Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Snow 2012

It started to snow in Everett on Saturday January 14th. I was at the gym when it started and within a half hour or so there was a few inches on the ground. It was fun practicing my winter driving skills in the empty parking lots. There were some cars getting stuck, a few pulling off to the side of the road and one motorcyclist who had done a low-speed get off.

 I took this picture on Tuesday looking off the front porch.

The two pictures below are after driving to the airport on Thursday January 19th in an ice storm. I'm holding the windshield wiper up to show the ice that was stuck to the blade. That ice made it hard to keep the window clean as the sleet/snow/ice fell. Combine that with a combination of drivers driving too slow for conditions, too fast for conditions and it was interesting to be on the freeway. I made good time though - most people were staying off the roads.


The snow, sleet and ice mixture was sticking to the underside of the fenders. No problems with traction but that low-riding Hyundai was getting close to high centering coming up the driveway since there's a natural hump in the middle of the drive.


This picture was also taken on Thursday January 19th. By this time we had 7 inches of snow on the picnic table.

I didn't get all the way to the airport since they cancelled B's flight (the third cancelled flight for her that day). Becca finally got her a flight at 8:30 pm and gave her a ride to the airport so everything worked out okay.

I enjoy the snow here with the exception that it's no fun to get stuck in traffic so I'm careful about where I drive when it starts snowing. Driving can be a challenge since this is a fairly hilly area, conditions can very widely within short distances, traffic can be heavy, people tend to not know how to drive on snow/ice and the snow tends to be heavy/slippery - no powder snow here that blows off the roads.

As I write this they are predicting temps into the high 40's or maybe 50 later this week with some sun and no precipitation for the first week of February.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

S10 Pickup Beltline Weather Strip Replacement

I didn't get around to taking a picture when I replaced the passenger side window beltline weatherstrip on my 1985 Chevy S10 pickup last weekend so I'm using one I had from a few years ago. The beltline weatherstrip is that rubber piece on the outside of the window that I have my hand on.
cruisencrossen by Jack Crossen
fisheye, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.
The drivers side looks good because it doesn't get the sun like the passengers side has over the last couple of decades parked in front of our house.

The passengers side weatherstrip was falling apart and allowing rain to drip inside the door. I went to a couple of junkyards but couldn't find any better weatherstrip on the junk vehicles - plus I wasn't really sure how to remove that piece of weatherstrip without destroying it.

Turns out it's really easy once I got the new one and could see how it's fastened to the door. There are four or five metal tabs on a metal piece inside the weatherstrip that slide into slots in the door. Removing it is simple - I sprayed some WD-40 like stuff on it to soften it up and tapped it with big flat bladed screwdriver until it popped out. Installation is simply a matter of positioning the weatherstrip on the door and giving it a few whacks with your hand to seat it into the slots in the door. It slides under the side mirror housing on the front end and the vertical weatherstrip on the back end - so you don't have to remove either of those.

The passengers side beltline weatherstrip is Partslink Number GM1391119 which I purchased from Amazon for $16.78 plus tax (free shipping with Prime). You should verify but I believe that part fits any of the first generation (1983 to 1993) S10's.

Here's a cartoon showing the beltline weatherstrip. The inside is the piece of felt the window slides on and the outside is the rubber drip guard thingamajig that tends to disintegrate over the years. This gives you an idea of the metal tabs on the rubber strip at least.

I thought this information might come in handy to someone with an old S10 pickup. I'd read some discussions on the web saying this piece was very expensive/hard to find, you had to take out the window, remove the inside door panel and whatever...but it was so easy it was sort of disappointing because I'd planned for a multi-hour cuss-fest knuckle busting exercise. Took about 10 minutes - no swearing required.




Friday, January 06, 2012

Who Cares What I'm Doing?

Hi Monkey and Rachel by Jack Crossen
Hi Monkey and Rachel, a photo by Jack Crossen on Flickr.
What I've been doing since my last post. (By the way that picture has nothing to do with this text - I just wanted a picture and that one seemed like a good enough choice.)

Fixed a roof, fixed a fence, replaced a mirror and tail light lens on my pickup, visited a couple of auto junkyards multiple times, cut down a tree, dug out the roots, rode motorcycles most days, picked up and delivered a couch and chaise, got a new iPhone, talked to Siri (pretty useless but fun for a couple of minutes - I wish she could help me find my glasses and other stuff I misplace), worked on a lawnmower - ordered two new wheels (Snapper parts are expensive), got a free North Face 1/4 zip fleece from Moosejaw, ordered 75 dollars worth of misc. from Harbor Freight online (they sell cheap stuff - cheap), cleaned up garage, fixed a light in our bedroom, went to see the movie War Horse, made some potato soup, went to a designer clothing outlet mall a couple of days after Christmas (had to return a Wilson leather jacket that didn't fit B...don't go there unless you have to), joined Amazon Prime again for a free 1 month membership. I've been reading a variety of things as usual, watching some TV, cooking, shopping (mostly online) and trying to go to the gym on a semi-regular basis. I've been keeping busy.

I bought a copy of Pocket Ref 4th Edition with my Christmas gift card from Harbor Freight. If you've never seen that little book it's really interesting and has a wealth of information on a wide range of things, including how to give CPR to cats and dogs. It gets 5 stars from 178 reviewers on Amazon so other people think it's good too.

I'd say in summary I've been doing a lot things that are interesting to me and of no interest to anyone else. Blogs are good for that sort of thing since they can end up being diary-like and no one cares since no one reads them anyway. "Too many words didn't read" as someone says on the motorcycle forums I like to read. That strikes me as funny and really true - on the other hand I read several thousand words in a New Yorker article about an old man looking out his window through the seasons in New Hampshire and it was great - but that guy (Donald Hall - Poet Laureate of the U.S.) knows how to write.

In the last couple of weeks I replaced the passenger door outer belt weatherstrip on my 27 year old pickup, bought a digital micrometer, some JIS screwdrivers (Japanese Industrial Standard), and a big pair of channel locks. Repaired some cracks in the grout in the shower. Rode my motorcycles as much as possible.


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On the other hand - I find this adventure story from a Danish couple that rode their 650 cc motorcycles from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia very interesting. They have a lot of pictures that are great and a good writing style that emphasizes the positive aspects of travel and meeting new people - plus they like licorice pipes so we have something in common. Their travel story is in the Advrider forums at Alaska to Argentina - N69S54A - ADVrider  and they have a blog N69° - S54° Americas | Going from Prudhoe Bay to Ushuaia on 2 motorbikes.