Summer Fun

 There are many great things about living in Canada, I could get into political reasons, and social care reasons, but it's also as simple as it's where the heart is. It's a true statement and there is hefty weight to the statement, because as wonderful as any place is to live there are always things that make you stop and say..." why do we live here?"
One of the things I love is winter, but frankly it goes on for a wee bit too long for my liking. By the time spring hits you are definitely getting a dose of cabin fever. This spring was a tough one. Cool, and late so when the warm weather hits you start to feel panicky, like you have to ram as much as you can into the few short weeks of warm weather we have otherwise you will miss it. Thus somethings get ignored....like the lawn. Thankfully my son is eager to work and sort of power tool....so he jumps at the chance to help out!

 Purely for his self esteem, I thought rather than me standing over his shoulder making sure he was 'OK' or that he was 'doing it right' I decided that it was a better idea that I let him spread his wings of independent working and I busy myself with something else.....

 So, it was time to address the alternator. After some testing....I found that it truly was the alternator, it wasn't a fuse, or a bad connection. The thing was popping out an absolute "0" on the volt meter when Fillmore was purring away. So I pulled it and took it in to Dave at Amperage Technologies. Sure enough one of the brushes was fried and needed to be replaced. Less than a day later I was there picking it back up and re installing it into Fillmore. Works like a charm now!

 Kids are done school now, so I decided to try to keep them away from a TV and put them to work. We took a page from Ben Willmore's restoration journey with the Creative Cruiser and made some mock up counters to allow us to better visualize where things are going to be in Fillmore. Now to be fair....these are NOTHING like Ben's mock ups, but for us it does the job to facilitate the spacial relationships of the furniture.

It really looks like a cheap card table but that my friends is the counter with the cook top!
The original drivers seat represents the dinette, and the toilet is tucked in back there but you can't actually see it.
It's hard not to want to go faster, but with everything that has happened in our community in the last week. Working on a hobby project- a fulfilling as it is- doesn't take priority over helping those who have lost so much in our community.
Baby steps!Baby steps!

The power of Mother nature

I know I just said in my last post that I rarely do "non bus" blog entries but circumstances dictate that I do because circumstances dictated that this is all that has happened to me for the past 5 days. We have had an abnormally cool spring, and wet. Lots of rain on and off, but last week we had the perfect storm. Over the winter we had lots of snow so the snow pack in the mountains was substantial. The cool spring meant the snow pack remained. Then last week starting Tuesday, it started to rain. Wednesday it picked up into SIGNIFICANT amounts of rain. Usually we receive about 320mm of rain annually. Last week we received upwards of 250mm in less than 24 hours. On top of that the rain was pushed up to high elevations reaching the snow pack in the high mountains. I think you can see where this is going. The high rain, causes melting of the snow and whammo! we have flash flood like conditions.

Next thing you know the kids and I are trapped on one side of the river and Michelle is stuck at the house on the other side, and the authorities are not letting anyone cross.

Our house was fine, we are not along the river but on higher ground..... plenty of our community members were not so lucky.

A kenworth picker truck, tossed around and hanging onto the river bank

In this pic, everything to the left of my finger was former Terra firma, with houses in the mix

Closer look you can see what was left of a house, it's unknown where the actual house is but the foundation was broken up and tipped over.
Perhaps this was the actual house...
THE POWER OF MOTHER NATURE

 After a few days of seeking refuge in the city we were able to get back home. The rest of the time has been spent volunteering to help those who lost so much in the flood. Needless to say next to nothing was done to Fillmore, except the occational looking in to make sure he wasn't getting leaked on.

The Glen Sinclair Memorial Trophy

I try to keep the blog to be a bus related blog, but sometimes there are things that I just need to share. This past week I made my annual pilgrimage to Manitoba for the annual golf tournament that I take part in with my brother Shawn, my father-in-law Ron, and numerous other close friends. It's a long way to travel for bad golf on a good course, but truth be known it's not about the golf. It's about the brotherhood.My father was a big part of this weekend as well, truth be known it was why I would drive for 12 hours, to golf with him.
As some of you know, cancer took my Dad Jan 2012. The organizers of the golf tournament asked if they could commemorate my fathers contributions over the years to the tournament by creating the Glen Sinclair Memorial Trophy for the winner of one of the flights. It seemed to be a natural fit that the trophy was created by Shawn and I.Well....more Shawn than I but Ron and I both had a small part in this.

This is a speaker made from Mvuli wood. It's the equivalent of an eastern African Oak. Ron and Verna had them made when they were in Africa in the 60's. They returned home with them, and although they have not been used as speakers for a few decades, they couldn't bear to simply throw them out. Last Fall Ron brought them to my place to see if I could use the wood for anything.

So I tore them apart, sanded and planed, mitered, routered ...

sanded,sanded and sanded some more.

There! The base was constructed.

Now on to the sculpture, there is no rushing the muse...can't rush the muse...the muse doesn't move on anyone's schedule but it's own. And really you can't accuse Shawn for poor time management.....he is simply the vessel for the muse. But just for the record I was about to find the muse and strangle the little bu#@#.
But in true Shawn form he pulled it off, in an amazing creation. Here he is placing a porcelain cast around the wax mold.

The cast could go on no thicker than 1/8", and had to be a final thickness of 5/8". Each layer took at least an hour, or two to dry. Then ~4 hours in the kiln burning out the wax....

Finally the bronze ingots are melted in the furnace, and the casting happens. FYI this is the highest stress point, if something goes wrong it happens here, and there is no second chance with this mold.

We all held our breath as Shawn devested the casting....The detail was intact and beautiful

For the nest 4 hours I watched Shawn push bronze around... fascinating to watch a master at work but think of it like listening to someone playing a musical triangle for HOURS!

And the final Product, after it's all said and done I believe we created something that is worthy of bearing our fathers name.

SNAFU

 So there I was enjoying the joy of unexpected Sunday sunshine on my face on a day when the weather man said we had severe thunderstorm watch in effect. One of the other relatively minor requirements in order to comply with the inspection, is that I need to have a high beam indicator light on the dash. Although there is a turn signal indicator light on the turn signal switch on  the steering column, I need to have a more distinct and separate light for each direction.

 So with CBC softly playing in the back ground I tore the dash apart and did some rewiring.

 A lovely blue LED high beam indicator light, and finalized the wiring for two similar indicators in a soft amber. All I had to do was drill 3 holes of 9/16"....... just three little holes...

Once again Fillmore wins.

Road Apples

 Yep that's right I said road apples.
Once again like a teenager going to the school dance I had my hopes up, only to have my deepest desire of taking the next step crushed like an aluminum can on a frat boys head. OK a wee bit melodramatic yes but....oh man so close.
 Once again I took Fillmore in to Calgary....well Springbank actually which frankly is WAY more convenient. I have done some work with Ron from RV Rehab and he put me on to Dave from Springbank Truck Repair. Dave is a great guy and was willing to have a boo at Fillmore to see where we stand in terms of readiness for the final OOPSI (inspection). The good news is that Mechanically Fillmore would pass. The bad news is there were still a few small details that need to be addressed prior to that happening. The biggest? I have no low pressure warning alarm or light. With the air brakes, there needs to be a warning system in place to warn the driver that air pressure has gone below 66psi. Not an original feature on the Clipper, but something easily put in place because of planning of the primary distribution block.  A quick trip to Greggs and I got the pressure switch and the alarm.

Popped off the mounting plate where my pressure gauge and exhaust temp gauge are, a step drill bit and we're off to the races.

Now for the Road apple

 Springbank is only 35 Kms away, but as I was driving home I realized that my battery was being drained. The cooling fans were on which include two electric fans on the hydraulic and transmission coolers. Something is up with the alternator...I'm not getting juice!

 Second issue I was having was my brakes in the front. Things weren't right, they didn't "feel" right. So I limped home and investigated. Turned out my front pots weren't working. The issue? Connection at the foot treadle. My fault, I didn't double check everything after I got it back from Standens and I missed a incomplete connection. My mistake? How do I check the movement if I am by myself Really it's a two person job, one to push the brake the second to visualize the movement. I was trying to get super fancy and creative thinking of a way I could have a chord tied to the pedal and I would be able to pull it from down under. After a while it hit me, keep it simple Sinclair.
Technology is great. iPhone 4s has a video camera. Easy peasy.

Things that make you say...."Hmmmmm?!"

As many of you know, I was diagnosed with Celiac disease a few years back. For many people, receiving this news is quite traumatic, it is a new paradigm for your life, and some have trouble coping or even as far as never "recover". For myself? I simply learned from the guidance and example of my then 10 year old, and attempt to handle the challenges with as much dignity and grace as she does. Finding the silver lining to every thing is paramount. For example, beer. Gluten Free beer has come a long way even in the short time I have been exposed to it. Although some microbreweries hesitate and therefor loose some very lucrative market share, others have jumped at the opportunity and done so with a marketing ploy that works. Sure the beer isn't as rich and full bodied as beer that is traditional, but look at the fun you can have!

Even if it is at the expense of your greatest helper, supporter and believer in your mid life crisis.

Today was full of sunshine and cool breezes. For Fillmore who is going to have the follow up safety inspection on Thursday, I continue with some last minute details. Although I have had the new wiper washer pump installed for months now, and I have purchased the tubing...I had yet to install.

Seemingly benign and an uninspiring detail, but a detail that could send us back to the drawing board if left unattended.

This was one of those times where I needed a second set of hands. I attempted to secure from both the inside and out, and frankly thought this was quite creative....but I still needed to call Anna for some real time human touch.

All hooked up and ready to go. 

BTW now THIS is a crime against humanity...

Oh the horror...

The Prodical son has returned

I cannot believe how long it has actually been since Fillmore was safe in his little shelter. March 2...MARCH 2nd!! There has been a Fillmore drought for 3 Bloody months. Yes, yes I admit there has been plenty accomplished, jut not directly by me.

 I had been placing phone calls to Standens and playing telephone tag with Tom trying to find out when I could expect to get Fillmore home. By Friday I had resigned to the fact that it wouldn't be until next week. You could imagine my surprise and delight when I phoned in once again and Steve at the service counter said "Yep! it's done!!". Although Friday was a crappy weather day, raining and cool, I was stoked to get in and pick him up. Michelle sensing my excitement was more than willing to help get me there to do it. I think she finally hit the wall in terms of watching me wander around the house aimlessly for the last few months and now she wants to get me out from under foot!

 The drive home was cool, I haven't hooked up the heater core hoses yet, but I wasn't feeling it. The steering  no longer feels like your are herding cats down the road. Don't get me wrong this is not the responsive handling of a Tesla ( a little shout out to my peep in Victoria) but the balancing and alignment along with the rebuild of the steering box makes it a pleasure to drive and steer!

 Once I got him in the shelter and spent some time crawling around underneath, looking at all the handy work I had to laugh. One of the mechanics left his grease rag hanging on the front axle. And after a 70 km trip it was still there!

 Here is the steering box, resealed, filled up, adjusted and fine tuned!

I wasn't able to spend a ton of time solely on Fillmore today but I did manage an hour or two. I chased down a few electrical concerns. Turned out to be a fuse, a cut wire, a bad connector, and a burnt bulb. (not all the same problem 4 different ones!) Then Anna and I spent a few minutes and calibrated the speedo. It was an easy sell to get her to buy in, I told her she would get to spray paint the road!...now I will actually know how fast I am going!