so waht ya doin today?

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Warmed up to 45, will be getting cold tomorrow, may snow, and should snow in a couple of days,
according to the weather guessers. We'll see.

Finally got the gutters cleaned out, froze my hands in cold, wet leaves and mud. And got the
snow blade, chains and tire weights on the John Deere 425 - so ready for snow.

Bill
 
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Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Didn't get much done yesterday out side of chores. Colds kicking my butt with the coughing all night, despite Mucinex which usually works really well for me. Last night was worse I think. Did get the frame to my wood trailer put back together. I "helped" my dad build this thing around 1967-68, maybe earlier. He made it a dump trailer by building a sub frame, adding an old boat winch and a set of 1" water pipe uprights with a sheave between them. Viola! Dump trailer! He used to use it to haul trash from the family restaurant to the local dump with the ubiquitous family station wagon. He also hauled uncounted loads of bank run gravel, lumber, furniture, roofing, appliances, lawn mowers, etc. If it wouldn't fit in the wagon, it went in the trailer. The frame is just hardwood, probably white oak, with half lapped joints. I managed to pull one joint apart up front. I don't know who invented "Timber-Loc" screws, but I owe them some thanks. Had to get the 1/2" Makita drill out to drive them as my 1/4" DeWalt impact wouldn't even drive them halfway, but it got done. Thanks Timber-loc guy! Took some trash down to the sandpit (sssssh! We have a no burn law in NYS) and picked some wood up on the way back. Thats about all I got done. Oh, and another dr's appt for one on the younger kids and trying to organize some aid for a local family that got burned out. Oldest girl and GD stopped by as they were in the area for a Drs appt themselves. After that I was toast and just tried to rest. I'm tired of coughing.
 

Intheshop

Banned
Well,the little dusting of snow we had the other day must've gotten the weather guys all worked up? Cause they're downright giddy about the "storm of the century" coming this weekend. They're calling for 6"+.

The problem is the crying wolf syndrome.... when folks stop heeding warnings. Grocery stores love it though?

Me and shopdog may get some hunting done..... unless it's too deep. Be pulling the dog like Max in that grinch movie?
 

S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Brett, maybe you already know this, your blower motor issue is most likely the resistor. Pretty common failure.
 
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Missionary

Well-Known Member
Today and each Thursday (weather permitting ) I head out to a mountain valley and have Bible class with 3 villages at their request. Today and for some weeks to come we are slowly moving through the book of Acts in the New Testament. Some of the finest, humble and poverty living individuals I have ever met. Corrogatted roofs, dirt floors. subsistence farms and would do anything to keep ya going. I am blessed to be a part of their lives and encourage them along the way. Do it on a 250 Kawasaki on 35 miles of asphalts with 168 curves up ad down two mountains then 28 miles up and down a "Tank Trail". Wild as it can be but a fine home for a 2 wheeler bum.

One Guanaco A.jpeg
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Brett, maybe you already know this, your blower motor issue is most likely the resistor. Pretty common failure.

Yup, the doohicky that controls/provides 3 speeds. Right now I have off and full blast. Don't know why it keeps burning out, but I imagine since it's a 97 the fan motor bearings need some lube. Darn truck has some sort of lift kit on it and oversize tires (I bought it that way used) and I actually need a ladder to get up and work in the engine compartment! What a pain.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Poor engineering (lack of airflow to keep the resistor block cool) and only replacement parts available being from Mao's Emporium are the reasons I've found you can't keep a resistor block working for long in those trucks.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
the 89 Bronco is the same way.
all or none.
wish I'd have known when I had the dash torn all apart putting in the stereo it would have been like 2 more screws and some wire loops.
it don't matter much since the thing is only run on full blast or nothing at all anyway.


so yesterday was my favoritest day of the year.
I got to go pay the property tax so the government won't hold my house ransom.
then I got to go pay the homeowners insurance just in case god decides to hate me.
and I got the good news that the car insurance now bills me for the whole year like I wanted them to in June not December.
so since I had 3$ more than they wanted I paid it too.
just for good measure I paid the electric bill on the way home, thankfully winter is here and our rates go up, so the electricity amount of the city bill goes from 80$ to $150.
the other 150 is for stuff like garbage collection, sewer, and a couple of bonds that ain't added to the property tax which has an additional 170$ a year added on.

sure glad I got that waiver for the flooding problem, it only made my property tax go up 61$ this year.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
One of the benny's living here is that at age 65 your property taxes are frozen and cannot be raised. The trick after turning 65 is to screw them royally and live forever. :)
 

Ian

Notorious member
Same here, Rick, but if you so much as replace the gutters on your house or plant a tree, it's considered an "improvement" and you get your tax rate adjusted to current value. It's all a farce.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
That sucks big rotten eggs. :eek: Don't get reappraised here for improvements though it would probably be tough for them to even know as lax as the building code/inspections are. When I added outbuildings I asked them about changes to the property tax but they said that doesn't count. Now if the place burned down and I had a complete rebuild I dunno, my be worth my effort to look into that.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Thinking about this there is a reappraisal on real property every 5 years based on the average of real property increase in the county. But that's where freezing your rate comes in, you pay the rate you paid at age 65.
 
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Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Made some angle blocks at 2.6° so I can make another hammer handle but with a taper. That should give me enough taper for a 4” handle to go from .866 to .500.
I made 2 so I can have one on either side of the hex collet block so the entire works will be square in the vise.

Getting ready to take the wife for another appt and likely an MRI. Looks like I will be spending a few hours at the hospital twiddling my thumbs. Wouldn’t be anywhere else.
 

uncle jimbo

Well-Known Member
Going to start sorting though the two 5 gal buckets of ww I got Tuesday. It will probably take me a couple of day with it being cold outside.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Brad, I thought it would be neat if you left the butt of the handle round and stopped your milling cutter about 1/4" shy of the end so the flats fade to round. Similar to a half-round octagonal barrel. Having the flats curve out like that will make it more secure in the hand.

Hope the Mrs. gets good news and only a few weeks of PT and some NSAIDs as recommended treatment.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I can try that easily enough, just need to make sure I have a good hard stop for the collet to index off so the flats all stop at the same point.
I may try the hex to round transition with the taper as the taper gets me close to round dimensions so it is a smoother transition.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Today and each Thursday (weather permitting ) I head out to a mountain valley and have Bible class with 3 villages at their request. Today and for some weeks to come we are slowly moving through the book of Acts in the New Testament. Some of the finest, humble and poverty living individuals I have ever met. Corrogatted roofs, dirt floors. subsistence farms and would do anything to keep ya going. I am blessed to be a part of their lives and encourage them along the way. Do it on a 250 Kawasaki on 35 miles of asphalts with 168 curves up ad down two mountains then 28 miles up and down a "Tank Trail". Wild as it can be but a fine home for a 2 wheeler bum.

View attachment 7593


I don't know if I've ever said this before, maybe I did on the other site, but my hat if off to you man! I could never be a missionary, just not in me. Every time we have missionaries coming to our church I'm always amazed at their zeal. One husband/wife team was working in one of the 'Stan
countries in the former USSR. They weren't even allowed to say which one in case someone snitched to ruling Mullahs or whoever runs the place. God bless them, and you! That's a calling I'm very glad the Big Guy never sent my way. Stay safe and know that folks like me are rooting for you!
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Off and high are a common symptom.

Ayup. Had the same prob with one of my Toys, but that was due to a blower motor with the only set of bad bearings Toyota apparently ever had judging by how hard it was to get one. And putting it in was no fun job either, but they never are. I think the last resistor I put in was a "Standard" brand in the red box, said USA on it but we all know that means nothing anymore. Ya know, I really like the F350, but it's an absolute money pit compared to my Toyotas. I wish the previous owner hadn't done the lift and put the oversized tires on it. I think all that contributes to what seems to me like a short life span for the steering and suspension components. I'm looking at about $400 or little more just to get it ready to be aligned because the various bushings on the sway bars and whatnot are worn out. I tried to get some stock wheels but they want darn near what a new tire costs for the bare wheel these days! Gotta find a junker for parts I guess. I will say this, with the crew cab and long box it's got an enormous wheel base. I've never seen any truck that can go in 2 WD where this one will in mud/dirt/grass. Snow is another thing altogether and those 285/75-16's stay up on top and don't cut through the snow at all. The old Willys with the 7.50-15's will cut right through to the bottom and do much better in 2wd. We see the same thing on the tractors where the 16.9's spin while the 11.2's go right along. Ah well, chain up all four, throw it in 4wd and go!