The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

We have temps in the 30's with showers.

I have been feeling a little blah this week. I have been researching knee replacement stuff again today.. and that doesn't help any.. it's rather depressing.

Dave has heard back from Specialized.. and they asked if he can start sooner. [I think they had mention March 4th to start with.] I think he has to first travel to California [their headquarters]. He would then work a little bit with someone in the south east. The guy down there does , what Dave will do up here. They have someone in various parts of the country.. and the guy in the South east is their best.

Dave had requested a meeting with Mathieu's owner.. and they met yesterday. Dave just wanted to wrap things up so to speak. They owe him for his last week of work.. as well as a vacation week he never took. They agree they owe him the money.. but don't have it. I don't think they have any clue as how to run the books or how to run a retail business.. and they don't seem interested in learning. He has a very successful electrical contracting business.. and he should be quite solvent there.. so why they are paying people what they owe.. I don't understand. It's one thing if you want the business to stand on it's own.. but.

[toypusher]

Got my staples out yesterday and she said everything looks good. It itches a lot so I think that is a good sign. Still have to be careful of what and how I do things. It was 77 yesterday and was 79 about an hour ago. Been out trying to get in some walking. My bad knee makes that a bit of a challenge. Still I got a couple decent walks in today.

Weather will be back to more normal tomorrow with rain and high in 30s.

Hope Dave gets things straightened out and gets his pay.

[Fenlason]

We got to 50 yesterday.. we are in the lower 30's this morning and are supposed to be dropping [although I don't think a lot].

I have been working on equipment... chain saws.. loppers etc. I suspect I will do more of that today.

I got a call that the groomer for my Snowdog was in.. so I went to pick that up. I did of course have to try it out once I got home. In todays snow.. it worked so so. It has a toothed bar section across the back of it.. and it seems to bite into the snow too much.

The reach to the handlebars is too far, but that is because I re-locate the handlebar mount. The hitch of the groomer is adjustable in length... but it isn't enough for my set up. I drill another hole to give me another 6" or so.. I still need maybe 6" more. I am not quite ready to cut it down yet. Although I think if I cut it down the 6" It would still work with the handlebars in the original configuration.

[toypusher]

I was rainy yesterday and lots of rain and showers today again. Temps in 30s and 40s. Supposed to get rain again tomorrow.

I am doing good with my recovery so far. Can start trying to get back to normal routines now, but slowly for sure.

[Fenlason]

We did some trail work yesterday.. working on pruning out encroaching branches.. and taking out some dead stuff. I had hoped to work longer on it, but it warmed up.. and the snow got soft.. and was hard for me to walk in.

Today we had our grandnieces first birthday party. We did receive some snow.. a few inches.. not a lot.. just enough to make the roads a little messy.

We are supposed to get above freezing every day next week. I plan to go out early while the snow is cold.. to do more trail work.. then work here when it gets warmer. I still have more saws to work on.

[Fenlason]

I did cut down the hitch on my groomer. After some measuring I found it would have been too long even without the mods to the machine. I have done more testing and trying different things.. and concluded the toothed bar at the back end.. just didn't seem like a good idea. I could not envision a situation where I needed it, and the machine would be capable of pulling it. So I ended up bending it out of the way. I have some 4" wide jawed vice grips.. and bent the teeth back so that they are pretty close to horizontal. We are deep into spring snow conditions... but so far in that the groomer seems to work pretty good now.

Yesterday I went out for some trail work.. earlier.. then went to the mill with Dave. He wanted to get some stuff done before last nights ride. We had a couple minor repairs to do. We altered a tight corner that also.. put you up over a large roll of astro turf. We also re-aranged a few things to give a spot for people to watch.. or rest... and built 2 teeter totters.

We worked the rest of the day.. then home to pick up laurie.. grab a quick bite to eat.. then head back for the ride. Dave, Angela, Laurie and I got there early so we could get some riding in before all the others got there [Laurie and Angela preferred that]

We have over 30 people last night.. and people seemed to have a great time. People were gone not much after 8:00.. but since we said we were open till 9:00 we stayed.. Laurie and could have left.. but we stayed and hung out with Dave, and Ray [the mill owner]

I am still not feeling all that great.. yesterday was a long day.. so I have not done much except for some house work so far today.

[toypusher]

After a couple decent days, it started raining yesterday afternoon and is now snowing and very, very windy. They say we are to have wind gusts of 50-60mph this afternoon and into tomorrow. At least there should be no accumulation of snow here.

[Fenlason]

We have some rain.. we are supposed to be fairly windy also... 50mph range.

Today I am bringing Laurie's van down for an inspection. I normally hate giving up the time.. but I have nothing specific I am doing.

I am really looking forward to spring.. I like winter.. but our weather is really switching over.. and I am anxious to get to work outside.

Yesterday Laurie's work had a Milwaukee tool open house... with specials etc. It seems the primary special was if you buy saw blades you get a sawzall. $100. worth of blades you get a corded.. $200. a cordless. I already have a nice Milwaukee cordless.. as well as an older corded. I at first wasn't interested. I do use a few pruning blades.. but Webb doesn't carry them. The rep arranged that we could get them. I ended up with a few years worth. 3:4.. but they were also a bit less expensive saving $75 or so.. and that doesn't include the free saw. [worth around $200]

I did bring in my impact driver.. that was making noise.. at the moment it does not sound that much louder than their demo they had. It still has 3 years left of the warranty.. he said just use it. This is the tool I should have a spare tool.. I do use it a lot.

I did ask about a cordless circular saw. The rep through in a bit kit for my driver, [maybe a $15 dollar value] but then the store manager said I could get a saw kit for the price of the bare saw [the kit includes a battery and charger] another over $100.00 savings] I have a few chargers... but another spare for free is ok.

The circular saw will be nice for trail work. For some bridges I can precut everything before I take it to the woods.. but on some stuff I do cut there. It will be handier there. The same for mill work. When we are doing a lot we bring cords and such, but there are times cutting something in place.. vs extra cords or moving everything. There is also times here when cutting something with out worrying about cords would be nice.

We are doing another Mill ride tomorrow night. It's Dave's last day before his new job. He flies out to Ca. Sunday, for a couple of days. Then back to here and down to hmm I don't recall.. NC?

[Fenlason]

We have continued to stay pretty windy since the storm. It's not as windy.. but still in the 30mph range.

Our snow is melting decently.. but we have a storm coming this week.. they are saying from 1 to 2 feet!!

2 feet would rather stink right now. It is late enough in the season.. it won't do much for snow season.. and delay my getting to work outside.

We had a pretty low key weekend. I am still not feeling great. We did some trail work Saturday morning.. then a Mill ride Saturday night.

Yesterday I helped a friend on his bike for a little in the morning.. otherwise I didn't do much. I did nap some in the afternoon.

[toypusher]

Yeah, we have had a few windy days. I have a tree down in my back yard and my power was out for about 4 hours Saturday. We are to get rain/snow starting maybe 4 or 5 this afternoon and end up late tomorrow with 2-5 inches (as of now at least).

I go back to the doctor about my back tomorrow and should be released from restrictions.

[Fenlason]

Yeah, we have had a few windy days. I have a tree down in my back yard and my power was out for about 4 hours Saturday. We are to get rain/snow starting maybe 4 or 5 this afternoon and end up late tomorrow with 2-5 inches (as of now at least).

I go back to the doctor about my back tomorrow and should be released from restrictions.

I am still feeling crappy here.. I did get a few things done yesterday.. a little trail work.. and little work in the barn.

We had another mill ride last night. The storm is on it's way... I would rather have had this in February.. ooh... they just said snow through Saturday... and another one headed this way for Tuesday..

I got something for a virus in my computer Sunday...

[toypusher]

Sorry about the virus. I don't have any suggestions except to unplug from the internet and then run your antivirus (hope you have one on the computer).

Went to my doctor's appointment this morning and I am good to go. Just need to use some common sense and not overdue things.

The storm was a bust for us, although it was pretty bad over Philly way I guess.

[Fenlason]

I kind of wish our storm was a bust. We are in the midst of it now. With the timing of this storm many places are closed. For us it is significant storm.. but nothing too serious. Along the coast they will get hit with the worst wind. Southern coastal has some power outages. Laurie didn't go to work.. so I didn't have to go out to clear the driveway.. so I can wait.

I don't have anything for extra anti virus on my computer.. it's a Mac.. and from what I read they don't recommend anything additional. I have done some work on it, but it needs more. I have a friend that I think can help.

Dave had gone to California for work. He got to New York.. and is next flight was canceled. It took some time, but he was finally able to find a rental car. He got home before the storm. Of course his car is back in Portland... and he has to get to Burlington VT.. to pick up a work vehicle.. then NC to switch out something for a work vehicle / trailer.

[Fenlason]

late morning our snow had let up a bit..and we went out for some clean up. It was deep enough I figured it would be best to get it then even if I have to do it again. The upper part of the drive way had around 16" They said it was going to be wet and heavy..and while not exactly fluffy.. it wasn't horrible.

I did just look out and it is snowing heavy again. It isn't supposed to end until late tonight... well at least the heavy stuff.. they say it is going to stall and continue to snow some for the next couple of days.

Otherwise I have been trying to figure out my computer.. I searched and tried other stuff. It's tough because there is so much false sites.. and info out there.. and I have malware that is impersonating many places.. I search for something.. and something else comes up..

A friend does something with computers as a business has helped me some [through messenger] he does not have much of any experience with macs though.

He suggested a few fixes.. or found fixes and directions he liked. We tried a different browser.. all to no real fix.. He did suggest Malwarebytes [I had found that earlier.. but I wasn't sure] anyways so far.. that might have done it.

[toypusher]

It was sunny and mid 40s today, but windy.

I have used Malwarebytes for years and really like it. Not sure it will help you, but could not hurt. I would suggest that once you have it downloaded, disconnect from the internet even before installing it. The database will not be fully up to date, but it is always best to install and run for the first time off line.

I am feeling really stupid today. My wife got a gift card to Walmart over Christmas and I took it there to spend it today. However, when I got though shopping and headed to the checkout, I discovered that I had dropped it somewhere in the store. No way was I going to get it back. Just a total waste of money because I was not smart enough to put it in my pants pocket and not in my jacket with the list that I had for what to buy.