What did you do today?

Jim K said:
Always remember, you can sleep in a plane, but you can't fly a house.
Click to expand...
Cue Nirvana

"We could plant a house, we could build a tree
I don't even care, we could have all three"

Take enough drugs and that house starts flying
 
Sac Arrow said:
Put in about 800 miles today, from someplace in Nebraska to Wendover, NV. There is a nice push casino across the street from the Motel 6. I'm a cheap bastard.
Click to expand...
That's a good day of driving.
We have been to Wendover about 6-7 times, we were cheap also. We slept in our RV across the street from the casino.
My wife would gamble and I would drive our muscle car on the salt out there on our way to Sac.
 
Went to one of my favorite breweries, Stone in Escondido, and hadn’t been in at least 10 years. It’s a cool place inside and out, multilevel and with trees and lots of boulders for the patio. Good food, good beer, and good staff, what’s not to love. I mentioned it to the host as we were heading to the table and he said ‘you are just in time, we are closing the restaurant soon.’ Glad I made the detour between SAN and SNA.

IMG_1843.jpegIMG_1845.jpeg
 
bought some MREs (authentic, I believe)... because I'm curious. Haven't tried them yet, but now I have a few to try.
 
Drove the last leg home. Picked up some stuff for Saturday bbq (tri tip and chicken) and came home. The kitties were home. Their reaction was "Oh, daddy, we thought you were dead. By the way, where are our treats?" Went to the car wash. Apparently, everyone and their inborn nephews thought it would be a good day to do the same. So, after ten minutes, I backed out of the lane and left through the entrance.

To summarize, my meals traveling were, daily, a truck stop salad and a six pack + of Michelob Ultra at the motel. There and back. At the folks, just a couple hamburger patties with tomato slices. For the next three days. Which is fine, I like burgers.

A note on leaving Indiana. My folks don't live in the burbs. They are smack in the middle of farm country. That means farm roads. Leaving at zero dark thirty in itself isn't a big deal but there was a heavy rain the night before and ground fog.

Each state had its own challenges and it's own set of penises to be fellated. The two most aggravating parts of the trip were Nevada and Wyoming. Wyoming should have the title of "The state that won't quit."
 
farmrjohn said:
Nah, try driving across Texas
Click to expand...
I have. Killeen to, pick your place. Indiana. Oklahoma was bug city. Houston. Good seafood. Austin, party city. I have a million stories about driving through Texas. Okay that's an exaggeration. I actually kind of liked the place, despite the local cops despising GI's.
 
Climbed a local (small, non technical) mountain 8-12 noon then flew 40 min to nearby city for wall climbing gym…. then ice cream
The night is young!
So grateful for my health.
 
Sac Arrow said:
I have. Killeen to, pick your place. Indiana. Oklahoma was bug city. Houston. Good seafood. Austin, party city. I have a million stories about driving through Texas. Okay that's an exaggeration. I actually kind of liked the place, despite the local cops despising GI's.
Click to expand...
Ever take the “dusty winemmuca road”? The 90 mile stretch of gravel nothingness that saves a few hundred miles when traveling west to Northern California? It’s been over twenty years since I have but at that time it was “questionable” at best.
 
Yesterday morning we left W Va and began winding our way home. We stopped in St Marys, Georgia yesterday evening to visit our granddaughter and see the young couple who take care of her for us. The baby is healthy, happy, growing like a well-tended weed, and an absolute delight.

This morning I went to the county gun range with @2-Bit Speed and burned through a significant amount of his handloaded ammo (thanks, bud!). Tonight SWMBO and I enjoyed a delicious dinner prepared by @SkyChaser , with @GoFly and his charming bride providing wonderful dinner conversation.

Tomorrow we'll make it the rest of the way home. My wife's friend who's been doing critter care is leaving town tomorrow morning, so we have to be home in time for the evening feeding. The last two weeks have been a great road trip, but I'm looking forward to getting the plane into the air again.
 
IMG_0492.jpeg
I started “pigging” some accumulated dirty cast aluminum. I figured a couple hundred pounds was worth the effort. Next step break the “pigs” up so they fit in a 8kg crucible and further flux it to pour some nice aluminum bricks for future casting projects. (I still am preferential to aluminum bronze, but the ease of aluminum definitely has its own merit).
 
I have always wanted to play around with that. To the point that somewhere in the basement I have the parts to put together a reil (sp?) burner.

My day was getting my baby sized mill mostly lined up on top of the stand so I can bolt them together.
 
Been tracking the mogote ridge fire. Right smack dab where I hunt. Luckily it looks like it's small and under control with rain helping. But was cool seeing the skycranes help get it under control quickly.

It might help us out as the continental divide trail and some other access roads are closed so maybe keep the first season out. Plus the animals love a fresh burn

IMG_4670.pngIMG_4671.pngIMG_4669.pngIMG_4668.png
 
Went to a ZZTop concert. Only one of the three original members is still alive but the group has maintained the sound.

IMG_1863.jpegIMG_1864.jpeg

Gotta love the outfits and furry guitars
 
Had the entree from MRE menu #7 (Beef strips in savory tomato sauce).

It wasn't bad. I won't be looking to have it again any time soon, but it wasn't bad. I was expecting strips, not chunks of beef, but it wasn't bad.

I had one of the peppermint candy rings. It was ok, better than most peppermint I've had.

I'll try the pudding later

And the peanut butter and jam packets will be for later too.

Need to be careful of the calories.
 
Bob Noel said:
Had the entree from MRE menu #7 (Beef strips in savory tomato sauce).

It wasn't bad. I won't be looking to have it again any time soon, but it wasn't bad. I was expecting strips, not chunks of beef, but it wasn't bad.

I had one of the peppermint candy rings. It was ok, better than most peppermint I've had.

I'll try the pudding later

And the peanut butter and jam packets will be for later too.

Need to be careful of the calories.
Click to expand...

For the full experience, be sure to use the TP for your next bathroom break. But ONLY the TP in the MRE ... no cheating.
 
It was yesterday, but I repowered my lawn mower. 1780 hours on the original kawasaki, which i IRAN'd about 800 hours ago. Blowby was so bad it was pushing its entire 1.5qt capacity out over the course of a 2 hour mowing session. The Kaw always used oil and leaked, so i went with a B&S, which was about $600 cheaper than the OE option, which they also offered. Pretty sure the deck and chassis have another couple thousand hours in them.

It's rear engined, like a Porsche :biggrin:

IMG_20260830_184324949_HDR.jpg
 
What are the odds? Just this week I repowered our 2008 Gravely to a Kawasaki. We got 980 hours out of the old 25 hp Kohler Courage, which is apparently about twice their normal lifespan. I've replaced both hydrostatic transaxles over the years, and I wasn't about to give up on the Mower of Theseus.

IMG_7738 Large.jpeg
 
I’ve got a left hydrostatic drive going out on my mower. I’m limping it through the rest of the season (basically putting off the decision of repair or replace). It’s down to about an hour of run time before the fluid heats up enough that it starts getting temperamental. If I knew it was just the one side that needs replaced it would be a no brainer, but I’m concerned the other side will follow shortly, than by that point I would have been better off buying a new one. (I really like the toro “my ride” seating system so I will probably stick with it/the brand either way, I wish I could justify a Ferris…).
 
Albany Tom said:
I have always wanted to play around with that. To the point that somewhere in the basement I have the parts to put together a reil (sp?) burner.

My day was getting my baby sized mill mostly lined up on top of the stand so I can bolt them together.
Click to expand...
You should, when I first started doing hobby level casting years and years ago I had to build my own melting furnace. Now you can order one online and have it delivered to your door. Man, how times have changed, the little propane melter in the picture was $150 from Walmart. (Granted I also took “hot metals” in high school shop class that focused on pattern making and casting, I don’t think many high schools offer those types of classes any more either unfortunately).
 
The trick is making sure all the major breakdowns are spaced sufficiently far apart that you don't just pull the trigger on a new $4500 machine, but not so far in the distant past that you won't fall for the sunk cost fallacy.
 
ColinD said:
The trick is making sure all the major breakdowns are spaced sufficiently far apart that you don't just pull the trigger on a new $4500 machine, but not so far in the distant past that you won't fall for the sunk cost fallacy.
Click to expand...
I think the same applies to aircraft maintenance as well :)
 
ColinD said:
new $4500 machine
Click to expand...
The new comparable model to mine runs about $12,000. It's a commercial level machine, which is surely why it has held up so well to my abuse. In 12ish years and about 1200 hours it's needed a throttle cable and a deck belt. Makes a $2300 engine a pretty easy decision.
 
I bought mine new, apparently the first year the manufacturer went to sealed deck and spindle bearings. It’s a small mom and pop distributor (literally, the owner and his wife live in a loft over the show room floor and the area around them had been developed extensively into a commercial/industrial zone). His daughter was the salesman and I wanted one with grease zirk fitted bearings, she got him out of the shop to the sales floor and he let out a few exploitatives and a rant about designed obsolescence.. but I still bought it. When I talked to him when it first gave issues earlier this year he guessed the hour meter reading within 25 hours.
 
Jim K said:
The new comparable model to mine runs about $12,000. It's a commercial level machine, which is surely why it has held up so well to my abuse. In 12ish years and about 1200 hours it's needed a throttle cable and a deck belt. Makes a $2300 engine a pretty easy decision.
Click to expand...
About the same for me. 60" Exmark with a Kawasaki. I don't use it. So that means it gets abused. First week I had it I came back from dinner and dad wanted to mow his lawn because his service did a crap job.

I hear a steady hum then suddenly some clanging followed by silence. My sister looks outside "HES IN THE POND!!!"

He got too close to the edge of his pond and mowed the rocks on his way into it. Submerged the deck. He never did get me new blades..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top