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

[avator]

I normally heave it up on my good shoulder and go up the ramp with it... not today tho.   

[Rick67]

I normally heave it up on my good shoulder and go up the ramp with it... not today tho.   

Kargadors putting 2 bags of 50kg fertilizers or rice on their heads and walking on a 2-foot wide wooden plank at the pier is a very common sight in Asia.

They do it the whole day under the heat of the sun.

One false move and they drop to the ocean 

I tried it once and could not even go 20 steps on solid ground 

This shows human resilience even with poor nutrition.

[Sqrl Klr]

Happy Mammy's Day! 

Made cappuccino, kids are on task making breakfast (French toast and eggs).  We will have Sunday school then worship service.  After we will come home and kids will start round two by making lunch (fettuccine Alfredo).  My MIL will be over later today to enjoy the festivities and food.  It's a beautiful day out.  Supposed to be 88 degrees today. 👌🏼😎

I also hope to shoot some airguns 😉🤠

Good trigger discipline with the booger hook off the boom switch unlike many older guys I've seen.

[bReTt]

Alarm went off at 0430 this AM.  Did the whole rat race/commute thing to the city to rob them of some money thinking that they were paying me for work.  Doing a double shift at work actually.  Off at 11 pm tonight.  Wishing I was already at home enjoying my castle and loyal subjects. 👑

[Jshooter71]

Good morning GTA! Happy Thursday! Up at 0430 and I’m having coffee. The office doesn’t have a job on me for today, yet. I thought after last week, we were passed that. I’ll have wait until 0730-0800 to call the office.

[avator]

Morning..
Been up about an hour now having coffee and catching up with whats going on in the world on the local news. Dogs fed and been outside.
My back feels much better but not 100%  but I have some things I want to do such as lower the casting work bench by about 10" or so. I think if I just take my time I can do it without further injury.
60% chance of thunderstorms today so whatever I do needs to be done inside.

[anti-squirrel]

Late start for me, slept in until 7.  Fixed Sonja's coffee, chugged a C4 energy drink myself and ate some English muffins with peanut butter, then headed out front to prep for stuff later today.  Sonja wants to wire-wheel some extruded metal "cafe" outdoor furniture we picked up for free.  A table for 6, 4 chairs, and 2 spring-rockers.  Weird that people throw nice stuff away.  I also whizzy-wheeled a cast iron cooking grate that's perfect for a fire-pit.  Technically a little small, but I have some square steel "rebar" sections that should be up for the task of supporting the grate.

I have an Ikea park bench with rotten boards so I got that disassembled in preparation for cutting some treated lumber for new slats.  That's a lunch-time project for me, and we also loaded up the smoker with a pork shoulder (bone-in).  High Country rub and dijon mustard for the base, it's a small Boston Butt, maybe 5 pounds trimmed, so about the time I get off work it should be breaking the 200-degree mark.  I pull pork at 203 so the connective tissue can liquify and break down- we strive for fall-off-da-bone tender, and the combination of rub plus the base makes for an amazing bark thanks to the Maillard reaction.  Over the last couple of years we'd delved further into the science of smoking, not just the flavors, and I think it has actually increased our passion for good food.  It also means a "chore" for later is making some tabouleh and some pico de gallo. 

[avator]

Hey, I'm cooking outdoors too....
Today's menu is corn on the cob and muffins. All lead, of course...   

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

  Good morning GTA, I got a Bacon Avocado Cheese Burger at about 8:00PM and the Cooler filter and dog food after last night. So I was up until 3:30 AM, until I could lay down. I know better but decided to take the chance to see if I could get away with eating it that late.

 I woke up at 7:30 AM feeling well rested  , so I got up. I am dressed, half my coffee is down and I am about to go work on the Evaporative Cooler.   

 I "may" mow some more later on, the weather is pretty nice with a forecast high of 85°F with humidity as low as 33%, but I will be watching out for snakes with the high weeds and perfect temp for activity for them too. I think I will wear boots if I get to trapesing around the weeds with the weedwhacker.

My wife is going to her stitching group today so I am on my own.

[Madd Hatter]

Sitting in the VA cafeteria eating a ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast. Just got done with the vampires so haven't eaten yet this morning. Got a 2hr wait until I see my doctor for my yearly checkup. FUN!! NOT!!

[avator]

Just got back from the local grocers where we finished up the monthly grocery stocking. Tomorrow Betty Lou will go on her bulk cooking and freezing routine. She usually spends a couple days on that.

[buellm2]

Are you sure that you don't do your monthly grocery shopping every week?   

[avator]

Are you sure that you don't do your monthly grocery shopping every week?

Nope, once a month. We do go out for things like milk, bread and eggs weekly if needed. But, unless we want something special, she buys all her meats, can goods and baking stuff once a month. She'll cook large batches and freeze them into meal portions. She's pretty good at it, we've never ran out of food before the month was over.

[anti-squirrel]

Bill, we shifted to a similar method- it saves money now that we've been doing it for nearly a year.  We buy meats from Butcher Box since we're all about the quality and sustainable practices, along with the stuff we grow and what we get from a local farming co-op.

I pulled the pork shoulder (we smoked yesterday) off the smoker about 9 PM last night- S-L-O-W perfection, it was all I could do to just wrap it in foil and drape with a towel without really tearing into it.  We got up this morning and when Sonja saw it she literally just stopped mid-sentence and stared at the lump of pork perfection as I uncovered it and moved it to a zip-lock bag.  She's really nailed down the rub/base and it was absolute perfection.  I snuck a tiny carved nibble off the point last night and it was even better than it looked.

Today is yet another workday.   Anyway, shortly I'll be running power under the house to rig up a fan to deal with a failed joint on the water main coming into the house.  A 50-year-old copper elbow failed and started spraying water up onto a floor joist and the ensuing water-swelling at that joist support raised a section of floor.  Shark-Bite fittings to the rescue!   I'm not sure exactly how long it was leaking, but I'm glad we caught it before the damage passed the point of no return.  The subflooring is all plywood and lathing, not OSB, so it should dry out and be fine- it will just take a couple weeks at the least, more like a couple months.  While at Lowes, we had a bit of a shock how expensive fans have become.  I have a 240v vane-axial barn fan but it moves so much air it has to be bolted to a heavy base.- plus I don't have a spare 240v outlet.  We opted to get a $25 box fan.

I also have to start packing for a float trip tomorrow. 

[Jshooter71]

Good morning GTA! Happy Friday!!! I slept in until 0550, though I might have needed it- I really need to get going. I don’t have a job on me yet. But, I need to finish my coffee and go visit my chiropractor. If there’s no work for today, I’m going to get new tires on the work van.

[Frank in Fairfield]

Oil change/lube 2006 Silverado.
172,000 clicks.

[anti-squirrel]

Frank, you got a winner there.  Every municipal fleet I've worked with (over 400) has techs that pretty much worship the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Silverados as being cost-effective and reliable workhorses compared to their Ford and Dodge/Ram peers from the same era.  And I have mountains of data to validate it.  the data played a role in our getting an 09 Tahoe Hybrid.

I ran an extension cord and set up the fan under the house, then got distracted by a grill grate I've been wanting to clean up.  It is now grill-worthy.  I still need to pack some clothes and the dry-bags, plus get a final coat of varnish on a paddle I refurbished.   

I need to switch out bearings in some TSC wheels for a cart I pull with my Husqvarna.  It has a 3.4" axle and I have some spare wheels from TSC that use a 5/8" axle.  The old wheels are dry-rotted and one peeled off the belting and disintegrated last weekend.  I priced new and just about bit my tongue over prices- so I have shorter wheels with tires I'll swap over once the bearings are changed.

Also remembered I have 2 18" and 2 10" chains I need to sharpen but I don't plan on cutting anything this weekend.  The chains I have on my polesaw and chainsaw are fresh and will get me through any cutting this weekend. 

[Rabbit\Squirrel Killer]

  Good morning, I woke up at about 5:00 but got up at 5:45. It is a beautiful morning 60°F with some light fog. visibility is about 3/4 of a mile. It is supposed to get to 85°F today.

  I plan on running around with my wife today.

The to-do list looks like -
 Go to the bank first, fuel and wash the truck 2nd, pick up the wife's new glasses and then I will drop her off at the grocery store and I will get my haircut while she shops, pick her up and head home.

  After we get the groceries put away I might get the mowing done or at least some of it?

  Yesterday I spent about three hours getting the Evaporative Cooler cleaned/tuned up and ready for summer. Funny thing though, after power washing it to where it looks like new it smells smoky like the Fairview Fire again. I really don't understand that because with the old filter and lime scale it didn't smell smoky. I think the odor will fade away and don't think there is anything I can do but wait it out. It works like new other than the smoky odor. 

[Jshooter71]

Good morning GTA! Happy Saturday! I got up around 0500 and started coffee. My wife got up at 0530, the girls have a big shindig at the Ch**ch today, a tea-party of sorts. I’m on call this weekend, but I’m going to get the line-trimming done, if they let me alone. I’m also daydreaming about things I’m going to get done/start to do around here with a new piece of equipment I bought. I should have it sometime between Monday and Wednesday. I might shoot something today, too, if I’m not called out to work. I really need the work, though… I’ve got payments to make. 

[avator]

Just going to putter around in the Red Shed.. still moving and reorganizing the Casting Corner.

NASCAR later.