The Great Wave 

 

 

 Now that it is officially winter it gets kind of cold down in the grouch cave , I have a reddy heater i use to take the chill off if I am fooling around with something .Well the heater started acting wonky. It would run ok at first , then start smoking and cut out. Last week when I was at the Big Box lumber store I grabbed a filter kit and tore it apart and replaced the air and fuel filters and cleaned out the orifice . Put it all back together and ...  No Bueno no fire no smoke no heat nothing . Hmmmm  well it was more than kinda chilly down there at that point , my fingers were numb and I was tired and crabby. I declared a temporary stalemate and retreated to warmer climes to regroup. I went down today refreshed and determined to find a solution )(Especially after researching the price of a replacement unit) I dug out the workmate so I did not have to stand on my head to work on it, redissembled it and found I had not gotten the fuel nozzle put back together tight . I snugged the whole mess down and put everything back where it belonged and lo and behold   ... lovely warm air !!  BWAHA HA HA VICTORY IS MINE !! Feels like I saved a few hundred bucks not having to buy a new one.

 

 

                                                       Job satisfaction at an all time high ! 

 

 

      It's Christmas eve. When I was a kid Christmas was a time of high hopes and grim realities . Christmas time was always hard times. It was always miserable and cold ,cash was always short , things would be freezing and breaking down and limited resources . It was a struggle keeping the house warm .We would go the Christmas gathering at the Grandparents farm , and inevitably there would be some form of conflict which would result  in Mom deciding to pack it up and storm out and go home. Then it was the short but uncomfortable ride home , to have snacks and go to sleep . Glad that's over. now I am like an old badger ,holed up in my den enjoying the quiet. Maybe I will celebrate the season with a wee dram .

       Well it is nearly Christmas , It's a little different this year with Mom being gone . I get to work day shift the next couple weeks which is kinda nice. No production over the holidays, so we can get some of the major P.Ms done . I get to work 7am to 3pm rather than my usual 1 pm to 11 pm shift. 

  I got a bunch of stuff through the fall  employee tool sale , with extra discounts over and above the regular employee discount. One of the items is a jump starter /battery booster box. It takes an 18 volt battery and boosts it up to start an engine. That might be a handy thing to have in these latitudes, if it saves me fooling with jumper cables or dragging out a battery charger and 100 feet of extension cord it'll be worth it. 

 

   

 

                                                  As I recall , that's how everyone did it!

 

                                                               Father of the year ?

       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 .

 

                                                      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 !?

     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 .  

    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. 

 

                                            I almost want a copy just to see how it all comes together !

 

 

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

 

   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 . 

     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.

    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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                   I think we all have the same reaction.

 

 

                            Personally I'd go with "You Hit Like a Little bitch" , but that's just me. 

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

                                                           A most worthy cause !                           

 

 

   Ever see something and think , "Gee I need to share this messed up shit with my friends ?"

   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.