Thanks BisManOnline! -- Prayer request

Yesterday was another busy day, as Mom and I went to Bismarck to run a couple of errands, put up some posters for the upcoming JBS classes on the Constitution, and sell/deliver a couple of things we had sold on BisManOnline.  (BisManOnline is the area's largest and most used online classified ad service, and the best part is that it is FREE!  To give you some idea of how much stuff is sold on there, here is an interesting fact: Over $2,000,000,000 worth of goods were bought and sold on BMO last year alone!)
  I also bought something that I found on BMO:

Yep, I decided to join the latest craze and buy a tablet...  Now I just have to figure out how to use the thing... :-)  So far, it's been a lot of fun!
  Hope you all have a happy new year!
   Andrew B.

PS. Please check out this post over at my sister's blog, and remember our dear friends in your prayers: Please join me in praying for this family...

Back to work...

This has been a busy week, but I guess that is normal... :-)

 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday found us going to Bismarck for an agricultural class, which was very interesting...

 Thursday morning we worked on getting the corn cultivator and the hay cutters ready to go in the field, then after lunch Jacob and I cut hay, while Dad started cultivating corn... We were able to get two fields of alfalfa cut down, and Dad got quite a bit of corn cultivated too!

 Friday morning we got a sprinkle of rain again, so there wasn't much field work that could be done...  Mom and I went to Bismarck to run some errands, pick up a couple of things, and I had to deliver a computer that I sold... I ended up spending about two hours running around town trying to find a specific bolt I was looking for, but finally did find one. ;-)

 Now for a couple of pictures of my latest project:

 I don't recall if I posted this or not, but I sold my other four-wheeler a couple of weeks ago... I found another one in need of repair, which I picked up pretty cheap. So now I am working on repairing this one. :-) Here is a picture of what was wrong with it:

 Apparently what happened is the piston seized in the jug, which caused the bottom of the piston to break out, then the connecting rod/wrist pin smashed into the side of the cylinder a couple of times, breaking out a piece of the cylinder wall and bending the connecting rod... It also managed to push the piston high enough that it hit the valves, causing them to bend as well...

 I bought a used crankshaft and cylinder/piston off of eBay, so I have been working on putting things back together. I am still waiting for the valves, gaskets, and some other parts I ordered, but then I should be able to get it all back together. :-)

Here you can see about half of the engine put back together with the new (used) crankshaft already installed:

Here is the other half of the main crankcase assembly:

 And a couple of pictures of assorted engine parts that need to be put on yet:

I hope to get it running next week sometime, but it might not happen if the weather is nice and we can be in the fields... :-) I am sure there will be more pictures of it here in the future...

  Andrew B.

It Works!

Yesterday morning I put the rest of the plastic back on my new four-wheeler, and then started it up and took it out for a drive... Yup, I got it fixed and back in service! None too soon either, as the weather has turned our yard and cattle pens into one big slop hole, in which our other quad would be helplessly stuck... :-) We have already been using my new one to check the cows, so it is being put to good use. Four-wheel-drive is an increadable invention!
 I got a little time this afternoon to take apart the (Bad) transmission that I had taken out of my four-wheeler, and found the following:

Here is a close up of the wrecked bearings:

 Yup, that one's a gonner...  The really stupid thing is you can't just replace the bearings as Honda doesn't sell individual parts for the transmission; You have to change the whole thing! Sooooooooooooooooo.......  $1,305 and a lot of time, and I have my four wheeler working again! Sure hope it works for a long time... ;-)

  Got to go,

    Andrew B.

More projects, and another episode of "New Wheels!"

Hello all ye out there in Bloggerdom! Once again I have not posted in several days, (A little bit more than my 4.66 average... :-) ) and you might be wondering what I have been up to...  I have actually been busy with several different projects, including working on my grain cleaner:

... and helping a lot with putting up the frame of our greenhouse:

As you can see we are building it right onto the South side of the storage shed we have been building, so we really only had to build three walls and the top...

Here is what it looks like from the top:

We were planning on putting on the plastic yesterday, but it was too windy out and would have been hard to get the plastic fastened down...

 And here is my newest project:



 It's a 2001 Honda Foreman 500 Rubicon, which I bought from a neighbor for $500... What's the catch? The transmission is bad... :-P   You can see in this picture that I had already started tearing it apart:

The engine/transmission assembly is now completely taken out of the quad, and sitting on the bench in the shop in several pieces... :-) I already ordered the parts for it, but I probably won't get a chance to tear the engine apart the rest of the way and get it all put back together for a couple of weeks, as we will be very busy with cleaning grain starting Monday...

  Of course we have also been busy with calving, and trying to keep up with tagging all of the calves... Here is a little video clip I took of Jacob and Cora just coming in from checking on the cows:

That's all for now, check back soon...
   Andrew B.

A package in the mail...

I got a package on Thursday that contained this:

Yep, that's right! ARB Productions will now be coming to you in HD! More to come soon...
   Andrew B.

Blog updating, again...

Hello everybody!
  Today is a nice cold "Almost Winter" day here in ND, the temperature is currently 6.3° outside with a light breeze from the East. There must have been fog again overnight, because everything is covered with a good layer of frost... :-) It is really quite beautiful, but sitting here in front of my computer and looking out of the window, I am rather glad to be inside!
 As the title of this post implies, I have just finished updating several parts of my blog. Be sure to check out my updated list of favorite books and movies on my profile page, as well as the updated list of blogs I follow. ----->
 Yesterday we all (Except Cora, who had to work...) went to Bismarck. Mom had a bunch of sessions to do at her office, Jacob and I were hoping to be able to skate/play hockey at one of the rinks up there, and Dad had to go talk to our banker in Mandan. Unfortunately we weren't able to skate up there, as they were just in the process of flooding the rinks, which will then need a couple of days to set and then a couple more layers besides... Maybe next week... :-) I have been pondering trying to get a Homeschool Hockey League going in Bismarck, if I can find enough people who would be interested... Readers, what do you think of that idea?
 On the joys of a NEW computer:
  For those of you who have been reading my blog for quite some time, you probably know that I enjoy working with anything electronic, especially computers... And you probably also know that I recently built myself a new one. :-) Here is a report of what I have been doing with it, and how I am enjoying the great increase in speed. 
 I have been working on editing some video that I took last summer of our friends, the Dagley's, "Prairie Days". (Keep posted for clips from that...) Now, as anybody who has worked with video before will know, rendering video takes A LOT of computer power, and the amount of time it takes to render a video is directly proportional to the speed of your processor... Now for the fun stats:  My old computer took a little over a minute to render one minute of standard definition video. My new one takes about 9 seconds! My old computer rendered one minute of 1080P HD video in about 12 minutes (!), while my new one can do the same task in a minute and a quarter!  As you can imagine, that drastically cuts down on the amount of time required to work with video files. :-)
 That's all for now,
  Andrew B.

More snow!

It's beginning to look like Winter around here! I know it's actually still fall, but when there is 6+ inches of snow on the ground, it sure feels like Winter! It reminds me of the saying:
"There are four seasons in North Dakota; Almost Winter; Winter; Still Winter; and Road Construction!"
We were up in Bismarck again yesterday, moving Mom's office from one room to another larger one in the same building. We were also hoping to be able to get our truck back from the shop, where it has been for the past three weeks! It went in with a transmission problem, and after we got it back the first time there were several other problems with it, so it went right back... They thought they had it working finally, but after they took it out and drove it a little, they found more problems... ARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! The whole situation has been frustrating, to put it mildly...
It looks like it is going to be a nice day out today, maybe we will be able to have some fun outside! The sun is shining, there is a light breeze, and the temperature is 16°! Just right for snowmobiling... :-)
That's all for now,
Andrew B.

First post from...

... My NEW computer! Yup, I finally got around to building myself a new computer! :-) I just got the package from Newegg this afternoon, and I already have it up and running... Now comes the fun task of migrating all of my files and settings from my old computer to this one... ;-) In case any of you are interested, here are the specs:

• ASUS P7H55-M Motherboard
• Intel Core i3-540 dual core processor at 3.06 Ghz, W/Built in graphics
• 4GB DDR3 RAM
• Western Digital 1TB hard drive
• 585 watt power supply
• More to come... :-)

I am having a blast!

Andrew B.

It Came!

My new iPod that is! It arrived in the mail this morning, and I have been playing with it ever since... ;-) Here are a couple of pictures I took with it:










And even some video clips! Here is one from the front camera:

And here is one from the rear camera:

More comming soon...

Andrew B.

Long time, No post!

Hello all!

Yes, I am still alive! :-) No, my computer didn't die either! Unfortunately I have just had too many other things going on, and a number of more interesting projects to do in my spare time, so Blogging kind of got put on the back burner... And besides that, we have had things going on the last couple of Sabbaths as well, so I couldn't even write then!

This morning I decided to take some pictures of my "Other projects" to post on my blog, so without further ado, we'll start from the beginning...
A couple of weeks ago, Dad was hauling grain for a neighbor of ours, when he saw an old snowmobile and an old four-wheeler sitting in the tree rows... After talking to the owner a couple of days later, we were able to buy them for a pretty decent price. :-) They both needed some work, but to the pictures:

Here is Jacob happily driving the 1985 Honda TRX250! It runs good now, although the rear brakes still need to be fixed... It had 2 flat tires, needed a new hub for one of the rear wheels, had a broken front shock, the battery was missing, the front fenders are all broken and missing, the front brakes needed adjustment, the carb was out of adjustment, one front rim was cracked, and apart from a couple little odds and ends, it's just like new! ;-) It has already been up to the pasture for fencing, and sure is handy around the yard!

The snowmobile:

Yup, that's right. Its a John Deere! More specifically its a 1974 John Deere JDX-4 340cc Twin. As you can see, it's in rather tough shape cosmetically, but the motor runs good, and the track is in pretty good shape, so we should be able to get some fun out of it this winter... Right now it is sitting in the shop just as you see it, and probably will be for a while, as it isn't a really high priority right now... ;-)

Last Tuesday, Dad, Jacob and I went to the annual consignment auction in Napoleon. We brought home 3 things; A large (50ft) vibreshank (mainly for parts); A nice stock trailer (We really needed one, as we only had a little one before, and we are planning on hauling all the cows to pasture this year... another story :-) ); and this:

How old do you think this truck is? Leave me a comment with your guess!

My other project:

This laptop was given to me in need of repair... I was told it needed a new motherboard, and that it would cost ~$400! But to make a long story short, I was able to fix it, and only had to add RAM, and a hard drive! I have been wanting a good laptop for a long time, and now God has given me a ~$1500 laptop for less than $100! PTL!

And now for an announcement:

Prairie Days 2010 is coming up! Check out the website Here for more information! Come and join us! But, if you can't, stay posted for a whole bunch of pictures, and probably even some video clips... :-)
That's all for now,

Andrew B.

Remodeling my room...

I have been waiting for a certain package to arrive via FedEx, and it finally came yesterday! Of course, I had to help dad with spreading manure untill lunch time, so I didn't have a chance to open it till then. (Our FedEx man usually arrives about 10:00 AM) Anyway, here is a picture of my computer room before it got 'Renovated' --

 And here is a picture of the new addition:

 I haven't ever had an LCD monitor before, so it is a big step up from my HUGE old CRT! Now I am writing in style. :-)

 More later,

 Andrew B.

My new wheels, 2nd edition! :-)

Hello again out there in cyberspace! Once again I haven't written in long time, and I have a lot to say!



We are still busy making hay; it is an all-summer project! We still have about 160 acres of alfalfa to cut, ditches to bale, and a little native prairie to mow, rake, and bale. Then we have to stack all the bales before the plants under the bales die, then we start all over with the second cut on the alfalfa! Here is a picture of some of our bales, after they have been moved in from the field, but before they have been stacked:





Here is a picture of the inside of Cora's camera:




She asked me to "Fix It", as the lens would not extend or retract fully, and so was unusable. I was able to take it apart and oil the lens mechanism, and now it works again!


O, getting back to the subject of my post, here is a rather candid shot of me just arriving home in my "New" wheels.





A little better picture:







My Brand-New Old-Used truck is a 1998 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport 4x4, in very good condition.






I just HAD to take everybody out for a spin, and Cora caught me driving:





Mom knew I bought a pickup, but she was a little surprised at how nice it is!



What? Tailgating already?



Best get out to the barn,

Andrew B.

My new wheels

Well, I'm back!

I have been busy on the farm,

working in the fields,

and fixing the tractor, etc...

Now it's time to play!

Here is a picture of my new "Toy".

It is a 2002 Kawasaki KDX200. I just got it yesterday, so I haven't had much time to ride yet. I bought it from a guy in Fargo, but I picked it up in Eureka SD. How? I have an uncle who lives in Fargo, and he was coming down to Eureka anyway, and he was nice enough to bring it down for me! We were going to Eureka for my cousin's graduation anyway, so we didn't even have to make a special trip!

I took a ride on the bike before we loaded it up, and that's when these pictures were took:

It is definatly a lot nicer bike (and a lot taller!) than my other bike, which is a 1994 KE100: