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October 1, 1975 The Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali stops Joe Frazier in 14 rounds in Quezon City, the Philippines to retain his WBC/WBA heavyweight title.

October 1, 1962 The Beach Boys' debut album, Surfin' Safari, was released . The album included their first single, "Surfin'," which was originally released in 1961, as well as the follow-up single, "Surfin' Safari" and “409”. The album reached #32 on the U.S. charts and was a foundational release for the "California Sound" genre.

Starting 7 or 9 years ago and averaging every couple, we've had a portion of the acreage fairly close to the house cleared of tree stumps and rocks, then flattened out. We began by adding a second driveway which forms a half circle off the larger older one. Then we had the garden area created. The entire area of the now 4 year old barn was built. Then another expansion off to the left of the garden. This year we began felling trees off to the right side of the house building knowing we wanted to get the excavator back and have him do the same treatment as the whole garden space. Rip out and pile up stumps, trees, rocks, etc. Reorganize. Recontour. Bury some. Stack some. Flatten some... Repeat. This is the closest I could get to a before n after. This is taken after 3 loads (14 or 18 cubic yards) were brought in to raise the area. This is almost the final product. This new flat spot will be the home of the camper house (carport ish) metal building. Couple more in progress pics. There's now a small ramp off the back right corner that a tractor would fit down. This'll give us access to the whole right side of the house for future wood processing. Also gives us a full tractor driveable path all the way around the house once the ground dries out. Another big part of this year's work was creating a nice wide long flat spot behind and below the barn. This'll be specifically for tractors, tractor storage, parts, machinery, etc. The intention is to move the 13 x 20 portable garage down from barn level to the new lower space. Also build another portable garage with the frame we got from my mom. 12 x 20 I believe? Both of those will eventually be covered with corogated type metal roofing like the barn and house already have. He had to lay over several trees and do a LOT of material movement for this. Here's a few odd angled pics of the area. I'll try to get a better view later. From the house deck. From the left side. For scale, that shed is 20 feet long but at a distant view. From below and behind. The portable garage by the barn is the 13 x 20. Another side view. We've been considering having a 4WD/ AWD vehicle usable path cut through the forest over past the barn for several years. Really since we got the garden area created and had need for moving materials down there. We'll still be adding size to that and of course adding loam and manure every year so we got the cut done this time. He felled a bunch of small to medium trees to clear the spot. The operator then used a portion of the old ramp, along with a large amount of material from a hole he dug, along with a full truckload of 1.5 inch max crushed stone, to rebuild the ramp for us. I find it extremely interesting that a professional excavator can look at our property and just KNOW where to dig for certain things. Yesterday he pointed to a spot and said, "I bet I can get gravel there." I reminded him about the rocks and ledge and he showed me a mound. A friggin mound. Somehow he knew that was not rocks but a place to harvest gravel. Here's that hole about half done. Several shots of the new ramp down to the forest, in various phases. Following the curve to the left here, it faces the garden area at the bottom. The last portion of the work was rebuilding some drainage and redirection of water flow to improve towards the frog pond and then to the forest. This is facing up towards the road on the far right of the house. The mo-chine.

After spending many thousands of hours operating heavy equipment in my lifetime I must say that guy did a nice job grading with that excavator. Looks like now you’re ready for some serious mid-mount grader blade action!!

Sid was travelling down a country road when he saw a crowd of people gathering outside a farmhouse. He stopped and asked Farmer Ellis why such a large crowd of men was gathered there. The farmer replied, 'Jo's donkey kicked his mother-in-law and she died.' 'Well, 'replied the man, 'She must have had a lot of friends.' 'Nope, 'said Farmer Ellis.' We all just want to buy his donkey.'

Yep, They buy every farm around me for $20,000 / acre.

Tea is an evil substance. It is much more dangerous than beer. I discovered this last night. I drank 15 beers up until 3 am in the pub while my wife was just at home drinking tea. You should have seen how mad and violent she was when I got home. She threw the chair at me and kept screaming at the top of her lungs. On the other hand, I was quiet and peaceful and silently made my way to bed. But she kept cursing and shouting through the night and well into the next morning. Please friends, if you can’t handle your tea, you should not be drinking it. Please avoid drinking tea.

Organic Tobacco! Must be good for you if it is organic,

Well, if all goes to plan, today I'll be picking up the motor, transaxle, belt guard and a few other odds and ends.

Looking good Paul. I am sure your father is looking down on you having a big smile on his face. And he saying thanks for taking care of the old tractor for me.

Got them on about everything that gets the oil changed. No, not cheap but worth every penny to me.

I do the same with my bread and butter pickle juice. I use half onion and half cucumber sliced thin. Fantastic is the word.

I agree that moisture is a problem. For one, there are no gutters and the water on the uphill side can make it's way under the foundation. I have suggested they make a swale to help re-direct the water. I don't think the building is heated except on Sundays and then they are using two of the wall hung ventless heaters--huge producers of moisture. The building is not insulated, except for 4" fiberglass batts in the dropped ceiling. Based upon my experience, not having insulation in these type of wall helps with longevity of the paint. Years ago we were working on a house with clapboard siding. After a rain, we were able to observe that the redwood siding had moisture on the backside. The house had blown-in insulation in the sidewalls and in cavities that failed to get insulation, the paint held better. I think that the insulation held the moisture and the siding could not dry as it normally would. I really don't know a solution for this small community church. Actually, I suspect the damage has already been done. Hopefully my work has added a few years to the building.

Only one question: You telling me BBT couldn't handle that with the fleet??? Couple hours tops...

https://wpitradio.com/comedy/video/eejfbcnu

Here's a passel o' pics from Trina. Good straight on view of the new camper house spot. Several angles of same. This is the ramp off the back side. This is a good straight view of the flat spot behind the barn. Here's where the new vehicle usable path will eventually continue down the hill, to the left of the hemlock tree, and bend right, towards the garden. We will likely need a culvert just past the tree. There are other pics showing the V shaped water course. The rest are various views of the project from different viewpoints.

Brings back memories of two HS summers as a house/barn painter. Hard, honest work and well paid. We had a 40’ ladder that I used often and could handle myself--ah, youth! Boss was a real character but he taught me a lot about how to paint and how to be a good worker that I’ve used ever since.

Tobacco? Those Amish know where the money is.

I used to work in a plant that made propellers for aircraft the original ones that you see on all the war planes. And I got to know a lot of other guys in maintenance and they also said the same thing. Timken bearings are top notch very expensive but you know the saying you get what you pay for. I like the progress that you’re making this project. Keep it up.

Not sure if this B-80 would be better suited to snow or mule duties: They may be small, but I got a heart of a lion. Very hard to kill those B 80s as long as you maintain them. I think I’ve had about four in my time.

Water runoff and melting snow is obviously a lesson we have been learning quite well over the years. You can guess where most of it is going to go. Where you guessed wrong, rethink the path and reinforce as necessary.

Absolutely agreed. A good excavator operator can use that giant arm as an extension of their own. As a crane operator and a person who appreciates larger machinery in general, watching this guy work is always extremely impressive.

First light is less than 2 hours out. Rain continues. I think for the sake of it, I’ll stick it out and hope something cruises through! There is supposed to be a break about 7 am for an hour or so. Maybe things will be moving, but the wetness should help over my travels.

We carved a place in the hill 25 plus years ago. Amazing how a good operator just looks and then sees potential issues. We had a 4' diameter white oak stump, (tree got stuck by lightning and split), right in the middle. The guy ask, "what are your plans for the extra dirt and root ball" He said that root is going to be huge. The neighbor let me toss it into a ravine on his place. We had a medium size dozer with a bucket and it could not pick it up he had to drag it. I thought we could just spread out the dirt but nope, way to much, covered the root ball and made a spot for the other neighbor to park during winter cause the driveway was steep and he was to cheap to get a 4x4.(liked walking up the hill in ankle deep snow a lot) Our biggest issue with the hill was diverting run off, It can be tricky and not always looks the way you think it is going to work. If you get a couple inches of rain in an afternoon that really adds up. That transit can be your friend.

When we had the farm cleared of undesirable brush and trees. Watching the trackhoe operator was fascinating. He could be moving the machine, swinging the bucket and begin digging at the same time.

Cool, at this rate, you might want to start looking for a good sized mowing deck @ebinmaine. You might need it.

Hard to disagree with that but if I tallied up what I spent on truck loads of fill for 40 years I coulda bought a nice flat spot in the country and really put up some out buildings. Did I mention I come from a long line of builders and trying to find a flat spot to build on here is like the man who went crazy in a silo ... couldn't find a corner to crap in. Worst part is the flat ground I did have I put in evergreens and can't bring myself to cut them down. Nobody told me years ago they were gonna grow and become a nice woods.

Nope. Mountain life is the best. Just gotta make adaptations.

Looks to me like your tired of living on a hill. Ask me how I know. Someday yer gonna finger out $h1T runs downhill.

Great project. I’d love to add a 551 to my collection. I made a pair of weights similar to those for my 401. Ford Taurus rotors with the vents filled with molten lead, then machined the outer edge smooth on the brake lathe for a finished look. Bolted to the wheel with 2 bolts, then sandwiched between the hub and wheel. They’re around 25 pounds each.

All fine and dandy until a stick ... which you should have picked up before ... jumps up and opens the valve and decides to oil the deck. Luckily you saw it happen in time. So then you remove the handle and promptly forget where you put it at oil change time. Since SWMBO isn't around 953nut gets the blame ...

In a court this conversation is reported to have taken place: Lawyer: 'At the scene of the accident, Mr. O'Brien, did you tell the Police officer that you had never felt better in your life?' O'Brien the old farmer: 'That's right, sir.' Lawyer: 'Well then, Mr O'Brien, how is it that you are now claiming you were seriously injured when my client's car hit your cart?' O'Brien the farmer: 'When the Police Officer arrived, he went over to my horse, who had a broken leg, and shot him. Then he went over to Darcy, my dog, who was badly hurt, and shot him. When he asked me how I felt, I just thought under the circumstances, it was a wise choice of words to say I've never felt better in my life.'

Video from Trina

My new to me D160 came with a paint job that I think was done in a hay barn. If you ran your hand over the hood it was ruff. You could feel and see all sorts of imbedded dirt in the paint. I took some #2000 paper and did a light wet sand followed up with a orbital polisher and it came out shiny and smooth as glass.

That is the beauty of Wheel Horses, consistency. They were built where parts from late models can be interchanged to earlier models with little or no modification.

Couple things I used to make life easier. I'm sure many of you already know/ do these, but they are tricks that make life easier so I'm passing them on... 1. I use a 1" ID piece of pvc pipe about 6" long to press in the oil seal. Works for bearings too. Gentle taps with small hammer and they seat just right. 2. I use a 15mm socket backwards on a 1/2" socket wrench/ torque to tighten / loosen the axle set screws with the funky square head. The set screw head fits perfectly on the 1/2" side and the 1/2" socket wrench holds perfectly on the 15 mm side.

I second this.

You guys are lucky... around here it's ~$160 standard processing...

Finally got this mounted & wired. It is a little slow but i will deal with it. Thanx 4 all of your help.

Looking real good Paul. My old 502 would start right up on the first pull if it did not sit for more then one week.

Hoisted the 48"SD up to see if I could get the broken bolt out of the spindle. I got lucky. A few taps with a punch and it spun right out. Threw a patch on the left rear corner. Sharpened the blades. Finish scraping, wire brushing and oil down for the winter.

Yes Old ensolite sleeping pad over pvc board with vinyl top... used for numerous applications... including another model WH that I'm working on. Here's the first one... 1 and 3 year old testing engineers approved...

Hood masked for black grill paint. Hood semi-gloss black grill paint applied.

Sounds like a great day Terry. I love it when I can actually spend a whole day without interuptions on tractor tinkerin. Mike.........