Gussy
03-26-2007, 02:39 PM
The weatherman said rain Sat, sunny on Sun. Like a damn fool I believed him. Sat started out actually pretty nice. I went to the shop did some work and noticed it was still nice so that I headed back home, thought maybe we'd missed the rain. Wrong.
It was a cold and windy so I thought oh well, cast some bullets. Fired up the pot and went about some other chores. Lit a fire in the stove and warmed the place up a bit. Back to the pot, it was melted so I added some more alloy. Got a couple of moulds out and started running bullets.
Here's where it went to Shxt. One mould was throwing bad bullets. Looked closer and found I must have set it down in some melted bees wax I use for fluxing. Got that cleaned up and the bullets started looking good as I came up to temp. It's a new mould and I noticed an odd line on the seam. Damn bifocals are never in focus, so I looked really close and it looked like the two mould halves were from different runs. Seems I have a locating pin problem.
Well hell. Forget casting it's too nice out now. We were planning on getting some new fruit trees the next day and moving a couple of others so I figured I'd get a head start. I fired up the backhoe and went out to dig some holes. Figured oversize holes in this lousy clay, add some good top soil when I put the trees in. Digging went well, the only thing that did.
Woke up to a pouring rain. It usually quits by noon when it's raing this early. We decided to go get the trees and it would be nice when we got back. Wrong. Should have known better. As we drove out, those big holes were full of water. Got to the nursery (65 miles away) and the guy there said "well we just haven't gotten around to getting the fruit trees ready yet" (same guy told me to come back in 2 weeks, 3 weeks prior. Couldn't call ahead as they weren't open early or the day before). Went out to another good nursery, closed on Sun. At least we did have a nice drive and breakfast.
Decided to take the long way home and check another place (40 mi from home). Luck at last, they had all but one tree I wanted. By now I'm runinning 2 1/2 hours late. The fruit trees were bare rooted so they really neeeded to get in the ground. Started the backhoe and dipped the water out of the holes. It's cold as hell and blowing. Rain finally stopped. Might work out good. Wrong.
Got the loader tractor and tried to find some good workable soil. Yeah, right. When all the tires fill up with mud, even the little 4 wheel drive was damn near usless. I felt really uncomfortable on any slope with it. Came really closed to getting stuck twice. Dug up some fair soil and filled the holes to planting level. It was almost like quick sand (very sticky quick sand). Just poke the tree into the mud then attempt to shovel more mud in. Then attempt to get your feet out the mud. Then attempt to get the mud off your boots. Back to 1 and start over. By the time I got all of the trees in ,7, and moved 2 others, I was totally shot.
1. NEVER believe a weather man.
2. Wait until it's dry to buy/plant trees.
3. Don't build on rocky, clay soil.
4. Cast bullets or drink beer on weekends.
Gus
It was a cold and windy so I thought oh well, cast some bullets. Fired up the pot and went about some other chores. Lit a fire in the stove and warmed the place up a bit. Back to the pot, it was melted so I added some more alloy. Got a couple of moulds out and started running bullets.
Here's where it went to Shxt. One mould was throwing bad bullets. Looked closer and found I must have set it down in some melted bees wax I use for fluxing. Got that cleaned up and the bullets started looking good as I came up to temp. It's a new mould and I noticed an odd line on the seam. Damn bifocals are never in focus, so I looked really close and it looked like the two mould halves were from different runs. Seems I have a locating pin problem.
Well hell. Forget casting it's too nice out now. We were planning on getting some new fruit trees the next day and moving a couple of others so I figured I'd get a head start. I fired up the backhoe and went out to dig some holes. Figured oversize holes in this lousy clay, add some good top soil when I put the trees in. Digging went well, the only thing that did.
Woke up to a pouring rain. It usually quits by noon when it's raing this early. We decided to go get the trees and it would be nice when we got back. Wrong. Should have known better. As we drove out, those big holes were full of water. Got to the nursery (65 miles away) and the guy there said "well we just haven't gotten around to getting the fruit trees ready yet" (same guy told me to come back in 2 weeks, 3 weeks prior. Couldn't call ahead as they weren't open early or the day before). Went out to another good nursery, closed on Sun. At least we did have a nice drive and breakfast.
Decided to take the long way home and check another place (40 mi from home). Luck at last, they had all but one tree I wanted. By now I'm runinning 2 1/2 hours late. The fruit trees were bare rooted so they really neeeded to get in the ground. Started the backhoe and dipped the water out of the holes. It's cold as hell and blowing. Rain finally stopped. Might work out good. Wrong.
Got the loader tractor and tried to find some good workable soil. Yeah, right. When all the tires fill up with mud, even the little 4 wheel drive was damn near usless. I felt really uncomfortable on any slope with it. Came really closed to getting stuck twice. Dug up some fair soil and filled the holes to planting level. It was almost like quick sand (very sticky quick sand). Just poke the tree into the mud then attempt to shovel more mud in. Then attempt to get your feet out the mud. Then attempt to get the mud off your boots. Back to 1 and start over. By the time I got all of the trees in ,7, and moved 2 others, I was totally shot.
1. NEVER believe a weather man.
2. Wait until it's dry to buy/plant trees.
3. Don't build on rocky, clay soil.
4. Cast bullets or drink beer on weekends.
Gus