Life in the temperate zone...

What...turning over a new fig leaf?

Avatars of late are full of positivity and natural beauty. What happened to zombie clowns reigning carnage?

Not sure I'm crazy about this new zeitgist...
 
96% of Ford pickup trucks are still on the road after 5 years... the other 4% actually made it home.

No, really, that's a nice looking truck. I have two older Chevy 1/2-ton trucks, but it's not really brand loyalty. I got them for cheap, and they're very easy to get parts for. Any junk yard will have a pile of working engines, transmissions, and decent body parts, cuz they made so damn many of the stupid things. Over here on the po' side of town, we drive anything we don't have to get out and push. That, and I refuse to buy a pickup truck that costs more than my house did.
 
JD3000 said:
What happened to zombie clowns reigning carnage?
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I'm on the lam. Trying to keep a low profile. Avoiding the long arm of the law.

JD3000 said:
Runnin out of places to put the damn things...
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That's the problem. People walking their damn dogs in the woods, kids playing in the storm drains, damn hippies scavenging old junk piles...
Oh, what I'd give to live in a tropical rain forest. Plenty of hiding places, lots of bio action, carnivores and scavengers.

bunnykiller.webp
 
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So it rained liked a bastard this weekend so I head outside to see which gutters and downspouts and their associated drain lines I need to work on. About as shitty as I thought but then I heard water hitting wood flooring pretty loud. I look into the garage where I have a closet where I keep landscape related stuff that I don't want the boys getting into. Water is dripping like crazy between the joint of the ceiling drywall so I figure I have a roof leak and put down some buckets and get the ladder out to head up to the crawl space attic. Of course it's hotter than Hades up there, ya gotta walk on the joists, watch for nails, and I'm using the flashlight on my phone to navigate. Dry as a bone, no leaks to be found. Of course I couldn't get over the wet spot so I'm about to haul up tools to knock out the section of particle board and insulation and whatnot to get closer when I saw these.
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Did I just hit American Pickers gold? What the Hell? Heavy as all get out but I managed to get them down the ladder to the garage without breaking my crazy neck.

I go back to check my buckets which had filled about halfway at this point when I smelled it. Bleach. Son. Of. A. Bitch.

I had filled the Jacuzzi tub with bleach up past the jets to let it soak, then was gonna run it so bleach ran through the whole system. Damn seals on the upper jets were effed and had soaked through the subfloor to the garage closet. Couldn't see anything cuz it's raised and surrounded by tile. Oh shit...lets go look in the basement...pool table, carpet, ceiling, ceiling lights all wet. Lovely. Time to call State Farm and get this process moving along. Helpful folks, sent out the water damage drying people dudes with the heated fans and whatnot while we called some renovation folks I know. Tub is going bye bye and we'll redo that part of the master bath instead for more storage for crap and a spot for her to do makeup or whatever the Hell it is she does in there. Adjuster comes tomorrow.

Then I realize I didn't open those metal boxes. Here's to hoping its pirate treasure right?
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Nope. Some old Sears horse shoes, axe head, some metal wedges, and an old chainsaw chain.

I did get the gutters, downspouts, and drain lines cleaned out and flushed. Water off a duck's ass.
 
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What? A bunch of scrap metal? No body parts, treasure maps, gold fillings, orange haired troll dolls or even a vintage French Mouli? Man... and here I thought this story was going to have a happy ending.

I can't believe you didn't just grab a tube of silicon caulk and some duct tape and fix that shit yourself. If civilization collapses, Ohio will be the first place to revert to barbarism. You'll be cannibalizing your neighbors by dawn of the third day.

Elephants-Leave-Party.webp
 
JeffGu said:
What? A bunch of scrap metal? No body parts, treasure maps, gold fillings, orange haired troll dolls or even a vintage French Mouli? Man... and here I thought this story was going to have a happy ending.

I can't believe you didn't just grab a tube of silicon caulk and some duct tape and fix that shit yourself. If civilization collapses, Ohio will be the first place to revert to barbarism. You'll be cannibalizing your neighbors by dawn of the third day.

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I tried bubble gum and spit but then gave up.

Let me live.
treebilly said:
I’ll pay shipping on that old ax head. Send it my way.or bring it to the next expo
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Um...its yours dude. My terms are merely a beer and a whiskey one day.
 
JeffGu said:
The animal kingdom goes about its business, rain or shine, with relative impunity and damn little complaining. The human condition, in contrast, is fraught with disaster and laden with misery... with only the occasional bright spots between. Now, you might be inclined to erroneously feel a substantial amount of sympathy for the stray dog or cat that wanders down your street; trust me, those stray dogs, feral cats and dumpster diving possums live a cushy, worry free lifestyle compared to humans. Unless, of course, they happen to live in one of those remote parts of the world where the lingua franca expresses the concepts of "dog", "cat", "road killed possum" and "what's for dinner" all with the same word.

I had to drive thirty-something miles yesterday, to hang a gate on a fence... the last bit of work to finish the job and collect payment. Two miles from the jobsite, it began to rain. Ten minutes into the work, the rain turned to sleet. By the time I finished, it was snowing, blowing hard, and the temperature had dropped from 43F to 31F in an hour. While I was out back, the homeowners had slipped out and were gone. No pay today.

Then, as I packed up to leave, the next door neighbor wanted me to cut another limb off his tree in the front yard. The only saw I had with me was the little Echo CS-271T that I recently bought but hadn't actually had in a tree, yet. But I agreed.

With the air temp slightly below freezing, but the trees and ground being warmer than that, everything was a horrific, slushy mess of stuff that was wet, stuff that was frozen, and stuff that was undecided as to whether it should freeze or merely turn my boots soggy. All three stuck to the rope and mechanicals like bad luck sticks to an arborist. I was miserable. I might have hanged myself with that Aztec rope if my friggin' hands weren't so cold I couldn't tie a granny knot in a rubber band if my life depended on it.

But...

The little Echo tophandle (poor man's MS-150T) started on the first pull and ran like a champ. Cut the whole limb up into firewood for the guy, I was so pleased. Even the 6" diameter stuff didn't give the saw any trouble.

There you have it. One of those occasional bright spots between the disasters and the misery. I charged him forty bucks because I was so happy that little saw didn't fight me when I was in the tree, and because my freakin' brain was frozen into a lump of mush. I mean, really? Forty bucks barely covered the gas the truck used getting up there and back. I blame it all on the miserable human condition, shitty Nebraska weather and the very distinct possibility that I'm an idiot. Hey, but that little saw... :)
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Hey I have one of those top handled Echos, they are pretty good actually, nice balance and feel good in the hand. It was relegated to yard duty and replaced by 200T s. We bought the last of the 200ts in captivity in these here parts. They are all but extinct now except for the ones still in service. I tried to breed more 200Ts alas it wasn’t meant to be.
 
They're good little saws, and priced right. When it's really hot out, the Stihl saws will often not want to start or constantly die when you let off the throttle. The Echo saws don't give me those problems. I can re-tune the Shihls, then do it again when the weather cools down, but it gets rather annoying.

Other than that one issue, I prefer the Stihl saws up in the tree, just like the shape and balance of them better. But, on the really hot days, I sometimes just take a little Echo up, so I don't have to worry about it.
 
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