Saturday, November 22, 2003
05:01 p.m.
Last week was pretty productive at home. Somehow, with all of the things I was doing with work and the truck I was able to get my front porch and back deck done. I figured before winter hit, it might be a good idea to get a coat or two of polyeurethane on the wood. The trickiest part about doing that is that you have to hit some nice days (no rain, not too much wind, and warm enough temperatures).
Before I even started I had to acid wash the deck. And after I'd done that, I had to let it dry for 24-hours. (and try to keep it off of the siding, glass and doors)
My dad was around this week, and so a lot of this stuff I could get done in half the time. 4-hours of washing turned into 2 hours of washing. 6- to 8-hours of "staining" turned into about 4- or 5-hours.
I found out the hard way that polyeurethane does not come off of your hands very easily. So for the next few weeks, the backs of my hands will look like I just wiped them on my nose.
I have good news and bad news regarding the small tractor I bought. The bad news is that I need to have the starter rebuilt, so it is out of commission for a little while. But the good news is that I found a company in Missouri who makes a 3-point hitch system for my cub. That means that after I buy and install this piece of gear I will be able to buy a lot of universal parts for this tractor.
For instance, I will be able to buy ford and john deere implements made for 3-point hitches and use them on my farmall cub. However, I will still be limited by the cub's lack of horsepower. I will have to make sure whatever I buy can be lifted by the 9 1/2 horsepower I allegedly get out of the hydraulics.
This is also good news because I will be able to buy the only other implement I need right now. And that's a blade. If I get a blade on the tractor, then I can plow my driveway. (And I can plow all the way to the road, if I have to. Out in the country, the plows get to us last, and we have to fend for ourselves.)
Another good thing happened this week. I got my building permit, and have the area levelled where I plan to put the building. Next comes the hard part, and that's finding a company who can put the building up. I may also do it myself, but I have very little time to do that, unless I invest in some large worklights so I can work at night, too.
Thursday, November 13, 2003
02:20 p.m.
The weather in Colorado is pretty unbelievable. It's on the cold side at night, but by mid-afternoon we'll all be in t-shirts.
Last weekend my good friend John helped me out in my backyard by leveling out a pad with a large loader.
Tuesday, November 4, 2003
07:10 a.m.
I was talking to this old trucker the other day, and he started to tell me about all of the stuff they used to pull back in the '60s and '70s.
One of the things that struck me as pretty amazing was how they used to bypass weigh scales.
They would drive by at night, with one truck underweight, running in the right lane. He would pass the weigh scale, and then play dumb if he got pulled over.
The second guy would run in the left lane, without lights. He would run insanely overweight, and would take off past the other truck once they passed the weigh scale.
Times have changed a little, but the whole process of bypassing trouble on the highway hasn't changed at all.
DOT officers tend to find easy targets, and pick on drivers who forget to cross an "t" or dot an "i."
Specifically, of those that I know of in my area, there's a pretty bad scale coming in from the north on I-35 into Missouri. There is another coming from the south into Kansas on I-35. I've heard from several truckers who were picked out coming into that southern Kansas scale that they were harrassed by a specific officer there. He was allegedly on probation for his treatment of some drivers. And the DOT allegedly sent one of their own trucks through (after inspecting it thoroughly), and this specific officer gave the DOT truck several citations.
After a period of time, he was back at the scale, and just as big a jerk as ever. I ran into the same guy. And he searched me up and down until he could find the smallest thing wrong, and the first thing for which he could give me a small fine.
Meanwhile, he had probably let through miles and miles of semi-trailers with illegal immigrants inside. He had probably waved through trailers with contraband and nuclear waste.
Monday, November 3, 2003
09:05 a.m.
It looks like a lot of my blog was lost, and I didn't back up a lot of the data lately so a lot of it will be lost forever. I will probably be able to find it on the many internet archives out there, when I get to the point where I have a lot of time on my hands. But I don't see that happening anytime soon.
This week is my first time in the beautiful state of New Mexico. And this is the last state in the continental U.S. on my list. Now I need to visit Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam and the other U.S. states to have visited them all.
New Mexico is pretty cool. The mountains are packed with evergreens. Most of the homes and building either have a adobe or wild-west motif. The people are pretty friendly. You can wear a Stetson and a pair of Justins and not get a strange look from the locals.
My house is slowly coming along. And I stress slowly. The big advantage is that I can watch my finances and put things in the way I want. The disadvantage is that it will take years to accomplish anything.
I've gotten a little bit behind on the webpages I work on. In part, it's because I'm having a problem with my portable hard drive. It's probably because I often carry it in a pocket (hence the term "pocket drive"), but it could also be a problem with my laptop, of which I need to reinstall the operating system.
If I get home this week, or this weekend, I should have a loader waiting for me. I should also get a survey done, and get a few quotes back before I start on the shed. And by my best estimates, I should be home by at least Wednesday.
I was up in Minnesota last week. And I'm just amazed at how much the twin cities has continued to grow. It's definitely growing a lot faster than any other big city right now. And in downtown Minneapolis they are coming along quickly on the new light rail system. And it's about time, because anything that helps the traffic situation is worth the money they are spending on it right now. It's just too bad that they aren't also considering some type of route that heads toward St. Cloud and/or Duluth. The one they have will head toward Rochester, or the southern part of the state. And that will help out a lot, knowing that numerous people will catch on to it and start using it between the Mall of America and the downtown area.
