battery tender on a covered bike?

[macmac]

THIS IS OFF TOPIC

That's a Bob Cat, and the LL owns it. He owns the house we 3 all live here. He owns the barn the pine shed (rough storage) and the machine shop.

I do for hire woork for him when there is any I can do, and I do lots of house hold chores too. I use his Bob Cat, His 1 ton Dodge dump truck, and his Toyota Pick Up.

I maintain all of that and more in free labor, but he pays for parts and oil.

I have a truck off the road for the time, 2 trailers also off the road for now, and that 81 850 yammi.

I cut trees with my 2 saws and use his stuff to get the wood in, I use his splitter to fire his shop, which is the only wood stove here in use.
The barn is not heated.

Our bed room is not heated, but has a gas wall burner i can't stand. I use up to 4 alladin lamps to heat our bed room studio.

It is a little different way of life. For low rent i get access to these tools and a large garden area I made. I made every lousey ounce of garden soil myself.

I compost anything I can get that isn't meat, and isn't rock.
Last year at this time he asked me to add a room to the machine shop, under a wood storage area, that already had a roof.

He already had white pine milled as wide boards and framing, plus fiber glass insulation, so I set up his chop saw on a table i made from a old barn door, which I made 2 other garden tables from also and built 3 walls and a floor under the exisitng roof.

He even has plastic siding to match, so I installed that too, not cutting any corners anywhere.

Doing that sort of thing gets me no money and no real rent either, but it gets me by in slacker times.

So does several thousand dollars in food we don't buy. Right now we are still eatting taters and squash from the summer before which was a poor growing season.

Thar's no tellin' how long what we got this year will last as we have a lot more than we ever had before ever.

This might have been better asked in a pm, but since it wasn't I don't mind making it all public.

A few years ago the belt drive on the Bob cat failed and it took 600 bucks in big heavy springs and the pullies, and I fixed that in Feburary in the barn with no heat. I can assure you that was no fun.

I don't have the special tools for that job, and so had to be a little creative. It's a dam big spring.

My back is trashed and no one will hire me with a pre-existing condition. The lawyers have me plain old fubarred and i don't lie. I will shoot a man before i will lie to him.

Social services told me to go forth and create a job for myself. Well that isn't so easy with no backing.

But i did and took history to schools. I did around 6 characters until the day of Columbine, and did one that day, but that was the last day.

I began to do well in 'Trade Silver' real silver to historical re-enactors and even a few musems, but then silver shot thru the roof and I didn't think I could get 70 or 80 bucks for what i used to sell for 25 to 35. I still don't think the economy will support that.

So that's 2 jobs i could do with out any real backing.

If you saw in off topics my latest thread, the paleo character is one I made long ago and am the only one I know of doing it, and that was for hire.

Now I don't have a tool called money, but I wouldn't trade my quality of life for any of that anyway. Not at this point. Souls at AIG will burn in Hell for what they did to me.

I was crushed by a saddle horse on the job in 87. I had been working as Mr Fix It at a nice B&B, and made the misstake of listening to one Boss too many. I was told no horse back rides and go paint the 3 stories high metal roof, a 12/12 pitch.

When a van of people came I came off the roof to have to tack up 9 horses, and i failed to put on my riding boots which have slippery leather soles. One of the customers was a little
'too happy' and waved a sombrao hat in the last hourse face. Emma for emaciatedand that horse broke new cross ties and fell on me as I was picking the horses rear hoof.

End of story, other than I should have 2 screws and a cage in my spine.

The Nomad the 01 came from a savings for a cottage built in the 30's needing a bull dozer more than anything else. It was listed at 33,000, and I got sick. When I got better 90 days later that same cottage was listed at 165,000. Every place by stinking pen stroke in NH became worth 100,000 more than it was worth and then some because of slick lawyers and poly TICS .

My wife and i had never seen the USA, so that's what we did, and that is because when I was about braindead from being sick i said something about a dream of mine from when I was 16. Mind you I was blabbering and had no idea I told my wife about this dream. She told me when I got better.

Well I wasn't really better, and so we left with me having double lung phneumonia, and a hope it would get better out west somewhere. It almost did, but then I crashed. When we got back some 10 months later i was working 2 part time jobs, both of them never sent me any 1099's and i ended up in the ER.

So I took that tax hit too, and filed as a contractor.

I just refuse to let the bastards get me down.

[glwilson]

I appreciate it Mac. I should have asked through a PM; but didn't.

I have been around here since mid 2008 and know some about the story, but you have provided a few more details.

Hey... life doesn't provide any guarantees... which is the way I like it to be. I have a suspicion you also do -- although no one likes the "punches" life can deliver sometimes. And it sounds as if you have had a few "punches" come your way.

Regarding the equipment... understood. Sounds like your arrangement isn't all that bad. At least I don't hear you complain much about it -- other than maybe having a few more conveniences available.

However, I like the way you seem to be able to keep your overall positive attitude, and make the best of what is laid before you.

To that... I appreciate! ;)

PS: How is the "maple" season this year? Just saw a show on Vermont maple syrup; and thought of you. :)

[macmac]

I am planning on maple sugaring full time, just like they do in Vermont, according to city people that tell me such things

Maple is a season, which celebrates Spring. No one can predict how good a year will be or a decade will be, and the past few years have not been good.

For me it is a hobby, but some hobbys are a lot like work. Now to go and sell any, means you must have all stainless steel equipment, which is pretty pricey. Traditionally copper pans were used and since there are no acids copper works fine.

I made my own pan of mild steel from Napa. It would rust if i didn't care for it, but i wouldn't call the way I deal with that clean exactly, as the bottom side to the fire stays rust free by a carbon layer i don't clean, and the inside stays coated with a film of sugar. The whole of the pan is stored upside down on the barrel stove.

I clean the pan really well just before I need it. Then you boil and boil and boil, and when in my pan there is around 6 qts I bring it in to the kitchen stove, and boil it more till it hits 219 degrees. Now i am not sure what all that ss is for, since nothing much known to man can stand 212 long and sure can't stand 219 any.

My best year with 22 taps made 11 gallons. Can't seem to duplicate that and with 36 taps last year I made just over 3 gallons. The weather is critical, but something else is up with the trees.

I have taken punches most of my life. I don't mind them much anymore, and do my best to soften them when it is other people.

The world of man and me do not see eye to eye anymore. If it were not for motorcycles I would dwell in another time and place far from modern man, and I still might yet.

In some ways if it becomes that I can't keep my bikes, I just might sell off my other personal possestions and buy a one way ticket to Alaska. My wife won't like that much, but she goes where I go so far. On that, I see her as a bird, and every day I let her go fly. So far she comes back.

The last punch she took, I was unable to do a thing for. Easter 99 her father and his 2nd wife were stabbed to death in our Great Protected American Society. He was Army of 30 years, another 30 working for Kodak, his 2nd wife was a lawyer. While i have no use of lawyers, she was a well respected one.

It might be 'we' make the mods work. Or they can let it stand. Probably pm's are a better way to handle these questions. I will answer them.

Just incase: I still dream about being someone else's right hand man, a someone with like ideas as I have. And or a Inn with a primitive store complete with a wood stove and a liars bench, where anyone sitting there is expected to tell lies. (stories)

Of course in such a shop besides handling flintlocks and articals of proper clothing fit for a man (brain tan buck skin), there would be the creaking of wooden floors, the smells of gun oil and pipe tobbacco smoke.

Of course other themes would happen depending on seasons, spanning making maple to bikes.
But for me it would not be about the money. The money is just a tool. All I care about is a place to sleep and food, some clothing to stay warm. Simple things, and i make a lot of that.

Of course i may have wants, more for my wife, but around here i gotta becarefull for what i ask. Some of these mugs send me stuff i don't know about till it gets here.

[Top Cat]

First let me say I have never heard Mac say he has nothing!
I have been to Mac's and he and Gwyn are the nicest most accommodating people I know. Either of them would do anything in their power to help you out without asking or expecting a thing in return.
Mac said "Some of these mugs send me stuff i don't know about till it gets here."
That is because you and the info you bring to this forum are appreciated more than you realize.
I also think this question should have been asked in a PM. I'm just saying............... ;)

[macmac]

Pm's would have been better, or maybe a thread in off topics, but I will answer no matter where. That could be a problem for the mods to deal with.

My American Dream was shattered long ago, so now I just dream about hunting the wooley mamoth and the mastadon.

It's true i don't march to the step of the drummer's anymore, they quit me, and went some place else. I lost interest in collecting little green pieces of paper, after they became so hard to come by. I still work as hard as i can, but that seems to end at around 5 or 6 hours of a day. My body gives it up about then. I just don't fit the mold anymore for pain.

I try to not appear as if I have nothing, and that comment kinda hurt, but I pulled my boots up and made a civil reply. I am far better at getting other people fixed up, than I am for myself. It's just the way the magic works.

I don't feel bad about less dollars, as I think dollars are sort of silly in the frst place, since they are not backed up in anything of any real value. The Government acts like we should all want so many as we can collect, and as if every single person alive would want to.

The dammned things are just tools like a screw driver or a wrench, and with out them you become limited. So I am limited. so what? That just means sometimes there are things i would like to do that I can't.

Out on Rt 50 in Nevada, I fixed a flat for a lawyer. He was riding a BMW bike. He was surrounded by a bunch of guys on rental Harleys. I slowed down crossed into the on coming lane since nothing else was moving anywhere, and asked if things were set.

The answer was loud and clear 'we're all set', but I noticed one of the Harley guys was READING, and I saw it was a plug tire kit. Well I sure don't need to read the instructions on any tire plug kits, so before I was gone i asked "So who has any air?"

The look told me all I needed to know. I stopped and did my thing, which was fine til I set the glue on fire.
With that the lawyer had a spaz fit telling me, well demanding really, to put the fire out. He had $$ signs in both eyes.

Now starting a little fire in the glue helps a tire and patch mate, and putting that fire out is something of a small problem, since the only way to get it done is to smear yer hand in the glue and pick up the flames, but i did. I got all dirty and a little burn for helping that lawyer, and the reality is I should have left him there for the vulture bait he IS.

All the dollars in the world might not get you off of Rt 50 in Nevada, if you can't do nuthin other than collect little green pieces of paper.

But I didn't, and maybe if I did I wouldn't see what I see in pics like this.


It took 0 little green pieces of paper to see and then capture the sprit of that pic.

jus sayin' LOL

Dam! Yeah that pic comes from a camera we borrowed too!

I have 2 35 mm film type minolta's from when I used to live in the world, but no digital. Maybe some day I will have a digital, but so far no one can tell me if digitals will work at -40 below. I sort of suspect they won't.

[Top Cat]

Just curious, did the lawyer offer you any of those green papers ???
Nice pic Mac, did Gwyn take that?

[macmac]

Yeah Gwyn took that.... I like it very well. She is a little upset God made it all with no help from her

No that lawyer was just happy I was gone, and he could be gone. I even still had broken ribs..... I was in week 6 of them.

I didn't tell that to the lawyer though, for fear he would want chinese eat outs. I need my ribs broken or not.

The more people collect them little green papers the more they don't want to part with any. People who drive rusty beaters will offer up more green papers than the wealthy.

This past July 4th a woman and her mother at the local fire works had their car refuse to do much, at leaving time. I was on the bike and so went for tools and came back in my cage. I managed to get the car running but it had a wild electrical problem, and so with Gwyn there i followed these women home. I wanted to be sure they got home.

Once there a little argument developed over 20 pieces of these green papers. I lost ::)

[glwilson]

Hey Mac... I didn't mean to make a comment that hurt any. That was not my point at all. Nor was my comment to infer that I thought you didn't have anything.

My comment reflected comments you have made through the years about not needing many material "things"; but when I look at pics you post... I kept seeing some really nice buildings and some equipment. I thought maybe you were pulling my chain.

[macmac]

It's ok gwilson, I am sure you are not the only one who wondered. In the 3 years of tee pee living, I did a lot to help out folks who never understood how little we had, or how much I hurt. I have done a lot of work for no money and not any other gain, sometimes if i was lucky i got a free meal.

One time was really funny. The 2nd year living in Md in the tee pee, I did work on a 1936 Plymouth Torpedo, and a MG TD, plus lots of tree felling, the tallest tree ever in fact over 120 feet tall, and I drove a short piece of 2x4 straight to china with that showing off.

At that same place i did carpentry repairs and painted too, and this place was on South Mt filled with Civil War bullets. The owner was Paul, a well do to character to say the least.

Just once i violated his rules, and took the reigns from his daughters english riding teacher as he had no idea how to drive a horse drawn carriage. The teacher almost flipped the carriage and it was a carriage no wagon during a Civil War re-enactment. Once I took the reigns the teacher didn't want them back

Well Paul saw that after we picked up another party to drop them at the grande ball, and made no bones about my driving, but the english teacher told him right off he had suffered a problem and I had taken over and knew what to do and how to drive, which sort of took Paul by surprise. I have driven teams many years.

That isn't the funny part.

What is, is Paul invited me and my wife Gwyn to his mansion for a New Years Eve party. He knew we were living illegally in his town in the tee pee, and had never seen me in anything but rags.

I watched him as he poured a glass of punch for Gwyn, from across the room, when he first noticed me, but it turned out he had no idea who the hell I was. He became stiff and bristled, walked over to me and ask what I was doing at his private party, and I had to tell him my name, as he was fixing to throw me out! LOL

I was in a gray 3 piece suit with a tie, and my hair was pulled back in a pony tail hard. It was the first time he saw me clean.

He had a great old laff at himself which was very rare. It's times like that I live for.

[cnc]

I had the good fortune of meeting and chatting with Mac and Gwen this past summer at the eastern rally. At the time I believed they were wealthy in ways not that many others can achieve. These last few post confirm that. Mac, thanks for sharing with us.

[macmac]

CNC , If you ask TC in a pm he will tell you I was afraid to come, and that he had to work on things to get me there. I just don't add up to be what a modern man is.

I really appreciate TC and you standing in my corner.

On the other hand gwilson wondering does me no real harm, it just feels funny explaining. If he wondered any, then maybe other people do too, so maybe in the end it is all for the best.

When offering advice, my goal is to help, even if it ends up wrong and bad advice.

I know we killed this thread for its first intent, but I have no idea what to do about that.

[glwilson]

I appreciate it Mac. Thanks! ;)

About this thread...

"So... what's your take on battery tenders?"

I have one and use it all the time...

[cnc]

Yes we sure did run this thread off into the ditch, but with all due respect for the creator it has evolved into something more interesting. I think the basic concerns 54zamboni had were answered before it went south. Mac I'm glade TC convinced you to come, any chance we could see you at the Nationals next year?

P.S. My cover and tender are on as we speak.

[cajun2wheels]

I have to chime in and say I have really enjoyed the last few post.Mac,if you wrote a life experience book I would buy it.Also,when you speak,I listen.Your vast knowledge on our Nomads has been a blessing for me and many others.Keep it up and I for one really appreciate your jumping in when help is needed.Now....about this battery tender thing...

Thanks Macmac

[ridemslow]

DITTO! ;)

Originally Posted by cnc

I cover my bike for the winter with the tender plugged. I also have a pig tail hooked up to my battery so I just plug in the tender without the need to remove the seat.