[mention]worth1[/mention] We went for years avoiding hot dogs and macaroni & cheese because that was pretty much all we ate when we were first married. Thank goodness for Sunday dinners with either my parents or his!

EdieJ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2020 3:51 pm @worth1 We went for years avoiding hot dogs and macaroni & cheese because that was pretty much all we ate when we were first married. Thank goodness for Sunday dinners with either my parents or his!

There is an old saying that goes something like this.
Silk slippers going down the stairs meet wooden shoes going up.

"Garden isn’t quite as much fun as it was a month ago. Still, there are bright spots amongst the decay. My purple hull peas are now looking great and being all productive. My dozen or so Louisiana green velvet okra plants are gaining size daily. Thai Red noodle beans are reaching for the sky. South Anna Butternut squash has sprouted, one hill as an experiment to see where it goes.The smooth and ridged Luffa germinated, another one to satisfy a curiosity. "

I grew Luffa for many years when we lived in Louisiana. We had a Junk tree or what some people call trash tree in our back yard. I let it grow and even built a two foot deep bed around it. I knew it would quickly become taller than my house. Every spring, I would plant louffa seeds at the base of the tree. They germinated easily and grew rapidly to the top of the tree. People driving on our street would see that tall tree above my house and stop and ask what that tree in my backyard with giant fruit in it is. I would explain those are louffa vines and Luffa gourds handing from vines in the tree. Most people have no idea how long luffa gourds grow. I had some Chinese friends who ate luffa when the gourds were about the size of Zucchini. I tried it, but didn't think it had any taste, but I kept growing them for fun.

I had cucumbers growing in my loquat trees one year.

I ran across a lady in the HEB grocery store that brought her baby laying hens in with her.
They were just chicks and she had them in the container they came in.
Wasn't going to leave them in a hot car.

Good for her! Wish more people would think about their animals' welfare. My dog loves car rides and doesn't understand why she has to stay home (tough life lolling about in the A/C!) I've promised her a nice ride once the heat breaks, whenever that may be.

Right now I am sitting in our screened porch. I had noticed earlier today when we were watering that there is a mud-dauber wasp hanging around the un-screened end of the porch. A bit ago I heard this awful racket and couldn't figure out what it was. Then I saw that the wasp was hung up in a spider web. It took about 5 minutes or so to work its way free - and it was cussing the whole time So having gotten loose it flew off and you could tell it was still PO'd. I thought that would be the last I'd see of him. Nope, he's back and I just saw he was crawling around in that same corner he'd gotten stuck in. That's how I know it's a he just kidding. Maybe.

i got lucky on a great buy at an estate sale yesterday. right after walking in to the basement through the garage, i see the book apples of new york
volume 1 copy right 1905 laying out in the open on a piece furniture by some books. i picked it up, thinking that someone on the internet may have said these were now hard books to find. after looking around some more, i bought the book for a dollar. i told my wife who had come with me, we need to look this book up, and see if it is worth anything. we got home, and checked on the internet, and saw a two volume set on amazon for over
$400. 00. i told my wife, i have to go back to the sale, and see if i can find volume 2. i get back to the house, and start combing through all the books. there weren't a lot of books, but they were scattered through out the house, and garage, so it was taking awhile to make sure i hadn't missed anything. i came up bumpkins. as i was leaving, i lingered in the garage for a bit. three people were there who were collecting money from the sale.
we started talking just about local stuff, when my eye fell upon a box on the ground. there were various bric a brac in front of the box, and also on top of it. hmmmmm. i hadn't look in that one yet. i moved the things off the top of the box. someone had written photos on the lid. i lifted the top of the box off and saw books. and there it was on the left. i let out a loud YESSSSS!!! before regaining my composure. i said to the folks there, sorry about that. i had about given up trying to find this book. as i was replacing the top to the box, a word on the side stood out.....apples.
it was a fruit box used to ship apples.
i paid them a dollar, and went on my merry way.


keith

[mention]rxkeith[/mention] You definitely had a good day. But I think you should have talked them into selling you the apple box too!

I wish I had some of my old farm vintage livestock books from days gone by.
They were all what we call heritage breeds now.
The cattle were covered in fat.
The hogs were bred for lard as much as meat.
That was back in the days when a fried T Bone steak was really good with all the crispy good end fat left on it.

If it is -40F what would it be in Celsius?
The answer may surprise you.

It's certainly cold enough to keep a lawyer's hands inside his OWN pockets.

I was surprised at the answer, which I learned during the year we lived in Canada. I remember getting brainfreeze once because I forgot a hat and it was 0F and I had to walk back home from the bus station. At about -4 or -5F the inside of my nose would freeze. At -20F spit would freeze on the sidewalk faster than you could smear it with your shoe. At -30 or so, even Canadians cancel school. But I also learned that even at +5F, you only need a t-shirt on top (with a hat and gloves and jeans, of course) if you're shovelling snow. It was a fun year.

Just when I think I have a little extra scratch to buy a sous vide contraption and do it low and behold the battery goes out on my truck.
After working ten hours I try to start the truck to go to yet another job site to work even more hours and the thing is dead.
Check voltage with my trusty fluke meter and it has a whopping 10 volts.
Not good.
Work mate has jumpers, get the thing running and head back to the same place I got the battery.
Wouldn't you know it, just out of warranty.
Got to pay full price, the nice lady tells me the price and I say you know you are cutting into my birthday steak money, birthday this month.
She says really, lets see what I can do.'
Cuts price $25 dollars and I thank her kindly.
Come to find out she just had cataract surgery too at the same place.
Talked about that while the guy changes out the battery and off I went.
Life is good.

Mangalitsa pig

A couple of weeks ago they handed out $100 vouchers to get work boots at the Red Wing store.
They have other brands there but I like Red Wing boots.
I got an early birthday check from them yesterday for $150.
Used it and the voucher and got a new pair of boots.
First boots in 10 years, that is how long the other pair of Red Wings lasted.
Boot cost was $239 so the boots were free.
If I would have bought cheap boots I would have replaced them every year or even less than a year and would have spent $1000 or more.

When I was still working and had to replace required safety shoes, Red Wing was my choice as well. Better made, they had large sizes with narrow widths and they fit well from the start. And I purchased hiking boots made by them when I was still an avid backpacker. I was surprised to find that they offer other items, such as wallets, on one of their websites.

I also have a 3D western style wallet I have had for over ten years, worn in but no flaws or anything.
Cost me around 40 bucks or so.
Complements (I like your wallet) from women up north for some strange reason that one threw me off a little.
This one.
https://www.3dbelt.com/p320_3d-tan-west ... old-wallet.

Put the boots on last night and didn't feel any rubbing anyplace as usual for this brand.
Tried wolverines a few times and not only did they fall apart really soon they felt like wolverines on my feet.
I know some people swear by them but I have no idea why.

It breaks my heart to know that there are some people if not most people in this country have never had on a pair of boots or shoes made in the USA.

It suddenly occurred to me tonight. As a child, I used to be taken to the dentist as we all did. On being good, the dentist would give me a boiled sweet lolly.

I'm still waiting for my doctor to do the same and sling me a woodbine.

I don't understand people.
Came back from lunch the other day and saw the companies $700 Nitro set tool laying on the floor.
They have also lost the extension pole that goes with it.
The case for the tool was right there.
When I had it on another job it never left my sight.
This is the reason I refuse to let people use or borrow my tools.

My dad was once told by a mentor “Never lend out, even to a friend, your chainsaw or your wife, they’ll never come back the same” haha.

Only fancy tools I have are fly tying vises and tools, that and several Stihl lithium Ion powered yard tools. I used that battery powered chainsaw to build my raised beds, that and a Li ion drill. That chainsaw cut through rough western cedar like warm butter.