Risky buisness

I'm taking my sanity into my own hands at the moment, I picked up a 250Gb. drive for my laptop and at the moment I am cloning it! I HOPE the new drive will start right up!! REALLY! or I'll have to switch back to the old one.
The connection style my laptop uses is scsi and it needs a file downloaded before the drive is recognized, I'm hoping that file is cloned also, I'd hate to get it all done and find out that the new drive does NOT work! GAK!! LOL!
Going from 160Gb. to 250Gb. will be NICE! MUCH more storage to fill!
Time ot head off for now!
Later all!

Me~~~

Monday

It is once again Monday, my hours for the week have changed, nothing big but it gives me a little more sleep in the morning which is a good thing.
I will be at the lake one more time to clean, the trailer needs a whole lot of work before I can put it up for it's winter rest, too many to list at the moment. Time to clean!
So what will my winter project be? I have NO idea!!! but I need to find something to do that will keep my mind busy! a laptop or two? a new desktop? remodel the inside of my home? who knows? but it must be SOMETHING!
Later for now!!

Me~~

Still kicking~!

Yeha, I'm still kicking, just trying to enjoy the last few moments of summer. This was the last camping weekend (Going to try and sneak another in yet!) and I am NOT ready to put up my trailer or stop playing at the lake! it was a very nice summer indeed, there were many fun weekends that I can think of, but not enough by any mean's.
I have a couple of small projects to get done on the Bravada yet, an idler arm and I think I might have a work universal joint in the front end, I'm noticing a vibration in the front end that is not the tires, guess I'll need to take a look.
I may put the Stratus up for sale, it just set's for most of the time now that the Bravada is road worthy and I don't want it to just set.
I should head off for now, I'll post more later!

Me~~

"Get my GOOD profile" said the frog!

That's what I think he said anyhow? this fellow was only an inch long, but I managed to get a nice shot of him anyhow. It seems there is an abundance of wildlife at the lake this season, each week there is some new critter making its way through the campgrounds, I don't mind though.
I didn't get much accomplished today, I woke with a migraine that fortunately did not last long after I took the med's for it. I did manage to make up some cornbread for dinner though, I'd been craving it for day's! it was worth the wait!
Time for me to head off!
Later all!

Me~~

Two more weekends!

As sad as it is I must report that there are only two more weekends to camp, fall is here, the leaves are now slowly starting to turn their earthy colors, the sun is rising and setting later and the evenings here are slowly getting cooler, yes, fall is here.
I knew fall was close and so do the animals, the Canadian geese arrived three weekends ago, about one hundred of them total. I decided to get a picture of the geese and instead scared them ALL of with the snap of a twig, I'll have to watch out for those twigs next time I see the geese here.
I have two favorite time of year, spring and fall. I enjoy the warm days and cool night's of both seasons, I sleep better, I do not however feel better, my allergies tear me up terribly until the first late fall freeze hits us.
I woke today at 6am near freezing, I had forgot to turn on the furnace in my trailer, when I did turn it on I discovered that BOTH of my propane tanks were empty, I was lucky though, I keep a 20Lb. tank at the lake to refill the 1Lb. bottles my grill uses, so I hooked that tank up and turned on the heat! I feel MUCH better now thank you!
I will find out tomorrow about an opportunity, it will be a last minute deal that could be interesting? nothing permanent, just something temporary. I guess I'll have to wait and see?
I should head off for now, I need to get myself another cup of coffee and find my sinus pills.
Later all!

Me~~

SUNSHINE!!!!

Check this beast out! cool eh?

YUP! there was sunshine here in town today! how nice is that? Three full day's without a minute of sunshine! GAK! no more of that please!
The last three day's have flown right on by lots of little things to get done at work right now even though things are slow.
I hope to get to the lake this weekend and camp! I haven't been up in two weeks now and I want to PLAY BAD!! REALLY bad! LOL!
I should head off for now, even I can see that I am getting boring here!
Later all!

Me~~

Rain, pictures and the E-coat conference

I had plans to work on a motor home today, but the rain here has taken care of that! I just can't work in the mud! NASTY!
The E-coat conference I attended this week was quite interesting as I posted a couple of days ago, I'd like to find more information on what I learned there. The scientific end of E-coating is VERY interesting! The chemical reactions, how PH affects the pretreatment and coating process, the two types of phosphate crystals available (Phosphophyllite and hopeite) even the terms used are interesting.
I have a list of terms that I am going to find definitions for:
Electrodeposition
Electroendomosis
Electrophoresis
Pseudomonus
Electrolysis
Emulsification
Eductors
Immulsability..............
And that is only the beginning! Could this be a new direction to go? NO idea! but it is interesting!
Right now the economy is tough so my company isn't paying for any classes, as soon as they do I will be taking them, I'm getting hyper again! LOL!
HA! you would laugh if you could see how bad spell check flipped out on the scientific terms! LOL!
My aunt called me last night and asked for my pictures from the family reunion, I of course said I'd drop them off and I also offered her both of my sisters pictures also. I went down and dropped them off and picked up the pictures that one of my cousins had taken, I look at it this way, if I missed a picture someone else had to have taken it! there were six cameras taking pictures there! I still need to get the pictures from one of my aunts and a cousin then get them out to everyone.
Later all!

Me~~

Gas prices

The first thing I heard today when I woke up was that gas prices could go up as much as $.30 a gallon! the annoying part of that is that wholesale gas is at $2.72 a gallon, add $.50 is Michigan state taxes and gas SHOULD be @ $3.22 a gallon, but where are we? $3.89! GAK! which means that gas station owners are making $.77 a gallon in proffit! it gas goes up to $4.20 a gallon they will be making $.98 a gallon proffit........GREEDY so and so's anyhow!
During April of this year oil was at $102 a barrel and gas was at $3.15..........who's gouging us now?
Later all!

Me~~

On my way

For the last three day's I've been in Madison Heights setting in on a conference for work, I'll be home tonight which will be a good thing! I'm lookin forward to sleeping in my own bed once again!
I've been looking for a new direction to go at work, I think I may have found that direction? I just need to get some more information on what it is I THINK I would like to do?
Fun, fun!
Later all!!!!

SO! it's later and I'm home now, it feels GOOD! as I said while the conference was nice I am glad to be in my small home town.
I need to still put the new caliper frame and slides on the Bravada, the stupid thing is still sticking on me! DOH! this should take care of it.
Later all!

Me~~~~

Family reunion 2

I talked about the family reunion Saturday, it was really nice to see the family again. None of the family had gotten together since my Grandma passed away six years ago, quite a long time indeed.
The family met at an Uncles house in the country, he has a real nice piece of propery that is carved right out of the woods, there was a TON of good food and one of those inflatable bouncy rooms also, the hit of the day however was the quads my Uncle has, three of them total that the kids (young and old) went nutt's over. There hadn't been any plans to get the quads out, it was an afterthought that turned out to be great! The adults took turns riding the kids around my Uncles property and hitting the trail on their own, SO much fun!
My Aunt and Uncle drove up from Owosso this weekend also, I hadn't seen them in quite a few months, I was glad to see they were doing well.
I should head off for now, things to do befroe I can head off!
Later!!

Me~~

Family reunion

Hello all! My family had a reuinion today, I hadn't seen some of my cousins in 14 years! HOLY COW! some of them have teenagers now! WHEN did that happen? I will post more pictures tomorrow, this is one of the quads I rode at the reunion, one of them went 67MPH! YES! I DID get one going that fast! LOL It was AWESOME!!!! and NO! I didn't go over 15MPH with any of the kids riding with me.
Later all!

Me!

Brake information

This is no little fella, he is 6" long! HUGE! LOL someone at work showed him to me and I took a quick picture.

I have been working on the Bravada's brakes for a while now, for some reason they are "mushy" I called the dealership yeaterday and asked about power bleeding, I thought I might have air in the ABS valves. I know that the rear calipers are more than likely siezed up and the dealer told me that this may also cause the brakes to have that "mushy" feeling, so this weekend I will be taking the rear calipers off and cleaning up the slides to see if this will cure my brake issue's. It will need to be completed Friday, I am still helping out with a motor home that needs a new exhaust manifold installed in it.
Later for now!

Me~~

HEY! It's later! The caliper slides were INDEED the problem with the brakes on the Bravada! One of the drives side slide's was rusted solid, I was able to get that one free, the other side HOWEVER was a different story! I BROKE that side! DOH! SO I ended up replacing both rotors, the brake pads, a caliper frame and two slide bolt's! BUT!!!!!!!!!I now have AWESOME brakes! YES!!! LOL!!!
I'M DONE!!! THE BRAVADA IS DONE!!! YES!!! WHOOPIE!!! LOL!!
Later all!

Four day's off.

This is the first tree at the lake that has started turning colors, fall is here! EEP!

So I am on my fourth day off now, I have enjoyed most every bit of it, except the migraine of course!
I did manage to enjoy the time I had off, even though there were a few projects to complete along the way, it seems like there is always something to get done each weekend, but I am not complaining, it IS done after all.
If you read this Blog then you know that I enjoy bluegrass and cowboy music VERY much, this weekend the C.D. player in my trailer has gone non-stop, playing cowboy music, Don Edwards, The Son's of the San Joaquin. Michael Martin Murphy, and a few others who I cannot name at the moment. Listening to music relaxes me quite a bit, and makes me feel better too!
Overall the weekend has went well, no major issues, no loud music, no partying, nothing but enjoyment! The sad part is that this must end in the next few weeks, 31 days-15 hours-and a few minutes left till the season ends, a sad prospect indeed.
It is surprising how much easier it is to work on Moms van or Dads truck when it is right next door at the lake, after camping season ends it becomes more difficult to accomplish, but it does get done.
I missed Church this week, the first time in month's! I missed it because of a record breaking migraine, the worst one I'd have this year so far, I took the sinus med's twice and pain reliever and it did not take it totally away like normal and it left me exhausted for the day, no more of those please!
I should head off for now, my coffee is calling me gently, asking me to finish it before it becomes cold.
Later all!
By the way, here is another little critter that came my way over the weekend.


Me~~

Bird show at the lake

Tonight at the lake there was a bird show, while there were only two birds both were beautiful! there was a Alaskan bald eagle and a horned own, both were great!

I had no idea that it was illegal to even posses an eagle feather? how unfortunate that is? apparently the eagle was hunted for it's feathers and now I can't even take one that the bird lost, sad.
Two posts in one day? a busy day, but a decent one.
Later all!

Me~~

Mud wasp nest

The family camping behind Mom and Dad told me about this HUGE mud wasp hive in the tree on their lot, once I had seen it I knew I wanted to get some pictures of it before someone knock's it down.
I had never seen one myself (other than pictures) so I grabbed my camera and snapped away. The structure of the hive is amazing! as large as it is it seems like it would have taken forever to complete! but apparently not? it was built in only a week or so! VERY COOL!
 

 

So how cool is this?! While the mud wasps that it contain can be a MAJOR pain, what they created is amazing! just think of building a house and only being able to bring in a handful of mud at a time! the thought is overwhelming! and yet these little wasps managed to complete the task! WOW!
Oh yeah! YES! I enjoy taking pictures outdoors! LOL!
I woke up early but went right back to bed, that migraine I talked about yesterday? it was "The big one!" while I woke up early, I went right back to bed after taking more medicine and slept till one o'clock in the afternoon and still felt bad! LOL! at least it is only a headache now, I can deal with that.
Have a great one!

Me~~

So it Saturday?

It was another awesome day! kicking back and having a bit of fun is always nice! I'd like a couple of more please?
There was another roaring campfire tonight as well, I started one and when it got going my niece came over for a peak at it and stayed for a while and enjoyed it's warmth.
It is going to be a not so fun night, I have a major migraine starting up at the moment and the medicine is not working at the moment at all EEP! This one is going to be a bad one, one of those sick to my stomach, shaking, wipe me out, pain from my head and down through my neck and shoulder one's, STINK!
Later for now!

Me~~

Sparkplug's!

I managed to get the sparkplug's done FINALLY! It took me about an hour to change five of the six plug's, number six however was not nearly as easy to get to, it took me almost two hours to get that one! After I put the plug socket on the sparkplug there was not even a half of an inch between it and the steering column GAK! I ended up using a swivel head extension to get to it, now the tune-up is complete and the truck runs MUCH better!
This is a picture of one of the plug's I pulled out of the engine, I think that it was the original set? and the Bravada has 125,000 miles on it! YEESH!

I did make one boo-boo though! I wanted to clean the intake, well! I disconnected a couple of hoses and started the Bravada up, and MAN did that thing run BAD! CRIMANY! I put it back together! I'll clean it up later on! LOL!!
Sis made dinner at the lake for us all, beef stroganoff! YUMM!!!!
so the day ended up VERY well!
Later all! it is the first day of the holiday weekend and it went GREAT!

Me~~