Author: way0utwest

Back to my routine. Up at 8 and starting guitar. 45 minutes of blues lessons.

Learning a few licks, practicing along. It’s interesting to me as I haven’t listened to a lot of blues over the years, but I definitely like the artists influenced by them. I’m enjoying these lessons, and I need to record myself with the background and then play along a bit and work through different licks.

My plan after this was to go to town, swim, donate some things I’ve packed up, and then come back. That fell apart as my wife had to go to a client, but today she doesn’t have an employee. So I need to feed.

It’s not that hard, but going through all the feeders is the better portion of an hour, especially as I had to load a bale onto the trailer.

As I went around, I realized it was a really nice day. Warm (50F) and not much wind. I also circled the loafing shed a few times as I fed, and realized I needed to get that done. After feeding, I packed up some equipment, loaded the tractor with the generator, and headed out to do the trim and roof.

Trim requires a few strange cuts, and I made those, though after the first one, I realized that I’d forgotten gloves and I need them. Too many metal sparks thrown up.

I did the West side,

then the East.

Finally, the back

Not at all what I wanted to do, but it needed to be done and my wife is happy. I moved the remainder of the material near the arena, where I need to finish off the generator shed. Not today, as it got late and the wind picked up.

I did decide to work on the solar winch a bit. First, I tapped out threads for my clamps. I’m constantly amazed as I fix things that I need to tap out threads. What seemed like a daunting skill isn’t too bad,and I’ve become good at it. This tap kit has to be one of the better tool purchases I’ve made. I’ve really gotten my money’s worth.

With the threads tapped, and finally able to screw in the bolt, I drilled holes in the second one and then mounted both in the building. The manual winch will stay for emergencies, but this is where the winch will mount. I was hoping to get it up there, but the bolts I have are too short with this thick rectangular steel piece. I dropped one in my truck to get the proper length later tonight.

Now it’s time for yoga and then volleyball practice. That will round out my day, and end the week.

Week 2

What do I think of week 2? Time is flying and I feel like I’m not really getting enough done. While I’ve had a decent amount of guitar work, not as much as I’d like, and certainly I’ve been wandering around without too much focus.

I also didn’t do anything in the basement or garage this week, other than sweep out a bit of the shop area. I’ve spent time working on figuring out the winch, making some mistakes and restarts, and also two days on the shed, getting metal up. Those things certainly needed to be done, but they aren’t what I’d planned.

However, I’m not too upset. My plans were vague and ill-defined, and I realize there is plenty of ranch stuff I’ve let go. I still need to fix a few feeders, and if we have good weather, that will be a priority Monday and Tuesday. The dumpster did get emptied, so I can start going back through the basement, and I will do that Wednesday.

Overall, I’m relaxed. While I haven’t accomplished anything big in two weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of little things done, things that I’ve been letting go for too long with a busy work and travel schedule. This sabbatical is giving me a chance to catch up.

The other good thing is that mentally I’m relaxed. I’m working with my hands, doing physical things, and staying off the computer, other than these blogs. That alone might be a good reason to take the sabbatical time.

An early start, this time for more maintenance.

One of the tractor tires had blown out a few years ago and I replaced it. Now the other one is constantly leaking air and it’s a bit cracked. I’ve been meaning to get this done, but since it’s in use every other day as part of the ranch, it’s hard to time.

I loaded up a bale early yesterday so the maintenance guy could do his thing. Then today, I got up at 730 and went out to remove the tire and take it to the shop. They promised it by 1pm, so we’ll see.

After that, it’s back to the house for breakfast and a few minutes of guitar practice. No lessons, just messing around. It’s really  nice to not be under time pressure for anything. That might be one of the best benefits of the sabbatical in that my mind is more relaxed.

I had booked a morning massage, so I’m off for that, which is nice. I struggle to fit these in during my daily life. So far I’ve gotten two in two weeks. Then it’s a few errands. I buy a battery for my solar powered winch, get a few more bolts from the hardware store, and get some groceries.

At home, I cut more metal and start assembling my winch stuff. I need to test this out in the actual location, but I do press the terminals against the battery and verify the winch works. Unfortunately, I also realize the battery has large auto terminals and the winch has small bolt eyelets.

Grrrr. It’s always something.

I grab my stuff and load it into the car for the 200ft trip to the barn. Before that, I go get my tire. It’s not ready, but I spend a few minutes with the guy that owns the shop while they finish. I’ve known him for years and it’s nice to chat a bit about his new expansion, which is something that I’ve been rooting for. Back home, I need to put on the tire.

It’s cold, so I hurry, using the large sockets I bought to get this one. This is the smallest one, but it fits here. This is also larger than the largest tire iron I have, so this was a good purchase.

I gas up the tractor since it’s at the barn, load up my winch parts, and move it into the arena. I start to assemble the winch on the pole, which involves some elbow grease and a few choice words, but I can’t quite get the bolt to thread back through the pipe clamp. I should have tested this, and should have brought a socket. It looks like it will work, so I leave things for tomorrow since I don’t have a battery connection anyway.

It’s mid afternoon at this point, and I’ve let guitar go for a few days. I start dinner and while it’s simmering, I spend an hour working through a few songs. I play along with Spotify, and my fingers can feel it. I’m definitely not playing enough.

Then it’s off to yoga, the store for battery terminals, and back home to eat. I made Red Curry Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Spinach. It’s good. Others have eaten, so I finish and then relax with my wife for a bit. It’s been a long day for her, but a relaxing one for me.

Didn’t accomplish a lot, but was more relaxed than most other days.

Too windy to work outside today, but plenty to do inside. An early rise with a few things on my wind. First was catch up blogging, since I was up late. Then racing to the gym for an early workout. Too late for yoga, but I just switched lifting around for yoga tomorrow.

Then a few errands. Dog food and more hardware supplies.

Then back home for breakfast and a little guitar. Since I had a little time, I spent about 20 minutes going over another blues lesson, getting a few licks to practice. I’ll do more tonight.

Next, starting chores. Too windy for shed work, and while I was waiting for the tractor service guy, so I decided to do a few things. First, go get the ladder from the shed, which let me take a shot of how far I got yesterday.

Looking good.

Next, I did a few minor things, like change lights in the 20ft garage ceiling, wire up a second garage opener for the shop side, and clean up a bit. These little chores ate up some time, but they let me catch up on a few things I always let go because time feels precious.

Tractor serviced, which is good, and another thing off the list.

Next, the winch. I had all these parts, which I needed to bolt this to the building. In trying to work out the best way to do this, I walked out and put things up in the air and tried to visualize the best way to do this. With a small idea of what to do, I next laid things out and tried to mark up where to cut.

Then some metal cutting. The Dremel helps here.

Once I got this cut, drilled a few holes in my clamp and then assembled once side. I realized this might not quite work. However, I have other ideas. I’ll just need a few more bolts to make this work. I have a massage tomorrow morning, so I can likely pick up more bolts and see if I can then actually assemble this on the table, which will help me decide if it’s worth dragging things out to the arena.

For now, it’s about time for volleyball practice, so I need to spend about 15 minutes coming up with a plan of things to work on. Then, practice, dinner, and more guitar tonight.

A less productive day overall, but not too bad. At least I have a few things working that I’ve been wanting to get going for awhile.

Another ranch day, in more ways than one. This one started early, with me up at 630. My wife and daughter were out at the National Western Stock Show, and I wanted to get over there later, so I started early. Packed up and out at the loafing shed by 745. This is what I found.

Just how I left things last summer. Well, minus the tools, ATV, etc. There was a touch of wind, 5mph or so, and I was slightly worried, but I decided to get going. I measured the first panel, marked it, and went to cut it.

I got about 5s from the generator before it died. No fuel. I went to get more, which is when I snapped the picture above. Minutes later, I had this.

We’re off and running. Each panel has to be put up on the side and the angle marked. This is the best way to go, since the ground is uneven.

When I measured for the metal, I measure at the long end, to get the length. Then I move 3ft in and repeat.

I wrote the measurements down, since I have a few panels here and some on another small shed, all of which need to be sorted out. For instance I have 2 99” panels, one for this one, one for the other. I also have a few on the back side that are similar to the West (other) side.

That last cut is tough, since it’s a 10ft shed, and I need to get 1 foot out of a 3 foot panel. Cutting these by myself is hard as they are sheet metal and flimsy, with just some wood to hold it off the ground. But I got one side done.

Then the next side.

The panels are sorted by size and stacked. That’s how the vendor sends them, and I got smarted this time. As I found panels I didn’t need, I set them aside and marked the length on the back. Later, this makes things faster.

Around 10:30am, I was looking good.

It’s chilly, but not too cold, and the wind only causes problems during gusts. I usually pause slightly there, before lifting a panel off the ground.

Cutting these things goes through a blade.

And gloves

I was in a hurry, trying to get going at 12:30, so I forgot to snap a final picture of where I ended up. All sides done and one corner. I need to cut and fit other corners, but also more roof work, but it was getting late, and it looked like rain, so I packed things up.

I also have tractor maintenance scheduled tomorrow, so not sure I’ll get back out there Wed, but we’ll see.

I changed and raced downtown to the Stock Show, where my wife was competing. It’s an obstacle course, which is hard for horses. They don’t like change, and little things, like a tarp on the ground or a moving plant, are scary.  At least she made the jump.

Afterwards I hung out with them, walking around, taking care of the horses, and enjoying a difference side of life. We even watched a little mutton busting, which I wish I’d made a kid do years ago.

A late night getting home. No real guitar today, a couple minutes at bedtime, but I was beat. Tomorrow should be better.