Another Successful Day

I had a great day today! An early run to the lake revealed that the boat is running perfectly. It was a very beautiful morning. The water was very calm and black, making everything reflect in the water and, of course, I had no camera. A white egret on a root, some colorful boats on shore, and a small island of cypress trees were all reflected to perfection. Rita and I will have to make the trip one of these days and record some great images.

The Cove Restaurant is just a short hop from the boat ramp. It took me a while to actually find The Cove, but the trip back to the ramp only took seven minutes. It would be a nice, and different, way to get to the chicken wings. Of course, it was raining when we left the restaurant yesterday and that would make the ride back in the boat most unpleasant.

I turned on my computer this morning and was horrified that I could not access the Internet. A bit of panic was setting in and I was starting to break into a sweat when I realized that I had to reboot the system in order. I removed power from everything and waited a few minutes. Then I plugged in the cable modem and waited for the proper lights to indicate. Then I plugged in the router. Next was the phone modem and finally the computer. Voila! Everything is working well.

I did a little more work on the boat trailer, nothing major, just fine tuning my previous work. Then I started on the motorhome by checking the air in the tires and adding air where necessary. It had started to pour, so I didn't get around to installing the pressure sensors on each wheel as that entails laying on the ground to reach a couple of the tires. Tomorrow is another day and I SHOULD get to it first thing.

That's all I'm saying for today!

Dining at the Cove

We had an interesting day with Barb and Rita during another of our excursions to The Cove, an out-of-the-way bistro that specializes in chicken wings. Oh, there are other items on the menu, but we all pass up the "Big Ass Burger" in favor of the wings.

We returned to our house after, and had a couple of hours of stimulating conversation and gossip. It's always interesting when we spen time with these two wise-cracking friends.

I'm making some headway and having fun!

Hooray!!! Hooray!! This is being posted from my desktop computer which I got back this morning. It's nice to see all my old applications and, I confess, my games. I have a lot of information saved on the desktop, and I back up by saving to a second hard drive in the same computer. If a hard drive goes down, I have backup, but when the motherboard died, I had no place to go.

I also took the boat back out today and thought it ran better than last time, it still hesitates intermittently at full speed. It's starving for fuel, but between the fuel filter and the tank. I thought I'd check the fuel tank, thinking that a filter there may be clogged. When I went to remove the fitting, the syphon tube fell off. It was a very loose fit and it could very easily allow some air to be picked up. The tank filter was perfectly clean. I put a small hose clamp on the tube and will try the boat again tomorrow. This afternoon I also made a few adjustments to the trailer.

Now for the fun!!! The BARITA GIRLS (that would be Barbara Kennedy and Rita Lang), came over around noon time and joined Helen and me at the Cove. Best wings in all of............. well, I don't know how far, but we all love them. With the nice lunch, we had a session of stimulating conversation. Then we moved back to the house where the conversation continued for quite a while.

A few minutes ago I finally got around to connecting the computer and now I'm in 'puter heaven. I had been using a 1999 vintage Dell and although it worked well, it was S L O W. So now my HP seems to sizzle.

That,s all I'm saying for now.

Unfinished Business

Here it is October 13th, and I still have so many things that are not done. Most of it is not my fault, but I'm getting upset anyway. I still don't have my computer back. I talked to the owner of Computer Doctor and he said he was having trouble getting a replacement motherboard. This morning I went on the internet and found numerous places that had the replacement board. I have a list and will visit him later today. As the owner of the shop, it's his duty to make things happen and this lapse is inexcusable.

I finally sent my dive watch to a Citizen Service Center for repair and refurbishment. It's a place I've dealt with before and their service was very good and very fast. This time I was a bit put out because a lot of time went by and I didn't hear from them, so I called. The shop is in Atlanta, GA. They are located in an area that was very badly flooded after the great rains a couple of weeks ago. They are still in business, but it has taken awhile to get set back up and their backlog is great. Something else for me to wait on.

I did finish the boat trailer and I'm delighted with the way it turned out. The rust was so much more than I expected that I had to cut off the springs and suspension and get new parts. Fortunately, there is a trailer parts place in Homosassa that stocks all the parts and they are relatively cheap. I hope to take the boat out later today to make sure that all is running well. We had a little problem last week, but that was due to an air leak in the fuel line. The new fuel line will take care of that.

Next on the agenda is to attach the boat trailer to the motorhome and ensure that the lights on the trailer will work properly when connected. I'm not expecting a problem, but........... Then it's merely getting ready to travel to the Keys, doing all the little odds and ends that must be done prior to the trip.

I guess that's all I have to say for now.

Capitalism, a love story

Today Helen and I went to see the latest Michael Moore movie, Capitalism, A love story. I'm sure that this movie is not everyone's cup of tea, but Helen and I enjoyed it. It chronicles the capitalism movement in the US since the depression and shows how the current work ethic of greed at any cost is damaging to our country at many levels. Now, Michael Moore is considered to be something of a fringe liberal, so I'm a bit surprised that Helen and I did not disagree with him on a single facet of his film. He makes it so obvious that it's not the people who Congress supports, but the powerful financila interests. No surprise there.

That's all for now.

More things to do 10/01/09

Here I am again complaining about all I have to do around here. This time it has nothing to do with the house or motorhome. PT brought back our boat Saturday and he had a minor problem with it the last time he had it out. The engine would run poorly at full speed and PT thought he had fixed the problem by cleaning gunk out of the fuel line. I checked the fuel line inside the engine cover and thought all was well. Helen and I took the boat out this morning to try it out and make sure that it is running well for our trip down the Keys. It seemed to run for awhile, then started to run very poorly at full speed. By squeezing the priming bulb, I was able to keep enough fuel going to the engine to keep it running strongly. I believe that the fuel line between the gas tank and the engine has a small leak that lets the engine suck air into the fuel line. I expect to replace it tomorrow. Another test ride is needed, but will have to wait until I get the trailer back together.

Yup, the trailer is all apart. There has been a lot of rust on the trailer because I often use the boat in salt water and I've wanted to repaint for some time. It was a lot more work than I thought and I had a devil of a time taking the axle and springs off. I found one of the springs broken and one of the grease seals on the axle needs to be replaced. Fortunately, the parts are easily found and not too expensive, so I should have the trailer back in service in just a few days.

I'm still waiting to get my desktop computer back. I called Computer Doctor last week and got the girlfriend of the owner's son. Apparently the owner was in the hospital and the family was there also. How can you press people when they are already in a fix?

That's all for now.

Just an update on projects

I'm still working on a number of projects in and around the house and motorhome. The motorhome is finished as far as the air conditioning and damage due to the backing incident are concerned. A few dabs of touch-up paint is all that's left there. Next week it's going to Caterpillar in Brooksville to have some minor work done that is beyond my capability.

A couple of days a go Helen was mowing the lawn when it suddenly would not stay running. The following is probably too technical for many of you, but my sons and some friends may find it interesting. When I looked at the mower, the bracket holding the carburetor was very loose and as I took it apart, I found that the intake tube going from the carburetor to the engine was broken. Easy Wheels in Hernando had the part and I took it home to put the mower back together. Nothing is as easy as it seems. The carb bracket is held on by two bolts and I thought that one had loosened up and was lost. Trying to put the bracket back, I found that the bolt hadn't backed out, it had sheared off. The repair would require drilling a hole on the bolt and using a special tool to remove the broken piece. I have the tool but I have NEVER had any luck drilling and removing a bolt stub.

The first thing is to drill the hole. No drills that I had were up to the job, so I drove up to Lowe's to see what I could find. At the same time I had some welding that needed to be done to the front mower axles, but that is another job. At any rate, at Lowe's there was a chart advising which drills to use for specific applications. The chart listed the cobalt drills as being the preferred drill for cast iron, which is pretty hard stuff. I bought two drills, knowing that I would quickly break one. When I got home and tried to drill the bolt stub, I was amazed that the cobalt drill bored into the stub quickly and easily. How nice! Then I used the extractor and the stub came right out. I put the mower back together and started it up to make sure it worked.

It ran, but the vibration was very extreme. Thinking the blade was out of balance, I removed it and found that it balanced perfectly. This is a new blade the is the kind that fits a number of different applications and has a different insert for each application. The insert for our mower didn't fit well and it allowed the blade to slide off-center a little. I added another washer and put the blade back on and the mower ran very smoothly. I now feel confident that the extreme vibration caused the bolt to break, allowing the bracket to move, breaking the plastic intake tube.

While I was into the mower repair, I replaced the front wheel which were badly worn. As ai mentioned earlier, welding was required because nothing I do is easy. The wheels were worn, but so were the axles, so I had to replace them, too. Because of the way the axles were put on, my only recourse was to weld new studs in place. All worked and now I'm done, at least with the push mower.

The next project on my list is to evict the tenant we have living in the gable eaves over the garage. Last year a gray squirrel made his home in the left side of the eave. I tried moth balls, but he didn't like them and threw them out. I found them on the driveway a few days later. Eventually I cut a piece of sheet metal and closed up the area. When we came back from vacation, we found that he had made a new home on the right side. I have more sheet metal, but I've been too lazy to get up there. I have some concern because we have gables also on the north and west sides of the house, so he will have four more chances to invade. I may have to resort to my Have-a-heart trap and relocate him well out in the forest.