What did you do today?

[Horse Newbie 7,069]

I ain’t alone… saw this on a Facebook page.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Seems to be a new Hobby -  Mud Mowing...😎

 

I have much more troubles with mole‘s and Mice’s.

thinking ’bout several times about a grass roller.

But moles here be under strictly protection , you not allowed to harm them..

 

 

Thinking about to reduce the mole troubles - maybe sell moles... 😎

 

 

 

Edited March 11 by Tractorhead

[8ntruck 7,004]

What did we do today?  As little as possible. 

 

Starting Wednesday afternoon, I went on robot inspector dusty for the First Robotics robotics regional competition that took place Wednesday through Saturday.   The inspector job keeps one on their feet for almost the whole 3 day event. The perks are being to interact with the students and to see all of the different solutions they came up with for this year's game.

 

Our upper class team was selected to be a member of the 3 robot alliance seated first in the playoff phase of the completion.  We won the event, qualifying  us for the world championships, held in Houston at the end of April.

 

Our underclass team ended up as captain of the #6 seated alliance.  The playoffs are a 8 team double elimination format.  They lost in the first round, dropping them into lower bracket.  They were eliminated in the 3rd round.

 

We had teams from Mexico, Chinese Taipei, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana, South Dakota, and Missouri.

 

The upperclassmen team is currently ranked #24 out of 3500 teams worldwide.  The underclass team is ranked #437 worldwide. 

 

We've got about 2 weeks to get the battle damage repaired and to make improvements before we go to St Louis for our next regional.

 

 

[Ed Kennell 38,175]

I hauled a load of mixed junk to the scrapper.

 

$ / lb prices

iron   0.08

aluminum   0.50

brass  2.00

copper  3.00

batteries  0.15

elec. motors  0.20

420 lbs netted me $95.00....almost enough to fill the 36 gallon tank in the F-150.

 

I passed two road kill deer on the way.    The one smelled OK, so I brought him home for bald eagle food.  Put him along the field with a trail cam.

 

[Handy Don 12,230]

2 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

Put him along the field with a trail cam.

Waste not, want not. Someone’s vehicle will be making a body shop visit.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

On Friday last Week i went on the Way into the Office when i hear a loud „Bang“......

Immediately no Power after pushing the Throttle.

I was about 500m far from my Home and Oil light comes up. 🤪

i stopped immediately but nothing to see.

 

A short lurk under the Hood, but also nothing spectacular.

I fired the Engine and it starts right up.

Oil light went off after 2 sec. All seems to be normal.😎 so i decide to drive the last few hundret meters back home.

While i drive the last few hundret meters after again oillight comes up.

ok, that‘s not a good Sign.

 

I checked the oil and see just a little darker black filter.

what the heck.....

the next morning i checked again my Oil level and see  - dang - milk coffee brown clutter on the dipstick.

 

ok now everything is clear At leadt Headgasket.

next roadapproval in 3 Months what causes about 1500$ to get it was my decision for a NoNo.

 

out of that happen i search for a new ride and found a valley ahead my next Ride.

Looking for a offroad or a pickup and found me This.

It‘s a Subaru Forrester 2.0 4x4.

Not a beauty but a honest Car.

talking with his owner few words and i changes the owner for a really fair price.

 

it survived the Dead gripp under the rear fender - the right side have gently rust.

one year road approval and so i buy me my next Ride.

 

247.000 Km the 1998 Astra 1.2 has made until it dies,

let‘s see how far this ride will take me.

 

[19richie66 17,508]

On 3/11/2024 at 5:17 PM, Handy Don said:

Waste not, want not. Someone’s vehicle will be making a body shop visit.

Mine will be…….. my wife hit a deer Wednesday with our F150. $7200 to fix it. It won the fight but a costly one.

Edited March 15 by 19richie66

[Handy Don 12,230]

One of my college engineering classmates did a tongue-in-cheek paper on the “perfect” auto killer--an Eastern White-tailed Deer.

 

3 hours ago, 19richie66 said:

$7200 to fix it.

Yikes!  Still, if the hood or one of the headlight modules was ruined, you’d be in for a lot more than that!

[lynnmor 7,306]

7 hours ago, 19richie66 said:

Mine will be…….. my wife hit a deer Wednesday with our F150. $7200 to fix it. It won the fight but a costly one.

 

 

I checked the prices of a few of the major parts, unless there is considerable unseen damage the $7200 is a rip.

[Tractorhead 9,064]

16 hours ago, 19richie66 said:

Mine will be…….. my wife hit a deer Wednesday with our F150. $7200 to fix it. It won the fight but a costly one.

Ich

 

Ouch, 

Does it have such a strong structurell damage or what was the reason for that high pricetag?

7200$ sounds to me a little high for a few Plastic parts.

 

I see few plastic parts to exchange not many more, i would estimated on this pict about 3000$ Should covers In all exchange.

The Truck appears new but that price for change few plastics is dang high as i find, but i didn‘t see behind the scene if and how

strong be structural parts hurt.

But what i see the on the pict it‘s just the Plastics except a small dull in the hood.

 

 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,558]

Paint chimes...

 

Decided to go full  Black Hood Wannabee on the wagon...

 

Ordering decals from Terry today...

 

 

 

 

 

Edit:

 

All but decals...

 

 

Edit 2:

 

Done: Thx vinylguy!!!

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2 by SylvanLakeWH

[19richie66 17,508]

On 3/15/2024 at 8:02 PM, lynnmor said:

 

I checked the prices of a few of the major parts, unless there is considerable unseen damage the $7200 is a rip.

3600 in parts, rest is labor. Both headlights are broken in the back, frame horns bent, motorized louvered pieces behind the grille, (not to mention complete grille) are busted out, a/c condenser is bent in so they are replacing it so evacuating the a/c to replace that, painting the hood and passenger fender, bumper and all parts for it. It was a rather large deer for around here. This is the second time around for the front. Last time a car burnt ip in a parking lot and she was parked in front of it. 

Edited March 18 by 19richie66

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Been a busy couple of days around here, waiting on a gas tank for the Allis WC to get here from PA, so figured with the downtime on that project I’d get back to work on the old 9N. I rebuilt the hydraulic pump for this tractor last summer, but that’s as far as I’d gotten with it. Wanted to take everything apart and do a thorough cleaning before putting the rebuilt pump in. Well one thing leads to another and we now have a 9N in several pieces in the shop. Have all the parts to rebuild the lift assembly as well as to fix the extremely worn out steering. Has had a bad spot on the ring gear since I’ve owned it, figured now is the time to fix that and probably replace the clutch while I’m in there as well. And since I’m this far into it may as well pull the transmission apart and check/replace any worn bearings and all seals, then may as well clean it all up and paint it since it’s all apart, the list goes on and on 

[ebinmaine 67,498]

5 hours ago, ClassicTractorProfessor said:

then may as well

 

Funny how ya remove ONE bolt and then there's a whole pile of tractor....

[TonyToro Jr. 1,423]

My dad @TonyToro taught me how to weld today on our new to us trailer! I thought I did a pretty good job and surprised myself!

[Tractorhead 9,064]

Great you learn it,

another one who was able ti fix things instead just trash and buy new.

 

In the nearer future you will become an extremely wanted Guy.

To find good craftsmen will become harder and harder.

[ebinmaine 67,498]

8 hours ago, TonyToro Jr. said:

taught me how to weld

Absolutely excellent! 

 

Welding (metal working in general)  is a skill that has great value in many ways. 

Not the least of which is the ability to repair your own Herd of Wheelhorses, and their implements. 

Also, the ability to make your own implements tools accessories etc. The possibilities are endless.  

 

In a much greater scheme of things  -  there are many types of hands on skill sets that are becoming more rare. 

Adding to the list of your own abilities will be extremely helpful for the rest of your life.  

 

 

[JCM 9,166]

4 hours ago, Tractorhead said:

 

 

In the nearer future you will become an extremely wanted Guy.

To find good craftsmen will become harder and harder.

     

[8ntruck 7,004]

We spent the last 3 days at a robotics competition in St Louis.  

 

The high school team I mentor brought the underclass team and the upper class team.  The underclass team chugged through the qualification matches with just a few minor issues and ended up being the #2 seated alliance captain for the 8 alliance double elimination finals.  The senior team had to work to get to their #4 seat position for the finals.  Out of a 45 team field the Sr team started as the 4th ranked team, then ran into mechanical and electrical bugs that dropped them as low as wend, before they clawed their way up to a 5th rank for the finals.

 

The finals are played with 3 team alliances, picked by each alliance captain.  The Jr team picked the Sr team as a member of the #2 seated alliance - first time we've done this.

 

Well, as we proceeded to play the finals elimination matches, the bad luck followed.  Mechanical difficulties showed up again, causing us to loose the first round, then get eliminated in the first round in the bottom of the double elimination bracket - tied for 7th.

 

Tough weekend, but I think a good lesson for the kids - just like life, you don't always win.  I'm proud of the kids because they didn't give up and kept digging.

 

We've got another meet in two weeks.  Tomorrow's competition debrief meeting will be about what went wrong, and what we are going to do to fix it.

 

The Sr team is currently rated 64 out of 3500 teams worldwide, and the Jr team is ranked 338.

[8ntruck 7,004]

An additional story from the robotics meet. 

 

We have a very, very nice pit setup for the robots.  Two 6 foot rolling tool boxes with an upper cupboard and a corner unit for each team.  When we can we set the pits adjacent to each other.  The standard pit size is 10 feet by 10 feet., so we have 20 feet of pit area lined on the sides and back with matching tool boxes.  Quite impressive looking.  I'll have to find a picture and add it.

 

These pits were one of our recent graduate's senior project.  He designed them, worked with a couple of our sponsors to fabricate pieces parts and oversaw the assembly.

 

Last weekend, the coach of the team across the aisle from us spoke many times about how he was having pit envey looking at our setup.  I spoke to him and told him how the pit setup cane about. 

 

On Saturday, the graduate that designed them showed up to watch the meet.  I introduced him to the coach across the aisle, then wandered off for a bit.  When I returned, the coach and graduate were bent over exchanging contact information. 

 

Seems that our ex student picked up his first consulting job to design a pit set up for that other team!  Of course, I poked my head in and asked if I were going to get a 3% referral fee.

[Pullstart 62,879]

What did I do today?  It was more of a we thing.  Jada and I were in the neighboring town at 7am.  Being Spring Break, it was like pulling teeth to get her convinced we should get up that early for a silly driving test.  She turned 16 in December, but decided it was time to finally go take the test.  A little old lady was her test person.  We originally planned to have her drive the 2011 Ford Taurus that we put an engine and some various parts in, but she realized she does not like cars.  Good girl.    After selling off the stock wheels and tires, we have a total of $290 into the 2002 Oldsmobile Bravada that we happened upon instead.  I am waiting for a lower bumper insert to arrive for the Taurus, then it’ll be for sale soon.  In the meantime, we hadn’t practiced parallel parking in quite a while.  In the parking lot test, she scored 1 out of 6 allowable points.  Points are bad.  1 is great!  She did not set herself up close enough to the cones to begin the parallel park, and ended up outside the box a tad.  1 out of 6 is excellent!  On the road, she scored 4 out of 26 allowable, once again low being amazing.  Woo hoo!  She passed the test!  For whatever reason we had an appointment at the DMV to get her official level 1 license (valid through 21 years old?) but little old Nancy told us the process has changed and we need to wait up to 2 weeks for the state to mail an approval form granting her the right to drive alone.  Nancy thought it was great, since it saves us $20 at the DMV.  I’ll pay $40 for this kid to have her own means of transportation!  Oh well, what do you do.

 

Then, I spent the rest of the day preparing my taxes.  I hate tax season, and I always have a fresh start idea in my head come January, and a dreadful feeling come the end of March.  I sent everything in to the CPA dude, now it’s their turn to turn the screws and fix my aughts and gazintas.  Having my own small business, I sure feel like Jethro trying to thumb through this stuff!  
 

Now, I’m free to keep preparing for my first annual Meet and Greet and Plow Day!  I’m focusing on the Meet and Greet, since I can see standing water in the yard and it seems the rain won’t end soon enough to dry the fields out.  So much for all of us hooking onto Colleen the school bus to get her out of the field!

[SylvanLakeWH 25,558]

27 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

So much for all of us hooking onto Colleen the school bus to get her out of the field!

Get a longer chain... 

[Pullstart 62,879]

1 minute ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Get a longer chain... 

She’s about 300 yards from a dry surface 

[SylvanLakeWH 25,558]

[Ed Kennell 38,175]

20 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

Get a longer chain... 

Nah, just pluck her out .