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.

Apparently, I'll Never Learn

I really thought proclaiming Spring on April 24th with near 60 degree weather was safe.
I'll never learn...

Signs of Spring

Ok, I think we've broken the back of winter in the Great Frozen North. The temperatures in Wasilla were into the high 50s and low 60s this last week. The forecast is for some overcast and rain possibly mixed with a little snow for the weekend. No accumulation expected.
I am officially calling it spring because of all the signs of spring I saw and smashed into on my way to work this morning. It started off with the cow moose with last year's calf in the yard this morning. Next, just after the Subaru had achieved cruising speed on Wasilla Fishhook Road, a grouse jumped into the air from the side of the road and zigged when he should have zagged. The chicken sized grouse makes a real loud thump when they impact your windshield at 50 miles an hour. Fortunately they don't have as much mass as say, a moose butt, so the windshield didn't suffer any damage. I assume the grouse did.
Just as we dropped off the ridge to cross the Knik/Matanuska flats, a flight of Sandhill Cranes flew overhead, a couple hundred feet above my windshield, fortunately. Across the flats the air was full of flocks of Canadian Geese returning from wintering in Mexico or where ever they go to escape Alaska in the winter. Along side the northern branch of the Matanuska River, a quarter mile from the road, was a small herd or "gang" of 5 moose munching away on delicious bushes.
As we arrived in Los Anchorage, we spied another moose walking along the anti-moose fence that parallels the Glen Highway. She was just north of Merril Field Airport and of course on the wrong side of the fence trying to find away out. I made a comment about there seemed to be moose everywhere this morning. Five minutes later we were sitting at a stop light at 5th and Cordova when a yearling moose stepped into the street just ahead of as and ambled across to the other side, ignoring all crosswalks and traffic signals.

Feels like spring to me!

A Touch of the Flu

I might have a touch of one of the many viruses currently in circulation. The usual Pepto Bismal symptoms and a low grade achy feeling. Left work mid-morning and came home. Thought I'd post the final pictures of the living room remodel. The final pictured until I change or add something. Home remodeling is now done until fall. Motor home repair to commence as soon as I feel better.


















I only posted the second picture because of Shadow looking up at me from under the table. I didn't notice him when I took the shot.

Snow

It's snowing again. Predicting 4 to 8 inches today and more tomorrow. We figured out what is causing it. My brother and I planned on towing his disabled truck to the local repair shop on Saturday. It snowed. Since he lives on a hill above Peters Creek, we canceled until the snow melted. We rescheduled it for today. It snowed. We are not going to make any more advance plan for the tow. We'll try to sneak up on it by spontaneously grabbing the truck next time the snow melts.

It Didn't work

I tried, I really did! After 55 years I know better than to think spring this early. So I quit blogging about the weather while the snow all melted away and the temperature was getting into the 50s. I really tried not to jinx it. But some tenderfoot must have said something about "Spring!"













Today at 3:30 pm.

90% Finished

I have wood blinds ordered for the windows. I have not figured out what I am going to do with the dining room ceiling. I have another dead caribou to display, but he might be moving to the garage. I want to add a splash of color and I'm leaning toward the colors in the bear picture. The picture was painted by my father BTW. I'll be getting a larger dining room table and a couple of side pieces for the dining room. The old empire wall heater will be replaced with a gas fireplace later on. Other than that it's done...for now.

Click here for the pictures...

Gettin' Close

I took a mini-vacation over Easter and spent almost all of it on the living room project. It's done! I bought the flat screen TV last night. I'll be hanging it on the wall tonight and buying shelves for the rest of the wall. Also I'm ordering custom blinds for the windows. I'm still working on lighting ideas and also looking for a rug, other than those items the room is done. I'll post pictures this weekend.
Now back to my previous project, the motorhome. I took it out of the garage this weekend, because the garage needs a major spring cleaning. I'll probably leave it in the driveway unless by doing so, I jinx us and we get a late season dump of snow. (You'll notice I'm not talking about the weather!)