What did you do today?

[Pullstart 62,840]

On 8/25/2024 at 10:44 AM, ML3 said:

Re-organized garage & managed to get truck parked inside. 24'x24' garage with: 2 vehicles, inflatable boat/trailer, 6 tractors,  2stage Toro snowblower, 2 motorcycles,  moped, minibike, 2 hit/miss engines, 2 toolboxes, toolbench, beer fridge, & some other misc garage stuff. Still have some room left but not much! 

Now that you have a Colorado, there is room for 4 more tractors!  

 

 

[19richie66 17,500]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

Now that you have a Colorado, there is room for 4 more tractors!  

 

 

I wish I would have gotten a commission on these pictures. 

[ML3 1,198]

1 hour ago, Pullstart said:

Now that you have a Colorado, there is room for 4 more tractors!  

 

 

🤣

Maybe more than 4 cause I have the 6.5ft bed! 

[Ed Kennell 38,158]

I climbed up in my deer stand for the first time this year.      A lot of doe and fawns on the move.  I did see one really nice dark horned buck but failed to get a pic.

 

[Pullstart 62,840]

I was quite frustrated yesterday with the second valve stem since getting new tires leaking on Norman… same wheel.  I replaced the tire shop’s three piece valve stem with a high pressure brass one piece valve stem.  Then, I realized my wheel was cracked.  Today, I realized every spoke was stressed, and about to crack the center out.  Upon further inspection, this is not a GM wheel.  It’s a Chinese replacement cast to resemble the stock machined GM wheels.  The other three are in good shape still.  On the way to a salvage yard for a suitable replacement…

 

 

 

 

[cleat 5,934]

The OEM wheels on my mother's 2004 impala had made in China cast into them. 

There were a lot of made in China parts on that car.

You would think there is nothing more American than a Chevy impala but I guess not.

 

[ebinmaine 67,455]

24 minutes ago, cleat said:

 

You would think there is nothing more American than a Chevy .... but I guess not.

 

 

We've been setting ourselves up like this for a lot longer than most of us realize.  

 

I once had a carburetor in my possession that was from a 1970 Chevrolet Corvette. Low horsepower warranty replacement. Very particular type of carburetor. Stamped Holley right in it. I thought those were all American made but the body of this particular carburetor was, Made in Japan.

[Pullstart 62,840]

$34 for a replacement wheel at the U-pick today, and I got the weather checked tire free.  Better than paying their $10 dismount fee, because it’s not road worthy.  I swapped my tire back on and my buddy at the tire shop had it balanced for me in about 6 minutes.  I’m glad to know all my wheels are GM brand now, (honestly no matter where they are from) and not a cheap repop.

 

 

[adsm08 2,048]

I helped clean out the shop at work by removing some obsolete equipment. Got a working combination R12/R134 machine out of the deal too.

 

Gonna have to get @ML3 to come out and help me get the garage organized soon. Or just build a bigger one.

Edited August 28 by adsm08

[ebinmaine 67,455]

This is Trina's current project. 

2002 Regency wood stove. 

There's an electric blower that circulates air into the room.  

She's doing her standard clean em up and coat it with stove black. 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the fasteners have been removed. Rope gaskets out. Glass out. Fire bricks out. 

 

All new parts will be ordered. 

Stay tuned.....

[Handy Don 12,216]

On 8/23/2024 at 4:40 PM, sjoemie himself said:

Very cool!

Embellish it with some wall protection against scuffing and some handholds up high?

[8ntruck 6,998]

We cooked a batch of chicken stir fry on our realitivly new Blackstone grill.  It is the fourth or fifth time we've used it.  It is starting to get a good season on it now.

 

We ate on the deck at the lake house.  Reasonable day.  70's with humidity to match.  Nice sunset while we had dinner.

 

[ebinmaine 67,455]

6 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

We cooked a batch of chicken stir fry on our realitivly new Blackstone grill.  It is the fourth or fifth time we've used it.  It is starting to get a good season on it now.

 

We ate on the deck at the lake house.  Reasonable day.  70's with humidity to match.  Nice sunset while we had dinner.

 

 

That's a day right there.  

 

 

The BBT and I have been planning a new entrance path to the forest. 

We have 10+ acres here. The front 3 are divided from the rest by a low spot that collects water all year.  

We built the old bridge several years ago knowing it was KD wood and should last 3 to 5 years.  We got all of that out of it. 

The old bridge was/is in the easiest location to get through at that point. That was way over to the left side of the acreage. Since then we've had some land cleared for the garden area which is more central on the property. 

The frog pond takes much of the water for that area. What we need to get over is the spongy stuff behind and to the left side of the garden area we had cleared. 

The new bridge will be put in there.  

 

Yesterday Trina continued cutting small  trees to get us through where we need to be.  

 

The new bridge and path will be a little more long lasting.  More stone in the base and better pallets.  Still KD.  Pallets are free.  Pressure treated would be a huge investment that we aren't willing to make. Replacing pallets is an investment in time,  for sure. 

This new setup will be more user friendly to rebuild in a few years.  

 

 

[lynnmor 7,305]

4 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

 

The frog pond takes much of the water for that area. What we need to get over is the spongy stuff behind and to the left side of the garden area we had cleared. 

The new bridge will be put in there.  

 

Better keep quiet, you don't want to alarm the wetlands police. 

[Handy Don 12,216]

4 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Replacing pallets is an investment in time,  for sure. 

I’m wondering what happens to the nails as the pallets rot/decompose.

[ebinmaine 67,455]

17 minutes ago, lynnmor said:

Better keep quiet, you don't want to alarm the wetlands police. 

 

That's not an issue up here like it is in other places.

We checked into it when we had the area cleared, flattened, and frog pond put in. It's not within 100 ft of, or part of, any river, stream, or other pond, lake, or drainage.

 

 

19 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

I’m wondering what happens to the nails as the pallets rot/decompose.

 

My other half and I were talking about that a couple days ago. She had no intention whatsoever of leaving the old pallets there.

We are going to be removing whatever rotted carcass of the bridge is left and burning that wood in a brush pile or fire pit. Any metals like screws nails and other fasteners are collected later. All of that goes into recycling.

[Handy Don 12,216]

34 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

My other half and I were talking about that a couple days ago. She had no intention whatsoever of leaving the old pallets there.

We are going to be removing whatever rotted carcass of the bridge is left and burning that wood in a brush pile or fire pit. Any metals like screws nails and other fasteners are collected later. All of that goes into recycling.

In my ignorance, I once tried to savage some lumber from a nice pallet. Learned quickly that they are NOT made for disassembly! There is a good reason why so many businesses are happy to give away used pallets for free.

They DO make for a great bonfire, though.

[ebinmaine 67,455]

9 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Learned quickly that they are NOT made for disassembly!

 

I've tried that too when I was a little younger and wanted some firewood. A lot of pallets are made of oak or maple for strength so they burn well but as you said they are not at all prone to coming apart.

Back when I was 19 or 20 I worked for an actual pallet rebuilding factory for a year. You would have been fascinated to see the machine I used to disassemble the pallets. It was huge.

[squonk 41,079]

1 hour ago, Handy Don said:

In my ignorance, I once tried to savage some lumber from a nice pallet. Learned quickly that they are NOT made for disassembly! There is a good reason why so many businesses are happy to give away used pallets for free.

They DO make for a great bonfire, though.

Camped one night at Oswego Speedway for the international Classic one year. Lots of drivers and fans from Canada. Sitting by our campfire as it's getting dark and these campers way back in the corner of the lot start whooping it up. Here comes a tractor trailer loaded to the gills with pallets. They drop the entire load off and these guys in the corner start piling them up and the torch the whole shootin match off at once!  The glow from the fire lit up the whole area for like 20 minutes. Later these two couples from Canada set up right next to me. Nice enough and they have those old school webbed lawn chairs. When I woke the next morning they were already gone and they burned everything including those chairs! 

Edited August 30 by squonk

[Ed Kennell 38,158]

2 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

A lot of pallets are made of oak

I had a source for free oak pallets that heated my house for many years.    I just used a circular saw to cut along the three supports to free the boards then cut the supports in half between the nails.

Burned it all, then spread the ashes including the nails on my garden, fruit trees,  ,blackberries, and raspberries.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,547]

7 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

then spread the ashes including the nails on my garden, fruit trees,  ,blackberries, and raspberries.

Good source of iron for fruits...! 

[sjoemie himself 3,068]

On 8/29/2024 at 10:10 PM, Handy Don said:

Very cool!

Embellish it with some wall protection against scuffing and some handholds up high?

 

Thank you! No real need for that. We only use it occasionally, getting down cristmas decorations and stuff like that, and only with socks or bare feet. On top of that the walls are "Agnes" panels which have a plastic (?) coating on them. Plus anything I put on the wall would not look very tasty.. 

 

Handholds are for the weak! Which I am not (yet) 

In all seriousness, I used to go up there without a ladder and just doing a kind of back summersault while holding onto the beam. I think this will be fine for now 

[Handy Don 12,216]

6 hours ago, sjoemie himself said:

Handholds are for the weak! Which I am not (yet) 

Ah, youth! Glad you are savoring it!

[rmaynard 15,436]

I am sitting on the beach in Duck, NC. (OBX) 

 

Mrs. M, daughter, and youngest grandson.

 

[19richie66 17,500]

17 minutes ago, rmaynard said:

I am sitting on the beach in Duck, NC. (OBX) 

 

Mrs. M, daughter, and youngest grandson.

 

I hope to make it to the outer banks soon. Nice out there.