Generally trending cooler but still some heat left in the day. It was cooler to start and finish yesterday. I am hopeful for more nice weather as Fall progresses.
Did some stuff yesterday. I relisted several things on Craigslist, lowering prices. The rest of the day was mostly sitting at the computer and figuring out what to order to move my various projects forward. I ordered all the parts for the golf cart. I ordered bulbs for my third brake light on the Ranger. Turns out the module I stole off the parts truck wasn’t working. It’s really hard to tell, when you can’t step on the brake and see the light… But I finally saw it in a window reflection when in reverse, and it wasn’t lighting up.
Since I got a fixit ticket, I’m a bit chagrined that my fix didn’t work and I’ve been driving like that for a couple of weeks. Since it had LED bulbs in it, I took it apart and applied test voltage. The bulb was installed backwards, and LEDs need correct polarity. So I put it all back together and remounted the unit. I ordered replacement bulbs because the plastic holding the LED bulbs together crumbled when I touched it.
The unit is common across a wide range of Ford truck models and there are dozens of custom aftermarket versions available if I wanted to replace the whole unit. That’s one advantage of driving something very common. Aside from electronic considerations, an older F-150 is probably a good choice for a post collapse vehicle. There are so many on the road, and so many parts in common, that parts availability and salvage/looting should be able to keep one running for a long time. Something that can’t be said for the Avalanche or Aztek…
I also ordered a replacement sealing gasket, which had failed a long time ago and is apparently a common problem. Just another reason to drive older and common vehicles- parts for common problems are widely available and cheap.
After crashing for a couple of hours from too many carbs at lunch, I got out some Halloween decorations and put them up. Some went outside, some are indoor things. I think I probably won’t do a big themed display this year, but I do want to try a couple of new things if I have the time. Right now, with just an hour or two, I have more stuff up than most of my neighbors.
Today I’ll do an auction pickup. I won another 7 cuft chest freezer for $65. I’ll keep it empty as a backup for a freezer failure, and just in case someone gets a nice sized deer and wants to share with me. W will not be pleased, so I’ll probably take it to the shop. In another auction I got parts for electrical stuff and for fixing some minor stuff to resell if I get the time, and for the BOL dock. I think I spent around $100 this week on auctions, and that is an order of magnitude less than I used to spend.
I still have to hit Costco for candy. Maybe they’ll have other stuff I need too.
Last tank of major brand gas got me almost 16mpg in mixed but mostly highway driving. I haven’t had a chance to get back to Costco to fill up and see if another tank will give me the higher mileage I got on the last Costco fill up. Gas is just under $4/gallon at the majors, and 50c cheaper at discounters, but if they are mixing in too much ethanol, it’s a false economy. My last fill up at QuikTime the pump said 10% ethanol, so we’ll see.
It was a short week, but I advanced several projects that have been on the list for a long time. And I added to the stacks. Good things.
Keep working and stacking.
nick