Good morning!!!!

[CWB Wyo]

28* for the low this morning, yesterday's high was 41*. Today is going to be partly cloudy with a high In the mid 40's and some wind. The forecast shows we might get some snow Monday. That's all they show for the next ten days. It hasn't been a normal year for the snow.

Eric.. I wish I could help you out. Sorry.

The neighbor might get out of the hospital today. They want him to stay at a lower elevation, and have someone there to watch him. They are going to take him to his sisters house in Riverton for a few weeks. His wife will be back this weekend some time to take care of her animals. She has a friend staying up there and doing it now. The friend called me last night and needed help getting the animals in to the barn. She also locked her keys in her car, the window was done about a inch. With the help of a coat hanger it only took a few minutes to get it open. I think the friend is ready to go home.

Not sure what I'll be doing today.

Hope everyone has a good day.
CWB.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

The stump can see its shadow. Now what does that mean?

6 more weeks of digging.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

2 buckets buckeye

.

Wife, i need 2 buckets of popcorn, daily, for the next 6 weeks.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Well, you see, when you turn the tractor too tightly when pulling a drag harrow one can, if one has substantial talent,
wrap the pull cable on the grippy knobs of the rear tire, which picks the harrow up and proceeds to try to deposit it on the driver's seat.

Saw that in time, started making lots of tink tink tink noise as it dragged across the lift arms. I immediately stopped, no damage to the lift arms, no damage anywhere, yeah, I lucked out. Oh, no I didn't.... chains gave the underside of the left wheel housing a good whack and bent back the edges about half an inch, and yeah took a small amount of orange paint off.

Groan, my first big/little dent in five years. Operator error, as usual. Good thing I just finished paying for it...
So I guess I'll be doing a little vice grip work, a little sanding, masking tape, and painting.
This tractor was named after my late wife and I had to look at the dent and say sorry honey....<snip>

Without pictures it didn't happen

6 more weeks of digging.

Interspersed by trips for parts.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Good Morning!!!! 58F @ 7:15AM. Plentiful sunshine. High near 70F. Winds NNW at 5 to 10 mph.

Thanks for sharing your dynamite story, Randy. :laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing: I remember making a lot of clumsy moves around older guys when I first started working, but that one takes the cake...

Hope you find the side roots holding that stump in today, Don. Otherwise you're likely dealing with a long tap root, and the axe and chainsaw routine Eric outlined might be worth considering. Had a big digger pine leaning over the garage when I bought this place. Got it down without crushing anything, but it took two days with a backhoe and a bulldozer to get the stump out of the rock it was growing in. That deep tap root made for one expensive stump, but I got a nice sized parking area out of the deal, so I'm not complaining.

My gosh, Rip, that's some extensive work on the wife's back. More wishes for a fast recovery. For yours, too, Bird.

Safe travels to Costa Rica, Jay. Friend of mine went on a motorcycle tour there and had a lot of fun. Both on the bikes and while watching the volcano at night.

I put Levolor vertical blinds on all the sliding glass doors when I moved into this place, and up until last week they've been fine. Somehow one of the slats on one had gotten out of time with the others, and I couldn't see how to fix it. Googled up an answer and in a few minutes it was back to working the way it should. Nice way to start the day yesterday, and a good use of the Internet (instead of just wasting time ).

Heard from an old work buddy yesterday morning that had pulled up stakes in the SF Bay Area and moved to far northern Idaho when he retired. I'd lost track of him, and a mutual friend on Facebook passed along his contact info last week. He's now living on a large parcel off a dirt road a long way from anywhere, raising chickens like he did in the 'burbs, but with more elk meat than he knows what to do with. I asked if he'd been back to the Bay Area since he left, and his reply was "He11 no. I hate that place!" I can't blame him, and feel pretty much the same way...


Got to the mechanic's yesterday (that's him in the photo) at the designated time only to find all the doors closed and locked. A few minutes later he comes rolling in with a little Subaru Forester. Gets out and doesn't look particularly glad to see me, but it turns out both his helpers had decided to take the afternoon off unexpectedly, leaving him no choice but to close up the shop so he could retrieve the transaxle for my van. I helped him unload it (by that point he was happy to have me there!) and get it up on a bench. All the shafts turned smooth as butter and it looks like it'll be a smooth installation (knock on wood). There was a discussion with his local transmission guy that started some six weeks ago concerning wear on 3rd gear, and this latest delay was so a better used gear could be taken from a transaxle my mechanic had on hand and used as a replacement. So it's looking like the engine/transmission will go in maybe today or Monday. But he still doesn't have the exhaust system back from ceramic coating (it's been there for six months:shocked so that'll be the next hurdle. But just having the transaxle back is a big step forward, and getting them installed opens the door to finish the wiring and installation of a BlazeCut fire suppression device in the engine bay.

Got word late last night that the 3D printed panel for the 4WD switches on the van was done, and I'll probably mosey down there this afternoon to pick it up. The original one was badly broken while stored at the mechanic's, they're no longer available at VW, and horribly expensive if a used one can even be found. I have high hopes that this 3D version can be made to work. It'll be my first experience with downloading a file off the Internet and seeing what happens, so I have fingers crossed.

TGIF gang!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

6 more weeks of digging.

Good one, Buckeye!:laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[daugen]

Without pictures it didn't happen


you're mean...
I gotta show my screwups?

Not going to get fixed any time soon. Need some warm sunny weather to dry
that paint properly. Until then I use the tractor almost daily. Not so much in the mud...
Clear weather today, temps are dropping, 21 tonight, might hit teens.

Going to be quite the test of the propane heater in the rv. Prospect coming at 9am tomorrow to look at it
and I need it to be warm in there. It will be under freezing still when they show up. And I have no idea how much
propane is in the two tanks because they don't come with gauges. And most of the add on level gauges get bad reviews.
So electric heaters on today, propane on first thing tomorrow morning. At least I have the rv plugged into the house with a 30 amp
rv connection, so they can test the microwave, etc.

Was able to buy a heavier duty grade set of blades for my Cub Cadet LX2. Felt half again heavier than stock. Thicker metal will hold up to sand better.
After 28 hours original set, now sharpened twice, look like someone nibbled on the very end with sharp teeth. I sharpened them up fine but mid summer when they will be dull again
I'll put the new ones on. Over 50 bucks for a pair of 42 inch blades. A bit pricey...but that's dealer parts counters.

MTD has sold a zillion mowers in this country and lots of other equipment. It's an interesting history, with Cub Cadet as their
halo brand. Which is why CC is now making those humongous zero turns I saw in the dealership, some with steering wheels.
Their construction was very impressive and if you painted it orange you could easily think it was another Kubota commercial mower. It really was that beefy.

But we did agree that, steering wheel or not, they still would slide like teacup in a carnival on wet hills. And since that has happened to me,
managing to take out a split rail fence at the bottom of the wet hill, my first experience with zturns in the wet was as bad as it gets.
I sat there and just thought to myself, I can't believe I did that. And I don't know why it happened.

After doing reading online it was easy to
find this Achilles heel in zturns. In the dry they reign supreme but getting front brakes installed
when your wheel spins a 360 is so far a steep challenge to build.
Thankfully I live on a pool table so those worries aren't mine. But they had no diesels.
No diesels, too bad. One fuel storage tank is enough for me.

The rv's bed has a twin control heated mattress pad on it. Maybe I should crank that up, so when the new Mistress of the rv decides to lie down on the bed
on a cold cold day it will just envelope her in warmth. Oh honey, this is so nice, let's buy it.
:dance1:

 

[daugen]

Engine Compartments | BlazeCut

Most older firemen have had the unique experience of trying to put out a fire in a VW engine compartment whose
fabric gas lines finally gave up the ghost and broke, creating an inferno, which then lights off the magnesium engine, and guess what,
water doesn't work. In fact it makes it worse until the block cools down. We learned to carry a hundred pounds of sand to smother those engines.
RNG is likely to have fuel lines that are a bit more modern, and much safer...but it seems some belt and suspenders going on here.
Reduce the risk of fire by design and then if it happens, squelch it.

 

[jbrumberg]

RNG- Thanks. The most common "I wish I had......" that I heard from all my interactions with the elderly was "travel (more)." We have been trying to do that when we are able (not often anymore). This may be the last "Hurrah." This is the first time I am traveling abroad with two vials of insulin and a lot of syringes. The syringes get me through TSA quickly even with the insulin gel pack cooler. I do not know about foreign customs. Last time that I was in Costa Rica I got in brawl with a "squad" of Capuchin (White faced) monkeys at a Federal park. It got down to hand to hand (with a big stick:wink combat............ and wifey screaming at me to "stop fighting with the monkeys." They started it- A&B sucker punch while I was minding my own business hiking on a trail and then the attempted theft of jungle hat, sunglasses, and daypack. Miserable little SOB's and those :censured: little spider monkeys are even worse. Nasty vile little creatures. Monkeys are not "cute." Howler monkeys are

RIP and Bird thanks for sharing about your wive's challenges. Please try to take care of yourselves as much as you care for your wives. You deserve it to yourselves. It's not easy- care givers are very poor care takers.

CWB- Thanks for the update on your bud. I have a cyber-friend who lives near Crowsheart.

Don- I never had to deal with a tap root like that or a trunk so large. I am impressed with the "project." I'll be following it if I can.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Engine Compartments | BlazeCut

Most older firemen have had the unique experience of trying to put out a fire in a VW engine compartment whose
fabric gas lines finally gave up the ghost and broke, creating an inferno, which then lights off the magnesium engine, and guess what,
water doesn't work. In fact it makes it worse until the block cools down. We learned to carry a hundred pounds of sand to smother those engines.
RNG is likely to have fuel lines that are a bit more modern, and much safer...but it seems some belt and suspenders going on here.
Reduce the risk of fire by design and then if it happens, squelch it.

Vanagons are notorious for engine fires, Drew. VW routed a fuel line from the tank to a steel bulkhead, and chose to use a plastic pass through fitting. Even the newest Vanagon is 27 years old now, and that plastic gets brittle with age and all that engine heat. When it breaks, fuel at full pressure quickly covers the engine, and a spark from the distributor cap sets it off. The fuel keeps coming as long as the ignition stays on, which is likely in all the ensuring excitement. Someone posts a Vanagon BBQ picture at least once a month in the Facebook Vanagon groups I hang out in, and I'm wondering why the NHTSA hasn't made VW do some kind of recall.

The early Type 1 VW Bus engines were magnesium, but I'm pretty sure they went to aluminum as time went on. Magnesium was expensive, and Germans are even more frugal than their American and Japanese counterparts. As far as I know, the Subaru engine I'm using is aluminum and steel, with steel fuel lines on the engine itself.

All the remaining fuel lines have been replaced on my van, and a thick grommet protects the new lines where they run through that bulkhead. I'm also ditching the plastic engine cover for an older steel one, and covering the foam insulation on the underside with a fire proof blanket. In addition to the BlazeCut, there will be a modern 10 lb. fire extinguisher in the main compartment, located within easy reach of the sliding door on the side. There's way too much time and money riding in that van at this point to take any chances with an engine fire.:shocked: