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Well, down to the last utility to get done. The propane company will be coming out soon to move the tank, it’s been postponed a few days due to insane winds and driving rain. I’ll have to dig the frost proof faucet back up and splice the line back together however. I found the power cable buried a couple feet deep, I’ve got 5 feet dug up, another 8 or so and I can put the temp box where I want it, gas for the generator’s killing me. The reason for pulling the faucet? I put it out by the street because the locate service couldn’t find it as there was no tracer wire installed with the plastic pipe. I found it however. It’s buried alongside the power cable in the same trench :yahoo: Now it can be right across the driveway from the 5th wheel too.
Thanks Bob. A fella does what he has to. It helps that my new cardiologist is the one that put the balloon pump through a vein in my groin up into my heart to keep me alive until the folks at OHSU could work their magic. He remembers that day, and said my recovery is nothing short of a miracle :yahoo: He also likes that I’ve slimmed down from a ballooned 205 down to 152. I even walk the dog every morning between 4:30 and 5:00 normally the 1.1 miles around the neighborhood, but only about 1/4 mile and back when it’s 12 degrees like this morning! I’m also glad I didn’t throw away those extra mobile home trusses from the tractor shed project years ago, they’re the perfect height to match up to the door of the 5th wheel and a gentle enough slope to make a perfect ramp.
Sorry I’ve been away from here for awhile, I’ve been busy. I’ve got a few more pics since the last time. This 5th wheel sure is well made. The company, Alpenelite, was in Yakima but has since gone out of business, not enough people wanted this nice of an RV. It’s a 2001 that the insurance company paid $13,500 for delivered and setup at the property plus they paid for a generator and another $2,000 or so for dishes, silverware, pots and pans, hoses, skirting, bedding, TV, you name it, everything to get it all set up. I have the original invoice from the previous owner. They paid $55,000 for it in 2001 :wacko: , and it looks like they used it 5-6 times. The underside is sealed up with aluminum, the tanks are all heated and insulated, even the dump valve has a heater. :good: Here’s some pics of the beginning of a ramp I’m building for Marianne’s transport chair, the skirting (including going around the propane tanks so if there’s a leak it doesn’t leak under the unit), and digging up the water line and putting in a frost proof faucet, and digging up the RV dump/septic clean-out and repairing it. I’ve got a 42 gallon transfer tank with inflated tires that hooks behind the tractor and just takes a few minutes to dump the black tank. Next is digging up the power line, a neighbor who’s an electrician is going to loan me a temporary construction meter and circuit box until the new house is built so we can get off this generator and part time power thing. A local propane company is coming up to move my 500 gallon tank that came with the greenhouse over to the 5th wheel, no more dragging little tanks down to the feed store every few days.
David, they’ve gone above and beyond helpful. If Country Financial Insurance keeps doing things like they have so far all the way through I’d do commercials for them all day long. The only other time I needed them was hail damage on a car and they were top notch then too. When a bodyman says something like that about an insurance company that says a lot. Let us know how that grapple works!
If you look close at that picture of the tractor with the burned tire, look at the left rear tail lamp, it’s dripping down and landed on the left rear tire, like a Salvador Dali painting. It’s still there, both colors, between the lugs. :wacko: On a much better note, here’s yesterday’s work, almost ready for the 5th wheel that’s showing up later today. Better still, Marianne’s being released from the hospital today! :yahoo: As you can see, we’re working on a small front yard to put a BBQ out in so as to not fill the trailer with grease when doing chicken or ribs. I’m going to fence an area around 40′ x 50′ too so the dog has somewhere to stay besides his dog run or the trailer during the day. The shipping container’s one side of the fence so only three sides to go :whistle: That’s our Daughter in the first pic, dang she’s getting big, started High School this year :heart:
The hood just had blisters at the front, and fading paint. But these hoods are what we call in the bodyman trade “A sack of walnuts”. Horrible fiberglass work, I’ve been wanting to redo this hood since I bought the tractor in early 08. All I’ve done so far is run a mudhog across it to reveal the highs and lows, about 5 hours of work should get it ready to prime and paint.
A few pictures of the tractor. The fire department worked hard to save it, I didn’t ask them to, one or more must have been farm boys that couldn’t watch it burn, because everything else within 75 yards around it was gone :scratch: Everything plastic melted. Tail lamps, seat, gearshift, gauges and switches, headlight. luckily the loader hoses didn’t, melt just the wrap around them. Sandblasted the rim and primed it White, repainted the cowl while everything was out of it. Changed out the steering wheel too, got a fancy new seat from Northern Tool to put on after the rear gets new paint. Doing the hood now, then the ROPS and burned up rear fender.While all that’s off the back I’ll repaint the floor and rear end black and it will be new again. (at least the gauges say it only has a few hours on it now!)
Her’s some pictures from this past week. I cut a driveway out to the street that meets up with the existing one making it circular. A 5th wheel’s going where the gravel isn’t graded yet, hopefully Monday. All the firewood was where the 5th wheel’s going, of course :yes: Two months in a motel is two too many. As if the fire wasn’t enough, my wife’s MS reared it’s ugly head when she fell in the motel room and landed on a small, sharp, hard plastic trash can. Broke 2 ribs and lacerated her liver. Two weeks in the main hospital and Three weeks and counting in a recovery hospital. And all 23 of the damned chickens survived so I have to look at the place every morning anyway, might as well live here in the 5th wheel where I can work on clean up when I’m not at the store.
I know I said I’d post some pics, and here’s one looking from the garage. I have lots of pictures, I just decided I don’t like looking at them.
I just received a response from Anbo myself, 20 days after contacting them. Kinda proud of their products, their small grapple is 1/3 of what I paid for the tractor :scratch: If I were using it every day to make money with it I could justify the price I suppose, but then I’d probably have a JD or a Kubota to put it on.
