Steve Zoma

I worked at a hydro dam and we had a printer. Not a good one though. One day it gave me fits. I never said anything just picked up the printer and went out the door. Somewhere along the Kennebec River there is a printer being pushed along by the current. I’ll call it fish habitat.

The phenomenon is not limited to Supervisors.


Anytime you inconvuence someone else for something not working or cannot be found the answer presents itself.

I found the magic pill… at least for getting the rust off dishes. This mug was soaked upside down only in Bar Jeepers Friend with no scrubbing done to it. Can you tell where the water line was? 😀

I had several breeds of sheep but kept going back to Corriedales because that was what was prevalent in my area. They are a good mix of both meat and wool sheep. They are polled (no horns) and docile compared to some breeds. They are what is known as dual-purpose sheep because they have good wool and good sized for meat.

I had a sawmill that I really hated. It was awkward to use, not really dangerous, but if not set up exactly right it would run the blade into parts of the mill. It had other issues too, so I was surprised when so many reviews on Youtube praised it...

Until one guy told the truth. Like me, he hated the sawmill too, but for anyone that had a youtube channel and their saws, the manufacturer would send all these extra upgrades to put on the sawmill. They were not paying these guys for good reviews, but they sure were greasing the skids to that end. This one guy though he was like, "I gotta tell you, I don't like this sawmill that much, and I turned down their offer".

I am not sure how often this comes into play on reviews, but I think it happens a lot.

I am so DUMBBBBBBBBB!

We have really hard water here, I mean like REALLY hard water. Safe iron levels are .5 mg/l and we have 37 mg/l!! Obviously we do not drink the water, but we do use it for dishes and the toilet and the like.

Needless to say the dishes get a wee bit of an orange tint to them.

So I was trying to figure out how to get it off the dishes, Peroxide, vinegar, bartenders friend, oxy boost, etc. I was trying this and that and some worked, some worked better and some did not work at all. But this one mug... why it sparkled like it was fresh out of the pottery kiln. The rust came right off without so much as buffing it clean.

But I can't remember which cleaner I used on it. I think it was hydrogen peroxide presoaked with vinegar as a rinse aid.

If anyone knows how to get rust off dishes I would love to know!

Being a blue collar worker in the high voltage industry, typically my work clothes are provided by the company because they must be arc proof resistant. Naturally I wear them at home too, but the industrial brand lasts about 3 years before they finally wear out. Not just holes in a spot, but the fibers of the jeans literally thread bare.

Edited to say:

I checked some pairs I have and they are FR (Flame resistant) Carhartt work jeans

I do a lot of hiking and have notice the maintenance crews, typically high schoolers working as interns for the summer; have an easier time of it. Years ago they had to tote in heavy chainsaws with only the people with specialized training allowed to use them putting heavy work on a few people. But now they tote in battery saws with a backpack of batteries. Considering these younger people are often smaller in size, and their stamina is different due to the whole idea that is trail work internship work, I am so glad they got things easier now.

Everyone benefits. They are not dismayed by grueling work with dangerous, loud chainsaws, and for us hikers they get more hiking trails improved in a summer.

Ned Harr wrote:I repeat my view that (in my experience*) an oscillating saw is superior: more adaptable, easier to control.

*Mostly doing electrical and other trades work rather than farming. Your mileage may vary.

I agree, you could cut dovetails with an oscillating tool, or what I call, and have called on here: a multi-tool.

Of course when you wee done cutting the dovetails you could scrape off the glue, sand the work, buff out the finish... with one billion different tools to put on it, there is not much it cannot do with it, and with finesse.

I think if you waxed the blade it would slice through things easier, no different than waxing a handsaw to get the same result. I often wax my screws before driving them if they are especially long or the wood is hard. Wax on steel really makes a difference.

But I just no longer use my reciprocating saw much. Its versatile and powerful, but other tools have really came along and replaced it.

For cutting steel, I found a thin wall grinding wheel works better.

For cutting in new outlets in an old wall, a multi-tool has greater control and does not break the keys out of my old horsehair plaster.

For cutting notches, my jigsaw has finer control.

For pruning my hand-held chainsaw works better and faster.

For long rip cuts, my skillsaw works better and is provides a better straight cut.

For cutting long curves in boards, I prefer my jigsaw.

For cutting pipes for plumbing, I get better control and can cut closer with my multi-tool.

I have a reciprocating saw, and it is a battery powered Milwaukee so certainly not a junk saw, but it comes out very sporadically. Mostly it is in demolition when I need to cut nails or boards with nails in them. Then I am glad I have it. It has brawn and can make longer cuts.

It just seems to be one of those multi-tools. Yes it does many, many things, but it does none of them well. As my tool collection has grown, it just seems to get less and less use. I'll always have one, but it will last a very, very long time when used but a few minutes a year.

My grandfather has lived in the same house for some 85 years. In the back is a HUGE field but way at the top, a tree. He has lived there so long that he noticed where the moon is in relation to the tree on winter solstice can determine how warm or cold the winter will be. He is not wrong. The moons distance from the earth determines tides, and tides determine winds and winds determine weather.

I am not so astute, but I have learned some things myself over the years. In a VERY broad form, if the skies look ominous, ominous weather is coming. Not might arrive, could arrive, should arrive but WILL arrive!

Rain before seven, stops before eleven. I have never seen this not to hold true, which also means rain at 4 AM, it is going to rain for most of the day.

If the wind is strong enough to flip the leaves over on hardwoods, it is going to rain within a half-hour. Part of it has to do with the strength of the wind, but also too the air pressure which is inverted and suddenly allows the leaves to flip over easier.

A mottled pink sunrise is absolutely beautiful, but watch out. A severe storm will arrive the next day.

Here in Maine, if ponds are dry in the fall, they will be filled in the spring, meaning heavy snowfall for the winter. If ponds are full in the fall, they will be about as full in the spring, meaning no snow melt run-off so a less severe winter. I have never seen this not to hold true.

My birthday is on May 8th. I have yet to see a year when tractors started plowing before my birthday. I have thought many years it was going to happen, but some major weather event has always sprung up and the tractors had to stay off the fields until after my birthday.

Like my birthday, here in Maine you can count on putting your livestock on pasture on the second week of April. It may seem that will never happen with too much snow or whatever, but high temps have always allowed the grass to grow enough to allow grazing to happen.

Despite the above, we always get one plowable snowstorm the first of April. The snow never lasts. Lands and is melted the next day, but we always get one last plowable snowstorm in April.