Second attempt

I pulled the golf cart apart again today in a second attempt to repair the gas tank. I considered getting out my soldering iron and attempting to weld the crack shut but I am afraid of making it worse. I think I will leave that as a last resort. This time I will try Seal-All. This stuff is good for use with gasoline and they say it will repair gas tanks. The problem is gas tanks are made of different materials and mine is polypropylene. There is not much that will stick to polypropylene. I figured since it dries flexible, it has a better chance than the ridged gorilla glue I used the first time.

Fixed that too

For as long as I can remember the heater/ac fan in the Saturn has been a bit noisy, especially on high. I just figured that’s the way they are. Well we went out to dinner tonight and after leaving the restaurant, I jumped in the car, started it up, and it sounded like a card in the bicycle spokes. All the way home I was thinking, this is going to be a pain to get to. When we got home, I lifted the hood…No the fan doesn’t go through the firewall…Must be on the inside. I opened the passenger side door and contorted myself to take a peak under the dash. WOW! There it is! Three screws and it will drop right out. So off to the toolbox I went. I grabbed my nut driver handle and a hand full of metric sockets and headed back to the car. WHAT! Not metric! Back to the toolbox I headed. Finally after lying on my back on the floor I had the fan in my hand. One parking ticked and lots of sticks and leaves. After I put it all back together I switched on the key and thought, I must have forgot to hook something back up…wait, it is running. Man that thing is nice and quiet now.

Earlier today we headed over to Bullhead City with the in-laws to do some shopping at Sam’s club. That storm I took pictures of last night went right through there and there was still small lakes all alongside the roads from the standing water. They got a lot of water out of that storm. After returning home I realized I still had the windows up in the Saturn so I rolled…huh, who “roles” a window down now a days…anyway, I “rolled” them down a bit. A few minutes later I was sitting under the awning enjoying this cooler day then past few when I heard a noise. Took me a minute to realize it was raindrops hitting the awning. So up the windows went again. Five minutes later you wouldn’t even know it ever rained. Everything dried up very quickly. You just don’t know around here.

Not again

I thought it was over. The weather report said we were done with the thunderstorms. So today I spent a couple of hours cleaning up all our patio stuff. I washed and polished the BBQ, cleaned the table and chairs and cleaned the patio set including the cushions. Then this rolled in tonight.

It mostly went around us but we did get some raindrops out of it. Hopefully since I got the dirt and dust off of everything there should be no spotting.

One more time

This should be the last of the thunderstorms and the humidity for a while.

We are surrounded again buy thunderclouds. It is supposed to move out tonight and start drying tomorrow. I am a bit tired of the humidity. I don’t mind sitting in the heat but when I start to sweat just sitting…that’s not good. It’s actually supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow than it has been for the last couple of days. It’s only supposed to get a tad over 100.

Well the cart gas tank has started leaking again. The patch is holding somewhat since the leak is only seepage. Not even enough to drip on the ground before drying up but enough that I can smell gas. I am hoping it will hold long enough to run this tank dry, and then I will pull the tank again. I think this time I will do a little plastic welding with my soldering iron and then go over it with either Seal-All or JB Weld to seal it.

Landen and I tried to go into the pool today but after a minute or so we were driven out by the 90 degree water. We ended up going over to the second pool here at the resort. That one was only about 85. What a difference 5 degrees can make. We missed sprinkler day at the park here in Havasu Friday. I didn’t read about it until Friday night. This is where they turn on all the sprinklers in the park for an hour and let everyone run through them. Landen would have had a ball with that. There will be another one in 2 weeks though.

WOW! Not again

We had another hell of a Monsoon storm last night. It woke me from my sleep around midnight. This one was worse than the one Sunday night. By looking at the clouds all around us last evening I knew we had a good chance of getting something so I secured everything before turning in for the night. The winds were clocked at 70 MPH. Even though I thought I had everything battened down, I didn’t expect that kind of wind. Things started moving around outside so I went out to secure them even more. I could barely get out the door because the wind was blowing it shut. Then the lightning and rain started. Rain hitting me at 70 MPH hurts. It felt like hundreds of needles poking me. I had to make a few trips out to secure stuff because even thought I thought I had it secured I under estimated the wind. Landen was enjoying the show for a while but then started getting a little worried. It was crazy. There were at least 3 trees down in the resort and a few roof shingles missing from some park models. We faired OK this time. There are more to come.

I didn’t want to say anything until I found out for sure but it looks like I may have dodged a bullet for now. About a month ago Susan and I had our blood test done and I had an elevated PSA. An elevated PSA is an indication of the possibility of Prostate Cancer. I made an appointment with a urologist and was thinking the worst. The Dr wanted to rule out all other possibilities before doing a biopsy so he put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics among other things. Then I did what is called a Percent of Free PSA Test. This measures the percent of free PSA (not bound to a protein) in relationship to total PSA. This test indicated I am at a 24% risk of having the cancer. My Dr says he looks at it as a 76% chance I don’t have cancer and feels that this and the fact that my PSA went down that it’s worth waiting and rechecking in another 3 months. He says as long as my PSA doesn’t go back up that I am good. After getting my good news I got an email that a friend lost his battle with cancer on the 4th.

Weather change

The weather has changed around here. The other day the monsoons showed up. It is a bit early in the season but nothing is normal this year. We were sitting inside the motorhome Sunday evening and around 9:30p the motorhome started shaking. Being a California guy I thought it was an earthquake, then I remembered we are in Arizona. I went outside and could hardly stand up. The wind was gusting about 50 MPH. I started securing everything so it won’t blow away then went around and checked on our neighbor’s lots. Then the lightning came, then the rain about midnight. The next morning, I took the golf cart for a ride around the resort to check for damage. Surprising, things were looking pretty good. I think people have learned from the past and are securing their lots more when they leave. The weather is still very humid and with the heat you can’t do much before you are drenched. This is supposed to last through the week with the temp getting hotter and hotter each day.

Hot and muggy

Well as you know it has been hot here. Today the humidity came around due to some early thunderstorms in the area. There really is a difference between dry heat and humid heat. One thing that doesn’t change though, no matter what the weather is, it’s always the same when you are in the pool.

Landen went out today with the bug box he recently built. After a while he came back and said he caught something. He reached inside his bug box and pulled out this guy.

That’s right he is as flat as a piece of paper. I asked where he found him and he said under the leg of the rocking chair. HA! That explains why he is so thin.

Still holding

I went down and got another 2 gallons of gas for the cart today. Seem to be holding so far. While out we picked up a few fireworks. Of course Landen wanted to fire them all off tonight. I let him do a few and we will save the rest for the 4th.

Actually the law in Havasu permits only ground fireworks like fountains, sparklers, and showers of sparks, but nothing that shoot into the air. And the law says they are only to be fired off on the 4th…Oops, we broke the law. We had to take Papa’s Convertible (the half assembled golf cart) and drive outside the resort because they are not allowed here. For cheap fireworks he had a ball. We did saved some for the 4th.

A cool day

Well if you can call 100 degrees cool. We woke this morning and actually turned off all the air conditioners. It was only about 79 degrees. I figured this was a good opportunity to pull the shrouds off the air conditioners and clean them out.

Since the rear air has been running non stop for a couple of days and we tend to use this one more, it was the worse. Everything went well and cleaned up real good. I used my shop-vac with a brush attachment and my air compressor and got all the dust out of the evaporators and condensers and cleaned the fans and filters too. We are good to go on the airs for about another year now.

I added some gas to the golf cart tank last night to see if it would hold over night. This morning it was nice and dry. Looks like the patch is holding so far although I just don’t have too much confidence in the glue I used. I installed the tank in the cart, mounted the body and took it out for a ride. I call it my convertible right now since I haven’t added the roof or seat backs yet.

Looks pretty cool.

After I got back from the test drive I looked under the cart for a gas drips. OH NO! No gas but battery acid was dripping on my drive. I did a real dumb thing and I should know better. I cleaned up the battery and topped it off while it was out of the cart. Well I added too much water and since the cart has a high output generator the water was boiling out of the battery. What a mess, and one that is not fun to clean up since it is acid. I got out the box of baking soda and made up a mixture with water and started washing everything down with a paintbrush. I dumped quite a bit of water out of the battery and cleaned that up too. I then took the convertible out for another test drive and everything was good. I found out one good thing though, Iron Out does a good job of cleaning battery acid off the concrete. I have used it for rust stains and it works pretty good. Well so far no gas leaks. I tested a piece of cured glue and the gas didn’t melt it but I think it might eventually break the bond with the tank.

Glue inside tank

Since I was able to draw some glue inside the tank with vacuum I might be OK. Time will tell.

Ugly

I tore into the cart this morning before it got too hot, however it didn’t take long before the temp climbed to 110 degrees. It actually doesn’t take long to pull the body. I think I had it done within 20 minutes. Landen helped me lift the body off once I got all the bolts our.

Before

After

After pulling the tank I cleaned it up and sure enough… there was the leak, a crack on the bottom about 8 inches long. Actually it was only leaking from about 2 inches of the crack. Last night I tested a dab of some Gorilla Glue I had on the tank and this morning it looked pretty good and seemed to stick to the tank well. So today I smeared Gorilla Glue down the whole length of the crack. Then I got the bright idea to stick my Shop-Vac in the filler hole and draw a vacuum on the tank in hopes to suck the glue into the crack. I know, Shop-Vac and gasoline doesn’t sound too safe but the tank was clean and dry. This actually worked out pretty well because when I vacuumed the tank it collapsed a bit and really opened up the crack so I was able to add more glue inside the crack.

It looks pretty ugly but, hey, if it works who cares. It’s not visible when installed anyway. After doing a little more research I wish I had used Seal-All instead of Gorilla Glue. Seal-All is more for sealing where as Gorilla Glue is for gluing parts together. Seal-All says it is impervious to gasoline and is good for sealing gas tanks. I have used Seal-All for plumbing leaks and it worked well. Well if the Gorilla Glue starts to leak I will give Seal-All a try next time. If that don’t do it I will get out my soldering iron and try my luck at plastic welding.

More things to fix

After going outside this morning I noticed a strong smell of gasoline. What now, I though. Looking under the gold cart I found the source, a puddle of gas. Apparently the gas tank sprung a leak. After finding out a new tank will cost over $200, I started researching a fix. Seems nothing sticks to Polypropylene, which is the material the tank is made of. I did some research online and found a number of people that successfully patched theirs by smearing different types of glues or epoxies on them. I guess you can’t really securely stick anything to polypropylene but maybe a leak can be fixed by adding a layer of glue, at least for a while. I think I will have to give it a try. In order to fix it I have to remove the tank. In order to remove the tank I have to remove the body. Fortunately it really isn’t a major job, but in 100+ degree heat it might be a bit uncomfortable.

And it just gets hotter

After the cool winter we had, and the month of May being just great, I was hoping for a mild summer. Unfortunately it is above average so far. Next time you are watching the news, pay attention to the weather map when they show the temperatures around the country. Arizona is the hottest. With both air conditioners running we manage to keep it comfortable inside the motorhome, except when Susan starts cooking, then it gets a bit warm. We have been trying to do most of the cooking outside.

Couple of new additions, after 7 years I finally had to have a new patio awning installed.

The original was just worn out. We do use it a lot. Also our front windshield cover finally had enough sun.

Before

After

It used to be bright white. I elected to go with gray this time. Next on the list is new upholstery and carpet.

No he really isn’t a big as he looks. There are a couple of these guys that hang around my patio. They are not afraid of us at all. They come running over to me and I can just reach down and pick them up. I guess they know I won’t do them any harm.

Jimmie sighting

I saw Jimmie Johnson (Susan’s favorite NASCAR driver) Fly over the resort here today. I didn’t know at the time who it was however but I heard a jet flying over and looked up to see what it was. This is not too uncommon but it always catches our attention when one goes over. Later this afternoon we heard the roar of a jet take off from the airport. A while later Susan was on the computer and found out that Jimmie was at the Lowe’s just around the corner from us. It must of just been a private appearance for the Lowe’s employees because there was no advertisement and a search on Google comes up with nothing. The way she found out is one of her friends saw his post on Facebook and emailed her about it. Susan and Landen were bummed that they missed him.

I know, it’s been a while

It has been a while since I have posted anything to our Blog. Since we are not traveling this summer, there is not much exciting going on. As you can see in these photos, it is starting to get hot.

Monday

Tuesday


Today

At about 10:00a this morning it was already 100 degrees. I still manage to do my morning walks before the heat climbs but I stopped my evening walks since it doesn’t drop below 100 until about 9:00p. I tried the treadmill in the gym but it aint the same. Last night we had to run the air all through the night, it’s getting to that point.

Landen has been having a good time.

We head for the pool every day to keep cool. Sure is nice having a pool right out our front yard. I bought Landen a project from Lowes the other day. He really enjoyed using Papa’s tools to build his Bug Box, especially the power ones.

Since we really don’t have many bugs here he has been using it for a house for his Legos.

He really has an imagination when playing with his legos.

Just a few million

Ever wonder what a few million dollars looks like?

Well here ya go.


A shot of the Channel at Lake Havasu.

Let the fun begin

Memorial weekend is the big summer kickoff here in Havasu. Today Landen and I headed down to the channel to see the craziness and there was no shortage of it. First of all it took me about an hour to find a place to park. It was one of those, keep driving around the parking lots until someone decides to leaving. We finally got lucky and got a spot close to the action, right next to the Zip Line.

Of course Landen wanted to go for the Zip Line but at $15 a shot I wasn’t too excited about it. It was close to 100 degrees and everyone was partying to the fullest.

Even Wilson was having a good time. Here’s a little more eye candy, Welcome to my world!

Don’t forget, you can click on any photo to enlarge it.

Fun times

Landen is having a great time. How could he not? He is hanging out with Nana and Papa in Lake Havasu City when all the other kids are still in school. We have spent just about every day in the pool

Cactus cat

Our neighbor, on their way back to Idaho for the summer sent us this.

Out in Gold Canyon Ranch, AZ.
Yesterday morning - a friend called and informed me that a Mountain Lion had chased a Bobcat up a tall Saguaro and that it was still there !!
So - with Camera and long lens - I dashed out and this was the result. A once in a life time "Kodak Moment" .......What a beautiful creature. He was quite relaxed, at times napping - just waiting for an opportunity to come back down. That Saguaro was 45- 50' in height, I guess Mr. Mountain Lion didn't feel it was worth being "harpooned" by those long needles!

I hate it when that happens

Today my computer wasn’t feeling very well. Suddenly it just locked up on me. I couldn’t even shut it down without doing a hard shutdown, you know, hold the power button down for 5 seconds. I tried several things to remedy the problem with no help. It worked OK in Safe mode but after a normal boot it would lockup within 15 seconds. This went on for several hours. Then as sudden as it came on, it went away. I never did find the culprit but all seems fine now. Time will tell.

They should be ashamed

I am talking about the cookie company that supplies the cookies for the Girl Scout cookie sales. I just read an article in the local paper here in Havasu that states the girl scouts sold a record 41,724 boxes of cookies this year. That came to a total of $166,896.00. Now that is not what the Girl Scouts got. They only got a mear $16,689.60, 10% of all sales. In other words, the Girl Scouts only get 40 cents for every $4.00 box of cookies. The cookie company gets $3.60 for a box of cookies! I can buy a box for less at Walmart and that’s after Walmart gets their profit. They should be ashamed getting these little girls to make the big profits for them! I remember asking my brother how much my nieces Scout Troop gets per box and he said about $0.50 a box. I wrote the scout troop a check for $20 and told them to forget the cookies.