What are you doing today? [Part II]

[BrianF]

Got the snow drifts plowed and yard cleared. The old Magnum worked like a boss with those new tires that don't go flat in 15 minutes.

Turned my sights on the sleds. The Evinrude runs just fine but as usual the Ghost has its issues. Had issues filling the fuel line. The usual was the float getting stuck shut, which was not the case so it looks like the pump has to come off for a cleaning and inspection. It was pumping but weak. By accident I ripped off a wire from a switch on the carb. Apparently it retards the timing when the throttle is closed. When the throttle is closed it has continuity. Soldered it all up and good as new.

 

[BrianF]

So I tore open the pump. Looked good, but fuel side was bone dry. I put new clamps on the impulse line and used some white grease on the gasket sealing surfaces.

Primed her and she ran the same. Revved right up and die. Then the third time she had enough of being a dick and came to life. Took a bit to clear but did awesome on a shake down. Will run the tank lower, top up with fresh mix and then check the tune. Can't wait until the kids are home, prime time!!!

 

[TollKeeper]

More of a vent here...

At the company I work, the general manager recently purchased it, less than 30 days ago, from the prior owner. So he is under a lot of stress under the new acquisition.

Then his father in law got murdered last night

Then one of our employees got into a fatality accident this morning driving a company rig

2 of our shop employees are out with Rona

2 of our shop employees are out with the fatality accident

my direct boss is out with the fatality accident

I am having to do a lot of jobs today!

 

[xavierny25]

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm really thankful for the community here, all the help I've gotten to keep my Envoy running like a top and all the friends I've made over the years. With that said from my family to yours a big thank you to you all! Enjoy and stay safe

 

[Blckshdw]

1st day back in the office in over a week. Was a little rough rolling out of bed this morning, but traffic was lighter than usual. Yesterday, got a meeting invite from the new COO for a sit down and chat for next week. One of those get to know you sessions. They've been here for about a month now, and their office is across from mine, so doesn't the small talk count enough? lol Didn't really see much value in it, and then my boss came to see me this morning... She put in her notice and is leaving at the end of the month. Says she's no longer a good fit here for how things are going (she's not wrong) so is taking an opportunity elsewhere.

Can't say I didn't see that coming, cuz since our system "upgrade" a year ago, it's been a flaming train wreck, and have had quite a bit of staff turnover. She said there would be some opportunities for me pretty soon, and that the COO and CEO will want to chat with me. I don't want her job, and she knows that, but that also gives me a chance to control a bit of my destiny around here. Now the meeting with the COO makes a lil more sense. Most importantly though, she said she informed senior leadership that I'm long overdue for a raise, all that stuff got put on pause due to covid, so we'll see if that comes up in my meeting as well. I've been keeping my ears open for a new gig myself, since the sugar mama plan hasn't panned out yet, hopefully something good comes out of these new changes.

 

[Reprise]

@Blckshdw -- enjoyed reading your post; reminds me of my own experience a few years back. If you're willing to stick around, the next couple of years could be good for you, career-wise. (as if you don't already know this... lol).

Anyway... after paying a visit to my mechanic yesterday, to ask "umm... did you forget I left my truck with you?" (which will teach me to say to them "fit it in where you can", so it's my own damned fault)... he called me today to report that my 'thumping' problem in the rear isn't with the CV axles, or the diff... it's the hub bearings, which are themselves new (and when I say 'new', I mean there are less than 5000mi on them, as I put them on myself).
The good news is that he was able to source gin-u-wine ACDelco replacements. Bad news is that they list at nearly $500/ea.
More bad news for me is that the ones I put on there were from Rock, on 'closeout'. So I can't put in a warranty claim for them. "Thankfully", I only paid about $90/ea for them a couple of years ago, as I recall. But now that money (and my labor) are wasted.

I told him to go ahead and order / put them on. Yeah, I could've gotten them (as I look at Rock's catalog today) for about 1/2 the cost, and installed them again... but I figure that this is why I brought the truck to him -- for his expertise, and it would be a bit chintzy for me to tell him "ok, thanks... bolt it back together, and I'll take care of it". 'Building a relationship', as it were. And a lesson learned for me (not to trust that all cheap parts will work, at least for a little while).

He'll have that done in a couple of days. Then we get to work on the vibrations I detected in the rear u-joint (I'll save that for another post, as I 'caused' the issue, and why he has the truck, currently -- when I break things trying to fix other things, that's a sign that I should give in and get a pro to help).

The other nice thing out of this was him assuring me that even if I were to lose the axle shaft later on (it's a special CV-type, which helps steer the rear wheels), he's confident that the part could be sourced, and if not... constructed by a local shop he's done work with before. Yeah, that could be $$$... but that's the choice I made to own a truck with less than 7,000 siblings. 'Rare' costs money. I shudder to think of what outer bed side replacements would cost, in the event of a collision (they're fiberglass, and sort of a 'mini dually' config.)

Actually, as I write this note... maybe I *should* sell the truck, so I don't stress out so much about finding parts for it? Thoughts? LOL About all it needs now is paint (either 'correction' or a respray). And maybe some upgraded carpet. And....

 

[BrianF]

Well boys, the weather is damn nice in these parts. What little snow is almost gone so the youngest and I did a quad ride after school and now waiting for the fire to burn down a bit. Got steaks and potatoes to go on.

I want a pellet grill but honestly, I want to use my fire pit and the stack or split wood first. She's a good day boys!

 

[BrianF]

Well it turned out damn fine! Family had no complaints.

 

[NJTB]

Got my Covid booster shot.

 

[Mooseman]

I'll be heading to the dentist for an overdue cleaning. Since the beginning of the pandemic, they haven't been using the water descaler, just dry scraping with dental tools, so it takes longer and is less "pleasant". I'll be taking Tylenol in advance of it.

Then doing some errands, picking up a carpet shampooer I ordered on a cyber Monday deal.

There's a light skiff of snow on the ground so this will be the first test of the new Cooper AT3's, which are winter rated.

 

[Redbeard]

Having the a/c man to do a change out on the house a/c.

 

[BrianF]

Ripped up to Crimetown and spent a shit ton of money. Got some gifts for the kids and some jewelry for my wife. Then some lights and a battery for my sleds. Roads were shit in a typical Saskatchewan fashion. Warm one day, then the snow blows in and the roads turn to ice.

 

[littleblazer]

Colorado was worse than when I dropped it off. They also backed it into something.

 

[littleblazer]

Anyone want to buy a colorado?

 

[Mooseman]

Yesterday I bought a second hand unused dehydrator and have been going nuts with it. Yesterday made some roast beef chips. Today I'm making an entire package of bacon jerky. While that's drying out (smells like bacon everywhere!), I sliced up a top round roast that's marinating overnight so tomorrow, making more jerky.



Being on keto since March, I have lost 70 lbs so far and want to keep going. I hate the store bought jerkys where they add sugar to all of them. For the bacon jerky, an entire 500g package of regular bacon is $5-6 however a store bought 30g package of bacon jerky is $8!

 

[Blckshdw]

What I SHOULD be doing is heading to Moose's for some jerky... But instead, been being productive around the house. The home office has been a disaster area since covid started. Looks like a hurricane blew through there, desk was littered with papers, half finished projects, remains of completed ones, it was a mess. So this morning I took the big garbage can in there and started throwing stuff out. Filled a large contractor bag's worth. Anything worth keeping got put into bins, and on one of the shelves, so I can actually see the desktop now. I may move my work setup from the dining room table, into that room like it's supposed to be, haven't decided yet.

Relaxed for a couple of hours and then moved to the outdoor stuff. My patio screens have seen better days. Got a couple of large holes that were taped over, but I also had splits near the edges on a few of them that allowed bugs and lizards to get in. Not that big of a deal during the day, but when the sun goes down and the living room lights are on, no bueno. Had never rescreened anything before, so of course the 1st one had the biggest learning curve. Splining the edges next to the wall was a little difficult, but I got 2 panels done. Even though the weather was in the mid 70s, still ended up in a full sweat. Didn't anticipate it being THAT much hard work.

I've got one more that has a long split along the bottom, and another one that has a hole in it. I think I'll wait for a cooler day to deal with those, since those are considerably larger than the 2 I did today. I think I may do some bacon cheeseburgers tonight, for some reason, I have a taste for it, I wonder why...

 

[aaserv]

Helping daughter move into a new apartment....upstairs!!!!! May stop by the E.R. on the way home and have stint or 2 installed.........lol

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Reading up after long absence. Life has been more than busy, but figured I ought to see whats shakin

 

[TollKeeper]

IT LIVES!!!!

 

[TollKeeper]

Friday - Garage door spring broke, motherboard fried on my computer

Saturday - Garage door repair man cant locate spring, had neighbor help me lift door to get wifes car out of garage

Sunday - Went shopping for a new computer, then realized my motherboard is under warranty. Ordered new motherboard

Monday - BUSY AS ALL GET OUT! Trying to find the wife a new health insurance policy

 

[BrianF]

F all really. Plowed snow for 3 hours last night. Not that we have a lot but we have more on the way so better get ahead of it. Plus tomorrow night it cools down here. Will be back to the usual-20c daytime highs with close to -30 nights as far as the forecast goes. We finally have enough to precariously go sledding in the fields but now it will be far to cold to do anything. Fck this place i say.

 

[flyboy2610]

F all really. Plowed snow for 3 hours last night. Not that we have a lot but we have more on the way so better get ahead of it. Plus tomorrow night it cools down here. Will be back to the usual-20c daytime highs with close to -30 nights as far as the forecast goes. We finally have enough to precariously go sledding in the fields but now it will be far to cold to do anything. Fck this place i say.

It's going to be record breaking warmth here tomorrow. Supposed to top 70 deg F. But we're going to have 60-70 mph winds to go along with it. Then it's back into the 40's.

 

[BrianF]

I feel bad for you guys down south. Cannot comprehend the damage from those storms. I cannot fathom tornados in December, anywhere. It was only -28c this morning.

 

[cornchip]

I feel bad for you guys down south. Cannot comprehend the damage from those storms. I cannot fathom tornados in December, anywhere. It was only -28c this morning.

A picture posted on Reddit today of storm damage to a tractor. I cannot fathom the power of a storm that can turn a cob of corn into a deadly projectile.

 

[TollKeeper]

It was a popping experience!

 

[HARDTRAILZ]

Working from home with the three youngest. Usually the 5 yr old is at kindergarten but she got us up at 5 am by puking next to our bed. Its been a long day and I aint even had lunch.

 

[BrianF]

Hardtrailz, I've been there and done that. Hopefully past it now....

Well today I spent some time outside. Lit up the burn barrels, filled some water troughs and the tinkered with the sleds. It was sunny and -24. Could be worse.

I hooked up the battery tenders and began topping up the sled batteries. I was going to go for a little rip but decided to do a bit of investigating. The Evinrude sits a touch lower than the Ghost and rides a bit rougher. Why? I jacked up the ass end and found a couple springs on the bogies were broke. So now I need to source some new ones or find something to modify to work. Sucks but it was literally 4 bolts and a bogie set came out. Damn simple!

 

[Redbeard]

Removed all the leaves from the gutters. Good day for it, only 70 degrees with cloud cover. The wind had some fun with me for the last 20' of gutter. I would take a hand full of leaves out of the gutter and attempt to throw it to the ground, but the wind caught many of the leaves and blew them back onto the roof. I am sure the next rain will deposit them back into the gutter.

 

[TollKeeper]

Been working on buying a 9-7x Aero for a couple weeks. Seller contacted me today, unless I was able to pay more than the other 2 buyers he had waiting, he was selling it to them.

Another one gets away...

 

[Blckshdw]

It's been a long time coming, finally got around to finishing the major part of the garage door project. I had replaced all but the bottom 2 rollers previously, and wanted to swap out my old springs. Took a bit more work and effort to get things apart, compared to the videos online. Nothing a rubber mallet couldn't persuade.

Got the old springs out, new spring was slightly longer, and had a slightly thicker coil, but I knew it wouldn't be enough to match the support of the previous pair. Threw it up there anyway.



After getting the new spring up there, I was able to lift the door manually, but it did take more effort than before. More importantly though, the travel was smoother, and quieter. No more binding/shaking, and also resolved this loud pop/clank noise when the door reached its highest point.

 

[Matt]

Drove to Columbus on Saturday to drop off the bumper and skid plates to a guy from Atlanta. The Sportage just fit the bumper and got 30mpg for the trip at 70-75mph.

 

[Blckshdw]

Woke up this morning to some odd noises outside/on the house. It was a mix of scraping and dense thudding noises, which I had never heard before. I'm accustomed to when the squirrels run across the roof, or the birds are on the metal patio roof/gutters. Got up, threw on some slides and went to the patio to see what animal was out there doing what... Before I even got to the patio screen door on the side, I see this little head pop up in front of me... On closer look, "she's baaaack"



This turtle loves to dig random holes in my back yard, most are further out so I don't mind those. But when she comes up to the house, that's more annoying. She's started nests under my bedroom window, but when I've walked past her, I guess it spooks her and she goes elsewhere. Her shell was hitting the concrete patio, and her claws were scraping on the screen frame.

Went back inside to get ready for the day, and when I came back out to check, she was gone... Or so I thought, she had simply come all the way around the patio to the wall of the house. Hadn't started digging yet...




I stood there for a few minutes and we had a staring contest, which I won. She turned around and wandered off towards the fence. You wanna dig a hole over there and lay your eggs, fine, that's out of my way, and I'm rarely over there (as you can tell by all the weeds.




Went back in the house to take care of a few things, decided to take another peek outside to see where she was at, and she came back next to the walkway, and started digging. Nope can't have your nest right there lady. So promptly picked her up and carried her back over near the shed, close to the water. Hell there's plenty of room under the shed, it's quiet and sheltered, make your nest there!!




Less exciting than my nature episode, I'll be heading to the bank. Due to FEMA redoing their maps, I'm in a designated flood zone, and the bank now requires flood insurance. I've always had it anyway, and the bank keeps mailing me letters asking for documentation. I've faxed it in 3 times, but now they're saying if I don't get coverage in the next month, they'll get bank issued coverage. I tried to call them and find out what their problem is, but the number didn't work. So going to take all of these letters, and my policy to a branch and tell them if they don't see it in the system, to make sure it gets to the right people, cuz I've done everything asked of me. Their people are the ones screwing up here.

 

[TollKeeper]

In the middle of a 10 day vacation...

Wanted to get up some X-Mas lights up, but everyone is sold out!
Had to make a dentist appt, got a big cavity going on.. YAH!
Need to renew my license
Sons birthday coming up in a few
My Birthday coming up in a few days after that.

Got the new motherboard installed on the computer.. Does the same thing the old computer did. Computer, bios and windows, will not keep time. Reached out to the MB again, have not heard back. Computer does run a couple degrees cooler thou.

Bonus is, Amazon is sending me another MB for free? no idea why, I didnt ask for it! I am not complaining, need to build the wife a new computer. She still has a 2 core/thread Pentium! Going to see about building her a AMD 5700G mini/micro system.

 

[Blckshdw]

She still has a 2 core/thread Pentium!

That is a level of patience I don't think I could ever achieve, even on my best day.

 

[TollKeeper]

That is a level of patience I don't think I could ever achieve, even on my best day.

All she does on it is Facebook, and a little bit of business stuff (Excel). Its about perfect for her really. Its in a All In One Touchscreen DeskTop. I upgraded the memory, and put a SSD in it. That REALLY woke it up on speed. But its still a 2 core/thread with built in graphics, Intel Gen3 G2220T (laptop cpu!)!

 

[Blckshdw]

Took advantage of the warm weather to get some yard work done. And no, I couldn't believe I was doing yard work in December either, but what can ya do? The weeds were getting a little ridiculous, so threw the bagger kit on the mower and got to it. Was able to a bit quicker since there wasn't much grass to deal with. Ended up filling the bagger almost twice.

Went to add it to the compost pile, and realized since I mulched the clippings all summer, I hadn't turned the compost pile at all this year... And it showed. Lots of root systems had formed, and some things tried to sprout under the tarp. Gonna take a lot of sifting to make use of this stuff, if I ever get around to the landscaping projects.

 

[northcreek]

Took advantage of the warm weather to get some yard work done. And no, I couldn't believe I was doing yard work in December

Tell me about it, I'm working on my deck in December and this is Western NY...

 

[mrrsm]

Took the head-first plunge over The Amazon Christmas Cliff a few days ago and bought a "Hand Held Saw" that can cut through Thick Plate Steel ...like Butter...



... which lead to my wanting to Upgrade my other DeWalt 14" 3,800 RPM Metal Chop Saw as well from ever having to use any more Dreadful Smelling Abrasive Disks over to using THIS Evolution 14" Carbide Tipped Steel Blade ...but running at no more than 1,600 RPM.



...which demanded slowing down The Old DeWalt Chop Saw from 3,800 RPM to around 1,600 RPM and this meant getting a "Hand Held Saw Blade Speedometer" along with a Variable Speed Electric Motor Controller (or two) to make it safely work:




...which lead to receiving some constructive criticism from @cornchip over in the "Tool Talk" Thread that got me to Thinking about Replacing the Two Armature Roller Bearings, Spring Retention Clip(s) and installing New Commutator Carbon Brushes inside that Old DeWalt Motor. With all of that getting done... This should give the "Tips" of that New Evolution Blade a Fighting Chance to cut Straight and True ...in Lieu... of using ANY more of those Damned Abrasive Disks! :>)



.... which lead to the need to get a decent Roller Bearing Puller Kit:




... all of which should guarantee that I remain pleasantly distracted for the next few days, once I've finished the DeWalt Saw Parts R&R and un-boxing of this other Gear..

So... Merry Christmas to ALL the Brothers & Sisters who Dwell at GMT Nation!

 

[BrianF]

Spent another three hours moving snow before the real cold rolls in this weekend. My quad actually started and ran good for close to two hours and then the trouble started. Low power, back fires, stalling and hard restarts. Had to push it back into the shed and call it a day. I am thinking she started sucking a bit of powder and the carb iced. I don't think I ever ran her this hard at this temp so who knew.

 

[Mooseman]

So having a bit of a warm spell huh?

I'm seeing snow everywhere. Even have some on my antlers

Just had some family over (within max limits) for Christmas dinner and gift exchanges. My eldest son is a bit of a Howard Hughes and didn't want to come with all this Omicron crap going on. We still made a plate of food for him. Had a good time and really thoughtful gifts all around.

Christmas day is usually an R&R day for us. Will be prepping to head to North Bay to see our son and the family on Boxing Day, staying for a couple of nights. Having a raclette dinner so she doesn't have to cook a big meal as they will be arriving the same day from her family's place and working a shift at the hospital the next day (she's a nurse).

Want to wish you all a Merry and safe Christmas.