MLK

School was out today so I had no place to be. Gotta love the extra holidays. I spent some time preparing for the school week but mostly I spent the day hooking up a new dual tuner Tivo and doing more cleanup work in the garage.

Our old Tivo was purchased in February of 2003 I believe. Yesterday it started making a horrible screeching sound. I believe one of the hard drives was ready to go. I unplugged it last night (to silence it) and today when I plugged it back in, it just didn't work. Unfortunately I had just recorded about 35 hours of Barrett-Jackson. I guess I missed it this year.

In the garage, I plugged a few holes in the ceiling with insulation and got the heater back online. The drip pan in the HVAC unit was full of water. There is a float switch in the pan which disables the unit when water is present. I vacuumed the water out of the pan and then turned the thermostat up to 50 and set the fan to on. Hopefully the constant flow of air will help dry the walls and stairs. Someone needs to change the air filter!

I also spent some time drying the grade-8 bolts that managed to get completely submerged in water this weekend. After drying them with a heat gun I packaged them in sandwich bags and labeled the bags. They are ready to go when I get another chance to work on the GMC. Drying washers/nuts/bolts with a heat gun is a zen-like experience.

And speaking of weather (someone did mention weather didn't they?), shortly after lunch some white stuff started falling from the sky. At first it looked like snow, then ice, and finally snow again. I made the little people come outside for a few minutes so they could look at a crystal-like shape of a few snowflakes. They were not impressed.

It is almost tax time. Yippee.

It's Raining in the Garage

As the garage door opened on Sunday morning, I noticed something was wrong. It was raining in the garage.

After twisting the water cut-off value, I went into the garage to investigate. The entire place was a mess. A large part of the ceiling had collapsed over my '72 GMC and the workbench next to it. Everything on the bench was soaked. Across the room, water was rolling down the face of the cabinets that I had recently built onto another workbench below them. Many tools were lying in the torrent of water. Water was close to an 1" deep on the floor at the lowest spot in the garage.

The last few days have been really cold. I had heard this was the coldest winter we have had in 6 years. I spent several hours in the shop on Saturday just generally cleaning up. (And I finally got around to putting door handles on the cabinets as well as touching up the paint) The clean up effort was in vain, the place was a mess.

I spent most of Sunday afternoon dragging stuff out of the garage, and sweeping and vacuuming up water. After removing most of the water, I setup a box fan to assist in drying out the garage. (I took several photos before the cleanup effort began for the insurance company. )

It appears that a copper pipe in the unfinished upstairs area had frozen. The pipe has about a one inch split that runs lengthwise. After splitting, water sprayed upward. Some water went down the stairwell but it appears most ran across the floor and down into an A/C vent. The duct-work filled with water and the ceiling collapsed under the weight. When the ceiling collapsed, the duct was ripped in half above the ceiling. At this point water was running across the top side of the ceiling and downs the walls.

Upstairs, most of my hardwood supply got wet. I store the wood standing upright to save space. The bottom end of every board has soaked up water. About six to nine inches of each board is swollen. The boards will not dry back evenly. Hard wood is fairly expensive and my stash is all wet. This discovery made me sad.

Back down stairs, I noticed that my planer and chop saw had been subjected to the flow of water as well. I also had a soggy box of truck parts. On the truck, the new bolts had already started rusting. This was frustrating. For about three years now I have been working on the truck - taking it apart, sandblasting the parts to remove all rust, painting them, and putting it back together. It was discouraging to see some rust forming on the truck I had worked so hard to remove it from. I realize the truck would have eventually gotten wet, but my plan was to finish it first.

While cleaning out the garage, I was glad I had sold the 1925 Chevrolet. The ceiling caved in right above where the truck was normally parked. I am not sure that truck would have ever recovered from that much water.

Fall Camping 2008, Take II

I am heading out this afternoon for another camping trip. We are going to the Sipsey Wilderness again, though a different area. This is a really nice area for camping. Lots of trails, large rock formations, plenty of trees, and several large creeks. (In Texas they call these rivers.)

The weather is not optimal but it appears it may cooperate later. Currently it is raining but the skys are suppose to clear up mid afternoon, maybe.

Time to get packing.

#1003

If your interested in reading a blogger's notes on hurricane Ike, check out Ain't Chicken. The author, Carol, lives in the Houston area.

It is cold and I am ready for spring.

[11.6 lbs to go]

The weekend snuck up on me. What a pleasant surprise. I suspect this can only happen if you don't go to work for a while.

The sky has gray all day today but there was practically no wind. Around the middle of the afternoon, I decided the Miata needed to roll toward no place in particular. (It had been parked since New Years Eve Day.) I was quite successful in this venture in that I did get to no place in particular in a reasonable amount of time.

While going no where, I stopped an observed a motionless C3 parked in a previously used automobile facility. I copied down the VIN so that I could research it online. It was a nice black car with a gray (leather?) interior. Visually it had a few minor problems, for example the passenger side seat belt needed to be cleaned and the leather boot around the manual stick could stand to be replaced. Online research revealed the car to be a '77 with the standard L48 engine package. The L48 is a small-block Chevy, 350 cubic inches, and made between 165 and 185 HP depending on who you believe. This is a relatively low number when you consider my much lighter Miata had 140-ish HP from the factory. Still, a C3 is a pretty cool car. $7355 is a weird price if you ask me.

Yesterday morning I drove the little Zoom-zoom to work. I left the house, driving with the top down and wearing a jacket. As I drove along, the weather forecast on the radio announced the current temperature was 65. Nice!

About an hour later I decided to raise the door on the loading dock. The weather was still beautiful, though off to the west I could see some dark clouds and a complete semi-circle of a rainbow. At one end was an old Mazda Rx-7. At the other end I am sure there was a McDonald's. The view was fabulous over the light-industrial landscape. Fifteen minutes later a light rain began to fall.

A half hour later, one of my co-workers pressed the button to lower the door. It had gotten freakin' cold outside.

The contraction of the day is 'willn't'. Example usage: He shan't get full credit ifin' he continues to use the word won't when he means the word willn't.

Lows in the 60s, high in the 80's for a whole week. 'Bout near perfect weather.

I was sitting here trying not to write a paper for class. I turns out I don't have to try very hard to be successful.

This weekend I got some sandblasting done. Unfortunately neither T or J helped out. Three more pieces. That makes nine that need to be painted.

It has been smokin' hot lately. We have had a streak of triple digit days. And a deficit of rain on top of that.

Yesterday evening we had a rapid drop in temperature. In a relatively short interval we had a storm roll in and the temperature dropped from 3-digits down to about 70 degrees. Lots and thunder, lightning, and buckets and buckets of rain.

A little bit earlier in the evening when I arrived home, one of my neighbors crossed the street to let me know that the water conservation level had changed to level 3. Level 3 means even numbered houses like ours are only allowed to use outside water between 12 AM and 4 AM on Monday and Wednesday nights. No other outside water use of any kind allowed. Good thing my neighbor told me. The new level was announced on the news and in the paper. I don't watch the news nor read the paper.

G had to work today and the kids spent the night at Grandmas. What to do, what to do? I decided to take the turnip truck out. My local okra pusher lives just a few miles away. This was my destination. After purchasing a couple of pounds ok okra, I gave Mr. Lacey a ride around the block. He loved it.

On my way back home I stopped by Joe G's. This gentlemen lives a few miles away. He has a 1932 Ford parked in his garage. I have blogged about him at some point in the past. He also enjoyed giving the truck a once over.

And on my way home, again, I stopped by Tammy's to let her family see the truck. I offered to let Ken drive it and he drove the kids around the block.

And then I actually went home.

The truck now has more dirt on it than it has probably had in the last 15 years. During my journey I drove though a patch of gravel. The gravel dust stuck to everything. Nice white dust on glossy black paint. Great!

You may be wondering how the GMC is coming along. I have not even glanced in its direction in a couple of weeks. For a few weeks I was busy with school and right now it is just too hot. It is time to do more sand blasting and I just can't imagine trying to do that with the current temp and humidity.

Posts have been somewhat scarce around here lately. I would blame it on work, but work is not the direct cause, it is merely an indirect cause.

The increased amount of work time recently has decreased my extra-curricular activities.

No truck time means no posts about the GMC.

No cruising time, no rambling about the Miata.

No call from the pottery supply store, means no write up about back yard metal casting.

Tomorrow is looking like 70 and a mere 20 percent chance of rain.

Perhaps tomorrow I will write about an oil change for the Miata, or a test drive in a beamer convertible. And the Charger still needs to have the tires rotated.

Four days and counting, No diet drinks. This afternoon I tried a cup of hot peach flavored green tea. How is that for different?

The First Day Is The Hardest

At least I hope so. Having unsweetened tea with lunch was no big deal, but water throughout the day is boring. Sometimes you just want something with a little umph, the Jim Beam burn that you can only get from an ice cold Coca Cola. Unfortunately I don't really recall what that is like. It has been several years since I had a regular cola, and on that occasional is was a little flat. (I don't think you can actually get the Jim Beam burn from Jim Beam.)

Mike mentioned in a comment that he has been hitting the juice bottle. Don't do it man! Fruit juice has more calories per ounce than soda. Sure it is supposed to be good for you too, but if you strictly swap 12 oz. of DP for 12 oz. of juice, you net savings is no good. Now if you swap 6 cans of DP for 5 glasses of water and one bottle of juice your doing OK, but why would anyone want to do that? {End of rhetorical Question}

Back to the water torture. And it's raining today to. That makes my Miata sad.

Summary For iMike

I am home again. The camping trip went well though the weather tried not to co-operate.

For Fridays hike it, we had temperatures in the low 60s. Almost perfect. The hike in was uneventful, except for a broken bottle of pepper sauce at the parking lot.

Friday evenings meal was the traditional ribeye. That was 5 pounds we were definitely willing to hike in.

Saturday we had a thunderstorm. At one point I heard a thunder clap that lasted no less than 30 continous seconds.

A couple guys (David and Alan) went for a hike Saturday morning. They were out when the bottom fell out. Even with parkas, they were totally drenched. The rest of us (myself, Billy, and Chad) hung around camp and kept the fire burning. This was a bit of a challenge at times.

Saturday during the rain storm I had a drip in the tent and a small puddle accumlated. This was resolved by simply tensioning up the rain fly. This is a rookie mistake, so I had no excuse. Chad had a drip problem also. His sleeping bag ended up getting wet. I think he came pretty close to burning the tent instead of packing it out.

Sunday mornings was cold. How cold? Don't know. But it warmed up some before the snow started to fall. The snow changed to sleet and then back to a very heavy wet snow. The view over the gorge was pretty awesome with the heavy snow.

Sunday morning we heard a wild Turkey call. Didn't see it though. Actually other than a few ants, we didn't see any creatures.

We saw one other group of campers. They were hiking in Saturday afternoon during the rain. They were headed for one of the other primitive camp sites. Their destination had been undersireable to us. It did not allow campfires. What is camping without a campfire?

The oven got put to good use. We baked bread, muffins, CC cookies, and brownies. Saturday night we had Jambo and red beans and rice.

The cold weather from this morning stuck with me all day. This evening I was still chilled when we went out for dinner, even though it was a warmer 55 degrees outside.

I had a good weekend and I am glad to be home. I enjoyed a warm shower and a nice nap this afternoon. I bet I will sleep good tonight also.

Front Cross Member (Unpainted)

This is what all the fuss was about. I remembered to snap a shot after the blasting was done. It took about 2 months to get around to this. Weather was the big holdup. Hopefully as spring rolls in, progress will resume.



Eye Spy Bonus: Locate the Miata, the Charger, a wheel barrow, and a bale of straw.

Bery Bery Vusy

The locals schools all let out around noon yesterday for pending bad weather. We were fortunate not to see any tornados around here. Others in the state were not so lucky.

I picked up the kids at 11:30 and we went home were I set up shop on the kitchen table. At 3:00 I loaded the troops into the Charger and took them to work. We had a technology demonstration scheduled and I was doing the driving. The demo went well. Enough about work.

I realized this evening that I hadn't posted in four days. Then I realized I hadn't even scoped out another blog in four days.

It has been a very very busy week. TGIF.

The weekend weather outlook is looking reasonable. Tomorrow is a high of 56 with a 10% chance of rain. Think I can make it rain again? We will see.

I believe Formula 1 starts two weeks from tomorrow. I am looking forward to the first race. I should probably finish up watching the Barrett-Jackson auction so that I will have enough space to record practice, qualifying, and the race.

I received email today sent to alumni of the high school I attended. They are apparently playing in the 3A basketball state championship (Texas). Good luck.

Persistence Is Futile

To answer Terry's question, No. I did not get the piece blasted as I intended.

I got started yesterday morning at 9:00 am. I set up some saw horses in the drive way. Carried the cross member out. Rolled the blaster out. Pressurized the compressor. Ready, set, rain. Well not really rain, but it did start sprinkling.

There is not point in sandblasting a part in the rain. Getting it wet would cause it to start rusting again almost as fast I finished up.

I quickly moved the x-member back into the garage and went back out to grab the blaster, et al. Before I got it all back into the garage the rain stopped falling. So I started setting up again. I had it all setup and was doing some scraping to get some heavy grunge off when it started sprinkling again. Again I moved everything back into the garage and again it stopped raining. This time I decided to wait a bit to see what the weather was really going to do.

In the mean time, I did a little cleanup and organization work in the garage. My neighbor dropped by and we talked cars, trucks, and motorcycle for a while. He helped me move the truck bed floor. That thing is heavy.

After about an hour without a drop from the sky I decided to give it another go. I setup again. This time I got as far as turning on the blaster. I made about 5 minutes of progress before the rain started again. This time I had to really hustle because I needed to sweep up the sand before it got wet. Wet sand is not good.

At this point I decided to call it.

At around 3 pm, after 4 hours without a drop, I decided to give it one more try. You know the drill. I drag everything outside, get everything setup, it starts to rain and I drag it all back inside. OK, this time I really give up for the day.

Today instead of dragging out the blaster, I just used a small pick, similar to a dental pick, to clean some gunk out of the many nooks and crannies on the cross member. I did this for about an hour before I put it way again. All the prep work is done. There is nothing left to do but the actual blasting. Someday the weather will cooperate. Someday. Maybe next weekend. Cross your members fingers.

Seventy Two

The 10 day outlook shows a forecast of 72 for Saturday. Sign me up. Unfortunately they are predicting rain also. Saturday is far enough away that everything could change.

I am putting my request in now for 72 and sunny.

Please, please, please.

Squeaky Clean

The Miata got a drive thru car wash on the way back from lunch today. January/February is typically the rainy season here in North Alabama and it is difficult to keep the car clean. This wash was long overdue. Fortunately the sky is clear so it may stay clean for a day or two.

(And the bird badge is now gone.)

Blamo!

You know how it is. One minute you have a grovy topic to type up for you blog, and the next minute blamo! Your considering posting the subject lines from most interesting spam you received and what the weather is supposed to be like. How droll. What next, female bandits? Yes, we have all been there.

Here goes the weather. At lunch today the weather must have been up into the 40. Time to drop the lid for sure. I had definitely been experiencing withdrawal.

I finished up my homework today. Two days early. Simply amazing.

Ah, yes, it has returned. And not nearly as interesting as I remembed it being. As of yesterday, the oil is now gone. (Only 15 months later.) Happy Birthday Chad.

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to go to Jordan's school and watch him perform in a Thankgiving play. He nailed his lines. I have video evidence to prove. Don't make me.

Too much cold weather here. It was raining this morning, top up. At lunch we had a wet 45 degrees. Yesterday during lunch there was a heavy down pour. I think I am ready for summer again. Bring it on.