Welcome to Coffee Shop 17

[vato loco]

Summer has finally arrived in SoCal, it got up to 102 yesterday. No clouds, but I can see if I can box up some smog and send it to y'all, if you want it...

Warning.....Warning......Warning California has been invaded by my SIL! Her and Austin are out in the left coast with her new suiter I think he makes 8th or 9th BF!LOL's If you see her crossing the street, " DON"T USE YOUR BREAKS, Ramming speed Capt!"

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

We have a real wind storm going through here. I hope there's some rain coming along with it. We need it.

 

[UP2CSX]

Afternoon, everyone.

Larry, it sounds more like some food borne pathogen than being sun related. I'm glad you're recovering, whatever it was.

Corey, I'm glad someone is getting nice weather. Sounds like your mill is going to need some selective compression to work on your layout. I always take pictures of what I want to build and then decide what are the design elements that make the structure recognizable. I try to reproduce those and then fudge the rest of it.

Karl, I'm a bit sore myself today. Terry does have a point about the Noob and what may be causing his problems. Or, he may be an idiot. It sounds like the club prez needs to sit down with him and figure out which it is.

Jeffrey, maybe he got up early to mow his lawn to irritate you. Between the two of you, I'm sure the whole neigborhood was up early. You're right about heat stress. It went from just uncomfortable to knowing I was starting to get really sick at softball practice yesterday. There's a point where you simply can't replace water faster than your body will use it up.

Rex, I'm glad you're having a "cold" spell. It's 101 right now after a high of 102. That's down from 106 yesterday and humidity is only 18% so we have a negative heat index of 98. I guess I just need to realign my thinking about "cold" down here. Sounds like your place is going to be too nice for us riff-raff to visit if you keep doing all this work.

Chris, that won't work in California. The pedestrian has the absolute right of way and it's enforced. All you have to set foot off the curb and traffic screeches to a halt. I'm sure the heat and smog is making her miserable so you can take some solace in that.

Beautiful blue sky today with no rain in sight for at least the next five days. My lawn now looks like a very short wheat field. My shoulder is absolutely killing me. I got repetitive rotator cuff injuries from pitch all the way from little league through high school. It just hurt a bit when I overused it until about five years ago. Now arthritis has settled in that joint and the pain is almost constant, especially from trying to throw all those balls in from the outfield yesterday. NSAID's like Motrin help some but I finally had to take a codiene last night to get it to stop throbbing. I hope this doesn't get worse as I play more ball. I may end up being the water boy.

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Jeffrey, maybe he got up early to mow his lawn to irritate you. Between the two of you, I'm sure the whole neigborhood was up early. You're right about heat stress. It went from just uncomfortable to knowing I was starting to get really sick at softball practice yesterday. There's a point where you simply can't replace water faster than your body will use it up.

Right you are. Even people who are trained to spot heat stress have trouble seeing the signs in themselves. I've seen several EMT's just fall in their tracks.

 

[vato loco]

Chris, that won't work in California. The pedestrian has the absolute right of way and it's enforced. All you have to set foot off the curb and traffic screeches to a halt. I'm sure the heat and smog is making her miserable so you can take some solace in that.

Drat I for got that! How about we try to sight her for jay walking!!!!!! California needs the money, before every one starts speaking Chinese!

 

[vato loco]

Tomarrow we plan to go to Adventure Island water park! That's a great way to beat the heat!!!!!

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Good evenin'---

Audrey and I took advantage of our lovely morning to go for a walk alongside the Thames River here in London ON. By the time we got home the weather started to dribble---it has been showering and dribbling over us all this time---grumble grouch

Jim I've been telling it to go south---it said "no! I don't wanna!"--actually the weatherguessers are calling for a showery, dribbly week and even into the weekend now All with the temperatures from the high 'teens to low 20's for highs----HMMN

Chris hitting SIL with car probably might cause serious injury to driver and destroy the car?! Might it be better to just yell---runaway!! runaway!! Flee!! Flee!!

 

[UP2CSX]

Evening, everyone.

Jeffrey, I think I read that heat stroke was third biggest killer during outdoor activities after floods and lightning. If you don't get it fast enough, you actually start feeling kind of high when things are getting really dangerous and you have no idea how long you have before you go into cardiac arrest. I always tell people that, as soon as you stop sweating and feel nauseated, you already have heat exahaustion, and it's time to get in some place cool and drink a lot in a hurry. I didn't take my temp but I suspect I was right up there at about 103 when I finally got off the field and into my air conditioned car.

Chris, the best chance you have is if she visits the Michael Jackson shrine at his star on Hollywood Boulevard and gets trampled to death by the hordes of mourning fans. Am I the only person that thinks Michael Jackson was child molesting, drug addicted freak who lost whatever talent he had about 20 years ago? He was headed for this kind of tragic death after living a basically tragic life. In the meantime, the House snuck in the Cap and Trade bill while everyone was focused on MJ. This will be the biggest change to the American economic system in history if the Senate can't or won't modify it. I seriously doubt the average American even knows what Cap and Trade is.

BOC, I'm starting to get really ill with this whole rain thing. That jet stream should be dipping south and it's doing nothing right now. By this time of year, the jet stream should be down over the Southeast, not still running through the northern US and southern Canada. There's a far northen branch of the tropical jet which is now over Southern Texas Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the panhandle of Florida. That's not supposed to be there either, it's supposed to be down over Cuba. That leaves us right in the middle of a big dry slot with no signs of things changing soon.

Well, to be thankful for what we do have, it's down to 81 with the humidity at only 32% so it actually feels pretty comfortable outside now. I'll enjoy it until our blast furnace cranks up again.

 

[bnsf971]

Drat I for got that! How about we try to sight her for jay walking!!!!!! California needs the money, before every one starts speaking Chinese!

Out here, some crosswalks have flashing yellow lights set in the street. If they flash, you are supposed to stop for the crosswalk, even though the nearest traffic light is 3 blocks away.
Only in California do they stop for flashing yellow lights, but run through stop signs...

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Only in California do they stop for flashing yellow lights, but run through stop signs...

Here in London ON it is common for some drivers to run through Yellow lights---flashing or otherwise and Stop Signs. We've even seen them going through the red light as well----don't matter to these fellows--

 

[kbkchooch]

Terry does have a point about the Noob and what may be causing his problems. Or, he may be an idiot. It sounds like the club prez needs to sit down with him and figure out which it is.

I've already had my "discussion" with the Prez. He has had some discussion with the Noob, and plans more. (Before a few other members form a lynching committee!) So far, the consensus is he is one of those that are so freakin smart, they're stupid. I've seen the type in the past, my eldest sisters 1st husband was one. 2 Phd's,but cant change a light bulb.

And I know all about that rotator cuff stuff Jim. In high school, I could put a 95 mph ball wherever I wanted, shortly after graduation, something let go. It has slowly gotten better over the years, but now 30 years later, I can barely manage 60 mph, and then only for a few pitches before it drops. Then I have to resort to throwing sidearm. My son still can burn a fastball, but heck, he's thrown sidearm all his life. Drove me crazy when he played league ball!

Did I hear Chris say he would be gone tomorrow?? Might have to return to "the scene of the crime" !

Rex, cold spell? ROFLMAO!!

Finally got the modules back in the house today. After the show yesterday, we just backed the truck in the garage and got out the car to pay our weekly visit to my parents. By the time we got back, we were both too tired to carry them in! I gotta be on top of my game tomorrow, I have an interview for a management position with a local John Deere dealership. Wouldn't that be a hoot!

 

[bnsf971]

I gotta be on top of my game tomorrow, I have an interview for a management position with a local John Deere dealership.

John Deere? Do they still make those?

 

[UP2CSX]

Yep, California takes the pedestrian thing seriously. The relevant vehicle code section is 21950, subsection (a) : The driver of a vehicle shall yield the right-of-way to
a pedestrian crossing the roadway within any marked crosswalk or within any unmarked crosswalk, even if not at an intersection, except as otherwise provided in this chapter.

The only time this doesn't apply is if the pedestrian is crossing a street where there are traffic control devices at each intersection in between where he's crossing. Even then, the driver has to exercise "due care". The "Ped Xing" sign with the flashing yellow lights are called special control zones and the fine is trebled if you don't stop for a pedestrian in one of those. We used to sit on those when the law was first passed and write 15 cites an hour. Now, it's rare to see a vehicle that doesn't stop. OTOH, Californian's have perfected the so-called "California Stop", where you sort of slow down but never really stop. We used to write lots of cites for those too but it seems to be in their DNA out there.

It's interesting the difference in Alabama. There's no such protection for pedestrians here but it's rare that people won't stop as long as I catch their eye first. Once I know they've seen me, they will almost always smile and wave me across. Southern courtesy does a better job of protecting pedestrians than all the laws we had in California.

BOC, don't you guys have red light cameras up there yet? In most states, they have a camera mounted on the light standard and it will take a pic of the driver, the car, and the plate if you blow the red. You get a nice little ticket in the mail. Cuts down on red light running a lot.

Karl, sounds like a hard type to deal with. One of the advantages of a lot of education is the belief that you obviously know more than everyone else. Good luck trying to dissuade him of that notion. The weird thing in my pitching is I always threw sidearm because our coach said is was easier on your shoulder. Wrong! I'm convinced that, if you throw enough pitches, fast or slow, you will eventually tear up your rotator cuff. It's tolerable when you're younger but arthritis loves to take up housekeeping in any place with long standing damage. I could even have surgery now but it would't make any difference, since the arthritis will still limit my range of motion. The time to have this fixed is when I was 30 but I was an idiot when I was 30. Good luck with the job interview. In today's economy, I'd take a job selling Tyco freight cars if I had to.

It's 74 degrees out there. Might not sound all that cool to a lot of you but it's the lowest temperature we've had at midnight since June 14. Yay! Maybe I can actually have a few hours to get some work done outside tomorrow morning before it becomes unbearable again.

 

[AndrewC]

Good morning from Ye Olde London Towne. Another hot sticky commute this morning. 32c today with a zillion% humidity.

Rex: for a really nasty beer try one of the German Rauchbiers. They are sour fruit and its like sucking a grapefruit dipped in lemon and vinegar. You are more thirsty after drinking it. Strangely addictive though. Technically anything over 12% is no longer defined as beer. Its 'Barley wine' or malt beverage. I'll remember that Northern 'yanks' are the ones in socks.

Jeffery: stay cool. Nothing worse than heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Great advise on the instructions. When all else fails "Step away from that manual". Trouble is too many people do the reverse. If you've ever been to an Ikea store you will know what I mean.

BoC: Ship some rain to us please. I was out at midnight watering everything, again. We aren't supposed to have sun dried tomatos while they are still on the vine.

Jim: thanks for the tip. Didn't get to Costco as our closest one is about 30 miles away, but we did find the same brand which had been relabelled for B&Q. (Home Depot clone) Identical to the pic in the Costco link. Ended up with the next size up, 12,000BTU. Best of all it was £100 off, so we got it for less than $300US incl tax. We actually managed to get the upstairs of the house down to a nice 21c (70f) last night and got some sleep. You have no idea just how much heat 9" thick brick walls can retain. That's what we get for living in a 110 year old house with next to no insulation I guess. Thanks again.

Chris, Larry, Jim: English traffic laws are basically, the pedestrian is a viable target unless in a zebra crossing. We have 4 sequence traffic lights here. Green = go, yellow = go faster, red = ok just one more car go through, red over yellow = pedal to the floor. No such thing as Jay-walking. The fast peds get across, the slow ones are culled. Evolution and survival of the fittest. The French are worse. In Paris driving and parking is done by braille. Zee call dem bumpers for a reason, non? Pedestrians are something to be washed out of the radiator like bugs.

Take care all and have a good day,

 

[vato loco]

John Deere? Do they still make those?

John Deere, Parts made in China, Assembled in Mexico, and shiped in! Part's cost 3x more and harder to get when out of stock! But than again with Cap-n-trade being voted in your going to see more of this

 

[vato loco]

Did I hear Chris say he would be gone tomorrow?? Might have to return to "the scene of the crime" !

With our usual summer time rain patterns do you want to chance it! I can leave get to Tampa and they closed it due to thunder storms........ When we went to BG last Friday we got 2 hours of fun than the freaking rain poured down along with lighting! Well I got to get ready......(scratch that) just watched the weather it's a no go Radar is slamed.....The new plan go to the movies to see transformers!



BTW: Jim with the cap-n-trade in place you can bet more Job's will go belly up! We will all soon be working for the STATE and making the same wage!

 

[tompm]

Good morning folks

It was 72 F as I headed in this morning. High will be 84 F. we have a 50/50 chance of thunderstorms.

I did not get a chance to post yesterday. It was a rough day. My wife has been battling allergies for about a week. Sunday night/Monday morning things came to a head. About 3:30 AM the allergies set off a very bad asthma attack. It took us until 6 AM to get things calmed down. We were almost at the point that we were getting ready to head to the ER. She called her doctor and after a fight with the office staff finally got her the office to prescribe the medication we needed and she would see the doctor that evening. Since this has happened many times before we have a protocol established with her doctor. The frustrating part is getting the know-it-all office staff to look up her records to see what that protocol is. She got the medication ad within an hour was better. By the time she saw the doctor in the evening you would not have known that there was an attack. We have still yet to figure out what triggers these attacks. Since they seemed to come at the end of June/beginning of July every year we suspect some plant. Now to just figure out which one.

I did not get to work until late. This meant that I was playing catch up all day.

The weekend went well. My daughter had fun playing in her first All-Star game. She didn’t get a hit but she pitched two innings. After the game we went to the movies and saw Night at the Museum Battle of the Smithsonian. It was a fun movie to watch. Sunday was quiet doing a few chores.

Last night we just sat around and watched a couple of movies.

I hope everybody has a good day.

 

[blownoutcylinder]

Hello

Wet today as we're still getting those showers and the annoying t'underin' boomers. ARRRRRAAAAAAGGHH!!! There. Do I sound like a happy camper?

On our local folk music scene news we found out last night that a blues, gospel and jazz performer at our "Home County Folk Festival" for the last 34 years, "Jackie" Washington, has passed away. He was 89. He had a HUGE reportoire of pieces dating back to the 1920's/30's and his own originals. His family's home entertained the likes of Count Basie and Duke Ellington and others. I saw him many a time and we shared many a tale between sets----he will be sorely missed by many up here---

 

[Secondhandmodeler]

Good morning folks.

I got screwed out of my day off today, so off to work I go. Well, it's only a half day followed by a teeth cleaning and a lawn to mow. Like I said, screwed out of a day off!

The cooler weather is holding on right now so I can be thankful for that. Any day where the central air is off is a good day.

Not much else to report. Have a great day!

 

[Sandy]

Good Morning!

It's a lovely day in the neighborhood!

Just heard a blurb on the news that a "cross-dressing clown" robbed a liquor store in...Boulder. How predictable for Boulder. Beautiful town filled with thousands of loons and a few sane folks. Most refer to it as the People's Republic of Boulder.

My sister swears that I am on some FBI type list because I am faithful about contacting my Senators and Reps about pending legislation. Last week I emailed Mark Udall and Barbara Boxer. The former on Cap/Trade and the later on her treatment of a B General during a recent senate hearing. Received the standard reply from Boxer. I am sure I will hear from Udall soon. He usually sends a prompt, although wrong, reply.

Larry...belated Happy Anniversary to you and your wife. 50 years! That is simply awesome.

Tom...I am glad that your wife recovered fairly quickly (although I am sure she didn't feel as though it was quick!) In my short time in EMS, respiratory issues were usually the most frightening for patients as well as rescuers.

Jim...I do not envy you that hot weather. Yuck! Our highs are upper 80's-low 90's...so far. We have had so much rain in June that everything is green and for Colorado, that is very unusual. We did not break the rainfall record, but we nudged it.

Jeffrey...I do not remember heat as much as I remember cold when I was working EMS. Our paramedic unit would respond on all fire calls and I really cannot remember 'overheating' (although there were a couple of firefighters...whew! )
Coldest I worked was a sructure fire with temps at -40. Took me days to warm up after that one.

Rex...you need a vacation after all that work! I am sure everything will look terrific when you are done, but then you'll need to get away for a bit to recooperate!

Chris...speaking of getting away...you seems to be having all the fun! It must be great to have so many waterparks and fun places so close. We have Elitches/Six Flags here in downtown Denver. Used to be NW of downtown and it was Elitch Gardens with AMAZING gardens. Trees and flowers EVERYWHERE. They dragged it to right downtown and although I have not been...it looks hot and cityish.

It's gonna be a lovely day here today. About 90 with afternoon storms. Was planning on picnic-ing in the mountains Saturday afternoon, but just remembered that Saturday is the Fourth (woohoo! God Bless America!) and that is no time for a casual trip up the hills. Maybe the next weekend.

Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Sandy