My Father's Bear

I took my father's bear painting into the frame shop and had it matted and framed to match the Jon Van Zyle Iditarod print that Kate bought me. I think it turned out great.

More Motorhome and Radio Signals

James continues to work on the engine. He's got the exhaust manifolds off and managed to drill out one or two of the broken off studs. Today he decided that he simply can't drill out the other ones with the heads on the the engine block and crammed into the RV. So tomorrow he's going to remove the heads. What a trooper! He volunteered to fix one cracked exhaust manifold and he just keeps working it as the problem gets bigger and more difficult.



Meanwhile my small contribution is repairing some water damaged walls, removing windows and resealing them with silicon. Oh yeah, and I replaced the potable water port and hammered the edge ding back into position and siliconed it.



On another note, the radio in my Subaru quit working about a year ago. I was waiting for a pilot car to guide me and several of my neighbors through the construction zone on Friday, (they were reblacktopping Wasilla Fishook road.) I got to fiddling aimlessly with the radio and turned it on. It suddenly has decided to work after silence for a year. I believe it was more results of splashed coffee like my turn indicators(see January blog entry.)

Back to the Motorhome

Using extreme care I did get all my studded tires off without further injuring myself. Although my back doesn't seem to be getting better. I have a feeling that I am experiencing a disc issue, not a muscle issue this time. The only time I'm comfortable is in a supportive office type chair or sleeping on my side. Standing and walking are actually getting worse. For now I'll try to get by with Advil and hope the situation doesn't require a visit to my doctor or my parent's back surgeon.

We were going to do our shake down cruise in the Motorhome this coming Memorial Day weekend. However, James started to work on the leaking exhaust manifold last evening. He discovered it was not just one leaking manifold but both and that someone had twisted off 3 studs apparently in an aborted repair attempt. Both manifolds will have to come off and the broken studs drilled and replaced. He also discovered the reason they twisted them off. Several of the studs and nuts he worked on were so tight he couldn't turn them. At least one he's pretty sure is so frozen that it's going to twist off when he comes back this evening with bigger wrenches. We've canceled the trip. I don't want to put any time pressure on my favorite volunteer master mechanic. He is still recovering from back surgery himself.

Studs

Because of the surprise late spring snow storm, on April 24th, the State of Alaska extended the May 1st deadline to remove studded snow tire to May 15th. So last night I changed the tires on the old, 252,000 mile Subaru. I've been putting it off because of my injured back. The back is healing slowly so I figured I could manage it, without reinjuring it, if I worked slowly and carefully. It turned out ok.

Next, however is the 3/4 ton Dodge. The tires and wheels on that one weight 60 to 70 pounds each. I'll carefully start this evening. It might take 2 sessions because I'm determined not to reinjure myself.

Green House

The past couple weeks I've had a nagging lower back strain. Nothing major, just an irritating soreness in the muscles on the lower right side of my back. I realized mid week that it had resolved itself and my back no longer hurt. If you've ever had a back strain you know what a relief that is.
Yesterday, I helped four of my friends dismantle a large green house and load it on a trailer to move it from Anchorage to Wasilla. The bottom half of the walls were standard 2X4 stud covered in 1/2 inch plywood on the inside and out with the outside plywood covered in log siding.
The side walls were 12' by 4 ' and heavy enough to take 4 strong men to move them. You guessed it, I reinjured my back. It's at least 4 times as bad as it was before.
This morning I had trouble tying my shoes. Now I'm sitting in my office, the pain dulled by Advil, but still there. I'm moving like an old man or like someone with a sore back. It's hell to get old.