Saturday 5-30 Generator Runs

With the exception of a couple of exhaust gaskets that should arrive on Tuesday we have everything we need to reassemble the generator. Larry decided to go ahead and assemble the generator and we will install the new gaskets when they arrive.

I helped Larry when he needed me, I had to hold the generator while he torqued the screws and he certainly needed my help in moving it in and out of the garage. In order to assemble the generator Larry had to reverse the order from when he disassembled it. First he installed the new magneto, then he assembled the flywheel to the generator. Afterwards we put the generator back into the tray and bolted it down. He moved on to assembling the housings, exhaust system and finally the electronic components. After this we took a lunch break. 

New magneto installed

The generator after the housings were assembled

The generator after it was put back together

After lunch we put the cover on the generator, then we moved the table with the generator outside. Once outside we connected a gas container and battery and then we started the generator. Larry was excited, since it started giving us trouble it has never run more than 10 minutes without shutting off, we let it run for 20 minutes and turned it off. Larry restarted the the generator and it started right up. It looks like the problem is fixed. Now we're waiting for the new exhaust gaskets to complete the project.

Video of generator pieces

Video starting generator

 

Video of generator running

Later I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: World Tour Mini of 8 games. I had a pleasant surprise when doing the event, all month the points have been doubled for Microsoft's 30th Anniversary but for today and tomorrow the points will be tripled. It took me 19 minutes and 48 seconds to complete the games, which put me in 20th place in my group. Then I took an hour nap.

When it was time for dinner I made pizza using Great Value Pizza Crust, mozzarella cheese and salami. The pizza came out great.

Homemade Pizza

Larry called his sister Louise. He hadn't talked to her in a couple of weeks.

 In the evening while watching TV I did a few loads of clothes. We watched an Amazon movie called The Legend of Five Mile Cave. It was a good movie about a drifter, who gets close to a boy. The drifter tells the tale of the west, past and present and the legend of lost gold. Then I finished watching the fourth season of DCI Banks. I did 24,000 steps, which put me in third place for the day in my group.   

 

Friday 5-29 Weekly Errands

Doing the happy dance

We made it to the weekend. The weekend is supposed to be gorgeous with a lot of sunshine. 

Larry needed a few parts in order to complete the generator project. First thing this morning we went to town. The first stop was Ace Hardware, Larry put his mask on and went inside. He bought a few screws to replace the ones that broke off. He also needed a new exhaust clamp, they didn't have any but luckily the nearby NAPA Auto Parts said they could get it by noon. 

On Monday (a holiday) Larry ordered a magneto from ASAP, they shipped it Tuesday via USPS first class mail. Larry likes to track his shipments but the post office's tracking is not very good, you're never sure when you're going to get it. Every day Larry checked to see where his part was. This morning it was in Austin, we thought we probably won't see it until tomorrow. At 12:30 the website showed they delivered the part to the UPS Store. Larry was surprised and very excited his part was here, now he can finish the generator project. 

Larry did our weekly grocery shopping at Walmart. It was ready at 2:00 and for the first time they didn't have to substitute or cancel any of our items. It's nice to see that vendors are getting caught up on customers demands.

We went to town at 2:00. While Larry waited for our groceries at Walmart Curbside I walked over to the UPS Store to pick up the magneto and the rest of our mail. Then we went to NAPA and picked up the clamp.

In the afternoon I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Spider Adventure of 20 games. It took me 3 hours, 43 minutes and 6 seconds. I struggled on games number 18 and 19. I ended up coming in 14th in my group. I watered my flowers.

Looking good

In the evening we finished watching the first season of Prisoners Wives. I finished watching the third season of DCI Banks and started the fourth season. I did 26,000 steps. 

      

Thursday 5-28 Boating and Mowing

Awesome Day

Larry continued working on the generator. Yesterday he was having problems fixing a stud that holds the exhaust to the engine but this morning he was able to fix it. He still needs to buy some screws to replace the screws that were rusted out and broke off. While Larry was working on the generator I did my daily challenges and the Event: Pyramid Mini of five games. It took me 18 minutes and 28 seconds, which put me in 36th in my group.

It was a beautiful day so after lunch we decided to go to the lake. We were there for an hour and a half. When we first got there I really didn't want to do anything but float. Over the past 10 days the water temperature had gone from 78 to 74. The temperature dropped due to the rain and the temperature only being in the high 70's. Larry got in slowly. After he got out he decided to wake surf. He got up the first time. When he finished I did a set, it took me four tries to get up but once I was up I did great. While floating we saw a few kids jumping off a rock ledge into the lake and having a great time. We also saw a few people fishing off the banks and in boats. We had a great time on the lake. I put a short video down below, click on it and it should play.

Boat day on Lake Belton

Great afternoon on Lake Belton

Video

Larry playing on the wakes of the boat

Having fun surfing

In the morning I was going to mow but the yards were still damp from yesterdays rain. After we got back from the lake I mowed the frontyard and the entire backyard. Last week I didn't mow the far back so it needed to be done, the grass was getting tall. I was only going to mow the far back of the backyard but I decided to do the whole yard. It took me two hours. By the time I was finished I was tried and it was dinnertime.

While I was mowing a street vendor showed up at our neighbor's house and set up a truck. The vendor was called Treno, they make pizza pies for $11.00 dollars a piece. I was tried and didn't want to cook for dinner so this was a perfect opportunity to try something new. I walked over and bought a pepperoni pizza. It was small but I thought it tasted good. The vendor was wearing a mask and I so was I.

Treno Pizza Pie

During the day I worked on my puzzle. We watched our YouTube videos. After dinner we  watched a few episodes of Prisoners' Wives. Then I started watching the third season of DCI Banks. I did 24,000 steps. We had an awesome day. LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

How far I've gotten with my puzzle

     

Wednesday 5-27 Cleaning the Generator

We had a beautiful day. In the afternoon the clouds rolled in and we got some rain. The front stayed around the rest of the day and through the evening.

Larry spent quite a bit of time cleaning and repairing parts of the generator. I kept him company in the morning. Because of all the road grime and weather over the past 25 years some of the generator parts were very grungy. Larry used Dawn, water and brushes. The pieces came out great.

When we disassembled the generator two bolts from a shield and a couple from the exhaust system broke off. Today Larry was able to get them out but we will need to replace them. There was also a stud that holds the exhaust onto the engine that needs some work.

 

Spraying the soap off the generator pan

Scrubbing the motor cover with Dawn

Cleaning the generator cover

I did my daily challenges and The Event: Free Cell Adventure of 20 games. The games were Free Cell games at different levels; Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. It took me 2 hours, 36 minutes and 28 seconds to complete, which put me in 8th place in my group.

In the evening we finished watching the first season of Dead Still. Then we started watching an Acorn series called Prisoners' Wives, which is about wives of men in prison. We watched one episode, so far it's a good series. Then I finished the second season of DCI Banks. I did 28,000 steps which put me in second place in my new group.

Tuesday 5-26 Generator Project

Beautiful Spring Day

We had a beautiful sunny day with the temperature in the low 80's.

We spent most of the day working on the Minnie generator. First Larry had to unhook all of the wires and fuel line, then using a floor jack and wood blocks we slowly got the generator on the ground, we then slid it out from under the Minnie and put it on a furniture dolly so we could roll it into the garage. Good thing we took the washer to storage, we put our work table in that area and lifted the generator onto it. It is very heavy, a label on the front says it is lightweight, 174 lbs. It took us about two hours to get the generator out and onto the table.

Using the factory service manual Larry started to dis-assemble the generator. While the manual was a great help it was not entirely accurate, some things they left out. We discovered we didn't have the correct size Torx socket to remove a couple of bolts so we had to stop for a bit.

Since it might be a couple of weeks until we finish the generator we decided to take the Minnie back to storage. After dropping it off we went to Harbor Freight. Larry put on his mask to go in and buy the Torx socket we needed. When we got home Larry continued disassembling the generator. The magneto is located behind the fan/flywheel, he had the correct puller but he still had a heck of a time getting it to come off. At about 3:30 we finally got to the magneto, now we have to clean things up and wait for the part. 

The sign that comes on the generator

The generator in the Minnie

The generator after taking it out of the pan and taking components off

The pan the generator sits in

The generator cover and a couple of components

Other parts off the generator

The fan on the motor

The pan that holds the generator is filthy so before calling it a day we removed generator from the pan. We put the generator on the floor in the garage. Then we put the pan outside considering it smelled of fuel. Tomorrow we will clean the pan and generator cover. 

While Larry worked on the disconnecting components from the generator to remove it from the Minnie I did my daily challenges and The Event: Hard Road Mini of five games. It took me 51 minutes and 47 seconds, which put me in 26th place in my group.

After calling it a day we watch our YouTube videos. I checked my flowers. Everytime I see more flowers blooming.

More flowers

       

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie called Noble. It was a true story about an Irishwoman, Christina Noble, who goes to Ho Chi Minh in 1989 to help the street children by giving them shelter. It was a very good movie. Then we started watching an Acorn series called Dead Still, which is about 'postmortem photography' in the 1880's. It was ok. Then I finished watching the first season of DCI Banks and started the second season. I did 27,000 steps. 

Monday 5-25 Memorial Day

I hope everyone took a few minutes to remember the people who lost their lives fighting for our freedom.

It was raining this morning. Larry read and I did my daily challenges and The Event: Tri Peaks Adventure, it was 20 games at four different levels; easy, medium, hard and expert. It took me 56 minutes and 8 seconds to complete, this put me in 7th place in my group. Then I worked on my puzzle. I didn't have to water my flowers but I did take pictures because there were a couple new flowers. 

More flowers

After lunch Larry did a bit more experimenting with the generator. He was able to find the factory service manual online, using that he was able to test the ignition module/coil and believes it to be fine. The good news is he thinks he has narrowed the problem down to the magneto, the bad news is to replace it the generator will have to be removed from the Minnie and taken apart. This is not a trivial task, just getting it out will be difficult, there are a number of things to disconnect and it weighs 174 lbs. The generator is 25 years old and some of the parts are impossible to find but fortunately he was able to find a magneto online, it will probably take a week or so to arrive, in the meantime he will remove the generator and disassemble it so he can replace the part.

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie called The Secrets of Roan Inish. It's a movie about a young girl, who goes to live with her grandparents in a small fishing village. It was a good movie. Afterwards we watched a documentary on Amazon called Churchill's Toy Shop. The documentary was about a group of people, who worked together to develop brilliant weapons for Winston Churchill during World War II. It was a good documentary. Then I watched a few episodes of DCI Banks. I did 26,000 steps. For the last couple of weeks I have been doing 175,000 steps so my Garmin device moved me to the 175,000 step challenge group.     

Sunday 5-24 Rainy Day

Rainy Day

We spent the day hanging around the house. 

Last night Larry did our grocery shopping online via Walmart. He added a couple of quarts of oil to it because he wanted to change the oil in the Minnie generator. Our order was ready for pickup at 6:45 this morning. I was still sleeping so Larry went to town to pickup our groceries. He said it was very pleasant because there was only one other car waiting to pickup their curbside order. This was the first time we were able to get rubbing alcohol.

By the time I woke up Larry had put the groceries away and was making mini waffles for breakfast. After breakfast Larry went outside and continued trouble shooting the generator on the Minnie. After it sits overnight It will start but after about 10 minutes it stops. Today he bypassed the low oil pressure switch, that did not help. He's not giving up, he'll keep researching and trying more things.

I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Medium Mayhem Mini of 5 games. It took me 20 minutes and 15 seconds, which put me in 37th place in my group. 

At 1:30 the rain came. There was thunder and a down pour for a few minutes. Larry spent the afternoon reading and I worked on my puzzle. We watched our weekly episode of GizWiz.

Here comes the rain

Raining in the backyard

For dinner I made something different. I made homemade Potatoes Au Gratin. The recipe ingredients were potatoes, cheddar cheese, bread crumb and butter. They taste good.

Homemade Potatoes Au Gratin

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie called Turnover. It was a good movie about a restaurant owner who leaves his manger to take care of business, the manager becomes disgruntled and hires a crew of misfits. The owner comes back to find his restaurant unrecognizable. He learns to work with the new crew. While watching the movie the rain came back. Then I finished watching Goliath and started watching DCI Banks first season. I did 27,000 steps, which put me in third place for the week in my group with the total of 180,057 for the week.

Saturday 5-23 Memorial Day Weekend

Awesome sunny day

We had a beautiful sunny windy day. 

While summer has not officially arrived most folks consider Memorial Day Weekend  the beginning of summer. We hung around the house keeping cool under the air condition. We live on the main street that goes to the boat ramp at Arrowhead Point Park. It looked like a normal summer day with boats going to the lake. The boats were of families with their toys to play on the lake. When I barbecued pork for dinner I heard kids having fun on the lake. 

Summertime Activities

We normally avoid the lake on holidays because the lake is busier then normal. Lake Belton is a nice size lake but with lots of boat traffic the lake can be rough. Today the wind is also probably causing the lake to be rough. We like the water smoother because of the water sports we do, it's easier on my body, especially when I water ski. 

Larry continues working on the generator of the Minnie. He's struggling but sometimes when there is an electrical problem it's hard to find so you have to try different things. Good luck Larry.

I did my daily challenges and The Event: Easy Street Mini of 5 games. It took me 10 minutes and 30 seconds, which put me in 22nd place in my group. I compare my results to Louise and she finished about 1 minute faster. Good job, Louise!!!! I also worked on my puzzle. 

I'm excited, I went out to check my flowers and saw more flowers. Some of the flowers coming up are the flowers that Alexa send us. 

More white flowers coming up

The thank you gift from Alexa starting to grow

  

In evening we watched an Amazon movie called Mr. PIP, starring Hugh Laurie. It was a good movie about a young girl on an island that was transfixed by the Charles Dickens novel Great Expectations. She was introduced to it by the only white man in the village, who read it in the school. Then we watched an episode of Off The Cuff. It was about Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. At this park anyone can mine for diamonds and are able to keep what they find. We went there a few years ago and had a great time. Then I continued watching Goliath's third season. I did 24,000 steps.   

 

Friday 5-22 Storing Washer

A front came through at 2:00 in the morning, we had thunder, lighting and a little bit of rain. The day ended up being overcast, a bit windy and it got to 91 degrees. 

What should we do today? Back in February we received a new Whirlpool washer from the Seeds Program. Before installing the washer we removed our Samsung washer from the laundry room and put it in the garage where it has been sitting and taking up room. I love both machines but we decided since we have a Samsung dryer that matches the Samsung washer we would swap the washers and take the extra washer to our storage unit. We will keep it as a backup in case we need a washer. Larry put the washer on a hand dolly and moved it to the truck. Then I helped him lift the washer into the truck. We didn't have to strap the washer in the back of the truck because we weren't going far. We already have a dryer in storage so we put the washer in front of the dryer. After unloading the washer we taped plastic bags around it to help protect it from dust or rodents. 

The washer in the truck

The storage center before the washer in it

Washing Machine all stored away

By removing the extra washer from the garage we now have more room to walk around the car and not worry about hitting the washer when parking the car. It's a good thing Larry made our garage so large.

In the afternoon I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: National Solitaire Day. I had 30 games to solve. Today was Microsoft 30th Anniversary of Solitaire and every game you played you earned double the points. I got stuck on game number 24. It took me 7 hours, 3 minutes and 20 seconds. I ended up coming in 10th place in my group.

In the evening we watched an Amazon movie called The Rocket. It was about a high school football star who had high expectations from his father and the local community and suddenly his future was lost by an accident. It was an ok movie but nothing I would recommend. Then I finished the second season of Goliath and started the third season. I ended up doing 25,000 steps.

    

Thursday 5-21 Recycling Cans

Having fun

We had another hot humid day. It got to 89 degrees and the humidity was 54%. It's hot, stay in doors and keep cool.

What is on the agenda for the day? When I water my flowers in the backyard planter I notice that wildlife have been busy digging holes in the yard. During the night we get visitors from raccoons, possums and deer. Occasionally we have foxes and armadillos. Some of the wildlife dig holes in order to find food and others just graze on the plants. A couple years ago we saw an armadillo on our security camera doing his thing in the yard. I don't mind the wildlife in the yards. Some of the holes were made because of the deer walking through the yard and it has been wet by the irrigation system, septic and rain. Some of the holes were getting deep and I was afraid a deer would get hurt. Larry laughed at me because he thought I was crazy. At the back of the yard where the creek runs a lot of dirt had built up so this morning I took a bucket and used some of the dirt to fill the holes. I filled seven deep holes and the rest of the dirt I spread in other small holes. It took about a half hour. 

Breaking in new gloves

Dirt used to fill holes

One of the holes

 

A couple more holes

 
I drink a lot of sodas and we recycle the cans but due to coronavirus the recycling center has been closed, the recycle center reopened this week. While I filled the holes Larry loaded the cans in the back of the truck. After I finished with the holes off to town we went to recycle the cans.

Bags of cans in the bed of the truck

After lunch we had to decide either to go to the lake or for me to mow. The decision was made after looking at the weather report. There is a high percentage chance of rain tomorrow and through the weekend. I mowed the frontyard and half of the backyard. While I mowed Larry weedeated. It took me a little over an hour. I was soaking wet from sweat. 

When I finished mowing I did my daily challenges and The Event: World Mini Tour of 7 games. It took me 21 minutes and 43 seconds. It put me in 27th place in my group.

In the morning Larry replaced the spark plug in the generator and the generator started right up so we decided to take the Minnie back to the storage center. By the time we got to the center the generator stopped running, back to the house we went with the Minnie. 

After I cooled off I took a nap. While I was sleeping Larry watched a few videos on our Minnie generator. He found out that a lot of people have similar problems with this generator, it will run for a little while and then shut off. He tried one of the suggestions but it didn't work, he's not giving up yet. He'll continue playing with it.

Larry ordered a new mattress topper for our bed. It wasn't due to come in until next week but it arrived this afternoon. When I woke up we took the memory foam topper off the bed and put the new Latex topper on. Larry is very excited to test the new mattress out.

In evening we watched our YouTube videos. We watched two great shows on Amazon. The first one was a movie called Cas & Dylan, it was a comedy/drama starting Richard Deyfuss and Tatiana Maslany. It was about a dying doctor, who plans to check out his own way and takes a detour when he meets a 22 year old girl. The second show was an hour documentary called Dog Man: The Dick Russell story. It was about the legency of a famous dog trainer in Louisiana. Then I watched a few episodes of Goliath. I did 28,000 steps.

Wednesday 5-20 Dentist Appointment

Another hot day

Summer is here already. It was another hot humid day. It got into the low 90's. 

In the morning I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: Solitaire World Tour of 30 games. Today the event had the bonus points where all the games were double the amount. It took 3 hours, 17 minutes and 56 seconds. While I was playing the games our internet went down but it didn't affect the time for the event, which was a surprise. By the time I finished the games I was in 13th place in my group. 

After lunch we went to our storage center to take the Minnie for its monthly ride. Before taking the Minnie for a ride Larry started the generator to make sure that it ran correctly. The Minnie was low on gas so we drove it to a gas station and filled it up. While going there the generator stopped running. Larry figured it  was because the Minnie was low in gas, motor homes are designed where the generators shut off when the gas tank gets to about 1/4 full and we were near that. Once he filled the Minnie he tried to start the generator but it wouldn't start. We went back to the storage center and picked up the car, then we took both the Minnie and the car to the house. He tried again start the generator and it didn't start. Next he looked to see if he had any starting fluid, he didn't.

Off to town we went to get some starting fluid at Walmart. Once we got to Walmart Larry put on a mask and I put on a mask. I went to The UPS Store to pick up our mail and a package that was waiting for us. Larry went to Walmart.

Larry had a dentist appointment at 3:00 so they could look at a crown they had put on a tooth and to make an impression for a crown for his implant. While he was at his appointment I worked on my puzzle and watered my flowers. While watering them I saw more flowers.

More flowers

In the evening we watched a couple of documentaries on Amazon. The first one was Antarctica: 1 Year on the Ice. It was about living in Antarctica year round and how to survive the cold, months of darkness and winters isolated away from the world. It was very well done. The second one was Sea Gypsies: The Far Side of the World. It was about a crew of 12 people sailing 8,000 miles on the Pacific from New Zealand to Patagonia on a hand-built gypsy boat named Infinity. It told the story of the adventure of the crew and how they survived the journey. Afterwards I finished watching the first season of Goliath and started the second season. I did 24,000 steps.   

Tuesday 5-19 Laid Back Day

Beautiful Day

We had another beautiful day of sunshine, the temperature at the house got up to 96 degrees. According to our weather man Andy, the temperature tied our record high for today. 

The temperature at our house at 5:00

We had a laid back day because I was sore. Last night when I went to bed I was so sore I could hardly move. This morning when I woke up the soreness wasn't as bad. The muscles that were sore and stiff were my shoulder blades and arms. I was sore because of water skiing and air chairing yesterday. I always get sore the day after my first day of boating. Larry said he was ok. I think the reason why he wasn't sore is because he stretches three or four times a week and I don't stretch at all.

I woke up at 8:30 and made myself breakfast, Larry had already eaten. In the morning I worked on my daily challenges and The Event: World Tour Mini of 8 games. It took me 17 minutes and 20 seconds to complete. I did some housework and a couple loads of laundry. While I was doing this Larry read.

After lunch I took a nap because I couldn't keep my eyes open. When I woke up I watered my flowers and worked on my jigsaw puzzle. Larry finished a book and started another one. We watched some YouTube videos we follow.

More flowers growing

In the evening we watched a movie on Amazon called The Ultimate Gift. It was a good movie about a deceased billionaire with a spoiled grandson, the grandson had to perform different tasks to get his inheritance. I continued watching the first season of Goliath on Amazon. I also did 28,000 steps.

Relaxing in front of the television