Shooting the Breeze- general chit chat

[FarmerTan]

And back home! Went squirrel hunting one more time this morning with my buddy Bill in his 100 acres of hardwood bottoms and saw ONE squirrel. Something is screwy! Finally gave up and while were shooting the breeze a spike and a forked horn walked up to his feeder not 30 yards away like we weren't even there... So weird! Still had and awesome time and can't wait to try again in the spring! I was also taught that I am showing too much skin in the woods (Hey chicka bow wow! ). Robert schooled me on the fact that squirrels can spot bare human flesh at a pretty good distance and a camo hat, gator, and long sleeved shirt will help my odds immensely if the tree rats have been shot at before.

And NOW you know how I got my Tan, Baby!

 

[martym]

And back home! Ran 80 to 90 all the way with the A/C on. Nothing fell off and I didn't overheat so I think I dodge a bullet with the car. Went squirrel hunting one more time this morning with my buddy Bill in his 100 acres of hardwood bottoms and saw ONE squirrel. Something is screwy! Finally gave up and while were shooting the breeze a spike and a forked horn walked up to his feeder not 30 yards away like we weren't even there... So weird! Still had and awesome time and can't wait to try again in the spring! I was also taught that I am showing too much skin in the woods (Hey chicka bow wow! ). Robert schooled me on the fact that squirrels can spot bare human flesh at a pretty good distance and a camo hat, gator, and long sleeved shirt will help my odds immensely if the tree rats have been shot at before.

Unless we have a norther blow in and it’s actually cold (maybe 2 weeks a year) I wear a T-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes to the ranch. Even during deer season.

 

[FarmerTan]

Unless we have a norther blow in and it’s actually cold (maybe 2 weeks a year) I wear a T-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes to the ranch. Even during deer season.

I'm moving.

 

[nikonNUT]

Unless we have a norther blow in and it’s actually cold (maybe 2 weeks a year) I wear a T-shirt, shorts, and tennis shoes to the ranch. Even during deer season.

I hear that! IT was spectacular weather around Avinger this week. Blue bird skies, low wind, and low 80s until today when it got a tad warm. Really love the area! The downside? When USS steel shuttered their tubular plant the area (far side of Lake O' the Pines) got a little sketchy. There are a lot of meth heads running around these days but that's everywhere I suppose. If you know the area I was staying off of Josey Taylor Rd. and it looked like everyone out there had a shotgun and a backhoe so I didn't feel unsafe AT ALL and made it a point to wave at all the neighbors!

 

[martym]

Sounds like beautiful weather!!

 

[jar_]

I'm moving.

Remember, Avinger is about 600 miles north of martym so climate difference is kinda like NYC vs Atlanta or Atlanta and Miami.

 

[FarmerTan]

Remember, Avinger is about 600 miles north of martym so climate difference is kinda like NYC vs Atlanta or Atlanta and Miami.

True. What I need is 4 homes.


LOL, or 4 REALLY good friends.

And a pilot's license.

AND....MORE MONEY!

THEN I'd be set.

 

[martym]

There’s a small airport about 7 miles (more or less) from the ranch. Jim Hogg County Airport. During the week you see very few planes. Weekends are different. Corporate jets pack that place.
Huges ranches for Deer and Quail.

 

[FarmerTan]

@martym : how are you set for shaving soap? That is a BIG factor in who has to be blessed with my company first!

 

[martym]

You’ve seen the freezer and I have 36 sticks of Arko vacuumed sealed.

 

[jar_]

And I keep a partial bottle of Lilac Vegetal for emergency withdrawals.

 

[nikonNUT]

Well, I'm an idiot... Been complaining (internally) about my TriggerTech Diamond not going below 1.25 pounds and thinking it was the striker spring tension. Decided to clean it this evening (lighter fluid per TT) and found the instructions online as the printed version is TINY! Started reading and came across a picture that showed the 1st stage adjustment 2nd stage adjustment screw locations. I had them backwards! Got my head right and now the TT will break at 4oz if I want. Gawd, I'm an idiot!

 

[FarmerTan]

Well, I'm an idiot... Been complaining (internally) about my TriggerTech Diamond not going below 1.25 pounds and thinking it was the striker spring tension. Decided to clean it this evening (lighter fluid per TT) and found the instructions online as the printed version is TINY! Started reading and came across a picture that showed the 1st stage adjustment 2nd stage adjustment screw locations. I had them backwards! Got my head right and now the TT will break at 4oz if I want. Gawd, I'm an idiot!

I'd call it a "good catch" myself!

And just think, none of us would have known. LOL, honesty is the best policy. Might have kept one of US from feeling like an idiot!

 

[nikonNUT]

I'd call it a "good catch" myself!

And just think, none of us would have known. LOL, honesty is the best policy. Might have kept one of US from feeling like an idiot!

Thanks Dave! A "good catch" indeed. My first time fiddling with a 2-stage trigger but...

12 ounces? Chrissy likey!!! And that's still a more than half a pound heavier than it can offer aka 3 ounces per TT. Can't wait to go to the range and a run a 5X6 with the lighter pull and the action screw torques tweaked this weekend!

 

[jar_]

So I have been updating my home Wi-Fi network. It's been interesting.

I have internet service from Time Warner/Spectrum/Charter and so the first step was to update to a faster speed. That was a $20.00 a month hit but I also had to update the modem.

I had just updated the modem when we had the big lighting storm just a while ago and of course the new modem was one of the casualties. I had gone back to the Spectrum modem but it would not work at the higher speeds so add in yet another new modem. Quick BestBuy run though and that was solved. Then call Spectrum to activate the yet again new modem and they could activate the higher speed link.

Next it was update the internal LAN to handle IPV6 and WiFi 6 and the network cards and adapters. For the network I chose to switch to a full mesh system from TP-Link; their Deco X20 which is a pretty much basic modern system, not the fastest or mostest but pretty solid and reliable. It also will handle WiFi 6 as it gets rolled out so should be good for a year or three.

After the normal birthing pains thing seemed to settle down and the next step was to make sure all of the IoT things like lights and cameras and garage door still worked and surprisingly most worked right away and a simple turn off and on solved all of the light bulb issues.

Several of the computers needed tweaks or replacement of the network card or adapter but after a day or three all but one machine was seeing download speeds between 150 and 200 Mbs and upload speeds north of 20 Mbs. The one that is still sluggish is an OLD HP Laptop that began life around when Windows 7 first came out with a network card that is at least two generations back and I'm not sure I will be able to do much more with it.

Coverage now is uniform all over the house and the speeds to misquote Harry's father, "they are feeling MUCH better now".

 

[Billski]

The Cincinnati Bengals just beat the Baltimore Ravens 41 to 17. That was unexpected.

 

[HARMON]

The Cincinnati Bengals just beat the Baltimore Ravens 41 to 17. That was unexpected.

Also UC remains undefeated and Ohio State won big!

 

[jar_]

Switched to a new cell phone and it's like I finally came home. My first cell phone was a Motorola StarTac I bought in 2000 and I used it as my main phone right up until 2015. Since then I've had a whole herd of 'Candy Bar' smart phones and pretty much hated every single one. The latest foray into 'candy bar land' is a Samsung A32 5g that replaced my several years old LGK20 but there were many more; Samsung J1Mini and S4 and S5 and Microsoft. But they are all (except the little J1Mini and it wouldn't link with my watches) clumsy and too big and awkward and just plain annoying.

Then I had a chance to fondle a friends Motorola Razr 5g and it was exactly what I had been missing. Compact, functional, minimalistic, pocket and holster friendly and on sale for about $800.00 less than what I paid for my Motorola StarTac.

I transferred over all the apps I actually use (Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure Meters and WiFi management and some links to stores), connected it to both of my SmartWatches and added it to my car and State Farm Driving Monitor and Alexa and my security cameras and lights so lots of backup and restore and connection testing. Still lasted over a day even with the tiny battery.

I'll likely charge it every night until I get a feel for how it does in daily use.

Tomorrow will be trying to uninstall all the news and social media and games and video apps as well as limiting which apps can send notifications. Hopefully in a day or so it will get to the functional state of the StarTac; something to take/send calls and messages with the added benefit of maps when needed.

What I so far like the most about the Razr is the ability to take calls, get and reply to Text Messages without opening it up. The screen even closed is big enough to read text messages and has a functional keyboard to reply. It connects to my watches through Bluetooth when I carry the phone but also remotely if I leave the phone home when out and about.

When open the screen is typical 'Candy Bar' and I haven't noticed and distortion where it folds. Motorola claims it will last for at least 200,000 cycles so at my age it will likely be in better shape then I at the end. The sound quality as a phone is classic Motorola and I don't think any company does it better. I seldom use phone cameras but at least this one is simple to use. They claim 48MP for the main one and 20MP for the unfolded one. That means you can take a selfie with the case closed using the 48MP camera and also when unfolded the small screen can let your subjects get a hint of what the picture will look like. Kinda neat.

 

[simon1]

Switched to a new cell phone and it's like I finally came home. My first cell phone was a Motorola StarTac I bought in 2000 and I used it as my main phone right up until 2015. Since then I've had a whole herd of 'Candy Bar' smart phones and pretty much hated every single one. The latest foray into 'candy bar land' is a Samsung A32 5g that replaced my several years old LGK20 but there were many more; Samsung J1Mini and S4 and S5 and Microsoft. But they are all (except the little J1Mini and it wouldn't link with my watches) clumsy and too big and awkward and just plain annoying.

Then I had a chance to fondle a friends Motorola Razr 5g and it was exactly what I had been missing. Compact, functional, minimalistic, pocket and holster friendly and on sale for about $800.00 less than what I paid for my Motorola StarTac.

I transferred over all the apps I actually use (Blood Glucose and Blood Pressure Meters and WiFi management and some links to stores), connected it to both of my SmartWatches and added it to my car and State Farm Driving Monitor and Alexa and my security cameras and lights so lots of backup and restore and connection testing. Still lasted over a day even with the tiny battery.

I'll likely charge it every night until I get a feel for how it does in daily use.

Tomorrow will be trying to uninstall all the news and social media and games and video apps as well as limiting which apps can send notifications. Hopefully in a day or so it will get to the functional state of the StarTac; something to take/send calls and messages with the added benefit of maps when needed.

What I so far like the most about the Razr is the ability to take calls, get and reply to Text Messages without opening it up. The screen even closed is big enough to read text messages and has a functional keyboard to reply. It connects to my watches through Bluetooth when I carry the phone but also remotely if I leave the phone home when out and about.

When open the screen is typical 'Candy Bar' and I haven't noticed and distortion where it folds. Motorola claims it will last for at least 200,000 cycles so at my age it will likely be in better shape then I at the end. The sound quality as a phone is classic Motorola and I don't think any company does it better. I seldom use phone cameras but at least this one is simple to use. They claim 48MP for the main one and 20MP for the unfolded one. That means you can take a selfie with the case closed using the 48MP camera and also when unfolded the small screen can let your subjects get a hint of what the picture will look like. Kinda neat.

I have one of those Samsung phones...one of the Galaxy ones. I think it cost about hundred or two.

I don't know what it really does...it usually just sits on the kitchen table with a dead battery.

My watch is a Timex with a second hand.

 

[ColtRevolver]

My phone is a hundred buck Samsung something or another. I buy phones outright and don't want a contract. I have a great no limit talk, text, data, and mobile hotspot plan that I don't want to lose.

My watch has a second hand, too....No battery, either. It's a selfwinder.