Good morning

[apexkeeper]

My mom is sick with covid at the moment after going to my father's veitnam unit's reunion last week in South Dakota. My parents are in their late 70's so I made them get all their shots and boosters. She only has a sore throat luckily. My brother in law lost both his parents within 2 days of each other do to covid in 2021, they never got any vaccines. I'm not a scientist but that effected our family hard so while I don't believe in vaccine mandates and everyone has the right and freedom to choose if they want it, in my family... you get your dang shots lol.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning to all. Mostly cloudy and 74 at 11 am. I am hoping we get some rain today but looking at the radar is not promising.

So, my sore throat is better today and I slept better last night. This day 5 as my symptoms started Sunday. I have had 6 doses of the Paxlovid, 4 left to take. My doctor also government me 5 days of antibiotics. I am feeling pretty good and I'll test tomorrow to see how I am progressing. I'll be 76 next month so I am taking this serious.

My girlfriend, she is 80, tested Tuesday and was positive. She is not taking the Paxlovid or antibiotics the doctor ordered because she is worried about the side effects. Her worst night was last night and this morning was up for an hour and went back to bed. Hopefully she won't get any worse, it seems like when we older folks end up in the hospital with Covid it usually does not end well. She can be a bit stubborn at times.

Anyways, I hope you all have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

You guys probably think my attitude cavalier, and who knows that my luck may run out?

I avoid crowds, I avoid all public events and I do not go shopping on paydays. I’m taking my therapy vitamins and avoid eating junk. And I pray a lot when I’m not feeling well.

Anyhow, my sympathies to you both. My parents are long gone, so I only have to worry about children and grandkids.

And my wife. All her siblings died too young. I tease her about how often she goes to the doctor, but I should be thankful.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I was not going to post about this, but since we’re all being grim here . . .

My wife’s great aunt (age 92) passed away in her sleep last night. Rest in peace, aunt Eloise.

She did not have Covid as far as we know, but may have had a blood infection. My wife said she cut her toe and it did not heal properly.

 

[meanstreak]

It's nice to be able to say good morning to all of yous.

Cadd sorry to hear about your aunt. Apex, I hope your mom recovers quickly.

I am feeling good today . I think I am over covid. I am going to rest today and see if I am in fact as good as I feel.

You all have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning Mossberg Owners.

My wife woke me out of a lovely sleep at 6 AM to tell me that the power had gone off.

It’s been off for about an hour now and basically we’re getting 36 V on one leg of the 240, and the other leg is dead. Some of my LED lights are operating, & the Fishtank air pumps are operating but the water pumps are generally not. I’ve got one strange computer controled pump that evidently will work on 36V.
It has inverter technology in the power supply that allows it to run that pump off of various voltages, and it doesn’t appear to need 120 V to operate. Anyhow one of my aquariums is getting water motion & the other two are only getting air.
All the porch lights on our street are off except a few LEDs that will run on low voltage. My wife checked online, and evidently it’s just our little neighborhood that has been hit. Evidently they’re working on it because I see we are getting 0 Volts now.
I was hoping to see some of the kids and grandkids for a birthday party today, but everybody’s working, or going to school, or having a much busier time than me, with my retired life of relative ease.
The weather here is cool, dry and lovely, and the sun is coming up into a nearly cloudless sky. I may not get any welding done today but the battery powered equipment is all charged up and I can still sand and paint.

I see that people up in the north east are getting hit pretty bad. I saw that the power there was out to 40,000 people in New Brunswick. Here on the other corner of the continent its much nicer, weatherwise. If the power doesn’t come back on all day, it won’t be too cold or too hot here that we will be uncomfortable.

I hope you all have a comfortable day.

 

[apexkeeper]

This pretty well sums up my morning...



My mom is feeling better thankfully. I only have a scratchy throat and feel a little tired. On the plus side, boss told me to stay the heck home next week lol. We are currently working on building platforms around these huge cryo tanks in a medical facility. Very sterile environment so no sickies allowed lol.

Hope everyone up north is staying safe during the storm! Haven't had a chance to check the news to see how bad it's hitting.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning to all of yous. Good grief Apex, this stuff is really getting around. Your symptoms sound like mine last Sunday. I also had the sniffles to go along with the scratchy throat. Glad to hear your mom is on the mend. My gf is not recovering as quickly as I have, but she is getting better. I feel as good as I usually do and now just have to stay away from her, lol.

Cadd, I'm glad for you it isn't 100+ today. That would be a bit uncomfortable for you and the fish.

Y'all have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Cadd, I'm glad for you it isn't 100+ today. That would be a bit uncomfortable for you and the fish.

Thankfully, the power was only off for a couple hours, and it was quite cool today, never topping 90.

I ended up losing one of my computer UPS power supplies due to the brown out, and it also burned out one of my electronically controlled aquarium pumps. So I’m out about $400. Fortunately my computers were not affected, being off at 6am. It could have been a lot worse

I had to scrounge for parts to put together an emergency water pump, to keep my saltwater aquarium going until Monday, when the good pet stores are open. It’s only getting about half the normal water circulation, but they will be alive.

I ended up working on some gardening stuff for my wife and changing a bicycle tire. I burnished up a big brass arrow that goes through her faux Astrolabe, in the garden.

Except that it’s not in the garden right now, but on my workbench, waiting for me to braze the cracked joints and strip it down for painting. It falls over way too easy, and I need to put it on a heavy base to prevent it from getting smashed up again.

I didn’t finish that because I had my daughter and grandkids over for a birthday party. We went out for oriental food and came home for ice cream.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning to all of you. Clear skies, very light wind, and 61 this morning. Low 90s expected this afternoon.

Well, I tested yesterday and the results were still positive for covid. I feel fine, but I'll stay away from people for a day or so and test again. My gf also tested positive but we expected that as she has not improved as quickly as I have.

You all have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning you guys.

Meanstreak, I am praying for the both of you. After a certain age any illness at all becomes a great burden.

My wife is only 67 but she’s taken a couple of real injuries, and more or less recovered.

She won’t stay out of the garden and she knows her brother died from valley fever after a lifetime of working on a farm, in the greenhouse, and being an AG teacher.

I am trying to get her to ride on a stationary bicycle that I put together, rather than fall off of her bicycle. Again.

She fell walking her dogs and landed on her face, bruising herself pretty bad. But even worse they pulled her off balance one time and she fell on her knee and fractured it.

She then, still doing therapy for the knee injury, fell off the bicycle and fractured her shoulder. Tore the rotator a little too . . . Good Lord!

I might buy us a tandem bicycle but I just don’t trust her anymore to ride a bicycle by herself and so I am encouraging her to use this thing in the meantime.
My brother-in-law bought this new bicycle for himself, just before he died. My sister tried to talk him out of it but it was impossible and easier for her to just dump the $200. Anyhow she doesn’t wanna look at it.

The stationary bicycle frame was for sale at a yard sale last summer but evidently it never sold because it was up in the trash this summer. The whole thing works fine but it could be a little more stable when someone my size is on it.

Also, it is not easy to adjust the resistance on the fly. The only thing you can do is shift the gears which is not ideal.

If I can get my wife to put a couple hours in on this I will improve it.

It’s absolutely gorgeous here in Clovis, cool and sunny with a light overcast and a slight breeze. I was going to take my Mrs. out for a ride on the motorcycle, To the pet store for doggy treats and a new aquarium pump, but she had to go and help an old friend.

Fortunately it’s not Covid or anything like that.

When we had a little brown out yesterday morning, it burned out the power supply for one of my fancy electronics controlled aquarium pumps. It was an overly complicated thing designed to work on 120 or 240 and I can imagine it might’ve worked better if I had hooked it up to 240v. The damn thing only draws 1.5 A Max and it burned up.

I was going to go dump $150 at the pet store for a new pump, but instead I dug around in my collection of old electronics until I found a power supply from a Samsung computer monitor that was reasonably compatible. It seems to be running the pump fine now, and really even better than the old power supply.

As it turns out I had more than one so if this one burns up I have a back up. Lucky me!

I hope you guys all have a lucky day as well.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning Mossberg Owners.

I woke up early this morning but it’s too early to go outside and start the power tools. I’m going to make some tea and toast and loaf around inside.

I’m going to try cutting some Styrofoam with a hotwire today, but I realized that I don’t have any ni-chrome wire and I’ve got to go back to the hardware store.

My aquarium pump seems to be working OK with the new power supply. This one is getting a bit warm, But the older larger one ran much hotter.

It supports 35watts & the old one was 48, but I don’t have the system turned up. It’s now pumping as much water on 1/4 power as it did before on 3/4 power, And not getting as hot. The Samsung power supply is just a better design, providing more power with less waste heat.

OK I’m gonna go sit down in the La-Z-Boy and suck up some waste heat. We have lost about 10° in the past week and it is lovely and cool and clear this morning.

The sky is looking pretty clear in the west so I expect to have a lovely day for painting and working on the car. You all have a lovely day too.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning to all of yous. 64 and rain ended about an hour ago. I don't know what the total was but it was welcome. I imagine something close to an inch in about 5 hours or so.

Well, I tested myself for covid again yesterday and was still positive. I feel very good and have for 4 or 5 days now. I took the dog foor a drive yesterday. We drove to the park and no one was there so we went in for about 20 minutes. That seemed to satisfy him and I got in a little walking. Our yard at home is fenced so it's not as if he is cooped up inside all of the time., but he does like to socialize , lol.

Y'all have a great day and be safe.

 

[meanstreak]

Meanstreak, I am praying for the both of you. After a certain age any illness at all becomes a great burden.

@CaddmannQ , thank you.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good afternoon Mossberg Owners. I hope this day found you all feeling well. My mrs has been off tending a shut-in friend, so I’ve been out there all day working on the outdoor aquarium system.

Unfortunately the local hardware store did not have any nichrome wire. BUT . . . I discovered the remains of a broken heat gun in my junk pile, and inside it were several interesting bits of nichrome wire.



I unwound a small coil and doubled it back about eight times to make the cutting wire.

I used the large heater coil as my rheostat to control the voltage of the small wire, and I ran it all off the Volkswagen battery with some random lamp wires.

I made a couple of different little frames to hold the hotwire, and I cut out a number of circles with it.
.

To adjust the heat I just move that little alligator clip wherever I want.

(Mistake number one. Do not allow the rheostat coil to touch the top of the battery, because it gets hot and will start to melt into the plastic.)

I can only go so far around the corner with the little frame, and then I had to rough out the cut and use the hot wire to finish the circle.




I put a bevel on those circles and I glued them top to bottom, as a cap for my brown barrel.



The Brute can sump will get a new insulated lid, but first I made this interior plate to support the filter socks, and allow for some overflow. (Most of the mylar foil peeled off of this, but unfortunately not all of it.) I still need to clean up this Plumbing a bit. It’s quite awkward.


I also made a new lid for the 55 gallon aquarium.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning all of yous. No rain since yesterday, but more forecast for this evening. We definitely need more , and the temps are more reasonable this week.

I seem to have slipped backwards a bit as far as the covid goes. I felt yesterday and today like I did last week. Well I will just stay to myself and give it another day. I still feel good, but a little congested and a bit tired.

@Caddman, your fish are fortunate to live with you.

You all have a great day and take care.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I seem to have slipped backwards a bit as far as the covid goes. . . . @Caddman, your fish are fortunate to live with you.

I am very sorry to hear that you are not feeling better. This is where I start giving useless advice. Whenever I start feeling respiratory problems I start trying to poison myself with citrus fruit. So far I have been lucky with that.

Not so much luck for my fish though. I’ve killed plenty of fish in my day, And many of them unintentionally. Poor Sunflower is hanging on in the quarantine, but his huge tumor is disturbing.

He will get to live out his days with a heater and a filter and an insulated lid. I expected him to die from this two months ago but that has not happened.

Life never turns out the way you expect it.

I need to do an oil change on my truck but first, I need to get out there and finish messing with this aquarium stuff so I can get back on the. project car today.

The weather here is just lovely for any type of outdoor summer activity. I’m going to take advantage of that.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning . Another night with thunder and lightning and of course much appreciated rain.

I feel better today. Hopefully I am now in fact on the road back to normal, whatever that might be, lol.

Y'all have a great day.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning to all of you. We have clear skies and 70. The temp could briefly touch 90 by mid afternoon.

We are still feeling the effects of the Covid, some days, more so than others. I wouldn’t say it’s the worst bug I have ever had, but it certainly is persistent. I will be glad when it is a thing of the past.

Have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning guys (though it’s almost lunch.) It’s another lovely California day with temperatures barely reaching 80.

I’ve been out here messing around with batteries and steel and such junk since early this morning.

My wife asked me to weld something which was broken, and when I started cleaning it up I realized and it was put together with brass. So I’m going to do a little torch brazing today. I’ve only done torch brazing a couple times since the 1980s.

I do have silicon bronze TIG rod, and I might try a little TIG brazing with this.