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The Adventures Of My New Hat

425K views 6K replies 96 participants last post by  WNYTractorTinkerer 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Warning: this thread may contain things that are politically, ideologically , religiously, financially, physically, grammatically and optically incorrect. This thread should not be taken internally, externally, orally, rectally or seriously. NO specific or generic warranty are expressed, implied, or desired.

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Rather than make 400 posts of pointless drivel of stuff that happens to me I thought I would just do this. Since my wife works with me, and we are usually together 24 hours a day, I cant tell her about my day so - I will torture you - the good, long suffering members of GTT. That way I can remember if I told a story or not. And you all know which post to avoid.

My first post:

Hat Sun hat Automotive tire Fedora Headgear


Long day today. Got up a couple of hours before the sun. Hit the end of the driveway at about 730. We started to the scrap yard and realized I had left the address I needed for a job at home. So I called my wife who was following me in her truck and told her to turn around and get it and meet me at the yard. Well she got a little over excited turning around and popped one of the tires on the heavily loaded small trailer off the rim. SO I turned around and changed the tire and sent her on her way. Got unloaded at about 9 and went to a little diner for breakfast.

Drove to Ingles and left her truck because there was no sense in taking with with us - I thought. Went to the bank to cash our checks from the scrap yard and they were putting in a new ATM and had most of the parking lot tied up. SO I pulled in with the Suburban and a 22 foot trailer and it got exciting fast. The side I pulled in on there was no way to see the mess in the parking lot.

Finally got untangled from that mess and headed up to Statesville to JR Cigar - my favorite store on earth. Since my humidor was empty I bought a fresh supply of stogies and a new hat - old one had a hole in it - and then headed up to a closed MF dealership in Odin, NC. By the time we got there it was 80 degrees outside. The guy who is leasing the building has the Dept of Natural Resources breathing down his neck for stuff that was there when the place closed 10 years ago.

HE had about 50 55 gallon drums,2 large fuel oil tanks, and a bunch of other stuff. Fortunately he also had a FEL.


We got it all loaded up including one tank that he said had about 20 gallons of kerosene in it. Since I didn't lift it I took his word for it. I was going to drain it into clean drums when I got home so we put it on the very back of the trailer.

Had I taken the other truck it would have come home filled with all kinds of misc scrap metal, but there is that 20/20 hindsight.

Heath had a ball. He was sitting in his stroller out of the way of the tractor enjoying every minute. HE was yelling and screaming and laughing at the tractor while sitting in a very strange position in the stroller.


We started home and I quickly realized that there was much more in the tank than he said. It is a 300 gallon tank and appears to be half full. You can imagine how exciting that was driving home. At 33 MPH the tank started sloshing and the trailer started controlling the truck. So a 1 hour drive on the interstate became a 2 1/2 hour drive on back roads.

SO tomorrow when the rooster crows I am out the door to drain the kerosene. knock holes in 50+ drums and then go to the scrap yard and take the wife back to her truck.

ANd for those who wonder: my cut stayed closed, my new boots are comfortable, my cigars are good, and my new hat is just slightly less new now. Heath is filthy and happy and chasing the cat around the room. I think Stephanie may have passed out in the living room floor but I am too tired to go look. The dogs will keep an eye on her. All in all it was a good day.

I am just not supposed to sweat in December.
 

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#6 ·
lol...great story there. Sounds like an adventure filled day for sure. Glad everyone is well and the day was beneficial...nuthn like a new hat huh.........
 
#7 ·
Nice story. The weather is quite toasty here too. Especially for December.
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
Today started off a 330am when a crack head called me trying to sell a car for junk. I was not a happy person because he called me 4 times in a row. After saying un-nice things to him, muting my phone - which is also my alarm - then tossing and turning I finally drifted back off somewhere around 530. Alarm was set for 6. I woke up a 8.

SO already running late I made coffee checked email and GTT, got dressed and went out the door at about 845.

Remember that big oil drum I told you about yesterday? The one that was supposed to have 30 gallons of kerosene in it? Well I got my high tech tank emptying rig set up and drilled a hole in the bottom of it and started filling a clean 55 gallon drum.

I learned from experience that a big hole makes a big mess so I drilled a 1/4 inch hole and let the draining begin. BTW a 1/4 inch hole is neatly plugged by the uncut tip of a Lucas oil bottle or even the cap that fits over it.

IT didn't take me long to realize that one 55 gallon drum was not going to be adequate. And the scrounge was on for anything that would hold oil. We rounded up about 15 gas cans of various sizes and 32 gallons 2 pints worth of oil, antifreeze, milk and other misc jugs and pint sized bottles. Since only 5 of the gas cans had lids we began a transport run down the hill to where the waste oil tank is still sitting. With the wagon hooked up to the Hemorrhoid we filled up the cans and then Steph took them down the hill and poured them into the big tank while I worked on filling the big gas cans we had lids for and the drum.

Much coffee was ingested.

During this a neighbor came by and said he had some scrap for us so he and I went up and brought back a dead plasma cutter, some go cart wheels, and a jet ski with no engine. The jet ski will soon be in Heath's playground. What kid doesn't need a toy jet ski. ( plasma cutter is in front of the jet-ski to the right. NO idea if it works he said it didn't.)



Then back to the fuel oil transport run.
176 gallons (not counting the maybe 1/2 gallon that got spilled) later and we were done. At 230.

I smell like an oil refinery.

It was very boring - try pouring 176 gallons of oil thru a 1/4 inch hole sometime. Any bigger hole and it would have over powered my high tech tank draining device.
I did notice something odd though - someone explain it to me.
[media]http://youtu.be/LzJ3SIC9YhE
We had a nice fire where the fuel oil got spilled.

And I sweated more.

IN December.

Then I had to shift into high gear to run to the scrap yard, get unloaded, take Steph and Heath back to her truck that didn't get brought home last night. Then go to Charlotte- at 4PM - to a car dealership - on one of the busiest roads in Charlotte - to get a transmission and a couple of other parts.

Then to Steak and shake for my first meal of the day at 5pm. Portabella mushroom Swiss burger and a Dr. Pepper. I haven't had a fast food burger or a soft drink in probably 6 months. Man it was good.

Then hit the back roads to avoid the rush hour insanity on the interstates.

Got home and opened the fridge and realized I only had one beer. SO I saddled back up and went to the gas station, filled the BlueOx up with gas for tomorrow and grabbed a 6 pack. Now I am back home, one beer down, and ready to hop in the shower and de-dieselify myself.

Steph and Heath are at a party so I have the whole house to myself. Might even smoke a cigar.

Oh and my hat still looks great

Smells a bit oily though.
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
The part about the stream flowing stronger when you tap on it? That fuel isn't real clean, nor is the tank. Little chunks of crud are sticking together around your drain hole. When you tap it, they break loose and come through. Then, when your back is turned, their cousins come creeping over to the hole and start congregating. Kinda like a bar parking lot fight after the cops have arrived.

'Burn it all at once. Well, not all at once. But a good bit of it.'


Be on the lookout for a fireball from the SE. May show up on satellite.
 
#22 ·
Yesterday ended with the idiot who had called me a 330 in the morning sending me a threatening text saying I had better watch what I say to him because he runs with a biker gang. I wasn't impressed and told him so. When that didn't work he started being nice again and wanted me to come at night to get the car again. I declined. Told him I would come in the daytime but not at night after he had threatened me. He never got back with me. If I go my trusty 12 gauge will go with me.

We stuck a movie in the DVD player in the bedroom and started watching it. Wife said I made it all of 15 minutes and was out. This morning the roosters crowed as I was making coffee. After checking email, and securing my hat on my head I was out the door and we were gone.

Since we knew what we were getting into today Steph took her truck and little trailer too. One quick stop at a friends garage to return some parts off of a car we scrapped for him, and look at his new AR-15 and SKS and we headed up the interstate.

A nice cruise while chatting and telling inappropriate jokes over the 2-way radios was a fun way to spend the morning. We got off the interstate and I was lured into Sheetz by the smell of hash browns. Once inside, however, realized that I had not eaten anything since the hamburger yesterday at 5pm. I was seduced by 2 breakfast burritos, hash browns, and coffee. Delicious breakfast. Steph had doughnuts and hot chocolate. Heath had anything that we got close enough for him to grab - which was most of my hash browns.

A short drive later we pulled into the old MF dealership, a couple of minutes to set up Heaths portacrib thingy, and then we got right to work. Heath supervised carefully.

Behind the building there was a metal crate that contained about 40-50 old fire extinguishers that the wanted gone. We dumped it on the trailer and then Steph hopped up to make them into a little neater pile so we could get more stuff on the trailer.

As the property owner and I stood planning our next move - Steph disappeared into a cloud of white. She had broken the valve off of one of the extinguishers. Hacking and gagging, she stumbled into view, looking a bit like the Pillsbury doughgirl. Solid white from head to toe. I know it was wrong, but I laughed. Sorry no picture I was laughing too hard. After getting her some water and brushing her off we went back to work. Had to stop on the way home and wash the truck. I couldn't see out any windows.

The owner had bought a drum lifting rig from Northern tool and it worked perfect. In short order everything was loaded and all the drums that had anything in them were safely in doors away from the prying eyes of the inspector.

I got a barrel with 30 gallons of Methanol Antifreeze. Now when I change tractor tires I can reload them.

At 145 we were strapped down.

Heath had to inspect the load from my side


And from Stephs side.






He declared it good and off we went.

At the interstate I was lured once again into Sheetz. This time by 3 hotdogs with chili, cheese, onions, relish, bacon, and mustard.

Ohh it was good, but I have used up my junk food allowance for the next 5 months I think. Steph had pizza. Heath had a nap.

After lunch we split up and Steph went on her way to a discount meat store to buy dead animals to refill the freezer. I am hoping there is steak on the grill soon.

Heath and I went to a manly store. Northern Tool. While poking around he took a slightly different approach to sitting in the buggy.

He was making engine sounds and every time I stopped he shook the buggy.
All the women were ohhing and ahing over him.

I grabbed the last drum lifter so I can unload that half full antifreeze drum and move this full drum of fuel oil from yesterday.

When we almost got home something electrical went wrong with the BlueOx. I have no idea what yet, but I have a feeling that a ground wire broke. All the gauges went haywire and the transmission quit shifting. Fortunately I was about a mile from the house so first gear was just fine. Tomorrow morning I will figure it out.

For now, my new hat sat down with my old hat to find out what its future holds in store. It is having second thoughts.
 
#25 ·
Sorry, Steph, but I had to laugh about the fire extinguisher. I'm glad Heath approved your load, can't bypass the inspector.
 
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#26 ·
Much better just having a long thread about your happenings, just like I do about the farm. Plus if that crackhead has an early demise & someone tries to frame you, then you'll have proof of what you were doing about that time! (well, one of us mods may have to edit in an alibi for ya's lol)
If you wanted, we could merge your other thread into this one?
 
#27 ·
Sure Merge away.

I had to make a run up to a friends house to pay him for a part I sold for him. ON the way I stopped at a gas station out in the country. Went in and didn't have my wallet to I walked back out to the truck.

In the parking lot there were 4 people who were going in the store who were wearing clothes that I wouldn't wear for work clothes. They were searching the parking lot for change. I kinda felt sorry for them.

Until I got back inside and they came in to buy lottery tickets.
 
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