Escape From the Prison Planet

[Gray]

Somehow I'm just noticing this thread. This looks awesome! Good luck

[DRIVEN]

Thanks, man. So far it has been. Last night was the town's annual 3rd of July gathering. Lots of food vendors and stuff for the kids at the park on the river. Then a pretty decent fireworks display after dark. There were thousands of people from the surrounding areas. It's like a cross between Mayberry and the little redneck town in Easy Rider.

I'm headed over to my dad's to build a cargo box for my trailer and we'll be headed back to Hillsboro for my compressor and a few odds and ends early in the morning. After the box is built I'll help him on his barn project. Maybe clean uup his shop a bit.

[Taterhead]

Fyi, I don't think you're ever done unpacking. Glad to see it up and running for you.

[DRIVEN]

Thanks, man. Just got back with my last load. I could now just docusign everything and never see that place again. Probably won't get that lucky though.

[Taterhead]

You know it's never that easy.

[DRIVEN]

Of course not. I got a call from my panicking realtor that the deal might be unraveling. Apparently the buyer went down to the city to inquire about selling cars from there. They said no fucking way. Now he might want to bail on the deal.
Idiot.
Meanwhile, I keep chipping away at unpacking. I have 2 work training trips scheduled for next week. Lonnnnng days. 16hrs driving one day and 14-15hrs the other.

[DRIVEN]

...aaaaaand, the deal is dead. There were some bullshit reasons but it boiled down to cold feet. Naturally they could be persuaded to reconsider if I drop the price $40k.

[wayno]

There are others out there that will buy it from you.
I have heard that folks buying in Portland Oregon have been making offers higher than the asking price because there is a shortage of housing, but maybe that is just in the Portland city limits in old neighborhoods.
Did you get up front money to hold it?

[DRIVEN]

The market is really hot in Portland and surrounding areas for regular housing. Mine's a bit different. I wasn't expecting it to move immediately. In fact, I was really happily surprised that we settled for just barely under asking -- like within 1.3%.

The contract was all signed on the accepted offer a week ago. There was $5500 earnest money which I asked thge realtor about at that time. I was told that's basically just a gesture any more unless they take it to the very end of closing and arbitrarily decide to pull th r plug. Even then you may have to go to small claims to collect. Whatever, it was a bullshit move so I told my agent i would be willing to honor the original deal if they reconsidered but to relist the house.
The buyer is sadly delusional if he thinks he can "legally" do what he plans to do for less money elsewhere. My place is honestly perfect. Best of luck to him on his hunt.

[DRIVEN]

Forgot these from last week when we went to get the last load. My dad rode with me and my brother came by after work to help load the compressor. We used an old HF chain hoist in the trusses and backed thr trailer under it.
All that stuff is unloaded in my dad's shop now. Compressor is hooked up and running now so we can actually do some work.

[DRIVEN]

Did about 100' of shovel work this morning. Kinda overdid it and thought I was having a heart attack. Took a break and finished it later. Anyway, the runoff thing is probably going to be an ongoing battle until later in the fall when I can get it properly trenched. I had it flowing pretty good and the flooding is a thing of the past but all the sediment from my upstream neighbors settled out at the end of the trench right before it drains back into the canal.

[DRIVEN]

Still chipping away at general stuff. There is a shed here that had a bunch of shit left in it.




That old stove is kinda cool so I kept it. The rest went to the dump. So the shed is now cleared out but not clean. I'll be moving in some shop stuff and parts that will survive being semi exposed. It's dry and covered but nowhere near weather tight.

[DRIVEN]

Also did enough cleaning in my dad's shop to be able to do some work. Was able to get the Venza in for a hitch and wiring install and the Neon got a faulty strut replaced. No pics because who cares?

[DRIVEN]

Between work training trips and yard work I've been helping a little on my dad's barn project. The roof caved in under snow load last winter so he's trying to square and level it to get a new roof and a fresh coat of paint on it. It's mostly his project. I've helped very little.





We passed this public riding area on the way back from the dump yesterday so this morning I went over and checked it out. It's about 15 minutes from my house. I was the only one there for the 30-40 minutes I putted around.




No idea how big the place is but I only saw a portion while I was there.

[DRIVEN]

Still chugging away on little projects but haven't been very good at photo documentation. I'll try to be better about that. Serviced all my small engine stuff today, re-dug that section of ditch, did a couple little things on the El Camino, diagnosed my builder's mom's car for next week, helped my dad a bit with his tractor. Pretty productive day.

[flatcat19]

How's the heat out there?

We're looking at a week of 101+ starting tomorrow here.

[DRIVEN]

About the same. I just try to get my outside work done before noon. If I'm working around the house it's fine because I can usually stay in the shade. If I'm working at my dad's shop it is usually bearable because he's got doors at both ends. There's a swamp cooler too but I haven't used it yet.

[DRIVEN]

Did an 8 hour shift in the sun today. Drove the tractor from my parents house and mowed 3 acres. Then dropped the mower for a blade to do some general cleanup. Trimmed some trees. Still have a ton to do.

Had to come inside and get cleaned up to wait on the internet guy. Been a long time since we've had TV or internet access. It'll be nice to get civilized again...I hope. This will be their 4th trip out.

[DRIVEN]

Condensed and reorgized the shop a bit. It's still ridiculously crowded but at least now there are enough paths to be able to Tetris (yes, a verb) out pretty much whatever may be needed. Granted, it doesn't look much better but it really is. Ended up with this...



Best part was freeing up the hoist and getting my trailer moved out. We also set up a work area with a bench and all the toolboxes in one spot. Still not completely done but at least useable.


Still, it's 3 shops worth of stuff in 1 so it's just plain crowded. No getting past that for the foreseeable future.

[DRIVEN]

Just down the road steady progress is being made at the farm. My dad works a few hours every morning and it all adds up. The barn is braced up and squared the best it can be. He's got all the cedar shingles stripped and the outer roof sections ready for new tin. We rolled trusses yesterday morning.




Next step is skip sheeting, then paint, then tin. He's been getting a lot of positive feedback from locals about saving this old barn. At first I was a bit skeptical but it's really coming together.