Tamara Toumanova & Other Royalty

Tamara Touvanoma - she was starring in the film Days of Glory with Gregory Peck on TCM the other morning. I don't recall seeing that movie before, which is pretty surprising. It's not often I get a chance to see a "new" black and white movie, especially since TCM is my number one go-to station on television. Beautiful woman who appeared in several Hollywood films but was better known as a ballerina. Not by me of course. My knowledge of ballet is very limited. The Wikipedia article mentioned George Balanchine, who I'd heard of, but it also mentioned Burr Tillstrom, who if you grew up in the Chicago area in the fifties, would recognize as the man behind Kukla, Fran and Ollie. That says something about my lowbrow upbringing I suppose.

Saw this on a Facebook page for Royal Enfield owners. The bike looks cool but I'm afraid it falls into the category of "lipstick on a pig". If this thing runs like mine it'll be lucky to run with 250cc bikes even though it's 410cc. I was looking at the ABATE website for an advanced rider course but unfortunately, they don't seem to offer one. They do, however, offer a dirt rider course that looks like fun. I haven't done any off-road riding since I was a young man and that's been many a year ago. Might be fun to sign up for that and get the Himalayan a bit dusty.

Another Royal Enfield from social media. Apparently the new 650 twins have been well received. I'd like to take a test ride on one just to see how it feels. The price of these bikes are very reasonable and would make a good starter bike or commuter. Be good for an old fart like me who doesn't need to have the fastest thing out there or something that you would need three of your riding buddies to help pick up if it fell over.

The weather's been damp and cold but progress is being made in both the shop and around the shack. Not a blistering pace by any means but moving forward. I started on the taxes yesterday. My system of throwing all my receipts and records in a box all year long is not the most efficient but it's what I've done my whole life. No point in changing now. It does make it a little time consuming trying to sort everything out prior to meeting with the tax lady but I don't suppose there's anything that's going to make me appreciate all the nice things the government has done with my money without my explicit permission. Maybe if they allowed me to take a deduction for car/motorcycle parts and guns and ammo I'd be a bit happier.

Patrick Pearse

I just finished reading My Father Left Me Ireland by Michael Brendan Dougherty. Interesting little book made up of letters by a son in America to his father in Ireland. While it's mostly the history of their relationship, there's a lot of history of Ireland in the book. I learned quite a bit of Irish history last year when I was there and this filled in some of the blanks with the author comparing his personal history with the history of the Irish people.

One of the people that figured prominently in The Rising was Patrick Pearse. Dougherty mentions him a few times in the book, including this quote:

We must accustom ourselves to the thought of arms, to the sight of arms, to the use of arms. We may make mistakes in the beginning and shoot the wrong people, but bloodshed is a cleansing and satisfying thing, and the nation which regards it as the final horror has lost its manhood. There are many things more horrible than bloodshed; and slavery is one of them.

When you read history you wonder what could have possibly lead people to take up arms against its own government, or why didn't they take up arms to prevent the take-over of their country by some totalitarian regime. I look around at what's occurring in my country right now and I don't see anything good coming our way. I don't know who all is pulling the strings or what the end game is but I see us moving in the direction of losing many of our personal freedoms, Constitution be damned, and runaway inflation.

Maybe Patrick Pearse was on to something. Of course it didn't turn out too well for him. Not much I can do to change the course of history, but I'm hoping to be able to take care of me and mine regardless of what comes along.

New Racer

With the arrival of the new spiffy valve cover for the slant-six project I've been thinking about what I actually want to build to put it in. My original plan was to go with the design like the car below.

This car and one that I saw at the Speedway Museum appear to have been built off the plans I have. They're both beautiful cars with from what I saw, flawless craftsmanship. However, upon reflection, perhaps it would be better if I built something more like this one:

It's pretty much the same era but with a different spring arrangement - longitudinal as opposed to transverse - but more importantly, it's a two seater rather than a solo racer. It's not like I'm going to need a riding mechanic but by the time I get this thing finished at my age I might not be able to drive it. It'd be nice to at least have someone drive me around in it. I can't see the design change adding much to the cost or the difficulty of construction. I do like the set-back on the passenger seat to give the driver more room for steering.

Whatever I decide upon, I need to know the length of the engine compartment for the slant six to locate the cockpit. Once I figure that out I can draw up a print for the frame rails and start making engine mounts, crossmembers, etc. I'm planning on running a roll bar that will bolt to the outside of the frame rails. I'll make some tube bushings to install in the frame rails that will allow me to tighten up the roll bar bolts without squeezing the tubing together.

I've got a lot planned for myself with all these projects but if I stick with the plan of working in the shop a couple of hours daily, it'll all get done.

Parts, Parts and More Parts

Lots of parts. Most of them for the side hustle but a couple of them for me. The day time temps have been right around freezing lately, so I've been going out every afternoon to the shop and working a couple of hours. Being the cheapskate I am, I'm not all that crazy about running the heater but if I don't I'll never make any progress. Since I'm working on company jobs, I can pad my hours a little to pay for the heat and tool usage, I suppose.

The parts are resting on the grating I got the other day. I welded the three sections together and they are sitting on the new horses. This should be pretty handy for using with the new plasma and some welding jobs as well. I need to move a motorcycle project out of the way and do a general clean-up before I do much in the way of plasma cutting, however. It'll be more than a little counter-productive to burn the shop down. As soon as I run the wiring for the motorcycle carrier I can move that out. I need to pick up a couple of wire connectors and then I should have everything I need to finish that up. Depending on the weather and how much work I bring home, I should have that completed over the weekend and then I can get the Himalayan to the dealer for servicing. The Speedway Museum has a new exhibit going on I'd like to see. They brought some stuff up out of the basement for display that's not normally on view. Cuzzin Ricky and I can check that out and get a bite of lunch while the bike's being worked on.

No Way, Bernie!

The end of the year tax statements are starting to roll in. I got my W-2 from my side hustle and I noticed that the largest deduction for the year was for Social Security. There were also deductions for Medicare, federal tax and county tax. Even though I'm collecting Social Security, I still have to pay in and I pay federal tax on my distribution. I found a compound interest calculator online and ran some hypothetical numbers to see what things look like for the average wage earner such as myself.

Taking the number $48,000 to represent your average gross annual income for 50 years and investing 12.2% (the amount you and your employer pay into SS) at 5% interest compounded yearly, you will have deposited $298,656. With the theoretical interest you will have an account balance of $1,326,050. When you retire, depending on your age, if you get a benefit of $1,800 per month, that works out to $27,600 annually. That's not a lot to live on comfortably, especially if they take taxes out of that. Which they will. But, here's the kicker. If you divide your annual payout of $27,600 into your account balance of $1,326,050, you come up with 48. So if you started drawing your money at 65, you'll need to live to be 113 to get all your money back. Fat chance, brother. And that's not figuring on that $1.3 M earning any interest.

I would suggest all of you run your numbers to get an idea of what you'll have come retirement time. It's exceptionally difficult to get a decent return on your savings these days, which means you'll need even more money than the 5% I used above. And it will be extremely difficult to set aside 12% on your own when the various governments are taxing you to the tune of 25% or more.

It's getting real interesting now with the impeachment starting, the event yesterday in Richmond and the Presidential race starting in earnest. I won't presume to tell you who to vote for, but I'd think twice about anyone who is talking about free college and loan forgiveness, Medicare for all and any other "free" programs that they promise. Someone is going to pay for those things and it won't be the wealthy.

Offenhauser!

The weather got cold - about 5 degrees with a pretty decent wind chill at 7:00 AM yesterday. Didn't feel like doing much outside so I watched a couple of movies on TCM and switched over to cowboy movies on Grit TV while catching up on my reading. Ol' Tex had a rather distinctive voice. The movie Wichita had him doing the opening number. Me being an old fart who has watched many, many a cowboy movie and a fan of  the old cowboy singers, recognized his voice right away. He cut a lot of records but you don't hear much Tex anymore.

Finished up the wheel for the rail bike, The wheel cleaned up nicely with the steel wool. New tire and tube, a few new spokes and it's all set to put back under the bike.

I went out for breakfast Saturday morning with Cuzzin Ricky and my brother from a different mother. My brother and I exchange gifts for Christmas every year, even though the exchange rarely occurs on Christmas. Much to my surprise he got me a polished aluminum Offenhauser valve cover for the slant-six project. It looks good in the photo even though the lighting in the basement wasn't the best, but it looks even better up close and personal. I couldn't have asked for a better gift. Actually, I never would have even considered asking for something like this. I need to pick up some of the long "wing nut" hold down bolts now.

I got the blueprint for the car laminated recently. I want to tack a print on the wall for a handy reference so I can start gathering and/or making parts. Definitely need a car to drop the engine in so I can show off that valve cover.

I also picked up some floor grating to use for a burning table with the new plasma cutter Friday. The place I buy my steel from had some cut-offs that were about 8"-9" wide and 36" long. I'll weld the three pieces I picked up together, set them on the new horses and I'll have a decent little burning table that'll be easy to set up and knock down.

It's supposed to be a bit warmer the next couple of days so I'm planning on getting out in the shop a bit. I've got some more work to do for the side hustle as well as my own stuff to play with. I told my boss I was planning on calling it quits about Labor Day. He wasn't all that pleased to hear that, especially since I've started doing more and more fabricating and plastic welding. He tossed out the idea of me still making parts at home which I might consider. I'll see when the time gets near.

Photogenic Insides

I had an aneurism screening yesterday. When I saw the cardiologist about a month ago he recommend me having the test. I was a little alarmed when he first mentioned the word aneurism but he said the screening is recommended for anyone over the age of 65 who has had a cardiac event and smoked more than 100 cigarettes. I smoked a bit way back about 45 years ago but I've also inhaled quite a bit of welding smoke over the years along with plenty of second-hand smoke. I doubt the test will show anything but it's painless, I've got Medicare and it's probably a good idea to listen to the guy who saved your life. And the young lady who was rubbing my tummy with the ultrasound wand while administering the test said I've got photogenic insides, so I've got that going for me regardless of the outcome of the test.

I went out to breakfast after my test with my cycling buddy who broke his neck a couple months back. He's been sporting his neck brace since then and he still can't drive or do much of anything so I figured he'd like to get out of the house. He invited me to check out his new welding machine after we got done with breakfast, so I took a helmet and some aluminum along and played with the machine a bit. He'd only done steel with it prior to his accident but I wanted to see how it did on aluminum. The machine has a lot of adjustability and features for a machine in this price range. I played with all the buttons and was able to lay down some nice beads.

Everlast 185. The machine comes with everything you need to TIG weld except tungsten and a bottle of argon. This model will run on either 110 or 220 and is small enough to be portable. It will also stick weld with the included electrode holder. Nice little machine with a 5 year warranty for less than $1,000.

Music to Soothe the Savage Beast

Not much to report these last few days so here's some music for you. Great musicians that I'd never heard of before until I stumbled across them the other day here. I got a chuckle out of their dress - a couple of them look like Cuzzin Ricky and I when we're just hanging out. They were filmed playing in New Orleans. I missed a chance to go down there again. Amtrak had a twofer going but I didn't find out about it until it was too late to book the trip. I am kicking around a couple of travel plans for the year, though. I definitely see some sprint and champ dirt cars in my future.

In the meantime,  I worked on a few things for the side hustle and finished up the last two pieces for the motorcycle carrier - still need to be painted, however. Got the new shelf in the basement full and tossed a few things out while I was organizing. Still got a long way to go on that job but it's a start.

I replaced the broken spokes, trued and repacked the bearings on the wheel for the railbike. I was going to shine up the rim last night but forgot to bring in the steel wool. I'll get it shined up and then get the new tire and tube installed so I can put that one in the finished column. I still have to make some kind of gizmo to raise the guide for the front of the bike when I encounter a switch but that's way down on the list. It would be nice to finish it up and then get the bike painted. I imagine the tracks that run by my house are going to be abandoned in a couple of years when the power plant shuts down. Might be prime railbiking territory until I get run off or arrested.

Postmodern Jukebox with The Sole Sisters. I'm a big fan of tap dancing and these two girls are dynamite. Postmodern Jukebox sure ain't bad either. I did just a wee bit of tap at the high school. I'd like to get some instruction to get better at it. It would be a nice supplement to the exercise I get at the boxing gym. I'm sure there has to be something on You Tube if I was to look into it. Looks like the cold weather is finally going to be here this weekend. Might be a good time to dust off the old tap shoes.

Welding Stuff

Photo of one of my students running a bit of 6011 vertical. He's progressing well. Even though he's having a bit of trouble with the vertical up, he's been doing the finish welding on some parts I've made and they're looking real good. The welding lessons are easily the best part of my work day. It's nice having the freedom to set the curriculum and teach as I see fit without all the BS that usually accompanies education in a more formal setting. Very rewarding.

I put in a couple of hours working on pieces for the side hustle the other day and I brought a box of parts home to work on the next couple of days as well. I sketched out a small frame I need to make up. Making it will be a piece of cake - just don't know if it will do the job for which it's intended. I've been addressing a lot of issues that have been hitting the company bottom line for quite a while. Some of the solutions are actually pretty simple- just needed someone with a bit of fabricating experience to come along. I'm making patterns for all the brackets and the ladies in the office are scanning them in. They are also taking photographs of the finished installation so when I drag up, someone will be able to continue making the parts without reinventing the wheel.

I picked up another job from my buddy the Ducati specialist. It's a 450 gas tank that's practically like new but has a crack about one inch long underneath one of the fuel taps. I need to figure out a way to repair the crack without burning up the chrome and keeping the damage to the paint at a minimum. The fuel tap is brazed into the tank but torch brazing the crack is out of the question. I think I've got it figured out. I need to buy some supplies but I'll quote the job first to make sure the owner is good with the price. Buying the supplies will be a little bit expensive but I doubt I'll ever use those materials again, so I'll let the customer pay for them and add a little bit for my labor.

Bike Carrier +

I got some paint on the bike carrier. I need to finish the two pieces of angle that bolt to the ends and it'll be done. The angles will have a slot or a hook to fasten the tie-downs to as well as a marker light on the side. Along with the two lights on the rear it should be well lit. I'll probably get some reflective tape and put on the back and sides as well since the bike will partially cover the truck taillights. I've got some work to do for the side hustle today but I want to get the angles made up also. It was cold here yesterday so I stayed out of the shop. It's supposed to warm up today and tomorrow, so I should have everything painted and wired by the weekend.

I've started doing some clean-up in the basement and needed some shelf space, so I made this unit. The sides and shelves are made from particle board. I used a 2x2 in the corners to screw everything together since particle board is not real fastener friendly. A 1x3 on the back keeps it from racking out of shape. It's nothing fancy but we've got some boxes that need a place. The idea is to get everything sorted and organized and then start the process of downsizing or at least make it easier when it's time to sell the farm and move into town or "the home".

I'm not sure what's up next on the to-do list. I need to do some work on the inside of the shack and I need to get back on the Rapido job. I've got some other half finished things that it would be nice to have done. I need to do a little planning on the garden one of these days. I only had peppers and tomatoes last year but I'd like to do a bit more this year. I've gotten a few seed catalogs already. Need to spend a few minutes and get a plan together so I can get some things started.

New Horses

My new saw horses came Sunday evening. I was surprised to receive an e-mail saying they were shipped and would be delivered on a Sunday. It got late and I turned the porch light off at about 7:30 that evening and the delivery showed up at 7:40. I took one out of the box and while they seem to be rather well made, I don't know if I'd load them up with the 1500 pounds each they're rated at. They should be pretty handy, though. They fold up nice and they have a carry handle.

The cord on my chop saw shorted out the other day, so I got that fixed yesterday and then I cut the last two pieces I needed for my motorcycle carrier. I primed the main part of the carrier, so I'm just about finished with that job.

I've got quite a bit of work to do for my side gig so that's cutting into my project time. I'm getting quite a bit done around here but I'd like to be getting a bit more done while the weather has been so nice.

Turner Classic Movies had a documentary on Mary Astor last night. I've always liked her as an actress and admired her beauty. The documentary focused on her child custody battle and all that entailed while she was filming Dodsworth, which just happens to be one of my favorite movies. I can identify with Walter Houston's role in the movie as a guy who retires and is a bit lost when he no longer has that purpose. The movie is based on the book of the same name written by Sinclair Lewis. I read the book a couple of years ago. I can recommend both the book and the movie.

Did a bit of research on TIG welders and I think I've got it narrowed down to a couple. Have to think about it a wee bit more but I'm about 90% on buying a new machine. Might as well pull the trigger while I'm still working some.                                                                            

Plasma's Ready

I finished the plasma cutter set-up yesterday. I moved the one hook to the other side of the cart so both the power cord and the ground cable have hooks. I bolted the MIG wire spool onto the other side of the cart to wrap up the torch cable. While I was reading the manual, I came across a "last chance" water drain on the bottom of the machine. They recommend draining it after every usage. Even though I have a dryer/filter on the air source, I need to make an access hole in the baseboard before I strap it down to make it easy to drain the machine. I bought some straps for the Himalayan to hold a bedroll or tent to the top of the saddle bags. I think they should be about right to hold the plasma to the stand. I'll try them out and if they work use them and replace them. If they aren't right, the place I bought them from makes anything you could want or need. Eastwood makes a cover for the plasma cutter, so I think I'll get one instead of using a cheapie tarp or a big garbage bag.

I ordered some saw horses from them that were back ordered. They are supposed to show up today. I'm pretty well set for tools and equipment now. I am considering buying a new welder, however. Mine came out of my uncle's welding shop. I think he bought it sometime in the early sixties, so it's at least 55 years old now and has seen a lot of service.  One of the new inverter type machines would take up a lot less room and use less electricity. To Cuzzin Ricky's amusement, I now think of big ticket items in relation to my Social Security checks. A new welder is right in the neighborhood of two checks. Two out of twelve ain't bad - leaves me plenty of traveling money. Have to do a bit more research and see what I come up with.

Made Like A Gun

I got a late Christmas gift - Enfield tee shirt from the Missus. The new Royal Enfield logo is a stylized RE. It's not bad looking but I wanted the old logo for a tee shirt. Royal Enfield has a catalog with a lot of swag available now - the dealer in Indy didn't have anything last time I was there. When I take the bike down for the 500 mile service, I'll see what, if anything, he has now. I'd like to get a coffee cup. Like tee shirts, I need another coffee cup like a hole in the head but this isn't about need.

I picked up the Harbor Freight welder cart on Monday - bolted it together yesterday. The top shelf is a bit shorter than the plasma cutter but I new that going in. However, for $29.99 it was worth not having to make a cart. I cut a piece of 1x10 to set the plasma on. When I get everything hooked up I'll get a couple of straps to hold it down so it won't fall off but will be easy to remove if I need to take it outside or on the road.

I bought a dryer/filter for the air line. Of course it didn't come with a mounting bracket - that's the aluminum angle in the photo. I got lucky and actually had some metric screws that were the right size to fasten the bracket to the dryer. I'm going to fasten the spool onto the side of the cart to hold the torch instead of the little hook that came with it. I need to pick up some air hose and a barbed fitting to connect the dryer to the plasma but other than that, I'm pretty much set to start cutting.

Looking Ahead to Seventy

“And in truth, I’ve never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn’t appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat. I don’t say these things because I believe in the ‘brute’ nature of men or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour — his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear — is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle — victorious.”

Bottom quote also from Vince Lombardi taken from here. 

This is the same guy who said winning isn't everything, it's the only thing. While that seems to be a bit at cross purposes from the above quote, I agree that you must have the will power and discipline to be successful and you need to experience that "head to head combat" Lombardi speaks of. I've always thought amateur boxing fell in line with this school of thought - one of the best ways for young men to do head to head combat in a controlled environment. I'm gearing up for a couple of events this year that will require a bit of the grind and discipline. I've no desire for any head to head combat - way too old for that - but I've done a few things in the past that required some hard training and Old Vince was right - it's a great feeling to be victorious even if the only real opponent was you. 

I've started training a bit harder at the boxing gym, I'm doing some strength training and I'll work on improving my diet now that the holidays are over. I enjoyed doing the ruck march and I'm thinking some back packing/hiking would be good along with another bicycle trip of some sort. Other than the 50 mile challenge I don't have anything specific to train for right now but I'll pick a couple of things and hopefully will be in kick-ass shape when I turn 70 later this year.