Michael Cochran

Biggun, I was looking at a camper a couple years ago for my ex father in law and I had the same kind of thing. The woman posted pics of a great looking camper and the price was crazy cheap. When I asked her she said it wasn’t local but could arrange to ship it to me. When she told me where it supposedly located I said “that’s great I’m actually going to be there next week for business I’ll let you know when I get there and we can meet up so I can look at it in person.” I never heard anything else from her.

Thank you, Dave, I’ll keep that in mind.

When the time comes and I get my forge set up again I’ll definitely see what happens with it and I’ll post about my experience with it.

Frosty, I’m doing well. Lots of new things going on in my life and busy like I haven’t been in years but things are going really well. Thanks for asking.

Well I might play with it but I might not. Thank you for your expertise John

Here’s the other one. John you’re probably right as I was told it was railroad related scrap.

Sure thing, John. It’s round all but this one side.

I have been on a hiatus from the shop for months now. More than I care to count to be honest. I’m getting stable again and have started scrounging for some materials and stumbled across a couple interesting pieces. I know if I had my forge or at least my grinder running I could narrow this down a little and probably wouldn’t have to bother you fine folks with such a silly question. Attached I show two pictures of one piece that shows and interesting feature on what looks like a broken end. I’m thinking it’s cast iron but would like someone else to tell me to throw them back instead of doing it without me getting prior consultation.

It’s time for another update. My meds have the depression well under control and the therapy has helped some as well. I am looking at moving about 80 miles or so north and starting a new life to get away from some of my triggers that are around here. I have a job lined up to start in a couple weeks so I just have to get things in order so I can get up there ASAP.

I saw a sign and wanted to share what it said as I see it fitting. Some people persue happiness, other create it.

Thank you, Adry, I’ll see if I can find myself a reprint to add to my collection of books.

It’s been a while since I’ve been on here. I’ve been dealing with some tough stuff but I thought i should give everyone an update. My meds are 4 times the original prescription strength. I can finally go a few days at a time without being depressed enough to be a problem. I am dealing with a lot of things that try to pull me down and I’m finding ways to deal with some of the problems. Stress at work was getting to the point it was causing my health to be affected so I resigned my position of leadership and went back to being one of the crowd and it’s helped tremendously. Some of the stresses I’m treating with a sense of humor to get by and that’s helping some. Ive started spending a lot of time at the river near by fishing, camping, and “surviving.” That’s taken my mind off of a lot of my problems enough to allow me to relax some. I’m still taking life one moment at a time but the moments are getting a little longer which I feel like is an improvement. Life might not be ideal right now but it’s so much better than what it could be. I’ve been trying to count my blessings more these days, not ignoring the bad things just focusing more on the good things.

I’m not usually a salad eater but recently I’ve been craving it (my body must need the minerals). Usually I like a salad with the little cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, and some shredded carrots are sometimes on the list. Truth is I’ll load my salad to the point it’s really not a salad anymore. It’s an experience lol. Charles, you have a few good points there. I took Chantix before and it worked great. I was no longer having cravings after the third day and was smoke free until I started working in close proximity to a chain smoker and thought to myself ‘one won’t hurt anything.’ The list idea can be a good thing and have recently thought about doing that with some of the more important people in my life. Josh, I appreciate it, I might be calling on you this weekend.

I’m looking at some lifestyle changes that will probably help me feel better. I plan to start a new diet (not the weight lose kind) and an exercise routine to help get some juices flowing again. I remember when I was exercising several years ago I felt better overall and figured it was about time to start that again. We all know how important our diet is. If we eat poorly it affects our energy levels and our mood negatively and I’m guilty of not eating right most of the time. I’ve already made a few other changes, some small some bigger, and plan on still more changes as time goes on. Two of the biggest are not gonna be easy without support from the people around me. I need to quit smoking and I need to learn to like myself. I think someone might’ve mentioned it hear already but I know my therapist also told me that I need to love myself. I’ll settle for liking myself if I can manage that.

No I haven’t. I’ve had too many other things come up that needed my attention. I haven’t been able to make it out to the shop in a couple months now and it’s killing me. As soon as things settle down I’ll see if I can’t get back on this project and others