How'd it go today?

The weather is a little better ,I had a partly successfull day .Fiddled with the old Jeep to no success .Drove to me shop and changed the oil in the Ranger .After first fiddling with my air compressor so I could use my car hoist .Always something .

If it's fit tomorrow I might play Paul Bunyan and attack some more EAB killed ash trees .

What sort of Jeep do you have Al? You mention it often and must be quite attached to it.

I have a CJ3-A in pretty good shape. It has the go devil engine.
 
The Jeep is I think a 1962 CJ-5 .It was the last one my father put together and had sat approx 9 years in a barn and not started .I think it's probabley the valves .It's a 134 cubic inch IoE engine about 75 HP .Low speed rear end about 45-50 MPH top speed if that.I'll get on it some time late spring early summer. It's a rough running thing as it sits but it'll get better after I lay the magic wrench to it .I've never had an engine whip me yet and this SOB is not going to be the first .
 
We got a lot of rain last night, so I didn't do to much outside today. Mostly ran around making some connections about work. Picked up a piece of 1/2" cable for my log yarding operation. It's got short clamped eyes on it, so I'm going to splice some new longer ones on. Did something to my back the other day going down into my leg. It hurt so bad I couldn't even type without a limp.
 
It's not outragious on parts for that Jeep engine unless it needs rebored .On the Hurricane which is the 134 cubic inch IOE engine rings are about 50 bucks .Valves are 15 a pop if you need them .

I've got a complete other engine if it's something major like a cracked piston .The Jeep as it is was put together from parts of two .One had a rusted out body and a good drive line the other had a good body but blown engine rod .My dad took the best parts and made one .The ole boy did about a dozen frame off restorations in the 20 years after he retired .

He'd buy a couple of junkers ,fix them up and flip them .This just happens to be the very last one he did .I'll never sell it .
 
Yesterday I went to a friends funeral, 35, four young kids. Man was that rough! Not a dry eye in the place including mine. He passed of a sudden heart attack, very sad. RIP Andy we shall see you again but not yet.
 
That is too young to go.

Sorry to hear that.







I'll be flying to Schweiz today for a 10 day vacation. Monday my gal and I fly on to spend a week in Israel, weather is much better down there and hopefully it won't be too late to catch the spring migration of bird at Eilat.

I spent the morning walking in the castle park with the owners.
We are making a plan for replanting that should hopefully make the park look real good in 50-100 years.
Interesting to be part of, for sure.

The little sequoia that I brought home from Cali about 6 years ago, will be transplanted from my house ( since I'm selling it) to the park.
The owner was saying to Richard and me that this way our great-great grand kids can come to the park and climb it and won't have to go to Cali like us.
I'm real happy that it gets to grow in the park and the owners liked the story of me having brought it back in my suitcase.:)
 
That's a pretty neat thing Stig, and have a safe trip.8)

Sorry Rajan, been there as well. One at 35 and another at 39, long time ago but still think of them. Was just near one's old house today.:(

Finished a tree "the lawn mower man" attacked and ground the stump. Got a $30 tip and a box of quality drill bits as I had to take the gate and part of the fence down to get the grinder in. He ripped them off well and truly by what they said but he won't be back.
 
Really sorry to hear about your friend Rajan, that's really rough.


Stig, eat some good hummus and falafel for me. Are you flying straight into Eilat, or taking the long bus ride down from Tel Aviv?
 
Treated myself to some root canal work this morning, cut a bunch of scrubby little trees for satellite line of sight this afternoon. Enjoyed a heavy sleet shower to finish the day right, livin the dream.
 
Tired,feel like I'm working 7 days a week. Out the door at 6 and in around 8pm cannot seem to keep up with the work load that has been rolling in and do estimates. Time for more help it seems. Find it hard to let the first impression be someone other than me but climbing is the real passion and what I enjoy the most.
 
Im swamped with work right now, phone ringing off the hook, trying to fit everone in, need 4 arms....collect the check!
 
People are starting to run out of firewood around here. I've got three dead maples lined up. Folks are out in their yards looking for easy ones. . . haha.

First one is tomorrow, I'll try and get some pictures. Going to try the SRT gear for the first time w/ sawdust. Figure I'll shoot a line in a neighbor and spike up w/ the HH.
 
Started out to continue a clearing job we work on monthly. Kat was sick, Rob and I tired. I almost called the day off. So rather than play in thick brush on slopes, I opted for a start on a couple small jobs in town and went home. Made decent money for almost no work.
Came back and Kat and I took the kids to a movie night with their 4 H group. She and I got to go out to dinner while the kids did projects and games. Then they ate there. We joined them to watch Frozen.. Twas a decent day after all :)
 
Stig, eat some good hummus and falafel for me. Are you flying straight into Eilat, or taking the long bus ride down from Tel Aviv?

Will do. I am in fact looking very much forwards to gorging on falafel. Some turkish coffe with cardamon seeds afterwards is also on the list.

We'll land in Tel Aviv and rent a car. Car rental is ridiculously cheap, offseason. Only $100 for a week.

Then spend the week trapsing around and ending up in Eilat. Hopefully get in some snorkling time on the reefs in the Red sea.

We met each other in Israel some 37 years ago, so it'll be a nice romantic trip down memory lane.:)
 
I spent two winters down there in the 70es. Good place to winter if you were on the road.
The most beautiful woman I met down there was a Swiss girl with a stunning figure and long red hair.
That is the one I'm going back there with, her hair is grey by now, though.
But you are right, those well trained Israely women soldiers with their Uzis were something to behold.
It'll be really interesting to see how the country has changed in the almost 40 years since I was there last time.
 
Good to hear so many are busy w/lots of work.

Stig, sounds like a wonderful vacation. Hope it is all safe and you have a great time.

Spent the day hanging out with my dog & working on some tracks for a recording project. Haven't laid anything down yet but am getting closer to an acceptable sound.

Not quite sure what my next move will be for work. Switched to pick-up being licensed instead of chip truck to save some money and be better set up for a job I'm not working at now. Have a couple small jobs to do next month but nothing paying enough to license the chip truck, so probably back to the set-up I first started with for a while.:|:

So glad everything I have is paid for and utilities are all paid ahead. Fairly low amount of stress being between things.8) May go help a friend shingle a large house roof job next week just to help him get it done, but nothing else lined up right now really.
 
Went to the chiropractor last night to try and sort a recurrent back injury, crawled out of bed on all fours this morning, couldn't stand up till 10am, seems to have eased up now, thanks to tramadol!
At 50 you think that every incident like this could mean the end of ones climbing days, work's been good lately, making a few quid, machinery all running good, I spend a lot of time trying to work out how I can get out of the harness and keep the money rolling in.
Young bucks who are competent, careful, and reliable are not easy to find, and I don't want to get into the whole employment thing out here, I like being a two or three man gang, means I don't have to work if I don't fancy it.
Ideally I would buy a bigger grinder and spend more time pulling levers.
The clock is ticking....
 
Back
Top