Comments Off on friday redux

By Dave, July 31, 2004 10:22 am

After a slow start, Mark H came by with a commercial ice maker that he needed help soldering the compressor back into. While we were working on it Rob J came by for a chat. Finely got the last connection made and it seeming like it would hold and loaded it up. Rob and I chat for a bit and wander around looking at assorted stuff till he needs to leave. Suspect it was lack of ac in all the out doors type places we were but maybe not.

Then I get back to work on the Case. Got the front cowling right side bracket welded back on. Then put bolts up through the the radiator mount holes in the frame. Get the magnet and weld them in place. Try to mount the radiator and after bending the bolts just welded get it to fit. Weld nuts on the cowl mount brackets and manage to only flow weld into one thread area. So now have to start the dozer and raise the blade so the cylinder that is covering access to that nut is out of the way so I can get a tap into the area and clear the threads. But the battery is dead. And there may be rain overnight so wait till this morning to get it hooked up. Get the radiator mounted and try the engine one more time and it turns but the blades scrape the radiator lower tank. Back off with the radiator and the fan blades. Reshape them somewhat and back on. When taking the tank back off I noticed the top hose connection was cracked at the very top. So back to the barn and torch. Find the solder and fluid. Then the brush. Solder the connection back up. And back to the Case and put the radiator back on. Try again and 2 of the blades still make contact. So get the big channel lock pliers and re-arc the blades with everything in place. We got clearance!

And a storm coming in so close up and put all the tools up and call it a night.

Went back down this morning and after a short detour into the barn for wasp spray and then killing the nest hiding in the back of the battery box, I got the charger hooked up and battery is now charging. Tried the engine but don't have enough speed or fire or something. Guess I need to pull the distributor cap and see if water has gotten into the points. Coil looks really bad. Will need to replace it soon if for no other reason than to make sure that isn't one of the problems with it cranking and running.

Last day to get the shelving metal from the merc. So have backed Bertha up to a bank out front by the small saw mill to unload the building. Got down to the barn to get the tractor and the rain started, so I came back in for a bit. Cat went to get some groceries for the weekend, should be back soon.

Comments Off on friday

By Dave, July 30, 2004 9:55 am

still feeling the need for rest. going to try to go and change the plugs and oil on the tractor. then put the hood, front cowling and side rails back on. Need to get the trailer and carry it over to my dads for a bit but that may have to wait till tomorrow or sunday.

Comments Off on one of those weeks

By Dave, July 29, 2004 3:10 pm

been a week so far. one I would rather not repeat. Don't know that it was all bad but there have been some low points.

Got the radiator out of the Case and it wasn't as bad as it looked at first. I removed some of the cooling fins and got the tubes straightened out as much as I could. Took a refrigerator and used duct tape to cover the holes and with it lying on its back added about 30 gallons of water. Took a pressure regulator and added a hose on the outlet with a fitting and 3/8 npt to 1 1/4 npt ell which fit one of the hoses on the radiator. Put a air fitting on the inlet side and used a pvc 1 1/4 plug on the other hose and hooked the air up to the regulator. Put the radiator in the water and turned up the air till bubbles came out. everywhere that it had been hit. So with my trusty leatherman pocket needle nose-pliers, some flux and solder I proceeded to use the smallest tip on the acetylene torch and soldered the tubes up. One hole at a time. Lost count but after a bit the only leak was the cap at 10 lbs and just more leaking from the cap at 20 lbs. So I am calling it fixed. For now at least. I can always cut the damaged tubes out and solder the crimped ends if necessary so…

Went to the Merc and got the toyota pu loaded down with a bed full of steel shelving brackets from 12 inches to 6 feet long. over a thousand pounds of the stuff. Got about 3 to 4 times that amount of long stuff in the 10 and 12 foot and longer pieces. Gonna try to go and get that tomorrow.

The trip above was yesterday july 28. Today I haven't done much but sit or try to say still. To much activity the last 3 or 4 days. Hands and arms are giving me fits. Legs and feet not too far behind. Think I will make it a somewhat early night tonight.

Cat and I went to The China Star in Jacksonville for lunch. They had my favorite on the bar — Egg foo yang! Pork, but you can't have everything, I guess. Was good anyway. Ate too much but what the hell. Leaving out saw Steve as he was coming in. Would have stopped and talked but I was not having a real good time right then and wanted to get things over with. Sorry, Steve.

Anyway went to PCH and Bob came out to the car and we talked a minute. Wasn' t up to walking at that point. Went to the dairy and had to let Cat go in and get the milk. Then back by the folks house but they weren't there so back here. I crashed on the couch for a hour and had enough energy to go back out to the folks and talked for a couple of hours then back here and the couch… Tiredness rules today…

So read and made a trip or two to look at the dozers but by the time I got there had to come back and lie down again. Really pissing me off… I know I need to slow down but when I get to feeling like working there is so much to do that I crash from over doing… Gotta quit it. Even the load out somehow. right…

And now goodnight.

Comments Off on sundays and some days

By Dave, July 25, 2004 12:46 pm

This has been a week. One to live over another way. But so far we have made it through. The greenhouse is about 2 inches deep in water right now. Water coming in the front room in 3 or 4 places. I am sure that there is water running through the barn too. Still coming down but not quite as hard. Worst is over I think. Or in this wave anyway.

Bought a Case 310 dozer last Friday. And within minutes of getting it off the trailer took the radiator out as the cab and front end were not firmly affixed to the frame and motor so when I backed up and went over a hump and came down the cab and front hood shifted back and down as the frame and motor moved up and forward. The fan won.

Fast forward to Sat morning at an equipment auction in Oxford. There is this old freshly painted dozer sitting there. John Deere 440 with blade and ripper. It runs and has fair hydrolics. Control is a bit hinky but that can be fixed or compensated for. Clutches feel good. Bidding comes up and I get it. Paid more than I wanted to but not much. Get it home.

Unload it and drive it down in the field. Push a bit of dirt around. Its a lot stronger than the Case was before the mishap. Stop and check radiator and its low. Go to check the oil and the dipstick isn't there. Bad feeling coming on… Pour water in the radiator. None runs out anywhere that we can see anyway. Pour more water in. and more… about 4 gallons later I notice it running out the dipstick hole. Real BAD feeling is here…

Get the hood off the John Deere this morning. Took a few pictures of things as they sat. Then started taking it apart. Got the valve cover off and there is water everywhere. Oil is white. Seems REAL clean now… But it still runs good! I am going to have to get the big tools out. Head is coming off next. After the rain quits. Probably tomorrow. Or the next day.

Got the hood off the Case as it was in some shade. Had gotten too hot working on the JD. Gonna have to get the torch on a couple of the bolts to get the front cowling off. I think that a few nuts welded at the frame and some reshaping of the cowling I can put a toyota radiator in place of the one in there now. The thing is a frankinstein already so I have no qualms about going further. I am going to burn holes in the cab and frame and add several bolts to the 2 on each side that are currently there. It may not ever win any beauty contests but it will NOT be loose when I get through!

Went back to looking at the JD and the final drive gear on the left side (sitting on it) is totally worn out. The bearings are gone and the shaft has bad wear groves all around it. Guess the only thing to do is to take it out and see how bad it actually is. If its not too bad I may try to rig a welder up on the lathe and build it back up and then turn it back down. Or just try it by hand. Should be able to get the weld smooth enough with a high current and slow rotation on the lathe.

And the cable is out. Or the modem. Either way we are unconnected. Trees are coming down as soon as I can get one or the other of the dozers running. Trailer is coming in and we are moving in!

Still raining. Talked to mom a few minutes ago and she said that another storm is on the way. Or another wave of this one. Hope its not a electrically active as the last one.

Tis the next morn and still no cable…

But at least the iBook is still kicking ass!

davesMac:~ dave$ uptime
7:46 up 23 days, 9:02, 2 users, load averages: 0.38 1.00 1.20

And the rain is still coming down.

9:30 and still waiting for the cable guy… Still raining a bit. Overcast and cool. After this cuppa I am going to go out and see what other damage we have. Bill noticed that lightning had hit the big pine at the end of Brock's and our common fence down by the creek. That's most likely when the cable went out. It blew a spiral our of the bark all the way from top to bottom. So that's another one that is going to have to come down.

Comments Off on

By Dave, July 22, 2004 9:46 am

http://mb-soft.com/solar/saving.html

Comments Off on uptime

By Dave, July 19, 2004 3:26 pm

davesMac:~ dave$ uptime
15:25 up 16 days, 16:42, 2 users, load averages: 0.68 0.60 0.50

Guess the last update did fix the unexpected shutting down problem I was having. I think we have had 5 or 6 power failures and numerous storms since I have shut this machine off. Have unplugged the power each time but that had been causing it to go into for

Comments Off on And the BOFH meets RFID

By Dave, July 19, 2004 3:22 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/19/bofh_2004_episode_23/

Comments Off on Doh!

By Dave, July 19, 2004 3:20 pm

http://lowendmac.com/lab/04/0719.html

Comments Off on changes (again)

By Dave, July 11, 2004 5:24 pm

In talking with Cat this morning it came to me that with what I want to do and what we need to do that there is an easier way to do most of it. So we took a walk and stepped off an area and it looks like it will work. Going to take a bit of work anyway but a lot less than what we were looking at previously.

So now the plan is to use the qhut to sell books out of. Use the new 14 x 66 to live in in the wooded area between here and the Bills garden area. Put the other 12 x 60 in the flat area at the top of the garden area till Mark figures out what he wants to do with it.

This way the work on the book shelves won't be totally wasted. Though all the work to create a new entry was the major killer to the other area I was looking at using the trailer.

Got almost all the books out on the new shelves now. Steve called a while back and had asked Cat how many books we had over here (or some such) and she had said 3 to 5 thousand to which I had answered 5 to 7. After thinking on it I counted a couple of shelves full and using those figures as averages figured that the new shelves are holding 3400. There are another 1200 to 1500 against the east wall in the front and between 1000 and 1200 in here on the dividing wall so any of the guesses were close. I suspect we have another 3 to 4 thousand still in Jacksonville so that will put us over 10,000 to start off with.

Tis cooling off a bit out there now that the sun has moved a bit lower. Gonna take a bit more of a break till on toward dark and then start on the west side shelving uprights. I figure a couple of boards in each section should stabilize it enough for me to get the header board(s) installed so I can start on the joists. I need to go to Marvins and Saks hardware tomorrow and see about plywood. at 12 by 16 it needs 6 sheets to cover completely. If I use 2×4's set into the 2×8's at the exposed seams I should be able to use 7/16 or whatever 1/64 they have shaved off 1/2 inch now. But with only 4 feet high I don't think we can pack too much weight on there to overload the thinner plywood if screwed around the parameter so guess I will take the time to cut and chisel slots out for the 2×4's before putting the joists in… and another run on sentence.

Comments Off on bookshelves that are built are filled

By Dave, July 11, 2004 10:15 am

and then some… Got 2 truck (toyota) loads of books here and all but 6 boxes put up. 3 more shelves can go in with little work so I'll be on that here in a bit. That and the other open spaces on the other 2 shelving sections should hold the rest of these 2 loads. About that much to go so will have to do the other side before I can finish loading them in.

Gonna have to get on other put off projects too. Bought 2 mobile homes yesterday (sat). The one I am getting is a 14 x 66 and set up as an office trailer. The big problem is the size of the thing. I'm gonna have to cut another road into the place to get it in where I want it to be. And since I have been wanting another entrance I guess that is a good thing. Or a somewhat good thing.

In looking at the entry yesterday afternoon, it looks like either the water meter is going to have to be moved or I am going to have to put the mobile home elsewhere. Or back it in. What ever happens, it will require more than a bit of earth and tree moving. Not to mention the amount of stuff I have been piling into that area to get out of the way down here. That is going to be the big job, I'm afraid. Several truckloads of stuff will have to be moved elsewhere. That is not going to be either easy or fun. Ah well.

The fibro is not too bad right now. I had a lot of pain in my forearms and hands last night and some left this morning but its at a level that I can still work so hoping that it will at least allow me to keep going till I get the books that are on the truck moved anyway. Then I will need to take a short break. Unfortuantly I need to unload Bertha and make a run to mcAuto for another load of stuff from up there. Don't think that will happen today. Tomorrow maybe. May take the toyota instead and try tying the big shelving unit to the back with the smaller stuff under or inside it. Or put the trip off till tomorrow if possible.

Comments Off on went and got a load of stuff from mcAuto

By Dave, July 9, 2004 7:15 pm

Cat and I went to Jacksonville and took the fuel can back to Warren Ace Hardware. Just don't want to get fuel on my hands every time I close the spout. Got a new blade for the radial arm saw so they got more money anyway. Tried to get some 2.5 inch rock screws but they were out of them. Will try again next week.

We then went to the Village Inn for lunch. Friday so it was fried pond cat fish! Really good stuff!

After lunch went to the used book store and looked for a bit. I found 3 that were possibles. Only one I am adding to a collection… The Cat Who Tailed A Thief by Lilian Jackson Braun copyright 1997, is the addition. Need to get the ones that I am missing in a database so I can take a list with me.

Then to http://www.wrightdairy.com/ for milk, cheese and ice cream. Guess I need to try to make it to the Local Yokel Farmers Market in the morning. It's across the road from the dairy and is open from 9 to 12 noon on Saturdays during the summer.

Then home… Cat got too hot while we were out. Seems to be doing better. Is still lying down, napping now.

Bill and I went to mcAuto and got a load of stuff. Mostly junk but some good pieces. Or some things that can be fixed and will be nice additions anyway. Got a bumper jack and cherry picker along with some warhead shipping boxes. Nice boxes too! Figure to use them to haul books in. Am going to try to get some of them this weekend or first of next week at the latest. Depending on my health. Mantra is getting to be – Don't over do it. Got to slow down and take my time. Though sometimes it seems like if I go any slower I'll be backing up…

Comments Off on too hot outside to work right now

By Dave, July 9, 2004 7:14 pm

got some things done yesterday afternoon. Seem to be coming out of the current doldrums a bit. Was kind of like the switch got flipped back on. About 3 yesterday afternoon I started wanting to do something and went and did so. Worked till about 1 am on and off. Trying to take breaks and lie down and do nothing. What I have been reading says even using the computer or reading isn't rest and it sure seems to be working more than the way I was doing. As in coming in and sitting at the computer and or reading till I had cooled enough to go back at it. It seems to rest the brain which is where this crap seems to originate from so maybe that is what is needed.

Comments Off on word of the day

By Dave, July 9, 2004 7:09 pm

Interesting link…

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/

Comments Off on seem to have more energy today

By Dave, July 8, 2004 9:59 am

not much but some. At least some of the fog is lifting and the gut is starting to settle down a bit. going to try once again to get a line level and fuel container for petrol for the tractor and lawnmower. The last new 5 gallon one is serving as fuel mix for the chain saw and weedeater.

Comments Off on no energy today

By Dave, July 7, 2004 1:19 pm

feel like the power company cut my line today. no energy at all. so much to do and no way any of it is getting done.

found another site on FM the other day. haven't had much mental energy lately so have failed to make note of quite a few sites i have found but this one has hit home with my symptoms. http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/index.htm

it's a self help site owned and run by sufferers of fibro and CF. has a lot of good info. seems like everything i read there I can relate to.

Comments Off on BOFH: Addressing the Computer Usage Policy

By Dave, July 6, 2004 9:21 pm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/06/bofh_2004_episode_22/

Comments Off on and then there is the just plain weird…

By Dave, July 4, 2004 7:22 pm

http://www.gallatinnewsexaminer.com/news/stories/20040702/pignappers.shtml

Comments Off on and the grease burger winner is…

By Dave, July 4, 2004 7:06 pm

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/8348973.htm

Comments Off on and now for something really different

By Dave, July 4, 2004 6:47 pm

a wooden tuba…

http://www.serpentwebsite.com/SQPT_concept.htm

and other wooden wind instruments…

Comments Off on This is the coolest paint job ever on a helicopter!

By Dave, July 3, 2004 5:37 pm

http://usaattacked.com/mi-24_helicopter_in_afghanistan.htm