{"id":4843,"date":"2017-04-23T10:27:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T16:27:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/?p=4843"},"modified":"2017-04-25T11:10:22","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T17:10:22","slug":"smm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/smm\/","title":{"rendered":"SMM"},"content":{"rendered":"

SMM = Special Mobile Machinery. That is how my chipper is now registered and plated.<\/p>\n

It took most of a day, last Wednesday, that I took off as vacation. First I had to get a temporary permit so I could pull the chipper to a weigh station. No fun waiting at the DMV – only one office in all of Mesa County, population 146,723\u00a0– for over an hour until my number was called. $7.10 later I had my temp permit.<\/p>\n

Since I was in Grand Junction, I stopped in at a Honda dealership to take a look at an Accord that Pam had seen on-line. (We are leaning toward replacing our Accord, with 411K miles on it, with a newer vehicle.) The Honda that Pam had seen – a 2008 model with under 100K on it\u00a0–\u00a0already had a pending offer so I looked at what else the dealership had on hand. There was a 2010 Accord on the lot\u00a0but with more miles on it, about 138K. Asking price for either vehicle was just under $10K which is what we think it will take to get a decent daily driver. This was just a scouting trip to get info so I took the salesman’s card and moved along.<\/p>\n

Next stop was grocery shopping. The grocery list was substantial and finding everything in a relatively unknown store took some time. Then it was off to home to unload the groceries, get lunch, put the temp tag on the chipper, hook up to the Ford F-150, and head back to Grand Junction to get the chipper weighed and complete the registration.<\/p>\n

I needed a “weight slip” to complete the paperwork and, while in Grand Junction in the a.m., I had scouted the location of two certified scales located at truck stops. When I turned up at the weigh station, I was in for a bit of consternation; the scale would not register a vehicle as light as the chipper. The\u00a02nd truck scale gave me the same news.<\/p>\n

By this time I was getting frustrated and a call to the DMV did not help. They claimed either of those scales should be able to weigh the chipper, and if not, the recommendation was to “…get a Yellow Pages and start looking for a scale,” which was of no help to me. I was driving\u00a0back through Grand Junction on the business loop when\u00a0I spotted a scrap recycler off a side road. Figuring\u00a0they had to weigh “stuff” I made my way over to them. Inside the office I was greeted by a middle-aged lady who said sure, they would weigh my chipper for me (after I explained I needed a “weight slip” to title the unit).<\/p>\n

The lady showed me which scale to use and I drove the truck and chipper onto it. The scale was in three sections so the chipper could be isolated on one section and thus get an accurate weight. (Chipper weight = 1,700 pounds; the manual had it listed at 1,680 but for some reason the DMV would not accept the manual’s stated weight.)<\/p>\n

The process took only a few minutes, and when I went back to the office the weight slip was ready to go \u00a0– made my day! – at no charge. My mood brightened considerably.<\/p>\n

Soo it was back to the DMV, another hour+ wait, and finally my number was called. I turned in all the papers, forms, and temp permit, answered a few questions, then we had to go outside\u00a0to do a VIN inspection on the chipper. The chipper had no VIN number, only a model number and serial number. The serial number became my VIN.<\/p>\n

At long last, after a payment of $124.95, I was handed my license plate and registration. (The title will come in the mail in about a month.) I was one happy camper at that moment. Back into the truck and home. The first thing I did when I got there was put the SMM plate on the chipper. It had been a long day but I can now legally pull the chipper to and from The Lot, or to other small jobs if something comes up.<\/p>\n

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My SMM plate<\/p><\/div>\n

In other news…<\/p>\n

We are looking forward to seeing Pam’s brother Craig and wife Dianne when they are in Colorado over Memorial Day weekend. We plan to meet at The Lot and spend a few days in the area. Looking at the local forecast for The Lot the rest of April, temps\u00a0are still dropping below freezing but not every night. Hopefully in a few weeks (early-May?) I\u00a0will be able to tow The Box up to the lot and start getting set up for the season.<\/p>\n

Otherwise our lives are into the fair weather\u00a0routine; mowing and watering the lawn, more painting of the decks, auto maintenance. I did go on\u00a0another ride with the Grand Junction ATV group yesterday, which is\u00a0interesting as I get to meet more and more people. (The\u00a0new ATV tires worked very well on this ride.)<\/p>\n

One evening, while I was sitting in my new recliner, I\u00a0noticed KitKat had taken up her usual spot on the back of the couch:<\/p>\n

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KitKat on the back of the couch<\/p><\/div>\n

All the pets (inside and outside) made it through the winter OK and are appreciating the warming days and nights.<\/p>\n

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!<\/p>\n

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:<\/p>\n

I know it’s Spring cause my bursitis is acting up again. \u00a0This year my left knee has taken the hit. \u00a0With meds and time the swelling will go down, but it’s really<\/em> boring to wake up every day and have to take an inventory to see what is working – and what is not.<\/p>\n

Retirement House Hunt: \u00a0I’ve been scoping out several towns\u00a0in Oregon that feature historic houses. \u00a0Brownsville and Scio offer some interesting options; they’re located in the center of the state along Oregon’s\u00a0I-5 corridor. \u00a0Bigger cities close\u00a0by the smaller towns would offer the medical and retail services we’ll need. \u00a0Other small communities like Mt. Angel and Amity are on the radar too, since we’ve been to both of them.\u00a0\u00a0I recently located a hamlet off the coast (slightly inland from Florence) called Mapleton that intrigues. \u00a0A road trip to the Pacific Northwest is likely in order\u00a0before “getting serious.”<\/p>\n

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This house in Brownsville recently sold for about $100K<\/p><\/div>\n

Happy Trails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SMM = Special Mobile Machinery. That is how my chipper is now registered and plated. It took most of a day, last Wednesday, that I took off as vacation. First I had to get a temporary permit so I could pull the chipper to a weigh station. No fun waiting at the DMV – only […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4843"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4861,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4843\/revisions\/4861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}