Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[glenn kangiser]

Yes - it is a neat gun and bolt combination.  Good invention... 

What is also neat is that one of my mountain buddies found a broken one at a swap meet for $30.  He repaired the cord on it and got it working and offered it to me for the same price.  I doubled his money.  I have a spare now.

It appeared to be a broken cast off item rather than a hot item so I bought it.  I won't knowingly support a thief, nor would my friend.

That seems to just encourage more of the same....

[glenn kangiser]

... also you may have noticed that the gun comes with short sockets that don't always fit excessively long bolts so mine has the optional deep socket that is available for the gun. 

[glenn kangiser]

The cows came up for a grain treat today... Whitlock was here.... I had time to run to the feed store for an elastrator.... gave them some more grain when I got back.

I managed to catch the calf in two quick tries and he only kicked me in the mouth once with his hind leg....

Whitlock distracted momma and daddy with the grain then jumped the fence and helped me hold the little fella down while I slipped on the little green rubber band..... [ouch]

[Whitlock]

The cows came up for a grain treat today... Whitlock was here.... I had time to run to the feed store for an elastrator.... gave them some more grain when I got back.

I managed to catch the calf in two quick tries and he only kicked me in the mouth once with his hind leg....

Whitlock distracted momma and daddy with the grain then jumped the fence and helped me hold the little fella down while I slipped on the little green rubber band..... [ouch]

This little thing worked very well I have never used one like this, ours was just a clamp that pinched the cord off.

Glenn did a real good job catching the little ball off fire I think it suprized Glenn how strong he was.

The frist go round the little guy got the best of ole Glenn with a kick to the mouth his hat went flying and he ended up in the cow pies,But ole Glenn was back up and right on top of him in a flash and he was down for the count and fixed in under 10 sec.

From doing this hundereds of times I would rate this time one of the top ten fastest he would off won a buckle if they did this at the rodeo.

But they don't, becuse who would wear that buckle around

[Whitlock]

Great story Glenn 

Whitty must be a saint of a man , for sure he's one fantastic neighbor,  to put up with your escapades !   

Best of luck with the test flight! 

Someone has to be there to pull things off of him,might as well be me

[Whitlock]

Whitlock is a true gem! So's his wife. Karen and I have had the privilege to meet them face to face.

Ah shucks

It was a real nice meeting you and your wife also Don,your visit was a real treat to us all.
Hows the jeep runing?

[Redoverfarm]

Glenn can you imagine if you would have waited when he would have gained a couple hundred pounds and tried that.  Needless to say you would still be laying on the ground from that kick.     Glad you were on the ball.      

[MountainDon]

Hows the jeep runing?

I wound a spring steel coil and inserted it into the lower hose. It works fine around town. Saturday I plan on hauling some materials to the cabin and we'll then see what happens on the climb under load.


A kick in the mouth sounds like it could be serious. But since Glenn was up and after the little guy right away I guess it sounds worse than it was. Hope so

[John Raabe]

What a great story... those homestead skills are quite the learning experience.
I think I'd twitch a bit too if someone came after me with that weird set of pliers with the big rubber band!

[glenn kangiser]

Glenn can you imagine if you would have waited when he would have gained a couple hundred pounds and tried that.  Needless to say you would still be laying on the ground from that kick.     Glad you were on the ball.      

The little rascal was pretty tough and had four legs... I was only able to control about one of them.... the kick wasn't too serious.  Made my upper lip a bit red and slightly sore for the day....but yes.. if he was bigger it could have gotten my attention.  [ouch]

On the ball, John.... yes ... I double checked to make sure I was on the ball.

I forgot about the log, Whitlock.  At least you didn't have to roll the John Deere off of me... I rode that one down just fine. 

Yes, John... I agree.... I put the pliers where Sassy can't find them.....

[rick91351]

You guys can have you rubber bands and funny pliers.  Me I'll keep my pocket knife sharp.  Easier on me and them!   

I have a set of them funny pliers and rubber bands as well.  Not hardly used.  Then mostly for lambs tails not testicles.  And yes some people still bite them off.  "Mike" Rowe on Dirty Jobs encountered such.  Me; no don't ever remembering doing such.     I'm sure I would remember that.....     

[glenn kangiser]

Ouch, Rick.....

The rubber band seemed easier on me...

Whitlock was just telling me yesterday about how his teeth didn't fit well enough together to bite off fishing line.  Wonder how long it would take him to chew off a little bulls.... nevermind

[glenn kangiser]

Some friends visited from up North and they had a potluck dinner for them at the church last night.

Whitlock taught the kids and even some of the adults how to make butter with his grandma's old butter churn. 

The kids took turns cranking it and everyone took turns eating it...

He gave the balance of the butter to one of the young mothers there but by the end of the evening there was none left for her to take home. [ouch]

[rick91351]

Ouch, Rick.....

The rubber band seemed easier on me...

Whitlock was just telling me yesterday about how his teeth didn't fit well enough together to bite off fishing line.  Wonder how long it would take him to chew off a little bulls.... nevermind

Nope just little sheeps and is much much easier on the lambs and the ewes.  Mike Rowe was weirded out when he himself found out that the old world method was so much easier on everything involved.  He tried banding then bitting.  He did a talk on how we assume the new is always better.

[Rob_O]

A kick in the mouth sounds like it could be serious. But since Glenn was up and after the little guy right away I guess it sounds worse than it was. Hope so

Probably best he got kicked in the head, anywhere else it might have hurt him!

[glenn kangiser]

How did you know, Rob? 

I once got hit in the forehead by a Navy boxers fist....[ouch]

I have always told everyone that was the wrong place to hit me to hurt me... In about 10 seconds he was on the ground on his back with me sitting on his chest banging his head on the concrete until he came to his senses.... 

He would probably have enjoyed the elastrator a lot more than my knee when it hit his crotch....that was why he went to the ground so quickly. 

If someone I don't know picks a fight with me and assaults me then I automatically assume they are trying to kill me so I protect myself any way I can... no rules to speak of.... 

He had been drinking and harassing everyone at the convenience store for about 2 hours before I came in and refused to be harassed.  He asked me when was the last time I had been hurt, and immediately my reply was, "When I walked in here and looked at your ugly face."  I was about 22 at the time.

I don't think he liked that....

[MountainDon]

The posts from member heritageharvest regarding a new underground cabin have been split to a new topic


http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=12460.msg161804#msg161804

[glenn kangiser]

Yesterday morning I picked up and apple Sassy had picked from our tree.... forget to eat it and did not remember where I put it...looked around for it when I thought of it but ...no luck.  It was just a bit of a mystery.

Oh well....

Whitlock and I Worked most of the day building a stairs, catwalk or landing and guard rails for one of my customers.  Excessively hot it seemed... sweating all day... we were burned out... 

Didn't think much more about the apple during that time.... [ouch]

I took my yesterdays T shirt to the laundry this morning but thought I better be sure to get my pens and papers out of the pocket so Sassy didn't wash it.... the pens .... some papers and notes..... and one apple....


It was still good this morning though.... a little salty but good....

[glenn kangiser]

Sassy picked a bunch of vegetables from the garden and she had me pick some corn. 


I took it up to the  haystack to pull the husk off of it and feed it to the cows.

They all liked it but Bossy Cow liked it best and got most of it before the others could get to it.  She deserved it though... two nice calves in two years....



...but wait a minute... Bully Boy says he did half the work....

The little guy is doing great.

I came up with a name for him..... Kind of didn't want him to have low self esteem after what happened last week....

Mr. Bulljangles...

You know... that old song.... Mr. Bulljangles, Dance....

Pssst .... don't tell him he is now a steer...

A new neighbor dropped in today... they want to do something similar to the Underground Complex and wanted to have a look around.  We had a nice visit with him, his wife and their friend.  They had heard of the Underground Command Center from some other friends and wanted to get some ideas. [idea]

Also... a few Permies are supposed to show up here around the evening of the 3rd, so we will see how that goes. 

[glenn kangiser]

They will spare no expense to learn the secrets of the underground complex..... 









I shot this one....


.....with the 40x zoom on my ZS20.  He was quite a ways away but still got a decent pix.... Catching a few thermals and motoring around a bit on a great Sunday afternoon.

Actually I could not make out anywhere near as much detail as the camera captured.

[glenn kangiser]

Back to the big city to work for a day or two....

This time epoxy anchors for a customer that grouted block before imbeds were in.   You could use this information too if you don't already know.



For epoxy anchors you can cut all thread or Simpson and others make precut lengths also.




The hole must be about 1/8 inch larger than the all thread for the space for the epoxy to go in for most anchors.  Check your epoxy for exact requirements but this is the spec for most.  An engineer may specify depth but for general use 5 or 6 inches will do.  Always ask if in doubt or for a critical application.

Drill the hole with the 1/8 oversize concrete bit.  Blow - brush - blow until clean.  A compressor works well but a hose big enough to fit a bit loose in the hole will work with just lung air pressure - blow hard, or if you are a politician, ease up a little so you don't fracture the wall....  


Drill and clean all holes before opening your $20 cartridge of epoxy.  Extra tips are necessary if you do not do them all without stopping for very long - maybe only a few minutes as the epoxy mixes in the tip and will harden in a few minutes in warm weather (with some epoxies).  A special inspector may be required on code jobs.


Start filling from the bottom of the hole and pump until the hole is about half full.  Insert the threaded rod twisting counterclockwise so the threads screw the epoxy tight back into the hole as it pushes out.  The epoxy should push to or slightly out the top of the hole.  If not pull it out - add a little and repeat, counting the pumps so in the case of repeat holes the amount will be correct on the next one.  Voids can change that  or make it hard to do at all.  There are mesh socks to use in holes with voids but they are never there when you need them. [ouch]

They work in rocks too and have been holding my 85 foot wind generator tower for 10 years.

[Ernest T. Bass]

Sounds like good stuff---"Mr. Bulljangles".. I love it! I'm kicking myself since we didn't think of it first... We had a bull named Dozer, but that's not nearly as creative.

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks, Andrew... I also thought it was brilliant... where are people's minds nowadays?   

Dozer is a good one though. 

The little guy is doing well, and it appears that the cows have cleared most of the easy stuff on 55 acres off of the mountain, thereby greatly reducing fire danger.  Looking at ordering them some hay to fill in til the grass grows again.  I also have some more land that I can fence on ours and the neighbors property.  Not much but maybe another 20 acres or so.  That takes time though. [ouch]

Lots of other things to do here.

Considering the price of grass fed beef, they are earning their keep in the food division too.   

[glenn kangiser]

You know... everybody should have one of these in their bathroom....

Those annoying flies - moths etc. that come in when the door is open and the light is on... not a problem with one of these handy things attached to your bathroom sink.... [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

Worked in the garden adding compost and getting ready for the winter garden planting.  Put in some broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage plants today.. dug a few more onions from the new planting area and picked a bit of fruit for Sassy today, Asian Pears, Nectarines and a couple Apples.... 



Sassy got a bunch of current garden vegetables ready for the grill and we thought we would have a bit of our own breakfast steak to go along with it...



It has been so hot here that some of the garden got pretty stressed when the drip system was damaged by gophers and the timer battery went dead... need to check those things once in a while I guess... [ouch]