[bontai Joe]

We do a holiday puzzle every year. We usually pull it out Thanksgiving weekend and try to finish by Christmas. More often than not there is a scramble to complete before the New Year rings in!

When I say “we”, I primarily mean my wife and daughters, as well as various guests who enjoy puzzling too. It even gets a bit competitive at times! I will lend an occasional hand, but usually my assignment is to gather pieces into groups based on colors or features, for the real puzzlers to assemble.

It’s a fun tradition we’ve had running for about twenty years. We have about ten puzzles we recycle. Sometimes a piece will go awol, but we always find it eventually. I once cut open a dusty vacuum bag to search. It wasn’t there!

This year’s puzzle:

View attachment 2582347

My beloved, but slightly wacky mom would finish a puzzle, then glue it to a piece of cardboard and buy a frame for them. When she passed away, we found almost a dozen of them.

 

[bontai Joe]

I got a $50 prepaid VISA gift card recently and started an order to Sportsman's Guide. I filled my "cart" with approx. $35 worth of stuff and the shipping, fuel surcharge, PA sales tax, PA shipping tax (HUH?), and 99 cents for package protection totaled up to $16! The grand total came to $51.15. I didn't send it in. There is no way I'm gonna pay roughly 50% over my order just to get it.

My wife's car said it has a "low tire" with no clue as to which tire. So I took my B&D battery powered compressor outside and checked all 4 tires. They are supposed to be at 33 psi, and 3 were really close to that. The driver's side front was 5psi low. I brought 'em all up to spec, so they all now have "winter air" in them. My truck has also shown a low tire warning, but it at least told me it was the right rear. I checked both rear tires and the right rear was at 27 psi. So I brought it up to the recommended 35psi. All together, I was outside a little over half an hour in 40 degree temps. My hands got cold and my fingers stiffened up right around the time I finished, but I did get it finished. I also checked the mileage on my wife's car and I need to schedule an oil change and tire rotation.

 

[609745]

the old shipping ripoff, agree with you joe screw it get the stuff elsewhere, that gift card can be used anywhere ,

 

[Ariens93GT20]

Sometimes stuff simply can not be found anywhere else but the web. But really I like spending my money locally. Even if it's with big supply companies.

On another note. Will be working here at the house today. Going to start trying to run electrical to the washer and dryer. Most of the holes have already been drilled. Path determined. In all it will be a fun afternoon if everything works as planned. Plus it includes more time spent with a friend.
Sad thing this is our form of intertainment.
Still to cold to go fishing as there is still ice on the water. But that day is not far off.

 

[Kawasaki Old Man]

Have fun!! I enjoy wiring because it is absolutely unforgiving - mess it up and pop goes the breaker.

Bill

 

[Ariens93GT20]

Have fun!! I enjoy wiring because it is absolutely unforgiving - mess it up and pop goes the breaker.

Bill

Who would do a thing like that.

 

[mikeinri]

Sometimes stuff simply can not be found anywhere else but the web. But really I like spending my money locally. Even if it's with big supply companies.

On another note. Will be working here at the house today. Going to start trying to run electrical to the washer and dryer. Most of the holes have already been drilled. Path determined. In all it will be a fun afternoon if everything works as planned. Plus it includes more time spent with a friend.
Sad thing this is our form of intertainment.
Still to cold to go fishing as there is still ice on the water. But that day is not far off.

I also like to support brick and mortar, even if it's just box stores. Sometimes it's just nice to be able to see and hold something before buying, especially tools.

Good luck with the electrical!

As for ice, it WAS way too warm here for that. But the quick -12 °F (at the tail end of a week with high temps in the low 30s) flash froze several ponds in the area. That won't last, as high temps will be in the 40s or higher for the next two weeks. Might hit 60 on Friday!!!???

Mike

 

[Lb6259]

It's been a...fun day. Going to be a fun rest of the week too.

My legs are killing me from standing all morning. Tomorrow I'm running all over the place at one of my sites, possibly repeating on Thursday, if not then I'm out at another place that day and Friday. The fun never stops...

 

[glenn27]

Figured out what she is mad about. Joined a gym this afternoon to get the excercise I was getting working and can no longer do full time. My silver sneakers is taking care of this and if she wants to continue to be grumpy I will gladly pay for hers. Not like it would hurt her any either. So we will see.

////////////////////////

We use Silver Sneakers benefits @ a local gym/church rec center that is well equipped. My wife's health insurance foots the bill We use them 3-4 times a week. Meet some interesting people. Said they would rather be pro active before the fact-then after the fact where there may not be a repair. Of course--nothing is guarented.
glenn

 

[glenn27]

Went back yesterday and fixed my little issue with the condensate pump. A few minutes with a heat gun does amazing stuff.
View attachment 2582322

Got some new lights installed in the laundry, I need more hardware to completely finish that. That’s next weekends project to finish. We are getting closer to finishing the puzzle, sadly I think we are missing pieces.
View attachment 2582323

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Just don't run the vacuum until you get it finished,

 

[Steve Urquell]

Did a lot this past weekend, mostly Sunday. @Renster of N.H. I took my vise apart and wire brushed it. Some on the grinder and some on the bench with a drill. The rear half of this vise is too heavy to hold up at the grinder for too long. Still debating on painting it or not.

Also have been cutting and burning limbs in my lower field to prep for brushhogging in the summer. I don't want to scratch up my new paint on the 3205 so I've been going crazy cutting stuff and burning. I've probably burnt 12 brushpiles over the last 2 weeks. Cutting with the Stihl FS90 with sawblade mounted. Pallet is strapped to the bucket to use it as a dump cart

@MARK (LI) pointed out the thread will be 3 years old on the 9th. I appreciate everyone who has posted in here and above all else--has remained civil in doing so. Hopefully this thread has been a good outlet to blow off steam. Thank you all.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

Thank you for starting this thread. Gives us a space to learn a little more about each other. On a broad range of subject.

So your going to be mowing more deer habitat this summer?

 

[Steve Urquell]

Thank you for starting this thread. Gives us a space to learn a little more about each other. On a broad range of subject.

So your going to be mowing more deer habitat this summer?

You're welcome.

Same amount of mowing just ducking under branches less.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

////////////////////////

We use Silver Sneakers benefits @ a local gym/church rec center that is well equipped. My wife's health insurance foots the bill We use them 3-4 times a week. Meet some interesting people. Said they would rather be pro active before the fact-then after the fact where there may not be a repair. Of course--nothing is guarented.
glenn

Need to find a day that works and just go.
Think I am going to try dragging the wife with me. If she finds something she likes great. If not it's only $10 and I tried. I decided on Planet Fitness.

 

[bontai Joe]

the old shipping ripoff, agree with you joe screw it get the stuff elsewhere, that gift card can be used anywhere ,

I got the gift card for free and Sportsman's guide sells a lot of unusual neat stuff at pretty good prices..... well they were pretty good until I added in the shipping. I'm gonna see if Eastman Tools still has their clamps on sale and what they charge for shipping. I like brick & mortal stores too, but this gift card was printed out on paper from my 'puter. My reward for doing consumer surveys. I got two $50 Visa cards. If nothing else works, I'll order some stuff from Walmart or Ace Hardware and avoid shipping charges by picking it up at the store.

 

[PA318Guy]

Dressing fashionably:

Had a Steroid injection this morning for my sciatica. Hoping it alleviates the pain so I can get back to more normal activiity levels.

 

[MARK (LI)]

I am hoping it worked for you, also 🙏

 

[Renster of N.H.]

Did a lot this past weekend, mostly Sunday. @Renster of N.H. I took my vise apart and wire brushed it. Some on the grinder and some on the bench with a drill. The rear half of this vise is too heavy to hold up at the grinder for too long. Still debating on painting it or not.
View attachment 2582451

Also have been cutting and burning limbs in my lower field to prep for brushhogging in the summer. I don't want to scratch up my new paint on the 3205 so I've been going crazy cutting stuff and burning. I've probably burnt 12 brushpiles over the last 2 weeks. Cutting with the Stihl FS90 with sawblade mounted. Pallet is strapped to the bucket to use it as a dump cart
View attachment 2582452
View attachment 2582453
@MARK (LI) pointed out the thread will be 3 years old on the 9th. I appreciate everyone who has posted in here and above all else--has remained civil in doing so. Hopefully this thread has been a good outlet to blow off steam. Thank you all.

Looks great Randy!
Hope you wore a mask when doing that.
I got an hour into mine before I wised up and realized why I was coughing/clearing my throat so much.
Sometimes I get involved in a project and ignore common sense things that my body tries to tell me.
Because I wear glasses - I HATE wearing masks for the obvious reasons.
But, better to struggle seeing through the fog, and take fresh air breaks than to risk damage to the ventilation system. 😖

I'm not going to paint mine.
1.) I put a whole day into reconditioning and bringing it back into good service so, I've not the ambition to paint it (I'm lazy).
2.) I like the battle-worn look of it. In fact, it's never looked so good in the time I've owned it.

I don't mind including it in the list of my occasional Rem Oil wipe-down of shop tools regimen to keep rust at bay.

Postscript - Like most (my assumption) I don't monitor all forums and threads here regularly, but this is one that I do even if I'm not posting or contributing.

Renster

 

[Jere39]

Gentlemen, Nice to see a mini-sub-thread on vises (next week vices?). I am not a collector, but I have engaged it trade upper-ism.

This is a local foundry made vise. There is a great video of the manufacturing on their website:

And, this is a nice one from Ohio:

These two are in service on my work bench. Both are well used, but will have duty cycle longer than me.

 

[Ariens93GT20]

Mask? What mask? Yes know I should but going without is a hard habit to break.