Not tagged, but here it is anyway.

I wasn't tagged, but it's raining outside, I'm bored, and I haven't posted in a while...so here it is.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?  Damn, I need to fix that mirror. (it's hanging a little crooked)

2. How much cash do you have on you?  $63. Hmm, I'd have sworn I had more than that.

 3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?  Gore....the global warming freak.

4. Favorite planet?  This one is working out great for me...yeah, I think it's the favorite of all the ones I've been too.

5. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?  Any missed calls have long since been "bumped" off the bottom of the list. I don't miss many, unless I'm out of coverage and then it wouldn't show up on the missed calls list anyhow. I answer this stupid thing around 25 times a day, not including calls I make.

6. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone? Vermillion, by Slipknot.

7. What shirt are you wearing?  I'm not...yikes, I'd better go find a shirt!

8. Do you label yourself? Yes, I do. I label myself "Frank Booth". (from the movie Blue Velvet)

9. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently wearing? I'm not...damn, I'd better go find some shoes.

10. Bright or Dark Room? Dark

11. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you? She is like a mother to me. Oh yeah, it is my mother...hi mom.

12. What does your watch look like? Just like this. It is my favorite watch of all time, given to me by my loving wife.

13. What were you doing at midnight last night?  Watching Tito Ortiz get his ass beat by Chuck Luddel on pay per view.

14. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?  I've already deleted it, but something like this: Cheer up, you could be a conjoined twin who's other side is gay and has a date tonight, and you both share an ass.

15. Where is your nearest 7-11? I can't remember seeing one down here for a long time...so, not close.

16. What’s a word that you say a lot?  Bubba...I call everyone bubba. It's kind of a trademark now. Damn you Rooster.

17. Who told you he/she loved you last?  Debbie, after our conversation about both of us forgetting our aniversary again.

18. Last furry thing you touched?  Yikes...never mind.

19. How many drugs have you done in the last three days?  Caffeine and nicotine. I'm fresh out of heroin.

20. How many rolls of film do you need developed? Two, Lyndsay got a camera for Christmas from her sister, and now there they set, on the table, waiting for someone to drop them off at CVS.

21. Favorite age you have been so far?  16

22. Your worst enemy?  Good ole Ben...I'll be glad when this next quarter is over so you can carry your ass on to another area....micro managing, piss poor idiot.

23. What is your current desktop picture?  A still photo from the upcoming movie "300".

24. What was the last thing you said to someone? "Cocoa, get your ass out." Dogs don't like to go out in the rain you know.

25. If you had to choose between a million bucks or to be able to fly what would it be? Cash, no doubt.

26. Do you like someone? Sure.

27. The last song you listened to?  Hurt, the Nine Inch Nails version. I think I heard the Johnny Cash version yesterday as well.

28. What time of day were you born?  No idea.

29. What’s your favorite number?  I don't think I've got one...what the hell would make one better than another.

30. Where did you live in 1997? I'm pretty sure right here in Columbus, GA. Maybe Lubbock Tx.

31. Are you jealous of anyone?  Yep.

32. Is anyone jealous of you? Yep, no doubt.

33. Where were you when 9/11 happened?  At our old office in Columbus. Then I went to buy some ammo. 

34. What do you do when vending machines steal your money? Kick the shit out of it.

35. Do you consider yourself kind? To some.

36. If you had to get a tattoo, where would it be? That question is one of two reasons I don't have one...the other is "what would it be?"

37. If you could be fluent in any other language, what would it be?  German.

38. Would you move for the person you loved? Oh, I have already.

39. Are you touchy feely? I'd say no.

40. What’s your life motto?  I don't have one.  

41. Name three things that you have on you at all times?  Cell phone, watch, wallet. 

42. What’s your favorite town/city?  I don't have a favorite. There are several I like for different reasons, some not in this country. Nancy, France was by far the prettiest, though the people suck. Wellington, MO is still home, though I don't live there. Hattiesburg, MS was a lot of fun, as was Lubbock, TX.

43. What was the last thing you paid for with cash?  A six pack of Tecate beer for tonight, and a 12 pack of Bud in case someone else want a beer...they aren't getting my good stuff!

44. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?  I made a note for the guy that was threading the barrel for my 9mm to tell him what I wanted him to do. This was a while back, and the funny part is that since then I've gained the skills to do that job myself.

45. Can you change the oil on a car? Yep, and actually it needs to be done now.

46. Your first love: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?  It's been a long time...so long I don't remember.

47. How far back do you know about your ancestry?  Grandparents.

48. The last time you dressed fancy, what did you wear and why did you dress fancy? Chrystins wedding, the first time I'd wore a tie since leaving the Army.

49.Does anything hurt on your body right now? Yep, I can't remember the last time something didn't.

50. Have you been burned by love?  I don't think I'd call it burned, no.

Requested video for mom.

Requested video for mom.

Here is the video you asked for mom. Enjoy!

The little tractor that can.

I started to name this entry "The little tractor that could" but I think "can" makes more sense. I worked the poor thing relentlessly all day, but as you can see the mission was accomplished. 

The day the shed was delivered (Wed.) we got quite a bit of rain and the back yard is still pretty moist which made things harder than they had to be. I didn't do the lawn any favors at all, but the shed is in it's new home. For most of the move I pulled the shed with a tow strap like I did it in Waverly Hall a could years ago. When things ground to a halt I decided to try pushing it by backing the forks into it, lifting, and shoving it around. This worked much better, but the poor tractor sure got a workout. I was the only one home today, so no action shots, but you get the idea. It was quite a challenge, and I'm sure glad it's done. Now I've got to get my power wired up and I'll be back in business. 

More from Halloween night.

I kind of went off on a tangent on the last one, so...back to Halloween.

After I returned to the house Halloween night, everyone was getting prepped for trick or treating. Deb's hand was swelling rapidly, but I don't think any of us knew how bad it was. The girls were out for a couple of hours, came back for a bit, then went to Deb's moms house. She is a retired nurse, and when she seen the hand she basically ordered Deb to head to the emergency room.

I'll say at this point that Deb doesn't "do" pain very well, so it's very hard to tell if something is a real problem, or if she is being a wimp. Evidently the doc decided to err on the side of real pain, because he gave her MORPHINE! I couldn't believe that. And I doubt Deb will want any again either, because she go pretty ill when she started coming off of it. X-rays were taken and a few hours later (it was the emergency room after all) she was sent home. The two oldest daughters took turns staying with her, and I was home with baby Morgan. We usually have Morgan on Tuesday nights because Debs day off is Wednesday.

Well, when they arrived home I was glad that I sent Morgan home with her parents at around midnight, because it was pretty obvious that Deb wasn't going to be able to use her hand for a few days. She was off work through the week, but is back now and her hand is nearly back to normal now.

And so went Halloween 2006...I could have used a bit less excitement, but it is what it is.

Goodbye Rosie the Rot...sorry it ended this way.

I've been putting this one off for a few days. To tell the truth, I've lost sleep over it, which sort of surprises me. I'll start with the story that kicked it all off.

First I'll start by saying the only pet that we've ever had that was something I wanted was Gina the prairie dog. Other than that I've never been asked, or listened to, when it comes to what animal picks up residence around here....so it was with Rosie the Rottweiler....

She was brought to the house by Arick during the time he was staying and going to school down here. I put up a fight, and as usual, I was the only one that noticed. Short version of this part is that Arick headed back north, Rosie stayed here.

I liked Rosie just fine. She was a great watch dog but had shown some aggression towards a kid once prompting me to spend a fortune in money and time erecting a fence. The problem then was that she was strong enough to get through it, so then I enlisted dads help to electrify that fence...fixed that problem.  We had a small house dog that ended up dead that I think Rosie probably killed, but I'm not sure about that. She had bit my buddy Al, but I think she was just doing her job at the time....NOBODY that didn't belong come in the back yard with my stuff without me being there. She did listen to any order I gave and acted immediately if I told her to do something....which is why she lasted as long as she did.

I knew when it was obvious that we were moving back to town that there would be a problem, and I stated so. Of course once again, I was the only one paying attention....

And I sure didn't think the problems would arise so soon...

The first night at the new house she broke out once. The next morning she woke me up early barking. I was mad enough then to kick the shit out of her.

That evening Deb was at the fence warning the neighbor kids to stay away from the fence, and apologizing for the barking that morning. Somehow Deb's useless house dog got into the back yard with them and Rosie decided she was a snack. At that point Deb intervened and pretty much got her hand mangled for her trouble....the pictures tell the story. I can only say that I wish we had still been in the country at that moment so I could have popped her right then and there while I was in a rage....instead I got to take a thirty minute ride to the country to do what had to be done. That thirty minutes made things very hard for me at the trips end. I think it also made it hard to quit thinking about it several times a day every since. I've shot men and not felt as bad afterwards...of course, they were shooting at me.

Who I blame:

Me for even having her in town in the first place.

Deb for not listening when I said it wasn't going to work.

Cocoa the idiot biscuit eater for going back there knowing the Rosie wanted to eat her.

I can't blame Rosie, though she had to pay for it. We all knew how she was, and what she was capable of. We put her in the position to do something like this.

I'm sorry Rosie, I did like you.

Some pictures for the gang.

Ok, here are a few pictures. As you can imagine, things have been pretty busy, but not to bad. These are a few pictures from the past couple weeks including some from Halloween. There was more excitement Halloween night but there is enough there for another entry, so I'll save that story for now. Things are coming together here at the new place and we get a couple things done each evening. I've still got equipment to move and store, along with the shed move which hasn't happened yet.

Roast Beef sandwiches, concerts, and still moving.

Well, the girls are at a concert tonight leaving me to my own devices for dinner. That happens very seldom around here, but I don't mind because there was leftover roast beef in the fridge. I'd rather have a roast beef sandwich that eat it with a regular meal.

I've finally got all the computer equipment in and running here at the new place. My desk will need some modifications because the new room is about 1 foot wider, but my right hand man Al already has a plan to fill in the gap created in the center.  I was able to install extra electical outlets before bringing everything over so that is nice to have in an office. The phone finally got turned on, and my fax line is working. I'm loving the speed of the cable modem over my old DSL. I will need to run my XM radio antenna to the south side of the house because I'm not getting good signal from the desk like I did in the old house. I've still not downloaded any picture but wonder if it's even worth while. After all, how exciting is pictures of our almost moved into house? I've still got to get all my "heavy equipment" moved up here this weekend, and really need to use the Walker mower here to clean up the leaves in the back yard. The big shed move has yet to happen, and I can't afford to pay the guy to move it anyway. It's fine where it is, but I'll be happy to have all my stuff handy here.

I've completed my surface grinding project at school, and will start heat treating on Monday. This is sort of a boring quarter, but still good stuff to know in the long run.

In other news, John Kerry is starting to be one of my favorite politicians....in an election month that looked pretty grim for the republicans, he is managing to turn things around for us with his stupid assed comments about how dumb soldiers are. Keep talking you friggin' idiot!

See ya'll later.

Moving update

Ok, here is where we stand at the moment. All of the big stuff has been moved and we are living in the new house. There have been pictures taken, but I have no idea where the camera is, and the girls are out trick or treating. I will say that my new internet connection is SMOKING fast. The only utility left to be connected is phone. I'll send an email with my new email address once I have a phone number to send with it. It has been a hell of a past week.

House pictures.

Ok, Deb got some pictures of the new place. We've been working over there every evening. More to come.

What's up down here.

As usual, I've been slow with the updates here. The laughing baby video has seen over 3500 views which is probably the most popular thing I've ever had on the net. It was on the AOL most popular list for a week, and may still be there now. That's pretty cool.

There is a lot going on here. Christyn is getting married this afternoon and Deb is currently in the kitchen doing "up-doo's" in an assembly line manor. This is going to be a big deal, but thankfully isn't costing us much, other than our own outfits.

We've got a gentlemans agreement to buy a house in Columbus. I'm torn on this one because it's a great house in a nice neighborhood and the end of a dead-end street....but it's in a sub-division. We are getting a great price because the people tried to do a "for sale by owner" and couldn't get it sold, so they've been paying a couple of months for two house notes...that's got to hurt. There is no doubt that I can do like the DIY channel says and "Flip This House" thus making some money. We've already got it worked out with them to get in and do some painting and the like before move in at the end of the month. No matter what it's better than renting again. My little tractor is going to be useless though, so it may have to go north to do some yard mowing duty until I'm in a place where I need it again. At least I know there it will be taken care of and not out in the elements.

Anyhow, that's the latest from here. I should have some wedding pictures along with some house pictures this week. Oh, and this quarter in school I'm doing a double class....heat treating and surface grinder.

Have a nice day.

Laughing Baby...Caution. addictive laughter!

 

 

Laughing Baby.

This is grandaughter Morgan laughing at her Aunt Celeste.

If it works, it works.

Somewhere Monk had seen someone wearing one of these masks and decided she needed one. I figure it's a waste of money, but not much money, so what the hell...get the kid a mask. Well, that wasn't quite as easy as you would think because Deb couldn't find a place that sold the silly things. Finally Deb's x-sister-in-law (and our realtor) suggested Target and we were in business.

Well, the picture above is from the first night with the mask...about 5 minutes after she hit the bed. I would think it was a fluke, except she has worn the thing to bed every night since. Hell, now I'm thinking I may want one!

 

The best party ever?

Well, I'm a week late with this one, but better late than never.

The place where Deb now works specializes in children's haircuts, and they are also set up to do birthday parties...mainly for girls. They have dress-up clothes, and paint the girls nails or fix up their hair. That sure came in handy when it was time for Lyndsay and Catelynn's birthday this year!

I was told afterward by Lyndsay that it was the best birthday party ever. She made quite a haul on gifts too.

Just playing along.

1. If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be? Australia, but damn what a plane ride.

2. If you could vacation anywhere in the United States, where would it be? Hawaii

3. If you could vacation anywhere in your home state, where would it be? Mom and Dad's

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? Coast of Spain. I really like the coast of France, but who would want to live among the French?

5. If you could live anywhere in the United States, where would it be? Texas, I love that state. I've lived several different places in Texas, and had a good time at all of them.

6. If you could live anywhere in your home state, where would it be? Wellington.

7. If you could send your worst enemy anywhere in the world, where would it be? Iraq, friggin' hot hell hole.

8. If you could send your worst enemy anywhere in the United States, where would it be? Ft. Drum, NY, friggin' cold hell hole.

9. If you could send your worst enemy anywhere in your home state, where would it be? Anywhere in the "Boot Heel"...it's just a regular hell hole.

To post video in your journal.

To post video in your journal, you first need to go here.

Upload your vid, then look for the link on that page that says "Blog This". It is not easy to find, but it is there. When you click it you are taken to your blog, with the video already inserted. Just finish the entry, and that is it.

 

A very loaded trailer....and a bat.

I've already told dad the whole story, so I do the short version here for the masses (my sister).

We needed to go help out a friend reclaim their yard after being away 2 and a half years. I didn't know it would be quite so hard to get the tractor and mower on at the same time. If anyone has about a 26ft. gooseneck that needs to be carried off, let me know.

 

The other two pictures are of a houseguest we had a couple weeks ago. I don't know how he got in, but he really didn't want to leave.

The biggest screen ever??

The cool part about being a supervisor is that I get called for the hi-tech installs. This is one of the highest tech I've ever been involved in.

This was done in the newest 15 cinema theater in Columbus. The projector we were attaching to cost around $150,000. This will be used for screening PayPerView boxing, ultimate fighting, super bowl games, and things like that. I had my right hand man AL, and my senior installer Jimmy with me, and we had a lot of fun.

Late...very late....watermellon

 

We've tried to grow watermelon more than once since we've live here. Usually they either dry up or get ate by animals before we get them, or both. This year we didn't even plant a garden, but I did till the garden spot to smooth it out from last year. I guess there were some un-germinated seeds brought up because a watermelon plant started growing pretty fast. Well, there it is, the only successful watermelon to come from our garden, and we didn't even plant the damn thing.

Lyndsay driving the Walker mower.

Lyndsay driving the Walker mower.

Hopefully this works ok because if it does, this is a cool way to add video to the journals!

Air compressor skid.

Another project nearly finished. It is usable now anyway. You can tell by the pictures that my hired help was present, but not working much.

Just checking in.

I know it's been a while. I've spent the past few Sundays at Greg's working on one of his Mustangs. I do have a project at his place nearing completion...the skid for my air compressor that will allow me to use the forks to move it. As you can tell I finished painting the trailer and it looks much better, but I did have some orange peel in the paint. It's better to get used to the new spray gun on a trailer than on one of my tractors, right? I do plan to get a decal for the front of the tool box and probably a couple small ones for the fenders.

 

School work.

Man, I really love it when my projects line up with school work. My  next mill task was to bore a hole, so instead of doing the school project I brought in something of my own that needed bored out. The axle on the latest garden tractor was worn pretty bad...so I bored the kingpin holes out to accept a bushing. You can see the bushing I'm using in a couple of the pictures.

Didn't want ya'll to think I've just been lazing around!

Earthcavator done!

Nothing but rain here lately, but I was able to re-assemble the Earthcavator inside the shed yesterday. I don't know how in the hell I can bring myself to use it now, but it sure looks cool.

 

Update on the last update.

Ok, here they are...all I need are some weight plates. I also did a little bit of painting this evening so Deb's 140 should have the bar tires and weights installed this weekend. What fun!

Small project update.

I haven't gotten much done lately thanks to bad weather, but I did get these couple of things done. I've had the plans for wheel weight adaptors in head for two years, but finally got them ready for paint. The small bolts mate up with the factory wheel weight holes in the rims. I used 1" all-thread so I can just buy some wal-mart weights, rather than going through John Deere and paying $1 per pound. These are for the 670, not one of the garden tractors.

The other thing was finally getting the hyrdrostat for the 317 put back together with new seals and bearing. If you look closely you can see the bushing that was used to repair the bad input shaft I showed in an earlier post.

That's it for now...I'll just keep watching it rain.

Happy birthday to me!

How about a little painting?

Yep, we are back to JD greene font, though this isn't part of the 317 project.

I finally got everything needed together to try my hand at painting...priming actually. All went pretty well, though one of my high pressure lines from the tank to the regulator blew off a couple times. I don't like those "push lock" hose connections.

I used the latest JD primer, which takes 3 days to cure so there won't be much more done with this for a few days, but I think things will look good. I did a full set of wheels, the "earthcavator" blade, and the tool box that mounts on my trailer.

A break from garden tractors.

Alright, a switch from the JD green font for a day. Not because I've not been working on the projects, but I forgot the camera last night.

These are from Monk's "olympic day" or something like that. Me and Deb both had to work, so we only got to see some of it, but these are from the events we did catch.

317...repairs continued.

Well, I had a somewhat productive evening at school. I built up the worn shaft with 7018 welding rod and turned it back down to size, but I'm not happy with the results. I had to much slag inclusion in the weld and turning the shaft really made it show up. Tomorrow I'm going to turn it back down and use a bushing to take up the slack. I did get a bushing made to adapt a small hydraulic cylinder to the steering setup I'm building for this tractor. I put one picture of it on here, but I'll save most of that stuff for when I mock up the steering setup to make sure everything is going to work together. I don't get as many pictures taken at school because I'm usually watching the clock trying to finish before it's time to head home. Tonight I got most of the hydrostat put back together with new o-rings and seals, but I boogered one of the seals and had to stop. It doesn't really matter since I've got to have the shaft ready before I button the pump back up.

317...Phase 3...repair

Now I'm hitting the phase that will take a while...repair. Some of the things are just elbowgrease and time, others will cost some money.

This is one that was just elbowgrease and time. I showed in a previous entry where someone had blown a hole in the frame to access the oil drain. First I took a die grinder and angle grinder to clean up the hole. Then I seached the vast piles of junk to find some 1/4 steel to make a patch out of. I used an angle grinder to get the patch fitting pretty tight, then headed to Greg's to use the welder. There wasn't much happening out there so Duane hung out and supervised while I welded things up. While there I also welded on a bracket for the power steering valve that I'm retrofitting to the tractor, but I'll save those for another time. So far I've got quite a few things to repair/replace so I expect to have a long list of phase 3 posts.

317...phase 2...teardown

Here is a days worth of tear down and initial clean up. This old girl sure didn't get much attention, that is for sure. So far the only thing that is really out of whack is the front axle and steering...they are all wore out. I think it is going to be handy having a machine shop at my disposal for this one. Other than the hole someone cut in the frame, there are no cracks or bends and everything seems to be holding up well.

317....sidebar.

I mentioned that I got a hitch and plow along with the 317. These two parts are worth about as much as the tractor was on Ebay, but I had plans for both of them.....

First I had to take the mower deck off the 140, then installed the hitch. I actually wanted to clean it up and paint it first, but couldn't wait to play with it, so we'll call this a trial run. The hitch went on without a hitch (LOL) so I had to put the plow on to see how that looked....which led to heading out back to see how it worked. Well, it didn't, but that's mainly because I had the plow set up all wrong. That part has since been fixed but now I'm fighting traction problems. I've got a set of wheel weights heading this way, and already have a set of the narrower rear rims for this tractor....now I've got to track down a set of Firestone 23° bar tires and I think I'll be in business. I'll be the only one plowing Georgia clay in the middle of summer, but what the hell.

317...phase 1

Well, the first thing I needed to do was find out what works, and what didn't. The mower deck that came with the old girl is beat to crap, but I want to set this up as a loader tractor anyway so it's no big loss. I was told the reason the dealer decided to sell this one "cheap" was that it was going to cost to much to get it running. "It will run if you pour gas in the carb, but won't idle." Well, when I took the carb apart, it was easy to see why this was....the float and needle were both frozen solid with rust. A can of carb cleaner later, and she fired right off. It does have some blow by, but doesn't smoke very much and run's really smooth. The hydrostat seems tight. So as of now this thing is looking like a good starting place for rebuilding/restoring.

The latest project.

Ok dad, here is the newest mower added to the group. I've known about it for quite a while, but the dealer was asking WAY to much for it and couldn't get it started either! I'm sure it's set there for at least 3 years, and he's known I wanted it for about a year.

The last time I stopped in to buy parts for the 670 he told me to make an offer. Well, I'm a little better at this game than that so I let him stew a week first. I ended up paying $400 for it, which actually is to much for it's condition except that it came with an integral hitch and a Brinley plow that would bring that much by themselves on Ebay....not that I'm getting rid of either of them! I payed for it on a Friday and told him I'd be there Saturday morning to pick it up. Later that day me and Al were coming home from Auburn, AL and past a yard full of golf course mowers for sale. I've put a picture of the mower that Al bought that we plan to part out and sell on Ebay, other than the steering parts that I've already got dibs on for the 317 build up. Most of these pictures are of the homecoming and for once I'm remembering to take pictures as I go along.

Sandblasted Saturday.

That first picture is of a few of Deb's roses. The rose bushes in front are in over-drive this year!

I spent most of this afternoon sandblasting several things including a Gannon "Earthcavotor" which is a box blade for a garden tractor. It is a rare find that I spotted in Notasulga, AL while there on business. Once I've got it finished it should make a nice addition to the JD 140 that dad and I restored a couple years ago. I was really surprised that I didn't have any humidity problems that usually plague me when sandblasting. When I finished I come in to check weatherbug and it showed our humidity at only 24%! That explains that.

Here is a link to the spray gun I've got coming, and here is a link to an auction showing the type of finish mower I was telling dad about that is for sale here in town.

Final project pictures.

Another weekend project.

This project has been on the back shelf for a while, but last week I finally remembered to stop and see my friend Jeff at Columbus Spring who has a press large enough to straighten out the lower mast bracket. So Saturday I loaded up the tractor and all the parts and headed to Greg's house for some quality time with the Miller 210. I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I'll post pictures with the forks on once the paint has cured completely.

New toy for the tractor....and me.

I guess I'll do this entry in JD green since it's about the new tractor attachment. I finally got a scraper blade for the tractor and also found a new favorite JD dealer in the proccess. We loaded the thing in the back of Al's van to get it home, because it wouldn't fit in mine. I did get a chance to try it out tonight and it works great. I think I'll make some end plates for it.

In other news, my spring break is over so it is back to school tomorrow. I'm trying out the milling machines, so it should be fun.

Al's 420 John Deere.

I went by Al's yesterday, and somehow got involved in getting his old John Deere 420 running. It had been sitting for quite a while and didn't have spark, but once I traced down the bad wire splice, the old girl fired right up. The steering is wore slap out...so much so that if you turn to much to the right, the wheel just spins! The engine runs great though, and it's got pretty new rear tires, so it pulls like a champ. I was able to pretty much un-rut his drive in an hour or so. There aren't many pictures of the actual work being done because one of us had to stand on the blade to make it cut into the hard Georgia clay. Although that thing looks like a box blade, it's really made for cleaning the monster chicken houses that are all over down here, so therefore it isn't very aggressively angled, and doesn't have ripper teeth like a normal box blade does. We made do, and had a pretty fun evening messing with the old tractor.

New dust mop.

Ok, at this point it is obvious that I have no say-so when it comes to pets around here. It seems as if the phrase "no more" means "ok, that's fine...the more the merrier." Anyway, we got another dog. Her name is Coco. I can't figure out who named an all white dog Coco, but she is two years old, so we aren't going to change it. We've only had her a couple days, but she seems to be fitting in well with the rest of the zoo.

Dad commented that if he knew Arick was coming he'd have shipped some of my goodies with him. I thought of the same thing and tried to call him back 5 minutes after he called asking if he could come, but couldn't get him. It turns out he was already past Jefferson City when he called!

By the way, if anyone wants to clue me in to what caused this unplanned vacation, I would appreciate it. I'm not getting much out of him, he still seems to be in good relations with his girl in Missouri, so I'm thinking witness protection program.. One thing I learned from dad is that in this family, you've always got a place to go. I'm not sweating it, and not really pushing for info, but I am curious. Of course, it may be something I don't want to know. Anyway, if anyone wants to drop me an email and let me know what's going on, please do.

What the cat drug in...

Arick called last night and asked if it was cool if he came down. This happens about once every two months or so. I guess this time he was serious! I talked to him last night at around 9:30, and he showed up at the door this morning at about 8:15! So, if your wondering why Arick hasn't come by, it's because he is in Georgia.

Some weekend stuff.

Ok, I guess I'll start by saying how happy I am the the Soprano's are back on. About the only series that we watch around here are on HBO, and those bastards make you wait two years between seasons. It was damn sure a good first episode though.

We had a rather full day. We talked Lyndsay into learning to ride the bike minus the training wheels. She is doing pretty good for the first day. Deb worked on Celeste and Brittany's hair, the kids played, and I started tearing up the front yard. The plan is to nuke it with Roundup, till, then plant cetipedegrass. I've got a while to work on it though...Centipede doesn't get planted until May or June.

That's the news from the front lines.

Weekly update.

Yeah, I'm loopy again. My back got progressively better all through the weekend, but is back to worse than bad tonight. My doctor said that the surgery that would fix it is something I may want to do when I'm 60, not when I'm 40. He said if it isn't better in two weeks I'm to get an MRI done. From the x-ray he says degenerative spine disease, arthritis, and bone spurs. Sheesh, that is enough.

Other than the back issues, things have been fine around here. I've been trying to help Deb with things that we've always had kids around to do until now...dishes, vacuuming, that sort of thing. I've got to say, I have NEVER done this sort of thing, at least not since I was a kid and trying to get some allowance. It's worth it though because Deb appreciates it. Lyndsay is more than happy to help do the things she is capable of. We did a little tractor work Saturday...ironed out the driveway, a bit of mowing. Sunday I went out to help Greg put a heater core in our welding instructors Dodge dually. That one really sucked.

I'm finished with my projects for this quarter, so I've been doing either things I can come up with, or stuff my instructor Rick needs done. Mostly gun parts, though we don't advertise what they are when we are working on them! Both night instructors work at the Ft. Benning marksmanship unit building Olympic class rifles....if you think I'm not picking their brains nightly, you'd be wrong.

This pictures are just some things we've taken in the past week.

Broken Back Pine Mountain.

Well, I finally got to use "Loopy" as a mood....because I'm currently taking Vicodin. Al and I did a pre-wire job on a house in Pine Mountain on Sunday. We made quick work of it, and made some pocket money as well. During the job my back decided to quit me, which happens every once in a while. I've sort of gotten used to working through it. Generally given a couple days it fixes itself. That isn't happening this time.

I was pretty much crippled last night, and was worse this morning. It's never been this bad. Well, one of my favorite clients just so happens to be a world class spine man, so I contacted him to get a referral to someone that could check it out. John was headed into surgery at the time, but had his secretary call in a prescription of some Vicodin and steroids, then set me up an appointment for Wednesday morning...with him. I don't often "call in" favors from my customers, but he insisted. If there can be a good part in all this, it is the fact that I personally know about half of the guys that work at Hughston Clinic, and they are all at the top of their game. I don't remember which doc I did work for first, but now I've got a majority of them in my client list. It's kind of nice to have them working for me when I needed it.

I'm currently hanging out at the house, unable to do much. Today was the first time I've used a day of sick leave since I started working for this company 6 years ago, so I don't feel to bad about that. That's what's happening here....sounds like fun, right?

Lathe 2 project pictures for dad.

Here is the latest project from Lathe II. Again, this started out as round stock, the handle aluminum, and the head brass. The only thing not done on the lathe was drilling out the hammer head for threads....that was done on a Bridgeport mill. These projects are made so you do just about every type of lathe operation by the time you finish the class. That's why it has a hollow capped handle.....there really isn't a use for that feature, but I learned how to cut internal threads on it. Anyhow, I'm pretty proud of this one so I thought dad should see it.

Room project finished.

I took a bit of vacation for the concert road trip and decided to milk it through the weekend so I had some time to finish up the trim work in the office.

At this point I can call this project finished. All that's left are a couple of electonic purchases. The oak trim really made a huge difference in the way the entire room looks. Thank goodness I had a "go to" guy when it came to this part because this trim would have easily cost as much as the floor if I'd have went out and bought it. Instead I bought an oak board and sent it with Al, and when it came back to me I had some very nice looking trim work. All I had left to do was cut, fit, and finish it. I'm very happy with the room we ended up with.

Another concert review.

 

I'm quite a happy camper at the moment.

 

As most who read this know, I listen to a rather odd mix of different music. You may say eclectic. For about the past two years, the band Disturbed has been at the top of my list when it comes to metal. Some would argue that Disturbed is even a bit beyond metal, but whatever you call it, I like it.

Well, my favorite radio show on XM, Opie and Anthony, just happen to have Jagermeister as an advertiser...the same company that is sponsoring the current Disturbed tour. I was about to buy tickets for the Atlanta show when I had the revelation of firing off an email to the O&A producer about scoring some free ones. Imagine my surprise when he replied within 10 minutes and ask which show I wanted to attend!  I was set to go to the Pensacola show and pick up my tickets at the will call window.....

At this point I should mention that Deb is not what one would call a big fan of this type of music. Hmmm, it just so happens that our favorite lawyer couple in Montgomery have clashing musical tastes as well. Joy has been known to cue up some rather head bangin' tunes from time to time, While Bill's tastes are a bit closer to Debs.  Ok then, Joy and I headed south!

Because our tickets were coming through Jager, I was told that they wouldn't be available until an hour before showtime. I had no idea what kind of seats we would get, and had no way of finding out.....really no matter anyway, either of us would have been happy to sit behind the stage just to be present. BUT, when I hand over my ID to get the tickets the lady asks "who are your tickets from?" I tell her and she disappears for a bit. My stomach is in a knot. When she returns the first thing I see is the neck strap used for credentials....then next thing she plops down is the VIP card to attach to the strap. Even at this point neither Joy nor I knew just how good we were going to have it.

We were ushered toward an elevator, but didn't really know why. The attendant ask if we were going to the 2nd floor. I had no idea why she would ask that and told her so. "You ARE going to the VIP party, right?" (Oh Lord)

We get to the party room and had a couple free drinks. "You DO want to go to the meet and great, right?" (Heart attack at this point)  <~~~ Yep, we met the band!

You are going to the seats that are right beside the stage, but out of the slam dancers area, right? (DAMN RIGHT I AM) <~~~as you can tell, at this point I'm getting quite used to being "an important person".

Now I realize this is getting to be a damn long entry, so I'll go short version from here on.

THANKS OPIE AND ANTHONY SHOW (especially SteveC), THANKS JAGERMEISTER...AND MOSTLY, THANKS JOY FOR BEING A GREAT CONCERT DATE! (Oh, damn...I better thank Deb and Bill for letting us even attempt something like this without any sort of divorce proceedings to follow!)

THIS FRIGGIN' YEAR IS KICKING ASS SO FAR. I've wrote that before, and so far haven't jinxed it, so I'm not scared to put it here again.

More room pictures.

Ok, I'm sure everyone has figured out that school is back in, thus the lack of update. Here are some more pictures of the room project. It is finally starting to wind down. I picked up my trim this morning, and should have it all installed and stained by this weekend. My buddy all routed all the trim pieces for me out of an oak board. I've got to get Deb an LCD monitor, and a LCD television for the wall. We are really liking it so far and have already started using it, even though it isn't finished quite yet. That's all for now.

The project.

So you want an entry, eh? Oh, and with some pictures you say....

Ok, you've got it! I'm not quite done with this project, but the picture count was getting high enough I thought I'd go ahead and get some out of the way. This is the first time I've attempted something like this, but it's coming out great. I got advice from everyone I know, and help picking colors from some nice ladies as well. I've still got the desk to build, and this room just begs for a mid size LCD on the wall. It's is for sure not hurting for sound! Anyway, enjoy all the pictures.

Christmas and Concerts.

One of my Christmas presents from Deb was tickets to the Alison Krauss concert...tonight was the night. It was a great show. I was kind of pissed at first because the way the set-list was made up the first hour was all brand new stuff. But in the long run, that made it better because once Jerry Douglas did his customary solo so the rest of the band could take a break, it was all the hits from then on. I was skeptical about how a basically acoustic band would sound in the Columbus Civic Center but it really sounded great. One great thing about this type of music is you don't have to worry about the riff-raff that shows up at most music concerts. I can just imagine how the crowd at the Disturbed concert next month will be the exact opposite. Anyway, with a stacked-deck band like Union Station to back her up, it would be hard to screw up I would think. It was a great show, and a great gift....Thanks Deb!

I've not been on much because I'm currently remodeling my old computer room. Since it was recently vacated, I figured I'd better strike while the iron was hot and get that room back to office duty. It has sort of turned into a major thing, but has also come out great. I'm not quite done, so no pictures yet. I've sort of used it as a test room as well because I've never really been into construction but luckily my right hand man is a cabinet maker on the side so I had on-call advice when needed, as well as a place to borrow tools.

Food junkies, dieting, and tiramisu.

I've eluded to the fact that things are going pretty good around here. This is one of the best new year starts I can remember. Even money is looking up...Deb got a raise, and I've had a good run of side work lately. Not getting ahead mind you, but slowly coming out of the hole.

We dieted like hell this week, and of course the first few days are always impressive. I guess we were celebrating our great dieting skills by eating out last night..........

Deb calls and asks where I am and do I want to go eat after work....no kids, lets go somewhere nice. I say what about the diet. She says it's a steakhouse, we don't have to cheat. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

We headed to a new place called Ben's Chop House. I've been there before but it was a different restaurant then. I must say that I'm pretty particular about wait staff...sometimes more so than being a food critic. Things were going well here however, prompt service and my glass never got under half full before there was another full one waiting beside it. The diet went to hell when the bread arrived. I was really hoping it was plain dinner rolls like most places, BUT NOOOO...it was yeast rolls like mom makes. They didn't last long amongst the Adkins dieters. So much for low carb. Deb ordered a Rib Eye and I got jumbo shrimp so we could try some of both. We didn't end up sharing much of either! Good stuff.

Finished up feeling pretty damn bad about cheating on the diet. Our girl stops and says "How about desert?" I was full and ready to cut my losses (so to speak) but Deb asks what they've got. The girl rattles off a list but the only thing I recognize is cheesecake. Now Debbie loves her cheesecake, but I can live without it. She suggests that I try the Tiramisu. I'm a picky bastard and could see how this could go bad, but things had been so good so far that I went out on a limb. That was one of the better decisions I've made lately. I've now got a new favorite desert, although I'm back to dieting now. If you've never had this, you've got to try it. Words cannot describe how good tiramisu is!

Some pictures of the mega-job.

Here are a few pictures of the job I talked about in my last entry.

Happy New Year, installer style.

Things have been hectic and weird around here the past week or so, thus the lack of updates. I'm not one to air out a lot of personal crap here, but I will say that for me things are going better around here than they have in a long time. This is sort of funny, since we've had another spell of being broke and behind on everything (thanks santa). Even at that, all is pretty good here.

Now, here is how a satellite man spent new years eve, and new years day:

On her way to work Thursday, Deb had some problems with the truck. Basically, it emptied itself of oil in about a minute. The good thing about the Powerstroke diesel is that it won't run if the oil gets dangerously low. That fact saved the truck from permanent damage. I couldn't find the problem in the parking lot at her work, so we filled it up and limped her home for me to check it out where I had some tools. I was already resigned to spending my long weekend working on the truck. Well, long story short, I found the problem (blown o-ring) in about an hour, and had it fixed 40 minutes after that. During this I got a call from Stan Merit, the owner of an upscale home theater store in town that I sometimes sub-contract for. They had taken on a job outfitting a new Golds Gym with more audio/video equipment that I can even get you to believe. The gym is supposed to open on 1 January, but there is MUCH left to do....would I be interested in helping out? This was a $90k (k-as in thousand!) job and basically HAD to be done or else. So.........

At 4 p.m. on new years eve I found myself at Golds Gym. I left this morning at 10 a.m. 18 hours of work, but the job is complete. Deb said she felt sorry for me....I told her feel sorry for Stan when he has to even up with me on Tuesday!

It was actually a fun job, and I was working with Stan's guys whom I've known and worked with for years. We had a scissor lift, and all the needed equipment. But it was a long night. I'll try to get some pictures of the finished project to post here. I was not even thinking about it last night.