How'd it go today?

[FireFighterZero]

Can you go on vacation with an OWB? Do you have an alternate source of heat to keep things thawed or do you have to get a boiler "sitter"?

 

[Mick!]

I went and looked at a job, I knew it would be a waste of time, I tried to tie it in with doing a nearby job in the week but she wasn't there, I drove 50 minutes to look at a handful of spindly fruit trees, gave her a price, she's going to "réfléchir bien"
Not her fault, mine.
In other news. The wife has gone back to England for a week, rural France is lacking in excitement at the best of times, in November it's post apocalyptic. The dog is unhappy because there is a lack of cooking going on.
I'm bored.
Can't wait till Monday.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Can you make a trip to non rural France? Never been to France but I would think something is going on somewhere you and trusty hound would find interesting.

Maybe monster trucks for you and street food vendors for said hound.

 

[Mick!]

Nah Jim, woodburner's going nicely, England against Slovenia starts in 35 minutes.
I'll open a bottle in a bit and shout at the Telly for a bit, that always makes me feel better.
Plus the wife has prepared enough meals to keep me going, tonight it's Thai curry.
I lived in a village in Sussex before we came here and there were two pubs within a minutes walk.
I miss that.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Sounds pretty good. Does dog like Thai food?!?!

My wife misses pubs as well. She lived out of town in New Zealand about the same distance we are from town now. Still, ten mins to a pub was good. I have been in a few real pubs and I see why she misses them.

 

[Mick!]

Dog loves all food!
Anyway, bottles open, cheers!

 

[Dave Shepard]

My OWB has a duel fuel option. There is a place to put a gas or oil burner in the side. It has four settings. Wood, fuel assist start, fuel backup, and fuel only. I am expecting to tend mine twice a day.

 

[Bermy]

I`m going to try and post a video...
Norfolk pine removal, approx 65` to the top, only 35` of felling room, went in at 40` out of the bucket truck, climed the rest of the way, then came down chogging it off till I got low enough to drop the rest from the ground. Blowing about 18kn...
Ok can`t figure out how to get toi the video file on my tablet...here`s a still.

After the hurricane and with all the horror stories of norfolk pine branches and tops spearing through roofs anf generally flying around, people want them gone.

 

[brendonv]

Got the wood boiler on line last night. It was really nice to pull up to it with the Kubota bucket and just toss the wood in and not have to drag it through the house, and I don't have to tend the wood stove every few hours, and there are no cold corners in the house.

Thats awesome dave. I vaguely remeber you got a real deal on that too. I look forward to do that in the future, not spending the money on this house tho. Guy down the street is a dealer, has tons of them out there. Wood stove been cranking dor a couple days here, i love it, tho dont like the mess.

I bought a hot water pressure washer yesterday, been tinkering practicing on some cars and trucks today. . Damned thing burning my hands, its awesome.

 

[stig]

I'd love to do one of those some day, Fi.
Looks like you've got plenty to do.
Was it worth it to go to Bermuda?

 

[FJR]

Brendon, what brand/model did you decide to go with?

 

[brendonv]

Ha. Out on a wim i checked craigs list. Found a hotsy 1075 be with a 13 horse honda with 66 hrs. Brand new condtion with wheel kit, 100' hose, and a add on hose real. All self contained. It rocks.

 

[FJR]

That looks brand new, nice find!

 

[brendonv]

I certainly lucked out!

 

[Raj]

I repair a lot of those, some friendly advice, source out the pump seal kit, pistons and most importantly, the bypass valve repair kit, it would be a really good idea to keep one of those in stock for a quick repair.

 

[pantheraba]

cool picture, Bermy....love to see more of those. Very picturesque trees.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Dropping off the 5 yard chip box trailer load yielded me some recently caught and frozen salmon and if I recall correctly rock fish (????).

nice hunks of fish. And a request for more chips. Trailer dropped off and all.

Finished end weight reduction on some large limbs, and one big, split limb.

I found Phaeolus (sp?) Schweinitzii root and butt disease conks at the base half way through the work. Referred them to an independent consulting arborist.

I know I wouldn't have it looming over my kids' bedrooms. Next summer might be removal time. In the meantime...

Rupert has been able to "go for little truck ride" a lot lately, since the chip truck had been onsite.

 

[Dave Shepard]

I finished installing my Modine heater in the garage early this afternoon. I put it in my return line from the oil burner. That way the house gets first shot at the heat, and whatever is left can go to the garage. Also, if I have to run the oil burner, the circulator for the heat exchanger will act like a zone for the garage, so I won't loose heat out there with the OWB off. I was given a 120 VAC thermostat that I can use for it today, and I'll put that in tomorrow. Stuffed the firebox at about 8:30 AM and came home to this 12 hours later:



It was so hot I was worried about sticking my shovel in there to spread it out. I'll have to give it another couple hours to burn down before I can stuff it again for the night.

 

[FireFighterZero]

That seems pretty good to have that much fire after that long of time.

 

[Reddog]

Depends on how many cord Dave chucked in it 12 hours ago.

 

[Dave Shepard]

It's probably about 1/4 or a little more of the firebox volume. It looks like I can easily deal with this thing twice a day, and if I don't get back to it right away, it can easily go 16 hours or more and not burn out. That's better than every four for the indoor woodstove, which only really heated the bathroom and bedroom upstairs, and kept most of the downstairs in the 50's, at best. It's going to suck up some slab wood, that's for sure. I might have to advertise for some custom sawing work just to make sure I have enough slab wood to make it through the winter.

 

[HolmenTree]

In other news. The wife has gone back to England for a week, rural France is lacking in excitement at the best of times, in November it's post apocalyptic. The dog is unhappy because there is a lack of cooking going on.
I'm bored.
Can't wait till Monday.

Mick, I know what your saying. When my wife and I did our European trip we spent some time in Valance , southern France. We arrived from Spain wearing shorts and sandals and quickly had to put warmer duds on.
My wife's cousin was playing for a ice hockey team in Valance so I rented a car and we toured the country side with him. Did those caves with the prehistoric art and dined in some of the best countryside cafes, duck fat tasted great on everything.
But yeah your right a little dull for entertainment around there.
Things livened up shortly after when we took in Volkfest in Stuttgart and Oktoberfest in Munich.
In Stuttgart we partied at a table with a group of German roofing crewmen worst hang over in my life......good beer came in huge bottomless mugs haha

 

[pantheraba]

Dang, Dave...looks like the doorway to Hell!!!! Badass fire!

 

[Burnham]

Rupert is showing a bit of the old guy grey muzzle thing, I see . Like me only far less so, I hasten to add.

 

[SouthSoundTree-]

Rupert is showing a bit of the old guy grey muzzle thing, I see . Like me only far less so, I hasten to add.

More than anywhere, I'm getting a gray patch in my whiskers, and neck hair. Thankfully, if I want to look a bit younger, I just shave. I would have to get Rupert Grecian Formula. Shaving him would be way, way, way harder than trimming his nails.