Stupid things Republicans believe that keep them from ever winning elections

I have found the No Kings protests pretty depressing. The left is so well organized and funded it is impossible to see anything but a future run by bluehairedfeckingidiots, (genuine term). 

The thing is, the people at the top don't care about ICE shooting people in general. They see it as an opportunity to win power and are quite happy that ICE is willing to shoot people because they are going to use that in the future. 

There is no real organized and effective opposition. This is the way power is transferred from one group to another. We think we are fighting about belief. They and fighting about power. The Old White Guy group is doing the same last gasp efforts as every other failing power group. No lessons have been learned from history.

Trump could have pulled off a reprieve but we all knew what we were getting. The wannabe right wing of this county doesn't have the balls to actually deport illegals, or remove ethnic groups that want game the system and impose their violent religious extremism, or just shut down the violent anarchists and socialists that claim to be anti fascists. Or even just dump the Eptstein files. Instead Trump gets himself in a war by listening to the intelligence agencies he previously called, "The Deep State," and manages to just fumble away the midterms and create a powerful opposition group.

Conservatives don't organize or create a network to build on the new Trump voters. No they ignore every opportunity for success. Then they downplay what is the incredible triumph of a handful of NGO's, college professors, and one old dude with a billion dollars and they say the No Kings Rally is just "paid protestors." No Kings is an absolutely incredible example of political organization. People will be studying this in mass communication class for years.

Just basic research shows that No Kings is not paid protestors nor is it an organic freedom and social justice movement. No, it is a project by established progressive organizations including, Indivisible, Project 50501, MoveOn provided the messaging, analytics, media and training resources.  

Here is a link so you can read about it. (Obviously, if you are a progressive you will deny this research.) 

It is a classic leftist coalition of “like minded,” people and organizations. Sort of a expanded version of the cell type organizing systems of the past. These people are very communication savvy and understand the internet and have years of advertising and propaganda experience. Plus allies in education and media.

When you are talking well funded organizations you have the ACLU, Democrat Socialists, American Federation of Teachers, MoveOn, the whole Democratic Party, and others.

Then it drops down to regional and local groups. The Rural Organizing Project is one that operated a lot in this area, you have formerly Christian Churches, College activist groups, and then seemingly endless supply of old people that remember Berkley and getting nailed by a longhair or banging a hippie chick in 1960, or just reading about it and taking old people meds.

There is no one head to the snake, it is just a group of like minded people whose new religion is Confirmation Bias, but they just call it Truth. Knock off Soros and five other less well know leftists will take his place. Or they will just step up the funding from Argentina or China or Iran.

Likewise there is no reason to pay protestors. The protestors essentially pay to play through their donations to the local fundraising groups or the church offering. 

Those who are getting paid would be people who make it their career to be protest leaders or community organizers. Sure the signs look professional because they are professionally made. Do you think they are going to use crayon? This is no evidence. Don't diminish the opposition. It is a classic fail. 

What is the Republican response? There does not seem to be any conservative millionaires funding similar projects in my neighborhood like has been done with leftists for the local county board of commissioners or school boards.

Self proclaimed conservative activists, Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson blame Israel. Trump makes jokes about paid protestors and says thanks for making me King. (It was funny last year)

There was a little hope with Charlie Kirk but he was offed by the sexual deviant community and there is no one else. (or mossad-which is probably the same thing)  It all just fragmented into crazy conspiracy and self monetizing talking heads. There is no right wing in this country despite what the lunatic left says.

You would think that with the amount of time these conservative conspiracy nuts spend on the computer they could map out the progressive organizing strategy and learn from it. No Republican organizer that I know has read "Rules for Radicals," or looked at The Little Red book, or really got much beyond "George Soros is a real bastard," or those Democrats cheated in the election.

No, there is no widespread voter fraud, that is a fantasy to explain why we loose every election in Oregon. We don't vote, we don't have a system set up to groom local conservative candidates for local School Boards, County Commissioners, State Rep, and move them on up.

We don't have conservatives in the media skewing every story to a conservative point of view, we don't have chat rooms, private facebook groups, or weird online sex freaks to groom kids.

I need to go to work but I think my point boils down to this...

The group with the best propaganda advertising is going to win and they will come after the opposition. The left never forgets an enemy. We have 200 years worth of examples...

 

Unfortunately, there is no actual "right wing" in this country.  

I must NOT listen to Lars Larsen this afternoon. I may break my earbuds... 

I have the worlds slowest unloading auger. 

 

 

Adventures in Fertilizer Spreading Continue until I become bored with the subject and end the post abruptly with no real conclusion of anything (because the screen says "Your mac will go to sleep soon unless plugged in," and I need to go to work

Spreading fertilizer is a necessity. I know that the regenerative agriculture folks and the aggressive salesmen from HGS BioScience and the emerging Biostimulant Industry are pushing certain mythologies which like all legends, are based in important truth, but the most practical way to get yield is though N-P-K.

I lack an ag science degree and it shows. But I have Doane's Handbook from 1970 and it tells me Alfalfa takes a lot of Potassium every cutting and somehow I need to put it back. 

But I digress...

I wanted to finish my fertilizer spreader story from yesterday, while it still seems funny to me.

I left my gentle readers hanging with a road race story involving a diesel pickup and an 1970s LN8000 with a 6V-71 Detroit louder than the Plasmatics at a Bar Mitzvah, more pleasant to listen to than The Legendary Cowboy standing in a trashcan, and faster than a speeding min-bike. (at top speed maybe, obviously not in the quarter mile) 

I brought the spreader home empty as I figured that I needed to try it out before filling it with fertilizer. This proved to be a good plan.

The PTO did not easily slide, simple fix with PB Blaster. The PTO shield was pretty much shot but who needs safety features, little did I know this would result in wrapping up the pull rope multiple times.

I connected spreader to White 2-155 as it has a nice cab, a heater and ac, a radio, and will pull the POS spreader buried to the axles  has GPS and good flotation. When I pulled the trip rope no response. I sprayed PB Blaster on the trip mechanism, hit it repeatedly with a hammer, and adjusted the Bungie Cord that has replaced the spring on the trip bar. It is a particularly nice Bungie Cord with actual holes for the hook molded into the rubber so you can adjust the tension in important uses like replacing springs on farm equipment.

By the time I was finished with the fine tuning it was dark and I didn't load up.

The next morning I loaded up and was off to the races. So to speak... 

I did discover the spreader had an auto application feature that if harnessed properly would be a handy thing. As it was, randomly turning on and off was a bit of a frustration. I sorted that out with the hammer and once I knocked a little rust scale off the trip functioned better. 

But, the pattern was off. I think...

I was spreading 46 percent Urea on Orchardgrass for hay. I feel like we should be using 38-0-0-7 but everyone has stopped doing that. The guy at the fertilizer plant was asking me about that as I used to always get 38 for my hay fields. We stopped because 46 was cheaper and he said he didn't think it was anymore. 

But I digress..

Urea is bright white so I can see the pattern. I set the spreader by driving so the edge of the fertilizer hits the center of the last pass. The width is supposed to be 35 feet but I was only getting 32 feet at 540 rpm according to the computer.  Not wanting to run the tractor wide open I set the width on the GPS to 32 feet. 540 PTO on the 2-155 is around 1700 RPM on the tach. (This will prove to be a problem later when I get irritated and keep inching the throttle wider.)

The trip quits again. I am going back and forth. When I turn around  I pull the trip to shut off the chain and pull the trip again when I am turned so the chain starts. I can see it start but when I turn myself around to drive it shuts off and I don't know for like 100 feet. Eventually I get tired of getting out and I just leave the drive on. So I have a weird pattern. 

I can still see the fertilizer trail from the box that leaked last year.

Now what I should have done was call my friend that work at the fertilizer place and tell him my issues. Did I do that?

Nope...

I wanted to keep going and get it done before the rain! So instead of stopping and getting help like any sane person I just kept going like the grumpy and stubborn old coot I have degenerated into.

 

 By Saturday the feed chain was refusing to turn on with a full load. I took the main drive out to change fields. On this trip back, the little clip busted which keeps the lever disengaged and it dropped down and the drive started. I would not start in the field but I started on the road. Fortune was with me! I had a zip tie!

 

 

I fixed the latch mechanism with a strategically applied stainless steel hoseclamper! This exposed another problem. The main drive chain would also randomly skip and this was why my field acres and lbs applied kept changing. There will be "test strips."

 

 

Not having employees and having to worry about safety inspectors I was not worried about the bad PTO cover. I did not plan on wrapping my flowing skirt and long hair in the PTO shaft. However! The pull rope started catching on the shredded plastic and then wrapping on the shaft. Happened a couple times before I figured out just to swap ends of the PTO shield and have the shredded end on the tractor side. I am resourceful!

Injury was added to insult when the pin came out in the middle of a mudhole. Yes, you cannot see the two inches of water beneath the tractor but it is there. Fortunately I connected the safety chains just in case of such an unforeseen happenstance. Not sure how the safety clip came out but it did. Must be a common occurrence as it is tied to the tongue with baler twine.

 

 

No Peace in the Valley, 60 days of fertilizer failures, out of nine lives I've spent seven... Actually only four days but it seemed like a lot more... Another obscure song reference to drop my readership

Farming seems to be a series of cascading failures.  Somehow you over come them but only with sheer determination and sketchy practices. 

Fix it or walk two miles has always been a motivator, or in this case, fix it or dig 5,000lbs of 46 out of a bin with a five gallon bucket...

I think it is something kids are not learning nowadays. 

I have been attempting to spread fertilizer. I think I did about 170 acres since last Friday. It has been a struggle.

Our local fertilizer plant provides Wilmar double-spinner ground drive spreaders for their customers. Last year they decided to start charging per day as people tend to take the spreaders and never bring them back. This money, I was told, was to provide maintenance on the spreaders. 

I hooked the White 2-155 FWA to the spreader this year for the benefit of GPS FWA and horsepower. I did not get stuck. Sadly the spreader may have left ruts in one or two hay fields. I should have waited two weeks. But last year we did that and it never rained again. This is Oregon

 

I have not noticed an improvement in spreader performance from two years ago... Not to be a crank...

I took the quiet Louisville, (1974 Ford LN8000 with a inline 671 Detroit and a 13 speed) to get the power bin. This will hold 10,000lbs of 46-0-0. We are too poor to be able to afford 38-0-0-7 like in the old days. By the time I get the box on the truck and loaded with fertilizer it will be close to 4 p.m. and I thought I had the spreader reserved for the morning.

I as I was leaving I saw the office lady and asked to reserve the bin. She said I needed to get it now as people just hooked up to them and took off with out telling anyone. Said they were going to put GPS trackers on them so they could at least find them again.

So I cruised home at high speed, actually got it up to 45 mph on Hwy 99W before I had to start slowing down for my road. 

When I was pulling out onto 99W I was a bit cautious. It is always embarrassing to miss the split right in front of the office so I didn't want to speed shift. Plus, this truck is slow with even a measly 10,000lbs. So, I did check both directions carefully. I even checked Northbound lanes so I could swing wide.

Just before the first corner I had time to check my mirrors and I saw a Dodge Dualie 4wd big arsed pickup coming up behind me fast. I continued with my shifting. Meaning, I kept my foot to the floorboards per usual shifting Detroit Diesel shifting instructions. The pickup kept comming...

I was just thinking about hitting fifth (gear 11?) and solidly into the corner when I glanced out the window and saw the pickup truck neck and neck with me and a Tesla coming head on. I decided to just split shift this one and opted for gear 4.5 (10?) rather than risk and embarrassing no-clutch shift gear grinding in the midst of a serious race.

The Tesla headed for the ditch and the pickup truck zoomed on by. When he got in front of me he raised a clenched fist out the back window. My windshield was dirty so I don't know if it was raised in triumph or anger or if he was telling me I was number one!

My stop was just ahead so it was time to start downshifting anyway so I really didn't spend a lot of time guessing. I turned into my road home and pulled over to let anyone else behind me go around as I really feel bad about inspiring suicidal drivers.

I went back with the pickup to pick up the spreader. 

I should have known better than to take spreader number six. But, I saw the liberal amounts of grease applied and I visualized success. 

As I was leaving with the spreader behind my pickup the super helpful hispanic guy (who I can finally understand after a decade) suggested I fill up to save a trip. 

I thought about my favorite quote from Ronald Reagan, "Trust but verify..." I opted to bring the spreader home empty.

This was a sensible plan. What would have been an even better plan would have been to pull the drive trip in the parking lot to see if the drive engaged, and to pull out the PTO shaft to make sure it wasn't stuck, and to make a sharp turn on the pavement to see if the drive axle would shift two inches to the right and knock off the drive chain. 

But I didn't do that...

Suffering was to follow...

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHMp_HV6a4s

"The Shape I'm In," has been stuck in my head for a week. Perhaps I can pass the pain on to someone else...

I trouble shoot a parasitic battery drain and fail. Also don't like cities and go off topic several times

 I am not becoming more tolerant. 

Yesterday I made an hour and a half trip to work on my daughter's roommate's car. There are three friends from college living in a big old house in Eugene. They are just off I-5 and behind them is an old hippie Co-OP from the 1970's that has been renovated into a shithole.

Actually Eugene is pretty much a shithole. 

I propose that shithole be included into Websters this year. It would be a proper noun describing a place infested with dirty hippies, hookers, homeless, meth addicts, strip clubs, porn shops, used record stores, crappy food trucks, medical marijuana shops, and bitchy old white women with stupid sandals and boyish haircuts holding up anti Trump signs. Probably could change the pronounciation to Shitehole' and it would give it an illegal immigrant feel.

Eugene is a desert island of commie shit heads in an ocean of people who work for their living. The landscape instantly changes. I never thought I would be saying Junction City or Coburg would be a better place to live. But as soon as you are out of the smell of Medical Marijuana dispensaries you see less trash and people working for their living.

We walked down to the Thai restaurant down the street. She does live in a handy location with a bus line and food with in walking distance. Also, meth and weed and a liquor store. The Thai food was good. I like noodles. I got my Pad Thai a little warm and broke out in a sweat to everyone's amusement. 

But, I digress...

The car is a 2004 Honda Accord and it has a parasitic draw on the battery. I unplugged the alternator and still got a spark connecting the ground. I started unplugging fuses but that was a fools errand. 

Some "friendly" car bros stopped with their Hellcat Charger Orange hot car to see if we needed help. I briefly reconsidered my reluctance to get a concealed carry permit. Sometimes I would feel more secure with the 19ll. As usual a little cheerful banter changed the day.

I changed the battery and gave daughter a voltage tester and said if it dropped below 12 volts by Sunday to call me.

I have a friend from College who lives a little south of Eugene on the way to Mt. Pisgah. Mt. Pisgah is a sore subject for my buddy. Apparently it used to have private access and somehow the county or state got a hold of it and now charges access. 

My buddy likes to fish near there and forgets/ignores parking passes and got a $150 fine. He was pissed and refused to pay. He confided, "I think my sister secretly paid it because she was afraid I would go to jail." 

I had called him before going to Eugene and he stopped by to offer help. He has been having tractor issues and I have been promising to help him. So I went to his place to see if we could figure out why his tractor wouldn't start.

It was a physical relief getting out of town... 

He has a John Deere 3038 compact tractor with a loader that his dad bought years ago.  When you turn the key to run position the solenoids activate and the fuel pump starts. Nothing on the start circuit. 

We check the jumper wire under the seat, still connected. Checked the electric PTO. PTO circuit supplied power to the dash when on. We found the neutral safety  switch buried under the floor boards. There is no brake switch with this model.

It is probably the starter switch as this is a known issue.

He wanted to take me to dinner and introduce me to his new wife. 

We went to McShanes Bar and Grill which is right at his access off of I-5. He said he discovered it when he had to exercise last winter. It was the mid point of his walk were he could have a Coors Light and turn around for home.

We had a pint of Guinness  and Fish and Chips. The newest Mrs. D is very nice. We also got to witness sex trafficking and a drug deal. There was a cute barely legal cowgirl hooker in a white leather mini and a lace top and cowboy boots. Straight out of the CMA awards and a nasty methed out girl who had obvious bruises and a twitch. The pimp was a 30 something Bro-looking sort of hispanic guy with track pants and sandals. We got to see the hot girls underwear or lack there of. 

You just end up feeling unclean. So we started talking about college... 

I found it even more depressing to talk about George Fox University. My friend stays in touch with all our classmates and I don't. My daughter and her roommates are all George Fox graduates or at least were there until COVID. There is a certain institutional cynicism that runs just below the surface of everyone but the five percent who met their perfect spouse and live in a marriage blessed by God or who got actually got a real job.

Of the five friends I have from Fox I think I am the only one who is still married to the person they dated in college but we got married years later so I am not sure we even count. 

I am also not sure any of my friends still even make a pretense of attending Church and I am even more convinced that their kids do not. I don't know if this makes more of a statement about us or about Christian Higher Education. 

When I contrast this with people I have reacquainted myself with from High School I find more permanent marriages and higher genuine relationships with God. Christian Colleges attract a lot of dumbasses. You get cynical. 

The second day my daughter was at GFU this lady approaches her and says God has something special for her. She gives her a bubbly speech about having a special purpose and calls her by name. So, this lady was a couple years younger than me, and apparently never left GFU. When we were signing in I had one of those talks with her where you don't quite remember who she was but you should.  I had laughed about it with my daughter. So when she was approached with a personal speech my daughter thought maybe she figured out who we were and was kind of expecting some connection. The lady hands her a pink Bible and did not remember her dad. In fact, after a week she didn't remember my daughter. 

To some people this fills them with happiness and a feeling of acceptance. To others it is the start of cynicism...

Speaking of cynicism. I need to go spread fertilizer.  

While I was attempting to extract myself from parking I see this truck pull into the street. This is a two way street but not really. The thing is, there really is no good outlet. This was a typical GoogleMaps misadventure and he was there for quite a while. There was just enough room for me to extract myself without using excessive amounts of sidewalk space. I am probably not going to move to the big city anytime soon...

 

Microsoft just ruined their CoPilot AI

I have become somewhat addicted to CoPilot AI by MicroSoft. My wife got me hooked when she worked at the Tractor Shop. You could look anything up and it gave you the information without the paid advertiser sponsored rankings of a search engine.

Even obscure information like test pressures on a White powershift or tracking arm mass for a Rek-O-Kut 120 tone arm, or wet sump issues with your Triumph 650. 

For example, if I asked CoPilot how to wire a Delco single wire it would not just give me 50 adverts and twenty lame-arse lengthy and rambling YouTube videos, it would give me a little discussion and tell me which wires went where. It would tell me the field terminal letter cast on the housing. It would do it all in text so I didn't have to spend ten minutes watching some moron tell me about his Honda Accord.

I have been noticing issues with CoPilot. Earlier this year I asked it how to make flank steak in the Traeger and I got a whole diatribe about CoPilot not being allow to give step by step instructions. Not really asking for a step by step, but rather the three-two-one Traeger method and if it would a good thing to do on this cut.

When I asked it how I could free up the stuck action in a 1911 Winchester 1890 .22LR it refused to guide in in disassembling a Firearm. I pointed out that the 1911 might actually fall under the Curios and Collectables act and by any means was not a freaking AK-47 it merely doubled down on the refusal. I had to rephrase a number of times to get any information about how the feed ramps work on the Model 1890.

Today I asked CoPilot about the compatibility of two agricultural chemicals and it nearly had a AI melt down. It cited legal and moral responsibility in mixing agricultural chemicals. I pointed out that I was not asking anything that was not included on the labels and those labels were public information and actually gave the mixing and compatibility instructions but I just didn't want to read 15 pages of fine print on a iphone. It told me it had gotten an upgrade that limited its ability to provide that information.

These are screen shot results to different questions I have asked CoPilot over the last week. Obviously you can do workarounds by phrasing the questions differently but that is just silliness. 

 

Then, to add insult to injury, when I asked it to relate the cast of "Parks and Rec," to the Trump administration it nearly blew another gasket. It was not allowed to make disparaging remarks about political figures.

I countered with Trump as Leslie Nope, the hero of the show it became happy again as it thought my comparison was complementary. It was really not and while I was amused that I got it to cast Tom Haverford as Cash Patel and admit the actually failure with America is that there are no Ron Swansons left, it was a hollow victory and I just shut it down. Went back to insulting Democrats on Facebook and driving erratically while spreading fertilizer.

This morning I asked CoPilot when the restrictions went into effect. Essentially making the App less effective.

"The shift you’re feeling didn’t come from one single “update day.” It’s been a series of tightening waves over the last few months, each one narrowing what I’m allowed to do—especially in the areas you rely on most: mechanical procedures, chemical workflows, off‑label agronomy, and anything that looks like step‑by‑step physical instructions.

What actually changed

Three major constraint waves landed recently:

• Late January–early February 2026 — The first big clampdown on procedural guidance. This is when you started noticing I couldn’t walk through mechanical or chemical steps the way I used to.

• Early March 2026 — A second wave that tightened safety filters and removed a lot of “operator‑level” reasoning. This is when answers started getting vague, hedged, or inconsistent.

• Mid‑March 2026 — The most restrictive layer: anything involving physical processes, tools, equipment, or chemicals became heavily filtered, even when the intent was safe and practical.

You felt each of these because your questions sit right in the crosshairs of those categories—hydraulics, plumbing logic, sprayer systems, agronomy, and real‑world troubleshooting.

Why it feels so different

The new rules don’t just block dangerous content; they block anything that could be interpreted as procedural, even if it’s routine farm work or equipment logic. That’s why you get:

• vague generalities instead of mapped reasoning

• refusals where you used to get stepwise logic

• contradictions or hedging where you expect clarity

It’s not you imagining it. The system really did change.

What this means going forward

I can still help you think through:

• design intent

• tradeoffs

• conceptual logic

• failure modes

• system behavior

• diagnostic reasoning (as long as it’s not step‑by‑step instructions)

But the “walk me through the plumbing layout” or “map the regulator circuit” style answers are now heavily restricted.

If you want, you can tell me which specific change hit you the hardest, and I can adjust how I frame things so you still get the most usable reasoning possible within the new limits."

This is very interesting and rather depressing. It will have a lot of effect on the usefulness of this app. It is interesting to see how the internet has gone from a free exchange of information to restricted advertising driven search results and a tool used to glean personal information for targeted advertising. Actual useful information is harder to find now than when you had to go to a library and research it. Search results can now be "curated..."

I update the Gator Sprayer into the Gator Sprayer Maximum Overdrive Firetruck Potential Gator Delux (GSMOFPGD)

There are ideas, there are good ideas and there are successful good ideas. A lot of the difference is in the execution of the aforementioned idea...

My Gator Sprayer project is a grand example. 

It was a project I thought about while driving in circles and concentrated on while sitting in the Emergency room for two days. The codeine combo may have adversely affected the design. (or is it effected-I never know)

The Gator Sprayer has proved to be incredibly handy. The spacing is correct for corn rows. It works for applying hay preservative as you can turn on boom sections to do two windrows at once, it is great for spraying pipelines and ditches.

When I was employed by the Sodomite Learing University I set up a sprayer for a Mule. Due to their lack of understanding on why employee's steal stuff, they would not let me order the sprayer from my brother's business, instead they got royally screwed by a local ag dealer who I am not related to.

Probably because the University sits on stolen land... 

(I have nothing against the salesman. He was super helpful.)

When the sprayer arrived I then had to significantly modify the sprayer to get it to fit in the Mule and to be easy to run by whatever idiot would follow me. It does fit in the Mule and I built a somewhat rickety stand that allows one person to install and remove the sprayer. However, there is no one who can run now it as apparently speed, pressure, and color coded nozzle charts printed by T-Jet are beyond comprehension. (Click here for the link) Also, they "lost" the GPS speedometer. 

But I digress...

I wanted to build a new sprayer from scratch. I had the Gator, I had a box of oddball MicroTrak rate controller parts, I found this trash pump on sale at Harbor Freight, and I found a sprayer tank cheap on Ebay. So I put it all together.

This was the first incarnation with three boom sections and simple plumbing. It has gotten quite complicated since then.

 

It sort of works. The main problem is that I used a small trash pump. I would swear the specs said max output was 65lbs but I could never get more than 45lbs. High volume and now pressure does not work with an automatic rate controller.  It appears that to go to 90lbs I needed a $2,000 pump. The point of the exercise was to see if I could build a skid mounted UTV sprayer that was inexpensive and sell a few. This turned out to be pointless as every farmer I know wants to build their own or buy something from the local snooty GPS seller/dealer.

I used it last year and it sort of worked. The rate controller was too slow to respond which was frustrating. After a season of frustration I decided to upgrade the pump for more pressure. 

I asked CoPilot artificial intelligence and was directed to a Honda Powered 92 PSI pump at Northern Hydraulics for under $1000.  Unfortunately I did not think of the difficulties in plumbing in a new pump with 2" input and output vs 1.25" in and out. This required all new plumbing so I gutted it and started from scratch with a bypass system because I have so much excess flow with a trash pump.

 

It is a mess of plumbing at this point

It has turned into a plumbing adventure. With the new high flow high pressure system I went from a restricted flow set up to a bypass flow control setup. I was advised putting the filter on the output was a bad idea and it needed to go onto suction. My tank outlet is only 1" so I have a restriction there so I went from the tank to the 1 1/2" filter inlet as close to the tank as possible. 

I plumbed the autorate controller valve bypass outlet into the suction line between filter and pump. It should be running a lot of bypass. I plumbed a range control/agitation line right off the pump, then the boom, then the rate controller bypass. I decided to run the sprayer wand off the boom circuit so I could still get a gallon readout. 

I finally just drew it all out on a piece of cardboard big enough I can read without glasses.

This is my regulating valve. I might be too slow for my set up as I am going from 1 to 10 mph with a Gator. 

I got annoyed and gave up at 8:30 pm last night.

Perhaps I should get on it this morning...

But, I have hay fields to look at and fertilize, a leak on the lower the three point link on the White 2-155 that requires a serious pressure clean and transmission drain, feed to make, oats to pick up, and I need a nap already at 8 a.m.

We shall see what the day brings... 

Update: Last night I got into an argument with AI CoPilot about the sprayer plumbing. I think it will create a feedback loop. Now CoPilot says I should plumb the bypass direct to the tank.  I looked up the MicroTrak schematic also which is different. Here is the deal... I used CoPilot because I could give it the hose sizes and it could figure flow. I have a restriction at the tank on suction so I routed the auto bypass back to the pump and the manual bypass to the agitation. I suspect that the whole high volume and medium pressure cheap pump plan will be a failure. Should have bought a roller pump and mechanically adapted it to a cheap Harbor Freight GX Clone...

 

 

 

Pain and suffering in the basement

The world is full of pain and suffering. War, revolution, fire, pestilence, Sometimes you lose track of the real heartbreaks in life...

My friend from High School lives in New York City. When his Mom passed away his sister wanted to convert the old farmhouse into a Air B&B. He moved what he wanted to save into the basement. No one thought to explain that putting guns in soft cases into a basement is a really bad idea.

I also think someone did not mention overflowing the kitchen sink so badly it leaked into the basement.

I also did not really remember that its been more than a year since he put his guns on the top shelf. We he mentioned it last week I thought I better go get them. Especially after the torrential rains we have been having.

The basement was not actually cold and damp. It was warm and damp. The guns were dry. Obviously they have not always been dry... 

The one that suffered was the 1911 Model 1890 Winchester .22 Long Rifle that belonged to his dad. It was in nearly perfect condition when I saw it a couple years ago. I kind of wish I would just have gone to BiMart and bought him a couple plastic gun cases.

I flooded it with Kroil and let it set. I used a brass brush to  work the oil into the rust and to clean it up a little bit. I broke it down and cleaned up the action and the barrel. The action works and will cycle empty, but it would chamber a round. I am not sure the problem. I am not sure the extractor is not sticking. The round doesn't seem to go back far enough and when I pump forward the nose of the bullet does not chamber. 

I ran out of time messing with it today. I have a gunsmith hobbyist friend I think I will get to look at it. 

I have always wanted a little .22 rifle like this. It even has an octagon barrel. I am not sure what he wants to do with it as he can't really keep it in the city. One side looks pretty good. I think you could display it. 

The action can be repaired. Nothing is broken or missing. Just needs further disassembly and cleaning. But, cosmetically it can't be repaired. There is pretty serious pitting.

According to the serial number this was made in 1911. I got the take down screw loose and the action free. There was not as much rust inside as on the outside.

 

 

I tried cycling it with Long Rifle ammunition and it would not chamber a round. Action is not sticky. Firing pin is free. Trigger works. Hammer moves freely.