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What are you doing today, II

Just got back from a 3 State tour rounding up 2 Snow Tracs & parts with anther forum member here.
Fun little trip to rescue some rare Aluminum, steel and iron. I have never seen so many Ford V4 engines in my life as I did today at stop no. two..
And lots of other stuff as well. A trailer full resulted. Maybe one more trip is in order.
 
After the big dump of snow (roughly 16") we got overnight Saturday, I had to call someone in to plow from the house out to the road. This morning I decided to head to the garage and fire up the snowblower to clean up a bit of snow by the garage. That turned into 4 hrs of solid snowblowing to clean up about 90% of the yard which I normally do in 40 minutes with the plow truck. My beard was slightly iced up when I was done. I had to stop as I blew a tire on the snowblower. I replaced one side a few years ago but the other side was over 25 years old and weather cracked. The rubber finally came right off the rim today.

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Busy all day so far. First time I stop for more than a minute. Everyone is home this week as our youngest daughter coughed a couple times yesterday at school and farted once. So we gave her the ole nose swab and sure enough, the rona has finally hit our place. We tested everyone else in the house. We're all negative but she's got a sore throat and a slight cough. No other symptoms. I've seen worse colds.

I headed to town to drop off the snowblower tire for repair and pick up the part for the plow truck. Simple fix but necessary. It's an older Ford f150 plagued with rust. Ford, for some stupid reason, thought it would be a good idea to mount a plastic and aluminum fuel transfer electronic module to the rear crossmember on the frame. My old truck had the same thing. One rock and the plastic housing cracks allowing salt and moisture to penetrate into the electronic board that controls the fuel pump. The two tabs that allow it to bolt to the frame were snapped off and it was flopping around freely.

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The plow truck was a quick fix. Then I finished cleaning up the yard from the last storm. I can honestly say that we have enough snow now. It can stop anytime. I headed to my buddy's place down the road to plow more snow. He hadn't even started doing his yet as he had a flat tire on his kubota. I came home, shoveled some snow off the roof then drove my second oldest son to work.
 
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Day 4 of covid watch in our household. Our youngest daughter has it but the rest of us are fine. We have her quarantined in the front family room since Monday. Nobody has been in there without a mask and we basically have a TV tray where we put her food meds etc while she's on the other side of the room. We just tested her again and still positive. Funny thing is that her symptoms are very similar to the common cold. Sore throat, cough, and runny nose. I have been dealing with a sore throat and stuffy nose all week too but tested negative on Monday and again today.
 
One of our kids that got Delta when we did last summer still has taste and smell issues, a couple weeks ago got the covid symptoms he had last summer. Headache, weakness, chills and loss of appetite. He is a country sheriff and got tested several times all being negative. My theory is he is a Long hauler that it is still hiding in his body like some other viruses can, so there ws no viral load in his nasal cavity for the test to see.
 
Flue fire last night. Sounded like a jet engine in our fireplace.
One of our neighbors actually video-taped it. Called us this morning.
Helpful...?

The thing is, as a trained firefighter, I knew about the danger of flue fire. It is a major cause of house fires.
So, when I moved the fireplace from its original position, I built it properly. Double wall Stainless Steel flue in a four-foot by eight-foot wood frame chimney with no actual connections directly to the wood. All done with steel strapping and frame.

The chimney goes six feet above the roof ridge, so it draws well. The building inspector suggested I went a bit overboard. What I didn't tell him was that we were putting two flues in that 4X8 foot box. The lower-level rec-room has a Heatolator (TM) that can heat the house during power outs.

Whilst we had nothing to worry about, I still put it out by squirting water from a trigger mist bottle up the flue. The steam conversion put the fire out in less than a minute. All done with less than a quart of tap water.

I learned that trick 50 years ago as a firefighter. First time I had to use it in my own home.
 
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FrancSevin said:
Flue fire last night. Sounded like a jet engine in our fireplace.
One of our neighbors actually video-taped it. Called us this morning.
Helpful...?

The thing is, as a trained firefighter, I knew about the danger of flue fire. It is a major cause of house fires.
So, when I moved the fireplace from its original position, I built it properly. Double wall Stainless Steel flue in a four-foot by eight-foot wood frame chimney with no actual connections directly to the wood. All done with steel strapping and frame.

The chimney goes six feet above the roof ridge, so it draws well. The building inspector suggested I went a bit overboard. What I didn't tell him was that we were putting two flues in that 4X8 foot box. The lower-level rec-room has a Heatolator (TM) that can heat the house during power outs.

Whilst we had nothing to worry about, I still put it out by squirting water from a trigger mist bottle up the flue. The steam conversion put the fire out in less than a minute. All done with less than a quart of tap water.

I learned that trick 50 years ago as a firefighter. First time I had to use it in my own home.
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About 20 years ago in my former home, when I was single my fireplace was not drawing properly. So I pulled out the insert and the chimney cap. The home was built in 1956, the chimney flu was made from ceramic and pretty good sized, I put a light on top the damper and could see the whole thing was choked. I made a pole with a scraper and got more than a 55 gallon garden bag would hold. I took the time to scrape it clean. It work great. A day or 2 later I went to my girlfriends house for a few hours and had left the fireplace burning. When I got home, my front door was unlocked the insert was pulled out and my bed sheets were on the living room floor soaking wet. also my bathroom window was broken. Just then my neighbor came over and said my chimney was putting out a lot of heavy smoke so he called the fire department. They stuck a hose down the chimney then used my sheets and blankets to clean it up. There was absolutely zero in the chimney to burn. Thanks Jerry.
 
The fire dept did it wrong. To stop a chimney fire, go in from the bottom and shot some water up. It converts to steam and, in seconds, knocks the fire out. A few gallons will do it. Most of the water goes up the flue.

No damage to the home.
 
FrancSevin said:
The fire dept did it wrong. To stop a chimney fire, go in from the bottom and shot some water up. It converts to steam and, in seconds, knocks the fire out. A few gallons will do it. Most of the water goes up the flue.

No damage to the home.
Click to expand...
And there was 0 fire, just smoke.
 
Unwinding today. It's been cloudy and cold out. Tried a new Whiskey yesterday - Ole Smoky Tennessee 'Salty Watermelon' Whiskey. It's interesting, to say the least. And it'll knock you on your *ss.
 
When I was a teenager, my parents owned a couple of rental houses. At 3am we got a phone call informing us that one of our rental properties was on fire. We quickly dressed and drove to the smaller of the two. All fine there. We drove back to the bigger one which was only a couple blocks from our place and sure enough, the firefighters were there putting out a chimney fire. But just to be sure the fire didn't spread, they poked a hole in the attic and opened up the fire hose from one end of the house to the other. Insurance had to basically gut the whole house and replace everything. Surprisingly the kitchen survived though. We ended up moving in to the house after it was repaired and sold the old place.
 
NorthernRedneck said:
When I was a teenager, my parents owned a couple of rental houses. At 3am we got a phone call informing us that one of our rental properties was on fire. We quickly dressed and drove to the smaller of the two. All fine there. We drove back to the bigger one which was only a couple blocks from our place and sure enough, the firefighters were there putting out a chimney fire. But just to be sure the fire didn't spread, they poked a hole in the attic and opened up the fire hose from one end of the house to the other. Insurance had to basically gut the whole house and replace everything. Surprisingly the kitchen survived though. We ended up moving in to the house after it was repaired and sold the old place.
Click to expand...
Nothing more destructive than a fireman with an axe
 
m1west said:
Nothing more destructive than a fireman with an axe
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We enjoy it. Thanks.

Actually, there is a method and purpose to such perceived madness. It's called a "rekindle." Essentially after picking up our hose and hanging it to dry we have an out of commission firetruck. When the fire rekindles, we have to go back, reset to fight a fire, and save what might be left. Sadly, lives may well be at risk because we didn't put out the hidden fire.

So, we open cavities and make sure. Drywall and shingles are much cheaper than lives.
 
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So the other day, I was on the front porch and noticed a couple rungs in the porch rail looking like they wanted to fall out. Before I got done replacing bad ones ( rotted on the bottom from sprinkler ) I had to make more than 20 replacements as they are 1-3/4" square and you can't buy that at the lumber yard.
I ended up buying a couple 10'- 4x4 and cut them down on a table saw, getting 4 pieces form the 4x4 slightly undersize at 1-5/8", You can't see the difference. It has been consuming my spare time since last week. Got all the repair done and one coat of paint on the new wood. Today I will be prepping and painting the whole porch now, as the repairs with new paint stand out. Likely not get all done today, but will put a good dent in it. After that I will repaint the front door and I'm good again.
 
Today's project is finishing the trim work in the bedroom loft. However,,,;

I've been hampered this weekend by a cute auburn haired young lady. She's about four years old with a constant energy source and loves to engage grandpa with searches for her missing toys. She never stops talking, walking, or asking. It is exhausting.

Spending time with people my own age is boring. But at least I can keep up.
 
Yesterday's plans were a flop when I woke up barely able to stand unsupported due to back pain. Today, the back pain is better but a splitting headache accompanied by dizziness is apparently on the agenda. So not much is getting done.
 
My favorite gun show was today.
I came home with just a couple of boxes of Russian 7.62X25 mm ammo for a Czechoslovakian CZ military pistol.
It is also at a place where I know a fair amount of people. Lots of talk about how F'ed up our country is, and disbelief
over what is happening in Canada. :unsure:
Then spent some time with old friends in the same small city. 50 degree weather with no wind. :thumbup:

Got home and Milo, my golden retriever and I did a 2.5 mile walk on the Lincoln High Way...

Great day indeed.... :)
 
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