Crazy Windy Today

 We've had sustained winds of 15~20MPH with gusts to 45 all day, and the trees aren't liking it. The 70' cottonwood in the neighbors yard cut loose with a big branch that came crashing down earlier today.

Here's our Perimeter Security Force carefully checking it out to make sure it's safe.

The branch is several inches in diameter, and if it wasn't cottonwood, It would have been big enough to keep for firewood, like I did to the big branches from the crab apple tree.

And the wind scattered TLG's "water table" plaything, and blew over the patio table/umbrella/IRON base, and chairs.

That cast-iron base weighs a good 40 pounds! The wind was strong enough that it blew it over with the umbrella reefed-and-stowed.

But my wire antenna (invisible here except for the support) stayed up and is still working, and the 20 Meter vertical seen in the other pix stayed up as well.

 

And it appears that we have a squirrel nest in our ash tree. I'd seen some squirrels carrying string, yarn, ribbons, and other "nesty" stuff over the last few weeks, but I thought they were taking it over to the "Squirrel Tree" in the neighbor's yard.

Nope, got our own "Squirrel Tree" now.

As long as they stay in the tree I'm OK with it. The original owner's of this house had a raccoon get stuck in the flue pipe for the fireplace many years ago. Not sure how that turned out, as the neighbor that told us didn't remember.

Beautiful day today, though. We didn't get any rain here, but the weather radar showed what appeared to be some decent moisture in the Cameron Peak fire area, and some went through the Mullen fire area, too.

They're still pretty big, and will probably burn for a few more weeks, or until the winter rains and snow comes.

Fall Color!

 Thought I'd better get some snaps of the maple tree in front of the house before it drops too many more leaves!

This particular variety is the Amur Maple, Acer ginnala, and is known for having vivid Fall colors, and for being a very hardy, vigorous tree.

From the inside:

And from the driveway:

 

And TLG helped put up some Halloween decorations. Supposed to say "HELP" in bloody letters:

And our "Anti Witch Defense System" downed it's first hostile:

-"Roger that Viper-6. Splash One Witch!"

-"Viper-6, Sierra Hotel!"

The crabapple tree has just started showing signs of color, and should be quite pretty in a week or so.

Smokey Night Again....

 The fires have expanded some, and I'm using the plural because one that started up Wyoming way, has burned it's way down into Colorado.

The Cameron Peak fire, the closest one, is at about 125,000 acres, and is 34% contained. It's continuing to burn on the Northern section, and has just about turned to head East down Poudre Canyon.

The Mullen fire, which started in the Medicine Bow range in Wyoming, has spread down into Colorado, and is now about 120,000 acres, with no mention of containment.

The image below shows the two burn areas. The roads in red are the closures.

And we've got absolutely ZIP for precipitation in the forecast for at least another week.

No, I Didn't Watch The Debate

I started to, and then turned it off when I heard the first question.

Therefore, I have no opinion on who "won" the debate.

Besides, I can't stand the after session where the talking head tells me what they just said, what they really meant, and then hear the talking head's opinion of what they said and what it meant.

No

Thank you

If they aren't speaking in plain English (and I suspect President Trump did), then they have no business up there debating in the first place.

Plenty of others will have their opinions, and I'm sure the video will get sliced-and-diced for all manner of reasons.

ARRRRGH! Blew a Shock Out!

 Actually, both shocks on the right side of the little RC truck. This is the right rear, and the right front is equally well soaked with the silicone oil that leaks out when the o-rings fail. The OEM shocks on these cars are notorious for leaking as the o-rings get worn, and these went from being "slightly damp" to "puddle on the floor" in one battery pack. The truck probably has 10 packs usage on it, and I was wondering when they were going to fail.

Geez....I most definitely HATE the way Blogger makes you resize images now. The way it was up to a couple of weeks ago gave you a "+" and a "-" when you clicked the image. Now you have the grab a corner and drag it open to the size you want, and it's a PITA to get the images the same size.

Anyway.....got some shock oil, some rebuild kits for these OEM shocks (Traxxas uses a different design o-ring, of better material, than Arrma does), and some cheap eBay "Big Bore" shocks, that look like they might take a bit of "fettling" to install. I filled them up and bled the air out last night, so now I'll top them off and screw the tops back on.

So off to the workshop to fix the leaks and/or swap the shocks, TBD.

And the Cameron Peak fire has cranked up again, adding over 6,000 acres in the last two days. In the screenshot below, you'll see two big "protrusions" to the North of the largest burn area. We don't have the "apocalyptic" looking sky like we did a couple of weeks ago, but there's smoke in the air you can see looking down the street, and a distinctive smell to go with it. The NWS was predicting a 60% chance of rain on Sunday, but I see they've cut it back to a 30% chance, not good.

And there's a 36,000 acre fire in Wyoming, just across the border in the Medicine Bow range, about 75 miles Northwest of here.

Fun With Rocks!..... Rocks?

 It's not all Radio, Electronics, and Bodywork on old cars here. Occasionally we do Home Improvement Projects, like this one, a part of turning a "house" into a "home".

A few weeks ago we decided that the stone "steps" our handyman guy installed when he put in the edging weren't quite what we needed. They were too small, and too few, for our old bones and shortened strides, and needed replacing. So I figured out what we needed, and we drove up to the Rock Garden on the North side of town, and picked up a bunch of replacements.

We now have a very solid path through the mulch over to where the water spigot is, and another "Little Kid's Path" over to a steel yard-art goat. Don't ask why; SLW thought it was cute, so I planted the flagstone where she directed me to....

 When she thinks things are cute, I just (very quietly!) sigh and say "Yes, Honey..." and let it go.

I think it goes with her front porch "Fall" motif....

And her other whimsical art, placed in various positions around the yard...

While we were there picking up the new stone steps, we looked at the other rocks in the main yard, looking for a decent sized slab we could attach some house numbers to, like an entrance rock alongside a driveway in the neighborhood. This led to discussions with the yard guy, who indicated we could also have the numbers, and a design, etched into the rock. After going through several iterations of the design, and picking some suitable "prop rocks" to position the slab, the "Stone Writer" guy did his thing, and all the rocks were delivered this afternoon.

From the back:

 And from the front:

I wanted to use the city's logo underneath the address, but it's copyrighted, so SLW said no.

Reproduced here for your perusal, all rights reserved by the copyright holder....

The "notches" in the mountain on the left signify Horsetooth Mountain, a local landmark and nav fix, while the blue "wave" represents Horsetooth Reservoir, another local landmark and recreational area.

So the stone engraver guy and I came up with a mountain with a couple of notches in it, and SLW approved.

One of the types of rocks I saw when we were there are "Moss Rocks", which come from wet places, and still have all the dehydrated/fossilized moss and lichen stuck all over them.

The ones we bought weren't as "fancy" as the one in the picture, and this one still has to be moved a bit. I think a simple application of a suitable lever and fulcrum will allow us to wiggle it over into the depression it's pretty much in. It just has to be "adjusted" a bit...

And since we couldn't get this little one placed where we wanted with the forklift, we just dumped it here alongside the garage door. Hopefully it'll sink it a bit over the Winter...

Back to  bodywork.......

RC Car Fun!

 Sorry, no videos, although I did dig out the GoPro mount for the little red RC truck.

We had so much fun blasting around the front yard, that after TLG went home with his Daddy, I dug up the other set of wheels and tires I bought last year, along with my aviation snips to modify the body a bit.

Why modify the body? Well the new tires are a bit bigger than what came on it:

 

 

I had already changed the pinion gear on the motor so that the overall gearing would be the same. With the small wheels and smaller pinion gear, it had a lower top speed, but got there right now! The larger wheels give me back the top speed I lost, and the acceleration is way more than "adequate". The larger tires also make it easier to go over things, like the wacky curbs we have here.

I snipped out the body trying to follow existing body lines, and after a few minutes I had this:

 

I put a flap-wheel in my Dremel and smoothed out all the rough edges. This plastic leaves SHARP edges when you trim it. They can slice you open. It hurts, and you get blood all over your model car. DAMHIK....

And I swapped out the hard plastic steering wheel on the transmitter with a nice, soft, foam unit. Cost about $6, and makes the car much more fun to drive.

So how did it work? Better than I expected. By putting these tires on I now have enough additional ground clearance that I can charge the curb at full-power, get launched about 3' into the air, and carry it out about 12' before it comes back to earth. Couldn't do anything like that before! And as long as you back off the throttle as soon as you get airborne, you won't break any driveline parts when you smack back down.

I tried running it before I swapped the tires, and I wasn't happy with it. I was using a cheap 2S LiPo rated at 4000mAh with a "20C" discharge rate, and it just felt really sluggish. It accelerated to top-speed almost instantly, but with the little tires it just didn't go very fast. Now with the larger tires, the gearing is back in the correct range for this motor and speed control package, and it really honks. I also decided to try one of the 2S 5300mAh/75C batteries I have for my little Vintage Trans Am car. These are far better batteries, and the little Senton is a road rocket now. I'll try it again with the new wheels and the cheap LiPo to see if it's as sluggish as it was with the smaller tires on it. I wouldn't expect there to be that much difference between the two batteries, but it's possible.

Finally Got the Side Steps Installed

 Between all the smoke and ash, an inch of rain and 3" of snow, and several days of 30* weather, we finally had two very nice days on Saturday and Sunday.

The instructions weren't very clear, and some of the illustrations were oriented wrong on them, causing you to either stand on your head, or rotate the page.

The hardware was typical Chinesium quality, all thrown together in a bag so the threads get dinged up, and I spent a good hour with a rethreading tap and die set to get the threads cleaned up.

It took about an hour to get the brackets mounted to the body, and then I fiddled around for another hour or so installing the steps to the brackets. Things weren't lining up quite right, so rather than get all bent out of shape, I picked up my tools and vowed to finish it on Sunday.

Wound up crawling around loosening the brackets to get the steps aligned, made sure they were square and level, and then tightened everything back down.

They're solid enough to hold my disgusting fat body (195lbs) , and SLW was very happy with them once she tried them, making comments about how easy it will be to get in the truck when there's snow and ice on the ground.

My helper was quite pleased with the job, and gave me an "ATTABOY!" with his bottle of soap bubbles..

Today he and I are playing Monster Truck out in the back yard. His little truck is an amazingly competent RC model, but for today we're getting out my Arrma Senton to bash.

M1 Garand Bayonets

 I'm sure you guys know LOTS more about this than I do, so, let me tell you what I'm looking for.

I don't need "authentic" except that it be a real bayonet, and not a chintzy "replica".

I don't need "period correct" for the rifle, but it has to fit properly, and a scabbard would be nice.

What I'm looking for is a functional bayonet that could be used in combat. God forbid I ever have to "Fix Bayonets!", but if I do, I want one that works as intended.

Beans' article about "Knives ona- Stick!" got me thinking again about getting one, so I've been looking into it. 

 My (limited) research shows that there are five available that fit properly.

The Model 1905 "WWI" version - 16"

The Model 1905 "WWII" version - 16", Parkerized

The Bayonet, M1 - 10"

The Model 1905E1 - 10" Basically a cut-down version of the Model 1905.

The Bayonet, M5 - 7"

I think with my level (lack?) of skill, the shorter bayonet would be better. A bit easier to maneuver in tight quarters, too. Yeah, I know, why am I using a Garand for CQB when I have an AR. Well because it's the hardest hitting caliber I have access to, and besides, it needs a bayonet!

The CMP has ZERO. It looks like they got out of the accessory business entirely. Great history of all the different bayonets, though.

Atlanta Cutlery has most of the types, along with some specials for Reenactors.

And I've found several other places that have them.

I'm tending to stay away from eBay and Amazon on items like this, as there's too much Chinesium junk out there that goes for far more than it's worth.

Ideas? Suggestions? Reliable vendors?

TIA....

Clear Air, Rain, Snow, and Cold

 Well, plenty cold for this place, this time of year. The low last night was 31*, compared to a "normal" average low of 47*. Our high today was 40*, compared to 76*, and we had to run the heat as the house cools off pretty quickly.

We received over an inch of rain (1.2"), and several inches of snow.

At least the rain preceding the snow washed my truck, but none of the snow stuck around for long.

The fire areas of the Cameron Peak fire received 8"~14" of snow, and while it's "banked" the fire for now, the fire departments are saying that it's still plenty hot under the snow, and the 70* weather coming in on Friday, along with the humidity dropping, will allow the fire to continue burning. At least the firefighters got a bit of a break, and are able to mop up several areas that needed it.

We'll just have to watch and see what the weekend brings....

Cameron Peak Fire Now Largest Ever in Larimer County

 It's 1730 local time here, and the current weather conditions are 33*, 94%RH, Barometer 30.414 and steady, winds from the East at 1MPH, gusting to 12MPH.

And it just started snowing again. We've received about .6" of rain, along with several inches of snow, now mostly melted. NWS is forecasting any where from 3" to 7" overnight, but I don't think we'll get that much, and it won't stick around for long.

The Cameron peak fire has grown to 103,000 acres (160 sqmi), and is now the largest ever recorded fire in Larimer county. It's all rugged terrain, mostly inaccessible by roads. 

Here's the current burn area/evac areas. The map is from NOCOALERT, and is regularly updated.

This is a shot of the fire from Estes Park, famous for the Stanley Hotel:

The Fire Departments have said the rain and snow will slow the fire down for a few days, but won't stop it.

Channel 9 News has some very good coverage, and links.

Stay safe out there!