An Unexpected Lesson in Auto Mechanics

Let me put it this way: I may have set a record for the longest oil change in history. I could have driven down to Brattleboro and had my oil changed for $30 in ten minutes... well, in theory. Instead, it cost me five times that amount and took the entirety of this lovely, spring-like Saturday. It began when I decided to change the oil in my car by myself....

(For the sake of visualization, think of this part in black and white).
It was a lovely Saturday morning in Vermont. The air was clear, the daffodils almost in bloom, and the birds chirping. Meet Adam, a cheerful, happy amateur mechanic, excited to change the oil in his car as many young men do on the weekend. Now, this was not the first time he had changed the oil in his car; he had experience in the matter. All of the supplies were lined up beside the car, and with the radio tuned to NPR, he began his work.

The car was blocked and jacked up onto stands, and Adam could easily climb underneath. He looked for the drain plug on the oil pan, which he found with ease. All he needed was a gentle application of force to loosen the bolt, and watch the oil flow gently into his plastic bucket. But, something was wrong! The bolt wouldn't loosen! How could that be? Adam knew that over-tightening the bolt was not good for the oil pan, but his last mechanic must have tightened it too much!

(enter: villainous mechanic with handlebar mustache, sombrero, and dastardly fiddle music in the background)
"Haha!" said the mechanic, "I have tightened your oil pan bolt with my impact wrench of cruelty! I have destroyed the threads on your oil pan! Now, you will have to replace your oil pan! Wahahahahaha!"
(villain rides away on pogo stick waving a 17mm wrench in the air)

You see, really, a shadow was cast on my beautiful Saturday morning. So, instead of giving up entirely, I decided I was going to fix my car. I spent many hours removing the bolts from the oil pan, drilling a hole in the broken bolt to drain the oil, and pulling a heavily dented oil filter from under my car. Two of the bolts on the pan were hidden behind the engine, so I had a choice: remove the engine from the car, or spent lots of time fishing around behind the oil pan with a wobbly wrench and no visual clues as to where the bolts were. I chose the second. I mean, come on! I'm not going to take the engine out of my poor Subaru!

So, after the pan was off, I took it down to the dealership in our truck to see if they could fix the pan. They couldn't, of course, so I had to buy a new pan and gasket. (On my way down, I ordered Trevor's Guinea hens, which is a story for another day). I raced back up to Marlboro in the truck, and when I arrived I assembled the pan and gasket, cleaned up the underside of the engine, and put the sucker back on. It took an hour and a half alone to put in the hidden bolts. But, I installed the new pan, put on a new filter, filled it up with oil, took it for a spin around the block, and behold, no leaks thus far!

I'll check again in the morning to see how the pan is doing, but I think it's fairly well attached. *crosses fingers* The upside of this is that I can now replace an oil pan in a Subaru -- not an easy task! I think that I'll let the real mechanics change the oil in it next time.

The truck, however, is fair game....

Until next time, Yipppe kay-yea!

Where's the Spring?

Just returned from a short trip to the Hudson Valley, and my only question to Vermont is, "Where's the Spring? Geez, it' mid-March already!!!" But, it will come in good time, I suppose. Meanwhile I've been working on indoor projects and furniture -- stuff that should be done before it's pleasant outside. Bookshelves, basement wiring, cleaning, and project drafts are all best done indoors. Oh well. Just a few more weeks, I guess. (Certain readers will like to know that I haven't forgotten a certain television table.)

I've been thinking a great deal about a future 'Canine Education Center' I've been dreaming up for a while. It's expanded from just a wolf refuge to a canine refuge, and I'd like to create a comfortable, cozy building with an library/media room, a dog training room, and potentially a small vet clinic. We'll see how this progresses. It sounds like grant writing is in my future. As well as a PhD in animal behavior and conservation...

Anyways, I thought I'd post some updated pictures of the cabin, as it's been a while since I've posted any. Please, enjoy. (And look out for this summer -- if you'd like to hammer some nails and cut some wood, I'll be doing some projects and would be happy to have volunteers).

Guardian snow wolf in front of the cabin.

Ceiling = done!

The kitchen is coming along nicely...

Double-sided bookshelf with cabinet doors, in the loft.

My new, semi-complete study.

Our brand-new wood stove (thanks Allison!) !

Kitchen cabinet, custom-built by me.

As always, more to come. I'm currently trying to design a rocking chair. I've never built a chair before. Hmm. This should be fun...

Oh boy!

The Season of Sap

It's sugaring season up here in Vermont*, and over at Allison's homestead, we're joining the old tradition of tapping maple trees. I've never collected maple sap before, but I thought, how hard could it be? Well, in fact, it's not hard at all. Trevor, Allison, and I gathered our materials (a drill, a hammer, taps, and plastic buckets) and headed out into the woods.

*What makes a good sugaring season? Temperatures that dip below freezing during the night, but are above freezing during the day. I don't understand all of the mechanisms involved; however, sap flow is entirely temperature dependent, as it dictates the pressure changes in the tree. The tree has a greater internal pressure, and the sap 'leaks' out of the hole created by a tap, just like a kitchen sink. Cool, eh?

We first picked suitable maple trees. We looked for sugar maple, as it gives the sap with the highest sugar content of the Acer genus (you can tap red maples, but it takes twice as much sap to create a similar amount of syrup). The trees we tapped were at least 20" in diameter, which allowed us to put two taps and two buckets on the trees. Smaller trees might be damaged by more than one tap.

Next, we drilled small holes 5/16th of an inch thick upwards into the tree.


The taps are simply metal cylinders -- they hold the bucket onto the tree, and allow sap to flow through. Taps can be made of anything (including wood or a plastic straw), but we got our aluminum taps from the local Agway.


The sap starts flowing as soon as it is inserted (click on the picture for a larger image). It's quite tasty.


We prepare the plastic buckets for hanging on the tap by drilling a hole in the side. It's classic to use metal buckets with tin covers, but we decided to use a cheaper (and equally effective) route. Some professional sugarers use plastic tubes to transport the sap to a collection bucket, which can lead right to the evaporation trays.


All ready for the sap to flow! We put up a total of 7 buckets on 4 trees.

We've so far collected 2.5 gallons of sap in a half-day, so we're well on our way to maple syrup! It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup. I'm not sure we'll collect that much, but I'll give it my best shot! As we collect the syrup, we've put it on the cookstove or the woodstove to boil, and we add more when the pot is low. The weather forecast for sugaring looks good, so wish us luck this week!

If you're close enough to visit, come join us for waffles and homemade maple syrup when we're done!

Disappearances and reappearances

It has been quite a while since I've been here, has it not? I've had the best on intentions to post to this blog frequently, but sometimes life doesn't work out as ideally as predicted. A few major events have absorbed all of my attention: becoming an EMT, making the cabin functional, being on the fire department, and some health issues (but don't worry -- I'm still alive -- I promise!). But, things are looking up!

The major event that has prompted me to write in my blog again is the near-completion of my study. I finally have a desk and some bookshelves and a place to put my computer -- a space of my own! Huzzah! I have great thanks to all of those who encouraged me to work on the study. I will post pictures when I take them off of my camera, but I give no guarantees to the time. I've got quite a bit of new furniture and shelving to post pictures of.

I am quite excited about a new shelving design that I have been working on. Instead of the standerd mortise and tenon, I've made a hidden mortise and tennon and rounded all of the working edges on my bookshelves. I've also made flip-top doors on dowels that are easy to install on any shelf. Soon, I hope to include glass cabinet doors on my bookshelf designs. Again, seeing is believing, so I'll have to take pictures.

I've stopped working on the outside of the cabin for the winter, so I'll finish the siding in the spring. This summer it looks like we'll be installing a foundation and hot&cold running water in the cabin. Also, possibly a septic system. Our cabin will grow up to be a real house! Trevor is very excited about gardening, and I'm excited about finishing the screened-in porch and the deck. If time and the budget allows, we might also build a greenhouse. Good things are ahead!

We had a bit of a setback two weeks ago when our wood stove died. The mechanism that held the glass doors shut broke, and the stove did not heat up well nor did it maintain heat throughout the night. So, I brought up an old Waterford box stove from Allison's basement and installed it temporarily to heat the cabin. It works well, but is definitely too small for the cabin. Hopefully, we'll find a good stove sometime in the next couple of months.

I think I'll have to cut this post short for the night -- I'm dreadfully tired. However, I look forward to posting more about the status of the cabin, and about life in the woods of VT in the middle of the winter. Cheers everyone, and stay warm.

The arrival of Autumn

I rushed off early this morning to a rescue call, jumping in the car with Allison and Julia to speed towards the college. It took me a while, but around 6:30 I noticed the sun was rising, and I watched it from on top of Potash hill. It's been a long time since I've seen the sunrise there, and it was in some ways comforting. But, it had a strange juxtaposition with my current life; the sirens and lights and the cups of coffee. It makes me feel connected to a not-so-distant past.

Life has been busy lately, but that hardly differs from any of the other months lately. I've been learning new skills as a firefighter and first responder trainee. Soon, I'll be starting an EMT-basic course, and maybe someday soon, will be an EMT. Volunteering on a fire department has its benefits: cool gear, awesome trucks, flashing lights, and the opportunity to help out folks in the community. It also has its drawbacks, like 2:00am calls and difficult volunteers. But, I'm happy doing it.

The cabin has been a major stressor, being half-complete and trying to live there all at once. Trevor and I have a space set up in the loft for sleeping, but we still can't cook there, and we only just got electricity last week (whew). Hopefully, we'll get a lot more done this weekend, as we're hosting another building party. And, it looks like there is insulation in our near future. Once we have water and propane, we will be much happier. One step at a time, I guess. It's not a pretty way to live, but it's effective for now.

I am very much looking forward to having a study soon, as I've been feeling a lack of privacy in our living spaces. I really do like living near to friends, but sometimes, I just need an hour in a closed room with my pup and a good book. I have grand plans for my new study, but as with everything else, it will come in its own time.

For now, I'm trying my best to stay relaxed -- of course, that will change when the next tone for Marlboro Fire and Rescue goes out. KCF415, this is 44 firefighter Katrick awaiting the next call.

Today

windows = done.