I decided this means I am to get busy and write some more about our wonderful experiences here on the land... I was confronted with a problem of making a couple clear span structures, just a roof supported by the fact that it is up, Oh and I got an eye exam, the numbers were quite unexpected. I guess i do need glasses. bummer. Anyway, the first structure is to protect the blueberry bushes Chris planted. The other is a green house, the method, cattle panels, and old lumber, pieces that are going to lay on the ground and rot, but not immediately. I also have a monster mower in the works, again tired of going around in circles forever. The last one, a trail mower, made of an old engine and a deck off the spare Cub Cadet, worked okay, until the engine blew and it became a bug fogger, worked pretty good at that, but not for very long. NOW I have another old, and bigger engine, so it requires a larger deck to make it monetarily effective, you know, it uses more fuel, so it needs to cut a wider swath. It cuts 80 inches wide, add it to the 42 inch deck on the Cub and that means about 10 feet of mowing per pass, that will knock the crap out of the job, of course that relies on a lot of factors working together. So I have to get it built and get the bugs worked out so I can get to it. The mowing that is.

So I am a jackass, I assumed that, ( you know what happens when you assume ... RIGHT?) THAT if the rubber cleared the side of the car, the rest of the tractor did also, but I was wrong... WAY WRONG BABAY!... I found out the hard way, that the bolts with about 1 inch nuts on them stick out about an inch on the side of the 2/8/9 N Ford, I found this out when I ran the tractor down the side of my Ford Escort Wagon, and re engineered some of it's aerodynamic attributes, wow, I chewed it up! In this view, it is clear as day, that the bolts stick out beyond the rubber of the tires, who could miss that? I mean really, and not only the bolts of the wheel to the brake drum, but also the center of the axle, now it doesn't stick out as much, but it is out there. But you see, I have been counting on "the rubber sticks out further" and getting away with it for years. It's the only way the Big Case tractor gets through the gates, it's tires rub on both sides going through a couple of the gates. So I assumed, there's that word again, that the little tractor was the same, and until now, I got away with it. But it has become a hard learned fact that the bolts do in fact stick out and can cause some modicum of damage if dragged across the side of a car... to whit! The picture below as testimony, to this hard won knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far I have about 5 hours in trying to pound the dents out. One broken side light, and a real severe case of ringing in my ears. Mostly from cursing about the pain of smacking my fingers, hands, and arms, in various stupid positions trying to get in the ridiculously tight areas and situations required to work inside the stupid body panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually what happened was I had started knocking out the major portions of the dents the Case 700 laid on the GMC Sonoma last fall when it slid on the wet grass and smashed out the drivers side window and most of the flat sheet metal on the drivers door and cab side. I nearly threw up when I hit it, I had absolutely no control of that tractor for about 3 seconds and the crash of the breaking safety glass was sickening. But it happened, and as I was once taught, by Ham, "SHIT HAPPENS, if nobody is hurt, and nobody died, and it's just metal... SHIT HAPPENS." Slap a SHIT HAPPENS bumper sticker on it, grab a beer, and let's find a way to tell the story that leaves us laughing.

In the World of. "don't try this at home kids" I have another little project, you know those neat BIG wind chimes you see, and know that nobody would ever pay THAT for something to "ding and dong" and drive you crazy when you are trying to sleep? Well Chris always wanders over and hums along with them, so I decided to start making a set, which means that I need a few large diameter tubes. Of course old welding tanks are a good source, if they don't explode and kill you while cutting them. So I repeat, "DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME" I know what I'm doing (well I think I do sometimes, but look at the picture above, and an argument to the contrary could be made...)

Acetylene Tanks are not empty, they don't just hold acetylene, the acetylene is held in suspension in an acetone carrier, (liquid) in a matrix of Fullers Earth, (solid?) and then in a tank at 250 PSI. This is an amazing feat, as Acetylene will explode on it's own, in the hoses, if allowed to reach 15 PSI. That's one reason cutting under water is done with a hydrogen oxygen flame. Because at 15 feet of depth, the pressure under water, is enough to cause the Acetylene to explode. I'll bet somebody had to change their suit when they discovered that one... If they survived. I'm sure a few less experienced individuals rediscover this every couple years, in ponds or lakes around our country, because they are without the advantage of knowing what they are doing, sort of a "Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment." - (Will Rogers) experience.

So here is where my vast expertise in destruction methods really pays off, using the Tiger saw, noooo sparks! noooo heat! I carefully cut the tank in thirds, sorta. Then I beat the Fullers earth out of it (for days) until it is a hollow cylinder. I will be adding a couple large pipe segments, that will hopefully add other tones, as they are pretty thin, having been rusting in the fields around here for millennia. The next challenge will be where to hang it, it's going to weigh hundreds of pounds, and it needs to be where we can hear it, and where the wind can actuate it without tearing it off the side of It the house?? Or wherever it ends up, I'm guessing it will be related to the new garage at some point.

This is the" tiger saw" which has been a great tool but just started to get intermittent and I know it's never going to be "repairable" And certainly isn't going to be covered by any kind of warrantee, as I have had it for at least 15 years. But I'll bet I haven't used up five saw blades with it....

Oh well, I'm sure some folks who've had them, haven't gotten near the years, but perhaps, more use.

 

And I didn't blow up cutting the acetylene tank in half, i really fought the desire to just clamp the plasma torch to it and cut away and then I'd remember the video of the fire fighter who was cutting into the side of a grain bin with a rescue saw. { Which only develops "Cold sparks" or so the literature reads, sparks that can't ignite anything... BULLSHIT! A glowing spark, or piece of metal raised to a temperature from the grinding process in play, that has been heated until it glows with a the intensity and brightness of the sun, is not a freaking "cold spark" . And the fact that salesmen convinced fire chiefs and training officers and the general "rank and file" of the fire service that it is, just shows how stupid people can be when confronted with a ridiculous, stupid, unsubstantiated, claim by a person in power. ( I guess it's not that surprising, when you consider the mainstream media's defense of all the lies and corruption in D.C. and how many people just accept that all is well, as we circle the drain!) But from the view point of a person with a modicum of reality and experience with the grinding and cutting processes.} It is obvious that the afore mentioned fire fighter, was blown up by the "cold sparks" developed by cutting with the saw, igniting the gases being released, and eventually died on camera while staggering away from the now open side of the grain bin. Obviously the 30,000* flame of the plasma cutter has no such insane claim, but neither do I trust that the removal of all the possible liquid and gas from the cylinder was complete enough to insure it would not explode. In fact I have "launched" a couple gas tanks in the past, that were sans fuel for years before I lit them up, with an OXY Acetylene Torch which usually ended up feet away from where I had been working, usually at the furthest reach of the hoses, in fact, as I was rapidly removed from the general vicinity, and left waiting for the tank to return to earth, it does very effectively remove any dents or crushed areas of the tanks returning them to nearly new condition, if they are not split apart from the explosion. Filling them mostly with water, or even an inert gas, is no guarantee that an explosion won't occur, as I have done both and launched the tanks just the same. So now I endeavor to not need to weld or even have sparks around fuel containers, of any sort. The epoxies have really helped with that, I putty up a problem rather than trying to weld or braze it now. Gotta love JB WELD, good stuff. Meanwhile, back at the Acetylene Tank, it will make a neat tone if I can get it suspended, I'm sure. I removed the materials inside and reattached the bottom section. After cutting the bottom out of it.

Now about Farm Fuels... I recently went to Lake Street to remove the large truck I had there for storage, that was being ravaged by the local thieves, some thing we don't have much of around here. As we are all armed, and it is well known, if you survive, you will be turned over to the police, if not , the mortuary. Thieving isn't looked on kindly among the locals. Anyway I removed the fuel tank as it is often a detractor for the scrap yards. And brought it down to use for storing... Gasoline... What a concept. when the fuel costs are down I think I'll run it into town and fill it and bring it back for yard use. One weird thing is that gasoline has no break for the farmer. You pay the same price, actually higher to get it delivered, where as the Diesel has a break because there are no road taxes on it. Kinda goofy huh? So even though everyone uses fuel to power their lawn mowers, and most farms have a plethora of Gasoline equipment, And as generally only the major farmers, and corporate types have diesels, they get a break by not having to pay the road use taxes.... saving about 80 cents a gallon... wait... it all starts to make sense now huh??? Oh well, it looks like another conspiracy raises it's corporate head.

Back to the farm, I'm learning it is a while between moves for some of my equipment and that is what is seemingly hardest on anything, including me, if it sits too long, it seizes up. Brakes freeze, wheels rot, belts disintegrate, batteries are totally dead, not even salvageable in some cases. and the growth around it harbors wildlife of the most unfriendly kind sometimes. Last sting I received was from a wasp living in the battery compartment of the Old Motor home, The Leisure Lodge, which brings to mind an interesting occurrence. The Leisure Lodge is based on a Chevy P30 Truck chassis, same thing most older UPS trucks are built on. So I'm thinking it would make a great Farm truck if I just cut the wood off and built a cab on it, and a flat bed, So I go to try to start it and it roars to life, (on ether) and disintegrates the belt, now the belt wasn't standard, as I removed it from the monster A. C. compressor way back when I first got it, and to even infer it might be called "standard" is a misnomer, because it was a 1972 Boise Cascade Leisure Lodge to start with, go ahead find that in any v-belt literature at Autozone, I dare you! I "double dog dare" you! Anyway, the prospect of getting the correct belt by doing any less than removing the radiator was at the best daunting, the only part of the original belt I could find was about 1/4 inch wide and 16 inches long... and damned if it didn't have the belt info on it! Really! Now that is amazing, the one part that survived, was the identification information, and I could just go to the store and pick up another one! What are the odds?

And I can't win the stupid lottery? Lightning has hit us everywhere we have lived, 3 times on Lake Street, the I. D. numbers survived the demise of the belt, and I can't win the lottery playing the same three sets of numbers for thirty years? I must argue with the numbericians about the logic surrounding that one. And yet when I bought the belt, and yes the size was the same... but it ends up being too short! I know it's my fault this time. I didn't buy a standard auto belt, I bought a "blue kevlar" belt, which will have to work it's way down into the pulleys, past the rust and other build ups, and may then last a while. But it was an inch too short to start with, so in reality I ended up buying three belts to get one to work, and now I know what size to buy next time... though I probably thought that, in May of 2001 when I bought it. We'll get back to that on the next page, what a project!

 

 

There were a couple onslaughts of visitors proving "it doesn't rain, unless it pours". WE had a great time, well at least I did. I like to have the kids have fun doing what they can't can't do in the cities. Or just getting to be out, and do what they want without being a problem to anyone. There were "rain trips" Oregon trial, they called it, and they ventured out at night, with a dearth of flashlights, but went anyway. They tested the cistern system, and it passed! Laundry, showers, and food preparation, including clean-ups, and it worked fine. Without the water issues, and with finally having a form of sleeping arrangements that are better than the living room floor and the family room couch.

Though this, is in my estimation, a temporary situation, it does make the prospect of visitors easier. I had wanted to keep these units for the "bunkhouse" aspect of the little house, where in anyone wishing to stay, could just roll into the little house and have their own place free from our influence or issues, and completely self sufficient. A do it yourself bed and breakfast. Sort of an indoor campsite. But as it has taken three years longer than I had intended, to get it set up, I am beginning to wonder, if it will ever happen...

So I guess using the beds up here in the big house, is workable. And they can always be moved, if it makes more sense in the future. Meanwhile everything worked out pretty well I have a grass torch, I just bought, and I used it to initiate the bonfire. Partly to play with it and partly to try to dry out the waterlogged wood that has been piled in the back for the summer. When it finally lit up, I got a mower running and trimmed around the area, if it hadn't burned there was no reason to worry about mowing out there. The rain held off, the fire lit up, and the night went pretty well, the Persiad's provided a few shooting stars but you had to be away from the fire to see them. It was a nice evening.

As this didn't make it to the net in a timely manner, I wrote this, regarding our late fall activities last year. So I'll just add a little. It's actually February 2014. and I've been real busy. One event, was a failure of the plastic straps that held the metal shelving in our closet, which was also the clothes rack. It was, of course, the middle of the night, and a horrendous crash woke us up. I figured it was ice falling from the roof, "That was the closet shelf falling!" Chris said, when she could speak again. I told her it was just ice, from the roof. She correctly pointed out, "there wasn't ice on the roof..." So I got up and checked, and it was the closet, totally collapsing. I was surprised at the amount of stuff that had collected in there, clothes we don't wear, things we don't, and never will use. And the amount, it was colossal! No wonder the shelf failed, and it was a good chance to sort through a bunch of useless junk. The fact is we just boxed, bagged, and shifted everything from our past, into that closet. And when I checked, the same thing was about to happen in the guest room closet. Because the same method moved it's last occupant into that closet, though some had been sorted and rearranged it hadn't been culled, and it really hadn't been culled to the point it should be, even yet. Just to give you an idea.

The picture above, showing the bunk room. The room now..

To be fair, there has been a lot going on recently and this was just a quick dump to allow repairs before these shelves failed like the ones in our closet. Because they were about one good shake of the house from collapsing.

The plastic clip in the front is what failed, obviously. The metal clip, in the back, is the replacement. I don't think they even make the plastic ones anymore. A good move on their part.

 

I don't have any "before" closet pictures, just this one after repairs and before reloading it. Ignore the man in the closet, though the silly little girl on the top of the bunk above, tells it "goodnight gramba" whenever she spends the night... I don't know if she thinks I'm an empty headed mannequin, or if talking to it, will keep it in the closet. But she does check on it. She's a funny kid.

This is where the clip goes, just in case you wondered. I also made sure to screw them into studs this time, just to be silly.

 

So that's it for this installment, I of course am going to do another page right away because I have to move back to an old operating system to use the software, but that is just another benefit of Apple computers. If an upgrade prevents the use of a favorite program, just keep the old system as well, and the programs you like. This is actually 4 systems old. Imagine still being able to use windows ME and the half dozen programs that actually worked back then. You'd probably be better off than Windows 8, I'll probably keep using XP until all my Windows machines die, I don't take them online anymore, so they work just fine. I hope to someday, get one running Linux, just for kicks, although I'll probably get Arduino's,or Raspberry Pi first.

Oh, I almost forgot, I have another project that is getting just a little attention. I have had this for years, my sister retrieved it from a dumpster for me. It has many good parts but I couldn't use it because. NUMBER ONE: I lived in the communist corporation of Akron. NUMBER TWO: The control box she retrieved with it didn't match it. And NUMBER THREE: I've been a little busy. Well, I realized that the remote control electronics are light years ahead of what's installed in this rascal. I mean they have things flying now that know where they are and return if they lose the signal and can be programmed to fly somewhere and return on their own and.... well light years. SO the controller for this thing would be a pittance on EBAY... And they were! In fact I got two complete setups, for under a hundred dollars, including shipping, and one is still in the original box! There will be more on this project later, but I predict, I will be able to confuse the drones, if not defeat them... HA HA!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chores, Fresh Air, Green Acres is for ME.