Hockey Sponsor

Cedar Brewing will be sponsoring our hockey team this year. Get your fan outfits here... including thongs and dog shirts.

Peep this.... M's Grandma P turns 80.

No, that is not a 1/4 mile time, it was her birthday. G3 made an album of my and G4's photos. See them here.

He who won't shut up

Followed "He who won't shut up" (principal engineer) in from the parking lot. Wasn't close enough to smack him on the back of the head for putting music files on the lab server.

Clif's milestones completed

His CPI is a 1.0. The jeep is back together, his yard is mowed, and the BMW went for a ride.
More planning is now in order.

Hummingbirds

A couple females and a male hummingbird showed up to the feeders. Must have been the warmer weather made them thirsty.

Want to be gettin' your fish on or antelope on?

If you need to be gettin' your fish on or your antelope on in Wyoming... then stop by your friendly trout hookers and they will be all up in dat.
Say hi to Fred while you are in the area don't forget your survival supplies.

Thwarted by U-Joints

Clif brought over his U-joints. My inadequate toolage failed to press or hammer out the cross from the yoke. I was saddened. Obviously I need a press. (Note: I did show restraint on my wish list.)

In your face Mr. Positive....

Negativity finally pays off...
"By contrast, those who experienced a negative mood such as sadness were shown to provide more reliable eyewitnesses accounts and exercise superior thinking and communication skills."

Clif's farming empire expands

With his latest aquisition (image is similar to his).


With both a corn and bean head. Let's hope his U-joints are better than the ones on his ZJ.

M went to see Lorie Line

M and Rita went to see Lori Line last night. I wasn't invited. We are all happy about that. :-)
Next on M's agenda is baby shower invitations for nephew Willy and Grandma P's 80th b-day party this weekend.

Gotta Clicking ZJ ??

So does Clif. He found this informative article about bad steering knuckles in a ZJ and also that it will require a 36mm socket.

New printer for M

M's printer has no blue or yellow. Probabably sabotage...
As a reward for her clever and daring exploit she got a new Epson CX5400 scanner/printer from the evil Best Buy corporation who insist on annoying me with their questions about extra warranties and wanting my phone number. The printer had $50 in rebates which got it down to $99.

Willy is a keeper

We carefully examined nephew willy's height, weight, and cuteness. Even with the deduction for pooping on M, we have decided to keep him as a nephew.
Many pictures were taken. We trained him never to open his eyes lest he be blinded by flash bulbs.
Oh, and he did say his first words at 7 days old... he said, "Uncle Travis, let's watch car repair shows on cable t.v. and I won't poop on you."
Unfortunately his parents and his aunt were not around for this exciting moment in his young life. I can only imagine their disappointment.

The Georges

Wanna get some Unicycle parts or read about mountain climbing adventures talk to G4.
Barns, kitties, iron butts, motorbikes, and grandpaship.... see G3.

House project status

Hallway bench replacement parts have arrived and the bench is now together.
Got the stain and paint colors for the cabinets and walls from the previous house owner. You will be excited to learn it it Duchboy semigloss plain white paint, Minwax semigloss urathane, and Minwax antique oak stain. Now to find all those somewhere.
Dishwasher and microwave are out of the boxes and lying in the living room. Still have all the electric, plumbing, and cabinet work to do. Next 3 weekends are booked.
Saw a fat possum snooping around the bird feeders last night. Possums are not house projects so disregard any status information included in this entry.

Nephew Willy pics

Nephew Willy at 4 days with grandpa and grandma.
Perhaps he needs a BB gun or minibike for christmas.

Monkeys!!!!

Monkeys.

Hawk and Red Bellied Woodpecker pics are up

They are here. The hawk is quite chubby.
All the bird pictures are here.

Ride Pimp on your "new" Schwinn Stingray

Banana seats are back.

1st Red Bellied Woodpecker (not Red Headed...)

Visited this morning. Got a couple pictures. May upload them someday.
Went to Lowe's last night. They have more stuff and are better organized than our crappy home depot or even our super menards. Bought an exciting Milwaukee close quarters 3/8" drill.
I knew you would all be excited.

Correction: I believe it was a red bellied woodpecker, not red headed.

Nephew Willy has arrived.

Will arrived early this morning.
Time: 00:18 a.m.
Weight: 8 lbs. 1 oz.
Length: 21"
All is well. Congratulations to D & A.

Countdown to Nephew or Niece

Last chance to place your bets. The new niece or nephew will arrive monday sometime whether they like it or not. I'm sure they will express appropriate remorse for missing the earlier milestone.
Tick... tick... tick...tick...

Uncle Ron is off to Tennessee

Uncle Ron's firstborn is heading for college this wednesday. Wish them both well.

Dishwasher and microwave supplies.

Spent most of the weekend buying parts and pieces for the electric and plumbing for the microwave and dishwasher installation. I think I have a plan for the drain since they used non-standard tailpipes and pieces so I can't just swap out one piece.
Also discovered the holes for the microwave and dishwasher are too small so i need to shave some off the cabinets. Luckily it is out where everyone can see it and will also need to have some unknown stain and finish on the cuts, so I bought some stain samples to try to match the current finish.
While we were at it, we bought a new kitchen faucet. Now that requires me to figure out how to get the old one out. The new one uses a special tool that is supplied with it.
Also bought a hallway bench/coathook thingy, luckily the mirror back was broken so now i have to call and see if they will send me replacement parts.
I was successful at replacing the light bulb in the oven.

Big Hawk

A big hawk was sitting on the shed this morning. Only a few birds were brave enough to continue feeding at the feeders. Got a couple pictures, if they are decent, may post them sometime. He wasn't hurting for food it looked like.

The Poulan has a death wish

Tried to cut some small bush stumps. Stupid Poulan threw the chain again. Of course when it does this it likes to booger up the links so they won't slide into the bar again. Perhaps it needs a new sprocket.
Maybe it will die a horrible death or be converted to a go cart.
Might be able to file the offending chain links back into shape, but I don't know about the sprocket.
:-(

The Poulan lives.

The Poulan 2550 chainsaw is back amongst the living.
Put the new bar and chain on it that I bought before I bought the Stihl MS310.
Started up and ran fine and cut some limbs. I think it will be the designated stump cutting/dirts_and_roots saw. That is until the hard to turn gas cap frustrates me into a sledgehammer solution. Maybe I should make it a go-cart or scooter.

Feeding Frenzy

Here is the August 10th bird feeding frenzy. Just filled up the feeders. Not all the species are there at the moment. Also got some video of the action but it is too big for the web at the moment.

I could fly the truck

Here I am, attempting to fly the Honeywell truck.

(click for a bigger view)

Birdfeeder report

More birds:

• cardinal (eats on the ground where the other birds spill seeds)
  
• tufted timouse
  
• maybe a bluejay early in the mornings
  
• probably didn't see an oriole last time
  
• yellow kitty cat
  
• we now have two nuthatches (they really like peanut butter)
  
• a couple female downy woodpeckers and a male (they really like peanut butter)
  
• a hairy woodpecker (they really like peanut butter)
  
• junco
  
• robins in the area but not at the feeder
  

Hope to put more pictures of the action here.
And don't forget to visit wiscons.com for his new live birdcam.

Birds, birthdays, and cameras.

Bought a Fuji Finepix S5000 camera this weekend. Took some bird pictures at our feeder with it and my old Pentax K-1000. The zoom appears to be about the same on both the old and the new. Was nice that the old Pentax worked at all after many years of ignorning it.
M also had a birthday. I think she had a good day. No new niece or nephew for her birthday though.
Also took some pictures of her "garden" which is only the flowerbed at the new house since we didn't have time for an official garden.
G3 went to the flattrack races at Farley with his bro's and had a good time he reports.
CAP stopped by on the BMW F650CS saturday night and enjoyed some tasty chicken.

New Stihl

I broke down and bought a shiny new Stihl MS 310 chainsaw with 20" bar, spare chain, and case. It is much more zippy than the old Poulan. The old Poulan was 2.5 cu inches and the MS310 is 3.6 cu inches and 4 horsepower. Will have to try it on a tree very soon.

Hairy woodpecker

More birds at our feeder. Saw a female hairy woodpecker today.
The Wiscons Birdcam has some catching up to do. (Although I don't have any pictures or proof of my birds i guess.)

Wiscons Birdcam

See the all new Wiscons Birdcam here.

Bird feeder report

We put up a thistle feeder, hummingbird feeder, sunflower seed feeder, suet feeder and smeared some peanut butter on the tree. Lots of birds so far.
Spotted so far:

• goldfinch
  
• chickadee
  
• house finch
  
• ruby throated hummingbird
  
• downy woodpecker
  
• nuthatch
  
• maybe a female oriole
  
• mourning doves on the ground (they don't feed there)
  
• cardinals in the area but not at the feeder yet
  

DR is back in action

The DR 650 turn signal arrived today. Straightened the bracket and installed. Straigtened the mirrors and checked the fluids. Took it for a short ride. I didn't even fall off this time.
Now it needs a bath to get all the dust off from the crash.

I don't have a helicopter

Saw one of these today. I got a complementary hat, pin, poster, flag, and bumper sticker. I guess it helped somewhat, but doesn't really make up for the fact I don't have my own helicopter or gyrocopter (of any size)

Biological Dad bought a welder

From what I hear it is a used AC/DC Century brand stick welder. He just has to get the garage wired up and he can all kinds of stick welding fun.
Updated title Aug. 5th due to user comments.

Big wind last night

A big storm went thru last night. Winds supposedly hit 85-90 mph. We had only a few small limbs down that I saw.
Hit all of a sudden and lasted quite a while.

We like the MOON.

Cuz it is close to us.

Somebody wants us.

This was spotted in the area for the last week or so. They are recruiting "Flight Control Engineers".
Apparently evil doers cut a hole in it last night at Motel 6. It is very sad.
Next stop is Binghamton New York. (or someplace like that).
Update: New higher quality pictures available at the link above.

Wet Clover + Suzuki + Brakes = Crash

Dumped my Suzuki in the yard today.
Had been watering grass earlier and forgot.
Zipped around the yard on the bike and hit the brakes and the steering went away. The bike dumped. I rolled. Dirt flew.
A few scratches and some bruises and a broken turn signal.
Oopsie.
Luckily I had a leatherman in my pocket so it could jab me in the leg.
Nurse M fixed me all up and fed me. It should all grow back, except the turn signal.
(the clover and sand is probably ok)