More failures in carpentry

I have had a couple days off from hauling Christmas Trees. I needed to make chicken feed and finish my floor yesterday.

I got off to a good start. I found the locations for the shower drain and the toilet. I drilled the holes in the right location! 

I made a tool to layout the holes. It was just a piece of paint stirrer stick which I drilled a hole for a screw and a hole for a pencil and then traced the outline to cut the holes.

Apparently there is a difference in radius, diameter, circumference, and I learned this in like elementary school. But I get easily confused. So in stead of taking half of 4.5 inches I doubled in and cut a 9 inch hole. 

Can you see a problem here?

This worked out for the best as when I got confused about finding flooring that was close to 21/32 I went with 3/4 instead of 5/8. I mean, go big or go home! Right?

This is a very handy tool. If I would have used it before I bought sheet of the wrong thickness it would have been better! I like the fraction feature.

So I cut a ring out of the better flooring material and put it under the toilet flange. That sucker ain't movin again!

I thought I would have to split the plywood to get it under the flange. But by accidentally cutting the hole twice as big I may have made a better floor.

I did not get a lot of work done. I mostly worked on five projects I had already started. 

A friend called me that he was cleaning oats and he was getting a lot of the hard inner oat seeds without the hull. I think they are called "grotes." He didn't want to dump them with the screenings and did I want them. So I took over my bag stand and we put a 1000lb capacity bag under the cleaner. 

It took six hours to fill and I got 1000lbs. This bag usually holds 850lb of whole oats so I am thinking there is good feed value there.

We also had people come out and repair posts in our hay shed. This was a relief as I figured for the past 8 years that I was going to have to stand on a pallet high in the air and work on this post.

Better them than I! Of course we don't have the bill yet...

I had to move a few things and of course the forklift was out of diesel, the battery in the pickup with the diesel tank was dead. 

I got them a couple loads of gravel out of the stock pile with the 2-60 White, then let them use it. I could hear them using the clutch as a torque converter a couple times in afternoon but just kept my mouth shut. The guys really liked my little tractor.  I think it is because it has no muffler...

In other news: One of my customers showed me an advertisement on MarketPlace for oat/grass/alfalfa pellets for $200 a ton bulk or $400 in a one ton tote bag. Then I see All Stock pellets down to $300 a ton. I wonder what is up with feed prices. I absolutely loose money below $400 a ton.

Perhaps I should stop negotiations on upgrading a pellet mill? Or just double down as I have raw materials stuffed in every spare nook and cranny!

I build a bag filler hopper but don't show you how I built it...

This weekend was nice. Very little rain. I thought I would sell two ton of pellets. I had three customers who wanted big bags. I figured at least one would show.

I have a new customer (maybe) who wanted 200lbs. I was borrowing a bagger from my neighbor but he had the audacity of taking it back to bag his own oats.  So, I built my own out of scrap plywood I have been saving for 20 years and my new 2x4's. 

I immediately left my plan and it turned out completely different that I expected. It does not have a slanted back wall as I failed with my math and made it wrong. I was going to put peg board in the back and a fan to cool the pellets as they come out of the conveyer. I didn't succeed in my plan.

I am trying to buy a bigger pellet mill so I can actually make money at $85 an hour for the tractor powering the mill. Then, something goes wrong like I am stuck with two ton of pellets in my shop and I want to sell everything and quit. No really sure what the plan should be...

This is not fancy. The bag hangs on hooks to fill and there is a metal slide to shut off the flow. It all sets off the ground and a pallet will slide under it. That was not my best plan. I need to add a bench to hold up smaller bags. Best feature is it is tall enough I don't have to bend over all the time.

This is what I need to be working on. My bathroom floor is missing. I found another water leak yesterday so I fixed the leak and put a fan in the bathroom.

Adventures in Christmas tree hauling

I got a job!

Some neighbors/friends/fellow farmers needed help driving truck and their son who, I keep thinking of as the teenager who I used to run stacker with, talked me in to driving. I have become super hesitant about new situations, especially driving truck. I get lost easily, I have an incredibly hard time following more than one step directions, I don't write the directions down correctly as I still think I can remember details, and I am super uptight about this, which makes it all worse.

My friend gown up from a super enthusiastic kid, to a super enthusiastic farmer who seems, if not eternally optimistic, absolutely without fear and a really good salesman. Plus, I am broke...

So with trepidation I agreed to drive.

We started at the main tree farm at 5 a.m. Monday. It was over an hour drive to the field. 

My truck was a 1990 GMC General, almost Minneapols-Moline yellow, with a 6V92 Detroit and a 5 spd Allison transmission. This was a new experience. The automatic takes some getting used to but then I also didn't have to shift all the time. The engine had enough power to make the transmission not frustrating and the truck steered good.

I followed his dad to the field. There were a lot of trucks already. They trees are loaded by helicopter.

We started in the dark heading for the sunrise and ended in the dark heading for sunset.

Lots of farmers contributed trucks. The yellow bed racks are cages to hold the tree bundles.

The helicopter picked up large bundles of trees and deposited them in the truck. He was good!

The first trip started fine and then I missed my turn coming out of the tree yard. We were hauling to a yard different from where we started. It was located in the middle of nowhere. Kings Valley, Oregon. We turned off of highway 99W at Suver and took Adair road to Kings Valley.  

I missed the road back and got headed to Wren. Then I had to find a place to turn around. Not so easy on a narrow hilly road. Once I got turned around I found my missed turn with no problem.

I knew how many miles it was to Wren so figured out right away I was lost, it was just hard finding a spot I could turn around. I ended up backing into a driveway to turn around.

I blame the GPS. I was trying to mark my route so I wouldn't get lost and I wasn't paying proper attention. Fortunately I tried to take pictures at the junctions so I had the road signs in my phone. (I have been lost before)

Then, I got stuck behind a tractor on the narrow two land road. I was so far behind... The second load went like a breeze.

This was my fuel gauge after the second load

This was my second load which went very well. Notice the fall colors. Notice how stinking rough the road is. 

Then I noticed the fuel gauge moving and I started to get worried. I was back to get my third load of the day and it was around 4 p.m. I was worried about driving in the dark a little bit but was more worried about fuel. I could find a metal flag to dip the tank but it sounded like a solid 1/4 full. It should have made it. Or so we thought...

The fuel gauge started showing 1/8 going down hill and 1/4 plus going up hill. This is never a good sign.

 

The trip back was beautiful. But soon it started getting dark. I realized I couldn't see. I tried high beams and low beams. I knew one head light was out on low beam but on high I could see in the morning. After flipping the dimmer switch many times they started working better.

Then there was an accident on 99W. I could see returning trucks flashing their lights at me. I figured it was due to my missing headlight. I saw the emergency lights just past where I could take an alternate route. 

I called my boss who was driving the other truck. He was waiting for me at the unloading point. Everyone had started to worry about my fuel consumption.

I was setting in traffic hoping the gauge would quit moving.

The accident turned out to be not that big a deal and I was on my way soon. When I got to the tree farm we decided to leave the truck and I road back to the main location in the other truck.

Yesterday morning we went back and there was only about three inches in the tank. And there was a flat tire... And I got lost, (but not as bad as the guy that they ended up sending the helicopter to find and then there was the guy whose truck broke down and had to be towed, or the guy who lost his clutch, or the drivers who were using googlemaps and got routed to a low clearance bridge so I won't complain)

But, now I have to go to work here at home. I have half a beef to pick up, feed to sell, I need to make some sort of device to fill 50lb bags, I have to work on my bathroom floor, and the house hot water heater seems to be on the fritz...

I figure out how to make better pellets after I am almost completely finished with my order.

Saturday was a nice day. 

We have been having buckets of rain. 

Enough rain that the Amazon driver got stuck Friday night. I am not sure it was a great idea to pull into the neighbor's field to do a package exchange with the other Amazon delivery truck, but I helped him get out.

I have been almost unable to give away feed. I can't get in my shop due to super sacks that no one comes after. Quite suddenly, everyone is out. 

I sold three 800lb bags of oat/alfalfa mix Friday, and took orders for three more bags Saturday. Even sold six 50lb bags of Chicken feed. (I can't count the orders until they are gone. However, I am fairly sure they will move this afternoon.)

This is the best pellet setup I have ever put together. The Minneapolis-Moline G1355 is awesome on the New Holland 358 mixer-grinder. It runs quiet and the 540 PTO speed on this one is set at 1500 engine rpm. Very quiet as opposed to tractors I have used before.

The Minneapolis-Moline M670 Super works better than the White 2-60 on the Pellet Mill.  Lower rpm and quieter. Hydraulics are better as well.

Now if I could just boost my output speed!

The mix is 1/3 alfalfa and 2/3 oats. This makes a nice feed for horses, sheep and goats. It is not too "hot." The animals like it and maintain weight. Seems to work well for cows as well. Alfalfa is fourth cutting and should be high in nutrients and it is high in crude protein. Should be good for muscle development and milk production. The oats are providing energy and are high in digestible fiber. The protein is not real high, probably 12-14 percent but it provides a good balance to protein and energy. You don't end up with jumpy horses or overly fat cows. I can add a little corn for people who what extra fat for cow feed.

I am selling it too cheap at $440 per ton. Needs to be $100 more to make money. However, we have oats and alfalfa to move and I need money. My plan is to make up with my loss in profit with low volume...

Minneapols-Moline G1355 on the New Holland 358 mixer/grinder and M670 Super on the PelletMasters 9" pellet mill.

I had problems with the PTO as the White 2-60 and the M670 Super have different dimensions for the three-point arms. I tried running it without hooking up the three-point and after a day the tractor and pellet mill vibrated apart with catastrophic results. I think the Chinese should have put the slip clutch on the implement and not on the tractor end of the PTO shaft.

Pellet making with a cheap chinese Pellet mill is a hit and miss proposal. I appreciate the low cost and portability but the mill is kind of a piece of crap. I could not make a good pellet to save my life the last two weekends. Then, I tossed in a bale of barley straw. The production dropped by 1/3 but the pellets improved incredibly.

Pellets after the addition of barley straw. It was one 50lb bale in 1000lbs of mix. I used the 3/4" screen so it did chop up the straw. Most peices were 1/2" and crushed. But, it really decreased production. I stopped adding mollasses as the extra moisture plugged up the mill hopper.

It is hard to see but the pellets in the bin have gone from 1/4" in length of 1/2-3/4" and they are holding together better. Still have a nice green color to them. You never know how it will turn out. I have no way of adding heat or steam. I have been toying with the idea of adding radiant heaters to heat the material going into the pellet hopper.

Goose patrol

Those Damn darn Canadians! 

The Canada Geese have arrived in force. They are all setting in one spot in our new annual ryegrass field. I get their point, it has historically been a duck pond and it has been in corn for the past five years.

This year we reclaimed it. The corn was supposed to be a rotation but the rotation never happened. It has always been to wet to plant in the fall and it stays wet in the spring. This year it was dry enough to plant and so we took advantage.

I have been occupied with plumbing since the rain started and have not been paying attention to that field once it really started growing. The annual needs to be three inches or so before the flooding starts and this year has been so warm that it is really growing.

Tuesday I made three trips to town and noticed the geese had moved into the center of the field and were turning it into a mud hole. I have to be a little careful as we rent from hunters and so it is considered poor form to be scaring the geese on one side of the farm when they are hunting on the other.

Traditionally, our goose control is to stand at the top of the hill and take a shot or two morning and evening to get the geese moving. But, ammunition has gotten rather expensive in the last few years.

Last year I bought a powerful little green laser and so I was able to scare the geese a little earlier and later. It doesn't work well in sunlight so I try to get them early. The geese apparently see the beam of light as a solid object and it really distresses them as they supposedly think little green objects are after them. 

Now they know how I feel...

This year the geese just don't care. First I tried the usual Russian surplus 7.62 by 39 but almost no response. I was over 300 yards away and the drop off after 300 yards is pretty extreme so it was hard to get close. I got the four wheeler and drove within range. They just sat there. (You are really not supposed to shoot them dead. Just scare them)

I figured that now Canada has gone Communist that maybe their geese just don't react to communist ammunition so I found a trusty American caliber. No response to .22-250 either.

However, when I was walking to the ditch crossing to get a better aim with my laser, an angry Nutria hissed at me from the leftover corn stalks. Not even the Nutria has any fear this year. I tried to get him to chase the laser dot. He was not impressed. Probably rabid... Maybe it was a "she" Nutria and I misgendered "them."  Who knows.

Next I tried a left over mortar from the last fourth of July. I got the elevation as low as I could and lit the fuse. It exploded with an impressive shower of sparks and a loud bang. This got 3/4 of the winged rats to take flight. 

I actually slogged out to a group of the recalcitrant rascals and they just stood there and honked at me. I think I need to bring Rosco and the laser this morning and use the laser to get Rosco out to the goose patch. Hopefully they will not turn on him en masse...

I did dispatch the younger element to put up stakes and bird tape. Its a nasty job. I think the geese are just hunkered down for the storm blowing through. Or there is going to be an earthquake or tidal wave, or the earth's magnetic poles are shifting and they don't know which way to fly or maybe its those darn Trump tariffs? I wish ICE had a Canada Goose division.

This used to be a common sight in the US and Canada. Before the stupid people took over... Now you don't see 1964 Ford F150's so much any more... Also .22-250 is not very popular now that everyone has to have an AR... In fact ammo is very hard to find. A buck a shot for cheap steel cased varmint loads from BiMart and that was a one day sale. I see the better stuff is back.

I attempt to do plumbing

"I don't know how to do this, I am not a plumber..." 

I have heard the statement, "I don't know how because...." so many times in my life. 

I have made that statement so many times in my life.

What I really mean is, "this job is a pain in the butt and I DON'T want to do this."

Being poor means either doing without or making it yourself. I prefer to trade skills but since I am lacking in skills I often have to look it up on YouTube or now I use Microsoft CoPilot.

This doesn't mean I am good at plumbing, that I like to do plumbing, or that I am in any way efficient at plumbing. It just means I can't afford a plumber.

The biggest problem is this house is plumbed with CPVC which becomes brittle at the glue joints. I get a waterline hooked up and realize the connection has broken at the supply end.

So I have switched to PEX tubing and am using a box of SharkBite fittings that came from a forgotten project. The SharkBite fittings grip the CPVC without using glue and make a good transition to the PEX. I am using PEX B with the clamp on fittings. It is not as easy to work with as everyone says. I had to get a heat gun to straighten out some of the coils and it is impossible to get the clamping tool into tight spaces. Pipe and glue would be easier if I could measure correctly. 

My goal is to get out every battery powered tool made by DeWalt and a few old Craftsman. Then make a huge mess on the floor. This way it looks like I was working all day. Really I was just staring at the giant hole in the floor wishing I were somewhere else and hoping the bathroom would fix itself... Sound plan! 

I have had a number of messages about my Oat/Alfalfa mix from my advertisement on Marketplace. Not very many actual results. I am cheaper than the feed store but that does not seem to matter. The problem is that I am not reliable. I need advance notice and no one plans ahead. They don't call until they are down to their last scoop of grain.

I guess I will not put a new pellet mill on my credit card...

I have ideas to make money and I try to implement them but it is just an excuse to not drive truck or work on my bathroom floor

I have a Chicken Feed advertisement on FaceBook Marketplace. I got an email from a nice lady who wanted a mix that would provide more energy/warmth for her chickens this winter. She already had a high protein mix with Peas, Barley, and Flax. (My first mix from 20 years ago when we grew flax.)

So I used CoPilot to come up with a better winter mix. What a fiasco. It is a fiasco on two levels.

First of all Artificial Intelligence lies to you. It gets stuff wrong all the time. I put enough info in to my query that I am pretty confident in the mix. I think I will increase the amount of rye and corn and drop the oats and throw in a couple bags of clover seed screenings to boost the feed value.  But, it is essentially a good mix. 

The problem is trying to balance the ration and to print out a label. CoPilot is not reliable enough to actually make a useful label. I mean, the capability is there but the end result is NEVER what I want. 

The other issue is ration formulation. If I could just do a spreadsheet that I could have on my rugged tablet so I could plug in the numbers and get a printout. This is possible in theory. My buddy Mark made me a spreadsheet back when we worked together but it has not held up well after numerous transfers between computers and operating systems and it is very tough to use on my phone.

I need an app that I could plug the values in and it would calculate. It is not that difficult but I am not very smart. 

The final and most frustrating issue is that I cannot afford to buy a pellet mill big enough to make these mixes affordable if I actually had to buy the ingredients. I cannot seem to come up with the measly $12,000 to buy the darn thing. Plus, I don't really have the self confidence to just put it on a credit card. Too many things have gone sideways in my life for me to trust a credit card....

Maybe I will just go work on my bathroom...

After numerous failed CoPilot labels I just did it longhand. I need to take an Excel class. This would be so simple to make. Or better yet! Filemaker Pro! There is another issue. I need this spreadsheet to work on my iPhone and/or Windows tablet. Typing into a Numbers spreadsheet on an iPhone often results in unwanted edits and the need for magnifiers...