Funny story: I have two machines. A Toro "Pesronal Pace", and a Snapper. My Snapper is one of the last "real" Snappers as Snapper had been bought by Toro by then. It has the "Breaks and Scap 'em" motor but it still has the Snapper traction drive, which I think is the gold standard. I have it because of my bad temper. The drive belt for a Toro lasts about two seasons. The belt came off the pulleys one day mid mow (when else!) and it caught me in a particularly bad mood. It was the second time I'd lost the belt in three seasons. It was too heavy to throw across the yard, and don't think I didn't try! Off to the hardware store I stormed in a very heated "screw this" mood and bought the Snapper. I used it for a month or so and then decided to fix the Toro. You wouldn't believe what you have to do to replace the drive belt on that thing! I've dropped car transmissions that came out easier! I got it done (Thank you YouTube!) and now I swap them out every year. One Mows, one sits. The drive clutch is a bit more cumbersome on the snapper, but both are fine machines.
Running Bear’s April 2026 Coffee Shop
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ON TO OTHER NEWS:
Well, I was going to cook steaks on the grill. But mother nature decided we needed to go out for a burrito and a margarita. Wife got the booze, I got the queso dip.
We'll do steaks tomorrow.
Also got the the quote from the electrician. He's right below $1800 to replace the main breaker panel in the condo. I was expecting $2,000 so it's reasonable, but higher than I'd like.
I did ask for him to drop an outlet out of the box, which will have to be in conduit due to the walls being on furring strips, and not up to code to run wire behind them. Which is fine. I can run conduit off that box and expand the reach of that circuit to handle the fridge and freezer in the basement, and get them off the already crowded breaker for the basement.
I just ordered an extra AnkerSolix C1000 power station. I could get by 8 hours running the wifi and the wife's office as well as the fridges off of what I've got. But I figured an extra buffer wouldn't hurt. Spending some of my "Sell off the unused games" money to pay for it.
Also, I discovered it's a good thing I wasn't running the old gas through the car. I clogged up a new coleman camp stove (rated for gasoline). Just had to order a new "generator" tube for it. It clogged, and I was trying to pull the cleaning wire out of it, and broke the wire off the metal tab-ends. This is a newer model, so planned obsolesce is now in effect, I guess.
If I lived in the country, I'd go find a fence line to run dribble the gas along and keep the weeds down. But I'm in the city, so It has to burn off legitimately.
Even with no cubs in sight that morning she did not seem pleased to see me. One of us backed away...and it wasn't her.
She does like to jump on the "bear-proof" cans in and around here, including my own, and anything with a whiff could get her attention...so I only put the smelly stuff out a few hours before pickup and after dawn.
I made the mistake about four months back of emptying out a freezer into the can one night, and the next morning there was wreckage strewn all across the lawns in several directions. A good night of all sorts of smelly snackages for her. A real Smorgasbear(d).
Good morning Coffee Shop, it's Thursday! The temperature is 63°F(17°C) and mostly clear.
Weather:
Partly cloudy early this morning then clearing. Highs in the lower 80s. Southwest winds around 5 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
Have a great day!
My rule of thumb - if I'm not ten minutes early, I am already late, at least in my mind which can be a strange place.
Rule of thumb for medical places - Hurry up and wait.
Glad you made it out in one piece! Or is that two?
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CambriaArea51
Well-Known Member
It's sad to see the Weathering Rolling Stock thread is closed. I see many other threads are started around the same subject. Would've been nice to keep all that info in one place.
troyphoto
Snarky Old Fart (in training)
You might need to hire "Gopher Team 6" - a buddy of mine likes to go sit in farm fields and wait for the rodent to pop it's head up. Amish hire him often. One shot - one dead rodent. He used to work for a case of beer per carcass, but that changed after his divorce and a dui.
ON TO OTHER NEWS:
Well, I was going to cook steaks on the grill. But mother nature decided we needed to go out for a burrito and a margarita. Wife got the booze, I got the queso dip.
We'll do steaks tomorrow.
Also got the the quote from the electrician. He's right below $1800 to replace the main breaker panel in the condo. I was expecting $2,000 so it's reasonable, but higher than I'd like.
I did ask for him to drop an outlet out of the box, which will have to be in conduit due to the walls being on furring strips, and not up to code to run wire behind them. Which is fine. I can run conduit off that box and expand the reach of that circuit to handle the fridge and freezer in the basement, and get them off the already crowded breaker for the basement.
I just ordered an extra AnkerSolix C1000 power station. I could get by 8 hours running the wifi and the wife's office as well as the fridges off of what I've got. But I figured an extra buffer wouldn't hurt. Spending some of my "Sell off the unused games" money to pay for it.
Also, I discovered it's a good thing I wasn't running the old gas through the car. I clogged up a new coleman camp stove (rated for gasoline). Just had to order a new "generator" tube for it. It clogged, and I was trying to pull the cleaning wire out of it, and broke the wire off the metal tab-ends. This is a newer model, so planned obsolesce is now in effect, I guess.
If I lived in the country, I'd go find a fence line to run dribble the gas along and keep the weeds down. But I'm in the city, so It has to burn off legitimately.
KriegslokBR52
Well-Known Member
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
James Condon? I want to get a dead mower just to see if I can fix it because of him.
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
Pulled up last of the broccoli for this year. Wife did an excellent job in growing them and we got quite a few heads. The ones growing in the ground did much better than the ones in the planters. I decided to try eating the leaves, so I washed them, cut them up into 2" pieces and boiled them for about 2-3 minutes in slightly salted water. Still a little bit hard and very little flavor.
Did the same with the beetroot leaves. They also came out a bit hard and very little flavor, which was fine with me, as long as they weren't bitter.
These made up the bulk of my meals, with a little bit of meat, a little bit of rice, a little bit of pickled whatever, and the same amount of all of that made up by the leaves. Low cals and a lot of roughage.
So, as RHB would say of American beer, no taste, only filling...
Did the same with the beetroot leaves. They also came out a bit hard and very little flavor, which was fine with me, as long as they weren't bitter.
These made up the bulk of my meals, with a little bit of meat, a little bit of rice, a little bit of pickled whatever, and the same amount of all of that made up by the leaves. Low cals and a lot of roughage.
So, as RHB would say of American beer, no taste, only filling...
RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
Bought a new patio chair from Walmart this afternoon.
I was outside getting some sun with a cup of coffee after lunch and the outsides of my hips start to hurt. I shifted in the chair a bit but it didn't help. I get up to find two of the cross straps have broken after 15 years of use.
So I walk across the yard to get an identical chair from the small three piece bistro set that is under a shade tree in my yard. It's where I go when I've had enough sun. I bring the chair back to the patio table and park my butt and it's nice and comfy and sits higher with the intact straps. About 30 seconds after sitting down, tiny ants start crawling all over my forearm and my thigh. I brush them off but there's too many and they just keep coming and coming and coming. I got out of the chair and brushed them all off of me, checked under my shorts for any stowaways, and got my can of RAID.
I find out that these ants have a nest in the hollow framework of these metal framed chairs. They were pouring out of the ends of the arms under the weather caps, and doing the same from the rivet holes that hold the seat strapping in place. The chairback top rail was rusted under the bottom of the rail and they were pouring out of the rusted area too. They were swarming all over this chair trying to figure out how big the earthquake was when I picked up the chair and moved it across the yard. I sit in this same chair under the shade tree almost every day and never saw one ant. Of course, I wasn't disturbing their home while sitting in it either.
After I hosed down the chair in a bath of RAID, I tried one last chair identical to the other three that was next to my wooden yard swing. Same thing. I brought it nearer the house and by the time I planted it near the patio table, ants were coming out of every hole on it too. I hosed that chair down in a RAID bath too.
What these two chairs both have in common besides being old, is that they were both in contact with the ground. Perfect access for ants in the market for a new home...or two. The original chair with the broken straps was on wood with no direct contact with earth.
I'm sure enjoying my new chair though...without the houseguests. Never saw anything like that.
I was outside getting some sun with a cup of coffee after lunch and the outsides of my hips start to hurt. I shifted in the chair a bit but it didn't help. I get up to find two of the cross straps have broken after 15 years of use.
So I walk across the yard to get an identical chair from the small three piece bistro set that is under a shade tree in my yard. It's where I go when I've had enough sun. I bring the chair back to the patio table and park my butt and it's nice and comfy and sits higher with the intact straps. About 30 seconds after sitting down, tiny ants start crawling all over my forearm and my thigh. I brush them off but there's too many and they just keep coming and coming and coming. I got out of the chair and brushed them all off of me, checked under my shorts for any stowaways, and got my can of RAID.
I find out that these ants have a nest in the hollow framework of these metal framed chairs. They were pouring out of the ends of the arms under the weather caps, and doing the same from the rivet holes that hold the seat strapping in place. The chairback top rail was rusted under the bottom of the rail and they were pouring out of the rusted area too. They were swarming all over this chair trying to figure out how big the earthquake was when I picked up the chair and moved it across the yard. I sit in this same chair under the shade tree almost every day and never saw one ant. Of course, I wasn't disturbing their home while sitting in it either.
After I hosed down the chair in a bath of RAID, I tried one last chair identical to the other three that was next to my wooden yard swing. Same thing. I brought it nearer the house and by the time I planted it near the patio table, ants were coming out of every hole on it too. I hosed that chair down in a RAID bath too.
What these two chairs both have in common besides being old, is that they were both in contact with the ground. Perfect access for ants in the market for a new home...or two. The original chair with the broken straps was on wood with no direct contact with earth.
I'm sure enjoying my new chair though...without the houseguests. Never saw anything like that.
Odorous House Ants love the warmth of electronics. I've found nests under commercial coffee makers, in power strips, in wall thermostats, and even in laptops. I think you're in IL so they were either OHA or Pharaoh ants since they weren't biting you. PA are more a reddish brown than yellow.
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RhB Michael
RhB Lokführer
No, not one bite or sting. Just a creepy sight of them crawling all over me. I think these are the same variety that send out scouts to my kitchen sink sideboard looking for anything they can report back to headquarters about. These ants today, were medium to dark brown and very tiny. Most were barely a 1/16th of an inch or less.
The scouts don't survive and I haven't had any sort of indoor ant problems.
If there was one thing my Great Aunt taught me when growing up, it was to keep the kitchen absolutely spotless. Clean up after every meal, wash the dishes immediately, and do not leave unsealed food out. Clean the sink drains, clean up spills immediately, and don't miss the garbage can.
I do one better on her there. No garbage at all in the kitchen garbage can. Trash only. All garbage gets dumped into a Walmart plastic bag, tied in a knot, and goes straight to the outdoor trash can.
The scouts don't survive and I haven't had any sort of indoor ant problems.
If there was one thing my Great Aunt taught me when growing up, it was to keep the kitchen absolutely spotless. Clean up after every meal, wash the dishes immediately, and do not leave unsealed food out. Clean the sink drains, clean up spills immediately, and don't miss the garbage can.
I do one better on her there. No garbage at all in the kitchen garbage can. Trash only. All garbage gets dumped into a Walmart plastic bag, tied in a knot, and goes straight to the outdoor trash can.
Snowman
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately where I am I have to keep "smelly trash" like chicken carcass parts either bagged and still refrigerated or frozen...or bagged and still confined inside the house (meaning the garage) until the morning of "trash day." There were three brown/black bears here last summer and into the fall. The two cubs were "teenager sized," but Mama herself is a formidable woman, and one probably easy to anger too. On all fours--staring at me from a hundred yards away--her back was right at the bottom glass edge height of the Chevy Yukon she was standing next to. 42"-48" or so.
Even with no cubs in sight that morning she did not seem pleased to see me. One of us backed away...and it wasn't her.
She does like to jump on the "bear-proof" cans in and around here, including my own, and anything with a whiff could get her attention...so I only put the smelly stuff out a few hours before pickup and after dawn.
I made the mistake about four months back of emptying out a freezer into the can one night, and the next morning there was wreckage strewn all across the lawns in several directions. A good night of all sorts of smelly snackages for her. A real Smorgasbear(d).
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Bill Tidler Jr.
Retired N&W/NS Signalman
Good morning Coffee Shop, it's Thursday! The temperature is 63°F(17°C) and mostly clear.
Weather:
Partly cloudy early this morning then clearing. Highs in the lower 80s. Southwest winds around 5 mph increasing to 10 to 15 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.
Have a great day!
Bruette
Well-Known Member
Good morning, Everyone!
No work today, I still feel... strange from the anesthesia and oxycodone. Damn they have good drugs today and no need to sneak around to get them. The anesthesia made me slowly float away.
I knew I was in for it when they gave me two pain medications, one being a half a bottle of oxycodone. I didn't think they gave us that much anymore. The other one turns my urine orange. It is supposed to target the area. I'll stick to that one. The oxycodone kept me awake until after 10pm. I've always had unusual reactions to strong narcotics.
The good news is there is no more blood in my urine this morning. I have always healed fast and I am not a bleeder.
The “10-minute” procedure ended up lasting well over an hour, with even more time spent in recovery. As I suspected, my tendency toward low blood pressure concerned them, and they wouldn’t let me leave or even stand until it was back in the safe zone. Honestly, what did they expect? I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink in nearly 20 hours, and no solid food for more than 36.
On the plus side, the sugar-free Seagram’s Ginger Ale, they gave me in recovery was good.
As was the Cambells chicken noodle soup I wanted and had when I got home.
The delay was because they discovered a small tumor. The doctor scraped it for a biopsy but decided not to proceed further until the results come in. I’m hoping, God willing, full recovery will be underway by my birthday in late May.
Last night, I noticed longer intervals between trips to the bathroom, and I’m hoping that continues - though it might just be because I hadn’t had much of anything to eat or drink in so long.
No worries my friends. The previous CT scan and the previous procedure did not find the tumor. It is new and small. Whatever it is, they have found it early.
It may be like the small tumor they found on my adrenal gland in the CT scan. They determined that was nothing to worry about.
Never fear, God is always with us.
All is well.
No work today, I still feel... strange from the anesthesia and oxycodone. Damn they have good drugs today and no need to sneak around to get them.
The anesthesia made me slowly float away. I knew I was in for it when they gave me two pain medications, one being a half a bottle of oxycodone. I didn't think they gave us that much anymore. The other one turns my urine orange. It is supposed to target the area. I'll stick to that one. The oxycodone kept me awake until after 10pm. I've always had unusual reactions to strong narcotics.
The good news is there is no more blood in my urine this morning. I have always healed fast and I am not a bleeder.
The “10-minute” procedure ended up lasting well over an hour, with even more time spent in recovery. As I suspected, my tendency toward low blood pressure concerned them, and they wouldn’t let me leave or even stand until it was back in the safe zone. Honestly, what did they expect? I hadn’t eaten or had anything to drink in nearly 20 hours, and no solid food for more than 36.
On the plus side, the sugar-free Seagram’s Ginger Ale, they gave me in recovery was good.
As was the Cambells chicken noodle soup I wanted and had when I got home.The delay was because they discovered a small tumor. The doctor scraped it for a biopsy but decided not to proceed further until the results come in. I’m hoping, God willing, full recovery will be underway by my birthday in late May.
Last night, I noticed longer intervals between trips to the bathroom, and I’m hoping that continues - though it might just be because I hadn’t had much of anything to eat or drink in so long.
No worries my friends. The previous CT scan and the previous procedure did not find the tumor. It is new and small. Whatever it is, they have found it early.
It may be like the small tumor they found on my adrenal gland in the CT scan. They determined that was nothing to worry about.
Never fear, God is always with us.
All is well.
Bruette
Well-Known Member
Because of patients like me that end up taking up an extra 2-3 hours. Relax brother, they are likely helping someone. Hopefully they give you the same extra attention when you need it.
My rule of thumb - if I'm not ten minutes early, I am already late, at least in my mind which can be a strange place.
Rule of thumb for medical places - Hurry up and wait.
traiNscale
Well-Known Member
Good morning
Yesterday i got a package from overseas
My "final" piece for my L&N Diorama arrived!
My all new: Rapido SW9 - DCC with Sound and MoPower
Cant wait to get it on the rails and see it running.
Will share pictures when i have them
Cheers
marco
Yesterday i got a package from overseas
My "final" piece for my L&N Diorama arrived!
My all new: Rapido SW9 - DCC with Sound and MoPower
Cant wait to get it on the rails and see it running.
Will share pictures when i have them
Cheers
marco
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
While it worked on making me not care about the pain, it used to plug me up, making another type of pain...
Glad you made it out in one piece! Or is that two?
Kusojiji
RANK AMATEURS OF THE MODEL RAILROAD FORM MEMBER
Military did that for me.
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