Harsh Conditions
Living at Plan473 can have harsh conditions. Salt air, salt soil, hot salt, dry salt, humid salt, and wind salt. See where the harsh conditions are revolving from? Aside from salt damage, normal wear tear, and excessive usage, and age all affect day to day routines. Unfortunately, “normal” is not standard across users. As I am typically harder on all products than designed specifications. My normal destroys itself much quicker. Every week a new item is added to the ever growing list and every week we try to remove an item. There are days when the list seems endless. Living in harsh conditions requires constant diligence. Constant meaning when something breaks. Not constant as in ahead of the game. No time for prevention, we handle conditions as it happens.
Like this $20 million dollar spoon repair. Boxes in Fields does not believe in excess waste. If ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If it is broke, fix it . If it can’t be fix, try to replace with used before buying new. This spoon is irreplaceable. Not only because it has memories attached to it but because they simply don’t make it anymore. Some people out there would shelf this spoon and only admire it for its antique value. Well that is stupid. It is a spoon, a damn good spoon at that, so it will be used. Until is breaks that is.
And break it did. Luckily grandma’s spoon broke in the best possible way and could easily be fixed. Easily if your husband has an aluminum welder, aluminum rods thin enough for this material, and the means to weld without making gobbly-goup welds on the teeny-tiny handle. Most people say they can weld. Welding aluminum is something all together different. At least that is what the aluminum welders will have you believe. Aluminum welding takes patience and care and skill. Good thing the Planner has all of the above as my welding skills are not to this level, yet.
The Planner easily fixed my beloved spoon and even shined to its original beauty at a cost he told me of $20 million dollars. When ask if he took payments, he just laughed and said payments are $1 per meal. Holy Moly! At $1 per meal at maybe 400 meals per year worth, it would take something like 50 thousands years to repay. Guess he thought my credit was good.
Harsh conditions effects everything. Inanimate or not. Here it is the end of September and while the majority of people are watching leaves change and busting out winter gear, South Texas still remains in the throws of late summer heat. In fact, I would venture to say late September and early October heat is worse than dry hot days in August. In August, everyone knows it is supposed to be hot. In September, ones’ minds drifts to fall activities which leads to winter activities which then leads to cooler weather thoughts. This train of thought is bad for the mind as it is still upper 90’s with 10000 percentage of humidity. Unfortunately for the doggo, she does not know of this human calendar we base our lives around. All she knows is that it is still freaking hot. Wonder what she ponders as she sits with her nose against the fan?
Some harsh conditions are brought upon themselves. Such as this chicken, or used to be chicken. Nurple, the second acquired rooster has been warned for the last few months that if he did not stop chasing hens, his days were going to be numbered. Well, his number came and his number was One.
One. One less chicken. One chicken in a pot. Having no experience with homegrown chickens, this is the second time I have boiled a rooster with less than stellar results. If tough, dry birds are the result of free range chickens, some additional thought will have to be given for new pullets purchased next February. Chickens at Boxes in Fields are not pets, they are pest control and with a small egg production. This is not happy eternal home for chickens. When their purpose is no loner needed or they can no longer fulfill their duties, their number will be called, too. The assortment of hens currently in house are multi-duty birds meaning they are not full meat bird nor full duty egg birds. I am hoping in January when the older birds are thinned out for the new birds in February, their meat is more tender than this stuck in your teeth, chew on it for hours, stringy rooster.
After weeks and weeks of asking for Just One Inch, the weather finally responded. One inch (maybe more) in a sudden, random, mighty downpour. Lasting less than ten minutes, everything was caught off guard. By the time windows were shut it was over. By the time the chickens made it to the safety of their coop, it was over. Water on floors and running down windows and doors is easy enough to clean up. Water off a chicken is not like water off a ducks back. Water off of a drowned chicken, not my problem. Poor Chicken, he looked like a drowned rat.
Some harsh conditions brought upon from incorrect care are irreparable. Designed for “outside” usage, these chairs are just a few short years old and they have already meet their final days. Probably not designed for Boxes in Fields outside conditions, they probably should be stored inside when not in use and not left in the harsh direct UV for 12 hours a day. If I had a sewing machine, new seats could maybe be installed as the frames are still good. But alas, I do not have a machine, nor do I want a machine. With that, the chairs were scraped to the metal bin and new chairs were sought after. Aluminum chair so they last longer.
Some harsh conditions are brought upon from excessive wear. As stated, I am very hard on my equipment. When companies design new products, they should call me to test its strength/durability/wear-ability. Understanding businesses only continue to grow and make money when new products are sold, old products therefore have a built in lifespan. But don’t you hate it when the product you love is no longer sold, or has been modified, or replaced and the “new” product is subpar? This seems to happen with a greater frequency. In the last five years, I have switched blue jean companies twice because the companies keep changing to follow trends. Whose trends? Not mine, nobody asked me what I want or in this case don’t want in a great pair of working blue jeans. This week it was the end of my most recent Chucks.
Living in salty environment in a metal box really does requires constant diligence. Knowing and doing are two different things. As I said, Boxes in Fields is more of a handle as it happens. Coming into the work box and finding rusty water on your cardboard boxes is one of those this needs to be handled right now kinda situations. We both new the spot on the roof was thin and would need replacing but since it has not rained in months and months, the immediate need was not warranted. Now, is a different story.
After fixing the hole in the roof, the Planner moved along to a hole in the side of the box that was discovered months ago. While just the size of a pencil tip, the hole did not cause immediate need for repair so it was left alone. Once cleaned and prepped for welding, the hole grew to the size of an eraser head. Still nothing major.
A simple 1″x1″ backing patch was placed on the inside on the box and the Planner welded a quick tack to seal the hole from the outside. The whole process including cutting the patch took less than ten minutes. Then he moved to the second hole four ridges down the same paneled wall.
Let us just say after ten minutes on the second hole, I gave up holding the red hot patch and went to cook dinner. Welding gloves and hoods could be seen and heard being thrown across the yard. Dinner came and went and the hole was still there. After a cool down and some tasty grub; no not the nasty dispatched rooster; the Planner attacked the hole again and 30 minutes later he was done. Why one project goes so well when the next goes to the crapper is beyond me. Same wall, same patch material, same welder, same weather. Two different results. Glad that was done.
Another project that came as a sudden we need to fix this now was the chicken coop. The Kid came in from collecting the eggs to inform me the coop was a wet mess inside. After cleaning out the wet mess (I has guessed the rain came from the south and blew in the side window as that was the side that was wet) and while laying new bedding down did I discover the true reason for the wet mess. A broken roofing sheet.
Can’t say that I am shocked. The sheets are two and half years old, and since good old Hurricane Harvey, are in full exposure to the sun and all of its UV harshness. These roofing sheets were not designed for these conditions. Luckily, the Planner had left over sections from when the coop was built so this was a quick, easy fix. Yeah!
In fact, the hardest part was collecting the broken pieces. When attempting to remove the old broken sheet, it shattered into about a million shards and went everywhere. It will takes weeks to collect. Boo. I hate half finished projects.
Ha! Half finished projects. It seems everything right now at Boxes in Fields is in a state of half finished projects. Working on a project such as Boxes in Fields might always be in a state of half finished. Living with harsh conditions results in the state of half finished projects.