NO AI PIE - BI-ANNUAL MAINTENANCE - ANGEL FLIGHT - JIBBER JABBER

Machines sent me happy birthday wishes this past week. Caring machines, me thinks. They do not forget. Their wishes last a day or two in the inbox then vanish. 

BUT, my analog wife bakes me an apple pie. Deep pie dish, Fuji apples, apple pie filling and a crust from Aldis. That is as I requested. The pie also vanishes, but aided by human's hands.

There is a lot of love in the pie photos below. My wife is a strong proponent of the birthday day being all to do about the person on that day. "It is your day and we will do anything you want." She gives many yeses on my birthday. 

It was my "job" to cut the first and second slice. The two slices came out as expected and wanted. Mostly intact, but not all intact. A spoon was needed to get the dregs left behind. The dregs are placed on top of the slice and each slice leaves no debris behind in the pie pan. A perfect pie, like the photos above, does not bleed out. It oozes while holding onto the contents of the next slice.

The slices were warm and my wife sat across the kitchen table as I took the first bite. She was leaning forward with a hopeful look that her husband would be pleased with her work. 

In the world of apple pie-making, she hit this pie out of the park. Perfect in all of the important pie criteria. This pie begged overdosing. Completing the first slice, pushing the plate aside and then digging into the remainder of the pie pan with a spoon. Eating, "umming and yumming" out loud. Only common sense prevented the eating of the whole pie, half the pie! I could have done that; nearly done a half pie for sure. I believe there are others reading here with the similar skeletons in the closet. 

The bride also received two thumbs up for dinner that night.

 

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BI-ANNUAL MAINTENANCE

Drained the fuel out of the small 2500 watt generator and filled with new fuel. Makes a difference as old fuel can clog and cause carburetor problems. That has been a "thing" in my life time, carburetor "varnish". It's real and results in poor engine performance to failure to start and run. Fresh fuel twice a year solves the problem. Generators also need to be run from time to time with a load on them to help with lubrication. 

In the video above, I have one air conditioner and a fan on high plugged in to the generator. It started on the 4th pull and purred. There was a high degree of satisfaction at listening to the little generator work for an hour. Gotta be a man thing!

If the world as we know it ends I can run a window air conditioner and a small freezer/refrigerator for a few days. To what end? It sounds like a good idea for now and if nothing else, that's OK. 

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ANGEL FLIGHT

Turn up the sound. I think you may like this.

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JIBBER JABBER 

Cataracts have me tilting my head now like a bird to a new noise to see around the clouds in my eyes. To the point that I am scheduled to have both lenses replaced in the near future. Procedure takes from 5 to 7 minutes per eye and one eye will also receive a few incisions to help correct slight astigmatism. Like slicing the top of bread dough changes the shape of the loaf, small incisions work the same way to change the shape of the eye to become a better lens. 

The doctor visit this past week was extensive with high-tech tools mapping my eye and computing the exact shape of the lens to be implanted. All I had to do is not blink for a few seconds while the machine whirred, designed the lenses and snapped pictures. Pressures were measured and time was spent looking inside and at the back of eye and optic nerves. 

The doctor finished up the examinations with a concise and detailed explanation of the operating procedure. I was impressed with his knowledge, skill sets to do all of this and his ability to explain in layman's terms. He asked if I had any questions and completed the examination with asking permission if we could pray together for the Lord's blessing. 

I will be in good Hands.

Thanks for the visit this week. 

 

BURNING AND SHREDDING - CUTTING BACK LARGE TREE LIMBS - GM RECALL - JIBBER JABBER

Clearing large portions of land involves gathering large trees and vegetation in a pile and, when the weather permits, burning them. Large tree roots that will not burn due to being caked with dirt are buried. In those cases, large holes are dug using a back hoe, the tree stump pushed in and then covered with dirt. It works.

This process is not unique to east Texas. Anywhere where large fields need to be cleared of trees, brush and debris, these burn piles build up as a final step in producing fields for crops or simply fields that are easier to maintain. 

Shredding the surrounding fields near these burn piles was also be accomplished on this day. A large project and the equipment was being manned by father, son and a retired fellow running the back hoe.

 

I was sitting in my side-by-side along the roadside watching and doing some photography. The father running this project yesterday morning came over to visit. Neighborly. He introduced himself and I told him he was my morning entertainment. That my neighbor told me he was going to burn today and come on over anytime. 

Come to find out, this fellow and his son also clear smaller portions of acreage in the local area and then sell the cleared land all but prepped for a new family home with a few acres to boot. He mentioned a few smaller parcels he has cleared and the prices seemed most reasonable in today's markets.

It is nearly impossible to have larger acreage without having some of the heavy equipment to help maintain it. The speed at which mother nature grows everything here in Texas makes it necessary to shred to just maintain flat ground and trimmed fence lines. Let the fields be on their own for a few years, collect fallen trees from thunderstorms, and the clean-up becomes much more difficult and time consuming. Long story short, maintaining large acreage comes at a cost and work for the owners. This is part of what freedom looks like for farmers, ranchers and homeowners wanting this kind of life away from big city hustle and bustle. 

At noon, the man's wife showed up with lunch for the crew. She does this every day they are out working along with home family breakfasts and dinners.  

If any of this appeals to you, all you need to do is be willing to work 7 days a week, be your own boss, enjoy some aches and pains and be wedded to the idea that you can do anything you are big enough to do. 

Final clean-up after burn.

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Fields and burning piles to the east of us two weeks ago. 

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CUTTING LONG LOW OVERHANGING TREE LIMBS 

Husband and wife neighbors came over awhile ago to remove two large long tree limbs that were growing over our fence and sagging so low that I could not mow the lawn under them. Not an emergency and not a job that had to be done right now. He said he would come over and look to see the problem. Indeed, a unique problem from a couple of large overhead limbs hanging just a few feet off the ground.

He called after dinner and said they were on the way to remove the limbs. For me, another opportunity to pull up on the side-by-side and watch. More entertainment now watching work that I use to do when I was younger. I have been the guy in the bucket and or driving the tractor. But those days are gone. 

The most important person in this team is the both of them. If you are the guy in the bucket, the driver is most important. If you are driving the tractor, the guy in the bucket is. So I watched. 

I was most impressed with her slow deliberate ability to maneuver the tractor and give him what he was asking for via hand signals. It was as if she has done this before. No jerking up/down/left/right or tilting the bucket but exactly as requested. They worked well together.

It was not too long afterwards that they both left with large limbs draped over the forks on the bucket, her sitting on the rear wheel tractor fender, him driving and them visiting with each other as they drove back through the woods to put the limbs on their burn pile.

Living here we have been fortunate that neighbor ranchers and farmers have equipment and have been most helpful with some of the work we have wanted/needed done.  They are neighbors doing what neighbors do.   

My last stint doing this kind of man-in-a-bucket work was lifting my son up to the edge of our snow-covered roof to better pull down row after row of heavy snow. He trusted me and we had done stuff like this before. We usually never told anyone when we decided to do these kinds of jobs. But moving him while standing inside the bucket that winter day mandated the smoothest movements I had. My wife had reservations but I told her not to worry. Man talk for "I think we will be just fine."
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GENERAL MOTORS RECALL  Park and Do Not Drive Order

I found this on Bustednuckles and the bright colors in the headline did catch my eye. The video is worth watching. These are not our fathers' automobiles. 

Lessons here? 

Folks might give some thought to finding a very good honest mechanic and an older truck or auto with good bones. One that can be driven, repaired and maintained for reasonable money.

There are many dealers that sell older cars and trucks for bigger money, but the older vehicles are worth their weight in gold for longevity if properly driven and maintained.  

Check out Streetside Classics (Ft. Worth location) 

There are other locations and might be worth checking out. There will soon come a day where old cars and trucks will be near impossible to find. Time spent looking for an older vehicle through other sites and places might be time well spent.

Quite often, older trucks and cars  popup  for decent money.

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JIBBER JABBER

Again, June comes in bringing the heat and humidity. Nineties in the afternoon along with humidity. Thunder and rainstorms still passing through, but it will not be long until we get into the long dry spell. It takes a full year for me to forget how hard the heat hits me when I go outside past noon and an instant for all of that to hurry me back in the house.

Appreciate the visit this week.