60+ year old thread.

Good Morning and Happy Real Friday Porchites! We have a Memorial Day weekend with only ONE overnight rain currently in the forecast. Our Memorial Day weekends are notorious for ridiculous flash floods, if not just plain rain all weekend - so should be good!

Got the chin surgery done on the sons Prius yesterday. He's reluctant to really jack it up, so he did all the inspection. Yep, it's really broken plastic. He says missing a few brackets for the pins and bolts, so, we'll make do after removing the free plastic bag. A little NASCAR inspired Bear Bond (OK, Flex Seal tape) and gloss black, and crude will work for now.




AC Test shake down cruise this morning! Got some New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Kyle on the list. Took it out with the shroud on last night for some take out, and darn if the AC didn't drop down to 40ish*. Without the shroud, I was feeling it needed more Freon, and was only hitting 60* by the gauge. With more than a 5 minutes drive today, I will know that this chapter can be safely written into the books!

Mark; sorry about the golf. I'm going to dig out those clubs and have the wife hit some balls so we can make a day of it soon!

Ken; easy root canal? They serving whiskey?

Mike; chasing chickens is a sure sign of retirement. Good luck fishing.

 

It’s cold but I’m still catching them.

 

Even the small ones LOL

 

Tackled the lawn. Hot/humid/lots of rain it is growing like crazy. 1.5 acres to keep clear, so it takes a while as it has gotten tall.

I use a riding mower, then a push mower to get the tight spots and drainage ditch. Nothing like off-roading trying to keep three wheels down while mowing. I need more articulation! Maybe a mowing deck pulled behind the Taco! 11,000 steps for the day, and I didn't do my 2-mile walk.

I've been using a Shindaiwa trimmer for the past 25 years, replaced a cracked primer bulb a few years ago, otherwise original. Two-stroke, used the right oil mix and it just keeps running. I previously had gone through weed whackers once a year, a friend recommended it as commercial gardeners loved it. I guess 25 years of service from a two-stroke engine is good. I haven't had time to disassemble and inspect. Most likely a gummed-up port, but more rain predicted and time to get it mowed down. I broke down and bought the Milwaukee Weed Eater. M18 Fuel. I have a bunch of those batteries now, multiple chargers, so it's easy to walk into the shop and grab a charged battery and go. Lithium is good if you take care of them.

Hopefully, by next fall I'll get the Shindaiwa cleaned and inspected, but SWMBO likes a neat lawn!

 

Years ago as a single guy, my buddy and I rented some cabins a year or two in Ohio and accumulated the task of doing the mowing of about 2-1/2 acres of lawn (that grew like crazy). We rigged a spreader bar across the ass of a riding mower - so we were towing two "push" mowers on outriggers. Covered a lot of territory - but you had to pay attention to the turns and drive the rig like a Zamboni!

 

Good morning everyone!!! Thanks for the commiseration on the pinched nerve. Still bugging me but I have to get things done. Had to get the apiary ready for the colony of bees we are getting early this morning so I was out with the weed eater yesterday morning and then had to move some bags of mulch for Lynn.

Still raining here this morning - pretty much constant since about 2:30 yesterday. Looks like we are in for showers through Monday with temps in the 50s and 60s. So much for the unofficial start of summer.

The rain this weekend is going to make it tough to get or grass cut - I cut about 7 acres in total and the Zero Turn is in the shop for maintenance. I've to the garden tractor with a 54" deck as my back up but it's a slow process compared to the Zero Turn.

Heading out early to pick up those bees. It's in the mid 40s and raining so most of them will be in the hive so we, hopefully, won't lose too many of them before we get the boxes buttoned up. We set them up about 6 months ago where they could pollinate an orchard. Job done so now we get to bring them back to make honey.

Be safe out there!!

 

Good Morning Folks.
Raining here "AGAIN". Expecting it to continue off and on until Monday. On a good note, picked up the Tacoma yesterday from the body shop and it looks brand new again. Easiest time with an insurance company I ever had, they even extended the rental for 2 days with no fight.

Hope the pinched nerve gets better Mark. I hope the bees settle in with the move and all. Fresh honey is always the best.



Have a great day and hopefully a dry Memorial Day. And most importantly a safe one.

 

Mark: When I had the herniated disc a few year back part of the healing process included visits to a Chiropractor. Combined with Physical Therapy and listening to my Doctor's advise I was able to rehabilitate my back. It was not a quick process but it worked. Get well quickly.

Yesterday was a busy one. The hearing aids are now turned up to 90% plus some other tweaks to eliminate background noises in certain situations i am now hearing better. One of the best changes was changing the speaker balance in the Tacoma to accommodate the increased hearing in my left ear. My wife and I also went to my parents gravesites at Cheltenham Veterans Cemetery and place flowers on the grave sites. Mom and dad are buried side by side.

Take time this weekend to remember your family and friends that made the supreme sacrifice for our country.

 

The bee colony is in its new home in our apiary. Unfortunately, we lost several hundred as we worked to make the transition - but when you've got a colony in the 10s of thousands that's not bad and really unavoidable. They were not happy about the move but had settled a bit by the time we got them to our place. Only got stung once - a bee found a crease in my suit and worked his way into my glove. Ouch!

 

When I picked up the Mighty Ox this morning the guys asked "are you really going to stand out there and use it?" Can't say I blame them for asking. It's raining pretty good here right now and about 45 degrees F. We got about an hour in before the rain got heavy.

The rental place is finally being fair to themselves and charging for the number of hours put on the machine. I rented it for 1 day, 8 hours. We'll probably put twice that on it. I don't mind paying for what I use.

Stay dry folks in the rainy east -- we sure won't be! And please give a thought and a thank you to those who have given their all protect the freedoms of us and so many others around the world.

 

Once to much for me.

 

Good Morning Porch Pals & Gal! Mark, you've got to be the bees knees! (I had to.... )

Well, Central Texas got its Memorial Day storm, and hopefully it's all gone for the rest of the weekend. No damage here except a fishing pole. Probable tornado about 15 miles east ripped the porch and roof of a little general store, bad hail many places, flood warnings - but not right here. I'll take it.




Had a good road trip yesterday. The AC blew cold, and stayed cold the entire trip, it's definitely not low, and the shroud does it's job! Picked up replacement peppers to pot today, and my first brisket in a long time for tomorrow and the races. Got feeders to fill, and fish pond filters to clean today, so that I can goof off tomorrow.




Once that sun comes out, then, I'll get busy.

 

Heading into a short heat wave here in beautiful Northern California. 100 tomorrow and 106 Monday (no humidity). Just had the A/C checked and we are ready, bring on the heat. Got a couple slabs of baby backs and a sufficient supply of beer.
Remember to take a moment and thank God for our brave fallen hero’s. Have a safe holiday all.

 

Respect GBA
Rob

 

My wife and I walk graveyards as often as we find them. There are stories there, etched and carved in stone.

Recently we found an obscure burial ground hidden and ill cared for on a lonely back road. We stopped as we usually do, to stretch our legs, allow the dog to run, and read the tombstones. It wasn’t long before we came to realize that there was a strange tragedy in this place, this hallowed yet forgotten ground.

Beyond the entrance there were a few markers like any other cemetery with various surnames, genders, and dates… but beyond a certain point the names became exclusively male, and many revealed just enough years between them that it became apparent the dead were fathers and sons, or brothers. A date in common, March 8th, 1924 was the last day etched into every marker as the date of death. A date, and story, obscured by time for most of us. A mining disaster.

The names reflected the truly American nature of the immigrant population of the early century, with Scots and Englishmen working alongside Japanese, Greeks, Italians, and Slavs. One hundred seventy-one men that had journeyed, tired, poor, and huddled together, to these tempest tossed shores to enter the golden door that liberty and freedom offer in the United States of America.

In ambling through these carven memories of the past, you have to contemplate the lives and times of those who passed before us. When you see a springtime that is filled with an unusual number of similar dates, and then equate those dates with the Spanish flu epidemic, you have to wonder at the trials and efforts that these people made to make a life for themselves and those they loved. What were their motivations, their dreams, their triumphs?

In the course of our travels we have found the occasional military burial ground. These places hold a more reverent feeling for us than others. The names and dates reflect tough choices and huge sacrifice in the interest of our nation. The tears and dreams of individuals, but also families, lie unrealized beneath the soil. Whether we feel the wars were more than justified, or not, we hold these fallen to our hearts and thank them for protecting the principles that this republic was founded on.

And we wonder what the patriots of the past would have to say about the current times and troubles of the present. What would the men at Bataan have said to us about water boarding? Would the earliest graves hold opinions about lobbyists and taxation without representation? How would the Irish casualties of WW1 have commented on immigration? The dead black heroes of Vietnam, living in the civil rights era, might have something to say about racism in America today.

The thing is these dead have already spoken. They have laid down their lives, and their futures, to be sacrificed in order that we who are left behind have a better story to tell. Although I’m sure that every one of the deceased warriors would gripe if they could about the food, the footwear, and the officers in charge, and might argue over the particulars of any one situation or issue, just as we all do, I am pretty damn sure they would be proud of their service and the nation they have made.

Sometimes I wonder though… Do they shake their heads at the discord? At the hostility? At the mean spirited, I’m-not-gonna-listen, it’s my way or the highway, I’m right and you’re wrong, entrenched, politicized, polarized, dissention?

You see, when all is over and done with, we citizens have a responsibility, too. If we are to honor the patriots before us, those sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice, then we owe something to them. Not just that we can live our lives in relative harmony, make the American dream real, or have the right to do whatever we choose… but also to listen to our neighbors and change our minds when they speak the truth. To agree with reason, logic, and evidence rather than the loudest angry mouth. We, those of us who have never been in harm’s way, have as great a responsibility to this nation as those lying under the earth with flags on their graves. We have to make it work. We have to make it better. We owe a debt. A great and burdensome debt if we fail, but an easy load if we make our nation and the world better.

Go visit a cemetery. If you can, visit one with flags flying. And think about the thoughts that are silenced beneath the grass.

 

Very well said sir. Not much to add besides amen.

 

Afternoon all:
Yes, very interesting read and well stated Travlr!
Often wondered what my great grandpa would have to say about current affairs



Or my 5th great grandpa!

 

OK, Here's one for Mark!
I always heard of him referred to as General Thomas Craig and that's how I research him, but the headstone says Colonel, which was his rank while actively serving with George Washington during the Revolution.
Apparently he became a Brevet Brigadier General at some point, what the heck is that and why wouldn't that rank be on the tombstone!

 

@Travlr

 

Brevet is a rank given under an old system. Usually for gallantry. Custer had a brevet rank of general. But after the war he reverted to his actual rank of colonel. Sort of a temporary pat in the back.