Hey everyone, been a bit.

Don't frequent the forum like I use to, unfortunately. Time just hasn't been on my side - was pulling 20hr days there for a while. I hope everyone has been doing well in my absence, wanted to stop in and make an appearance once again!

 

Good morning guys.

Not bad today, rain most of the day tomorrow (1/2 to 1 inch the man said). Maybe it'll drown all the moles making my yard soft and mushy. We used to have a tomcat that would go out there and dig the yard up trying to get to the moles. You'd see him out there making the dirt fly, then he'd reach one foot/leg as far as he could into the hole and swipe around trying to hook a mole with his claws. For some reason he thought if he couldn't get it with the first leg he had a chance with the second leg and he'd swap and reach back in there with the other leg swiping around. After a bit he'd go dig another hole and try again. That was our killer cat. For a few years (till one of the neighbors killed him with her shotgun) he wiped out the mocking birds, toads, snakes, etc. Even saw him heading across the yard one day with a hummingbird in his mouth. A killing machine. I watched him jump into the air one day, turn over on his back, grab a diving mocking bird out of the air, continue his turn to land on his feet when he hit the ground and then take off across the yard to get under the trailer to enjoy his fresh caught meal.

Wow! Don't know how you do it. I did 14 hours a day most days when I was working and going to college full time. I was in my early to mid 20's though and it was tough but I made it. I can't imagine day after day with so little sleep. Stay safe and strong.

Have a great day guys.

 

Morning Jim, George, (WOW) Charlie, all Virginia and visitors. It HAS been a long time Charlie ! Hope you can get a little slack from all the work hours. What good is it working all those hours getting big bucks if ya can't take the time to spend some of it ?

 

Welcome back, Charlie. Hope you are doing ok. I've wondered about you every time we drive by Staunton.

 

Good evening guys.

Yep, another nice sunny day and decently warm here. More bright sun morning and late afternoon vs. the middle of the day. Got kind of hazy around 11 AM and the bright again a couple hours ago.

Usual dog visits (little altercation over the biscuits none of them like). Duke laid his down and walked off. Bear finally went over and picked up and the proceeded to carry it in his mouth like he was looking for a good place to bury it. Duke figured out Bear had it and jumped up (from his belly rub) and headed over to Bear. One growl and Bear dropped the biscuit even he wasn't eating and then backed away, slowly. Duke picked it up, carried it to the doggy deck and ate it. Like a bunch of kids. Good thing old Dash didn't find it because it would have been gone - or he'd have backed Duke down after the growl. It's embarrassing to see a small 11 or 12 year old dog back that Great Pyrenees down. And kind of funny.

Those pinch clamp pliers worked like a charm getting that first clamp off the top heater hose. I just couldn't get the hose to twist loose. Not enough room and the wrong angle. Spent a bunch of time finding some hoses to order and I'll just have to be careful cutting them off the tubes. Checked several so called BMW parts places on line and only one of them (last one I checked ) had a part they called a heater supply hose. All the others had the heater return hose but no amount of checking different section/areas/systems of the car would bring up a the second hose. No idea what the other 10 or 11 places call that second heater hose but if they do stock it they don't call it a heater hose, a supply hose, a bottom hose, or whatever. Not in the HVAC section or the engine cooling system sections. Pretty frustrating.

Few days from now I'll be back out there cutting those darn hoses loose with the front up on ramps because I'm hoping I can reach the supply hose front end/clamp from under the car instead of having to take the alternator off to get to it from the top.

Have a great evening/rest of the weekend guys.

 

Good morning guys.

Right at freezing right now but the rain is supposed to hold off till around 10 or 11 AM when it's supposed to be warmer. Shouldn't see any problems today or tonight.

Talked to my oldest son yesterday. He said he'd smoked another big chunk of pork beginning Friday. He said the "cut" he'd bought wasn't supposed to be smoked because of the lack of fat it contains. He said he got around that by cutting it almost in half and stuffing bacon in there before tying it up with string (like a beef roast). He said it was very good. So his plans for today are to sit in front of his fireplace, watch the rain outside, the TV inside and enjoy the smoked pork for lunch and supper. Sounds like a good way to spend a rainy day.

Me? Watch TV, watch it rain and eat pizza for lunch (we usually eat breakfast and then one more time around 2 or 3 PM).

Have a great day guys. Hope it's not snowing enough to cause problems for the guys up north of us.

 

Snow coming this afternoon up here.

 

Morning Jim, George, all 'ginia and visitors. No white stuff gonna land in my front yard, Jim. Further north and west of me looks like they'll be getting some tho. I guess NY is way far 'nuff north too. Have fun George. Jim, you may have to visit the dealers parts dept and order that unknown hose from them if all else fails. I swear that when the manufacturer puts hoses on their cars being built they use some kind of adhesive on them.

 

Merry Monday Morning Virginia, Jim, Bud, George, Evan and all the crew.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and Ma Nature was kind.

 

Good morning guys.

Not sure how long, or if, the rain will last this morning. Might get up to around 50 F late today (if I remember the forecast correctly.

Bud, finally found a website that listed both hoses and ordered them. No idea why they don't call them by simple names. You know, upper heater hose/lower heater hose. Or heater hose supply/heater hose return. And show both of them. If those other vendors sold the second hose I never found it and after looking in the HVAC sections I'd look in the engine cooling section, the coolant hose section, etc. I found one that had two hoses they identified as "upper coolant hose" and "lower coolant hose" and was about to jump on them when I realized it was the lines taking transmission fluid to the transmission cooler by the radiator and back to the transmission after it was cooled/heated. I thought those should have been called transmission fluid coolant lines but it's not my website. The more I work on it (hopefully not a lot) the more I'll learn about the way it's set up and how easy/hard it is to replace stuff.

When I put a hose (heater/radiator) on a car/truck I always smear a film of the blue form a gasket on the metal tube. Sure helps get that hose off the next time it has to be pulled. Doesn't take much. Like putting studs in the aluminum manifolds. One of the first things I did with an aluminum manifold was remove the bolts on the carb, screw in the studs and put nuts on the studs. Same for the thermostat housing and the distributor hold down. You know how those steel threads grab/rip out aluminum threads. Oh, I would smear the blue form a gasket on the stud threads before screwing them into the aluminum manifold. No real amount of torque there and it really cut down on that corrosion problem.

Haven't had to mess with a carb. in a long time. Or change the timing on a distributor.

Have a great day guys.

 

Morning Jim, George, all 'ginia and visitors. Ya'll have a great week down there. Looks like the rain has ended here for this day. More coming on Hump Day.

 

Winter Wonderland here in NY. Sure is pretty.

 

Good evening guys.

Got sunny early and then gradually got cloudy again. Sort of backwards to the forecast, but it's too late to change it now. Around 51 F and sunny but the wind was cold and gradually got colder as the sun time dropped.

About time to go out to visit the boys again here in a bit.

George, one of the prettiest sights I ever saw in the winter was on an early morning ride after a fresh 6 or 8 inches of snow fell the night before. I got to a big curve in the road that went from the mountain top down to the creek a few miles away and pulled the 3 wheeler over to the edge to look at the sun glinting off all the snow stuck to the limbs in the part of the valley I could see. I'd stopped just above a stand of Beech trees below the road and about the time I shut the engine down a flock of turkeys jumped and headed for the sky. Seems like turkeys manage to hit most of the limbs between them and the open sky and they were knocking the snow off the limbs all throughout that Beech stand. Making all kinds of noise, going every which direction, both ways around the sides of the hill and down the side of the mountain, too. The sun was glinting off all the falling snow they knocked loose and I just sat there and soaked it in. After a bit the momma birds started calling for the younger ones trying to get the flock back together and I just sat there watching some fly back in and some walking through the underbrush . After a bit I kicked it over and headed on down to the creek a few miles away. That sticks with me like it was a few days ago and has for the last 40 years.

Have a great evening guys.

 

Good morning guys.

Right at freezing this morning. Supposed to be sunny and a bit warmer than yesterday.

Nice enough, supposed to be, to get some limb work done or get the inside of the truck cleaned up. Over the years we've had tons of gravel dropped and spread on the driveway and somehow we still get sand in the cars/trucks. Not like I offroad with it and constantly track mud inside. I should be used to it by now. A few minutes with the shop vac and the floor/mats will look great.

Gonna try to talk my wife into left over pizza for lunch today and save the left over soup for tomorrow when it's supposed to be raining again. Soup's always good for rainy cold days.

Have a great day guys.

 

Morning Jim, George, all 'ginia and visitors. Nice day today but one more day of rain coming tomorrow. Then it looks like we are done with rain for a week. At least until they change their forecast.