New Year's Google Projects

As an old retired guy, I am always lining up "projects" that need to be done. There is nothing like a good challenging project to make me feel useful. They are great fun, and often save money and leave me with a feeling of accomplishment. Also, if I can do something specific for Kim or the girls, I feel great for having helped out.

The weather has been beautiful. Great for outside projects, but not great for the water supply. However, if it isn't going to rain or snow, this is the best kind of weather to have. Warm sun, and no wind!

So, after new years, I started looking for a couple of good projects. The girls cars always give plentiful opportunities for projects. The standard is changing oil and filter, sometimes a brake job. Maggie and Lucy drove home for Christmas in her little Hyundai Accent, it was a little early for an oil change, but might as well do it while it's here. So, after the girls left to visit Viola in Spain, I swung into action. The little car only takes 3 quarts of oil, so I was finished almost before I started! OK, need more projects! Maggie has run out of gas a couple of times, and her fuel gauge seemed to be the culprit. I asked my mechanic friend Troy what he thought, and he suggested there was a pretty good chance the sending unit in the fuel tank was bad.

This sounded like a very difficult project, and I was pretty reluctant. However, after chatting a little longer, Troy mentioned that there might be easy access under the back seat. a few days later, I went out to "Merdy" and checked out the back seat. After several minutes of poking, pushing and mostly head scratching, I gave up. This was a job for Professor Google!

The internet is a "project nut's" dream. You can find out how to do anything, and usually there will be a few demonstration videos to boot! No luck on the video this time, but in short order I had located a site where some helpful father had answered someone else's question about fixing the fuel gauge. Apparently he had fixed his daughter's car!! It sounded doable, and came complete with an explanation of how to remove the back seat to access the fuel tank. So, I did a Google search for the part, put in my order and sat back to wait.

Well, not really. Another project I had been thinking about for a while was to repair the rear lift gate on my truck's camper shell. It had become a casualty of Lucy's sophomore move in when she backed under a car port with it up. Lucky that the glass didn't break. It just bent the frame, and ruined the pneumatic lift cylinders so it wouldn't stay up. So, I checked the cylinders for part numbers, and put it into Google...voila! I ordered the parts, and even added some new handles so I could actually lock the thing occasionally.

About a week of excellent weather later, the parts arrived. I took on the truck's lift gate first. I should have taken a few pictures, but totally forgot. The best part of this project was that Kim worked with me! I needed help removing the gate. There were two rivets I had to remove, but the problem was I needed help stabilizing it so I wouldn't fall (and shatter the glass) when I pulled out the rivets. I really enjoy my projects, but there is nothing better than having someone to work on it with me! We took out the gate, straightened the frame (carefully so as not to break the glass).  I re-installed it and had to purchase a couple of bolts to replace the rivets. With some silicone to seal it, and new handles installed, it was almost like new!

Maggie's little 2004 Hyundai Accent was one of my "Projects"!

Next project was Merdy's fuel gauge sending unit. This one I took on by myself (me and Professor Google). After several trips back and fourth to the shed, I found the right tools for the job, and dug in. After removing the back seat there was the top of the fuel tank sure enough. A minor kink occurred when the hole in the body didn't quite line up with the unit, so I had to do some customization with a pair of pliers to pull it out!

That hole is where the fuel pump/gauge sending unit goes.
I had to bend a little metal to get the assembly out.

The assembly! See the little float that detects the fuel level?

Here is the old sending unit after I disconnected it from the
 fuel pump assembly. 

All back together. All that is left is to "un-bend" the metal
around the hole, plug it in, and replace the cover!

The unit is a complex assembly that includes the fuel pump, AND the fuel gauge sending unit. The sending unit snaps on to the side of the fuel pump, and a small plug connects the electrical to the pump unit, with another plug that connects to the car's electrical system. Each plug has a locking mechanism designed to make sure that the mechanism doesn't come apart accidentally. The hardest part was figuring out this mechanism, and then successfully un-plugging each plug without breaking it. So, I took my time, scratched my head some more, and got all the plugs disconnected.  Of course, putting it back together was the  easy part, so it wasn't long before I had it all put back together. The fuel gauge seems to register properly, but the only way to see if it will warn Maggie before she runs out is for her to... run it out! I told her to keep a can of gas in the back for a while.

So, I went back into the house, poured myself a glass of wine, and basked in the great feeling of accomplishment (and of saving a few bucks!)

That's All!

German Loggers

This winter has been cold and dry so far. During the middle of December we got down to -30 degrees F at one point, and it was below freezing for most of the last several weeks. I got behind on my woodcutting chores this summer, and have been struggling to catch up. Kim wanted to buy some wood already cut and split and have it delivered. I decided that instead of buying wood, I would buy a new chain saw, betting on the fact that there would be plenty of dry days to fill the shed. Kim and I did manage to cut, split and stack about 3 and 1/2 cords before Christmas so we were in pretty good shape. However, yesterday was an opportunity too good to let pass by.

Leander displayed great form as he swung away with my old
ten pounder!

 Temperatures have risen into the low forties, with lots of sun, and not a breath of wind:  perfect weather to get some outside work done. But what made the opportunity to pad my wood supply even better was the presence of two of our German sons! Valentin and Leander Rethwilm showed up on New Year's Eve to visit for a few days. Leander is learning to fly helicopters in Portland OR, and his brother (a paramedic on an ambulance crew in Germany) had come to visit for a short vacation. Two strapping young men, a good log supply, a new chain saw and two splitting mauls...that's what I call opportunity!

Valentin gets a "three-fer" with my new Fiskars splitting axe.

I scrounged up a couple of pairs of gloves, and extra ear plugs, and then had a short training session. I have swung a splitting maul for 40 years, but it was new to Valentin and Leander. Both caught on very quickly. Leander selected the 10 pound maul, and got the hang of it, while Valentin swung my new Fiskars splitting axe. It is a light and wonderful marvel of modern technology. Wish I would have had something like it 40 years ago. I was the head sawyer for the day, although I did let each boy take a stab at running it.

This new saw is awesome! I feel more like a surgeon than a
woodcutter when I use it!

The saw is a Husquavarna, made in Finland. It is very light, plenty powerful, and virtually vibration free. (Starts easy, too!). I do not miss my old Homelite 925 which had lots of power, but was heavy as heck, and shook you to death. After the Germans got their rhythm, it was all I could do to cut fast enough to keep them supplied with rounds to split. We blew through two 60 foot logs in no time.

"German Loggers" with their German Lager!

Kim made us all sandwiches and chips, so we took a break for lunch. We set up a rustic dining area using some unsplit rounds and dug in. The sandwiches were great, and we washed them down with some Kirkland "German Lager" beer. A fitting pun for the day, German Lager, for our "German Loggers"!

We enjoyed lunch in our formal dining room!

Here we get ready to finish the job after lunch.

After lunch we made short work of the rest of the wood, and decided to use our old flatbed to move our pile to the woodshed. Kim shoveled the snow off the bed (it has been there since December 7th, that's how cold its been) and "Ol Rusty" cranked over on the first try. With three of us loading the old truck (and Kim salvaging slivers and chips) we were done in no time. Unloading and stacking was even quicker as we used the "daisy chain" method. Leander climbed up on the truck and tossed wood to Kim, who tossed it to Valentin who tossed it on to me to stack. When we were done it just didn't seem right. Somehow it had just been too easy. But I am NOT complaining! We ended up cutting splitting, loading, and stacking about a half cord (about 64 cubic feet) enough to last almost a month!

Kim cleans off Ol Rusty so we can make the very short haul
to the woodshed.

Loading was very quick with all the helping hands!

We "Daisy Chained" the load into the stack.

End of a great afternoon!

So, life is good. I am now officially working on next years wood!! Wonder when the boys will be back?

That's All!