GOOD MORNING ALL.

ANOTHER SUNNY AND COOL MORNING IN THE NATIONS. THE CHEROKEES ARE SMILING.

I'M NOT SMILING. HUNG AROUND ALL DAY YESTERDAY WAITING FOR THE ROOFER WHO NEVER SHOWED. MY MAJOR PET PEEVE IS PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY WILL DO SOMETHING AND THEN DON'T DO IT. SMALL-TOWN TEXAS UPBRINGING, I GUESS.

LOOKS LIKE I'LL HAVE TO MOW TODAY. WHAT FUN---

Hidey-ho! Beautiful, sunny day out there, but the tides are turning. The next several days look like an umbrella salesman's dream. I am taking Monday off to play golf, and am hoping for the general wrongness of the weather geniuses.

Enjoy your day, Gurus!

Good Morning CGs!

Already ran a couple of errands this morning. Wife took the kids to a pumpkin patch. I would have liked to have gone, but unfortunately have work later.

Brad - I don't really follow sports. The Bears suck is about all I know. I did get in a $100 pool at work, but I just check the scores that evening...

TB - good luck with the auction. Hope you score some good stuff.

Gris - how are your winged companions?

Hope everyone has a great day!

Quote:
I DON'T SEEM TO HAVE HURT THE LITTLE BASTARDS AT ALL. MY BUG GUY SHOULD BE HOME NEXT WEEK, MAYBE HE WILL HAVE A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM SHORT OF TEARING THE WOOD PILE APART TO LOCATE THE NEST.

MADE A PASS THRU THE FLEA MARKT, THE ONLY THING OF REAL INTEREST WAS A GUY WITH A BUNCH OF WOODEN CARPENTER/CABINET MAKER TOOLS, RABIT PLANES AND SUCH. TEEBEE WOULD HAVE ENJOYED LOOKING AT THEM.

Well, I'm back. You know, people are freaking NUTS at auctions! Crap went for nearly as much as you could buy new. Everything I went to, "maybe pick up a bargain", scored WAY MORE than I would have ever dreamed to bid. I bid on a couple things, that went for just a little more than my max, while other things, which I never even tried to bid, started way more than my max. I did buy one lot, a box of "broken" tools. I had read the labels saying what each problem was and decided that I could take a chance. One router in the mess, and the router base was what I was interested in. It would normally sell for $50-60.....I was the only bidder and got the whole mess 9 tools for $10....can't get hurt too bad.

I get them home and start checking things, three Porter Cable random orbit sanders (all said they needed new velcro pads) Plug them in and they all run like champs....and they all had new velcro pads on them. There was about 6 times money back right there. A really nice Makita half sheet sander..."needs new switch" I pull the cover off, use my multi-meter to test the cord, the cord is bad. Another Makita 1/4 sheet sander....it's DEAD. But the cord is good, so swap it over to the half sheet machine, I'm up another sander and about 8 times my money. A Makita 7" grinder, this sucker is USED UP...trash. The Porter Cable router looks like it's been rode hard and put up wet several times...but these are pretty heavy duty tools. Plug it in and nothing. The base is stuck, but I've seen this before. Saw dust builds in the mechanism that allows it to move and locks it in place. I take my WD40 and dowse the thing and wiggle it back and forth and it comes off. I pull the switch out, thinking the cord is bad....it looks REALLY BAD, and check continuity and surprise the cord has continuity. Pull the brushes out and they are packed with saw dust....aahhh haa! Clean things up, put it back together, plug it in and she runs like a champ....I'll be buying some new brushes for it though and a new power cord. These routers sell on ebay for $150-200. The last tool was a Ryobi (the old good quality stuff from the early 80s) 4 x24 belt sander. It says needs new front bearing. I plug it in and it runs...sounds like sh!t, but runs pretty well. I tear it apart and find one bad motor bearing...a $10 part.

Overall, I think I came out pretty good. After I bought the box, I had a couple guy give me a hard time about buying the "junk"....I think I get the last laugh.

Quite a score, Tom!

Back to the grind. The vacation went off without a hitch. The past two cruises we came home with casino money. This trip it was the casino's turn. Didn't even have one good day at the table. Sue did good day 1 and two. Even on 3. Lost on days 4,5,6, then came back up a little in the last couple hours of the cruise. I made some money here, lost some money there. Lost some more money there. Oh well, they don't call it winning. They call it gambling. I went zip lining for the first time over the tree canopy in Roatan, Honduras. Went on a glass paneled boat reef trip in Grand Cayman and and walked around some in Cozumel. Get to do it again in 4 weeks. They changed our itinerary on this one to Western Caribbean since three of the ports we were supposed to go to got destroyed by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Fortunately just being on a cruise is bonus enough. 3 hots and a cot. Sometimes 5 hots and a cot. Eating choices are highly prevalent on cruises. Tomorrow the work resumes.

Welcome back to reality, Tommy ;-)