What did you do today?

[8ntruck 7,772]

6 hours ago, Ed Kennell said:

They are considered anchors by some in this area.    Sorta like Tecumsehs ...love em or hate em.

Mrs 8n and I had a discussion about replacing it yesterday. 

 

For what we do, an electric outboard would be perfectly fine.  A web search came up with an Elco electric eqivelant to a 20 horse gas.  Total with controls, batteries, and charger added up was a tick under $10k!  About twice that of a new gas unit.  Not going to happen.

Edited June 29 by 8ntruck

[oliver2-44 10,679]

Since this whole thread started out with digging holes, here's another one.

The tall stick is in the sprinkler pipe so you can find it.  it's surrounded by large 4-6" roots coved with mud. 

To the left of the black riser there is a "T" when the line goes 2 directions.

I dug the hole early Saturday morning after I saw a geyser watering . The holes about 18: deep 

I have weekend lake neighbors here on 3 sides of me.  I've gotten in trouble working/making noises, especially when one particular one of them is here.

I know I very lucky to live on the lake full time, but "some weekends" sure think they own the place when they come!  (sorry for my rant)   

These summer days I even make sure to have the lawn mowed before the weekend. 

We usually let them have the lake for the weekend, or go out with the grand kids Sunday afternoon when their packing up to go home.

So I put off further noisy repair.  Went to Home Depo and picked up 2 carbide demo blades for my Sawzall. 

I'll post a progress update when I get motivated to tackle this repair.

Sprinklers are set to run Sunday night, so I might try to drive a wood plug in it so the rest of the zone can run.

 

[8ntruck 7,772]

7 minutes ago, oliver2-44 said:

Since this whole thread started out with digging holes, here's another one.

The tall stick is in the sprinkler pipe so you can find it.  it's surrounded by large 4-6" roots coved with mud. 

To the left of the black riser there is a "T" when the line goes 2 directions.

I dug the hole early Saturday morning after I saw a geyser watering . The holes about 18: deep 

I have weekend lake neighbors here on 3 sides of me.  I've gotten in trouble working/making noises, especially when one particular one of them is here.

I know I very lucky to live on the lake full time, but "some weekends" sure think they own the place when they come!  (sorry for my rant)   

These summer days I even make sure to have the lawn mowed before the weekend. 

Completely understand, though here, the permanent folks outnumber the weekenders.

 

My wife's cousin has the place across the street from us, and he is a weekender.  He has mentioned that Morgan, my 14-8, makes ignition noise that messes his TV up.  My reply -  hummm.  That's interesting.

 

We usually give up on kyack or pontoon rides on the weekend, leaving the lake to the yahoo on their jet ski.  Got to thank one of those yahoo jet ski riders who towed my wife in when the pontoon overheated yesterday.  He was paying attention to what was going on around him.  Not all of them do.

 

The guy on the other end of the lake has a Super Cub on floats.  When he comes in for a landing, he will buzz the lake over where he plans to land, then he circle around again and land.  One day, a jet ski rider turned out into the lake in front of the airplane while it was on final approach.  Pilot opens the throttle and claws for altitude.  Jet ski rider seems to react with suprise and wonder when the plane passed maybe 75 feet over his head.

[Dan 312-8 93]

Seat, rear pan, and gas tank removal. Twofold purpose, to install a rear rock shaft kit that I put together at the big show, had to paint a few parts before installing.

Secondly to cure the fuel starvation issue that has been plaguing me since the second grass cutting of the season, gas tank had all kinds of dirt in it… The filter screen came off the valve and clogged the valve. When I went to drain the gas tank, gas only dripped out of the fuel line… I poured about a half pint of mineral spirits in it sloshed it around a bit and now it is currently evaporating any liquid that is left inside. I will then blow out the tank with compressed air. It also gave me a chance to clean up the topside of the transmission.

[MainelyWheelhorse 1,458]

Worked at Hannaford. The handhelds we scan to for orders stopped working, so we had to do it by hand. That definitely makes a long day that much longer.

[oliver2-44 10,679]

3 hours ago, 8ntruck said:

Completely understand, though here, the permanent folks outnumber the weekenders

 

We usually give up on kyack or pontoon rides on the weekend, leaving the lake to the yahoo on their jet ski.  

We live on a channel just off the open water. We’ve been here 31 years. While we don’t have the open lake view, it nice to have the jet skis at a distance. The channel is also a good place to swim with the grandkids.  When we moved here we were the young ones and almost all the houses on our channel were older retired full timers. The’ve  passes on and now we’re the older one’s with 75% weekenders on our channel. Besides jet skis everyone has a wake surf boat with their large wake. Yes we have one too but I try to stay away from other boats and the shore. Nothing like stopping for a swim on the open lake and someone coming close enough to put a wake roller over your bow. 
That’s why we try in stick to later Sunday afternoon and weekdays 

[ebinmaine 72,386]

Been busy puttering all day. 

A little o' this. Some o' that....

 

 

Trina's major project with her momma was to start getting firewood split and stacked.  

 

 

[76c12091520h 3,893]

Been taking some time off from Whorse since the show; first oil change in almost 10 years for my 67, adjusted the front drums, replaced some saggy 58 year old leaf springs,  cleaned the underside and spray detailed while she was in the air....

Edited June 30 by 76c12091520h

[8ntruck 7,772]

Dug into the Honda engine on the pontoon.  Found the tell tale hose plugged - not the problem though.  I took the thermostat out, put the cover back on loosely and started the engine.  No water came out.  Off to the Honda dealer tomorrow for a water pump rebuild kit.  I expected it to last longer.  I've never run it dry, but hard to tell what the storage folks do when they winterize the boat and do the spring check coming out of storage.

[kpinnc 14,571]

Been so stinking hot here that I haven't done anything with a tractor for a couple weeks. 

 

But yardwork never stops so my Scag needed some work. Changed the oil and filter, serviced the deck spindles, sharpened blades, and knocked all the buildup from under the deck since some dummy cut wet grass with it a couple weeks ago. Took about 90 minutes. 

 

Did all this at 11:00 PM last night under the carport. Still bleeping hot, but about 20 degrees cooler than during the day. 

 

My grandfather outfitted his riding mower with huge lights. He was very susceptible to sun poisoning and could not be in the sun more than a few minutes. I'm thinking of setting my Scag up the same but for different reasons! 

[Handy Don 13,972]

On 6/29/2025 at 1:27 PM, 8ntruck said:

The guy on the other end of the lake has a Super Cub on floats.  When he comes in for a landing, he will buzz the lake over where he plans to land, then he circle around again and land.  One day, a jet ski rider turned out into the lake in front of the airplane while it was on final approach.  Pilot opens the throttle and claws for altitude.  Jet ski rider seems to react with suprise and wonder when the plane passed maybe 75 feet over his head.

Hmmm. That was NOT covered during the Safe Watercraft Operator course that I took a couple years ago! I’m betting that any bad outcome would be the fault of the pilot regardless of the jet skier’s obliviousness. 

 

BTW, the certificate from the safety course is now mandatory to have on your person when you operate any powered watercraft in NY State. Get stopped for a safety check without it and the constabulary will likely give you a lift to a nearby dock (not necessarily your dock), tow and possibly impound your boat, and gift you a souvenir summons. The enforcement got stepped up after a rising number of collisions, some with serious injuries.

Edited June 30 by Handy Don

[ebinmaine 72,386]

53 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

My grandfather outfitted his riding mower with huge lights

 

You've seen our snow movers.....

I'd do it.  

[kpinnc 14,571]

30 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

You've seen our snow movers.....

I'd do it.

 

Got to mount them low to keep the bugs outta my face...

 

Yeah, it's gonna happen! 

[oliver2-44 10,679]

Tackled the sprinkler root repair. The “V” notch you see in the center bottom of the picture is all one big root. I used a sandal with a carbide demolition blade. 

This pile of root doesn’t look like much, but took an hour of cutting cleaning out mud and more cutting

Sucess. I’ll mix rocks Al in as I backfill the lower part of the hole. Hopefully that will keep the roots back for a while. 

[ebinmaine 72,386]

11 minutes ago, kpinnc said:

 

Got to mount them low to keep the bugs outta my face...

 

Yeah, it's gonna happen! 

 

 

Do some interwebs poking around and see if there are particular colors that most bugs aren't attracted to but you can still see. Never know.

[Mickwhitt 5,114]

We installed a small wildlife pond in our garden a couple of years ago and I decided it needed some goldfish.

 

So the water will stay clear I built a gravel filter barrel which is supposed to deal with pond sludge pretty effectively. 

 

It's basically a barrel full of smaller and smaller stones until you arrive at gravel.

 

There is a drain tap at the bottom to draw off the mucky sediment and the barrel has an outlet at the top so you can direct the filtered water back into the pond. 

 

We will see how it goes and if it keeps the water clear without chemicals. 

 

 

[Dan 312-8 93]

Watching paint dry is worse than watching grass grow…

I always like to let it dry for at least 4 days or more.

[Sparky-(Admin) 23,120]

  Took a 90 minute walk after work here in San Diego. Not one person asked about my WHCC hat…what’s up with that?? 
 Last time I did this walk the building was intact, still has a strong burnt smell now. 
  Cali rabbits look just like the ones in my backyard back in Connecticut 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[8ntruck 7,772]

Spent time making phone calls today.  Arranged 3 roofers to come out and make quotes on a new metal roof, then started searching for a Honda outboard water pump kit.  Nobody local had one in stock.  Nearest place was a dealer just outside of Traverse City, about 2 hours away.  Nice day, nice drive, and it was faster than ordering from a dealer orthe jungle.

[Handy Don 13,972]

A squirrel had chewed through a screen to get at some birdseed my wife had stored in the sunroom. Thankfully, she had closed the door to the house!

Cleaned up bird seed and squirrel droppings and then replaced the mesh in the screen door for an 8’ Anderson slider. .

My wife had been hesitant about reducing the local squirrel population before, but she’s on board now!

Edited July 2 by Handy Don

[19richie66 17,624]

Started working on the road trip procurement I got last week. Guy said the stator was bad. Wasn’t getting fire. Traced wiring from coil to the seat switch and jumped it out as it is squashed and no good. Got it to pop but I don’t think the fuel pump is any good. More to come when the battery is charged up. 

[Mickwhitt 5,114]

Can't recall if I mentioned that I have put fish in my little wildlife pond.

 

I made a water cascade for it today, lump of stone with a 2 inch hole through it and an aluminum nozzle. 

 

 

Four little goldfish that should live for a long time.

Home brewed barrel filter which is a biological filter with plants in to remove sediment and keeps the water clear. 

 

[953 nut 59,746]

Nice suicide knob there @19richie66, that made the trip worthwhile.                   

Edited July 2 by 953 nut

[adsm08 3,142]

I spent my evening convincing my dad he didn't break my boat.

 

He borrowed it last weekend and brought it back today. The jack on the trailer wouldn't jack, because the nut on the handle was loose, and the front thruster didn't work for him, because the ground cable rotted off. I spent more time trying to get the thruster unlocked and stowed because the lock sticks and got stuck bad this time than I did figuring out and fixing the rest of it.

 

But he thinks any time he borrows something from someone and something goes wrong it was his fault. I think he also forgets I'm about 30 years behind him in life (and finances) so where he can afford to buy nicer newer stuff, but isn't great at fixing things, I would rather buy older things that need a little (or sometimes a lot) of work because I don't always have the money, but I do have the skills. 

Edited July 3 by adsm08

[HyperPete 868]

4 minutes ago, adsm08 said:

But he thinks any time he borrows something from someone and something goes wrong it was his fault.. 

 

I was brought up learning that anytime I borrow something, it is my responsibility to repair or replace the item (owner's discretion) if I damage it, or it breaks while in my possession.

 

When I was in my early 20s, I borrowed the neighbor's circular saw to make a quick repair to my parents' house on Cape Cod.  My neighbor stored it in his open shed (in view of the beach).

 

I took it home & plugged it in, and it began throwing sparks everywhere on the first cut. My fault for not testing it before I borrowed it. In any case, I replaced it with a brand new one and left it in my neighbor's shed when I was done. My loss, his gain, but that's the way it goes when I borrow something. 

 

This may be abnormal nowadays, but that's the way my parents raised me in the 60s & 70s. I think it's a good rule to go by.