Category: march to war

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

At least Fall has finally arrived. It’s still hot but the humidity is lower and so is the max temperature. It was pleasant all day yesterday and the sun wasn’t set on ‘brain broil’. It was 77F by the time I finished my evening quiet time.

I spent part of the morning doing office stuff, then I spent some time poking at the golf cart. I cut away some of the melted plastic body, took a cover off, and triaged the damaged bits. The solenoid and motor controller look ok. The motor controller got VERY hot though, so I’m going to replace it anyway. I’ll test the solenoid before making a decision about it. The Forward/Reverse switch seems to have been the start of the fire and suffered the most heat damage. Luckily the wiring harness will just need some ends spliced on, and not complete replacement. The fat DC cables to the motor look fine. I’ll order the parts later today. After looking at video of a golf cart burning down a home after being subjected to flood water, I don’t think swapping for a liIon battery system is a good idea anymore.

Speaking of today, I’ll spend a few hours this morning at the middle school with the district’s staff guy, poking at stuff. If we can confirm the PSU is toast, that should move the district’s replacement policy along, and I can move on to working on the theater program’s show without worrying about it.

After that, I’ll do a pickup and head home to poke at the cart. And continue working on my client’s issues, and probably go grocery shopping. And I’m sure there will be at least one more ‘and’ before I’m done…

Keep working. Keep stacking. Keep improving.

nick

So I hope the weather is nice. National forecast has a fringe of t-storm possible zone along the Coast today and tomorrow, but clear inland. We finally got enough rain to make the grass green, now I need to do a bunch of stuff with the pickup truck. Yesterday was cooler and overcast with hazy mist and super light drizzle most of the day. It would be nice if it wasn’t super hot today.

Didn’t get much done yesterday. Did a few things around the house but mostly read. Oh well. Today will be a full day.

I’m going in to the kids’ former middle school and helping out with the theater audio. Then I’ve got at least one pickup to do. It’s mostly tools and supplies, all good things to have in the stacks.

Should be a long and full day.

Keep stacking. Keep working.

nick

Hot again, humid still, but a little bit less of both. It was partly cloudy yesterday and that helped keep temps down. Not down in the ‘cool’ range, but not in the ‘broil your brains in your skull’ range either. Hoping for more of the same today.

Yesterday I got the wife out the door, kid to school, other kid medicated, took a nap, then took the kid to the doc in the box to see the ‘medical provider’. Wait a couple of days and see if she gets better… but at least the swabs were all negative.

Did laundry and folded it. Ah, domestic bliss…

Did my pickups and took stuff to the shop. Baby steps, but keeping the momentum moving.

Will have about the same today, with all the kid taxiing of a normal Thursday, plus the steps my wife usually does.

Time is flying by. Every day without a global conflagration is a good one.

Stack.

nick

Maybe today will be a bit more Fall than Summer. It’ll still be hot and humid, just maybe a little bit less of both. Spring and Fall in Houston are not what I grew up with in the 4 season midwest, but they are nice.

Slept in yesterday, then finally got moving. Did a bit of hack body work on the truck, really more of an exploration of seeing what I could do with some really basic tools. I’m happy to keep poking at it a bit. Then I did a pickup and headed to the shop for more scrap breakdown. It nets me some cash and clears up space in the shop, so it’s a decent use of time. Pays better than minimum wage…

Got home, ate, read, had a tiny little fire. And watched some new aviation. Drones. Quad copter style movements but clearly not hobbyist stuff. It’s hard to tell size but they made more of a jet sound than anything else. Curious. Two in the sky at the same time, same flight path until they got over the Beltway, then the follower took a more northern station. Saw one hovering and moving back and forth in the distance later too. Very strange. I’m not comfortable with big drones moving overhead. Too many ways that can be bad.

Today, I’ll keep working on stuff. I hope my scrap guy is open so I can empty the truck bed and move the big printer out of my office. If not, I can still move stuff around and get ready to do it Monday or Tuesday. I still need to pull my main PC out from under the desk and install the new bluray drive. I’ll do that if I can’t do anything else, since it will disrupt my office too.

And I’ll be taking a minute to remember OFD, who left this world on this day 8 years ago. I can’t really believe it’s been that long. Poke around in some of the comments here from before then and re-read some of the voices that have gone quiet since then. Gone but not forgotten.

nick

Still hot and humid, but noticeably less so yesterday and hopefully today. Lows at night are the lowest since Summer started. I guess Fall is sneaking in. It’s time.

Did some office stuff yesterday. W was work from home, so my nap ate a bunch of the morning. Some poking around in the driveway and messing with my truck ate the rest of the day.

Today I’ve got stuff to do. I need to break down stuff at the shop and do a scrap run. I need a trash run too. Then I can move the giant uPrint 3D printer from my office to the shop. I made a place for it and a path. That will let me move and organize some of the mess in my office. I think I’ll put all the supplies and stuff for that printer on craigslist and see if I can move it along. I’d rather have a couple of smaller ones, and the new ones have more capability anyway. It would make a nice enclosure for a modern printer, it would just need a new driver board and build platform. As it sits, it’s locked to the manufacturer’s CAD software and proprietary filament.

I’ve also got to find a rear axle assembly for the Ranger, and decide if I want to just buy new shocks and leaf springs, or try to get them used as part of the assembly. It makes more sense to replace them with new, even if it’s a few hundred bucks more. Since I spent the money on the front end, I should spend the money on the rear as well, and just finish the project. There are nice axles in Austin listed online, but the 4 hits I get in Houston all say “call” for pricing. I don’t really want to do the drive if I can avoid it.

And there are the other things on the list. Hopefully I’ll have the energy and momentum to get stuff done this weekend.

Always be working… and stacking… and don’t falter.

nick

Hot and humid. Yes, it is monotonous. It’s also typical Houston. It’s even been a bit of a dry year, and no hurricanes with few named storms. I’m sure it’s gonna kill us all because Mother Ghaiah has a sad. More of the same today.

Did my kid duties. It’s D2 who I haven’t declared a strike against. She still gets the backlash at [lack of] dinner time, and having to manage her own TP supply.

Tried to get some makeup sleep. Worked, mostly. Didn’t feel up to anything challenging so I finished the assembly of the gantry. It went together pretty well. There were only a couple of bolts missing, which is a miracle given that they were all in a ball of stretch wrap, loose in the torn open packaging. Seems like it will be a big help for getting stuff in and out of the truck. I’m dreading taking it apart and moving it to the shop, where it will eventually live.

Today I’ll try to sleep a bit, then see what I can get done. I still have some stuff to break down for scrap a the shop, and the piles still need organizing. We’re home this weekend, so maybe I’ll tackle some of the bigger stuff in the driveway or on the patio.

There’s always something that needs doing. And stuff won’t stack itself.

nick

And it will be hot while I do it. It got plenty sweaty during the day Tuesday, and stayed in the 80sF all night. I think we’ll get more of that today.

Did my pickup in the afternoon, then took the stuff to my shop and unloaded it. I’ve got some steel scrap to drop off today. No money really but it will be out of the shop. I’ll throw some batteries and some bits of other non-ferrous on the pile too.

Spent the evening assembling my new gantry. I’ll finish up with that today, I think. I’ve got to pick up the second load of stuff from the auction too. Three COWs (computer on wheels) from one of the local hospitals. I’ll scrap them, and see what kind of laptops they left in them. Might be decent, might be old.

The ipad I picked up yesterday was a 9th generation. The dang thing has a pin lock, even though the auction pictures showed the settings screen. I hope the auction can tell me the code, as I’d like to use it if possible. The kids’ old middle school uses one to control their sound system and the district IT staff was going to take their ipad away. If I can unlock and reset it, I’ll give it to the theater department. Apple makes it hard or impossible to repurpose their itoys if they haven’t been released by the previous owner, unlike windows and PC based stuff. I guess that’s good if you are worried about theft. Makes it hard to get money for old gear, or to keep it working.

So that is the plan for today, second round of pickups, maybe unlock the ipad, and finish putting the gantry together. I’m sure something will be added to my list as well.

Always be working. Even if each task is fractal. And stack, it’s easy!

nick

Hot, but maybe the front will make it just a bit not as hot? It was certainly hot yesterday before the rain came with the front. Lots of thunder, lots of local lightning strikes. Much drama. Not much rain though. We’ll see how today shapes up.

Did my pickup. The gantry crane will be useful for my truck repairs. The cameras turned out to be analog and nothing I want to spend time messing with. Did my normal returns auction pickup too. Didn’t do much else.

Today I’ve got another surplus pickup to do. I got a bunch more of the roll around laptop cart things from the hospital, so I’ll break those down for scrap, inverters, and batteries. I also got a bunch of open frame telcom racks sold as scrap that I’ll bring to the next hamfest. Racks usually sell well for me. And if not, they are aluminum C channel, and could be re-purposed or scrapped. IDK if I can get everything in one trip, but I’ll know after I try today! I’ve still got tomorrow if I have to make a second trip.

And in order to make room for this stuff, I have to continue my organization and clean out of my shop. Which will be sweaty and tedious. But hey, they call it ‘work’ not ‘playing around’.

Always be working… and stacking.

nick