And progress it is!
We got the "Yard Beautification Program" finished today, and I must say,
with all the fresh exterior paint the house looks pretty nice.
Only room left to do is the Radio Room, and that's about 1/2 cleaned out. Should be finished by Sunday night.
The "Deep Cleaning" specialist is coming Monday morning, and will be finished by Tuesday.
The photographer will be here Tuesday afternoon / Wednesday morning, proper light and weather permitting, and the house goes on the market Thursday.
Our realtor is confident the house will sell in 14 days, with escrow taking 20~25 days.
Looks like we'll be outta here by the middle of August, end of August at the latest.
Back to boxing stuff up.....
Saturday, July 8, 2017
Friday, July 7, 2017
Go Read This....
I'm up to my you-know-what in alligators toady tearing down the radio room so we can get it painted. It's the last thing to really do in the house, and the wifely unit has been.....well, let's just say "NOT Nice" about it.
SO....Please go read this over at Angel's place. You'll love it.
SO....Please go read this over at Angel's place. You'll love it.
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
"Shock and Awe" In Long Beach
Good Gravy......
It's one continuous rumble out there, punctuated by the much louder pops, bangs, and BOOMS of stuff being set off in our little subdivision.
It's 2130 now, and this has been going on for about two hours.
I can see where a Vet with PTSD could get rattled by it.
So much for all the "NO Safe and Sane Fireworks in Long Beach! ALL Fireworks Are ILLEGAL!" signs that popped up (no pun intended) in the last week.
It sounds like the WWII movies where the Navy is shelling a beach somewhere.....
It's one continuous rumble out there, punctuated by the much louder pops, bangs, and BOOMS of stuff being set off in our little subdivision.
It's 2130 now, and this has been going on for about two hours.
I can see where a Vet with PTSD could get rattled by it.
So much for all the "NO Safe and Sane Fireworks in Long Beach! ALL Fireworks Are ILLEGAL!" signs that popped up (no pun intended) in the last week.
It sounds like the WWII movies where the Navy is shelling a beach somewhere.....
Happy Independence Day!
IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America
When
in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station
to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton
Sunday, July 2, 2017
RIP Bob Despain
We've lost one of cherished shipmates on the Iowa.
My fellow crew member Bob Despain passed away the other night.
Bob was on the crew of the USS Hoel, DD-533, as part of Taffy 3 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the Battle Off Samar. The Hoel was the first ship sunk by the IJN, and absorbed an amazing amount of punishment before she sank.
The Daily Breeze had an article in 2013 about the reunion of the USS Johnston-Hoel Association, which was held on the Battleship Iowa that year.
I was honored to have known Bob, and had him autograph my copy of "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" which details the Battle Off Samar and the fate of Taffy 3.
Godspeed, Bob
My fellow crew member Bob Despain passed away the other night.
Bob was on the crew of the USS Hoel, DD-533, as part of Taffy 3 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, also called the Battle Off Samar. The Hoel was the first ship sunk by the IJN, and absorbed an amazing amount of punishment before she sank.
The Daily Breeze had an article in 2013 about the reunion of the USS Johnston-Hoel Association, which was held on the Battleship Iowa that year.
I was honored to have known Bob, and had him autograph my copy of "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" which details the Battle Off Samar and the fate of Taffy 3.
Godspeed, Bob
Friday, June 30, 2017
Battleship Iowa Needs New Mooring Lines
Geez....I hate to bug people about stuff like this, but the mooring lines on the Iowa are rapidly approaching the end of their life. We were able to pick up some good, used ones last year in Bremerton when we go on our annual "Scavenger Hunt", but we still need a few more.
For those that don't know, the mooring lines are the BIG "ropes" that all ships use to "tie up" at the pier. Due to sunlight, salt air, and constant cycling of the tension on them, they eventually wear out and need to be replaced.
And they're not cheap!
I've kicked in $100, but even if all you can donate is $5, it will make a difference.
The Battleship Iowa is 100% self supporting through paid admissions, donations, special events, and oyher sources of income like renting the ship to film and TV crews.
We receive NO funding from Federal, State, County, or City sources, except in rare circumstances. The good people of the State of Iowa gave us $3 million to help get the ship ready to come down here, but those gifts are few and far between.
Here's the link to the GoFundMe page.
Thanks for anything you can afford!
Small Plane Down On The 405 Freeway At MacArthur Blvd
Looks like he lost it taking off from John Wayne (SNA) airport. Report says it's a Cessna 310, a light twin.
No word on casualties.....
Two survivors were reported. Southbound lanes of the 405 are still closed but Northbound lanes are open again.
Several incoming flights were diverted to Ontario and Long Beach airports. Departures are reportedly unaffected.
No word on casualties.....
Two survivors were reported. Southbound lanes of the 405 are still closed but Northbound lanes are open again.
Several incoming flights were diverted to Ontario and Long Beach airports. Departures are reportedly unaffected.
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Serious Toy Collection For Sale! Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, Coca-Cola, ETC, ETC, ETC
Before I start doing the eBay thing on this collection, I thought I'd toss it up here and get any insight my friends might have....
My wife's first husband (RIP!) started buying all this stuff as what he called his "Retirement Fund".
You name it, he bought it. He generally avoided anything labeled "Collectible!!", because as Rick says on "Pawn Stars", if it's marked as "collectible", it aint!
He had over 4000 comic books, all new and neatly bagged, and we "gave" those to the kids. They were able to get rid of them, and make in excess of several thousand bucks in the process. Most of the comics were in the "$1 class", but some of them went for a couple of hundred bucks each, and one of them (I don't remember which one it was) netted them $2200.
We just finished dragging about 80% of the toys out of the garage so we can look at it and get an idea of what we have.
Here's a few pix of what we have:
All of it is new, in unopened packages, BUT, because of the way it was stored, they packages range from "pristine", to dirty, and some of the plastic packaging "bubbles" have popped loose from the cardboard backing.
If anybody has any ideas about the best way to dispose of all this, or any friends in the toy business, please contact me. Some of it she may want to keep, but the bulk of it is available for immediate sale.
As they say in the retail biz, "Everything Must Go!"......
For anybody who might be interested, here's the Photobucket page with just a small amount of what we have
My wife's first husband (RIP!) started buying all this stuff as what he called his "Retirement Fund".
You name it, he bought it. He generally avoided anything labeled "Collectible!!", because as Rick says on "Pawn Stars", if it's marked as "collectible", it aint!
He had over 4000 comic books, all new and neatly bagged, and we "gave" those to the kids. They were able to get rid of them, and make in excess of several thousand bucks in the process. Most of the comics were in the "$1 class", but some of them went for a couple of hundred bucks each, and one of them (I don't remember which one it was) netted them $2200.
We just finished dragging about 80% of the toys out of the garage so we can look at it and get an idea of what we have.
Here's a few pix of what we have:
All of it is new, in unopened packages, BUT, because of the way it was stored, they packages range from "pristine", to dirty, and some of the plastic packaging "bubbles" have popped loose from the cardboard backing.
If anybody has any ideas about the best way to dispose of all this, or any friends in the toy business, please contact me. Some of it she may want to keep, but the bulk of it is available for immediate sale.
As they say in the retail biz, "Everything Must Go!"......
For anybody who might be interested, here's the Photobucket page with just a small amount of what we have
Monday, June 26, 2017
Real Estate Pricing In 90807
Well, we just had a meeting with our second realtor today.
He's advising we price this place at $550,000, or even $575,000!
I'm stunned.
He told us houses in our immediate area are selling within two weeks, sometimes less. The typical contract with a realtor is for 30 days, and he told us they haven't had a single contract expire this year without selling the house.
I think you'd have to be straight-jacket loonie-bin crazy to pay over half a million freaking dollars for this house, but both he, and the nice young lady we talked to this morning, told us the same thing.
The market in this area is "on fire", and they've seen houses with a certain appeal go into bidding wars, and sell for $25,000 more than the listing price.
This is absolutely nuts........
He's advising we price this place at $550,000, or even $575,000!
I'm stunned.
He told us houses in our immediate area are selling within two weeks, sometimes less. The typical contract with a realtor is for 30 days, and he told us they haven't had a single contract expire this year without selling the house.
I think you'd have to be straight-jacket loonie-bin crazy to pay over half a million freaking dollars for this house, but both he, and the nice young lady we talked to this morning, told us the same thing.
The market in this area is "on fire", and they've seen houses with a certain appeal go into bidding wars, and sell for $25,000 more than the listing price.
This is absolutely nuts........
Thursday, June 22, 2017
Home Depot Being Sued Over "Two by Fours" That Don't Measure 2" by 4"
Just heard this on the radio....
Some dolt has brought a class action lawsuit against Home Depot for selling 2x4's that "only" measure out to be 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".
And people wonder what good shop classes do when *everybody* should get a "College" education.....
Some dolt has brought a class action lawsuit against Home Depot for selling 2x4's that "only" measure out to be 1-1/2" by 3-1/2".
And people wonder what good shop classes do when *everybody* should get a "College" education.....
Sunday, June 18, 2017
Thursday, June 15, 2017
My Dear Brother In Law Passed This Afternoon
His Doctors took him off the ventilator earlier today and he passed within the hour.
My poor little wife is devastated.
Light blogging to follow.....
My poor little wife is devastated.
Light blogging to follow.....
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Brother-In-Law Update
Well....it's not good at all.
My wife stopped in to see him on her way home from work, and she was able to talk to the two neurologists that are monitoring his condition.
They were very frank with her, and said they doubted if he'd ever regain consciousness. When she asked them what would happen if they took him off the ventilator, they told her that he'd stop breathing on his own after "a short time".
They didn't quantify how long a "short time" would be, but she got the distinct impression it would be less than 24 hours.
I'm greatly saddened by this..............
My wife stopped in to see him on her way home from work, and she was able to talk to the two neurologists that are monitoring his condition.
They were very frank with her, and said they doubted if he'd ever regain consciousness. When she asked them what would happen if they took him off the ventilator, they told her that he'd stop breathing on his own after "a short time".
They didn't quantify how long a "short time" would be, but she got the distinct impression it would be less than 24 hours.
I'm greatly saddened by this..............
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
Home "Repair" Progress
The handyman guy is doing a bang up job, BUT.....my wife keeps finding more things, and adding more to his list, and wondering why he isn't finished yet.....
SIGH.....
He's fixed up the big gap between the brick front porch and the house that was caused by the porch settling due to the drought here, sanded/filled/primed and then repainted ALL the trim/fascia, repaired all the cracks in the stucco, and repainted about 3/4 of the house.
I've got our bedroom all cleaned out, with most of the furniture stashed around the house so he can scratch out and fill all the cracks in the walls and then paint it. She settled on "A nice, clean, bright Navajo White", BUT I don't think she realizes how badly the color blinds are going to clash with white after the window sills and walls are white.
The bathroom, front bedroom, living/dining area and kitchen have all been repainted in the last year, sooooo......that means the Radio Room will be in her sights very shortly, meaning I'm going to have to pull EVERYTHING out of here so it can get patched up and painted.
And after that's done I can see her really squawking about putting anything back in here, no matter how nice and clean the equipment is, or how well it's displayed.
SIGH.....
No word at all about her brother, other than it's "Day-By-Day, and Hour-By-Hour" per the duty nurse, and his case nurse.
I just went through the "What do you want us to do if you're severely incapacitated" paperwork with my primary care provider, and I think I said to give me a week on life support, and if the prognosis looks "really, really bad" to go ahead and pull the plug. I know they can keep the body alive almost indefinitely, but if there's no brain activity, and no hope of any in the foreseeable future, then is it worth it? I guess that's something that can only be decided on an individual basis, but I hope I never put my wife in that position......
SIGH.....
He's fixed up the big gap between the brick front porch and the house that was caused by the porch settling due to the drought here, sanded/filled/primed and then repainted ALL the trim/fascia, repaired all the cracks in the stucco, and repainted about 3/4 of the house.
I've got our bedroom all cleaned out, with most of the furniture stashed around the house so he can scratch out and fill all the cracks in the walls and then paint it. She settled on "A nice, clean, bright Navajo White", BUT I don't think she realizes how badly the color blinds are going to clash with white after the window sills and walls are white.
The bathroom, front bedroom, living/dining area and kitchen have all been repainted in the last year, sooooo......that means the Radio Room will be in her sights very shortly, meaning I'm going to have to pull EVERYTHING out of here so it can get patched up and painted.
And after that's done I can see her really squawking about putting anything back in here, no matter how nice and clean the equipment is, or how well it's displayed.
SIGH.....
No word at all about her brother, other than it's "Day-By-Day, and Hour-By-Hour" per the duty nurse, and his case nurse.
I just went through the "What do you want us to do if you're severely incapacitated" paperwork with my primary care provider, and I think I said to give me a week on life support, and if the prognosis looks "really, really bad" to go ahead and pull the plug. I know they can keep the body alive almost indefinitely, but if there's no brain activity, and no hope of any in the foreseeable future, then is it worth it? I guess that's something that can only be decided on an individual basis, but I hope I never put my wife in that position......
Friday, June 9, 2017
Life Sure Has A Way Of Intruding When You're Busy Making Other Plans.....
Or however that old saying goes.
My wife's dear brother, and her only remaining sibling, suffered a serious accident yesterday.
His wife called me last night night to inform me, and specifically requested that I withhold the seriousness of it from her, as it was my wife's birthday and retirement party day. She told me what had happened, and that they obviously couldn't make it to my wife's birthday dinner tonight.
Dave walked my wife down the aisle the day we were married, and welcomed me into the family. The four of us always said grace when we had dinner. We were both "Boeing Guys" at the time. and while I could talk about what I worked on, he couldn't. He served proudly in the Army, enlisting at age 18 to get away from an uncomfortable relationship with his father. He was in the Army for quite a few years doing "Something in Security" that he didn't talk about. He started working for McDonnell-Douglas shortly after an Honorable Discharge from the Army, and stayed with the company after it;s acquisition by Boeing.
This poor man has suffered mightily the last few years. First, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which caused him to take an early retirement. He had quite a collection of woodworking tools, and was looking forward to that in his retirement. Those plans had to be canceled as it simply wouldn't be safe for him to operate large power tools.
He accepted it, and continued with his life.
He had the "experimental" surgery done where they implanted an electrical stimulation device in his brain, and for a year or so it was working well. As with all "experimental" surgeries, the results are not guaranteed, and he had to start taking his medications again.
He accepted it, and continued with his life.
Last year he required a procedure to place three stents in his cardiac arteries, like I had done several years ago. With all the medications you're required to take when you have this condition, it knocked him down some from his previous level of activity, just like it did to me.
He accepted it and continued with his life.
Yesterday as he was getting out of the car after returning from dinner with his wife, he started to fall, as he's had trouble walking the last year. His wife said he tried to speed up to catch his balance, but tripped and took a header onto his concrete driveway. He was taken to Long Beach memorial Hospital last night, and at this time is still in the ICU. He has a "brain bleed", causing pressure on his brain, and the bleeding is quite significant due in no small part to the blood thinners he was taking.
They had him pretty sedated to calm him, but he's no longer responsive, and he's on a ventilator.
The CAT scans taken show extensive bleeding and pressure on his brain.
Today his Doctors had The Talk with his wife concerning what his wishes were if he was ever in the situation of possibly never regaining consciousness.
We haven't heard what she and his two sons had decided, if anything. We talked to the staff at the ICU unit an hour or so ago when we went to visit him, and they said it's one day at a time right now, literally hour-by-hour, and far too early to make any diagnoses, prognoses, or decisions on future care.
My poor wife is devastated by this, and I just have one of those Bad Feelings you sometimes get........
My wife's dear brother, and her only remaining sibling, suffered a serious accident yesterday.
His wife called me last night night to inform me, and specifically requested that I withhold the seriousness of it from her, as it was my wife's birthday and retirement party day. She told me what had happened, and that they obviously couldn't make it to my wife's birthday dinner tonight.
Dave walked my wife down the aisle the day we were married, and welcomed me into the family. The four of us always said grace when we had dinner. We were both "Boeing Guys" at the time. and while I could talk about what I worked on, he couldn't. He served proudly in the Army, enlisting at age 18 to get away from an uncomfortable relationship with his father. He was in the Army for quite a few years doing "Something in Security" that he didn't talk about. He started working for McDonnell-Douglas shortly after an Honorable Discharge from the Army, and stayed with the company after it;s acquisition by Boeing.
This poor man has suffered mightily the last few years. First, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, which caused him to take an early retirement. He had quite a collection of woodworking tools, and was looking forward to that in his retirement. Those plans had to be canceled as it simply wouldn't be safe for him to operate large power tools.
He accepted it, and continued with his life.
He had the "experimental" surgery done where they implanted an electrical stimulation device in his brain, and for a year or so it was working well. As with all "experimental" surgeries, the results are not guaranteed, and he had to start taking his medications again.
He accepted it, and continued with his life.
Last year he required a procedure to place three stents in his cardiac arteries, like I had done several years ago. With all the medications you're required to take when you have this condition, it knocked him down some from his previous level of activity, just like it did to me.
He accepted it and continued with his life.
Yesterday as he was getting out of the car after returning from dinner with his wife, he started to fall, as he's had trouble walking the last year. His wife said he tried to speed up to catch his balance, but tripped and took a header onto his concrete driveway. He was taken to Long Beach memorial Hospital last night, and at this time is still in the ICU. He has a "brain bleed", causing pressure on his brain, and the bleeding is quite significant due in no small part to the blood thinners he was taking.
They had him pretty sedated to calm him, but he's no longer responsive, and he's on a ventilator.
The CAT scans taken show extensive bleeding and pressure on his brain.
Today his Doctors had The Talk with his wife concerning what his wishes were if he was ever in the situation of possibly never regaining consciousness.
We haven't heard what she and his two sons had decided, if anything. We talked to the staff at the ICU unit an hour or so ago when we went to visit him, and they said it's one day at a time right now, literally hour-by-hour, and far too early to make any diagnoses, prognoses, or decisions on future care.
My poor wife is devastated by this, and I just have one of those Bad Feelings you sometimes get........
House Prepping.....
The handyman guy is doing a bang-up job for us. He's matched the paint perfectly and spotted in all the faded/peeled areas.
He's sanded all the trim and repainted it, finished off my garage side-door installation from several years ago (just needed some exterior caulking and trim painting), replaced some wood that had deteriorated, and helped me pull all the antennas on the South side of the house.
I have one coax and the control cable for the autocoupler to remove today, and then I'll drop the weather station/VHF/UHF antenna on the North side of the house. That leaves only my VHF "eggbeater" antenna that I've been using for receiving weather satellite pictures from the APT weather satellites. That one is mounted on a non-penetrating roof mount sitting on the ground, so all I have to go is get some help tipping it over, and then I can take it all apart.
He might be done this weekend if I get my rear-in-gear today, but since he's self-employed, he'll hang around doing stuff until the wife decides the work she wanted is finished.
New drier got here yesterday and I hooked it up, tested it, and did a load of laundry. It seems to dry much better, but that might have to do with how I shortened up the flex hose from the hot-air exhaust and got rid of a couple of bends in it....with less restriction it should dry better!
We received "preapprovals" from two lenders in Colrado, so we're good-to-go as far as the minimal financing we'll do for the new house.
We told them we were going to put down about $275k cash on a $400k house, and they both bent over backwards to give us good rates on either a 30 year or 15 year mortgage.
Cash is still king, and although we won't be "all cash" buyers, we're financing a small enough amount, and have good enough credit and "cash reserves" that they're both very anxious to get our business!
He's sanded all the trim and repainted it, finished off my garage side-door installation from several years ago (just needed some exterior caulking and trim painting), replaced some wood that had deteriorated, and helped me pull all the antennas on the South side of the house.
I have one coax and the control cable for the autocoupler to remove today, and then I'll drop the weather station/VHF/UHF antenna on the North side of the house. That leaves only my VHF "eggbeater" antenna that I've been using for receiving weather satellite pictures from the APT weather satellites. That one is mounted on a non-penetrating roof mount sitting on the ground, so all I have to go is get some help tipping it over, and then I can take it all apart.
He might be done this weekend if I get my rear-in-gear today, but since he's self-employed, he'll hang around doing stuff until the wife decides the work she wanted is finished.
New drier got here yesterday and I hooked it up, tested it, and did a load of laundry. It seems to dry much better, but that might have to do with how I shortened up the flex hose from the hot-air exhaust and got rid of a couple of bends in it....with less restriction it should dry better!
We received "preapprovals" from two lenders in Colrado, so we're good-to-go as far as the minimal financing we'll do for the new house.
We told them we were going to put down about $275k cash on a $400k house, and they both bent over backwards to give us good rates on either a 30 year or 15 year mortgage.
Cash is still king, and although we won't be "all cash" buyers, we're financing a small enough amount, and have good enough credit and "cash reserves" that they're both very anxious to get our business!
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
"End of an Era" here for me.....
Well, I pulled down my 33' vertical, auto-coupler, and Line Isolator today so we could demolish the little patio/porch on the back of the house, thus ending 8 years of fixed HF operation.
I can still get on HF, but it would be using a much less efficient antenna, so I probably won't operate much HF until we get settled in Colorado.
And I pulled down my semi permanent VHF/UHF antenna that was on a 5' tripod and three 5' sections of mast and got that all ready to pack up. I still have the Discone scanner antenna to drop, my 'eggbeater' weather satellite antenna, and the mast holding the instruments for my weather station. When that's all done our house will look "normal" again, and not like remote monitoring outpost!
The patio/porch had become termite infested a couple of years ago, and as soon as I saw the little critters I went and bought a couple of gallons of termite-specific insecticide, and absolutely soaked all the wood in that structure, and then doused all the wood on that side of the house. The termites were eradicated, and never came back, but the damage was done. The 4x4 timbers for the vertical supports were hollowed out in spots, and the 2x12 stringers also had some spots that were pretty well bored out.
We found out just how bad it was today when we started taking it apart. One of the stringers split into about three pieces when we pulled the cross-braces off, and one of the 4x4 support columns came apart shortly after that! Our "Handyman" guy does a lot of framing work and carpentry, and he gave the eaves and surrounding area a good look over to see if there was any other termite damage, and said that whatever I sprayed got 'em before they had a chance to spread to the house itself, so we ducked a big one on that.
Wednesday he'll be doing some finish work on the side door to the garage that I installed a couple of years ago. The "door" that was there was pieced together out of two or three interior doors, and had deteriorated due to the weather exposure it gets. You quite literally could have knocked it off the hinges with one good kick or shoulder block! So, I bought a prehung, METAL exterior door, and spent a couple of days getting it framed into the existing opening. I know, a "pro" could have done it in 4 hours or less, but it was the first exterior door I'd ever installed. I caulked the inside seams with expanding, fire retardant foam, but never did the finish caulk and painting, which he'll do Wednesday. He'll also rehang the door on the little "shed" extension off the back of the garage, and hinge the one vinyl fence panel we have as a gate to the space between the back of the garage and the block wall. And he'll began the process of sanding/touching up all the trim on the house, fixing a few spots where the stucco popped off, replacing and repairing any other woodwork that needs it, and spotting in faded/thin spots in the paint on the house. When my wife's oldest son "painted" the house right before we met, he did what Dan The Handyman called a "Spray, Pray, and Scoot", also called a "Blow and Go", i.e., a real quick and dirty "paint job" on the house. I've been noticing thin spots in the paint for several years now, but oh, well.....just another thing I tell my wife that gets ignored.
Wednesday afternoon I get my root canal done since it's already scheduled and really needs to be done, and then I'm going to do a bit of dental "shopping" to try and knock the $15k~$18k price they quoted me down to something manageable.
Thursday the new drier gets here and the old one gets dragged away. This afternoon I shut the gas off to the old one, disconnected it, and with the help of Dan The Handyman, we wrestled it out of the side door on the garage, and then I cleaned out the area behind the washer and drier and made sure everything was ready for the new one to start it's tour of duty.
I'm not sure what's going on Friday. I'll probably let Dan do his thing while I clean up the aftermath of the previous three days.
The wife has a little over a week left in her career with the school district, and then I'm sure she'll try and put the spurs to me to get things done at warp-speed. I'm not sure if I can operate at that speed for a sustained period, so I'll try and keep things going at a decent rate, but there's no way I'm going to run at "Ludicrous Speed" to get this stuff done!
I can still get on HF, but it would be using a much less efficient antenna, so I probably won't operate much HF until we get settled in Colorado.
And I pulled down my semi permanent VHF/UHF antenna that was on a 5' tripod and three 5' sections of mast and got that all ready to pack up. I still have the Discone scanner antenna to drop, my 'eggbeater' weather satellite antenna, and the mast holding the instruments for my weather station. When that's all done our house will look "normal" again, and not like remote monitoring outpost!
The patio/porch had become termite infested a couple of years ago, and as soon as I saw the little critters I went and bought a couple of gallons of termite-specific insecticide, and absolutely soaked all the wood in that structure, and then doused all the wood on that side of the house. The termites were eradicated, and never came back, but the damage was done. The 4x4 timbers for the vertical supports were hollowed out in spots, and the 2x12 stringers also had some spots that were pretty well bored out.
We found out just how bad it was today when we started taking it apart. One of the stringers split into about three pieces when we pulled the cross-braces off, and one of the 4x4 support columns came apart shortly after that! Our "Handyman" guy does a lot of framing work and carpentry, and he gave the eaves and surrounding area a good look over to see if there was any other termite damage, and said that whatever I sprayed got 'em before they had a chance to spread to the house itself, so we ducked a big one on that.
Wednesday he'll be doing some finish work on the side door to the garage that I installed a couple of years ago. The "door" that was there was pieced together out of two or three interior doors, and had deteriorated due to the weather exposure it gets. You quite literally could have knocked it off the hinges with one good kick or shoulder block! So, I bought a prehung, METAL exterior door, and spent a couple of days getting it framed into the existing opening. I know, a "pro" could have done it in 4 hours or less, but it was the first exterior door I'd ever installed. I caulked the inside seams with expanding, fire retardant foam, but never did the finish caulk and painting, which he'll do Wednesday. He'll also rehang the door on the little "shed" extension off the back of the garage, and hinge the one vinyl fence panel we have as a gate to the space between the back of the garage and the block wall. And he'll began the process of sanding/touching up all the trim on the house, fixing a few spots where the stucco popped off, replacing and repairing any other woodwork that needs it, and spotting in faded/thin spots in the paint on the house. When my wife's oldest son "painted" the house right before we met, he did what Dan The Handyman called a "Spray, Pray, and Scoot", also called a "Blow and Go", i.e., a real quick and dirty "paint job" on the house. I've been noticing thin spots in the paint for several years now, but oh, well.....just another thing I tell my wife that gets ignored.
Wednesday afternoon I get my root canal done since it's already scheduled and really needs to be done, and then I'm going to do a bit of dental "shopping" to try and knock the $15k~$18k price they quoted me down to something manageable.
Thursday the new drier gets here and the old one gets dragged away. This afternoon I shut the gas off to the old one, disconnected it, and with the help of Dan The Handyman, we wrestled it out of the side door on the garage, and then I cleaned out the area behind the washer and drier and made sure everything was ready for the new one to start it's tour of duty.
I'm not sure what's going on Friday. I'll probably let Dan do his thing while I clean up the aftermath of the previous three days.
The wife has a little over a week left in her career with the school district, and then I'm sure she'll try and put the spurs to me to get things done at warp-speed. I'm not sure if I can operate at that speed for a sustained period, so I'll try and keep things going at a decent rate, but there's no way I'm going to run at "Ludicrous Speed" to get this stuff done!
Monday, June 5, 2017
Battleship Iowa NI6BB to be On Air to Commemorate D-Day
NI6BB will be operating from 0900 to 1700 PDST in commemoration of D-Day.
Look for us in frequencies ending in "61" on 40 Meters through 10 Meters.
I won't be able to be there this year because we *finally* have a handyman guy showing up to do to needed repairs to get the house ready for sale.
And I can't be there this Wednesday either, as I have (oh, joy...) a root canal scheduled.
Look for us in frequencies ending in "61" on 40 Meters through 10 Meters.
I won't be able to be there this year because we *finally* have a handyman guy showing up to do to needed repairs to get the house ready for sale.
And I can't be there this Wednesday either, as I have (oh, joy...) a root canal scheduled.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway
Admiral Yamamoto, who may or may not have made the quotation from which this blog's name came from, told his superiors before Pearl Harbor that if the Pearl Harbor strike was successful, he "Could run wild in the Pacific for six months. After that, I do not know".
Six months after Pearl Harbor was the Battle of Midway, considered by many Naval historians to be the "Turning Point" in the Pacific Theater of WWII.
Wikipedia has a very good article on the battle here, and many fine books have been written about it.
Six months after Pearl Harbor was the Battle of Midway, considered by many Naval historians to be the "Turning Point" in the Pacific Theater of WWII.
Wikipedia has a very good article on the battle here, and many fine books have been written about it.
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Thursday Already??
And the clock is counting down towards The Great Colorado Move.....
We've been "pre-qualified" for far more than we want to borrow on the purchase of a house, the wife has checked out the insurance and tax situations, we're still trying to get a handyman service scheduled for the work on the house here, and the clothes drier went kerblooie the day before we left on our latest trip.
The replacement dryer is the same size as the old one, which is 2" smaller than the side door in/out of the garage, so at least I won't have to pull half the garage out to do the R&R.
I'd almost rather get this one fixed, except that after I found out it was "broken", I asked her how, exactly, it was "broken". The last time it just wouldn't heat up, and a $75 service call to replace a $25 temp sensor fixed it in about 15 minutes.
Well...not so lucky this time. She said "Oh, made a burning smell, then went 'POP!', and quit working".
Groan......I'm going to pull the inspection cover off and take a peek inside, but I don't think it'll be $100 to fix it this time!
eBay sales are going well, with half the items I have listed having bids, and the other half destined for either my curio shelf or the junk man.
The next round getting listed Sunday will be some (more) partially restored radios, some radio "basket cases" that were work-in-progress until some of the parts disappeared, and some "Vintage Computing" items, like video cards, sound cards, a couple of Super Socket 7 motherboards with CPU's and memory installed, and whatever else I can quickly drag out of the garage, photograph, and get listed.
And I haven't even gotten to the boxed up / bagged up stuff under the workbench yet.....
We've been "pre-qualified" for far more than we want to borrow on the purchase of a house, the wife has checked out the insurance and tax situations, we're still trying to get a handyman service scheduled for the work on the house here, and the clothes drier went kerblooie the day before we left on our latest trip.
The replacement dryer is the same size as the old one, which is 2" smaller than the side door in/out of the garage, so at least I won't have to pull half the garage out to do the R&R.
I'd almost rather get this one fixed, except that after I found out it was "broken", I asked her how, exactly, it was "broken". The last time it just wouldn't heat up, and a $75 service call to replace a $25 temp sensor fixed it in about 15 minutes.
Well...not so lucky this time. She said "Oh, made a burning smell, then went 'POP!', and quit working".
Groan......I'm going to pull the inspection cover off and take a peek inside, but I don't think it'll be $100 to fix it this time!
eBay sales are going well, with half the items I have listed having bids, and the other half destined for either my curio shelf or the junk man.
The next round getting listed Sunday will be some (more) partially restored radios, some radio "basket cases" that were work-in-progress until some of the parts disappeared, and some "Vintage Computing" items, like video cards, sound cards, a couple of Super Socket 7 motherboards with CPU's and memory installed, and whatever else I can quickly drag out of the garage, photograph, and get listed.
And I haven't even gotten to the boxed up / bagged up stuff under the workbench yet.....
Sunday, May 28, 2017
Battleship Iowa Memorial Day Activities
It always bugged me, even as a kid, when people talked about "celebrating" Memorial Day.
You have to be a pretty strange person to "celebrate" the deaths of large numbers of our military!
No, people....we Commemorate Memorial Day. It's a solemn day, or should be, a remembrance of those who gave it all for our country. Flags should be flown at half-mast, and when you hoist a cold one this weekend, make sure you hoist one for all those who never came home.
There's music and food trucks, and free admission for Veterans this weekend down on the Iowa. I'd normally be there for the whole weekend, but with The Great Colorado Move looming, I'm sorting, cleaning, and photographing stuff to list on eBay. After this round the Radio Room will be pretty empty of "surplus" items, and I'll start in on the sellable things I have in the garage.
I'll be on the Iowa all day Monday, as we'll be on-the-air in commemoration of Memorial Day. I think there's a few guys down there today, so look for NI6BB in frequencies ending in "61", like 14.261, one of our favorite frequencies to sit on.
You have to be a pretty strange person to "celebrate" the deaths of large numbers of our military!
No, people....we Commemorate Memorial Day. It's a solemn day, or should be, a remembrance of those who gave it all for our country. Flags should be flown at half-mast, and when you hoist a cold one this weekend, make sure you hoist one for all those who never came home.
There's music and food trucks, and free admission for Veterans this weekend down on the Iowa. I'd normally be there for the whole weekend, but with The Great Colorado Move looming, I'm sorting, cleaning, and photographing stuff to list on eBay. After this round the Radio Room will be pretty empty of "surplus" items, and I'll start in on the sellable things I have in the garage.
I'll be on the Iowa all day Monday, as we'll be on-the-air in commemoration of Memorial Day. I think there's a few guys down there today, so look for NI6BB in frequencies ending in "61", like 14.261, one of our favorite frequencies to sit on.
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
Colorado Trip "AAR"
Only been back an hour or two, and still getting normalized, but I thought I'd dash this off for all my friends who are pulling for us in our escape from The People's Demokratik Republik of Kaliforniastan.
First off, little Noah and The Kids are doing well. He's still on supplemental Oxygen, and has a monitor connected to him, but the monitor stays consistently at 95% or above. They "test" him a couple of times a day, per instructions from the NICU, by turning off the O2, and seeing how fast and how far the monitor drops, and then turning the O2 back on. The monitor goes to the NICU weekly, where they download the data from it for analysis.
I forget what the exact parameters are, but they say he's getting better, and will most likely be off the O2 for good in another month or so, but that's entirely up to the Doctors at the NICU.
The "bachelor" apartment in the "shop" building on the property where The Kids are living should be finished in the next month, and that's where we'll be staying when we first move to Fort Collins after we sell this place, and pack up what's left.
It'll be good for the kids. as Grandma #2 will be on-site to take care of Noah while his Mom and Dad are at work.
And of course, Diamond, Coco, and Obie went completely nuts when we got there, and took a couple of days to get used to having us around again. No idea how they'll get along with Pebbles when we get there, though. I think she and Diamond will become fast friends, but Coco gets on this "Alpha Dog" kick every so often, so we'll have to watch that closely. Obie is a complete unknown.
Our in-laws (Noah's other grandparents) are doing great, and it was fun catching up on local news with them while we were there.
The house search is progressing, and my wife has come to grips with the reality of the market in Fort Collins and the surrounding areas. Things I've been telling her for the last two years that were completely ignored coming from me were magically accepted as carved-in-stone facts after the Nice Young Guy real estate agent we spent some time with on Sunday told her the exact same things, and then complimented me for "having a good handle on the local market while living in another state".
She also significantly increased the price cap on properties to search for after FINALLY coming to the grim (for her) realization that we would NEVER be able to buy something that meets her criteria by using only the profit from the sale of this house.
No.....Freaking.....Way would we be able to buy a place with $270k.
Just aint gonna happen.
So now we're looking at the $400k and under market, and there are some stunning places available in the price range.
Older, established neighborhoods with big trees, 12,000+ sq ft lots, and a pride of ownership in the houses and neighborhoods that just shows.
As we were driving through some of the neighborhoods looking for addresses, or just gawking at the houses, people would wave to us! Not shake their fist in a "Get out of here!" attitude, but a big "Howdy neighbor!" kind of wave.
I think we're going to enjoy living up here......
First off, little Noah and The Kids are doing well. He's still on supplemental Oxygen, and has a monitor connected to him, but the monitor stays consistently at 95% or above. They "test" him a couple of times a day, per instructions from the NICU, by turning off the O2, and seeing how fast and how far the monitor drops, and then turning the O2 back on. The monitor goes to the NICU weekly, where they download the data from it for analysis.
I forget what the exact parameters are, but they say he's getting better, and will most likely be off the O2 for good in another month or so, but that's entirely up to the Doctors at the NICU.
The "bachelor" apartment in the "shop" building on the property where The Kids are living should be finished in the next month, and that's where we'll be staying when we first move to Fort Collins after we sell this place, and pack up what's left.
It'll be good for the kids. as Grandma #2 will be on-site to take care of Noah while his Mom and Dad are at work.
And of course, Diamond, Coco, and Obie went completely nuts when we got there, and took a couple of days to get used to having us around again. No idea how they'll get along with Pebbles when we get there, though. I think she and Diamond will become fast friends, but Coco gets on this "Alpha Dog" kick every so often, so we'll have to watch that closely. Obie is a complete unknown.
Our in-laws (Noah's other grandparents) are doing great, and it was fun catching up on local news with them while we were there.
The house search is progressing, and my wife has come to grips with the reality of the market in Fort Collins and the surrounding areas. Things I've been telling her for the last two years that were completely ignored coming from me were magically accepted as carved-in-stone facts after the Nice Young Guy real estate agent we spent some time with on Sunday told her the exact same things, and then complimented me for "having a good handle on the local market while living in another state".
She also significantly increased the price cap on properties to search for after FINALLY coming to the grim (for her) realization that we would NEVER be able to buy something that meets her criteria by using only the profit from the sale of this house.
No.....Freaking.....Way would we be able to buy a place with $270k.
Just aint gonna happen.
So now we're looking at the $400k and under market, and there are some stunning places available in the price range.
Older, established neighborhoods with big trees, 12,000+ sq ft lots, and a pride of ownership in the houses and neighborhoods that just shows.
As we were driving through some of the neighborhoods looking for addresses, or just gawking at the houses, people would wave to us! Not shake their fist in a "Get out of here!" attitude, but a big "Howdy neighbor!" kind of wave.
I think we're going to enjoy living up here......
Headed Back To The Land of Fruits and Nuts
Headed back Tuesday morning after a nice restful, productive, and joyous time here in the Fort Collins area.
Restful because the traffic is about 90% less by volume than back in SoCal, productive because my wife has finally realized all the things I've been telling her about the real estate market out here is true, and joyous as we got to spend some time with little Noah, the kids, and Diamond, Coco, and Obie, the three dogs the kids took when they moved here.
We're expecting to walk away with around $275k from the sale of the house in SoCal, and my wife has finally realized we're NOT going to be able to buy a house with just that amount. Well....there are houses out there at that price point, some with very large lots, but the houses are best described as "livable, but need a bit of updating". So, she's raised the house finding price cap to $400k, and that means it's a whole new ball game.
I've been trying to pound that into her head the last two years, but she was completely deaf to my "research findings".
Sunday we met with a different realtor, a very nice young guy who appears to know his stuff, and she listened to him. The little light bulb in her head finally started to glow a bit, and by dinnertime she'd accepted the fact that we're going to have to get a mortgage of about $140k to really make this happen.
SIGH.......
So I was up until well after 0100 last night / this morning going over the results of my modified search parameters on the real estate sites I use so we'd have some addresses to go check out today.
The Nice Young Guy had her convinced that we'd find paradise in either Wellington or Loveland (I know better, but she flat-out ignored my advice), so today we checked some properties I thought were good matches for us at $400k and under, and then blew the rest of the day bu first going up to Wellington, and then South down to Loveland. She declared Wellington to be "desolate" (huh?) Loveland to be "too far" (no shit, Sherlock), but was absolutely bowled over by the places I found.
Then she started babbling on about "Well how come YOU can find these houses and the agent can't?" at which point I told her she had the agent searching for stuff at $350k and under, AND searching in Wellington and Loveland, etc, etc, etc, but she still didn't get it.
Double Sigh........
Several of the places I found were out off Mulberry where it crosses Interstate 25, and they were knock-outs. Big lots, very well maintained, big trees, and just a very nice, livable looking neighborhood.
And I found a couple of places in the Laporte area at the new price cap, but we didn't have time to see them after wasting THREE HOURS going down to Loveland even though I knew she wouldn't be happy AT ALL going that far away. There's some nice houses down there, but that area is exploding with new growth and houses, and the roads are NOT capable of supporting the volume of traffic that's going to come.
So, it'll be back to dumping more of my stuff on eBay, giving some to the Iowa, some to friends, and some to the recylce / eWaste people.
She has three weeks until retirement, and then I think she'll really start chomping at the bit to get out of SoCal.
I'd post some of the pix I took, but I can't get them off my phone and on to this blasted laptop. It sees the phone, and that's it, even when I switch the phone from "USB Charging" to "File Transfer Mode".
Restful because the traffic is about 90% less by volume than back in SoCal, productive because my wife has finally realized all the things I've been telling her about the real estate market out here is true, and joyous as we got to spend some time with little Noah, the kids, and Diamond, Coco, and Obie, the three dogs the kids took when they moved here.
We're expecting to walk away with around $275k from the sale of the house in SoCal, and my wife has finally realized we're NOT going to be able to buy a house with just that amount. Well....there are houses out there at that price point, some with very large lots, but the houses are best described as "livable, but need a bit of updating". So, she's raised the house finding price cap to $400k, and that means it's a whole new ball game.
I've been trying to pound that into her head the last two years, but she was completely deaf to my "research findings".
Sunday we met with a different realtor, a very nice young guy who appears to know his stuff, and she listened to him. The little light bulb in her head finally started to glow a bit, and by dinnertime she'd accepted the fact that we're going to have to get a mortgage of about $140k to really make this happen.
SIGH.......
So I was up until well after 0100 last night / this morning going over the results of my modified search parameters on the real estate sites I use so we'd have some addresses to go check out today.
The Nice Young Guy had her convinced that we'd find paradise in either Wellington or Loveland (I know better, but she flat-out ignored my advice), so today we checked some properties I thought were good matches for us at $400k and under, and then blew the rest of the day bu first going up to Wellington, and then South down to Loveland. She declared Wellington to be "desolate" (huh?) Loveland to be "too far" (no shit, Sherlock), but was absolutely bowled over by the places I found.
Then she started babbling on about "Well how come YOU can find these houses and the agent can't?" at which point I told her she had the agent searching for stuff at $350k and under, AND searching in Wellington and Loveland, etc, etc, etc, but she still didn't get it.
Double Sigh........
Several of the places I found were out off Mulberry where it crosses Interstate 25, and they were knock-outs. Big lots, very well maintained, big trees, and just a very nice, livable looking neighborhood.
And I found a couple of places in the Laporte area at the new price cap, but we didn't have time to see them after wasting THREE HOURS going down to Loveland even though I knew she wouldn't be happy AT ALL going that far away. There's some nice houses down there, but that area is exploding with new growth and houses, and the roads are NOT capable of supporting the volume of traffic that's going to come.
So, it'll be back to dumping more of my stuff on eBay, giving some to the Iowa, some to friends, and some to the recylce / eWaste people.
She has three weeks until retirement, and then I think she'll really start chomping at the bit to get out of SoCal.
I'd post some of the pix I took, but I can't get them off my phone and on to this blasted laptop. It sees the phone, and that's it, even when I switch the phone from "USB Charging" to "File Transfer Mode".
Friday, May 19, 2017
I Finally Get To Meet Little Noah!
And my wife said I was holding him"Like you were afraid you'd break him"!
Yeah, well.....if I broke him he's one of the few things I couldn't fix on the spot, so yeah, I was pretty careful with him!
He's still on supplemental Oxygen (the tubes by his little head), and wired up to the monitor (wire by his little foot), which you can see behind on the shelf.
Sunday and Monday we'll be driving around with realtors to look at properties. My wife has two weeks left at work before she retires, and then we'll kick it up to warp speed to get the house ready for sale.
Now she's thinking we'll be out of Kommiefornia in September. If I would have suggested that time frame even a few months ago she would have slapped me silly.
Oh, well......
eBay sales over the past couple of weeks went very well, and the Radio Room is about half cleaned out now. As soon as we get back I have several more "basket case" radios I'll drag out of the garage and photograph so I can list them. They're all in good condition, in various stages of restoration, and I'll list them as such. Most of the "hard to do" repairs are (properly) finished on them, and for a couple it's simply a matter of reassembling the box of parts that will sell with each, so several people will get some bargains.
We're also planning on having a yard sale, but I think she's expecting *me* to provide the bulk of the items!
She was looking at my 8' tall Glen Martin tower with the azimuth/elevation rotors on it the other day and said something like "You're not planning on taking that thing when we move, are you?", to which I replied "Only if YOU'LL replace it when we get there!".
After she found out the tower, rotors, thrust bearing, mast, and assorted stainless hardware I used to build it would cost, oh, say $2000 to replace, she backed right off. She remembers me building it, how happy I was to get the rotors working with laptop control, and how much I used it for Field Day and other operations. She had no idea what it all cost, and still doesn't realize that some of things I have, and she sees me use, are sometimes irreplaceable, and a bit pricey if I did have to replace them. This has been an ongoing issue between us in "deciding" what's going with us, and what *I* have to dump to keep her happy.
Oh, well.......I'm sure our little house in Long Beach will sell pretty quickly once we put it on the market.
At this point the concept of "Logistics" is finally dawning on her.....
Yeah, well.....if I broke him he's one of the few things I couldn't fix on the spot, so yeah, I was pretty careful with him!
He's still on supplemental Oxygen (the tubes by his little head), and wired up to the monitor (wire by his little foot), which you can see behind on the shelf.
Sunday and Monday we'll be driving around with realtors to look at properties. My wife has two weeks left at work before she retires, and then we'll kick it up to warp speed to get the house ready for sale.
Now she's thinking we'll be out of Kommiefornia in September. If I would have suggested that time frame even a few months ago she would have slapped me silly.
Oh, well......
eBay sales over the past couple of weeks went very well, and the Radio Room is about half cleaned out now. As soon as we get back I have several more "basket case" radios I'll drag out of the garage and photograph so I can list them. They're all in good condition, in various stages of restoration, and I'll list them as such. Most of the "hard to do" repairs are (properly) finished on them, and for a couple it's simply a matter of reassembling the box of parts that will sell with each, so several people will get some bargains.
We're also planning on having a yard sale, but I think she's expecting *me* to provide the bulk of the items!
She was looking at my 8' tall Glen Martin tower with the azimuth/elevation rotors on it the other day and said something like "You're not planning on taking that thing when we move, are you?", to which I replied "Only if YOU'LL replace it when we get there!".
After she found out the tower, rotors, thrust bearing, mast, and assorted stainless hardware I used to build it would cost, oh, say $2000 to replace, she backed right off. She remembers me building it, how happy I was to get the rotors working with laptop control, and how much I used it for Field Day and other operations. She had no idea what it all cost, and still doesn't realize that some of things I have, and she sees me use, are sometimes irreplaceable, and a bit pricey if I did have to replace them. This has been an ongoing issue between us in "deciding" what's going with us, and what *I* have to dump to keep her happy.
Oh, well.......I'm sure our little house in Long Beach will sell pretty quickly once we put it on the market.
At this point the concept of "Logistics" is finally dawning on her.....
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Arrived In Fort Collins
Got into Denver about 1530 local time, and was met with 40* temps and rain.
Took almost an hour to get our rental car. The agent told us there had been some bad hailstorms in the last week, and a lot of the rental car fleets had half their stock in the shop being repaired. The daughter-in-law confirmed this, saying a few older malls sustained so much damage that they'd most likely be torn torn rather than repaired.
About 30 miles North of DIA, the rain turned to sleet, and then to snow. I've driven in this stuff before, so it didn't bather me too much, but the wife was white-knuckled until we got to the hotel.
Called the kids, and then ordered some pizza to take with us for dinner.
The dogs went completely bonkers when they saw us, as expected, and I got to meet little Noah tonight.
We left their place about 2130, and the snow had tapered off quite a bit.
The Denver Tee Vee stations are in "ZOMG!!! SNOWMAGEDDON!!!" mode, predicting up to 7" overnight.
It's 2245 here, and I'm trashed from the flight and the drive.
More tomorrow........
Took almost an hour to get our rental car. The agent told us there had been some bad hailstorms in the last week, and a lot of the rental car fleets had half their stock in the shop being repaired. The daughter-in-law confirmed this, saying a few older malls sustained so much damage that they'd most likely be torn torn rather than repaired.
About 30 miles North of DIA, the rain turned to sleet, and then to snow. I've driven in this stuff before, so it didn't bather me too much, but the wife was white-knuckled until we got to the hotel.
Called the kids, and then ordered some pizza to take with us for dinner.
The dogs went completely bonkers when they saw us, as expected, and I got to meet little Noah tonight.
We left their place about 2130, and the snow had tapered off quite a bit.
The Denver Tee Vee stations are in "ZOMG!!! SNOWMAGEDDON!!!" mode, predicting up to 7" overnight.
It's 2245 here, and I'm trashed from the flight and the drive.
More tomorrow........
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Light Posting Ahead
As if I could get any "lighter" than I already am.....
We're head out to Colorado Thursday morning to see the grandbaby, hang out with the family, and do some serious house hunting.
Here's the little guy all dressed up for his first Mother's Day:
I've got about 12 items from my eBay sales to get packed and shipped today, and then have some chores around the house to do before we get out of here.
And I have to get my rolling duffle out of the garage and pack it up.
I'll be on the Iowa all day Wednesday doing some meetings and a recap of our Armed Forces Day Cross-Band test where we had the Iowa on-the-air as NEPM for the first time since 1990.
I went pretty well, with a few operator error snafus, and a few technical problems, but we had a great turn out, plenty of operators, and some great food from one of our new members whose wife owns a sandwich shop, and makes killer potato salad.
Had some "family issues" yesterday that shot the whole day (Rev. Paul knows what I'm talking about), but that seems to have settled down for now.
Pix from the Iowa NEPM ops might be posted later today, God willin' and the crick don't rise!
We're head out to Colorado Thursday morning to see the grandbaby, hang out with the family, and do some serious house hunting.
Here's the little guy all dressed up for his first Mother's Day:
I've got about 12 items from my eBay sales to get packed and shipped today, and then have some chores around the house to do before we get out of here.
And I have to get my rolling duffle out of the garage and pack it up.
I'll be on the Iowa all day Wednesday doing some meetings and a recap of our Armed Forces Day Cross-Band test where we had the Iowa on-the-air as NEPM for the first time since 1990.
I went pretty well, with a few operator error snafus, and a few technical problems, but we had a great turn out, plenty of operators, and some great food from one of our new members whose wife owns a sandwich shop, and makes killer potato salad.
Had some "family issues" yesterday that shot the whole day (Rev. Paul knows what I'm talking about), but that seems to have settled down for now.
Pix from the Iowa NEPM ops might be posted later today, God willin' and the crick don't rise!
Friday, May 12, 2017
The Dentist Said...HOW MUCH?!!!?
Oh, boy......
I got back from the Dentist a while ago and I'm still reeling from "Sticker Shock".
I knew I need some dental work as I've been getting food trapped between my rear most molars on the bottom on both sides, and a month or so ago I had a chip break out of one on the lower right side. Plus, I need a really good cleaning as I haven't been to the Dentist since I retired 3 years ago and lost my Dental coverage at the Dentist I've been going to since 1995.
My wife's dental plan didn't cover her, and while I'd been to my wife's Dentist during my lay-off between Boeing and Energia, I just kinda-sorta "never went" back since I started retirement.
WELLLLL.....I need a bit more than I anticipated.
A LOT more, in fact.
About $18k more......
To start, I need a crown on one tooth, but at least that tooth in good enough shape that it doesn't need a root canal.
And I have three fillings that are "leaking" and need to be replaced. The X-Rays show those three teeth are in good condition except that the fillings are shot.
The real kicker is I need THREE teeth extracted, and implants placed there or the teeth above them will soon get all weirded out, and I'll lose them.
And because of a night-time problem of grinding my teeth when I sleep, my lower front teeth are worn to the point that if I don't get all of them crowned, they'll be going bye-bye in a few years....
Looks like my "Colorado Garage Fund" just took a major hit.......
I got back from the Dentist a while ago and I'm still reeling from "Sticker Shock".
I knew I need some dental work as I've been getting food trapped between my rear most molars on the bottom on both sides, and a month or so ago I had a chip break out of one on the lower right side. Plus, I need a really good cleaning as I haven't been to the Dentist since I retired 3 years ago and lost my Dental coverage at the Dentist I've been going to since 1995.
My wife's dental plan didn't cover her, and while I'd been to my wife's Dentist during my lay-off between Boeing and Energia, I just kinda-sorta "never went" back since I started retirement.
WELLLLL.....I need a bit more than I anticipated.
A LOT more, in fact.
About $18k more......
To start, I need a crown on one tooth, but at least that tooth in good enough shape that it doesn't need a root canal.
And I have three fillings that are "leaking" and need to be replaced. The X-Rays show those three teeth are in good condition except that the fillings are shot.
The real kicker is I need THREE teeth extracted, and implants placed there or the teeth above them will soon get all weirded out, and I'll lose them.
And because of a night-time problem of grinding my teeth when I sleep, my lower front teeth are worn to the point that if I don't get all of them crowned, they'll be going bye-bye in a few years....
Looks like my "Colorado Garage Fund" just took a major hit.......
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Little Noah Finally Goes Home!
YAY!
The natal ICU was happy with his progress, and he hasn't had any "incidents" in a long enough time to be released, so the kids brought him home Tuesday.
Here's the happy Mom with the doggie nannies in attendance:
And here's a short video of the little guy snuggled in his car seat on the way home.
We're headed out there next week to spend a week with the kids and Noah, and do some house hunting.
My wife has TWENTY DAYS of work remaining before she retires.
The natal ICU was happy with his progress, and he hasn't had any "incidents" in a long enough time to be released, so the kids brought him home Tuesday.
Here's the happy Mom with the doggie nannies in attendance:
And here's a short video of the little guy snuggled in his car seat on the way home.
We're headed out there next week to spend a week with the kids and Noah, and do some house hunting.
My wife has TWENTY DAYS of work remaining before she retires.
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
President Trump Finally Says "You're FIRED!" to Comey
I was hoping he'd do it in his first 100 days, but hey...better a bit late than never!
Trump Fires Comey
Stand by for a deluge of liberal tears, and the inevitable leftist meltdown.....
Trump Fires Comey
Stand by for a deluge of liberal tears, and the inevitable leftist meltdown.....
Sunday, May 7, 2017
Rainy Day Sunday, Moving Preps, and Other Stuff
Getting some "Spring Rains" here in SoCal. Got about .15" last night/early today, and it just cut loose again.
That's a bit unusual here for this time of year, but not unheard of.
Total as of right now is about .38", and it's slowed from a pretty good downpour (for out here) to a nice steady drizzle.
I'm sloooowly getting the Radio Room cleaned out, and I've gotten rid of about 1/3 of the stuff that was stacked up in here. A lot of it is going on eBay, some on QRZ and eHam, some has been given away, and some of it is outside on the back porch on it's way to either the eWaste place, or the recycling place for anything aluminum or copper. It kind of pains me to scrap some of it as it's older, but perfectly functional, stuff that I know somebody could make use of, but that nobody wants.
Some of it's heavy, and not too many people will bid on a good, usable $10 item if the shipping is $25!
I haven't sold much on eBay in the last year or so, and when I took my latest bunch of stuff to get shipped I got hit with "sticker shock" when I had to pay the tab to ship it. Stuff that used to cost $10~$15 to ship cost $20~$25 this time, and I wound up losing money on a couple of items. The items I put on eBay last Sunday had shipping prices that I thought were a bit high, but people have bids on them, so I guess I'm not out of line.
I don't use the eBay Shipping Calculator as I've found it to be grossly low on the actual cost of shipping, even when I "padded" the dimensions and weight, and ADDED 10% to that! I lost my 10% discount at the place I use as my friend sold the business to a nice young couple so he could go full time into the coffee roasting/selling side business he had going, so that accounts for a small cost increase, but geez.....I'm paying DOUBLE what I did just a year or so ago.
As far as The Great Colorado Move goes, we talked with a couple of handyman guys to get some things done here that I can't or won't do ( I do NOT paint! Long story there....), and one guy never called back, and one guy has a big project remodeling the bathroom at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo that's paying him big bucks, and he can't squeeze us in within the time frame my wife wants.
We need some wall repair/painting inside, a driveway gate replaced, and a bunch of other stuff done. This week I'm pulling some antennas down and packing them up, and then the patio area is getting taken down due to dry rot and termite damage. The top of the patio area is where I have my 33' HF vertical, so I have to get that off the "roof" of the patio, pull down my elevated radials, and remove the remote antenna coupler, coax, and a bunch of stuff so my son and I can disassemble the structure.
My wife thinks she can just take my SawzAll and chop the thing down, but I know better, although there's been a few times in the last couple of weeks when I've been tempted to get the SawzAll out, and tell her to have at it........
That's a bit unusual here for this time of year, but not unheard of.
Total as of right now is about .38", and it's slowed from a pretty good downpour (for out here) to a nice steady drizzle.
I'm sloooowly getting the Radio Room cleaned out, and I've gotten rid of about 1/3 of the stuff that was stacked up in here. A lot of it is going on eBay, some on QRZ and eHam, some has been given away, and some of it is outside on the back porch on it's way to either the eWaste place, or the recycling place for anything aluminum or copper. It kind of pains me to scrap some of it as it's older, but perfectly functional, stuff that I know somebody could make use of, but that nobody wants.
Some of it's heavy, and not too many people will bid on a good, usable $10 item if the shipping is $25!
I haven't sold much on eBay in the last year or so, and when I took my latest bunch of stuff to get shipped I got hit with "sticker shock" when I had to pay the tab to ship it. Stuff that used to cost $10~$15 to ship cost $20~$25 this time, and I wound up losing money on a couple of items. The items I put on eBay last Sunday had shipping prices that I thought were a bit high, but people have bids on them, so I guess I'm not out of line.
I don't use the eBay Shipping Calculator as I've found it to be grossly low on the actual cost of shipping, even when I "padded" the dimensions and weight, and ADDED 10% to that! I lost my 10% discount at the place I use as my friend sold the business to a nice young couple so he could go full time into the coffee roasting/selling side business he had going, so that accounts for a small cost increase, but geez.....I'm paying DOUBLE what I did just a year or so ago.
As far as The Great Colorado Move goes, we talked with a couple of handyman guys to get some things done here that I can't or won't do ( I do NOT paint! Long story there....), and one guy never called back, and one guy has a big project remodeling the bathroom at The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo that's paying him big bucks, and he can't squeeze us in within the time frame my wife wants.
We need some wall repair/painting inside, a driveway gate replaced, and a bunch of other stuff done. This week I'm pulling some antennas down and packing them up, and then the patio area is getting taken down due to dry rot and termite damage. The top of the patio area is where I have my 33' HF vertical, so I have to get that off the "roof" of the patio, pull down my elevated radials, and remove the remote antenna coupler, coax, and a bunch of stuff so my son and I can disassemble the structure.
My wife thinks she can just take my SawzAll and chop the thing down, but I know better, although there's been a few times in the last couple of weeks when I've been tempted to get the SawzAll out, and tell her to have at it........
Tuesday, May 2, 2017
Thought for the Day for All Those "Special" Little Snowflakes Out There.....
Courtesy of a buddy on the FarceBook "Friends of SAC" page....
Thursday, April 27, 2017
Battleship Iowa Armed Forces Day Military/Amateur Cross-Band Operation
The Battleship Iowa will be operating with her original US Navy callsign of NEPM on 11 May 2017 from 0900PDST to 1700PDST, 1600UTC to 2359UTC.
The ARRL announcement is located here, and the official MARS announcement is located here.
Frequencies used to transmit from the ship, and the frequencies we will be listening on, are shown below.
The transmit frequencies have been assigned by Army MARS for exclusive use by NEPM, so you shouldn't have any trouble hearing use as nobody else will be transmitting on these frequencies.
We'll be using our "regular" Commercial Amateur Radio gear and the Disc/Cage antenna on the bow of the Iowa, and the Trussed Monopole located on the top of the AFFF station near the helodeck on the stern of the ship.
The "Grey Radio Gang" WILL be operating the ship's "legacy" on the 75/80 Meter and/or the 40 Meter frequencies.
The ARRL announcement is located here, and the official MARS announcement is located here.
Frequencies used to transmit from the ship, and the frequencies we will be listening on, are shown below.
The transmit frequencies have been assigned by Army MARS for exclusive use by NEPM, so you shouldn't have any trouble hearing use as nobody else will be transmitting on these frequencies.
The "Grey Radio Gang" WILL be operating the ship's "legacy" on the 75/80 Meter and/or the 40 Meter frequencies.
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
Grandson Update....
The little guy is rapidly approaching SIX pounds now, and is drinking around 90% of his bottle.
Bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger as they days go by. Medical advances for premies are astounding. It wasn't that long ago his chances of survival at 10 weeks early would have been pretty slim.
We'll be seeing him in about a month, and I get to hold him.
Wonder if he'll grab at my beard......
Bigger and bigger, stronger and stronger as they days go by. Medical advances for premies are astounding. It wasn't that long ago his chances of survival at 10 weeks early would have been pretty slim.
We'll be seeing him in about a month, and I get to hold him.
Wonder if he'll grab at my beard......
Saturday, April 22, 2017
Happy Earth Day!
The USAF wishes all our terrorist friends a very Happy Earth Day!
Your gifts should be arriving shortly.....
Your gifts should be arriving shortly.....
Thursday, April 20, 2017
"The X-Files" Is Coming Back Again....
According to this article over at CNET, Fox has signed up for another 10 episodes.
And that reminds me....I still haven't watched the six episodes I recorded the last time it "came back"....
Something to do this weekend while the wife is visiting her friend.
And that reminds me....I still haven't watched the six episodes I recorded the last time it "came back"....
Something to do this weekend while the wife is visiting her friend.
Wednesday, April 19, 2017
Busy Day
Spent the day on the Iowa doing radio stuff, and in meetings.
Museum Ship's Weekend is coming up, so I have a few things to tinker together for the Grey Radio Gang, namely another little adapter box so they can interface a "Red Phone" with a laptop to route some audio to the Combat Engagement Center.
But before that, we have the Armed Forces Crossband Test coming up. This is a test whereby we'll be allowed to transmit on approved DoD frequencies, and listen on the Amateur Radio frequencies.
Sometime back, one of our members was able to contact the guys that do USN ship callsign assignments. He also contacted the USCG Heron, which was using the callsign NEPM at the time.
The importance of the USN callsign NEPM is that it's the callsign originally issued to the USS Iowa when she was commissioned.
The Captain of the Heron was more than willing to release the callsign, and in exchange we helped him get NHRN, an exchange that made both sides happy.
We now have authorization to use NEPM, "In Perpetuity", from the DoD, and we'll take the Iowa on-the-air, using the 1980's ship's legacy radio gear, on May 11th this year.
This will be the first time the Iowa has been on-the-air with NEPM in 27 years.
Museum Ship's Weekend is coming up, so I have a few things to tinker together for the Grey Radio Gang, namely another little adapter box so they can interface a "Red Phone" with a laptop to route some audio to the Combat Engagement Center.
But before that, we have the Armed Forces Crossband Test coming up. This is a test whereby we'll be allowed to transmit on approved DoD frequencies, and listen on the Amateur Radio frequencies.
Sometime back, one of our members was able to contact the guys that do USN ship callsign assignments. He also contacted the USCG Heron, which was using the callsign NEPM at the time.
The importance of the USN callsign NEPM is that it's the callsign originally issued to the USS Iowa when she was commissioned.
The Captain of the Heron was more than willing to release the callsign, and in exchange we helped him get NHRN, an exchange that made both sides happy.
We now have authorization to use NEPM, "In Perpetuity", from the DoD, and we'll take the Iowa on-the-air, using the 1980's ship's legacy radio gear, on May 11th this year.
This will be the first time the Iowa has been on-the-air with NEPM in 27 years.
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Happy Easter!
To all my friends....
Cooking a big dinner today, and the wife's oldest son, his GF, and his daughter will be joining us.
Cooking a big dinner today, and the wife's oldest son, his GF, and his daughter will be joining us.
The Story of an Old Firebird, Part 5....
This section will cover the body/chassis, and the “weight loss program” I put the car on.
The car as delivered handled extremely well. With the 1.25” front sway bar and the .875” rear sway bar, high-rate springs, and Pliacell shock absorbers, it cornered flat. I added Koni adjustable shock absorbers, and set them about half way between very little damping, and break your teeth. The special variable-ration power steering that came with the Y99 handling package, and the small diameter fat-rimmed “Formula” steering wheel made the car steer like a Go Kart. During the course of construction, I cut a full coil from the front springs, and made some lowering blocks for the rear leaf springs. Cutting coils off a spring not only lowers the car, but also raises the effective spring rate. The “best” way to do it is to get shorter springs made, or find some others in the parts book that do what you want, but cutting a coil off is a pretty cheap, effective way to drop the car.
The rear lowering blocks were 3/4” think aluminum blocks I had made at Tubby Gallup’s (I’m pretty sure that’s his name...it’s been almost 40 years!) place, and he also fabbed some longer U-Bolts for me. Adding lowering blocks pushes the rear axle up into the chassis, dropping the body down lower over the axle.
I also ordered some solid body mounts from Herb Adams’ “Very Special Equipment” catalog, along with some front subframe reinforcing struts. The solid body mounts eliminated any deflection caused by the big rubber “biscuit” type body mounts, and moved the front subframe about 3/4” closer to the unibody, effectively “channeling” the body down over the frame. The front struts he sold attached to the pinch-weld area of the firewall in two places, and then ran down to the forward stud for the upper control arm. You loosened the big nut used for front end alignment, remover some alignment shims, dropped the tab on the end of the strut in place, and tightened the nut back up. A trip to the alignment shop was required, as removing the wrong amount of shims had adverse effects on your front camber and caster!
With the cut front springs and the aluminum subframe mounts, the front dropped about 1-1/2 inches. Along with the 3/4” drop in the rear, the car had a pretty mean appearance. Today we’d say it had “Stance”, but back then we just said it was lowered, or had “a mean rake”.
The front and rear sway bar mounts were also changed from rubber to aluminum where the bars mounted to the frame, and the end links were replaced with new ones fabricated using spherical rod ends, or “Heim Joints”. This completely eliminated any deflection in the bar mounting, and made the bars act instantly, rather than having to take up any “squish” or slack in a rubber mount. I didn’t go “Full Race” on the suspension by replacing the front control arm bushings with solid ones, as I’d had before-and-after rides in cars that had that done to them, and it 100% completely ruined the car for street use. You can get away with that on a nice, smooth race track, but solid suspension bushings on the street are completely unlivable. These days we have polyurethane suspension bushings (I have them in my Supra), and while they’re stiffer than OEM bushings, they’re nothing like metal ones.
The only other change I did was to replace the OEM idler arm in the steering linkage with a heavy duty one made by Moog. The arm itself was much thicker, and the bracket where it attached to the frame was twice as thick as the OEM idler arm. It also had grease fittings on both pivots.
So that was it for the chassis. Pretty stock, really, with just a few carefully chosen aftermarket parts.
I already knew that the engine was going to be pretty stout, and without spending a significantly greater amount of money, it was going to make about as much power as I could reasonably expect, which led me to ponder what else could I do to make it faster?
A famous race car designer once said: “More power makes you faster on the straights; Less weight makes you faster everywhere”.
OK, I’ll make it lighter! But how?
There’s an old saying in the aircraft industry: “The best way to remove one hundred pounds is to find 1600 places and remove one ounce”.
I took both sayings to heart, and started looking for “1600 places to remove one ounce”!
Since this was going to be a one or two passenger vehicle, and was not going to be a daily driver, the back seat, seat belts, and mounting hardware could be pulled out. This saved 30 pounds, and got me thinking about how to get more weight out of the car.
Since I was going to relocate the battery out of the engine compartment for better weight distribution, I had to pull the carpet out to run the new cable. I had to pull the front seats (35 pounds each!) out of the car to get the carpet out, and I noticed all these asphalt-and-paper sound deadening pads absolutely everywhere. They were under the carpet, under the seats, under the dash, stuck to the firewall...just all over the place. After I pulled them all out and dumped them on the scale, I realized I’d just pulled another 25 pounds out of the car! This got me really going.
The F60-15 spare tire on the 15x7 steel rim, along with the jack, jack base, handle, and J-bolt and wingnut, weighed in at a staggering 75 pounds.
The new, lighter Corbeau GT bucket seats I was going to use weighed 40 pounds less then the seats the car came with.
All the reinforcing bars and struts, and the mounts and their hardware, for the “5MPH” front bumper weighed 50 pounds. I wouldn’t need them as I was already in the process of pulling a mold off the front Endura bumper so I could replicate it in fiberglass, so out they went.
The fiberglass front bumper replacement I eventually wound up with removed another 100 pounds from the car.
Removing the stock exhaust system, muffler, pipes, hangers, and hardware saved another 70 pounds.
The aluminum intake manifold was 15 pounds lighter than stock, and the aluminum brackets and smaller hardware I used for the rear bumper saved 5 pounds.
There were numerous other brackets that I fabricated out of aluminum, painted them black, and when they were on the car, nobody knew. These saved another 10 pounds.
Any place there was a non-critical fastener, bracket, strut, or other fiddly bit, I either eliminated it, made it out of aluminum, drilled holes in it, and/or used a smaller size bolt to hold it on. Nobody ever saw most of these “little things”, but I wound up with a car that was a real sleeper.
The lighter flywheel and clutch assembly was a wash because I replaced the aluminum bellhousing with a Lakewood scatter shield and block plate. I’d seen cars where the clutch let go, and it did quite a bit of damage, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Plus, the weight was within the wheel base, and mounted down low, so I didn’t worry about it.
And what’s almost as important as removing the weight was where I removed it from. Most of the weight came off the nose of the car, as in the case of the battery. The 40 pound battery, which was located in front of the engine, and right at the top of the radiator, was moved to the floor of the car behind the passenger seat where the rear seat had been. This got that amount of weight within the wheelbase, and about 24” lower than it had been. A small thing, but “small things” like that can improve the handling of the car, making it easier to turn, and lowering the center of gravity, resulting in flatter cornering.
The total weight savings amounted to over 400 pounds, or more than 10% of the weight of the car.
I didn’t go full-on, bat guano crazy ripping things out, but I did get a significant amount of weight out of the car.
I still had windshield washers and wipers, a fully functional heater, carpeting, my center console, an AM/FM stereo radio, and the side impact beams in the doors of the car, one of the reasons the doors on a second generation F-Body weighed so much.
But it was quite a bit lighter than stock 73 Firebird, and it was worth it.
The car as delivered handled extremely well. With the 1.25” front sway bar and the .875” rear sway bar, high-rate springs, and Pliacell shock absorbers, it cornered flat. I added Koni adjustable shock absorbers, and set them about half way between very little damping, and break your teeth. The special variable-ration power steering that came with the Y99 handling package, and the small diameter fat-rimmed “Formula” steering wheel made the car steer like a Go Kart. During the course of construction, I cut a full coil from the front springs, and made some lowering blocks for the rear leaf springs. Cutting coils off a spring not only lowers the car, but also raises the effective spring rate. The “best” way to do it is to get shorter springs made, or find some others in the parts book that do what you want, but cutting a coil off is a pretty cheap, effective way to drop the car.
The rear lowering blocks were 3/4” think aluminum blocks I had made at Tubby Gallup’s (I’m pretty sure that’s his name...it’s been almost 40 years!) place, and he also fabbed some longer U-Bolts for me. Adding lowering blocks pushes the rear axle up into the chassis, dropping the body down lower over the axle.
I also ordered some solid body mounts from Herb Adams’ “Very Special Equipment” catalog, along with some front subframe reinforcing struts. The solid body mounts eliminated any deflection caused by the big rubber “biscuit” type body mounts, and moved the front subframe about 3/4” closer to the unibody, effectively “channeling” the body down over the frame. The front struts he sold attached to the pinch-weld area of the firewall in two places, and then ran down to the forward stud for the upper control arm. You loosened the big nut used for front end alignment, remover some alignment shims, dropped the tab on the end of the strut in place, and tightened the nut back up. A trip to the alignment shop was required, as removing the wrong amount of shims had adverse effects on your front camber and caster!
With the cut front springs and the aluminum subframe mounts, the front dropped about 1-1/2 inches. Along with the 3/4” drop in the rear, the car had a pretty mean appearance. Today we’d say it had “Stance”, but back then we just said it was lowered, or had “a mean rake”.
The front and rear sway bar mounts were also changed from rubber to aluminum where the bars mounted to the frame, and the end links were replaced with new ones fabricated using spherical rod ends, or “Heim Joints”. This completely eliminated any deflection in the bar mounting, and made the bars act instantly, rather than having to take up any “squish” or slack in a rubber mount. I didn’t go “Full Race” on the suspension by replacing the front control arm bushings with solid ones, as I’d had before-and-after rides in cars that had that done to them, and it 100% completely ruined the car for street use. You can get away with that on a nice, smooth race track, but solid suspension bushings on the street are completely unlivable. These days we have polyurethane suspension bushings (I have them in my Supra), and while they’re stiffer than OEM bushings, they’re nothing like metal ones.
The only other change I did was to replace the OEM idler arm in the steering linkage with a heavy duty one made by Moog. The arm itself was much thicker, and the bracket where it attached to the frame was twice as thick as the OEM idler arm. It also had grease fittings on both pivots.
So that was it for the chassis. Pretty stock, really, with just a few carefully chosen aftermarket parts.
I already knew that the engine was going to be pretty stout, and without spending a significantly greater amount of money, it was going to make about as much power as I could reasonably expect, which led me to ponder what else could I do to make it faster?
A famous race car designer once said: “More power makes you faster on the straights; Less weight makes you faster everywhere”.
OK, I’ll make it lighter! But how?
There’s an old saying in the aircraft industry: “The best way to remove one hundred pounds is to find 1600 places and remove one ounce”.
I took both sayings to heart, and started looking for “1600 places to remove one ounce”!
Since this was going to be a one or two passenger vehicle, and was not going to be a daily driver, the back seat, seat belts, and mounting hardware could be pulled out. This saved 30 pounds, and got me thinking about how to get more weight out of the car.
Since I was going to relocate the battery out of the engine compartment for better weight distribution, I had to pull the carpet out to run the new cable. I had to pull the front seats (35 pounds each!) out of the car to get the carpet out, and I noticed all these asphalt-and-paper sound deadening pads absolutely everywhere. They were under the carpet, under the seats, under the dash, stuck to the firewall...just all over the place. After I pulled them all out and dumped them on the scale, I realized I’d just pulled another 25 pounds out of the car! This got me really going.
The F60-15 spare tire on the 15x7 steel rim, along with the jack, jack base, handle, and J-bolt and wingnut, weighed in at a staggering 75 pounds.
The new, lighter Corbeau GT bucket seats I was going to use weighed 40 pounds less then the seats the car came with.
All the reinforcing bars and struts, and the mounts and their hardware, for the “5MPH” front bumper weighed 50 pounds. I wouldn’t need them as I was already in the process of pulling a mold off the front Endura bumper so I could replicate it in fiberglass, so out they went.
The fiberglass front bumper replacement I eventually wound up with removed another 100 pounds from the car.
Removing the stock exhaust system, muffler, pipes, hangers, and hardware saved another 70 pounds.
The aluminum intake manifold was 15 pounds lighter than stock, and the aluminum brackets and smaller hardware I used for the rear bumper saved 5 pounds.
There were numerous other brackets that I fabricated out of aluminum, painted them black, and when they were on the car, nobody knew. These saved another 10 pounds.
Any place there was a non-critical fastener, bracket, strut, or other fiddly bit, I either eliminated it, made it out of aluminum, drilled holes in it, and/or used a smaller size bolt to hold it on. Nobody ever saw most of these “little things”, but I wound up with a car that was a real sleeper.
The lighter flywheel and clutch assembly was a wash because I replaced the aluminum bellhousing with a Lakewood scatter shield and block plate. I’d seen cars where the clutch let go, and it did quite a bit of damage, and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Plus, the weight was within the wheel base, and mounted down low, so I didn’t worry about it.
And what’s almost as important as removing the weight was where I removed it from. Most of the weight came off the nose of the car, as in the case of the battery. The 40 pound battery, which was located in front of the engine, and right at the top of the radiator, was moved to the floor of the car behind the passenger seat where the rear seat had been. This got that amount of weight within the wheelbase, and about 24” lower than it had been. A small thing, but “small things” like that can improve the handling of the car, making it easier to turn, and lowering the center of gravity, resulting in flatter cornering.
The total weight savings amounted to over 400 pounds, or more than 10% of the weight of the car.
I didn’t go full-on, bat guano crazy ripping things out, but I did get a significant amount of weight out of the car.
I still had windshield washers and wipers, a fully functional heater, carpeting, my center console, an AM/FM stereo radio, and the side impact beams in the doors of the car, one of the reasons the doors on a second generation F-Body weighed so much.
But it was quite a bit lighter than stock 73 Firebird, and it was worth it.
Friday, April 14, 2017
The Story of an Old Firebird, Part 4.....
This section
contains information about the cylinder heads, valvetrain, and
intake/exhaust systems.
Heads and Valvetrain
-
For the cylinder
heads and camshaft, I planned on using the tried-and-true Ram Air IV
combination. The parts were readily available, reasonably priced, and
well understood by people I trusted.
I started with two
brand-new 1970 Ram Air IV castings, casting number 614. I remember
starting at the cast-in numbers “614” for HOURS as I ported the
heads. I don’t think I’ll ever forget them. The valves, springs,
retainers, locks, rocker arm studs, rocker arms, balls and nuts, push
rod guide plates, push rods, lifters, and cam were all 100% stock
Pontiac, purchased over the counter at Bert Adams Pontiac in Joliet,
Illinois. The timing chain and gears were a Cloyes “True Roller”,
and the cam was installed 4* advanced. When Jack installed the cam he
also checked the cam timing from the published specs, and found out
the cam was actually a few degrees retarded, as ground. Installing it
4* advanced made it basically “straight up” cam timing.
The first thing I
did with the heads was to clean up any casting flash and
“dingleberries” in the under-the-valve-cover and oil drainback
areas. There was a TON on casting flash on the sides of the intake
port runners, and some of it came off pretty easily. The rest took
some grinding, and made me glad I’d purchased carbide cutters. High
Speed Steel (“HSS”) cutters will remove cast iron easily, but
they go dull quickly, after only a few hours use. Carbide cutters
stay sharp, but they’re brittle compared to HSS, so be a bit
careful using them. I didn’t polish any of the areas with sandpaper
rolls as I couldn’t see the benefit vs the amount of time it would
take. The nice, sharp carbide cutters did a “good enough” job,
and after 10~12 hours, that part of both heads was cleaned up, and I
started to work on the ports. I also opened up the machined passages
in the heads for the pushrods. I’d read somewhere that it was
pretty close with the larger diameter pushrods the Ram Air IV used,
so I just “laid over” the upper end of the passage for a little
more clearance.
The book I used to
guide me in this engine rebuild was published by H-O Racing
Specialties, and was called “Pontiac Heavy Duty Parts and Specs”,
and had a wealth of information in it. I carefully studied the
cross-sectional drawings of the ports in the Ram Air IV heads to see
where material had to be removed, and just as importantly, where to
leave material. You don’t just go wild and “Hog It All Out”, as
the size and shape of the ports, particularly the intake ports, is
critical to how well they function. There were a couple of places
that needed careful work, like the port wall next to the passage the
pushrod went through, and the area under the valve seats. You had to
widen the intake port as much as possible in the pushrod area, but
you had to be very careful not to break through the casting. The
thickness of the casting in this area was about .125” thick
(one-eight of an inch), and while H-O said you could thin it down to
about .070”, I wasn’t comfortable enough with my head porting
skills to go that far, so I opened it up to where the wall was about
.080” thick. The book also pointed out areas that definitely needed
rework, like the valve guide are of the intake ports, the “bump”
in the exhaust port that was extra material for the air injection
(“Thermactor”) system, and a few other spots.
The basic philosophy
was again to “grind it out if it doesn’t look like it belongs
there”, and to keep as close as possible to the OEM contours,
opening them up where it would benefit airflow, and leaving material
in other places. The valve bowls needed a LOT of work. There were
huge “globs” of cast iron sticking out below where the cutters
that made the valve seat and bowl bottomed out, and this area needed
to be ground out to follow the “natural” contours in that area,
and blend it into the rest of the port. The head/intake manifold and
head/exhaust manifold flanges were matched to the gaskets I was going
to be using, and then blended back into the ports as smoothly as
possible, and as far as possible. Based on the 4 to 5 hours “per
session” that I spent, times 16 ports, plus the ~10 hours doing the
other parts of the head, I know that I had over 100 hours in the
heads by the time I finished them, and Jack complimented me on the
quality of the work I’d done. The final step was getting a proper
“Three Angle” valve grind done, and Jack did that for me. It took
some convincing to get him to grind the intake valve seats at the H-O
Racing recommended 30* instead of the “standard” 45*, but when I
showed him the published data in the H-O Racing book, he agreed, and
ground the intake seats to 30*. It cost a bit extra because he had to
buy a special cutter, but it paved the way for other Pontiac engines
he built for other people.
The combustion
chambers were almost “Good To Go” right out of the box, and all I
did was break any sharp edges that could lead to hot spots,
preignition, and detonation.
I didn’t weigh the
heads before and after, but from the pile of cast iron I ground out
of each port, I wouldn’t be surprised if I took almost a pound of
cast iron out of each head.
Camshaft, lifters,
and valve gear -
The rest of the
valve train was 100% 1970 Ram Air IV. The camshaft (P/N 9794041)
specs were: Advertised Duration 308* Intake / 320* Exhaust,
Duration @.050 232/242, lift at valve using 1.65 rocker arms -.520”.
Pontiac was at the forefront of “Computer Designed” cams way back
then, and the 041 cam, along with the 9785744 (Ram Air III cam) were
among the first computer designed cams released by GM. Prior to this,
many cams just added duration using the “constant dwell” method,
which resulted in what would be called “lazy ramps” today. I’m
not a camshaft designer, and I don’t play one on TV, but from all
I’ve read, you want the ramps to smoothly accelerate the valve
open, and do the same as it comes down the ramp. One of the reasons
racers went to roller cams was that the roller lifters allow much
more aggressive ramps, to get the valves open, and then closed, right
now. Roller
cams and lifters were a little too exotic (read: Pricey) for me back
then, so I stayed with a flat tappet cam, and what better cam to use
than the one designed by the guys that knew the cylinder head flow
characteristics? The Ram Air
IV lifters were of a special reduced travel design, and after the
engine was put together, I adjusted them ¼ turn of the rocker arm
nut past zero lash. I had considered using a rocker arm nut with a
separate locking screw, like a “Poly Lock”, but that would have
required having the ends of the rocker arm studs ground flat to
provide a proper place for the setscrew to tighten against, and I
just never got one of those “round tuits”. I readjusted the
rocker nuts one time after the engine had a few hundred miles on it,
and they hadn’t really changed any from the initial setting, so I
let it go at that.
It had a strong
“rumpity-rump” idle at about 1100RPM, but I most likely had to
run that idle speed due to the very light (12lb) aluminum flywheel.
Intake and Exhaust -
The induction
system would be a QudraJet, something I understood very well, with a
1971/72 455 H.O. intake manifold. This manifold had “as cast”
ports large enough to mate with the Ram Air IV heads, enough metal to
safely allow port-matching, was a modern dual-plane high-rise design,
and had a separate exhaust crossover which could be left off during
warm weather, resulting in a cooler intake charge going into the
engine. All I did to the intake manifold was to glue on a set of the
intake gaskets I’d be using, and open the ports up to match the
gasket. Then I blended that area back as far as I could reach with my
die grinder. The only other thing I did was to use an aluminum “heat
blocking” plate that had a fiber spacer about 1/4” thick on one
side, and a gasket on the other, that went between the carb and
manifold flange. I don’t know for sure if it helped any, but it
looked pretty neat! This was recommended by the “Rochester
Carburetors” book that I had. That book taught me more about
carburation than any other book I read, including the “Holley
Carburetors” book that I had by the same publisher.
The QuadraJet I used
was purchased new-in-the-box through Bert Adams Pontiac, and was for
a 1969/70 Ram Air IV with a manual transmission. It required one of
the spring type choke coils and pull rod, which I also ordered new.
Being a 1970 carb, it was calibrated a bit on the lean side for
emissions reasons, and I wound up going 2 or 3 sizes larger on the
main jest, along with a corresponding change in the primary and
secondary metering rods. I wish I still had my notebooks, as I had
extensive notes on how I figured out what a good jet and rod
combination would be based on what was in a given car from GM, vs
what it needed to be for better performance in various stages of
tune. I re-jetted dozens of QuadraJets based on these calculations,
and it was unusual that I didn’t get it “right” the first time.
Exhaust duties would
be handled by a set of Hooker Headers, part number 4202, the only
header available for the round port heads in a second generation
Firebird. JR Headers also made a set that fit, and one of my friends
had a pair on his 1973 Super Duty 455 Trans Am, but I thought the
Hookers were made better, so I went with them. Mufflers were kind of
an afterthought, and for years I was running Thrush “header
mufflers”. They were cheap, lightweight, and worked “good
enough”. Cheap was important, because the Hookers hung down fairly
low, and with the lowered suspension I was always grounding them out,
resulting in the muffler getting damaged enough to need replacement.
I used to buy them two at a time at Sontag Speed Supplies. That way I
always had one “in stock” for rapid replacement. I ran the
exhaust in that configuration until I drove the car out to
California, and which time I had a local muffler shop weld up some
2.5” pipes to the “Hemi” mufflers I’d bought years earlier.
It made the car much quieter on the highway, an important
consideration since it would be a 2,400 mile trip.
Fuel System -
The fuel system
starts at the tank, and in order to provide an “unlimited” supply
of fuel, I added a second 5/16” pick up and nylon “sock” filter
to the existing stock pick up/sending unit. I just used a piece of
5/16” steel fuel line, bent to match how the stock pick up was
made, drilled another hole into the top of the plate that mounted
into the tank, and silver soldered the new line to the top plate.
These two lines fed a pair of AC Delco electric pumps which were
originally used on heavy-duty trucks that I bought from North Side
Auto Parts on Ruby Street. If I had a part number, they could usually
get what I wanted! The pumps had individual fuses, and were fed by a
relay activated whenever the ignition was in the “Start” or “Run”
position. The output of each pump went through an AC Delco filter,
and then into a Moroso “Y Block” which was normally used to split
a single fuel line to be used with a dual-inlet Holley carb. From
there, a 1/2” diameter line was run to the engine compartment and
connected to one of the blue Holley pressure regulators set at 6.5
PSI. One outlet from the regulator fed the QuadraJet, and the other
was adapted down to 1/8” steel line which I ran to a fuel pressure
gauge in the console. I know, having pressurized gasoline fed to the
interior of a car is not a Real Good Idea, but I used steel
line with compression fittings and checked it religiously for any
signs of leakage. The fuel pressure NEVER budged from the 6.5 PSI I
had it set to, indicating that the carb had an adequate supply.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Chuck to the Rescue!
Found on the Book of Farce.
It was too good not to share......
More Pontiac stuff coming soon, tonight or tomorrow.
It was too good not to share......
More Pontiac stuff coming soon, tonight or tomorrow.
Monday, April 10, 2017
Grandbaby Update....
Little guy is over FOUR pounds now, growing like a weed, and can finally wear some of the clothing everybody has been sending to his parents.
He's out of his "isolette" and into a regular crib, and is using his pacifier when he's not wolfing down food.
Say "Hi!" to the nice people, Noah....
He's out of his "isolette" and into a regular crib, and is using his pacifier when he's not wolfing down food.
Say "Hi!" to the nice people, Noah....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
FOURTH time I've written this post. MY Muse has apparently vacated the premises, leaving me too busy doing other things to keep both m... -
With apologies to The Control Voice.... Yup.....got The Busies the last few weeks. Lots of stuff happening this week, including my Nuclea...