Progress

The front fence project is complete, the sewer line installation is well underway, and we got a new vehicle project. We have had people mention that we seem to be always so busy and having fun and though that is generally true, its not by accident and its never too early to plan for what you want to do. I truly don't know how people could be bored in life.

One of the projects from the last post was the fencing across the road frontage of our property to connect up to the chain link fence in front of the house we installed earlier this year and its now completed. Its about 330 feet of Red Top field fencing on T-posts with a strand of Gaucho barbed wire on top. Our part time hired hand is a very hard working young guy and he drove all the posts and helped us run the wire and he sure got a work out.

 

We put in a people gate between the two fence styles for access because its such a long stretch of fence and we are pretty happy with it.

 

 

And now looking in the other direction on the other side of the house we have the sewer line dug and laid well underway towards the eventual linkup about a mile away.

 

In the previous picture if you look close you will see a backhoe in the far distance and this is now a picture from the backhoe looking in the same direction. Our nearest neighbor is in the trees in the far distance and the sewer line will go across his property to eventually link up to the terminus of the existing line. We have great neighbors who didn't hesitate to sign the utility easement.

This view in the other direction from the backhoe shows our house in the far distance so you can see this is no small project but we are very happy to get connected to the sewer system.

 

This view is a little closer but still looking towards our house and the backhoe is behind in this photo. If you look to the left in the tree you can see the remains of the fence they cut (about 8 feet) so it was lucky we aren't running cattle here right now. The contract requires them to replace any fencing and this fencing was real old anyway but we may just replace the fencing ourselves.....yes we are that particular.

 



All that effort to lay a small schedule 40 pipe 4 feet under the ground.

This is looking towards our right middle pasture and beyond those trees in the background is our main pond. The leaning structure in the back right is an old hog barn that I would love to rehab but alas its probably too far gone. I just hate that these old structures disappear.

 

We all like the activity that surrounds projects like this and I admit I never out grew Tonka trucks. I have to watch the machinery, I enjoy hearing them work and usually they let me have a turn operating them...now if I can only convince Holly we need our own dump truck.....

 

This little cream puff was only driven to church by a little old lady...Actually, I have a friend who owns an auto repair shop in a nearby town and I had asked him to keep an eye open for a parts truck for the hot rod. He called me a week or so ago and said a dealer took a 1990 Dodge in on trade and that I might be interested in it.

This truck was a one owner local trade in and only has 119,000 miles on it and is in great shape but cosmetically it needed enough repair (some body work and paint) that the dealer didn't want to fool with it because he didn't want to spend the money to fix a 22 year old truck that would then not bring him much of a profit. My friend told him he may have a cash buyer and he said he would let it go for what he had into it to get it off his lot so we got it for $1200.

 

When Holly first saw it she was aghast because of the bad paint but when we test drove it she was shocked. The engine is a throttle body electronic fuel injected 318 and starts right up, its quiet, and the truck is tight as can be and drives as smooth as our GMC.

 

It had a canopy on it so the bed is unmarred, it really was owned by an old man, and its never seen farm use or hauled anything. It just sat outside all those years and the late 80s and early 90s vehicles all have paint issues thanks to the EPA mandating a reformulation of auto paint that wasn't up to snuff. Those older cars and trucks you see with the peeling paint are mostly from that era.

Absolutely everything on this truck works as it should including the AC, heat, stereo, cruise control, tilt wheel etc. and as you can see the interior is nice without even a tear in the original upholstery.

 

I have been through this thing top to bottom and mechanically its a gem. No leaks of any type, no rust, and other than a brake job it needs nothing.

 

It even had the AC system retrofitted to R-134a freon back in 2001.

All four tires are good..

 

 and other than the bent front bumper and dent in the right front there isn't much body work needed; just some rust over the rear wheel wells..the cab corners are fine. So, I have already had two offers on this truck for more than we paid for it as its hard to find older trucks in this good of shape. Plans are to do the brake job, deal with some minor body repair then grind off all the surface rust and prep it for paint. But this time instead of spraying it the plan is to use Rustoleum enamel rolled on with a closed cell foam roller. Young guys don't get this technique usually and think only the new PPG type paints will work but this is old school enamel we are talking about and its hard as nails and it will look great. You dilute the paint with mineral spirits at about 1 cup of paint to 3/4 cup of mineral spirits and roll it on in thin coats (5 or 6) then you wet sand and buff it out. It sounds crazy to the uninitiated and I sure wouldn't do it on an expensive hot rod but for a work truck it will look nice and its a good option. The purpose here is to fix it up and sell it at a profit but you know you can never have too many trucks and this one may be too nice to sell!!

 

We will be sure to post the progress of the Rustoleum paint process (we are thinking blue, grey or silver)...I can already hear the skeptics groaning.

 

Life is good.