Pulling the ripcord. Major life change

Note to self; never swim in Shawn's pond.

In reply to gearheadmb :

Nobody likes a coward.

gearheadmb said:

Note to self; never swim OR fish in Shawn's pond.

Also agree!  

Woke up this morning to nothing broken in my house.

Wooo!

Finished unpacking the trucks today.

Got some temporary fence panels put up so the horses have a place to be when they get here, while we are building proper fences.

Attended the Canada Day celebration in Manitou Beach this evening. 

Had a great time, this little town always seems to have something going on.

We bought a used shed to use for horse feed storage. $350, I can't buy the lumber for that.

Guy loaded it with a skid steer loader but we were on our own getting it off.

We had a little bit of drama but managed to put it where we wanted.

Sitting on my front porch, iced tea in hand, watching my neighbors bale hay. Life is good.

Heading back to the coast tomorrow morning to get another load of stuff.

It's been three weeks since I left what was my dream job. One part of my brain says this is the longest I've ever been unemployed since high-school. The other part is trying to convince me that I'm just self employed again.

It's a strange adjustment to not be working my tail off to get those dollars at the end of the week. My income is going to be much more seasonal and the work is going to be more of a long-term plan for the future.

I'm fighting the urge to just do -something- so I feel like I'm busy. There's so much to be done but I can't start any of it until we're done moving.

I need to start building fences, get a greenhouse ordered, get the grass cut down and growing beds built but there's no point until I'm here full time.

I'm having a hard time slowing down.

Ram owners...

Why is it that every time I see a sketchy towing scenario, it's a Ram truck.

Today on the way back, I got passed by a newer Ram 1500 pulling about a 25 foot bumper pull travel trailer.

The truck was squatting like a dog even with a weight distribution hitch (probably not set up right) and every time the truck changed lanes, the trailer made the truck weave back and forth several times.

He hit the brakes a couple times and the trailer tires went up in smoke each time.

Buddy:

1) proportional brake controller.

2) learn to set it up properly.

3) load your trailer properly. 

4) stop towing big trailers with half ton trucks. I don't care what Dodge says, you're f-ing overloaded.

This is from the guy in the F250HD that is 30 years older than your truck and pulling more weight with less problems. 

Time for an update. 

Last few days have been crazy but we're back at the farm with another load of stuff.

We spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday packing trucks and trailers. Met with a realtor somewhere in there and set out for the farm on Thursday. 

This is the trip where we bring our 5 cats to the new house.

Thursday morning, the Suburban had a slow crank. Weird but OK, whatever. Went to pull out and the brake controller was faulting out.

Disconnected battery ground to reset the controller and headed out of town.

About 90 minutes later, wife unit radios to say her charge light came on. Uh oh.

Pull over and check. No chargey. Drop my wife, her truck and trailer and my trailer in Yale while I drive 20km back to Hope to buy an alternator. 

Drive back, install alternator and head off up the Fraser Canyon.

About 60km up the road at Boston Bar, someone has crashed and the highway is closed. 

No problem, just turn two long trucks and trailers on a 2 lane highway and head back to Hope to take the Coquihalla instead.

Pulled the big hill no problem, just very slow.

15 hours later we arrived in Hinton for the night.

More to follow. 

Picture of Emmy the travel cat for attention:

The good news is you missed the fire in Lytton.

Again.

Again? Good grief, really?

Haven't been watching the news.

Day 2 of the drive, we hauled out of Hinton in the morning and the drive was fairly uneventful until mid day when we noticed one of our cats wasn't doing well.

She seems to have motion sickness and wasn't eating or drinking.

We moved her from the trailer to my truck where I could keep an eye on her.

By late afternoon she was worse, both of the dogs had managed to have accidents in the Suburban (Weathertech liners saved the day) and we were both exhausted. 

We got to the farm about 7pm, cleaned up the dogs and the Suburban, got the sick cat bedded down and got some water into her with a syringe. 

This morning she was no better so we took her into the vet in town. She's badly dehydrated from not drinking and is on I.V. fluids. Fingers crossed for poor Pippin.

Also, my tractor has been giving me grief. It started with a fueling problem which I fixed but it also appears that the ignition coil is bad because it runs fine until it gets hot. The the spark gets really weak.

More updates as we know more about the kitty. 

The canola in our back field which the neighbor rents from us is doing well.

Just look at all that rape...

Pip didn't make it through the night. Her condition didn't improve and we had to say goodbye.

Vet figures she had some preexisting health problems before we made the move and the stress was just too much.

Going to miss our furry friend.

Here she is being a lazy cat at home last week:

In reply to ShawnG :

So sorry for your loss. She looked like a great fuzzy pal. 
We're driving home from PA next week with our 3 boys, one of which is old and not great health. We had to do the fluids bit when we got here 5 weeks ago when he seemed to be struggling. He's used to the FL heat so he's basically been sleeping on a heating pad here.

In reply to ShawnG :

Dang, I'm sorry.

Today was spent in Saskatoon, stocking up the house. A trip to Costco and a few other places to fill our pantry.

We have to go back tomorrow to return an automatic water dish for the cats which turned out to be defective. We need to be 100% sure it works before we head back to get another load since the cats are staying at the new house.

Had a terrible customer service experience today. Lambert Supply can eat a whole bag of dicks.

I need a new ignition coil for the Case tractor. It has an Onan 18hp twin in it. Onan has made this engine for years. It uses the same coil as Kohler and many others. I used to be in the small engine repair business. 

I googled "Onan parts near me" and Lambert Supply came up.

Drove there, saw the parts counter guy and said "I need a coil for an Onan twin"

His answer was: "oh, we can't get those, they stopped making them".

I said: "I haven't even given you a model or part number yet".

Him: "Oh... ummm..."

Me: "I can give you the part number, can you please check?".

He (allegedly) looks it up in the computer: "nope, can't get it".

Me: "Not even from Stens?" Stens is a big aftermarket supplier who pretty much everyone uses.

Him: "uhh nope".

Me: "OK, thanks, I'll try somewhere else".

I'm sure the jackass didn't even look, he was just too lazy to go in the back and get one for me.

I ordered a replacement from Amazon while sitting in Lambert's parking lot.

Brick and mortar stores are wondering why Amazon is beating them up and taking their lunch money.

Guys like this are why.

If he were my employee, I'd have fired his ass for something like that.

Got my woodshop unloaded and temporarily set up. 

This should let me build/fix whatever needs to be done around the place and get some items made to sell at the local farmers markets until I can get the farm up and running. Will help with the off season income too.

I have big plans for the space but I need to make some repairs to the barn first.

Love the barn. 

Toyman! said:

Love the barn. 

We do too. 

It's 106 years old.

ShawnG said:

I don't want to brag but how many of you have your own cesspool?

Me! I can say that.

We are on 10 acres in semi-rural Missouri. Jealous of what you are making up there. Thanks for sharing your journey with us. 

Also, I am sorry to hear about your cat. I only recently started to understand cats as companions. We are in the process of trying to get a 10 week old abandoned tabby back to health after a bad attack by something.

Let me add, I miss our cat. We did a cross country military move in our VW GTI, and she didn't love it. Lasted two years after the move and a subsequent crosstown move and just was done. Sweet girl, I'm a little embarrassed to say we have her ashes in a cherry box. She was 17. To steal from another thread- "just a cat, right?"

Back at the farm with the second-to-last load.

Brought the Brave Little Toaster this time, will be a one-way trip for the Escape since it lives here now.

Brought our canoe and my '95 Brodie Expresso as well. Got 44 acres to build some trails on.

Sunrise leaving Hinton this morning:

Rolled in to the farm this evening and Sally the Suburban has picked up a misfire and pop out of the exhaust. 

It's still throwing a low voltage code for the o2 sensor as well which might be explained by the misfire. 

I pulled the plugs out to check for a fouled plug. They all look the same and they all have very worn center electrodes. I don't think I've changed them in the last 4 years because platinum plugs.

Going to replace worn parts tomorrow and see if that cures it. 

Fingers crossed.