# Winter



## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

It's nearly winter here and Kris wants me to fix the furnace. I can't do that because I used the hangar to fix the starter motor on the truck. Did you know that metal hangars are difficult to find? Apparently, someone found a seagull at the dump with one wrapped around it's neck, and it became politically incorrect to throw them away and put the seagulls at risk.

There is something seriously wrong here. How can it be politically incorrect since seagulls don't vote? It's bad enough when we let illegal aliens vote, but birds? The seagull doesn't even know what state it belongs to. It is the California seagull, but the Utah state bird. So where would it register to vote?

I needed about 200 wire hangars recently, (I had a lot of chores around the house) and could not find them at the DI, or the Salvation Army. The local laundromats no longer used them. I had to buy a spool of wire, make some hangars and throw them away just to be able to find them in the trash. 

Political correctness is a vampire that will suck the life out of us. Christian churches have crosses on their spires, and so when Christians meet a vampire, they hold up a cross. The Mormon churches just have spires. So here in Utah when they meet a vampire, they give it the Utah state bird.

I can never really fix the furnace anyway. It was condemned by the gas company ten years ago because it draws combustion air off the living spaces. They say that it was a fire hazard and will put poisonous gasses into the house. After they red tagged it and went away, I just turned it on again. It has been working that way for sixty years, and I am sure that the children raised here having stumpy green fingers had nothing to do with the poisonous gases. As for the fire hazard, the asbestos walls prevent that.

And that's where political correctness hits again. I can't get rid of the asbestos because they don't let you put it in the dump. What are dumps for if you can't dump stuff? I can't get rid of the lead acid batteries that are stacked in the driveway, the 55 gal drums of cleaning fluid, nor the concrete slabs stacked by the fence. It's too dangerous for the dump, but it's OK in my yard.

I can't complain too much. I don't really like the dump. Every time you go you get a flat tire and a California seagull poops on you. Last time I was there I wrapped a coat hangar around one's neck.


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## Nanno (Aug 30, 2009)

This is hilarious. :lol:

Bob, you remind me of Mr. Harry Plinkett of Red Letter Media...

[youtube:1ggqee0s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJarz7BYnHA[/youtube:1ggqee0s]
[youtube:1ggqee0s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxKtZmQgxrI[/youtube:1ggqee0s]

(warning: there's a good bit of bad language in those movie reviews, but if it's funny, it's not a sin, right?)

Anyone want a pizza roll? :lol:


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

If I only knew.
When my grandmother passed away
we threw away buckets and bags of 
wire coat hangers.
To think that they could become collectables.

Bob: I am thinking Goodwill may have some wire
hangers they may sell you. If you find yourself in
a pinch.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Been there done that. They no longer even put them out.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

I know what you want for christmas.

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-METAL-COAT-...=310251854206&ps=63&clkid=4557541458544612423

Multitaskers!


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## jross (Dec 20, 2008)

I love going to the dump. I find more good stuff there than at any real store.

I guess that makes me a ******* ...
- You may be a ******* if, when you go to the dump, you bring back more stuff than you leave there.


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## ryorkies (May 4, 2010)

jross said:


> I guess that makes me a ******* ...
> - You may be a ******* if, when you go to the dump, you bring back more stuff than you leave there.


Yes it does! And I ought to know since it takes one to know one.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

We are so politically correct at our dump that nothing leaves. You're not allowed to scrounge. I did manage to get 200lbs of Food storage grain from a guy before he dumped it.


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Bob Jones said:


> We are so politically correct at our dump that nothing leaves. You're not allowed to scrounge. I did manage to get 200lbs of Food storage grain from a guy before he dumped it.


Bob, how do they expect a guy to make a decent living if he can't even scrounge at the dump? What the heck....???


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

I used to go to Wendover on Thursday and return to SLC Sunday night or Monday. We were the First Fourth Day Adventist church probably in the world. I had to preach on Thursday because everyone that lived there worked the weekends. 

One trip out there I was able to scrounge a mobile home from the dump. It was 8' x 80'. I knocked everything off the frame while there at the dump and hauled the frame back with my van. I cut it in half and made a 40' trailer out of it. I lost it somewhere in Texas... have to tie this in to the thread somehow... in Winter. 

I also scrounged an industrial two stage compressor. The first stage had a 10" cylinder. 

I didn't make any money off of either deal, so I'm not sure I ever made a living scrounging at the dump anyway. Mostly I used to just bring back cool stuff. Now I go to NPS or Harbor Freight when my urge for cool stuff or shiny things takes hold.

I am more ready for winter this year than I have ever been, excepting that the furnace still isn't fixed. The buckets are already in place for the leaky roof, the rabbit hutches are under a tarp... the girls are 14 pounds each, I just started breeding again so I should have bunnies for Christmas, I just built up the chicken herd, 9 hens a laying, the ducks have shelter, the hay is under the roof on the patio, the fences are mended. I am down to only four vehicles and only one parked in the back.

As it turns out, they don't make rotors for my Bell and Gosset pump any more, so they've ordered one from a village in Bangladesh that stocks them. Well, they don't really stock them, they scrounge them off old ships that are hauled there to be disassembled and made into razor blades. They will overnight it to me, which will take three days from there, just as soon as I meet their minimum purchase quantity.

When I re-plumbed the system 20 years ago, I had the foresight to install bypass piping and valves so that I could mount another pump in the system. I am mounting a water pump off a vehicle, the type I know not, since I scrounged it at the dump seeings how I got rid of all the old cars from my property. Unfortunately, while waiting 20 years for this eventuality, the valves got stuck and are unusable. If I only had a coat hangar.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Rex said:


> Bob Jones said:
> 
> 
> > We are so politically correct at our dump that nothing leaves. You're not allowed to scrounge. I did manage to get 200lbs of Food storage grain from a guy before he dumped it.
> ...


I don't believe you have a scrounging bone in you... after turning down free emus. What are you going to tell the grandchildren? Nothing! Had you taken them, then you'd have something to tell them. ;-)


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## Rex (Nov 30, 2008)

Bob Jones said:


> Rex said:
> 
> 
> > [quote="Bob Jones":c0y9c0ob]We are so politically correct at our dump that nothing leaves. You're not allowed to scrounge. I did manage to get 200lbs of Food storage grain from a guy before he dumped it.
> ...


I don't believe you have a scrounging bone in you... after turning down free emus. What are you going to tell the grandchildren? Nothing! Had you taken them, then you'd have something to tell them. ;-)[/quote:c0y9c0ob]

LOL.... Am Emu would make a heck of a thanksgiving turkey!!!


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

Just an update... since then we moved into a new house. They actually bulldozed the old one just after we moved out. We used a 40 foot trailer to make the move... and filled it. The house stuff only took the first 12 feet, the rest came from the garage and yard. We only moved one classic car. It is #10 off the assembly line.. a 1980 Triumph Spider, with a v-8 engine. It is a priceless collectors item. My wife is ready to pay someone to haul it away. 

It came with three... count them, 3 sheds. One for the goats, one for the hay and one for the garden stuff. 

Although this new place is a fire trap... no asbestos in the walls, every closet had wire coat hangars in it. At least now I can keep the truck running.


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## TOU (Aug 18, 2013)

Rex said:


> Bob Jones said:
> 
> 
> > I don't believe you have a scrounging bone in you... after turning down free emus. What are you going to tell the grandchildren? Nothing! Had you taken them, then you'd have something to tell them. ;-)
> ...


Have you ever had Emu...I have. Breast is darker meat like pheasant, very lean, but eats like a great steak & not as wild as a pheasant as it was grain fed (no bugs or sage). I would eat again in a heart beat!


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## TOU (Aug 18, 2013)

I have ever met him yet Bob's post always bring me a smile. It looks like he has not made the transition from the old PackGoatForum. It would be good to see him here. Anyone have his contact info? If so reach out to him and other that you see not here yet.

Cheers,

TOU


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

*Hello Tou,*

I have made it here. I'm not sure what to do here yet.

I have been out of commission a couple years. The cpap for obstructive Apnea was training me to not breathe at all causing Central apnea.. undetected, which caused hypoxia (and gout and bone spurs).. causing atrial fibrillation at which point they were going to put me on heart medicine to keep my heart rate down which would have exacerbated the hypoxia into a downward spiral.

Well I stopped listening to doctors and had them test me for other things before going on the heart medicine, which uncovered the real cause. The good part of all that is that I discovered a way to lose weight without having to work out... it's called atrophy.

I am now back up to walking 3-7 miles from time to time. Mostly I walk until someone picks me up for wandering aimlessly drooling on myself.

My goats are fat and lazy like me, so I should have no trouble keeping up with them if we get out hiking again.

I can only guess , but Pig is probably over 350 pounds. One day I'll load him in the truck and find a scale. (Oh, my wife bought me a 1-ton truck and 18 foot trailer. No more hauling goats in the minivan. )

Like most of you I am waiting for my fortune to be smuggled out of Nigeria by an illegitimate heiress to the throne who is collaborating with the National Bank accountant who only needed my bank account number. I gave him Rex's with the understanding that Rex, being the fair guy that he is would gladly receive 20% for his participation in the endeavor.

I am rcjones @ xmission . com at least until I receive a new batch of spam from having posted it here.

My wife doesn't like me hiking alone, I don't really understand it. She says it is mostly because I end up in the hospital when I do. So I tell people who go with me that if I die out there, they should not load my body on a goat. They can only carry 1/3 of their weight. They should quarter me first and distribute the parts between them.

Last time I went alone I forgot to tie my hammock on one end. When I jumped in it I fell about 3 feet catching a stone in the small of my back. This is no small feet since I have a hard time catching stones with my hands.

I wasn't sure if I had broken my back or not, but could not move for most of 30 minutes before I decided I didn't want to be there after dark. It took me a couple hours to get to the truck and load the herd. By the time I drove to Salt Lake from the Mirror lake area and got to the hospital I was unable to move from the drivers seat. This was a good thing because when they moved me it got worse. I told the doctor that I wanted my wife to beat me, so that I didn't waste all the pain without experiencing something kinky in the process.

My wife had to meet me there to take the goats home. I now know that she CAN unload the goats by herself . This is helpful information for someone who is fat and lazy.

That was all before my heart troubles. I am discovering that there are advantages to going senile as well. When you wake up each morning you feel like you must have partied all night and can't remember any of it.

But I am on the mend and hope to be out hiking this spring. If you are a nurse or doctor and carry paddles and O2 on your goats and would like to hike, give me a call. Or if you know how to quarter a carcass and would like to hike....

My wife may not want me to go hiking, but by then I can manage to forget that part. I usually remember why I don't hike often just after I get the goats loaded, but forget it by the time I get to the trail head.

It would be fun to see you all again. Hannah got a full scholarship for violin performance, and then an additional one for trombone. I don't know why we paid for those french horn lessons. Somehow we got grandchildren.

Oh I nearly forgot. I have fallen in love with hard sausage and cheese as a hiking staple. There is nothing to cook, nothing to clean up and goat pee washes right off.

I also highly recommend the Solo Stove. You can cook a meal with a few handfuls of wood scraps. It's like having a gas stove without having to carry gas.

It's funny. My four goats can carry close to 300 pounds of gear, yet I camp more minimalistically than ever. When you take out the parachute I use as a tent, the nun habit I use for the Julie Andrews look-alike contest at the top of the mountain, the garden gnomes (two, because they don't like to travel alone), and the glockenspiel, I actually travel very frugally... leaving room for a couple car batteries, converter and computers.

One of these days we will have to make a series like Survivor man, except use pack goats. While the dude is eating worms we could eat steaks that were deep frozen in dry ice. While he is trying to rub two sticks together, we could just pull the trigger on the map gas bottle and have hot water in under 2 minutes. Goat packers are survivalists with style.


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## idahonancy (Dec 13, 2008)

OMG welcome back to world of goat packing Bob. What a journey you've been on. Please check into Pack Goat Central. Nanno will be glad to hear from you. She moderatator and the brainchild. Glad to hear Pig is going strong. Can he still get in the canoe?
IdahoNancy


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Welcome back and glad you are on the mend.


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## Bob Jones (Aug 21, 2009)

idahonancy said:


> OMG welcome back to world of goat packing Bob. What a journey you've been on. Please check into Pack Goat Central. Nanno will be glad to hear from you. She moderatator and the brainchild. Glad to hear Pig is going strong. Can he still get in the canoe?
> IdahoNancy


That is surely one thing we haven't tried in a while, and may not be one of the first we get back in to.


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