Even with the specialized jobs that we have going on around here, there are times when a day is spent just doing what I like to call "general cleanup". This usually involves moving things around and picking up things that should've been disposed of a long time ago but we never got around to it. Sometimes the general cleanup might involve organizing things that have been staged somewhere and not addressed, like firewood. Sometimes, like in this most recent case, it involves moving vehicles around after moving something else out of the way. In this case I was working on a beater car for a friend's cousin and even though it was a job I should've never taken on due to the fact that it was a lose/lose situation or a zero-sum game because the car is not worth the amount of money that would be spent to do the work and in the case of this particular car, the deeper I dig in during the repairs I can see immediately, I end up finding even more things that need addressing. By the time things are said and done the customer would've ended up spending over $2500 on a car worth $700. Anyway, after I did the small batch of things that I spotted I finally got to the point where I was able to get off this car as it was in the way and I wasn't about to do any more work to it because the customer would start questioning the charges I would've put on the whole job. I digress, the main point was the idea that with this POS out of the way, I was able to move the Monte Carlo out of the way, which was parked right next to the other car, both behind the small trailer we have. After having moved the trailer back up to behind the garage and getting the other car out of my hair, I moved the Monte over to the east end of the midway in order to clear up the area of the yard along the western fence since I will be moving the F150 eventually and had to open the area up to get our old tow dolly out. Another little treat that I was able to partake in was harvesting a few strawberries from a couple of the plants in the garden. Last year I uprooted multiple strawberry plants and their runners from some old areas where I pulled up some fruit trees and transplanted the plants into various containers. I planted strawberries in a couple of old recycling bins and planted many in some drum planters around some fruit trees I planted in each drum. Since the drums are small I would plant one tree or large blueberry bush then plant several strawberry plants around the tree/bush to make a mini food forest setup in the drum. Anyway I was able to grab a few small berries from the plants to claim first harvest in the garden this year. The other thing that I want to talk about is the new used tow dolly that we picked up. This piece of equipment was picked up just after we returned from the TX trip. I found this thing on FB marketplace and after immediately contacting the guy and convincing him to meet up later that evening we hauled ass over to his place and picked the thing up. This unit has a swivel base where the platform that the car sits on turns independent of the dolly itself, making for a more tighter turning radius when towing a car. The dolly has built on ramps that are attached with springy plates that allow the ramps to flex down when pressure from a car's tires meets up with the edges of the ramps. Once the car's on the platform the ramps spring back up some to keep them off the ground. It's not the best design but its a lot better than the old dolly that we have. I will have to check out the mounting of the ramps to ensure everything is solid and more than likely reinforce the mounting of the ramps. I like going over things prior to pressing something into service so I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the piece of equipment or vehicle is going to be ready for use. I could probably use this thing right now but will not until I give it my seal of approval. The dolly did come with the straps for each side as well so I would be ready to use this thing now for all intents. Having a decent tow dolly is part of my plan to set myself up to be able to retrieve cars without having to drag a heavy car trailer around, much less maneuver one behind the F250. With just a dolly I would be able to tow a car with a lesser sized truck which will open up the door to more options as I can use certain vehicles that are more geared for long distance runs but don't burn as much fuel or are as large. Just having multiple means of doing the same job only make sense. I'll plan on getting more plants in the ground or in beds in the following moments as well so we will be able to get more harvest from other plants as well as the strawberries. Also, moving the Monte where I did will give me a better spot to start work on it, the first thing being a camshaft swap to try and see if I can remedy the loping sound this engine makes when running which also causes the engine to be rather weak. As one can see, this year, like last year, will be a very busy year.
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