When Dinosaurs Roamed The Earth

In case you have not seen what a smiling old man, who is retired in a rural setting looks like. T shirt and jeans are uniform of the day, razor dragging is not, and a pair of Walmart reading glasses stopping somewhere along a nose that has been rerouted more than once. Life is good… and busy.

Two of my grown children live with their respective families in Texas; one in Driftwood, the other in Round Rock, TX. I have another who lives in California, but has become a part of that culture. I hear from the Texas guys routinely. I hear from the California guy… well, never.

I have been trying to decide what to do with my home and property in Maine when I am subjected to the rules of old age and croak at some point. I don’t know if I should sell now and distribute the proceeds to all three in hopes of causing a brotherly reconciliation. There is a lot of forgiveness required that, as a mortal man, I am not sure I can summon.

I can sell the house and give the proceeds to the Texas guys. But that is a lot of work, I hate realtors and I think it is reasonable that they put that much work into liquidation. If they are ambitious, they will do well. If they are quick and frivolous to act, maybe not so well.

I could give the house and property to the eldest. He has been involved the the lives of my wife and myself, shared the events of his family, gave us the opportunity to be active grandparents, and was standup during family and business crisis. He has worked hard for everything they have and asked for nothing.

I can leave my IRA to my youngest. Not a lot, but I live with fiscal restraint, so there is enough to make a difference in his life. Good guy, but chose to live independent of us. We loved our grandkids, but never got to be a real part of their lives. We loved our son, but he never traveled to see us. We all got back together when my wife fell ill. He was here when his Mom passed, and our grandchildren called and spoke to her when she was in the hospital.

So no animosity, just a struggle to see what it fair. A couple of days worth of work as indicated below, routine types of days, suggest liquidating may be the way to go, as they are all phone guys. When something has to be done, they pick up the phone and dial someone to attend to the problem/project. I am sure they could adapt, but would that make them happy? I guess I have to keep on going until I figure it out.

The slope solution

A couple of years ago, I cut down two pear trees on this slope and dug out the associated stumps. Between shade, erosion, acid soil, and seed choice I had never gotten a good lawn to grow. More acorns than grass. Soil pH checked acid, so I put sown some lime at first warmer temps, put down some weed and feed about a week later, then went over it manually with a steel dethatch rake.

With high hopes, area “A” will be crimson clover and “B” will be annual, perennial and biennial wildflowers. “C”, a ring of smaller boulders, will contain blue Forget-Me-Nots, and D will be covered with purple and pink Alyssum Royal Carpet.

The important thing is that each should expand until the slope is covered, and there is no discernible grass that requires mowing. At least, that is the plan, however, I won’t know for sure for six to eight weeks. If that doesn’t work… I guess I can only try again.

A chipper with indigestion

There was a good deal of tree fall this past winter. Additionally, trees needed to be trimmed… limbed?, brush needed to be cut down, and a resulting mountainous pile to be cleared. I don’t burn brush. The resulting smoke is too caustic for even distant neighbors and the open fire is too much of a hazard. So under 4″ cuttings gets chipped into garden mulch and compost piles. Over 4″ get given away as firewood to area neighbors.

My assistant in wood clearing is an old Troy 420 3″ chipper, an MTD product sold under Troy-Bilt, Yard Man, Arnold, Remington, Yard Machines, Columbia, Murray, Robomow, Agri Fab, and Craftsman. Out of use for approximately three years, I was pleased that it started up with a shot of starter fluid and a single tug on the recoil starter.

It kind of slow chugged to life, like an old steam engine locomotive leaving a station. The engine ran up to the governor, about 3,000 RPMs, and then a loud “Blam”, immediately followed by the quiet stillness of spring time in rural Maine. Head scratch. Head scratch.

I have not yet found the foreign object that grabbed the chipper by its impeller and slapped it dead, but I did find its shadow in the havoc it wreaked. Pictured above, the top arrow points to where cutter #1 and its mounting bolts once resided. The bottom arrow points to where intact #2 cutter resides, with access slot now occupied by the unwelcome and intrusive cutter #1.

Before disassembly, I thought perhaps the engine seized or, because of the loud bang and immediate stop, the crank snapped. As it turns out, the impeller was jammed solid by the broken off and free traveling cutter #1. I will know for sure when I pull the impeller on Monday and see what is going on behind.

The chipper is roughly twenty years old, which is approximately one hundred six in human years. A like replacement with as much torque is priced between $900 and $1,100. The chipper I want, a 35 HP compact drum chipper, is priced between $2,800 and $3,400. So $35 for a new set of chipping blades, and some of my cheap labor, seemed to tip the scales of fiscal responsibility toward repair. Fingers crossed.

As a side benefit, after half disassembling the chipper and its 36,000 bolts with deforming self locking nuts, I declared myself a geezer too old and too slow for that stuff, and bought a new 3/8″ adjustable cordless impact wrench, to speed up the process and to recover time for other projects. Wonder how many bolts I will shear until I get the hang of its trigger control?

Engaging the enemy

The shop got an insecticide treatment via a backpack pump sprayer. Not too bad. Three gallons of 0.5% dilution of Permethrin SFR 36.8% did the trick and managing that weight, while navigating the close tangle of saplings and brush, was not as hazardous as one might suspect. The twice per year ritual has kept shop and home insect free, outside and inside.

Ten gallons in a pull behind pump tank is required to do the house; foundation and 4′ up the walls, porch roof vents, lattice work around the porch. There are a few doghouse dormers and three gables/rakes 25′ up. For some reason they greatly attract wasps. Lots and lots of wasps, well beyond Maine’s indigenous population.

Left unattended… the ones that fly, find their way into the house where they die, but not before the occasional sting. I hate that. Also, landscaping sometimes draws their ire. So I mixed up the chems in the tank, grabbed the spray nozzle, squeezed and took an insecticide bath. The slip clamps on the pump, pressure side, failed. I was getting sprayed, and the leak at the connector kept the pump running and never hit pressure shut off. So it was a Stooges routine, but with only one Stooge.

A replacement pump using worm gear hose clamps was purchased. The model also added a better diaphragm design, an extra bit of pressure and lift, and it pumps one extra GPM of flow.

Testing the concept…

On on high end electronics lab work area, the wood shop in the basement, the new pump checked out at 12v, drawing less than 2 amps. So I think it will be less prone to killing the tractor battery than the old pump, if operated without the garden tractor engine running. No, that is is not a yellow putty knife between the wires, it is a power/ground wire separator.

The pump mounts are on a different pattern than the old pump and the tank, so I improvised by modifying a way too nice piece of plywood to act as an adapter. Sort of like the adapter that connected a three speed Cadillac & LaSalle transmission to the old 392 Chrysler Hemi in my ’33 Ford pickup. Nothing says fun and technology like an 800 lb engine with six Stromberg carbs on a log maniforld, in a 2,500 lb vehicle that won’t idle. Sorry. Where was I?

The connection dilemma

The harness that connected the old pump to the tractor battery had a quick disconnect connector and switch, but the new pump had spade connectors. Compromising, the quick disconnect was clipped off, the space connectors were clipped off, and bullet connectors replaced both. As I found myself shrink tube… less, black electrical tape filled in to keep the strain off the connection.

So many… many things unacceptable. Where to begin?

The pump’s 1/2″ barb connections were 1/2″ ID, but need to be 1/4″. One needs to be right angle. The tape on the harness is not liquid proof, so I need to shrink tube the connection or install a molded connector. The plywood needs to be replaced with 1/8″ aluminum stock as the chemicals will eventually breakdown the plywood.

The pump mount fasteners face up, which is ordinarily a problem, but the fastener heads are trapped between the adapter and the tank. So they will not fall out under vibration. Still, they will be replaced with 1/4″-20 hex drive wood Inserts to they can be fastened from above. Lots more work to do, before use, but there are other projects to advance.

Ah yes, the joys of home ownership. Maybe not something to gift someone you love.