Pickin' makes for Grinnin'

It should come as no surprise that I am a fan of the show American Pickers.  I love the idea of finding something valuable in other what other people think is just "junk".  While I don't drive around the countryside exploring barns and farmyards, I do indulge my Picker instincts a couple times a year during bulk trash week, one of which was last week.  Just a few years ago I would not have though  of driving around looking at other people's trash as entertainment.  Then, early in my (ongoing) Power Wheels phase, I was enlightened to the fact that when most people are done with a Power Wheels, they just throw it away.  The thought of getting one (or several) for free rather than spending the $200-$300 most people spend on a new one made me curious, so I thought I would give it a try.  

The word on the street was that the greatest odds for finding one was during "bulk trash" or "fall/spring cleanup" weeks where people are cleaning up their garages and yards.  When the next one rolled around, after we put the boys to bed for the night, I headed out.  It was an interesting experience to say the least.  You would be amazed how many people there are out there.  The most persistent are the "scrappers".  They are out day and night looking for anything with enough metal content to be worth taking to the scrap yard.  Then there are specialist.  There's guys that fix and sell bicycles, guys that fix and sell small engine equipment, and second-hand stores that look for furniture in decent condition.  The last group is the treasure hunters.  They look for the big piles, and then systematically go through it looking for anything good.  Obviously there is overlap between those groups, so there is competition amongst them.  Aside from the interesting people, it is interesting to see what people are throwing away.  Toilets and matresses are probably the most common, but then you'll see strange stuff like a house with 6 or 8 bowling balls out at the curb.  

I guess I would fall in the specialist category.  Power Wheels are nice because there is not alot of competition for them, and they are big and easy to spot.  Occasionally there is stuff stacked on top of them, but usually they are sitting by themselves on the curb.  They may be dirty, but you usually don't have to dig through trash to get them.  Of course condition varies widely.  I've seen everything from broken, sat in the yard for 10 years and then used for target practice; to grandma and grandpa bought it for the grandkids, it got used a couple times and now the grandkids are too old and they don't want it taking up space.   I'd say close to half don't need anything but a bath and a new battery.  Some do need some kind of repair, and a few really are only good for parts.  For me, there is certainly thrill in "the hunt" for them, but the boys always seem excited when I bring a new one home, and even enjoy playing with the hose helping me wash them.  Once the "new" wears off, and they have tested it out thoroughly, I'll put it up on craigslist and sell it.

The last few bulk trash weeks I haven't been as hard-core about it as I was initially, but it is still fun to go out a night or two and see what I can find.  This past week I picked up a little VW Bug and a Harley.  The Bug was cute and perfect for L.  It was pretty clean, had the battery charger with it, and worked fine when I hooked up a good battery to it.  The Harley was a little rougher.  It's was pretty faded and dirty, and initially only one of the two motors worked.  While I was cleaning it, I found a loose wire on one motor and now it works fine.  It's probably too beat up to resell whole, but we've had a couple of these and N likes them for a while.  The big surprise this time was how much L liked it.  Not only that, he does pretty well driving it too.  I'll probably part it out eventually, but for now the boys can enjoy it.  C also mentioned a while back a decorating idea that involved a Radio Flyer wagon, and I happened to find one of those while I was out too.  

After just a couple nights, I decided to declare my Power Wheels Pickin' a success, and turned my attention back to tractors.  The 70, or "Junior" as I have dubbed it, had a front tire that would go flat after sitting overnight, and the other tire didn't look that great either.  I ordered a new set of front tires, and set out to get the old ones off and rims repainted while I waited for them to come in.  For Johnny, I let the tire shop do the removal and reinstallation.  That was fine, and they probably did a better job of preserving the freshly applied powder coat on those rims, but for Junior the $10/tire change fee was going to add about 50% to the cost of replacing the tires.  Rather than do that, I found a mini tire changer at Harbor Freight.  OK, so the changer cost a little more than what it would have cost me to have the tires changed at the shop, but now should the need arise again in the future, I can do it myself.  Getting the old tires off the rim was far from the 5 minute task they showed in the tire changer demo video.  In fact, it took a sawzall to get one of them off.  Nevertheless, I was able to get them off.  After the new tires arrived, they went on much more easily, and now Junior sports a nice tri-rib front tire look.  

Despite all that activity, the past week wasn't only focused on powered vehicles of one sort or another.  We also managed to take full advantage of the great weather.  Friday I took the day off and we made a trip up to the apple orchard for some apple donuts and fun at the playground.  It seems like every year they add another fun activity.  This year they added a restored caboose that the kids could play in, and some pedal cars for both the kids and adults.  That night, N and I camped out on the deck in the tent.  I had my hopes doubts he would stay out there all night, but he loved it.  Saturday, after recovering a little from sleeping in the tent, I got the new tires installed on Junior and put some finishing touches on the rock table.  N decided his Jeep needed a little work as well.  We also had to get ready for our neighborhood weiner roast.  We had talked about the idea with the neighbors earlier in the Summer, but never got around to it.  The week of unseasonably nice weather provided a great opportunity to do it, and we put it together less than a week in advance.  It ended up working out great and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.  Sunday L and I went for two nice long rides on the Ten, and wrapped the weekend up with more time outside playing with the neighbors, and grandma and grandpa.

Of course the incredibly nice weather can't last forever, and it looks like it won't stick around for another weekend.  I think it's fair to say though that we made the most of it while it was here.

Fall Flying By

I'm long overdue for a post, since we are closing in on a month since my last one.  

We've had a few projects in the workshop over the past few weeks, although the bulk of the progress on them has been made over the weekends.  With this beautiful weather we've been having lately, we've been spending our weekday evenings outside playing, which has tended to push workouts and chores to after the boys' bedtimes, leaving less time for other things.

The first project started (and yet to be finished) is repainting the snowplow for Johnny.  I had located a snowplow earlier this summer, and then another one to provide some parts in better condition.  This turned into a true case of using two to make one.  The first one had less rust, but had been used and abused.  The cutting edge was worn completely down and it had several large dents in the blade surface.  Also, one bracket was bent, and no amount of heat and force seemed to be able to straighten it.  I got the second blade primarily to replace the bent bracket, but the hardly used cutting edge for less than what a replacement one cost was a nice bonus. I ended up completely disassembled both and used the best parts from each.   At this point, all the parts have been sanded, primed and repainted, but other projects have taken priority over reassembly.   

One of said "other projects" is a new addition to the Tallon tractor fleet.  One of the dangers in getting a collector tractor to use around the house, and subsequently using a collector forum (Weekend Freedom Machines) for technical help on that tractor, is that you run the risk of becoming a collector yourself.  That risk is even greater if you are one that is predisposed to collecting stuff like I am.  Back when I was first researching a garden tractor, I was debating on the 110 or the smaller 60/70.  Both had that "new generation" look like grandpa's 4010 and 6030.  Ultimately, the 110 won out due to being more common, and more versatile.  I have not once regretted getting Johnny, but the appeal of the smaller 60/70 still lingered in the back of my mind.  When a good condition, good running 70 came up for sale, for a pretty cheap price, I could not resist.  I've subsequently given it the once-over and mowed with it a little bit.  It does need a new front tire, and some adjustment to the throttle linkage, however  being a "lawn tractor" and not a "garden tractor" like the 110, the 70 actually mows a little better than Johnny does.  At this point, I don't know what the long-term plans are for it.  I've considered everything from keeping it to ride around tractor shows, to sprucing it up a little and try to sell it at a profit.  For now, it's just another fun little project.

All the tractors took a back seat to a project for the boys last weekend.  While the weather has been perfect as of late, it won't last forever.  Pretty soon my dirt-loving boys won't be able to go outside and get their digging fix.  The last two winters we have set up a "sand box" in the garage for them to dig in.  That pretty much just consisted of a plastic storage container filled with gravel.  While better than nothing, it isn't ideal because the gravel goes everywhere, and the container isn't really big enough for both of them to play in.  I had been thinking about how to do something better, and last weekend finally built it.  The end result is a two level, 4' x 3' table with small rocks to scoop and dump.  I think it will do the trick, but it still isn't as good as digging in the dirt outside, which the weather is still permitting them to do.  I'm anxious to see how well the table works, but certainly willing to let this weather stick around as long as it wants to.   

A Few Days of Labor

Another two weekends have snuck past us.  One of those was, of course, Labor Day weekend.  We have established a tradition of going to the Threshermen's Reunion in Pontiac over Labor Day.  This year the big change was taking our own tractor to the show.  As the show approached, the weather was in question, but in the end it was fine other than being pretty warm on Saturday.  N was a real trooper on Saturday, helping me take the tractor over, and then taking turns looking at things and going for train rides.  Next year's show will feature Caterpillar, so they asked me to park in a special spot, which of course I obliged.  Sunday the whole family went to see the show and to bring the tractor home.  Grandma and Grandpa met us there.  I think the second day was a little much for N, and combining that with his little brother to aggravate him, and the compelling need to show of his daddy's tractor for everybody, brought the day to a little earlier end than I would have liked.  Still, I think we all had a good time, and the cooler weather on Sunday was a welcome change.

 As usual, Labor Day Monday we spent a good part of it laboring, doing the normal weekend chores that didn't get done during the tractor show.  The biggest excitement was harvesting our pumpkin and watermelon crop.  6 pumpkins and 3 watermelons were the total.  We ended up with several pretty good sized pumpkins, and the one watermelon we have eaten so far was delicious. 

 Although the holiday weekend made for a shorter week, it was N's first week of full-length school days.  He seems to be taking it in stride for the most part.  He is a little more tired and prone to melt-downs in the evenings, but definitely not exhausted like we feared he might be.  He got his fifth purple card for exceptional behavior, which made him extra excited because we had told him if he got 5 he could pick out a treat.  He also got a special treat from Grammy, the new "Day of the Diesels" Thomas movie that just came out.  There was no shortage of activity around the neighborhood last week either.  On Friday the excavator and skid steer came back to backfill around the new house, and just when that wrapped up, the farmer came to combine the corn field behind our house.  L was in seventh heaven. 

The weekend was productive despite some illness making it's way through the house.  L has had some lingering upset stomach issues, which has been waking him (and therefore us) up in the night.  Consequently, he has been kind of clingy, and hasn't had much of an appetite.  Stomach issues also hit C hard Saturday night and into Sunday.  Thankfully both seem to be doing better now.  N and I tried to make the most of our weekend.  He went with me Saturday morning to run some errands.  His main motivation was getting to pick out a new train for his purple card reward.  I also talked him into trying on some clothes at Farm and Fleet, so he will have some jeans to play in now that it is cooling off a little bit. 

My main motivation for going to Morton was to pick up a roto-tiller.  Between the boys dirt box, the garden, and miscellaneous yard projects, there have been several times this spring and summer I've wished I had one.  I had looked for one that could attach to Johnny, but I really wouldn't use it enough to justify the cost of the tiller, associated pulley drives and mounting bracketry.  This one showed up on craigslist for only $50, and while it could probably use a little TLC, works just fine as-is.  I need another small engine to maintain like I need another hole in my head, but this will make a few yard chores easier. 

The medical maladies took up quite a bit of time on Sunday, but I did squeeze in a couple small projects.  There were several times this summer where I realized just how hot the seat on the Ten can get sitting in the sun.  I ordered an umbrella hoping it would come in time for the Pontiac show, but it showed up one day too late.  I got it installed and L and I tried it out going for a ride in the newly harvested corn field. 

The final project was one I did with N.  One of the central locations in his new Thomas movie is the "Dieselworks".  He likes to re-enact the Thomas TV shows and movies, so we decided to make our own Dieselworks to use with his train sets.  It was just the right size project for us to do together; it didn't take so long it lost his attention, and we were able to get it done from start to finish while L was down for his nap. 

Stumped

This week was my 6th work trip this year.  Granted two of those were just day-trips by car, but still that is by far the most I have had in a long, long time.  I do enjoy traveling; getting to meet customers, and seeing how every uses their tractors in slightly different ways.  This week’s trip was not one I looked forward to.  It was a customer complaint that dealt squarely with my area of responsibility.  The local rep had expressed the extreme urgency needed on this issue, so on relatively short notice we booked the trip. 

The trip was to a job in South Carolina where they prepare land for reforestation.  The location of the customer was both good and bad.  It was near Myrtle Beach, which provided convenience for travel and accommodations, as well as entertainment, should we have any extra time to enjoy it.  The location also put the trip in jeopardy due to it’s proximity to the path of hurricane Irene.  Fortunately the impact of Irene was limited to only a couple inches of rain, and was long gone by the time we got there. 

I won’t go into too much detail on the customer visit, other than the application was certainly interesting to see.  I’ve seen plenty of plowing, but not any where you had to push the branches out of the way and cut off stumps at the same time.  At the end of the visit, we had improved the situation with the customer, but didn’t quite get all the way to where he wanted to be.  We’ve got some work ahead of us to get the rest of the way there. 

We finished in time to make a brief visit to the beach before we headed to the airport.  You couldn’t even tell a hurricane had passed near there only a few days before. 

Half Century of Golfcarts

We survived the first week of Kindergarten.  Survived probably isn't the right word.  C may see things differently since by the time I get home, N has been out of school for a few hours already, but so far it seems to have been smooth sailing.  I don't want to jinx it, but N seems to really enjoy it so far, and doesn't seem to be too exhausted when he gets home.  Next week he starts full days, so that may change, but for now things are going really well. 

One of the carrots I dangled for N was if he was good all week, he could go with me to a tractor show.  I don't know how much of that was actually excitement for the tractor show, or just going somewhere with me.  He is going through a phase right now where he really likes to do things with me, and truth be told, I like being able to take him with me to stuff like this now too.  N held up his end of the bargain, so we planned our departure for Rantoul on Saturday morning. I had previously invited C to come with L, and to my surprise, C decided to take me up on it.  Despite the last minute change in plans to make it a whole-family outing, we were on the road before 7:30.

I remembered from the last show there being a lot of golfcarts, gators, and other UTV’s, but I think there were even more this year.  There was even a UTV traffic jam getting into the gate.  Our "UTV’s" were the wagon and jogging stroller.  I thought bringing one for each boy would extend my time at the show, and it probably did some, but they fought over who got to ride in the wagon.  I think I got to see most of the show, although I didn’t get to look at any one tractor for very long.  Still, I did enjoy it as a family outing, and a nice way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning.

It is funny to me that the wagon is so popular all of a sudden because it never had gotten played with that much before.  Shortly after the new neighbors moved in, we discovered that their kids love to play with their wagon.  All the kids did a nice job taking turns with their wagon, so I decided to get ours out.  The wagon, which I customized for N’s 1st Christmas, seemed to be THE hot toy for the weekend.  The boys pulled it around the yard, pulled it with the pedal tractor, and even pretended to “fix” it with their tools.  N even went a little beyond pretending, and used one of my screwdrivers to take one of the side boards off.  What can I do, he comes by it naturally.

The other big development this weekend was the builder finally had the yard put in at the spec house next door this weekend.  It is a huge improvement in the looks of the house, and the skid steer kept L entertained for several hours.  As the landscaper was cleaning up the lot line so he could lay the sod, I asked if I could have some of the chunks of existing sod he was cutting out.  He did me one better by offering me some of the extra sod rolls he had.  I wheeled Johnny and the wagon over to his trailer, and he stacked what he had left on the pallet onto my wagon.  Not only did he give me more than I was expecting, it turns out it is not just any sod.  It is Lexington sod from the Wagner Sod Farm.  So now we’ve got a little piece of home in our yard.  The sod did cost me a “tour” of the Ten for the landscaper and his crew, which of course they had to twist my arm to do.  As it turned out, it was OK I didn’t take the Ten over to the tractor show, I got to have a tractor show right there in my garage. 

Ten rides Again

Our little boy is heading to Kindergarten.  There is no escaping it now.  While I don't think it will hit me as hard as it will hit C, I have to admit it's starting to tug at the heart strings a little bit.  I felt like I wanted to do one more thing with him before school started, so I took Friday afternoon off.  Since he loved the train museum in Kankakee so much, I thought the Wheels O' Time musuem would be a good time.  He did like the real train, and the toy trains, but I think the antique cars and other antiques were pretty much lost on him.  Still, we made a good memory, and some ice cream on the way home didn't hurt either. 

The first project for the weekend was building up the dirt around the bridge.  I wanted to take advantage of the loose dirt from the freshly dug basement next door.  I also found some good chunks of sod to help firm up the edge.  It only took one full load in Johnny's wagon to provide the necessary fill.  That full load was almost more than Johnny could handle; I almost got stuck trying to pull it across the uncompacted white rock that will eventually be that house's driveway.  L and N helped spread out the dirt and plant the grass seed.  Saturday I got a couple additional loads of dirt to fill in some low spots elsewhere along the creek.  Since I already had the Ten out, I decided to not risk getting Johnny stuck and just use it to pull the wagon.  Was it overkill, sure, but it was fun to put the Ten to work a little bit. 

I was able to get the Ten out, and put it to work, thanks to Dad helping me get the crank fixed.  The Ten was a little reluctant to start after sitting for a few weeks, but after about a dozen tries, it started.  We found a path around the new house and had fun taking N and L for several laps.  Unfortunately, all the fun was not without a little collateral damage.  The more minor issue is the strips of conveyor belt that I laid down to get the Ten across the driveway extended out into the grass, and apparently the sun heated those belts up enough to cook the grass underneath.  I tried watering it to revive the grass, but I think it just made the healthy grass green up more and make the strips more pronounced. 

The bigger issue happened later.  I intended to just go out and put the Ten away for the night, but L said he wanted to go for a ride, and it didn't take much arm twisting to oblige him.  We had a little time before dinner was ready, so we went for a trip to inspect the new part of the subdivision.  I decided to try a new route across the creek to get there rather than go all the way around.  Tall grass and weeds won't STOP a Caterpillar, but they apparently can make it so you can't START the Caterpillar again.  As we went down into the creek, the grass/weeds were able to push hard enough on the crank handle to make it engage the front of the engine.  When we came up the other side, the majority of my newly repaired crank was no longer attached to the tractor.  Of course I cursed myself for the mistake, and L innocently compounded that with his "tractor broken" observation.  The only bright side was that I had chosen to install the repaired handle rather than the new reproduction handle I had also gotten in the meantime.  Looks like I will be using that new handle sooner than I thought. 

Along with installing the new crank handle, Sunday allowed some time to get a few more things done  Although the Ten heat manifold valve is frozen from rust, I still wanted to hook up the control lever for it.  I got the control handle when I bought the tractor, but had to make the control rod and coupler.  I also finished "restoring" some weights I got from Dad that were my grandpas.  These weights have been commandeered by C as added security for the back door of our garage.  100lbs. in front of the door does make it pretty tough to open. 

The cherry on top for the weekend was a nice evening visiting with the neighbors.  N and L needed to burn off some energy after supper, so we went outside to kick the soccer ball into the net.  The new neighbor kids were out, and N begged invited them to come down and play with him.  They came down, soon followed by their parents.  The neighbors across the street also came down.  Of course the kids all ended up playing in the dirt, but no one seemed to mind, and the kids, and adults, had a nice time. 

There Goes the Neighborhood

Its hard to believe it's the middle of the month and I am just now getting around to my first August post.  I guess I need to just resign myself to the every-other week pace, at least for the summer. 

The first big project after our vacation was organizing part of the workshop.  The back corner of the garage had become a catch-all for scrap lumber, large tools, tractor parts, and other odds and ends.  After struggling to get to something through the clutter one too many times, I set out to finally organize it.  This resulted in the construction of a couple shelving additions.  I still have some work to do finishing the shelves, and finishing my organizing, but it has already made a difference. 

The bigger news lately has not been in the workshop or around the yard, but all around us.  Big changes have been taking place to our little slice of paradise.  N had to bid farewell to his friend I and his family, but the new family has already moved in, with their 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son.  One of the spec houses down the street is also now occupied, and there is another 5 year old in that family.  It's almost like it's a prerequisite to have a 5 year old to live on our street. 

And while it is exciting to have some new kids in the neighborhood for N and L to play with, we are less excited by the most recent development.  It was bound to happen sooner or later, but one of the vacant lots to the East of us has sold.  To my surprise, it is not the corner lot, but the smaller lot next to the creek.  The neighbors across the street tipped us off last week that the lot was sold and excavation was about to begin. 

Of course that lot was my primary means of accessing the other side of the creek with Johnny for mowing, and the Ten for playing.  The prospect of soon losing that access prompted me to consider other options.  I had considered building a bridge for a while, which I probably could build strong enough for Johnny, but that isn't really an option for the Ten.  The Ten really doesn't need a bridge, and I have driven it several times across the creek.  The only problem in doing so is the creek bank is so soft that the Ten tends to sink and collapse the bank.  So, I decided to reinforce and raise the bank with some concrete blocks, and will just use a couple 2x10's to get Johnny across.  The block work is done, but I still need to finish filling it in to raise the bank, and try to get some grass started there as well. 

Finding loose dirt to fill the creek bank won't be a problem, as excavation did start this week on the new house next door.  C said so far they have been doing more measuring than digging, which is not surprising considering the house looks to be about as big as they can fit on the lot.  One corner touches the edge of the set-back from the creek, and the other can't be more than a foot or two more than the minimum of 5 feet from the lot line.  Fortunately we border the back yard, which has to be at least 20 feet per the building code.  From the looks of it, it probably won't be much more than that. 

And speaking of dirt, it has become almost impossible lately to keep the boys out of the "dirt box" when we go outside.  With the lack of rain lately, it is equally impossible to keep a significant amount of that dirt from coming inside with the boys when they come in.  Oh well, boys will be boys.