Enjoying the Indian Summer Weather

[BHU]

Nov 9, 2020 16:03:34 GMT -5 Clipper said:

How did the brake job go BHU? I sure was a beautiful day up there to get it done. We only went about 4 degrees higher here. It was 79 when I came inside a little while ago. I enjoyed the entire day outside in the sun. I washed the truck, gave it a pre-winter coat of wax, shampooed the mats and detailed the inside.

I just finished burning off all the weeds in the garden with my propane flame thrower torch. Kathy says I smelled like I had been camping. I gave her my clothes and jumped in the rain locker for a quick shower. Just now sat down to the desk here with a cup of coffee to rest a minute before I go pick up a pizza for supper.

After all that sunshine and fresh air I think it is a pretty safe bet that I will fall asleep for a quick power nap in my chair sometime shortly after Jeopardy tonight.

It went well Clipper, thanks. The brakes are screwy on this car. It's a Toyota Camry. Last spring she said she heard a scraping noise coming from drivers side rear. I pulled the tire & sure enough, the pads were shot. Went to parts store, bought brake pads & two rotors. I did the drivers side & moved to passenger side & the damn pads & rotor were like new. This time, the total opposite. Passenger side pads & the rotor were shot, drivers side like new. I figured they were but pulled the tire just to be sure. I checked the calipers & they were fine. I dunno. I saved the two pads from last spring, so all I had to buy was the rotor & some caliper grrease. I lost the tube I bought last spring, must have grown legs. So, with the discount from Retailmenot.com the job cost me about $60. plus a scraped knuckle which I got out of the way as soon as I started. Lol. It was a perfect day for the job. I started out wearing a hoodie which I  ended up taking off & was down to a sweatshirt before I was done. Tomorrow they're saying a high of 72, so we may hang Xmas lights outside instead of freezing half to death later this month doing it.

[Deleted]

BHU were you a car mechanic when working? I wouldn't know the first place to start to change brake mechanisms in a car! Hell I barely knew where the glove compartment was!

[BHU]

Nov 9, 2020 21:03:11 GMT -5 @turd said:

BHU were you a car mechanic when working? I wouldn't know the first place to start to change brake mechanisms in a car! Hell I barely knew where the glove compartment was!

No, wasen't a mechanic. I just picked up over the years a few skills. I'm no ace mechanic by any means & there are some vehicle repairs that I won't touch. About a month ago I had new rear shocks installed on my truck because I will not crawl under a vehicle to work on it. I don't trust jack stands or anything else. Harbor Freight right now has a recall on their jack stands because the damn things are defective. Too many people get killed or maimed for life working under vehicles without taking the proper precautions. 

[Clipper]

I don't crawl under vehicles anymore either BHU. Back when I was in my 40's I had a little old Fiat station wagon that I had bought from an airman at Griffiss who was transferring overseas and couldn't take it with him. It was an economical little car to just drive back and forth to work. I had to replace the in-line electric fuel pump that was mounted in front of the tank on the rear axle. I jacked it up with an old fashioned bumper jack and placed two blocks of firewood under the axle to hold it up.

The car rolled forward and came off the blocks and the rear axle was sitting on my chest. Thank goodness it was such a light little puddle jumper. I was able to bench press the rear of the car up high enough for my son to stick the blocks back under. Thank God it wasn't Buick, lol.

[Clipper]

Rainy, hot and sticky day here today. No working in the garden today. Showers are on and off. I am going to go out and clean the gutters between showers. The rain last night and this morning brought down a lot more leaves from those trees that were still hanging on to them. Then I will hook up the little trailer and bring the bagging attachment back down from the storage building up in back, and re-install it so I can do the leaves again. Thank goodness it goes on and off much easier than the one I had for the old tractor. Takes about 5 minutes. It was a pain in the butt to assemble the first time, with a box full of steel and a couple of bags full of nuts, bolts, clips and pins but it goes on and off pretty easy. It will be just in time to dump the mulched leaves on the garden so I don't have to haul any back from across the road.

[BHU]

Nov 11, 2020 11:14:36 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I don't crawl under vehicles anymore either BHU. Back when I was in my 40's I had a little old Fiat station wagon that I had bought from an airman at Griffiss who was transferring overseas and couldn't take it with him. It was an economical little car to just drive back and forth to work. I had to replace the in-line electric fuel pump that was mounted in front of the tank on the rear axle. I jacked it up with an old fashioned bumper jack and placed two blocks of firewood under the axle to hold it up.

The car rolled forward and came off the blocks and the rear axle was sitting on my chest. Thank goodness it was such a light little puddle jumper. I was able to bench press the rear of the car up high enough for my son to stick the blocks back under. Thank God it wasn't Buick, lol.

When I had my Ford pickup I jacked it up to check the front brakes using a floor jack. I got it up high eough & was just about to pull the tire off when that damn jack rolled & down came the truck with the tire jammed in the wheel well, the lug nuts were off. That was the end of that jack. I beat on it with a sledge hammer so no one else could use it & tossed it out front garbage nite for the scrappers to take. Lol

[Deleted]

Rain all day so far here in Youtica and a little humid. CENTRO will be once again closing its ticket office in Utica. Must have something to do with COVID. Ridership is also down which is good for me!!!!!!!

In other news Bosnian Security apprehended a shop lifter at Walmart. With police involvement the criminal was captured in parking lot and placed in handcuffs.

Those stealing should be placed in this device and allowed shoppers passing by to throw rotten tomatoes at them.

[Clipper]

Brrrr! The cold weather has set in here in the last couple of days. Damned blood thinners. I have to bundle up like I was going snowmobiling just to take the dog out in the morning. It was only in the 20's when I got up this morning. I put the dog in the fenced back yard and watched her while hiding from the wind, while I cowered in the carport.

I told Kathy that I have to buy a hoodie. I have never liked them much but I think I would like one in order to be able to have something that I can wear to keep the wind off my neck and to pull up around my face with the draw string if necessary. I can't believe how inordinately cold I get in recent times. I may have to buy the dog a cell phone and train her to call me when she is ready to come back in so I can put her out and hide out in the house until she is done doing her business, haha. " Hi dad, this is Candy. I peed and I am ready to come in for my biscuit now." LOL

[Deleted]

[Clipper]

LOL!

[Clipper]

A bit nippy this morning but going to 64 later. I see that NY is going to be pretty close to that also. As soon as it warms a bit more I have to take my little Earthquake tiller to my go-to small engine guy to get it tuned up. It wouldn't start yesterday and I need to use it to till in some more leaf mulch in the garden.

The plan is to spend the day out in the yard and garden. I will run the tractor around to mulch and bag the remaining leaves, hopefully for the last time this season. We have one large oak that drops it's leaves late and often hangs onto a few all winter long.

Thanksgiving is sneaking up quickly. Tomorrow I will take the turkey breast out of the freezer in the garage to thaw in the refrigerator. We keep our refrigerator quite cold so it takes a long time to thaw things in it. I am sure that come Monday Kathy will be busy in the kitchen. She plans on two pumpkin pies, two apple pies, and a pistachio cake with whipped cream frosting. She always bakes extra pies when we have the couple across the road over for holiday meals so that they can take one of each flavor pie home with them.

I guess this will be one of those years when we see warm weather right up into early December. No complaints here. I spent the day on Friday teaching my sister how to back up a camping trailer. Neither she or her husband have ever backed up a trailer. They are going camping on Monday for 3 days at a local state park. They just bought the trailer recently and have been chomping at the bit to try it out.

I hope everyone up there in NY is able to get out and enjoy the last few days of fall weather before it begins to snow and stay cold.

[BHU]

Yesterday we got our Xmas lights hung outside with temps in the upper 50's. Glad thats out of the way. Today it's in the 40's & cloudy. Good luck with your garden project. Today we got our bill from MVWA, $308. for 3 months. Unbelievable. Between MVWA raising rates twice a year every year & Picente & Palmeiri constantly raising sewer rates, it's getting to the point where it's not cost effective for me to have a garden, especially with the dry summer like we had this year & having to water it a couple times a week. If they raise rates again in April which they've been doing every year for the past 10 I won't have a garden. I'll have a few container plantings & that's it. I'd rather give my money to local farmers then continue to be gouged by a bunch of political hacks. They're robbing us blind.

[Clipper]

We don't have sewer here in the country. Just a monthly water bill. It usually runs between 30 and 40 dollars a month and that is WITH watering the garden. Kathy washes at least one small load of clothes every day and we run the dishwasher every night even though it is never close to full. I take long hot showers after I work outside all day, to take the aches out of the old body. I guess if we still lived up there we would have to be cutting back. That is a ridiculous cost for water and sewer.

I accomplished everything I wanted to get done today. My small engine guy got the tiller running for me in about 5 minutes and didn't even charge me. I will know what to do if it happens again. He took the air filter off, primed the carb with carb cleaner and got it to fire. One more priming and it took off.

I ran the tiller through the garden twice. Once in each direction, lengthwise and then crosswise. The small tiller turns a lot faster than the big Craftsman. It did a great job of chopping the leaf mulch up and mixed it well with the soil. Garden has been put to bed for the winter. I raked all the remaining leaves out of the corners and away from the fences, and mulched them up with the mower and took them across the road and dumped them. That is the end of the leaves for this year. Then I broke out the pressure washer and pressure washed both tillers, the push mower, my wheelbarrow, and the truck. I sharpened the chain on the chain saw, filled everything with gas treated with stabilizer, and put all the summer stuff to bed for the winter. I am a firm believer in putting everything away fully serviced, filled with fuel and oil, and ready to start when I pull the starter cord or turn the key.

Now if when we get warm days I will be looking for something to do outside. My sister walks around the lake in our local park so maybe I will start walking with her. There are over 10 miles of trails with lots of benches for old farts like me to sit and rest on, haha. Sometimes people take a sandwich and a coffee or soda and walk 2 or 3 miles, stop and have their little lunch and then walk back 2 or 3 miles or so. (I will have to buy a little backpack big enough to hold my thermos of coffee, a sandwich and maybe a rain poncho.)

[BHU]

I think I have the same tiller you have. Bought mine at Lowes last fall & it was a good investment. I also winterize my small engines with Stabil. I had a hell of a time starting it to let the stabilizer run thru it. Looks like I'll be doing to the carb what you described come spring.

[Clipper]

I love my little tiller. Especially for a quick cultivating job between rows. I will enjoy it much more now that I know the secret to starting it when it has sat for a long time.

I actually took a small engine repair and maintenance course at BOCES in Verona years ago. I still have all the specialized tools to do a complete overhaul on Briggs & Stratton or Tecumseh engines. The valve spring tools, ring compressors for reinserting a piston into the cylinder, the cylinder honing tool, flywheel wrench, etc. I wouldn't know where to start anymore. The new engines have electronic ignition so there is no longer a magneto and ignition points and I would not have any idea how to set the timing. I don't have the patience for that kind of work anymore anyway.

Today the project on tap is to go down to my sister's house and show her and her husband how to light the pilot lights and operate the furnace and hot water heater on their new camper. They are going camping tomorrow for three days at local state park just because they are chomping at the bit to get a trip in before they put the trailer up for the winter. I spent about an hour yesterday teaching them to procedure for hooking up and unhooking the trailer. Simple tasks like insuring that the hitch is latched onto the ball, stabilizer jacks are stowed, power cord is properly inserted so it won't come out of the plug, etc.

They both have zero mechanical knowledge or ability. It is just a completely new experience for them both. and a learning experience. They are both school teachers and just have never had interest in learning anything about mechanical stuff. If the car has a problem they take it to the mechanic. If they have a a dripping faucet they either call me or a plumber. If the oil needs changing in the mower they put it in the trunk and take it to the shop. When I come home today I will bring their lawn mower so I can change the oil and air filter and fill it with stabilized gas.

I made them a detailed checklist of hooking up and unhooking the trailer just to insure that they can do it safely until they get used to the procedure. Heck, I still use a checklist to insure that everything is done properly, everything is stowed for travel etc.