Good morning!!!!

[farmer2009]

Thanks for the clarification on the shuttle shift, Farmer.

Yes, I've had problems with pin wear on the FEL I have now. Have you seen any signs of sloppiness in the LA1065 you're using on the MX? Or cracking? How many hours on it now? And how does a load of chicken litter compare weight wise with soil or gravel? Sorry for all the questions, but typically all I get when I ask a salesperson those kind of questions is a shrug of the shoulders and a blank look...:laughing:

I’ve got some slop in the quad link for the bucket. Just enough to give the bucket a good rattle. And to see an empty bucket bounce on rough ground. But that’s all I’ve noticed. Although dads woods loader probably has just as much slop in the bucket. Nothing that affects grading or anything for me. I don’t do a lot of digging. I do a lot of pushing and scooping and packing. Although it will dig, I’ve done it. Haven’t seen any cracks or popped paint. Although I’ve seen it flex.

1345 hours. Litter will weigh 35-70lbs./cuft. Depends on moisture levels. Some maybe heavier. It will stick in the bucket like wet dirt.

Some pictures of what I do with my loader. Those are 4x5 bales. About 900lbs. There’s 8 on the wagon and one on loader. Brought those about a mile. Tongue on wagon is too short for any ballast.

Nice video. Send me any more questions. I’ll do my best.

 

[sodamo]

Nice video, RNG

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good evening all. 66F this morning, clear, calm wind. Wind stayed light today, sky stayed mostly clear, and high temp was 90F no HI. Men's meeting this morning, then off to town to help some little old ladies hang up some display quilts for a quilt show this weekend. The bad news was the guy who designed and built the hanging system died, and no one had a clue how put that much weight on that flimsy of a system. After 2 collapses and lunch, which took 2 hours, a system emerged and all quilt hung in just under 3 hours. Then home to ride and shower before dinner. No nap!
Buckeye, you are still at the top of my prayer list.
Farmer, you and your family #2 on the list.
Kyle used to speed old computers up with hard disk swap outs, especially if new one not in budget. That SSD ought to speed things up if replacing a conventional hard drive.
Ted, nice weather pics, still praying for the knee.
Drew, PM sent.
PJ good luck with the nephew, prayers sent.
Jay that was some spider :shocked:
RNG good luck with painting project. Does this mean the bike project is done?
Prayers for all

Yes, with the new SSD, it boots up in 10 seconds as compared to probably over 30 seconds prior. I need to upgrade a few around here. Have only 1 of mine done with an SSD.

Took advantage of the low humidity and mid-50s temps in the mountains early yesterday to do a loop hike up to the top of Hawksbill Mountain. Wildflowers and ferns everywhere. Thought of BEF while there, sure he's been there. Met a nice couple from eastern NC...I think the lady wanted to take Coco home with her.

Got some chainsaw work today, and mowing along with other jobs.

Beautiful photo. I see your hiking motivation.

65°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 85° today. No rain expected here until Monday. I'm good with that.

Got the gravel shoveled and wheel barrowed back into the crevice it keeps washing out of in the driveway last night. Need to look at a more permanent solution. This got old a long time ago. Wife picked up chicken feed yesterday at TSC, so I got that in the can and mixed as well.

Went online last night and bought a couple tickets to see one of my favorite bands, Dream Theater, who are coming to STL in October. The tickets through Ticketmaster are $31.50 each, and the total ended up being just under $103. :shocked: Wow, talk about getting bent over on the service fees. Ridiculous. Now I remember why I stopped going to concerts.

Best wishes with rehab, BEF.

That is a fantastic view, wngsprd. And I had to look up kolache as well.

I know you mentioned you wanted to steer away from Kubota, RNG, but it does seem that they make a pretty darned good tractor. Had I gotten a better reception from our local dealer, that's probably what we would have bought. A bit pricier than LS, but the orange guys for the most part really seem to love their tractors.

Feeling good after 1st PT today.

Not a fan of ticketmaster. I don't go to concerts very much at all anymore. "I may be old, but I got to see so many cool bands..."

BEF, more prayers. Glad to hear of a bit of progress. Pray you are out of pain.

Randy too.

Drew, like RNG said, maybe Mcmaster Carr....you have to remember, deere's version is made from unobtanium.

RNG, nice job on the sprinklers. I was thinking it was going to be more of a "gusher". I've been wondering how a person would pump a huge qty of water, say from a swimming pool, with fire raging all around??? Worst case scenario. Electricity is out. Gasoline is out. Maybe a special underground propane tank, with all the special heat activated shut offs??? Or an underground cavern of compressed air? Maybe a sacrificial battery powered motor, that hopefully wouldn't be consumed.. But lead acid and lithium don't do well in heat or fire..... BTW, I'm not a spelunker....yet.

I don't have any "underlings" at work right now. So, I had to clean the coolant sump myself in the bigger Jet Saw we have at work. I'm almost done, I ran two flushes with 409 mixed in them to kill the bacteria. It was like the old black and white horror movie "The Blob"....yuck. Oh well, needed to be done. I just consider myself lucky in that if I need to use the equipment at work, I can....to some degree.

We made spaghetti tonight to feed all these hungry chilrens' ....

I hope you all have a blessed day.

Off tomorrow. Not sure what I'm going to do just yet. Plenty of stuff tugging me in different directions.

Don, Ron, same temp in Texas as Michigan? Go figure.

 

[mostly_gas]

Good evening all. 64F this morning, yes boy and girls this is in Texas! Clear sky and calm wind. Sky stay mostly clear, wind light with moderate gusts, and high temp of 88F no HI. Heat index id forecast to return on Monday. Plan A was to go fishing, no line on rod #1, rod #2 need new line, cleaned up tackle boxes, put line on rod #1, then got side tracked on want to rig on the line. Did some weed whacking, trimmed around trees by hand need to spray around trees. 2 hour nap today.
RNG nice video on the sprinkler system, was that the donor van I saw in the background? I can see where the sprinkler is a higher priority item. Will that reduce your insurance premiums any?
Nice pic Billy.
Rick hope for good report from heart Dr.
Had to laugh at the spider video, One of my sil has more wolf spiders than that in her main bathroom, and never have gotten a spider bite1 Ticks on the other hand ...
David I hate when stuff falls of and then you can't find it!!
Buckeye nice report. prayers still coming
Ted hope family arrives ok.
Thomas glad you have Boo BOO slowed down, does he ding the barrel up much?
Prayers for all.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Nice video. Send me any more questions. I’ll do my best.

I went to the Kubota dealer and took one look at the mounts for the LA1065 loader and told the man "NO". They're the same crappy setup that broke on my L3240, no thicker, no wider, and with the same mostly filled in grid structure on the tractor side of the vertical arms that resulted from the redesign of the earlier ones (like mine) that broke. And I'm hearing stories of folks that are breaking the new ones.

But there's hope. While we were walking around the yard full of tractors, I spotted this:



Notice the ultra beefy loader mounts? And the headache bar around the operator's station? It's Kubota's version of a small construction tractor, and this one has a 62 horse engine. It has a smaller brother, called an L47, the same tractor with a 47 horse. It weighs almost a ton more than the MX we've been talking about, good for stability, good for traction.HST transmission, port forward for a grapple, three sets of ports and valves in the back for top'n'tilt and the side shift on the flail, available with a 4'iin'1 bucket, but I'll opt for a heavy material bucket and just buy a grapple. I can get spacers for the wheels, but R1 tires aren't available. However the salesman knows a shop in the SF Bay Area that can probably supply R1s on compatible wheels, and he'll not charge me for the R4s and wheels that'll come off. And right off the bat he was talking a 10% discount. The ones on his lot had good sized backhoes attached, but they're easily removed and I don't have to buy one. The only odd thing is that the instrument panel in front of the steering wheel is blanked out, and it is now located at the operator's right elbow, mounted on the fender. The seat also rotates all the way around to face the rear, which will come in handy when running an auger. I haven't studied the specs in detail yet, but so far this thing punches all the buttons, and still comes in well south of the JD price I was quoted. And this was the first dealer to say "yes" when I asked if I could somehow try it out on my property for an afternoon. First he wants to see if the R1 tire thing is real, and if not that might be a show stopper. But I really don't have any sense for how much more traction is available with R1 tires vs. R4s, or if all R4s are created equal such that some might be narrower and more aggressive than others.

The dealer didn't push it, but the Kubota web site does offer an extended 1 or 2 year warranty. I'm not a big fan of warranties, but in view of my past experience, I'm wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea, especially considering the jobs i have planned.

Thanks again for the info, Farmer; there's nothing better than experience, and when it comes to tractors, you've got a ton!

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, nice job on the sprinklers. I was thinking it was going to be more of a "gusher". I've been wondering how a person would pump a huge qty of water, say from a swimming pool, with fire raging all around??? Worst case scenario. Electricity is out. Gasoline is out. Maybe a special underground propane tank, with all the special heat activated shut offs??? Or an underground cavern of compressed air? Maybe a sacrificial battery powered motor, that hopefully wouldn't be consumed.. But lead acid and lithium don't do well in heat or fire.....

If the Camp Fire didn't show me anything else, it was that defensible space works. If there's no fuel for a fire, you don't have any heat from a fire. Yeah, there might be an ember storm, but I figure anything light enough to be carried by the wind doesn't have enough heat content to catch anything but the lightest material on fire. With that in mind, the defensible space perimeter will be expanded to include the propane tank, which will grow to 1000 gallons, and now I'm thinking about building a power shack to house the generator and all the various components of the solar power system. Stick construction, but with a steel roof and Hardy Board type mineral siding, with spark proof vents to take care of any battery outgassing and keep temps reasonable. It all boils down to if there's no fuel, there's no fire.

BTW, I'm not a spelunker....yet.

Try it, you might like it! But be careful; you might end up with a cave widow.:laughing:

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG nice video on the sprinkler system, was that the donor van I saw in the background? I can see where the sprinkler is a higher priority item. Will that reduce your insurance premiums any?

If it was pumpkin colored (Kyle's favorite:laughing, yep, that's the donor.

I suppose it's worth a try with the insurance company, but my guess is that they've experienced such losses they'll cancel my policy as soon as the law allows. Might help with a new provider, but after what's happened, I'd be surprised if I can get anything but the very limited California Fair Plan policy, which only covers wildfire related losses. It all by itself costs about what I'm paying now, so I'd also need an umbrella policy for liability and such. Before I did the CFP, I'd just self insure. The best way to not need insurance is to mitigate the risk, and between the barren defensible space, the solar power system, big propane tank, and the sprinkler system, I figger I can sit back and sip a beer from whatever porch faces the fire while the sprinklers do their thing. If I'm wrong, what a way to go!:laughing:

 

[sodamo]

RNG, have you considered doing your frame building with metal studs?
Nice report on the tractor.

 

[RoyJackson]

2017-07-26, 0328

54 right now...high in the mid-80's today...

Good news, Buckeye! Keep it up!

 

[Eric Salop]

Feeling good ...

:thumbsup::thumbsup:


Good morning, I'm sure most of you would easily cope with the hot weather we are struggling to come to terms with. Yesterday was an all time record for July in the UK at just over 38C/100F. Fortunately we were quite few degrees lower, however I still found myself moving around at a snail's pace - I wish I had been standing under RNG's sprinkler system.

Roy, have you got your computer problems solved ? I seem to have also fallen victim to a windows update issue. Laptop wouldn't connect to internet, claiming the WiFi wasn't working. After trying a few things and getting nowhere, I ended up uninstalling the wifi driver then rebooting which got windows to automatically reinstall and behave properly.

The Lang pliers arrived and look to be well made. With interchangeable tips and easy slide switch to go from internal to external clips, a single pair will nicely do everything I need without taking up much space.