Stijn!!

[Porsche-poor]

Oh man I need a new job.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by Porsche-poor

"Screwing with the rain barrel" You will probably be drug in to the HR department now.

Yup, bad combo for HR to hear.

I don't have to mow yet. Will have to dethatch in a week or two though and then start mowing. Assuming it gets above freezing all day by then.

[Noah930]

I finished up my tax return tonight. Sent it in via TurboTax. Immediately I got an email asking if I had made two accounts this year. Turns out there was a return filed (and rejected by TurboTax) using my info about two weeks ago! It must be related to the fraudulent small business Covid loan filed on my behalf back in November.

So I signed up for a Social Security PIN

[Porsche-poor]

Morning all. off to go play nice with the CAD files.

[GH85Carrera]

My CPA filed my taxes yesterday. I may get back to doing them myself next year. He is pretty good at digging up deductions. He is expensive however. He usually cost me as much as the tax reductions. So he get the money and not the IRS.

[GH85Carrera]

Phew, busy day under the boss's wife's direction. We "got" to go make a early morning run to Sam's for the fruit and stuff. I had not even finished my coffee this morning and she was ready to put the humidifier away in the attic. So the net and pulley system was used to get it up there. Then covered in a trash bag. I hope the summer heat does not hurt it. I was just following orders, so she can't really blame me if it does. It should be fine.

Then she wanted well water for the fresh water tropical fish tank. So three 5 gallon plastic totes full of water means we will be cleaning the fish tank this weekend. Always a pain in the butt.

I guess I can start do so some book work for the company and call it work.

[Noah930]

I do a water change every weekend for our two small tanks. I just siphon out about 2 gal from each, and fill back up with tap water.

[GH85Carrera]

Her tank has 15 or so tropical fish. I think it is 50 gallons. Besides pulling the main pump and cleaning out all the crap (literally) and cleaning the filters it takes a while for that step. Then scrape the glass tank walls of any alga that the Plecostomus did not get, then we us a waterbed hookup to hook a vacuum hose to the sink in my garage bathroom, and suck out 15 gallons as she vacuums up the crap on the gravel on the bottom of the tank. Then finally she adds in the 15 gallons of well water. Hook up the pump and fight the inevitable air lock until it is pumping again. And of course she has a second aerator pump that has to be taken apart and cleaned, and the tank heater, and the worst gunk is the glass lids that get splashed all the time, so they have a heavy layer of alga that has to be cleaned.

It takes two hours typically. It is her hobby, so she does most of the cleaning of the pump, but I have to disconnect it, and carry it to the kitchen sink, and disassemble it, and then reassemble it when it is cleaned. It is a pretty tank, but a lot of work. She has had tropical fish for 40 years now. All fresh water African fish.

[Noah930]

Yeah, I guess that's the benefit of having small tanks. The maintenance is pretty quick.

[GH85Carrera]

We got another government contract with a city this time. Lots of paperwork to fill out. The sent on PDF for me to print out, and fill out and sign, and then scan and email or fax back.

So very analog. The signature box was some special PDF feature that would not work like a normal PDF signature. They evidently really want me to be analog. Not gonna do it. So I open up Photoshop and it is happy to edit a PDF. I added my same signature I scanned in long ago. Flatten the layers, and save as PDF. Done. I sent it and our W9 back and all looks great.

[GH85Carrera]

Some of our best customers are drone companies. They have a good business flying projects that are a few dozen acres and even up a 1/4 section, (160 acres) if they stretch it. To do a few square miles with most drones is just an near impossible task. Or if it is close to a major commercial airport, they have a tough time getting permission. No problem for us at all to do many square miles. We love those projects.

We just did a project for a customer that tried to do it themselves with a drone, and it took them several days to get it all flown. It did not look good with multiple sun angles, over several days. So we knocked it out for them. The challenge of expense was that the project was in eastern Colorado in the middle of nowhere. It was a long day of flying, to and from the site, but get up early, get there, fly it, land for fuel, fly home, fill up again and put the airplane back in the hangar. It makes for a long day for our pilot.

We flew the project in 45 minutes once we were there. Just lots of travel time. We still made it so they made money if they ignore the time and effort of tying to do it themselves.

[Porsche-poor]

Morning all. Well the roof gets replaced later this month. Should be fun playing driveway tetris.

[GH85Carrera]

New roof time sucks. Especially staying home through endless hammering. And roofs are crazy expensive. Our last roof was almost what I paid for my 911. Fortunately for us, it was paid for by insurance. We put on a class 4 hail resistant roof and after the last big hail storm, everyone in our neighborhood had to get a new roof, except us.

[Porsche-poor]

Lucky for us we don't get hail like you do. Yes very expensive. This is the original roof from 1998 so its time.

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, hail and wind damage is just calculated into the cost of the insurance. We don;t have to worry at all about tsunamis or volcanoes however!

We had an earthquake a few days ago. It was a 3.3 magnitude. It sounds like the dumpster driver setting down the dumpster too hard, just a loud boom, and the the concrete floor bumps up a little in a wave from the window to the closet door, like flapping a sheet when making the bed to get the sheet to move.

[Porsche-poor]

Yean them pesky volcanoes. I can see one right out my back window. As far as tsunamis go as long as I am home aka server hundred feet above the sound I'm good.

[Noah930]

OK, I just took a 997 around the block, and I am hooked. The shifter is worlds better than the mushboxes in aircooled 911s.

[GH85Carrera]

Noah, zero doubt the newer 911s are quantum leaps in better everything, except weight. Go test drive a new 992. It feels very much like an old G body car as far as steering and handling, but it has so much more performance in every measure it is mind bending. But they are HUGE, and insane expensive. Yea, my old 915 gearbox is never going to be a fast shift, but it the quintessential analog car that takes driver skill to drive rapidly. Any monkey can drive a new car faster.

And there is nothing prettier than a G body 911. I will admit a very slight prejudice however, but I am right. G body 911s rule!

Today I am going to do a brake fluid flush and replacement and transmission oil change to get it ready for a 4,000+ mile summer trip to the Poconos.

[Noah930]

That's one thing aircooled 911s have going for them: their technology matches my mechanical aptitude and toolset.

[GH85Carrera]

Yep, I whipped out the trusty 17mm Allen wrench I bought back in about 1976 for my 914 transmission oil change. Since a super good looking and modest but wonderful mechanic changed the transmission oil last time it was easy, and once again, I had the hand operated oil pump in a cabinet wrapped in a plastic bag so it was all ready to make getting the oil in the transmission simple. I used the vacuum brake bleeder I bought likely 15 or more years ago, and some wrenches, funels and various other tools to change the brake fluid. Not one computer was used, and no internet downloads needed.

All went as expected, the wheels lug nuts are all torqued to spec, and a quick test drive proved all was well. There is a area not far from me that I usually end up driving through. There was one very bucolic scene. A lovely 20 acres farm with a barn that is enormous, and a 10 acre pasture in front with 8 horses grazing. I should have taken a picture. Then I drive past one house that is a castle, with the keeps and turrets. Then I go past the insane big house. It honestly looks like a country club at a high end golf course. It is on their own 1/4 section of land. I bet some fence salesman got a big bonus for the mile of very fancy wrought iron fencing around the place.