Author Topic: What did you do this weekend? (Read 144842 times)

LowKey · « **Reply #725 on:** May 25, 2019, 02:41:59 pm »

Quote from: coelacanth on May 24, 2019, 11:29:23 pm

Nice. I've been to Bath and Stonehenge as well. Impressive stuff.

Nice photos.
Looks like what I recall from seeing those places back in '89.
I'm guessing you didn't make the mistake (like I did) of taking the local bus route and walking the rest of the way to Stonehenge?
In cowboy boots, no less.

WeTheArmed.com

lesptr · « **Reply #726 on:** May 25, 2019, 02:46:29 pm »

Quote from: LowKey on May 25, 2019, 02:41:59 pm

Nice photos.
Looks like what I recall from seeing those places back in '89.
I'm guessing you didn't make the mistake (like I did) of taking the local bus route and walking the rest of the way to Stonehenge?
In cowboy boots, no less.

Fortunately, no. We rented a car and drove from London.

coelacanth · « **Reply #727 on:** May 25, 2019, 03:54:07 pm »

I like that whole West Country area from about Swindon over to Bath.

Always interesting to see the lads tooling about in their tanks and self propelled guns from the RSA over by Larkhill.

Mikee5star · « **Reply #728 on:** May 27, 2019, 08:43:57 pm »

I am trying to get my lumber rack rebuilt for the new truck. I need a shop so these types of projects are not weather dependent.

I just got rained out for the third time in two days. Hopefully it is just a passing shower, so I can get finished up.

Raptor · « **Reply #729 on:** May 28, 2019, 06:28:17 pm »

Had a troop with the 501st every day.

Saturday we were at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. That was easily the best troop I've done so far... and the most emotionally draining. Not gonna lie, the first thing I did when I got home was sat on the sofa and started crying. Seeing those kids' faces light up when they saw us was absolutely heartwarming and absolutely heartbreaking at the same time.

Sunday and Monday, had a Memorial Day Parade each day. Oh me achin' feet...

We didn't get a picture of it (we didn't have a dedicated handler for this particular event, and things were really chaotic in the staging area before the parade so it slipped our minds), but one of the Scout Troopers at Sunday's parade owns a Can-Am Spyder, and we got permission for him to drive it in the parade, while in costume. The crowd loved it.

coelacanth · « **Reply #730 on:** May 28, 2019, 11:31:49 pm »

Good onya' for dressing up for the little ones.

Raptor · « **Reply #731 on:** September 29, 2019, 07:35:13 pm »

Went to the Strasburg Railroad... and saw this beauty. May I present Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western 611.

And I got to go up in the cab and blow the whistle! (not sure how to embed videos, so click the link!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sgp67BBdMY6LkvLe6

MTK20 · « **Reply #732 on:** September 29, 2019, 08:33:11 pm »

Quote from: Raptor on September 29, 2019, 07:35:13 pm

Went to the Strasburg Railroad... and saw this beauty. May I present Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Steam, Norfolk & Western 611.

And I got to go up in the cab and blow the whistle! (not sure how to embed videos, so click the link!) https://photos.app.goo.gl/Sgp67BBdMY6LkvLe6

You look so happy after you finish blowing the whistle

.

coelacanth · « **Reply #733 on:** September 29, 2019, 09:12:50 pm »

Some things just put a smile on your face no matter how old you are or how many times you do them.

Raptor · « **Reply #734 on:** September 29, 2019, 09:21:01 pm »

Quote from: MTK20 on September 29, 2019, 08:33:11 pm

You look so happy after you finish blowing the whistle .

You better believe it! I waited my entire life for that moment, and it was totally worth it!

Quote from: coelacanth on September 29, 2019, 09:12:50 pm

Some things just put a smile on your face no matter how old you are or how many times you do them.

Darn tootin'! That was about noon yesterday, and I still haven't stopped smiling!

coelacanth · « **Reply #735 on:** November 17, 2019, 06:29:45 pm »

Its a beautiful autumn day here in the Sonoran desert. Mild temperatures and a light breeze tempted me out onto the back patio this afternoon to sit a while and contemplate mostly nothing. A glass of Yorkshire's finest ale, a wee dram of Islay single malt and a generous bowl of a fine Balkan blend and all is right with the world for a brief span. I spent zero time listening to people heatedly debate things that will be of no consequence in a week, let alone a century. I spent zero time watching overpaid athletes in contests no one cares about and no one will remember next season.

I did watch the hummingbirds busily trying to defend their territorial claims to the feeder. I did watch hikers taking the skyline trail across the eastern ridge of the mountain preserve. I did watch hawks riding the thermals and circling over the big wash in search of a midday meal.

All things considered, a pretty good afternoon. I hope yours was as well.

luke213(adamsholsters) · « **Reply #736 on:** November 17, 2019, 06:31:42 pm »

I spent the day taking care of sick kids and shooting photos of Sarah's stuff;) Now I'm going to eat and go in the shop to do leather till late. Not too far off normal other than leather is usually an all day affair but I needed something in the house for part of the day;)

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

coelacanth · « **Reply #737 on:** November 17, 2019, 07:06:15 pm »

Hope everybody gets better soon. Sick children are a particularly hard problem to deal with.

Raptor · « **Reply #738 on:** November 17, 2019, 07:54:00 pm »

Ugh. I feel for you. I caught norovirus... I guess it was not quite three weeks ago. Three days stuck alternating between my bedroom and my bathroom. Wouldn't wish that on anyone. I hope your kids don't have anything like that.

Yesterday, I made it to the range for the first time in probably six months. Between no time (501st stuff) and no money (car repairs, ugh) and some travel (went back east right before I got sick to visit some old college buddies, good times), I just couldn't swing it. And my targets reflected it. Anyone who says marksmanship isn't a perishable skill is full of sh*t.

Also spent the last two days banging out the beginning of a new story. Star Wars FanFic - two guys from Earth (or rather, an Earth where George Lucas never made Star Wars) find themselves on Queen Amidala's starship as she is escaping Naboo in the beginning of Episode 1. Oh, and or heroes were on their way to the Desert Brutality 2-Gun Action Challenge Match when they were mysteriously teleported.... I only have the first chapter finished thus far, not sure if I'm actually going to see it through. But I may start posting it in the Creative Writing section if/when I write enough to make it worth your while.

ksuguy · « **Reply #739 on:** November 17, 2019, 08:46:58 pm »

Thursday night I stopped by the public outreach panel that Baen books sponsored at the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop conference. It was only a couple hundred yards from my office, so I had to go check it out. It was an interesting panel, and I got to meet quite a few people I'd only previously talked to online and got several of them to sign my copy of the anthology book they had for sale there. Kind of wish they had publicized it more locally, I didn't even find out about it until early this week. Since it was right next to my office, I might have gone to a few more of the events at the conference if I had known it was going on.

Put up some of the Christmas lights yesterday, might put a little more on the tree in front of the house this week since we have extra. This morning took pictures for the annual Christmas card. I had to wear a garish Christmas suit, but it makes my wife happy to do it. After that, got out the chainsaw and cut up some more giant chunks of tree that I got for firewood. I don't know what kind of tree it was, but it's quite a chore to cut through it with the chainsaw. From now on, I'm not taking any more big trunk pieces even if they are "free".

Mikee5star · « **Reply #740 on:** November 17, 2019, 09:57:41 pm »

We had region small school basketball tournament this weekend, seventy miles away. Back to back games on Friday, and one on Saturday. They won one and lost two, for fourth place. Woke up Sat to the first snow of the year, then drove 40 miles in white out to watch the kids lose by one point.

Last weekend was a plumbing project that I have been saying that I would get around to for 18 months. Now the hot water heater is tied to the wood boiler and the radiant in floor heat is working. I hate plumbing.

booksmart · « **Reply #741 on:** November 18, 2019, 09:23:39 am »

Long overdue weekend doings post:

So, my son expressed interest in joining the Cub Scouts, so we did. Beginning of October, we attended Spooky-ree at Bert Adams Park, in Covington, GA. Two weeks ago, hosted my first den meeting as Assistant Den Leader for the Lions Pack of our Den. And this past weekend, finally had good weather to hang the tent out to dry from Spooky-ree (luckily, no mold had developed from the intervening month... I guess having the dehumidifier running 10 ft from the bag helped dry it out), while I assisted with this week's den meeting. I'm enjoying it, and Michael seems to be enjoying it so far (even if I do still have remind him which hand to salute with lol).

ksuguy · « **Reply #742 on:** November 30, 2019, 09:49:36 pm »

Tuesday night, we had some high winds that snapped off one of the old fence posts holding up the fence between our yard and the neighbors. Took out a whole section of it. So early on Wednesday morning, my wife went over to Lowes and bought some of that orange construction fencing to put up temporarily to keep our dogs in our yard and the neighbors dog over in theirs. We quickly put that in place before I went to work at noon on Wednesday. After work, stopped at Menards and bought some supplies for fixing the fence more permanently.

Ate some turkey at my wife's mothers house for Thanksgiving. My parents are down in Florida visiting some more of the family.

Had to work again on Friday. It's not an official company holiday, but most people take it off anyway for vacation. I usually don't, since it's nice having an empty office without people bothering me. Snagged a good Black Friday deal on a BRN-180 upper from Brownells.

Today, we got the fence repaired. Sort of looks like crap since i had to get it to work with the other sections that were still there and couldn't get everything exactly level, but it's sturdy enough. Really we just need to re-do the whole thing in the spring. I'm guessing the original owners put it in 20+ years ago, and it's pretty rotten and needs replacing. As a side note, I found these things for securing the posts in the ground. They work really well, much easier than digging a hole and using concrete, especially since we only needed a couple to fix the bad section of fence. Does kind of suck pounding them in with a sledgehammer though, I'll definitely be renting a jackhammer if we do the whole fence with them. We only used two today, and it was a workout.

coelacanth · « **Reply #743 on:** December 01, 2019, 01:07:45 am »

Interesting product. I notice the video seems to feature them being installed in areas away from large trees and, presumably, in non-rocky soil. I had a neighbor here that tried two of a similar product as a mailbox post holder and broke them both trying to drive them into the ground in his front yard by the sidewalk. He finally ended up digging a hole by hand and setting a post in some Quickcrete. Rocks are just somethjing you get used to in Arizona.

Hope your project turns out well.

ksuguy · « **Reply #744 on:** December 01, 2019, 01:11:05 pm »

Yeah, the video does tend to show ideal conditions. However, it still worked fine in my yard. They also make a 24" model with thicker spikes that is supposed to work better on difficult soil. One thing they didn't mention is that the scrap piece of 4x4 used to drive it in will quickly get obliterated by the sledgehammer. I went through a couple of chunks on each post putting them in. I'd definitely use a jackhammer and their driving adapter if I had to do more than a couple of these.

One nice thing is that they make it easy to replace the posts later if you need to. Just unscrew them, then pull them out of the holder and put in the new ones.

coelacanth · « **Reply #745 on:** December 01, 2019, 03:48:48 pm »

Raptor · « **Reply #746 on:** December 01, 2019, 08:49:31 pm »

Took a loooooooong weekend and flew down to Florida to visit my parents for Thanksgiving.

As usual, Mom cooked WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much, so we all ate WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much.

Flew back to Coldandwet Yankeeland late last night. Flight was late getting in, then we got stuck on the tarmac for another half hour (navigation instrument wouldn't calculate), so long story short I didn't get back home until after 1:00 AM. So that was fun.

MTK20 · « **Reply #747 on:** December 02, 2019, 01:57:33 am »

Quote from: Raptor on December 01, 2019, 08:49:31 pm

Took a loooooooong weekend and flew down to Florida to visit my parents for Thanksgiving.

As usual, Mom cooked WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much, so we all ate WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much.

Flew back to Coldandwet Yankeeland late last night. Flight was late getting in, then we got stuck on the tarmac for another half hour (navigation instrument wouldn't calculate), so long story short I didn't get back home until after 1:00 AM. So that was fun.

And here I thought you and your parents always lived in PA

.

A long weekend with family doesn't sound so bad

.

booksmart · « **Reply #748 on:** December 02, 2019, 09:32:44 am »

Drove up to the mountains to spend the weekend with family. Snagged a slight deal on a Ruger Mark IV 22/45... remarkably accurate little thing. My cousin and I put two shots into a beer can at 10-15ft - one shot each.

My son - 6yo now - threw up for the first time in his life Saturday at midnight, so I stayed up to 4am while he slept, in case he woke up needing to do so again (stumbling to a bathroom in an unfamiliar house in the dark generally doesn't go well).

His review of the event was succinct: "Puking sucks!"

Yes, yes it does.

Raptor · « **Reply #749 on:** December 02, 2019, 06:23:29 pm »

Quote from: MTK20 on December 02, 2019, 01:57:33 am

And here I thought you and your parents always lived in PA .

A long weekend with family doesn't sound so bad .

They did up until last year. I didn't really make mention of it partly for OPSEC reasons, partly because I was in the middle of my own move at the time too, and partly because it was a really slow-mo move (Florida house was finished right about two Christmases ago, but they didn't actually move until last September).

Quote from: booksmart on December 02, 2019, 09:32:44 am

Drove up to the mountains to spend the weekend with family. Snagged a slight deal on a Ruger Mark IV 22/45... remarkably accurate little thing. My cousin and I put two shots into a beer can at 10-15ft - one shot each.

My son - 6yo now - threw up for the first time in his life Saturday at midnight, so I stayed up to 4am while he slept, in case he woke up needing to do so again (stumbling to a bathroom in an unfamiliar house in the dark generally doesn't go well).

His review of the event was succinct: "Puking sucks!"

Yes, yes it does.

Ugh. I feel for you and your boy both. Though I am envious that he made it 6 years without puking.