I lost the old beat up hag & played a decent round, yesterday. Baby steps on removal of the two-handle shower faucet & mixing valve. Hoping to be able to evaluate today. Rain (hopefully) moving into area tonight for a couple days. Heat & humidity have been punishing. I shouldn't be surprised, but it's pathetic the number of broken websites I see on the World Wide Web. Companies operating via the Peter Principle.

 

Norm - Nice to hear you're getting your swing back into the old groove. 👍 Good luck on your evaluation and repair of the faucet! 🤞

 

Taking me longer to recover from rounds of golf these days - backs/spines/hip girdles are designed for youth. Ugh.

 

I dread getting older. Back seems to be permanently no longer perfect. Stretches help. Got on the treadmill the past four days, we'll see how long I can keep that up.

I spent the money and ordered a Nikon ZF camera body, plus batteries, charger, and memory cards. I have my dad's whole slew of Nikon F 35mm film cameras and kit. The F bodies are being retired to my display cabinet. Using a FTZ "F to Z" Nikon adapter, a Z camera can run F glass (the difference is the Z mounts are a little wider.) The ZF is a Z camera, but done in the old F style, at least the 80s Fs, with a lot of brass **** controls. The ZF just had a big firmware update fixing 99% of beefs, too.

I even got his old strobe to power up; although the ready bulb appears to be dead, it does put out flashes. I think the only thing I can't use is the shutter remote release cable. I have the following lenses.

135mm x 2.8 mild telephoto x 2.
90-230mm x 4 zoom
200mm x 2.8 telephoto
35mm x 2 wide angle
55mm x 2 close up
50mm x 2 standard
50mm x 1.4 standard (this one has an extra low light stop)

So, other than a bonzo 400mm telephoto, I have all the glass I need.

 

Addendum: lenses, at least of that era, for those that don't know, are depicted by focal length times max aperture. Thus, a 200mm lens is a telephoto, a 50 is standard, and 35 is wide angle. The lower the aperture number, or F-stop, the more light you can let in, and is a shorthand for how "good" the lens is. Better lenses have wider max apertures. The 1.4 50mm lens I have is, thus, better than the 2.0 lens. Brand also matters, most of these are Nikons, but he has some Vivitars, too.

 

John - Thanks for bringing up stretching. Think I'll spend more time stretching today. I was a solid collector of Nikon, Cannon & Vivitar lenses/equipment for many years. Expense & utility stopped making it worthwhile for me but I really appreciate the equipment. My largest was a 400 telephoto ($$).

How's the beastly Ventrac working out?

 

Norm - Ya, we sure ain't 20 anymore are we! My body sure let's me know it when I over do it.

John - Very nice selection of camera equipment! I hope the new stuff you ordered works out well for you.

Just came in after about 2-hours of pulling/cutting/digging weeds in the bed along the back of the house. Biggest culprit and PIA is some wild grape vines that were starting to take over some larger shrubs. That crap can be tough to pull off unless you can get to the bottom part of the vine to cut it loose. Done for the day though, starting to heat up back there and losing my shade. Plan on doing some more tomorrow early.

 

Norm, I haven't used it much yet. I plan to this week.

I got some support on my hydraulics question.

The main lever:
1. Drives forward and backwards when pushed that way.
2. Raises and lowers the lift when pushed that way.
3. When a switch is moved on the dash, it will raise and lower the third aux hydraulics instead.

The second lever:
1. Goes only left and right.
2. Raises and lowers primary aux hydraulics.
3. Raises and lowers secondary aux hydraulics when a button on its stick is held.

The idea here is that, if you have a loader attachment, you drive into the loader, grab it, and lift the loader. Then, you are done with the lift until you're done with the loader. You then throw that switch on the dash, and your stick now raises and lowers the loader boom, instead lifting and lowering the loader frame. Meanwhile, you can tilt the scoop with the other lever, or hold the button on the other lever, and run the grapple. I don't have a loader attachment, but I may. For now, I just use the lift to lift the mowers, and the primary aux to tilt them.

My main question to them was what was the extra hose for, and it's a hydraulics air hammer buffer, basically.

It was cool, I got their main hydraulics guy on the phone. I also learned I can have the dealer adjust the detent (which means I can).

 

What a perk to get timely and qualified tech support these days!

 

^^x2^^
I watched most of the Ventrac videos + attachment videos when John purchased the beastly machine. Glad to see/hear of good technical support.

The largest & best lens I've ever used was an 800mm Nikon f/5.6 telephoto lens w/ I'm sure some stupid expensive coating(s). I had this full-time six month gig working for USGS @ Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, ND prior to entering grad school. I borrowed it for a weekend & took pictures of some one or two day old twin Fox kits from a distance of ~1/4 mile (1320'). I still have the photographic images I mounted & framed (1983). It's like I was standing 2' - 3' in front of them w/ unbelievable detail/clarity. I was told at the time that lens cost ~$8K.

 

I've been impressed with Ventrac support and Presto Pressure Cookers support as well recently. We need to get the country back into a pride of manufacture, buy something once, and it lasts, mindset, as well as paying good money for good stuff and thus wanting a good job for good money.

As Norm knows, but I should have added, telephoto lenses, by the nature of the beast, have lower max apertures, so one is not junk if it just steps down to only 4 if it's a telephoto. It's relative.

Wow, an 800 mm lens. I think that good guns, good optics, good stereos, good computing power, and good tools are somethings that the average person goes their entire lives without having their perspective expanded by using them. There's a moment of satisfied appreciation where you just exist in the realm of good craftsmanship. I bet that's true for airplanes as well. I'd like to just sit and look at a B-2 for a while; it was neat looking through the rocket hall at Huntsville last summer.

 

I've had my (15qt?) Presto Pressure Cooker (I think we've had this discussion previously when you were diddling w/ yours) maybe 35 yrs? Style w/ the jiggling weight you place over the vent to establish temperature. Radical, rudimentary & WORTHY. I know many who cringe (scared to death) to think of even using a pressure cooker let alone understand the basics of temperature/pressure. Hell, I have the original instructions & an original Presto Pressure Cooker cookbook w/ recipes which came w/ the unit. Mom & Dad were the larger the better Victory Garden gardeners. I think they/we planted a one acre plot yearly. Harvest time became an EVENT. Likely three or four pressure cookers on the stove at one time for a couple/several days rotating Ball/Mason quart jars. Quite the family affair.

Prior to my USAF active duty discharge (1978) while stationed @ Norton AFB, CA, USAF attempted to coerce/bribe me into an additional six year commitment - TWICE. This "review" (display/evaluation) was mandatory. So, they flew me to Edwards AFB where they attempted to persuade me to commit to the B1 bomber (1977). Lots of shenanigans going on relative to mothballing & revamping the various B1 programs. Standard stuff - re-up my commitment for six additional yrs. for x-dollars sign-on bonus, increase in rank, increase in $$. Thanks, but no thanks. Several months later they're back w/ another offer flying me back to Edwards AFB. Different facility, we walk inside a different hangar & I'm staring at a brand new A-10 Warthog. Same song & dance, commitment, sign-on, rank & $$. No thanks - I'm out of here.

I was a primary & secondary flight control systems specialist. Essentially wings, ailerons, flaps, vertical/horizontal stabilizers, speed brakes, landing gears & to a very, very limited extent some engine cowling/nacelle configurations, etc. You might ask "engines" as secondary flight controls? Yeah, if you're about dead in the water (air) aircraft maneuverability can be maintained via the engines alone.

In the various branches of service, you (I) essentially work for the aircraft manufacturer as a specialist in the military. Life is spent reading Technical Orders (TOs) from the manufacture. TOs define every single aspect of every single wire, nut, bolt, & rivet of any aircraft. It's likely there exists ~5,000 - 10,000 TOs for any given aircraft. TOs for each aircraft are provided to the various bases worldwide with each base most often relegated to specialty shops: wheels/tires, landing gears, engines, wings, etc., etc. Each shop has their own series of TOs contained w/in their library. All work is conducted, validated & signed off via rank any time an aircraft is serviced for any reason whatsoever.

It was damn cool to climb into & review a brand spanking new B-1 & A-10 as an incentive to re-up.

 

Amen brother!

 

Yeah, well the historic issue with the good old US of A is it has lacked a service industry. For some reason specialists who repair products were driven to the low-end of the service industry & manufacturers found the best alternative was to make it w/ plastic, throw it away & buy a new one. To this day, you travel to nearly any other country & you find service industries flourish. Americans are idiots. Too ******* dumb, too ******* lazy & too ******* dependent on others - no one has a brain, no one can stand up on their own - no EDUCATION. I'll step down, now.

 

My town elected to install automagic water reading meters (buried under the soil) ~15 yrs ago. Cheap-*** **** is what they are. They installed them on the "owners" side of the property line leaving the original mechanical valves in place - more or less like a "shunt" which gets fed from the main valve on city property then to the new shitty valve on the owner's property. Well, I've had several occasions to turn the water main OFF/ON from that automagic piece of **** plastic valve & today the one side of the plastic mechanical turn-style device to open/close "MY" valve broke - that was ~45 minutes ago. I "managed" to get a pair of long-handled channel locks onto what remains of that broken valve device mechanism to turn off the water. Anyways, I'm going to make some lunch before returning to the shower faucet mixing valve.

 

Military aircraft are too cool! The Air Guard out of Fort Custer in Battle Creek used to fly A-10's and we'd see them quite often. Actually you'd hear them before you ever saw them, those beasts were louder than hell!

My only similar experience was when I was in charge of the post processing of the data collected during the global mapping mission (STS-99) flown on the Space Shuttle Endeavor in February, 2000. Leading up to the launch I was fortunate to get private tours of the Shuttle and the Sensor System from NASA and JPL mission specialists assigned to the mission. Also, actually being in Mission Control at the Cape during the launch was awesome. The whole project was truly a bucket list type of assignment.

 

Coolsville, man!

 

Thanks, great memories of those days! 😃

 

Oh hell yes - The Crawler.

 

Mike - Keep your eye on your pay stub. No federal tax on O.T. any longer. Also, deduction for up to $10,000 per year for interest on auto loans, available from 2025 to 2028 (for autos whose final assembly is USA). Original House bill was both new & used vehicles. Senate bill I'm not certain if both new & used or new only.

 

They screwed us on the firearms parts. I'll take no taxes on OT.

 

Hi everyone.

No tax on OT that is good news. I'm sure it will happen automatically for me. There's a whole department full of people who do that sort of stuff. Now, does that mean OT doesn't count towards the amount I file on my taxes? Because all that would do is transfer the burden of coming up with the money to me, instead of it being taken over the year.

Work was good today, the retriever only broke a couple of times, and my wall guy only disappeared a handful of times instead of a shitload of times. I signed 43 wheels which is pretty good considering I ducted out of OT this morning.

So the SRX I think is a short-timer. I went to the testing station, having put on about 400 miles since I failed the first test, and instead of three modules not reset it's now 5. The guy was puzzled. No light, no running poorly, he seems to think the computer is resetting itself somehow. Norm I have a hand held scanner that I have yet to use on it. I thought they only reset the CE light. I'm going to go out and hook it up and see if it tells me anything. I've got until July 20 to figure this out. I think it's going to go away before that. What was that about discarding things that are broke? I don't have the money to throw parts at this thing hoping to pick the one that's the problem. Nor do I have that desire. The front struts are starting to go, and the headlights are about worthless without the brights on. Seems the high intensity bulbs burn away the plastic chrome on the housing and the light doesn't reflect, so driving at night the only light you have amounts to what the DRLs put out, which ain't much. This is strike three.

Chris how cool you got to see the shuttle and tour those places. Maybe they could have taken you on a test hop. One time years ago I took off out of Daytona Beach and as we turned back from the ocean and towards Atlanta, we flew past the base and saw the shuttle on the crawler, and the protective door that opens and closes over it was open, very cool seeing the shuttle there. This was in the days before cell phone cameras.

Well as I've been sitting here it's started raining. So no scanner today. No mowing. I think I will peruse new car listings. Sheesh. I'm gonna take a bath on this but I'm stuck. Well whatever.

Okay have a good day everyone.

 

John, congrats on the camera purchase, but the film/analog lenses won't be compatible with the digital camera (sensor). I have a very nice Tamron 28-300mm lens that just sits in a cabinet due to the incompatibility of my going digital from my old Minolta film camera to a Sony digital camera, who bought out Minolta. Great stories on the aircraft guys, when we had an airshow here for 20 years, I always checked out my favorite, the A10 Warthog. The B1's were louder than all hell.

 

Removed the escutcheon after removal of both valve handles. Both valve bodies appear to be in excellent condition, but it says nothing about the interior of the mixing valve &/or the volumetric valve. Definitely don't want to be rushing into something I've only worked w/ once (during the install ~12 yrs. ago); so, I proceed w/ baby steps slowly dissecting & evaluating options. I'll likely remove each valve stem & valve body tomorrow for a look-see. Within the past one to two months I've noticed my hot water has become scalding hot in all faucets. Tell-tale sign(s) of water heater heating elements ready to go Tango Uniform. I'll order a couple new heating elements to R&R both the upper & lower heating elements at the same time. I recall I replaced only the upper heating element once prior ~10 yrs ago. I'll R&R both at same time this time.

 

Thanks Mike! Very cool you got to see the Shuttle on the crawler from the air! That time in my career was both extremely fun, and extremely challenging. The mission when completed and after post-processing of the data, created a 30-meter by 30-meter grid of elevation data over the globe. If you can imagine, a 30-meter by 30-meter grid over just 1° Latitude by 1° of Longitude amounts to approximately 13 Million points of elevation data! Most people in the Mapping/Remote Sensing community still consider it the greatest global mapping project in history. If this is of any interest to you (which it probably isn't) just Google "Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)".

 

Norm - Good luck with the faucet and the water heater! 🤞

 

Mike, right now you have taxes withheld by your employer, and you do your taxes at the end of the year, and it should be pretty close on what you owe. Sometimes you get a small refund. Sometimes you owe more. Every penny Delta pays you is taxed some 23% or whatever your bracket is. Your overtime is also taxed, and withheld. If Delta did not withhold, you would get all your gross pay after deductions, but you would owe all the taxes in the spring. They effectively garnish that taxes off your raw wage since many people can't manage money.

With this change, you are not taxed on overtime. Thus, Delta does not withhold either. You get all your overtime, minus deductions, and don't owe a penny of taxes on it. Your overtime of time and half will now show up at gross pay levels, so your "take home OT" will be 125% of what it was.

Let's say I make $40 an hour. 80 hours of 40 an hour is $3200. But I get taxed at 25%. So my base pay is 2400 in my account. I work ten hours overtime at time and half, and get taxed on it, same rate. That's 60 bucks, 10 hours, 25% taxes, $450. My net pay is $2850.

New rule, same pay, no tax on OT. Still make $3200 base, still get $2400. Still get 10 hours OT at 60, but no taxes on it, so I get $600. Thus, my net pay is $3000.

So, this guy enjoys the $150.

 

Dan, I did my homework before I purchased it. F glass, through the FTZ adapter, will mount up and work, however, it will only work as a manual lens. Fortunately, I have 1960s glass, and manual is all there was. What won't work is 80s autofocus, nor will program modes work. Manual focus, manual aperture, manual film speed, manual shutter. Camera body arrived this afternoon. Box was torn, but camera was still in inner packaging fine. I plugged in the battery, slapped on the adaptor and a 50mm lens, turned it on, and got nothing. Stone dead. I learn they ship with dead batteries. Plugged in a cell phone charger as I don't have a usb C ended plug, just C to A cables and A plugs. No go. It needs something called device power. Only C thing I had was a brick battery for phone emergency charging. Let it sit on that for 10 min. Powered it up and got a warning, charge battery, and it died. So I charged it for two hours, and it's still charging.

But, I powered it on. It said "hey dumbass, you can't use program mode with this lens, swap to another mode." I put that thing in manual, and I control everything. I looked through a digital viewfinder with glass older than me. It was sublime. I need to learn what all the icons on the screen meant, but bottom center was a bright light meter with an arrow and a target, just like the old Photomics onboard meters. Focus and aperture are on the lens, shutter speed and iso are on the top dials, and the shutter is quick as hell. I put it back to finish charging. I have more batteries and an accessory charger coming. This is going to be fun.

More stuff that wont work is encoding the camera settings in the metadata. It will not know what the lens is doing, just that it's in focus or not, and exposed right in aperture, or not. This is fine for me, I'm an old school photographer, I want a manual camera that takes digital pictures.

 

Playing around with a closeup lens. Handheld, maybe focused, wide open, iso 800 or so, in my garage. 6000x4000 native picture, I think the site shrunk it some on upload.

 

Good morning everyone.

Alarm went off at 2, I felt exactly the same as I did yesterday when I reset the alarm, but came in early anyway. Now I'm really feeling it. Eh, one more then I'm off 4.

Thanks John. So my total earnings for the year on my W2 won't include my overtime? I can't wait for tax season.

Heard the weather for the day and no rain is forecast, so I'm planning on mowing after work. I already need to mow the front yard again and at my house. Sheesh this never ends.

Okay Happy Hump Day to all.

 

John - When your camera captured then stored the 6000 pixels (W) x 4000 pixels (H) image (aspect ratio = 3:2 = 1.5), what format did your camera store this original image e.g. .raw, .heif, .jpg, .jpeg, .tiff, .png, .dng, .psd, etc.? Trying to determine if you're capturing/storing Lossless vs. Lossy images. Do you know if you have the ability to change the 'original' captured/stored image on your camera?

 

Mike, there are two spots on the W2 among many; one says Social Security Income, that's all you earned, and Taxable income, that's what you get taxed on. OT should not show up in taxable.

Norm, I need to read the manual.

 

I don't feel like doing anything. My back was killing me all day Tuesday, slept miserably last night, I took a leftover Oxycodone in the middle of the night (I have now three remaining), I took 1300mg Tylenol this morning & I'm feeling better (less pain). I drove to our local plumbing supply warehouse, picked up two new water heater heating elements & a new Al anode for the water heater. That's the extent of the amount of work for the remainder of the day.

 

Norm - Sorry you're having so much back pain, that's never any fun! Any idea at this point what the cause is, or does it just act up sometimes if you try to do too much? Hope it gets better soon.

 

Chris - Thanks. Acts up when overexerting e.g. spent way too much time working a set of hedge loppers, bending over, negotiating shrubs/hedges, then blasted out three or four golf games back-to-back. Oh yeah, then there's long in the tooth syndrome.

 

Norm - Yep, sounds like a case of overuse, combined with our advancing age. I know you were busting *** several days in a row on the yard work.

 

Chris - Indeed, I was. I'm slowly learning my limits to the aging process.

 

Ice and heat, then repeat. Hot shower with the water directly on the bad spot (lower back) and do toe touch stretches without bending the knees. Followed up with another ice session. That's what I do for mine when it's acting up.

 

Norm - Hope you can get some relief soon. Back pain is one of the worst for sure. Tough for me to get the muscles to relax and inflammation to settle when flared. Hang in there

 

Art - Great advice.

Keith - Thanks.