so waht ya doin today?

fiver

Well-Known Member
just spent the last couple of hours getting the Truck, Bronco, and Mustang started.
the truck was the easy one, the Bronco not so bad but the new engine only has about 300 miles on it and it's a bit tight still, thankfully it's still got the thin break in oil and I didn't have to do anything more than throw the threat of a battery charger at it before it caught and fired.
if I wasn't running good octane gas it might have gone differently.
the Mustang was another story.
it took the charger and a shot of ether to get it finally going, then after pouring the rest of the premium can in, I had to go buy some gas to keep it running, not a big deal until I had to lock the Bronco in 4wd to back it out of the driveway.
been a while since that's happened and it was not having any of it for a minute or so, of course being on an ice sheet wasn't helping any but it finally banged into gear and locked in the auto hubs and we got going.
I gave up on getting the car out before I even started and just took the gas can down to the station.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Wiresguy, I used to live near Decatur and traveled that highway to Ft. Worth every day for years. When I lived there I didn't have any allergies to speak of, cedar was not bad and oak very low. Ifeem for you when you get to about Austin, we're going to have quite a blow tonight and it will shake a bunch more of the yaller death loose and spread it over SA.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
we get it here too but not super bad.
I can tell which way the wind was blowing when they started dropping the stuff though because one of the two trees out front will have berries on that side.
it's usually the tree to the south with the berry's only on the north side.
every few years we get a good warm spring santa ana wind up from the south and it blows to the other tree.
 

Ian

Notorious member
I did this about 30 times today. 1.5" bit hammered down 18" in solid rock. Well, 17" on this one actually, there is one inch of brown muck on the surface.

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Looking back down the hill. Near post with tape tied off to it is a 4" bore hole that will have pipe in it as part of an H-brace. Photos can't do justice to the steepness of the grade, it gains about 65 feet in 156 on this run alone.

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Then it goes on another 230' like this, then 200' back down the other side of the hill.

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I'm about worn out.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
To put in fence posts here today you would be drilling into frozen earth.

That is going to be one hell of a fence. You could even get some hogs.....
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Man, think I'd have bought or rented a bobcat attachment to drive in some anchors & bolted the posts to them...? Or some blackpowder..dynamite... something.

Our ground is so soft I can drive in oz posts with a hammer.:rofl:
 

Ian

Notorious member
I tried cutting a road up there but quit once I tried getting the machine up the first part. All it wanted to do was slide sideways. I'd literally have to dig in a level roadbed and I don't have enough machine to do that. I did manage to get the 400lb rolls of wire hauled about 1/3 of the way up the hill in the second photo but thats as far as I could get, and believe me I gave it hell because I didn't want to have to winch them the rest of the way. Forward, backward, didn't matter, couldn't get enough traction to make it. So, everything up top gets done with what I can drag up there myself, such as a 2500 wat genset and a big hammer drill.
 

Wiresguy

Active Member
Wiresguy, I used to live near Decatur and traveled that highway to Ft. Worth every day for years. When I lived there I didn't have any allergies to speak of, cedar was not bad and oak very low. Ifeem for you when you get to about Austin, we're going to have quite a blow tonight and it will shake a bunch more of the yaller death loose and spread it over SA.

It’s a small world, Ian.

I lived in Decatur where my wife and I took care of my aunt, my mom’s older sister, until she passed in 2011.

Had some property out near Crafton.

My sister lived in Austin and mom in SA, so we made the run down to SA to help mom out where we could. 281 was - and still is - a more pleasant drive than I-35.

Living up in Minnesota now but still get down that way once a year or so. We still take 281 and always stop at the Koffee Kup in Hico and down the road get pie at the Bluebonnet Cafe. And we used to stop in Hamilton to get some of the “Real” Dr. Pepper for mom, before Snapples shut the door on Dublin Dr. Pepper.
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
if you sink a post at the top you can rig up a sled to a sheave and use the bob cat at the bottom to pull the stuff to the top.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Nice fence. Gotta give ya that man! It'll be interesting to see how the drill works in my rock when we get started. There is some exposed ledge rock, and I mean sheets of continuos rock running several hundred feet at times, along one of my property lines. Some folks here call them "whales backs". Back just after WW2 the Town owned a compressor and rock drill. I'm told the 1.5" holes I found along that side were done with that rig, which was loaned out free to residents. Can you imagine the paper work and discontent that would go with such and idea now?! Times do change.

Youngest boy got a Coleman trail bike for Christmas. I'd looked for an affordable ATV or dirt bike for several years, nothing could be found in our price range I was willing to gamble more money on. So he got this over grown minibike and loves it! Now it won't start. It's a simple Honda clone 5hp engine with a cheapie non adjustable carb. I've cleaned the carb (per Coleman instructions) checked the fuel flow, cleaned the no name plug a mess of times. It will fire on ether a little and die. Naturally it's over the weekend this happens and then into New Years, so pretty much all the auto parts stores are closed so the drunks can get drunker. Gonna go get an NGK plug today and I imagine it will fire right up. Then, in a show of either motherly kindness to the boy or an attempt to kill me, my wife told the kid he can move his room to the downstairs. He has a bunk bed for his pal and in a story and a half house they don't work good in 2nd floor rooms. That of course required cleaning up the bedroom to be and moving the kids stuff and then cleaning the mess in his old room. We've been 3 days on this and we aren't done yet! Oh, and it's colder than a well diggers feet. Fun, fun, fun!
 

popper

Well-Known Member
Candy store across the road in Hico has good fudge too. That is NOT a big hammer drill. Big ones have 2 handles.
 

Ian

Notorious member
Mine had two handles but one of them broke off the first time I used it. It's not jackhammer class but I guarantee it's all you want to have to hang on to for hours, and if the bit snags it will sling you across the yard. I don't like the wide trigger because it takes too long to let go and the damned thing is an arm-breaker waiting for a chance.
 
F

freebullet

Guest
Still have a few gear driven antique arm breakers. They will get ya. Use the one quite a bit for thinset, grout mixing, ect.
 

Pistolero

Well-Known Member
Drove home from the Colorado cabin. Snowshoed 5 or so toboggan loads to the 4Runner, drained down the
water system, pink antifreeze in the traps, shut down the 110VAC inverter, cut back to two solar panels
turned of the refrigerator, stove, water heater and shut the main propane valve.

Locked up and headed out. About 10" of new snow since last plowing, used 4WD to the hard road, 12 miles,
and expected clean pavement......NOPE. Snow packed for the 15 miles to the pass, and over the top.
Finally got bare pavement by the time we hit town, an hour away. Got back to KC just short of
midnight.

Ian, that fence will be there in 200 years.

Bill
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
I'm trying to figure out where the weather service is thinking we are, cause they can't get the temperature right let alone the weather.

negative 4 for a low last night they said.
it's 9 am and the thermometer just climbed up to minus 13.... not even close.
it's gonna be near 30 for a high later this week they say, I'm thinking they just have a winter and a summer Faro wheel they spin every Monday and pin those numbers up on the wall.