Good morning Susan and all.  36 here this morn so a little warmer than the last few mornings.  I will

be taking the Monte Carlo SS down to the farm today so I can take my rope, 2 chain saws, and wedges

to drive in if a saw gets stuck.  Will have my brothers saw also but a very large trunk and can's leave

this job half done.  Hugh tree is only 8 or 10 feet from the house and basement.  Was a hugh mistake

they made.  That north side of the house has moss all over the roof.  Unfortunately, the sun is in the

southern sky now so even when the shade is removed won't be a lot of sun for a while, to kill the moss.

There is so much to do there I'm always a step behind.  Can't stay there because it stinks so badly from

the cats.  Brother once said he was going to rehome them but when I brought it up later would think it

was my idea and very bad one.  They had almost 100 cats in their home until it was destroyed.  I'm sure

it's to late to save the shingles of the roof.

Will be the largest live tree I've ever cut down so will be careful with every step.  Thing has got to weigh tons.

Has branches 20 or 30 inches circumference rubbing against the roof.  I have now way of trimming branches

that big.  Strange I still am learning by doing things for the first time.  But good for my life.  I plan on having the Allis

Chalmers tractor pulling on it away from the house after cutting the wedge in it on the fall side.  With the stick

clutch disengaged so it's not pulling at full force.  Using the 8200 pound rope I just got.  We have two dead trees

here at home I have to cut but much lighter. 

Probably last trip for the Monte this year, comes off the road in a few weeks, will try to enjoy the ride.  Has a 383

cubic inch stroker engine with a lock up torque converter transmission, that I have set to manual activation inside.

A warm day for this date but still a cool day.  I will probably go north on my bike to walk Brandy's sister on one of

the cloudier days.  Guess this is probably our Indian Summer, about 2 weeks early but doubt we will get another

the way Fall came crashing down. 

I know the laser surgery and enhanced lenses are costing a lot but can't find much bad reviews for the Dr. or his

clinic.  We only know one person that used him for cataract surgery and she's very happy with the results.  Wife

has several eye problems and all are taken care of at once.  So this might be our last run in with  cataracts, so

might as well get all the problems solved at once with laser and enhanced lenses. 

I only got the pups up into the woods for one walk yesterday, wife and grandson got them out for another around

the lawn later.  I scooped all the leaves and pine needles off the pool cover.  Pushed the red algae off the cover

with the net and pumped the water off the cover.  Will be so cold I don't think algae will form again. 

Glad Finn is doing well.

Enjoy the nice weather.

Ernie

Sounds like you have it well planned for the tree, Ernie, but do be careful. 

I'm up early for a Red Cross shift. Midtown in the city is really disgusting at this hour. Garbage out for the sanitation crews and rats all about. I guess 100 cats might scare them some. 

Enjoy the day everyone.  

Good morning Paul.  Woke in the middle of my night because of having caffeine coffee all day.

Better than falling asleep and going off the road.  No wife along to wake me in such a case.  It

smells so bad wife doesn't go down to the farm because of all the cats.

Did get the tree down.  Was heaviest over the roof of the house was the only thing I hadn't counted

on.  Tree was already being held away from the house with the tractor but pinched the saw when

I tried to cut on the opposite side of the wedge.  Had to go put pressure on with the tractor, then

engage the clutch fully and shut the tractor off.  Tractor is a large diesel so much more power than

my little backhoe.  New experience for me to cut down such a large live tree.  People that burn wood

do it often.  Tree was only about 6 feet from the basement wall, must have just grown there and

nobody thought it would get so large. Or could have been thought of as special because of who or

when it was planted. 

I can't imagine the rats, used to see lots in neighbors grainary when I was young, large bin of grain

upstairs in cow barn with a shoot to get it downstairs.  Was one in a trailer we rented on a farm back

in the 70s, caught it with a fox trap.  I must have seen movies with them out on the streets.  I know

I've seen them in animated TV shows, but they were friendly and could talk.    Charlotte's Web.

Monte Carlo SS worked well for the trip.  The radio in there wouldn't tune so got to listen to the engine

lots. 

Have a great day all.

Ernie

Not a great picture, rest are videos. 

I hope all is well......I do think of our many friends here with affection for all the support when we quit smoking....I still can't believe it has been 15 yrs for me....

Good morning Kitty and all.  Also glad we are all quit of the poison smoke.  Chilly mornings for a while.

31 here now, warming to around 60 in the afternoon. 

Went up north yesterday to walk Brandy's sister, Dixie, and her friend Charlotte.  Decided to take the

Monte Carlo SS at the last minute because of the north winds and clouds.  Had planned on riding bike.

Twice as much fuel to take the SS.  Dogs were great.  We did have a few lose dogs come out but none

mean.  One I had to go back and knock on the door so they could keep her from following us home, Lilly,

I know from before, very friendly dog.  My radio came out of it's clip and got run over before I got back to it,

so it's gone.  Costly transceiver but I've had it for over 20 years so at least wasn't new.  Listened to music on it

sometimes and it was added security to have my phone and the radio along, two different transmitters. 

SS worked flawlessly and was fun to drive, will be coming off the road for the Winter soon. 

Getting some nice Fall days to enjoy.

Ernie

It sure gets dark early. Around 6PM. Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Good morning Paul and everyone.  29 here this morn, gets warm during the day but cold mornings.

Will get dark at 5 PM soon and dawn at 7 AM or after.

Used my new rope to take down a pine tree in our lawn that died years ago.  Was nervous but I got

it to fall right where I wanted it to.  Had been dead for a while so our backhoe was heavy enough to

handle it.  Doesn't really have to outweigh it, just has to weigh enough to pull it in a given direction.

Just gives me more confidence if the machine outweighs the tree.   

Your skylight picture is beautiful Paul.  I took a picture of the windmills spinning up in Morrisville, NY

on the horizon but can't expand photos on here and even at 4x zoom on my phone they were tiny in

the photo.  Can't even see them without expanding the photo.

Glad you are still quit of the poison smoke Paul, keep up the good work. 

Ernie

Good morning all.....29 degrees here this morning....a few red trees left on the hillside..mostly bare now.....will look beautiful with snow..... our great grand boys came with Mommie and Gramma dressed up yesterday afternoon....they were all cute....their Mom was a Princess....with a long blond wig.....don't expect any others....Halloween is not like it used to be....

Good morning Kitty and all.  Warmer here this morn at 36, lot of warm mornings coming up.

Great your grands came to see you dressed up with their mom, glad they took the time and

effort.  We took our grandsons to a Pumpkin Farm Saturday.  Rode on the hayride, fed the

animals, went through the corn maze, and they did the pumpkin slingshot where they actually

use tennis balls.  We've gone before but for some reason we didn't get there for years.  We have

gone trick or treating with them.  Wife has her 2nd eye surgery tomorrow morning so not sure

if we will make it tonight or not.  Some years our work schedules made it so only one of us made

it out.

After I downed the tree Friday, I cut it up.  Yesterday moved all the pieces across the road where

they burn wood for heat.  I have an even larger one to cut but it only has a danger of falling on

neighbors property.  No chance of it hitting anything when it falls.  Will be easy to make certain

it falls our way.  Much less stressful to cut this one.   The one I fell Friday was the first time I used

the new chainsaw my daughter got me for Christmas.  I already had one I bought used when our

Sears parts and service shop closed many years ago.  I'm really sad to have lost our Sears store

at our mall 3 miles away.  Now no Sears and all the stores I go to are across the other side of the

river and interstate except Wegmans grocery, glad they moved in over here.  We have a Home Depot

over here but they only give specific veterans a discount where Lowes gives all veterans a discount

and I fall into the all veterans category.  Also Lowes handles Craftsman tool warranty and I got all

Craftsman tools when I was an auto mechanic back in the 70s. 

We used to get trick or treaters here also but stopped in the 80s with all the candy scares.  Think we

started being careful with our daughters also, had to be.  Most years we still buy one package of candy,

just in case, and leave it on the deck in some kind of bowl while we are out with our grands.  Our daughters

were close to being done with it by the time it went bad. 

A little rainy here for a couple days but still great days this week for weather, enjoy all.

Ernie

it was the great grands, they are 4 and 7....so their Mom and Gramma brought them.....and it is 37 cloudy degrees here....