Making it through another year '21-'23

[Nebraska]

I  had wondered about your mill too. Since you have access to a resource like that. I haven't touched my mill for six weeks, too much winter right now...

I didn't tell anyone at the office about the little project.

 

Dr A, was pretty fired up.  I kind of caught her enthusiasm when I quick took the picture as I let them un pack the box. I had snagged the " Official Distributor " T shirt already. It's going to go up to the cabin where I have a handful of special t-shirts, unless I travel to a forum event  Pig Roast/pot luck etc.

I know the boxes will sell. 

[Walnut Beast]

You don't want to mill today 😂😂

[Nebraska]

Nope

[Old Greenhorn]

Well the weather doesn't look very appealing in NE today, for sure. Pat, I had shipped that box to you, so technically and legally, everything in the box is yours to use as you see fit. I never stopped to think somebody else would be opening it up. You folks will figure it out.

 Austin, I don't know if I would feel right selling a shirt to a friend. I am not exactly Nike or Coke and people wouldn't want to buy 'yet another t-shirt' just to wear my logo around. Although I am kind of proud of that logo which I had a pro artist do the work based on my layout and that tooth pattern on the saw was specifically selected and detailed. I insisted on her initials being in there but they don't always make it through the reproduction stage. Anyway, selling them never occurred to me, I just felt nobody would be interested. It was just advertising.

 As for the mill, I really had no thought of selling it up until recently, in spite of Bill's prodding for a long time. I'll be honest, I think you can do much better and much closer to home. As I am selling it to generate some capitol I would like to drag out the best price I can and I wouldn't feel right doing that to a friend. The trip to pick it up would cost you around a grand by itself, I think. From your side of the coin I can see little reason it would make good sense for you.

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In other news, the shop temp was 67° when I got up this morning. Of course it hit 62° OUTSIDE at 3am, so there is that, but I will take it. Really hard to draw a bead on this stove with the temps going completely nuts outside.

 I have to go prep for a client pickup this morning. More news as it develops.

[doc henderson]

Tom, I did not mean to suggest I needed a shirt.  they are cool and I will wear it with pride, if and when it is the right time for you to have more made.  It is a neat logo.  talk about global warming, I think your new stove is not only warming the shop, but the micro climate outside as well.  one heck of a stove!  

[aigheadish]

On your next shirt run just let me know the cost, that way you aren't selling me one, and you aren't out any money. I wouldn't even think of it as advertising as much as remind me of the coupla days I spent in NY with a stranger-friend.

[Old Greenhorn]

....... as much as remind me of the coupla days I spent in NY with a stranger-friend.

Well when it comes to friends, I doubt you will find any that are stranger than me.  ;D 
 SO OK, good point, we'll figure something out when I order some more.
 On the mill front, the fella referred to me kind of decided he wasn't quite there yet, so he didn't want to waste my time with a visit. It will be another big step if I list it someplace. I'll have to ponder it some more.
 Doc, that stove is not quite the miracle you would make it out to be BUT it sure has improved things for me. It's nice when I make a big buck (for me) decision and it works out. I am glad I stuck to my plan and got a new stove that I could look at and kick the tires on before I bought it. I was very close to just buying a used but larger stove and that would have been a mistake. If we had 'normal temps' of around 18 last night, the shop would have probably been about 52-55 this morning, which is fine, but the main thing is getting 12 hour burns out of it. That is something I could never hope to get with my prior stove.
 A client came today and needed 65 logs to finish his order but wound up taking 85. So I just have to cut more for the next order to make it up. I have about 150 logs to go. Rain coming tomorrow from the SW, so I don't think I'll be cutting. I do have some errands and will probably bang around in the shop figuring out what's next. I should really get on that bar. I should be getting the deposit money to cover the material costs shortly and can order the legs from RiteLeg. These will be somewhat custom legs with modifications. But I gotta get the logs out first.
 I've been tired today and I think cutting and loading for 5 days straight took a bit out of me. Tomorrow's rain should give me a bit more rest. But that's another day..

[Old Greenhorn]

Truly I am bushed tonight, but I earned it. ;D Bill was available for a little time today so I went down and we did some two-man trees that have been long marked to come down. This was the big one and pretty much was the job for the day.


 

It the center tree with the perfect "Y" fork. The weight and the lean are toward the camera in this shot. You will note that falling it toward the camera would involve lots of things we would not like hit, like that hot tub, even though it is not in use. Also the shop is right behind the camera. That spot you see with a few logs left and sawdust is what we are calling the landing for today.
 SO as we approach the tree, we can see there are other hazards, oh and the stump is on ground 5' lower than the landing.





A little closer and maybe you can detect the drop-off. Also, just out of frame to the left is a full 40' trailer with equipment we would prefer not to crush. We also did not want to hit the white truck carcass either, there lots of good parts there yet. ;D



 

 The direction of fall had to be away into the woods. If you can see the cleaned off stump from a few days ago, just about in the center of the above photo, that it what we want to lay the tree on. So it was agreed, we needed to use a power wedge. And yonder it comes, clack clack clackin' up the road. ;D



 


So from up on the landing level Bill laid the bucket up high and I cut down low, but there was both the lean and the center of gravity on the wrong side of the tree which was about 70' tall. Thickish hinge and when I completed that  back cut and it popped it still took a lot to get it over center and it seemed like a long time going over. BUT, over it went, right on target, which we didn't doubt anyway.

 We have come up with a technique which allows us to use conventional machines to harvest mushroom logs with very little damage. SO on this tree, for instance, we dropped it and right where it lay I trimmed all the brush off of it until we cut it back to 3" diameter. smaller than 3" goes on the ground, larger then 3" stays on the stem. 
 This is the tree prepped just before the first pull.  


 

If you follow the stem back, you can see the excavator is already chokered to the log. I am just looking around for the operator. ;D

Bill then grabs the butt and lifts it up onto the landing and drags it backward as far as he can until he runs out of room or the branches get hung up. We then buck off the best saw logs and kick them to the side, then grab it with another choker at a crotch, lift and pull up more onto the landing and at this point we are getting into my size wood. If we have to, we cut it up more to fit it up on the landing with all the branches now spreading out getting smaller. I mark and cut my logs as Bill takes the saw logs to a staging pile to be grabbed by the forwarder on its next trip through. I back the truck up and direct load logs at the landing, then pull it out of the way. In between all these other things I go back down to where I cut all the branches off and dice them up so they lay flat on the ground and rot faster. Leaving the 3" wood on the top acts like skids and that some of the heat of dragging. I only cut logs down to 4" and the rest is firewood. But with the method we loose very little wood due to scabbing and scaring the bark. I put what I think is near 30 logs in the truck which is over full and stacked 18 more or so to pick up tomorrow. I also have one RO still out in the woods we knocked down with this tree which should give me 5-6 logs but I'll take the UTV back there during the week sometime to fetch that out. Too far to carry for me when there is the right machine available. ;D  I am getting spoiled.
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Last night the temps went 'normal' again, so the low was 16-18 here and the shop was 57 this morning after a 12+ hour burn, so yeah, I am pretty sure I have it figured out now.  I only had to throw wood in this morning to get the temp up to 64 in less than 30 minutes. Could not be happier.

 I'll unload in the morning, then go get the rest and unload those, but that's for another day.

[Resonator]

Thick hinge is a good idea with a machine pushing it, less likely to snap and push right off the stump. Like the excavator (guessing older Komatsu with that zig-zag boom). 

[Old Greenhorn]

You know Bill has soo many pieces of equipment I can't keep them straight. You may be right, but I'll try to check tomorrow. It does have the boom mounted next to the operator rather than up front and that makes it mighty handy.

[Nebraska]

You have one of the best neighbors you could ever hope for there...

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah I guess I do.
 It makes me glad I didn't strangle him when I wanted to ;D. Bill moved in with his dad across the road when he was about 15 and bought his first dump truck when he was 16. After school he would take the truck and do a job somewhere, then after dark he would be working on that truck until about midnight fixing what broke. The next day he would do it all over again. Soon he had a trailer he fixed up, then a skid steer, then a mini-ex, a skidder, and it kept growing. But he would be out banging on equipment until the wee hours while I and others were trying to get to sleep because we left for work by 6:30am. I could have killed that kid. He was a bit wild, ran demo derbies on his dad's two acre place running cars until they blew up late on Saturday nights. I recall a keg party or three where the cops were there for a while sorting things out and trying to find kids hidden in the woods. But he was also like a big brother to my daughter all through school and if she ever needed help or anything, he was there for her and still is.
 Then he bought 12 acres down the end of our road about 2 miles. It had an old mobile home on it. He lived in that for 6 years or so as he built his log cabin. 2 years ago he bought an adjacent 12 acres, then last year he bought the 60 across the road. Some time else he picked up a rental property or two and I think his partner owns a trailer park in the next town also.. The early years on those property there was a lot of shooting, loud trucks screaming through the woods in the middle of the night, and oh, the parties and huge bon fires, often topped off with whatever vehicle reached it's end of life on that day. I kind of avoided the place except for his big annual party when the wife and I would go down during the (safe/calm) daylight hours and leave around sunset. ;D After that we would be home watching to see when the FD or SP would be headed on by down to his place. ;D
 One day he met 'the gal' and then they had a little girl. Things changed quick. There are still exciting things happening on a regular basis but with more adult supervision and kid friendly and a lot less beer. All his young friends are married now and/or have kids. SO it's pool parties and slow trail rides with the kids, but still huge bonfires. Some habits are hard to break. ;D
 At his annual parties now I still see the county Sherriff, some Troopers, a few deputies, a judge or two, lawyers, etc, but they come as guests and sit around drinking beer and eating steaks with the rest of us and having a good time. They sure know where his place is, and have met most of the other local guests 'professionally'. :D A lot of his clients come and many of them are city folk or new transplants that work in fancy jobs. One lady comes every year in heels a nice dress and very fancy hat, and still finds it tough to walk on our ground between the rocks, dirt, mud, and mulch fill but she won't give up those shoes no matter how much she gets razzed. Last year she tried to taunt Bill and razz him like he does her. He threatened to throw her in the pool. She made the mistake of challenging him to try it, so he did. Hat, shoes, and all. ;D :D :D Then he went in the house and got her some 'decent' clothes to wear. She laughed it off as did everyone else. Such is life with Bill and now she knows what the rest of us always knew. Never, ever, call his bluff. :D

 Spike will confirm for me because he knows him too, you don't meet many guys like Bill in today's world. He's hard to describe and can be even harder to understand, but he has a heart of gold, no doubt. I guess I really do love the guy.

[newoodguy78]

Old Bill sounds like quite the character. I've run into a few that have similar personalities.
While on occasion they've gotten me into positions I really didn't care to be in, when the chips are down and the wheels are coming off they're there without asking. A trait that's tough to come by and personally I admire.

[Peter Drouin]

Bill just has some giddy up, is all.

[Old Greenhorn]

Peter, that's true but there's more to Bill than just giddy-up. Newoodguy pretty much hit it on the head. There are very few I have met in my entire life like him, but there were perhaps two others. One I may have mentioned in passing here as a chainsaw carver who I've known since he was about 14, then lost touch with for 3 decades and recently reacquainted with in the past 2 years or so. The other is Bargemonkey. The guy barely knows me but jumped in to help me several times and there is very little I can do in return. Generous to a fault. Neither of these guys do I know nearly as well as Bill, of course. I never mentioned but it might be of interest to some, but Bill isn't 40 yet and when you look at the pile of equipment, real estate, and other assets it's hard to believe he never had any help at all. His family had enough money to live. Bill earned every penny of that and the funny thing is, if you ever watch him bill out a client's job it sure seems like he is cutting everyone a big break. A lot of his clients have a hard time tracking him down to pay him. I have even run into some who ask me if I would take their money and give it to Bill because he hasn't had time to stop by and pick up the check or the cash. He did a full septic system for us 20 odd years ago and it took me over a month just to get the final price after the job was done and it was a lot less than we budgeted for, but he had to do a lot more work than we and he expected, drilling out 10' deep in shale to fit the tank in. 2 excavators and a skid steer for a week just for one little household system. So yeah, he's a good guy, for sure.
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 SO enough on the skinny short kid down the road, let me catch y'all up. It's been a busy week and I have already forgot what I did in the first part of the week. I know I cut logs Monday and I think Tuesday to and wound up about 60 logs short of finishing the current order.  Tuesday evening I gave Bill a lift to town to pick up the family (electric) car getting new batteries (under warranty) from the dealer. During the drive he invited me to come take a look at the storm cleanup job they were working the next day, he thought I might get some logs from it but was concerned about what to tell the landowner if he saw me filling my truck. We worked out a plan. I got there at about 8 am and his guys were already into it well, Bill got there around 9 or so. I cut some logs and helped with other chores as I was working. Bill got on the grapple and pulled me up some trees, the truck filled up pretty quick and I helped with the regular work here and there. Finally the truck was overloaded by about 11:30 and I had only a vague idea how many logs I had. SO I ran it home and unloaded and counted. I had hit my order size, but I headed back, they had a hot lunch waiting for me and it was GOOD! (Deep fried chicken cutlets on a roll with bacon and cheddar cheese. ;D) The landowner showed up and chatted for a bit while we were eating. Turned out I had been the first due Engine driver on the day his house burned into the foundation. I again offered him my condolences, it was a terrible fire and one of the most dangerous I worked because of the 3 story chimney that remained standing with nothing supporting it while we worked the fire. It was 'not the best' masonry work I have ever seen, built some time after the 1860's. He was out of town when it happened, so was interested to hear how it went and find out how we saved his barn with his brand new tractor in it. I was able to tell him what I found when I was the first in, which was a house collapsed completely into the foundation and fully involve and the radiant heat from that was heating the windows on his barn to the point they was just breaking into pieces and falling out and the siding was smoking. SO we worked on that first, cooling it down. We also used his pond for a water source, but it took two guys 15 minutes to chop a big enough hole in the ice.  Then our conversation changed to his land and a lake he has way back on his property which he told me was no longer a lake after the last hurricane took out the dam. That sparked a conversation on wetlands and I shared some info about bog studies I knew of and a book I thought he would be interested to read. He asked me for my full name a couple of times, trying to remember it. then he finally asked if I had a card. I think he and I were buddies by the time he left. I'm just sorry I didn't ask if he would mind if I came up the road to take a look at his new house. I'd like to see that. It's nice to have closure, that was a really bad fire. I had never seen radiant heat lite off and entire cord of wood to the point we had to break up the stack and dump 500 gallons of water on it to get it out.
 SO I took one more white oak that I couldn't see going to firewood ad spent a few hours just helping the crew with their working, separating blow downs from stumps, bucking up saw logs and limbing out the whole mess, and it is a huge 5 acre mess of blow downs and break offs from a microburst. They had a couple more days work to do after I left. I came home and unloaded those last logs, then drove up into Bill's woods and fetched back my trailer with 30+ logs on it to finish the order and let the client know they were done. I quit for the day at about 6:00. The client got excited and wanted to pick up the logs today, that worked for me because it would beat the snow coming in on Tuesday, they had originally scheduled to come up next Wednesday which would mean (if the forecast is anywhere close) that the pile of logs would be snow covered and frozen.
 Thursday was a recovery day and I spent it doing chores, running to town, and working in the shop. Felt like I accomplished nothing all day, but somehow it was a 10 hour day and I never sat down, so I must have done something. Today I got the truck inspected and the client showed up to get their logs. That part killed 2-3 hours, but they left happy after a shop tour, some fresh woodstove coffee and a little BS'ing. I had lunch at 3pm. I made another run to town for family errands and stopped at HF just because it was there and got some 'stuff' just because it was there.
 I had intended to go start work on the mill repair today, the part(debarker swing arm)came in yesterday, but when I was done, it was already 4:30 and too late to start something new in the waning light. I am indeed tired again tonight, but it's been a pretty good week all around. I have worked pretty hard but have no aches and pains to show for it other than the dermatitis which is making me nuts. I think the ERC I was working started it and it just keeps getting worse, but I think it may be getting better if I could just minimize my exposure to wood dust and freshly cut wood for several days in a row. But I gotta get it done, so I do what I have to and deal with the rash. The eyelids are the thing that is driving me out of my mind at times. It's like sand in my eyes all the time. Apparently wood smoke contribute to the problem also, which is just great running two woodstoves. ;D :D I am 4 days into the drug course which was about when it started to help last time, so I am hopeful.
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 It's getting cold now, today was nasty cold. Temps were in the 30's but with the wind, it felt more like low teens. 70° at my desk now and I am still cold. It's 20 outside and 58 in the shop. Low tonight should be around 10 by dawn. Not gonna get very warm tomorrow but I hope to head down and at least start replacing that swing arm. No bad weather, just bad clothes, right? :D

 Tomorrow is another day, I'll figure it out then. I have plenty to do in any direction.

[thecfarm]

It's nice to have good friends!!
I have one that shows up and the next thing I know he is beside me helping. He does not show up in his $40 jeans and his manly flip flops and stands there and then ask, Can I help?
But if he did show up in the above attire, he would not ask if he could help, he would just help.
He always hunts me done, no matter where I am. He will walk a mile up in the woods for me.

[aigheadish]

I will confirm that the amount of stuff Bill has is insane for someone not 40 yet. Looks like a fair amount gets used too.

Good work getting your log order done!

[Old Greenhorn]

Austin, when you were here, I know that a bunch of Bill's stuff was out on various job sites, just from memory, 4 excavators, 2 skid steers, 1 skidder, his log trailer, and probably the bucket truck plus various sundry equipment and dump trailers. Truth is I have no idea how much stuff he has. Some of it never comes home. There is a dozer being rebuilt in one shop (but he has a spare) and a case backhoe in the other one (but he has a spare). I think he got the (5) 40' trailers after your visit, so they are stuffed in strategic places in the woods now too. ;D It's always interesting, I'll say that much.
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 So, been busy which is why I haven't posted since Friday. Got the logs picked up then and only had 14 left over. The clients just got tired of loading logs and they filled that dump truck. :D ;D They were very happy though and were here for 3 hours getting a shop tour (10 minutes) and asking questions. The weather wasn't really great through the weekend. We got some snow, just an inch and I didn't really even bother with it. Sunday I took the 14 logs I had and loaded them in the truck and delivered them a mile away to a musician family I am friends with. We did a barter. I am a patron of theirs and just told them to credit my patron account for the cost of the logs. I need to get them a few more too. The logs I gave them last year are doing quite well. I wanted to move those logs before they got buried in snow, so that was a quick option that was a winner for us both. Then I came home and started final snow storm prep. moving and parking trailers to allow for plowing. That's when I did something dumb and tweaked my back big time trying to swing the trailer coupling onto a ball rather than re-position the Mule. STUPID, and I knew it the second I did it. This was a 'good one', and it took me down. The rest of the work went VERY slowly. Monday I mostly rested the back and got in decent loads of firewood to the house and shop ahead of the storm. The snow started after dark and came down as heavy as I have seen in over a year. We only got 7-8 inches, but this I had to deal with. So today I plowed it all up and the back is feeling better since yesterday's rest. The snow finally stopped around 3pm. More coming Friday. Winter sure waited a long time to show up.
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 On that dermatitis, I think I've had an epiphany! (And it didn't even hurt. :D) I had been assuming for 2 years now it was from the sawdust and wood. When I was away from the shop for a weekend at the beginning of the month I got good relief but then it seemed being in the shop, not even running saws or sanding, it would come right back full force. Last week when I cut with Bill's crew I was only in the shop for minutes all day, just to feed the stove, then back in the woods for the whole day. But that night and the next day I was just miserable and could not get any relief for my eyes itching and the inflamed irritation, especially on my forehead. It finally dawned on me. Wood smoke. The day I worked with the crew we had at least 3 brush pile burns going all the time we were rotating around. Smoke was everywhere. When I am at Bills Place and the air isn't moving much, the smoke from the OWB lays there and I cough constantly beyond what I think is normal. So I am thinking my problem is more the smoke than anything else. To test it, I have been much more careful loading the stove, minimizing the times I even open it, making sure the bypass in open before I open the stove and avoid getting my face in there and I have noticed a great reduction in my discomfort. Of course I am getting near the end of my medication rotation and that stuff does work, so It's hard to say. I write all this here mostly so I can read it in the future. Looking bad to my last bad attack as noted on the FF gave me some insight that helped me figure this out. Very coincidental that it occurred at almost the exact same time in Feb. 2021, so I started thinking about it and looking further. I think I may have it figured out. Now as to how that helps, I have no idea, but at least I can be more careful with where I stick my face. I probably need an allergist, but they take 6 months to get an appointment with after you spend a couple hundred bucks with your GP for a referral. So, for now, no thanks.
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This post is long enough, so I'll cut it here, but I had another interesting experience (well, to me anyway) that I'll cover in the next one if I can remember it by then. ;D

[aigheadish]

I love the bartering stuff. With the backhoe I try to help neighbors as I can. I don't expect anything and I rarely request anything for the backhoe services but when someone offers to pay I often suggest a trade of sorts. A nice rock, maybe some scrap metal, anything I can trade for something I want or appreciate is usually much better than money. Fuel is always a good trade too.

I've definitely traded for rocks found while doing other stuff, big logs I can potentially use in the future, etc. Nowy neighbors mostly know what I like and I have some offers of that stuff, just come get it. This is the way it's supposed to work. 

[Old Greenhorn]

Well I am still taking it easy on my back and it's getting better, but I have the regulars chiro tune-up tomorrow, so he will have some work to do.
 I have a few minutes to share the other silly story I mentioned. 
 So a few months back my shop TV died hard and I got a chap (too small) smart TV. The first in our household. It took me a while to get used to it and find my way around but I came to enjoy some of the shows and movies I have not seen in many years. It makes noise and breaks up the silence of working alone.
 Parallel to this, my wife and I have been getting increasingly fed up with our cable bill for a couple of years now. Last year I called and spent an entire day on the phone with them reducing our services and costs. They promised a lot of reductions, most of which never came through or expired in a couple of months. Even with less services, we are now just about back to the prior billing rate because of price increases. We actually only watch about 3 channels, and those very lightly anyway. The majority of the content offered, including the major networks, is crap. But we can't go cold turkey. We are getting older.
 SO enter the smart tv and I can see an option. The only issue I see is that my wife isn't very good with 'devices' and 'navigating'. (OK, she HATES them.) She has a short fuse with that stuff and does a lot of yelling and not a lot of listening or learning. It's frustrating to try and teach her, she had ZERO patience for that stuff. It's just not her thing. Turn it on, and use the up/down channel buttons is all she wants to know. This was a problem. So I took my time and just in passing over dinner would mention something I had watched that day, after a while she would ask what else there was, and we started to make progress. Sunday night over dinner I finally made the pitch. Our living room TV which she watches is having issues anyway. I had gotten a clearance sale email from Walmart and they had a 32" like hers for about 130 bucks. I explained there would be a learning curve but I would work through it with her as long as she didn't yell at me. :D She bit. The plan is to wean off the cable and then cut them loose over a few months or so. It all depends or her comfort level because I just want her happy, but us to be able to buy food regularly.
 Monday morning I ordered the TV and the web page said it was scheduled for delivery that day. Yeah right. :D After lunch I checked to see if they had a real expected delivery and it still said 'Today'. Well dip my butt in molasses and set me on an ant hill, but sure enough it showed up by 4:30. Who'd have thought?! Never happened to me before. We are rural, I don't know how they did it, but it came in a private car. They must have delivered it from the store, 12 miles away I guess.
 SO we 'got into it' and set the thing up and she kept an open mind. Yes she got a little frustrated at times, but we worked through it. We found a show series she likes and she has figured out how to pause it, stop it, and come back to where she left off. For the moment she is happy. Slowly we will add other features and free providers for her. She's gonna get this.
 But I am still blown away by this 'same day delivery'. That's a first for us. No wonder so many in the next generation expect to get everything right away. Funny thing was, shipping was free. I never asked for same day, took the cheapest route, which is my style. I just can't figger it.
 

[doc henderson]

"So a few months back my shop TV died hard and I got a chap (too small) smart TV." Quote Old Greenhorn

Tom is that a European brand?     :D :D :D..  Maybe the old one is an "ol' chap"

congrats on the new technology.

[Peter Drouin]

TV in the shop, I don't even have one in the house.
Just a radio in the shop, Rock out. ;D 8)
I have the net to watch old moves on youtube, Talk to you all and lookup HOT ROD parts. :D

[SawyerTed]

We had one of the satellite TV services.  It was ok but the cost kept going up.   It finally got stupid expensive.  

Back in September I cut them off.  You should have heard the deals they offered! When they offered my same package for $29/month it just made me mad!  Why did it take leaving to get that deal? I was a customer for 20 plus years!  I guess I was one of their suckers. 

We  went with Netflix, we already had Amazon Prime.  Those are the only ones with a fee.  We have LG streaming channels, Tubi and Freevee.  A digital TV antenna brings in the local channels.  Our monthly cost is far less than the satellite TV.  

We were paying close to $300 per month for satellite TV and internet service.  We cut that by more than two thirds.

I'm saving enough to more than pay for my new grid tied photovoltaic system.  So we cut off satellite TV and are paying less than $20 to be tied to the power grid.

[doc henderson]

tv on 24/7 in my shop. a little light that changes.  maybe a burglar will think there is someone out here at night, and there might be.  I listen to the background when not running the planer.  occ look to see who is saying what.  I know the voice of most of the Fox regulars.

[Old Greenhorn]

Well, first Doc, it was a CHEAP tv, although my wife is watching British TV shows, which she enjoys.
 Ted, yeah, I get it, they just keep soaking you. When we called they started offering us deals too, like they were pushing drugs. Made me kind of mad too. I can't wait to make the cutoff call. But we will have to keep them for internet. Glad we didn't fall into their trap for phone service or cell service. What they charge for a basic single line is what we pay we both our phones and mid-range data, which is more than we need. Besides, what they advertise is always a lie anyway.

 Pete, you don't even have a printer man! :D We all work with what we are used to. My Friend Bill just left after a quick stop-in. He has no TV in his house, doesn't want his daughter glued to it like so many other kids. But when he stops in, he watches whatever I have on and sometimes gets into it and the next thing I know, I need more beer.  ;D You know Pete a smart TV needs nothing but an internet connection and gets a ton of free stuff to watch. Ted mentioned a few. I bounce around between Tubi, Crackle, Pluto and some other one for now. Depending on my mood. Like Doc, I mostly listen but might stop and watch a good fight or something. I enjoy shows I haven't seen since I was a little kid like the Real McCoys, wanted, dead or alive, and wagontrain, Bat Masterson, and such. It's just a diversion.

 Funny yesterday I installed the AP on my phone to control the TV and it can use voice commands. So just for giggles I said "watch Hobby Hardwoods on you tube" and the next thing I know, there is @YellowHammer talking about using diesel for blade lube. Pretty neat, but I am easily amused.