Friday WooHoo!

What a week. I have been working on the truck all week... chased parts Monday, put the new clutch in Tuesday, and started putting the transmission back in. That is not a 1-man job. Of course I had to get new fluid, which can only be found at the Dodge dealer. Got everything put back together yesterday morning, start the truck up and put it in gear, let out on the clutch and Nothing Happened! So now I'm like what did I do wrong? I call my brother, we discuss, and he can't figure what could be wrong. So I call my dad(chief grease monkey) who is in Alaska with my other brother. The first thing he asks "is the transfer case in neutral?" DUH! So I put the transfer case in 2H, put it in gear, and it works. I felt like such a moron.

So now I have to catch up on a little work. And get some of my homemade wine sent to the Indy International Wine competition. I think I have a good chance at getting some kind of ribbon this year. Last year I was like 1 point from getting bronze, but I've got a concord wine that I think is awesome this year.

Everybody enjoy the weekend!

Suck, Suck, Suck

Yesterday Pud was having a Murphy's Law kinda day....well the Bastard decided to visit me. Was driving the diesel yesterday afternoon, in rush-hour traffic, and it became hard to shift gears(5-speed). Well, I got out of the traffic snarl and was driving along fine when it happened. The clutch went bye-bye. I heard it happen, pulled to the side of the road, and cussed. I tried to get it in gear but to no avail. And as you all know from a few posts down, things aint cheap on the diesel. So I get to go be a grease monkey again! WooHoo!

June 22 HNT

Went canoeing last weekend and was wearing sandals. Lovely tan lines eh?

Back in The Saddle

Well, I got it finished....$2k later, and the truck is back on the road. Replacing the injection pump wasn't too hard, took about 6 hours total...not counting the trips to the parts store to get needed tools. But she's running, and seems to have a little better performance. Now I'll have to see if it affects my fuel mileage. I missed my truck.

Well I had a chance to go to Alaska, and if my truck hadn't broke I would probably go. Not sure how much of my brother I could take though...60 hours is a long time to be in a truck with someone. He's trying to talk our Dad into going. So next week he will be taking off to go pick up his new plane. Some people are just nuts.

Ya hear that?

That's the sound of money being sucked out of my wallet. I worked on the diesel yesterday, put a new lift pump on...getting great fuel pressure. But the truck won't start. So that means I have to have a new injection pump....a very expensive injection pump. So today I get to start tearing apart the truck so I can take the old one in for a core exchange.

My brother calls me yesterday...."Hey, you busy for the next week?" Umm, yeah, I gotta work to make up this money to repair the truck. He wants me to go to Alaska with him. Seems he just bought an airplane. Has to trailer it back because it needs work. That boy cracks me up. He's had a thing for bush planes since he started on his pilots license(been working on it for almost two years now), and he finally got one. So I figure by the time he gets his license, he might have this plane rebuilt.

Anyhoo, My ass has got to go be a grease monkey now.

Another Monday

What a weekend. So on Friday, I had to re-finish the desktop for the office furniture I delivered last month. Go out to my truck and it won't start. Do some checking, have enough fuel pressure so I figure the fuel filter is clogged. Go buy a new filter and change it... no fuel pressure! So now I have to go buy a new lift pump. And parts aint cheap for the diesel. Hopefully the $450 lift pump will fix the problem, because if it's the main pressure pump, I'm looking at over $1000 to replace it.

So on Saturday I go canoeing with my brother and one of our friends. It was fun, but I forgot my sunblock. Sunburn on the back is not fun. I'd rather have a midget use my ball-sack as a punching bag. No, I take that back. Sunburn is not cool. So now I'm hopeing my week goes well and I don't have to sell my first-born to fix the truck.

Guest bloggin

Go check out my guest blogging over at Pud's site. Have a great weekend!

June 15 HNT

Since last week's HNT seemed so popular, here goes another. So what's your favorite, black or blue?






















Happy HNT!!

Berry pickin time

Went out yesterday and picked some strawberries. At this point in time they are being made into strawberry wine. I've never attempted this kind of wine, but from everything I have read, it can't be screwed up. Two 3-gallon batches, and one batch will be blended with raspberry wine. The raspberries are not ready yet, but when they are I will get a batch of that started. So in about 6 months, it will be time to enjoy some good wine.

Ready for the weekend

So the day started out lookin' crappy, but the sun is out and it's looking great. My mechanic finished the work on the airplane, so it's all ready to go for the fly-in tomorrow. But the weather forecast is looking like rain and storms tomorrow...so maybe I'll drive to the fly-in.LOL

I should be in Vegas right now, sucks to be me. Maybe next year.

As I'm mowing the yard I start thinking...passes the time ya know. So I start thinking about tattoos. I have toyed with the idea of getting one for a while. But how will it look in 20-30 years? I like tattoos on women. I'm not the type that is into huge tats that cover the entire arm, or leg, or back. I like dainty little cute tats. My ex had 2, both butterflies. The bigger one I didn't like too much. But the one on the small of her back was cute and sexy all in one. What is it about tattoos that makes them sexy? If you were to get a tattoo, where would it be and what would it be? Mine would be a celtic symbol on my left arm.

OK, so my mind likes to wander. Crazy

Have a great weekend!

June 8 HNT

For Pud. Happy HNT!!

Harvest Time

The view outside my window. Tart cherries, pie cherries, little red bits of goodness. It's a shock the birds haven't devoured them yet. This time of year also means strawberries are in season. Tome to go to the local u-pick and get the goods to make some strawberry wine. And soon raspberries will be ready...maybe some raspberry wine is in order this year.

Wood

OK, so I like wood. In addition to wittling wood, I also saw logs on my portable bandsaw-mill. I had a job today cutting a tree that had been taken down by the power company. Said tree had been planted by the owner's father(or grandfather) many years ago, and she didn't want it cut up into firewood. So off I go, with sawmill in tow. I get there and realize a limb needed to be cut off, and of course I didn't bring my chainsaw. Get chainsaw and go back and start cutting. Two cuts in and ZING! (That's what it sounds like when you hit a nail.) Not good, but I kept cutting. Next cut....Zing! Another nail. In all I hit three nails and several bullets. Funny, cause the bullets don't make any noise, but they're shiney when cut in half. The thing that excited me the most was this is the first time I cut an aromatic cedar. Talk about some nice smellin wood! Yeah, I'm weird, bite it.
So my day is going well, get home to a message that a job I bid on was accepted, so that's even better. Now if my mechanic will get my airplane finished in time for Saturday's pancake breakfast fly-in, that will be great!

Wake Up!

So I wake up, after having some funky dreams of which I can't remember much detail now. I go to make some coffee, cause there's a bit of a chill in the air, and I like coffee. I open the lid and pour water in the tank. I open the coffee can and get a scoop of coffee. And I pour it in....the water tank! About as soon as I did that, BAM! I was awake. Hope this is no indication as to what the rest of the day has in store. Happy Tuesday.