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.

 

Back to Kentucky!

It's about 9:30 and we are just about ready to get on the road heading back to Kentucky. Jim has some temporary hose fixes ready to go so hopefully he can swap those lines out and we will be able to drive it back home. Once it's home sitting in the driveway, things will be much better!

It's about 2:00 and we're back in Covington at the truck site. Jim's already under the truck starting work. Hmm...taking a hacksaw to the underneath just seems scary.

Okay, 3:00 and both lines off and repair pressure hoses on. That's some quick work! Yay!!! It started!! And both the lines seem to be holding with no leaks.

That celebration was a bit premature. The power steering line didn't hold and blew. So Jim put 3 clamps on each side and we were heading to the store for another set of clamps and power steering fluid. But our buddy here that helped us last weekend came through again and gave us both. So Jim will try again.

Well, adding another 2 sets of clamps didn't help and the power steering hose still blew.  Scott (okay, now we are on a first name basis with these service station guys!) recommended a place up the street that could make him a hose.  So off we went in search of this place.  After a few miscues, we found the place but they couldn't make a flexible pressure hose like Jim was hoping for.  They sold him a steel line with connectors that he could hopefully make work.

But, when we got back to the truck, the connectors weren't the same size as the line already on the truck that he needed to tie into - a metric vs English issue.  Then came the fun part.  For probably at least 3 hours, Jim tried various filing methods to reduce the size of the truck's line to fit the connectors.  One end of the line was already off but the other was still attached which just added to the fun.  Scott gave us various files in not so great condition (Jim said my fingernail file might have worked just as well!) and tough grid sandpaper.  Imagine doing that for 3 hours.  I felt so bad for Jim.  All I could do was try to hold the lines while he filed away.  But eventually he got all to mate up and connected everything.  He started it and the line held - success!  Then it was just a matter of putting power steering fluid in and getting the air out of the line.

But here's proof that we got it running - check out this video! 

Then we had to check out some basic driving things - do we have lights that work? Windshield wiper blades? That would be a big no, so thankfully no rain.

By this time though, it's 8:00 and getting dark and we had a 4 hour ride home - that's with good vehicles going the speed limit.  Jim ventured nervously up the street to the gas station.  At first, there was a ton of smoke but it got better and better as he drove off.  We got some diesel fuel and decided to try heading home.  For the most part, the truck did really well - much better than our nerves probably did!  However, he discovered that the oil pan was leaking so we stopped every hour or so and put more oil in it.  One bad part of that was that since I was following him and oil was dripping out, oil was making it back to my car and soon my windshield was all freckled with oil.  I wasn't smart enough to figure that out at first...it looked like slight rain drops and I tried cleaning the windshield with my blades and the wiper fluid.  A nice smeary windshield was the result of that.  So then we had to clean my windshield at each stop too.

However, it was considered a major success because the truck is now sitting in our driveway (well, the gravel turnaround so the oil doesn't ruin the driveway!).  We stopped once to eat too about 10:00 and got home around 2:00.  Tired but happy.  No more trips to Kentucky!

Big truck week continues!

11:00 am...We're on our way to KY to see if Jim can get the box truck running. We're listening to the Browns play the Bengals on a Cinci station no less. Go Browns!

3:00 pm...We're here now...here's the pretty new turbo that Jim's getting ready to put in. Fingers and toes crossed (except for the pinky toe I broke this week running into Jim's scaffolding) that all goes smoothly!

5:40...Oh my gosh ... Things were going well (except the Browns lost) and then the hose clamp Jim brought wasn't big enough. We needed a bathroom break anyway so we got in the car and went searching ... To no avail. So we get back here and we're thinking we are going to have to knock on neighbors' doors. All of a sudden a couple of guys who work at this car place where the truck is pull in. They open the shop to get Jim a hose clamp. Goes back to our discussion of God's will on our way down. (Fr John's homily yesterday was on how we usually pray for what we want - we should be praying for what God wants on the way down i told Jim that i hoped it was God's will that we got the trunk running!) Amazing. One clamp was perfect but he didn't have one big enough for the other side but Jim is trying to put two together.

7:30 pm....whew - this has been scary! Once Jim got everything hooked back up, he tried to start it. No luck. He had charged the batteries at home (yes, there are 2) but they didn't seem to be holding. This guy from the shop let us borrow jumper cables which we hooked up to my car. Still no luck. Then we thought maybe it needed more diesel fuel. Again this guy came through and let us borrow a gas can and we went and got some diesel. He even hooked the jumper cables up to his truck while we were gone. So when we got back and started it, we were thrilled when it started up! Until it started accelerating on its own and even when Jim turned it off! The smoke it was spewing was unbelievable! I would have taken a picture but was sort of busy fearing for our lives! But check out the oil slick left behind...

After what felt like forever, the truck finally stopped but then Jim was afraid to try it again. He finally figured that when the turbo blew and it threw oil everywhere, it filled the coolant tank with oil too which was acting as a fuel. So after everyone's hearts were able to beat normally, Jim tried it again. It started right up and then shut down! Now it's purring like a good diesel should! The issue now is that Jim knew that the power steering line was leaking and it sure is. He is also looking into a possible oil leak right now. We were hoping to drive it home tonight but since it's almost 8:00 and getting dark, probably not going to happen.

Next day...We ended up not getting home til about 1:00 in the morning (poor Jim driving all that way after a stressful day!). But all in all, it was a good day. We feel very positive that the truck is going to be all that we hoped for. We plan on going back down hopefully Thursday - Jim will see if he can temporarily fix the leaking lines so that he can drive it home.

 

Big truck week part 2!

Yesterday, Jim and Bryan drove down to New Carlisle to pick up the Bobcat midi-excavator (aka No Sweat).  As with all projects, it took a lot to make the trip happen.  Jim had to buy a braking system, get chains and brakes for those, and then make the trip.  But all went okay - they took back roads back home so they didn't have to drive it on the highway.  They didn't get home until late.

 

 

 

Both Jim and the Bobcat look happy now that it's home!  It's in good shape and won't require "fixing," but only tweaking some things.  Jim is power washing it right now and will check all the levels and grease everything up.

 

 

Then the focus is on the trip back down to KY to see if he can get the box truck running.  He picked up the reconditioned turbo this morning.  I just pray that he can put it in and the truck will start and be okay to drive it home tomorrow.