I pass my test, build things, get sick

Monday I took my Turf herbicide license test so I can get a commerical pesticide applicators license. I passed with an 87% which is pretty good considering I was convinced of failure. Strangely enough, it was not my lack of mathematical skills that was the problem. I did find on the math. However, there were a lot of trick questions (in my opinion) and I forgot to study one section.
I was about the have a great week at work.

The shop guy wanted me to work on the leaf pickup machine. We put a different engine on it. Replaced a 40 year old Clinton (I think) that kept breaking the starter with a Harbor Freight Predator.
Controls had to be moved and changed.
This beats the heck out of blowing leaves in the cold and rain.
However...
Tuesday I started feeling a bit off. My wife has decided to do some painting and caulking. Monday night we used a rather stinky product which is not labeled for indoor use, then the dog barked every two hours and I could sleep.
So I didn't think much about feeling like crap Tuesday morning. But around midmorning I realized something was wrong.
I had trouble thinking, my brain started attempting to crawl out of my right eyesocket. This is even more uncomfortable when you are running a grinder and the stereo in the shop is blaring hard rock with the occasional speed metal thrown in for torture.
Fortunately my supervisor was gone and the Shop Guy sent me on a 20 mile parts run.
I started noticing that I was having trouble driving straight. Also, I was a little dizzy. I figured it was a bit of an inner ear infection and if you are going to crash you might as well make it worthwhile so I just went faster.
I got the wrong parts... Well, one of the parts was wrong. However, I was kind of wiped out and I went and watered plants in the greenhouse. It was warm and quiet there.
Then I got a text from my missing supervisor to put out rat traps for him. I think that is a mark of responsiblity. I tried to do a good job.
When 4:20 p.m. arrived I headed for the office and I was out the door before 4:30. But then I remembered I had promised my daughter to pick up some artistic stuff for her mother for Christmas. So I went downtown and bought a really cool Japanese made pen that is like a paintbrush and you can do lettering or calligraphy. Not that she does calligraphy but it had really cool Japanese writing on the pen. Then I spied a basement tea shop which I'd never seen before and the owner looked like Yoda so I bought my daughter some tea.
Then I went home and crashed on the couch.
I think I was able to expose a large number of people in several different social setting to plague and disease in the week before Christmas.
The family was taking my daughter's foreign exchange student friend to Seattle and would be gone for three days. They stocked me up with wood for the fire and gave me lots of Ritz crackers and they bailed the next day.
Interesting illness.
As I noted earlier I have once again popped a rib out of place. I usually ignore this until my wife forces me to go to the Chiropractor.
So I had a severe headache, deep coughing, I found blood in my snot but (not being delicate) the stuff that came out of my lungs, the stuff that was up in my head. I could not stay warm, (but it is cold and damp out), every muscle connected with coughing hurts. I have no appetite but am not nauseous. I'm tired but can't sleep, my right ear starts hurting from time to time.
I thought I was well this morning till I got out of bed and had to cough. It hurt so bad I just went back to bed. As of this moment I figure I am mostly well but I'm still cold and have no energy.
It was a strange illness and I don't wish it on anyone else.
I have not finished my Christmas shopping and I really don't feel like it.

 

Muddy Valley back in the day...

I hate tests

The GRE test is my excuse for not going to grad school. Stupid reason, I'd probably still not have a real job anyway.
I fell off the forklift yesterday trying to change the yard light. Took Teddy and I all day. Ended up installing a new fixture. I wanted to go LED but didn't have $150. Got the cheapo $75 mercury vapor one.
Tomorrow I take my commercial applicator exam. I'm going to fail it. I can't concentrate.
I think I am mental.
Daughter is sick. Skipped church and I'm hoping hot water jets on my back will make me feel better. Not sure what to do about my knee.
Am trying my favorite brand of muscle relaxant.
We shall see...

Meanwhile in California... I can see if he was going to eat it...

Second man comes forward to claim he was the heroic bunny rescuer http://dailym.ai/2AqTxcC via http://dailym.ai/android

Interesting blogs

http://grainsandpulses.blogspot.com

And

http://www.thelittletractorco.com 

http://fastracworld.blogspot.com

I spend actual money in a record store and feel foolish

Yesterday the President of my humble college issued an edict declaring no work after lunch and we all were sent home with pay.
I had a few things to do like put my meager pay check in the bank and pick up a pizza for supper.
My plan was to play pinball most of the afternoon and then pick up the pizza and go home. However, now that I am fifty-&*(^%ing-old, playing pinball all afternoon does not calm the nerves like it once did. Plus, I have a CDL and I don't feel like drinking Pepsi by the pint glass and I can't even sniff mouthwash without being subject to a driving under the influence.
I suppose I could have talked a workstudy student into accompanying me but that just seems weird. I saw a former helper/workstudy kid walking home and invited him home for Thanksgiving but he declined. He said he was going to have a pathetic Thanksgiving with his three remaining Frat brothers at the weed friendly fraternity on campus. It also might also be because I noted he was certainly looking good when I invited him into my car. He was wearing a bandanna and silkish rainbow hued harem pants and playing with funny juggling balls with string things on them that he spins around his head.
He made a comment about ass, grass, or gas, and I responded with, "Hey, nobody rides for free..." He seemed cool with that.
Well, he did look sorta cute...
But, I digress...
I gave him my lunch and threw in three beers which I had found in a flowerbed earlier in the week. He was looking a little skinny. He was very happy about the Thanksgiving bounty. He said he was going to use my carrots in his stew and totally gulped down his half of my sandwich. The beer was an added bonus. He expected one can but I gave him the three left in the pack.
I can't tell that story in Church but he seemed genuinely touched by my good will and this ain't exactly Church...
I cashed my check and headed back into town to straighten out my insurance defugalties. I texted my insurance agent who said her helper was in the office. She wasn't. So I ordered the pizza.
Which reminds me of a little story.
I was trying to enrich the word power of a workstudy student. He wanted to know the difference between a defugalty and conundrum. I suggested that a metaphorical example might be if he could picture sitting on a mower and really had to go poop but the restroom was far away. So you were sitting there wondering if you should just poop yourself or hold it in till you go blind. That is a conundrum and both of those two solutions would result in a defugalty. A couple days later he thanked me putting my explanation into "real world" terms that he could understand.
But, once again, I digress...
To kill some time I went to the local record shop. The owner makes me a bit nervous as he always looks at me intently and never seems to recognize me although I've patronized his shop off and on for at least a decade. Of course I seldom buy anything although I once found a pristine copy of the Blue Ridge Rangers for which I had been searching many years.
I was looking for the Kinks album that has their greatest hits excluding "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" or that stupid one about their cousin. The Kinks really have some horrible songs and like only five awesome songs. Sort of like the idea of if you shoot the shotgun often enough you are going to eventually hit a duck school of song writing...
And then I saw a tab for Mudcrutch!
There in front of my confused little eyes was a genuine Mudcrutch album. I put down the demo copy of "The Fabulous Thunderbirds" first album and looked with wonder on Tom Petty's first band. This would have been recorded during or after his groundskeeping gig at Florida Sate. I just assumed it was a remaster of old tapes on to Vinyl and it would be amazing. I looked closely at the cover. I read that it had been recorded in one take in 70'. I rushed to the counter. The kid behind the counter said, "whoa, Mudcrutch, their first album..." I started talking.
Fortunately and attractive girl walked in and the owner and his accolade abandoned me.
I picked up my pizza and rushed home.
My wife and daughter were home.
I restrained myself for at least an hour and then when I was requested to come help make pies for Thanksgiving I suggested we listen to my new album.
I dropped the needle on the first track and it was Tom Petty singing a Folk Song, followed by a country-western song, and suddenly I realized that this was recorded not in 1970 but rather in 07' meaning 2007.
This ain't swamp rock from 1970, this is middle aged dudes singing country music. This is not bad as it is what country music should be, but I just was not prepared. Plus, I could have bought the CD from Amazon for half the price. Heck I could have bought the CD and the record and got the songs as a Free MP3 download from Amazon and had it delivered by tomorrow if I was actually looking for a Mudcrutch reunion album.
Oh well, it is worth something to hear Tom Petty singing "Six days on the Road." He leaves the "little white pills" line in.

Thanksgiving

I miss the old days.
I was talking about with one of the hispanic workers. Somewhat of a language barrier but he was also talking about the big family dinners of his youth and how people just are not the same as they used to be. Kind of interesting. Curmudgeonism can bridge borders of language and culture. I have discoverd some sort of inter-cultural enlightenment...
My family used to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner with all the extended family members. It was kind of a pain when I was a kid but now I kind of miss it. There was usually really good food.
We are going to my Wife's family today. Which is great.
I invited one of my workstudy students when I found out he was one of the few people left in his Frat house.
He declined as he was determined to have Thanksgiving with the few that remained. Sort of a holiday tradition I understand. I gave him my lunch which had a lot of carrots. He was pretty happy as they were making stew. I also gave him several beers that I had found. This made him Very happy. It sounded as if his Thanksgiving dinner would be greatly improved by three beers, a bag of carrots and a bag of peanuts. Perhaps i should take him a pie this afternoon.
I kind of feel bad about eating the candy bars I found under the stadium bleachers. Should have also passed those on.

My lucky day

I found 25 cents and half a twizzler blowing the stands after the big football game.
Talk about the benefits of being a groundskeeper!
Of course this was offset by my very astute supervisor saying we can't wear our boots home because the college bought them.
And now I know why people steal pens from work...

What I'm doing today...

I repeat this mantra every day. "Free tuition, good health insurance, retirement..."
There really is no point in mowing the soccer field which was watered so late it won't dry out till spring as they can't play on it anyway.
I go a work order to dry it out. Really...

Three days ago I was doing this

I never thought I would see farming as a vacation...

Should this ever happen to you

Do NOT rip off the remaining nail with your teeth.
Suffering will follow...
For at least a week...

Oregon Says You Can't Use Electronic Devices and Drive

So I guess it is three felonies a day plus a misdemeanor?

A 100 year old spider lily

It resides in the library at my college.
It has bloomed twice under my care.
Of course the Ficus tree did lose all its leaves onto the carpet.

Why we can't have nice things

I was driving the tractor down the hill on our farm to get my grain drill when I saw a tail pipe in the road. People had been driving around it.
Me, not being the sort of person to poop and then sit back down in it, stopped the tractor to move the broken exhaust pipe.
I then realized it was from my pickup.
Now I could have lost it last night when I went to look at the drill but I should have heard it. But it makes it more pathetic if people drove around it all day and didn't move it.
At least they didn't run over it.

Some photos and my birthday

Happy birthday to me...
Several people have complemented me on the outstanding job I have done on the soccer field. My supervisor is the one who insisted on overwatering it and that is why it is green during the driest summer in years.
I am the one who drives straight and who has not sprayed out the fence rows, cleaned the bark dust beds, or sprayed the weeds in the gravel parking lots.

I talked my brother into buying a combine. The diesel fuel injector pump promptly failed after two days of use. It sat for another three week. It has an odd pump. There are a million International DT-466 based engines and only a few of them have a not usually stocked injector pump.

I have 300 acres to plant and on the last field of straw the PTO catastrophically failed on my planter tractor and it is stranded in a field not that close to home. No hydraulics, no PTO, no brakes, no steering and a painful grinding noise. Hopefully it is just the coupler between the engine and PTO shaft. Whatever it is the minimum is one day to pull engine and three days to put it back in.

Yesterday I discovered the irrigation manager didn't turn off the irrigation on the practice field and golf green like I suggested Friday before the rain. The supervisor didn't tell him to do it. I turned it off  yesterday at quitting time. Today i didn't get stuck.

I was going to have a birthday party as Flying Pig Fiddle and Banjo is somewhere in Oregon and I have a work-study student that plays old time fiddle. I decided to just work on tractors instead. Probably for the best...

I made these barn door roller hinge things for my wife. She is building something.

My daughter found Isaac Asimov's "The Robots of Dawn" at a second hand book store and gave it to me for my birthday present. I can't read it as the print is too small.
My lovely and gracious wife got me some SK brand metric tubing wrenches. They are very nice.
Starbucks gave me a free cup of coffee. It was also nice. The barista gave me a smile and several kind words. I gave her a tip.
I suppose it was a good day...

I buy a new phone, go to a high school reunion, run out of money, and urchins steal my gator...

It is a Sunday morning and it is hot.
My family went camping.
I expect them back today.
I fixed myself eggs for breakfast. The eggs were fresh out of the chicken. I found some peppers in the garden and some mushrooms in the refrigerator. The mushrooms were in a brown paper bag. They were not growing in the refrigerator. My wife has not been gone that long.

I should have put fewer peppers in the eggs. I grew Hungarian Wax Peppers and Jalapeno's. The Hungarian wax pepper can be quite spicy. It is good for cooking and you can control the heat by the amount of seeds you keep. The flesh is mild and mine were a little sweet, more like a Bell Pepper than your usual fry your mouth ball-o-fire pepper.

I've been having a lot of phone problems. I've gone through five iPhone 6plus 16 gig. The iPhone six plus with 16 gigs is a junk phone. If someone gives it to you sell it. It will lock up and will randomly not receive texts, not send texts, send phone calls but not receive and received and not send. Plus, there seems to be a problems with certain Apple iCloud servers and you can't restore your piece of crap Asurion refurbished replacement phone.

I just got my replacement iPhone after the last failure and I could not restore the phone properly. I missed many important phone calls and texts. So I went to my local Verizon store where I got the car salesman treatment from a nice young man.
I was going to buy either an iPhone six 32 gig, an HTC, or a LG s6. The iPhone was too expensive for someone who continually breaks phones. They didn't have the HTC. So I got the LG.
My salesman said I could get $250 for my old phone from Verizon's buyback program. But, I had to do that at home. He also found me a $200 credit for switching to the LG. He did try to sell me a Motorola but the Motorola doesn't have a headphone jack. I don't want to deal with missing or dead bluetooth speakers in the middle of a Librovox recording fifteen miles from home and eight hours of boredom ahead of me.
But, I digress...
I bought the LG and paid double what I should have for a hard case and now I'm back to the other phone system. It is ok. I'm not thrilled but my phone doesn't really define my life. It is requiring some adjustment. I really just wanted my iPhone to work. I had finally got the iCloud BS to actually work. I liked the voice recognition for blogging. I was using BlogTouch Pro (which I really liked) for my phone.
I think the bottom line is that Apple is no longer longer an innovative company. The PC side seems to have learned a lot from the old days of Apple superiority and I can now tolerate them.

But you are all waiting to hear how I made the local scanner monitor page on Facebook.

The fellow who got my old JD Gator when I was "promoted" went on vacation. I fried the belt on my Mule climbing hills behind the college and it was in the shop. So I commandeered the Gator. Apparently his workstudy student was leaving the keys in the glove box and these two juvenile delinquents attempted to steal the gator. He also left so much crap in the gator it is hard to shift the darn thing and while the kids got it started and into reverse they were not able to get the shifter into the forward position because the mirror had fallen off the roof and was stashed on top of the shifter and prevented shifting into forward gear. So they reversed it into a big pile of grass and clippings couldn't get it into forward and then ran.
Security chased them in the little security SUV but nearly got stuck in the wildlife area. The kids escaped and I have been getting a lot of comments.
There is now a new edict that we have to chain up our steering wheels. I produced my keys to security so I was not in trouble. They like me as I laugh when they harass me and so I didn't get reported over the keys in the glovebox incident.

Last night I attended my 35th high school reunion. There were something like eight of us. Class size was around 47. I was not going to attend as I hated every moment of school. I was also a weird kid with odd religious beliefs, didn't do the pledge of allegiance, didn't go to dances, didn't go out drinking with everyone else, and people made fun of me a lot until eight grade when I became brutally sarcastic and somewhat of a cynic. Apparently I was well-liked in high school but the bitterness lingers on.
The fellow who was hosting the reunion at his winery told me if I didn't show up he or his wife would come and drag me out of the stacker. I was picking up bales just down the road.
I figure that was as good and invitation as any so I went.
Strangely enough, all the people there were people I liked and none of the people I disliked (in High School) were there. It was nice.
It is amazing how your early school experiences stick with you though life.
I had a nice talk with a couple people I hadn't seen since graduation and when the hosts heard I was on my own they loaded me with food to take home.

Next week it is supposed to hit 105 degrees. This is going to not be so fun.

Note: Blogger app on the phone is not letting me add photos. I foresee problems with the iPhone switch...

I am recovered and doing my usual mucking about...

I have recovered.
I am still having phone issues so I have no photos to share.
Today I went to sleep mowing and hit the fence. This was a bit hard on the reel mower. It is ironic that yesterday I got in trouble for letting my student run the reel mower. He was making perfectly straight lines and driving perfectly.
It was I who hit the fence...
Oh well, that is why God gave us welders...
My phone is a frustrating experience. I have an iPhone 6plus which has failed at least four times in the year I've had it.
I have Asurian insurance through Verizon. It is kind of an amazing scam, or at lest as I understand it.
Apple gives you a one year limited warranty but does not cover screens. However, they will sell you a new screen for around $150.
If you pay through the nose for Asurian they will give you a "reconditioned" phone for $150. Apple will not honor the one year replacement warranty on the Asurian replacement phone. Asurain gives you a phone that someone traded in because it was broken. So you get a crap phone for $150 which will probably fail and if you get stuck with a crappy model then you can't trade your way out of it.
I'm not sure there is any point in Asurain insurance on your phone. I think if I get a new phone I will try a SquareTrade warranty. I had it on a computer once I was very happy.
Today I intended to go pick up bales for my neighbors. They loaned us a baler when our engine failed.
However, my brother and I went to look at a combine instead and then I made some pig feed.
Making pig and chicken feed is not as much fun as it used to be when I didn't have a job.
I now have a good and rather large New Holland mixer-grinder. It pulls easy and holds 4,000lbs. It will also grind hay.
I liked making feed because I could trade it for beef and pork and it was a nice break from working on tractors in the cold. Grinding dusty grain when it is 80 degrees and almost dark is not as much fun as I had imagined. Plus, I think feed prices are down and I'm not getting the serious buyers I used to get.
Tomorrow I'm going to pick up bales. But, I am using my old iPhone 5 which does have enough memory to store books on tape. So it will be a long day.
Perhaps i can think of funny stories to blog about.

A day off

I've been a bit busy.
Before I took on this job at the College I may have worked long hours but I usually had some sort of break to write the blog.
I have also been having frustrations with my iPhone and MacBook.
The iPhone 6s has died for the fourth time in a year and I'm back to the old iPhone 5. The small screen doesn't work for blogging.
I took the day off today.
Actually, I'm sick...
It is really frustrating as I have Muddy Valley's hay baled and it looks good. But it is now sitting there bleaching in the sun.
I went home at 8 p.m. last night. Decided after the second time I had to stop the stacker in the field and take a puke break that perhaps I should just go home. I was a little worried it would come out the other end next.
It seems like I spent most of the night puking my guts out and now every muscle in my body hurts like heck. Especially my back.
I'd try the hot tub but I still can't trust my farts.
I should have some adventures to post about but frankly I feel like crap and I'm going back to bed...
Perhaps I should just call in sick for tomorrow.
Soccer players should mow their own soccer field, with push mowers, it would build charactor...

Random photos of my week

It was meant to be a picture story but the photos are out of order...

Whatever!

I'm going to church.

Subjects covered by photos. Warm weather, hay, late planting, bicycle trip to the coast, Russians and pacifiers.

You may assign captions at random

 

 

  

White 2-135

I still need to redo the inside of the cab. Right now I'm more concerned about the digital tachometer not working.

The mounting bracket's are on the front pulley and I think I have to remove the radiator to change the sensor.

Or rather, I think it would be faster to remove the radiator to change or adjust the sensor.

It has gone from 135 hp  at the dry bar, to an estimated 200 engine horsepower. I would like to put it on the Dyno and actually see.

This is the 3rd White tractor/army truck engine conversion and I think each engine behaves differently. This tractor starts harder than the other tractors but I have not pulled it hard yet so I don't know how much power it actually has.

The 2-155 that I use for planting doesn't feel like it has this much horsepower as the ugly 2-155 I bought from Missouri.

All the engines were the same model.

Those idiot republicans....

I didn't think I was going to get a Rose Garden.

I didn't vote for Donald Trump because I thought my healthcare premiums would go down. I voted for Trump because I hate liberals preachy liberals are starting to get under my skin after eight years of a fake negro president, our first sort of, but not quite black president, Bush Lite. I voted for Trump because I think it is insane that I can't clean out a ditch on my own farm. I voted for Trump because I think the gubment is running a protection racket just like the mob with health and safety inspections. I voted for Trump because my liberal friend told me that even though I am the only white male in my department, I got my job because of white privilege.

I expect my healthcare premiums to become unaffordable because the Afordable Care Act institutionalized the graft and corruption of the insurance companies and once it was enacted the insurance people who signed onto it and contributed to the corruption were institutionalized and accepted and the ones who were deemed unworthy were put out of business. Even if the ACA is revoked we are still screwed because the competition that makes the free market work has been eliminated.

I voted for Trump because he was going to upset the apple cart (so to speak) He was a rich bastard but yet an everyday moron enough to appear on the Howard Stern show and laugh at himself. He gets in a big rig and makes motor noises. He isn't a smug prick in a bicycle helmet.

Rejection of the ACA may have been akin to Slim Whitman riding the A Bomb in Dr. Strangelove but it was me turning the wheel off the cliff and screw the establishment and screw you pathetic liberals. He put  climate change denier in charge of the EPA and a private school supporter in charge of the Education Department. YES!!!! I don't care if it all goes to hell. I love to see the shrill cries and hand wringing on Facebook!

But no, the Republicans had to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. I hate them almost as much as I hate Democrats.

I suspect we are heading for some interesting times.

There is no way in heck I would vote for Paul Ryan or John McCain. No freaking way, well perhaps if it were Hillary. Naw, I don't think so....

Still sick, my Dynaco SCA80 phono stage sounds horrible, a bit about White 2-135 tractors, and Groundskeeping

Another epic ramble...
First of all, a statement about my health. I feel like crap. I suspect the Russians or the CIA or mind control. I've had a cough for what seems like forever. Sunday is the one day I can just lay in bed. The family went to church and I'm in bed. Now, understand the title of the blog is "The Lazy Farmer" but there is avoiding work cause you are a lazy arse and there is feeling like poop and staying in bed all day. Two completely different things. My wife is threatening to send me to the Doctor. I say no because I suspect that half of it is stress and frustration and that I'll have to go through endless tests and they will find out that I have a cough and I need rest... I already know that.
Then about blogging.

I suspect blogging is a thing of the past. I was reading this blog (Click Here) because he talks about Dynaco amps, mostly because (like myself) he finds the fit into bookshelves nicely. But, he seems to have quit posting. Probably died like half my other blogging heroes.
I just hope MuddyValley, the dude holding a duck, and the funny farmer from Canada, and that carpenter from England stay healthy. Now I left out the guy who doesn't have a job and he will probably leave a mean comment...
Ok, you get the point!
I still like to read everyone's blogs but the problem is that blogging is not really supported like it used to be. The apps that I have for my iPhone don't provide and easy way to leave comments and blog-reader apps try to keep the hits to themselves. I want to read my favorite blogs and have the people know I'm reading their blogs. I don't want them to see a blog reader link, I want them to see my hits in their stats.


In other news, I have started the 2-135. This is the last of my army truck engine swaps. It runs great but I see water in the transmission/hydraulic oil. This is bad as it has been sitting for several years and I never checked the oil. I should have drained it last night but my wife and daughter got Chinese food and I was hungry and I never went back out to work.

 

This is the preheater for a white Hercules diesel tractor engine. Those broken chunks of ceramic insulator will go through your engine and ruin it.

Being a groundskeeper.
Ironically, this is forcing me to learn a lot of things about spraying and fertilizer that I have always had a hard time understanding. I really miss not having a Crop Science degree. AND... my clever plan to stay under the radar and spend my days climbing hills with my Gator and arguing politics with workstudy students have come to naught. My boss keeps giving me more responsibility all the time (with no increase in pay) and of course I am compelled to try to meet his expectations. It is a curse.
I was grumping about being behind to my workstudy girl and she laughed at me. She noted that while we spent a lot of time driving around talking about philosophy somehow I still seem to get as much or more work done than anyone else (aside for the lady who has been there forever) and that she suspects me of actually being able to "really get stuff done."
I don't know.
I spent another 8 hours in pesticide class on Friday. This time with my boss. We went to lunch together. We discussed his life goals, his Christian faith, his upbringing with guns and his ability to strip a rifle by age six but yet his guilt from killing living things. I have the same problem but I am death on pop cans and varmints that run... Strange lunch conversation.
 

One mower for the softball field one more for the baseball field. I get to wash them both three times a week.

I have been really disappointed with my rebuild of a Rek-o-kut 120 tonearm with a Shure M91E cart. (I was considering a new stylus but I have run out of money.) Here's the deal,  I hooked it to the living room stereo system so the daughter and I could "rock out." It sounds kind of tinny and harsh. However, it sounded warm and rich (the kind of distortion I love) in the bedroom hooked up to a Scott Tube Amp and Dynaco speakers.
After some research I found that this is a common complaint with the Dynaco SCA80 amp.
To digress a little and get something off my chest.
The living room stereo is set up for surround sound for the TV. Unfortunately the folks that bought Grandpa the TV didn't think to buy him a TV with a headphone out jack. Now I can't really complain as I didn't pay for the TV and I didn't volunteer to go help him pick out a TV but I am going to complain anyway. It is really not so much an issue with the people who picked out the TV, but more of an issue with TV manufacturers in general. The TV costs an arm and a leg anyway so just put a stinking headphone jack on it. Then, you can buy remote earphones (or use a cord) and you don't have to have another remote to control the volume. Also, since the sound is not that great anyway, you could hook it up to an external amplifier. Having the option of headphones for your TV is really quite handy.
In our case Grandpa would crank the volume and forget about it because he couldn't hear. This caused problems in the retirement home and cost a lot more money when I had to go to radio shack and buy him wireless headphones. Not to mention the issues with an extra remote to control the headphones.
It has an optical output but that is a constant volume. So you have to get up and turn down the volume on the amp or add a preamp. But than means an extra remote. That is stupid...
I think I could wire in a jack to the speakers and then get amplified output that I could run through the Dynaco but my lovely and gracious wife and my astute and clever daughter feel that in the process there is a 50% chance I would completely screw things up.
I concur....
But I digress.
The Dynaco SCA80 phono stage sounds like crap. (see www.updatemydynaco.com) I think if someone gave me 1.2 million dollars this  blog would be a lot more interesting...

I am now going to go eat leftover Chinese food and then take a nap. I am pathetic...

Oooh wait, another story...
When I was forced to take on athletics (have I ever mentioned my feelings about coaches based on my experiences as a sports editor?) I also got the campus greenhouse. This is funny. We maintain a greenhouse for 14 plants in the library and the science building. In the greenhouse are "back up plants." I'm growing a replacement fiscis tree, ten begonias that the science lab uses for two weeks, and some odd plants that are placed around the podium at graduation. And like five aloevera plants that no one knows are there.
I started growing tomatoes, peppers, kale, artichokes, more peppers, more tomatoes, various plants that look pretty and I forget the names. My assistant climbs over the fence around the greenhouse if the sun comes out (like today) and checks on my tomatoes. I should grow pot...

I live in a random world but I guess that is just fine.

 

I passed my test and test the RekOKut

Repairing my Rekokut k33h has turned into a bit of an obsession. That, and growing peppers in the greenhouse at work. The peppers are doing pretty well, I put them directly in front of the heat that so they're 80°. I'm a little worried about starting them in pots and balancingThe amount of moisture they need versus the amount of moisture applied is a little bit difficult.

Yesterday I took the health and safety portion of the pesticide applicators license test. I took off work and took the test at the local community college. They have pretty tight security in the testing department. Frankly, it was more difficult putting my wallet keys hat and coat into the locker that it was taking the test. I actually had to read the instructions.

And I think I startled the nice ladies with my out-of-control hair. I'm really happy they didn't tell me I looked like a clown on the Simpsons.

I got an 83% on the test. They have trick questions.

I probably would've done better on the test but I was up sussing about where to find a good stylus for a M91e Shure cartridge. 

When I got home, I got ready to put the Engine into the to 135. But I kept thinking about hooking up the RekoKut. 

My daughter was done with softball practice by eight and I went into the house.

She was up for a test run. So I brought the turntable into the living room and hooked it up to my vintage Dynaco System that is supposed to be the entertainment center.

I found the kinks Kronicle album and we cranked up Victoria, until the Clapper thing that turns the lights on kept cycling.

We listen to the Kinks, The Cars, and a couple other albums. On the way to to school this morning she started singing, Waterloo station. She was impressed because she had been there.

I'm doing my best to create an odd and eccentric daughter

 

A relapse and more rambling about lawnmowers and tonearms

I though I was getting better.
Last night I started coughing again. I just stayed in bed.
I am still in bed and it is just past noon.
The daughter is now coughing as well.
I was warned it might come back but I of course though I would beat it...
Yesterday I loaded straw and it was cold and wet and windy. This was not unusual and I doubt it set me back. I've been mowing the Baseball field and Softball field all week and that was really cold.
I did give my heavy coat to my new workstudy assistant as she did not dress heavy enough and the weather changed mid afternoon on Friday. I was washing the mower in the rain and she looked so cold hauling pine needles in the rain that I made her take my coat. Then I forgot to stop my other student who was driving off with my other rain coat.
Fortunately the fellow who I replaced was a bit of a hoarder and has a stash of coats and coffee cups which he found after sports events and he had a heavy coat.
We are getting ready for a big track event. For some odd reason it was decided that cleaning under the pine tree between the tennis court and the train tracks was a high priority. My pretty new assistant was commandeered by the irrigation and special projects guy who was convinced that people spent a lot of time in that little area.
The only people I have seen evidence of enjoying that secluded spot are those who turn old PBR cans into chronic pipes and leave empty 16 oz steel reserve cans.
It was ok as everyone looked busy and my other assistant was free to clean up the stands and edge around the Softball field.

 
But I digress...
Yesterday I was going to sell the last of my annual ryegrass straw and clean up the shed. I arrived to find my extra pile of three-tie straw knocked over with a number of bales missing, only one stack of annual, and then the tire blew on the hay squeeze.
My landlord blocked access for the trucker as he had the well-drillers truck parked in the shed and it wouldn't start.
If the tyre would not have blown I could have had the truck half loaded before they started the dadburn truck.
As it was there were problems. I had to sell the guy two-tie straw and I had problems with several stacks. It took me much of the afternoon.
I had a lot to do when I got home but the guy who I replaced and is the new boiler man texted me to see if I had a chainlift although he called it a chainfall. I guess I'm more optimistic.
I had not used the device in the ten years since my wife got it at a yardsale. I had problems getting it to work and so I took it apart.
There is an aluminum wheel with little knobs on it which match holes on the ratcheting gear. This gear is threaded inside and I think you turn the knob to set the brake to release the chain. I think the tabs allow the gear to move to change the direction of the ratchet.

 
I drilled out the broken tabs, tapped the holes to 1/4" threads and installed socket head bolts with the heads to the inside. I turned down the heads to match the holes and applied red Loctite to the threads.
It seems to work. This took way too much time and was utterly a waste of precious time.
Lulu wanted to go to Maria's in Amity to shoot pool. I was cold and a little damp but she asked nicely and I figure it is only a matter of time before the figure out that under 21 age kids are not allowed behind the fake half wall to shoot pool when the other half of the Mexican restaurant is also a pub.
The non-Mexican owner figured it out when I showed up with my daughter to play. But, he let us play Foosball for free and we had overpriced Mexican soda pop to make up for it.
Lulu beat me multiple times.
Later that evening I retired to work on the Rek-o-kut.
I am having trouble determining the distance from the spindle to the pivot point on the tone arm. I wanted to use the old Fairchild 282 mounting holes but they are slightly different.
Now I have discovered that the cartridge is not mounted according the the Rek-o-kut specs which makes the effective length of the tonearm different.
I am researching this...

 
I should be studying for my pesticide applicators license which I most likely will fail. However, I can explain to you the difference between the Baerwaold and the Loefgren theory of calculating tonearm mounting distances to minimize distortion when mounting tonearms.
Somewhere in my head there is a switch that is set incorrectly. There might be two or three...
In a side note, since this post is already so long no one will read it...
This pesticide applicator license pretty much explains why we voted for Trump and why I am overjoyed at his pick for head of the EPA and Education department. The bureaucratic rules and regulations to do anything in the country are insane and most are BS. I spent 8 hours learning the obvious, the pesticide label is the law and the instructions, look to it to find your safety equipment and how to use. If you look at the ingredients and use it for something that is not on the label you had better lie because it is illegal.
There was a discussion of how to kill the bamboo that is pushing up the rubber playground mat at the preschool. I pointed out that we have over a month when there are no children there. Then I kept my mouth shut. As we say out in the country "Shoot Shovel and Shutup"
Also, it is not in my area anymore to I really no longer care... But... If you pick a cold and overcast day and apply crossbow to the recently cut tips of the bamboo they tend to not grow as fast. Hypothetically, I read that somewhere. Actually a local city was experimenting with this direct application of crossbow and glyphosate to control blackberries without spraying the volatile 2, 4-D Esters.

A guide to making protractors and solving equations for proper tonearm alightment and mounting.

A Sick day

Yesterday was a nice day, the sun was out and it did not rain. I was stuck at a training class all day. I have to get my pesticide applicators license for my job. I do not get more money. I did not ask for a promotion that would cause me to have to have it. But it is a job requirement which I found in the FinePrint which I did not read. I figured I would have to do it sooner or later.

It was excruciatingly boring. Eight hours of hearing about stupid rules put forth by petty bureaucrats Who have a incredibly unreasonably high belief in the value of their job.

(Note, I am using speech to text on my iPhone while waiting for my daughter to get out of youth group and I probably won't proofread it)

Today I was sick. I have a bad cough, sore throat and I feel like crap.

I spent the day trying to sleep and working on my Rek-o-kut 120 tonearm.

 

And listening to the Kinks. I was drinking tea for my throats and I felt rather British...

 

Don't feel British when "tapping the admiral" but a cuppa tea and I joining the Village Green Preservation Society...

But I digress...

Muddy Valley gave me a Rek-o-kut k33H turntable with a Fairchild tonearm sometime ago. The bearings have failed on the Fairchild and so I bought the Rek-o-kut 120 as it has the same mounting footprint as the old Fairchild.

Now that vintage stereo stuff has gone through the roof price wise I only buy things that are broken or unpopular.

So I had to convert the tonearm and headshell from mono to stereo.The wires going to the headshell were bad anyway.

I ended up converting it to a common ground set up. I connected the negative wires from the headshell to the aluminum tonearm.

I found instructions at esoteric sound.com

esotericsound

It was quite a challenge soldering the really fine tonearm wire which I bought.

Especially since i had to use powerful reading glasses to see anything.

It took my mind off the pouring rain, my job, going broke, whatever.

UPDATE: Monday I am still sick and my wife suggested I stay in bed. I am still struggling with the mounting of my Rek-o-Kut 120 tonearm. It is not as simple as I thought. There is math involved.  I suspect I was not meant to be an audiophile. I have heard that CD's are the wave of the future.

Turning the baseball field green again

I am getting used to my new position at work.
I really miss my old area because it was beautiful. There were happy pretty college girls who said hi to me every day, and there were very few time-sensitive tasks, there were NO coaches involved, students sometimes bought me coffee, the lady at Security gave me brownies and pumpkin bread, and I had my own area where I could attempt to climb hills with my Gator.
Now that I am the athletics groundskeeper the only real benefit is that I have the greenhouse where I can hide when it rains.
I find it very difficult to hide my farmer abilities when using them will make my job easier.
My current task is to try and get the baseball field green.
I have an issue figuring fertilizer rates on small acreages and using lbs per 1000 sqft. I'm not so good with the mathematics and when the results are meaningless to me I find I have to covert to lbs per acre to make sure I divided the correct direction.
Last week I applied Ironman to the baseball field as it was looking a touch on the yellow side.
Ironman is a slow release 12-0-8 fertilizer with 14% iron.
The Nitrogen percentage is not the biggest concern as the Iron is what greens the field. It also 0 percent Phosphate which is what you want when you have a severe problem with POA/Annual Bluegrass, The reason the field is so yellow is in fact the Poa problem. Which I will try to solve using a combination of a growth regulator and a wilber-ellis product called PoaConstrictor. To do this I need to get my commercial applicator's license. I'm not thrilled.
Here is the problem that plagues me.
The fertilizer spreader combined with my driving and lack of concentration is less than accurate. A difference of one 50lb bag on 30,000 soft is a visible difference. A 50lb difference on 30 acres is nothing. So...I applied 6lbs per 1000 soft on the baseball field and 10lbs per 1000 soft on the softball field. Basically because I put an extra bag in the fertilizer spreader and I didn't want to drive back to the baseball field to spread it out.
The math to put it into perspective for farmers like me.
6lbs x 43 = 258lbs per acre vs 10lbs x 43 = 430lbs per acre. The softball field is a beautiful shade of dark green...
Then there is the figuring of the fertilizer rates. Mainly total lbs applied vs total lbs of NITROGEN. This is a big one. According to what I've read sports fields should take at least 250lbs of N per year. Probably in something like six applications. Depending on the percentage of N in your mix this could be from 500lbs to 800lbs per acre of total fertilizer.
Or 11 to 18lbs per 1000 sqft total applied product.
But when you say 6lbs of N per 1000 sqft it sounds like a lot less...
My supervisor tends to get those two very important numbers turned around. I don't follow what he is saying because lbs per 1000 sq means nothing to me.
But, I suspect I'm boring you all.
I'm growing heirloom tomatoes, kale, collard greens, garlic, peppers and cilantro in the greenhouse but don't tell anyone. No one has figured out we maintain a compete green house to be able to rotate 14 plants in the library... Depending on how you figure it. Actually there are 28 plants because we rotate them.
Have a nice week...

Another phone

My replacement iPhone 6s died. A flashing line would periodically appear at the top of the screen and the screen would quit responding to touch.

My iCloud account was full as I apparently checked the back up photos option. So, it didn't back up.

I attempted to back up and restore from my iBook. This did not restore the apps that Apple no longer blesses.

I had to find a new blogger App.

I'm using it.

I can now add links and videos easier.

I think...

Below is what it looks like using a reel mower in two inches of water.

A train wreck...

Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl in Texas...

Absolutely hilarious...

Confirms what I've always thought about sports addicts wearing funny costumes and showing together.

No wonder Hilary almost won the election..

On the other hand, toilets are flushing all over America right now.

I hate my iPhone 6s continued

Now I am really screwed.

I just can't leave the phone alone.

I have been trying to shut it off or connect it to my computer.

I took out the sim card and put it in a different phone.

But I can't unlock my broken phone.

I type in the password and it will not recognize the last digit.

Then it suddenly started typing on its own.

Now it is locked.

If it was not 1/8" think and made of aluminum foil it would never bent in the first place. I swear I was backing everything up to iCloud and Google Drive but nothing shows up on my spare phone.

I would kind of like to go back to my old android but I robbed the SD card from my daughter's GoPro.

We are a tech family, sort of...

So I have to drive 30 miles to the Apple store to have them tell me to go to the Verizon store.

This is the main reason not to buy an iPhone. 

Don't buy anything that you have to drive 30 miles to have them tell you they can't fix it...

I have owned Mac Computers Since buying a 512 and I Really Want To SWITCH and I hate my iPhone

My iPhone failed again.
Funny lines on the screen.
I have a 6s and it is a piece of crap.
I can't back it up because the screen failed and I can't type in the access code. It is connected to my computer but yet I can't unlock the stupid thing from my computer. Whacko Islamic terrorists can get their phones unlocked by the NSA but not you average user who just wants to save their notepad.
I have no idea who Apple hires to engineer their products but I think they are idiots.
First of all, if you have a problem with the phone you need to find an Apple store and unless you live in a major city that means a long drive for them to tell you the most common problems are not under warrantee.
Second it is so thin that someone who works for their living cannot use it without a thick case.
Third, iTunes is horrible.
It is insane that people actually buy new and modern iPhones.
I have one because I've been an Apple person forever and I stick with my favorite brands.
I will probably get another one for the same reason.
This is a stupid reason.
I would really like to get rid of my iPhone 6s.
In order to not break it you need a case which makes it to big to fit in a shirt pocket so it ends up in my back pocket and I sit on it and break it.
I do not weigh 400lbs.
The thing is...
It would not take that much to make a good usable phone. Perhaps they should try testing them with the people who actually need phones for work before coming out with a new product design.
In short...
I hate Apple and never intend to buy a new product from them again.
And I think Tim Cook is a moron.
Not a Steve Jobs that is for sure...

Monday is the worst

One of my coworkers was discussing his fight with depression after a painful divorce.
He got to the point of downing pills and Jim Beam.
He was found at the nick of time by a concerned friend who knocked down his door and saved his life.
My other coworker asked him about getting to the point where you just don't think you can make it out of bed to start the day and the overwhelming feeling you just can't do it anymore.
I was a bit shocked.
Not so much at the expression of the feeling, but that she just flat out asked the guy...
I have pretty much decided life is nothing but a bitter struggle which brief fleeting moments of happiness followed by continual frustration.
My plan of enjoying those fleeting moments of happiness has so far kept me out of the pill bottle. Don't take that statement too far as I don't think we have enough pills in our house to actually do oneself in. Don't have to worry about guns because I'm a terrible shot. I might fall off the roof again but that would be just because I am awkward.
Well that certainly went morbid in a hurry...
No I am not that depressed.
I just have all these farming ideas that I want to do.
I have 200 ton of hay to sell and ten semi-loads of straw to sell and I'm taking care of athletic grass and parking lots.
I want to buy a mixer-grinder and make pig feed. I want to buy another 2-tie baler, fix the stacker, build an automatic hay preservative injector, paint two tractors, build a sprayer, rebuild the fertilizer spreader, tear down a barn, build a new barn, put my daughter's t-shirts on Easy, work on my car, plant 2,000 acres, rebuild my fertilizer system on my grain drill, rebuild the grain drill...
In short...
Not say yes sir to a bunch of career bureaucrats and drive around in circles on a lawn mower.
I want to spend my Sunday going to church, hanging out with my daughter, riding motorcycle, making t-shirts, not doing all the stuff I don't have time to do because I have to have a job.
On the other hand I may actually have a retirement fund. If I can maintain my payments...
Have a nice day...

In other news:
The people who shot up the mosque in Quebec were not disgruntled Frenchmen. Nope, fellow Islamic people. Click Here...

We are watching the news of the Portland Airport protests. People are angrily screaming "Love on another..."
As someone who grew up on cold war commie stories I am bitterly amused at the programming that has been accepted by our friends who call themselves democrats. It is party line all the way. I have yet to hear, "running dogs of capitalist oppression," but I eagerly await the change in language.

These Are Not The Leaf-Blowers You Are Looking For...

My daughter has affected me.
I have never viewed a full Starwars movie. I find them a bit tedious. But I also like to make clever insider jokes with my daughter and so I have watched parts of the movies with her.
I hooked up a large screen surplus LCD TV in her room and wired up a Dynaco QD1 passive surround sound set up for her when she had a Star Wars marathon with her friends.

The other day at work someone asked for a leaf blower.
I replied, these are not the Leaf Blowers you are looking for.
He replied, these are not the Leaf Blowers I am looking for... Move along...
The other fellow thought it was rather funny.
I was happy to engage in a cultural reference that didn't involve 40 year old country-western music.

Later, another of my co-workers insisted on buying me lunch at the Sushi place in honor of payday and new responsibilities at work. He thinks that everything is "Part of God's Plan" and that "We have a mission" at the college.

I had the octopus.

It was weird and disgusting. You could feel the rubber tentacles and the funny little suckers. I looked at his empty and deflated brain sack and felt depressed.
This is how I will end up.
My brains jellied and drained out.
Perhaps I will be happier.

Oh boy, another day at work!
I'm learning the job of Athletics Groundskeeper.
I spent all day yesterday blowing off the track.
I have to figure out a way to listen to books on tape. This is mind numbing boredom...

Some rambling thoughts

I find Sunday evenings kind of depressing. Monday I got to work.
Today I was not feeling particularly well. I kept waking up covered in sweat during the night and I was sure I was coming down with something this morning. I went back to bed.
We were looking forward to a church potluck today but we all went back to bed. I stuck my head out at 8 a.m. and the family was sleeping in the living room so I retreated to the bedroom.
My supervisor has been sick for a week. (You may have noticed the groundskeeper sledding video from the previous post)
I do not want to get sick. I plan on using my personal time to plant or make hay.
I would have probably spent the day in bed but,
I had forgotten that my nephew wanted to buy our car.
I can't really afford three vehicles anymore and we decided if someone makes an offer then why not?
The check engine light was on.
I had thought it was a left over problem from earlier when I had coil and spark plug problems. I am a rather lazy person and planned on ignoring it and telling the new owner this is why I was going to give him a good deal.
But my wife bought a code reader and so I felt compelled to try it out. The error indicated a problem with the catalytic converter. (Apparently it is leaking cows or the Catalyst retired) Or it could be the O2 sensor or a loose wire, or a fuel injector problem, or a bad spark plug. There is a good chance it is a bad plug or fuel related but with my luck it would be the converter.
I reset the codes and started for Portland to deliver the car. The check engine light came on and so I went back home to check the codes as in my optimism I had forgotten the code reader. It was another 0420 code. I suspect it is Chronic...(get the joke? 420 is Chronic?)
I should have worked on the car two weeks ago.
I'm going to see if the mechanic at work will look at it.

In other news, I am in the process of building a trolley set up for splitting a tractor. I worked on that instead of the car on Saturday. I was having a lot of trouble thinking.
I finally settled on a design which was too complicated.

It will have a four wheel carriage which will ride on rails made of angle iron welded to flat plate. A hydraulic jack with a telescoping stabilizer on each side will sit on the carriage and push up a bar which is supported by the two stabilizers. The bar will have holes to bolt to the bottom of the tractor engine. It will also have support for the frame side rails.
The idea is to block up the transmission a bit, then use the jack to remove the pressure on the engine and then remove the bell housing blots and the frame rail bolts. It should all roll ahead with no need for a chain hoist.
We shall see...

The Hercules engine swap is progressing slowly. My helper seemed convinced that he needed to remove the injector lines from the pump. I would have just removed them from the injectors. I hate to disrupt another person's project but I want to pull the timing cover and see if the cam gear is bolted or pressed on. The cam gear and injector pump gear from the tractor need to go on the army truck engine.

Finally, Donald Trump has been a major subject as of late.
My college had a public forum to watch the inauguration. There was much crying. It was a little amusing as earlier in the week we had an address from the President of the College where we learned that the nominee for Education Secretary was expected to decrease the expenses of the college through less regulation and that her support of small private colleges is expected to reap further benefits.
Of course Donald will probably deport all the students whose parents are illegal but the college has already started resisting. The security guy found it amusing that college president has directed security not to pass information on these students onto the Feds. Not only has security never done that but they don't actually collect that information on students nor do they share any personal details with any outside agency. But, it was a great email.
But, I digress.
I chose to skip the party as I had a shrub to prune.
A coworker went. He got up and said he was a Republican and he really didn't expect the world to end. This provoked an outpouring of love and adoration. They all got to have a dialogue.
I found it pretty hilarious.
A simple yeoman worker who is deluded by the propaganda of the evil Donald. Oh my! The wonderful simplicity of his belief.
I'm sure that at the next wine tasting the faculty will be congratulating each other actually having one of "those people" at their college. Diversity is wonderful. Yes indeed, some of my best friends are Republicans, I don't have them here with me of course because they would feel out of their element, but tokenism makes one feel so much better. Shaking hands with the simple folk...
I did listen to his speech on the way home. I didn't find it all that dark and unsettling. My wife said I should not say that people who interpreted the speech that way were idiots. After some reflection I do see why it is interpreted that way.
When Trump made the claim that he wanted to be the voice of the dispossessed I assumed it meant poor and unrepresented people of all walks of life. What I didn't understand is that when you run that though the Democrat Nutcase Perception Filter it comes out meaning people like me...
In reality, think the the speech was a lot of hot air and I expect everything he attempts to do will be spun into the most vile and horrible abuse of women's rights and civil liberties since Tomas Jefferson trumped Sally Hemmings but then I didn't vote for Trump because I thought he would be a particularly good president.
To be quite honest with you, I've always been a little fascinated with the idea of Mutually Assured Destruction (Growing up at the end of the cold war and all) and I figure if I'm going to be screwed I'll do it on my terms and I'll take as many $%^&8#ing liberals down with me a possible!
And their little pink hats toooooo...

Have a nice day...
Tomorrow I go to work mowing grass for a bunch of really privileged morons. The athletic director with his BMW roadster needs his grass at precisely 1 1/4" for the good of mankind and the future of American youth. Gotta chase that ball! I'd go mow the football field but I doubt I'd get fired. Possibly retrained. (artificial turf-which I think is just wrong anyway)

Note: I really never had anything against Liberals until this election. I've always leaned towards the Libertarian side of things and I like to make comments which I think are clever. Perhaps someone can pray for me that I am able to forgive Democrats for sticking with Hillary. Or perhaps I just need the re-education camp. At least I bought myself four more years away from that...

Second Note: I just found this post on the original trolley tractor split idea. You would not believe how I have over-engineered this concept... Click Here

I get twice the responsibility and no raise, oh boy...

I do not aspire to greatness.
In fact I'm kind of a screw up.
This is me today while I was supposed to being trained for my new job. I did not post the recording of the other guy as he doesn't want to get fired.

My work friend transferred to another department. He gained a big increase in pay and added responsibility.
This morning it was announced I would be taking his place. He does all the athletic fields. This is twice the responsibility and I now have to get my commercial spray applicator's license. If I wanted to apply chemicals I would have got the license 20 years ago.
My old area is a great area. I have hills to climb and lots of different things to do. I don't have to drive lawnmower five days a week in the summer. Nor do I have to deal with coaches or have precise settings for lawn care.
I asked if I was getting a raise.
I'm not...
I really wish I could quit...

The things young white kids want to believe and we pay for with our tax dollars

I have a nephew who is really a nice guy. He is smart and thoughtful and totally and a good person. But he is completely full of poop. In another age he would have been a missionary or pastor. He now works for the Oregon Student Interest Group.
They go door to door to develop cell groups and it is called community organizing. Sort of the Jehovah Witness of the Social Justice Warrior Religion. He is quite good at it it would seem.
I avoid commenting on his Facebook posts because it will only make me look like more of a racist and intolerant white person than I actually am, and because persecution only reinforces the belief systems of people who are Marxists, Social Justice Warriors, Democrats, waiting for Space Ships to take them away, or other Cults such as John Deere owners, or who listen to Justin Queefer.
Here is a link to an inane essay written by one of his fellow travelers at University of Oregon.
Your tax/tuition dollars at work...

Click Here

If you don't want to click I can summarize it.
The USA is an oppressive state run by White Males and founded solely on Slavery. Slavery is perpetuated by the Prison system which only targets black folk. The issue of whether the USA is becoming a police state is bypassed in favor of a conspiracy theory of oppression only of Black People and Social Justice Warriors.
Idiots...

Have a nice Martin Luther King Dr. Junior day.
Don't forget to celebrate Jackson and Lee's birthdays later in the week.

The Global Climate Change Inspired Weather Continues

We have more snow.

I was called in early in the week to come in a 6 a.m. and do snow and ice removal.
I bought extra warm clothes so I would be the one to run the Toro snowplow.
While it is a bit nippy at 6 a.m., I like to run bulldozers, and I am allergic to hard work. It makes me tired.
I zipped around and plowed sidewalks.
The dining hall folks gave us a free breakfast! I had a very decent omelette and gravy.
The guy next to me pocketed a boiled egg for later. Great plan! I wish I would have thought of it.
Then the skid shoes on my plow wore through so the blade hit the ground.
No one was in the shop and so I welded up new wear plates from scrap metal I found in the scrap barrel.

Then I got caught.
It unfortunately improved my status at work. They suspect I have hidden talents.
This resulted in my being called in to do ice melt at 6 a.m. yesterday.
I told the supervisor I was easily confused and needed supervision. So he called in the guy who normally does it but is moving to a different department.

He spent the morning training me. We went to 7-11 for coffee.
It was much better than shoveling ice.
We stretched it out till 2 p.m. when we had to go home so we would not be paid overtime.
I'm hoping I can find parking lots to bulldoze today so I don't have to shovel.
I am now The Lazy Groundskeeper!

Then I came home and we pulled the engine out of the 2-135. Another engine swap coming up.

YikYak

I downloaded an app called YikYak on my iPhone. Students at my college use this instead of Facebook. I like to check it out to see if I am mentioned for doing obnoxious groundskeeper things like running the leaf blower. I also sometimes worry I will be called out for climbing hills when I think there are no students observing.
I have made mention once for cutting cookies in the snow in a parking lot. I felt kind of proud of myself.
I checked it out today to see if anyone was talking about the weather as we are having freezing rain.
This is what I saw...

If found it hilarious. I do wish Ohiofarmgirl was still following me. She would get a good laugh. To really get the humor you have to realize tuition is $46,000 a year. That is a lot of money to pay for a safe space to stick things in your bottom and have people take you seriously.

And now for something completely different, a record I found in a Thrift Store

A Pathetic Snow Storm

It has been rather chilly in my neck of the woods. The temperatures have been in the teens. (Using the nonCommunist system of indicating temperature)
This has made groundskeeping a bit uncomfortable. It is not bad when the sun comes out. The worst thing is having five layers of clothes and having to go to the bathroom. I've considered just pooping myself but eventually I am going to have to get down to my underwear and I suspect there would be some objection from the home laundry department.

My lovely wife got me a Mr. Heater for Christmas. I'm pretty sure this would not be allowed. I keep quiet about it.

I've been raking leaves and cutting woody plants. The leaves are usually frozen to the ground but the point is really to work hard enough to not be cold. It is also good to be seen hauling Gator loads of leaves and clippings around. This makes you look productive.

I've actually had a student buy me coffee and a couple offered. I thought this was pretty generous until it was explained that the students get extra points on the meal cards which can be redeemed at Starbucks and so they are not actually spending $5 of student loan money. (I think)
Today it snowed.
My nephew from the city showed up with a spare computer to play some sort of computer game with my daughter. I was attempting to fix the four-wheeler so that I could tow her on an inner tube in the snow.
I forgot to shut the gas off on the four-wheeler and it filled the crankcase up with gasoline. Of course problems ensued and it took me hours. Then we discovered the old tractor tube had a leak which I attempted to patch and the patch failed.
So I took them for a ride in the snow in my pickup. I convinced my daughter to try "cutting cookies." I think she was not all that thrilled.

It is now raining and 29 degrees. I suspect it will be just a little slick in the morning..