Alternator fun

A month or so ago I was driving a friend/customer to Vancouver to pick up a bed. He complimented on my truck, saying how well it was running (for its age). Well, we were in the tunnel under Hastings when I noticed my battery light flicker on. I was a little worried that I'd get stuck in Vancouver, but it flickered right back off again and was fine, in fact so fine that I kind of forgot about it even though it started to blink on with more frequency.

Then last week it was kind of on all the time. I decided it was probably the alternator, or maybe the battery. But it kept starting, no problem.

But eventually I decided I'd better get another alternator. I called around to the scrapyards, if they'd had one in stock it would have been less than $50, and new was $250-$300 from the auto parts places, so I ordered one on Amazon for $170. It was a couple of days shipping, and the day before it arrived my truck died.

I wasn't too far from home so I took the bus home, put an old battery in my backpack, and biked back. I switched batteries, the truck started, and drove for about 3 blocks before dying again. So I bought a new battery from a store nearby and managed to nurse the truck all the way home.

I took out the old alternator and waited until the next day for the new one. It went in without too much hassle. And truckie's been working fine ever since. Well, mostly fine--sometimes seems to run a little rough, I might have to get my fan clutch checked out...

Mario Kart 8/19

Victor and Malachi and I had a race in Harrison. We rented some dune buggy bicycle things. One of them had a side car.

Victor and I were in the lead.

Despite our best efforts, Malachi started gaining in his Malachimobile. (I suspect he got a mushroom)

He pulled even with us! We pelted him with squid ink, turtle shells, and a lightning bolt, but it was no use!

He passed the finish line well ahead of us. We hung our heads in disappointment.

But it was a good day anyway. We cooled off in the lake, headed to the pub for supper, and were home before bedtime!

Winter and Spring Adventures

Again, a dearth of posts lately. Apologies to all four of my loyal fans! Now that I finally joined Facebook, blogging has really slowed down!

On my birthday this past February I took Victor and the kids up Sasquatch for tubing. Here is a picture of us riding the moving sidewalk:

Then sometime this spring the kids went shopping for new shoes. It was a nice day and they wanted to try out their shoes on the soccer field near our house (how many kids have artificial turf a one minute walk away?). I like this picture of Malachi in action.

Tomorrow we are striking the set for Midsummer Night's Dream. No new plays until the fall. Lots of carpentry jobs in the pipe, though.