Got (3) THREE THINGS accomplished on my 'bucket' list . . .
May 18, 2015 2:05:04 GMT
ohiodreamer, fordy, and 1 more like this
Post by copperkid3 on May 18, 2015 2:05:04 GMT
and ALL of them within the past week!!! Okay, okay..... they still have a lot more as to the touch-up and finish portion,
but some of these have been a lifetime in the waiting stage. The other two were planned in the last 8-10 years or so.
I'd say that's cause for celebration and a bit of 'way-to-go' there. The big one has been a dream of mine since I was
15 or 16, right after the folks bought the 20+ acres across the road. It included an area of approximately 2-3 acres,
which were what most would call marsh or swamp land. Always wet and a stream branched off in about 4 different
directions going thru it. Had a desire to put a pond/small lake in there, but certainly didn't have the money or the
means to do so. Although, at one point, I had a neighbor who worked for the DNR, who I asked for advice and he
came down and looked it all over and suggested that it could be done on the cheap, with ammonium nitrate fertilizer,
fuel oil and blasting caps. (Try ordering those items nowadays and be prepared for multiple visits from the gooberment
alphabet agencies!!!) Placing them in various spaced holes three feet deep was the recipe at the time to make good
sized duck ponds; about 20-30' across and one or two feet deep. Of course, he mentioned that there was the little
problem of two neighbors that lived within an 1/8 of mile from this proposed duck pond and the likihood of a few broken
windows.....so we scratched that idea. Fast forward 47 years and this past Friday, the digger with the dragline, finally
finished a very nice 1/2 acre pond - complete with an island in the middle!!! The work that still needs doing to make it
"nice", will probably take several more years. Have plans on building a gazebo on the island, but have to build a bridge to
it first. The mounds of dirt/dredging have to be removed; at least around the base of the few trees that I was able to save
from his machine. (Note to future pond diggers.... diggers hate working around trees - they'd just as soon knock them out of
the way!) So there's the damaged limbs to clean up as well. There's an area on the southeast side, that needs more fill to build
up a dike which separates the stream from the pond area. That portion of the job had been nearly 3 years in the making,
by having a guy with a mini-excavator come in and re-route the stream around to the backside of the marsh area and impound it.
This created more productive wetland and I've also added a snapping turtle that I found crossing a roadway
*(probably saved his/her life and gave them a piece of their own Eden; there's minnows and frogs galore).
During the actual dig, we were running a 2" mud pump nearly 12+ hrs per day and just staying steady.....about the same coming in
as was going out. The forecast for this weekend was supposed to be rain everyday, but the ONLY rain to speak of, just occurred
within the last 10 minutes and lasted nearly as long. The pond sits about 150-250 feet from the house and the rain was coming down
in such intensity, that one couldn't even see it. It has been slowly filling back up and was within about 2 feet of 'normal' before this
happened. I'd expect that with this extra shot-in-the-arm, it will probably be full by morning. During the dig, we uncovered a number
of visible springs pouring up out of the sand in the bottom. The average depth is approximately 7-8 feet, with the main channel going
around 2/3rds of the island as deep as 10-12 feet. On the side nearest the house, the digger sloped it to a long shallow area, which
when I add several dump truck loads of beach sand, will be a nice addition overall. Originally didn't think I'd be able to afford it, after
the divorce 3 years ago nearly cleaned me out, but I'm a saver by nature and since I was forced to take early retirement and start
collecting my SSI, was able to make it happen.....that and I really shopped around for a good digger who wanted to share my dream as well.
He did a great job and I'm quite happy with the result. Of course, now that this luxury has been added, I'll probably be visited by the tax collector.....again.
My other bucket list projects involve a home-made outdoor wood boiler of my own design and an 85 Toyota RV, 4 speed manual with low miles.
I tore off the RV portion, as it had too much water damage to fix and then had an auto body man, craft a custom-made sleeper cab onto,
before painting it a bright fire engine red!!! We still have further plans on putting a hydraulic dump bed with farm racks on the back.....but the main part is done and it runs like a top.
The boiler was made from an old 500 gallon propane tank, which I cut in half, down the middle and will be used for my fire box. I next located
a 750 gallon anhydrous ammonia tank and also cut in in half. This would serve as my water jacket. The smaller was placed inside the larger
and a piece of plate steel was welded to both. A door was cut out and added, as well as an exhaust stack and various threaded fittings for gauges, etc.
A grate and a clean-out ash pit door, combined with a double fan for keeping the fire alive and of course legs to get it up to the proper height.
Total weight is a conservative 3000+ lbs. before the water is added. Took me *(3) three highly recommended welders and as many years BEFORE
it was finally finished. All of them had originally told me that it would/could be done in only 2-3 months, but that was before I found out two of them
had a bit of a 'drinking' problem and the other one broke his neck in a motorcycle accident *(although, by the time that happened, he was already 6
months behind the starting date; not mentioning the finish. Needless to say, he didn't do a lick on the project, although he did recommend the last guy.)
The first guy required a deposit of $400 before starting to actually work and then took almost 4 months and untold cases of beer, before finally making
the effort to take a torch and cut the first tank in half in about 20 minutes. He was then finished for the day and back to drinking another beer.
I decided this wasn't going to work out, so went to settle up with him and pick up my materials that weekend. Imagine my surprise, when he stated
that we were all square, as he still had my deposit check. Unbelivable.....as he felt that his 'time' that he'd spent 'thinking'....er 'drinking', was worth
that amount for cutting the tank. I've usually been a pretty good judge of character of folks, but this was an eye-opener. I imagine he was probably surprised as well,
when he finally got around to trying to cash that check. It was the ONLY time that I've ever put a stop-payment on a check, but the $20 it cost me was well worth it......
and it could have gone to him, just as easily, for the small amount of acetylene used. Oh well, he had his chance to do the right thing. The last guy really wasn't much better
and I'm seriously wondering what has happened to both my judging of character and the work ethic of the younger generation. I took my project parts over to him and
drew up a rough drawing concerning what I wanted. He grasped the idea and added a few of his own and we seemed to be on the same page.
This was back at the beginning of July 2014 and the finished product was 'promised' no later than the beginning of Sept. 2014. That date came and went,
as well as the end of Sept. Then October, promises that it would be finished by November also vanished and along came December. My old commercially built boiler
had already developed some leaks a few years previously; been patched and now other areas were starting to 'weep'.....it was just a matter of time before the
inevitable happened, but he just couldn't/wouldn't finish the job which he'd signed a contract for and received half up front "for materials".....kept making excuses,
changing the terms of the original contract and whining about this was costing him more in labor than he'd bargained for. Kept asking me to buy more materials to finish,
but then this went on for a couple more months and he still hadn't done any further work. The old boiler finally let loose and I had to shut the system down and drain
the remainder of the water and borrowed a kerosene space heater to keep other plumbing parts from freezing inside the house. After 10 days of this, we had a slight
warm spell and I was able to take my small wire-welder and jerry-rig enough material onto the area and stop most of the leaking....all I heard from the welder,
was that he was running out of wood to keep his place warm and needed to go to the woods and cut. Told him, no problem, I've been without heat for so long,
that I've got plenty of wood all stacked up and ready to burn. Don't believe he noticed the irony in my tone.....although the sarcasm came thru loud and clear!
He finally called me up just 2 weeks ago (and 3 more months past the time it was promised on yet another broken finish date; all told, it was 8 months PAST the
time it was to be done) and claimed it was finally done. Went to check on it with a friend, as I've been without a vehicle and needed the ride to get there and
wanted a witness as well. Over the past 6 months, I've asked no less as many times, if the welder would be able to also deliver this monstrosity and set it in place.
Each and every time, he'd defer the question to he'd have to think about it. How much time does it take for someone to come up with either an amount or I don't
really want to do it. He couldn't seem to come up with either, so I concluded, that he'd probably try to ding me on that particular job, as a means of getting out
from the main one costing him too much in lost labor.
Seems I was right, when I called him up a week ago and asked if he'd be home, as I wanted to get the boiler that day.
His response was measured and he asked if everything was cleared out of the way so he could get his front-end loader in,
as well as the trailer? Told him, that wasn't going to be a problem for him to worry about, as my other friend was hauling
my trailer over and all we needed, was him to load it. His demeanor suddenly changed and that's when he mentioned some
"additional expenses"...... We had a few words, but I stayed calm and mentioned his signed contract and that if he wasn't
going to live up to it and was going to try and hold my boiler 'hostage', over additional fees, that a judge or jury of his peers
probably wouldn't see things his way.....
He grumbled and complained, but in the end, loaded the boiler without further incident and we got it home, safe and sound.
Time will tell on whether ALL the welds hold or not.
A very learning experience in terms of human character.
Hopefully, I never have to go thru that again.
It can have a very draining effect on the soul, if one lets it.
but some of these have been a lifetime in the waiting stage. The other two were planned in the last 8-10 years or so.
I'd say that's cause for celebration and a bit of 'way-to-go' there. The big one has been a dream of mine since I was
15 or 16, right after the folks bought the 20+ acres across the road. It included an area of approximately 2-3 acres,
which were what most would call marsh or swamp land. Always wet and a stream branched off in about 4 different
directions going thru it. Had a desire to put a pond/small lake in there, but certainly didn't have the money or the
means to do so. Although, at one point, I had a neighbor who worked for the DNR, who I asked for advice and he
came down and looked it all over and suggested that it could be done on the cheap, with ammonium nitrate fertilizer,
fuel oil and blasting caps. (Try ordering those items nowadays and be prepared for multiple visits from the gooberment
alphabet agencies!!!) Placing them in various spaced holes three feet deep was the recipe at the time to make good
sized duck ponds; about 20-30' across and one or two feet deep. Of course, he mentioned that there was the little
problem of two neighbors that lived within an 1/8 of mile from this proposed duck pond and the likihood of a few broken
windows.....so we scratched that idea. Fast forward 47 years and this past Friday, the digger with the dragline, finally
finished a very nice 1/2 acre pond - complete with an island in the middle!!! The work that still needs doing to make it
"nice", will probably take several more years. Have plans on building a gazebo on the island, but have to build a bridge to
it first. The mounds of dirt/dredging have to be removed; at least around the base of the few trees that I was able to save
from his machine. (Note to future pond diggers.... diggers hate working around trees - they'd just as soon knock them out of
the way!) So there's the damaged limbs to clean up as well. There's an area on the southeast side, that needs more fill to build
up a dike which separates the stream from the pond area. That portion of the job had been nearly 3 years in the making,
by having a guy with a mini-excavator come in and re-route the stream around to the backside of the marsh area and impound it.
This created more productive wetland and I've also added a snapping turtle that I found crossing a roadway
*(probably saved his/her life and gave them a piece of their own Eden; there's minnows and frogs galore).
During the actual dig, we were running a 2" mud pump nearly 12+ hrs per day and just staying steady.....about the same coming in
as was going out. The forecast for this weekend was supposed to be rain everyday, but the ONLY rain to speak of, just occurred
within the last 10 minutes and lasted nearly as long. The pond sits about 150-250 feet from the house and the rain was coming down
in such intensity, that one couldn't even see it. It has been slowly filling back up and was within about 2 feet of 'normal' before this
happened. I'd expect that with this extra shot-in-the-arm, it will probably be full by morning. During the dig, we uncovered a number
of visible springs pouring up out of the sand in the bottom. The average depth is approximately 7-8 feet, with the main channel going
around 2/3rds of the island as deep as 10-12 feet. On the side nearest the house, the digger sloped it to a long shallow area, which
when I add several dump truck loads of beach sand, will be a nice addition overall. Originally didn't think I'd be able to afford it, after
the divorce 3 years ago nearly cleaned me out, but I'm a saver by nature and since I was forced to take early retirement and start
collecting my SSI, was able to make it happen.....that and I really shopped around for a good digger who wanted to share my dream as well.
He did a great job and I'm quite happy with the result. Of course, now that this luxury has been added, I'll probably be visited by the tax collector.....again.
My other bucket list projects involve a home-made outdoor wood boiler of my own design and an 85 Toyota RV, 4 speed manual with low miles.
I tore off the RV portion, as it had too much water damage to fix and then had an auto body man, craft a custom-made sleeper cab onto,
before painting it a bright fire engine red!!! We still have further plans on putting a hydraulic dump bed with farm racks on the back.....but the main part is done and it runs like a top.
The boiler was made from an old 500 gallon propane tank, which I cut in half, down the middle and will be used for my fire box. I next located
a 750 gallon anhydrous ammonia tank and also cut in in half. This would serve as my water jacket. The smaller was placed inside the larger
and a piece of plate steel was welded to both. A door was cut out and added, as well as an exhaust stack and various threaded fittings for gauges, etc.
A grate and a clean-out ash pit door, combined with a double fan for keeping the fire alive and of course legs to get it up to the proper height.
Total weight is a conservative 3000+ lbs. before the water is added. Took me *(3) three highly recommended welders and as many years BEFORE
it was finally finished. All of them had originally told me that it would/could be done in only 2-3 months, but that was before I found out two of them
had a bit of a 'drinking' problem and the other one broke his neck in a motorcycle accident *(although, by the time that happened, he was already 6
months behind the starting date; not mentioning the finish. Needless to say, he didn't do a lick on the project, although he did recommend the last guy.)
The first guy required a deposit of $400 before starting to actually work and then took almost 4 months and untold cases of beer, before finally making
the effort to take a torch and cut the first tank in half in about 20 minutes. He was then finished for the day and back to drinking another beer.
I decided this wasn't going to work out, so went to settle up with him and pick up my materials that weekend. Imagine my surprise, when he stated
that we were all square, as he still had my deposit check. Unbelivable.....as he felt that his 'time' that he'd spent 'thinking'....er 'drinking', was worth
that amount for cutting the tank. I've usually been a pretty good judge of character of folks, but this was an eye-opener. I imagine he was probably surprised as well,
when he finally got around to trying to cash that check. It was the ONLY time that I've ever put a stop-payment on a check, but the $20 it cost me was well worth it......
and it could have gone to him, just as easily, for the small amount of acetylene used. Oh well, he had his chance to do the right thing. The last guy really wasn't much better
and I'm seriously wondering what has happened to both my judging of character and the work ethic of the younger generation. I took my project parts over to him and
drew up a rough drawing concerning what I wanted. He grasped the idea and added a few of his own and we seemed to be on the same page.
This was back at the beginning of July 2014 and the finished product was 'promised' no later than the beginning of Sept. 2014. That date came and went,
as well as the end of Sept. Then October, promises that it would be finished by November also vanished and along came December. My old commercially built boiler
had already developed some leaks a few years previously; been patched and now other areas were starting to 'weep'.....it was just a matter of time before the
inevitable happened, but he just couldn't/wouldn't finish the job which he'd signed a contract for and received half up front "for materials".....kept making excuses,
changing the terms of the original contract and whining about this was costing him more in labor than he'd bargained for. Kept asking me to buy more materials to finish,
but then this went on for a couple more months and he still hadn't done any further work. The old boiler finally let loose and I had to shut the system down and drain
the remainder of the water and borrowed a kerosene space heater to keep other plumbing parts from freezing inside the house. After 10 days of this, we had a slight
warm spell and I was able to take my small wire-welder and jerry-rig enough material onto the area and stop most of the leaking....all I heard from the welder,
was that he was running out of wood to keep his place warm and needed to go to the woods and cut. Told him, no problem, I've been without heat for so long,
that I've got plenty of wood all stacked up and ready to burn. Don't believe he noticed the irony in my tone.....although the sarcasm came thru loud and clear!
He finally called me up just 2 weeks ago (and 3 more months past the time it was promised on yet another broken finish date; all told, it was 8 months PAST the
time it was to be done) and claimed it was finally done. Went to check on it with a friend, as I've been without a vehicle and needed the ride to get there and
wanted a witness as well. Over the past 6 months, I've asked no less as many times, if the welder would be able to also deliver this monstrosity and set it in place.
Each and every time, he'd defer the question to he'd have to think about it. How much time does it take for someone to come up with either an amount or I don't
really want to do it. He couldn't seem to come up with either, so I concluded, that he'd probably try to ding me on that particular job, as a means of getting out
from the main one costing him too much in lost labor.
Seems I was right, when I called him up a week ago and asked if he'd be home, as I wanted to get the boiler that day.
His response was measured and he asked if everything was cleared out of the way so he could get his front-end loader in,
as well as the trailer? Told him, that wasn't going to be a problem for him to worry about, as my other friend was hauling
my trailer over and all we needed, was him to load it. His demeanor suddenly changed and that's when he mentioned some
"additional expenses"...... We had a few words, but I stayed calm and mentioned his signed contract and that if he wasn't
going to live up to it and was going to try and hold my boiler 'hostage', over additional fees, that a judge or jury of his peers
probably wouldn't see things his way.....
He grumbled and complained, but in the end, loaded the boiler without further incident and we got it home, safe and sound.
Time will tell on whether ALL the welds hold or not.
A very learning experience in terms of human character.
Hopefully, I never have to go thru that again.
It can have a very draining effect on the soul, if one lets it.
