Monthly Archives: October 2019
Extra Perks . . .
I want to thank everyone for the many congratulations on my 4 month quest to get our rig’s oil filter adapter off. I think I got more congrats than I got on my recent birthday. Which is fine since get the adapter off actually means more to me than turning a year older.
I did talk to Cummins today about what kind of gasket sealer, if any, I should use and was told that I could use any that was oil resistant.
So if the weather holds, I’ll be back under the rig to hopefully wrap this up.
This weekend we booked our 13 day Alaskan cruise for next September 1 – 13. I also separately booked our 7 day pre-cruise stay that Best Western – Pioneer Park for about half of what we would have paid if we had stayed at the Holland America Westmark Hotel. In fact, what we saved between the two hotels was enough to cover our airfare up and back.
Normally I probably wouldn’t booked this early, 10 months out, but the cruise on our same ship, right before ours, is already completely sold out. So we didn’t want to lose out. Plus by booking this early we get a bunch of extra perks like $600 ship credit that can be used for extra excursions, gift shop, etc.
We’re still looking at our air flights, trying to figure out the best deals. Kind of surprised that HL doesn’t have something in place, but apparently not.
When we did our Alaskan cruise in 1998, our first night in Alaska, we stayed at the Alyeska Resort down in Girdwood about 30 miles from Anchorage.
Early in the morning we took the ski lift up to the top of the mountain to check it out, and also make reservations for the 4 Star restaurant at the top. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, and the workers were putting out tables, chairs, and umbrellas for the guests.
I guess no one thought to check the weather, since when we came back up about 6 hours later, it looked like this.
And this was the middle of May.
Thought For The Day:
Your secrets are safe with me. I’m usually not listening.
asdf
Sometimes You Just Need To Get A Bigger Hammer . . .
And Hit It Harder!
Last week when we were at WalMart I bought a bigger hammer, at least a bigger, better rubber hammer. I was determined that I was going to get the oil filter adapter off, even if I had to break it off.
This one has a harder black end and slightly softer white side. As heavy as this thing is, I’m pretty sure it has a weighted head inside
Previously when I was beating on it, I was using a lighter, solid plastic one like this,
except mine is white. I think it was originally supposed to be used to hammer tent stakes into the ground. But I’ve always used it to just beat on things.
So I got under the rig about 2pm and whaled away at the bottom of the old filter with the soft side. When, after about a dozen whacks, nothing budged, I switched to the harder side. And after another dozen or so smacks, I heard a pop and the filter base seemed to move a little.
So the next time I really slammed into it. Luckily I had enough foresight to move out from under the filter because with the last hit the filter/adapter combo fell to the ground right next to my head.
But even if it had hit me in the head, I still would have been happy. The damn thing was finally OFF!
And even better, the gasket came off on the adapter piece so it will be easier to clean off the filter base still on the rig. Looks like a good scrubbing with a brass brush should take care of that.
Plus the gasket itself is dry, cooked and flakey, making me more confident that this is what the problem is.
I’m going to call Cummins tomorrow to see if/what they recommend using as a sealer on the gasket.
So now it looks like I know what I’m going to be doing on Thursday.
After cleaning up, Jan and I headed out about 3:30 to have dinner at our local favorite, Los Ramirez Mexican. And as usual, we both got our usuals.
Jan’s was the Pechuga Rellana, with a large Grilled Chicken Breast covered in Cheese, and resting on a bed of Grilled Shrimp and Broccoli along with a side of Avocado.
She also gets the Guacamole that comes with my Beef Fajita Taco Salad.
The prices on all this is really amazing, with Jan’s only $7.99 and mine only $5.59. And it’s just full of Beef. Great!
Then after a stop at HEB and the Post Office we got home about 5:30, with a lot accomplished.
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Thought For The Day:
“Absolute power does not corrupt absolutely. Absolute power attracts the corruptible.” — Frank Herbert
ghgf
