Comments (2)

By Dave, January 21, 2008 9:51 pm

Been a long cold day, even sitting close to the heater. Not much to relate other than Steve came by and we played with hard drives for a while before giving up with the pieces we had on hand. Hope you find a board close enough to work.

Made a stew out of the left over deer and gravy. Cut up some potatoes, carrots, celery, and half of an onion, put about 3 cups of water in a dutch oven and boiled them for an hour and a half until tender. Added some basil and parsley, salt and pepper early in the cooking. Once tender I dumped the gravy and meat in with the veggies and stirred till mixed. Added another cup of water and couple of cups of cooked rice. Stirred again till mixed and then added a can of whole kernel corn and about half a cup of ketchup and yet again mixed it all up good and heated it back to a boil and simmered for another half hour. Couple of large shots of hot sauce and that was some mighty good eaten fer supper. Couple of slices of bread and a glass of milk along side did it right.

Been looking at and thinking about mud ovens again and want to build another one, but portable. Gonna have to work out some details but have most of it in my head. Now to get my arse in gear and build it. Has got to have a opening big enough to take my 14 inch dutch oven! It’d be nice to be able to put both the 14″ and the 12″ in at the same time. Stacking is no problem so height of the opening would be the only problem. I been thinking about the door and I think that a brick or mud/cement door with a metal frame and pivot hinges would allow a large enough opening for both cookers and anything else I may want to cook in it.

Tis late and I am rambling. Will type more tomorrow.

Comments (2)

By Dave, January 20, 2008 7:23 pm

Sitting, browsing and reloading the wood stove has taken up way too much of the day. Did get up and string a rope from the doorframe by my chair as I type this to the beam in the middle of the room and put up a blanket to keep some of the coldest air from the qhut from wafting past me. Not enough to be a breeze but more than enough cold air moving by my feet and legs to chill me to the bone in short order. Am MUCH better now! 😎

Cooked up some deer steaks for lunch. Had been run through a tenderizer so I soaked them in milk for a while and then dredged them in bisqik, salt and pepper. Put oil in a frying pan and cooked them on one side till blood was running out the other, then turned them over and cooked till the juices were clear. Moved them to a dutch oven with gravy, onions and bell peppers cooking in it and simmered while I put the next batch in the pan. Took out the two tenderest, via fork anyway, and served on rice with a potato, onion, carrot, celery bake on the side. What we ate was tough, so put the rest in the dutch oven with the gravy and cooked it (lid on) on low for 3-3.5 hours, stirring and turning often. Was falling apart when we were ready for supper. Again served over rice this time with a side of lima beans. I got seconds and wanted thirds but restrained myself. 😯 🙄 Good stuff!

As the rest of the day seems to have had a food theme guess I can recount the breakfast dish this am too. Was in the mood for a stick to the ribs and warm me up kind of meal so decide on oatmeal. I don’t do the wimpy instant oatmeal but rather a off brand cook 20 minutes rolled oat meal.

Cut up an apple after peeling and coring into chunks half an inch or smaller in any direction. Added it to the 1 3/4 cups of water heating on the stove. Put in a bit of salt and brought to a boil with lid on. Cooked that way for 5 minutes or so, just till the apples were about half translucent then added the cup of oats. Brought back to a boil and cooked till the apples were almost all translucent then turned to a simmer. Added a bit of cinnamon and a couple of heaping spoonfuls of brown sugar and cooked on low for about 20 minutes.

Good stuff and good for you… 😉

20.8 °F here at 7:11 pm cdt. That temp is taken on the north side of the building under the canopy over the new front door. Probe is duct taped to one of the conduit roof supports. 20 inches or so from anything but the conduit.
Angel community is currently reporting 27.3 °F and Weaver is reporting 25.3 °F so we are much colder than other places within a few miles both north and south.

20.5 °F at 7:19 pm so it’s dropping quite fast and I am typing and thinking slow… 🙄 😉

Think I am gonna check the feeds and email and reload and poke the fire and read a bit so will close this disjointed missive for the nonce… 😎

Comments (0)

By Dave, January 19, 2008 8:58 pm

Got up and checked the state of the world outside several times during the night but no snow. Bit of sleet here and there but snow didn’t start till about 9:30 am. Had posted there was to be no game today but 3 of the guys hadn’t gotten the message and showed anyway. Tom was working on a building and we walked up to see his latest building and were looking at it when the snow started. They all left as it was coming down pretty hard.

I stopped on the way back and checked batteries and turned the one in the barn off. The one in the Honda was finally starting to take a charge so left it going. Battery is nearly 8 years old. Never used but a month or so after purchase then just sat in a car out in the elements. Charged it for a couple of days a couple of months ago and again now. By 4:30 this afternoon it was holding a fair charge so cut it off. Will see if it holds it or quickly looses it.

Came on in and fixed breakfast, fed fire, sat and fiddled with the computer until lunch, heated and ate lunch and browsed and read feeds for most of the afternoon. Got out for a bit and cut the charger off on the honda battery. Got the extension cords up and tried the starter. Nothing. Got a piece of metal and shorted the solenoid to the battery line and the starter seems to be locked up. Will pull it and see what gives. Back to the house and got some wood inside and fed the fire and heated supper then back at the computer again this evening. So the day has gone. Got stuff to do but just ain’t had the energy. Will see what the morrow brings. Think I will call it an early night, the days excitement has exhausted me. 😉

Comments (2)

By Dave, January 18, 2008 9:12 pm

Made it though another one. After a early night last night got up and felt better, not good, not great, but better than yesterday. Fixed breakfast, read email and checked feeds and comics and got a shower. Went to the camp where Tim and I talked about business type things for a while.

Ate lunch and we dealt with some more. He went to deal with the post office and I cranked off the compressor, filled an air tank, got a battery, some tools, the battery charger, and the truck. Took the plunder to the 76 Honda accord and proceeded to get it ready to try to crank off. Battery was dead so is still on charge. And have another one on charge in the barn just in case this one is well and truly dead. As of dark the one in the Honda is still being deadish. Will do the lights and basic stuff but the starter is doing nothing and the in tank pump is not making it’s accustomed noises. If the pump is bad suspect I will put a boat tank in the back with a electric pump hooked to it. Only gonna use the car on the farm at present. Just need another cheap runaround and this one fits the bill. I hope. 🙄

Got the tractor out and did a bit of maintenance to it just in case it has to be used to extract us from the snow. 😎 Then cleared some briars and brush and pushed some stuff around. Put it up for the night.

Tim came back from the post office and we put up his new mail box out by the YST. Guess it will become the Airsoft Alabama trailer instead. Had to get the tractor back out to clear a bunch of crap out of the way to put the mail box up. Got that area cleared and the box installed. And the day was called by all.

Came in and fixed a big pot of hamburger and baked beans kinda using the recipe in the linked article. No vinegar or lemon juice or hot sauce. Most of the rest as called for and added a quarter cup of salsa, and some frozen bell peppers along with some dried flaked chili peppers. Made a nice spicy change from the standard version.

Just put it in the oven when Mihel called to see if he could get to his generator (cause his wife was driving him crazy about the coming blizzard and them freezing to death 😆 ) so I got back in outside clothes and went and helped him get to it and get it out. He and his son loaded it the propane radiant and headed back home. I came back to the house and to food.

Ate, and sat down to check email, feeds and get this down.

Game tomorrow has been put off until next Saturday due to the weather. So sitting here waiting for the snow. 🙄 😉

Think I am gonna do a bit of browsing and then call it a night. Looks like most if not all of the snow is to be in the morning so may as well get sleep while I can.

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 17, 2008 6:40 pm

Has been a real down and out day. Got up and fixed breakfast, hit the feeds and by 11 was back in bed. Sore throat, sneezing, sore muscles and aching joints and other fun stuff. I am not a happy camper. So far appetite is still ok so am eating and taking in plenty of liquids. House is as warm as it’s gonna get for this time of year till I get the bathroom area finished. Plastic just don’t hold in the heat that well. 🙁

So that’s about it for the day. Have some stuff in the tabs that I may or may not get to looking at/posting about later, just depends on if I stay up much longer. That’s about it until I type again…

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 16, 2008 8:33 pm

Actually sleet and drizzle now, and ground temp is high enough that nothing is gonna stick for long anyway. But we ‘have’ had snow today for the first time in several years. Started while Bill, Cat, and I were at the scene of the last pine to go down cutting and splitting and loading firewood. Got pine (boo hiss! but it does give btu’s. Just a lot of crap in the flue too), oak, wild cherry, and elm. Snow and sleet got to coming down to the point the wood was getting wet so we finished loading it and unloaded it under the portable garage out the back door. Already had one load I cut, split and loaded on the top of the hill this morning.

Arms are quite sore from splitting the two truck loads of wood. Am gonna cut this short and will try to catch things up tomorrow morning. Till then… 😎

Comments (4)

By Dave, January 15, 2008 8:42 pm

Was taking it easy again today as I said in yesterdays post, when close to noon there is a knock at the door. I answer and there is a guy from the water department who tells me that we has a leak. Wonderful says I. How much so far? Over 40,000 gallons says he. 😯 Shit! says I. Yea says he. We looked and see nothing but the last two times this has happened it has all gone underground so this makes 3 times. I shut the water off at the meter and he leaves. I get the shovel and dig the area out around the valve to the qhut and upon cutting it off there the meter stops turning. So it’s between the qhut and the drive and that’s only about 15 feet. No water inside the valve hole so must be in that area. I clear the crap away in the middle of the area and finally remember the place I patched back in May or June of last year that I was supposed to get a fitting and repair properly. You can guess where this is going, right? Yea, that connector had broken in the freeze last week but the patch I had put on it had kept it from doing more than spraying a bit, so we didn’t notice a drop in pressure. And there must be a hell of a sink hole right there cause the water was within 5 inches of the top of the hole but not overflowing anywhere, just soaking in, all 40,000 gallons. Went to Jacksonville to Warren Ace Hardware and got a connector and returned and put it on after cutting the old connector out. Tightened it up with pliers and tis done. Now to dread the bill… 😥

Tomorrow I got to cut wood. Think we are about a week from out but even standing dead wood needs to air dry a bit before trying to burn it. There is a 10 year dead oak on top of the hill that I can get a truck load out of that I need to finish cutting. Just so big at this point I have to cut through one side and then go around and cut the other. And then splitting it is a real pain at that size. Several standing dead I am gonna get soon. Just need a couple of truck loads for the next two or three weeks.

Still procrastinating about the heater move/mod. And have failed to produce a drawing as well as not built anything. Will try to get to the building supply and see what is available in ceramic flue liners. If they have tees I’m gonna start with two. Depending on the price. May be cheaper to build it all in brick.

Think I am gonna sit by the fire and read a bit and call it an early night. Firewood awaits in the am… 🙄 😉

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 14, 2008 7:09 pm

Whole lot of nothing going on today.

Up, fix coffee, check email and daily comics, cook breakfast, shower, sit and read, cook lunch, sit and read, take Cat to the dentist, sit in van and read till she gets out, come home after a quick stop at the store for her to get some sodas (yes, right after the trip to the dentist 🙄 ), load in some wood for the nights heat, sit and read and finish book, fix supper, sit down and check feeds and write this daily summery or whatever ya wanna call this, and thats pretty much the day.

Todays book was “In Spite of Thunder” by John Dickson Carr. Published in 1960, the copy I have is a first edition but sadly tis a library copy. Over all in good condition but with the usual stampings and torn out library card pockets. And it was quite a good read. It’s a Dr. Gideon Fell novel, a murder mystery set in Geneva and as usual with Carr the plot has several turns and twists.

Hope to be more active tomorrow. Arms and back are better today. May take another day off to recuperate then get back at it Wednesday. Got to get some more wood cut, split and in for the coming cold week and weekend. But that’s to worry about tomorrow. Now to find another book for the evening. 😉

Comments (0)

By Dave, January 13, 2008 9:19 pm

Truck is done and gone. Still needs some paint and undercoat but is road worthy and being driven. So far total out of pocket cost is $0. Lotta sweat and sore muscles as well as having donor trucks to keep the cost nill.

Tim’s F150 is next up. Water pump is leaking. Remove, clean, replace, refill, check for leaks. Pretty basic stuff. Just a lotta bolts and hope none are corroded too bad.

Looked at the 76 Honda this afternoon. May try to crank it off in the next day or so. Oil and coolant are both fine. Need to air the tires and find and install a battery, add fuel and see how it goes from there. Unless the fuel pump is frozen or the carb has problems I think it will crank. Seems like it had a valve that was sticking. See what a little marvels will do.

Another one up to be put back running is the 8? escort. Just got to see how much it is gonna take to put it back together. Lynx trans and front end parts should fit.

Need to crank the Lincoln off also. Way too many cars. Keep thinking about putting the engine and at least some of the running gear from under the Lincoln, under the 65 ford truck. Guess I need to get the tape measure out and see what it’s gonna take… 🙄 Nothing like a hot rod Lincoln… 😈 😎 🙄

More later…
Dave

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 13, 2008 11:11 am

Actually not down as in depressed but down as in the body needing some serious down time. Wish I was done with the truck so I didn’t have to get it together and go out and work on it. However I ain’t, and have got to, so… 🙁 Guess this is the total of my bit of blather for the morning. Gonna get one more cup of coffee and then go to it. 😕

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 12, 2008 7:50 pm

Got the fender beat out and close to straight. Wheel well and headlight deck pulled back into place with the application of a 8 foot long, 7 inch diameter cedar pole, a logging chain, and a come-along. Replaced the broken chain with a newer section and some bolts and nuts. Put a rod through the headlight hole and attached the chain around it then hooked the come-along to the chain. Tied the far end of the log to a chain and the other end of the chain to the frame on the other side of the front of the truck. Other end of come-along to hook embedded in the end of the log. Ratched the come-along and picked the end of the log up to about 3 feet. Took hold and bounced it till most of the wrinkles pulled out. Moved the tie point to by the frame mount and did it again. Beat a bit more here and there and is close enough.

Beat on the fender to fit and bolted it back on. Hammering and bending as necessary. Took an hour and a half to get it back to close to right. Lotta beating going on and my arms and hands are telling me about it.

Was working on the air dam when Boat came to get the Pathfinder. Found a broken bushing clamp under the rear end of the thing. Located a suitable piece of steel and with liberal application of pliers (large 15″ slip joints) and hammers and the vice reshaped it to fit the bushing. Used the Bridgeport to drill the holes. Love it every time I use it, like using a piece of history. Found bolts and installed the clamp. It worked and we were both happy. 😎 He left.

I went back to work on the Toyota. Installed the headlight mount, headlight, and trim with running light. Bill installed the side marker light. I got the air dam mounted and shaped about like it used to be lo those many years ago. Got the replacement bumper beat out some and the blinker bolts cut out with the air chisel. Now to figure out how to replace the blinker housings or build 2 working ones out of the pieces of 4 we have. Think we need new sockets.

Still got to replace the inner fender skirt, undercoat the areas that the paint is peeled off and spray the bare metal on the outside of the finder with primer then white paint. Last bit is to install the grill which is off another truck in the yard. And it will be done. I hope.

Came in, ate, built a fire, started writing about another dull but at least somewhat productive day.

Sorry to hear about the computer death, Steve. Always painful even when expected but especially when upgrading.

Speaking of computers, the new under $200 machine from Walmart looks like a nice machine for basic internet uses according to a review at Groklaw. None in this area, yea I had to check. Need another machine for use at the YST and with the specs it will do just fine.

Time to hit the feeds and then read a bit before hitting the sack. Till the morrow.

Comments (0)

By Dave, January 12, 2008 10:30 am

Almost ready to go and start beating on the Toyota fender. Still got half a cup of coffee to finish and keep hoping this head ache will go elsewhere. Nothing I did last night (at least I don’t think it is 🙄 ) but more a sinus kinda thing. Been stopped up and sneezing all morning. Had to fire off the wood burner again last night due to the colder weather so that may have something to do with it.

Been looking at content management systems again. Drupal is looking better and better. Got a test installation up and just installed the e-commerce modules to try them out and it really looks good. Gonna have to spend a few days with it to get my head wrapped around all of it’s quirks but I’m thinking of using it at the Too Many Books site instead of WordPress since I am more interested in the ability to sell product than just blog about it and none of the e-commerce plugins that I have tried for WordPress have been even close to what I wanted. Time and ease of use/modification/data entry will tell.

Coffee is getting cold, fingers and arms are already sending little signals to the brain that they have had more than enough of this morning typing thing, and the Toyota awaits so will close this ramble for the nonce and get the arse in gear (first gear anyway… 🙄 ) and get at it. More later. 😎

Comments (3)

By Dave, January 11, 2008 6:40 pm

Started the day with a bad case of the wanna go back to beds. Decided I needed to get out and at least try to do something so went to the YST (yard sale trailer) and started moving stuff around.

Got down to the battery charger and took it down to Tim’s truck and started the battery charging. Got the Pathfinder and took it to the barn and got the drill and mega battery and took them back to the YST and put them on the regulated charger.

Took one of the 120 volt porta power packs and set it up to charge too. Got two of them so figure I’ll see how long they will power the lights in the camper for off grid use. They won’t power the fridge or the microwave but lights and a bit of charge for the laptops will be enough for most times we will be needing them. I hope.

Bungie ball –
Use them for tying or attaching tarps or whatever to frames or whatever. 😉

Cleared out more stuff at the YST and then went to the barn and started trying to collect tools into their respective boxes/areas and began cleaning out and up my mechanics roll around. And that took several hours. Still just in the process but there is a fair assortment of tools in some order in the roll around now and it’s where it can be moved in and out of the barn.

In the middle of all this Bill came in from feeding the cows and chickens for the neighbor and I suggested that he bring his truck down so we could start on it. He brought it to the barn and we removed the bumper, grill, and drivers fender, along with numerous stuff that just had to move to get to other things. Got the front headlight mount surface straightened, then got a log about 8 inches in diameter and some chain, a big logging hook, a come-along, and a piece of angle iron. Put the angle iron behind the front metal above the frame and ran the chain through a existing hole and around the angle and back out. Hooked the come-along to the ends and drove the big hook into one end of the log. Put the other end of the log against the front of the frame and the other end of the come-along to the hook. Started racheting the cable in. Started to lift the log so Bill stood on it at the hook end. I braced the side and continued tightening and broke a link in the chain. Will get another newer, better chain and go again tomorrow. Looks like it will take enough of the crumple out to let the tire turn without rubbing and allow the headlight mount to be aligned right without much shimming.

Twas about dark so Bill left and I cut the compressor off. Valve working fine btw. 😎 Then to Tims truck and put the charger on trickle for the night. Went to the YST and cut all the chargers off (porta power showing full charge! Will see how it holds it over night as those gell cells are old. ) and locked up there and came in to eat. Did that and started on this really boring description of my day… 🙄

Seems like I should have gotten more done but the travel time from one place to the other is significant. Here to the barn is only 200 feet or so if we go out the front but about 500 if we go out the back. From the barn to the YST is about 800. YST to here is about 600 if we go out the back here and in the back there. 😯 A few trips and you have walked a mile or more.

Guess I am gonna see what the feeds have brought and then read a bit and call it a night. More tomorrow… 😉

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 10, 2008 6:57 pm

Got up and fixed coffee and then breakfast this morning and we had finished by about 9 am. Took a shower and have been worthless since. Ended up back in bed by 11 and dozed fitfully till around 2. Not sure if I have a bug or if this is just one of my week as water, can’t do anything but sleep episodes. No other real symptoms so suspect the latter. Had been going all day for the last few so…

Got up and ate a bowl of leftover Jambalaya that I fixed the other night. Didn’t have the Johnsonville brats so used half a pound of ground sausage and about half a pound of summer sausage cut into 1/2 inch or less cubes. Quite tasty! Want to get some of the sausage they recommend and try it again.

Been sitting reading and checking the progress of the incoming storm via the computer since. Awaiting the tornado the weather radio says is heading this way presently. Don’t think it will come within many miles of us but rather safe than broken and battered so am in the qhut at the kitchen table instead of my comfie chair in the unfinished downstairs room.

Here’s hoping that the storm abates now that the sun has gone down and there isn’t any more damage.

Gonna post this just in case the cable goes out. Will try to post again later after things have calmed down. Till then… 😉

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 9, 2008 9:09 pm

After walking around most of the day looking at and in things to see if I could find a piece of spring steel to replace the valve in the compressor, Bill and I were headed toward the camp when Cat hollers and asks if the spring out of an old stapler she had would work. I looked at it and thought it would, took it out and after straightening it out and using the shear to trim it up a bit turns out it would. Used a chain saw file to cut the screw openings. Rounded the end a bit with the grinder. Cut the end off the old spring and then mounted the new one under the old. Put it all back together, added a drop or so of Marvel Magic Mystery Oil through the valves and cranked it up. Added a bit more oil and ran it till it shut off at 140 psi. Good enough repair. Very little coming out of the top, and no more on that side than the other.

So we got air again for various air tools and other uses. Now to go over all the connections and joints and take care of all the small leaks. Before the valve gave out I was loosing about 25 psi a day which isn’t bad but would rather not loose any.

Went and looked at the yard sale trailer a bit today. Should be able to clear out the main room without much trouble. Just got to figure out where/how to move the stuff in it to. Starting to think that the next move needs to be to clear the trailblazer camper out and remove as much of the inside as necessary so it can be used to sleep and cook in and still have room to store and get to our stock. Need to see if Herrington will haul it up there for fuel money. 🙄

Gonna tear down what I had started as the round house. Wrong place and time. Going to set up a concessions stand and picnic area there. 2 10×20 garage portable buildings after a bit of grading and its mostly done for about 200 bucks. We have canvas that will do for walls and ends. Just gotta cut and sew a bit here and there and buy a pile of bungie balls… 😆

Gonna move Tim’s sales hooch over there too.

Looking at putting a bridge over the creek behind the office building for car and truck traffic. The road through the creek is wearing down way too much.

Gotta find the battery charger. Need to charge the battery in Tim’s truck so I can move it to the work area to replace the water pump. Also got some body work on another truck that I gotta get to soon… 🙄 Automotive work just keeps on rolling or dragging in whether I want it or not. 😕

Will look at the Ultimate boot cd. Been quite a while since I have messed with any M$ computer stuff so am out of the loop a bit. 😆

Time and past to call it a night. Hope the storms tomorrow are not as bad as they are predicting. Need the rain just not the wind and tornadoes. Till I type again… 😉

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 8, 2008 7:22 pm

Some bits better and some are worse.

Got the Nissan Pathfinder done today. Or as done as I am gonna get it. Air bleed plug is in and fluid topped off, though not in that order. 😉 Hatch inside cover put back on with new clips, and light switch disconnected. Steering column reassembled. Lights all working. Coil mounted and relays remounted as they were supposed to be. Done, done, and done.

Got a job that requires air pressure in the tank. Last few times I have needed it it would climb to 120 and sit there for quite a time and I have just been cutting it off. Took the head off the compressor this afternoon to see what the problem was and have got a large hole in a spring steel valve. Spent the rest of the daylight looking for a piece to make another one out of. So far no luck. Gonna go to the yard sale trailer and see if I can find anything over there that will work. After that am gonna take a seat belt roll up unit apart and see what kind of spring they have in them. I know something around here will work. Just gotta find it. 🙂

Got Cat a new hard drive today. Now to figure out what process/program(s) to use to copy the old one to the new one. Old is 120 gb new is 250 gb. Think she wants to dual boot too. Guess I need to download the latest and greatest pclos for her to install.

Looks like we are gonna be selling airsoft products and equipment out of the yard sale trailer soon. Tim got the license today, so I’ve got to clear a bunch of stuff out of the main room asap. Also need to get that bathroom torn out and ceiling repaired. And a entry way built. Bit by bit… 😯 🙄 Ought to be an interesting few weeks, months, whatever till things get to the point they are workable.

Got to get a mail box set at that gate too. And move the boat and camper shell. And clear out all the crap in the back parking lot.

When I said tin, I meant galvanized metal roofing, most likely of the 5v style. Did a price comparison a couple of months ago and per square foot it was cheaper by far than the 3 foot wide stuff. Depending on the amount of rain we get or don’t get tonight and tomorrow, I am hoping to get a start on clearing the area to build the work shed on.

Tis early and all but I think I will close and try for an early day tomorrow.

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 7, 2008 7:18 pm

Yes indeed they are. Had a line I needed to plug and had no plug handy. Found an old rusty bolt and after grinding down the hex head to close to round chucked it up the lathe and turned it down to the needed size. Rounded the sides a bit so they wouldn’t cut the hose and clamped it into place. Should work for many teh year. 😉

The screw in the top radiator hose is indeed a air bleed screw. Drilled it out, after removing the fitting from the hoses, and ended up having to use the torch to heat the nylon up and inserted a square shank screwdriver and waited for it to cool and it came right out. Looks like a trip to the Nissan place in Oxford in in my future to get a replacement part as the guy at the local parts house looked at it and laughed at me. 😕

Just got off the phone with the owner of the Pathfinder. He’s fine with the repair and the price. Will go and get the parts and finish it up tomorrow.

Now I been thinking again… 😯 🙄 Looked at the portable carport prices today, and I can get the tin to build a permanent structure for less than the cost of one that will not last more than 5 years on the outside. I think I will go to the building materials center and buy tin instead. True it will not be portable, but it won’t fall to pieces within a couple of years either and we have piles of lumber to build the frame with. Just needs a bit of cleanup to be usable.

Tis early but I am about done in. Till the morrow… 😎

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 6, 2008 6:11 pm

Most likely gonna be short tonight.

Up and out on a warm sunny Sunday morn. Did a walkover of the playing field to pick up crap and lost and found items. Very little today which is a good thing.

Worked on a Nissan Pathfinder for light problems. Had a wire to the old trailer light plug that was shorted to the latch at the back door. That had burned the contacts in the light switch on the steering column. Cleaned the contacts lubed it all and it works fine. Customer wants me to check on price of new switch to determine if it’s cost effective to replace. I think the repair is good but will check. Suspect it’s a dealer only item and most likely high. Also replaced the dome light.

Replaced the mounting bracket on the coil and fixed a large rusted hole in the inner fender well. Coil was fixing to fall out on to the front tire. Bet that would have been fun. 😯

Still got a pipe that I need to seal off and a weird fitting in the middle of the upper radiator hose that is leaking. Otherwise almost done other than putting the column back together.

Hope to get enough ahead with this repair to get a 12×20 portable garage with ends and sides to put up below the barn so I will have somewhere to work under shelter and not have to take the tools and stuff in every night. Want to go to Tractor Supply tomorrow and check prices on them.

Think I am gonna go rest up in anticipation of a hard night of sleep. 😉

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 5, 2008 9:13 pm

Had a good turnout today at the game. Fielded at least 34 for the first part of the game. Lost several at midday break mostly due to broken guns, so I don’t know how many played the whole day. Had quite a few eat at days end. Had sausages and hot dogs, baked beans, slaw, chips, cheese, crackers, pickles, brownies and cookies. Most was consumed… 😯 😆 Gonna have to educate some of these folks about what potluck means as we ended up with the prep and cooking and greatest part of the food expense too. 😕 But it was a good day overall.

Hoping to get out and go to the flea markets on 431 tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Will see what the weather and bodies are like in the am and make the decision then.

Is raining just a tad here right now. Didn’t expect us to have any rain till sometime middle of the week. Guess I missed something. Just looked at the radar and it doesn’t look like it will be much or last long.

Just reloaded the firebox again. GOT to get started on building the new unit. Understand what you are talking about, Steve, but what I am looking at doing isn’t quite the same even though part of it is. The blower and heat transfer pathway is similar but where a radiator or heater core uses the constant water flow to make the transfer, the bells will be where the hot part of the flue gases rise to as the cooler combustion components flow below them and out of the dwelling. Got to get a drawing made of it and scanned in. Will try to do that either later tonight (yea right, I’m ready or past it for bed now) or more likely later tomorrow.

Also had to go back down to the field and get the chronometer and put it back inside when the rain started. Guess it’s another one of those things that needs to have a shelter of it’s own so it can just stay out there. Also has to have an external light source if the sun isn’t shining so a shelter with light would be ideal for any weather. Will have to look at that. As we have talked about putting in a permanent shooting range the addition of the chrono stand to one side wouldn’t be a bad idea. Guess I need to add that to the ever growing list of crap that needs doing. 🙄

Gonna call it a night.

Comments (1)

By Dave, January 4, 2008 8:37 pm

Or something along those lines.

First off though, Steve, you’re on. I’ll post something, be it simple or complex drivel every day that I’m able to get to a computer, and on any days that I can’t I’ll still write stuff down and post it when I can get to one.

Still not got my head together enough to get a real post together so todays is gonna be a disjointed ramble of dis and dat.

Got a airsoft game going tomorrow. Went out and looked over the area today and most of what needs to be done is. Still got a piece or two of plastic and some other building materials on the field but they can walk around or over, cause I ain’t gonna pick it up before game time. 👿

Got the bamboo caution taped off so hopefully they will stay out of there.

Put together 3 barricades for Spook to use in the game tomorrow, then blocked off the building materials area.

Gonna have a potluck supper tomorrow afternoon. Need to get some firewood hauled down to the firepit for the after the game sit around the fire and bs session.

Hope to get up to Collinsville during the coming week to see where on the site we can rent a spot to set up and sell stuff.

Still haven’t made any progress on getting set up on Too Many Books to sell books and stuff. Need to try to spend at least a few hours on getting that set up so we can start listing stuff.

Fire is finally warming the room up a bit. Had let it die down while out and about this afternoon and it’s taken a while to get it back to comfortable.

Got to get working on a heater for this place. Been thinking about building a unit to go on top of the existing woodburner to allow the hot portion of the flue gases to rise and the cooler components flow down and out. I’m thinking if I enclose the bells/pipes/whatever you want to call them, in a metal plenum (?) we should be able to duct from that to the heat/air ducts in the trailer and add another to the qhut. Add a blower and some pipes through the top of the bells and fill around everything with sand/clay/cement for heat storage mass. I suspect I will need to draw this out as it’s in me head but not coming out me fingers too well tonight.

On that somewhat disjointed ramble I will close for the night. More tomorrow… 😎