Saturday, October 1, 2011
The first day of the Homer Edmiston estate sale was big, big, big. A large crowd turned out for lots of brass era cars and projects, and a sea of parts. I spent $25 on a box of antique jacks, three of them with the Ford script. There's more to be sold tomorrow.
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Sunday, October 2, 2011
The second day of the sale had a much smaller crowd, but there was still a lot of good stuff for sale. I bought five Holley G carburetors, three Holley NH's, and a couple of Kingstons, all for $10 each, and a box of Model T spindles, and a box of Model T perches and spring shackles, and a box of T tools, and a box of T and early Cadillac tools, and a few other parts, some to use but a lot of them to clean up and sell.
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Monday,
October 3, 2011
Before the good weather goes south for the winter I need to get busy on the roof, so today I started taking old shingles off the front. Based on how much I got done today, it may take all week just to remove all the old roofing. There are two layers of asphalt shingles over a layer of wood shingles. Between the asphalt and the wood I found a few kernels of corn some critter had stored away. Maybe I'll plant it and see if it grows, like seeds from an ancient Egyptian tomb.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
This was going to be a full day of roof work, but it didn't turn out that way. In the morning I received a call asking about buying some of the tools I brought home from the auction, so I spent a lot of the day sorting them and cleaning off rust and dirt, trying to identify what I have. I did get back to removing old roofing this afternoon, and there's still enough to keep me busy for several days.
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Wednesday, October 5, 2011 Curses, foiled again! I spent most of the day taking pictures of those tools and researching them. Tomorrow I'll get back to the roof.
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Thursday, October 6, 2011
It's kind of like being in Kansas. Wind today, wind tomorrow, wind Saturday. That doesn't keep me from working on the roof, but it does slow me down a bit, having to anchor things down or stop work to retrieve my hat. I gave up on the hat and switched to a cap. That didn't keep the trash barrel from blowing off the roof, or a can of nails from blowing over and spilling down the roof. I did make a little bit of progress in taking off old roofing, but there's a lot more to do. To be continued.
Friday, October 7, 2011
What a day! The crazy wind made work on the roof slow going, then I made a wrong step and twisted my right foot, ankle, and leg. That made me even slower. I don't have a really bad sprain, but it was enough of a twist to make for plenty of soreness. I won't be doing any running for a few days. With a chance of rain in the forecast, up to 40% tomorrow and 60% on Sunday, I bought a couple of new tarps and spent over an hour putting them on the roof. Of course the wind made the job really interesting.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
The wind continued, so I didn't try to take off the tarps and work on the roof. With rain in the forecast I spent part of the day putting away some things that were out in the yard, then went to the computer and did a little more tool research and a lot of web browsing. By late afternoon the south wind had finally died down, and a slight breeze from the northwest had arrived with cloud cover. I went to the roof and took an hour to get all the tarps, blown around by the strong wind, arranged for rain. I looked at the local theater's website to see what was playing, and read reviews. The picture with the most positive comments was The Lion King. Page after page of enthusiastic raves persuaded me I should give it a try, so after delicious carnitas and frijoles at La Fiesta I went to the theater and bought my ticket. I had just got settled in my seat and the first preview was beginning, when suddenly the screen went black. Everybody sat in tha dark waiting for the power to come back on, but after a few minutes a sheriff's deputy came in with his flashlight and annouced that there had been an explosion at Strother Field, the airport across the road from the theater, and all the power in the area was off. So we all lined up in the lobby and got our money back. I guess I'll see that movie later.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
I spent a rainy day inside, doing some reading and web browsing. In the afternoon I went and saw The Lion King, and found it a very good show. I don't know that I agree about it being the best Disney film ever, or even the best movie ever, but I did think it was excellent.
Monday, October 10, 2011
The rain lasted into the early hours of the morning. It was a long and gentle rain that gave the ground a good soaking. When I went to town for groceries today I stopped at the equipment rental and reserved a backhoe for tomorrow so I can dig the ditch for the new gas line to the shop. Cold weather is about a month away, and this year I want to be ready for it with some heat in the shop so I can spend the winter getting some work done on the vehicles.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
On ditch-digging day I was in town at the crack of dawn to rent the backhoe, and worked on digging until about three. While I had the digger I made a hole for a new outhouse, then went down the hill and dug up an elm tree and brought it back and planted it behind the house. The big advantage of a backhoe over pick and shovel is when you have to dig through roots or rocks. It sure beats work. I found that Sunday's rain wasn't as much as I thought. Below the first couple of inches, the ground was pretty dry. The highlight of the day was unearthing a gravestone belonging to my great grandma Parker's dad, Charles Clark Davis (1803-1884). I have no idea why it was buried in the back yard. I'll have to see if he's in the Parker Cemetery records. Anyway, I finished all the digging I dared to do with the machine. There are some places near electric or water lines that I'll need to dig by hand.
Wednesday,
October 12, 2011
The main activity of the day was hand digging with pick and shovel. I made good progress deepening places where I was afraid to dig too deep with the backhoe because of underground water or electric lines. There's more to do, so tomorrow will be more of the same.
Thursday, October 13, 2001
Hand digging continued this morning, and it produced more excitement than I expected or wanted. Digging near the house with a pick I punctured the plastic gas line. So I had to call the gas company and have them send out a crew to fix the leak. While the gas guys were working on the leak, a fellow from the water district showed up to work on the meter. A fitting had broken and water was gushing out of the line and flowing out of the meter hole. The water man fixed the leak by the meter and left, and the gas company guys were finishing up when my cousin Wally showed up with news. His mom was turned away by both the local nursing homes because they didn't have room, they said. Wally thinks it's because they were afraid she'll run out of money. It turned out that this was a good thing, because she wound up in a place in Oxford that Wally thinks takes better care of her, at a much lower cost. So my last job of the day before going to town to buy pipe and fittings was to send out an email to all the relatives to give them Irene's new address. Meanwhile, back on the gas front, there's more digging to do. I expect to have it all done by Monday, and ready for the new line to be installed.
Friday, October 14, 2011
One trip into town turned into three as I did the plumbing for the new gas line to enter the shop. The first trip brought what I thought I needed. The second trip exchanged a six inch piece of pipe for the three inch piece that would fit. The third trip was for another elbow I didn't realize I needed. I did finally get it all done and ready for the new line to connect. I called the gas company to let them know all would be ready for them to install the line next week. Tomorrow I'll finish the hand digging. With any luck this whole project will be finished in less than a week, then I'll begin shopping for a heater for the shop.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
From eight to almost 8:30 I hit the ditch with pick and shovel and got all the shallow parts dug down to the proper depth in the section that runs north-south. Tomorrow I'll finish up the east-west section. At 8:30 I was off to the the first auction of the day. At the Defore auction in Winfield I read the newspaper while I waited until a cast iron cornbread pan came up for sale. I bought that for $5, then headed for a Patterson auction in Wellington. There I paid $12.50 for a good working JVC stereo with radio, CD, and cassettte tape functions. That was all I wanted there, and I went back to Winfield. I got there just as they were getting to the outdoors stuff. I ended up getting six units of metal shelves for an average of $2 each. I went home and hitched the trailer to the Subrurban, went to Winfield, and brought home my shelves. One set is pretty nasty with rust, but that's no big thing. The next time I do any sand blasting I'll include those shelves, then spray on a coat or two of new paint. They'll be fine, for a lot less than the cost of the same ones new from a store. I do love auctions.
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Sunday, October 16, 2011
Finishing the ditch was the first job of the day. That took less than an hour, then I played electrician. A light on the outside of the shop building hasn't worked for months because of a broken switch, so I replaced that. While I was working on that, I noticed that one of the inside lights was out. The problem there turned out to be a loose connection in the fixture, so I had to take it down and repair that. When I went in the house, I noticed that one of the lights in the west porch wasn't working. That was another loose connection, and I had to take down the fixture and repair that one too. All that used up the morning, and then it was time for shopping. I drove over to Ashton for an auction that turned out to be lots of junk with a few good items mixed in. It seems the sea of junk kept the prices down, and I got a few deals. Today's haul was a box of cotter pins and other fasteners for $2, a Webster wire recorder for $1.50, an aluminum suitcase for $1, a box of several dozen spark plugs for $5, a box of files for $2, and a late twenties car trunk for $17.50. I think some of these auction treasures, like the trunk and the spark plugs, will eventually be for sale at a swap meet.
Monday, October 17, 2011
Today I got back to the roof and spent a few hours removing old roofing. It's pretty slow going, and there's plenty more to do. So far I've taken off almost half the asphalt shingles. I haven't started on the original wood shingles underneath the asphalt. With a 50% chance of rain in the forecast, I quit at 3:30 so I could get the tarps in place before going to town for groceries. After tonight we're supposed to have several days of clear weather.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
The day got off to a chilly start, in the mid forties, and I stayed indoors and edited vacation pictures. I intended to work outside after it warmed up, but a cold north wind kept up all day and the temperature never made sixty. I kept working on those pictures until I had all eighty-plus of them in albums on Facebook and Photobucket. For some reason Photobucket arranges pictures in backward order, so you start with the last one, which is really the first, and use the Previous button to go through them. Here they are: Colorado, August 2011.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
On another chilly day with a north wind blowing I spent a good part of the morning arranging a trip to a weekend concert. By the time I bought a ticket and researched dining in the area, it was almost noon. Then I started dealing with piled up papers on my desk, sorting and tossing. I made a dent, but there's plenty more to do. I did talk to the local gas company office, and the new gas line to the shop is supposed to be installed tomorrow or Friday. It will be nice to have that done and get the ditch across the driveway filled in so I can drive forward into the garage from the east wthout having to back up behind the house from the west.
Thursday,
October 20, 2011
Done. A couple of guys from the gas company came and installed the new line today. They left some fittings to attach it to the pipe into the shop, which I did. That leaves just filling in the ditch to complete the project. Next I need to get a heater.
Friday, October 21, 2011
My driveway is back. Today I fired up the WD and used the loader to fill in the ditch there, then I did the same for the drive to the barn. There's plenty more filling in to do, but it's less urgent than those two places. I also spent part of the day with the computer and the phone, buying a heater for the shop. I'll be glad to be able to get some work done in there this winter without freezing. Here's today's video: FILLING THE DITCH.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
No
post yesterday because I was gone. I went to Kansas City for my
third Vicente Fernandez concert. At the first two the opening
act was Paquita la del Barrio, but last night it was Edith Marquez,
also a good singer. As usual, Chente was great. Happily the sound
system at the Sprint Center wasn't turned up to eleven. Last year
in Denver it was so loud you couldn't hear the music. At least
twice last night he did that little trick where he holds the microphone
down at his side to show how he can make the folks in the back
rows hear him without it. The first few notes of each hit song
would bring cheers from the crowd, and as usual, on a lot of songs
Chente led a sing-along. He went for three hours and left the
audience of thousands yelling for more.
When I got home today I used up another spray can of day-glo paint marking dead trees and branches to cut up for firewood this winter. I don't think I'll have to skimp on wood, because I have a lot of trees marked.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Life is all that stuff that happens to you while you're making other plans. I set out this morning to do more ditch filling and was doing fine, but soon the tractor lost power and almost died whenever I put it in gear. So now the carburetor is off and apart and soaking overnight in carburetor cleaner. Tomorrow I'll blow out all the passages with compressed air and see if a good cleaning improves things.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Overnight in the carburetor cleaner did the trick for removing oily dirt and crud, but it doesn't affect rust. Apparently water sat in this carburetor sometime during its life, and the inside of the bowl collected enough rust to be a potential problem. All it takes is one tiny chunk in a passage to interfere with normal function, so the carb went into a bath of rust remover to soak overnight again. Thus diverted from my tractor repair, I set about unloading the six metal shelf units that have been sitting on the trailer since I bought them over a week ago. There's a 70% chance of rain in tomorrow's forecast, so those shelves need to be inside just in case the forecast is right. I got them moved inside and cleaned up, and did some shop cleaning while I was at it.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Yesterday's forecast of 70% this evening turned into today's forecast of 30% overnight. We'll see. Anyway, I got back to that tractor. I reassembled the cleaned out carburetor and put it back on. Problem not solved. The tractor still stalls, so next I'll start going through the ignition system. I really want this thing running so I can fill my ditch without having to spend a fortune on a rental.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Today I started on that sick tractor, pulling the plugs to see how they looked. They were all oily from misfiring, some more than others. I didn't get a lot done because I spent the afternoon driving up to Florence to pay a traffic ticket. On my way to Nebraska a month ago I spaced out entering Florence and missed the speed limit signs. By the time I realized it, the local cop had me on his radar and had his lights flashing. He seemed to think it would be helpful if I showed up for court instead of just mailing in the fine, so that's what I did today. I ended up paying the full $225, so the drive was a waste of time. I'm pretty scrupulous about speed limits, so I hope this will be my last ticket. If it's not, I don't think I'll waste money and half a day or more going to court.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Bought new plugs for the tractor today, but spent the day puttering around on other stuff. One thing was stuffing plastic sheeting into a trash barrel. Last winnter I bought plastic sheeting to put over the upper roof and keep the rain out until it was ready for the new roofing. The last few months it's been in a heap on the west porch roof. The sun has deteriorated the plastic and now it's breaking up and I've been finding little scraps blown all over the yard. So today I gathered up all of it that was mostly intact. I'll let the rest dry out, then sweep up all the little pieces before the wind comes back. Looking ahead, the forecast looks pretty good for a few days, but the good weather will soon go south. I guess I need to take a day or two to lay in a supply of wood before I need it.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
This the evening I went and saw the new Puss In Boots movie. It's a well-made and enjoyable entertainment, with great animation, good performances by the cast, and a lot of amusing cat gags. After the movie I was sitting here at the computer when disaster struck. I was checking one of the online forums when suddenly the machine achieved the frozen screen of death. Nothing I tried could make it work again, so I shut it off and decided it would go to Wichita for repair on Monday. I'll have to write blog entries on paper until it's fixed.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
I lazed in bed until sunight was streaming in the window. By the time I had dressed and had breakfast it was 9:30. I went to the back yard and grabbed a shovel, and warmed up by filling the gas line ditch. With the tractor still laid up, I figured I might as well get some exercise shoveling. I was at it for three hours, and by 12:30 I had about 1/3 of the ditch filled. I don't expet to finish the whole thing in another couple of days, but even with other things interrupting it shouldn't tke too long. This was another auction day. This afternoon's haul was several dozen 78's, some of them pre-WWI, for $5 and a like-new Smith-Victor tripod for $1. The tripod was the perfect deal, because my old Suntar doesn't work as well as it used to. I love auctions.
Monday, October 31, 2011
October ended with shopping, at least for most of
the day. In the morning I was off to Wichita with my sick iMac. I left
it at the Apple store for a diagnosis then went to Sears for socks and
the camera store for a couple of rolls of slide film. That last item is
now available only in cities or by mail. Digital pictures are
wonderfully convenient and cheap, but I don't trust them to last.
Slides, on the other hand, will outlast me. I have some that are nearly
sixty years old and look like they were made yesterday. So sure,
I'll use digital for convenience and instant results, but for pictures
I want to last I'll keep shooting film as long as I can get it. But I
digress. After my Wichita trip I went to the library and used one of
their computers to check my SPAM, then did grocery shopping. I also
bought another can of day-glo spray paint. When I got home I took that
paint out to the west hedge and ended the day marking dead branches to
cut up for firewood this winter. I don't think I'll have to skimp on
wood this year. So far I've used up four cans of spray paint marking
dead stuff.
