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I live in paradise. the view of town today. winter

a new house at REI 32 sq. ft. w/ a covered porch. Just enough for me to shack up in

I have a Black and Decker Electric Battery Operated String trimmer. When it was put away last year it was working vey well for the small jobs required. This year, nada, no start, no run. So I began the trouble shooting. Battery charged......yes. This made me happy. Would it run....no. This made me sad. So like the good technician I was trained to be I took it to the workshop and began to disassemble it while doing a visual inspection. Doing the right thing made me happy. After a while, all the parts were laid out with half the handle/cover removed so everything could work if I was careful.......happy again But it still didn't work and all the parts seemed to be moving and engaging and doing their thing properly.......This made me sad. What, what is that tiny blue flash when the trigger is pulled. It's an arc where a wire is crimped into a press on connector.....This made me questioning. Perhaps the connector wasn't crimped on tight enough so I got out a big pair of plyers and squeezed the offending connector....This made me feel strong like bull. Now it works.....that made me very happy. I reassembled the whole thing and there were no parts left over.......happy. It still works........even more happy. I gave the tool to womaxx and she went out to do the trimming while I sat down to watch F! qualifying. This made me ecstatic. The end.

Denizens of the Cafe, forgive me for having to keep this brief but I am on my way to an important meeting. Let me just say simply, you're welcome. Cheese

You are an evil white male and a member of the patriarchy. Couch

This reminds me of a joke I heard years ago, and is sure to cheer you up, Further! Q: What is worse, ignorance or apathy? A: I don't know, and I don't care.

Too bad you can’t wear those mirrored sunglasses in the office.

Oh, Wilbur.

I thought you meant his pictures had an infectious, irresistible smile.

Was troubleshooting an issue with a technician and the Executive Admin for this particular building. Well today's Casual Friday and it's in the 90's so the rather attractive and endowed Admin was wearing a low cut spaghetti strapped top. Didn't meet company dress code but whatever, she doesn't work for me... So we are talking to the tech in a conference room and we are all standing but Admin is leaning over the top of the chair basically exposing herself to the tech. I'm standing next to her so I cant see what he's seeing but watching the tech try to focus on her face or anything other than her boobs was hilarious. She's asking him pointed and direct questions and he can't look at her so was either looking at the wall to his left or the ceiling clearly uncomfortable. it was all I could do not to bust out laughing.

Got both shoes tied?

...if you set the bar low enough, anyone can be a winner.

It was usually a leisurely type of ride, depending on wind & current, But, this one time I got my 14 ? year old daughter to go out with me.... I don't know what or how but we hit our stride and the canoe was flying across the water, my hat blew off my head, we could have pulled a couple water skiers ! The dam at the end of the lake was coming fast and we had to back off. Never hit that sync again. But I'll never forget it.

OMG, what a slut. She knew damned well what she was doing. Props to your tech for his efforts to keep HIMSELF safe. Ugh.... This is why I hate and am embarrassed as a woman about the Me Too bs. sigh........

That was a beauty, wasn't it? I mean....I've always thought of myself as a good person and on the side of the angels before now. On the other hand, I've always recognised you as a silver-tongued rascal with absolutely no principles and irrevocably destined for the Big Burnin Fire, so that came as no surprise really.

I'm sending you some of my strength to get through this rough patch. Keep the chin up.

The jet age is too showy. I'm sticking with dirigibles.

Aww, I'm sorry Further. I hope you feel better soon. Even though you don't feel well, remember many people love you.

Sorry, didn't realize you wanted chili.

Pumpkintown Pumpkintown is an unincorporated community in Pickens County, South Carolina, on State Highway 8 northwest of Greenville. Wikipedia Elevation: 958′ Weather: 74°F (23°C), Wind N at 2 mph (3 km/h), 86% Humidity Hotels: 3-star averaging $228. View hotels Getting there: 6 h 50 min flight, from $763. View flights Local time: Friday 9:56 PM Other names: Pumpkin Town; Punkin Town ...that's the whole place. think Hooterville, but without the Bradley girls. ...the Bradley girls.

Just too awesome to be twue.

She's right. From now on SS is my forum Sis and offered full immunity from her occasional foray into the absurd. I'm going to buy her a Styrofoam Yeti for her birthday.

SO CUTE!!!

You're genius and weird. ?

There is always Diet Cherry Dr Pepper.

@AirwickWithCheese.

This is a good story with an uplifting ending!

Please don't use penis and baiting in the same sentence. Random guy frequents this forum.

It was horrible and made you immediately unapproachable and unlikable. I am thankful Kirby wasn't here to see that mess.

During market crashes, every stock is prone to crashing to some extent, so my recommendations are based on the ones that won't go bankrupt during a recession, will maintain its dividend during a recession, will probably bounce back faster than than the avg. stock, and have durable competitive advantages that will help them thrive as the economy recovers. Here are five of the 11 stocks and 1 fund I own and have owned for at least several years, the stocks through DRIPs (actually "DSPPs" - DRIPs through which you can buy your first share and where the minimum initial investment is from $250 - $1000 or committing to monthly investments until the min. is reached) whose dividends (which I reinvest) and general company health prospered right through the last three major stock crashes in 1987, 2000-1, and 2008-9 and whose stock prices recovered fairly quickly. I also recommend one Mutual Fund. 1. Abbott Labs (ABT). If I owned ONE "safe" stock it would be ABT which I've owned through its DRIP (currently administered by computershare.com: no investment fees, automatic investments as low as $25/month) since 1993. Even though it's my 2nd largest holding (AbbVie is #1) and 12% of my portfolio, I still make small, automatic purchases of stock each month. Abbott has raised its dividend every year for 42 straight years (even though it's only 1.7% right now) - right through the crashes of 1987, 2000-1, and 2008-9. It has the #1 baby formula in the world by far, Similac - which is #1 even in China. It also sells other top nutritionals like Ensure. It is the world leader in quick medical test equipment. It also does generic drugs and hospital pumps, etc. 2/3 of its sales are outside the USA which gives it a cushion against bad times hitting any part of the world. It split-off AbbVie in 2013 so research on it is often misleading since there are data and articles I've seen that treat ABT like it collapsed in 2013, not realizing the big split. It's a little pricey though just under the current S&P 500 avg. with a P/E or 24.2, but that price is due to the extreme safety of this stock. 2. Welltower (WELL, formerly HCN). It's DRIP is administered by computershare.com and it gives 2% discounts to market price for reinvested dividends and sometimes other purchases (all no-fee purchases, $50 minimum). When the market crashed in 2008, I had just sold my stock in DRE, a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), and just missed losing a ton of money and DRE was VERY slow to recover because of the fall in property values. Before I invested in another REIT I looked for ones that didn't crash. The BEST I found was WELL! Here are its median stock prices for 2006-16: $37.91, $41.82, $42.06, $36.30, $45.24, $48.12, $57.60, $66.25, $65.54, $71.54, $62.07. It returned 182.5% in the 10 years thru 2016 including dividends. Notice it didn't collapse during the 2008-9 crash (the 3rd and 4th numbers in the list) even though the crash was heavily property related! This is the largest and most stable healthcare REIT. It owns and rents and maintains the properties of several nursing home chains as well as various medical buildings. Much higher than other healthcare REITs, 90% of the patients covered in its buildings have PRIVATE insurance, which means it's not seriously in danger if Washington changes healthcare policies. It was founded in 1971 and has only reduced its dividend a couple times since then and by only tiny amounts. Almost every other year it has raised the dividend, which is a very fat 6.0% right now. Healthcare REITs stock prices have been mostly falling for the last few years. WELL has been relatively stable and returned to me in 2016-18, 1.56%, 0.17%, and -4.9% including dividends. It's stock price has fallen to $57.99 right now. But I'm automatically buying a small amount each month because it's CHEAP! These are numbers for BAD REIT years. There will be good ones and a 6% dividend helps! Because REIT's must pay out something like 90% of their profits each year in dividends, REIT earnings are best measured by FFO (Funds From Operations) rather than the traditional "Earnings." WELL's Price/FFO is a bargain at 13.97 right now. It's revenues were growing over 10% per year but growth has been slow in 2017-18 for the entire sector. Morningstar's Equity Analyst Report points out its primary competitive advantage: "Welltower’s diverse strategy allows it to consider a range of opportunities across property types and business models as a means for growth. The company estimates that it owns roughly 3% of the current $1 trillion healthcare real estate market." 3. Emerson Electric (EMR). This stock has raised its dividend 60 years in a row! It now yields 2.7%. It's another stock administered by computershare.com where I make small purchases automatically each month with no fees ($25 min. allowed). It makes electronic control systems for everything from elevators to entire oil rigs. It does things in which no other companies specialize and that gives it an edge. It suffered a little when the oil industry suffered, the stock returning to me (including dividends) -3.4% in 2014 and -17.5% in 2015. But since then it's been back to normal returning 20.8% in 2016, 28.0% in 2017, and 6.1% so far in 2018. It's a little pricey with a P/E of 25.7 but that's partly due to its long-term record as a safe stock. 4. General Mills (GIS). The DRIP for this stock is administered by shareowneronline.com. Optional purchases are a min. $50 with no fees I know, it's down 20+% in 2018 after returning just 1% in 2017 and double-digit returns the years previous. But it's a very likely a short-term drop due to Americans buying fewer processed cereals (but only 1% less of GIS's) and other changes in buying habits. But large, strong GIS has been adapting (it now owns Annie's organic soups, and other similar "green" stuff) and just bought Blue Buffalo pet food to diversify. Its earnings are still growing, its P/E is only 11 and it's fat dividend, currently 4.6%, has not been lowered since the 1800's! That's right: EIGHTEEN hundreds! When the S&P 500 crashed by 45% between Sep. '08 and Mar. '09, GIS crashed, too, by 33%. But, just 9 month later, on Dec. 21, 2009, GIS stock hit a new all-time high! Even in recessions people keep buying Cheerios, Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Pillsbury, Gold Medal Flour, Lucky Charms, Yoplait, Progresso, etc. GIS has a durable competitive advantage based on size and brand names. I've been doing small, automatic purchases for a couple years that I'll end after Aug. 2018 and rotate to another stock I own. The avg. annual eps growth the last 5 years was 4.1% and is projected to be 6.2% the next five years. Add to that the fat 4.6% dividend and that's a cheap stock at a low P/E. It's expected to be announced during 6/27's quarterly report that it will raise its dividend for the 14th straight year and, again, it has not lowered its dividend since the 1800's. 5. T. Rowe Price Communications and Technology Fund (PRMTX, no-load, 0.78% total annual fees, formerly "Media and Telecommunications Fund"). I've owned this both in a regular account and a Roth IRA since the 1990's. It requires a min. $2500 for a regular account and the minimum added investment is $100. You can set up automatic investments and tell them which months to do. For example, I add $100 each of the even numbered months. Even though I'm a multi-degreed scientist and computer programmer and understand technology well, I do NOT own any high-tech stocks because fortunes can change overnight and the average reporter doesn't have a clue what he's reporting about in tech. Apple has just told its suppliers it will make 20% fewer iPhones this year. In the past Microsoft, RCA, Motorola, etc. have been great stocks that "will never be surpassed." If I was younger, I might put some of my money in individual, high-tech related stocks like Facebook, Alphabet (Google), Apple, Alibaba, etc. but I want more safety now at age 67. So instead, it's much safer for me to invest in this mutual fund that has beaten the S&P 500 for 1, 3, 5, and 10 year periods and has done over 50% better than the S&P 500 (15% to less than 10% annual return) since inception in 1993. That way I get a relatively safe way to invest in risky tech stocks. Here's the fund's performance since inception. You can see that it lost about 40% of it's value during the 2008 crash. But it had recovered by 2010 and has outperformed the competition since then: Additionally, look how it consistent crushes the S&P 500 and the Lipper index for its sector: Here are it's 10 biggest holdings and the percentages of the Communications and Technology Fund they represent, allowing me a relatively safe way to invest in the glamour hi-tech stocks: Another possible recommendation: T. Rowe Price Health Sciences Fund (PRHSX, no-load, 0.77% total annual fees). I also own this in my Roth IRA. But since my regular account stocks are heavy with healthcare industry stocks (Abbvie, Abbott Labs, CVS,and Welltower) I don't own it in a regular account. But it's a great fund and has performed similarly to PRMTX:

An unattached nut implies that you must have a screw loose somewhere.

A few pics from our trip last year. It was a circuit. 9 lakes and a bunch of portages brings you right back to your car

Whoa, that is dying technology. You should have moved it into Blueray at least.

Mr President.

Did the world deliver?

If you don’t want your pipe fittings to leak make sure you use pipe dope on the threads.

Regarding the drug reference, why is it called "dope"? A friend of insists it is because it makes one act like a dope. I always thought it was a reference to dopamine, the brain chemical responsible for psychological highs and lows. I remember from my youth, my father used pot and dope as being two different things. I think dope made reference to things like acid etc.

When i use the term it's almost always in the "idiot" context. I understand it in the "cool" context but never use it myself in that way.

I always had comments to say when I was running press. Nobody could hear them, not even me. Wearing custom made ear protection and the noise of the press you don’t hear much. I wore those custom ear plugs for the first time since I retired yesterday while mowing. It was really nice.

That looks like the one I loaned to a couple of kids named Harry and Ron...

Welcome back

I was talking about those left behind by suicide, not the one seeking release from his or her demons by means of suicide. I am not judging the poor souls who took their own life because that seemed like a better option than the tormented lives they were leading. I can try to understand the hopelessness my uncle felt when he hung himself in the closet in his classroom. I can try to understand the pain and loss my buddy Glen felt when he pulled his car into his parents garage and shut the door. I will also never forget them and the pain that their deaths brought to me and the guilt that I felt and still feel wondering what if, why, I will never know the pain my father or Glen's father felt at the loss of a brother or a son. I can only image the guilt they feel and carry with them. You do not have to agree or disagree with me. I am not judging. I am stating fact. Fact based on my life experience.

I talk to Ruby.

I am looking forward to tasty pie in the Pumpkintown General Store and Cafe.

I loved my wife's and my first time together, paddling in a circle.

I still have two canoes, a back country tripping canoe and an only cedar Chestnut canoe that is now mostly for show. All three of my children were in the canoe before they were a year old, and either me and my son or me and my wife still do back country trips. We are heading out again in two weeks if the weather holds. Proper paddling technique is the key for ease, efficiency and speed over a long period of time in a canoe. A great way to travel