Track fiddlerI used to have this really cool badass one that was made by an old master carver of Diamond Willow across the lake from me.
I wish I had something like that.
Mine is a metal telescoping pole with a nice soft handle and wrist strap. It collapses down to about a foot long, telescopes out to about five feet, and is surprisingly sturdy for being so lightweight.
I don't use it when doing my daily walk, but I will take it on vacation to national parks.
York1 John
Walking poles can be cool John. I used to have this really cool badass one that was made by an old master carver of Diamond Willow across the lake from me. It had snakes wrapped around, a fish, an eagle and all kinds of interesting little charms to look at. It was crooked and gnarly looking. He was so very good at his craft because anytime I thought I had seen all the carvings in it, I would find another one hiding. I hate thinking about it because I never knew what happened to it. I think obviously someone stole it.
He just gave it to me out of the goodness of his heart. I wish I still had it. Those things can be quite expensive, although I never could have put a price tag on that one.
TF
Track fiddlerI never understood before but now I do. Those times I'd see someone old walking down the sidewalk with ski poles. That would be really good for me right now to loosen back up
TF, you and me both.
Last year I knew I was going to hike Bryce Canyon, and I finally broke down and bought a walking pole from the sports store.
It really worked! I found I used it the most going downhill, not uphill. I became a believer that it may make me look like an old guy trying to hike, but it sure made my life easier.
Good morning again
One more post and then I need to go for a big long walk.
Wow Mike, That is so uncool. I'm glad you are okay out of that. Quite a few years ago there was an incident in Minneapolis where a garbage truck Dually flew off, bounced over the median going through someone's windshield killing them. Since this preventable accident happened they have green flap tags on the lug nuts to assure the proper tightness.
Well, ... I need that long walk because the last few days of working on my truck has caught up to me. I hate to whine like an old lady but sometimes I realize I ain't getting any younger.
The crawling around up and down underneath my bumper installing it and then the quarter panel metal I put on my truck. I had to pop the rear wheels off to crawl in the wheel well above the caliper at a funny angle to clean and seal up the old metal to the new metal so the salt don't get in-between and rust it out again. This type of work is not of the norm for me.
My legs are so sore today I can barely move, my arms and back too. I never understood before but now I do. Those times I'd see someone old walking down the sidewalk with ski poles. That would be really good for me right now to loosen back up
While I was spraying the undercoating in the last wheel well my buddy Erv had set the torque wrench down by my leg. No over tightening with the air impact on the lugs. Click, click, click click, click 5 time's. You already know this but that's what your mechanic forgot to do when he got sidetracked Mike
And now for that long walk. Too bad I don't have any ski poles though Never, ... Not this kid! , ... I hope
Good morning. It's a beautiful morning, and was actually cool for my walk this morning. It will be another hot and humid July day.
MLC, my parents loved antiques, and they had a radio that looked like the second one of your pictures. I don't know what happened to it after they died. Being raised in a home full of antiques, I don't like them. I will take new over antique any day. Of course, once you are married, that doesn't matter. That's why I have a house full of antiques. My wife always reminds me that if she dies first, I can get rid of all of them.
Have a good, restful Sunday.
Good morning gang, just thought I'd check in. Been busy working on our place in northern WI. I'll finish up the trim next week, then move on to build a storage shed/3 seaon shop.
I had a little trouble getting back home last Wed., as I lost the right front wheel on my truck, going 70mph. It was a thrilling ride, to say the least.
Got everything patch up, and back on the road on Thurs., got about 3/4 of the way home, and the left front started to do the same. I caught in time, was able to pull off the freeway, and tighten it back on. From there I took back roads home, and stopped about every 30 miles or so, to make sure it stayed tight.
The last people to take a wheel off my truck was the last time I had the front brake and bearings checked. We've used this shop for about 25 yrs. now, and they aren't owning up to anything. I can't prove anything, so....
Anyway, the original rims on my old (2002) Ranger are the aluminum alloy wheels, and I've told they are a problem, so I'm getting new steel rims to replace the alloy rims.
I had the same problem with being logged off, and trying to get back on. I called CS., they said they have been doing updates. I use Chrome, so I deleted everything, and got back on with no problems. I needed to empty it all out anyway, and regained almost 500 MB.
Later gang! Stay safe!
Mike.
My You Tube
Good morning
MLC, I like the old radios, and a great job you do restoring them with the veneer. Those old-school ones remind me of the one on The Waltons the family used to sit in the evening for story time.
Ulrich, Always enjoy your videos. The one reminded me of Johnny Cash, ... "I hear the train a comin, it's rolling round the bend" If I would have to choose I must say, I have always preferred the British higher pitched whistle to the American lower pitch horn on the steamers.
I remember when I first got my driver's license as you talked about. I remember how exciting it was as it opened up a whole new world. Sometimes with a place to go with our friends and sometimes just driving aimlessly to see what we would find. Getting lost was half the fun sometimes.
Kevin, I like the other Farm picture you recently posted. We certainly have a lot of them up here in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
When I am visiting my brother-in-law in Wisconsin. When it's time to make a beer run for our evening bonfire. We drive past the Udder Farm. It has the family's name right across the top of the barn in big letters. My brother-in-law always says the same thing as we drive by. "It's not this farm and it's not that farm, It's the Udder Farm" I don't care how many times we drive by it, It's still always funny, as we both bust a gut.
P.S. And I forgot to tell you about the camel. We purposely go out of our way to drive by the farm where the one farmer owns a camel. It's so weird to see a camel in a northern country setting. It's a real treat And everyone in the vehicle says, ... "Hump day yeah"
And you're right Kevin, there's no such thing as too many sockets. When you're busy fixing something and need a certain size, they are easier to find. There's no such thing as too many any tools for that matter. "Ahh, Ahh, Ahh"
Ed, Those pileated woodpeckers are really something. With their Crest on their head, I wonder if that's where the Mohawk originally came from. They are quite the powerful tool as I have wondered about the big chunks at the bottom of the tree they rip out.
I had a customer who had a problem with one pounding on her hollow chimney top. She had a big problem. From what I understand, they go to the highest spot that makes the loudest noise during mating season in the spring. It was way too high up for me and I didn't know what I would do anyway. I told her to call a roofing company
Make it a great day All!
Here's a pleasant Sunday Morning film from auntie "Beebe":
Does anyone remember posts I made featuring Fred Dibnah when he was climbing steeples and tearing down smoke stacks? He was a pretty accomplished chap.
Yesterday I was taking a walk and came across a PAIR of Pileated woodpeckers at my feeder. One flew away before I could get the camera ready
Pileated_7-20 by Edmund, on Flickr
They were both juveniles. Glad to have them in the neighborhood.
I hope everyone is well and safe.
Cheers, Ed
SeeYou190Can you have too many sockets?
Never!!! (as long as you don't leave them in what you're working on!!!)
Did you work on metric stuff, Kevin?
Cheers, the Bear.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
York1Kevin, the garage looks great. I love Menards. For people who have never been to one, it's a cross between Home Depot and ...? They have just about everything, including O Scale trains. It is the only store I can spend a while in without feeling like I wasted my time.
Thanks John.
I love Menard's too. It is so much better than Home Depot or Lowes. It is just such a shame that the closest one is 800 miles away.
Very inconvenient.
moelarrycurly4Kevin, you will prob be fine. I have worked at the hospital this whole time during this event. Main thing is wash your hands, keep distant. wear your mask.
I hope so too. I have always been a fastidious hand washer, and I shower three times a day. I am always wearing my mask. I just worry about how often I touch my nose and eyes. I did not even become aware of that until this situation.
Track fiddlerBy the look of the tool cabinets it looks like you have enough tools to do anything you need to do
I do have the tools. I cannot thinki of many jobs I do not have the right tools for. Everything from hanging drywall to rebuilding 2,000 horsepower industrial diesel engines. I have what I need.
One of the bolts to hang the garage door opener yesterday was in a very difficult to access location. I went to the toolbox and got a Blue Point 7/16" flex head ratcheting box wrench and a Snap-On 7/16" deep offset box wrench and made quick work of it. I cannot imagine doing work without every tool I could ever need right where I can access it.
Can you have too many sockets?
That does not even get into my 3/4" and 1" drive tools.
One of the greatest things I saw in a friends garage that I copied was the use of a legal sized file cabinet to house power tools.
Saws are in the top drawer:
Then drills and sanders:
Routers, cutters, and grinders are in the third drawer:
This sure makes storing power tools neat and easy.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Evenin all,
made good progress on my radio, weatehr cooperated, I put new veneer on the front of it and repaired some on the sides. I trimmed out the veneer so I am almost ready to stain. cleaned up my mess I shot video of my progress as I have started making youtube videos of my restorations. It gives me something else to do.
Kevin, you will prob be fine. I have worked at the hospital this whole time during this event. Main thing is wash your hands, keep distant. wear your mask. We prob wash our hands 15 million times a day ( or hit the purell) I am surprised my hands are not chapped.
Good Morning!
I got early today - in fact, too early!
Jeepers - noboday told me I got my days mixed up yesterday! I sincerely thought it was Sunday already! Well, it´s Sunday today, but I had my big breakfast yesterday, so I will just have coffee and a medium bowl of cereal, thank you.
Nothing planned for the day. We were supposed to drive to Görlitz today, but I am glad we don´t. I am not yet giving up on living in a peaceful location and in our own house, albeit a tiny one!
Maybe something like this?
We will see!
Being in Britain this month and having a number of car enthusiast on board, why not take a look at the golden age of British sportscars. Strictly offtopic, but why not?
CUL!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
SeeYou190I hope we did not bring anything back from our trip. The service was almost two weeks ago, and so far we are both fine.
I hope you are Covid free too.
I felt terrible today. Upset stomach, loose bowels (too much information), no energy. That of course raises the spectre of Covid-19. However, for now I'm going to blame the problem on the heat after working in the garage for several hours at very high temperatures over the past few days. I have done this to myself previously in hot weather so, unless I get other symptoms, I'm going to blame it on the heat. Right now the AC is on and I'm feeling fine.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critterMY garage is disgusting, yours is to be envied! Nice work!!
Thank you Dave.
Yesterday my wife and I bought $400.00 worth of groceries, and now we are starting a three week quarantine. Today was day one!
I hope we did not bring anything back from our trip. The service was almost two weeks ago, and so far we are both fine.
SeeYou190An overdue update on the garage work:
Kevin, your garage is disgusting!! Ooops, I got that wrong. MY garage is disgusting, yours is to be envied! Nice work!!
Eveing Diners!
Flo, give the gang and I a please, and Dirk a dog treat.
I be dang, we where busy today at work? We had 9 customers before I left at 4:00 PM. In the last 3 Saturdays we had a total of 5? Was not a great day, when I left we only had $2192.00 but sure a lot better than I have been seeing.
My first car was a 1963 VW Bug. My dad did not want me to grow up to be a Hot Rodder like him! Did not work, by the time dad sold my Bug I could beat up Tri Power Goats. But, that is how I got my 68 Road Runner from him and mom. Sill own it and have for 47 years.
Kevin Now I feel short at only 6'3".
Well it is hot, but Dirk and I are going to sit out for a while.
Later, Ken and Dirk say's Woof, Woof.
I hate Rust
SeeYou190A lot of the barns in Michigan had white arches painted on the doors for some reason. I did not see that elsewhere.
That's a neat observation, Kevin. I'm aware of the Pennsylvania "Dutch" (Deutsch, as in German) applying a good luck hex on their barns.
I read somewhere about putting a distinctive marking on barn doors so that the owner could easily tell, at a glance, weather his barn door was open or not. Also helped in finding the door at night or in bad weather.
I often see the date built or even the farm name spelled out in contrasting shingles on the roof. Didn't I hear somewhere about early aircraft navigators asking barn owners to paint the town name and sometimes mileage on their barn roofs?
Then there's the whole Mail Pouch story. For some farmers, the Mail Pouch paint job was the only paint the barn ever saw!
York1Those are very fancy windows for a barn. Michigan farmers must make more money than farmers in my area.
A lot of the barns in Michigan had white arches painted on the doors for some reason. I did not see that elsewhere. I thought I had a picture of a barn like that, but I do not.
moelarrycurly4Kevin that is a nice barn photo.
Thank you... and those radios are beautiful.
Good afternoon all,
nice hot weather here so I am working on radio cabinet refishing in my outside workshop. I am having to re veneer some cabinets. I found an easy way to remove old veneer, Heat GUN! On call for work this weekend and I have been called in once so far. I hop all are OK,
Kevin that is a nice barn photo.
I like UK TV mystery series and cop series. Inspector Lewis etc. I like Miss Fisher's mysteries from Australia. I hardly watch current TV.
TF: that is a wicked looking GO Cart
For those of you curious
the radio I am working on today.
previous one i have sent back to customer.
This second one te owner did not want any cabinet work done, so I cleaned it up and gave it new grille cloth.
BigDaddyI vote for the superiority of Brit TV over the American counterpart. For you history buffs,
I do not care for most television, so I doubt I will form an oppinion on the British vs. American TV debate. I like Fawlty Towers and Dr. Who, and I loved Law & Order UK. However, I cannot stand Monty Python's Flying Circus.
I guess the closest comparrison I can make is to say I prefer the American version of Top Gear.
I prefer American movies to British movies.
I prefer British history books over American.
I vote for the superiority of Brit TV over the American counterpart. For you history buffs, this is part 1 of 6
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Britain - what a great country for the railway enthusiast!
Our tour takes us to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, a heritage railway in North Yorkshire, England that runs through the North York Moors National Park. First opened in 1836 as the Whitby and Pickering Railway, the railway was planned in 1831 by George Stephenson as a means of opening up trade routes inland from the then important seaport of Whitby. The line between Grosmont and Rillington fell victim to Dr. Beeching´s axe and was closed in 1965 and the section between Grosmont and Pickering was reopened in 1973 by the North York Moors Historical Railway Trust Ltd. The preserved line is now a tourist attraction and has been awarded several industry accolades.
In 2007, the railway started to run regular services over the 6 miles (9.7 km) section of the Esk Valley Line north of Grosmont to Whitby. In 2014, a second platform was opened at Whitby which allowed the NYMR to run an enhanced service and led to passenger numbers in the same year of nearly 350,000 people.
Enjoy!
Those are very fancy windows for a barn. Michigan farmers must make more money than farmers in my area.
I woke up sore today. Crawling around in the "attic" to run the wire for the garage door opener button was not a job for my 6'7" frame!
Today I will be adding new tool hangers to the garage to finish organization.
Another barn I saw in Michigan:
Track fiddlerUlrich, I never knew why Honda made a 50 in option to a 70. Now I know. I do believe they made a 100 in later years. I can't remember if that was the bike though. My grandfather got my 70 for me when I was 11.
TF - when I was a lad of 16, I dearly wanted to have one of those, but my parents wouldn´t let me. Well, I didn´t have the money anyway, so it was not a big loss. Shortly before turning 17, I packed up my gear and went to the US. The first thing I got ther was my WA State driver´s license to drive real cars!
Good morning, everyone. Bacon, eggs, and black coffee. It never gets old to me.
Kevin, the garage looks great.
I love Menards. For people who have never been to one, it's a cross between Home Depot and ...? They have just about everything, including O Scale trains. It is the only store I can spend a while in without feeling like I wasted my time.
My vehicle is loaded with the last of the pine trees, and I'm ready to make my last trip to the landfill as soon as it opens. I'm glad this is over. My chainsaw in now in its place in the shed.
I wish I could post a picture or tell a story of some UK railroads. I know next to nothing about them. Thanks, Ulrich, for your videos.
Time to go. I hope everyone has a good Saturday.
Edit: Top of the page. Everyone can join me for bacon, eggs, bacon, coffee, bacon, Bloody Marys, and bacon.
Cloudy and storms today, a good day for modeling.
Ulrich, I never knew why Honda made a 50 in option to a 70. Now I know. I do believe they made a 100 in later years. I can't remember if that was the bike though. My grandfather got my 70 for me when I was 11.
Henry, Sorry you never got yours. It's never too late though. I have a mountain bike these days and still enjoy riding the trails. I bought a really nice one a few years back that has adjustable front and rear suspension. I don't get as Rad as I used to because of my knee but I still really enjoy it.
Kevin, The man cave looks great. It looks like you did a really good job on the tile and the plumbing. By the look of the tool cabinets it looks like you have enough tools to do anything you need to do
Went to visit my buddy Erv all day yesterday. Sprucing up the work truck this year. Last time I was out there I cut the rust out around the rear wheels and installed the new metal wheel lips on the quarter panels.
I developed my own truck auto body system. I rivet in metal on the rocker panel holes and schmooze over OSI urethane. The same day after it skins over you can put the Rhino liner on. Last time I did this it lasted about four years and it only takes 3-4 hours to do. It's just a work truck but I don't like to look like Sanford and Son coming up to the job.
Yesterday we removed the old bumper and put the new one on. I am never driving in uptown again. The traffic is thick and crazy there. Last fall this lady cut me short and slammed on her brakes to make a right turn. She must have been drinking or did not have any insurance because she wasn't really worried about the damage. She was very nervous and just wanted to get the heck out of there.
We got the engine running and mounted and the seat put on the go-kart. I would guess that thing does at least 40 miles an hour. We don't have the brakes on yet and it's a little crazy using the curb to slow down on our test runs
One test run a piece was plenty, I'm not doing another one till we get the brakes on.
Have a great day everyone
SeeYou190They have a few inspection holes cut into the carbody, and the diagonal supports are completely rusted away.
I had an MGB like that once. I managed to get 10 years out of it, but my repair methods would have been frowned upon by any decent repair shop!!
Sunday - the day I have my (cyber) breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, buttered toast, jams, OJ and plenty of coffee! Actually I have been reducing my food intake by about a third each meal for a week now and I lost two pounds this way. Petra makes sure I still get all what I need in terms of nutrients and vitamins. I shall continue with this non-diet untill I have lost 25 lbs.
The day started out with all 4 seasons in just one hour. Now it´s back to being sunny, but rather cool again.
I found some all footage on the Fort William to Mallaig line for you to enjoy.
Railway Roundabout was a series in the 1950s produced for the then young British television, which was very well received my the trainspotter generation, which, armed with the trainspotter´s guide, populated the stations platform and overpasses. Long gone are these days!
gmpullmanI see it is an E. L. Mustee from Cleveland, Ohio
Just to make it better... I bought it at Menard's in Ohio and brought it back with me!
I spent over $1,500.00 in Menard's a few days ago.
The garage door opener is installed and works perfectly.