Some video of my 1997 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
1983 Mercedes Benz 300D Quick Drive
A Quick Drive in my 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D. Most of the drive is at 4x speed.
(No animals were harmed in the making of this video) (:
(No animals were harmed in the making of this video) (:
1983 Mercedes 300D drive around the block
A drive around the block in my 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D.
(No animals were harmed in the making of this video) (:
(No animals were harmed in the making of this video) (:
1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D Greasecar
My 1983 Mercedes-Benz 300D Greasecar. A walk around and part of a drive.
Honda VF500F Interceptor short ride
A pretty lousy video of my Honda VF500F Interceptor. A short ride with the camera simply hanging around my neck and then a walk-around.
Red Shouldered Hawk
A red shouldered hawk at a Friends of Feathers demonstration at the Tanglewood Nature Center.
VF500F
Here's a little video of my 84/86' Honda VF500F Interceptor out in the barn revving that REALLY needs a bath and some driving.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Vehicle Story
So I was looking through my notes, thinking there were a few topics I could expand on. One of them was vehicle stories. Actually, I think I may have a lot of these... I was thinking, Well I could just remember my first car and go from there, but then Duh, I had cars before I had a license. And then, duh, I grew up on a farm, I was driving before I had cars or anything. I've been driving in some form or another since probably around 7 or 8 years old...
So... Let's see what are some of the first things I can remember...
Well, now what would be the first vehicles? 3-wheeler? 4-wheeler? Bobcat? Truck? Hmm... Let's see... I remember at least one 3-wheeler... I don't know if I was really driving it though. If so, I can't say I remember much more than it existing. Seems like it was a "Big Red" (pretty much any ATV's we've had have all been Honda's). 4-wheelers... Well, almost all of the ones I remember have been 4wd and I've certainly gotten them stuck in the snow real well plenty of times, but nothing hugely interesting that I recall... I do recall a really steep hill one time I was a little afraid of flipping, maybe a couple jumps one time that were kinda scary, but not as bad as I thought... I think I partially rolled one once(maybe twice). But the adrenaline was pumping well enough that I just rolled it right back up by hand without issue (they're not that light)... Probably the most interesting thing I ever did was to my uncle's 4-wheeler. I had gotten used to go-kart engines where you just filled the oil up to the top of the filler hole. Well... I tried doing that with his 4-wheeler and after I got about 6 quarts in there (here's a hint I know now-most cars don't use 6 quarts, let alone a 4-wheeler engine that's about 1/8th the size) I finally looked down at the side where you check how full it is and sure enough it was full. Drove it for a bit and it smoked and ran quite badly. I guess I didn't kill it too badly but it certainly wasn't good for it. Luckily I didn't drive it that far.
That reminded me of go-karts. I had forgotten about those... Doesn't seem like there was too terribly much excitement with those either. I think the most interesting parts were when I didn't check the oil in one (I think this was before I overfilled the 4-wheeler) and ran it dry and killed the engine. And then one time I think I was trying to oil the chain and what not and I oiled the clutch. It didn't move too well that way. (: Oh, and they had these friction brakes where basically just pushed the pedal to push this piece of metal against the tread of the tire. Well, the problem was that the metal piece wasn't QUITE long enough so that if you pushed hard enough it just pushed INTO the tire and flipped itself underneath... I think I had a mini-bike or two at one point... Don't remember too much exciting about those either... Borrowed Granny's moped a couple times... I think the only interesting thing was it not having enough power to drive me up our hill and I probably didn't help it any just holding it and trying to get it to go the whole way...
Bobcat?(Skidsteer loader)... Hmm, nothing terribly interesting comes to mind with that either...
Well, OK, that pretty much all seemed pretty boring...
Umm, OK, well probably the first road-legal vehicle I drove was a pickup truck. This was before I could reach the pedals. Dad used to take me out in the field when they needed to pick up hay or strawbales laying in the field. He would just put it in 1st gear (which was really slow) and then get out and have me steer around to the bales and they would toss them in as I went past. Then he would hop back in at the end and take over. That was kinda cool.
Oh, and tractors, I think I have a couple interesting stories there...
Let's see... I recall driving one of the big articulated tractors and the oil pressure gauge was reading REALLY low. I asked Dad about it and he said not to worry. (Our tractors seemed to rarely have working gauges). However, while discing the field or whatever I was doing, it started slowing down and acting like it was having a much harder time getting through the field. SO what do I do? Give her all the fuel I can! Well, that started going a little faster and making a lot more noise, but still slowing down and then it STOPPED. Permanently. Oops. Apparently there was anti-freeze in the oil and the oil gauge was correct. That was the last time that engine ever turned. Had to find another one for the tractor.
The other good one that comes to mind was that growing up on tractors, I never quite thought about the physics involved. Whenever I drove from the farm to a field, I just went at full speed as the tractors only went maybe 20mph max and so I could just drive full speed around turns and things. Well..... At one time, I had two big wagons full of hay bales hooked behind. You know, the ones that are like 20-30 feet high? Well, that's about the first time I found out about some of the physics involved. I was just cruising along and then right during/after a turn I was like "Man, this tractor sure seems to be pulling harder"... I leaned out and stuck my head out so I could see around the first wagon... The second was on it's side.... Oh, I just about died there. "Oh Shi*" was all I could think or say... Repeatedly... I think in a couple minutes my uncle came by and had me go home and I think I found Dad and said "please don't yell at me, but I tipped one of the wagons over" and I think I just went inside and more or less reated the story to Mom. I wasn't thinking it at the time, but what seems amazing to me now is that Dad apparently went and took care of it with my uncle and I don't think I heard anything more of it. That would be the sort of occasion where I would expect at least a little swearing from Dad. More at the situation than at me, but I would still expect it... I considered it a real big screwup...
Umm... Otherwise "Pre-MY-car" screwups? Umm... Well, I borrowed dad's little dirt bike a lot and went around to interesting locations, got it stuck a few times, pretty much burnt out the clutch one time...
Oh, again with the lack of "Physics thinking/understanding" I took a truck too fast around a corner and put it up on two wheels. That was kinda scary... And when I first started driving Mom's car I went too fast around a corner they had put gravel on and spun it out into the field. No real damage other than a bent fender, but still a bit unexpected. (:
OK so with a couple exceptions I guess that's pretty lame and little more than a summary of vehicles I'm recalling at the moment that more or less sums up my world before my own vehicles...
Oh well, hopefully the next one will be a bit more entertaining... (:
So... Let's see what are some of the first things I can remember...
Well, now what would be the first vehicles? 3-wheeler? 4-wheeler? Bobcat? Truck? Hmm... Let's see... I remember at least one 3-wheeler... I don't know if I was really driving it though. If so, I can't say I remember much more than it existing. Seems like it was a "Big Red" (pretty much any ATV's we've had have all been Honda's). 4-wheelers... Well, almost all of the ones I remember have been 4wd and I've certainly gotten them stuck in the snow real well plenty of times, but nothing hugely interesting that I recall... I do recall a really steep hill one time I was a little afraid of flipping, maybe a couple jumps one time that were kinda scary, but not as bad as I thought... I think I partially rolled one once(maybe twice). But the adrenaline was pumping well enough that I just rolled it right back up by hand without issue (they're not that light)... Probably the most interesting thing I ever did was to my uncle's 4-wheeler. I had gotten used to go-kart engines where you just filled the oil up to the top of the filler hole. Well... I tried doing that with his 4-wheeler and after I got about 6 quarts in there (here's a hint I know now-most cars don't use 6 quarts, let alone a 4-wheeler engine that's about 1/8th the size) I finally looked down at the side where you check how full it is and sure enough it was full. Drove it for a bit and it smoked and ran quite badly. I guess I didn't kill it too badly but it certainly wasn't good for it. Luckily I didn't drive it that far.
That reminded me of go-karts. I had forgotten about those... Doesn't seem like there was too terribly much excitement with those either. I think the most interesting parts were when I didn't check the oil in one (I think this was before I overfilled the 4-wheeler) and ran it dry and killed the engine. And then one time I think I was trying to oil the chain and what not and I oiled the clutch. It didn't move too well that way. (: Oh, and they had these friction brakes where basically just pushed the pedal to push this piece of metal against the tread of the tire. Well, the problem was that the metal piece wasn't QUITE long enough so that if you pushed hard enough it just pushed INTO the tire and flipped itself underneath... I think I had a mini-bike or two at one point... Don't remember too much exciting about those either... Borrowed Granny's moped a couple times... I think the only interesting thing was it not having enough power to drive me up our hill and I probably didn't help it any just holding it and trying to get it to go the whole way...
Bobcat?(Skidsteer loader)... Hmm, nothing terribly interesting comes to mind with that either...
Well, OK, that pretty much all seemed pretty boring...
Umm, OK, well probably the first road-legal vehicle I drove was a pickup truck. This was before I could reach the pedals. Dad used to take me out in the field when they needed to pick up hay or strawbales laying in the field. He would just put it in 1st gear (which was really slow) and then get out and have me steer around to the bales and they would toss them in as I went past. Then he would hop back in at the end and take over. That was kinda cool.
Oh, and tractors, I think I have a couple interesting stories there...
Let's see... I recall driving one of the big articulated tractors and the oil pressure gauge was reading REALLY low. I asked Dad about it and he said not to worry. (Our tractors seemed to rarely have working gauges). However, while discing the field or whatever I was doing, it started slowing down and acting like it was having a much harder time getting through the field. SO what do I do? Give her all the fuel I can! Well, that started going a little faster and making a lot more noise, but still slowing down and then it STOPPED. Permanently. Oops. Apparently there was anti-freeze in the oil and the oil gauge was correct. That was the last time that engine ever turned. Had to find another one for the tractor.
The other good one that comes to mind was that growing up on tractors, I never quite thought about the physics involved. Whenever I drove from the farm to a field, I just went at full speed as the tractors only went maybe 20mph max and so I could just drive full speed around turns and things. Well..... At one time, I had two big wagons full of hay bales hooked behind. You know, the ones that are like 20-30 feet high? Well, that's about the first time I found out about some of the physics involved. I was just cruising along and then right during/after a turn I was like "Man, this tractor sure seems to be pulling harder"... I leaned out and stuck my head out so I could see around the first wagon... The second was on it's side.... Oh, I just about died there. "Oh Shi*" was all I could think or say... Repeatedly... I think in a couple minutes my uncle came by and had me go home and I think I found Dad and said "please don't yell at me, but I tipped one of the wagons over" and I think I just went inside and more or less reated the story to Mom. I wasn't thinking it at the time, but what seems amazing to me now is that Dad apparently went and took care of it with my uncle and I don't think I heard anything more of it. That would be the sort of occasion where I would expect at least a little swearing from Dad. More at the situation than at me, but I would still expect it... I considered it a real big screwup...
Umm... Otherwise "Pre-MY-car" screwups? Umm... Well, I borrowed dad's little dirt bike a lot and went around to interesting locations, got it stuck a few times, pretty much burnt out the clutch one time...
Oh, again with the lack of "Physics thinking/understanding" I took a truck too fast around a corner and put it up on two wheels. That was kinda scary... And when I first started driving Mom's car I went too fast around a corner they had put gravel on and spun it out into the field. No real damage other than a bent fender, but still a bit unexpected. (:
OK so with a couple exceptions I guess that's pretty lame and little more than a summary of vehicles I'm recalling at the moment that more or less sums up my world before my own vehicles...
Oh well, hopefully the next one will be a bit more entertaining... (:
YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!
OK, first off, I just saw a couple posts this morning saying that Guitar Hero II is coming out for the Wii and possibly the DS. That is awesome. If they get it out before Christmas that will be something I will HAVE to get!
Now on the main thought of the message...
Forewarning! If you're squeamish, you might want to just skip this one as I certainly did NOT enjoy dealing with it!
So... This is why I hate cats. OK, that's not true. I love cats. But sometimes I QUITE dislike some of the things they do.
Picture this: I'm staying over at my parents sleeping rather soundly I think I was having a good dream. I don't remember it, but it seemed like it was going well, not a bad dream. then at about 12:47AM I am awoken to hacking, gurgling sounds and who knows what other nasty odd sounds. I've got a really good idea of roughly what's goingon and my immedate reaction is to say aloud "no, no guys, don't do that in here...", but at the same time I'm starting to realize that there's not much I can do because whatever is coming out is just going to make a bigger mess if I either try to get the cat to move, or move the cat myself, so I decide to just wait it out. I SOOOOO did not want to wake up and deal with this...
Well, from the sounds I thought I was dealing with hairballs or barf. Well about a minute after the sounds stop I start to smell it. And well, sometimes barf has nastier smells than I'm used to from cats, but I'm pretty sure this is out of the other end. "Oh, man, why do I have to deal with this now????" So I'm trying to decide on my options... About that time the cat finally leaves and I know the culprit. I'm still too tired and I'm thinking something about how I left My Name Is Earl playing on TV when I went to sleep(I've never actually watched it, but I've switched it on as something to go to sleep to a few times) which was interesting because Earl was the offending cat. And yes Earl is an appropriate name for this cat. Big, fluffy, lovable, but not altogether the brightest cat in the bunch sometimes. (:
ANYWAY... I'm still in the "Please just let me sleep!" mode, but trying to think about:
-Should I just go back to sleep?
-Should I get up and look and assess the situation?
-Should I see if it's in/on or next to blankets/comforters or otherwise at the bottom of the bed where I might further disturb it during my last few hours of sleep?
-What instruments/cleaning solutions am I going to need to try to clean this up?
-Are said instruments/cleaning solutions present upstairs?
-Is whatever mess is down there going to be easier/better to clean up now or in a few hours?
-Am I going to get more/better sleep if I leave it, look, or clean it now?
So... After a bit of slow sleepy thinking I decide I had better at least have a look to be sure of not creating a worse mess somehow. (This is where it's going to get really nasty cause it was just a horror for me, so I'm going to detail my horror. If you can't handle it, look away.) Well, it was in fact poop. Well more or less. From the sounds I was hearing, it must have been quite gassy and possibly painful when it came out. There were a few poops and then some loose piles of whatever and I'm assuming worms. It looked like pasta noodles of both a flat and a small round variety. OH, YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!! I SOOOOOOOOO Do NOT want to deal with this!!!! Oh, I'm almost puking just thinking of it!!! Oh well... So I'm reassessing the situation and it appears to be on the floor and a bit on the comforter. I finally decide that I guess I will just leave it for now and try not to kick my comforters or blankets down any lower and deal with it in a few hours. Well, of course it rather bothered me enough that I couldn't get to sleepvery quickly and the sleep I got for a while was rather lousy dreaming of wormy cat poop. But I think I did get some better sleep a bit later. Oh yeah, I was also thinking of writing in OD about how nasty this experience was before/during sleep again. I guess this has infiltrated my life. (:
Oh well, the alarm went off at 4AM and didn't quite feel like getting up, snoozed it once and then made it up after a bit and went to see what tools I had. As expected I had to go downstairs in search of paper towels, carpet cleaner and a litter scooper. Amazingly enough all of these items were in plain view where I expected. It wasn't quite as bad as I might have thought but oh SO much do not like dealing with poop and I SO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO do not like dealing with worms, oh YUCK YUCK SUPER-DUPER YUCK! But I did a pretty good job and took the comforters downstairs for a wash.
Hopefully the rest of today is a bit smoother!!! (:
Now on the main thought of the message...
Forewarning! If you're squeamish, you might want to just skip this one as I certainly did NOT enjoy dealing with it!
So... This is why I hate cats. OK, that's not true. I love cats. But sometimes I QUITE dislike some of the things they do.
Picture this: I'm staying over at my parents sleeping rather soundly I think I was having a good dream. I don't remember it, but it seemed like it was going well, not a bad dream. then at about 12:47AM I am awoken to hacking, gurgling sounds and who knows what other nasty odd sounds. I've got a really good idea of roughly what's goingon and my immedate reaction is to say aloud "no, no guys, don't do that in here...", but at the same time I'm starting to realize that there's not much I can do because whatever is coming out is just going to make a bigger mess if I either try to get the cat to move, or move the cat myself, so I decide to just wait it out. I SOOOOO did not want to wake up and deal with this...
Well, from the sounds I thought I was dealing with hairballs or barf. Well about a minute after the sounds stop I start to smell it. And well, sometimes barf has nastier smells than I'm used to from cats, but I'm pretty sure this is out of the other end. "Oh, man, why do I have to deal with this now????" So I'm trying to decide on my options... About that time the cat finally leaves and I know the culprit. I'm still too tired and I'm thinking something about how I left My Name Is Earl playing on TV when I went to sleep(I've never actually watched it, but I've switched it on as something to go to sleep to a few times) which was interesting because Earl was the offending cat. And yes Earl is an appropriate name for this cat. Big, fluffy, lovable, but not altogether the brightest cat in the bunch sometimes. (:
ANYWAY... I'm still in the "Please just let me sleep!" mode, but trying to think about:
-Should I just go back to sleep?
-Should I get up and look and assess the situation?
-Should I see if it's in/on or next to blankets/comforters or otherwise at the bottom of the bed where I might further disturb it during my last few hours of sleep?
-What instruments/cleaning solutions am I going to need to try to clean this up?
-Are said instruments/cleaning solutions present upstairs?
-Is whatever mess is down there going to be easier/better to clean up now or in a few hours?
-Am I going to get more/better sleep if I leave it, look, or clean it now?
So... After a bit of slow sleepy thinking I decide I had better at least have a look to be sure of not creating a worse mess somehow. (This is where it's going to get really nasty cause it was just a horror for me, so I'm going to detail my horror. If you can't handle it, look away.) Well, it was in fact poop. Well more or less. From the sounds I was hearing, it must have been quite gassy and possibly painful when it came out. There were a few poops and then some loose piles of whatever and I'm assuming worms. It looked like pasta noodles of both a flat and a small round variety. OH, YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!! I SOOOOOOOOO Do NOT want to deal with this!!!! Oh, I'm almost puking just thinking of it!!! Oh well... So I'm reassessing the situation and it appears to be on the floor and a bit on the comforter. I finally decide that I guess I will just leave it for now and try not to kick my comforters or blankets down any lower and deal with it in a few hours. Well, of course it rather bothered me enough that I couldn't get to sleepvery quickly and the sleep I got for a while was rather lousy dreaming of wormy cat poop. But I think I did get some better sleep a bit later. Oh yeah, I was also thinking of writing in OD about how nasty this experience was before/during sleep again. I guess this has infiltrated my life. (:
Oh well, the alarm went off at 4AM and didn't quite feel like getting up, snoozed it once and then made it up after a bit and went to see what tools I had. As expected I had to go downstairs in search of paper towels, carpet cleaner and a litter scooper. Amazingly enough all of these items were in plain view where I expected. It wasn't quite as bad as I might have thought but oh SO much do not like dealing with poop and I SO SO SO SO SO SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO do not like dealing with worms, oh YUCK YUCK SUPER-DUPER YUCK! But I did a pretty good job and took the comforters downstairs for a wash.
Hopefully the rest of today is a bit smoother!!! (:
Hello?
Oh, I don't know what to write about, but I know SOMEONE is waiting for me to write an entry. Well, wait I guess I never wrote about last weekend so I suppose I could try to remember what happened... Let's see... Friday I think we mostly used up the last of our Christmas gift cards. I picked up a couple classic controllers for the Wii so I can play Mario Kart 64 which I downloaded and one of those shake lights from Wal-mart, then we went to Applebees. Haven't been there in months, but apparently they still have those combos and I got my normal Fiesta Lime Chicken. Oh, that is a yummy meal. Quesadillas, Fiesta Lime Chicken on a bed of tortilla chip shreds and good rice. Then a brownie for desert, though this time I got a blondie. I also tried out their Mango lemonade and Wildberry lemonade. Both very good. And we had an order of onion petals. I'm not so much for onion rings, but if you batter them in enough oil and what not they're not bad at all! (: Sara pleasantly surprised me by getting the same meal, except she went with Iced tea and the Brownie. Normally she has this thing about not getting the same thing that I am which seems to be a problem more often than one would think. (:
Umm... Saturday the cold really started to set in(and is supposed to be here for another week or so) and I barely got the old Benz to start after a LOT of cranking. Then we dropped off some recyclables and returned pop cans and then some grocery shopping at Wal-mart. Let's see... Oh, then my glow plug light didn't even come on when I went to leave Wal-mart so I knew I had at least 1 or 2 plugs out and that Mercedes would NOT be happy at trying to start in single digit weather without them, so as much as I had hoped I would not be monkeying with anything outside, I figured I had better do it that afternoon when it might be up to 20F than any time in the next week when it would be lucky to make it into the teens... So I spent most of the afternoon monkeying with that. I think I also got another 20 gallons of vegetable oil started filtering and pumped out another 10 of clean stuff which is handy since I was down to no full cubes (it comes in jugs about 5 gallons each about like a cube). This time of year I'm not using the partially hydrogenated stuff cause it gets solid around 50F and I need all the help I can get!
Then that night we watched some TV and A Lot Like Love Oh, please don't watch that movie. I fell alseep through part of it and didn't bother to go back and watch it and Sara barely made it through and didn't think much of it. The trailer looked like a rather romantic comedic Ashton Kutcher movie. It was just SLOOOOWWW and they get together and the leave and repeat numerous times over years... agh....
Sunday... Sara made waffles! YAY!!! I LOVE waffles!!! mmmmm, and then we FINALLY got our Christmas tree down. Oh it is so nice to actually have that open space again. (: I think that was most of the day...
Monday we went out to Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet. That was good as usual. Not as busy as normal I'm assuming because the temp was only like single digits. Other than that I think we just hung around.
And on Tuesday we're all back to work. yay... (:
Well... I guess that's about it for now... (:
Umm... Saturday the cold really started to set in(and is supposed to be here for another week or so) and I barely got the old Benz to start after a LOT of cranking. Then we dropped off some recyclables and returned pop cans and then some grocery shopping at Wal-mart. Let's see... Oh, then my glow plug light didn't even come on when I went to leave Wal-mart so I knew I had at least 1 or 2 plugs out and that Mercedes would NOT be happy at trying to start in single digit weather without them, so as much as I had hoped I would not be monkeying with anything outside, I figured I had better do it that afternoon when it might be up to 20F than any time in the next week when it would be lucky to make it into the teens... So I spent most of the afternoon monkeying with that. I think I also got another 20 gallons of vegetable oil started filtering and pumped out another 10 of clean stuff which is handy since I was down to no full cubes (it comes in jugs about 5 gallons each about like a cube). This time of year I'm not using the partially hydrogenated stuff cause it gets solid around 50F and I need all the help I can get!
Then that night we watched some TV and A Lot Like Love Oh, please don't watch that movie. I fell alseep through part of it and didn't bother to go back and watch it and Sara barely made it through and didn't think much of it. The trailer looked like a rather romantic comedic Ashton Kutcher movie. It was just SLOOOOWWW and they get together and the leave and repeat numerous times over years... agh....
Sunday... Sara made waffles! YAY!!! I LOVE waffles!!! mmmmm, and then we FINALLY got our Christmas tree down. Oh it is so nice to actually have that open space again. (: I think that was most of the day...
Monday we went out to Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet. That was good as usual. Not as busy as normal I'm assuming because the temp was only like single digits. Other than that I think we just hung around.
And on Tuesday we're all back to work. yay... (:
Well... I guess that's about it for now... (:
Friday, January 26, 2007
Why cold and diesels are so much fun! (:
Ahh, what fun I have with my ol' veggie-mobile!
Soooooooo....
This morning I wake up and the temp is supposed to be about 2F. Well, it turns out to be -6F. That certainly sounds pretty cold. Good thing I plugged the car in last night(hint - diesels have engine heaters cause they don't like the cold) and I *think* it was working when I plugged it in last night. So I head out at a little before 5am and think "hey, this is nice that the wind's not blowing and creating that -20F windchill they were talking about"(and it's always blowing up on the hill). de-ice the windows (which broke my really solid ice scraper), unplug the block heater and get in. The car says that the glow plugs(more engine warming devices to help out the old 83' Mercedes diesel) only need 15 seconds to heat up the engine, but I know better and let it go for 30 seconds. She starts up without much issue at all. Cool.(literally)
So I start out on my 10-15 minute trip to town. I make it across the intersection and maybe 1/10 of a mile from the driveway and she sputters. I think "well this isn't that out of the ordinary, she usually takes a second to get her breath". But she dies completely. She almost starts, but won't quite stay running. Which is especially fun since the exhaust is almost non-existent and makes a good bit of noise and I have conveniently stopped next to a random neighbor who is probably not normally up at 5am. After a little bit of monkeying she starts again. I think of backing up towards the house but figure "Nah, this is just cold, she'll only start running better the more I drive". Well another couple hundred feet down the road and she's all but dead again as I'm coasting down to the next farm. So she's not interested in running much at this point so I get out with my flashlight and see if I can prime any fuel to the engine. I'm pumping away, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I start using tools and pull off the first connection of fuel and sure enough there is diesel coming out of there(didn't realize it was quite that green though, I thought I had anti-freeze coming out). I check the other side of the first filter. Nope, nothing coming out. "Hmm, ok must be something solidifed in the filter, I'll pop in a new one". OK, now we have fuel through the filter and I hook it back up. Well, it kinda starts but again, won't keep running. OK, must be the other filter is coagulated. I'll replace it. Well, I was trying to get it filled with some fuel when I realized that I was not getting filter through that brand new filter now. So I decided to bypass the first filter. DId that and it almost started, but just couldn't quite manage. So by this time I'd gathered a couple visitors from our neighbors farm and one was nice enough to give me a tow back up to our shop. So I got it in there, put the battery charger on it (gotta love that nice new monster battery. I could swear I must have drained it and yet it just keeps going) added maybe 50% kerosene and got it running(badly) only stalling once in a while. By this time it's after 6 and Dad comes out and I borrowed a bottle of diesel fuel 911 service stuff that's basically supposed to make your fuel all happy again. Poured that in there too and put the first filter back in. By this time it was almost 6:30, the car was up to normal temperatures, and mostly running, but still not terribly well. So I headed off to work and it was a fun ride of "ok, there's some power" and then "ok, we've dropped to about 1mph(literally) but we haven't quite stalled yet" and repeat. Luckily there was only one other car out so I wasn't holding up traffic.
So, anyway it's supposed to get up to almost 20F today and I'm planning on filling up and getting some anti-gel stuff at the truck stop to hopefully avoid this problem in the future. And I now know that apparently diesel fuel gels up in the filter even if not in the lines. And apparently even in these cold areas they don't sell diesel that will stay liquid at these temps. Oh, and -6F isn't bad at all after about 20 minutes of monkeying around. (:
Ahh, I remember the Subaru that I "just drove" anytime anywhere without any problems. How fun could that be compared with an old Mercedes?! HAHA!
Soooooooo....
This morning I wake up and the temp is supposed to be about 2F. Well, it turns out to be -6F. That certainly sounds pretty cold. Good thing I plugged the car in last night(hint - diesels have engine heaters cause they don't like the cold) and I *think* it was working when I plugged it in last night. So I head out at a little before 5am and think "hey, this is nice that the wind's not blowing and creating that -20F windchill they were talking about"(and it's always blowing up on the hill). de-ice the windows (which broke my really solid ice scraper), unplug the block heater and get in. The car says that the glow plugs(more engine warming devices to help out the old 83' Mercedes diesel) only need 15 seconds to heat up the engine, but I know better and let it go for 30 seconds. She starts up without much issue at all. Cool.(literally)
So I start out on my 10-15 minute trip to town. I make it across the intersection and maybe 1/10 of a mile from the driveway and she sputters. I think "well this isn't that out of the ordinary, she usually takes a second to get her breath". But she dies completely. She almost starts, but won't quite stay running. Which is especially fun since the exhaust is almost non-existent and makes a good bit of noise and I have conveniently stopped next to a random neighbor who is probably not normally up at 5am. After a little bit of monkeying she starts again. I think of backing up towards the house but figure "Nah, this is just cold, she'll only start running better the more I drive". Well another couple hundred feet down the road and she's all but dead again as I'm coasting down to the next farm. So she's not interested in running much at this point so I get out with my flashlight and see if I can prime any fuel to the engine. I'm pumping away, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. I start using tools and pull off the first connection of fuel and sure enough there is diesel coming out of there(didn't realize it was quite that green though, I thought I had anti-freeze coming out). I check the other side of the first filter. Nope, nothing coming out. "Hmm, ok must be something solidifed in the filter, I'll pop in a new one". OK, now we have fuel through the filter and I hook it back up. Well, it kinda starts but again, won't keep running. OK, must be the other filter is coagulated. I'll replace it. Well, I was trying to get it filled with some fuel when I realized that I was not getting filter through that brand new filter now. So I decided to bypass the first filter. DId that and it almost started, but just couldn't quite manage. So by this time I'd gathered a couple visitors from our neighbors farm and one was nice enough to give me a tow back up to our shop. So I got it in there, put the battery charger on it (gotta love that nice new monster battery. I could swear I must have drained it and yet it just keeps going) added maybe 50% kerosene and got it running(badly) only stalling once in a while. By this time it's after 6 and Dad comes out and I borrowed a bottle of diesel fuel 911 service stuff that's basically supposed to make your fuel all happy again. Poured that in there too and put the first filter back in. By this time it was almost 6:30, the car was up to normal temperatures, and mostly running, but still not terribly well. So I headed off to work and it was a fun ride of "ok, there's some power" and then "ok, we've dropped to about 1mph(literally) but we haven't quite stalled yet" and repeat. Luckily there was only one other car out so I wasn't holding up traffic.
So, anyway it's supposed to get up to almost 20F today and I'm planning on filling up and getting some anti-gel stuff at the truck stop to hopefully avoid this problem in the future. And I now know that apparently diesel fuel gels up in the filter even if not in the lines. And apparently even in these cold areas they don't sell diesel that will stay liquid at these temps. Oh, and -6F isn't bad at all after about 20 minutes of monkeying around. (:
Ahh, I remember the Subaru that I "just drove" anytime anywhere without any problems. How fun could that be compared with an old Mercedes?! HAHA!
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Trying some more new things
Well, things seem to be coming along fairly nicely at the moment. The website is starting to gain some substance and more changes are in order. I'm creating a few blogs for different topics. All of which should have some sort of updates directly from my site.
The other new thing I'm trying is a new technique for remembering things. It seems I tend to lose things in my memory shortly after I do them. They seem to still exist, just difficult for me to recall without a trigger. I tried writing notes or using a voice recorder, but neither of those seemed to last much more than a day. Well, I had this little mini digital camera that came with a remote control airplane that Sara got me and thought I would try and pull it out and see if it might work in this scenario. Sure enough it does work on it's own and Linux is nice enough to find it and get the pictures. They're not great pics(to say the least) but I can at least recognize it and remember what it was I was thinking(or at least I think so). I've tried it for a few days, and while I haven't come up with a lot lately, nor added the other items I've noted yet, I think it may work. I didn't take a pic of the camera, but it is pretty much the exact camera pictured. Except that instead of that keychain mine has a little mini cable that would have plugged into the airplane. But it's still small enough to just go in a pocket and then I just pull it out for about 3-5 seconds and it's back in my pocket. Quick and discrete. I hadn't decided whether or not to actually post the pictures, but I think I might just for laughs sake if nothing else. (:
New Improvements
Well, I've had a couple ideas and with some encouragement from at least one friend, I am actually starting to implement a few of these thoughts. I think I can make my website http://findlevi.com a central repository for perhaps some interesting content on new fronts.
So, I'm still hashing out thoughts in my head and trying to remember that good thought after the fact, but if all goes as planned, there should be more blog updates and more web page updates. I should have my page set up now to actively show my latest blog entry and a link to my myspace page and my e-mail address. I've also added a few potential links while I'm thinking of them...
Levi (:
So, I'm still hashing out thoughts in my head and trying to remember that good thought after the fact, but if all goes as planned, there should be more blog updates and more web page updates. I should have my page set up now to actively show my latest blog entry and a link to my myspace page and my e-mail address. I've also added a few potential links while I'm thinking of them...
Levi (:
Thursday, January 18, 2007
The National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD on 1/14/07
| A slideshow of our trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD on 1/14/07. | |
Medieval Times in Maryland on 1/13/07
| This is a slideshow from our trip to Medieval Times in Maryland on 1/13/07. Lots of horsemanship! | |
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Baltimore!
Well, we went to Baltimore this past weekend for some fun!
We headed down Saturday morning had a nice trouble-free trip and made it to Laurel, MD where our Hotel was. We stopped at a KFC for lunch and of course used to restrooms. Well... The mens room was OK (I consider myself lucky if it simply functions) ignoring the toilet paper on the floor and what not. So I'm waiting out by the counter thinking that Sara had been gone a while, but she had to go to the car first so I didn't know how long she had been in the bathroom. Well then I hear "LEVIIIII!!", and banging and as I'm making my way down the hall "CAN SOMEONE HELP ME IN THE BATHROOM!" and I'm worrying and wondering what on earth has happened to Sara, I open the door and apparently the inside door handle had come off in the stall. Luckily there was no problem from outside. As I headed back out another woman was standing asking if Sara was OK as apparently she had gotten locked in as well but her daughter was there to let her out. The lady at the counter just said "someone's supposed to come look at it". Needless to say, Sara wasn't too happy with them.
Then we got to the Days Inn and it was surprisingly nice. Quite large and roomy and pet friendly and Sara even felt that it was clean(a rare occurrence). So we checked in and after a brief sit, we headed over to the Arundel Mills Mall.
The mall was quite large and we walked all the way around which took about an hour. And Sara was happy to get her Dairy Queen fix for the day. We stopped in this big outdoor world store and looked around a bit and we were still an hour or so away from the 3:30 check in time for Medieval Times so we went out to the car to sit with Shadow and get the camera. We came back a while later and walked about half of the mall again at which point it was about 3:20 and we found Medieval Times had a line out to the door which rather surprised us since the show didn't start until 5:00. So we stood in line for a while, then stood around inside the waiting area where you can buy your drinks and swords and what not. They had a couple "knighting ceremonies" for Birthdays and Anniversaries, but otherwise we just stood around until almost 5. At that point we finally got in and seated. It was a great meal and show as I had remembered from the one I had gone to with the Meyer's in Texas. Lots of horsemanship and jousting and such. Sara very much enjoyed the horses.
After that we headed back to the Hotel, but tried to find some ice cream on the way. We tried out the GPS' search function and the Dairy Queen's looked to be a ways away so we headed for a McDonalds. Unfortunately the two that were nearby seemed to be shutdown or non-existent, but we did find a dairy store and some ice cream.
So Sunday morning we got up and had a pretty good breakfast. This time they actually had waffles and a little more than the usual coffee and danish.
We then headed over to the parking garage in Baltimore. We had a coupon for one in particular so we were trying to find it. But if you've never been to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, We can tell you that there are a considerable number of parking garages and most of them don't have much in the way of signage to tell you their names. Luckily as we were driving around Sara noticed a LITTLE sign with the name on it and we got parked.
Was a nice short walk to the aquarium which was surprisingly already getting a line at about a quarter to 10 (they don't open until 10) so we got inside and they finally let us go around 9:55. Lots of interesting aquatic animals to see but it is set up a bit funkily. They tell you on a little sign to plan your day accordingly as there are feedings basically every half hour in the morning. However, they don't tell you that information ANYWHERE else... And the whole place is set up as a one way up through the levels, basically a self-guided tour. Which would be fine, except that after you've been doing the tour for half an hour you're up around the 4th floor and you then find that the 10:30 feeding you want to see is down on the first. So I found the elevator in the dark corner (after heading the wrong way) and we
made it to the second floor anyway which was a nice view of the stingray feedings. Though we later found out there's a better view at tank level underwater. So then after that we head BACK up to the 4th floor and look around a little bit before the puffin feeding there. Then a little more looking before we have to head back to the first floor so that we can take the bridge over to the other pier to watch the dolphin show. That was the best part for sure. Sara loved the dolphins as well, often mentioning how they were just like Shadow in terms of smartfullness and playfullness.
Then after that, back to the 4th floor so that we could go to the jungle on the 5th floor, and there were a couple other exhibits along the way. In all it was around 1:30 and about 4 hours from when we started so I was ready to get off my feet but we had pretty much covered the National Aquarium. So we decided to head home and stop somewhere on the way. We found a Wendy's near York, PA and had a nice lunch. Somewhere closer to Williamsport we were looking for a Dairy Queen and the Hardees I had seen on the way down. Well I JUST missed the Brusters ice cream at one exit unfortunately, but then found the Hardees. I couldn't think of the name of the sweet frosted biscuits I wanted and they weren't on the menu, but we got to the window and I asked if they had "those biscuits" and sure enough they did! So I ordered like 3 two packs to take home. Well we get on the road and Sara opens them up and says. Uhh, these are like buttery biscuits. Well, buttery biscuits are good and all but are NOT the glazed cinnamon raisin ones I wanted even though the box did say that they did have cinnamon raisin biscuits. Oh well. We decided to try for the nearest Dairy Queen which was 10 miles in the wrong direction. Well of course that was closed too. Oh well, I was getting a bit frustrated by then and was just heading for home. Sara and I each had a biscuit and our Shakes that we had gotten from Hardees. A while later we made it to where we had seen closed Dairy Queens Saturday morning. I had mistakenly thought they were closed for the season. Apparently not as they were open! So we pulled in and got some food to go. Well we got back to the car and I was just laughing as I said "well, Shadow enjoyed those biscuits!" I noticed earlier she had been smelling them just sitting up in the bag up front and was very interested. We didn't put them anywhere so there were just 3 empty boxes sitting on my seat. Ahh, I'm sure she enjoyed them much more than I would have! (:
So a more or less uneventful trip the rest of the way home. I can tell you this though. AVOID the Texas toast from Dairy queen. Very bad flavored rubber about sums it up. (: Made it home just before the ice started and we were inside Monday when it was icing.
Well, as usual I write too much and I still don't say everything in my head. Sara took some pics so I will have to see if I can get them up here. Hopefully before too long!
Levi (:
We headed down Saturday morning had a nice trouble-free trip and made it to Laurel, MD where our Hotel was. We stopped at a KFC for lunch and of course used to restrooms. Well... The mens room was OK (I consider myself lucky if it simply functions) ignoring the toilet paper on the floor and what not. So I'm waiting out by the counter thinking that Sara had been gone a while, but she had to go to the car first so I didn't know how long she had been in the bathroom. Well then I hear "LEVIIIII!!", and banging and as I'm making my way down the hall "CAN SOMEONE HELP ME IN THE BATHROOM!" and I'm worrying and wondering what on earth has happened to Sara, I open the door and apparently the inside door handle had come off in the stall. Luckily there was no problem from outside. As I headed back out another woman was standing asking if Sara was OK as apparently she had gotten locked in as well but her daughter was there to let her out. The lady at the counter just said "someone's supposed to come look at it". Needless to say, Sara wasn't too happy with them.
Then we got to the Days Inn and it was surprisingly nice. Quite large and roomy and pet friendly and Sara even felt that it was clean(a rare occurrence). So we checked in and after a brief sit, we headed over to the Arundel Mills Mall.
The mall was quite large and we walked all the way around which took about an hour. And Sara was happy to get her Dairy Queen fix for the day. We stopped in this big outdoor world store and looked around a bit and we were still an hour or so away from the 3:30 check in time for Medieval Times so we went out to the car to sit with Shadow and get the camera. We came back a while later and walked about half of the mall again at which point it was about 3:20 and we found Medieval Times had a line out to the door which rather surprised us since the show didn't start until 5:00. So we stood in line for a while, then stood around inside the waiting area where you can buy your drinks and swords and what not. They had a couple "knighting ceremonies" for Birthdays and Anniversaries, but otherwise we just stood around until almost 5. At that point we finally got in and seated. It was a great meal and show as I had remembered from the one I had gone to with the Meyer's in Texas. Lots of horsemanship and jousting and such. Sara very much enjoyed the horses.
After that we headed back to the Hotel, but tried to find some ice cream on the way. We tried out the GPS' search function and the Dairy Queen's looked to be a ways away so we headed for a McDonalds. Unfortunately the two that were nearby seemed to be shutdown or non-existent, but we did find a dairy store and some ice cream.
So Sunday morning we got up and had a pretty good breakfast. This time they actually had waffles and a little more than the usual coffee and danish.
We then headed over to the parking garage in Baltimore. We had a coupon for one in particular so we were trying to find it. But if you've never been to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, We can tell you that there are a considerable number of parking garages and most of them don't have much in the way of signage to tell you their names. Luckily as we were driving around Sara noticed a LITTLE sign with the name on it and we got parked.
Was a nice short walk to the aquarium which was surprisingly already getting a line at about a quarter to 10 (they don't open until 10) so we got inside and they finally let us go around 9:55. Lots of interesting aquatic animals to see but it is set up a bit funkily. They tell you on a little sign to plan your day accordingly as there are feedings basically every half hour in the morning. However, they don't tell you that information ANYWHERE else... And the whole place is set up as a one way up through the levels, basically a self-guided tour. Which would be fine, except that after you've been doing the tour for half an hour you're up around the 4th floor and you then find that the 10:30 feeding you want to see is down on the first. So I found the elevator in the dark corner (after heading the wrong way) and we
made it to the second floor anyway which was a nice view of the stingray feedings. Though we later found out there's a better view at tank level underwater. So then after that we head BACK up to the 4th floor and look around a little bit before the puffin feeding there. Then a little more looking before we have to head back to the first floor so that we can take the bridge over to the other pier to watch the dolphin show. That was the best part for sure. Sara loved the dolphins as well, often mentioning how they were just like Shadow in terms of smartfullness and playfullness.
Then after that, back to the 4th floor so that we could go to the jungle on the 5th floor, and there were a couple other exhibits along the way. In all it was around 1:30 and about 4 hours from when we started so I was ready to get off my feet but we had pretty much covered the National Aquarium. So we decided to head home and stop somewhere on the way. We found a Wendy's near York, PA and had a nice lunch. Somewhere closer to Williamsport we were looking for a Dairy Queen and the Hardees I had seen on the way down. Well I JUST missed the Brusters ice cream at one exit unfortunately, but then found the Hardees. I couldn't think of the name of the sweet frosted biscuits I wanted and they weren't on the menu, but we got to the window and I asked if they had "those biscuits" and sure enough they did! So I ordered like 3 two packs to take home. Well we get on the road and Sara opens them up and says. Uhh, these are like buttery biscuits. Well, buttery biscuits are good and all but are NOT the glazed cinnamon raisin ones I wanted even though the box did say that they did have cinnamon raisin biscuits. Oh well. We decided to try for the nearest Dairy Queen which was 10 miles in the wrong direction. Well of course that was closed too. Oh well, I was getting a bit frustrated by then and was just heading for home. Sara and I each had a biscuit and our Shakes that we had gotten from Hardees. A while later we made it to where we had seen closed Dairy Queens Saturday morning. I had mistakenly thought they were closed for the season. Apparently not as they were open! So we pulled in and got some food to go. Well we got back to the car and I was just laughing as I said "well, Shadow enjoyed those biscuits!" I noticed earlier she had been smelling them just sitting up in the bag up front and was very interested. We didn't put them anywhere so there were just 3 empty boxes sitting on my seat. Ahh, I'm sure she enjoyed them much more than I would have! (:
So a more or less uneventful trip the rest of the way home. I can tell you this though. AVOID the Texas toast from Dairy queen. Very bad flavored rubber about sums it up. (: Made it home just before the ice started and we were inside Monday when it was icing.
Well, as usual I write too much and I still don't say everything in my head. Sara took some pics so I will have to see if I can get them up here. Hopefully before too long!
Levi (:
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Finally tried Myspace - Medieval Times
Well, I finally tried out Myspace and surprise surprise I actually found some people I was previously wondering where they had gotten to! And some of them even have up-to-date blogs. Which is somewhat inspiring to me to try to update mine. However, I seem to forget, or rather perhaps not permanently forgotten, but I place them elsewhere in my mind where I forget to find them until someone or something reminds me of them. That can make finding thing to blog about somewhat more difficult. That and the fact that I don't exactly lead a terribly exciting life. However, I do believe I can find/create enough stuff if I get myself figured out correctly. (:
ANYWAY.... As for things I'm actually doing well the big one is that Sara and I are planning a trip to Baltimore-ish this weekend. Going to the Medieval Times Sat night, then the National Aquarium on Sunday and heading back up. Should be a lot of fun!
Well I hope everyone(anyone?) out there is having a great time!
Levi (:
ANYWAY.... As for things I'm actually doing well the big one is that Sara and I are planning a trip to Baltimore-ish this weekend. Going to the Medieval Times Sat night, then the National Aquarium on Sunday and heading back up. Should be a lot of fun!
Well I hope everyone(anyone?) out there is having a great time!
Levi (:
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