Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[glenn kangiser]

Took much of the day to get the trailer unloaded from last weeks semi-final load from the shop at the other place... [ouch]

Now I remember why I said I was never going to move from there.   Crimoney, what a job.... Should have just passed away quietly in my sleep and left it for the kids to deal with....

Oh well.... nearly out of the valley of Gehenna or ... going to Hell as I like to call it....   

Something is coming back with me tomorrow but not sure what.....

[glenn kangiser]

OK ... 2 new tires, about $400... on the trailer and brought another truck back on it.  My brothers old flatbed International.  Not much of a truck but the engine had been recently overhauled and it is the same as the one in the drill rig.  Too good to junk.  Gotta drill a new water well here one day. 

No major events this trip... It all went along pretty good.  Just had to get something done besides the tires so the new owner would know I was keeping after things...getting the unnatural resources hauled off...

[glenn kangiser]

Got a semi flat spot done last night.

At least big enough to put a few things on and still have room to make it bigger.





Don't need too much more though.

[glenn kangiser]

Guess I need to find a good recipe that uses peppers and eggplants. 




The strawberries in the dragline bucket keep putting on berries too.  A bit on the small side but still good.

[rick91351]

Let us know when your done moving and we will all show up to help......

Actually I am starting to migrate some stuff as well two loads last week went up.......

[glenn kangiser]

Really enjoyable, Isn't it Rick?


I moved some stuff today - manlift down the hill to the second level.... trying to clear a bit of my top level work area for the more important stuff.

Looking at ways of making a storage building to get this stuff under for the coming winter between moving too much stuff up here.  Later we can sort it out - maybe sell some - junk more and put some away for safe keeping but now it is just get it out of there while we still can. 

Got a bit of local help coming tomorrow to help clear out space so we can get a handle on what wil happen with a building.  Whitlock has been by and we have been consulting about what to do here.... kicking ideas around.

Speaking of which, we had Whitlock and wife, other friends and their families over and we tested out Mr. Beefsteak on the Barbecue.  Whitlock says it was a success as they were cutting the meat with plastic knives.  Don't get much better than that.  Pretty tender.  [bbq]

Well marbled nice sized Rib and T-Bone steaks along with grilled onions, tomatoes and peppers.  The ladies got together and made other accompaniments.  Sassy made some powerful beans....   Yum

Whitlock's wife made me a nice BIG cake and we had ice cream with it too.  Munchkins rode the zip line for quite a while with no near death experiences... Completely forgot to get pictures though. [ouch]

[rick91351]

I have a narrow real heavy duty flat bed trailer and a Super C International that the clutch blew up bringing it over here about fifteen years ago.  Yes dear, I will get it fixed and out of here.     It needs new rims on the drivers.  And yes I have to break it in two to put in the new clutch.  Yes dear I will get it out of here.    So I got it broke loose and loaded it, well pulled it on with a chain hoist.  It had to go on the rear.  Just a little to wide.  Then I laid awake half the night trying to figure out what to put on the front to get some real weight up there.  Problem was on one of those bad curves and going down either one of the bad grades it might just set me and the pick up off the road if I met one of those crazy stupid rafters and their trailers coming out.  They have a agreement up there, they take their half out of the middle and leave you the rest.  90% will not get close to the edge of the road.   If they raft like they drive it is a wonder any are alive.  So I piled on my cutting table and some heavy rollers mounted on truck rims.  A couple iron carts that a friend of a friend got from Fed Ex or UPS a hundred years ago when they deemed them old and clunky but WOW do they ever work nice in a shop to move stuff around.  All that went on the head end and the tongue on the trailer was not wanting fly up in the air any more.  That load went with out incident. 

Now I have to haul a John Deere A and a couple cars from the 60's up there next.  John's wheels are run clear out and I don't want to have to run them in so will go begging for a friends flat bed goose neck.    Now just have to find a friend .....    He said I can use it.  But it will have to be pulled on as well.  Both of those will be winter projects when we move off to the high country.  We have lived here 25 years and I am a collector.               

[glenn kangiser]

I completely understand everything you said, Rick...

I wonder if your collection is as big as mine....

I was just outside looking at the area I want to make my building in thinking it could be a wood shop... thinking how it would be shorter to bring a waterline down over the mountain than to bring it from the house or shop area... thinking... wow... even the next phase is going to be a lot of work... but I do have a lot of unnatural resources to help get me started... [ouch]

Now to make a building with a frame that is well anchored on the solid part of the earth but still usable on the fill portions and be good to 3 stories high in one area.  Might have to put a few Australian pedestals in there like ol' Jonesy did... [idea]

[MountainDon]

Guess I need to find a good recipe that uses peppers and eggplants. 

Peel the eggplant. Slice 3/16 to 1/4" slices. Place layer in baking dish. Thinly slice onions (sweet onions are great). Place a thin layer of onions in the dish. Add some of your favorite Marinara or other tomato cauce. Add grated cheese (we use a mix of cheddar type and mozzarella... for the daity free like me, we use Daiya cheese. It is actually very good). Then repeat another layer of eggplant, onion, tomato sauce and cheese. bake at 375 F for 35 to 45 minutes. Yum!   I soak the eggplant in salted water for an hour and then rinse, before building the eggplant casserole.     I call it eggplant lasagne.    I've also made it with layers of thinly sliced zucchini and or yellow squash added to the layering.     You could try some thinly sliced peppers I guess.   

[rick91351]

I completely understand everything you said, Rick...

I wonder if your collection is as big as mine....

Looks like to me the Smithsonian would be hard pressed to match your collection.  Mine is a baby to yours.......  But then I was a railroader and out of real circulation for 35 years.  But then I am getting rid of a lot of stuff I will never use again.  Partly because of the price of fuel.  This year it is running me about $50 to go to the ranch and back.   

However I have friend that might just give you a run for your money.  Only his is sawmills and mining equipment that he has tore out.  They even tore a couple mills out over in Oregon and created them up.  Then set them back up, one over seas and one in South America somewhere.

[Sassy]

MtnDon, that sounds like a good recipe    The other day I dipped the slices of eggplant in egg, then in a mixture of potato flakes & Parmesan cheese, a drop of butter on each slice & then baked them for about 20 min - they were crispy, tender & delicious    Another recipe was caramelized onions (red & white from garden) add the eggplant & cook until tender & then grated cheese over that.  Glenn liked both recipes, in fact he was looking up recipes for me to cook & suggested those.

The Asian eggplants don't have any excess water & are not bitter at all.  Excellent!

Just finished all the apricots - there weren't too many - what the birds didn't get, the ants did or they fell on the ground & the ants got those...  they were very good, though!

Oh, ate the blueberries - they were very plump & sweet - I think DH found the right combination of soil for them to grow well.  Tried a pluot & a couple plums today - very good but the birds are checking those out too...  they like to take a peck to see if it's sweet enough, then will go to another & another...  so I just have to cut off the area they pecked.  Continuous strawberries - I eat some everyday.  We think that there's a deer that is eating the lower strawberry plants on the shop roof & maybe a raccoon. 

More peaches should be ready soon, apples are ripening.  The 3 Concord grapes Glenn planted 2 yrs ago - this is the 3rd yr are full of grapes - can't wait until they ripen! 

Gotta get some more beets so I can make smoothies out of them - thanks Don & Karen for reminding me of that - I can get Glenn to drink his greens & veggies this way 

So with Beefsteak & our garden, don't think we'll go hungry.  Beefsteak is now part of us 

[glenn kangiser]

That recipe sounds great, Don.  Thanks.  No danger of me getting too skinny with so much stuff coming out of the garden.  [ouch]

I need to push myself to keep planting more stuff out there too throughout the season.  Seems this time of year I get stopped from doing it.  Lots more available later in the season if I keep on planting.

Rick, seems to me that if you don;t have as much stuff as me, being a retired engoineer, you should add a train to your collection... maybe a small Shay or at least a caboose.... 

I think I am at $75 to $90 a trip for fuel roughly.  About 150 miles round trip.  I don't even like going down there.... but, soon...maybe...

[rick91351]

I would so love to get my hands on a real UP cupola caboose for a guest cabin.  I am going to write an article on them for my blog or Gray's Life Tread here or both.  I am sort of trying to blog again a little.  Cabooses were from back when railroadin' was railroadin'.  Cabooses injured a lot of good people, and the way they want to to run a train now I would never get in one with someone on the head end that did not understand that type of train handling.  Back then you kept a train stretched tight when you went to stop.  But now because that uses extra fuel you make your train look like a Disney Dumbo Circus Train.  But hey if that is what they want it their railroad......   

There are a few old Climax and Shays left in the woods around.  However I have ran some equipment with those old brake valves and they were so unforgiving if your were not use to them.  They were all what was referred to as manual lapping brake valves.  I was more a high wheel guy.  That slow speed stuff just made me crazy.  I seen a lot of yard guys get all bad attitudes and crazy I figured it was just the slow speed.  They could never run away from their bad attitudes.    

[glenn kangiser]

I assume that you started braking at the back while pulling to a stop under power with the engine then for a smooth stop, Rick? 

If I get it right now you just slam on the brakes at the front or the entire thing at once and the hitch slack falls where it may?

I assume the wrong conditions could lead to whiplash in the caboose?

Thinking about the Shays I think about Incline where they brought the logs to the top of the incline to be loaded on the empty cars pulled up the double track by the full one going down.   It is about 1/2 hour from here.  Stopped in 1940 I think so brushed up, but still visible in places.



Other news... I often check through the Android apps for my Samsung Note, and last night came across an HDR Camera app.  Took one pix and upgraded it to HDR+ this morning to get more features.

It takes three pix at different settings compensating for shake then combines them to make a cool pix.  My nephew went the expensive way.  I thought I could afford $2.50 on sale though.

Here is what I got with the original app before upgrading to plus for more control. 



Could stand a bit more fine tuning I think but ..hey .. it was cheap. 

[glenn kangiser]

I got the HDR + for my phone and decided to give it a try this evening to see what it really does.

I later set it to save the three bracketed images - 2  f stops above and below the center image.  The object of this is to have the computer in the phone combine the three in a way that gives a view and lighting you would not get otherwise. [idea]

Subjects available... garden plants again - they couldn't run away.  [ouch]

First Golden Amaranth with the plain Camera settings (same Samsung Note camera but different programs).



Same approx with the HDR+ Camera app on the Note.



or..

This



this,



and this


Make this



or to illustrate my point, why vegetables are better than cats....


this



this



and this



Make this



Note that the cat would not stay still yet the program in the app still put out a good picture.  What fun... [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

I was just thinking... if this phone has this function with the right program, I wonder if my new ZS20 Lumix has it? 

Who knows? Maybe even my old ones had it... I guess with these high tech toys you should read the instructions to see what they can do... don't worry though.. I'm not reading all of the instructions..... [ouch]

Matter of fact, I pulled up the PDF for the ZS20 and it does have the function, buried in the Scenes mode.  I set it up and will try playing around with that soon too.  Reading about it a bit, it may not handle movement as well as the phone computer does but it should be interesting to play with. 

[rick91351]

I assume that you started braking at the back while pulling to a stop under power with the engine then for a smooth stop, Rick? 

If I get it right now you just slam on the brakes at the front or the entire thing at once and the hitch slack falls where it may?

I assume the wrong conditions could lead to whiplash in the caboose?

Thinking about the Shays I think about Incline where they brought the logs to the top of the incline to be loaded on the empty cars pulled up the double track by the full one going down.   It is about 1/2 hour from here.  Stopped in 1940 I think so brushed up, but still visible in places.

I assume that you started braking at the back while pulling to a stop under power with the engine then for a smooth stop, Rick?

Setting the brakes from the rear  ......  not good....  usually you have your train in pieces when that occurs.  And really only occurs when there has be an emergency propagation of the braking system.

If I get it right now you just slam on the brakes at the front or the entire thing at once and the hitch slack falls where it may?  

Ya sort of.........  Ever got kicked in the rear end with 15,000 tons of Soda Ash or Corn, Wheat , or Barley.  Or 8,000 to 10,000 tons of lumber.......     Okay son don't do that again.

I assume the wrong conditions could lead to whiplash in the caboose?

When the above occurs getting hit in the back with 15,00 ton and there is a caboose the inertia is carrying the little UP Yellow Caboose head on in to a 15,000 ton wall.  Cabooses reacted very strangely to slack running in or out just starting a train let alone getting hammered back there.  Sort of like a sailing ship, one hand for the boat one hand for yourself.

I will do some more 'splanin' in a PM if I get a little time.........

[glenn kangiser]

Cool, Rick.. Sounds interesting...

I really haven't had much experience riding trains.  Rode the high speed one in France.. don't recall it ever getting up to high speed though.  [ouch]

Put three loads of rock on the driveway today.  Seems ten years driving big trucks and pretty wet winters makes a lot of rock disappear after ten years or so.

Welded up a trailer tongue for my rock hauler today and he once again, did not want to get paid for his work.  Wants me to do more repairs to his dump truck later.  He has always been such a great guy.   

[glenn kangiser]

Got a shot of the driveway this morning.  This is crushed slate and it will lay flat on the driveway and stop the winter mud quite well, after the first winter rain, where it is a bit squishy.  After it dries one time it is pretty well set in place.

Fortunately this was still a bit damp from the winter rains so we wetted the surface and then I rolled it with my truck and trailer before heading off to fix the tongue on my rock haulers trailer last night. 







More coming the end of the week but hey, it's a start.....

[glenn kangiser]

Still playing with the HDR Camera on my phone.  Cut back the contrast a bit.  Several settings available on the program.




Driveway rock from the top looking down.


OK now we get to the do it yourself oil change and money saving benefits of said task.... Yeah, I was a Dodge mechanic so I know all of this stuff, right..

Got the little tin Harbor Freight Ramps from the other place so grabbed them to run Sassy's truck up on them for the quick little oil change.  Got the proper filter from Napa and had the proper grade of oil for my other diesels.... check

Run the truck up the ramps... check





Hmm... Guess a 2500 Diesel is a bit too heavy for those tinny little ramps... squished that little sucker flatter 'en a fritter....

Shook it around... seemed stable enough .... besides - even if they collapsed there is enough clearance that I shouldn't no more than bust a rib or something anyway... [ouch]

Grabbed the 1/2 inch ratchet and slid under the truck on the non-sliding creeper stuck in the dirt and rocks... takes a contortionist to get under these things under these conditions....

Great...

That sucker takes a 3/8 ratchet.   

Crawled, rolled and groveled my way out from under the truck and got the proper ratchet.  Had a 5 gallon old empty oil can to catch the waste oil, a funnel to be sure and get it all in the hole and my plan all together to not spill a drop.... 

Hadn't missed a thing.. I was Mr Clean.. the epitome of efficiency...

Slid back under the truck, ratchet in the hole and gave a tug... then a bigger one... then a BIGGER one... who tightened that thing last time... Godzilla?

Finally after a pull that should have ripped the threads out of the bottom of the oil pan, it came loose....

Place the bucket under the hole ... strategically place the funnel under the hole and reach my fingers in from the side to carefully remove the drain plug and let the used oil empty cleanly in the bucket.... right...

The plug dropped into the funnel perfectly plugging the exit hole as 12 quarts of oil cam gushing down.  Seeing what happened I reached up with my hand, plugged the pan hole with my finger and fished the plug out of the funnel. Oil was now all over the top of the 5 gallon bucket and running down the sides...

Oil splattered my shirt, and my hands were now covered up to both wrists with the black slippery mess.

No problem....  I uttered a few words and one of the dogs got up and left the area... didn't sound so good I guess and she wasn't taking a chance that she might have caused it.... 

Plug now out of the funnel, I took my finger from the hole and let the oil once again rush down into the funnel.  It was coming so fast it now got an air lock in the can, backed up and spurted oil everywhere as the can burped its excess air through the oil filled funnel... a bit more on the shirt, forehead and any nearby tools. 

As with any worthwhile project, when things can't possibly get any worse, they are bound to get better..... the oil stopped running out, a good portion of it was in the can as it was supposed to be and I was able to reinstall the plug.

Now the filter... the knee I shot myself in with the nail gun is doing pretty well now though it still doesn't like to be used as a knee pad for climbing up on high bumpers but after pulling a couple of broad jump moves I was able to hoist myself up there and have a look.  Well... from the top there was no way that filter was going to go through without disassembling the air box, alternator and air conditioner.. guess I'll crawl back underneath the front end of the beast.   Looking up from the bottom it appeared that it was possible through an opening about the same size as the filter that was about to come down through it. [ouch]

Got the filter wrench on it by wedging my hand between the plastic inner fender and the frame.  A bit of a good hard push and it was either turning or the flesh was tearing from my finger bones..

Got it off... primed up the new one and with a few tries managed to get it on and seated in place.  Topped the oil off and most of the rest of the operation was pretty uneventful.  Filled out the paperwork for the insurance/extended warrant and finally... the deed was done.

Used this program to track the maintenance for the vehicle.  http://vmt.sourceforge.net/ 

Versatile Maintenance Tracker... usable for about anything you need to keep maintenance records on, and best.. it's free. 

[John Raabe]

Someday you're going to have to write this all up in a tell-all book about modern homesteading (and all the money you've saved by doing-it-yourself!) On the other hand, maybe that's what you're doing now.

At any rate, I love the stories.

Nice HDR photos too.

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks for the idea, John but by now I have written so much I don't think I could ever go back and re-read it....

I like to put more pictures with my stories but it's kind of hard to get your camera out of the case when you are covered in engine oil clear up to your wrists.  [ouch]

Looked through the instruction manual for my ZS7 and it looks like it was early into what they then called HD rather than HDR.  It is possible that the bigger computer in the phone may do a better job but will try to get the Lumix ZS20 checked out on it soon.  Just have the ones from my phone so far.

[glenn kangiser]

Playing with the ZS20 a bit, macro seems to be great,



Here is a shot of a baby Preying Mantis less than an inch long.   






But the first HDR I took with it left a lot to be desired.  It said in some conditions it would only take one photo.. I think the low light on the way out last night was it... need more experimentation..



Stuck in the North Bay again while Sassy holds down the fort.... [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

Had to send a pix of my work to the office today so did it in HDR.



After a pretty long day of fooling around waiting for the GC to get his act together I finally got one canopy hung.... 

Things are supposed to get better tomorrow...... yeah..... right.

[Sassy]

Thanks for changing the oil in my truck    You said it was messy, didn't know it was THAT messy   

That camera takes some good pics!  Looking forward to getting mine