Author Archives: Steve Mays
Moving big rocks with new winch
The 20 page owners manual (yes, I’m one of those people) for my WARN cordless winch recommended “practicing” with the winch before getting into a real use situation. I guess that means you can pick the terrain and the size and shape of the object to be moved/lifted.
For my practice session I decided to move a couple of big rocks and use them to protect our new well head from the sleepy garbage truck drivers who turn around in our cul-de-sac.
The winch only has 15 feet of cable, which makes sense given its speed and “use cycle” (two minutes of pulling has to be followed by 30 min of downtime to avoid over-heating). So that means extra straps and re-sets if you’re pulling any distance. I anchored the winch to my pickup.
One of today’s first lessons was the importance of securing the strap. Took me a couple of tries.
In the photo below you see my Bubba Rope towing rope and soft shackle. I bought these for the Land Rover and never used them for that purpose. Yet. The idea behind the soft shackle is in the unlikely event it breaks, you won’t get the shrapnel you’d get from a metal device. But my shackle won’t break.
I tried moving a smaller rock using the sled but the weight was too much and I wound up using the strap on this as well.
Will have to wait on a front-loader for the big rock. Too much for the winch (and winch operator). We’ll probably add some more camouflage around the well-head down the road.
What did I learn today? For some chores it will be easier to hook a strap to the pickup (in 4 wheel drive). As for my intended use of pulling the wood chipper back up the hill, I expect I’ll do some manually rolling where the grade is not too steep, augmented by the winch.
Destin Sunset 10.10.22
Moving chipper down the hill
The idea is to get the chipper closer to the trees and brush that needs chipping, thereby reducing the amount of dragging, much of it uphill. When it gets cold I’ll have to put the chipper indoors. Depending how far down the hill I’m working getting it back up the hill with the winch will be much easier than my dragging it (maybe). At least that’s the theory.
The winch has 15 feet of cable so coming up the hill will take some time. In the sketch above I have the winch attached to the chipper (as opposed to the tree) so I can control the speed and steady the chipper as it creeps up the incline..
Captain Midnight and the Secret Squadron
Yes, I was there. And I had a decoder ring.
Wood chipper on the move
If the trails project is going to proceed, I’ll have to move the wood chipper down the hill. It has wheels so downhill is no problem…but getting it back up the hill would be a problem. It’s a heavy mother. Hopefully I’ve solved the problem with a battery-powered winch.
Jitterbug
I found this in the back of a kitchen drawer. I don’t recall owning this so it must have been Barb’s. “The Jitterbug Flip2 is designed to be easy to use, with big buttons and a large screen. It’s the only flip phone with Amazon Alexa, so you can make calls and send texts using just your voice. And for help in emergencies, the Urgent Response button is right on the keypad.” I especially like the YES and NO buttons. Early version of the “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” icons.
The phone was (and still is?) aimed at the older market, but who doesn’t need an Urgent Response button from time to time? The red button on the new version of the phone?
Some might recall that I dabbled with the idea of a simpler phone a few years ago.
“Let’s make him look like Drexl Spivey”
You’ve heard to saying, “There’s no small parts, only small actors?” Certainly true of Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Drexl Spivey, the drug dealer in True Romance (1993).
The following year Oldman played a corrupt narcotics officer in The Professional. Another superb performance. In one of the opening scenes Oldman lead a team of narcs into an apartment searching for some missing heroin. Photo below is one of the half dozen cops on the raid.
Don’t know who the actor is but that’s not important. The similarity to Drexl Spivey seems too strong to be coincidental. Was this an inside joke on Oldman?
How trail designers build good hikes
This 5 minute video looks at how trail designers (it never occurred to me there was such a thing) and engineers do what they do.
Hiking trail progress
I’ve fallen into something of a routine. One day of cutting and dragging trees/brush; one day of chipping; and one day of lining the path-to-be with rocks and spreading cedar chips.
The rock work would be quite the chore but for the fact I’m never more than an arm’s reach from a rock. Lots of rocks. Tomorrow is chipping day.
