End of summer chores...

This is the time of year when you realize summer's almost over and yah better get to it if you're gonna get your projects finished. One thing that's in abundance is wood to split. While I put a good dent in the spruce piles, there's still a lot of aspen left. Now aspen's different than spruce (Splitting Piss Pine 9/23/16), you need to debark it if you want the wood to dry out, so using the axe to clean off the outer bark adds a lot of time to the process.

There were several dead aspen near the house that had to go, so now the wood needs to be split.

It's a lot easier to strip off the bark if it hasn't dried onto the wood yet.

The other project is to finish painting the house. Last fall we got most of it done, but put off doing the eaves, since the gutters had to be removed. Always put off the jobs you like the least!

After painting the eaves, the gutters are reinstalled. Lost count of how times the ladders had to be moved to remove and replace them. The sanding and painting was a breeze in comparison.

A selfie of a happy homeowner who's almost finished another summer project. I'm really smiling on the inside, knowing I'll soon be drinking a vodka tonic and watching a hockey game!

Cool and Wet...

The Climate Center finally got around to posting their monthly summaries for June and July.

Not much to add, both months were cooler and wetter than normal.

While Aug. started wet, it's warmed up a bit and the forecast for the rest of the week is sunny with highs in the 70's. Can't beat that now cause this is usually our rainiest month. Starting to take down the gutters to paint the eaves. Then the cabin and garage paint job, that was started last fall, will be finished. And the buyer for the Triumph stuff sent a check, so will be loading up and shipping most the old Triumph parts and tools to Texas. Kind of sad, but most of it has been here untouched for over thirty years, as I'd moved on to working on Moto Guzzis. Did save some parts, books, and tools, so maybe will get back to it some day.

Guzzied out...

With all the rain we've gotten lately, the summer started warm but has cooled off considerably, figured it was time to get out more with the Guzzi. I've had the 850 for thirty years now and except for the initial work when I first got it, rechroming and repainting the rusty places, rebuilding the front brake and replacing oil seals, the bike has been almost faultless. I've never even had to set the points or tune the carbs, it just keeps running like the Eveready bunny!

The only thing replaced over the winter were the fuel taps. The old ones, likely the originals and 45 years old, were leaking. There was a pair of NOS taps in a box of Guzzi parts that I got with the bike, so it was an easy and cheap fix.


Since I had to remove the valve covers to adjust the valves, figured I'd add a pair of small engine head guards. I've only dropped the bike once, when pushing it into the garage when I first got it. It's a load to move around when you're not riding it, so figured the guards were cheap insurance. A lot of people install larger crash bars, but I figure that's just asking for trouble!
The day after I wrote this, the ignition switch broke, so had to order a new upgrade, the original is no longer available. This requires changing part of the wiring harness. Be careful what you write, sometimes it can come back to bite you!