What's everybody doing today?

[montanabill]

Just having memories tonight and ...feel a bit sad

sometimes you just need a fat and furry horse hug.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Went down and picked up another load of stove oil to mix with the diesel. Still having problems keeping the generator running. I'll change out the fuel filters tomorrow and see if that helps.

 

[sonya123]

the nice weather is over, more rain coming and maybe some snow. I hope not. I want my nice weather back...

so chores today: put up plastic on the barn windows , we do that every year since the original windows were broke when we got here, easiest fix. Clean out some gutters filled with leaves, thinking about combining the goats and putting the bucks back together but maybe not, they might fight and hurt each other and we don't want that a week before they get sold, but its much harder trying to put them all somewhere separate in bad weather

will do some laundry before it rains again too

 

[snappy1]

Woke up early since I had no need to get up today.
Will walk first.
Pick up parking lot at Church and shovel out gutters at road.
Walk dogs.
Take ebay photos.
Label office folders for next year.
Nothing else on list, but it is going to be a beautiful day, weather wise!

 

[Pearl]

My only day off, so I need to get my rear in gear and catch up around here ( ha ha, that rhymes)! Lots of laundry, need to clean the house, bring firewood inside for next week and cover some from the upcoming rain. A lot of little things on my list too!! I took on a new client recently, but I'll be losing a widow man soon, he is moving to assisted living closer to his son! That will give me a little breathing room!

 

[Amish Heart]

the nice weather is over, more rain coming and maybe some snow. I hope not. I want my nice weather back...

so chores today: put up plastic on the barn windows , we do that every year since the original windows were broke when we got here, easiest fix. Clean out some gutters filled with leaves, thinking about combining the goats and putting the bucks back together but maybe not, they might fight and hurt each other and we don't want that a week before they get sold, but its much harder trying to put them all somewhere separate in bad weather

will do some laundry before it rains again too

Have not put our plastic up on the coop windows yet, but maybe next week. I do the same to keep some of the cold out.

 

[Tommyice]

Oh, one interesting and useful tidbit of knowledge gleaned from my trip... I didn’t take my laptop. At the hotel I realized it’s carry bag has all my travel cables including the charging cables for both my phones, bummer. However, I keep a universal charging cable in my truck so I can charge while driving. The truck cable connects to a plug into the cigarette lighter receptacle.

What I discovered last night… The lighter receptacle always has power, even with the engine turned off and the key in my pocket. So, I can charge phones, even my laptop in the truck while it’s sitting in a parking lot. Just lock the doors and walk away. I guess cigarette lighters were still important in ‘02 when my truck was made.

Is your truck a GMC/Chevy? I discovered that during Hurricane Sandy. My neighbor drove a Honda and she had to be driving for her phone to charge. Mine was sitting in the truck in the garage. Mine's an 05 Envoy.

 

[Tommyice]

Took Dad for his consult with the oral surgeon for his PET scan reading yesterday. The squamous cell carcinoma is stage 3 with some lymphs in the neck area affected (down to level 2--there are 5 levels of the neck). He indicated that the surgery would be to remove what's left of the tumor (not much) and some good margins (he'll probably still have teeth in the area) and clean up the lymph area. Maybe some chemo or radiation (not too intensive). He said what's cooking in dad is remediable.

He gave the names of two doctors/surgeons that he would trust himself to do the surgery and aftercare. One is in Mt. Sinai in NYC and has over 20 years doing this type of work. The other is in a hospital close by us and is younger--only about 10 years experience. The second one is also associated with Rutgers University oncology research. I'll be researching these two and we'll make a decision. He's already telling me he thinks he would want to go to the one closer to us. Easier for my brother and I. My brother spoke to him last night and told him to the one that will do the best and if that's NYC, it's NYC. We'll deal with it. Either way, at the end of the day, life's a crap shoot.

Needless to say, yesterday he was very low. The doctor gave a prescription for better pain management than just Tylenol and he wasn't in pain when I went over to check on him. It's not a screaming pain more of an annoying "I'm here" type of pain. He was feeling so good, in fact, he wanted to go to Harbor Freight. He got an email that showcased a small tool chest that he wanted to get for his wood turning tools. Also a new splitting maul that I would be able to handle to split some wood for the stove.

Me? I'm exhausted thinking about all of the crap I have to do.

 

[Peanut]

Is your truck a GMC/Chevy? I discovered that during Hurricane Sandy. My neighbor drove a Honda and she had to be driving for her phone to charge. Mine was sitting in the truck in the garage. Mine's an 05 Envoy.

Yep, a silverado. It's actually a useful feature for me. I combine plant hunting with trips to town for groceries etc. Sometimes I drain my phone or laptop pretty low. Now I know I can charge them while I'm in a store shopping. Or as in your case during an emergency. No need to waste fuel running the engine just to charge a phone.

Glad I noticed this handy 'feature'. I was charging my phone driving a few blocks from my hotel to a restaurant. I parked, turned off the engine, pulled the key. Was about to unplug my phone from the cable when I noticed the 'charging indicator' was still displayed. So I tested it in a couple scenarios, yep, the lighter port has 12volts at all times.

Forgot to mention yesterday, got good news about my eye that got hurt back in sept. It checked fine, no damage could be found. Doc thinks it was a combination of several little things causing slight blurring. The big one, the new lens they put in during surgery “settled” over time causing a slight vision change. This was an expected and measurable change they forgot to warn me about. Or if they did I forgot… So… my new glasses should arrive in a few days. This should fix the issue.

Nothing major on my schedule, just laundry and other household chores. The overnight trip to the big city always wipes me out so I'm moving slow today.

 

[Hooch]

I had a great day yesterday..
Went down below to bimart and a big grocery store ridleys. Got a few things then drove back up the mountain , dropped off stuff..made some important calls, then loaded up pups n went to town to get car serviced. Walked pups around town while that was going on.
Then back home to deal with stuff, laundry, broke my storm door handle so now I have to fix that today.
I managed to stay up till 9pm!
But I still got up at 0430..gah..

Today...

Dump run,
replace door handle on storm door,
walk pups,
meeting group at 2,
Probably another dog walk
Get laptop on hook up external drive n get my book writing software onto laptop
Get wood stove going..going to start snowing tonight I think..it's cold..
Enjoy a quiet night writing by the wood stove with snowing outside

 

[Tirediron]

Went down and picked up another load of stove oil to mix with the diesel. Still having problems keeping the generator running. I'll change out the fuel filters tomorrow and see if that helps.

Modern fuel sometimes builds a gell that needs to be flushed out of the tank and lines, it actually resembles snot, conditioners don' t seem to do much, I usually drain the tank , run the fuel through a strainer to get the worst of it out,add fresh fuel (stove fuel would be ideal) then circulate it through a 10 micron fuel/water seperator for a couple of hours, its a bit of a pain, but well worth the effort IMO

 

[Peanut]

Went down and picked up another load of stove oil to mix with the diesel. Still having problems keeping the generator running. I'll change out the fuel filters tomorrow and see if that helps.

Everyone here is complaining about fuel quality. I can't store gasoline more than 30 days. Diesel is worse! Every logger I know is complaining about it.

The oil companies changed something fundamental, seems they removed something that stabilized fuel. The epa was probably behind it... my op... it's a top down control measure... to control the population. If fuel is no good after 30days it gives them control over the population, making us dependent. They can say who can or can't have fuel if no one can store it for more than a few weeks.

That part is my opinion. What isn't my op is that gasoline and especially diesel is crap right now.

 

[zannej]

Yesterday I got up early to go to the appointment to get my new tires on. Got there and found out my appointment had been canceled bc the tires weren't there. I rescheduled for 4pm. Long story short, that appointment didn't go through, there was a mixup, and they worked on the tires of people who came in after me and didn't even start on my tires until around 6:45 and didn't finish until around 7:30. The clerks were very apologetic. I think my tires would have been done sooner if the one clerk hadn't gone home for the day and next person changed the order of the jobs. At least I think that's what happened. There was a customer who raised a stink and delayed them on getting work done. Her appointment was canceled too. Another customer also had his appointment canceled. I was there before others but somehow my job got put to the back of the line and very last.

Today AT&T tech called asking for directions. I assured him the problem wasn't on my end. He checked and confirmed it showed a break 6 miles away. After about 30min my landline rang. He found a box on the highway with the wires dangling in the wind and the lid not on right and someone had disconnected my line. He reconnected it and put the lid back on right. Sound quality is garbage but at least it rings.

Currently waiting for my friend to get off work so I can take him up to get some stuff from HD.

 

[Pearl]

It's 76° and I am going to bring firewood in the house!! There's a chance of rain out my way in the morning, so now's the time! Got to watch for snakes!! Got the laundry off the line, draining the pool down past the inlet jet then will drain the pump and equipment! Bear's pool is put up for the winter!! Aside from the wind it's really nice outside!! So I'm off to gather winter fuel!!

 

[LadyLocust]

Began cleaning the summer kitchen. This will be interesting- as I wash things I don’t have any other place to put them so the house is looking chaotic and I’ve barely put a dent in it. Haven’t even begun to wash my jars or the crates they are in. My hands were getting too pruned. Hubby got me some gloves that seem to help. Everything is so stinky and nasty. Little by little.
Hubby is catching a cold so is taking a nap which he needs. Neither of us have been sleeping well. Looks like today is our last clear day for the next week.

 

[Amish Heart]

I don't envy that you're going thru, Lady L. Keep your chin up. I'm glad some things survived.
Stuff done around here today...little granddaughter cleaned out another big coop. Mostly lots of activity outside...neighbor Marlon hosts church tomorrow. He thought it'd be small because many left for a minister's funeral in OK. But another district (North district) decided to cancel so they're all coming to his place. Just saw him bring over another tractor load. Things have to be perfect and spic and span for church. Our roundtop is now full of equipment. One barn is semi full. The open barn is cleaned out and ready for horses, there's a big trailer of round bales (on the trailer) near our roundtop, ready to tie out horses to. The plan I think is for the buggies to be on his property and the horses on ours near our path connecting our properties. I think I'd better keep the pup on a tie out tomorrow till afternoon, don't want him bugging all the horses.
Got a large egg custard made, a big bowl of cut fruit, 9 grain bread, and a dz bran muffins. Now dinner. Finished the bathroom painting. Think I'm going to put the paint away and do the screen porch another time. Company comes in a week.

 

[LadyLocust]

Oh yeah. I did make my two loaves of sourdough and the cinnamon rolls.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Today I got the tire chains on the tractor and put the back blade on. I transfered about 50 gallons of stove oil to the generators day tank and some to the bulk tank. I'll probably get another 80 gallons of stove oil. I was planing on adding a brace to the chimney on the fur shed. There was about 3 inches of ice and snow on the roof. After I slipped and fell I gave up on that project. I don't know what's going on, but I fell inside the generator shed too. Good thing the battery bank was there to break my fall. For reasons I can't figure out yet, the new charge controller quit working. For now we're only getting power from the old solar array. Oh yeah, the sewer line is plugged again! Contrary to what many people may think, mucking around in the sewer isn't really as much fun as it may sound like.

 

[zannej]

Took my friend to HD and used my ProX account to get discount and points. With the discount but after the taxes his stuff was over $600. I had previously picked most of the stuff for him online and helped him with a list. Helped him find stuff in the store, and then we headed back to town. We went to the house he's buying to drop stuff off and I got a tour. I know he's getting rid of the cabinet hardware and it matches the hardware for my bathroom. I told him that and said "I'm stealing these!" and he laughed and said to go ahead. I won't take them til its time to demo the kitchen though. Very interesting layout. I saw vinyl plank curled up in one spot-- water damage I guess. concrete floor & they probably didn't use vapor barrier. There are some boxes of the vinyl plank in the closet though so might be enough to pull it up and put down vapor barrier. He does want newer flooring in there though.

I found a couple of issues he hadn't noticed-- hallway bathroom door won't shut all the way-- gets stuck on the top of the frame. Planer should handle that. Stains on ceiling tiles in laundry room. Minor stuff. He needs 2 more GFCI outlets that he forgot about but those can be purchased locally. The wall plates, switches, and regular outlets were a bulk purchase thing. Still need to get a good dustbin and some brooms.

The workshop looked neat. Looks like a tree fell and did some damage but it can be repaired. IMO, a jack, 1x4 post, some 1x8s and some lag bolts should fix it. A piece of tin on top and some flex seal can get it to where it isn't at risk of falling down. Bathrooms are ugly but functional. Laundry room is a good size. Plenty of storage. Has an extra bedroom that can be used as a sewing room. Car port is decent. Plenty of room in the driveway to turn around. Cattle guard needs to be filled in. I didn't go into the barn yet but will look later.

Went to Walmart afterward and then dropped friend off at home. Popped in to say Hi to his wife. Held Kelebrimbor for a little bit, headed home and cooked for Mom.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Everyone here is complaining about fuel quality. I can't store gasoline more than 30 days. Diesel is worse! Every logger I know is complaining about it.

The oil companies changed something fundamental, seems they removed something that stabilized fuel. The epa was probably behind it... my op... it's a top down control measure... to control the population. If fuel is no good after 30days it gives them control over the population, making us dependent. They can say who can or can't have fuel if no one can store it for more than a few weeks.

That part is my opinion. What isn't my op is that gasoline and especially diesel is crap right now.

My whole issue is that I ordered a 50/50 mix of stove oil and treated winter diesel to be delivered by the end of September. For some reason the (new) delivery driver decided that was too early for winter diesel, so he delivered untreated summer diesel. I ordered it early because anytime after October 1st we can get rain, cold or snow making it difficult getting the fuel truck up to our place.
I think I'm getting quality fuel, plus I have 5 filters and water separators between the tanks and the generator. Since my tanks were all full I had to drain some diesel out to make room for the stove oil. I think I need another 55 gallons of stove oil to bring it up to a 50/50 mix. Early this morning I had to go up and babysit the generator again to keep it running. I find it really infuriating that the damn truck driver took it upon himself to change my order. This has cost me a lot of unnecessary work and loss of sleep.

 

[zannej]

Can you call and tell the delivery guy that wasn't what you ordered and have him take it back? Or is it too late? I'd be so mad at the bait and switch on that.

meanwhile, just ordered struts for my truck. Friend said they were due because it's pretty bouncy. My brother starts yelling about it when I'm driving. Sometimes I hit big bumps just to piss him off.

 

[Mountain trapper]

Can you call and tell the delivery guy that wasn't what you ordered and have him take it back? Or is it too late? I'd be so mad at the bait and switch on that.

meanwhile, just ordered struts for my truck. Friend said they were due because it's pretty bouncy. My brother starts yelling about it when I'm driving. Sometimes I hit big bumps just to piss him off.

I talked with the manager at the Co-Op and he would have come and drained the tank. But by the time i relized what had happened our road was already getting bad. I'll just have to deal with it myself.

 

[hashbrown]

Jake is supposed to fly his first solo this morning but looking at the weather forecast I kind of think that won’t happen.

 

[sonya123]

It is super foggy out and cold, hope the animals are ok, we left them all out ( they do all have some sort of shelter)

Lady Locust: LOL, that is what I do when I am stressed, bake something! What caused your fire?

Zannej: I cannot imagine living with my mother and my brother...( my mother is gone now anyway)! I don't know how you do it. I love my brother mostly but I do NOT want to live with him, ever LOL

Mountain Trapper: good luck with your generator and solar, we are still working on ours too

today I am going to attempt baking german gingerbread cookies without some of the proper ingredients to see if it works good enough to make some for the Christmas market. They need potassium carbonate, but all I have is baking powder and soda, so I will mix those 2 and see what happens. I also don't have the seasoning so I will mix it myself out of cinnamon, cardamon and allspice maybe

Animal care first, we also need to start doing some sort of inventory and decide who all is leaving us if the weather holds up. It better, we need to sell these animals before we use up all our hay before winter even starts. There is still snow forecast for Thursday and Friday, not a lot but even an inch will be a problem here getting trailer off the mountain. If it is icy we will have to dump hot water on the icy spots ( done this before ) , supposed to be super windy also , another problem. Stupid weather


I also need to get the rest of the kale and collards out of the garden, I think there are a few cabbages left also before they freeze. Plus we need to figure out something new for son's house. His water freezes every winter because the line is exposed and no matter what we use for insulation it still seems to freeze

 

[old tex]

I have very minor goals today. I want to put the edging on my new planters, which came with them. I want to raise one shelf in a cabinet so that something tall can fit in. I need to get everything outside ready in case it rains (we have an 86% chance of rain later). I going to go collect menu's for the coming holiday so we can order the meal as take out. There's 3 places we are considering. And then there's that last thing that I can't remember. As I've gotten older I've found that there is always a "last thing" that I need to do that I can't remember.

 

[Pearl]

Going to clean my building and run by Walmart quick for a few things. I'm taking the car , it needs gas, so I'll stop for that too! I have a bunch of laundry to put away and a little more to do when I get home. Definitely taking a nap today!!

 

[Mountain trapper]

It's cold, snowing and windy this morning. As soon as it gets light out I need to dig up the septic tank again. It's stopped up clear to the house. I need to find a good plumber to come out and assess what the problem is and what needs to be done to fix it. I'll make some calls in the morning. It's a good thing we still have an outhouse.

 

[winds-of-change]

Our last day on vacation. Heading home today.

 

[d_marsh]

I am back after a few fun/wild days in a luxury hotel with the lady. Finally returned home last night and got back into our normal rhythm, sans cooking dinner. After eating fancy for 2 1/2 days I was due for a bologna sandwich and a soda. This morning I got up, made some strong coffee, jumped online and here I am. I have brunch to make here in a little bit, think I am going to go with a simple scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice meal. Otherwise I am not sure what today will hold other than online house shopping. For some reason the lady is now in 4th gear when it comes to laying down roots.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I heard the backup generator running early this morning. Looks like I may have gotten the right stove oil to diesel ratio figured out.
Yesterday I got the Starlink mounted on a pole. It's about 8 feet high and still working.