Helpful hints for building coops

[Molpet]

The cooler weather has been a blessed relief, 54° here this morning, Ahhhhh!
Long, cathartic story comes next.

Was going to catch up on cleaning and cooking yesterday, started bread, went to wash bowl and.... no hot water. Ceramic spark arrestor on water heater needs vacuuming a few times a year, so went at it but it wasn't too dusty, hadn't been long since last cleaning. Pilot wouldn't light...utoh...furnace pilot was out and dryer would not heat. No gas at all in house. SMH.

Called power company, someone would be out by 10:30 pm.....SMH...tech showed up around noon and disconnected meter outlet, no gas thru meter, took meter off, no gas at meter inlet. Which actually was great news as it meant the problem wasn't inside the house. Whew! Need to call in another crew....they'll be here today but don't know when. Sigh.

Utility marker guy showed up at 3 and told me crew would be there at 4.
Crew showed up at 4 and promptly backed digger trailer into and over mailbox, shattering the 4x4 wooden post but surprisingly no real damage to metal box. I was standing right there when it happened, and yelled but driver didn't hear me. He was embarrassed and very apologetic, saying he would personally make it right. I told him I don't give a crap about the mailbox, not to worry about it, everyone makes mistakes, just get the gas flowing again asap. Later he told me he would order me new mailbox, I said the box is fine just need a post put in, that I had looked but didn't have any 4x4 stock left but my biggest hurdle is getting a post put in the ground and I can fix the rest. Later he said he had someone coming with a post and sure enough he got a new post dug in 3' down, asked me where to cut it off for height and chatted with me while I reinstalled the box. I was flabbergasted and incredibly pleased to see this conscientiousness and find it to be truly sincere when backed up by his actions. He was still so apologetic, so I told him the saying I often employ that "it doesn't matter how bad you foul something up, it's how well you fix it that matters most" and that he done an excellent job taking care of his mistake.

All that happened throughout the 4+ hours it took the 2 man crew to find the problem then find the regulator that needed to be replaced(location was wrong on drawing) that had last been replaced damn near 30 years ago. They did some serious mini-backhoe and a lot of hand digging and finally found it across the road. I followed them around off and on asking a ton of questions, they were both very friendly and answered/explained everything along with some shucking and jiving about mailbox catastrophes and drawing snafus along with general chatting. So I've got a new regulator, riser(found to leak during pressure testing), and meter, and the hot water was up and running by about 8:30. Long day, that was bearable and ended well due to reasonable and good natured people treating each other kindly and with good humor despite numerous setbacks.

wow what a day.. at least it wasn't in the middle of a blizzard.
Glad you all could find the humor in it.. maybe I need to move to the mitten.. crazy people here...By me the township supervisor shoved residents complaining the plow wiped out the mailbox.... he lost re-election because of it.

 

[aart]

Was just fortunate to have good people working the job....and it always helps that I wasn't the bitch customer from hell .....humor always helps.

By me the township supervisor shoved residents complaining the plow wiped out the mailbox

Plow wash is an issue here too, damn near every year I have to repair from that.
Many don't understand that the plow blade itself does not hit mailboxes, just the snow coming off of plow(plow wash) has tremendous force. Tho one year the plow blade did hit mine, proven by a big dent on the box support(not the post), they replaced it but it took some persistence on my part.

 

[Molpet]

Plow wash is an issue here too, damn near every year I have to repair from that.
Many don't understand that the plow blade itself does not hit mailboxes, just the snow coming off of plow(plow wash) has tremendous force. Tho one year the plow blade did hit mine, proven by a big dent on the box support(not the post), they replaced it but it took some persistence on my part.

Yeah people don't get that you need to go at a decent speed to move heavy wet snow.. and it's thrown like a ton of bricks. sometimes They wipe out all 4 mailboxes on my end of the rd every so often. It's downhill right before where it drifts across the highpower line. I'm closest to the HP line so I get wiped out every other winter. That or when they mow the ditches, the box is on a hill and they go by and then back up and hit it w/the back wheel of the bush hog,, even when I weed eat around it 3 ft.

 

[aart]

That or when they mow the ditches, the box is on a hill and they go by and then back up and hit it w/the back wheel of the bush hog,, even when I weed eat around it 3 ft.

Summer damage is inexcusable and should be paid for by the county.

 

[jvls1942]

Art, sounds like a good story with a good ending. glad it worked out well for you.
but you never said if you got the bread baked or not.
I got the mower blades sharpened. I adjusted the belt on the table sander that I rebuilt last winter and used it to sharpen the blades. it worked like a charm.
I worked hard at putting the deck back on the lawn tractor. as I went I learned little tricks to make the job easier. next time, if there ever is a next time, it won't take me very long to do it.
I undercoated the deck with the Blaster silicone coating. I will look for the other product if I do it again. I use that stuff on the surfaces of my table saws and jointers.
really makes it slick..
.....jiminwisc........

 

[aliciaplus3]

Got my little crew motivated today

here you can see the turkeys doing quality control on the new dividing wall we put up

here is the other side you can see we made the back wall much taller here....it's primary job is a dog blind so that our loving k9 doesn't worry the turkeys.

here my daughter is modeling the gate, with any luck we will get the gate mounted in a day or two so that I can move the silver snake

yup that's her sitting on eggs due around the 22nd..... the new section will be for her and her babies, if she manages to hatch any..... here is hoping

 

[aart]

at least it wasn't in the middle of a blizzard.

That was one of the many 'it could be worse' points.
At least it's not the middle of winter.
At least it's sandy soil.
At least it's not 95°... like the days just before.
At least there's no mosquitoes.

but you never said if you got the bread baked or not

I did get the bread baked...electric stove for once was a big plus(I often wish I had a gas stove).

 

[jvls1942]

Me too .. when we lived in town many many years ago, we had gas. but out here in the sticks, no gas.. I liked the gas for cooking.
instant on, and instant off..
but I also like the electric for baking.
.....jiminwisc.....

 

[aart]

Me too .. when we lived in town many many years ago, we had gas. but out here in the sticks, no gas.. I liked the gas for cooking.
instant on, and instant off..
but I also like the electric for baking.
.....jiminwisc.....

Have gas, just not to the kitchen.
Could have had it run, but must not be that important....
....to go thru the cost and construction mess(which would be major).

 

[jvls1942]

Have gas, just not to the kitchen.
Could have had it run, but must not be that important....
....to go thru the cost and construction mess(which would be major).

too bad you can't use pec tubing for gas.