Wednesday, December 17, 2025

                                                               Father of the year ?


Saturday, December 13, 2025

       Got quite a lot done in the Grouch Cave today .had to finish up fixing a shelving unit resto, and move a bunch of stuff the room mate had parked in the way (Grrrr) got the shelf in place , and rederanged a bunch of stuff that was just parked kinda in the way. the whole mess is looking lots better! Now I have to clean up the firearms bench and make that area presentable. That might take a bit ...

    Baby it's Cold outside ! It is 2 below to start the day. I am going to have a good hearty breakfast and head down to the dungeon (also known as the Grouch Cave) and finish up fixing up the free shelf I got from work. its decent , and big ,2 feet by 4 feet and 6.5 feet tall. the problem is the actual shelves were made of particle board and had gotten wet and were falling apart. The framework is in good condition , so I got some 1/2 inch plywood and cut it into new shelves. I am half done, need to grab the second sheet of plywood , wrestle it onto the sawhorses and hack it up and drop it into place . I also got a bunch of stuff at the employee sale to go through and see what is in the box. A bunch of Packout stuff to get the shop organized .

Thursday, December 11, 2025

 


                                                      Most likely the Rhombus ...


 


     Gotta admit I am enjoying the two day work weeks. I had to run to town today and get my blood test done to make sure my warfarin dose is correct. Then it was off to the pharmacy to refill a couple prescriptions . I gassed up the truck because the weather guessers are all calling for a blast of snow through tomorrow and then really cold through the weekend. Tomorrow I will go into work to pick up the stuff I ordered through the fall tool sale .one of the things that I am curious about is a Milwaukee battery booster pack. It will be nice to have one of them on hand. I've wanted one of these things for a while , really handy for getting a car running without dragging out an extension cord and battery charger. Can't believe it is almost Christmas , where did the year go !?

Tuesday, December 9, 2025

     The car in the ditch was pulled out Sunday afternoon the rescue crew (Her brother and a couple friends) arrived around 12;30 or so ,and after a bit of digging and a broken tow strap they had her out and on the road.  We did not see any damage so no harm no foul. If I had to guess, maybe someone was a bit tipsy and slept it off good before tackling the stuck ride. Being that nobody got hurt and no real damage was done who cares. I'm happy everyone involved made it home OK in the end , and the dogs had something new and interesting to bark at for a day .  


Sunday, December 7, 2025

    It has been winter like around here, we got a couple doses of snow and things are a bit slick in spots with the added benefit of snow filled ditches . About 1;30 this morning the Dogs started freaking out . It was not the usual "Oh boy I heard a mouse fart" bark , it was the alarm bark. I looked out and saw someone in the ditch across the road. : ( Well I donned my clothing ,tied on my boots strapped on a pistol and put on a jacket went out and checked in with them. It was a young lady from near by she had called her dad and was waiting for him. He finally arrived ,and picked her up. They left the car in the ditch and will presumably fetch it from its resting place sometime in the near future. 

Tuesday, December 2, 2025

Here we are it is December now , and I still have 70 hours of vacation to use up. The Maintenance crew has to show up during the plant shut down over the Christmas holidays and knock out a couple projects and some of the more time consuming P.Ms .So I decided to take Wednesdays and Thursdays off The boss didnt want me to use it all up at once because we are a bit short handed and training a FNG . So my month will consist of two day work weeks !I have no real plans but am sure I can find something to fill the time.

 


                                                            He has a point you know


 


Sunday, November 30, 2025

   The results of yesterdays snowfall looks like we got our fair share. Anyone want some ? I looked around first thing today and dug out my can of Snow Seal and greased up the work boots ,they needed it. Now to see if we can breathe life into the snow thrower . 


Saturday, November 29, 2025

     She's a cold one today ! Snow has been falling all day . I'm glad  I have a 4X4 truck I will need it to get out of the driveway. Made a run to town earlier and it wasn't a speedy journey , probably did not go much more than 50M.P.H. I was not really in a hurry so who cares! Friday I helped a friend fetch a truck he won on an auction. we ran down to pick it up in Broadhead  before the weather got ugly . We had to fool around with it to get it running the batteries are about shot . We didnt have jumper cables with us. (Both of us have multiple sets but did not grab for operation) Jiro had a jumper box but it was not up to the task. we ended up finding an auto parts store and getting jumper cables and a can of starting ether (AKA Throttle in a Bottle ) went back to the municipal garage and after a little more fooling around the ol binder was running . we made our way back and finally got back to the ranch  about 2;00 PM. Knowing we had ugly weather on the horizon I suggested to we ought to keep going rather than park it here .so we kept on rolling and got it to his farm in Adams  Friendship about 3;30 . We dropped off the binder , trailer (another story)  and made our way back . Had to stop in Portage at Runnings and grab some dog food and scooby snax  .by the time I got back to the ranch I was whipped. I'm glad we got all of the running around done before the weather went south. Even got a bit done around here as well.

Wednesday, November 26, 2025

    It is a holiday week , Thanksgiving tomorrow , and Deer Hunting this week here in Wisconsin. At the plant , most of the Engineering team is off , and the Maintenance supervisor is off this week as well ,so we are short handed .Monday we had a 7.5H.P. motor fail that ran a ventilator we need to run our black oxide coating process . It ended up being an "All Hands On Deck " kind of situation the day shift guys dug in and did the grunt work , I dug out the spare motor Jake the Process Engineer helped with the electrical end , and after the day shift guys ran out of time , I got the sheaves lined up , tightened up the belts ,and buttoned it all up and cleaned up the crime scene . I think it was a good team effort , every one got to help out and make it happen . I think the boss will be happy with our performance when he gets back.

Monday, November 17, 2025

                        true story , dont try this at home , these are trained professionals !


                                                           A most worthy cause !                           


 


Sunday, November 16, 2025

Saturday, November 15, 2025

   Saturday , mid  November , mid 60s today ! got a couple trips to the recycling center in this morning .         Went through the fridge and tossed all of the unidentified out of date food vintage fuzzy cheese Be Gone !!  Hit Rio and grabbed a couple steaks to grill later ,  It is supposed to cool off overnight so I think today will be a grill and chill kind of evening . Tomorrow when its 42 degrees I will toss a roast in a Dutch oven and put it in the oven all afternoon . Those usually turn out OK. 

 


 


Friday, November 7, 2025

       I've been fighting a low key sinus infection after the Ryker dog broke my nose , and a cold too. We ran out of dog food yesterday , and Yoda was not happy about that ! he really likes lots of between snack meals . I ran to The farm store and got dog food and a couple other things and was going to the grocery store. As I was making my way up the highway , I started coughing and hacked up a bunch of phlegm witch I promptly spit out the window. Well I did not see the fellow who was camped out in my blind spot and it hit his truck. as I came to the stop sign he rolled up in the lane beside me and started yelling about it. I turned the corner and drove to the grocery store figuring that was it and as I was  sitting there he came cruising up and parked a couple rows away.   I saw him stop over there and figured if I left the truck he would mess with it so I sat there and pretended to play with my phone. After I didn't leave he decided to come over and give me a hard time. He demanded an apology and I said whatever. he was getting really belligerent so at that point said he was going to kick my ass , since I was still in my ride with the keys in the ignition I told the fool to go fuck himself and fired up the ride and split. I GTFO and by the time he was back to his truck I was on the highway.  The dumb S.O.B. never considered that I might be armed. I resisted the urge to brandish the pistol . I did not want to give the moron any excuse to call the cops . But I will defend myself . A mid 60s dude with a couple heart attacks under my belt , homey ain't gonna play that game . Roadrage boy needs to think more