rox
Veteran Member
Oh Thank you Alan! I wouldn't mind if a tractor was named Roxanne, but a Hoe, well! Any way I know you will be writing a lot about all your projects with Lil so now I can enjoy reading them. MANY Thanks!
Al B's House rework
- Thread starter AlanB
- Start date
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AlanB
Elite Member
Anything for you Rox..
And remind me sometime when we get together and I will tell you the entire ballad but it will probably make you as you are too nice a lady for soldiers ditties.
Cool thing is that Dean my son (10) is learning all the controls and wants to drive.
We are not doing the motorcycle riding that we normally do, just concentrating too much on the house this year, but really, as long as we do stuff together, I think it is all good.
Maybe Dean, Lil and I can go play in the dirt this weekend. He is a pretty good machine operator. Slow and cautious, which at 10 is a good thing on the tractors and bobcat. He is a little more adventurous on the bikes.
And remind me sometime when we get together and I will tell you the entire ballad but it will probably make you
as you are too nice a lady for soldiers ditties.Cool thing is that Dean my son (10) is learning all the controls and wants to drive.
We are not doing the motorcycle riding that we normally do, just concentrating too much on the house this year, but really, as long as we do stuff together, I think it is all good.
Maybe Dean, Lil and I can go play in the dirt this weekend. He is a pretty good machine operator. Slow and cautious, which at 10 is a good thing on the tractors and bobcat. He is a little more adventurous on the bikes.
ScottAR
Veteran Member
10 is about when I started driving with dad watching of course... I still remember those times even now...
We offered on a house today for our rental biz. You guessed it, it has no bathrooms. The folks that owned the house started remodeling the bathrooms and then the bank repo'd the thing. (insert shrugging smiley here) I know what I'm doing for the next 6 weeks or so.
Chin up Alan, boot camp will be over soon... Then you might get to do some fun stuff.
We offered on a house today for our rental biz. You guessed it, it has no bathrooms. The folks that owned the house started remodeling the bathrooms and then the bank repo'd the thing. (insert shrugging smiley here) I know what I'm doing for the next 6 weeks or so.
Chin up Alan, boot camp will be over soon... Then you might get to do some fun stuff.
rox
Veteran Member
Scott,
Well if you cut the toilet drain pipe to short there is an expert over here on TBN who has jsut the ticket to repair it.
Well if you cut the toilet drain pipe to short there is an expert over here on TBN who has jsut the ticket to repair it.
OP
AlanB
Elite Member
No pictures today, forgot the camera at home.
Today's project was supposed to be hauling dirt for folks, and cleaning it off our old mowing property... But as with so many things I do, things changed.
So, I go up and start the tractor and Babe has a flat right rear tire again. It is now going down about daily. So I am 500' up the road from a tire shop I like, I fill the tire with air from the little compressor, takes about 10 minutes, load the first load of dirt, tell Hanna too meet me there, and head to the tire shop. They start looking for the leak, then I start looking. I swear, we cannot find this freaking leak in this thing. It about drives me nuts! Hanna comes up with the mowing trailer, going to replace a couple tires that are going flat all the time, but he finds those leaks and get's them plugged and patched. $5 later we are on the road, and Babe still has a tire leak we cannot find.
Call my buddy Big Daddy and get directions in and drop the first run of dirt. Come back, and start loading the next, and I am putting the bucket of Babe over the pile and pulling back to knock the pile loose, and something Pops...... Everything seems ok, cannot figure out what it was, as I back off I notice the dirt is "wet" then I look at the loader hoses on the manifold and one is spraying TDH oil out.
So, call the daughter to bring the small truck, off to Rural king and get a replacement hyd hose, some low buck TDH, and swing by the house for some tools and rags.... Grabbed the wrong length hose... My buddy Jim showed up to lend a hand, so Jim and Christina run back to RK and get the right hose, come back, we get Babe going again.
Hanna is loading plants etc with Big Daddy and dropping them at the new house, Jim and I load the load of dirt, then pull out the landscaping fabric from where it was under the carport, then load his truck with RR ties and landscape fabric, then Hanna shows and we load her trailer with RR ties and a topper and some shelves and off we go for lunch.
Had not planned on having help, but with Big Daddy and Jim both around, felt I needed to capitalize on available resources.
So we all go to work on the house, and Hanna keeps making round robin loads of dirt.
So we unloaded at the house, that goes quick, then put some RR ties in place for the loading dock, spread the landscape fabric under the carport, then we got serious.
Got Lil fired up, and put her over the AC unit, and with some cargo straps pulled the AC unit off the slab, then we used Jim's truck to pull the unlevel and very deteriorated slab out from under the AC unit, then we leveled and sloped slightly away from the house (instead of towards the house) the new plastic pad and got the AC unit back down on it's shiny new home that tilts all the right ways.
Somewhere in the middle of this Big Daddy got the call that his aunt that had raised him had passed. Now that is rough, so he went to handle some family matters.
Jim, Dean and I kept at it though, I let Dean run Lil around some, he did real well. Jim and I worked at finishing up the leveling and supporting of the White truck box. We got it the way I wanted, with RR ties supporting and distributing the load to the soft ground, slight edge of bubble lean on things to keep everything draining right, and 8 points of support. We also put a RR tie in front of the box, and made the dirt ramp up too it, I need to gravel it, but ran out of gravel.
We also got the shower unit moved into the house so I would not be so worried in the next storm.
Jim and I spent some time looking around, swapping ideas of what could and should be done.
Went and took the business sign off the old landscaping lot, when back to RK and got a 45 degree fitting to hopefully make it to where the wheel cannot hit the hose again on Babe (I think that is what happened) And now I am winding down.
It does not seem like much when I type it, but it was a full day for me.
Hanna made about 4 or 5 dirt runs with the trailer, makes me want a dump truck again, but that is real unusual.
Somehow, today felt good, conclusion of some projects (white box leveling, AC pad replacement) and homeing in on being done on others, (got the loading dock mostly done)
It was nice to look aound the property with Jim and be able to see progress, not all I would like, but progress none the less.
Tomorrow being Easter, I think I got the cease and desist order from the commander in cheif Maybe just a Lowes run, she has to pick shower controls, because we cannot mount what I do not have.
Today's project was supposed to be hauling dirt for folks, and cleaning it off our old mowing property... But as with so many things I do, things changed.
So, I go up and start the tractor and Babe has a flat right rear tire again. It is now going down about daily. So I am 500' up the road from a tire shop I like, I fill the tire with air from the little compressor, takes about 10 minutes, load the first load of dirt, tell Hanna too meet me there, and head to the tire shop. They start looking for the leak, then I start looking. I swear, we cannot find this freaking leak in this thing. It about drives me nuts! Hanna comes up with the mowing trailer, going to replace a couple tires that are going flat all the time, but he finds those leaks and get's them plugged and patched. $5 later we are on the road, and Babe still has a tire leak we cannot find.
Call my buddy Big Daddy and get directions in and drop the first run of dirt. Come back, and start loading the next, and I am putting the bucket of Babe over the pile and pulling back to knock the pile loose, and something Pops...... Everything seems ok, cannot figure out what it was, as I back off I notice the dirt is "wet" then I look at the loader hoses on the manifold and one is spraying TDH oil out.
So, call the daughter to bring the small truck, off to Rural king and get a replacement hyd hose, some low buck TDH, and swing by the house for some tools and rags.... Grabbed the wrong length hose... My buddy Jim showed up to lend a hand, so Jim and Christina run back to RK and get the right hose, come back, we get Babe going again.
Hanna is loading plants etc with Big Daddy and dropping them at the new house, Jim and I load the load of dirt, then pull out the landscaping fabric from where it was under the carport, then load his truck with RR ties and landscape fabric, then Hanna shows and we load her trailer with RR ties and a topper and some shelves and off we go for lunch.
Had not planned on having help, but with Big Daddy and Jim both around, felt I needed to capitalize on available resources.
So we all go to work on the house, and Hanna keeps making round robin loads of dirt.
So we unloaded at the house, that goes quick, then put some RR ties in place for the loading dock, spread the landscape fabric under the carport, then we got serious.
Got Lil fired up, and put her over the AC unit, and with some cargo straps pulled the AC unit off the slab, then we used Jim's truck to pull the unlevel and very deteriorated slab out from under the AC unit, then we leveled and sloped slightly away from the house (instead of towards the house) the new plastic pad and got the AC unit back down on it's shiny new home that tilts all the right ways.
Somewhere in the middle of this Big Daddy got the call that his aunt that had raised him had passed. Now that is rough, so he went to handle some family matters.
Jim, Dean and I kept at it though, I let Dean run Lil around some, he did real well. Jim and I worked at finishing up the leveling and supporting of the White truck box. We got it the way I wanted, with RR ties supporting and distributing the load to the soft ground, slight edge of bubble lean on things to keep everything draining right, and 8 points of support. We also put a RR tie in front of the box, and made the dirt ramp up too it, I need to gravel it, but ran out of gravel.
We also got the shower unit moved into the house so I would not be so worried in the next storm.
Jim and I spent some time looking around, swapping ideas of what could and should be done.
Went and took the business sign off the old landscaping lot, when back to RK and got a 45 degree fitting to hopefully make it to where the wheel cannot hit the hose again on Babe (I think that is what happened) And now I am winding down.
It does not seem like much when I type it, but it was a full day for me.
Hanna made about 4 or 5 dirt runs with the trailer, makes me want a dump truck again, but that is real unusual.
Somehow, today felt good, conclusion of some projects (white box leveling, AC pad replacement) and homeing in on being done on others, (got the loading dock mostly done)
It was nice to look aound the property with Jim and be able to see progress, not all I would like, but progress none the less.
Tomorrow being Easter, I think I got the cease and desist order from the commander in cheif
Maybe just a Lowes run, she has to pick shower controls, because we cannot mount what I do not have.rox
Veteran Member
Alan,
Thanks for making us all feel like we are working half days comapered to what you get done in a day
I msut ahve missed it, did you finally get an unblemished shower/tub unit?
Thanks for making us all feel like we are working half days comapered to what you get done in a day
I msut ahve missed it, did you finally get an unblemished shower/tub unit?
OP
AlanB
Elite Member
Thanks Rox, I think I just take forever on some of these things. Doug and I were talking yesterday, and another of his freinds just bought an old house to refurb, and Doug said this guy and I are the antithesis of each other. Everytime he messes up, he calls it artwork or a feature and just keeps going.
I am not sure that is good or bad comment on my personality, but the older I get, the less I seem to change.
Yes, we got in an undamaged unit, then left it in the side yard for a big wind and hale storm but it seemed to make it through unscathed
I moved it into the dining room so it is a little more protected.
It is not "IN" yet, so there are plenty of opportunities to destroy it yet
I feel like we don't get anything done, but when I look back with someone that has not been there a while, I can see progress so that is good.
Could not do much yesterday, the DW put the Kabash on serious work. Went and added a 45 degree fitting in babes front loader plumbing to keep the front wheel from hitting the hose, hopefully we will not have that problem again. Put new ends on the battery cable of the burb, I HATE sidepost terminals, probably one of the stupidest ideas ever from GM.
Did take Hanna out and she drove around LIL, of course I went through this long dissertation about how hard she was to put in gear, and Hanna drops her right in and says "what?" So Hanna's comment on Lil, was "man, is this thing big"
She gets to load Mulch with her today........................ Wonder how the side of the dump trailer will make out.................
Should be meeting a drywaller out there tonight to get an estimate.
Hanna is picking up a son of a friend from Germany this evening. Should be an interesting next three weeks. In German, the name George, is pronounced Gee ORG, always makes me think of Eyore from Pooh........ Anyway George is staying with us for a couple weeks to visit America, I think he will learn a lot about Home Depot, Lowes, and the landscaping business...
His dad was a Meister (master) in several disciplines in Germany, who helped us out tremendously, One of the best men I have ever known. He held a Meister in Blacksmithing, plumbing and Tractor repair that I am aware of, he was also a guttering guy (copper) and did a lot of heating work as well. Spent a lot of time over his forge, with him watching and educating as we went.
The best picture I have of him, he has this huge smile, and you can only see from his chest up, and he is in there working hard, and happy, and if you know what is going on, he is actually standing in the sewer........
I still miss him, and wish like heck he had been able to make it over to visit us, as that was always one of his dreams to visit America. I think that is a large part of why George is coming over today.
I am not sure that is good or bad comment on my personality, but the older I get, the less I seem to change.
Yes, we got in an undamaged unit, then left it in the side yard for a big wind and hale storm
but it seemed to make it through unscathed I moved it into the dining room so it is a little more protected.
It is not "IN" yet, so there are plenty of opportunities to destroy it yet
I feel like we don't get anything done, but when I look back with someone that has not been there a while, I can see progress so that is good.
Could not do much yesterday, the DW put the Kabash on serious work. Went and added a 45 degree fitting in babes front loader plumbing to keep the front wheel from hitting the hose, hopefully we will not have that problem again. Put new ends on the battery cable of the burb, I HATE sidepost terminals, probably one of the stupidest ideas ever from GM.
Did take Hanna out and she drove around LIL, of course I went through this long dissertation about how hard she was to put in gear, and Hanna drops her right in and says "what?" So Hanna's comment on Lil, was "man, is this thing big"
She gets to load Mulch with her today........................ Wonder how the side of the dump trailer will make out.................
Should be meeting a drywaller out there tonight to get an estimate.
Hanna is picking up a son of a friend from Germany this evening. Should be an interesting next three weeks. In German, the name George, is pronounced Gee ORG, always makes me think of Eyore from Pooh........ Anyway George is staying with us for a couple weeks to visit America, I think he will learn a lot about Home Depot, Lowes, and the landscaping business...
His dad was a Meister (master) in several disciplines in Germany, who helped us out tremendously, One of the best men I have ever known. He held a Meister in Blacksmithing, plumbing and Tractor repair that I am aware of, he was also a guttering guy (copper) and did a lot of heating work as well. Spent a lot of time over his forge, with him watching and educating as we went.
The best picture I have of him, he has this huge smile, and you can only see from his chest up, and he is in there working hard, and happy, and if you know what is going on, he is actually standing in the sewer........
I still miss him, and wish like heck he had been able to make it over to visit us, as that was always one of his dreams to visit America. I think that is a large part of why George is coming over today.
toolaholic
Silver Member
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2005
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- 144
Al ,Your departed friend sound's like a wonderful person. How do think You and Mom have come this far, on this wonderful house ? He never left ! He's been at your side all the way ! As Harvey say's " LIFE IS GOOD "
gemini5362
Veteran Member
Al my stepson is going in september to spend a year in austria studying. I have been telling him about how great an opportunity it will be to see some really beautiful countryside.
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Austria, especially the mountain part, is very scenic.
I spent the summer after college working in construction just outside the "Sound of Music" city of Salzburg. The older generation has many true craftsmen. Unfortunately, the younger generation no longer values the trades, for the most part.
A good friend is a master machinist and says that he can't any young guys to apprentice. Apparently, a lot of this has to do with Austrian girls only wanting to marry Professional Men... men that don't get their hands dirty.
I spent the summer after college working in construction just outside the "Sound of Music" city of Salzburg. The older generation has many true craftsmen. Unfortunately, the younger generation no longer values the trades, for the most part.
A good friend is a master machinist and says that he can't any young guys to apprentice. Apparently, a lot of this has to do with Austrian girls only wanting to marry Professional Men... men that don't get their hands dirty.