Hi everyone.

Hot hot and hot today. I think I'll skip Summit tonight, it's so hot there won't be a big turnout. I can go next week and stay all evening anyway.

Went to the flooring store and spent 1700 bucks for flooring for Mom's house. It will look nice. Yes I'm gonna put it down myself. I'll watch a couple online videos but my ace in the hole is my brother does this sort of stuff for a living, I can call him if I get in a jam. If he didn't live in Illinois he'd be putting it in for me.

I feel left out. I didn't see, or read anyway any thread with violence and drama. I don't have enough drama in my life, I want to read about somebody else's. I don't like drama anyway, but if I see someone else having a hard time it makes my problems seem less. No I don't wish a hard time on anyone. Well, maybe a couple people.

A long time friend stopped by this morning. He moved almost 2 hours away a couple years ago, then I heard he was on a fast track to dementia so I stopped calling him. I didn't know what I'd be getting into and didn't want to make things worse. He still has his doctors up here and called to see if I was still breathing. He came over and we had a nice chat. I told him what I had heard and he said that doctor was crazier than he was. Glad to know he's still with it.

Gonna look at a couple things on the blue van then head to Mom's. Hope everyone has a good day.

 

Jim - From $500 > $1,000 for a K+ binder? I'd have thought if you double the amount of coffee (caffeine) you drink (diruretic) & take one-half teaspoonful Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) in a glass of water every four hours you could knock the K+ levels down. The most difficult post-doctoral graduate course I've ever taken was biomolecular biochemistry - entirely mathematical computations. All involving movements of (K+, Na+, Mg2+) ions across cell membrane gradient channels. I am NOT a medical professional. Not surprising there wasn't a single M.D. in any of those courses. Historically, I've found M.D.'s don't do mathematics.

 

Mike - You left out (IMO) a significant part of the "flooring" purchase. "Wood" flooring? "Ceramic" tile flooring? "Hardwood" flooring? "Laminate" flooring? "Vinyl" flooring? "Porcelain" flooring? Inquiring minds.
EDIT: I left out "Linoleum" & "Carpet"

 

In my neck of the woods, we had two Dog 'n Suds, owned by the same person for many years. Several years ago, he closed both of them and put them up for sale due to health issues. They never sold. Well, a few weeks ago, he decided to re open one location on a limited basis, so last Friday I stopped at the one nearest me. Pulled up to the speaker, and ordered a bacon cheeseburger, onion rings, and a gallon of root beer to go. Yum, been awhile. Yep, we do have couple on this site that turn every discussion into a mess. I have gotten annoyed more than once, and on occasion thrown shade at them. Too many good threads get screwed up by some people who need to one up, or knock down someone else's opinion. Jim, getting to be too damn expensive to get sick in this country. It's profits first, patients last. Off to get some Spectricide weed killer. grass cutting time as well.

 

Dan - You're spot-on regarding the several members who broadcast their contemptuous brow beating vociferous diatribe. Ugh! I LOVE Dog 'n Suds - love, love, love. Man does that sound like an awesome meal with that take-home gallon of root beer. Speaking of which, anyone else like what we used to a call a "Black Cow" i.e. root beer float. I love a root beer float. My favorite root beers are A&W, Dog 'n Suds & Hires. I've fermented Hires and made/bottled Hires root beer. Lovely high carbonate creamy taste.

 

Dan, is the Spectracide good? I like Roundup, but had to go to commercial stuff to keep the glyphosate.

 

Mike - That's nice of you to put a new floor in for your Mom. Nice that you have your brother's expertise to fall back on if you get in a jam. I'm glad your friend who stopped by is not in as dire straits as you were led to believe! 👍

 

That hurts my brain just thinking about it! 🤪

 

Going to university, my mechanical engineering undergrad degree required several 100 and 200 level courses in other disciplines. Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Materials Science; all of these I had the fortune to take one course, and not walk any further through those paths in their hells. I had to walk the math path about a third of the way to a major, the engineering degrees needed enough math to be a minor in their own right. The only path I walked a long way was mechanical engineering itself. I did not come out the other side with a PhD, only a masters, but I knew that path. One would think thermodynamics and heat transfer were the same thing, but, they are not.

That chemistry course sounds like a level of hurt that I couldn't even pass the prerequisites for enrolling.

 

John - I use the Spectrcide concentrate in my 2-gallon pressurized sprayer. The Sprectracide is the type that's supposed to kill the weeds but not harm the lawn grass. It seems to work OK, but usually involves multiple applications. My most problematic weed is Yellow Nutsedge. Unfortunately, it usually takes several applications of the Spectracide to kill it out. The plus side, it doesn't seem to effect the lawn grass.

 

Ah I see. This roundup I use kills everything. I think I even took out an apple tree, unfortunately, with it, just by spraying near it on the weeds. So I use it more as a 'chemical edger.'

 

Ya, the original style/formula Roundup is formulated to kill everything, and it doesn't take much, it's mean ****!

 

I use basically two chemicals for lawn/landscape: (1) Early & late spring (Mesotrione 4SC = 2-[4-(Methylsulfonyl)-2-nitrobenzoyl]cyclohexane-1,3-dione), in & of itself selectively kills both crabgrass & yellow nutsedge; and, (2) 2,4-D Amine = 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid.

 

I've been essentially doing a thorough indoor whole house cleaning mixed w/ daily landscape edging the past week. I have a significant amount of shrubs, flowers, bushes & trees. I spend far more time edging than mowing. Today, I mowed after golf & chili dogs. I also have six hanging basket Boston ferns on the front porch (3/side). My morning begins w/ ~1/2 gal. H2O for ea. plant. Lately, this has increased to ~1 gal./plant in this torrid heat.

 

I use the garden hose bottle application, for both weed control on the lawn and the insecticide appication on the lawn as well. I seem to have decent results with both. Norm, I didn't even think about buying vanilla ice cream until after I got home from buying my groceries. I can always make another trip!

 

 

I reconfigured my dad's old carrying case. It's still in production. Case Design Inc. Carry 606. I could get the dividers, but they have too long a lead time, so a chunk of masonite and a couple rolls of expanding foam weatherstrip will do.

His config was two camera bodies with a 50mm standard and a 35 mm wide angle, a strobe, an external meter, a 200 telephoto and, later, a 90-230 zoom. He had some other essential travel items, 40 year old Kaopectate, a couple hippie patches, and a comb.

I have to put the camera on its bottom, not its back due to the adapter. The foam is tight, but I have the Zf, the adapter, a 28 wide angle, his 35 wide angle, his 50 standard, his 55 macro, an 80 mild telephoto, his 200, and a banger 300 I found, along with the new flash. There's a little bit of room for batteries and memory cards. The spare 50, and neither 135 went. If one more needs to stay, the 35 will stay.

 

Pretty frick'n awesome, John. Nicely organized. The 40 yr old Kaopectate is classic. I sense a mild dichotomy - hippie patches and a comb. Love it.

 

I've used Roundup for decades. recently THE super model TRIED SOME "NATURAL' MIX THAT worked pretty good 1 cup of salt, 1 gallon of vinegar 1 tablespoon of Dawn dish soap

 

Love Dog & Suds, not too common anymore. Yesterday was amazing. Went down to Lansing for a memorial service for a boss/friend that worked with me at Montgomery Ward Auto Center back in the 80's. Another really good friend was there who I haven't seen in 30 years- so cool! Then went out to lunch with a bunch of my friends who I worked with in Lansing in the 90's-00's. Then over to my brothers and visited for a hour or so, then over to a high school buddies' house and met with 2 other HS buddies. Yep it was a great day with different friends from different periods of my life- just a amazing day!!

 

Good morning everyone.

I thought the day would be toast. The traffic report failed to tell us that ALL the exits for the airport were closed and I was almost downtown before I could turn around and head back. Me and a million other people. Then I get to work and see that my desk has been devastated. Things missing, moved, dirty, what have you. Then the lead had some rather unpopular announcements. Ug. But things shaped up. The guy who sits behind me was fluttering around and not working, so his wall guy gave me his cards, and besides that I have two wall guys, and I'm over 40 wheels before first break. Not bad.

Norm I'm putting down vinyl plank. I'm not calling it luxurious because there is nothing luxurious about vinyl. But it will look nice. I wanted real wood flooring but my sister talked me out of it. She said Mom doesn't need real wood, besides she doesn't really like it, and it would be less money, and hold up better. This will be replacing what's left of the carpet. I'm also taking out the wood stove while I'm at it.

Chris my brother now lives in St. Charles. Not sure how far away that is from you. He had something he probably shouldn't have on his phone and his wife saw it, and chose to have a **** hemorrhage over it and that was that. He moved in with a friend in a similar situation. They hadn't been getting along for awhile and I think that was her excuse. He seems to have everything worked out but I still feel bad. His boys are grown and said they were surprised it took this long.

We've talked about Dog N Suds before. We would go to a place when I was real little that my folks called Dog N Suds but I don't think it really was one. I think it was a regular A&W place. Unless of coruse DNS had A&W root beer then who knows. I remember the sign saying A&W. I haven't had a root beer float in ages. Hm, I might be inspired...

Jamesbo does Supermodel's elixir kill everything or just weeds? One thing I'm glad I don't have is kudzu. I had that at my other house. It about ran me out.

Okay break. Hope everyone has a good Tuesday.

 

Mike, After reading my Bible, I'd say salt kills anything/everything

 

OTC (Over The Counter) food grade vinegar (acetic acid) is between 2% - 5% depending on type of vinegar. Acetic acid (vinegar) is a contact herbicide, often called a top killer herbicide. It will only destroy (kill) the cells it comes into direct contact. It does so because it operates as a desiccant (drys out the cells e.g. leaves/stems). You'd have to pour gallons upon gallons of vinegar onto any plant(s) to kill the roots - killing nearly all other plants along with the select plant(s) you want to destroy/kill.

 

Products such as Roundup, etc. contain Glyphosate. Glyphosates are absorbed into the plant & kill the root(s). Glyphosates are relegated to broad leaf plants. There are several to numerous chemical variations of Glyphosates available which differ in chemical structure.

 

The entire planet is primarily salt. It's the balance of salt & the form of salt which lends itself to not only plant growth but all life forms on the entire planet. Without salt life would not exist.

 

Norm - This may be of interest to you, because you're the only one who can decipher all the info! Here's the product and close up of the active ingredients in the Spectracide Concentrate I'm using. To me some of the active ingredients look the same as what you listed above and some do not?

 

I'd venture to say the greatest of majority (> 90%) of humans on the planet think of a salt &/or relate to a salt in the form of the common table salt - NaCl (Sodium Chloride), known geologically as the mineral compound Halite. It's a concept which is very simple to understand; yet, most don't understand the formation of ionic compounds & the disassociation of ionic compounds; and, I completely understand how/why it's a difficult concept to understand. I won't go into explanations of ionic mineral compounds (Chris is undoubtedly chuckling) other than to say this. The most basics of all ionic mineral compounds are formed via the attraction of a positively charged cation (e.g. Na+) & a negatively charged anion (Cl−) e.g. Na+ + Cl− = NaCl to form a solid ionic mineral compound known as Halite & commonly referred to as table salt. When Halite (NaCl), table salt, dissolves into an aqueous solution of water (H2O) the mineral compound disassociates into its two ions - the cation Na+ & the anion Cl−. Albeit, the mineral compound dissolves into its two constituent elemental free ions the Sodium Ion & the Chlorine ion. Did you notice the nomenclature here? Chlorine is an element (contained in the period table). When/If the element Chlorine forms an ionic bond with any other element the name changes to Chloride & it's called Sodium Chloride (not Sodium Chlorine). OK, enough of that $hit.

Ya'll know where the largest Halite (Sodium Chloride) mines in the world are located?

 

x2 John - An awesome collection of photography equipment.

 

Greg - What an awesome day to be able to reconnect with so many old friends from different periods in your life! I'm very happy you were able to take advantage of that great opportunity.

I was just talking to my best friend from Highschool a couple of days ago and the topic of our next Highschool Reunion came up. It will be in the Summer of 2027, and will be our 50th. I missed our last one (1rst I had ever missed), and there's no way in hell I'm going to miss the one in 2027! If we don't make it up there before then, I'm going to do everything in my power to build some time into our itinerary to see you and Dan. We'll be coming up your way anyway at some point to see Dawn's Dad who lives very close to you!

 

Chris - In an attempt to address the simplest of answers it boils down to essentially patented scientific ratios of the constituent ingredients. In the most basic form there are many variations Dimetheylamines. A Dimethylamine contains two (x2) methyl groups. A methyl group is a Carbon (C) atom w/ three (x3) attached Hydrogen atoms to form the Methyl group, CH3. An Amine is simply derived from the Ammonia molecule; yet, can occur in essentially two forms (NH3, most common) & (NH2, least common). When an Ammonia molecule (NH3, NH2) is attached to Carbon molecule (CH3) it forms any of a wide number of variant amines depending on location(s) of both the Methyl (CH3) group and the Ammonia molecule (group). So the numbers 2,4 represent locations of the CH3 molecules e.g. located at the number 2 & number 4 positions. The "D" refers to chirality of the molecule. You likely recall D = right-handedness, L = left-handedness (D=Dextrorotatory, L=Levorotatory). In three dimensions if a polarized beam of light passes through a molecule and the beam exists to the right (CW), the molecule is a dextrorotatory molecule; the opposite if it exists to the left (CCW). All life forms employ various molecules in one of two chiral formations - e.g. right-handedness or left-handedness. Most often animal & plant life forms employ D molecules. If you think about the new sugars on the market (actually many synthetic products) manufacturers change chirality from D>L to "mimic" a molecule/compound.

So, you have in various solutions variants of basically the same dimethylamine but patented in various ratios targeted at select plants.

 

Mike - First, did you ever find out who trashed your desk? I would have went ballistic!

St. Charles is 40-miles north of me on the north side of the Missouri River. The only efficient way to get there is up Interstate 270, which can be a real bitch to travel during rush hour, so driving times can very drastically depending on the time of day. Sorry, to hear about your Brother's situation, that's always tough!

 

Norm - Thanks for the in-depth explanation, much appreciated! Got it! 👍

 

Mike - I think the vinyl flooring is a good choice. If I lived closer to you I'd help you knock out that project.

I have cousins who live in St. Charles, IL - wrong state. I did check out St. Charles, MO on Google Maps & the World Wide Web - looks like a nice historic town.

 

Norm - St. Charles, MO has been one of the fastest growing areas of the greater StL area for many years now. What they call the "Old Town" area along the waterfront is very nice. I just never really have a need to go up there for anything. It does happen to be where the guy from our Oldsmobile Club that worked on my car last summer lives.

 

I recall you saying this.

 

Last night I ordered my second steering wheel cover from Wheelskins. The first (EuroTone Two-Color) was for my formerly owned 1971 CS convertible. Last night I ordered a two-toned EuroPerf Perforated cover. These are the absolute best all leather steering wheel covers bar none. They shipped it out today. Can't wait.

 

NdPr (Neodymium-Praseodymium) permanent metal alloy magnets. They're important for an extraordinarily large & significant portion of everything human's have technologically developed in the past 20 years (in particular). Apple & MP Materials finalized their agreement. MP Materials sticker (MP) has doubled in value in two days since this deal. There are likely only two other plants extracting rare Earth Neodymium & Praseodymium. I wonder if MP will soar to $500/share? I'm not a huge gambler, but this deal is significant. I should probably buy a couple thousand shares? The largest single landmass of rare-Earth mineral deposits/elements is the island of Greenland. Heard of anyone interested in purchasing Greenland, lately? Which country currently produces 90% of the world's rare-earth permanent magnets? Hint: A country hit w/ a 245% tariff in April of this year. What ultra common device does Apple produce which employs permanent magnets?

 

Hard drives, at least the spinny kind, door sensors.

Let's just hope the Goderich mines never pull a Diamond Crystal Mine maneuver.

 

And......to be clear about MP Materials, permanent metal rare Earth alloys....it isn't often you'll find/see the U.S. Government invest in a multi-billion dollar deal. Seriously, holy snot rockets batman.

Pentagon to keep investing in US critical minerals projects, defense official says

 

Hi guys,

Hot and very humid here today, I think the high was 93°. Went out and sprayed for weeds again, trying to kill out the damn nutsedge. On a positive note, I must have hit the nail on the head this Spring with the crabgrass pre-emergent because there's not a sign of any so far.

In preparation for the Siding replacement, Dawn and I were moving some furniture off the deck and noticed a previously undiscovered broken picket on the deck railing (pic). Good news is the insurance will cover it, but the bad news is the contractor who put in the fence and vinyl railing on the deck is no longer doing deck railings due to excessive cost of liability related to deck railings. They do have the specific picket I need for the railing in stock. I looked at it today and I'm going to try and do it myself. The big trick will be to get the top rail raised enough to pull the picket. It was in the blazing sun this afternoon. I'm gonna try to raise the top rail and pull the picket in the morning when it's cooler and in the shade.

Dawn is off painting again, so I was left to my own devices for dinner. Went up to my favorite burger joint and got myself 3 double burgers with ketchup, mustard, pickle, and onions (pic). Normally at burger joints I would opt for cheeseburgers, but the beef is so good at this place that I don't like to mask the flavor of the burger. They're more like prime steak burgers! I got the pups their own double burger with nothing on it to share, each got their own burger and one side of the bun, they loved me!

Hope everone has had a great day and has a relaxing evening! 😃