Some goings on at Casa de Garabaldi

Couple of things going on here at Casa De Garabaldi.  First off a week ago, I had gone by Sams Club and it was a pleasant visit and I saw the solar lights were back so I picked up another one

I knew where I wanted to place it  so I got my favorite Workbench that Happens to look like an F-150

I positioned the Workbench where it needed to be...

Its nice to have the space to lay stuff out on the toolbox while I stand on the bed after backing up the truck right up against the house.  More sturdy than any "A" frame ladder, lemme tell you,   I have the back glass open letting my 80's hit playing from the radio from my Sirius/XM

Light is installed, I still have to place the Solar panel to recharge the batteries,  

I recentered my workbench partially inside the garage, you can see where I tossed the solar panel so I had an idea how much slack I had on the power cord to position the panel.   

While I was looking around, I had to put the Wife's Edge in the Grass.., 

I was standing on the toolbox to get the height necessary to install the Solar panel

My son's truck actually looked kinda small

D,O,G Pronounced "DeeYooGee" don't looked excited seeing me doing my thing...

Panel installed and unlike my last one, the batteries actually work.

I had purchased a limited run stripped lower from Palmetto Arms back in February and I finally got it in July, it was the "Angry Joe" AR-14 Dog Faced Pony Soldier in homage to the 2020 Democratic candidate for President 

I started building it, it took couple hours and a couple of *F* bombs..

Completed Lower, 

Closeup of Logo, I taped over the Serial Number

The Selector Switch

Backside of Selector Switch.

I have ordered Optics from "Overlord Tactical", and they should be here shortly.    I had "borrowed" an Upper from a "Friend"  since I had lost all my AR's in a tragic kayak accidents.  The Lower functions checks good. *Wink*Wink*.

     Now a bit to Politics...In November, We will be facing a choice...

I know My Choice..

Pretty Much says it all.....

Day 2 of the "Shelter in Place"

I continue working around the house, I had finished the little shed and started pressure washing around the house.  You can be surprised how hi you can go pressure washing when you stand on the truck box of your mobile workbench(F150)

I worked around using the truck to get to high places and while I was in that area I went on a hunch and changed the batteries on that solar light that I installed several days ago and it wasn't working, I suspected that it was the batteries and I changed them with Energizer AA rechargeable

  because the light has a solar panel and it wasn't working..I suspected it was the batteries and I was correct..

 Can't make batteries worth a dang, but sure can make CCP-Bugs

Light works.

I continued working around the house pressure washing and repairing some siding issues as I worked around.  I used the height of my movable workbench to get places where I could go higher as I cleaned gutters and continued spraying.

The House is looking good, I haven't had the time to show that area of the house any TLC in a while

I even placed the shed in its new place

Here is the little Pressure washer, I really used the mess out of it.

I continue to "shelter in Place" for right now, I might try to sneak out for a bit.  I have been seeing on facebook about people squealing on others for "breaking curfew" and calling each other out on it.  I am amazed on the number of people that are willing to sell their fellow Americans out to the Authorities for "Breaking Curfew", the Statist should be proud.

Some going on at Casa De Garabaldi

 Here in my State, we have to do car emissions in the metro counties as part of the Clean air act and they are due on the Birthday of the owner of the car.  Well my birthday is next month so I figured I would go ahead and get my trusty workbench( 1999 F150) emission tested.

                                                                  "My Workbench" 

Here in my state, a vehicle has to be 25 years old to be exempt from emission requirements, and when my truck gets to that state, I will remove the Cats and retune the engine.  the 4.6 2V engine from Ford is rock solid design and pretty much bulletproof.  

     Well Anyway I go to get my truck emission tested and discovered that the truck failed emissions.  the testing station informed me that my "idiot" light wasn't working because I was getting the neferious P171 and 174 code which mean that engine is running Rich/lean and that means that my MAF sensor is messing up.  Well crap...he suggested that I first buy a cleaner called "Mass Air Flow Cleaner" and clean my sensor, then replace my "idiot" light.  then bring my truck back.  I agreed to do that and he didn't charge me for the failed test which I though was mighty nice of him.   next stop was to the local auto parts place to buy the cleaner...

I then proceeded to start dismantling my intake system....

I extracted the MAF from the Intake system and had part of the intake system on a  white table that I had set up in front of the Truck, a trick I learned at work, it allows me to spread the work out so I don't lose anything and to better keep track of what ever I am working on.   I proceeded to spray the tarnation's out of the MAF sensor, then I put the MAF sensor on the table to air dry while I start on the dash to replace/flip the LED light I had installed previously.

I had already removed the instrument cluster bezel and cover before I decided to take a few pictures, I was fighting the clock, I had to pick up supper at 17:00 hours and I had started working on the truck at 15:30 hours so I was under the clock.  There are newer trucks out there but I know this truck like the back of my hand, 

While I was working, I had the radio playing and of course my Sirious/XM on my favorite channel was operating and you can see the time "16:16" Time marches on....Tick,...Tick.....Tick.....Tick....

   the Cluster is out of the Truck, I will proceed to the table and swich around the LED light and see if that solves the "Idiot" light problem.

Yes the "Idiot" light works," Loud and Proud", I now have to drive it around until the light clears so I can get it "tested".   Reassembled the Intake system and had the truck ready to go exactly at 17:00 to go pick up supper.  Yay Me!

   I did some driving around for a bit, picked up supper and other driving and the code cleared and immediately tested the truck before the code decided to come back(hope it don't).   The RPM's hight because I just cranked up the truck this morning to take the pic because I forgot last night....Hey it happens...  

     A couple of months ago I Installed and blogged about a solar power light on the side of my house and it didn't work because the trees separating my yard from my neighbors, blocked too much sunlight so I was getting no light because the batteries were not charging.  I love the trees because they are an excellent windbreak and have prevented a lot of storm/wind damage to my roof in the past by breaking up the wind as it blew due to the orientation of the house and the yard, it has worked for 24 years and I ain't gonna monkey with what has worked for all these years of y'all know what I mean.  Well I happen to be at Ace and saw this battery powered light and it seemed to be the perfect solution to my problem, 

     That light cost me $19.99 from Ace and it uses 4 D batteries and it is supposed to last 1 year between changes, it is motion sensor activated and no wires, so was easy to install, it illuminates the trashcan on the side of the house at night so when I go in the evening to dump the trash, it isn't in darkness.  simple solution to a problem.

      Now a couple political comments.....I have this in my yard....

For a "Blue County" there are an awful lot of Trump signs and flags, I have seen only one "Biden/Harris" sign, and that was on the other side of the county,  there is an awful lot of excitement for Trump.  My Cul-de-sac is nothing but Trump as most of my Subdivision, 

My truck still has the "Deplorable Inside" from the 2016 election,   This was from me trying to install the solar powered light that i wound up moving to the other side where the sun hits the house and it now works :)

      

And of course the Babylon Bee released my favorite meme, President Tested positive for Covid-19 and of course the Tolerant Left hoped that he would get sick and die, the empathy shown was touching...of course The Donald being the Donald was out in 3 days and the tolerant left lost their mind and there were comparisons of "Rising from the Grave" and others, but this one really caught my eye and I shared it on Farcebook.  I normally don't do politics on Farcebook, That is what blogging is for.

Did something that I haven't done in a while....

 Shockers...I ran a Cub Scout Range, actually I did it twice,  I did it Yesterday and Today.

   It was a simple Range layout, 

Assortment of "BB" guns, all provided by us leaders, the council was supposed to provide them, we were doing a recruitment drive on both side of the county and my side of the county was on Friday and the other side was on Saturday.  The Council was supposed to provide the BB guns, but they somehow were "unavailable", so we leaders scrounged up our own, Most of the ones on the table were mine, I didn't really know how I had so many BB guns...I guess they are like coat hangers I suppose.

   Of course I had my "Workbench/PhoneCharger" that happens to look like a F150 there..  

   This was the Range setup on Saturday, we were setting up and using PiePans with the center colored with a marker.  It makes the Cub Scout have a sense of accomplishment when they hear the "Ping" on the piepan.  

    

        I was using Just my "BB" guns today, 3 others  had been pulled off line for failures.

      Since I was waiting for Cub Scouts to arrive, I decided to start either diagnosing or repairing the 3 BB guns that had failed the day before. 

                                 The Sear/Trigger group of a Daisy Lever Action.

 Here shows the work in progress, and it was fortuitous happenstance that I had tools in my truck.  

    The end results was 1 BB gun repaired, one diagnosed and possible repair likely and one scrapped.

      As far as the recruitment went, we had possibilities on Friday, the Principals didn't put the word out in my area on Friday but we had some people show up because they heard of it on social media and came out and had a good time, I had several Dad and Cub Scouts shooting together and it was worth that to see the smiles on the kids faces as they spent time with their Dads and some Moms.  I stressed the 3 always rules and I also mentioned the "Eddie Eagle Rule" What do You do if you see a real gun laying around some where?"  And the Kids always say "Don't Touch it" in their kid voices, and I then ask them "What do you do next?" and they say "I don't know.." I point to their Mom and Dad" and I ask the kid while squatting at their level because they are 5 and 6 year olds, "Who is that?" and they always say "Daddy!" or "Mommy"!  I smile and say "Yes, Mommy/Daddy, you tell them about it, ok?  And they smile in understanding and the parents love it when I do that because they understand what I am doing.

      On Saturday the word was out by the principals in the schools in that area, but we had nobody come out, it was a total bust.  I was disappointed on that regard, but it was good seeing my friends and fellow leaders again, they haven't seen  me since pre-covid and they didn't recognize me, the weight loss was that apparent.  That part made me feel good, seeing my friends again.

   The people that organized the event gave us adult leaders a gift who worked an event, I would have done it for nothing,   In this case it is a Neckerchief that you wear with your uniform.  I don't wear Neckerchiefs, I wear Bolo's on formal occasions along with my "WoodBadge" Beads.  I quit wearing Neckerchiefs since I was a Star Scout and that option was presented to me way back in 1980.  I still am appreciative of the gift and the gesture and it will go in my "patch locker" that every scouter has.

      On a Different note....I am on a 30 day cooler run on Farcebook,  The rat bastards went back to September of last year to ding me...

     This is the one that got me.........and a week prior they nailed me for 72 hours for this one...

                     You notice the date......June 2018............

Rat Bastards, Fuck Farcebook

Whats going on and why I haven't been posting.

    I have been very busy, the overtime spigot is open at work 

   And What little time I have when I get home, I have been working on my "Precious", A.K.A the Workbench, or my mobile phone charger that happens to look like an F150.

 

      Well a few weeks ago My son was using my truck because it gets better gas mileage than his truck while he was saving money to get a economical car (He since bought a 2013 Ford Focus and paid cash for the car and is very happy with it, but I digress.  He was using my truck and the "Check Engine" light came on and was flashing, and the truck was running rough.  I told him to park it and he did.  I did some digging and pulled some codes and the truck was misfiring.  Basically time for spark plugs and wires.  So I started that process..

 Set up the table. and started removing the cold air intake system to better give me access to the block

  I already pulled the first boot, it was easy, but I I had to wait a couple of weeks to get my "Spark Plug wire pliers" from the Mac truck.  I have had spark plug wires come apart on me before so I waited for the proper tools so I wouldn't tear the boot trying to get them off the spark plugs.

    It got filthy by the grease in the engine...

  the cleaner hand,the other one was black, LOL

The First Spark Plug......It is nasty....no wonder the truck was misfiring.   I since removed the ones on one side only......So far.  I had shot a bit of "Kroil" into the cylinder after removing the spark plug wire, I wanted to make sure that the spark plug came out also and not sheer off inside the block....that would really suck.

       This is what has my occupied right now, so blogging is suffering.  my birthday is coming up and I have to get the truck running and pass emissions that is the priority......and of course the damm mosquitoes......Grrr.

     I will post as soon as I am able.