March '26 Chat -- Madness is the Different Drummer

[malibu795]

Back in SC for the weekend... Making raised garden troughs for her.. got 2-3*6 and 1-2*8 troughs..and drip irrigation system..With starter dirt

Supposed to hit 80 this afternoon

 

[Pure Diesel]

Looks like a long weekend for you Adam. You're complaining about 80 we've been high 90's and one day hit a 100. It's the middle of March and I'm not ready for these Summer temps.

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[malibu795]

Looks like a long weekend for you Adam. You're complaining about 80 we've been high 90's and one day hit a 100. It's the middle of March and I'm not ready for these Summer temps.

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We peaked our around 89-90 today which ~20° hotter then avg for the area

Got the 3 main units made and coconut coir

Organic Expanding Seed Starting Soil (8 QT)

Overview Back to the Roots 100% Coconut Coir Premium Expanding Soil block expands into 8 quarts of rich, fluffy, and nutrient-rich soil when you add water. Perfect for indoor and outdoor use, it enhances water retention and aeration, promoting healthy root growth and robust plant development...

backtotheroots.com

based watered and broken up, which we spent most the afternoon letting the water sprinkler soak the
Shes got 2 different dirts types to go in on top. With nice potting soil on the top layer

Should make for a nice little garden once done.. substantially better then the sand/clay that they built the house on

 

[Dozerboy]

Well insurance has denied to extend our sons stay at the hospital any further. We have an appeal in, but the hospital doesn't sound confident. At this point he is due to be released on Friday. If the appeal is denied we will file to have a 3rd party review the claim, but that's going to take a lot of time.
Other then gain some weight he not much better. We have been getting some training to help him at the hospital. My wife is also taking a course on mental health to be Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). She just won't the the test to get certified. She is looking as other out patient programs. Not sure how that's gonna go since before he went into the hospital we couldn't even put him in a vehicle unless both of us where there.
We went to see him and watched him try and beat the hell out of himself during dinner for no apparent reason... no my smiling again after some more attempts to try different medications. No idea how insurance could get the idea he is ready to go home.

 

[Pure Diesel]

Dozer, I don't know how you and your wife are able to try and deal with this. I give you all the credit as parents and to deal with this. I know I probably couldn't have the patience to be the parents you guys are.
My son had a girl in grade school that was autistic and he would tell me about her. I only wish the most for you and your wife and dealing with this.

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[LB7StillAlive]

Dozer, I'll second Pure Diesel's credit he gave you. I have an adopted little brother who has severe autism, he's only 9yrs old at the moment (adopted by my parents because one of my oldest cousins had him taken away by the state of California due to drugs and other delinquent behavior). He's generally a good kid, but he is a brute and I can only imagine when he's full grown how hard it would be to keep control of a situation. Sorry to hear about your situation and I hope the appeal provides some relief.

Don't get us started on insurance...especially of the health variety.

 

[malibu795]

Well got everything but the drip irrigation done, not really needed but helps a lot..
Mom not has some total 65-70sqft worth of planting area

 

[036.6turbo]

Well got everything but the drip irrigation done, not really needed but helps a lot..
Mom not has some total 65-70sqft worth of planting area

That's pretty cool!

 

[Dozerboy]

Dozer, I don't know how you and your wife are able to try and deal with this. I give you all the credit as parents and to deal with this. I know I probably couldn't have the patience to be the parents you guys are.
My son had a girl in grade school that was autistic and he would tell me about her. I only wish the most for you and your wife and dealing with this.

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Thank you for the kind words. The thoughts and prayers of people like you and around us keep us going. Because trust me I wasn't built this way. I had to change my ways and it never would have happened without my wifes help. She had a big enough heart and enough determination to see this through for both of us.

I was brought up like so many of us getting screamed at for the way I was holding the flash light. I was blunt and didnt have empathy for anything. The only thing I had going for me is I don't give up easy. 15 years ago I had a huge reputation for being a hot head and asshole.

 

[Dozerboy]

Well got everything but the drip irrigation done, not really needed but helps a lot..
Mom not has some total 65-70sqft worth of planting area

God what I wouldn't give for growing up and having raised beds like that. I know we had way too big of garden to be doing that but I spent so much time on my hands and knees. I don't know how my Grandma did it.

 

[2004LB7]

Well got everything but the drip irrigation done, not really needed but helps a lot..
Mom not has some total 65-70sqft worth of planting area

I put in several hundred feet of drip irrigation for my Mom years ago. Put it on a timer and everything. She still goes out with a hose and manually waters the plants. She keeps the drip irrigation valve off and uses the garden hose. I think it givers her something to do. Makes her feel like she is taking care of the plants and garden and gives her a sense of purpose.

Not sure why I even thought it was a good idea to install it

 

[malibu795]

God what I wouldn't give for growing up and having raised beds like that. I know we had way too big of garden to be doing that but I spent so much time on my hands and knees. I don't know how my Grandma did it.

Oh yeah, same, probably 75% of our fresh food came from the garden when I was a kid 80-90s and nothing was raised bed style granted we had a lot of nice rich black dirt in Indiana/Ohio.. . Mom has a lot of sandy clay, which would take A LOT of work to get good for quality food.
I remember our garden pushing 1000sqft for a family of 7 and being the oldest.. pulled a lot of weeds and did 90% of the labor... Garden went to shit once I had my foot out the door.

I put in several hundred feet of drip irrigation for my Mom years ago. Put it on a timer and everything. She still goes out with a hose and manually waters the plants. She keeps the drip irrigation valve off and uses the garden hose. I think it givers her something to do. Makes her feel like she is taking care of the plants and garden and gives her a sense of purpose.

Not sure why I even thought it was a good idea to install it

Probably something to do .would the best gues of that.

Additional to those 3 raised gardens she's got 3-2' circle pots that are 12" tall and 5 boxes about 12*24-30" long

 

[TheBac]

Yesterday's wandering:


Mom used to carry a county atlas in her van, and always liked taking the backwoods roads home. Made the drive more interesting is what she always said.
I think I inherited that gene from her.
Yesterday, was up in Greenville, helping a friend pick up his wheels from the same place I had the Buick's done, and we decided to take a different way home.
I have wanted to see this bridge, as it had been burnt down by arsonists about 13 years ago, then rebuilt by local carpenters after a huge fundraising effort. Since it was roughly on the way home, off we went.....
My buddy had delivered this area for FedEx back about 8 years ago. Funny, he was reminiscing about delivering to customers as we were driving, same as I do when Im up in my old area. Told me about having to deal with this bridge being out, the long "out and back" drives bc everything was a dead end while it was being rebuilt.....but especially the home whose driveway can be seen just at the end of the guardrail in the pic. The road from that driveway goes up in a steep 3/4 mile climb in a winding "S" from the bridge. It was not a road to go down in the wintertime in a 2wd delivery truck.

 

[malibu795]

Well finalized the yearly lawfully illegal extortion today..
Also got the "you're going to be an uncle.... Again" from my sister..that'll be her #7

 

[Reen]

Thanks Tom. I'm glad I walked away with no life threatening injuries. I'm definitely still feeling the soreness, but it seems to be improving some.

James, I picked up a project a few weeks ago, and I'm kind of in the same boat as you with the Mustang. Granted mine doesn't have any sentimental history to influence my decisions, but I have always loved 55 Chevy cars. I found a pretty decent one that was a decent price, and I picked it up from an old guy that had too many projects already (and interestingly enough his wife wanted to use the cash he got from the car to buy a 68 Mustang). When I was first looking, I thought I wanted a car with a big block or wanted to swap a big block into whatever I ended up buying, but after doing some reading it seems like to make them fit you have to either cut/bash the firewall or move the motor forward for clearance. I'm not super excited about either option, and now I'm leaning towards a larger displacement small block. I'm leaning towards a 427 (4.125" bore and 4" stroke) and keeping it vintage appearing but adding modern accessories like alternator, a/c, and power steering. I might do one of the Holley sniper throttle body fuel injection systems on it, but I'll probably initially stick with the 4 barrel Holley carb that is on it now. I have people telling me to LS swap it, but that's not what I want. It currently has a 250 hp 327 from a mid 60s Corvette (that's the story the guy I bought it from got which seems to add up to what I'm seeing on the car) with a wide ratio Muncie 4 speed. I want to pair the new engine with a Tremec TKX 5 speed for better engine RPM while cruising. I don't think I'll need the added size/weight of a 6 speed or the extra overdrive. The .68:1 5th gear should be good enough for what I'm doing. The biggest dilemma I'm facing is what to do with the rear axle. I don't think the stock rear axle will hold up to the power I plan to put through it, and most of the aftermarket options are Ford 9" axles. I know they are plenty strong and relatively easy to work on, but I'm having a hard time putting Ford parts in my GM car. I'm just hoping I don't regret swapping out the current drivetrain and not going with a modern engine with the associated modern fuel injection.

@JoshH My Dad has a pretty hot small block with very little run time on it built for bracket racing. He was going to put it in that red El Camino but ended up selling the car years ago. IIRC that motor makes about 650 at the crank. its been sitting around taking up space the last few years, I'm sure he'd sell it to you if you were interested in making the trip to Idaho...

 

[68ss]

Last night was my son’s prom. Here he is with his date! How fast time flies.