What a day...
Wasted most of the day today trying to get an old machine from a farm.
A friend and customer, Bernie, told me he had this old machine sitting in the shop of his old farm that he had sold, and he wanted to get it out of there before the new owner decided to just scrap it. I could have it, all I had to do was get it, and he was offering to help retrieve it. "It shouldn't take more than an hour or so," he said.
pfffftttt...
This thing was certainly unique (pictures to be added soonish.) It's a home-built self-propelled ride-on snowblower! It's got an old Wisconsin engine in it for power, and quite a marvelous array of mechanincs to hook it all up to the snowblower section and the drive-train. The problem was that all four tires were flat; Two of them (the rear tires) were able to hold air, but the front two tires were nothing but shreds of rubber. There were no tires that size in town, so we decided to just winch the thing up onto the trailer riding it on the rims; It was only going about 10 feet, so that shouldn't be an issue. Except that Bernie's old come-along hadn't been used in years, and it wasn't working properly. What ought to have been a quick job took considerably longer, and a lot more effort to boot. By the time everything was said and done, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon! Pretty much the whole day had been shot! I tidied things up a bit, then drove to a customer's farm to install a part on her riding-mower that had arrived last week while she was out of town. I needed to get this part installed right away because after tomorrow, I'm going to be out of town as I head done to Kohler WI for the training course.
I'm unsettled about this trip; The timing is not good, and the finances are a mess. My flight and car are pre-booked and paid for, but while my hotel-room is pre-booked, it is not paid for. My credit-cards are maxed out, and I don't even know if there's going to be enough in the accounts to pay the shop's mortgage on the 24th. I think there will be, but just barely. I would have had plenty of funds in place had I not had to transfer about $1200 to the bowling-alley accounts to cover its bills. :/
Speaking of which, the last three nights at the bowling alley have been very good, but we need consistant nights like this, not just a few shots here and there. The income from the last three nights will make sure that the electric bill and the insurance are paid, but there's still a lot of other bills coming in as well. I hate even thinking about the amount I owe to my Briggs & Stratton supplier - let's just say that it's a LOT! Again, if people would pay their bills on time, I would be doing a lot better. The worst offenders are big companies that should be easily able to pay their bills on time, but they never do. It seems that the bigger the company, the less they care about paying their bills on time. Jerks...
I wish I were more excited about this upcoming trip, but I'm just not... The timing is just not good, but there's not going to be another opportunity anytime soon, and I need this training. I've got hay that needs baling, horses that need hooves trimmed, customers that need machines fixed, bills that need paying; The list goes on and on!
That said, I will be taking a few extra days in Calgary when I get back from the States; I've got some business to attend to there, and some people I need to see. I just really wish I was taking a pleasure vacation, and not a business trip. :/
A friend and customer, Bernie, told me he had this old machine sitting in the shop of his old farm that he had sold, and he wanted to get it out of there before the new owner decided to just scrap it. I could have it, all I had to do was get it, and he was offering to help retrieve it. "It shouldn't take more than an hour or so," he said.
pfffftttt...
This thing was certainly unique (pictures to be added soonish.) It's a home-built self-propelled ride-on snowblower! It's got an old Wisconsin engine in it for power, and quite a marvelous array of mechanincs to hook it all up to the snowblower section and the drive-train. The problem was that all four tires were flat; Two of them (the rear tires) were able to hold air, but the front two tires were nothing but shreds of rubber. There were no tires that size in town, so we decided to just winch the thing up onto the trailer riding it on the rims; It was only going about 10 feet, so that shouldn't be an issue. Except that Bernie's old come-along hadn't been used in years, and it wasn't working properly. What ought to have been a quick job took considerably longer, and a lot more effort to boot. By the time everything was said and done, it was 4 o'clock in the afternoon! Pretty much the whole day had been shot! I tidied things up a bit, then drove to a customer's farm to install a part on her riding-mower that had arrived last week while she was out of town. I needed to get this part installed right away because after tomorrow, I'm going to be out of town as I head done to Kohler WI for the training course.
I'm unsettled about this trip; The timing is not good, and the finances are a mess. My flight and car are pre-booked and paid for, but while my hotel-room is pre-booked, it is not paid for. My credit-cards are maxed out, and I don't even know if there's going to be enough in the accounts to pay the shop's mortgage on the 24th. I think there will be, but just barely. I would have had plenty of funds in place had I not had to transfer about $1200 to the bowling-alley accounts to cover its bills. :/
Speaking of which, the last three nights at the bowling alley have been very good, but we need consistant nights like this, not just a few shots here and there. The income from the last three nights will make sure that the electric bill and the insurance are paid, but there's still a lot of other bills coming in as well. I hate even thinking about the amount I owe to my Briggs & Stratton supplier - let's just say that it's a LOT! Again, if people would pay their bills on time, I would be doing a lot better. The worst offenders are big companies that should be easily able to pay their bills on time, but they never do. It seems that the bigger the company, the less they care about paying their bills on time. Jerks...
I wish I were more excited about this upcoming trip, but I'm just not... The timing is just not good, but there's not going to be another opportunity anytime soon, and I need this training. I've got hay that needs baling, horses that need hooves trimmed, customers that need machines fixed, bills that need paying; The list goes on and on!
That said, I will be taking a few extra days in Calgary when I get back from the States; I've got some business to attend to there, and some people I need to see. I just really wish I was taking a pleasure vacation, and not a business trip. :/