One item of information required on the application is the car's insurance policy number. When I got the card out of the car I found that it was last year's and expired in February. Happily I was able to download and print out a new card from the Hagerty website. It was a wet day, and I worked in the shop sorting and putting away recently painted fasteners. I do batches of nuts, bolts, washers, etc. at a time. I grind and buff off any modern markings, strip away the paint-shedding plating, prep to prevent rust, paint and bake. All this so whenever I need a painted fastener it's already done. I've been putting these things in small plastic bags, but it's inconvenient sorting through a pile of bags when I need a particular item. The solution to that is pepper. Whenever I empty a 6 ounce can of pepper I cut it down to 2¾" high so it will fit in a parts drawer. A drawer will hold eight cans, each with a particular fastener. Another shop activity today was taking everything out of my running board tool box to start reorganizing. I found the valve stem nut that belongs on one of my wheels, but not the dust cover that belongs with it. Maybe I'll come across that when I clean out and organize the trunk.


Thursday, June 2, 2022

Mowing day. I mowed the east and south lawn with the tractor, then installed a new mower belt on the Dixon and went around edges, trees, and mail boxes. I need to fix the rear axle seals in the runabout, but can't get the left wheel off. I've never had a wheel stuck on the axle shaft this badly. Nothing I've tried has broken it loose. When I went to town today, a round trip of abut ten miles, I had the nut backed off almost ⅛" from the hub. When I got home the wheel was still stuck fast. After dinner this evening I went for a drive of about fifteen miles mostly on gravel roads, some with jar-your-teeth-loose washboard. None of that budged the thing. Tomorrow I'll try driving it with the puller clamped on tight and torqued, and see if that does any good.


Friday, June 3, 2022

First on today's agenda was pulling salsify and other weeds in the ditch and on the bank along the north side of the road. I intended to mow there, but there's enough Johnson grass coming up that I decided to spray and kill as much of that as I can before I do the mowing. I finished the weed pulling about 1:40, took a break, and then got back to the runabout and its stuck wheel. Before I headed to town I screwed on the puller as far as it would go, clamped it as tight as I could get it, and torqued the main screw with a giant wrench. All this with the nut out almost ⅛" and pinned. I whacked the puller on four sides, not the end, with the BFH, drove a couple of miles, stopped, applied more torque with the big wrench, and the thing popped! I pulled the pin, snugged up the nut, repinned, and finished my shopping trip. This evening after chow I removed the wheel, and now I'm ready to clean up the oily mess and deal with the leaking seals. My other after-chow activity was mowing the west lawn, west of the west drive, and along the road by the west field. I always leave mowing the west lawn until June, after the poppies have bloomed and gone to seed.


Saturday, June 4, 2022

With that stubborn left rear wheel finally removed from the runabout, today I pulled out the bearing and sleeve, removed the old oil seal, cleaned the tube with lacquer thinner, and installed the new seal with oil-resistant sealer. I packed the bearing with grease and installed it, but I didn't put the wheel back on. It was covered with leaked oil and road dirt, so I took it outside and sprayed it with degreaser, gave that some time to work, and hosed it off. That removed most of the crud, but not all, so I would have to get more degreaser to finish the job. For Saturday treat night I dined in. I fried a chopped onion and a pile of jalapeño slices in olive oil and mixed in a big glob of mashed potatoes. The tasty chaser was a big Claussen half pickle. During dinner I had the radio on and enjoyed the Texmaniacs. I love conjunto. Tonight's movie at the local theater was Watcher. An American woman moves with her husband to Bucharest, and while he is at work she sees a man watching her from an apartment window in the next building. It's thriller built on writing, acting and directing, without a trace of CGI to distract. I've never heard of anybody involved, and this is director Chloe Okuno's first feature film. I'll be watching for more from her.


Sunday, June 5, 2022

Rain in the wee hours of the morning left .8" in the gauge. The plants are enjoying this recent moisture. Looks like spraying Johnson grass and other weeds will have to wait for a dry day on Wednesday. Today I attacked that oily dirt on the wheel again with more degreaser, and that was a dud. I finally resorted to a washcloth and gasoline, and that did the trick. With the wheel back on the car I was able to drive it to town for groceries. My other project in the shop today was replacing the diode in my magneto battery charger, painting the charger, and drilling a firewall hole for the charger wires. I guess the next thing I need to fix on that car is the slipping hand brake lever.


Monday, June 6, 2022

On D-Day + 78 years I enjoyed a variety of activities. I installed the magneto battery charger in the runabout. I pulled weeds. I cut off little trees with the clippers and poisoned the stumps. I mowed in the back yard. I boxed up old lath in the southeast bedroom. If you go back to my post of April 20 you'll see that I contemplated having this room mostly finished by the end of May. Ha! In the real world the old rule still  applies: Everything takes longer than you think it will. If I had nothing else to do I might have met that goal, but I have plenty of other stuff that needs doing. I'll get the room cleaned up and have the bed ready for my brother to use when he comes for the family reunion next week, then I'll get back to work on it after that. I still have to finish putting up new sheet rock on the walls, install some new light fixtures, put up the new ceiling, make new woodwork, paint, and replace falling-apart floor tiles. Then I'll move into this room while I rebuild mine.


Tuesday, June 7, 2022

Mostly I worked on the bedroom, cutting and installing sheet rock to get it out of the hall downstairs. Tomorrow I'll finish cleaning up in there and have the room ready for my brother to use next week, then I'll start getting the rest of the house in order. I clean house every year, whether it needs it or not.


Wednesday, June 8, 2022

First thing after breakfast today was working on the bedroom project. About ten Wally came with his truck and we wrestled the old dead fridge out of the house and hauled it to the salvage yard. I got $10.50 for it. Then it was back to work on the bedroom. Today's job in there was preparing places for two light fixtures and installing some of the Romex for them. One of the fixtures was missing a socket, and when I went to town I was surprised and delighted to find that Ace had one to fit. But they struck out on mounting screws. I need some long, round head, slotted wood screws. For a century or more those were a common hardware item, but no more. I'll try the Fastenal store tomorrow, but I suspect I'll end up getting the proper screws from a big store when I go to Wichita next Monday. The good news is that I won't have to clean up that room for my brother. The bad news is that he's missing the reunion this year. Well, I hope I have it finished for him next year. Maybe even my room too.


Thursday, June 9, 2022

This morning's first adventure was a trip to town for a checkup at the optometrist's office. The Camry has developed a noticeable shake at high speeds, so I left it at the Walmart auto shop and walked over to see the optometrist. The checkup found slightly changed vision, but not changed enough to call for new glasses. All I needed there was to have my frames adjusted to raise the bifocals a little higher. While I was seeing the eye doc the auto shop found that I had a tire separating, as I had suspected. Fortunately I had to replace only one tire.  The other three were fine.
In the shop this afternoon I took care of a little chore that's been waiting for a few years. When the spout came off one of my Boyco running board cans I tried to solder it back on and it melted. Turned out it was aluminum, not steel like the rest of the can. I searched high and low for a replacement spout and cap, but all the ones I could find were too large or too small to match the original. I decided that too large is better than too small, and today I cut the spout out of a gallon thinner can and soldered it onto my running board can. It's not the world's prettiest solder job, but it doesn't leak, so I'm satisfied. Today I also phoned the local Fastenal store to ask about those screws I need. I never got as far as the size. When I asked about round head slotted wood screws the guy asked how many I needed. When I said a half dozen would be plenty he informed me that the store is now a "fulfillment center" and sells only by the box or by the case. To Hell with that. I'll try some of the big hardware stores in Wichita. After chow this evening Shorty and I got in the runabout and went to Wilson Park for a concert by the Arkansas City Municipal Band, now in its 151st year. Following the concert I went to the Braum's store across from the park and had a double cone for the first time this year. We got home in twilight, and I was delighted to see that some lightning bugs were out. I saw a few one evening about three weeks ago, only about three or four, and none since. I hope tonight is the kickoff of lightning bug season in earnest. Once they get going, they're around for about a month.



Friday, June 10, 2022

The depleted supply of clean sox made this laundry day. I had the last of the clothes on the line by noon. In the afternoon I planted the bare root seedling that arrived yesterday. It's an Arbor Day Foundation replacement for the wrong one they sent me by mistake. I emailed them photos, and I'm still waiting to hear from them what the mistaken tree is. Whatever it is, it sure is healthy. It's really taken off. My project in the shop today was making neoprene pads and gluing them on both sides of the middle running board can so maybe the cans jiggling together won't wear holes in each other.


Saturday, June 11, 2022   

Spray day. I mixed up ten gallons of weed killer and attacked the Johnson grass and other weeds across the road. While I was spraying, a Model T guy from Iowa dropped in for a visit and we blathered for over an hour. When I got back to spraying I had to stop for equipment repair. Somehow, despite running the liquid through a cloth screen, bug and leaf parts found their way into the sprayer and I had to take everything apart and clean it out. Then I spent over an hour making a filter of brass cloth and installing it on the end of the pickup tube. After that I used up the rest of what I had mixed with no trouble.


Sunday, June 12, 2022

More weed wars. I mixed another ten gallons of killer and continued my attack across the road. I used it up with no more equipment troubles. I took an inspection tour of the woodlot roads and found both of them blocked by fallen branches and one good sized dead tree that has fallen down. If we do any Model T rides at the family reunion next weekend they will have to be on township roads, because I won't have time before then to clear my private roads. This afternoon I drove the runabout down to the gasino to fill the tank and the running board cans. Usually going to Oklahoma saves me 5¢ to 10¢ a gallon. Not today. Even with the Shell card discount lowering the price 3¢ a gallon, I ended up paying 1¢ a gallon more than I would have in town.


Monday, June 13, 2022

In the cool of the morning I spent a couple of hours pulling weeds in the lane to the wood lot. I want to get them out of the ground before the pulling gets hard and before they have a chance to go to seed. I'll probably start clearing fallen branches and trees out of the roads next week. The forecast shows ten hot, dry days, so I expect I'll be able to drive down there without sinking to the axles in mud. My next chore was putting away tools and clearing construction debris from the front porch, then I went to Wichita for a checkup by the ophthalmologist. My shopping before and after the appointment was half successful. The two markets I checked were totally out of diet Squirt, and the pry bar I wanted at HF was out of stock. I did find the round head slotted wood screws I wanted, and I got a new outlet for a damaged 100' extension cord. My car thermometer showed 104º in Wichita, and when I got home it was only 95º. It's always cooler in the country than in the city.


Tuesday, June 14, 2022

This morning I cleaned off the front porch, removing construction debris, putting away tools, moving some supplies to the barn, and sweeping. In the process I found the folding camp chair I take traveling. I've been wondering where I left it. Apparently when I got home last fall I set it on the front porch table and forgot about it. This afternoon when I went to town I bought a rat trap. The mouse traps I've been setting out have gone off, but without catching anything. Yesterday morning I was sitting in the living room and saw a rat. So now I'm after bigger game.


Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Mom's birthday. She would be 112. It was house cleaning day. I did the bathroom and the entry hall. The bathroom job included removing the old toilet seat and installing a new one. The old seat featured the design flaw of steel mounting bolts. What were they thinking? Fortunately the old bolts were so badly rusted that they came apart and made removal not too difficult. All the attaching hardware for the new seat is nylon. It may eventually get brittle and break, but it won't rust. In the afternoon I drove up to the courthouse in Winfield to renew the registration on the Camry. I also went to the big bank and bought another $100 in twos, which I use all the time for small purchases. After dinner this evening Shorty and I went for a twilight cruise around the neighborhood in the runabout, which we often do on warm evenings. She's always ready for a ride.


Thursday, June 16, 2022

More house cleaning was the main job of the day. Most of that was the kitchen. The old vinyl floor tiles, even the newer ones that are only 40 or 50 years old, are brittle and breaking up. So I'm faced with the choice of whether to replace them with permanent ceramic tile or go with fresh vinyl that will probably last until I'm dead. I'm leaning toward the second choice, and letting some future resident, if there is one, deal with it. New vinyl would certainly be a lot less work than permanent tile. I haven't checked prices, but it would probably be less expensive too. In the afternoon Pete and I went shopping for supplies for tomorrow night's cookout. In the store she griped mildly about her difficulty breathing. I didn't mention half a century or more of cigarettes. That would have just made her mad and wouldn't change anything.


Friday, June 17, 2022

In the morning I finished house cleaning and mowed. The push mower died and the ZTR is running poorly, but the mowing tractor is going strong and I finished all I needed to mow today. One of my young cousins, Tyler, who is 22, came early and helped me with a couple of chores. I cut the big piece of sheet rock on the front porch to fit where it needs to go, and he helped me carry it upstairs. I was delighted to find that I measured and cut it right, and it fits perfectly. Then we got busy with clippers and trimmed small branches off the big fallen mulberry tree in the back yard. Later in the afternoon most of the other relatives arrived. Some of them come to the reunion every year, and others hadn't been here for ten years or more, and the youngest were here for the first time. We dined on brats, hot dogs, and burgers grilled in the back yard, did a little tour of the old house for the young folks, and had a nice visit.


Saturday, June 18, 2022

Tyler came early again, and we used the cool of the morning for more branch trimming and then loaded all the cuttings in the truck and hauled them to the brush pile. More of the relatives arrived later in the morning, and a little after ten we went up to the cemetery to plant my cousin Joan's ashes next to her parents. It mystifies me that after she and so many others in the family have killed themselves with cigarettes, some of the cousins still smoke. After the burial I walked around the cemetery with a few of the younger cousins and blathered about family history and some of the relatives who are buried there. Back at the house we had a catered noon meal of pulled pork, chicken, baked beans, potato salad, and other good stuff. I expect these two days have added a few pounds I'll need to shed. In mid-afternoon everybody fled for air conditioning, and I took a nice nap on the front porch swing. I was doubtful about having my usual Saturday movie night, but Bob Mundello said Lightyear is pretty good, and the prospect of a cool theater was appealing, so I went to see it. I liked it. The Pixar animation is first rate, of course, the voice actors also good, and I especially like Michael Giacchino's score. Some of it echoes Gustav Holst's The Planets without being a direct quote. I'm one of those weird people who sit through the credits, so I can tell you there will be a sequel.


Sunday, June 19, 2022

The plan was to pull weeds in the cool of the morning. But there were so many of them that I decided to spray them. After a run to town for breakfast with my cousin Jerry and his wife before they headed back to Texas, I mixed ten gallons and attacked. I sprayed until early afternoon, thanks to enough wind to keep the job from being insufferable. My afternoon job was a drive to Lowe's in Ponca City for some black rubber weather strip for the runabout. I could get weather strip here, but not black. While I was in Ponca I stopped at Harbor Freight and picked up a pry bar, and I considered a ⅜" ratchet. But that's not something I need right away, so I decided to wait and pick one up at an auction for a couple of bucks.


Monday, June 20, 2022

Never went off the place today. First up was mixing ten more gallons of weed killer and spraying along the south side of the road. Second was watering all the new trees. That's especially important when every day is dry and hot. Third was working on the 1915 runabout for the rest of the day. Specifically, removing the firewall to install weatherstrip. While I was at it I straightened a bracket that was a little bent, and shortened some bolts that were a little too long. I painted the bolts, and they will bake overnight, and tomorrow I'll begin reassembly.


Tuesday, June 21, 2022  

Summer arrived in the northern hemisphere at 4:13 this morning, but dog days of high summer arrived over a week ago. In the cool of the morning I sprayed weeds again. I finished the south side of the road for now. Next week when things are dead or wilting I'll see if I missed anything I need to go back and get. I spent most of the rest of the day on the runabout. I put the weatherstrip on the firewall and began reassembly. Putting things together is slower work than taking them apart, but I got a lot of the job done before I had to go to town for shopping. I expect I'll finish the job tomorrow and be able to drive the car again. Yesterday a Facebook friend told me I should take somebody (presumably younger) with me when I drive the old car to Michigan. I suppose it would be OK having a passenger along for the ride, but I expect I would have a problem finding somebody willing to tolerate my style of travel (sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag) and able to take two weeks or more away from work or school. That seems pretty unlikely.


Wednesday, June 22, 2022

The rain came three hours late, but it was a pretty good soak. The forecast said 2:00 PM, but it started at 5:00. It filled all the usual puddles, so it will be good for the recently planted soybeans and will make weed pulling easy for a couple of days. I started the day mixing another ten gallons of weed killer and spraying along the north side of the road. But after using up the first five gallons I remembered rain in the forecast and decided to save the rest for tomorrow. I hope what I sprayed got into the plants before the rain came to wash it off. I'll find out in a few days. I spent an hour or so answering messages, phoned Chaffin's Garage to order some Model T rear axle seals, a parts book, and capacitors to repair half a dozen ignition coils, and finished reassembling the runabout. Coil Man Ron Patterson kindly offered to check and adjust my runabout coils but I will try my hand at fixing some others that I've acquired at auctions.


Thursday, June 23, 2022

Rising late and wasting far too much time online, I didn't get to work until noon. I used up the five gallons of weed killer left over from yesterday, continuing to spray along the north side of the road to the east. There's more to do tomorrow. I had to replace a burned out fuse in the runabout because when  I was working on the car I forgot to tape the end of a loose wire and it shorted out. New fuses are less than a dollar, but I still hate to waste them. I need to figure out some kind of small container to attach to the terminal board for spare fuses. I packed up the ignition coils from the runabout and shipped them to Ron for checking and adjustment when I went to town for groceries. I'll use other coils until I get those back. On my to-do list for that car are sorting and assembling all the tools and other stuff I need to carry for traveling, replacing the cracked lower windshield glass, and installing a new left rear axle oil seal. I also need to acquire some kind of GPS navigation device. I can use that for a speedometer, but maps for navigation are more important. I'll have a real speedometer for the odometer that won't go to 0 when I have to change batteries, because it doesn't use batteries.


Friday, June 24, 2022

That's better. I got to work about 8:00 AM, mixing another ten gallons of weed killer and finishing spraying along the north side of the road to the east, then around the shop building. I hauled two boxes of plastic bottles and jars and a box of glass to the recycle center at Strother Field, and on the way home stopped at the Walmart and bought a little can of King Oscar sardines. I bought them for the can. I mashed up the sardines for a fish tostada with jalapeños this evening, and the can will be riveted to the back of the terminal board in the runabout as a container for spare fuses. The main project of the day was fixing the hand brake lever on the runabout. When I applied the hand brake the lever would pop forward a few notches, so today I took it out and welded more material on the worn ratchet and ground a new point, then bent the lever slightly left to center the ratchet on the quadrant. Much better now. The lever stays put. Tomorrow I'll sand blast and paint.


Saturday, June 25, 2022

Up early, I used the cool of the morning for sandblasting. I blasted the hand brake lever and controller from the 1915 runabout, a brake rod support to replace a broken one, and a potato chip can. Those were the most expensive chips I've ever bought, but I was after the can, not the chips. I wanted it for a container for paper plates, can opener, cheese slicer, salt & pepper, knives, forks & spoons, etc. when I travel. After blasting I went to an auction in Winfield. Among the tractors, trucks, and cars for sale was a 1927 Model T coupe that had been converted from the Ford ignition system to a distributor because of the bogus but popular superstition that a disturbutor is "more reliable". I bought the magnets and other magneto guts for $1. I also bought a couple dozen red bricks for $1. After a tasty dinner at La Fiesta, I went to see Baz Luhrman's Elvis. I didn't care for Luhrman's version of the twenties in his Great Gatsby, but I liked Elvis, especially Austin Butler's remarkable portrayal of The King. An Oscar nomination for him would not surprise me.


Sunday, June 26, 2022

Last night when I got home from town I painted the brake rod support and hand brake lever/controller I blasted yesterday morning. This morning the support went into the oven to bake. The lever/controller was too big for the oven, so it went on the garage roof to get whatever sunshine was available during the day. I painted the can and lid I blasted yesterday, and when they were dry enough they went into the oven too. My job on the runabout today was mounting that sardine can under the seat to hold spare fuses. It's rather remarkable how little I actually got done today.


Monday, June 27, 2022

Pulling weeds behind the shop was the morning project. We're having a break from high summer for a couple of days, and there was enough cloud cover to save me from being in direct sunshine most of the time, and recent rains have made the ground soft for easy pulling. In the afternoon I reinstalled the brake lever and controller in the runabout. That should have taken less than an hour, but I managed to spend all afternoon on it. It's infuriating to be constantly losing things, having to put on and take off reading glasses for close work, and being so damn clumsy, but eventually I get it done. Now, if I could just find those ⁵⁄₁₆-24 x ⅞" bolts...


Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Happy Birthday to me...
 Not feeling too bad for 81. I installed the left brake rod and support in the runabout, did some other reassembly, then ran the car and tested tire pumps. The two old Schrader pumps that screw into a spark plug hole worked partially, going up to about 40 psi but no more. That's not good enough for clincher tires. I was concerned about the 12 volt HF compressor using up too much power and running down the little mower battery I have in this car, but I blew the front tire up to the proper 65 psi and still had plenty of juice to fire the ignition coils. I'll carry the old hand pump as a backup, but hope I won't have to use it. Dinner tonight was Art & Mary's potato chips, vanilla cake, and Braum's mint chocolate chip ice cream. I habitually eat rationally, so a stupid meal on rare occasions won't kill me.


Wednesday, June 29, 2022

 Preparing for this year's Model T travel, I've been studying GPS navigation devices. Last night I ordered one and today received an email saying it will arrive tomorrow. That will be half my speedometer/odometer equipment and half my navigation too. I will install a Model T era Stewart 100 speedometer, and I plan to get a laptop with hotspot for online maps. Some folks don't bother with a speedometer in a Model T, but I've found that if I don't have one my speed creeps up and pretty soon I'm driving at wear-it-out-faster speeds. This afternoon I went to town for a couple of gallons of distilled water for radiator use and a dozen  ⁵⁄₁₆ - 24 x 1" bolts which I will "antique" for Model T use. That means cut them down to ⅞" (not available today), grind and buff the modern markings off the heads, drill holes for cotter pins, strip off the paint-shedding cad plating, prep to prevent rust, paint black, and bake. Coming home from town, as I turned onto Birch Avenue the car started running poorly. When I got home I opened the hood and found that the #4 spark plug wire had come loose from its coil box terminal and the car was running on three cylinders. The nut was somewhere along country club road. When I put on a new nut I put a toothed washer under it, and I will do the same on all the other terminals. This isn't the first time one of those nuts has fallen off, so we'll see if the toothed washers put a stop to that.


Thursday, June 30, 2022

Heat is back, with highs in the nineties, and the ground is drying out, so I am back to watering little trees to help them get established. Two of the ones I planted this spring have turned out to be dead sticks, so I will need to plant replacements for them next fall. Today I got into one of those jobs that in theory should take a few minutes but in reality bogs down and doesn't get finished: drilling cotter pin holes in bolts. My drilling jig has become worn so it wouldn't center the holes correctly, and I will need to get a couple of new ⁷⁄₆₄" bits and use one of them to redrill it. I set that aside and spent an hour or so composing and sending an email to everybody on the family list to see if anybody would like to ride along on a Model T trip next summer. That's unlikely, but it doesn't hurt to ask. This evening Shorty and I went to the band concert in Wilson Park, and afterwards she waited in the runabout while I went into Braum's for ice cream. The first time I did that this spring a double cone cost me $2.16. Now it's $2.48. That's an increase of almost 15%, nearly double the alleged current annual inflation rate. I don't like it, but I have to pay it for a vital necessity like ice cream.
 
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