anywheres from 250 - 340 MBPS downloads, pretty much matching the hard-wired speed of the desktop, a pretty good step-up from the former unit's 50-60 tops, and a long ways from hooking up the phone wire for its speed first remembered at 300 baud (could almost type as fast as the then text-only screens refreshed), eventually progressing on up to the phone-network bandwidth-limiting max speed of 56K.
Interesting the number of neighbors identified in a wireless site survey operating their 2.4GHz wireless in non-neighborhood friendly, bandwidth-hogging mode - kind of an affirmation on society's overall decline of consideration for others, or as Jefferson Starship kinda put it in their Stairway to Cleveland jingle - up yours, I do what I want.
Appears the 5.8GHz wireless still has plenty of room around these parts, so I picked a range of unused channels and let the router run at its wide-open throttle on this band. Also interesting how much more wireless there is in the 'hood from when I ran the survey on the last laptop setup, and how many of these are listed as Open networks, which I assume anyone could tie into.
Much like upgrading vehicles, tough to turn loose of the cash even after the Back-to-School sales tax savings, but once the deal is done - so glad to have done it. And, paraphrasing an old Virginia Slims line - things have come a long way, baby! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 9:40 AM
Fxpwt, I just went through what you are experiencing. I went for another laptop which I have been doing for years. The startup speed is unbelievable. Wanted a 17 inch screen but had to settle for a 15, availability problem, For speed and plain laziness I had a tech set mine up. Used the company I had used in business for the purchase and setup. My desktop and computer desktop are equally cluttered. He even got that all back. When he left my computer desktop was just as cluttered as my old computer was when it took it's last breath. I use a cloud backup and it stores stuff automatically, but I don't have everything going there unfortunately. But, I got in one of those let's organize modes the other night and created a bunch of new folders on the desktop, labeled them by category, and dragged all my little desktop icons into the appropriate folders and dragged the folders in alphabetical order across the top of my screen. Now I can look out over the Bon Secour River Sunset picture I took so many years ago when in Gulf Shores.
One more thing, I always told a friend who had to have everything on his desk in place and criticized mine.... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered mind.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 10:34 AM
Fxpwt, I just went through what you are experiencing. I went for another laptop which I have been doing for years. The startup speed is unbelievable. Wanted a 17 inch screen but had to settle for a 15, availability problem, For speed and plain laziness I had a tech set mine up. Used the company I had used in business for the purchase and setup. My desktop and computer desktop are equally cluttered. He even got that all back. When he left my computer desktop was just as cluttered as my old computer was when it took it's last breath. I use a cloud backup and it stores stuff automatically, but I don't have everything going there unfortunately. But, I got in one of those let's organize modes the other night and created a bunch of new folders on the desktop, labeled them by category, and dragged all my little desktop icons into the appropriate folders and dragged the folders in alphabetical order across the top of my screen. Now I can look out over the Bon Secour River Sunset picture I took so many years ago when in Gulf Shores.
One more thing, I always told a friend who had to have everything on his desk in place and criticized mine.... A clean desk is a sign of a cluttered mind.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 10:34 AM
Wheels - agree with the 17-inch screen preference, I like being able to see more content on one screen without all the side-shuffling and scrolling, such as when viewing spreadsheets and the like.
Just not comfortable with the Cloud...yet. No, not because of any spying or conspiracy fears, more towards a career-long lesson learned about keeping control over one's resources.
Most recently but still a whiles back, a sorta Cloud failure happened when the plant upgraded its maintenance software controlling work orders, warehouse inventory, and purchase orders.
Old system was completely in-house on-site, but the Corporate brain-trusts figured the servers for all their plants with the new systems would be in one single place at headquarters, citing uniform system maintenance and data archiving across plants.
We hollered about the risks, they pretended to listen and then went ahead anyway.
All was working well, the corporate folks were patting the HQ I.T. guys on the back about job well-done, how smart they were, etc... until the day a local construction crew out by the Interstate cut our Internet T-something line, leaving us with no access to work orders for assigning the 150 or so craftsmen, no way to find parts we knew were in the big five-acre or better warehouse other than walking aisle by aisle, and no automatic tracking and reordering of parts checked out now below minimum stocking levels.
Essentially, the big step forward to the latest-and-greatest resulted in a lotta intra-plant phone calls, radio traffic jams, and the yellow pads and pencils being brought back out just like in the pre-computer days. Fun times!
It's been said that a person naturally rises to their highest level of incompetence - which explains here how so many people get their jobs in a Corporate office.
Another better idea trickled down from the crystal palace was sending an inventory control whiz-kid specialist to review parts inventory minimum-maximum levels towards reducing costs.
He and his special 'super-sophisticated' software analysis in one instance came up with a minimum stocking level of 1 for a fuse used on 480-volt 3-phase circuits throughout the plant, citing historical usage patterns and average time to restock from the vendor.
Had an interesting conversation with him about usually needing these in sets of three, and then quizzed him about his personal availabilities to run the hot-shot pickup from the vendor on a Saturday night or any of the other three-quarters of the week outside of normal business hours when these fuses will probably fail and our warehouse is now out of stock thanks to him. Heheheh, score one for the plant!
Another gem was his wanting to get rid of parts purchased when the plant opened some 30 years back, but had never-ever been used - like a particular gearbox. Walked him through the gearbox being a single-point-of-failure critical part of the material unloading system, how the plant tries to maintain a 30-day inventory onsite, and that the lead time to get another one of these gearboxes is four to six months, then let him do the math.
Flippin bean-counters - gots all the answers on how much it costs to have something, but got absolutely no clue on what it costs NOT to have something when needed...
...wait, what was the question? :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 12:33 PM
fxpwt: Been there done that with a new computer in-house systems. Was part of the "input team" with the I.T. Dept. After a hard year of work, we had a working new order entry/purchasing/inventory control system that did everything but refill your coffee cups!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 1:23 PM
Fxpwt,
I hear you, but I am a crew of one. And the world will not stop here with me off line for a spell. I do have a backup though from being offline. Moving from Saint Charles to St Peters put me out of MA Bell territory and squarely in Frontiersville with Centurytel country.
No way am I going there. So I get my phone service from AT&T cellular. And my internet from Spectrum the Cable Co. And when their line goes slack I bring out my old standby from Motor Home traveling days dedicated wireless internet service from AT&T, which I also use at the farm where I have no internet.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 1:36 PM
Truth - if you're talking about our mutual former employer - yeah, buddy - that set-up was the berries, part of our long list of risks raised on converting to another system, rather than installing the available upgrades for our then current software.
With the side applications our in-house I.T. guys pulled off, and the ease of use for folks willing to learn but not inherently savvy with computers - was a really slick user-friendly system. Bringing up user-friendly as an observation that it doesn't matter how neat the system is, if the users can't use it. Only the cryptic early Windows displays made it look aged.
Looking back at the state the new system had progressed and been customized to when the place folded, what we previously had still ran circles around the Corporate-mandated 'upgrade' and modernization, although the PO's and related paperwork printed out looked so much cooler with all the new graphics and fonts and stuff. Ahhh, change...could be better or worse, with the only guarantee that it will be different.
Wheels - Spectrum has been pretty reliable here, so much so that I decided to cut landline ties with AT&T and pick up the Spectrum phone service. Went from an $80 per month AT&T bill to a $13 per month Spectrum bill - backfeeding the phone modem into my house phone wiring so that I have six landline pickups through-out the place, with the cordless set Bluetoothed so I can pick up a mobile call anywhere in the house while that phone is land-locked on its charger.
Love redundancy. Spectrum goes down, can still make and receive calls and do Internet stuff on the mobile with Verizon (TracFone licensed). Nothing on antenna TV, can still stream on the FireStick.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 6:59 PM
Fxpwt, Spectrum spends almost as much time in my neighborhood as I do. My TV Service is with Direct TV. And if it were not for the news and my wife, I could turn that off as well. And I am perfectly content with no landline phone, so I pay $0.00 dollars per month there. And with a cell phone I am not tethered. I can take the cell phone with me to the "Library" if the need arises. Also, I can check the various HVAC zones in my building and regulate them from my phone, same with the alarm system.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 13, 2022, at 8:05 PM
Heheheh, DT - had to go back and dust off long-unused brain cells when you went to bringing up punch cards, DOS, and such.
Seems we're on a similar timeline - recall fancying myself as kind of a DOS wiz, and Windows was gonna be for the simpletons, kinda like Apple IPhones are viewed today. Yeah, like when I decided I was gonna just quit driving if gas ever got to $1 per gallon. :-)
Unpunched punch cards made handy note pads - fit right in the pocket, stout enough so could write on 'em almost anywhere, even in the palm of the hand.
Still chuckle a bit on how things have progressed, remembering the astonishment with having to use passwords.
Previously, things were wide-open. Need some code that one remembered a colleague writing, just go into his files and copy-n-paste. Need to get on the mainframe, just sit down at the terminal and go, sans any log-ins. Need master control of the mainframe, just type //O,,EM without any credentials check and BOOM - instant master of that local universe.
Chuckle even more at the struggle of coming up with a password then, just mind-warping then that unsavory people could ever gain access to this high-tech stuff - my SEMissourian username is my first-ever password just sprayed out on the keyboard in frustration after being rejected for the other ones, so hanging onto it for sentimental reasons.
Eh, guess too much news here. Fell off the leading wave long ago, amazed by what is possible today, but remembering the time when all this built-in convenience leading to the great things possible today, wasn't available, and everything had to be built by hand.
Figure the young'uns don't have a clue on creating a database from scratch, with dynamic memory allocations because memory and processor time was quite a limiting barrier back then, and the data trees and keys and structures and pointers which had to be manually programmed before the days of 'there's an app for that'...
Growing concern on this new dude - stuff just happens, like Outlook opening on its own whenever I get a new e-mail. Not liking that, towards what else is going on that I don't know about, towards a previous entry about keeping control over one's resources.
Bigger concern is how long before all this artificial intelligence crap truly does take over? :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Aug 14, 2022, at 6:40 PM
fxpwt, I remember those DOS days, had a friend who was a Dedicated apple user and they had some fancy stuff with pictures and all. Anyway, I used to tell him, they made DOS for those of us who could read and they mad Apple for the rest of you.
I used to use Supercalc as a Spreadsheet in the DOS days while everyone else used Lotus 123 and now of course we use Excel.
Well I found I had some old Spreadsheets that I would like to get some things from and am hung out there. One a collection I have that I had catalogued with prices etc and have quit following over the years and now would like to leave some semblence of order for kids to deal with. Could not find my old SuperCalc disks but did find an old computer with Windows 7 on it. Got on the internet and found a guy who had a new package unopened, I bought it and installed and loaded up a spreadsheet, exported it to Lotus and imported it into and older version of Excel. Saved it and loaded it into the current version of Excel and it is almost perfect and certainly made usable. If there is a will there is a way. It will be worth the aggravation if I can just revive 10% of those old files that have set there for years.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 14, 2022, at 8:13 PM
Rick I don't think there is such a thing as bring 100% safe. And I know when I am in over my head. I let the guy's company that I have used for years to set mine up. Will it do what I need plus now yes. Could it be made to do more, probably. Do I want more at this point no.
I had a failure some years back and could have lost a lot because I had failed to do my backups. Busy today and will do it tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. I had heard about these new fangled cloud backups and investigated. I chose one and have used it ever since. I change a file and it is backed up as changed. Take a picture with my cell phone it is backed up. Yes some things still get by without backing up. That is because of me again when I create a new folder and don't take the time to place it so it will get backed up. More of that I will do it tomorrow.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 14, 2022, at 9:44 PM
Truth - if you're talking about our mutual former employer - yeah, buddy - that set-up was the berries,
fxpwt: Noranda for sure. Being one of the more senior in the front office, myself, the I.T. programmer, and a couple of accountants did the most leg work on the project. It was a little like being a Father when we started testing it and the system grew up and started working correctly. Great times!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 14, 2022, at 10:34 PM
Rick, I hear you and yes, I know they can track you to hell and back with a cell phone, but at 4 score and 4, I don't know that I really care. Kind of like the farmer's duck, web footed and don't give a .... you know.
I use my cell phone as a tool to monitor T-Stats and alarm system in my building. You have no idea at my predetermined time I check and find that some dimwit has left as last person out and not set it. So I do it from my phone.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 15, 2022, at 6:41 AM
Crabgrass - aaargh! Starting to see it really take off here lately in the yard. I'll go ahead and pull the bigger spreads because they just look ugly, but otherwise getting to the point of just letting the smaller clumps slide, knowing I'll nail 'em with the pre-emergent put out next Spring after the handy-dandy electronic calendar annual reminder dings.
No idea where it's coming from this time. In the past, it would usually sneak in and spread along the curb and edges of the yard, presumed to be gifts from the neighbors lacking 'give a hoot' or other considerations as to where they discharge their yard waste. This year, seeing the splotches starting out in the middle of the yard, so yet something else that now makes me go, hmmmm.
As an aside, one of the reasons why yard services are shied away from here, well, first a matter of pride in DIY whilst I can, but also avoiding the transference of foreign weeds dropping off their mower deck from the other yards.
Have grown to like a good-looking, uniform yard, figuring it plays a major part of that 'first impression', plus being a good steward toward efforts to keep the collective 'hood a nice place to call home, at least from a streetview perspective.
Still believe the yard at the previous house helped towards making the decision for the buyers, as the guy kept going on and on and raving about the grass, even asking for a task list for the fertilizer, 2,4-D and pre-emergent regimens and timings after the sale was done. Stuff ain't that hard or time-consuming, just gots to be diligent and timely, and a dose of patience helps too.
Mowers have been another opportunity to excel, going on the understanding that regular cutting stimulates growth - which gets eye-rolled and reworded by others saying, so...the more you mow, the more you have to mow. Well, yeah, sorta, to a limiting point...but if grass ain't growing, it usually ain't looking healthy or uniform nor largest personal asset-enhancing either.
Have two push-mowers here, one came with the house left by the previous owner, the other I had bought a year or so before selling the previous abode.
The one that came with this house is a 2002 model year Craftsman, having a Tecumseh motor, its age being the reason why the other one was kept. Still running strong, starts on the first pull after the labelled 3 pushes on the primer bulb, but have had to clean on the carb, replace a couple wheels, and replace the plug wire which included the coil since they were a one-piece unit molded together.
The one I had bought is a 2013 model year Craftsman, having a Briggs and Stratton motor. B&S really dropped a king-sized deuce with this dude - wouldn't run or run right, took it back twice for warranty repair, still didn't run right, so just gave up and used the older mower after the move.
Coupla years ago, figured I needed to do something with it other than being a dust-collecting boat-anchor decoration displayed in the corner of the garage, so dug into it. Pffft, found throttle springs either off or attached at the wrong point, the throttle speed governor vane operating off the fan airstream wasn't even bolted in, the automatic choke thermal clock spring had failed (really? a full auto choke on a push mower these days?) - concerning with manufacturing quality controls letting this out of the gate, and the abilities of warranty repair peoples who apparently wouldn't or just couldn't follow along in the same OEM repair manual I obtained.
Got all that put in place, and by golly, good-to-go, first pull and everything. But wait... After a few mowings, it started acting up again, found crud in the carb metering jet. The poorly-designed shroud seems to encourage crud to fall in the fuel tank if one isn't diligent on cleaning around the cap before removing. Hmmm, seems Tecumseh had that figured out at least 10 years earlier with their design, no cleaning needed. At any rate, installed an inline fuel filter as a work-around.
Suppose with it being a mulching-capable mower, it has some intentional vents cast in the motor between its base and the mower deck, which seem to blow debris right at the air filter causing mid-mowing season cleanings. Hmmm, again, the older Tecumseh seems to have figured this out at least 10 years earlier, once a year on it is plenty good...
Do love the mulching mode, don't end up with hayrows in the yard, and don't spray debris onto the drive, walkways or street requiring follow-up clean-ups, as a job isn't considered done until the mess is cleaned up, which gets easier when the mess isn't even made.
Plus, mulching is handier than a shirt pocket in early Fall to chew up the leaves to oblivion, before the rate of leaf fall becomes overwhelming and the rake has to get busted out.
Gots to wonder if technology is really all-that, here with the auto-choke and auto-throttle and all the stuff that works great in the sales demo's... all the way until it doesn't in real-world practice. Never had a lick of trouble from a manual slider on the handle controlling both the customizable throttle speed and the choke function, all-in-one.
Eh, just a stray hair in blathering this out, veering way-off on a tangent from the original crabgrass rant, but got a bit tired of most of the other online negative noises currently going on... :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 3:22 PM
If it wasn’t for weeds or the farmer on his side of the fence overspraying I wouldn’t have much of a yard to be proud of. Pretty much a crab grass sanctuary. Always liked to keep up with the Jones’s but they were a mile away and died anyway.
Gotta love this story:
Electric fence and a lawn mower
We have the standard 6 ft. fence in the backyard, and a few months ago, I heard about burglaries increasing dramatically in the entire city. To make sure this never happened to me, I got an electric fence and ran a single wire along the top of the fence.
Actually, I got the biggest cattle charger Tractor Supply had, made for 26 miles of fence. I then used an 8 ft. long ground rod, and drove it 7.5 feet into the ground. The ground rod is the key, with the more you have in the ground, the better the fence works.
One day I'm mowing the back yard with my cheapo Wal-Mart 6 hp big wheel push mower. The hot wire is broken and laying out in the yard. I knew for a fact that I unplugged the charger. I pushed the mower around the wire and reached down to grab it, to throw it out of the way.
It seems as though I hadn't remembered to unplug it after all.
Now I'm standing there, I've got the running lawnmower in my right hand and the 1.7 giga-volt fence wire in the other hand. Keep in mind the charger is about the size of a marine battery and has a picture of an upside down cow on fire on the cover.
Time stood still.
The first thing I notice is my pecker trying to climb up the front side of my body. My ears curled downwards and I could feel the lawnmower ignition firing in the backside of my brain. Every time that Briggs & Stratton rolled over, I could feel the spark in my head. I was literally at one with the engine.
It seems as though the fence charger and the piece of **** lawnmower were fighting over who would control my electrical impulses.
Science says you cannot crap, pee, and vomit at the same time. I beg to differ. Not only did I do all three at once, but my bowels emptied 3 different times in less than half of a second. It was a Matrix kind of bowel movement, where time is creeping along and you're all leaned back and BAM BAM BAM you just crap your pants 3 times. It seemed like there were minutes in between but in reality it was so close together it was like exhaust pulses from a big block Chevy turning 8 grand.
At this point I'm about 30 minutes (maybe 2 seconds) into holding onto the fence wire. My hand is wrapped around the wire palm down so I can't let go. I grew up on a farm so I know all about electric fences.....but Dad always had those pieces of **** chargers made by International or whoever that were like 9 volts and just kinda tickled.
This one I could not let go of. The 8 foot long ground rod is now accepting signals from me through the permadamp Ark-La-Tex river bottom soil. At this point I'm thinking I'm going to have to just man up and take it, until the lawnmower runs out of gas.
'****!,' I think, as I remember I just filled the tank!
Now the lawnmower is starting to run rough. It has settled into a loping run pattern as if it had some kind of big lawnmower race cam in it. Covered in poop, pee, and with my vomit on my chest I think 'Oh God please die... Pleeeeaze die'. But nooooo, it settles into the rough lumpy cam idle nicely and remains there, like a big bore roller cam EFI motor waiting for the go command from its owner's right foot.
So here I am in the middle of July, 104 degrees, 80 humidity, standing in my own backyard, begging God to kill me. God did not take me that day.....he left me there covered in my own fluids to writhe in the misery my own stupidity had created..
I honestly don't know how I got loose from the wire...I woke up laying on the ground hours later. The lawnmower was beside me, out of gas. It was later on in the day and I was sunburned.
There were two large dead grass spots where I had been standing, and then another long skinny dead spot where the wire had laid while I was on the ground still holding on to it. I assume I finally had a seizure and in the resulting thrashing had somehow let go of the wire.
Upon waking from my electrically induced sleep I realized a few things:
1- Three of my teeth seem to have melted.
2- I now have cramps in the bottoms of my feet and my right butt cheek (not the left, just the right).
3- Poop, pee, and vomit when all mixed together, do not smell as bad as you might think.
4- My left eye will not open.
5- My right eye will not close.
6- The lawnmower runs like a sumbitch now. Seriously! I think our little session cleared out some carbon fouling or something, because it was better than new after that.
7- My nuts are still smaller than average yet they are almost a foot long.
8- I can turn on the TV in the game room by farting while thinking of the number 4 (still don't understand this???)..
That day changed my life. I now have a newfound respect for things.. I appreciate the little things more, and now I always triple check to make sure the fence is unplugged before I mow.
The good news, is that if a burglar does try to come over the fence, I can clearly visualize what my security system will do to him, and THAT gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over, which also reminds me to triple check before I mow.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 3:55 PM
Rock: Did this really happen to you? lol
That's how come I let girlfriend mow our grass so I don't have to worry about things such as what you described!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 4:17 PM
Truth,wasn’t me. That one’s been around for a bit. Always gives me a laugh at someone else’s misfortune. Some of the dumb stuff I’ve done it very well could be my story,tho.
One more family story:
My Dad was an self taught engineer patented inventor as an adult but his inventiveness started at a young age. His Dad built a ball field for him,his 3 brothers and the younger neighbor kids but a group of older guys would come around and run them off. When Grampa was alerted to the problem he said you guys figure it out. Soooo—
Dad noticed every few innings they would all head to an old chicken coop to relieve themselves. Inventive as he was he laid a bare electric wire in the dirt and when figured they all had a good stream going he threw the switch on the house. He said the howling and old boards literally flying off the side of the coop was special. He always wondered if any of those boys had kids.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 5:10 PM
I"m b=going to have to think about DA's situation a bit, first thing comes to mind is to do as Semo471 does it, he holds the light for his wife to cut the grass because he is too considerate to having her do it on a hot sunny day, do it after dinner!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 5:30 PM
Wheels: That's still true. However, she is starting to whine a little! If she continues to whine, I might have to buy a couple of goats and stake them out in the yard!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 5:38 PM
Had the bright idea to put my wife on the rider while I weedeated. Pretty sure there was a thorough equipment explanation and safety check but according to her there was neither. Something about that brake/clutch combo pedal got confusing immediately. Anyway Troybilt had nothing in the manual about its ability to climb trees. She doesn’t like to weedeat either.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 6:29 PM
Rock: How far up the tree did she go? lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 17, 2022, at 7:31 PM
Re: The mower up the tree incident.
If not for that seat switch it could have been ugly. She rode it like champ(do champs use that language?) but lifted off the seat and that killed it.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Aug 18, 2022, at 5:45 PM
Thankfully she wasn't hurt.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 18, 2022, at 6:25 PM
Mowers can be dangerous no doubt. Had a friend pull his push mower back and tripped. Pulled the mower over his foot. Doesn’t have to trim that one big toe nail ever again.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Aug 18, 2022, at 6:55 PM
"Mowers can be dangerous no doubt." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Aug 18, 2022, at 6:55 PM
Very true. A number of friends and former co-workers through the years have lost various little piggies and pieces-parts, with one losing half a foot.
Cringe when neighbors are seen push-mowing in shower shoes (flip-flops) - no protection AND limited traction. I don an old pair of steel-toes, in the spirit of learning from mistakes of others.
Also wear safety glasses when weed-eating, personal lesson learned way back after a pebble clocked me in the eye and was bargaining with my higher power to either make it better or take me now - part of that 'experience is the result of bad judgment' thing, and an extension of 'some people learn from others, others learn the hard way.' :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 7:22 AM
You’ll love this one. Years ago at a friend’s home I watched the neighbor brush hogging a few acres with an old tractor. Had his one year old on his lap as the 4-5 year old ran behind letting the cut grass,weeds,saplings blow all over him. Can’t fix dumb but you can have 911 on standby.
On another subject I found a big lake turtle in a trash can at Jackson Park this AM. Like a turtle on a post it didn’t climb in there by itself.
Got Jarbo II corralled and got the turtle out and it had fishing line with a big weight tangled up. Afraid it had swallowed the hook but it didn’t so I cut away what I could,took it to the lake and before I got Jarbo II and back it had swam off.
Glad I could help the old turtle but sure like to know what kind of “sportsman” does that? Prob was in there since yesterday.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 10:13 AM
DA, will pass that on to Rick aKa Diseased Turtle. Just in case he gets stuck in a trash can.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 10:50 AM
Rock: Probably more turtles than fish now in the lake.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 11:24 AM
-- Posted by Deseased Turtle on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 12:50 PM
Being a one-off Blue Oval owner in a crowd of friends driving all their Bowties and Danged-Old-Dirty-GasEaters, just sharing what I've put up with as they trade every few years for various reasons a.k.a. numerous recalls and big-dollar problems comin', while mine lasted me 22 never-left-me-stranded years before replacing with a like kind model 8 years ago - and doggone if I didn't see it again today still rolling on, now 33 years old and having 218K miles when I sold it then --
Ya gotta big problem there, see it? Right there on the grille - they even circled it for ya.
Or...could bring back an old Blue Oval ad slogan with an interesting application towards shopping carts - Finest Offered Ride and Drive. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 6:57 PM
I have the Blue Ovals for last few vehicles. Not that I’m a Ford “guy” it’s just I get a good discount as a retiree from a huge Ford purchaser. Had Toyotas before and loved them but needed tow power. Had a 2003 F 150 with nary a problem then upped to a 2015 with smaller V8 but more horses and torque. Had a water pump throw craps and some kind of 4WD Thingamigig go bad that Ford replaced all no charge. Biggest mistake with 2015 is I didn’t get the bigger fuel tank. About 450 miles/fillup but hookup that travel trailer and lucky to get 200. Gas stops pretty much coincide with the straw sucking air on my wife’s 44 oz’er so you know what that means.
That Thingamigig about drove me and Ford Grove nuts tho. Not always but enough times it sounded like I was dragging 50’ of chainlink fence. Of course it wouldn’t do it at the dealer and they claimed there wasn’t any notice in their manuals about a problem. After I pointed out dozens of complaints I showed them they miraculously found some kind of service bulletin. Still I had to load the service manager for a country drive. Shoulda seen his face when that chain link fence sound showed up. I think the proper name is 4WD actuator.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 8:08 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Aug 19, 2022, at 8:08 PM
Hmmmm, had the same type 4WD issue with my 2014 - opted to remain with a tried-and-true steelie than the leap of faith on the then-unknown first-gen lum-num, turned out to be the actuator motor, although mine lit off with the wrench lights and all sorts of bad news on the dash cluster - replaced under warranty.
Simply amazin' for better and worse with the progress - on one hand, never had a lick of trouble through all the years out of the mechanical shift 4WD on the previous truck compared to having problems within a year on this one.
On the other - the 5.0 liter of the previous was rated at 185hp and got up to 12mpg only with a good tailwind, the newer generation of same displacement is at 360hp and reports about 17mpg.
Of course, both share the same aerodynamic efficiencies of pushing a brick wall down the road. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 20, 2022, at 8:10 AM
Something else , when in the kitchen , don't try to put a grease fire out with water
-- Posted by Deseased Turtle on Sat, Aug 20, 2022, at 9:54 AM
And wear your hard hat!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 20, 2022, at 5:19 PM
Bought a bag of potato chips today. Thank goodness they put a lot of air in the bag.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 24, 2022, at 7:14 PM
Rock, were they Lite Chips?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 25, 2022, at 6:15 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 24, 2022, at 7:14 PM
Hmmm, kinda gots me wondering - thought there was a law or regulation from wayback that the ingredients must be listed in declining order of package content??
Although, I guess a bag of potato chip scented air with edible scent chips wouldn't be a big seller... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Aug 25, 2022, at 6:52 PM
Girlfriend and I will be off the "Grid" for a week everyone have a great weekend!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Aug 26, 2022, at 8:39 PM
Semo471, Have phun and don't take any wooden nickels.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 26, 2022, at 8:44 PM
Wheels: Wouldn't a wooden nickel be worth some money now?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Aug 26, 2022, at 9:32 PM
Not sure, I think they are pretty easily counterfeited. Had one once that someone put out with advertising on the back. It wasn't worth the wood it was made out of.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 26, 2022, at 10:25 PM
Yeah, I know this one sounds off the wall, but: Anybody know if the old, original KFVS-RADIO tower is still intact on N. Kingshighway? Or has it been disposed of? For years, one couldn't see it for the jungle-like overgrowth, but that KFVS-stood out on the framework still.
(No, I haven't been to that-part of "Da-City", in quite a long while, lol!)
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Aug 31, 2022, at 3:14 PM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Aug 31, 2022, at 3:14 PM
Haven't noticed in quite a while myself, but according to the shadow on the Assessor's birds-eye view (scroll down to 2nd overview pic) - it was still there as of March of last year...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 31, 2022, at 6:34 PM
Well, well, well - consumer confidence just ratcheted up a small notch here, seeing that Stag Beer is returning to its former labelling.
From their Facebook page - "Paying tribute to over 170 years of beloved brewing history in the region. In today’s modern age, the cans nod to the nostalgic and simpler times of Stag Beer’s history by restoring the classic golden stag logo and returning to the motto, “Golden Quality Since 1851.”"
Can appreciate the need for a brand to continually attract new customers, but this branding change was abrupt, unannounced and not otherwise publicized - figured they'd closed up shop like many brands of wayback.
Took a year or so while sampling around to find a new go-to fave before figuring out that this new label at least contained the same ol' stuff, then an ongoing struggle as the noise coming off the new design deafened my eyes.
Never been in recurring sales, well, other than being a regular consumer - but think it would be given common-sense knowledge that it's easier to keep an existing customer than to go out and gain a new one. Apparently not so common...
Perhaps the next time they get a wild-hair to cut footloose and refresh things, they'll remember to save a couple dances somewhere in there for the ones that brung 'em. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 2:46 PM
FXPWT: Was just curious. Can't drive and gawk anymore nowadays! (Weren't not 'posed to before, but then it wasn't always a modern(?)day game of Rollerball, as now!) You remember the Classic-"Cult" movie, "RollerBall!" ? Was supposed to take the place of World Wars of the future?
I always kinda favored Pabst Blue Ribbon, but if a Stag presented itself cold? Any ol' port in a storm! Most (former!) kids said "Stag's too-hoppy, too-bitter!" They'd prefer Budweiser, but I wouldn't/still won't wiz in a Folgers can in a rainstorm for one!
As long as the 16-and-up "kids" were happy, an' I'd bootleg it cheepur at 18 across the (IL)state line for 'em? Yeah, a fella had to assess a "Service-Fee", for Procurement & (Re)Disbursement, lol!
But hey, man---it was 1968, and in another 6-months or so? I was gonna be a "Minor-Adult" too-soon already, and by my-return in '72, I was startin' to ripen, at least...!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 7:01 PM
FXPWT: Dang if that ain't it!
HEY-Y-Y---Wanna get half-to-three sheets in the wind, an' we's kin go an' CLIME---uh, I means---CLIMB on it!
(Sure would make one of the better-headlines of this paper recently, I'd purtin'-neart betcha......!!!)
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 7:14 PM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 7:01 PM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 7:14 PM
Hav'ta make a point to look next time I venture through the double-diverging diamond to my favorite farm-n-home place to see the current status of the tower.
Too much news, but recall my old radio classes about the multiple antennas needed to tweak the broadcast patterns from a classic circle to butterfly patterns and what-not so not to interfere with the other stations, before getting into the terrain stuff.
/***/
Guess that's why so many different brands of suds - tastes vary. Thought here that PBR tasted like soap, but apparently a recent trendy brew with the young'uns. Budweiser tastes like licking a tree. Suppose Stag has a different kinda 'bark' with its bite.
Made many a trip across that mirror-swipin' sidewall-scuffin' boogie bridge, paying the not-yet-MO-legal premium for low-end suds like Drummond Brothers and Schaefer, just had to send it past the taster buds fast enough so they never knew.
/***/
Not much on heights here - not that heights bother me, it's the effects of gravity with the sudden stop at the end - so I'll leave any free-climbing to others.
Heheheh - helped to restart the old Noranda plant a few years back, going anywhere and everywhere and doing whatever was needed to get equipment working again after years of being rode hard, then put away wet for a year-and-a-half.
Recall running up a buncha catwalks to get to the problem of interest, requiring I cross over between the tops of the storage tanks.
Ninety feet off the ground (about 9 stories), got about halfway across the 200 foot span when I realized these catwalks were 50 years old out in the weather, and I was likely the first person up here in the last year=and-a-half.
Some kind of iron claw grabbed my gut, I grabbed onto the handrails for dear life, and for the rest of the way, tippy-toe-testing and inspecting the catwalk so's I wouldn't need to be scraped off the road below.
Ugh.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 8:10 PM
Stag beer. I remember the 3.2 Sundays. Used to go visit Ralph at the Pilot House for a Stag draft/draught in an ice cold mug to accompany an outside combination. Dang!
Still go for a Stag if I venture to the fair(seldom) or Altenburg with a fish sammich and a toasted cheese. Dang again.
Heights? Used to do a lot of painting. I’d have a nightmare about falling before starting a new ladder job. Get the screaming over with.
Heights still bother me but claustrophobia has reared up in the last few years. Had to go into the tight crawl space to do some gas line work when that green fog of closed space hysteria hit hard. I crab crawled out of there and felt relieved until I remembered I left the gas line disconnected. Had to pull up my big boy britches and go back under.
Exactly why I want to be cremated. The thought of a closed lid on a casket!!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Sep 1, 2022, at 9:04 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Sep 3, 2022, at 8:50 AM
Wheels: What happened to Rick S? Haven't seen anything from him since back off of our trip.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Sep 16, 2022, at 8:45 AM
Semo471, he was going up North, don't know for how long. I miss him on here also.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Sep 16, 2022, at 8:50 AM
Wheels: We may have to put a photo of Rick S. on a milk jug!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Sep 16, 2022, at 9:16 AM
Going off the travelled path, through the ditch, and ambling clean across the cornfield - remember, if you will, my past interests and related blatherings about antenna TV.
Looking at their contour map on the Facility Technical Data tab - be interesting to see how things develop and what will be offered, as the map shows coverage only in a very small area south of Marble Hill but north of Advance, east of Zalma but west of Delta.
Looking at the websites of the responsible parties on the license application doesn't reveal any definite info, but it is intriguing with the low-power TV licensing approach and suggestions of multicasting and broadband shtuff -
Eh, perhaps news of no interest to many, especially those outside its planned service area, but seems to be a different approach amongst the currently-available mousetraps and other distractions.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Sep 16, 2022, at 1:52 PM
Good car show at downtown Cape today, lots of folks walking and enjoying themselves - and Free!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Sep 18, 2022, at 8:35 PM
Anybody got a idee whut we's 'sposed to do this November, as pertaining to "The Time Change"? Are we gonna change from DST-back to CST? Change or not, I wish they'd just leave it alone, as in, Choose one, and KEEP-it, already........!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 2:53 PM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 2:53 PM
Far as I know, it's business as usual for November 6 - fall back.
Still like the idea of staying on Standard time year-round, willing to trade the idea of extra daylight in the summer evenings for keeping sunrises before 8am in the winter.
Additionally, a consistent time would save all that clock-changing on things old enough or simple enough not to have the automatic change programmed in - gots about 8-10 clocks to wheel through twice a year.
Although for the non-networked stuff with automatic time changes like my programmable thermostat - still gonna has'ta dink with it should anything change from the way things are now.
Dang, nuthin's easy anymore. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 5:36 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 6:29 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 6:29 PM
Hehehehe, not sure if most of the rest of us want anything to do with that bowl full of cereal from out there - just too heavy on the fruits, nuts, and flakes... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Sep 26, 2022, at 6:56 PM
Fxpwt, my reference to the place is..... The land of Fruits and Nuts.
Aparantly many of them are leaving for places like Texas.
Had a brother-in-law by marriage living out there. On a visit back here and when I was much younger, upon not being served alcohol before dinner, hell I couldn't afford it, he told me that people in California were much more sophisticated, they had a little Drinky Poo before dinner. Well I never became that sophisticated. But he became sophisticated to the point where the last time I saw him alive he was sitting in his easy chair half drunk, drinking straight Scotch out of a water glass. And I know it was straight because the bottle was sitting there also and I saw him refill his water glass from the bottle.
I will never become that sophisticated!!
Yep, the Land of Fruits and Nuts!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Sep 27, 2022, at 12:11 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Sep 29, 2022, at 9:02 PM
Some band like AC/DC should cover that
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Sep 30, 2022, at 8:02 AM
Well the big Cardinal parties for #4 & #5 have come and gone and now it's off to the end of the regular season and to the playoffs....Go Cards!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 3, 2022, at 1:40 PM
Posted by Savant on Mon, Oct 3, 2022, at 1:55 PM
We agree on this....the designated hitter is the only reason that Albert has as many Homer's and RBIs as he has. If the old record setters had the DH and 162 games, #5 wouldn't even be close!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 3, 2022, at 6:23 PM
If the Cardinals don't soon get their act together, they will be out of the post season on round one!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 3, 2022, at 9:20 PM
Ah, yes, October...Fire Prevention month, or at least it used to be.
Amazing the number of battery-operated gizmos around the house.
Where is this going? Well, what used to be an annual changing of the batteries in the smoke / carbon monoxide detectors has now grown to a full-blown preventive maintenance operation set up with a repeating reminder on the electronic calendar and everything, where all the household batteries are scheduled for replacement once a year, whether they need it or not. Man, carrying over a lot of habits from previous career choices.
First, kinda expanding on the safety thing - replacing batteries in the flashlights and weather radio, the things I wish to keep a high confidence on working well and long when I need them.
Second, just putting off the periodic annoyances when a battery dies here and there through the year. Nothing like looking at a wall clock thinking there's still plenty of time, only to find that it had stopped an hour or so ago.
Son! Between the detectors, flashlights, entertainment remotes, the wall clocks, the speakerphone booster, garage door openers, car key fobs, wireless weather station and all its remote sensors, wireless doorbell, thermal IR gun for the wood stove flue, auto portable blood pressure cuff, and so on - burned through $50 in batteries of various shapes and sizes fast, quick and in a hurry.
Figured as long as I had the use of some cheap labor :-)~, went ahead and did the annual hoovering out of the dryer vent pipe and around inside the dryer.
Eh, ended up with maybe only a cumulative packed wad about the size of a softball so not done so much for the fire prevention aspect, but have found this regular cleaning knocks about 5 minutes or so off the moisture-sensed drying times which shortens the pains of laundry day 10-15 minutes per week every week throughout the year.
Towards lessons learned wayback from an elder former employer - if your job involves machinery, your top task is keeping those machines busy, and only then can you take a break...AND...first learn how to do it right, then figure out how to do it fast(er).
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Oct 4, 2022, at 5:18 PM
Savant: All 3 games will be at St. Louis which should help. Hopefully the Cardinals' bats will come alive!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Oct 5, 2022, at 8:47 AM
Cards are slumping at the worst time....come on Cards wake up!!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Oct 6, 2022, at 8:43 AM
Towards a humorous side given the recent events in Cape - having a bit of fun watching the reactions on friends' faces when I invite them over, just brewed up a fresh pot of water. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Oct 6, 2022, at 5:22 PM
-- Posted by Savant on Thu, Oct 6, 2022, at 7:24 PM
Better be thinking about cutting him off at the pass next month.
Seniors with meager savings already, many with no more than a high school education and some with less, who have worked and saved all of their working lives are already being required to help pay off the college debts that they themselves could not afford. Because many of these college grads cannot get a job paying them enough money to satisfy their debt. They have an education in nothing.
I paid for my children's college, but also demanded they get my money's worth in an education in something that would make them employable. None of this studying the sex life of a Marsypolis Butterfly BS.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 7, 2022, at 8:22 AM
The Cards blow a 2 run lead and now it's do or die tomorrow!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Oct 7, 2022, at 4:37 PM
It's vacation time for the Cold Bats Cards - Pitiful!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Oct 9, 2022, at 8:28 AM
"The Albert/Yadi Show is over -- that's what cost them"
Very true!
"those 6 runs in the 9th in game 1"
The only mistake by Marmol was to let Helsley in too long - it's the playoffs no time to keep in even if it's your best reliever.
"will Waino be back next year?"
He might show up for Spring training however IMO he will see the writing on the wall and retire before the season starts.
The ole saying there's always next year does not smooth over the disappointment of a great year with a lackluster finish!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 10, 2022, at 8:23 AM
Unless you are a Viking, Happy Columbus Day!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 10, 2022, at 10:00 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Oct 12, 2022, at 12:51 PM
Appears some folks have done forgot how to drive on freshly wet asphalt, where the dry spell coupled with the heats since the last rain brings some of the remaining oils to the top, making for a slick surface until washed off.
Whew, saw a lot of people 'peeling-out' from the stop lights, as well as that ominous sound from an active anti-lock system chattering as its operator came in a little too hot for the stop next to me.
Probably a lot of the same folks who are fun to watch in the first snow. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 12, 2022, at 2:27 PM
hmmm, appears a shell game with names is fixin' to commence with my go-to farm & home stores...
The readin's there, once ya get through the annoying pop-ups...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 14, 2022, at 7:53 AM
One got us on 61 hwy less than a mile south of Jackson this last Sunday night. $7000 estimate with no thankfully injuries to us. Didn't even see it coming!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Oct 20, 2022, at 1:01 PM
"Why Don't you get a job?" -- Posted by Savant on Fri, Oct 21, 2022, at 7:23 AM
Heheheh, just picked up some very part-time, limited-engagement work at the self-checkout with a whole grocery cart piled-high and full of gobble-ins. Apparently the short-staffed thing continues on with zero lanes of traditional civilized transaction methods being Open.
Picked right up on it, with absolutely zero training, to boot!
Got my daily dose of frustration in with the inseparable and uncooperative plastic bags, as well as the morning exercises of twist-and-shout and bend-and-snap, except for that part where instead of being a past hit song or a fashionable catch-phrase from a movie - it was just me makin' them old-man noises. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 21, 2022, at 8:08 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Oct 21, 2022, at 11:11 AM
Hmmmm, hear bad things about hackers and data breaches and such about less-than-ethical people getting through securities to gain personal information about individuals, usually aimed towards an unauthorized money transfer or transaction.
Gots to wondering abouts the data one willingly gives up or shares.
There's the computers on newer vehicles which store driving information, under the guise of helping the mechanic figure out problems, helping the manufacturer build better vehicles, but which can also be subpoenaed by LEOs for any wrecks where the information can be used against ya.
Debit and credit cards time-stamp and type-classify where various purchases are made
Signed up with a different insurance company after my house premium went up 30% and vehicles went up 20% over last year, with no claims. They offered up to a 30% discount off their already way-lower rates if I would download a phone app to monitor my driving, with the actual discount from here on out being a percentage of my 0-100 score over the next six months. Being thrifty / frugal / flat cheap as I am, sure. While they say they're only looking for times-of-day driving, hard stops, and speeds over 80mph, my reviewing of my logged trips on the app shows a time-stamped map of where I've gone, where one could take travel distance by travel time for average speed as compared to known speed limits for those roads taken.
Signed up with Ameren to monitor my usages through the billing period, to easily report and get outage alerts, how my house compares to other similar houses, etc. Now getting emails from them breaking down how much was spent on gas and electric, with a further breakdown on how much of each was spent on water heating, HVAC heating, A/C, refrigeration, laundry, cooking, lighting, entertainment, always on stuff, etc. They have videos and reading materials on how all this was figured out, and is kinda handy information to know...but hmmm.
Just gots to wonder what value all this freely-volunteered information could be to someone with the 'wrong hands'.
Further wonder how long it will be until a computer figures out how to better its own lot in life by using my information to its benefit...? :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 21, 2022, at 6:12 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Oct 28, 2022, at 5:44 PM
Been watching some over the air digital TV and found this GRIT channel I discovered. If the whiners about football/baseball teams having Indian names and are so offended they better never watch GRIT. Them Red Devil Injuns are getting slaughtered.
And while I’m at it,I’ve never seen so many people getting shot and not a drop of blood in these old westerns.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Nov 6, 2022, at 4:01 PM
"Been watching some over the air digital TV ..." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Nov 6, 2022, at 4:01 PM
Heheheh, suggest not just the GRIT channel, but many of the sub-channel over-the-air offerings (the -2, -3, on up) showing mainly older shows and movies.
Seems nobody was safe from the then-norm name-calling - honky, cracker, dego, polack, spic, wetback, oreo, n-word, etc., although there are some efforts to blur mouth images and to poorly overdub a more PC phrasing.
Agree the acting seems kinda stiff and staged from today's perspective, but suppose that's the best methods for that time. Cool seeing the older cars in pristine shape.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Nov 6, 2022, at 5:38 PM
Would I love to have some of my $100 cars and trucks now.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Nov 6, 2022, at 6:19 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Nov 7, 2022, at 8:33 AM
Speaking of earthquakes here is a little genealogy info on girlfriend's ancestors. 5 generations ago her folks were living in the New Madrid area and after the earthquakes of 1811-12 they left New Madrid and went to the "Hill Country" south of Jackson,Mo which didn't suffer the damage of the earthquakes.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Nov 10, 2022, at 8:47 AM
The River Hills Traveler had several articles on the New Madrid Earthquake.
November 9,1968 a friend and I had a day trip planned to St Louis with dates. Before we left Cape the earthquake hit but we headed north anyway. Part of the plans were to go up in the Arch. Thinking Saturday would be a busy time we were surprised no one was there. Didn’t know it had been shut down for post quake examinations and we were the first ones to go up. The Parks Ranger told us the Arch sways east to west normally but when it started north to south they got a bit excited. Fun time anyway being the only 4 people up there.
BTW- went to see a Doors concert that night at the old Kiel Auditorium. Tickets were $6.50 for great seats!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 10, 2022, at 9:28 AM
Too Bad Rick, The man was certifiably nuts on his show, but I suspect a lot smarter than some of our Liberal posters on here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Nov 11, 2022, at 10:28 PM
59 years ago today, a very sad day in the history of America!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Nov 23, 2022, at 9:13 AM
If one is only 12.5% convinced that there is a God, is that one Eighthiest? :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Nov 23, 2022, at 11:31 AM
Where did everyone go. Speak Out is like a Ghost Town.
Did toy all overdose on turkey and still in recovery.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Nov 25, 2022, at 5:26 PM
Mr V,kinda wish I’d had a turkey OD.
Tore into a shelf building project while the weather was nice. Started with a well thought out plan that went upside down. Must have had a left handed tape measure but I rallied and it’s all good.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Nov 25, 2022, at 7:05 PM
DA, me and carpentry do not mix well. Last shelf project I built was in the garage at the farm. Had a former employee deliver all of the needed supplies. Had the plywood sawed to width at Home Depot. I measured and cut the 2 X 4's. Then being totally inept with hammer and nails, I had two sizes of screws, long and longer. And me and that Electric screwdriver did wonders.
That former retired employee looks after things for me up there as he lives close and deer hunts there. He and I used to spend a lot of afternoons on the front porch there sipping a couple of cold ones and remembering the past. His job with my company is the only real job he ever had. Went to work with us right after school and retired there. We still have high regards for one another.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Nov 25, 2022, at 7:30 PM
Gotta love those deck screws but getting expensive as most things are. $30/5 lb box last time I bought.
Tore down and burned an old shop I’d built years ago that by my best recollection there must have been a sale on 10 penny nails when I put it up.
I saw a restoration TV show about old barns that they talked about burning down a building when moving on just to salvage the nails because they were so valuable for the next project.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Nov 26, 2022, at 9:27 AM
YIKES!! $37.47/5lb box deck screws.
May not need 5 lbs but $11.xx for 1 lb.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Nov 26, 2022, at 1:49 PM
DA when I was you g my Dad has an old wooden nail key that was about 3/4 full of old nails. My job from time to time was to straighten some out and sort them. My Dad could drive them like new nails. I could not drive a new nail without bending it most of the time. But stand back when I have a good screw gun and screws aplenty, I can hold two pieces of wood together that way just fine.
New nails were a luxury when I grew up, and they were kept where I was unlikely to look for them.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Nov 26, 2022, at 4:09 PM
This house may fall down but by golly that set of shop shelves will still be standing. Should have done an inventory before buying more screws. Used about 10 out of that 5lb box. But this way I’ll put that box somewhere that I’m sure to remember but I forgot and buy more then find that first box.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Nov 26, 2022, at 5:06 PM
DA, I have bigger problems.....
We received about 3 inches of snow yesterday and
8:00 am: I made a snowman.
8:10 - A feminist passed by and asked me why I didn't make a snowwoman.
8:15 - So, I made a snow woman.
8:17 - My feminist neighbor complained about the snow woman's voluptuous chest saying it objectified women everywhere.
8:20 - The gay couple living nearby threw a hissy fit and moaned it could have been two snowmen instead.
8:22 - The transgender man.. woman...person asked why I didn't just make one snow person with detachable parts.
8:25 - The vegans at the end of the lane complained about the carrot nose, as veggies are food and are not used to decorate snow figures.
8:28 - I was being called a racist because the snow couple is white.
8:30 - I used food coloring to make one of the snow couple a different color and be more racially inclusive.
8:37 - Then they accused me of using a blackface on the snow person.
8:39 - The middle eastern gent across the road demanded the snow woman be completely covered.
8:40 - The police arrived saying someone had been offended.
8:42 - The feminist neighbor complained again that the broomstick of the snow woman needed to be removed because it depicted women in a domestic role.
8:43 - The 'council on equality' officer arrived and threatened me with eviction.
8:45 - The TV news crew from ABC showed up. I was asked if I know the difference between snowmen and snow women. I replied "Snowballs" and am now a sexist.
9:00 - I was on the news as a suspected terrorist, racist, homophobe, and sensibility offender, bent on stirring up trouble during difficult weather.
9:10 - I was asked if I have any accomplices. My children were taken by social services.
9:29 - Far-left protesters offended by everything marched down the street demanding that I be arrested.
9:45 - The boss called and fired me because of the negative association with work that had been all over social media.
10:00 - I cry into my drink because all I wanted to do was build a snowman...
Moral: There ain't no moral to this story. It is what this world has become because of a bunch of snowflakes . . . and that's the TRUTH!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Nov 27, 2022, at 8:04 AM
Small earthquake recorded near Marston, Mo. -- Posted by Savant on Tue, Nov 29, 2022, at 5:28 AM
As long as they keep staying small, we're good.
IIRC, problem down there is the sandy soil which will tend to effectively liquefy at higher magnitudes, raising probabilities of structure foundation issues.
Beyond that, one consulting engineering firm estimated that a 5.7 magnitude would be where things go from bad to ugly, as the taller ceramic towers on the large high-voltage transformers would begin to fracture and fail - a combination of all shook up and lights out.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Nov 29, 2022, at 7:06 AM
A few weeks before Christmas
And all around town
Deflated snowmen lay kissing the ground.
Anything uglier than these Chinese blowups dotting the yards celebrating Christmas? Makes me wonder what Won Hung Lo and ten cents an hour associates think when making these.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Dec 12, 2022, at 6:47 PM
Our granddaughter and her school got 2nd place in the Missouri State Class 2A Cheerleaders Competition yesterday at the Show Me Center. That was a lot of cheering to hear for most of the day!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Dec 12, 2022, at 9:16 PM
The Band....one of the best!
Here is the last song or one of the last by Levon Helm that is good and has a special message:
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Dec 16, 2022, at 11:37 AM
Today is 12/21/22 which is the shortest daylight day of the year....however tomorrow starts the march to longer days of daylight!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Dec 21, 2022, at 9:05 AM
Winter came in like a lion last night.
12” of Winter Wonderland.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Dec 29, 2022, at 10:35 AM
Happy New Year!
Remember it’s amateur night so if you gotta go out be safe.
I may see midnight on my trip to the loo.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Dec 31, 2022, at 6:27 PM
Posters:
May your Best Day of 2022 be the Worst day of 2023!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Dec 31, 2022, at 6:32 PM
- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Sun, Jan 1, 2023, at 5:36 AM
Rick ,thank you for the compliment. But believe me it was a two way street. I sincerely feel the same about you!
Where did all of the time go?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 7:58 AM
Been posting for 14 years myself....not many left just Rick S, Rick L, Wheels, and Rock. Those on the opinion forums come and go like the weather!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 10:17 AM
Semo471, I remember you coming aboard. We had to vet you first, and I believe you got a little miffed with us. Those were the days we could pick on one another and not get too agitated and get over it. Things have changed. Don't know where this past 15 years went. Grateful for all of the back and forth over the years. There was Gurus Mom and Theorist who went away, among others that come to mind. Was going to mention one young lady that we used to give a hard time, but her name escapes me. Spank, long sense passed, and I offered to take her young son and teach him how to chew tobacco and cuss. And as much as we bantered back and forth, I am having recall problems on names this afternoon. I can remember what happened when I was 5 years old and cannot remember what happened 5 minutes ago at times.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 12:42 PM
"one young lady that we used to give a hard time" Wheels
Was that "Turnip"?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 12:54 PM
"one young lady that we used to give a hard time" Wheels
Was that "Turnip"?
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 12:54 PM
Yes it was! Thank you.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 2, 2023, at 1:09 PM
"Seems like a whole lot of posters left when the rules were changed..." -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Tue, Jan 3, 2023, at 1:34 AM
Yep, cut bait here when that happened, going with the perhaps misguided idea that input should be valued for what it's worth on its own two feet, not enhanced or detracted by the perceived surrounding impression of the person providing it.
Do remember the days when a SpeakOut thread would regularly rack up 200-300 comments, also when some users talked about getting together for a SpeakOut commenter lunch.
Curiosity got the better of me, so scrounged in the WayBack machine using the benefit of being able to search for a unique character string.
Found what is believed to be the first comment here, from a blog no longer available to read, but still showing up in the Search feature -
/*****/
Re: Power trip (Blog by Peg McNichol from 09/25/2007)
Ameren has a serious problem with their corporate communications department. Sure, bad things happen - there's even a bumper sticker that relates this sentiment, but these incidents seem to be made worse by their official statements and follow-up. As far as tree-trimming, it would be interesting to understand which was there first - the power line, or the tree growing into the line. I don't know how it could even come about, but I suggest in all fairness that if the tree came after the power...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Sep 25, 2007, at 10:23 PM
/*****/
Heheheh, about the only time I see 10:23PM anymore is when I have to get up to bleed my brakes. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jan 3, 2023, at 7:49 AM
What I have heard is that once the accused arrives back to Idaho for his first court appearance, then the police can release some of their evidence. IMO, Looks like a person with a degree in Criminal Justice wanted to see if he could commit a perfect crime!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jan 3, 2023, at 9:40 PM
Saw Santana in St Louis at Kiel sometime after Woodstock. Prob best concert I’d been to. Drove back to Cape in a raging blizzard in friend’s 60 Chevy beating the dash to bits listening to an 8 track of Santana. We made it. Car didn’t. Blew an oil line on the external oil filter and Bill kept driving.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 4, 2023, at 8:08 AM
KSHE-95 concerts! We took our youngest daughter and 2 of her friends to a couple of concerts there - the sound decibels inside the car on the 2 1/2 hour trip was just short of bleeding from the ears!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 4, 2023, at 9:50 AM
I’m not a fatalist but having lost several friends,relatives and acquaintances lately it seems life is way too short. Hearing that Jeff Beck has died just makes one think. If there’s an afterlife I hope he’s just killing it with some of my guitar heroes.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 11, 2023, at 7:02 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 11, 2023, at 7:02 PM
DA, I am right there with you. Have lost way too many in the past few years. You stop and think of all of the crazy things that you may have done with them over a lifetime and it really makes one sad. I started reading the MIssourian to follow the obituaries and got myself all involved.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 11, 2023, at 8:28 PM
My Dad used to say if his ears weren’t ringing in the morning he must be dead. Tinnitus is one of the the things he passed on. I try not to check the obits but when I do I’m saddened by who I find and glad I don’t see my name.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 11, 2023, at 8:55 PM
"and glad I don’t see my name."
DA, that's my biggest reason to check the obits.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 11, 2023, at 10:56 PM
Yet another in a series of 'life is getting too complicated'.
Fired up the bedroom TV, the newest of the group, with the aside that I still have a couple of 'ancient' boat-anchor models requiring the double-secret $40 converter box dating from before the antenna broadcasts went from analog to digital 15 years or so back. Still working fine, so I just let 'er bump.
At any rate, there was a message on the screen of the newbie, that its software had been updated all by itself. Yeah, it's got that built-in wireless connectivity which I find useful for the streaming stuff without the need of a FireStick or similar add-on gadget.
Ugh, the menus and fonts were all different, with the memorized remote button pushing sequences no longer valid, now taking me off into neverland.
Kinda like when WalMart up and rearranges their SuperStore, first gots to finds where they moved my go-to faves, then relearn the best-fit route to get there.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 11:11 AM
A couple of lights keep flashing in the house . It's either haunted or it's those cheap Dollar General(and a quarter) light bulbs .
-- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Thu, Jan 12, 2023, at 8:05 AM
Not in the light combined with the kitchen ceiling light are they?
Maybe you damaged them when you were on the ladder and stuck your head in the fan.
Couldn't help it Rick, the devil made me do it.
Actually some of these new LED lights have flckered from time around our home as well. When we totally remodeled this place a little over 4 years ago we changed most fixtures and went to LED. Have a few Florescents in the basement that are rarely on more than two minutes and the outside lights front and back door still have the old ones. Just another one of them round to it's that I haven't got around to yet. The fixtures are those automatic daylight to darks that go off and in about 5 minutes they turn off until motion causes them to come back on. They allow my security cameras get a clear picture and either gives whomever might want to break in light to work with or scares them away. Haven't figured that out yet.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 2:44 PM
Glad I wasn't the only one with flickering LED bulb thing. Replaced a burned out porch bulb with an LED and it flickered. Put in an incandescent and all is good.
Replaced,or tried to replace a 4’ fluorescent with an LED that claimed it worked in the old fixture. Don’t waste your money.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 3:26 PM
"Replaced,or tried to replace a 4’ fluorescent with an LED that claimed it worked in the old fixture. Don’t waste your money." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 3:26 PM
Had pretty good luck here (so far) converting an 8ft T12 fluorescent into 2-4ft LED sections with the new tombstones and such, bypassing the ballast. Brighter and whiter light that seems consistent.
Not so good with one of those ready-to-go plug-in 4ft LED shop lights bought a few years ago. It does seem to have a slight flicker to it, not really noticeable at first, but drives me nuts working under it after a while.
Seems like kinda crap-shoot, as none of the manufacturers' names are recognizable to me as were the traditional names of Sylvania, GE, and Philips, so no good way to know ahead of the purchase if one is buying a quality product or junk.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 4:47 PM
When I get time I’m just changing the whole fixture.
Not gonna be long before a fella can’t find incandescent light bulbs,gas stoves and gasoline/diesel vehicles. Not enough electricity to run the required stoves or vehicles but by golly they will keep those slave run mines in business.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 15, 2023, at 5:57 PM
Did it still flickrr wherever you put it?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 16, 2023, at 8:02 AM
OK,now you’re getting a bit personal!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jan 16, 2023, at 9:01 AM
OK,now you’re getting a bit personal!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jan 16, 2023, at 9:01 AM
DA, was just trying to offer Rick some help on if it was his light bulb or a bad fixture of switch. Connections that are bad can heat and start fires. I have had some of these new LED bulbs flicker also.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 16, 2023, at 11:40 AM
Recently relocated to the western territories. What was I thinking? More of a shorts and flip flop kinda guy not a long underwear from Labor Day to Memorial Day. Follow the grandkids she said!!
Sold my 4 wheeler with a plow and just bought a snow blower. Not much for being on the dumb end of a Mexican snow plow. (That’s a snow shovel for the uneducated) and my wife prefers not to learn about them. 6-12” forecast tonight.
Funny for a supposed liberal area I see a ton of anti-Biden signs and bumper stickers.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jan 17, 2023, at 7:12 PM
Rick, I have had the same experience and the trash can is the only solution. Not really familiar in what makes these LED lights function, but do know that if it didn't act up.elsewhere you probably had an issue with the fixture needing some attention. A fixture with a poor connection can cause more serious problems. Poor connections cause heat build up and possible fires in electrical fixtures and appliances, as well as switches and wall outlets.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 17, 2023, at 9:38 PM
Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 17, 2023, at 9:38 PM
Indeed they will! Lemme give you a "Readers-Digest"-version of a true-incident of such, kinda-sorta related in-content.
Many-years ago, when I was a lot-more flexible & carefree(still had gonads of steel,lol!), I was first-hand privy with an-arson investigation, helping the regional-MO-State Fire Marshal as, I guess his-on scene "secretary", if you will.
It just didn't add-up. Nice, new remodel of an-older structure, all-wiring was up to code, as per Out-County standards. Owner seemingly kinda-sorta suspicious, uncomfy, with one or two-"issues" the Fire Marshal was probing into, but "no-evidence, no-crime, no-proof", y'know? (startin' to smell a bit like insurance fraud, to the F.M.?)
Fire started in a bathroom-area, tracing back to a ceiling fixture. Started slow, gradual, like a wiring-short. But, none of the wiring within a foot of it showed any signs of overheat, shorting, etc.
But for some-reason, the wall-switch was stuck ON, as in,"glued" on, literally, so it could not be turned off by anyone coming or going, period! (Yeah, OK---stop the yawnin', I'll cut to the chase!)
Marshal was inquiring the owner a bit-heavy about such. Owner responded, that he'd broken the switch, and just left it glued on until he had time to replace it???
For some reason, the ceiling-wood char had what we thought initially was just resin from pine studs/heat, y' know? Just stuff happens, yeah, that's it!
Me and the F.M. went outside for a smoke-break---because, all-real-firefighters of the time smoked, since we were REAL-men! But we kept taking turns sniffin' the char-samples he'd collected, and suddenly, it hit the Marshal right in the ol' nosehairs: Vaseline!!!
He tells me to "follow him back in, as a witness, but don't YOU-say a word! Don't even grunt, or cough! But, DO-learn and most of all, REMEMBER-this case-info! Let ME do the Q and A-session!"
(Last boring paragraph, I promise!) Owner admitted using the Vaseline on the base of the bulb that-appeared to be at least a 100-watt in a 60-rated fixture. Fire Marshal asked, "Then why would you pack the junction-box full of such, as well?" Owner blurts out: "How did you figure I'd done that?" Fire Marshal: "I didn't until now, I mean buddy, you've just told me, and my-witness right-'chere a-hind of me!!!" Just like the old-"gotcha!"Columbo series on tv!
A tablespoon-full of petroleum jelly, a.k.a. Vaseline? A simple book-match when laid at the edge, will slowly but surely burn with a passion---and never leave a residue on that spoon---but there WILL-be just a hair, on the charred-remains of that-book match!
I still have that ol'dog-eared pocket-guide "Tips For Arson Investigations", that I was given as my-reward, for not sayin' one thing, not even a grunt, but listened instead!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 2:25 PM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 2:25 PM
Bruno, that Fire Marshall was not just a dumb country bot by any means. And the howmeowner was not just quite as smart as he thought he was either.
Electricity is like a lot of things, it can be your best friend and it can be your worst nightmare for those not fully understanding it's capability. I held an electrical license with the county for over 40 years. In the HVAC business you do a lot with it and next thing you know, the electrical inspector thinks you are reaching out a little too far and he reminds you of it. You try to explain that you sometimes have to go a little outside the cabinet because it is 10 degrees and your customer wants to stay warm tognight. Ok, then get down here and take a test and if you pass it we will license you. I did and he did. As I grew and hired people, they did not have to be licensed but I was responsible under my license to see to it that they did work correctly.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 4:42 PM
Dealing with electrical in the home is something I’ve always dealt with. Outlets,switches,new wire upgrades,etc. the simple stuff……but once in awhile one can run into something unexpected.
Replacing a range hood with a microwave. I was suspicious about power supply and found the old hood was hardwired and carefully removing it with help from wife I saw the romex going into the unit behind the aluminum guard. While removing it something arced. Didn’t get shocked but wife may have soiled her panties. Even though hardwired I couldn’t figure out what caused the arc. No bare wires and tight wire nuts with tape and good ground wire. Put an outlet in like should have been done in first place.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 5:05 PM
DA,
Number one in replacing a fixture of any kind is to turn off the power first, especially for the amateur electrician. It can be done hot, but safety first says no. And when you make a connection, make sure it is a good tight one. A loose connection causes heat when energized and can cause a fire. Flickering of otherwise indications that things are not right need immediate attention as in turning things off until the source is located and corrected properly.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 6:08 PM
-- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 6:43 PM
Rick that is what happens when you have a committee decision without input from someone knowing better. There could have been multiple reasons for those fuses to blow, but there was a reason, and they are lucky they did kill or cripple someone for life. Better they find and fix the cause.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 7:28 PM
Happy 77th Birthday to Dolly Parton!! Most of her is 77 some a lot younger!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 19, 2023, at 9:20 AM
"...got really , really hot sometimes the fuse on the busbar would trip..." -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Wed, Jan 18, 2023, at 6:43 PM
Hmmmm, sounds like the sparky-in-charge there needed a good kick in his 'shorts', at least twice. :-)~
First, for effectively bypassing the electrical protection with the copper pieces - essentially moving the 'fuse' to the next weakest link in the circuit.
Second, for not realizing adjustments to fuse sizing/rating must be made when ambient temperatures are consistently outside of the manufacturer's spec band, typically +/- 10degF or so around 75degF. There are oodles of published tables to noodle through for just this purpose.
Yeah buddy, a transformer that size (capacity of about 10 residential pole-mounted units) probably put on a memorable show when it let go.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 19, 2023, at 10:41 AM
Sad to hear about David Crosby.
Glad I finally saw CSN a few years ago in Paducah.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jan 19, 2023, at 7:42 PM
About 3 inches of snow here....slushy mess but better than the last one!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 25, 2023, at 10:43 AM
"...be snowmaggedon the way KFVS12 was sayin'.." -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Wed, Jan 25, 2023, at 1:05 PM
Brings to mind sitting in the maintenance breakroom several years back after a similar miss, where a mechanic observed that KFVS's 10 to 12 inch boastings turn out just like his own 10 to 12 inch boastings.
Hysterical laughter broke out shortly after. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 25, 2023, at 6:27 PM
Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 25, 2023, at 6:27 PM
The next one according to KFVS is next Tuesday and Wednesday....even a blind hog finds some corn occasionally!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 28, 2023, at 9:37 AM
Happy Groundhog Day 2023!!
Remember if he sees his shadow we will have 6 more weeks of bad weather. Then if he doesn't see his shadow we will have good weather in 42 days!! Let's hope the Groundhog doesn't see its shadow!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 2, 2023, at 6:25 AM
In Cape this afternoon and the 2 legal Marijuana Dope Joints that we passed had cars backed up to the main roads....thats what we need, stoneheads and drunks on the roads!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 3, 2023, at 4:19 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Fri, Feb 3, 2023, at 4:19 PM
On the lighter side, kinda gots to wondering whether their advertised 'edibles' qualify for food stamps...? :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Feb 3, 2023, at 7:31 PM
fxpwt: Food is Food! LOL
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Feb 3, 2023, at 7:45 PM
Just heard the best opinion about the Grammy show.
They should use closed captions.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 6, 2023, at 8:25 AM
DT,we are who we thought our parents were when Elvis and the Beatles showed up.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 6, 2023, at 9:27 AM
IMO, the Grammy Awards is/has been a POS for at least 15 years!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 6, 2023, at 11:21 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 6, 2023, at 2:40 PM
I just found out that the way they vote for the Grammys is they pull up hospital records and figure out which of the nominees has caused the fewest people to injure themselves lunging for the off button on the radio
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 6, 2023, at 7:01 PM
Eating like a King today.......Cooked Turnips, Blackeyed Peas, Cornbread, and a glass of Tea - yummmmmm!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 9, 2023, at 12:03 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Feb 9, 2023, at 12:03 PM
Where was the Hog Jowel?
Oh, you can keep those Turnips. Rather eat mine raw.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Feb 9, 2023, at 1:20 PM
Hog Jowel only for New Years Day for us!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 9, 2023, at 1:24 PM
Hope a Chinese Spy Balloon doesn't come into the stadium during the Super Bowl!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 12, 2023, at 8:20 PM
Drivers Start Your Gas Engines and Let's Go Racing At the Dayton 500 Nascar Race!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 19, 2023, at 2:03 PM
Got caught up with something else but turned on the 500 with 12 laps to go. Used to eat it up start to finish but
WTF is going on with NASCAR these days?
Best thing is Gordon isn’t in the booth but that will be the extent of my NASCAR viewing for the year.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 20, 2023, at 10:13 AM
Rock: My interest in NASCAR has diminished in the last couple of years due to the races being on channels that I don't get. IMO, they would be better off Fan Wise by sticking with the 4 major channels!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 20, 2023, at 10:21 AM
Girlfriend and I were in the traffic jam on I-55 this afternoon for 3 1/2 hours due to the wreck that took the life of one of the truck drivers.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Feb 22, 2023, at 8:15 PM
Things that make me go, hmmmmmmmm...
Consider that every 'c' in Pacific Ocean is pronounced differently.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 25, 2023, at 5:48 PM
Better Health Care
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Mar 7, 2023, at 11:29 AM
Duct tape
Weedeater
Crescent Wrench
Zip ties
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 7, 2023, at 2:05 PM
Being an OTA (over-the-air) antenna TV advocate towards being thrifty, frugal, or just flat cheap as well as desiring to maintain multiple source feeds for TV entertainment - kinda excited to see how the KFVS rescan goes Monday 13 March as is being heavily advertised.
Appears their Ch 9-1 change is already active, with the Spanish language Telemundo broadcasting. Initially thought my TV had broke til I figured out what was going on.
Addition of extra no-cost channels is appealing, although 12-6 Oxygen appears to be another crime story type, of which there are already a couple - Ch 3-3, 3-4, and 49-6.
Really interested to see whether there is a frequency change necessitating this rescan, as the RabbitEars.Info site has tagged the station as moving from its current channel 11 broadcast frequency, over to channel 32 although no mention of when.
My newer TV picked up when KBSI Ch 23 added their 24/7 news channel 23-6 without needing to rescan, but their frequency didn't change at that time, either, thus the wondering what's gonna happen with Ch 12.
If so, this would move the station from the high-VHF band up into the UHF band at almost triple the former frequency. Should provide for a better-quality signal, especially for those now getting fringy reception.
For enquiring minds, their virtual Channel 9 really broadcasts on actual channel 18 frequency, already in the now-preferred UHF band.
At any rate, the over-the-air reception score count should adjust to 10 stations broadcasting 49 total channels available in Cape city.
Ready to cut the cord, yet, and go Back to the Future because The Price Is Right? :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 11, 2023, at 1:53 PM
Fxpwt, my TV and the channels are for my wife's watching pleasure. I watch the news occasionally. If she had to work her way through that I would definitely have to be involved and I don't think my delicate constitution could handle it. I am about to the stage where listening to Sky King or Terry and the Pirates on a battery radio would suffice.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 11, 2023, at 3:01 PM
Wheels - I get it, if you're happy with what you have, rock on.
Just pains me a bit, reading up on many local folks complaining on other sites about the costs of their multiple layered streaming services, and others citing $200+ monthly cable TV + internet bills, seemingly completely unaware of the old-school no-cost TV.
Good grief, $100 per month is $1200 per year and $12,000 over 10 years not accounting for any pricing increases. My over the top 'if you're gonna be a bear, may as well be a grizzly' approach with big-A antenna, and boosters, and buying the low-loss cable and related tools to replace the original high-loss twin flat-lead in the house came out to $470, figured a 5-month payback over my then cable TV-only portion of the bill.
Yeah, the but-but-but of not having cable-exclusive Hallmark channels, or specific sports channels or the like - filing that under the get on one's horse and off their dead keister approach of adapt, improvise, and overcome. This ain't Burger King, I don't get everything My Way, but I will learn to like what I have.
Hoping to present an option that many seem unaware of for cutting costs, which seems timely given the forecasts of many with the expected continuing Fed rate hikes, recent stock market declines, and news of major bank failures. Figure better to be prepared for what may happen, than to be unprepared for any worst-case come-apart...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 11, 2023, at 7:58 PM
Doubt it’s just me but commercials just cause me to “zone out”. Can’t remember anytime where I watched one and thought I need that. Don’t care if it’s new windows,gutter guards,the myriad of unpronounceable meds that have death as a side effect or may cause a rash between my,well you know,stuff. Some I can’t figure out what actually is being advertised. Then I hit that”back button” and there’s the same one on a different channel.
I guess they have a return on the investment but not with me.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Mar 11, 2023, at 9:09 PM
I hear those OTA (over-the-air) TV antennas are tornado magnets. -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 3:02 AM
Eh, no idea about attracting tornados, but the recent winds sure put a torquing on the assembly since it presents the profile of a wind sail.
The Code says outdoor antennas have to be grounded as well, figured due to lightning which makes sense, but other sources suggest also to bleed off any static generated by the winds. Figure that makes real good sense with the electronics nowadays rather than the robust vacuum tubes of wayback that looked to be able to withstand a hit from a Howitzer.
/*****/
Heheheh, yeah, got my clocks and other non-smart timekeepers dialed back in, figuring I probably missed at least one somewhere. Kind of a twist on Too Much Time on My Hands - Styx.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 8:59 AM
I awoke to the correct time. Did mine and went to bed an hour ahead of things. Got two clocks about 3 feet apart, one on the range and the other on the microwave. There is always that few seconds they are a few seconds apart. I have quit trying to fix it. I have figured if I can get them to show the same time for 57 seconds at a stretch I have won.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 9:25 AM
“A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.” unknown author
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 10:20 AM
I guess it’s that time again to question DST that will be forgotten till next Fall when it starts all over.
I had a neighbor that when you asked him what time it was he asked “your time or mine,my cows don’t have watches”.
Neither does Jarbo II.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 5:46 PM
DA, I would bet Jarbo II knows when it is time to eat. And in his life that is what is important.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 5:57 PM
Jarbo is definitely a democrat.
Free food
Free exercise
Free board
Free medical
And of course the demand that all life revolves around her.
Oops! Did I say HER? I’m not a veterinarian but pretty sure she is. I just disqualified myself as a Supreme Court Biden nominee.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 7:24 PM
DA.
I guess I also with a name like Jarbo assumed she was a he. She does sound female with a description like that, and definitely a Democrat.
Does she lie a lot as well?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 7:28 PM
She’s loud and complains quite a bit if that’s an answer.
Jarbo I was a male. Called him Silent Bob as he rarely barked.
Both were humane society drop offs. Best dogs ever.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 7:41 PM
DA, I got over owning livestock of any category long ago. I guess you might say I am just too lazy to take care of them properly. Have a lady we employ to help care for my wife and she is stretched pretty thing with working and taking care of adult kids and grandkids and birds and dogs which she raises and sells. Has some kind of rare birds she has that she was quite proud to have received 5 eggs from and now is hatching them.
Animals are a lot of work and it takes dedication. I do not dislike animals, but I also do not want the work that goes with it at this age.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 8:56 PM
Rick, if you are monitoring this. As it regards cell phones which I know you are not fond of.
I got to thinking of all of the things I use mine for and pretty much find it indispensable.
I have several apps on mine.
I monitor the security system on my building and make sure daily that it has been alarmed when the tenants leave. We had one lady that had to be taught that bypassing a door that prevented you from setting it could not be bypassed simply because you were to0 lazy to check to make sure it was closed and locked rather than a malfuntioning switch.
I monitor the temperature and settings on 10 different thermostats with it.
I monitor a seperate sensor system that I have placed around tbe building to double check temperatures. freeze ups are not acceptable.
I use it as a calendar with daily reminder of what I need to do that day.
I monitor the security system at my home with it.
I monitor the thermostatat at my home with it.
I use it as a calculator
I use it as an address and phone book
I use it as a camera
I use it as a grocery list
I use it to tell time.
I use it for the weather app
I use it for email
I use it for Texting
Oh and I use it to make phone calls.
Those are not all used daily by any means but a few important ones are. There are other features that I rarely if ever use it for.
Might be worth rethinking. It can do Excel Spreadsheets and Word
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 10:25 PM
“A man with one watch always knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.” unknown author -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 10:20 AM
Heheh, brought back a memory of a plant process dilemma, getting way-different temperature readings measuring the same stuff. Remember the wise craftsman, who when he spoke, had better listen up cuz fixin' to learn something, observing that they both can't be right, but they can both be wrong. Gee, thanks for adding that additional 'degree' of difficulty to the problem.
/*****/
I got to thinking of all of the things I use mine for and pretty much find it indispensable. -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 12, 2023, at 10:25 PM
Amazing how far and how fast these mobile devices have come in a relatively short time. Same here with the surveillance system look-see's, banking, calendar reminders, etc towards being more efficient with my time. Even opted to download a driving behavior app towards saving up to 30% on my car insurance.
On the other hand, watch others dinking around on their devices, with all the waving around, yakking into it while smiling big, with the cutesy noises and music broadcast - thinking for them it's nothing more than an expensive adult pacifier. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 8:58 AM
-- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 5:24 AM
Rick I am using it as a tool, to do things I cannot physically go do because of being tied up as a caretaker.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 9:05 AM
fxpwt: Guess the solution would had been to have 3 different temperature readers than average the 3 results to arrive at a "guess".
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 9:20 AM
Just the phone function alone is worth having. I can talk to my siblings in places like Savannah Georgia without breaking the bank on long distance charges. I was notified Cellphone to cellphone from.my friend in St. Thomas Ontario's niece that he had passed last week.
They are a tool and when used as such are very helpful. Like any virtue. When carried to the extreme they can likewise be a vice.
Same thing can be said of most things we deal with. I love Key Lime Pie, which is available but pricey in this part of creation. So I don't eat it often.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 9:28 AM
Rick, Key Lime Pie is more of a Southern Coastal thing I guess. But a fiend of mine makes it and serves it in his restaurant in West Central Ohio. He brought us one on a recent visit. You might find a Marie Calendar Brand at Schucks. Tippins makes them in this area.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 11:39 AM
Look for Key Lime juice. Found it at Schnucks. Recipe for Key Lime Pie is on the back label.
In Key West several years ago and bought one to ship to my Dad for a Christmas present. When I got back and asked him how the pie was he just said “I’d rather have a watermelon”. He never was one to hold back. Each to his own but felt like a Hobby Lobby balloon hit with a sidewinder.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 12:13 PM
We like Key Lime Pie especially down in the Islands!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 12:19 PM
Got that right!
Not a world traveler but when I do I try to get into the local scene away from the so-called tourist traps. You find the best food and people.
I was disappointed on last trip to Jamaica though. Maybe it was best to not venture out of the resort gate.
I did have high hopes about the nightly entertainment as I was ready for some reggae and steel drums but got broadway style American show tunes. The Red Stripe was cold and the smell of tourists breaking the local ganja laws made for a decent evening.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 3:07 PM
Rock: "No problem, man"!
Heard the Eagle's song - Hotel California on the Steel Drums and it was very good!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 3:33 PM
On another trip to Jamaica I did get to to enjoy what I remember as a high school steel drum performance. Those drums are hard to make,tune and play. Those kids were great but it did have my tinnitus raging for a few days!
Irie,mon
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 3:43 PM
I love Key Lime Pie. In the St. Louis region, I am not sure about Schnucks, but Dierburgs has the Marie Calendar Key Lime and it is great, but then they also have Tippin's Key Lime, which is going to set you back about $17 to $18. I like em both and I am sure there are other brands out there. But nothing like having it down in the Florida Keys.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 13, 2023, at 6:18 PM
For fxpwt. Having followed the travails one has with neighbors and having recently become a suburbanite with neighbors way too close I’ve come to the conclusion there’s one on every block. I just happened to have “that one” next door. Not up to the deadbeats standard you have but just annoying to say the least. Then I go around the block and there’s “that one” making a mockery of home upkeep.
I had a friend from bollinger county who told me the more cars on blocks was a status symbol. “That one” on the next block is vying for a bollinger county yard of the month.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 14, 2023, at 10:58 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 14, 2023, at 10:58 AM
Agreed that it's quite the disappointment whenever underperformers show up ready to argue about their rights and privileges to force their way in, with zero demonstration of any obligations and responsibilities towards fitting in.
Perhaps a sign of the apparent growing trend in not practicing good stewardship of the blessings in life.
Noticed a strong correlation with these types of people as also being loaded up to the gills on various government aids, a life-support system which apparently turns minds to mush and removes all ambitions in the process.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Mar 14, 2023, at 2:48 PM
Whew, already feeling my blood pressure taper back down, now that tax filings are done-and-done.
Beyond being just way too complicated, the frustrations that no matter how many times things were ciphered and re-ciphered, still came out with the same unfavorable answers.
On the bright side, now know what I'll be doing with the refund from 2020 which I just got last month - return to sender.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 8:07 AM
Fxpwt, I feel your pain!
My Family Partnership return was filed under the wire and sent by certified mail. Last year they tried to say we didn't file on time but backed off. I have a Daughter and Grandson who are CPA's. I told her many years ago when she took over to give the government whatever she wanted to but just remember if you give them more than they have coming potentially 1/3 of it is yours. I resy easy, they will get everything they have coming and not a nickel more. And it will go in on time. If I am overpaid, I will not see a nickel of that either. It will be left in place against next year's estimated legal Robin Hood attack on those who will to pay those who won't!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 8:37 AM
-- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 11:31 AM
Heheheh, no kidding.
Took almost two years to get my refund, but doggone, filed late yesterday and they done hoovered the payment out of my account by 10am today.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 12:05 PM
Took almost two years to get my refund, but doggone, filed late yesterday and they done hoovered the payment out of my account by 10am today.
You have to understand, Joe needs that money so he can send it to those who will not work, creating shortages and high prices wherever you go. I have been trying to get a standby generator installed on my building because of concern about power outages and building freezing up. Order a new generator you wait 50 weeks to get it on the size needed. Find a slightly used one and purchase it. $3850.00 to get it delivered. Rent a forklift large enough to handle it plus labor to get it off the truck. $1060.00. Now cannot find a transfer switch. Cost north of $10 grand and they do not have a date. Spoke to elecrtrical supplier recommended by friend in Ohio, he says they can get nothing. Have been waiting for meter bases for one year.
Maybe we can get a transfer switch from a Canadian Firm with a 24 week lead time before delivery but considerably less than one built in USA.
And all of us Dumb ***** can pay for our laborers to sit on their *** while the government pays them with our money.
Vote the Democrats back in next year and watch it get even worse than it already is.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 3:11 PM
"Took almost two years to get my refund, but doggone, filed late yesterday and they done hoovered the payment out of my account by 10am today."
Sorry that was supposed to be in quotes on my last post fxpwt!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 3:24 PM
Just saw this ad and thought it kind of an appropriate subject.
Not recommending anyone buy or not but it was my first computer more years ago than I want to remember.
Also was used once to write, I will not write on the bottom line a hundred times before I could go out to recess as I was in the third grade and did not understand what was considered the bottom line and I wrote on it in a spelling test.
At one time, my handwriting was quite good as I got quite a bit of practice for one offense or another.
And I learned math well from another instrument of punishment that was used in my primary school days. It was called a check. You received a number as a punishment. It could be as simple as 123. The routine was multiply that by 2 and the result by 3 and the result of that by 4 all of the way through 12 and then start dividing the result of the 12 multiplications by 2 and then 3 and 4 through 12 and come out to 123. And dividing first by 12 and copying your results from above was not accepted. 22 little calculations and you have no idea how many times you can make the same mistake. Stay in from recess until the work was completed correctly I got to do this often enough that my mastery of multiplication and division was 2nd to none in my little country school. While I use the calculator on my phone these days it is because of laziness, not because I do not remember or know how to do it the way I learned it so well as a task from my primary school days.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 8:34 PM
Whew! After a couple days' of trepedation, feeling comfortable about restocking the refrigerated and frozen groceries again.
Lemme shplain.
Faithful refrigerator started acting up a couple months back. First, occasionally tripping the ground-fault breaker (see older post about what 'legally' needs to happen to upgrade older two-wire circuits with today's standard 3-prong receptacles).
Lately, been catching the compartments over their set temperatures - with the refrigerated side getting up to 55 degrees and the frozen side getting up to 35 or so. Solution had been to thump the temperature dial, where things would take off and again run for a few days.
Figured it was the thermostat, as everything sounded normal, and it would still easily cool down to target temperatures.
Got to looking for a replacement thermostat - son! Thermostat declared as obsolete in 2010, with all remaining stocks depleted by 2014, according to the various usergroups on the subject. Eh, guess it makes sense, given its purchase date of 1990.
So, after almost 33 years of faithful and reliable service, a new kid now sits in its place with hopes it will last as long and be the last one of these I'll ever need to buy, along with the resignation of probably not.
I get all the noise about energy efficiency with newer stuff, but do have to wonder about all the energy needed to make a new fridge - making the metal and plastic pieces-parts from scratch, shipping all over the place and the like - as opposed to being able to just fix the old one if simple parts were still available.
Did shop around locally a bit, seems the price for the unique model I needed due to unusual space constraints was pretty consistent, actually dead-on equal between the big-boxes and the local guys.
So, went with a non-Cape vendor based on their high recommendations from neighbors and family, as well as their sales tax rate being 1.25% less than Cape's. Given the price of the fridge, the sales tax difference paid for a really nice lunch.
Amazing that what was considered a luxury 100 years or so back has become a vital and essential need often overlooked when it's working, but throwing a serious wrench in the works when it don't.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Mar 17, 2023, at 6:24 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 16, 2023, at 8:34 PM
Brings memories chuckling at the blip circulating several years back about the insane money NASA spent on an instrument that would write in all temperatures and all positions up in space.
Russians used a pencil.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Mar 17, 2023, at 6:53 PM
fxpwt, fyi re your refrigerator. Have You tried these people.
Marcone 314 231-7225 - St. Louis Based
Harry Alter Co. 708 418-3062 - Lansing IL
Fxpwt, Many years ago I serviced appliances but it has been close to 50 years ago since I quit and went strictly Heating and Cooling. Got tired of working in kitchens where the lady of the house snarled at you for getting her floor dirty and her dog that nipped you in the heels just for being there in his territory. Anyway it was not easy to make a buck doing it
and I had a wife and kids that demanded to eat regular Best thing I ever quit doing.
One of these companies may be able to help you, I believe Alter used to have a location in St, Luis as well Don't know what would be so special about the thermostat that they couldn't come up with some kind of jerry rigged afair. They at one time sold some general replacement thermostats that were a general pain in the rump to adapt, but not impossible and might be right down your alley. In case they want to know you are new in the business but do not have a tax number as you pay the taxes on purchase. Good luck, welcome to the service business. even if you quit after this job.
There are other parts suppliers on the internet, but know nothing about them and I believe you would find more knowledgabele people at these companies. Listed in order to try. It is a shame to pitch the old refrigerator for a control. It could always be relagated to the basement to keep some extra cold ones needed to keep you going during lawn cutting season.
Perhaps not possible but if all else is lost, pull out the old control. See if there was anyay and see if there are some pivot points that a spot of oil might correct. What do you have to loose. If a bump can make it work, there is something sticking.
There, now you have that to occupy you for a spell and keep you out of the wife's hair. Tell her I said You're welcome. 😎
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 17, 2023, at 7:59 PM
- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Sat, Mar 18, 2023, at 6:07 AM
Rick, If it is not the ceiling fan it wil be something else. I still think you should wear a hard hat in the kitchen.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Mar 18, 2023, at 11:36 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 17, 2023, at 7:59 PM
Wheels, thanks for the tips and resources, but the trigger's done been pulled on a new one, the old one is off to that great scrapyard.
Wasn't willing to risk oodles of dollars of groceries and loads of inconveniences dinking around.
Did see the various universal-style thermostat offerings, where if I had a 'want' for a 2nd fridge in the garage, may have explored at my leisure.
However, when they started throwing out different capillary temperature and length specs, along with trying to wind the straight probe into the coil shape needed to fit in the hole, figured I was out of my league - too many ways for me to get it wrong as compared to the few ways to get it right.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Mar 18, 2023, at 12:11 PM
Son! Gettin' too old for this shtuff.
Noticed the bathtub faucet leaking. Since the drips were cold, figured the cold side. Eh, OK, replaced a washer or two in my time, figured easy-peasy.
Figured wrong.
At some point in the house's 60-year history, before I came on the scene, the previous owner had 'upgraded' the faucets to the newer cartridge style.
Degree of difficulty increased when the faucet assembly was recessed, using extender rods through the tile and walls.
Additional degree of difficulty in that I am not as flexible as I used to be, so cobbling myself into a position to look way in the hole to see what was going on was a real unpleasant chore that I'm sure I'll be feeling tomorrow.
Got the pieces-parts out, extremely helpful folks at the local Ace Hardware scanned their oodles of options to find the replacement. Bought two, knowing my past history of screwing the first one up.
Good thing, as I dropped the spring-loaded faucet seat down a hole into irretrievable neverland in the gap between walls. D'Oh.
Pressure was on, or perhaps more correctly 'off', as there were no local water isolation valves, so the whole house is shutdown.
Finally noodled around and pushed the second spring-loaded seat into place, the rest went together pretty easy.
Now, it seems the drips are warm, suggesting the Hot side also wants some lovin' and TLC.
No good deed goes unpunished, but some consolation from my thrifty / frugal / cheap side on how much I've saved over hiring it out.
Additional consolation in that plumbing was a career path wisely not chosen wayback. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Mar 21, 2023, at 8:13 PM
Fxpwt, had a Moen single lever shower fixture. Don't have the want two to fix it. I am so far back in history on knowing who to call, I ask my daughter. She gives me a name, I Google it for a phone number. Get a number and call it. The guy asks, where are you. St Peters MO. He said I will come but the mileage charge is going to be pretty high. I ask where are you. He said Wichita Kansas. I ask is this so and so plumbing. Yep, and we dicuss how the names were exactly the same. I cancel that call and get the local guy. He may as well been in Wichita $105.00 to show up. I check what local HVAC guys are charging. Just a tad bit less than the plumber. When I started out the price was about the price of a couple of beers at a neighborhood bar today.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 21, 2023, at 9:24 PM
"I Google it for a phone number."
I miss the days after caller ID but before widespread mobile phones, where one could tell where the call on the other end was located by the area code and the prefix (e.g. 334 & 335 for Cape, 243 for Jackson, etc.).
Now, getting hard to tell, as people seem to keep their old number as they move around the country, plus I figure Cape has upwards of 10 prefixes now.
Still look hard at the displayed number before I answer, if it doesn't look familiar, I'll let it go to voice mail, or as I refer to it - Call Screening. Figure if the call is important, they'll leave a message. Way more often than not, nope.
Have often thought it would be humorous to have a *69 function or something for unwanted nuisance calls, just fire the *69 to ding 'em a dollar for the inconvenience of the unsolicited interruption. Ah, but I can dream on...
/****/
"I haven't messed with plumbing..."
Always had some misguided pride in doing things for myself. Acquired a buncha specialty tools through the years, based on logic that the money saved from paying someone else would usually buy the right tools for the job, with room to spare, plus I now have the tools for the next time.
Has mostly worked out, with more than a few excursions where I really bungled things up before calling for help. If experience is the result of bad judgment, then gots plenty of resulting experience here. At least I've gotten better at making the executive decision on whether to even try or just call in the outside help from the get-go.
On a brighter note, the house main water shutoff valve is working rather smoothly now after the initial grunt-n-groan operation with the channellocks. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Mar 22, 2023, at 7:12 AM
Fxpwt, these price are only going higher. I remember the high school days and when a dollars worth of gas would run me a few days, of course dollars were a little scarcer then. And the five dollars I received for bucking hay bales from about 9:00am until dark would buy more gas Tham my $100 Ford would hold.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 22, 2023, at 8:12 AM
Ah-hah! Thinks I've done stumbled onto the answer to my question as to why local TV stations don't more-aggresively promote their no-cost, multiple channel, over-the-air offerings. Short answer - $$$$$$.
/*****/
"Many broadcast television stations, particularly large station groups, generate significant revenue in exchange for granting MVPDs (multichannel video programming distributors) the right to rebroadcast their stations’ signals.
As the Commission (FCC) detailed in its recent Communications Marketplace Report, across the broadcasting industry, revenue from the retransmission of local broadcast signals has increased by 42% over a period of five years, growing from $9.5 billion in 2017 to $13.5 billion in 2021.
Over the last decade, the fees obtained from retransmission consent agreements have become an increasingly significant source of revenue for broadcast stations even while revenue from the sale of advertising time has stagnated or declined.
Such retransmission consent fees have been estimated to account for approximately 40% of broadcast station revenue, with the remainder derived primarily from the sale of advertising.
Retransmission consent fees paid by the MVPD to the broadcast stations are essentially passed on to consumers as part of the service fees paid by subscribers for the MVPD service." https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-23-149A1.pdf
/*****/
I get all the 'yeah-but's with all-in bundled packages and the conveniences of streaming services, but still humorous that many folks whining about inflation and fixed incomes and government aid not paying enough to live on are perfectly happy paying out for stuff every month, that they could be getting at no-cost after a relatively low-cost initial investment (antenna).
Back around to my perspective that it's usually easier to save a dollar, than to earn that extra dollar after taxes.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Mar 23, 2023, at 5:47 PM
DirectTV now has Newsmax back on its lineup!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Mar 23, 2023, at 7:43 PM
My brother lives in Amory, Ms. that was hit by a tornado last night. He and his house is OK. However, lots of destruction in the Southern part of town.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Mar 25, 2023, at 10:25 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Mar 25, 2023, at 11:36 AM
Today's misadventures in home maintenance and upkeep involved the outdoor A/C condenser.
Yeah, the handy-dandy electronic calendar reminder popped up, which when coupled with the warmer temperatures flagged me as being time to gitter dun.
Never had to do this with the older units, but this newer uber-high efficiency crap apparently needs a cleaning every year. As found, all 4 sides had a pretty good air-restricting coating of crud.
Not only is the coil itself larger, but the fins are much closer together and really flimsy, so past days of blasting away with the power washer on an older unit are out.
So, using the hose multi-selection nozzle on 'shower' which is more like a glorified leak, gently nudged and washed out all the fuzz and crud accumulated over the past year - dang thing collects crap like an HEPA air filter rather than its intended purpose as a simple free-flow heat exchanger.
Didn't hear any of that dreaded 'pffffft', indicating the freon was busting out to its unconfined freedom, so hoping for another summer of optimum cooling capacity at lowest electric cost.
Son! Keeping up with a house is almost a full-time job in itself.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Mar 26, 2023, at 7:00 PM
Fxpwt, condensor coils have always stopped dirt, more in some areas than others. If you had Cottonwoods in your neighborhood you would really have something to talk about. Once a year wouldn't cut it. And yes to all of the above to get efficiencey including thinner copper coils, if not aluminum as well as fins. All to improve efficiencey. I try to stay away from it as I have had my day at it. I will clean my own but that is it. To go along with everything else there is much more surface space on the coil itself which allows slower air travel and what might have gone through gets stuck. But get ready, it could get worse. A conversation I had this morning with a friend in Ohio and he tells me that the government is going to go for higher mandated efficiency numbers coming up for our neighborhoods. I suppose furnaces will be next. We are already into 90 Plus efficience ratings. We have removed enough heat from the discharge flue gases that we now use PVC Pipe for venting them instead of metal flues and at least some are using a 2nd PVC pipe to bring in combustion air to keep from using the air from indoors therefore decreasing the air changes. All well and good but we need a certain amount of air changes in our homes or we will use up all of the oxygen and expire. Perhaps we will get to the point where we will all have to move about the house wearing an oxygen mask.
But not to fear, our government is only here to help us and save us from ourselves, because after all, they are so much smarter than us dumb ***** who elected them to office.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 26, 2023, at 8:56 PM
"But not to fear, our government is only here to help us and save us from ourselves..." -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Mar 26, 2023, at 8:56 PM
Yeah, kinda wondering about that.
My unit has all the stuff you mentioned - the PVC pipe flue and fresh air inlet, the extra fresh air inlet blower, even has a separate water drain to empty the condensation from the gas.
Kinda wondering about the energy needed to manufacture all this extra stuff - the extra blower motor, drain trough, larger A/C coils, etc. against the actual energy saved while in use as compared to the 'traditional' units. I'm sure someone noodled through all the numbers to get the answer they were told to come up with.
Was told by a local HVAC guy wayback that these high-efficiency units may not save the consumer money as much as they think - reasoning that the money saved on energy will likely be spent on added above-and-beyond repairs due to the greater complexity - more pieces-parts, so more to go wrong. Get into the special circuit boards and the efficient blowers with the slow controlled wind-ups and coast-downs - big bucks, lotsa whammies.
/*****/
Birds!
Keep a feeder stocked because I enjoy the cardinals that frequent. However, got a buncha flying pigs, think they're starlings or some other junk birds that do nothing but make a mess. When they're feeding, looks like a bird seed rainfall the way they nozzle around and flip out the seed they don't want.
Fortunately, the squirrels and deer keep the ground underneath cleaned up pretty good, so I've got that going for me.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Mar 27, 2023, at 6:24 PM
Fxpwt, more complexity, more problems, no doubt about it. And the overall lifespan of the equipment may not be there either.
The old Afco unit I installed on my first owned Commercial Location in 1965 was still cranking along with little care other than clean the condensor coil, and it was top discharge, just like most of today's stuff, was still going strong when whe moved to a larger location in about 1981 or 1982. Don't remember exactly.
In my life simplification program in 2018 we purchased a Villa that was bumping 20 years old and needed major upgrading. A villa is kinda sorta like a Condo but is not hi-rise. You most often have a common wall with a neighbor, otherwise more like single family ownership except that the Association does all outside maintenance and we pay a monthly fee. I have no lawn mower or sno blower here. Or even a snow shovel. Anyway we installed a new higher efficiency air conditioner and furnace although the furnace was already a 90 Plus on PVC Pipe. I replaced the equipment because it was likely I would get to do it at the worst possible time and if I had to buy a new unit in the future, I may as well get the use of it myself.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Mar 27, 2023, at 7:58 PM
Have you ever stuck your head in a ceiling fan -- twice ...all avoidable lessons in life .
That's why you should always wear a hard hat in the kitchen.🤣🤣🤣🤭
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Mar 28, 2023, at 8:31 AM
I may have told this before but in my ill repute days I was knocking a few back at a local establishment and the live band kicked in with a good number when a fella decides to jump on the bar not realizing the ceiling fan was pretty low. I think his head got all the blades. No hard hat.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 28, 2023, at 6:12 PM
Gotta read this but not with something that could blow out of your nose.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Mar 28, 2023, at 6:21 PM
Copied this from another thread as I didn’t think I should interfere with the subject:
“They also wanted a copy of the Operating instructions, they won't understand if they did read them“
Wheels
I actually had a city inspector tag out a new gas water heater because he read the instructions that said something about burns and scalding could occur if temperature was turned too high.
Duh
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 29, 2023, at 2:23 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Mar 29, 2023, at 2:23 PM
DA, in the contracting business I have seen all kinds with inspectors. Some very good and some who couldn't blow their nose if their brain was dynamite.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Mar 29, 2023, at 10:38 PM
Opening Day Of Baseball!!
Go Cards!! 3:10pm
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Mar 30, 2023, at 9:04 AM
Wheels,I helped a friend doing a remodel of an older home that the new owner wanted a privacy fence that really needed to be taller than the allowed 6’ height because of the neighbors higher back yard. After the neighbors had no issue with an 8’ fence and the inspector gave the variance it was put up and quite nice. THEN at final inspection a new inspector shows up and tells my friend it’s against city code. Too tall,he says. But the other city inspector OK’d it,says my friend. Tear it down,says the inspector. The first guy quit and it’s my decision now and unable to just saw off 2’ down it came and had to be totally rebuilt.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 30, 2023, at 9:26 AM
DA, there doesn't have to be any sense in what they do.
I had some vacant ground that I had left over after selling the operating business & frontage lot. So with proper authorization I got it subdivided. Then due to a highway interchange the State bought what I had my main business on. So I built on the new Lot 1. Now we need electric run in and I said extend it all of the way back to the remaining three lots. City says bury it, utility says that will cost you nearly 100 thousand. I asked the city, why me, no other electric is buried in the entire neighborhood? I asked what is my option , she says you can apply for a variance but you won't get it. I said file for it.
They had a special board for granting variances. I got out my camera, and looked for recent variations. Guess what, the new Home Depot that they wanted badly had overhead wiring brought in and was almost brand new. There was several more examples. I spent the rest of my weekend putting together a booklet for each of the 6 or seven wisemen and women on the board explaining each. Not only did I get my variance, but I got a 100% favorable vote on it. It's all in how you say please and it is helpful if you have them with something really personal clutched firmly in the palm of your hand, so to speak.
I am surprised that an inspector could grant a variance to begin with.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 30, 2023, at 10:28 AM
Wheels,the mistake with that first inspector was my friend didn’t get it in writing. These days handshake deals won’t work. Live and learn but like the old XFiles TV show——Trust No One!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Mar 30, 2023, at 10:34 AM
Received this from a friend and thought it poetic justice.
"His Greed Ended Up Costing Him More
“A customer came into my key shop and told me that he has locked his keys in the car. Since this was in the ’70s, I said, ‘No problem, I can pop it open for five bucks.’Because I had done this a thousand times, it took me about 30 seconds to open the door, and because I had done this a thousand times, I reached in and grabbed his keys before he could. ‘Five bucks, please.’He said, ‘No way, 30 seconds work is not worth $5, here is a dollar.’Me: ‘We agreed on five bucks.’Him: ‘Not going to happen. Take the dollar or nothing.’Me: ‘Not a problem, ‘nothing’ it is.’Then I tossed his keys on the front seat, hit the locking pin, close the door, and started to walk away.He said, ‘Wait, you can’t do that!’Me: ‘I looks like I just did.’Him: ‘Okay, prick, here is the five bucks.’Then I said, ‘Well, now you want me to open the car twice, so it is now ten bucks, in advance please.’
He paid.”
That customer sounds like a Democrat to me!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Mar 31, 2023, at 11:59 AM
Blazing Saddles is on the buub tube today. Can you imagine if that was made now? The wackos would bleed out losing what minds they have left!!
It’s on IFC and seems they don’t bleep anything.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Mar 31, 2023, at 4:55 PM
Can’t believe I let April 1 slip up on me without some kind of prank. Dang it.
Pulled some dandies and had some pulled on me. Loved them both.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Apr 1, 2023, at 6:38 PM
Welp, I've studied up and think am good-to-go for tomorrow (04 Apr - Tues).
Dunno whether it's the advancing years or that the decisions are getting tougher, but whew, had to print things out and cipher through a couple times over with the given information as available. Involved a little bit of identifying the perceived better of the best offerings, as well as the lesser of the worsts.
Yep, gots the sample ballot printed out, and selections scratched and identified.
In keeping with the theme of this thread, will save the sharing of my choices...well that, and it seems my choices have an unfavorable track record with the low 'batting average' of becoming the successful winners.
Additional degree of difficulty this time around is the polling place has been changed, attributed to census results.
So, instead of just going over a few blocks, now gots to go a fair piece across town and learn their systems and layouts and poll officials.
But, civic duty will be exercised...that, as well as renewing my license to gripe! :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Apr 3, 2023, at 9:28 AM
"All of this rain has made the lawn grow so fast and thick..." -- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Mon, Apr 3, 2023, at 10:40 AM
Yeah, buddy, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. I like a nice yard, believed to set a good first impression for drive-by folks as well as visitors.
Figure it's better to start out good and go downhill from there, than the struggles of vice-reversa.
At any rate, being as I am, discovered growth curves for the area standard - fescue.
Kinda shifted bell curve, where it doesn't grow below 40degF nor above 95degF, with its peak growth rate occurring when the average daily temperature is 65degF, so we're approaching the max rates.
Haven't found curves for the warm-season stuff like zoysia or bermuda, just figuring its curve is shifted about 10 degrees hotter, still waiting on it to turn green.
Of course, it seems the weeds and other undesirables grow faster than grass all the time things are growing, regardless of the temperature.
Done went through 6 gallons of 2,4-D mix and a couple gallons of pre-emergent mix towards getting a head start on all the gifting from the rental trash's adjacent crap yards and related irresponsible mower discharges of their dandelions, wild onions, chickweed, crabgrass, bindweed, creeping charlie, plantain, purlane, wild violet, smartweed, henbit ... well, you get the idea, a regular cornucopia of 'yuk'.
Some absent slumlord 'investor' and related all-that property mangler partner raking in the cash off these dumps, with no accountability for the diminished value damages and added work suffered by others striving to keep the 'hood a nice place to come home.
Whew, that went off-track fast! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Apr 3, 2023, at 5:33 PM
"Had a neighbor who planted zoysia plugs and 3 years later ..."
-- Posted by Diseased Turtle on Tue, Apr 4, 2023, at 5:42 AM
Tried my hand with the mail-order zoysia plugs. Took about 7 years before it took off and really filled in.
Love the self-repairing features of carpetgrasses such as zoysia, even like the way it turns tan after frost, seems to make the area a bit brighter during the long winter nights, or at least the infrared of the surveillance systems lights things up better.
Supposed to hammer down a solid barrier at least 6 inches deep to prevent the stuff from spreading where one doesn't want it, such as into mulched or rocked decorative areas...or neighbors' yards.
All this grass chatter brought to mind a way-old and very short-lived sitcom - San Pedro Beach Bums - having a similar conversation, with one of the group just not understanding with looks of disbelief. Another in the group caught this guy up, stating we're talking about Kentucky Blue, not Panama Red. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Apr 4, 2023, at 9:14 AM
If it wasn’t for weeds I wouldn’t have a lawn although the pasture that was fertilized had some fine fescue creeping through the fence. Had to mow that section 3 times before the rest of the homestead.
One bit of advice. Love to feed the birds. Year round,not just winter,but never,ever feed thistle. Yes,those finches are pretty and love it but what comes out later sure pops up in the yard and difficult to kill. Not only my yard but that pasture,too. Birds didn’t respect the boundaries. Eat the expensive black oil sunflower seeds or go elsewhere.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 4, 2023, at 9:43 AM
DT,when I was a kid we had a huge old maple in the front yard that was always a way lay station for starlings. Not only the “bombings” but a couple of years they had little ticks that ended up all over us.
A few years ago I had a flock using a big catalpa tree. Had some left over bottle rockets that I shot up into the tree. That scattered them.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 4, 2023, at 5:25 PM
Don’t really care what the calendar says or when I’m told to “Spring Forward” the real sign of Spring to me is The Masters golf tournament. Like,love,hate or could give a ****,it’s just a harbinger of better weather a coming’.
I remember when watching it on TV was a chore only being a short broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. Now there’s a week of the Golf Channel yapping about it.
Been there,seen it and it’s truly a magnificent place. Not a blade of grass out of place. Watched some maintenance guy on 16 ponder over something before calling in a green blazered member who then called in another then another all pointing at something on the ground. Never did know what was bothering them but figured it must have been a weed.
I’ll make a pile of egg salad and pimento cheese sammiches and enjoy my personal right of Spring without the Masters preferred but unadvertised “domestic beer” which rumor has is Miller Lite. Some things are sacred and not to tarnished with Miller Lite.
BTW-going isn’t cheap. The tickets are cheap if chosen by their lottery but scalpers are making a killing. The food IS cheap. Sammiches for $1.50. That “beer” is $2.50. Not a ballpark ripoff.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Apr 5, 2023, at 12:33 PM
Got a couple of Robins that sing to me every morning.....good for them that I'm retired!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Apr 5, 2023, at 2:08 PM
My Dad knew an engineer that knew the inventor of Super Glue. He showed up with one of the first tubes one night and being a 9 or 10 year old idjut when Daddy said don’t I did anyway. Glued my thumb to my forefinger.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Apr 6, 2023, at 8:12 AM
Gotta know if it works or not. Good thing you didn't have an urgent call for the necessary room.
You might have had things well in hand.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 6, 2023, at 8:40 AM
I’m ambidextrous but not much more needed than an opposing thumb and forefinger!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Apr 6, 2023, at 9:32 AM
Super Glue hazards remind me of an incident of a local Mayor from his hissed off wife about his drinking problem or something in that order!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 7, 2023, at 9:13 AM
Would that be gluing the frank to the beans so to speak?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 7, 2023, at 9:24 AM
Rock: Yes, as well as some loose change!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 7, 2023, at 9:55 AM
Lots of funny but at times mean pranks with super glue. Gluing pennies to the floor. Funny. Putting glue on toilet seats. Not funny. But the Darwin award goes to the girl who sprayed it on her hair.
I mean,come on.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 7, 2023, at 10:11 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 7, 2023, at 12:45 PM
Diseased Turtle: You are missing the point....America is going to pot due to Joey Biden's and the Democrats failed Domestic and Foreign policies!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Apr 8, 2023, at 7:34 AM
Gots to looking around the 'hood today, while in the midst of my Spring maintenance task list popping up on the electronic calendar reminders - such as the previously mentioned A/C condenser cleaning, along with house pressure washing, window washing, various painting and fix-up chores, etc.
Obviously disappointed in the rental properties, where the slumlords haven't been seen 'round these parts on so much as a simple drive-by, and the property manglers need to rebrand themselves to more accurately describe their only observed functions in their business world as simple manure spreaders and unearned rent check skimmers.
However, disappointed in many of the owner-occupied places to a lesser degree. The upkeep, maintenance, and pride for the hours of 'hard-earned dollars' time exchanged to acquire full ownership in the place just doesn't seem to be there.
Of course, it will be pointed out that I'm retired. My rebuttal will be that there ain't a dang thing being done now that wasn't being done when I was working - just have more flexibility when I do it, rather than running around on evenings after work and weekends like my hair was on fire.
Beautiful day today, and it seems I was the only one outside, much less doing anything construed as productive or value-adding to the local society.
Thinking on a bigger view - television has always been a great waster of time even in the days of only 3 channels. Now gots 49 channels over-the-antenna in the Cape area before getting to streaming and satellite options.
Add on the other internet crap with Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and such where people can idle away hours of time on the pretense of being productive without doing anything measurable.
Plus, recently add on the pot proposal passage. I'm sure results may vary, notable exceptions exist, but my general experience is that these consumers generally are at the bottom of the distribution for all-around ball o'fires for gittin 'er dun.
Thinking back to an elder who mused about the humor with all the time- and labor-saving devices today, everyone is tired and don't have any time.
Perhaps in past struggles to make life easier and better for the children and those following us, kinda went off in the ditch with the methods for this better 'quality of life', where filth and wallerin' in waste and decline is all good, as long as one keeps up their screen time and altered state...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Apr 8, 2023, at 7:03 PM
Rivk, or a hoe and let him/her work in a little garden.... if you didn't have any corn rows to hoe the cockleburrs out of.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 9, 2023, at 8:21 AM
Just dam, make that Rick, not "Rivk".
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 9, 2023, at 8:24 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 14, 2023, at 3:35 PM
God is Great, beer is good and people are crazy!!
Truer words were never spoken.
And the 30 cents a gallon gas. And if you found a gas war it could be had for 17 t0 20 cents a gallon.
That little 41 Ford Coupe I paid $100 for was the finest automobile I ever owned. And if you could find a gas war $1 worth would make it through the weekend. And the $5 I got per day for bucking hay bales would buy more gas than that little Ford would hold. It was my first car loan. I never had $1 in my pocket when I went to see Uncle George to buy it. I told him I didn't have any money but would like to buy the car and I would be graduating soon and getting a job and be able to pay for it. And I would give him interest and my note. He said to me, "Well you can do what you want about that note, but if your word ain't any good that damned piece of paper won't make it any better and he handed me the keys and the signed title. I drove it home and made sure Uncle George got his money promptly. Gave me something to think about and that Note marked paid is in my office not 8 feet away from where I am sitting. Thank you Uncle George and may God rest your Soul. Your words have stuck with me. That has been a couple of days ago now.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 14, 2023, at 9:15 PM
Yes Semo471 that song did give me something to think about!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Apr 14, 2023, at 9:17 PM
Looks like Spring is coming on strong, with things greening up and starting to grow again.
Always brings a chuckle this time of year to remember an English teacher from long ago, first day of class as we're walking in, he's strutting around puttin' on aires while playing a record at wide-open throttle of Richard Burton singing Camelot - so first impression was that this dude isn't wired right, and 'wired' wrong comes out as just 'weird'.
He was going through what all was going to be covered using great theatric flair, listing the authors along with a sampling of their work. Got to the poet Tennyson, "In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to...", then switched over to Groucho Marx eyebrow raising and cigar flicking mode, "...what young women have been thinking about all winter". Still remember the entire class ROFL'ing, before that was even a thing.
Apparently he had some serious credibility to go along with the comedy, being one of seven recognized authenticators in the world for validating Shakespeare's signature against any forgeries.
At any rate getting back on track, guess the one thing I like about winter is now over for the season with all the growing going on, done busted the mower out and pushed a few laps around already. Flower beds have been cleaned out, and new seeds planted - no idea what it's gonna look like, as the package was labelled only with 'perennial, assorted, short'. Hmmm, suppose there's a lot of weeds that meet that description...
Between my sinuses pitching a fit, the haze on vehicles, and the runoff from the hosing of the window sills coming off as a Mountain Dew color, appears the pollen count is up there. Fun times.
Kind of a longer twist on the observation about Southeast Missouri weather - if ya don't like it, stick around, it'll change shortly. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Apr 16, 2023, at 3:33 PM
It’s really looking green here. Just a quick run to sell the cabin this week.
Gonna miss it as we have relocated to the western territories. (NOT wacko California). Two days of record heat there then snow. Crazy weather.
Hope to keep the Missourian.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Apr 17, 2023, at 6:09 PM
DA where is your cabin located?
Andwhere is the western territories?
Do keep the Missourian and stay in touch. We will miss you.
My roots are in Bollinger County, still own Property there and keep the Missourian on line. Got to keep track of the obits to make sure I am not in them.
Still a MIssourian and by choice
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 17, 2023, at 6:35 PM
I’ll stay on line as long as Momma keeps it up.
Colorado is the new homestead. Cabin is Cape County with the city closing in.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Apr 17, 2023, at 7:15 PM
Color'ado! One of 5 IMO most scenic States there is. Daughter lived in Lakewood for 10 years at the foot of the Rockies. Hope you enjoy it Rock!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Apr 17, 2023, at 8:11 PM
Actually moved to Lakewood,Co. Learning how to become a suburbanite!
Been to Durango several times. Brother had a cabin near there.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 7:39 AM
DA, be with us poor Mizzerians in spirit if not in body. Never got to meet you in person but feel like I know you anyway.
Colorado is a beautiful State got to visit there a few times and Elk Hunted with a good long gone friend years ago. Hope it fits well for you.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 8:37 AM
Thanks,Mr V.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 8:39 AM
You're welcome sir.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 8:53 AM
Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 7:39 AM
Lakewood is close to all the good stuff outside of Denver! One of our favorites is Red Rocks. BTW, good breakfast at "Sunrise Sunset" located at 1424 S Wadsworth Blvd.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 9:07 AM
Been getting around a bit. Hit the mountains a few times but think I’ve aged enough to not get on skis as I like my knees and hips intact. Snowmobiled and that was great adventure.
I’ll try that restaurant for sure.
I know one thing for sure. Should have taken Spanish instead of French in school!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 10:51 AM
Rock: The road up Mt. Evans is a must! Great views! You might get a high elevation headache- I did!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 11:39 AM
Red Rocks Concert Amphitheater is a great place for a "Rock Concert" or country! To the right of the right video screen and over the ridge is the west side of Lakewood. Morrison is a small town full of restaurants and tourist stuff at the entrance of Red Rocks.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 2:53 PM
Red Rocks is just over hill,er,mountain from me. Saw Jimmy Buffet there last year. What a place! Got a gift certificate for The Fort restaurant. Haven’t used it yet. Just been acting like tourists so far. Breckinridge,Winter Park,Buffalo Bill gravesite on Lookout Mountain.
Golden is a nice place.
Went to a Cardinal/Rockies game last week. More Cards fans than Rockies.
We were close to Pikes Peak while at Garden of the Gods but the top 6 miles were closed so some other time.
Some Indian tribe got the name changed from Mount Evans then another tribe balked and wants another name. Prob a lawsuit now and the road signs stayed Mt Evans.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 3:42 PM
Rock: Golden has a good trail along the stream right there in downtown....good view of the Coors plant! A day trip to Idaho Springs up highway 70 is a must as well as one up highway 6 to 119 up to Black Hawk!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 6:46 PM
DA, if you like good beer and want to buy semi local, there is the Breckenridge Brewery somewhere out there, presumably Breckenridge. And I say Semi local sa I bought some of there Octoberfest beers here in the local Supermarkets. When I went on line to comment favorably on their beer selection, I found they are now owned by Anheuser-Busch. So I expect them to screw those beers up as well.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Apr 18, 2023, at 8:40 PM
Saw a sign by the snow shovel display at the ACE Hardware that said “You know it’s not over”. What wisdom as there’s 2” on the ground this morning. My friends in Missouri are eating spinach and my seeds are still in the packet.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Apr 22, 2023, at 8:51 AM
Rock: Lakewood normally is spared much snow due to being so close to the Foothills.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Apr 22, 2023, at 9:08 AM
It's Mt. Evans and will always be Mt. Evans to me especially after being up there many times in the past! Well at least they didn't rename the mountain Mt. Obama or Mt. Biden!!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Apr 23, 2023, at 8:54 AM
Mt. Evans is not in an Indian Reservation in Colorado so it's only the feel good hearted Liberals that want to change history by renaming the mountain!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Apr 23, 2023, at 1:47 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Sun, Apr 23, 2023, at 2:26 PM
Rick I agree totally. I spent a lot of time in the back of a pickup truck. Parents and 4 kids will not fit in the cab of a 49 Ford pickup truck. My older sister and I got the back, except when it was really cold they managed to squeeze her up front also.
However you are not going to get me in back these days unless it is heated and air conditioned.
Wife and I have a small farm with weekend facilities on it up in Lincoln County. Little town of Hawk Point just west of us and we go over there for dinner on Saturday night at the Hawk Point Social Club. Better knows as Cliff and Ella's
Some time back but we are there on a Saturday evening and here comes a small flat bed truck, with no side boards and a bunch of folks in lawn chairs comfortably seated with a music box going and a cooler full of refreshments setting squarely in the center of the flat bed as we surely wouldn't want the beer to fall off. Everybody hops off and goes in to dine. When they are through they leave the same way. Terrible flaunting of the law. Where are the cops when you need them??
Really I suspect looking the other way as who would want to argue with those fun loving folks. Did I desire to join them. No way, I bruise too easily if I fell off onto the asphalt on one of those sharp turns.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 23, 2023, at 3:16 PM
Let’s sell the cabin,it’s a lot of work around here,she said. Mowing,painting,pool maintenance,she said.
Let’s move 900 miles,pay 4 times what we should have for the house.
But it’s move in ready,she said.
Lots of storage,she said.
Two car garage,she said.
If you’re paying attention I never saw the place except pictures.
Happy wife happy life.
Now it’s a ONE car garage because trying to jam a 30x30 workshop into it I have to park on the driveway.
Move in ready,she said.
Let’s take out that one wall and open it up,she said.
The goldfish pond needs “up dating” so haul about a ton of Colorado rock today.
I think my arms are about 4” longer and my back is about 4” shorter now.
Man,this “move in ready” is hard work.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Apr 24, 2023, at 5:40 PM
Rock: After many trips out to Colorado since 1967, it's a great place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Apr 24, 2023, at 6:14 PM
Expenses are off the charts for sure.
Haven’t registered the vehicles yet but told that’s another big tax. Still running Mo plates. At least when I do something stupid they just go there’s another hillbilly tourist!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Apr 24, 2023, at 6:36 PM
"Still running Mo plates."
You can probably continue to do so. Got a daughter or son back here?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 24, 2023, at 8:03 PM
Kinda been following the hullabaloo and related media circus about Tucker Carlson getting booted from Fox News.
One source suggested that the Bud Light faux-chick who came into the world as a guy was going to fill in with her own program - the Johnson Tucker Show.
Ar, ar, ar, oh stop it, my sides... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Apr 26, 2023, at 5:27 PM
Mo plates. Still have property.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Apr 26, 2023, at 6:06 PM
Willie Nelson turns 90 today! Here is how he sung and looked liked back in 1965. Remember him well back then as a guitar player in the Ray Price Band.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Apr 29, 2023, at 8:43 AM
May the 4th Be With You!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, May 4, 2023, at 8:40 AM
Tomorrow will be Cinco de Mayo day. And my son-in-laws birthday.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, May 4, 2023, at 8:09 PM
Rock: Renting a cabin outside of Rolla, Mo for the weekend. WIFI spotty but who cares!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, May 6, 2023, at 6:35 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, May 6, 2023, at 6:35 PM
Brings to mind the early days of cell phones, travelling with the Motorola bag unit plugged into the cigarette lighter.
Kind of a relief on those float trips over by Eminence, on the final leg of highway then pulling into the campsite where the display showed No Signal, thus honest relief from any guilt whatsoever of not answering.
Even wayback then, it was refreshing to disconnect for a while.
Have a GREAT trip!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, May 7, 2023, at 9:16 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, May 6, 2023, at 6:35 PM
Fxpwt, I never had a bag phone but I purchased one of a Radio Shack model that weighed a ton. The batter hung on the side of it and was roughly 6 inches square and a about an 1 1/4 inches thick. The rest of the phone was same dimensions but about 2 1/2 inches thick. The battery would last about 8 hours and took a while to charge. But they made a cradel and antenna combination that you could mount in your car while traveling. We distributed a product line and I sold into Kansas and Illinois and a little into Iowa. Had a salesman but occasionally would hit the road myself. So that would keep me in touch, kinda sorta. The antenna glued on to the windshield and you had a pickup glued on to the inside of the windshield. We have come a fer piece since that day.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, May 7, 2023, at 1:43 PM
Wheels - remember those first portable mobile phones, big ol' clunky chunks not too far removed in size and weight from the handful handy-talkies seen in the old war movies. Along with that were the days when the guys having to carry them as part of their job hating to be interrupted by a call.
Also remember back in the more recent but still long ago days, when reception wasn't the greatest almost all-over, the then-newer generation candy-bar phones had antenna jacks. Had a Wilson magnet mount antenna on top of the car, pain in the keister to deal with, putting it on the roof while travelling, then popping it off to throw in the console so as not to get five-fingered. All of this when a mobile phone was only that, and not a mobile info/entertainment device.
/*****/
Things have just gone too far! Was checking fluids on the vehicles, dang, low and didn't have none on my shelves. Went to AutoZone, asked them for some tranny fluid, they handed me a Bud Light. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, May 13, 2023, at 5:20 PM
That 70’s Show was great but they tried to follow up with a short lived sequel That 80’s Show. Only had one funny line that I remember. A character with a new mobile phone exclaimed “And it’s only $8 a minute”!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, May 13, 2023, at 6:01 PM
"...That 80’s Show. Only had one funny line that I remember." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, May 13, 2023, at 6:01 PM
Hmmmm, had to go and look that up, didn't remember it at all. Watched a few minutes of a couple episodes, yeah, completely understand why it was a D.O.A. (dead on arrival) series.
Thinkin' my first bag phone plan was $30 per month for either 30 or 60 minutes, with an absurd per-minute premium for overages. Certainly kept calls as they should be - short and to the point.
Saw where Netflix recently resurrected the lineage with That 90s Show. Watched a couple clips, suggest the better idea would be to bring back the shows in syndication actually running during that time for a more accurate perspective and better humor.
/*****/
Had a chat with a younger neighbor on yard care, and how my efforts were a 'boomer' thing, comparing my mowed yard to his overgrown weed farm.
Threw out that perhaps it wasn't a generational stereotyping thing of boomers vs. millennials vs. Gen ZZZ as much as an age thing coming down the pipes for him.
While he has just entered the rigors of mortgage payments for his place, I can look back on the thousands of hours expended to be here - before getting to the personal career choices involving nights, weekends, callouts, and sheer oodles of overtime.
So yes, I have a bigger investment to take care of, and treat it accordingly. Given his silence, figure he's gotta ponder a bit on that.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, May 13, 2023, at 8:21 PM
fxpwt,having my first foray into suburban living and too close neighbors I’ve found that there’s “one” on every block. I just happened to live next door to that “one”. There’s no grass to mow in that front yard as it’s a rock landscape but the weeds are already taking over and from what I remember from last fall there’s never an attempt to get rid of them. City ordinance for snow removal is quite clear. Sidewalks must be shoveled. Not once next door. With several private trash disposal companies they all have the same rules. Put the containers out before 6am. That’s nice but dragging them down the drive at 4am does wake the neighbors. They have wheels!! Then leaving them curbside for days while driving around them seems to be no issue for them.
I guess it could be worse.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, May 14, 2023, at 10:35 AM
DA, I thought you were moving/had moved/?, to the Mile high area instead of this great land of milk and honey.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, May 14, 2023, at 12:48 PM
A few rules of life. Some wouldn't pass muster here but, I think these are ok.
1. Condoms do not guarantee safe sex! A friend of mine was wearing one when he was shot by the woman's husband.
2. I think all politicians should wear uniforms. You know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could identify their corporate sponsors.
3. Also, all politicians should serve only two terms -- one in office and one in prison.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, May 21, 2023, at 3:03 PM
Maybe I'm the odd man out here, but y'all ever have something that catches your attention, and then you can't stop looking for it?
Coupla instances - noticed grass and weeds growing in the seams of the concrete street, where the tar is supposed to be in the expansion seams.
The nearby block that I regularly travel and which started this noticing has a hundred feet stretch or so where every seam is full-up with a continuous line of growth, can't even see any tar.
Hmmm, so looked at my streetview in front of the house, sure enough, little patches here and there, so have added the street to my regular Round-Up route around the house, to keep little things from becoming the bigger eye-catching things.
Another thing - the sheer number of vehicles that don't have all required lighting working, seems can't go anywhere without noticing several vehicles with a brake light or headlight out. Turn signals are kind of a wash, as don't know whether they don't work, or the operator chose not to use appropriately.
Suppose it's the changing times, heck, used to make regular walkaround light inspections here as not to hand out a free reason to be pulled over. Guess they don't do that any more.
Thinking of the tremendous revenue opportunity - the City fine sheet shows pretty much $50 across the board, plus the $35.50 court costs, before the opportunity presented for other things such as current tags and insurance, and any funny smells or plastic baggies or modified firearms that shouldn't be there, towards making the stop more 'profitable'. https://cdnsm5-hosted.civiclive.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_5730343/File/Depart...
Like my approach with the grass and weeds in the street - take care of the little stuff so it won't become the big stuff.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 7, 2023, at 2:38 PM
Had a chuckle with the observation on how sensitive many folks are now and how 'nice' everyone is expected to be.
Participating in an F150 truck forum, sharing knowledge related to my former '89 model gained over its 25 years of ownership, related to the DIY repairs and maintenance and how stuff works.
Falls under the idea of 'take my advice, I'm not using it'. :-)
At any rate, responded to another user, describing the situation in terms of a slider bar and a twisty knob.
Doggone, my response was bleeped out after 'twisty'.
Being resourceful as I am, I followed up, suggesting that others could fill in the '****' by taking 'bob', knock off the first 'b' and replace with 'kn'. That went through untouched.
The chuckle came envisioning that the censors would have a come-apart meltdown and stroke if ever turned loose in the plants I've worked at. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jun 19, 2023, at 6:43 AM
- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Wed, Jun 7, 2023, at 7:50 PM
Rick, I am right with you on that one. There is this guy comes by about late 50ish with one to two dogs and sonetimes with a little boy about 5. One morning I am sitting here drinking coffee and straight out from my window the dog is doing his job while this guy is looking for stars. By the time I made it to the door he was making tracks. I yell at him. He turns around. I said pick that up. I explain there is an ordinance against not picking up. He said I don't have anything to pick it up with. I said use your hand, he's your damed dog. He pokes around under a bush and finds a stick. Comes back and flicks it out in the street. He now walks on the other side of the street and I noticed carries a bag. I don't want dogs in my yard for any reason. Not because I hate dogs but that I have a strong dislike for ignorant dog owners.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jun 19, 2023, at 7:55 AM
With Temps in the high 90s/low 100s, it's hotter than Blue Blazes!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 26, 2023, at 8:00 AM
IMO, UFOs are real.....ever stepped on something during the night and say to yourself - Unidentified F'ing Object?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jun 26, 2023, at 8:26 AM
Wonder how those EVs are taking this hot weather? Does the heat effect their total mileage?
When a person is on a trip and it's 100 degrees and you have to plug the EV up....where do you go for 2 hours and will your car have all of its parts intact when you get back to the charger? Questions Questions
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jun 27, 2023, at 8:43 AM
Semo471, going to do my finest to put off that learning experience as long as possible.
Cannot say never. With our government's every more trying to control us with one more power grab after the other. All in the it's for your own good attitude while they make millions off it and flaunt thir own important ancestors while breaking the rules.
Only have to mention one name..... AL Sore, er I mean Gore.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jun 27, 2023, at 9:16 AM
Wonder how those EVs are taking this hot weather? -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Tue, Jun 27, 2023, at 8:43 AM
Dagnabbit - triggered my curiosity, so off I went a-lookin'.
Seems most sources agree, at least on a Tesla usergroup forum - some but not by much.
Figure most of that decrease may be running the cooling systems for the car cabin peoples and the batteries. Reported to be nowhere near the reduced ranges for cold weather.
Still leaves the 2-hour recharge time with what to do. Don't know whether one could sit in the A/C in the car while it's charging.
Had thought charging stations may be an customer attraction for restaurants, but then again, they probably don't want their revenue-generating tables tied up for that long, especially during peak eatin' times.
Apologies for the 'too much news', had looked heavily into this alternative earlier as well as the compressed natural gas (CNG), and still try to keep up with shtuff, although it's getting more difficult these days.
Even with the attraction of fueling up at the house and reduced maintenance costs on both counts, just can't get the $$$ numbers to come out anywhere near beneficial for me, although my current driving habits would fit well.
So, I'll keep driving my 10-year depreciated, reduced-scale electric vehicle, having its own battery...which powers the starter motor and control circuitry...which then lights off the dino-fueled motor used for the zoom-zoom. :-)~
/*****/
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jun 27, 2023, at 9:16 AM
More immediately concerned here with electric here at the house. The seeming uncoordinated shift to renewables and green stuff looks to be a problem coming at us directly.
Don't have a problem with the wind and solar, concerned with the rate other stuff is getting peeled off and retired.
Challenge with wind and solar is you get whatever Mother Nature gives ya at that point in time, and hope that's enough, at least until the storage methods (e.g. batteries) are improved.
With the other power-on-demand generators being dismantled, less and less available stomping on the (natural) gas pedal, or pouring on the coal to get whatcha need.
Flags have been raised about this, but it seems many are willing to find out the hard way. Seems this Thursday and Friday may be a red-flag opportunity, with temps expected over 100 degF.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jun 27, 2023, at 12:19 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 2:20 PM
I just wanna know who or what kinda-sicko invented the Squeeze-Bottle(s) for condiments, like catsup, mustard, mayo/salad dressings, and esp. pickle relish, ad-nauseum, since there are way-too-many to smear on here? I mean, even the old-standby of peanut butter--not sure if crunchy is yet an option?
I think it was someone with a hatred of elders, who suffer with the "itis-family"! (Although, I now know WHY the bottles are plastic--makes 'em break-resistant when thrown!) Now, the flip-caps? Not so durable to physical-outbursts!
Man, I miss the days of dip-your-own...!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 3:13 PM
bruno/rs: I miss the days when Men were Men and Women were Women....kids didn't have to worry about anything but having Fun!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 3:47 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 4:03 PM
I just wanna know who or what kinda-sicko invented the Squeeze-Bottle(s) for condiments... -- Posted by bruno/rs on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 3:13 PM
Yeah buddy! From nozzles that are too small and plug up, leading to an executive decision whether to squeeze until something gives, or to take apart and clean out ... to the way big openings that yield a much larger dollop than one wanted.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 5:46 PM
fxpwt: Sometimes progress isn't progress!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 6:46 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 6:46 PM
Heheheh, a George Carlin routine immediately popped into my mind.
Paraphrasing - If the opposite of 'pro' is 'con', it stands to reason that the opposite of 'pro'gress is 'con'gress... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 7:04 PM
I pulled the new fangled ketchup out and gave it a shake to make sure I didn’t get that clear stuff before the red stuff. Anyone know how to get ketchup off the ceiling?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 7:18 PM
Paraphrasing - If the opposite of 'pro' is 'con', it stands to reason that the opposite of 'pro'gress is 'con'gress... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 7:04 PM
Fxpwt, that isn't funny, that is true!!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 7:27 PM
DA,
Maybe get a ladder and lick it off the ceiling??
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 7:29 PM
Might just leave it. Better than some art I’ve seen lately.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 8:28 PM
Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 3:47 PM
And the men were darn-glad of it!!! Proof was right there, in the pudding, eh? LOL!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 10:55 AM
Posted by Rick Scaggs on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 6:05 AM
Even the "T"-drivers have suddenly become extinct. Kinda went the way of the Phillips-head, known as a Robertson?-head in Canada, at least early on, don't know if it still applies or not?
Looked about the same, but not (safely!) interchanged, unless you enjoyed the pain when the "wrong" one was used, and impaled your palm!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 11:07 AM
Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jun 28, 2023, at 5:46 PM
Yeah, Dad never was known to wait in anticipation: He'd just grab a butter-knife, an' drag it out there in a slow-spreading pile!
My biggest issue of the squeezer's to overcome was remembering to REMOVE-the foil seal, before use so's I could savor that extra-vinegar.
But I still have qualms about the squeeze-hot dog relish, even with it's "22-caliber-size"-hole.
There's just somethin' ain't kosher about that setup...?☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 11:20 AM
Stubbed toes,broken toilets and Jackson Pollack.
Back in my ill repute days I went out with a few friends hitting several drinking establishments and not being of sane mind we thought White Castle was a good way to finish the night. I spent the night on friends couch and about 3ish the evening festivities began gurgling. Jumping up in a strange house in the dark I caught my little pig on the coffee table as I raced then hobbled to the John. Just as I settled down and about to unclench my teeth and other orifice and ready to paint my own Jackson Pollack I spied the cast iron pipe where the toilet was normally sitting. Ah,he was having the bathroom remodeled!! I had been told but forgot. Don’t use the toilet!! Then it was a race through the house to the master bath with at least one more piggy and a shin bruise to show it. But hey I made it. Haven’t had a White Castle since then.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 1:08 PM
Hey I had two of thise Castles yesterday for breakfast, Jalapeno cheese. They sell them frozen in the grocery store here. They will keep you regular.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jun 29, 2023, at 2:12 PM
With all of the Burn Bands, kids and adults will be disappointed this year......just buy and save them for when the bands are lifted.
Don't forget those Founding Father's and those Patriotic Solders who won our Freedom from England!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 1, 2023, at 10:20 AM
I may be violating the rules but I didn't know where to post this......
So many times, stories about our police officers are skipped over, or never
told. Here is a Good Cop Story that shows the sensitivity our men in blue
have, during difficult times.l
The police department in the small hill country town of Kerrville, Texas,
reported finding a man's body last Saturday in the early evening in the
Pedernales River near the state highway 87 bridge. The dead man's name
would not be released until his family had been notified.
The victim apparently drowned due to excessive beer consumption while
visiting "someone" in Fredericksburg. When he was found, he was wearing
black fishnet stockings, 10 inch spiked heels, a red garter belt, a pink
G-string, purple lipstick, dazzle dust on his eyelids, 2 1/2 inch false
eyelashes, and a Biden T-shirt. The police removed the Biden T-shirt to
spare his family any unnecessary embarrassment.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 1, 2023, at 5:31 PM
More wind than rain in the Chaffee/Sikeston area.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 1, 2023, at 6:31 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, Jul 1, 2023, at 6:31 PM
Same here in the center of Cape - couple of big branches come off some BIG trees, fortunately not hitting or obstructing anything, but it was a stout breeze with a only tease of needed moisture. However, the rental trash's ToysRUs scrap pile in their front yard has been distributed all over the place.
On the bright side, my self-installed antenna came through fine, not affecting my weekly war show viewing - Black Sheep Squadron, Tour of Duty, Combat!, Rat Patrol, 12 O'Clock High, etc. Well, except the local Cape repeater went offline, so having to reach for the original Ch3 Harrisburg transmissions. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 1, 2023, at 6:49 PM
Understand there is plenty of free firewood in the Cape area after yesterday's windstorm!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 2, 2023, at 7:20 AM
Maybe she been there and can offer the cure with experience!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 3, 2023, at 7:38 AM
It’s been my experience that no matter the yard,no matter the mower that last strip of grass is ALWAYS going away from the mower storage……until today. No idea how it happened. Mowed this little yard like I thought I always do but there it was. The final strip headed for the mower shed. It’s the little things.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 3, 2023, at 7:23 PM
Rock: Have you ever tried
Sunrise Sunset
Breakfast restaurant
1424 S Wadsworth Blvd
Lakewood. Co
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 3, 2023, at 10:15 PM
Have not tried Sunrise Sunset. Pass it often and lot always full. Just don’t eat out much although did splurge and went to The Fort Saturday. Elk,buffalo,rabbit,quail,rattlesnake and Rocky Mountain Oysters. They call it an old West Menu. I call it good and expensive! I prize my “boys” but they are proud of the last thing over the fence.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 8:22 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 8:49 AM
I pulled the dish soap in washing machine mistake but only once. Had a load of horribly dirty and greasy work clothes. Well,Dawn gets those oil soaked birds cleaned up so why not my clothes? By the third cycle the soap finally stopped bubbling out the door.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 9:28 AM
DA don't think that will happen on a front loader.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 1:26 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 1:44 PM
Happy 4th!
FWIW, looks like Macy's 4th celebration and fireworks are on NBC... and the proceedings from the Capitol on PBS, both start at 7:00pm.
Given the musical guests listed, thinking gonna go with the PBS offering. Somewhat disappointed that the Boston Pops show isn't on antenna TV, have to stream it on Bloomberg TV - was quite the preferred rousing show.
Of course, could just look out the back here and watch the goin's on from Arena Park, at least the higher-flying stuff.
As almost always nowadays, gots to stick this jab in - seems the rental trash is gearing up in the 'hood for another major hootenanny, scrap iron oil-hemorrhaging vehicles already lined up on both sides of the street.
They gots a tall order to fill, though, to beat the display they put on in 2021 with all the stimmy money flying around, where I spent 4 hours of my life picking up their debris in MY yard, flowers, roof, and gutters while they're laughing about guessin' they got a little out of hand without offering a lick of help. At least no houses were burnt up then.
Suggest if'n they truly want to celebrate independence, suggest they would be better served by declaring their independence from government aid and related dependance on others to support their lifestyle, while robbing them of all intelligence and ambition.
Back to the positive side, great to celebrate a day recognizing when people back then had enough, and formally declared we ain't gonna take it no more! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 6:55 PM
fxpwt,I’m thinking the fireworks stands have to accept EBT. Possibly they can charge it to a Medicaid account. Had an issue with daytime bottle rocket shooting kids at a friends house. I mean AT the friends house. Had to do some “counseling” that day.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 7:11 PM
Just watched several hundred thousand Chinese fireworks going off all over a town where they are illegal!
I remember the days of 5 cent packs of Black Cat firecrackers.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 10:27 PM
I remember the days of 5 cent packs of Black Cat firecrackers.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 10:27 PM
DA, we have had several Democratic Inflationary Periods since then.
MAevel cigaretts were either $0.14 or $0.17 per pack. Both would pretty much follow the same graph if you were to take the trouble to trace their increase.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 11:32 PM
Back in the day our front yard after shooting off many many Black Cat firecrackers had to be racked as in a necessary clean up!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 7:20 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jul 4, 2023, at 6:55 PM
Following up, will hav'ta say the PBS 4th show at the Capitol was worth watching here - featured a Broadway cast performing Neil Diamond songs, as well as the band Chicago performing some of their past hits. Ah, yes, the fireworks show at the end was good too.
Been kinda impressed with the PBS offerings in general, whether they've gotten better from what I remember wayback, or maybe just changing tastes in TV here, dunno.
But certainly pleased now, and with the bonus of two sets of PBS stations available in the Cape area - Ch8 out of Carbondale, and Ch29 out of Paducah, makes for 9 total channels, with one of those channels being a simple PBS radio broadcast.
While about half the shows are duplicates between them - some at the same times and others broadcast at different times, the other half-or-so is different programming, with Ch29 showing a lotta stuff that I find interesting about Kentucky history, such as with coal mining.
Still liking the apps http://www.ontvtonight.com/guide and http://www.titantv.com for a composite schedule across all stations and channels, with the ability to select a show to see a synopsis about the specific episode. Haven't tried it, but they also claim to be able to show the composite scheduling format for cableTV, and for streaming as well.
Handier than a shirt pocket and beats manually surfing around through all the now-available channels for a look-see.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 3:24 PM
I'm not a Caveman so I like my food cooked inorder to kill those little critters that might be inside.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 3:26 PM
Fxpwt, my TV watching is catching bits and pieces of what wife is watching, which is pretty much METV. Then a shot at the 10pm weather and news on Channel 2 which is Local. But there is some kind of dispute with Direct TV about a contract with them they are working on. Seems they may want more money out of Direct TV. Meanwhile Direct TV is not broadcasting them and neither are they discounting our bill as I know it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 4:07 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 4:07 PM
Wheels - seems to be going around, DISH here "FOX23 & MY49 are no longer being carried by DISH as of 6:00 p.m. CT on November 11, 2022." from the website https://www.kbsi23.com/dish/
Read somewhere that TV ad revenues are on the decline, so I suppose trying to make up the gap with revenues from satellite services and such for rights to retransmit the TV signal.
If'n I recall, you're up in the St. Charles area? Don't know whether you're interested, but picked a point where 370 crosses the Missouri River and ran a signal search, https://www.rabbitears.info/searchmap.php?request=result&study_id=1018953 Suggests you ought to be able to pick up Ch2 and a fair part of seven more locals with a decent indoor antenna (the 'GOOD' ratings), well, outside of the hassles of fooling with the TV input selector and another remote.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 5:08 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 5:08 PM
Wheels, just a follow up - appears all the 'GOOD' stations are in the UHF band, so if you decide to go the antenna route, be sure the antenna is rated for UHF reception.
Probably not a big thing to look for these days, but the traditional rabbit-ears from days yore were typically tuned for the VHF band - suggest to look for a loop or bowtie configuration, or the newer versions seems to promote the 'mud-flap', or piece that looks like a dinner table mat design for best possible reception.
As strong as the signals are being estimated for your area, maybe a VHF antenna will still pick up most of the channels...or maybe they won't.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 6:53 PM
I have a bedroom TV with one of those clip on over the air antenna setups. Picking up dozens of channels. Some good old 70 and 80’s shows plus all the shopping networks and countless TV preachers but two things are funny. One channel up from one of those shyster preachers and the picture is the same but the sound is about a half beat off. Then there’s the Mexican soaps. If Jon Rahm the pro golfer says he learned English watching American soaps then I should learn Spanish pretty quickly. The Mexican game shows might be the best entertainment,though.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 7:14 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 7:14 PM
Got my eyes opened to antenna TV offerings when the cable rate went up, and I challenged myself whether paying $100+ per month just to sit on my keister was worth it.
Up until then, blindly subscribed to cable for years. Had looked at satellite when they first went from the massive 10ft dish to the 6ft dish, but the initial investment of $3k just wasn't worth it.
Although, did like the feature where one could pick from their smorgasbord of channels, subscribing to only those channels I was interested in, as long as the minimum total monthly fee was met by the totalling up of preferences. Recalling most channels were $0.50 - $1.00 per month, with the premiums like HBO at $3 towards a $20-$30 minimum or so.
Back on track - wow! Grew up on 3 channels from 3 stations picked up in Cape - ABC, NBC, and CBS. With the digital age and related efficiencies, now getting 40 channels solid on 8 stations, with another 9 channels on two additional stations 90% of the time.
Lost some of my favorite stuff - like the Hallmark channels and FOX Sports, but for the dollars difference, much like the dinner table mandates of wayback in my younger days - I'll watch what's put in front of me and learn to like it. :-)
Gots one of those goofy channels here, in English no less - where the sound and the video just don't match up all the time - the shopping channel on 27-10. Can see the showcase showgirls' mouths moving, but the audio comes out sounding either a half-beat off or like Jabba the Hutt.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 8:04 PM
Fxpwt, I will keep that in mind. There is not even a set of rabbit ears that survived our moving around. But there is a Best Buy some 8 to 10 blocks from here that have all of the necessaries for this kind of thing. I run down there every time I need something. We are kind of on the fringes of Mid Rivers Mall here in St. Peters.
Thank you.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 8:14 PM
As an afterthough Direct TV is having a whizzing contest with some of the channels over price. Meanwhile I am not getting what I am paying for. And I would bet that is not going to be a part of the equation before it is all settled.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 8:18 PM
Tis on my list to inveatigate along with about a half a million other things needing done. Got a stack of paper here than needs filing that is 3 inches thick if it is an inch.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 5, 2023, at 8:23 PM
I watch very little TV and really don't care that much what they do.
I had to grow up listening to Terry and the Pirates and Lone Ranger on a battery radio. Because REA had not reached our little corner of heaven yet. But I did subscribe to a comic book which I awaited anxiously every month.
Then I got out in the real world and found out some people are like Minnie Mouse. Can't explain it here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 6, 2023, at 8:12 AM
Good rain yesterday.......Farmers would call it a Million Dollar Rain!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 6, 2023, at 9:00 AM
"...figure out the neighbor's router password ..." -- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Thu, Jul 6, 2023, at 7:17 AM
Funny, because attempts have been made here on my system.
One, I'm pretty sure was intentional - saw a strange car parked in front of the house with two people inside, just sitting and fumbling with something. Suspected what they may be trying to do, so looked at my router log later for entries around that time - yep, ACCESS DENIED. Big ol' raspberry to them.
Been a couple other times, not sure whether intentional or just visitors at the other houses picking the wrong available network - pffft, figure as long as access is still being denied, we're good-to-go, figuring the best problem to have is the one that doesn't happen.
If only I had the smarts and the ambition to pull an Independence Day movie move on these unwanted folks, where when aliens try to connect to my stuff, sure, but only long enough to download a Jolly Roger virus back at 'em which destroys their spaceship. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 6, 2023, at 2:49 PM
fxpwt: Sure that a "Present" for those Aliens can be found on the internet without much looking and at a reasonable price!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 6, 2023, at 3:05 PM
Denver city council wants to ban all gas powered lawn equipment. It was reported on local CBS and after that segment they cut to traffic which was bumper to bumper. Yep,that lawnboy ban will save the planet.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jul 7, 2023, at 8:10 AM
Amish horse and buggies might be the transportation for us all!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jul 7, 2023, at 9:32 AM
Dexter car show today.....plenty of shade, hot cars, and good eats!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 8, 2023, at 2:03 PM
Might start watching more baseball.
Found the Stadium channel, 49-4 over the air in Cape, is broadcasting a lot of AAA and AA minor league games.
Much like the band Alabama sang about in Cheap Seats - not major league but at least it's AAA... er, or AA, eh, one of them battery sizes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh3GU5K5Fvo
Gots the almost-Cardinals on now (6pm start) - Memphis Redbirds vs. the Indianapolis Indians, which strangely enough is a Pittsburgh farm club - would'a figured Cleveland.
Spoiler alert, a lot of these are rebroadcasts, but hey, figure if I don't already know the outcome - it's close to being a brand-new live game. Thing that clued me in on a previous game was they were playing under the lights, when I finally realized Durham NC should still be in broad daylight. D'Oh!
Follow me for more useless information :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 8, 2023, at 6:11 PM
Probably not useless to most people, unless they are like me and would just about as soon watch paint dry as watch most TV productions.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 8, 2023, at 7:29 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 8, 2023, at 7:32 PM
I'm still recording and delayed watching the last place Cardinals....however it's getting harder to do so!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 2:34 PM
Rick S.,
Minor detail. Interstate highways in the continental US are have an "I" prefix as with I-55 or I-70.
Those similar limited access roadways in Hawaii have an "H" prefix as with H-1 or H-3.
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 3:39 PM
Over a thousand posts on here and you come along to “educate”. Still called interstates even with the H.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 7:02 PM
Pure Braswellism.
Why would you call it an interstate when it's cLled the H-1?
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 8:12 PM
Make that "called the H-1."
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 8:14 PM
Well, last night's minor league game, whenever it was actually played, had the Redbirds starting slow with a 5-0 deficit, but pulling it out late for a victory. Even got to see our local guy James Naile pitching.
Really liked the faster pace of the game, things seem to really move along - although part of that may be post-production editing to fit the broadcast time slot.
Towards the idea of 'take my advice...I'm not using it', talking with some folks complaining about their trip tomorrow back to way-northwest Missouri, being bored of I70 and dealing with the hassles of St. Louis and KC traffic, and related challenges with rush-hour timings.
Suggested to look at going on up 61 north of STL, then catching 36 somewhere up there going across for at least some different scenery. Doggone if the guy didn't punch the start-end points in the handy-dandy phone, and that's exactly what came up as the recommended fastest route. Dang, and I'm giving this stuff away for free.
Still hoping for some more rain soon, million dollar or otherwise. Watering the flowers 3x weekly is getting old quick, as well as the spot-drinks for various patches of the yard already bluish, trying to go dormant on me, before getting to the estimated $20-$30 extra on the water bill. But I loves me a good streetview and walkaround appearance of the place.
Too cheap, er, thrifty!, to just turn a sprinkler or soaker hose loose, watering everything whether it really needs it or not. Guess the past learnings passed down and drilled in about using what one needs, but just don't waste it, still carry on...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 8:23 PM
"Interstate H-1 is the longest and busiest Interstate Highway in the US state of Hawaii. The highway is located on the island of Oʻahu. Despite the number, this is an east–west highway; the 'H'-series (for Hawaii) numbering reflects the order in which routes were funded and built."
Wikipedia
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 10:39 PM
See synonyms for: interstateinterstates on Thesaurus.com
adjective
connecting or involving different states:
interstate commerce.
How does Hawaii have an Interstate Highway System?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 11:53 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 8:23 PM
Fxpwt, I had a watering issue also but I fixed it. My daughter who loves messing with flowers, came over a coupld of years back and she brought flowers with her and set them out all across the the breakfast room and dining room. That wasn't enough and she went and got some more. stopping only when shrubbery blocked any more. She said, now you have to water them. I said ok and she left I went to Menards where I had seen something that could help. They had an irrigation system in a box. I bought it. it fastens to a connect on the house and I set it up, burying the flexible PVC in the mulch and installed the little sprinkler heads at the proper place. Job done. I looked at it again and said hell now I have to remember to turn it on and off. Back to Menards and a gadget they had with two Double A batteries in it and which is installed betweent the water connection and the new irrigation system. It is wi-fi controlled and I turn the water on and I go inside where it is cool and sip my coffee while I program it to water for twenty minutes every other day, for twenty minutes. And if I think it need it more I can always hit manual on my phone and it gets a predetermined time to run. Now at 8:00am on Mon, Wed, Fri and Sun I water my flowers for 20 minutes. It's just exhausting sitting there drinking my coffee to hear the water go on at 8 and stop at 8:20. And sometimes give it another dose manually pausing the sipping coffee for a couple of minutes while I get my phone out and do it the hard way.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 12:17 AM
Yes. An Interstate Highway System is also a special category of roadway with limited access, lengthy on and off ramps, limits on grades and curves, and divided lanes.
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 12:23 AM
Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 12:17 AM
Wheels: If you come out of retirement, you could go into the Landscaping business! lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 5:15 AM
Rick S.,
Probably if they had any in Alaska.
Note that I-170 in St. Louis and I-470 in Kansas City both are only in Missouri.
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 9:15 AM
Interstates connecting with other Interstates....that's the Interstate System!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 10:50 AM
Really, does that mean you want Missouri to take the Interstate signs off of I-170 and I-470?
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 11:10 AM
Lettau: Didn't say anything like that....if you can't comprehend a simple statement then you have problems!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 11:54 AM
Rick S.,
It's still true. US Highways 10, 20, 30...to 90 run east west with 10 being the northernmost.
US Highways 1, 2l, 31, 41...to 101 which is on the Pacific Coast.
Some of these have been replaced by Interstate highways where main highways ending in 0 run east and west those ending in 5 run north to south. Good example is St. Louis which is on the intersection of I-55 and I-70.
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 2:06 PM
Lettau: Posting the link would have worked better!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 4:13 PM
Still carping about Hawaiian road system I see.
Why would you call it an interstate when it's cLled the H-1?
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sun, Jul 9, 2023, at 8:12 PM
I didn’t call it an interstate. They(the road’s referred to) are called interstates. Look it up,Sharpski.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 4:18 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 4:19 PM
Thanks, but the initial question was already answered.
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 4:50 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 12:17 AM
Dang, Wheels, sounds like you gotter figured out, both labor- and time-saving!
While there's a lot of the 'old' ways I miss, there's a lot of the 'new' ways I wouldn't trade for nuthin'.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 6:22 PM
Woodpeckers woke me up at 6am today.....wait, it were carpenters working on a nearby house!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 6:53 AM
The FAA has approved it's first flying car , seriously . Won't need roads anymore..will there be a FWI -- flying while intoxicated ?
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 12:52 PM
Just like in the Flintstones.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 7:52 AM
Got to watch those GPS things. If it is closer they may take you down a gravel road rather than go a mile farther on the Tarby.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 7:57 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 10, 2023, at 6:22 PM
Fxpwt, I have become big on that labor saving thing. By 8:00 am I have already exhausted myself getting up and finding a coffee cup to place on the KEURIG. Got to have my Folgers Classic Roast.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 8:05 AM
You talking about that was made over a campfire and the coffee dumped right in rhe water? Where the coffee had to be drunk through gritted teeth to keep the grounds from going down your throat?
I have made that stuff.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 8:35 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 10:05 AM
Rick, if it's all the same to you, I think I will stick with my Folgers.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 11:11 AM
Also don't want any made from civet poo either.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 2:00 PM
Just a thought, maybe a cowboy hat could be used as a strainer of the coffee grounds!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 11, 2023, at 7:01 PM
About time, the National League won the All Star game over the American League 3 to 2. This means that the National League team in the World Series will have the home field - maybe advantage.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 12, 2023, at 7:02 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 13, 2023, at 11:27 AM
Time to buy some Powerball tickets! -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Jul 13, 2023, at 11:27 AM
Brought back the memory of my time in Kentucky, after they had just started their lottery. Tennessee didn't yet have theirs, and being in a town close to the state line, oodles of folks would cross-over to buy their tickets, unsalestaxed groceries, and what-not.
Guess the jackpot had grown relatively large, and the counter-person was doing a heckuva job upselling everyone.
Not being one to just go with the flow, declined the upsell by replying perhaps a bit too loudly that the lottery weren't nothin' but a tax on people bad at math.
Given the evil eyes from the line of people behind me as I turned to leave, felt somewhat lucky to exit unscathed.
Lesson learned - don't be dissin' people and their lottery! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 13, 2023, at 12:52 PM
Whew! It was tough out there today.
Not that it was all that hot, but with the humidity - SON!
Friday being my regular yard mowing day, being a task-oriented and scheduled type of guy - pushed onward and gotter dun.
Brings back memories of former work days, where we described things as being sweatin' like a soaker-hose hot, ending in having to ROLL your underwear off. Yep, change is good, especially out of sloppy-sweaty wet clothes.
Eh, much like the occasional pack of Ramen noodles - kinda nice once in a while to have a trip down memory lane when one wants to, and not the former days when one just had-to.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 14, 2023, at 6:05 PM
Bet your pond scum neighbors have the subsidized AC cranking. -- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jul 14, 2023, at 6:55 PM
Can't take on that bet. Can't recall anytime during the past couple months when I HAVEN'T heard the outdoor condenser fan just gettin' after it, from my first daylight walkabouts to my late evening closing up shop for the night and all times in between.
Humidity was tough - one of the few times I've seen condensation on the windows in the summer mornings, and I keep the thermostat at 78 here, so the dewpoint must've been close to equal or greater than that.
Signed up for the Ameren alerts and stuff on their webpage, linking my account and some household information in exchange for day-by-day usage amounts, their projections on the coming bill and where it's all going - A/C, laundry, cooking, refrigerator, lighting, etc. It is entertaining to see how they parse things out. Seems to project reasonable numbers across the ups-n-downs through the year, although about a consistent 20% low.
Already not liking what they're thinking about the coming bill, can only imagine where the pond scum will end up at...
Used to be an ad about a mind being a terrible thing to waste. For the rental trash and the two sets of trash cans and leaving all outdoor lights on continuously and the always running A/C, and...and...and..., it seems waste is a terrible thing to mind when ya ain't paying for it. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 14, 2023, at 7:52 PM
My air conditioner stays set at 76 degrees. Sometimes I will push it up to 77 or 78. In this state, I haven't opened my windows in probably 20 years.
If I am paying taxes so Pond Scum can run their air conditioners then I am going to be as well off as they are and keep my home comfortable. I spent a lot of time out there keeping other peoples air conditioners running and then in the office directing others to do the same thing. I am now too much of a wimp to be uncomfortable.
If I can pay with my tax dollars to help pay off peoples legal debts on student loans after paying for my own childrens education, then I am not going to sweat while doing it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 14, 2023, at 11:39 PM
Rick, I remember well those warm summer days. Work for another farmer occasionally. Get there about 9:00 am and quit at dark. You had your lunch and you got a crisp $5 bill for your effort. The guy was no dummy, he would Hire two more dummies just like you so there would be a contest to see who could buck the most haybales. A trip to the Diversion Channel aka the "BiG Ditch" and you could bathe with the water moccasins before going home.
But my $100 little Ford wouldn't hold a days pay in that time.
So gas is more than 20 times higher today. So do high school kids get $100 a day for bucking hay bales now?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 9:02 AM
As we all get older, the things we hated to do as kids are somewhat happy memories now! An example of one of mine was picking cotton as a young lad at a buddies farm south of Oran, Mo. BTW, his mom was an excellent cook and kept us well fed at lunch time.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 9:27 AM
Semo471
Have never picked cotton. My wife's sisters did. Their two Uncles had moved to Portageville and raised cotton.
I think they grew some in Stodard County. If they grew any in Bollinger it would have been in the Southwest Corner.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 3:46 PM
Chopped weeds in a bean field, but never picked cotton, respect those who did - handled a few bolls - geez, seems like the picking and cleaning would tear one's hands up fast, quick, and in a hurry, before getting to the chore of dragging that bag around.
I suppose gloves would help, but would seem to make the task more cumbersome and difficult? At least another example of modern-day mechanization making things better.
The defoliant sprayed to open the bolls had some carryover at the plant - seems the guys became a bit more 'regular' with their bathroom breaks during those times.
Still chuckle about the band camp story of 'this one time' with a vendor. Came down outta St. Louis, and after initial introductions, commented that it didn't seem cold enough to already have snow in October down here. Us plant people are looking at each other with WTH?
Figured out he had seen the errant cotton pickings blowing around in the roadway, not aware that, yes, cotton is grown in Missouri...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 6:36 PM
fxpwt: That's funny, lots of cotton lost on the sides of the road.
Schools south of Chaffee had a "Cotton Vacation" to allow kids to help with the cotton picking. A thumb and 2 fingers fit the cotton bolls just right. A bandaid help with the cuts!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 6:47 PM
Schools south of Chaffee had a "Cotton Vacation" -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 6:47 PM
During my time wayback in KY, schools over there would start 01 August, then let out for two weeks at the end of September to harvest tobacco. Town even had a Tobacco Festival in October to celebrate the end of the harvest. Thanks to political correctness, it's now the Tobacco and Heritage Festival.
Interesting that completely different cultures are only just over yonder, before getting to way over there differences.
Odd that an hour-and-a-half away in Dyersburg TN, breakfast menus more often than not offer grits, where around here, it seems unusual.
Odd 3 hours away over in KY when a barn is smoking to all get up one step short of being full afire, and all the nearby people are just walking around, they're just curing their tobacco.
Odd that a common language has so many variations. For example, working with a full-on Brit to integrate his stuff into our system. Laid up under an control panel desk with oodles of wiring, and he asks for a torch. WTH you gonna do with a torch in my electrical cabinet? Ahhh, meant a flashlight.
Guess it boils down to just who is the foreigner and who is the native for the given situation as to what is really odd.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 7:50 PM
fxpwt: Ever been to Louisiana? Now that's another world.....in a good way!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 10:49 PM
Just remember...
When them cotton balls get rotten,
You can't pick very much cotton.
In them old cotton fields down home.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 11:12 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, Jul 15, 2023, at 10:49 PM
Been to a lot of places, both foreign and domestic, but Louisiana remains in just the pass-through status, recalling that way-long, seeming never-ending bridge.
Guess the watching of NCIS: New Orleans a few years back is as close to their culture as I've gotten...yet. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 17, 2023, at 9:25 AM
Years ago I was in Houma,Louisiana and went out fishing with an ex in-law. Miserable hot and no fish but saw an old guy sitting on an old tree stump in the water miles from anywhere. My ex ex stopped to offer a ride. The old boy jumped in and for the next hour never stopped talking and never understood one word he said.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jul 17, 2023, at 10:08 AM
Rick: A great "Morning" song sung by the King!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 18, 2023, at 7:35 AM
We got to see George when he was starting out in the early 80s at the Sikeston Bootheel Rodeo and then in Cape at the Show Me Center later on. One of the best!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 18, 2023, at 2:34 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 19, 2023, at 3:55 PM
We get all of the Cardinals' games on Midwest 1 and record them all for later playback. Got to admit some games are fast forward more so than others!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 20, 2023, at 8:22 AM
I haven't watched a televised sporting event from beginning to end since Rover had pups.
But I have an inlaw who would watch a Chinese Checkers game if they televised it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 20, 2023, at 8:35 AM
WOW! Big winner in the Power Ball drawing last night! $4 is my share!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 20, 2023, at 8:36 AM
WOW! Big winner in the Power Ball drawing last night! $4 is my share!
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Jul 20, 2023, at 8:36 AM
Semo471 be sure and declare that $4 on your Income Tax Return.
You may not fare as well as a Biden does for tax fraud. Hate to see you spend 20 years in the "Caged Hotel".
$4 or $4,000,000.00 no difference.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 20, 2023, at 8:55 AM
Well it's TGIF day once again.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 7:32 AM
Rick, I like TGIF especially if it can happen on the 13th and I love Full Moons. Brings out all of the Crazies.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 8:58 AM
Don’t know if this is “fun stuff” but the inundating of commercials promoting various drugs is getting old. Just wonder how effective they really are?
Just watched the fat lady dancing over the joys of some new meds that apparently allow her to remain fat but “healthy”.
On another note,why is the Capaha Park LAGOON suddenly called Capaha Park “POND”. Seems the paper is leading the way to change the name.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 9:03 AM
Side affects seem to always say something about the perineum. Ain’t that the taint?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 11:11 AM
DA, I wouldn't recommend you describe the "taint" on here.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 4:24 PM
Well it's TGIF day once again. -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 7:32 AM
Heheheh, yeah started off interesting here. Got a call last night about somebody somehow locking the key fob inside the vehicle during their trip to the KY Lake.
Which was another degree of difficulty on my end - dang unknown number rang 3-4 separate times, where I implement my call screening feature, and let the voice mail get it, but it still awakens me.
Of course, this was two hours after I'd retired, deep in a peaceful snooze.
Finally left a message, so at last I knew who it was beating repeatedly on my phone and picked up. Kept saying the fob's not supposed to do that ... but yet, there he was, stranded and had to borrow someone's phone to call me, since his phone was inside the now-locked truck, and his next move being out in the middle of nowhere was to break the glass.
Hold up there, I'll be over tomorrow (that would be today) morning. So, 5:30AM, and in the lyrics of George Thorogood - and out the door I went, running out to his place to get the spare fob, then the two-hour drive relying totally on my phone driving and directions app for the handoff, which of course means it was another two-hours back. Dang, the app gets downright abusive for any missed turns or overshoots.
Eh, not a big deal for me overall, pushed the yard mowing schedule back, and the truck did need to get a reminder of what highway speeds are about.
Not going to mention any names, but I do have only one sibling, figure I gots a boatload of goodwill mileage coming. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 21, 2023, at 5:36 PM
Speaking of medicines and pharmacies, why do they put the pharmacy way way back into the stores so the sick have to walk a "mile" to pickup their meds?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 10:20 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 10:20 AM
Heheheh - probably the same logic as to why the car stuff is always about as far away from the front door as possible, regardless of the store. Figure to maximize eye-catching, impulse buying opportunities for those who ain't there to shop and browse, but rather are on a direct mission to get specific stuff. :-)
FWIW, looks like the Memphis Redbirds are at the Charlotte Knights in triple-A minor league ball at 7pm tonite on the Stadium network - channel 49-4 over-the-air locally - actually posted as being the real-thing live game, as opposed to the repeat broadcasts of the earlier games on that network...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 10:50 AM
fxpwt: Cards and Cubs are playing today at 1:20pm in Chicago. On Fox Midwest One....one of the only reasons that I pay for DirectTv.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 12:23 PM
Well, nuts.
Apparently the online schedule listings don't have it together - ain't technology grand? Remember being promised a paperless society 30 years ago - seems all that's been done is the technology able to print more paper faster.
Tonite's live minor league game is El Paso Chihuahuas vs. Oklahoma City Dodgers with crappy audio. Ugh - well, at least it's free, er, no cost to me.
Still like the seeming faster pace of minor league broadcasts, as well as the more 'real' feel of baseball, but wavering between this and the traditional wartime shows viewing on the HandI channel 3-2 - e.g. Black Sheep Squadron, Tour of Duty, Rat Patrol, Combat!, 12 o'clock High, etc.
At least the Hamm's is going down good, tasting even better lately in their retro cans. Figure don't have to worry about the legacy beers getting tied up in controversy - likely first and foremost, they don't have the advertising budgets for much of anything. :-)~
Had to laugh at a meme saw on FB - something along the lines of the Right get offended and costs a company $30 billion dollars (AB-InBev). The Left gets offended and pushes a song all the way to #1 (Jason Aldean). Hehehehehe...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 7:32 PM
Jason Andean should do the Super Bowl halftime show with Kid Rock and Ted Nugent.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 8:11 PM
Had to laugh at a meme saw on FB - something along the lines of the Right get offended and costs a company $30 billion dollars (AB-InBev). The Left gets offended and pushes a song all the way to #1 (Jason Aldean). Hehehehehe...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 7:32 PM
For my daily-dose of shame, I gotta admit that it was only, maybe two-weeks ago, that I discovered exactly-what a me-me is/was.
So, you mean all these years past our "younger-days", we were actually "doing" me-me's, and didn't realize-it? Kinda like "cool, neat, hip, heavy, and co**-of-the-walk" would end up as today's "me-me"?
Oh, and "Peace, Bro"! (Y' wanna borrow a rock, all-smoothed out by the creek, and perfect for throwin'?)...☺!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 8:24 PM
bruno/rs: IMO, a me-me is what the younger generation says when they want something. This probably was/is the feeling of all the different generations.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 7:11 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 9:19 AM
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sat, Jul 22, 2023, at 8:24 PM
Heheheh, not even sure that 'meme' is the correct term for what I shared, getting harder to keep track of the fashionable language in current use.
Such as 'chroming' being a term getting a lot of usage recently. Good! I likes chrome, not a fan of the blacked-out hoodie thug-life, drug-life look of the newer vehicles. Then a young'un described the chroming process to me. Hmmm, sounds like the same thing as the dangerous 'huffing' from several years back, just rebranded for that 'new, improved, and refreshed' usage. Pffffft.
Immediately don't trust anyone using 'amayyyyyyyyzing' or 'literally', generally because those words have become the bulk of their vocabulary, sensationalizing what must otherwise be a dull and fictitious life for them.
As for the offer of a new, fresh rock to crawl under and hide - not quite ready for it yet, but according to CaseNet, the current unsupervised batch of trashy violent tenants should be moving along here shortly, peacefully or otherwise. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 11:44 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 11:44 AM
Now I really-am "mixfused", to borrow the line from Rick. But I won't lose sleep over it, mostly 'cause I'm just old & stale, now.
Oh, but I wasn't offering a rock to hide under, as those are already have MY-name on 'em. I was thinkin' you might want one of "throwing-quality".
(I can let you try a sampler-set, if you'd like: Three-palm sized greys, an' two-fist-sized browns for back-up and/or point-blank range, lol!)
I actually miss the OLD-Day's version of Letters To The Editor, of this-very-same paper-publication, where the subjects weren't always about politics.(Somewhere's in the early-90's-ish?) Me and my-wife used our real-names, of course, and I actually have the time-stained copy of it right here in front of me, and, YES of course I cut the page header too-short for folding purposes, and OFF-went the date with it!
If I could just use copy/paste like I did before Windows "obsoleted"-it on me? I'd scan it off, and you could enjoy the even-then dry, sarcastic-humor between the lines of the days when our road was NOT-paved. It's actually a quite-polite letter, about us feeling just a bit on the disgusted-side, right before Christmas of that-year. And you wouldn't believe the number of FRENDLY-responses I heard from folks!
Especially at work, when the bosses' were reading the paper(yes, actual-PRINT-paper!)on lunch-break. Guffaws and snorts were all-around, they just asked, "Who IS this couple?"
I'm sittin' right in front of them, but none of them knew me by name, other than the tag on my shirt, reading---Bruno. The moniker I'd had stuck on me since the mid-70's.
HR-dept. manager caught it, though. Said out loud: "Wha, hell(o), that's BRUNO, here!" And for just a bit? I might as well have renamed-myself Shakespeare or somethin'?
And as a P.S.--another encounter with the very-same HR-fella didn't start as smooth. But it ended in raunchy-laughter, and permanently branded me with "Bruno". Had to do with the SSA, withholding, taxing, etc., for TWO-people on payroll, with the same-SSN!
But that's way-too-long for the moment, and besides, I'm just a visitor here, and it seems like a good-spot to sit for a while to cool-off...! ☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 1:50 PM
But that's way-too-long for the moment, and besides, I'm just a visitor here, and it seems like a good-spot to sit for a while to cool-off...! ☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 1:50 PM
Stick around Bruno, the further you go the funner it gets.
🤣🤔😎👍
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 2:42 PM
Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 2:42 PM
Yeah, just like The-Terminator:"Ah'll Be Baack!" Wanted to touch-bases with The-FXPWT, 'cause a day or so ago, I MAY-have come across a bit-terser than I should've? Mea-Culpa, I'm not feeling the best as normal---whatever THAT-might be called?
Eventually, we'll play a version of the old, "To Tell The Truth", I think it was, with the 3-panelists?
And even then, the "haters" that slink-around here, there, and everywhere for us all, will STILL-have NO-frickin' idea of who or what a "Bruno" is, lol!
Matter of fact, I ain't sure if even I know sometimes,lol...!!☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 4:11 PM
I'm not feeling the best as normal---whatever THAT-might be called?
Bruno, it could be called age related. My get up and go got up and went some time back, but I try not to let it bother me.
Just keep on, keeping on.
Kick a** and take names.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 4:34 PM
Stick around Bruno, the further you go the funner it gets.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 2:42 PM
Gots to give a +1 to that!
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 4:11 PM
Ahhh, no worries about the terse. We's friends here, and besides that, I must'a missed the reception of any possible harshness.
Besides, have envisioned winging harmful objects such as smoothed-out perfect rocks or other propelled projectiles to relieve the pains and costs brought on by slumlords and property manglers myself, all of whom need a one-way ticket on SpaceX to be launched off this earth to make the whole world a better place.
In the words of an REO Speedwagon lyric, if you want to get through to somebody, you needs to speak to them in their own language.
Figure the head-bashin' with a brick tirade spewed by their tenant in my face as a representative of their 'rental business' opens up a world of possibilities on communications.
Payback for getting older here is that all the smirks and eye-rolls doled out in my younger days towards the then-elders complaining about aches and pains and putting the 'tired' in retired are getting paid back with interest now that I'm at the age those guys were then.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jul 23, 2023, at 5:32 PM
UFOs are real!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 24, 2023, at 10:30 PM
The battle of the airwaves continues.
Probably not what you're thinkin', just that the strong winds over the past few weeks shifted my TV antenna alignment, resulting in loss of a couple of the outer fringe stations' receptions.
Had the necessary alignments of both time and ambition yesterday, so out came the ladder and up on the roof I went, early enough in the morning to not have temperature be yet another degree (ar-ar-ar) of difficulty.
Tough enough with an eave-mount assembly, as one is standing on the peak of the roof at its edge to work on things.
Funny how the distance from the ground to the antenna looking up doesn't seem as far as the distance from the antenna to the ground looking down. Guess that's an optical illusion caused by the potential effects of gravity.
Planned far enough ahead to buy a Boy Scout-certified compass this time - the old 'analog' style with the spinny damped-motion needle, as the digital readout on my phone app was spastic jittery and hard to see in sunlight.
Got things dialed back in, with the same challenge of sighting from a distance, as holding either style compass against the aluminum framework of the antenna caused about a 20 degree error, enough to be significant for the stations 50 miles away.
Apparently, the last numbnut didn't crank the wingnuts down tight enough to hold in the 60-65 mile per hour breezes experienced, so paid extra attention to getting things cranked down with enough torque-to-hold, without reaching the dreaded oh-crap, done torqued-to-yield delay of game do-over. Not mentioning any names, but given my past posts, hoping you can figure out who that last numbnut was who caused this latest go-round. :-)~
At any rate, all good-to-go again, but only until the next opportunity to excel comes along, self-inflicted or otherwise.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jul 25, 2023, at 2:56 PM
"with enough torque-to-hold, without reaching the dreaded oh-crap, done torqued-to-yield delay of game do-over."
Fxpwt, my rule of thumb is, tighten it until it starts to strip, then tighten it another !/4 turn to see if it stripped or not.
😢😢🤔
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 25, 2023, at 3:28 PM
The Truth is out there! To boldly go where no one has gone before!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Jul 25, 2023, at 9:28 PM
"...to see if it stripped or not." -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jul 25, 2023, at 3:28 PM
Heheheh, guess that's a spin on double-checking your work! :-)~
Usually follows here with an executive decision on whether it's good enough...or not. Decision gets heavily biased by how much extra work is required either way.
/****/
Dang, nuthin's easy anymore.
Made my every other week grocery gobblins gittin' run at the local SuperCenter, like to go early to avoid the crowds which impede my shopping speeds.
Whew, bad enough getting used to the new flooring, where they pulled up all the nice-looking tile and just coated the concrete much like a low-end warehouse store.
They have since rearranged pretty much the entire place, so having to relearn and recalculate the most efficient routes to get what I needs in their new locations, and still forgot the hot dog buns, as missed that the bread products are now where the in-store Subway used to be. Pfffft, guess we'll be going old-school with two-week old sandwich bread for buns.
This go-round, they've redone the checkout area, seeming to add more self-checkouts while reducing the traditional lanes.
Bonus, none of the traditional lanes were open, where in past regular runs at my regular time always had one open, especially helpful for those of us having near-cartfulls or better to run through.
Ugh, so away I went, grab and scan and bag and stage, then when the loading-out table was stacked full up, additional bend and snap to the floor and back. Fortunately, the self-pay station still takes cash so that a brewing personal come-apart was avoided, and got things squared away.
Suppose I ortna check the receipt to make sure my withholdings are correct for the wages earned on all that work I am now doing for them... Hardy-har-har-har - oh stop it - my sides! :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 9:40 AM
Does WM offer any cash back bonuses for the self checkouts or a retirement plan?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 10:47 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 10:47 AM
Heheheh, not that I saw, although did take involuntary advantage of their wellness plan / exercise program. :-)
Kinda wonder how things work if someone were to get hurt self-checking out? Workers Comp? *snicker, snicker*
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 11:29 AM
fxpwt; Lost time accident for sure at the Self Check Outs coming at a WM near you!
If they "hire" me to self Check then keep your security cameras out of my face!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 5:38 PM
If self checking doesn't earn a discount the checking I am going to do is on what is being rung up by the stores employee checker. Not paying today's prices and doing their work also.
Dp mot care if it is Walmart or the local Supermarket. No I don't really blame the stores for the increased prices, their cost of buying has gone up.
You can attribute that to inflation which you can attribute to government mismanagement. Groceries are costing about double what we were paying just a year or so ago.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 9:28 PM
Grocery prices are up 12% since Joey Biden took over........in fact everything is up in prices!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jul 26, 2023, at 11:07 PM
Bidenomics in action and that gas bag brags about it.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 6:32 AM
On this day in history, July 27, 1940, Bugs Bunny debuts in animated film 'A Wild Hare'......Happy Birthday Bugs!
WOW 83 Years Old....now that must be a record for a Rabbit!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 7:53 AM
"made out of Chinese steel , it doesn't work . They have to throw the disc rotors away and put completely new ones on now . The Bill for a complete brake job is now $881.75".
WOW, another example of Chinese junk!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 8:12 AM
WOW, another example of Chinese junk! -- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 8:12 AM
Remembering problems several years back with Chinese steel, as used in high-pressure piping. Stuff used in power plant boilers and for moving the 2400psi 1005degF steam to the turbine-generator.
Apparently were counterfeiting the markings and certifications of the 'good' stuff.
Read accounts of the piping just catastrophically failing, zippering along its seam weld. Challenge being, if one wasn't immediately bar-b-qued by the temperature, the next problem was breathing, as the steam release also pushed all the air away from the area.
Not aware these issues ever occurred in the U.S., heightened screenings of vendors and increased inspections of received goods and such were put in place after being made aware, but the problem was apparently bad enough elsewhere that even the Chinese government reportedly outlawed the use of Chinese-made piping in their own power plants.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 9:39 AM
Well, just got the Spectrum bill - man, just full of good news.
First - Internet and Phone are going up $5 per month, each.
But wait - if I were to enroll in AutoPay, they'll knock $5 off the Internet...for now, I suspect, but we'll give it a go for that kinda money, much as I hate handing out the keys to my credit card for a regular billing.
Finally - they announced there's a new area code coming to town for the 573 peoples, 235. Spectrum said that starting 24 Feb 2024, all calls must be dialed with the full 10 digits (I suppose in this day and age, 'punched' would be the more accurate term), and starting 24 March 2024, the new 235 area code will start being assigned to new number requests.
I think I need to go lay down for a bit... :-)
Do kinda wander with all my past blatherings about antenna TV - just what would the monthly expanded basic plus two double-secret decoder boxes be running nowadays? $100 per month is what sent me up on the roof back in Jan2020.
/*****/
Think I've figured out why so many people have trouble with money, or maybe that I was just learned-up differently.
An ad I've heard several times before finally triggered a thought - the one that goes, 'the more you buy, the more you save!!!!!!'
Hmmmm, always thought here that it was the less you buy, the more you save...
I'm here all week ! ! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 2:19 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 2:19 PM
Fxpwt, I live in an area where we cannot get AT&T by wires, We are in a Centurytel Area. To put it mildly their service is not great and since we no longer have a landline we chose Spectrum internet. Not fast and several outages later, realizing Spectrum spent about as much time in our area as I do, we opted for AT&T 5G Wireless. A good decision we are happy with it and much faster. Having not appreciated Spectrum when we did a short stent in an apartment and having a Dish on the roof at the Villa we purchased we went with Direct TV. A little more pricey than I like but it works 99.9 % of the time. Only outage has been a pretty heavy rainfall and that lasted only a few minutes
All in all, our communications cost a little more than I would like but they work. And, so long as the income exceeds the outgo, I am content with it. As i was told long ago, there are no pockets in a Shroud and it's not a practice to find a Brinks truck following a hearse.
If I wasn't clear I am a believer in.... YOU AIN'T TAKING IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU GO! My kids will be better for it when I am gone, and they are welcome to what is left. I have planned my life so the freeloaders living off the government will not have a lot to celebrate when they read my obituary.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 4:43 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 4:43 PM
Was quite happy with AT&T here, but when the bill nudged over $80, nah.
Hesitation for waiting so long was due to always having a landline and AT&T were the go-to boys, still remembering the 'great mobile phone outage' of '98 or so, when the towers around me went down maybe due to the ice and weather and such. Always been a believer in redundancies and back-up plans.
Investigated the Spectrum offerings after choking on the AT&T bill - not quite a traditional landline, but not cellular either. For the then $12.98 - pfffft, kicking myself for waiting so long.
Unhooked the AT&T feed to the house wiring, and backfed the Spectrum line off their modem into that existing wiring. Kinda neat, in that the old wall-mount rotary phone still works coming in and dialing out, providing the occasional entertainment and satisfaction whamming the receiver on the hook for those unwanted calls.
Plus, the cordless has a Bluetooth link, so that I can be charging the cell phone by the door so's I don't forget it when I leave, and still answer mobile calls anywhere in the house, picking up on the cordless units. Perhaps part of the reason we're getting a whole new area code, eh?
Even went so far as to get a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) to power the modem and cordless main and separate wireless router during any power events, well, for at least 4 hours. Doggone if Ameren hasn't been reliable enough over the past couple years to not be able to truly test things out and to thumb my nose at the rest of the 'hood scrounging for wireless, only 39 events logged, none lasting more than a few seconds.
Never looked into satellite offerings, for one, too cheap - not that I can't afford it, just ain't no longer making monthly payments to sit on my keister. For two, just not liking the idea of punching holes in my roof, as many of the observed installations do - same reasoning for the eave-mount TV antenna rather than the traditional tripod set on the crest of the roofline.
Guess it's turned into a bit of a game or a challenge for me, not so much about how much money I end up with, have, or can make, but rather how much money can I save without sacrificing to uncomfortable levels. Recent inflation has certainly kicked up the scrounging around and related entertainment. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 5:49 PM
- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 5:49 PM
Fxpwt, I am a big believer in each to his own. I have carried one since they were the size of WW II Walkie Talkie. Reason for my appreciation for them we were in a service type business that I needed communication with the office and my workers. We had tried everything else with limited to no success. Cell phones kept me in touch if I was calling on an account in Kansas, Farmington or taking a day off at Lake Ozark.
They have improved. Every work day by 6:pm I check the alarm system to make a ure the doors all show closed and the alarm has been set. And all T-stats are managed from my phone. If someone isn't happy they give me a jingle and I make an adjustment for them. Haven't had a call in two weeks. Things are now on setback until Monday AM. If someone wants to work on Saturday, they jingle me and their office is comfy when they get there. A cell phone us the best thing since sliced bread in my book. And I just typed this with one finger on the tiny keyboard on my phone. And it was what I used while I had my first cup of coffee this morning. Also when I see something hard to explain I can always use the camera function to send for explaining it.
To me it is invaluable. A Tool.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 8:04 PM
Sorry for all the typos in the above. I pretty much hit send then error check.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 8:10 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jul 27, 2023, at 8:04 PM
Fully agree, today's technologies are wonderful, seems to be getting to the point that the only limitations are that someone hasn't thought of doing that yet.
Suppose I'm too-tied up with the what-if and Plan B's, although even that is becoming a lesser consideration.
Still smarting from past burns, such as the above-mentioned cell network outage, losing the internet at work taking down the whole work order / warehouse / purchasing system, or even recently, where a run to KY was involved after the other party locked their phone in the truck and even after borrowing another phone, my number was the only one remembered as all his other contacts were...in his phone.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 6:49 AM
, or even recently, where a run to KY was involved after the other party locked their phone in the truck and even after borrowing another phone, my number was the only one remembered as all his other contacts were...in his phone.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 6:49 AM
Fxpwt, but that comes under another heading of which we have all found ourselves guilty at one time or another, even me🤔🤔
It goes something like, "you can't fix ?"
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 8:02 AM
And Fxpwt, sometimes I have to think, ummm is that correct when remembering my own phone number.
But hey, I'm not going to blame my phone for that.
It's called "sometimers" or something like that or "here for" in like "ummmm what am I here for"
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 8:12 AM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 8:19 AM
Rick. I treat it as a tool. I grew up with no phone as a lot in our area did.. Then c a me those wall phones with the crank on the side. We didn't have one of those either.
And we cut our firewood with a crosscut saw and an axe. Now they use chainsaws and log splitters powered by their tractors for we ood used in an outbuilding. Because most have a device connected to a pipe blowing heat out with electricity. Some new fangled gadget they call a furnace
Time moves on, with or without us.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 8:49 AM
"Time moves on, with or without us." Wheels
Very true, we all have the right to move on or to keep the status quo!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Jul 28, 2023, at 9:08 AM
I have a self imposed 4 item limit when confronted by a self checkout. Generally there’s also a time constraint so I bite the bullet and take someone’s job momentarily. Anymore than four and I go to an open lane which was the plan today especially because I had a pretty full cart. Always scope out the checkouts upon entering and 2 full service were operating. All clear. Proceed. Well,to quote ol Joey,Son of a B! The lights were off and nobody home. Stuck with a full cart I opted to self it. First 2 items were 12 packs of beer. That requires an employee that requires proof of age. ID out,scanned and replaced in wallet for first 12. But alas CO require s the ID scan for each unit of alcohol. So I dig it out again. Not two items later the “reader” blinks off and stops. Know where this is going. Same girl,same routine done twice. THEN first reader decides to wake-up and wants me to pay for the items I’d scanned before it blinked off. Won’t even go into picking the wrong vegetable picture and paying almost double for organic that undoubtedly came off the same truck. Started to call the girl over and finally said EF THIS!
I think I’m done. Thx for the therapy session.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Jul 29, 2023, at 3:06 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Jul 29, 2023, at 3:06 PM
Can appreciate your pains. Frustrating enough going into highly-peoply places before any extra challenges of getting out.
Toying with the idea of either taking my trade to a more universal conventionally checked-out store, or start ordering my groceries to be delivered - the latter probably wouldn't work well for alcohol and certainly don't want to be confused with being born-tired low-intelligence rental trash too lazy to go get their own groceries that someone else paid for.
Figure either way would be a cost premium, kinda like when self-serve gas came on the scene offering a few cents per gallon discount over full-serve. Guess here it would be opposite, paying a few dollars more for 'full-serve', or be lucky enough with decreasing odds on catching a regular lane open at the preferred store.
Wondering about the idea of a reverse express lane, where instead of a maximum amount of items, there would be a minimum of say 10 items to go through the traditional lanes and cost-justify the use of a cashier to help out with the scanning and bagging.
Of course, in my warped world, would have to have a deterrent for those who won't follow the rules, so my proposal is the cashier gets to select from the impulse-buy goods there at the register to make up this minimum count, cashier's choice on whether it be $2 candy bars or $25 gift cards. :-)
Suppose a good example of 'change', where most folks want this change thinking only of things getting better, but this self-checkout is viewed here as things changing for the other than better.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jul 29, 2023, at 3:43 PM
"I like the days when a worker pushed a customer's full cart of food out to their car and load the food in the car for them , those were the days" Rick Scaggs
Done that while waiting to get a full time manufacturing job. Met a lot of interesting folks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jul 30, 2023, at 8:38 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sun, Jul 30, 2023, at 8:38 AM
Semo471, Dierburgs around us will do that for people who need help, but not everyone, I presume Schnucks will also, they are pretty competitive in how they go to market.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jul 30, 2023, at 2:42 PM
Rick, now at least Dierburgs has two cart sizes. Small or super sized. Don't make the mistake of taking a small one and then find those 3 items you went in for turn into 23. Baggers cannot seem to get all the bags in and they have to run get you a big one to leave the store with.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jul 31, 2023, at 8:39 AM
The Cardinals need to replace the entire pitching rotation. The hitters all need to take extra daily batting practice and just maybe both of these suggestions will inprove the win/loss totals!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jul 31, 2023, at 9:30 AM
The Cards management has given up on the team this year it seems with approximately 55 games remaining.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 1, 2023, at 8:11 AM
Current Cardinals Baseball Record at last place in the Central Division:
Cardinals 47W 61L
43.5% win/loss ratio
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 2, 2023, at 12:57 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Aug 2, 2023, at 12:57 PM
Brought back a memory there, back when I lived in Bowling Green, KY.
Moved into a neighborhood where most everyone else had 20-30 years on me with most retired, but we all got along good.
Would meet many evenings through the week at my middle of the block mailbox to chew the fat and shoot the bull - kinda like the King of the Hill thing, only with coffee and soda as the beverages of choice.
Any rate, neighbors were big Cardinals fans, one evening's lamentings and arguings about doing poorly were much like now, even focused on their pitching challenges with hitting the strike zone.
Still remember the wise ache-er of the group turning to me, and saying Hey Fxpwt, speaking of all things high and outside, ya looked at your yard lately?
All had a good laugh, me included. Told them I'd get on it right after I finished up for the week paying on their Social Security. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 2, 2023, at 3:27 PM
fxpwt: Great come back! lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 2, 2023, at 5:32 PM
WOW, Cardinals over the Twins tonight 7 to 3.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 2, 2023, at 9:48 PM
- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Thu, Aug 3, 2023, at 7:28 AM
Rick be careful my email was hacked, they are telling people I need help. And I have received calls from Savannah GA to San Diego CA.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Aug 3, 2023, at 8:03 AM
The movie Terminator is unfolding right in front of our eyes!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 3, 2023, at 9:27 AM
Once again the Cardinals gave away another close game last night! Maybe the Cape Catfish would do better playing in their place!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 9:03 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Aug 3, 2023, at 8:03 AM
Mental? Physical? Or, "Other"? Naw, I meant this as "dry"-humor, lol!
But what the Big-Three or Four-plus above are saying is true. When Windows 11 finally takes over, my-PC will be obsolete as well, I fear. Even my YouTube has been favoring Conservative-right leaning lately---which will of course lead to it's-demise for entertainment purposes, at least, for me. I'm an-old-video/movie fan myself, esp. the old, ORIGINAL-British version of Top-Gear, of Clarkson, May, and Hammond!
Those-three kinda remind me of a post-mid 70's younger-ME & my-"baby"-brother's stunts...☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 1:07 PM
Bruno, I have two reasons to need a up to date computer. And part of today's Exercise was to install my new computer scheduled before the hack.
I have a couple of reasons for staying up to date. Primary reason is record keeping, Leasing Operation and Personal. As well as Genealogy records and interests. Old system failed and due to Biden's failed economy you couldn't get the capacity and needed one so had to take what I could get short term until the correct product was available.
Add to the confusion I got my email hacked and we are having a hell of a time since they changed my password. I have a number of people who bill me by email.
There has got to be a special corner of hell for these people.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 7:19 PM
Bruno I was on Windows 11 when it happened that I got hacked.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 9:30 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 9:32 PM
This country needs a favor!!!!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 10:01 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 4, 2023, at 7:19 PM
Doesn't seem all that long ago when my workgroup was told passwords and individual accounts were coming with the next upgrade.
This was on a mainframe not too different from what is seen in 60s and 70s TV shows, in the days before PC's really got going. Before this, could sit down at any terminal and just have at it.
Figure this had something to do with the hooking up of dial-up modems for remote accessing, where dialing its unique phone number would connect, for both internal plant and external calls. Before, all the terminals were in the same locked room with the computer.
Laughable nowadays, but the struggle was real then - trying to wrap one's head around the security concept of what lowlife would even want to get in, plus to come up with a password exactly 8 characters long, that wasn't 'password', before special characters and maybe numbers too were even allowed.
/****/
Still got a 'hot standby' backup PC running Windows7 here. Still works fine, although new Windows updates are long past, and just received notice a couple months back that the Google Chrome browser was done with its updates, as I suspect many of the dated programs loaded up are as well.
Heheheh, on a brighter side, figure it's probably less likely for any kind of online hacking attempts.
Figure to wait until I absolutely has to upgrade for going to Windows11, let 'em work some more bugs out, plus my experience with software upgrades is that they've never been pain-free...for me, at least.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 12:07 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 12:07 PM
Gonna hafta go with "Da-FXPWT" on this one, as it comes to put-off any upgrade until it's absolutely, positively-necessary.
And WHEELS: I too pay a lot of bills online, though I'll make a sure-bet you do more so, with keeping the books, and expense accounts associated with such---and I kinda feel a sample of your pain. (I never was known for perfect-timing of my-dryness!) But then again, the older I get, the less I tend to USE-it anyway, in other words, I'm outta practice!
I just wish they'd leave Windows-alone, as-is. But then, I think the same about clocks, be they set to CST or DST, just leave it ALONE, already!
But just like that period of the "Golden-Years" of life, as AARP-calls it: I ain't got any progress made on THAT-one, either...☺
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 12:53 PM
Bruno, let me tell you about the "Golden Years".
That is when the gold in your teeth turns to lead in your hind end!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 1:15 PM
Fxpwt. I still have one that is running XP on it. I guess you wouldn't know where I could get an upgrade for it would you? The new one came with Windows 11.
The in between that I had to take ran Windows 10. I kept telling it to not go to 11 then woke up to find it did it anyway.
I see nothing wrong with Windows 11 except you may have to go find a 7 year old kid to help you turn it off.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 1:27 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 1:27 PM
Can't help ya out with the upgrade here, Wheels. When it came to computers and their upgrades and such - used to let the I.T. boys do what they needed to do, my challenge was figuring out how to do going forward what I had been doing before.
Here at the house, generally works out that by the time I really need to upgrade, the machine fails for one reason or another, and like you, just get the latest and greatest version already installed on the new machine.
Did run into a problem at work wayback with several smaller 'smart' process controllers, intentionally held back on firmware upgrades, with new installations or replacement units even rolled back or re-flashed to this older revision, so to keep all the controllers at the same exact revision level, accepted as being bulletproof without bugs.
Always raised an eyebrow a bit when a new revision level would come out, with notes about fixing some pretty serious glitches in the previous revision level. I don't like glitches, especially self-inflicted ones, as they always seem to surface off-hours, which then became back-on hours for someone in our group.
Challenge came when we all got our heads nodding at the same time that it was time to bite the bullet and upgrade everything to the same newer revision level. Found we couldn't get there from here, and after going round-and-round with the manufacturer's tech support, ended up having to leapfrog every controller through several of the intermediate levels in-between to end up where we wanted to be, nowhere near a one-and-done.
All that effort, knowing from the get-go that the processes weren't going run any better, just trying to avoid possible future challenges. Thus, one of many lessons learned towards a guiding rule of, if it's working, don't 'mess' with it! :-)
/****/
-- Posted by bruno/rs on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 12:53 PM
Yeah, struggling with change here as well, perhaps more towards the rate of change going on these days.
Maybe it's laziness, but it sounds better here to call it wisdom towards thinking changes through, rather just blindly 'making a new plan, Stan' or 'getting on the bus, Gus'.
Had positive feedback on my thinkings the other day, where I still always pay cash for anything under $20 and also for many other local smaller purchases, not yet willing to go whole-hog on the plastic payments.
Convenience store that I frequent apparently had problems to where they had posted a sign Cash Only, No Debit, No Credit, Sorry. Amazed to see just about everyone turn around after seeing the sign...except me, who just walked on in and got what I needed, business as usual, and then motored on. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 5, 2023, at 3:21 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 6, 2023, at 10:04 AM
After 3 games between the 2 worst baseball teams in the majors, the Cardinals has taken the Worst honors!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 7, 2023, at 8:04 AM
Send the Cape Catfish team to replace the Cards.....couldn't do any worse!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 7, 2023, at 2:10 PM
I’m thinking this Cards thing has followed me. Rockies are actually worse.
I thought it was the weather that trailed me as all I hear is worst winter,more snow,more rain,higher humidity,mosquitoes,etc. Like Boy Scouts at Jamboree. Always blamed the St Francis County Troops when it rained.
BTW-nothing like the smell of an old canvas tent in the rain. Something between musty mold and cat P.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Aug 7, 2023, at 3:01 PM
Rock: Colorado is a good place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there....thinking out moving back yet? Lettau could probably help you find something in the Scopus area. LOL
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 9:51 AM
Posted by Truth Slinger on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 9:51 AM
thinking out
S/B
thinking about
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 9:58 AM
Actually like it here. I stay in a small radius from home never venturing into Denver proper. One exception was an April Rockies/Cardinals game. Ace Hardware,Grocery store,Home Depot,Lowes then home asap. Ignore the ever present panhandling and need to learn Spanish.
Most of my sightseeing is when we have guests.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 10:08 AM
Rock: Lots of Day trips from Lakewood to take. Some of our favorites are: Red Rocks, Idaho Springs, Black Hawk, Mt. Evans, and Golden.
A trip to Colorado Springs and the Garden of the Gods is a must. All of these are on the East side of the State leaving two thirds left to explore that will take years to do.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 11:55 AM
Golden is close and quaint when all the dang tourists leave although watching the tubers in Clear Creek is fun especially when they hit the waterfall. Leisurely going along till it’s Aholes over elbows!! Did a day trip to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain NP.
Went to the Stanley Home(Here’s Johnny!!) and drove the Trail Ridge Road. Quite a drive. Just missed a hail storm at the top.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 12:37 PM
Rock: That Rocky Mt National Park is a "Hitch" on the brakes!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 7:38 PM
Democrat Policy Rick.
Tax and spend. Overspend and borrow.
Haven't look recently but a $20 gold coin has in the neighborhood of $2,000 worth of gold in it.
Our paper money is becomming worthless.
Any idea of what we call this?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 8:30 AM
Actually it is true inflation not that which is reported by politicians.
My Grandfather purchased a new 47 Chevrolet 4-door Stylemaster in the $750 range. My Dad bought a new 49 Ford F1 pickup $1350.
What do you suppose the equivalent goes for today.
All of you workers of today who put your 2023 dollars into savings accounts, what will it buy when you retire? Will your interest keep up with this thief they call inflatiin??
Spend and print some more paper when you cannot tax enough. The government way. Maybe the government will buy you a wheelbarrow some day to take your money grocery shopping.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 8:52 AM
Actually it is true inflation not that which is reported by politicians.
My Grandfather purchased a new 47 Chevrolet 4-door Stylemaster in the $750 range. My Dad bought a new 49 Ford F1 pickup $1350.
What do you suppose the equivalent goes for today.
All of you workers of today who put your 2023 dollars into savings accounts, what will it buy when you retire? Will your interest keep up with this thief they call inflatiin??
Spend and print some more paper when you cannot tax enough. Maybe the government will buy you a wheelbarrow some day to take your money grocery shopping.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 8:57 AM
Believe that the so called Independents are also responsible for the National Debt....you know that all American thing!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 9:07 AM
Our daughter and family lived in Lakewood, CO for 5 winters and most of the time the Temps were higher there than here. The Rocky Mts foothills blocked most of the snow in the Lakewood area causing a lot of snow in the Denver area.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 9:11 AM
It has to come to a halt or one day we wake up and find ourselves in the shape Germany found themselves in last century.
Or more recently Dubrovnik with an inflation rate of just over 1000% annually.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 9, 2023, at 9:17 AM
Have you been out in the Rockies through a winter yet..
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Tue, Aug 8, 2023, at 8:13 PM
Yes we have. Went to Breckinridge for a few days. I don’t ski anymore (bad knees) but got to enjoy the snowy sights.
Went back and rented snowmobiles near Breckenridge and rode them up to the tree line and Continental Divide. Snow was 12’ deep.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Aug 10, 2023, at 5:49 PM
Got a wild hair today, decided to reach for the next step in antenna TV, partly because some shows I'm interested in - like Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and Highway Patrol - come on in the very wee hours of the AM, and partly because I enjoy dinking with this type stuff, especially when I want to with no time constraints as compared to previous days of having to with a buncha eyes and sighs waiting on me to gitter dun.
So, went shopping for a DVR (digital video recorder), which is the apparent successor to the old VCRs with the tape cartridges.
Amazed at the offerings and options to specifically record over-the-air television, where it seems antenna TV isn't really all that popular 'round these parts in this day of streaming, satellite, and the hold-overs from cable.
Picked a model that seemed to consistently rate high across several sources, plus was within my budgeted allotment. Doggone, the dude boasts that it can record, playback, or live stream up to 4 channels at once.
The live streaming thing sent me down another couple-hour path of noodling around as to what that really meant, as far as antenna TV. Brought back memories of the early days of Internet, where would be reading on a topic, then something in that reading would send me off on another topic to research, and so on - true surfing around.
Hmmmm, seems the DVR doesn't physically connect to any TV, but requires only an antenna cable connection for input and another connection to one's home router either hard-wired or wireless for output, then broadcasts these up to four channels previously recorded or live to the wireless capable TVs, which includes those with external Roku or FireStick or the like plug-ins. Yep, done checked, the FireStick recognized the DVR app.
Realization hit hard that I've been asleep at the wheel.
Rather than the grunt-n-groan method of running the currently-acceptable RG6 cable around the house to replace the original construction flat-lead antenna cable, with splitters and amps and such to parse the signal from the antenna out to all these possible TV locations - could've just run one cable to this handy-dandy box, and wireless'ed everything out from there.
Bonus would've been that the TV location in a given room wouldn't be dependent on where the cable jack was - kinda like having a secondary over-the-air antenna broadcast system local within the house, with the bonus of recorded shows available from this magic box anywhere as well within the reach of one's internet wireless.
Additional bonus is that it promises to solve the challenge of how to get good TV reception from the further away stations out in a remote workshop building 'man cave' where rabbit ears don't gitter dun, since wireless reception is already good there, and previous efforts to snake cable out through the underground electrical conduit were unsuccessful.
All sounds well and good and promising in theory and their corresponding sales pitches, stuff should be arriving in a couple days to see how things actually play out.
Stay tuned! Ar, ar, ar, stop it, I can't help myself :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Aug 10, 2023, at 7:03 PM
Rick,never camp or hike alone. Always do it with someone you can outrun.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Aug 11, 2023, at 8:56 AM
Rock: Can remember being at the "Independence Pass" in the middle of July and standing in snow in the parking lot wearing shorts and a tee shirt!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Aug 11, 2023, at 9:11 AM
DA, same thing goes for playing golf in Alligator country.
Playing golf with a guy and found an alligator had kept my ball from going into the water. It was laying right against his jaw. My cart partner says I think I can reach that ball with my retriever. I say leave it there I have another ball. Oh I can get it, leave it there back and forth. I finally told him go ahead, pretty sure I can outrun you. He thought again and we took a picture and I made a drop and we lived another day.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 11, 2023, at 11:27 AM
Rick I feel your pain. I have no idea what's wrong with the plumbing. But don't fix it if it ain't broke would be my suggestion. Me and plumbing aren't on the same page. Know a guy who decided to fix something under the kitchen sink. Sitting on the floor he takes the trap off. What to do with the water in the trap? He reaches up and empties the trap into the sink. Guess what happens next. He bumps his head getting out of the way of the water.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 8:40 AM
The Golden Rule of Home Repairs.....if it ain't broke don't worry about it!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 9:17 AM
It’s the fill valve,Rick. Prob partially blocked up with hard water deposits. Either clean it or replace it.
Then again I’ve walked into a bathroom after someone just left and whistled. Maybe it’s just the toilets way of expressing displeasure??!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 10:35 AM
But don't fix it if it ain't broke would be my suggestion.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 8:40 AM
Totally agree with that philosophy!
Understand that sometimes, though, the annoyance supercedes common sense.
Had a go-round with the bathtub faucets that started dripping. Believe I've previously shared that cobblefest involving uncommon (read that as not readily available) parts, contorting and twisting to get at it, making my own trial-and-error procedures since there were none provided by the vendor or on YouTube, and realizing how much water could've dripped to match the costs of parts, much less the costs of the 'free' labor.
Have had fair luck with toilets, as long as there's an isolation valve that actually works. Parts are generally cheap and common fit, so generally just change everything out, plus there's a handy-dandy seat already provided for creature comforts.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 5:43 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 6:32 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 6:32 PM
Very true.
Didn't set out to fix my own stuff, but after seeing some of the Jethro Bodine-level fix-it guys and what they charged - pffft, I can afford to make a lot of mistakes as long as I end up with the same result.
Plus a bit of pride in being able to do things my own self, plus justifying buying needed specialty tools for the savings difference.
Challenge being, much like in Magnum Force - a man's got to know his limitations - thus a careful scrutiny beforehand envisioning how things will turn out on my efforts, versus hiring a professional.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 6:51 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 6:26 PM
DA, please tell me there isn't anybody that shorts of brains
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 9:30 PM
This know your limitations thing has just about smacked me squarely in the face.
Wndows 11 has made me realize I am becoming Technologically Impaired. I have on the past several computers always changed my Wallpaper to a nice Scene that I took looking down the Bon Secour River at Sundown. Now how do I do it on Windows 11. So knowing this is not my only future challenge, I get on Amazon and find me a promising Title called Windows 11 FOR SENIORS. Received it this afternoon, large print as well. And it only took minutes to do, once I found the picture back. And it is very pleasing compared to what comes with Windows 11.
Now I have a printer issue as a program I use to do a lot of scanning is persnickety wanting a printer/scanner with Twain capabilities and something is wrong with the Printer Installion.
I am about to go back to a lead pencil with a big eraser and a yellow legal pad along with a calculator.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 12, 2023, at 10:00 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 5:37 AM
Thanks Rick I will look into that. I was so aggravated yesterday, I was about at the stage you could have heard me if you had stepped outside. Between the Hack and Windows 11 on a new Computer it has about upset my delicate constitution.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 7:47 AM
Rick,glad to support from 900 miles away.
Have two toilets here and one takes about 5 minutes to refill the tank. Took off the lid and I’ve never seen anything like it. Must be a newfangled low water use operation but it does flush well which is a major complaint about the new units. Flush three times to save water.
Thinking about a retrofit to old style float and filler.
One thing cool about it though. It has a little blue light that shines at night to help with that 2AM sleepy aim.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 7:49 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 7:49 AM
DA mine don't have blue lights but having replaced the old commodes for new ones when we purchased this Villa and remodeled 5 years ago, we have those new fangled contraptions in there to regulate things. Wait until you see what they charge you for a pack of two or 3 rubber washers that replace the old rubber flapper to keep the water in the tank. And then try to get your paws in there to make the change. Had to get a lady here to help the wife put it in place.
Made the old outhouse with the Sears Catalog look better and better.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 8:02 AM
Knew a couple that rented an old Victorian home. Must have been quite a house in its day but the fridge was in a hallway off the kitchen next to what can only be described as a water closet. Toilet only. One night the husband had that 2AM call and mistook the fridge for the water closet. Veggie drawer had to be disinfected.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 10:30 AM
Alrighty, then. Sharing an update, as the previously mentioned DVR stuff arrived today.
Son! The external storage 2TB drive required was about the size of my mobile phone. Long ways from 30 years ago when a 20MB drive was about the size of a single-serve pizza box at the local convenience store. Geez, 100,000 times the storage (102,400 times, for the persnickety detail folks), packed into a much smaller container. Honey, I really shrunk those bytes!
So far, seems to perform as advertised, although a noticeable clunky delay changing and scrolling through channels as compared to live antenna viewing. Gots a couple shows queued up for recording at the same time tonite, so we'll see how that goes with its claimed multiple channel support.
The app allows watching on a Windows10 PC or even a mobile phone - although not seeing much use for that around the house. Between the phone, the PC, and the only internet-ready non-Vizio TV I have, verified it easily supported 3 of the 4 claimed independent paths for viewing, recording or playback activities.
But wait, for a recurring monthly subscription billing, they promote an expanded 2-week TV schedule display as compared to the standard 24hours ahead, as well as being able to watch TV away from the house.
Provided a free (er, no extra-cost) 30-day automatically subscribed trial, guessing that's to hook people into subscribing to the premium features, after seeing they now can't live without these premium features.
Hmmm, being considerate as I am, just not seeing mowing through someone else's bandwidth to support watching my TV, plus the recurring monthly billing is what I was striving to get away from in all aspects, here by cutting the cable, and going with the one-time costs of antenna installation and just being done with it.
Figured was paying $100 per month for expanded cable and rental on two double-secret decoder boxes. Been 44 months, so looking at $4400 saved to date.
Antenna install with related cable runs, grounding and lightning protections, splitters, and amplifiers was ~$500, this DVR and external memory was ~$200, so now up to $700. Not subscribed to any streaming pay channels, so I'm counting all this as still being strongly in the Win column.
Too much news here, as it seems there is little local interest for this relatively low-cost viewing path and related options with the 47 available channels in Cape.
Ironic in that all the while folks are hollerin' about too much month left at the end of the money while blindly paying the monthly TV streaming, satellite, and cable bills - and no telling how many other automatic recurring payments that could be viewed as non-essential.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Aug 13, 2023, at 9:02 PM
The Royal Lahaina Resort 4 miles north of the city of Lahaina was spared from the devastating fire that struck Maui. This was our resort during our 50th Anniversary stay back in June 2015.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 14, 2023, at 1:47 PM
Better than ol Joey saying “no comment”.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 15, 2023, at 7:54 AM
Did you say Windows10 PC ? Ruh-roh ! -- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Tue, Aug 15, 2023, at 7:22 AM
Eh, that's what the vendor promotes as one of their many available viewing paths, including a minimum Android v4.4 for phone viewing, without mention of Win11...yet?
Part of the validation for holding back on the latests and greatests stuff - let someone else be the guinea pig to work out and through the bugs and kinks.
Kinda why I shied away from opting for the lumnum Ford pickups when they first came out, sticking with steel.
Following up yet again - appears the DVR records and plays back just fine, gots to watch my targeted overnight shows in the comforts of my regular daylight hours.
Not that these shows are all that great, but like looking at the then-newer cars still in pristine condition, like Mannix's Toronado and GTX, or the land barges of Cannon and Barnaby Jones. Even occasionally see a sexy European Mercury Capri running around - the-then across-the-pond version of the Mustang, of which I owned two in my earlier years.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Aug 15, 2023, at 8:06 AM
IMO, don't believe that little Joey knows that Hawaii is a State.....send Millions/Billions to Ukraine while ignoring Maui....Joey is such a nonsmart person!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 15, 2023, at 8:21 AM
Posted 8:21 am comments to wrong thread....see Biden lies thread.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Aug 15, 2023, at 8:23 AM
Sharing another in a series, between 'no good deed goes unpunished' and previous mention of not liking the automatic recurring billings or withdrawels from my checkbook.
Signed up with Ameren a couple years ago, for availability of daily electric and gas usage numbers, estimations on the coming bill, ideas to reduce usage, etc.
Apparently either checked, or overlooked unchecking, the box about receiving communications from them.
Yesterday, got an email quizzing whether I'd be willing to take a survey - eh, sure, be glad to give 'em a piece of my mind, thinkin' I still gots a little extra to spare :-)~
The survey was for interest in whole-house surge protection, with various questions about electrical and electronic appliances I have.
Had my interest for many reasons. I had installed a Type 2 whole house surge suppressor since the original construction areas of the house used the 2-wire romex without ground with the corresponding 2-prong receptacles, which renders the local surge strips near useless as there's no ground to dump any surge into.
While I did the acceptable upgrade per Code to the current 3-prong receptacle style by adding ground-fault protection on those circuits, still doesn't do anything for surge protection from surge strips, much less any protection for the newer appliances now loaded up with electronic controls and displays.
At any rate, it seems that Type 2 protection is intended mainly for surges generated within the house where sources suggest 80% of the total surge damage events originate from, and it's not really intended for incoming surges such as lightning strikes.
Still leaves exposure to the other 20% or so, so onward I plugged through this survey, as Ameren was proposing a Type 1 protection geared for these incoming surges, plus up to $5,000 for any surges that do get through and cause damage.
Already did a look-about previously on all the electronics and stuff with electronics that I now have - TVs, computers, microwave, oven, dishwasher, fridge, washer, dryer, variable speed fan motor on the HVAC, etc.
Heard too many horror stories from friends about circuit boards on their appliances getting zapped, with weeks of out-of-service waiting for parts and hundreds of dollars for the bill, before getting to the hassles of dealing with insurance claims, if even covered under their homeowners.
Being as I am, also having some reservations on power quality as the transition to green energy continues to ramp up and traditional generation ramps down in uncoordinated fashions. Will spare y'all the details of concern, but anticipating the next 5 years or so may be a rough ride for power quality and reliability, until the horse and cart get back in sync.
So, OK, still interested...until the survey neared its end with various pricing scenarios gauging my willingness at those amounts and contract lengths. Here's where things went clean off in the ditch fast, quick, and in a hurry - first, all scenarios were an ongoing flat monthly fee added to the bill, exactly what I'm trying to get away from. Second, even at the lowest rate proposed, still figure I could get one installed myself with a return on investment of about 18 months at their rate.
Pfffft - about all that was accomplished through this survey participation was me going and bumping it up on my list of things to get done by my own self.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 16, 2023, at 3:04 PM
46 years ago today Elvis Presley died at his Graceland home in Memphis!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Aug 16, 2023, at 4:09 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Aug 16, 2023, at 4:09 PM
One of those many major newsbreaks where I recall exactly where I was, and what I was doing when the news broke.
Still enjoy watching his '68 comeback special, and his Aloha from Hawaii concerts - he had a gift for performing!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 16, 2023, at 7:29 PM
fxpwt: We got to see Elvis in concert at SIU Carbondale during his last tour!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 17, 2023, at 7:53 AM
Heheheh, in a strange twist of normal events, currently engaged with a young'un on an F150 truck forum about maintenance. Will say that generally-acceptable manners and politeness in debates are lost causes with him.
I say young'un, given his truck details in his signature boasting about the numerous add-ons, partly for improved function but mostly for just showing off, all at much-added costs.
At any rate, he's beating the drum about changing air filters every 12,000 miles, changing oil every 3,000, dis-dat-and-the-udder-thing like clockwork, etc. regardless of recommended service intervals. Would be interesting to hear his input on points and condenser and plugs on leaded gas, if these were still around.
I'm suggesting to inspect the air filter before replacing - favorite trick is to hold it up to the sun to see what light comes through, as well as trusting that new-fangled thing called the Oil Life Monitor as for decisions on changing oil. As for the udder-things - geez, if it's working fine and looking good, leave it alone.
Experience is that the oil monitor seems pretty good with its black-box calculations, making the call around 10,000 miles when all easy extended interstate driving, but yanking my chain just short of 2,000 miles when nothing but short around-town trips.
With my free labor, an oil change with the specified semi-synthetic oil and quality filter costs $40, a upper-quality air filter is north of $25, so while wish to keep up with the identified maintenance needs, no way intend to go overboard for some unproven feel-good factor.
While one can point fingers at Ford trying to gyp and to lie for planned premature failures towards future sales, eh, figure a lot of money was spent on their smart peoples to come up with the maintenance interval plan, and who am I to try to out-do the millions of dollars of engineering?
So far, he ain't having none of it. Entertaining at this point, admit to egging him on just for grins.
Ahhhh, for those younger days, when I too thought I knew it all and anyone over 30 was an ID10T, not yet knowing enough about short-changing my future checkbook balances in exchange for spending way more than is deemed necessary by the manufacturer as vital and essential now.
Just humorous that this grumpy-grampy-geezer is advocating for the newer and more current thinkings, while the young'un is drawing on then-wisdoms from the 60s and before. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Aug 20, 2023, at 7:19 PM
Years ago my daughter was driving an old Honda Civic with almost 200k but ran great. She was at college out of state and thought it best to keep up with service and especially oil changes which at the time ran about $14-15. I’d give her a twenty and told her to put the rest in the gas tank. This happened a few times when she told me the oil change place was running closer to $40-50. They were hitting her up for new wipers and air filter every time. I asked her about the filter. They would show her a really clogged up filter and she always agreed. A trip out under the hood to check that “new” filter was amazing. Her filter was newer but she told me that’s not the same kind they showed her. Turns out they had a big old filthy filter they used on unsuspecting customers. Prob had it hanging on a nail for years. Needs less to say Daddy went on a bit of a rampage.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 8:31 AM
DA, there does come a time when some folks need it explained to them where the big bear does his job in the woods.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 9:35 AM
I did and made darn sure to tell anyone I could think of to tell about the scam artist on S Kingshighway. Whether it was me or just running a bad business but they weren’t there 3 months later. Hope it was me.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 10:11 AM
When the oil change folks tries those filter tricks, I always tell them that I have a new one back at the house and haven't put it in yet.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 10:16 AM
low on blinker fluid ... -- Posted by Rick Scaggs on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 2:15 PM
Yet another maintenance item often overlooked, quite a shame since there seems to be a YouTube how-to video on just about everything these days.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 3:22 PM
Fxpwt, they're going to put you in jail. For protective custody reasons when some dummy tries this.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 3:38 PM
Fxpwt, they're going to put you in jail. For protective custody reasons when some Dimocrat tries this.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 3:39 PM
I had to clarify that.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 3:40 PM
Now I know why some drivers don't use their turn signals....low blinker fluid!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Aug 21, 2023, at 5:53 PM
Sure is nice eating cherry tomatoes,snow peas and green beans out of the little garden I planted this year. Munch on them right off the vine
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Aug 22, 2023, at 7:52 PM
Fastest rising country song without a previous song release is by Oliver Anthony - "Rich Men North of Richmond". Enjoy this song of the working class folks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 24, 2023, at 8:25 AM
Posted by Rick Scaggs on Thu, Aug 24, 2023, at 5:27 AM
When we marry certain things come along as a "bonus".....my was a Parakeet that girlfriend had for years!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Aug 24, 2023, at 8:38 AM
I guess it is the humidity not just the heat. Think I saw 94 feels like 115 in Mo.
94 feels like 93 here. Still frigging hot.
Dropped almost 40 degrees yesterday.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 8:15 AM
Well it was 103 here yesterday and if I remember correctly it felt like 114 degrees.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 8:51 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 8:15 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 8:51 AM
Tough here as well, saw WeatherBug at 'only' 98 degF thermometer with a 120 'feels like', plus when I saw condensation on the outside of the double-pane low-E windows in the early AM, and I keep the thermostat at 78 - knew the humidity / dewpoint was on up there to confirm that additional degree of humidity misery.
Patting myself on the back for the maintenance, cleaning out the condenser this Spring, regularly checking the inside air filter - the inside temp kept at its target setting, actually felt chilly walking in from outside, although the unit was a-huffin' and a puffin' to do so running 80% or so to keep up.
Been looking in at my Ameren usages, where can see electric and gas consumption on a daily basis. M'eh, for the related couple extra bucks on a daily basis, a real bargain for staying comfortable.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 6:57 PM
The “good old days” of home comfort as a kid was that humongous attic fan. The louvers in the hall would open and then open a window just a crack and the gale force wind would flap the sheets off the bed. Didn’t do a thing for the humidity,though,but having the window open and listening to the summertime symphony of katydids and crickets couldn’t be beat.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 7:37 PM
DA, I also like to think of the good old days when I was about 70 years younger.
Now just keep that air conditioner humming and humping.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 8:21 PM
I love me some AC,too. Just reminded of that cold blast about 3am of humid air.
We sure didn’t go begging for a guvmint “cooling station” in those days and the school wasn’t air conditioned. Didn’t get out at noon because it was hot.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 9:05 PM
DA I grew up on a farm and we didn't need an air conditioner or a fan. We had no Electric until I was about 14 or 15 to run them.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Aug 26, 2023, at 10:58 PM
No A/C either, we had a window box fan with windows raised just a couple of inches for a little air fĺow!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 7:55 AM
No A/C either, we had a window box fan with windows raised just a couple of inches for a little air fĺow!
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 7:55 AM
Semo471, my first job out of High School was making those fans @ Belco Electric. A sweat shop . Combination of a cool summer and an election year and fans weren't selling. A meeting was held and all summer help was left go after about 6 weeks. And I had worked myself up to about $1.10 or $1.15.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 8:46 AM
As a small town “city” kid we did have electricity but always enjoyed riding in Grampa’s Desoto out deep into the Ozarks to fish,squirrel hunt and visit an Aunt and Uncle who had power but only for the deep freeze. Kerosene for lights and wood for heat and cooking. There was one bare bulb hanging in the kitchen but don’t dare turn it on! That ran the bill up.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 9:29 AM
Wheels: A place that made fans was a sweat shop?????
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 9:41 AM
Wheels: A place that made fans was a sweat shop?????
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 9:41 AM
Try working in the pain dept right next to the oven that bakes the paint on. Fans were to sell not use.
I sure didn’t need a membership in a health club.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 11:13 AM
Wheels: I'm Fan of yours!
**************
Between my Junior & Senior years of high school. I was a "Soulman".....pulling different sizes of Souls out of storage and bringing them to the "Lasting" dept.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 11:46 AM
Semo471, my High School summers were spent bucking hay bales for other farmers for $5 per day or working for nothing on the farm. Between Junior and Senior year I spent pretty much all of my time working for the Church cutting grass and painting. Freshman and Sophomore summers spent cutting grass for Church also plus farm work. Eight hour factory jobs was like a vacation. I do know the Chuch required me to get a SS card just to cut grass.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 12:43 PM
"Eight hour factory jobs was like a vacation."
Come on man....hot is hot no matter what a person was doing!
*************
Picking tomatoes in those hot truck patches along with green beans and cucumbers was a pain and was the reason for no gardens for me as an adult.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Aug 27, 2023, at 9:42 PM
I decided that mowing and trimming(pre-weedeater days) yards for about $1.00 wasn’t how I wanted to earn some extra cash. Pushing around that mower with a GLASS jug of gasoline hanging from the handle and drinking hot hose water wasn’t for me so I started a swimming pool maintenance business. Sure beat mowing.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Aug 28, 2023, at 11:16 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Aug 28, 2023, at 11:16 AM
DA the swimmimg pools around our area didn't need much maintenance. The Snakes, Turtles, Catfish, Frogs etc. kept our swimming pools in first class shape.
It wasn't until a few years later, with a wife, 2 kids, a truck, a car and a house (None of em paid for) that I started a HVAC business. Keeping others warm or cool beat hell out of mowing lawns, bucking hay bales or hoeing cockleburs out of corn rows.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Aug 28, 2023, at 8:42 PM
Well, nuts.
Another rant and rave about antenna TV and TV accessories (in my failed Hank Hill propane imitation).
Previously shared about getting a DVR to be able to record and playback the antenna shows, for my case, the desireable watching of stuff broadcast overnight.
All well and good there, works fine so far, great enjoyment and reminiscing.
Figures that not even a month after getting onboard with the highest recommended and most reputable unit I could find - it's already obsolete, replaced by a newer latest-and-greatest model.
My 'legacy' unit no longer appears on their webpage, nor for sale as a new unit on their site, or Amazon, or BestBuy, etc. They done kilt it off quick.
Newer unit boasts abilities to additionally record and playback the free streaming shows and movies in addition to antenna TV, where mine is limited to just antenna TV.
But wait, as is typical, not all progress involves moving forward. The new unit can only record, playback, or show live two separate channels at a time, where mine can handle four. But wait longer, and they promise a 4-channel version of their new unit will be coming out next year.
Still kicking myself for not finding this earlier, would've saved a bit of money and a LOT of time stringing cable, and installing wall boxes with related fittings to the desired watching locations, when this method allows to wireless anywhere in the house supporting the multiple wireless capable TVs watching different programming in the various rooms, plus have verified can watch TV from this box on my phone or laptop from another location across town - neat-o, guido, but not sure how much I'll use that feature.
Figure this no-cost viewing market is ripe for growth, given the newsblips on the backwash, hate and discontent over increasing fees and restricted licensings/log-ins for the subscription stuff.
Still haven't ran across anyone in this area promoting their services for outdoor antenna setups for best receptions or installing a system such as this to reduce installation costs and unsightly cable runs within the house - perhaps an opportunity for a local entrepreneur?
Eh, well, we now return to regular programming... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Aug 31, 2023, at 6:16 PM
Jimmy Buffett has died and gone to that big stage in the sky! R.I.P. Jimmy and keep your Fins Up!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Sep 2, 2023, at 7:13 AM
Girlfriend and I had a blast at the Eagles Tribute concert at the Jackson Band Shell last night......2 hours of great songs!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Sep 2, 2023, at 7:40 AM
As an original Parrothead I’m having trouble imagining a world without Jimmy Buffett. Saw him so many times I’ve lost count. Last one was at Red Rocks. Even then I’m sure he had some health issues but that didn’t stop him from putting on another great show.
I’m actually at the beach and his music is on everyone’s playlist. What a place to hear about his passing.
Well done,JB. Well done.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Sep 4, 2023, at 6:43 AM
Had a good laugh resulting from a biased observation, figured to share with those who may appreciate.
43.72% of respondents admitted having trouble paying for their utilities (gas, electric, heat, internet, etc.) in the last 6-12 months.
Over the past year, 16.5% had problems keeping up with the gas bill.
7.42% needed help to keep up with the phone bill.
Just under 10% have struggled with paying for internet or cable.
Now, I realize times have changed, but ... when those numbers 'claiming' to struggle with things viewed here as essential such as utilities, far exceeds those 'claiming' to struggle with things viewed here as less-essential such as phone or internet...whew, one of us just ain't wired right, and I ain't been on any direct government aid or other 'assistance' with my wiring schematic...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Sep 5, 2023, at 5:46 PM
Seems internet and cable are high priority for bill paying.
Watching the lead news story lately about the lack of AC causing schools to close or dismiss early. Now I didn’t walk uphill both ways in the snow or heat but never had AC in any school I attended. Would have been nice but we sweated it out with fans and open windows. The worst I remember was having PE as a first class. Nothing like going to the next class sweat soaked even after a forced shower but dealt with it. Guess we’ve raised a bunch of girly parts if you can read it as what I meant.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Sep 5, 2023, at 6:50 PM
We had an unspoken rule on the farm , "Get your a ss to school"
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Wed, Sep 6, 2023, at 7:14 AM
Same here, different farm. And I did do that walk to go along with it. I was about 8th grade when we were rich enough to get a used bus. Get in trouble and held after school, you were free to go soon as the bus tailights went around the corner. Your sister had a good 45 minutes to an hour to explain why you weren't on the bus.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Sep 6, 2023, at 8:09 AM
From grades 1 to 4 had to walk to school one mile one way (no bus for city kids).....however it was flat. From grades 5 to 8 only had to walk one block one way!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Sep 6, 2023, at 8:48 AM
We lived north of the Diversion Channel at the edge of the hills and there was very little flat ground north of us and that is where the school was, better than a mile away. Over Hill and Dale, whatever a Dale is.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Sep 6, 2023, at 12:37 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Sep 7, 2023, at 7:45 AM
Bud light has apparently ditched the men in dresses costly sales pitch and now the “Official Beer” of the NFL although still sponsors of pride parades. Can’t make up their mind like man in a dress.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Sep 7, 2023, at 8:50 PM
Bud light has apparently ditched the men in dresses costly sales pitch and now the “Official Beer” of the NFL although still sponsors of pride parades. Can’t make up their mind like man in a dress.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Sep 7, 2023, at 8:50 PM
DA, the way I see itt, Anheuser Busch can stomp their grapes anyway they like, it is their vineyard. But I don't have to drink their sour juice.
Their is some beer in my refrigerator, but none of it was made by the above. Right now Octoberfest beer is on the shelves and I particularly like one made by Spaten of Germany. Another that is not to bad is Yuengeling (spelling). Drank it every winter in Gulf Shores and it is now available in Missouri. Comes from the oldest brewery in the nation, located in Pennsylvania I believe.
Life is too short to drink cheap beer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Sep 7, 2023, at 9:27 PM
Rick never was much on the hard stuff but Jack is some of the better stuff.
Moderation is my motto. Don't try to drink the distillery dry in one sitting.
Now occasionally if the urge hits sipping on a shot of Disaronno is more my speed. And the key is "a shot"
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 7:44 AM
Wheels: Nothing better than a Baloney Burger with a Stag beer at Schindler’s in New Hamburg!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 7:51 AM
Semo471, I have never eaten in Schindler’s but I did drink a little beer there when I was about 17. But that was a couple of years back.
Busch did make a beer short term that w as s pretty good about 10 years ago and had it on the shelves a few months then they dropped it. I called their number and expressed my displeasure. The guy on the phone said it was a corporate decision to discontinue it. I said we'll then I am making a. Ororste decision. I am going back to drinking my favorite Dutch neer Heineken. Oh he said we have something to do with a Dutch beer, don't remember the name but it was about equivalent to a Busch Light. I told him I would rather have a Stag and he hung up.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 8:07 AM
Wheels: 17 years old - dang!
Don't know if I ever posted this but the original Schindler’s were cousins on my Mom's side. Grandpa tendered bar there after retiring from house and barn building.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 8:17 AM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 8:09 AM
Rick, only took about a 6 pack of that stuff to cure me. But I do remember 905. At one time there was another low end beer out of Milwaukee I believe, don't remember the name. There is a brewery in Colorado that made decent stuff, the Breckenridge Brewery, but Busch has purchased them. They will screw it up.
Going to stick with my Spaten. They been doing it since 1397. They should know how by now, and I think they do.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Sep 8, 2023, at 8:26 AM
Take 9 minutes and listen to one of the best songs of all time!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Sep 10, 2023, at 8:32 AM
Talking of beer, we were once at Golden, CO. walking down the trail along side of "Clear Creek" which goes by the Coors Plant when we saw a couple of deer Relieving themselves in that mountain stream!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Sep 10, 2023, at 8:47 AM
The beer tastes like it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Sep 10, 2023, at 1:06 PM
Starlink satellites to be visible tonight around 8:15 pm. They will be dim depending on weather conditions.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Sep 10, 2023, at 6:58 PM
Life Experiences:
22 years ago everyone who was old enough to remember where and what they were doing in the early morning hours of 9/11 can revisit that day in their memories!
I was at work and at my desk with the radio on as usual. The news person broke into the program with the news of a " small plane" that crashed into the World Trade Center. Needless to say as the events unfolded my office and radio were popular for the latest updates! When the first Tower fell those of us gathered were in a state of disbelief of how this could be happening in the USA!
Never Forget 9/11/2001 and the heroes of that day!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Sep 11, 2023, at 8:39 AM
I walked into crew quarters and a tv was on. I hadn’t heard about the first plane. Another guy was there staring wordlessly just as we saw the second plane hit.
Can’t even describe the feelings at that moment but we knew the world changed forever.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Sep 11, 2023, at 9:26 AM
I worked until about 11:00 the night before in the office and was going in late. It came on TV as I was getting ready to go.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Sep 11, 2023, at 10:26 AM
Rick Scaggs,I paid $6 for a Doors concert in ‘69. Pretty good seats,too.
Strange day it was. Early November and there had been a pretty decent earthquake that morning. My Bud and I had dates and wanted to go up in the Arch. Got there and no one was around other than Park people who asked if we really wanted to go up. It was the earthquake that kept people away. We went up and had a blast. The Park officials told us that the Arch typically sways East to West but when the earthquake happened it went North to South (leg to leg). After a checkout it reopened and we were first to go up that afternoon. It was like a private tour.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Sep 11, 2023, at 11:23 AM
Notable concerts that Girlfriend and I have seen were Elvis, Linda Ronstadt, John Denver, Willie Nelson, George Strait, Luke Bryan, Martina McBride, Carrie Underwood, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings to name just a few.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Sep 11, 2023, at 9:26 PM
Tractor Pulls, Truck Pulls at the Old Arena and County Fairs. Auto Racing at State Fairs was more my thing. I wanted to hear music I listened to the radio. Brother-in-law had some place he used to buy 45's after they came off Juke Boxes for $0.15. We almost had the latest music.
That was then and now is now. So I read Speak Out for entertainment. And that is really what some of it is when you analyze it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Sep 12, 2023, at 8:43 AM
Here is a note.
Be careful of things that sound too good to be true, they usually are.
I get an email supposedly from Harbor Freight with a free giveaway.
I hover my mouse over their link and guess what, the link belongs to someone who does not even resemble Harbor Freight.
Desconsogardens. something or other.
Checked into it a bit and yes you get this so called freebie for paying for freight with your credit card. I suggest your card might be quickly limited out if you fall for it.
Be careful and keep in mind......
There is a sucker born every minute and two to take him.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Sep 13, 2023, at 12:31 PM
Whew! Nuthin's easy anymore.
Fair Week triggers the fall feed-n-seed lawn care here at the house. Dunno how that came to be, just has been that way for a long time.
Likes me a good lookin' yard and streetview - figure to start out with that good first impression for the passers-by, any new visitors and sometime on down the road potential buyers, giving me all kinds of margin to disappoint from there :-)~ Being thrifty as I am, too cheap to pay someone else to do it, especially at today's double-time rates of full price for half-a**ed work.
So after cipherin' through how much fertilizer to put out for the target 1 pound nitrogen per 1000 sq ft - because I keep forgetting to write it down, or lose the paper I wrote it down on - marched around with the spreader throwing the calculated amount out. This was followed by a second marching around for the dispersal of the overseeding.
The spreading of both feed and seed is done with a conservative touch, making several light passes many times and in as many directions as practical, as opposed to just throwing it all in just one pass resulting in probable unevenness and striping / swagging.
Perhaps Fair Week was chosen because of the former numerous rains always previously experienced that week. One of the many available guidelines suggests a watering schedule of 21 days - every day for the first two weeks, then tapering off to every other day that last week.
Figure a decent rainfall counts as a watering, so a little help from Mother Nature is always welcomed on this committment. Yeah, she's been absolutely no help this year, so have been out there pretty much every morning giving everything a good spritzing with the hose.
Suppose the intent is to get the fertilizer better washed into the soil and the seeds off and running and anchored in before going dormant for the winter, as well as lessening the probabilities of a frog-strangler downpour just carrying everything on down the street.
Sure, could just throw the sprinklers out and let 'er bump, but the weather's been nice to be out in and to enjoy while still being somewhat productive about it. Plus, I hates to waste, even if water is only $0.40 per 100 gallons incremental cost, can better control where and how much is put out with a hose, versus forgetting to watch the clock ending with oversoaking sections and having a good portion rolling on down the street such as with sprinklers.
About halfway into Week 3, pleased with the results so far, nice even shade of green and the young'uns are popping up and sprouting well.
Not overlooking these efforts to get the yard ready for its winter nap and in a good place for next year, means it will soon be time to bust out the rake to deal with the leaves.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Sep 26, 2023, at 12:21 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Sep 26, 2023, at 12:21 PM
Fxpwt that was a very accurate laying out my reasoning for moving into a villa where I was watching out the window this morning and finishing my coffee, while two Amegoes were touching up the mulch beds and putting down new.mulch.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Sep 26, 2023, at 1:00 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Sep 29, 2023, at 9:20 AM
Well, today took an unplanned turn.
Walking down the hall by the stairs to the basement, heard water running. Hmmm, that ain't right, shouldn't be anything calling for water down there now.
Investigated, yep, basement bathroom and hallway tile floors were puddling wet, and the edge of the carpet in the family room meeting up with the hall was wet as well.
Well, nothing found having a PSO-PSI problem in the bathroom or the laundry room (that would be too many Pounds Squirting Out, not enough Pounds Staying In), finally tracked the noise and related leak to the water softener in the utility room, spewing away where the control valve screws into the resin tank.
Not sure why the house still has a softener, they were great when the City pulled water from the river, don't think the hardness is near as bad since the wells were put in. At any rate, it's there and still works fine with a noticeable difference between the indoor faucets and the unsoftened outdoor spigots based on the highly scientific soap suds poofy-height test, so keeping salt in it has been easier so far than pulling it out and messing with the copper pipe to bypass. I so hates sweat-soldering!
Hauled the shop vac downstairs to hoover the water up, only amounted to a couple-three gallons, so apparently caught things early. Whew!
Cleaning out the dryer and dryer vent line is on the annual task list due next Saturday, so went ahead and knocked that out with the shop vac already packed downstairs. Good deal, mess cleaned up, softener bypass valve works so still have water, knocked out a coming task, now time for some research.
Got to looking for parts, apparently this make (Culligan) seems rather proprietary with their stuff, and they really don't offer just the parts for sale, encouraging one to call the local dealer. Nuts. Couldn't find anyone else offering a direct cross-reference knockoff to their parts either.
So, took things apart just to see what was going on. Pffft, o-ring was fine, tank hadn't cracked, valve body seemed good, just looked like the control valve body hadn't been fully tightened into the resin tank but well enough to not leak for well over 10 years since installed. Put some NSF-approved food grade silicone grease on the o-ring as well as the threads, going for some good slip-n-slide to hand-crank that valve on in there. Probably got a good extra 1/4-turn on it, from where it had been.
So far, so good. If things hold, cost $5 for the tube of grease and a couple hours from someone who works really cheap :-)
Not what I had planned to do today, but at least it seems to have turned out well.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Oct 3, 2023, at 5:00 PM
Culligan…..first mistake.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Oct 3, 2023, at 6:55 PM
The so far, so good is on down the road a little further and better - observing no leaks...yet.
Hopefully further distancing myself from the previous relationship in the way-younger days as the black sheep of the Midas family, where everything I touched just turned into crap. That 'experience' thing acquired over many incidents of past bad judgment using more torque than tact. :-)~
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Tue, Oct 3, 2023, at 6:34 PM Nah, everything is plastic, resined fiberglass, eh, or non-metallic at any rate. Suppose done for manufacturing cost economies, as well as corrosion - nothing like working with that old galvanized NPT pipe that likes to 'weld' itself over time with rust and corrosion.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Oct 3, 2023, at 6:55 PM Gonna has to blame the previous homeowner, as it came with the house. Seems most other box store softeners integrate either the Fleck, Clack, or Autotrol valve units repackaged and rebranded into their units, where it seems Culligan does their own thing with their own stuff all the way through. Been into the Fleck valves before, doggone proud of their part$$, but at least can get 'em rather than buy a whole new unit.
Speaking of rebranding, remember buying a weedeater some 35 years ago at Sears. Got their "Sears Best" model as had a LOT of trimming to do at the time with an open stormwater ditch running across the place, and following the adage that quality doesn't cost, it pays.
Found a list posted somewhere on this new gizmo at the time - the Internet - where one could use the first three numbers before the period of the Sears-assigned model number string, could see who actually made it. Seems Poulan had made it, yep, looked like a twin to their branded Weedeater line of the time, except instead of Poulan's green and yellow color scheme, this one had the grey and black scheme with Craftsman emblazened on the side.
At any rate, given what's happened to Sears, nice to still be able to get parts, now coming in Husqvarna labelled packaging. The weedeater still motors on almost as good as its first days although the 16:1 fuel/oil ratio does produce quite the cloud as compared to more-current 2-stroke equipment. Suppose kinda twist on Wheels' geneological pursuits, only instead of tracing the family lines backwards, starting back then and tracing the model lines forward.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 4, 2023, at 6:51 AM
"...(we called it pipe dope at work) -- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Wed, Oct 4, 2023, at 7:23 AM
Quite familiar with the stuff here. So glad when teflon tape came out, neater and easier to work with, except still had to use the dope on natural gas lines - guess that was a regulational safety-type requirement.
Gots me to chuckling about the names given various things around the plant, which can't be printed here without the Google censor stepping in, and would be frowned upon or otherwise not well-received by the general public not knowledgeable about plant culture.
This one time (not at band camp) wayback, having a meeting with the union to discuss the bigger projects and jobs coming up, and whether the work would be done in-house or contracted out. Bonus was the new HR guy wanted to sit in the meeting as part of his orientation.
Of course, the union always said they could do it all, which got into some animated 'discussions', which was the purpose of the meeting to lay it out there and to address any gripes and grievances ahead of time.
At any rate, job came up for discussion, union steward said he thought the colored boys could take care of that. Eh, yeah, we agreed and moved on. Saw the HR guy's eyes get real big with a related look of completely shocked and awed. Rut-roh.
Meeting ended, HR guy asked us company guys to hold back a minute. Double-rut-roh.
After the union guys cleared out, he shared that he realized he was new and from up North, and we were kinda in the South with all that, and..., and..., and....but he just couldn't stand by in this day and age with the degrading name-calling used.
The rest of us looked at him and then looked at each other, puzzled. Ahhh, OK, had to translate the plantspeak for him, in reference to a crew consisting of guys with the last names White, Black, Brown, Green, and Redfering.
Yeah, regardless of plantspeak and culture, we still had to stop using that reference...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Oct 5, 2023, at 5:33 PM
Fxpwt, the other day you made mention of those dreaded soldered connections. I had to learn how to do that with realiability a few days back. Actually quite a few more than I like ot think about. In fact they even made us take a straight piece of soft copper and fashion a Tee and elbow in case we were caught out where we could not get them. However that making fittings thing required silver solder because you could not do it with 50-50 or 95-5 soft solder. But back in the day you could get by with a roll of soft copper, a set of swedges to make the female part of the fitting and a good torch. But the soft soldering for plumbing with usually 50-50 solder and a good paste flux. The secret is cleaning your fittings both the male pipe end and the female fitting end. And when you think you had them sanded clean, do it again. Then flux the male end and put the fittings together. When you light your torch and start heating the connection, heat at the deepest part of the female fitting and keep testing the pipe where it goes in the fitting with your solder and when the solder flows remove the heat and let the connection take the solder. Never heat the solder with the torch and never overheat the connection. Doesn't make any difference if the fitting is horizontal or vertical and when vertical up or down. And if you do one for practice when you are through with the job, then heat it up until the solder is soft again and pull it apart. If you did your job correctly every bit of the inserted pipe and the inside of the fitting will be covered with solder. If not it was not cleaned or fluxed properly. But you cannot successfully soft solder a dirty piece of pipe or fitting. Silver soldering requires a lot more heat and does not require the care in cleaning. But overheat a soft solder connection and you have problems also. Waste a couple of short pieces of pipe and a couple of fittings and I think you will become successful at it. or if you have a set of swedges and some scrap soft copper around you can practice with that. But do not try swedging rigid or hard copper pipe, that does not work.
Further you need to know what to do and use where. Copper pipes for water lines get soft soldered. Copper pipes for gas lines get silvered soldered.
Now if that helps you and I ever run into you at the bar, you owe me a beer.😊 Just kidding, good luck to you.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Oct 5, 2023, at 10:17 PM
Waste a couple of short pieces of pipe and a couple of fittings ... -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Oct 5, 2023, at 10:17 PM
Yep, that's been my go-to lesson learned after several previous PSO-PSI failures, where patience was severely tested with taking everything apart and drying the lines out to go again.
Remember the advice that if one doesn't take time to do it right, better make time to do it over.
Never considered the fabbed fittings as resulting from not having any on-hand. Have several of these in this 60-year old house, had figured the cost of labor to fab may have been cheaper than the cost of the store-bought fitting then.
I never knew I could learn so much! Now if I could just remember it all :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 6, 2023, at 7:58 AM
Maybe labor cost could have had something to do with homemade fittings, specifically in case you had to drive from Nut Junction to Cape to get one.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 6, 2023, at 8:07 AM
And Fxpwt as I was told clean it twice and solder it once.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 6, 2023, at 8:16 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Oct 6, 2023, at 2:35 PM
Once again having too much fun reliving former days in Maintenance as applied around the house.
Annual reminder for the battery changes popped up as due today, my own twist on preventive maintenance or 'doing PMs'.
Started out wayback as the simple reminder to change the batteries in the smoke alarms, which went along with the previously mentioned dryer flue cleanout as part of what used to be (and maybe still is) October fire prevention month.
Since then, thanks to the frustrating annoyances of other battery-operated stuff not working when I needed or wanted them to work on an unanticipated surprise basis, just opt to change everything out on a one-and-done approach.
Had enough of flashlights and garage door opener and such being unavailable when really needed. Bonus frustration was needing it, and not having a spare of that size battery on-hand to change out, dragging the ordeal on out.
Thanks to the handy-dandy electronic recurring reminders and the several years of doing this, have a pretty good list of what-all to go after along with the type of battery, so can stock up on needed battery counts ahead of time, then just go down the list in methodical order.
Smoke detectors, wall clocks, wireless doorbell, wireless weather base station and remotes, flashlights, garage door openers, vehicle key fobs, blood pressure cuff, oodles of TV remotes, speakerphone, infrared thermal gun - I thinks I got 'em all, but there always seems to be one thing missed which wasn't yet put on the growing list.
Whew, counted 'em up - 60 batteries changed today, including AAA, AA, C, D, N, 9V, and the 2032 watch battery varieties. Making it sound worse than it really is, only takes about an hour and a half with the prior planning and the defined list, then done-and-done til next year.
Yeah, get a lot of eye rolls and smirks when I mention this to others, but hey, just another of the many things which floats my boat. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Oct 7, 2023, at 2:10 PM
It's Friday or TGIF DAY!
and it's the 13th!
I consider that a lucky day!
Soooo, HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 13, 2023, at 8:38 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 13, 2023, at 8:38 AM
Heheheh, consider every Friday to be a Great Friday.
Brings back the Dave Edmunds jingle -
Monday ain't a fun day
Tuesday's a blue day
Wednesday's a frenzy
Thursday's the worst day
Friday is great...cuz I can hardly wait until the weekend.
As for the 13th, well, hedged my bets - got up on the roof yesterday rather than today, to check out the fahrt fan exhaust out of the bathroom - not that I'm superstitious, but why take a chance?
Had to misspell fahrt, as the Google censor didn't like the correct spelling. Which brings back the laughs while in Germany with their Autobahn, where the exits and entrances were Ausfahrts and Einfahrts - native guys over there never understood the humor and my related chuckles.
Had a wasp build a paper nest in the vent earlier this summer, kept the vent flapper from opening which prevented proper removal of malodorous airs and shower condensations which like to set off the smoke alarm - wanted to verify things were good-to-go before colder weather.
Good thing, as the winds today would've played an extra degree of difficulty. Hard enough walking on an unlevel surface, without winds affecting my balance.
Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than good. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 13, 2023, at 6:35 PM
Friday the 13th, the Catholic Pope and French King conspired to do their dirty deeds!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Oct 13, 2023, at 8:24 PM
I have no idea who or what determined Friday the 13th to be unlucky.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 13, 2023, at 8:40 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Tue, Oct 17, 2023, at 2:21 PM
Showing my age or my 'ruralness' here - Missour-uh.
Wonder how many of the 9.5% go to the state school up at Columbia, where they reportedly cheer their sports teams on with Mizzou-RAH-RAH-RAH?
After all, cheering Mizzou-REE-REE-REE brings images of propeller-adorned beanies and birth control Buddy Holly glasses to mind. :-)~
/***/
More on the fix-it stuff, stuff I enjoy doing when I want to, as compared to past days when I had to.
Decided to have a look at the hedge trimmer, my multi-purpose Fall cleanup tool for cleaning out and trimming back the flower beds where the push mower just won't fit.
Have had it a long time, like right after the turn of the century, and picked it up then already well-used. Noticed it was running slow, smelling hot, and just wasn't eatin' like it should, even missing the opportunity to lop clean through the extension cord.
Noticed it was missing a couple bolts in the cutter bar, and using wisdom acquired from past life experiences of not having wisdom before taking everything apart, found this model was four generations obsolete according to Black and Decker, so every part on the exploded diagram was Not Available.
Well, that certainly limits the scope of what can be done, and the needed hardware was somewhat specialty, certainly nothing I'd find in my fruit jars of miscellaneous odds and ends.
So, went on a fishing trip to the local 'Ace is the place', needing some other stuff as well.
By golly, scrounged up some 'close enoughs' in their small hardware aisle with the weird-size and the special nut having the nylon insert.
A little compressed air to clear out the filthy motor/fan area, a little LPS spray lube on the cutter bar, and the little dude roared back to full speed ahead, sounding hungry and ready to do some landscaping grazing.
Ahhh, the little victories that trip my trigger, especially at a cost of $0.48 and a small bit of free labor. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 18, 2023, at 2:31 PM
"rotate the tires ..."
On a lawn mower??
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Oct 18, 2023, at 6:59 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Wed, Oct 18, 2023, at 2:45 PM
Whilst I chuckled about the left-handed weedeater, had a wait-what moment.
Have noticed my battery weedeater and my gas weedeater do turn opposite directions.
Don't care much for the battery job, takes a 2nd battery to get through the yard. Plus, it's either all or nothing, which gets concerning doing the precise trimming along the pea-gravelled walkway, where the gas unit offers the variable speed through the throttle.
It was the battery unit that launched a gravel pebble through my full-front glass storm door - a $126 mistake. The gas unit affords some variability on how fast and far any projectiles get tossed, quite the fine line between doing the job for good, while not doing no harm.
At any rate, have learned to position myself accordingly as a blocking front between it and any window glass, whichever weedeater is chosen with directional rotation..
Haven't tried the mower blade thing, chuckling that at the speeds some of these yard boys run their riders towed on a trailer behind their high-dollar crew cab pick-up trucks - if the blades were upside-down, that mower ortna be levitating like a hovercraft. :-)
Not sure about others' maintenance schedules - neighbor in back was cleaning out her A/C condenser today. Pffft, that and mower maintenance gets done in the Spring here, heck, still got another month and a half of mowing and mulching leaves to do, so maintenance gets done in Feb before the next first mowings.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 18, 2023, at 7:16 PM
Spilling another blurb of 'too much news' as well as giving this thread a short-lived but shameless bump to the top of the forum lists - still dinking around with the water softener, as shared from a couple posts back on 03 October.
Oh, the leak has stayed fixed since that last sharing, but curiosity about how the thing was programmed led me into a minor research project including a bit of trial and error with delay of game, towards the question of is it efficiently doing the best it can do?
Ordered up some hardness test strips, which showed the indoor softened water was 0 hardness as it should be, and the outdoor unsoftened water was somewhere between the 7.5 and the 15 grains per gallon colored squares on the handy-dandy decoder labelling.
Yeah, me too...I know what a gallon is, but WTH is a grain? Eh, still no idea, other than the Internet says there are 7000 of these rascals in a pound.
Trying to narrow in a better actual incoming hardness number, looked at the MO DNR drinking water watch page for the last test results from the City - them guys test for just about everything imaginable in the water. With those numbers for calcium, magnesium, and iron plugged-n-chugged into the neat-o guido equation also found on the Internet, came up with a calculated hardness of 10.2 grains per gallon.
Several charts found defining the hardness severity of water, but 10.2 comes in almost universally across the board as 'hard', in the various 4- or 5-tier soft, slightly hard, moderately hard, hard, and very hard rankings. Was humorous to note that the charts from sites tied to water softener sales generally called the water harder at lower grain-per-gallon cutoff points. Go figure. :-)~
Testing this out, ran the regeneration setpoint way out there, looking to catch the measured gallons when the hardness broke through, meaning the softener was completely done, fully-exhausted, and needed regeneration. This was the delay of game in the deal, as it takes a while to run what amounted to a couple thousand gallons through when using only about 100 gallons per day.
At any rate, actual results in the same ballpark as the estimated number, called that good enough, and refigured the programming parameters, allowing some margin as don't want to completely exhaust the softening before regen'ing. Now to monitor for the next few weeks for verifying.
If things hold, hope to keep the same zero hardness levels sustained, but by using only about half the salt as before. I don't mind and have no problem with using all that I need, but I do so hates to waste, perhaps taking that 'waste-not, want-not' thing to extreme.
Does bring a bit of a chuckle, that for all this effort, look to save maybe $20 per year on salt, perhaps enough for a 'free' Happy Meal or two. Big bonus here will be the reduced trips packing all those extra 40lb bags of salt through the house and down the stairs - now that's a winner!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Oct 23, 2023, at 3:35 PM
"..over here in Jackson , the water is hard , real hard ." -- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Tue, Oct 24, 2023, at 7:24 AM
Yeah, buddy! Reported MO DNR water numbers suggest a hardness of 16.1 grains per gallon - well into the 'very hard' category of the various ratings scales.
Backing into this the other way, suggests a pound of crud coming through for every 435 gallons. Certainly do a number on the water heater as well, particularly if electric.
A softener would definitely do some good, although to keep that thing fed, one would have to be a salt-packing fool, eh, or maybe just a fool packing salt... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Oct 24, 2023, at 9:40 AM
Always got a kick out of a friend who wouldn’t drink softened water because of the increased sodium as he put two packets of salt on his Big Mac and three on his fries.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Oct 24, 2023, at 12:04 PM
I feel your pain. I know what hard water is. Right now our water, while I do not know the grains per gallon seems to be pretty decent. We are having no trouble with anything and the soap will make suds in it.
Been there and done that with softeners. Had a place at Lake Ozark years ago and had to put in a softener. Then do the maintenance. Got rid of the lake home to travel in a motor home as I found out quickly I couldn't get adequate usage out of both. And I wanted to see the USA and winter in a warmer climate. Now due to illness with spouse we do neither. So sold the motorhome as well. Actually I kind of enjoy not doing the maintenance on both of them. Having cut enough grass in my time we sold our now too big house as the kids were gone and bought a Villa, kinda like a Condo in the way it operates and with a yard. And I don't have to cut the grass. Doesn't bother me at all when I hear that crew start the mowers at 7:30 am on Monday morning, even if it one of those mornings that I decided to sleep in. My idea of maintenance is pumping my own gas right before I go through the car was and sit there and watch the younger folks wipe it down and clean the thing inside and out including the windows.
I did go all out when my daughter came by after we moved into the Villa and she had a bunch of flowers and she planted them and said it is your job to water them. Ok. She Left and I went down to Menards and found a kit with some flexible pipe with a hose connection on one end and one on the other with a caap so you could blow it out and a half a dozen little sprinkler heads you could install to suit. slipped it in with the muclch covering the evidence except the sprinkler heads and said wow, that was exhausting. Then I realized, I gots to go out there and turn this thing on. Back to Menards and I find one of these little battery operated jobbies that screws onto the water connection and I screw my contraption onto that and it is operable from my phone to program it. So I make myself a cup of coffee and road test it from the breakfast room watching it's performance through the window.
Now it operates even knowing when it is going to rain and is not needed. So if the flowers don't bloom it is not because I am not watering them. The flowers have not complained about my water being too hard yet either.
Fxpwt I think with a little work we could arrange something to get that salt downstairs to your water softener without having to carry it down the steps.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Oct 24, 2023, at 10:32 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Oct 24, 2023, at 10:32 PM
Heheheh, been cipherin' myself on an easier way to get the salt downstairs.
No external stairwell, kinda outta luck with using the basement windows now after their upgrade to the energy-efficient double-pane tinted stuff that actually seal against the blowing rain and winds - window openings are now just too physically small to readily chuck bags through without some grunt-n-groan-n-push applied.
If only this house were a bit older. Remember my aunt's house had a coal chute opening on the front corner for easy delivery truck access, entering into a concrete-walled room underneath the full house-width front porch, maybe 8ft x 10ft, complete with an elevated door threshold maybe a foot tall into the room. Don't know whether the house had the old knob-and-tube wiring but do recall the 'neat' pushbutton light switches with their kah-chunk, kah-chunk operation, providing hours of entertainment for a young'un.
Her house was built in 1939, now seems odd that houses were still being built to use coal in the middle of, well at the time the outer edge but still within, the City. At any rate, that coal chute would've been a perfect solution for current salt transportation challenges. :-)
Remembering stumbling across an archived SEMissourian news blip about the Missouri Utilities power plant (where the casino is now) putting on a big to-do about converting from coal to natural gas around that time and how much cleaner the city was going to be because of this, so I'm guessing heating homes with coal was at least on its way out, perhaps the gas lines just hadn't made it to that house...yet.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 25, 2023, at 11:59 AM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Wed, Oct 25, 2023, at 12:21 PM
Roll into a qualified IRA, you're fine. You'll get some tax paperwork to declare and file, showing the IRS what's going on, but no money out of pocket.
Roll into a Roth IRA, a regular brokerage account, a bank-type savings account, cash-out, etc - taxes will be due like it was earned income.
Suggest to be doggone sure what you're doing, find someone with bona-fide credentials to explain it and any related options - mistakes are a chore to un-do, if they can even be undone, taking that Homer Simpson D'Oh to a whole new level.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Oct 25, 2023, at 1:08 PM
"Don't know whether the house had the old knob-and-tube wiring but do recall the 'neat' pushbutton light switches with their kah-chunk, kah-chunk operation, providing hours of entertainment for a young'un."
Fxpwt, I think you can count on it that the house was knob and tube if built in 1939. I took an electrical course at Rankin Trade School in the early 60's and how to do the installation and make the connections was still in the playbook although we didn't waste any time practicing it. I lived in and rewired most of a 2 story that was built early enough that the 30 amp suppply box was still high on the wall at the back door entry.
But it had been upgraded to a whopping big 60 amp 240 volt service box which was located in the former cold bin which still had a smattering of stoker coal in it. Along with the stoker which had been replaced with an oil burner in the ancient boiler.
Our first night in the house we about froze to death. We had moved on a Saturday in late November, early December, I forget which. Sunday morning I had to find out what was going on. The flue draft was crazy and the draft over the fire was totally unacceptable. All of the heat from that 14cents per gallon oil was going up the flue. Whomever had made the ill thought out conversion knew nothing about what he was doing. The flue was tall enough that I later had 6 feet or so taken off of it. as it was well away from the roof peak. Ok, we have to warm this place up. I remembered seeing a pile of fire brick out in the garage which is where they stored unused junk. I got my hammer and made pieces out of the fire brick and carried them in and scattered them through the flue path in the boiler which started at the far back of the boiler, came forward and then all of the way to the back again before exiting. Should be efficient one would think. After I got the draft down to the negative number required the house was warm as toast in about an hour. Later learned the previous resident, a Methodist Minister and family almost froze to death the previous winter. Few years later I put a 200 amp service in and installed a new electric boiler. Left the old boiler in place to use as a radiator to heat the basement and it worked like a charm.
But the wiring in that old house being knob and tube. The electrtician obviously was a low bidder type. Even though I never used the the knowledge I did understand the principles involved. And when you strip the wire and wrap your connecting wire for a branch circuit. You are supposed to do more than just strip the circuit wires and branch connection wires. You are supposed to clean flux and solder them. The electrician skipped the last three, clean, flux and solder. A blinking light one night during dinner alerted me to that little short cut. When I found the problem location it was really hot. A thorough look at everything with some repairs made it safe enough and it is permanently safe today as I was approached to sell it and did so after building a new house. Being in an encroaching commercial environment once sold it was torn down for a new bank.
But the coal smoke. In the late 40"s while I was walking to Grade School, we could always tell when we could expect cold weather. I kept smelling that funny smell and asked my Dad what is that smell? Coal Smoke from St. Louis. Yes it reached all the way to Bollinger County. And even when natural gas was becoming popular in St. Louis area, while it was a little before my time, it is my understanding that you had to apply for and practically beg to get connected on a new home. There was even some kind of contraption that was used to let you switch to LP if they were running low on Natural Gas. That with a couple of LP bottles could have kept you busy changing bottles during a cold spell. I remember my brother-in-law having to do that number. sometime in the very late 50's.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Oct 25, 2023, at 4:11 PM
fxpwt,I’ve seen numerous old octopus looking coal furnaces that were converted to gas. Probably on the order of 10-20% efficiency. Most without any blowers. Like a huge floor furnace.
Not sure of dates but the old Missouri Utilities power plant did manufacture “coal gas” for a time that was piped into the downtown area. Nasty stuff.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Oct 25, 2023, at 9:12 PM
CO has gone nuts.
I go to the store for food.
Sign at the door says “Bring your own bag. Plastic bags aren’t good for the environment”. Sounds good,eh?
So I shop.
Cheese in a plastic wrapper.
Milk in a plastic jug.
Chicken in a plastic tray wrapped in plastic bottles.
Cottage cheese in a plastic tub.
Chips in a plastic bag.
Ketchup,mustard and Mayo in plastic.
I could go on.
So I go to checkout(I won’t self checkout. I came to shop not work)and run all my plastic wraps and containers down that black plastic belt and put my plastic card into the plastic machine to pay. After loading my plastic wrapped groceries into a plastic bag I brought I feel so good saving the Colorado environment. Of course,if one isn’t feeling “green” you can buy plastic bags for .10/each and toss them in the trash with the rest of your plastic.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 9:21 AM
DA, the city does recycle where I live. They furnish blue bags and we put them in our regular can when full. They claim to make money from it.
Our grocery stores use plastic bags. And I don't do self checkout either. Ourstores are short checkers because people would rather sit on their *** and collect govt dollars than work.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 9:57 AM
We have big curbside trash containers provided by the collection company. No city services for trash. All private. Your chosen company comes by once/week for “regular” trash and every other week for the yellow “recycling” containers if you choose to pay extra and feel “green”. So there’s 2 big old diesel fume puking trash trucks every 2 weeks. Maybe it’s just me but I have a strong suspicion it all ends up in the same hole.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 10:36 AM
Speaking of same hole a condemned house nearby (a real trashed out place but with possiblities) was purchased and along with all the garbage into huge dumpsters went the blue bags from the asbestos abatement. Pretty much guess it all went in the same hole.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 10:56 AM
Figure I oughts to buy a lottery ticket, feeling lucky - 3rd time in a row on a grocery run where there was a checker lane open, sure beats the bend and snap and related gymnastics involved stacking a two-weeks' worth of groceries on the table the size of a cookie sheet, and then down on the floor, as offered by the self-checkout lanes.
Asbestos - ugh. Figure there's still a patch at a landfill having my name as an authorized person still attached to the DNR paperwork complete with GPS coordinates as part of a large remediation project at the plant. Apparently, the company is still on the hook for it, should the now-buried mass somehow be disturbed.
Believe it or not, have visited Asbestos, Quebec while in that area of Canada for some decommissioning / demolition work at a magnesium smelter up there. Yep, aptly named after the John-Mansville quarry - a big hole in the ground where a Terex dump truck down at the bottom could barely be seen from the top, and the quarry during its hey-days had eminent-domained part of the town and related structures for expansion. Needless to say, not a whole lot seen happening there during my visit.
Still baffled by Cape's recycling program, where the 'green' can is 96 gallons, and the regular brown can is 64. Figure nothing I put in the green can is gonna go bad or attract critters, so only wheel it out maybe twice a year, partly out of laziness, partly figuring saving the City ~50 brake scrubs and hydraulics cyclings annually on their trucks.
Do make a point to have it emptied right before the flower beds are cleaned out and shrubs are trimmed back after the frost. Makes a handy container where one can really romp-and-stomp and pack in tight and full-up, as compared to struggling with the heavy-duty contractor-grade trash bags which still puncture and tear not to mention difficult to work with. Consider that as payback for having to store that humongous tub on wheels all year. No worries about sliding the clippings through on the city pickups, as I then haul it out to a buddy's farm property for dumping.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 12:02 PM
I try to frequent a local grocery that is a smaller version of a big chain. It has the self check but always has at least two full service checkouts open complete with baggers. I avoid Wallyworld if I can but still go for an open checkout but the person just stares while I pack up my goods.
Then the guy at the door wants to see my receipt. I figured out how to beat him. Put the receipt in the bottom of a bag and tell him “it’s down in there….somewhere” and I get waved right in out the door. Works every time.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 12:47 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 6:06 PM
Beautiful!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Oct 26, 2023, at 8:23 PM
Heard it’s around 80 in Missouri.
Winter storm watch here and it’s 2 months to winter. What did i get myself into? Snowblower checked out today. Gassed up and started fine. Hope it sits unused.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 7:34 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 7:34 PM
Yeah, was on the almost too-warm side today, saw 83 on my local weather station here at the house, busted a pretty good sweat giving the yard its weekly haircut. Actually broke down and kicked the A/C back on between the rising humidity and the temperature.
Don't get too homesick - predicted high tomorrow looks to be about 55.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 7:54 PM
DA supposed to go down to 44 degrees tonight where I am and this weekend and next week is supposed to be cold, below freezing in the mornings.
I have always disliked this time of year. In my Commercial building I installed a thermostat system which can be controlled from my phone. Spring and Fall the thermostats are set for auto, heat in the morning and cool in the aftern0oon. But the thermostats cannot be set closer than 3 degrees spread. So a little cooler in the mornings and a little warmer than normal in the afternoons. So far no complaints. I learned many years ago with an office environment you hide the thermostat if you want a peaceful work atmosphere. One thermostat and three people in a close proximity that can be cranked on and you have hate and discontent. Everyone wants control. I put nothing but a sensor where the thermostat would be and connected it to the thermostat in a locked mechanical room somewhere. I rarely get a complaint. Their boss tells me where he wants the temperature and I make it happen from wherever I might be. And they go home and it goes on night setback or weekend as the case may be. I rarely hear from anyone, unless they want to work on a weekend and then a call to me before they leave home and their office is comfy when they get there.
Honeywell has a home thermostat that will go to setback with no activity in it's vicinity and then when you arrive within a set radius you preprogram into it, maybe 10 or 15 minutes out it will return your temperature to your normal operation and you are nice and cozy when you open your door and walk in. And it saves a few bucks and helps save the atmosphere.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 8:23 PM
Guess it takes some getting used the weather. It’s a suns out guns out here. Walking the other day with coat,gloves and winter hat and passed 3 pre teen girls wearing shorty shorts and tank tops. It was about 39 degrees. Then 75 next day. Actually pretty close to Missouri weather….usually. Same temps but no humidity. Who knows about snow though. This coming storm is unusually early. 2’ predicted in the mountains. Ski resorts should be hoppin’.
You’ll love this one ,wheels. About a 10 year old 80%’er furnace. I pulled the reusable filter out to give it a wash and it was completely,I mean completely plugged. It reminded me of pulling a honeycomb from beehive. Couldn’t have gotten a wisp of air through it. The AC surely was icing up. It was so bad a strong hose plus some soap and degreaser didn’t touch it. I’ve seen some things in filters like dead mice,crayons,Legos and a condom once but nothing like this one. Went back to a medium priced pleated paper. Changed it twice so far and barely dirty. No idea what that filth was.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 9:11 PM
DA
Hard to tell what was in that filter. Hopefully the return air duct is reasonably clean. If you have just the normal I" slot to stick a filter in on the side of the furnace stick with those pleated ones but a good grade, some are better than others, and change em regularly. I bought this place I changed the furnace out and the AC as the were both old, but a 90+ furnace which I put back in. I put in a filter that is pleated and about 4 or 5 inches thick and about 6 months to the change. And it is due now. Never real bad but I change it regularly anyway. Don't need to cut my efficiency. This 90 plus vents with PVC Pipe out the side wall of the house. And no sign that it has ever run a hot flue temperature. Combustion air from outside and vents outside. Your 80 % furnace if it was truly that vents a lot of indoor air to the out side as the flue has no regulation on how much draft and it draws air out of the house constantly. Does make sure you get plenty of air changes. You won't lack for oxygen. But you might run a pretty low humidity. and the way an 80% is built you have to make sure that flue stays open and keeps drawing air or you can get flue gases into the living area which is a definite no.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 9:48 PM
The installation looks pretty professional and I’m sure this is a replacement furnace as the house was built in ‘63. Looks like the flue was replaced with the new furnace. It does share with the water heater but straight up. No bends and a good vent cap.
Being a ‘63 model all the plumbing including waste is copper. Don’t see that in newer homes. One thing I don’t like is the main water line to the open utility area has been sheet rocked over. There’s fittings up there because of an outside faucet T’d in. It’s a frost proof but old . Hate to think about replacing it. My luck it’s soldered not threaded under that drywall. Hope I never see a wet spot on that ceiling.
Something else I wasn’t expecting here is a sump pump. Almost all the houses have one and mine runs at odd times even when there’s been no rain for days even weeks. Glad to have it as there’s carpet in the finished part of basement. I would never carpet a basement but it was here. Oh,and some kind of radon rig that runs 24/7. Most homes have them and if they don’t an inspector won’t pass it when selling.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 10:36 PM
Rick,loo loo lookin’ out my back door.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Oct 28, 2023, at 8:13 AM
Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 10:36 PM
Did you get any snow? When our daughter lived there in Lakewood for 5 winters the average amount of snow per snow storm was 3 to 4 inches. Usually melted fast. IMO, you chose wisely in your location!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Oct 29, 2023, at 8:47 AM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Oct 27, 2023, at 10:36 PM
DA, I don't have issues with the soldering, when it comes to plumbing. It's those make believe fittings under the sinks that bother me. Nothing but good luck holds them together.
Have a cousin that pulled the best trick. Drain is stopped up. He dis have the foresight of dipping the water out first. But then he r r moves the trap while sitting on the floor and then reaches up and pours it into the sink he had removed the trap from. Get me some rags he is shouting at his wife. She shared that experience with me. Lord knows he wouldn't.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Oct 29, 2023, at 2:10 PM
Got an early but forecasted dumping of snow. 7.8” official measurement in Lakewood. Glad I invested in a snowblower. That puppy is nice.
Wheels,soldered all my life but the new solder and flux combos aren’t nearly as good as the old stuff. I hoarded some of the old lead solder but about to run out. I always got a kick out of guys that were good welders but couldn’t solder. Whole different ballgame.
And speaking of ballgames went to my first NFL football game since Jim Hart was a St Louis Cardinal. Broncos beat Kansa City and that place was rocking.
Wore a KC shirt and Denver hat. Got some good natured ribbing.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Oct 29, 2023, at 9:06 PM
DA, I used to use a solder that was what they called silver bearing. I cannot remember the company name and all and you used a liquid flux. It had close to the holding power of 0f silver solder without the heat needed. f your pipe was clean and your heat was right you could do a good job with it. Did not use it for plumbing however. But I hard piped a lot of 4 and 5 ton AC's with it. The smaller stuff was all quick connects by this time. If you did a good job of cleaning your pipe it was never a problem with it leaking.
Never will forget, we had a hurry up job and I was running the pipe while the electrician was wiring it. He had a cub working with him. I broke out the end of a brick and drilled my hole through the end cap on the floor joist and by the time I get to the hole here was a conduit squarely in the middle of the hole. I say to the cub who was running the conduit. Hey I cannot get through that hole with the conduit in the middle of it. He said, whomever gets her first and the journeyman says yeah, but not when someone else drills the hole. Move the conduit to the edge and let him run his pipe through his hole.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Oct 29, 2023, at 10:30 PM
Oct. 30, 1938 the radio program War of the Worlds was played as a spoof for Halloween but didn't have the effect that Orson Welles and the other actors had in mind.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Oct 30, 2023, at 7:07 PM
-- Posted by Rick Scaggs 🖊️ on Mon, Oct 30, 2023, at 7:04 AM
Rick it has been a good number of years since I have been sticking any kind of pipe together.
Out of necessity I learned how to well aluminum. And I mean weld as soldering it I never found to work. Back in the days when I started with appliances, you always had someone who defrosted their refrigerators with their aluminum evaporator (cooling) coils with a butcher knife and poked a hole in it. The industry tried numerous ways to repair it but to no avail. Finally a company came out with a welding rod and a flux that would work if everything was just right. You would wear a pair of sunglasses to help you see because of the glare. Welding goggles were too dark. When that aluminum was just at the point of melting, you would stick the rod to your already fluxed point to weld. Just a few degrees too much heat and you had a much larger hole than the one you started with. We repaired a lot of them at one time.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Oct 30, 2023, at 9:38 PM
On Holloween candy duty at step son house. Hey,at least seeing some cute costumes instead of carrying a dirty pillow case to load. up with no costumes.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Oct 31, 2023, at 7:56 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Oct 31, 2023, at 9:32 PM
Things make me go WTF!!??
News here making a big deal of the delivery of the COLORADO state Christmas Tree arriving on a truck from CALIFORNIA!!?? I’m sure it’s one big tree requiring a big truck but getting a tree from CALIFORNIA when COLORADO is covered with suitable trees.
There are no words I can think of to voice the utter……better stop there before the googler kids get their panties in a twist.
Must have struck a community guidelines nerve anyway as I got the warning. Yep,angry but civil!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 2, 2023, at 6:31 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 2, 2023, at 6:31 PM
Heheheh, as Rick already kinda pointed to, perhaps the decision-makers on that deal were up on their own Rocky Mountain high. :-)~
/****/
Well, the leaves are coming down here, done air-broomed the gutters once with at least a couple more times on tap before it's all over for the year. Man, this neighborhood has a lot of large leafy trees, glad the City added an extra few days to our leaf pickup zone time allotment.
Found a neat attachment, like a periscope with a flexible boot at the bottom and a U-turn at the top, straps onto the air broom motor/fan assembly after removing its standard rigid brooming tube.
Takes about 10 minutes to run along the gutters and even blow out the downspouts from the ground, sure beats going down the sides of the house 6 feet at a time with a ladder, as well as getting up on the roof to air-broom the buggars out from above - no intention of putting a fall into Fall at this later stage of the game.
/****/
About threw my shoulder out patting myself on the back. Watched a coupla local news blips a week or so back about the deer becoming more active, figured that was my cue to get the protective fencing up around the two young trees in the yard.
Have had a couple instances in years past where Cape's finest overgrown luv-em-or-hate-em foraging varmints thoroughly thrashed and trashed the then young'uns along about this time.
Given what small decorative trees cost nowadays, don't want no more of that, plus tired of replanting.
Last night, an a-ha attaboy moment as surveillance caught one nosing around one of the fences, looking like he had an itch to scratch. The buck no longer stops here! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Nov 3, 2023, at 3:10 PM
I jerry rigged my own leaf blower gutter cleaner from pvc that worked well on leaves but won’t do it with the stuff coming off balsam trees. Looks like tiny pine cones and they’re a bazillion of them. Have to get up on the ladder and hand clean. Thankfully it was only about 30’ but at least 7-8 5 gallon buckets of the stuff.
Years ago when I did a lot of sideline painting I bought a 40’ wooden ladder. Heavy mother effer and round rungs. A day on that thing and my toes touched my heels. Paid little for it and got a lot of use but it bit the dust through the windshield of a Plymouth. Painting a building on Broadway and had to put the ladder into the street to reach the top. Put out signs and barricades for safety but just as came down for a paint reload a lady in the Plymouth ignored all my signage and plowed into that ladder which crashed into her windshield. Odd as that was she got out of the car with the ladder on top and glass smashed got her purse and walked off like nothing happened.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Nov 4, 2023, at 9:02 PM
Dang Rick I thought I kept them awhile.
My last trade in was 12 uears old . Currently got one for about 6. Don't quite have your miles. More like about 36K.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Nov 5, 2023, at 11:47 AM
As much trouble I have getting my lateral line adjusted to this silly twice yearly utterly useless and continuing for no good reason time change poor Jarbo II is one confused pup. Her clock remains the same.
If politicians had one ounce of sense this baloney would have been dealt with years ago. I don’t really care which one is decided on but pick one.
What am I thinking? These elected maroons can’t stop scam calls what makes me think they could pick a time and stick to it.
I should stop trying to make sense.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 7, 2023, at 7:05 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 7, 2023, at 7:05 PM
DA, we have a perfectly good system of time with ones and all. It is BS and a waste of money as far as I am concerned. Doesn't really cost me anything up front, but I would suppose all of the effort and time and money spent on getting scheules sort out twice annall cost someone something that gets passed on with a markup.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Nov 7, 2023, at 7:14 PM
I typed in DST in my search app and apparently it all goes back to a Ben Franklin suggestion leading to a world wide mess.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 7, 2023, at 8:17 PM
Should have read....
DA, we have a perfectly good system of time with zones and all.
Fat fingered flue strikes again.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Nov 7, 2023, at 9:24 PM
It's Wednesday or hump day. Down hill the rest of the week. Yah!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 7:52 AM
Guess Americans will get updates on their Self Driving cars with every accident....good grief!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 8:44 AM
Whew, getting through the expensive time of year here.
Annual homeowner's and 6-month auto insurance premiums were paid a couple weeks back - unbelievable what the rebuild cost of the house is valued, but after looking around at current new market offerings, eh, probably close enough after backing out the value of the lot. Just can't see rebuilding that kinda house in this kinda neighborhood should things ever get to that.
Found it has been definitely worth the effort to shop around every once in a while, on the order of several hundreds of dollars difference.
My trigger tripped a few years back when the-then premium hit me wrong. Quizzed the agent - well, it's because your house is worth more now, duh! Hmmm, well alrighty then, looked back at the premium from 5 years earlier - yeah, the house was being valued 20% higher...but the premium had gone up 50%. Must be that new math, but survey sez - Errrrnt!
Shopped around, found a much-better deal, but after about 5 years, that trigger tripped again with the renewal premium shock.
Now the second year into the 3rd insurance group here, who wasn't the low bidder in the pool of candidates the last two go-rounds but outright skunked the others this time around. So far, so good...but I'm watching.
Then, the property taxes just came in the mail. Eh, yeah, up a fair bit as predicted, puts another big dent in the checkbook balance, but owe it, pay it, move along.
Some wait until the last possible moment, but rather just knock it out to be done with it and to avoid the potential costs of forgetting about it - getting good at that these days, as well as a long-established past habit due to a January plate renewal that I always liked to get done in December, back when one had to pack along their paid tax receipts.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 7:52 AM Thanks, Wheels, now I'm gonna have that silly camel commercial rattling around in my head all day! :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 8:57 AM
Just got my MISSOURI Cape County tax bill for 2 vehicles that are a year older but the tax went up. Because of the “registration on Jan 1” Mo thing I got dinged twice. Looking over some of the things taxes go for and I have no kids in school,never had a fire,had my own workshop,my health is fine and no idea what “senior” even means. One of those if I had known then where I’d be now. No sense trying to make sense,just pay up.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 12:18 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 8:57 AM
"Then, the property taxes just came in the mail. Eh, yeah, up a fair bit as predicted, puts another big dent in the checkbook balance, but owe it, pay it, move along."
Fxpwt, I was going to suggest that you shop around like you do for insurance, but I won't because that would be kind of smarta***d 😒
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Nov 8, 2023, at 2:29 PM
Not sure if I posted this before but had to take my double taxed vehicles in for emissions testing before transferring licenses. Everything passed but what bothers me is you can take a car/truck in for the emissions test with broken headlights,bald tires,cracked windshield,no mirrors,horn doesn’t work and as long as that puppy passes emissions it’s good to go. Craziest thing I’ve seen…..so far. Maybe the guy doing a juggling act in traffic then asking for “donations” ranks right up there. Actually better than just standing there with a misspelled cardboard sign that’s he’s “homeless”,er,it’s “house less” now to be politically correct.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 9:59 AM
Kinda quiet in SEMO this morning.
Is this kinda like the quiet before the storm?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 10:54 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 12:45 PM
I woke up in one of those moods this morning that my long gone friend Karl from Indianapolis called a Kissy Mood. For those that don't know what the mood is, it is a kiss my etc. etc..
I miss him. He and I used to talk for an hour or so on the phone at least once a week. We were in the same business and Lord knows I miss him. When we ended up on the same turf we would add liquid refreshment to our shared experiences.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 12:55 PM
All quiet on the western front today,wheels. I’d have a lot less to do if wife wouldn’t watch HGTV. Heck,those people can redo a whole house in 20 minutes.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 5:56 PM
Is this kinda like the quiet before the storm? -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 10:54 AM
Eh, outside of the turmoil with a couple teachers a bit south of here going way off in the ditch, been seeming unusually quiet.
Jinxed myself - after bragging about 3 consecutive grocery-gettin' runs with regular checkout - nuts, back to self-checkout today - swipe and bend and bag and snap, lather, rinse, repeat, etc.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 6:16 PM
Fxpwt, I am not doing self checkout. If they cannot get someone to work and do the checkouts, they can put my junk back on the shelf. I will go somewhere else. I am old enough to remember when you told them what you want and they got it off the shelf and put it on the counter. And when they were through fetching they rung it up and took your money. They have got us to the point we are doing most of the work and paying fot it also. I did a few self checkouts, but no more, it is a pain in the *** and no reward for the work.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 6:32 PM
I only do self check outs for 1 or 2 items when the regular lanes are full. Don't check my bags if I have to do self check outs!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 6:51 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 5:56 PM
DA, I have lived in qute a few establishments and they all required something done except the apartment. There I picked up the phone and called the office instead of looking for the tools.
But we got married with no money and lived in everything from an 8 X 30 mobile home to a couple of 5 bedroom houses, one an old one and one we built. But the funnest was the 45 foot motor home with 4 slides we lived in for about 7 years . We loved to travel and with it, get the pain and in about 30 minutes and you could be on the road. But finally we decided to join the human race again and rented an apartment for a spell. then bought a villa that someone had wrecked inside, but was in an area we liked, and if you want to talk about fixing up. My cousin the retired carpenter had a son that worked independently and he and I spent all summer rebuilding this thing. Meanwhile wife was diagnosed with a serious illness within 10 days of signing the papers. This was 5 years ago and I am still fixing. Personally I liked renting, where all I had to do was get on the phone an file a complaint. But wife wanted home ownership. And you never get throug fixing something. I have an oversized two car garage, but it isn't oversixed enough for all of the junk. I have a collectable car that I am going to divest myself of one of these days. we beem accumulating junk for over 6o years and I don't have the room. So I have $10 dollars in shelving for every $1 worth of yard sale junk on them. I know how it will be handled when my oldest daughter has to pick up after us when we are gone. She will call a Construction project sized dumpster brought in and emptied a couple of times.
All I can say is have Phun!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 6:54 PM
Sure beem a lively place here today.
Been going over the new plan my electric utility company proposes. They installed new meters recently and I have an opportunity to say money or so they say if I go with the Evening Morning Savers Plan.
Based on the past four months of my current use, if I move from the Anytime User Rate to the Evening Morning Savers Rate, it will cost me $0.43. Their numbers not mine. And those would have been 4 heavy usage months. I think my increase might be even more now that we are going to winter rates.
When I remodeled this place I went to all LED lighting and I put in a new High SEER AC and a 90 Plus Gas Furnace.
I think i might just save the $0.46 to buy me a half pint of gasoline. Or maybe apply it to something a little better tasting for my body.
More I think about it, maybe Joe Biden is on Ameren's Board of Directors also.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 8:57 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 8:57 PM
Hearing many utilities are pursuing various flavors of time-of-day billing, figure a consequence of all the automated meters installed over the past several years where the meters can be read more often than the past days of the meter reader once a month fly-bys.
Has its upsides - tailoring rates more closely with the actual generation costs at that time, and charging users accordingly whether their usages be during the higher cost peaks of days or the lower cost savings at night or some averaging in between as done now. By moderating peak usages, puts off the huge capital costs of building new generation units and increasing transmission line capacities, especially given the predicted loads of electric vehicles coming on.
Sounds good in theory, but have the doubting-Thomas perspective that the utility is really doing it for our benefit - looking for that a-ha catch. Plus, would restrict personal freedoms somewhat, for those hung up with watching the clock as to when to run the heavy household electric consumers - e.g. laundry, electric car charging.
Have signed up my account on Ameren's website for tracking household usage for both gas and electric, provided there on a daily basis, but not hourly. Seems to provide reasonable estimates on where-all and how much is being used for HVAC, lighting, cooking, laundry, etc.
At any rate - much easier than my hell-bent days some 15 years ago to aggressively lower bills by saving energy, when I switched from forced-air electric heat to a heat pump, went whole-hog on the corkscrew fluorescents, and had to run out daily to read the meter myself to monitor results. :-)~
Gets into a bit of work on the ciphering, so at this point, figure to do nothing until I have to, then pick a plan and just roll on.
Offhand, figure these various time-of-day rate offerings aren't so much a way to save money, but perhaps more to control the rate at which the future bills increase.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 9:54 PM
Fxpwt, first, don't waste electricity but will use what our comfort level requires. When a 4 month utility study shows my cost will increase ever so slightly ro go the money saving way, why bother?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 10:11 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 9, 2023, at 10:11 PM
Yeah, for piddly savings or incremental costs, agree with what's the point in even foolin' with it.
Did look into this wayback with the previous time-of-day metering offered - but between the-then extra cost of the double-secret meter and the necessary drastic rearranging of my lifestyle and routines just to get to the break-even point, was an easy no-brainer to just carry on.
Figure a wasted effort, but at least it was looked at. Like you, I hates to waste, but also don't want to overlook or miss any easy savings opportunities. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 7:18 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 7:18 AM
Fxpwt, our meters were changed free of charge. But when this new fangled energy savings by Ameren's calculation is going to cost me $0.43. And the postage cost them more, it sounds like a government plan to me. Unlike the pile of gimme mail I am accumulating, I am going to carefully file this for future reference.
Kind of like the government...
I am From the government and i am here to help you!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 7:39 AM
WOW, something is out there! No intelligent life in Washington DC!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 8:47 AM
DT: We saw Robert Johnson on Beale Street in Memphis singing and playing in between buildings back years ago. Beale Street, music and eats hard to beat!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 8:57 AM
Ahhh, decisions, decisions.
Gots a letter in the mail just now, a long ways from its former 0930 delivery time of a few years ago.
Being advised that the subscription to our beloved SEMissourian would be $16.95 going forward.
Had to look - guess I've been paying $14.95 for quite a whiles up til now.
On one hand, probably in-line given recent inflation and what-not. Always draw up on .95 and .99 prices, just round to the next number up already and quit with the head games.
$2 per month increase is 'only' another $24 per year, but $16.95 x 12 will now be $203.40 total out of pocket.
Now hold up there...that's easily a month's utility bill in the dead of winter, or two-year tag renewals on two vehicles with room to spare after the inspection fees, license office fees and what-not, or property taxes on the newer vehicle, or 10 years of salt for the softener, or two months' worth of internet and phone service, etc.
Remember way back in the 70s, with the paperboys and six fresh editions weekly - paperboys beating monthly on the door for the $3 in exchange for the stamp-sized receipt.
According to the CPI numbers, that $3 then should related to about $15.40 now. Mmmm'eh still kinda in the ballpark.
Then comes the plusses and minuses - six new editions weekly then versus three today, no digital availability and ready reader feedback available anywhere anytime then versus today, still awaiting the massive website update promised a couple years ago, volumes and completeness of local reporting issues, etc.
Dunno, gots to do some more cipherin' as to whether this, much like the cableTV increase of a few years back or the more recent homeowners' insurance increase, is the trigger to part ways and to look for other agreeable avenues for local news once again.
Not that I can't afford it, more a question of whether I intend to continue paying it as a net value-added expense.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Nov 13, 2023, at 6:36 PM
Sharing a chuckle here.
Participating in a Ford F150 forum, learning stuff as well as sharing stuff.
Seeing a recurring theme in the forum for an older truck vintage that I had - innocent-enough question, easy-enough response from the years of experience and related required bad judgments, followed by gawd that's so primitive, responded with that's all we had to work with then and yet you're asking me.
Landed a man on the moon with a computer having 8 kilobytes, yet today's million-times over gigabytes ain't enough and run too slow for the silly people tricks and cute cat videos.
Boys, and the occasional girl - if you're having troubles with stuff from wayback - gots a long ways to go with catching up on fixing your own stuff. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Nov 14, 2023, at 6:47 PM
Fxpwt, I kind of laid back and quit fixing my own stuff sometime back. Computers and technology no, I wanted to know and by doing I was one of the first if not the first Contractor in our area to have his books and customer records on computer. It paid dividends. But when it came to fixing the trucks, I had plenty of work I knew something about that I could make more money that way than repairing my trucks. And if you are talking about after hours, I spent a good number of years not finishing the days work before about 10:00 pm. If it wasn't someone without Heat or AC, there was always a ton of paperwork to attend to. And that is easier done with peace and quiet. Come in at 7:00 AM and in about an hour or less there is going to be somebody around to provide distraction. However when the doors got locked at 5:00p and the last of the help left the area, you knew danged well you would not see one of them again for a good 14 hours. They weren't coming back. So I became a night person and I wasn't there at 8:00 am for the opening either. Slept in so I could make 10:00 pm and get a bid completed maybe tonight. Maybe a little crazy but it beat going insane and it worked for me.
My truck polishing was on an F1, about 99 years before they got to the F100. Or so it seemed.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Nov 14, 2023, at 9:53 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Nov 14, 2023, at 9:53 PM
Picked up on fixing my own stuff mostly as a necessity from wayback. Vehicle breaks down over the weekend, and needs to get to work Monday, not many options. Vehicles owned back then made it a habit to lose their do-right at the worst times.
Plus doing self-repairs satisfies a part of my inquisitive nature on how things work, knee-bone connected to the leg-bone things. There were many times, though, when I had dove off into a mess where I wished I hadn't.
Then there is that 'pack my own chute' thing, after many disappointments where someone else didn't correct the problem after significant expense or introduced a new problem such as the cross-threading of the oil drain plug at a local jiffy lube-type place. Seems the minimum qualifications for being called a mechanic is being able to fog a mirror, with knowing one's lefty-loosey from their righty-tighty being a bonus.
Figure one's solutions to life's challenges involves making the best use of one's resources - e.g. time and money and knowledge, etc. - towards getting the best desired results all-around.
Sometimes can beam with pride about owning how 'I did that' (before a certain President trashed the phrase), and other times, should'a called a real bona-fide professional. At any rate, I have acquired a witchin' set of tools through the years. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Nov 16, 2023, at 7:24 AM
"... new fangled ... Ameren's calculation..." -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Nov 10, 2023, at 7:39 AM
Ugh, saw where my Ameren bill posted yesterday, good grief.
Cobbled it all up, now taking 5 pages with their added noises, instead of its previous two.
Old bill worked great - could copy-n-paste directly into my tracking spreadsheet in one swoop to do all the busy-body stuff like figuring cost per KWH electric, cost per CCF gas, electric and gas HVAC usage against the ambient heating/cooling degree-days, average daily utility cost to normalize their billing cycles ranging from 28 to 34 days. (I see your eyes rolling there :-)~
Eh, well, more of that adaptin', improvisin' and overcomin' on yet another curve ball thrown my way. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Nov 19, 2023, at 8:44 AM
Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Nov 16, 2023, at 7:24 AM
Fxpwt
Through trial, error and referrals I found a few decent independent garages that I used. Sure you are going to get a few disappointments. But in my case, in my own business, I simply could not spare the time to do all of my own mechanicing.
On the other hand, if time permits, there is a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself. Working in a shop back in the day where air conditioning in automobiles was the exception rather than the rule, we installed add on air conditioning. To improve our knowledge, the boss offered any of us who would, a system for our own car at his cost and took time payments out of our checks. I went for it and had an air conditioned 53 Ford. As it was a 6 cylinder and the oldest kit was for a 55 it required some adaption which took plenty of time, which was available. Borrowed tools from the boss at the time.
I still remember the radiator and fan clearance being an issue. And a panic stop one day requiring a trip to the junk yard for a radiator and some more adaption.
Fortunately I was a two car family have purchased a Crosley Station Wagon for about $75, but only one license plate. But that was ok. The Crosley only had one head light having a mangled fender.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Nov 19, 2023, at 9:40 AM
One of my best summers was helping rebuild a 283 ‘60 Chevy a friend’s Father drug home with a blown engine. When I say “help” it was more like degreaser ruining some nice clothes.
Learned a lot that summer working weekends when the old man was home to teach us. Best of all was the late Saturday evening when it was time to fire it up. First few cranks were unsuccessful but a tweak of the distributor cap got her to fire but the failed first attempts had loaded quite a bit of gas and it backfired gloriously shooting a blast up into the hood and bouncing straight into the old man’s head. Never forget that yellow/orange/blue flame lighting up the dim garage and the smell of the old man’s smoldering hair.
Here’s to you Hank for a great summer.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Nov 19, 2023, at 9:50 AM
Rick, I guess I thought I had reached D9 when I was first introduced to Long Division in Grade School.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Nov 19, 2023, at 3:00 PM
D9? I was an arithmetic whiz till we moved and ran into something called “math”. Naught plus naught equals naught was never the same.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Nov 19, 2023, at 3:34 PM
60 years ago today 11/22/1963 President John Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Nov 22, 2023, at 7:53 AM
Never forget that day and the craziness that followed.
I was in Jr High coming back from one of my frequent trips to Principal’s office when I ran into a girl crying hysterically. That was my first news of the assassination.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Nov 22, 2023, at 1:09 PM
Newly in business, I was on my way to buy some parts at a Supply House in University City. I was within a 1/2 mile or so of my destination on Midland. News came via radio in my service truck.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Nov 22, 2023, at 1:21 PM
I was a Senior in High School and was helping to set up tables and chairs for a dance that night in the gym. Came back to my 5th hour class when I first heard the news. Of course the dance was canceled.
Years later we visited Dallas and saw the marking on the roadway where the Assassination had taken place. There was an eerily silence in the area which to me showed respect for our fallen President!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Nov 23, 2023, at 9:07 AM
HAPPY THANKSGIVING to All Ya All!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 23, 2023, at 9:08 AM
Back at all ya all!
Honked coming through,wheels.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 23, 2023, at 12:40 PM
DA, I thought I heard something. Toot Toot, right back.
By the way, did they get all of those piles of sugar beets to market out there in Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas? Remember them from days gone by.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Nov 23, 2023, at 12:48 PM
I think the sugar beets were replaced by “hemp”!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Nov 23, 2023, at 7:19 PM
Dolly Parton stoled the show at the Cowboys Thanksgiving football halftime entertainment show!! 77 years young doing her thing!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Nov 27, 2023, at 7:52 AM
She did look good in that cheerleader getup.
Must be getting old. Saw AARP is a sponsor of The Rolling Stones Tour. WTF?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 28, 2023, at 4:44 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 28, 2023, at 4:44 PM
Agreed.
Chuckled about the report about the guy who didn't recognize her, and thought they were honoring a cheerleader from the last time the Cowboys won the Super Bowl. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Nov 28, 2023, at 5:05 PM
Between the Stones and the Beatles new album - one gots to wonder just how far the clock was turned back a couple weeks ago... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Nov 28, 2023, at 5:52 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Nov 28, 2023, at 6:38 PM
Heheheh, entertainment yesterday involved messin' with someone else's mind, for a change.
Buddy shared how well the stock market has been doing lately, which somehow led into having to reset the password for his online account, and how his helping-hand local advisor could actually see how many times and when he had previously logged into the account.
Yep, needs to at least assume that whatever one does these days, especially online, has the potential to be watched and tracked somewhere by someone, for good or evil.
The look on his face was priceless when I observed just what others could learn and figure out about him from his activities on subscription television services - e.g. cable, streaming, maybe even satellite, all having the connected boxes - information others might be willing to pay for, if made available through a sloppy privacy policy.
With his conspiracies everywhere leanings, figure he's still stewing on that. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Dec 2, 2023, at 8:16 AM
Personal Freedoms on the wide world web will only diminish with the usage of more and more AI.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Dec 2, 2023, at 8:52 AM
A great Breakfast today, a Big piece of American made Fruit Cake and a cup of Black Coffee!!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Dec 3, 2023, at 9:16 AM
-- Posted by RicϏ Scaggs on Sat, Dec 9, 2023, at 6:16 AM
Not to discount other sources, such as this one time on 03 Oct 2022 at 16:10, when the property mangler's employee driving the property mangler's box truck rammed into the carport of the rental trash house nextdoor, in apparent attempts to relocate it into the backyard.
Bounced me clean out of my chair as well as re-oriented several and dropped one hanging wall pictures here. Bonus, the damages are still unrepaired over there, part of 'keeping that cash flow positive' I guess.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Dec 9, 2023, at 6:45 AM
-- Posted by RicϏ Scaggs on Sat, Dec 9, 2023, at 6:16 AM
Rut-roh, looks like Rick may be on another leave-of-absence?
/*****/
Still amazes me the folks who don't carry any cash for trivial purchases, using their plastic for everything, including low-dollar soda and chips and the like at the convenience store.
Once again, happened into the store mentioned earlier, where a line had formed while the counter help was on the phone frantically trying to resolve their apparent network electronic link issue.
Quizzed the clerk from the back of the line whether cash sales would still ring up, the line looked at me like I was a green-eyed Martian or similar unrecognizable lifeform, clerk said she hadn't tried. No one else stepped forward, so up-n-away I went.
Through-and-through, done-and-done, and outta there with my stuff, while the rest just stood there, apparently not knowing what to do.
Yeah - grampy-geezer this and Boomer that all ya want, but at least I gots what I needed. :-)~
Same looks not too unlike my past-life fast-food grocery-gobblin' days on seeing an extended line at the drive-thru, just get out and go in for a to-go order, like the old days before drive-thrus. Got whats I needs and gone while the drive-thru line had moved forward only a couple cars, and I would'a still be waiting to place the order.
Just baffling on the decision-making abilities being learned, where there is no Plan B for the 'now what's and delays-of-game?
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Dec 12, 2023, at 11:47 AM
My subscription to the paper for the e-edition doubled in price so I'm canceling it. If the paper changes their mind I'll be back!!
Merry Christmas!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 9:01 AM
Semo471, I haven't heard that yet. But don't blame the paper, blame the economy. Their food prices and other items are double also.
Blame The Administration. Our dollar is becoming worthless.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 10:25 AM
News Flash
The paper got back to me admitting an error was made....sure! Been paying with auto pay on my credit card for 2 years at the same price. At least I won't be canceling!
Merry Christmas
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 10:34 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 10:34 AM
Recall getting something in the mail awhile back about an increase, thinking along the lines of $2. Did pull up my CC account, guess I've got until the 27th for the next billing.
If nothing else, the recent price changes all over has forced another look at pretty much everything. Kinda hosed the long-standing status quo on the cash flow as to where the pool of pieces-parts go.
Some stuff has gone up a bit, but some regular stuff like the fave Diet Cokes seems to be up almost 50% thus calling for the downshift to a store-brand.
Not that I can't afford it, I just won't pay that rapid upcharge for the same stuff...so far. Figure there's a misguided principle in there somewheres.
As for the billing error - another thing missed with cash transactions and cutting checks, has to watch and verify and circle-round on a delayed basis. The convenience of cards is nice, but not a complete win-win situation.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 10:58 AM
Fxpwt, the best tasting coke they ever produced was those little 6.5 oz bottles of the early 1950's and they cost a nickle at the local wide spot in the road grocery store, ice cold.
I want the real thing or water, no diet coke for me.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 7:23 PM
"At least I won't be canceling!"
Good to hear!
I believe it was Rick S and me who hassled you at your initiation when you came aboard.
Been a long run for all of us that have been posting for years.
I raise a toast to many more. And a Rest in Peace to the likes of Old John aka Richard Bess. A good friend.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 13, 2023, at 7:55 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Dec 21, 2023, at 8:26 AM
Christmas presents. I make furniture,a pretty decent carpenter(one that hides the mistakes),do a bit of artistic painting,a lot of home painting and wifely upgrades,etc,etc,etc….
But give me a present to wrap and it always looks like a one armed monkey did it. Lots O Tape!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Dec 21, 2023, at 1:11 PM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Dec 21, 2023, at 1:24 PM
Word on the street is a couple of Santa's elves were busted for smash~n~grab and this climate change has made Rudolf's roof top landings a whole different animal now . But Santa will make , he always does ...
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Dec 23, 2023, at 6:27 AM
What ever is the reason for the season, have a Happy and Merry one!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Dec 23, 2023, at 8:03 AM
The only differences between the wrapping paper at Dollar(and a quarter) General and WalMart are the People and the parking. The People at Dollar(and a quarter) General will insist on who got to the wrapping paper first and park right outside of the door with their vehicles running ....and no , they didn't rip that wrapping paper going through it , it was like that when they got there ...scotch tape fits in their pockets too , btw , but it was already like that when they got there . WalMart is WalMart , not my zoo , not my monkees . Park 1/4 mile away and 100's of folks inside milling~n~turning about nothing .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Dec 24, 2023, at 7:51 AM
I try to avoid Wallyworld but sometimes it’s a necessary evil. I just love the car that holds up traffic waiting on that premium spot close to the store then walks past a buggy to get one inside THEN after walking around for an hour comes back and can’t take that buggy 2 spots away to the buggy corral.
Merry Christmas!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Dec 24, 2023, at 6:47 PM
Merry Christas to all and to all a good night...
Happy New Year too/
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sun, Dec 24, 2023, at 8:35 PM
Merry Christmas to regular posters and beyond.
Taking pause to catch as many of the holiday classics reminding that there is good and feel-good out there somewhere.
Currently watching It's A Wonderful Life on NBC 6-1, done got the churchin' up with the Christmas Eve services, now partaking of a couple of legacy beers far removed from what Bud Light advertises they'll turn ya into.
A pause for being thankful for what I have and believe and where it's all going, before resuming the griping and grousing on how much better the here-and-now could be but for those slumlords and property manglers worshipping the almighty Benjamins above all else.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Dec 24, 2023, at 8:40 PM
Can’t beat A Christmas Story. Little before my time but still brings back a lot of memories. Heck,I even almost shot my eye out exactly as Ralphie. Put a target on an old shed door right over the hasp and that bullseye BB ricocheted into the corner of my eye and stuck. Side note. It was at my buddies place. His given name was Gay. Seriously,Gay!
That’s before Gay was stolen. Bet he goes by his initials now.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Dec 25, 2023, at 11:25 AM
Been a busy morning.
MERRY CHRISTMAS to All Ya-All!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Dec 25, 2023, at 3:09 PM
Wheels,went to mass last night and nary a bolt of thunder!!
Merry Christmas!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Dec 25, 2023, at 4:46 PM
Yeah report the news the right way. Tell us why a week's groceries exceed $200.00 these days.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Dec 25, 2023, at 6:32 PM
DA, same thing here except I went to Mass at the last one available for Christmas 11:00 am this morning.
Wife has been ill for a number of years. We have 3 ladies who split an 8 hour a day shift but gave them Christmas Eve and Christmas day off. So Daughter and Granddaughter came over this morning about 10:30 to allow me time to go. Otherwise I hit the Saturday 5:00 pm Saturday evening. Met a couple of Cousins in laws doing that. Grandsons of two different of wife's Aunts.
Thursday I get a visit from a Sister and her Son, Daughter-in-law and Grandson From Savannah, Georgia. Her Husband passed a couple of years ago already. They always make a Christmas Trip and visit a number of close family.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Dec 25, 2023, at 8:34 PM
Certainly hope everyone had a Merry Christmas this year . We spent this year up at mama j's in 'Norf St.Louis' as the locals say , she makes the best rib tips and kale in 4 states . Hardly any traffic southbound I-55 coming home once we got past LA , it looked like everybody was coming back to the big city after getting out of town for the holidays.
With a lot colder temps we could have had a white Christmas this year too , dammm...
-- Posted by Scaggs on Tue, Dec 26, 2023, at 5:04 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Tue, Dec 26, 2023, at 6:56 AM
Maybe this little anecdote is political or just a sign of the times.
I was at my local ACE Hardware for some plumbing parts looking through the bins with an associate and noticed some female fittings mixed in with males. Made a comment about mixing the female and male fittings that a young “purple hair” overheard. She took it as an a front I guess as she wanted to know why there was sexual references in plumbing fittings. Shoulda ignored her but….
Just had to ask what better way to describe fittings? Been doing this for better than 50 years and you’re the first person I’ve run into offended by it. She(99% sure)explained it was 2023 and that was sexism so I asked just what she would like changed. And there it was!
SHE/HER and HE/HIM plumbing fittings.
Seriously doubt I’ll be seeing new label’s anytime soon but I’ll bet she has already complained to someone.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 12:51 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 12:51 PM
DA, you go to the hardware store and end up getting controversial. Why didn't you go grab a couple of the plumbing fittings and demonstrate the process for her. You could go so far as tell her the plumbing fittings, unlike their human counterparts normally mate for life. And you could explain the difference between the threaded/screw type versus the sweat fittings. And maybe add that the plumbing fittings never do it in the back seat of a car.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 1:20 PM
DA, I think we could have got you out of the slammer in time to celebrate New Years Eve.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 1:25 PM
You make me chuckle,wheels.
That encounter could have gone further South than it did but explaining the basic X’s and O’s to that offended dimwit wasn’t worth my time. Doubt that she/her has never got a good pokin’ from a he/him. Guess I refuse to live in that world of fantasy.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 1:30 PM
She doesn't know how to tighten nuts in some difficult nasty places , it can get dirty no matter what she wants to call it ..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 2:06 PM
DA, I think we could have got you out of the slammer in time to celebrate New Years Eve.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 1:25 PM
I always remind my wife where the bail money stash is before I go out unaccompanied!!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 2:50 PM
DA, Never thought of that. Not a bad idea.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 2:56 PM
Don’t know how it is elsewhere but in my little corner of the world there sure is a ton of those stop light beggars. I’m not hard hearted at all but the same people at the same place’s every day(weather permitting,guess there’s Union rules about inclement weather)just rubs me wrong. I knew I’d see it sooner or later but a couple of younger women with kids are always at the same intersection and finally witnessed a shift change as they were picked up in a nice SUV which dropped off the PM shift.
Just a rough calculation but if they get a couple of bucks at every red light I figure they pull in about $200/each in 4 hours…uh,tax free! Hey,who’s the dummy here?!
I was hustled in the Wallyworld lot a few times by the same girl. I just pointed out Wallyworld was hiring. Can’t repeat her response.
I drop a couple of bucks in every Salvation Army red bucket I see and last week in line at a local grocery there was a nice family with at least 20 hams in front of me. Always pays to ask and they were donating them to a local boys club for Christmas dinner. That’s where I dug out a couple of sawbucks. I hope they were legit.
So,not hard hearted. Just like to think it’s going to a worthwhile cause.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 4:11 PM
Something to think about like what came first? Chicken or the egg? Where does the universe end? But here’s a puzzler. Did Adam and Eve have bellybuttons? Every statue,painting,rendering of some sort I’ve ever seen of them they have one.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Dec 28, 2023, at 5:18 PM
"SHE/HER and HE/HIM plumbing fittings." -- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Dec 27, 2023, at 12:51 PM
Heheheh, imagine she/her's head would explode on hearing some of the descriptive terminology in common use at the plant :-)
/***/
Well, nuts, now that I've got things dialed in and settled down, here comes another change.
Hmmm, well there goes watching the Opry broadcast Saturday nights on the Circle network - although the times I've peeked in here recently ain't nothin' like the Opry I remembered and enjoyed - seems to have been hi-jacked with more like simpleton pop music sung in a fake-Southern accent.
Guess some kind of transition happened with going from a show having that comfortable, family-friendly homey feeling, to a show just featuring a bunch of homies. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Dec 29, 2023, at 12:37 PM
The rooster came first , no ? Those Salvation Army guys like to go through the bars up in Ferguson at night and hit the patrons up for a few after the patrons have had a few . We have a local corner cardboard sign holder right here in Cape at the Doctor's Park exit , my son noticed the guy was wearing brand new shoes. There are none of those corner cardboard sign holders in Norf St.Louis , btw , they don't play all that..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, Dec 29, 2023, at 1:05 PM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Dec 30, 2023, at 5:17 AM
Well the Pony might finally be shutting down , a person could see it coming when it started having a closing time at 4:30 A.M. and then 1:00 A.M. . The boys just had to bring their guns inside like the Wild West and it happens .
Back when the Pony was the Purple Crackle it was open 24/7 and something you'd have to see to believe . Anybody who has rode the Pony Bus back to Cape at 3:00 A.M. met some of America's hidden truths , these folks walk among us too...
..............
Controversial East Cape Girardeau strip club shuts down
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Dec 30, 2023, at 10:28 AM
...and so another year comes and goes.. and I hope it is a good one for you too.. (• ͜ʖ ͡•) ..
▨ ▨ ▨ ▨
We had lots of gun fire over here last night at midnight , thought I was in Norf St.Louis for a minute . We heard a couple sirens too , and I thought we were wild when I was young . People must of had a lot of wild water or knick'knick or both . Something that messed up their thinking , no doubt .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jan 1, 2024, at 7:50 AM
...btw ,
Wheels
I started posting in 2008 and you were already here so this makes 16 years we been fighting the good fight and I thank ya for that..
there's been all kinds of folks on here , no ? left , right , up , down..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jan 1, 2024, at 8:16 AM
"I started posting in 2008..." -- Posted by Rick⋆ on Mon, Jan 1, 2024, at 8:16 AM
Heheheh, gots me curious, so I jumped into the Wayback Machine with its non-user friendly Search function. Seems my first post found was 25 Sep 2007.
Geez, the memories - the many users no longer with us for various reasons, some missed dearly and others missed like a toothache - and the many local columnists who have also moved on, like Peg McNichol. Pre water-park, where the sales tax rate then was 'only' 7.425%. The old SpeakOut columns where comments seemed to regularly get into 3-digit counts. Gots to reminiscing on what I was doing then, what I'm doing now, and all the noises occuring in between.
/*****/
As expected, the entertainment for today was watching who put out their trash cans on the normal brown can day, yet again apparently oblivious to the world around them, since this is the 3rd consecutive holiday week schedule.runs. Somewhat disappointed in that I find myself in the minority of those who pay attention to what's going on around them.
Actually, ended up being the only one declaring myself safe from that dreaded head up the keister disease on this end of the block.
Which relights the observation of the apparent growing indifference of folks regarding the effects and impacts of their actions and behaviors on others, getting into a whole 'nuther rant I'll save y'all from...for now.
Eh, seemed the rental knuckleheads led the way into this particular state of obliviousness being first-outs yesterday, with the homeowners apparently just following suit rather than looking at the handy-dandy calendar tucked into the utility bills or looking at the City webpage - that FOMO (fear of missing out) thing, especially when it comes to the stinky can proudly displayed at the curbs for that straight-outta-the-trailer-park extended look. :-)~
/*****/
Had a chuckle New Years Eve - buddy dinged me about drinking cheap beer, Hamms being the choice. Had to correct him about my loyalties to the legacy beers - Pabst, Hamms, Stag - which just happen to be low-cost and low-key, without the massive advertising budgets promoting what one becomes on drinking that Bud Light. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jan 2, 2024, at 5:51 PM
Trash day. Had a chuckle over that. There’s one in every neighborhood and I landed next to them. Trash day is Thursday and they are diligent about putting the can out at least by Wednesday AM overflowing but on a windy day it’s usually emptied to the point of the lid almost closing. The real bet is when they bring the can back from the curb. Usually sometime Saturday at around 4:30 AM. It has wheels but apparently it’s easier to drag it up the drive than use them. A little akin to fingernails on a chalkboard at that time of the morning.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jan 2, 2024, at 6:48 PM
Fxpwt, I do not drink a lot of beer. But when I do I like the dark beers. I especially like the various Octoboerfest beer. Some of the less know brands made a halfway decent Octoberfes, Schafley (spelling) being one of them. Now we are getting the Yuengling brand from Pennsylvania, the oldest brewery in the US. Used to drink their Black and Tan when in Gulf Shores but haven't seen it here yet. I like the Irish Guinness also. Spaten from Germany makes a decent beer, especaially their Octoberfest. But I would rather drink a Stag than drink a Busch product. They made a pretty decent beer and test marketed it a couple of years back, Cannot remember what they called it. Went to Dierbergs on a grocery shopping trip and it wasn't there. Asked the manager and he said we can no longer get it. So I called Busch. We decided to quit marketing it he said. I said well so have I made a decision. And I have only bought a 6 pack or so of their stuff to serve to a visitor who couldn't drink real beer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 2, 2024, at 8:00 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Jan 2, 2024, at 6:48 PM
Heheheh, in my twisted way, view waste management as one of the first signs of a civilized people, so it's a short leap to view those repeatedly challenged with loose trash and ordinance-violating trash can management as less than desireable Neanderthal knuckle-draggin, born-tired, low intelligence cave-dwellers.
Eh, seems to be a fair and reasonably accurate assessment given the other dots of insufferable actions and behaviors observed, connected to form an justified opinion of what kind of bottom-of-the-barrel scrapings of society that they are.
/****/
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 2, 2024, at 8:00 PM
Mention of the German stuff brings memories of my time over there. Found it best for the after-work happy hour kickoff to order a Bud and a house draft at the same time.
Kinda neat that many towns had at least one smaller brewery relatively local, so it was viewed as a gesture of goodwill for this foreigner to partake of the local home team brew, serving well to open up broken-English conversations with the others.
However, their drafting procedures were universally lengthy on the order of several minutes, actually being somewhat of a show with the partial fills then a rest period, then fill some more, repeat - thus the reasoning for the Bud to 'fill' the initial waiting period.
Their stuff was good-n-heavy, more like something one should be eating rather than drinking, and one was usually enough, packing quite the whomp far removed from the 'less filling' advertised over here.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 7:29 AM
fxpwt
I knew you been posting for a long time but wasn't sure for how long . Like Wheels , you got senority on me :) !
-- Posted by Scaggs on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 7:40 AM
Fxpwt, every Country has their thing. We were in Ireland and about 4 couples went to the Whiskey Corner. They set us up as Certified Wjiskey Tasters where you taste stuff from all over and you will judge the Irish Whiskey as the best. Then you get a Certified Whiskey Taster Certificate.
So that evening at the Cockrail Party I walk up to the bar and order a Paddy's and Water. The bar tender pushes a shot glass and a glass of water over the bar and says in his Irish way " I don't mess with another man's wife and I don't water his whiskey"!
Yes sir!! Thank you sir! And I left the water set.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 7:46 AM
-- Posted by Rick⋆ on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 7:40 AM
Rick, not much on holding seniority. Like to go for equals. Remember when we initiated Semo471? Remember Turnip, the young lady with the litte boy? Spank and I was telling her we would take the son and teach him to chew tobacco, and Mom. And then there was Melange, who knew everything, and Old John, God rest his Soul. And the list goes on.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 8:01 AM
Agree with Wheels, Rick - seniority don't carry much around here.
Guess too many years in a union environment, where it seemed the guys trumpeting their seniority were long past being value-added towards getting the job done.
Going into hazardous territory, noticed the same with folks who trumpet their veteran status unsolicited, generally bringing up the supposition that even the military makes 'hiring' mistakes. A local property mangler failure-to-society comes to mind.
Seeing recognition on vehicle forums I frequent, where they still encourage usernames rather than real names, where they also automatically post badges by the users' posts and responses for length of participation - e.g. 1-year, 5-year, 10-year, etc.
Been subscribed for a long time, becoming one of the major contributors for the 80s and earlier vintages, the era I was most familiar with when I signed up.
Quizzed the site admin about 15-year and 20-year badges, replied that there ain't enough of us old-guys still around to be worth the effort to make 'em up. :-(
/****/
Wheels, was educational being in other countries to see how things are done, while trying to respect that I was the oddball foreigner.
Away from the big-city areas, like poo-poo-hoity-toity Paris, into the smaller towns and rural areas, can pretty much sum up their means may be different and strange, but they're good peoples trying to do better too.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 6:50 PM
Remember when we initiated Semo471?
Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 8:01 AM
Wheels: I got you back with my Dad the Chaffee cop!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 7:12 PM
Looks like I joined the party on here in Oct. 2010.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Jan 3, 2024, at 9:27 PM
Methinks some posters have changed their user names . That senority thing was one of the Golden Rules at work no matter what came up so I use it out of habit . I agree we're all equal in our own way . We are remembered by the tracks we leave in the path behind.
Seems to be the same playbook that the slumlords and property manglers are following towards gutting a golden goose property, leaving the carcass and related neighborhood diminished property values for others to deal with.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 6:09 PM
Fxpwt, I am familiar with the slumlords through having worked in the InnerCity of St. Louis many years ago. I received my on-the-job training starting with Refrigeration work for a small appliance company. They sold new and used. My job, repair the used equipment and run service. They sold to a couple of large Real Estate Cos/Slumlords who would buy a half a dozen used refrigerators at a time and have them delivered as needed. My job, if one failed make a trip out and repair as needed. The locaations and conditions of those areas was atrocious. Not fit to raise a dog in many times let alone a human. And the sub-humans who lived there didn't care. They lived in their filth and bugs. I didn't care for this and branched into Commercial Refrigeration, then into my own operation and HVAC. Tired of seeing the filth in rentals and found working on a non functioning beer box in a bar full of drunks on a Saturday afternoon was more pleasant. Finally just did HVAC with a better cliental.
Now long retired, I get a post card periodically from a real estate firm who will buy, pay the going cost and closing costs. And you know what comes next, soon as the blockbuster can buy a few of them he will be able to buy the balance at dirt low prices. I live in a Villa, kind of like a Condo only not hi-rise and you have your own yards. I came from a 5-bedroom home and did not want the lawn work and upkeep any longer since it was wife and I only anymore. Well we have two rentals in here and are in the process of changing the Covenants to stop them, which an attorney is handling. We think we have the needed votes to get it done. The two rentals will be Grandfathered until the property is sold, then no more rentals. Had a new buyer tell me in a conversation that she came from a Condo that had such a large amount of rentals that the banks would no longer loan money to a proposed buyer because of the ratio of rentals versus owner occupied.
Got about 3 weeks before we get the final talley. We are very careful to do it to the letter of the law to make sure it doesn't get thrown out down the road.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 6:56 PM
6:09 PM
Thinking another of us used to work at Noranda - SEMO471?
Yep, 22 years! Started March 1976
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 6:57 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 6:56 PM
Perhaps looking into the wrong crystal ball, but figuring Cape only has so much more they can grow, land-area wise.
Challenged seeing the outward areas as they are developed, given the choice of being annexed into Cape or other, not picking the 'other'.
Right, wrong, or otherwise, seems there should be more interest to sustain and maintain the value of the community within its current borders.
Have pointed out the demands on City resources on rental properties and related tenants (police, fire, other) relative to owned-occupied properties.
Haven't yet pointed out the unofficial realtor estimates of 7-8% and a very definite 10% diminished value of my place due solely to the conditions of the nearby rentals.
Response so far has been in line with quizzing, "Bueller?, Bueller?".
Ugh, I so hates moving, but it's on the table now.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 7:22 PM
fxpwt, I was bought out and my New Madrid position was moved to the corporate office in Franklin,TN where it was divided up in the Accounting dept....bean counters!
Refresh my memory. You were in the Engineering dept?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 8:02 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 8:02 PM
Yep, starting out for a few years, then transferred over to Maintenance focusing on the Carbon-AirControl-RiverUnloading-PlantUtilities areas for the bulk of my run.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 8:16 PM
fxpwt, didn't know too many in the plant but knew everyone in the various offices up front. All good folks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 8:43 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 7:22 PM
Fxpwt,
I am sorry to hear it. But I also understand it as there is so little you can do about it when the powers that be do not enforce their rules on rentors.
It is no different though when areas turn color and the rules that were enforced on the prior property owners are ignored. I have lived in 6 homes in my adult lifetime. Nowhere was I allowed to not attend to the basics of being a good neighbor, such as mowing the grass, keeping your house in good repair and don't park in the yard. I had a Grandmother who worked as a maid for a family in North St. Louis many years ago as a young single lady. I ran across the street address where she lived and worked for a family. So one day when I was downtown St. Louis I decided to stop by the address to see what kind of home it was. Well I found the lot, the house was gone with nothing but a basement, two cars parked in the yard in various states of being parted out. Stolen???. There was trash everywhere on that lot and the adjoining ones. It looked like a war zone. Why wasn't and aren't the same laws I had to live by , enforced on the owner's of this property.
By the same token, only a few short years ago a parcel of ground I had developed into four commercial lots and built on one of them, the remaining three unsold at the time were written up by our fair City because the grass was too tall. Yes, I knew it was just barely out of conformance and had been busy. But I was cutting the grass on them on a Saturday morning when my wife drove out with the letter from the City demanding I cut the grass or they would and charge me. Yes I should have cut it earlier.
But tell me why Cities like St. Louis allow their City in the North portion look like a war zone and do nothing with the owners to make them come into compliance? I think I know, they are afraid if they enforce their own ordinances it will be deemed discrimination. And it is nothing new.Back in the 50's while attending Rankin, I drove into the city and watched some of the Porch Sitters barbecuing in the front yard in an old Clawfoot Cast Iron Bathtub! I think you can drive around Cape and see the same thing. I have. If some of those Office Holders in our cities would just do their job and enforce their own rules, we woul not have these conditions.
Maybe serve notice on the city. Have an attorney draft them a letter demanding that there ordinaces be enforced. If the renter was forced to live as you are required to do as a property owner, there would be no problem.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Jan 4, 2024, at 10:36 PM
Good luck with Cape enforcing local ordinance . Methinks sometimes after a small town hits a certain population amount and becomes a City , some Cities get to big for the small town ways to carry , those old ways just don't work anymore. And sometimes it doesn't matter how many new ordinance are made it doesn't matter if the old ones aren't being enforced anyway either.
All Norf St.Louis is are slum Lords , write offs , the empty ones are cleaned out of their copper wire , fancy glass windows , or anything worth value by theives . Most are Government Entitlement neighborhoods , some are doll houses now too .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, Jan 5, 2024, at 5:54 AM
Watching bits of the Mecum auto auction and seeing several of my $100 vehicles going for thousands now. Kinda sickening.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 5, 2024, at 4:50 PM
DA, I had a 41 Ford Coupe with the limited leg area back seat. Bought it for a $100 when I was a senior in High School. Didn't have $3 in my pocket. Uncle George financed me until I graduated and got a job. I told him I would pay interest and give him a Promissary Note for the money. He said weeeelll, you can do what you want about that note, but if your word ain't any good that damed piece of paper won't make it any better and handed me the keys and the Title. Made sure Uncle George got paid promptly and he gave me the Note back marked paid. I still have it to this day. Couple of years and I traded it for a newer model and got $50 for a Trade In. Car had a manifold heater that would stay warm for 20 to 30 minutes after the engine was turned offf. Good for the Drive-In on a cold night. It also had a radio that had a button on the floor like a dimmer switch that you could change the radio stations with your foot. Thought I had a hell of a deal where it only cost me $50 to own a car a couple of years. Then a while back I saw on the internet where a fully restored one was for sale for a mere $50,000. Still better deal than that Crosley Station Wagon with the mechanical brakes I once owned. I took that one up on the sidewalk once when someone stopped too quickly in front of me.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jan 5, 2024, at 7:03 PM
Wheels,that ‘41 is worth a mint these days. Too many ended up scrapped for the metal. The Crosley prob not so much but prob a 1000% over what you paid for it! We had an indestructible Crosley fridge. That thing is probably still cooling beer. Wonder if that was the same company?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sat, Jan 6, 2024, at 2:12 PM
Still miss my '48 Dodge pickup, first year the headlights were in the fenders rather than mounted on top. Had the Ram hood ornament, and the flathead 6 that used the Champion J8 plug - same as in our Briggs&Stratton mower.
Give $200 for it, can't remember what it sold for, but figure my cost per mile was lower than any of the vehicles since, even after correcting for inflation.
No idea what that vintage is going for these days, not very collectable, only real value is the sentimental
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jan 6, 2024, at 6:02 PM
DA if memory serves me correctly, they were the same company. Out of school and breaking into the Refrigeration game I worked on a good number of Crosley Refrigerators. Lot of those names not around any more. Many of those old brands no longer around manufactured most of their own parts and pieces down to the Compressors. Not so much the electrical controls and relays, although if memory serves me correctly GM owned Frigidaire and I think they may have made some of the starting relays, Many changes these days and the bulk of the stuff is made in China or Japan. And today's quality in those brands is decent. Last go around, purchased Samsung. If it is going to be manufactured over there may as well take the name as well and eliminate one level of markup.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 6, 2024, at 8:18 PM
Oh about forgot.
DA the Crosley I owned, I think I paid about $100 for it and sold it for about $125. Don't have any idea what they are worth today, but I assure you the $25 profit I made on it served me better in about 1960 or 1961 and was much more needed then than the $100 dollar profit I would have made today and certainly bought more. Had a 53 Ford 2-door 6 cylinder to go with it. And when the Transmission went bad on it and the only gears I had left were Reverse and 3rd or high gear, I toodled on down to the nearest junk yard and purchased a good used one for $35 and they weren't picky about paperwork and sales tax, if you paid cash. Now on Friday evening go to Hobo's at the legion and order three fish dinners, by the time I sip a couple of glasses while I wait for the go order and tip the waitress/bartender I am lucky to get out of there for $60 to $70, get some Shrooms and it will hit closer to $80. To get by on my $25 profit on the Crosley today, the wife and our lady helper for the wife would have to go without food and I would not get any Shroms. So I had well better be able to get double what I paid for it today.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 6, 2024, at 8:40 PM
Ever move those old freezers and refrigerators compared to the current fancy ones with all the whistles and bells ? The old ones were a lot of grunts and groans and "hang on minute , I gotta get a better grip" deals that lasted for years , some are still running . Mine in the basement still does..some of the stoves too .
These fancy new ones can almost be delivered and moved around by one person . They might last for 5 years if one of those 1,000's of new fangled pieces or parts don't go out or need a service man that costs whatever amount . They sell them at WalMart , Target, and Walgreens now that will be delivered by drones in the future .
A 1960 canary yellow Rambler with fold down front seats and a broken motor mount makes mighty fine sleeping , better then a sidewalk anyway . A person finds a gas station that's open all night and has a place to use the facilities , and a pay phone , it all works out good until they find a place to stay. Another one of those stepping stones in life :)..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Jan 7, 2024, at 5:37 AM
"Ever move those old freezers and refrigerators compared to the current fancy ones with all the whistles and bells ?"
Rick I did that as well when working for someone else. I once took a 17 cu. Ft. chest type freezer down a basement steps by myself. We had dollies special made for the purpose and when you knew how to do it it wasn't that bad, They had belt mechanisms on the lower handles that let you lower your handle and slide it down a step being careful to raise the handles to catch the wheels on the step below and not damage the customer's steps. When you learned how it wasn't that difficult. Coming up a steps by yourself was anothr matter. You were a lot more limited on what you could pull up each step vs walking it down the steps. I grew myself out of the domestic appliance work into commercial work and after hiring people and not finding many of them qualified for the commercial refrigeration work we finally went to straight HVAC. I was no longer working in the field by that time and again getting the qualified for commercial refrigeration help was a problem. My job was keeping people working and employed. I never liked to have to lay people off, they had families to feed also and if you nad a good employee you tried to keep them happy. Had one man work for our company for 46 years and he is still a friend. It was the only real job he ever had. During high school he worked for his Father in a Hardware Store. Our company worked itself up from just service and install to a Seperate Division with a Distributorship and we kept the two separated. Contracting paid the same price for equipment as did any Distributorship customer. and both had to maintain profitability. That was then and this is now. And yes the stepping stones in life. There comes a time when you have no choice but to hang it up and hope you prepared well enough. My job is minding rental expenses and income at this point and try to keep everybody happy. I have lived with cold feet every winter and now is no exception, but I have an electric foot warmer plugged in under my desk. My New Years Resolution is to get better organized and get the top of my desk clean enough to see what color it is.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 7, 2024, at 7:00 PM
Never had the know how or gumption it takes to own my own business and gotta respect those who did and succeeded . Grampa did , he was a mechnic and owned his own auto shop for years , he told me only a fo ol works for another fo ol. But he could fix anything though , 100% mechanically inclined. We lived on the farm too so him and grandma had all that to tend to , dunno how he did to be honest. They took us 4 brats in after dad died in that car wreck , I was maybe 5 months old , my oldest sister was 6 .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 6:14 AM
Today in 1935 Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Ms.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 8:11 AM
6:14 AM
Your Grandparents did the Right thing and should be applauded!
My Mom (one year old) and her brother (two years old) were also raised by Grandparents.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 8:24 AM
Rick, what one does in life can be because of some other motivating circumstances. Going to work one morning to do something you had been promised would not be a part of your duties and on the spur of moment you tender your resignation and give 2 weeks notice, which is accepted with you can leave now gives one an incentive to do something as you find yourself married with 2 children a truck, a car, a house and none of em paid for. So I find a job but it is not to start for about 2 months. So I go to a place I think I can find some part time income. In St. Charles. Nobody on duty but the salesman. He says relocate here and go into your own business. We are growing we could use you. Go home think about and discuss it. What could go wrong, we go broke? That would have been a short trip. Let's do it! We rent an office, set up a phone and the rest is history. Company is on it's 3rd owner. I retired 24 years ago. Second owner, my daughter looking at retirement had a buyer come forth wanting to buy, offered a fair price and had the money to make it happen. She sold 5 years ago.
You will never know everything, but if you were given a brain, you can learn. I still earn from that decision as I rent them the space in the building I built, paid for and kept. Yes I still work from my desk managing things and I still manage the Thermostats on the 10 zones of HVAC from the screen on my cell phone. Haven't received a call to change a temp in weeks.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 9:39 AM
Rick, what one does in life can be because of some other motivating circumstances. Going to work one morning to do something you had been promised would not be a part of your duties and on the spur of moment you tender your resignation and give 2 weeks notice, which is accepted with you can leave now gives one an incentive to do something as you find yourself married with 2 children a truck, a car, a house and none of em paid for. So I find a job but it is not to start for about 2 months. So I go to a place I think I can find some part time income. In St. Charles. Nobody on duty but the salesman. He says relocate here and go into your own business. We are growing we could use you. Go home think about and discuss it. What could go wrong, we go broke? That would have been a short trip. Let's do it! We rent an office, set up a phone and the rest is history. Company is on it's 3rd owner. I retired 24 years ago. Second owner, my daughter looking at retirement had a buyer come forth wanting to buy, offered a fair price and had the money to make it happen. She sold 5 years ago.
You will never know everything, but if you were given a brain, you can learn. I still earn from that decision as I rent them the space in the building I built, paid for and kept. Yes I still work from my desk managing things and I still manage the Thermostats on the 10 zones of HVAC from the screen on my cell phone. Haven't received a call to change a temp in weeks.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 9:39 AM
Dang another double dribble.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Jan 8, 2024, at 9:40 AM
I saw on the news where a door got sucked off a jumbo jet full of People , it sucked the shirt right off of a boy sitting close to that door too . Bet that made a hellova pop when it did . What a ride ! Now they're checking that door on more of the same kind of jumbo jets and found loose bolts , wonder how many other pieces and parts are loose or broke . ✈️
-- Posted by Scaggs on Tue, Jan 9, 2024, at 5:31 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Tue, Jan 9, 2024, at 6:09 AM
Been practicin' up on gritting my teeth, cause I feel a pain coming on.
Looked at my electric and gas usage on the Ameren website, where one can see their daily usages although generally run a day or two behind in their reporting updates.
Son! Already used the same amount of gas used on last year's same month bill, with 4 more days to go in this billing cycle, or over 10% time for the roughly 30 day cycles.
Eh, all seriousness aside, wherever the bill comes in, figure to be totally worth it especially given the temperature extremes outdoors.
If it were billed daily, wouldn't think nuthin' about it, just that the lump-sum monthly charge grabs my attention, with that giant hoovering sound applied to my wallet much like Ross Perot talked about. Bet it's been a while since you've thought about him, eh? :-)
Plus, some enjoyment gained by tracking and analyzing and charting just like the old days where I actually got paid for doing this stuff towards ensuring bestest beneficial use of dollars and other resources, and knowing where they're going.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 8:18 AM
My teeth been chattering over here for the past week or so , this is seasonal weather kind of like back living on the farm house when we could see our breath when we got out of bed first thing in the morning . I keep that heater turned back as far as I can tolerate it waiting for this to pass , those power companies are legal thieves .
It's slicker then a new bride over here too . Nobody's happy but the bright red cardinals and rabbits , see the rabbit tracks all over the yard . The Morning Star is still bright as ever too .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 8:37 AM
Fxpwt, the building I kept for Income through retirement has Heat Pumps with electric resistance heat back up. Last month's bill was a little over $1500. And we are about 2/3rds of the way through an LED changeover on lighting program.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 8:56 AM
Wheels - whew, that's about what I have budgeted across the entire year here at the house. Bet your this-month's bill will be extra-entertaining, guessing on how much the back-up heat has likely been called for.
LED's are a nice changeover, not just for the energy efficiency. Had some problems with the early versions at the plant, couldn't stand the heat up at the ceiling level approaching 130-140 degF in summer, but the newer stuff seems to have gotten that resolved. The initial investment was justified quickly with the greatly reduced future expenses of labor and materials with relamping, especially since the newer T8 and T12 fluorescent bulbs available were junk and barely lasted 2000 hours rather than their expected 7000-8000, both of which is way-short of the promised 50,000+ of LED. Didn't like the lifespans of the more-recent sodium and metal-halide bulbs either. Perhaps an unpublicized back-door sinister plot to encourage changing over :-)~
Rick - guess the wildlife is scrounging hard these days. The neighborhood herd of deer regulars were munching away on a shrub out front, where in past years they had turned their noses up at it and ambled on by.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 9:42 AM
- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 9:42 AM
Fxpwt, we started the changeover a couple of years back with constant problems with our sign. Hired a little independent one man eletrical contractor to look at it. He converted it to LED and it has been working ever since. Next was lighting on the outside of the building. Then the warehouse lights which had I think three switches to turn them on and off. They drawed so much amperage that a switch would not handle them. The switches controlled a relay that would turn them on. We now are doing the offices with about 1/3 of the Florescent fixtures rewired. We get by without the warehouse lights most of the time as we have about 15 or so approximately 3 x 3 foot skylights to short Ameren as much as possible.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 11:59 AM
No neighborhood deer but had a healthy looking coyote loping along the sidewalk the other day. Thought it was a stray dog till it got about 20’ away. Only thing it was interested in was getting the heck out of town.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Jan 19, 2024, at 12:00 PM
Wake up SEM0 and meet the newborn day.
It is a lovely morning where I am. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it is a balmy 2 degrees, going all the way up to 17 degrees today!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 8:59 AM
Wheels: You need to back off of that coffee a bit....lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 9:25 AM
Semo471, I was cruising along on about 3 cups every morning and decided we d that was too much. So I limited myself to one cup. Ouch! Hard to tolerate people on only one cup. Back up to two. Got up late, and only had one so far. Now for a quick shower and breakfast.
And that 2nd CUP!!!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 9:35 AM
Ameren Missouri electric customers to see electric rates drop
Starting February 1, residential customers using 1,000 kWh (kilowatt-hours) of electricity will see their rate drop $.54 a month from $3.09 to $2.55.
According to the Missouri Public Service Commission, Ameren Missouri provides electric service to approximately 1.2 million customers in the state.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 3:13 PM
-- Posted by Rick⋆ on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 3:13 PM
Heheheh, yeah, I saw that, and immediately wondered just who has been getting 1,000 KWH for $3.09 - I want in on some of that action!
Figure it's applied to one of their many adders like efficiency or infrastructure surcharges that is getting rolled back a bit. Certainly welcome wherever it comes from.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Jan 20, 2024, at 3:36 PM
Wheels
My A/C unit is going on 32 years old this this year . What are the odds of that thing going out on me this year ?
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jan 22, 2024, at 8:42 AM
I’m not an AC guy,Rick,but after 32 years I can put the odds at 99.9 to 1 that when it does bite the dust it will be on the hottest day of the year and most likely a Sunday! Spoken from experience. Thankfully I had a guy like Wheels who would drop everything to show up.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Jan 22, 2024, at 9:05 AM
You're just full of good news , ain't ya . I'm thinking it won't be just the A/C , there'll be other pieces and parts that will have to go along with it too .
And yeah , it will be on a Sunday when it's hotter then the devil's spit too.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jan 22, 2024, at 9:11 AM
Here's a song to clear up that dreary sky.....turn the volume up!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Jan 22, 2024, at 10:37 AM
Welp, the Ameren bill rolled yesterday, painful but within what had been budgeted, coming in at $6.70 per day. Figure with the average outdoor temperature clocking in at 33.0 degreesF, well worth it to maintain the difference up at 70 degrees inside.
Scratching my head, as the billing period was 34 days, the high side of their observed cycles through the year ranging from 28 to 34 days.
Given the 12 billing cycles in a year, comes out to an average of 30.4 days (365.25 days / 12 cycles). Figure would reduce some of the customer hollerin' if their shorter cycles better aligned with the months of peak usages, like Jul/Aug and Jan/Feb.
Eh well, guess I still don't understand big business.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 24, 2024, at 8:03 AM
Wheels
My A/C unit is going on 32 years old this this year . What are the odds of that thing going out on me this year ?
-- Posted by Diseased●Turtle on Mon, Jan 22, 2024, at 8:42 AM
Rick, sorry I just saw this. Obviously that is a long life for any piece of equipment. But years ago I remember well.maintained refrigerators make that amount of time and more. They are both mechanical Refrigeration machines built to operate at different temperatures.
I would suggest that you have done an extraordinary job of maintenance. I personally at this point would see what kind of life I could get out of it. Keep the outdoor coil clean, indoor filter changed regularly and both indoor and outdoor fan motors oiled if they are not sealed bearings. Absolutely no 3 in 1 oil!
My guess is you have been doing all of that. Keep up the good work. Obviously age is a factor but care is even most important. Good luck. If it goes out on Sunday get a motel room.and wait until Monday. It will be cheaoer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 24, 2024, at 8:24 AM
Go Chiefs today at 2pm on CBS!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 12:58 PM
I’ve heard that about 3 in 1 oil but no idea why it’s bad. May have used it on bike chains or drilling metal. When I raced go karts we soaked chains in STP.
BTW-I have a small can that’s been around for years. In fact it’s so old it still has a faded price sticker on it for 94 cents. I think that size runs about $5 now.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 2:17 PM
DA, never studied the reasonig of what is in it that makes it unfit for oiling bearings, just took the word of those with ezperience Not sure what it is really good for, maybe just to sell.
There was a story around many years ago when Mobile Homes almost all had the old pot type oil furnaces with what people called a carbutetor, but it was not that, simply an oil metering valve. Anyway most contractors would not work on them. The adjustment was real critical and could be done by sight by someone with enough experience but had best be measured in CC/s per minute of flow by those who were not experienced.
Anyway where I was going with the story, there was this contractor up around the Chicago area as I remember it who specialized in that kind of work. It was fall and his furnace clean and checks were all completed and he had little to no work on the schedule. So he sent all of his customers a can of three in one oil and a pocket screw driver for Christmas. The pocket size screwdriver was what was needed to adjust the oil valve. It was said he had plenty of work the rest of the winter.
All I know is three in one oil and an electric motor are not a good mix.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 6:15 PM
Wheels,my curiosity was piqued so I looked up 3 in 1. No explanation of what the 3 in 1 stands for other than its purpose was to lube bicycle chains. I think its slogan is something like A Tool Kit in a Can and it’s recommended to polish fine wood. It is a product owned by the maker of WD-40 which I find is overhyped.
Thinking of that 94 cent can of 3 in 1 it’s still about full. Soon to be a certified antique.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 6:37 PM
Suggest the problem with 3-in-1 oil is that it's a very light oil - volatiles fly away and otherwise evaporate, then left with a sticky goo.
IMO, for low or fractional horsepower motors such as on furnace blowers which can be oiled, would suggest a non-detergent 20W or 30W 'motor oil' - SA grade, For newer motors having no oiling ports, consider them designed as being one-and-done disposable.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 7:29 PM
DA, I think three in one is just too thin to really lubricate a bearing or busing in a motor. Years ago, a 10 or 20 Wt non detergent would get you by ocassionally, but we normally urchased oil for the purpose. And then a long time back they came out with those cute little containers with the pullout flexible spout that would get you into some really tight spots easily. And with a nice little red cap on the spout that would last a day or two until you lost or misplaced it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 8:05 PM
I learned about that one and done when my pool pump seized. Way cheaper to replace. In fact not even repairable.
Chinese junk with an American label formerly known as a good company.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 9:13 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Jan 28, 2024, at 7:29 PM
Boy am I ever alert. Going back and reading over things I repeated some of the things you already said. SORRY!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 30, 2024, at 8:15 AM
Eh, no worries here, Wheels, figure better than no responses at all, plus bonus - we sorta agreed! :-)
Changing gears, hav'ta make a note on my calendar this summer. Me and the neighbor have near identical houses, they had to replace their 3-ton 1989 vintage American Standard A/C unit this fall, put in a 2-1/2 ton unit from a local professional sales and service firm having a really good reputation.
Hmmmm, I gots one of those 3-ton SEER 16 units from a few years ago - dude really huffs and puffs but maintains target indoor setting when outdoors get on up in the 90s.
So, will be interesting to see whether theirs keeps up in similar conditions, for future reference here. Popcorn, please!
/*****/
Guess I'm being dragged into the 21st century. Noticed my Discover card bill hadn't arrived, with the due date coming up. Set things up for the electronic debit direct to the checkbook. Discover said they got it, but my bank didn't show it in the balance. Hmmmm, did I fat-finger my account number for someone else's valid account? Was fixin' to call the bank, when I saw their balances updated - all good.
Gee, mighty convenient, but still like the 'feel' of manually cutting a check, over pointy-clicky-draggy-droppy where $10 feels the same as $100 - seems the pain is more real, just a step below the pains of actually forking out the cash. Although if stamps keep going up, I may just have to get over it.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jan 30, 2024, at 6:00 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Jan 30, 2024, at 6:00 PM
Fxpwt, just hope the neighbor wasn't downsized for the sake of price in winning the bid.
I do quite a bit of autopsy because I want my bills paid and I am getting more forgetful. Wife used to do that part of living but has been unable to do so for 6 years. Plus I have to take care or record keeping and bill paying for the building we own and lease.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Jan 30, 2024, at 6:31 PM
And so the City of Jackson has it's street cleaner out working the streets after it's rained for a week straight . I gotta wonder what kind of crud could actually be left to clean away from our curbs after a week long steady rain . Especially the streets that are built on the City hills...what a gig .
That little red pic of an engine light came on in my Jeep , the one right by it's odometer . So I got the 3" thick manual out and looked up what that go to hell little red pic of an engine light meant was wrong . The 3" thick manual said to check page 259 and it said something like "take it to your local dealer" , or this is gonna cost a fist full of cash . The dealer hooked some kind of computer to some kind of other computer and told me it's some kind of gadjit he had to order and the place that makes that special gadjit is on strike .
It's okay to drive my Jeep..or not ... one of those 50/50 kind of deals.
To top it all off , failed my driver's test . I couldn't see squat so it's new glasses for me . Somehow , somewhere , life dumped a big bucket full of "___" on me and I'm not sure why ...gotta take the bad with the good though , sometimes you get , sometimes you get got .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 5:45 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 5:52 AM
And so the City of Jackson has it's street cleaner out working the streets after it's rained for a week straight . -- Posted by Diseased●Turtle on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 5:45 AM
Eh, can't speak to how clean the streets are, but was told that street sweepers do their best sweepin' when the pavement is damp. Figure keeps the dust down as well.
Remember the old Elgin(?) sweepers Cape had - thought it was neat with the single centered rear tire set that swung around, could really do a UTurn Laverne on a dime. Recall the operator stopping at various fire hydrants to fill'er up, as those had a spray bar in front, haven't seen the newer models doing that.
Then again, at the speeds seen, driving like the operator's hair is on fire, not sure how much real sweepin' is being done, more like redistributing.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 7:34 AM
To top it all off , failed my driver's test . -- Posted by Diseased●Turtle on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 5:45 AM
Have the same renewal concern coming up later this year.
Recent eye doc check-up confirms a cataract - no, that's not a misspelled fine-riding automobile - which meets the insurance coverage threshold.
Done had the one in the other eye fixed - it had gotten bad, this one doesn't really bother me as far as seeing stuff, unless the light hits just right...yet.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 11:29 AM
Fxpwt, may I remind you, getting old is not for sisies? It will only increase.
Wait until you find yourself standing by the side of the bed trying to remember if you were getting up, or going to bed.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 11:39 AM
Wheels - don't have the number of candles on my birthday cake that you do, but I am now seriously appreciating what my elders wayback were complaining about, now that I'm where they were then.
Geez, seems every day is another episode of 'what now'.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 7:37 PM
Fxpwt, just grab your nether regions and hang on. It ain't gonna get any better.
I retired 23+ years ago and sold my business to daughter and son in law. Kept my building for income
. Going on 6 years ago daughter sold the business and I rented to the new owner.
Would like to sell the building. But with that comes appreciated value and depreciated basis and guess what, I get to help finance the Government's foolishness or find a suitable property for an exchange with something that is income producing and less aggravation. Or stay as is. I was displaced with a highway interchange while thinking I had my last location and had to build the current one.
Today an acre of farm ground goes for more than I paid for a well kept older 5 bedroom brick home in the early 1960's.
We're all better off in this highly inflated world we live in, right?
A few more generations and a million dollar annual wage will qualify one for welfare if it keeps going.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 9:03 PM
-- Posted by Diseased●Turtle on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 5:45 AM
Rick I feel your pain. Have to get mine by the time anotherv3vweeks rolls around. My distance I'd good yet but need em to read. So I wear them everywhere except to bed. Otherwise I cannot find them.
Last time I took them off to do the eye test and passed. Don't know if I should try that or not this time.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Jan 31, 2024, at 9:31 PM
I've been using Wally World $17.53 cheater glasses to read for a couple of years so kinda figured walking in the License Office what the outcome was gonna be . The script the eye doc gave me isn't any different then those Wally World cheaters . It was the frames , my ears are way bigger then holding a coat hanger , they slap me when it's windy.
I'm gonna get one of those new RealID License , just need some DNA .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 1, 2024, at 4:38 AM
Long overdue for a visit to the optometrist. Funny thing when getting my CO license a vision test wasn’t part of the drill. Like the emissions tests. No safety inspection just a tailpipe exhaust test.
One other factoid. Apparently there isn’t a problem having expired plate stickers. Just in my neighborhood there are at least 10 daily drivers with 22 and 23 stickers but got a notice in the mail that the city required dog tags,as in real dog real tags,for Jarbo II was due.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 1, 2024, at 9:41 AM
What started as way to weed out the ugly college girls is now 20 years old. My opinion is Facebook may have signaled the beginning of the end.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 5, 2024, at 10:42 AM
I don't do Facebook
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Feb 5, 2024, at 10:50 AM
I don't do Facebook.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Feb 5, 2024, at 10:51 AM
Accck!
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Feb 5, 2024, at 10:52 AM
Wheels,I had acct years ago then got some messages from people with same last name in Eastern Kentucky wanting to know if I could catch and deliver some mean Missouri rattlesnakes to use in church services. I politely declined after calling the guy bat**** crazy. Never heard from him again.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Feb 5, 2024, at 11:47 AM
Toby Keith passed away last night at the age of 62 from stomach cancer.
It will be difficult to raise a red solo cup without thinking of Toby Keith. R.I.P.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 6, 2024, at 8:39 AM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 6, 2024, at 9:13 AM
Gots the mowers gone through, ready for mowing season which may or may not be coming early given the recent temps.
Pretty much the typical stuff - oil change, air filter change, pull off the shroud to clear out any buildup obstructing air flow off the blower across the cooling fins, clean and check the plug, sharpen the blade with a rasp / file combo, etc. Takes about an hour each at my leisurely pace.
Seems fescue grows at temps above 40, albeit quite slowly, with peak growth rates at 65 deg, tapering off on the other end of its bell curve of growth rates at 95.
Opportunity to excel with the older mower - a 2002 model Craftman with the now-defunct EZstart one-pull Tecumseh motor, which has never failed to live up to its promise when everything is right.
Mulching up the leaves a couple weeks ago, just up-n-died like I'd released the safety pull handle. Eh, just pulled out the 'spare', hot standby mower to finish up then, cleaning up the leaves from the unkept rental trash yards which have since blown over into mine.
Easier to push back-n-forth mulching up the leaves rather than busting out the leaf rake, except for that couple weeks in the fall where sheer quantities make the raking the easier path in time for the super-Hoover City leaf truck.
Going through things, seems the coil didn't meet resistance specs. EZ enough, pieces-parts are still available even if they are Chinese, ordered me up another one. My goal of learning something new, but not necessarily useful, everyday was met by realizing how critical the air gap between the stationary coil and the rotating magnet on the flywheel is - essentially as close as one can get without rubbing.
Sure, the spec is 0.010 inches, but just try to stick a metallic feeler gauge in between a magnet and the coil windings for a decent reading. Ended up using one of my old business cards to set the gap. Close enough for government work, and mine too.
Doggone, immense sense of pride when the dude fired off, a $15 fix against whatever new mowers are going for these days. Mowing season #22 ready for action.
Actually prefer this mower over its 10 years younger sibling - easier to maneuver and IMO does a better cut with less effort. Ain't that progress where newer is really a step backward?
Now that I'm ready, figure it'll be just in time for the rest of winter to commence. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Feb 9, 2024, at 6:38 PM
Yet another thing with the warmer recent temps.
Handy-dandy reminder popped up for the annual cleaning of the HVAC outdoor condenser coil.
Another area where I question whether newer is really progress.
Remember the old units with the coils fully exposed with only rudimentary guarding, its radiator fin metal far enough apart that it didn't collect much crap, and thick enough to withstand a careful power washing when the crap did build up.
Present high-efficiency 16 SEER unit not only is bigger with more surface area, but the fins are hidden behind some sun-deflecting shroud so that one has no easily-visible idea how plugged up the coil is, and the fins are so thin and close together that even a garden hose attachment set on Shower mode bends them over if not really careful.
Plus in the apparent efforts to cut costs, the fan motor wiring is too short to fully remove the top assembly for a good spritzing of the coils, resigned to moving this assembly as far as possible aside to clean one side of the coils at a time.
Problem here is that the clothes dryer vent is only about 3 feet away, so that two sides of this coil have been found caked almost full up with lint. It is what it is, but I ain't doing this more than once per year with my shoes getting filled to the tops with water.
Trying to maximize the life of the unit, as well as keep it reasonably close to top efficiency. Figure good efficiency and cleanliness adds that extra bit of oomph during extreme heat events, as well as to keep the compressor discharge pressures lower towards extending its life.
Perhaps all for nuthin', but do get a bit of enjoyment with the thought of getting all the possible good out of something, rather than the apparent current day thinkings of let 'er bump, use it up and just go get ya another one.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Feb 9, 2024, at 7:03 PM
Fxpwt, keeping the condensor coil clean not only adds life to the compressor by keeping the head pressure down and causing the compressor motor to run cooler and to use less electricity.
A pain in the backside for us retired folks but still necessary.
The option is to get out your checkbook and call someone for a preseason clean and check.
Well maintained systems do last longer. If you want an idea of how dirty the coil is getting. On the first real warm day with it nice and clean now check the temperature of the liquid line, the small one, and do so periodically and you can tell as the coil starts getting more dirt on it the temperature of the line will be warmer. To be useful that has to be done on similiar outdoor temperatures. Not the total answer but will give you an idea.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 9, 2024, at 9:26 PM
TV says People are onna eat 1.5 billion chicken wings today , didn't know there were that many chickens in America. What are they gonna do with the rest of the chicken?
Growing up on the farm I never would have guessed that's the part of the chicken People would go crazy about.
Here you go Rick, something to do with the rest of the chicken. Just showed up on my screen a few minutes ago.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 11, 2024, at 8:49 AM
When I was a water plant operator the biggest spike in water usage was at half time during the Super Bowl.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Feb 11, 2024, at 6:00 PM
Super Bowl: so far, more advertising than football!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 11, 2024, at 6:07 PM
Wheels
Looks like somebody already ate that chicken
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Feb 11, 2024, at 7:27 PM
And a really bad half time.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Feb 11, 2024, at 7:32 PM
Sounded like a rapėd cat .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Feb 12, 2024, at 7:44 AM
What I know of The Big Game is what I saw on the 10:00pm news.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Feb 12, 2024, at 7:51 AM
Super Bowl recap:
Reba sung the one and only National Anthem well
Great Game
Lousy Half Time Show
Uneventful Advertisements
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 12, 2024, at 8:30 AM
Breaking News:
The 49ers just received 2 mail in touchdowns and are now the Super Bowl Champs for 2024!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 8:27 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 8:27 AM
Thanks for the chuckle!
Here, the follow-up news blips on the performers good and otherwise, as well as the alleged missed calls and unawareness of the special rules and other game noise, and the rankings of the commercials was more interesting than the game itself.
Anyone else notice how many venues were promoting this as Super Bowl 58, rather than the time-honored Super Bowl LVIII? Suppose Roman numerals are also going the way of cursive writing.
Dang, and that was the only foreign language I could claim to speak fluently! :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 5:34 PM
fxpwt, once they went past XX 99% had no idea what the Roman Numerals were.
One “gender” could possibly count out XXI but not to alienate the other it stopped at XX when they ran out of fingers and toes.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:01 PM
I saw where there were people upset about some not standing for the “other” anthem. Better than kneeling for the real one.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:23 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:23 PM
At the risk of being called racist in a manner not having anything to do with NASCAR, as well as significantly deviating from the intent of the original poster of this thread, yeah, pfffft here as well.
If not already in motion, gots to wonder with the current border policies, just when Cinco de Mayo will become a national holiday, with La Cucaracha becoming yet 'another' anthem to add-in? :-)~
Already have the only generally-recognized holiday for a specific person (MLK) rather than a cause or group, as well as another recently-added holiday relating to specific conditions (Juneteenth).
Crying for unity and equivalence, just separate but equal...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:44 PM
I think today is II XIII MMXXIV.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:45 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 6:45 PM
Unless you're in Rome, then it's XIII II MMXXIV (13/02/2024).
No wonder the Roman empire fell, couldn't even get their dates to have any doo-right... :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 7:03 PM
Fxpwt.
I only do as the Romans do when I am in Rome. And I only been there once.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 7:16 PM
Gotta wonder if all of those chicken wings got ate , that's a hellova lot of chicken bones .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Tue, Feb 13, 2024, at 8:31 PM
Gonna needs some more eyes to keep watch on all the things I'm trying to track and keep after.
Today's opportunity to excel was the water bill.
Aside from my average usage trending up, self-inflicted thanks to the heavy watering done over the summer, also noticed the billing period was 35 days.
In itself not a big thing, just about 15% longer than the 30.5 days expected on average with 366 days this year across 12 billing periods.
However, this is the second of the three bills where water usage is being used to calculate the fixed sewer charge portion for the following 12 months, with last month's period being 32 days.
So, unless next month's billing period comes in around 24-25 days to true-up with the actual average cycle length of 30.5 days, seeing the potential for being sewer-charged for amounts greater than actual usage.
Back towards the idea that the devil's in the details and that if one minds their p's and q's (pennies and quarters), the dollars will follow. :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Feb 16, 2024, at 11:21 AM
Fxpwt, I pay a sewer bill based on the water bill but they bill by the monthly usage, month by month. And that due to a lying former annexation director we have Missouri Cities wwater and City Sewers. Many years ago, with three partners, we purchased an operating business outside the city limits on a well and a septic system with 10 acres of Commercial property. The city promised us water and sewer within 6 months if we would annex. We did and they didn't. Well giving trouble and we got water from Missouri Cities and kept the septic system. Over time I became the surviving partner. The City needing to cross our property to get sewer to a new chain operation west of us came to me and said we are getting that sewer you wanted. Knowing why I said who cares and made them pay to cross our property and give me two free tap ons. And that is why we have the seperate entities between water and sewer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Feb 16, 2024, at 10:04 PM
Sounds like a mess there, Wheels. Figured if you were annexed, then city services should be provided or you should get a break on property taxes or some similar compensation until they are. Looks like you got a little payback out of the deal, though. :-)
Thought it was odd how Cape does sewer billing, as your month-to-month coordinated example would seem more customary.
Only after tripling my 'normal' usage during heavy summer waterings and vehicle washings did the logic click, where the sewer billing is based during a timeframe when most water usage would also be expected to go down the drain. So essentially end up just paying the water portion for any outdoor usages.
Heheheh, gets back to the observation that the problem is always easy, when you know the answer.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 7:34 AM
Fxpwt then I had the ground plotted as a commercial business park, put in a street and sold the business off the front used the lot next to it for my building and farmed the balance to play the farm valuation game. Played mind games with the assessor for a few years and sold the back 3blots to a church, nowcthey get no taxes on the last 3 lots.
Learned a long time ago with cities, you better stay on your toes or they will do you. And make and keep notes for future, they will be baxk.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 8:26 AM
And Fxpwt, keep in mind you are dealing with a White Collar WPA.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 8:37 AM
It's time for the biggest NASCAR race - The Daytona 500!! This Sunday at 2pm on the Fox network.......Drivers start your engines!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 8:49 AM
Semo471, with everything going on here, I will probably get my account of the race on the 10;00pm news, same as with Super Bowl game.
Not a huge fan of the big tube.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 8:58 AM
Wheels: 👍
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 9:14 AM
Never could hook up interest in NASCAR, although its mention still brings a chuckle as Billy Preston's Will It Go Round in Circles jingle comes to mind - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=necLdGpfgEs
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 9:29 AM
fxpwt, most race tracks are now oval shaped. Some drivers try to straighten the curves but fail.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 10:25 AM
Sharing a chuckle I just had on an antenna-users group, mostly because I'm still in disbelief.
Newbie was quizzing about the two-piece eave-mount anchor style, where the two bracket assemblies are attached in upper and lower fashion to the ends of the house roofline, rather than the traditional tripod mounts that secure straight through the roof.
Specific question pertained to how one aligns the bottom mount bracket with the top mount bracket so that the antenna mast pole is straight up.
Responded to first center and set the top mount bracket where desired, then dangle a plumb-bob to then locate and set the bottom mount bracket in both the front-to-back and side-to-side directions.
His next question was, what's a plumb-bob?
Aargh! Suppose yet another casualty resulting from taking shop classes out of school...
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 3:42 PM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 3:42 PM
Fxpwt. if he didn't know what a plumb-bov was, wydidin'tyotell him to go ahead and mount the bottom braket first and then go ahead and align it with the north star for the top bracket location.
Some day I wonder if I haven't forgotten everything I had learned in life, but still do know what a plumb bob is good for.
You use it when bobbing for apples.... right?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 10:07 PM
Fxpwt
. Just overlook me.
It has been one of those days and I am in one of those moods that my dear departed friend called a Kissy Mood. He was in Indianapolis and I am in St. Charles and we were in the same business and we talked a couple of times a week. One morning I called him and asked how is Jackie this morning. Jackie was his wife and also a friend. He says, Jack's in a Kissy Mood this morning. I said please define that. He said she is in a kiss my *** mood.
Right now I am bordering on it myself.
After the last day or so and people, I am approaching a Kissy Mood.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 17, 2024, at 10:29 PM
Get on I-270 or I-70 through St.Peters/O'Fallon and you can do your own racing ...won't be long before it's EV NASCAR anyway , it oughta make for some interesting pit stops . Never seen the point in watching cars go around in circles all day myself but to each their own .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 7:26 AM
Eh, Wheels, had thought about a cutesy response for what I thought should be inherent basic 'guy' knowledge, but he seemed sincere and recalling that once upon a time, I was that quizzical newbie in various areas, and sometimes here-and-there still am.
Trying to keep in mind the adage about the only dumb question one ever asks is the one they already know the answer. Although the questions as the EZbutton approach in lieu of looking it up themselves gets aggravating. Memories of the Shell Answer Man come to mind. :-)
As for the bad day, one bright side is appreciating the good days even more.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 8:04 AM
- Posted by Diseased∗Turtle on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 7:26 AM
I70 out here past the Missouri River if you cannot do 80, better stay out of the left lane lest you be run over. It's kind of like the Big Road over in Germany. Certainly not for Grandma on a grocery run.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 9:22 AM
Fxpwt, I have done everything from working half the night setting forms for pouring concrete on Saturday morning to washing windows on weekends. Those says are in the past. Doubt you could get concrete on Saturday these days.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 9:29 AM
Daytona 500 postponed till Monday....
"Daytona's tri-oval is 2.5mi long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line." Wikipedia
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 9:33 AM
Daytona 500 postponed till Monday....
Whar Happened?????
Weather??
Have to admit, I wasn't paying attention.
Went to a Granddaughter's Bridal Shower yesterday. A new one on me. It was for both women and men. Getting married in June.
That will be the 2nd Grandchild married. I must be getting old.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 1:18 PM
Been raining there Saturday and today....Sunshine State!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Feb 18, 2024, at 4:06 PM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 22, 2024, at 5:59 AM
Sure don't miss getting up at 5:00 A.M. every morning and having to deal with a factory full of People, that place would hire all walks of life too. When we were still in Wellston , St.Louis the place swung a deal with the Missouri State Prison System . They would pay half of a prisoner wages if the company let them work there but working was a condition of their parole . No guns , no drugs , and they had to have a job. I had one who refused to work so I had to let him go...that was a bad day.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 22, 2024, at 7:36 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, Feb 23, 2024, at 7:36 AM
Whew, this maintenance stuff is getting old, or I'm getting too old for this stuff.
Previously shared about changing the coil assembly on the 22-year-old mower and relating servicings of the two mowers towards getting them ready.
Not that I need two mowers, but that redundancy thing such as blathered on about the recent cell phone outage while smiling pretty with my landline. Plus, one was cheap, the other was free after a little tune-up.
The two-stroke air broom and weedeater were easy, just clean the air filter, inpect the plug, and make sure the cooling fins were clear.
Today, tackled the pressure washer, another piece of equipment considered here to be essential for home ownership and vehicle cleanliness.
Should be good-to-go after this false Spring, the following rest of winter, and real Spring to gitter dun with the yardwork and the annual housewashing.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Feb 23, 2024, at 5:29 PM
Fxpwt,I was lucky enough to find a nearly new push mower that appears to have been forgotten when the previous owner left. Still had the tags on it. First pull start every time.
I had a guy I worked with that was about the most OCD about all his stuff. Took his mower in every Fall for the usual tuneups,oil changes,etc. then without using it all winter took it back for the exact same service in the spring. Even he laughed about it.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Feb 23, 2024, at 6:40 PM
got up in the middle of the night to take a leak and slammed my pinky toe into the bed post ..hopped around on one foot for a few cussin' and yellin' at everything that's Great and Holy as to "WHY!?"..what is the pinky toe good for except slamming into the bed post in the middle of the night anyway ? ..the dam thing is a different color then all of the rest of the toes now this morning
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Feb 24, 2024, at 5:29 AM
Rick, better keep an eye on that. Someone I know is having some issues with loosing a toe at least partially to diabetes.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Feb 24, 2024, at 8:48 AM
sure hope not Wheels
ack ! made my eyes water trying to put a shoe on..hell with all that , got the moccasins on today .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Feb 24, 2024, at 10:18 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Feb 26, 2024, at 3:57 AM
STL Cardinals Spring training in Jupiter, Florida is a sure sign of an early Spring!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Feb 26, 2024, at 9:58 PM
My long whinings about how things are just getting too complicated took a backstep.
Helped a friend install some surveillance cameras. Back when I put my system in, wireless cameras were just becoming available at the household consumer level, and the general recommendation was they're not quite ready with pixelling and drop-outs should things not be exactly right.
So, I'm up in the attic stringing the double-secret cable with the integrated signal and 12VDC power supply wires to the far corners, struggling to not be a Funny People Video moment needing the Fire Department to rescue me after punching through the ceiling drywall.
A real chore at the soffits where the roof meets up with the walls, trying to find that sweet spot where the roofing nails weren't trying to punch a hole in the back of my head while not snorting up too much dust from my face being planted in the insulation while pushing the cable through the camera mounting holes out by the doors and such.
Then going through the thinking-ahead challenges of tacking the everything up out of the way so that further adventures in the attic wouldn't damage this rather fragile cable with any future shufflings, shifting arounds, gruntings, and groanings.
Finally, setting up the DVR with the home network, trying to decipher what the poor-English made-in-Korea manual really meant, because what it actually said made no sense.
Pffffft, this wireless stuff nowadays is the berries! Mount the camera, tie it into the nearest 120VAC, download the software, scan a QR-code and DONE.
Have to score one in the Win column for progress, at least in this instance. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Feb 28, 2024, at 3:37 PM
Today is Leap Day 2/29/24!!
I tried but could only leap a few feet!!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 7:53 AM
We have this extra day. Lei's make the most of it.
My one daughter is coming over to finish reorganizing me. I can already see what color the desktop is. She doesn't think it should look like someone emptied a trash can on it.
Back in the day when I came into the office late and stayed late to accomplish something when no one was around to interrupt me a friend who did the same thing always commented on how cluttered my desk was. I told him an organized desktop was the sign of a cluttered mind. His was always clean and things in place.
But he and I had the same philosophy on getting things accomplished. Come in early and at 8:00
am a half dozen people or more are going to be quizzing you on something. Stay after the door is locked for the day and you have all night to accomplish something. Nobody is coming back until 8:00am tomorrow.
Then friend and I would go have a late night dinner 3 or 4 nights a week.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 8:33 AM
Has anyone actually gone to their doctor and asked for some drug they’ve seen on a TV ad? Those ads must be paying off as the last I heard Big Pharma spends around $10 billion/year on them. From all the ED ads to the fat ladies singing and dancing about how they have diabetes but that new pill lets them stay fat then mentioning all the side effects. Those side effects seem to be worse than what that new pill was supposed to cure.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 9:23 AM
Those diabetes pills are only for Type 2 diabetes which most times comes from life syle , it hits the non fat folks who aren't chubby-Cathys either ...and dancing around doesn't really help a person no matter what kind of fancy clothes or song they dance around singing either .
Every wonder where the scientist come up with all of the different names they come up with for those meds ? They just might be on the side effects when they come up with those names , how's a person to remember the name to tell their doc ? I asked my doc if any folks came in and ask about those to my doc's and he just rolled his eye , he said it was never ending , he'd never heard half of them .
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 10:37 AM
You are correct about Type 2 and lifestyle choices. Drop a hundred and in all likelihood there’s no need for little pills.
I do get a laugh at some of the ED ads that show a buxom nubile younger lady that her partner can’t get it up. If they all looked like that ED meds wouldn’t be needed. Maybe his real life partner is the fat lady singing about diabetes pills. That’s enough to give a guy the droopies.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 10:46 AM
Ever notice how much a wedding and a funeral have in common ...they're both at a church with a commitment , a preacher with a congregation dressed up , crying , hugging each other , and a food get together afterward..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 10:55 AM
-- Posted by Diseased∗Turtle on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 10:55 AM
Rick in some cases the wedding is just the beginning of the end.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 2:20 PM
Or just the beginning of the end too ...sometimes love is blind until you see that girl's sweet rear end setting on the toil doing her business...sometimes a person really doesn't know somebody until they live with them either...
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Feb 29, 2024, at 2:49 PM
Since this year was a Leap year , how do the double People celebrate their Birthday ...do they get 2 birthday cakes and 2 times the amount of presents and birthdays gifts..what about if they are twins who were born on Feb.29 leap year and Christmas presents . What are the odds one kid grows up to be a scientist and the other vacations in a caged motel . How do mom and dad tell them apart while the twins were infants , paint finger polish on one of their toe nails with finger nail polish ?
Anyway , happy birthday to y'all double trouble People..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, Mar 1, 2024, at 5:32 AM
After Facebook's conniption fit yesterday, still trying to recover.
Somewhat sheepish admitting I use it, but it is handier than a shirt pocket for keeping in touch with and keeping up with family and no longer local friends now spread all over the country.
Given all the bad press about getting hacked and cloned by the ne'er-do-wellers, first thought was yep, finally got me too.
Changed the password, still couldn't log-in, then found it was a problem on their end. Ugh. All that cipherin' for nuthin'!
Today's opportunity to excel is remembering what new and improved password I came up with, a task which has grown more difficult with time and the increased number of characters recommended in the string.
Ahhh, those first-world problems. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Mar 6, 2024, at 11:13 AM
I hear a lot of the younger folks say that Facebook is for the "old folks now" and a "candy trap", whatever that means . Gotta wonder how much that new fangled AI is going to toy with Facebook and it's user's emotions for a few . Good luck with all that , I never could force myself to go into the Facebook lands.
Is this the weekend where time changes again ? I wish they'd make up mind , changing all of these clocks in the house is a pain in the err , in the uumm , it ain't right.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Mar 7, 2024, at 5:59 AM
Yes on the Facebook thing Rick. I knew when I heard a relative laughing about the conversation she was following on two friends and she reports one telling the other to hang on she needed to go to the bathroom, there had to be more intelligent life somewhere.
Then I started following these threads and I sometimes wonder if I found it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Mar 7, 2024, at 8:06 AM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Mar 14, 2024, at 8:10 AM
Happy 3/14 PI Day!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Mar 14, 2024, at 8:53 AM
..and my toe saga goes on , my toe had a deep red spot on the end , I just thought it was blood but it wouldn't wash off so I went to the foot doc ...he numbed my toe up real good , sliced all around the toe nail then yanked the dammed thing off..after he wrapped it up real good he told me to get some kind of OTC special cream at WalMart to put on it .
So when I get to WalMart this guy grabs the last tube of that cream and puts it in his pocket . I watched him go thru the self check out and he didn't pay for that cream with his other junk ..He wasn't parked but maybe 3 cars down from me so I went and asked him for the cream , told him I saw what happened and the best thing to do was give me that cream. He stared at me and I stared at him . I stuck my hand out and told him again what the best thing to do would be , so he stared at me and I stared at him .
Eventually he gave me the cream , I told him to have a nice day , went back inside , and paid for the cream .
When I put that "s____" on my toe it felt like somebody stuck a lit Bic lighter to my toe ..I should have let the dude keep that cream..
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 11:35 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 11:35 AM
Whew, yeah, 4.8 is gettin' on up there, higher than the 'normal' 1's and 2's around here.
Remembering the study done wayback during my time down South for the power plant next to the smelter. IIRC, concerning number was 5.8 where models predicted the sandy soil would start liquefying putting foundations and underground utilities at risk, as well as the longer ceramic bushings on top of the high-voltage (161kV) transformers would start fracturing and failing.
Then, there were concerns of the levee breaching both for this and for sustained high water level events. Wasn't well received when I pointed out that the identified personnel staging and evacuation area would have people's feets getting wet at a 40' river level, with a whole 'nuther degree of difficulty should the river be up around its record level of 48' :-)~
/****/
On another well-worn-out note, noticed an antenna channel addition today - 27-8 The Informercial Channel - seriously! Guess will pair well with their 27-10 Jewelry Shopping Channel for those who want to watch TV without actually watching TV.
Updated scorecard is at 10 stations (3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 23, 27, 29, and 49) broadcasting a total of 49 main and sub-channels all of which don't cost nuthin' after the initial setup. Long ways from past days of 3 single-channel stations (3, 6, and 12).
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 2:11 PM
2:11 PM
fxpwt: Your comments about the earthquake studies at Noranda reminds me of the question I raised to a buddy of mine working in the Engineering/Drafting dept. My office window view was of the next door Power Plant that had an 800 foot tall smokestack. Noranda's propane storage area could also be seen in what to me was a case of possible alarm if the smokestack would be fallen by a strong earthquake. Had my buddy to pull some prints of the yard and asked if that stack would fall could it reach the propane tanks? The answer came back later with a yes if it toppled in the right direction! Dare to say what would be left of the plant if that Scenario played out!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 3:00 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 3:00 PM
Ooooh, hadn't thought of that - would be a tremendous potential for a major kah-blooey. Don't remember the specifics of the propane yard, but figure easily several hundred thousand gallons' worth stored.
Also, stack falling a slightly different direction would easily get the anhydrous ammonia system that the power plant put in late 90s for NOx stack emissions, thinking six 80,000 gallon tanks. Forget the number of square miles of affected area modelled for one catastrophic tank failure. Chuckle about their safety slogan back then - Don't Get Ammonia onia.
Smokestack brings back another memory. Going in one morning, still dark. Got down to Sikeston, lightning???? Weren't calling for any storms that day. Kept getting brighter along the remaining 25-30 miles of the way, also noticed the regular frequency. Got to the plant - wow! Found out the day/night sensor had failed, with the stack marker strobes blasting away at day intensity.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Apr 5, 2024, at 3:55 PM
propane yard would be a hellova lot of Bic Lighters at 1 time , a person can only image the size of the hole left in the ground after that one was lit . We had a fleet of propane forklifts over at Rubbermaid with several propane holding tank areas controlled by OSHA and HAZMAT Regulations ...with all of the Deck Welders and powder coat paint ovens going on 24/7 it was a diaster waiting to happen kept way back in the mind not to be thought about..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 7:38 AM
fxpwt, did you know that on the plantsite was a family Cemetery with about 6 Graves? If I remember right it was on the north side from Carbon Bake.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 8:42 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 8:42 AM
Yep, between Potline 1&2 Air Control and the levee, marked off with split rail fence bordering - the family was still occasionally coming onsite to take care of things there. Thinkin' one of the headstones was named Conran??? Don't know if there were other sites within the plant perimeter.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 10:35 AM
fxpwt: That's the one. Believe there was a Robbins headstone there also.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 12:36 PM
Cemeteries are of great interest to me. There are so many little cemeteries located around our area it would amaze you. A few years back and I would have to look back to find the name, but a family in Bollinger County logged all of the cemeteries they could find in Bollinger County and put it in book format. The book name is Gone But Not Forgotten. I would have to research to get the author's names. Was not able to find a copy of the book, but have seen one. They did such a geat job putting the book together and I can tell you many hours of work went into it.
Here is a site on a Cemetery that goes back to Civil War Days and beyond from O'Fallon Mo. It is on the National Register.
Gives one a glimpse into history, which has always been a favorite pastitme of mine.
An encoutner with a gentleman who is marketing a piece of property for me and his name rang a bell and I find a relative of his from the Old Monroe area of St. Charles County associated with a family in Glennon, Mo. from whence I came, which you will unlikely find on the map unless it is an old one. Never more than a one horse town. But a brother and sister from a family in Glennon, MO. marry a brother and sister from a family in Old Monroe. MO. some 150+ miles apart in the 1910 era. Now riddle me how those folks ever met.
I have found a lot of history in cemetery crawls as I call the research. It was with a lot of help from others that we traced my Great Grandmother's maiden name to an Officer in Napoleon's Army while stationed there. He married a Dutch gal and they had one son. He gets himself killed in Spain and wife and son never left Holland, but the son married and created a number of part French, part Dutch decendants. One of the people researching this line came up with the Frenchman's Military Record which I have a copy of. Trading information with people with the same interests is so rewarding.
I thnk I got way off track here but if not interested, delete , delete should take care of it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 1:13 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 1:13 PM
Perhaps not the level of interest that you have, but occasionally walk around the area surrounding the family plots, looking at other family plots as well as the standalone individual markers for the various names, dates, and any inscribed one-line remembrances - usually leave with a good case of the 'hmmmmm's.
Also, have spent more than a few hours peeking in and poking around the FindAGrave.com website, where the Cape City cemeteries are very well documented, many having related newsclips and such attached.
Recall down South, the power plant was constructing a new landfill for their coal ash, having bought a square mile or so of what had been rented farmland from the Noranda ownings.
During construction, they unearthed a small, unmarked cemetery - no headstones, markers or natural borders indicating anything was down under.
Reached out to MoDNR, were surprised by the response that this type of thing happens more than one would think, followed by a how-to proceed list of things to do for relocation with DNR help and oversight - good-faith effort to find any descendants, replot into a recognized cemetery, etc.
Suppose some relief as the project delay and moving costs were less expensive than cancelling the project completely. Heard tell it even made a DNR newsletter with the story and sequence of events on how to do this right.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 3:27 PM
Fxpwt, I have always appreciated history, starting with Bible History in my earlier days to all kinds of history through Primary Grades. In High School some of the earlier Classics taught me how things were back in medieval days. Read a few of Sit Walter Scott's books, Ivanhoe being one that comes to mind. It set your imagination in gear on how people lived in those days. Then there was a set of fictional books, the Tom Swift series of about 40 books that I read more than half of. We had a Church gathering hall with a library of books donated by someone and they had most of the Tom Swift series. I think that got my mind working and Genealogy became an obsession. Cemetery crawling was just a part of it. Many old family Cemetaries were on private property and to this day, there are laws that say you must allow people on your property to visit them. Some of them were wrecked by livestock as the families moved on. I know of a town in SE Missouri that I read the story on a City Cemetery that was inconveniently located and the then current residents caused all of the tombstones to disappear overnight. Most if not all of the descendants had long ago left for far away places like Texas. There is a park there today. I won't post the name. Reportedly some of the old tombstones have been found in a dump and even used as a stepstone at the front door. What I know of it came from an article in a newspaper some years back. Most of my family tombstones have survived I have found although those of my family lost in a cholera epidemic in Cincinnati I have struck out on. Could find nothing and maybe that is what they got. My Great Grandfather, his older sister and a younger brother who were brought to the promised land of Missouri survived. I know where the Great-grandfather's tombstone is and I think I am close to locating his sister through some information in Ancestory.com The younger brother may never be found, if he even has a stone. He was reportedly "Taken to the Swamps" with 6 men, tied to trees and shot by Bushwackers during the Civil War. He would have been about 15 at the time. Another Great, Great, Great Grandfather was killed before the Civil War by some men who ordered him to get his horse and go with them and he refused. Found this a few years ago and was taken to the Gravesite by a man now deceased who had fashioned him a marker with the last name on it and a notation c-war. The grave had been marked with nothing but a stone with the date on it and got rolled away and lost during a timbering operation. So with two stainless pipes and a piece of vinyl decking material bolted to them, the self appointed caretaker burned the last name into the decking material and that is his marker. The Good Angel has since passed and I do not know what should be done, other than let him rest in peace. The past has a story to tell, and I like the learning process.
Speaking of cemeteries and roads. My previous to the last business location was overrun by a highway project and as I was told the discovery of some grave markings caused it to be slightly relocated and a spot originally marked for destruction was left alone. It was a bit of a high spot overlooking Mississippi River Flood Plan and is yet to day undisturbed and contains the bodies of the early, in Rick
S.'s designation, Peoples. So presumably one never knows what he may cause to be changed one day long after he is gone. But in this case at least they were left in peace.
Fxpwt have I convinced you yet that you need to check on from whence you came. Just in case, Church history is a great place to start and in the order of completeness as I know the records from the various Christian religions, they would be 1 through 4 Catholic, Lutheran, Mehodist and Baptist. And reasonaly close across the 4. I had a frind now deceased who took his Baptist Family back to 1730 and gave me a copy of his work which I recently copied for an interested member of the family who had not seen it. And it went along with the admonition of give credit to the party doing the work, in this case the man Frank, is no longer with us. I have looked at work people turn out and claim it is their endeavors when I know who actually did the research as he was a friend of mine.
I wouldn't trade a minute of my research over the past. I have been as far away as Milwaukee, Wisconsin in following the Catholic Priest's history, who had raised my Great Grandfather after he ran our of Good Angels to take orphaned kids in the 1850's after he had found a home for the older sister and the younger brother. This man brought his congregation out of the city where they were dying to Missouri, helping them get moved on before his Superiors pulled him out of SE Missouri prior to the Civil War starting.
Don't know that this was a proper venue for all of this but only way to contact you with more than you might care to know and isn't any worse than I have read here. It's fun work and will keep you out of trouble.
I understand you are kind of here to see the eclipse. I won't be going, but my daughter is, with some of her friends. I was at the one a few years ago and appreciated the experience.
I read where they had 5 small earthquakes last night. Now someone is theorizing that it has to do with the eclipse.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Apr 6, 2024, at 9:43 PM
The dam birds are back trying to build their nests under the deck again this year ...so I bought a statue of a owl and put it out...a dam storm came through and knocked the owl over , and so I filled the owl with sand ...I went out this morning and the dam bird was sitting on it's nest staring at me..
▪️▪️▪️
'We are remembered by the tracks we leave in the path behind.'
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Apr 7, 2024, at 5:57 AM
Rick, did you ever think of putting a picture of Kamama Harris up with some background audio of her laughing/cackling?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 7, 2024, at 8:21 AM
Have spent many hours online, courthouses, and cemeteries tracing the family tree back to Germany and France.
Great Grandfather was a Union Soldier in a Artillery unit that fought at Shilo and other battles under the leadership of Gen. Grant. Been to lots of Civil War battlefields thought out the years were there histories should not be wiped away by a few Woke fanatics!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sun, Apr 7, 2024, at 9:38 AM
Semo471
Had a Great Grandfather and a Great Great GrandUncle signed in with the Union Army, The Great Grandfather was younger and before he was out of training it was over. The Great Great served in Illinois and do not have any real record on what he did. Beeen to some of those battle sites over the years. One that I found interesting was pretty far North, seems north of Gettysburg, but that was a while back and while I remember the amount of memorials and statues that amazed me but not a lot more. We were there on a motor home rally with the Club that built our Motor Home and that kept us pretty busy. And that was the first motor home, so a piece in the past.
So much of this is growing dim with me as I had to give up on Genealogy for the most part some 6 years ago due to illness of wife which we are still fighting.
Motor homing was a fun life for the seemed like such short years we did it. On the last one a 45 Ft with 4 slides we lived in it a few years and traveled at will. But then we decided to join the civilized world shortly before the wife became ill. Have since sold it as well.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 7, 2024, at 2:06 PM
Cathy's family were of the French Canadian and the Scotties , she had the most beautiful red hair , her father could speak in the fluid French tongues. She always wanted to go to the Scotlands but sad enough , well , I leave that go..and mine it's best not say because it's thrown back against .. well , I leave that go too..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Apr 8, 2024, at 7:30 AM
-- Posted by Diseased🔸Turtle on Mon, Apr 8, 2024, at 7:30 AM
Rick we all have a heritage to be proud of and our ancestors should be respected.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Mon, Apr 8, 2024, at 7:38 AM
7:30 AM
Our youngest daughter and her daughter both have Red hair.....Red heads are Special!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Apr 8, 2024, at 8:52 AM
Just a heads up. If you receive an email starting out " Account update confirmation" it can be a scam. They have tried me twice in the past week. If you hover your mouse on your computer over the address it will identify where it comes from. Mine identifies "sylviarobs34" as the sender of the email.
Just be careful of scams.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 8:28 AM
Wheels: Unfortunately some folks would rather scam Americans than would get an honest job!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 8:43 AM
For sure.
I receive anything that doesn't look right, I simply hover over the sender's address and it details where it really comes from. At least it does on AT&T's email who I have always used.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 8:58 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 8:28 AM
AOL account here is pretty good at shucking scams into the junk box, Spectrum/Charter account not so good.
Your 'hover' trick is used often here, as well as carefully hovering over any links to see whether the posted link is actually where one will go if clicked.
Another opportunity to excel for law enforcement, where it seems the benefits of gains far exceed the likelihoods and costs of getting caught, as it seems that just behaving and doing the right thing has become increasingly optional for many.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 9:08 AM
Fxpwt, I was always told, there's a sucker born every minute and two to take him.
The internet is a tool, just keep in mind the takers also have access to it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 9:33 AM
..and it's only gonna get worse with the new AI...that thing will teach a person how to write any hack they want..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 10:27 AM
10:27 AM
That's what concerns me....how do you tell if it's real or Memorex?
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 10:43 AM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 9:33 AM
Still remember the shock-and-awe of having to start using passwords, way before any required caps and lengths, special characters, and that annoying two-factor screening stuff nowadays.
Before that, had just jumped onto one of the many fine monochrome text-only terminals offered in one's choice of
either green or orange screen, and have at it.
Of course, this was in the days of half-a-room mainframes needing most of the other half for its accompanying necessary A/C unit, and those spinny tape drives exactly like seen on the 60s and 70s TV shows, where personal computers were just coming on the scene mostly as a novelty - like the Radio Shack Trash80, and the Commodore64.
Still way better than dealing with lines of full-height cabinets packed with electrical relays and mercury-filled instruments and other specialty whiz-bang gizmos clicking and chattering and blinking away, having to chase wiring all over a lotta real estate just to figure out where the wiring change the engineer put on the print actually needed to go in the real world, towards enabling the same change now made with a keyboard.
Bonus - the wrong move on the keyboard doesn't bite near as hard as touching the wrong thing at 120V. :-)
Need some code you knew someone else had written similar? Just hop into his files and copy it.
Need Operator control for the executive authority to load a program in to run, still remember //O,,EM as the ticket to key in the prompt line for grabbing local Master of the Universe status from wherever and whoever right then and there, and away it went for better and sometimes not so better - oops.
Apparently, even then, unethical people were gaining access and doing unfavorable things such as changing, deleting, or installing bugs *gasp*.
Still chuckle at the challenges wrapping our heads around just the concepts of usernames and passwords.
Wait, where was I going with this? :-)~
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 11:09 AM
That's what concerns me....how do you tell if it's real or Memorex?
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 10:43 AM
Km a few unnoticed tools and an inquiring mind should help.
Liars cheat and cheaters lie.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 11:09 AM
That's what concerns me....how do you tell if it's real or Memorex?
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 10:43 AM
A few unnoticed tools and an inquiring mind should help.
Liars cheat and cheaters lie.
Don't believe everything you hear and only half of what you see I was always told.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 12:26 PM
ahh , the days before Windows when a person used DOS and it's commands...Windows made folks lazy sorta like today's "Smart phones" , they don't make People folks smarter btw..
Seems like if this AI can teach a person to write their own hacks it can teach a person to write their own firewalls too..it all comes down to who can be the most creative IMO..still believing the simple back door jail break hack will always be around..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 12:53 PM
...ever used the key punch cards way of doing things..now that was exciting days right there , have a whole deck of cards that don't work and try to figure out which card is wrong..or if the collater is wrong..or if they're both wrong..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 2:00 PM
-- Posted by Diseased🔸Turtle on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 2:00 PM
Or, tripping and spilling a stack of card deck all over, then trying to get them back in order.
Or, the keypunch needing serviced, leaving a lot of them 'hanging chads' to be cleared off.
Blank cards did make handy note pads, stiff enough to write on in the palm, narrow and long enough to make good notes and fit in the shirt pocket.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Apr 11, 2024, at 5:23 PM
Here's a thought to make sure you have a blessed Sunday.
Render unto God that what is God's
And render unto Caesar that what is Caesar's.
Maybe not word for word, but you get the idea.
You have until tomorrow night at midnight for the Caesar part!!
Else you face fire and brimstone at the Federal and State level.
On the other???
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 14, 2024, at 9:13 AM
Wheels,we “rendered” and because of some 1099 payments we “rendered” a few hundred extra. But hey,better I hold onto my money than think I’m getting something back. I like to break even.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Sun, Apr 14, 2024, at 10:23 AM
DA, I also file estimated and just give it to them in one payment so I don't get penalized when I forget.
Daughter takes care of mine as she is a CPA. I told her to give them whatever she wanted just bear in mind that potentially 1/3 is yours.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Apr 14, 2024, at 11:53 AM
Gotta a totally white screen on Speak Out with a big red △ in the middle last night that read:
"Warning ! There is a possible attempt to hack your personal ID informational through your SoutheastMissorian.com website." and after 3 heartbeats the screen would go blank. This warning came up at random and dunno if it can bite or if it has any teeth if it does.
🔸Don't buy toilet paper from Dollar and a .25₵ General Store, it's made out of re-cycled paper and People make the the dammest things out of paper anymore..
-- Posted by Scaggs on Wed, Apr 17, 2024, at 6:13 AM
6:13 AM
Never have gotten that message....probably a new Russian hackers scam!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Apr 17, 2024, at 6:42 AM
"Don't buy toilet paper from Dollar and a .25₵ General Store, it's made out of re-cycled paper and People make the the dammest things out of paper anymore.."
Not out of recycled toilet paper I hope???
🤗🤭🫢🫣🫣
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Apr 17, 2024, at 8:11 AM
When buying toilet paper make sure it's pure white in color with no brown streaks!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, Apr 17, 2024, at 8:17 AM
Wondering who schedules commercials as I watched a movie with all the MA adult ratings then commercials about toys and kids cereal. Then watching a kids movie with the Grands and an ED commercial pops up with,of,all the questions from them that arose(so to speak). Anyone paying attention?
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Fri, Apr 19, 2024, at 7:48 PM
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Apr 29, 2024, at 7:50 AM
91? Just goes to show what good clean living does!
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Apr 29, 2024, at 8:09 AM
Rock: Keith Richard's and Willie Nelson are both posterboys for Clean Living! lol
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Mon, Apr 29, 2024, at 9:21 AM
The Farmer's Almanac says there's good fishing 'til Friday and not so much 'til next Friday , like zero . The moon is holding water , a waxing moon or a good time to plant root crops...
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Wed, May 1, 2024, at 7:51 PM
Geez, Louise.
Just watched Blazing Saddles as broadcast on an over-the-air antenna channel.
Even with the warning at each commercial break about sensitive topic, proceed at risk or the like - dang thing was bleeped so much that it seemed half the dialog was omitted.
Brings to mind the adage about those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it - and here, history has been selectively omitted.
Just SMH.
Beyond being ticked about no baseball to be found at no-cost anywhere - no major league games on the main channels, and no minor league games on the sub-channels - just golf and soccer and that 2nd rate football stuff.
Aaargh!
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, May 5, 2024, at 6:47 PM
May 7, 1977 the Eagles song Hotel California hit Number one on the Hits Chart!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Tue, May 7, 2024, at 5:53 PM
Hmmmph!
Remember the gas card I was bragging about, getting a $0.15 discount per gallon for coming up on two years now by getting on the bus, Gus, making a new plan, Stan, etc. by using their phone app rather than the traditional card?
Threw me a curve ball today, notification that the interest rate would be going from 29.99% up to 34.99%, as well as instituting a $1.99 paper statement fee.
Eh, interest rate don't knock the shine off me, since I don't finance my fuel, but the fee for getting a paper statement is a first here.
Suppose it makes some kind of sense to keep costs down with postage and labor to handle the check payment as opposed to an easy-peasy, pointy-clicky, draggy-droppy, no muss no fuss electronic transfer.
"Life is like rowing upstream. Not to advance is to drop back." Yeah, but when it comes to stuff like this, I'm smooth wore out with the rowing. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 12:12 PM
fxpwt: that $1.99 for a paper statement is a scam since they already make millions from their customers with the outrageous interests rates.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 4:11 PM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 4:11 PM
Yeah, whatever the reason, if there's another way around, I'll have a look for the least painful path forward, even if it means taking my business somewhere else.
Wondering if this has something to do with that $8 late fee payment cap on credit cards? Just getting their money from other streams.
Side-stepping and end-arounding the rules as they change - brings memories of the song from Best Little (lady pieces-parts for rent) House in Texas - Sidestep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AALREbJZEZk
Hard keeping up with all these rules, perhaps why increasing numbers of the lazy set don't even try - e.g. speeding, red-light running, pig-pen yards, five-finger discount shopping, etc.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 6:10 PM
fxpwt 6:10 PM
I charge everything over $10 on my credit card and then pay it off 100% on due date.....good way for history on expenses! So far no mention of a statement charge.
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 6:49 PM
Fxpwt, my bank has been ding that for sometime now. But it makes little difference to me as I was scanning all month end accounts to a file on my hard drive anyway. Now I log into my accounts, download my statements directly to my hard drive and it can be reconciled from there. Too much to pay for a couple of pieces of paper. Many years ago I was offered a few shares of stock. The bank had a Main Office and a Drive through. They went through paying dividends with stock. Having a 2 for 1 split and some more gyrations plus expanding and refusing to sell out or be taken over. And while this was a long ago stock purchase, I now receive a check every 6 months exceeding my investment. I hope people keep paying for those monthly statements.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 6:54 PM
Is Cape closed today?
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, May 17, 2024, at 8:35 AM
-- Posted by Truth Slinger on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 6:49 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, May 16, 2024, at 6:54 PM
Yeah, thinkin' I just got a wake-up call for learning some new tricks and changing what had been standard procedure for years, with the shoebox full of paid invoices and checkbook ledger, etc. as my means of tracking expenses.
Suppose like that double-diamond interchange now between Cape and Jackson - gripe and grouse a bit, then just get over it , gitter dun, and move along.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, May 17, 2024, at 8:35 AM
Not aware of anything unusual happening here, other than complaints about traffic cobbles and detours with all the street work going on. Geez, complaining about the condition of the streets, then complaining about fixing the streets, then complaining that their particular pet streets aren't being addressed - figure some people just ain't happy unless they're unhappy about something.
Have noticed the general volume of comments on articles here seems to have declined. Remember the earlier days of SpeakOut, where it wasn't too unusual for that day's column comment totals getting into triple-digits. Of course, it does seem like the general quantities and depths of all articles has dropped off as well. Or...I could just be noticing wrong. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, May 17, 2024, at 9:04 AM
- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, May 17, 2024, at 9:04 AM
Fxpwt, the old sating goes, you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
That is only if the dog is unwilling.
Ww have so much technology at our disposal today. Think about this little exchange. A few years back it could take a week to get a response. And these cell phones like I am pecking on, have more capacity than early computers ever thought of having.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, May 17, 2024, at 9:55 AM
That's right , it's a full moon and a 3 day holiday
🔸Beer and weed means liquid logic and liquid courage
🔸Those dam in-laws will be over eating up all of the inflation high dollar food and bbq
🔸Time to get the horse shoes out
🔸Chances are good the ATM will eat your Debit Card
🔸The mosquitoes come out of hibernation
-- Posted by Scaggs on Fri, May 24, 2024, at 4:21 AM
Thank you Veterans for without you there would be no USA!
-- Posted by D.schaefer on Sat, May 25, 2024, at 7:55 AM
W T F !
The Cards jerseys are solid red and have "The Lou" wrote on them . What kind of BS is this ????
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, May 25, 2024, at 6:17 PM
..and "S T L" on their caps too !...What in the hell is going on ??
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, May 25, 2024, at 6:19 PM
🥎... The Lou 7 , Cubs 6
◯□■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■◯□
Does Biden work there now ?
Google’s new AI search tool putting out wacky results:
One user wrote that Google’s new AI tool cited a satirical article by The Onion claiming geologists suggest people eat one small rock a day in response to their query. Another said it recommended putting glue on their pizza — based on a Reddit comment that is over a decade old. One Associated Press reported asked Google if cats have ever been on the moon — to which AI Overviews answered that they have.
“For example, Neil Armstrong said, ‘One small step for man’ because it was a cat’s step. Buzz Aldrin also deployed cats on the Apollo 11 mission,” Google said.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sat, Jul 27, 2024, at 6:55 PM
Guessing it was another thread where I was ranting about my Phillips66 card now (then) going to charge $1.99 for a paper billing statement, as encouragement to pay electronically, recognizing the turn of events where one used to have to pay a premium for electronic payments.
Lightning does strike twice, in that I received the same thing today from my JCPenney card.
OK, the cherry has been popped, onward and upward and all. So off I went to set things up with JCPenney.
Doggone! First they wanted my mobile number to send a text link to for verifying my identity with the account. OK, done.
Then they sent another link opening up a list of crap to do - holy cow!
Supposed to take a 5 second video of myself using the phone camera shaking my head back-n-forth in a 'No' manner. Then, wanted front and back pictures of a state issued ID - WTH?
Fortunately, I must've cobbled things up between the phone and the laptop website - because everything on my phone and laptop just locked up, with a later message that my session had timed out.
In my quest to avoid paying $1.99 fer nuthin' regardless of the value of my time to do so, tried another route through the laptop website, basically by entering the credit card number and ZIP code which I figured they should'a already had, on a website that I registered with so long ago, only needed six characters with none of the current requirements for upper and lower case, numbers, symbols, special characters, and a promise to write them into my will.
Other than having to come up with a new password that met the new 8-20 character criteria, things were sync'ed up.
Once again, things are getting too complicated, but did serve as one of the high points of entertainment for today, and the dusting off of words not used in a while.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 29, 2024, at 5:31 PM
Some of those pay the bill websites charge pay the bill money on your card too . They get ya one way or the other . When they eliminate checks they elimante the folks who work with the paperwork , it takes away jobs.
-- Posted by Scaggs on Mon, Jul 29, 2024, at 6:04 PM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Thu, Aug 1, 2024, at 9:19 AM
-- Posted by fxpwt on Mon, Jul 29, 2024, at 5:31 PM
Ah feel your pain!
So far Chase has still been sending me paper statements.
It is my local bank who wants to charge for paper copies. And I have been a customer for 61 years.
Oh well, I scan all of it to my computer anyway, so I download them, save the scanning step and go on.
I have reached the point where I operate under the theory, principle, whatever that goes something like.....
I will change those things I can
Accept those I cannot
And hope I am savey enough to know the difference.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Aug 2, 2024, at 8:32 AM
Just an FYI, I had a message supposedly instructing me to update my email or possibly loose some of them. This was on my phone. It appeared to be suspicious.
When I went to my email on the computer and hovered on thee name, it was definitely not from AT&T. Sent it to the trash can. Hovering your cursor over the name will give you information on where things really come from. There are phonies out there, when in doubt, check it out, before clicking on it.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sun, Aug 11, 2024, at 12:23 PM
-- Posted by Scaggs on Sun, Aug 11, 2024, at 7:19 PM
This definitely isn’t fun stuff.
Just spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone about a prescription benefit I have. One easy simple question. Transferred 4 times. Told to dial another number twice. Talked to at least 8 people 7 of who were of foreign origin. One I could barely understand. Horrible English. I hung tough and finally got an answer. THEN I got to do the “How did we do” and I vented.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Wed, Aug 14, 2024, at 3:04 PM
Call the Doc , they know People and the game . The cost of insulin, I could have bought a new house with a new house monthly payment. So my doc checked around for insulin and found some for $23 bucks . The Docs , they know People and the game . A 3 leg stool never rocks.
..
I put a couple of fat stacks in the bank Monday and when on-line to check things out yesterday but the web stite kept asking for some kind of Secret Squirrel Access Number Code to get in . Secret Squirrel Access Number Code ? Had no clue what it was or if there was even such a thing.
So I go to the bank and ask the teller if she knew what her Secret Squirrel Access Number Code was to prove she could get on-line .
Apparently so .
So the bank gives me a 7 digit Secret Squirrel Access Number Code before I can get on-line . Just like the Doc , they know People and the game
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Thu, Aug 15, 2024, at 6:43 AM
To give this thread on life experiences a little bump, gots some useless entertainment to share.
Not quite a year ago, went on a spin about water softener challenges.
Inherited a Culligan unit with this house that sprung a leak, which was fixed then. Lo and behold, it sprung another leak in the same place this week. Whether defective materials, or past low-paid handyman screw-up, tried to fix it again...to no avail.
Tired of fooling with it, being the 'older' style of separate resin and salt tanks, being now 13 years old or just over half its expected lifespan, then there's the mopping up of all the water - that dreaded PSI-PSO inversion where there's not enough Pounds Staying In, and too many Pounds Squirting Out.
So, went and got me another one this AM, all stylish and such with the resin tank and salt tank being all-in-one.
Not that Cape water is intolerably hard, but definitely noticed a difference that I didn't like the day or so while in softener Bypass mode - showering was a bit different with the soap, and the water just tasted unfavorably different.
Went with a WaterBoss 900, liking the reported salt efficiencies meaning less packing of the 40lb bags down the stairs, as well as a friend that is still raving about the unit I installed for him ~15 years ago.
Installation was fairly simple, had to cobble some copper piping to fit for the differing physical styles, heights, and reversal of the water in - water out ports. Went to turn the water back on - dang, if one doesn't sweat-solder regularly, lose one's touch fast, quick, and in a hurry.
Had two fair leaks in the joints totalling ten total - well beyond the 'that'll seal up' call. Attempts to reheat and jam a little more solder in just made things a LOT worse, so ended up cutting that section out with a do-over and resulting delay-of-game. Have I mentioned how expensive copper pipe and fittings have gotten?
Certainly not pretty with the excess dobs and globs of solder around the joints, but seems to be holding... so far.
Missing the old-style clocks and push-pull pins of the older units, dang microprocessor stuff is a pain-in-the-keister to scroll through and set everything, especially when it times out and returns to the main screen before I can read up and punch in the next parameter in the programming sequence.
Got it finally set up and successfully completed its first regeneration, water test strips are again showing the hardness levels at 0 grains per gallon. Whew, success!
But wait, there's more - went to register the thing online for its 10-year warranty. Site given on the warranty card didn't pull up this particular model in its limited drop-down menu, nor the store I bought it from - so quizzed the Contact Us about it - they referred me to another site.
Quizzed that site, replied that this unit was outside their six-month sales window, and I would need to send them a copy of the receipt. Emailed the receipt scan in, and now apparently all registered and good-to-go.
Eh, for what I now got in it as far as material, still less than half of the professionally-installed, proprietary system put in 13 years ago. Time clocked out to just short of 6 hours, including the warranty registration fun. Just hoping this unit makes it the expected 20-25 years, which will likely be the next guy's problem here.
Back around once again to - dang, nuthin's easy anymore. Hoping the Aleve starts kicking in soon, as the body is complaining big-time about the tug-a-lug and unusual positions necessary to gitter dun.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Aug 27, 2024, at 5:50 PM
Fxpwt, I will pass something on that I learned in Rankin Trade school a "couple" of years ago on soldering.
* Clean 10 times solder once.
* Flux the pipe.
* Heat at the bottom of the Female fitting
* Keep testing where the pipe goes into the fitting with solder for melting point.
* Once the solder goes all the way around quit heating.
* Wipe off excess solder if you like neatness.
* Try not to burn your fingers.
If done properly, and you would heat the joint abd pull apart, 100% of the pipe and inside the fitting will be coated in solder. Anything less is a poor joint. Globlollied solder on the outside of a joint only is temporary sealing and subject to failure.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Aug 27, 2024, at 7:10 PM
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Tue, Aug 27, 2024, at 7:10 PM
Heheheh, yep. Never had any formal training, but your tips line up perfectly with lessons learned from the plumbing craftsmen worked with.
The old wisdom of, if you don't take time to do it right, you're gonna be makin' time to do it over - was replaying in my head several times yesterday, along with the self-kicks in the keister.
Just that 'feel' when things are right, with the quick heats til the greenish-tinged flame and the way the solder is quickly wicked in from the best-reach opposite side, needing only about a pipe diameter worth until the silver ring is seen all the way around.
Those couple problem joints just didn't feel right and I knew it, but went on ahead to force things relying on a resulting unanswered prayer and a do-over plus some extra run-in applied for that irrationally exuberant good measure.
Maybe not a new trick learned, just an old trick remembered the hard way.
Towards the brighter side, no leaks, weeps, or even seeps this morning, the shower felt good again, and the water tastes back to normal. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 8:02 AM
Sounds like you're good to go.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 8:20 AM
Sounds like you're good to go. And had the basics attended to.
I remember old Instructor Joe K. checking a student's proudly done work. He turned it over and back took a small tool and tapped it and it fell apart. Nothing said or needed he just handed it back to said student.
Haven't had a torch in my hands for quite a while and likely will not again.
A friend and I who had taken the course did a stent of substitute teachers there for a short time. But that was a couple of years ago. I would say a little over 50.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 8:49 AM
Sounds like you're good to go. And had the basics attended to.
I remember old Instructor Joe K. checking a student's proudly done work. He turned it over and back took a small tool and tapped it and it fell apart. Nothing said or needed he just handed it back to said student.
Haven't had a torch in my hands for quite a while and likely will not again.
A friend and I who had taken the course did a stent of substitute teachers there for a short time. But that was a couple of years ago. I would say a little over 50.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 8:49 AM
Double dam another double dribble on this blasted phone.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 8:51 AM
Living in a $45,000,000 NYC Penthouse Apartment on Billionaires' Row
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Wed, Aug 28, 2024, at 1:59 PM
Rick, back in the day when first on my own, I lived in a sleeping room in a Cold Water Flat in South St. Louis. A little roomier and a lot cheaper than those New York apartments. But in the summertime you had to go to the basement and light the burner on the sidearm water heater to take a shower as there was no gas or electric water heater. The water heater was the coal fired furnace next to it, which had a water pipe running through it. And you better not forget to turn that burner with no safeties of overheat off either. Plenty of hot water in the winter. And the safety was hot water backing up into the incoming waterline.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Aug 29, 2024, at 8:39 AM
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Fri, Sep 13, 2024, at 9:15 AM
Heheheh, still throw my change in an old Claussen pickle jug, a diminishing practice since cash transactions ain't what they used to be with the debit cards and the COVID thing encouraging touchless transactions and such.
Still banked over $150 of 'free' money today, way down from the previous years' cash-ins, but now have paper-in-pocket as opposed to prior poundages of 'precious' metals sitting on the counter.
Brought a chuckle about the couple-three times over the past year at the convenience store when their network was down, with a Cash Only sign - where I carried on business-as-usual, and the other customers were just standing with goods in hand having now-what looks on their faces. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Fri, Sep 13, 2024, at 5:46 PM
...most folks don't have enuff sense to save their cents ₵ these days 😆
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Sat, Sep 14, 2024, at 7:48 AM
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sat, Sep 14, 2024, at 5:54 PM
Fxpwt, I hear you and most often agree. But paying cash when there is no incentive to do so goes against my grain. Only coinage I want to have laying around has got to have some collector or bullion value. But I use my credit cards and while the statements are checked for accuracy I do an autopay on them at the bank. Saving me carrying a wad of paper and I draw a few pennies on the money in the bank until the bill is due. And as far as change goes some one paid me with $100 worth of silver dollars when you could still get one for a $1 bill. I stuck them in the safe deposit box I have to keep my paperwork safe. Those silver dollars are now worth $30 each minimum. Picked up some 50 Peso Mexican Gold Pieces @ $160.00 each and let them rub against the silver dollars at the bank. They are worth in the $1500.00 per each range. I don't like paper, yes you do have to keep them safe and I have to have a safety deposit box for Deeds and Titles anyway. I will not let that stuff lay around to get lost,stolen or destroyed.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Sep 14, 2024, at 8:11 PM
-- Posted by Rick Lettau on Sat, Sep 14, 2024, at 5:54 PM
Forget that part. Don't know how I managed that.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Sat, Sep 14, 2024, at 8:19 PM
When my sister-in-law died and went to see her rewards , we had to clean out her apartment . Tucked way back in her bedroom closet were 2 jugs of coins , big ol' jugs too , like picking up bags of sugar . It took my son a few to count it -- I told him he should of just took it to the bank , they would have counted it ...anyway , we all had a fine dinner at the local mom~n~pop's Steak House that night . Big thick steaks too with all the sides..
Thank ya Pam !
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Sun, Sep 15, 2024, at 6:08 AM
We finally got some rain over here , it wasn't much though , just enough to settle the dust . There weren't any worms in the driveway. Just enough to make the Missouri wild weeds to slick to pull out of the ground.
When we went to the CAM building in St.Louis all of the corn and soy beans were brown and sagging, I feel bad for those farmers, they're taking a hit this year. The cows and cattle didn't look all that spiffy either.
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Sun, Sep 15, 2024, at 6:25 AM
If you have some spare time , this family named 'White' living in West Virgina...
🔸🔸
Ain't that America , it's something to see..ain't that America for you and me..ain't that America , home of the free..
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia Full Documentary
-- Posted by Diseased·Turtle on Sat, Sep 21, 2024, at 7:20 AM
Went to the Kiwanis Jeep show today, kinda neat experience.
Was impressed by attendees when the sound system went to play the National Anthem, a beautiful a capella rendition by the Gaither Vocal Band - looked around, didn't see a hat on any head, and most hands were over heart. That's the America I was raised in!
Interesting following the evolution from the WWII-era MB series to the latest and greatest offerings brought by a dealer sponsor of the event, including a diesel and a gas-hybrid-powered. Not too far removed from spanning between horse-and-buggy through to starship.
The progression through the years, from the 3 separate sticks transmission/transfer case combo through to just dialing in what kind of 'go' was wanted brought out my doubting Thomas side whether this was actual progress made for a vehicle meant for at least some off-road service.
Had to chuckle when the one with the 392 (6.4L) boasted about its 470hp, where 40 years back my 304 (5.0L) presented only 125hp and puny ones at that - 1/3 more displacement but almost 4x the horsepower, would greatly speed up probabilities of me getting into multiple kinds of trouble. :-)
The observation of the transition from the days of just looking and listening to figure out a problem, to now pretty much needing that double-secret decoder plug-in box for the vehicle itself to tell ya what's lost its do-right.
But also not lost is going from points and plugs every 12,000 miles with oil changes every 3,000 and 10-12mpg, to plugs that almost last the lifetime of the vehicle, oil changes at usually much longer intervals and it'll even tell ya when, and 18-20mpg.
Good times with folks having a common interest along with their various interpretations applied, from brand-new young to grampy-geezer old, and from bone-stock to way on out and up there.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sat, Sep 21, 2024, at 3:47 PM
Kinda neat - was thumbing through the new Oct24 issue of Reader's Digest.
Seems one of Cape's own got her quip published in Life in These United States.
Brought a smile here. :-)
-- Posted by fxpwt on Sun, Sep 22, 2024, at 10:52 AM
fxpwt,I didn’t know Readers Digest still existed. I did get a “All in a days work” submission published way back and think it was a $10 check. Still have that issue somewhere in the Braswell filing system which means there’s a shoebox somewhere.
Fondest memory of RD may be the New Years Eve my daughter was born sitting in the waiting room thumbing through but not reading a pile of them. Those were the days the father wasn’t allowed in the delivery room and didn’t know the sex till Dr Rawlings came out to tell you. Good thing we postmarked the last $25 payment on the way to the hospital to get that free circumcise!!
One more thing. I will borrow from DT that I’m a bit “mixfused” with the paper changes. No comments on stories but will Speakout remain??
Find out tomorrow.
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Sep 23, 2024, at 9:19 PM
-- Posted by DA Braswell on Mon, Sep 23, 2024, at 9:19 PM
Yep, the Digest is still up and running, unlike many of my other faves which have either folded or gone online only.
Used to be a Reminisce magazine I enjoyed as well, lots of people's personal pics and stories shared of days wayback. Kinda heartwarming.
Chuckled as I watched through the years, from my first subscribing in the 90s where there were many things from the 20s and 30s, up to the mag's last year a couple years back, where the stories only went back to the 50s and 60s.
Still subscribe to a few paper-based materials, just haven't got comfortable reading off the phone during my morning routine of sitting on the throne. :-)
/****/
Not sure what all will be different with the coming change here, suppose we'll find out shortly. Figure just gonna has to again adapt, improvise, and overcome ... or not.
-- Posted by fxpwt on Tue, Sep 24, 2024, at 8:51 AM
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While they are hibernating, bears do not urinate. Their bodies convert waste into protein.
Presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on July 4, 1826.
Are there more drivers who obey the driving laws than those who don't?
My first car was a green and white 1956 Chevy - does anyone know where the gas filler was located?
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Folks enjoy this thread but remember no politics!!
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