What are you doing today? [Part II]

[azswiss]

Cleaned the grandfather clock that has been in our family since 1872. Still going strong after 150 years, can't let it stop on my watch (no pun intended). Brush the gear teeth, then clean & lightly lubricate the bronze bushings/pinshafts.

 

[flyboy2610]

That is one nice clock! They don't build things to last THAT long anymore!

 

[Joe_67]

Caught 8 fish - 5 Pompano, 3 "sea mullet" (kingfish/whiting). If I'd kept them all and put them on a scale, I think the total weight would have been like 8oz.

No kidding - didn't bother with pics. Just stop at the local pet store and check out an aquarium.

But who cares? I had beach and sunshine and beer.

 

[flyboy2610]

Went to a dentist appointment today. Looks like I have a tooth that's going to have to come out. Regular dentists don't do extractions anymore, they send you to an oral surgeon. Oh, fun.

 

[mrrsm]

Following Up on Post #1,234 with MORE Aggravation...

I suppose I deserve some 'gentle ribbing' from time to time about being "A Man of Too Many Absolutes..." from @Mounce and @Mooseman for not taking the simple and direct route to arrive at "The Simplest Possible Fix".

But as I've said time and again... "I Never do ANYTHING By Halves..." and THIS is a situation that supports that proposition ...TIMES TWO...!

In addition to ordering the Toter Plastic Wheels and Axle Replacement Kit... I went much further by obtaining some Extended Lengths of both Water Hardened Tool Drill Steel and Zinc Plated 5/8" X 36" Rods, so that I could pick and choose a BETTER and more durable and reliable combination of Thrust Washers and Locking Fasteners, then chase some New 5/8" X 11 TPI Threads on the two ends and Cut the New Axle "Down To Size".

@Mounce might mention, "Bobby... What do you NEED all of that OTHER Stuff for...? Man... Just take off the Old Wheels, Pull out that Old Axle, then put on those New Ones AND FOR CHISSAKES... Pop on the Keepers JUST BE DONE WITH IT ALREADY!"

Well, I would, Brother. But since I am STILL Held Hostage down in "TRASH BIN HELL" ...that approach will NEVER be possible because the Idiot that put this TOTER Repair Kit together Put Two DIFFERENT Plastic Wheels having the Same OD, but DIFFERENT Blow Molded Plastic Axle Port Widths and Thicknesses near their Centers.

So the Replacement Axle which was cut PRECISELY to a 22" Length, DOES NOT REACH ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO THE OTHER SIDE!

And so... Now that I feel a bit more vindicated about going the Extra Mile, I have the Materials, the Tools and the Skill Set needed to literally "Make my OWN way OUT of this Purgatory." So I'll Sally Forth with using all of this Back Up gear (in One Fastener Combinations or Another) as displayed in the Images below:



Next "Stop" ... The "Axle Thread & Chop Shop" in my Garage. :>)

 

[Mooseman]

Went to my childhood home on the other side of the river. My eldest son is living in it now and it has a few issues. During heavy rain and ice melt, water gets in through the rear patio door, which is at ground level. The patio stones that are there were actually laid by my dad more than 40 years ago and it shows. Water will pool near the door and leak in. My mom had some work done years ago but it was poorly done with weeping tiles that go to nowhere, and did nothing about the stones that sank towards the door.

As a child, I remembered that there was either a drain or dry well in between the two properties. I found it and it was full of dirt so unusable. Just looking around, I found a round depression right in the middle of the yard. Digging it up, I find a newer dry well however it had lots of dirt on top. Digging down, I find some nice gravel in there. Putting the water hose to it, it takes the water quite nicely so I have made a plan on how to use it by directing new weeping tiles to it. I will also use it to bring the eavestrough water to it too and will abandon the crap system that was done in front.

I will have to borrow my BIL's tractor, that has a backhoe, as there are a lot of stones and unused gardens that need to be bulldozed. The concrete work at the front will have to be done probably next year, as well as the fence.

A lot of work ahead...

 

[mrrsm]

As soon as I read this... I remembered seeing something Andrew Camarata recorded on a similar situation that may prove helpful with your own.

"A LOT of Work" ...is THE Understatement of 2022.

 

[mrrsm]

Closing Out Post #s 1,234, 1,237 & 1,245…

The Toter "Trash Bin From Hell" Case IS FINALLY Closed:

 

[azswiss]

No spinners?

 

[BrianF]

Currently have a chicken on the Traeger before I'm off to work.

Now the shitry part. Was downstairs doing some laundry and playing around with the next batch of guns when I decided to check our stand up freezer. Well wouldn't you know it, the pump quit. I lost about 30 pounds of my new beef. A few steaks but mostly my big roasts.

The damn thing always finds a way for the door to prop open and so I am in the habit of just randomly checking it. Well the door was closed and the breaker wasn't tripped. Could have been worse I guess.....

 

[mrrsm]

Say @BrianF...

Have you seen these WIFI Devices over on Amazon?

Amazon.com : FAILED FREEZER BLUE TOOTH ALARM

 

[BrianF]

Ok so those monitor options are cool!! I had no idea! I will review them with my wife and get one of them. Aside from the usual odds and ends, we picked up half a beef last month. That's a lot of investment and food security.

On a side note, the chicken turned out great. Used Traeger chicken rub and cooked to about 180F. Had fresh garden potatoes and carrots as well.

On another side note, we have people over this weekend as my wife is hosting a working equitation clinic. The boss dropped off a massive pork loin for the smoker so I will be getting that seasoned up tomorrow.

 

[mrrsm]

This risk of having this kind of High Dollar Value Food Loss if there are are Power Loss problems to the Freezers is the other half of the solution...as long as all arrangements are made to move the Carbon Monoxide Exhaust Fumes and Fire Hazard well away from either the Barn(s) or the House, as the case may be:

Amazon.com : Dual propane-gasoline powered generator for farm use

 

[Blckshdw]

I think in a former life, I might have been a plumber. I'm having another toilet misadventure, but thankfully not as difficult to troubleshoot as the one earlier this year. Some time ago, I noticed the fill valve in the tank would leak from the top, spraying against the underside of the tank lid. If the lid had any slack on the handle side, water would seep through and drip down the side of the tank. Minor annoyance, figured I'd take care of that when something else needed fixing. Well earlier this week, started noticing some drips under the tank.

On closer look, there was a droplet hanging from the bottom of one of the tank bolts. Looking in the tank, the bolt heads were a bit rusty, so might as well replace those, do the seals, and drop in a new fill valve. Picked up the goods yesterday, and got to it after work. One quick surprise was the state of the tank to bowl seal. It was all screwed up like the last person to replace it put the seal in, and the tank on top of it. There were obvious signs of previous leaks there too at some point. Ahh the reminders that my house was a rental before I bought it...



Cleaned that up, and replaced the seal. Everything else went in normally. When I turned the water back on, had some spraying from the connection to the fill valve. Had to reseat the hose, then it was fine. Couple of test flushes to check for leaks from the tank, and there weren't any, so started cleaning up.

Before I left, took one more look, and now see a couple of drops on the floor under the stop valve. Feeling around, it's not coming from either of the threaded areas, but from the handle itself. Went to shut off the valve again and the plastic handle broke, causing it to free spin. Took out the center screw to find the plastic had split along both sides of the shaft, making it lose its grip on the valve. Channel locks to the rescue, but the leak didn't stop. Fiddling with it more just made the leak worse so had to go to plan C.

Crawled up in the attic (thankfully there's an access point right next to the bathroom) and found the shut off valve to the cold water line that feeds the sink and toilet. Got the stop valve off at the wall, on closer look there were some hard water deposits, so my guess is they built up over time damaging the seals, and moving the valve broke them free causing the leak. Picked up a new valve this morning and got it installed, but will wait until the rain storms come through to cool down the attic before I try turning the water back on. Worried about leaks, I put a few wraps of teflon tape on the threads. If that thing leaks while I'm in the attic, it will take me a bit to get back down to check it. And the last thing I wanna be doing is going back and forth up there.

Also stopped at the grocery store for a few things, and tested negative for covid, after dealing with that for the last 2 weeks.

 

[BrianF]

Boys, I did the 9 pound pork loin. Dry rub and then 7.5 hours on the Traeger. 4 at 225F unwrapped. 2 wrapped in tinfoil with some brown sugar and apple cider vinegar and the remaining at 250F. I went for about 200F internal. She rested for close to another hour while I prepped the corn on the cob. I used rubber gloves and just shredded the meat like nothing. My most discerning consumers are my kids and they said it was good to go.

Life is good boys! Oh and no staged photos...

 

[mrrsm]

I was just trying out the JWST On-Line Image Warehouse, looking around at some “Local Group” Star and Galaxy Systems, searching some of the Images recently captured ‘so very far away’ by The James Webb Space Telescope. Here is some "New Eye Candy for The Soul":

It has successfully arrived and after nearly 500 on-board movements of action of its cables and servos while unfolding like an Origami Puzzle, it is now fully expanded and parked 1.5 Million Kilometers away between the Earth and the Moon in “L2” (perfectly situated at a gravitational "Sweet Spot" called La Grange Point # Two).

Then they Cooled The JWST down to within 3 Degrees of Absolute Zero. This allows this amazing machine to be able to see so much more of the "Warm" Universe in the Near Infra-Red and Infra-Red Energy Spectrum. Drop in at THIS Link and Try entering expressions like:

Large Magellanic Cloud
Small Magellanic Cloud
Orion’s Belt
Betelgeuse
Andromeda Galaxy
Jupiter

...and so forth

So… If you have some Time To Kill… You will NOT be disappointed visiting THESE Places:

https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html

ZZ-Top “La Grange” from their “Tres Hombres” Album

 

[Mooseman]

Yesterday, went to a Holden/GM cruise meet. Only about 10 cars however those that were there were really nice, mostly G8's. My Caprice got lots of attention seeing it's probably the only one in Canada. However, it got beat by a Ute, and a HSV Maloo at that. Even I never thought I'd ever see one. It was converted to left hand drive because he wouldn't have even been able to register it (has to be at least 25 years old for that) using GTO parts over the winter. The owner is an Aussie ex-pat and brought it with him. There were only 5 built that year in red and this one is likely the only one with left hand drive. And it's even a stick! Amazing!



And then THIS showed up, Parked close enough just so we can see it and make fun of it. Guy was lucky he just got out and went to the mall.


Like, WTF? And it's all cardboard! Certainly can't drive it in the rain. I'm surprised he hasn't gotten a ticket for obstructed view or insecure body parts

Then we drove to the back parking lot of a Cineplex and joined up with another cruise night, mostly kids with their imports. Our organizer setup a grill for some burgers and dogs while we continued talking about cars, the Ute and other stuff.

Lots of fun and made some new friends with common interests. May even be able to help the Ute owner with my Tech 2 as he's having issues to program new keys because, well, weird Aussie stuff.

 

[flyboy2610]

That's known as CAD. Cardboard aided design.

 

[TollKeeper]

I thought it was Canadian aided design?

 

[azswiss]

Low cost though, clearly done on the jeep!

 

[TollKeeper]

Took the kids and wife to the museum. This Envoy needs a bigger engine/shorter gears!

 

[TollKeeper]

Last Night.. Finished rebuilding my computer. First time I have ever had a CPU failure. But went thru the gambit of replacing everything else before I replaced that.

Case: NZXT H210i
PSU: EVGA 850 Gold
Motherboard: ASRock ITX/TB3 Phantom Gaming X570
Memory: GSkill Trident Z Neo 3600mhz 2x8G
CPU: AMD 5600x
Video: MSI Radeon RX Vega64
M2: Sabrent 2tb Rocket-Q
SSD: Samsung 870EVO 2tb
120 XSPC Radiator on the left
240 XSPC Radiator on the right
Various XSPC and Bitspower Fittings
4x Noctua Cooling Fans
EK Kinetic Water Pump/Reservoir

 

[Mooseman]

Well, today I got stoned




Started tearing up the yard at my son's place with the tractor I towed over the weekend. That tractor, although useful, is just too big for this tiny yard but it saves me on renting one, and my back a bit. Still had to lift most of the stones by hand either onto the pile or into the tractor's bucket so I'm sore and tired. And that tractor throws a lot of heat. I'll likely have to rent a skidsteer for the final grading and cleanup. I've only done about half of the patio stones so far.

 

[BrianF]

Spent some time on the skid steer today. Greased all her nipples up, blew the dust out of the air filter, various heat exchangersand two cabin filters. She was jam packed and thankfully the air flow in the HVAC is back up to snuff. Then I went and moved some round bales up from the field.

Now, because I cannot just not fiddle with things.... the door has a slight misalignment and I wanted that corrected and play around with the emergency release handles. Well, little did I know, they are one use handles. They have a cammed lock to unlock but the cam is one direction so they do not close.

I just found some YouTube videos on how to get around this and save a guy a pile of hassle. So tomorrow I will get her all fixed up. Later this fall I am going to lift the cab and have a look at how dirty the chassis is..... and probably wreck something along the way.

 

[BrianF]

With a second set of hands, its done. While single use, you can get the cam to work backwards, just not using the main handle. She's popped back in, adjust it and the hinge, now the door closes slick as snot.

 

[BrianF]

So the facility hosted a ferrier day today and while that went down I did some much needed maintenance on the Yamaha Wolverine side by side. The ebrake did not work and the adjustment is somewhat involved. Tore down the center console and intake ducting. Then you pull the caliper, rotate it and adjust the bolt. Now she locks up nice.

Knocked out a pile of dirt and crap with a vacuum and compressed air. Then onto the oil. Had no time to shop around so I payed a pretty penny for Yamalube 0w40, filter and NGK plugs. Of course it's an involved process but she's all done... well almost. When she cools off I will do plugs and check the spark arrestor.

Then my Polaris Magnum quit. Was leaking gas as ny wife was trying to use it. Looks like the carb over flow is leaking. So the carb may need to come off as I surmise the needle valve is jammed. Great..... now that is an involved job.

 

[mrrsm]

Early this morning, I managed to replace my Arrow Shed Entry Ramp with that New Tri-Fold Aluminum Unit and for the first time ever... I rode on an Electric Machine around in the errant Tall Grass, mowing it all down ...in the middle of Thunder and Rain. That 50" X 60" Ramp is an absolute God-Send of EZ Access Now!!!.

But when maneauvering around in the back yard, I soon encountered a stark danger to my dwelling caused when one of a Tall Stand of Evergreen Trees only a foot or so adjacent to my backyard fence had broken loose from high above and crashed down into the yard. When I peered up the nearly 80 feet or so... I could see that the rest of that tree is presently rotting and leaning dangerously towards my roof.

The property adjacent mine right there is owned by my long suffering Quadriplegic Neighbor, "Merritt'. Knowing him, he would want to be advised that this tree was now apparently 'Dead as a Door Nail', breaking apart during a recent Florida Thunderstorm and is yet likely to fall down on top of my House.

I decided to immediately ride on the Ryobi Mower around the block and briefly visit with "Merritt" ASAP; but just long enough to alert him of this issue. By coincidence, I saw his Property Care Taker, "Tom" just as I arrived in the Driveway as I rode up.

He invited me to "Ride On" and point out the exact location and the problem. When he spied the situation, he quickly gasped and and said, "Bobby... When Merritt comes back... we will have this Dead Tree taken down..." So...Hopefully, This Looming Crisis will soon be averted.

 

[Blckshdw]

tree is presently rotting and leaning dangerously towards my roof.

I've had enough tree vs roof drama for my lifetime. Glad to hear that's gonna get taken care of before any damage occurs (hopefully)

That 50" X 60" Ramp is an absolute God-Send of EZ Access Now!!!.

I ended up building a ramp that sounds similar to your previous one, out of scrap 2x4. Essentially consists of 2 side rails, a top brace and center brace to keep them aligned in place.

I always back my mower into the shed, so coming out is easy, but there was a time where I got caught by some rain, and the wet tires didn't grip the side rails as well and slid off to one side. No tipping over, but bottoming out the rear so the drive wheels were off the ground was fun to deal with.

Another time, I also had a low tire pressure issue, that caused the tire to unseat from the rim, which made the back of the mower slip off one of the side rails. That was actually fortunate, since that allowed me to get a ratchet strap around the tire without needing to get a jack. If I had money to spare, I'd get a ramp like that.

Over the weekend I picked up a 7 cu ft dump cart, and assembled it the other day. Not quite as fun as some of the yard toys @Mooseman and @BrianF are playing with, but this will make some tasks a lot easier especially way in the back of my property. The pull handle can be converted so I can hook it up to the riding mower.

 

[northcreek]

When Merritt comes back... we will have this Dead Tree taken down..." So...Hopefully, This Looming Crisis will soon be averted.

Good call, please do some pics....

 

[mrrsm]

Yeah... 'The Lil' Woman' gave me that, "Bob... Trust Merritt... but VERIFY...You Better Get Some Pictures..." sort of look this morning. So I just ambled out back in the cool morning air and after my lens stopped fogging up a bit, I snapped some,

"BEFORE IT 'SNAPPED' OFF AND FELL ON THE HOUSE ...RIGHT AFTER I WARNED YOU ABOUT IT..." Images...

... Just In Case I don't hear the TREE SURGEON TRUCKS PULL UP BACK THERE WITH SOME CHAIN SAWS WORKING TO TAKE DOWN THAT DAMNED, DEAD THING, REAL SOON:



And for @Blckshdw ... these Ramps have "LAMPREY EEL" - like Teeth for really getting a Good Grip on the Wet Tires:

 

[Matt]

I spent last Wednesday to Friday in Florida at TPC Sawgrass playing golf at an event with Mizuno. What a wild time!

 

[TollKeeper]

Took the kiddo out for a haircut.. It was a transformative haircut

Before and After.

 

[Mooseman]

Spent the weekend moving the stones from my mom's place. Three trips with a rented dump trailer. I had gotten a quote for a thrash container but at $700, I'll take the $250 trailer rental instead. Had to mostly load the tractor's bucket by hand as it wasn't able to load them by itself. First load I did by myself on Sat, put about half a load in the trailer and dumped at our cottage where the BIL wants to use it as fill for the road.

Second load went fast as we were myself, my son and Mrs. Moose to do the loading and pulling the last of the stones out of the ground. While loading the bucket, I did this AGAIN!




The nail hadn't even finished growing back from the last time in May. Let's just say I invented new cuss words.

The second load may have been a bit too much because the trailer brakes didn't do much. It just went so fast to load it. Going down the hill at the cottage was a very slow affair, especially since it was raining and made things slick.

The third and final load was very light. It could have been with the first load but oh well. The stones are gone. Used a whole tank of fuel and averaged about 17 MPG for the whole weekend. Even when it was very loaded down, the Sierra pulled it like a champ.

Here a quick video of the first load getting dumped.

Raining too much today to do anything as I don't want to be like a 2 year old playing in mud.

 

[flyboy2610]

Went to work and had to deal with the usual stupidity there.
6 years, 1 month, 11 days and I don't have to go back! Ever!
I have to stick it out that long because my wife doesn't have insurance at her job, and she'll turn 65 5 months before my full retirement age. Then she can go on Medicare.

 

[BrianF]

Yesterday I did up a 5 pound rump roast on the Traeger. 2 hours at 225F to smoke, then aluminum foil wrap for the remaining 3 hours. Temp increased to 350F to finish. It hit 190F internal, which was a bit higher than I wanted but still damn fine.

 

[BrianF]

Well the saga continues over at the Crimetown ranch. I got some time to rip down the Magnum to access the carb. Not fun. So I get the carb off enough to access the bowl and hear a rattling sound. I thought it might be an easy fix thinking the needle valve fell out. Nope, the damn main jet fell out. WTF?? Never seen that before, mind you, I don't mess with a lot of Mikuni carbs.

So she wiggled out over time and eventually fell out completely, jamming the float. Now to make things better, the threads of the jet are all rolled and I can't replace it.

Well I will rip into town tomorrow to a couple bike shops to find the factory 152.2. Thankfully it still has its numbering.

Now this would explain my issues I have been having. It seemed like a rich bog when you open up the throttle under load. Hence why it ran better when I removed the airbox lid. Well then.

But, on a fun note, my wife and oldest just checked into the Canadian National Arab show in Red Deer, Alberta. They made the trip in good order so my youngest and I have a pizza night planned. I have homemade dough ready to go, bought all the toppings and also grabbed some toppings for a sundae bar for desert. Then watch a movie. She has the Harry Potter series and has been eager for us to watch with her.

 

[xavierny25]

Catching up with threads and posts on the site. I've been busy with life stuff. Here's some outdoor Halloween yard decorations the wife and I put out. Early start cause we never really seem to finish when we wait to long into October. Neighbors love coming by and enjoy it all. They most think we are drug dealers.
Still have alot of stuff we are waiting for that coming in the mail and delivery truck.

 

[flyboy2610]

Yesterday went to the oral surgeon and he did some work on my teeth. I don't remember any of it because I was OUT! Just like I like it! My wife drove me home and then she went to work.
After lunch, when I felt good enough to drive again, I went to Office Depot and bought a Samsung Plus 1TB (1000 gigabyte) SSD drive, they had them on sale for $77.99, regularly $114.99 so it was a good deal. An SSD drive is a computer drive that has no moving parts, unlike a traditional hard drive. I needed one because the hard drive in the man-cave computer went KABLOOIE!! Totally unrecoverable.
I stopped by a computer store and bought a bracket to install it into one of the bays on the computer. Got it installed
This morning I loaded my Windows 7 install disc into the DVD/CD ROM drive and installed it onto the SSD drive. Used Internet Explorer and went to the Mozzilla page and downloaded Firefox. Next went to the Carbonite website, reinstalled that onto the 'puter, and am in the process of recovering all my files. Should be done in a couple hours.
Meanwhile I'm waiting for the plumbing inspector to show up. The gas company relocated the meter from inside to outside, and the plumbing inspector is the guy with the sniffer equipment, so he has to come out and make sure they did it right.

 

[BrianF]

Traeger pizza was a hit.

 

[Blckshdw]

Pretty much prepped and ready to bug out ahead of Ian showing up tomorrow. The EXT is loaded with everything except my laptop and cooler of food/drinks, which will be last when I evacuate to a friend's house further inland in a couple of hours.

This morning, cleared off the patio and put loose stuff in the shed. Have all those metal roof panels I pulled off the gazebo last year that are laying flat on its floor, since the wall framing is still up, I don't see them going anywhere, but put the heavy metal patio table that's still in there (will require disassembly to remove it) on top of them, so at least they won't flop around.

My house is close to the bay, so the storm surge is a big concern. That big retention pond behind my house drains into it, which won't be possible if the level of the bay is elevated. Don't need that flooding me out 1st. My house is 10' above sea level, and they're talking about 5-10' of surge water, so have to hope they are overestimating there. My best hope is that the storm makes landfall before it gets to the bay, so the water blows out, instead of in. Guess we'll see how much good karma I've managed to squirrel away over the last 5 years since we last got hit by a hurricane.

If I'm quieter than usual over the next few days, you'll all know why.