Trials And Tribulations Of The Guppy

Before leaving I was able to fix a couple of things. I replaced the black water holding tank because the old one melted on our way home last Spring. I also changed the filter in the transmission. The transmission was leaking and I figured it was the pan gasket. A new gasket comes with the filter and the kit was only 8 bucks. Besides at 75K I figured it was due for a filter change. The old filter wasn't bad, a little bit of stuff in the screen, but not enough to be a problem. I straightened out the pan and flattened out the bolt holes, that fixed the leak. It had leaked over 3 quarts of fluid while parked over the summer. There were other things I wanted to do, but finances and time were an issue.

While we were on the road we lost one of the roof vent covers. We were cruising on the interstate and I noticed it looked like the roof vent was open looking at the shadow of The Guppy. The Old Lady got up and tried to close it. The mechanism was closed but the cover was up. After a while it left the vehicle. As it wasn't raining, I figured it would be all right until we got to The Kid's place and I could get another vent cover from a RV dealer. When we got to The Kid's place it was raining, so I covered the opening with some plastic and got a new cover the next day.

I wanted to replace the charger that runs the 12v lights and stuff and charges the RV battery, but that was one of the things that got put on hold. Sometime after we get home I'll replace the charger. It puts out too high a voltage (about 17v) and won't shut down or go into float mode. It is burning out the lights and in order to play the radio I installed last year, we have to turn on a couple of lights. If I kill the AC power, the radio plays fine without any lights on or anything else drawing 12v power.

Last week when the propane tank ran dry the water heater was on and it would ignite and run for only a short time and stop. Then it would cycle and burn again for less than a minute. I checked the tank and the guage was above the halfway mark, but when I tried to light a burner on the stove, there was no gas. I hooked up a 20lb tank and tried the water heater again with the same results. I kept trying the water heater several times over the next few days and finally it is working again. The only thing I can think of is there is some water in propane and maybe some got into the nozzle on the water heater burner and it took numerous times of lighting the burner before it was gone. For awhile I thought we'd have to replace the control valve for the water heater.

Gas mileage still sucks. I'm going to replace the fuel filter before we head home and see if that'll help. I took the K&N air filter (it's the same size) from my pickup and put it in The Guppy thinking that might improve the mileage, but it didn't help, still sucks.

It's Not Junk If You Eventually Can Use It

The Old Lady is always giving me shit about hanging on to junk. Several years ago when a coffeepot died, I pulled some of the parts out before pitching the coffeepot. I kept the heating element and the cord and switch. This morning the current coffeepot didn't work. When the power button was pushed a little light came on, but nothing happened. The Old Lady dug out her French press and made coffee with it. Before supper I took the coffeepot into my shop and took a look at it. I ran a continuity check on the heating element and it checked out. Then I dug out the coffeepot parts that I had saved.

 Not sure what this is, but it was attached to a metal plate attached to the heating element. When I ohmed it, I got nothing. When I checked the one in the parts bag, it had continuity. So I pulled this one out and with some modification because the other one was slightly different in size, I got it working. I plugged it in and checked to see if it would heat up. When it did, I unplugged it and brought it back to the house, put water in it and turned it on. It worked like it usually does, not very fast, but all the water ran thru and was hot in the pot.

Another view of the part.

Tomorrow morning will be the real test to see if it works. I am confident it will, the only question is how long will it last.

Too Fucking Many Mondays

Since I retired I've been saying that every day is Saturday. Lately there have been too fucking many Mondays including yesterday which was a Saturday!! The Old Lady volunteered me to work on the siding project at the museum. When it was first mentioned it would just be me and another guy taking turns "supervising" a couple of young guys that would do the work. Well it didn't go according to that plan. I've been the one being there everyday that we work (the other guy was there one day and hasn't felt well enough to be there more. He has a bad back and can't be on his feet for any length of time.) I've been doing way more than supervising and because I've been doing some of the actual work, I've missed a lot of the mistakes that were made. Some I have caught and corrected, but there were just too many. (I've reached the point where I just say "Fuck It", let's get this shit done!!) Now we are nailing the fake log siding on and having to do whatever to try and make that "sow's ear look like a silk purse"??

Every day that I have to be there to work on this project is like a Fucking Monday. I've been used to a certain routine which did not include getting dressed in the morning and leaving the house. Most days I don't leave the house till after lunch, but the days we work we have started at the crack of 9am!!

Because this project has been eating so much of my time I haven't got a lot of my projects done, like getting The Guppy ready to hit the road later this month. I haven't even got half of my winter's firewood made yet. My plowtruck needs some work, but as it has been sitting yellow jackets built a nest in the passenger side door. I've gone thru several cans of hornet spray and they are still alive and buzzing around. It's hard to get the spray in the right place to kill the nest when all there is is a couple of small holes in the door that they go into the door thru.

To top it off my truck has been giving me trouble. The Old Lady says it doesn't like me anymore. At times it won't start. I can hear the fuel pump running, but it won't fire. Last week I used it to take my mitersaw on a stand down to cut the siding. Then we put brush in the back of the truck to bring home to put on a brushpile. It sat there for half a week because it wouldn't start, then on Friday it half-ass started and died several times. Finally it started and ran so I decided to drive it home even tho there was the possibility that it would die and leave me stranded on the side of the road. It did get me home and now it won't leave again until I figure out what the problem is.

Be The First On Your Block To Shove Donald Trump Up Your Ass

 Petitions have been circulated, protests have been staged, jokes have been told. But the single best response to the Donald’s “immigration reform” comments may be this one, from artist Fernando Sosa.

The “Donald Trump Plug” (h/t Dangerous Minds) is a 3D model “printed in full color sandstone,” made of “fully colored material with a coarse finish and a delicate feel,” and yes, it allows you to stick Mr. Trump where the sun don’t shine.

Found this at something called Flavorwire.

As Good A Reason As Any

Here's A Thought

Can we have a holiday without people trying to suck up to the troops and veterans????????

Yesterday there were all kinds of people mouthing platitudes about thanking those that protect our freedoms. Fourth of July should be about celebrating our independence from Britain, not that there weren't any military involved in the war, but the Fourth is about signing the Declaration of Independence. No fucking shots were fired during that signing!!!!!!

There's a day for honoring the troops and veterans, it's called Veterans day. Not Memorial Day, that's for honoring those that died, whether in war or just a family member. Not the Fourth, that's about independence. I must have missed it, but I'm willing to bet someone, somewhere was talking about honoring those that protect our freedoms on Mothers Day!!!???

As a veteran I'm glad veterans are getting some recognition, but it has gotten to point where people are just going through the motions and it has become meaningless. The fact that NASCAR was paid millions to do patriotic shit to honor the troops doesn't help. (I've thought for a long time that the troops shown at races were being used!!)

At least there is no major holiday next month, so it'll be 2 months before a holiday gets mis-appropriated again!! (The Old Lady was saying this morning that there should be a Federal holiday every month so there would be a 3-day weekend. It would just add to the holidays when they do meaningless "salutes" to the military!!)

Talk about insult to injury, here's Ted Nugent  (the site is called USA Patriotism, a huge warning flag for me!!) being praised as a patriotic hero. That dirt-bag bragged about shitting in his pants for a week to avoid the draft!! If he was to try to thank me for my service, I'd spit in his face!! Maybe if he would say that he is doing shows for the military to compensate for his cowardice in avoiding the draft, I might have a better opinion of him, but probably not as he is a disgusting example of the worst kind of war-monger. All for it when he would no longer have to serve!!!!!

When you have assholes like this saying they support the troops, I have a tendency to look at things with a jaundiced eye!!

The irony is I have no heartburn about Clinton avoiding the draft, he was honest about it, he used his smarts to get deferred, didn't shit his pants because  he was scared, didn't have his daddy get him a safe spot in the National Guard, and didn't make snide remarks about having better things to do (like the rest of us didn't??)

Shotgun Weddings?????????????

A lot of bible-bangers are talking about now that gay marriage is legal that ministers will be forced to officiate gay weddings. Who is going to hold the shotgun to the minister's head?? In traditional "shotgun weddings" the shotgun is held on the groom to make him get married, it has never been about forcing the minister by using the threat of a shotgun!!

Actually, ministers (or whatever form of clergy, pastor, priest, rabbi, etc....) have refused to do weddings for any number of reasons. At one time some would refuse to marry interracial couples (willing to bet there are still some that would not do an interracial wedding!!) Some won't do interfaith weddings, some won't marry someone that has had one or more divorces, etc...

A Sister-in-law was told by a minister that he wouldn't do their wedding because she and her husband-to-be hadn't given any money to the "new carpet fund" for the church and/or parsonage!! So if a minister can refuse for such a bullshit reason, WHAT THE FUCK makes anyone think they would be forced to do gay weddings?????????????

Hearing reports about some officials in various states that are not issuing marriage licenses. In one county in Alabama the judge (I guess the local judge has the final say on marriage licenses in Alabama) won't issue any marriage licenses to anybody, straight or gay. On that I just have this to say: IF YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS PREVENT YOU FROM DOING YOUR JOB, GET A DIFFERENT FUCKING JOB!!!!

That applies to all categories of jobs, pharmacists, clerks, judges, what the fuck ever!!

While the First Amendment guarantees freedom of  religion, we need to get to the point where it GUARANTEES FREEDOM FROM RELIGION!!!!

NRA FAIL!!!!

From Fortune magazine; June 15, 2015
Colt Defense LLC, maker of firearms from the legendary Peacemaker pistol to the M4 rifle used by today’s U.S. Army, said late Sunday it’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, two years after losing a key Army contract for the M4.

NRA FAIL!! They had one primary purpose for the last several decades and the NRA failed. That job was to scare the shit out of people enough that they would rush out and buy more guns to keep the gun manufacturers in profitability!! While they have managed to create shortages of ammo, looks like maybe the market for guns has been saturated. Most of those that want to buy guns have bought guns.

For many years now various state DNRs and groups that are devoted to hunting have been saying the number of hunters is declining. Younger people are not as interested in hunting as their parents and grandparents were.  Even before the stories about less hunters began circulating, the gun manufacturers must have seen the handwriting on the wall. That's when they started giving the NRA boatloads of money and the NRA started the scare campaign about the "ebil gubmint" is coming for your guns. The BULLSHIT about how Obama is coming for your guns is just the latest installment!!

Tempted to say, "You had one fucking job and you failed". But I won't. 

How Can Naked Boobs Offend A Mountain???

Recently heard on the radio about how naked tourists on a mountain in Malaysia were being blamed for the earthquake that hit the area. If I heard it right they said, "Your boobs offended the mountain." Or maybe it was just my dirty old man mind that heard it that way. In any case how in the fuck can boobs offend anyone or anything??????? I have yet to see a boob that was offensive and I've seen a bunch thanks to the internet and before that thanks to magazines like Playboy, Penthouse, etc....

One would think a mountain would be all about Au Naturel.