Busy Days Now and a Busier Month Planned for February

The riding mower still has a miss in the engine even with the tune up, new battery, and new fuel filter, so tomorrow I'm going to open the pilot screw a bit and enrich the fuel mixture. Thank goodness for Penn Foster's small engine course from 1991. Called ICS (International Correspondence School) back then. If that doesn't get the miss smoothed out, I'll have to take the carburetor off and re-kit it. The gaskets are five years old and this ethanol gas (E85)is tough on gaskets. Makes them dry out or swell and this interferes with gas proportions with the air intake. Even with the fuel treatments, it's still a good idea to know how to kit a carburetor.

Get the miss out of the engine and all it will need is the blades sharpened and the axles greased.

All the chainsaw needs is the fuel High and Low speed needles adjusted. Still lagging a bit when the engine is cold. Need to adjust the idle speed, too. I don't really like having the chain spinning it's deadly teeth around the blade when I'm holding it while pulling a vine or branch out of the way. Have had enough close calls with these unforgiving machines called chainsaws.

Have I forgotten the Nano camper? Nope. Was outside a little while ago praying to God for guidance in getting it built. Have the roof material picked out, the flooring material, and siding. Already have the wiring, gas line, and other safety items ready to go. Will start back in March to have it ready by late April for camping. I need the Nano camper, so it's going to get built.

Found a flow chart for diagnosing sick carburetors. Flow Chart for Sick Carburetors

Souped Up Garden Tiller Racing.

This looks like fun!!!!

Steady Working and Steady Progress

Spring got here early in 2012. Had to mow the yard a couple of weeks ago and trim the hedge. Taking my old chainsaw tomorrow and tearing it down, cleaning the carburetor, and tuning it up. Need to examine the pull cord and all the goes with chainsaw maintenance. My riding mower gets tuned up on Monday, if all works out well. There is a new miss in the engine, so I'm going through the fuel system first in the list of troubleshooting options. It's probably the fuel filter getting clogged up and it's time for new spark plugs anyway.

Mom and I are going down to my farm more often since the temperatures are warmer. Cleared out the overgrowth around the main gate and plan to put up a new gate in February with new posts. Run some more barbwire. There is so much work to do out there with fences to repair or replace and everything else that comes with owning property.

2012 is going to be one busy year for me.

How to Make a Shortwave Radio Antenna for Less Than $1.00

I own a couple of small short wave radios. When the weather is cloudy, can't even hear the stations out of Tennessee. Will be making this antenna tonight to improve signal strength.

My Poor Old 2005 Dell Bit the Dust Last Night

Well, the hard drive's ability to find C:\ is totally gone. The FAT's (file allocation table) is lost somewhere in the deep dark sectors. It's not registering at boot up, in other words. Tried several emergency boot up disks, but none helped. So ... time for a new hard drive.

Poor old Dell's hard drive crashed and burned last night.

This old hard drive in the Dell is at least seven years old and from my Penn Foster PC repair and maintenance classes, hard drives have a way of crashing and burning once they hit six years old. Glad I know how to replace them. Will set me back a couple of hundred to three hundred dollars because I'm upgrading to Windows 7 while I'm at it. Will take a little cash out of each paycheck for a few months and set it aside for a summer project.

Keeping both crashed hard drives and will experiment with data retrieval software someday. If you work on computers, it's good to know how to retrieve data from a blown hard drive. Might look good on a resume one day when I get done with caring for Mom and get back out into the real working world again. Actually, for a while, thinking of working two jobs to build up my savings again. I can spend money, but I can save it, too.

While I have the Dell in tear down, I can replace the broken CD ROM with a DVD burner that the Camo computer couldn't use because of it's mobo's age.

Got the New Glasses---back on line.

Crunched my old pair a couple of weeks ago. Literally. Needed an eye exam anyway, so took care of two situations at once.

This is going to be one busy week if the rain holds off. With the mild winter, planning on doing some work down on my farm to get ready for the heavy work that will start in February. The grass and weeds that usually don't start growing till late February are growing now. Had to mow the yards and trim the hedges last week, but that's life in the Deep South. One winter, it's freezing temperatures shutting down entire cities and the next winter, it's so warm, you are mowing your yard in the dead of it.

Good to be back.

Merry Christmas, Everybody!

I'm doing all the cooking this year, so it's going to be simple. Roast chicken with dressing as the main entree.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Good Neighbors and Horse Wrangling

My neighbor's horse got out last night. Seems he's been out for a few days, too, going by what a neighbor Jesse told me. They had it tied up in their backyard and it got away. Chewed it's rope in half, going by the looks of the chewed end.

My neighbor's beautiful black and white stud horse.

My backyard is fully enclosed, so I caught the big, friendly stud horse and put it back there. Fed it a large box of instant oatmeal and gave it a lot of fresh water. Oatmeal makes me thirsty, too. He's been steadily grazing on the what's left of the grasses of last summer.

The owner has until tomorrow afternoon to come pick it up or I'll have to call the Animal Control cops. Can't afford to feed this easily 1000 pound horse.

Another Pallet Run Should Complete 1" x 4" Material List (items needed)

After what I picked up today should complete my need for 1" x 4" boards to frame the NaNo camper with. Wish I had taken my trailer, could have picked up some more 2" x 4" board pallets. Maybe next Sunday.

Home Depot has the plywood I need for the siding and flooring. Those two items I won't scavenge for. They will have the wood treatment to make it moisture resistant and mildew proof, too. If I can, I will keep the wood it's natural color, but if not, it's primer and paint time.

Paying off all debts this week and cruising into the new year debt free. Work on the Nano starts mid-January. Build the trailer frame and put on the flooring. Paint the flooring under belly with water resistant paint and tar over that completely. When the floor paint has dried, start on the walls. Taking my time building this camper. No hurry 'cause there's no need to.

If you believe in State's Rights over Federal Rights...

United States Governors Prepare State Militia Defenses for Federal Forces <---LINK

I wouldn't mind joining the Mississippi State Militia. The Federal government has way too much power now and needs a good come upping.

Exercise is a must when you hit 50 years old.

As our bodies age and the metabolism slows down, weight starts to creep upward. Before you know it, you are fifty pounds overweight and miserable. No stamina, no interest, nothing is fun anymore because your body is worn out just from maintaining the fat it produced. You plop in front of the TV and live your life through others out there doing what you could be if you dropped some pounds and toned up a bit.

I exercise. Thirty minutes a day on a treadmill (manual) and on the Total Gym. I have to. High blood pressure (hypertension) and diabetes runs in the family on both sides. When I'm not exercising, I try to find something to do that burns calories like yard work or the future work next month on the NaNo camper. Lifting and cutting plywood is work.

Got a lot of goals to reach next year. The kind of goals where I have to be successful at a bunch of little jobs to make the whole job successful. Getting in better shape, the NaNo camper, a small boat, enlarging the garden, ducking chemtrails, etc. Need the endurance the treadmill puts into my body and the muscle toning the Total Gym does with each workout.