Loading...Brian’s Morning Newsletter for June 29th 2009
Good Morning!
Welcome back, I trust you had a pleasant weekend. Things moved slowly for us this weekend. Several rains and nearly as many naps was the name of the game for myownself. We worked in the garden, cleaned the house a little bit. I wrote on the forum on Saturday and saw three or four others there. That’s http://outfitnm.com/forum if you want to take a look, maybe even login and write a little something something.
Early morning grazers, sorry about the lousy image, you can just make out the velvet covered antlers which the bull elk sports this time of year. I think our camera is finally worn out after six years of heavy usage. We got our money’s worth out of our camera so no complaints. If you would like to see better pictures of the wildlife perhaps you might help with a donation.
————————–
We are anxiously awaiting news of the Isuzu turbocharger from Supernatural Turbo in Alabama. I had the squealing turbo pulled last weekend and got it sent via UPS by Tuesday. It was supposed to be there on Friday. Supernatural Turbo (great name, huh?) had me insure it for $800. Eight hundred bucks, if UPS losses it, I don’t know what we’ll do because like all our four cylinder diesel vehicles, major replacement parts are rare indeed. Adding to my anxiety is the Internet being down this morning so I can’t check my email to see if they received the turbo. Funny though, UPS never did send me a shipping log email.
I just need to chill and wait for the Internet to come back online, because it will and it is still too early for word from the turbo repair place or UPS anyway. In the meantime, I’ll try to rationalize to myself the few projects I did this weekend. The tractor started briefly, but the gas I used to replace the old shellacked gas with wasn’t much better, it wouldn’t stay running. I didn’t fight the tractor, but this is the third time the battery has spent the night on the battery charger. Maybe I’ll drive over to the Sapello store and buy some gas for it this morning, and give it a go again today.
As I mentioned the turbo is out of the Isuzu Trooper. I still need to disassemble the alternator-vacuum pump combination unit and fix the oil leak. I’m fairly certain the vacuum pump is what caused both turbos to go bad. I read on the turbocharger repair site that an additional oil reservoir can be installed above the turbo to help lubricate the turbocharger after shutting down the engine. The turbo rebuilder said he will be able to tell me exactly what caused the malfunction of the turbo once he has it apart. Again, patience is needed, and I am trying, but until I hear whether my turbo is rebuildable and how much it will set me back I don’t want to do any work on the Trooper.
My thinking at this point is, if the Trooper needs a new $800 turbo I would rather put the money into the Dodge, or my Ford, for that matter. Yeah, I am still thinking that the Ford F150 would be really sweet with the four cylinder Cummins diesel engine in it. Harvey from North Dakota or Idaho I can’t remember, said he has done the Ford to Cummins 4BT (4 cyl) conversion and it works very well and it is pretty easy to do if I can find a Frito Lay step van to use for the engine and Ford transmission. Now I have something new to look for on Craigslist. Grin.
Speaking of Craigslist, I was looking through the farm and garden section the other day drooling over four wheel drive tractors when I spotted a person in Trementina selling Texas Long Horn cow and calf pairs. Pretty sweet looking animals. It got me to thinking more about having our own cows here. It has been on my mind to setup several fenced areas in our 100 or so acres of pasture to try out the rotational grazing technique. The idea is the animals are placed on one area depending on the size of the heard for a period of time during which the cows eat everything equally. Once the pasture inside the fence is mowed by the cattle they are moved to the next section and the previous area has a chance to recover before the animals are put back in there. Makes a lot of sense to me.
Currently however we don’t have the fences or the cows. How to get into this new venture without borrowing money is the big question. Perhaps a grass fed cattle co-op. Anyone interested?
I’ll think about how a co-op could work for all of us.
My mind goes to a place where the cattle help us justify better farm equipment. I foresee plenty of roundups with the rotational grazing, perhaps at first a little ATV for herding cows in and out of pens. In the future we might justify a horse or two, which unlike the ATV need a barn and tack, but on the bright side horses are greener than ATVs and I know there are a few people out there who would enjoy a place and reason to care for and ride horses!
We’ll keep thinking positively and working toward self-sufficiency for the land. The more green techniques we can dream up the happier we’ll all be.
This is what I am thinking.
Brian Rodgers
——-
Letters
————–
Dear Brian
Like I’ve said before we’ve done several 4bt swaps into F150 pickups. They are heavy enough I can’t imagine putting a 6bt into one? Every time I put my Dodge on my hoist it is a challenge trying to get it positioned because it is just so damned front heavy. I don’t think there is a good way to put a 6bt into a F150 and besides it would tear it up and I’m not trying to be tough when saying that. I literally think it would tear it up. The 6bt is a workhorse engine and it does what you ask from it, the frame on a f150 just isn’t going to take it. A 4bt in a f150 is a nice combination and like I’ve said before it is a good choice here because bread vans are about $2000 and if you get one with the right bell housing they bolt right up to a standard ford pickup transmission. Just pull the front clip, slide it in, weld in the motor mounts, etc and it fits like a charm. I don’t think a 6bt would even fit, you’d have to do some serious relocating. It just is too much motor and believe me I’ve put 454’s in chevy luvs and vega’s when I was a kid but a 6bt will tear the shit out of a frame.
—————
Thanks for the encouragement Harvey!
Got any pictures?
Smiles
Brian
————
Interesting discussion on the forum "Unions"
Howdy Mike
I was hoping you would pipe in on this health-care, union and Alta Vista Hospital topic started on the outfit forum.
http://outfitnm.com/forum/index.php?topic=34.msg174#msg174
Brian Rodgers
—————-
Very interesting. I read the excuse that Alta Vista is giving for selling the hospital. Once again, blame it on the workers. Alta Vista is taking the WalMart approach. If an entity organizes, close down the entity. Personally, I think of them as a bunch of chicken-shits, and I have told companies like this, face-to-face, in bargaining and negotiating sessions, that when they resort to these kinds of tactics, they are exactly what I described them to be. Please have Nell contact her Union Rep, then have the Union Rep contact the Central Labor Council Representitive for their Local, so we can bring this to the attention of the politicians in Santa Fe and beyond. The current owners of Alta Vista need to be made an example of what can happen.
One thing I have learned over the years, and it’s been a hard lesson for me because I’ve been such a radical, is that if one, or a group of people follow the system that is laid out, positive results are far more likely than if the system is not followed.
Has the State Representative, the State Senator, Congressman Ben Rey Lujan, or Senator Tom Udall been notified about this situation? What does Governor Bill Richardson, or Attorney General Gary King know about this? How many voting citizens of Las Vegas, and the surrounding communities, who rely on this hospital, and its services, know about these events? What side is the newspaper on? What about the City Fathers? Where do they stand on this issue? Has anyone gone straight to the MAN, and written Barack Obama about this? Why not?
It’s one thing to sit and stew about an issue, or a group of issues, but it’s a whole different thing to do something about that issue. The Medical Staff and crew over there need to get on a letter-writing campaign, and a telephone campaign to these politicians, and raise holy hell! The squeaky wheel is the one that gets greased.
Please, Brian, keep me informed about the progress of events concerning this issue, as we throughout the Labor Movement in New Mexico are vitally interested, and vitally concerned about this, and if there is anything that we can do to help, we are here.
Mike Kitts
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Recent Comments