11.11.2026

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who served in the military, keeping our country and its citizens safe, especially those near and dear to my heart - Jim (Air Force), my dad (Air Force), and Jim's dad (Merchant Marines).  Be sure and thank a veteran for their service!

Jim continued to get the new support member ready to go.  His new bolts came in so he has some as place holders waiting to assemble...

More pre-winter chores - the maintenance light is showing on the generator...

Filling up the battery.  Nice that Jim has the battery heater now to keep things healthy.

Removing the air filter to clean it.  Everything is in good shape - the generator has only run about 30 hours so far this year.

All ready to go!

 

High 52.8/Low 36.6

11.10.2026

Now that our cap is on the stack, time to take the scaffolding down...

Taking the bucks down...

Taking pieces over to the Bobcat...

We oiled the joints to keep them moving...

Taking off the anchor bolts...

Taking everything back to the shed...

Putting things away...

The battery in the excavator is iffy, so Jim wanted to start it.  It started right up!  He let it run for a bit and then moved it over to its winter parking spot.  Before the end of the month, we'll get the battery out and the tarp back on.

Finally, loading up the platforms...

Putting the platforms back in the pole barn.  It's amazing - hours of work both setting up and dismantling the scaffolding for 2 minutes of placing the cap!  But if it works, it will all be worth it.  

In the shop, Jim got a coat of paint on the bracket for the car...

As well as on these other pieces...

One of the new support members came yesterday - Jim was happy to see that it's identical to the old one.  You just never know.  He's still waiting on the other part to come in - hopefully by the end of the week.

High 55.2/Low 43.4

11.9.2026

 While Jim is waiting for car parts to come in, he attended to some of those not-so-fun jobs that needed to be done.  The sealant in one corner of the shower needed replaced, so first Jim had to carefully remove the old sealant...

Using his heat gun to dry the area...

He brought up his air hose to try and really get things dry...

New caulk in place...

Tape off, now it just has to dry.

Next, he wanted to replace the whole house water filter.  This is always a pain, because no matter how carefully Jim does everything, including shutting off the water, there's still water in the filter and it tends to go everywhere...

All replaced and back together - and the floor got a little cleaning too, although I'll probably clean it again tomorrow.

I had a big mailing to get out today, so in between these jobs, Jim did lots of schlepping of trays from the office, to the pantry/meter room, and finally to my car so I could take them to the post office.  On my way there, I saw this gorgeous rainbow...

High 53.9/Low 45 - patchy light showers

11.8.2026

 These are just some of the tools Jim had to use to try and get the broken bolt out of the car...

He broke one of his reverse tap tools trying...

The next approach was to use his drill - first starting with a small bit up through the middle of the bolt.  But look at how precise he got it - perfectly straight in the middle!

Then he used a specific size drill bit to drill the rest - look at what remained...

Then he could use his rachet tap...

And the new bolt will fit!  This one isn't the right length, so Jim is ordering the new hardware tonight...

Jim took off the other support member that he plans to replace - it's definitely showing more rust...

The bracket and bolts are definitely rusty - Jim already has new bolts for this application...

Jim cleaned up the bracket in the blasting cabinet - what a difference!  He'll put a coat of paint on.

So then came some clean up.  He'll be on hold until the support members come in.

The cap for the stack came in today - this should keep anything from going down the stack if that's indeed where the debris is coming from...

Back out on the scaffolding to put the cap on - putting up the ladder...

Placing the cap.  It's a very tight fit so at this point, Jim isn't going to put screws in to hold it in place.

Bringing the ladder down - we'll take down the scaffolding another day.

High 51.4/Low 43.3

11.7.2026

Jim has decided to replace at least two of the engine support members on the Suzuki.  He got this one off today - it's the front member... 

The hardware is in bad shape - Jim always replaces them with stainless steel or plated bolts when he can...

In fact, this bolt broke off so he has to figure out how to get that out...

This is a peek at the other support member that he is going to replace.  Both are on order but one may take over a week to get here.  

Time to get ready for church!

High 51.9/Low 46.8 - light rain

11.6.2026

I had errands to do this morning and Jim did some more car work, but he got a call while he was eating lunch that our septic company would be arriving in about a half hour.  Jim had already taken the tops off so that he would be ready. 

Getting all set up...

These people earn their money for sure!  Jim talked to this guy about the debris clogging the filter and he said he's seen it before and that the cap would be a good idea.  Other than that, he said that everything looked good, so that's a relief.

The connections to screw in the tops are not in great shape - Jim bought special hardware hoping it would help.  He's still got some work to do but it's fastened enough for now...

It was another lovely day, so a good day to build scaffolding so that Jim can reach the stack on the roof and put the cover on when it comes in.  Forks on the Bobcat and in place...

It's so nice to have the scaffolding all arranged neatly in the shed...

Loading up the bucks, the braces, and the feet...

You can see the stack on top of the roof...

Time to build scaffolding - it's been a while!

First section up and leveled, and Jim brought down platforms from the pole barn.  Now it's time to build up!

Working on the top section...

Putting the last platform in place...

Putting some anchor bolts into the base for stability...

He'll still need a ladder on top of the scaffolding to reach the roof...

Bringing up the ladder...

Ladder in place and climbing up...

Checking out the stack - he brought a flashlight up and couldn't see anything, so it's all still a bit of a mystery.

While he was up on the roof, he took a picture of the horizon - gorgeous!

Continuing to check off pre-winter chores, he changed the battery in our outside weather station...

High 63.9/Low 49.6