Day 700, Happy 4th of July

I woke up and there was actually a light frost on the roof.  It was supposed to be 77 for high, so it is going to be a cool 4th of July, which is great for a parade.

The first thing happening today was a guy with a powered para-glider was going to come buy and fly over my house and a few other spots in the area.  He was going to launch from my field and film my house, which I thought would be cool to see.  This guy has flown several amazing locations in Central Oregon and I thought it was neat he would fly my house.  He launched and flew around for a while and then headed over to the river and Eagle Crest Resort.

I headed off to the parade at 7:50 am and we were all set for a big parade.  Our new safety rules were in place and we had a record participation.  With nearly 117 entries, we estimated the parade should last about 2 hours.  The parade starts at 10 am, so we estimated we would be done around noon.  The parade went off with out a hitch and with the 8 block parade route lined with thousands of spectators, everyone had a great time.  We had several car clubs including the High Desert A's and I always enjoy watching these great old cars.

For the evening I invited a bunch of friends over for burgers on the barbeque and then to watch Bend and Redmond's fireworks from my driveway.  It was a great time with friends and a fun way to celebrate the holiday.

Day 699, Getting ready for the parade

The work day was spent getting ready for a parade.  We typically have 80 to 90 entries, but we are already over 100, so we know it is going to be a long one.  We are also implementing new safety rules, so it will be interesting to see how they are received.

The original alternator

After work I drove the Chevelle down to Sears to get it's battery replaced.  The Die Hard battery is just under two years old and it should still be under warranty.  The Sears tech took the battery and put it on the charger and said it would take up to 40 minutes to test the battery.  I wasn't too excited about having to wait 40 minutes for a battery I knew was bad, but that's what I had to do.  After replacing the battery I was scheduled to take the car to Prineville so Rick could show me how to replace the brushes in the Alternator.  I called and told him I would be a little late and would let him know when I was done.  Luckily the battery tester immediately said the battery was bad and I got a new one and headed to Prineville.

It was the perfect evening for the convertible and despite the flickering generator light the car drove great.  It's always fun to visit Rick and there were a bunch of Rick's friends enjoying a drink on the lawn and talking cars.  Rick quickly had me remove the alternator and he then pulled it part to showed me the warn brushes.  He had picked up a set a new brushes and after a little modification had the alternator back together for me to put back in the car.  With the alternator cleaned up and put back in the light still flickered, so the next thing to replace is the voltage regulator.  I can pick one up and replace it tomorrow.

The 42 transmission shaft busted off

Rick also discovered why the overdrive on the 42 Packard was not working.  After having tried everything possible, he pulled the transmission out and discovered the main shaft was sheered off at the end.  This piece had been added on at some point and in pretty poor condition when I got it.  It was disappointing to have spent so much money on "good used" transmission to find out it was in such bad condition.  Rick has spent hours on this transmission and I could have easily bought a good rebuilt transmission for what I spent on this boat anchor.  I made a phone call to the Packard guy in Seattle and said he would send me another shaft.

July 3rd, 2012, full moon

I enjoyed the drive home, and I wanted to quickly wash the car for tomorrows parade.

I washed the car as the sunset and as the moon peaked over the horizon. It was a full moon and it was spectacular.

Day 698, Back to work.

It was a beautiful morning and the first thing I needed to do for the day was drive to Bend to pick up our newsletter.  I was the perfect day to take the BMW and have the top down.  As I drove in, it dawned on me that I will be making this trip three times today and that seemed a bit excessive.

At noon I was back on the road to Bend for a lunch meeting and the more I thought about having to drive this a third time I thought that was a bit much.  I had a great meeting and then headed back to the office.  I decided that two trips to Bend and postponed my afternoon appoint until another day.

1969 Chevelle Malibu is part of the family.

At 4 pm my friend Rick from Prineville said he would come over and help me get the 69 Chevelle Malibu running for the parade on the 4th.  I could not get the car started last fall and it has sat for over a year.  The battery was new and has been on a trickle charger, so it seemed fine.  It took Rick a moment to figure out what was going on and he quickly determined that new battery had a bad cell.  He also determined that the brushes on the alternator need to be replaced and that he could help me replace them tomorrow night.

With the Malibu running on a borrowed battery from the Rolls, I thought I should take it for a spin.  I actually had a few things I needed to return in Bend, so I made that final third trip to Bend after all.   It was a beautiful evening and it was fun to the drive the old car again.  This car has been in the family since new and I feel it is part of the family.  I was only four when my parents bought the car and I can't ever remember not having it.

Day 697, More cleaning

Today I focused on cleaning out the shop and getting the exterior ready for painting.  It took several hours to clean up inside and to blow all the dirt and leaves that had blown in over the winter.  On the outside of the shop, I had to remove all the shutters around the windows and and hose off the building.  The painters are coming on the 4th of July and I have a total of 8 hours time.  I had purchased "A painter for a day" at a Big Brothers Big Sisters auction last winter and they want to on the on the 4th.  I figure if I have everything ready they should have no trouble painting the shop in the time allotted.

I stopped for church and had lunch with my buddy Doug, but other than that it was a day of cleaning.  By the end of the day I had the shop washed, three cars cleaned and detailed, the deck cleaned and I even did the windows on the house.  I finished rolling up the hose at 10:55 pm and called it a day.

I was beat, but felt like I had accomplished a lot over the weekend.

Day 696, Cleaning out the garage.

The biggest part of my day was spent cleaning out my garage.  Over the last several months and even years the garage has collected a huge amount of clutter and I have to clean it out before I go crazy.  My old sofa has been in the garage for over 3 years carefully covered, a steamer trunk from 1871, 18 years of Architectural Digest magazines and on and on.  Most of the stuff just needed to be sorted out and put away in the proper place.  I did fill my trash can and  one large trash bag with junk.

I interrupted my my cleaning to attend the 9th running of the Rockchuck Ramble in downtown.  This the shortest fun run at just over 5 blocks and has become a community favorite.  It was fun to be there and run the race with my parents.  Shortly after the event however I as back to cleaning.

Old trunk has been in the garage for years.

At 4 pm I was invited to an open house of a friend who just moved into a new home after getting married.  I was anxious to see their home and see several of my friends.  I got cleaned up and had a truck load of errands to run on the way there.  I stopped off at a mailing store and gave them a huge bag of Styrofoam pellets, then to the bottle and can return at Fred Meyer to give my bottles away, then to the thrift store to drop off some old pots and pans and finally to my office to drop off a huge bag of recyclables.   I arrived exactly as my friends did and we all walked in together.  I had bought a blue spruce tree as a gift and left that on the porch.

The party was a lot of fun and there was tons of food, but I still had a ton of work to do back home.  I was back in the garage at 7 pm and kept cleaning.  At 9 pm I called my friend Christian and asked if he wanted my sofa, a few pictures, a set of glasses and the old trunk.  He said yes to all and I loaded up my truck and took them to him.  I love the sofa and hated to get rid of it, but it has been in my garage for three years.  The trunk I said he could use, until I move into a bigger home, which will probably be never.

It felt so good to have the garaged cleaned out and everything put away.  I hope I never let it get that out of hand again.

Day 695, WOOHOO Friday

Art walk downtown

I'm not sure why it felt like such a full week, but I'm so ready for the weekend.  I really have no plans other clean out my garage and shop and get the cars washed.  I also need to get the shop ready for painting on the 4th of July.  My garage and shop are such a disaster from months of piling up clutter from projects I have got to take the time to clean up and get rid of stuff.  It has gotten to the point where it is causing me stress, so this is the weekend.

From 4pm to 8pm the downtown was hosting a "Walk the Art Beat", where local merchants hosted artist in their shops and the community walks around and checks out the art.  I always enjoy the opportunity to check things out I spent about an hour after working walking around and checking things out.  There are always things that catch my eye, and I'm always looking for things for the trailer.

After checking out downtown, it was so nice to go home and kick back.  I had nothing on the agenda and I was looking forward to a quiet evening.

Day 694, Thursday nothing too exciting

I think the highlight of the day was mowing the lawn.  I've discovered listening to Pandora on my iPhone and was rocking out to tunes of the 70's and 80's.  There is nothing like mowing your lawn to the songs of the Bee Gee's, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA and the Bangles, what a trip.  Mowing the lawn is something I actually look forward to doing and with the added bonus of great music it was a blast.

With the lawn all mowed and the yard looking particular beautiful it was a great time to sit on the back steps and just admire the beauty.  The chickens were out roaming around and came up to join me.  They love a good cracker and will eat right out of my hand.  Even a young buck was out enjoying the tall grass in the pasture.

Life is good.