Happy New Year???

Happy New Year to Everyone!!!

We partied with friends to usher in the New Year.  It was decided to celebrate an early time zone New Year so everyone could leave early.  I woke up in the middle of the night with a cough.  The rest of the week was spent holding down my easy chair.

The deer hunting season has sadly ended at 5:17 p.m. Sunday, January 5, 2014.  It was a very wet and cold ending with nothing seen all day.  Neither Leslie or I harvested a deer on our property.  We tried.  Oh Yeah!  Leslie especially has been in the woods as much as she was able to.  She was determined to bag something.  As for me, my time in the woods has been recently limited to afternoon hunts.  Our woods have been devoid of hoofed ungulates during hunting hours since the opening of the season.  Luckily we were given a deer from a good friend.  This will help us get through the year.   There are a few squirrels in those woods that I plan to harvest.

Before the rain started on Sunday I was working in the shop for a while.  I had to cut a piece of plywood for Leslie to use with her Wii console.  After finishing that I moved the hammer back under the 2-ton hoist so I could lift the flywheel/shaft off the frame.  There was a half washer brazed onto the back end of the spider.  This had to be ground off to allow the shaft to turn.  I can’t for the life of me understand why it was brazed on there in the first place.  It didn’t take as much work to get it off as I had anticipated.  The shaft was hoisted back up onto the frame and I was ready to put the bearing caps on the shaft.  They were tight the first time I tried so I cut a couple sheets of thick paper to use a gasket on both caps.  The shaft turns pretty easily now and after tightening it all back up I flooded the caps with oil to lube the shaft.  Oil flowed pretty freely out of the bearings but it took long enough for me to know that it will be oiled well while the machine is running.

One of the last things to do is to get the ram guide on properly.  The area that the guide attaches needed to be painted so that was done while it was still in the 50’s outside.  That was all that could be done for the day. 

My cat came into the shop and I noticed that her face looked really swollen on her left side.  She had a small cut by her ear for a couple days that seemed to stay open but now she was scratching the fire out of it.  After trying to look at it she ran off.  I knew she’d be back for food, so at supper time I caught her and put her in the house inside a cage.  With the extreme cold overnight I didn’t want her to deal with that along with whatever infection she has going on.  Hopefully it can be treated easily.  Another trip to the animal hospital.  It’s always something with these darn critters.

Took her in to the animal hospital on 1/6/14 as soon as I got home from work.  It turned out to be an abscess on the cats face.  They had to put her out, drain and clean the wound.  She gets to come home with a cone around her neck ans has to be kept inside for 10 days.  So I bring in a rabbit hutch from the barn and stuff her inside for the duration.  Luckily she's got a good disposition.  Can't wait for her to get the stitches out and let her outside again.

Leaving on a good note...at the time I posted this, I have the hammer about ready to go.  It has a small electrical issue that has to be addressed.  Seams like 2014 came in like a lion, lets hope the lamb stays with us the rest of the year.