May 14, 2012
I guess sometimes even a boat needs a good road.   As near as I can tell this boat came from south eastern Neveda.  I saw it in central Montana.  

May 5, 2012
We got home last night from Vancouver.   We moved our kids household goods home with all their goods piled in the trailer.  It was a nice trip.  

May 1, 2012
Even if this is the third time in 5 years we still take pictures every time we stop here.   Mt Robson in BC.  

September 27, 2011
This would be a good time to remove some shafts from the drive case.   Today we found out why we should hook up the sky line to a lower location.  

June 30, 2011
And we thought we had coarse gravel before.   Today we got through a layer and it started to work.   But it sure is coarse.   Probably more rip rap than 3/4" stone.

February 24, 2011
We were at this same place about 2 1/2 years ago.   Then there was no snow on the ground and it was nice and warm.  

February 21, 2011
My first view of this Madill 071.   The paint does not look the greatest but otherwise it seems to be in decent shape.  

October 17, 2010
We went for an afternoon drive and look what we found.   Actually I had talked to the owner previously and wanted to see the machine.   It had some damage on the far side.   It had slid into the water and when they pulled it out they damaged the house.   They were planning on fixing that and some other items before they used it.

October 13, 2010
I'm not sure which happened first, getting stuck or tearing the travel chain.   The end result was that the machine wanted to travel in circles with one travel chain broken.   Pulling with the TD-25 was not enough to move the dragline.   So I had to swing the boom to the opposite side that was stuck, lower the boom and pick up a bucket of gravel to make the machine lighter on the track buried in the mud.   And that worked.   When we got out we found that the track hadn't turned because it was packed full of mud and gravel.

June 25, 2010
Who would have thought that dragline bucket chain was decorative.   I got asked recently if I knew where to find some heavy chain.   Seems they wanted some to use to give a drawbridge look.   Thanks to a certain young fellow for this picture of where my chain goes when I'm not keeping track of it.

June 5, 2010
It's a lot easier to fix while standing than lying flat on your back.   So get the backhoe and dig a trench so we can work in comfort.   It was also nice when it was raining, or at least when it wasn't raining too hard.

June 4, 2010
I don't think that this 88B has been in theis corner of the pit since the late 70's or the early 80's at the latest. There was a lot of slop when I started to dig and the water was not very deep.  

June 2, 2010
This is a new swing pinion gear foy my 80D.   This is the first time I have needed to replace this gear and it seems the last person put in the wrong gear.   We had to get the right part number from the original build sheets from the factory.

May 26, 2010
There is a first time for everything.   There is a patch of gumbo clay for a short stretch along the shore.   We went through the trouble of digging it out till water level and then filling it back in with gravel.   Today I found out that the gravel was not thick enough.   We managed to get it out pulling with a TD-25 and moving 2 inches at a time.  

May 15, 2010
I'm slowly making headways on my tractor project.   Today I got the motor bolted down and wires and cables hooked up.   I hooked up the gas line and filled in oil.   When all was done I started it up and it ran.   Now all that's left is some trimming under the hood and finish up some odds and ends and we should be ready to mow grass.  

April 9, 2010
Somebody was having a bad day.   I saw this on my way to Winnipeg this morning.  The driver was still around.   When I came back from Winnipeg some guys were having a good day.   Three tow trucks and it even looked like they had brains.   One was hooked up directly to the trailer axel.   They also had a skidsteer there I assume to dig the mud out from in front of the tires.

March 29, 2010
This is an engine like the one I have in my dragline.   We picked up some parts so I can get mine running again.  One problem that I have with mine is that my crank is turned down to 20 thousands undersize and I have had problems getting rod and main bearings for it.   I might have to buy this one to get a good crank.

March 25, 2010
This was the view we had as we crossed the new bridge on I35W in MInneapolis.   I used to cross this bridge periodically when I was driving truck.  It's not often that a bridge goes down but when its one that you have driven over it does make you think.

March 1, 2010
Today was chimney cleaning day.   I find that the simplest is to get a chimney fire going and let the ashes fall down.  Then I just need to scrape them out at the trapdoor at the bottom of the chimney.   I don't think I'd recommend it for a house but here there is not likely going to be a house fire.

February 11, 2010
This winter I have been put on the sidelines when it comes to welding.   Our youngest has been getting a fair bit of practice on the bucket that is behind him.  This winter he has moved up to the expensive rods.   I did have to let him use my nice leather jacket though.

January 21, 2010
We had a busy day here today.   We had a nice loader to use for a bit so I moved my bucket home for some restoration work and we decided to place our pet rock where we could look at it on a regular basis.  This time the loader was big enough to handle the bucket properly.   The rock had to be placed when the ground was frozen or we'd have a nice set of tire tracks on the lawn.

January 7, 2010
My christmas present arrived a bit late this past christmas.   They must of had some labor problems at the factory.  This is a replica of the truck I used to own.   I put about 800,000 km's on the original in the mid to late '80's.   I notice that the builder even put the right number of wheel nuts on.  I was among the few who had the 8 hole pilot wheels on my truck.

December 3, 2009
These geese must be pretty tough.  Some can sit on shore in the snow.  Some can go swimming.   And the ones that are feeling a bit more adventurous can go skating.

November 30, 2009
This piston explains the noise in the motor just before it quit.  Now I just have to see if I can get parts.  Engine Rebuilders wants a number that they say I can find on the top of this piston.   I suppose that might be a bit difficult.

November 23, 2009
I guess I just can't get over all the geese.  Some years they'd be walking on the ice this late in November.

November 19, 2009
I kind of enjoy watching the geese while I work.   It's interesting to see that most of the time they are all swimming in the same direction.

November 17, 2009
The geese have been gone for a feeding.  It's a sight to see when they return back to the pit.  They go for 2 feedings a day and seem to spend the night on the water.   Sure wish someone had the time to count them.  It would be interesting to know how many there were in the pit when they are all there.

November 14, 2009
It's nice to get someone to do my greasing.  I get a bit of a break to either just walk around or check something else on the machine.

November 11, 2009
I finally got this rock out of the water.   I saw this rock about two weeks ago and also played with it some under water but it was a pain in the neck.  Finally at the end of the day on my last pull I got it close to shore but I couldn't pull it on to shore.   I had to back up so I could pull it out and let someone else remove it before I could work again.

October 31, 2009
I had a bit of a surprise when I got here this morning.   I can't recall a time when I had my work area this nicely prepared in this pit.

October 4, 2009
Sunday morning visitor.   I think he was here for the delicacy of our backyard ferns.   It seems they are quite at home at our place.

October 1, 2009
I broke a clevis a few days ago and today was repair day.   Because it's manganese between gouging and welding it made for a lengthy project.   I started at four and was done about eight thirty.  These are before and after pictures.

September 17, 2009
This morning there was no wind.  It made for some nice images on the water.   If I made it into a puzzle I would probably have a hard time putting it together.

September 1, 2009
There used to be a big pile of sand here.   It was a nice block for the people living at the end of Fourth Street.   Some of them wanted it moved but now that it's gone I'm sure some will miss it in winter and the noise from the pit will not be blocked anymore.   The town is pretty much in the pit by now.