Long Overdue Post!

Wow...Jim has been working so hard on a multitude of different fronts.  I'll try and summarize and add some pics.  Work has still been proceeding on the truck.  And the good news was that after totally tearing apart and rebuilding its innards, Jim started it up on Saturday!  He's still got some electrical work to do to get it running better but that was a huge step.

Then he decided to replace the clutch in the older 4Runner  it's been on the to-do list for awhile but since we are going to NY for Thanksgiving and wanted to tow the chipper, it bubbled up to the top of that list  But such a job.  The transmission is huge in these things.  And this car is more rusty than the other one which creates so many more issues.  But Jim persevered through finding other things wrong and a ticking clock and got it back on the road yesterday.  My hero.

Then he had to do chipper repair work too.  Since the return trip caused tire damage, he had to track down a new one.  Then when he got that off, he saw the hubs were leaking and in bad shape.  So that necessitated more parts and more work.  He didn't get that done til about 7:30 last night.

And we leave today for NY!  Very excited.  We'll stay in Saratoga Springs this time which will be nice.  Kyle and Julia are coming up tomorrow and leaving Saturday so that will be fun.

More posts will be coming about the trip!

The REAL Chipper Story!

Jim just made it in time to meet me at church last night for All Saints Day services.  It was so good to see him.  :o) 

 

But then he told me the story of his ride home.  He had told me on the phone that about 300 miles into the trip, just north of Charleston, WV, I-77 North was totally closed and all traffic had to exit and detour to side roads (narrow, two-lane, windy roads with ravines and ridges along the side).   All of a sudden, the right fender came off of the trailer.  The chipper ran it over and yanked it off completely, jerking the car backwards.  At first, Jim thought he had lost the whole trailer.  Becaue of the road conditions and traffic, he couldn't pull over for a quarter mile or so.  When he was able to, he looked all over to find the fender but couldn't - it must have gotten thrown down a ravine.

 

Apparently, the 4 bolts that fastened the fender to the mount vibrated loose.   Jim had even stopped and checked the hitch, the chains, kicked the tires and visually checked the machine every 50 miles or so for the first 200 miles.  He had no clue that the fender was loose.   It appeared that as the fender became loose, it rubbed against the tire because the inside of the tire was badly chafed.  He thinks that the fender pivoted forward when only one bolt remained.

 

I was able to nurse the chipper the rest of the way home.   He was worried that the shock of the event might have damaged the axle or hub since that is where the fender is connected.  So we are now in the market for a fender and tire.

But his guardian angel was certainly looking out for him.  After the event, you think of all the things that could have happened.  If he would have been traveling 70 mph on the highway and it came off, it could have flown back and hit cars behind him, the higher speed could have caused more damage to either the truck or the trailer or both, the list is too scary to think about.  He was only on that detour for about 8 miles and to think this happened then. 

All home...just missing a fender!

 

Thankfully he's home and with only a few minor issues.  It was still such a bargain - a new fender and tire won't change that.  Jim was showing me smaller models that are selling for thousands more!  He's going to contact Bearcat to see if they can help with the repair.

Homeward Bound

 

Jim is on his way home from Boone, NC, towing our new chipper.  But he wasn't real happy...he said he drove 450 miles south and ran into North Pole-type weather.  Anyone who knows Jim knows how much he HATES road salt and look what he's following!  Oh my.  I'm anxious for him to be home and to check out the new equipment!

 

Chipper Trip

Maybe that's a confusing post title - I don't think the trip has been real chipper but it is a trip to get a chipper.  Hmm...

Anyway, Jim decided to go ahead and go down to North Carolina to buy this chipper he found on Craig's List.  I was a little nervous because of all the strange weather happenings caused by the huge storm on Monday night.  In fact, in some parts of West Virginia and Virginia, Jim could see a foot of snow on the ground.  In October!  Makes me shudder or shiver or both.  But thankfully, even though he said the roads were very curvy through the mountains and he had one bad experience waiting too long to get gas and finding the power was out...he's there.  He called a bit ago and is probably meeting the guy as I write this.  Hopefully that goes okay and I'll have a picture to post of our pretty new chipper.  Then he'll find the hotel and rest up after a long day, I'm sure. 

 

This looks like a very big, intense chipper.  I'm not sure I'm worthy to use it. 

Kyle probably can't wait to try it out!

 

Super Storm Sandy

It was a scary night with the crazy big storm. But Kyle and Julia were fine thankfully. They didn't even lose power! There was a lot of damage in NYC as well as other parts of the country. Kyle said his work has no power and the subways are still flooded.

We lost power about 10:30 last night. It came on a couple times in the night but didn't get restored until about 12:30 this afternoon. Jim got the stove cranking in the night so we were toasty warm. The biggest worry is always the frig and freezer as well as the fact that we lose water when the electricity goes out. Definitely will get a generator in the next house.

My school was canceled so I got to stay home in my jammies! Jim went into school to get some work time in since there wasn't much he could do here without power.

He's getting things ready to leave for NC tomorrow for the chipper, but watching the news has me a little nervous. The storm hit the south pretty hard. We'll see.

Updates

It's been a very busy few weeks for Jim.  He's spent a lot of time with the truck, really going over things and deciding what to replace, rebuild, etc.  The good part is that he's started putting parts back in the truck instead of taking them out!  He's hoping to have it running within a week.

But the main focus lately was on painting - the weather finally warmed up enough so that he could finish.  He still had much of the front side of the house to do as well as some trim and windows.  Check him out hanging off the scaffolding - sure makes me nervous!  He managed to get everything done except the back french door and the kitchen glider windows.  It all looks so good and is now all protected and in good shape.

But we went from 80 degrees last Thursday when Jim was painting in a tshirt to chilly temps in the 40s this weekend.  And right now we are bracing for Frankenstorm - a historical crazy storm that's bearing down on NYC (makes me scared for Kyle & Julia).  The winds are howling now and are supposed to get to around 70 mph when it peaks in the morning - along with probably 4-5" of rain.  I really hope we don't lose power.  Scary stuff.  But NYC is supposed to get hit with an 11' storm surge.  They shut the subways down last night so everything is at a standstill.  I just pray for all involved.

On to happier news - we may have another tool run in our future. Jim found a great deal on a chipper - but it's in North Carolina!  It sounds like it will be just perfect for us and it's towable.  If it all works out, we'll take it up to NY when we go for Thanksgiving and we can chip away!  That will be our first real "work" on the land.  Jim told the guy that he will wait until the storm passes and then make plans to go down and pick it up.  I was hoping it would work out that we would go this coming weekend because I have Monday and Tuesday off also, but he wants to go and get it before someone else shows up with cash.

Truck update and tool run

We're on our way home from Oxford where Jim found a great deal on a concrete vibrator. One of the items to mark off the tool list plus he can use it here when he fixes the chimney cap.



But meanwhile there have been a lot of truck repairs going on. Jim has already installed a new oil pan...we were so lucky to get it home like we did because it developed a really big leak. He got a new alternator and has been bending a whole lot of tubing to make new hydraulic lines. Some of the lines are so crazy complicated - I can't imagine trying to bend a straight piece of pipe into those twists and turns. We've cleaned out the cab a little too...the guy left a ton of trash in it. Jim is still cleaning out the box too - the previous owner used it for delivering baby furniture so it was full of cardboard boxes and more trash.



Wow - looks like spaghetti!  After Jim got some of the pieces bent, he painted them for extra protection and put some heat shrink on in certain places too. 

Jim's also almost got the log splitter Bobcat attachment ready to go too. Bryan gave him the log splitter sub- assembly and Jim has to design and make the steel frame and attachment. It's crazy heavy but he tried attaching it already and it hooked up perfectly. With 17 acres of woods, it will get a lot of use in NY plus we have logs ready to split here to use this winter.