Friday

It's time to take the weed infestation of the yard seriously. I bought this little pull behind sprayer to go on the offensive even though I really hate to start spraying chemicals on the yard for a couple of reasons. First is the fact that we get our water from a well and drinking chemically tainted water can't be healthy. Secondly, the Missus has already had cancer so we don't need anything else that might contribute to her health issues. We use bottled water for all of our drinking and cooking needs, so the ingestion of the well water is kept to a minimum and the well draws from a good supply that's down a ways. Hopefully a couple of applications of weed killer will be enough to get the yard started on the road to recovery without much damage to the environment or our health.

Not much else going on. The weather is improving - forecast temperatures are a bit lower than average for the next five days. That'll be nice. I'm in a bit of a quandary about going for my stock car drive. The virus numbers are still way up with no real sign of easing anytime soon. I don't know how well they can decontaminate a race car between drives and I don't want to wear a helmet or driving suit that some one else has just used. I've got my own helmet but I don't know if that's allowed. I'm going to call them with my concerns and see what can be done. I'd really like to take 10 laps around a race track in a late model dirt car but I'm not sure it's worth the risk.

I was thinking about this yesterday and was in a bit of a funk over the whole affair. I need to pick a date somewhere in the future and just figure this crap is going to be going until New Years Day or Presidents Day or Memorial Day and just resign myself to the fact it's going to be like this until that day and get on with life as it now is. Stay away from the television news and much of the crap on the internet, especially social media. Since the library is open again I picked up a couple of books the other day. I haven't been reading much of late nor have I been working out like I should. I need to either get back to my old routine or come up with a decent replacement routine. And then just hunker down and have someone call me when it's safe to leave the house again.

Sunday Funnies

My buddy Bob came down yesterday morning with the deck off of his mower. One of the brackets that holds up the back of the deck pulled out. He had things all cleaned up so it was an easy fix. I TIG welded it back in but that really was overkill. However, I don't have my MIG set up because the wire rusts if I leave it in the machine. I took the camera out to the shop with me but I had left the memory card in my laptop. While it was just a little repair, with the TIG it was sho' nuff a sexy one.

Surly and the boys showed up just about the time we were loading the deck up and he brought me a gift. That would be the photo above. Surly's thinking that just might be what I need to put under the Rickati. It's funny about the timing, because I had just pulled the tarp off the bike to show Bob who just happens to be the Ducati single specialist. I should see if I can get the wheel adapted and then get the motor out of the bike and then let Bob do his magic. I've done quite a bit of work for him over the years, so I've got a rebuild coming. I think Surly wants to ride the bike - or maybe he doesn't want to get stuck with another half finished project when I check out.

Besides bringing me the wheel, Surly wanted to use my bead blaster. I went to Harbor Freight on Friday to get some more glass bead but they were out, of course. I was planning on draining all the old stuff out and giving it blaster the once-over. As it ended up, the blaster decided to not work at all. Something was plugging up the hose, the gloves are starting to rip where they are attached to the cabinet and the protective film needs to be replaced on the glass. So Surly got shut out but I ordered some glass bead and new gloves from the Harbor Freight web site. I put the items in the cart and the shipping came out to only $6.99 so I went ahead and made the order. I'll tune everything else up while I'm waiting for the order to come in. I'm curious to see what's in the sump that was plugging the pick-up tube.

After Surly left I mowed the backyard and then went walkies with my running buddy and her clan. We did three miles and I was ready to quit. It was over 90 degrees and my legs were a bit tired from doing my stair laps while replacing the water tank Saturday. Didn't do much after that other than watering the plants and checking on the chickens. Shower sure felt good after that.

Today starts mandatory masks when out in public. It'll be interesting to see how this works out. I bought a couple of ten packs when I was at Harbor Freight - $3.99 each. Even if I don't need them for the cooties, I can use them out in the shop. I never would have thought to stock up on those as part of my preps. I do have a couple of good respirators and an actual gas mask. I would have thought that would have covered most every contingency. Just one more thing to add to the list.

Have a good week & stay safe.

New Water Tank

The pressure tank for the water system here at the shack gave it up. The idea behind the tank is to have a little water in it with air pressure in the tank keeping uniform pressure on the system. If the tank fails the pump will cycle on and off every time a faucet is turned on or a toilet is flushed. In fact, it might cycle on and off several times while refilling the tank on the toilet.

I picked up a new tank on Friday and installed it on Saturday. All I had to buy to install it was a union and some primer and glue for the plastic pipe. I put a small bucket under the feed pipe and then I cut it. I had a larger bucket that I could dump the small bucket into and when I had the large bucket full I took it outside and dumped it. I had just about enough time to make it outside and back again before the little bucket was full again. Because the diaphragm on the old tank had broken down, it had about 50 gallons of water in it. So it required 20 some trips up the stairs, empty the bucket, back down the stairs, dump the little bucket twice and then back up the stairs. Fortunately, this was the worse part of the job.

I brought some tools in the house prior to starting and I didn't have to make a trip back out to the shop for anything. Cut the feed pipe, clean up the ends, swap out the one piece from the old tank to the new, glue the union in and put it back together. I didn't even bang my head on anything - which was incredible since there are two filter units hanging down right above where I was working. It said on the box it was an easy installation but with plumbing how often does that happen? I celebrated by mowing the front yard.

I think I'm going to cut the old tank in half and make a couple of planters. Maybe plant some tomatoes down the basement this winter. I've got a welding job to do for my buddy today and maybe an aluminum job in the works for a former student. Surly's supposed to be down today to use the blast cabinet. It'll be good to see him and the boys even if it is from six feet away.

Summertime Blues

The state of Indiana is mandating the wearing of masks when you're out in public starting Monday. There are some exceptions for young people and other rules but basically if you go into a store or you're in school, you'll be required to mask up. The libertarian in me doesn't agree but the practical me knows that getting people to act in a responsible matter isn't going to happen on its own. It seems rather ironic to me that the crazies fly airplanes into buildings and kill 3000 people and we all wave the flags and become patriots over night. If they sold the pandemic as a terrorist attack by the Chinese, maybe people would don their masks, quit their bitchin' and direct their hostility towards the Commies. However, the Wuhan flu name was quickly replaced by Covid -19 because "feels" or something.

Pile O' Parts. Two different sizes, lefts and rights, 304 stainless. Not too difficult to make but the stainless is hard on my shear blades. I've got some other parts on deck that I plasma cut last time I had that out. Maybe finish those up next week - be nice to keep a bit of money trickling in. I need to get a distributor for the slant-six to check on the frame clearance. One of these days I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take some money out of the bank. With the way things are going I doubt if I'll ever go back to work. I was planning on dragging up Labor Day weekend anyway. Time to embrace the new normal.

Cowboy Tunes +

I came in from the shop the other day and caught the tail end of a movie the Missus was watching. There was some music playing while the credits were rolling - wasn't this song but it reminded me of it. I saw these guys in person one time. They put on a pretty entertaining show. There's just not enough cowboy music being played these days. Or enough people living by the old "Cowboy Code". There were 15 people shot at a funeral the other day in Chicago and my running buddy was called out to work security at a local funeral. 2020 just keeps getting stranger.

The tree trimmers were here yesterday - took down three and trimmed up a couple others for me. Mr. Trump's stimulus money put to good use. At least I think so. While the tree guys were here I spent some time in the shop working on parts for the side hustle. I'll finish those up and get them delivered today. 

I saw where Briggs & Stratten has filed for bankruptcy. They've been in business for over 100 years. I read a little bit of the details - shift to battery operated lawn equipment, competition from China and it appears, some serious mis-management.  

Blogger has a new format. Doesn't seem to be different enough for them to have bothered changing but tech people can't leave things alone it seems. When I feel like farting around with it, I'll see what if anything the new features have to offer.

Rex Allen - "The Arizona Cowboy". Much of his .work was a little before my time or when I was just a pup but this is one of my favorite Cowboy tunes. It's been recorded by countless number of artists in a couple different forms but you don't hear much Rex Allen, so give him a listen.

Cattle Call by Eddy Arnold - I actually have this album. This too has been recorded by lots of artists over the years but this has to be the best version. Enjoy.

Motorcycle Stuff

Cycle World in their weekly e-mail had a write-up about this electric bike. The Voxan Wattman is to be piloted by Max Biaggi in an electric motorcycle land speed record attempt. They're looking at something above 205 miles per hour. The bike has an interesting front suspension design - there's more detail in the article. The article also states that the frame is some type of aerospace steel tubing. I'd like to know more about that just to satisfy my own curiosity. In this country most frame construction of racing vehicles and aircraft is with 4130 chrome-moly. The English use Reynolds 531 tubing for similar applications. For bicycle construction, anything from plain carbon steel to proprietary high strength alloys like Reynolds 853. Whatever it is they are using, it needs to be strong but light weight since this rig is going to be pretty heavy due to the weight of the battery pack. I hope they report on the outcome and that it's a safe and successful one.

Moto GP started back up Sunday. I had received an email about it but didn't take the time to read it. However, the Missus was looking for something to watch on TV while I was reading the paper and came across the race on NBC. I quickly set the paper down and watched in awe at the skills of those guys. As the race was drawing to a close, Marc Marquez was moving up to challenge the leader when he high-sided and took a nasty spill. After the race was over they reported that he had broken his arm in the fall and was scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. Tough break, no pun intended. Glad to see some motorcycle racing on television again just the same.

My buddy the Ducati specialist came down yesterday morning to pick up a gas tank he dropped off for me to repair. I wasn't able to do anything with it in the present condition, so he's going to try and clean out the inside so I can repair the leak. It has some type of sealer in it that's flaking off. I assume it's flammable or would melt when I try to weld it. Because the tank is such pristine condition on the outside, I don't want anything to compound the difficulty in making the repair. Plus, since the sealer is already flaking off, it'll need to be removed before putting it back into service anyway.

This was in the table of contents of the current issue of American Motorcyclist as a lead-in to a retrospective piece on the movie Take it To The Limit. Besides being one of the greatest photographs of motorcycle racing ever, it's also a reminder that I didn't make it to Terre Haute this year for the flat track race due to the damn cooties. That's a pisser - just like a lot of other things we're all putting up with this year.

Back on the projects this week. I've been slacking a bit with the hot weather but it's supposed to be a bit cooler this week. Need to get a little something done for myself and my boss.

Welding Symbols

I saw these a while back and got a kick out them. I used to teach welding symbols and they are a little more complicated than these but once you learn how the symbols are constructed, they're actually pretty simple to interpret. This, of course, is a good thing since the whole idea behind them is to insure that the welds comply with the welding code or the engineers design .One needs to be able to read blueprints in addition to the welding symbols to be a layout man or a fitter so that needs to come first. The AWS and Hobart Welding School have online courses in welding symbols if you're looking to upgrade your skills. 

I got rained out last year for my late model stock car drive but I'm rescheduled for about a month from now. I wasn't sure if they were even going to run due to the cooties but it looks like it's a go. That'll be fun. Might be the only race car I see this year.

Looks like today's going to be a hot one. I've got a bunch of branches I trimmed off the trees last night I need to gather up this morning. Not sure what I'll get done after that. Maybe take a vacation day.

Gooseberries Gone

While I still don't know how much wood a woodchuck will chuck other than the wall of my shop, I do have the answer to how many gooseberries he'll consume - that would be all of them on both bushes. When I was out yesterday mowing and cleaning up some scrub brush I noticed the gooseberries were void of any fruit what-so-ever. They were looking pretty good last time I checked - not ripe put plumping up nicely. I'm assuming it was the woodchuck that did the deed. I've never had any issue in the past except for the one time I let the chickens out of the pen for the day and they discovered the ripe berries.

My hazelnut bushes have a lot of nuts on them now. Last year something cleaned those off about the time I was ready to pick them, I don't know what exactly got them but I assume it was a squirrel since I found a bunch of the outer shells that had been opened up to get at the meat inside. I don't know how to prevent that from happening again but I'm thinking about making up a spray of hot sauce and giving that a try. I don't mind sharing some of the harvest but no gooseberries means no pie and no hazelnuts means no healthy snack which puts me back to potato chips and cheap sandwich cookies.

I looked into a distributor, fuel pump and remote oil filter from both Jegs and Speedway Motors. Neither of them had a distributor listed but eBay had several listings for electronic distributors. Rock Auto had three listings for both new and remanufactured ones but are the stock items that use breaker points. That's not necessarily a bad thing. I doubt the slant-six will be a high revver even with the hotter cam I'll be running. As long as I get a decent coil for it, old school tech should be OK. It was good enough for 1966. However, I'm still leaning toward the electronic distributor.

I have to take the dog to the groomer today but nothing else planned so I'm hoping to get some work done in the shop. I got a text message from the boss looking for some more parts and I quoted out a small job for a motorcycle oil tank. It's a small job but lots of aluminum welding. Might be a good job for the new welding machine. The aluminum job would be a good one to keep my skills up. The job for the boss would just be a job for the boss. Repetitive work but keeps me in car parts.

More Fun With Animals

Monday I spent the morning and part of the afternoon on the road. I dropped off some family history books about an hour away. The one cousin lives in a small town and I went through a couple more on the way down. One of them had an ice cream stand that I usually stop at when I'm going through. In addition to ice cream, they make a real good pork tenderloin sandwich so I figured I'd stop there on my way home. No luck, they're out of business. I saw quite a few other places that were closed up since the last time I had gone through. Tough for the business owners and the small towns. There's not much keeping some of the small towns going on a good day. Close up a few more businesses and it's lights out for the town.

While I was out I picked up an oil filter and a piece of stock for the jitney project. Looks like I'd have to carve out a pretty large chunk of the frame rail to clear the filter. I'm not sure about the distributor or the fuel pump either. Since I don't have either one of those at the present time, I need to at least get a distributor to see if I'm going to have enough clearance. I can get a mechanical fuel pump easy enough but I might be better off getting an electric pump. I can make a blank off plate and that'll be that. I'm thinking now a remote oil filter is the way to go on that problem as well. I can mount the filter on the firewall where it'll be easy to access and I won't have to worry about carving up the frame. So now I'll move forward on making the motor mounts and shop for a distributor.

While I was out in the shop Monday evening I saw a small ground hog run underneath my one work bench. What the hell? I got a flashlight, got down on my hands and knees and expected to see a couple of beady eyes looking back at me. Instead, I could see all the way outside. The little bastich not only dug a burrow out side, he also chewed through the wall. I stuck a piece of sheet metal up against the outside wall and filled in the burrow. I had to cut some raspberries away to find the burrow and I'll trim them back further so I can keep a closer eye on the edge of the building.

I'll get back on the motor mounts and keep an eye on the shop. At least it's a woodchuck and not murder hornets.

This and That

I delivered a few of the family history books to some of the local relatives. I'll be sending a few more out by mail this upcoming week even though I'd really like to be out on the road with Cuzzin Ricky. I dropped Rick's book off to him the other day and he said he'd even be willing to sit through a modified race if it meant a chance to watch an open wheel race again - and that's saying something coming from Rick.

I've got several cousins that live about an hour away that I rarely see. I might throw a few copies in the saddle bags on the Himalayan and take a ride down that way this week, depending on the weather. I did do just that on Friday for a short hop. It was nice to be out on the bike, plus it was nice to have a chat with my cousin - at a safe distance of course.

I got an e-mail from Freestyle Photo about a line of new view cameras. The one in the photo has been made using 3D printing. It sells for $599.00 plus lens board, lens and film holder. Pretty cool camera. Also pretty cool that someone would put all the development time into a large format film camera. They also sell higher end models made using more traditional methods of manufacturing. Other than architectural photography, I don't know what the target audience for these things would be since digital has progressed as far as it has. I know some black and white prints are still being made in the darkroom rather than with a printer for certain applications - hard to beat a good silver gelatin print made from a large format negative.

I set the block down between the frame rails on the jitney project. I had done a bit of preliminary cipherin' and bolted a piece of 1x1 square tube to the front of the block at the height I guessed it would work nicely. The tube was centered off the crank centerline and was cut to the same width as the outside of the frame rails. Made it real easy to set and align in the frame. I left the mount from the engine stand attached to the block so I could level and support the block with a pipe jack. Worked slick enough and I think it's actually where I need it to be.

If I leave the block in its present position I'm going to have to notch the one frame rail for clearance around the oil filter. I'm going to pick up a filter today and see what size the OD is. I need to make sure the block is located in its final position before I notch the frame. I'll box the frame cut-out with a curved plate and put a fish plate on the outside to compensate for cutting the frame.

I've got a pair of rubber motor mounts to support the block, so I'll start working on those this week. I've got the dimensions of the Chrysler automatic transmissions so I can layout the rear crossmember location. I won't know the elevation until I get a tranny but I can check and see if the auto and manual trans take the same mount. If so I can pick one up and make the plate for the crossmember. Maybe make the crossmember out of a piece of channel where it will span the distance between the rails. Weld a tube on both ends that will fit between a bracket with a couple of ears welded to the frame rails. As long as the crossmember doesn't hang down too far below the frame rails, I won't have to bend it. If it does, I'll make a crossmember that bends down so the brackets on the frame rails don't look too unsightly from the side view of the car.

When I get the engine mounts made up I can bolt the head and intake manifold on and see about coming up with the design for the header. I bought a couple of pieces of tubing to get started on that. The headers they sell for the Slant-Six are two piece but I'm thinking 6 into 1 like they used to run even if that's not the most efficient way. I'm a ways off on making that decision, however.

I don't think even Chuck Norris can convince people to wear a mask. As a guy with a Libertarian bent, I'm in the camp of do what's best for you. But of course that comes with the caveat that it had better not have an impact on me. Meaning be responsible for your actions - that includes having health insurance because I don't want to have to pay for your cooties treatment. It's bad enough that I'm assessed a brain injury tax at the BMV because of motorcyclists not wearing helmets. So wear a mask when you're out shopping, wash your hands and toss your used masks away properly, not out the car window in front of my mailbox.

Looks like temps in the nineties coming up again. I'm thinking July is going to stay hot. The hottest time of the year around here is usually the end of July and the first week or two of August. If the temps now are in the low to mid-nineties, might see some triple digit temps in a couple of weeks. Not looking forward to that and it won't help me trying to shrink the to-do list. I'd really like to put that list on hold and work a little more on the bucket list. Just like the Cubs, there's always next year.

Have a good week and stay safe.

C'est Si Bon

Life is indeed good, at least around here, in spite of all the crap going on out there in the world. Looking at the year at roughly the half way point, it's been different. The Missus and I are doing OK. Physical health isn't suffering much from all this, mental health is taking a bit of a hit. I don't get out much but I do talk to a few people each week. We both miss the family but that's something we're just going to have to deal with. Seems like as time goes by more and more people are saying the hell with all the social distancing and masks and the numbers of new infections are reflecting that. That makes it even more important for us to be extra cautious.

My preparations for the zombie apocalypse were pretty solid. I've made note of a couple of weak areas that need to be addressed but nothing really serious. Fortunately, this pandemic did not shut down the grocery and hardware stores, lumber yards and feed stores. I finally went to Menards for the first time in months but I'm fortunate that we have a good hardware store in town along with a feed store, lumber yard and a Tractor Supply that opened up right before the cooties showed up. I can put on a mask and shop locally if need be or limit my trips by buying things online and having it shipped right to the house.

We live in a small town that shouldn't be affected by any looters/rioters or Antifa thugs. Our house is out in the country a bit and I'm sure all my neighbors are armed. In fact, I heard small arms fire over the weekend just a couple of houses away. While we don't have the big city problems, we do have some of the common small town stuff. Burglaries, drugs, alcohol related issues and now I would guess there is going to be some more business closings and lay-offs that are going to hurt more than a few people around here. Money was already tight for a lot of folks county-wide. I don't see that improving any time soon. In fact, it probably won't be too much longer before we see the effects of the feds printing money like hell wouldn't have it. That'll really put the bite on people who don't have much to begin with. Every day what little they have will be worth less and their buying power will continue to shrink. That's going to hurt. And even if you can put some money in the bank, you won't get anything in the way of interest.

So at least for now, the Missus and I are dealing with all the uncertainty of these times about as well as an old married couple can be expected to. The report from the oncologist was a big relief. I'm grateful for all we have and I feel for all of those who aren't as fortunate as we are. Hopefully things will improve before too much longer. If not, God help us all.

Everyday People

I got the family history back from the printer yesterday. I'm happy with the way it came out but if I were to do it again I did find one thing I could have done better.  However, it's done and I'm glad it's wrapped up.

The choice of the song to accompany this post is a natural. Most everyone named in the book are/were everyday people. I had the good fortune to meet most of my relatives from my parent's generation and their parent's generation as well. All good, solid people. Not many college degrees, a few tradesmen and small farmers. Most of the women were homemakers, as you would expect from the older generation, but they would have been doing the laundry, cooking and canning without air conditioning or central heat. Maybe without electricity even - my one grandmother was born in 1898. The other one was raised by a former slave after her mother passed. So with only a couple of exceptions, no bankers, lawyers or doctors. Just everyday people but I'm proud of where I've come from and at least I've done my part to see that they won't be forgotten.

Marestail

I sent the pictures of the offending weeds to my brother to identify for me. He got back to me rather quickly with their identity, life cycle, interesting facts, and how to deal with them. Each plant if allowed to go to seed will produce something on the order of 200,000 seeds. After seeing the field behind me last year covered in weeds, it's no wonder I've got a bunch of them this year. It's rare that I have a question to throw at my brother with my little hobby farm operation but it's always good to have an ace in the hole when you need one. The dude knows agriculture like I know welding - maybe even more. Probably, in fact. Thanks Dave!

I ventured out of the house yesterday morning to the print shop to see about getting my family history printed up. We discussed a few details, he shot me a price and I went home to reprint a couple of pages that had some margin notes and delivered the final product later in the day. They should be done next week at the latest. I'm not in any real hurry, I just want to get them finished. I started collecting info back in the seventies. The Missus and I traveled to Kentucky for some of the research and Cuzzin Ricky and I visited quite a few cemeteries. Ancestry.com has made things much easier with all of their holdings, especially if others pursuing the same family lines share their work. I wish the cooties would clear up. Cuzzin Rick and I could have ourselves a right fine road trip or two distributing copies to the relatives. I'll have to work on that part of it but at least they'll be done.

Jitney

I might have to go back to work - $3,200 from Speedway Motors plus another $535 for the big Ford brake kit. Still would need the rest of the parts to hang it under the frame rails - spring hangers, radius rods, shocks, etc. Lots of money but the quick change would not only work well but it would look right at home under the jitney project. I've cut down 9" Ford and 12 bolt Chevy housings before so that's an option. The quick change is 56" hub to hub which would pair up with my front axle nicely. Even if I don't buy the parts any time soon, I'm going to have to decide what it is I'm going to do so I can finish the frame rails.

The nose is finished, or mostly so. I just tacked the gussets on to the spring perch in case I need to change the angle a bit. In the one book I've got it says the king pins should be inclined by about four degrees to keep the car from wanting to wander. High speed cars like those running at Bonneville typically are set up with even more angle. I'm going to weld a piece inside the frame rails that will extend into the nose on each side. I'll drill a couple of holes on each side so I can bolt the nose on in addition to clamping it, that way I can hang the axle off the front and line everything up after I split the wishbone. I bought brackets that will hang down below the frame rails a bit. I'll have to see what the angle is on the axle after locating the radius rods and see what needs to be done after that.

The nose piece looks pretty good with a bit of primer on it. I'm thinking it'll look even better once the Slant-Six is sitting between the rails.

Chainless Bicycle

I celebrated the 4th of July by fixing the chainless bicycle. Took me a bit longer than it should have but since everything was loose and out of whack and I was clueless about chainless bicycles, not too surprising. It's actually a pretty slick set up. They use the same hub arrangement on chain driven bikes, substituting a sprocket for the gear drive. When replacing the shifter cable you need to put the "fixing nut" on 110mm from the end of the housing, put the nut into the hole on the pulley and then adjust the arm that the cable housing fits into so the witness marks on the arm and pulley line up while the gear selector on the handlebar is in 4th gear. The first go-round had too much slack so I put a mark with my Sharpie on the cable and closed up the distance a bit. After about three such adjustments, it was just about right on the mark with the final bit taken care of by the cable adjuster on the gear selector. I adjusted up the front and rear brakes and aired up the tires and took it for a spin around the barn. Everything was working OK so I took it down the lane so I could get it into a couple of higher gears. Since everything checked out, I called the guy up and it's back home again. Another satisfied customer.

I spent a bit of time yesterday morning before working on the bike trying to eradicate about a million of these things. I'm not sure what they are but they're doing their damndest to take over the yard. I need to send these photos to my brother. I'm sure he'll know what they are and can give me some advice on getting rid of them or at least point me in the right direction. I'm guessing all the conditions just happened to be right for the seeds to pop out of their dormancy this year. If they're an annual and I can keep them from going to seed, I shouldn't be bothered too much next year if the seeds sprouted this year. Again, I need to know what the are so I can figure out the life cycle and what to do to interrupt it.

The weather was in the 90s yesterday and looks to stay that way for at least a week. That's going to slow me down a bit. It wasn't too bad working on the bike since I was inside out of the sun but when I was on weed patrol that was a bit tough on this old man. I'll work in the shop a bit each day and just take it easy. I've been out in the heat enough that I'm getting used to it but there's really no reason to spend a lot of time out in it unless it would be an emergency. I am retired after all.

There will probably be another uptick in the cooties after everyone went to the beach or parties this weekend. The original part of our house was built in 1898 - no phone, television, electricity. Very primitive conditions by today's standards and most every day was a tough one. Now days most everyone has air conditioning and computer access, meaning they can comfortably entertain themselves while staying home or limiting their socializing to small groups in a safe manner. From the looks of things, this crap isn't going to be going away anytime soon (50,000 new cases nationally yesterday), so we all might as well get used to it and get our minds right.

Stay cool, wear your mask, wash your hands.

Independence Day

Something to think about on this the anniversary of our declaring our independence. My politics is along the Libertarian line - less government is best government. Follow the Constitution and everything will be Jake. Especially if you keep your hand out of my pocket. We'll see what comes out of the next revolution since it looks like it's already started.

I got the tricycle cleaned up and ready to go yesterday along with a trip to the bank and the post office. Did some more yard work and cut out the gussets for the spring perch. A guy stopped by to give me a quote on some tree work. I've got a couple of pines that are dead and a big elm hanging over the barn that needs to be trimmed back. He shot me a real good price but he's busy right at the moment. Says he'll work me in.

I'll finish up the gussets and get those tacked on today and tackle the chainless bicycle unless something else pops up. That'll be about it for Independence Day around here but realistically, every day's a holiday here at the shack.

Stay safe.

Bikes and Stamps

I've got a little more bicycle work to do. The Missus borrowed a trike to get some exercise. I got out her old bike about a week ago, aired up the tires, oiled the chain, cleaned it up and then took a couple laps around the barn for a shake down cruise. Everything was all ready but the Missus. She's had some issues with falling down so she figured three wheels would be better. I've got no problem with that. If she's going to get some exercise, I'm all in. I'll get the trike ready to go today and she can try it out. If she's comfortable with it. we'll see about getting one of her own.

I need to make a couple of gussets for the spring perch on the jitney/track racer project. I had to get a piece of stock since I didn't have any 3/16" in house. The pattern on the lower left is made from the back-up material that comes with a sheet of stamps. It's just the ticket for making patterns. It cuts to a nice edge and bends along a line if need be. And it's free. Beats regular cardboard by a long shot. So if you're buying stamps, get the sheets with the pattern board. If you don't need the stuff, save it for your favorite handyman/fabricator.

Buffer

I finished up the nose for the jitney/track racer. Pretty straight forward. Because of the curved shape I had to keep an eye on the outside to outside distance when I was tacking things together due to warpage. The holes I drilled for the plug welds were a little small to get the tungsten down in and melt the brace inside the framework. I ran a drill down into a couple of them after making the welds and then rewelded them to be sure the welds were tied in. Even at that, I decide to reach down in there and run a bead with the stick welder on the inside seam to make sure everything was tied together. I drilled the holes out larger on the bottom strip before tacking it on and that worked like I had intended from the start. After finish welding I ground and sanded the welds along the edges to a nice rounded profile and then bead blasted the finished assembly to remove all the mill scale. I tacked the spring perch on but I still need to make a couple of gussets to help support it. I get those made up and I'll prime the whole nose assembly.

I'll probably work on getting the engine mounted up next. I've got the two temporary cross members bolted in to keep it square and the right distance apart. There's no reason to break it all down to make the rear side rails and then have to bolt it back together to set the engine in. Get the engine in and then I can see where the tranny will go. Knowing that, I can set the cockpit in place. I might be able to make the rear frame rails while everything is still on the horses and even tack them on. I've got a couple of pipe stands that I can use to support the rear end. The plans call for the two rear side rails tapering in at the back with a fabricated crossmember to mount a transverse spring. If I run two springs the rails will run straight back with a tube crossmember at the very rear. I can make the two rails, square them up on the shop floor, tack in a temporary X brace to keep everything square, put a couple of clips under the front rails to clamp the rear section to, support the back with the pipe jacks, and then weld it in. Sounds simple, right? I just need to decide what I'm going use for the rear end and how I'm going to suspend it.

Think the job through so you've got a decent plan and then dive in. I like to walk around and stare at it once or twice and maybe even sleep on it before starting if I've got the time. That way I'll have a real good mental picture of what the finished piece will look like and a decent idea of the best way to get there. I don't know how you could possibly measure this, but I'd be willing to bet that people who are readers can visualize a finished project before starting it much better than non-readers. Using your imagination to "see" the story has to help you see the project in your mind's eye. 

I'm going to work on my buffing set-up. The buffing wheel is mounted on what was originally designed to be a miter saw for making picture frames. I made this a long time ago in a machine shop course I took in college but it's spent the majority of its life as a buffer rather than a saw. But that's OK, works good as a buffer and now I've got a decent miter saw set-up. The base is from a bandsaw that was scrapped. I want to make a door for the front that will hinge from the bottom and have a compartment on the inside that will hold the buffing compound. This is kind of a small thing with all the other projects I've got in the works but I need some new buffing wheels and compound, so might as well take the time to get it organized and more user friendly.

Took the Missus to the oncologist Monday. Everything is A-OK. Goes back in a year. We stopped at a new BBQ joint on the way home to celebrate. Ribs for the Missus, brisket sandwich for me. Life is good here at the shack.