Sunday, December 1, 2013

Last year I planted some sweet gum trees from the Arbor Day Foundation. Three of the four trees died, so they sent me three replacements. They ship the trees dormant for planting in the late fall or early spring. When these three trees arrived last week we were having cold weather, so I just put them in the cellar to wait for a better planting day. Today was it. I spent the afternoon digging holes and planting. The planting instructions recommend applying mulch for insulation and to retain moisture. That's no problem this time of year. There's mulch all over the place, in the form of dead leaves. It was easy enough to rake up a pile of leaves to put around each tree. The last step was to lay pieces of wire fencing across the leaves to keep them from blowing away.  Now there's nothing more to do than  occasional watering to keep the soil moist. While I was planting these trees I noticed that the little bur oak I planted a few years ago, about six inches high at the time, is now almost six feet. I won't be around to see any of these trees when they reach full size, but I hope somebody will enjoy them.


Monday, December 2, 2013

After the Thanksgiving holiday break, I was back in the machine shop class today.  I spent the afternoon working on shackles. There are three more class sessions left. I expect I'll have enough shackles done to use on my roadster, but I won't get much done on the extras I had hoped to do. After class today I got out the saw and went back to work on that pile of scrap lumber east of the house. I got almost all of it cut up. Tomorrow I'll cut the few remaining pieces, box it all up and put it away, and get busy on some of the fallen-down trees waiting to become firewood.


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

On the last warm day for awhile, I sharpened and adjusted my saw, cut down and cut up a dead tree in the yard, split a lot of the wood, and stacked it in the garage. There's more to split, and I hope to get that done when I get home from my afternoon class tomorrow.


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Not much to report today. In the morning I did a little welding on a shackle. In the afternoon I spent my class turning shackles on the lathe. After class I bought some port, some cashews, and some mixed nuts. The last little chore was taking down the screen and putting up the window on the back porch door. A chilly arctic wind is bringing us some Canadian entertainment for a few days.


Thursday, December 5, 2013

Brrrr! Today's high was 24º at midnight. By daylight it cooled down into the teens and never got back up to 20º. I think the warmest this afternoon was about 18º. It was a good day to stay inside, which I did. I worked on shackles a little, doing a bit of welding on a couple that needed it, then I went to work on transmission bands. I've had the bands with new linings soaking in oil for a few days, so today I made an installation tool and started trying to put them in. Trying means mission not accomplished. It seems this is a tougher job than it looks. I posted a question on the MTFCA forum, and I'll try again after getting advice from the more experienced guys.


Friday, December 6, 2013

Today I went to the morning class and used the mill to redrill a hole that I had filled because it was a little off center. With the hole properly centered I was able to put the part on the lathe and turn down some of the build-up. That brought me to another point where more welding was needed, so I came home and did that, then went back for the afternoon session to do more work on the lathe. Then I needed more welding, so I came home and did that. Monday is the last day of class, but I think if I go to both the morning and afternoon sessions I can have all four of my shackles finished before time runs out.  I was hoping to rebuild some more shackles to sell, but learning how to do it took more time than I expected.


Saturday, December 7, 2013

The day started out at 5º F and eventually got up to about 20º. I worked in the shop finishing a shackle, attempting to install new transmission bands in the touring,  and cleaning up. It's supposed to be possible to install transmission bands without removing the cover, but so far I'm not having much luck. I'll try some more, but I expect I'll probably end up pulling the cover to get them in. I skipped an auction in Blackwell because the ad didn't list anything that made me want to go spend several hours freezing my tail off.

Sunday, December 8, 2013 Another cold day with a high in the low twenties was another good day to stay in my heated shop. Today's project was making a pair of new spring clips  to go on that spring I'm preparing for my  roadster. In the picture the new clips are on the left. On the right is a clip that was on the spring when it had an extra leaf in it. That clip looks just as home-made as the ones I made today. Little by little, the car gets closer to the day when I'll be able to drive it. I hope 2014 will be the year I'm finally able to go on a Model T tour or  two. So far all my T driving has been local because I haven't had a car I'd trust on a trip more than a few miles from home. Monday, December 9, 2013 On this semester's last day of shop work at the juco, I went to the morning class and used the mill to make holes in the shackles, then used the lathe to turn down the over welding on the final piece. That makes all four shackles, two front and two rear, just about done. All that remains on those is a bit of grinding on a couple of pieces. I had an extra half of a rear shackle done, so I came home and welded up another half, then put it on the lathe and turned it down in the afternoon class. So that's a full set of shackles done, and a spare rear shackle finished to sell.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Shop cleaning day. I fired up the shop vac and waged war on dust, cobwebs, and dirt. Tomorrow is the last session for my juco machine shop class, where it will be clean-up day. The shop vac is going with me because the one at the school is pathetic.


Wednesday, December 11, 2013

In the morning I did a little more cleaning. Then I put the shop vac in the car and went to my afternoon machine shop class, where we cleaned up to end the semester. When I got home I did the final  drilling of oil holes and grinding and smoothing on the last shackles. One shackle half still needs a hole filled and redrilled, and that will be the end of the project except for sandblasting. I'll wait to do the blasting until early next week when we're supposed to have some warm days in the fifties.


Thursday, December 12, 2013

Another morning of cleaning up and putting away in the shop. Little by little, the place is getting neater. Wally brought a load of cut-up branches from a hedge tree he cut down in his yard. The wood's too fresh to burn, so we stacked it between a couple of trees behind the house to dry out for next winter. The afternoon was for errands: to the welding supply for acetylene and oxygen, across the state line to the casino to gas up the car, to Winfield to pay the property taxes and buy some kimchi, and to the big W for absorbent pads to put in my old folks' diapers. The doc says most people eventually get back their bladder control, but so far it's a mighty slow recovery.


Friday, December 13, 2013

A big chunk of today was devoted to that last half shackle. I filled the hole and redrilled it and filed and ground the welding to the proper configuration. Most of the rest of the day went into more cleaning, sorting, and putting away. One of these days I'll have enough space cleared to let me get started on overhauling the rear axle from the roadster and installing the new rear spring.


Saturday, December 14, 2013

After doing laundry, I spent another day in the shop mostly cleaning up and putting away. A nice thing about that job is finding stuff you forgot you had.


Sunday, December 15, 2013

I did a little more cleaning up, but I spent most of the day working on a headlight rim removal tool. The thing is supposed to fit around the rim and grab the protruding rivet heads without squeezing the rim. It's a simple concept, but everything takes longer than you think it will, including this, so there's still more to do.


Monday, December 16, 2013

In the morning I worked on the headlight rim removal tool again. I think I may get it done tomorrow. In the afternoon the temperature climbed above 50º and I took advantage of the warm weather to do some sandblasting. I did the set of spring shackles I recently finished rebuilding, and the clips and bolts for my new rear spring. I'll have the clips and bolts painted and installed in a few days, so the spring will be ready to put into the car when I pull the rear axle for rebuilding.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013 Today I actually finished a job. The project was that headlight rim removal tool. I welded on the handles, applied Gorilla tape to the inside as padding to prevent damaging the rims, and tried it out. I'm happy to say it actually works. I took several pictures of making the thing so I can do a write-up about it for The Vintage Ford. This afternoon I had a pleasant surprise. I went out for a run for the first time since having my surgery September 6. I figured that after a layoff of more than three months I'd have to slow down to a walk at least part of the way, but I was able to jog the whole three miles. My time of 34:08 was mighty slow, but a lot better than I expected. As usual, Daisy went along, and she seemd to be excited about getting back to our exercise routine. Tomorrow I have a couple of appointments in town that will eat up the morning, but I hope I can get some firewood cut in the afternoon.

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Today's first adventure was a trip to town for the doc to carve a skin cancer off my face, then a visit to the dentists's office for a tooth cleaning. After that a bit of grocery shopping finished off the morning. I spent the afternoon replacing a burned out turn signal bulb in the Camry,  finishing up the pile of scrap lumber east of the house, cutting up the old boards and putting them in boxes, then splitting some firewood I cut a couple of weeks ago and stacking it in the garage. I have enough wood now to take me through the next arctic spell that's supposed to arrive this weekend.


Thursday, December 19, 2013

A full day. I was up early to do a little more cleaning up in the shop and take a couple of pictures to go with magazine articles I aim to write. Next was a trip to Wichita for an appointment with the urologist. He thinks eventually I'll stop leaking and having to wear old people's diapers. When I got home from Wichita I had a visit by some fellow Model T folks. I showed off my junk collection and we chewed the fat over Model T stuff. They invited me to join one of the local clubs, so I will. After they left I filled out a club application to go in tomorrow's mail.


Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas letter. I spent all day and evening writing, editing, printing, addressing envelopes, and stuffing.


Saturday, December 21, 2013

All morning, more of the same. I took them to town and put them in the mail about 12:30. I spent the afternoon working on a magazine article for The Vintage Ford about restoring spring shackles. For my usual Saturday night in town I had dinner at the Chinese Chef for the last time. After eleven years in business they're closing down. I suspect the bigger Chinese place up the street was too much competition for them. Most Saturday nights I go to a movie, but tonight the weather forecast scared me off. Rather than take a chance on getting snowed in at the theater, I came home and finished the shackle piece. I had that finished early enough that I went on and did one about making a headlight rim removal tool. That will make three articles the editor has from me that haven't been published yet, so I guess I can let up on the authoring for awhile.


Sunday, December 22, 2013

The snowstorm turned out to be no big deal. There was enough to turn the outdoors white, but not enough to bog down transportation. Not that I needed any transporting.  I spent the day indoors working at the computer. I  made a couple of new pages for my website. One  is about  my 1923 Model T touring and the other is about the 1923 Model T Fordor. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to scan some slides. The scanner was acting up and I didn't get many done, so most of that job still awaits.


Monday, December 23, 2013

Some light snow in the morning added  to what was already on the ground, but all of it amounts to less than a couple of inches. With temperatures staying in the teens I spent the day inside again. I spent part of the day getting my checkbook up to date, then rewrote one of the magazine pieces I did yesterday. Somehow I erased yesterday's work, and had to do it over. Fortunately I had all the pictures, so rewriting the text to go with them was easy.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013 The weather folks were overly optimistic today. This morning's hourly forecast was for warming up to freezing by noon and a high of 40º. We never made it up to 30º. I spent the day inside, mostly scanning slides. I shoot a lot of digital pictures because they're convenient and cheap, but I also still shoot some film because I know it will last indefinitely. I don't trust digital pictures to do the same. Each tpe of photography has its advantages. Digital is immediate, cheap, and captures detail well. Film lasts. Here are two shots from April 2012. The wheelbarrow is the one my grandfather used building the house eighty years ago. Wednesday, December 25, 2013 Christmas was a melting day. The temperature shot way up to 40º and a lot of the snow disappeared. More of that is in the forecast, so I expect the white stuff will all be gone in a few days. In the morning I tried scanning more slides, but the scanner wouldn't cooperate. I think I'll figure out a way to copy them with a camera. I painted a bolt and nut for my "new" rear spring, which will finish the spring, then went to my cousin's place for Christmas. After a visit, a good meal, and a snooze in front of the TV, I came home and started a long-overdue project. I'm making an index for all the digital photos I've taken. Sometimes I want to find a picture and it takes forever looking through several years' pictures to find it. So I'm making a data base listing them all by date, number, and subject. I sat and worked in quiet on that all evening. No radio, TV, or other distractions. I finished every January from 2008 to this year, and every February before this year. I was surprised to get so much done. A few more sessions like that will finish the job.

35mm film

Digital

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The thaw continued, and I continued indexing pictures. By the time I finished every March since 2007, a few minutes before three, the outside had warmed up to 43º. The forecast predicts a few dry days and a Saturday high in the fifties. That looks like a good opportunity to cut more wood for the next cold spell. This evening I painted the restored spring shackles I worked on for the past several weeks. So that's spring done and shackles done. Soon I'll be ready to pull the rear axle to open it up and see what's inside. It could be OK, but I'm pretty sure it will have some parts that need to be replaced.


Friday, December 27, 2013

Today's main project was making a new page for the website and editing a couple of others. I also took the masking tape off those new shackles for the roadster and put them in the oven to bake. This afternoon I went to the clinic for the doc to remove stitches. The lab report on the skin cancer he carved off my face last week says it hadn't spread and apparently he got all of it. The letter I got from the urologist yesterday said my PSA is 0.00, so it's good news on both ends. Now if I could just quit leaking and having to use old folks' diapers...


Saturday, December 28, 2013

It was laundry day, but with the temperature shooting up above 50º it was also a day to get some outside work done. I fired up the chain saw and attacked the dead trees that had fallen across the road down to the wood lot. I got most of them out of the way, just one more to remove, and brought in enough resulting firewood to last a few days. There was some wood I had cut last spring and forgot about, so all I had to do was collect it and bring it in.


Sunday, December 29, 2013

Winter weather returned on a cold north wind and I spent the day inside. I took the morning and part of the afternoon to add another website page. With that done I attacked the pile of clutter that's accumulated on the old heater sitting behind the roadster. Some of the stuff was paid bills to file, some was books and other things to put away, and some of it was fuel for the fireplace. I need to clear the junk off that old heater so I can move it out to make way for work on the roadster's rear axle.




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