64F at sunrise, sunny for the rest of the day. High 98F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Farmer, well I remember all the sinus and allergy trouble I had growing up back east. I literally feel your pain. Everyone reacts differently to medications, but I've had good luck with those that contain pseudoephedrine, specifically Advil Cold & Sinus, that also has ibuprofen. Hope you're feeling better soon.
Drew, glad you survived the ordeal with the dentist. You make a very good point about the roses, one that your boat gift will hopefully help get through to your brother. It's surprising how many people confuse hoarding with keeping enough parts and equipment on hand to keep things running, hopefully without a special trip to town or calling in a repair man. I learned that lesson early on when the British makers of my motorcycle went belly up. Parts became scarce, and when you did find them it was best to stockpile a few extras. It was also helpful to find fellow sufferers who'd formed a club around their common misery, and who could enlighten the uninitiated into the special rituals involved in keeping an old Norton on the road. A similar theme runs through many of the posts here at TBN, in so many different aspects of life.
Dave, +1 for Fastenal, or try the phone book for a mom'n'pop fastener store, who will likely have a more complete inventory.
Yesterday I got an early start when a friend arrived to work on his motorcycle. He needed help installing a power wire for the new GPS unit, and with a new set of tires. The wire was a simple thing, but it meant pulling body panels, finding hidden screws, and not breaking them in the process. The tires were tubeless, a blessing as tubes are almost always a wrestling match. We celebrated with hotdogs on the grill for lunch, then it was time for a nap
I have an older bike, an '85 K100RT, I bought for the aluminum saddlebags it came with. They were made for only a few years, and rarely in full sized versions on both sides, as the muffler usually dictated a sizable cutout through one or both. Now it's time for the rest of the machine to find a new home, and that'll be easier if I can get it running again. I'd suspected a bad fuel pump, and yesterday figured out how to get battery power directly to it and confirm. On removing it, I found it held in place with the nastiest black goo I've ever run across. Chunks of the stuff had fallen into the well below the pump, and with a torn intake screen, likely are what caused the pump to fail. It seems that thirty years of soaking in gasoline had turned the rubber shock damper that surrounds the pump into jelly, a black, sticky mess that neither parts washer solvent nor carb cleaner would touch. In desperation I tried brake fluid, and lo and behold, off the stuff came. BMW thinks very highly of that pump, asking a princely $450 for a new one. As if that weren't bad enough, they demand another $75 ransom for a replacement damper. Fortunately, the cheapest thing on a BMW is the rider, and others more clever than me have found ways to adapt a more readily available pump ($40 on amazon) using short sections of gas pump hose ($17 at Napa) to replace the damper. Those orders will go out today, then I'll get busy changing out the antifreeze in the truck. It'll get a new thermostat and housing at the same time, a new experience for me. And a new upper radiator hose, an aftermarket one that routes around the serpentine belt instead of through it.
This all needs to get done today and tomorrow, as the temperatures later in the week are supposed to be close to 110F. That's siesta weather in my book!
Have a good 'un, everybody...
