so waht ya doin today?

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California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
A perfect weather day, today, and a total surprise. The am fog was gone by 7:00 and the sky was clear and sunny the entire day (even now at 8:00 pm), the high temperature may have been 70* (perfect for doing today's manual labor), with just a hint of an on-shore breeze.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
After Marie got home from school, she wanted to go for a drive to the desert. So, what else is new? :) Today's venture was along the north edge of the Coachella Valley, Dillon Road from SR 62/Whitewater to I-10/Coachella. 109* today at 4:30 P.M., so the locals have their parkas put away now. We took Marie's Jeep up Berdoo Canyon Road for about 5 miles, and the winter runoff MESSED IT UP BADLY. The County needs to get the Road Department on their job sometime soon.

Berdoo Cyn. Rd. is a BLM-designated shooting area, and one guy was out there banging away with an FN-5.7 pistol. These pistols mildly interest me, but not enough to shell out $1400 to own one. That new Single-Six in 22 WMR should suffice nicely for the same range of usage, at less than half the cost. Loud little critter.

The plan was to run up Berdoo Cyn. to Painted Canyon, but the road was DEEPLY washed out. U-turn and retreat. Oh well. We returned past the shooter just as he was packing up, and he asked that we wait for him to get free from the rocky creek crossing where he got hung up heading in earlier today. We went just ahead of him, and he followed us out (a smoother route) and had no issues. Moral of story--don't bring gutless compact city cars to dirt roads with washouts. We didn't have to bust out the tow strap (this time).

We got home about an hour ago, tired and dusty. All good.
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Busted my backside the last 2 days. Got some hay done! About time. The quantity is there for sure as I took 45 bales off a meadow I usually get 30-32 off of. Of course it's stemmier and has less leaf than earlier hay, but it's decent stuff for July. I mentioned leaving the mower high for regrowth and to avoid clogging the sickle. I think I said 4-5". Huh. Looking at the aftermath it was more like 6-8"! I did some work on the haybine yesterday morn and found a pin in the lift cylinder had vacated it's home, so I don't know how I was even getting it that high. At least we are started.

The downside of all the work- I'm beat. The dust really got to me this time. First experience with that. Tough to sleep. Finally dosed myself with Mucinex type stuff at 2:30 and nodded off.


The vet was by yesterday and certified the horses healthy. Sheesh! I could have told her they were healthy for a lot less than she paid. But, it makes her feel better and they got some shots too. Looks like the saddle is going to get some use now.

Supposed to rain a couple days, or at least today. Have some USDA type guy coming around to fill out a survey I don't recall signing up to do on goats. It's another worming/parasite study I think. I like to help with these because there is so little done for sheep and goats in the way of studies and the market is growing. Us shepherds and goatherds will never see the attn beef, pork and chicken get, but it all helps in our understanding of why livestock becomes deadstock.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
We have a Buffalo Brands air horn on our Indian Chief, largely to help scare deer away from the road. It suddenly stopped working. An e-mail to the company received an immediate reply, explaining that their horns are made to be readily disassembled and cleaned/repaired. Well what do you know? Moreover they were exactly right and the horn blasts again, a little water got on the diaphragm. Next I put the bike up on the jack so I could sit comfortably and scrub rims, and spokes, and white walls. Another fine product by the way, J&S Motorcycle jack, made in Grand Chute, WI. Finished detailing the bike and in the afternoon we went for a ride, again, pretty much an everyday event with the hot weather of late. Hot, bright, and windy made for a surprisingly less than perfect ride. I was very happy when some clouds came out late in the afternoon on our way home.
Shot a few plates at 160 yards after supper, admired the prairie planting, and marveled at all of the monarch butterflies we are attracting.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
ruined 2 perfectly good showers yesterday.
but I got some of the pavers dug in the back lawn, I was gonna go down and shoot some trap as well as grab some more of the little 1'X1' pavers and regular size building bricks since yesterday was the last day they were on sale.
that got put on hold by the wife and Littlegirl planning a cookout.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Walked a bit over a mile this AM before PT, just got back. Making good progress. Still stiff as heck at times, but
driving myself and ditching the cane. Walking stairs fairly normally now, but carefully. Still only 14 days, so need to
take it easy. But, I am pleased.

EDIT: I recounted - 16th days. :embarrassed: False advertising.
 
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Rick

Moderator
Staff member
And here we all sit with baited bated breath waiting for Keith to post more pictures. :sigh:

I've always wondered what that means . . . With baited breath. Hhmmm . . .
 
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JonB

Halcyon member
My veggie farmer friend is on a family vacation for 5 days. I am tasked with feeding/watering the ducks and chickens and cats. His parents still live on the farm, but have no interest at taking care of the fowl at their ages (pushing and dragging 9 decades). My buddy says the ducks are more aggressive than the Chickens...including the Rooster, who is unusually docile, I'm told. The story goes, they had two Roosters, but there was a fight a month ago and both looked pretty bad that day, one did die 2 days later, the one that lived is still weak.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Yeah, I understand the "how" it's used but where does the "bait" come into it? I looked and didn't find anything.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
It is "bated" breath--a root & derivative of "rebate", "abate", etc. Wife is a retired English teacher, her younger daughter is mid-way through her Masters' in linguistics & library science. If you wondered about the verbiage I use here at times, I come by it honestly--voluminous reading, and people around me that challenge me daily with vocabulary depth. All six of our girls are scary-smart, and Marie is right sharp herself. Me? I'm the mechanic and tire changer, and in-house defense department--but I do try to absorb my environment a bit. My Mom and Dad are/were pretty well-read & observant as well.
 
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JonB

Halcyon member
Done feeding the fowl for the first time. That went well, it seemed they were too hungry to worry about who was feeding them. Bonus 5 eggs :)

The cats were a bit skiddish, there is suppose to be 10 or so, I only seen two, but to be fair, they usually get fed at a different location than where my friends told me to feed them, to make it easier for me I guess? There are 4 kittens I'm told, only one is friendly, he came out to eat with Momma.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Comes from the same root word as "abatement", "bate" is old English root for "stop". That old
saying, and the noun "abatement" is pretty much the only place it survives these days. So, "bated breath" is
holding one's breath.

Ah, Allen got it before me. I have always been a word nut. I used to read voraciously as a kid, slowed down
a bit, but also kept a dictionary handy, too.

Buckets and buckets of "old sayings" used by people who have not a hint of what they really used to mean.

A common one is "tow the line" :rolleyes:, which is actually "toe the line" from, if I am correct, military requirements
to stand exactly with one's toes at some particular location, as ordered. Lots more examples of old
saying misused.....Malapropisms, many times, but often misspellings since the saying was only heard, never
seen written.

Bill
 
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CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I believe that summer has finally arrived here. Yesterday was 99* as we left to see some REAL hot weather, and today got to 102*. 114* in La Quinta about an hour ago--located between Palm Desert and Indio. (The name comes for its "cove" being the fifth and easternmost of the several that border the Coachella Valley's west mountain boundaries and got populated over the years. For those that follow such things--Palm, Cathedral, Magnesia, Deep, and La Quinta coves, NW to SE). Indio and Coachella open into flat agricultural lands that were once under the ancient Lake Cahuilla. The Coachella and Imperial Valleys are this lakebed, which the Salton Sea covers about 1/6 of.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
Some of that "Other assigned duties" bit when I worked the area. It was a lot more rural/agricultural in 1978 than today, but the areas south of Coachella are still largely rural on both sides of the Sea. LOTS of tourists roll through the area in winter, many from the Siberian East (my perception of all lands east of the Rockies' Front Range) or the Great White North (Eh?). They ask about history, natural and human--and I tried to have a little something to share. The subject interested me anyway, so it was a non-effort. As Mark Twain once said--"Work consists of what a body is obliged to do--Play consists of what a body is NOT obliged to do." Smart man, ol' Samuel Clemens.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
went to pokey again.
don't know what I was thinking.
98* down there.. I thought it was hot up here at like 82.
wal-mart was hot, lowe's was nice and cool, I hung out in lowe's for an hour longer than necessary,
especially since I only bought 6 boards [on sale, for a later project] and a handful of blocks.
I think the remote start and windshield blocker thingy paid for themselves today.

A/C unit is going in the window tomorrow.
 

Ian

Notorious member
A common one is "tow the line" :rolleyes:, which is actually "toe the line" from, if I am correct, military requirements
to stand exactly with one's toes at some particular location, as ordered. Lots more examples of old
saying misused.....Malapropisms, many times, but often misspellings since the saying was only heard, never
seen written.

Actually you're incorrect, it IS "tow" and the reference is to fiber rope that ages ago was made from Tow fibers derived from the Flax plant. It means to pull your own weight. Tow sacks are also made out of tow/flax fiber. "Tow-headed" is a reference to being blonde, particularly the platinum-blonde that toddlers and young children bear.