I had my son home for Christmas and he flew out this afternoon for LAV school in San Diego. He'll head straight to the fleet after that so it will be a while before we see him again. He invited about 50 people over last night and we had quite the party here!
Just had our 1st snowfall of the winter. Lasted about 3 mins. I counted 26 snowflakes, may have missed a couple. Wonder if the county will close down for the rest of the day.
Mike, down here we don't even need to see a single snowflake. If the weatherman says that there is even just a 0.00000000000000000000000001% of ice or snow, everyone goes into panic mode and everything shuts down. It's hilarious to watch this happen.
I am starting to feel like I am living in Texas. On Thursday, with temps at 60F or better, we had several inches of rain, turning my yards into ugly tan muddy swimming pools. Also have 2 tornadoes touch down about 10 miles south of here. Strong winds followed the storms for most of Friday, knocking out our electric power (assuming downed trees somewhere along the lines)from about 5 am until 3 pm. And today, the temps this am were around the 30F mark and we had a short 5 min period of snow flurries around mid afternoon. Come on Spring, I am getting tired real fast of this crazy weather!!!!
Well crud. This morning we had a small, contained fire in the kitchen. Luckily it didn't spread, and there was very little damage. We got the smoke out, but now we have the smoky odor to deal with. I guess it was good that it was raining so i didn't go to the flea market today.
I have had good success with “Ozium” Spray. It is said to be an odor remover, not just a cover-up, by dispensing microsized alcohol particles into the air that attach themselves to airborne odor-causing particles. I don’t understand the science, and I haven’t tried it on smoke from a fire, but I have had good success with it in other applications.
Sorry to hear about the fire, Michael! Glad it wasn't a big deal except for the lingering odor. We had a smoke episode in the kitchen last year without any flames. Fortunately, we have a whole house fan that made it easier to deal with the odor problem.
I'll add this as a warning to readers here.
We had a tiny fire several years ago when an older surge protector decided to misbehave. Two sewing machines were plugged into it, but they hadn't been used in a few years! Something in the surge protector failed just as I arrived home. I heard the crackling before the circuit breaker tripped off. It took me a few seconds to find the source. The fire was already out. It scorched a nearby nylon case and produced some smoke, but not enough to reach the detectors.
So, everyone, reading this. Be aware that items such as surge protectors can deteriorate and fail with age.
I'll add one more warning. The day before Thanksgiving last year, we had a 13-hour power outage. When power was restored, one of our APC brand uninteruptable power supplies (UPC) didn't come back on. A warning light on the unit was now showing that the outlet was not wired correctly. The light had never come on before and we have a whole house surge protector at the main panel. I tried the UPC in another outlet. No warning light, but the UPC still didn't come back on. I decided to let the battery recharge overnight at that second outlet. The next morning, it was still dead. So I unplugged it. Later that day, I could smell something in that vicinity. It was the unplugged UPC and it felt warm. I removed the battery and set the UPC aside to recycle. The UPC was only about 4-5 years old. It has now been replaced. We've had UPCs in the house for the past several years without problems until now. These were the third generation of UPCs we've had. The technology is a great convenience, but be careful.
Tom
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"I no longer collect, but will never abandon the hobby"
I don't recall the local TV stations commenting on cloud cover in their weather forecasts before. In January of this year, the TV meteorologists were reporting Indianapolis had about twice as much cloud cover as normal for the month. I don't know how cloud cover is calculated, but I suppose it must be done either via satellite imagery or some sort of sensor (UV?) at the National Weather Service stations. I don't know how historical average cloud cover is being determined. I wonder how many years of data are available in order to create a historical average?
Tom
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"I no longer collect, but will never abandon the hobby"
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 09 Feb 2020 05:13:21pm
re: The SOR Diner is now open for 2020
FYI for folks who might not be aware...
There is a new generation fire extinguisher that is far smaller, easier to use, and lasts (discharges) 3 to 4 times longer than typical fire extinguisher. They are approximately 12" x 1.5" and weigh only 1/2 pound. This makes them easy to store and easy to handle. They are environmentally friendly, non toxic, and do not leave a residue on stuff. And since they creates no thrust they can be used on oil and other liquid type fires. They also never need maintenance or recharging.
They do command a steep price at around $75 each but this is a discount compared to a new car or house.
Don
Couple of weeks ago I had gone to bed, read for an hour or so then gone to sleep. About 11.15pm my brain in conjunction with my nose, woke me to a smell of burning. Wife was still downstairs watching tv.
Walked around house looking for the cause (wife says she cannot smell anything) ultimately searching the basement noticed the hydro furnace was not running, took off the cover and found the motor was seized. The wiring inside was causing the smell.
Electricians came next day and replaced the motor, which had been installed 16 years previous, just happened to be a minus 30c night.
This past Thursday our rental house previous tenants, now living in Dauphin, had their rental burn down completely, losing their entire home and also the dogs and cats that were trapped inside, fortunately they were both at work.
We have smoke/monoxide detectors in every room and although they are mains we change back-up batteries every 6 months.
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 09 Feb 2020 05:21:16pm
re: The SOR Diner is now open for 2020
"...I wonder how many years of data are available in order to create a historical average?"
Accurate weather records go back to around 1860. The earth is slightly over 4 billion years old. So we have weather data for less than 0.00000005% of the time earth has been around.
This is like taking your blood pressure once or twice this week and then trying to extrapolate what your blood pressure has been your entire life.
Don
I was at a stamp auction on Saturday. What did I Buy? Not a sausage!! Why? The prices were too high, even for the boxes of, to use rrraphy's phrase, "floor sweepings".
Never mind, I thought, there is another auction in Edinburgh on the 17th with some good stuff.
The best laid plans of mice and men have just been scuppered. Why? They've closed the Queensferry Crossing. This is the bridge that replaced the old Forth Road Bridge.
There is a diversion of some 35 miles with long tailbacks and its taking an extra couple of hours to complete the journey.
The bridge is closed because ice has formed on the cables and is crashing down on to the vehicles. Thankfully no one has been injured other than their trousers suddenly turning a shade of brown!
This was a result of storm Caira. The bridge should be open in a couple of days but another storm (Dennis) is due to hit on Sunday so no doubt the ice shall fall again and the bridge will be closed.
Woe! Woe! and thrice Woe!
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Guess the world is coming to an end!!!! Has been snowing pretty good for a hour or so, have about 1/2 in. worth piled up on the deck table. My indoor/outdoor tuxedo cat looks out the window every once in awhile, turns around and gives me a "what the heck" look and heads off to take a nap in my bed. He must think that I can control the weather. hehe
Having just had a couple of plus 10c days (below freezing nights) and beginning to think spring is around the corner, we get a dump of about 4-6 inches of wet snow today with more in the forecast.
Guess at least it is keeping people in with the highways being closed.
Hi JR (Ewing?)I'm an Englishman abroad, In the UK I always used Fahrenheit but in Canada the weather forecast comes as degrees C. I can change it but have gotten used to it although it sounds warmer as degrees F.
The road system in Canada is based on a 1 mile grid system although all mileages are in Kilometres.
I grew up (possibly) with feet and inches and it still seems a more logical system to my brain. I visualise 4 inches far better than 10.16 cm or 101.6 mm. It is the width of my hand.
Yes in Canada they use the metric system but in my senior years it takes more getting used to. The stores sell product in Kilo packages but priced in Lbs, probably just for old gits like me.
Clear as mud now or does your brain now ache.
We ancient Scots have degrees centigrade, distances in miles.
I remember seeing a cartoon that sums up the British view entirely.
It was a stone wall with a sign on it.
The sign said "Metrication Board 100 Yards"
In the late seventies the guy who owned the factory I worked in sent us all on metrication courses, all 120 of us.
The great day of switching from Imperial to Metric arrived and the owner approached me and asked if I could do all the billets on the machines in Metric and Imperial.
Why?
Because he couldn't get to grips with the new metric system.
He never went on the Metrication Course!!
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I recall that in the UK, upon metrication, the flooring business (carpets/lino/vinyl)had to be sold by the square metre but were priced in square feet, the salesman had to convert your size needed into the metric then convert back because the product came in feet widths not metres.
This prevailed over a number of trades, especially the fruit and veg trade, many of whom were prosecuted for not complying with the metric weights and measures.
"... I visualise 4 inches far better than 10.16 cm or 101.6 mm ..."
Therein lies the problem: precise conversions are rarely required in everyday life.
If you think that a liter is a quart and vice versa, for example, you will have a 5% error, one way or the other, but will that ever matter?
If you live in the USA and buy two quarts of milk per week, and move to France and buy two liters of milk per week - or vice versa - will you ever notice, or care?
You get the same 5% error if you forever think of a quarter-liter as a cup ... in how many recipes could this possibly make a difference?
Ditto four inches to ten centimeters, 30cm to the foot, etc.
Even the enormous difference between a meter and a yard - TEN PERCENT - matters exactly when?
If you're buying paint to cover a few walls in your house, for example, will it matter if there are 9 or 10 or 11 square feet in a square meter? Who buys paint by the fluid ounce?
"... It is the width of my hand ..."
And therein lies the solution.
Find the fingernail whose width is closest to one centimeter.
Measure the exact length of your shoe, the width of your eyeglass frames, every dimension of a credit card, or, uh, anything else that you've usually got with you that can serve as a convenient visual estimator in a pinch.
But do not do the math !!!
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
I am also draining the coffee maker daily but I am not working. We’ve developed a routine of taking a daily walk through the neighborhood. I’m working on some model cars as stimuli. I went to beer store yesterday. I bought three cases which should last the wife and I a few weeks. They have a walk up service pretty well organized. There’s two doors, one is the order and pay window, then your beer can be picked up at the other door. They won’t accept cash to avoid risk. When I was paying with my debit card their power went out for a few minutes. The guy ran my card again when his register reset. Checked my account online last night and see I got double charged, so I have to go back today. I’ll tell them just to give me three more cases and hope it lasts us the duration. Or if things get worse this could be the new world currency!
Downright sinful Vic! My local pub / restaurant is open for contact free pickup. You call in your order, pay with a card, and they deposit it into your car trunk. They just advertised $10 growlers of anything they have with those orders. No doubt they need to get rid of it all!
All the auction houses are still closed. Starting to champ at the bit. I need my auction fix. There is nothing like trawling through a selection of mixed boxes (Relax. Do Your Breathing Exercises Ian! Breath In.........Breath Out......Breath In......Breath Out)
One piece of JOY. I finally tracked down the first set of Bohemia and Moravia Used at a reasonable price.
Just checked my data usage. It normally runs about 22GB per 30 days, currently running at 48.29 GB!!
I must get a life!!
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Saturday was picture perfect here! A great day to take our daily walk in the neighborhood. There were many other people out walking and everyone said hello and waved. People are actually nicer these days.
Last night I fired up the grill and cooked some ribs. I have been craving ribs all during this mess, and our grocery had not had any. This week they had “Country Style Pork Ribs”, which are individually cut pieces with a small bone and a lot of meat. We all have to make sacrifices so I got them. And they were wonderful!
A few weeks ago, with the absence of fresh full size wings at the grocery, I got a large pack of chicken legs. I grilled them and invented “Buffalo Chicken Legs”. And ya know what? Half the price of wings and double the meat! I got them again this week!
Today is Sunday and it’s a rainy day. I will work on my model trucks. A local restaurant is doing a super job raising money for local food bank, and part of their logo is a weathered old 1950 Chevy pickup truck. I’ve already created a detailed model of this truck for my collection. Now I’m building a pair of these to present to them to auction off for charity. I’m hoping they are appreciative.
Here’s the work I’m doing on the trucks. Getting near the home stretch! It’s great that us hobby folks have interests that will keep us busy and our attitudes positive. Have a great rest of weekend folks!
Per seat belts.. the trucks are modeled as if their logo truck exists today. They have weathered bodies and modern wheels and tires, that’s a trend with real trucks today.
Michigan (USA) is at home until mid-May it seems! Our Governor has deemed it so. She is really getting a lot of "heat" over her decisions, even making it to Saturday Night Live as a skit, LOL!
Spending more time than ever with stamps and have been doing a lot of hobby computer programming!
Seat belts weren't mandated for new vehicles sold in the US until 1968, but were a factory option as early as 1949. SAAB and Volvo made them standard equipment in the 50's, but most US manufacturers waited to be forced into making them standard equipment!
New York's state safety inspection does not require a vehicle built before 1968 to have seat belts, but if they are present, they have to work. I've known more than a few people who have removed a broken seat belt in order to pass NYS inspection. They also do this with passenger side mirrors for all years of vehicles. Got a broken passenger side mirror? You can fix it, or you can remove it altogether. If its there, its gotta work!
Does anyone else remember GM's seat belt starter interlock? For a few years (73-75 if I remember correctly)... if a sensor in the seat registered the weight of an occupant, and the seat belt for that position was not buckled, the car would not start. It was a GREAT system, since a bag of groceries or stack of schoolbooks placed in the front seat would trick the system into thinking someone was sitting unbuckled in the vehicle. Or better yet, if the sensor circuit failed.... no start. My ex-wife had a Malibu with this abomination, soooo much fun!
The starter interlock was required (know it was in 1974) for several years but public pressure ended the requirement. I do remember the bypass button under the hood.
I had an uncle who with great ceremony would literally cut the seat belts out of the new car as soon as he got it home! Lord knows what that cost him at trade in time every two years!
We have been having some warm weather over the last couple of days, temperatures got to a balmy 21 degrees and 12 degrees at night......Phew!...What a Scorcher!!
Been busy all day helping my wife get her shop ready for opening on Monday after lockdown. Social distancing of course. I think there are more notices around the shop than products.
She will just have to wait and see if the local populace come out of "hibernation" and support all the local business that are opening on Monday, fingers crossed.
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"StayAlert.......Control The Virus.......Save Lives."
Musicman:- She has a small Gift Shop called Perfect Presents.
The best selling items are collectable Charlie Bears:-
This one is called Hawkins, retailing at £78.00
She also has Rennie McIntosh, Celtic and Tree of Life jewelry. Dartington Vases, Spanish Pottery, Oriele Bronzes, Scarves, Ceramic Figurines similar to Doulton and Beswick ceramic Dogs and Horses to name just a few ranges.
She doesn't sell online as she feels it is too impersonal especially the Bears. She has to buy the bears in threes and as each one is hand made their expressions can be different. If you put the three together one bear can look happy, the second can look sad and the third could scare you half to death!!
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I’m not around the hobby much these days. I’m back to work! Glad to be back out in the world ( for what it is anyway! ) and no longer feeling like a house cat!
Today is the thirteenth of the month. Normally I stay in the house as the number thirteen is unlucky for me.
It doesn't have to be Friday the 13th either.
Today's disasters are I will need a new starting motor for the car, my scanner doesn't work, it starts the scan gets near the end of the scan and without anything being touched it cancels the scan itself!!!!!!!!
Spent hours trying to fix the scanner problem without any joy. I tried the HP Scan Doctor, uninstalled the printer software, reinstalled it, that didn't work, trawled the internet for solutions, that didn't work.
I have now restored everything back to when I purchased the computer and will now have to reinstall the printer software and various other bits of software and browsers and I won't be able to see if I've solved the problem until tomorrow.
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Spent today on line "attending" our local auction house stamp and coin auction. Its only the second time I've participated at a "live on line" auction.
I managed to buy a couple of lots. Two mixed boxes and a small Gibraltar and Cyprus collection. Some of the prices were way above estimates.
Thanks to covid I have to phone the auction house to make an appointment to pay and collect the items rather than just popping in.
At least there is somewhere still operating. The stamp auction I normally attend in Edinburgh intimated several months ago that they were preparing an online auction but that has yet to come to fruition.
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"StayAlert.......Control The Virus.......Save Lives."
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 18 Aug 2020 07:35:17pm
re: The SOR Diner is now open for 2020
Just came back this afternoon from my 60th operation since 2015 and earlier this month (August 13th) marked my 1000th medical procedure since 2015. But I am still one of the luckiest people around, 6 out of 10 dialysis patients die within 5 years and 9 out of 10 Stage 4 cancer patients die within 5 years.
I understand that some folks might be fearful about COVID given the politicization of the disease. As someone who has faced odds which make COVID look like a small risk, here is my advice on beating the odds. Stay more positive than doubtful, stay more optimistic than fearful, be more determined than defeated, feel more like a victor than a victim.
Common sense and good hygiene are certainly include as tools in my tool bag for good health; but not allowing Negative Nancys to drive fear into my life is what really made the difference for me.
Don
Ian but at least you will have a supply of soot for pest deterrent in the garden, do you climb up the chimney or use a brush and poles? Think I would get stuck in ours as it's about 10 inch diameter.
Perhaps you could get a job as an extra in the next remake of a Christmas Carol.
Awwww I couldn't help it! While reading your Chimney Sweep posts I started humming Chim Chiminy from Mary Poppins and now I've got a tenacious ear worm! LOL
And, not to belittle your suffering, your story made me laugh! I pictured you head to toe, black with soot except for shining whites of your eyes glaring at that darn bucket of soot.
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"Just one more small collection, hun, really! LoL "
I believe I would’ve hired out the chimney sweeping job and watched them from my favorite chair!
These days I hire out jobs I used to do myself. It’s nice to come home from work to see the lawn was mowed, and I haven’t changed oil in my cars in years!
Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't 23 Aug 2020 04:59:47pm
re: The SOR Diner is now open for 2020
One of the ironies of my life… when I was young I would tackle all the household repairs and maintenance chores using either the wrong tools or cheap tools. Now that I am older and have finally acquired quality tools to do the jobs correctly, I end up hiring others to do the job.
Don
Happy Labor Day weekend to all who get Monday off work this coming week!!
Anyone have anything fun planned for the holiday weekend here in the US?
We are headed to Columbus, Ohio this morning for a couple days. We will be going to the Columbus Zoo, hopefully to see the new baby giraffe and the new baby red panda, my oldest granddaughter's favorite 2 animals!
We are going to Columbus today as well. My daughter goes to school there in Westerville, so we will be on the north side of town, probably indulging at dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We had considered a trip to the Columbus Zoo as well, but don't think we can fit it into our day. If all goes well, my daughter will be interning there in a few years.
Hey Randy, enjoy the time with your grandbaby. Me, my wife and our dog went to the beach today. We had fun. Living in Florida, we always say we need to get to the beach more.
Been dragged round Dundee for..............Christmas shopping.
Why?
She who must be obeyed had a thought.
"With all the shops having limits on the number of people allowed in the shop, what will happen in December? There will be queues outside the shops and I am not standing in the freezing cold and rain waiting to get into a shop!!"
That woman's logic.
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Ian, please print up multiples of the Mrs' quip; have them at the ready come December when it's time to obey.
""With all the shops having limits on the number of people allowed in the shop, what will happen in December? There will be queues outside the shops and I am not standing in the freezing cold and rain waiting to get into a shop!!""
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
My wife mentioned her "thought" in one of the shops we were in and the shop assistant said "Gosh you're right. I never thought of that. I must tell my mum and we'll start our Christmas shopping."
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So my oldest daughter just goy engaged. He's a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Air Force and he's in flight school in Oklahoma. Were excited for our daughter. This young man is so humble.
Way back at the start of this thread Michael mentioned that in Texas everyone goes into a panic at the mere mention of a possible snowfall.
Having grown up in northern Wisconsin, snow is something that covers the ground for at least three months of the year and that you just learn to deal with. But the Okies here in southern Oklahoma are much like Texans and panic at the mere mention of possible winter weather even when it is still days away. I was at the dentist once and the dental assistant and I were talking and the topic of an incoming winter storm, still several days away, came up. She warned me that I better get to the store and get some bread while there was still some available. I thought that odd, so intentionally went to the local Wal-Mart on the way home just to check on the bread supply. Sure enough, the long aisle that usually has thousands of loaves of bread available had been cleaned out bare. The tortillas were also completely gone. I didn't notice anything else in short supply, just those two things.