Good morning! Are you up yet? What's your plans for today?

[Lt. Dan]

Good Morning GTA! I slept in til 0515 CST. It’s been cold & wet out there and it’s supposed just keep getting colder. Today I’ll be on the roof, so I’ll dress warm, but not looking forward to it. Hopefully, a week from Sunday we’ll put the freezing temps behind us.

Outstanding shooting, Brother Dan! I bet you were tickled stretching it out with consistency like that. Boy, I can’t wait for warmer weather!

I can't imagine having to work on a roof on an HVAC in cold and rainy weather.

[Lt. Dan]

430 this morning, more of the same work from home.
I ran the printer out of ink the other day. Caused some drama for my boss. I mentioned that the printer is for printing things, but that didn’t help.
How many targets in an ink cartridge anyway?

Warming trend over night. -1 when I went to bed and 4 above when I woke! May see 20 today.

Dan that is good shooting, not sure I can see 60 yards! Looking forward to spring. Two of three sons have up to 50 yards to set up for some more interesting shooting.

It's at 9 power on my scope.  Front rest, artillery hold with butt against my shoulder.

[bReTt]

24 hour shift at work.  9 down, 15 to go.

Killed power for the FD to chase fire through the walls.  Stopped on the way back into the shop and grabbed a ham, egg and cheese on a croissant 🥐, a cream filled doughnut and milk.  Refueled now and ready for round two.

Plan is to go get that work done so I can start round 3 at 3pm. It will be nice to sleep in my own bed tonight!

[Firewalker]

Up at 5 AM, coffee, load the wood boiler and off to work.

Lots of things to attend to today.

Bright side: Only -8 F this morning, better than the soggy NW! 

[bReTt]

Up at 5 AM, coffee, load the wood boiler and off to work.

Lots of things to attend to today.

Bright side: Only -8 F this morning, better than the soggy NW! 

I KNOW that you aren’t poking at me are you?  🤪

Here is some soggy NW for ya buddy!

And if you really aren’t poking at me.....  opps! 😱

This was yesterday.  Today is the same.  I’ll take it i because it sure does beat the soggy 🌧💦 alternative.  👊🏼

It’s says mostly cloudy but it really mostly sunny ☀️

[Hoosier Daddy]

Crawled out of bed at 6:30, miserable, painful night. Just one of those PsA moments, you never know when it will hit. Doom and gloom weather is not helping either, heavy fog and light drizzle this morning. Indoor projects for the day, clean and move shop toys around to make room for another shop toy. Just another exciting day on the wet, soggy frontier.

I feel for you Kris... I know it is rough yet you somehow keep on "keeping on".
Those "Doom and gloom weather is not helping either, heavy fog and light drizzle this morning." days are the worst!
Goes clear to our bones.
 Sux for sure... turn on the heater, wrap in a quilt, and take your meds.

[Firewalker]

No, I was not poking at you but Bring It On Brett!     I would take a 43 today to be sure!

We have LOTS OF SUN here, you want the -18 we are getting in two days too? 

Stay dry brother!

Up at 5 AM, coffee, load the wood boiler and off to work.

Lots of things to attend to today.

Bright side: Only -8 F this morning, better than the soggy NW! 

I KNOW that you aren’t poking at me are you?  🤪

Here is some soggy NW for ya buddy!

And if you really aren’t poking at me.....  opps! 😱

This was yesterday.  Today is the same.  I’ll take it i because it sure does beat the soggy 🌧💦 alternative.  👊🏼

It’s says mostly cloudy but it really mostly sunny ☀️

[maraudinglizard]

Crawled out of bed at 6:30, miserable, painful night. Just one of those PsA moments, you never know when it will hit. Doom and gloom weather is not helping either, heavy fog and light drizzle this morning. Indoor projects for the day, clean and move shop toys around to make room for another shop toy. Just another exciting day on the wet, soggy frontier.

I feel for you Kris... I know it is rough yet you somehow keep on "keeping on".
Those "Doom and gloom weather is not helping either, heavy fog and light drizzle this morning." days are the worst!
Goes clear to our bones.
 Sux for sure... turn on the heater, wrap in a quilt, and take your meds.

Thanks Scott. I am running the air conditioner right now because we are in a heat wave that is ahead of this front. The best meds for PsA is just get up and get going, basically deal with it and yes I hurt so bad at times that a truck load of morphine would even begin to phase the pain. I have had to adapt to keep going, being careful of what I do, what I pick up, where I walk, even at night, do outdoor tasks in small operations instead of trying complete the task in a day.  This morning was a rough start, the day has gone well, one shop toy has been moved to the shop and spent several hours playing with it. I am waiting on delivery on another shop toy. I have 2 more to unbox when I can find the space for them. Some time in the next few months put in a new fence line across my property to keep the dogs in, that is about 1000 ft, 240ft. of it has to be cleared of trees and be 20ft wide to get the tractor down either side, then I still have hurricane damage to clean up and take down a beetle killed tree. I really don't have time to sit on my laurels and cry about it hurting, it's called shear determination to keep going. 

[Hoosier Daddy]

Take care Kris....
Don't over do it. I have seen pics of your "Shop Toys".... they resemble something like a D-9 Cat!

[bReTt]

No, I was not poking at you but Bring It On Brett!     I would take a 43 today to be sure!

We have LOTS OF SUN here, you want the -18 we are getting in two days too? 

Stay dry brother!

Up at 5 AM, coffee, load the wood boiler and off to work.

Lots of things to attend to today.

Bright side: Only -8 F this morning, better than the soggy NW! 

I KNOW that you aren’t poking at me are you?  🤪

Here is some soggy NW for ya buddy!

And if you really aren’t poking at me.....  opps! 😱

This was yesterday.  Today is the same.  I’ll take it i because it sure does beat the soggy 🌧💦 alternative.  👊🏼

It’s says mostly cloudy but it really mostly sunny ☀️

I’ll stick with my 43 degrees and sun ☀️ thank you 🙏 😊. You can keep the -18 🥶.  My freezer isn’t even that cold.  😱

[maraudinglizard]

Take care Kris....
Don't over do it. I have seen pics of your "Shop Toys".... they resemble something like a D-9 Cat!

Over do it, what's that! That is a dirty word in my vocabulary. Not getting anything done is sacrilege with me.  It's balls to the walls or die trying anyway. Thanks for the support, I need all the help I can get.

[Sqrl Klr]

Drained the oil in the mower then replaced the filter and spark plugs. Got the OHV covers off and replaced the gaskets after a ton of scraping to remove the old gaskets from the engine and covers. Brake cleaner helped a little but I sure would have liked to use something that would have removed the gaskets way quicker. Anyone know what I can use next time?

Also what can I use in the fuel to remove engine deposits that won't cause seal leaks like Seafoam did? Topped off the oil with a little seal swell added to prevent future leaks and ran the engine awhile to test for any leaks and found none so it's ready for this year's yard duty.

[maraudinglizard]

Drained the oil in the mower then replaced the filter and spark plugs. Got the OHV covers off and replaced the gaskets after a ton of scraping to remove the old gaskets from the engine and covers. Brake cleaner helped a little but I sure would have liked to use something that would have removed the gaskets way quicker. Anyone know what I can use next time?

Also what can I use in the fuel to remove engine deposits that won't cause seal leaks like Seafoam did? Topped off the oil with a little seal swell added to prevent future leaks and ran the engine awhile to test for any leaks and found none so it's ready for this year's yard duty.

A good quality oil to start with like castrol oil will make things go a long way. I have found that additives in the crankcase cause more harm than good in small engines. I use seafoam religiously as a gas additive to remove water, keep gas fresh longer, and reduce the varnish build up in carburetors. Keep in mind that ethonol in gas will break down older gaskets in small engines, the newer gaskets prevent that. As for getting gaskets removed, a sanding disc designed to remove material and not eat the surface. This is my experience with small engines over the years, I have engines that are 10 to 20 years old and never had to replace gaskets on any of them.

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/Scotch-Brite-Roloc-Gasket-Removal-Disc/?N=5002385+3293083758&rt=rud


I am doing better this morning, a good day despite the pain yesterday. The doom and gloom weather is still here, heavy fog this morning so going to work is going to be a slow one. This weather pattern is here to stay for a few days. I had to run the air conditioner to cool and dry out the house yesterday.  I will be glad when the sun returns.

[Jshooter71]

Good Morning GTA! Up at 0415 CST. It looks like we have the possibility of a real winter storm starting Sunday through Thursday. Yesterday’s little bit of ice caused a little bit of havoc on the highways. Needless to say, visiting my Mom Sunday is canceled, as well as Monday & Tuesday’s meetings in Little Rock. I do have a service call in Wesley this morning. Other than that, I need to make sure we’re as ready as we’re going to be... I’ll get all the fuel cans full and check/start the generator. As long as we have power, we’ve hunker’d down on our mountain before, but it’s been awhile.

[Firewalker]

Sorry to hear about the ice, John. That is a sure mess.

Up at 5 AM, coffee, wood boiler loading this morning and again, -20 F. Dead calm, would make for great long range shootin' this morning! I got some time to 'plink' some leaves off the snow and chase them around with the DAR through the sliding grass doorway. At +2 F, it was like the darn tropics! 

Have a blessed day all!

[Lt. Dan]

Good morning,  up at 4:30 am CST. Stopped by the 1,000 piece puzzle and just not broke myself away to check up on GTA. Sorry about your winter storm coming.  We are in the middle of a thunderstorm right now,  lights are blinking. Figure I should make another cup of coffee while I can.

[Struckat]

0 this morning, another day of work from home.

As a long time small engine mechanic, I can say I cannot make a list of the benefits of Sea Foam.

I used to sell such products in my corporate life. Had many products analyzed for content and effectiveness.

It’s basically kerosene. It can’t do much good. Mixed with the gas, it does slow the formation of varnish in the carb, but there are better products out there for that.
I would never run it in a 2 stroke.

But I have had many customers say that they have been using it for 40 years without issue. They also could have used nothing during that time period and got the same result.

There isn’t much at all that you can run in the fuel that will minimize deposits. There are also a lot of other factors involved in the forming of deposites.

There really isn’t much one can do to compensate for today’s fuel quality.

[Jshooter71]

Thanks for your concern fellas. I’m just glad the meetings were canceled. My wife and I actually love when we get “some” winter. We’re not originally from here, so we miss it. But, since it’s not a usual thing, this whole area isn’t prepared for it. 1” of snow or a 1/4” of ice schools will close. They preemptively closed school yesterday. Things could change, but we could be looking at at least a foot of snow and ice over 4-5 days. My field boss lives down by Texarkana, he headed south yesterday morning when I was headed north. The southbound lanes were doing 40 while I was doing -4mph. It’s kind of a good thing this weather is coming the way it is on the calendar, finish out this week and just hang out at home next week. It looks like after Thursday we’ll warm up a bit each day and be back in the 50*s in no time.

[Firewalker]

I can get gasoline locally with no alchohol or heavy detergents, 91 octane so that is what I use in all the small motors we run.

My dad repaired small engines for SEARS back in the day and I simply do as he recommends, fill the tank with gas or mix as recommended and turn the ballcock off, run until empty, remove the battery if it has one, store in a dry location and put the battery somewhere where it won't freeze.

I also drop my SLABs to 12v for storage and charge them full right before using them in the spring. 

.....As a long time small engine mechanic, I can say I cannot make a list of the benefits of Sea Foam.....

[Springrrrr]

Have an appointment at 4:30 to get microchiped.