How'd it go today?

CurSed, I am glad that I am not the only one that had to deal with brakes today. The rear rotors and pads needs changed on my wife's prius. No big deal, I've done this before, but just in case I watched a few youtube videos. One video said unhook the battery because of an electric brake actuator thingy, ok easy enough. The first problem was getting the rotor off, it was rust welded on but I finally beat it off. The next problem was getting all the shims and little springs and things lined up and put on while keeping everything together. Ok, finally got it. Now grab a clamp and depress the caliper piston, nothing happening so I bleed a little fluid out of the line, still nothing and I'm loosing my patients. So I get comfortable and watch a 17 minute youtube video and find out I need a special tool that goes on the piston and turns it clockwise which somehow depresses the caliper.... At this point I was fit to be tide! I went in the house and watched some tv, ate some dinner and had an epiphany. I'll make my own tool. So I find a proto 1 1/8" socket and start grinding on it. Turns out it worked really well and with all the right tools things are going much better. The other side only took about 15 minutes. Last thing I have to do is hook the battery back up. Go to pop the trunk (where the battery is) and it won't open, it's electric. Now I have to fold down the back seats and crawl in the back with a head lamp on and a 10mm end wrench. So it took most of the day but I got it and hopefully a tire doesn't fall off later.

Todays cars are stupid complicated...but not nearly as complicated as a 20 year old Jaguar. So maintaining our 7 year old Subaru Forester, and our 15 year old Toyota Tundra are child's play in comparison.

Lucky me .

Sounds like one of my "adventures" Buddy. Hat's off for the ingenuity and ability to manufacture your own tools.

-5c this morning and foggy...two car crashes before 11am, slippery frosty roads. No-one hurt thank goodness. We were wrapping up at the second crash and a B double tapped his brakes to slow down (driving too fast in the fog) I actually saw his trailer start to break loose and skid before he caught it and straightened up...that thing was heading right for us

I try not to let them get quite that far buddy

I'm blaming the brake situation on the salt they put on the highway in the winter. This car is only 3 years old. Not only does it rust vehicles it also kills trees and everything else within 25 feet on either side of the road. Sounds like you could use a little salt in your neighbourhood Bermy.

FireFighterZero said:

Your roping horse healed up fine?

Click to expand...

Missed replying to this Jim, but it stuck in the back of my head, didn't mean to ignore you.

Yup, sound. Ran him last fall with padded shoes and he was sound with them on. Popped them off and left him alone for the winter and he was sound looking all winter. Started riding him this spring shoeless and hes been sound all year. He's regular shod now and going good. Seeing about 4-5 rides a week on him.

I did the prudent thing. Didn't pay a vet a dime, gave him some time off and presto! Lucked out. I could've racked up one hell of a bill letting the experts diagnose him with anything and everything. I've watched people throw endless money at vets/treatments just to end up with nothing conclusive.

I think it was something in his hooves. Because last year his hooves were 'soft' seeming on the sole and this year they hard like rocks.

We logged a bunch of large Grand firs today.
Got sent to a clear cut, where the harvester had to leave the biggest ones for hand felling.
I always love it when the machines have to give up and call on an oldtimer with a saw

The trees were somewhat dangerous , since the harvester had been throwing other trees into them. So lots of broken branches waiting for a faller they could hit in the head.
Luckily we had such a strong tail wind, that we didn't have to wedge at all.
Just bore and trip them, and stand well clear.
Gotta love that.

What I don't love is having to climb over all the logs and slash from the harvester and having to do the job at a fixed wage.

Some of the short logs can really go airborne when hit by a big tree. gotta watch out for that.

But all in all, a fine day.
We have about ½ days work left out there for tomorrow, hope the wind holds up.

I bet that is hard as hell, wading through all that garbage.

When you are old it is.

I seem to recall skipping over it, singing a merry tune when I was young.

But then my memory is shot, too, so who knows.

Sounds dangerous too.

Reminds of when having the crane done in a hurry leaves a number of trees laying in a heap, then going and cleaning that up climbing over things. For some reason that used to be the norm here. Sucks and dangerous, a big slash across my chaps shows that.

Are you drinking 8 ounce cans Jim? Looks tiny in your hand maybe.
I forgot to add my pic.

I'm not sure if the pic is blurry or just my vision.

I would be a horrible logger, I hate tangle foot litter.

Head for the mountains of Busch Beer.

Had a could of them yesterday too.

Could never understand light beer unless on a diet. Maybe drinking with Richard Simmons and needing to be delicate.

I can drink a light beer if I throw a tablespoon of whiskey in it.

Just axe Jerry.

Great taste, less filling.

I gotta keep lean and mean. That and light beer means you can drink twice as much. Right?

I've got a speed drinker theory. If I'm going to have three pints or cocktails all night (not much of a drinker) make em fast. Otherwise I get tired.

FireFighterZero said:

I bet that is hard as hell, wading through all that garbage.

Click to expand...

stig said:

When you are old it is.

I seem to recall skipping over it, singing a merry tune when I was young.

But then my memory is shot, too, so who knows.

Click to expand...

I have to speak here to the hard work of all the reforestation cadre; including me, my wife, and a whole long list of poorly paid, lightly appreciated, and mostly worn out and gone to seed seasonal USFS workers and contract planters, stocking surveyors, and PCT thinners that I've known well and worked hard with over the last 40 or so years.

After the big dogs have come and gone with the logs... the cutters, high lead riggers, chocker setters, yarder operators, landing chasers, swing loaders, log truck drivers.

Then the little people arrive. The aforementioned. And you better believe it was tough in the slash, both burned and unburned.

You and I will have lumber to use in future for our houses and sheds and decks because those little people did that hard work.

Spent a bunch of today cutting blocks of figured maple.

Going to post in the milling thread about some oak back from the mill, and these blocks, seeking advice.

Put the Ogre to it's paces, and refined some wood moving techniques.

Last pic is half the butt log.

Yesterday, I loaded two slabs in two trips to the miller.

Burnham said:

I have to speak here to the hard work of all the reforestation cadre; including me, my wife, and a whole long list of poorly paid, lightly appreciated, and mostly worn out and gone to seed seasonal USFS workers and contract planters, stocking surveyors, and PCT thinners that I've known well and worked hard with over the last 40 or so years.

After the big dogs have come and gone with the logs... the cutters, high lead riggers, chocker setters, yarder operators, landing chasers, swing loaders, log truck drivers.

Then the little people arrive. The aforementioned. And you better believe it was tough in the slash, both burned and unburned.

You and I will have lumber to use in future for our houses and sheds and decks because those little people did that hard work.

Click to expand...

Yes, that always seemed like gutty, hard work. Usually done in poor weather as well I'm guessing.

Question for you.

Did you just plant the saplings direct in the ground then forget about them or was there protection (plastic tubes) and periodic clearance of bramble and the like until they got going? (Like here)

Burnham, I do the reforestation planting, too.
Come spring we'll replant that clear cut where the Grand firs were felledwith another non-native conifer, Sitka spruce.

And you are right, that is every bit as hard as logging the area was.

I've been replanting for 40 years. Some of the first trees I planted are about old enough to clear cut again.
And so the circle continues.

Working animals you guys are! kudos!

I was up 30 some odd feet up a red maple solo deadwooding for a property owner. Co dom tree sits between two drive ways. I was lanyarded into above a fork on one stem cutting off a 4-5 inch about 20 ft long dead branch. Next fork over, 8 ft higher there was a live branch, same size, crossing the dead one. visually looked good, just a crossed branch. Cut the dead one off, expecting the tips to kiss a porch flat roof, damn thing shot off clearing the roof. Wasn't expecting that. Second later, a big cracking noise and felt it through the stem. Unclipped lanyard to swing back 8ft to other co dom which was my PSP. Turn my head to swing the other limb that was crossed broke off with such force it speared the ground, like the hand of God plucked it back and flung it down. I would have got the butt end kissing me if I didn't move. Biggest piss off is helmet cam didn't record it.....