Worrisome

The top picture is from the top of my street on Thursday. On my drive home that evening, it seemed like almost every freeway I was on had smoke billowing up at the end of it. The sky was otherwise completely clear, just smoke filling the northwest. On the second to the last freeway, I could actually see flames. Not a good feeling, looking at fire rising from directly behind where your home is. It's actually quite a bit farther away than it looked, but still too close.




On Wednesday morning I could smell it inside the house, and it was like walking into a light fog bank when I walked outside. Funny thing, that fire was since Wednesday, but there wasn't a whole lot of coverage until the last couple of days. A fire breaks out in Palos Verdes, and it's top story. More yellow journalism, I tells ya!!! Friday evening we were out, and you could see the red glow rising from the hills. I found a map tool that shows the size and scope of the fire, since they weren't showing one on any of the news channels. They'd show aerial views and say "This will give you an idea of the size and scope of this fire", but there are no points of reference.

The weather hasn't been helping. The humidity has been low and the temperatures have been high. I think it's the hottest and most sustained it's been all summer. On the plus side, the wind hasn't been that high, although these fires create their own weather.



Final shot is from Mount Wilson's webcam, where much of tonight's coverage is of the transmitter towers being threatened by this fire.

Cupmissioned Works

It's been a while since I've done much cup artwork, so this week has been something of a rarity, I did two. These would be my first commissioned works. On Wednesday morning, my younger boy told me, "You should put a joke that you like on the side of your cup today!!!"




I did one better, I put two jokes. Since I didn't put the answers on the cup here they are: How do you catch a unique rabbit??? Unique up on it!!! How do you catch a tame rabbit??? The tame way!!!




On Friday morning, he tells me, "You should make a picture of Super Cat on your cup!!!" Done and done.



On one of my floats that day, the other worker on that printer added in a victim. First I LOL'ed, then I thought it kind of ruined the aesthetic, but then I thought it was pretty funny again and appreciated the collaborative effort. Figured I'd paintshop it out, and post one of each version.

Dwarfs

Those dwarfs have some of the COOLEST gear!!!

10mm Combo Wrench, Vice Grips, Strap Wrench, Lots of Penetrating Oil, Big C Clamp, Broken Washing Machine, Hacksaw and Two Files and a Big Hammer

The title is a reference to the items required to remove the pulley from the water pump for Baby. It did not go well, all in all.

In review, she's been losing coolant since the weather warmed up a bit in July. Not much, but enough to require a refill every few weeks. Had the decency to wait until we returned from the mountains to go out altogether. I left work on Monday to find a large puddle under her. Around a quart of water filled her up for the drive home, and during this whole time she's not gotten overly hot. Bought all the parts (a new pump, coolant, and flush) on Saturday, and got to work.



There's little room, and I was not able to use anything but the 10mm combination wrench with it in place. The pulley turns, and I was unable to get it wedged still. Eventually, I decided to attempt to pull the whole unit out to try it with a socket instead. The pulley has an extra hole in it, which I figured I could put a screwdriver through to hold it in place. Pulling the pump without the pulley would be a simple task, but with the pulley on, it made it much more difficult. Instead of being able to use a socket, I had to use the combination wrench on it, too. Once I got it removed... well, then it had nothing it was mounted to, so it wouldn't stay still any better. I attempted to hold it to a plank of wood with a big C clamp, but it rotated off fairly easily. Soaked both sides of the bolts with penetrating oil, and sat there staring at it for a while, trying to come up with a better way to hold it. I came up with drilling a couple of holes in the top of our old washing machine, which was in the yard for me to remove to drum from for a fire pit. Two holes and bolting it to the top, and jamming a screwdriver through the pulley and one of the mounting holes, and leaning on the one bolt that wasn't already getting rounded off, I pulled on it. My wife says, "I think you got it!!!", I reply, "I don't think I do", at which point that bolt breaks free. One down, two to go!!!

The next two had no luck with the socket. It immediately rounded them the rest of the way off. I switched to a pair of vice grips. Pulling hard on them, first the handle broke off the screwdriver I was using. Good thing it's Craftsman!!! I put the shaft in, and the next yank on it actually breaks the end off it, too!!! I put it back in, and the next thing I know, it's broken the housing mounting hole. Moved to the next one, and it pops off, too!!! And a third one after that!!! I'm running out of mounting holes, and am glad I don't have to turn in a core unit!!! I try drilling a fresh hole into the housing, but my cordless drill runs out of juice. I switch to the big C clamp holding the pulley itself, trying carefully to not deform the pulley, and after a few slips off, the second one comes loose, too. Two down!!!

The third one, it keeps slipping off. Taking pieces of metal off with it. Eventually, it's almost pointy, and the vice grips don't even begin to grip. I switch to a hacksaw, and take as much of the bolt head off as I can. I get it pretty thin, then, since I don't have any cold chisels, I use the end of a file and a big hammer to try and get the rest off. One side peels off pretty easily, and that took the tension off the bolt, and it fairly well spun right out!!! Three for the win!!!



Of course, at this point, I've got two less bolts than I need. The store has a couple that are twice as long as I need, but beggars can't be choosers. I took 'em and had to hack saw those in half. It took several hours to do what should have been just a couple. I probably would have been way ahead if I'd gone to the junkyard and bought a pulley from there instead. I have no idea why they were that tight, but I theorize that it could have been rotational tightening from the normal motion of the pump.

Still a lot easier than the one from the Geo!!! I suppose, in contrast to that, it went pretty well after all!!!

Deep Creek

Last week we were up in the mountains. Good times!!! One day we went to an area called "Deep Creek". Hiked a bit more than a quarter mile back, and there's a, well, deep area great for the jumping into, complete with a rope for climbing up the sheer face. Notice how on my vacations I tend to find a high place to jump off into the water???

Right before you get to this place, the water spans from one side of the canyon to the other, and you have to swim from there. Of course, it was around a bit of a bend, so I couldn't get any pictures or video from there. After several jumps, I made my way back and got my video cam and found an area shallow enough to wade across. Turned out to be deeper than I thought, and slippery on the exit. Bare inches above the water, it was. Of course, after the boy shot this clip, the battery died as I was attempting to film his jump!!!

Car Show

Here's a few of the pictures I took at the work car show.



Sedan deliveries and panel trucks I have an affinity for.



























I've always loved Cougars, even before the word became synonymous with hot older women, and this is one of the finest examples I've seen.



The blue Camaro is also an amazingly clean example. The yellow one is his brother's, the organizer of the show. I would be remiss if I didn't include a picture of his, too.



The low riders were representing, and a few put on a hopping demo. Three hoppers, one blew a hydraulic hose right off, and another had his pump motor disassembled afterwards.