James - Was the previous door 15 panel glass? Nice job, looks good & matches the 9 panel windows.

EDIT: And, I looked at it again & saw the paint tape around the door handle and lock assembly. Did you have to paint the entire door? If so, what a miserable job. I have a set of two French doors 15 panel glass separating the kitchen from the dining room. I refinished them & restained them years ago. Then, applied two additional coats of clear several years ago. They take forever & to clean them isn't much easier, eh? They sure are good looking though.

 

Norm, yes exactly the same door, 2 coats of Bullseye primer then semi gloss paint another day

 

James - Tons of work just to tape & paint. Nice work.

 

Norm, I don't tape anything but the hardware. Take a little bourbon and branch to steady the hands and scrape any over paint off the glass

Only problem is flies from leaving the door open so long to dry

 

James - Good point. Honestly, I don't tape glass. I use brand new razor blades in scrapers to remove the paint. None-the-less, it's still a lot of work I know you know this.

 

100 grit sandpaper, vacuum, water wash, 000 Steel Wool, vacuum, acetone wash, denatured alcohol wash prior to paint. First coat applied, two more coats tomorrow it's a done deal.

 

James, beautiful place. Yours is great too, Norm! 😍🤦‍♀️😢🎂👀 Woo Hoo windows and period who woulda thunk it....

 

Look at Greg w/ the "Windows + ." Stepping out, Greg. The Big Dog learning new tricks. Thanks for the compliments. Hope all is well in Michigan.

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ Greg Rogers ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)

 

Want to evaluate performance on your laptop, PC, tablet, etc.? I have a million network, server & client (PC) monitoring & management tricks up my sleeve.

Hit these keystrokes at the same time: Ctrl+Alt+Delete then click on Task Manager. Have fun. 😁

 

Hi everyone.

Beautiful day I walked out to this morning. Finished work around 1130 and hit the Awful house. Had a nice chat with my Friday buddies.

Got home and found that the mail person had ripped the door off the mail box. The one "hinge" had been off for a few days but the other one was holding fast. In fact, I tried to rip it out so I could repair it earlier in the week and it wouldn't come. So I planned to fix it this weekend. Found the door stuffed in the mail box, and the ear with the rivet still attached bent all to hell. It really took some effort to get that off. I'd call that vandalism. It's fixed now, a couple screws and nuts where the rivets used to be and it's good to go. It only lasted 10 years. The previous mail box was plastic and the door was broke, but would hang on the front of the box. The mail person would take it off and fling it into the weeds. Too much trouble to be decent with other people's stuff I guess.

Koda glad the house will be preserved. I, too, would love to live in an old house. The wood work, the high ceilings, you just don't see that kind of workmanship in the new places, not even the expensive custom homes. Is that you working hard at demo-ing the front porch?

Norm the place looks awesome. Funny to see the garage without the giant man cave attached at the back. I didn't realize the house faced a regular street, I thought it was on some weird corner of the auto shop's property.

Jamesbo one of these days I'll make it up to see your place. I won't wave to the termites. Are you going to wait on the golf course to buy one of their tractors or are you still looking?

I think since I get to stay up late tonight I'll do a little house cleaning before I sit down to watch TV. It's my friend's 40th birthday in Australia and she's having a party at 1pm, which is 10pm tonight here. I thought I'd give her a call on the phone. I don't get to see anybody this year as our show was canceled. I had thought about going over there anyway and going to Perth, but that would be an epic journey, and I thought better of the idea of going all that way to spend 10 minutes looking at a dog statue.

Well, as The Cure would say, It's Friday I'm In Love. See ya's.

 

Mike - This house was the house of the owner's of the automotive garage, next door. They owned the automotive garage from 1942 until their death. One of their son's inherited the garage. I purchased the original owner's home. They're a peculiar lot - all of them. The original owners (who I never met - I purchased the home from their children [estate inheritance]). The children are a mixed bag as I said - a peculiar lot. The original owners owned 20+ acres here, another 30+ acres over there, another 20+ or so over there, etc. And, they have/had 1st, 2nd & 3rd cousins all over the place from here to Timbuktu. The original garage was all wood. Some crackhead from Down East burned the place down about 14 years ago and they erected the current garage and sold ownership to one of the two employees who had been working there for 5 - 6 years prior.

Yes, it would be an epic journey to spend ten minutes staring at a dog statue.

Sheik Yerbouti (FZ, 1979)

 

Mike, Yes I'm going to try to wait on a good deal

When the grass stops growing I'm gonna expand the old existing tractor shed. When I put a new metal roof on the quest house at the lake, I saved the tin.

I bought a truck bed extender

So the plan [de jour] is to haul the used tin from the lake down here for the tractor shed expansion

I've grown tired of trying to deal with a new permit from the city

 

James - I have a bed extender. I've only used it several times but when I had to use it, it came in handy. I have an 8' bed, but boy does it come in handy for longer more flexible items (such as tin as you're going to haul). I also used it when hauling 16' kayaks. Mine slides into the trailer hitch and extends another 6' in total length w/ a 4' width when completely extended. Normally, in the collapsed position it's about 3' long by about 2' wide. Is yours similar?

 

I bought a 5x8 utility trailer when my 6 foot Tacoma bed won't do. First trip was buying 67 442 powertrain from Ed Skaff right before he passed.

 

Good evening gents,

Sounds like everyone had a pretty good day, alot of good jibber jabber amongst you all. I love old homes too, Jame's and Norm's are beautiful. Probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to own one though unless the home had already been completely updated, I'll be the 1st to admit I'm not a great handyman.

Started off the morning with Monty's vet visit at 0900 for a simple heartworm check and the visit quickly turned into a nightmare. We can't go in the office with him because of Covid, curbside service only. We're waiting out in the shade with Maggie and start to realize it's taking longer than usual. Finally the vet calls out to my wife and tells her the heartworm check was negative, but analysis of his blood draw revealed he had antibodies for a tick borne disease called Ehrlichiosis which can have a whole range of acuteness and symptoms including fever, swollen lymph nodes, respiratory distress, weight loss, bleeding disorders (spontaneous hemorrhage or bleeding), and occasionally, neurological disturbances (they may seem unsteady or develop meningitis). Chronic bleeding can lead to blindness and death. If diagnosed early enough it can be successfully treated with doxycycline. The vet suggested a secondary lab test to detect and determine if there was any active infection so we could get him on the antibiotics if needed. Luckily, the secondary test came back negative, indicating he had already successfully cycled through the disease on his own, hence the antibodies detected in the 1st test. My wife was a puddle by this time, but a major crisis was put to rest.

Got home, did my daily workout, then went out to mow. Got the front done (1/3 of the job), and was starting on a side when the activation cable on the front drive self-propel unit broke somewhere inside the front propel unit. I didn't even stop to "F" with it, I just pushed the damn thing and finished the job. I'll check it out on Sunday and order the part if it can't be fixed as it sits now. Car Show tomorrow and cruise-in tomorrow evening, hallelujah I need a little fun!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Good deal on the 2nd lab test coming back negative. I studied some of the Rickettsia genera in Micirobiology - nasty little bacterial buggers, and an entire slew of them (of which Ehrlichia is one). One of my cousins sent me her entire laboratory workups after her primary physician said she didn't have Lyme Disease & when I told her the antibodies won't show up for at least 2-3 weeks she still was convinced her primary physician was "God" and she was going to be fine. Two to three weeks later she was feeling like $hit again, went to her primary and asked for another Lyme Disease lab draw/analysis to which they replied she had either this or a host of other B.S. They didn't recommend another Lyme Disease lab draw. I finally convinced her she needed to see an epidemiologist and ask them to get an evaluation - explaining now the length of time she had symptoms, etc., etc. Lab results came back positive for Lyme Disease. I told her to ditch her primary physician since she (the M.D.) didn't know a damn thing about immunology or epidemiology and should have insisted on another Lyme Disease test. Short story, she was put on doxy and after four days she was sicker than a dog, nauseous, blah, blah, blah. Doxy isn't for wimps - it's a very tough & very strong antibiotic. She found a decent epidemiologist and he provided another effective dose regimen - I whopper dosage of (I think) Amox. But, the trick is to titrate the amount to fit the patient - more time consuming but w/o the harmful/miserable side effects of Doxy. Anyways glad the second lab came back (-). Lyme disease (Borrelia spp.) isn't a Rickettsia but it's treated w/ Doxy. Borrelia is a spirochete Ehrlichia is not, but they're similar.

Lawn mower took a **** did it? Welcome to my world. Be thankful it wasn't a clothes dryer. Although, three days ago my Bose CD/FM player in the restroom stopped producing sound. Everything works on the unit except it won't produce sound. I think it's my year for appliance melt down. 😫🤔

 

Norm - Thanks for the well wishes for Monty's test results. Thank God it looks like he's gonna be fine. I am already dreading the day in what hopefully will be the distant future when he is no longer with us. I will be extremely sad when that day comes, but I know my wife will be an absolute wreck, and that will be worse!

I'm not worried about the mower, I'm sure it won't be too tough a fix, even for me!

 

Chris did you find out if Monty actually had a tick embedded in him? Tiger gets regular tick checks. I tell him to get up on the operating table(the couch) and I check him from stem to stern. He also gets belly rubs and treats and he thinks it's a game. Once in a while I find one of the little bastards and we unceremoniously wash it down the sink.

So the phone rings right at 10 this evening and it's my Mom. Whoa nelly. She never calls me, and she only calls me when there's something wrong. She told me my uncle died this afternoon mowing the lawn. He's had heart issues for years. This is Mom's brother, for whom she's never had a good word. I could never get the whole story as to why she didn't like him. Well, I feel bad. I liked the guy alright, but haven't seen him in years, and haven't seen his kids, my cousins, since my Grandmother died in 97. He's in Moline, IL, and I wouldn't go up to the funeral by myself, but told my Mom is she wanted to go we could certainly do that. She doesn't think she could make the trip. We'll see.

Called my friend in Australia after talking to my Mom. It was so nice to talk with her. She was excited that I called, she was just getting to her party. She was not keen in the past when I suggested we go visit the dog statue, but she would have done it for me. The statue is actually a 15 hour drive from Perth, but there's a flight to a neighboring town. Ya, probably not a terrific way to spend a weekend.

Well I think I'll refill my Kahlua and then hit the sack. I don't think any of my friends will be at the Awful house in the morning, so we might take the day off. Heh, not with Tiger around. Good night everyone.

 

Chris, glad Monty's ok
S
Mike, so sorry about your uncle. Gto Lehman ( amish catalog) and by the world's best mail box ( tank proof

Norm,

My truck extension is like yours

Norm how in the world did you paint the dryer in such a small space,?

 

Mike sorry to hear about your uncle.
OK guys, I'm approaching this with caution, as it's not meant to be political. Yesterday I found out my brother -age 57- got covid about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday he woke up with extreme lower back pain and went to emergency room. He was admitted, long story short, he was not positive at the visit (must have ran it's course) but he had blood clots in his lungs. Now he had a real bad problem with alcohol about 10 years ago and developed a bunch of clots in his legs. He has since quit drinking ( long story- hit rock bottom, etc), anyway, so he has been released and doing better. Yesterday my good buddy-age 65- who I spent most the day with last Sunday called and said he went to a place to get tested for covid after feeling the worst flu symptoms he ever had and tested positive. Now both these guys have had both their vaccinations. I don't know if brothers clots were from covid or from other reasons... Sooo ... wifey and I are going to sort of quarantine ourselves for the next week or so. I must admit I had sort of thought of this pandemic as sort of a over reaction, but now I am getting more serious.

 

Mike, no, that's a contractor I don't know, employed by the buyer. My family took the insurance payout, sold the place as is, cheap, to the foundation, and they're taking it from there. All I need to do is close and take a few more things out, one truck load.

Also, condolences on the uncle.

 

I think the image I posted of the utility room makes it appear smaller than it actually is. The room is ~6'W x 10'L. There's plenty of space, but it's tight, no doubt. The water heater placement is the issue, I agree & understand. Note the paint I'm using - Velspar oil based enamel. Two things working in my favor: (1) It's oil based & (2) it's enamel. I am brushing it on. It will take x3 coats. Because it's oil-based enamel it settles to an extremely smooth satin finish with no streaking; although, the no streaking part does require a good user-friendly brushing technique.

It takes much longer (x3 - x4) to dry and is far more durable than an acrylic - and, Velspar makes excellent oil-based products. Yesterdays first coat took 18 hrs to dry. I put the 2nd coat on today and it's like a glass finish.

 

Greg - Sorry to hear your brother and friend contracted COVID-19 as break-through infections. The one thing you most likely don't know and they may not know (as yet anyway) is if the SARS-CoV-2 virus was the original or the delta variant. There are other possible extenuating items which you may not be aware of. One is ACE inhibitors and any drugs taken which facilitate and increase &/or decrease in ACE1 and ACE2 (enzymes). Many older folks take medications which regulate ACE functionality; as well, there are a plethora of drugs some take for underlying conditions you may not be aware of - in particular COPD, bronchitis, liver functionality drugs, etc. My point is some prescribed drugs reduce the immune systems ability to fight infections (especially as we age) and underlying factors certainly play a role. SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-2 variant attack ACE2. You're smart to remain vigilant. I hope your brother & friend negotiate a speedy & full recovery.

 

Beautiful day.

Double hitter [ 2 funerals]

and 2 families visiting

Bushhogged some weeds where the new tractor shed expansion is planned

I'm gonna spend [hopefully] a few week days in the mountains with my young friend and his bride and son

Norm, He's a GREAT Golfer, Went to Q school and almost made it before he got married

 

James - Do you already have a tractor dedicated to the bushhog which you will be keeping or will the bushhog get mounted onto the JD tractor you intend to purchase? Nice to see you looking forward to shed expansion.

Sounds like I nice time in the mountains. You're going to have awesome weather. We're sitting on this huge system along the Eastern Shoreline of the Atlantic - getting a nice very slow soaking which is good.

I hope you're going to play some golf with your young friend.

 

 

Hi everyone.

Beautiful day here that didn't go as I had planned. In this case it isn't a good or bad thing, just not as planned. I started out moving a car that was behind the Valiant, so I could move all the stuff around the Valiant and get it out and over to my house. Got the car moved, started moving stuff, and decided I really didn't want to sell the Valiant. So I put the car back and texted the guy and said sorry I'm keeping it. Started out by taking a bunch of boxes over so that's a good thing. I'm going to pack up some more this evening.

Thanks for the nice words for my uncle. I just don't know what to think. I bet it's been since 97 that I saw him, or his kids. We weren't close but I always enjoyed seeing him. Now my Mom, on the other hand, didn't like him at all. She never called him, never went to see him when we were in town. She doesn't want to go to the funeral. I'm not going if she doesn't. My sister isn't going if I don't. My brother isn't going if no one else goes. I know it isn't about us it's about Gerry, it feels complicated. Oh that's Gerry short for Gerald. He didn't have a girl's name.

Norm the dryer my Mom got with her house was old and scratched up on the top. I scuffed it with Scotchbrite, wiped it down with a damp rag, then did two coats of Rustoleum white. It didn't come out as nice as yours, but it is decent and Mom loved it. She thought I was so clever for thinking it up.

Greg hope your brother and friend are feeling better. So much for you won't get it ever again if you get the shots. Maybe your friend did just have the flu. I've heard regular flu will test positive for covid19.

Jamesbo I was thinking along the lines of one of those blue mail boxes that used to stand on the corner. Mail man comes by, puts the mail in the door and it falls to the inside. Has plenty of space on the inside and a locking door, so I don't have to worry about stopping my mail when I go out of town.

Okay time for a bite then get back to busy. Hope everyone had a good Saturday.

 

Mike - My Mom had one brother who modestly resembles your Mom's sentiments. She had six other brothers so she could afford to be picky, but as her one brother (Joe) aged every other word out of his mouth was the F-Bomb - Mom hated that. When Joe would call Mom on the phone to chat Mom's face would quiver & cringe throughout the conversation listening to her brother F-Bomb every other word/sentence. Joe died before Mom (Mom was the last of the family to die) and if my youngest brother hadn't have gone to his funeral I doubt Mom would have attended.

I thought the perspective Valiant purchaser already had a solid sold agreement? I guess not.

You do not (ever) test positive for COVID-19 because you have the flu - never, ever, never. We're dealing w/ modern 21st century virology and genetics. Whoever told you that story needs a damn good bitch slapping. Geesh. Were you hitting the Kahlua bottle when you heard that?

Big Fat A$$ chocolate malted milkshake coming up next. Hurry over.

 

https://www.lehmans.com/product/indestructible-mailbox#

 

James - I read the mailbox advertisement. It looks like a nice mailbox but the "features" (as written up)?

Really? A frick'n magnet to hold the door secure from flying open?

For that price I'd want a door which closes properly and latches without a magnet. I'm dubious.

 

Mike - Pour a frick'n 24" deep concrete pad and insert this SUCKA. Gitter dun.

https://www.bravios-usa.com/products...tainless-steel

 

Norm the magnet is inside the top, so the door closes inside the box

I used to have to replace mine when some yahoo hit it with a baseball bat, I they hit this one, they are going to have a broken arm and rear window

 

H.S. kids with no dates on a Sat. night?

You have any shot-up roadside signs around you? Those are the scary ones. I mean, OK....a pellet gun, sure - fun. Rim-fire .22 ... not very safe, but a direct hit would probably plink the sign. Now, you can tell the difference in a shotgun blast and a long rifle. I've seen some roadside signs which looked like machete. That's scary stuff.

 

Norm I just heard that somewhere, don't remember where. Glad to have the correct information.

I lived in my other house, on the other side of the lake, for 5 years, and replaced the mailbox at least 5 times. I needed an indestructible box over there. Back side of the lake, no streetlights, no cops ever, Not once had my mailbox bashed at this house. Been here over 16 years. My new house, the guy painted up his mailbox to look like his wife's VW Campmobile. Not once been bashed. Difference is the neighborhood.

The guy that wanted the Valiant did not have any agreement. He said he wanted to come here(from Ohio) to see it. I said that was fine, but the car was inaccessible and he'd have to wait for me to get to it. No money, no handshake. Car is still inaccessible.

 

Mike - Just saw your post above, I have not been online all day. So sorry to hear about the death of your Uncle. I hope both you and your Mom are doing OK, it's always tough losing family!

It's pretty easy to see ticks on Monty because his hair is so short and not very thick. We have never seen a tick embedded in either dog, but that's probably because they are on NexGuard. When a flea or tick bites a dog on NexGuard, they die. My point being, the ticks probably die before they can get embedded.

 

Good late evening everyone,

Whew, that was a lot to read to get caught up on everyones day. Greg, sorry to hear about your brother and friend. I hope they both make a full and speedy recovery. Blood clots in the lungs sounds very serious and scary!

The car show today was fun, but pretty long. Got there about 0800 and got home about 1600. Lots of nice cars to check out, and the weather was beautiful. Sorry, no pics this time. There was a ton of spectators, and the cars were parked pretty tight, and those two factors deterred me from trying to take pic's. I was home for about an hour and then headed out to the small cruise-in only about a mile down the road from me. It was just OK. It's a reoccurring monthly event and I think it was the 3rd time I've been to it this summer. I think maybe once would have been enough, but it's hard to pass up when it's so close. I don't think I'll be going more than once next year.

Yesterday, my good friend and neigbor directly across the street from me and I struck a deal to go 50/50 on a snowblower. He's about 10-years my senior, and my lower back does not take snow shoveling very well anymore. I told him I would do all the operation if he could find space in his garage to store it, he said that's a deal. Hopefully there is not a shortage of them out there like there seems to be with every other type of motorized equipment. I will start researching tomorrow and he said he would too. We're looking for something medium sized, but definitely self-propelled, with reverse and electric start. Guess we'll see. If any of you northern boys have any suggestions as to makes/models I should check-out let me know.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

 

I don't have a better picture of my mailbox. This is at least 8 years old, and I am not Max Lingo. That address plate went with the previous owner, and I am doing a time lapse study of the degradation of gorilla tape over the holes. Still there, 8 years later. As my mother says, I do not need a planter. It will get replaced as part of the greater car barn / driveway / approach / mailbox project. Thing is a POS that leaks and houses mud daubers.

 

Norm, That's one of the many things I am pondering. Yes, My Massey Fergusson has a bushhog . When this place was a hobby farm. I also had a Cole planter, turning plows, boom, scrape blade and several other implements.

What I need now is a front end loader and [they say] the front end of a 135 MF won't handle the weight.

So the JD I'm hopping for will have a front end loader as the 1st priority.. Of course that means ya need something on the a$$ end to keep it balanced. I'm planning on a rotor tiller [ to keep the unused garden nice and neat] I've also considered a finish mower but my zero turn will run circles around any finish mower

So I may just keep the Massey so I don't have to wrestle a bush hog on and off

I guess I need to send my [lake] neighbor a simplify card. I've always found it ironic how people love to hate Alabama and Notre Dame

 

Gotcha. I understood from your previous thread(s) you wanted a tractor w/ a FEL. I didn't know you had the M-F w/ bushhog. Now I see more of a need for a tractor barn extension. Always trade-offs determining how to juggle tractor implements based upon how often you need to use each one and the rating/size of the tractor you're using & size/weight of the implements.

 

Went out yesterday w/ wife and we cleared trails on land- We did quite a lot for old farts. I was really proud of her, she really helped a bunch. I can still work but it really kicks my ***, get really tired... but you know staying busy and physical activity is key for us seniors! What I notice the most is trying to get around without falling down, Those wild raspberry bushes are treturous !! I fall like in slow motion can't stop it, It's like the underbrush grabs my legs and trips me. We are going to quarantine ourselves until probably Wednesday and see if anything happens, so far so good. Yesterday I was cleaning out garage and neighbor came over and asked for help after his 14 ft tall slider door came off track on his pole barn, of course I will help and next thing you know I'm right next to him holding ladder, etc. forgetting all about my quarantining! Well I remembered and put on my mask... Have a good Sunday guys!!