The “what I did during quarantine” thread

No change for me at all, except the no-travel orders.

I work in my office at home and wash my hands 20-30 times per day anyway, so no biggie. Ordering groceries online is kinda weird, but the delivery fee and tip cost less than the fuel to drive to the stores!

I've put my new electric chainsaw and line trimmer to work and unclogged the carburetor on the lawn mower. Front yard looks great now and the back yard is tomorrow!

Ordered lots of coax and PL-259 connectors and soon my antenna farm will be up and running!

I'm glad I got all the stuff done over the winter that I did. Wouldn't be able to do it now!
 
I got nuthin’...

Bought a touchscreen pioneer car stereo from a neighbor for my grandson (link somewhere on POA). Ordered the wiring harness plug and got or ordered the wrong one.
Since it’s going to be a desktop box install, I tore a power supply out of the old PC pile.
12VDC is only 10.6VDC and drops off with any load test.
Tore out a second power supply and it runs fine.
Waiting on the harness, build a box or find a plastic tool box, and find some speakers ...
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While digging thru the junk closet, I ran across an old Marantz SD 3510 cassette deck (sliding drawer tape mechanism) from my first “at sea for 145 days so AFES take my money!!!” Stereo system. Of course, it didn’t work when I plugged it in. Cassette stuck in it and the head stuck in Play position. The belts have turned to goo (google reveals that’s common-place). Come on, it’s only 40 years old! Should last longer than that!
Freed up the stick tape, dug out and cleaned up the sticky goo that used to be drive belts out and cleaned it all up. Main drive motor doesn’t run but does have power to it. So far, no tech manual found online.
Another pile of unfinished stuff on the table, awaiting parts.
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IK04 said:
That reminds me...

I have two AR lowers to finish.

That'll be fun for next week!
Click to expand...

I’ve got two queued up for cleaning after shooting a 600 round 4 day course at Front Sight before they shut down Nevada. My brother’s AR took a dump so he used my spare. One would think he would have volunteered to clean them both, right?
 
Ive cleaned like a fool, deep de-junking of the fort... clothing donation place going to be thrilled once i can make a trip there!
 
I cleaned a little of the garage. I wanted to fix the tractor tire but can’t find my valve stem puller or my Schrader valve screw on extension to fill the tube once I slime it.

Wore my Monty Python social distancing t-shirt.

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Body fought back today against the steroids. Annoying. Chill out body!

Threw out most of the carefully kept maintenance records for the Yukon.

Note to self, when you’ve driven it into the ground neither the private purchaser, nor the dealer you’re about to dump it off on to wholesale it, cares about the MX records.

Toss ‘em at that point. It isn’t an airplane. Nobody cares if you rotated the tires anymore. :)
 
I started out by reorganizing my hard disks in the aftermath of upgrading all my computers to Windows 10. Other than that, I've been spending an awful lot of time on here, on Brian's forum, on Facebook, and watching TV. I've also been pulling up the winter weed crop. Here's something that one of my Facebook friends posted:

"When Flight Attendants Work From Home"

 
IK: Whatcha growing for antennas and what bands you working?
 
I thought I eliminated most of the honey do list the past couple weeks.
Now we have another dozen projects, new lights for bathrooms, new towel bars, replace a sink in powder room. All because my wife can order stuff online...
Ugh.

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
 
tspear said:
I thought I eliminated most of the honey do list the past couple weeks.
Now we have another dozen projects, new lights for bathrooms, new towel bars, replace a sink in powder room. All because my wife can order stuff online...
Ugh.

Sent from my HD1907 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I hid the credit cards from my wife, you may also have to be sure they're not saved on Amazon or any pay site.
 
At this point mostly debunking COVID-BS being passed along by Facebook friends, some of which I'm sure are about to de-friend me :D

Oh yeah, and taking online guitar lessons (final attempt)
 
Oh @jrcox19 your car looks nice. I’m sure you’ll find my truck’s cleanliness equally impressive.

As you can see, the dirt was a strategically removed in a few places. My kids did this by rubbing their hands over the dirt.

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Craig said:
IK: Whatcha growing for antennas and what bands you working?
Click to expand...

Howdy,

Inside the huge roof:
2m/70cm J-Pole for local FM comms. I live about a mile from our repeaters.
6m horizontal dipole made from two stainless steel whips with a center mount.
10-40m hexbeam. Might go on the roof due to its size.

Outside: 20-160m fan dipole for DX and NVIS
Possible DMR repeater, if I win the Bridgecomsystems.com contest.

Waiting for a location:
10-80m homebrew magnetic loop made from 3/4 inch copper pipe.

I'm getting itchy to use my new Xiegu G90 HF rig and do some digital modes!
 
IK04 said:
Howdy,

Inside the huge roof:
2m/70cm J-Pole for local FM comms. I live about a mile from our repeaters.
6m horizontal dipole made from two stainless steel whips with a center mount.
10-40m hexbeam. Might go on the roof due to its size.

Outside: 20-160m fan dipole for DX and NVIS
Possible DMR repeater, if I win the Bridgecomsystems.com contest.

Waiting for a location:
10-80m homebrew magnetic loop made from 3/4 inch copper pipe.

I'm getting itchy to use my new Xiegu G90 HF rig and do some digital modes!
Click to expand...
I am going to call the Black Helicopter people. Just sayin'.
 
MauleSkinner said:
How long had the lawn mower been sitting that those were the tools required to unclog the carb?o_O
Click to expand...

I pulled the mower out last Spring to mow the front yard and had to de-gunk the carb, due to the ethanol slime. I had to pull the float bowl and clean out the main jet with a needle to get the mower to run. I didn't use the mower that day because that horrible fuel had eaten my weed eater's carb diaphragm. I had just replaced the disintegrated fuel lines and got angry enough to put it all away and call Jose, the lawn guy.

A year later on Sunday, I pulled the mower out and it started on the first pull! Then it died after running for three seconds...

I once again removed the float bowl and cleaned out the horrible sticky stuff they put in gasoline nowadays. The jet was clogged as usual, so I used a tiny drill bit and a bristle from a small broom to dig out the green poopoo. The rubber seals had turned crunchy and stiff, due to the yellowish crystalline deposits, so I treated them with some oil, hoping they would last another year.

After ten minutes of work, the engine started right up and ran fine on some fresh gas.

The chainsaw and trimmer were used on the lawn and were luckily not needed to clean the carburetor (this time). ;)
 
Just finished the Cirrus known icing course, need to do it every two years to be legal in known ice, I'm doing it every year.
 
Got around to burning off 50% of the leaves from the winter, then got another 25% moved onto the burn pile area to be burned at a later date. Just have to rake the last 25% from the front yard to the back yard, uphill, with a big tarp. I think next year I'm going to try and buy one of those cyclone rakes to pull behind the riding mower and see if making a half-dozen passes over fall/winter make the cleanup easier. Having to create two burn piles that burn for a day and half each is such a PITA every year. I don't mind the workout, but dragging a couple hundred pounds of leaves uphill for 3/4 acre gets old quick, lol.

Sprayed the yard to try and kill the henbit/chickweed/cool-season weeds as well. Unfortunately those are the weeds you need to attack in the fall in order to keep them from coming back. However, I didn't want to be getting out the mower just to mow weeds for the next few weeks until the grass starts growing.
 
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You guys are making me think I should clean my vehicles more often than "When the rain washes the dirt off".
 
Ted DuPuis said:
You guys are making me think I should clean my vehicles more often than "When the rain washes the dirt off".
Click to expand...

You probably will treat the Cobra a bit better. I don't wash my truck outside nearly as much as I should, but I would treat a car much differently.
 
flhrci said:
I joined teh League of Temporary Airmen like @denverpilot did by completing the eFIRC. @denverpilot , should we get out UAS cert since it is so easy for CFI's to get?
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I thought about it, but I didn’t think anybody was doing the follow up required lobotomy operations right now.

LOL. Kidding!! Just kidding!!!! :)
 
I bought a used truck in April of last year, prolly time to give it it's first bath since I picked it up....:confused:
 
Craig said:
I bought a used truck in April of last year, prolly time to give it it's first bath since I picked it up....:confused:
Click to expand...

The first one is the most interesting. Get to see where the bondo really is and what falls off when the dirt isn’t holding it on. LOL.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Oh @jrcox19 your car looks nice. I’m sure you’ll find my truck’s cleanliness equally impressive.

As you can see, the dirt was a strategically removed in a few places. My kids did this by rubbing their hands over the dirt.

View attachment 84078
Click to expand...
you could have the kids do a wash and wax party as an activity to burn off some energy
 
We've been swamped with work, but it's getting more "normal" now.

This week
- put speakers in the Scout
- decide how long/bad this is going to be to see if I get a wood insert out of the field and into the hearth
- either figure out how to set points, or pull it all off and put the fuel injection and electronic ignition kit on (requires me to spend about $450 more on parts/hoses/etc)
 
denverpilot said:
The first one is the most interesting. Get to see where the bondo really is and what falls off when the dirt isn’t holding it on. LOL.
Click to expand...

Prolly no Bondo on this one Nate. The only damage on it was a slightly crinkled front fender, right at the light...until I tried to back over a crepe myrtle in yard...:mad:

Highly dislike the mirrors on a 99 Super Duty, and want to upgrade them a couple of generations. Time, money and work space all have to be achieved at the same time point for that to happen.
 
IK04 said:
I pulled the mower out last Spring to mow the front yard and had to de-gunk the carb, due to the ethanol slime. I had to pull the float bowl and clean out the main jet with a needle to get the mower to run. I didn't use the mower that day because that horrible fuel had eaten my weed eater's carb diaphragm. I had just replaced the disintegrated fuel lines and got angry enough to put it all away and call Jose, the lawn guy.

A year later on Sunday, I pulled the mower out and it started on the first pull! Then it died after running for three seconds...

I once again removed the float bowl and cleaned out the horrible sticky stuff they put in gasoline nowadays. The jet was clogged as usual, so I used a tiny drill bit and a bristle from a small broom to dig out the green poopoo. The rubber seals had turned crunchy and stiff, due to the yellowish crystalline deposits, so I treated them with some oil, hoping they would last another year.

After ten minutes of work, the engine started right up and ran fine on some fresh gas.

The chainsaw and trimmer were used on the lawn and were luckily not needed to clean the carburetor (this time). ;)
Click to expand...
I make a trip across town 2x per year to buy non ethanol gas for all the small and infrequent engines (includes the i3). I then treat with Stabil and use it over the next few months. It really helps
 
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