Hey Mikey! Sorry to hear of that! From all of us here, we send you a big:

And a speedy recovery!

Jim

Mike: Ack, that sounds painful, hopefully it will clear up before too long.

Jim: At least open the dang box!!! Oddly I haven't had many compatibility problems between XP & Win7. There are some old games from Win95/98 I've never gotten to work though. Putting off updating to 8 as long as I can though.

Ken: Thanks, supposed to be nice this weekend. And even cold I can enjoy seafood fresh out of the Atlantic- that's reason enough to hit the beach right there.

I rarely ever try to spray any paint without thinning. Some Testor's paint will be kinda thin and watery andyou can do this but normally no. I wonder if they have some quality control issues at times. I just add a little thinner till it seems right. I have the washer fluid in an old contact lens bottle with a squirt top. If too thick I squirt a little more thinner in, if runny I add a little more paint. If spraying small detail I'll keep a cotton swab soaked in alcohol near and rub the airbrush tip if it clogs.

Hey Ken:

A bit of research showed my current computer does indeed use the newer SATA connections. Like you, I have several optical readers, both CD and DVD, a couple of CD burners, keyboards, a drawer full of mice, 3 large almost impossible to get rid of 19" CRT monitors, plus a box full of outdated RAM, a couple of modems, network adapters, and other bits a and pieces. Nothing wrong with most of it, just outdated.

What makes it worse is, it is now illegal to dump these items in this state. This includes televisions, VCR's and other electronic gear. It costs now to recycle these things unless you are lucky to catch one of those free events that take place too infrequently. Not easy for those of us who live paycheck to paycheck. The result of course is illegal dumping. It's so nice to see someones old television sitting in a field, along with the broken couches and mattresses you usually see.

I stand corrected: seems Best Buy will accept most of these items free of charge!

Gamera

Jim: At least open the dang box!!! Oddly I haven't had many compatibility problems between XP & Win7. There are some old games from Win95/98 I've never gotten to work though. Putting off updating to 8 as long as I can though.

I rarely ever try to spray any paint without thinning. Some Testor's paint will be kinda thin and watery andyou can do this but normally no. I wonder if they have some quality control issues at times. I just add a little thinner till it seems right. I have the washer fluid in an old contact lens bottle with a squirt top. If too thick I squirt a little more thinner in, if runny I add a little more paint. If spraying small detail I'll keep a cotton swab soaked in alcohol near and rub the airbrush tip if it clogs.

Some of the old games I have used to run on that ugly red-headed b*stard step child of Win 98, Windows ME, so I'm not sure if they will run on XP or not. Worth a shot. I even tried the compatibility function in 7 and still couldn't get some to run, or if they did graphics were whacked out, or the game would simply freeze.

As far as Testors, yes there are quality control issues with paints. I have had bottles so thin that they needed no thinning and even had problems with coverage. Then the next bottle is so thick, I thought I picked up some paste by mistake. Colors can be an issue as well, so always start with a fresh bottle when starting a new project.

Thanks Jim for the  well wishes Doc was just in and said I'd be here at least till Mon nothing I can do but accept it. Included a pic of my "home" for the next few days, also my choice reading material. Making the best  of a bad situation. We'll at least I get good pain killers in my IV! Enjoy your weekend 

Gamera

Mike: Ack, that sounds painful, hopefully it will clear up before too long.

Jim: At least open the dang box!!! Oddly I haven't had many compatibility problems between XP & Win7. There are some old games from Win95/98 I've never gotten to work though. Putting off updating to 8 as long as I can though.

Ken: Thanks, supposed to be nice this weekend. And even cold I can enjoy seafood fresh out of the Atlantic- that's reason enough to hit the beach right there.

I rarely ever try to spray any paint without thinning. Some Testor's paint will be kinda thin and watery andyou can do this but normally no. I wonder if they have some quality control issues at times. I just add a little thinner till it seems right. I have the washer fluid in an old contact lens bottle with a squirt top. If too thick I squirt a little more thinner in, if runny I add a little more paint. If spraying small detail I'll keep a cotton swab soaked in alcohol near and rub the airbrush tip if it clogs.

Hi Cliff,

Glad to hear that the weather is going to warm up for you!  That would be so disappointing to go on a trip to a warmer spot to only have it be cold!

I hear you on the seafood!  I always do the exact same thing whenever I get a chance to make a trip to either coast.  Enjoy my friend!

I brought up the acrylic paint issue tonight at our monthly IPMS meeting and one member who uses acrylic also said he always thins his.

I wanted to also ask you one other question Cliff.  What is the shelf life of acrylic paint?

Ken

jimbot58

Gamera

Jim: At least open the dang box!!! Oddly I haven't had many compatibility problems between XP & Win7. There are some old games from Win95/98 I've never gotten to work though. Putting off updating to 8 as long as I can though.

I rarely ever try to spray any paint without thinning. Some Testor's paint will be kinda thin and watery andyou can do this but normally no. I wonder if they have some quality control issues at times. I just add a little thinner till it seems right. I have the washer fluid in an old contact lens bottle with a squirt top. If too thick I squirt a little more thinner in, if runny I add a little more paint. If spraying small detail I'll keep a cotton swab soaked in alcohol near and rub the airbrush tip if it clogs.

Some of the old games I have used to run on that ugly red-headed b*stard step child of Win 98, Windows ME, so I'm not sure if they will run on XP or not. Worth a shot. I even tried the compatibility function in 7 and still couldn't get some to run, or if they did graphics were whacked out, or the game would simply freeze.

As far as Testors, yes there are quality control issues with paints. I have had bottles so thin that they needed no thinning and even had problems with coverage. Then the next bottle is so thick, I thought I picked up some paste by mistake. Colors can be an issue as well, so always start with a fresh bottle when starting a new project.

Hi Jim,

Microsoft intentionally made Windows 7 (and Vista) where the older games would not be compatible.  It wasn't so much to make the games not play, it was more to do with the graphics and the underlying code embedded in Windows.  They couldn't make the improved graphics abilities and keep the backwards capabilities too.

Ken

mikeymize

Thanks Jim for the  well wishes Doc was just in and said I'd be here at least till Mon nothing I can do but accept it. Included a pic of my "home" for the next few days, also my choice reading material. Making the best  of a bad situation. We'll at least I get good pain killers in my IV! Enjoy your weekend 

Wow Mike, glad to hear that you may be able to get out on Monday!  I know that will still feel like eternity until then, but glad they are giving you the pain killers to help out.

I hope you have some nice looking nurses that are taking care of you.  That would be at least some compensation!     Get well soon man!

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

mikeymize

Thanks Jim for the  well wishes Doc was just in and said I'd be here at least till Mon nothing I can do but accept it. Included a pic of my "home" for the next few days, also my choice reading material. Making the best  of a bad situation. We'll at least I get good pain killers in my IV! Enjoy your weekend 

Wow Mike, glad to hear that you may be able to get out on Monday!  I know that will still feel like eternity until then, but glad they are giving you the pain killers to help out.

I hope you have some nice looking nurses that are taking care of you.  That would be at least some compensation!     Get well soon man!

Ken

Mikey!

Well, that bites that you have to spend the weekend in the hospital! Too bad you couldn't haul all your project stuff in there with you...

Get some rest, take care of yourself,

and,

How about some nice nose art for your nurse?

Jim

Hey thanks for the well wishes and especially the artwork, would love to have a nurse like Nancy. It seems a shame to have all this time and can't work on my model but not sure I'd do too well anyway. At least I can follow what progress everyone else is making!

If I could get a nurse like that going to the hospital wouldn't be so bad!

Ken: I really haven't noticed much difference between acrylic and enemal on drying up- both seem to go bad at about the same percentage.

And as I understand it Win95 and 98 and I guess ME too based on the old MS-DOS architecture and MS build Vista new from the ground up. I'll found a few old games I can't get to run I've had pretty good luck so far. I recently reinstalled Heroes of Might and Magic III and have been playing a lot of it. Twenty years old I still think it's one of the best all time games ever.

Hi Everyone,

Today was a very busy day.  First I went to my Mom's house and mulched the leaves on her lawn.  Then I came home and worked on my air compressor.

I took it apart and confirmed it was a blown valve plate gasket.  I have the valve plate soaking in lacquer thinner to help remove the burnt oil.  (The burnt oil is from the oil being sucked into the adjoining cylinder caused by the blown gasket, which gets burned when the compressor get hot from over working.)  I did scrub on it for a while and got some of it off.  I will let it soak overnight.

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

Today was a very busy day.  First I went to my Mom's house and mulched the leaves on her lawn.  Then I came home and worked on my air compressor.

I took it apart and confirmed it was a blown valve plate gasket.  I have the valve plate soaking in lacquer thinner to help remove the burnt oil.  (The burnt oil is from the oil being sucked into the adjoining cylinder caused by the blown gasket, which gets burned when the compressor get hot from over working.)  I did scrub on it for a while and got some of it off.  I will let it soak overnight.

Ken

Ken, do you think you might need to use some automotive solvents to get that cleaned up? Just be careful there are no plastic or rubber parts used.

I was busy today as well.

Last night, when I arrived home, I found a letter from Fedex, which contained the check for the stocks that were owned by Mom. This the battle I have been waging for the last few months. There were trips I made to the county courthouse, and many to various banks. I had to pay to have the stock certificate replaced, because I could never locate the original, and then have the stock transferred. That was the worst part as they were so touchy about all the  "i's" dotted and  "t's" crossed properly, I had to file the paperwork 3 times before they were satisfied.

Once that was done, I could then open up an online account to manage the stock, but still had to wait another week for a confirmation code to be sent to me before I had complete access to the account. I placed the sale order on Monday.

Where I bank is opened on Saturdays, so I was fortunate to be able to take care of the next part. I had to open a new trust account, and then close the old account, paying off the overdrawn balance. I made the mistake of allowing my sibling access to the account, and when she was informed that the money was gone, she continued to draw on the account. You understand why I opened a new account.

Don't get me wrong: the money is half hers, but as the PR and executor, I have to control and track everything. The overdraft fees, of course will be deducted from her half of the estate.

I should be relieved, but I'm not. This only means there are larger battles ahead of me before this entire war is won. A possible legal eviction of my nephew, disposing of Mom's stuff, cleaning and repairs to the house and the sale.

Other than that, I ran to get my medications refilled. (of course they were closed for lunch when I got there!) Then to my yard and  mulching as many leaves as I could before It got dark and  I finally gave in to the angry protests my back was giving me. My back is feeling better this week, so I didn't want to push things.

Did do a total of 4 decals this evening! I am SMOKIN'! Well, maybe not....

Jim

jimbot58

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

Today was a very busy day.  First I went to my Mom's house and mulched the leaves on her lawn.  Then I came home and worked on my air compressor.

I took it apart and confirmed it was a blown valve plate gasket.  I have the valve plate soaking in lacquer thinner to help remove the burnt oil.  (The burnt oil is from the oil being sucked into the adjoining cylinder caused by the blown gasket, which gets burned when the compressor get hot from over working.)  I did scrub on it for a while and got some of it off.  I will let it soak overnight.

Ken

Ken, do you think you might need to use some automotive solvents to get that cleaned up? Just be careful there are no plastic or rubber parts used.

I was busy today as well.

Last night, when I arrived home, I found a letter from Fedex, which contained the check for the stocks that were owned by Mom. This the battle I have been waging for the last few months. There were trips I made to the county courthouse, and many to various banks. I had to pay to have the stock certificate replaced, because I could never locate the original, and then have the stock transferred. That was the worst part as they were so touchy about all the  "i's" dotted and  "t's" crossed properly, I had to file the paperwork 3 times before they were satisfied.

Once that was done, I could then open up an online account to manage the stock, but still had to wait another week for a confirmation code to be sent to me before I had complete access to the account. I placed the sale order on Monday.

Where I bank is opened on Saturdays, so I was fortunate to be able to take care of the next part. I had to open a new trust account, and then close the old account, paying off the overdrawn balance. I made the mistake of allowing my sibling access to the account, and when she was informed that the money was gone, she continued to draw on the account. You understand why I opened a new account.

Don't get me wrong: the money is half hers, but as the PR and executor, I have to control and track everything. The overdraft fees, of course will be deducted from her half of the estate.

I should be relieved, but I'm not. This only means there are larger battles ahead of me before this entire war is won. A possible legal eviction of my nephew, disposing of Mom's stuff, cleaning and repairs to the house and the sale.

Other than that, I ran to get my medications refilled. (of course they were closed for lunch when I got there!) Then to my yard and  mulching as many leaves as I could before It got dark and  I finally gave in to the angry protests my back was giving me. My back is feeling better this week, so I didn't want to push things.

Did do a total of 4 decals this evening! I am SMOKIN'! Well, maybe not....

Jim

Hi Jim,

I like using the lacquer thinner because it is a very strong solvent but not as strong as some others.  But as it turns out I am needing to resort to the stronger ones.  The next favorite is carburetor cleaner.  I am currently taking a break from scraping the old gaskets off.  (One of my least favorite jobs when working on anything!)  This is tedious because I need to be extra careful since the head and cylinders are both made out of aluminum.  Way to easy to gouge!  But I should still have this done this afternoon, baring finding anything else wrong.

That is great news that you have finally won that battle and received the check you have been waiting for!  You should also take out a fee for your time you had to spend on doing all of that.  Seriously!  Time is our most precious commodity.  And you should be compensated for it!

Ken

Son Of Medicine Man

jimbot58

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

Today was a very busy day.  First I went to my Mom's house and mulched the leaves on her lawn.  Then I came home and worked on my air compressor.

I took it apart and confirmed it was a blown valve plate gasket.  I have the valve plate soaking in lacquer thinner to help remove the burnt oil.  (The burnt oil is from the oil being sucked into the adjoining cylinder caused by the blown gasket, which gets burned when the compressor get hot from over working.)  I did scrub on it for a while and got some of it off.  I will let it soak overnight.

Ken

Ken, do you think you might need to use some automotive solvents to get that cleaned up? Just be careful there are no plastic or rubber parts used.

I was busy today as well.

Last night, when I arrived home, I found a letter from Fedex, which contained the check for the stocks that were owned by Mom. This the battle I have been waging for the last few months. There were trips I made to the county courthouse, and many to various banks. I had to pay to have the stock certificate replaced, because I could never locate the original, and then have the stock transferred. That was the worst part as they were so touchy about all the  "i's" dotted and  "t's" crossed properly, I had to file the paperwork 3 times before they were satisfied.

Once that was done, I could then open up an online account to manage the stock, but still had to wait another week for a confirmation code to be sent to me before I had complete access to the account. I placed the sale order on Monday.

Where I bank is opened on Saturdays, so I was fortunate to be able to take care of the next part. I had to open a new trust account, and then close the old account, paying off the overdrawn balance. I made the mistake of allowing my sibling access to the account, and when she was informed that the money was gone, she continued to draw on the account. You understand why I opened a new account.

Don't get me wrong: the money is half hers, but as the PR and executor, I have to control and track everything. The overdraft fees, of course will be deducted from her half of the estate.

I should be relieved, but I'm not. This only means there are larger battles ahead of me before this entire war is won. A possible legal eviction of my nephew, disposing of Mom's stuff, cleaning and repairs to the house and the sale.

Other than that, I ran to get my medications refilled. (of course they were closed for lunch when I got there!) Then to my yard and  mulching as many leaves as I could before It got dark and  I finally gave in to the angry protests my back was giving me. My back is feeling better this week, so I didn't want to push things.

Did do a total of 4 decals this evening! I am SMOKIN'! Well, maybe not....

Jim

Hi Jim,

I like using the lacquer thinner because it is a very strong solvent but not as strong as some others.  But as it turns out I am needing to resort to the stronger ones.  The next favorite is carburetor cleaner.  I am currently taking a break from scraping the old gaskets off.  (One of my least favorite jobs when working on anything!)  This is tedious because I need to be extra careful since the head and cylinders are both made out of aluminum.  Way to easy to gouge!  But I should still have this done this afternoon, baring finding anything else wrong.

That is great news that you have finally won that battle and received the check you have been waiting for!  You should also take out a fee for your time you had to spend on doing all of that.  Seriously!  Time is our most precious commodity.  And you should be compensated for it!

Ken

Ken, it is a legal fact that I am allowed to collect a fee as the executor of the estate, no different than if a lawyer's firm was to do the same. I just haven't figured how much and I also haven't kept track of time spent as I should have. I was told by an attorney that as much as $150 hour is not out of line.

I spent part of today scraping and cleaning up some of the pylons to prepare them for painting. There are some decals that will go on the pylons as well as the stores themselves. I also have to patch a small area on the underside of the Growler where I got a little to aggressive polishing up the gloss coat and went through the paint. I figured if I'm going to load the airbrush to patch, I might as well do a session and paint all those other parts as well.

For now, I am dressing up to head out of doors to see if anything can be done with more leaves. The wind was supposed to die down around noon, but it is 1:30 now and no sign of that yet. I can only try.

Jim

jimbot58

Ken, it is a legal fact that I am allowed to collect a fee as the executor of the estate, no different than if a lawyer's firm was to do the same. I just haven't figured how much and I also haven't kept track of time spent as I should have. I was told by an attorney that as much as $150 hour is not out of line.

I spent part of today scraping and cleaning up some of the pylons to prepare them for painting. There are some decals that will go on the pylons as well as the stores themselves. I also have to patch a small area on the underside of the Growler where I got a little to aggressive polishing up the gloss coat and went through the paint. I figured if I'm going to load the airbrush to patch, I might as well do a session and paint all those other parts as well.

For now, I am dressing up to head out of doors to see if anything can be done with more leaves. The wind was supposed to die down around noon, but it is 1:30 now and no sign of that yet. I can only try.

Jim

Hi Jim,

You should definitely keep track of your time, just like a diary.  That way if your sister was to try and dispute it, you would have proof.  Don't give your time away.  Especially when she is already taking advantage of you!

Good luck on your patching the Growler!  I hope it goes well!

Ken

Hi Everyone,

Today was a scary day.

First we had tornados rip through the area.  Great job to the U.S. National Weather Service for giving us enough advance warning to take cover.  I grabbed my wife and dog and we drove over to my Mom's house since she has a full basement.  (She only lives 2.5 miles away.)

We got there just minutes before the storms hit.  Then the electricity went out.  Fortunately we were using a battery operated weather radio so we knew when it was safe to come back up out of the basement.  Everything looked okay at my Mom's house, just a few small limbs blown off of the trees, which happens every time we have a lot of wind.

So we drove back home and found one of our trees in the back yard had lost a huge limb and crushed our chain linked fence.  The wind was still blowing pretty hard even though the storms were past.

Then about an hour later a tree in a different neighbor's yard fell into our house.  Nice!  Fortunately it didn't do enough damage to cause immediate attention, but now I have two different claims to deal with.

The storms rolled through around 2:30 PM EST.  We usually have my Mom over for dinner and so I thought I better give her a call to see if her electricity ever came back on.  If not, her garage door was not going to open and she would need my help.  Sure enough the electric was still off so I drove over to help.

After we had dinner, I figured there was no sense in having my Mom go back home to a dark house, so we waited until 9:30 PM before it came back on.  During that time we started learning about all the damage that was done to places just north and south of us.  That indicated there was at least two different tornados since the storms were traveling in a west to east direction.

So we were sandwiched between two!  That was too close.

Anyway, I was determined to get my air compressor fixed today so when I got back home I went straight to work on it.

Here is a picture of the beast:

 Here is looking down from the top at the cylinders with the head removed, all cleaned up and ready for reassembly:

 Here is the side view:

 Here is the top of the valve plate, cleaned up (you should have seen it before I cleaned it!):

 Here is the bottom of the cylinder head, also cleaned up:

 Here is the bottom of the valve plate:

 Here is the new valve plate gasket:

 And here is the cylinder head gasket:

 Here is the culprit.  The blown valve plate gasket:

 And here is the pump all fully reassembled:

 I flipped the switch and she pumped right up!  Just like brand new!  So I am back in business!

Ken

Wow Ken, that does sound pretty scary, esp. after I watched some of the news reports. I'm glad you and yours are safe. A lot of folks didn't fare so well, that I saw.

We sure have had some wacky weather lately. I remember how scary it was just a few months ago with all the massive flooding going all around me here, but I think tornadoes would be even scarier. You can usually get to high ground in a flood, but how the hell do you get out of the path of a tornado? You don't!

My day was a bit more mundane as I managed to get all the leaves cleaned up and mulched. I will still have more to do as some were a bit harder to get to: up in the trees! Other than that, it was hours of getting all the pylons and gear doors cleaned up, with mold lines and ejector pin marks galore! I also drilled holes in the pylons so I could impale them on toothpicks for painting.

Hours of prep and 5 minutes to spray!

Also more decals and you can just see my paint patch. It looks lighter, but will darken when the gloss coat goes on. Some of those decals appear to be silvering, but it's actually edges of them reflecting the overhead lights. They look much better in person!

More decals up front. You can see the canopy doesn't fit well, but as I mentioned before, it will be in the raised position, with added PE parts underneath.

The fuselage looks so bland right now, it's begging for a wash to those panel lines and other details!

jimbot58

Wow Ken, that does sound pretty scary, esp. after I watched some of the news reports. I'm glad you and yours are safe. A lot of folks didn't fare so well, that I saw.

We sure have had some wacky weather lately. I remember how scary it was just a few months ago with all the massive flooding going all around me here, but I think tornadoes would be even scarier. You can usually get to high ground in a flood, but how the hell do you get out of the path of a tornado? You don't!

My day was a bit more mundane as I managed to get all the leaves cleaned up and mulched. I will still have more to do as some were a bit harder to get to: up in the trees! Other than that, it was hours of getting all the pylons and gear doors cleaned up, with mold lines and ejector pin marks galore! I also drilled holes in the pylons so I could impale them on toothpicks for painting.

Hours of prep and 5 minutes to spray!

Also more decals and you can just see my paint patch. It looks lighter, but will darken when the gloss coat goes on. Some of those decals appear to be silvering, but it's actually edges of them reflecting the overhead lights. They look much better in person!

More decals up front. You can see the canopy doesn't fit well, but as I mentioned before, it will be in the raised position, with added PE parts underneath.

The fuselage looks so bland right now, it's begging for a wash to those panel lines and other details!

Hi Jim,

Those pylons look great!  Nice work!      And also nice job patching the fuselage.  Great work on putting on the decals as well!!      Your Growler is coming together nicely!

I am looking forward to seeing how it looks with the wash!

Ken

Jim. Good to hear you're still making progress on your mom's estate. And good idea on writing everything down - certainly can't hurt to document everything in case there is any doubt. The decals lookggood, she's really starting to look like a F/A- 18.

Ken: Glad to hear you your family are ok. I can't imagine what a hurricane must be like. And good to hear you got your compressor back up and running. I think you said it was a big unit but that looks like something for painting real cars!

First off I'm glad to hear you're doing well Ken, the reports I heard were not good for your area. My brother lives in Indianapolis and while not tornado speed the winds were still pretty bad. Jim I love the comment about the prep time vs. paint time. So true! Plane is looking great and will only get better with the wash etc. as you say. Well I hope to be out of the hospital tonight if all goes well. Can't wait to get back home to see my dogs and work on the Spitfire!

Gamera

Jim. Good to hear you're still making progress on your mom's estate. And good idea on writing everything down - certainly can't hurt to document everything in case there is any doubt. The decals lookggood, she's really starting to look like a F/A- 18.

Ken: Glad to hear you your family are ok. I can't imagine what a hurricane must be like. And good to hear you got your compressor back up and running. I think you said it was a big unit but that looks like something for painting real cars!

Hi Cliff,

Yes, actually that is why I bought it.  So that it could handle anything I would ever through at it, like painting a car or using air power tools.  My Dad had a smaller unit about half this size and we were always running out of air.  So when I was shopping for mine, I decided to get one that should keep up with the demand.

I have an air line running up to the room in my house where my workbench is so it makes it real easy and convenient to use.

Ken

mikeymize

First off I'm glad to hear you're doing well Ken, the reports I heard were not good for your area. My brother lives in Indianapolis and while not tornado speed the winds were still pretty bad. Jim I love the comment about the prep time vs. paint time. So true! Plane is looking great and will only get better with the wash etc. as you say. Well I hope to be out of the hospital tonight if all goes well. Can't wait to get back home to see my dogs and work on the Spitfire!

Hi Mike,

I am keeping my fingers crossed that you get to come home tonight!

Yes the tornados traveled both north and south of Lafayette.  There are people still without power here in Lafayette.  I am seeing all kinds of posts of the damage on my Facebook.  Very surreal.  I am pretty sure we would have had casualties if it wasn't for the warnings.  A school just a few miles south of here was demolished and a few factories just a couple of miles north of my house were twisted up.  Crazy!

Here is the tree that crashed into our house:

And here is the tree limb (that is as big as a tree by itself!) that smashed our chain linked fence:

Yeah!

Ken 

Ken, the tree that hit the house, was it already dead? Looks like not much was holding it in the ground.

I'm curious about what kind of tree that is. The emerald ash borer has been found in Colorado just miles from where I live and I have three large ash trees here.

jimbot58

Ken, the tree that hit the house, was it already dead? Looks like not much was holding it in the ground.

I'm curious about what kind of tree that is. The emerald ash borer has been found in Colorado just miles from where I live and I have three large ash trees here.

Hi Jim,

Yes, that tree had been dead for quite some time.  I could not tell you what kind of tree it was.  And yes, we have the emerald ash borer here too.  I have not actually seen one in person, but they have been reported in our county.

Ken

Hi Everyone,

I found out that we did in fact have two tornados Sunday in our county alone.  That is not counting the ones in the entire state, which I believe was 17.  The one farthest north in my county was rated as a category EF-1 and the one in the south part of the county (the one that was just a couple of miles away from my house) was rated an EF-3.

We were so lucky that my house and my Mom's house didn't get hit.  I feel so sorry for those who did get hit.  There are still a lot of people without power tonight, and it has been getting very cold at night.  It has been getting down to the low 20s (Fahrenheit).

I will most likely be working on my chain saw this weekend and cutting up the tree and the limb.  We have a $1,000.00 deductible insurance policy and I don't have that kind of money.  I will have to take a look at the fence after I get the limb off of it to see if I can fix it myself.  I had someone already look at the chimney and he said it was okay.  Lucked out there!

Ken

Mike: Hope you're out of the hospital now and feeling better.

Ken: The tornado damage sounded bad from your description gee looks even worse in the photos. Hope it won't be too much trouble to clean up.  

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

I found out that we did in fact have two tornados Sunday in our county alone.  That is not counting the ones in the entire state, which I believe was 17.  The one farthest north in my county was rated as a category EF-1 and the one in the south part of the county (the one that was just a couple of miles away from my house) was rated an EF-3.

We were so lucky that my house and my Mom's house didn't get hit.  I feel so sorry for those who did get hit.  There are still a lot of people without power tonight, and it has been getting very cold at night.  It has been getting down to the low 20s (Fahrenheit).

I will most likely be working on my chain saw this weekend and cutting up the tree and the limb.  We have a $1,000.00 deductible insurance policy and I don't have that kind of money.  I will have to take a look at the fence after I get the limb off of it to see if I can fix it myself.  I had someone already look at the chimney and he said it was okay.  Lucked out there!

Ken

troublemaker66

Son Of Medicine Man

Hi Everyone,

I found out that we did in fact have two tornados Sunday in our county alone.  That is not counting the ones in the entire state, which I believe was 17.  The one farthest north in my county was rated as a category EF-1 and the one in the south part of the county (the one that was just a couple of miles away from my house) was rated an EF-3.

We were so lucky that my house and my Mom's house didn't get hit.  I feel so sorry for those who did get hit.  There are still a lot of people without power tonight, and it has been getting very cold at night.  It has been getting down to the low 20s (Fahrenheit).

I will most likely be working on my chain saw this weekend and cutting up the tree and the limb.  We have a $1,000.00 deductible insurance policy and I don't have that kind of money.  I will have to take a look at the fence after I get the limb off of it to see if I can fix it myself.  I had someone already look at the chimney and he said it was okay.  Lucked out there!

Ken

Well, I can actually say I know what you`re going through...and it stinks. You`re very lucky to have your home intact. I`m about to demolish my house to make way for the new one. Might be home by Feb/March. I also learned a valuable lesson about insurance companies....trust them as far as you can throw `em....

Hi Len,

It is good to hear from you again!  I was thinking of you when I was talking to my insurance agent.  I remembered how much hell you are going through with both the insurance and the government.  Yes, I am totally lucky!

I was hoping you were going to be in your new home by THIS Christmas!  That is sad news that it is still dragging out for you.  About the only thing that can be said is that you and your family are still alive.  And when you think about it, that is something to be truly thankful for!

Ken