[BigMackCam]

At least I ain't fluffing my post count with meaning less drivel about the *******.

No, sir... you are most definitely not. You are our guardian of posting quality. I was only joshin' with you

[robtcorl]

Located my cough syrup, with the good stuff in it, if needed. Most of a bottle left from Jan. 3 of this year.
That was a rough time, 3 days and nights with zero sleep. Mrs bob had to wheel me in and out of the doc's office.

[BigMackCam]

Mike is near Newcastle Upon Tyne, at about 54 degrees, and London is further South at about 51 degrees.

Indeed. I had to look up the position, but I'm at (or close to) 54°50'34"N, 1°36'53"W. Today (1st December) London gets 8h 12m of daylight, but we get 7h 38m... Not a huge difference, but significant nonetheless

[BigMackCam]

Located my cough syrup, with the good stuff in it, if needed. Most of a bottle left from Jan. 3 of this year.
That was a rough time, 3 days and nights with zero sleep. Mrs bob had to wheel me in and out of the doc's office.

That sounds more like it was 'flu than a common cold, Bob Hopefully not the same thing this time...

[bertwert]

54°50'34"N, 1°36'53"W

Target acquired.

Launching rocket in 3...

[robtcorl]

Gonna take a swig of my opioid laced cherry syrup, kick back in my recliner, and see if I can get a little sleep.
Later dudes.

[robtcorl]

But before I go, just noticed I've passed 9K posts.
I'll celebrate when I'm feeling better.

[microlight]

Strewth. At my posting rate, I won’t get to 9000 posts until the age of 108 or so.

[tim60]

Sorry to hear that, Bob Stay warm, don't overdo it, drink plenty of fluids and make sure some of those fluids are - how shall I say - medicinal Hot toddies with fresh lemon juice and good quality honey have often helped me immensely; or, at the very least, they felt like they helped, and I got a good night's sleep after having one

Last Monday I took my car into the dealership to have the driver's side air vent replaced, and decided to wait while they did it as mine was the first car in the workshop that day - plus they have free wifi, a big TV showing the news, and a decent fresh-ground coffee machine in the waiting area Anyway, there were three other people came in shortly afterwards and sat waiting near me. All three were sniffing, coughing and spluttering. I felt sure I'd catch it, but nothing so far. I seem to have a reasonably good immune system, but even so, there must have been a veritable cloud of germs floating around in there...

On a related note, I had my 'flu jab a few weeks ago, and made sure my Mum and Dad had theirs too, and their shingles shots. I never used to have the 'flu jab when I was younger, but since I started on some RA meds back in 2015, I'm supposed to have one each year. Anyway, we're all set. No guarantees, of course, since the strains of virus can differ from the vaccination, but we're as protected as we can be in the circumstances...

The people were coughing and spluttering, so they went to a car repair shop. I thought those places were for when the car was coughing and spluttering.

[Racer X 69]

The people were coughing and spluttering, so they went to a car repair shop. I thought those places were for when the car was coughing and spluttering.

Maybe they caught it from their cars.

[robtcorl]

Happy December!
I survived the night in my recliner, not much sleep, but didn't take any of the magic elixir.
Normally I grill something on Sunday, not today though.

[Racer X 69]

Happy December!
I survived the night in my recliner, not much sleep, but didn't take any of the magic elixir.
Normally I grill something on Sunday, not today though.

Happy December to you too Bob.

Today we put up the tree.

And I have spankin' new lights this year, LED, commercial grade. I finally gave up on the troublesome consumer grade incandescent strings, some of which were 40 years old.

Pictures to follow!

[gaweidert]

Racer, a few years ago I went with really expensive LED lights for outside. Most of the strings did not last the season. One bulb out and 1/3 of the strings shut off. Seems that water can work it's way into various nooks and crannies and when you only have 5 or 12V in the lines it shuts them down. Played with them for a few years to keep them working. Threw out the last string this fall when most of it would not come on. I have also been using some of the small incandescent for years. Some of them cost me all of $1.98 for a hundred light string after Christmas was over. They just keep on trucking along. Too bad too as the LED lights were great when they worked.

The LED strings that lasted less than a season were about $30 for a string of 150. So for me it is LED inside and incandescent outside. The energy consumption for the strings of small incandescent lights is about the same the energy usage for the LED strings of similar length and bulb count. Both use very little electricity.

We have been using an artificial tree for several years now. New main tree this year with 750 built in LED lights. Came with a remote and you have the choice of warm white or colors. Plus several different pattern schemes. Works pretty good and at 52 pounds it is heavy enough that the cat cannot pull it down.

[robtcorl]

We have been using an artificial tree for several years now. New main tree this year with 750 built in LED lights. Came with a remote and you have the choice of warm white or colors.

We have one similar, and Mrs Bob keeps the lights on white until I make a special request for a night of color.

[Racer X 69]

Racer, a few years ago I went with really expensive LED lights for outside. Most of the strings did not last the season. One bulb out and 1/3 of the strings shut off. Seems that water can work it's way into various nooks and crannies and when you only have 5 or 12V in the lines it shuts them down. Played with them for a few years to keep them working. Threw out the last string this fall when most of it would not come on. I have also been using some of the small incandescent for years. Some of them cost me all of $1.98 for a hundred light string after Christmas was over. They just keep on trucking along. Too bad too as the LED lights were great when they worked.

The LED strings that lasted less than a season were about $30 for a string of 150. So for me it is LED inside and incandescent outside. The energy consumption for the strings of small incandescent lights is about the same the energy usage for the LED strings of similar length and bulb count. Both use very little electricity.

We have been using an artificial tree for several years now. New main tree this year with 750 built in LED lights. Came with a remote and you have the choice of warm white or colors. Plus several different pattern schemes. Works pretty good and at 52 pounds it is heavy enough that the cat cannot pull it down.

These were on sale at$16.90 ea, I got 16 strings and 2 power cords (connect up to 10 strings per power cord). Commercial grade, and outdoor rated, the heat shrink at each bulb has mastic in it, sealing every connection from moisture intrusion.

LED Lights


When the order arrived I connected 8 strings each onto a power cord, plugged them in and left them on for a day. Inside of the first few minutes half of one string flickered and then went out. I contacted the merchant, and a replacement arrived a couple days later, no questions asked.

If an electronic device is going to fail it will most likely do so when new. Statistically the infancy mortality rate of these types of things is much higher than that of old age.

The lights are rated for 50,000 hours of seasonal use, so once they get past their infancy, they should last a very long time.

And as long as I am careful not to damage the wires (they are quite robust, compared to the incandescent strings) they should provide many years of trouble free service.