Good morning

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning Mossberg Owners. Well we had lots of rain but it looks like it’s all over here. Our most local lake is set to overflow, and the city is trying to buy the extra water cheap before it runs out to the ocean.

My wife presented me with a December electric & gas bill of over $600. Water and disposal is another $50. $200/month here just for property taxes on 1/3 acre in the burbs.

But, we have more cops than other calif towns, and crime is very low compared to Fresno/LA/Frisco/Sacto etc. Also the best public schools in Cal. Good fire dept too.

It’s not cheap but I am very lucky to live here. Plus we still have rodeo and farmer’s market day and the Big Hat Days festivities. I’m within easy driving distance of 6 fishing lakes.

(You can see I’m trying to convince myself that I can still afford this.)

Looks like it’s gonna get down to 33F by Saturday morn. All the rains have been fairly warm. But the cloud cover is gone now & it has cooled off a lot.

This afternoon promises to be sunny and I’m going to go ride my bicycle seriously for the first time in weeks.

You folks have a nice day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

*Yawn* it’s 4 AM here. Too early. Can’t sleep.

No bicycle riding at all yesterday, even though the weather was beautiful. My shed needed cleaning and the garage needed more cleaning.

I am working on a kickstand. Custom application for the aluminum bike.
Those are the roller brackets that hang a 400 pound sliding glass mall front. (You don’t wanna get those moving too fast!)

I took off the rollers & drilled them each twice.

I gotta drill ‘em right thru that first zero.

More pix after breakfast… *yawn*

 

[Ernst]

A Thought to Ponder This Day

“War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks nothing worth a war, is worse. A man who has nothing which he cares about more than he does about his personal safety is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the existing of better men than himself.”​

― John Stuart Mill

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning. Cloudy and 37 at 10 am. After a week of 60s we are now in our 3rd day of 40s. We got an inch of rain, much appreciated, this week. The next week will be mostly the same.

You all have a great day.

 

[John A.]

Yeah, we've had way too much rain lately. More falling as I type this. We have had no shortage of rain this winter. Lots more expected. They think starting about 3AM tonight, snow starting.

Almost makes you want to go celebrate.

(heavy on the sarcasm--if ti snows, that means these few inches of rain the last several days is also gonna freeze and everything will have a thick layer of ice and permafrost.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Hey you guys. I was down with some gastric distress yesterday and it’s still haunting me.

Here’s the kickstand mount, assembled but not quite finished.







I have extended the kickstand with some aluminum tube but it needs to be secured and it needs a tip on the kickstand. Also I didn’t put all the chrome nuts on yet.

This is going to involve some JB Weld. Otherwise that tube is not going to stay on the kickstand.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I replaced the little 1/8” copper tube on my horn with 3/8” PEX tubing. It sounded like an anemic piccolo with copper tube on there.

The horn sounds great now, but I wish the tubing was red. Red PEX was only found in 1/4”.

It’s a bit ratty, but it works and is one-of-a-kind. I see I need to wipe down thr fingerprints and put some wax on this bike.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning you guys.

My wife is off to help a sick friend this morning, and I am home with a sick fish.

My biggest fish has been ill, and I think it’s a case of internal parasites. I’ve been giving him antibiotics and special fish emetics. He seems to be recovering slowly. Anyhow today will be another round of water changes and antibiotics.

He quit eating his fish food, subsisting on whatever fry he was catching. I thought he was just being a picky eater, and then he started developing a rash on one side. I have no idea what’s going on, but the rule is frequent water changes, salt, antibiotics, emetics, and high-quality medicated foods.

It seems to be working because he is eating readily now, but the salt and antibiotic seem to have killed off most of my snail population. I put a large dose of probiotics in the system after the treatment, to get the ecology back on track.

The clean side.


The rash.

It is also on his fin.

It developed in a circular pattern which is not obvious in the photographs, kind of like ringworm.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning. Cloudy and chilly this morning, but the snow that was forecast for us never developed. We had snow all around us, but the city only received rain. I think we had about a quarter of an inch. Not much but well appreciated. HIgh today about 40, low tonight low 20s, brrrr.

I hope all of yous are doing well. Have a great day.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Hi Mossberg Owners. Looks like it’s Wednesday afternoon already and I finally came up for air. I’ve been trying to get my shed straightened up and put together a little baby bicycle. So far I have a frame, fork and two wheels representing parts of four different bicycles.

Right now I have the back wheel all apart and I’m polishing the spokes.

 

[meanstreak]

Good morning Mossbergites. Cold, 19 at 7am, sleet, between and quarter and half inch, and freezing rain. What a morning, we even had lightning and thunder. Not the first time I have ever seen/heard that.

I cleaned a couple of revolvers yesterday that I had taken to the range on Thursday, now I need to go back and shoot some more, LOL. Kinda a catch 22. I took and lady with me that had never shot a firearm before . She is quite liberal and does not like guns, , but last summer had something happen that has made here want to at least try to get used to the idea of having one. We shot a box of .22 through a revolver. I fired 12 rounds and she fired 38. I also shot a .38, but she was not ready to try that. I am hoping after a couple of trips to the range she will feel comfortable enough to go through a CC class. She has another friend wanting to do the same thing. Perhaps this will even change the way they think about other things. Time will tell.

I wish you all the best day possible.

 

[Bobster]

I took and lady with me that had never shot a firearm before . She is quite liberal and does not like guns, , but last summer had something happen that has made here want to at least try to get used to the idea of having one. We shot a box of .22 through a revolver. I fired 12 rounds and she fired 38. I also shot a .38, but she was not ready to try that. I am hoping after a couple of trips to the range she will feel comfortable enough to go through a CC class. She has another friend wanting to do the same thing. Perhaps this will even change the way they think about other things.

About 8 years ago the NRA had a "Mentor" program going. LINK The info is still there, just haven't heard much about it lately. My son's GF will be the next one to go with me to the range and she will get to start with .22 and if she feels up to it (and I feel she is ready for it), on to 9mm and 5.56mm. Maybe even one round with the 12ga...

She is receptive to the cause, claims to have voted (R) the last election, so no mind-changing with her. I would consider donating a box of .22 to maybe change a lib's mind--depends on the circumstance and if the lib deserves it... Good to see you doing your part, Meany.

The following link will take you to "The NRA Guide For New Shooters"--it is a .pdf but too large to attach here... LINK

 

[CaddmannQ]

Hey you guys. Still working on the bicycle, and messing with aquariums, and loafing around the house today. I did get out and ride my bicycle yesterday and though it was very cold I had a good ride. It was the first time in a couple weeks because of the rain.

Here’s the baby Asian coaster brake ready to assemble.



Some fire engine red paint, shot in a cardboard box in the garage with the heat gun while it was 40° outside.


Here’s a little 14” wheel all rebuilt.


I got the tube and tire on last night but I did not take a photograph.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning Mossberg Owners.

It’s been in the low 30s here every morning and frosty but no precipitation. There has been a lot of am fog & this morning is hazy, but it’s starting to lift and we should be able to see the mountains.

I’m just piddling along here and not making much progress with things. That’s OK because I’m not on a schedule.

I’m going to have to force myself to do less and try to do it better. I have a serious amount of welding practice on the VW coming up. It looks like the weather will cooperate too.

Still, it will be at least April before I get such things back on the road here.

This tiny tire was a PITA to mount, and I resorted to heating it up with a heat gun. I did manage to get it on without destroying the paint job. It’s gonna get a serious filling of tire sealant because I don’t ever wanna have to patch this.


I put a 14 inch wheel in a 16 inch frame but somehow it still turned out to be too narrow. Here I am spreading the frame with one rod and correcting the parallelism with another.

I only had to spread it 1/4” but of course it springs, so I really spread 1/2” and let it come back.

Here, the front sprocket & crank are installed, the wheel is on, and I’m fitting the final bit of chain. It’s not new, but bits of some 3. When it is correctly sized, I will take it off and polish it. Reflections of the red and pink make this chain look rather rusty, when it is not. But it’s not super clean yet.

Today I should finish fitting the chain, installing pedals, and work on the forks.

But it’s a lovely day and I think I’m going to go ride my bicycle for a while because my knees really need the exercise and I need some fresh air. I’ll get back to this later and I hope you all get out for some fresh air and exercise too.

Except you John. I know you’re still out trying to chip the ice off of your house so you can get the doors open.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good morning Mossberg Owners. Well it’s chilly here which means that it’s freezing in the rest of the country. Still too early to see the fog but I expect one this morning because the ground is still quite damp.

Here is the first outdoor photograph of the baby bike. Beware of the Pink Puppy!


The front fork still has springs in it here but I will replace them with steel spacers to make it rigid. The suspension fork design is just a cheap sloppy POS, but it will be OK when I am done.

Since there will be no front brake I’m taking off the ugly “horse shoe” which bridges the lower fork legs.


I took off as much as I could with the little grinder and filed the rest by hand until I got a smooth surface. The old Oregon chainsaw file leaves a nice finish.


I think I’m going to burnish the lower legs and leave them with a scotchbrite finish and clearcoated. The upper legs I’m going to try and polish as much as possible, and I will coat them with an anti-corrosion treatment.

Those little blue handlebars are junk & I am going to get some nice chrome ones.

Today, I’m going to continue polishing, and maybe I will try to get to the bicycle shop and look for those handlebars.

I hope you guys stay warm and out of trouble today.

 

[John A.]

Y'all wish me luck. I've been needing to clean up my shop for a while now. It looks like a bomb blew up on my workbench with tools and things strewn about.

I'm gonna try to get that mess picked up today. I just need to keep motivating myself to do it. Been saying I'm going to every day for a week now and haven't even went out in the back yard. [rolleyes]

Maybe today will be the day?

 

[CaddmannQ]

It sure doesn’t get easier in the winter. Even as mild is the weather is here, I am not encouraged to get out there when it’s cold. Nonetheless, I did go ride my bicycle this morning (once it warmed up a bit.)

 

[meanstreak]

Belated good morning, afternoon, and evening. More clouds today, but we had a high of 35. First time above freezing in 4 days. A warm up starting tomorrow.

I'm thinking tomorrow is going to be another range day. It will also be a grocery shopping day.

Ya'll have a great evening.

 

[CaddmannQ]

Good Luck John. I hope you got to bed earlier than I did.

I did two full days of work on this little fork. I think it looks nice enough now, although it’s not clear coated. I just hit it with some anti-corrosion oil.

There’s some faint die marks, minor nicks, and tiny weld undercuts that I did not buff out. Most of it came out pretty good after sanding with 220, some wire brush burnishing, and buffing with a synthetic wool wheel. White car polish compound.

And lots of filing by hand.

Of course it must come apart again. As I was just polishing it, I laid it on my desk, and discovered that the weldment is not straight.

Phooie! Why didn’t I check that before I polished it? I knew that cheap fake Huffy Fork wouldn’t be exactly straight, But it’s tweaked over 3/16” (5mm.)

My indoor vice was not big enough to attempt the straightening, so I have to wait till tomorrow and use the big outdoor vice.

 

[John A.]

Woke up to snow and them calling school off today in my area.