Day 586

The train woke me up a little before 8 today.  I know in a few days I won't even hear it any more.  There was no surfing.  We got  up, did pet stuff, and had breakfast.

After breakfast I replaced the batteries in the trailer.  The negative connection on one of the batteries was all corroded.  That was probably why things were operating poorly.  I also switched the battery charger on the toy from the trickle charger to a 12 amp smart charger.  Ellen started cleaning the small trailer about the same time.

After the batteries were installed I took the old ones back to Les Schwab.  I also stopped at Goodwill to donate some stuff, the gas station to fill the gas can, and Coastal to get a gas siphon.  The one they had was crappy.  When I got home I used the siphon to drain most of the gas out of the toy.  In the process both of my hands got soaked because it leaked.  I washed my hands right afterwards.  It took two complete cycles using dish washing detergent to get them clean.

Te interior of the toy was covered in dirt and cobwebs.  I had to get out the bucket and a brush and scrub the seats and dash before the thing was usable.

With clean hands I then poured new gas into the toy.  The charger read 12.4 volts rather than "charged", but I figured that was enough.  The toy wouldn't start at first.  I had to crank it until the bad gas in the fuel system ran through.  Then it started, t ran kind of rough.  I let it idle.

Of course the tires were low, so I got out the compressor.  Unfortunately I didn't have a pressure gauge that measured only 7 PSI.  So I had to guess when filling the tires.  The final activity was to get the Glass Plus and a lot of paper towels to clean the windshield.  You literally couldn't see out of it. 

All of this, and lunch, was done by about 12:30.  Then I went to the club to work.  Andreas, Julio, and I went out to set targets.  After one station Andreas went off and did something else.  Julio and I set half a dozen stations.  Andreas had positioned the machines and all we had to do was set them.

After awhile Andreas rejoined us and we did the rest of the machines, and the flurry, together.  That's all we can do until closing tomorrow.  We got done about 5.

While we were setting machines I noticed that the crystal in my watch was all cloudy on the inside.  It was undoubtedly from the gas.  I was pissed. 

When we got back we decided to aim the Directv dish.  We had to move it next to the carport because the trees are too big now.  We got it partially aimed before Ellen had to go back at 6:30 to teach. Unfortunately the new receiver won't do HD because it thinks the TV can't handle it.  Also, the IR won't work (probably because the wavelength is wrong).  Those are problems for tomorrow.

I noticed that the cloudiness in my watch had reduced a little.  So I heated it up with the hair dryer.  That got rid of most of it.  A little remained, so I did it again.  That didn't improve things, so I think I'm stuck.

While Ellen was gone I lost the WiFi repeater signal.  I went out to the shed to check it.  The repeater was covered in cobwebs and the antennas had loosened and drooped down.  I cleaned it up and reoriented the antennas.  It's working really well now.

Obviously it was a really full day.  The end of the day was a little surfing.