Well, this summer has been a really different summer.
This was the area that I fed our cows through the wintertime.
They're all out on grass.
But here come, oh mid May, early June, we have had almost constant rain.
Not absolutely every day, but more than normal. I think we're way ahead.
So we've had some rains that have been in that three to four inch category per rainstorm over
a day or two. Well this weekend they're calling for about the same thing, another one to three.
But who knows, till it actually happens. Well in the process of all this runoff from the side
hill, down into where the shed has been, and where I had the water tank for the cows through the winter,
remember I trenched my water line down to my water hydrant, and some of that has settled because of
the heavy rains. This was my insulated box, and I had straw stuck around it to kind of help
against the freeze. Well this is really sunk, and settled in.
This is the area that I buried my eight foot deep tank. So I was working with the geothermal
to help against the freeze through the winter, which it really did work well.
But as I dug this pit, my backhoe came this direction, and I'll move this box here.
And this is where my pipe is. Remember I did about two and a half sections of 55 gallon plastic water tanks.
So, she's kind of settled down around that tank. Not totally unexpected.
So what I need to do, I'll go grab the Bobcat. I have some fill available still.
I'll come and back fill this, so if we get that rain that they're talking about again this weekend,
it won't just filter and fill up this hole again.
Well it's kind of done the same thing, coming down to my water hydrant.
This too has settled way down.
This was the trench where I buried the line
So I need to bring some back-fill into this.
And up by the water tank, remember I put the pit underneath the building where my down pipe comes.
Where that little access hole is again, it shed water, and right by that box it's also sunk.
Yeah, right in here see it's not so much that my my frame has sunk. I think that is pretty stable,
because it went clear to the base, but this, where it sheds the water off of here, is also sunk.
So I need to fill that up, so that it sheds the water a little more appropriately.
Now this insulated box, I don't want upside down where it catches rain, if it rains again,
so I'll put all my insulation in it, that the mice have liked the whole winter,
and I'll tip it back over.
Certainly do learn to appreciate hydraulics huh?
One thing about all this rain, it has made the country green.
The little steer-calf is looking pretty good.
I don't know if you can see that little heifer calf hiding there to the left of the steer.
That'll help shed the rain if it comes this weekend.
We'll get that other one filled in as well.
I didn't know it would take quite so much dirt to fill this back in.
Always curious aren't they?
In general, I'm a little low here, so I brought a little extra fill.
I'll bring the bobcat down, level this up. I'm going to put the box back on top of that tube there.
I don't want calves walking on that. I guess they're not calves anymore.
They're coming up on two-year-olds.
Well my eight foot deep pit worked pretty good.
But I don't want a cow stepping on it, so I better cover it up.
Well, it won't keep the little critters out,
but it'll keep the big one's out.
Remember this is where I stored all my straw that goes around that water tank.
There's a little bit that's just out past my drip line. You can see we're just wanting
You can see where it's just wanting to sprout. This was an oat straw.
I've got some oats growing out of the end of these bales.
I didn't get them pushed clear in, or something.
I've got an old crop going on here.
Well when I went through the process of doing the pros and cons of fiberglass wheels,
there were quite a number of comments that Diane relayed to me that there were
some questions about how do you set the channel? Doesn't this hot channel bother this fiberglass?
Does it burn it? Does it melt it? So I thought I'd go through the process of just what it takes for
me to put channel iron onto these fiberglass wheels. Well, since there's no joint in this
fiberglass wheel in the fellys, I'll just start out putting a mark where I can start my traveler,
and measure the circumference. So this painted leg is my zero. Every revolution is 24 inches.
One, there's two, three, four,
coming up on five. So I'm going to put my pointer at an eighth inch shy as my mark.
So, it's just a matter of counting the same revolutions and transferring my mark to the iron.
This is where I will mark it actually where the pointer is.
Make this iron an eighth of an inch shorter in circumference.
And since I am dealing with such tight tolerances, I do like to double check my measurements.
That'll work.
So, since these fiberglass wheels have their dish already pre-cast into them, I'm going to
put that dish face down, just like you on regular wood wheels, and just contain it where it is.
So, since I size these only an eighth of an inch smaller, I don't have to heat them up quite as hot.
Then I like to cool them off fairly quickly.
This eighth inch iron will cool down fairly quickly,
and as it does this I want to try to make sure that I keep it fairly even with the fellys.
I can adjust it some,
but once I have the main heat out, I would like to make sure I'm pretty close.
I don't want to get too rough on this fiberglass,
but it'll tap fairly easily while there's still a little heat in it.
And just cool her down into place.
Just a quick little double check.
Not too aggressive on the fiberglass here.
If we're a little bit off, I'll adjust that with the wood block.
On a wood wheel I would tap on around it to help shut the joints. That's not an issue on fiberglass.
It just helps hear what a nice sound that has.
So with a wood wheel, if the tire and the felly, is just a little bit misaligned,
oftentimes I can just tap that wood felly and it'll move into the tire.
But this fiberglass, I'm a little more careful with it. I just soon take a
I'd just as soon take a wood block, and I put that corner right in the
joint work of that tire in the felly.
and kind of help push it into place. I don't like a direct impact on that fiberglass.
Wood can take it, but fiberglass is a little different.
I just go around and kind of push it into place.
Sometimes you have to go back and forth, back and forth, and kind of work it in.
This tapered block kind of works as my anvil underneath, to help the
tire stay in place, and I can push this fiberglass into where it needs to be.
So where I had stated previously that shrinking the tires was pretty much the same as the wood wheel,
but there are a few little subtle differences. I do handle the fiberglass
a little more carefully, just because I think it's probably a little more brittle.
It doesn't take as much tension, so it doesn't take as much heat to expand that tire as far.
And this channel iron cools off fairly quickly, so it's kind of a really quick process.
So anyway, maybe those are some of the subtle differences that will answer some of the questions
that came up in that last comment section.
I hope that helps. Appreciate you following along.