Good Morning!

[Dotch]

Might want to bring boar along although they'd probably understand then. Scratch that.

Anyway, change in plans: Had to get straw first then and am on call to help the neighbor chase cattle later. Better get bottle lambs fed then off to FF. I also spied a rather large critter mound in the lawn south of the house in my earlier travels so am contemplating issuing whatever it is an ultimatum: Move or suffer the consequences. Fortunately my work on perfecting cold fusion in the basement hasn't been all for naught. Watch the sky to the south tonight...

 

[delcecchi]

I'll be looking to the west north west....

I don't think Iowa has achieved breakeven yet in their efforts. 

[leechlake]

was laying in bed around 645am with the wife and my daughter came in.  Whether the pitter patter of toddler feet or the normal walking of a near adult child I think there is some innate parenting thing that makes you hear them even if you're sleeping.  "Are you guys awake?", in a pretty quiet and sweet voice.  I responded and a flurry of questions came.  I realized she's on her second day of her Ben and Jerry's career and she's nervous.  I then thought of Coffee and his employees.  I'm sure many of them had that enthusiasm once, I think life just gets in the way for some people.  I think her shift starts at 10 am btw.

Masters day today.  I really like golf and many years play 80-100 rounds.   I  really like the they way the players behave too.  It's very refreshing.  The game gets a pretentious reputation which is partially deserved but when people honorably call penalties on themselves in a sport whether they are 12 years old or playing for over a million dollars I think it's awesome.  

Finally a simple photo of todays coffee cup.  I thought Del and Dotch would like it.

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by leechlake

[Coffee118]

20 minutes ago, leechlake said:

"Are you guys awake?", in a pretty quiet and sweet voice.  I responded and a flurry of questions came.  I realized she's on her second day of her Ben and Jerry's career and she's nervous.  I then thought of Coffee and his employees.  I'm sure many of them had that enthusiasm once, I think life just gets in the way for some people.  I think her shift starts at 10 am 

I think work will be fun again, for awhile, I have two new employees starting this week so they will be new and fresh having fun at new experiences in their life. It'll probably be the same for me since I've been off for 5 days now & go back tomorrow refreshed. Newbies always work harder trying to impress the boss, haven't had to deal with the public yet so they r still pleasant. All have a good day, today is just mailing in taxes, watching the masters ( 2 more months til the open and I'll be there watching in person). Still waiting to be able to eat solid food so I can fire up the smoker with a bunch of goodies inside

[RebelSS]

Looking forward to the day. A great friend I haven't seen in many years is coming over at noon. Saw an ad the other day he had put in the paper for a new business he's starting, with his pic. I was shocked, lost track of him We had worked together for a few years before I went into LE, and hung out together a lot. Great guy, one of those who got your back and stood by ya no matter what. Straight shooter; no bull kinda guy. Just what I like. That's why we got along so well. Anyway,some drunken fool put the grabby moves on his wife one nite, then took a few swings at him. Big mistake. Rick (not his real him...) proceeded to cream the guy. Just a bit too hard and too much. Got sent to the big house for some years. Lost the wife and everything. I called him up yday, and was asking about his services, and then told him "I'm an old buddy of yours". He paused for a minute, and asked "who?" I just said "Mark"...he immediately said "Mark *****?! Remember, I haven't seen this guy since about '85, yet right away he knew it was me. REALLY weird thing, was he said he was in the store the other day we used to work at, and he said he was wondering whatever became of me...and started hunting on the internet for me.......if that isn't fate, don't know what is. I need another cup of coffee...oh, it's cloudy and 42* here. Enjoy the weekend, guys. I'm going to, 

[LindellProStaf]

Cloudy and 35 here.  Good for you Dotch, have a great reunion.  Similar thing happened here a few years ago.  This creep kept hitting on a friend of mines wife at the golf course here.  Well he did it when my friend was there one day and my friend was just sick and tired of it.  The guy was a little bigger than him so he took a club out of his bag and wacked or wacked at the creep.  Well they both got arrested and my friend had to go through lots of hoops and anger management classes etc.  Too bad.  Considered an alcohol related event so had to jump through those hoops too.  The creep left town soon after.  Guess what?  He is the same guy that wouldn't let that buck get back to shore while in the pontoon boat in central MN.  Remember him?  The buck drowned.  Ya his story was in the paper here too.  Say hi to your Buddy from me Dotch.  I feel for him. I haven't seen any mushroom clouds from your direction yet.  Be careful...    

Well I made my first batch of salami last night.  Read up on RH's thread so added his extras too.  Will smoke them today.  Good day too.  Not supposed to get too nice out.  I also mixed up some breakfast sausage.  Turned out pretty darn good.  Will just package it bulk in 1/2 lb pkgs.  Just right for one breakfast.  

Wish I had a kid working at a quality ice cream place.  Hold it maybe I am lucky to not have that situation.  I would be pigging out every night and would have to double my cholesterol meds.  Nice Elk LL.  Have always wanted to elk hunt just haven't made the effort yet.  Too many other things on my plate.  

Well I better get dressed for the day and get the smoker going.  Will check RH's page again for some pointers.  See ya all later and have a great day.

oh ya here is a pic of them.  I squeezed it in a little so they would be right side up.  We'll see if it works.

[RebelSS]

Quit calling me Dotch. 

[Boar]

How my hat get there.......... teasing. ive nuthing planned for today. the rush at work is starting and everyone is bouncing off the walls, i finnaly got the trucks DOT'd and the load out working. got some orders last week and on tuesday I start on 350 acres. Im finding out the more I get intot his how much i realy enjoy it. have a great day guys. 

 

[LindellProStaf]

Hey sorry Dot  um um I mean Rebs.   Good for you Boar.  I helped a farmer for a couple of years tilling the fields and hauling semi loads to the elevator.  I really liked it too.  Fun to hit a field with some big equipment and cover lots of ground fast.  This guy and I am sure you guys do too had all of the GPS steering.  lol  Wonderful.  beeps when you get to the end of the field so you don't run over the fence.  This guy's wife dozed off and ran through a fence once.  I got close once.....  I told my wife that when I retire I would like to do a part time farmer thing for someone with nice equipment. 

Yup Masters today.  I enjoy the heck out of it.  I only golf once a year now.  Maybe will do more when the Big R happens.  

[Dotch]

Salami lookin' good LPS! Good luck with your new chopper project coffee. Also good to hear boar is liking his job. Too many in those jobs don't give a **** around here and it shows. Hope you had fun with your friend Reb. 

If you look very closely at the shelves to the left of the fireplace in LL's picture there appear to be some Kellogg's boxtops tucked away discreetly. Very festive mug. As long as it keeps snowing, may as well keep using it. And that cap just screams: Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum! 

The critter in the yard was dealt with harshly. Rather than resort to weapons of mass destruction right out of the chute, I opted to use Chinese water torture first since the garden hose was handy. Also had one of my trusty blunderbusses at the ready just in case. Whatever it was must've known I was coming as the 6" diameter hole filled with water in about 5 minutes and nothing attempted to escape. I had thought about using napalm but had second thoughts given the proximity to the septic system. Had the critter connected its tunnel up with that, igniting the sewer gas might not have been pretty. Filled the hole in and nothing had messed with it this morning so am hoping no further conflict will result.

Got a bunch of stuff picked up around the yard after church and breakfast at Perkins. Scooped up the last of the crushed rock and sod displaced in the late March snow storm. Did some leveling and re-landscaping in front of the house to get the water redirected. Just in time. Started to sprinkle so put the skidloader away and went in the house for an iced tea. Sent Mrs. Cheviot on a mission since she needed to go to Target (too much estrogen and not enough weaponry in that store for me) to pick up a birthday present for a friend. Had her get some ingredients for the portobello bacon Swiss burger recipe I want to try. Actually to me a recipe is just a guideline. Fine for relative amounts and such but I like to improvise and experiment. I'm already off course by using ground lamb instead of beef! Hopefully I feel like doing it tonight and if not, tomorrow night will work. I plan on trying out the burger smasher just to see how it works in spite of the 20 questions that will ensue. Sometimes ya just gotta live on the edge...     

[bobberineyes]

Salami looks wonderful Lindell!! Dotch that's pretty much the same reason I don't frequent target...lol. I'm sure those burgers will be a hit by the way. What a day, picked up a few things at Northern tool, then off to menards for more manly stuff. Tires on the truck rotated,  check, mow lawner  oil changed,  check ,  ribs smoked , check, toilet installed without a glitch....ya right. Ended up snapping off the flange bolt that is cemented in the basement floor grrrrr. Nothing that a little silicone can't handle temporarily...lol. now it's couch time!!

[RebelSS]

Gee, guess I'll never find out what kinda grill that is...

[bobberineyes]

If your asking me reb sorry, I had to flip through a few threads to see what your talking about , I missed the question.  My big one is a masterforge charcoal. Been an awesome grill, picked it up at lowes a few years back,  but lately all I see are the smaller ones there.  It had some flaws but after sealing up some gaps with high temperature gasket it's been playing by the rules..

P.s.     Morning fellas. 

Edited April 11, 2016 by bobberineyes

[reinhard1]

Ya, that salami looks well stuffed and ready to smoke!!!  Will be waiting for the pictures.  I'm thinking about taking out some pork butt today anticipating my seasonings coming today.  New stuff to try for the grill this year along with our favorites.  I'm also wanting to go back up the north shore for steelhead or loopers.  Sure looks like great weather this week and it would be nice to fish there without gloves on.  Water temps  should pick up in the streams and so should the fishing.  Have to give my brother a call to see how he's doing.  If he says it's even been fair, I'm up there.  The steelhead you can't keep but you can keep the loopers.  I like to brine and smoke the loopers.  Fresh steelhead fillets were the bomb of the past when you could keep them and loopers are ok prepared fresh but not as good as steelhead so I smoke them and they are tasty.  Probably do some raking today.  good luck.

[RebelSS]

Thanks bobber. Figgered you were temporarily smomed out, as in Boarspeak. 

[delcecchi]

Aren't steelhead and loopers the same species?  Both rainbow trout? 

[Dotch]

When I see the term "looper" it always makes me think of some of the species of moths we deal with in the crops and vegetables. Somehow I have a hunch that RH isn't smoking moths. They are low calorie, high in protein, and would fit into his diet however. 

Mornin' ever one. Chores done, breakfast et, answering the bell. Plum tuckered after a brutal weekend. Tough to know how to dress yesterday. When the sun was out, I was overdressed and too warm. Peeled off some clothes then the sun went under the clouds and I froze. Yard looks like a yard again though after picking up the last of the apple pruning stuff and adding to my apple wood stock. Got the batteries back in the mowers so am getting closer to ready for the start of that season. Laid in enough supplies to keep dogs and cat fed as well as keeping the Stude oil changed, charcoal burning, etc. It's going to get busier in the not too distant future.  

Mrs. Cheviot is going off the deep end I think. After giving me a pass while I was playing with my black thingy making burgers (still in shock over that one), she continued to leave the TV sound on after the screen on it expired earlier yesterday. Offered to move the TV out of the bedroom into the living room but she declined. Then she had the dam TV sound on all night long. Luckily she sleeps in a different bed as she discovered she can't keep her hands off me. The sound of a TV and the usual glare from the screen when I'm trying to sleep is enough to send me off the deep end. May as well have someone in the room yapping and shining a flashlight in my eyes.

Starting to get busy in the fields around here, right or wrong. The forecast from about Wednesday on is positive although the ground will likely freeze again tonight. Should warm up and then it'll be time to put in some early garden perhaps. Looking forward to being able to grill in comfort and spend more time outdoors. I kinda like the lawn the way it's been the past month: Green but not growing enough so I have to mow. Just relax and have a snapper while waiting for the food to come off the grill. Ready for action tonight.      

[Dotch]

1 hour ago, delcecchi said:

Aren't steelhead and loopers the same species?  Both rainbow trout? 

http://www.minnesotasteelheader.com/Kamloops.html

Ya but it appears they are different strains.

[reinhard1]

Thanks Dotch, was going to post something on this.  good luck.

[smurfy]

morning all!!!!!!!!!!!! pretty quite up in dis neck of da woods!!!!!!!!!!! took a look at my trailer tires. want to change bearings on both my boat and snowmobile trailer. the snowmobile trailer looks like its gonna be an issue. bolts look pretty rusted!!!!!!!

[Dotch]

4 minutes ago, reinhard1 said:

Thanks Dotch, was going to post something on this.  good luck.

Please do RH. Thought maybe you were busy smoming and was curious myself. You're a lot more of an authority on the subject than I'll ever hope to be. The biggest rainbow I ever caught was a 12" monster in the Spring Valley Creek some 40 years ago! 

[reinhard1]

I think what you posted {Dotch] gives good information.  I just fish for them.   Years ago there were only steelhead runs but the DNR stopped stocking them, thus Loopers came to play on the shores.  They are not as hardy as the steelhead and their flesh is not as firm.  They are stocked pretty much as put and take for anglers and are very popular.  Steelhead being stronger fish move up the stream farther.  They will jump smaller falls and go up faster rapids than the looper will.  I give a lot of credit to private organizations like the Steelhead groups who are making it possible for the rebound of the steelhead.  To help tell the difference between the two species is that the adipose fin is removed from the looper prior to stocking.  So if you catch a steelhead you will know it for it will have all of its fins.  

I have fished for these fish since the late 60's, same with my brother who caught the state record King salmon back in 1988 which was broken by a couple of ounces a couple of weeks later.  That record still stands and will stand for we no longer have salmon runs like we did back then, but that's another story.  For any agate hunters out there the north shore has more to look for now with all the strong storms they had on the big lake.  Those big waves bring in and turn over the rocks on the lake and expose some new agates as a result.  But I'm sure they will get picked over, over time.  One of the great things to do while your up at the shore to look for them.  good luck.

[leechlake]

One of my pet peeves in life is others coming up with tasks for others to do never considering the effort someone else will need to give based on the other persons talking.

Case in point.  I had a task for Saturday.  Simply spray paint three metal floor registers white.  It was my little secret.  I emerged from the basement 5 minutes after starting the project with the project done, but paint can still in my hand.  Wife sees me and starts asking questions.  I told her what I did and she told me how she hadn't even noticed they needed to be done, I made the mistake of acknowledging we were having a discussion and I stopped moving.  She said, "we" should paint the back entry door as long as we're painting (pet peeve subject example).

I didn't want to paint that door bright white since it's coming from the garage but there I was removing door hardware and finally realizing the spring hinge wasn't coming out so I'd paint it standing.  Lord knows painting a door is way easier and does a better job standing vertically???  I found a drop cloth and start spraying.  With about 2% of the door left I ran out of paint.  Sweet. 

When I was a Lowes buying paint with her she suggested we get a different color than white, I guess that means I'm painting it again?  We came home with the new color paint, the door was still tacky because it was too cold to paint anyway, so I put the hardware back on and called it a day.  The handle didn't go back together like it was before so...

I now have a partially painted door, a door handle that jiggles, and a project to do with repainting it in the near future.  A "problem" that didn't exist now exists and isn't done.  5 minutes of floor register work has turned into a f'd up door, a trip to Lowe's, and a task to do for the future, including fixing the unbroken but now broken handle.  Didn't someone suggest I was nuts last week?  I wonder why.

[delcecchi]

35 minutes ago, Dotch said:

http://www.minnesotasteelheader.com/Kamloops.html

Ya but it appears they are different strains.

So they taste different? I guess if it is put and take and not  fry/fingerlings I could see it.   Since I don't fish them, being down south here, I will take your word for it. 

[reinhard1]

Del there is a difference in texture.  Like I said, the steelhead is more hardy and I guess that makes the looper a little lazy so to speak,  They do spend time [loopers] in the big lake just like the steelhead but are a different species of rainbows with different habits so to speak, but they do enter the streams together

 

Kris, man I hear you on your post.  When it come's to mechanical thing this happens to me all the time  It takes me 10 times as long to put a door knob in than most guys.  A friend stopped by one time when I was screwing around with putting a door knob on the garage entry.  One hour had passed.  He took a look and within 5 minutes it was good to go.  Now painting is something I have done plenty of time,  fixing stuff, not very good at it at all.  good luck.