Comments Off on bits

By Dave, January 27, 2005 12:31 am

and pieces. not much done today. or didn't seem like it then.

friend came by this morning earlier than i wanted to think or move. got me out of the chair anyway. had a rough night. new bed and hurt back from jumping out of the truck tuesday. knew better and did it anyway pretty much without thinking till i was half way down. too late then. and way to old to be doing that kind of thing.

anyway he brought a bunch of stuff that he was throwing away. got a old pallet jack that I am going to try to modify to fit one of the dozers or the 3 point hitch on the tractor. that may be the better way. got some old electronics from a copier and a cabinet that I can use over the stove in the kitchen. already cut for a vent pipe. some other junk too. moved bertha to his truck and moved it into the back for now.

ate lunch and then cranked the MF135 and headed for the hill. The power line to be exact. found one of the pole base cut offs and after breaking a piece of ground wire and bending a hook on one end managed to poke it under the pole and hook the rope. Tied it to the pole and tied a loop and hung it over the trailer hitch on the scrape blade and pulled it out of the woods. then up to the top and back down the hill, across the creek, through the gap by the barn and around the bend by bills bus we went then up the hill and by the entry I unhooked it then backed into it with the blade and pushed it up and to the side.

back up the hill and did it again on the other side of the power line. went down by the beaver pond and snagged another one about the same length (10 to 11 feet) and diameter (16 to 20 inches) and back up the hill to repeat the trip. put this one on the north side of the entry and pushed it up against the pine and out of the way.

put the tractor away and took a walk and looked at the cedar thicket. got a bunch of cedar I need to cut and have available for porch posts and second floor support beams among other things. big problem is getting in there with a tractor or something to get them out. we walked the old logging track (can't call it a road as there are 2 foot diameter rocks in there) and it looks like a trip or two with the dozer will allow us access from the east.

Back for water and a rest. Then on to try the stuff to stop leaks in the John Deere. Got the water bucket and filled it. Added the stuff for the leak. Started the dozer and after a few minutes started adding the liquid. Got most of the bucket in the engine. Twas then I noted that some of the liquid was blowing back out the radiator. not from air from the fan but from air coming from inside the radiator. As I had already put this stuff in the cooling system I elected to continue. Took a couple of minutes for liquid to start forming on the exhaust stack and running down the side of the exhaust manifold. Exhaust got real white too. and then it quit. One cylinder seems filled with coolant. So, time to take it apart and see where the damage it…

Got the fuel tank unhooked, then had to remove the breather and air intake hoses to get the tank out. Got it out and took the muffler off and covered the rest for the nonce. Guess I will be welding on the Case final drive next. One of those days…

So I came in and started a pan of soup. Or something. Had some sliced up potatoes that needed cooking so I added water and soaked them for a few minutes and put them and the water in the stock pot. Found half an onion in the fridge that I cut up small and added. a stalk of celery likewise. Bit of salt and chunk of frozen stock from the last ham and on the ashley to simmer. Cut some ham up and took the pan of assorted bits and pieces (rice, ham bits, black eyed peas this time) from the fridge and added the cut ham to it, covered it and left it out on the counter to warm to room temp before adding. Added a can of chili beans to the mix cooking on the ashley, gave it a stir and took a sit down. stirred it every 10 to 15 minutes till the potatoes were about done and added the ham and leftovers mix and a can of chopped tomatoes. Stirred well and set on a ceramic tile (which i keep on the stove to regulate the temp a bit) to simmer. Came in and lay down on the couch and promptly went to sleep. Cat heard it fussing and after seeing me sawing zzzz's kept it stirred till I woke and pronounced it ready. Twas a good pot of soup. Made enough for at least 2 if not 3 meals. Total cost about $1.25 and much better than anything found at the store.