blog1115

Today's first job was a report for the Model T forum about testing coils and magneto with the ECCT (Electronically Cranked Coil Tester). That took most of the morning. Then I got back to those west bedroom windows. I finished installing the frames and got the first window in. Tomorrow I'll put in the other window, and maybe have time to get the windows back into one of the east bedrooms too.

Monday, November 2, 2015

Being very careful not to drop the new window down between the scaffold and the wall, I wrestled that heavy sucker into the frame and put in the screws. That's one of those things that take a lot longer to do than to tell. Both windows are in and clean and working. Now that I've put a stop to wind and leaves blowing into the room, I've moved on to the windows for the east bedrooms. After a run to town for groceries, I spent the rest of the day cleaning the old caulk off one of those east windows. One cleaned, three to go. Instead of using more caulk, I intend to install them with rubber insulation strips so they can easily be removed when I paint the frames, then put back in.

Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Nice. I got the old caulk off the two windows for the northeast bedroom and got the frames installed, then went to town for lumber and weather stripping. I'll put in the windows tomorrow, then get started on the southeast bedroom. Tommy and Clyde won't like having all these windows installed, because they like to come in and lie on my bed. Too bad. I don't like having cat poop on the floor, so they can stay out.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Enjoy it while you can, boys. In a few days you won't get into the house whenever you want. Today I finished installing the windows in the northeast bedroom and got started on installing the frames for the ones in the southeast room. Once those last two windows are in, the kitties will be out. Tomorrow morning may be rainy, but the windows should be pretty much done by Friday afternoon. After that I need to finish up the outside trim on a couple more windows, then shingle the upstairs south wall. That will be the last of the upstairs rebuilding except for the back wall.

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Another day on windows. I wasn't delighted with the fit of one of the frames I installed yesterday, so I took it out and did it over. Then I removed the two south windows from the same room so I could finish the frames for those. I spent most of the day cutting and fitting boards, and ended it with cutting and bending pieces of aluminum flashing that will prevent leaks. With any luck I'll finish the wood framing and get the windows installed tomorrow.

Friday, November 6, 2015

On a chilly morning I stayed in the office until the outdoors warmed up above 50º, so I could apply some new caulk to my window project. By quitting time I had the aluminum flashing installed, the south window framing finished, and the south windows installed. I expect to have the east windows back in this weekend. I might have done that today, but I ran out of the right sized boards and had to go to the lumber yard for one more. It wasn't a case of measure twice, cut once. I measured twice and still cut my long board a half inch short and had to go for more. That's OK. I expect I'll find a place to use that too-short piece when I rebuild the upstairs back wall. I was hoping to finish the outside of the house before the end of the year, but it looks like I'm going to miss that deadline. But I still hope to finish the outside reasonably soon, maybe by the end of February. That will depend on what kind of winter weather we have.

Saturday, November 7, 2015

I took the day off and went to a funeral. My cousin Mary, the last of my first cousins on Dad's side of the family, was buried in Ponca City. It's too bad that it took a funeral to bring us all together, but it was the most Jelf relatives I've ever seen in the same place at the same time. Being of later generations, everybody there was younger than me, some by just a few years, and some by decades. I enjoyed visiting with the cousins I've known forever and the ones I just met today. Now that the end of my house reconstruction appears likely within the next few years I'm thinking we need to have a reunion here of the Jelf relatives.

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Well, the precious adorable kitties get a brief reprieve from being shut out of the house. Today I finished the frames for the last two upstairs windows (until I get to the back wall), but I didn't put the windows in them. I like the convenience of just going up the stairs and stepping out through a window opening to work on the roof. So that's what I'll do until I finish putting up shingles on the front of the house. Today I did that on about a third of the front wall, and finishing the rest of it should take just a few days.

Monday, November 9, 2015

Job One today was rearranging a big tarp on the back of the house. That should keep rain from blowing in between the boards until I finish that wall, unless a big wind takes it down. Once the tarp was in place, I got back to shingling the front wall. It's now over half done, and a couple more days should see it finished. Then I'll install those last two windows. After that, all that will remain to do on the upstairs outside is the back wall. That's going to call for some reconstruction to replace rotten boards around the northeast bedroom windows, but it doesn't look like it will take as much work as the other upstairs walls did.

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Heading down the home stretch, I finished most of the shingling on the upstairs south wall. All that remains is a little bit beside the top windows. That will be slow going because it will take a lot of cutting odd angles to make the shingles fit, but I hope to wrap it up tomorrow. That will leave just some caulking and some cutting and fitting of a few trim pieces. I expect to finish all that sometime this week. I'll be glad to have the front and side upstairs walls all finished. As long as the good weather holds, I guess I'd better get a start on the back wall. That will be expensive. Lots of shingles.

Wednesday, November 11, 2015

Almost finished with shingles. As expected, cutting and fitting them for odd-shaped spaces was slow going. But I got all except the last two or three done. Those last ones will wait until I get some better shingles. Almost all in the bundle I was using today were prone to splitting, and the last small ones went to pieces every time I put a nail into them. It was a super windy day, and shingles and other things were blowing off the roof. Tomorrow is supposed to be calm, so I hope to do the rest of the caulking and nailing on the trim pieces. Maybe I can even get those last two windows cleaned up and installed.

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Well, I got some of it done. I did most of the caulking, and I finished the corner trim on both sides. Cutting and fitting the trim, with multiple odd angles, took forever. About all I have left to do is cut and install trim strips to go along the top of the shingles. Then I'll clean the old paint and caulk from the windows and install them. Sometime this winter I'll also get all the old scrap lumber off the roof, and it will go into the kitchen stove and the fireplace to warm me up.

Friday, November 13, 2015

Never made it back to work on the house today. In the morning I worked on a new bracket for mounting the Stewart horn on my roadster. The one that came with the car is poorly designed and unstable, and makes an annoying chirping rattle when the car is moving. I think I can do better. In the afternoon I drove the roadster into town for grocery shopping and other errands. I've been using that car a lot lately to relearn driving it. The starting procedure used to be choke twice, then pull the crank once to start. I always had to start on battery. With the rebuilt engine/transmission and a working magneto, I can start on MAG most of the time and don't need the battery. But occasionally I do need it. And the number of pulls needed varies from one to half a dozen or more. So I'm still trying to figure out when or if to choke, how many times, what's the best throttle setting, etc., etc., and how come I usually don't need to use the battery but sometimes do. I made ten stops this afternoon, and used the battery to start twice.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Today's main project was that new horn mounting bracket. I got the main part of it made, sandblasted, and painted. While I was at it I decided to redo the horn, which was in need of a new paint job. I took it apart and blasted the parts, and painted them along with the bracket. I'll cook the parts overnight, and should have them back together and the horn back on the car in a few days.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

That went a little quicker than I expected. I reassembled the horn today, and got it and the new bracket mounted on the car this evening. If the weather permits, I'll take it for a test drive tomorrow and see if it stays put where I put it.

Monday, November 16, 2015

The weather didn't permit. On a chilly, wet, and blustery day I worked indoors on a few little projects, and finished a couple of them. One was to make a mounting bracket to put a thermometer outside the north window of the shop so I can see the outside temperature from inside. Another was to rig up a little inspection light that I can shove into small spaces to see what's in there. I used it to inspect the baffles in a couple of radiators. Then I got going on a project that will take several sessions to finish. That's making a carrier for running board fuel, oil, and water cans and getting the cans ready to use. The part I finished today was checking the cans for leaks. I did find one next to the handle at the top of one can. It looks like a little solder will take care of it.

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

It was a nice surprise finding .8" in the rain gauge this morning. That was enough to actually do some good. Being down to my last pair of clean sox, I did laundry today. Adding shopping to that pretty well filled my day. Maybe tomorrow I can get some work done.

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Brrrrr! A stiff breeze made 40º feel a lot cooler. The forecast is for overnight freezing soon, so I guess it's time to get the electric blankets on the bed. I started work on a running board can carrier and spent most of the day on it. Finishing the carrier, and then cleaning and painting the cans, will take several more days.

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Two words: can carrier. I spent the day cutting, bending, welding, grinding, and drilling. I made good progress. In the afternoon I went to town to buy a new package of diapers (prostate patients often need them), then spent the rest of the day taking down screens and replacing them with storm windows. More of that job remains to be done.

Friday, November 20, 2015

Variety being the spice of life, I had a spicy day. In the morning I worked on my running board can carrier project. About one I drove to town in the roadster for grocery shopping. When I got home I spent most of the afternoon cutting and fitting trim pieces on the upstairs front wall. There's only one more spot remaining to do on that. I finished the day washing and installing the other front door storm window. That leaves the ones in the bathroom, kitchen, and living room still to put up.

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Today's main event was putting up the storm windows in the bathroom, kitchen, and living room. While I was at it I pulled out and cleaned under the cabinets and electric range under the kitchen windows. I also looked into that range to see if I could figure out why one of the burners isn't working. No luck. I think I'll start looking for a replacement stove at estate auctions.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

The real cold hasn't arrived yet, but today I did a little more preparation for it. I got the last storm window put up in the living room, then caulked and taped some cracks. Those two upstairs windows I still need to install present an unexpected problem. I need to remove the old caulk from them, but found that it's just soft enough to ruin the abrasive wheel I tried to use on it. In a few minutes the old stuff gums it up so it doesn't work. I'll have to try something else.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Well, you can count me as a happy camper. Shame on me for wasting most of the morning playing online, but I still managed to get the last trim pieces installed on the upstairs front wall. It was slow going, with lots of cutting and fitting of odd angles, but I wrapped it up a little after three. That left time to put the tools away, drive the roadster to town for celery & bananas and a Scotch Brite wheel, then get home and lay fires for the evening in the kitchen stove and living room fireplace. Except for reconstruction on the back wall, the last big outside job to do upstairs is install those last two windows in the southeast bedroom. I hope the Scotch Brite wheel will get the old caulk off of them without too much trouble. I'd like to get them in soon, because the forecast still shows a 100% chance of rain on Thursday.

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

The Scotch Brite wheel did the trick. It removed all the old caulk very nicely. But I didn't want to use it to remove old paint from the surfaces that will show, because I want to leave them unscuffed. So on those parts I'm using paint stripper. I finished the outside of one window. Tomorrow I'll do the other side and hope to get the second window done too. My other chore of the day was roadster maintenance. Unlike a modern car, a Model T requires regular lubrication. Some things have to be oiled or greased every 200 miles, some every 500 miles, some every 1000, and at least one thing (the steering gear) every 5000. Today the 200 mile items were due.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

With one window cleaned up and ready to install, I did some of the cleaning on the other one. But it was obvious I wouldn't get it all done today. So I finished it up without taking the time to remove all the old paint. I figure I can take care of that later, and I wanted to get both windows installed today before the rain arrives tomorrow. So about 4:30 I drove the last screw holding the last window in place. This will be a disappointment to Tommy and Clyde, of course. Too bad. I don't need cat poop in the house. My other activity today was drivijng the roadster to town for a bag of apples. I'm enjoying all the Model T driving I can before the good weather goes south.

Tommy watched carefully to be sure I did everything right.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

This was my day to catch up on indexing photos. I worked on that in the morning, then went to my cousin Pete's house for Thanksgiving with her and my other cousin Wally. When I got home late in the afternoon I went back to indexing pictures, and finished all the way up through October. I'm stuck inside for a spell of wet weather that's supposed to last for at least a couple of days, so I should have all the November pictures done tomorrow.

Friday, November 27, 2015

As the freezing rain spluttered outside, I got all the photo indexing up to date. Then I went down to the shop and started organizing, putting away, and even cleaning. I spent the day at it, and the place is still a mess. Just figuring out where to put things makes it slow going. Things I want to keep are the bottleneck there. I hope sometime next year I can have an auction to get rid of a lot of stuff I don't need, so all of those items need to go together. Other stuff I want to sell at swap meets or online will go in another place. This would all be easier if I had a separate building just for all the things that need to go.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Another day of freezing rain had me in the shop starting a new little project. I'm making a battery charger for my roadster. A stock 1915 has no generator, so this is a charger that will work off the magneto. The only thing this little battery has to do is buzz the coils for starting when the car is being temperamental and won't start by magneto. Other than those few seconds of running the coils to start, the battery has no work to do, so this little charger won't have much to do either. Electronically, it's very simple. What takes time is making the bracket to hold all the parts together. I did that today, and painted it. Next will be assembling and installing the charger in the car.

The charger is a very simple thing, containing only a diode, a socket, and a #1156 bulb

Sunday, November 29, 2015

What's that noise? The occasional banging turned out to be chunks of ice melting off the trees and falling on the roof. On another wet day the temperature hovered just above freezing and a lot of ice fell. Meanwhile, in my warm shop I finished and installed my new magneto battery charger. Not wanting to make any extra holes in the car, I ran the wires for the charger through the slot for the carburetor adjusting rod. Now that I have that little project out of the way, I need to finish up my running board can carrier. The snag there is the lack if any local source for quarter inch black pipe. I think I may go to Wichita for a movie next weekend and pick up the pipe while I'm there.

Only two new wires were required under the hood, so it still doesn't look too cluttered.

Monday, November 30, 2015

Today's project of the day was making a pair of brackets for mounting bicycle tail lights on the roadster. The old single kerosene tail light looks pretty neat, but it has an unfortunate habit of blowing out when the car moves. I don't plan to do much night driving, if any, but if I am ever caught out after dark I want some lights that people will see. In keeping with my practice of not adding any extra holes to the car, these brackets will sit on the back of the trunk and will be held in place by the closed trunk lid. The tail lights will stay in the trunk or under the seat for daylight driving, and I can put them on the car in a minute if I need them. I got all the pieces made and painted today. I'll cook them overnight, then tomorrow I'll assemble them, glue on rubber padding, and try them out. My other old car adventure today was a drive to town for groceries. Before I left I checked the tank and found that I had less than a gallon in it. So I took the precaution of putting a spare gallon in the trunk. It's a good thing I did, because about a mile from home I ran out of gas and had to use that spare gallon. After that, the trip was uneventful. The one disadvantage of a roadster is a severe shortage of cargo space, so the running board luggage rack brought home some of the groceries. It was a pretty cool ride. The temperature was 40º when I left, and 37º when I got home.