Rear Seat Work On The Van

So, for Saturday, we worked on rebuilding the rear end, and on Sunday, I pulled out the motorized rear seat and tore it down in order to straighten out the bent frame sections and the drive arms, then I re-installed the back panel. It took pretty much all day Sunday to get everything working right, but it's nice to sit up front, press the rear seat switch and it moves up and down smoothly like it's supposed to.

Now, when I need to back the van up, I just hit the button and the rear seat will lay down so I can have a clear view behind me. With the new backup camera and the 'ducking seat', I should be able to back up the sailboat with no problem.

Regarding the test drive I mentioned yesterday, Dad and I took the van for a spin and the rumbling noise has been greatly reduced, but is not completely gone. I guess that is the nature of the type of rear end in the van. Otherwise, the van is driving nicely.

Rear Axle Work On The Van

The van has been making a runbling/growling sound from the rear end the moment it was put back on the road in Arizona. So we decided to replace the axle bearings and the oil seals in order to stop the noise. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more of an adventure than we first thought.

After pulling the axles out, we discovered that the bearing surfaces on the axle shafts were severely pitted and they would have to be replaced. This was an opportunity for Katrina to go with me to the junk yard (it was the first time for her) to help me pull a pair of axles out of a junkyard van.

When we arrived at the junkyard, we quickly searched and got lucky enough to find a pair in practically pristine condition, so that was good. More importantly though, we found them after checking the second van, and the axles were already loosened, so we didn't have to crawl under the van and take apart the differential housing. Now that was great!

Since the rear end was taken apart, I figured I might as well do the brakes, so we got some brake shoes and installed them too. Unfortunately, it started to rain as we finished up, so I'll have to test drive it tomorrow. Hope the rumbling is gone now.

CITO - Geocaching Style

CITO, in geocaching terms, means: Cache In, Trash Out. This is when geocachers schedule an event in order to clean up the environment where a cache is, or has been, located. This event was scheduled right after work for about an hour so that a park near our house could be cleaned. Since Luann was stuck at work and Dad didn't feel like going, Katrina decided to go along with me and meet our geocaching friends.

To begin with, this is the pile of junk we picked up within the hour we were there. You can see it really was worth the effort.

We had everybody going everywhere, holding trash bags. We've got "Bumper" in the blue shirt heading into the treeline while "Bottle Boy" scours the shrubbery. The white T-shirt Bottle Boy is wearing was given to us workers by the county's "Help Keep Our Parks Clean" division.

Of course, when you start cleaning out a park, you're bound to spot some flora and fauna. This fine specimen of a lizard seems to be saying, "Get off my turf!"

Seems like all of the rain we have had recently has kicked the growing season into high gear.

SuzyBell here, had to take off work early and re-arrange her personal schedule in order to be here. It really is something to be with people who care that much about our environment.

And here's Florida Sandpiper. He is 73 years old, lives near us and is one of our leading competitors when it comes to discovering brand-new caches that have been posted (which is called: FTF - First To Find).

Well, even in a junk-strewn park, you can still find some of Nature's handiwork. I don't know what this plant is, but "I Know's Whut I Likes"...

We're piling stuff we picked up at the pavilion, and the pile is starting to grow.

Yes, those are 3, very toxic automotive-style lead/acid batteries. If the people who dumped these into this park only knew about the poisons and leachants they are dropping in their own back yard. This could kill pets and children.

We were pulling a little of everything out of the woods. Mr's Bottle Boy found several sheets of rusty steel.

One of our group (sorry, the name excapes me), even went to the trouble of policing the grounds around the playground area, picking up broken glass and sharp metals. Good job!

Here's Cusmith bringing in the last item that was found, a car seat.

And CSI Crue brought in the last bag of trash from cleaning up around the entrance.

Now, it's time to take an accounting of the materials bagged and stacked so the county parks department will know what size truck to send for the junk. Yuzawa Kat (seated by the cooler) organized the event and put the tally sheet together. All-in-all, I would say we did well, making this park a better place for the neighborhood kids to play.

A Little Bit Of Wind Nearby

We came across this tree that was knocked down in a rainstorm this evening. The wind wasn't all that bad, I think it was the fact that the bugs had eaten out the center of it and there wasn't much healthy wood left. Somebody could have leaned against it and the tree would have gone over...






Looks like Dad is growing a Moss-Beard...

Karen & I Went Geocaching

Since everybody else was having fun, we decided to have our own brand of fun too.

We went to J.B. Starkey Park, which has about 40 caches within its 1600 acres. Here is the first container we found. Pretty easy, huh?

For the next one, we dropped off this keychain fob, which is a stuffed animal head of 'Roo', from Winnie The Pooh. We have a bunch of these from a keyfob collection that my Mom had. We are slowly dropping them off in geocaches so kids can enjoy them.

This one was a bit tougher for us to get to because we had to scale a barbed-wire fence (thanks to a fallen tree across it).

This one was full of recipe cards to trade with and for. It was neat to see some of the hand-written recipes that our fellow seekers had left in the container.

Now this one was found by Karen while she was talking on the phone. Here I was, balancing on a log right over it trying to find it and she pointed to something on the ground and says; "There it is!" I should have waited for her to find it so I didn't have to do my circus act on the log.

We just love ammo boxes, you never know what you might find in one.

This looks like a great place to drop off a 'Hello Kitty' keychain fob.

For this one, we had to go hacking through the underbrush, only to discover that this marshy stream was blocking the way. A beautiful view, but not a fun way to go...

We checked the depth with a stick and it's about a waist deep stream of tannen-stained, brown 'goodness'.

At first we considered crossing this natural bridge, but it didn't look stable enough to prevent us from going, "Splash!"

As we were hiking through the environs, Karen picked up this stick, 'just in case'. Well, you can take the girl out of Miami...
By the way, that's the stick we used as a depth gauge to see if we could possibly make a water crossing.

Yeah, real pretty, but it's smack in the way of our finding a cache!

Well, we called it quits and looked for a couple of other caches. When we got to the geocaching zone (GZ), we saw this white tailed deer. This is a blurry shot of the deer's hindquarters.

We also came across a couple of armadillos too.

Ahhh, the final cache of the day. The sun is starting to give way and we only have a few minutes to get out of the park before the rangers lock us in for the night.

Time to go!

Luann & The Girls Went To Flug-Tag

Now what is that, anyway? Turns out Flug-Tag is a contest sponsored by Red Bull energy drink, where people build a device that is supposed to fly as far as it can when launched from a platform that is 30 feet above the water.

Luann & Conni arrived and tried to meet up with Jeff & Jennifer, but they just couldn't get it done, so they tried get as close as possible to see how things were going. Obviously, the place was packed. It was estimated that over 110 thousand people showed up.

They decided to try their luck inside and found that it was pretty much 'standing room only' no matter where you go.

When they decided to settle in at this spot and try to take a couple of pictures, this couple decided to suddenly stand up in front of them and block the view. Everything would have been fine if they just sat still. Kinda makes you wish you had a Sharpie marker to connect the zit-dots on her back to see what constellation might appear...

Somehow, Luann was able to get a couple of pictures of this team 'strutting their stuff'. Here they are, getting ready for their turn.

Ready, Set...

Go! After this flight, Luann and Conni pressed the, "Not Having Fun" button and departed the area. At least they can say they were there.

Katrina Went To An Anime Convention

Katrina dressed up in costume to attend Metrocon, a convention of anime (Japanese comics and cartoon) characters. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to come up with a picture of her (so far) in the costume that Teishalyn made for her.

This pair did a real nice job with their 'look'. Just give them the stereotypical Japanese cartoon 'doe-eyes' and they will have it down just right...

It was interesting to see how everybody made up costumes to look like their favorite anime characters.

And some people spent quite a bit of money on their 'look'. All-leather doesn't come cheap.

Speaking of cheap, how much effort does it take to strip down and tie a banana leaf to your head...
Two words, dough-boy. WEIGHT WATCHERS...

It's amazing how many anime characters prefer to use the escalator, rather than using their super powers.

Here is a picture of Katrina's friend Kitty, and a guy in character as; 'Dark Link'.

Sometimes, simple works best. How about a brown box character that is known for eating everything in sight. Something like a square Pac-Man.

Alright now! This guy must have stumbled out of a Star Wars convention somewhere. Hey Bozo! Metrocon/Anime, not George Lucas!

Oh well, there's one in every crowd. Or in this case several...

The Ceramics Are Back!

Got some pics of the ceramics from the last 'Girls Night Out' where they visited Practically Picasso. Here are the images of what their handiwork looks like after a visit to the kiln.

Jeff's Vase.

Marci's 'Dog Bowl'...

Jennifer's Serving Tray.

Gotta give Conni credit, even with the image of a frog on it, she still held the tray up so I could take the picture.

Conni's Welcome Sign for (perhaps) the front door.

One of Luann's two plates with Japanese text. This one says, Wisdom.

The second plate, which says, Peace.

Teisha-Lyn's first bowl with her initial.

And her second one with Pat's initial.

And here is a side-view of her artwork.

This one is Desire's.

And this is a gift plate they all signed for Marci's birthday.