September 6, 2024 - October 11, 2024 - Homer Repair and Florida Hurricanes

 My Blog Reflection

We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.

Calvin Coolidge

September 6, 2024:

The transmission shop finally got Homer to act up on a test drive. He has been to three transmission shops in the last last three years and this is the first time it has acted up while they were driving him. It is definitely an issue in the transmission. Time for a rebuild. This will not be cheap.

September 25, 2024:

I had to go to BJC Hospital in St. Louis for a bone scan and CT scan. Upon leaving the hospital parking garage, at the pay booth I accidentally hit the button to roll down the back passenger window rather than the driver window. The window went down but would not roll back up. After getting out of the garage I pulled over and tried to get the window up from the rear door switch but it wouldn't work either. We had to drive home with the window down. Luckily it wasn't raining. For a long time I have had trouble with the master driver window switch not activating a couple of windows properly so I ordered a new switch for $29.00.

September 26, 2024:

I called the transmission shop and the transmission is out of Homer and on the bench for a rebuild. There are three transmissions in front of him so I was told it will probably be another week to week and a half before it is rebuilt and reinstalled. UGGGH!

We anxiously watched the news to see how Hurricane Helene might impact our home in Florida. Thankfully, it appeared to be going Northeast but we would still get lots of wind, rain, and flooding. 

September 27, 2024:

Hurricane Helene hit land in Florida with a vengeance. Luckily for us it hit in the Big Bend area of Florida North of us. A neighbor reported that we did not receive any visible damage. A couple of homes in our park lost parts of their roofs.

October 4, 2024:

John and I took apart the passenger door panel  on the HHR to diagnose the power window problem. On occasion we were able to get the window to go up and down. We concluded the problem was the switch, not the motor. The window on the rear passenger side acted up at times as well so I ordered two new switches. They were $9.95 each and came the next day. 

Upon receiving the switches I installed then and both windows work fine now. The master window switch on the driver's door hadn't arrived yet from a different vendor.

October 7, 2024:

The window master switch arrived for the driver's door. I got to work taking the door panel off and installing the switch. I'm an old hand at getting the door panels off now but getting this switch out of the armrest was a major pain. I was only able to get it out after breaking it in half, prying on the tabs, and breaking the plastic mounting in several spots. Once the new switch was installed and tested, it did not appear that the broken mounting spots on the armrest were bad enough for the switch to not stay in place. Now all window switches work perfectly. They should outlast me.

October 9-10, 2024:

Hurricane Number Two - Milton.

Hurricane Milton was predicted to hit land in the Tampa Bay area on Wednesday. Our home is in Pinellas Park, which adjoins St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is on one side of Tampa Bay. A major hurricane had not hit Tampa Bay for 100 years and it was predicted this one would be the worst hurricane ever to hit Florida. 

We could do nothing but watch and wait. Landfall was pushed back until after midnight on Wednesday. Our agony was prolonged. When we went to bed we didn't know if we would have a place in Florida when we woke up. Storm surges were predicted to be a record fifteen feet high followed by 100 mph hour wind, and unprecedented heavy rainfall. If the surge didn't get you, and the wind didn't get you, the flooding would. As luck would have it the eye turned to the South and hit the Siesta Key area, about sixty miles to our South. The predicted storm surge of fifteen feet was only three feet. What a relief!!! Nonetheless, being on the outer edge of the hurricane our area endured 100 mph winds and received eighteen inches of rain in a little over an hour. None of this is good for anyone, much less those with mobile homes.  While still dark Thursday night my neighbor left the shelter and drove back to the park. He found that the streets were flooded and he could not get to his home. 

After daylight some of our park residents returned from shelters to assess the damage. By this time the flood waters had receded but the electric was out. One lady was kind enough to spend the afternoon driving around in her golf cart and videoing all the homes so people could see if their place was damaged. Probably 90% of the park residents are winter residents only like us. They come to Florida from all over the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Thus checking on your property is not easy.

The lady posted the videos on the park's Facebook page for all to see. In watching the videos it appeared to me that at least twenty homes had awnings and carports torn off, etc. In the meantime our neighbor, John, called me and advised that he couldn't see any damage to our place. He had no damage either. What a relief! He said we lost two palm trees. His comment was interesting because we only had one palm tree. Apparently if it fell we were lucky it didn't hit the house. I think he was confused on that. It remains to be seen if there was any interior water damage. Last year during a small hurricane a downspout became blocked and water backed up the wall and caused the wood paneling to bubble out in living room wall in a two-foot area. I called the roofing company and hopefully they fixed it so that it didn't happen again this time.

October 10, 2024:

I once again called the transmission shop in Indiana about Homer and the response I got was that they were working on him. He has been there since August! I am concerned about getting him home and winterized before the weather turns cold and pipes freeze. While he is there he is inside the shop so that is good. 

October 11, 2024:

As of now we are on track to head to California in the truck on the 20th to deliver some items to the girls and grandkids. Our plan is to stay and enjoy Halloween with them and then head back on the 1st. It's 2,000 miles out there so it makes for three long days of driving each way.  About November 15th we will head to Florida, two more days of driving. LOL

  

August 26- 31, 2024 - Homer Transmission Woes Plus a Brake Problem and Exciting Time for Kelly

 My Blog Reflection

Law of Physical Displacement:

Sometimes you are the dog.

Sometimes you are the hydrant.

August 26, 2024:

I called the transmission shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Homer had been there for a week. They said they had time to look at him and that he is fixed and had been test driven three times. They said when the new transmission module and switch were installed at the shop in Leopold, Missouri, last fall, they did not clear out the codes. The computer still thought there was a problem with the neutral switch. I hoped they were right and this is all behind us. 

The shop foreman said that while test driving Homer the right front caliper was sticking and heating up. This caliper has been fixed three times since we've owned Homer, as well as a new brake lines installed. This will be the fourth time. I don't understand why this one caliper keeps sticking. In any event, they said that if I found a place that could repair the caliper they would take it over there for me. What a great service! I called Jim and he stopped by the Meineke Shop he deals with near his home. They said they could fix it and had time. I then called Russ Moore Transmission and told them where to take Homer for the brake repair. I asked if I could pay the bill over the phone with my credit card. They said "NO CHARGE". Really? They diagnosed a problem, test drove it three times, then delivered it Meineke for the brake repair. Unbelievable.

August 28, 2024: 

Wednesday Jim picked up Homer and brought him back to his house until we could get him. The transmission was fine when he drove but I now had a $806.00 bill for the brake repair. 

August 29, 2024:

I now must digress.

We couldn't head to Fort Wayne on Thursday to retrieve Homer because "The New York Times" was doing a photo shoot of Kelly! 

Several weeks ago a "New York Times" reporter, Michael Wines, contacted Kelly about a piece he is doing regarding the lack of contested races in rural areas. Kelly is the Democratic Chair for Perry County, which is overwhelmingly Republican, so he sought her out. Pretty exciting stuff! I'm telling you it doesn't get much bigger than "The New York Times"! Mr. Wines came to the house and interviewed Kelly for an hour. Upon leaving he said that she would be contacted by the photo editor about scheduling a photo shoot. A week later Kelly received an email stating that a photographer would be contacting her. 

The contact was made and the photo shoot took place Thursday, the 28th. The photographer took some photos in front of the big window in our bedroom because he liked the light. I took some pictures of him taking pictures. Here are a couple.

He then wanted to go outside and get a few more pictures. For all the pictures Kelly was instructed not to smile. He said "these aren't wedding photos". Again, I took a couple pictures of him taking pictures.

This was so cool. I hope the piece runs and that we can get copies of it.

August 30, 2024:

Now, back to Homer. 

Friday morning we headed out early for Fort Wayne. We spent the night in Homer in Jim's driveway and got up early Saturday to head home. I drove five miles to a filling station and the transmission was fine. I got back on the highway and before I could get up to full speed it dropped into neutral and was very stubborn about dropping back into gear. I coasted and moved toward the side of the road to get out of any traffic. I dropped it into second gear and it caught. I drove about 1,000 feet and put it back in "Drive" and it shifted into high gear. We went back to Jim's house, picked up Jim, and headed to the transmission shop. I was on the Interstate a couple of miles when it quickly dropped into neutral and back into gear two times. It acted fine the rest of the way to the shop. We dropped Jim back off at his house and headed home. I will call the shop on Tuesday and let them know what happened. Three different transmission shops have test driven Homer and it never acts up for them. Maybe it is just me!  It is not my imagination because Kelly has been with me numerous times when this happened. I sincerely hope they can find the problem.

August 12 - 23, 2024 - Homer Door Adjustment - Campout Trip - Headlight Lenses Restored - Battery Replacement

I noticed that it was becoming necessary to slam Homer's entry door to get it to catch properly. Upon investigating I found that the door was sagging a bit, causing the door latch prongs to hit the door jam striker plate. The slamming action would lift the door into the striker plate slots. The latch prongs and striker plate slots should be even so the door latches without a lot of effort.

To address the problem I made aluminum shims and placed three under the lower hinge and two under the middle hinge. Here is a picture of one set of shims. The arrow points to the shims. I also found one of the screws on the middle hinge had broken off so I replaced it.

The shims moved the bottom of the door toward the lock side of the frame but the striker plate on the jam was still too low. Here is a picture of the lock guides hitting the striker plate on the top and bottom. Sorry for the poor picture quality.

The striker plate needed to be adjusted down by loosening the two Philllips head bolts in the picture below. 

These bolts had probably never been moved and I soon found that I could not budge them with a screwdriver. Luckily, last winter, at a garage sale in Florida, for $5.00 I purchased a screw impact tool.  Here is what the set looks like.

This is a tool I will rarely use but when it is needed, like now, it is worth its weight in gold. How it works it that you put the appropriate bit in the tool, place it in the screw or bolt head, and then strike the tool with a hammer several times. The impact action slightly turns the bit, thus loosening the screw or bolt. I put the Phillips bit in the tool and hit it several times with a hammer. Both bolts loosened allowing me to adjust the striker plate down. Money well spent! Success. The door shuts much better now.

August 17, 2024

At 6:00 a.m. we headed out in Homer for a campout with friends in Ortonville, Michigan, and then an RV club campout in Pierre Marquette State Park in Illinois.

On our way we were stopping overnight in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to visit friends Jim and Marilyn. We mooch camp in their driveway. 

Last fall we spent $1,800.00 getting the transmission fixed on Homer and thought everything was well. We made a four hundred mile trip, no problem, a five hundred mile trip, no problem. We got three hundred miles to Terre Haute, Indiana, and the transmission acted up again, the same problem as before. We were able to make it to Fort Wayne, Indiana. 

August 18, 2024:

We spent the night at Jim and Marilyn's and decided to head back home early in the morning to get Homer back to the transmission shop. Upon leaving their place the transmission acted up immediately. We headed back to their driveway to spend another night until we could call a transmission shop on Monday.

August 19, 2024:

First thing in the morning we got a recommendation for a transmission shop and Jim drove me over there to discuss the problem. We were told they could work on it but that they couldn't look at it for a couple of days. I then contacted my towing insurance who sent out a wrecker. Here is a picture of Homer being hooked up and a video of him being towed off for the first time ever.

While waiting for the tow truck Jim drove me to the airport, about fifteen minutes away, to rent a car to get home. We borrowed coolers to hold our cold food and bagged the other groceries and our clothes in trash bags. We left at noon and got home at 7:00 p.m. Quite a disappointment. The transmission folks asked for copies of the invoices for the transmission work done last fall so they could start from there. I got those emailed. I hope they can find the problem this time.

August 20, 2024:

We had to have the rental car back by 11:30 a.m. so we took a quick trip to Cape Girardeau to get that done. 

August 21, 2024:

Not planning on being home this week, and with time on my hands, I decided to polish the yellowed and foggy headlight lenses on the truck. The truck was recently detailed but apparently that was not part of what I paid for.

I opened the door to the truck to back it out and immediately found the battery totally dead. This has happened several times over the past year. The truck was in the shop last month trying to find a phantom draw on the battery. They could not find one but did find that the second Walmart battery I had put in this year was bad. It was still under warranty so I took it back to Walmart for a third battery. 

The truck sat for about a week and again a completely dead battery.  I called my mechanic to schedule an appointment to find the battery draw. I think the odds of getting three bad batteries from Walmart in a year is astronomical but my mechanic thinks otherwise. He had me come to the shop the next day to get a battery of the brand they install and try it for a month before they start spending time and money looking for a draw on the battery. 

Once the truck was charged up I got it out of the garage and began to work on the headlight lenses. I neglected to take a picture of the headlight lenses, which were foggy and yellowed. Both polished up nicely using cleaner wax and a buffer. I did, however, take a picture of the fog lights, which clearly had never been cleaned before. Here is a before and after picture.

While polishing the fog lights one light appeared loose so I crawled under to see what that was about. As I crawled under I found that one of the bolts that holds on the metal skid plate under the engine was broken off. This was allowing the plate to vibrate a little. Not good. 

I got busy drilling the broken bolt out. Pushing the drill up while laying on your back is a pain. With the help of about five different drill bits I finally got the broken bolt drilled out. I then took another bolt out and went to Buchheit's to get a matching bolt. I have hundreds of similarly sized bolts but none of them are metric. Once home the bolts were reinstalled and the skid plate is secure. Ready for a trip to California in October!

 

August 22, 2024:

When I went to start the truck in the morning to get the new battery, it did not have enough charge to start even though I charged it the night before. I charged it up, picked up the new battery, and installed it. We will see how this battery lasts. Actually, I hope my mechanic is right that the Walmart batteries are junk! This would be a cheap fix.

Late afternoon Kelly came home from a meeting and told me that there was a rock chip in the middle of the windshield of her 2021 Acura. Great! I called the insurance company because they will pay for a chip repair. I then called Liberty Glass in town and they scheduled me in for an appointment at 9:00 a.m. the next day.

August 23, 2014:

By 9:15 a.m. the chip was repaired. Hopefully no more vehicle issues this month!

 

 

August 7 - 11, 2024 - Getting Homer Ready for Trip to Indiana-Michigan-Illinois and a Flatbed Trailer Project

 MY BLOG REFLECTION

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Mark Twain

August 7, 2024  -  Homer Out of Storage and Ready for a Trip

We got Homer out of storage unit. We arrived and ended up having to call the owner of the storage facility to get the code to get in. I'm not sure if I forgot it or if he changed it. I do like this added security installed last year. 

The only issue with Homer so far is the solenoid for the internal battery charger not working (again). I thought maybe the house batteries were too low to energize the solenoid so I hooked up an external charger for a couple of hours. Once the batteries were charged the internal battery charger was still not charging the batteries. It was operating correctly but there was no charge getting to the batteries. I hit the solenoid in the battery compartment with a hammer handle a couple of times and it is now working. Tis happened on our last trip to Cuba, Missouri, earlier this summer. I now carry an external charger just in case this happens again. I purchased a new solenoid but since this one is now working, and it is such a pain to change out, I will wait and see how it does on this trip.

August 8, 2024 - Flatbed Trailer Floor Replacement

The deck boards on our flatbed trailer needed to be replaced. This trailer is primarily used to haul our lawn mower out to the lake lot to cut the grass. The trailer is only about three years old but the decking boards totally rotted out. Here is a picture.

The individual boards were much worse than I envisioned. The ends literally crumbled as I pulled them out and the rot in the middle became much more apparent.

 

To save money the trailer manufacturer did not use treated 2 x 8s. I can see why. I purchased eleven treated replacement boards and they cost $212.00. The young man at the lumber yard did a wonderful job of picking out "decent" boards for this project. At his suggestion I laid the boards out in the shade to dry for two days. The boards were quite wet with the chemical they soak them in to treat them. He said laying them out in the sun would cause warping.

Once the boards were removed it was clear I needed to paint the surface area of the framework before installing new boards, especially since the new boards are treated wood. The wood treatment chemical is known to attack unpainted metal. 

Twelve foot long treated 2 x 8s were heavy for this old man to handle. I cut and fitted each board in place then removed them so I could paint the metal frame. I won't paint the boards.

August 10, 2024 - Frame Painted

The Rustoleum product that I ordered, which encapsulates the rust and protects the surface, arrived. I sprayed the entire can. It covered the areas of the frame I wanted but it was not a very thick coat. I decided to buy two more cans of regular paint and sprayed it on top to further protect the steel frame. Here is a picture of the surface area of the frame painted. I didn't worry about the areas of the frame that do not touch the wood. The black paint I sprayed on looked brown until it dried.

August 11, 2024 - Deck Boards Installed and Bolted Down

After church I reinstalled all the new boards. Better than new. They will outlast me. 

The next couple of days I will finish checking some items on Homer and load him for the trip. We leave on Saturday for two weeks. I hope the weather stays cool.

July 8 - 18, 2024 - Cutting Up Fallen Tree at the Church/Weeds in Florida Planter Box

 MY BLOG REFLECTION

After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.

Italian Proverb

July 8th: Fallen Tree at Church

Monday at 7:00 a.m. five of us met at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, MO, to clean up a fallen tree which broke out a couple of church windows. Peace Lutheran is a small country church no longer having services on a regular basis but it is being preserved as an historical location for the Lutheran Church in Perry County, Missouri. John's grandpa was involved in the building of this church in 1885 so John and his wife, Carlene, has been actively involved in its maintenance. They enlist my help now and again with projects like the tree falling. 

Considering the size of the tree that fell, it was lucky that there wasn't more damage to the church. Here are a couple of "before" pictures.

This is a picture with about half of the brush cut away. It is amazing how many branches are on a large tree like this. All of the cut off limbs with leaves were drug down into the woods to once again become part of nature. (That's me in the yellow shirt.)

It was hot working on this project but there was a good crew of five guys. We had all of the brush cut up and cleaned up by 9:30 a.m.  A neighbor is going to come over and block up and split the wood for heating her house this winter. 

July 10th: Weeds at the house in Florida

On Sunday I got an emailed "Courtesy Notice" from the Golden Gate Residents Association that the "Enforcement Committee" found that we had weeds in our front planter boxes. We have been given 30 days to clean them out. Here is a picture they sent of the weeds they are talking about.

Are you kidding me? They aren't even six inches tall! 

In any event, it is a bit of a problem to get rid of Florida weeds from Missouri. I knew that our new next door neighbors from Michigan, Mark and Susan, are at their place about a week each month during the summer working on their place. I called Mark and luckily he happened to be in Florida. I asked him if he would buy some week killer and spray the weeds for me. I told him I would reimburse him when I got down there, or before if he wanted. He said no need. He had some weed killer but that instead he would go over and pull the weeds. He said he had some weeds he better deal with as well. LOL

It appears weeds are going to be an issue while we are gone in the summer. Last winter we had talked about having this planter box torn out and the entire front yard concreted. We now have more incentive for such a project when we get down there in the fall.

Not much else going on. Too hot until today.

    

July 1 - 6, 2024 - New Blog Feature/Window Treatments/Lot Number Remake/Sun Shade Bracket/Ear Muff Repair/Tongs Handle

I started a blog to memorialize our trip in Homer to Alaska starting in May of 2015. The blog has changed over time, hopefully for the better. My goal is to keep the blog interesting. With that in mind I am adding a new feature starting with this blog. I will start each blog with a "funny", or "thought-provoking" saying, cartoon, or quote. I will call it "My Blog Reflection". If readers don't like it, I can easily discontinue it. Give me feedback.

My Blog Reflection

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals. Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."

Samuel Ullman

July 1, 2024 - New Windows Means New Window Coverings:

In November of 2023 we had all new front window installed on the house. The original wood and aluminum clad windows were falling apart, leaking, glass cracked, etc. Those windows came with blinds built in so we did not need window treatment. The new windows do not have this feature so we had to decide on what to purchase. While in Florida for the winter we took time to choose what we wanted. 

We decided on heavy-duty roller shades, like you see in commercial applications. Considering their cost, we opted to pay $200.00 to have the company measure and install the three shades. If I measured wrong, or installed them wrong, we would be stuck with a very expensive mistake. Having someone else do it also saved me having to find help when it came time to install them. All of my friends are as old as I am and none of us are good on ladders anymore. LOL 

There was over a month delay between picking the fabric and color we wanted from samples, measurement, the shades being manufactured, delivery, and installation. The shades were installed on July 1st. Here is a picture of how each window looked before and after.

Bedroom before with a sheet clamped on for privacy once we were home:

Bedroom after:

Dining Room before:

Dining Room after:

Garage before:

Garage after:

We are quite pleased with the look, the material we picked, and the quality of the shades. The installer told us they have a lifetime warranty. I wonder what that really means. I did register for the warranty online. We are still deciding if we want to put fan shades on the semi-circle windows.

July 2nd:

After cutting the grass I noticed that the truck license expired in June. When we purchased the truck last June we had to have it inspected and could only get a license for one year because it was a "new to us" vehicle. Why that would matter I have no idea? Anyway, it was too late in the day to make a trip to the license office. 

July 3rd:

I went to the license office first thing in the morning and was advised that, due to the age of the truck, I had to have it inspected in order to renew the license. I informed her that I just had it inspected last year. She told me it didn't matter. I had to have it inspected again. I made an appointment for an inspection on Monday. Urrrrgh!

Once back home I loaded the lawnmower on the trailer and went out to the lake lot to cut the grass. While there I noticed that our lot number sign was literally falling apart. We need to have this number posted for 911. This was the mounting board after I removed the numbers to re-use them. It lasted ten years so no complaint here.

For the new sign I used a piece of very dense pine wood I had on hand from a prior project. I cut each end on an angle for a little added "pizzaz". I then painted it with two coats of exterior enamel paint. I also repainted the letters black to help them "pop out". I will mount it the next time I go out to the lot.

The city fireworks scheduled for July 3rd were cancelled due to severe thunderstorms predicted. It was a good call. Around 5:00 p.m. the storm moved in with pouring rain and a lot of thunder and lightning. We got 3.5 inches of rain out of it. The fireworks were rescheduled for July 6th.

July 4th:

The 4th was a really hot and humid day after the storms. We had no plans for the day so I decided to fabricate a second bracket for the sun shade on the deck. I determined that I needed two extension brackets because the poles the sun shade hangs from are not square to each other due to the configuration of the deck. I made a bracket in the spring for one pole thinking it would be enough. It wasn't. I needed an extension on two diagonal poles. 

I pulled the welder outside and set everything up to weld a new bracket. This bracket would be made from a curved piece of metal, which mounts to the metal pole, welded to a metal extension. I was ready to start welding when I dropped my welding helmet on the garage floor. This apparently caused one of the plastic straps to break. (Did I mention I hate plastic?) Here is a picture of the broken strap. The knob in the middle adjusts the strap to my head.

The broken strap wraps around the back of my head. A twist of the center knob holds the helmet firmly on my head. With the helmet firmly in place I can lift the helmet when not welding and pull it down when welding. With this strap broken their is no way to use the helmet unless I held it place. I am not a good welder and certainly I am not good at holding the helmet with one hand and trying to weld with the other. The strap had to be fixed if I wanted to weld this day. Here was my solution. I superglued the strap to hold it in place as I drilled holes and bolted a piece of pipe strap over the break. It's not pretty but it's functional.

The problem with the fix is that the adjustment knob can no longer tighten the strap on the repaired side. As a result the helmet was floppy on my head. Fortunately, I was able to make a couple of other adjustments on the other helmet straps to get the helmet to stay on my head for a quick project like this.

Here is a picture of the bracket after it was welded and painted to match the pole.

Here is a picture of the bracket installed.

July 5th:

All seemed well with the new bracket until we got 3.5 inches of rain over night. In the morning I found the bracket bent bent down and pulled inward from the weight of the wet sun shade. The sun shade itself wasn't even connected anymore. The turnbuckle fell off. I neglected to take a picture. 

It was now back to the drawing board. In looking at how the weight of the wet sun shade pulled the bracket, it was clear that I needed to make two changes. The first was that I needed to weld on a piece of metal so that the entire bracket could not pull downward. (The arrow on the left in the picture points to this piece.) The second was that I needed to weld on a support piece from where the bracket is bolted to the pole out on the arm. This will keep the portion of the bracket on the pole from further bending with the weight of the shade. (The arrow on the right in the picture points to this piece.) Here is the beefed up bracket installed.  I believe it will withstand wind and rain. Time will tell.

July 6th:

I have a long pair of tongs that I have used for several years for grilling and now griddling as well. The silicon handles have begun to deteriorate and become quite sticky. 

I looked online and it was suggested that to clean the silicone handles you should wash them in dish soap, then rinse with alcohol. I tried this and it made them worse. I also read that significant "stickiness" was a sign that the handle material was were shot and needed to be replaced. These tongs are from China with no name on them so a handle replacement was out of the question. I don't like to throw good things away so I decided to make wooden handles.

I was using the table saw for this project when my ear muffs fell apart! A plastic tab on each side of each muff holds the headpiece on. The tab on one side of each muff had worn or broken off. Here is a picture of the tabs that the head piece hooks to. You can see the wider part that held the head piece on deteriorated and broke off.

I looked online and a new pair of earmuffs like these now costs $34.00. There is nothing else wrong with them.  As I said earlier, I don't like to throw away items if I don't have to. I decided to attempt a repair.

When the head piece is attached to the plastic tab on each side of the ear muff, it must be able to swivel as you put the ear muffs on and adjust them to your head. Drilling slowly and carefully I was able to drill a small hole in each tab and insert a screw and washer to hold the head piece bracket in place. Here is a picture of my repair. It should outlast me. I don't know what it is lately with all my equipment falling apart. Just old, like me, I guess.

Once this repair was made I was able to complete the work on the wooden handles for the tongs. After I cut the pieces and sanded them I sprayed them with several coats of clear enamel. After the enamel dried I mounted them on the tongs with bolts. The wooden handles will work great but we will no longer put them in the dishwasher. 

In the evening we went with friends, Carlene and John, to the postponed 4th of July Perryville fireworks at the park. It was a pleasant evening to sit out and we greatly enjoyed the display. I won't bore you with picture of fireworks.

June 21 - 29, 2024 - Family Visiting from California - Toilet Tank Repair - Tiger Sanctuary - Group Picture

Friday June 21:

Annie, Adam, Violet, and Wren arrived to spend a week with us before heading back to California. We ordered pizza and after finishing it off relaxed for the evening

Sunday June 23:

We hosted Annie's family and the other two sets of grandparents, both of whom live in St. Louis, and daughter, Alexa, and her friend Aaron. Adam did a great job cooking ribs and pork steaks. Kelly provided the side dishes, Grammy brought a cake, and Mimi brought snacks and dips. It was warm out but we all had a great time visiting. Adam took a picture posed just like the one last year. They are left to right: John (Pawpaw); Aaron, Alexa, Grandma Kelly, Grandpa Mike, Carol (Mimi), Annie, Kathy (Grammie), Wren, Grandpa Jay, and Violet.

I filled up the inflatable pool and the girls had a ball splashing around in it and entertaining Grammie, who was the only one willing to sit out there with them in the heat.

Sometime Sunday evening the toilet flush handle broke in the hall bathroom. Pulling the lid off I found that the plastic retaining bracket for the handle had broken. PLASTIC! I am not complaining though, it was thirty years old.

Monday June 24:

First thing Monday morning I got out the Dremel Tool and began cutting off the old metal handle shaft. It was so rusted there was no other way to get it off.

Of course, halfway through cutting my Dremel Tool quit. It did this before. I had to finish the cut with other tools. Once the handle was off I went to Buchheit's to get a replacement. They had about six different handles to choose from, most of which were plastic. I opted for a metal one. When I went to install it I was glad I picked the metal one because I had to bend the rod quite a bit to get it to fit the shape of the tank. I couldn't have done that with a plastic one.

After that project was completed I had to take the HHR in for an 8:00 a.m. appointment to get the front end aligned, tires rotated, and a tire pressure sensor replaced. Once back at the house we took Homer and put him in the shed until our next outing. By doing this we could move the blow-up pool out of the sun and into the shade for the rest of the week.

Getting back from the repair shop I hooked up the trailer, loaded Kelly and the girls in the truck, and headed to Lake Perry. I dropped Kelly and the girls off at the pool to swim while I got the golf cart out of the shed. Before loading it on the trailer I always like to run it around to make sure it runs well. I then put on my suit and joined them at the pool. The pool felt great with the heat. Once back home we had a long golf cart ride around the subdivision. We stopped near the outer road and the golf cart would not start. (It does that when it gets hot.) I've tried two fixes and neither has worked. 

While we were waiting for the golf cart to cool off I showed the girls how to do a pulling motion with their arm to get trucker to blow their air horns. They did it and were thrilled that virtually every trucker coming by blew the horn. Simple pleasures.

Back at the house I took the Dremel Tool apart thinking the problem may be the switch. I cleaned it, etc. but could not get any power to the motor. I gave up, threw it away, and ordered a Wen rotary tool. I have not had good luck with Dremel Tools over the years and the Wen was half the price of a Dremel.

Tuesday June 25:

In the morning Kelly and I took the girls to a movie in Cape while Annie worked online and Adam went to visit his dad at his cigar shop in St. Louis. After the movie we went to Culver's for lunch. Of course, after eating candy in the movie, the girls did not eat the Kids Meals we got them. A total waste of money. We should have known better. Once home we relaxed until early evening when the girls got back in the pool. They had great fun with their goggles and squirting us with their pump water guns. 

After that another golf cart ride was in order to help dry then off before going inside.

Supper was left-overs and then early to bed for the girls. 

Wednesday June 26:

I walked the park at 5:00 a.m. with a couple of friends. When finishing our walk we could see a beautiful rainbow from end to end at the park. I didn't have my phone with me but when I got home I got this picture off the deck. The trees blocked each end. You can see a slight double rainbow.

It started raining around 7:00 a.m. and continued off and on most of the day. Around 10:00 a.m. I was outside and saw something flying. I looked over and two Piliated Woodpeckers were flying across the yard. They both landed on the fence posts at the back of the lot. I was able to look at them through the monocular but they were too far away for a picture. Cool. I had never seen two together before and only once saw one fly over the yard. We learned they have a nest not far from the house.

Alexa came down in the evening to visit and spend the night.

Thursday June 27:

First thing in the morning Annie opened the back door and a red fox was standing in the gravel next to the house. Literally five feet from her. She spooked him. He ran off but did stop to check us out before heading back into the woods. We noticed he limped a little. In the picture it looks like a chunk of his front leg is missing. Interestingly, while walking in the park this morning we saw a red fox up pretty close as well.

Not long after the fox left I spotted two female turkeys, one with a baby, walking through the yard. Turkeys are very easily spooked so we couldn't get very good pictures. The little gray ball at mama's feet is the baby.

Kelly bought tickets for all of us to visit the Tiger Sanctuary in Ste. Genevieve. I've driven by it a dozen times over the years but never stopped for a tour. Annie couldn't go due to work meetings. Here we are waiting around the for the tour to begin. Wren is busy shooting pictures with dad's phone.

After the rain Wednesday it was much cooler on Thursday, which was great for the tour, which is all outside. Upon our guide arriving we headed down to the tiger enclosures. As we arrived the tigers were being let outside into their enclosures for the day. Each tiger has a separate enclosure.

They have four tigers, two males and two females. All have been given to them from zoos, private ownership, etc. This is a non-contact facility. The workers never touch the animals. The operation is a non-profit organization hoping to expand with more animals in the future. Here are some pictures. I couldn't keep track which tiger was which for pictures. They range in age from eight years old to twenty-two years old. The average age in the wild is twelve. Here is Sebastian eating a half of chicken laid out for him. He picked it up and carried it into the weeds to eat it.

Getting a drink of water before walking around the enclosure.

They like to walk the perimeter a few times before laying down to rest.

Beautiful animals. The largest weighs 450 lbs. Their paws are larger than my hands. Their incisor teeth are four inches long.

Upon returning to Perryville we had lunch at the new Japanese restaurant that just opened about a month ago. The food is reasonable and quite good. The service was great. Everyone enjoyed what they ordered. Nothing was brought home except some rice and noodles the girls didn't eat.

Being totally full from the large lunch, we just had a charcuterie board with freshly grilled shrimp for supper. After supper we watched the first of the President debates. Sad.

Friday the 28th:

While I was taking the car in for an AC checkup. Kelly made sausage and bacon on the Blackstone. I got home in time to make the scrambled eggs. I quickly learned that you need something to "corral" the eggs when you dump them on the Blackstone. In the afternoon Annie and Adam bought me a Blackstone breakfast set which included two rings for eggs, a pancake mix dispenser, and a press for bacon. They also bought me a dome for steaming food on the griddle. I'm really getting set up to cook a lot on this Blackstone. I brought a tote up from the basement to put all the griddle accessories in so I can keep them handy on the deck. It fits well under the Blackstone. 

After breakfast we didn't do much outside. It was too hot. Alexa and Adam drove out to Bob and Ronnie Hershey's farm to get some freshly grown vegetables and to take in their larger garden.

Before bed the girls had another golf cart ride. Annie and Adam spent time doing laundry and packing for the trip home.  Kelly made a great pot of spaghetti for supper.

Saturday the 29th:

The Wiseman family left for home today. They finished packing while I cooked some boiled eggs and toast for breakfast. After breakfast the girls had one last golf cart ride. They drove to St. Louis and Adam's dad drove them to the airport. Their flight took off on time.

Before they left I wanted a picture of Kelly and me with the girls, like the one that was taken of us with the boys the last time they were here. Adam did a great job taking a picture of us and then running around and getting in another picture.

It was a great visit and we hope to see them again this fall before we head to Florida for the winter.