I tried to post the first part of this earlier this morning but couldn’t connect. Can’t wait to try that passive signal booster when it gets here; I’m motivated.
Yesterday was the first day it got hot enough that the porch served its core purpose; give Joel a comfy place to hang out while the inside of the cabin cools off.
But there’s always been a problem with that in the two previous summers: Just about the time you want to sit in the evening breeze, the sun comes around and blasts in your eyes.
I’ve had it in mind since last summer to make a sun shade that might hopefully cut the glare. Finally got around to it yesterday, using materials already at hand. It would either work fine as is, prove the concept but require different materials, or discredit the concept entirely.
And actually it seems to work just fine the way it is. So that happened, and I sat outside till nearly dark.
This morning Neighbor D and I had our third session with D&L’s tractor, trying to replace a leaky drain fitting on the engine block. Last time we determined that the only way to unscrew it around all the impediments was to send away for a metric crowfoot socket.
This morning, unfortunately, we succeeded in removing the leaky fitting.
🙁 Found the leak, too.
The block is nearly as chingered up as the fitting; I figure the threads will need to be drilled out and Heli-Coiled and we can’t do that in the driveway. So now they’re out their tractor until they find someplace they can trailer it to. Sometimes jobs don’t go just right and it’s nobody’s fault.
Email to ya! 🙂
Wow! Talk about shot all to hell. You might want to consider using distilled water in the cooling system
Rubber expansion plug? (aka “test plug”). Do they make them that small?
Likely pipe thread. Get the next larger size and tap it out and either bush the hole for the old valve, or buy a new one. You can get that at a hardware store. Likely the proper tap too.
Hey Joel, Is the engine block cast iron? I take it the fitting is pot metal? Can you find out the thread size of the fitting? Is there access to the area ? You can take a file or rotary tool and grind out the remains and tap the rest out of the hole.
It turns out they do make expansion plugs that small. D called Scott the Road Guy, who necessarily knows a hell of a lot about keeping heavy machines working in field conditions, just to get a recommendation for where to take the tractor. StRG pulled a solution out of his metaphorical butt, bringing them an expansion plug that would fit the hole. Took a while to get it placed given the extremely cramped workspace but once he did it held pressure. So it looks like problem solved.
I’m glad that the tractor is fixed. As TR once said… “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
StRG pulled a solution out of his metaphorical butt, bringing them an expansion plug that would fit the hole.
Good thing it was only his metaphorical butt.
“Good thing it was only his metaphorical butt.”
Well in any case that size plug would probably fit, so it’s all good. 😉
Desert folks learn how to make things work.
So how is Phoebe tolerating your sun shade? Hopefully all the flapping that close to her nest won’t excessively disturb her…
Oh, it’s around the corner from her. Doubt she notices.
Which is of course why I added the word. 🙂