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We don’t have electricity issues during the summer heat. Last year we had 54 days of 110 and above and no blackouts / brownouts.
The only time I heard about brownouts happening was when it hit 122. The airport shut down because the temp was above the maximum operating spec for aircraft. Businesses and malls closed to reduce electricity use. Asphalt pavement melted.
It was such a blow to tourism that the official thermometer at the airport was moved to a different (cooler) location so that we would not have an official high temperature like that again.
Hi guys,
I went to a cruise-in from 1800 to 2030 at a local church just about a mile from me. One lot was totally full (pic) and a second lot of about the same size was about a 1/3 full. There was an area to sit in shade and a little bit of a breeze, so it wasn't too bad. I saw a few folks I hadn't seen in awhile and had a nice time.
I funeraled today. My uncle died Monday after a 3 month battle with what was ultimately a lot of cancer, but after a 5 year gradual wearing out. Man was 84, worked hard his entire life. We'd come up from Florida to visit my dad's parents, and this aunt and uncle on my mom's side, as both my folks are from up here originally, but they're down in FL still and I moved up here, so I went to the visitation yesterday and the funeral today some 100 miles from where I live. Had to find funeraling clothes my recently fatter self could fit into.
Saw a lot of people I haven't seen in a while, which was good, but they had a new to me funeral thing where everyone goes by the front row nuclear family, hugs them all, then says goodbye to the deceased, after the service is done right before they button up the casket. Damn near broke me up, I was doing pretty well till then. Long funeral parade to the cemetery, quick interment ceremony as it was damn hot and we were being dive bombed by cicadas. I was invited to go to the close family and friends meal afterwards, so I did, then went home a couple hours later.
It's a sad, beautiful thing when people honor a guy that did the right thing and never wanted those honors when he lived. It seems, to me, that remote family don't make enough effort to see each other, and sometimes even local don't until the event is a funeral or something. Go see your relatives. I did go see him about 6 weeks ago. Talked all the guy stuff I could, property, stocks, logging, hunting, dogs (showed him my mom's beagle), cars (showed him that H/O I bought recently), business, politics. It was good.
Koda - Nice write-up regarding your Uncle - sorry for your loss. I know you have a first name but can't recall what it is?
Chris - I agree with James - pictures look nice indoors at my home.
James - Enchilada sauce - oh yeah, good stuff there.
I finished pouring concrete into the fence columns yesterday after having set rebar & pouring concrete into each of the CBU holes comprising each column (four in total/column) - this amounted to ~45 80lb bags of high-strength (4000psi) concrete in total (pads + columns). CBU columns are tied together via wall tie-straps, as well - plumbed, squared & level to 80" in height.
Koda, I also am sorry for your loss, but it sound like your uncle had a good and long life and was loved and respected, that's the way I'm sure most of us want to go. I feel that there is a silver lining to deaths, and that is the getting together of the family. Everyone is too busy to go see each other but when a loved one passes they do, and that's a good thing...
-- Wife and I went to Tawas State Park Thursday and stayed over night in a camper with my good buddy and my sister and her daughter. It was a great time, That park is on a strand of land between Lake Huron and the Tawas bay which is on the north tip of the Saginaw bay. It was a good 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the state. Most of state was in middle 90's, probably 70's there. Lake breezes... Got back Friday night about 7 PM to a bunch of thunderstorms and high winds. Went down by Lansing on Sat for a 1 year birthday party for my grandnephew who I have never seen before, then to a open house for a grandniece. Good day... So today it's Sunday and we plan to veg out, maybe have a fire and some neighbors over. Take care guys....
So sorry Koda. I haven't been to a funeral in years. Not looking forward to the next one.
Only an hour at the Awful house this morning. Must be some sort of record. Prices have gone up so much there I can hardly afford to eat there. And, they aren't going to have dog burgers anymore. I sure as hell ain't gonna get some 8 dollar burger for Tiger to scarf down sitting in the front seat of the car.
Nice pictures Chris. Rare to see a Corvair at a show. That one is a 66, Lemonwood Yellow. That's what color my kitchen is. I took the brochure to the paint store and matched up the yellow and had them blend it. A couple of odd entries, the Ford Focus backed up to the Barracuda, and what is that a Nissan, next to the Chevelle. Obviously big block transplants.
Well first Walmart, then I don't know what. It's nice out, we sure got a downpour last night. Gonna be in inspection this week, not looking forward to it. Maybe it will be an easy week and I'll get out early every day. Hm, maybe not.
Anyone of y'all ever taken the Tobermory Ferry across Georgian Bay? While residing in Florida (1988-1992) I had summer's off. Each summer I'd drive up the East Coast to visit family in Marinette, WI and the UP MIchigan. I took the East Coast route Northward visiting friends along the way up through Rochester, NY & instead of going West through Windsor then through Chicago (to eventually head North through Green Bay) I'd head West to Hamilton, then North via the Tobermory Ferry and take Route 2 in the UP, Michigan through Escanaba to Marinette, WI/MI. A very scenic route.
Current state of my column/fence affair. It's basically four stages: (1) Dig & pour the three concrete pads; (2) Set & pour concrete in each of the x3 CBU columns; (3) Brick & Mortar each column; and, build fence. I'll most likely set a small concrete pad between each column as an attachment point for the fencing between each column - TBD depending on material availability. I'll 1/2 lap joint each of the fencing structural boards.
Norm I think your block columns look pretty neat just by themselves. Sort of like Stone Henge. Although, it won't afford you a lot of privacy. Probably less than before, because people will be running over to see them saying hey that looks like Stone Henge.
Walmart was unusually painless today. I was in and out in under an hour. No one annoyed me. Success.
I need to get license plates for the cars this week. Only two of them have to go to the emission test. I should get out for only a couple hundred.
Might scrub up some patio furniture that I'm going to take to my Mom's. I don't think a week is enough time for it to start mildewing again, as long as we don't get too much rain.
Mike - That's funny - I never thought of Stone Henge but you're right. Glad WalMart didn't upset the apple cart for you today.
I headed to the grocery store this morning & put diesel in the truck then thought I'd swing through the downtown area of my Town Of Beaufort to see where we are in road/street upgrade projects. All the time I'm riding around (it's a very small historic town), I'm thinking something doesn't appear correct - no one at the street market, hell the street market vendors aren't even setup, etc., etc. Then, when I returned home it dawned on me it isn't Saturday - it's Sunday. Doh. I have my moments.
Good morning guys, (still morning here by 15-minutes)
Mike - There is a 2nd Corvair in the pic, a maroon one, 3 cars down from the yellow one and my car is right after it. The maroon one was a 4-door and reminded me of the one we had with the shift lever on the dash..
Norm - The columns are looking great! That's gonna be quite the fence when you're finished!
Well, it's a new week, but the news isn't getting alot better. Last week we had Mike's friend have the terrible fall from the bus, and Koda's Dad passed. I just found out one of my best friends who lives in Huntsville, AL had a bad fall on Friday and suffered two brain bleeds and is in the ICU. He is stable and awake, but not real alert (maybe sedation drugs), and for right now they think he's going to be able to avoid surgery. The poor guy has been battling prostate cancer for the last year and a half, and now this. Please keep him in your prayers, he's a really good guy!
Got up at 6:00 this morning and headed straight to the garage before it got too warm in there. Touched up a couple of small road chips and then started in on cleaning/detailing the 4-4-2, starting to get it ready for a show on Father's Day. I cleaned the vinyl roof, rear deck, and the hood, so I have the top of the car done. Doing it in stages because it's not the easiest thing to do when you're sweating like a pig. Tomorrow morning I'll do the sides and maybe the engine bay, and another day I'll do the bumpers and wheels. After I got done with the car it was still fairly early and not too hot yet, so I got out and mowed, it was however pretty toasty by the time I got done at 11:30. I've had all the fun I can stand for one morning.
Have a great one guys!
Last edited by Dream67Olds442; Jun 13, 2021 at 10:12 AM.
Chris - Thanks. My mind says start laying brick, my body says not so fast. After I finished up yesterday, I was relaxing on the davenport (I like that word) when my fingers began to involuntarily move to the closed position (as if making a fist). That is the strangest feeling. It's Sunday, I'm resting.
Norm, I'm John. I should hang my name in my sig like you do.
That dessert looks awesome, and even better that you worked for it with the fence. That thing looks strong. I don't know if any material is not inflated price right now. I have an old wood fence behind my place I may pressure-wash to de mold it this fall.
Norm, I'm John. I should hang my name in my sig like you do.
That dessert looks awesome, and even better that you worked for it with the fence. That thing looks strong. I don't know if any material is not inflated price right now. I have an old wood fence behind my place I may pressure-wash to de mold it this fall.
John - I built the gate several years ago. I'm actually erecting the fence as a more-or-less privacy "wall", if you will - there is a small mom & pop automotive service center next door to my home. I could have opted for a much simpler fence, but I thought I'd maintain the theme of the gate I created.
James - What was I thinking! Great idea. Plenty of strawberries remain. They're from California - Giant Farm I believe is the name of the farm facility. Now, off to the liquor cabinet I go!
John - Because it states "Very Small Batch", I don't believe it is implied you need to drink the entire bottle in one sitting.
James - No Grand Marnier in the house. What can I substitute? Would Triple Sec work or bad idea? I have rums, bourbons, scotch & whiskeys - I don't gin or vodka would work, in fact, they each sound disgusting.
Norm - The strawberry shortcake looks great, all the better with the spiked berries! I'm still working on the caramel pecan sticky rolls, 2 out of 10 left, they'll be gone by the end of the night!
Okay Chris I see the other Corvair by zooming in. If I could see the wheel well molding a little better I could tell what year it is.
Gin and tonic is my go-to drink. If I ever don't know what to have, gin and tonic. Vodka makes me angry. Imagine, mild mannered me wanting to pick a fight with everyone, and for no apparent reason.
Norm when I'm in Iowa I go to Davenport. I like the town. Oddly enough, the locals say that word as though all the letters are run together, and don't always pronounce the V.
Time to call Mom. Hope everyone has a good evening.
I thought I'd share with y'all what a typical summer day in Phoenix is like. The air temperature is not the only thing that affects how it feels to be outdoors. The low humidity works to help the human evaporative cooler (sweating) work better, but that low humidity also means there is no moisture in the air to absorb the sun's energy. No humidity at ground level, and no clouds of any sort in the lower, mid, or upper atmosphere to absorb the energy - just crystal clear blue sky. So if you're outside in the sun (which you will be because there's practically no shade anywhere) you're being directly bombarded by the sun's intensity.
Here's a picture of my back yard thermometer showing the 111º air temperature and some patio pavers that are exposed to the sun. The infrared image shows how hot things exposed to the sun can get, in this case the patio pavers are 165.9ºF. That'll burn your feet if you don't have shoes, and even if you do, your lower legs will start cooking if you hang out too long. And you can imagine what a blacktop road would be like. Maybe I'll get brave enough to go outside and snap an IR pic of one.
Vegas and SoCal are more at risk than Phoenix. We have the Verde River and Salt River watersheds, with multiple reservoirs (lakes) along with aquifers for a fairly stable water supply. A loss of Colorado River water via the Arizona Canal system would impact agricultural entities more than the Phoenix metro urban area.
Are you in Southern Phoenix, then? I know South Phoenix is served via Verde & Salt River but thought North Phoenix was served via Colorado River (via Lake Mead).
As far as I know, Phoenix is not broken down to that level of granularity for its water supply. We all get water from the same sources via SRP (Salt River Project) that manages the Verde and Salt River watersheds for the water supply to the valley.
But yes, I am in the southern portion of the valley. I am south of I-10 and as such I have lived my life (so far) south of I-10 in Arizona, Texas and Louisiana. I suppose this makes me a true Southerner.
I studied ground water recharge zones as an undergraduate in several academic courses, as well as the hydraulics associated with ground water recharge in several areas of the U.S. during Geology in grad school. Arizona (Phoenix, in particular) has a rich history of man-made ground water recharge since they were one of the first areas in the U.S. to artificially create (induce) ground water recharge zones (aquifers, if you will) - to accommodate an ever-growing population which they predicted would outstrip natural ground water supplies (aquifers/watersheds) as populations increased in relation to agricultural water needs if measures were not put into place to provide future water needs. One year (1983) I worked for the U.S.F.W.S. on a project funded by the BLM to evaluate vegetative type-mapping for the Garrison Diversion Project of North Dakota - in which I became involved with research of the Verde/Salt River watersheds & Lake Mead tributaries/watersheds, as well as the Snake River & Platte River in the Northern U.S. So, I have some interest and familiarity with the Phoenix watersheds. It's since become more of a curiosity of interest that I follow developments of the Colorado River water basin(s) and several of the areas of the SW and NW as they relate to ground water recharge zones.
