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

[Buckeye]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TromboneAl Today I am setting up my drummer with Lena's knitting buddy. She'll come by during rehearsal. I hope it goes well. There are great dangers in setting up friends, but I think it may be worth it.

So have you received a full report yet? Inquiring minds want to know how it went.

[braumeister]

Great morning today; I got a new PR.
My best previous time for a half-marathon was in 2006, and I beat that by four minutes!

Who says old farts can't show improvement?

[freebird5825]

Mr B and I spent an entire day together today. WOW !

He w*rked on a spreadsheet for the private club where I used to volunteer at.
USED TO ??
Newsflash
Some drama came my way from the club President and his "not my kid" son, and it got to the point where I decided it was time for me to take a break. Mr B is winding up some things he already promised, and we shall find another place to hang our hats. When it is no longer fun to volunteer, we move on.

I spent a lot of time doing my final seed planting in my containers, and risked transplanting one 12 inch tall Roma tomato out to the plexiglas-enclosed screened porch. We will have some seriously fresh salad ingredients this year.

Mr B is sitting in the recliner in his bathrobe watching the tube while I surf. I'm just saw a commercial for a pretty slick screen curtain product called MagicMesh. Now why didn't I think of that!

Go ahead and google "Magicmesh", folks.

[Nords]

Just flew back from Texas, and boy are my arms tired.

We flew in to Houston 10 days ago, picked up our daughter, and did a speed run up to Austin for the wedding ceremony of my cousin the Army Ranger. It's been over 25 years since we saw a wedding like this one. Wow, what a reception. The bride (also an Army captain) is descended from hard-partying Lithuanian immigrants who arrived here after WWII... and her mother is one of nine siblings. One of those siblings staggered showed up at the actual wedding ceremony with a glass of wine. I'm glad I kept my snarky mouth shut during the reception, because two of the wildest dancers on the floor turned out to be the bride's mother and an aunt. Around midnight the barkeep actually had to turn away two more of the bride's aunts, and then he had to call the police to defend himself help escort one of them out of the reception. I'm still waiting for the highlights reel photos.

A couple hours into the reception, our daughter (who turns 20 years old in a few months) had the gall to confess to us parents that she'd been coerced into drinking half a shot of some sort of traditional Lithuanian whiskey. We pointed out that we weren't exactly role models in that regard, and extracted her promise not to operate heavy farm equipment for the rest of the evening. She also decided not to operate any of her cousin's fellow Army Rangers, either. We're told that the hotel shut down the reception around 2:15 AM, and a few intrepid partyers headed down 6th Street in search of weird Austin live music.

Back in Houston a few days later, we helped our daughter move off-campus. She's been planning to buy a used car, and her two weeks of research paid off in a marathon 12-hour day of test-drives, mechanic's inspections, and negotiating. She ended up buying a '99 Honda CR-V with 163K miles for $4200. The engine & transmission are in surprisingly good condition, and the body is dinged/scraped up enough to keep it from attracting attention. Next day it only took another three hours to get through the DMV paperwork. It's her first car, so its name is Ekahi. Pictures to follow as soon as she e-mails them.

She can't actually move into the off-campus apartment until next week, but she's been accumulating cheap furniture from seniors who are cleaning out their rooms for graduation. (At least she avoided IKEA and Target.) Her dorm room now looks like a Goodwill warehouse, and after they move all their furniture into the apartment they'll be selling their excess on campus or on Craigslist. They're even selling summer storage in their new apartment to friends who'd otherwise have to pay big bucks for PODS summer storage. Looks like her frugal money-grubbing genes are asserting themselves.

Her off-campus apartment is better than my first three apartments combined. The roommates seem like decent people, so hopefully there's no rent-paying drama.

We spent one afternoon at the college's "GE Garage" tech show: a laser engraver, a wall of 3D printers, a robotics lab, a CNC lathe, metal-working equipment, and even a MIG welding booth. Engineering students were bringing their laptops to connect to the machines to work their own projects. One student actually removed the cover from his Macbook to "personalize" it in the laser engraver. Welding tech has come a long way since my duty-officer days... auto-darkening helmets, auto-feed gas, auto-feed fill material, and cool lightweight protective coats & gloves. Our daughter learned how to bend pipe and tack-weld and run beads, so now she's ready for the fun of Navy engineroom weld repairs during inport maintenance upkeeps.

She's doing summer school this month, and she's spending next month on a Bangor submarine to be named later. Probably one of the two SSGNs with women officers on board.

The flight back home for spouse & me had not one but three crying babies within two rows of our seats. The parents had elected to save money by having the little darlings sit in their laps, and the babies were having none of that. By two hours into the eight-hour flight the rest of us were ready to take up a collection to buy them all their own seats, but the flight was full. I managed a dozen ten-minute naps, so hopefully by tomorrow I'm back in Hawaii time.

Gotta get caught up on surfing.

[MichaelB]

We had some neighbors over for dinner and DW prepared a Venezuelan meal of shredded beef (carne mechada), fried cheese, black beans, arepas & salad. We had "tequeños" for appetizers - index-finger size pieces of fresh soft white cheese wrapped in dough, then fried. So good. The whole plate went in the few minutes it took me to get the camera.
.
.
.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB The whole plate went in the few minutes it took me to get the camera.

Lesson learned: Get a fork, then get the camera...

[ziggy29]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Lesson learned: Get a fork, then get the camera...

Brings a new meaning to the phrase, "stick a fork in it, it's done"...

[harley]

Spent Saturday at the Berlin Jazz and Blues Bash. 6 bands (3 of each). Lots of fun. I'm on the committee for the event, so it started at 6 AM and went until about 10 PM for me, what with set up and tear down. Plus this was our first time selling beer and wine for the Chamber of Commerce, and I had to make sure all the microbrews were of acceptable quality. They were. But I kept checking throughout the day. The weather wasn't great, but we made it through with no rain. And if you couldn't see the band through the fog, well, it's music, and you could always just listen. Sunday was recovery day. Didn't do a daggone thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 Mr B is sitting in the recliner in his bathrobe watching the tube while I surf. I'm just saw a commercial for a pretty slick screen curtain product called MagicMesh. Now why didn't I think of that! Go ahead and google "Magicmesh", folks.

We have that product. It's a pretty good idea, but there are a few problems. It definitely cut down on the number of flies and other insects that came in the house, but didn't stop them. We have 4 dogs and they come in and out a lot, and some pests slip through with them. Where the mesh connects to the door frame via velcro (sticky backed tape) it can get dirty and stop sticking as well. Depends on your usage how well it works. We replaced the tape several times over a couple of years. Where we are the worst problem was with the wind. The magnets that hold the center together weren't strong enough and would blow open sometimes. We eventually went back to a screen door with a doggy door in it for last year, and liked that better until the two pugs both tried to fit through at once and tore out the screen. We're back to the Magic Mesh until I can replace the screen in the door.

[MBAustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 I'm just saw a commercial for a pretty slick screen curtain product called MagicMesh. Now why didn't I think of that! Go ahead and google "Magicmesh", folks.

I bought a similar product called Bug Off Screen which claims to be the original one.
*Screens Screen Doors The Smart Screen Door*

It hangs from a tension rod, with velcro to hold it to the sides.

Quite a few of the people who came through our house on the tour this year said they had bought a cheaper one and it did not last. Mine got a major workout over this weekend - probably 200 people through it twice (out and back in) and it is none the worse for wear. It only has 1 magnet which seems to be plenty as the mesh is very sturdy.

Works great, we love it.

[pb4uski]

Just got back from playing 18 holes with BIL. He likes to start early and we were finished by noon, which was fine with me. I had par on all 5 par threes, but the par 5's killed me. Good fun and some exercise though.

Thinking about taking a nap. I love ER!

[donheff]

Drove back from NYC today, but yesterday we rode in the Five Boro Bike Tour with 30,000 fellow nuts. The Tour is a forty mile ride through New York City on closed roads, freeways, and bridges. It should be re-labeled the Five Boro Bike and Hike Tour because there were some lengthy bottlenecks where we walked for quite a ways. Nevertheless it is a fun and interesting way to see the city. Here are camera photos of DW and two riding companions at the start and a random shot in Brooklyn:

[freebird5825]

Thanks for the feedback on the Magic Mesh. I wish I could find a dress made of the stuff. Black flies aka "no see ums" torment me whenever I go outside.

Today was pretty busy for us. Mr B armed himself with a manual small limb cutter and a short saw and cleared back a bunch of overgrown lilac limbs that were overhanging where I go along close to a rock garden with the lawn tractor. No more scratched arms and legs for me.

I went back to get the John Deere STX46 lawn tractor going for the season. I fast charged the battery, added gas, tried to start it and got nothing but a cough and sputter. So I recharged the battery, this time on slow charge. When I returned 30 minutes later, I noticed a very strong smell of gasoline. The manual turn off valve between the gas tank and the fuel filter was dripping a tiny bit of gas. So I turned the valve to the OFF position. I removed the air filter to see what it looked like. The throat to the choke part of the carburetor was filled with gasoline and dripping down the carburetor bowl, accumulating under the muffler area and onto the floor.
OMG thank God I did not try to start it.
I drained the gastank, checked all of the gas feed parts, tightening all nuts and doublechecking the pinch clamps, along with draining and drying off the rubber gas lines and housing. I added a little bit of gas to see where it was dripping the worst. Sure enough, the gas accumulated in the choke throat and dripped down onto the housing again.
I went to the local small engine shop to get a new shut off valve and had a discussion with the mechanic. He suggested checking the carburetor float, the needle valve and the seat. So I bought a carb rebuilt kit just in case. I can return it if I do not open the package.
With rain in the forecast for the next 2 days, and already feeling annoyed PO'd at the lawn tractor...I decided to mow my entire over-grown billy goat length back lawn (100' by approx 300') with the self propel lawnmower I usually use for just the front yard (90' x 100').
My legs and feet are killing me, but I got a nice starter tan.
I'll attack the carburetor job tomorrow.

[nafddur1]

Got a test drive in a CRG/Rotax powered kart today. First time I had been back in a competitive (ie non arrive-and-drive) kart in 43 years!


Rotax 5-7-12 032.jpg

Rotax 5-7-12 033a.jpg

Rotax 5-7-12 036a.jpg

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 .........I'll attack the carburetor job tomorrow.

The needle valve is sticking / leaking. I'd take it out and blow it off with compressed air and reinstall it. Make sure the float does not have a hole in it and is sinking. Sometimes a little crud gets between the needle and the seat and causes it to flood. I doubt that it needs to be rebuilt.

[travelover]

Made a trip to the junkyard metal recycling facility today. I picked up some nice copper wire and some aluminum angle for my camper trailer project. It is literally 10 times cheaper than Home Depot and often the stuff is new, just the end of a roll or long length stock, for metal.

Of course, the price of entry is swallowing your pride.

[freebird5825]

Quote:

Originally Posted by travelover The needle valve is sticking / leaking. I'd take it out and blow it off with compressed air and reinstall it. Make sure the float does not have a hole in it and is sinking. Sometimes a little crud gets between the needle and the seat and causes it to flood. I doubt that it needs to be rebuilt.

Thanks
That will be my first plan of attack, to take it all apart and inspect the float, blow any crud out, reseat the needle valve and try it again as is. I plan to place a small mirror underneath and do all that without removing the carburetor assembly. BTDT, just last year.
I also plan to place a small screen in the designated funnel that I use to fill the gas tank.

Question...instead of dragging my compressor down the yard to the shed, can I use a can of compressed air, the kind you clean your computer keyboard with?

[TromboneAl]

Lena got way, way too close to some wild elk yesterday. I watched them get real nervous, and it looked like they were deciding whether to charge, run away, or do nothing (they did nothing).

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebird5825 ........Question...instead of dragging my compressor down the yard to the shed, can I use a can of compressed air, the kind you clean your computer keyboard with?

Sure - ya just want to get rid of the crud so to doesn't end up stuck in a jet.

[RoccoPacco]

Isnt it great to be retired! Today my DH and I drove to New Orleans for 5 days of fun and sightseeing!

[MichaelB]

Got new credit cards with new numbers in the mail. The old ones apparently "may have been compromised at an undisclosed third-party location". The real PITA is having to update all the auto-pays, and we have quite a few. Still, one advantage is the yearly subscriptions are all on the old number and don't renew automatically, so when they expire we get a chance to ask once again "do I really need this?".