Nice Weber Kettle. There is a company called Spider Grills that sells an attachment for the Kettle 22'' that turns it into a pellet smoker. They are backordered at the moment. If I didn't have a Solo Grill, I would probably grab the Weber and add the pellet smoker attachment. Enjoy!

I've never had a Weber Kettle but am becoming sorely tempted. How well it accommodate  a two-zone fire?

Edited June 14, 20233 yr by velomane

Added a second shelf in the back of the van. Now it's much easier to access the miter saw stand and saw horses, without having to remove tools bags off of them.

10 hours ago, swt61 said:

Added a second shelf in the back of the van. Now it's much easier to access the miter saw stand and saw horses, without having to remove tools bags off of them.

Top Shelf work for sure!

On 6/14/2023 at 5:32 PM, velomane said:

I've never had a Weber Kettle but am becoming sorely tempted. How well it accommodate  a two-zone fire?

Sorry I missed this. The master touch comes with these Weber Charcoal baskets

which makes it easy to set up dual zone cooking. They also make a cone shaped heat deflector for more options.

I also forgot to mention that Peter is in his last week of his wilderness EMT course and he is having a blast 

He is in the orange sweatshirt.

Edited June 19, 20233 yr by morphsci

Saw The President Fly into Marin via HMX-1  to fund raise, as part of his busy schedule.  

The dry run on Friday had set NextDoor a-Twitter,  and today was no different.

There was some minor excitement beforehand as some aviators hadn't done their homework, and needed to be reminded up close and personal.

NORAD were on it

 

 

The V22's were impressive 

 

And then the fundraiser in chief arrived.

Departed to shmooze his donors.

And things went back to almost normal.

Edited June 21, 20233 yr by Grahame

Hail to the chief for he is the chief and he needs hailing!

4K YouTubes

 

 

Yesterday we visited Sterling Pond, which just so happens to be the highest elevation trout pond in Vermont

decent summary reporting for those interested

"COMMUNITY
When Biden Lands in Your Backyard
Written by Maryann Jones"

https://sfstandard.com/politics/biden-marin-county-campaign-visit-larkspur-kentfield/

@swt61?

Meanwhile, at the Marin County Fair

Also, don't be like someone else and unironically ask a police officer where the pig racing is.

 

Technically it's not all bad

Edited July 1, 20233 yr by Grahame

Come on, everyone knows Alaska and pig racing are synonymous!

I myself have known this for at least 3 minutes.

There may not have been enough Bacon for Mikey,

But there was a Ferris Wheel.

Superannuated  rockers (BöC)

playing all the hits.

And fireworks.

And a train to take us home avoiding all the crowds.

 

Edited July 1, 20233 yr by Grahame

Helped to move a few things with Al, at his Brother Tom's house.

I have no idea how they ended up with one of Greg's wine corks, but it made for a nice side table.

Yesterday I repaired a Canon ef 17-55mm f/2.8. I bought it broken for €150, the diaphragm didn't work and here the ST does not repair them, so you have to send it to the mainland. This lens cost arround 800€ new here. 

For 3 bucks I bought the flex wire conection that moves the diaphragm and after 5 hours of work (I had never opened an objective) and a hour cleaning glasses.... I was able to leave it as good as new. 

After a good while taking this thing apart:

The damn broken flex wire:

Its alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited July 4, 20233 yr by jose

Meeting with Purk and his friend, Wut.  Unfortunately, nothing new to show to them.  But, as usual, we went out for a lunch together, and I had to make sure that I fed them enough.  😆

I have exactly one neighbor.  His name is Gary.  He's a genuine boomer, turning 70 this year.  He is some kind of special needs.  In his day, on Marthas Vineyard, there wasn't much in the way of diagnosis so he just kind of got by.  He lived with his mother until she passed on my birthday this year at the age of 93(!)  Now Gary lives alone, and I live here on MV.  Gary does okay, but my (sainted, octogenarian) mother does have some worries about him.  He mentioned to her that his electric bill was over $200 this month.  She said to me "you have an awful lot of spare LED bulbs, you should see if Gary would let us replace some of his incandescents."

She wasn't wrong.  For reasons not entirely worth explaining, I have 3-4 boxes of LED bulbs I brought with me to the Vineyard.  My father was a hoarder of antique furniture.  He built barns to hold it all:

 

In spite of the thousands of records and CDs I own, not to mention the nightclub's worth of lighting gear (and all the stereo equipment) I own, I have always rejected the notion that I am a hoarder.  Except for lightbulbs.  I have to cop to it.  I compulsively bought CFL bulbs when those were a thing, and then moved on to LED bulbs when they arrived.  I have done some pretty neat things with them.  I restored a bunch of antique lamps:

(For colored bulbs, CFLs are better than LED.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)

Even with the lamps above and many more, I have a vast excess of LED bulbs.  Today, with Gary's permission I went through his house and wrote down all of the bulbs I thought he could use.  Then I went up to my attic where it was 115 goddamn degrees and dragged down a few boxes.  I then spent an hour replacing the bulbs in most of Gary's house.  I did most of the living area, and discussed with him a few spots I could not get to (the garage and basement.)  He seemed pleased.  Also I have (slightly) fewer bulbs kicking around now.

On 7/7/2023 at 10:55 PM, Knuckledragger said:

I have exactly one neighbor.  His name is Gary.  He's a genuine boomer, turning 70 this year.  He is some kind of special needs.  In his day, on Marthas Vineyard, there wasn't much in the way of diagnosis so he just kind of got by.  He lived with his mother until she passed on my birthday this year at the age of 93(!)  Now Gary lives alone, and I live here on MV.  Gary does okay, but my (sainted, octogenarian) mother does have some worries about him.  He mentioned to her that his electric bill was over $200 this month.  She said to me "you have an awful lot of spare LED bulbs, you should see if Gary would let us replace some of his incandescents."

She wasn't wrong.  For reasons not entirely worth explaining, I have 3-4 boxes of LED bulbs I brought with me to the Vineyard.  My father was a hoarder of antique furniture.  He built barns to hold it all:

 

In spite of the thousands of records and CDs I own, not to mention the nightclub's worth of lighting gear (and all the stereo equipment) I own, I have always rejected the notion that I am a hoarder.  Except for lightbulbs.  I have to cop to it.  I compulsively bought CFL bulbs when those were a thing, and then moved on to LED bulbs when they arrived.  I have done some pretty neat things with them.  I restored a bunch of antique lamps:

(For colored bulbs, CFLs are better than LED.  Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)

Even with the lamps above and many more, I have a vast excess of LED bulbs.  Today, with Gary's permission I went through his house and wrote down all of the bulbs I thought he could use.  Then I went up to my attic where it was 115 goddamn degrees and dragged down a few boxes.  I then spent an hour replacing the bulbs in most of Gary's house.  I did most of the living area, and discussed with him a few spots I could not get to (the garage and basement.)  He seemed pleased.  Also I have (slightly) fewer bulbs kicking around now.

I know you like to pretend otherwise, Knucks, but you are a saint.

Did Gary sing Debbie Boone to you?

In today's snake related news,

a pacific gopher snake. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pituophis 

 

Cool looking snake.

That's a pretty girthy, gravity-defying, fuck-me-sideways snake, Grəm.

(I happen to currently be wearing my "snakes on an inclined plane" shirt, no lie.)

We went to my favourite pub, caught up with a couple of our favourite people, drank some excellent beers, and...
won the meat tray.  

8 hours ago, Dusty Chalk said:

That's a pretty girthy, gravity-defying, fuck-me-sideways snake, Grəm.

(I happen to currently be wearing my "snakes on an inclined plane" shirt, no lie.)

Me: Looking at plans for an ark.

Edited July 11, 20233 yr by morphsci

Contracted to sell our house. Now have to find a place to live.