What did you do today?

[Dave C]

So far today I haven't seen any more of those pests on the patio. Maybe I got them all.

[lynnl]

Dave C, did you notice any foul odor in that nest area when you dug it up?

Several years ago I dug up a huge yellow jacket nest complex and it had an awful odor. ...can't remember exactly what it smelled like, but it WAS PUTRID! It had been partially unearthed by some animal, so I thought maybe a skunk had gotten into it. But the odor didn't really seem like a skunk.

[Dave C]

The only thing I smelled was the faint odor of gasoline. If your nest had been dead for a while, that might account for the stink. Rotting grubs etc.

[Bented]

Received an "AARP" calculator, the normal $7.99 Staples calculators that I have been using for the last several years have a life span of about 6 months in a machine shop. The latest one expired last Friday.

Ordered a new Casio from Amazon for $19.00 over the weekend, the description was Large Calculator, it did not look this big in the pictures (-:

That is a 6" ruler, will grow to like it I'm sure.

[Dan Dubeau]

Discovered these guys tonight..... The one closest is the guys that got me a couple weeks ago. Finally pulled the boat up the the house to get the motor running, and ready for sale and discovered the far side nest when I propped the sundeck. Waiting for dark and I'll hit them with spray tonight. Sting me once....

[challenger]

So far today I haven't seen any more of those pests on the patio. Maybe I got them all.

Wow! I didn't know that they built that much comb. I'm a beekeeper so I appreciate you not calling them "bees". These are wasps as you most likely know. They are also omnivores so the putrid smell coming from a yellow jacket nest is probably meat of some sort that they foraged on and stored in their comb. These creepy bastards are very aggressive if you get near their hole and will sting repeatedly. I can get stung by 50 bees and probably not recall the exact sting spot but one yellow jacket sting will itch for days AFTER the pain stops. Yup, I hate those things. Glad to hear you got rid of them.

[Dave C]

Dan, Glad you didn't get hit this time, and hope you got them good last night.

Challenger, you are absolutely right that Yellowjackets are not bees. There was more comb in that hole but I couldn't get all of it out because of all the roots. I got enough of it to be sure that the whole colony was dead though.

[lynnl]

Well I'm not an entomologist, but yellow jackets are not wasps either ...at least per the terminology I grew up with.
Perhaps they're not bees, but they do have the same basic body shape as honey bees. Wasps are much more elongated.

That nest I mentioned, of a few years ago, probably comprised a couple of square feet (or more) when it was intact.

[Dave C]

Well I'm not an entomologist, but yellow jackets are not wasps either ...at least per the terminology I grew up with.
Perhaps they're not bees, but they do have the same basic body shape as honey bees. Wasps are much more elongated.

That nest I mentioned, of a few years ago, probably comprised a couple of square feet (or more) when it was intact.

Not trying to be a horses a$$, but what you think, and what you know, are not the same. Check this out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowjacket

[KMoffett]

Received an "AARP" calculator, the normal $7.99 Staples calculators that I have been using for the last several years have a life span of about 6 months in a machine shop. The latest one expired last Friday.

Ordered a new Casio from Amazon for $19.00 over the weekend, the description was Large Calculator, it did not look this big in the pictures (-:

That is a 6" ruler, will grow to like it I'm sure.

I get calculators for the shop from thrift stores...ARC Value Village. Ones like that go for $.99. Nice TI's go for $2.99

[J Tiers]

Neighbors down the street called us because their electricity was out. When I got there, it turns out that "some" of their electric was out, and "Mr Wiggy" determined that one of the hot wires was not "hot" where it comes into their service box.

I do not do electrical work for others, so they get to call an electrician, but at least they know what is going on. Everything looked OK except for quite a bit of corrosion on the input side of the main breaker on one conductor, so that may be their issue. That was also the dead one.

Could be further back, meter box, or connection at the pole, which is Ameren's problem. Tried to look at it, but there is so much bamboo (phyllostachys aureosulcata) back there under the wires that I could not even see the connection. Some of that bamboo is 2" in diameter, almost timber bamboo.

If Ameren has to fix it, they are going to have to mow the top of that bamboo off first.

[DennisCA]

Side blast forge is mostly done now. So far it's cost less than 20 euros.







Burn in with wood done I try some coke and this time I try with a hair dryer, before it was just natural aspiration
.




Pile is shriveling up fast because it was probably half charcoal and that goes fast




I got it hot enough to hammer a bend in some steel though. Some initial thoughts is if the pit is too big sideways. I am not sure if the air intake is too low down or not. Considering adding a brick on the opposite side of the hole to make the pit narrower.

Coke smoke doesn't smell too bad, not much smoke either even when starting it up.

[J Tiers]

Concerts this week, were Friday, Mozart string quartet #15 in D minor, followed by some Dvorak, players from St Louis Symphony. Next night, Bluegrass and some other material, with local group "Lonesome Pines".

Both very good concerts, if "a bit" different from each other.

Otherwise, cleaning the shed up before it gets cold.

[The Metal Butcher]

Very neat forge Dennis. I'd like to try blacksmithing someday, but it will be a while.

---

Lots for me today, 'twas very productive. Started the day helping dad get his MF 65 unstuck. He had it buried about to the loader frame. Then went to go looking for a lost handle for the Sidney gearbox. Dad and I searched yesterday, couldn't find it. He and mom searched this morning, then mom and I searched again this afternoon, and I finally found it. Dad stuck it in a capped go-jo container full of evaporust. Must have been there for weeks! I was just about to start re-making it too, which would have taken me at least two days to make a faithful copy out of steel.

I'm started back into my 9th semester of college, so my free time has taken a hike again. Ah well, it was good while it lasted.

[Tungsten dipper]

Concerts this week, were Friday, Mozart string quartet #15 in D minor, followed by some Dvorak, players from St Louis Symphony. Next night, Bluegrass and some other material, with local group "Lonesome Pines".

Both very good concerts, if "a bit" different from each other.

Otherwise, cleaning the shed up before it gets cold.

You suck! I wish I was going!