30 December, 2012 - 5 January 2013 - Chimney Cleaning, Icy Roads

Another day another ... train?

Susan went through some of the toys we have stored from "yesteryear" and found this train set. It was missing a few pieces but there were enough left to make the loop.  Scott spent hours playing with it.

This is another of his favorite toys.  His big interests in life right now are planes, trains and automobiles.  Here he's making a crash landing on the snow.

Okay, on to the next adventure...

We bought him a kid's computer for Christmas.  He loves it and isn't as interested in "helping" us when we're using ours.

His mom and dad got him a Cars blanket.  Cars is one of his favorite movies.

I was sorting some brass so Scott decided to help a bit.  I gave him a can of 270 and 25/06 brass to mess around with.  I don't have any firearms in those calibers.  (Although if I found some at a good price ...!)

Chimney cleaning time again.  This time we need some repairs on the top pipe.  The bottom and top have both corroded to the point that they need replaced.

I took it off then ran the brush through the pipe a few times to knock the ash out.  There wasn't any creosote build up.  We only burn seasoned wood and I run the stove hot for awhile every morning which keeps creosote deposits at a minimum.  As long as I was already there and had the brush it only takes a few more minutes to scrub out the chimney.

I didn't feel like going to town for a new cap and and we keep a couple new sections of pipe on hand so I just attached the old cap to the new pipe.  It should work okay for several years before it needs to be replaced.

The snow was piling up on the U-Haul so Susan shovelled it off.  I think I hear the camper whispering "let's go south until the snow is gone."

We got a call at 5:30 am from our SIL.  He ran off the road dodging a deer and needed help getting on to work.  The battery was dead in his truck so I drove him to work then we got him out after he got off work.

A neighbor brought his tractor over to lend a hand.  It worked great because he could lift the back of the truck out of the ditch using the loader.  (The bumper is rusted through and was already bent before he hit the ditch.)  I'd have had to chain up all four wheels to get him out with the Cherokee.

I thanked another neighbor who stopped traffic on the curve while we were extracting the truck.  It's pretty icy and we were worried that anyone coming around the turn would ignore the flares I set out and either hit someone or wind up in the ditch themselves.

 

When Scott's parents came up Saturday there was a wreck blocking the road about two miles closer to the highway than where this photo was taken.  They had to make a ten mile detour (one way) to get to the next road to make it to our place.

 

We bought some bacon and fried it up for breakfast.  It was a nice treat. It's a lot better cooking it on the wood stove.  Eventually the grease splatters will burn off.

Getting water for the animals is always a chore during the winter.  We don't like using our drinking water if we can avoid it so I set a bucket of snow behind the wood stove.  It warms up during the day so we have water on hand for the animals.  All we have this winter is the cat, dog and seven chickens.  The chickens don't drink a lot but they need fresh water at least a couple times a day.

 

 

31 October, 2012 - Roto Rooter, Electric Chain Saws, Home Again ...

It's nice to be home again although we miss the warmer weather and friends and relatives down south!

One of the trophies I got building the deck.  The drill slipped and I ran the screwdriver bit into my thumb.  It's healing nicely.

The joys of home ownership!  While we were at my mother's house the sewer pipe became clogged with tree roots so Roto-Rooter was called in to fix it.  One of the tiles about thirty feet from the house had partially collapsed and the tree growing overhead had plugged the drain pipe.  He got it opened up again but recommended that some repairs be made.  Estimates put them (new pipe and double clean-outs) around $800.00.  It should be done within a month. 

Small children love to follow the examples of adults.  Here Scott picked up a section of the newspaper and joined Susan in "reading" it.  Pretty soon though, he was snuggled in her lap while she read the paper.

I've never owned an electric chain saw and my stepfather had three of them so I gave them a test run.  The first one is run on 19 volt batteries.  It wasn't impressive at all.  A bow saw would be faster by the time you change the batteries every couple of minutes.

The two saws that used a power cord did well.  This little McCulloch cut like a champ and was difficult to bog down.  It did make more noise though than the saw shown below it.

The best one was this 3.5 HP, 16 in. Craftsmen saw.  It was fast and comparable to the majority of gasoline powered mini-saws in that size range.  Of course you're limited by the power cord but if you're looking for a small saw to use around the home place it wouldn't hurt to keep in mind one of these electric models.  They're much easier on the ears!

We headed for home, stopping once more at Paladin Press in Boulder, CO on the way.  I took a few photos while there.  We picked up another 30 of my books along with a few written by other authors.  I get a substantial discount due to being one of their authors.

This is coming over the pass between Livinston and Bozeman, Montana (heading west).  I used to live about four miles south of where this photo was shot. We were six miles beyond the closest power line.  It was my first experience living off-grid. 

This is Scott in his bee costume and his mother getting ready to hit the streets trick-or-treating.

His mom and dad are swinging him between them as they walk down the hill.  Scott loves it!

After making the rounds, Scott was busy as a little bee checking out DVD's and Computer games.  He had a blast once he figured out that people at the houses would give him candy.  He'd hold onto whatever they gave him until he got to the next house then he'd drop that handful of candy to make room for whatever they gave him there.

Now there's more wood to be cut, split and stacked, and I need to put the winter tires on the Cherokee.  Hunting season is in full swing as well with trapping season open for water trapping (beaver, otter, muskrat, mink).  We're way behind and are playing catch-up now.  I guess boredom won't be a problem any time soon!

14 - 25 September, 2012 - Silverwood, Harvest Time, Trip Preps

My book is in the computer at Paladin Press now.  For an overview and ordering information use the link below.  Thanks.

Creating the Low-Budget Homestead

We're 1500 miles from home today.  We left on Saturday (a week ago) to see people in Colorado, Kansas, Texas and then back to Colorado.  You'll note that this is being posted a few days after the last day of the blog coverage.  The only excuse is that we've been a little busy!

The 15th we went to Silverwood with some of the kids.  This is Scott on his first horse ride at Silverwood with his grandma beside him and his mother and aunt behind.  He was making motor sounds as he rode.

Now he's on the children's roller coaster.  We spent the entire day there and he was one tired little boy when we left for home.  The parents, aunt and uncle left for Kalispell in one car and Susan and I and Scott drove home in our Cherokee.  It was a long day but fun.  Of course us big kids did some riding too.

We had to do some work on the trailer before we left on our trip.  I needed to make a better tailgate for it so I got the welder and bed rails out and went to work.  The last time we had it on the highway the bar across the back fell off with our license plate attached.  We never did find it so we had to buy a replacement.  That cost us $20.00.  This time I bolted it to the left fender on the trailer and made a stronger tailgate for the trailer.  Susan painted it black after I finished.

The temperature gauge on the U-Haul keeps showing hotter and hotter the longer we drive it.  I've pulled over and tested the temperature with a thermometer and never found a problem so we finally just bought an aftermarket, mechanical gauge and I installed it.  I installed it in the thermostat housing just under the thermostats (it has two).  So far it looks like there is no overheating problem.  Most likely the sender for the factory gauge is malfunctioning. 

When it was time to refill the radiator I couldn't find my funnel so I made one out of the top of a two liter pop bottle.   It worked okay.

I also changed the oil and filter and greased it.  I added 3 pints of gear oil to the transmission to top it off but the rear differential was okay.  Getting the lights all working was a bit of a chore.  We had three clearance lights out and the right front turn signal/park light wasn't working right.  I had to replace the entire light assemblies on the clearance lights (I keep spares on hand).  I thought I had a bad ground on the park/turn signal light because when you turned on the headlights the right turn indicator light glowed dimly (a classic indicator of a bad ground wire).  I ended up being a bad ground on the light socket.  Those I don't keep on hand so I scrounged around on one of our "retired" vehicles and found a socket I could wire in.  That got the truck lights fixed.

Now the trailer lights needed attention.  None of them worked!  To make a long story shorter, the connectors in the trailer harness plug were loose and I had one bad bulb.  Susan already had the U-Haul packed and the trailer loaded so we were finally ready to hit the road the next morning.

I bought some blades for a disk at an estate sale awhile back.  I'd planned on using them for targets (gongs) and finally got the first one ready.  I hung it between a couple of trees and proceeded to give it a beating.  It's at 25 yards from the firing line and we use only 22's and handguns on it.   We wear safety glasses at all times (everyone on the line including spectators) in case of ricochets.  It's a lot more fun shooting when you don't have to stop and replace targets.

The garden is ready for harvest.  We've already dug some of the potatoes but hadn't gotten to the peas yet.  We let most of them dry on the vine.  Susan calls it the lazy man's way to get seed for next year and she's right!  The pods and seeds are dried so all you have to do is put the pods in a bucket and shell them when  you have time (probably during the winter while we're watching a movie on television).  We were a little late this year.  Some of the pods had burst open already.  We'll be seeing some volunteer peas in that area next year!  We should have several pounds of dried peas when we get them shelled.  That's plenty for planting next year even after eating our share.

It's nice that Scott is getting old enough to entertain himself for short times while we work in the garden.  He played on the tiller for quite awhile, making motor sounds as his imagination took him on trips across the garden.  He helps when we dig potatoes too.  We put them in a bucket then dump the bucket in the wheel barrow then he takes them out of the wheel barrow and puts them in our buckets.  We still have some training to do when it comes to potato harvesting.

Susan did her laundry just before we left (I did mine the day before) and Scott helped take the clean clothes off the line.  Getting in the basket and covering himself up was his idea.

On the way south we stopped at Paladin Press in Boulder, Colorado to meet the people who published my book. They gave us a tour of their facilities.  It was cool to meet the people who actually put my book together.

I have more pictures taken on the road but we're working with a jet pack and are limited to four gigs per month.  Since this is the first month using it we're being cautious about how fast we use up or allotment.  When we get home I may do one post of just travel pictures.