Archives for August 2022

Hey Sweetie,
Got up bright and early to tackle the day, managed to find a good deal on a rental car and arranged for Glenn, believe it or not, to pick me up and take me to Budget in Stuart. We stopped on the way to see if the Buick would start, but it didn’t, so I’ll have to come up with a Plan B. Picked up a nice little Kia sporty car, apparently an upgrade from the Toyota, but frankly, I can hardly tell the difference between one little car and the next these days. Then I went to do my long overdue shopping, a very expensive day, but now I’m stocked up for a long time. Didn’t get back to camp until nearly 7:00, unpacked my groceries, did my rounds (I only have one camper spending one night), made a nice big burger on the grill and settled down for the evening. Ready for shower and bed soon! Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Kind of had a disappointing day today, in so many ways. After chores and breakfast, I started up the Buick and managed to make it to the auto repair shop with no problem, then said I’d likely need four new tires to fix the front end shaking (they say it’s dry rot), and they found where the whine was coming from and replaced a short piece of hose, which solved the noise, but then when they went to pull it up on the rack, they couldn’t get it started, which has never really been a problem, well, except that one time at the gate the other day. They didn’t have the right equipment to scan it for problems, but I did have a manual tool to read the code reader, but it was clear. The check engine light didn’t come on, so that didn’t help. The owner, Ray, decided it was a part that could only be found in West Palm and sent someone down to get it, only to learn it wasn’t really on the shelf at all. He ordered it from somewhere else, but it will be overnight. I was there over six hours, then, inexplicably, they tried to start it and it finally started. They were afraid to turn it off, but I ended up doing it, figured I’m better off doing it in their driveway than at the store, which I had to stop at for more dog food and bottled water. I started and stopped it several times and it seemed to work okay, so I drove off with it, made my stop at the store, then headed back to camp, with nothing improved except the whine. I was hoping that problem solved would also solve the backfiring and stalling in motion problem, but unfortunately, it didn’t. I was about a mile or so along Kanner Hwy. when it did it to me again, and this time, I couldn’t get it started at all, darn it. Fortunately, I ended up right in front of Chester’s house, the guy who does all the mowing out on the property here, and his wife and daughter came out and helped me push it off the road a bit, and drove me back to camp. Trying to figure out what to do next, how to get it back here, hoping maybe I can get a mobile mechanic out here, if I can get it back to camp. Had another argument with UPS, who refuse to deliver my packages to me, they’re only dropping them off at the office, then I waste an hour on the phone trying to remedy it and get nothing but empty promises that “dispatch will call me asap.” I’ve had the promise made three times now, and it’s yet to happen. Grrr! I also learned that the repair on the truck, if I want everything done right, including the lift pump, is going to cost me well over $6K, not happy about that, but I guess it’s still a lot cheaper than buying a new truck. Guess my only choice at this point is going to be rent a car until I get my truck back, don’t know if my insurance will cover that, since the repair isn’t a result of an accident, but I’ll find out tomorrow. At the moment, I’m truly vehicle-less! I was hoping to drive into Stuart to shop (and play Euchre maybe) tomorrow, but that will only happen now if I can get a rental out here early enough. Busy morning, I’ll be setting the alarm! Settled down for the evening, feeling very tired after sitting for so long in an uncomfortable chair. Heading for shower and bed forthwith! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!

Hi Sweetie,
Well, after doing some research this morning, I finally had the truck towed to a shop about 25 miles away, to the tune of over $300 for the tow! Crazy expensive these days! But everything has gone up, right? Wasn’t in the mood to do much of anything today, since the next step in my signage really needs to be done with my truck, though I guess I could do some with my tractor. It’s just so hard to carry paint and supplies with me, so I figure I’d just wait till I got my truck back. By the end of the day, the mechanic had come to the conclusion that it needed a whole new set of fuel injectors, something I did about 50,000 miles ago, but of course, the three year warranty expired last year, so nothing is covered. He suggested an upgraded type of injector, and an after market product called an Airdog, which is a fuel “lift” system to help move it from the fuel tank to the engine. I’d read a bit about them in my research, and it’s going to be expensive, but it seems like a worthwhile investment since I plan on keeping this truck forever if I can! So, it’s going to be an expensive repair, but hopefully, it will be only one for awhile! I made an appointment to take the Buick in tomorrow morning, I’m hoping they can solve the vibration, and maybe figure out where the whine is coming from, and maybe even trace back why my AC compressor isn’t get electric. The rest of the day, I just didn’t feel like doing anything, figured I’d save my strength for later in the week when I’m really going to need it! Read and binge-watched all day, had another argument with UPS about not delivering my packages to me (the driver went to the office instead, despite promises to the contrary), and just chilled today. Heading for my shower and bed here shortly. Good night, darlin’! Love you!

Hi Darlin’,
Had a mostly quiet day today, just did a little compounding and waxing on the Buick to get rid of some stains that had come up, probably from the car cover that’s been on it for the last two years. I started up just find this morning after having been charging up all night, so I moved it into the carport. I tried to put the AC compressor on, and it seemed like it went but then it almost stalled out so I turned it off again, then it wouldn’t come on when I went around to see if it was on, which it wasn’t. Not sure what the problem is, but I didn’t have the energy to go looking for it today. Put a little oil in the tractor, then took the rest of the day off, finishing up a book and binge-watching some TV. Did one load of laundry, too, now I’m ready for my shower and bed. Good night, baby! Love you!

Hey Babe,
Started working on the truck myself this morning while I waited for Jeff, cut a new hose and started to put it on, had trouble working around a big pipe so I took that off. He got there fairly early and we got busy, it went a bit easier this morning, but unfortunately, even with the new part in, the truck behaved exactly the same way as before, so this was obviously not the problem, darn it. I hate changing out parts just to try to find a solution, then discovering it didn’t help! Guess my only option now is to find a good mobile mechanic, if there is one around here. Decided to go back to Jeff’s to see if we can get the Buick going, or at worst, borrow his old Bronco, which it really the most reliable vehicle either. We had to charge the battery up for a couple of hours, be we did manage to get it started using my little jump starter, though we had to get some charge in it before that would work. Put air in the tires, and Jeff tried to put some refrigerant in the AC system, but even though the compressor was working when I first started it up, it quit for some reason, so I guess I’ll just be driving with the windows down for awhile, though I’ll take a look and see if I can find any other problems. The compressor is probably okay, it’s just not getting power to it, so maybe an electrical issue. It still has that whine that it had when I parked it two years ago, but it seemed to be running okay. Then I headed home, and just before I got to Pratt Whitney Rd., there was a pop, then a rattle that sounded like a tool dropping through the engine, and a cloud of smoke from the exhaust and it quit. I pulled over, and it jump started right up again, thankfully. It got me as far as about 100 yards from the entrance to the camp when it quit again, and I had just enough momentum to pull up to the gate, thank goodness! This time it wouldn’t jump start, so I opened the gate and pushed it through, closed the gate, and tried to jump start it again, this time it started right up again. Got it to the end of my driveway and put the charger on it. So now I have two dead vehicles in my driveway! Well, not dead, just not reliable. I’m going to take the Buick into the service center in town, because I want to have the check the tires and the front end, it has a pretty bad shimmy that I want checked. I’ll ask them about the whine, and have them give it a good going over. If I can get it serviceable, it will make a great runaround car, with great mileage and cheaper gas, not to mention, a lot more fun to drive! Did my rounds and settled down for the evening, ready for my shower to get rid of the smell of grease and diesel, and a good night sleep! Love you, sweetie! Good night!

Hi Sweetie,
Spent the morning cutting and painting a couple of new crosspieces as well as making a couple of changes on two more, which didn’t take me long. Jeff was supposed to get here around 11:00 or so, then got a late start (big surprise there!), then got waylaid by brother Glenn who needed him to come over and work on his air conditioning system, so it was after 4:00 by the time he got here. Naturally, it didn’t turn out to be as easy as he thought it would be, and it was getting dark and the mosquitoes were out and we had only managed to get the old fuel filter housing off, with little headway of getting the new one on, mostly because of a misunderstanding about which fuel lines went where. We called it a night, with plans to pick up again tomorrow. Settled down for the evening, desperate for a shower and bed! Good night, my darling! Love you!

Hey Darlin’!
Got up bright and early, reviewed the procedure for replacing the fuel filter housing on the truck, then after feeding the horses, went about the business of trying to take that part off. Sorry to say, I was unsuccessful. Didn’t have the right tools, the strength, of the patience for it, I’m afraid. The part itself is only held on by two bolts, but I just couldn’t reach it with the tools I have, and even when I did, I couldn’t break them loose. I managed to get off one of the fuel lines and moved a couple of things out of the way thinking that would help (it didn’t), and finally I decided I just needed to have it towed to the shop and let the professionals do it. Well, that didn’t work out either, turns out neither of the two shops in town will work on a diesel. Go figure. So then I asked about a mobile mechanic and got a name, but didn’t really want to go to a complete stranger, so I ended up calling brother Jeff to see if he had time to come over this weekend and help me with it, and he agreed, thank goodness. Meanwhile, I all but finished painting all the numbers on the crosspieces for the trail markers, and did an inventory to see what I had left to do. I have two boards I need to fix where I made a mistake or forgot to put on a trail stripe, and one board I need to cut that I somehow miscounted, but that won’t take me long. Then I’m going to do a touchup with white, because some of the boards stuck together when I stacked them and peeled a little when I separated them, so I just want to fix that. Then I’ll be ready to start taking them out and putting them up! The challenge is going to be putting in the intersection number and the other arrows in situ, so it will be slow going for awhile, but at least we’re making a lot of progress at last! Sister-in-law Dena was kind enough to offer to pick up some groceries for me, so she and Glenn stopped by to drop those off, along with the replacement fuel line for the repair. I had completely run out of dog food, and I needed a couple of things for me to last me through the weekend, hopefully I’ll be able to do a big shopping next week when my truck is running again, fingers crossed! Had three more groups of campers come in, so a busy weekend in store. “Old” James came by with my package with the new part, I was sure the office was closed but apparently he was there and kindly brought it over to me. Finally settled down, had a quiet evening, soon to shower and bed. Good night, babe! Love you!

Hey Babe!
Had a good night sleep and another busy day! I finished off stenciling the rest of the boards that are ready, and started painting the numbers and arrows on them. This is my least favorite part of the job, mainly because I’ve just never been good at art! I’m good at many creative things, but painting with a little art brush isn’t one of them. I managed to get about 20 boards done, so I still have a long way to go. Went practically nonstop from 8:30 to 3:30, then I just had to quit, it’s such tedious work. I collected some more palm fronds and put them on the remains of yesterday’s fire, and it smoked for a long time before finally catching, but I got rid of some more of the stuff that’s laying around. Finally settled down for the evening, just drinking my Sleepytime tea, then I’ll shower and get to bed early, I have another long day tomorrow! The part for the truck is due to be delivered, and sis-in-law Dena is bringing me some groceries, mostly for Lola, and hopefully some fuel line from NAPA for my truck as well, and they’re coming early. So I’ll say good night, my sweet! Love you!

Hi Sweetheart!
Had a full day of painting today, as I started to put the color stripes on each sign, as well as some of the numbers and fine print. I got so involved I barely had a short break midday and worked straight through until 4:00, when I thought it was about to storm, but never really did. Still have a bunch more to do tomorrow, and I also hope I’ll have time to take the fuel filter housing off the truck, though if I do that on Thursday morning before my part comes, that should be okay, too. Finally settled down for dinner and a quiet evening, though I also spent a few minutes burning some windrow that been lying around. I’m trying to do that periodically so it doesn’t pile up too much. Once of these days I’ll tackle the big pile behind the dumpsters, no sense letting it just rot there, it looks rather untidy, and isn’t likely to get used by campers any time soon. Anyway, I won’t be long out of bed tonight! Good night, my darlin’! Love you!