Mostly my mom and I just hung out which was so nice to spend good quality time together. We did get brave and practiced taking Uber rides in case she ever needs that as a backup plan!
We got to see my brother, Brian, and his wife, Linda, a few times too which was fun...
On the way back home, I stopped again in Medina and met up with as many of Jim's family as could make it. It was great to see everyone - it had been too long!
Jim's sister, Cindy, organized everyone and made a fabulous dinner for us - here she is with Bryan. Thanks to everyone who made arrangements to get together!
It was a rainy ride back, especially when I ran into a horrid thunderstorm around Mentor. Whew! I told Jim that when I pulled off the turnpike to head towards home, the sun came out for about the first time on the trip! A good omen - and it was SO wonderful to see Jim again. Amazing that it seemed so long since I had seen him!
Jim got so much accomplished during the week I was gone. Rather than show a day-by-day diary of what he accomplished, I'll try and just group things together to show you the bulk of the work (at least what he was able to take pictures of - there's always so much more!)
He probably spent 8-10 hours working on machinery, plus more investigating parts. I had mentioned before that there was a leak in a hydraulic hose on the excavator but he had to take things apart to figure out where it was. So he continued taking things apart...
With the seat out, you can see how grimy everything is underneath...
In fact, if you look closely in this picture, you can see where squirrels put pinecones underneath the seat...
A whole lot of pinecones!
So he took all the floor panels out and power sprayed everything...
Jim ordered the hose from Bobcat and started putting things back together.
He also put a lot of hours in the other Bobcat. He needed to clean all the old grease off with a rag, then he power sprayed it and greased it back up - in fact, he used an entire 14 ounce tube of grease! But it looks all spiffy clean now.
In the mornings, Jim typically worked in the woodshed. He's starting to make the next two cabinets that will go on either side of the microwave cabinet. Face frames cut and side panels are behind.
Then he did the millwork on the side panels...
As well as the millwork on the mounting blocks that become part of the back panels...
Then he got the back panels finished with shelving blocks in place...
All the pieces assembled (but not fastened) - looks great and makes me very excited!
He started working on the bottom shelves as well, putting the laminate on them...
He was out of pine and wanted to explore a new lumberyard - this one is northeast of us. They don't carry the selection that the other yard does but he was absolutely thrilled with the quality of the pine they had.
So he bought enough to work on more jobs...
Including making the last panels for the door!
Jim continued lawn work as well, working in the wooded area behind the carriage house. This is how it looked when he first started. These dead trees have been here since the lot was partially logged.
He first had to drag a couple of old trees out...
Then he started to cut the big tree. He first tied onto the top branch...
Then he cut that top trunk at the saddle point and dragged it out. He did the same for the bottom trunk.
The main trunk was too big and too heavy to do in one attempt. He first had to cut it in half. It was too big to drag up so he had to drag it out from the side...
This as the view from the cab...
The diameter of the main trunk where he cut it was over 2-1/2 feet - bigger than the bar on the chain saw!
But check out how amazing it looks now!
He cut and assembled these three vertical pieces and bucks...
Then added a lateral brace to the end bucks...
The rest he built in place in a cubby in the control room underneath the stairs...
Plywood cut and attached for two shelves and now all his paint supplies have a cozy new home!
He accomplished even more grounds works. Now that he has all the logs and stumps out of the old storage area, we plan to use that as a turn around. He first relocated the small gravel pile back towards the woods and graded out the area for the turn around.
Then he got a load of gravel....
He had them drop the gravel where the turn around will be...
Then he did lots of gravel moving...he got gravel placed in half of the pole barn and in front of it. We have to take out all the items stored in the other half before he can move the rest of the gravel.
Jim even did some shopping for me while I was gone! He had decided that he wanted to get another set of wheels for my car and get some heavier duty winter tires put on. That way we could just switch tires for the winter season. He had to go twice to a place in Glens Falls but he got me new wheels!
Besides the fact that Jim now had to do all his cooking and cleaning up, he did grass cutting and trimming one day for over 3 hours. He also got his second shingle shot, which again left him feeling pretty sore and fatigued the next day. I was so impressed with all he got done in a week!
Jim was measuring pieces for cabinet shelves...
Showing me how the bottom shelf will look in the cabinet...
Using the drum sander to sand the shelf pieces to the same thickness....
Once all the pieces were hand routed and sanded, time for the first coat of polyurethane!
As part of the excavator work, Jim found that the foot pedal assembly that controls the boom was a mess - this is what the bearings looked like in comparison with one new bearing! Bobcat only sells the entire assembly so he first wanted to see if he could rebuild it. But there wasn't a complete bearing in sight that he could use and measure to try and find a new one, so he had to try and piece them together and measure with his instruments in hope that he could find a match. He ordered some bearings and will start rebuilding.
The first step in clearing out the pole barn is to clear out things from the shed, because we are going to store all the scaffolding in the shed for now. Here's the first bucketful to sort through!
Jim just spent about a half hour one evening with his metal detector. He took it down by the stone wall in the woods that marks the property line and found this complete and huge horseshoe! Such history buried here...
Jim had one warm day that got to about 80 degrees while I was gone; the rest were mostly in the 60s.
 |
| High 65/Low 45 |
No comments:
Post a Comment