All in a Day's Work

I've been wanting to get the engine pulled out of 3 for a while, but as always happens,life gets busy. The plan, of course, was to swap it into Scruffy. Well, smog check time is coming up, and the P0410 air injection code has been coming back on and off. Took it over for the check, it had been a good spell without the light coming on. Less than a block away, it comes on. Sigh. I pull off onto a side street and reset it, then for the check, it hadn't gotten enough data to re calibrate it, so it failed. He checked the exhaust afterwards, and it's got a little smoke coming out, and he says it fails for that, too, but I think he wouldn't have gone there if the computer check had passed.

So, this weekend took it down to my parents' house where there's a big, flat driveway and went to work. It drove way better than I'd thought it would, with the steering wheel all tweaked. To make things easy, the hood comes off first, and since it was tweaked, pulled the whole front bumper cover off, as well as the headlights. The bumper core had an amazing crease down the middle, and the side of the frame rail was nicely accordioned, but I didn't get a shot of that.

Of course, it's not a one-man job, at least not for me!!! I enlisted the younger boy, and he comported himself quite admirably, considering he has close to zero experience working on cars. There's a multitude of little stuff to disconnect and remove, and he helped with a good amount of it, as well as the actual removal. Pretty much got all but one thing disconnected, the connection from the steering rack to the column. Started lowering it down, and that side wasn't dropping.

Speaking of dropping, that was the method I elected to go with, disconnect everything, unbolt the subframe (only 4 bolts!!!) then lower it out the bottom. I'd heard of people doing it with lifts, and figured I'd have to drop it, then the weight would shift more to the back, and I'd probably have to raise the body some more. Got it dropped, and it's within a couple inches of clearing. Got on the back bumper and bounced on it, and it looked like there was close to enough room to slide it out. My son couldn't get it moving, so we switched, and got it rolled out!!!

There it is!!! Gotta do the same to Scruffy, and I'm planning on unbolting the engine from the transmission, and swapping it to the recently rebuilt transmission in Scruffy.

All in a day, I couldn't be more pleased with the progress!!!

Critter Country

Something unique about visiting Catalina, even in the "big city" of Avalon, you always seem to be pretty close to nature. You've got the ocean to the front, and hills and mountains all around.

As you get out of the city, you are more apt to see wildlife, but even within, there is some to be seen. The day we arrived, we went over a block to get some lunch, fairly late in the afternoon. My wife finished all she could of her sandwich, and left a fair amount of bread. There were a few sparrows, so we began tearing off chunks, as you do, as tossing them to 'em. Didn't take too long before a crow picked up on the free buffet!!!

Usually you don't see them that close, but we lured him to the next table, and then he hopped up on the railing. I've heard that crows have great memories, so perhaps we've made a friend for life!!!

On the way over to Descanto Beach on our first evening walk, I got a shot of a bunch of gulls roosting on a breakwater, with a glorious near full moon!!! After I took my shot, my boy ran out after them and scattered them while I took a video. I thought it would have been a funny vengance if one had circled back and pooped on him, but that didn't happen.

The next day when we were at Descanto Beach Club for breakfast, a gull came and perched on top of an umbrella directly at eye level with us... Hope they don't have long memories!

That evening, we walked out on the pier. Earlier in the day, we'd been out on the pier and several people were fishing off the end. The kelp bass were biting, and we got to see several get reeled in. As we left the hotel, my boy spied a dollar on the ground!!! He thinks it's a lucky dollar, because afterwards we saw a couple of the kind of animals we'd never see back home!!!

Out there, you've got the noise of the surf on the beach and the pilings, and the surrounding boats in the surf. Heard some splashes off the side, and looking over there, there's a gray blur under the surface... Then it pops up!!!

There was a porpoise, or several of them, in Avalon harbor!!! Didn't think I'd ever see that!!! Not a great picture, but I took some video, and it came out a little better, even though there's a lot of it with not much going on.

After that, we headed to the back of the town. One of the streets lead to a park as it goes back into the hills. If I'm not mistaken, as a teen when we'd gone on a couple of family vacations over there, my brother in law and I had biked back to the same park in the evening and sat there for a while. Anyway, as we walked back there, we caught sight of this guy!!! It was a Catalina Island fox, native only to the island!!!

Got a few pictures of him, and a video of him doing his thing. Then my son goes, "I'm going to see how close I can get to him!!!" OK, hold on, I'll take a video of that. Started the video, he starts towards him, and Mr. Fox skitters off up the hillside, all in about a two second clip!!!

Armored

I finally got this together last week!!!

You may recall I had the rocker panel on the exhaust side had melted down, after the exhaust had bottomed out a few times.

It was a messy looking meltdown. I'd trimmed around the top edge, so it had a hole all the way through already.

I bought some aluminum tube, and trimmed it to fit with the clearance.

And there's the mock-up!!! You may notice a couple of little button head screws on the back. I added a 1/2" x 1/8" aluminum bar back there.

In the mock up picture I had button heads holding it on. From the beginning I'd had the idea of using square neck bolts. Here's after I'd filed one of the holes square.

And some high-temprature paint on the guard and the bolts. Also pictured, I bought a plug for a piece I always remove from the air filter box.

Putting it back on, I had trouble locating the back hole, so I was using the camera as a mirror to see what I was doing. Ended up with a working selfie!!!

Came out pretty decent!!!

Today I did an oil change in preperation for an upcoming smog check, and while I had her up on stands, took the pipe off to give it a fresh coat of paint.

Night and Day

On our most recent trip to Catalina, I, of course, took a lot of pictures.

Looking back through them, I noticed several similar shots I had taken during the night and the day. The first four (or two sets, if you prefer) are from Descanso Beach.

Since the younger was along, I had an evening walking companion, in fact I think it may have been him who had initiated the idea of going for a walk as the evening wore on.

The first evening, Descanso Beach is where we headed. It's just as nice at night, only with a lot less people. After we got there, we laid back on a couple of the lounges there. The weather was great for laying out under the stars beside the rolling tide. Told him next time we come over, we'll just sleep there instead of getting a hotel!!!

Part of the package that we got was a couple of $40 vouchers, good at either the Cafe Atwater (right next to where we stayed, the Hotel Atwater) or the Descanso Beach Club. Well, we enjoyed our sleeping to where the cafe was already closed, so back we went!!!

The next pair are, I think, from the pier, shooting towards the side with the ferry boat mole.

Of most of these, I think I prefer the night shots. I recently switched from a Galaxy S8 to an S9, which supposedly has a better camera. Still got some lens flare, but I think even the best will get that.

Next up is a couple of shots of the Avalon Chimes Tower.

I've STILL got a story from years ago to share about that someday...

And, finally, just a shot of the shoreline from the pier at night. No counterpart, just liked the picture!!!

Recreation and Re Creation

Once again, a lot has gone on, and I've got a lot to share. Last week we ended up doing a 2 night stay over on Catalina. It was pretty good, but a little longer would have been nice. I got a lot of great pictures, but for now you get this!!!

Back 9 years ago, we spent a few days over there, then went down San Diego way. One of the posts for that trip included the younger attacking a quesadilla.

So we decided to re-enact that picture, only with the great big burrito!!!

Sailor's Rest

When my sailing days are over,

And I sail the seas no more,

I shall build myself a refuge

By the ocean's murmuring shore.

As I watch the foaming breaker

When the tide comes rushing in,

I will contemplate my lifetime

With its virtues and its sins.

Where the azure of the heavens

Meets the undulating blue,

Where the sweeping, soaring seagull

Flies its endless quest for food.

It is there that I would rest,

When my work on earth is done,

At the endless blue horizon

'Neath the crimson, setting sun.

~D. R. Block

My father passed away last week. He'd had a stroke, and was in a coma for almost a week. He had a blood clot 5 centemeters long in an area of his brain that apparently was rather inaccessable. I don't know if the coma was drug induced or because of the stroke.

I went through and found pictures of him for this tribute post. The first is the Old Salt picture from way back. Next was from a few months back, in his studio. I really liked the colors on the painting he has there, and he framed it and gave it to me. He really got rolling on painting in the last year or so, even more so once the Wuhan Flu locked everything down. The third one was on our trip down to San Diego four years ago.

The next one is from my parent's 50th annaversary.

I think the next one is from two years back, off roading on some back trail in his truck. I shot quite a bit of video of the expidition, too, but it doesn't seem as dramatic as when you're riding in the truck.

From a few years back, at John's Incredible Pizza. I was trying to get a shot of his hat, it says, "Disgruntled Veteran, Leave Me Alone".

Another shot from his studio, not too long ago. He had some Bob Ross branded paint or stain he was trying out.

One of the paintings he was working on. I kind of like the colors. I think I'll claim it.