Friday, July 08, 2016

THE BIG BAD SCARY STORM THAT WASN’T

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Gentle rains came in the night leaving a welcome overcast in the morning.  That welcome overcast kept the Sun from breaking through and turning our already humid air into a real steam bath.  I quickly took advantage of the cooler temperatures hauling out the garden hose along with a bucket of soapy water and finished washing the Motorhome, a job I had started a few days ago.  Nice to have that big Elephant done so I can now move on to other things.  We’ll start on the interior soon as cooler weather settles in.

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A VERY MUCH MOST CUTE LITTLE TOAD ON OUR DECK TODAY

I had no sooner finished the wash job when old Sol burst through the trees and immediately began driving up the temperature.  Jim the tree cutter guy had rolled in earlier and began stripping the second tree.  With a Bobcat he was able to pick up the bulk of the branches and haul them away while I contributed my 2 cents worth by cleaning up the road and piling up a few branches for his next load.  DSC_0008

I WAS UP IN THIS TREE BUCKET A COUPLE SUMMERS AGO AND TOOK A FEW AERIAL PHOTOS OF OUR HOUSE

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WELL THAT’S 2 OUT OF 5 TREES STRIPPED SO FAR

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THIS IS THE BOBCAT MACHINE THAT SCOOPS UP ALL THE BRANCHES AND HAULS THEM AWAY

While raking up some small pine branches I came up with my own very simple common sense little weather theory.  If you have to turn your furnace on to stay warm then it’s too cold outside.  If you have to turn your A/C on to stay cool then it’s too hot outside.  Yup, sure makes sense to me.

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I WAS ABLE TO HELP A ‘LITTLE BIT’ WITH THE CLEAN-UP

Shortly after 1 p.m. Kelly and i were in the Jeep heading for the Jeep dealer in Exeter Ontario.  Sure glad we didn’t have our 06 Wrangler which never did have A/C.  With summers getting hotter it was another factor in selling it a year and a half ago.  Okay so what the heck were we doing at the Jeep dealer in Exeter eh.  Say, you don’t suppose we were maybe fixin to trade the Liberty in on………………………

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Nawwww, we just took the Liberty over there to see if they could cancel the ‘rolling locks’ feature which I have absolutely hated ever since we bought it.  Every time the Jeep gets up to 15 MPH all the doors and hatch automatically lock and that really fries my raisins!!  I do understand the security feature and especially for female drivers in heavily populated urban areas.  But I aren’t a female and I are the principle driver of the Jeep in a non urban threatening environment.  I’ve tried for a year and a half now to remember to flick the lock switch up every time I get out of the Jeep so that it doesn’t keep itself locked up like Fort Knox all the time.  How many zillions of times have I gone to open a door or the hatch and pulled my arm right off because the dam things was locked!!!!  Anyway it was not to be today.  Despite their best effort at Exeter Jeep they could not cancel the rolling locks feature.  They said it was highly unusual for their machines and codes not to work in solving that rolling lock problem.  On the way home Kelly suggested tying a big red balloon to the door handle to remind myself about flicking the lock switch to the ‘up’ position upon exiting.  Do I think that will work??  Likely not because I’ll end up sitting in the seat staring at the big red balloon wondering, “now who the hell tied a big red balloon on my door handle”!!

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HERE’S THE PROJECTS STRAW BOSS KEEPING AN EYE ON THINGS

The day was exceptionally humid so I wasn’t surprised to see a large storm cell on our live computer radar site building over Michigan and heading our way.  It was late afternoon and we were already hearing distant thunder out over the lake.  Because of today’s excessive humidity weather warnings had already been issued for our area advising of possible tornados.  Leaving Pheebs at home I grabbed my cameras and headed on over to Bayfield’s Pioneer Park.  Dark turbulent clouds to the west and the storm was obviously on it’s way.   I thought for sure we would be in for a good smasher with high winds driving the storm ashore with gusting force.  Strangely enough the air remained dead come and the sinister looking clouds did not turn into anything fiendish.  Did see some good lightning though but was unable to capture it photographically.  I probably stood there on the bluffs overlooking Lake Huron for close to 40 minutes waiting for Mother Nature’s big show to come slamming ashore……but it never happened.  The storm rolled in like a big old lazy sheep.  When the rain slowly started I walked back to the Jeep and headed on home.  Rain finally did get heavy for maybe 10 minutes with thunder and lightning overhead.  The storm slowly trundled it’s way eastward and half an hour later we had shafts of sunlight piercing through the pine trees.  And that was that…..

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I WILL LEAVE YOU WITH A FEW PHOTOS OF THE BIG SCARY STORM THAT WASN’T

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ANOTHER STORM ENTHUSIAST LIKE MYSELF PATIENTLY AWAITS THE STORMS ARRIVAL

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A FEW HARDY STORM WATCHERS

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“WAS THAT THUNDER I HEARD OVER THERE”

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“I DON’T THINK THIS STORM IS GOING TO AMOUNT TO MUCH”

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GROANER’S CORNER:))  A man stumbles up to the only other patron in a bar and asks if he could buy him a drink. "Why of course," comes the reply. The first man then asks: "Where are you from?" "I'm from Ireland," replies the second man. The first man responds: "You don't say, I'm from Ireland too! Let's have another round to Ireland." "Of course," replies the second man.
I'm curious, the first man then asks: "Where in Ireland are you from?" "Dublin," comes the reply.
"I can't believe it," says the first man. "I'm from Dublin too! Let's have another drink to Dublin."
"Of course," replies the second man. Curiosity again strikes and the first man asks: "What school did you go to?"  "Saint Mary's," replies the second man, "I graduated in '62."  "This is unbelievable!", the first man says. "I went to Saint Mary's and I graduated in '62, too!"
About that time in comes one of the regulars and sits down at the bar. "What's been going on?" he asks the bartender. "Nothing much," replies the bartender. "The O'Grady twins are drunk again."

10 comments:

  1. Our car has some of those weird locks too. Drives me crazy. Never had fried raisins though...

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  2. Lovely storm clouds, nice they let the Big EEE stay clean for a whole day :-) I guess I'm just used to the auto locking doors, can't remember a time I had a car without them.

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  3. Sounds like your are looking for excuses to buy a new(er) car. Is there a separate fuse for the door locking system? If yes, maybe you could run a wire from the supply side to a switch on the dash, then back to that side of the fuse. In the off position, the locks would not work. If the switch is "on" they would work like they do now. Most cars have a spot for an additional switch, such as for fog lights.

    Does that worker's platform used by the tree trimmer have no outriggers? I'm surprised, with the arm extended all the way, the flex in the tires could cause it to tip.

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    Replies
    1. Good question about those 'outriggers' Phil. I'm going to have a closer look when he brings the machine back. That 'fuse and switch' solution sounds too complicated for we simple folk here at the Bunch but thanks for the suggestion:))

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  4. Good luck with the door locks, we have never had a car with them, but can imagine they would be a nuisance.
    The sky is always interesting as a storm font comes in, nice photos.

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  5. I totally agree with your weather theory. Sadly there are just too few days where you don't need the furnace or the A/C on.

    Great frog shots.

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  6. See pages 27 and 28 of your manual.

    Automatic Door Locks—If Equipped
    The doors will lock automatically on vehicles with power
    door locks if all of the following conditions are met:
    1. The Auto Lock feature is enabled.
    2. The transmission is in gear.
    3. All doors are closed.
    4. The throttle is pressed.
    5. The vehicle speed is above 15 mph (24 km/h).
    6. The doors were not previously locked using the power
    door lock switch or remote keyless entry transmitter.
    The Automatic Door Lock feature can be enabled or
    disabled.

    Refer to “Personal Settings” (Customer Programmable
    Features) in the Electronic Vehicle Information
    Center (EVIC) — if equipped section of this manual
    for details.

    For vehicles not equipped with the EVIC the Automatic
    Door Locks can be enabled or disabled by performing the
    following procedure:
    1. Close all doors and place the key in the ignition.
    2. Cycle the ignition switch between LOCK and ON and
    back to LOCK 4 times ending up in the LOCK position.
    3. Depress the power door lock switch to lock the doors.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the info Ed. Kelly did try the 'fix' in the manual and it didn't work but she said something in what you said was slightly different so she is going to try it again.

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  7. I missed the last few lines by mistake

    For vehicles not equipped with the EVIC the Auto
    Unlock Feature can be enabled or disabled by performing
    the following procedure:
    1. Close all doors and place the key in the ignition.
    2. Cycle the ignition switch between LOCK and ON and
    back to LOCK 4 times ending up in the LOCK position.
    3. Depress the power door unlock switch to unlock the
    doors.
    4. A single chime will indicate the completion of the
    programming.
    NOTE: Use the Auto Door Locks and Auto Unlock
    features in accordance with local laws.

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  8. Great photos of the storm brewing! Glad it didn't amount to anything:)

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