Road Trips

Well .... Junior (Russ) and me just got back from about 5 thousand km of driving. We got to spend about four days visiting family and friends in south western Ontario and the trip was book ended by two marathons at the wheel.

The first stint was taken out of Winnipeg and across the north side of the Great Lakes. Thanks to road construction on hwy 17 that part of the trip took at least 4 hours longer than planned and also took a toll on our energy levels. Poor Russ got a cold and suffered his way through the week. It also affected his chances to meet cousins and get to know them a bit. Russ missed out on some very good visits with my old friends and especially a surprise 60th birthday bash with some guitar pickin' boys from Nova Scotia and a few Newfs to spice up the story telling.

As for me it was all pretty good once we got there. Dragging my butt around jut a bit but still managed to see most of the people I had hoped to see.

The stretch back was a bit better thanks to US roads being better cared for and even the construction zones being less of an impediment. A few encounters with deer at night with deer in Michigan and WI were had but we managed to avoid collisions and getting too close to them. While Minnesota managed to do a damned poor job of marking one road diversion so even locals were completely caught out by the F&ck Up. Nothing like going to work at 6am and getting trapped in a dead end road closure eh? A little palaver with two young fellows led to an improvised detour route on back roads and eventually put us all back on US hwy 2 into Grand Forks.

 All things considered, I would avoid doing any more of those marathon drives but there are still a couple trips I'd like to take.

OMMAG

Box Full-O-Varmints

I snagged this from Small Dead Animals  ...   http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/

A Twitter Pic

The only thing wrong with picture as I see it ... The guy bought a GMC ...

OMMAG

Projects and Other People's Manuals

For about 2 years I've been helping a friend with a restoration project. The subject is a 1960 (ish) Honda C100 Cub that came to us in very - very - very bad shape.

After stripping the little machine down we ended up with a useable frame and a gas tank (surprising) that we could strip and restore. The motor was not damaged and I was able to get the top end rebuilt and the rest of the mill and transmission refreshed.

I replaced or refurbished every nut and bolt on the Honda and polished everything that could be polished.

We were able to source all the parts we needed through online resources and managed to have a complete motorcycle by spring this year.

All that remained was to install the new wire harness and hook things up.

Hah!

My original plan was to just rewire manually and keep the electrical works simple, with a few mods for the sake of reliability and serviceability.
 However, my friend (who actually is in charge of the project) had found a new replacement harness and bought it. Turns out though that harness was not an exact replacement. So, a few adjustments were needed and some extra time double checking connections and making sure the extra wires were actually extra.

Pretty simple stuff really .... BUT ....  for weeks now I have been knocking my head against a wall of non-functioning electrical circuits. Fork ME .... This is baby stuff! I'd look at the diagrams and I'd check the wiring over and over ... still no joy. I could tell there was something in the electrical schematic that was missing ... but how the heck could I find something that is NOT there?

So ... today I go do some research on Honda C100 electrical diagrams and what do I find?

I find that ... the manual we have been using was copied (reproduced) from a combination of old and original resources. The problem is that whoever did the electrical schematic left out several pieces.

Now second guessing every bit of the assembly.

OMMAG

Somebody Needs a Real Job

http://dirkloechel.deviantart.com/art/Size-Comparison-Science-Fiction-spaceships-398790051

Cool compilation ... but I do not see Veejer ......

OMMAG

The Grip of Winter

It seems somehow more tenuous when ...... you have pictures of Bianca at a tropical resort ...........

Cheers!

Friday's Gal

Just Because!  I felt like resurrecting an old theme.....

So say hi to Bianca ..... because she is a helper .... helping us to forget about being here in the middle of winter.

Wayback Machine

The first movie soundtrack LP that came into our house ... the first time I ever heard such a high level of artistic concept and production quality.
Although just about every musical piece is near perfect ... some stand out more than others.
" ....Easy action! You got a rocket in your pocket ......"


Cool

Wayback Machine

See  www.samthesham.com

Godet from France

It's a modern recreation a of a 1950s classic bike. Based on one of the Egli Vincent recreations ... which were done in the 60s and 70s ...using the motor. Built from the ground up as a new machine.

Reinventing a work of mechanical genius ... over and over again.

Cheers!  And a hat tip to Bike EXIF

OMMAG

Friday's Beer!

Say hello to .......

Urthel Saisonierre .... she's a sweet Belgian Blonde.... a very special top fermented pale ale.

From Hildegarde van Osteden of Flanders  ... but brewed in bulk at the Trappistes in Koningshoeven in the Netherlands.

With live yeast in the bottle this special treat  is full of surprises.

A lively froth tries to escape the bottle as soon as the top gets out of the way and the brew pours cloudy into the happy glass. A white stiff foam forms on top and a healthy sized bite produces strong hoppy flavours and floral aromas from malt, yeast and hop. A real treat for the senses.

The hops really come on strong with a mouthful of the brew and hit the palate almost like lemonaide.
The mouth feel is smooth and creamy .... the aftertaste fresh and clean.

Goes best when chilled to frosty bottle temperatures and makes an excellent hot weather thirst quencher. 330 ml and 6% abv .... means that a lot of those $3 cad bottles could disappear on a day like today (30 Celsius) ...

CHEERS!

OMMAG

A Friday Beer !

In the mood for something to kick off the Dominion Day long weekend.....

Say hello to "Tennent's Original Export Lager  !

This was a gift that a friendly neighbour brought to me earlier in the week and we pounded down a few ice cold ones right out of the can while doin some project work in the garage. I held one of the cans over for a closer examination and that is what we are into for today.

It has been a while since I performed a proper beer tasting and it is refreshing for me to go through the process of really sensing out the nature of a brew for a change.

So here we go ....
Snap the tab on the 500 ml can (chilled to about 38C) and there is a nice pop. 5% abv.
The pour is clear and pale golden with a nice white head at about 2 cm thick.
I took a bite off the top froth and was rewarded with a nice hoppy explosion of taste and aroma.
The head settled out quickly after the first taste and completely disappeared in a minute or so.
This left the glass just slightly effervescing as the moments passed.

The nose is a classic banana peel scented hop over light bakeshop fresh breads ... nothing unusual but still pleasant enough.
The sensation in the mouth just a little tangy, light and clean with a slighty sticky sweet after sensation for the finish.

It's onse of those beers that does not over do anything and comes off just right as a thirst quencher.
Overall ... this lager reminds me of the old Canadian classic lagers from Molson or Carling breweries, before they were amalgamated into the big corporate method.

Tennent's ... made with pride in the heart of Glasgow .... so they say.

I say she's a fine thirst quencher and just right for summer BBQ or just hanging around the patio.

Cheers!

OMMAG

Look ..... It's Not Like Orville Was Doing Anything!

So ... there's this guy in Amsterdam ... whose cat got run over by a car ...



Makes all kinds of sense to me.

First the cat gets dimensionally transmogrified (3d to 2d)
Then the pet owner is sad and bored
Then the pet owner has an idea
Then the cat becomes a useful play pal again

Can you imagine the entertainment possibilities?
Chasing DOGS?
Chasing BIRDS?
Chasing other CATS?
Chasing KIDS?
Chasing JWs?

Best of all ... chasing money seekers from your door, who are working for HSUS or some crap like that!


OMMAG

Just Because It's Friday

Say hello to Denise ....

Maybe we'll be having a beer ?  later ..............  

Cheers!  


OMMAG

The Cradle of Civilization and The Birth of Beer !

Proof Positive that We live in a Superior and Advanced Civilization!

(And BTW - Welcome home Conrad!)

Her name is Aida Iveliz

The Birth of Beer
I know of beer's birth:
from hop beer was born.
Hop, Merry-making's child,
put in the ground when small,
like a viper, ploughed in,
like a nettle, thrown in,
on the banks of Osma's field,
down by Kaleva's well.
From it a sprout could rise,
Upwards, a green shoot,
on the bank of Osma's field,
down by Kaleva's well;
rose up on a tiny tree
towards the top it climbed.
So hop called out from the tree,
barley from the field-bank,
water from Kaleva's well:
"When shall we get together,
when will we meet each other:
at Christmas, at All Saints,
or not till Easter,
or this very day?
If only this very day"
From there at once they came together
and came to one another.
A wagtail carried water
all the fleeting summer's day,
a red bird chopped wood,
a tomtit brewed beer.
Well the tomtit knew it,
good at brewing beer,
but did not know the name.
A cat spoke up from the hearth
a puss declared from the bench:
"Beer is the right name,
a good drink for the well-bred,
bad for those who've drunk a lot;
it makes the well-bred merry,
but makes the mad fight."
The tomtit, the little bird,
and the sparrow of small means
invited many strangers
to a drinking of the beer;
good was the drink for the well-bred,
bad for those who drank a lot:
it put the mad in a whirl,
the half-wits in a frenzy.
The tomtit, the little bird,
and the sparrow of small means
could not stay at home,
had to flee to the forest.

The invention of Beer actually did save the world from barbarism! Cradle of Civilization

A reposting from almost 5 years ago ..... Life CAN be pretty damned good when you want it to be.
Thanks Darcey.......... for those words of wisdom.

Cheers!

OMMAG

Hardly Serious .... No?

Riding Hard.....

Some joker who bought an after market seat for his BMW motorcycle wants to sue the motorcycle manufacturer, the seat maker, the shop who sold and installed the accessory.... BECAUSE ... it gave him a boner!

What a knob............

Cheers!

OMMAG

Stuff I Do for Fun............. Update

Rebuilding a Honda 50 (C100) from 1960....

The Honda C100 we are restoring has a piston that measures 39.98 mm in dia. or (1.57 inch).

My research tells me the standard cylinder bore is 38.125 mm (1.50 inch) ... meaning the engine we are trying to restore is already overbored.
Assuming the wear on the piston skirt and cylinder wall from scuffing...
And beginning with a normal piston to cylinder clearance of 0.020 to 0.030 inch we have a cylinder dimension of close to 1.575 inch.

The max overbore size for standard pistons is 0.075 inches?

Maybe we can fudge it with easy-does-it honing and piston clean up.

Maybe we will have to go overboard with a custom piston...?

Of course .... once you start going there ... why stop?

Are oversized valves next? Are we going to be hot-rodding the engine?

Read more »

An April Fool ....

The weather this weekend was absolutely gorgeous ..... +21 celcius in Winnipeg at the March/April nexus..... Man-O-Man !

I got to work on the back yard cleanup ... made a mess-o-BBQ ribs... had a couple of beers ... worked on the Honda 50 project a bit.

Really ... the only thing wrong with a weekend like that is that it ends too soon.

I'm a fool for great weekends ... no matter how fast they go by.

OMMAG

Just Because It's Friday

See Marketa at the beach ..... we should all go to the beach ......

Just Because It's Friday

Say hello to Catrinel .....

The first Friday girl in a long time here at OMMAG ............ Catrinel is a pefect example of how SEX SELLS .... you see ..... she's the hottie in the Fiat Abarth ads on TV.

The very fact that I am interested in any way in an overpriced piece of crap Italian econo-box is proof positive of the effectiveness for the SEX SELLS marketing concept. To be sure ... I have no problem with using sex to sell stuff. I just resent a company like Fiat ... who produce a lot of other vehicles ... for limiting our choice of products to the bottom of the corporate barrel.

Ah well .... maybe she's free for a beer later................

Cheers!

OMMAG

Stuff I Used to Do ............

Way back when I was just out of college ... I wanted a job that paid well .... so I forgot all the electronics and digital systems engineering stuff for a while and became a .... Teletype Technician ....



More working parts than you would care to count .... and soon to be replaced with desktop computers and stuff .... still the whizbang clatter of those machines has a certain cadence and life of its own.


OMMAG