Tuesday February 14, 2017 Guerneville CA.
Headed up into the hills
I decided to stay home today and go up the hill and charge the dozers battery.
I got the quad runner out and warmed it up and took off around noon. My first stop was at the culvert where I lost the shovel in the fast current a few weeks ago during a rain storm.
That shovel is stuck good
You can see the handle sticking up down there in the water. I was able to get my hands on it by standing on the tree. I pulled and pulled to no avail. It seems to be wedged in some tree roots or something like that as I couldn’t budge it. I might have to wait until summer to get it out when the creek dries up.
Run it to charge the battery
The dozer was parked near the top of the hill in this spot. I pulled in and parked the quad runner. I tried the key and it started right up. After letting it warm up a bit I headed on down the hill pushing any trees out of the road that had fallen during the last rain storms.
The main purpose was to run the dozer long enough for the battery to get changed up, so I was heading down the hill with it through this spot.
And down this road to the bottom of the hill.
Park and walk back up the hill
I figured I ran it long enough to charge the battery and parked it here near the bottom which meant I’d have to hike back up the hill to get the quad runner near the top.
It was a nice day for a little walk as I worked my way up the hill.
Up along this road.
And through those redwood trees.
I don’t have a saw for this
I made it up to where the quad runner was parked and hopped on and headed down the hill going another way when I ran into this downed tree. I didn’t have a saw, so I tried going under it on the left side and made it otherwise I would have had to turn around and go another way.
I rode by this creek that drains this part of the forest. It’s nice and mellow right now, but during the rains, it rips.
I’m at the bottom of the hill now and headed into an old apple orchard just up ahead.
An alternator and a golf cart
I ran into my brother Tom while going through the gate. He wanted some help measuring the voltage on an alternator so I continued home and got my voltmeter and measured the alternator and the voltage was good, it was changing.
After that, I told him to bring his golf cart by so I could check out the switch that controls the reverse beeper that I thought was likely stuck closed from checking out the electrical schematic the other day. I measured the voltage on the switch and sure enough, it was stuck closed which made the machine’s computer always think it was in reverse, even when going forward. I disconnected the wire from the switch to the computer for now until he gets a new switch.
Here’s the forward/reverse switch with the little micro switches mounted on the right side. The one in the front right is the bad one with the red wire going to it.
By now it was getting dark, so I went in the house for the day and that was my day.