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By Dave, May 26, 2008 10:24 pm

Been mostly a day of taking it easy. Lots I needed to do but didn’t get done. Guess I over did it this weekend. Hoping to get some of it done tomorrow but will depend on how I feel. Will see when it gets here. Till then…

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By Dave, May 25, 2008 9:50 pm

Got it up and going this morning, fixed breakfast and lunch and headed out to Flamingo and Bill’s Flea markets. Walked around a bit and got a few bits and pieces. Mostly 25, 50 cent and $1 items. Browsed the book stand and struck up a conversation with Lloyd, the guy that sells the books. He mentioned that he was thinking about getting a building that is out there instead of renting another booth (as he is out of space). I talked to him a bit and then we went and talked to Butch (the owner of Flamingo’s) and walked over and looked at the building. It’s about 28 by 40 and they are asking 275 a month for it, which figures out to about 34.38 a day for the 8 days a month they are open. If we take half that would be 17.19 per working day that we would have to bring in to make rent. Figuring in fuel at around 20 mpg or a little better we’re looking at almost 2 gallons a day or another 7.56 a day (at current fuel prices) for a total of 24.75 a day that we’d have to “clear” just to break even and that’s not counting food, drinks, and car insurance.

I’m thinking I’m gonna have to pass and just go back to doing it at the yard sale trailer. That takes no rent, no fuel and only takes about 5 minutes to walk over there to open up on the days we do so. Guess I will go over and look things over in the morning and see what all is gonna need to be done to open the doors again.

After we spent way too much time talking about that we walked over to Bill’s and I bought a silver chaffing dish with alcohol burner (really nice piece!) and Cat bought a box of comics (228 pieces). Just what we both needed, but at the price(s) both deals were just about impossible to turn down. I will have to admit that she got the better deal as I paid $20 for the chafing dish and she got all the comics for $30. They are in good condition too. All are in plastic sleeves and most look unread. Time and ebay will tell… 😉

Left there and went up to Germania Springs and ate lunch and then rode down to Marvin’s and Lowe’s and priced metal roofing. Looks like Lowe’s is going to be the winner on corrugated metal as they are over a $1 less a sheet on the 8 and 12 foot stuff but they don’t have the 5 V which is what I wanted to use on the porch and needed 22 sheets of. Marvin’s has it at 9.03 a sheet so may bite the bullet and go with it rather than the cheaper corrugated at Lowe’s. Guess I need to take a micrometer and check the thickness at both places and see if it is the same quality. The stuff at Lowe’s seems thinner to the touch. May just be my imagination but I think I will get the micrometer out and take it with me when I go back. Should thrill them if I get caught and explain what I am doing… 😉

As we were both about beat after Lowe’s we came home and Cat crashed for a bit. I finished a book I was reading and then went down to the old camp site and moved the propane grill up to the camper out back here. Fired it up to burn it off and got it ready to cook some burgers for supper. Came in and fixed the burgers. Washed and cut some potatoes in half and sliced up an onion, buttered the inside of the potatoes, added salt and pepper and put slices of onion between the potato halves, then wrapped them in foil and put them on the grill to cook. When they started getting soft took a pan of cooked baked beans out and put it on the top rack to warm and put the burgers on to cook. Twas all good eaten! Still got 2 burgers and 4 potatoes to eat later.

Came in and been browsing and reading feeds since supper. Think I may hit the sack early. Been a lot of walking and sun the last 2 days and I am sure feeling it tonight. So till tomorrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 24, 2008 8:50 pm

Started out the day at the service station where fuel had increased over $.25 a gallon since the last fillup. Ended up putting $55.00 in the tank. 🙁 Anyway headed toward Gadsden and stopped and got some oil at the Dollar General there. Put half a quart in and headed out toward 211 and then 11 and to Collinsville. Was 42 miles that way vs 48 or 49 via Center with much better roads and we made better time too.

Got into the parking lot after quite a pileup of traffic getting both in and out but mostly out. Had an oriental dude be a serious jerk in not letting a jeep into line in front of him that kept both lanes blocked for about 5 minutes. Only takes one arsehat to block it all up…

Anyway got a parking place and headed into the fray. Right off found a solid copper tin lined chaffing dish that the guy wanted 6 for and took 5. Needs a bit of tlc and should then bring several times the original investment. After that was just about a washout. Got some screws that I needed to put the metal roofing on the camper and to finish the porch on the south side of the trailer and found a leather pouch to replace the pos that I have been using lately but other than that didn’t find anything. Or rather didn’t find anything that I was willing to pay the asking price for nor wanted enough to haggle over.

Did meet a fellow, name of Dale and his wife, from above Gunersville. He’s quite a talented wood carver and they have a booth there. I got to looking at his carving clamp and we struck up a conversation. Cat got some pictures of his setup that I will post as soon as she gets it off the camera. Gonna have to make something similar to use with some of my woodworking.

After we left there went and ate lunch at the picnic table in the gazebo in downtown Attalla. Had the company of a dude wearing a signboard that said “I’m a thief – I stole”. Asked him about it and he said that it was spend two days there with it on or 60 in the lockup. Don’t think it made much of a difference to him. Suspect he will be back in trouble but next time will have to spend the time in the lockup…

Waked around and hit some of the Antique shops and junk stores while there. Found a couple of books and Cat got a blouse and a skirt. Then the heat and amount of walking we had done took over and homeward we turned.

Ended up in 3 different grocery stores when we got back but managed to get most of what we were after for the weekend and then headed on home.

Got here and watered plants and fixed supper then been reading and browsing since. Am going to hit the sack early again tonight as I want to go to Flamingo’s and Bill’s flea markets in the morning and would like to get there before the heat of the day hits. Suspect that we will end up going to other places too so am gonna plan ahead and take lunch with us again. Sure makes it cheaper and easier to afford a day or two out and about to do it that way. Almost offsets the price of gas these days. Anyway, till the morrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 23, 2008 10:15 pm

Got out this morning and did a bit of mowing. Cleaned up a little and moved some stuff from here to there and there to here. Got to do a lot more of that in the next little while too. Since I have closed off the back drive am going to have to get off the arse and move some junk and then a pile of dirt and cut a new one. Always something.

Spent some time today learning how to take a photograph and turn it into a line drawing without drawing a line. Instructions in the linked article are for Photoshop but there is a comment that tells how to do it in Gimp at the LifeHacker article. Took me quite a while to get it down but after playing with the contrast, brightness and then the # of points affected in the Gaussian blur I got it pretty close to what I wanted. Considered other subject matter but I had been wanting a new avatar so decided to use a picture of me to practice on. Result is below… 😉

And on that note I am gonna close for the night. Hoping to feel up to going to Collinsville tomorrow morning so am gonna hit the sack. Till the morrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 22, 2008 9:45 pm

Another day done and done. Got a bit accomplished but still not near as much as I would have liked.

Steve brought over some ram this am and I installed a stick in both Cat’s XP box and my PCLOS box. Thanks Steve! Both of them are running a lot better and faster! Though I must say that it made a lot more difference to the linux machine than the other one. 😉

Got out after lunch and picked up some blades and an allen wrench to go with the Delta Jigsaw that we gave my dad for his birthday today. He turned 81 and is still going strong. While out and at Warren Ace Hardware in Jacksonville got some sheet rock screws. Got a bunch of stuff that I need to build and finish up that I needed them for. Also checked the price on corrugated roofing at Lowe’s but forgot to check the length of the camper so didn’t get any. Want to replace the plastic on top of. Need to go to Collinsville on Saturday and pick up some more of the large washer headed screws to put the metal on with.

Just went out and measured the length and the body is 10 feet long, so the 12 foot stuff will work just fine adding in the foot overhang at the back. Still got to measure from side to side but I think 5 sheets will be enough to cover the top and come down on the sides to just above the windows and leave several corrugations at each overlap for a good water seal. Will need to get another sheet to cover the front but may be able to get away with a 8 foot piece for that. Will have to do some more measuring in the daylight to see for sure.

Picked up a bunch more tomato and pepper plants while at the folks today. Now got to get all of them in the ground. Time to get the sawsall out and cut up a bunch more tires to make planters out of. All its gonna take is energy…

Tis not that late but I am about done in, so until tomorrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 21, 2008 8:57 pm

Haven’t gotten near as much done today as I wanted to. Spent part of the day outside rearranging half the siding on the camper shed into a awning. That ended up covering part of the drive so had to drag a log and some blocks over and block off the road so hopefully folks will see that it’s not a through road any more and not try to squeeze by.

Fired up some charcoal this evening and got out the 12 inch dutch oven and cooked some chicken thighs with carrots, some bell peppers, onions, and broccoli. After everything was about done put a layer of stove top stuffing that Cat had cooked earlier on top of it and let that brown. Cooked a pot of blackeyed peas with onions and a bit of salsa in the 3 legged bean pot which I situated in an old cast iron frying pan containing about 10 briquettes. Cooked the peas just right. Could have used 6 briquettes and cooked a bit longer and will do so next time. Twas all good!

Think I am going to read a bit and then call it a night. Till the morrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 20, 2008 11:47 pm

Been working on websites for part of the day. Set up a LAMP server on the linux box here at home the other day and have finally gotten around to doing setting up some test sites on it. Got one ComicPress site about ready to transfer to the live site. Much easier/quicker to do the work here rather than ftping it all to a site online. Got one bleeding edge wordpress setup going too. Nothing on it, just a test site to see what will work with 2.6 and what won’t. Learning a bit more about how it (wordpress) works in the process too.

Face is better. Things are settling down inside pretty well. Most of the swelling is gone, and the cuts have healed over pretty well. Still chewing a bit easy but that’s doing better too.

Long day and night. Gonna hit the sack and try to get a bit more done tomorrow. Till then… 😉

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By Dave, May 19, 2008 8:44 pm

Not gonna say I feel great but am some better today. Swelling is going down and holes in the face has scabbed over nicely. Bone is broken from just below the left cheek to the top jaw in a inverted V but I can eat all right if I’m careful. Just one of those stupid accidents. Will certainly be a lot more careful throwing boards from now on… 😉

Am doing a lot of lying down as the pressure is much less in that position. Made the mistake of working on the lawnmower and cutting more of the weeds this morning as I felt so much better. Till I sneezed a few times and then started spitting blood again. Gotta remember to take it easy for a few days at the least. For now am gonna go and lie down again for a while longer and read some more. Will try to get up and do some work on the computer for a while tomorrow. Till then… 😉

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By Dave, May 17, 2008 7:02 pm

Had a bit of an accident this afternoon involving a 2x4x12 and a couple of nails and my face. One went through the lower lip and one appears to have penetrated a sinus cavity on the left side of my face just in front of the cheek bone. Feels right loverly at the present time. Interesting swelling going on too. Am going to try to eat something and take another lie down so may not post again tonight. Depends on how I’m feeling later. So, till I type again…

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By Dave, May 16, 2008 11:09 pm

Has been a Friday for sure. Will try to be more productive tomorrow. Till then…

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By Dave, May 15, 2008 10:10 pm

After reading some stuff in the forums here at my current host I have decided it’s time (and past) to move on. Been looking at hosting providers and trying to make a decision on who to go with. Have found a couple that look good, and are in our price range. Just got to figure if it’s gonna be worth it to stay with a reseller account or go with a standard account that allows unlimited domains and put the sites in subdomains. Guess I am gonna sleep on it and see how they look tomorrow. Till then…

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By Dave, May 14, 2008 10:10 pm

Guess I will break down in the next day or so and go with other hosting. These server errors are just pissing me off to no end. I realize the blog is getting rather large (over 3500 posts) but the frequency of server errors and timeouts is unacceptable no matter how large it is. I suspect part of the problem is the airsoft forum that I host on the same server, but as I am no longer running the ranch I am going to move it to another site and let it be someone else’s problem as I won’t be taking that site with me when I move this one.

Not sure if I like the WP super cache plugin or not. Sometimes it updates right when I add a post and other times it doesn’t. Again, this too may be server errors. Time (and a move) will tell…

Going to publish this and hit the sack and hope that the rain and storms tomorrow are not too bad. Till then… 😉

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By Dave, May 13, 2008 10:46 pm

Been trying to get it going all day but haven’t gotten near as much done as I needed to.

The server errors are getting to the point I am gonna move the sites soon. Have looked at several possible hosts and almost settled on 2. There is a fair cost difference between the two and will most likely go with the cheaper but still trying to make up my mind. Tis gonna be a lot of data to move and hate to do it but things are not getting any better so am gonna have to do something.

Spent far too much time today setting up a LAMP server on this machine here at home and then putting wordpress on it to check it all out. After I got the first copy working made a backup of the database for technoprimitive.org, copied the wp folder over and imported the backup. After some playing around with phpMyAdmin got it working on here. Now just got to backup another 7 or 8 other wp sites as well as several other database intensive sites and make sure I can get them all working after the move. Joy, joy, joy… 🙁

Not gonna do it tonight though. Done all I’m gonna do other than hit the publish button on here and then go to bed. Till tomorrow… 😉

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By Dave, May 12, 2008 10:07 pm

Spent the day trying to recover from the weekend. Still not up to much but better than when I got up this a.m., so am gaining on it anyway. Hope to be back at it tomorrow. Will see when it rolls around. Till then… 😉

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By Dave, May 11, 2008 11:49 pm

No real biggie just long and tiring.
With the storms and rain Saturday night leaks developed or redeveloped as it were. Had one in the Q-hut roof/side that only leaks when the rain is blowing in certain random directions and it was pouring in all the right directions so we had nearly an inch of standing water in the front corner by the time I noticed it. Got the towels out and started soaking it up/damming it up to hold till the morrow. Rain slowed down so we went to bed around 1:00 am. By 1:30 got worse and then much worse so I got back up to go and check the front leak. Down the stairs and into water. The wet weather spring that has been dry for the past two years decided to become active again. So I pulled the carpet up and removed to boards and such to get to the hole in the ground where I could bail and started to do so. And bailed, and bailed. Cat got up and went in front and started wringing out towels and adding more. Rain started tapering off around 3 and she got to bed. I finally got done with bailing around 4 and back to bed and around daylight to sleep.

Up and out of here about 10:30 am and headed to Calcis, by way of Logan Martin dam where we ate lunch while watching the birds eat theirs. After eating we drove on into Calcis and to Cat’s mother’s house and after they visited a while we headed back here. Picked up my mothers stuff and went to visit there for a bit. Back here a bit after 6 pm and after changing out the towels drying the carpet again ate supper. Read a bit, and wrote a post which I then managed to kill the browser and wipe it out and hit the sack about 9 pm.

Still beat today. Just got back in from a visit with a friend who came by to get some old equipment that was wasting away in the barn. Which took quite a bit of water the other night too as the floor is still soaking wet. Am gonna eat lunch and then take a siesta and hope it help the bod catch up a bit on the missed sleep. Till later… 😉

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By depatty, May 11, 2008 11:48 pm

No real biggie just long and tiring.
With the storms and rain Saturday night leaks developed or redeveloped as it were. Had one in the Q-hut roof/side that only leaks when the rain is blowing in certain random directions and it was pouring in all the right directions so we had nearly an inch of standing water in the front corner by the time I noticed it. Got the towels out and started soaking it up/damming it up to hold till the morrow. Rain slowed down so we went to bed around 1:00 am. By 1:30 got worse and then much worse so I got back up to go and check the front leak. Down the stairs and into water. The wet weather spring that has been dry for the past two years decided to become active again. So I pulled the carpet up and removed to boards and such to get to the hole in the ground where I could bail and started to do so. And bailed, and bailed. Cat got up and went in front and started wringing out towels and adding more. Rain started tapering off around 3 and she got to bed. I finally got done with bailing around 4 and back to bed and around daylight to sleep.

Up and out of here about 10:30 am and headed to Calcis, by way of Logan Martin dam where we ate lunch while watching the birds eat theirs. After eating we drove on into Calcis and to Cat’s mother’s house and after they visited a while we headed back here. Picked up my mothers stuff and went to visit there for a bit. Back here a bit after 6 pm and after changing out the towels drying the carpet again ate supper. Read a bit, and wrote a post which I then managed to kill the browser and wipe it out and hit the sack about 9 pm.

Still beat today. Just got back in from a visit with a friend who came by to get some old equipment that was wasting away in the barn. Which took quite a bit of water the other night too as the floor is still soaking wet. Am gonna eat lunch and then take a siesta and hope it help the bod catch up a bit on the missed sleep. Till later… 😉

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By depatty, May 11, 2008 7:52 am

Make for early night tonight.

Had written a post and then hit a key that killed the browser. Not sure which one or why but did the job. Don’t feel up to rewriting it at present so am gonna close for the night and will try to recount last nights and todays excitements tomorrow. Till then…

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By Dave, May 11, 2008 7:52 am

Make for early night tonight.

Had written a post and then hit a key that killed the browser. Not sure which one or why but did the job. Don’t feel up to rewriting it at present so am gonna close for the night and will try to recount last nights and todays excitements tomorrow. Till then…

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By depatty, May 11, 2008 5:43 am

Started out to go to Collinsville but instead headed to Gadsden and Poor Man’s Trade Day first. Bought some books and a couple of copper cannisters along with a pile of string and thread. Headed on to Goodwill and got a few more books, then to Apple A Day for something to drink and ate lunch at the gazabo by the water at the front of the parking lot. Rather pleasant place even with all the roads around. Left there and went toward Centre. Stopped at a yard sale and got ignored so left and stopped again at a Antique/junk place on 411. Cat found a few things and then we walked to a place next door that we had looked at before but had never been open. I saw a Delta jigsaw that the owner was asking $25 for and knew if it worked I wanted it. He came out and got a power cord and hooked it up. Worked quite well. Went in and looked at some other stuff he had and ended up with the jigsaw, a Makita 7 1/2 inch skill saw, a Craftsman router, a Craftsman biscuit joiner, a huge (minus one tap) tap and die set and some vases Cat wanted. Set me back a bit but less than just the tap and die set was worth. One of those right place, right time situations. From there went on into Centre and another junk store and got another load of books. Twas getting on to mid afternoon so headed back to Jacksonville and stopped at Smith and Hardwick and picked up some things for our Mom’s for Mothers Day. A couple of stops at grocery stores and a quick trip to the Dollar store at Lenlock and then home and supper finished off the remainder of the daylight hours. Been reading and decided to do the daily post and call it an early night, as we need to hit Flamingo to check on some books Lloyd said he was gonna bring in for us and then head to Calcis and then back to Weaver to do both Mothers Days tomorrow. So, till I type again… 😉

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By Dave, May 10, 2008 8:35 am

Started out to go to Collinsville but instead headed to Gadsden and Poor Man’s Trade Day first. Bought some books and a couple of copper cannisters along with a pile of string and thread. Headed on to Goodwill and got a few more books, then to Apple A Day for something to drink and ate lunch at the gazabo by the water at the front of the parking lot. Rather pleasant place even with all the roads around. Left there and went toward Centre. Stopped at a yard sale and got ignored so left and stopped again at a Antique/junk place on 411. Cat found a few things and then we walked to a place next door that we had looked at before but had never been open. I saw a Delta jigsaw that the owner was asking $25 for and knew if it worked I wanted it. He came out and got a power cord and hooked it up. Worked quite well. Went in and looked at some other stuff he had and ended up with the jigsaw, a Makita 7 1/2 inch skill saw, a Craftsman router, a Craftsman biscuit joiner, a huge (minus one tap) tap and die set and some vases Cat wanted. Set me back a bit but less than just the tap and die set was worth. One of those right place, right time situations. From there went on into Centre and another junk store and got another load of books. Twas getting on to mid afternoon so headed back to Jacksonville and stopped at Smith and Hardwick and picked up some things for our Mom’s for Mothers Day. A couple of stops at grocery stores and a quick trip to the Dollar store at Lenlock and then home and supper finished off the remainder of the daylight hours. Been reading and decided to do the daily post and call it an early night, as we need to hit Flamingo to check on some books Lloyd said he was gonna bring in for us and then head to Calcis and then back to Weaver to do both Mothers Days tomorrow. So, till I type again… 😉