Monday morning and I'm still in Italy

Great morning folks,

34°, clearing sky with a high of 56° for today here near Halfway USA.

The wind was slack in the early morning so I got the oil changed in the ******* Limo. Though only 3500 miles on the last change, with a road trip planned, I'd rather spend $$ oil than a worn out engine. After all, oil is cheap and engines are expensive.

Despite the cool 40°, I changed around some batteries in the truck camper. That needed some wiring changes. That effort, gave it a bit more capacity. The old batteries can be installed in the 5th wheel & that may get done today in the warmer part of the day.

I also got the barn cleaned up a bit. Well, at least things got put away.

In the late afternoon as the outside temperature dropped, I fired up the wood stove. That addition of cheap BTU's is always welcome. The blower system is in need of a change out. I am going to get rid of the 3 small fan on the front. I can fabricate a tube & single large blower and locate it in the utility room. That will remove the noise from the living room, something Debra Dearest has been requesting.

Good morning, GoGo. It's my first wake-up in a while in Louisville. Had a really good week in the Smokies, but it's good to be home. I bet JR agrees. It's 37 outside, going to 65 with lots of sun.

After church, lunch and a nap yesterday, around 4 p.m. I got outside and tackled a job I've sort of been putting off. Around last January a close friend in Northern Kentucky gave me two sizable black cherry logs to split and use for knife handles, cutting boards, and such. They've been sitting up against the house, under the eaves where they wouldn't get all the rain. They were beginning to check and grow wood ears, so I knew I needed to get them split. But I'm not a JR or a Skruske and know squat about splitting and working logs.

I bought a splitting wedge at Harbor Freight several weeks ago. Thought it was kind of pricey at around $25, but I knew I needed it. So I watched a couple of YouTube videos, drug out the logs and got started. As it turned out, that wedge and a hand sledge (aka Savage adjustment tool) split both logs right down the middle as slick as a gut. And I didn't get hurt! I then debarked the halves and mounted a tool on my angle grinder that's a knock-off of the King Arthur tungsten grinders. If you've never seen one of these gizmos you can check it out here. The cherry logs I was working are 13-15" across and 16-23" long. Right under the bark is a layer about half to three-quarters inch that's kind of pithy. I took a little of that off, but not all. I think I need to grind all the way through that soft layer, but wanted to talk first to someone who can tell me for sure.

That King Arthur grinder worked beatifully and seems like it'll be fairly controllable. I'm hoping to make a dough trough from at least one of the logs and this grinder ought to be just the ticket for gouging out the bowl. If any of you have done something like that and have tips, I'd appreciate you dropping me a PM.

That's about it from here in Louisville this morning. Charlie, I get to check off another Monday. Short week for me as Miss Cindy and I are driving to my hometown of Paducah after work Thursday to see the Healing Wall, which is a fairly new, traveling 3/4-size version of the Vietnam Memorial. Paducah is my hometown and that of an uncle who died in 1968 in Vietnam, so his name's on that wall.

Y'all have a good'n and be safe out there.

good morning folks??? Not for me. Didn't want to get out of bed and come back to work after having a few days off, but I did anyway. Then I go to start the truck and CLICK, CLICK, CLICK, nothing. Freakin' dead battery...or worse TWO dead batteries. It's a die$el. OUCH. Called a bud about jumping it since I had no experience with diesels. Ended up putting a 50A charger on one battery and hooking jumper cables to another spare battery that luckily, I just charged yesterday, and was sitting next to the truck. Left her sit 10 min. or so hooked up and had just enough juice to turn it over. Drove right to the garage. Was kind of expecting it to happen sooner or later. I noticed a very slight hesitation on starting recently. At least it didn't happen way out in the boonies, or in MD over the weekend.

It's 35º here with sunshine and light winds. Boy it sure blew here the last few days. Yesterday I winterized all the hoses and the fish pond. Figured it was a good time to do it, while it was still well above freezing. I also got the boat ready to go fishing the end of this week, if the weather holds. Charged the batteries, loaded everything up, got tackle ready, etc. I also mowed the back yard, finally. I bagged it up and it took 6 times to empty the bag. Usually takes 2-3 bags. It was a little long and lots of leaves. Maybe I won't have to do but once or twice more this year???

Well I guess I should get busy. Need to catch up from last week and get ahead this week so I can take off Thurs and Fri again. Have a good one.

Charlie

Morning

good morning y'all. I'm a late to the show again and it's already 49 in Indy. Supposed to get to the lowuh 60s. Dang heat wave.

JR, what part of KY is Italy in? Thought it was near the Verona Vinyard at Rabbit Hash but I can't find it on the map.

Charlie, I think that's the way batteries do nowadays. They give you one warning then just flat quit. None of that slowly getting weak stuff.

JC, SSS. Shoot, shovel, and shutup! That might be some serious digging, though.

Mikey, "sledge and wedge". I believe you've got the makings for a C&W song there amigo. And pith on splitting logs!

CarlP, I expect the Dems will be registering those people to vote soon as they get out of the water.

Have a good day.