Post turkey update.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and ate too much turkey. 

I did some work before leaving for Thanksgiving, most notably getting the second load of dirt.  The truck rode better with the tires aired up properly, but still disappointingly bad.  After talking to dad on my trip, I think it might be that the wheels are too far forward, a common affliction with standard beds.  All my previous trucks had the full 8' box on them, and they hauled a lot better.  Given all my other complaints with the shorter box, I don't think I will ever buy a truck with anything less than an 8' bed again.


Unfortunately it was raining as I was shoveling everything out, and it was a muddy mess.  A lot of it washed away as I shoveled it out.  I might have to redo parts of it though because it was soup and my truck left ruts as I drove off. 


I still managed to get it all done though. 


I also got the driveway markers put in. 


I still have some left for repairs and just having weight in the back of my truck for winter. 


After getting back from Thanksgiving, I went up today to check on everything.  My mouse traps were very busy.  I am missing another trap though, I am down to 6.


Most importantly though, I was worried they might eat my pipe insulation.  It appears unharmed.


I also grabbed another handful of zip ties from work and finished putting the weight on.


I also started to the first tire chain.  I am using zip ties and not a bungee which is normally what you would use since I have a lot of slack because the chains are the wrong size.


I ran out of zip ties again, and at this point I have largely cleaned out work's supply of the larger and stronger ones, so I ordered a huge pile of them online.  They should be here before week's end.  I also took the opportunity to put out some more poison.  Despite all the traps being tripped, the big block poison is still relatively untouched.  I put out some of the stuff I picked up at Rural King.  We shall see if it works better.  It can't work worse.  I have three wedges filled with it, and one small dish.


The completion of the driveway marks off another item on the checklist.  I might still have to do some very minor repairs, but nothing that is critical at this point.  The lack of zip ties prevented the 4th item from completion.  That should be done this weekend. 

1. Fix ruts in driveway.
2. Put lights on the plow.
3. Get the oil changed in the tractor.
4. Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
5. Get the plastic installed
6. Get the truck oil undercoated.
7. Fix leaky underbelly.
8. Get skirting installed.
9. Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
10. Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
11. Finish clearing off the slab.
12. Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
1. Venting and Drainage
2. Water supply
3. Gas lines
13. Install insulation.
14. *Install flooring.  *12
15. Install light fixtures.
16. Install ceiling and attic insulation. *19
17. *Install paneling  *13, 14
18. *Install interior wall *14
19. *Complete electrical and plumbing.  *17, 18
20. *Install final flooring (carpet/linoleum).  *18, 19
21. Install interior fixtures.  When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.

More winterization work.

So it turned out to be a good thing I didn't get to the quarry on Friday.  Barry has mounds of a dirt and gravel mix that I could have for free, he just wants to get rid of them.  So I put my truck to work today. 


It didn't quite flatten the back end, but there was something really wonky with the truck.  It drove like a slight breeze was enough to roll the tires, and just generally drove like crap.  Plenty of power, but everything else suffered, which is a little disappointing given that I never had this problem with my old chevy which I did completely flatten the back end on more than occasion.  The tire pressure light was one, but I just filled them a week ago.  I will definitely check them.  It might be time for new tires, though I was hoping to get another year out of the ones on it.  It felt like I might have to rebuild the brakes too which is annoying since they were done when I bought the truck and I have only put 6k miles on it. 


The load didn't quite make half the driveway, but the really bad spots are done.




This is what is left.


Apparently I also got a free boulder.


Once that was done I got the weight put on the tractor.  I only put one bag on, I can add the other if needed.  It turned out that the u-bolts I put in were too small, so I said to hell with it and just put it on the other way.  I don't really think it will come off unless I do something really stupid.  I did run out of zip ties though.  I will poach a few from the lab at work tomorrow.  Despite how it looks, the weight is centered on the tractor; the bagger is biased to the right since that is where the discharge is.


Next up was the tire chains.  They are made for a GT which has larger tires, and don't really fit.  More zip ties will be required to tighten everything up.  Normally you just use a couple of bungee cords on the outside, but that probably won't be sufficient. 




I tried to put the power cord up, and it worked well, despite looking kind of ghetto.


But it turns out the cord isn't long enough to run up and over.  I am already running 2 100' cords and a 50', and really really don't want to add yet another cord to the mix.  Instead I think I will just leave the cord up the way it is currently and only run it when I go to use it.  I don't imagine that I will be working outside of the weekends that often during the winter.  I also taped up the joint of the extension cords to minimize water getting into the cord, and got it up off the ground.  The outlet is a GFCI so it should trip if anything goes zap, but still better safe than sorry.


I am headed out tomorrow to get another load, which I hope will complete the driveway.  I will stop in on the way and grab more zip ties so I can hopefully close out some of the items on the checklist, but no movement today despite a lot of progress.

Tractor update

I was happy to see when I headed up that all the precipitation was rain, there was no snow up there. 

Today was mostly a tractor preparedness day.  Unfortunately it appears that I left the ignition on last time I got the thing running, so the battery is dead again.  I will poke it tomorrow to see if the battery is history or if it will take a charge.  I had my solar trickle charger on it, so hopefully it survived.

I also grabbed some wood scraps and built the extension for the extension cord.  All the wood was soggy, but that doesn't matter to the drill.  This will go on the 8' chunk I already stuck in the old foundation.


And I built the main rack for the weights.  I think the loops are big enough, but it is going to be tight.


I intend to take a half day tomorrow if I can manage it, and get the gravel and get these things installed while I have daylight.  I have worked late most of the week and have sufficient hours, but I just need to make sure that my calendar of meetings at work is amenable to the idea.  So hopefully I can knock a few items off the checklist tomorrow. 

For my Thanksgiving KY trip, my pre-trip plans all bailed, so I might head out earlier than anticipated.  I will likely arrive on Monday, not Tuesday as originally planned.

Tractor fixed

I managed to get up there during work today.  We never got the sunshine we were supposed to, so it was still snowy up there.  It was actually kind of pretty.


I got another couple of mice.  One even came from the shed, where the traps have been untouched for weeks.  There is a nest in the stove, which I believed to be dormant, perhaps not. 


The big news is that the tractor is now fixed.  It just needed more oil.  I filled it until the dipstick said it was full since I didn't have the manual handy.  It turns out the manual says 2 quarts, so I dumped the rest of the second quart in (it only took ~1.5 quarts to make it say full) and it fired up. 

I also picked up the bolts and whatnot for the weight.  We are supposed to get more snow Thursday, so hopefully I can get it finished by then.  I have some homework to do tonight, but might be able to do it tonight afterwards if I have time.

I do have tire chains, but haven't looked up how to put them on, and they might be too big (I wasn't going to argue for free).  I have spent the last couple of nights putting up plastic on my windows, but that is mostly done at this point, I only have a couple of windows left.

The tractor running again marks another item off the list.  There were a couple of things missing that I have added, the plastic on the windows and I want to the get the truck oil undercoated.

1. Fix ruts in driveway.
2. Put lights on the plow.
3. Get the oil changed in the tractor.
4. Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
5. Get the plastic installed
6. Get the truck oil undercoated.
7. Fix leaky underbelly.
8. Get skirting installed.
9. Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
10. Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
11. Finish clearing off the slab.
12. Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
1. Venting and Drainage
2. Water supply
3. Gas lines
13. Install insulation.
14. *Install flooring.  *12
15. Install light fixtures.
16. Install ceiling and attic insulation. *19
17. *Install paneling  *13, 14
18. *Install interior wall *14
19. *Complete electrical and plumbing.  *17, 18
20. *Install final flooring (carpet/linoleum).  *18, 19
21. Install interior fixtures.  When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.

Snow.

Sullivan was completely white when I got up there.  We got about 4-6 inches, but most of it melted as it fell.  The ground was frozen all weekend, so it will probably survive throughout most of the day tomorrow until the sun gets it all. 

The back yard.


The driveway up to the shed.


My solar battery charger probably isn't working too well.


I also went and picked up some free patio furniture today.  It is in decent shape.  The table base might need a couple of bolts, but they are all standard 1/4" it looks like.


The picture from the ad looks much clearer.


I think this is mother nature's way of telling me to stop slacking on the winterization list. 

A lot of tractor work.

It wasn't so bad today up there.  It wasn't as windy, and it was sunny, so it felt warmer even though it was about the same as yesterday.  Pretty much the entire day was spent working on the tractor. 

I pulled the cover off and cleaned out the mouse nest.  There were three dead mice in it.  I am guessing they are the ones that nibbled on the poison block I put on the deck. 


They also chewed on a few wires.  This one was particularly bad.  I wrapped it up with tape


I also changed the oil in the tractor.  The oil was really sluggish and it took a while to drain.  It looked dirtier than I expected considering I changed it in the spring. 


When I went to fire it up, it no longer starts.  I am not sure what happened, nothing should have changed.  I tried to get the spark plug out, but the wire is sealed on.  I didn't change it in the spring for the same reason, but it was just running two days ago, so I am not sure what happened.  I undid all the seat switch bypasses and whatnot I had done to no avail.  I will have to play with it more tomorrow or Tuesday (it is supposed to be cold and wet tomorrow).  I reattached the solar battery maintainer up to it since I ran that battery noticeably down cranking on it today.

I also did some work on the plow blade  today.  I managed to get it to swing, but I think that will continue to be a problem.  The cable isn't really strong enough to pull the arm that releases the position lock.  Unfortunately, when I manually actuate it, the spring is already too weak to pull it back into lock, so I can't just put a weaker spring in it.  I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet.  I might put a manual arm that I can reach and actuate.

The lights are fastened.  I neatened up the wiring too. 


I have also devised a couple of potential solutions to a few of the other winterization items.  For the weight in the back, I am going to hang a 2x6 with some loops in it that slide over the rails of the bagger.  I can then zip tie the unusable bags of concrete I have in the shed to it.  The beefy zip ties are good for 75 lbs, and the bags are 50.  That adds 100 lbs behind the rear axle.  If that is insufficient I can also just hang a 5 gallon bucket off it as well. 


For the power situation, I wanted a way to run the power on the other side of the driveway through the yard so that I can still have power up there to do work during the winter without having to worry about hitting it with a plow or snowblower.  I think this will do the trick, albeit with a taller board.  There is a tree on the other side opposite this so I can run the cord from the tree branch to a hook on top of the board.  It would be tall enough that I don't have to worry about hitting it with the truck, and lets me run it up completely out of the way.  I think I have enough spare length in the extension cord to do it too.


I had a casualty today too.  Thankfully the panel is still fine it is just the glass that is cracked, but another camera has suffered a near mortal wound at the hands of this project.  That said, until it is unusable, I intend to keep using it.


Several of the items on the winterization checklist are now in progress.  The lights are complete.  I haven't marked the oil change complete since the tractor isn't running. 

1. Fix ruts in driveway.
2. Put lights on the plow.
3. Get the oil changed in the tractor.
4. Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
5. Fix leaky underbelly.
6. Get skirting installed.
7. Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
8. Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
9. Finish clearing off the slab.
10. Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
1. Venting and Drainage
2. Water supply
3. Gas lines
11. Install insulation.
12. *Install flooring.  *10
13. Install light fixtures.
14. Install ceiling and attic insulation. *17
15. *Install paneling  *11, 12
16. *Install interior wall *12
17. *Complete electrical and plumbing.  *15, 16
18. *Install final flooring (carpet/linoleum).  *17, 20
19. Install interior fixtures.  When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.

Tractor lights wired in.

I got the brackets and the wiring harness for the new lights on the blade mowed.  I stopped in at work and used their bench vice and made the brackets out of some melding strips I had lying around.  I also snagged some connectors and wire. 


They are now wired in.    I covered the terminals with tape as well.


And work too.  They are up near the maximum power output for the mower, but the built in headlights are nearly worthless.  The bolts I had were too long, so I will have to pick up another set.


I tried to disable the seat switch as well, but leaving it as both open and closed both failed to work.  With both open and closed situations, the tractor would start and run as long as the clutch was depressed, but as soon as you take your foot off, it died.  I will need to investigate this further tomorrow.  I might just reconnect it to the terminal and just take the spacers out of the seat so it is always registering as someone sitting in it. 


I also emptied out my car back into the tiny home.  I have had all the plumbing stuff in my trunk for the last couple of weeks.  I found out the hard way that the paint that supposedly sticks to nearly everything didn't stick worth a damn.  It all came off onto my coat. Grrr.


I also stopped and picked up some gloves.  Not sure they will work that well for working, but it can't be worse than no gloves which I have done the past few days and ended up with numb hands most of the day. 

I also went and did some meal prep for the week after dark.  This time I tried making a taco mac 'n cheese.  It came out better than the last batch did.  The last mac 'n cheese was insufferably thick, the taco flavoring was a bit light though.  I still have enough spare cheese to make one more batch.

Another one bites the dust. Freebies.

It was frigid today.  I pulled out my Carhartt, but even it wasn't enough.  I don't have any winter gloves (my last pair got chewed up by mice), and even just being outside for a few minutes my hands were numb.  It was in the 20s when I got up there at 3PM, but the windchill was single digits.  This is what the towels looked like that I dried out most of the puddles in the underbelly with.


I did manage to get another couple mice, so I got the traps re-baited and set back up.  I also took my truck and went to pick up some freebie stuff from Barry.  He can't sell it because of some strange estate tax laws.  I don't really understand the reasoning, but got a bunch of free tools out of it. 

The real coup was a kerosene reddy heater.


I have a tub of mostly hand tools.  I need to go through all my hand tools.  I have lost several of them to rust or breaking, but I will have excessive amounts of hammers, screwdrivers and whatnot now. 


I also got some very old power tools.  I took one of the drills (my only corded drills are the pathetic Black and Decker from Dad and the Skil that only goes one direction), and a circular saw.  It is also very heavy duty.


The other highly useful item I snagged is a bench grinder.  These are quite useful and make things like sharpening mower blades go very quickly and easily.  Like the other tools, it is older than I am, but will probably outlive me.


Hopefully it isn't as windy tomorrow so I can change the oil.  Pulling the plug today would have been disastrous with the 20-30mph wind.  I also intend to stop in at work and bend some of my melding plates to get the lights mounted tomorrow. 

Another victory. More (chilly) plumbing.

I didn't get up there yesterday since I was working late.  Just as a reminder of the winterization checklist I haven't really worked on yet, I woke up to snow. 


I stopped up at the property during lunch since I had to go up and pay my property taxes, and it turns out the last couple of days I have gotten several mice.  I got 3.1 (one of them it only took off the leg). 


One of the traps I had outside by the wheels is completely gone.  I am guessing either something came down to eat the mouse on the trap, or the trap tried and failed to get something big.  Oh well.  I got all the remaining ones re-baited and set back up. 


I am now leading 3-2, though to be honest, I think I am winning more definitively.  I have taken out 4 with my foot and a 2x4, and now 6 (ish) of them with traps.  10 mice is a reasonable dent in the population. 

I also tossed some towels down on all the pools of water to at least mostly dry them out.  It is supposed to be quite cold tonight, and I didn't particularly want it to freeze.  I took them out when I went up after work. 


After work I went up and got the holes for the water lines drilled. 


I also got one side done, the pex comes up to a valve above the floor. 
The line for the fridge:


The bathroom lines.  I wanted to do the other side while I was up there, but even with the lights blasting 300W of heat, I was freezing when I finished this side.  I haven't pulled out any of my winter stuff yet, might be a good idea to do that.  We were already in the 20's at that point, and it is supposed to get down into the teens tonight.  Single digits tomorrow night.


The only things I have done is I got a pair of tire chains from Barry for free, and I have the stuff for an oil change, though I haven't done it yet.  I will need to take the cover off the engine as well and clear the mice nest out of it, and wanted daylight when I do that so I can be sure I get everything.  No movement on the checklist.

1. Fix ruts in driveway.
2. Put lights on the plow.
3. Get the oil changed in the tractor.
4. Get the tire chains installed and a weight installed on the back.
5. Fix leaky underbelly.
6. Get skirting installed.
7. Find a way to run power that won't be damaged by snow/plow/snowblower.
8. Find a way to prevent the snow pushing on the shed.
9. Finish clearing off the slab.
10. Run the rough plumbing. (includes gas line for stove)
1. Venting and Drainage
2. Water supply
3. Gas lines
11. Install insulation.
12. *Install flooring.  *10
13. Install light fixtures.
14. Install ceiling and attic insulation. *17
15. *Install paneling  *11, 12
16. *Install interior wall *12
17. *Complete electrical and plumbing.  *15, 16
18. *Install final flooring (carpet/linoleum).  *17, 20
19. Install interior fixtures.  When I get here, I will likely create a new list for the interior work.