Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

glenn kangiser · August 03, 2011, 11:41:48 PM

Quote from: Ernest T. Bass on August 03, 2011, 11:32:43 AM
I don't really understand the point of a 200lb bale.. Seems the advantage of square bales is that they are more easily handled. If you need equipment to move the stuff around than why not just make round bales? Less waste in a big bale, too, especially if they are stored outside for any length of time.

Andrew, why would you need equipment to move a 200 lb bale?....... Going soft?

I found out that the grass bales here are about 110 lbs with the fresher alfalfa being a lot heavier.

This is a grass, with some rye and oats - forage mix he calls it. Good enough for the cows I go with.....

$8 a bale $672 for an 84 bale load and works out to about $145.45 per ton. If I keep it dry it will probably last my poor little cows about 2 years. $135 for delivery about 30 miles one way to our place in the mountains on a retriever truck. I know I can't fool with it for that. Besides - I'm not there to do it. [ouch]

glenn kangiser · August 03, 2011, 11:52:00 PM

Quote from: Sassy on August 03, 2011, 03:53:40 PM
Just ordered a "cube?" Anyway, that is considered 84 bales @ 110# ea of a combination of field grass, rye, oat & alfalfa & some weeds. The farmer is certified organic & he does not use any chemicals on the hay - just broadcasts the seeds & harvests what comes up, which, of course includes weeds. He says it is excellent feed for cows, not so much for horses. There is no mildew/mold. The cost is $8 bale & he has a friend who has a small trucking company who will deliver it for $135 - so I don't think we can do any better than that. I was especially pleased that there are no chemicals, etc used in the fields.

He also has alfalfa # $13 bale - they are heavier due to being harvested green so you have more moisture content which also brings the risk of mildew/mold if not used quickly.

Anyway, I think I got a good deal & the delivery is very reasonable for a round trip of 60+ miles & they will unload & stack... not something I'd want to tackle

Ummmm Duhhhhhhh

OK - so I just gave you the same info as Sassy did because I did not read all the way to the end before I posted......

............but possibly I said something she did not...... I was in such a hurry to give Andrew a bad time I failed to check all of the responses...

Sassy forgive me for I have sinned.......

August 04, 2011, 12:05:43 AM

Quote from: rick91351 on August 03, 2011, 05:08:41 PM
For your kind of cows that is great! If you were milking them, and selling illegal milk and making illegal cheese the alfalfa might be the best choice.

I might have to try that just for the heck of it....

My daddy, he was a moonshiner.... my grandpappy he was too.......

Couldn't find the song I know - but this one's pretty good....lyrics are slightly different......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oavVIsOHZSM

rick91351 · August 04, 2011, 07:58:29 AM

Interesting my grandfather too, was heaven forbid

a 'shiner'. Got busted in the fall, finely so the story went indicted in the winter. The sheriff and the Feds knew he was up at the ranch most likely snowed in. Let him stay there until spring and the roads cleared off. Went up and hauled him off to jail. My dad got some money up to bail him out. Rode down to Mountain Home. Grandfather refused bail and told them he was eating a lot better there than at home. Thought he would just stay. Mom said it was not long and they kicked him out. I don't think it ever went to court.

Like most in the depression you made money where you could. Glad those times will never return -- Thank You President Obama and congress. You saved us! Hey whats a trillion dollar here and a trillion dollars there especially among friends anyway. Sorry for that out burst Glenn. I do offer apologies.

Ernest T. Bass · August 04, 2011, 09:53:07 AM

Quote from: glenn kangiser on August 03, 2011, 11:41:48 PM
Andrew, why would you need equipment to move a 200 lb bale?....... Going soft?

I just knew that was gonna come back and get me...

I spose it actually wouldn't be too bad, compared to a severally flattened round bale that is frozen to the ground in the middle of February, that now weighs over a thousand pounds due to all the moisture it soaked up, that has 4' deep snow drifts on every side and needs to be pushed a football field's length to the poor hungry mules..

Needless to say our winter-related foresight has improved dramatically.

August 04, 2011, 09:05:01 PM

I'm afraid you out toughed me with the snow, Andrew. I just couldn't live like that......[cold]

I'm afraid my ol' mule would be outa luck if I had one..... [deadhorse]

Rick, It was my granddad and brothers that made the shine. Uncle Adolph I think it was got thrown into jail and grandpa and others had to sell enough more shine to bail him out as I recall being told. Once my uncle ran over great uncles stash with a Bulldozer. Beer I think. Buried there for years.....The foam was coming out of the ground. They quick shut down the dozer and rescued what they could. I recall hearing that it was still good.

I of course encourage topic drift. How else would we learn all of this good stuff... and politicians -- its all one party now and our people installed in offices are only figure heads.

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=25853

See - I have no problem drifting my own thread...

Sassy · August 06, 2011, 12:13:32 AM

Glenn's famous! He just got published in a book - a cookbook that is... his recipe for Mock Apple Crisp got into the Tomato Fest "Recipes from the Garden" cookbook

Sassy · August 06, 2011, 04:10:34 PM

And back at the ranch.....

Lots of excitement the past couple days

Bossy, the pregnant cow decided she liked the looks of the pasture on the other side of the fence... Yesterday, I saw 3 of the cows in the corral when I got back from town so figured I'd throw them a few flakes of hay... well, as I was wondering where Bossy cow was, I catch some movement out of the corner of my eye - she's down below the corral on the outside

I put a big flake down on the ground near the gate so she'd come over - sure enough, she sauntered over to the hay right next to me... I ran up to the house & called our renter, Frank, he & his wife came over - got Bossy back into the corral, safe & sound.

Got a call around noon today... "Your cow is up by our well." It's Frank again - he tried to get it to come back over here but she decided she wanted to head down the hill - thankfully, Glenn made sure everything was fenced, even at the base of our next door neighbor's. Frank's son, Jimmy headed down the hill on his quad to check out where all the cows were. Of course, at their favorite watering hole down by the spring. But there was one problem, Bossy was on the other side of the fence. Jimmy was finally able to coax her back inside & now they're all safe & sound - I hope...

Found out where she was getting out & why - the molasses bucket (nutrients etc) had been pushed outside of the corral down towards our road, so Bossy had pushed her way through the fence to get to it. She'd also helped herself to all the hay she could eat

Frank fixed the fence & put the molasses bucket in a place where we hope they won't be able to knock it down the hill again.

Fun & games at the ranch...

rick91351 · August 06, 2011, 05:07:01 PM

per agri bestia specto is Latin for with farm animals expect it.

Or qua goes molasses bucket sic goes Bulla or where goes the molasses bucket so goes Bossy.

Gotta love what you can find on the internet

August 06, 2011, 08:43:00 PM

Sassy it never fails. When I was a working stiff and had to leave town the cows decided they needed to leave too. Wife always hated to see me leave for fear that she would have to round them up. Might remind Glenn about wormer blocks. They are ground grazers and will pick them up.

glenn kangiser · August 07, 2011, 12:29:53 AM

SOooooo.... I see Sassy has been learning all about cows in my absence......

Looks like she is doing a pretty good job of it now. Figured out to keep looking if something doesn't seem right.

Well.....

I was late tonight. Slave cylinder went out in my Hino truck clutch, so I had one overnight-ed out of Ms. yesterday and it arrived by noon today to the motel I am staying at right on schedule.

The paving man let me use his truck to go to the motel and pick it up. My friend, Kish, the motel manager had left a message for me that it had arrived.

During lunch break, I got everything together expecting the worst... a gallon of fluid.... a suction gun in case it didn't prime well... a piece of hose and tape to hook it up. The little suction pumps for that sort of thing did not seem to be available in the part of the city I was in....

I went back to work and finished up with my assistants, then they took off and I was the only one left finishing out the day. I hung the last piece of steel and got started on the truck repair.

I was just getting the slave cylinder off of the truck when my Muslim friend from Pakistan, the guard, Mohammed drove in.

He said, "Do you need any help? I'll park my car and come over."

"Ohhhh.... maybe I could use a hand, " I replied.

I continued taking the cylinder off of the truck - grabbed a couple tools to unhook the fluid hose and started wrenching on it. It finally broke loose and I thought it might leak a little fluid but not too bad..... wrong....

I had filled the reservoir so I would hopefully not lose prime, but it was leaking like a stuck hog and draining from the hose straight down my arm, into my armpit and the sleeve of my T shirt, through it and down onto the piece of cardboard I was laying on and from there on under my right shoulder....

I stuck my thumb over the end and Mohammed asked If I needed him to do anything.

"....ummm Yes... could you hand me the new cylinder while I hold this?"

He handed me the new cylinder. I pulled the stopper out of the end of it and released my thumb from the line. The fluid once again gushed down the hose and my arm, but I used it to fill the upturned cylinder (the fluid...not my arm).... flushing the air out of it then jammed the fitting to the back of it and began trying to screw it together........

Success at last.

I pushed the push rod into the front of the cylinder, put the bolts in the mount and tightened everything up.

Wow... that was way too easy. Wonder what I did wrong?

It seemed like it lost a lot of fluid but the reservoir was still at the safe level when I checked..... armpit was well lubed too...

I jumped in the truck and stomped the clutch a couple of times and it worked perfect. [ouch]

....about this time Mohammed looked in the truck and said.... "What's all that stuff in your truck?" hmm

He continued... "The other day I saw this homeless persons car.....boy ....it was a mess.... where do you stay?"

I explained to him that the truck functioned as my office too and I had plans for all three buildings as well as the architects plans for two of the buildings too. I explained that I had to be able to find any part of any building and know what it was and where it was..... I showed him a roll of plans and how I could find things in it.....

There .... I think I convinced him I wasn't homeless....really.....

When on the job for several days and just making the three mile or so trip to the motel, my truck gets to look like a messy office with a little nest around the steering wheel....

Don't believe me....

How about a picture of me in the truck.... ?

ben2go · August 07, 2011, 02:17:19 PM

Your luck maybe taking a turn for the better.Gotta easy one on the truck and an extra set of hands to help.

glenn kangiser · August 07, 2011, 08:23:03 PM

Yup... still working well today.... the truck that is .. I'm a bit worn out.... Did get a few things accomplished at the jobsite today though.

Fabricated two sets of brackets and installed them on a couple of columns that have needed them for a month or so. Didn't have the plan details originally though. They don't want to tell me everything at once....'fraid it will confuse me.....

My camera quit focusing yesterday so I had to pick up another one just for documenting job work, details and problems. One of my more important functions on this job. Likely got bumped a time or two too many as I wandered around the site climing in and out of machinery and bumping into things. [ouch]

The area I put the brackets in is getting taken over by pavers this week so it and a few more things in that area are important now. Not like they don't always put the cart before the horse on this job though. How about most of the glass in before the welding is done and the stucco is on.

They are trying to show progress by causing everyone to have to protect the glass from here on out... and of course it will be impossible to 100% protect it....but glass was one thing they could do while the rest of the building problems continue to be corrected.

PEG688 · August 07, 2011, 11:48:17 PM

You've been workin your butt off Glenn!!

The cart must have been designed to go in front of the horse , it's pretty common that it's done that way

They may be able to draw some $$ if the glass is set as well, working the system, so to speak. All the while screwing "the system" all up

Up side is you should be saving up some non-useable stuff, I'm guessing your truck goes home full with cast offs , and the dollars your making will always be useful , well if you have a dump truck (wheel barrow loads might be useless) full of them the way things are going!

How many more weeks you looking at on these jobs? Take care buddy!

August 08, 2011, 08:22:23 AM

You are right about the throw away stuff, PEG. I was just remarking to a friend I could take home truckloads of thrown out stuff... if I ever got to go home. I don't have room to carry stuff around on my truck so I sent a load back to the company yard in Fresno last week. Wish I lived closer and went home more often rather than staying at the motel 7 days a week so much.

Good stuff thrown out here.... thousands of dollars as they get ready to pave the end of this week. I have given scrap steel to some of the workers just to get it cleaned up... dinero por cerveza.....

I think I will be off of this job the 29th of this month as I start putting in handrails at a prison then if it is on time. Likely there will still be lots of odds and ends left here though. I am afraid we will be stuck here with small problems that are considered big for a while even as the job winds down.

Backwards... everything is done backwards here.....if it goes right we wonder what is wrong with it.... It will probably show up later.

Cart before the horse.... yup - then after we get the cart we find out the horse is dead.....[deadhorse]

I'm off to work again. 6 to 7 days a week - mostly 12 hour days. Few are less - some are more. Later, my friends.

Sassy · August 08, 2011, 03:28:09 PM

Well, got the load of hay today

Gave some to the cows - they started chowing down on it right away, even after they'd already eaten the flakes of alfalfa hay I'd given them shortly before the guy delivered the hay.

Young guy has 2 hay trucks - his girlfriend drives the other truck delivering hay down in the valley. He didn't have any problem backing up the narrow dirt road & off-loading the hay - I'd never seen a hay truck - pretty nifty. Come to find out, he delivers hay to several people we know up here in Mariposa. He's been charging the same price for 5 yrs - says he's got everything paid off pretty much so has tried to keep his prices reasonable.

glenn kangiser · August 08, 2011, 09:51:52 PM

Wow.. that is way cool. Sounds like we have a valuable resource to add to our list of people to remember. A hard working honest country boy.

So did he tour the Cabin?

Our cows are not greedy.... they just want someone to cut their food and bring it to them.... it doesn't have to be great stuff and they agree to do all of the chewing.

If I wasn't gone so much lately I could put them in the other pasture but I have to be sure they will have water and I want bossy near the cabin..... I hope she's not just overeating.......

Sure beats paying $20 a bale.

So - how did it look to you? Decent enough for cow hay?

glenn kangiser · August 09, 2011, 12:30:47 AM

HMMMmmmm Apparently she doesn't read my stuff.....

Went to get oxygen and acetylene at SSF Airgas today. The manager who helped me and let me use his fax when my truck differential was broke was there and I told him of the Underground Complex.

He was interested enough that he took a look right then and there so I could make sure he found it. I showed him a bit about how to use the site and check out the different pages.

So, Charles, when you get to this page, I expect you to sign up for the forum---- it's free, and make a comment or two.

I'm sure you realize by now that I talk to myself most of the time. [ouch]

Sassy · August 09, 2011, 01:06:19 AM

Wouldn't want to make you more crazy than you already are

The hay looked good - no indication that it had been exposed to rain, no mildew or mold. The cows tore into it so I'd reckon they approved

I gotta watch the stray dog that showed up the other day... she's probably around a 5-6y/o black lab, no tags on her & I haven't seen any posting of a lost dog.

Today, when I was talking to the guy who delivered the hay, she ran into the corral & grabbed ahold of Beefsteak's tail - she's lucky she didn't get a hoof in her head! I yelled at her & the guy yelled too - he gave her a boot - not hard, but enough to let her know that was the wrong thing to do... I yelled "bad dog!" She's also chased my cats a few times & I haven't seen the garage cat for a few days... the cat always comes out to see me & wants me to pet her... maybe that's why someone dropped her off... We'll see. She's a real sweet dog & usually minds. The other dogs have pretty well accepted her...

glenn kangiser · August 09, 2011, 08:27:24 AM

Sounds like she will bear watching, but hopefully she straightens up. [ouch]

I was sleepy this morning.... woke up by a loud bird about 5:49

Stumbled into the bathroom where the coffee maker sat with my cold coffee - poured a cup... drank it. Something feels funny.

Failed to take the sanitary plastic wrapper off of (out of) my cup. Motel cups have those pushed down in each cup like a sock in a shoe....... The cold coffee tastes like a dirty sock was used for a strainer... oh well.... it's caffeine..

.

August 09, 2011, 03:28:47 PM

Oh gahhh Glenn.I don't drink coffee but that sounded pretty gross.Got tell my Maw that one.She drinks boiling hot coffee from sun up to sun down every single day no matter the temp inside er out.

Sassy · August 09, 2011, 04:04:55 PM

Consider the alternative, if the coffee had been boiling hot, he'd have been drinking plastic coffee

ben2go · August 09, 2011, 09:29:48 PM

Quote from: Sassy on August 09, 2011, 04:04:55 PM
Consider the alternative, if the coffee had been boiling hot, he'd have been drinking plastic coffee

HAHA! That's true.My mom lie it's so hot she has to use a porcelain mug.I think they're porcelain?Def not glass or pyrex.

glenn kangiser · August 09, 2011, 10:58:46 PM

My tender little tongue burns easily so I need slightly cool or cold coffee. Usually I drop an ice cube or two in it. Seldom enjoy the taste of it...just swallow it whole for the effect.

Tell yer maw hi for me, Ben as one coffee drinker to another... maybe she needs to have a look at the Underground Complex too.

Well, I finally ripped the plastic sack of coffee apart in my cup because it had a hole in it and some had actually ran into the cup through the hole in the plastic... I couldn't get at it so tore the plastic and drank the leakage too.

The maid must have figured something was amok because when I got in tonight she had left me two servings of coffee - the little single pot bags with the fresh sock to strain them through..... [ouch]

Windpower · August 10, 2011, 08:20:11 AM

Glenn

I always am suspicious of the cleanliness of hotel coffee makers

I have started using the Folgers 'coffee bags' (like a tea bag only it is coffee) in my travel -- just microwave them in a cup -- I like my coffee cool also so I just let the bag steep until it is drinkable -- my wife thinks it is cold coffee but then she drinks decaf (what is the point of decaf ?)