Good morning! It's a lovely 46 degrees, with overcast skies and a forecast calling for a high in the mid- to upper-60s today. AccuHunch also guesses that we'll get some rain, later this week. If it's as accurate as usual, we'll have dust storms.
It sprinkled last night, just enough to dapple the dust on the cars. "Hurrah! The drought is finally over!" Not. On the other hand, we're not having a drought, either. Just having a moment there; I'm better now. (/snark)
The alternator on my truck, which I thought to be the culprit in last week's dead battery episode, died for real yesterday. This, some $500+ later in the saga. Today I'll start making calls to find out if anyone has one in stock.
It's startling to watch the voltage guage go 'downhill' while one is tooling down the highway. In case you don't know (and in this day of idiot lights on dashboards, you may not), that gauge reports the amperage in the battery/charging circuit. If the engine is off, it should show approx. 12 volts available - normal battery power. When the engine is running, the available current should be somewhat in excess of 14 volts.
By the time I got home after work yesterday, it was showing 8 volts. It had dropped from 12 in only six miles, which means that I've been running the truck on battery power alone the last 30 miles or so. The alternator must have begun its death spiral shortly after I left the repair shop last week. Yay.
Oh, well, it's not that hard to replace the alternator on a full-size vehicle. The last one I did was on a Ford ZX-2, which required two people: one under the car, and the other holding the device from above. The fit was so tight that I lost skin off both sides of the one arm I could insert from below, to loosen/retighten bolts.
Today will be MUCH easier. All I have to do is remove the air breather assembly & loosen the serpentine belt - both of which can be done from above, at front center of the engine compartment.
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My parents celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary yesterday - so happy happy to them!
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An oil tanker ran into & killed a humpback whale, earlier this week. It's sad, but it happens about once a year. The carcass will be towed out to sea today. Update: the whale may have already been dead when the ship struck it. We'll never know.
I mentioned, a few weeks ago, how interesting it is that our morning traffic reports include moose warnings. On Monday, it included a caution to avoid an intersection in mid-town because there was a large bear, feeding on something. Drivers were encouraged to detour.
I love this place!
URGENT CALL TO REPENTANCE: All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord. And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules among the nations. (Psalm 22:27-28)
8 comments:
Whales, moose and bears, oh my!
Wonder just what that bear was feeding on.
Congratulations to your folks!
re; Altenator. Good luck! Just what did the repair shop do for you last week? Doesn't sound like they did much at all.
Draught? Let me get my buddy and we'll show up to do some fishing in your neck of the woods. Guarantied to bring monsoon rains within 24 hours of our arrival that will last as long as we are present. At least it works that way in northern Quebec.
Ahhh Rev. no worries on the alternator. The exploder was pretty easy, it was just the bolts that were the difficult part of the mechanical part. I would double check that battery just in case the alternator screwed up the battery. I had to replace that for sure.
Also, might wanna put a new belt on.
I need to find a good blogging item today. Haven't thought of anything. Been out with the relative terrorists... er I mean tourists.
Is it bad when I hope they go home soon? I am so darn tired!
Happy Wednesday and congrats on your anni!
ahh yeah, June on the Cook Inlet. It will not be long before the reds are running in the Russian and the Kings in the Kenai and I bet the stocked rainbows in Montana Creek are hitting spinner baits and flies
Joated - the shop last week identified that the battery had shorted out, which may in turn be what caused the alternator to fail afterward. I was kinda/sorta kidding about the dry weather ... we've had some rain in the last week, but could always use some more. Come on up & we'll see what happens!
Up - I got the new alternator on, but can't get the tension arm loose, to make enough slack in the belt to get it around the pulley. Or in other words (this morning): "I fought the truck, and the truck won." I'll try again tonight. Regarding a post subject ... wanna tackle the new gas pipeline? It's on-again, off-again, maybe State, maybe Federal, while the politicians debate & debate.
GuyK - there are multiple streams & rivers just waiting for your flies ...
Rev. I am arguing with someone on C4P concerning that right now concerning the Bullet line vrs. the TransCanada line and Murkowski. I don't think it owuld be a good idea to blog about that right now. It would be a HUGE blog thread. But something to think about this weekend.
I had the same problem on my truck concerning the pully. My advise... use a screwdriver to lever it on the pully to put it back on. Didn't hurt the pully nor the belt.
Let me know if you need a hand. helpingpalin@gmail.com
I was going to try that as I was wrapping up the attempt at noon, having wrestled with the beast for nearly 4 hours at that point. Frankly, I was so tired I didn't think I'd be able to do it. Maybe after work, tonight ...
Happy Anniversary to your folks - that's wonderful.
You do have lots of interesting stuff going on up there. LOL.
Teresa - I'm passing the congrats along to my folks. They think it's wonderful that people they don't know are reading about them.
And you're right - there's always something unique happening here. Have I mentioned I love Alaska?
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