Bend and Break

This has not been a good week to be an Ag-Bagger on EskDale Farms.

It all started on Monday, when our trusty old bagger engine decided it had had enough of life and blew a piston. (Or something. I'm not a mechanic, and I only understand about every third word when such things are being explained to me.) Now, I never thought I was particularly fond of this machine. After all, I've spent many, many, many hours standing next to it, the radiator fan gently tousling my hair (ha ha ha) and coating me in a thin layer of green dust. But now it's gone, and I find myself waxing nostalgic for the Good Ol' Days, when Old Craphole and I would just sit and talk about how the hay was jamming and she was being a difficult pile of doggie doodoo. Perhaps I'm going overboard. After all, a new engine has already been located and will (God willing) be installed next week. And all will be right with the world.

Anyhoo, back to my story. After the demise of the original bagger, we decided to pull out a bagger that the Bakers loaned us (apparently with the condition that if we ever returned it, relations between our two tribes would become exceptionally chilly) and give it a whirl. Well, this whirl became more of a deadly cyclone. Mechanical problems abounded, with the PTO constantly attempting to break free and fly with the birds, a ball bearing that no longer wanted to be spherical, and a chain that was always half a link from failure. Even better, this machine was incredibly slow. While we are usually able to do about five loads per hour, this bagger caused a precipitous decline in effeciency, and our rate dropped to TWO LOADS PER HOUR. And those were the good hours when we weren't trying to fix yet another mechanical failure. Sorry, I meant the good hour. As we neared completion on the bag, it became fairly clear that the machine wasn't going to last through another bag, so we began looking for another option.

Enter bagger #3. The kindly Bakers allowed us to borrow their 'backup machine', which is much the same design as the other bagger we have of theirs, only it works. Astonishing, eh? Or at least it worked. Turns out something was wrong with the U-joint on the PTO, which promptly became a steaming pile of metal pieces. Oopsy. On the plus side, when the joint is fixed and the bagger is once again operational, we will be able to resume a normal rate of 5+ loads per hour, because this bagger is much much faster.

Anyhoo, that's why I'm sitting here writing a blog post after 9:00, instead of driving my beautiful hay truck all over creation.  Hopefully we'll be able to go before all the hay turns to powder.

(Keane)

Paint

Well, even though it feels like I spend all of my free time working on the house (with much-appreciated help from Crystal), I don't have a large number of changes to report.

We've spent the large majority of our time in what will be my bedroom.  (I'm too tired to care if that sentence has a double meaning...)

Those two walls are the wood paneling, which the primer covered rather nicely.

Not sure you can see it as well as I'd like, but all of the wood around the closet and drawers has been stripped and sanded, which was very time consuming.  Also, the other two normal walls (not paneling) have been primed.

I don't have pictures of the work we did tonight, but we got all of the wood stained and varnished.  Tomorrow (hopefully), we'll do the second coat.  Then we'll paint the walls, get some moulding, and call it good.

I forgot to take pictures of the bathroom (I'm terrible at this whole photography thing, in case you didn't notice), but you're not missing much.  The pink/gold tile is gone, but everything else is basically the same at this point.

The only other project I've completed is replacing two light fixtures: the one in the bedroom and the one in the kitchen/hallway.  I might end up changing the bedroom one again.  I'm fickle.

(Roxette)

I Miss You

This post is really not germane to anything important or newsworthy, but I realized tonight that I miss the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes.  For a strip about a six-year-old boy and his stuffed tiger, it sure had some extraordinarily great lessons.

I'll leave you with one of them.

(Blink-182)

Brighten the Corner Where You Are

A little bit of pee on the floor goes a long way.

****RAMBLING COMPLAINT FOLLOWS****

I've decided that the house in which I currently reside is a perfect example of 'design by committee'.  At least I certainly hope it is.  If a solo person came up with the design, I question their sanity.  "What prompted this post?" you may ask, although I suspect you're more likely to ask "Why in the chocolate fountain should I care?!"  Well, you see, both of the bathrooms in this house have adjoining bedrooms.  I'm sure at the time, this seemed like an brilliant idea and a convenient option.  And to be honest, it is for the most part.  However, there are significant drawbacks that would prompt any rational person to consider at least having one standalone bathroom in a dwelling.  First (and foremost on my mind) is that, quite frequently, the residents of the adjoining bedrooms consider the bathroom to be an extension of their room.  They lock the publicly-accessible door (or at the very least keep it closed), denying access to all but the bravest of souls.  In a normal house, this isn't a problem.  Most likely, the bathroom actually IS an extension of the room and intended to be a private bathroom.  In this house, the private/public hybrid nature of the bathrooms often results in both bathrooms being annexed by the adjoining rooms at the same time.  If one needs to use the facilities in this situation, one is up Brown Creek with no means of propulsion.  Clearly, the solution here is to have a bathroom that has a clear 'public' designation.  Whether this would be best achieved by an additional bathroom or merely removing the adjoining door from one is less clear (I vote for the former).

The second problem I have with this design also results from the bathroom's identity crisis (I chose singular because the parents' bathroom appears to have resolved its question in favor of 'private'), but is from the perspective of a resident of one of the adjoining rooms.  (I'm going to attempt to not be too graphic, so if it seems I'm dancing around a subject, that would be why.)  As we all know, a bathroom is quite often not the most pleasant area in a house.  There are times when it is best to contain its unique ambiance within its four walls and use a fan to gradually modify the environment.  Well, let me tell you right now, a door is not nearly as effective a barrier as a wall when it comes to more ethereal contaminants.  Particularly a door with a 1.5" gap at the bottom.  The result is that when the atmosphere in the bathroom is unpleasant, the atmosphere in the adjoining bedroom can rapidly become equally unpleasant.  And there's no fan in the bedroom.

****END RAMBLING COMPLAINT****

Anyway, that's pretty much all I have to say about this subject for now.  Here's hoping I can finally brush my teeth and go to bed.  Sorry if this post crossed the proverbial line and offended your sensibilities.  But not too sorry.  No one is forcing you to read it.  (If they are, the code phrase is "CONED DARE".)

(Wallace Carlson)

Comfortable Liar

I have something to confess.  For all of you who think I'm a clean person, you're wrong.  I'm a horrible slob.  If you don't believe me, drop by my office tomorrow.

This happened.  That's the only explanation.

Actually, what happened was that my 10-second attention span struck again.  I started about seven projects today and only finished two.  Three if you count this blog post (I'm assuming I finished it if you're reading it).  So at the moment, most of the unfinished projects are on my desk.  I'm kinda tempted to go clean it up right now.  Fortunately for me, my OCD tendencies are offset by a big, fat streak o' lazy.  I like to lie to myself and say that makes me easier to live with, but really it just makes me lazy.

Here we are at the end.  If you were hoping for some grand moral to this story, I'm sorry to disappoint.  I'm only writing this post because I don't have my computer, and without my links, I never remember what sites I usually visit.  How pathetic is that?

(Chevelle)

Please Mr. Postman

After many, many, many, many, many years of neglect, the community mailbox was looking a little sad.  So last week, Crystal, Sharon, and I decided to spruce it up a little bit.  Okay, to be completely honest, this was spurred on by the annoyance of the names not being in alphabetical order, which every normal person has to understand.  (See what I did there with the redefining of normal?  It helps my self-esteem.)

Before: Note the missing dividers on the bottom shelf.  With no support, the shelf sagged until the dividers wouldn't stand up.  Oh, and those spots on the side are grime.  Ewwwwww.

After: We cleaned, restained, and varnished the wood.  Then I propped up the bottom shelf and installed a crossbar that will hopefully keep the shelf from drooping again.  Guess we'll see.

Now, not only are the names in alphabetical order, but the tags are a uniform size.  And they're laminated so they won't get all dirty and gross.  Again.

Here's a sorta-closeup for you.

I hope you are all sufficiently impressed by my astounding carpentry skills.  Just don't look too closely.

(The Carpenters. Well, one of the versions in any case.)

Whoomp! (There It Is)

My pink bathroom.  Isn't it just lovely?

Try to contain your jealousy.  (I don't have a picture of it, but the sink is pink too.)

In case you hadn't already heard, I'm going to be moving into Vera's old house.  If you don't believe in time travel, feel free to drop by for a visit.  I'll take you on a magical ride back to a time called the 1960s, when Johnson was president, the Beatles ruled the charts, bathroom fixtures were hideous, and wood paneling was groovy.  Or I should say, people thought it was.  It's not.  Fortunately, paint covers paneling, and there is a product that makes pink tubs white tubs, without the hassle and expense of replacing the tub (I imagine this is because there are thousands of these ghastly things across the country).  It may be a long and slow process, but I gradually hope to make the house feel more like mine.  I may even post some pictures here.

There, now I've left you with something to look forward to.  I'm such a generous person.

(Tag Team)