Much smaller bites, better result....

 7:52 am - Thursday - November 6th - TWW - 51° F, humidity 25%, wind 6 mph out of the southeast....partially cloudy this morning with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE were just arriving at the east gate at the Grand Canyon for a 4+ month stay.....

.....and had parked in our employee site a few minutes later.  The elevation at the east gate is 7,400', so you can imagine what an interesting winter it was.  You can begin reading about that winter here, if you wish.

After biting off way more than I could chew Tuesday, I scaled back my work load significantly Wednesday, but seemingly got way more done....go figure.  The first order of the day was for Charles and I to begin troubleshooting the Ford loader we used a lot last winter.  Sometime in early April the coolant system for the tractor developed a leak, but we never had time to diagnose the problem, and fix it.  We have a lot of things to be done this winter for which we need the tractor, so we took off the front of the tractor to examine the coolant hoses, but nothing seemed obvious....like a blown hose, and when we filled the radiator with water none of the hoses showed and leaks, however, there was a slow drip, drip, drip at the rear of the engine.  Without taking off the entire engine cowling it will be difficult to find that leak, so that will be a job for another day.....

....after that Charles and I set about fixing the gate on the north side of the greenhouse, which we installed last March, or April.  The 4" x 4" post to which the gate is mounted  (left post) had sagged to the right a tad, making the gate rub against the other post, so we cut another piece of 4" x 4" post to spread the two posts apart about 1/4", and that did the trick.....now the gate no longer rubs on the right post.....

Now the gate does not catch on the 

post when you try to close it

.....next up was a task in preparation for attaching the visqueen (clear plastic membrane - 10m thickness) to the frame of the greenhouse (which is coming very soon now).  We needed about 200' of firring strips, which Charles purchased a few day sago, and before we use them we wanted to paint them white to seal them, and match the wood frame of the greenhouse, so Charles and I began painting them early afternoon, and by 3 pm we were done (had to give them time to dry in between coats).....

....in between all of that we wanted to figure out why the Yamaha Rhino would not start.  It has a mechanical fuel pump, which we suspected was not pumping fuel, and might have gotten clogged over the winter due to the awful ethanol fuel we are forced to purchase.  I was kind of sure that wasn't the issue, but we had to rule it out.  While we were detaching the fuel lines from the fuel pump (in order to blow pressurized air through it to clear any possible clogs) I discovered the line which carries fuel from the fuel tank to the pump had a 1.5" tear in it, and that explained why no fuel was getting to the pump....all it was able to do was suck air.  Once we replaced that 10" section of fuel line the Rhino fired right up.....I love it when problems are easily solved....

....by the time we finished putting everything back together, and I took a shower it was 4 pm and time for dinner in the house....

.....I haven't taken an 'usie' of us eating this winter yet, so here you are....proof of life.  Phyllis and TLE made bean soup, with sides of garlic bread, and coleslaw...what a great winter meal!  Naturally, there was some vino for those of us who partake, and a great time was had by all.  After a day of small tasks being accomplished I was refreshed and feeling myself once again.  As we bid our hosts adieu we noticed there was a beautiful sunset happening, so I had to memorialize it....

....thanks for stopping by!