Friday, June 1, 2018

In the cool of the morning I spent a couple of hours pulling weeds out of the front lawn. In my office I spent over an hour filling out the application to take my runabout to the Old Car Festival in September. Along with the application you have to submit three photos. I chose these. I hope they will be persuasive. I'll find out in  August whether the car has been admitted.

Saturday, June 2, 2018

The weather was helpful today, and I spent most of the day on yard work. A nice overcast in the morning allowed a couple of hours of pleasant weed-pulling in the front lawn. Later it was sunny but still, and I had my first spray-war session of the season. I mixed up five gallons of weed killer and sprayed little trees coming up in the lawn, johnson grass and other weeds in the lane to the wood lot, honeysuckle in the wood lot, and weeds behind the shop. The road to the south brush pile was dry enough for the truck not to get stuck, so I emptied the load of branches and weeds that's been building for several weeks. In the afternoon I did an online search for a place to camp when I go to Dearborn in September. I didn't find much.


Sunday, June 3, 2018

Three hours of  weed pulling and tree trimming led today's work parade. In the afternoon I wasted too much time online and washed the oil and dirt off a wheel I need to repaint.


Monday, June 4, 2018

Except for an hour off to check email and websites, and a trip to town for beer and more Tordon, I did yard work all day. First it was pulling weeds, then it was cutting badly located little trees and poisoning the stumps.  I got a lot done that's been awaiting my attention for a few years.


Tuesday, June 5, 2018

After an hour and a half of yard work in the cool of the morning, I went to Wichita to pick up my repaired radiator. I should have been home by noon, but car trouble kept me in Wichita most of the day. By the time the problem was diagnosed and the Camry had a new battery installed it was 4:00 PM, and I didn't get home until after 5:30. I chose the more expensive five-year battery so I won't have this problem again anytime soon. I may have other problems, but not this one.

Wednesday, June 6, 2018 After an hour of morning weed pulling I went to work on that radiator for the runabout. I ground off excess solder, buffed, polished and reinstalled it on the car. Now I'll be able to drive again. Next I need to repaint a wheel and put it on the car with a new tire, then I'll finish installing the new top. In order to do that, of course, I'll have to find where I left the package of hardware and trim for the job. It seems I spend half my time trying to figure out where I've left things. I do find things eventually, but it drives me nuts how things seem to disappear. Sometime this summer I need to pull the rear end out of that car and fix a leak, but that will wait until after the family reunion when people will be expecting Model T rides and driving lessons.

Thursday, June 7, 2018

Rain began about a quarter after seven and kept up intermittently until after noon. I worked in my office, catching up on filing receipts and other clerical chores. In the afternoon I went to pay the water bill then dropped in at the body shop that's supposed to be working on the fender for my touring car. The proprietor was away and won't be back until Monday. He's had the job for six months and it never gets done. I think tomorrow I'll consult another shop about taking over the project. I should have had that fender back on the car months ago.


Friday, June 8, 2018

Job One today was a trip to town to deal with the fender situation. I looked at the fenders I left at the body shop in January. The only work that's been done is that one of them has been sandblasted.  I left a message for the absent owner with his secretary. If he can have the two made into one good fender by next Friday, fine. Go ahead. If he can't, I'll take the job to the other shop down the street. If they don't think they can beat the deadline and beat the cost of a new fender, I'll just buy a new one.  One way or another, I'll have my fender by next Friday.  When I got home it was nine, and I did yard work until noon, pulling weeds and trimming trees. In the afternoon I got more work done on the roadster's new upholstery and top.


Saturday, June 9, 2018

Yard work came first again today. This time it was clearing weeds and little trees north of the shop, another job that's been waiting for a few years. In the afternoon I finished installing the upholstery trim on the runabout, then I headed north for my movie night. It will not surprise me if "The Rider" is nominated for Best Picture. It will not surprise me if it wins. I drove up to Wichita to see it because pictures like it are seldom shown down here in Podunk. This one is a masterpiece by writer-director Chloé Zhao. The setting is one of the stars in this movie, and cinematographer Joshua James Richards does it proud. The lead character, a cowboy named Brady Blackburn, is played by a cowboy named Brady Jandreau. He is also listed in the credits as horse trainer for the film. His father and sister are played by his real father and sister. Trick casting like that has a the potential for disaster, but in this case all involved are up to the task and it works beautifully. The Jandreaus are not the only ones in the cast turning in good performances. There is wonderful work by many of the supporting players, some of them playing movie versions of themselves. Lane Scott as a disabled rider deserves special mention. I rarely go back to see a picture in the theater a second time, but I aim to do it with this one.


Sunday, June 10, 2018
Today I installed common sense fasteners. Of course that's not as simple as it sounds. I broke three screws before I finally figured out what size bit to use for drilling pilot holes. Of course a trip to the "hardware store" for more screws was a waste of time. I'll have to order them online.


Monday, June 11, 2018

All day I worked on the new top. All that remains is tacking on the main top piece and the trim. As slow as I am, that could take another full day.


Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The weather said no. The forecast was for mostly cloudy all day. I need to lay the new top out in the sun to warm up before I install it on the car, so I did yard work instead. I pulled more weeds, hauled pulled weeds and trimmed branches to the brush pile, and got started on the mowing. I found wild starwberries growing in the yard. I didn't plant them, so I guess the birds must have done it.


Wednesday, June 13, 2018

More yard work filled my day. With my Allis Chalmers mowing tractor back in service, I did almost all the mowing. It's the tractor for the big areas and the Dixon ZTR around the edges. This evening I took the truck and the chain saw down to the wood lot, and in the morning I'll take down a ladder and clear away the dead tree that's blocking my road, then I'll mow the road.


Thursday, June 14, 2018

Starting early in the cool of the morning, I cut up the fallen trees that were blocking the road in the wood lot. I stacked the big pieces by the splitter, and the smaller ones that don't need splitting are stacked in the garage waiting to provide heat next winter. With those two trees out of the way, I went along both roads trimming all the branches that were hanging low or sticking out into the roads. I was going to run the mowing tractor along both roads, but decided to wait. Instead I mixed up five gallons of vegetation killer and sprayed johnson grass and other weeds in and along the road. I'll wait a couple of days for the poison to get down into the roots before I mow. Although I'm still fighting johnson grass, I've made pretty good progress on that front. I'm not dealing with the huge jungles of the stuff I had to fight last year. It turned out that I didn't need the full five gallons of killer on the road down the lane, so I used up the last of it on the tangle of honeysuckle beside the east road. I'm making good progress on that too, but there's still quite a bit left to eradicate. I wouldn't mind a little patch or two of the stuff, but it wants to take over the world, smothering everything in its path.


Friday, June 15, 2018

Today I finished installing the top cover on the runabout. All that remains to be done is cutting off the extra front material and and tacking on the front trim strip. In the afternoon I had to go to town for some shopping, and I stopped at the body shop to see about the fender for the touring car. I was hoping to have it today and install it this weekend, but the latest estimate is that it may be ready Tuesday.  I think six months is way too long for one fender. If I ever need to have any similar body work done, it will go to a different shop.


Saturday, June 16, 2018

After finishing top installation on the roadster I turned my attention to house cleaning. The family reunion is next weekend, so most of what I do this week will be gettinbg the place ready.


Sunday, June 17, 2018

Mostly house work. Sweeping, dusting, hosing out screens, trying to decide where to put things. Shorty and I went to town in the roadster for groceries, and I noticed that the car was louder than usual. That was due to a loose nut letting the rear of the muffler open up. That was an easy fix with just one wrench.


Monday, June 18, 2018

All morning I cleaned in the living room, and finished a little before noon. I spent the afternoon on the kitchen, and it's almost done. In the morning I'll finish the kitchen, hit the front hall and upstairs, and hope to be done by noon. Then it will be the shop.


Tuesday, June 19, 2018

I finished the kitchen, cleaned the back porch, vacuumed and dusted the front hall, and vacuumed upstairs. After a trip to town for laundry and groceries, I started on the shop. I hope I can get it all done tomorrow.


Wednesday, June 20, 2018

Never went off the place today. Finishing the shop in one day was  more than I could manage, but I made a pretty good dent in it. I should be able to get it done tomorrow without taking all day. This evening I took the mowing tractor down to the wood lot and mowed the road. The woods were full of the best crop of lightning bugs we've had in years. It was lightning bug heaven. The mower suffered a broken belt, but fortunately that was after the job was almost finished. The question now is how far I'll have to go to get a new belt.


Thursday, June 21, 2018

I spent the first day of summer cleaning up the shop. I didn't get it all done, but should be able to finish it fairly early in the morning. This evening I went to the band concert in Wilson Park. The Arkansas city Municipal Band, now in its 147th year, combined with the Winfield City Band, almost as old, for a joint concert. They were in fine form, and did nice renditions of our state song (Home on the Range), a Wizard of Oz medley, Souza's Washington Post, and other old favorites. After the concert I went across the street to Braum's for a double cone, then headed home.

After only about a mile the car suddenly lost power and started making a familiar and unwelcome sound. I pulled off the road, opened the hood, and found this.

It didn't take long to get a spare plug out of the tool box, install it, and drive on home. We have a nice crop of lightning bugs this year, and they were all around, but none of them made it into the picture.

Shorty used to be a reluctant rider, but now whenever that car starts up she's ready to go.

When I got home I dismantled the failed plug and found that the bottom half of the insulator was broken in two and the top half was gone. This is the fourth or fifth plug I've had break like this. I wonder if there's something I'm doing that causes it.



Friday, June 22, 2018 and Saturday, June 23, 20l8

Family reunion photos from both days are here.


Sunday, June 24, 2018

History used up a few hours of the day. I'm transcribing a 1969 family history booklet to post online. In the afternoon I  started reconditioning several spark plugs, taking them apart and putting the pieces to soak  in carb cleaner and CLR.


Monday, June 25, 2018

Today's project was those spark plugs. I spent the day cleaning, wire brushing, and bluing parts, and taking pictures of the work. Tomorrow I'll start assembling parts and see how many good plugs I get.


Tuesday, June 26, 2018

The recent rains have made the ground perfect for pulling weeds, and I did some of that. But there are so many of them that pulling them all would eat up way too much time, so I'll wage chemical warfare. When I went to town for groceries I stopped at the co-op and picked up a gallon of Glystar to fight the weed war. Today's main job in the shop was the roadster's 3000 mile maintenance. That means oiling and greasing everything but the steering gear, including pulling the front wheels and packing new grease in the bearings.


Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Waging the weed war came first today.  I mixed five gallons of magic potion and sprayed until it was used up, about 11:15 AM. Glysophate is said to work best in dry, hot weather, so the next few days with highs near 100º will be perfect for it. I'll wait for the weeds I sprayed today to start dying, then I'll spray what I missed today. After spraying I went in the shop and did the one bit of maintenance on the runabout that I missed yesterday, cleaning out the oil screen. Photos are here. In the afternoon I went to town for a dental appointment, then stopped at the body shop and picked up the repaired fender for the 1923 touring. I hope to have the fender back on and the car ready to drive in a few days.


Thursday, June 28, 2018

The radiator on my roadster developed a leak around the inlet, so I decided to take it off and install a spare until I get it fixed. I spent a large part of the day woking on the other radiator and installing it, and found that it's not much good.  A four mile drive had it at full boil. Meanwhile my modern car has gone belly up so I can't take the leaking radiator to the repair shop until I get the Camry running.


Friday, June 29, 2018

I think it probably took no more than a minute or two for some guy on the assembly line at Highland Park to install a fender. But I spent most of the day on it. The guy in the factory had lots of practice, and the new fender he was installing was a perfect fit. I've had almost no practice, and I was installing a fender made of two others. It was definitely not a perfect fit, and required some tweaking to get its holes to line up with the holes in the frame. But I got it on, and should have the car ready to drive soon.


Saturday, June 30, 2018

The last day of the month was auction day for me, and I bought at two different ones. The first one was an estate sale at the fairgrounds. The ad didn't mention antique cars or parts, but Pete Davis was a Model A guy, so I figured there would be some. This was probably also the case for some of the other guys who were there. It turned out there was a 1929 Model A coupe that was pretty much complete but needed lots of TLC, and a lot of Model A parts. But I noticed a Model T wheel mixed in among all the Model A wheels. Model A wheels are plentiful and cheap. Model T wire wheels are scarce and usually sell for $100 or more. When the auctioneer got to this particular pile of wheels he offered choice and opened at $5. I said yes, and was delighted when nobody topped the offer. That one wheel made my waiting for a few hours very worthwhile. Next I went to the Defore Auction on Main Street and arrived just in time to get a number and buy the shovel I wanted for $5.97. It was a successful auction day, topped off by a delicious dinner at La Fiesta.