The Welder
Friday, April 13, 2007
posted by Eric
My days of stick welding are over. I recently purchased the Hobart Handler 187- 230v wire feed welder at my local Tractor Supply Company. MIG is the way to go.
I am fortunate to work with a genius and a great guy. His name is Fred Tripp and he holds many patents in many areas. He has had several careers, all very successful. He is a virtual master of fabrication of many materials. I am fortunate because after two previous retirements, Fred came out of retirement and took the Autotech teaching position at Giddings High School, where I also work. He is the most helpful man and is willing to pass his knowledge on to others. There is no doubt that his students, including me, will be changed for life.
Fred and I met after school for about three hours for my "introduction to MIG welding". I was such a hack welder. Welding for me was 50% "can this thing shock me?" and 50% magic. Whoever said "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" was talking about me and welding. My lesson helped me to better understand the principles behind welding and the overall technique. Now we can all sleep better knowing my welds will be stronger. One more thing, I will buy one of the auto-darkening welding helmets. These things are cool as can be. As soon as you hit that arc, BAM the viewing glass goes dark. Where have I been?
A Story in Pictures, and a Happy Ending
Sunday, April 1, 2007
After all of the tree cutting, the hauling of the branches and vines commenced. It lasted for two days. We then had cleared the road that had been there before, but had grown over.
Then we moved all of the granite rocks that we had scored when Texas Department of Transportation was building a new bridge over Inks Lake. My dad was building in the area at the time and got permission to haul them off. It was too good an opportunity to pass up, but we haven’t figured out what to do with all the granite yet.
Then we went to our local stone yard and picked out some nice pea gravel.
While waiting for it to be delivered, Eric did some more leveling.
The chickens were on hand looking for insects hiding beneath the recently moved rocks.
Early Saturday morning, the pea gravel arrived.
The spreading goes well, although Eric’s arm is starting to flare up from an old injury.
We had a funeral to attend in Galveston, so we took a break. We had a beer at an old bait camp that Eric and his dad used to go to when he was young.
Back to work, more spreading, building borders, and moving trailers, and.... we’re done (for now.)
Dominoes
Sunday, February 25, 2007
We need to do some welding on the whale. Some parts of the whole chassis. Thus starts the domino game. The whale needs to get close to the welder, thus close to the house. A tree had to be cut to allow for clearance. Plus, it's a Hackberry so we don't trust it not to break a branch over the trailer. To cut the tree we had to fix the chainsaw and the ladder. 
The branch is now cut, but we have to move all the other trailers in order to get a flat trailer in to haul off the cut wood. In order to pick up the wood, we need to clear out the grapevine, which is so tangled that we have to cut more trees. Here you can see the huge branch Eric cut. It’s the one on the ground. 
Ben is always there to inspect any work that we do outside. Currently, we're somewhere in the middle of the process, Dear Liza, Dear Liza.
The branch is now cut, but we have to move all the other trailers in order to get a flat trailer in to haul off the cut wood. In order to pick up the wood, we need to clear out the grapevine, which is so tangled that we have to cut more trees. Here you can see the huge branch Eric cut. It’s the one on the ground. Ben is always there to inspect any work that we do outside. Currently, we're somewhere in the middle of the process, Dear Liza, Dear Liza.
Which is better?
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Eric’s outside working on the whale. 
I’m inside working on the taxes. Who has the better deal? hhhmmmm?
I’m inside working on the taxes. Who has the better deal? hhhmmmm?
Overlander work continues
Saturday, February 17, 2007
Eric is continuing to strip the blue paint off the whale. It was almost fun. What was amazing was watching the whale transform as the blue came off. It began looking more and more like an Airstream. 
I got this nice shot of a rainbow behind Eric’s spraying. While the while was getting de-blued, Wendell somehow managed to pick up some stray blue. The Overlander photoalbum has been updated with more photos on the Photos Page. Click here.
I got this nice shot of a rainbow behind Eric’s spraying. While the while was getting de-blued, Wendell somehow managed to pick up some stray blue. The Overlander photoalbum has been updated with more photos on the Photos Page. Click here.
Trailers
****Click the picture on left for photo albums.****
