Bruce's Journal

[Ridgetop]

That is a great idea. DS1 is putting that foam pipe insulation on the squeeze bars because the large rams bloody their noses on them. I will remind him to do it while we are gone to Texas because I need to trim feet on everyone when I get back! Otherwise . . . Normal Ridgetop way usually goes like this:

Time to trim feet. Take an hour to put up Anatolians and get all sheep sorted into small pens and chute. Maybe 2 hours if they escape onto large field or grandchildren "help".
As we run first ewe into squeeze I notice that foam insulation has not been applied.
Me: "Where is insulation?!"
DS1: "*&%#*! Forgot to get it at Lowes"
Me: "*&%#*! Do you want to go now?"
DH, unable to hear what we are saying over screaming sheep: "Are we doing these sheep or not?! I have other things to do today!"
15 minutes while we explain things to Dad.
Me: "So do you want to go to Lowes now?"
DS1: "No you need me here."
Me, tentatively: "We can send Dad?"
DS1: "He won't know what to get. I have to go."
DH: "Yes I will! I can go. What do you want? Just tell me."
DS1 and I exchange glances in the sheep pen. Sheep continue to scream in chute. Then DS1 spends 15 minutes telling DH exactly what he needs and where to find it in the store.
DH: "OK, just write all that down while I find my wallet because I couldn't hear anything you said over these *&%#*! sheep."
DS1 and I exchange glances in the sheep pen again.
Me: "OK, Daddy can help me while you go to Lowes."
DS1: "He can't hear your directions."
DH, miraculously hearing this: "Yes, I can!"
Me: "I will shout loudly."
After an hour DS1 goes to Lowes where if he is lucky the foam insulation will be in stock. If he is not lucky he will go to another Lowes.
It's the Ridgetop Way.

DH is going to Costco to get a few things before we leave for Texas, mainly instant oatmeal for us to make in the motel on the way. Usually we stay at Best Western which serves a hot breakfast but with the Covid stuff we may just get a paper bag with a stale muffin. (Happened last spring when picking up sheep in northern California.) On the way back DH will swing by Lowes and see if he can find the insulation. He keeps asking DDIL2 if she wants all kids of fruits and vegetables. She will be going back to San Diego next week after her doctor appt. DS2 is goig back n Sunday. No one will be here to eat all the vegetables and fruits. I keep telling DH that, but he is determined to leave provisions for his children. Such a good Daddy. Sigh . . . .

 

[Bruce]

BUT be very careful with installing the drywall or hanging pictures since a stray nail or screw can puncture the flexible tubing.

You can put a nail through copper as well. HOPEFULLY any pipe in the wall is set back, in a 2x4 wall that would leave it 1.5" from the inside of the sheetrock. And HOPEFULLY people aren't hanging pictures with 2"+ nails. But yes, it can happen and there is no way to know IF the pipe is set back or protected with plates as it goes through the wall.

 

[thistlebloom]

You aren't supposed to hang pictures with 2" nails?

 

[Ridgetop]

Drywall can range from 1/4" to 3/4" in thickness. DH always used 5/8" since it is stronger but most contractors have gone to the 1/2" size to save costs in new construction. 1/4" is mostly used to "skin" over badly damaged drywall instead of taking it all down, or to cover paneling or popcorn ceilings. Often easier to cover popcorn with a 1/4" skin since the drywall underneath has often not been properly finished. If the underlying drywall on popcorn ceilings isn't good once the popcorn is scraped off, then you might have to apply a skim coat of mud and sand it down By applying the 1/4" drywall over the popcorn you cut down the work of refinishing the existing drywall ceiling.

Off the subject, but depending on how the Pex is installed, if it is attached to a stud and you get too close, yes you can cause a tiny hole in the Pex tubing. Even a small 1" brad can cause problems. Best is to know where the Pex is in the wall. It is normally only run through the upper half of the wall when there is a bathroom shower on the other side of that wall.

 

[Bruce]

Yes, always best to know where water and electricity are running in a wall. Unfortunately once covered over you can but guess based on where the fixtures are. If that little closet had been finished by the carpenters I would have NO idea the water didn't run straight up the shower wall from the crawl space. AND I have NO idea how the PEX gets from the north wall into the east wall upstairs.

Likewise, the thermostat is on the hall on the outside of the closet, same wall plane as the valve for the upstairs tub. Does the wire to the furnace run straight down the wall into the crawl space then make a 90° to the furnace? NO!!! It comes into the wall then turns south. When it gets to the back of the closet it runs west along the back then, north in the closet side wall then drops down into the crawl space. Wouldn't it have been a LOT easier to just drill one 1/4" hole in the east wall sill plate?? There is nothing in the crawl space to hit there.

I can't claim to understand the thought processes of professionals.

 

[Bruce]

More EXCITING pictures for STA. These are related to the repair of the winch control harness for the garden tractor snow blower.

Step 1, disconnect the battery cables
Step 2, disconnect the wires from the winch, note how nicely this wire connects to the top of the winch.



The other wire is underneath .... and unreachable with the blower on and grounded. So I had to remove the blower

Blower pulled away enough to get to the other terminal.



Note the clamp that holds the wire loom. There are 3 bolts on each side holding the winch/blower bracket to the GT frame. Two are carriage bolts so no wrench needed on the inside. Of COURSE this bolt is the exception. And of course the wire loom for the limit switch on the other side is on the matching bolt.

Fortunately DW's uncle gave me a box of tools many years ago when he and his wife moved to a retirement community. Without this wrench it would not be possible to get to the inside of the bolt, no room for a socket and it isn't a flat entry.Thanks Uncle Charles!


I found 2 nylock nuts the right size and after removing the clamp and retightening the nuts on the bolt I could replace the clamp without having to ever screw with that bolt again. Not that there SHOULD be a reason to do so but stuff happens. If it didn't I wouldn't be replacing the wiring harness would I?

This is the part of the old harness that got fried (the copper if you biggify the picture) when it touched the battery positive terminal. Apparently there SHOULD be a cap on it like the other side but it wasn't there to protect the contacts. Of note, there is no "right way" to stuff all the wiring harness pieces in the battery compartment. It would be nice if they had designed it to neatly attach to something. The thing on the left is a 30A fuse holder, I had to pull the fuse to get the winch to stop running wild after the copper parts fried. What I took out was a "circuit breaker" fuse which I had finally found to replace the standard 30A fuse that came with the unit. Touchy sucker, it would routinely fry the fuse when the winch overloaded. I carried a number of spares any time I used the blower. HOPEFULLY they figured out that was a problem and it won't happen with this harness but if it does the breaker fuse will be the first replacement. Second picture is the new harness, caps on both relays.


Limit switch connectors on the new harness. I had found these to be VERY hard to take apart and had replaced them with a single 4 wire connector (other side shown right of the standard connectors) so I had to cut these off. Thinking I could have one connector for the limit switch and the LED light bar I later added to the top of the blower I had previously purchased a water resistant 6 conductor connector.

Sadly, the connector is for 20 gauge wire (not that it said so in the description on Amazon) which is fine for the limit switch given it only needs to know it there is a complete circuit. The light bar needs at least a 16G plug. Dang!

This is the "original" 4 conductor plug on the limit switch side. The plug came with wires attached. I did a GREAT job installing it, including soldering the wires, shrink tubing on each wire and around the entire bundle.



So of course I had to cut all that off and install the new connector parts. I also made a dummy loop to plug into the tractor side for when the blower isn't on. Not that the winch is real useful with the APPROPRIATELY short length of cable on the new winch as opposed to the ridiculous 50' on the original. The winch REALLY only needs to pull about 6" to lift the blower to full height and the old cable kept overriding itself and getting stuck. But at least it will keep dirt out of the tractor side connector. And if I want to I can put a longer cable on the winch for summer use if I have need.

 

[Bruce]

Continued:
This is how I kept my feet from totally freezing


I had a 50% chance of having the winch wires on the proper terminals. Given my luck, I got it backwards but of course I couldn't test this until the blower was on

So I thought "Hey why not just reverse the wires from the switch into the wiring harness? Once I did that the blower lifted as expected when I rocked the switch forward and down when I rocked it back, opposite the design.

Genius!!

Um, no. It also reversed the limit switch action and once the conductors were put in the plug they don't like to come out. So, the blower got stuck in the UP position against the DOWN limit switch. So of course I couldn't lower the blower because it was stopped by the limit switch. I had to reverse the wires from the switch to the harness again and the wires on the winch. I REALLY didn't want to have to take the blower off again because putting it back on isn't easy by one's self. BUT with the blower locked "up", I could get a socket with extension underneath, though it was totally blind, by feel.

Knock on wood all seems to be OK and the blower works. Guess I'll find out how long the next time we get snow.

 

[Finnie]

Oh wow! After all that, I hope you don’t have to fix it again!

 

[Bruce]

So far, so good. I've used it twice since the repair.

 

[Bruce]

OK so I'm gonna whine some, skip past if you care to

Back in January I realized I hadn't gotten a car reg renewal, checked and yes it did lapse at the end of December.
Went online to pay the registration, system can't find my plate associated with a car. So I put my DL number in, it comes up only with the Leaf (didn't even know they associated vehicles to a DL).
Called, got a message saying everyone busy and it hung up on me.
So I emailed. Two weeks later I get a reply asking for the VIN, I provided it.
Nothing for two weeks so I sent another email asking if anyone was looking at it.
Two weeks later I get a reply from another person asking for the VIN I sent it, nothing came back.
Monday I called again, put in the queue. Wait five minutes or so and get asked if I wanted a call back or hold more.
I chose hold more and THEN it tells me the wait time is 128 minutes!!!!!! They couldn't have said that BEFORE I was asked if I wanted a call back??? Five more minutes and I get the question again, went for the call back.
Some time later, less than 2 hours though, I get a call. After answering some questions Al determined that somehow when the registration on my car totalled 2 years ago was transferred to the car I bought to replace it 'someone' deleted it from the new car. I've had this plate since 1986.

Thus I've been driving an unregistered car for 2 years. Wouldn't that be fun if I got pulled over? So Al tells me he can't fix it, I have to mail in a new registration form and explain why I'm not paying tax on it. I was going to mail it yesterday but forgot. So today I figure I can make an appointment at the DMV down in Burlington tomorrow and do it in person. Again I go online to make an appointment, the first one available is March 18th. I put it in the mailbox and raised the flag.

Sigh