Repeat After Me.....He's OK, Still Here, Yes He's Busy.....

 Goodness, I really should post more. I probably will once Winter sets in, but for now, I'm still catching up on Things I Couldn't Get Done in 2023.

The snow blower is #1 on the priority list. I have to get it running, and burn out the 2-year old gas in it. Then change the oil, and refill it with fresh gas with StaBil from my one gallon can, which I fill from my five gallon can, which is now sitting empty, and has to be refilled. 

So, Tuesday will be pretty busy between the Dump Run we're going to make, a trip to Home Depot to replenish some consumable supplies and pick up a few things, a stop at the auto parts store for some other consumables, then stopping for gas in the truck and gas cans. And depending on where and when, we'll probably stop for a late lunch.

WHEW!

Yes, I used to be able to do all this before lunch, and I marvel at how I did it. But that was then, and this is now. I ain't griping or anything....I give thanks  every  single  day  that I can still do it effectively, even if a bit slower.

Sorry, no eye candy. I'm doing busy doing things to stop and take pretty pix!

May you all be vigilant, safe, and prosperous!

Finally Friday!

 And I now have a functional PC with a new 4TB Solid-State Drive, and a fresh installation of Kubuntu 24.04 Long Term Support. It's also much quieter as the fans on the video card aren't screaming at full speed trying to keep the card cool. The Root Cause appears to be a leak from a failed soldered connection on one of the four heat pipes used in the heat sink assembly. Oh, well.....I built this rig in 2012, so I definitely got my money's worth out of the video card.

The money I budgeted to upgrade this PC will be used on the workshop PC, and a National Instruments IEEE-488/GPIB Interface board so I can automate my HP test equipment.

Have a great weekend, and keep your pagers and walkie-talkies wrapped in aluminum foil.....

NOT the Motherboard!

 In a last ditch attempt to verify the problem was with the motherboard, I pulled out the video card I was using, and used the built-in video on the motherboard.

Holy Smokes! It's been running for several hours now, and hasn't locked-up once.

One thing I noticed the other day when I was under the hood was that a corner of the video board looked like it had oil dripped on it. I just looked at it under magnification, and one of the heat pipes on it had sprung a leak, and the coolant (silicone oil, I believe) leaked out. Why the hard drive was active during the lock-ups remains unknown. I suppose the video could have locked up the PCIe bus by sending out garbage and hanging up the bus, but I have no way of testing for that.

I still need to upgrade this computer in the workshop, so the $$ budgeted for my main PC can be put towards that.

Now I have to transfer all my stuff from the hard drive that was in that PC to the new Solid State hard drive I put in it.

Hang in there, it's Wednesday, and that means it's all downhill to the weekend. And we're forecast to have a VERY wet (1~2") weekend!

Testing 1....2....3....

 Trying to post from the basement shop PC. My main PC appears to have a terminally ill motherboard.

Posting/Commenting Issues Solved.....and One for Phil.....

 By dumping Firefox. I've been using Firefox since Netscape morphed into it, and I've been very content until lately. It started refusing to post comments on any Blogger site due to "Cross-Site Tracking Cookies", and I couldn't even reply on my own blog. It was also running slow, and randomly locking up, sometimes tying up so many System Resources that it was very difficult to use the mouse and keyboard.

So now I've switched over to Falkon, a more "lightweight" browser. And in the middle of this, I did a major OS update, and forgot to plug the PC into the wired network. BAM! Lost my wireless connection, and spent a couple of days getting that squared away. I'd really rather have a wired connection to the router, as I was getting 750MB download speeds with very low latency (no lag monster), and I max out at 25MB on the 2.4GHz wireless link, and 75MB on the 5GHz wireless link. I'll have to check the specs on our 7 year old router, and my equally old wireless adapter and see where the bottleneck is.

And as usual for this time of year, I'm really busy. I have a ton of year-old Didn't Get Done things to take care of, and after all the ups and downs and recovery time of last year I'm making up for it as best I can. Between watching a grandson or two, cutting up a bunch of firewood, yardwork, attending family gatherings, a HoneyDew list that never ends, and working on my own projects.

Repairs on my friend's Fisher SR-2010 are continuing at a slow pace. After finding capacitors in the Amplifier section that were running Danger Close to their maximum ratings I started going through the schematic looking for others, and found half-a-dozen more "At Risk" capacitors, so I'm going to change them, too. They're "$2 Parts that cost $100 to fix", so out they go!

And here's the one for Phil I promised.....

Nice clean, shiny, NEW water pump, timing belt, tensioner, and spring. And everything around them is getting a good scrub, and paint touch-up where required.

I do love working with nice, clean, shiny stuff. Getting here is a lot of tedious, time-consuming work, but oh so worth it.

Enjoy your weekend, use your time wisely, and always stay in Condition Yellow. I have a feeling things might get a bit spicy in the next few months.....I just wonder how BIG a cheat The Evil Ones are planning to pull off come November.......

Posting and Commenting Issues....

 Awwwww.....CRUD!

Having trouble posting comments on other blogs, and even my own blog. It appears to be a setting in Firefox that blocks "Cross-Site Cookies", which is how Blogger remembers who you are on different pages.

So bear with me if my comments don't appear to new posts. If it's a WordPress blog, I can comment, but Blogger won't allow me. Really frustrating, and I'm working the problem.

Still Here, Still Busy!

"Busy As A........" pick your favorite term......

I really should post more often, considering the medical issues I had all last year. 

Anywhoo.....

Between having the grandsons twice a week, with an overnight on Friday or Saturday, doing yard work, working on my friend's Fisher SR-2010, and banging away on My Old Toyota, I haven't the time, or inclination, to do much posting.

If I could get maybe two per cent of the energy the little ones have, I could get more done.....

Enjoy the weekend, check your six, and God Bless y'all...

Trouble In The Skies?

 Every so often when I'm checking my PiAware ADSB receiver/display I'll notice an aircraft with a flight path that catches my eye. I watched all the aerial tankers and observation aircraft during the recent Alexander Mountain fire. And I see an occasional EC-135 Rivet Joint from Offutt AFB on a training flight.

This American Airlines flight originated at DFW, and was supposed to land in Eagle, Colorado, a fair bit Northwest of us.

Somewhere on his path he diverted to Denver. He enters an oval "Race Track" pattern, and then is directed to a longer, narrower Race Track, which he orbited several times. He then heads out quite a ways to the Northwest, turns and heads back to Denver, gets in the pattern, and lands. 

Kinda looks like something went wrong. Medical Emergency, or Aircraft problems? He didn't squawk 7700, so it wasn't a MAYDAY situation.

If you hear anything about AA1245, let me know.

Been 95+ and muggy the last several days. Yesterday and today's weather Radar showed some thunderstorm activity in the immediate area, and today it looked significant. We didn't even get any sprinkles here, but as long as it rained in the burn area, I'm good with it.

Got all the lamps, the electrolytic capacitors, and the burned resistors changed out in the Fisher RS-2010, and as soon as I figure out a bunch of components NOT on the schematic or parts list are doing, I'll annotate my schematics, and carry on.

Stay hydrated, my friends, and always keep the old noggin on a swivel...

More on the Alexander Mountain Fire

 It's up over 9,000 acres now, about 14.5 miles in area, and roughly 8% contained.

Compared to Fort Collins, it's big.

But not nearly as big as the Cameron Peak fire in 2020, which was 208,000 acres.

My "PiAware" setup is working perfectly, allowing me to see where the air traffic for the fire is headed.

Prayers for the Firefights and flight crews.

Big Fire Near Masonville, CO

 It was first reported at 1100 yesterday. It's currently about 1,000 Acres, and 0% contained. USDA Forest Service has taken over, and Larimer County Fire, and probably everybody they can round up, are actively fighting it. I've been hearing the water tankers going to/from Horsetooth Reservoir, which has been closed to boats for two days now, and listening to the radio traffic.

This is the smoke plume as seen on the NWS Radar.

And this is "Scooper 231"'s flight path.

And Scooper 231.

The State of Colorado also has their Pilatus PC-12 up to monitor/coordinate things.

 Nice airplane!

As of 2000 hrs, we have a Turbo Commander orbiting the area....

And "TKR10", which sounds a lot like Tanker10.

And the State of Colorado aircraft is flying an interesting flight path.

 

I have The Greatest Respect for our City, County, and Volunteer Fire Departments here.

 These Crews are out in rugged terrain at 7500', in 100*F heat, wearing a full load-out of gear, breathing smoke, and doing strenuous physical labor.

God Bless Them!

Looks Like Virtual Mirage Got Hit Again

 All I'm getting is a pretty much blank page with the name in the left corner. I never had the "redirect issue" when their router got hacked, but this time it looks like the (maybe?) got to the server.

I predict more Fun-and-Games as these "Interesting Times" continue to roll along.

Day 5 of the left eye cataract surgery is going well. I just about don't need to wear my glasses any longer, at least not for distances of 2" to about 20'. They still help a bit with driving, but the prescription is wrong for my new "IOL" (lens implant) which means waiting another several weeks for things to settle down so they can do an accurate eye exam. 

Still working on the Fisher stereo. Got all the light bulbs changed (finally!) and now I'm working on the bollixed up Main Tuning Capacitor and restringing the dial cord.

From The Supra Files..... 

I'd pulled the under hood insulation pad off several months ago with the intentions of cleaning it, and then recovering it. It was a miserable, disgusting mess on the underside of the hood, as the loosely woven soaked up all the oil vapors, and the fumes from the Olde Skool NON-sealed battery. I had to look for a decent picture of it for the "Before" shot, and then crop, resize, and pump up the detail. This is about the best I could come up with.

The black "scrim" covering was peeling off, and it was covered with soaked-in oil, and caked-on greasy mud.

After I pulled it off, I didn't touch the mess until the other day. I got really tired of looking at all the crud on the backside of the hood, so I cleaned it. This is after about ten hours of scrubbing with Simple Green, water with a squirt of dish washing soap, and then a water rinse and wipe down.

And it still needs some more cleaning, and I'll try to "color correct" the paint a bit. where it's still a little brownish. Some parts will need to be repainted, like the area of the frame that is hidden behind the two "pockets" on the leading edge. They're not down to metal, but the paint is eroded/degraded in the area, and it won't "buff right out".

Hope y'all have good week ahead, and you and your wingman have "No Incidents".

And remember......Never Give Up! Never Surrender!