Chicago Trip - Day #2

We ate a nice breakfast of bagels at the little shop in the lobby of our hotel - Einstein Bagels.  It was great.  Then we took the bus down to the Field Museum campus for the day.

Sue the T-Rex was great:

Worth another picture.

Another dinosaur bone intended for hands on (or other):

Kids got a bit board, so we walked down to the Planetarium:

Rocket simulators were good:

Then the bus ride back to the hotel:

Pizzeria Due for supper.  I picked it up as the kids went through the tub.  Chicago Deep Dish was very filling.

Chicago Trip - Day #1

We hopped on the train at the Gary Station around noontime.  This is the first time kids had ridden on a train.  It took us into the city, and we hopped off at the Museum of Science of Industry.

 

The big German submarine was cool:

Periscopes were fun:

Anchors are neato:

 

Astronauts make kids smile:

Then, we took a bus to our hotel.  We stayed downtown just 2 or 3 blocks east of Michigan Ave and just 4 or 5 blocks north of the river.  It was a nice location with lots of dining options within walking distance.  Here are kids showing off the 16th floor where we stayed:

We had a nice view of the street below.  

We all spent alot of time at the window.

Saturday's Adventure Trip

This past Saturday, I loaded up 2 of the 3 kids, about 50 stuffed animals, and headed north in the pick-up to pick up another Craigslist purchase.  

I have been searching for quite awhile for a sickle bar mower as a project.  My list of demands were high - it had to be light-weight, mostly functional, and perhaps most important of all - super cheap.  I finally found all 3 attributes in one machine, but it was way up north 90 miles away.

No worries, though.  That's where the adventure trip comes in.  With 2 kids and 50 stuffed animals, we had a fun afternoon travelling through the countryside.  

Upon seeing the sickle bar mower at the seller's 

barn, #2 Kiddo exclaims, "Is that it?!"!"

Well, yes.  That is all it is.

Nothing too flashy, and it will need a bit of work, but that's expected.

This sickle bar is a 1950s vintage Farmall Cub C22 60 inch mower.  It was originally a belly-mounted mower that was powered off the rear PTO of the small similar-vintage tractor.  My plan is to convert it to a front mounted mower for my larger 1980s JD garden tractor.  By having a cantilevered mower, trimming my creek banks will be a piece of cake.  Inspiration for this project originated with my Canadian Cousin with this picture:

I have a bit of designing and engineering to do.  Now that I have the actual mower in hand, I can start drawing and designing a way to attach, power, and raise this unit.  It looks like a fun and challenging project.

Big Changes

Start with this "before" picture of the two older kids: 

Here is Kiddo #1 after yesterday's big haircut:

And here is Kiddo #2 after his very first tooth fell out tonight:

(And why is that moustache hovering beside him....)

We can't leave out #3 Kiddo.  He found a new place to nap.

Extraction

One of the float bearings on my 1938 JD A carburetor was very stuck.  After a month of soaking, and multiple attempts to loosen it with heat, I had to resort to drilling it out.

The float bearing is brass, so I drilled out 90% of the diameter, and then finished it up with a left handed drill bit.  It broke loose and backed right out.

This is always a good sight to see after an hour of work:

Tree Moving

We had our dead pine trees cut down at the roadside.  The electric company came out and chopped them down.  They died in the drought from a couple of summers ago.

My helpers helped tremendously.  My backdoor neighbor helped me drag them back to the bonfire.  My Boy #1 helped out by skiing and riding along on the top branches.  Here's a picture from last Saturday morning.  It was a warm morning of 25 degrees, and we worked quick enough to beat the high winds of the day.

With their generous help, we were able to get both dead pine trees all put away in about an hour.

Adios, Old Truck

Sold the 1999 Chevy Silverado truck today.  A nice, younger man, bought it this afternoon.

It served me well in the years I had it.  I bought it new off the lot with 18 miles on the odometer in October 1998.  I sold it with just under 92,000 miles.  I'm sad to see it go, but I'm happy it's going to a good home.  The new owner appears to be very mechanically savvy, and will fix up the rusted doors and make it look like new.

Here's the last picture from a few days ago.