Friday Night Adventure Walk

Tonight was such a nice night, we had to 

don our capes and walk around the property:

Sickle Mower Project - Update

I've been slowly tearing parts and pieces off that old C22 Cub sickle mower.  I intend to tear it down, clean it up, then modify it to mount on the front of my JD420 lawn mower. 

I have most of the sickle portion broken down, and in the midst of cleaning, priming, and painting.  I'm painting this IH mower green instead of red.  I hope that isn't a sin.

Here are some various pieces - pitman arm end pieces / the main arm, and other various small pieces.  I'm using the Rust-Oleum version of John Deere Green from a home improvement store - it's about a third of the cost as the real stuff from a dealer. Currently, I have $4.75 wrapped up in paint.

I took off all the rock guards on the main bar, and cleaned it up.  It's so  much easier to work on clean equipment than rusty / greasy equipment.

Various nuts and bolts and such.

A short PTO shaft for coming out the front.  It now swivels as it should.

Progress is slow, and that's OK.  I have no deadline for this project, so it's fun to do things as time allows.  No rush and no stress.

A New Bolt

I've seen lots of bolts and nuts, but I just found a new one.

This is a square headed flat head bolt.  It is a 1/2-13 NC bolt.  They came off my old sickle bar mower project - they hold the long bar plate to the shoe.  I'm sure they have never been taken off, at least in the last 50 years.  Threads are a bit thin, but I'm amazed at that tapered square head.

And I'm even more amazed at the mating plate that it fits into.  As a wanna-be machinist, I'm not too sure how they made that tapered square hole for the bolt to sit in.  I've never been able to make square inside corners, let alone on a taper.  I don't know how they did this 65 years ago.

I thought about trying to take a standard hex bolt and make some new bolts of this style, but I don't really know where to begin.  I think I'll just clean up my old bolts and hope they don't break when I torque them down.  

Neat stuff.

Flyin' Pizza!

Why?  Just because it's fun.

Chicago Trip - Day #4

We picked the worst day to do our outdoor sightseeing.  The Windy City really lived up to it's name on occasion.  Rain, too.

We packed for home, then left the hotel and walked for 20 minutes to hit up a pancake restaurant I had previously researched.  We all enjoyed what we had.  Kids had oreo s'more pancakes:

 Wife had the berry crepes:

I had the signature "Berry Blitz" pancake stack:

Even the butter and syrup was displayed nicely:

Thereafter, we were energized to get back 

out in the wind and the rain to check out the sights: 

Then home on the train.  The station was right under where we were standing in this last picture.  It was a good trip overall.

Chicago Trip - Day #3

Day #3 of Chicago.  We enjoyed the Science and Industry Museum so much we wanted to go back, so we did.  We jumped on the bus for the 20 minute trip there.

Hamster getting zapped:

On a giant hamster wheel:

 The International Space Station is the perfect size for a hamster:

By later afternoon, Kiddo #3 had all he could take

 and fell asleep in his stroller:

The most popular place was the kid playroom.  

They spent alot of time there.

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.