Supremo pork chorizo

Good stuff!

Made in the USA. Pork, natural spices, salt, vinegar, garlic powder and sodium nitrate. One serving is 2 cooked ounces (5 servings per 15 ounce package) for 0 carbs.

Road construction update

I noticed recently that a number of the curb cuts for strom drains had buckled. They came and cut them out the other day and are getting them ready to pour some new concrete. These pix taken 6-26-12.

This one is a cut for a driveway that also buckled.

6-29-12 Interesting cloud formations

It rained quite hard for a few minutes shortly after these were taken just after 10:30 am while I was at work. But the short duration meant very little in the way of actual water.

6-26-12 Turkeys

Seen on the way to work on Harlem Road along Rock Cut State Park.

Big kites

Saw these flying out back of work 6-21-12. A shop worker thought that it was a paraglider in distress initially due to the erratic motion and called 911. The police showed up about 15 minutes after the call.

Schnucks Premium Pork Sausage Mild

Fran got this for me recently as Walmart was out of Farmland sausage that I usually eat. This sausage is pretty good. The texture is OK with limited carbs. It is mild in flavor, but I usually put hot sauce on sausage anyway so that does not matter much. I don't know how much it cost. The label says five 2 ounce cooked servings per 16 ounce package with 0 carbs per serving.

Great Value Mild Pork Sausage

Great Value is a Walmart house brand. It covers a lot of products. Most of the ones have tried are pretty good quality and indeed good values. This one is sort of iffy. It is OK, but nothing special. The taste of this sausage is pretty bland as one might expect from a product labeled as mild. The texture is OK, and it cooks up OK. It is also not the least expensive pork sausage sold at my local Walmart either. My biggest gripe is that it has more carbs than I like. 2 grams per serving. 6 servings per 16 ounce package. It is not horrible carb wise, but the bland flavor coupled with the unnecessary carbs, and the not so great price make it a tough sell for me. Fran sometimes buys it for me when Walmart is out of my favorite pork sausage Farmland.

Fran's tomato farm

Update to
6-22-12
The upside down plant now has a lot of little yellow blooms on it.

The not upside down plant now has several small green tomatos on it along with more blossoms.

more road construction updates

6-13-12
It was kind of dark when I took these pictures, but you can see the progress the guy down the street has made on his paver driveway.

6-15-12
A much better picture. Note the wooden border around the pavers.

6-20-12
There was a crew working in my front yard when I left for work yesterday. They said they were there to fix the fence and promised to remove the brick work the demolition contractor left in my front yard. You can see here that they removed the temporary gravel driveway they made so Fran could get in and out.

They fixed the fence, and they took away the piece of limestone, but left the brick work for some reason. I noticed there are a couple piles of gravel left over from the temporary driveway they did not remove either. Maybe they are coming back to finish later.

6-20-12

It looks like they did come back today and finished up.

Stuff

6-12-12
Seen in the evening at Alpine and Riverside.

ETA 6-20-12
A Google search revealed the phone number is associated with Bullet Stop Gun Shop.

6-13-12
Doorless SUV seen in the evening in a motel parking lot on my way home from a service call.

6-16-12
Garage sale finds - bow saw $1 - roofer's hatchet $3.

Fran's new Teak Rocking Chair

We got this at Menards yesterday. Our old porch furniutre is starting to fall apart so we decided to get rid of it and went looking for something different. Fran liked this rocker so we got it and I put it together last night. Only 6 screws - it did not take long to put it together.

Even has lumbar support.

Not an inexpensive chair at $169, but it should last a while if it is oiled yearly. We got her a cushion for it too.

6-15-12 Turkeys

Seen in the evening along Harlem Road by Rock Cut State Park. Five of them.

Special visitor at work today

He was wandering around in our shop, so someone captured him and let him loose outside.

Cute little bugger.

Fran's tomato farm update

Updates
6-11-12
Note the yellow blossoms on the not upside down tomato plant. I noticed these yesterday. There are also some blossoms that are still green.

No blooms yet on the upside down plant, but if you look close you will see some green ones.

Eagle Work Clothes

I bought these from ebay seller Miamidepotbob. I found this seller very easy to deal with. He promptly answered a number of questions I submitted through the eBay messaging system, and the information he gave me was accurate and helpful.

I initially bought one pair of pants and liked them enough that I bought two more pairs. The price was right - $9 shipped per pair. The pants came unhemmed in my size, so Fran put a hem in them for me.

They seem pretty well made. I have had no issues with them at all. 65% poly/35% cotton blend. They are quite comfortable. The waist sizing seems dead on. No problems with the brass zippers, the button for fastening at the waist, or the one button down pocket on the left rear side. The front slash pockets could be a little deeper, but I have no real complaint there. The tag says assembled in the Dominican Republic of USA components, permanent press, machine washable, and tumble dry. The tag also says cut # 6501.

I got navy blue pants. They have now been washed once or twice a week since I bought the first pair in late March and the second and third pair in early April. They have likely been washed at least ten times by now. No signs of color fading at all.

I don't know how warm they will be in the winter, as it has been warmer since I got them. I wear them to work most days, and sometimes on weekends as well. I have worn them while mowing and doing other yard work, and while hiking with the dog in the forest. The come clean and stay wrinkle free. I even wore one pair with a jacket to a funeral. I also wore a pair to a wedding. They are that nice looking.

I liked the pants enough that I got a long sleeve shirt as well. The seller advised me they come a little snug size wise, and he was right. I ordered the larger of the two sizes I would normally get, and it fits just about perfect. The shirt has a snap on the collar which I like, instead of a button, and two button down pockets. The tag calls this shirt cut # 5346.

The only unusual thing is the size of the cuffs. I think they were made for gorillas. Fran had to put a pleat in the cuffs for me to take up the extra material. But for $6 shipped, I have no real complaints. I had to get this in a dark gray color because the seller had sold out of the navy blue in my size in long sleeve. The seller told me he got these from a uniform supplier that went bust.

Cuffs before the pleat.

After the pleat.

I rarely wear long sleeve shirts but I wanted a shirt I could wear to a chemical plant I sometimes work in that requires LS shirts as part of their safety gear requirements. And, I would rather wear a LS shirt instead of a light jacket for hiking when it is cooler. I probably won't buy anymore of either right now.

Eagle Work Clothes does have a website, but it is not especially helpful. They don't even have a sizing chart for their shirts there.

Berkley Polarized Fishing Glasses (sunglasses)

I bought a pair of these at Walmart a year or so ago. I lost them on a hike in early April, so I went back and got another pair. I think they were the same price last year.

Over the years I have broken or lost more pairs of sunglasses than I care to think about, so I generally get cheap ones. I have found there is very little difference in a $5 pair of cheap sunglasses and a $20 pair of cheap sunglasses, so I am inclined to get whatever is cheapest. The pair I had of these worked well for me and held up to the abuse I threw at them, even though they are frameless and don't look especially sturdy. So, it should be no surprise that another pair was in order when I lost them.

I wonder why they don't sell them as sunglasses, instead of just for fishing? They work better in that role than most $5 sunglasses would. Better than most $20 sunglasses too, IMO.

I found them in the fishing department at Walmart.

Stuff

6-9-12
Porch thermometer at 1:53 pm.

6-10-12
Porch thermometer at 2:35 pm.

A branch that blew down in our front yard.

Walmart shopping list.

$0.50 each on clearance at Walmart. Good alcohol stove fuel.

Harbor Freight Tent Sale

HF was having a tent sale this weekend. Since I pretty much own everything they make that I want, I am less inclined to go to such sales any more, but now and then I still do.

I got this 7'4" X 9'6" tarp for $3.49, Light weight, but you can never have too many tarps. They are like clamps.

I also got this grabber thingy. I broke one last year and never replaced it. I have had a bunch of them over the years in different flavors. They are kind of handy for picking up in the yard. $1.99. They tend to get broken.

Four Sisters Bike Path Scouting Report - Rochelle, IL

I was attending a wedding in Rochelle 6-9-12. I saw this bike path from the church parking lot. So after the wedding I did a little investigating. The church custodian said the plan was to extend it in a loop back to where it starts. The map from the Rochelle Park District indicates the same thing. It would appear to provide access to most of the town when it gets done. The pavement I saw looked fairly new and in great shape.

View of bike path underpass from First Presbyterian Church parking lot on IL38.

View of trail head at what I think is Tilton Park.

Map posted at trail head. Appears to be a larger version of what I got off the website.

Bike path map uploaded from the Rochelle Park District website.

I submitted this path to TrailLink 6-9-12.