When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I was finally able to confirm that we did experience an earthquake yesterday evening at 6pm, with an epicenter approximately 5-miles east of us in Illinois, with a magnitude of 2.4. https://fox2now.com/news/missouri/mi...der-no-damage/
Note the Miles Bar Scale in the SE corner of the image. We are located about 7-miles north of Festus, and about 5-miles west of the epicenter (red star).
Not surprising considering the distance and magnitude. The duration of the shaking was extremely short, a couple of seconds at most. I immediately thought earthquake, wife thought it was a sonic boom from a distance.
Cleanup, organize day at the Ponderosa. Scaffolding boards taken down, scaffolding disassembled boards/components stacked back in garage. Relocated a couple hangars back of garage wall used to store another room-walker scaffold, broke down that scaffold & stored on back wall. Things are back to being tidy once again. Golf tomorrow ~12:00 noon.
- His team will be playing in the 3rd/4th place consolation game in the morning at 9:30. This game will be played at the Parkway Bank Outdoor Ice Rink just east of O'Hare off of Hwy 294
Hockey Tournament Update:
Gabe's team won their 3rd/4th place consolation game this morning 5-2 to take 3rd place out of the 6 teams. His team got a nice trophy for 3rd place and all the boys got 3rd place Bronze medals. Gabe had a goal and an assist in today's game. I am very proud of him, and his team doing as well as they did in a higher profile tournament in a big hockey town! They were certainly playing above their normal level of competition and rose to the occasion!
It was 65° today here and sunny, just beautiful. I hadn't started the 4-4-2 since mid-November, so I took the opportunity to fire her up, pull it out of the garage into the driveway and bring it up to operating temp (190°) for several minutes. All in all I had it running a little over 20-minutes. My driveway has a gentle slope towards the street, but even taking the engine up to 2K rpm's a few times it did not drive any moisture out of the exhaust pipes, which is great. All signs were good. Very little leakage from the Rear Main Seal after sitting 2 and 1/2-months, and no other new leaks found. Should be good to rock and roll come Spring after doing an oil/filter change and lube job.
Last edited by Dream67Olds442; Feb 2, 2025 at 07:24 PM.
Thanks Norm! He called me just a little while ago and told me they were home and he had a great time. I didn't know this last night, but his team went to a Chicago Wolves minor league hockey (AHL) game last night. Apparently the Wolves are an affiliate of the NHL Carolina Hurricanes. Thought you'd appreciate that! He said the boys enjoyed the hockey game because there were alot of fights!
It's going to get to 68 tomorrow. I will take some stuff to the new property, including my traction sandbags in the truck already. I will gamble that, as I can see the forecast for the first two weeks of Feb, that the back half and early March might be ok.
I am attempting a pot roast in a dutch oven I have had for years and never used.
Worked 13 yesterday and 5 today updating servers and software sites for the system my team supports. I may have found something more impactful than conveyors for bringing the place to a smoking halt if you mess up. Read an article that more Camrys were sold last year than all of Subaru's brand, and all of BMW's cars (as in not SUVs). Everyone loves SUVs, but that juggernaut on I-75 still pumps out some big numbers of car production. I walked all over it a week ago, and that was just the assembly shops.
Read an article that more Camrys were sold last year than all of Subaru's brand, and all of BMW's cars (as in not SUVs). Everyone loves SUVs, but that juggernaut on I-75 still pumps out some big numbers of car production.
John - That's not surprising to me, customer satisfaction ratings are always high, and you just never hear actual owners say anything bad about their Toyota. I'd like the pleasure of owning one someday. I've owned a Honda Accord, Nissan Super Cab 4x4 truck, and Subaru Loyale AWD 4-door sedan, all better cars than any domestics I've owned with the exception of my Ford Truck. My next door neighbor is on his 2nd Tundra 4x4 and just loves it. He does alot of trailer towing, and hauling in the bed for his Exotic Pet business (mainly reptiles and fish). If/when my truck ever starts to nickel and dime me to death I'd probably try to find a nice lower mileage Tundra, even then they ain't cheap. No way in hell I'd fork out the $'s for a new one,
Busy morning for me. I was one of two mechanics here the first hour and the only one signing things. Even after the other mechanics came in at 6 the wall guys were still giving me wheels. I didn't turn them down. I had 47 by breaktime. Gotta be some sort of record. I was steady doing work for over three hours, it was nice.
Chris sounds like the team had a great time. Stuff like this helps make men out of them. I'm kinda jealous. I want to go up to Chicago and hang out. Maybe this summer. I need me some Frango Mints.
Gonna do some yardwork at Mom's after work. The tree is cut up and gone but there are many branches in a pile that need to go away. I need to get the big truck over there and see if it has the *** to pull the stump. I left it a few feet high so I can wrap lots of chain around it.
Okay have a great day everyone. The pressure is off, Monday started and we lived to tell about it.
Mike - I've read all your posts regarding wheel numbers over the years. I've never heard you having 47 wheels before break much less close to 47 wheels before break. I'm going to nix on the truck pulling the stump - those stumps are damn tough mudders.
My team managed to break nothing this weekend, so the plant fired up today ok. I have to spend some of their money, support a trial, then I am out early to wash truck and haul stuff. Today will be nice. I may leave the sandbags in, or at least put them in the storage unit, as it is going to get cold again.
Breaking news! Delta is going to start flying LAX-MEL at the end of the year! I'm so excited! This will save me money, and I can sit in Ultra Uber First Class as well. I may now actually be able to go over more than once a year.
We hit our target around 1030 this morning. I will say Norm that I was surprised as can be that I had that many at break, and I finished with 57. Not a bad morning's work.
The tree stump, while it's a big'n I think the truck might just pull it. If not no biggie, I'll cut it flush and be done with it. I'll mess with it another day.
Busy morning for me. I was one of two mechanics here the first hour and the only one signing things. Even after the other mechanics came in at 6 the wall guys were still giving me wheels. I didn't turn them down. I had 47 by breaktime. Gotta be some sort of record. I was steady doing work for over three hours, it was nice.
Chris sounds like the team had a great time. Stuff like this helps make men out of them. I'm kinda jealous. I want to go up to Chicago and hang out. Maybe this summer. I need me some Frango Mints.
Mike - Wow, sounds like you had a helluva great morning! 👍
I agree, overall I think team sports are great for kids, as long as the parents (and grandparents) behave. I am often too competitive, and I constantly have to remind myself that Gabe and his teammates are only 12 and just learning. So far I think I've done a pretty decent job of just being a cheerleader and not a critic.
After ~3 mos. not golfing it really showed. Hard time finding cadence & swing plane. Around holes 10 through 13 it finally began to kick in. Tee time tomorrow 12:00 noon.
After ~3 mos. not golfing it really showed. Hard time finding cadence & swing plane. Around holes 10 through 13 it finally began to kick in. Tee time tomorrow 12:00 noon.
I'd bet that's the longest layoff you've had in many a moon? Glad you were able to get out and start slapping whitey around again! 👍
Breaking news! Delta is going to start flying LAX-MEL at the end of the year! I'm so excited! This will save me money, and I can sit in Ultra Uber First Class as well. I may now actually be able to go over more than once a year.
That's great Mike, I'm happy for ya! MEL wasn't clicking for me as a destination at first until you mentioned possibly being able to go more than once a year.
Absolutely gorgeous here today, 74° for a high and sunny.
My neighbor friend came down about 12:30 to check out where Dawn wanted the new electric heater, and to see what type of breakers I have. He said I've got a whole bunch of that type of breaker at home that I'm never going to use, and I'll run home and get one and we can knock this out in less than an hour if you want to do it now. I said sure, let's do it. I did the work with him walking me thru the process. I was amazed we could do the connection to the breaker box without having to shut down the power. He was right, we were done in about an hour and the heater ran great!
Chris - Looks good. Hope it warms up the area nicely.
Thanks Norm, I hope so too. Description said it was designed to heat up to 1,200-sqft of garage type environment. We've got about 1,800-sqft of basement, so I'm hoping it will at least make it bearable for her to work down there during normal Winter temps (30's). If we start having temps in the teens and below, all bets are off.
I'm being picky but I'm being truthfully honest. The amount of square feet doesn't mean squat. The ONLY way it has any meaning whatsoever is if you ASSUME a room to be some standard of say 8' in height because you heat/cool space by cubic feet of air space. None-the-less, I'm sure it will be fine.
I'm being picky but I'm being truthfully honest. The amount of square feet doesn't mean squat. The ONLY way it has any meaning whatsoever is if you ASSUME a room to be some standard of say 8' in height because you heat/cool space by cubic feet of air space. None-the-less, I'm sure it will be fine.
Yeah, the HVAC heating/cooling requirements for a standard big box store (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.) would fall well short if using square feet alone.
I can only imagine what 50 earthquakes/day would do to my nerves. That's ~2/hr every day if they were evenly distributed (Santorini Island, Greece).
Creeping up to ~70°F, today. Tee time 12:00 noon.
Seemed unusually warm when I left the house this morning. 50* at 4am. Going up to 77 today. Wow it must be summer.
Chris that's a nice heater. Hope it warms the tootsies. I'm guessing your house wasn't intended for living space in the basement, if there isn't any heat down there. My basement doesn't have heat either but ironically that's where the furnace is. I read once that the Mall of America in Minnesota doesn't even have heat. The kinetic energy of all the shoppers rushing around warms the place.
Got my yardwork done yesterday, at least what I intended to do. This afternoon I think it's gonna be running around and resituating the covers on the cars. Might take the big truck for a ride. He hasn't been started in awhile.
What I'm saying next would not have been any value to Chris' new heater installation; but, I'll puke up a couple scenarios. My parents downstairs basement (much like Chris') was not finished. There are some options when considering how to supply heat/AC to updated basement space(s):
(1) Add an additional duct into the furnace/blower plenum. Very easy - cut a hole add the duct; or,
(2) Either add an additional duct (work) to a previous duct or simply cut a hole and add a duct register.
Both are quite easy. I'll mention two additional pieces which are nice to consider in a modest retrofit to existing residential HVAC duct work:
(1) Add-on humidifier. Get rid of the terribly dry house static, etc.. They're easy to install & inexpensive. Tap into a previous/current water pipe in the basement with a little/small water line (type you'd use to supply water to your refrigerator ice-make). The line goes into the humidifier. The humidifier is a box which mounts to the furnace/blower plenum. So, w/ the water line feeding the humidifier when the furnace/blower feeds air to the entire house it circulates moisture from the humidifier. A nice add-on; additionally,
(2) Add-on dehumidifier. Essentially, same as the humidifier installation except in reverse. Mounts/Installs same manner but instead draws moisture from the air. Has a line (basically same type line as an ice-maker water line) which drains moist water from the dehumidifier into a drain in the basement floor or into a pan included w/ the de-humidifier (and, in most cases the pan generally only needs to be emptied one every several weeks).
Apparently I was wrong when I reported 74° as the high temp here yesterday. The official temp at the airport was 76° breaking the all time record for Feb. 4th. Today the forecasted high is 45°, more than 30° cooler, ugh!
My hope is it won't take 10 - 13 holes to find my swing; but, it won't bother me if it does take that long. At least I won't be annoyed w/ 40 - 50 earthquakes while smacking whitey.
Chris that's a nice heater. Hope it warms the tootsies. I'm guessing your house wasn't intended for living space in the basement, if there isn't any heat down there. My basement doesn't have heat either but ironically that's where the furnace is. I read once that the Mall of America in Minnesota doesn't even have heat. The kinetic energy of all the shoppers rushing around warms the place.
Mike - Thanks for the compliment on the heater. I'm hoping it does it's job. With it being 240V, I'm sure I'll see a difference in my electric bill. It will be well worth the cost if it enables my wife to work comfortably down there in the dead of Winter. Her furniture projects are a big part of her "Joy", so I don't mind the extra expense if it makes her happy.
My basement could easily be converted to living space, there is a rough in for a bathroom down there, we just don't need the extra living space with just the two of us. Our basement with the downhill side being a walkout, gets warmer in the summer and colder in the winter than a normal basement because the walkout side is above ground and therefore not insulated by the ground. Plus, there are 3 large windows and the slider door along the exposed wall. There are 2 registers/vents in the plenums in each end of the basement, but there would need to be more installed to make it comfortable using the main furnace or A/C.
One thing I didn't think of is that I could have installed a standalone natural gas space heater down there. We had one in the basement of my parents home and they put out a ton of heat. That would still be a future option if needed at some point. If we did that, I'd relocate that new electric heater to the garage, finish the rest of the insulation/drywall out there, and insulate the garage doors. I would like to do that one of these days/years.
Last edited by Dream67Olds442; Feb 4, 2025 at 07:39 AM.
Chris did you buy that house brand new? My favorite heat is floor heat.
We finished up before lunch again. But I didn't have 47 at break. Finished up at 32. The guys are keeping building so we'll have a good head start tomorrow.
Propane is running low out at the new place. I have established an account. They will call me with a 'hard date.' I do not like how they pick the date and you have to be available the whole time.
Chris did you buy that house brand new? My favorite heat is floor heat.
We finished up before lunch again. But I didn't have 47 at break. Finished up at 32. The guys are keeping building so we'll have a good head start tomorrow.
Mike - Sounds like you had another very productive day and you should be set up well for tomorrow. 👍
My current house was 2-years old when I bought it in 2009 when I needed a place after my divorce. I really didn't want to buy in a Subdivision, but there were other factors that drove my purchase. The biggest factor was that my old house where my Ex and my girls would still be living is only 3-miles from here. That fact was going to make it very convenient for our 50/50 shared custody arrangement. Plus, the original owner of my home was being forced to sell quickly because of a job relocation to another State and was very motivated to sell. Additionally, interest rates were very low at the time, but trending upward, so I was motivated to buy. I got the much better end of the deal.
