The Hobo Camp Fire Is going well #IX.. Stop In!!!

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy and drizzly in the remote reaches of northern Iowa this morning 65 headed for 76 and an 80% chance of rain.

The plumber finally showed up a little after 2. Gone again in about a half hour. After that I went for a bike ride and got caught in a light shower. Was just a little soggy when I got home. Took a quick break and was going to mow the yard. I got the mower out of the shed and rolled it to the garage. Filled it with gas and rolled it right back to the shed. The rain caught up with me. Got almost a half inch of light to moderate rain. Just what the lawn needed. Got my shower and my Corona and sat on the porch. After supper I rolled the trash can out to the curb and realized that the grass had dried off very quickly. Got the mower out and the yard is now nice and even again. Not much planned for today. Maybe a bike ride if it dries off or maybe a nice walk in the rain.

Charlie - roof looks good and the garden is sure to be a back saver.

All stay safe.

Tom

[ezdays]

Good morning everyone, Charlie, that's a very professional-looking job in both cases. That raised garden is a great idea, no bending down and would work just great in a yard like mine, all crushed gravel.

Today should be back in the mid-90's, tomorrow even cooler, would be a fine day to go target shooting, don't know if I can find anyone to go with me right now. Also, zippo with rain, nothing in the forecast until June, unless you go by the MS app (1-4% everyday).  

Speaking of Microsoft, I rarely use my laptop, every time I turn it on though, it wants to update Win 10 and a few apps. I turned it on Sunday morning and it started to update Windows, I had to shut it down yesterday afternoon since it was still updating four days later. Apparently, it did four updates successfully, and still had three more to go. It's almost like I have dial-up trying to download megabit files, but not so. And so many folks rely on all this technology to get through to day and would collapse if this happened to them. They say the average person checks their cell phones 150 times a day, someone must be checking theirs 300 times because it's a rare day that I even look at mine, never mind actually use it.

Almost all grocery and big box stores here are now waiving wearing masks for those that have had their shots. Only Safeway/Albertson's are holding out.

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It is 64 bright and sunny. Heading up to 82.

Charlie, I like your raised vegetable garden. This is our second season doing a raised vegetable garden. Our garden is not as big as yours, but it works for us. We started it for the same reason. No bending over. Also having it by the front patio seems to keep the mutant pizza and French fry eating squirrels aka tree rats from stealing the tomatoes and stuff.



Took care of the around the house chores yesterday. I then took a run over to Home Depot to see what plants they had in stock. Nothing I wanted.

I did not get any modeling done. I was just too tired and hot from the heat.

Today I watered the front yard plants. I have the back yard plants to do. I also will try to clean the fishpond filter. I am hoping to take a trip to a nursey or two and perhaps swing by a hobby shop.

I hope everybody has a good day.

[Charlie B]

Good morning folks.
        I finished another project yesterday. The porch fence is up and my wife has the decoratin' done. Already fixed a hole in the soffit that was left from removing a vent to no where that I did not leave in when we covered the roof. It was just a 3 foot 3 in pipe from the bottom of the soffit and extended 3 foot to the heavens.  (I had one of these on my old house and forgot to tell the guy doing that roof to remove it).
       Todays job is a new gate between the two yards. We have a gate so we can bring in a strange dog and keep them separated from our fur kids until we know about their personalities.  
        Beautiful day here once again. We have gone from extremely wet to too dry in a hurry. We could use a little rain. Later I will need to get mower gas and begin the mowing process. I like mowing because the vibrations from the mower seems to help my back. 
        Tom, your planter looks great, and Fit Tom, glad the plumber was in and out so fast. I hope it was a minor price tag too. 
         Don, I had a problem with this laptop. I had it connected to a ethernet cable as well as the WIFI. It was slow and I was even having trouble streaming YouTube video. I have a fast internet service so I couldn't figure the problem. I tested the speed with the cable plugged in and it was terrible, so just for kicks I unplugged it thinking it would go from bad to worse, but instead, with just WIFI the speed became lightning fast. There must have been a conflict between the Wi-Fi and the ethernet cable causing the problem. So I have "cut the cord" so to speak with this laptop.  
        Cheers
          Charlie

[ezdays]

Good morning all, Friday....already?????

Charlie, I think I found my problem, I was already on wi-fi, I have a dual band router and was connected to 5G. I switched to the 2.4G and things just broke loose. One would think that 5G was twice as fast, but apparently there's some hiccup there. The rest of the updates took minutes, not days...  

Confused looking at forecasts, let's just say, maybe there's possibly a chance that it could rain somewhere around here, even in Surprise and Phoenix. Looks like there are light showers up north of us, let's hope they are heading south. We desperately need rain. Most cactus will store water for the long dry haul, there's one huge prickly-pear cactus in my front yard that is even blooming during this drought.

Granddaughter went to the hospital yesterday on doctor's orders, I should be a great-granddaddy sometime today, if not already.

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy and 67 very humid degrees outside my window this morning. The high is supposed to be about 10 degrees north of that.

So far since Wed. morning I have about 2 inches in the rain gauge. Yesterday was one of those days when you can work up a sweat just taking a deep breath. I didn't do much yesterday. One load of laundry in the morning and some dusting after lunch. Seems I just did this last month. You'd think it would stay clean longer. Also talked to my granddaughter in Omaha for about a half hour. No exciting news. Just checking in with me. I also managed to get in a bike ride. I was curious so I timed it. 12.67 miles in 1 hour and 7 minutes. Just wanted to establish a baseline. Now I can work on cutting down that time. Next goal will be to see how close I can get to 1 minute flat. Gym this morning and a bike ride this afternoon if it's not too windy. May see about washing the car. Also need to put some flowers on my wife's grave.

Don - will that be your first?

Charlie - there's no such thing as a "minor" price tag when plumbers are involved. This will probably be around $140. I'm contemplating having the entire sewer dug up and replaced with plastic. While I'm at it I'll have them replace the waterline coming into the house. What's there now is 3/4 inch galvanized which has probably been there for 70-80 years. I'm sure it's mostly plugged by now. Very hard water in this area.

All stay safe.

Tom

[Chief Eagles]

70 degrees and sunny.  Quick snack [no carbs and no sugar].  Water and more water.  Slept good again. :t  Off after awhile to the other end of the county. Lots of tests.  All to prove first Dr. didn't know what he was talking about.  Excellent service out of WakeMed.







Have a good one.

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It is a pleasant and sunny 67, on its way to 82.

After finishing the house chores, I took a trip to Claymont, DE to visit a hobby shop. I was actually pleased with the place. It is owned by the former manager of Mitchell’s; a hobby shop I used to frequent until it closed about 15 years ago. The manager originally set up shop about a mile from Mitchell’s old location. The location was small, and parking was terrible. I went there a few times and was disappointed. Then one day it was gone. I thought it had closed down. I just found out a few months ago it did not close but had moved. The new shop is larger and better stocked. I got some weights, an incline starter set, and some styrene strips. I will be making more trips to Delaware for hobby supplies once again.

In my travels yesterday I also picked up an azalea for the backyard and some annuals for the front gardens. Once I clean the fishpond filter, I will be planting.

I hope to fiddle with the inclines to correct the transition problem. I also will be working on the PRR passenger cars.

I hope everybody has a good day.

[Charlie B]

Good morning.
     I am glad to read you found the problem Don. It usually is an easy fix once it has been found. 
 
      Tom, I did a water line replacement at my last house and since it was easiest and only 10 foot I drove a 2 inch pipe around the old line before I removed it. The line was 60 years old so I figured I could get another 60 from a new galvanized line. 8 years later the line blew a pin hole that leaked like the flood gates were opened at the curb. The city thought it was there problem so they dug it up. I didn't have to dig this time to get to the connection so I replaced it with the plastic made for the job. That was 30 years ago and it should last another 70. 

      I got the gates built and hung between the dog yards so that is one more project out of the way. 

      I am waiting for it to cool off now so I can replace the mower belt on my new Troy Bilt which has les than 20 hours. It's still under warranty but for 13 bucks I got a real belt. The original already has a torn spot in the fabric wrap causing excessive vibration. 

       Maybe do some modeling this week end. 

      Cheers
      Charlie

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy and 65 at the moment with a predicted high in the low 80s

Pretty quiet day yesterday. Developed a case of gym-lazium and skipped swimming yesterday. I did get in a bike ride in the afternoon. Also cleaned and waxed the hardwood floor in the dining room yesterday afternoon. Saturday of course means laundry day. Also on tap is a trip to Walmart. Another item on the docket is to get the screens on the front porch and happily put the storm windows away until fall.

All stay safe.

Tom

[Chief Eagles]

76 and sunny. May hit 90 today. NO rain [remember when it would not stop earlier this year?]. Watering some. Slept till 8:45.   Ride to Knightdale Tractor Supply and get black oils. Visit Fred and tell him he and the gang can go fix feeder. Dr.'s orders to stay out of the woods right now.

Wifey and SisterIL off to Daughter's new pool for a swim.

[ezdays]

Good morning all, Saturday and I slept a decent 10 hours, making up for all those naps that I didn't take.

Well, I am a great-granddaddy, and yes Tom, it is my first. I'm not sure if there'll be a second after she struggled giving birth to a boy just shy of 11 pounds and he's 23 inches tall already . Can't go to see him, grandma gets first crack and they're only allowing one visitor per patient per day, a step up from a few weeks ago when there were no visitors allowed. Granddaughter's husband is her visitor, my DIL (grandma), is then considered the baby's visitor since they both are patients. Strange, but true in today's pandemic thinking.

Uh, it did rain yesterday, I got outside early enough to see a few drops on the windshield and, of course, my truck's new wash job all pockmarked with muddy drops. Not nearly enough to record or even get the pavement wet, but the TV weather lady said it rained and so I'm ruling out a flock of birds flying over the truck.

[BR60103]

We had a bit of a drive today and I surprised Dayle by taking a tour of newly painted fire hydrants on the way back.
Local paper had a story about a couple (a firm?) that do most of the painting around here. They mentioned one street that tey had just finished so I went there. Lots of hydrants (industrial area) all in bright, shiny, yellow paint.
Story mentioned that hydrants are coded by colour or number with info on the water supply (size of main).
(Sorry, article is restricted to subscribers)

[ezdays]

Good morning all. Sunday, I should be at church by now, but need to stay home, got a few issues to deal with. One of them is no A/C. Tried to install a Google Nest thermostat yesterday and kept getting a error code, no power it said. Also didn't recognize any of the wiring. The instructions were really simple once I was able to get the right app downloaded, even called Pat over to check me out and we just couldn't get the A/C to turn on. Put the old thermostat back, still no A/C, I had problems with it the day before so it just picked the wrong time to go belly-up. Cannot get someone to come out over the weekend, fortunately, temps are still under 100 for a few more days.

Nothing significant going on other than, granddaughter and great-grandson should come home today. They kept him a bit longer because he was so big, some of his chemistry was slightly off.

[FiatFan]

Greetings, gang.

Cloudy and 68 in the remote reaches of northern Iowa this morning with a guessed at high in the low 80s.

Fairly routine day yesterday. Found out Menards no longer carries the light bulbs for the ceiling fan in the kitchen. I'll have to order it online. Price there is goofy. I can order 1 for $8 or a 6 pack for $15. Guess I'll have several spares. Didn't take long to get my time down to a minute. Rode the 12+ miles in 1 minute and 55 seconds. That included a detour I had to take while a rain shower passed through. I had to duck under a canopy at a gas station. The big difference in the time was that I didn't have to fight the strong winds. If I ride today I should easily get the time under an hour. Also got the car washed and vacuumed out the interior. I went to a different car wash which in my opinion does a much better job. Formula 1 race is pretty boring. Woke myself up snoring a couple of times.

Don - if that new great-grandson continues being ahead of the size curve he could be playing football on Sunday afternoon.

All sty safe.

Tom