No rain here yet, but it was overcast all day. It was nice to have the sun blocked and no broiler effect.

 

My local cadre, with visiting experts from the Tennessee cadre, put on the first Pistol Clinic that Project Appleseed at my local range. The idea is to level us up to do our own pistol clinics. The qualifier test is hard, I shot all three attempts and did not make it by about ten points, 200 of 250, need 210. Had a very good time, busy day, went home and went straight to bed.

Now, for yardwork before the heat really gets here.

 

John - That's cool you're trying to get your local Cadre qualified to host the Pistol Clinics. i wish you better luck next go-round in trying to personally qualify.

The heat is definitely already here in StL, with the high of 101° today, and a Heat Index of 114°, just brutal. Really wanted to go to a car show today, but glad I thought better of it. Be careful in the heat.

 

Gonna be a brutal week! At least brutal for this neck of the woods.

 

Gonna be 90s here this week. Don't know about any rain. I think the "heat index" is dumb. It's like the wind chill. We should pick one and use it for both times. The wind chill today will be 115*. The heat index today will be -10. It works.

Had a double whammy today. Walmart and then Publix. I stayed in the car at Publix. We also had to go find something at Walgreens. Boy I haven't been there in an age. Gonna rest for a minute then take some boxes to my house. They will go right into the yoga room.

Worked overtime yesterday then went home and fell asleep. Didn't get anything done. Big surprise. Didn't get anything done today(yet) either but Mom had to find some stuff and this was a good time to go look.

Okay.

 

Getting hot. Taking a break.

I've ran the push mower around the edges, resprayed the outline of the building I want to build, pushmowed the hilly part and the bottom, shoveled the ash out from my burn pit and put the not completely burnt wood back in, and mowed the back yard. This is after 2 months of not mowing due to storm debris.

Still left is hedge trim, weed whack, blow off, spray roundup, and finish mowing.

 

 

I agree, how heat “feels” is a completely personal thing. I have posted before about visiting Mom on the Gulf Coast with high 90 temps and high humidity and to me that “heat index” didn’t feel bad at all compared to the equivalent actual temperature in Phoenix.

 

I did hedge trim, did not need to blow, did some weed whacking. Got out the chainsaw and went after a few things, and the chain was burning through things slowly. I figured it was time for the new chain I bought. Installed it with a chainsaw wrench I also bought, and fired it up. This thing is now insane with a new chain; it cuts so well that it almost pulls itself through stuff.

Finished sawing, put de-resin spray on the hedge trimmer, which is very important. Got the sprayer and put down 6 gallons of Roundup. Cleaned the sprayer, put everything away except the riding mower, picked up some sticks, then got on the riding mower and drove around front to do that yard, threw the blade lever, and broke the deck belt. Threw in the towel and headed for the showers.

Time to get a deck belt.

 

I might go by the lawn power place tomorrow, but I slipped in under the get it tomorrow limit by one minute, so a couple belts are on their way from Amazon.

 

--Got all stuff put back on 56, drove around some and it started that old too rich/ bad idle stuff again. Sure enuff opened hood and gas dripping out carb. Decided to remove top of carb on truck, cleaned up needle and seat and rechecked float level. Saw nothing wrong, but put back together and runs great. I will get some completed pics and post them.
--Got new wheel bearings/seals on Olds. That was a fiasco, found out my China 20 ton press wasn't enough to press on bearings and retainers. A guy around here has a small shop in his garage and pressed them on with his gigantic 70 ton press. Going to leave with Olds on Tuesday for the Old 27 Motor Tour. I might switch cars and drive the F100 for the northern half....
-- Found a used box on marketplace for the plow truck. Went to Hastings Mi to get it with 2 old High School budds.. It's off a small town fire department's brush truck- Red with unit # on it and gold leaf reflective stuff- I gotta figure of a nick name for the truck now, Brush Hog???

 

The Burning Bush?

 

John - Man, you had a full day of it yesterday, I'm sure you slept well last night.

 

Good morning everyone.

I'm bored. The wheels are coming slow. There was nothing built up for a head start this morning, and the retriever was broke for about an hour. And my robot guy is training a new person. Eh, Monday. We'll get through it.

Greg here's a name for the truck. Bill.

Gonna be nice all week, and hot. I also need to do some yardwork. But only at my house. Mom has gone and hired a yard guy for over there. I told her not to and she did it anyway. She never was very good with boundaries. Well, she's paying for it so what do I care. Except that was awhile ago and he has yet to show up.

I gotta say I've been looking around on CO and we have a few snobs here. Never noticed it quite so prevalent.

Think I'll walk down to the roll up door. Maybe I'll go get a snack. Ya that sounds like it. Have a good day everyone.

 

Greg - Glad you got the F100 all back together and it's now running right. That should be a new fun toy! Also glad you found a replacement box so quickly for the plow truck. My Aunt Mary lives on Gun Lake there in Hastings. When I was young my family used to camp there at Yankee Springs Recreation Area on Gun Lake for weeks at a time. Mom would stay there at the lake with us kids and Dad would commute to/from work in Battle Creek. Fond memories of those times and area.

Throwing my hat in the ring for the plow truck nickname, how about "Rusty"???

 

Good morning everyone.

Wreck outside the hangar this morning, traffic backed up down the road, around the exit, out onto the expressway. Took me 25 minutes to get into work after exiting the expressway. Rollback with Dodge Dakota up on it and a Honda-type vehicle in the left lane right outside the first gate to the parking lot. Just sitting there. Oh and the cop with his seizure-inducing lights going. One might think that the operation would be expedited since thousands of people were trying to get to work, not to mention it's also the road to get up to the International building, and hundreds of people trying to get to their planes. Well, no one ever said the city of Atlanta was very bright. At least I've never heard it.

Went to Summit last night. Not a lot to write home about. There was a nice breeze in the shade but otherwise humid. It was nice to get out and I saw a couple people.

Feels like it will be a slow day. For I don't know how many weeks running, the lead went home early yesterday and didn't show up today. Some kind of racket. Eh, I'm not worried about anyone but me.

Hope everyone has a good day.

 

Good morning guys,

Mike - Never any fun getting stuck in traffic when you're trying to get into work. Not having to make that drive (~35-miles) into the city every morning ranks near the top of the list for me as a retirement perk, especially in the winter if the roads were slick. Too bad there weren't any/many cool cars to comment about at Summit, glad you were able to get out though.

Our pups both had vet visits yesterday. Maggie had her full annual check-up including rabies, distemper, and bordetella vaccines. Plus lab work for intestinal parasites and heartworm. Monty just got the bordetella vaccine. All the vaccines kinda knocked Maggie down yesterday evening, she was not her usual perky self. Hoping to see her feeling better today.

My youngest daughter is having a b-day party and brunch for grandson Keegan this coming Saturday that we're going to. I'm going to hit a show later that day that doesn't start until 3pm and runs until 8.

Last 2-mornings we've had incredibly thick fog around here in the morning. It didn't completely burn off yesterday until about 11am.

Hope everyone has a great day and week!

 

The mower belt arrived yesterday and it was a bitch to change without pulling the mower deck. After much profanity, I got it going, and cut the front yard, then disengaged blade and drove around back to get the side yard. Reengaged, no blades. Checked underneath and one pulley had pulled out and bent the shaft. Either I didn't torque something down, or the hellacious amount of grass that lugged the engine really hard once bent the pulley over. Did the side yard with the push mower. Looks like ***, but at least no one will call code enforcement on me.

I will need to pull out the deck and fix it right, either the nut is loose, or the sheet metal of the deck is punched and I'll need a washer. Got a couple weeks to fix it.

 

Man, that really sucks! If it isn't one thing it's another. Good luck with the additional repair.

 

Back from my 2nd-ever trip to a golf course, for a weekend tournament my college roomie puts on. Took the Iron Man award again, 369 strokes over 54 holes. I did manage to take a "closest to the pin" contest on a par 3, dropped my 5 iron about 5' from the hole. Only threw a few clubs, mostly just flipped a few feet into the air out of frustration, but there was one instance of a "Happy chuck", where I had to walk a bit to retrieve it.

 

Jeff - Great to hear from you. The golf tournament sounds fun. Golf sure as hell is a humbling game isn't it. There ain't nothing easy about it! If you didn't break anything you did well!

 

Greg my vote for the nickmame is "Gump" Looks like a Forest Truck

 

Good morning guys,

Miserably hot and humid! That's all I got.

 

41/42

...and, what a crazy game.
I was looking at an easy 4-5 over par coming into the 17th hole. Crushed a drive off the 17th down the center (400 yard, par 4) leaving me w/ 145 yards to the pin. Second shot was a dead shank to the right no more than 60 yards into the rough. Third shot was a another dead shank to the right and I'm still in the rough (laying three) 10 yards from the pin. Fourth shot fell short of the green. Double bogey.
Onto the 18th (500 yard, par 5) hole. Another crushed drive dead center in the 18th fairway against a 30 mph wind leaving me 150 yards to clear the marsh and onto fairway on the other side to setup for a 3rd to the green. Nope, second shot another shank dead right and now I'm in the rough. At this point I'm laughing to myself - WTF. Third shot from the rough was a damn near dead shank again and I didn't clear the marsh - WTF! Three in four out I'm now laying four hitting five from 125 yards. Fifth shot I overcompensated and hit the F'ing ball 20 yards left back into the marsh. All it takes are two disastrous holes to turn a good round into $hit.

Weather was absolutely gorgeous in the 80s with low humidity - felt like paradise.

I'll play the 9-hole shootout this evening, arrive early and fix whatever I broke. Pretty sure I know what it was. Should be a very pleasant late afternoon/early evening nine holes.

 

Hi everyone.

Things are a lot better at work today. Smoother, further along, nothing has broken. I hope it stays that way.

The weather thing on my computer says it's 91 and sunny out. I need to mow but not today.

When the Henry County cops were in charge of the city of Stockbridge, they would run a speed trap on North Henry Boulevard. I think that was what propped up most of their yearly budget. Now the city of Stockbridge has gotten its own police department, and I think the new pocket lining street is Flat Rock Road. I go up and down it several times a day. Lately they've had one of those speed things set up that tells you how fast you're going, and if it's less than 10 over the number flashes. If it's more than 10 over little blue and red lights flash. That's all it is, no cameras, no link to the station, but it's funny to see how many people slam on the brakes. Last night I was going home and there were two cops sitting up around a corner, presumably running a speed trap. I came up behind them and when I passed them and went around the corner I saw some girl zipping along and I flashed my lights at her. She kept on, but I wasn't in a position to see if they went after her. Next was a Porsche. I flashed my lights at him and he hit the brakes. Hehe he knew what that meant. I hope they move on soon. You know their cars used to be blue, but then they switched that to silver. The reason was they wanted to be more approachable. My feeling is it doesn't matter how approachable the car is if the guy inside is a dick.

Think I'll move some stuff over to my house this afternoon. For whatever reason Mom has been having a fit about it, wanting to get that stuff out of the room that she isn't going to use. I said if it bothers you close the door. Well, it will be a good workout for the blue van.

Have a good afternoon everyone.

 

John - What a horse $hit day w/ the mower, eh?

Jeff - I gave up on tossing clubs around many, many years ago - I'm not good enough to be getting that mad at my game. Nice you won closest to pin & the "Iron Man". It's all about enjoying the game.

Chris - Enjoy the sauna.

 

Mike - Mom's sign a contract w/ the devil when they have their 1st child. They are obligated to nag the living **** out of you forever - there is no known cure, no drug, no vaccine - nothing.

 

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike...

 

Norm - Still a nice round . . . until you read how you got there, then it just sucks!

All the time when I was playing regularly I only broke 80 3-times, and it was only 79 (Par 72) each time. One afternoon I was playing with my ex FIL and 2 of his buddies at the Country Club in Poplar Bluff. We got started late and by the time we finished 16 it was really dark, so dark you couldn't see thirty feet. I finished 16 3-over and we had to quit because of darkness. My ex FIL said we could go back early in the morning and finish up, but we needed to get back to StL for work and school. Might have shot a 74 or 75, or certainly could have ended up over 80. Always wished I could have finished that round that day! 🤔

Good luck and hit 'em straight this evening!

 

I have about $30 total into the clubs, so I wasn't too worried if I broke any. I did joke about the roadside clubs I picked up a couple years ago, and maybe bringing a few of those if I play in that tourney again. Just to have something to snap over my knee as a gag. The only times I got irritated were if it was multiple holes and shots in a row that were complete garbage, or one or two bad shots after putting myself in good position to have a par or bogey. I didn't bother looking at my scorecards at any time, but the first 18 on Saturday were remarkably awful, to the point I considered leaving. I did manage to have some fun for the final 36 holes. Also, a few of the guys provided some tips to improve, which I tried to pay better attention to while swinging. My form needs work, just need to find the time to do so.

 

Norm, Speaking as someone who has had the S word. Put another ball a few inches away from your ball [ or a tee] It will force you to stop hitting the hosel or just try to hit it on the toe

 

Jeff - The best scenario is to take a couple lessons from a golf pro who can tell you exactly how badly you suck at this game - I mean, exactly what areas require improvement. Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

 

Jim - I got this. I'm going to say w/ 99.9999% certainty I was attempting to achieve flight with my arms flapping in the breeze.

 

9-Hole shootout starts @ 5:00pm, time to head out and smack the living $hit out of that ball...

I got some funny comments & stares when I sent those several shanks flying off this morning...they took off like a quail in flight, maybe a partridge....I should bring a shotgun...

 

Mike, one thing that I noticed about silver cop cars, they are harder to see. They blend in real well with the surroundings. One local municipality by me has them, and I never see them until I'm right on top of them.

 

Maybe a Ruffed Grouse, nothing scares the $hit out of me any more than those when they go up! Man I miss hunting fowl under my brother's German Shorthair Pointers. Mostly, just being with my Bro.

 

Dan - Ya never have any trouble identifying the Michigan State Trooper cars with the big Cherry Top! Sharp cars! When my brother was a Trooper over at St. Joe and patrolling I-94 he never set his radar to go off unless someone was going >80mph and he still could have wrote tickets as fast as he could chase them down. 😉

 

Norm yep keep the right arm in tighter than normal and don't try to clobber it for a while The S word can really phuque with your head [ or mine at least][

 

1st Place, 9-Hole Shootout

 

I've shot, cleaned, cooked & ate two Ruffed Grouse. Both times while hunting Mourning Dove in North Dakota.