Winter planning

Pulled the gas out of the chainsaws yesterday. filled ’em each with a teaspoon full of a mix of Coleman fuel and the appropriate amount of oil, and ran them dry.

All the other 4 cycle equipment that won’t (probably) be used until spring got a similar treatment (minus the oil, of course) Run empty, refilled with a bit of fuel that will evaporate and not leave residue or varnish behind, and run until completely empty.

This ensures they will start when needed after sitting for months.

I recommend this for all gasoline powered equipment.
Especially stuff you might need in an emergency.

Proper storage matters. 

You gotta wonder why….

Many restaurants have really bad coffee. Like they only buy floor sweepings from a Starbucks roasting plant or something….

And they know it, you can tell. They take really bad coffee and make it really strong. So you end up with coffee that is mostly undrinkable. (perhaps so they never get asked for refills??)

Its like the Liberals.and their programs..something doesn’t work, a government program returns shitty results, so we should do it more…..only harder.

Same same with coffee.
Coffee isn’t hard, one simply needs to start with a good product, and do it right…proper proportions brewed correctly…..which makes for a good cup.
Shitty ingredients are NOT improved by heavier dosing.

Thought for the week:

You only have the right for which you are willing to fight (And possibly die).

We have a Ballot Box. We SHOULD be using it.
Yet the lies, cheating, and fraud make that box much less effective than it should be.

We have other boxes, but when to use them? 

Gonna be a long day

We are doing a Hunter Ed course today at the range.

27 kids registered. Plus likely 4-6 walk ins. (We don’t ever turn anyone away as long as we can fit ’em into the classroom)

I’ll be working ’til 5 or 6.

But it is paying it forward, and all that. 

It occurs to me

That the Democrats must really, really believe that each and every one of their candidates would lose against Trump in 2020.

Otherwise they would not be spending so much political capital in their efforts to drive him out of office with their push to impeach the man.

He must really scare them, and they must realize how badly they will lose against him in an election where they cannot manipulate vote counts easily. Trump won against them, beating the “Margin of Fraud” once, and they know they cannot manipulate the votes to the same magnitude the next time. 

A climate record

The most snowfall on Halloween:

A 96 year old record smashed. Yet no claims of “Climate Change” since it doesn’t fit the meme of Thermageddon.

But, according to the “Climate”Experts””, this is just weather, not evidence that the climate is cooling or anything.
Of course not.

Odd how records that are broken to the warm side are “evidence” of Global Warming….But those that show (possible) cooling are just weather. 

That strange sound at 2 AM

So I awoke about 2 AM, not knowing why….

I laid in bed for a while, trying to figure out what had awoken me….

Then I heard it. That sound that I could not identify…..

Now, if you are a guy, you likely know each and every sound that your house makes (and why), each sound of every piece of machinery, the creaks and groans, the noise every mechanism makes, the sound every pipe makes as it expands and contracts, the groans that the structure makes as it cools or heats up, etc.

This one was none of those. It didn’t fit. Wasn’t “normal”.

So I laid there for a moment, trying to figure out what it was…..
‘Twas a low hum.
then it quit.

then it came back.

Then it quit again.
Pretty much about on a 4 minute interval.
Then it came back. More or less 60 hz. Kinda like what a battery charger makes at high amps…..

Strange.

I got up, walked the house….couldn’t identify it. Couldn’t even localize it.
Put on a pair of shoes and went into the garage. Nothing.
Went down to the basement.
It got a bit louder.

I tracked it down to the east wall. There are only two pieces of equipment there, plus the washer and dryer, both of which are not turned on….but I unplugged them just to be sure that they weren’t the source. (They weren’t).

Wasn’t the water softener, either.

What WAS making that sound was the sump pump.
Seems that the motor (or impeller) was locked up. The motor was TRYING to start, but couldn’t turn. So it sat there, stalled, for about 2 minutes, humming gently. Then the thermal cut out would shut off the power and it would cool down.
Wash, rinse. repeat.
(The usual failure mode for these pumps is the bottom bushing wears and they become too noisy for me to tolerate, necessitating replacement)

The sump pit was full, at about 150% of the normal level.

Luckily, (or perhaps it is just good planning, I dunno) I had a spare all set up and ready.
Unplugged the power, pulled the pit cover, unscrewed the union connection to the standpipe, pulled the pump out, put the new pump in the pit, connected the union, plugged it in.
Let it run while I put the pit cover back on.
Total time to change it out was less than 10 minutes, and that long only because I was still only half awake.

I firmly believe that if you need a sump pump, you need a spare on the shelf. “2 is one and one is none” and all that….
Today I gotta go buy a new sump pump.

ETA: And, of course NO-One has the pump I need in stock.
(I still have 2 serviceable, but worn and noisy units as a backup though),