What's everybody doing today?

[snappy1]

I bet that's cooler @hashbrown !

 

[Bacpacker]

I shaved today

View attachment 91961View attachment 91962

Who is that masked man???????????????????????????

 

[hashbrown]

Who is that masked man???????????????????????????

I cut it off every year or so.

 

[Bacpacker]

I've only cut mine twice since 1978. Both times were to get fitted for a respirator at work

Wife told me to grow it back out

 

[hashbrown]

I've only cut mine twice since 1978. Both times were to get fitted for a respirator at work

Wife told me to grow it back out

They shaved it off when I was in the hospital in September so I didn’t quite make it a year this time.

 

[UrbanHunter]

The son visited yesterday, the wife said let's grill some meat! Yea!!! After 5 weeks of no rain as soon as I light the grill it starts... not enough to do any real good just enough to make me cool when I went back into the house... Wet clothes and AC will chill you fast...

Last night we had 3 power outages between 12:30 and 4:00, each time the alarms go crazy, each machine in the house wants attention, then the power comes back on and the robo machines start telling us they are awake and starting to charge. I have fixed most of the wife's small machines with APS backups, but I have to make sure their alarms are disabled because they start beeping to let you know they are working.... I am thinking about buying an LiFePo4 battery for use with an inverter/charger that I have on the shelf. I am not sure if I want to go with 100AH or 200AH (1200Watt-hrs or 2400Watt-hrs), I want to place it on the main floor and have it power a 500 Watt pump that runs constantly. I figure I need to decide before winter comes in and we get to learn how well green energy and white weather go together..

Today after work the wife and I inventoried the little freezer, her complaint was we could eat for a month out of that thing (it is only intended to be used for her frozen cooking pantry items). My plan is to start eating down the freezers and using the extra meat we have stored in canned quick meals. I hope to have at least 3 cubic feet open by mid September.

 

[LadyLocust]

Not too different than around here, I love watching the hens taking care of their young ones, starting to see more deer around, cougars must have wandered off to other areas, thankfully.

Hey Vike Good to see you

Cooking and laundry today, and a roof inspection. It sounds like our insurance is going to cover things, hooray!! In the downhill run on the game jam — three days left, so it’s polish, credits, test … all that fun stuff.

Back to canning and garden and range time next week and I’m looking forward to it!

That's a good pix J.

Celebrated husband's bday with a picnic at the lake, and then home for dinner yesterday. Have the 3 grandkids doc checkups today, so we'll all be going together. The last doc checkup we'll be responsible for for the twins. Husband has pulmonary rehab later, and I got him a side table set up for his office, that I'll be organizing for him today.

Happy Bday AHH

 

[Spikedriver]

Just pulled into Sidney, Nebraska. Got 1 day of work here, and then will be working in North Platte, Nebraska until next Monday. It's not my favorite part of the world, but there's a lot worse places to be. One of my railroad buddies is trying to get me to transfer to his gang, which is working from Milwaukee through Kenosha, down through Waukegan into Chicago. No thanks, pal. I'm good where I'm at!

 

[jishinsjourney]

Hey Vike Good to see you

That's a good pix J.

Happy Bday AHH

Thanks so much! It got taken at dinner with my college friend. I must've been in a good mood.

 

[Neb]

Bought a torch for the weeds, hope it's powerful enough to burn these puncturevines... gonna try it tomorrow morning, too hot out there right now, and I feel like firing up the BBQ this evening. The trash bin is now empty, so I'm gonna do more general weeding tomorrow, with added focus on goatheads... some of the other weeds are huge, but they come right up as one large plant, so I'll fill the bin again manana. Goatheads are the priority, gotta start annihilating those before they develop any further... I'm really hoping this torch does the trick, as the pine needle method will be unsuitable for certain areas. Meh, we'll find out soon enough... for now, it's a cold beer in the A/C, too darned hot out there!

An alternate approach to the flame thrower.

Dump a small box of baking soda on a clump to see if that kills the stuff. If it does bags of baking soda are sold for soda blasting.

Ben

 

[snappy1]

Walked first and picked up pears in friend's yard.
Fed and walked dogs.
Went foraging for elderberries. I'm going to have to get the ladder out to get to them--maybe Friday.
Harvested okra and picked figs.
Labeled and put away pears from yesterday.
Did 2 loads of laundry.
Now to check out more bookkeeping apps.

 

[Amish Heart]

Husband is so shot sick, it's ridiculous. Up most of the night, breathing bad, sick to stomach, fever...he went back to bed. I made him some toast. Went to go vote, the post office, bank, the amish discount store, and got gas. Had got outside earlier this morning, and got all the meat bird bins cleaned out, a baby run in our big coop cleaned out, and moved some regular chicks out to the big run. Cleaning up the downstairs, we have family therapy this afternoon here at the farm. Doing laundry. Granddaughter decided to throw 4 loads of laundry in the laundry room. Was wondering when that would happen, and havent seen grandson's laundry for weeks and weeks. I'd say to do it yourself, but that would mean throwing it in the washer and leaving the house till 10 tonight. It would have to be hung if I wanted to use the washer. It'd have to be taken off the line if I needed to use the line. They are not home long enough to do any chores. Except grandson, but then he is asleep. So therapy should be interesting today. Not in the mood to talk or challenge at all. I just don't care anymore. Grandson likes to prepare "important sounding" speeches about things that he wants people to agree with. It's all baloney. Granddaughter throws her hair in her face, sprawls out on the carpet with her jar of nutella, and says she's not in the mood to "share". But that was last week. What will today bring?

 

[LadyLocust]

Husband is so shot sick, it's ridiculous. Up most of the night, breathing bad, sick to stomach, fever...he went back to bed. I made him some toast. Went to go vote, the post office, bank, the amish discount store, and got gas. Had got outside earlier this morning, and got all the meat bird bins cleaned out, a baby run in our big coop cleaned out, and moved some regular chicks out to the big run. Cleaning up the downstairs, we have family therapy this afternoon here at the farm. Doing laundry. Granddaughter decided to throw 4 loads of laundry in the laundry room. Was wondering when that would happen, and havent seen grandson's laundry for weeks and weeks. I'd say to do it yourself, but that would mean throwing it in the washer and leaving the house till 10 tonight. It would have to be hung if I wanted to use the washer. It'd have to be taken off the line if I needed to use the line. They are not home long enough to do any chores. Except grandson, but then he is asleep. So therapy should be interesting today. Not in the mood to talk or challenge at all. I just don't care anymore. Grandson likes to prepare "important sounding" speeches about things that he wants people to agree with. It's all baloney. Granddaughter throws her hair in her face, sprawls out on the carpet with her jar of nutella, and says she's not in the mood to "share". But that was last week. What will today bring?

Let them use the washer and when laundry is left in it, just pull it out and leave it in a pile which is what would happen if they went to a laundromat. Welcome to the real world. Hope Hubby is feeling better.

I'm trying to catch up, but yesterday was a Monday and the 1st of the month so a little nutty.

 

[Magus]

I suppose I'd better cut mine, I do a total buzz-down in March, but I missed it this year. Hashbrown looks like a Greek god compared to me shaved down, I look like a peeled potato with down syndrome.

 

[Wingnut]

Just spent four hours pulling, hoeing & torching puncturevines... made a big ol' dent in the goathead population, lol. I must have pulled a hundred vines the size of dinner plates, they come up more easily if they're larger; vines in the dirt were scraped with the hoe, and "carpets" of young vines in the gravel were torched. Now I'm stiff and sore, but I showered and I'm doing laundry, cold beer in hand... drank plenty of juice & water earlier with the sweat rolling off me as I tackled the goathead problem. Luckily, some cloud cover kept the temps cooler, but I eventually had to call it quits, my back was aching from all the stooping & bending, lol...

The propane torch (flamethrower) worked pretty well on those "carpets" of young vines... those smaller weeds would be a monumental PITA to pull by hand, but the torch handles 'em no problem. I'm hoping the weeds don't come back, but it seems unlikely, in view of the damage caused by the torch. No way I could ever pull all those smaller weeds by hand, there are just too many of 'em, and the majority are in gravel so it's not easy to pull the taproot. Meh, I'm happy with the progress made today, I'm a stone-cold goathead killer in this new eradication program, lol. Another good session or two and I should have the freakin' puncturevines under control... things are tough to eradicate once they gain a foothold.

My trash bin is now full again, though the bulk of the weeds in the bin are NOT puncturevines. I removed some weeds which were growing too tall near the feeders, I don't want Tiger using the camo & cover to kill birds. That darned Tiger is a REAL killer, I can't give him any advantages when it comes to the feeders, birdbaths, etc. Oh, yeah, my quail blocks finally disintegrated from recent rains, so I bought three of those large 'Woodpecker Blocks' for hanging feeders, then I simply placed them on the round pavers where the quail blocks were... one block near every birdbath. Boy, you should see the birds on those new blocks, they're having a party in the yard, lol... heaps of wild birds living large!!!

 

[Neb]

First priority was to get the new microwave in place, read the manual and give it a test run.

Done.

Next thing was bag up the fasteners and such. There was one subassembly that I kept intact. It is the paper cutter. Here are a few images of it.

It screams "Keep me. I can be useful"

Any ideas how I can put it use?

Maybe my sister can use it. She does a lot of clever crafts projects. Well it is safe for now.

Loaded a pile of metal for the metal recycling guy. There is a large aluminum extrusion that just too specialized to be used in the machine shop. It should put a smile on my buddies face when he finds it.

Even with tossing the scrap metal the bench in my shop needs some attention. But it will have to wait until the greenhouse is functional.

The air conditioner the garlic is drying on in the corner is slated for the garage. That will be an obstacle I have to work around. The defunct microwave will be recycled in about 2 weeks.

Getting close to doing the work to insulate and seal up the drafts.

One day at a time.

Ben

 

[Magus]

You got mad scrapper skill bro.

 

[zannej]

Tank-Girl, I hope you get feeling better soon. I know its going to be a long road but I'm sending good vibes your way.

Amish Heart, I hope your husband recovers quickly.

It's been raining and thundering the last couple of days. Yesterday when I was napping I was awoken by a very loud crack of thunder. My brother said he heard something pop electrically but we couldn't find any lights out.

Whatever got hit, it made the water pumps shut off. Breakers stayed on but pumps weren't running. I found out around 3am that the water was off. Went and flipped breakers off and then back on again at the box, went out and checked the pumps. Float lever was down so the cistern was low. I tapped the lever up and it dropped back down to trigger the pump to turn on. Tugged lightly on the cord to the jet pump to jostle it awake. Went back to bed.

This morning we discovered that the storm made the landline cord explode. The RJ11 end is still in the jack but the cord blew out. Phone was plugged into a surge protector but the line itself wasn't (I had one to put it through but Mom misplaced it in her room).

Now we need to get a new phone base, cables and protector.

 

[Bacpacker]

Busy at work, still doing at home for a couple or 3 hours, then go in and finish the day. Had half a day doing a Power Point class. Several meetings on various projects last several days and 2 more tomorrow. Many of them new projects that has just came up. Ordering parts, setting up work orders for my crew.
At home picking produce, cooking, cleaning, helping wife clean and dress. Need to get out and mow again. We had rain every day over the weekend so I didn't get much done outside.
Off to bed before too much longer

 

[Amish Heart]

Survived family therapy. This time grandson was the grump who shut it down. He complained that we don't care about him because we didn't tell him our plans for last weekend. I spoke up about how Saturday went: He woke up at 8. Made a big brunch at 1030. Left some mess. Told my husband that he'd help out for an hr or so. Went up and went to bed. At 5 we went to my favorite cousins for pizza party for husband. Grandson woke up and called at 7 because we weren't home. He slept all day. Because he stays up all night on the phone. His complaint backfired on him, we are not terrible people, and so he pouted for the rest of the hour. So his friend came by this evening, granddaughter mysteriously got off work and all three went to the bigger town for a milkshake. They came back, and grandson asked if he could "spend the night" at his friend's place on Saturday. A 17 and 18 yr old? How weird is that. I thought sleepovers were for 10 yr olds.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

@MoBookworm1957 heard more about your car yet?

First day I've felt like doing anything since last week. Think I might have come down with something, bug going around. It's hard to know for me (cfs). I feel crappy all the time, it's sometimes hard to tell if its a new crappy feeling or just the usual.

I made some tincture this afternoon, cleaning came next. Got all the plants and critters fed and watered, got all the peppers watered in the garden. Refilled all the buckets. Fixed dinner, just watching some tv.

Mechanic will be getting O2 Sensor for the car.
It's hot as blue blazes.

 

[MoBookworm1957]

Baby Reign turned 2 today.
Haven't been sleeping well lately.
Seems like I'm tired all the time.

 

[Magpie]

Still painting! The cabins almost finished. Weeding the polytunnel and usual chores. OH's forge has been a dumping ground lately, so need to clean that out also.

 

[sonya123]

Flamethrower for weeds, wow, that's an interesting idea! Maybe I could burn down our walnut trees....

Amish heart, hope you don't mind me asking , I don't have time to read all posts but what happened to the parents of those grandkids you seem to be taking care of? Hope things get easier.

I want to go to the lake today, first day of no rain in a while and maybe last. I should can those tomatoes....they are still all sitting on the table, all thousand of them, starting to show signs of rot....I should also weed

Went shopping yesterday. Wanted to get some gallon waters ( we use them for backup in case spring gets dirty or neighbor runs the tank empty ) , no gallon waters. Butter over $4 a pound. Eggs too ( wow, I don't need any but just noticed that) . Milk over $4 . We are hopefully going to have another milk goat next year. She is half Nubian half Kiko but her nipples look like I might be able to milk her. We will find out after she gives birth.
Husband got a hair cut , it took the old lady they probably dragged out of retirement almost an hour!! I think Walmart is scraping the bottom of the barrel for employees nowadays.

 

[Amish Heart]

The twins mom is a heroin addict, is in Albuquerque. Rap sheet a mile long. Had them taken away 11 times for bad child abuse. We got them seven yrs ago, had been in the foster system for a year at the time. Little granddaughter's mom is a drunk and sometimes drug user. Lives homeless. She has been with us 2 and a half yrs. Her mom was in California, but moved where we are when we moved. She lives homeless in our bigger town a ways away. They share the same dad, our son, who is a drug addict and is in a California prison. Haven't seen him in maybe 15 yrs.
We are supposed to bring little granddaughter to a park in the bigger town today to visit her mom. We do that every once in a while. We sit in the truck and let them visit. Boring as all heck to sit there a couple of hours, and little granddaughter will have a bad attitude for the next few days, but that's how it is

 

[zannej]

Amish, that is sad. Drug addiction is a terrible thing. My paternal grandfather was an alcoholic. We know nothing about his parents. He never talked about them. My paternal grandmother was addicted to painkillers. She suffered from migraines and would go to 4 different doctors and 4 different pharmacists. They weren't ever violent or abusive but they were neglectful. Drugs are huge problem where I live. My friend's grandfather is on painkillers, both parents were addicts. His dad died at 46 and his mom is still around and is on pain pills. She can't hold down a job anymore because she's too unreliable. She cleans people's houses under the table & steals from people. There's a guy who owns a lot of rental properties who hires her to come clean out places full of asbestos and black mold. She does it and then brings stuff from those places to my friend's house and dumps it in his yard or on his porch.

Power went out yesterday. I had to take my cellphone outside to get signal to call it in. Used my phone as a flashlight to go to the bathroom. Mom didn't seem to notice I had flashlight mode on and shouted at me (she had headphones on) asking if I was going to cook. I told her I couldn't and she got super angry and screamed "'Why not?!" I looked at her crosseyed and said "Because the power is out!" I had to repeat that about 7 times before it finally sunk in. Then she yelled at me for not telling her soon. I told her "I just got off the phone with the power company!" I left the room after that.

Took a nap and didn't wake up when power came back on. I fell asleep lying on my right side. I'm half deaf in my left ear so I didn't hear Mom calling for me. She had to get closer to my room and shout at me to wake me up. I got up and cooked then napped again. Still feeling tired, but I'm hoping I can be more productive today.

 

[goshengirl]

@zannej, message me your grandparents' names and location, and dates if you have them (approximate is fine) - I can likely find your paternal grandfather's parents and see what I can find out about them. Genealogy is my thing, and I think it's good to know the people we come from. They are rarely ever perfect, but they are ours.

 

[sonya123]

The twins mom is a heroin addict, is in Albuquerque. Rap sheet a mile long. Had them taken away 11 times for bad child abuse. We got them seven yrs ago, had been in the foster system for a year at the time. Little granddaughter's mom is a drunk and sometimes drug user. Lives homeless. She has been with us 2 and a half yrs. Her mom was in California, but moved where we are when we moved. She lives homeless in our bigger town a ways away. They share the same dad, our son, who is a drug addict and is in a California prison. Haven't seen him in maybe 15 yrs.
We are supposed to bring little granddaughter to a park in the bigger town today to visit her mom. We do that every once in a while. We sit in the truck and let them visit. Boring as all heck to sit there a couple of hours, and little granddaughter will have a bad attitude for the next few days, but that's how it is

So sorry , wow.

 

[Wingnut]

Weather moving in (rain in the forecast), so it's too windy to use the torch, but I pulled another 200 vines by hand... I'm just gonna keep chipping away at the stone, that's the only way this job will ever get done. The goldurned weeds aren't gonna pull themselves, that's for sure... but I'm happy to get rid of that many more puncturevines, lol. Let's do the math: 200 vines multiplied by a potential 500 goatheads per mature vine, that makes 100,000 GOATHEADS!!! Holy Cow!!! That's a whole heap o' goatheads!!! I can see myself walking barefoot across a sea of goatheads, lol...

So you see why it's important to get rid of these goldurned noxious weeds... I'm over halfway there with the eradication program, and I'm SO HAPPY to have caught this problem in time. Oh, yeah, I also discovered a new method of scraping young goathead vines off at ground level, using the sharp edge of my Vibram soles... dunno if it'll kill off each taproot, but it'll certainly cramp its style, lol. Hey, WHATEVER IT TAKES to get rid of these things: pulling, scraping, hoeing, burning, sticks & stones, harsh language---whatever gets the job done. Meh, the tide of battle is turning in my favor...

Gotta get cleaned up and go pay my water bill, maybe make a beer run while I'm at it. We have rain in the forecast for the next few days, so I may be taking it easy indoors, knocking out some household chores. I woke at 0300 this morning and felt hungry, so I made a nice sandwich out of some Italian loaf, grilled tri-tip & Muenster cheese with mayo and a little mustard... that sandwich was delicious, lol. Washed it down with some cold milk and eventually went back to bed, where I enjoyed some very deep sleep until 0730. Guess I was worn down a bit from all the yard work, lol...

 

[TeeJ]

Been chunking away at lots of little jobs that feel good to get off my plate. Threw a new (12v) battery in my '06 Prius that I've been keeping around as a spare car and drove it to work this morning. I figure I'll drive it to work a couple of days a week and save some $ on gas and rotate out some older gas I don't want to put in my fancy SUV. Cut down a million sycamore saplings that spring up faster than goathead vines, and fixed some leaky plumbing in our raised beds.

I went to trim my beard, but my clippers were a little rusty and weren't cutting very well so I took them apart, lubed them up and took them to my face - forgetting to put the guard back on first. So I'm now in the clean face club for a couple of days until the 'ol beard catches back up.

Finally (and this probably belongs in rants) paid a $30 parking fine because one of our cars was hanging 4" over the sidewalk - in my own driveway! Now I guess I understand the desire to not block the sidewalk, but there's 3 feet of paved driveway behind the sidewalk so people aren't blocked - they just need to shift 4". We even have moms with those stupid jogging strollers going down our sidewalk just fine. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth complaining to the city and contesting it and risking a vendetta with a policeman with more time than sense, or if I should just kick them $30 every time he needs to meet a ticket quota