Making More Gear than I Use

It's about time I posted before this blog atrophied...

First, my bike... Since the last post I've rebuilt the clutch (new friction plates) and replaced the front brake rotor and pads. It's been running great, and today I went for a morning ride with some friends through the canyons near Malibu down to Neptune's Net. There were 30-40 motorcycles there, but it can get much busier. It's a nice place to get a bite to eat and watch people and bikes. On the way back, we cruised by The Rock Store, but did not stop. Maybe next time...

I've been thinking a lot about backpacking lately, and I've taken an interest in hammock camping. I got a hammock with birthday money this year, and I've set it up in our back yard. If you've been to the family web page recently, you've seen a few pictures of the new hammock. The hammock is very comfortable, and that's my main motivation for putting together a hammock kit for backpacking use. The thought of lying down in a hammock to sleep after a hard day of hiking (rather than lying on the ground) sounds wonderful.

I've read Ed Speer's book, "Hammock Camping," and I've been perusing the world wide interwebnet for more information. My favorite site on hammock camping is Just Jeff's web page. He's got some good homemade gear descriptions, and the site is a good starting point for finding more info. With a hammock, I'll still be tarp camping, only now I'm going to be sleeping in a hammock instead of a bivy sack. I'm basically hanging my bivy between two tress instead of putting it on the ground. When suitable trees aren't present, Ican use the hammock like a bivy and camp the way I have been.

I've made a hammock, and it's been successfully tested (it holds my weight). I have a few minor adjustments to make to the hammock (weights on the bug net, sleeve for holding a pad for under-body insulation, etc.), and I need to seam-seal my new tarp (I made it, too). Then I'm off to the mountains for an overnight gear test. Unfortunately, I'm busy with work (travel) and home projects for a couple of weekends, so I probably won't be getting out with the new kit until October.

I'll leave with a few pictures of the kids and me in the new backpacking kit. The hammock is very comfortable and my new tarp is very spacious. I'm looking forward to using this.

Done Spraying Paint

Today I finished spray painting my house. I masked and painted the back of my house with the power painter today. The front is finished, and I've replaced two outdoor light fixtures and the doorbell. I now need to paint the trim and soffits on the other three sides of the house and replace one more light fixture. I also found an outlet that is not working; I'll be troubleshooting that sometime soon.

I used the Wagner Power Painter Pro with the Wide Shot tip to paint my house, but I killed the tool. When I had finished painting my small house (three bedroom single story), everything about the power painter except the motor was worn out. I wore out the Wide shot nozzle; it sprayed paint in large globs instead of a fine mist. I wore out two swirl valves; these break the paint into a fine mist be imparting rotational motion to the liquid spray, i.e. they spin the paint to make droplets. I wore out the pump housing; even off, the pump now leaks. If I am to ever use this tool for another project, and there are other projects, I will have to replace all of its moving parts that contact the paint. I'm wondering if it would be cheaper to buy a new power sprayer... We'll see. A contributing factor to the wear on my painter was the type of paint I used, masonry paint (I was painting stucco). This paint is very thick, like primer, and I did not thin it since the power sprayer was able to handle it.

I'll leave you with a picture of story time from tonight.

The Joy of Motorcycle Maintenance

There are many joys to owning a used motorcycle. The bike cost me fewer pesos than a new one. It's got a little bit of "character" already, so I don't worry about where I park it. It feels really good to keep up with someone on a shiny new bike when I'm on my 9 year old machine. I'm not afraid to take it completely apart, figure out how it works, and put it back together again. Keeping an old machine running well is a source of pride. But...the true joy of an old bike is the maintenance.

There is always something that needs doing on an older machine. I had a fuel line leak about 2 weeks ago. A fuel line swelled and did not seal on the hose barb; that needs to be replaced. My front brake rotor looked noticeably worn; Checking it revealed that it was worn well beyond the service limit. I'll be replacing that. Lately, I've been noticing that my clutch is slipping. When I accelerate quickly, try to maintain or increase my speed against a strong wind, or when i engine brake, I can feel the bike oscillating between catching and slipping. I just took my clutch apart this evening, and my friction plates are all worn to the minimum service limit. More telling is that every friction plate is glass-smooth. They will need to be replaced, too.

I've got to order a few parts for my bike, but I'll be replacing everything when all the parts come in. It's about 700 miles early, but I might as well do an oil change while everything is apart. I had to drain the oil to take apart my wet clutch anyway.

No pics tonight; I'll post something when it all goes back together.

Finished the front trim

The front of the house is presentable. Saturday evening, I finished up the trim on the front of the house. The house numbers are freshly painted, and a new porch light is up, too. I've yet to clean up the detritus on the walk from removing the gutters in this picture, but you get the idea.

There are many days of painting left (back of the house, and three more sides worth of trim...), but at least I'm not a neighborhood eyesore.

First picture of the new house color

I'm a few days behind on my posts, but here's a quick picture of my new house color. Previously the house was a medium tan, and there were water stains on the columns where the sprinklers had gotten the house wet. I've completed painting 3 sides of my house with the main color (not the back), and I'm starting on the trim. The gutters are off the house in this picture. I will be replacing them later this summer. (I won't see rain till fall, so there's no hurry.) I will paint the gutters to match the trim before I install them on the house.

TTFN

Working on my week off

I've started painting the house this week. I've completed painting the stucco on one side and the front of my house. I've been using a power sprayer to paint for two days, and I'm ready to take a break from using that machine. It's very loud (I wear earplugs when using it), and it vibrates such that my hands get numb after a couple of hours of use. I've spent a total of ~10 hours painting the past two days, plus prep work and clean-up (probably ~8 hours). I'm going to paint trim tomorrow, by hand, and I will post some pictures of the house.

TTFN

Cleaning up Clutter

The new shelf is in use, and the kids helped put the toys away. I'm sure this won't last...