The bad news:

This winter, a tree fell on my backhoe. It’s not a high end backhoe, but a really cheap Chinese made 3 point backhoe I bought new for only 3000 dollars…but it digs well and does what I need it to. It was detached and sitting all alone at the edge of the woods, waiting for springtime jobs….not bothering anyone,just sitting there inoffensively when a half a tree fell on it. Not the largest half, which was good, but the half that fell was over a foot and a half in diameter and it smacked right down on the big hydraulic cylinder that is the dipper cylinder that bends the thing for digging.

When the errant tree fell, it smacked right on the end of the cylinder, then bounced and broke the hose off at the retract port.

The good news: it hit right on the mounting ears for the solid end of the cylinder and did not appear to have damaged the cylinder itself.

The bad news: It appears that the ears that mount the cylinder are bent and the pin itself is bent. The ears are made of 1/2 inch-ish steel and the pin is whatever the Chinese metric equivalent to an inch and a half diameter, more or less.

Not a big deal, I moved the tree with the loader bucket and I got my brother to come help…we put a sling under the knee and bent the arm so we could fish the hose out. The hose was actually easy to remove and the other end was easy to get to rather than buried in the rats nest of hoses where they connect onto the valve setup.

The good news: I took it to a hydraulics place and got a new end on the hose for a price of $8.77. Modern manufacturing is a wonderful thing….I can get a fairly precision part installed for dirt cheap.

The bad news: The fitting where the hose screws to the cylinder was also damaged and cracked and broke off while trying to fit the new hose end onto it. Shit.

The good news: I have an “Easy Out” that fits into the remains of the fitting.

The bad news: Not a chance in hell is that fitting gonna move without some love from the Blue Wrench. And probably two people…and a vise. Maybe some other shit….I dunno And for that to happen, the cylinder is gonna have to come off of the backhoe. The moving end is undamaged, that will be easy. the other end, the fixed end with the bent ears and the bent pin…not so easy.

Well, dammit. I had hoped to not to have to take the cylinder off, as, while the pin was bent, the cylinder did move in the ears and there isn’t too much movement (like only a few degrees) at that end when the backhoe is operating….I was leery of pulling the pin because of the sprung ears that hold the pin and the cylinder….I might have issues getting them to line up again after being bent once I removed the pin to get the cylinder off…..Plus I wasn’t sure the bent pin would even come out of the bent ears.

The good news: Once I removed the retaining bolt, I was  able to get the pin out easily. It wasn’t even bent!

The bad news: The pin wasn’t bent, it was broken. I put a drift pin on the end and whacked it with a hammer and the other end of the pin came right out and fell into the mud. Huh…..Shit.
I’m not sure where I am gonna get a replacement pin for a one-off Chinese manufactured backhoe. I no longer have access to a larger metal lathe, so making a new pin is not really an option. Ain’t likely  I can get a pin from the Chinese factory that made it, either.

I do have the cylinder off now, so I SHOULD be able to get the remains of the broken fitting out and should be able to find another one to replace it with. I am looking for a pin to replace the broken pin with….And I have a plan to straighten out the ears so that I can get the pin back in when I put the cylinder back. Maybe. If all else fails a torch should soften the steel enough that I can bend the ears enough…maybe. Worst case, I take it to the hydraulic shop and have them put a new fitting in, but that gets somewhat pricey…they are a really good shop. but they aren’t cheap. But maybe they can source a pin for me….

We shall see. But hey, this activity is getting me out of the house and yet letting me stay away from everyone….so far, anyway.

See a parallel between the ads and the community sacrifice happening today and the same sort of ads (only print instead of video) and the community sacrifice that happened during World War 2?

I mean, the ads are now running showing people “donating PPE” to hospitals….Donating MONEY to hospitals….sacrificing for the good of the nation. (yes, I actually heard those words on CBS). All of this accompanied by video of people hugging folks donating such items.

The parallels are clear. Along with the oft repeated slogan “We are all in this together”.

While the Covid-19 virus IS a dangerous disease, causing a pandemic that rivals (or possibly slightly exceeds) the severity of any of our past flu outbreaks (except, perhaps, the “Spanish Flu”) there is a great deal of Social Engineering taking place here. People have been led into panic, have been conditioned from the beginning to accept barely Constitutional “Stay at home” orders, first told NOT to wear masks, then, when told TO wear masks, they jumped into that wholeheartedly…to the point that it is now a fashion.…..Now the “We are All In This TOGETHER” message…..Odd.

I’m not sure who is engineering the Social Message…but it isn’t random. Someone is managing this. Probably the same folks who ginned up the unreasonable fear from this disease in the first place.

I find it scary that whoever is engineering this message (and lets face it, LOTS of companies are putting their name on the message, and I find it odd that the message is the same, from many different companies….) is working so closely to the same propaganda map that was used for WWII….and that it is working so well. The enemy is, of course, not the Germans nor the Dirty Japs, but a disease…..But the parallels are, frankly, frightening when it comes to the Social Conditioning aspects. 

Look: I think that the CoronaPanic is somewhat overblown.

If you take New York (the Metro area, not the state…but including the edge of New Jersey where people commute from) out of the equation, then this isn’t much worse than a standard Flu season, although a bit more time compressed.

There is a HUGE push to “reopen” the economy, releasing folks to go back to normal, for whatever level of normal they can recover to.

I’m not so sure if that is a good idea….

I mean, we have done the Kinda-sorta mandated but without any force of law but still sorta semi enforced “lockdown” bit….and have damaged our economy to the point where the ripple effect of the damage will be felt for months, if not years

And yet, really, what will another two weeks hurt at this point? Schools are closed for the rest of the year, pretty much all large gatherings (ball games, races, concerts, etc) are cancelled until at least mid summer….
People are laid off but are now getting some unemployment, so another week or three won’t appreciably change their economic position…..Businesses are getting some relief, (some of them, anyway) and things have, for the most part, stabilized on the economic front.

I’d hate to see a minor downtrend change back to an upward tick in cases or even deaths in a week or so after the “reopening” of the country. Another two weeks will tell us for sure., at a small economic price. And another 21 days gives even more time for the curve to decay another two cycles…no matter what the curve actually looks like.

I’d hate for all the sacrifice and economic damage we’ve already done to be wasted. At this point, we might as well make sure. I would think another three weeks , say May 10th-ish would not be a bad idea.

We are fucked economically either way, so why not? 

HERE

Who knew he was so powerful? 

Today was, IMO, the REAL beginning of the United states.

Colonists had enough of their rulers, and stood up to, and said “NO” to the actions of those soldiers under orders of General Gage and Colonel Smith.

If you live in the US, say Thank You to whatever deity you talk to for those colonists back in 1775

So people are lining up for HOURS in their cars to get food from food banks.

The videos I see show most folks in the lines are driving fairly new cars.

This, needing food handouts, after a month with no work.

This, to me, says something about their lifestyle that they are in dire straights after only month with no pay income. Cant feed themselves after only a month or so. So apparently nos savings at all
Living on the edge, as it were.

Plus, one would think that if they are out of work, they’d be getting unemployment.

Or it possibly could be that they are just bored, I dunno. 

Is the SEC and the Ethics Committee going to investigate those 4 Senators (that we know of) that knew about the coronavirus issue and the Federal Government’s response….. and sold stock BEFORE everyone else found out? 

I would still consider that inside trading…..

Wouldn’t you?

We should DEMAND an investigation. 

But when I walked out on my deck, there was a golden eagle juvenile sitting in the tree near me, practicing his cry.

He is getting there, but needs practice.

It was a pretty good moment, me watching him, him watching me, and hearing his practice.

Sometimes you gotta enjoy life’s little moments

Wrong Again.

What a surprise, huh?

Well, just read the whole thing. Read the linked article too.

Remember, we were looking (at one point) at MILLIONS of people dying.
(That was the model).

Now it MIGHT be 65,000. If that.
(Not an insignificant number, mind you, but a far cry from MILLIONS).

And we have, effectively, destroyed our economy…first by shutting it down and then by injecting Billions of dollars that didn’t exist.

All because someone panicked and didn’t, you know, actually check to see if the model was valid.

Kinda like the whole Global Warming thing, only in fast forward, with deficit spending.

Buying a race car doesn’t make you a NASCAR driver.

Buying a saw doesn’t make you a carpenter.

Please, get some training on how to safely use your new heater.

‘Cause buying a gun doesn’t buy the knowledge nor skill to use it effectively nor safely.

(likely there is a gun club nearby that can help, or you can go to the NRA website  to find some training classes)

But please, learn to use that new tool you bought. They are, like a table saw, unforgiving to folks who don’t know how to use them safely…and the person you hurt might not be you.