And that's how she sits tonight with almost a completed snorkel system

Next the bulkhead sections were treated to two wet coats of self etching primer to the inside surface.

I added some stiffeners to the forward bulkhead section to stiffen it up

Then the top piece that transitions back across the air filter box to the first bulkhead section. The hole in the air cleaner box will be sealed in the final installation

It started out looking like this:

That is bull crap!

Why not a block for "Christian service" if you volunteer at church

Like I keep saying

It's always opposite day with respect to common sense and justice and fairness

Before and After

Another

CIEMR

By

Donald Harward

Ever think about the concept of “Before and After?” For some reason our good Lord puts these things on my mind just before I awake. Maybe the concept lasted for some time during my sleep, a place where time has no meaning and likely does not exist. But my feeling is that it just occurred most of the time. Like it just happened, as if someone placed a data card into my brain and pushed “Download.”

That happened this morning. It think I was dreaming about something from my Army and Combat days. I dream about that stuff almost every single night, but this morning’s episode sort of overrode all of that so I just remember it and not some dusty LZ or someone’s face or the crump of artillery in the distance. This morning I heard the words “Before and After” and just like that the whole thing was in my mind. Note that all this happened before my morning quoffee so that makes it a NCIC (non caffeine induced concept!)

Before and after…There is the situation before something and your life after something happened. For a soldier I talked to one day it was the moment he was looking through his ACOG at the guy who shot him, and the moment after with him sitting on the ground with a shattered arm. I know I just used the Armee card there, sorry about that, this is not meant to make one all teary eyed about someone’s misfortune. Nossir, this is to awaken us to the concept of “before and after.”

Let me give you some examples of before ad after situations in my life. Joining the Army, getting married, graduating high school, accepting Jesus as my Lord and savoir, pinning on those silver wings and shiny bar. For all those things there was a time before and the time after. The time after for all these things still goes on and will until I die a physical death, but will also carry eternal ramifications into my eternal spiritual life which lies just beyond the gates of death.

I can remember oh so clearly standing in that line of recruits in the MEPS station in Baltimore. In a straight line, perhaps our first formation??? We had our right hands raised and were looking at a man, an Army officer, and were repeating the words he was saying. My life had run up to that point a bunch of happen-stance events that now all stood behind me and the speaking of these words would place all that, my civilian life into the history files. When It was over the officer smiled and said welcome into military service as of this very second, you are now a US Army soldier. Just like that I was no longer in the before and was mindfully and with a bit of fear thinking of the after which had just started.

That happened at a single point. Just like graduating from High School. In one single event we all went from being kids dependent on our parents to becoming young adults who technically were in charge of their own lives. All that had happened before was relevant, however now in the past. A matter of history as it were, we could no longer shape who we were as a high school student and before us lay an entire adult life. Graduation was that moment spanning the before and the after of that time.

There was a before and after when I married Kathy. Oh how I wanted to call her my wife. She was beautiful, loving, intelligent, and she held the hope of a bright and happy future. I stood there at the altar and I listened as the fateful bride’s song started to play. I watched as a hundred other eyes did at the corner where the hallway met the sanctuary of Christ’s Chapel where we all waited. She appeared and the moments of not being married passed into eternity with her every step. We joined hands, we said our vows and turned to be introduced as Mr and Mrs Donald Harward and started off the “After” part of our life with a smile and a joyful heart.

Have you ever noticed how time is not linear in the before and after context? It seems to bunch up as you grow closer to an event, but opens back up and stretches into long eternities after? Getting ready to leave for vacation? You have more and more to do just before leaving, but afterward, you just unwind and expand into the peaceful and lazy and playful days ahead. And the wedding…! Did anyone get everything done? Did the details overwhelm you? Did you find yourself running out of time as things stacked up? And what of afterward? Did you just exhale a long easy breath and sort of sail into the reception and the honeymoon and the days afterward? (Well you should have ;-)!

Accepting Christ is a big, a very big “Before and After” moment. In all actuality, the most important any human will ever face. My before was one of ignorant self-confidence where I sort of negotiated with God. “Yes Sir, I’ll take that eternal life thing, yep, good with that, but I’ll just maintain control over my life. I mean look at all I did by myself…Special operations pilot and all that, yep, I’m pretty good at managing my life, but sign me up for the benefit package for sure.” Thinking about that time, I bet Father God was nudging an angel and saying, “Take a look at this one, this is gonna be good!”

For that time there was a life which if I want to be truthful, was a sinful, self-centered one that didn’t matter. Then the moment came when it all fell apart for me and I saw I was a naked no body with no hope. At that moment I surrendered it all to Christ in the hope he would speak m name to the father who would save me. And he did. That was the moment, and immediately following that a whole new life started. There was a time I did not really believe, the moment of salvation, and the time after spanning to this moment and beyond when all that junk of my past fell away and my heart changed forever. I had a before and after event to be sure.

Before and after’s seem to govern our course or more to the point, a change in that trajectory. They seem to govern history and life after. Before and after the renaissance were the dark ages and the time of enlightment and technology. Before and after world war two was a dark time of fear and a growing police state followed by a time of great peace and jubilation. Before and after an ice age, a volcanic eruption, a tsunami, a new job, hitting the lottery jackpot.
With all those there was that point of time where the balance shifted from what was to what is to come. Whether ominous or carefree, it all changed and remained in that changed state with the past being swept away. In many cases that moment was precipitated by a decision. A time when everything led up to a yes or a no. I I will or I won’t, and I do, or “What the heck was I thinkin’ heck no I’m not…” Sorry got a little carried away there, but you know where I was going with that, don’t cha? (Wink emoji)

Something drives the decision that gets to that moment between a before and an after. Sometimes fear or hopelessness, sometimes love and joy, sometimes uncertainty, and other times assuredness. Kind of like a super nova, it is a slow but methodical procession of events that march up and toward a brilliant explosion that yields a totally new paradigm that follows.

I feel that our nation is in the last days of a grand before. One that started in taverns and in small homes in the year’s preceding 1776 and could end sometime after January of next year. I feel that history will record the America rising up from such humble beginnings on the backs of great men and women to become the greatest of all nations. We became a singular place in human history where the value of human freedom and caring for others trumped our personal interests. We were a free people once who cowered to no one and had no ear for those who spoke against God given rights.

That was and is our before. But just as temperate climates eventually give way to ice ages, our freedom and our peace rapidly approaches a single point when all that will change. The same force which would fail to recognize an enemy and would even invite it into our home has infected the halls of our government. Freedom is a bit of a nuisance to these people. They fancy control over the masses, believing in their core that they can do a better job and we should just mind our place and do as we are told. They tell us of course, that we are free and the weak minded follow right along repeating the chorus they have been taught. Expressed by a complicit media and a subservient education system, all buttressed up with a system of laws who are “Managed” by politicized courts. Mind you these courts can place you illegally in jail with the stroke of a pen with their personalized interpretation of said law and all the while the masses will hardly notice fearing missing a cool scene from shark tank.

Much of our nation is so selfish, so twisted, so hate filled, and so stupid, as in not intelligent-stupid, that they would present, let alone elect a criminal for their candidate for president. What at all about Hillary makes her a good candidate to lead a free nation? Anything??? I can’t think of anything. But that’s my problem in this modern America, the fact that I actually, think.

America is facing its biggest before and after. Axis Germany, Italy, and Japan never stood a chance against an American people of that day. It was good against murderous evil and we were not made of the stock that would put up with that for long. Hitler doomed himself and his people the moment he started down the part of hate. But what of America today? Do we have a population cut from the same bolt of cloth? I certainly don’t think so. I see us as overweight and out of shape. So just from a physical standpoint we could be overrun by Chinese girl scouts. We are not morally centered. God at our core? Hardly! With grand institutions trumpeting gay rights, black rights matter, prochoice freedoms, feminism, embracing Islam and a host of other similar causes, we are a nation that supports and seeks to further the causes of Satan and make him triumphant.

Well there is that point that lies between the before and our fate after. In this context that point is called an election. Should we pull the wrong handle in sufficient numbers, in the honeymoon of the first 100 days will come a tsunami of nation killing laws, regulations, decrees and public will. The left empowered with their big win will steam roll our life into history, Preachers who effuse to marry a tow men, or later down the road, a woman and a dog will be jailed. Guns will first be registered, while ammo will be curtailed as well as magazines and other things deemed murderous and hateful by a brain washed elitist left. Coal mining will die and vast areas of Virginia, Kentucky, and other coal producers will fall into depression like times (Read: under government welfare control). The EPA will come down on people with a hateful revenge for having questioned them in the past. Many will be jailed for crimes such as digging a pond without a Washington bureaucrat’s approval. Life will change to one where we live opposite day all the time.

But it will not actually get to that point. Knowing that the time has come, insurrection will breakout. There will be news blackouts in areas where hired armies temporarily suspend the first amendment (Yes, that’s illegal) and engage citizens with drones, cannon and whatever they want to quickly kill and stabilize. Hmm just realize that will be a new morning briefing room term, “K&S Mission” Kill and stabilize missions. Yep, it fits, reads well, sounds good and is convincing and defining enough for the troop leaders charged with carrying out these missions.

But alas, not everyone will lie down and take it. I’m betting a few million start sniping, burning, interdicting, and generally messing with the authorities. That should get us to the point where a martial law plan and a nationwide campaign reinforced with foreign troops could surely get us back in check and in the aftermath, with UN troops having done a Yugoslavian style cleansing here, why not just sign up to the fact that the UN really is the governing body and just accept their rules as our law.

Far fetched you say? Couldn’t ever happen here you’re thinking. OK well, take a moment. Think about your neighbors…Which ones will fight to resist an oppressive government? Look either side of your cube. Who has the stamina or courage to stand and say no to oppression? You have your answer staring you right in the face.

We are in the before time of our republic. It could all change on one day in November.

Wondering how the professional liars at the DNC will spin this?  Will they call for knife control laws?  Blunt object control laws?  Big white truck laws?  Machete laws?  Roofing axe laws?  maybe keeping Irish out of the country will make us safer?  Is it possible that we are missing an opportunty to keep potential killers out of our country?  While France is dying from attacks muslims admitted through liberal immigration policies, our would be leaders in the DNC want to increase the number of immigrants admitted??

The very definition of insanity.

This is the reason I do not trust any democrat and in many cases believe them to be evil.
They lie (Freeing the slaves, which was a republican effort), they embrace killing unborn babies in the name of freedom of choice, they cower to evil men through placating Islam extremists, they fear everything it seems, they hate God for the most part. Caveat here, a lot of them attend church, but God is not in their heart, so, yes, they hate God. They think LBGT have greater precedence than old people and work constantly to build up their cause, while doing nothing to help "Normal" american families. They want to take our means of defending ourselves, thinking that gun ownership makes one murderous. They cannot remember any of the history which actually got America to greatness. They distort everything, and now they are hyping up a proven liar, and a person in colusion with everything she claims to want to change as their "Only realistic choice" of president.

We are witnessing true insanity over massive numbers of people...incredible

I just don't see our republic standing if she is elected. It will continue to get worse as morals fall through the grate and who knows what becomes the flavor of the day. All this points to a coming violent revolution and between neighbors!

But not to worry, the UN will send troops to rescue us and it will all be better with Russian, and Rwandan, and Egyptian troops keeping the order!

Thanks for that link!

I was just looking over the AC wiring/control in SquareD

You may recall I cut the computer and it's wiring harness completely out of the truck

Consequently, a lot the systems no longer work, so I am having to hard wire them and am just slowly sorting through the thing. Sometime I will finally get that roof mounter cooler (Condenser) mounted and run some lines.

Right now the normal fan switch works normally. However, I think the actual Compressor cycle circuit may not. So I have to sort through that thing. This control unit would add electronics to the truck, which I don't want, but would solve for the iffy fan control.

Dave,

I lived like that once...a sardine simulator

You have to start somewhere, we all did, but that improves with time

Here's what 2.5-5-10 acre lots looks like in a neighborhood. I find it about right to keep the neighbor a couple hundred feet away at a minimum, although I prefer the isolation of that farm of mine:

To keep the cost minimal, I'd skip on the tubing part and just do a section of rectangular steel tubing, say 2" X 3" X .125" wall would work.

use a cutoff wheel on a grinder or a cut off tool to cut the steel away as close to the seam as you can get.

Next you'll have to inspect what you have there when the rocker has been removed

Likely you'll have a rusted mess, but not to worry. Using a wire cup tool, clean the rust down to steel or work the holes out to better metal.

Use goggles and a mask for all this

If it is mostly good, spray it with a couple coats of a weld through zinc primer

Next cut and shape the rectangle tubing into the form you desire. Use clamps and floor jacks and your overweight uncle (Joke there...no offence intended...) to hold that thing in place then apply sparkage in a skip-weld fashion until most of your sleeve or skin has burned away.

At this point you'll either be:
1. Finished welding
or
2. In the emergency room.

In either case do what you have to do to recover or finish the project

Best of luck, and if you tackle this, being a beginner, we all would appreciate pics of the progress and a good "Lessons-learned" write-up. If it's good enough, I'll use it again for the next "Rocker-Man"

If it's bad, we all will use it to ridicule you on a daily basis

Note: Not every one of my comments is true...Use deductive reasoning to ascertain the truth in this

Good Luck, and if not

call 911   ;)

Nice Work!

The D-max managed to get covered with dust as well...I fear it may be totalled!

And that was that for one VHD (Very Hot Day)

Ranger wall is getting wider and taller:

It doesn't look like that now

Suffice it to say, that although it runs and has all its parts still co-located there is dirt, ash, dust, oil, sweat, scratches, dents, and all manner of things added to that temporary pretty just washed appearance.

I started out by bucking a couple trees and picking up the rocks and carrying them up to "Ranger Wall" that is growing in mass and height daily and that got me pretty winded and sweaty. I guess I wasn't really understanding just how hot it was yesterday.
Poor Corey showed up just when I went to clearing the branches off I had just cut, so he picked up Mr. Stihl and went to working in more trees. Poor guy was going along pretty well but I think it hit him all at once. The heat overwhelmed the guy and he had to get out of it. We rested for a bit, ate lunch, melting in the heat the whole time, then got back on it. After just a short rime he was on his back in the shade trying to recover. I think he was creeping up on heat exhaustion, and at that point I told him, he was done. To his credit, he jumped on the little Deere and cut grass for hours before the evening rolled around.

The biggest Pre-Ranger caved in next. He started complaining of a headache and before long was out of the action as well. Then the little PR caved. He said he just wanted to go home, it was just too hot. So around 1630-1700 I told them they were done. I stayed in it till around 2100 but only because I was running the Deere.

I graded for hours with the box blade and bucked the remaining trees up to a point. By the time I got home the waves of nausea were washing over me and I was also toast. I drank a couple gallons of water and only gave back a pint, maybe using the direct dispensing technique. The rest is either still inside me or accounts for the mud all over the seat of the tractor!

Anyhow this is the scene when I started:

Quote from: KensAuto on July 22, 2016, 11:12:22 PM

That shiny new one up there must be defective. I don't see no tree cutter option!

That's a Big Don "special" edition option.

Yessir it is!

Looks at home Nate!

The paint is Krylon cammo paint...

The UN wants to pass a world law that restricts guns further, the idea of a foreign entity telling me what I can and can have is a problem to me.   Thoughts ?


Raising boys into RealMen!!

I have a big problem with that...Especially with as much of the world that OUR soldiers liberated or saved from oppression. Do that and you'll need the UN to fight the revolution that starts here!

Stay on track chief. Updated punch list now??

I'm ready to see that beast buried to the axles in farm mud.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is on track
It's just that with the heat and humidity, tackling the springs right now would have been a real problem. So I went for this which will take several days but will put this one in the bag and get that system running

Quote from: Flyin6 on July 22, 2016, 10:22:28 PM

It backfired and then refused to run properly.

She's cranky since you haven't been paying any attention to her.

Probably

Drove 10 hours today back to Texas.  Wife was feeling miserable from altitude sickness.  Oxygen and advil were not helping.  We cut it short.  Going from sea level to 8700 was a bit much

Man don't I know how that feels!

one third of all the air in the atmosphere is from sea level to 4,000 feet. Next third from 4,000 to 25,000.

I never liked flying over the passes in the Hindu-Kush mountains that back up to Himalayas. Cruising for an hour or so at 13,000-14,000 always made me feel light headed

The best thing for altitude is to actually live and work there. Next best thing is to work out all the time doing cardio. If you aren't one of the above, then there is no escaping what less oxygen will do to you.

I was messing around with the DR a bit today. It backfired and then refused to run properly. It is acting like it has a vacuum leak. I don't know this 40mm Mikuni that well, so I guess I'll have to become an expert on yet something new.

I drained the gas to be sure it wasn't bad gas or something simple like that. While I have it down, I'll run a dual gas line setup into a larger filter so that I can capture fuel from either side and any time

I then installed the thread-serts and screwed that piece home with some #10-24 machine screws

Next, I built a mount on the low section of the inner wheel well to front radiator mount. I'll come up from there with a couple of pieces so that the thing will screw together/apart for ease of installation and maintenance

I'll be using thread-serts so that I get a professional installation and the bulkhead is easily removable

To that end I purchased a new and mo-better thread-sert setting tool