Bye bye and Hello

 Last week my beautiful Honda Helix was purchased by a very happy young man. His wife said that he had been looking for one for some time. He was so worried that someone would offer me money before he could get here to pick it up, that he and his wife took off work to come and get it. They both live in Phoenix so he had a nice long ride after he bought it. I'm so happy for him and sad for me. But that is the way life goes sometimes.

On the other hand we bought a used golf cart with some of the money from the sale of my bike. For months we had been looking and many times just really didn't think one would be of benefit. And most were way more than what we would pay. Saturday  Mark found one that looked so nice and was at a price that was affordable. So we made a lower offer than the asking price and the young man took our offer, AND, he threw in 4 more tires, rims, hubcaps and had new batteries in it as well. Newer batteries was a biggie because needing 6 or 8 batteries is very costly. The tires on the cart we very good too. So many carts we looked at had old batteries, none, or the cart was very expensive.  

So off to the U-haul dealer we go to rent a trailer to bring the golf cart home. They had one left which we thought would be too big but we needed it anyway. That done we had to get cable and locks to keep some naughty person from stealing the cart. They are a high theft item when not locked up. Sunday morning we loaded up some munchies, water, and Lola and headed to California to get our first golf car. What? California? Well it was only a 154 mile trip. We live on the border of California and Mexico. So going into either state is not a long trip. Oh and the trailer was none too big. Our cart is longer than the E Z Go Carts. The cart has a nice front trunk, two coolers in the back and   will hold two laundry baskets perfectly. 

On the way we were amazed at how many Date orchards there were. Never had we thought that Cali was also a big producer of Dates. We knew that AZ was. In some cases the groves meandered into neighborhoods and dooryards. What an amazing sight. We had never been that far into California, so it was a fun ride.

We got home in plenty of time to not be charged an extra day on the trailer. Once home we unloaded our bladders and then the trailer. After Mark took the trailer back we headed for someplace to eat. We hadn't eaten all day and were very hungry, as was Lola. Snacks just aren't substantial foods I guess. 😏 

After our tummies were filled Mark decided to wash the cart and all the carpets. It was really dirty. The wash job showed that it needs a good buffing and wax job. So if the weather permits Mark would like to do that today. Anyway, it was fun driving Arnold around the park. Mark beamed every time someone made the comment of how awesome or cool the golf cart was. He was quick to tell them all that it was my cart. How sweet, when to me it's our cart. Who's Arnold you ask? I name everything. Arnold is the golf cart, Shelby is our Smartcar. 

The golf cart will really come in handy when one of us has the car and we need to go to the office, laundry room, pick up mail or whatever, or to not have to start up and let the car warm up before going to any one of those places. Tomorrow I will use it go to to the laundry because Mark will have the car. Heck, I may even check the mail more often now too. 😃

Many of the residents drive their carts around the park in the evening just to ride around or visit with others outside. They call it toodeling. LOL So that is what we did last night, we went toodeling around the park. What a fun way to get around the park.

Long story short, we are happy that we decided to purchase a golf cart.

Getting old

 As Betty White would say, "getting old ain't for sissies". With me being diagnosed with macular degeneration and now Mark with glaucoma, we are having to admit we are "old". But we are fighters not quitters. One of the top ophthalmologists in the state is our eye care professional  here in Yuma. Immediate action on our eye issues was taken. I was put on special vitamins for eye care, required to wear sunglasses whenever in the sunlight and set up appointments to make sure no progression of the disease is found. Mark is on two eye drops to relieve the pressure in his eyes and to wear sunglasses in the bright light as well. He will go back next month for a follow up on the effects of the drops and to talk to a surgeon if cataract surgery is in needed once the eye pressure has been resolved. The eye pressure needs to drop or Mark will eventually lose his eyesight. If, the vitamins and eye protection that I am on doesn't slow down the progression of macular degeneration, I will  lose my eyesight sooner than later. There is no cure for macular degeneration, just slow down the progression.  

Moral of our story is, don't take your eyesight for granted. Get your eyes checked by an optometrist or ophthalmologist, don't rely on just an optician that you see to get new glasses. I'm so thankful that we have had the top cardiac surgeon who is in Yuma and now a top ophthalmologist who is in Yuma too. God is indeed in control. Thanks be to God.

The heat is on and the a/c is running from noon to morning. We open up in the mornings since it's still cool enough to enjoy the fresh morning air. But by lunch time it's close to or is at 90º already. Chores get done in the mornings from now until fall. Then it's stay inside or pool time. When we lived up north in was inside all winter, now it's inside all summer. But when we do go out and about in the summer we don't have to bundle up like an eskimo, shovel or scrape windows before hand. We just grab a big bottle of water, start the car and turn on the a/c and go. The best part of summer is that the snowbirds are gone!!!!! And the pool to ourselves, no humidity and no mosquitoes. 

 

Marks new toy

 

So as it is getting warmer here in Yuma and the snowbirds, on a much more limited number are thinning out, I have taken on a project I hope bares some fruit and some good times.

As most of you know I love to putz with almost anything that catches my eye and so I have been watching online the Yuma Market, in search of something to keep me busy.

I came across a boat, one might call a puddle jumper as it is plastic and only 8’6” in length. It is the kind of boat that probably has no market in Greater Minnesota with the thousands of lakes one has to choose from. But here in the Yuma Arizona area it has its virtues as the backwaters of the Colorado River accounts for almost all of the wetland around here.

So the boat is called a Sun-Dolphin Sportsman and like I said is is about 81/2’ long. I have not gone to the DMV to get it registered yet as there are a few issues that need to be addressed before the boat will be water ready.

That’s right the boat doesn’t float, there is no trailer, the gas engine has never run under the previous owner and the trolling motor is so old Minn-Kota does not even list it as ever being built. Now for most this would probably be a deal breaker, but for me it seems like a challenge and one I look forward to taking on.

So the owner drug it out from beside his house past a 1/2 dozen other toys in various state of repair and we loaded it into the back of my truck. Yes it fits in the box, so no trailer, no problem. Didn’t want to go to all the work of loading and unloading a boat off a trailer anyway. And so we brought it home.

First things first, stripped the boat down to bear plastic and gave it a good bath with a hose, a brush and a lot of elbow work it came out looking much better. Next day I spent cleaning and detailing the hull and not surprisingly I found that the boat was in much better shape than what first sight had eluded to. After all the cleaning I went back over it a final time using a plastic preservative and I will admit it really looks great now.

Next task mount the outboard motor into a kitchen 30 gal. waste basket filled with water to test it out. Nope won’t start. Pulled and replaced the fuel line then drained something that had no resemblance of gas out of the onboard fuel tank. It was green in color and looked to be several years old. Flushed the tank with fresh $3.00+ fuel and then filled the tank with a fresh mix of gas and oil as this motor is a 2 stroke.

After cleaning most of the crap out of the carb I took a shot at starting the motor only to find the recoil needs a new spring. But I managed to work around that and got the motor running. Although I could not run it long as the water pump rubber impeller had stuck to the side of the pump tearing out the keyway so it needs rebuilding.

Key give away here is that this motor is so old, not a single YouTube video shows an all metal water pump like the one I have. They all show plastic bodied pumps and although I am not sure I don’t think plastic was a thing back when this motor was new……. But hey $10 for the impeller and a new water pickup bushing and a little extra elbow grease cleaning the housing and I have the pump ready for the new parts when they get here.

The trolling motor that came with the boat is a little odd as well. It was built by a major manufacture but was one of their experimental units and other than some electric connection issues and understanding that it is a variable speed motor rather than a stepped speed motor it seems to be working. Although I have no tank that I can really test it out with and until I buy a battery I have just been running it off my solar system for basic testing purposes. But it seems to be in pretty good shape as well.

As someone had removed the two handles in the back of the boat I cleaned up and resealed the bolt holes and installed new handles and as long as I was doing it I also installed two new cleats on both rear sides of the boat. And replaced the anchor rope and will order a new anchor as the one that came with the boat weighs almost 20lb.

Oh yea I almost forgot I also got power running from the stern to the bow of the boat for the trolling motor. Someone had spliced one of the wires and it had broke. Now if I could only find something to clean up the terminals on the plug. Oh well I will figure that out as well.

Until Next Time

It’s Always an Adventure!