Inconclusive

It seems with even the most advanced technology (MRIs), the powers-that-be still cannot be sure what's wrong with my shoulder. The MRI showed inflammation and possibly something 'torn' but can't tell for sure. So doctor gave me two cortisone shots in the shoulder and told me to set up some appointments with the physical therapist. I said, "Can't you just give me some exercises to do and I'll do them on my own?" He was very skeptical that I would actually do them (which I WOULD HAVE), so I agreed to go to the physical therapist a couple of times to see what he/she would have me do and then get a list of exercises from him/lher.


And if all of that doesn't work he said surgery is the next step. I asked, "What would that entail?" He started talking about things like cutting the tip of my collar bone off and shaving bone off the top of my shoulder, etc. My thought was, "Wow! For not knowing exactly what's wrong, it sure seems like you know exactly what needs to be done in surgery!" I didn't say that out loud, but probably should have. I suspect that what he described is some cookie-cutter, assembly-line type surgery that he does to "cure" all shoulder problems. I'll definitely get a second opinion before anything that drastic occurs. Buyer Beware!


I shopped a bit yesterday for my boys' Christmas presents (both adults, but still my little boys). Will probably spend the day in 'laid-back' mode. Wrapping the few gifts and puttering around.


Bigfoot is going to get some of our propane jugs refilled today and that's about all he's got on his schedule.

Underfoot (our pug) will be his usual self and be 'under foot' all day.

Season's Greetings and Happy Holidays to everyone out there in the big ol' blogosphere---From Bigfoot, Littlefoot, and Underfoot.

22 December 2011

I'm sitting here nursing the beginnings of a cold. What nice timing . . .

On Monday I had an MRI done on my injured shoulder. I'll go tomorrow morning and find out the results. At the moment, my neck is hurting me way more than my shoulder. It's hell getting old!

I have NOT done my Christmas shopping. Thank goodness there's not that much to do. Our families are not into the out-of-control consumerism that seems to be the key inGREEDient of the holiday season. I look forward to December 21st each year more than I look forward to the 25th because I know that after that, the days are now getting longer . . . Yea!!!

Bill and I went to a Lyle Lovett concert at Bass Hall on Tuesday night. That was our gift to each other (and our annual date!). We had a great time, but it made for a late night for us homebodies.

No specific plans for the day . . .I feel kinda guilty sending Bigfoot off to work while I stay home on my break.

Obviously, not much going on here . . .

Sunday, December 11

Littlefoot here!

I'm here putting off grading papers and doing next week's lesson plans. But it's inevitable that some time today that's what I'll be up to. . . .

Our cats are maturing and reproducing and still mostly wild. We gradually tame one at a time and become semi-attached to him/her. Then that particular cat disappears. We've come to believe that we're signing the death warrant of whatever cat is next in line to be tamed. So far the order of taming and disappearance is as follows: Geddy, Tillie, Shybo, and Remmie. Next in line for disappearance is either Michelle (a solid black cat named after our First Lady) or Sox..

But ya gotta feed 'em, right? Ya can't just let 'em freeze and die. And now Bigfoot has a propane heater out in the shack that he turns on for them at night so they don't freeze (He's the 'cat man.' They're his children). We figure they're out there gestating a whole new generation. Yippee!!

I injured my shoulder on the Sunday that we were returning from the cabin during our last trip down at Thanksgiving. We were in Alpine and Bill was in Subway getting us some sandwiches. I was sitting in the passenger's seat and attempted to lift a very heavy book bag (damn heavy chemistry textbook, etc) over my shoulder between the seats into the back seat. About half-way through that manuever a loud POP! came from my shoulder---and that was that . . .

I went to the doctor the next day and we decided to take a 'wait and see' approach. I've been wearing a sling for two weeks to school (hoping things would get better). Some days it seems better--other days not. Certain motions are fine, others painful. Tomorrow afternoon I will visit the orthopedic specialist and go from there.

It's been a real pain in the ass because it's my left shoulder and I'm left-handed.

We miss being at the cabin. It sucks!

Later . . . .I've been trying to post this blog all day and Blogger won't let me. Sheesh!

Got my lesson plans done . . .Yea! As for grading papers--why do today what I can put off for another day? It's not like my students really care about their grades (until the last week of the grading period, of course--Then it's panic time).

whittlin'...drillin'...cuttin'...sittin'...etc

I have this nice comfy leather arm chair I picked up at a Salvation Army used furniture shop a few years ago. And what with all the sittin' around I've been doing the last couple of years, with no job and such, it's always seemed a tad too low for my 6'5" frame. It's nice and wide for my "wide load" girthitude....but I always have to put a thick pillow in it or I feel like I'm squatting on my haunches...and my tender little knee-bones don't like that too much. Hard to get up easily from sitting on the ground.

So today, after putting it off for weeks...I finally, instead of watching the Cowboys (and they were winning at halftime my Dad called to tell me)....I made some old fart highchair blocks for the bottom of my chair.

Using some 4"x6" Wolmanized timbers that were given to us by http://benntexas.blogspot.com/, a blogger we check daily who lives south of DFW, I fashioned some elevator blocks.

The round wooden peg feet from the bottom of the chair were a tad bigger than my biggest 1-1/2" paddle bit so instead of driving the 12 mile round trip to the nearest place to buy one (Ace Hdw)...I simply whittled the pegs to be a little skinnier and wollared out the holes with the paddle bit. The pegs were white oak and took some doing, and by the last peg shaving, my knife was getting a bit dullish, but I got-'r done. (pics are sideways..but you get the idea)

A little brown spray paint to make the wife happy with the final appearance and VIOLA...'tis done and is a thang of beauty.!...and the chair is nice and tall..!!

Just tapped them onto the shrunked pegs with a 2# sledge and it's done.
Now, I have't told y'all this, but I finally landed a JOB!!...and won't be able to sit around in this chair all day like I have been....damnit. Gotta git up and and out early....driving 50 miles each way through traffic (yeehaa..not) to the jobsite in Irving...not too far from the old (now gone) Cowboy Stadium.

I'm the superintendant over a project to take 168 old apartment units built in 1964, and give them a complete make-over. Lotta asbestos abatement to be done first....stripping interiors down to the bare studs, moving a few interior walls, adding some scab-on bathrooms here and there (new slab), all new plbg,wiring, HVAC. Putting gable truss roofs onto the existing flat roofs, all new elevations, new windows, removing all sidewalks, adding area drains, new landscaping, and building a ground-up leasing office/club with pool. About a 12 month job.

I was a "senior project manager" for the last 10 years....and haven't been a "super" since 1997, but what the hell...it's a paycheck, and alot less stress than being a PM. I'm happy with it. I'll get some pics of the progress as it goes along. Not officially starting until mid-Dec for actual const work, it won't close with HUD until then.

I hope to nab some good dumpster items from this job, and will add to my collection of wonderful used const junk....(I love const junk.!!...always have) Gotta get the F250 diesel towed to the shop for a head gasket job (+/- $2000 job)....but cheaper than another truck...then I can haul some goodies home for safekeeping.

Here's an old cowhead I need to tie onto the front of the Towncar for the next Terlingua Trip....but it'll probably lure cops and I don't need that Gestapo hassle...so maybe not. Does look kinda like what a plane-flying, goat-herding, terrorist might drive...huh?

Here's a couple of pics of a project I did north of Dallas in McKinney, back in '05. An older folks retirement apt project...240 units I think, hell I can't recall. This was the back side. REAL Austin Limestone...that's what the owner/client wanted and he paid for it.

That is all......CHOW, babeee.!

graph of truth...and post-Kiln garden harvest

Where are YOU on this chart...??

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

AND (update here)....here's what I gleaned from the garden in the cold drizzle tonite...after the nuclear Fuckusheema summertime we had here in TX.

All peppers here...the maters "tried" a bit with some yellow blossoms....but no fruit since a few in late spring....One watermellon the size of a canteloupe that I have not plucked yet.

(cell phone added for scale, lest anyone think these are huge peppers)

Supposed to be 40 degrees in the AM here.

Pepper tacos?....Pepper gumbo?....Pepper sandwiches?....pepper pancakes anyone..???

Good Cartoon here...but all too true these days.

My daughter found this cartoon and sent it to me. It represents today's life as a teacher in the public school system.

Parents are nowadays pretty lousy as a rule and alot of kids have no clue as to what discipline is.

And just like our fearless leader (Barry Soetoro - "OBummer")..it's ALWAYS someone elses fault..!

Amerika's Future...!!

Adios MO-FO's..!!

Packard Shack....nearly complete! (UPDATE)

Well...with the wonderful aid of modern machinations (Littlefoot's mom...guess that would make her my mom-in-law?) and a borrowed JD diesel tractor with front end loader...we got the brick floor nearly completed.

Concrete would have cost nearly $500 just for a half truck of "mud"..not to mention forms, rebar, labor to pour and finish...when I have all these bricks FREE.!!

Nephew Joe did the tractor work and brick loading on Sat/Sunday. Then Monday I got "Jackie" out to handle finishing up the brick placment.


Let's see...32 cubes of brick...each cube has a tad under 500 bricks...so what's that 16K bricks?
These were left over from an apt const job I was managing back in 1995. They had planned to install a long, high-dollar brick privacy fontage screen wall, and these bricks are special order to match the original phase one bricks (we were adding 120 units for phase II project to match in looks/etc), I ordered the bricks early in the job, due to a long lead time. By the time we were framed up and started brick work, the development dept decided "no fence"...we could not get credit for the over order of bricks...and we did not have any storage area for saving the extra materials. (Big REIT public-held company that wasted $$ like no tomorrow that I worked for). We had to pay for them to complete the purchase order...so I had these last 2 truckloads shipped out to my 3 acres west of DFW.. instead of telling the brick supplier to "keep 'em".
These are "wood mold" bricks, and somewhat irregular in shape. Not the standard wire-cut neat longer bricks we see mostly nowdays. Made via the old method when they used wooden carved molds. No round holes in these bricks, just square tapered holes on bottom side called "frogging" for some reason...at least the brick salesman explained it to me like that.



Joe loaded the bucket as full as he could, then drove to the Pack/Shack and dumped them. I started a few bricks Sunday afternoon...

Smooth out the dirt with a long metal "screed" and eyeball leveling, and little trowel fine tuning...and start laying bricks. Shoulda wet it down to help setttle in the dirt first...but hose not long enough and I ain't haulin water in a barrel.

Jackie showing progress made.

Old fridg is non working...just used for storage cabinet-to-be.

I saw this one today on Zerohedge.com....no words needed if you live in the US and have your eyes open.

That's it for now..

Adios

B'ft.

How to make a fat boy sweat....or "I'm HONGREE"

Nuttin' much to report today...got up and after my morning chores of feeding the cat herd, feeding the pug, and then walking the pug, watering the garden...I decided to actually "fix" me some breakfast.

4 eggs, scrambled with peppers, fresh from the garden (it's actually producing again), grated (pre-) sharp cheese, and hot sauce....with a couple of sliced Walmart 89 cent/lb Roma (Mexican grown) 'maters drizzled wit some buttermilk dressin'.....and I'm in bid'ness.!! Oh, can't forget a big glass of Tomato juice.

The wife (the one that started this blog)....has to get up at 5:30AM everyday...so I get up with her...and get my lazy day started early. Kinda nice to get out walking the dog, puffin' on my pipe before sun-up.

Caren is working hard and putting in some long hours teaching these days. She is seeing first hand the wonderful Fed CorpGov program for "no kiddos left behind"..and how it's like an unspoken policy in the public high schools to NOT flunk anyone...just move them to the "special program" area....and each kid you move into the "needs help" area...the teacher has to fill out a 1/4" thick stack of forms on EACH kid and turn into the admin. She has 3-4 slow kids in each class.

She has a coach/part time teacher across the hall....that miraculously has NO "problem kids" that are failing..(he doesn't want to deal with the paperwork...so everyone in his classes are "passing" fine.) And no one questions him..???

The TX public schools now are sooo wrapped up in getting and maintaining their "Exemplary" status via their TAKS test and drop out rates...that they push through ALL kids...and some schools even have special schools for "slow" kids that are failing...and these small sideline Special schools let kids zip through a semester of a subject class in a 2-3 weeks, by having them do "modules" on the computer at school...no homework, minimal tests. Funny how a kid that was about to flunk out, gets into the special school and graduates EARLY..!!

And I know one kid that went through this "Special high school" that told me his teacher would fill out his test answers for him, if he was having ANY trouble with a test.....I couldn't believe it.!! He graduated from high school and the kid can barely do simple math in his head...and not very well on paper. America's future...thanks to 30 - 40 years of help from the FEDs.

(Damn....haw'd I get started on that rant???)

okay done.....adios all.

B'feet

DIY antenna for reg TV folks..and solar batch HWH

Don't know if many of you readers have started the major downsize and back-up in living costs that are coming for most of us regular folks in the the US economy, but we dumped the $65 Dish bill and opted for regular sheeple TV programming, with only the local 8 or so channels (half of them Spanish) for FREE with a converter box.

This one works great...almost 3 yrs now....1x4 board...some screws, wire and 2 coathanger wires...one is white in the pick...the other one rusty red....AND the cable coax connector part. A tad bent and beat up from being blown over a few times...(not attached , just leaning up)

I did some research online about a home-made antenna and it works better than the $70 radio Shack version we started out with that ran off a wall-wart power source. I found the detailed instructions on the "Instructables" website...and you can look at everything there for free but you get better pics and complete PDF downloads for a membership fee of $10 per year. Lotta kewl stuff there....good ideas...making tools with a torch and PVC pipe, changing a dorm fridge to a chest fridge...etc etc.

Changing gears....I was on the way to pickup Nephew Joe the other day and spied a nice big elect HWH sitting by a dumpster...we swung back by and loaded that 55 galloner laying down on the back seat of the Towncar....BUT the door wouldn't shut all the way on Joe's side...so he had to ride reaching back in the back seat trying to hold the door from flying open....only a 2 mile trip...so no biggie.

Now we got it home and started to strip the skin off the outside, for a future "Hot water solar batch water heater"...there are some plans on the internet for these...but the easiest and best I've seen is from an old Mother Earth News article....google it. These things work great,especially in the desert. You can easily scald yo'ass if you're not careful.

Still gotta get the foam insulation off...and build the wood cradle/casket with a repurposed and hinge mounted sliding glass door lid for it to be complete.

AND you and up with a nice heavy guage hunk of sheet metal for a BONUS to use somewhere else.!!

hmmm.,,,think I have about 4-5 of these tanks gathered and stripped down...ready for making into a batch heater....guess I oughta take it to the next level, huh? (that's the A.D.D. kicking in)

The pack shack is gathering junk already...becoming a hang-out spot for me. Complete with stylish cinderblock occasional tables for tasty adult beverages and/or a pipe..!

okay....long blog...done now..

adios..!

Big.F>

Carport/Shed progressing....but slowly.

They say "Quality takes time"....so maybe that's why this simple little shed is dragging out so long?

Or it could be lack of funds, lack of get up and go, sizzling hot temps all summer here in north TX....or that I'm a fatass, lazy, old AH? (yeah...the latter could be true?)

With the break in the temps yesterday, me and Nephew Joe (my 18 yr old workhorse) had to put in a little concrete curb-wall to keep any runoff rainwater (not that it will ever rain again) from running into the low side of this carport. Dug a 4-5" deep trough, found some junk steel around here to use as rebar (better than nothing)...mixed up 3-4 bags of 80# Maximizer mix, using a couple of metal drywall framing track pieces for forms. And got this done before 10:30AM.

I didn't have any anchor bolts for a possible future framed wall, so grabbed some 5" long X 1/2" galv lag screws and set them, screw tip up, into the top of the conc....with plans to use a wood block for a "nut" later. I picked up a small trash bucket half full of these lag screws at a nearby yard sale for $10 last week.

Now I finally used up most of a few rotted, discolored, ratty looking, partial fence panels I picked up somewhere for free, to make a light duty visual screen wall. (anything to piss off the nosy, nit-picky, neat freak, neighbors next door who drive by at 2 mph trying to sneak a peek at anything I'm doing). Actually has a nice "rustic" look to it....may just leave it like that.

Tomorrow, Joe and I are gonna try to get the old '48 Packard started and drive it into the shed....gotta find that 6 volt charger, pull the battery out and charge it up good overnight. Need to suck out the old crappy gas and put some fresh "go juice" in as well.
Pretty cool how the Packard hood opens from left OR right side...and with 2 people can be easily lifted off and set to the side...no wrenches...no pliers.. no screwdrivers needed...(and no sledge hammer Billy Bob!!)

More pics later....A.M.F.!

- Bigsocks.

Remember this...?

I tried to upload a few pics this morning...as the connection speed and blogger seemed to be responsive today...but after one pic....it slowed down again and I was unable to add any more pics.

Oh well....I had to switch back to the "old" blogger editor version, as I never could add a pic with the "new" one.

Hey at least it's a break from politics...huh?



okay...tried again later...and got this one to upload. It's a pic from last Friday when I got Nephew Joe and a buddy of his to show up for a couple of hours of finishing the Packard Shackard metal roof. Now I need to put on some diagonal bracing, and some sort of side wall screening.



And an older shot from somewhere in South Brewster County..(I cannot wait to get back down there !!!)


UPDATE: It's 5:30PM here and weather website says it's 108 degrees here now...dangit. What happened to the cooler temps?

Bigfoot.

US Corrupt-Govt Senate passes secret $500B spending increase 1 day ago..from WSJ

(from the Wall Street Journal today)
"The U.S. Senate, in an unusual procedure, cleared the way Thursday for the U.S. to lift its borrowing authority by $500 billion to $15.19 trillion, enough to keep the support federal government borrowing through late January or early February.


The action came under an unusual legislative procedure spelled out under the August agreement to raise the U.S. debt ceiling and avoid a U.S. credit default. In a 52-45 vote, the Senate blocked an attempt by Republicans to slow down the process that will result in the $500 billion debt-ceiling increase.
The increase stems from a deal between Congress and the White House, finalized last month, that spells out how the borrowing limit would be increased by $500 billion. Under the process, lawmakers in both the House and Senate must vote on a resolution of disapproval against the increase in the borrowing limit. President Barack Obama would then have to veto the resolution of disapproval, and Congress would then vote to try and override that veto.

The complicated procedure, designed by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.), would allow an increase of the borrowing limit while allowing most Republicans to vote against such an increase.
There was a twist in this scenario Thursday evening, however. Democrats held firm, rejecting the resolution of disapproval, thereby speeding the process and increasing the borrowing limit immediately."

Hmmmm...and the "super committee" was supposed to come up with the  $1.2 TRILLION in govt budget cuts (by Thanksgiving '11)....and after last nights American Jobs Bill...they gotta come up with an ADDITIONAL $450 Billion in cuts to pay for this latest "stimulus" package..??

We are going the wrong way....spending our way out of this hole.

Obama says his plan is all "paid for"....but wait...he doesn't even have a "plan" yet...that's gonna roll out Monday (9-19) he says....
(the big Corps and BO's handlers need a week to meet, assemble the math, and add the detail to this idea, then paste it to the tele-prompter for The Empty Suit reader to relate to us....so far merely a campaign propaganda push for re-election.)

It ain't happenin'....not w/o pulling back from our 3 wars in Africa and Mid East...and shrinking other huge govt agencies.

They are already saying they will decrease the SS paycheck with-holdings from 6.2%...to 3.1%....but think about it...this will only make the SS program debacle even WORSE.!!

We are screwed and it doesn't matter which party is in power...they are both 100% corrupt and self serving. We didn't get this screwed in the last 2 years...it's been going on slowly since the 1960's. We are simply in Hyperdrive mode to destruction now. IMHO.

I am unable to post pics with Blogger...so I'll just post politics...for now.

Enjoy.!

the North TX weather KILN has been turned off.....finally!!

Great Tffnguy get together in South Brewster Co last wknd....thanks David.!

(no camera = no pics from the weenie party)

Back home now, but sure do miss the gorgeous views and nice breezy weather we left behind in far SW Texas. The extreme heat wave that we've enjoyed here in North TX has finally goen away. Highs this week in the low 90's...lows in upper 50's....wooohooo!!

I was looking thru the card from the camera and found some older pics that I thought I'd share with you..BUT Blogger is taking way too long, longer than I have patience for, to upload pics today....so I'll try another day.

Instead...here's an excerpt from Obama (AKA Barry Sotero)...from his Detroit speech a couple days ago...

"That’s why we chose Detroit as one of the cities that we’re helping revitalize in our “Strong Cities, Strong Communities” initiative. We’re teaming up with everybody -- mayors, local officials, you name it -- boosting economic development, rebuilding your communities the best way, which is a way that involves you. Because despite all that’s changed here, and all the work that lies ahead, this is still a city where men clocked into factories. This is the city that built the greatest middle class the world has ever known. This is the city where women rolled up their sleeves and helped build an arsenal for democracy to free the world. This is a city where the great American industry has come back to life and the industries of tomorrow are taking root. This is a city where people, brave and bold, courageous and clever, are dreaming up ways to prove the skeptics wrong and write the next proud chapter in our history."


Make you feel good now...??  Yeah, me too...all warm and fuzzy like..huh?

I can't wait for the "I will save the world" speech tomorrow night.

NEWS FLASH....Tropical depression "Nate" spinning towards Mexico....may bring rains to TR by early next week...!!!!

New Texas State Laws beginning Sept One.

A few of the brand new State of TX laws that go into effect on Sept 1, 2011 are listed below:

1. You gotta take a birth cert or passport to renew your TDL to prove you are a citizen.
2.Catfish Noodling will be legal in TX
3.Cutbacks in hours and svcs at state parks...but none closing.
4.Gun owners can keep ammo and guns in their cars at employer parking lots (except schools)
5.Legal to hunt and shoot feral hogs from your helicopter now (woohoo! now where's my copter?)
6.Closing the Sugarland state prison, since 1932. Had a cannery and meat packing operation there.

many more listed here...
See Texas Tribune DOT org...."31 days, 31 ways article"

what's hotter than "hot"..???

These are fuzzy pics I just took at 2:15PM of the two thermo's I have nailed to the wall and under shade all day...on the back porch here west of FTW. ........dangit boy.!!

Just checked the temps outside...113 here and 96 in TR...wow.! ..(BOTH per weatherunderground site)

Yesterday about this time it showed 116 to 118...for an hour or so...couldn't believe it but both gauges showed about the same.

I think a huge solar flare got turned on and the switch is stuck and it's aimed right at Texas.!!

Got up a little early today and with Nephew Joe's assistance, we got about half the tin roofing installed on the carport Packard Shack. We quit around 10AM or so, mixed up a couple big tumblers of GatorAide and sat in the house under the clg fan and cooled off. (maybe some pics next time when we get back to it around January when it may drop into the 70's.)

Seey'all

BF

done been eat up with beggar lice..!!

I spent about 20 minutes picking these things off my leg hair. And not sure I'm even gonna try to save the socks. But I will clean up my brand new $59 "on sale" tennis shoes.

After wading thru a back yard of nearly knee high beggar lice weeds earlier this week, out behind one of my dad's old Sh*t-hole rent houses, I was looking for some scrap iron and an old fireplace I had stored back there 16 years ago. I found the scrap and fireplace, but these little hanger-oners found me.

These were the original "natural" version of the Velcro (hook & loop) connection design, as I recall reading somewhere.

Anyway...

Nephew Joe sold his pickup truck for $550 (see prior post).

Littlefoot landed a high school science teacher job at a suburb just north of FTW. Long days as she has 6 classes a day, but she is enjoying it.

I had an interview in Dallas yesterday with an outfit from DC (District of Corruption)...they are gonna be doing a rehab on an old apt project in Irving. Lotta asbestos abatement, rip everything out down to the studs, new AC/plbg/elect....new gable trussed roofs to cover up the old flat roof system. Gotta build a new, ground-up, office/club bldg and swimming pool.

It's a HUD job, but I've done one or two of them over the years. Hope I get the nod and make the cut....supposed to start Oct 1...and runs 10-12 months. A paycheck again...if only for a year would be sweet.

Still hotter'n hell here....was 110 yesterday here late afternoon....damn, I've been living her in TX since I was 1 yr old....and I ain't NEVER felt it this bad, this long.. for summertime.

Not much else to say nowadays.

We are planning a very fast trip to TR this coming weekend....drive down Fri late afternoon...drive back Monday. Looks like it's cooled off a tiny bit down there...but it's still always at least 10 degrees cooler there than up here per weatherunderground.com.

At least gas prices are down a tad...still oughta be alot lower now. When oil per barrel was at $112 gas was right at $4...now oil has been in the low $80's for a couple weeks...gas SHOULD be down to $3 even now...but it's around $3.38 here.

Later y'all..!!

Packard Shack & LED lgts - in the making ...(& still hot)

I started building a free standing carport/shed at the beginning of summer...but the hot weather has slowed that process waaaayy down. At the time I had two 1948 & 1949 Packards to house in there.....but now only one.

My nephew Joe was "sweet talked" into spending the night here so we could get an early start on getting the roof rafters up. Went fast with me on the ground and him on the ladder...done with this stage by 9:30AM. Next is 1x4 nailers run cross-ways and then the tin. I used 20 ga metal studs for rafters.

Joe is trying to sell an old truck that was passed down to him from an older brother. '84 Ford F150 short bed with a 302V8 auto. He only wants $650 for it, as it needs a tad bit of TLC, but will start and run. We had to go find a battery for it today...got a good deal on a 1yr warrantee 600cca batt for $30. Hopefully someone will nab this thing off Craigslist.

I've also been fiddlin' around with making some 12V LED lights for use at the cabin, as under cabinet lights for the countertop. I saw these LED flexible strips online somewhere for $3 each. Cut a stick of 1-1/2" PVC pipe in half, used spray glue to hold a piece of wrinkled mylar space blanket stuff in for a reflective surface....now I need to figure out a simple switch...maybe a 12V rocker switch for automotive use type device>?

THIS IS A ROUGH PROTOTYPE HERE...not pretty, but I bet it'll work fine.

(snickers okay...but no guffaws and horselaughs, pls)

These pics were not turned sideways when they were downloaded (uploaded?)..Maybe "Oldfool" can offer some ideas...he helped alot last time with the moving of pics for me.

Anyway....TR has been way too hot for a trip...(even though, right NOW it's 108 here and 98 near Camel's Hump in TR) ...I guess the rainy season ain't gonna happen down there this year....I sure hope it does. Shoulda started by now.

Adios for now, y'alluns.

B-foot

MISERABLE HEAT...and other stuff.

Hello peeps....and sheeps.

I was cruising Craigslist last wknd...and found a 55 gallon barrel of K-1 Kerosene...so I emailed the guy and got it down to $180 cash. Un-opened drum of K-1 that he bought in Feb and did not use. I had to go to his place of work in far North Dallas to get it. Borrowed my dad's F150 pickup, as it could not be handled by the T0wn Car (although I've hauled alot of stuff with the old TC).




Got it home and my smallish Aggie brain came up with a method to unload this 480# barrel from of the truck....and it worked like a charm. The pic doesn't show my large ass in front of the barrel as we slowly rolled it down the landscape timbers and I stood it up at the bottom of the ramp. Nephew Joe holding the tie-down straps hooked to the bumper hitch to make sure it came down easy....worked fine.!!

I made some calls and found I coulda got this same "red dyed" K-1 Kero locally (not dallas) for $4.80 per gallon ...if I brought my own barrel and got at least 55 gallons. At $180 mine worked out to $3.27...PLUS "gettin it" costs.

hmm....paid $180 cash, refilled my dad's truck $34...paid nephew Joe $20 for his mostly windshield time....not sure if I made a good deal or not. If it had been the clear K-1...non red dyed stuff it woulda been better as kero heaters don't need wick changing as often with the clear K-1....but that costs $40+tax for 5 gals in the wintertime here.

AND I did some research and Kero oughta be kept in a cool, dark place for best life of 1-2 yrs....I don't think this one was. (not gonna bring it into the house when it's 110 in the shade daily) I need to add some diesel extender to it....almost the same fuel.

The '49 Packard I sold to a feller in Houston...finally got picked up a few days ago.....fresh WW tires the buyer had shipped up to me so I pulled the wheels and had them installed at Discount Tire for him. Sure looked sweet.

$1000 worth of WW tires on a car he paid $2000 for .....some folks working in the off shore oil patch gots $$....ain't jealous.....good for him.

(He's already got it running now....simple ignition part replaced..$10 part)

And here's my brilliant idea for keeping the ball o'fire Diablo heat from curling the dashboard off the old '85 F250.....a $4 Wally world camp-space blanket over the windshield and part of the top of the cab. Has a nice metallic rattle in the breeze...but ain't blown off yet. Need a giant one for the roof of the house....well, not that giant.

Caren and I, today, went to an early showing of "Cowboys and Aliens" movie today....at 10:50 AM....It was us two...and 3 others in the theater....wow....dark and coool...and a great movie..!!

When we got home we saw the door standing half open into the house....I realized that I shut it when we left( I thought)....put the key in and locked it. BUT the door was NOT pulled and latched shut...and had probably been half open for a couple of hours....luckily, I had hooked the screen door shut from the outside (got one outside to keep it from blowing open if I'm outside piddling)...otherwise we'da been searching for "Jack"....the Pug, all afternoon.

Took our 3 small window unit AC's forever to catch up....still a tad warmish in here at 10:15 tonite. (central unit went out 2 summers ago)...it was up to 112 or so here today. again.

This heat is a killer...but whatcha gonna do.? Stay inside and eat Vienna sausage is my suggestion.

Hope all y'alluns is staying luke-warm....and maybe even COOL>!!

Adios

B.F. & L.F.

Old 2006 pics..STUCK on a Terlingua back road

This ain't all of 'em....all stray feral cats...if you feed them they will STAY and multiply!Old pic during cabin const...back when I had a paycheck and a nice road truck. I had a new friend that was a great help in getting this thing built (along with his brother Jackie)..."Ricky" was up on the roof doing metal roof decking. Ricky was a guy that spent his entire adult life in the TX State Prison system.

He had only been out a few months after 26 yrs in the Pen (since he was 18-19yrs)...and had some wild stories to tell about life "on the inside". He was amazed at things like cell phones, matchlight charcoal, etc...things we did not have when he went in....Ricky's ashes are spread out on the bluff near the cabin now...He met a gal he fell for hard in FTW, she was a crack whore-type and got him on it too. He was robbing a donut shop early one morning a year after these pics were taken....when he took a shotgun blast to the gut. Gone...Poof!!

During Caren's first trip down here, after working one day on the place, we took a drive down some uncharted back roads, and it was getting late in the day.


Well, sure enough....we came to a dry washed out ditch crossing and as any guy with a belly half full o' whiskey and a Powerstroke 4x4 Ford....you're not "bullet proof"...but you are "unstoppable!" (at least in your own mind). But we got temporarily stopped. I backed up a bit, and hit it harder in 4x4 and we made it through....but eventually we came to a shut gate in the road and had to turn around.

It was on this same washout, on the return trip, that we got stuck for good this time....reciever hitch ball stuck holding the rear axle up so we couldn't move forward. ..sunk the hitch down to where it was resting on a rock. Held in place....Me and Ricky dug away at it, but with the hitch on top of the rock...we weren't gonna get it out. And it was pretty dark by now...several miles off the paved highway and no houses in the area.

NO....Caren did not get run over, but she dove under the rear axle one one side and Ricky on the other trying to dig out the rock from the bottom of the hitch.
I was about 50 lbs lighter than I am today (only 280# then) ...but still too big to slip under the truck.

Finally they got the rock out enough to where I could plow away from the ditch.........here's my "happy dance"


Ricky and me celebrating....(I sure miss Ol' Ricky)

It was then I knew this gal was a "Keeper"..!

Back at the cabin

Here's me captured in a tender moment with my grand nephew (?...my niece's kid)? a couple of weeks ago.


ADIOS FOR NOW....Y'all.

Bigfoot