What are you doing today?

DT said:
I've had a Greenworks blower and then later picked up a string trimmer, and then later again, a [chain] pole saw, they all use their 40v battery pack. So it's cool, the initial blower purchase (for Dad's day, hahaha ...) had the battery and charger, so I got the other two as "tool only", so around $89 for each. The pack charges quick, has a charge indicator __and__ has bluetooth and an app, so I can check the exact state, condition, etc., from my iPhone :)

Well, I was out of gas for the mower, it was empty, the main can was empty, it's a decent little simple B&S motor'ed push mower (no bag, manual push) we've had for a few years (even just put on a new blade), but in an effort to green up a little more, not deal with starting/gas/oil/smell/noise, we just scored a Greenworks electric mower - from Woot! ~50% off, arrived today. It has two packs, a 4.0a and a 2.0a and another charger, so now I'll have 2/3/4 amp batteries, two chargers (hell, another battery and charger is $100 and we got the mower for $199). Plus this mower bags, and where we normally don't worry about it that much, we've had an excess of leaves fall this year, so one good bagging mow will be nice).
Click to expand...

Quoted for context.

It's terrific, I used it for the front mid-week, then on Saturday (at the beginning of my downward spiral, hahaha ...) I mowed the back, bag works great, really cleaned up the leaves.

Get this: I mowed the back, then moved the battery to the pole saw, cut a decent amount of small limbs out of this area we're cleaning up, then moved it to the string trimmer, THEN moved it to the blower, did the whole drive AND the whole deck! Same charge, one battery, that's super fantastic. Quiet (well, it's like a really loud fan), no smell, backup power as needed (with 3 batteries), mulch/side/bag options, I'm all in on the electric stuff, T is pretty "green" she dug on it.
 
And speaking of being green :D

I was somehoe able to facilitate the final details of our new ride on Saturday, through a fevered haze - er, who knows what I actually agreed too ... will post over the car thread with details :)
 
Last edited:
DT said:
So the wife and I had our 1st Moderna shot a few weeks, ago, very little reaction from either of us, a little soreness at the injection site, honestly, not more pain level than a typical workout :D (just a little more isolated).

This past Friday, ~6p, we got our second, had a great dinner, everything good so far, woke up on Sat, felt a little extra tired, but I still carried on with my morning plans: mowing the back, taking out a few small limbs/trimming this one area, it was pretty tough, but I pressed through.

Wow, then about 1-2p, I got my ass kicked. :D Like severe flu-like aches, pains, ran a 100-102 fever all afternoon, into the evening - Sunday was more of the same, just an across the board reduction of all the symptoms (i.e., less fever, less aches), I actually slept hours during the day which I haven't done in years.

Wife didn't have any extreme issues, other than (well both of us), a super tight, slightly swollen, red, injection area. Interestingly , a friends of ours, got their second, he had no issues, she did (just like mine, like a 48 hour flu type thing), and in their case he's the 5 year senior to her (like me to my wife), so it was flipped.

Seems pretty random. For reference, we're both in pretty good shape, I don't complain about minor aches, pains, it comes with my age, I'm rarely sick, take few meds (only OTC like the occasional Zyrtec or Ibuprofen), but holy smokes, this was a pretty good kick-in-the-pants :)

Oh yeah, that mowing, see next post :D
Click to expand...

Commiserations.

This was a major topic of conversation over the week-end, with both of my brothers - and indeed, the friends who phoned me.
 
French class finished, and a lovely chat (by phone) with my favourite cousin, (who has a troubled enough life of his own) who very kindly rang to wish me (belated) brithday greetings.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
French class finished, and a lovely chat (by phone) with my favourite cousin, (who has a troubled enough life of his own) who very kindly rang to wish me (belated) brithday greetings.
Click to expand...

Happy Belated Birthday!

I spent most of yesterday trying to fix our drip system. A few months ago, a main cracked in the street, so the folks at the water company came in and fixed in, giving me a luxurious bit of tarmac in front of my house. Then, another section crumbled about 4 blocks up, so they fixed that. In the meantime, the water pressure kicked up.

So, my drip system kicked on and rather than send water to the disparate parts of my yard, it sorta' exploded. The main feed line cracked, and an end-cap disintegrated. A few lines split, and a few emitters were sent into the cactus, where they can become decoration for a kangaroo rat's den.

Which meant I had to spend several hours tracking leaks. Oh well. The birds are happy because the little ceramic watering pans and full, and I found a series of emitters that had clearly been gnawed to pieces by javelina. (Hey, jackasses, go to the watering pans not 10 feet away, you giant rodents.)

Today was a fantastic talk with advocates for the deaf and blind, but unfortunately, I bent my proverbial Wookie by dropping a camera. The lens still focuses, but no longer zooms. Well, shit.
 
493E43ED-4737-4D45-95D5-DB46ED6535C9.jpeg

This was some of my view today. I paddled over to the next dock where hubby was waiting to check on me. I got some wonderfully relaxing video I’ll post another time. This was definitely an amazing and awesome day!
 
It was when I was eating a sandwich about a week ago, one of those big sub style bastards, that I realized that my jaw was hurting. Every day thereafter, I'd wake up with the right side of my face throbbing like someone decked me while I slept.

At least until yesterday, when I had a sneezing fit while driving to the store. One good sneeze, and CRACK! I heard my jaw pop. I screamed. It hurt. But from that point on, I've been pain free.

So anyway, I think I dislocated my jaw from eating a sandwich.
 
Last edited:
Renzatic said:
It was when I was eating a sandwich about a week ago, one of those big sub style bastards, that I realized that my jaw was hurting. Every day thereafter, I'd wake up with the right side of my face throbbing like someone decked me while I slept.

At least until yesterday, when I had a sneezing fit while driving to the snore. One good sneeze, and CRACK! I heard my jaw pop. I screamed. It hurt. But from that point on, I've been pain free.

So anyway, I think I dislocated my jaw from eating a sandwich.
Click to expand...

Commiserations.

On the (very) rare occasions I have been confronted with "one of those big sub style bastards" - and yes, they can be delicious - I have been known to call upon the (welcome if unfashionable) services of cutlery, in the form of a knife and fork, briskly wielded, and a plate.
 
Last edited:
Scepticalscribe said:
Commiserations.

On the (very) rare occasions I have ben confronted with "one of those big sub style bastards" - and yes, they can be delicious - I have been known to call upon the (welcome if unfashionable) services of cutlery, in the form of a knife and fork, briskly wielded, and a plate.
Click to expand...

I may have to start doing that myself. Apparently my bones are becoming tender.
 
Renzatic said:
I may have to start doing that myself. Apparently my bones are becoming tender.
Click to expand...

Well, we don't have those extraordinarily hinged jaws that you find on some of the constrictor snake family, and I was always mindful that attempting to consume "one of those big sub style bastards" couldn't be accomplished with my jaws alone, not without remedial assistance supplied by cutlery (and a useful plate to hand, as my hands were wholly occupied busily wielding a knife and fork).
 
Scepticalscribe said:
Well, we don't have those extraordinarily hinged jaws that you find on some of the constrictor snake family, and I was always mindful that attempting to consume "one of those big sub style bastards" couldn't be accomplished with my jaws alone, not without remedial assistance supplied by cutlery (and a useful plate to hand, as my hands were wholly occupied busily wielding a knife and fork).
Click to expand...

I just had another sandwich, and I compensated for my tender bones by eating through it with small nibbles. This time, I managed to not hurt myself.

Getting old is a strange experience. It doesn't seem that long ago when I could fall out of a tree, then down a flight of stairs, and it wouldn't do much more than knock the wind out of me. Now it's like I can hurt myself just by sleeping wrong.
 
Renzatic said:
I just had another sandwich, and I compensated for my tender bones by eating through it with small nibbles. This time, I managed to not hurt myself.

Getting old is a strange experience. It doesn't seem that long ago when I could fall out of a tree, then down a flight of stairs, and it wouldn't do much more than knock the wind out of me. Now it's like I can hurt myself just by sleeping wrong.
Click to expand...

Yep. My body feels increasingly brittle.

I spent months dirtbag climbing by camping in the back of my Jeep, and I once fell asleep in the jump-seat of a transport plane. The crew chief kicked my boots to wake me up before landing—and I spent a week with the nickname "Hicks."

Now, if I don't have three pillows and a soft bed, I can't sleep and I wake up and spend most of the day cracking joints and groaning.
 
Renzatic said:
I just had another sandwich, and I compensated for my tender bones by eating through it with small nibbles. This time, I managed to not hurt myself.

Getting old is a strange experience. It doesn't seem that long ago when I could fall out of a tree, then down a flight of stairs, and it wouldn't do much more than knock the wind out of me. Now it's like I can hurt myself just by sleeping wrong.
Click to expand...

hulugu said:
Yep. My body feels increasingly brittle.

I spent months dirtbag climbing by camping in the back of my Jeep, and I once fell asleep in the jump-seat of a transport plane. The crew chief kicked my boots to wake me up before landing—and I spent a week with the nickname "Hicks."

Now, if I don't have three pillows and a soft bed, I can't sleep and I wake up and spend most of the day cracking joints and groaning.
Click to expand...
I worked with military chaps who told me that "war is a young man's (person's?) game".

Having said that, while I've never worshipped at the fountain of youth, or strength (never really valued either, - I'm female, and what I had was incredible endurance), I belatedly did develop a bit of an appetite for adventure, for, as a teenager and in my twenties, I was prudent, cautious, composed and controlled.

Falling down stairs, or, out of trees, or dirtbag climbing while sleeping in jeeps would have held no attraction whatsoever for me when young; I like hot water and functioning rest rooms far too much.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
I worked with military chaps who told me that "war is a young man's (person's?) game".

Having said that, while I've never worshipped at the fountain of youth, or strength (never really valued either, - I'm female, and what I had was incredible endurance), I belatedly did develop a bit of an appetite for adventure, for, as a teenager and in my twenties, I was prudent, cautious, composed and controlled.

Falling down stairs, or, out of trees, or dirtbag climbing while sleeping in jeeps would have held no attraction whatsoever for me when young; I like hot water and functioning rest rooms far too much.
Click to expand...

My wife has always been impressed/appalled at my ability to not only endure, but thrive while being dirty and hungry. She's a hot shower, clean sheets person. Meanwhile, I can live out the back of a vehicle for weeks as long as I can make bacon and coffee, and occasionally jump into a stream or lake.

Dirtbag climbing happened because I was poor, travel hungry and I belonged to a tribe of people who wanted the same. We'd just live on crackers, apples, coffee and ramen for days, and bathe in mountain pools, or rivers. And, a hot spring was a goddamned miracle.

I miss those days because all I did was eat cheap food, climb until my hands gave out, read in the afternoon, and drink cheap beer. I also looked like a yeti.
 
DT said:
We may have one of those now ... :cool:
Click to expand...

Probably going to buy a Toyota 4Runner soon. The Grand Cherokee's V8 finally gave out, and I'm not sure I want to do a Wrangler or another Grand Cherokee. And, the new Jeep Wagoneer is too much luxury, with too little capability.

I wish I could pony up for a Land Cruiser, because I miss the V8, but they're expensive, and the used market for them is lousy.
 
hulugu said:
Probably going to buy a Toyota 4Runner soon. The Grand Cherokee's V8 finally gave out, and I'm not sure I want to do a Wrangler or another Grand Cherokee. And, the new Jeep Wagoneer is too much luxury, with too little capability.

I wish I could pony up for a Land Cruiser, because I miss the V8, but they're expensive, and the used market for them is lousy.
Click to expand...

We had a 4Runner, it was a rare purchase vs. lease*, we tend to do the latter for the "family" vehicle, that way there's a car that's always under warranty (so no surprises ...), and the "disposal" is simple. At that point, I was kind of, it's a T4R, it should last, let's do it with a 5 year plan, and I knew with a new baby, our current beach/snow habits, it was going to be abused :D

It was very solid, had the 4.7 V8, AWD of course :D Held up well, it did require a 75K service, which is a timing belt/pump/etc., service, the V8 uses belts, the bulletproof V6 uses chains, that's a $1300 service, but factored in over 5+ years, not too bad TCO, we had our special shocks/suspension blow out, OEM would've been $3K, we went with Bilstein 5100 HDs, ~$600, needed new calipers, an oil cooler, again, still decent TCO at 6 years, and it towed, snowed, drive through the ocean, scaled mountains, got vomited in / 1000s of lbs of McD's consumed (10s of lbs lost under seats ...)

2f3ed301.jpg



Our current, well, according to some text messages just now we have two currents, hahaha, more on that later, but the one in the driveway is a Dodge Durango RT, AWD, loaded with tow, black top, B&O audio, etc., it's a 6 seater (in our cap chair configuration), tows a ton, the RT has slightly more sporty suspension, slightly lower, it has the 5.7L Hemi, that's the 360/390 output (there's an SRT with the 6.4L), it was solid too, almost 3 years old today, and only had a couple of small, under warranty fixes.


IMG_3649_REV_1_1200.jpg



We cross shopped another 3 row, explorer ST, nice with the 21" Perf Pack, quick, gave the Hyundai/Kia twins a review, they're killing it, backordered for weeks, really flipping the content-to-price ratio.

Finally, we decided we don't care about a 3-row/6-7 seaters any longer (why do we really need it, it was always to accommodate someone else ...), have never owned a Jeep myself (Dad had one) we were looking at Grand Cherokees, which as you probably know, share quite a bit of tech/chassis, with the Durango, pretty cool, mid-range models have the (same) 5.7L as an option.

FWIW, the current Grand Cherokee has not been updated for MY21, but the new Grand Cherokee L (L = Long Wheelbase), which is a 3-row is new, has the option for the new uConnect 5 10" display, newly designed exterior, interior. The Wagoneer is just a beast, way too big for our needs, $60K entry level, hell, the 6.4L Grand Wagoneer flavor tops $100K.

However, the wife had a hankering, I sort of did too, the little G is into it, it's new, it's old, it's super cool, it's very "beachy", it's small step towards the future, we wound up with a Jeep, it's being delivered today, er, I guess big reveal when it arrives, hahaha, I convinced them (or they kind of took it upon themselves, same difference ...) to drive it up to us from Orlando for free :D


*This is one of the great misunderstood ownership models, as soon as I hear, "well you don't own it", I know the person isn't quite clear on the concept. Here's a kicker: you can sell your leased car, it's got a residual value (heck, that's determined up front), we have a Carvana offer for $7000 over the RV, we're not turning it in, we're selling it to them, that's money in our pocket, like equity, like a conventional finance :)
 
DT said:
We had a 4Runner, it was a rare purchase vs. lease*, we tend to do the latter for the "family" vehicle, that way there's a car that's always under warranty (so no surprises ...), and the "disposal" is simple. At that point, I was kind of, it's a T4R, it should last, let's do it with a 5 year plan, and I knew with a new baby, our current beach/snow habits, it was going to be abused :D

It was very solid, had the 4.7 V8, AWD of course :D Held up well, it did require a 75K service, which is a timing belt/pump/etc., service, the V8 uses belts, the bulletproof V6 uses chains, that's a $1300 service, but factored in over 5+ years, not too bad TCO, we had our special shocks/suspension blow out, OEM would've been $3K, we went with Bilstein 5100 HDs, ~$600, needed new calipers, an oil cooler, again, still decent TCO at 6 years, and it towed, snowed, drive through the ocean, scaled mountains, got vomited in / 1000s of lbs of McD's consumed (10s of lbs lost under seats ...)

View attachment 4475


Our current, well, according to some text messages just now we have two currents, hahaha, more on that later, but the one in the driveway is a Dodge Durango RT, AWD, loaded with tow, black top, B&O audio, etc., it's a 6 seater (in our cap chair configuration), tows a ton, the RT has slightly more sporty suspension, slightly lower, it has the 5.7L Hemi, that's the 360/390 output (there's an SRT with the 6.4L), it was solid too, almost 3 years old today, and only had a couple of small, under warranty fixes.


View attachment 4476


We cross shopped another 3 row, explorer ST, nice with the 21" Perf Pack, quick, gave the Hyundai/Kia twins a review, they're killing it, backordered for weeks, really flipping the content-to-price ratio.

Finally, we decided we don't care about a 3-row/6-7 seaters any longer (why do we really need it, it was always to accommodate someone else ...), have never owned a Jeep myself (Dad had one) we were looking at Grand Cherokees, which as you probably know, share quite a bit of tech/chassis, with the Durango, pretty cool, mid-range models have the (same) 5.7L as an option.

FWIW, the current Grand Cherokee has not been updated for MY21, but the new Grand Cherokee L (L = Long Wheelbase), which is a 3-row is new, has the option for the new uConnect 5 10" display, newly designed exterior, interior. The Wagoneer is just a beast, way too big for our needs, $60K entry level, hell, the 6.4L Grand Wagoneer flavor tops $100K.

However, the wife had a hankering, I sort of did too, the little G is into it, it's new, it's old, it's super cool, it's very "beachy", it's small step towards the future, we wound up with a Jeep, it's being delivered today, er, I guess big reveal when it arrives, hahaha, I convinced them (or they kind of took it upon themselves, same difference ...) to drive it up to us from Orlando for free :D


*This is one of the great misunderstood ownership models, as soon as I hear, "well you don't own it", I know the person isn't quite clear on the concept. Here's a kicker: you can sell your leased car, it's got a residual value (heck, that's determined up front), we have a Carvana offer for $7000 over the RV, we're not turning it in, we're selling it to them, that's money in our pocket, like equity, like a conventional finance :)
Click to expand...
My next one's likely going to be a Rav4 Prime. I LOL'd about the 3-rows, aren't you in a 3-member family?:)
 
Back
Top