A break from the routine

As I put in a couple days this week splitting firewood at mom's , and had most of my own chores done as well , we managed to arrange to have the whole weekend to ourselves .

So on Saturday we took the old Volvo to the Parsonsfield auto show , and despite the heavy rain and rather thinner showing we enjoyed the adventure . As most of the time was spent under raincoats and umbrellas I did not even take any photos . During a brief break in the rain my friend Marty managed to get the only evidence of our attendance . By noontime we were back home .

On Sunday we were invited to visit with my friend Clint and his family at their summer vacation rental in Wolfboro right on lake Winnipessaukee .

After lunch and having a proper quorum following "Roberts Rules of Order" of parliamentary procedure , Clint's daughter Janelle suggested a small excursion , I seconded the motion , and after a brief discussion on the matter we had a five-and-a-half to one-half majority vote , so we climbed the Abenaki fire-tower .

Took a group selfie

Clint took a nice picture of us .

Took in the scenery from the top of the tower

I got one of Clint from down below

As it was about eighty five degrees and seventy percent humidity after our brief excursion we all went for a swim .

The view to one side of the dock .

And to the other .

The place has a neat fire-pit right on the beach

Looking out from the upper deck to Rattlesnake Island .

A top down view of the little cove .

After an early supper we headed home . As it was getting dark I was particularly careful on the windy deeply wooded road headed from Wolfboro back to Acton . I spotted a flash of light tan color out front to the right in the woods and slowed a bit trying to interpret what it was . I had just managed to identify it as a deer , when a second one came darting out from the left . In a torrent of adrenaline I managed to slam on the brakes and missed striking it by a fraction of a second or tonight we'd be dining on very expensive Bambi . Made it home to a very anxious cat by nine pm . All in all a very welcome break from the usual routine .

Firewood

Mother burns about four cords of wood a year to heat the house . This winter's wood is all cut and split , and has been drying for a couple years already . We still need to move it to the deck so it is within easy reach . We had about three cords of Maple and Ash from the trees we took down in June that need to be processed .

So I spent last week rebuilding and tuning my arsenal of assorted saws . 

 Hand-me-downs and castaways in various states of disrepair . Oldest is the second from the top , a  Stihl 031AV from circa 1974 . The 028WB is the third one down and dates from about 1980 . Both heavy but good saws in the 50 cc displacement range with sixteen inch bars.

A bit lighter than the old Stihls , the newest is a Dolmar PS5100 with the eighteen inch bar , a good saw when I can keep it running .  A high compression engine of about 50cc displacement , running at over 14K rpm , even has a compression relief button to facilitate starting . Trouble is , it is a newer saw , and it was built with greenie environmental concerns as a primary consideration thus runs very lean . You can't make the mixture on the carb any richer beyond the way it comes from the factory . If you use fuel with ethanol in it , which is all I can ever get around here , it will run even leaner and trouble is sure to follow. Yea so much for the tree huggers . Whenever I tried to get it started , the piston seemed to be binding on something along its stroke . Last time I tried to run it last fall , it ran for about two minutes and then shut down abruptly . Engine was seized up hard and would not turn over at all . Yes I was running a 50:1 oil gas mix . Pulled the muffler and saw the score marks on the aluminum piston skirt indicating it had run over temp and melted the piston skirt on the exhaust side . That is a clear indication of running overly lean . I was a bit discouraged after all the other events of last fall , so I stuffed it under the work bench and forgot about it until last week when I gathered up my courage and took it apart . The piston skirt had melted and smeared on to the cylinder wall . A a couple of hours of elbow grease with some two hundred grit , followed by some eight hundred grit sandpaper on the piston , ring groove , and cylinder wall got it looking like there might yet be some life left in it . Reassembled it , and the thing lit right up on the second pull and ran like a champ . It has never started so easy or run so well . Perhaps all my elbow grease with the sandpaper gave it a bit more clearance to run easier . If as a result it has a bit lower compression it really wont harm it any , tree-huggers be damned . In retrospect I am sure there was already something going afoul with it before it landed in my hands and binding piston was just an early warning of it having run too lean previously . Mixed some 40:1 fuel hoping that will keep it from melting again .

Monday was forecast to be the coolest day of the week . So I headed up to mom's to get busy cutting next year's firewood . Yea right . . .  turned to be about 85 degrees , and about 70% humidity so I proceeded as best I could .

I got some big pieces of ash well over 24 inches in diameter . That is the big Dolmar with the 18 inch bar sitting on one of the logs . Yea I definitely could use a bigger bar on the saw .

Plugging away at it , I swapped out soaking wet T-Shirs four times by the end of the day .

Did manage to put a dent in the pile .

Until I ran out of energy , chainsaw gas , and sharp chains .

After fiver hours of work I figure I cut up about a cord and a half . Do you think someone else will make an effort to get it split ? . . . .  Yea right  . . .  Don't set yourself up to be disappointed again .

Trailer abuse

Apparently a half cord of hardwood is a bit much for the little 4X8 trailer

Dad had found this old abandoned trailer behind his old college fraternity when they were doing a final clean up before deeding the building over to the college about twenty five years ago . He had put a new box on it that saw several years of use and exposure to the weather . After stepping though the floorboards while moving firewood , I built a new box on it last fall and put it to some use this year . Then shortly after hauling a half cord of firewood up to mom's I noticed the right side wheel was setting a bit cattywompus . I guess that would put a stop to all hauling activities until I fix it .

The prospect of lying under the thing to repair it was just not appealing , so time to rig up my old home made gantry crane in the barn , and make this a more pleasant job .

The axles are just stubs welded on to some U channel . Here you can see the ten degree bend it took on from carrying too much weight .

Take the wheels off and remove the axle assembly

A bit of grinding reveals the joint where it opened up

Then some persuading with a portable , manually operated , optically guided , inertial impact delivery device does the trick to close the gap and delete the bend   . . . never hit it harder , get a bigger hammer . . .

A bit of sketchy welding ties it all back together .

A couple sets of new U bolts

And it's back in place

Couple hours of work . . .  the hardest part was chasing down the new U bolts

As my electric winch does not have a reverse, yea it's a cheap Chinese POS, I rig up my block and tackle .

and start . . .

. . . to lower it back down on the wheels

Easy does it .

Back on terra firma again .

There good as new .

Back in service again .

Post-Script:

As I mentioned previously, last fall I rebuilt the box on the trailer . I thought I had posted about it but I guess with the storm in October and dad's passing It got by me . So here are some photos of that project .

 

Like I said I was moving some firewood for mom last fall and I stepped right through the floor boards

Sides were in pretty rough shape too

So those came off as well and I ground the rust off the frame and hit it with some Permatex rust converter .

Then some rattle can truck bed liner .

And painted it with some rattle can green paint .

Cut and painted up some new sideboards out of three quarter inch plywood

Bottom and sides drying on the saw horses . Used some real stinky oil based floor enamel .

Twelve dollars bought us a new wiring harness from Harbor Fright

Made, painted and installed new stakes. Must have done the job before the October storm as my fence is still all one color .

And got her done , mostly, though I still need to put proper rails on it to protect the top edge of the plywood.

Gone to Paris . . .

 . . . Paris Hill that is,

 . . . as in Paris Maine.

To look at some fancy cars that are part of Bob Bahre's private collection . Mr Bahre made his fortune as the builder and proprietor of the Oxford Plains Speedway here in Maine , as well as the Loudon Speedway in New-Hampshire . Every year on Paris Hill Founders Day , the third week in July , he opens the doors for the public to view his exquisite collection of vehicles . All proceeds go to fund . .

. . .  the Hamlin Library on the grounds next to . . .

. . . his private estate on Paris Hill , which just happens to be the birthplace of Hannibal Hamlin , who served as vice president under Abraham Lincoln .

The first automobile you see in the driveway is a nicely restored Ford model A

The grounds are quite spectacular as well

The view from the top of the hill

Looking down at the building that houses the main part of the collection . The upper building just to our left as we enter the gates of the estate houses some of the earlier specimens .

The 1810 Victoria carriage that belonged to Martin Van Buren which he used while he campaigned to become the 8th President of the United States .

The 1835 Victoria Studebaker carriage used in the filming of Gone With The Wind . Yes , Clark Gable's derriere sat in that one .

A 1903 Oldsmobile

A 1914 Baker

Powered by a 48 volt General Electric motor . Got the Tesla beat by a hundred years .

A 1916 Ford Model T recent Barn Find

And just to the left of the Model T a Thomas Flyer from 1910

And to the right a Panhard Levasor also from 1910

The plaque

A Stutz Bearcat from 1914

As we make our way down the long drive to the larger building there are some cars on display outside on the outer apron .

A magnificent old bus , a 1915 Lippard-Stewart .

A Duesenberg racer

From 1931

And just next to that my favorite a  . . .

. . . 1933 Auburn Boat tail roadster . . .

The ultimate gangster car

And a 1932 Stutz

Across from it a 1929 Issota Fraschini

And skipping a couple generations a 1957 DKW

And a 1951 Studebaker

As we enter the building on the right a 1940 Mercedes Benz . . .

Once owned by the King of Norway seen here transporting Mr and Mrs Winston Churchill and the King.

And a 1940 Duesenberg , the last Dusenberg ever produced .

A 1933 Rolls-Royce

 Henley Roadster . .

a 1931 Packard

And another Packard of similar vintage

And a 1941 Packard

And another Packard from 1934

That was designed for Clark Gable

Another 1934 Packard

With in flight entertainment and libations for the passengers

And another 34 Packard Coupe

A 32 Packard

And another one from 1932

And yet another one

And another Packard

And another one . . . Packard was definitely flavor of the month

OK , finally something different , an Alfa-Romeo from 1938

The other side of the Alfa

Next to the Alfa was the 1948 Tucker engine display

a 1931 . .

Mercedes-Benz racer

And a Duesenberg Lycoming engine

Three of them actually

and a 1951 Ewing racer

and to the left of the Duesenberg engines a  . . .

1947 Delahaye

The front office on the Delahaye

Reportedly the most valuable vehicle of the collection purchased for three million dollars .

Makes the green 1934 Hispano-Suiza look pedestrian

And a 1934 Cadillac

The original Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang Mercedes . . .

One of three from 1921

 the 1915 Mercedes-Benz 230 hp inline six Aero-Engine

This is the car that inspired Ian Fleming , yes the same guy that wrote James Bond , to pen the original Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang book .

A pair of Duesenbergs the tan one a 1929 and the one on the right a 1939

A 1934 SJ Duesenberg

The interior of the 34

A 37 Duesy

The tan 32

and I'll leave you with the 1949 Vincent Black Shadow motorcycle .

I think I got most of them before the battery on my camera died . The collection is far bigger than what is seen here . Many more cars were in the restoration shop one level below the display area as well as off site , though that was not open for public viewing .

Post Script:

There were a few cars brought by visitors on display on the grounds outside the estate that I photographed as we first arrived .

A bright 1930s Packard

A nicely restored Triumph TR3

A trio of convertibles stars with the white MGA

A 64 (I think) Austin Heally 3000

A 1962 Austin Heally 3000 that once had a tree growing though it restored by Jim Begin

With a dragon wrenching on the engine.

And a slick looking BMW coupe.
OK that's it for now . . .