A balmy day in the forties drew me outside and I attacked the ongoing project of clearing space for a new garage. It was gratifying to eradicate a couple of smilax infestations, as smilax is one of my unfavorite plants. Its many sharp thorns and clinging vines make it a most annoying inconvenience. But most of what I did today was just cutting off little trees at ground level with the clippers and dosing the stumps with Tordon. I'm tempted to think a few more days like today might have the area cleared in a month, but then I remember that everything takes longer than you think it will. In this case, removing the remains of the old collapsed milk shed may prove to be slow going.
Saturday, February 2, 2019
When I take my engine to Mike's shop I'll need the Suburban to haul it. So yesterday afternoon I put a charger on the six-year-old battery and added a quart of oil. Then this morning I put in ATF, started up the vehicle, and backed the trailer up to the trees behind the house where I unloaded the bricks. I bought them at an auction last spring, and they've been sitting on the trailer ever since. I need that trailer unhitched so I can load the engine in the Suburban. The bricks? I intend to build a new tool shed, and they'll be the floor. Usually Saturday is my night for dinner out and a movie. But this week it was a movie and dinner. I wanted to see Stan & Ollie again, and the only showings were afternoon and late night. So I went to the afternoon show and stopped for dinner on the way home. The movie was well worth another look. On second viewing I was just as impressed by the performances as I was the first time.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
At least the morning was worthwhile. I updated my photo files all the way up through January. I finished that about 12:30, then wasted the afternoon trying to fix the brakes on my truck. A leaking wheel cylinder allowed all the fluid to drain out of the master cylinder, and so far I haven't been able to get it working again. When this happened a few years ago I used air pressure from a shop vac to get fluid back into the lines, but that's not working this time.
Monday, February 4, 2019
It should have waited for later, but I felt like doing it today, so I did. I made up the itinerary for my drive to the Model T tour in Russell on Memorial Day weekend. It lists each road and the distance on that road. The total is about 240 miles. That will be a long day of Model T driving, but it won't be the first time I've gone that far in a day. I like the Dean Yoder approach to touring: drive to the tour, drive on the tour, and drive home from the tour. My afternoon was typical for this time of year—cutting and splitting firewood. We're about to have some more freezing days, so I'll need it.
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
The predicted high in the forties never arrived. The peak was 33º about three. I spent the day mostly inside, raising the runabout's body about an inch and a half off the frame so I'll be able to slide the engine forward and get it out of the car. I should be ready for that tomorrow. All I did outside was take the Suburban to town for some carburetor work, shop for groceries, and bring in kindling for the evening. Then I wasted my evening listening to the speeches by Trump and Abrams. I should have done something useful instead.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Two things: In the morning I tested a couple dozen spark plugs, then put away the tester. After a trip to town for a couple of bolts, in the afternoon I finished pulling the engine out of the runabout. That left just enough time for the daily chore of bringing in kindling and laying the fires for the evening. The forecast says I'll be needing those nightly fires for at least the next ten days. We're supposed to have a couple of freezing days, then a week of highs in the forties and lows around freezing. Just 43 days to spring. I'll still need the fires then, but not every night.
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Drat! The filler neck came off one of my running board cans. I thought it would be a simple job to solder it back on. It turned out the thing was aluminum, and melted like butter when I tried to solder it. Now I have to find an old steel can with a neck and lid of the right size. All the ones I have are either too big or too small. I have a bad feeling that all the cans I find in the stores are going to have plastic lids.
Friday, February 8, 2019
25º in my bedroom when I got up this morning, 35º in the kitchen, and 17º outside. But I was warm under my electric blanket and a comforter. The morning routine: put water on to boil, do sit-ups (42 today), get dressed, make a pot of tea, breakfast (a little cereal and an apple), take tea to my office and check email and websites, then get to work. Today's morning project was taking the right front wheel off the runabout and removing the spindle. The spindles need to come off for new bushings. The left one will have to wait because my dwindling supply of clean sox said this was laundry day. By the time I did the wash, bought celery, got home and hung the clothes to dry, it was time to bring in kindling and lay the fires for the evening. Maybe I can get that other spindle off tomorrow.
Saturday, February 9, 2019
As Red Skelton's Mean Widdle Kid used to say, "I dood it!" I got the left spindle off the runabout and ready for new bushings. I'll take that job along when I take the engine to Mike for its new crank, as he will have the tools to do it right. This being movie night, I quit work early for another drive to wichita. In February Oscar-nominated pictures are back in theaters, so that gave me an opportunity to see They Shall Not Grow Old again. The film itself is excellent, and Peter Jackson's epilogue explaining how it was made is fascinating.
Sunday, February 10, 2019
Today being little brother Mike's birthday, I scanned a 1956 photo of his birthday party to post on Facebook, and went on to spend most of the day scanning more 1956 photos. Here are a few of them.
 Mike was a big fan of the US
Cavalry, and liked to dress the part.
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 Dear old Beau. He was a good
one. When people drove into the driveway he would bare his teeth. They
thought he was snarling, but actually he was smiling a friendly
greeting.
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 Hiking with Dad in George F
Canyon. Looks like a bit of foreground grass is in front of Mike's face.
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 Tenth birthday. Front to back:
Richard Henderson, CR Robertson, Mike Jelf, Ricky Adams, Mike Mitoma,
Nicky
Andrade, Jessica Jelf.
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The highlight of the day was a drive to town to buy dog food. Whoopee! It was too wet outside to suit me, so I did more scanning of old photos but mostly wasted time online. Maybe I'll be more ambitious tomorrow. I really should get some work done.
Tuesday, February 12, 2019
A dry and warm day with temperatures rising into the fifties had me outside with the clippers and the Tordon clearing away more inconvenient saplings. I also did a little wood collecting, but will need to do much more tomorrow. The forecast has us going back into the icebox in a couple of days.
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
One of today's jobs was clearing enough stuff out of the Suburban to make room for the engine that I'm taking to Mike Bender for a new crankshaft. But when I talked to Mike I found that it may be another couple of weeks before he has the crank. Well anyway, I'm ready. It was a mild day, good for some outside work. I staked out the area where I want to put a garage, so I can see where I have to remove trees and the old collapsed shed. Then I got to the main job of the day—firewood. I cut some and split it and hauled it in, and will do more tomorrow. I'll need a good supply because the forecast shows at least a week of mostly freezing days, starting Friday.
Thursday, February 14, 2019
Aggravation! Farmers spend a lot of time repairing equipment, and so do I. Today I wasted an hour trying to bleed the brakes on my truck. In the past I've used a shop vac to pressurize fluid into the master cylinder, but that's not working this time. I gave up because I needed to get to firewood. I was going to use the electric pole saw to cut down a dead branch, but there again I bogged down in futile repair efforts. The switch on the saw wasn't working, so I went to town and bought another switch, and promptly wrecked it trying to install it. So the saw didn't get fixed and the branch didn't get cut down. I didn't want to waste any more time on the pole saw, and I spent the rest of the afternoon cutting, splitting, and bringing in other wood. About 3:00 PM I noticed that the breeze had turned around and was coming from the north. That was the beginning of the descent back into the icebox. The forecast is for mostly freezing days for the next week.
Friday, February 15, 2019
From 65º yesterday afternoon to 25º this morning is a drop of forty degrees. That's life on the plains. The freezing weather has me back to inside work. I need to get a top on the 1923 touring car, so today I got busy on the top irons.
 I had to fill an open seam then
grind down the weld.
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 First the die grinder, then the
sanding wheel.
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 I had to fill an unauthorized
hole, then covered the surrounding dent with body solder.
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Saturday, February 16, 2019
More work on the top irons didn't get very far. I had no luck getting body solder to stick. So I resorted to YouTube to find out what I was doing wrong. I need to do a better job of cleaning and tinning. I'll give it another go tomorrow. Another job today was downloading maps from the state DOT website. I'll add parts of them to my home made atlas for the Memorial Day weekend tour in Russell.
Sunday, February 17, 2019
Another lazy Sunday. I got up late and spent the morning playing on the interwebs. For a few days the ten day forecast has been showing a high chance of snow on Tuesday, maybe three to five inches, so this afternoon I gathered kindling and put it in the garage where it will stay dry. I also gathered up some cut wood, split it and put it in the garage too. I guess I'd better do some more tomorrow, because the forecast shows highs in the mid forties or lower for at least the next week.
Monday, February 18, 2019
No TV. This morning I decided to cut some wasteful spending. I got on the phone to Cox to drop the phone land line and a slew of TV channels I never use. I ended up cutting the monthly bill from about $185 to about $125. The good part was cutting the bill by $60. The bad part was that I had to exchange the old TV cable box for a new one. The problem with that is the time and work involved in setting up the new equipment. In 1952 you just hooked up the antenna, plugged in the TV set, and turned it on. Very simple. But today you have to PROGRAM the new equipment, and it never works on the first, second, or third try. By 3:00m PM I realized that I was nowhere near getting everything working, so I dropped it until tomorrow. The forecast is showing a snowstorm very likely, and I wanted to get more firewood split and moved in before it gets here, and that's what I did. Normally I listen to the local TV news and the network news while I eat, then the PBS Newshour. Some evenings that's the end. Some other evenings I'll watch another hour if there's something I care to see. But tonight I just listened to the radio. I'll see if I can get the TV working tomorrow.
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
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Wednesday, February 20, 2019
It's embarrassing how little I did today. I did do some online research on body solder, but mostly just wasted time on websites. I need to get over this recent spell of laziness. Too many things need doing.
Thursday, February 21, 2019
Just two days after the snow arrived, major melting took most of it away. The temperature climbed into the forties and by evening it was nearly all gone, even in shady areas. I got back to work on a top for the 1923 touring, preparing the top irons for assembly and painting. Before getting to those steps, though, they needed some body work. The seams on some of the irons were too wide to suit me, so I applied body solder. Luckily, I had enough of the stuff to finish the job. This is all work I can do indoors. But when I get to making the bows, some of the wood work will need to be done outside in order to not get dust all over the shop. I hope when I get to that part of the job the weather will cooperate and not be too disagreeable. |
 Several of the irons needed body
work.
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 The seams that needed filling
were mostly near nthe bottom.
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 After tinning the surface, you
lay on the solder.
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 Then comes a lot of filing.
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Friday, February 22, 2019
The outside warmed up to the mid-forties and there was no wind, so I got out the clippers and the Tordon and cleared more little trees from the area where I want to put a garage. In the shop I did a little painting, touching up a small area on the touring car. The countdown continues. 26 days to spring.
Saturday, February 23, 2019
 Today
I touched up some more spots on the 1923 touring.
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 The
modern paint-shedding bolts with numbers on the heads will be going
away. Replacing the glaringly wrong fasteners on this car is an ongoing
project.
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Sunday, February 24, 2019
Making top bows for the touring car takes three steps. Today I got started on the first step, rounding the sharp corners with a belt sander. After I've done that to all four bows, the next step will be cutting them to the right length, and the final step will be steam bending them. But I didn't even finish the first step today. After the third sander belt fell apart, I went to town in search of better ones. Walmart was selling the same brand that had just faied me, so I went to Orscheln. Same brand there. So I turned to my last resort, the hardware store. That's always the last resort, because their prices are so high. A package of two belts was $3.99 at Walmart, a dollar more at Orscheln and $6.59 at the hardware store. But to avoid wasting money on more falling-apart belts I was willing to pay the Ace price. When I got home and opened the package I found that the "Ace" belts are exactly the same ones sold at Walmart and Orscheln, dressed up in Ace packaging. The only other place where I might find sander belts locally is the lumber yard. If they don't have something better I suppose I'll have to buy online.
Monday, February 25, 2019
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Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Today's main project was getting the runabout engine/transmission ready to go to Tulsa tomorrow. I removed petcocks, water inlet and outlet, and other parts that don't need to go. It was a little after two in the afternoon when I had it in the Suburban and closed the tailgate. Next was a drive to the Gasino to fill the tank, airing up the tires, and adding ATF. By the time I brought in wood and laid the fires, that was my day. Then I looked at the forecast and saw freezing rain likely from here halfway to Tulsa. The thought of the old Suburban on ice was just too scary. I called Mike and rescheduled. I'll take the engine to him Friday morning.
Wednesday, February 27, 2019
The afternoon high of 29º doesn't feel bad until you step out from behind a building and feel the north wind blowing down from the arctic. With 22 days until spring, I'm ready for some warmer weather. Spending as little time outside as possible, I did a little buffing and polishing on the paint recently applied to the touring car. On Thursday I ordered a new tire to beat the price increase rumored to be coming in March. It was delivered today, and I checked its date and source. Supposedly the manufacture of clincher tires has moved to Taiwan. If so, it happened since this tire was made. Its date code is for the middle of last April, and it was made in Vietnam as all clincher tires have been for several years.
Thursday, February 28, 2019
Most of the day I was in town. In the morning I saw my doc for my annual check-up. This year I had a new defect, high blood pressure. That's never been a problem before, but in the last couple of months the readings have been unacceptably high. So now I'll have to start taking a daily pill for it. Fortunately the medicine costs only $4 a month. In the afternoon I was at the dentist's office for a cleaning. Finally, I was off to the main bank in Winflield to get some cash. That included $100 in twos, which I use all the time. Back at home I had time for bringing in firewood and laying the evening fires, and that was the end of my day.
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