Oh hell. Bring on the Hi Def 70" that's the way to watch this series.

 

TV is a Samsung we bought about 4-years ago. We justified the expense because we enjoy watching TV together, and rarely go out to high end restaurants, movies, clubs, etc. We bought a higher end Harman/Kardon surround sound system with it. You will notice the sound bar on top of the entertainment cabinet, and the Woofer on the floor to the right of the cabinet. There are two smaller satellite speakers behind the couch. The sound is incredible! I often listen to my CD's on this system.

 

Chris - Don't walk away so fast...

 

Norm - That is a piece of StL Mississipian Limestone with a Bronze Frog figurine attached to it.

I have thought about it before, but one of these days I'm going to pull out some of my more spectacular rock, mineral, and fossil specimens and post some pics. Two of my nicest pieces are a silver dollar sized Garnet Dodecahedron crystal and a complete Mississippian Gastropod that is about 3" in diameter.

 

Everyone - There is a very detailed medical update out from the Coroner on the cause of Gene and his wife Betsy's death. Gene died on approximately Feb. 18th, the last known date of his pacemaker activity. He died of severe heart disease combined with advanced Alsheimers disease. His wife Betsy is thought to have died almost 7 days prior from complications from a Hantavirus (sp. ?), which to the best of my knowledge is a Pulmonary Virus. This virus is transmitted to humans via contact with the feces of field mice in western and southwestern regions of the U.S..

 

Chris - I have several large box of rocks - I have one or two on display. Thanks for the update on Gene. Betsy died of Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome (HPS)? Yikes. She died ~7 days prior to what - to Gene? No worries, I'll dig up an article.

 

Yeah, Betsy died ~1 week prior to Gene in a different/separate bedroom. Suspect Gene's advanced Alzheimer's Disease he may not even have been aware she was dead or it didn't register w/ him.

 

Yes, that's exactly the way I understood it when I saw the press conference.

 

 

Ready for the inside rear door next - which will get sanded, primed & re-painted.

 

Norm - The door looks beautiful, just awesome! 👍 Nicely done!

 

Thanks, Chris.

 

The door looks really nice Norm.

 

Hi everyone.

Beautiful day here in the Greater Stockbridge Area. Got up over 70 and was sunny. And time changes tonight and it rains tomorrow.

Norm your work is excellent as usual. What do you suppose the original people would think if they came back to see it. They'd probably think, holy **** we're 150 years old!

Chris I collect the big rocks from the yard. I put them in a big pile and one of these days I'll build a short wall out of them. I don't have any idea what they are made of, I just say they are Henry County rocks. I know we are on the Piedmont Plateau, maybe that means something. Lots of granite in the area.

I got the oil changed in the Suburban. The oil was black as tar. In a diesel that probably happened two hours after it was put in, but I have never changed it and I don't have any information on it, so now I know it has new oil and a new filter. Next up is window motors and door lock actuators. They are all slow or don't work at all, don't know what's up with that.

Norm going back looking at the pictures I see that you have the same kitchen floor that's in Mom's house. Whoever put it down used white grout, which is dumb for a kitchen. It's dirty as hell and doesn't really come clean. I used to use whitewall cleaner on it until I couldn't get that brand anymore.

Gonna putter around this evening, then go to bed early. My sister is coming tomorrow to stay with Mom while I'm gone. Need to be ready for her. Hope everyone has a good evening.

 

Keith/Mike - Thanks. A labor of love.

Mike - If the original people rose from the dead to see it it's doubtful they'd even notice. They were far from the most maintenance conscience folks. My kitchen flooring is ceramic tile w/ sanded gray-brown (taupe) grout. The small mud room is inexpensive marble flooring I had left over from the office room w/ white epoxy grout. Epoxy grout won't stain - sanded grout stains. Epoxy grout sets up fast so you have to be quick w/ it. What oil did you feed the Suburban?

 

Some Rotella 15W40 came with when I bought it so I used that. I still have two large jugs unopened so I have oil for awhile. I also received a new filter so the oil change today cost me nada.

The few grout lines I cleaned some years ago looked nice at the time, but have turned gross again. I think I can clean the grout and then put down a sealer and that might keep it nice for awhile. Maybe I can find grout the same color as the tile and just go over it. Or color it all in with a Sharpie.

 

I like how you think.

 

Mike I guess I missed it, did you have to buy the expensive billet harmonic balancer?

 

Rear interior door + hinges + lock set removed.

 

Nice here today, sunny and supposed to hit the mid-60's, then 5-days in the 70's Mon - Friday.

Hope everyone has a great day!

 

Hi everyone.

Just got back from Walmart. Mom bought the place out because she didn't want my sister to take her next week.

Greg turned out the balancer was fine. The problem was with the three groove pulley. The original was a two piece deal held together with rubber. The rubber went bad and the two pieces would turn independently. I suspect it had been doing that for awhile, and when I had an unrelated failure it came to my attention. The new piece is a billet piece from Leroy's Diesel and it cost me almost 300 bucks. At one point I thought the crank had broken, so the 300 didn't seem so bad. If this engine ever really does go TU, I'm taking that piece off and selling it by itself.

I trust everyone changed their clocks and weren't late for church. Our minister always said, don't leave me standing here all by myself. My sleeping in until 9 turned out to be sleeping in till 10. Later than I wanted but oh it felt so good. I haven't been able to sleep in for quite awhile. Tiger was in the living room sleeping upside down on the couch.

Okay the rain has stopped so I'm going out to put up a new mailbox. When I lived on the other side of the lake I put up a mailbox at least once a year. Shitty people bashing mailboxes with a baseball bat. Over here never happened once. But the mounting post has rotted and the box is a little bent from a tree falling on it, so I've got a nice big box to put up that locks and keeps the mail safe(er).

Have a good afternoon everyone.

 

Mike - I changed my clocks but nothing happened...

 

Gentleman , Count your blessings. I had to go to a funeral of my college friends one twin grandchild SIDS 6 months old. "There are no words'

 

Jim - Sorry to hear that. So sad. I can't imagine!

 

Jamesbo peace for the family. You're right, there are no words.

My sister got into town okay and we had a nice dinner. I wish she wouldn't drive long trips by herself. I think she likes the time alone.

Gonna take Mom to the doctor tomorrow, but this time it's my idea. She needs a prescription renewed but the doctor won't return her calls and the pharmacy has called several times and can't get ahold of her. Mom gets so mad and I said, why don't you go in and see her in person. Tell them you want a paper prescription and she'll take it to the pharmacy herself, and she's not leaving until she gets it. I told her I prefer to do business in person and besides she isn't getting anywhere on the phone. She thinks that's a great idea. Should be fun.

I didn't get anything done today. It started raining again and I sat watching Hallmark movies with Mom. It's supposed to be nice tomorrow so we'll try again. Got a couple things to wrap up for my trip as well.

Okay have a good night everyone.

 

The movie Gladiator has always been one of my favorites. I've watched it several times thru the years. I finally got the opportunity to watch Gladiator 2 tonight, and I watched it with Dawn, even though it's really not her kind of movie. Although many sequels often disappoint, this one sure didn't. I thought it was outstanding, and Dawn even liked it. If you saw and liked the original, I highly recommend the sequel.

 

Mike - I'm glad your sister got there safely, and I really hope your Mom is able to get her prescription filled. Good luck!

 

Gladiator was very good. I haven't seen Gladiator 2. Gladiator may have been the last film for Richard Harris? Harris was one of my all time favorites - just a wonderful actor who played in many fine movies.

 

A duck or goose couldn't like today's weather - cold (50°F), windy (15mph) & rainy. Sanded & applied primer to inside-facing interior rear door yesterday. Applied 1st top coat (in man-cave) of two top coats early this morning. I might get the 2nd coat applied later today. Weather sucks eggs.

 

Inside-facing interior rear door 2nd top-coat applied.

 

I always loved Richard Harris too! It is very hard for me to believe that this year marks the 25th Anniversary of the release of Gladiator. Although I remember it being a huge box office success, I honestly didn't remember it won the Oscar for Best Picture and Russell Crowe for Best Actor. Keep on trucking on the doors! 👍

 

The Guns Of Navarone was my Dad's all time favorite movie. We saw it the first time (1961) @ the outdoor Drive-In Theater. What a cast in that movie: Anthony Quinn, Gregory Peck, Richard Harris, David Niven, Jimmy Darren, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala & the list goes on. Dad knew (or heard scuttle-butt of) many of the actors as many were in the Royal Navy same as Dad's age (USN) where they staged for the Invasion of Normandy on the South coast of England. The film was produced by film director Carl Foreman (Chicago, IL) who attended my Alma Mater (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. I recall him well since he produced The Bridge on the River Kwai & High Noon (both of which I loved). He was blacklisted for "supposedly" belonging to the Communist Party - odd.

 

Jim, I'm so sorry.

 

Richard Harris' last movie was Caesar in 2002, he died just before the premier of the first Harry Potter movie. Only 72 years old. Someone whom I was surprised to see in Gladiator was Oliver Reed, as I hadn't seen him in a film in ages. He died from over drinking in a drinking contest with sailors during filming of Gladiator.

 

Hi everyone.

Been a busy day. Got to the doctor and completed the mission. Never saw the doctor, the receptionist took care of everything. Go figure. Got the yard rearranged so everything is up close to the house. Had to run up to my work to get my plane ticket to Melbourne. And even went out to dinner and had a nice, relaxing time.

Got a couple errands to finish off tomorrow then off to the airport for a late afternoon flight. Tuesday is gonna be a long day. It will start early, by Tiger going to jail. It will end Thursday morning when I land in Melbourne.

Rained and was crappy all day but the sun came out and was a nice evening. I'm loving the extra light in the evening and it's going to get better.

Well have a good evening everyone.

 

Gday Myke-
Have a good time on your trip I am sure you will. Enjoy!

 

Norm - All the WWII movies you mentioned above were great ones and favorites of mine too. Of all the old WWII movies, my Dad's, Brother's, and my favorite was "The Great Escape", quite the cast in that one too! Another one was "The Battle of the Bulge". I'd have to say my favorite war movie of all time is the Vietnam War movie "We Were Soldiers". I had the honor of getting a sit down interview with Lt. General Hal Moore for a speech I was presenting at a DNI Senior Leadership symposium. What a kind and generous man, one in a billion! My favorite quote from him is, "Three strikes and you are not out, there is always one more thing you can do on the battlefield!"

 

Mike - Safe travels mate! Enjoy your friends and time away!

 

Mike, Safe treavels

 

Mike - Have a ripper.