Still no working snow blower.
I got the kill switch off – that took longer than expected, as the guy that installed it added a ring above the nut that kept it from unscrewing. Which is great, except that it was so thin, it took me a while to even see it through my frosted up glasses. But see it I did, and found the right tool to get it off, and then it came off fine.
Also, my brother has the patience of a saint.
Continue readingYesterday, after picking my daughter up from work, the girls and I went straight to visit my awesome, amazing older brother and his wife for the evening.
The storm warnings had returned, but the skies were clear at the time, if incredibly windy all day. The winds died down enough that we were able to eat outside, then have a fire going to toast marshmallows. It was so wonderful to just sit outside together, talking and enjoying each others’ company. I just wish my husband had been able to come out, too, but if he had, he would never have been able to handle the length of the visit.
Chronic pain really sucks.
While we were outside, we did see some pretty dramatic skies!
The clouds were moving fast, so we saw all sorts of interesting shapes passing by. When it first started to rain, though, the sky above us was clear! :-D After a while, though, it started to come down a bit harder, so we packed up and went in. By then it was late enough to start heading home, which was about an hour and a half’s drive.
While we were away, my husband sent us some updates to let us know it was coming down pretty hard at home. It was all done by the time we made the drive, but as soon as we turned off the highway onto the gravel road, we drove through a bit patch where the road was covered with twigs and branches from someone’s willow. Some smaller trees along the road were downed. (Interestingly, I later found out the my husband’s dead CPAP machine, which he has left plugged in, actually flickered to life during the storm. Just a flicker. Odd.)
When we got home, we decided to park in the yard by the house, instead of the garage. As I drove in, the first thing I saw in my headlights was a branch on the ground. So while the girls brought things into the house, I grabbed a flashlight and did a circuit around the house. Nothing major, but it was clear it was going to be another day needing a wheelbarrow to clear up everything that came down.
Then this morning, as I glance out the north facing bedroom window, I see this.
One of the apple trees had come down, too.
I don’t think this one was doing very well this year. It never really bloomed, and I couldn’t see any apples on it when I checked it out. Most of it had already been pruned away, before we moved out here. I’m not surprised that this one came down. I’m more surprised it was the only one.
Thanks to my brother, though, I have chain oil for my birthday gift – summer and winter oil, even, and enough to last a very long time! – so later today I will break it down and haul away the pieces. When making plans to visit, I’d asked about what stores were near their place, after entertaining them about why I needed more oil so quickly (see link above), and my brother was sweet enough to pick some up before we got out there. :-) That meant we didn’t have to rush to any stores before they closed, and could go straight to visiting.
I have awesome family!
Since it’s an apple tree, I will keep the pieces separate, so I can use the wood for crafting purposes. :-)
I will be sticking to just the necessary clean up for today, though, since I do try to keep Sunday as a day of rest, even if we haven’t found a church yet out here. There will be more than enough to catch up on, later! Things are supposed to cool down for the next week, so I’m hoping to be able to continue clearing out the rest of the maple grove and not risk heat stroke! :-D
The Re-Farmer
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
The Re-Farmer 