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Tomorrow is looking like a good day to hold up in the man-cave working on the Cutlass. High of 40*F w/ a 15mph wind. We'll see, but that's a tad on the chilly ***** boogers to enjoy the game of GOLF.
Norm, Blaine's F&F is just coming into the area. they have been advertising since summer for one about 35 miles from me. We do have a Tractor Supply about 15 minutes from me. We used to have Quality Farm & Fleet, which originated here, but they bought out a competitor, and they bit off more than they could chew, and went belly up
Dan. I've been seeing ads for Blaine's Farm and Fleet- Traverse City?? I thought it was a local place until I saw their ads with so much stuff. Now I know it's a chain. I remember Quality Farm and Fleet in Lansing. Loved that place!
Fleet Farm was owned by the Mills family, who were very good friends w/ the Blain family (Blain's Farm & Fleet). Mom's brothers were (there were 14 children in Mom's family) mostly Holstein (dairy), swine & grain farmers in Wisconsin. They knew the Mills family quite well. Her brothers bought much of their seed and agricultural products from Fleet Farm. Fleet Farm was primarily located (at first) throughout the Southwestern portion of Wisconsin - where Mom's brothers tilled the fields. Great memories. I bailed hay, drove tractors, milked cows, spread manure (I'm still good at this one), assisted in removing & tearing down tractor engines, wheels, PTOs, & various pieces of farm equipment. Fleet Farm's were located (generally) next to grain elevators so when farmers bought & sold feed, grain, supplies, etc. it was like a one-stop shopping experience.
Norm, If you've ever spit a tractor, You;re a better man than I
Around these parts most of the local hardware stores [and lumber yards] have gone away. Casa Depot and Lowe's have taken over with their crap lumber.
A few years ago, I ripped the tool box off my tractor fender while bush hogging under some low limbs. I went to Tractor suppl and they looked at me like a deer in the head light. So I bolted on a M-16 ammo box. Problem salved
When I was in the Real-estate business we used to use the term Depth of inventory [as opposed to width] Example Camera store that had every like of camera equipment and knowledgeable sales people vs, Width of inventory Walmart that had everything and no one knows $hit
Unfortunately, Stores with depth of inventory seem to be a thing of the past
James, watching my Uncles split a tractor for the 1st time was a cool experience. Of course, they each had numerous large barns - milking barns, storage barns, equipment barns, pole barns, etc. They generally each helped/assisted one another - living just down the (country) dirt road from one another. One would own a combine, another several gravity fed grain trailers, another a seed planter, rakes, etc., etc. I watched the first time they pulled in a JD "A", park it in the center of the barn, dismantle the cowlings, & engine components, bring out these big pneumatic wrenches, split the top-half of the diesel, center a couple of huge hemp rope (each about 6" diameter) pulleys from the center rafter and manually hoist the top-half into the air (where it would hang until the engine was completed). I was hooked on working on my own cars after that.
Norm, I came real close to turning over a JD tricycle years ago in a rut in a washed out dirt road. I was pulling a wagon load of corn that we were going to hamermill and zigged when I shoulda zagged
Boy the week goes fast when you start at 6, as opposed to 4. Wasn't a bad day, but my wall guy is slow, and has no intention of stepping it up.
Coming home I was behind one asshat after another. How on earth did they all get out and into my path for my drive home? I tell you I don't think a day goes by that I don't lay on the horn, or flip somebody off, occasionally I'll put down the window and have a colorful one sided conversation with them. Doubt any of that does any good but it makes me feel better.
In the town I'm from we had a local feed and seed, Teske's. Don't know if it's still there but it was a cool place when I was little. Moline, IL is still known as an agricultural town, though most industries there are rather depressed these days.
Gonna go do some more work on the wall this afternoon. I gotta bundle up, it's cold and windy. But if I wait for better temps the Lake's work will be done and the water back up. They've already said they won't lower the lake for several years now, which is bull$hit, but hey, I don't go to the meetings so I can't complain. Sure I can.
Hey Norm, (or actually anyone who knows) - I'm picking on you Norm cuz I think you talked about some electronics before. Anyway, I have a cheap Sony radio/cd player in my garage. It has a dial and a needle that goes across - not a digital display- doesn't show 98.5 but you tune it between 98 and 99 on the dial- like our old cars radios. It's one that has the unit with the tuner and 6 disc player and 2 speakers that are separate. Not a boom box more like a cheap home stereo. Well it sucks on FM. When I first go out there I turn it on and tune in a powerful station and start doing things. In about 5 minutes it starts to sound fuzzy and gets worse until I can't stand it, then I go tune it back in. I will tune it back in by turning the tuner quite a lot. Then sounds good again for about 10 minutes then does it again. I may have to retune it 4-5 times a day! Sometimes I just give up and turn it off. I got it as a birthday gift from my grandson and I know he will notice if it comes up missing..
--Boy it was cold today- I think only got up to 9 today.I went over to barn and worked- furnace does work good but cant really keep up with that! Have a good one guys!
Mike - I hear your frustration. Dealing w/ asshats one after the other rattles my cage too. I'd like to have one of those Aston Martin cars w/ all the fancy gizmos James Bond drove in several movies - I'd take good care of some of those dirt bag drivers.
Well, the front-end suspension is coming along - slowly but nicely. I just ordered up new inner & outer tie-rods & connecting sleeves. When I get this front-end suspension completed it should have zero, zilch, nada, no play whatsoever. It appears to me every single socket joint is just absolutely loosey goosey.
I have the LH-side LCA cleaned, wire brushed, sanded & the 3M Undercoating application applied. I put on a second coat of 3M Underseal Paintable then follow up with two coats of VHT SP650 epoxy paint for the final. I'm about ready to tackle the UCAs.
Greg - I'm not certain the type of unit you're referring to - there were so many made it's just a crap shoot determining what is what. However, if it has a dial of the type which might have a pot (potentiometer) behind the dial, you should spray it to death w/ circuit board contact cleaner and run the dial up and down the entire bandwidth a couple dozen times. It's extremely important you continue to run the dial up and down the full range of bandwidth so as to thoroughly soak and clean the pot. I've done this numerous times before & it works like a charm. Again, however, the key is to liberally soak the pot and continue to soak the pot while running the dial up & down the full bandwidth. You ever notice how when you dial something in with the volume control on an old radio (or the like) the volume is scratchy. It's basically the same thing only with reference to the tuner.
Greg, if Norm's suggestion doesn't work, attach a good ole copper coat hanger to the antennae, and see if that helps. You are in a metal pole barn right? I had a radio/cd player in the garage of my last house, I had to monkey with it all the time to keep it tuned in to a station. I finally clamped a jumper cable onto the antennae with the other clamp higher on the wall, and that took care of the problem.
Greg - Sorry, I was thinking your pot/dial was buggered up - my bad. So, you're losing signal as Dan suggested. Yeah, well - here is the bomb-diggity absolute chiznitz on why and how (in particular) a Frequency Modulating (FM) antennae works. I learned this many moons ago when purchasing various pieces of audio equipment and wondered just why in the hell do I not get a good FM signal? What is it about this piece of wire antenna don't I understand? The absolute "key" to this is the "shape" of the antenna. The receiving end of the antenna must be shaped in the form of a "T". Super easy to understand & I found a great video which explains it better than I can in this post. The only caveat is this: It will not work correctly (ever) if you run this antenna up a metal wall. But ensure you have the antenna shaped as a "T" - you can try various lengths of wire if you like. Your radio should have come w/ one of those wires for an antenna, if it did not, you can make one.
Wow I looked at that video and it makes sense to me. I will try it! Now I see why the antenna wire on my old 1980's Sansui stereo has a antenna that is shaped like a Tee. The wire antenna on this cheap Sony is just 2 conductor in one straight wire, but I will see it I can rig up a Tee. Thanks Norm.
-- Dan I hooked up a copper wire on the antenna mast of the "boom box" style radio I had at my old shop and it did help.
James - Really? I listen to NPR every morning. However, that's about the only time I have the radio turned on. I do however enjoy watching various YouTube videos.
Here's a challenge for you. I enjoy following Carly Booth's tattoo. Can you follow her tattoo? Are you up for the challenge?
Good lunch at work today, and we finished up fairly early. Guess what time we left. 215. Eh so what. We get paid well we might as well stick around like we're supposed to.
Jamesbo I figured that was just talking golf in a different language. Too bad that view was wasted on Newman.
It's nice out but cold as a mother. I was going to go get some supplies to use tomorrow at the lake, but I have a dr's appointment tomorrow and I can get the supplies Saturday when it's raining to use next week. So I'm staying home and starting the fire early. I didn't have a lot of luck last night until I went to bed. Kind of a waste but it kept the furnace from coming on.
Well one more and that will do it for this week. Santa comes next week, hope everyone is ready. See ya's.
Cold here, also. After my refreshing afternoon nap, I fired up the propane flame thrower in the man-cave & tackled some mechanical stuff e.g. light sanding of the bushing/ball joint bore holes of the two control arms currently removed & lightly painted w/ undercoat.
Removed front LH driver side UCA, removed ball joint, removed front & rear upper bushings & removed control arm shaft.
Norm, I must be missing sumthing. I don't see tats. I do see nice legs, nice caboose and 2 dudes who are having a rough time keeping the ball where the mowers go
Pot luck @ work today. Made some chicken tenders n cheese rolls wrapped in bacon. My unofficial scientific tests, indicate that they are safe for human consumption.
Out two hours early. Not bad. We were fairly close but everyone still took lunch. So I ate my lunch and will forego Awful house. I might go there for dinner, since I'll be out around that time.
Going to the ortho dr. in a little while. I expect great things. I was supposed to get my Xrays from last year to bring with, so they didn't have to take new Xrays. Well I didn't. I got to thinking, my hip didn't hurt as bad last year, so things must have gotten worse. I didn't want them looking at old Xrays and say eh, not much to see here. So now they will have to take new Xrays and then we will all be up to date.
The rain keeps getting pushed back so I'll be able to pour some concrete into my wall this weekend. Next week I hope to be able to start dismantling my dock.
Okay gonna get ready for my appointment, see you's all later.
Just got done updating my thread on Ford Truck Enthusiasts. It is a PIA but sorta fun. I did a few on here also as so have you guys. When I go to this site or that one (or anywhere on the net, actually) and see how someone has documented their projects it many times makes the job much easier for me to do. So I try to share my projects. If you guys want to look at it here it is- but it is pretty long- you may want to look at the front and skip thru a lot of it. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ase-build.html
Greg - You have a lot of patience and your F-100 is really coming along nicely. The amount of sheet metal/chassis work you're addressing is unbelievable. You're doing a great job. The '53 GMC pickup I owned out in California in the '70s hardly had any rust on it when I performed about half of the frame-on restoration but your F-100 is riddled w/ Swiss cheese and you're doing fantastic. Way to go.
Is that the new furnace/blower in the most recent pictures? That thing is sweet!
Lunch. Lollygagged around all morning and still was home from the Awful house by 10. I've been trying to figure out how to get the back end of the Chevy up high enough to get the back wheels off and then set it down on jackstands. Right now the back wheels are sitting on ramps. I need to get to the brakes. I wanted to put the stands under the axle but they aren't tall enough. Maybe Santa will bring me a lift, and a nice tall shop to put it in.
Overcast and cool but so far no rain. It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow and Monday, and then be nice the rest of the week. I need to go get some (semi)dry firewood before it does rain. I had a plan of getting one of those cheep back yard metal sheds to put firewood in, to keep it neatly stacked and out of the rain. Then I thought it would be a great place for snakes to live. Nix that idea. Leaving it lie around outside in the rain and in the mud is the next best thing of course.
Well I hope everyone has a good afternoon. Mine should be interesting.
Mike, yeah heating with wood can be a real pain. I had a bunch of maple out in the woods and I went out to get it last fall and it was rotten and about the consistency of balsa wood or a sponge! No good at all! I guess it was out there longer than I thought. But wet wood is no good, for sure.
-- Norm, speaking of wood heat... I have 76 acres of wooded land and the firewood is free-BUT- It's such a Pia, I asked around about a gas heater for the shop. I was going to get a HotDawg heater but a friend who is in the HVAC business , took that one out of a business that upgraded. It is really sweet. It is a furnace that could be in a basement sitting on the floor vertically, or in a crawl space or attic mounted Horizontally. It isn't a condensing furnace(90+%) so there's no condensate( water) to worry about freezing up when barn is cold. I'm happy.
Rain and cold. I made the executive decision to stay home this morning. Not a stretch since I was at the Awful house last night. Besides it felt so good to stay in bed I'd be running rather late. Actually I'll probably head out to Lowes in a little while to get some trim, and set up in the house to stain it.
Greg I agree the rotten wood doesn't burn very long, but in the absence of kindling it's great for getting things going. It starts fast but it smokes a lot. I suppose snakes will live in a wood pile anywhere it is so I need to come up with a clever solution. Hermetically sealed wood pile maybe.
Dan how did the chicken tenders go over?
Norm are you anywhere near Boone?
I think I have about a day's worth of dry firewood, so I might forego Lowes as well and just stay in my jammies and run the stove. This is the sort of day to do it. Went to Walmart yesterday so that's taken care of.
Mike - I am not near Boone. Why do you ask? I reside on the Crystal Coast of NC - Beaufort. I have been to Boone on numerous occasions - several times downhill skiing, many other times riding the Indian through the area.
Norm there's a truck in Boone that I sort of am interested in. There's trucks in Atlanta you say? Yes, but I want a big block with a stick shift. There are plenty of big blocks, they are all automatic. There are plenty of stick shifts, they are all 6 cylinders. Whoa, I could buy one of each and mix and match! Actually, the 6 transmission won't hold up to what I'm going to put the big block through. They will bolt up though...
Update: Still raining, still in my PJs. That is all.
Mike - If I lived closer to Boone I'd be happy to help you and have a look at that truck for you. Atlanta is actually closer to Boone than Beaufort is closer to Boone. Stay warm in your jammies buddy. I've been vacuuming for nearly 3 hours and I still can't see an end in site. This is one of those multi-day events where everything gets vacuumed - baseboards, doorways, entrances, crown molding, furniture, etc. I believe I'm calling it quits on the vacuuming. I need to head out and grab a jug of propane for the garage heater/blower, some rug/carpet spot cleaner & then I'm going to tackle cleaning the driver side UCA. I might have an opportunity to venture into the passenger fender well to see how the passenger side UCA center shaft nuts/bolts look for removing that UCA.
I made a BIG pot of chili so I could freeze sum. I made sum corn bread dressing. Cause folks seem to like it, I made a Big pot of beef stew,with sum extra corn bread for sopping beef stew gravy
2 plates of biscuits with sausage, county ham and red eye gravy. { I can nuke them each morning]
And I made a new recipe a friend gave me. Chicken breast marinated in Klausen dill pickle juice and cooked in panko bread crumbs, It was the hit of the weekend.
i think I'm set fer the week
Tomorrow is look'in like a good day to not play golf and stay home and eat chili
