MEH

I'm really not sure what's going on with Blogger, but I have been having issues with it.
It eould let me enter a Title for a post, but that was it. Wouldn't go down to the body of the post.
Oh well I faked it into working for the moment.
Three weeks off, what can I say. Too short, that's what. Paint the house, pressure wash the patio and back deck. A week of camping. Never did have enough time to work on the cars at all.
They insisted on giving me a new laptop at work. I don't mind the improved performance, faster speed, and better graphics, but I sure wish they would get to the point that it would actually work whan I plug it in. Nothing is in the right place. everything in my favorites is where I left it. More stuff will show up as I try to do something and the link is tucked away in some forgotten corner. Hide and seek for the next couple of days.
Oh well, it will all work out in the end.

Staycation

I am taking off the next THREE, count the THREE weeks.
I had already planned taking off two weeks when the shop announced they were taking off the week I planned to return. So I asked the boss if I could just extend my vacation for another week.
He gave me the OK.
It has been ten years since I took off more than two weeks.
The last two years we have taken two week trips in the Wesfalia. Altogether put about 10,000 miles on the camper. Had a great time, but I'm kinda burned out on the always on the road moving from one place to another gig.
Last summer I had the siding on the south side of the house replaced and painted.
Number one project is to prep and paint the east side of the house. I dug out the old airless and got it working, but had to replace the gun and buy some new hose. I think it is ready to go, but first project will be to do a trial run.
Then I need to get the big ladder out and wire brush the bad spots. Then do the trim. Then paint. I have set aside a week for this, which SHOULD be plenty of time. I still need to get a five gallon pail of paint.
Then we take a break.
Then I work on the Z for a while. If I get done with that, then I need to work on the deck off the kitchen. I need to repair the railing and re secure the decking. I may have to replace some of the boards, as they are pretty badly warped.
If there is any time left, Frankenhealey beckons. The fuel pump is broken, and it's my fault. After the umpteenth time of it freezing up, I'm afraid I used the wrong hammer to tap on it. A ball peen is not the appropriate tool, a rubber hammer is. Suffice it to say, it needs replacing.
One more day

Next Steps

Once I get the clutch free and adjust the valves and fix the "Clunk" in the rear end, I am going to get the Z painted. I love the blue to green color shift, but I was wondering if it would look better if the final finish was flat instead of shiny. In the picture at the top, I think the "Shiny" detracts from the color shift.
Oh well, when I get to the point it is being painted, I can have them do a coat of flat clear with the additive, and then if I don't like it that way, I can just have them put a second coat of shiny clear on top.
I dug my old airless paint sprayer out of the basement. It has been sitting for better than ten years, so I tore it down and cleaned it and put it back together. Didn't work.
Pulled it back apart, and figured out I had the diaphragm in the pump in upside down. Mind you I have no repair or owner's manual, so I'm flying by the seat of my pants.
Put it back together and it still wasn't working. Tore it down again. A small steel ball bearing check valve was kinda rusted in place in the intake. Cleaned the ball bearing, the seat and the spring, turned it on "prime" and it started moving water around. Installed the high pressure hose and gun. The pump moved fluid but nothing was coming out of the gun. Removed the gun and ran the pump, and fluid comes out of the end of the high pressure hose, so I think all I need to do is tear down the gun and clean it up. I'll try it tonight if I have the time.
You may ask yourself "Why is Al doing this?"
Or maybe not.
I have three weeks of vacation coming up, most of which will be spent working around the house. Last year I had the siding on the South side of the house replaced and painted. The east side needs to be wire brushed and painted also. An airless sprayer is the only way to go.

Z Interior

 

 

I finished buttoning up the interior of the 1977 280Z today. Put in the trim pieces on the dash, installed the shift knob. I included a shot from "before" for contrast.

I also included a picture of the tach with the dash lights on to show that, indeed I do now have dash lights, the lack of which sent me down this path. Now on to fixing the mechanical stuff. Right now the clutch is frozen. Not sure if it needs to be bled or just busted loose.

Moving Forward

I've been fighting with Blogger for a couple of days. I would try to post, but once I put in the header, that's all it would let me do. At any rate, it seemed to be working now
They tore off the old roofing yesterday, will put the new roofing on today.
The poor dogs just do not understand that we actually WANT people walking around and hammering on the roof. They are quite certain that we are being invaded by aliens or some such.
Of course Mrs A. is about frantic by the time I get home. I advised her (notice I didn't say TOLD her) that she needs to pack up the pups and run down to the park with a picnic lunch. Everyone would be a lot happier.
They had to replace a few sheets of plywood at the edge of the roof, which I figured would be necessary.
I still haven't heard from the Bank about the equity loan, but should soon. I figure I will just put everything on my Visa and pay down the Visa when the loan comes through. Accumulate lots of rewards point that way.
The Z comes along slowly. I finished rewiring the stereo on Sunday, put the seats back in and installed the console. Need to put in the steering columns surround and lower close-out panels, and the interior should be ready to button up.
Unfortunately the clutch isn't working. It feels like the pedal is not pushing anything. so it may be the clutch master cylinder, if not that the slave cylinder. If not that the clutch disc is frozen in place from sitting too long. I guess it will be a check it out thing once I get it up in the air. That will also give me the opportunity to look for the source of the Thunk in the rear end.
One thing at a time. And every time you get something done, one step closer to on the road.

Fourth of July

Of course I have the day off, for which I am grateful.
I guess I am officially an old fogy now, because I don't set off fireworks anymore. A lot of it has to do with no kids in the house as an excuse. They all go to one of the big commercial displays. I still get the occasional urge to make something go BOOM, but mostly it is a stick of dynamite I want to chuck under the neighbors house. Don't worry, I don't have any.
So I will probably spend the day working on the Z.
It is going back together OK. When I went to put the stereo back in, I saw that there was only one set of speaker wires hooked up. (and no, I did not put the stereo in). So I needed to run some new wires. I am doing this before I put the center console back in. A lot easier if you can actually see and reach the wires under the dash. I got it hooked up, but one of the speakers has a bad buzz. I probably reversed the wires when I hooked it up.
Then the console goes back in, the various trim pieces. Put the new seat covers on and put the seats in.
When I got the new water heater, it was too big to fit between the Z and the deck support, so I wanted to move the Z a little to get by. Unfortunately the Z would not go into gear. The clutch is stuck from sitting too long. Bummer. One more thing to take care of before it moves again.
Then bleed the brakes,
Then address the clunk in the rear end.
Then paint,
The list goes on.

Hot water part II

Things very seldom go as planned, at least for me.
I replaced the lower thermostat on the hot water tank, waited until the water got hot, took a shower and went to work three hours late.
I forgot me cell phones.
Mrs A was desperately trying to get in touch with me. The upper thermostat had gone haywire. Mind you I did not even touch the upper thermostat. But when I got home there was evidence of a fire, and the plastic shield that covered the thermostat was mostly missing, with drips of plastic and flame and scorch marks going up the side of the tank.
I think it was a message.
So I quickly went down to the Hardware store and bought a similar sizee and design hot water tank. Then I needed all the adapters elbows and pipe to replace the stuff that hooked up the old tank.
The hook-ups for the tank are 3/4". The house line is 1/2". So I had to go back and buy adapters to go from one pipe to the other. And adapters to go from brass pipe to plastic pipe.
When I first started filling up the tank, I forgot to leave a faucet cracked, but it is a good way to test the system for leaks. I heard hissing and was checking the pipes to see where the leak was when
BOOM! Loud hissing.
I hadn't done a very good job of putting pipe goop on one joint and it had blown apart.
Mrs A thought I had been killed or something, ran to the top of the stairs yelling "AL, are you OK???" I was
busy turning off the water, then answered. Scared the heck out of her.
Regooped everything and put it back together.
Ran water, and did not have a good seal on the adapter that goes from brass to plastic pipe. Leaking pretty steadily. Only one way to fix it, and that was to cut the pipe so I could unscrew the fitting and goop it and put it back on. Of course it was too late to go down to the hardware store and get an adapter to glue the two halves of the pipe together, so no shower.
Fill the bathtub part way. Get your largest kettle. fill with water, heat to a boil, add to bathtub.
Mama was not happy.
Hell, I wasn't happy.
Gotta stop on the way home and buy an adapter. Might buy a couple just in case.

Hot Water

No, I haven't gotten myself in trouble in any way.
As a matter of fact, the paucity of hot water was the issue.
I went to take my shower before I went to bed last night. standing there naked turn on the hot water tap and wait for the water to warm up. And wait, and wait. No hot water.
Of course the first thing out of my mouth is "Who used up all the hot water?" Since there are only the two of us, I guess that person would have to be Mrs A, who is known to take long showers, and then do laundry. Well, she comes back with the fact that she hasn't taken her shower yet, and is doing a load of laundry IN COLD WATER.
This is not going well.
Head back to the bedroom to get dressed. Go down in the basement and head for the fuse box.
Indeedey the circuit breaker for the water heater is tripped. So I go to reset it.
POOF! sparks and it immediately goes back to the off position.
Not good at all, since this means there is a dead short someplace.
Go ever to the water heater and remove the inspection panels.
Top one looks fine.
Bottom one....my God what is that terrible smell! Why that would be scorched insulation, burnt wiring, melted wire insulation, burnt plastic. That is one of the worst smells there is.
The former thermostat is a melted, burned up piece of crap.
Fortunately the heating element seems intact and the water tank has not been breached. The tank itself appears to be in good shape, but it is night and the hardware stores are closed, so I go ahead and drain the tank and remove the thermostat and check the lower element. The lower element was fine.
So off I go to the hardware store first thing in the morning. Fifteen bucks for a new water heater thermostat. fifteen minutes to tape up the wires where the insulation is burned off. Close my eyes and reset the circuit breaker.
Turn the water to the hot water tank back on and let it fill. Bleed all the air out of the lines.
Wait for the water tank to do it's thing. Take a shower, and off to work.
I ended up three hours late for work. No big, I have about six weeks worth of vacation saved up.
It's always something.

Father's Day

It was not the best Fathers day I have ever had. Not the worst by far, but not the best.
I have been experimenting with BBQ sauce. Most of the stuff on the market is just too sweet for me, both because I don't care for the taste, but also because I am a diabetic so I watch my sugar intake (read carb intake).
I was In Uwajimaya a couple of months ago and I came across some dried tamarind. I has eaten tamarind when I was going with my Min Lao girlfriend before I met the incredible Mrs A, so I was familiar with the taste. I wondered "I wonder......how would tamarind taste as the base for a BBQ sauce?" The idea intrigued me, so I bought a sizable chunk. A couple of months ago I made the first batch, but it sat in the fridge until BBQ season came around. I tried it, and it was pretty good, but needed something else to zip it up.
Take the dried tamarind, and soak it in warm water. Filter out the seeds and pod pieces, It should end up about the consistency of tomato paste. It tastes kinda citrus/fruity.
Add dried onion, dried garlic, chipolte pepper, a little sugar (very little), some salt. Low sodium soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce and some paprika. It comes out a redish brown and is very tasty.
It being Fathers day, I sent Mrs A down to the store to buy some ribs and she fired up the coals. The ribs were great. Between the two of us we devoured a rack of ribs.
So all of that was great. I had some tome to go out and work on the Z, finishing up the carpet and starting to put the console, and put on the seat covers while the seats are out of the car.
L. called and we had a very nice conversation. We don't get to see them as often as I would like, but stay in touch.
As I was getting ready to take my shower and go to bed, N, my son called. It was good to talk to him, we don't stay in all that close of contact, as we are both very busy people. Unfortunately one bit of news was that he and D were getting a divorce. I was not really surprised or shocked, but some disappointed. As it was nothing I had any control over, I just let him know that I still loved him and supported him.
I never heard from R. Maybe that was a good thing. The only thing she has given me for several years is pain. Usually she doesn't call because she is doing things she knows I would disapprove of. But it wouldn't take but a couple of seconds to text me.
Oh well. wothehell, wothehell.

Rattlesnake Ridge

Sunday was nice, with hazy sunshine and the temperature around 70 degrees, so we decided to go foe a hike. Neither one of us had ever hiked the Rattlesnake Ridge Trail, so we decided to try it.

I had been to Rattlesnake Lake once before, about 40 years ago, but I had never hiked the trail. It is a couple of miles, all uphill. It is a nice trail, but there were too may people. I guess we should have waited until Monday to go to avoid all the people and dogs.

For me, coming back down was worse than going up. My calves area little sore today. Need to get out and hike more.

By the way, there are not now nor have there ever been any Rattlesnakes at Rattlesnake Lake or Ridge. If there were, Mrs A would never ever ever have gone there. In fact there is a sign there that says there have never been Rattlesnakes there, but they have no idea why it is called Rattlesnake Ridge.

Roof Roof!

Did you hear about the talking dog?
Hey dog, what's on top of a house?
OOPS! I gave away the punch line.
The first quote came in on my request for bids for a roof.
The roof wasn't bad, but man did the other things dd up.
Rebuild the chimney top, 900
Replace the soffets 2800
new gutters and downspouts 1200
Insulation in the Attic 1200.00
And then the roof 5500.
Plus tax.
Hey dog, what's on the outside of a tree?
BARK BARK
Hey dog what goes good with cheese?
whine, whine
We'll be here all week

The Best Laid Plans

Of mice and men aft gang askew.
The house needs new gutters and downspouts. It has for some time. It has gotten to the point that when it rains, it spills out right over the front steps. It is very irritating walking through a cold shower to get in or out.
So we called a gutter guy.
He said he couldn't help us until we got the roof fixed. He handed us over to his "roofing guy". The roofing guy said it was too late to update the roof, it needed to be replaced. I have been dreading this for the last couple of years.
I had the roof replaced with a 20 year guarantee roof, about nineteen years ago. I knew it was about time to renew the roof, but it is not currently leaking, and I am of the opinion that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So the roofing guy is writing up an estimate, and meanwhile we are getting a second estimate.
Since I want to retire in less than two years, we want to get the house ready to sell before then. I knew that a roof replacement was one of the probable improvements we would have to do before we would be able to sell, I just wasn't prepared to do it NOW.
Life is what happens while you are busy making plans.

Kelly Mulford Scrimshaw

I have shown a quite a few pictures of my cousin Kelly's scrimshaw before, but I have never shown a picture of this. He gave me this in a Christmas present exchange some years ago. I gave him a .45 cal muzzle loader cap and ball pistol I had put together from a kit, and he gave me this.
It is a picture of Kelly and his wife aboard a cat boat on Lake Union in Seattle. He was the Librarian for the Wooden Boat Society, and he and I both spent time sanding and working on this exact boat.
He and I also sailed this boat on the lake.
I remember the day was real blustery and coming from the North. The dock was at the South end of the lake, so we had to start out tacking back and forth into the wind, trying to make headway. It was a real lesson in sailing. We must have made six tacks back and forth before we cleared the end of the pier. Every time I see this I remember that day.

Ecola Park

Photos from our trip to Oregon. They are from Ecola Park, which is right at the North edge of the town on Cannon Beach. As you can see, the weather was fantastic for May. Blue skies and 70 degrees.

Skagit River Bridge

The Skagit River Bridge is North of Seattle. Right after you pass over the town of Mount Vernon and before Burlington. Yesterday it  spanned the Skagit River. Today, not so much. It ALMOST crosses over the river. Three quarters of a bridge is no better than no bridge at all.
     The Blue object is the front end of the load being hauled over the bridge that is suspected of causing the collapse. It is an open sided box structure with what looks like a forty foot I-beam beefy enough to be freespan for its entire length. That I beam hit one of the supports for the bridge, I imagine the one right in the center of the span, The concrete roadway appears to be a single piece construction, which collapsed in on itself, thereby unseating the ends of the section of road.
     Very luckily there was minimal Traffic. One car, a pickup and a trailer went into the water. No serious injuries, thank God. If this had happened earlier, during rush hour it would have been a disaster. Or if it happened tonight with everyone on the road for the weekend. They say that 70,000 cars a day travel this section of road, so it will be a mess for months.
My granddaughter, Amelia went over this bridge about five minutes before the collapse.

Home Again

We went to Cannon Beach in Oregon for four days. I didn't mention this before because posting it and then leaving is like placing a big neon sign on the roof saying "OWNERS GONE, BURGLARS WELCOME" on the roof of your house. Having been hit twice before, I would like to avoid a third burglary.
This is part of out tenth anniversary. I wanted to go to Bora Bora for a week, but Mrs A thought that was much too extravagant. She preferred several little vacations over one big one.
Our anniversary was in April, but the odds of having decent weather on the coast in April are exceedingly slim, so we put it off until last weekend.
The weather Gods smiled on us.
Saturday we travelled, stopped at the Westport Winery, where we belong to the wine club, and picked up a couple of bottles of wine and stopped in at the restaurant and had lunch. The pan fried oysters were from Brady's, which is about a half mile down the road. Can you say FRESH?.
We stayed at the Lighthouse Inn, unit 29. Essentially a little apartment with a separate bedroom and a kitchenette. Very cozy.
Sunday we went into town to wander through the shops. We found a couple of things we couldn't do without. Went to the Driftwood Restaurant for lunch. They have the best clam chowder. I have eaten a lot of clam chowder, and I mean the BEST. Had A Dungeness Crab Cheddar Sandwich to go with it. SOOOOO good and SOOOOO rich.
Monday dawned with Blue skies and a mild offshore breeze. After running a few errands we spent the remainder of the day at Ecola State Park, which is right at Cannon Beach at the North end of town. A beautiful day to explore the beach and the park.
Tuesday cold and rainy, but that was OK because we had to go home.
A very nice weekend and one we will remember for a long time.
Pictures to follow.
A note on the pictures: I had been having problems getting pictures to come out clear. I couldn't figure out what was wrong.
I checked the lense, and someone had bumped the automatic focus function off, turning it to manual. Since I was not adjusting the aperature or time, they were coming out all blurry. Once I figured theat out, it worked out just fine. They probably would have been fine if I was using a tripod, but I guess my hands are not steady enough any more.

Westie Updates

Last weekend I installed the new rear bumper and fold out tray on the Westfalia. They afre manufactured by Rocky Mountain Westie. I was impressed by the quality of the materials. They are really built to last.

The bumper is modular and installs in five pieces. Pretty easy to install

The swing out tray was a little harder to do. It bolts through the side hatch sopport structure. You have to drill several holes to match a piece on the inside. The inner piece slipped out od my hand once and got jammed down in the channel. It was a difficult thing to get it back in place. Eventually it went together.

The instructions did not include anything on how to install the tray, but it was pretty intuitive. I guess the hardest thing was matching up the latch mechanism, but everything worked out fine.

It took all of Saturday and a couple of hours on Sunday.

Wallace Falls

This shot is of the middle falls of Wallace Falls State Park just outside Gold Bar. Unfortunately it didn't come out very clear. I blame the camera.

This is a shot of one of the lower falls.

Another part of the lower falls.

Monk in a stump. It was a beautiful, blue sky, 80 degree day. The hike was a couple of miles. Straight up. The hike is classified as "Moderate". It this was moderate, hard must be straight up. The hike is a couple of miles.

What a wonderful day with my sweetie



The Z

Here's the Z as it sits at the moment.
When I added the ground effects kit so I could get rid of the terrible ghastly ugly bumpers, I had a partial respray done. If you look closely, you can see that the lower portion below the beltline has a faint golden cast to it.
Now I am going to have to have the whole thing redone.
Not everyone would even notice it, but unfortunately, I can.

Just another Wednesday

Yesterday I had four new teeth put in. Everything on that side of my mouth is pretty sore, but not bad enough that I have taken any kind of pain killers. I can't say the same for yesterday. Although I really don't like the stuff, Percocet does a good job of killing the pain enough that I can do other things. As long as they aren't too complicated, because that stuff also kicks my butt.
I got the Westie back from the shop, and it tracks straight and doesn't wander. I also had them put in new H4 headlights while it was there, and they fixed one turn signal that was acting erratic. Now that it is home, I need to put on the new rear bumper and carrier shelf.
The dash is back in the Z and everything seems to work, including a couple of things that never have. Still trying to get the horn to work. Waiting on Seat covers.
This coming weekend is supposed to be beautiful, so I will need to set one day aside to do something with Mrs A. I feel a road trip coming on. The Tulip fields in Mount Vernon sound like a pretty good destination..
Then probably on to Anecortes to the brewery and Rockfish Cafe for Oysters and Porter.
And some place in there there must be a nap.