Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Bruce]

True. The dealer had a location 2 towns north, about 11 miles from me and another 3 towns south 20 miles. The consolidated in a new location a couple of miles from the south one. Way more ag up here, way more sales to landscapers down there in the more populated area. 49K people in this county, 165K in the other one. So if I need them to pick up the tractor for some sort of service, I have to pay for twice as many miles as if they still had the north location. Oh well.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Well, the urgency to get my new tractor has gone down some. The folks who lease my fields came yesterday and mowed. I told them about all of the burn piles and tree limbs along the edges of the pastures, and if they were willing to wait a week I would have all of that picked up and burned. They decided that they would just drive around the debris, as they needed the tractors to rake and bale some fields that they had cut nearby and didn't want to remove the mowers only to have to put them back on again. As far as I know I will still be getting the tractor this Saturday or Monday but I no longer feel the pressure to get going with it.

 

[Ridgetop]

You can take your time getting used to the new tractor. That is a good thing.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Yesterday I had planned to get my truck serviced, as I am well past the 40,000 mile service mark. When I called to make an appointment, they were booked up yesterday, so I have to go in later this morning. So I decided to move the concrete blocks underneath the water cutoff valve on the water line so it would be ready to have me start filling in the trench with dirt once I get my tractor. I wanted concrete blocks under the shutoff valve in case I run over with the tractor the casing from the top of the ground down to the water line and valve. Afterward I had planned to go measure the cross tie bridges to ensure that they were wide enough to handle the tractor, and if not then prepare to widen or replace them. When I raised the water line up in order to position the concrete blocks under the valve, the pipes came loose from the valve and sprayed me with water! Oh, brother! So I changed my plans and replaced the cutoff valve with another one and spliced in a short section of pipe. This time I used my rubber mallet to ensure I had seated the valve and joints together. It is probably a good thing that I got showered like that, as I knew that the line to the valve on one side wasn't sealed very well, as that side was leaking very slowly (dripping about a drop every 3 seconds or so), and almost certainly would have come loose once I put the dirt on top of the pipe. Fortunately it only took about 2 1/2 hours to repair the line, 2 hours of which was waiting for the glue to dry.

In case you'd like to get a better idea of the tractor that I will soon get, below is a YouTube video of Kapper from Kapper Outdoors YouTube, who bought a Kioti RX7320 almost identical to mine:

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Congrats on your new tractor - it's beautiful! (I have a little tractor envy ) Good catch on the water pipes. Hope this ends your water line saga...

 

[CntryBoy777]

I was wondering....do ya use the cleaner, primer, and rain or shine blue cement?.....this is what I use on every connection and have never had the difficulties ya seem to have been having....the cleaner is important, especially on pipes carrying pressure...it takes the slick finish off the pipe for a solid weld with the cement...the primer prepares the surface for the cement...and the blue, rain or shine, cement will set wet or dry....when ya make the connection ya have about 15-20 seconds to adjust before it begins to set...if ya have a good seal there will be a solid blue ring seen around the connection.... ....the tractor looks like a real workhorse!!....I know ya will certainly enjoy using it...

 

[Bruce]

Looks like you better read the operating manual before you get in the tractor!

I changed my plans and replaced the cutoff valve with another one and spliced in a short section of pipe.

I think you'll soon earn an honorary plumbing degree!

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

do ya use the cleaner, primer, and rain or shine blue cement?

Yes, I do use those. I use the primer liberally, covering every part that will be glued together. Then I cover everything with the rain or shine blue glue. I almost always use a fresh can of glue, as I have learned that older glue tends not to hold as good. I think what I have been doing wrong for so long is that I have not been seating the PVC pieces fully. Until recently I would push the two pieces together by hand as close together as I can, using a twisting motion when possible. But recently I have learned that the pieces often are not seating entirely when I used a rubber mallet to see if I could drive them closer together, and I could. So now that I use the rubber mallet to drive the pieces together, maybe they will hold better.

Looks like you better read the operating manual before you get in the tractor!

That is one of two things I plan to do when I get the tractor before taking it out into the wild. The other is to check every bolt and nut on the tractor to ensure they are tight.

I think you'll soon earn an honorary plumbing degree!

I can believe it, but it will probably be on how NOT to do plumbing!

Yesterday before getting my truck serviced, I measured the bridge I built over the the ditch so that I can get into the overgrown pasture areas. This is my only bridge over that ditch, so I need to ensure it will work. It proved to be narrower than the tractor by about 4 inches (outside of rear tractor tires compared to outside edges of the bridge). While I could theoretically drive over the bridge, I fear that with the weight of the tractor on the outer two cross ties, there is a good chance that one or both of the cross ties could roll, and I could end up with a tire off the bridge hanging down. So I plan to widen the bridge and to strengthen the other bridges I have already built so I can move them to other areas in need of a bridge.

The parts for the 3rd function valve for the tractor have not come in yet, so it will be next week at the earliest before I get it.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

So now that I use the rubber mallet to drive the pieces together, maybe they will hold better.

Might be of value to use a permanent marker to make a line where the inserted pipe will be fully seated. Then you will KNOW if it is all the way in.

The other is to check every bolt and nut on the tractor to ensure they are tight.

Especially the wheel bolts. Though when the bolts on mine came loose I could swear I had already checked them with the torque wrench. Maybe I missed one wheel? Seems unlikely and all the other bolts were still tight. Is a puzzlement.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

I thought I would post a little something today, since it has been awhile.

First, the Sahara dust has been quite noticeable the past couple of days. The worst so far was yesterday, when we could no longer see the mountains, except for the nearest peak, which is only a couple of miles away. When looking west of the house to the woods and ridge which rises up, a distance of only about 200 yards, the haze was still noticeable. Fortunately we have not had to work in it.

The 3rd function valve for the tractor finally came in late Friday, so I am supposed to pick up the tractor Monday afternoon. I can hardly wait to get it home and put it to work!

I realize you are a more "scientific type person" than some others of us, but please don't discount the dowser's input. They are highly relied upon and regarded in many places in this country for being able to find water and for bringing in wells etc. They have been used often here in Va for finding water. If he says that is where the water line, I would bet a paycheck that he is pretty darned close to being spot on.

I had forgot about intending to reply to this post, but I remembered it yesterday, so I will reply in more depth today. Several years ago an investigator (James Randi, I think) decided to put the water dowsers to a test. He created an area that was (I believe) 50 x 50 yards wide. He ran 4 different PVC pipes through the area, taking different routes. Each of the pipes came from a manifold connected to a large reservoir of water (something like a 500 gallon tank), and then went to a manifold at the lower end, which emptied into a large basin. He then covered over all of the pipes with about a foot or so of dirt, smoothing it out so as not to provide any hint of where the pipes might be. The only things visible to the dowsers were the reservoir, the basin, and the two manifolds. He invited several dowsers to participate, of which 5 accepted. Before each dowser began with the water flowing through the pipes, he asked each one to locate any natural water flows in the area that could impact the test. One or two of the dowsers found already existing water, but the rest did not. The test required that each dowser locate a pipe within a given radius (1 foot, I think; after all, if a 10 foot radius were allowed, at least 1 and quite likely more pipes would be found, strictly by chance.) Each dowser involved in the test performed their test out of sight of the rest of the dowsers, so as to provide no hint to the other dowsers. Each of the dowsers were asked if they had any objections or reservations about the test. No one did. Here are the results of the test:

• Not a single dowser was able to locate any of the pipes within the given radius.
• None of the dowsers agreed with the others as to where the water was flowing through the pipes. If the radius agreed to turned out to be too stringent, then if there was something to dowsing, then the dowsers should agree with one another, even if they did not locate the pipes within the agreed upon radius. But the dowsers did not agree with each other.
• The dowsers who claimed there was natural water flowing did not agree with each other.

So under these controlled conditions, dowsing failed to locate water. As for the dowsers in Virginia that locate water, they may have some ability, but until they are tested under carefully controlled conditions to rule out other more prosaic explanations, then I have my doubts about their doing so due to the use of dowsing rods. I think a more prosaic explanation applies, such as just about anywhere water is to be found. Here is a link to an article you may find interesting: Dowsing and Water Witching. For those of you who still pity me for insisting on scientific evidence for most of what I believe, maybe this article will help, as reported in The Onion: Skeptic Pitied

Senile Texas Aggie