Wow, that's something! You sure have some deep musical connections, pretty cool!

 

Good morning everyone.

Good start to the morning. The lead is already laying groundwork for us to work the Saturday after Thanksgiving. He said we are not working this Saturday. He said if enough people don't sign up for next Saturday, overtime will be mandatory Friday. Heh good luck with that one.

Question for you technical types. What micron size is the typical automotive fuel filter as installed on the car? Are stone filters any better or worse than paper filters?

I think it's going to be nice this afternoon, if not cold. AC guy comes to finish the installation today so Mom may have heat this evening. I hope the new furnace is ready to hit the ground running because Mom will immediately crank it up to 80.

Norm wouldn't you still be an original founding member?

Okay Happy Thursday to you all.

 

Chris - It really wasn't such a big deal. Vanessa (mostly) & Jorma began w/ a very modest Fur Peace Ranch 'Newsletter' sometime around 1988/1989. I can't recall what publication I found the 'Newsletter', but it was an off-beat publication tucked in the back of some loosely bound publication covering many of the old-school blues bands along w/ the Grateful Dead, etc. I joined the Newsletter & received the Newsletter each month for ~10 years w/ an annual fee of something like $50 which gradually increased each year. There were maybe an initial 200-500 annual member subscriptions. The Newsletter was small (5-10 pages) covering Hot Tuna tour dates/events, poster sales of Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, guitar picks, etc. and newsworthy events of Jack & Jorma and a 'vision' for a Fur Peace Ranch (Vanessa/Jorma still resided in New York). It all began out of an 'Embryonic Journey' to create a Fur Peace Ranch (something shared among members who received the Newsletter). Sometime in the early 1990's they moved to Pomeroy, Ohio and purchased ~120 acres of farmland. The initial Fur Peace Ranch was inside an updated barn located on the property. I was changing careers from college instructor (Florida) to Research Assoc. Scientist (Milwaukee, Wisconsin - 1992). The Newsletter grew to well over 5,000 members during this time as I recall, most likely spearheaded by the vision of creating a true Fur Peach Ranch. I was music tape trader throughout the 1980's & into the early 2010's - trading soundboard tapes with many other tape traders around the world. These are 1st generation soundboard tape recordings of live concerts, garage recordings, small halls, etc. from bands such as Hot Tuna, Jefferson Airplane, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, etc. I discontinued my Fur Peace Ranch membership sometime around 1998/1999 after the death of Jerry Garcia (1995). I continued to trade tapes worldwide until ~2002. So, really not such a big deal, I just happened to be a member of a very small select group of fans/members who followed Hot Tuna (Jorma & Jack) with Vanessa's publication Newsletter and the Embryonic Journey of their creation of the Fur Peace Ranch.

 

I guess. It's not such a big deal (as I wrote above). I just happened to be in a select group of members who helped fund the initial efforts to further the creation and vision of the Fur Peace Ranch. It eventually became a business venture which today has become a true business. I stopped by the embryonic Fur Peace Ranch the summer of 1993 when there was no 'real' Fur Peace Ranch (business) - it was a vision to create the Fur Peace Ranch. Many of the original Newsletter members stopped by the 'farm' where they bought the property in its early years. I got to see the original barn Jorma began developing and teaching lessons. Pretty cool to see what it developed into.

 

Norm - Thanks for the deep dive! I'm still greatly impressed because from what I've been able to learn you've been more intimately involved in the 60's & 70's rock/blues/folk music scene than anyone else I've personally known. Makes life interesting when you actually know people that "Know Stuff"!

 

Chris - I just happen to enjoy following the history of some things better than others. If I were to list three musicians I've followed with the greatest detail over the years they would be Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew & Jorma Kaukonen. I began following FZ in 1969, I began following Adrian in 1976 & Jorma in 1967. I've seen FZ ~15 times, Adrian ~15 times & Jorma maybe 20 times. I've spent more time talking (one-on-one) w/ Adrian during many of his locally less crowded smaller events.

 

Mike - Mamma Annunziata died this past January.

 

yep, I know, I figured that was the reason Dick Clark had the look on his face, not expecting those lyrics. Chris, I haven't seen an update on snowfall accumulations, not sure how much they got south of me. there was supposed to be a good amount of lake effect around South Bend, and they are changing the forecast in this area for more snow. Not much here, maybe 1 1/2" on the ground, but you can drive ten miles in any direction, and it will change a bit. I won't drive ten miles west, as I might get a little wet.

 

Mike, [fuel filers] The answer is I don't know the answer, AND I'm tired of reading about the gradations. Soooooooooooooooo pay your money and take your chances

 

Chris, the Kzoo area is supposed to get an additional 9-14" through Saturday. Bangor has 8" this evening. The amounts vary wildly, just depending on where you are. The Browns/Bills game will be played at Ford Field, due to the large amout of snow that Buffalo, NY. is supposed to get.

 

Dan - Thru growing up there in MI, I learned the 30-miles between Kzoo and Battle Creek is often where the limit of the lake effect snow is. Sometimes BC would get the heavy snowfalls and sometimes they would be just East of the heavier stuff. I just checked the forecast and they are predicting another 4 to 8-inches in BC thru tomorrow. Thanks for the heads-up, I'll have to check in with my Sister.

 

Good evening guys,

Cold and gloomy here today, don't think it got above the mid-30's. Low around 20° tonight, and teens Friday and Saturday mornings, damn cold.

Pretty busy today. Worked this morning on changing our cell phone service from Verizon to Consumer Cellular. Consumer Cellular has a promo right now for AARP Members where you get 2-lines with no contract, and unlimited talk, text, and data for $55-month total for both lines (not counting taxes/surcharges). This is much cheaper than our current screw job from Verizon.

My wife had her post-op visit with the 2nd surgeon this afternoon. All positive news! All tissues this guy biopsied were still considered pre-cancerous and he is confident he got it all. She will still need to be followed closely with an exam every 6-months for a couple years, but there is no need for any type of chemo or radiation. Both surgeons have now told her she should consider herself as being cancer free! Yahooooo!

Hope ya'll had a great day and have a relaxing evening!

 

Forty seven years ago this week, a very sad & tragic event takes the Edmund Fitzgerald and it’s crew.

 

When you have a chance check out the documentary on Prime, very impressive artist, singer, song poet

 

"The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down, of the big lake they called Gitche Gumme."
Saw him in concert at the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis sitting in the front row of the Orchestra Pit, 10-ft from him. Amazing, amazing concert, half of which was just him and his acoustic guitar with no band!

 

Very nice Chris, truly blessed to have had the pleasure sharing that moment in time. Unplugged acoustic makes things that much sweeter

 

I was actually referring to the “sinking” of a Great Lakes cargo ship & the death of 29 crew members on a blustery blistering cold frigid night in Lake Superior. A very horrible night.

 

Thanks Keith. I'm definitely going to check out the documentary, he's one of my favorite artists. Thanks for letting us know it's out there!

 

Norm - It was definitely a horrible tragedy, but I think Gordon Lightfoot did an amazing job of immortalizing those poor souls in his song about it.

 

Yea, that’s where this headed but I wasn’t referring to Gordon Lightfoot’s song. Carry on.

 

It was a week ago today the 10th here in Baraboo it was in the upper 60's low 70's during the day and a front moving in with the possibility of tornado action in the evening with a cold front moving in, eerie how it was brewing on the anniversary date of that fateful night

 

Norm, So what's your theory of why she sank? Mine? Greed to big a vessel carrying too much in horrible weather Heading Norte. Enjoy your weekend Olds friends

 

Jim - Argh. (1) Poorly designed cargo vessel, (2) poorly maintained cargo vessel, (3) and an overzealous Captain known for making poor decisions in poor weather conditions (possibly as the result of greed). But, IMO, the poor design & poor maintenance were the two most important contributing factors. The Captain should have sought safe harbor for anchorage much earlier & stayed the storm.

 

Keith - Eerie, indeed. My Dad was a BM2C (U.S. Navy) during WWII - Naval training @ Naval Station Great Lakes then underway to Liverpool, Great Britain on AP-76 in 1944 participating in Operations Neptune & Dragoon (Omaha Beach Normandy). My Dad was talking all about the Edmund Fitzgerald that fateful day while listening to broadcasts. I was 23 y.o. when the Edmund Fitzgerald began to list then founder off Whitefish Bay. You might think twenty year old kids had different things on our minds but when the news developed of the ship listing it made headline news on all the radio/T.V. stations around the Great Lakes. We listened fervently to the news during the two days when conditions worsened and the ship finally foundered.

 

Since this (my tirade) is w/o political intent I think I'm fair to say I admire Elon Musk's position on reshaping/revamping Twitter. Having spent many years in the IT industry (prior to the inception of the WWW) I find the entire social media more of a social debacle with little 'value' to be honest. It's his company, he owns it - you don't like it - tough, find a job which allows you to play games while you work. This is nothing new - the owner of a company can do (almost) whatever he darn well wants. I actually admire a person who has the kahonies to remove those who provide no value.

 

Norm, Just like everything else Social Media is ying yang some good some bad

 

Good morning everyone.

Man I'm getting too old for this ****. Mom called me at work about 130, in tears and trembling, said she didn't know what was wrong, could I come home. Not very often the black pickup does 95. She's been taking such a mish-mash of medicine for her stomach problem I think it all caught up with her. I suggested she go to the ER, but there was no way she would be able to get into the truck so I called the ambulance. Long story short we got home around 9 and I got home to Tiger about 10. She was doing a lot better last night, she didn't want me to stay over and didn't want me to call out of work. My only hope is that she continues to get better and we can put this episode behind us. It will probably knock her out of surgery next week but that is small potatoes.

The lead wanted us all to start at 4 and work to 12 today, so I'm operating on about 3 1/2 hours of sleep. And of course Tiger wanted to go out at 1. There was a lull in the activity and I had me a nice power nap. It's nice out but cold, I might just go to Mom's and take a nice nap in my comfy recliner and not worry about getting anything done.

I've read about the Edmund Fitzgerald a couple times. Lots of finger pointing to be done. The shipping companies wanting to load the ships in excess of their design limits and the regulators allowing it. And ship's captain trying to make a name for himself.

Chris congratulations to your wife for being cancer free! Prayers that she stay that way. I would love to jump ship from Verizon. Maybe when I finally need a new phone I'll go looking. My phone now is 3 years old, my previous(first smart phone) lasted two years. Did they get better or am I on borrowed time?

Well have a good weekend everyone. Mine should be interesting.

 

Jim - Yeah, of course. What really chaps my britches though is (as I have witnessed numerous times 1st-hand) the loss of productivity social media creates in the workplace. Engaging in social activities while supposedly "working". Exactly how important is it to socialize about social activities while being paid to perform "work"?

 

Kind of like what I'm doing right now.

 

Mike - Argh, sounds like one helluva night.

 

Mike - I'm not inclined to point fingers at individuals. I do believe we could increase productive output of nearly all workforces if we disabled RPC's (Remote Procedure Call) to social media sites within nearly all work sectors in our country during working hours. As a benefit, I would argue, we might expect to witness an increase in quality control of the products produced.

 

Mike - Thanks for the kind words about my wife! I hope your Mom gets to feeling better, and both of you can catch up on some sleep over the weekend.

I really don't know if the new phones are any better or last any longer or not, other than vast improvements in the quality and functions of the cameras they put in some of them. I've had very good luck with Samsung Android phones, but my daughters love their iPhones. IMO, they're all way overpriced and we're all getting raped by these communications companies.

 

Ya think?!?!?!?

 

We have Samsung Android also but my phone is an old 2017 A3 . But it works well , the biggest
issue is the small internial storage at 16GB. Have had 2 sandisc sd cards that have failed and all
pics gone so i copy to computer now ( have sd card number 3 in the phone now ) But also thinks
new phones pricing are overpriced and would never buy a new flip phone at that price. But a like
the idea about flip phones , many new phones is so large to have in the pocket.

 

My phone is, well I don't know how old it is. It's an iPhone 6S so whenever those came out. I got it only because my wife needed to switch carriers for her business, and the new carrier said my iPhone 4 was too old to switch and keep the same number, so I had to get a new phone. This phone does everything I need a mobile phone to do - calls, texts, play music, and look at car forums.

 

I have the same iPhone 6S - it's OK. Can't recall why I got this one - I think I broke my previous iPhone. I have the monthly insurance but I think it still cost me ~$100 for the iPhone 6S since my older (broken) phone was no longer compatible w/ some services (or whatever).

 

^^^THIS^^^ When my old Samsung S3 fell out of my pocket on the motorcycle about 1& 1/2-years ago I got a new Samsung S42 5G. I wanted something that would still fit in my pocket, and it was the smallest one they had. It's a lower tier model and cost me <$300 with a promo they were offering at the time. I look at "smart" cell phones as a necessary evil in today's world, they're just a tool, not a toy!

 

Ooops. Oh...I have a Model iPhone 7.

 

 

Chocolate shakes will be the only joy in Champaign come Saturday!


Go Blue!