Oregon Living 2019 – Blog #99 – Another Tractor, a Carport & a New Door

Tuesday, Oct 22^nd, 2019…… Today started out cloudy and cool. The latest forecast says we have rain this morning and then 5-7 days of clear skies. I hope that’s true. It was misting when I took Rylee out. My sister had brought Quincy over to run and play. I left to go get coffee/tea and then came back and ate breakfast at home. Rylee has her first spa treatment today! We had made an appointment to get her bathed and groomed. We didn’t want her cut short or anything – just trimmed up on her feet and tail. We took her in and then headed home. I got out and Lydia took the car and went back to town for her mahjong game. I took the truck and headed out to Albany and then Corvallis and then to Eugene. I am looking for a Titan lockset for our garage door entry to the house. It was a long loop trip back to the house and I didn’t find anything. I guess I will have to use another brand.

I had found another riding lawnmower on Facebook Marketplace that I just had to go check out! It was supposedly in good shape and the price was only $250.00. It needed only a new battery and had a tire losing air.  The guy said he wouldn’t be available until after 6:30pm tonight. He lives in Salem.

Kirk came by and I had him continue his work on the fenceline behind our neighbor’s property. The pics below were taken back in 2017 as part of the online listing when we first saw the property. In the photo, the light color is our property. The dark area to the upper right is our neighbor’s (Rich & Linda) property. The straight line (at an angle) is the back fenceline where the shrubs and stuff are growing.

This one shows the fence to the left where we worked.

We pulled out an invasive blueberry plant as well as a couple of other plants growing on both sides that neither of us want. It looks really good now. Plus, we are now done with that section of the property until next spring! 

Continuing with the tractor deal – Kirk left my trailer, at my request, and I hooked it up to my truck. After dinner, Lydia and I headed north. We left at 6:00pm to be as close as possible to Salem by 6:30pm. I messaged him and he gave us the address. He was out with his family at one of their son’s football practice and we got there at the same time. The tractor 

was advertised as having a bad battery, a leaky tire, and a torn seat, but runs well. 

Those were things I could easily fix. No big deal. Turns out the battery was almost new. The problem was it wasn’t charging up from running. A bad start. Strike one. He jumped it from his truck and it ran really rough and popped a lot and took a long time to warm up. Strike two. He said that he got this tractor from a friend and that it was exactly like one he already had. He had taken parts off of it for his tractor. He showed us that the front fascia plate was missing and only the headlight bulbs were there. Yikes, the whole front trim section was missing!  Strike three. He ran it on his lawn and came back and said the throttle control had come loose and it only had one speed. He asked if I wanted to drive it and I said, “No thanks, I’m going to pass on it”. He said he’s had a lot of interest and I told him there was probably someone out there who would want it because the price was right. I personally don’t want to chase after it fixing more things than I originally planned on. We got out of there and headed home.      

Wednesday, Oct 23^rd, 2019…...  This morning the weather was really nice. A little chilly but sunny. I was up early and showered and out with Rylee before 7:30am. I went over and unhooked the trailer and moved my truck so Kirk could come and get it for his workday. Then I went out and got us breakfast. Kirk had not shown up yet when I got back. My sister called and asked if Lydia was going to play bingo today because she wouldn’t be going. She was headed off with her neighbor for the day and asked if Lydia would stop by on her way and let Quincy outside.  We would do that. I told Lydia I would go with her to play but a few minutes later I had a response for a deal going with a guy on Facebook Marketplace for a drill press he had. He was in Springfield and we made arrangements for me to go look at it. So, Lydia headed off to bingo by herself, stopping by Penny’s on the way. My trip down there took about 40 minutes and I met up with the guy at his home. I had him run it for me and checked it out pretty carefully. The tool was what I expected and worked fine. He wanted $85.00 for it - I offered $75.00 and he took it. We loaded it up and talked for a few minutes and then I headed back home. I parked the truck in the shop garage and got it unloaded and then came in and rested for a bit. A little later, I fed Rylee.  Lydia asked if we could go get burgers for dinner. I chose Bigfoot Grill and we went there and ate. Nice meal. We even got their donut holes with caramel dipping sauce to go. We had to wait so long for those they brought us some ice cream just to say they were sorry. We ended the night watching tv until bedtime.        

Thursday, Oct 24^th, 2019…...  Wow, I slept great last night!  Butthead woke me up once to go out but I went right back to sleep. Not much planned for me today. Lydia and Penny were going to meet up with Aimee for lunch. Sis called me and said her door was in and could we go get it - whenever I wanted to go. I was ready to do that but was online with a guy from Portland, working on a contract for a metal carport to be ordered, delivered, and installed on the property. I had seen the ad on Facebook Marketplace when I was looking for drill presses and contacted the guy yesterday. He and I communicated back and forth and I got more details about timeframe, any additional costs, etc. and he sent me a contract and I finished filing it out and got it scanned and returned to him. It will be 4-6 weeks before they get it delivered and installed. 

Aimee was not feeling well this morning and had texted and cancelled on the girl’s luncheon, so we were able to go get the door and get it installed today. Here is the before and after.  

   

If you look closely at the before pic of the white door, you can see how much the right side was sagging. We put it up in 2018 and it went downhill after that. Really poor quality and a bad choice. I was embarrassed every time I looked at it so I wanted to get it off and gone asap!  She done good on this new one!  The new door is a storm door, complete with a sliding screen and is made really well. It was claimed to be a ‘quick 45-minute installation’. It was really easy but we spent more time than that – maybe a little over an hour or so. It looks great and works really smoothly and has a keyed lock and deadbolt that locks securely.  She also bought some paint to match the bronze finish and will paint the white front door in the near future. When we were finished and had everything put away, she took me to Big Town Subs for lunch. After that, I came home and relaxed and rested for a bit. It was later in the day when we had lunch, so Lydia had leftovers and I was good and didn’t eat. We settled in and watched our own taped programs until bedtime.