Little boy me be tired. 😴
Last night before I went to bed, and I don’t remember if I wrote about it or not, but I saw a Genie TZ50 for sale for super cheap in Oklahoma about 2 hours away. They’d posted it just after 5 p.m yesterday, but I didn’t see it until probably 11 something, and my late-night messages went unresponded to, as one might guess. The ad was clear that they’d hold the equipment for no one, that it was first come first served.
Well, they didn’t list a location for where to see the equipment, just that it was in Salisaw, OK (about 2 hours from where I live) but I wanted to be the first one to show up with money.
Gratefully, I run my financial situation such that, given that they put the ad up after banks were closed, and given that I could show up before banks would open, I figured I’d stand a pretty good chance of being the first person who’d be able to show up with actual cash.
Not to mention, there was no address listed for the ad, so if I could deduce where the seller was, I’d likely have yet another thing on my side.
So I jumped on Facebook, clicked the seller profile, and then did a little reading, on the profile, and I found where they mentioned the name of their business. So I googled the business, found that it was indeed in Salisaw, Oklahoma, and I hatched my plan.
I’d get up at 4:45, and I’d drive up and grab my truck, and then I’d head all the way on down to Salisaw, and I’d almost certainly be the only one who had the necessary cash on hand before the banks were even open, and I might also have been the only person who found the address of the place without actually getting in touch with the sellers themselves.
The result?
I arrived about 5 minutes before the business opened (they open at 7 a.m.), and I chatted with the only worker who was there. He didn’t know they were selling that piece of equipment, but he showed it to me nonetheless.
The owner of the place showed up not too long later, and… now I’m the proud owner of a used, but with only 237.2 hours, Genie TZ50–a piece of equipment that should make tree work a lot easier and safer in many situations. So… that’s cool!
I… haven’t even tested it’s functions yet, honestly. 🙃 In the ad, the owner said it had one broken electrical motor, but the employee was surprised by that, saying they’d just used it two weeks before.
Who knows. My nephew will check it out and let me know. However it turns out, I got it for such a good price that, well, it was a steal, so if it needs a good bit of work, it’ll still be a great price.
I got back around 10 a.m., I think, after a fairly uneventful drive home towing the beast behind me.
It’s got a 50-foot boom. That should be awesome, not to mention fun, and it’s the kind that has the controls in the bucket, so you can control yourself and where you go. You’re not dependent upon someone else running the controls and trying to position you appropriately.
Anyway, so… that was my morning.
After that, I… uh… can’t remember a lot. I know my brother helped me a good bit trying to get my Google Sheet and Google Form integration to work smoothly. I think we found a workaround. I’ll have to check it out tomorrow.
What else… oh! I fixed the blinker problem in my 2001 Dodge 3500 van (bad ignition switch), so now my blinkers work, and though I haven’t tested it, my radio should work now as well. Nice to have blinkers working correctly, instead of having to jimmy the key a certain way (toward the crank position 😬) in order to get the turn signals to do their things.
First car I went to was a 2011 Mazda 3 that had a really bad rod knock and metal shavings all over the engine. Poor people. They owe a massive amount on a car that’s… all but worthless.
Honestly, when I see the prices that some of these people are paying for cars, it… gosh… I mean how does one even react to that? Why on earth do people pay so much for cars? I don’t understand. Is it that they trust dealers? Is it that they just don’t know any better? I mean… they paid way more than the car was worth. Way more. Why?
Man, my eyelids are just… falling hard.
I’d best be gettin’ to bed. It’s after midnight, and I’m just beaten to a pulp today. (up early, and after that blown-engine job, I had a 2015 Wrangler that supposedly had a bad radiator, but I decided to diagnose it first instead of replacing the part they asked me to replace, so I diagnosed it and found the radiator was fine, but the water pump was toast.
It should have been a relatively simple job, but no. On that engine (3.6 Chrysler), you have to remove the alternator (which is mounted backwards), alternator bracket, and two idler pulleys in order to get to the water pump (among other things).
And the engine had gotten so hot (at least I’m going to guess that’s what did it) that the normally easy to replace rubber gasket was cooked on, and it was of such consistency that I couldn’t get it off without sandpaper.
Gratefully, his neighbor had some sand paper of an appropriate grit (my razor blades and sandpaper are still in my CNG van).
What else… uh… I’m tired? Yeah, I’m really tired.
That water pump job took like 7 hours after all of the things that were going wrong finally eased up, and it was good to go.
Speaking of which, I’m tired to go, so I need to go.
I’ve been lonely again today. Not a new thing, but more so than normal.
Good night, folks!
My love to all ya’ll.
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 