What did you do today?

Well yesterday 4.6 hours and 12 landings of Cirrus transition training in rough air - The side yoke takes some getting used to mostly because of its 45 degree neutral position. Having aileron trim is something I need to get used to as well. Very different landing view technique than the Archer with its low glare shield and high drag count once you bring the throttle to idle. At least the plane was reusable.

At least a couple more sessions to go VFR/IFR and then some time on my own to feel comfortable but it's much more fun hand flying than people say. Coming from the Archer with a G5's a G530 and GFC-500 at least the buttonology is similar.
 
Buzzed around in the biplane a little bit. Some theater kid was trying very hard to sound cool on CTAF with his best John Mulaney impression. At least he was more intelligible than the mumbling Yaegerites.
 
- Did six loads laundry
- Rotated tires on Outback
- Cut grass
- Power washed and cleaned motorcycle. Need to mount new tires for a trip coming up soon and I hate working on a dirty bike
- Figured since the power washer and cleaning stuff was out, I'd knock 8 months of slime off the Wrangler
- Then went for a 3mi walk
- DONE!
 
@Bill, In college (many years ago), I had two piles of clothes that would last me way more than two weeks! One basket of clothes had a sign on it that read "Cleanest." The other basket's sign was "Less Clean." I just moved the signs every-so-often to save trips to the laundromat. When I started to see flies on the signs, I knew I needed to make a trip to the laundromat. (I may, or may not, be exaggerating a bit. :rolleyes:)
 
Racerx said:
Brought my hunting buddy to change some settings on the autopilot. She liked chilling in back better.
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I need to get mine out in the plane, starting with in the hangar - He's 14 months and there's an RAF airfield up in northern ME we need to check out for grouse this fall.

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Spring is forklift season. Seed these days comes mostly in big plastic boxes that weigh around 3000lb and are about a 5' cube..this tender trailer hauls four at a time:

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I had shipment of 10 come yesterday, which I unloaded from the truck into the driveway, and was transferring to the shed later. The forklift was running like crap. It died, and after re-starting it, I noticed the alternator wasn't charging (again), so I raised the seat to whack the regulator. It's an old mechanical unit that responds well to percussive maintenance. While I was in there, I noticed an odd amount of wiggling of one of the plug wires, which lead to noticing the plug shaking in the head. Well, there's your problem. They were all loose, but that one was about ready to fall out.

Drove it up to the shop, tightened the plugs. Also found that the battery was about to fall over as the tray had rusted off its mount, so I cleaned that up a re-welded it. Removing that allowed easy access to the voltage regulator, which I replaced with the solid state unit I bought a couple years ago and never got around to installing. Much better. Now if I can just find time to replace that leaking axle seal, broken mast idler bearing, and blown out side-shift cylinder...

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Looks like your employees are distracted by a grasshopper or a clod of dirt
 
Oh, fun.

Years ago, I rolled the dice on a diesel Hyster at an auction. Got it running easily, which resulted in a gigantic rapidly-expanding puddle of ATF. Turned out the transmission's front pump seal was destroyed. It wasn't actually all that difficult to pull the engine, to my surprise.

More recently, I had to repack the lift cylinders due to drift down. It really sucks to work alone on big, heavy stuff without a lifting device that stays put.

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ColinD said:
Oh, fun.

Years ago, I rolled the dice on a diesel Hyster at an auction. Got it running easily, which resulted in a gigantic rapidly-expanding puddle of ATF. Turned out the transmission's front pump seal was destroyed. It wasn't actually all that difficult to pull the engine, to my surprise.

More recently, I had to repack the lift cylinders due to drift down. It really sucks to work alone on big, heavy stuff without a lifting device that stays put.

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My dad bought that Clark about 20 years ago, and it was junk then. It's a 3 stage with one big cylinder in the middle (that's impossible to see around) . About 10 years ago, it was leaking so bad you could see oil coming out the top when it had a heavy weight on it. Called every forklift and hydraulic cylinder shop within a couple hundred miles, and no one would work on it.

Fortunately, the navy had bought some of them in the 80s, and produced a technical manual for it that I found online. From that, I figured out what seals it took, and how to get it apart. Had to make some big spanner wrenches, but got it done. I filed the high spots around the pits and cleaned up the rods as best I could. It was a pain, but it worked great with no leaks. It's starting to seep a bit now, so I'll probably have to do it again in a couple years.

I'd like to replace it, but they're so insanely expensive, especially to get one with big tires and some ground clearance so it can work in the gravel drive. Yours actually looks like exactly what I need.
 
Mine had lumber forks on it, definitely spec'd for outdoor use. The enclosed cab is nice in blowing snow, and it has enough clearance to get around a farm yard. It sinks like a rock if you get the back end on anything soft, but that's a commonality of any forklift short of a telehandler.

It looks like my winning bid at Ritchie Bros was $6800 in December 2020.
 

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Jim K said:
I'd like to replace it, but they're so insanely expensive, especially to get one with big tires and some ground clearance so it can work in the gravel drive. Yours actually looks like exactly what I need.
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Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to design and build a forklift attachment to attach in place of a header on the combine.

You’ve been trying to figure out how to make that thing not be just an expensive one-trick pony anyway, and you haven’t got anything else to do over winter. ;)
 
I finally remembered to do our taxes. Now where's that meme that says, "Filed my taxes. Should be in jail by Wednesday."? :goofy:
 
Half Fast said:
Did you list Tabitha and Grumman as dependants? Next year you get to include Juliette!

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Think they'd notice if I included my 6th kid...Piper Lance K.? Just need to get her an SSN.

My oldest turned 17, so she no longer qualifies for the child tax credit, which is some real crap because she costs me a lot more than the rest of them, except for Piper of course.
 
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Field check, two short flights, and a new logbook currency endorsement for 2026 ...
 
Jim K said:
Think they'd notice if I included my 6th kid...Piper Lance K.? Just need to get her an SSN.

My oldest turned 17, so she no longer qualifies for the child tax credit, which is some real crap because she costs me a lot more than the rest of them, except for Piper of course.
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Played with my new toy…

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I put a reasonably smooth new bevel on one of my pocket knife blades…I really don’t like the blade thickness and bevel angle on modern pocket knives. I guess I understand it from a durability standpoint, but I’d rather cut more easily and sharpen more often. ;)

I’m pretty sure it’s designed to hold an unmounted blade rather than a whole knife, so I need to figure out how to make it a little more stable. But overall, I’m happy.

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Filed an ASRS report. Had a brain fart on my last flight and that wasn't good. But learned a lesson and no harm, so that's good.
 
Flew the VFR evaluation portion of my Cirrus transition so that gets me a Flight Review too. IFR training Friday and validation ride Sunday that's an IPC and will be all quailed (assuming I don't goon it)
 
MauleSkinner said:
Played with my new toy…

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I put a reasonably smooth new bevel on one of my pocket knife blades…I really don’t like the blade thickness and bevel angle on modern pocket knives. I guess I understand it from a durability standpoint, but I’d rather cut more easily and sharpen more often. ;)

I’m pretty sure it’s designed to hold an unmounted blade rather than a whole knife, so I need to figure out how to make it a little more stable. But overall, I’m happy.

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Sorry, but you're going to have to explain to me how that rig sharpens blades.
And I agree a sub-20 degree edge cuts better and I don't mind resharpening.
 
Today I discovered that our grocery store takes Apple Pay when I stopped to get a donut and found I’d forgotten my wallet.

Tuesday took my wife some real coffee and a donut; she had back surgery yesterday. Found her sitting in a chair with the oxygen and IV gone, so that’s good.
 
Domenick said:
Sorry, but you're going to have to explain to me how that rig sharpens blades.
And I agree a sub-20 degree edge cuts better and I don't mind resharpening.
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It’s just a jig to present the knife at a desired angle when using a vertical belt grinder.
 
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Had a deice truck roll into the shop. IMG_3531.jpeg
 
Went to the FSDO this morning to get my LSRM-I certificate. Now I can do my own annual condition inspections on my Parrakeet (or will, once the operating limitations update is issued).
 
Just left Augusta National after a fantastic day for golf. Clear and a million, 75 or so degrees.
 
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