Aerie Report, September 4, 2009

I got three hours of cutting wood out of the chainsaw on Wednesday before it decided we had enough. Can't blame it for wanting to quit before the usual 4 hours as I was cutting oak. Gave me time to take a couple of chains to the shop to get sharpened, buy another to have on hand, and generally run a few errands.

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I spent Thursday headed in the opposite direction (east vs west) doing more shopping and getting the Tundra's oil changed and its inspection sticker renewed at the dealer's. Truck passed inspection with colors but a warning that the tire tread is getting a bit skimpy and the suggestion that I look into getting some new tires before the snow flies. I had hoped to get through the winter but with 30K currently on the original tires, it might be time to look for a new set of Cooper's.

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Headed out today to haul cut wood in using the ATV (Yamaha Pro Hauler) and it was running rough. After getting the first load back to the house, the engine died. I pulled the plug (dry), checked the oil...O-oh! Darn thing was super low on oil. Good thing the engine didn't seize up. Not having any on hand, I headed to Wally World. (I needed to pick up a few groceries, too.)

Ended up putting nearly two quarts of oil in the ATV but it still wouldn't run right. After two more trips out and back, it stalled and would not run hardly at all. So I pulled the air filter and noticed some water being spit out by the carburetor. Drained all the fuel and the carburetor (a little over two quarts) and got about two tablespoons of water sitting in the bottom of the jug. Not good.

Almost everything in the garage up at the Bolt Hole collects water. There's condensation in every single gas tank and gas can. It's gotten to the point where if something doesn't run right, the gas gets drained. If it still doesn't run right, we go get new gas from the station. Well, the ATV was up at the Bolt Hole until just a few weeks ago. It wasn't run much here until this week. I guess the water in the gas tank came with it from the Bolt Hole. Why I could get it to run earlier but not today is a mystery.

Anyway, seems to be running fine now so I guess I'll have to haul the rest of the wood out...tomorrow.

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Weather? One word: FANTASTIC!

Over night lows around 50, daytime highs 75-80 (at 4:30 PM). Every morning this week we've had dense fog down in the valley while the Aerie, at 2100 feet, has been well above the clouds. No sign of rain in the forecast until Monday.

This is the sort of weather we should have been having all summer. The local schools started classes the end of last week so the kids aren't getting to enjoy this, but I'm betting their parents are!