November 28 (Thursday) A few more comments about the truck, and then I'm going to try to be quiet about it. For every post I put here, there were at least 2 more that didn't make it past the editing stage, so it could be even worse. Tried to reproduce that hesitation/jerk/thump. Now think it is NOT related to the transmission at all. I think it may be the catalytic converter. Strong sulfur smell idling in the driveway warming up to check the trans. I didn't realize the CC could affect the performance like that. I thought it was only an emissions thing. Catalytic converter replacement would be completely out of the question. Will try some cleaner added to the gas. Unfortunately just filled the tank. So it will take a couple weeks before I can try it. Changing the subject. Since I was a kid I can't resist doing this every time I see a snapdragon. Does it remind anyone else of a hippopotamus yawn, or is it just me?
Another bottom feeder raking leaves here. Every day I go out to trim hollies there is a pile of leaves to rake first. If I don't rake them, I can't even find the clippings. Should have waited until they all fell. A load of holly clippings to haul off today. But what to do with the leaves? I shouldn't have let this hickory tree get big. Ran across this image. Painting titled Sistersville Ferry, by a woman named Pat Crolley, now age 82. Our family used to cross the Ohio River on it once or twice a year when I was a kid. The only image I could ever find that shows the old paddle wheel. Another one by the same artist
December 2-3 Cold and windy both days. Today is my mother's birthday. She would have been 98. Monday: .II've been afraid to try the self-propelled (Honda) lawn mower on leaves, because it has belts underneath, but the other mower wouldn't start. It worked great. You just have to make sure there are no big sticks buried in the leaves. It doesn't throw the leaves to the side, so you don't have to go in circles. The front lawn looks like it was vacuumed. It mulches them so fine, the wind just blows what's left off the driveway, or the rain will wash it away. Problem solved. The hickory tree can stay. Cut about 1/3 of the hollies off at the trunk today, but didn't get them all loaded in the truck. The alligator clippers worked well for that. It will take several passes to get these trimmed up right. They will look ugly this winter, but should sprout out in the spring. If I kill them, I don't care. Would like to replace them with those I started from clippings anyway. @Faye Fox: I haven't forgot what you said about tightening the bolts on the transmission pan. Scooted under there, found the right size socket and a handle (a miracle), but the bolts are recessed up on the side of the pan. It will take some kind of extender to get to them. I think I have a straight handle somewhere.
Yes, probably a long box end wrench. If you are like me, it is the one you loaned out and never got back. At least you can get under a car, I can't as I can't lay flat or I get sick very fast. That is great on the mower. I had a Honda that worked great for leaves. When I bought this place, it was too large a deck so I got another brand with a Honda motor that has a much smaller deck that works better with all the dippity doos in my yard. It also throws to the back, but I have it set higher for the hills and holes (doesn't mulch well so high) so it is round d round until I feel like puking, LOL! Being an old ranch girl, I blow my leaves up in windrows and shed them fine, then put on the bag and suck them up. I use to garden and bury them there, but not anymore.
I DO get dizzy lying on my back under the car, or under a sink looking up. Have to keep my head turned sideways as much as possible. The first time I discovered that, I was nauseous the whole day afterward. I used to think it must be all in my mind, but it's real.
I'm afraid Georgia is going to get it's clock cleaned in the football game today. D'Andre Swift is going to play injured and one pass receiver is on punishment for the first half of the game, for naughty behavior in the last game. Even without those problems LSU sounds formidable.. Odds: .LSU over UGA by 7 points.. Don't know why I felt compelled to post this. Maybe because bad things always seem to happen when you are least expecting them, so I'm going on record as expecting them.
Update on the truck The transmission seems to be working fine now. My latest suspicion is it's something to do with the fuel injection. What I tried... 1. While waiting for gas to get down to 1/4 tank I added some Seafoam. It's cheap, for catalytic converters, some swear by it, others say it's junk. Didn't make a difference. Not surprised. Did find that it helped to clean a scorched kitchen pot however. 2. When gas got near empty I added enough to bring it up to 1/4 tank and added the Cataclean. Didn't notice any difference. Not surprised. 3. Filled up to 16 gallons of gas and added a bottle of Concentrated Techron. There is now a noticeable difference in the hesitation/jerk/thump, I think, at least around town. Was it a combination of all 3 things? The big test will be tomorrow on the bypass and out in the country. By the way I've been driving without a license for two weeks, so I don't want to draw too much attention on the road (but that's a whole 'nother story). There is a Shell gas station in a little town on the way to the farm where I always fill up. Last winter Fence Guy and his crew said their gas has too much ethanol and it causes problems, and that's what was wrong with the Ezgo (golf cart). I didn't believe them. Shell gas was always good in the past. By the way, whatever they did to the Ezgo didn't fix it, but at least I know how to get it to run now. You have to keep pulling out the choke, and letting it back, so it takes 2 hands to drive. Maybe they were right. Will try some Techron in that (and the chainsaw), and start using Chevron gas, or the Techron for a while more in the truck.
Ethanol does cause problems in some engines, Nancy. And then there's this... https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/the-truth-about-ethanol-in-your-gas/ "There’s also a political angle. Ethanol is generally made from corn, crop waste, wood chips, or sugarcane. Much of the biomass used to make ethanol is grown in politically important states. Iowa, for example, can trace $5 billion in the state’s economy and 47,000 jobs directly to corn-based ethanol. Until this year, virtually every presidential candidate to win the Iowa caucuses since 1980 had pledged to support the continued mandate for ethanol in our fuel."
I don't believe in wasting something that can be used for human consumption for energy purposes. It simply doesn't make sense for the future.
Results of the truck test yesterday: Before it was a hesitation/jerk/thump. Now it's more like a pause/tug/poof ! And sometimes I can't reproduce it at all. I've got to quit torturing this truck by testing it all the time, but can't seem to stop myself.
It's a busy world. I hope you get your truck running smooth. And I hope you can take it easy on Christmas day. I plan to relax early on because my team is going to get beat upon this coming Saturday. Oh, yes, one other thing then I'll go away. Long ago and far away, on another planet, I had a race with you. You didn't know we were racing, only I knew that. You could keep a thread going longer than anyone. I noticed people who had 80, 90, a hundred or so post you passed them. I thought to my self I can beat you, so I started my own post. It wasn't about anything like yours but I kept adding to it, others posted on it and I got up to four hundred and something or maybe it was six hundred plus a little. You kept climbing, kept writing. Then I realized I was climbing a short motorcycle-climbing hill. Foot, there was no stopping you; you were way over there, over on Mount Everest. I had never stood a chance and didn't realize it until months later when others quit and you kept going. You went until you had nothing else to say or wanted to say. I wanted to congratulate you, but then you would have known of my foolish attempt. I took up something else. Not good at that either. Merry Christmas.
Oh dear, now you guys have to play LSU! I will probably watch that game if I don't forget. They just beat the heck out of Georgia. A lot of injuries too. I think the artificial turf in Atlanta was to blame. Good luck!
The truck is like a puzzle. I like puzzles. Don't think it's anything too serious. If I take it somewhere they will tell me it needs all kinds of things, because they probably won't know what's wrong either. I will see Rusty on Christmas day. Last week eating gingersnaps and apples through the wire gate. Nothing new. He hasn't changed. Same routine.