What did you do Outside the shop today?

[Nobody Special]

Western yellowjacket - definitely have them here. They're a right pain the fourth point of contact in the late summer early fall, during "the dearth". It's a period when the pollen and nectar supplies dry up when the nests are at their peaks and they lose their minds. Hard to keep from killing your hives and they will dive bomb you like crazy for a soda or even if they smell fragrance from your toiletry products. I put up traps and place meat baited with flea poison in a closed cat carrier (so it's not eaten by pets).

The cat carrier meat usually kills all of them in a few hundred yards, but I do kind of like the other method of sitting outside my hives with a beer and hitting them with a propane torch a few times a day. That makes for a good afternoon. The other thing with ground dwelling yellowjackets and setting gasoline on fire? They don't always build straight down, especially eastern yellowjackets, and many a person has poured gas in a hole 15 or 20 feet from the side of their house only to have the gas run sideways and the fire spread to their crawlspace.

Boric acid powder squirted into a hive behind a soffit or some similar restricted space works well at reducing numbers and sometimes gets the hive. Forget drowning, it doesn't work and they poke tiny holes in the hose.

In my book, the order of increasingly nasty bug bites/stings goes chigger, flea, mosquito, ant, biting midges, spider bite, sand fleas, bottle fly, honey bee, fire ant, sweat bee, Arizona centipede walking on you, horse fly, scorpion, paper wasp, yellow jacket, and hornet, which is tied with touching those white fuzzy caterpillars they have in GA.

[Frosty]

I did not mean to imply lighting the gasoline used to kill a yellow jacket hive is a good idea or works at all. I squirt a couple few TBSp to maybe 1/4C on the entrance and leave it to do it's job. 

I remember people in S. Cal. when I was a kid try to kill gophers by pouring gas down the hole and lighting it. Usually it just burned like a smoky candle but every now and then you'd read about someone burning themself or a neighbor out with the technique. 

I didn't know yellow jackets would kill bee hives. I did know about boric acid "RoachPruf" as an insecticide though, mixed with a little powdered sugar it makes a wicked effective fly and ant killer.

Frosty The Lucky.

[Daswulf]

I have a funny story about trying to burn out a groundhog from its hole with gasoline only to almost burn down my shop. Funny thing. Check Your Fire extinguishers to make sure they are still good. Mine was not and I barely kept my shop from catching fire. It was years ago and I can laugh now but wow, lesson learned. 

Then there was my cousin with a coffee can full of gas trying to burn out a ground bee nest almost catching himself on fire when we were kids. 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

 

 

[Scott NC]

  That's cool Billy, I like steam anything.  Did you take Max I'm sure.  Here's a photo I took way back when of UP 844. 

[Scott NC]

  And an high up shot I took of it stopping for steam fans.  That one in your video looks like it's moving right along.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

That’s cool Scott!

the video is of the Empress 2816, she left Canada last month and is working her way to Mexico on a 9000 mile trip, 

she was built in 1930, and I was told this event is record breaking, as that’s supposed to be the longest passenger train to be pulled by a single steam locomotive, 

yesterday she passed through Adair county, and folks were waiting all across the county at every rail crossing and in every little town to take pictures and videos and cheat her on, it was quite the sight seeing so many people turn out for her, 

[Frosty]

The Empress is a 464 I believe, No?

I'd be there to cheer her on too.

I haven't seen a steam locomotive on the move in decades.

Frosty The lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Jerry 

i dunno maybe there’s more than one?
the website for the train called it the Empress 2816 

[Frosty]

Locomotives have their own number and sometimes names. Empress 2861 is it's registration it saves a lot of time if it needs repairs away from where it was built.

The number 464 are the number and arrangement of wheels on the locomotive. The 4 is the front wheels I don't recall what they're called, maybe Scott will drop in and rescue me. The 6 are the drivers they are the only powered wheels and provide all the pull. The 4 on the rear are idlers and provide stability preventing the cars in tow from pushing it off the rails.

It's a fascinating subject but HOLY MOLY is there a lot to keep straight with a brain dent.

Frosty The lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I call them pilot's.

  Read all about it :

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leading_wheel#:~:text=The leading wheel or leading,located on a leading truck.

 

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

So I’ve got a trail cut around our new acreage that I walk every afternoon, 

this evening my mother had came to visit and we decided to go for a walk, 

one of the goofy ol fat cats decided to follow, about halfway down the trail the cat quit following and wa loafing around a down tree from the storms, probably sniffing out a rabbit or squirrel or something, 

anyways it was getting dark and i didn’t want the cat out there because of the coyote packs that roll up after dark

so I picked her up and carried her, 

a ways down the trail i caught movement out of the corner of my eye just in time to see a copperhead strike at my barefoot! 

i jumped to the side and that sorry sucker came at me again! 

then he turned and went off into the tall grass! 

I always carry a revolver in my pocket walking in the woods here at the new place loaded with shot shells but I was carrying the cat and couldn’t grab for it, 

it’s probably just as well if I hadn’t been carrying the cat she would’ve got bit most likely 

defiantly more excitement then my barefooted self cared for this evening! Lol 

[CrazyGoatLady]

My arch enemy , the copperhead. We moved her 3 1/2 years ago and I have seen more copperheads than I have ever in my life. The first summer we killed well over 30 of them. I've lost count of how many since then. Do you live in the woods? Prime place for them. I have learned by experience with them, that they aren't very aggressive. They mostly try to get away from you and most times a strike is because you got too close. Be extra cautious right now. Locusts are coming out and they eat them. For us here, the peak of summer is the worst time for them. From around July to August. They come out around dusk to hunt. They like damp conditions. We've noticed during drought, they don't come out much. We always do a check before we let dogs out. Hope that helps you deal with them and I hope your don't have as many as we have. I'm also glad you didn't get bit and you kept the cat from it too 

[George N. M.]

Cheyenne, WY (45 miles from Laramie) is the hub for Union Pacific steam operations.  So, we see more steamers than the average here.  Both the Big Boy and 844 come through regularly.

Some years ago Martha and I saw 844 pulling the Denver Post Frontier Days train from Denver to Cheyenne.  the tracks run right along side US 85 and we were able to pace it at about 70-75 mph.  At that speed the connecting rods are just at the edge of being a blur.  Also, it was a damp day and there was lots of steam clouds.  Very impressive.

The Rocky Mountain West is a good place to be a rail fan because there are a number of steam lines, the Cumbres and Toltec, the Silverton, the Heber Creeper, the Georgetown Loop, and others.  Some are steam and some are diesel.  If anyone is a rail fan and is going to be in this part of the country drop me a PM and I may be able to direct you to some cool places that not all tourists get to see.

George

[BillyBones]

Bought a new wood chipper so you can guess what i have been doing. Wish i would have bought one years ago kind of a fun little toy. 

And of course today is Memorial Day. I hope everyone has a good day and you can enjoy it with family, have some BBQ, maybe an adult beverage or 3, and some ice cream. 

Please though take a moment and say a prayer or give remembrance to those who did not make it home, the ones who gave all so that you, and even many around the world, can enjoy this day and the freedoms we hold dear. And not just the American troops, but raise a toast to those who fell beside them as well.

Today is not a holiday, it is a day of remembrance. 

To my brothers and sisters in arms, thank you for standing with me and welcome home. 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Amen to that Billy

We have my in- laws over for dune barbecue. Other than that I have cleaned house and mowed. Tough mowing tight now because of all the rain we've had so I have to take opportunity where I can. I really really world like to get to the forge but I don't think that's in the cards today lol

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

How did y'all fare with the recent storms? Debi and I are fine, no damage to any buildings or vehicles, been running on generator since the severe thunder storms yesterday. The Rogers Fayetteville area didn't fare so well thought with multiple tornado's Rogers was especially hit hard with at least one fatality.

Today was clean up with the chainsaw as we lost some rather large tree tops and big branches. First chore was today to clear our south driveway. The Office of Emergency just put a post out on Facebook and advised the power may be out for 5 days. Lucky I went and filled up the truck and several gas cans for the generator, I really like electricity.

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[CrazyGoatLady]

Irondragon, we got a lot of rain Saturday night but nothing major. Unfortunately a little town about 25 miles south of us was hit pretty hard. Tornado leveled a gas station where lots of people were taking shelter, but no one was hurt in that. But a small community of houses was hit nearby and the last that I've heard was 7 dead. Such a tragedy. It's the first tornado that I can remember hitting on this area in over 30 years

[Nobody Special]

Glad y'all didn't get the worst of it, but a bit surprised. We used to get hit in Garland so often we used to to joke when the warnings came on that it must be a Tuesday. My folks and my brother up in Whitesboro used to get them a good bit too, and I don't think that's too far from Woodbine, right?

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

Today is recover from all the work yesterday. Our power came back yesterday evening so today it's service the generator, seeing it has 80.3 hours on the meter. Change the oil, clean the air filter check all the connections, them pat it on the gas cap and tell it "good generator".

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[Irondragon Forge ClayWorks]

What I did today started yesterday with my 2015 Ford F150 Eco-Burst truck. It's been a great trouble free truck however yesterday, I had a lot of rat killin (chores) to do. The first thing I noticed was the front door windows would not go down, power to the switch as the rear door windows worked fine.
When I got to my second stop, I noticed the radio volume and channel change knobs would not work but the steering wheel control worked just fine. At my third stop, a retirement party for one of my officers, upon leaving there the air bag warning light on the instrument panel stayed lit. While heading to my third stop, the truck was running fine but the low tire pressure monitor showed a fault and the low tire light stayed lit, checked the tire pressure with my gauge and they were just fine.
It was raining some and the WW wipers and defroster were working just fine, thank goodness. At my fourth and last stop when I started the truck all the prior problems were still there but the air conditioner/heater control was off and would not turn on dead as a hammer. I made it home OK and the truck was still running fine.
When I got home I checked all the fuses that the manual said controlled every thing that was malfunctioning and they were all good, boy that truck has a lot of fuses. I also checked all the exposed wiring for mouse damage as I've had other vehicles get the wiring chewed up and there was no damage I could see. Any wonder I hate mice. I did some more research and reading the thick operators manual and learned some of those problems could be attributed to a weak battery even though the truck started like always just fine. That brings us to today.

I went out and the battery is the original Ford battery and it's 9 years old the average life of a battery is 4-5 years. I put my battery charger with a meter on it and it showed the battery was questionable, at the low end of green. So I pulled the battery out and went to Walmart, purchased a new battery that matched the OEM battery 780 CCA with a 4 year warranty. I've always had good luck with Walmart's Ever-Start batteries.
Man are those batteries heavy, I estimated 50 pounds. Brought it home and installed it, no problems with the installation. I hooked up the battery charger and the meter showed good at the top of the green meter. I started the truck and it was not fixed still the same problems. I parked it under the car/truck port and found a new problem had developed the auto door locks would not work not from the switch on the door or my key fob. I locked the doors manually and checked to make sure I could unlock the drivers door with my key and at least that worked. So it seems every time the truck is turned off and then re-started a new problem develops. I went inside and called the dealer service dept., made arrangements to drop it off Monday morning. I sat there wishing I hadn't stopped drinking alcohol in '84

I can't control the wind, all I can do is adjust my sail’s.
Semper Paratus

 

[George N. M.]

Sounds to me, and I'm no mechanic or motorhead, to be something connected with the central electronics/computer.  The problems are in too many circuits.

You probably needed a new battery anyway.

G

[Mike BR]

A bad ground (chassis ground strap or the like) can cause some pretty odd problems.  Probably not that odd, but might be worth checking.

[Frosty]

I HATE electrical problems! A loose or corroded ground could be the problem but that's just an old wrench twister's logic and doesn't apply to computerized everything vehicles.

Best of luck Randy!

Frosty The Lucky.

[yesteryearforge]

Someone once told me

If you caint fix it with a hammer you have an electrical problem