What are you doing today? Thread

[El Camexican]

Sick? Whatever it was, glad you got over it.

If sick, how much weight did you loose and can you even afford to loose any? I keep a reserve of emergency weight, which I used a good bit of the end of last year as I was sick for a couple weeks. After I came out from under my rock, it raised some eyebrows. I simply lost all appetite and by the end I was extremely weak, to the point it even affected my speech. The crazy fever I had at the end didn't help either.

Covid, pretty bad, spent 10 hours in the ER. Went after my heart and stomach. Dropped 12 pounds in two days and took 18 days to feel right. Would have been great to loose another 10 pounds

[ATC King]

That's great you made it through. It'd suck if you couldn't finish the Tri-Z engine thread. Dead end threads are terrible.


Let me see if I got the mental image right for how you may have felt before and after Covid...


Before Covid


After Covid

[ATC King]

I just realized it's Sunday. I finally showered last night, it had been a few days.

After sitting a couple months on the work bench, the new engine mounts are now in my truck. I wasn't looking foward to it at all because it's those aftermarket mounts (Anchor?) that I've put many in over the past several years and 90% of the time they don't just bolt up. At least one bolt hole is off and needs elongated to fit and easily makes an hour job into two or three when the mount is difficult to get to and see what needs what to fit. The metal in them is thinner too. I weighed the new ones and they're a half pound or more lighter than the OE ones.

If I can get OE that's what I use, but they're not always available. They're in and now the truck is smoother and the exhaust is no longer rattling on the crossmember when under load. They won't last as long as OE, but hopefully I can get five years or better out of them.


The house has a sewer line blockage. I worked on jetting it yesterday and made a little headway, but it's not completely cleared. I'm just using a standard pressure washer for the jetter, so no heat. I don't have a cutting head either, so if there are roots, I'll just have to dig up the line. I'm going to have a go at it several days (it'll drain slowly) to see if I can avoid digging up the line. I know where the blockage is because I can hear the jetter at it underground.


I got a truck running again yesterday, which hadn't ran in yars (not mine). The entire thing had been neglected as far as maintenance and the entire ignition system was trashed. Pretty much what happens when the plugs don't get replaced like they should and eventually it s the whole system. Rats had chewed a bunch of the wiring too, so I had to patch that together enough to run. Brake booster has a vacuum leak and there's some other issues, but it's up and going now. The rest will have to sorted out after some more maintenance tasks are completed.

I replace the distributor (including the ignition module and pickup coil), plugs, wires, and coil. Everything that was on it was bad and there was no way to get it running right by just replacing one part. Total cost for parts was less than $150 though. All Amazon stuff, but good enough. I've replaced many OE GM distributors with the Chinese ones, especially the plastic OE ones, and I've been very satisfied with the budget priced replacements. These aren't hot rods, just stock vehicles.

I earned myself a beer after getting that truck running last night. I did have to diagnostic time in it before that. I don't do the parts cannon thing.


I'll probably work on the trikes today or clear some more brush. It's too dry and windy to burn though. I'm waiting on some parts for the lawn tractors, but it's Sunday and anythng coming by USPS isn't coming today. I need to get back to cleaning out the van, but I'm kind of tired of dealing with rat crap for at least another week or so.

[90nut]

I got to enjoy the financial burden of installing a new furnace in my house. But I added central air, something that's usually missing in a 200 year old farm house. It's just money, I'll make more. Its not really worth anything anyhow.

[coolpool]

Going to finally primer the old army jeep today and paint tomorrow....been a long road. I'll update the thread I got going soon.

ATC, I hope you're wearing a mask to clean out that old van......do you have "Hantavirus" down there? It's a mouse problem thing here and can affect humans respiratory wise.

Plastik, want some more snow to ski on? The snow around my house is anywhere from 1' where it's windy to 5' where it settled. This winter sucks

[ATC King]

......do you have "Hantavirus" down there?

I'm going to find out.



In all seriousness though, I use the highest quality T-shirt material face mask. You know, the kind that stop pandemic type things.



All joking aside, I do know about Hanta and AFAIK it isn't in Arkansas (yet). Thanks for your concern. That doesn't mean I'm willing to breath rat dung dust though and did use a US made bandana as a mask. No Chinese virus is getting through that (is hanta Chinese?) Besides, my biggest concern is actually necrosis, from a brown recluse bite. The van is full of them.

Between the rust, the bugs, the potential bacteria and viruses, and the dead animal bits, it's not really much worse than a nightmare.


I did muster enough courage to clean some more today.

A couple boxes of old radios and 8 tracks were in there.

One Jas P. Marsh gauge.

Some other junk.


This van does not have power steering or AC, but there's a bunch of pumps and compressors in it.

Some purpose tools that are a nice perk. There's a ridge reamer but I don't think it's in that pic.



I think it's to the phase of vacuuming now. Most of the large debris is out and I'll vacuum then wash the interior. Besides a half fallen out headliner over just the front seats and a smidge of carpet right at the front, the rest is just a metal shell and will clean up pretty easily and thouroghly.




There were five sets of jumper cables. There's some rat chewing on them, but I think I can get a couple longe enough sections to make some temporary battery cables to at least use to test things and try to crank it.

[knappyfeet]

Love those radios!

[El Camexican]

Started on this about six months ago. It’s going to be a vegetable garden with an irrigation system and a protective fence.

The border is made of rail ties.



The wood is held together with 1/4” steel plates and 1/2” lag bolts. The vertical posts are 2” 14ga. squares and the horizontals are 2” X 1” 14ga. rec. Mesh is 6ga. galvanized horse panels 30” tall. In case anyone is wondering, there are over 1,200 small welds holding the mesh in place. I think I went through almost 6 pounds of rod.





Two way kennel latch on the gate



My dog passed away just as this was being started. He’s buried under the corner post and his collar is welded to it on the opposite side. R.I.P. Fredo.



View from the back. I hope Fredo likes it.

[coolpool]

ATC I never thought about those recluse spiders. Maybe tape seal all the joints or wrap the van in plastic and spray in some Dr Doom then seal up completely. Any and all insects will dead in no time. I heard about about your US made cotton anti viral masks....you might be on to something. Maybe send Trudeau and Biden a message to give to the truckers so they won't need shots to cross the border, lol.

[El Camexican]

Re spiders. Light a mosquito coil in the van and close the doors.

[ATC King]

Re spiders. Light a mosquito coil in the van and close the doors.

They'll just get out through the rust holes.


coolpool, the brown recluse is just part of life here. It's pretty easy to find someone who's been bitten or directly knows someone who has. Most times it rots a rather large hole in the flesh which leaves a scar. Some get it worse and others not as bad. Best thing is to get on it right away once the bite area shows swelling.

Now that I've got the old cardboard and rotted plywood out, most of them will leave on their own. Any type of wood or wood product is what attracts them. In the forest, rotten wood and debris is their natural habitat, because that's where the bug food is. Most bites happen when the spider gets between something and the skin, like when a person is in bed or when they put on clothes they haven't worn in a while. They can't bite through clothes, especially work gloves.

The biggest thing to remember if someone thinks one is crawling on them is to not swat at it. That's a great way to push the fangs into the skin. Look for it and if one is there, just lightly brush it off.

[plastikosmd]

Well had to sell the 86 250r but turned it (with a bit more $) into another toy
Should have it next week
80 hp Deutz, 3 buckets, aux hydraulics for grapple/
2001, yard machine only. Bit over 900 hrs

[El Camexican]

Added a bit of Canada to the garden. Disappointed that it was from Quebec and not Manitoba, but whatever, the scent of maple syrup is a nice touch.

[plastikosmd]

^beautiful

[90nut]

Tore into my toy hauler project today. Cold enough the ground was froze, but the sun was shining and not to windy. Got all the seats tore out, next step is to section the body in march. Hopefully I can get her on the road by end of July. Upload of pictures failed, flat front front engine 78 passenger bus is under the chopping block!