Head West, Old Man

That'll be me in a few days. Cuzzin Ricky and I are headed west on our train trip and we're planning on making a stop at Bonneville. I'd really like to be there when the speed trials are going on but sometimes you just have to settle for a little less than what you really want. Hopefully I can make it out that way again some day.

Tripping

I went in to the college the other day to attend a meeting with the accreditation team. I'm an advisory committee member for the welding program, and as it happens, the only one who wasn't working during the day. As I was going in I came across this beauty in the parking lot. I'm pretty sure it belongs to a former department head who held classes in the lab where I used to work as a tech. I don't know where he got his money, but I like the way he spends it. I saw an old E-Type the other day also. It was a maroon 2+2. Still my dream car.

I got the sandblast cabinet back operational, did a little welding job for Surly, cut the grass, and rode the Royal Enfield up to the travel agent to pick up the tickets for the trip out west yesterday. It was a beautiful day for a ride. In fact, one of the guys I did the Cowboy Trail with last year stopped by on his motor bike while I was out mowing. He said he was planning a trip to the Barber Museum soon. That's something I'd like to do as well. I did make an inquiry of the travel agent about an Isle of Man trip while I was there. She had no clue about the Isle of Man, so I might have to take my inquiry some where else. I'm thinking real seriously about taking that trip - either the TT or the Manx. I'm leaning towards the Manx with all the classic bikes. I sent Surly an e-mail about it. We'll have to discuss it and see what he comes up with as far as vacation time, which event and all that. It'd be real nice if we could make the trip together.

I got the dope on baggage limits for the train trip when I picked up the tickets. Not near as restrictive as air travel for carry on luggage so I put the wheels and handle back on my suitcase. I probably could have left them on since I saw others carry on bags much larger but both times I have flown recently, there was a box that your carry-on was supposed to fit in. If it didn't fit you had to check it. Mine wouldn't have fit with the wheels and handle attached, so I drilled the rivets out and put screws in the holes to keep the bag from coming apart. It's back together again now with acorn nuts on the screws on the inside of the bag to keep from snagging anything. Time to start packing - already made a trip to the liquor start. Clothes come next. All about priorities.

Eggs

But no longer - finally!

The two smaller eggs are from the new chickens or chicken. The other one is from our Rhode Island Red for a comparison. That one would be classed as an X-large or Jumbo. The new girls should be putting out some larger ones after they're in production for a while. I was thinking they should've been kicking out eggs before now but we normally have more than we can use with just the one hen producing, so we haven't had to buy eggs. Plus my brother sent several dozen home with me when I went out to Kansas to pick up the new pullets. Of course I've been buying feed for the freeloading slackers, but they're more pets than anything else - cheaper than a horse, that's for sure. And when the SHTF, we'll be able to eat eggs everyday to keep us going, cholesterol be damned.

Country Music

We've been watching the Ken Burns' Country Music documentary. Last night's show came on right after the Emmy preview the Missus was watching on another channel. I knew most of the people featured on the country music show but knew only a couple of the people on the Emmy show. In fact, I haven't seen any of the shows that were up for awards. I'm sure some of the shows are worth watching but I refuse to watch all of the commercials that take up at least one-third of the viewing time. I do watch some of the old television shows from the fifties - which have fewer commercials and if you order now you'll get another one of these amazing gadgets for free and free shipping.

On my first bicycle tour my buddy and I stayed at a bike hostel on the Katy Trail in Missouri. Right next door was a little bar where we went to get us a beer and a sandwich after we got bedded in for the night. After the sun went down they started doing Karaoke. After a few others sang the bartender came over to us and said we're up next. I'd never sang Karaoke before, or since as far as that goes, but when in Rome and all that, so I sang Tiger by the Tail by Buck Owens and Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire if I remember correctly.

Kind of reinforces the point about the effect Country Music has had on everyone. I grew up listening to rock & roll and Motown stuff on WLS and WCFL out of Chicago, but I could have sung both of those "Country" songs without the Karaoke book. I could listen to those country tunes from the 50's and 60's all day long.

Porcupine

I got the new sump installed on the sandblast cabinet. I was able to make it out of one piece, with just a little welding on a couple of corners. Rather than welding the new piece on to the blast cabinet, I riveted it. I fastened it on with Clecos first to make sure I had a good fit and so I could know where to caulk the mating edges. Pretty much used all of my Clecos. I should probably buy some more one of these days. I'm sure I'll be doing more sheet metal work in the future.

Finished sump all riveted, caulked and painted. It's a bit hard to tell from the photo but the white blob in the middle is the PVC pipe cap for the drain. I picked up some new hose for the pick-up feed but it's a little small in diameter. It's reinforced clear tubing, so I don't know if I can heat it up and get it to slide on or not. I'll get out in the shop and see if I can make it happen. It'll be nice if I can get the tubing to fit so I can wrap this project up. I've got a couple of things to blast.

I took the Missus to the hospital for some blood work the other day. Everything came back fine, so the cancer is still in remission. Good news there, by golly! She goes to the oncologist this week, but that should be a mere formality.

Birthdays

Sophia's birthday. If you don't know what the attraction is, you've obviously never seen Boy On A Dolphin.

Hank the First had a birthday earlier this week. He never had too many of them, unfortunately. The older I get the less important celebrating the day of my birth is. I just want to keep having them. I can feel myself slowing down a bit but I haven't kept up with my cycling and walking so that might explain part of it. I have been doing some strength training but I sure don't feel very damn strong after coming home from working a 10 hour day. I suppose there aren't too many people who do though.

Here's wishing all of you out there a happy birthday, whenever the day comes around, and many more in the future,

Project Update

I made five of these over the weekend. It took me longer than it should have because I didn't have access to the prototype I had made previously. I was going to bring it home and use it as a pattern but the guy had it in his vehicle and was still on the road when I left Friday. The only thing left for me to do is stencil the company name on the tote and lid and they'll go into service.

The weather's been nice the last couple of days. I cleaned up the woodshop after making a mess on the company job and then started cleaning the main shop proper so I could finish the sandblasting cabinet.

I got the new drain outlet welded in and all the metal removed that needed to be removed. The new outlet is 1-1/2" pipe and is facing straight down. The old outlet was about half that diameter and came off the side - it was pretty close to useless. This should make changing the grit or cleaning out the sump much simpler.

I've got the new sump piece all ready to fasten in. Maybe get that done today. I need to mow the back yard and a couple of other things also. I did a little maintenance on the mower yesterday before I mowed the front yard - sharp blades, clean pre-filter, tire pressure check. About six more weeks it'll be time to put it away for the season. That sure won't bother me but it also means, as always,  I need to pick up the pace a bit to get a few more things done before the snow flies.

The power went out a couple of days ago and the new generator kicked in like it was supposed to. I'm thinking we might need it this winter - all the signs are pointing to a tough one.