Heavy rain last night with a sh!tload of thunder directly overhead. Snowing now. I had 3.125" in the rain gauge, they had heavier rain and flooding in the Grand Rapids area. Hail ranging in size from a golf ball up to 3". Luckily none of that for me.

 

Dan - Sounds like end of winter early spring mix of 💩💩💩
Glad you came through unscathed.

Don't see many tornadoes along the Atlantic coastline. Yeah, we catch our share of thunderstorms & tornadoes on occasions, but when we do they don't develop from gigantic/towering cumulonimbus clouds so common in the central plains. Air masses over land can build to such extremes from the surface heat.

 

With a nice slab of Penicillium...

 

Dan - Glad you missed the really nasty stuff. You probably remember my post/pic of my cousin Vicki who came over to Holland from Grand Rapids with her husband Jim to watch Gabe's first game there! I sure hope they did not get blasted at their place, that's the last thing she needed right now. Her Mom (my Aunt Gladys) passed away on March 6th and funeral service was supposed to be today?

 

Pic of the day!

 

Cargo leggings?!?!

 

For those women who can't go anywhere without their phone!

 

The reality is I don't need anything but I stills want a K 5 [which I doubt I;ll ever pay the crazy prices for] and a new tractor shed. I use the excuse, I'm leaving the cemetery better off. When my bride couldn't careless. She probably store Christmas ornaments in it. I have elected not to permit the building and am running the risk of a huge fine and a stop work order but PHUQUE the city 'Technically " I'm legal to build an agricultural storage facility w/o water or power. BUT the kids working at the city really don't have a clue. "If ya call the city and get an answer ya don't like call back
The last time I axed sum kid said, "The siding has to match the siding on the house [horizonal] The fact that I have 5 different buildings with vertical siding didn't seem to matter More rain today anyway

 

Good morning everyone.

Odd weather. It was beautiful yesterday by the way. Weatherman called for rain overnight, we didn't get any, but a huge downpour on the way to work. They also said there was a severe thunderstorm warning until 515 this morning for southern Henry County and southern Clayton county. I guess the storm was going to bypass northern Henry County. The rain let up a little once I got to work so I don't know what it did.

Slow start to the morning. An hour in and I have one wheel signed. Yesterday I left at noon and still had 41 signed. My wall guy is ultra-unmotivated. It's his Friday and he's going to Germany for several days. As I approach middle age I would think he'd want to get all his work done and see about leaving a little early. He's a young guy and wants to sit around. Well, Germany can wait.

Jamesbo that's in the back, isn't it? No one from the city will see it. If they do your punishment will be they will try to cut down your oak trees again. Man I've got a perfect place for a 30x50 shed. I just need to get busy prepping it.

So here's a timely question. Does cement get poured differently if the final finish is going to be different? I suspect my basement floor and the patio were poured at the same time, and the back wall of the house built afterward, but the basement floor has a smooth, almost polished finish and the patio is coarse like a driveway. Would these two surfaces have been poured at different times or did the workers just put extra effort into the basement floor?

Time for a walk. Hope everyone has a good day.

 

They're reading from an HOA manual?

 

Mike - More than likely the delta between those two finishes is the result of different/extra effort put into the finish of the basement floor. Some concrete foremen (the good ones) consider a concrete pour to be a form/work of art while others it's nothing more than a job. There's also the very likely possibility the two pours were of two different mixes.

 

My morning began like pulling teeth. First, to schedule a Spectrum disconnect service request followed up w/ scheduling a Quest blood draw (full panel) w/ my 1° physician for my annual. Argh. I've had hyacinths & tulips popping up the past couple weeks, working in the yard daily to get ahead of the game, yesterday opened/removed all the crawlspace vent closures & then walked the lawn spraying for select weeds which was nice since we're supposed to get a little rain late today/tonight. Golf tomorrow 11am. Guess I can begin my day, now.

 

Mike, I'd love for you to bring up a few deuce and a halves to help me hide 4 concrete trucks

 

Not my truck...but this is what my truck will begin to look like in several more days. Went to store grabbed some Flonase & a jug of pure Maple syrup for my cereal.

 

Looks like it would glow in the dark. At least you're not dealing with snow.

 

Back from store w/ two new spark plugs - one for power washer & one for concrete lawn edger. R&R spark plug, evaluated air filter, changed oil in edger B&S engine & gear reduction housing. Fired engine up to warm oil & recheck oil, was looking at muffler thought it might be about time to replace it. Grabbed the muffler w/ my entire hand to see if it was loose. That was NOT one of my better moments. That sucker was hot. I ain't right in the head. R&R edger blade - muffler can wait another year.

Severe weather alert for the next 30' as a gnarly squall line pushes across the coast with a rapid increase in winds to 60mph - the wind is ~7mph right now. It will be short-lived it's moving too fast. Good time to grab some lunch.

Art - Never thought about it that way but you're right, that pollen does look it could glow in the dark. Yes, thankful not to be dealing w/ snow.

 

Norm In a word ICE down paw

 

I just went food shopping today, I usually only go once a month, cost at Market Basket $256.00 - almost $30.00 for a two lb container of coffee. I've been keeping the temp in the house dropped to 60deg from 5pm to 6am and 65-67 during the day, I live alone and only shower every other day, wash a couple of loads of clothes twice a month and my gas bill was $172.00. And of course the weather is breaking and the gas prices just went up. I just feel like I'm stuck in the twilight zone. If this **** keeps up I might have to start a new career robbing banks.

 

Jim - Exactly what I did.

 

The insane winter storm we had w/ 13" of snow and extremely low temperatures for nearly the entire month of February was costly. Utility (electric) bill twice its normal amount.

Mike - How 'bout ya setup a GoFundMe account for me?

 

The brunt of the storm seemed to be from Hudsonville over to G.R. We have a wind advisory for tomorrow, with gust approaching 65 mph. Hopefully the Oaks in the neighborhood don't come down. Norm, many years ago while cutting grass, I stopped the mower to refill the gas tank, and without thinking, put my hand right on the engine to use as leverage when pulling the cord. !@$# did that hurt! I have been keeping aloe vera gel in the fridge for dumb moments like that, and sunburn.

 

Got back today- glad to be back. Again I thought of you and your shop, Mike. Those wheels/tires must take a beating especially when landing! I am sick and tired of airports, planes, crowds, etc... But it was a great time overall. It's odd when you- as a English speaking person- are the unusual one. Yeah we can't talk of politics (and I hate to anyway) but with the events in Iran I was worried about if we could get out of there, but it was no problem. No one even talked about it- except for the 2 English speaking news channels and of course that was all sensationalism... The ancient Egyptians were amazing... Such a huge story and legacy to be just pilfered and destroyed.. Cairo looks like a bombed out place but it wasn't. When they put in a new highway or whatever they will level half of a 10 story appt building, and continue to let people live in the existing half. So it looks like bombed our shells w/ no windows. Really strange. Ramadan was going I never heard so many prayers over PA systems.

 

Greg, Glad you returned safely

 

Ramadama Ding Dong...

 

Yep, sure sounds like pulling teeth. Mine was somewhat similar, which you'll hear about later..

Have fun at the course tomorrow, I hope you have nice weather! 👍

 

Art - I feel your pain! They had to revise Webster's and remove the definition of "Affordability"!

 

Greg - Glad you're home safe and sound, and had a great time!

 

Good evening guys,

It was sunny and cool today, mid-50's. Spent the morning doing mundane bookkeeping related to medical bills.

Good news happened at our Tax preparation appointment last night. Found out the Missouri legislature had passed a Bill to assist residents impacted by the horrible storms last Spring, and our home qualified. Apparently, the Bill gives tax relief up to the amount of the entire Missouri Tax owed for the entire amount of out-of-pocket deductible I paid to make my house whole. I had to pay a $4,750 deductible for my home repairs. My total Missouri tax was about $1,500 owed (not counting what was taken out upfront), meaning nothing will be taken out of what I paid in upfront and my refund will be $1,500 more than I would have gotten. Wait . . . it gets better. The $3,250 that is left of the original $4,750 tax relief, carries over and can be applied to next year's taxes, and the next, and the next, until it is used up, meaning I will recoup the entire $4,750 via my State Tax refunds! What a deal!!!

Hope everyone has had a great day! 😃

 

Plenty left over to buy bacon!

 

👍

 

Welcome back Greg.

 

Norm - I think it was last year you bought chemicals to treat your house and yard for insects. I've got something that is destroying the wood in the mud room, at first I thought it was water damage but I repaired the areas and now those areas are right back to where they were and the floor in front of the door looks really bad. None of the areas are in contact with soil and the house is brick.
Late to comment but I hope you didn't get burned bad from the muffler.

 

Good deal, Chris. Nice to hear something good about a tax story...

 

Good morning everyone.

This is my first Friday of the new schedule. I don't think there's 10 people here. Well that won't bode well for production. Eh, not my problem. I don't have a wall guy so today should be real interesting.

Greg welcome back. Glad you had a good time and a safe trip. I'd venture to say 99% of people never leave the country and don't see what wonders the world has to offer. I would love to go to far away places but I don't want to go by myself.

Chris don't crow too loud or they'll take away your tax break. We can't have anything that actually benefits us, can we. Good on you for getting the break. I'm sure those are far and few between.

I think it's supposed to be nice this weekend, so I want to get a few things done. I've been trying all week to get the oil changed in the Charger, but something always comes up. I'm getting dangerously close to being a thousand over the mark, so I brought the truck to work today. I don't think Tiger likes riding in it.

Okay have a good weekend everyone.

 

Art - Termite damage gives the visual appearance of rotting wood water damage. What you describe sounds like termites. The exterior walls might be brick, but the house is built w/ wood. The sill plate is certainly wood. I created a shallow 6" trench around perimeter of the house and applied both products at the same time in the trench: Taurus SC Fipronil & Neem Oil. Fantastic products. Not a single termite, ant, or pill bug.

Taurus SC Fipronil Insecticide

 

Art - I hope you don't, but it sure sounds like a termite infestation to me. Everyone eventually seems to get them here where I live unless you have your home/yard treated, I did. I'm sure Norm can hook you up with the right chemicals and procedures if you want to treat the situation yourself. Good luck!

 

Greg - Thanks Greg! I've never thought too highly about the Missouri State Political machine, but in this case they sure helped me out!

 

Norm, thank you. It looks like I can get them from Tractor's Supply.

 

I guess I've been lucky because I've never had problems before now - 27 years. I'm not feeling up to it but I'm going to have to address the damage. I'm looking to maybe moving more south and get out of this cold weather climate and if I go to sell I've got to get this taken care of. Never a dull moment when you're a home owner. That was good news about your money situation.

 

Art - Growing up in Michigan I never remember my parents or our neighbors ever having an issue with termites. I'm pretty sure the farther south you go the more the chances of termite infestation increases. Like I mentioned previously, they are very common here in Missouri. I hope you're able to relocate further south where the winter's are shorter. I mention to people often that I have absolutely no regrets in never attempting to relocate back to Michigan. I much prefer the much longer Spring - Fall seasons here in Missouri, with the extended car season, plus minimal snow/ice. We do however have the increased threat of severe weather that comes with living in the Midwest. It's all a trade-off, but I much prefer the warmer temps!