Monthly Archives: August 2014
Dueling Breads . . .
I was up about 10am with a problem to work on. My kind of day.
So after coffee and cinnamon toast made from some Miss Terry’s homemade going-away bread, I was outside ready to go to work.
But, dang it ‘s hot out here. It’s only a little after 10:30 and it’s already 87 here. I want my Polar Vortex back. I like the 70 degree days and the 50 degree nights. And because of the temps, I really need to fix my problem. When we went to supper last night, the AC in the truck was dead. Nothing but hot air.
I had noticed the last couple of months that it seemed to take a little longer to cool down than usual. So I was hoping it just needed some Freon. But after some checking, I’m not sure. When you turn the AC on, the compressor isn’t kicking in. I should hear a loud clunk and the center of the compressor pulley should rotate. That’s not happening. So it could be a problem with the electric clutch.
There are several reasons for the clutch not pulling in. The first one is no power. The second one is that the clutch is defective.
The No Power problem can have several causes: blown fuses, bad relay, or the low-pressure switch. So I checked the fuses, and swapped the relay out with an identical one on another circuit. No luck.
As far as the low-pressure switch, it opens and shuts the compressor off if the Freon level gets so low that the compressor can be damaged if it runs. But the gauge that comes with the Freon can shows pressure on the system, enough pressure to not be a problem.
So to double-check all this, I disconnected the power connector coming to the compressor clutch and found 13.6 volts. This eliminates all of the above problems.
And at this point I ran out of time. The next thing I was going to check would be to use my ohmmeter to check the resistance of the clutch coil. If the coil reads open then that’s the problem. And on most compressors you can replace the clutch without replacing the compressor. Much cheaper
But this will have to wait until tomorrow because I had to get ready so Jan and I could go pick up my Aunt Virginia. We’re going with her over to Huntsville to visit my Uncle Theo who’s in the Veteran’s Home there. Luckily we are going in her Lexus so we’ll be cool.
We spent about hour with Theo before we said our goodbye’s and headed out. Our next stop was Rosie’s Mexican Cantina, our favorite local Mexican place. We always try to eat here every visit.
After a great meal and a lot of catching-up conversation, we came back to Athens to my Aunt Virginia’s house for a while so I could check out her computer for any problems. And the only real problem is that she’s still running Windows XP. But it works for her and there’s no need for her to change now.
As we were leaving Virginia’s, she gave us a loaf of her delicious homemade Banana Nut bread. So I don’t know what we’re going to do tomorrow morning. I guess maybe a slice of Terry’s bread and a slice of Virginia’s bread for breakfast, just to keep things fair.
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Thought for the Day:
Some days you’re the windshield, and some days you’re the bug.
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Back with Family . . .
After a nice quiet night at the Singing Hills RV Park near Mammoth Cave, KY, we headed out a little before 10 on our way to Athens, AL about 190 miles away. On our way out of the park we stopped to drop off a stack of Gypsy Journal’s at the office and tell the owner how much we liked this hidden gem of a park.
Getting back on I-65S we passed something that had given us a start as we turned the corner leaving the Interstate as we arrived yesterday. Not really something you expect to see turning a corner off the Interstate.
Turns out it was an advertisement for Dinosaur World right down the road. I’ll bet Landon would really love this place.
Heck, I’d really love it!
Heading south, we passed along the east side of Bowling Green before making a pit stop about an hour later at the Tennessee border.
The most direct route on I-65S takes you though downtown Nashville and usually isn’t a problem but I checked my new favorite app, Sigalert to be sure.
Available for both Android and iPhone, Sigalert lets you see traffic conditions in any city big enough to have a traffic camera system. I’ve had the separate one for Houston for several years, but Sigalert allows you to have one app and just select what city you want to look at.
The little camera icons let you look at the live traffic camera in that location. They also have a web-based version at www.Sigalert.com. Check it out.
So seeing all green in Nashville, we took the shortest route through downtown. The only disconcerting problem was the fact that they seemed to have renumbered their exits since the last time we were through here. My Delorme Street Atlas was telling me to take exit 83AB to stay on I-65, but the signs were calling it exit 50A. Same exit, just a different number now.
After a really smooth day, we pulled into Northgate RV Park here in Athens, AL about 1:30, greeted my nephew Wes, and then got parked and set up. It’s nice to have an RV park in the family.
Jan has been suffering from sinus/allergy problems the last couple of days, so she slept most of the trip today, and then took a nap later in the afternoon. By 5 or so she was feeling better so we headed for dinner at one of our favorite local places, Catfish Cabin.
We come here at least once whenever we’re in town and it’s always great. Jan got the Cabin Dinner with a whole fried catfish, 3 fried shrimp, and 3 fried oysters. I got my usual Combination Platter that looked like this.
And besides the great seafood, they make their own coleslaw, hushpuppies, tartar sauce, and cocktail sauce from scratch. Really good, especially the hushpuppies.
And for extra service, when we asked for small take-home container for the 4 hushpuppies we had left, our waitress Michele brought us a larger take-home container and another dozen hushpuppies to go with it. Now that’s southern hospitality!
Coming back to the park we stopped off at my Aunt and Uncle’s house to say ‘HI’, but I’ll save all of that for tomorrow.
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Thought for the Day:
“There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.” – Douglas Adams.
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