On Wednesday, Rose dropped me off, and I set up camp. Built my fire, made dinner, played with the dog, and just enjoyed the time out in the middle of nowhere. On Thursday, I didn't stay as long as I'd have liked as I had to get home. I did however get a lot of the brush and weeds cut down with an attachment I bought for my weedeater. I used the plastic blade attachment last time I weed whacked out there, but the damned thistles and small trees and other weeds out there were to much for them. Plus, I had to replace two of them because of the metal rods sticking up in the tall grass. (Which is why I can't mow out there until I find all of them, plus the metal junk lying buried in two years worth of dead grass).
Some 'before' pictures:
I got a 'bush cutter' attachment. Its probably twice the diameter of the plastic blade attachment, and the blades are steel. I hit a number of rods with it, and all I got was some sparks. Even cut down some trees that were about 2" in diameter!
Then I went ahead and used my grinder to remove the rusted, bolted cap off the nearest well. Dropped a pebble, and heard a very distinct splash. Can't be too far down, and I may be able to get started with a PVC built hand pump. I'll have to check into that.
Some 'after' pictures, including open pump:
So, got that done on Thursday morning, and then in the afternoon I had to get home and find out once and for all what was going weird with my electricity.
On Friday, Rose and I went out to put in a couple of hours moving some more blocks. We were supposed to meet our neighbor later in the evening for dinner, so didn't plan on staying out on the land. Unfortunately, our car had other plans for us.
After putting in a couple of hours, we were both tired, hurting, sweaty, and looking forward to a shower and a nice dinner out. (I cut her grass, and our neighbor Amberlee buys us dinner).
So we get in the car, and nothing. Not even a click.
I always carry tools with me, and have an extra multimeter in my car toolbox. Battery showed a full charge, so that wasn't it. My phone was dead, and Rose's didn't have a whole lot of charge left either. I hadn't charged mine, and she'd been playing music on hers while we worked.
Plus, we didn't take a lot of water out with us, and had already drank most of that. I called my brother, and he was up in Tulsa visiting his son. Said he would be back early Saturday and would swing by on his way. So we were looking at spending the night, or calling Amberlee for a ride. After discussing it, we decided to call and tell her we wouldn't be making it for dinner, and stay the night. My car kit has enough food for a couple of days, and I took a water bottle, used some of our remaining water to clean some gravel, and half filled the bottle. Tied my 550 cord around it, and dropped it down the well I opened on Thursday. Just about 47 feet! I was surprised it was so close to the surface, as where the well is, is near the highpoint of our property. Pulled up a couple of bottles of water, filtered it with my Sawyer filter, and we were set for water. Pulled up enough to wash up, drink, and make some soup from my supplies.
I have been leaving the large tarp, two smaller tarps, and our bedding out there, so sleeping wasn't a problem. It was actually a nice night, and I'm glad to discover that if I had to, I could make it on my supplies for a day or two easily. And comfortably.
My brother showed up about 11:00 AM, and we figured out it was the starter. I kinda figured it was....
So he took me and Rose back into town, and we picked up a rebuilt starter. We went back out, where it took me a couple of hours to replace it, and I had to have my bro help, as I couldn't lift my right hand to fuck with the bolts and hold the starter at the same time.
Car started right up, and no further problems. I did miss my Saturday mornings posts, but finally got them posted around 3:00 PM.
Haven't gone back out today. Kinda tired, and definitely hurting. It seems like I've been taking a lot of pain pills lately, and I don't care for that. Think I'll just take it easy for a couple of days and relax. I've earned it.
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