Well, I just couldn't do it straight off. That was just too damn cold to get wet. It was supposed to top out at 31 today, so I decided to do the wet portion after it packed on a few more degrees.
So... Off to the barn.
Put the new 6v battery in the T. I'm not going to tell you it was excited to be asked to start in that kind of temperature. It did however after a bit of grumbling, fire right off, and after 10 minutes of high idle with a little choke, it settled right down.
Parked in front of the T are 2 things. A 1984 Honda TRX200 4 wheeler, and the 444 with the leaf vac. There's never a doubt with the Honda if the battery is ok. It fired right off, and moved outside. The 444 on the other hand, is a completely different story. Turn the key, and nothing. I couldn't hear the electric fuel pump due to the T, but I could see fuel moving in the filter. Starter wouldn't kick. So I grabbed the charger/starter. No luck. They're not the best things in the world, so I grabbed a spare 12v battery from one of the big tractors. Plenty of volts, and amps there, but the 444 was pissy. The starter just isn't happy I'm thinking. I've never touched that, so it's not shocking that it might be due. Add that to the list I guess. It did eventually catch, and spin up the Kohler.
So out of the barn. (don't shut it down) Pull the T out to the field. Back the 444 in to the back, and remove the leaf vac. Tucked it way in the far back corner to sleep until next fall.
Back out with the 444, and in with the T. Honda right back in its spot. Since the 444 is running, and it's still painfully cold, I decided to put the blower on. (no, I'm not avoiding that cold wet work... really)
So down to the basement, and get the JD300 running. Another ultra reliable machine. A few minutes idle, and it was happy enough to roll out in to the sunshine. Down to the basement with the 444. Off with the sleeve hitch adapter/3 point tow bar. On with a bracket, and a stack of weights. Fortunately that setup sits on a pallet high enough that I can just back up to it, and pin on. Flip the 444 around, and then the front weight bracket has to come off. That's under 100# so I just manhandle that one. Lined up with the blower, and wrestled that on. I really need to position that better to just pull up to it.
Once that was mounted, it was back up to the T's bay, and shut down. Left a trickle charger on it. Put the JD300 away.
Crap... I guess it's time to head in to the woods.
Pulled out a couple chain saws, a lopper, and all the plumbing parts and tools. Filled the chainsaws with fuel and oil. I like to take the two smallest saws for this kind of work. A little Dolmar top handle unit, and then a Husky 435. The 435 is the newest saw I have. It was my uncles, but he can't pull it any more and went to battery. It sadly sat for a long time, so it was a real bear when I got it, but I cleaned it out, and put a few tanks through it earlier this year. Thought I was good to go on that, but apparently not. This is why I make sure they run before I leave the barn, It runs for possibly a minute, and then dies. Let it sit, and you can lather rinse repeat. Clearly that's going to need a little work. So grab the old Husky 50 from the 80's. Great saw. A little heavier that the 435, and I run it with a 20" bar. Good setup, but more saw than I really needed.
Hauled everything in. I've got 2 paths to access the lower impound. Either way, it's 100' or more though real rocky brush, or along the rocky wet stream. No fun really.
This is the lower impound area. it's 3 small dams. The furthest up feeds my trough, and uncle's place. In the middle there's the old line that I'm going to tap back in to. The lowest of the 3 has the original intake for our irrigation loop, and there's a 2" line in there that feeds a neighbor's house. The flagging tape is the run to my house. I needed to trace it to be sure, because the lines start splitting further down, and I honestly have no clue where some of the go... (I swear it's on the list to trace, and label everything)
This is just below the impound. The heavy line on the left is the neighbor. Then next to it is the old irrigation line with the uphill extension tee'd in to it with a valve above in case we had to go back to this. Then there's the skinny line right at the center, just to the left of that green mylar. (balloon that I found) That's the old line to the house. Then there's the skinny line on the right, and you can see the splice just above the dead tree at the lower right.
Once in, it was a matter of cleaning up the area a bit so I wouldn't be fighting the rhododendron, and the various fallen trees/branches. Once that was done, I was able to get the manifold on to the outlet of the lower impound without a fight. Even remembered to put the worm drive clamp on first. Very strange.
Looking at the current run to the house, I could see I needed to pull some line uphill. No big deal since it used to be connected there right?... Well there went the next couple hours... Worked my way downstream along it freeing it up from rocks, and deadfall. Got to the end, and there was no slack to be had. So back to the corner where it comes out of the stream, and toward the house. Dead pine tree at that point. 'course the chainsaws are now up the stream... So over to the barn. When nothing else will run, the saw I know I can depend on is a Homelite XL-12. Those things are amazing. I keep a 24" bar on the XL-12, and a 28" on a Super XL. That's more bar than they want, but they'll pull it when they need to. It fired right up without complaint. Just wish it had anti-vibe grips. I did have the forethought to go up to the upper impound and shut the valve up there. No need to pull the pipe apart and have it flowing...
So this is the upper impound.
I had 3 trees crash on to this earlier this year... Not good.
There are 3 pipes running in to it. The house, the field irrigation loop, and a spare that is just turned off. Obviously these three used to be completely submerged. Time has not been kind to this little dam. I should probably plan to rebuild it, but it still does it's job if we're not in drought.
Back to the house, and cut the tree down. Clear the brush back, and hop the line over the stump. There will be plenty of line now. Dropped the saw out front of the house, and worked my way back upstream repositioning the line. Found a pin hole in the line at one point, so I flagged that with tape on either side. I'll have to cut/splice in the spring when it's warm again. Cleared some more brush on the way back up. With a little heat from a torch, the old coupling came apart reasonably well. I immediately put the new worm drive clamps on the lines.
Apart from having to shove the line to the upper impound uphill a bit, both connections went on to the manifold with no complaints. Once that was done it was simply a matter of going back up to the upper impound, and opening the valve. Done.
And I didn't fall in the stream once. And my hands were dry since I wore nitrile gloves. This was very strangely more stressful about chainsaws that the actual plumbing.
However, since nothing can simply be done... There are 2 dead ash trees that have to be dealt with. Both are leaning in a distinct direction. One is heading for the little dam that feeds the water trough under my barn, and my uncles place. The second would come down right on top of the manifold I just put in. They are of course on the far side of the stream, so I can't pull them from the field with a real long cable. I will have to beat my way through the rhododendron to a tree that I can put a pulley on, and then reeve a cable from the dead, through the block, and then either out to the field, back behind my house, or possibly out to the logging road. None of those options is actually very good. I might have to run it with a block and fall just so I don't have to run out so far. Will have to draft a neighbor for that project since I can't cut, and pull at the same time, not to mention it's just bad policy to fell trees alone...
that quite the adventurous day