Good Morning!!!! 52F @ 4:30 AM. Abundant sunshine. High 78F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
Picked up 0.08" of ran yesterday evening when the cold front came through, more than predicted but hardly a drop in the bucket. A Red Flag Warning starts at 11AM, lasting through the day; low humidity and wind will quickly dry the abundant fuels leading to dangerous spread of any fires that start.
Speaking of fire, they caught another arsonist this week, this time around a wack job environmental warrior from the SF Bay Area, now accused of starting the 5000 acre plus Fawn Fire just north of Redding. It's already burned over 100 homes, and several firefighters have been injured. Her excuse? She was trying to boil water she got from a puddle in which she also found bear pee.
Think your mail is slow now? Wait 'till
these new changes take effect, especially during the holidays.
Those spare belts act as a talisman, Drew, virtually guaranteeing you'll never have to use the replacement. I carried a spare alternator belt for years while I toured on a more modern BMW motorcycle, and it went to the new owner when I sold the bike.
My favorite Mexican roach coach gets $8.50 for a burrito, and $1.50 for a bottle of water now, Fuddy. That's up $2.50 in the past month. The darn thing is twice what I can eat in one sitting. I do enjoy the leftovers, but I'd rather just have a smaller, single meal portion at a lower cost. Food costs are up across the board, but they're not up that much. Could be with fewer customers (CV19 don't ya know), they have to pass on their fixed costs to fewer people just so they can stay in business.
Made a little more room to work by stashing a spare fuel tank up in the rafters, after wrapping it in foam to keep it from getting dinged. Pulled the leaking tank off the red bike, and found that a socket head cap screw on the coil bracket had worn a hole in it. I made the bracket, so it's my fault, my only excuse being that it is impossible to see up under there. Also found another shiny spot on the other side where another bracket had been rubbing, so cut down both the brackets for more clearance. I had a can of POR-15 fuel tank liner already, so I cleaned up the area around the hole and put on the first of several coats of the liner that will go on over the next few days. Pulled the alternator chasing an oil leak on the same bike, and found the area where the main crank seal rubs on the rotor to be poorly machined and the seal looking pretty ragged. Chucked the rotor in the lathe and polished it smooth, and will pick up a new seal when I'm in town later in the week. It's time for a new rear tire, too, so I'll take care of that today, and probably mount one on the zebra bike, while I have the mounter and balancer machines out.
The Sequoia campout that was cancelled a few weeks ago has been moved to a place down near Paso Robles the weekend after next. It's a very pretty area in the Coast Ranges, half way between L.A. and S.F. Lots of good roads coming and going, too, so I'm hoping to make up for all the slab riding I did on the aborted trip a couple weeks ago. Meanwhile in Sequoia National Park, the lightning fires that started several weeks ago are reaching some of the giant sequoia groves. Firefighters are wrapping trees and buildings with fireproof blankets, and setting up portable sprinkler systems to stop the flames. They're also using a goodly number of controlled burns to clear out years of accumulated brush and dander, something that should have been done all along.