Chris - Thanks, me too. First thing is to find the tool to remove the radio which thus far has evaded me. I have the truck put back together, ALT is doing a fine job of charging/maintaining batteries. I've been monitoring, taking for rides, etc. - all checks out. Uncovered the Indian, fired right up then down the road & back, all good there. Think I'll cut &/or ensure I have plastic + towels to cover all 4 windows just in case a bucket of the wet stuff falls out of the sky tomorrow, <3% chance of precipitation w/ the usual caveats of local thunderstorms could develop. Inside to grab a cookie then back to scratching my head - where is that tool?

 

I see my joke went directly over your head. Ay...Yi...Yi...Yi...Yi.

 

Dan - Absolutely brilliant. Thank You!

 

Dan - Yes, I think we really lucked out compared to what has now been termed a tornado that went across northwestern side of St. Louis City and across into Granite City, IL area. Damage pictures are showing up now and it looks like some pretty severe damage, but nothing catastrophic that I've seen yet.

Speaking of your storm last night, I have a niece (Brother's daughter) that lives in Paw Paw and she posted they have alot of home and tree damage near her from the storms that passed thru last night. At the time she posted she said she didn't know if it was from a tornado or just straight line winds?

 

It's my storm induced PTSD kicking in!

 

I've watched two tornadoes develop in my lifetime. One while driving the other outdoors in our backyard at home. Driving the distance was ~1 mile from my car, the one in our backyard was about ~1,000 feet from our house. Scared me to death. Mom was screaming, Dad (macho man) was all nonchalant type thing. Mom was NOT a happy camper as we all scrambled/rushed into the basement (I was ~8 or 9 yrs old). Sounded just like a freight train heading towards the house.

 

This radio removal tool isn't such a BIG DEAL, but I did buy one (~$6) several years ago because it's a little sturdier than thick coat hangers but I have a back door out in case I screwed the pooch & lost mine.

 

Put one in the win column - yes. Instrument panel appears to require a box ~6"H x 16"L...not sure about depth, until I remove it. Checked my cardboard packaging stash & it appears I have enough to cover the job.

 

Good deal Norm, glad you found the special tool, and.boxes for the shipping. 👍

 

Hey guys,

Seeing tons of pictures now of all the tornado damage and it's ugly! Sad to say there are already 2 confirmed deaths from building collapses.

 

Camping with old truck and trailer at Camp Dearborn with the Tin Can Tourists. Wow last night we had thunderstorms. The siren went off which I forgot about since I haven't lived in a area with them since being a kid in Lansing. It was about 2330 and we had fallen asleep. The alarm sure woke us up! Wifey checked her phone and found it was a severe thunderstorm warning, not a tornado warning. But still high winds could have blown us away in our little trailer- or in the truck. We prolly should have put on our clothes and went to the restroom building but didn't. We did put on our clothes and laid back down... Well all was ok... But a tornado would be hell at a campground!! I will get some pics up of some of the vintage campers and sweet tow cars/trucks when I get back home.

 

Greg - Just a little more excitement than you were planning on eh? Glad you guys are OK! Be safe and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

 

Greg - A little excitement last night, eh?
Chris - I don't have cable TV, any TV for that matter. But St. Louis is being sensationalized via every broadcast station and news station on the World Wide Web.

 

Turned on house A/C 1st time this season. Not necessarily because of humidity alone, but the pollen is absolutely relentless/stifling this year. W/in the 1st 1/2 hour I've lost my headache(s) & wicked stuffy/swollen sinuses.

 

Norm - Sensationalized I'm sure, but the more I see the worse it looks. Confirmed death toll up to 4 now. Alot of damage to old brick structures up in north City.

 

It missed me. Rained this AM, but I got up and took the trailer and mowing rigs to the new place. Chucked everything overboard, went into town with the trailer and bough a large beer sign from my guy. Drove it to the property, stowed the sign, the mowers, the trailers, and the miscellaneous support stuff, then went home.

Had lunch, then loaded my truck with more shelf sets. Drove to storage unit, wedged truck in there in case this storm hailed. Walked 2 miles home. Put chainsaw back together, no change. Going to try cheap carb to know whether to rebuild original carb, or if problem is elsewhere. Had dinner and waited for storm. Everything went by, some rain, little wind. Guess I will go get the truck tomorrow; exercise is good.

 

 

Great! I kept watching the radar and although there were multiple strong cells headed your way it looked like they went both above and below you. Glad you didn't get anything severe! I felt very lucky this go-round compared to what went down just 40-miles north of me.

 

Beautiful sign, love it! Also love the old sleds in the storage unit!

 

I have no idea what to do with them.

 

They don't look too dilapidated. I'd fix them up and sell them, or give them to someone that has young kids that would use them. You'd might not think it would be the case in southern Michigan, but we had an area with a couple of huge, steep hills just a 20-minute walk from my parents front door. A bunch of us kids would go up there and stay all day. Great memories, big crashes, and no shortage of blood. It's a miracle no one ever broke a bone!

 

Yikes. I haven't seen a wooden blade sled since I can't recall when. Honestly, they sucked to be sure.

 

They make excellent fuel in a bonfire.

 

Norm - John can set me straight if I'm wrong, but I don't think those sleds have wooden blades/runners, they look Iike steel to me? I have seen the really, really old sleds that do have wooden runners though.

 

Chris - That's correct. The blades are metal. I called them a I assumed everyone knew the blades were metal. I could likely have written my description better. Still, they make great fuel for a bonfire.

 

I think he means a wooden sled with blades. My dad can identify the older, faster one from his youth. He knew they were old then, so they're probably 100 years now. My antiques guy says they're worth 25 bucks around the holidays. I'll probably just put them up in the rafters of a shop or my barn.

There was one street in Terre Haute near my dad's hose that had a hill for a block, and all the kids would race down it.

 

The only time those wooden sleds w/ blades were any fun at all was on ice or a hard-packed crusty top layer of snow no more than 1" - 2" thick - which wasn't all that often. They were just clumsy & not worth the time &/or effort. I've seen folks tow them on the back ends of quads & snowmobiles on ice-covered lakes. That's likely the most fun I'd ever seen with them.

 

I never used them as a kid. Of course, I grew up in Florida. When I visited up here in Christmas in the snow, we had my aunt's sleds, which were mostly blow molded plastic sliders, or the Chevy Chase disc.


Funny thing is, one kid has a blade sled, and another has a toboggan, I think, during the discussion about the spray. He calls it a saucer sled.

 

I remember that scene. Yeah, we called them saucers. Bunch of us each owned a couple of them. They were great using a rope & tied behind a car, quad or snowmobile, as well.

 

Good morning everyone.

Rain is here now. Just nuisance rain. Chris I'm glad you escaped the heavy stuff. Question. If you would have had hail, how would you know?

I had any number of sleds when I was a kid. There was a big hill in the central park we'd go to all the time. We had the discs also, and any number of new at the time sledding devices. None of them seemed to do what they were advertised to.

John love the beer sign. Never heard of Cook's beer.

Jamesbo I just saw the state will now allow compost burying for humans. How is that different from the green cemetery?

Inside stuff for me today. That's okay, I'm gonna clean some more in the basement and work on the bedroom upstairs. That will keep me busy.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

 

Thanks Mike, I'm glad we escaped this time too. Unless the hail is super small, most of the time you can hear it hitting the roof/windows/siding. Of course when you're in the basement it's not as loud, but you have to remember my house is a walk out so 2/3 of the side walls are exposed and all the back wall is totally exposed. Plus, there is the sliding door and 5 windows along the back wall, so you can also see the hail if it's light out.

 

This is a spectacular and scary picture of the tornado on the ground yesterday as it approached downtown St. Louis from the West. Picture is from a camera inside the viewing area at the top of the Gateway Arch looking to the West. The tornado veered slightly to the Northeast before reaching the high rise area of the City in the foreground, and then crossed the river into Granite City, Illinois.

 

Made it US Kids Golf no truck issues. No rain fingers crossed since no way to get PW up.

 

Norm - I hope you have a nice day and good luck with the weather on your way home.

 

Chris - Thanks.🙏

 

John, good to see that the worst of the weather missed you. When we were kids, a friend of mine had a couple of old sleds from the '40's, my brother and I traded for them. They had coil spring suspensions on them, and turned on a dime. Wish I still had them, would use as wall art in the garage today. Keep that fine beer sign secure, it's in excellent condition. I'm on the Porcelain Sign Traders forum, and there are thieves out there. I went out last night before the second round of storms came through, to buzz up my car windows. One small problem, I got the front ones up, missed a rear one! it won't be dry outside until tomorrow, so it will have to wait for me to air it out. I did sop up water form the Weather Tech floor mat, but the cloth seat is gonna take a couple of days.

 

That's a bummer, but at least the mats did their job! Once the rain stops maybe you can rig up a fan in there to get some air circulation to help the upholstery dry faster?

 

I'd be hard pressed to recall a year as bad as this year's production of pollen - unbelievable. Not only is there an extreme overabundance of pollen but pollen shedding/production is lasting far longer than normal. It's down right hugely annoying.
This is not a new phenomenon - it's called masting, or simply a mast year of production. There are select trees & shrubs which are known to produce synchronous mast years e.g. pines & oaks are two of the most common. A 'typical' mast year is what's often referred to as a 'bumper crop'. Fruit production is often a minimum of two times the average (normal) year, & often/many times three to four times the average (normal) fruit production. Most folks who've hunted/collected pecans each year easily recognize a mast year when pecan trees can't stop $hitting massive quantities of pecans - enormous amounts of pecans. Same can be said of all trees & shrubs - e.g. walnut, hickory, etc. Yet, most folks don't keep track of pine cones &/or oak acorns since they're not inclined to be collecting pine cones & acorns. One year at this place I witnessed at least three times the normal pecans in one year. Frick'n pecan tree had diarrhea. Some accounts seem to suggest they happen every 2-5 years depending on environmental conditions & tree species; yet, when I took botany & plant physiology I recall learning mast years were on average every seven years. Oh well, at any rate...this has to be a mast year in this area of the coastal Piedmont of North Carolina cause it won't stop $hitting pollen. Stuff is everywhere and should have ceased by now.

 

Managed to drive 1.5hrs each way from US Kids Golf w/o a glitch - walked/rode away unscathed. Driving w/ all the windows open was an annoyance; yet thankful no rain & the truck performed exceptionally well despite no instrument gauges.

Dan - Bummer you forgot one window. As Chris suggested, get a fan in there ASAP, I'm sure you will.

I didn't really "DO" much work other than manage pace of play & rules officiating - ride around in a golf cart all day, but the entirety of the day appears to have knocked the dog poop out of me. Go figure.

 

They sell for around $100 at antique malls in my area. Ridiculous to me, but they sell. Definitely better than burning them.