Shop Teacher Bob: February 2023

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Vergasser

The new carb showed up yesterday - about the only good thing that happened. I was all set to leave in the morning to do some errands but it was raining and didn't look too promising. It started pouring down rain while I was considering leaving, then some hail, then my phone buzzed a warning, then the sirens went off. I pulled out my radio with the weather alerts and got the Missus out of bed. The radio was broadcasting tornado warnings and the Chicago television suspended their regular programming in order to track the storm. Needless to say, that was it for my running errands.

The mail has been coming later in the day lately, so I didn't check the mailbox until I was headed out to the gym. Since I ordered the carb from Amazon, I was surprised to find it in the mailbox. I'll take care of some of the errands that got postponed today and then unbox the carb and see about getting the manifold and adaptor machined.

Monday, February 27, 2023

Get Ready

I came across this while perusing the internet yesterday. The Ready Citizen Manual is a pdf of about 50 pages in length and it gives a good explanation as to why we all should be prepared and an excellent way of going about it. I'd like to think I'm fairly well prepared for whatever comes along, but only time will tell on that. I lived in the country when I was a kid and power outages weren't all that unusual. Likewise, getting snowed in wasn't all that unusual, either. However, being without power or being snowed in rarely lasted more than a couple of days.

The Ready Citizen Manual states that one of the first things you should do is decide on the time frame and the number of people you wish to prepare for. There's a big difference between a few days and a few months, in the cost, the amounts and the storage requirements. No matter what stage you're at in your preps, I'm sure you can glean something from the manual. His blog post also had a link to www.stopthebleed.org. It's a free online training course that I'm planning on taking one of these days soon. I keep a first aid kit in the house, the shop and the truck, but it's been a long time since I've had any formal training in first aid - and I've never had any in the use of a tourniquet. Time to address that issue.

There's a local group that offers a variety of self-defense courses. It wouldn't be a bad idea to sign up for their pistol course. I grew up around rifles and shotguns but I've never done much pistol shooting. There might be a NRA course locally I could take as an alternative, or even as a supplement. Learning new skills is good for the brain health, as well.

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Typical Monday schedule today - laundry, shopping, errands, time in the shop, and some time for exercise. If I'm going to be practicing the art of Pedestrianism, like Edward Weston, I need to start putting in the miles. Didn't get any walking in yesterday, but I did put in 4 miles on the bike and some time in the gym with the boxers getting them ready for the Gloves.

Saturday, February 25, 2023

Firewood

Took some scrap metal over to Cuzzin Ricky, did breakfast and then loaded up some firewood he had left from a tree trimming job. I dug out my little electric chainsaw to cut it into bite size pieces for the new fireplace insert. When I went to check the level of the bar oil I found out I couldn't compress the button on the oiler. Apparently, the rubber or whatever it's made of had hardened with age. I dribbled some oil on the chain and then later the clutch locked up. I went uptown and priced a new Stihl gas powered. Since I'm planning on using the new insert much more than I did the old fireplace, looks like I'll be investing in a new gas-powered saw.

Maybe a bad day for the chainsaw, but it was a good day for eggs. Yesterday was the first time since last fall the girls spit out four eggs in a day. Regardless what the groundhog and his shadow decide, this tells me the days are getting warmer and longer. Spring will be here soon.

Friday, February 24, 2023

Manifold ........ Again

Went out to the shop yesterday afternoon after the eye doctor visit and lunch with the Missus. I counterbored the holes for the cap screws, pulled the vise off the table and then commenced facing off the mounting surface. It's smooth as a baby's bottom and the angle is just like the factory had it. There are a couple of shadow lines in the photo that don't do it justice. Time to buy a carburetor.

Thursday, February 23, 2023

A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

We got a bunch of rain yesterday. I'm not sure when it started but it was raining at 3:30 in the morning and was still raining at 6:00 in the evening. Fortunately, it was just warm enough that things didn't ice up or that it turned to snow. I took the Missus for her second cataract surgery and we had to leave the house at 5:30 - meaning it was dark and rainy. There was actually quite a bit of traffic on the roads. I felt sorry for all those working stiffs that have to make that commute all the time, rain or shine. I sure as hell don't miss that.

Anyway, the cataract surgery went well. I'm hoping the fact that she can see better will get her out of the house a little more often. Check up today with the eye surgeon and then the local eye doctor in a couple of weeks to get a final check-up. They're calling for cold temperatures tomorrow, but I think I'll see about getting the manifold clamped down on the mill and getting it decked off.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Counterbore

I ordered a counterbore set that came yesterday. I was just going to counterbore the holes in the adaptor plate with a milling cutter, but this set was pretty cheap and most of the work I do is on aluminum, so it should be good for a lifetime. I do have a few counterbores, but now with these and what I already had, I should be set most anything I might need in the future.

I went out for lunch yesterday with a couple of associates in the law enforcement business. Nice little get together and as a bonus, I had an envelope from the restaurant from a previous visit that was worth $50.00. Needless to say, I bought lunch. My luck's been running well as of late. I got a thing in the mail about a raffle for a new Corvette. Maybe I should buy a ticket and see if my luck still holds.

Anyway, after lunch I bead blasted the manifold. After I get it machined, I'll give it another going over to hit a couple of spots I missed and then get it painted up. I'll paint it up Hemi Orange to match the cylinder head - should look good with the aluminum colored block and the nice shiny header.

The Missus is getting the second cataract surgery today, so not much on the agenda other than taking care of her for the next couple of days. Lot of boxing stuff on the calendar in the future and I found a bicycle ride this summer where my one brother lives. I need to call him and see if I can arrange a visit at that time. It's literally been years since I've seen him. Of course, with the cooties, it's pretty much been years since I've seen most anyone of my family or friends. Definitely time to remedy that.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Birthday

My "social media" decided I would appreciate this:

Godspeed Jo Raquel Tejada, known forever as Raquel Welch, the ‘60s and ‘70s hottie of all hotties. One of her many modeling roles as a teen was as a trophy girl at the circle tracks. The Hot Rod magazine archive pic could reasonably be presumed to be from Ascot, but is more likely Balboa Stadium in San Diego where she lived. Balboa Stadium is now for football, but then had a quarter mile dirt oval.

And they were right.

In addition to it being President's Day yesterday, it was also my Pop's birthday. The old boy would have been a buck-o-three. He checked out at 74 after a couple of open-heart surgeries. One of the reasons I keep exercising and watch my diet. I've out lived Elvis by about 30 years, maybe I can out live the old man by 15 - 20.

Did a little D&C in the shop yesterday. I have a bad habit of just leaving the tools out at the end of the day, especially when my feet get cold. It was warm yesterday, so I did a little outside stuff and then took care of a little maintenance and cleaning in the shop. Still more to do, but it's looking more inviting.

Monday, February 20, 2023

Trailer Completion - Sort Of

It was a beautiful day yesterday. Temps were in the mid-fifties and the sun was out. There were some wind gusts but for this time of the year, it's about all a guy can hope for. After working with the fighters in the morning, I figured it would be a prime day for installing the aluminum angle around the top of the plywood sides. The pieces were all cut and the holes were all drilled and countersunk, so it didn't take long at all. The sides are about 6'-6" long and the angles I bought were 6' lengths, so they're about 6" too short. I've got a piece long enough to fill in one side but I'll have to see if I can find a piece at the hardware store or Menards. If not, I'll just order a short piece next time I make a steel order. I'm still considering painting the outside of the sides. No hurry on that, though. So, depending on the paint, I'm about 99% finished with that one.

I need to get some more done on my taxes and a few other things, but things are progressing around here. I still haven't put together a regular workout plan but I'm doing some things to keep from regressing any more. The hours are changing at the gym, so I'm going to give it a week or two to see how things shake out and then firm up my weekly routine. Definitely want to do a few long distance rides on the bike this year. However, I'll never be like this babe:

Eileen Sheridan, who just passed away about a week ago at the ripe old age of 99. The Daily Time Waster had this photo and a short bio with some of her accomplishments. Absolutely incredible athlete. I would urge you to follow the link and then type in her name in the search box or scroll back a few days and read it. Afterwards, you can ask yourself why you haven't done more with your life. I've done quite a bit in my 72 years, but I couldn't carry this gal's lunch bucket. Rest in peace, Ms. Sheridan. I'm sure you were an inspiration to many young women back in the fifties, and as I understand it, she still holds a few records some sixty years on.

Sunday, February 19, 2023

More Manifold

I did a little more on the jitney manifold again yesterday. I spent some time more time cleaning the welds up and then drilled holes in a piece of angle that will allow me to clamp it down on the milling table at the proper angle to take a skin cut across the adaptor mounting surface. The angle isn't strong enough to support all the weight hanging off the two studs, so I'll need to put something under the bottom of the two middle runners when I clamp it to the table.

I'm going to counterbore the mounting holes for the adaptor plate while the vise is clamped to the table, then clamp the manifold down, dress the adaptor mounting surface, bolt the adaptor plate on, drill and tap the carb mounting holes, and then bore the holes for the venturis. Still a bit of work to be done, but I'm closing in on it.

More time at the gym again today - I'm hoping all this time invested is going to pay off when they get in the ring. My old buddy Kevin has expressed some interest in the 50 mile Challenge. Might be partnering up with him again like the old days. Roosevelt's 50 mile was to be completed in the course of 3 days, 20 hours total. JFK's was 50 miles in 20 hours. I did a marathon years ago in a little under 5 hours. That's half the distance of the 50 miles in a 1/4 of the time. Should be able to do the 50 miles in under 20 as long as I train. And if I can do it, so can Kevin.

Saturday, February 18, 2023

Snow, Soup, Flowers & Hiking

Cold yesterday with a little snow cover. We haven't had all that much snow this winter, which is alright with me. It hasn't been all that cold, either. We've had a couple of cold snaps, but overall, it's been fairly mild. However, since it never got above freezing yesterday, I stayed in the house all day except for one trip out to check on the chickens, get the mail and bring in some more firewood.

Since it was cold, good day for making soup. I get a bunch of odd ball veggies from the CSA and soup seems to be the best plan for the root veggies, at least as far as a guy like me with a limited skill set when it comes to cooking. I'm pretty handy with a frying pan for some cowboy/camp cooking, but not much good at anything else that doesn't come out of a can or a box mix.

While my cooking might not be the greatest, I have been able to keep my orchid alive for a decade or so. The little darling's getting ready to flower again. I use to have several orchids and African Violets. I bought some violet seeds and potting soil and was going to try and raise some from seed but I misplaced the seed. I finally located it not too long ago, so I'm going to give it a go pretty soon.

It's supposed to get up into the forties today, so I'm planning on doing some work in the shop. Might get a couple of miles in on the push bike as well. I'm working on the fitness plan for the summer. A few bike rides and a few 5K race walks like my usual summers, and I'd like to tackle the 50 mile challenge before I get any older. If you take the link, you'll get the lowdown on the challenge and what JFK had to say about the importance of vig-ah in your life. Even if you have no interest in walking/hiking 50 miles in 20 hours, it's worth reading what a few of our presidents had to say about the importance of the citizens being in good physical shape. I'll need a buddy to hike along with me to keep the Missus happy. Finding someone else willing to take up the challenge might be tougher than actually doing the hike. Surly's been doing some hiking and my running buddy might be talked into it. Have to put out some feelers.

The grandson's 18th birthday today. Happy Birthday, Malcolm!

Friday, February 17, 2023

Bike Jersey

I took the Missus for her after surgery eye check yesterday. Everything checked out hunky-dory. Checked the mailbox on the way home and my new bike jersey had arrived from New Zealand. Since I've lost some weight, I wasn't sure if I should get an extra-large or a large. Good thing I ordered the XL. It's a snug fit as a bike jersey should be, but I'll look like smart money if I lose another five pounds and do some exercises to tighten up my belly. The color rendition in the photo isn't the best due to the lighting in the bedroom. The BSA logos and the one stripe around the neck are actually yellow. Time to start working out on the trainer.

I did just a wee bit on the manifold yesterday. I went out to the shop mainly to get an idea as to what my setup on the mill should be to get the carb surface faced off. I did grind the braze welds a bit and removed some of the rough stuff on the casting along the parting line. Still not sure what the best approach is for clamping the manifold to the mill table, but I'll get it sorted. Maybe not today, it's supposed to be cold again.

Thursday, February 16, 2023

Brazing

I brazed up the spacers on the jitney manifold Tuesday. Took me a little time - seems like a lot of brass in there but I only used 1-1/2 rods for everything. I use bare rods when brazing, rather than the coated rods that are more commonly available. When using the bare rods, the flux is added to the joint by heating the end of the rod and dipping it in the can of flux, adding as much or as little as the job requires. I've had the can of flux in the photo for years. It's an Airco brand and I haven't seen anything from that outfit for a long time. The can is still about 1/4 full, which means it'll probably be a lifetime supply at this point in the game. It's rare that I braze anything any more, but it was a good choice to join the steel spacers to the cast iron manifold. Not recommended for exhaust manifolds, however, since they get up to the melting point of the brass during use.

I took the Missus for her cataract surgery on eye number one yesterday. Taking her for her check-up today. Next week the same thing again. Not conducive to shop work, but when it comes to priorities, this trumps most everything else. Cataract surgery is nothing short of amazing. The sky becomes blue again and I only need glasses for close-up work.

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Nuttin' But Music

One of my favorite jazz/blues tunes. This one is a little different than many of the versions, but I like the piano work a lot.

I've got this CD and it's a dandy. This cut has Madeleine Peyroux on the vocals which is reason enough to listen to it.

Jack Teagarden's version of Stars Fell on Alabama. Easy listening, for sure.

A couple from Leon Redbone. I saw him live a couple of times. Glad I did. The last number is one my Pop and my uncles use to play at the family reunions many years ago. Pop use to play it pretty regular at the house as well. I should probably play it myself every day for the rest of my life.

Blue skies up above

Everyone's in love

Up the lazy river

How happy we will be

Up the lazy river with me

This one too. Or maybe go with Wet Willie:

Regardless of your choice, just keep on smilin'.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Wash Day

Monday's wash day around the shack, along with a few other domestic chores. I did get out in the shop later in the day.

I finished the spacers for the other two corners of the carb adaptor plate. I measured the angle difference between the top mounting surface and the lower part of the manifold accurately using my cheap digital level. Made the job pretty easy - read the bottom, zeroed out the level, read the top angle. Put the pieces on the mill, cut the angle, and then trimmed the threaded end until they slipped into place. I think I'll use the TIG with the silicon bronze rod to tack them in place and then torch braze them. There's a gap along the long edge on the back side on both of them - nice place to put in a decent fillet weld. Should look good and be hell for strong. While I'm brazing, I'll fill in the original mounting holes at the same time. I'll get the manifold on the mill later on and take a skin cut across the top surface to make sure I have a nice flat surface under the adaptor plate.

I still need to counterbore the bolt holes. After that I can get it leveled up on the mill and drill the carb mounting holes square with the adaptor plate and the bores for the venturis at a 20-degree angle.

Monday, February 13, 2023

Race Cars

Cuzzin Ricky arranged a tour of Gary Bridge & Iron for us yesterday morning. The owner is a guy who can, quite literally, do just damn near anything and everything. I had him spline some axles for a drag car that I put a back half in years ago. He also was a building inspector and gave my construction class at Purdue a tour of a commercial building that was going up at the time. The shop does structural steel fabrication and all kinds of machine work. Now days I think he concentrates primarily on the restoration of old race cars, especially the repair of Offenhauser engines.

He was kind enough to show us his collection of cars and give us the history of them. Great morning for Rick and I - breakfast, race cars, beautiful weather - tough to beat.

A few shots of his inventory. He's probably got about a dozen cars altogether. The top photo is the Ford Twin Cam motor - later known as the Foyt motor. The middle photo is an early Offy powered car that won the Pikes Peak race three times. Bottom photo also is Offy powered but has the engine leaned over on its side for a lower profile. There's more to see at the link above.

I got out later in the day and walked four miles. Time to start getting back in the routine. I'm going to start looking for some 5K events and some bike rides. Cuzzin Ricky and I discussed some travel plans while we were on the road. Hard to come up with any firm dates until I see what's what with the boxing schedule, however. I do want to make another trip out west to see my brother, one east to catch a couple of races and see my other brother, and, of course, get to Hawaii so I'll have finished my quest to see all 50 states. Hoping for a good year before the world self destructs.

Sunday, February 12, 2023

Trailer & Manifold.

Pretty nice day yesterday - sunny, calm, temps in the low to mid-forties - so I decided to finish installing the sides on the trailer project. The only thing left is to install the aluminum angle that caps off the top of the plywood. That should be easy enough to do since I've already got the pieces cut and drilled. I might paint the plywood if I get real ambitious. It's an exterior grade of plywood, but it will probably last longer with some paint on it, plus, it will look nicer with a complementary color of green on it.

After bolting the sides on the trailer, I did a little bit on the jitney manifold. I TIG welded the spacers onto the manifold with silicon bronze rod. I've only used that a couple of times before, but I figured it would be a good process for the job. I ran a couple of warm-up beads on a piece of scrap to get my machine settings right, polished up the spacers and the manifold and went to work. I forgot to clean the oil out of the threads inside the spacers which contaminated the weld on the first one I did. And then I made it worse by trying to weld over my initial weld. Like most always - didn't get better, just got bigger. The second one came out looking like it should, however.

I need to plug the threaded holes in the manifold that were the original mounting holes for the stock carburetor. The new carb is a dual throat and the holes will overlap the threaded holes just a tad. I also need to do a bit of welding and machine work for the other two spacers/stand-offs for the adaptor plate. I've narrowed it down to two different ways of doing it, so it'll be one or the other next time I decide to work on it.

Weather looks to be warm this coming week. I need to capitalize on that. The Missus gets the first of her cataracts taken care of this week, so I'll be helping her out a bit. Should be able to get some more shop work done just the same.

Saturday, February 11, 2023

Rake Repair

Good day yesterday - nothing much exciting, but I kept moving most of the day. I headed north in the morning, stopped in at the college for a visit, went to Menards for some supplies, hit Aldi for grub and headed back home. After lunch I went to work on cleaning up the spot for my kitchen garden, raking all the dead stuff up and resetting the row of bricks making up the border. In the process, I managed to pull the rake apart, so after sticking it back together, I took it out to the shop for a proper repair. I don't know how old the rake is, but it might be the first one I bought years ago. That would make it at least 45 years old. Definitely got my money's worth there. If I had pulled it apart before I went to Menards, I might have been tempted to buy a new one.

While at the college, I heard that the First Lady will be making an appearance there next week. That should be interesting. I know she's an educator, but I wonder how a midwestern community college was selected for a visit. It seems also security would be tough to accomplish. I'll have to check back with my former colleagues after the visit and see how things went.

Cuzzin Ricky and I have a special tour lined up for tomorrow. Look for a report on Monday.

Have a good weekend everyone.

Thursday, February 9, 2023

Rubber Band Man

Not much going on in the shop. I've been working on putting tax records together, as well as getting rid of some of the old ones. It was pretty calm yesterday, so I fired up the burn barrel and got rid of about 15 years' worth of old receipts. I'm also working on downsizing some of the other stuff we no longer need to be tripping over.

My exercise band ripped on one side where it fastens to the handle. There's normally something like a marble stuffed into the tube to keep it from pulling through the handle. I thought I might be able to stick a marble back in it but I quickly gave up on that idea. No way that was going to work. Instead I used a barbed hose fitting. I put a flat washer on the fitting, slipped it into the tubing and then used some safety wire to clamp it. Seems like it's a good fix. If not, I'll be the first to know.

Since I'm going to be spending a lot of time with the boxing gym, I need to get my taxes done and finish some more things that need to be done around the shack. It's going to be a busy spring, but the days are getting longer and warmer. Looking forward to getting outside and being able to work in the shop with the big doors open.

Monday, February 6, 2023

"Better since I gave up hope"

Monte Walsh was on TV last night. Even though I've seen it a half dozen times, I watched it again. I'm a big fan of Tom Selleck, a big fan of cowboy movies, and it's got one of my all-time favorite movie lines. I like to think I could have made it as a cowboy but as the movie made plain, that line of work dried up a long time ago. Still plenty of work for welders, though.

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We had a session at the gym yesterday for the boxers training for this years Gloves. We went over a few specific things we had observed on Saturday as well as a review of a couple of things we worked on previously. The boys are making good progress with their skill development, but still need to work on their overall conditioning.

Looks like there might be a trip to Detroit in my future working the corner for one of our guys in the Olympic Trials event. The details are still being worked out, but about 90% sure.

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I saw this at Coyote Prime:

"A sad fact, of course, about adult life is that you see the very things you'll never adapt to coming toward you on the horizon. You see them as the problems they are, you worry like hell about them, you make provisions, take precautions, fashion adjustments; you tell yourself you'll have to change your way of doing things. Only you don't. You can't. Somehow it's already too late. And maybe it's even worse than that: maybe the thing you see coming from far away is not the real thing, the thing that scares you, but its aftermath. And what you've feared will happen has already taken place. This is similar in spirit to the realization that all the great new advances of medical science will have no benefit for us at all, though we cheer them on, hope a vaccine might be ready in time, think things could still get better. Only it's too late there too. And in that very way our life gets over before we know it. We miss it. And like the poet said: The ways we miss our lives are life."

Richard Ford

One of those things you start to think about when you get to be my age. I've got a couple of things I still would like to do but old age is entering into the decision-making process. It didn't help that I lost a couple of good retirement years due to the cooties. But that's over and there's a lot of people who really suffered with that deal, my case being nothing more than an inconvenience by comparison. So I'm too old to start cowboying, but hoping I've still got plenty of good years left - got a lot of things still left on the list.

Sunday, February 5, 2023

Fingertips Part II

We took a few guys to Indy yesterday for a sparring session. We had an issue with the original vehicle and had to swap it out for another one. Everything worked out OK, but when we pulled off the highway it was only about 18 degrees and the wind was blowing pretty good. Out of the six of us, I was the only one who even had a coat, everyone else just had sweatshirts on. The fact that I'm 30 years older than the next oldest person in the group, and old enough to be the grandfather of the rest of them might have something to do with it. The young-uns have way too much faith in the current automobiles. My generation has dealt with the foibles of autos and would never think of leaving home without having warm clothes. It makes you wonder what's going to happen to these people if they're not even prepared to take a ride down the interstate when the temperatures are below freezing.

The sparring session went well. Two of the guys were there for the last session and both of them looked much improved. The other guy looked like he was trying to sleepwalk through it. He looked really slow and was getting hit with jabs that should have been picked off easily. He hasn't been in the gym for a while. He's been working out, so he's in decent shape, but I think he was boxing like he's been hitting the heavy bag. Putting the work in but not anywhere close to actual fighting speed. Myself and the other coach picked up on a few things to work on with all of them, so we should see some improvement in the future.

Cooley High was on TCM last night. I hadn't seen that one in a long time. The film is set in 1964 Chicago. I started my teaching career in 1976 in East Chicago. Washington High School and the student population where I worked had a lot in common with the movie. Guys smoking weed in the restroom, lots of fun stuff and too much tragedy. A young man from my first year of teaching got a job at the steel mill and got his head crushed by a crane block his first summer out of school. Rough town but if you treated the students with respect, they would reciprocate in kind. I really enjoyed working there. Lot of good people, both students and faculty.

The movie had a really good soundtrack, by the way, including Little Stevie Wonder's Fingertips.

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Furnace Failure

The photo is of Ruth Orkin - quite the lady. She rode her bicycle solo from LA to NYC in 1939. Later became a photographer of note. Her bio is here. Heard about her from here.

A friend sent me a link to the Glen Beck show about the vulnerability of the electric grid. Rather timely since I just got done replacing the thermocouple on the furnace, while the outside temperature was only 10 degrees. If I was going to try and shut down the country and do maximum damage, now would be the time. I could get along quite easily without the grid spring, summer and fall, but winter? A week or so of the current temperatures would become deadly right quick. Depending on the amount of fuel in the propane tank, I could probably make a week before I started shivering but not much beyond that. Don't know what else I can reasonably do to prepare beyond what I've already done. Hopefully I'll never have to find out.

Friday, February 3, 2023

Spacers

I worked in the shop yesterday making the spacers for the carb adaptor. Don't know how I missed it but the carb mounting surface is cut at a taper compared to the bottom. I knew I was going to have to taper something but this changes my approach a bit. I studied things a bit before making the spacers and I think I've got the details worked out but it'll be a few days before I get back out there.

It's supposed to be cold today - temps back down into the teens. Tomorrow it's supposed to warm back up again to around the freezing mark like it was yesterday but I've got boxing stuff on tap. Same kind of temp on Sunday but I might have some more boxing stuff, depending on what my partner decides. Next week they're calling for the forties, so I'll be back at it.

I've been feeding wood into the new fireplace insert. It puts out a lot of heat but it blows towards the thermostat, keeping the furnace from kicking on. While that's good for the fuel savings, it's not so good for keeping the back of the house warm. The only real cold place is the bedroom. We've got new windows ordered for that room which should help. The insert has a draft control lever that I've about mastered. Open it wide open to light the fire, then throttle it back to keep a nice gentle burn going without wasting wood. Nice and comfortable camping out in the recliner on these cold winter nights.

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

Pooh On The Weather

Poo on this cold. It was 3 degrees yesterday morning at 6:30. It did get up to close to 20 later in the day. Fortunately, it was sunny and mostly calm. I was out for a while - went to the store, walked the dog and brought wood in. Didn't even open the door to the shop, though.

I decided to cook myself some grub suitable for single digits temps. Vegan chili with cornbread baked on top. The recipe called for TVP (textured vegetable protein). I've never used that stuff but I doctored up the recipe with some mushrooms and a couple of other things. Tasty and good for you. I've been working on getting the diet back on track. Seems to be working. The weight's under 170 now. Not by much, but it's still a win. I'm looking for 165 - should make it if I stay on the program and keep working out.

I was at the gym Saturday, Sunday and Monday - not my normal schedule by any means. In fact, my normal schedule is Monday only, but now we're doing a Sunday workout for the guys getting ready for the Gloves. I need to get something else going in the middle of the week as well.

I need to get myself in shape so I'll look good in my new jersey I ordered yesterday. I was on the exercise bike at the gym Monday, planning on getting on the trainer down the basement a couple of days a week now. Times are hard now, going to be a lot harder this year from what I've been reading. We all need to be getting in shape for when the bottom drops out.

It's supposed to be warmer today and tomorrow, get cold again Friday but be back in the forties next week. I'm going to try and get the spacers for the manifold done today or tomorrow. Every day a little something.