Sometimes the tree rats are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We always had English Bulldogs when I was growing up. They are great dogs, but expensive and prone to all sorts of health issues.

Anyway, when we lived in San Marcos, TX we had a big back yard, with several trees. There were two trees in one area about 30 feet apart. A squirrel loved to torment our bulldog, Chopper. He was a smart dog, and one nice day was just hanging out in the back yard right in-between the two trees. The one squirrel would come down the tree, and chatter at Chopper, then run up the tree. Chopper just ignored it and slept. The squirrel would get closer and closer to Chopper trying to goad him into a chase. Finally the squirrel started running down one tree, across the ground and up the other tree. He had done that a few times and ol Chopper just waited. Finally the squirrel had gotten too close and with one jump, he grabbed the squirrel, shook and spit it out. One dead squirrel. Darwin wins again.

One of the most horrifying sounds I've ever heard was when I let camber out and she took off chasing a couple of squirrels around the corner of the house. As Camber disappear around the corner heard this low scary harroof sound. immediately after here comes Camber walking back around the corner carrying a dead squirrel.

Pepper and Camber at some point has brount a squirrel, rabbit, bird, and sizeable snake to the back door. Camber has brought a opossum plsying dead, and the odor of skunk twice. Pepper has only brought a chunk of snake so far, but she has that deal going with the great horned owl.

No cats or coons, but havent ever seen any in the yard either.--------------------------------------------------

Wow, the FedEx web site must be designed by the same folks that did the State of Oklahoma Tax web sites. Don't make things easy for sure.

I needed to update the credit card we use for shipping FedEx packages. We have a FedEx account, and we only ship a couple dozen things per year at most. Anyway I figure, this is easy, go to my account and find the credit card and make the changes. Yea, right.

I logged in and they have lots of options to ship, track, or get rates but nothing about my account itself. It took me 5 minutes of poking around to even get close, and then I had to use the help function twice. Finally got the new expiration date in.

Tomorrow I am supposed to receive the new timing equipment for the autocross. It is an expensive pair of packages and requires a signature. OK, so "by end of day" it will arrive. I guess they want me to hang out all day. So I figure the tracking info has to be better than sometime in a 10 hour period. Once again, log in and noodle around. Finally I find the area to have them send me text alerts on the expected arrival. Maybe I will have some better idea, morning, afternoon and maybe within a few hours of when it will arrive. I will find out tomorrow.

New timing equipment? is it all wireless?
Easy to setup on a laptop?
track cars with RFD?
Big display have more than one line?
Print time tickets?
Just kinda curious why needed new.

Usually FedEx hits here within a couple of hours around 3pm here. The tracking usually says "out for delivery" after about 6:30 am on the day it arrives.

Our lab sounds like a really big dog with a low voice when she wants to warn someone off. Our Beagle sounds like a beagle.

It wasn't a bark at all, more of a roar. That's why it sounded so scary.

Well F. Pushing my trash bin to the streat noticed water running down the driveway. looks like it is coming from the street side of the sidewalk between the meter and my house.

Don't hear any water running in the house. The waterline comes up under the kitchen sink with a shutoff for the whole house there. There is also a shutoff at the meter next to the street. The kitchen sink is on an outside wall and it is a straight shot from there to the meter going under a porch, then flowerbed then sidewalk.

Told a local plumber where it was coming from and they said it sounded like it was leaking from under my slab. Ouch!
Will be here within an hour.

There is not much ice, but the water has run down the street.

Yea, those really cold nights will be keeping a lot of plumbers busy. Most houses with a plumbing on an outside wall are vulnerable if the cabinets are not opened. My business partner's house has a kitchen on a outside wall. In this weather he has to put a little conventional light bulb under the sink to keep the area warm enough, and let water drip in one bathroom.

Our house has no plumbing fixtures on an outside wall for more than a few inches. And they are all fixtures in the open and the real plumbing is against an inside wall. We have had several zero or below zero days and no issues at all. The house plumbing design is great for that. The HIVAC guy must have been an apprentice or a beginner, but that is a different story.

The old wireless system was 12 years old, and starting to have problems. We sent one transmitter in to have it fixed over the winter. The company that made it basically pulled an "Apple or Microsoft" move and said the old equipment will no longer be supported as of Jan. 2019. So we could hope it keeps working, or trade it in on an all "new and improved, and easier to use" system. They gave us a trade in value on the old equipment, and the new stuff is all rechargeable with a USB cable.

The old system was a pain to get aligned. It did not have a simple system like a green light on the emitter to let you know it was seeing the transmitter. We had to make a best guess, and then have someone at each end of the course trip the light and a third person let them know if the timer tripped and stopped. Three people to do a simple task is stupid, but we did it because there was not much option.

Hopefully the new system is as advertised. It is dang expensive and should make things better. It can be integrated to a laptop, but that takes a separate and additional cost software package and of course a laptop. If I was running the autocross, it would happen. The autocross chairman does not want to mess with a laptop, and prefers analog. I just write the checks to pay the bills.

I have been the autocross chairman in the past. Back in the olden days when I did it we had a system of wired connectors to a rubber hose like they used to have at gas stations to tell them they had a customer. We had to run over the hose so the start and finish had to be the same spot. We moved up to the fancy system Richard used back in 1996 for Porsche Parade when we hosted the event. It had two 100 foot rolls of wire and separate start and finish spots.

Morning all. ITs balmy 25* out. Richard I hope it turns out to not be a big deal.

Yep, I was Autocross chair that took over the wired system and got the wireless. New ones didn;t look that much different from Race America.

Estimate is $2400 to stop the water. Now waiting for city to come shut off water cause meter hole is full of mud/water with shut off tood deep in the mud. City will sump and dig the meter our free. They are replacing the pipe up to my shut off inside under the sink.

Back at my old bachelor pad house I wanted to do some plumbing work and needed to shut off the water at the meter to replace a faucet. I am no muscle monster, but I don't think I am a weakling. I tried with all the leverage I could muster to shut off the water meter. It did not budge. So I called the city, and they said the meter is working just fine, and they don't want the home owner to turn off meters to do plumbing work, a real plumber can turn it off. So I called a buddy that was a former plumber. He advised that if somehow in unusual circumstances the glass face of the meter were broken the city could not read the usage so they would replace it. There was a very rare and unusual very localized earthquake or something and the glass face was damaged. Sure enough the city came out and replaced the old meter that had likely been in there since 1948 with a new shiny meter that was easy to turn off. It was a very convenient earthquake with no other damage.

Richard, if your meter box is all plugged with mud, they have been estimating your usage and not reading it. You may get a whopper of a water bill, or a little bitty one once they read the real numbers. They should have cleaned it out long ago.

Hers is like the super bark from the movie "Bolt".

So, in the kitchen is this Tupperware container. I ask about it and it is the 9 year old's bug out rations box. Has jerky/jerky snuff/crackers and other long term shelf stable foods in it. Not sure where he is planning to go, but he won't be hungery.

never know dinner might be late.

One of my friends has a wife that insists on Irish Wolfhounds as pets for in the house. It is like having Shetland ponies in the house. Never ever take your shoes off over there, or wear sandals. If one of the dogs step on your foot it flat hurts. I am 6 foot tall. The dogs can walk up to me with all four feet on the floor and sniff my face. They can lick the drain of the kitchen sink with all feet on the floor.

They use a maid service. They explained to the company that they have very large huge dogs that weigh 200+ pounds. One lady showed up, heard the deep resonate woof woof, looked in the window, saw the two dogs, and walked away.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind when you hear those dogs bark, they are massive dogs.

Finally got the water shut off. Now no water. Supposed to be first job in the morning for plumbers.

Now, as long as I don't have an IBS event I should be okay. only got 2 10 gal buckets in tub for operating my 1.6 gal waste removal chair.

Have fun playing wooden tent Richard. Good luck in the morning.

Is the meter cleaned off enough you could turn on the water again if necessary? Turn it on, and fill up the bathtub, and toilets.