Mighty Machines Day

I took today off to have an extra day to get a few things done and not be rushed back into work. A slow starting morning catching up on some football scores from yesterday and relaxing a bit before a couple hours of cutting grass. It was a mess out there, but I needed to get it done, so I spent some time cleaning up a section of the front. Lots more to do before the weather changes, but I’m on a good pace to knock out some grass.

I needed a break, and got some water, but then noticed there was still equipment in the pasture. Hmmmmm.

I’d wanted to try out the machines, and even use one to move hay, but we didn’t get hay, and I didn’t want to interfere with the guys working. However they’re done now and today looked like a good time to play with the machines.

First was the large forklift. I planned to use that to move hay, so I decided to just give it a try and drive it. It took a minute to get it to start, but then I couldn’t get it to move. I tried all kinds of switches, moved the gearshifter, hit buttons and it wouldn’t move. Turned it off, got out, looked around, got in and was about to give up when I noticed a switch in the upper corner I hadn’t flipped. Sure enough, I flipped it and the thing moved. I drove it briefly, then put it back. I walked over to the tall lift, but noticed that there was a pallet with anchors on it.

“That needs to be moved, “ I thought to myself and got back in the forklift. I picked up the pallet and drove it to the other side of the barn. Easy to do, especially when you’re moving slow and I decided to leave the forklift parked outside for pickup.

Then I decided to move everything out.

Next was the scissor lift. I’d watched one of the day laborers struggle to move it and get it up and down, so I wanted to see if I could do it. Sure enough, I figured it out fairly quickly and had it moving out of the yard. As I drove over, I looked at the chimney, where I’d planned on mounting my wind meter for the weather station. I’d never gotten the pole up with the various wind items since my ladder didn’t reach high enough and it was a little scary. I drove over, lifted up and wasn’t scared. For some reason, the might machine felt safer, so I went and got tools, the pole, and loaded up. Then I lifted up high, almost to the top of the chimney and screwed in the pole. Just checked the weather station, and sure enough it’s receiving.

Coooooolllll!!!

That’s a project I’ve been wanting to knock off my list. I parked the scissor hack and then looked around some more. I still had the bucket lift to move, so I went over and mucked around with the ground controls. I managed to start it, but couldn’t move it. So I went to the bucket and got it started from there and immediately got it moving. I’m not sure why I couldn’t get it working from the ground, but didn’t matter. I drove it out and drove over to change the light bulb on the barn light. That requires a ladder, and I had a lift. With that changed, I lifted up to the park of the barn, so it was a little below my waist. Way up there, but way safer feeling than the ladder.

I still had time, so I drove to the house and pulled down a gutter and cleaned it out. That time I even stopped the machine, worked on the gutter, and restarted it. Very cool.

I’m ready for day labor, if all else fails in my job. I can move machines around!