Geez...Lots of Heavy Thoughts Out There Today.....

 I don't mean "heavy" as in sad, ponderous, dreadful thoughts, but rather "heavy" as in "Heavy, man.....Really Heavy" from my yute.

First LL over at Virtual Mirage gave me terrific version of his "worldview", if that word is encompassing enough.

Then the Silicon Greybeard gave me something similar, but different.

LL is more philosophic and theological, while SiG  is a more Hard Science, no BS way of thinking. I kinda blend both, with my own recondite viewpoint mixed in.

They both sense a disturbance in The Force, and give us their version of Where We are, And How We Got Here. I agree with both of them to a very high degree. As I've gotten older, I find myself thinking about this stuff (a lot), but I lack the eloquence to write my thoughts down as well as they do, so I don't. I'm better talking about these things than writing about them. Which is why this media, somewhat similar to a forum, is so appealing to me. We can talk to each other about these thoughts.

Anyway....Me? I refurbished the wheelbarow today:

New wheel and tire from HF. I painted the entire handle with some left over "Bumper and Trim Paint" from the Supra, and sprayed the handle areas with some Rust-Oleum "Bed Liner" paint, as it gives a nice, grippy surface for the handles.

And I cleaned out the fireplace: 

I wound up with a small garbage bag full of nice, clean, fluffy ash, which I sealed away for future use. Why would I save hardwood ashes? Well, they make the best Potassium Hydroxide. Why KOH? It's excellent to use for homemade SOAP. This coming Spring, I'm going to show TLG how soap is made, and anybody else who's interested. Pretty simple, really. And since we have tons of lavender and lilac, we can even scent it. All Organic! Vegan Free! GMO? We Don't Know!

Gotta get ready for the NDA (thanks, SiG!) don'cha know? Might be nice to take a bath with decent soap after a hard day in the fields, or hunting/fishing to sustain yourself and family.

Be safe this week, and Viya con Dios.....

Random Ponderings.....

 Hope you're all having a good weekend. I was flat on my back all day Friday with some stomach bug, so I missed posting anything. I think I brought it on myself by wiping out my coffee mug with a not-so-clean scrubby pad! The mug went in the dishwasher tghis AM, and the scrubby pad went in the trash. Note to Jim: Do NOT do that again! Ever!

ANYWAY.....Fall is upon us!

The maple tree has been turning the last few weeks...

And the birches, ash and aspens really kicked off this week. Yellow is everywhere here! 

The Front Garden is slooowly shutting down for the season, and we're bringing in all TLG's "Fairy Garden" stuff.

I did manage to get some shopping finished Thursday night. SLW has been hacking and coughing all week, so she didn't go to her Sheriff's "Citizen Academy" meeting. And since it was her turn to take the break snacks for class, I ran them up to the Sheriff's Office, and got to meet some of the Deputies. Then it was off to spend a few $$.

Picked up a new wheel/tire for the wheelbarrow we rescued from somebody's trash three years ago. It was cheaper to get a complete assembly, rather than just a tube and tire!

She asked me why I wanted to replace the old, crusty, dry-rotted tire, and I told her new wheelbarrows like this cost $110, and the replacement parts cost $15. Plus, I'll tighten everything up, and paint the handles so they stop deteriorating.

Like Dad always said..."Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, Or Do Without".  I guess "Repair" comes under "Make It Do"...

And to (finally) get those pesky ground rods in, and drill the concrete here for Other Projects, I bought a hammer-drill, and a bunch of bits.

I have a couple of other Hercules-brand power tools from Harbor Freight, and so far they've been worth every penny. FAR superior to their "Bauer" and "Chinesium Electric" brands. Plenty of torque, very good battery life, and that "good feel" achieved by proper balance of the tool, along with good quality plastic. BTW....I still have my Dad's Craftsman 1/2" corded drill in the brown "hammer tone" box. It's gotta be sixty years old, and has required exactly ONE change of brushes. I also renewed the lube in it years ago when I swapped the brushes, "just because".

And SLW felt well enough today to do some errands, so she brought home some Chick-Fil-A chicken noodle soup. It's verrry good, as LL clued me on.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I have a wheelbarrow to get in the garage.....

Pioneer CT-F950 Rebuild....The Saga Continues....

 Well, let's see......What have I done so far?

1) Completely rebuilt the Tape Transport Mechanism. It needed a complete cleaning, lube replacement, new belts, idlers, and pinch rollers, and several mechanical adjustments for things like the brake pads (which I had to fabricate replacements for...), Head Azimuth Adjustment, and a couple of other things.

This required not one, not two, or even three tear-downs. Nope, I had to pull it out of the chassis, take it apart, and reassemble it, and put it back in the chassis.

The first time was initial "rebuild", where I botched the rebuild of the pinch rollers.

The second time was to replace the pinch rollers with completely new ones.

The third time was to remove and recondition the Reel Motor. I had to polish the commutator, clean the brushes, and carefully clean the contacts that control what the speed the motor runs at by switching the windings. It's a teeny-tiny set of centrifugal contacts that are very delicate. The motor also had the lubrication renewed.

The FOURTH time was to address and issue with the clutches on the tape spindles. These are supposed to let the tape spindle slip and freewheel if something gets jammed, saving the tape from getting stretched to oblivion. They're just little felt pads between two spring-loaded plastic pieces, and as they wear, the torque they break loose at drops, meaning that any extra drag on the tape spindle will cause them to slip.

That repair wasn't photographed because I've found if I take the extra steps to photograph everything it slows me down. It was a real bear to remedy this, as I can't find any info on how to disassemble the "Reel Tables". All I did was spread the two plastic pieces, and put a drop of soldering flux in there. Say WHAT? Soldering Flux? Yep, it's just rosin in an alcohol carrier, and once the alcohol evaporates, it's leaves some sticky residue behind. Kinda like putting some belt dressing on a belt you know should be replaced, but just can't do it at that moment.

So far it's been playing OK now, EXCEPT for all the really bad noise when you jiggle the Tape Monitor switches.

The picture shows the Tape/Monitor switches at the left, and two other switches that worked OK. If you look at the top end of the brown plastic strip, you'll see a black dot, which is where I drilled into the switch so I could flush and lubricate it.

 BUT.....I noticed the switches flex like crazy where they're soldered to the board when you cycle them. Oh, boy.....visions of cracked solder joints on the backside of the board danced through my head.....

So, in a preemptive strike, I pulled all the screws out of the Main Board, wicked off all the solder, and replaced it with fresh solder and a dab of flux.

More pix and a follow-up to come. And I haven't even begun the Electronic Testing, alignment, and level setting.........

tap, tap, tap... This Thing On?

 Ah, there we go......

Been pretty busy here doing Fall Cleanup, both in the garage and the back yard. The back is getting carpet bombed with crab apples this year, and the number of maple seeds on the front yard maple are staggering. Looks like a good feed for the squirrels this year!

 

And mushrooms. These things are like "Aliens"; they just keep coming!

Fortunately, a good blast of 10% Acetic Acid (about 2-1/2 times as strong as household vinegar) takes care of them in about 24 hours. 

I buy the 30% "Agricultural Vinegar", and cut it 3:1. The full 30% strength is quite potent, and will attack concrete. This is a small spill that I didn't promptly dilute and flush away. Or maybe a bit of Baking Soda would have helped....

And work (still) continues on the Pioneer CT-F950 Cassette Deck. Crikey....what a pain this has turned into. Granted, this is the first cassette deck I've ever worked on at this level, but geesh....Make a mistake or maladjustment in the transport mechanism, and it ALL has to come back out to correct. I'm pretty sure I finally have all the mechanical bits, belts, rollers, and idlers properly installed and adjusted, but we'll see.

Since I'm pretty sure the transport is OK, I started listening to some prerecorded tapes I picked up at the local used records, tapes, and books store. So far, the transport seems to handle the tape OK. All the tape handling functions work as they should, and the Fast Forward/Rewind functions really rip now that I've rebuilt the reel drive motor. But in the process of trying all the switches and knobs for functionality, I hit another snag.

There are four slide switches in the photo below. A small one, a long one, another long one, and the fourth is another small one. They're the things with little "teeth" sticking up, and a strip of brown phenolic acting as the "coffin lid".

From left-to-right the switches control the Monitor Function (small selects Tape, large selects Source) Dolby (large is On/Off), and Input Select (MIC and Line), and were quite noisy. I mean like REALLY bad. Not only did the Monitor switches have the typical Crackly/Poppy/Scratchy sounding stuff, but also a high pitched squeal, like feedback happening as you cycled the switches. Once I got it in a Sweet Spot so it played OK, I checked the other two switches, and they appear to be OK.

So, time to give the four switches a good internal cleaning and lubrication. The first hurdle was that these are semi-sealed switches. There's a line of small holes drilled in the top cover, but they're blocked by the white plastic slider that moves the contacts. I took a #50 drill bit in a pin vise, and drilled an extra hole through the phenolic, far enough away from the slider that it uncovered the contact cavity when the slider was all the way forward. Flushed them with alcohol, blasted them with electronic contact cleaner, then  gave 'em a shot of DeoxIT, followed by a drop or two of switch lube. And that's where we left off once the weather dried out enough to resume outside work.

Back in the garage, a new 50MHz, 5/8th wave vertical is being assembled, soon to be mounted on the lonely mast bolted to the side of the carved tree.

It's the long, shiny thing on the table. Yes, I'll dull out the finish (camo, maybe?) before I put it up. I don't think SLW would approve of a shiny aluminum "thing" stuck on the tree!

Fabulous Fall Day

 Some of the trees are showing signs of turning, but they're not in their Fall colors yet. 

This is from two years ago. We have Bumper Crops of pine cones in the pine trees, maple seeds in the maple tree, and crab apples from the crab apple tree. Should be a good feed for the squirrels this year!

 

But it was in the 70's, sunny, with gentle breezes blowing, so let's hit the road!

Took the car up by Laporte to scout for Bingham Hill Road, which I found, but couldn't make the turn due to inattention at the time, so it's on the list for the next cruise. The old car is running MUCH better with fresh gas in it, and any roughness under load, and the slight misfire at idle it had, have disappeared. I cleaned all the outside glass with acetone to see if it would help get rid of the road film/overspray/general crud any better than glass cleaner, and it helped tremendously. It didn't get rid of the "Plethora of Pits" in the glass from getting smacked by grit these last 37 years, but it's much, much better than when I first took it out after hibernation. SO....a new windshield is definitely in the cards, and I went through my stash of parts, and found I have four sets of all the required clips and fasteners, and two "cams" used to keep the adhesive away from the interior. Most windshield places I've heard about don't use the dams, and it can result in the urethane windshield adhesive seeping inside of the car. I've got all of the bits I want reupholstered out of the car (door panels and such), and I'm going to take them to Joe's Upholstery for a quote, as he specializes in oddball and old cars. This is a "No Hurry" job, as long as it's done for next Spring. I've heard he has good turn-around time, and reasonable pricing, so we'll see what he can come up with. Last I heard, right before we moved here, was all of the materials are available, as they were widely used in the zillion different models that Toyota made.

Hope y'all have a great upcoming week, and stay safe and observant.

More Business....As In "Busy-Ness"....

 Put a new wheel, tube, and tire on the wheel barrow we picked up off the street some years ago. The old tire and tube were done beyond "Extra Crispy", but would actually hold air. Until you need it, that is, so new rubber. And I drilled three, 3/8" holes in the plastic tub. Keeps it from filling up with really gross looking Stuff, and if I ever have to mix some concrete in it, a little duct tape covers the holes.

Then I carted three loads of yard trash out of the backyard (new gates work a treat!) and loaded it into the pickup bed.

Yesterday I went and swapped out the steering wheel in the Supra. The OEM wheel had the very topmost (colored ) layer of leather wear through, and while it felt OK, it made the inside of the car look ratty.

Then I cleaned and reorganized a shelf unit next to the workbench. I really like these "Pie Rack" wire shelving units, but Little Stuff always seems to fall through the wire to the ground.

So clean off the shelves...

 And lay down some of the cardboard I'm always hauling to the recycling center.

Later, rinse, repeat until all your shelf units are cleaned up, and made "Fall Through Proof".

Gee....I only have about fifteen shelves left to do! 

Enjoy the upcoming weekend, and make use of the time and weather wisely. I have a feeling in my bones that this might be a hard, cord, hungry Winter for a lot of people.

Pray for them....

Gang Aft A-Gley.....

 As the old saying goes....

Spent most of a glorious Sunday afternoon with my son, working on his truck. He was supposed to come by yesterday, but considering the weather, he decided to take a "Can You Help Us..." assignment at work. So he spent the day out in the less-than-optimum weather getting paid, and I tinkered around the garage and basement.

He came over today, and we swapped out his OEM alternator with 96k on it, replaced the serpentine belt and tensioner, checked/greased his battery connections, replaced his wiper blades, and in general did a "Get It Ready For Winter..." service. He'd just changed the oil and differential fluid, but was hesitant to take on this particular work without some competent guidance, so over he came.

And we had a great time. Took our time, and he did 90% of the work. I showed him some tips on getting the belt tensioner backed off so you can slip the belt off the alternator pulley, how to correctly disengage the wiring harness connectors, and advised him on what size sockets, drives, and extensions to use to get at the bolts easier. Also what NOT to take off, which is sometimes just as important. He also asked a lot of questions along the way, and we repeatedly chanted the "One Broken Bolt" mantra to ward off Murphy.

 

It must have worked, as all the parts fit (Thank You Rock Auto!), no bolts or hardware were harmed during the operation, and the only dropped hardware was easily reachable, in plain view, and promptly plucked up off the valve cover.

There will be plenty of nice Fall days ahead to do some Supra driving, but spending an enjoyable Colorado day with your son, working on his truck, is a "Hallmark Moment", and not to be missed.

Fire Just About Out

 We had some rain last night, and the winds calmed down, so the fire crews were able to contain it to about 40%, and it shows no growth.

Well done to all!

Y'all be safe out there, and enjoy the weekend. It's drizzling here, and going to be raining tonight and tomorrow when my son and I are swapping out the alternator, serpentine belt, and tensioner on his truck. Probably be a good night to get the fireplace going after we finish!

And if Sunday's going to be as nice as forecast, I have a very willing dance partner in the garage who wants to get out and kick up her heels. Gives me a good excuse to test my new steering wheel.....

Wildfire North of Here....Updated 2150 MDST

 And "Tanker 10" has already made two drops.

And there's a helo managing things.

For the locals, this is up North of "Ted's Place", which really isn't a "place" anymore...

Nothing is showing on any of the local firewatch sites, so it must be "Breaking News".

The fire is East of Highway 287, and roughly in the center of this mapped area"

 

On second thought, it looks like the helo might be dropping water, too.

Yup, he's a water dropping chopper. They're using it to wet down structures in danger. Hope this doesn't get much bigger, but considering the requests for further assistance I'm hearing, it sounds like it's growing. It's pretty rugged terrain along that ridgeline, and not much access. They've already issued a "Voluntary Evacuation" notice, and are informing residents via Reverse 911.

OK, this was the observation chopper, and it looks like he's headed home.

The radio chatter's died down a lot, and some units are pulling out, so I'll take a SWAG and say they have things well under control.

If you do the Fakebook thing, you can find more here: https://www.facebook.com/PoudreFire

The Mandatory Evacuation area is here:

That's a pretty big chunk of land. The Kids work at the yogurt factory next to the Morning Fresh Dairy Farm.

Latest on the fire. It's 600 acres, and zero containment.

https://www.facebook.com/PoudreFire

Perfect Song For Today

 It's over 100* here today (and yesterday, and tomorrow) with an absolutely massive Relative Humidity of....(drum roll, please)...Twelve per cent!

Just have to put that in for Sig!

BTW....it's one of my favorite songs, and I like her version. A good example of how you "Belt Out A Song"..

Keep cool and stay hydrated!

Funny Beach Boys Parody Video

 Sent to me by my sister, of all people!

Hope y'all have a safe weekend. I'll be enjoying my "Old Jap Car" out on the road. It's been so long since I've driven it, I need to get reacquainted with it....