HG's thread of miscelaneous stuff

[hgs_notes]

Just a couple pics from the past few days. You may have heard it gets cold here. It truly is a winter wonderland. This is my yard this morning. Yes it's April and supposedly springtime (somewhere). For us it's called 2nd winter. Once it comes to an end we might have spring for a couple weeks, then straight into summer. We hope.


I just thought this looked cool. The snow/ice separated from the chicken wire on my shed and held its shape.


It seems like I mostly drive my Yukon only if it's hauling something other than the ass behind the wheel. Saturday I was helping to move my mom into a new apartment. Sunday I was hauling stuff I bought at an auction. Today I picked up the last of it, a 40' extension ladder. That's 2 20' sections pushed all the way to the windshield. Gotta love a full size SUV!


I have more stuff to post but really haven't had the time. Soon though.

[Steeveedee]

Originally Posted by hgs_notes

Just a couple pics from the past few days. You may have heard it gets cold here. It truly is a winter wonderland. This is my yard this morning. Yes it's April and supposedly springtime (somewhere). For us it's called 2nd winter. Once it comes to an end we might have spring for a couple weeks, then straight into summer. We hope.


I just thought this looked cool. The snow/ice separated from the chicken wire on my shed and held its shape.


It seems like I mostly drive my Yukon only if it's hauling something other than the ass behind the wheel. Saturday I was helping to move my mom into a new apartment. Sunday I was hauling stuff I bought at an auction. Today I picked up the last of it, a 40' extension ladder. That's 2 20' sections pushed all the way to the windshield. Gotta love a full size SUV!


I have more stuff to post but really haven't had the time. Soon though.

The left and right pieces kind of look like dogs hanging in the wires.

Cool physics fact- the centers melted like that, and left the stuff on the wires because the exposed wires conduct heat away fast enough to keep the ice in close contact stay frozen.

[Dieselwrencher]

Man, winter just keeps clinging on huh? Don't jack the brakes.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

Man, winter just keeps clinging on huh? Don't jack the brakes.

Yes, and more coming tonight again. I'm right in the middle of the band forecast for heavy snow again tonight. These pics are from that last storm. I was working up north while it snowed so didn't see anything until I was almost home. This is about 10 miles from the house.


The roads were ok though, until I got to my driveway. I had to clear a path through about 10" of heavy wet snow.


I got stuck right in front of the house. REALLY stuck. Took a while to yank it off the pile pushed under it with the Yukon.


Something different after replacing the roof with steel. A glacier.






Enough about the weather. I stopped at an antique store up north and they have a bunch of metal sculpture stuff. This cooler was pretty sweet but way too much money for me.




A few weeks ago I was in Colorado. I hired a new inspector there and had to do some training. Got another Silverado for my rental car and spent a little time site seeing. How about this old airport control tower being used as a restaurant?


Downtown Denver during rush hour...


Cool...




Traffic sucks, time to hit the highway. Go west young man!






It was too late to take the tour at the Coors plant, so I had to settle for a pic of a work truck.


Overall, the Coors plant is just a huge complex of concrete. No real style other than brutal industrialism. Not like the Budweiser brewery in St Louis.


So I continued my journey west. Heading further into the mountains. The truck was 4wd and I was determined to to use it.


Oooo tunnels!




The highway I was on had very few turn offs. It was through a valley/canyon. I finally found a side road.




Which way do I go?


Right turn Clyde.


It was just someones driveway so I didn't get far. But I did play in the dirt a little tiny bit. So back on my way looking for some fun. Windy road? OK! I've been in the corn fields way too long.


This was where I was heading. My parents took a trip when I was a kid to Colorado. They went without us kids. They told us about it when they got back and had pictures. This was one of the places they visited and what I remember from those pictures was a typical old mining town/tourist trap place, like you see in the black hills.


What you actually have there now, 40+ years later is basically 4 or 5 casinos that bought up everything. Very disappointing. But I had a good dinner and started to get a headache from the altitude so I headed back to Denver and the hotel, where I slept like crap. Turns out high altitudes can cause insomnia. It never bothered me before but this trip it sure did.

What that tells me is I need to spend more time in the mountains.

[Dieselwrencher]

You might have to invest in some of those cleets/feet to keep the glaciers from falling down. When I first saw them I thought it was a bad idea because if you had a long winter, you could have a heck of a lot of weight on your roof. But I guess they still allow some to go off just not the entire sheet. But IDK, I never got around to putting them on my roof. Haha

That cooler is pretty sweet! Nice trip to CO. You must have just missed Eric when he was out there getting his K5.

[The Rocknrod]

Your pictures are entirely too small for the average person to see, can you guys post them like twice as big?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

You might have to invest in some of those cleets/feet to keep the glaciers from falling down. When I first saw them I thought it was a bad idea because if you had a long winter, you could have a heck of a lot of weight on your roof. But I guess they still allow some to go off just not the entire sheet. But IDK, I never got around to putting them on my roof. Haha

That cooler is pretty sweet! Nice trip to CO. You must have just missed Eric when he was out there getting his K5.

Funny, I just picked up snow bars (that’s what menards calls them) today. I ordered them because after that last snow storm a huge slab of snow slid off the garage on the house side. Completely filled the space between the house and garage about 3’ deep. If one of the animals or a kid was there it could have really ended badly. Also, the snow on the upper roof of the house melts and refreezes creating a large chunk of ice in the valleys. Makes a big bang when it lands on the porch roof. Don’t need damage from that. Or to have one fall on the back side with me or anyone else standing under it.

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Your pictures are entirely too small for the average person to see, can you guys post them like twice as big?

Not sure what you’re seeing on your screen but the pictures are full screen size for me. Anyone else seeing small pictures on the thread?

[3757chevy]

cream soda cooler was ..cool.. bbrrrr...and your pics are fine with me

[Troy Sr]

Pictures are big and great I love your thread!!!

[3757chevy]

Originally Posted by Steeveedee

The left and right pieces kind of look like dogs hanging in the wires.

Cool physics fact- the centers melted like that, and left the stuff on the wires because the exposed wires conduct heat away fast enough to keep the ice in close contact stay frozen.

I had some cool chicken wire snow last year.

[hgs_notes]

The past couple months have been a blur. Travel for work, weather, spring finally making an appearance, continued work on the compound, motorcycle, trucks, etc. Finally going to post some more pics!

I need to skip back a bit to the Colorado trip, I did get to the Forney Transportation Museum while I was in Denver. Pretty cool place. Lots to see but unfortunately I got there late in the day so had to rush through.


One of their big displays is a locomotive. I mean BIIIIIG display. One of the largest train engines ever produced. I had a couple pics that showed the whole outside of it but now I can't find them. I was impressed with the control system though. What a mess of valves.




Quite the suspension...




Old motorcycles...










I wonder how many of these there are out there that are NOT in a museum collection.










Cool side car...






I hope I have these pics in order or there will be some confusion. You don't see nearly as many early trucks in the museums as you do cars. Probably a lot fewer survivors and they wouldn't have any kind of pedigree such as a race car, a celebrity car or something along those lines.




















Go out in style...




Early Amazon.com delivery wagon...




I don't know if this was a short bus for the window lickers or the regular bus for all the other delinquents...




This place has everything with transportation except actual live animals. Never gave it much thought but I kinda thought bikes have been around since shortly after the invention of the wheel, but no. They have a fairly short history also.












Another version of the flying car...




Think about the concept of going camping. In the 1800's and early 1900's it was just travel overnight. People were on foot, in a wagon or maybe an early auto but there weren't a lot of roads and hotels. Basically if you were going somewhere of any significant distance you planned to sleep in the wagon, a tent, the car and possibly a hotel, if one was available. The early RV type campers didn't come along until after a time when travel by car and roads was pretty much the norm. Who was the guy that got all nostalgic about the old family trips to grandmas house for the holidays that took 3 days to go 100 miles? He's thinking, gee wizz my kids are really missing out on those family trips across the barren wastes. I can't really show them that experience in the family car. They can't really get the feel of it from the back seat. I need to haul a trailer to sleep out in so the wife doesn't throw a fit about roughing it like grandma and grandpa had to do back after the civil war and they moved everything they had in one wagon to Oklahoma.

Anyway, here's an old camper...








That sums up the trip to Denver.

[Dieselwrencher]

Very cool! A lot of neat stuff in those pics. Those first early trucks/buggys are really cool.

[Palf70Step]

Glad to see all those pictures! Very nice.

[Ol Blue K20]

That's a nice museum, some really cool pics.

[hgs_notes]

I'm taking a day off, which for me means working harder around the compound. I'm planting 75 trees today. So far 25 Norway pine are in the ground, have 25 birch and 25 oak yet to go. Taking a break from the heat though. I was going to post earlier this morning but photobucket wasn't loading up.

This is from early April I think in west central MN. Along state hwy 9 I think. It was snowing, yay spring! Some nice old iron in this little corner lot by the hwy.








This poor poor convertible. Such a shame...














I'd love to have a wagon. Anything pre-70's.














Big 'ol snowblower!!


I think this is an old gas driven air compressor but not sure...








One of the buildings I went to had replaced the cast iron sectional boilers and hadn't removed the old ones. This is what they look like with the outer skin removed.

[Dieselwrencher]

I'm right there with ya on wanting an old wagon. Those there look to be in pretty decent shape. That does look like an air compressor. Very old it looks. That's a lot of cast. How many of those are a complete boiler assembly?

[hgs_notes]

Originally Posted by Dieselwrencher

How many of those are a complete boiler assembly?

I'm not sure what you are asking? That assembly is 8 sections to make one boiler. There were 5 of them like that sitting in the boiler room. Cast iron boilers are built like this, adding more sections to increase boiler heat capacity.

These pics are from my last run through North Dakota. This looks like it was a frame for some kind of airboat or fanboat, but I think it's probably for going across frozen lakes. Put some skis under it and hang on.




There were some old cars there too.














Probably the smallest bank I've ever seen. Would not be the focus of Oceans 11 or anew movie called "The Bisbee Job". I think this was in Bisbee, ND.


The town bar. Why bother naming it?


Cool


The mullet is strong with this one...


This place can be seen for miles around. It's a military base in ND northwest of Grafton. Doesn't look ominous at all. This is the north side. We're watching you Canada. Don't get any funny ideas.


I love having a full size SUV. I've got a 40' extension ladder in there.


Campers are surprisingly common on these around here...


Have a good weekend everyone!

[Ol Blue K20]

Great trip Mike, thanks for the ride.

[Indian113]

I love that Barracuda! I would go crazy riding with you around the country. Thanks for the pictures

[Palf70Step]

Like that ole 66 Barracuda.

[hgs_notes]

Mid April I was back in western Washington. Even though I've lived there (twice) and I've visited a few times there is still so much I haven't seen. The first night I stayed in Everett, which used to be part of my old territory as an inspector back in the late 90's. One of the shops I used to do a lot of work with has since moved. The entire waterfront area has changed significantly. I hardly recognized anything down there. I found the new shop but it's been nearly 20 years so I didn't even bother trying to connect with anyone there. I just drove around the new site and around the rest of the waterfront area, looking for reminders, for interesting things, for scenery. I had some time to kill.

Here's one of the biggest forklifts I've ever seen...




This is a slightly larger power hammer than I'm looking for for my home shop. At least I think that's what it is.


That night I met up with an old navy buddy. He moved to Marysville recently which is next door to Everett. We don't talk much but when we get together we never stop. Anyway, the next day was working around Everett and the Bellevue area then staying in the Olympia area the next few nights. Once work was done I hit the road to see Mount Rainier. It was a cloudy wet day so I never really did see it during the drive up there but the trip was still very worthwhile.

A dam forming a reservoir.


This hotel? or whatever you want to call it was composed of train cars/cabooses as cabins/rooms. I stayed at a place like it in Bozeman, MT many years ago. My first born was just a toddler and we had been driving back to Idaho from MN to visit the inlaws. Back then you didn't really make a lot of hotel reservations in advance on a road trip because you didn't know how far you were getting and there were no smart phones or much available on the fledgling internet so you stopped when you saw a place and you were ready. The caboose we had was really nice, decorated old west style, but only one bed. So baby girl slept in a dresser drawer. We tried finding that place in later years on the many trips we made back and forth but it must have closed and/or moved. This place really brought me back a long ways.








A little further down the road was somebodies yard art on a grand scale. Very interesting place. Would have been nice to wander through but the gates were closed and I don't know if they welcome random visitors.










There was a lot of elk around. I saw some in peoples yards too.




Made it to the park. Went through the gate and turned around and headed back. I'll be back another time when the weather is better and I've got someone to share it with. Some exploring isn't meant to be done alone.


A few things caught my eye on the way up that I wanted to take a closer look at when I went back through. Like this place...












Very cool old service station...






Corvette that doesn't get washed with soap much...


The water wheel was turning...


Moss




Elk in the yard. I bet they have a hard time keeping a garden.




Cool place. Keeping it painted and water tight would be a full time job. I think it's for sale.


Mount Rainier is a volcano...


It's getting late. That's it for tonight. Enjoy!

[Palf70Step]

Very nice pictures. Looks like some really beautiful country.

[NONHOG]

If I have my thinking cap on? That "water wheel turning" place is a restaurant and when my wife ordered the Trout they brought a bucket of 3 or 4 live fish from the pond and said "which one?" Fresh fish!

Great pics!

[hgs_notes]

I thought I had all of the pics from that trip to Washington done already, but I was mistaken. So, time for another upload.

I was on my way to Rainier and spotted something off the side of the road that I wanted to check out on my way back out. I parked and started walking along the railroad tracks on a spur line.


Elk sign...


This is what I spotted. It's about 1/4 mile from the road...










Looking beyond the abandoned cars...




Let's take a closer look...






The privy...


Finest accommodations...




Back on the road, another train thingy...


A general store. A relic from the past. There are still some of these out around the country but not like there were.


This one caught my eye because of the little sign. Post Office.


Further on I'm back in the suburbs or at least the more populated area southeast of Tacoma. I drove past what looked like an open field with some trails. I turned around and did a little off-roading...








The trail lead to a tower but I can't imagine how much fun it would be to drive one of those big trucks back here to build this place or service it. The pics don't really show the ups and downs and how narrow some of those trails were.


That was it for that day. The next day was the inspectors meeting at the air flight museum by Olympia. It's not nearly as impressive as the big one by Seattle but has some nice stuff.


Time for another motor swap. My Jimmy could use this! Or better yet, my 47 Oldsmobile...












I still have another day of pics from this trip to post up but work is calling. I'm on the road all week again.