Random Schtuff

 I told you about installing an automower in my back yard. Its been running without issue for a week and today I'm gonna work on extending my boundary to include the side and front portions of my yard. This will require the use of a few tools I don't have to include a concrete saw. I'll need to run some wires across my drive and I'll use the saw to create some grooves for the wire. I'm anxious to run to work and grab those tools along with some crack sealer so I'm gonna cut this post short.
 How about some random phone pics?

 James got boo boo to his hand and hasn't been able to run a spray rig. This means I've been out more than usual but it also means my back has been sore from bouncing around on these things.

 Don't you hate this? Somebody cranked this ratchet strap tight without considering that the crank lever needs to open all the way up to release. Grrrr.

 I know the guy that wrote this book. Well, not really but I used to work with a guy that we joked had a big book of excuses. Some of em were whoppers.

 I hadn't watched a movie in a while and was looking for a laugh. This classic did the job for me.
Ok, gotta cruise. Need to get some work done today.

Later.

Need A Name

 I don't know if the younger generations are just spoiled or if the fact that they weren't spanked is the reason for their piss poor behavior. They act like they are entitled to whatever they want without having to earn anything. Responsibility for ones actions seems to be a lost notion. I don't know anymore. The older I get the more I feel like the old man yelling "get off my lawn".
 Is it me getting old? How about this situation at work. We have an eyewash station near a sink. I covered the station with clean towels to keep dirt and dust off of it. I had to use it once and the thing was nasty because some lazy fux kept grabbing those towels to wipe off their dick beaters. I had to put a sign on the thing to keep them from taking the towels and someone inserted the word "please". No. Not please. I'm not asking you, I'm telling you. Someones eyesight may depend on it.
 Now we have a paper towel dispenser near the sink and of course a garbage can. It just pisses me off but apparently close is good enough for these lazy fux.

 I vented and put up a sign. Things got worse and they just started hanging garbage from the sign.

 Sometimes I like to have some ranch dressing handy at lunch time so I bought a bottle and put it in the fridge. Apparently I'm not the only one that likes ranch because I used it like twice and the next time I wanted it there was nothing but an empty bottle in the fridge. Not almost empty but more like licked dry. Why would you put that back in the fridge?  The situation needed a sign.

 It may be hard to read but it basically tells the children that there is no such thing as a ranch dressing fairy. No winged entity with a magic wand sneaks in at night and restocks the fridge. People buy that stuff so they can use it when they want. Blah blah rant over.

 I last told you about wanting to install an Automower in my yard. This is one section now cleaned up so the mower can easily pass over the sidewalk. I still need to lay the wire in this section...

...but the back yard is wired and the mower ran flawlessly the first day out.

 Watching this thing roam around the yard is mesmerizing. Its fun to guess which way it will turn next after reaching a boundary wire or bouncing off a tree. After the first day I can see where I might relay some boundary wire to lessen some trimming and fill in some areas I left out. The other thing that needs to be done is to give it a name. Initially we called it Squish because it was monster trucked and all the plastic (and much of his guts) was destroyed. The demo mower at the shop has been named Squish2.0 so maybe we could keep the name Squish Ver1 or something. Dunno yet. Gonna watch it for a while and see if it does something stupid that earns it a name.

Later.

Injected

 I don't really have much to report this week. Somehow it just didn't feel like a short work week. Basically Tuesday was a Monday at work, meaning you get to deal with all the crap that happened over the weekend no matter what day is the first work day of the week.
 I didn't ride the bike to work at all this week and I can't blame the weather. Sometimes things just don't feel right so I will just pretend I saved myself from some horrible fate by leaving the bike parked. Instinct? Gut feeling? I don't know but I'm over it now.
 Maybe I'm just loosing it. My wife and I were at the store and I wanted to pick up some lemonade.

 I saw this bottle and right away thought "hmmm, non-carbureted, must be injected." I guess its impossible to set aside the gearhead in me even when grocery shopping.

 I'm still working on cleaning up the yard. My plan is to install a Husqvarna Automower and my landscaping needs to be changed up to allow the machine access to all parts of the yard. I'll talk more about the mower in future posts but for now I'll tell you we sell and install these at work and I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about them.

 Here is one example of how I need to clean up the landscaping. A long time ago I laid these paver blocks as edging around a mulch bed. The mulch has broke down and disappeared a long time ago only to let grass and weeds take over. The bed ran from the shovel to the drive and you can see where I removed some pavers. There are pavers on the other side of the walk as well. The automower could monster truck through the mulch I suppose (if I remulched that area) but instead I'll relay the pavers where I have painted the white line. I plan to finish this area today and clean up a few other spots that really just need attention. I'm burnin daylight.

Later.

No Progress

 A welcome cool down is on the way but man its been hot. On Sunday my wife and I spent the day on the bike. It was a scorcher. We got home at 6pm and it was still 94 degrees. We were looking forward to the relief of our central air conditioning but when we walked into the house we were greeted by temps in the 80's and two pissed off cats. A quick check of things made me believe the ac compressor finally took a crap. Its been making noise for a few years now and was 20 years old before we bought this house a few decades ago. Monday we were laughed at by store managers when we inquired about window air conditioner availability. Apparently everyone was sold out. My wife made a post on facebook about our situation and her sister came through with a new in the box unit she was hoarding and friend Chris came through with a deal on a 12,000 btu unit she wasn't using. Thanks ladies! Its not cool being hot and Scotty Too Hotty was over heating.
 While my wife was chasing down ac units, I was messin around in the paint booth trying to get my true fire flames to look true. I don't think I made much progress but I don't think I'm going backwards. I need to come up with a style that fits me and I suppose that will come with time. I watched one tutorial video where the dude claimed he had about 130 hours practice before he was happy with his work. Screw that. If I don't see progress in the next few attempts then I may have an airbrush setup for sale. Here are attempts 3 and 4. I think my next try will be of some long thin flames or at least something that is wider at the point of origin than at the tip. At the very least I want to add some dimension to these flames where the layers interact with each other, rather than just lay on top of each other.

 The more I paint these things the more I realize that the ones that should look like true fire are not necessarily the ones I like. Maybe thats just because I'm not good at them yet or maybe because I've always liked old school  hot rod flames. I have a feeling my "style" may end up somewhere between real and fantasy with more freehand and less stencil. We'll see.
 Ultimately these flames will end up on the sportster tank. You may remember when I told you about taping off some flames to hide a blemish in my paint job. The tape reacted with the clear coat and left it looking like shit.

 You can see some irregularities in the paint by the reflection of the light.

 I wet sanded and then buffed the paint and the marks went away. I suppose I could just bolt the tank on and ride the bike till I'm ready to paint it but I may hold off on that for a while. I'll keep you posted.

Later.

Memorial Day Weekend

 If you're celebrating Memorial Day this weekend, why not take a minute to think about the meaning of the holiday. Too many people just take advantage of the time off and don't even know what its about. That's all I'm gonna say about that.

 Yesterday I had to work. The store was busy. People needed their landscape supplies to complete their Honey-Do lists and they needed parts for their lawn equipment. We're also a rental center and with the great weather a lot of equipment went out.
 Great weather? We reached record highs and will again today. It was really only great weather in the fact that it was sunny and didn't rain. The heat and humidity really kinda sucked and my Duluth Trading Buck Naked boxers had a hard time meeting the challenge butt in the end held up well.
 When I got home it was time to do some more of that yard work I started telling you about last time. A small tree had to be cut down and I wanted to load it in the back of my Dodge. Old Blue ain't run in a while and the battery was dead. It took all the extension cords I had to get the battery charger to the spot in the drive where it was parked. Once started, it wouldn't keep running. I think the idle air control unit is on the fritz because it wouldn't stay running on its own. This was frustrating as I was trying to back a trailer into a small space in the back yard. Later after the trailer was in place and the branches were loaded, the truck wouldn't start again and I was further away from my max extension cord length than before. Its frustrating when you have to spend time dicking around with shit that isn't getting the actual task at hand completed. Rant over.

 Last night might have been a perfect warm night for a dinner ride but I was just beat. We ordered in food and my wife even made the beer run for me. What a gal.

 Todays plans include a breakfast run, bike wash and day ride. Its gonna be hot but it should be a relaxing, care free day.
 Be safe out there.

Later.

Big Knife and a Beer

 When we bought this house like twentyish years ago I did a little landscaping in the yard. Nothing fancy, just mulch beds and some paver edging. Right now everything looks like that was the last time I touched it and this year I feel I want to clean it up a bit. It'll be kinda like putting lipstick on a pig because there are a lot of other things going on that need attention, but as you'll find out in future posts, I have a bigger plan.

 One task that needed tending to was edging the sidewalks and drive. I brought home a stick edger from work but what I really needed was a larger walk behind unit because of the depth of the sod hanging over the walks. In the end I just used a big ass knife and kept things lubed with a few cool ones. In the end I still had ten fingers and ten toes so everything turned out alright I guess.

 I'll need to get the pressure washer out and clean the walk and porch. I also need to bring the rig home from work and spray the lawn. Ya know, besides being the two stroke tech at work, I also run a crew that does this crap every day. My yard really should look better than it does.

I received a gift from a friend the other day. All it needs are a few squirts of oil and it'll be ready for service.

 Thanks Chris! I'll give it a good home.

Later.

Friday Night Flames

 I had a chance Friday night to putz around in the spray booth again and practice true fire flames. My first try was ok I guess if you squint just right but more important is that I learned a lot. This is my second attempt and while its obvious I need work with the layout of the flames, I am happier with the colors. My yellow isn't green this time which is a good thing. Red in the background is ok but my orange could be brighter.

 I quit before adding the last layer of flames or highlights so it looks weird but as it grew I realized something was wrong. I'm not gonna paint a campfire on my sporty so why am I practicing these vertical flames? Next time I'll lay them out horizontal and stretch them out as though the bike is on fire and haulin ass. Thats really the traditional look I would like to be able to paint. IF, and thats a big if, I get to the point where I feel I'm ready to put them on the bike then maybe I'd like to add something in the fire. Not sure what, or if I want it to be obvious but I think something should live in there. Maybe Waldo or better yet the rat from my stickers.

Later.