Good morning!!!! 70F @ 5:30AM. Abundant sunshine. High near 100F. Winds light and variable.
Another cookie cutter weather day...
The level of Lake Oroville is down to 711 feet now, losing about 20' per month. If the past few years are any example, it'll be at another three months, maybe more, before we get any rain. We started with more water behind the dam this year than last, so I don't think we'll be making any hikes on the river bottom this year unless the authorities up the release rate. That's a possibility, because the V shape of the canyon means that each incremental drop in lake level releases progressively less water. They're trying to maintain the saline/fresh water boundary in the Sacramento River Delta where it enters San Frrancisco Bay, so they might drain the lake this year, too.
My friend Chris and his wife stopped by yesterday on their Sunday drive to drop off the replacement cylinder head. It's a match for the one that got lunched, so after stripping out the valves I put it into the dunk tank of the parts cleaner, along with three others, for a good soak to soften the combustion deposits and years of grime. One of those heads is off the other side of the red G/S, as it has the same valve disease that caused the first side to fail. The other two are spares I picked up years ago, and will now finally go off to have another spark plug hole machined into them. When they return, they'll go to a local machine shop for new valve seats and valves, springs, keepers, etc.
I also found that the brake and tail lights on the new bike weren't working because both filaments of the bulb were burnt out. It was replaced with an LED array, one that will hopefully outlive me.
Those shenanigans kept me busy for most of the day, out in a very warm garage but out of the hot sun. Today I'll be taking down the solar panel pole up at the gate, and getting it moved over to the new pivoting mount. I also wanna get a security cam mounted on it, and see if I can get the wires connected for a push button down at the house to open the gate remotely. Then there's a thermostatically controlled muffin fan that arrived yesterday that needs a bracket to rig it above a network switch out in the pump house.
Hope everyone's week starts off on the right foot.