Thank you to all for the 56th anniversary wishes. I feel like my wife deserves some kind of consolation prize. She tells me she still loves me but damn, she watches an awful lot of "How I Got Away with Murder" TV shows. She is a very light sleeper and I sleep through hurricanes so there's reason to worry.
There have been some fires out West of you. Maybe a little more South. Anyway parts of Florida are on fire.
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Andrew, you may be right. The onshore breeze probably keeps the smoke away during the day. We're pretty close to the ocean.
Evening Bob
You guys sure cover some ground, where to start
Congrats on 56 yr anniversary, you're only 50 yrs infront of us (late starters) but I don't think i can be arsed to live to 103, so that aint gonna happen.
Andy as your neighbour, I'd pay good money to see him try to get ALL his stuff into a triple garage. We don't have HOA here but do have Listed buildings which means you have to get council or English Heritage permission to do anything to the building, but you can park outside overnight.
Lastly, good work on the Mangle, cos that's what it is, not to be confused with a mangleworzle thats something completely different. I'm sure with an old fan belt and a cordless drill, you could be done in half the time.
Regards

Steve.
Steve, I don't think we could have started much sooner. I was 17 and she was nine months older.
I can't actually imagine Andy living in Boca Raton. I don't recall the last time I saw any old iron, let alone rust. My brother-in-law lives in Maine and he remarked on how few "old" cars on the road down here.
I had to halt work on the mangle to shop for the ice box (yeah, I'm that old). I did google Manglewurzel and came across this picture and caption.
Harvested mangel-wurzels in Cornwall, England
Bob. congratulations on your 56th.
Appliances nearly always give up the ghost at the most inconvenient time.
Nice looking castors..
Regards
Steve, thanks for stopping by.
Our house was built in 1988 and the original refrigerator/freezer worked fine until 2006. My pet peeve was the magnets holding photos and scraps of paper on the front and sides.
The Opossum on the bottom was in honor of Possum, our Bichon Frise named after Dame Edna's favorite greeting and the cute bushy-tails down under, which I understand are being eradicated in New Zealand.
My solution to the magnets was to buy a stainless steel covered in the same side-by-side design. When I checked the dimensions it was too tall for the spot but a tiny dent in the freezer door took $1,000 off the price. A quick dismantle and re-assembly of a shorter but upside down (to hide the cuts) cabinet solved the problem.
Turns out this fancy refrigerator is temperamental. The ice-maker jams on a weekly basis and the temperature takes four hours to recover from leaving a door open for more than 30 seconds. Every two or three years the PC board dies so the most recent failure was no longer covered by the extended warranty. It was the first time one of those warranties paid off. For the 40 years we have lived in Florida, our homes have had side-by-side refrigerators and a few years ago my wife told me she hates them! She remembers the bottom freezer model in our first home in New York. For that reason she suggested we not invest another $6-700 on this one. We now have a 4-door refrigerator freezer.
In the lower left corner of that last picture you can see the edge of the door to the garage. It isn't a problem as long as we buy a "counter depth" refrigerator but that limits the selection and increases the price dramatically. A standard refrigerator sticks out 4- to 5-inches more, making it hazardous to sneak in from the garage late at night (a major reason for having an ice and chilled water dispenser with night light).
Bob
Congrats on the 56th Wedding Anniversary. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy . . . . .
If I get to that many I'll be 86......
And . . . .
Did you fall asleep at the keyboard here, or hit "Submit" too early. Or did Liane call you to bed in her sultry voice, causing mild panic in you?
Lyndon
Yep - still here.
Lyndon, living to 86 was worth a chuckle when I was young. Now when I read that someone died at 86 I ask how they were struck down in the prime of life.
As you noticed, many of my thoughts start with "
Now I just need to" and then trail off. I probably had to get up to go back to the last room to remember and then forgot why I was there, never making it back until it was time to shut down for the night -- and just clicking "Submit Reply."
Bob congratulations on your anniversary. Does you wife still laugh at your brand of humor or like mine do you find it ebbs and flows? If you're not making her laugh or blush every day, just wear that old shirt with the holes in it while mowing the lawn; instead of putting it in the rag barrel like she told you to!
Nice wheels.
Bobby, now that you mention it I don't think my brand of humor has ever made my wife laugh. My grandkids are my best audience.
Are you telling me you have my shirt?
Happy 56th Bob!
I hope it's a great one!
Thank you
Jon, it seems they are a lot closer together now. That's my excuse for forgetting but I always save the old cards. "Are you sure it's the same one?" is my standard response.
Bob congratulations to you and your wife for your 56th.
Dwight
Dwight, I have been told to keep it quiet but I had to share with my friends here on the GJ.
Sorry you could not find a card. My anniversary reminder guide from HD says that gold is appropriate for 50 years and cordless drill/driver set is the go to gift for 56 years. But I see you have jumped ahead to 60, which is new refrigerator.
Jim, I actually keep track of birthdays and anniversaries but my wife always asks "Are you sure it's 56?" She seems to think it's 73 but that would mean we've been married for as long as I have been alive.
Bob, congratulations on the 56th anniversary. Each one is a milestone.
I'm going to be in Boca Raton tomorrow afternoon Sat. 3/31 for a retirement function of my wife's co-worker who is also an electrical engineer, it's going to be in the afternoon at the Historic Railway Station, Count deHoernie Pavilion. If I see a Gen III Stingray circling the parking lot, I'll know it's you.
Seeing all your stacked-up tools I think your garage must be as-crowded as mine.
Boca Raton is ... different. I always liked the Seinfeld episodes where Jerry went to visit his parents there. From my time in fire-rescue I had friends who worked there. My friend was the rescue chief, she retired.
One time where I was working fire-rescue, we did a Live Burn Fire Instructor class, and had to conduct a live burn fulfilling all the necessary roles in the process: doing the paperwork, having the dwelling inspected (asbestos, lead paint, means of egress, including escape routes, and more), disconnecting all utilities, setting up a burn plan, staging the sector officers, etc. I ended up working a good deal of time in the rehabilitation sector, where you go after coming-out of the fire, to strip-down, have your vitals taken, and be monitored for heat exhaustion, heatstroke, low or high blood pressure, dyspnea, oxygen saturation, level of consciousness, or any other physical ailments that may result from wearing 60 lbs. of turnout gear and SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus), and whatever other equipment you bring into the building, on a 90 degree F day. A feature to help you cool-down is like a folding aluminum lawn chair, but where the forearm rests would be are two vessels that you fill with chilled water. To help you shed excess heat, you sit in the chair, and immerse your forearms in the water trays. Some water and some ice are what usually go into those trays.
Boca Raton Fire-Rescue sent a squad of their employees to take the class, so they could run their own live burns safely (recall it was an instructor class). They brought their own cool-down seats, and I caught one of the firefighters filling his with Perrier and ice! Yes, things are more-upscale in Boca Raton!
Philip, you're right. Especially these days when 50% of marriages end, making two miserable people happier. It helps if you don't expect a lot of 'betters.' I think the saying is "So I smiled and things go worse."
IBM chose Boca Raton and I asked for a transfer. When we moved here in the fall of 1975 we didn't notice how hoity toity it was. Then the winter residents arrived and Tom's Place had Rolls Royce, Bentley and Mercedes 600s parked next to the tracks on Dixie Highway. Some (not all) were chauffeurs picking up ribs, chicken and (on Thursday) conch fritters. We lived in an IBM ghetto where we drove mass-produced relatively new cars. Now we share the roads with McLaren, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Porsche Carerra GTs.
Congratulations to your persistent wife for surviving 56 years.
Oh, and you too, brother.
Andy, I appreciate the sentiment. If I didn't think she was trying to kill me, I would call her a saint.
Congrats on your 65th wedding anniversary and pending grandson Bob!
Your router drawer is definitely overflowing(sounds like a GJ well wish) Still wringing my hands to see how the new mangle comes out.
Guster, as fast as the 56th has snuck up on me, the 65th is right around the corner.
Got a call this evening that Joseph Heine joined our rowdy clan. I have joined Andy's Great grandfather club.
It may have been a mistake to put all the router stuff together. Keeping my tools hidden does reduce the number of stink-eye moments.
I believe my mangle is missing a clamp on one side but I think I can make something from the big box store work in its place.
56 Years! Congratulations. I’m sure having you as her husband is gift enough. If not, a 56 Vette probably would work.
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Stewart, I'm sure you're right but I did get an extra kiss today when she went to get the dog's braised chicken (I know, but she's a Boca dog). A '56 Vette would be a perfect gift to me but I doubt I'd survive that "You haven't worked on the '72 in months!" discussion. I lucked out on the '87 because we were on our way home after looking at a maroon convertible that she gave the stink-eye to. She saw the red/gold one and told me to turn around. She knew it had all the stuff I would add so she might see something beside my lower half sticking out from under the car.
56 Years!!!
Congratulations


Thank you
Vladimir.


Happy Anniversary! I thought 28 years was a lot!
Craig, 28 years is a lot! We celebrated that one while living in Australia which I think was quite recent.
Congratulations Bob on 56. As others have said if I make it that far I will be 82 if my wife doesn't kill me before then
Bret
Bret, as long as you understand your un-suspicious death can happen any day, you'll be fine.
Happy belated Anniversary to you and the Mrs. That is fantastic, 56 years. I hope to be there as well one day but we are a couple months away from our 29th.
Mike, you won't believe how fast time flies, especially after you retire and have really long weekends.