Junk Yard Wars

[s1120]

<font color=red>Those of you that are TLC-deprived are missing a real laugh ... and some tips on jury-rigging! (or as the Brits call it ... blodging)</font color=red>

Ya, with sticky tape.

 

[patrickg]

Alan, Thanks for commenting. Besides the unit on the camper I have two dishes with LNA's and a spare receiver so I could set up and not touch equipment on camper. Camper unit is roof mounted crank up and rotate manually not automagic. I do have an electronic elevation readout to simplify satellite acquisition. Go to correct elevation and slowly sweep sector expected to contain satellite. Can park truck and have TV within about 1-2 min. Used to use a dish on a tripod, coil of coax etc. Not fast not convenient, only got used if we were staying in a spot for a while. I could have and probably would have rigged up something if 1. I really cared, 2. I wasn't so lazy or 3. my wife knew it wasn't such a big deal. shhhhh!!!

About living in a shop bld: We do it from neccessity. The folks who own & operate local propane service built a shop blg and were going to stay in it while building a house. Got to liking it so much they opted to stay in the shop, even building on a new addition in the shops style. Of course they have drop ceilings and walls etc. and we have a 35x70 by 20 ft tall cavern.

We actually sleep, cook, etc in pickup camper sitting on shop floor. Computer set up is on table in middle of shop floor. Soon to move to spare room of mom's new house as the plumbing was finished yesterday. That will be our new temp situation while desigining/building our house (after finishing mom's cement work for sidewalks, porches, breezeway, garage, storm shelter (can you say tornado alley?) and like that.

Patrick

 

[Bird]

Patrickg, living in an RV in a shop sounds familiar./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif While we were full timers in a 5th wheel, we went to Anchorage the end of March '91 and stayed 4 months. We rented a shop building with an office in the front and a bathroom, but we (and my brother & his wife) lived in the two 5th wheel trailers in the heated shop building; didn't need to use our furnaces. And I've heard a lot of folks say they couldn't sleep well because of the long hours of daylight in Alaska. We didn't have that problem; the shop had no windows, so when we closed the doors, it was pitch black in there./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[patrickg]

Bird, I just keep getting amazed at the number of similarities shared back and forth between folks ostensibly connected by tractor owning/using/interest. My shop is about 25-2600 sqft, haven't really checked, with small single story office room on side in center. 14x14 roll up doors at east and west ends with people doors facing north in the office, next to roll up door at east end and 3/4 way to east end on south side. Two windows, 2x2 in office and 2x4 horizontal on south side a little east of center with its bottom a little over 6 ft I can't look straight out but up and out. Still pretty dark with big doors closed. Beetle crop thinning out nicely, haven't got hit much lately while at computer in evening but flying crickets are more than taking their place and they are much faster and smarter and difficult to step on or grab and throw away. We too have a bath room with flushing facilities. Even have a couple new front loaders set up for laundry But within a week or so will move them to mom's house as we near the time when we can move out of shop.

We did the RV in Alaska thing a few yrs back, out of Fairbanks. Got as far north as North Pole and south to Seward, Prince William Sound, made the big loop through Talkeetna (SP?). Loved Denali, saw Griz but from a respectful distance (we wore bear bells). Never ate so much salmon in my life, my mom doesn't do catch and release.

Saw auroras to almost rival North Dakota (not bad for July and August, my mom doesn't do Alaska in winter). A companion was reading the newspaper inside the motorhome without lights on at 1130 at night. End of July it never got dark, just became twilight for a while and then the sun came up again.

Thought the giant vegetable stories were maybe exaggerated. Went to state fair, saw cabbage weighing 68 lbs, zuchini the size of major league baseball bat, and so forth. What they lack in days of growing season between frosts they make up for in hours of sunlight.

Hmmm, have found stratigic weakness in defense posture of flying crickets. For just a moment after they beam down while there still kinda sparkly oops I mean just after landing they pause a moment to fold their wings away and seem to be temporarily vulnerable while in transition from flying to hopping/walking mode. Able to thump them 5-10 feet or accidently bump them with something substantial like a flash light battery (avoiding the squishy parts so I don't soil the keyboard)

Gotta go, this is deteriorating quickly...

Patrick

 

[Bird]

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gifYep, Patrick, lots of similarities. I drove to Alaska the first time in July '72 ('71 3/4 ton Chev. pulling 25' travel trailer), flew up in a Cessna 152 in '84 (came back on commercial flight), then drove up in '90 and '91 ('89 1 ton dually extended cab Chev. pulling 32' 5th wheel trailer). We went to Fairbanks, North Pole, etc. in '72, loved the fishing at Seward every time we went, and in '91 my brother & I drove his truck to Prudhoe Bay.

And as for crickets; I sprayed a little diazinon in my current shop (40' x 60') a few days ago and had to sweep out the dead ones yesterday because I've been stepping on too many of them./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Bird

 

[patrickg]

Bird, ya wanna step on crickets? Go to El Centro CA during the cricket season. It is ghastly. At night it looks like sidewalks are in motion with a full coverage of crickets. Short of levitation there is no way to walk at night with out the crunch crunch crunch of crushed crickets at every step. Thousands, yea verily millions of the critters crunched in walking a short distance. Did a RON there to get an early start heading east in, I think it was a Cherokee 6. Prefer the dawn patrol sorties myself. Wheels off before sunrise, put in some time/distance and get out of the sky before the wind turbulance in the mountains, thermals in the desert, or towering Q's in the midwest. Works for me.

152 huh? I don't get into a 150 or 152, I put it on like an airplane suit. Fun to fly but over gross wt with me, full fuel, and any companion larger than a midget (Spatially challenged individual?). FAA/gen aviation mfg have terrific sense of humor regarding adult passenger weights and back seat (4 place like Cherokee, Warior, whatever) occupants for weight and ballance datum stuff. Of course you can fill just to the tabs, go solo, never use a high altitude airpatch, never operate when it is hot, and be completely legal but massively inconvenienced.

Patrick

(My apologies to anyone associated with weight and balance regulations as you have enough problems already, what with being retarded and all, to have to be insulted via this medium.)

 

[Bird]

Patrick, when I flew to Alaska in the 152, it was because I had a brother selling airplanes in Alaska and he had to come down to the factory in Wichita to pick up a new one he'd sold, so I went with him to ferry it back to Anchorage. Each of us had a small suitcase and small brief case. Then we had another small suitcase that was the survival kit. We weighed everything and figured we were only overweight until we burned off half a tank of fuel./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif That 4 day trip was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Bird

 

[GlueGuy]

Bird, Patrick,

I guess we're sufficiently off-topic that I can chime in. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

We've gone to AK a couple of times ourselves. First trip was a nice 4-week-er. We flew up commercial, rented a car, and drove as far north as Fairbanks, and south to Seward. We liked Denali the best. This first trip was done around the beginning of August, and the camping in Denali was starting to turn winter-like. We were really awe-struck with the beauty in that park.

Second time was around '91. I'd been flying the EZ for about 2 years by that time. GPS was just starting to "work" (17 or 18 satellites were up), so I got a Pro-Nav GPS for $1800 (now called Garmin, and the model I have is worth maybe $100 /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif), and saddled up. We planned 6 days for me to get to Anchorage & meet my wife there (she had a 3-week vacation, I had 8 weeks). I flew up to Ft. St. John, and got stuck there for 3 days because of weather. Got to Anchorage 2 hours before her flight arrived! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

While en-route, I met a guy from North Pole AK. He invited me up for some fishing at his "cabin" up by the arctic circle. After my wife & I finished the 3-week co-vacation, I went up to meet this guy in North Pole. We drug his fishing boat up the pipeline road to the actic circle, put-in in the Yukon River (at Fort Yukon), then proceeded down-river for about 50 miles. His "cabin" was a dozen sheets of plywood covered with tar paper on an island in the middle of the Yukon River. I have never been to such a remote place before, and I loved it! Great fishing too!

The trip home was a bit quicker. Met up with a couple of friends that had also flown there. We rendezvoused in Northway AK, and flew a 3-plane formation all the way home. Made it all the way in 2 days!

Bird, when you went up in the 152, did you go via the AlCan hiway, or did you "cut through" the Williston Lake valley? We followed the AlCan both ways, as the valley route was kind of long and w/o any airports.

Sorry for the long diversion. You guys just struck a chord there! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

The GlueGuy<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by GlueGuy on 07/14/01 11:34 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[patrickg]

Bird, Ja, real fun you betcha. I'm having fun today too. Put in a cattle guard last night and restrung the fence we opened up while in heat of construction site for my mom's new house. Cows respected the cattle guard but 20 or so moma cows and calves were drawn to the new house like a magnet. It is surounded by a minimum of 50 feet of bare dirt and not having grazed this 40 for a few months the grass was good feeding for them, but why hang out on bare dirt? Must have got their fill last night because they mobbed the place this morning. One had turned the frost free faucett on full force, luckily only a couple minutes before I discovered it judging by amount of water. THey were scratching on the propane gas stub and the pad mount compressor for heat pump. One was tasting the vinyl siding at the corner of the house B U t the real mess was they pushed the other frost free faucett over and broke the 3/4 pex tubing.

Now I get to call a plumber N O T or go to supply house and buy the crimper to be able to crimp pex fitings. It costs a measly $160 and only works for the one size. No tool sold for removing old crimp fitting, gotta get creative with a grinder or something.

Where are the Junk Yard War veterans when you need some help?????????

Patrick

 

[Bird]

GlueGuy, when we got to Ft. St. John in the middle of the day, we were only stuck there about 24 hours because of weather./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif And that was part of the fun. Three other planes were already there waiting on the weather; a commercial pilot (747s) and his wife flying a Beechcraft stagger wing they had spent 5 years restoring (beautifully, too) enroute to Whitehorse to visit friends, a Florida crop duster pilot in a 182 enroute to Fairbanks to sell the plane, and a young couple from the Denver area in another 152 just on vacation and going as far as Whitehorse. So we spent the evening in a bar swapping lies and stories and I laughed until I hurt. Then we arrived at Northway in the rain, but only had to sit around there a couple of hours.

And, yes, we followed the Alcan (as my brother says, "the longest emergency runway in the world - and he'd used it for that once in the past).

Bird