The Home Machinist!

Heh! I went to the meeting, more like a tribunal, where the Hunta question you for sanity and experience of sanity...Conversed with department heads and safty and the plant manager. I have the feeling they are interested, but I have not given them the important paper work, all the certificates and liscenses. So I wait for word again.

Sunday morning, there was an increadable stink in the yard near the chickens. Smelled like skunk. The only trap I have out had a red fox in it. (Hoorah!) .
Mom Rose and I had a road trip some 3+ hour drive to pick up some more rare breeds chics, So our little foxy freind got toted some twenty miles to a grassland preserve, with a coupla ponds and rough cover, and released the little buggar there. Live long and prosper, away form me! Rose was happy we did not have to destroy the creature, but that is not always possible. The Raccons are one example, they ignore the traps, and have to be neutralized by other means. So far three racoons one possum, and one fox have been removed from our environment. we need to focus on coyotes, that seem to be near invisable, but are evidenced by their kills, and their nighttime calls, yipping at the moon. I estimate there are more than 3 in the immediate area, so caution persists in the defense.

On the bird front, we are cycling through groups of 15-25 birds, to the outdoors, and have adjusted our flocks to be more selective, for a non-crossed breeding program. ( eliminate Mutt chickens.) We are focused on X-rocks, eating birds, and the extension of traditional homestead breeds, and some ornamental birds. (Appenzellers). We received 10 Apps chicks and are working on getting a suitable Roo, for that mini-flock. in the meantime, I am building and upgrading equipment for the pens and getting my original shop cleaned up and re-arranged, as my son is moving into my rental for the time being as he will take over another house, and we will jointly rehab it, for his needs.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

With all the movements, I thought you might like to see the New watch dog in training. This is Jacob. Jake for short. he is in training with the master watchman.


He is learning the ins and outs of being the great protector of the house and grounds.


Jacob is a Sheltie of course, about 4 months old now. He is doing very well in his house habits, althought the cats give him some worry. Still on a leash outside, because of puppy vigor, he is already showing herding instincts. We will watch him grow too.

Mom takes him to work, so he has a hard day at the Vet office, comes home an relaxes on the couch with his view from her lap.
I guess its a tough life, but he'll get used to it.

Uh, the Fox was a bit bigger than him.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

Great "protector" pose in the second shot Dave! Thanks, enjoy him.

Well, the job is out. I got my rejection notice, by computer, on Tues. So it goes. Anybody need some eggs?

I modified the 'Rabbit Hutch', that served as isolation for injured chickens. It now has a full enclosed yard with a top door access, water bucket with chicken nipples, and a front door for a portable yard. It is now home to three girls that survived an attack. This pen of reds started off with 20 birds, and has winnowed away to 3. We are going to use the tractor coop for some growing birds now, after being sanitized for organisms and fungus. I will hose down the unit, and use a mix of 2 gallons of household bleach, with one gallon of white vinegar. This acidifies the surfaces, and of course kills and cleans all the areas that get flooded with this mildly toxic solution. It will steep for a coupla days to insure maximum effect. This pen caught 'snotty nose', a respiratory virus that can run through an entire flock. We kept these birds separate, and have suffered no spread. Once infected, they are carriers for life. We think it is the reason that we had a sudden die off losing about half the birds.These birds will be culled as the other flocks build up.

Working on 2 lawn tractors in the Tractor nursury, it has about all its ring connnections corroded away, and must be reterminated and wired up. I know the selenoid is dead, and have bought a new one. The front runner is a MTD built 18 horse twin cyclinder. The second is an older bagger unit, that is being re-engined with an available 10.5 horse, originally a 12. It is a front wheel drive, front cutter. Once these are done, the Bagger will be sold, it has no place here, and we will move on to other projects.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

Damn! And there's no age discrimination?

Harold

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Wise people talk because they have something to say. Fools talk because they have to say something.

Dave, i hear you. I want to helpful about one little item. Since you mention solenoid you may be going ignition switch. If the 30a keeps blowing, switches are not the same. There is a certain pattern on the regular Indak, 5-prong model which is Totally different from another. It will fit and the harness plugs to it but it is wrong. Your luck recently is that you may come across this type;

G__ __L
B__ __M Read from back of switch
__
S This is type I need and yours is another. I think. When this reformats it shows the Starter terminal at bottom left but it is bottom center.

ya, I have head scratched on the Indac switches a coupla times, many years ago. I forget what I knew. It is still a simple system, and a meter and crimper will be the rule of the day.

thanks for the thoughts.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

Sorry, wrote a moan on another thread,

Drat, spent some time today with my son in an attempt to resurrect a dead mower, an antique Wheel horse, and got smoke from the voltage regualtor, attached to the starter-generator. That was the last move after changing a tie rod, oil, transmission lube, (water in the transaxle), and various grease zerks and mower gears. Now it wont run. We started off with this tiny antique, but it went out of service last fall. 4 other tractors are in pieces bought as junk and repairables for no money, are not functional yet.

Sonny lost a motor in his Buick last Thurs. So he is out a vehicle, only his Cavalier that takes him to work, and his buddies Fire Truck support him. The fire unit is a 90 Chevy one ton rated 4x4 crew cab. Purchased with the 3rd engine malfuntioning, this garage queen has 17 k miles on it. We just recently diagnosed the engine as a valve problem, and upon tear down for suspected bent valves, discovered the head gaskets had blown out, between the center cylinders, both sides. The engine from Chevy was a crate motor, and only has some 5K miles on it. So it seems the Fire Co. only got about 5 K miles out of each motor in their service. The first one broke twice, and the new replacement once, so it was auctioned. This Carburated rig gets 7-8 MPG on the road with 411 gears. (ouch)! Another creation that is dead at birth it seems. Anyway, we have to take extreme measures to patch the Buicks engine, until its replacement mill can be aquired. It has one journal that failed and opened up. Did not spin the rod, just ate the bearing. So we are going to refurb the crank in place and rebearing the engine with a new oil pump, and let it fly.

Meantime, work on the Sons move to my rental is stalled because of family commitments and Murphy getting in the way. It includes an emergency run, on his side, for a nephew to South Bend, Where an implanted impulse pump had failed. The teen was getting no insulin, and hit 800+ on the meter, so off he went for ER treatment. A bit of a scare to say the least. Three days, and the crisis is over. He is running on a spare external pump, while they try to correct the situation. ( Readings above 500 are toxic, and higher is life threatening, and must be addressed aggressively to prevent damage to organs, that can be permanant).

So things keep holding up progress.

Tomorrow rose and I are going to the Kankakee Chicken swap, that only occurs 4 times a year, 1st Sunday of the month. We dont know what we are looking for, except some matches for breeding purposes, and some clear deals on chickendom things. Education comes in many forms, and this is one place to find things, from the real world, at dirt prices.

I am just an hour or so away from completing 'Chicken City' for the X-Rocks table birds. They are pigs and growing at an increadable rate. The first ten will finish in about 5 weeks or so. (14-16 wks total). We will go by the weight, for when they go to Freezerland. It is a 4 x 12 wire run with PVC hoops to carry the wire, and small tarp. These birds must stay near the ground, as they grow so fast they cant walk, and begin to 'swim' across the yard. So the roosts are just enough, about 3 inches above the ground, for sleeping at night..I dont know if I can get the Chicken Plucker built, to be used for this batch. I found the Trunion mounts from commercial clothes dryers, (3) to make the plucker, so I have all the major parts except the rubber fingers. Based on a plastic 55 gallon barrel, a swirling plate in the bottom will denude a pair of blanched chickens in about thirty seconds.

On another front, just a coupla hundred yards down the road, two theives were caught on a property, red handed, by County Police, with security video. The business has suffered several break ins, and a total loss of about $60k. My information says they were held over the weekend, and paperwork was not completed before their 48 hour release. They are now under warrent, but are not to be found. I am trying to find out if these guys are familiar, and responsible for my loss too. I am inquiring of Pawn shops, that are not very co-operative. They know me, and have pledged to help, but it is very thin. My latest loss of Mechanics tools, indicators and tooling for r-8, and such cutters and bits, total about 4K for me, with little likelyhood of replacement now, due to income and timing. Many of the cutters were of a taper 3 and 5 degree type for cutting draft reliefs on patterns. They took everything that was boxed or wrapped, including all but three of the r-8 collets, Mill extension holders, r-8 drill chucks 2 sizes, several blank mandrels, and boring head with spare bits an various made cutters from blanks. Sine bars, and 1x2, 2x3, and several other block sets are gone, and I cant find my table Vice either. Only the cheapie for a drill press with the lever on the side, (that doesnt lock securly). I am seriously crippled in making small parts.

Locks are for honest people, but the garage sports a new pair anyway, of the anti-hacksaw type, and armored locks. A game camera is being placed in a strategic spot in the yard to pick out any movements there.

Sad, pitifull really to be a victim, like this.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

Dave,

If only honest people had half as many rights as thieves.

Jack

I have been achy with the weather. and a day of slow rain, then clearing around noon here. Slogged outside and put the tarp and lock on the fornt door to chicken city. The front and back was to be a simple arch shape cut out of plywood. weh I measured up for the small fornt door. it was way tooclose to the curve at the top corners, and I figured it would break, with al the rough movements. So I left the sheet square, but trimmed the corners off. It has advanced now that the doors have been framed with 1x2, some scraps of lumber and trim have made a resonable representation of a false front building of the old west.. So I dubbed it Chicken City, for the meat birds.

Got ignition parts for the 140 International, so that may run in a day or so. Cool weather is killing me. And rain.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

Ha! The re-energized antique Wheel Horse tractor is down again, for the third time. First is was carb and throttle problems to get the governor set and working, Then we drained water out of the transaxle drive, and restored the lube there. After a general going over and service, we set to making the rough field more urban by mowing it, sometimes 3 passes over a coupla days. After 4 belts donated to the cause, the main idler spit the bearings out, and its down again. Mow 2 hours, fix an hour. Blah!

I have all the ignition parts for the 140 International Tractor. I will get that going by the weekend for sure now. I have torn into the exploded gearbox for the 235 case Compact mower deck, and its a mess. I have 3 gearboxes in pieces now, and will have to match and swap parts, to assemble one that works. Each assembly of used up parts lasts less than the previous one. The 235 is the principle move-and-do machine here. Literally my other set of legs, as I drive it more than walk anymore.

The low hoop coop that is named Chicken City, to match my humor, got some paint and lettering, and will get some trim blocks painted like doors and windows in scale of the false front. The colors are all Rustoleum qt stock, in oil, painted over white exterior house paint. The false front is built up of scraps to mimic the Gingerbread of the old west. So far looking good. I bought a $3 artist brush assortment, and did the lettering freehand with pencil guidlines. Mostly sketched out by eye, the result is pleasing enough for me, and gets lots of comments already. Hopefully it will mark the house and increase egg sales that are less than brisk.
and other pretty birds. This is Americana Roos and a brown hen, of the Wheaton color. The breed is less than 10 yrs old and 'threatened' on the bird list as are 2 other breeds we hold.
I have enough salvage materials to create another hoop coop (#2) Tentively to be named Dumb Clucks Saloon.

I have a rush on, as I have some 40+ birds to come out of the brooder box, and have a coop for them away from the adults. My duck egg hatch failed, losing 54 eggs. I am working on hatching a group of Appenzellers and 'easter eggers' from local trades. We got a couple of Silkies to raise as brooders, and they are with a batch of 25 exotic breed closouts from a hatchery. So we will see what develops to winnow out through the summer.

Need any eggs?

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.

UGH! Moma Rose had 9 of her favorites killed in a dog attack this morning. 3 reds and 6 of our precious rare Appenzellers are down. The dog who was seen too late, had made a concerted effort and detroyed a cage door, for the 3 reds remaining. He killed all of them. I did not know it when I had him in my sights, but he had worked the Apps door open too, turning two wooden toggles, and a turnkey hasp. He killed them as they fled around the yard. Mom went to her animal show crying.

_________________
Big Dave

Be Alert! The world needs more Lerts.