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

[avator]

John.....
Something I've noticed since retirement... If not for Nascar or you announcing Hump Day I wouldn't know what day of the week it was.. 
When Nascar season is over you will be my only source of tracking time...   thanks Buddy.

Bill, I have a calendar on the wall to remind me of the bills and appointments(if any). I don't even think about what day it is anymore or worry with a schedule since I have retired, I just take the day as it comes.  I have forgotten a few times to get the garbage to the road but that's about it. So for today's plans, replace the handles on the wheel barrow, finish rearranging the fishing stuff, weed eat around the house, carry a T post to the back 40 and fix a post that supports the corner post, finish opening up the fire lines in that corner as well.

I have all my bills set up so I can pay them online (the 2 water bills are texted to me through the phone and I just click to pay). I get reminders via e-mail when they are due. When payday rolls around I pay them online and delete the reminders as I do. Cell phone and streaming service are set to autopay. I get a heads up 3 days before they go out. Payday is every 3rd Wednesday of the month. Trash goes out Sunday night.
Anything beyond that is "at will". 

I get the notifications as well, except for a few. Hopefully in another year so I will have reduced about half of the bills. It's just nice to be able to get up in the morning and not have to worry about the job and stupid stuff that came with it. I go at my own pace now and it has been great.

+1
We were lucky that the payoffs came for everything we owed within a month or so of my retirement. We were able to reduce our overall expenses by about half. Granted, we can't do all the extra things we did before I retired but we realized that we really didn't need to anyways. Many of those things came with added struggles of their own, maintenance on RV, what to do with the dogs, being away from our secluded home.. just things we didn't need.
Life is on auto pilot and it's great.

[Madd Hatter]

Been retired for 8 years now. Didn't mind working it was the distance I had to ride to get to and from work. My last job was 199 miles around trip. The 1 before that was 196 miles round trip and with that one I had to deal with the cajon pass

[bReTt]

John.....
Something I've noticed since retirement... If not for Nascar or you announcing Hump Day I wouldn't know what day of the week it was.. 
When Nascar season is over you will be my only source of tracking time...   thanks Buddy.

Bill, I have a calendar on the wall to remind me of the bills and appointments(if any). I don't even think about what day it is anymore or worry with a schedule since I have retired, I just take the day as it comes.  I have forgotten a few times to get the garbage to the road but that's about it. So for today's plans, replace the handles on the wheel barrow, finish rearranging the fishing stuff, weed eat around the house, carry a T post to the back 40 and fix a post that supports the corner post, finish opening up the fire lines in that corner as well.

I have all my bills set up so I can pay them online (the 2 water bills are texted to me through the phone and I just click to pay). I get reminders via e-mail when they are due. When payday rolls around I pay them online and delete the reminders as I do. Cell phone and streaming service are set to autopay. I get a heads up 3 days before they go out. Payday is every 3rd Wednesday of the month. Trash goes out Sunday night.
Anything beyond that is "at will". 

I get the notifications as well, except for a few. Hopefully in another year so I will have reduced about half of the bills. It's just nice to be able to get up in the morning and not have to worry about the job and stupid stuff that came with it. I go at my own pace now and it has been great.

I don't have any bills to pay...  my wife does. 😆😆😆

[avator]

Storms... woohoo !
Got some big ones blowin' through. Power went out about 5:30 last evening. It came back on for a short time at around 8:00 pm but went back off. Woke up this morning and it is on now.
One big dead tree came down from the woods next door. Took a section of our fence out and blocked pour driveway. Betty Lou and I went out and moved it and did a temp patch on the fence just to keep the dogs in.
More storms came through overnight and more expected today.
The top blew off Betty Lou's hot house, I'll have to fix that.
Just the wonderful times in lower Alabama. 

[Hoosier Daddy]

DANG BILL!!! 

[avator]

Yep... another one coming through right now... thunder, lightning, rain and strong winds. I expect to lose power any minute.
Luckily there was a break this morning and the dogs went out. Poor old Rambo won't go near the door if he hears thunder. I reckon that comes from living the first year and a half or so on his own in the wild.

[Hoosier Daddy]

I had to take a vacation day. Hoosier Mommas Jeep has had a service appointment for about a month and she needs to be at work today.
 I got Vacation days to burn because my anniversary date is coming up and if I don't use it, I loose it.
So heading to the dealership at 9:00 then I am free until 15:00 when I get to go grill 100 burgers and 100 Hotdogs at the Golf Course.
  Supposed to be a nice day here so I'll plink around.

[Back_Roads]

 TBH I have no clue what act the little circus I work for will have me perform today. 

[avator]

Walking around for damage control this morning I can see the high winds overnight blew a pretty big section of the tin roof over the deck at the bar up.
Another task to address after the storms blow through.

[maraudinglizard]

I just got done doing storm damage assessment as well, no downed trees to deal with yet. Garden held up to last night's winds, my contorted mulberry tree is still in a pot and that is the only thing that was blown over. It's time to get that one in the ground permanently. I have a fig that needs to get transplanted as well. This weather pattern is predicted to be around through the weekend, I need the rain, not a disaster. Feed the zoo and myself and then it's back hoe time to get this stuff planted.

[anti-squirrel]

Kris and Bill- I hope you get things squared away without any further headaches.


I feel like I'm also working at a circus with all the magic acts occurring during the big Clown Show.  Lucky for me, my team's new RingLeader is superb.  A manager than supports the team, runs interference when needed, removes impediments, and LOVES documentation plus wants us to have modern tools for our projects?  Oh Heck Yes!

Plans for today (shortly during lunch)- tune up my Echo 266S line trimmer, stage tools for working on our Billy Goat bushmower...

Later today- starting work on the Billy Goat.  I'm also going to work on the dang Statesmen mower... I'm on the verge of pulling the deck and every safety switch, yanking the steering assembly, converting it to a go-kart-style rack and pinion, welding the diff, then just slapping some ATV tires on it and using it for off-roading and pulling a garden trailer.  Sonja and I have been enjoying some "mud-mower" off-roading videos on YouTube involving old riding mowers adapted just for offroading.  The Statesman and our TroyBilt would both be good platforms for this type of endeavor.

[Hoosier Daddy]

Peter.... maybe that Statesman is destined for something else other than cutting grass...

[bReTt]

Kris and Bill- I hope you get things squared away without any further headaches.

+1
And the Kapitan!

[avator]

We ventured out this morning to get some dogfood and propane bottles for the Coleman lanterns. (candles just didn't cut it last night). We also picked up lunchmeat and things that can be kept in coolers and don't require cooking.
We could not believe the damage we saw towards town. There is a corner wooded acre between our place and the hard road. Right there where our dirt road connects to the hard road 3 large trees came down bringing the power lines with with them. Half the road is blocked off.
Mike is a buddy of mine from where I retired. He is the supervisor of the tool and die dept. He recently bought and moved into a nice brick home on the main road into town. His home was under large pine trees.. last week he had a half dozen or more taken down and removed. Two of the remaining (2' at the base) were uprooted. The good news is that they fell away from his house. The bad news is that they completely crossed the 3 lane main road and took out 3 utility poles (snapped right off). 2 of these pole had transformers on them. One of the transforms was buried 6" into the ground.
This is the exact same path the last tornado took through our town a couple years ago. We counted at least a dozen LARGE trees down on out short trip to the store and back. Amazingly there was minimal property damage aside from power lines and poles. Flooding was also major. The storm drains were over run and roads were barely passable.
Amazing that we were so close to the very edge of this beast. I have to remove the remains of one 10" diameter tree and repair a 3' x 14' panel of tin roof. Could have been much worse.
The skies are now dark and the thunder is a constant rumble off in the distance. It's moving our way again and is expected to continue into tomorrow morning.
You don't get much sleep during the night with no power and under severe thunder storm and tornado warnings/watches.

[avator]

Went back out and brought the jump box in to put a charge on it. It's been a few months since we even stared Betty Lou's GMC 4x4. I need to get it started and move it to the middle of the property away from trees.

[maraudinglizard]

I've been getting things moved and tied down between the rains, so far it's been light to moderate rain and little or no wind. I can live with that. Last night was a different story, power outages, stuff blown off or over, and luckily no trees on the fence or on the house. I didn't get much sleep last night with all the things going bump in the night.

[Blowpipe Sam]

Afternoon y’all.  Still feeling poorly although my back is better.  Between showers I’ve been hobbling outside to help the memsahib in the garden,  walk the puppy, and check on the parent’s place.

My family is from Dothan Alabama.  A bit south of Bill.  In my childhood memories that place was always getting hit by violent thunderstorms and tornados.  I think ya’ll must be right in the cross hairs.

We get a lot of wind and rain down here in the big bend but so far no twisters.  I have a few meteorological theories about that but I won’t bore y’all.

Anyhoo,  good luck to y’all and I hope it don’t get no worse.

[avator]

Yeah, like Kris, it's been just a steady drizzle and light breeze since that last crazy rain. You've heard of a white out from snow? This was  a wash out... couldn't see across the property through the rain. I got Betty Lou's GMC started and moved it under the 20' x 20' lean to attached to the bar. I can hook up the trickle charge and put a good charge on it from there.
25% of our 4 acres has standing water. It's sandy here and it will soak in pretty fast.
We are grateful that we didn't get hit as hard as many others around us. The forecast is looking better but it ain't over yet. I think the worst of it is gone.
Tomorrow we should be able to get out and start the clean up. A tree and branches to cut up and move, a couple fence posts to put in and that corner of the bar deck roof to repair. It will be time to mow once it gets dry enough.

[Jshooter71]

Good morning GTA! Happy Friday!!! I got up at 0500 and started coffee. The past couple- or few weeks I’ve intended to see my chiropractor, I didn’t. And I’m feeling it, this morning I’m definitely going to see him before I head south to work. I have a blower assembly to rebuild on a 20 ton air conditioner. It’s on the ground and I have help. Then we have a PM, maintenance to do on a Grainger. I’m on call this weekend. I hope you all get through nature’s destruction safely. I got a new saw yesterday and cut up a couple big leaners that got knocked down from the storm we had 2 days ago.

[avator]

Mornin...
Weather man says the threat of these severe storms will last through next week. We'll be watching those for sure.