I finally bought a house in Cave Country! W00T!!!

[BenjaminF]

Just want to make sure, that last image isn't an attempt to put together a 3 tank back-mount rig, right?

 

[Diving Dubai]

I am still using Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust rolls (not good enough to make my own pie crusts).

My mother was a professional cook in a school, back when they actually cooked from scratch. She taught me how to make all pastries, although filo and puff are better (less faff) brought frozen.

I miss making my own pastry, but even in the winter the counter surfaces are too warm, so frozen for me too.

I can still make a mean shortbread biscuit that melts in the mouth.

Perhaps I'll also put up some good old English recipes for you heathens to try...

 

[The Chairman]

Just want to make sure, that last image isn't an attempt to put together a 3 tank back-mount rig, right?

Those would be some big assed tanks if I did! It's probably been 30 years or more since I laid a bead with oxy/acetylene, so I'm pretty happy with the result, especially given the fact that I didn't have borax.

 

[markmud]

I still have a tiny leak, but it's too cold to play in the water. I'll wait for a warmer day to track that down.

Yeah Big Kahuna, that is a good idea. We don't want you to get frost bite or anything. I drove bus on icy-slick roads today. ABS brakes worked flawlessly.

Were you like us, suffering 22F this morning?

Stay warm bro!

Hey @Diving Dubai,

"Perhaps I'll also put up some good old English recipes for you heathens to try..."

I am a heathen and will gladly try out your recipes. I might need my wife's help. Remember, I am a cook not a chef.

cheers,
m

 

[The Chairman]

Were you like us, suffering 22F this morning?

We had one of the coldest mornings of the year: 30F. It wasn't until 9:30am or so that I could go out in my t-shirt and shorts. It's gotten up to 60F so far, and I think we'll max out at 63F for the day. It's time to assemble the deck to the mower! It came with these farm clips that have a wire bale to keep them in place. Only, every so often I start to have mowing issues and find one has escaped. I'm going to use bolts with nylok nuts this time around. Sure, it will take a bit more to undo them, to pull the deck, but there's only four of them to worry about. It's

 

[The Chairman]

Another day, another repair. No, I haven't finished assembling the ZT yet, but my neighbor needs the tractor. Late last year, I noticed a hydraulic leak under the RR wheel. I still haven't healed completely, so repairing it was put off. I really couldn't see it as it was covered by that huge wheel. He offered to help me fix it, so today, we jacked up the rear, pulled that incredibly heavy tire off (it's filled with water) and took a look. It seems like it's leaking from a bolt in the middle of a fluid manifold block. I undid the two bolts, which were really plugs holding springs down, replaced the o-rings and screwed them back together. Yeah, one of the bolts was simply finger tight when I went to loosen it, so I took care to tighten them right as I reassembled. I also noticed an even bigger leak coming from a coupler, so Daryl and I pulled that apart, cleaned and reassembled it so that it stopped leaking. We had been having a hard time getting the hood release to work, so that was our next project. I bent the lever out a bit and that was magic. Easy enough to open now. Finally, the LF tire was so flat it was off the rim. I couldn't see a puncture, so we had to air it up first. Gee, it's hard to seat the bead without huge amount of air. I pulled out the valve and saw an issue, so I aired up the tire, inserted a new valve and can't seem to find any other leaks.

Unfortunately, my stamina is all gone with healing from my broken leg. I've got one last thing to fix on that tractor, but it won't be today. A friend broke the range shifter, so it's been stuck in "low" for over half a year. With the wheel off, it was easy to snatch everything out so I can weld it back together. I ight try gas, but this is at least 1/4" by 1" thick. I think I need a bigger torch. OK, so I need a bigger nozzle. My largest is a bit too fine for this job.

 

[The Chairman]

Oh yeah: no more leaks and I had to add a whopping 3 gallons of hydraulic fluid. Wow.

 

[The Chairman]

I've finally had a few good days in a row here. I still don't have the stamina I used to have, but it's better than it was at the beginning of the year. I'm even finding that I can push myself past my limits and recover afterwards. That's a huge improvement! I'm still organizing the workshop and ag-shed, The zeroturn was doing great until I took out the sidewall of my LR tire with a Hercules club. Man, I hate those trees. Tires will be here next week and while the lawn is mostly mowed, it's not done.

Probably the best improvement of the week has been my chainsaw rack. They take up so much space on the shelf and they're hard to extract. I got this idea last year, Pintrest maybe, and decided to make it. I used 32" of a 2x12 with a 1x4 glued and screwed to the back. I then drew three lines with a wide marker and used the chain saw to slot the 2x12 to within 2 inches of the back. No other support in there and it seems to be holding just fine. I'll be putting another shelf above it for bar oil, tools and accessories. I do need to get electricity to the shed so I can use my chain sharpener and parts washer.

 

[michael-fisch]

I'm not looking foward to removing the 40 year old metal shed in my back yard and putting a shed that I'll make myself on one of the 2 concrete pads in the back yard. Gotta do it though, since I'll need the space for guarden tools and all the stuff that isn't needed year round in the house.

This shed is going as soon as I show up in Lake City

Michael

 

[michael-fisch]

I do need to get electricity to the shed so I can use my chain sharpener and parts washer.

Parts washer hopefully being a High Pressure Steam Cleaner at around 1800psi and 625°F. Anything else is nice, but not nice enough.

Michael