Children – Page 4

Work On The Jeep Is Winding Down

October 16, 2010 by rickety 6 Comments

Paul wanted to have gauges instead of idiot lights on the instrument panel of his Jeep. The upgrade was supplied by A Howell’s Auto Wrecking in Ogden. In the photograph above you can see that the odometer is missing — and for good reason. Paul has to rollback the miles to match the odometer that is being replaced.

Why not just switch the odometers? Because the replacement has a trip meter. The odometer has to be rolled back 108,866 miles (256,673.9 minus 147,807.9) and Paul explains how it is to be done.

The odometer is driven by a small unipolar stepper motor. The motor is so small it can be driven directly by the Arduino using the example code found here at Arduino. The four pins on the motor were wired to the Arduino and swapped until the motor started turning.

Unfortunately the odometer’s maximum speed appears to be only 600 mph (10 miles a minute) and so it will take about seven and a half days to rollback to the original mileage.

The trip meter has to be disabled as it will eventually halt all backwards progress.

At the equivalent of driving in reverse at 600 mph it will take 7.5 days to rewind back 108,866 miles.

This video is a little out of focus but you can see the general idea.

Everything is under control, typical of one of Paul’s projects. But he’s forgotten one important event to watch for. What is it?

Update

Paul put together this live odometer streaming video which will rollback to the required mileage (147,807.9) some time on Sunday 24th October 2010. See if you can estimate the time, assuming it is running continuously.

Since last week additional mileage has been driven to bring the mileage to 147,950. The time this was reached was 10:48am on Sunday. Live stream discontinued.

Jeep Cherokee

October 15, 2010 by rickety 6 Comments

Paul decided it was time he took up four wheeling so he bought a 1993 Jeep Cherokee. There was one problem — there always is: when Paul tried to shift into 4-wheel drive there was “a grinding and crunching noise,” as Paul described it, coming from the transfer case. This newly acquired 4-wheel drive vehicle would not go into 4-wheel drive.

Jeep Cherokee drive chain

Paul inspected the transfer case and found that the drive chain was loose. If you click on the photograph of the chains side by side, you will see that the old chain has stretched a good 3/8 inch longer than the new chain. Once the replacement chain was installed Paul had a 4-wheel drive Jeep that could actually drive four wheels.

There were a few minor issues like replacing the 90% water antifreeze with a 30% water mix, fixing the blower motor, and two new window winder handles.

Of course a quick test was in order so we headed to the mountains to check Paul’s repair work. It looks like he is good to go, judging from this superb video I filmed. Click here if you cannot see the video.

I took several photographs with the sun low in the sky which gave the Cherokee a definitely uncool pinkish color look.

Rickety signature.

Give Your Tree A New Look Videos

September 26, 2010 by rickety 4 Comments

Steven visited yesterday evening and with his brothers gave my tree a new look. We made three short videos so that you can see how it was done. Slash and Drag would be a good name for the process. The first video shows Steven and Jake Slashing. Next we have me Dragging the branches away for later disposal. Lastly Jake (he really likes to pan) illustrates on film our handiwork, ready for Jill to see in all its glory.

If you cannot see the videos, click here.

Give Your Tree A New Look

September 26, 2010 by rickety 7 Comments

Steven visited yesterday evening and with his brothers gave my tree a new look. Above are before and after photographs. The women were safely occupied with General Relief Society Meeting so we wouldn’t be disturbed for two hours. Fir sprucing up my conifer I wood need tree handsaws and three sons.

Aurora said it would be OK to prune the tree just a little

Steven said that if we do it wrong it will grow back in ten or twenty years anyway

Paul didn't say anything

Jake said you all will need a drink

I said this will look really different

The tree said this is not a good thing

The Visiting Teachers will probably say they have some shade while they wait for Jill to get home

Paul still didn't say anything

Collateral damage

Too bad this is not covered under lawn care

Later in the evening we began to drag

Mission accomplished

I had a request to post any videos I had of this project. I will publish them in a few hours. Jill walked past the tree in the dark four times last night to help load Steven’s car. She didn’t notice that we had given the tree a new look. This morning while Jake and I were watching the tree videos she heard “Tree” and “Chop” in the same sentence. Jill went outside and saw the results of our efforts.

Jill said she was astonished by our work.

Paulelbel’s Canon

September 23, 2010 by rickety 6 Comments

Below is a one minute video of someone many of us know who is teaching himself piano. Can you guess who it is? The identity of the musician is revealed at the end of the video. The title to this post also gives you a clue. The arrangement was purchased for $1 from the Jon Schmidt website.

Pachelbel’s Canon, also known as Canon in D major, is the most famous piece of music by German Baroque composer Johann Pachelbel. It was originally scored for three violins and basso continuo and paired with a gigue in the same key. Like most other works by Pachelbel and other pre-1700 composers, the Canon remained forgotten for centuries and was rediscovered only in the 20th century.

Several decades after it was first published in 1919, the piece became extremely popular, and today it is frequently played at weddings and included on classical music compilations, along with other famous Baroque pieces such as Air on the G String by Johann Sebastian Bach. (Wikipedia)

Parrish Canyon Fremont Pictograph Photographs

September 6, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

In the photograph above Connie illustrates what the canyon looks like by the pictographs. Not that it helps much I admit. There is a Forest Service marker at one point that warns you not to touch the rock art. We looked at the rock, and even took pictures, but we could not see any art in it at all. Mark went further up the canyon, climbed around some rocks, and found the pictographs.

Mike told us that it is best to come up in the Spring when the pictographs are freshly painted.

Parrish Canyon Fremont Pictographs

September 6, 2010 by rickety 5 Comments

At the trailhead: Mark, Connie, Kent, Melissa, Jill, Rick(ety), Mike, and Paul. Susan is on camera duty.

On Labor Day at 8 am nine adventurous souls set off to find the Parrish Canyon Fremont pictographs. The pictographs are not very far up the canyon. It was a little cold and Mark loaned Jill his coat. I am told it is a thirty minute hike but I didn’t time it. According to the minutes of the Centerville City Trails Committee meeting held Thursday, April 10, 2008, the pictographs had been damaged:

Mark Day reported he hiked to the Fremont pictographs in Parrish Canyon, and he said they have been vandalized. He said some of the pictographs have been scratched, and others have been rubbed out. (Trails Committee Meeting Minutes)

So we set off to see if we could take some pictograph photographs. I will show you first the path we took to the pictographs and then in the next post the pictographs themselves.

We set off on the trail. We got lost. Asked directions. Continued.

When you get to the bridge, cross it and turn right.

Take a picture of the waterfall and continue.

Follow the creek just like Connie and Susan are doing here.

At this point in a normal blog you would see the pictographs. But there are too many photographs already so the pictographs are in the next post.

Paul and Mike continued onward and upward. I followed. I wish I hadn't.

We got back before the others and met Merrill on Red.

Red is an Arabian Paint and his real name is in Russian which I can't pronounce much less spell.

There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 6

September 4, 2010 by rickety 1 Comment

Paul weighs anchor

Paul and Jake tell me that yesterday they launched from the south and sailed to the east on Causey Reservoir. They camped there and then sailed back to the south today. It was windy and they were blown into the bank. These photographs are by Sean and the video by Paul. See all of Sean Huggin’s Large and on Barge photographs on Facebook. I took a final picture of what looks like the shipwreck of the Good Raft Paul on my front lawn.

Matt Hall dives from the second story

If you cannot see the video, click here.

Go to Part 1

There is Plenty of Sound in an Empty Barrel: Part 5

September 4, 2010 by rickety 3 Comments

My son Steven went with the crew of the Good Raft Paul to photograph the launch at Causey Reservoir. Now I don’t know what the raft was named, or if indeed it had a name, but I will refer to it as Paul for now (not to be confused with Paul the captain). Steven reports:

It was already dark when we launched so we didn’t have much of a chance to take pictures. I suspect you’ll be able to get some better photos from those that stayed up there. The vessel floated very well, as expected.

I will add any more photographs to this post as they become available. Stay logged on.

Go to Part 6