My older brother unexpectedly came by today, and while I was outside with him, my daughter popped out to warn me that we cannot close the kitchen window right now.

We have a guest.

It’s been sitting there for several hours, now!

It is so CUTE!  I love my little green friend. :-D

A nice little surprise to add to a day with a much larger, amazing surprise.

One of the things that has been put on hold until the power is restored to the garage and barn is some work my older brother and his wife want to do in the barn so they can paint it.  So when my brother started talking about bringing over a compressor, I just assumed it was so they could use it in the barn somehow.  There used to be a compressor in one of the side sheds of our garage, and another in the barn, but both are gone – along with many other things, large and small.  Things have been disappearing for years, so even while my dad was still living here, my brother got into the habit of bringing everything he needed to fix things out here, because he couldn’t assume the tools and equipment he would need would still be around.

My brother ended up coming out to help our mom with something and, since he was so close and the compressor was already loaded in the truck, he came by to drop it off.

To my surprise, he didn’t want to unload it in the barn, but in the side shed of the garage.  This meant we had to move out the riding mower and a bunch of other things to clear the corner where the old compressor used to be, then he managed to back his truck in part way.  The space is just barely wide enough for the truck box, and my brother to still squeeze in.  I had intended to help at least somewhat, but I couldn’t fit.  I’m a fair bit wider than my marathon running brother! LOL  Which turned out to be handy, because I ended up being able to grab things for him from my side and pass it through.

Getting that thing unloaded was a huge job.  This thing is incredibly heavy!  But he got it in the corner and set it up.  Once he was able to, he moved the truck so I could come in, and he showed me various things about it, hooked up the hose and the new nozzle, with he had tested to ensure they worked (since we can’t test it here, until the power is hooked up).  He even drilled a hole through the wall so the plug could be passed through and plugged in in the main garage area, because it uses more power than is wired to the outlets in the shed.

At one point, we had to move things from the garage side of the wall, for access.  I have not done anything when it comes to cleaning and sorting the garage right now; we will probably work on that next spring.  So there is a lot there that I’ve never seen.

Including this strange thing with a hand grip, a long nozzle, and a hose.  I had to ask my brother, as I moved it out of the way; what is it?  Looking at it briefly, he said it was likely a torch.  Of the sort that was used to singe the hair off pig carcasses during butchering, though it could also be used for other things.  Very dangerous.  (At least it would be, if it were attached to a gas canister.)

So… It’s a flame thrower.

We have a flame thrower in our garage.  !!

Too funny!

As this was all getting done and he was showing me all these things about the compressor, I finally commented that I was surprised it wasn’t taken to the barn, since I though they were going to use it somehow when they cleaned and painted.

Oh, no, he tells me.  This is for me, in case we ever need to pump our tires.

!!!

I was totally stunned.  All that work to fix up the compressor, much of which was done after it was loaded into the back of the truck (it’s so heavy, it was easier that way), getting it out here, unloading it and setting it up, just so we could have a compressor, if we ever needed one!

I have the most awesome brother.

As we were talking about compressor, and how pleased he was with how little it ended up costing him to fix, I had to ask what a new one would cost.  One like this, he estimated about $1100, but the one that used to be there, he figured was worth about $2500.

!!!

On the one hand, I am so grateful for his generosity and amazed that he did this for us.

On the other, I am dismayed once again over the things that have grown legs and walked away over the years.

But now we have a heavy duty, industrial compressor, with working hose and nozzle (there are still hoses hanging on the wall, but some are missing their tips, and we’d have to test others to see if they were any good anymore; the good one that was being used, of course, is gone with the old compressor).

And I have the most awesome brother!

The Re-Farmer