Pluggin' Away

 

Harley Shovelhead with a real "peanut" tank. I'm no fan of that tank, but otherwise I like the bike. If I was going to be real nit-picky, I'd change the seat - lower it down into the angle of the frame so the fender would stop your butt from sliding back under acceleration. Beautiful bike just the same. Probably can't tell from the photo, but the frame and fender are a nice color of green. 

I put the kill switch on the trials bike yesterday. If the pigtail that came with it was just a couple of inches longer, it would have eliminated a splice. No biggie, not going to be much wiring anyway - just an ignition circuit and a couple of wires keeping the battery charged up. I'll get the coil swapped out from the tractor in the next couple of days. 

I started on the motorcycle radiator job yesterday as well. I got the two fittings cut off and took some measurements for making the two plugs as well as what it's going to take to hook up the filler neck. All of the pieces will be easy enough to make but keeping everything else cool enough while welding is going to be the challenge.

Production has slowed down lately due to the cold weather, cardiac rehab and the fact the Missus has shingles. She's been dealing with that for a couple of weeks now, leaving me as chief cook and bottle washer. She's over the worst of it, thank goodness. The old girl's been miserable.

I've got a couple of other projects I need to add to the list. One's pretty easy, just a bit of lathe work. The other will require a shovel and concrete, in addition to some fab work. No hurry on either of them, just tidying up a couple of loose ends. 

Update

 It seems the video about the safe deposit boxes was bogus. I did a bit of searching and came up with nothing in the way of confirmation. I talked to my financial advisor on another matter and then asked him about it. He hadn't heard anything. Surly sent me an email and called BS on the thing saying it was AI generated fearmongering. 

So, sorry if I sent anyone down the wrong track. However, at this point, nothing would surprise me with the banking industry.

The Time Has Come

If you have a safety deposit box at the bank, the time has come for you to watch this here, and do it before March 1st.

The video is about 25 minutes in length but definitely worth watching the whole thing. I didn't look for anything else to verify it, but I've watched a couple other videos by the author and he seems to be very well informed and legitimate. And if you're as paranoid as I am, this will take it up another notch. I try to avoid much in the way of politics, but once again I say, follow the Constitution and keep your hand out of my pocket. Simple enough.

Parts

 

My shipment came in with the trials bike parts and the heat sink putty. The kill switch is supposed to be waterproof. I don't know if that'll ever be a necessity, but for the bargain basement price of $7.00, why not? I ordered a new coil with a resistor because I'm going to put it on the tractor. The one I swapped out a couple years ago is chrome plated and a little larger in diameter. I already have the bracket made for the bike to fit the larger OD, and the chrome is a little out of place on the old Allis.

The heat sink putty isn't really putty at the present time. I took the cap off and it's not quite hard as a rock, but it's going to take a little work to get it useable. I put some water in the jar and "stirred" it up. If I can't get it pliable, I'll send it back and try something else. Regardless, I'll work on cutting off the two pieces of the radiator and make the patches and the transition piece for the filler neck.

This & That

I finished my first full week of rehab yesterday. It's run well, the people are friendly and I'm getting stronger, especially my upper body. And, since all of us clients are old farts, they play classic rock while we are working the machines. I heard this one and thought to myself it's rare that I hear a Beach Boys tune on any of the music I listen to, and I don't think I've ever posted a Beach Boys tune here on the blog. One of my favorites.

I would imagine that's a photo taken at the end of the trip after responding to a rough one. The locals came to the shack a while back after my wife fell and broke her wrist. Easy one for them - they put a temporary splint on her and helped me get her into the car and I took her to the hospital. And my recent trip from the dentist to the hospital was pretty easy for those guys also. They started a couple of IVs and took my vitals. No blood or guts involved in either trip. The crews were probably thankful that they were nothing like what the guy in the photo had just gone through. That's nothing I'd want to do for a living. I'm real thankful there are people willing to do it, however. God bless each and every one of you.

Not that it's going to make any difference, but since it's tax season, might as well vent a little. I wouldn't mind paying federal tax on wages, but on interest income and Social Security? No way. If I would have been allowed to invest mine and my employer's contributions to my Social Security account, I think I could have been a lot better off. Plus, any chunk of money left over after I died would have been able to go to my heirs. If I go first now, the Missus will get my check but will have to forfeit hers. Just one of several reasons why the Libertarian Party is looking better all the time. Follow the Constitution and keep your hand out of my pocket - simple enough. 

Yesterday would have been my Dad's 106th birthday. He only made it to 74, so he's been gone awhile now. You don't get to pick your parents, but I was lucky with who I got. Also, speaking of birthdays, the grandson turned 21 this week - gainfully employed, completed his technical certificate at the community college and is now working on getting his Associate degree. The Missus and I are very proud of him.

 

False Spring

 

Yesterday we had a "false spring" here abouts as well. Sun was shining and the temps were in the sixties. It was rather breezy, but no complaints from me. I did my stint at rehab, came home and cut some firewood and then split it. I've still got some more to split but the chunks were heavier than I wanted to try loading up on the splitter by myself. I figured my chest was going to be sore after pulling on the starter ropes on the chain saw and splitter, especially after doing some of the rehab exercises, so I'll wait until I get a little help for those.

It's looking like the weather will be more seasonable, so I'm planning on a little shop work and getting started on my taxes. I'm curious as to how much of a break I'll get this year since the Big Beautiful Bill is supposed to give those of us receiving Social Security a break. With a decent refund I'll be able to invest in more car and motorcycle parts. Progress on the Projects - needs to be the mantra for the year.

Trials & Tribulations

 

After posting the Little Feat cut the other day, I figured another one off the Waiting for Columbus album wouldn't hurt. And, of course, most anything by the Band is always good, especially if the second shooter on the grassy knoll is doing the vocals - you had to see the movie to get the reference.

I went on a search mission yesterday for a couple of items. First up was the heat absorbing paste for the motorcycle radiator job. They put up a plumbing supply within walking distance of me over the summer, so I was hoping to get lucky there. However, not only did they not have it, the counterman had never heard of it. 

Next up was the hardware store for a couple of clevis pins for the shift linkage on the trials bike. I needed two 1/4" dia. x 1" long. They didn't have any short ones, but they did have a couple 2" long that had a series of holes for the cotter keys so they could be cut to fit. That works but the little darlings were $2.99 each - ACE = Always Costs Extra.

After fitting up the shift linkage I started looking for the coil and plug wire. I couldn't find either one of them. The coil that was on the bike I put on the tractor when I was having trouble with the spark a few years back. The coil wasn't the issue, so I just left the bike coil on the tractor and put the other one heaven only knows where. Likewise, the plug wire. I'm going to take another look around for them but if the coil doesn't show up soon, I'll just order another one. I bought new plug wires for the Sportster, so I can use one of the old ones for the trials bike. It'll all come together one of these days.