what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Huston55]

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Originally Posted by davemartin88 Finished clearing (left the best trees for shade) about 2/3 acre for the 5 alpacas we've bought. Fencing was delivered yesterday so hoping to get some post holes dug today and some posts set on the level areas. Had some ice/snow over the weekend so too wet to try to take the Bobcat with the post hill digger too far down the sides. The portion where is start is a long slope so if I make it down but can't get back up, I won't at least tip over and can just leave the Bobcat till it dries out a bit. Framing material for the run in shed will be here next week so hope to have most of the fence and gates in place by then. Target is to be ready by middle of March if the weather cooperates. We spent a quiet weekend here and stayed in for the most part out of the ice and snow, spent a lot of time reading in front of the woodstove. The dogs didn't feel like reading but plenty happy to hang out.

Dave-

The first dog looks like he's got some Corgi in him, around the face. Is that right? We have a Corgi, and he's a great little dude.

[Huston55]

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Originally Posted by Brdofpray As I am finishing my day, reflecting on the progress made to date, I am sitting on the back deck, sipping a very nice libation. To my surprise, I hear a commotion in the trees just outside my view. A flapping, fluttering and squawking is taking place. I get up, peer up into the trees. I see no less than 26 turkey vultures taking roost for the night! I hope this is not a portent of things to come.

Speaking of birds...I was walking the little guy (our 29lb Corgi) this weekend when we heard a commotion in a tree a few feet away. What I saw was a hawk had swooped down and captured a small bird. After lots of thrashing branches and some bird peeps, the hawk flew off with his passenger meal in tow. I have to say, I was mesmerized, by the power and skill of the hawk, who followed the little bird right into the tree he tried to use for cover, and by the empathy I had for the little bird who had seen his last moments.

Afterward, I told Champ (my Corgi), "it's a good thing you're not smaller buddy!"

[Walt34]

I took the motorcycle out to pick up a prescription and since it was relatively warm for January I ended up taking a 60-mile ride. Then did a grocery store run while DW was taking FIL for a half-day series of tests.

My little sister sent me a bunch of old photos to see what I could do with restoring them so I spent the rest of the day scanning and eliminating dust & scratch marks, and trying to correct for the deterioration that happens to 90-year-old photographs. This is one effort of my mother's 2nd-grade class photo. Mom is the girl in the lower right corner.

[happy2bretired]

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Originally Posted by Sue J I did something today that I've never done before. I took some of Mom's jewelry to a couple places to see if anything was worth selling. Neither my sister or I are desperate for cash (I'd just save it and she'd just spend it) but the price of gold sure makes us curious as to what we have sitting in a shoe box. What I learned is that a small handful of the jewelry is 14K gold and worth around $360. Her high school graduation ring is 10K and worth about $50. There is a nice handful of sterling silver that's only worth about $12. I first went to a local family owned jewelry store and then to a storefront gold exchange shop. Both estimates were close but the sleaze factor at the gold exchange shop was much higher. Only one of the pearl necklaces is real but there are two "faux pearl" necklaces by "Miriam Haskell" that may have value as collectibles on eBay. Very interesting errand and I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot. Mostly that Mom didn't have flashy tastes and was thrifty in her jewelry purchases. Her style of jewelry (yes, the 1960's were very fashionable) was very different than anything my sister (big, shiny bling gets you noticed by a better class of people) or I (plain understated and classic) would wear so neither of us wants to keep any of the costume jewelry. I didn't sell anything yet, I'm just getting educated. My sister is out of the country on vacation and I said I'd take care of this, so we will decide when she gets back. We don't have much sentimental attachment to Mom's jewelry. She didn't wear the good stuff, only the costume jewelry. The price of gold changes throughout the day so if I go back to sell anything it will have to be estimated again. Nice to know that there is some value there.

I sold some of my oddball left over gold to a local jewelry store last year. I had quite an assortment left from my mother, grandmother and husband as well as some of my own (HS class ring & teen-age jewelry). The interesting part was that if I took the $$ in trade, the store would double the value. I sold mine in two parts. The first time, I took it in store trade and it amounted to over $700 for me to spend on new pieces. The second time, I took cash of $240.00. Not bad for mostly broken odds and ends. Mark-up on jewelry must really be high.

[Moemg]

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Originally Posted by Sue J Only one of the pearl necklaces is real but there are two "faux pearl" necklaces by "Miriam Haskell" that may have value as collectibles on eBay. Very interesting errand and I asked a lot of questions and learned a lot. Mostly that Mom didn't have flashy tastes and was thrifty in her jewelry purchases. Her style of jewelry (yes, the 1960's were very fashionable) was very different than anything my sister (big, shiny bling gets you noticed by a better class of people) or I (plain understated and classic) would wear so neither of us wants to keep any of the costume jewelry.

I sold a bunch of costume jewelry on Ebay . It was mostly from the fifties and sixties . I was surprised at how well it sold . Anything retro has collectors !

[Leonidas]

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Originally Posted by Walt34 My little sister sent me a bunch of old photos to see what I could do with restoring them so I spent the rest of the day scanning and eliminating dust & scratch marks, and trying to correct for the deterioration that happens to 90-year-old photographs. This is one effort of my mother's 2nd-grade class photo. Mom is the girl in the lower right corner.

Nicely done. How long did that take you?

Looking at that stove they used to keep the classroom warm was a bit of an eye-opener. I have a deep appreciation for modern indoor comfort controls.

[oldphd]

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Originally Posted by happy2bretired I sold some of my oddball left over gold to a local jewelry store last year. I had quite an assortment left from my mother, grandmother and husband as well as some of my own (HS class ring & teen-age jewelry). The interesting part was that if I took the $$ in trade, the store would double the value. I sold mine in two parts. The first time, I took it in store trade and it amounted to over $700 for me to spend on new pieces. The second time, I took cash of $240.00. Not bad for mostly broken odds and ends. Mark-up on jewelry must really be high.

Another possibility... When we had two sets of inherited wedding rings, neither of which would be worn and wasn't worth a lot, but there was some sentimental value, DW took them to a jeweler that worked out of an office in our medium sized midwest downtown, ie not a storefront. She had them made into a pendant which required the purchase of a small amount of additional gold. Incremental cost was modest, and it's a unique item that she wears while not feeling like she just sold off the original items.

[Khan]

Several months ago I sold gold and silver (including my wedding ring), ~$3K; gave it away.

[Sue J]

I emailed my sister last night and she took a break from her Cancun vacation to tell me to go ahead and sell the stuff. I took it in this afternoon and the price of gold had already gone up. Also, I had gone through the box another time and came up with more sterling silver.

The results were -
Sterling Silver - $30
10K gold - $45
14K gold - $358
Total $433 for us to split.

In addition I sold a gold ring with a pearl that I had from when I was 12 that was bent and out of round. And a gold and opal ring from DH that was a pre-engagement ring. It was very pretty but opals are not durable in a ring. I had broken one of the pair of matched opals and the replacement didn't match well. After we got engaged and married, this pre-engagement ring had no purpose and stayed in a box. I also sold a tiny gold necklace with a pearl that I found in my jewelry box. Didn't know I had it, don't remember where it came from. My own 2 rings and necklace came to $92.

I walked out of the store with a wad of cash and got a little catch in my throat, sort of a "what have I done?" moment. Not so much about Mom's jewelry, but my own.

I'll get over it!

[TromboneAl]

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Originally Posted by Huston55 Afterward, I told Champ (my Corgi), "it's a good thing you're not smaller buddy!"

A friend was walking with her two very small dachshunds, and someone came up and informed here that there was a pair of eagles shadowing them, very interested in the dogs.

Also, my sister had a small pet (I can't remember if it was a cat, dog, or rabbit) tied up with a string outside. An owl swooped down and picked it up, and my sister ran over and pulled on the string until the owl let go, and the animal was OK.

[Huston55]

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Originally Posted by TromboneAl A friend was walking with her two very small dachshunds, and someone came up and informed here that there was a pair of eagles shadowing them, very interested in the dogs. Also, my sister had a small pet (I can't remember if it was a cat, dog, or rabbit) tied up with a string outside. An owl swooped down and picked it up, and my sister ran over and pulled on the string until the owl let go, and the animal was OK.

I dont think I'm going to retell these stories to Champ. I'd probably never get him to go to the bathroom outside ever again if I did.

[Brdofpray]

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Originally Posted by TromboneAl Also, my sister had a small pet (I can't remember if it was a cat, dog, or rabbit) tied up with a string outside. An owl swooped down and picked it up, and my sister ran over and pulled on the string until the owl let go, and the animal was OK.

OK! If somebody tied up a filet mignon (or feel free to substitute your favorite food) right outside your front door. What would you do?

[Avalon]

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Originally Posted by Brdofpray OK! If somebody tied up a filet mignon (or feel free to substitute your favorite food) right outside your front door. What would you do?

Which reminds me of the sharp shinned hawk in the yard today creating havoc. Doves launching into the air, sparrows diving into the shrubs. Crazy....

[NW-Bound]

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Originally Posted by Brdofpray OK! If somebody tied up a filet mignon (or feel free to substitute your favorite food) right outside your front door. What would you do?

Why, I would cut the string first.

PS. And by the way, reading your signature, "Don't sweat the small stuff!", reminds me of the following quote.

“Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things” - Anon.

[davemartin88]

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Originally Posted by Huston55 Dave- The first dog looks like he's got some Corgi in him, around the face. Is that right? We have a Corgi, and he's a great little dude.

No Corgi, he is supposedly a full sheltie but we think the breeder had mixed in a bit of whippet given the long, narrow nose? There can be quite some variance within the sheltie breed so may just have a long nose.

He's a rescue named Waylon from the group we work with, came from a backyard breeder and spent his first year outside in a run- he was very anti-social and still very shy after 4 years with us. We were going to put him up for adoption once he found his way but decided we didn't want to put him through it so he's with us.

He came in with 3 other dogs and turned out we had the wrong paperwork on him and thought he was called Justin at first. The paperwork mentioned how long the nose was, almost saying it was disfigured- we didn't think it was that bad. By chance, a week later, we took him to the vet and met a lady with one of the other dogs that had come in with Waylon. We were immediately struck by the Jimmy Durante like nose on the dog she had with her, further investigation revealed we had the wrong paperwork so we swapped records- pure chance we figured it out. At the time, he didn't answer to any name so the week of being called Justin didn't make much difference.

New topic- turkey buzzards and hawks. At our last house, we sometimes had over a hundred turkey buzzards resting in the trees around our place, big massive oaks. On a cold, foggy morning, they could be quite the sight. We also had red tailed hawks, have those here in WV as well. A couple of times, while we were inside, a hawk would swoop down on our bird feeder and grab (sometimes they would miss) a finch or other small bird, amazing!
We haven't seen any taken from our feeders here but did have a juvenile hawk crash in to one of our end windows and land on the deck- quite stunned and laid there for about 15 minutes before finally getting up and flying off.

[Walt34]

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Originally Posted by Leonidas Nicely done. How long did that take you? Looking at that stove they used to keep the classroom warm was a bit of an eye-opener. I have a deep appreciation for modern indoor comfort controls.

I think it took about an hour to correct for the overexposure in the back of the room (had to figure out using a black-to-transparent gradient on different layers) and then about another hour dealing with scratches and imbedded dusk marks. Someone who knows Photoshop in and out would have taken five minutes to do the gradient but the dusk removal is tedious.

[Brdofpray]

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Originally Posted by Avalon Which reminds me of the sharp shinned hawk in the yard today creating havoc. Doves launching into the air, sparrows diving into the shrubs. Crazy....

In my former working life I would get calls from distraught homeowners telling me that a hawk is picking birds off of their bird feeders. (Most likely a Sharpie, or a Coopers). They would want me to do something. I would always respond, "Well, you are trying to feed the birds, aren't you?)

Isn't nature grand!

[happy2bretired]

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Originally Posted by TromboneAl Also, my sister had a small pet (I can't remember if it was a cat, dog, or rabbit) tied up with a string outside. An owl swooped down and picked it up, and my sister ran over and pulled on the string until the owl let go, and the animal was OK.

I've been a little concerned with hawks in the neighborhood and an owl that I found hiding in one of my planters. I don't like having my little baby outside alone, mostly because barking, but predators too. I guess her being a little over weight at 11 pounds might be a good thing.

[Avalon]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brdofpray In my former working life I would get calls from distraught homeowners telling me that a hawk is picking birds off of their bird feeders. (Most likely a Sharpie, or a Coopers). They would want me to do something. I would always respond, "Well, you are trying to feed the birds, aren't you?) Isn't nature grand!

Nature is grand, and it's best that we not interfere. These little hawks have their place like everything else.
Coopers and Sharpies look very similar, but what I have in this area are Sharpies. I don't know that I've ever been close enough to a Coopers to make a positive ID.
The most unusual Hawk I've seen over the last few years is a light phase Harlans hawk. Other than a few scattered flecks of grey, it was a snowy white. Quite a sight to see.

[TromboneAl]

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Originally Posted by TromboneAl My nap was interrupted by a large bang from the garage area. Couldn't find anything wrong until I tried to open the garage door. The spring had snapped. The other one snapped in 2001, and it cost $164 to fix. But this is something I don't want to do myself -- someone will come tomorrow to fix it.

It was only $140 to replace this time. The guy who did it is really into garage doors, and took a lot of time to talk about the different types.

He said that the older type springs that go in the tracks are complicated, and require cables inside so that when the snap, they don't fly all over the place.

He said it's not rust that causes the springs to break, it's just metal fatigue -- they are usually good for 10,000 cycles.

The best type to buy is the jackshaft type that goes on the side of the doors. They are quieter and can be easily installed.