Reasons to be cheerful!

[billy rubin]

well then i'm off to the auto parts store.

going to drop off some paperwork at the post office for my number two son to get  passport too. my wife has been doing it so far and all that is left is to pay the money and drop off the form. but she has little faith in me

do you want me to do it? i have to go to town anyway to get the brake line

i don't know. do you know how to write the checks?

i have been writing checks since you were 8 years old. i assume they will tell me wh to write them to.

there's paperwork to goo with it.

i can figure that out too.

okay, i guess. ill get up in a few minutes and show you where everything is.

<two minutes later she comes thumping down the stairs>

i'm going with you. i don't trust you to be out by yourself

lol.

i love this woman. good thing, because otherwise she'd piss me off all th etime.

[Randy]

I found my temporary ID from when I last applied. I was able to fill out the form and have my replacement ID sent. Now I don't have to go to the DDS.

[billy rubin]

sunset.

i went outside to shut in the chickens and there was a redwing blackbird in the elm trees south of the house.

it's spring.

[Dark Lightning]

Going to meet up with a fellow wood carver tomorrow morning. We're all up on our vaccinations but will still mask and keep our distance. This guy is really good. I hope to show some of my meager efforts and look at his collection of carvings. He's done a couple dozen of the M.C. Escher carvings, which are expertly executed. He's been carving for almost as long as I have been alive, since he's 88 YO.

[billy rubin]

peepers!

there was a wind from the west today in the morning, but as the day went on it turned and by afternoon it was blowing warm from the south. its always a south wind that brings them out.

after sunset my number three son came in from school and announced that that the first frogs were calling.

i went outside and there they were, just an occasional call in the dark. in another two or three days they'll be so many and so loud that you have to shout to be heard by  someone standing next to you if youre down in the slough with them.

[billy rubin]

i have no idea who this guy is, but hes my kind of man

[xSilverPhinx]

i have no idea who this guy is, but hes my kind of man

[Tom62]

i have no idea who this guy is, but hes my kind of man

Like Trump's "Covfefe".

[Randy]

i have no idea who this guy is, but hes my kind of man

Yes Billy there's no surprise there.

[billy rubin]

finally. after what, six weeks? i'm in a truck and heading out monday to start making money again.



the positive part is that the money is good. the negative part is that it's two weeks on, one week off. so i'll be living in ^^^this for my fourteen days out.

i'm pretty easy about living requirements, but this truck may be a challenge. its an old international flattop, 23 years old, and although it runs great, it has features from the last century, and not many of them. so it has minimal lighting, instrumentation, traction control, and there's only a single 12 volt power socket in the thing. i have dedicated that to a small 300 watt inverter to run my GPS, my computer, and to charge my cellphone. it's essential that i keep this circuit functional, because all my paperwork gets submitted by PDF weekly in order for me to get paid. if i can't keep that telephone charged, i'm in big doo doo. im looking for a solar unit as a backup right now. but i can't do anything else that takes amps, because i want those wires 100 percent functional, 100 percent of the time.

the rest of the truck is pretty spartan. because i haven't hooked up a 12-volt circuit to the battery, i don't have a refridgerator, so i'm eating dry food until i get around to changing that. that's fine, because i'm still working on losing weight for the races in july, but i'd like to stay vegan, and that's difficult. i think it has airconditioning, but i won't be using that. there's an FM radio, but i don't know how to make it work. too many features.

off monday morning to get the trailer inspected, and then i'm hauling frac sand from the railroad and river loadouts to frac pads in ohio, west virginia, and pennsylvania.

we'll see how well this pays the bills.

[Bad Penny II]

Do you know about power banks?

https://www.amazon.com/external-cell-phone-batteries/b?ie=UTF8&node=7073960011

[billy rubin]

i just bought this one

https://www.amazon.com/PSOOO-50000mAh-Charging-Flashlight-Capacity/dp/B08Q3ZMXJC/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=solar+cell+phone+charger&qid=1616895912&sr=8-9

50000  mAh battery with two USB inputs and 4 outputs

initial charging f any booster is the weak point in my system, because i don't have access to grid power. if the 12-volt output of my truck's wiring fails, i have to clip into the battery cables or splice something into the wiring harness. not a problem to do, but awkward in the field.  a solar self-charging battery pack will let me have something independent of my truck's alternator.

[billy rubin]

dammit

i was looking forward to a relaxing evening eating a salad, listening to the rain, and crashing early to make up for yezterdays 20 hour day.

thenni got a flat o  the trailer

but the fixit truck got here in about ten minutez so im off in a bit and today will be much shorter. so excellent

[Randy]

dammit

i was looking forward to a relaxing evening eating a salad, listening to the rain, and crashing early to make up for yezterdays 20 hour day.

thenni got a flat o  the trailer

but the fixit truck got here in about ten minutez so im off in a bit and today will be much shorter. so excellent

I used to love to listen to the rain. I can't hear it anymore. It's one of the things that chemotherapy has taken away a part of my hearing. But I used to love to sleep listening to it at night as I tried to sleep.

[billy rubin]

i have metal roofs so the experience is also tactile

the heavy sheet iron roofs we had when i waz a child in manila uzed to thunder during the monsoons