What's everybody doing today?

[DrJenner]

Dropped my daughter off at the airport this morning. We were both trying not to cry. Missed her a lot and glad with all that is going on in the world she's decided to move closer to home.

RV heater is still out. We were able to get ahold of a mobile repair guy. I'm currently sitting in the RV with the buddy heater on, hooked to propane. He should be out here around 3 hopefully.

 

[Weedygarden]

And that is why I printed out his starter recipe and I am giving it a shot. Just like I have Machinist's stories saved as PDFs. A piece of them can live on.

I was thinking of Machinist recently. I do not remember who his daughter is on here, but she is probably not very active, if at all.

 

[Bacpacker]

And that is why I printed out his starter recipe and I am giving it a shot. Just like I have Machinist's stories saved as PDFs. A piece of them can live on.

I had forgotten about Machinest. He had some great stories. Wish I had a bunch of them to go back to every now and then.

Wife and I had the day off today so we slept in a little. slow morning, then I got into our taxes. Finally got them finished up and filed. Looked up part way through and the wife had fallen back to sleep on the couch. She's appearently got a pinch nerve in her back that is causing severe pain in her leg. Had an MRI Monday and waiting on the Dr appt to find out for sure and what to do about it. They gave her some muscle relaxers to try and relieve the pain. It works, if she stays off it. But knocks her out pretty good. Hope they can get her fixed up pretty easy (PT).

 

[Amish Heart]

Went thru the rest of mom's photo boxes, dumped the trash in it. 5 boxes done, hooray! They've been all over the family room. Repotted in bigger pots 5 flats of seeded veg starts. Little granddaughter helped bring up all of the seedlings on the shelving in the basement to the greenhouse. Beautiful day outside today. Finished fertilizing the rest of the fruit trees and berry bushes.

 

[Spikedriver]

It's 0547 and I just pulled up to the job site. Its going to be a long day. We put over 3900 new ties in the track yesterday and they'll want more today because its a Saturday and there will probably be less trains to run...

 

[Pearl]

Good morning HCL!! Have one job this morning then I'll work on my 'to do' list! Going to be a nicer afternoon, yesterday was cool and damp! Doing a little laundry since I don't have to rush out the door. Hope everyone has a great day!!

 

[Amish Heart]

Cooking and cleaning today to be ready for tomorrow. That'll keep me busy all day

 

[Patchouli]

One of the kids was going to have Easter at their place, both sick now, so I guess I’ll have to put it together, here at my place, which also means cooking and cleaning all day. Otherwise, we don’t get together. Glad to have off on a Saturday and not how I had planned to spend my day. Had off yesterday too, went to the big D. Traffic was light going in, heavier coming home, but not as bad as I had expected.
I was going to clear out the rain gutters, tidy up the yard, and paint.

 

[Weedygarden]

Went thru the rest of mom's photo boxes, dumped the trash in it. 5 boxes done, hooray! They've been all over the family room. Repotted in bigger pots 5 flats of seeded veg starts. Little granddaughter helped bring up all of the seedlings on the shelving in the basement to the greenhouse. Beautiful day outside today. Finished fertilizing the rest of the fruit trees and berry bushes.

What do you use to fertilize your fruit trees with? I have fertilizer spikes for fruit trees, but wonder if there is something better out there?

 

[Weedygarden]

And that is why I printed out his starter recipe and I am giving it a shot. Just like I have Machinist's stories saved as PDFs. A piece of them can live on.

Machinist's stories were on PS, weren't they? Wasn't he deceased when HCL started? I am wondering if his stories could be shared here, still giving him the credit?

 

[VThillman]

Been reading my mail (email that is). Today's Babylon Bee offers this pic:

. . . been working on the "obvious".

. . . OK, maybe it's the hat; a non-gay would be wearing a straw?

 

[Wingnut]

My mom once had a had like that, but it was red, lol...

BOT, library run today, I'm out of Elmer Kelton Westerns... can't let it happen.

Gonna need some plastic "drop cloths" from the Depot as well, I GOTTA start painting next week...

 

[FarmOR]

Gonna help my uncle fetch the backhoe he rented for the weekend. He's got five acres he flood irrigates but can't justify owning a 3/4 ton pickup. I should get a refill on my gas tank outta the deal

 

[Bacpacker]

Planned to cut more brush. But the rain has never let up. So I'm making a run to the dump and TSC. Back home and work in the basement. My garage door opener quit this morning. Can't complain its nearly 30 years old. Gotta set up a service call for Monday.

 

[Buffalo]

I had planned on finishing putting a boxside on an aluminum F-150 this morning, but my oldest limped his truck to the shop last night after the belt tensioner decided it no longer wanted to play the game and took the belt with it. He has been needing a power steering pump replaced as well, it was whining like AOC about Clarence Thomas. SO, I just finished up, with his help, replacing the power steering pump, flushing the ps system, replacing the tensioner and belt, and we put a new mirror on the his truck that had been setting in the office for six months. Just finished it up about an hour ago, and he headed home to shower and get himself to the local pizza place for his shift tonight.

It's a real shame, he has a natural talent working with his hands, but has no desire to take over for his old man here at the shop and my youngest has already decided that he is going into engineering, he wants to design and build robots for the space program (and honestly, he loves robotics so much, he will be doing something with robotics in his future).

Going to my parents for lunch to celebrate Easter with them tomorrow. I've got to get the oil changed and blades sharpened on the two zero turns, change the oil in the Mule and then I have some additions to my car hauler that desperately need done. The main one is to mount the winch to the deck, so I can drag several junk cars out of the property that we purchased next to ours, and I need to bring my Ford 4000 tractor up from the homestead so I can get a loader installed on it that has been setting at the shop for ages now.

 

[Buffalo]

Planned to cut more brush. But the rain has never let up. So I'm making a run to the dump and TSC. Back home and work in the basement. My garage door opener quit this morning. Can't complain its nearly 30 years old. Gotta set up a service call for Monday.

The real question will be whether or not the new opener lasts half as long as the old one!

 

[sonya123]

No longer sick, must have been just a 24 hour thing. The barn was a real mess this morning after the all day rain and everyone in yesterday.
Husband took some more animals to the auction truck today. One area of the barn is now empty ( well the dogs sleep in there at night) , we combined the remaining sheep.
It's supposed to freeze tonight so I covered up the plants I already put in the garden.
Going to make a ham for Easter tomorrow. No guests just us, we'll have leftovers.

 

[Peanut]

My neighbor called last night in dire need of bee hives and assorted parts. They caught 5 swarms this week (a big trac of timber was being cut across from their farm).

I had 6 full, 2x2 bee hives in my shop including frames to fill them if needed. (2x2- 2 hive bodies x 2 supers). Many of the frames were still in their shipping boxes. Now I have 4 hives left and a couple nuc boxes.

Sold my neighbor 2 complete hives (including 80 frames). Regular retail price for both would have been $700. Sold them for $100ea, even threw in vented base plates and queen screens. They should be set. I built these hives and painted them in my uncle's cabinet shop so I didn’t have anywhere near $700 invested. I thought $200 would be fair and help my neighbor out of a big bind. I was also promised 4q of honey this summer so I’m happy!

Worked on the old generator this afternoon, got the fuel tank fixed. Didn’t try to run it, do that tomorrow.

 

[Weedygarden]

Gone by 7 this morning to feed a cat.

Bought two apple trees at Sprouts. One is a Honeycrisp and the tag on it says it needs to be paired up with a Red Delicious or a Yellow Delicious. They didn't have any Yellows, so I bought a Red Delicious. They are not my favorite apple, but I've eaten plenty of them in my life.

Worked on combining duplicate spices, putting odd ball spices into new jars, and labeling the jars.

Cleaned, the subject that never ends!

Made a cheesecake for Easter dinner. Borrowed a spring form pan from a friend.
Fed the cat this afternoon.

 

[Bacpacker]

Went to the dump. Made a stop at TSC for some supplies. Ended up buying 6 Easter Egger pullets, a bag of chick starter, and a new heat lamp and a box of spare bulbs. Got the chicks home and put them off in a bushel basket and got the light on them right away. They got right under it. A little while alter a couple of them was pecking around the bottom looking for food. So I dumped a handful in there and all 6 went after it.
Had to do some work in the back of the basement to get a permenant spot set up for them. Needed to install some new LED flouresent lights I had bought a while abck. Got 2 of them put in, so much better light than the old one. Drug out half of a plastic dog kennel we have from the shop, got it back there with the wire mesh door. Scattered some straw around, set up the smallest feeder and waterer I could locate. and set up a chain to hang the lamp from so I can adjust the height to regulate the heat for the chicks. Moved them over and they all gathered under the light. But within a couple minutes a couple of them started wondering around and got in the food. All 6 was in it within 5 to 10 minutes. They are all active and feeding well. Now to keep them growing until the get their feathers and go in the coop/run I've got for them. Maybe have eggs by fall/winter.
Worked on moving/arranging stuff I had scattered around from when the water heater sprung a leak. Still got more to do tomorrow. But gotta get that done to clear the area for the garage door the to be able to access the area needed. That's gonna be either a pain in the butt, or the billfold. Probably both.
I've still got 3 trees and a couple of blueberries I need to get in the ground too. Plus more brush to cut.

 

[Amish Heart]

Hey Weedy, I use HyrBRIX fruit fertilizer. Got lucky and got a 50lb bag a year ago, last one at our feed store at an old price. It'll last a number of years.
Busy day today cooking and cleaning for tomorrow. Took a break and went into our small town, to the post office, thrift store, and amish grocery. Then we went to the other town to the bulk store for husband's favorite cheese (Troyer's natural swiss), and of course, I found other stuff, too. All of their prices went up, even sandwiches at the counter. Did get more red wheat berries, and also rye berries. A new thrift store opened up next to the bulk store, and it was pretty good. Run by mennonite ministries. Little granddaughter found some shoes, and I found some wax paper sandwich bags in bulk, and also 2 big packages of gauze and wound pads. Spent a whole $7 there. Banana pudding and dark chocolate cream pie made for tomorrow. Filled the freeze dryer with eggs.

 

[Bacpacker]

Forgot to mention a huge WIN for today.
I had ordered a new recliner back in Feburary. They said it wouldn't deliver until July or August. Then a couple weeks later they called and said the leather was no longer available. They had a different grade if I wanted to check it out. So went by the store and they had a better grade leather I could get for the same price. Well yes I'll go that route. As we were doing the paperwork I ask off hand if that would change the timing, NOPE. Last Monday I got a call that it was ready and call to set up delivery. Today was the first date available. It showed up about 4pm.
Got my butt firmly planted in it now....with a big ole grin on my face.

 

[Peanut]

@Bacpacker I bought several months supply of livestock feed recently. Added benefit, no reason to stop at the feed store and see the chicks in april/may.

Glad you got a great chair. Need a new recliner myself. Always have trouble finding one long enough. At your height I'm bettin' you might also!!! pm me!

 

[Spikedriver]

I'm in the market for another recliner too. The cheap one I bought 3 or 4 years ago was bonded leather, and it peeled off the backing where my head would rest. I put a sheet over it and now it's my daughter's chair in the living room. I bought a nicer one, I think it was a Lane, last year at Slumberland, and I think if they still have the same model available, I'll get another. If not, I'll bite the bullet and get a big man's La-Z-Boy. I'm only 6 feet tall, but my legs are so long my feet hang off of the footrest on most recliners...

 

[Bacpacker]

I'm in the market for another recliner too. The cheap one I bought 3 or 4 years ago was bonded leather, and it peeled off the backing where my head would rest. I put a sheet over it and now it's my daughter's chair in the living room. I bought a nicer one, I think it was a Lane, last year at Slumberland, and I think if they still have the same model available, I'll get another. If not, I'll bite the bullet and get a big man's La-Z-Boy. I'm only 6 feet tall, but my legs are so long my feet hang off of the footrest on most recliners...

The Lazy Boy big guy model is what i got and at 6-4 the foot rest is right near my heels. I am thrilled with it

 

[Grimm]

I had forgotten about Machinest. He had some great stories. Wish I had a bunch of them to go back to every now and then.

Wife and I had the day off today so we slept in a little. slow morning, then I got into our taxes. Finally got them finished up and filed. Looked up part way through and the wife had fallen back to sleep on the couch. She's appearently got a pinch nerve in her back that is causing severe pain in her leg. Had an MRI Monday and waiting on the Dr appt to find out for sure and what to do about it. They gave her some muscle relaxers to try and relieve the pain. It works, if she stays off it. But knocks her out pretty good. Hope they can get her fixed up pretty easy (PT).

I am sure I posted them here as PDFs.

 

[Grimm]

Machinist's stories were on PS, weren't they? Wasn't he deceased when HCL started? I am wondering if his stories could be shared here, still giving him the credit?

I thought I posted them here with his daughter's permission.

Edited***
I did.
https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/from-the-bottom-up-by-machinist.251/https://www.homesteadingforum.org/threads/not-quite-eden-by-machinist.253/
I have some more as PDFs so I will post those soon.

 

[Tommyice]

Yesterday was my Easter dinner with my cousins in South Jersey. As always, it was a wonderful day. Good food and good laughs. I had made my obligatory cheesecake but it was a little different this year. Dad picked up the Philly cream cheese when shopping but never saw the big, blue banner that proclaimed 1/3 less fat. The cake was creamy but not a rich tasting as normal. I remember my grandmother saying when asked about making a less fat cheesecake, "honey, just eat a 1/3 less cake."

Today I work. Our new techs aren't trained enough to work by themselves (and that is slow going) and the other full timer will never work a Sunday (she's orthodox Christian). So it's me. I get to listen to so many people voice their sorrow at me having to work on a holiday. Let's just say, some of them may be taken aback by my response.

 

[dademoss]

Happy Easter Everyone!

 

[Amish Heart]

He is risen indeed! Happy Easter, everyone