Uncle Charles

 Uncle Charles passed on October 17th 2022 after a long decline. He had made arrangements to be cremated and then interred with his wife Barbara at the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo. After a simple ceremony, his ashes were laid to rest.

David's Accord fix

 

The crankcase breather tube and pvc valve were replaced today. A CEL came on and the local AutoZone scanned it and used their computer to diagnose it as a problem with the crankcase breather hose but they didn't have the part. After a little YouTube search, I saw this part and was able to get one through O'Reilly's and decided to replace the pvc valve at the same time.

Update 11/12/22: The CEL hasn't come on again. Perhaps I found the right thing to fix.

Walker Ollis Presley

 After a battle with cancer, Dad passed on May 29th 1984. He was 2 months short of 53 years old. I realize now how young he was. He expressed regret that he wouldn't be around to see his Granddaughter's many "firsts". Recently we have learned of a class action lawsuit concerning contaminated water at Camp Le Jeune where he did basic training and then worked as a cook. The law group details various kinds of cancer that are associated with the case. We are exploring options with it.

Mending fence

 We started our visit with a little repair work. The garage door opener had failed due to a nylon gear that had shredded. I ordered a replacement and should have it fixed by next visit. Then I replaced the light over the washer. It had been going on and off for some time. So I got another 2 bulb light and hung it instead. Those little metal boxes have lots of sharp edges and I cut my finger causing it to bleed quite a bit. But it is replaced and working now. Next I worked on an area of fencing. It has been my plan to mend the fences on the farm. It looks to be a rather large job. I got started by removing one of the big posts. Then while hammering in another steel post, I somehow had the striking device pivot and fall in such a way it pushed my hand into its path such that it came down on my thumb splitting it open. That hurt and evoked a stream of swear words. I had to take some time out and apply ice but was eventually able to return and finish that portion of the fence. The sore thumb certainly slowed down things. At this pace it may take a long time to finish the repairs but I've got forever.

Wheel reinvention

So I got Bev a second Swytch kit partly because the old one was pre-covid and would need replacement possibly given the age of the battery. A new battery wouldn't have the discount so I could buy another kit for about the same cost. But rather than purchase the same wheel size, I ordered the 700c kit. Then for a birthday present, I got her a 29er mountain bike. So I put that new wheel into service and determined to re-build the old hub as a 700c. 

My first order for spokes I roughly measured the spokes on the new wheel and came up with a 260mm length. I failed to appreciate the nuance of wheel building and discovered they wouldn't work because they were between the two sizes I would need to single cross and two cross wheels. In fact, there are radial, single, double, triple and four cross builds. Who knew! So after that failure, I used an online utility to determine the effective rim diameter, ERD. and used a spoke length calculator to determine what spokes it needed. The required length came out to 266mm. But they were not to be found cheap. I wound up ordering from a wheel building specialist shop and they cost a lot more than the Chinese ones I first ordered. I proceeded to build the wheel using the 2 cross method and found that those wouldn't work either. I didn't take into consideration that the hub rim was a lot wider so the spokes that came from the middle were effectively too long. So I had to disassemble the wheel again. This would be the third time. So I began to reassemble again using the shorter 260 mm spokes I had first ordered for the inside spokes and used the 266 mm for the outside spokes. Surprisingly, it worked! So once I had all the spokes laced and nipples applied, I began the involved process of truing the wheel. I got it straight and mounted the tire and installed it on the bike and gave it a test ride. No problems. So that will be left alone for a while to allow for stretch. Then perhaps have a final adjustment. SO now I have enough spokes to build a second wheel should I need to. This whole project took a while due to the time required for the spokes to arrive from their respective sources. The unfortunate times I built the wheel up only to find a problem was frustrating, but all in all, it took a lot less time than repairing the rototiller. Yay!
 

Repairing the Kirby

 David had diagnosed the problem with the Kirby G4 vacuum and had me order the parts. We put in the new impeller and after a little tweaking, it works again. The farm required a little mowing but that time is quickly coming to a close. I got the areas taken care of pretty quickly and decided to pull up a portion of fence that had interfered with mowing. I have made a tentative plan to start working on the rest of the fencing by doing a small section each visit until I get the area enclosed. Perhaps some time next year I can introduce some cows to help with the grass.