I finally figured out why my pruning cuts kept dying back

For the longest time I was making cuts flush to the trunk on my oaks here in Portland. Thought I was doing it right, keeping it clean. Then I took a class last spring and the instructor pointed out I was cutting into the branch collar every single time. That collar is where the tree seals itself off. I lost three big limbs on a red oak before I realized what was happening. Now I leave that little bump of bark and the cuts heal way faster. Has anyone else had trouble retraining themselves on this?

Overheard a veteran sweep say he never uses nylon brushes in cold weather and it finally clicked why my soot was smearing last January

I tried my usual routine on a 12-degree morning and ended up with greasy streaks on the liner, so has anyone else noticed nylon getting stiff and ineffective below freezing?

Found out today that a standard 4x12 sheet of 5/8 drywall weighs almost 110 lbs... my back is not okay with this fact.

I was loading my truck this morning and got curious so I looked it up on my phone mid-lift and then I just stood there for a second wondering why I didn't check this before I started hauling them up a flight of stairs alone.

Spent $45 on a 'luxury cat paw photography' book and it's literally just 200 photos of one cat's feet

That one issue I kept skipping finally made me stop rolling my eyes at variant covers

I spent ages annoyed that people would pay $40-60 for a different drawing on the same comic. Then last month at my local shop I grabbed a variant of Detective Comics #1000 on a whim just to see what the fuss was about and honest to God that Jim Lee cover is still stuck in my head three weeks later. Anybody else have a variant that totally changed your mind and made you get it?

Finally got my torque wrench calibration spot on after 3 years of guessing

Ran into an old professor at a thrift shop who said my pleats looked stiff

She told me I was too scared of the fabric breathing and now I barely touch the iron to anything unless it's really bad, anyone else get that kind of feedback that just sticks with you?

Switched from a French press to a pour over cone about 2 months ago

I used to just eyeball my coffee grounds in the French press and hope for the best. Got tired of sludge at the bottom of my cup every morning. My buddy Mike in Portland told me to try a simple plastic V60 and a gooseneck kettle from Goodwill. Now I actually weigh out 18 grams of beans and time my pour over 3 minutes. Has anyone else bothered with a scale or is that overkill?

Spent $45 on a cloud identification guide book and it's been a letdown

I bought the Peterson Field Guide to Clouds and Weather last month from a local bookstore. The photos are small and black and white, which makes it really hard to match up what I'm seeing outside. Anyone have a better recommendation for a cloud spotting reference that's actually useful for someone starting out?

Hit 1,000 flue repairs last week and it hit me different

I was going through my old job books from the last 15 years and realized somewhere around last Tuesday I passed the 1,000 mark for flue repairs. That number caught me off guard. I started out just sweeping chimneys for extra cash in 2009 around Lancaster County, never thought I'd be doing this full time. Most of those early jobs were just basic cleanouts on old brick stacks. Now I'm doing relining and stainless work on houses that weren't even built when I started. The thing that got me was remembering my first flue repair on a 1920s farmhouse outside Gap - took me all day and I still messed up the seal. I'm curious how many repairs you guys figure you've done total, or do you not keep count either?