Let's visit.....

[Reziac]

Little drizzle of rain here yesterday, just enough to get everything wet. Prolly snowed in the mountains if I could see 'em thru the low clouds. High winds and lightning too, which probably explains all the power outages. It was out here and since I was going to be gone for the evening I was shutting down the computers (first time the XP machine has been rebooted in 14 months now) so the UPSs wouldn't get drained dry... I'd just got done with that when I heard BANG and smelled magic smoke** getting out of something.. couldn't find whatever it was, power was still out so kinda hard to check. Come daylight I learned that the BANG was my breaker panel and every surge protector in the house (all 12 of 'em) all blowing at once. Fried 3 surge units (the GOOD ones, not the cheap strips), one breaker unit on each house, every lightbulb on the fried breakers, and the power supply in my main computer... musta been some hellacious surge to get thru a surge unit AND the UPS. Breaker probably got fried by the surgeback from the surge protectors, but those did their job and saved all the electronics (except for that one power supply -- it was 15 years old, but a real heavy-duty unit, hated to lose it).

Useful information: You can plug a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply, essentially a big battery for your computer) into a surge protector if you have to, but NEVER EVER plug a surge protector into a UPS -- if you do so and it starts feedbacking due even to microsurges, it WILL overheat and could start a fire!!

** Computers run on smoke. If it gets out, they stop working!

.

[ElkHunter]

Sorry to hear about your power problems. We had the low clouds, drizzle, but no lighting. But where I'm at, all the power is underground so that really helps during thunder boomers.

[seven of nine]

Holy Moly Rez.
Good info to pass along. I think growing up as a kid in the south I have a healthy respect for lighting. We had 12 good Holsteins thrown 20-30 feet and killed because they stood under a big oak. Only time I ever saw my Pop cry.
I have had to educate the hubs since he grew up on the coast with not much more than drizzle.
Might be good info for the watch out thread

BTW, I took the H1N1 vaccine yesterday and lo and behold I stand alive today Consider it neighbors, I have a high exposure job but so does your cashier.
Money is a vector for many things and if they are exposed you will be also. End of sermon.

[seven of nine]

Take a moment to read this.
http://www.city-data.com/forum/monta...if-you-21.html

post 208
beautiful

[amyflorida70]

Very nice post thanks for finding and sharing seven of nine.
We are getting our 1st snow fall this morning. It is pretty.

[Reziac]

Originally Posted by seven of nine

I think growing up as a kid in the south I have a healthy respect for lighting. We had 12 good Holsteins thrown 20-30 feet and killed because they stood under a big oak. Only time I ever saw my Pop cry. I have had to educate the hubs since he grew up on the coast with not much more than drizzle.

Owwww... that's a sad way to lose a chunk of your herd. A real object lesson about what not to do in a storm, tho!

We hardly ever get big lightning here, or real plains type thunderstorms, and I kinda miss it (my tenant thinks I'm crazy cuz I'll sit out on the porch and watch 'em -- they usually go around my place, not over it). -- Except when it fries something!

Where I lived outside of Belgrade, the radio tower was right across the way... I never once saw it get hit during a storm. Where did the lightning hit?? A little depression in the ground (about 2 feet deep and 15-20 feet across) maybe 200 feet behind my trailer. WHAM WHAM WHAM over and over and over!! I felt no urge whatever to learn what was so electrically-attractive in the middle of that otherwise-vacant field!!

Originally Posted by seven of nine

BTW, I took the H1N1 vaccine yesterday and lo and behold I stand alive today

[goes off to check] Crap, our local Costco cancelled their flu shots program. Dunno where else offhand to get 'em, will have to hunt around. Never caught the flu any year I've gotten stabbed!!

[Reziac]

Here's a good article on various lubricants' rust protection abilities -- real test using salt water.
http://www.thegunzone.com/rust.html
I'm thinkin' this would be useful for lots of equipment that's exposed to the weather!

[NancyB2009]

Originally Posted by Reziac

Howdy!! I've got a pack of Labs myself Was hatched in ND and grow'd up in MT, but been in SoCal for a long time.. workin' on moving back to MT, I should live so long... NJ used to be dog-and-hunter-friendly country, but boy has that changed in the past few years! What bloodlines do you have?

Just got back from a weekend at the UKC dog show, finished two new Champions (I'm now up to 43 CHs, which I believe is a record for any breed in the UKC Gundog group) -- far's I know I'm the last breeder in the U.S. still doing conformation shows with fieldbred Labradors (and I just applied to become a judge). My foundation female came from Eddie Barbeau in Helena MT, 13 generations ago. I used to run fieldtrials but don't have the energy for that anymore. Still sell quite a few to hunters tho!

Hello, we have 6 AKC American Labs, we train them in the field. [Mod cut]

[NancyB2009]

Sorry I have not been on, we have been having computer problems. My husband bought a new laptop and messed up the wireless connection ( still not fixed)

[rickers]

Originally Posted by NancyB2009

Sorry I have not been on, we have been having computer problems. My husband bought a new laptop and messed up the wireless connection ( still not fixed)

We just got our laptop up and running again. I had a burst of energy and have been getting a lot of projects finished, kind of like a squirrel getting squared away for winter. Fall is one of my four favorite seasons !
I forget how much of the mountains are covered with Hackmatack until this time of year when the needles turn yellow and drop for the winter.


This forest picture shows the fall color of the Western Larch. Aka Larix Occidentalis, Tamarack and Hackmatack.