Almost October and we haven't had any snow, or even cold weather yet her in Edmonton. But you know its coming. I'm in a panic to get the vehicles ready for winter, somehow still working 12 hour days wiring stuff for other people.
I made a list of vehicle problems and required maintenance issues. The VW list is 2 pages long, so its just getting parked for the winter. I don't want to be changing bearings and CV joints on the side of the highway in the winter, for an example. The VW saves me a lot of money on fuel, but the van makes money, plus its better in deep snow.
Edmonton has announced they will not be plowing roads down to bare pavement this year. Its too expensive, and last year the piles got so high you couldn't see round corners, and roads got too narrow. So if I understand that correctly they will just be grading roads, as if they were dirt roads, but snow. Look out for the new show, Ice Road Truckers Edmonton.
So I got new steel leaf springs for the van, along with 4 extra leafs, and coil over shocks. My van should be good for a ton plus when I am done with it. Then new brakes for the back, I need to get a new block heater in it, heavy lug snow tires with studs, and I think its good to go for winter, for maybe under $1000. Sounds simple when I write it down. Its getting those leaf spring bolts and stuff off that takes forever.
The VW will live on. We will see what comes up for sale over the winter, probably no diesel station wagons for under $3000, in which case the Jetta will get fixed in spring, or I will put its motor into the first possum van. Oddly enough, that would be a lot cheaper than fixing the jetta. The total required Jetta repairs will be close to $2000, if you count a new set of tires at $800, not so much needed for summer. But I got the whole car for $1000 and got almost 40,000km out of it, saving me almost $4,000 for fuel. Plus I still have the perfectly good turbo diesel, which, with a new clutch, could go in a bigger vehicle, haul more, tow more, and save another $10,000 in fuel over a couple of years. That makes me more excited somehow.
We are going to put Michelle's Hyundai on the road so we have the "personal" vehicle, and I don't have to drive the company van everywhere. I will be declining work out of the city for the winter. My favorite out of town builder leaves for Arizona for the winter anyway.
I will be sure to get some videos of my new van springs and stuff. When the snow falls work will probably slow down and I can find some time to post those videos.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Bow Hunting Gophers
Some how this 7 days a week, 12 hours a day, has carried over longer than it perhaps should have. Though much of that time is unbillable hours, driving between places, fixing equipment, and cleaning the trailer up.
No rats in Alberta still, but we have lots of gophers and mice.
We still have a mouse in the house, and I have terminated about 6 of them since Sept 7. They have probably lived here longer than me, then the population got to be a little much.
A customer was so excited when I said I could take care of his gopher problem. I haven't really shot my bow all summer, I have been so busy. But I took less than 10 min to set a target up in Andrew, shot 6 arrows into the center hole of a roll of electrical tape, called the bow still good. so without making a special trip, I took the bow to my customers house to do some electrical work. I shot 3 gophers in less than 5 min on my way to his back door. Then another 3 every time I had to go for electrical supplies in the van. I obviously need to get some blunt force trauma tips, it is surprisingly hard to kill gophers with target points.
Its much more satisfying hunting with the bow, for a lot of reasons. If I had shot a gopher with a 22, that would be it, I wouldn't have got the other 2 at the same time, and even the shot gopher would have made it down the hole, leaving no evidence that I even hit it, unless it was a head shot. Maybe next time I can get a bow cam set up, you can see my perfect shots, never missed once, but for now this is a short vid of the first 3 kills, sparing you the gory kill shots. If you don't know what a gopher looks like its a must see. I didn't know before I moved to Alberta. But wow can they dig holes.
No rats in Alberta still, but we have lots of gophers and mice.
We still have a mouse in the house, and I have terminated about 6 of them since Sept 7. They have probably lived here longer than me, then the population got to be a little much.
A customer was so excited when I said I could take care of his gopher problem. I haven't really shot my bow all summer, I have been so busy. But I took less than 10 min to set a target up in Andrew, shot 6 arrows into the center hole of a roll of electrical tape, called the bow still good. so without making a special trip, I took the bow to my customers house to do some electrical work. I shot 3 gophers in less than 5 min on my way to his back door. Then another 3 every time I had to go for electrical supplies in the van. I obviously need to get some blunt force trauma tips, it is surprisingly hard to kill gophers with target points.
Its much more satisfying hunting with the bow, for a lot of reasons. If I had shot a gopher with a 22, that would be it, I wouldn't have got the other 2 at the same time, and even the shot gopher would have made it down the hole, leaving no evidence that I even hit it, unless it was a head shot. Maybe next time I can get a bow cam set up, you can see my perfect shots, never missed once, but for now this is a short vid of the first 3 kills, sparing you the gory kill shots. If you don't know what a gopher looks like its a must see. I didn't know before I moved to Alberta. But wow can they dig holes.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Mice
Last night, was triumphant victory for me.
After every type of mouse trap and poison failed me, I put the poison out in the open, and they feed on it every night, in my bedroom, watching me watch them, knowing they are out of reach. Until last night. I don't really care if we have mice, if they stay out of my bedroom and out of my cereal.
I brought all 3 bb guns to the city last night, never know where there will be a mouse sighting in the house, need one on each floor. I stayed up to watch the mice feed from bed. No video, but I sniped two of them out, one at a time, hours apart. I am so happy with myself. I've now cleaned the mess they made, and we will see if there is any more evidence of them in the near future.
Coincidentally I am really surprised at how seriously Alberta takes their rat control. Like you call 911 if you see a rat in Alberta, and they take care of it. Don't really call 911, you get fire trucks and everything, but you call the rat hot line, in the front of the phone book, if you can find a phone book, they are pretty scarce these days.
After every type of mouse trap and poison failed me, I put the poison out in the open, and they feed on it every night, in my bedroom, watching me watch them, knowing they are out of reach. Until last night. I don't really care if we have mice, if they stay out of my bedroom and out of my cereal.
I brought all 3 bb guns to the city last night, never know where there will be a mouse sighting in the house, need one on each floor. I stayed up to watch the mice feed from bed. No video, but I sniped two of them out, one at a time, hours apart. I am so happy with myself. I've now cleaned the mess they made, and we will see if there is any more evidence of them in the near future.
Coincidentally I am really surprised at how seriously Alberta takes their rat control. Like you call 911 if you see a rat in Alberta, and they take care of it. Don't really call 911, you get fire trucks and everything, but you call the rat hot line, in the front of the phone book, if you can find a phone book, they are pretty scarce these days.
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