Wednesday, July 1, 2009
This afternoon I reinstalled the generator. It worked! I adjusted it and went for a two-mile test drive, and it still worked. I have to confess that at one point I was considering taking the job to the local repair guy, but you don't learn anything that way. It's more gratifying if you can learn how to do the work yourself. I did have to jump the cutout to get the thing to start charging, so the cutout will get my attention next.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Because of the holiday I was on a Friday schedule today, getting off work about nine. With the generator back on the touring car, I took it for a drive to town running errands and shopping. A couple of times the generator quit charging. Both times I went by the book, cleaning the commutator by holding a little bit of sandpaper against it with the engine running. After that it worked fine, so I'm glad I did the repair myself and learned how rather than paying somebody who already knows how. With the generator situation now under control, the next item to deal with was the horn, which has been sounding a feeble little croak. I found an adjustment screw on the back, and turned it until I got that good old loud Klaxon honk. Now when the neighbor dogs come running out to chase us I can give them a good blast with the horn while Zeke gives them a thorough barking. This afternoon I went around the front lawn with a spray bottle of 2-4D giving a squirt to the few little trees that esacaped my previous onslaught. The stuff seems to be doing the job. None of the ones I sprayed before show any signs of coming back.
Friday, July 3, 2009
With a full day off, I got out in the cool of the morning to pull weeds. There's one in particular that I wanted to get before it could go to seed, as the seeds stick to everything and you can have to spend a lot of time picking them off. In a couple of hours I made great progress and cleared a large area. As the sun moved into my work area and the day heated up, I came in the house and spent most of the day catching up on neglected clerical work, filing receipts that had piled up during the past month.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
The Glorious Fourth got of to a rather soggy start. When I awoke about 5:30 the rain was pouring down. This would not have been a problem except that I had left my car in town for service, and I remembered that I had left the window open. I checked the weather online and found that the rain wasn't going to quit anytime soon, and the radar showed that it was likely to get worse before long. After dressing I went out and tried to start the pickup so I could go get the car. After the old Dodge has sat for a few days I have to shoot some starter fluid down the carburetor to get it going. It was too dark for me to see exactly where I was aiming the spray and I never did get the truck started. So I decided to use the Suburban instead. After trying to start the truck while holding an umbrella, and unhitching the trailer from the Chevy likewise, I was pretty damp. At last I got to town, parked the Chevy in a lot, and got the Camry. Fortunately, there was not a lot of wind with the rain, so it hadn't blown into the car much. When I got home I got into some dry clothes then spent a big part of the morning on the computer. By noon the rain was over and the forecast put the chance of more rain at only 5%. Next Saturday would be my regular washday, but I plan to go off to the Iola swap meet next weekend, so today was the day to wash. I put Zeke and the dirty clothes in the back of the touring car and we took a drive to the laundry. I try to park in the shade, but on the way home we made a rest stop where there wasn't any. When Zeke got back in the car he didn't want to get back up on the seat because it was too hot for him. I'll have to put a blanket over that seat to keep it from getting so hot. My last chore of the afternoon was more tree slaughter. The undiluted herbicide seems to have put a stop to the little trees from Hell in the front lawn, so I applied the same treatment all over the back yard. Dozens of little trees, of several varieties, have sprung up all over the place. I spent a couple of hours squirting all of them I could find. I'll give them a day or two for the poison to get down to the roots, then I'll mow. I finished the day with dinner at Beijing, then went to see Ice Age 3 in 3-D. I was curious to see how well the 3-D process works with animation. With the computer generated images they use nowdays it works pretty well.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
This morning I got out in the back yard and took advantage of a cool and mostly cloudy day to attack the weed forest again. I managed to clear most of it. Two big yard chores remain. I have to make an adapter to put a blade on the WD and level off the places where I installed new water lines last year, and I have a lot of branches to cut up and haul away. I pulled weeds for about six hours, then drove the Ford down to Chilocco to fill it up. Usually the price is 10¢ to 15¢ cheaper there than in town. When I got home I checked the front suspension and found the front radius rods loose, and the threads worn out on one of the perches. That will be something to shop for when I go to the swap meet.
Monday, July 6, 2009
On the way home from work I bought and installed new wiper blades, then stopped for a visit with my cousin Pete. When I got home I checked email then spent a half hour or more figuring out how to delete files from my website. That pretty well shot the afternoon.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Aarrrgghhh! The door latch on my Camry broke so I have to reach out the window and open the door from the outside. This afternoon I tried to get the inside door panel off, but couldn't figure out how to free it from the latch housing. I guess I need to do some research and find out how the thing is put together.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Well, I called the service department at a Toyota dealership in Wichita and asked how to get that door panel off. They thought there would be screws holding it. Wrong. Eventually I figured out how it was clipped in place and managed to remove it. Once I had the panel off I reconneced the latch and had everything back together in a few minutes. I finished the day getting everything out of the car's trunk in preparation for a shopping trip. I'm going off to the Iola swap meet in Wisconsin to look for Model T parts and visit relatives. That means no blogging until next week. I'll report when I get back.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Well, I'm back. Got back Monday, in fact. So now I'm back to the blog, and here's the report. As mentioned above, I went to the Iola swap meet for the first time since 2004. This time I went as a shopper, and not as a vendor. I stayed with a cousin and her daughter, who is seven and a sweetheart, and her son, who is four and a pistol. I spent most of Friday on my own shopping for Model T parts. On Saturday we took the kids and looked at neat old cars, and I did some more shopping. I didn't find the radiator I want, but I did come away with a lot of needed items for my touring car and for the TT project. I spent most of Sunday driving home, and got here Monday after a very enjoyable weekend. It was also a break from the heat. After 100º+ here, Wisconsin's 85º "hot weather" was pretty pleasant. I spent most of the day Monday doing some much needed mowing, then finished the day with a little grocery shopping.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Recent rainfall has moistened the ground without making it soggy, and the daily high has cooled off into the low eighties since the 100º+ earlier in the week. I took advantage of the opportunity for a couple of hours pulling weeds this afternoon. I made a pretty good dent in the weed supply, and the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same, so I may have this chore pretty well finished before long.
Friday, July 17, 2009
I dood it! That's what Red Skelton's "Mean Widdle Kid" used to say. What I dood today was to finish off the weed forest in front of the barn. The plan now is to spray more little trees that I missed the last time I sprayed. I'll give the poison a day or two to work, then I'll mow. I should have the yard pretty much under control in a week or two, then it will be time to get started on roof repair.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
After doing laundry this morning I spent a couple of hours at one of my favorite things, an auction. I came away with a quartz clock that has a nice wood cabinet for $6, a 25' air hose for $5, three good paint brushes and several putty knives of different sizes for $1.50, and nine cans of different sized nails and old nuts & bolts for 50¢. One of the cans turned out to contain enough old style castle nuts and antique square nuts & bolts to be worth the $13 I paid for everything. That's the way to shop. At home I went around the yard with the spray bottle putting more little trees out of business. I finished the day taking the front wheels off the touring car, then removing and dismantling the front suspension. The shackles, bushings, and some other parts are worn out and will have to be replaced. Fortunately I was pretty sure this was what I was going to find, and I bought replacements for most of it at the swap meet last week.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
I spent most of the day on the touring car, derusting and wire brushing replacement shackles and painting them. I haven't been able to get the perches out of the front axle, so I'm planning to make a tool to press them out.
Monday, July 20, 2009
And today I started making my perch removal tool. I spent most of the time using a cutting torch. The plate I'm using is 3/8" thick, so it was slow going. To be continued.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
This afternoon I spent most of my time finishing the cutting and then grinding the rough edges. With any luck I should have the tool finished and ready to try out by Friday.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
It was back to the cutting torch today, to make a hole in one of the plates to go over the perch, and then a lot of filing to remove slag and make the edges more even. I'll put up a picture of this thing when I get it done.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
And today was drilling day. I spent over an hour working on the perch remover this afternoon. I spent most of that time at the drill press, making holes for bolts to hold the two plates together. I think I'm on schedule to finish the thing and try it out tomorrow.
Friday, July 24, 2009
After work and shopping I got home a little after eleven and went right to work on the tool project. I finished it, I think, but didn't get to try it out, as I went to a wedding in the afternoon. I should have time tomorrow to find out if it works.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
The first thing I did after breakfast was try out the perch remover. It worked very nicely, and I had time to remove one perch before I had to leave. I went to an auction north of Winfield, and this was not just recreational shopping. I went to buy a seven foot Allis Chalmers snap coupler blade, and I got it for $100. If I had been more patient I might have got it for less, but that's still a pretty cheap price. It's exactly what I've wanted for grading the drive and the rough spots in the yard. Another little bargain was 158 castle nuts for $1, about 5/8¢ each. I got home around 1:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon mowing down the tall grass around the trailer, removing the lumber that was on it, and hitching it to the Suburban. Tomorrow I'll use it to haul home that blade.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
I spent most of the day hauling home the blade and the weights that were stacked on it, then mowing a place to set it in the yard, then unloading it. The mowing took longer than it should have because the belt broke on the Woods mower and I had to use the little Dixon. I'll find out tomorrow whether it's a hassle finding a new belt. A search online wasn't very encouraging.
Monday, July 27, 2009
I can get a mower belt from the nearest Woods dealer. That's in Whitewater, a round trip of about three hours. That will have to wait until Friday or Saturday. After work I made a couple of shopping stops and gassed up the car, so I didn't have much time to get anything done at home. I did have time to go around the yard with the truck and start picking up piles of pulled weeds. I filled the bed higher than the cab, and there's enough more to pick up to make another load.
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Today
I removed another perch and took pictures of the new tool to post
on the Model T forum. Some people expressed delight at a simple
and effective solution to a common problem. Maybe tomorrow I can
get back to cleaning up the yard.
Friday, July 31, 2009
I spent a couple of afternoons on yard work, and today did the same. I trimmed some branches, hauled two truckloads of weeds and branches to the dump pile, and started mowing. The forecast is for rain in the morning, so I may not get back to mowing until Sunday. Meanwhile, Zeke showed up limping this morning. Looks like he got into another scrap. At least this time it wasn't bad enough to have the vet sew him up. On the cat front, I haven't seen Miss Kitty since Wednesdsay. I hope she didn't become a meal for an owl or a coyote. All the young cats have been banished from the house after I found cat poop in the back porch. I have enough to do without having to deal with that.