That would be a bad water pump. Its been squealing for a while and started leaking a few weeks ago. New pump: $140, Thermostat: $25, Antifreeze: $26, plus $30 in new tools and $100+ in tool rental deposits. Sheesh.That is one big water pump too!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
The joys of the 100k+ vehicle
That would be a bad water pump. Its been squealing for a while and started leaking a few weeks ago. New pump: $140, Thermostat: $25, Antifreeze: $26, plus $30 in new tools and $100+ in tool rental deposits. Sheesh.That is one big water pump too!
Finally, some pretty sunsets
Generally the sunsets here have been really boring, the best ones were when the sun was red from all the smoke from the fires. During the last week though we have had some clouds and some really beautiful sunsets. These were last Saturday after I got back from my hobby shop run.
New Truck
About a week ago I was at the RC races watching and thinking how I need to do this... Well after the race they said they would be racing again next Sunday (usually its every 2 or so) and I thought ok, I can get my old truck together with some new parts by then. So I got online and found a hobby shop in the area (that means within 2 hours of here) and made a list of parts that I would need to get. Saturday I went, intending to buy all the parts needed or for +~$100 a new truck that I knew had its own class in racing here and that I have liked since it came out. After looking a while, I ended up with the new truck and some new higher capacity batteries.
I got home after making a stop at the motocross track and junk yard and opened the truck up. Its a nice, big off road truck, ready to run, with lots of suspension. I was ready for the races...then I read something (I forget what) that made me look at the batteries I bought, bad news, they were a newer type than the 14 year old Radio shack batteries that I had and were not compatable with my charger. So I tried the old batteries, the truck looks really cool running around, but the batteries were only good for about 2-3 minutes and I needed 5. Well maybe I could get my Nitro car running, it just needed a tune and I could probably get away with running it in the novice class. When I was about to go run it I realized that I had to charge the glow plug heater, but where was the cord? Long story short, I found the glow heater charger about 30 minutes before the race and its a 4 hour charger.
So I ended up going to the race and just watching. It was good racing and the weather turned out being a lot better than it was supposed to be.
I got home after making a stop at the motocross track and junk yard and opened the truck up. Its a nice, big off road truck, ready to run, with lots of suspension. I was ready for the races...then I read something (I forget what) that made me look at the batteries I bought, bad news, they were a newer type than the 14 year old Radio shack batteries that I had and were not compatable with my charger. So I tried the old batteries, the truck looks really cool running around, but the batteries were only good for about 2-3 minutes and I needed 5. Well maybe I could get my Nitro car running, it just needed a tune and I could probably get away with running it in the novice class. When I was about to go run it I realized that I had to charge the glow plug heater, but where was the cord? Long story short, I found the glow heater charger about 30 minutes before the race and its a 4 hour charger.
So I ended up going to the race and just watching. It was good racing and the weather turned out being a lot better than it was supposed to be.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Halloween
The question came to my mind about 4-5 days before Halloween: what sort of costume can I get/make in a town that lacks a real Wal-Mart, has a Big-K and a soon to close Mervyns (the only real clothing store in town). The reason that I needed a costume was for a party that I wasn't really expecting. I looked a bit on e-bay, but shipping probably would have been to slow. I looked into Halloween stores; I would have pretty much had to drive to LA for that. So I just decided to go with a costume I had been wanting to do for a while - ninja.
Given I had nowhere to get the good parts of the costume (weapons), I figured I could at least get a long dowel at the Home Depot for a bo ... wrong, the biggest dowel was 1/2 inch and 4 feet long. Time to head for the plumbing section :) I ended up with a 10' section of 1" PVC. Once cut down and partially wrapped in tape it is nearly the dimensions of an actual roku-shaku-bo (rough translation: 6-foot-staff).
Next was the outfit. I had seen ads for Todd's Outdoors having costume stuff so I headed that way - not so much with the costume stuff really, but he did have 2 swords. I looked around the
store and found some black pants that looked like they would be good and a few other small things. And no, I didn't get the sword, I didn't feel like paying that much for part of a Halloween costume. For the top I found a long sleeved shirt that looked like it had the right cut off at the arms and removed them. I intended to do more with it, but as it was i only finished the costume 15 minutes before I left for the party. I bought some black fabric at Wal-Mart for the other things - head band, face mask, belt, shoes.
All in all it came out pretty well, by the end of the night the pieces of cut material had all frayed at the edges, but it still looked pretty good.
This costume should get used again and I know several upgrades that I want for it.
Given I had nowhere to get the good parts of the costume (weapons), I figured I could at least get a long dowel at the Home Depot for a bo ... wrong, the biggest dowel was 1/2 inch and 4 feet long. Time to head for the plumbing section :) I ended up with a 10' section of 1" PVC. Once cut down and partially wrapped in tape it is nearly the dimensions of an actual roku-shaku-bo (rough translation: 6-foot-staff).
Next was the outfit. I had seen ads for Todd's Outdoors having costume stuff so I headed that way - not so much with the costume stuff really, but he did have 2 swords. I looked around the
store and found some black pants that looked like they would be good and a few other small things. And no, I didn't get the sword, I didn't feel like paying that much for part of a Halloween costume. For the top I found a long sleeved shirt that looked like it had the right cut off at the arms and removed them. I intended to do more with it, but as it was i only finished the costume 15 minutes before I left for the party. I bought some black fabric at Wal-Mart for the other things - head band, face mask, belt, shoes.All in all it came out pretty well, by the end of the night the pieces of cut material had all frayed at the edges, but it still looked pretty good.
This costume should get used again and I know several upgrades that I want for it.
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