Good weekend...

[DanG]

...in spite of flooding rains.  I had guests, in the form of Harold(Fla_Deadheader), and Ed(The diver).  They arrived Sat. morn, just in time to help unload some logs from my trailer. I had to get them unloaded, to take the trailer to Mr. Hootie's surplus yard to pick up my "new" forklift. After unloading, we proceeded up to Mr. Hootie's, and consumated the deal on the lift. It's a 6000 pound, rough terrain yard truck, and I got it for $1500!  The engine runs ok, but uses some oil, the lift works great, and goes up to 17.5 ft. The tires are iffy, and the transmission is sleepy, but whadaya want fer 15 Franklins?  This will make a major difference in my business plans!!

After the dealing was done, Harold, Ed, and I went wading(literally) through the 25 acre "Lake Hootie". The more we waded, the more excited they got, over the sheer magnitude of Hootie's collection of "merchandise."  Mr Hootie, himself, put it most aptly. "Go ahead and look around all you like. I've got 25 acres covered up with 50 years of mistakes. Everything that weren't a mistake has gone somewhere else."  We picked our way through the puddles, some almost an acre big, and saw things we never knew existed. We never did figure out what some of them were.

After our trek, we set about loading the forklift on my trailer. This is where the real adventure began. The trailer is a fairly stout 20' tandem axle homebuilt job. We soon learned that it's max load is something less than 10,230 pounds!  We proceeded VERY cautiously down 4 miles of virtually deserted highway, and made it home ok.

Sat. afternoon, we took a little tour around the area, looking at "land for sale" and the local infrastructure. Harold is vaguely considering relocating, and wanted to get the lay of the land in this neck of the woods.  After our tour ended in and endless rain, wayyyyy out beyond the back forty, Ed says, "We've been down some roads that God didn't even know he had."   :D :D  We all have new respect for the four-cylinder Dodge Caravan, as a mud-bogging machine.  The rain continued through the night, and finally ended in the late part of the morning. We met another deadheader in Chattahoochee, for breakfast, and he came back here with us to check out my place. He has run a Mobile Dimension saw for 15 years, and gave me a lot of pointers, as well as some criticism, all of which was appreciated, and will be taken under advisement. :

I also got my first "sawing for dollars" contract, signed by handshake, with a neighboring farmer, who is also the local Massey-Ferguson dealer. I'll be cutting about 25 pines into 2x4's for barn construction and repairs.

All in all, it was about as good a weekend as a fellow can have, considering that there was not a speck of sawdust or sunshine in the air.

[Frank_Pender]

DanG, it sounds like you had a marvelous time.   Always good to find another MD sawyer near by.   8)  And the contract for sawing the pine, That is the kind of contract I use all the time.  I really concerve on paper that way.  you know  hug and hand save a tree. :  Yep, DanG some weekends are like that little or not sawdust but lots happening, never- the- less. ;D

[dail_h]

WHOOOOOOEEEEEE  DanG  SHOOT 25 acrea of junk  ---no no stuff no no  mechanical marvels oh boy oh boy ,now where exactly is this outstanding establishment?  A $1500 forklift,so it smokes a little soumds like my kind of place

[DanG]

C'mon down, Dail.  Hootie's Paradise, aka Parramore's Surplus and Salvage, is located in the heart of beautiful, downtown Mt. Pleasant, Fla. That's about halfway between Quincy and Chattahoochee, on US 90.  You can get anything from a self-loading tub grinder, mounted on a triple axle semi-trailer, to a kite string. Would you like to have your very own aircraft carrier arresting cable? How about a 100 ton snatch block? I tried to move one, and concluded that that is their weight, not their rating. :D  You can also get wheels for that deuce-and-a-half that's sitting on blocks in your backyard. :D  If those items don't suit yer fancy, he's got a 500kw generator with a 12v92 Detroit, that looks brand new. He also has a 1943  US Army Command Car that IS brand new. It ain't fer sale, but he let me look at it, long as I didn't touch it.

[Bibbyman]

Had an old friend pass away about a year ago.  He was also a collector or sorts.  He had a neat house and yard along the highway but just over the fence he had about 20 acres of junk.  He had everything and anything.  If he didn't have it,  he knew a buddy that did.  He had a revolving inventory of old cars.  

On one trip I had noted he had a 57 Chevy todor hardtop body and frame. Part of the front clip was missing as was the drive train but the important part was there.  He also had a 57 Chevy 4 door that was pretty much complete.  On my next trip over I saw they were gone.  I asked Frank about them he says: "Yea,  this guy came out from Kansas City lookin' for parts (for something) and seen them old Chevys and wanted to buy them.  I told him I'd sell them but he wasn't going to like the price.  I told him $150 for both of them. AND HE TOOK UM!"

I bet old Frank could have figured some way to fix the space shuttle - if he had the right model of Rambler Nash.

[EZ]

A few yrs ago me & the wife was going on vacation to N.C. We got to W.V. & I made a wrong turn & got lost. Ended up on a back rode, & then all of a sudden there it was. A 57 Chevy 2 dr, four sale, stop to look at it, had a 396 in it. Was'nt all ready to drive yet, the old guy said his son had it, but he got killed in a car wreack & that was the reason he was selling it. I got a good deal on it, & tolled it back home. So much for the vacation, my wife was only a little mad. She didnt talk too me for a month.
EZ

[Haytrader]

EZ,

Only a month?
Man, you got off easy.
My first exwife got pithed at me in 92 and still is.

 :D  :D  :D

[L. Wakefield]

   Took me awhile to figger out how to deal with this, but- as the wifee, I'd just let 'im tow the bugger home, drop the new toy and the husband off in the yard, wave 'SEE YA' and off I'd go to finish the vacation. Hey, he's got his new toy, you ain't gonna talk for awhile- finish the vaca, why not.

   Of course it helps a bunch to be able to rent a vehicle as necessary and pay my own way, but I like it that way much better.

   Course you might decide you like it alone better, but that's ok too. He's still got his toy and that's what matters- they'll be happy together.. 8) 8)  lw