Messages

Phil: Hope you are doing well.


Been windy as could be here. Sunday was brutal , there was  snow in northern Arizona.. This storm front likely is headed east?

Received my report on F350 oil sample from Blackstone Labs..  All the numbers were good.  Oil only had 2450 miles on it from near 1 year ago.  We did not travel in the RV much last year. We did put 5200 miles on the daily driver Honda Civic car. 

 

Washed my F350 today. I use the Harbor Freight foaming bottle on a water hose. With Purple Power Wash n Wax liquid.. With a long handled  brush that is 10 inches wide.

I Started to wax the truck. Keep in mind it is ALL white. 4x4 (tall) , crew cab , long bed.  After an hour my eyes were really tired to looking at the white paint.  I only got the cab , hood , front fenders waxed.  I use a Meguires marine wax. It is tough stuff. Easy on , a bit of a work out to wipe off.

I am up to 3 miles a day on the bicycle. I ride 2 times a day.  About 1.5 miles per ride. I am slowly getting my wind back.  Never thought I would be riding a bicycle again at 70 yrs old.  My back side is still not too fond of the seat on the bike. I may try another seat.

Yeah , the trigger finger deal is no fun! I had that about 10 yrs ago on my index finger , likely from air tool use for decades?  After treatment , I used my bird finger for the impact gun for a few years.

Then, a couple years later ...  I developed a cyst at the base of the same bird finger.  Turned out the middle knuckle was developing excess fluid that traveled to the finger base and formed a cyst. Drained the cyst, then  more fun injections.  Cyst never returned

 

Changed the engine oil and filter on the daily driver Honda Civic car. I do this at 5k miles or near.  I also drop the transmission oil at the same time, 2.6 quarts of DW-1 Honda fluid for the 5 speed auto.

Its been 2 yrs since I changed the cabin filter and engine air filter.  About 15k miles.. I may change them again?

My low back did well on the car work, not the large pains I had last week . Crawling under the car a few times.  I have wheel blocks I built to drive the car onto. It raises the car about 5 inches.

I am up to 1.6 miles at a time on the bicycle rides in the morning and evening. This old phart gets a little tired near the end. LOL I changed the handle bar.  Waaaay better. I had to change brake cables from my donor bike to my rider bike for longer cables.  I will change the seat back to the one that came on the bike. I thought the different design seat would fit my *** better. It does not.

Here at the age qualified RV park , I fit in well with old pharts on bicycles. LOL  People wave, thumbs up.

.... 

I needed a cordless grass string trimmer. After looking. I bought this Harbor Freight Bauer brand unit. I then bought an adapter for Milwaukee M18 battery to the Bauer battery  since I have several Milwaukee batterys.  It was 50 dollars plus the gov taxes for the "tool only" String trimmer...

The adapter I bought on Amazon. It works. 18 dollars plus taxes.. Light duty plastic.  Will see what the long term durability of this adapter is.

This trimmer is light duty. The handle stem on it will extend or retract which is helpful for sticking it in the trunk of the car.  We have used this to trim grass on our parents graves.

If y'all look at the photos. One shows the handle extended. other photo shows the handle in the short position.

We been looking for a bicycle for me...   A visit to GoodWill store near us.  Found this mountain bike style unit. 24 speeds. Lots of aluminum. Tires near new. Speedometer on it... $48.00 out the door.

Photo is "as is" we bought it.

Already changed the pedals and seat from another bike I got for nuttin.  Raised and rearward handlebars are on order. That lean forward - down position bars  do not work for me.

Been windy as "*****" here for 3 days.  Rain is falling at the moment. Thunder.

 

Street prices on regular have run $4.40 a gallon for a near 10 days...  Came down to $4.30 a gallon at a few stations.

Diesel dropped to 4 dollars a gallon. My F350 is just over half tank still (48 gal tank)

The "clubs" are at $3.92  a gallon for regular  for now.

Went to a local park on this tuesday.  We BBQ a few burgers for lunch.  Wife rode her bicycle around to get her comfortable on a bike again. No incidents happened. It was a relaxing time there.

THis old Ford rolled thru the parking lot, never parked.  It was a long distance for the photo, sorry about the quality.

Geeez , you old guys?    I've been dealing with my low back left side for 2 weeks.  All my usual fixes , tricks , stretching, etc has failed to help me much. Between my stenosis and defects in my L1 thru L5 , the back pain is life for me. Some days it is worse , like it has been lately

Visit to the new doctor PCP one...  I hear those words we luv: "At your age" ,,,, soon I am having this test, that test , the CT scan of my heart.

With that said , my wife is losing her middle 75 yr old sister to dementia. That started a year ago with couple of black outs while driving. No accidents... some how she stepped on the brake as she blacked out.  There have been tests, re-test... drivers license suspension by the doctor. She has fade out episodes like a seizure , multiple times a day, then the  confusion, memory loss, reactive anger at higher levels.. THE situation drains my wife and the oldest sister  a bit. We are not new to dementia. Next month there is a meeting with the neurologist for results of recent tests and the results of a  2 day long brain scan on a recorder.

Montana allowed lane splitting a couple of years ago.  Last week I was sitting at a lite in the left lane and it turned green.  Before I could even move a Harley came from 2 cars behind and blew by me. Wasn't ready for him.

A year (?) ago , Arizona put in place a law of : " Lane Filtering" for motorcycles.  This Only applies to street riding, it is different from "Lane Splitting".  Lane Filtering is used in street  traffic at traffic lights with traffic stopped or moving slowly.  Motorcycles are allowed to "filter" between vehicles to the front of the traffic.

This law has caused a large amount of confusion with motorcycle riders and also people in a regular vehicle that have never seen this action. Many riders now split lanes everywhere, which is not what the new AZ law is.

Photo of the quadcycle my friend modified... Tool box has the 4 12volt batteries for 48 volt feed to the system..

These lithium batteries are removed on a time basis from hospital equipment with plenty of useful life remains in them.

A friend bought this quadracycle last year off Craigs List for $500.00. The thing looks new , never used.

Its made in USA , I think the southeast area?  The company offers a 48 volt electric conversion , so he bought that. He bought some used Lifepo4 lithium batteries that are from hospital equipment. Put the batteries in a metal tool box on the front of the quadcycle. The Common metal tool box flip open top style that has been around for 100 years. He says the thing is peppy with electric. Has different power levels, little dash display, etc

He took the yellow box off the back and put a small wire cage there to carry their 2 dogs in.  Dogs are Cheeewinnie mix?

Watched some of the Barrett Jackson auction on saturday... As usual , some of the prices paid is a bit shocking.

Installed new tire and tube on the bicycle... I have been riding the bike a bit. Sure tells a person how far out of shape you are.

Its been hot here still. Low to mid 90s.  A/C has been on in this place.

Talked to our friend about her homeless brother... He turned 61 a few weeks ago.  Lives - works in a homeless shelter now. Only thing he owned was a Ford truck.  Had to sell the truck to qualify for the homeless shelter program. Her husband told me " The brother will screw this shelter living up and be out on the street again in 90 days"... It's just sad, yet the guy did this to himself for decades.

I've been informed by my wife: we are taking the bicycle to a park for her to have some open space to ride and relearn riding.

And: the old front tire developed dementia today. It will only hold air about 15 minutes now. A new tire with tube was in the works anyway.

Installed a rack on the back. One of this basic universal racks that you must install and remove 3 times to figure out mounting , shim washers, replace the included hardware...  You guys know the routine.

Its been hot here.  Low 90s..