Running Again!

I made a piece for the carb hook-up the other day to sort out the lengths from the center pivot. I'll make one of the proper length now. The bottom hole as positioned, and the second hole from the top should do it. 

I did the 5K yesterday. They didn't have a walking category so I didn't do well. I did do some running, however. I have an Everlast waist trimmer that I wear up under my armpits to keep my chest from acting up at the gym. My chest normally doesn't bother me when I do the race walking but does hurt after running. I decided to put that on for the event yesterday and try a little running. It was a pretty hilly course, so I ran on the down hills, and walked briskly on the rest of the course. Surprisingly enough, no pains from the chest later on, even though I bounced around on the mower after getting home. I did keep the "girdle" on when mowing. Might be on to something here. 

This was the 42nd running of this event, by the way. I did the first and the third when it was a 10.5 mile run, plus a few of the 5K length over the years. There were 700 runners that finished the event yesterday and we all got a new long sleeve shirt, not that I need another tee shirt. My running buddy, Coach Jen, finished about ten minutes ahead of me, which was impressive, since she hadn't been running this spring. Her performance wasn't as impressive as the overall winner. That young man finished in just a tick over 15 minutes - 4.57 minute pace on a hilly course.

My email account has an issue and I can't log in. I'm pretty sure it's on their end rather than mine. Because of that I can't transfer the photos on my phone to the blog. If it looks like that's going to be a thing for a couple of days, I'll have to get out the little digital camera I use to use. Since it uses a SD card, I can load photos directly into the computer rather than emailing them to my account and downloading them to the computer. I imagine there's a way to by-pass that step, but I've never had to worry about it before. Therefore, I might not be posting any project photos for a couple of days.

Carb Hook-Up

Since the grandson is working towards becoming a pipefitter, I'm setting him up with his own welding gear, a few layout tools and a tool bag. If I remember correctly, he said the fitter's have a list of tools needed to get started. I'll have him bring it down or show me where I can find it and get all the rest of what he will need. I know he's got some tools but it'll be nice to have all his welding gear together to keep in the trunk of his car or here with me for his lessons. Even if the pipefitter job doesn't work out, these tools will come in handy regardless.

I did some yardwork yesterday and puttered around a bit in the shop. The arm for the throttle needs to be longer on the top side. The pedal moves the cable about 2" and the throttle arm on the carb only needs about 1-1/2". The throttle pedal has an adjustable stop, but a longer throw would work better. I'm going to make a piece of flat stock with a bunch of holes in it and see what works best and then make the final piece. I still need to figure out the hook-up for the cable. I want something that has a bit of adjustment. One piece at a time.

The weather is supposed to be nice today. I want to do some more yardwork and maybe a little racewalking. I'm going to do a 5K Saturday morning and I haven't done any fast walking at all. I was supposed to do the boxing clinic on Saturday so I haven't been training, but it's been postponed. I've been getting out on the bike putting in some miles, so that'll have to do.

 

Welding Lesson Progress

The grandson was here for another welding lesson. This time I had him switch to E-7018 rods. He's still a little erratic, but he's definitely catching on. That's one layer only. The plan was to get another layer on but he was getting cold - temps in the mid forties and a little breezy while the sun was starting to set. It'll warm up one of these days. They're still calling for freezing temperatures at night, however. 

I worked on a prototype for the bell crank on the carb while the grandson was welding. It's slow going making one-off pieces for everything needed, but I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. I'm still squeezing in some yardwork, exercise and household chores at the same time. I'd find it all a bit more enjoyable if it would warm up, though.

 

Still Chilly

 

I was planning on going for a bike ride Sunday morning but cold and threatening rain. The movie Monte Walsh was on TV, so I decided to watch that and read the paper instead. Tom Selleck is one of my favorite actors and Monte Walsh is probably my favorite cowboy movie. 

After the movie, I drug my lazy ass out to the shop and cut out the piece for the throttle cable set-up. Using the bell crank will get the cable to pull rather than push, and it will lift it up away from the heat of the header. I could have mounted the carb with the float bowl facing forward but then the fuel inlet would have been sticking out over the header, rather than being tucked in next to the valve cover. 

After I cut the piece out and filed it down, I put some lay-out dye on it thinking I would mow the front yard and then come back to start on the bell crank and lay out some relief cuts on the bracket to spiff it up a bit. However, after mowing in the 42 degree temps, I decided a cup of hot chocolate and a fire would be much nicer. 

Cherry blossoms - the photo's a little fuzzy because I took it while mowing and the camera was confused as to what should be in focus. The tree is one I planted from a seed I brought back from my bicycle trip from Portland to Missoula. This is the first time it looks like it could bear fruit and then it got cold Sunday night. I hope that won't prevent it from developing fruit.

Not much on the calendar this week, so I should be able to get out in the shop and get some progress made. 

Gut Check

 I came across this here. It's a little longer than most things I write or quote, but it's worth your time to read it and think about what he says.

                                                                        "Gut Check"
                                                                By Tim “xrugger” Stebbins

"What does it mean to be a free man anymore? Am I truly free when the money I pay in taxes goes to support the excesses of a profligate, overreaching, and immoral government? Am I truly free when the scum that make the rules do not abide by them? Am I not free then to ignore the rules? Am I truly free when some cowardly dimwit at the grocery store looks askance at me for not wearing a filthy rag over my face? I know he is having an internal debate about whether he should confront me. My hope is always that he decides in the negative, as I have had just about enough of this crap.

The highest court in the land turned a blind eye to the egregious theft of the Presidency itself. Marxists across the nation celebrated the final nail in the coffin of the American Republic. Democrats held it. “Conservatives” have hammered it home. The outward forms of ordered liberty are dead and there is no recourse for the redress of grievances. It is time for every patriot to face the situation, without illusion or reservation.

If we would recover our liberty, then we must look inward and assess our own desires, motives, and abilities. A time of choosing is upon each and every one of us. What do we owe and to whom do we owe it. What follows is an attempt to answer those questions for myself and myself alone. Others of a similar spirit may take what they wish from it and leave the rest.

The Indefensible Nation: What do I owe to my country? Its central government is thoroughly and irredeemably corrupt. It is bankrupt both fiscally and morally. As of this writing, its judiciary has shown itself incapable of defending the Republic against the depredations of leftist rabble. The tentacles of its bureaucracy reach into the lives and wallets of the productive class “eating out the substance of the people” exactly as Jefferson warned. Yet still, with the stench of corruption and theft pervading the country, this government assumes my loyalty.

What, pray tell, has it done to deserve it? Mobs of the indoctrinated expect that we should all just “get over it” and “come together to heal” as if the gangrenous clot of necrotic tissue that is the political culture of this nation will ever heal. Our rulers, our media, and half our “countrymen” piss down our backs and still insist it’s raining. The fealty of helots is what the Lords of Washington expect. They will not get it from me.

The loyalty of free men is reserved for a government of equals, not an aristocracy of reptiles. The latter is what we suffer now. The former we once possessed, but it lies now in the dust of history. The outward form and function remain, but the spirit of liberty, which animated it, has gone. The ties by which free men bind themselves voluntarily to any form of government have long since been sundered by the actions of those who have chosen to rule rather than govern. I will not suffer those ties to become shackles.

Since my forbears bequeathed to me a form of government that no longer exists, I am released from further obligation to the abomination that has replaced it. My loyalty, like my liberty, belongs to me and me alone. It is mine to give or to withdraw as I see fit. I owe the rulers of this land nothing: not life, not liberty, not the pursuit of my own happiness. These things are mine from my first breath to my last gasp. They cannot be abrogated, regulated, or terminated by the denizens of a distant city who presume to know what is best for me. These…people (I do not have the words for the contempt I feel for them) have polluted our forms of government, destroying what they can, dismantling what they cannot.

Everywhere is grift and graft. They have taken nearly everything, yet they still want more. They want my body shackled, my spirit humbled, and my mind enslaved. They try to steal the very breath from my body with their filthy rags. They have trampled upon my God-given rights, indoctrinated my children, accused me, threatened me, and silenced me. Now they have stolen even my choice from me. This government and its leftist appendages have betrayed my trust and half my fellow citizens treat me and mine with undisguised contempt. My loyalty to them and to their government is at an end.

The Shenandoah Syndrome: What then, am I to do personally in the face of this betrayal? My mind often comes back to the old Jimmy Stewart movie “Shenandoah.” In it, Stewart plays the patriarch of a family trying to stay out of Lincoln’s War. He hopes to keep his family intact and neutral in the conflict. He wants no part of it and sees no reason why he, or his sons, should choose sides in a war that is, in his view, peripheral to the concerns of his family and the life they have built. It is only when rape, murder, plunder and the other accouterments of war destroy the precarious balance he has maintained, that Stewart realizes that the choice has been made for him.

I know that, in the end, what is happening in this nation will come to blood. I know too, that I and mine cannot hope to be left untouched while the nation tears itself apart. My one hope is that, by virtue of where we call home, we will see the tenor and scope of the destruction before it touches our lives directly. Perhaps that small grace will allow us additional time to prepare, though I believe I have done all that common sense demands and limited resources allow in that regard.

What remains to be done is the taking an intensely personal inventory. Will I fight, run, or hide? Will I be able to lead and defend my family when the crunch comes? Would I be willing to leave them behind to engage in some broader defense of my own and other’s liberty? Do I wait for the storm or go to meet it? At 63 years of age, am I even mentally or physically capable of such an effort? My fervent wish is to be left alone to live a peaceful life. I know many like me wish the same, but Jimmy Stewart was just an actor, and my “Shenandoah” a bucolic dream. The fight will be forced upon us all. The choices we make will define us. In Lincoln’s words, “No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”

The Refining Fire: I am a peacetime veteran. I served a three-year hitch in the eighties, half that time with the 2nd Ranger Bn. in Ft. Lewis, Washington and half with a line infantry company. I do not count myself among the many chest-thumpers who are overly certain of their own intestinal fortitude and are not afraid to expound upon their warrior attributes in any number of internet outlets. In my limited experience, those who talk the most usually run the fastest. I do not include in that company those who have seen war and its desolation first hand and who now seek to educate and guide those of us who have not. I’m talking about the posers who crow about “taking back the country,” and explain in detail their future exploits in the battle for freedom.

Personally, I am certain of only a few things: I know what it is like to exit an aircraft more door bundle than man and land in a heap in the Alaskan snow. I know how dark it gets in an equatorial jungle and what it’s like to sit in the rain for days on end. I know what trench foot looks and feels like. To my everlasting embarrassment, I know the feeling of waking up with my own .45 (in the hands of a very angry platoon sergeant) staring me in the face because I fell asleep guarding a pallet of live ammo.

I know what it is like to catch multiple fragments of a 7.62 mm ricochet in the face due to the negligence of a range safety officer and the stupidity of a member of my M60 crew. I know that face and scalp wounds bleed a lot. These are some of the things I know, but they are the experiences of long ago and comparing them to the trials of actual combat would be like comparing regular roulette to the Russian variety.

I do not think I lack personal courage, but the simple fact is that I know what I do not know, and anyone who has not been in a fight like the one coming can say no different. Any man who claims a virtue not yet tested by the fight we face is a liar and a fool. As a young man, I would have welcomed the test. Now, decades on, I ponder the depth of my commitment, the strength of my arm, and the clearness of my mind. Is the man I am now fit for the fight? Only the fight itself will reveal the truth of it. I simply do not know how I will behave when the shooting starts and to claim otherwise is the height of hubris. At the least, I hope that this old man will give good account for blessings received while on this good earth.

Hope: No good thing ever achieved by man remains unsullied by the grasping hands of those who seek to exploit it. So it is with these United States. Time, trials, the certainties of fallen human nature, and the machinations of the unprincipled have accomplished what they always accomplish. This nation will crumble and the ensuing chaos will engulf us all to one degree or another. Something good, either a restoration of the old or the institution of the new, will rise from the blood and ashes. I pray that I do not love this life so much that I would live it as a slave or be unwilling to expend it for the sake of those to come. That, at least, is my hope."

                                                        - https://www.theburningplatform.com/

Bike Ride in the Country

 

I should probably request they play this one at my funeral, along with Roy Roger's Don't Fence Me In. 

Maybe wrap the ceremony up with this one - always been one of my favorites. 

I finished the lantern bracket  I started a couple weeks back. Not much of a job to take a couple of weeks, but par for the course around here. The Missus and I had a little mis-communication on the table for under the window, so I need to shorten it up. It won't be too much trouble. I should probably enlist the grandson to help me out. As long as he wants to weld, might as well do a bit of fabricating.

I was contacted by my old boss at the side gig. He's got a little job that needs some welding. I need to run over there and check it out. From what he said, there'll be a little repair work in addition to the welding. I figure if I need an extra set of hands I can have his son help me, since I gave him welding lessons when I worked there and he's currently employed as a welder. One more job that interrupts the flow on my jobs, but it's always been like that, it seems. 

Went for a bike ride yesterday morning. A little chilly but a good day to be out, just the same. I rode past this ditch like I have many times before, but never noticed the baby waterfall until yesterday. With all the rain we've had lately, I was able to hear the running water and I turned around to check it out. Right pretty little spot out in the country. 

The exercise program and the change in the diet have been having the desired results. Good reports from the doctors recently and I weighed in at only a couple of pounds over my old fighting weight after coming home from the bike ride. A couple more weeks I should be there - same as I weighed when I graduated high school and when I got married. Never thought I'd ever see that again. Maybe not a lean, mean, fighting machine, but not an old, out of shape, fat guy. I'll settle for that.

Typical Spring Day

 

Weather was good again yesterday - hit 75 in the afternoon. I did some lumberjack work with the new chainsaw, tried out the newly sharpened reel mower (much improved by the way), mowed the back yard, and cleaned up the drill press. I've got a woodworking job that will profit from the spindle sander - another job that got pushed to the back of the line. I'm hoping to finish up a few of those that have been laying around for a while, but not at the expense of finishing up the jitney and a couple of bike projects.

Dentist visit this morning and taking the Missus to the eye doctor tomorrow. I'd could get a lot more done without all the doctor and dentist visits we go to. Of course, I could get a little more ambitious and work longer hours during the day. That kind of goes against the grain of being retired, in my book. Need to keep all the elements of daily living in balance. Not always easy, but it's a damn sight easier since I don't have to go to work any more. 

From Here

Barcelona, Spain. One of the places I'd really like to visit. Hawaii is number one on the list, so I can complete my quest to see all 50 of the states. I'd also like to see Scotland and go back to Ireland again. And even though I've been to Italy a couple of times and have been fortunate to have seen quite a bit of it, I wouldn't mine spending some more time there. I've been blessed to have seen so much of the world, but sure wouldn't mind seeing a bit more of it before my time is up.

Mowers and Welding

 

Snow on Monday morning. Not the kind of day I'd choose for the middle of April. The average temperature is supposed to be 60 degrees. If you take the 85 degree temperature from the weekend, add the 45 degree temperature from Monday, divide by 2, yep, pretty close to a 60 degree average.

However, it did warm up into the mid-fifties yesterday. I cleaned up and mowed the poop park with the reel mower, and then mowed the front yard with the big mower. Afterwards I tried out the blade sharpener I bought for the reel mower. There's a strip of sandpaper that you stick on the sharpener fixture. The sharpener then gets clamped to the anvil/platform on the mower. Adjust the blade until there's just enough pressure on the reel that you can still turn it by hand. Next step is to push the mower on a flat surface for a couple of minutes. It does a pretty nice job. It was shipped with three pieces of sandpaper. One cleaned up the blades fairly well. One more go around would probably have it nice and sharp. Now that I know how to do it, I'll probably try it out and see how it does first. I didn't have a chance to try it due to the grandson showing up for a welding lesson.

The plate has three layers of weld on it - doesn't look too bad for a rookie. There are a couple of obvious holes caused by slag inclusions, but his delivery is becoming more consistent. He's still got a long way to go but he's picking it up pretty fast. The electrode is E-6011. They don't make the prettiest of welds even in the hands of a skilled welder. You need some iron powder in the flux coating if you want pretty looking welds. We'll get to that after he learns to control the 6011s.

Spindle Sander

 

I finished the box to convert the rusty old drill press to a spindle sander. I'll get the drill cleaned up a bit and then get it out where I can use it, both as a sander and also as a drill press, primarily for wood working projects. 

The weather was sunny and 85 degrees on Saturday, rainy and 45 degrees yesterday. Because of that, finishing up the drill press project was about all I got done. I did manage to get some reading done, checked the computer for some bike rides and 5K runs/walks, and I watched Bullitt on TCM for about the 25th time. They also had Cool Hand Luke on later that evening, but with a 9:30 start I knew I'd never make to the end without falling asleep in the recliner, so I didn't even get started on it.

Doing breakfast and running around some with Cuzzin Ricky this morning and hitting the gym this evening. Maybe get out to the shop in between those. Another cold day being forecast for the day. Not real conducive to spending time in the shop after the beautiful days we've had lately. But since I'm a one-man band, it's up to me to get things done around here. 

Catching Up

Since it's been a couple of days, I'll start off with Thursday. I needed to get a board planed down for a job here on the shack, so I took that to TVI's place and he hooked me up. Left for the fights in Indy later in the afternoon. That was a good news/bad news story. The Superheavy weight became the state champion in his division. Since he's not an open class fighter, he won't be going to the nationals but he fought well and deserved the win. He's been dealing with some personal problems and working a full time and a part time gig, so his training time has been limited. We're all real proud of him and his performance.

The 156 pounder that I took to Detroit, didn't fare as well, unfortunately. His opponent was one of the toughest guys I've seen in a long time. He controlled the bout from the opening bell, and our guy was always trying to even things up, just couldn't make it happen. The guy controlled the outside and had an edge on the in-fighting. Our guy made a fight of it but no way he was going to come out on top. It definitely was a fan favorite - old school barn burner. Our guy did win an award prior to the start of the bouts. He was honored with the Colin "Champ" Chaney award. The award recognizes "the Golden Gloves participant whose attitude best reflects the determination and will of 'Champ' Chaney". Nice kid, glad he was recognized by the franchise, coaches and boxers.

I got home about 1:30 Friday morning, so slept a little later than I normally do. Felt a little sluggish, even with the later start. Checked the to-do list and picked an easy one off and got a good start on another, plus a bit of clean up around the place. Saturday morning I did 10 miles with my saddle pal, Coach Jen. Really good morning for a bike ride. Later I went to Costco with her. We joke about our relationship, seeing as how I'm 30 years her senior. I told her at Costco we go one some strange dates - boxing matches and grocery stores. Not so strange really, I guess, since I've known her for 25 years. 

Speaking of which, she picked up an info sheet at the Gloves the other night about becoming an official with the Indiana Golden Gloves franchise. She said she's been thinking about becoming a judge for a while - thought it would be a good idea for me as well. The franchise needs people in all the positions, judges, referees, timekeepers, etc. Most of the people currently working the events are somewhere around my age. So I wouldn't be much of an improvement, except I seem to be in better shape than many of them. They're losing several of the main cogs in the wheel after this tournament is over, and they're going to be sorely missed. They're having a clinic in a couple weeks, so Shop Teacher Bob might be adding boxing judge to his resume. Or as I like to joke, I no longer need a resume, now I'm padding my obituary.

My parts arrived from Speedway yesterday, so I'll get back on getting the carb linkage ship-shape. We've got some crappy weather coming in, chance of snow showers tomorrow. It won't be so cold that I can't work in the shop, though. Cuzzin Ricky and I are meeting for breakfast this week for a planning session on our travel plans. It'll be good to get back out on the road again.

Plate Salvage

Another lovely day yesterday - temperatures made it up into the eighties with lots of sunshine. I put six miles on the push bike, along with six the day before. Then rode the Himalayan up town for my Medicare wellness check. The nurse was impressed with my diet and exercise program. Hopefully it will continue to pay dividends for me. Actually, the anniversary of my heart attack was just a couple of days ago. Eleven years and still kickin'.

I rode the bike up to the tax lady's house to pick up my finished taxes. Rather windy, but a great day to be out on a motor bike. Came home and took care of a couple of chores then headed out to the shop. The plate in the photo was welded to an aluminum frame. I drug this home from the high school when I retired. It was part of a project that a kid abandoned at the end of the school year and I figured I could use the 1/4" plate for something. Eleven years later, I'm going to use it for the throttle and choke cable bracket. That's why I never throw anything away. Of course, that's going to create a problem when I'm dead and gone. There's a lot of odds and ends laying around the place.

I've got some things to do this morning and then off to the Gloves later in the day. Two fighters on the card tonight. Wins tonight mean they fight in the finals next week. Here's hoping.

Spring Time

 

Another beautiful day yesterday. I've got six magnolia trees on the place and they've all responded well to the lovely weather we're having. Five of the six bloom heavily with these conditions, the other one, a cucumber tree magnolia, is not much of a flowering tree but rather, more of a lumber type tree. It's called a cucumber tree due to the seed pods hanging from the branches look like cucumbers. It's a slow grower compared to the others but makes a nice landscape tree.

I had to stop the truck for some ducks crossing the road when I was coming home from the gym last evening. One of the nice things about living in the country is the flora and fauna. Of course, you have to take the good with the bad, what with some of the varmints that show up. Hard to get upset about anything when spring is in the air, things are blooming and the wildlife is coming back out.

My hardware order showed up yesterday. I should have a pretty good supply now of fine thread nuts, jam nuts, and SAE flat washers. I need to pick up another small organizer to keep track of them all.

I made a gasket to fit under the adaptor plate for the jitney manifold and looked around for a piece of aluminum to make the bracket for the throttle and choke cable. I don't have any 3/16" so I'm going to use 1/4" and then mill some relief cuts in it. The auto parts store didn't have the piece for the throttle linkage, but not any real surprise. I'll get one ordered in. 

Did some work in the garden yesterday, as well. Spent a little quality time with a rake and shovel. I decided I want to have a small strawberry patch, so I dug up a spot for that. I might get real ambitious and plant a few more things. Probably a good year to do it.

Town Without Pity

 

I was listening to Pete Fountain in the truck the other day and this one came on and it reminded me of the Gene Pitney tune. If you listen to both of them, I'm sure you'll hear what I'm talking about. And if not, two good tunes just the same.

Beautiful spring weekend. I went to the gym Saturday morning, later in the day walked four miles. Good start on my springtime shape-up program. Surly and his family came down for Easter dinner. Lovely visit. 

Later in the afternoon I went out to the shop and made up a pattern that I think will work to hook up the throttle and choke cable. I'll make up a bell crank for the throttle, and a clamp for the choke cable and I should be in business. The carb has a ball on the throttle linkage. I'm going to check with the parts store and see if they have the piece to fit the carb, then I can make a short link to connect to the bell crank. I checked the Speedway Motors catalog and they have one, but the shipping would probably be as much as the part. Regardless, it's not something I have to make, so that should speed up the process a bit.

I've got some more running around to do this week - a couple of doctor's visits, lumberyard and the typical things required to keep a household operational. Need to get a start on the garden as well. The rhubarb is up and the asparagus should be close behind. If Menards has tomatoes and pepper plants in their garden center, I'll pick them up when I'm up that way. I'm signed up for the CSA again, so I don't really need a big garden but they don't do much with melons, so I'm planning on planting a couple of hills of both watermelons and cantaloupes. Should be a good week for working and playing outside

Politics

 

Not much doubt about that anymore. The suspense, however, is starting to get to me.

Hillsdale College hosted a livestream event with Ron DeSantis Thursday evening. Pretty interesting presentation by Gov. DeSantis and the session afterwards with him and Hillsdale's Dr. Arn. Also, I saw where Robert Kennedy Jr. has thrown his hat in the ring as a presidential candidate with the Democratic Party. 

Kennedy, from what little I know about him, is more like the Democrats of old, that is, a friend of the working man. I was really impressed with his book about Fauci. I learned from the livestream broadcast DeSantis also has a book out - going to have to check the library for that one. I told the Missus, DeSantis should run for president with Kennedy as his vice-president running mate on the Republican ticket, and Kennedy should run for president with DeSantis as his vice-president running mate on the Democrat ticket. Regardless of how much cheating went on with the election, we might still get a decent outcome that way. Sure to be interesting, regardless.

While working in the shop Thursday, I heard on the radio the feds had made public the report on pulling the military out of Afghanistan. According to what I heard on the radio, very little was left behind, but then yesterday, I saw how they came up with that result. Apparently, they had given everything to the Afghanis prior to leaving, so all the stuff they left behind was theirs, not ours. Boy, I feel a lot better knowing that.

Peace to all of you on this most holy of holidays. Better days are coming, just might be awhile.

Lookin' Pretty

 

I got the carb and manifold bolted up to the Slant-Six yesterday. I might have been a bit premature making that brass plate. It looks like the best way to hook up the throttle cable is to make a bell crank. That way the throttle cable will be pulling rather than pushing. I can make a short link to do the pushing. Now I need to find a fitting that will attach to the ball fitting on the carb. Instead of the brass plate, I can make a plate to fasten the bell crank to and bolt it to the manifold using the same mounting holes as the brass plate.

I'll also have to do a bit of head scratching to get the fuel line and the choke cable sorted but that should be pretty straight forward. I also need to finish the steering before too much longer to make sure my design is actually going to work. 

I need to finish the vintage trials bike this year and get a few other things knocked out - not getting any younger.

Spring Storms +

 

Big storm blew through during the early morning hours yesterday. Lots of thunder and lightning - enough to wake me up and keep me awake. I fell back asleep later and it was close to 70 degrees when I woke up. It cooled off dramatically in the afternoon and was supposed to get close to freezing last night. Bad timing for my magnolia trees. Hopefully, I'll get to enjoy something besides brown flowers that have been frost bit. The fruit trees should be OK as long as the weather warms up and we don't have anymore cold nights.

I stayed busy yesterday diddle-dickin' around with a couple of odds jobs, phone calls and text messages. I laced up a new bladder in a speed bag from the gym. That'll be the last time for this one. The top loop and flap is about shot. I bought a new bag not too long ago - should have bought two while I was ordering. This Title bag is my preferred bag in the 6x9 size. Even though I've slowed down some over the years, I can still make it sing. 

I made it out to the shop later in the day and made a blank-off plate for the Jitney manifold. I'm planning on painting the manifold silver to match the engine block and I'm thinking the brass plate will be a nice touch. The studs are just to check the fit. I'm thinking some stainless button heads will look good on there. If I can think of something clever, I might see about getting the plate engraved and polishing it up. Maybe get ambitious and engine turn it. If I don't like how it looks after painting the manifold, I'll use the brass one as a pattern and make one out of aluminum or stainless.

As long as the storms stay away, I'll try and get out to the shop and get some more progress on the car today. I've got some yard and garden work to do, but that'll have to wait until it dries out.

Carb & Adaptor

 

I finished the machine work on the adaptor plate yesterday. I got off to a slow start due to a big storm passing through that knocked the power out for a bit. The generator kicked on but I wasn't going to run out to the shop in the rain, and I don't like putting a big load on the generator. Regardless, I got the machine work finished. I still need to round the corners off on the plate and do a little work with the die grinder on the manifold, but definitely would call this progress. I'll get that taken care of, bolt the manifold on, and then see what I need to do to hook up the throttle and choke linkage, and the fuel line. When I get that figured out I'll clean up the manifold again and then paint it. 

Most everything in the shop was sweating while I was working out there - seemed to get worse after I opened up the big door as the day wore on. One of the rites of spring. I took some time to clean everything off out there and sprayed WD-40 on most of the metal surfaces. Usually, the sweating only lasts for a day or two, but it's not the kind of thing you want to have on your machine tools.

Welding Month

April is National Welding Month. You'd be hard pressed to go through your day without coming into contact with something that has been welded. There's been a lot of progress in the trade since the days of forge welding - been a lot of changes in the 50 plus years I've been involved in it and there are always new developments coming along. It's a good time for a young man or woman to get into the trade. Lots of opportunities, lots of different job titles to consider. Literally, something for everyone in the welding field. Also, a good skill to have when things go sideways, which they are sure to do in the near future.

After my doctor's appointment, I stopped at the auto parts store and picked up the studs for the carb adaptor plate. The lock nuts and the SAE washers I had in inventory. I got started on boring the angled holes in the plate - one hole is done, the other side has a good start on it. I should finish boring it out today. Making progress, even if it is a bit slow. 

Johnny Story

 

TCM had the movie Psycho on the other night, which got me to thinking about my brother Johnny. Way back when, Psycho was on television and he and I were home alone. He couldn't have been more than about ten years old at the time. John was perched in a chair next to me with a bowl of popcorn in his lap. I was sitting in a Captain's chair with broad, flat arms, with my elbows resting on a 2x4 wooden block my dad had sanded down as part of a set for our younger brother. When Anthony Perkins comes out dressed up as his mother and is about to slash the detective, I slammed the block down on the arm of the chair. Johnny lets out a scream, popcorn goes flying and his hair stands on end. Only time in my life I've ever seen that. 

Which brings me to Maggie's Farm. When living at home, we always had a big garden. When the song came out Johnny switched the word Maggie out with our mother's name and would sing the song when out weeding the garden. He'll have been gone 11 years on the first of May. I miss that boy. We'd have a lot to talk about these days.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, laid in some supplies yesterday morning for an Easter feed as well as stocking the pantry for the coming hard times. Afterwards, I started boring the holes in the carb adaptor plate. They're bored at a 20 degree angle. The holes need to be 1-1/4" in diameter, but the largest end mill I have is 1", so I'll finish the hole using an adjustable boring head to get the finished size. A little slower, but it should do the job.

I decided to paint the regulator cover. The Depression era solution to making the cover is one thing, but it was a bit too shabby looking even though it won't get seen by maybe three or four people, tops. I'm going to caulk the seam on the top. I would have done that yesterday, but I didn't have any caulk.

I've got a doctor's visit this morning. His office is almost right across the street from the auto parts store, so I'm going to see if I can get the studs I need for the carb adaptor while I'm in the neighborhood.

The bout sheet for this week's Golden Gloves tourney should be posted this afternoon, so I'll find out if I'm going to Indy again this week. The gym has two guys left in the tourney, the 156 pounder I took to Detroit, and a super-heavy weight competitor. There's three more nights of competition. I don't want to have to go down there all three nights, but I'm going for sure when the 156 pounder fights.

Mish-Mash

 

It was close to 60 degrees yesterday morning at 10:00. The day before it was 28. It warmed up to about 66 later on and then about 4:30 a big storm rolled through. But things are starting to bloom, so spring is definitely coming.

The wife's footstool had one end break off, so I made a new end, screwed it on and added a couple of metal angle brackets that I screwed to the ends and the stretcher. The paint doesn't match, but that's not an issue.

The regulator on the propane tank that I heat the shop with is supposed to be covered for outdoor service. I had a small plastic bucket covering it but it gave it up after a couple of seasons. 

New cover made from coffee cans. Metal coffee cans are in short supply around here since we started using the K cups. The big can was a donation from Cuzzin Ricky, but the only small ones I had were plastic or tin lined fiber. I swapped out the contents of the old Maxwell House can with a plastic one and then did some cutting and riveting to make a cover that should last for a few years. If I get ambitious, I might even paint it. That would probably make it good for a lifetime.

I had another little job I was going to work on as well, but I didn't want to get caught out in the shop when the rain came in. Heading back to Indy today for a sparring session. The coach there was at the fights Thursday night and saw our guy. We want to get his take on the fight and see what he can add to improve our guy's performance. Hopefully, it will result in another state championship and a trip to the nationals again.