Saturday, Apr. 27, 2013, Guerneville, CA.

Lots of Things to Work On

Yes, there are lots of projects out in my yard, just waiting for me to attack them. It seemed like a nice day to push ahead on some on them. It’s Saturday, I usually go kayaking late to avoid the weekend people, but it’s also a good day just to stay home and enjoy my own yard.

The four wheeler needed work.

What to do first, lets, see, the little four wheeler needs to have it’s new battery installed, but first it needs it’s carburetor rebuilt, which just happens to be deep down inside the machine, meaning that I have to take a bunch of other stuff off to get to it. I took a couple things off it and decided it needed washed before taking any more parts off as it had a little mud on it. I washed it off good, now it was all wet, so I parked it in the sun and took a break for a bit.

The grass needed mowing.

Next, that pesky mower needed starting and some high yard weeds needed some mowing too. I knew the mower would start easy, so I got it going and started cutting weeds around the yard. After awhile I was breathing fairly good, just like the docs want you to, elevated heart rate they call it. I was doing pretty good, but it was getting hot and I would quite if only the darn gas tank would run out, but it didn’t.

Bees…………………Run.

I was mowing under a cherry tree when I thought I saw a couple bees of some kind in the air just above my head. I know from experience that is a sign I might have gotten too close to a nest and they were trying to find a place to attack me. I learned from running a bulldozer in the woods, that if you see bees flying around, better exit the area quick, before they figure out it’s me, not just the noisy machine. Because of a machines movement and noise, the bees don’t know a person is there right away and you don’t want to give them time to find out either.

Anyway, I pushed that mower out of there at a dead run and they didn’t get me. Have to take care of that nest when I locate it. The best way to locate it is to watch for flight patterns just before the sun goes down, when they are easiest to see, from a distance, of course.

Of course a nap or two.

Anyway, like I said, I was getting tired anyway, so I had a little nap and made some grub to eat. What next to work on?

The van headlight switch needed replaced.

I’ve got some things to do to my old van,which I need to get done, just in case I want to use it soon. I bought a new headlight switch that needed to be installed. I also wanted to put a relay in to make my lights stay on as long as the key was on, because I like to run my headlights in the day light hours for safety, but in the daylight, it’s easy to leave them on, when you stop, which isn’t good if you are traveling out by yourself in the desert.

The switch needed replaced as it had gotten wet over the years and had a lot of corrosion in it. And I’d had an episode with the cops in Quartzsite, AZ. when the switch didn’t work when I turned it on and was driving around with my headlights off. Don’t want that to happen again.

I installed the new headlight switch without a problem, but  making the headlights stay on and go off with the key didn’t work out real good, mostly because, the dash lights stayed on now, even though the headlights went off. That was not good, so I tried something else that may work out.

Finished off the day with some more work on the four wheeler.

Another little nap and I was back working on my four wheeler again. I started taking more parts off, until I got down to where I can get the carburetor off. I decided that I’d done enough for the day and would hold off on this part of the job until next time.

I looked for that bee nest, but didn’t find it, not yet anyway, maybe it was a false alarm? I think I’ll keep checking for awhile before I  mow there again, just to be safe.

Had a nice day in the yard.