RowdyRebel

How ours ended... Moments later... I had seen somebody swimming in the pond earlier & chuckled, not paying much attention to him. Apparently, others had been watching him (instead of the fireworks) and noticed he'd disappeared. Cops on the banks, firefighters in the water, search & rescue boats being launched...I had the kids, so we couldn't stick around. Seeing the news this morning, kinda glad we didn't. https://www.kfvs12.com//app/2021/07/05/man-drowns-lake-jackson-city-park/

😁

I finally, after all these years, saw with my own 2 eyes a good reason to have ape-hangers & those silly highway pegs mounted on the crash bars that have your legs sprawled out beyond what most would consider to be comfortable. I was on my way back from town and behind a Harley...wouldn't have seen the guy driving the bike except for his arms raised way up over his head & legs stretched way out to the sides. He had a BIG 'ol gal on the back.😬

I'm so old school my cell phone is rotary dial.

That's what my boy calls 'em...rest of us know them as fireflies or lightning bugs. Millions of them putting on one hell of a show last night behind the old scalehouse on the edge of town. Across the field. In the trees. Simply amazing to watch...rhythmic flashing in waves....rolling across the landscape. Never seen that many at once. Cell phone video doesn't even begin to do it justice...

Got the pool ready, and figured I'd pull some of my old toys down from the attic for the boy to play with in there...had the old Fisher-Price Little People Offshore Cargo Base set that I used to play with in the tub as a kid. Found it up there in a box with the Airport & jet, as well as some of the cars, ambulance, a tractor, and other odds & ends. Sort of disappointed I can't find all of the people...know I had a bunch, but only found 3. Got to looking online, and if they weren't quite so....used....the few pieces I pulled down would sell for $400-$500...and I know there's still more up there. Crazy. Boy's been having fun playing with them, and we haven't even made it into the pool yet. I need to get back up in the attic & dig through some more boxes...got to find the people to man the boats.

I've asked this question several times and have yet to receive a decent answer: If the vaccination works, and you've had yours, why does it matter whether or not someone else has been vaccinated? You're immune! If you're NOT immune after having been vaccinated, it isn't much of a vaccine, so why should anyone else have to take it?

Working on my grandpa's 8n...no spark. Messed with it about 15 years ago...battery, oil, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, points, condenser...still nothing. So, I moved it from grandpa's to my place where it's been sitting in the front yard. I've been wanting to get it running, but nothing is more motivating than a 3 year old who LOVES tractors nagging you to fix it. So, I tore back into it...pulled the distributor to recheck the points. They're correct. Still no spark. Pulled it again (no easy task...front mount, and it's got a loader, so there's extra stuff in the way) this time with my multi-meter. Showing 30 ohms resistance between the screw (that's SUPPOSED to be isolated) where the wire from the condenser connects to the points and the distributor housing with the points open. If it's grounding there, OF COURSE it won't be making any spark! So, I was going to get one of those rubber plug deals with the brass threads that squish into place when you tighten the screw...but being a front-mounted distributor, there's going to be some heat in there and I'm not sure how long that rubber deal would hold up. That and I found a breaker plate assembly for under $30. I was pretty stoked when it showed up at the post office in time to be picked up Saturday morning...wasn't expecting it 'til Monday, which would mean it'd be next weekend before I could do anything with it. This afternoon, pulled the distributor...again...removed the breaker plate assembly...inserted the new one....and cussed. What the hell am I supposed to do with this? I would've been better off if they'd just not drilled/tapped the hole at all rather than putting it a hair off like they did. This low-quality aftermarket part has me seriously considering that rubber thingamabobber.

Wouldn't ya know it was the LAST outlet I changed. Everything is working again, plugged into the outlets where they belong, and my extension cords put away. Life is just about back to normal, except for the issue with the running lights on the wife's Harley. Bummer. There goes my excuse for calling in tomorrow...

So Wednesday night, if lightning DIDN'T strike the house, it didn't miss by much. "BOOM" was gone and the house was dark before the flash of light was gone. Yeah. Close. BOTH kids immediately start bawling. I walk to the back window & look out, and see the street light is still on...so there's power to the neighborhood. I walk outside with a flashlight expecting to see my new antenna is toasted, but the plastic parts on the antennas aren't melted, the insulation on the cable to the ground rod didn't appear to have been heated up. I looked up at the power meter, and it was still on...so there's power to the house. Head back inside & into the boys room and open the closet (where the breaker box is). There's a wicked bad burnt plastic smell in that closet. The 200A main, along with half the single-pole breakers and a couple of the double-pole breakers are tripped. I start resetting breakers, and things start coming back on. One breaker won't reset...it's the one for the master bath, along with the outlets for my alarm clock, and the bottle warmer in the kitchen. Even with the breaker reset, the TV, freezer, and 3 outlets in the mother-in-law's room (SHOULD be the baby's room...😡) are still dead. Grabbed my 10/3 extension cord for my MIG welder and used it to plug the freezer into an outlet in the kitchen that had juice. Wife had me grab the fire extinguishers out of the Mack & F250 (both been parked & OOS in the driveway) to have in the house if we needed them. I found myself up in the attic checking for smoke/smoldering/fire. Stayed up for about 2 more hours...figured at that point if the house was still standing, we were in the clear. STRANGEST thing? The wife's Harley out in the garage. We had an extension cord running over to the bikes, and a pair of battery chargers keeping 'em juiced up over the winter. Now, her parking/marker lights won't shut off. Pulled the side cover to disconnect the battery, and found it's the positive terminal. To get at the ground, you've got to pull the seat & possibly more...but there was a 30A fuse there. Pulled it and the lights shut off...good enough. Picked up another breaker after work Thursday to swap out the bad one...but by the time I went to do the swap it was working just fine...so the new one is laying in the bottom of the box as a spare. Reset the breaker and the bathroom was still dead...then I remembered we had this issue a while back. Reset the ground-fault outlet in the bathroom and the circuit started working again. Today I'm swapping receptacles on the still dead (freezer/TV) circuit. Meanwhile, the TV is plugged into the bathroom with another extension cord. HOPING to get things working normally again. If not, I'm stumped & might have to call a guy. If nothing else, it'll give me a reason to call in tomorrow. Left the Mack there if they needed to load my truck for Monday...and I took off in the 1-ton with some stuff for a customer a few hours away. When I got back, the Mack was gone, and they had loaded the Kenworthless. I hate that truck. It's not spec'd for what we do...it's big, cumbersome, not very maneuverable, visibility sucks, and it gets stuck on a paved lot if it's not perfectly smooth and you don't lock in the power divider...but it's air-ride and has pneumatic doors for loading, so all of the lazy guys prefer it. Mack handles the job with ease, and I just prefer to use a truck that's spec'd right. Sure, you COULD frame a house with a sledge hammer...but a framing hammer works better. Anyway, 2 outlets down, 3 to go. Boy wants to go outside. Girl fell asleep while feeding...so she'll be OK for a bit.

Had my own little project this weekend. My grandpa built a steel push cart when I was a kid. This past summer when I was up there helping clean out the old place, I was surprised to see it still there, buried in the weeds between the house and what's left of the shed. I pushed my boy around on it a bit (he calls it his race car) and decided it was going home with us. 25 or 30 years sitting outside sure hadn't done it any favors, but a little TLC (sandblast, paint, grease) had it looking & working like new. I welded a nut on the rear, so I could use the same push-stick I had made for his little pedal tractor to push him on this, too. Fast forward to this weekend. Last time I pushed him around on it, his foot (which BARELY reaches the foot pad) slipped off & went under the seat. Not good...especially for what I had in mind. So, 1st things 1st, I added a floor pan to keep his feet from dangling. Next up, pushing this thing wears me out, especially if we're going "fast". So, I had to come up with a better...easier way...to push him around. That was actually pretty easy. Mower deck bracket seems pretty stout, so I replaced the pin with a grade 5 bolt & welded up a hitch for the front of the tractor. Push bar bolts right in. Hooks up easy enough to the rear of the push cart. And we're ready to have a little fun! We used to just ride it down the hill my grandpa lived on. Long, straight hill, smooth asphalt pavement, and (back then) almost no traffic. I don't have ANY of that around here, so it's gotta be pushed around for the kiddo to have any fun with it. Now daddy can keep pushing for as long as he wants to ride.

Damn. I still remember the phone call when my wife told me ol' Dozer had passed. At least I didn't have to watch it happen, though...and it was unexpected & quick, not violent & messy. He was lethargic & having trouble breathing, so the wife took him to the vet. He collapsed within 20 minutes of getting there & just like that he was gone. Last time I saw him, I was on my way out the door heading to work, just like I had every other day since he retired from trucking to babysit the wife's dog. I can't imagine seeing that situation unfolding knowing what was about to happen and not being able to do a damn thing to stop it. That's not something I care to ever see.

Not the sort of thread I wanted to see tonight (or any other night for that matter).😕

The entire time I've had a land line, it's had a fax machine hooked up to it. It probably rings a dozen times per day...NOBODY that I know uses that number to try to reach me, unless they're sending me a fax. Very rarely does it actually print off an incoming fax. I chuckle thinking about whoever it is on the other end, probably wearing some sort of head set, when that fax machine starts screaming in their ear.😂

I've set mine in the past to block any incoming call from a number NOT in my contact list...allows me to take calls from family & friends, but people who don't know me can't get through. Some days I strongly consider doing that again, but these days I just keep the ringer off. When I notice I missed a call from someone I know, I call them back...otherwise I ignore it. Oh yeah...and my voicemail box hasn't been set up since Verizon changed it. Before that, the box was full & wouldn't accept any new messages because I never checked it.

Wife has netflix. Spend all day scrolling through trying to find something to watch, and everything has the same couple basic plots...the hitman who's trying to retire that is now the target seems especially popular across several genres...action, thriller, suspense, comedy, rom com, etc...different titles, different actors, same plot. Or there are the sequels to really bad originals...and the spinoffs of the terrible sequels...taking ridiculous plot lines to new levels of absurdity. That's why I quit watching that "9-1-1" TV show. First couple episodes had fairly decent storylines and somewhat believable scenarios...then it got stupid, like they kept trying to out-do the ridiculousness of the previous episodes "disaster". But anyway, you spend half the day trying to select a piece of crap movie, then an hour or two later, it's over and you spend the rest of the day trying to find something else. Nah. Got shit to do. Unless it's raining outside, too cold, too hot, kids are fussy, etc...🙄

I just used a steel 4" hinge, available at pretty much any hardware store for a couple bucks. Pole is galvanized...but I used black pipe for the flanges (welds easier/better in my experience). Piece of flat steel the thickness of the hinge when closed on the opposite side of the flange to support the weight & fill the gap. Hit it all with some cold galvanizing primer & paint so it has a similar color & won't rust so quick. It was still a real chore to get the roughly 10-1/2' section raised up, given the hinge is about 6' above the roof...run out of leverage (my 3' step ladder might help with that, though). For an 80' tower, he's gonna need A LOT of help! Hell, it took 2 guys to raise up the base, and it's not quite 30'. He's also gonna need a bigger hinge. The one I used is only rated for 70 lbs. Problem I see with a rotating antenna is we seem to have to "rescan" every couple weeks as another station shuffles frequencies or adds a channel. Getting the TV and rotator on the same page regarding what direction to point for what channel just seems problematic when a station might be missed if the antenna is facing the wrong way when the TV scans passed it...and manually going to each frequency while you spin the antenna around looking for where your channels are coming from just seems like it'd take all day.

Meanwhile... https://nationalfile.com/huge-georgia-fails-to-produce-chain-of-custody-for-404000-absentee-ballots-months-after-contested-election/ 🍿

I have no idea what any of that means, which is probably why I screwed up trying to make my own coax cables. Cutting, welding, hammering, bolting, etc...I'm fairly decent at. All of that electronical stuff, not so much. Everything I had read said to use the same type/size antennas, spaced out 2+ to 4+ feet on the pole, and use a splitter in reverse (antennas in the "out" sides, "in" connection to the TV). The antennas I used are small in size, but advertise an 80 mile range. I guess I could try pushing them all up to the top, running 3' cables to the splitter instead of 6', and then try it again before dropping a bunch of money on a larger single antenna like the one in the attic. I'd pull that one to use, except I'd have to disassemble/reassemble it, not sure it even has all of the parts (some laying on attic insulation...must not have had room to fully assemble it), and I have no idea if it's rated for outdoor use. Besides, if I move THAT one, and it doesn't work outside like I want, there'd be no simple solution. Right now, it's just a matter of swapping the coax from the indoor antenna to the outdoor antenna & back at a splitter in the attic next to that antenna. 3 outputs...one to the TV in the living room, one to the TV in the garage...and I haven't a clue where the 3rd one disappears to.

Ok...had to pull the thing down. We've got stations in several different directions, so I tried 3 antennas linked together aimed the 3 main directions to get all of the channels. We get them all now, but every time a train goes by ABC & PBS (40-45 miles N/NE) and NBC (30 miles E/SE) blank out. I tried making the coax to get the lengths I needed, but realized I screwed up AFTER it was up and I was only getting CBS & FOX (12 miles W). So today, I was back up on that ladder pulling the thing down to swap the cables out for some pre-fabbed store-bought ones. Since I wanted to make sure it was THE LAST TIME I'd be on a ladder dangling over the edge of the roof balancing a 10' pole, I fabbed up a little something something to put where the union is. Antenna is about 4-5" taller now, and if I pull 4 bolts, the top 10+' tips down toward the roof. I raised it back up into place standing on the roof...although my 3' step ladder would make it a little easier. Worst part is, once it was back up it didn't work any better than it with my home-made cables...so I guess I didn't screw them up TOO bad. I had trimmed the shield rather than folding it back before crimping on the end. Oops. Turns out it didn't matter. I'm hooked back up to the single antenna in the attic...again...probably replace the 3 small antennas on the pole with a single big one, similar to what I've got in the attic, but NOT in the attic. Needing to put a new roof on the house (original roof...built in '94) because it's old & losing shingles every time the wind blows too hard. Looking at steel overlays, but then that attic antenna won't get any reception...got to get the antenna outside, and hopefully up high enough to get above the interference caused by the trains as they go by.

I could've used one of those when I put up my TV antenna...🤦‍♂️ ...4 rungs up on the ladder placed at the edge of the roof, straddling the peak, reaching over the edge with arms fully extended while balancing a 10' pipe with the antenna pre-installed to set it in place & secure it to the union at the top of the pole coming up from the ground. The union is so I'd be able to adjust the direction the antenna is pointed, rather than be stuck with wherever the pipe wanted to tighten down. Also made it a *little* easier to get the top pole in place. So yeah, I'd say I got PLENTY of brass.

Trump in the Senate couldn't replace Pelosi. She's in the House.

There are too many irregularities that have yet to be explained for me to believe the "official" outcome of the election is in any way legitimate...the biggest one being how Biden underperformed with every "important" demographic group in pretty much every precinct EXCEPT for a handful of urban districts in "key" swing states...in which he overperformed by *just* enough to eek out an electoral college victory. Add to that the whole foreign interference/hacking/tabulation software issues with the electronic voting machines, the "under-the-table" ballots counted when counting was allegedly supposed to have been halted, etc., etc., etc... The swamp wanted him gone, and they conspired to defeat him. Courts refused to hear the cases brought. "There is no evidence" was the claim...but much of the evidence would've been exposed in discovery, which wasn't allowed to happen. You'll never see or hear evidence if you refuse to look for it. Walking around 🙈🙉🙊 doesn't prove that evidence doesn't exist...just that you don't WANT to know about it.

I like being on roads where there is nowhere to stop. Crossed the Chester bridge one day a year or so ago heading into Illinois, and DOT was sitting in that little welcome center. Pulled out behind the line of cars behind me, hit his lights & started passing...so I slowed down to let him by before approaching traffic got to us. He pulled in right behind me...so I stopped. Right there blocking the road, halfway up the hill, with a rock wall on both sides of the road & zero shoulder. He had to get out of his car & deal with me right there while we were blocking traffic on the narrow 2-lane. He wanted it. He got it. I've done the whole "I know there's a big gravel lot 1/2 mile up the road, so I'll just pull in there where it's safe" and it didn't buy me an ounce of professional courtesy. Nope. The instant I know they're wanting me, I stop. Right where I am. Don't care if it's safe or not, because they've got the lights on their car & badge on their chest to protect them. He had to get out of his car, walk up, and talk to me right there directing me to a "safe" place...and of course I played dumb, until he said "just follow me" ...so he had to walk back to his car, pass me, then traffic could move again. It was fun. He had portables & weighed my steer...then did the math based upon my scale ticket to determine my drives were OK...guess he didn't want to dig out 2 more pairs (drives & a tag). Got a warning ticket for no spare fuses...he would've kept looking 'til he found something, so I figured that'd be the simplest & least consequential item to get a warning for. Soon as I didn't produce any spare fuses, the inspection pretty much stopped. He filled out the paperwork & sent me on my way.