toolsheds

43 minutes ago, mappy said:

Lost at game 1. Oh well. Time to drink all day and watch other games 

THat is the best part of playing.  I started playing indoor soccer again about 3 years ago in Westminster.  THe best part is that the folks in the over 40 league have so much fun.  As the games are going on, it's like a big happy hour!  It's a really good group of people who just have fun. 

Hope you are able to enjoy the rest of the day, and rememeber...stay hydrated. 

1 hour ago, mappy said:

Thank you cold front for the amazing temps and low dews this morning for my softball tournament 

Good Luck!  Have a towel ready...otherwise you will be playing with wet balls. :-)

1 hour ago, vastateofmind said:

LOL. So, in terms of amusement parks, it seems that roller coasters are the *ONLY* type of ride this old man can handle anymore.   I can't spin, do barrel rolls, or otherwise ROTATE in any way on any amusement ride (with the arguable exception of LOOPING coasters, for some reason!) without getting vertigo or some motion sickness. It saddens me....as I used to be able to ride ANYTHING that the amusement parks offered, at least decades ago.   

Was able to get 2 rides on the Wildcat today.  The first one wasn't bad.  Since there was no line at all, we went back for a second....and that one was ROUGH.   Glad to be able to ride it one last time.  

2 hours ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Nice line developing along I-95. Here's my view from the west.

 

Right down the street from me.  Were you around when the Cell formed and dropped the big Fat drops for about 2 minutes then grew as it went east? 

54 minutes ago, vastateofmind said:

Wow....this is sad, Wildcat is a great coaster. To @mappy's point....it's definitely gotten to be a rougher ride over the years. Really....Hersheypark is probably my favorite East Coast park for roller coasters. I could ride the Great Bear ALL. DAMN. DAY.

A close second preference for great coaster variety is Busch Gardens Williamsburg....I think the Alpengeist there is my all-time favorite coaster, followed by Apollo's Chariot. Wasn't a great fan of the Griffon, after I let my sons drag me onto it. I just have a thing/preference for suspended coasters.   

Hershey added a new coaster when you enter the park last year.  My daughter wants to get me on that tomorrow.   Luckily with her season pass, we get in an hour before everyone else.  :-)

34 minutes ago, mappy said:

wildcat was my first rollercoaster ever

Mine too many years ago.  it is really too rough now that it is older and these old bones feel beat up after riding it a few times. 

I also had the date wrong.  The last date to ride is is 7/31, not tomorrow.

Rain tomorrow, but still going to HersheyPark.   They are closing the Wildcat and tomorrow is the last day to ride it.   Hopefully the rain stays away long enough for me to get one last ride in. 

9 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

Wow…I’m in northern MoCo and that outflow came through aggressively 

It really did.  Had about 5 minutes of strong winds coming through in waves.

Just now, toolsheds said:

Crazy gusts ahead of the front here.  Neighbor had a tree snap about 10 minutes ago. 

Looking at the radar loop now and it looks like the gusts hit just as the outflow boundary hit. 

Crazy gusts ahead of the front here.  Neighbor had a tree snap about 10 minutes ago. 

1 hour ago, RDM said:

Was thinking some more...   (I know, that's dangerous!).   One other suggestion that is often overlooked in home inspections.  It's about your garage doors.  

Most garage doors have a long torsion spring that is wrapped around the jack-shaft.  The jack-shaft is the long rod that runs across the top of the garage door with a cable on both sides. It is what actually helps lift the weight of the garage door.  On a single door there is just one spring and on a double door there are two.  Not all springs are the same.  They are tailored to the type, size and weight of the garage door (there's several categories of springs)

Torsion springs have an enormous amount of stored kinetic energy in them.  Don't mess with them unless fully versed on the mechanicals and even then, be extremely careful.  On occasion a torsion spring will break.  When it does the release of energy is loud and dramatic - like a shotgun blast (sort of).  

One thing that everyone can do to extend the life of a torsion spring is to lubricate it once a year.  A good spray lithium grease is a reasonable option.  Garage door companies use a variety of lubricants.  

The goal is to use a grease that is sufficiently fluid to penetrate in between the coils of the spring, but not so fluid that it drips down on your garage door or your car when you are entering/exiting (WD-40 is not a suggested option).  Getting the lubricant down inside the coils of the spring significantly reduces the friction on the surfaces of the coils, which greatly extends the service-cycle lifespan of the springs.  

Replacing a coil spring is not an extremely expensive endeavor.  But it is best left to the pros who can replace a spring in a much shorter amount of time than any of us can.  I've done one before out of necessity.  But it's a tricky endeavor and one slip-up in the process can result in a trip to the ER, or worse.   

 

Hope this helps and hope things are going well getting settled into your new home. 

Also, use the lithium grease on the rails and "door wheels" too.  It makes the door run quieter and smoother. 

1 hour ago, WxUSAF said:

Our torsion spring broke a year ago. Yes, shotgun blast. Had a garage door company replace it. 

Ours did too.  When the house was built, only one spring was installed on my double size garage door.   The company I called replaced the broken one and put a second one in and haven't had issues since. 

The second spring helped balance the load as well. 

1 hour ago, mappy said:

90/66 currently -- going to be a hot softball game tonight

I also have volunteered to walk in a parade on Saturday with my kid's dance studio, so that should be fun. 

Last softball tournament of the year this weekend in Hagerstown.  Going to suck. 

3 hours ago, toolsheds said:

There is a video on Youtube to fix just about anything.  Go there first when you have issues and the fix might be easier than you think. 

Also....feel free to ask folks here when issues come up.

There are a lot of experienced and smart folks who I've seen suggest great advice when asked. 

8 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

I’m a homeowner! Any general advice from all the old pros?

There is a video on Youtube to fix just about anything.  Go there first when you have issues and the fix might be easier than you think. 

24 minutes ago, MDphotog said:

Yeah that was some gust it came in with.  Wow (Working in South Frederick)

Gust hit right before the rain started here. 

8 hours ago, ThePhotoGuy said:

Rain was pretty intense in the Annapolis area. Really poured for a while in the late afternoon with low visibilities while driving. Then it rained again a 700ish but not as hard. 

Pretty wild precip differences in Anne Arundel in the past 24 hours. 0.05 in Northern Anne Arundel while 4.79 radar estimated in Edgewater. 

Our Girls' softball team played a tournament at Bachman Park in Glen Burnie yesterday and had a delay of 2 hours for lightning and a brief shower.  Not much rain, but the lightning and thunder is what caused the delay.  Definitely could see how you had that much rain down on the southern half of the county. 

14 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Yes. It’s open for carry out now but won’t be a taproom and brewery until next year. I just asked! 

Thanks for Asking!  That is really cool....and I bet the number of speed traps south of that spot on the way to the beach will increase too :-). 

RAR is also expanding.  They are opening a new location in Annapolis in the fall. :-)

26 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Sorry for all those still wo power. I had a long morning down in the DC area helping out my dad, who is also still without power, but the afternoon has gotten markedly better. Now you at Big Truck in Mappy land.

is Big Truck opening a place by the outlets in Queenstown? 

20 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

Can see clear outflow boundary racing out from the Northern Maryland activity. It's draped from like Brunswick east to Mount Airy right now. - That is likely to have *some* sort of impact on the incoming stuff...or it may trigger new activity in the parts of the area that have not had storms yet. 

Was watching the front approach with a lot of rotation heading this way about 15 minutes ago.  We were well ahead of the actual storm, but the shear was very obvious in the video I took.  I'm not surprised that PSU had something run through up there.  

1 hour ago, BlizzardNole said:

76 with full sun at 11 am on July 11 is fantastic!  Got some good gardening done this morning.  Looking ahead is mostly 80s with maybe near 90 a couple days.  One of my son's friends just moved to Austin and is in shock over the temps there.

I had to travel to Austin last week for work.   It was only about 100.  Yesterday it topped off at 109.   They have been having a crazy hot year so far. 

16 hours ago, NeedaSnowday said:

Gahhhh … this storm’s timing continues to delay USA vs Australia lacrosse game in Towson!!  
https://www.womensworldlax2022.com/landing/index

 

Boycotting watching  USA Women's Lax this summer.  One of the coaches really played some political BS with my Niece. 

14 minutes ago, H2O said:

Everyone wish @mappya very happy birthday today!!

She turns 85 today but is amazingly spry and full of energy. Especially for sleet. She loves sleet. 
 

Happy Birthday!!  Hope you get storms and 85 lightning strikes!!

Ha!

Happy Birthday Mrs. Map!

23 minutes ago, H2O said:

You know it’s humid out when all the windows are fogged up

and... really good AC

34 minutes ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Pretty clear surface boundary pushed along I-270 from that warned cell in Montgomery.

One pushed westward from that smaller cell which went through Carroll county as well.