Snow interferes with frame, other chores abound...

 Monday was the scheduled date to bring the 47 MSS frame down to CT for a eyeball of having a local shop fix it up. A few things popped up within that time. The first, it didn't look to be a cut and dry repair; the frame was tweaked. The second...? a good snow was coming into N.E. the same day.  Everything was ready the night before: got the frame loaded, and gassed the old 'wagen for the run. The first leg of the drive was mostly rain but this slowed as I got deeper into CT.

Got to the shop ok, we all check into different approaches to its repair. The twist in the steering head added to a slight complication. The best thought was to replace the down tube and go from there. After gasbagging for a bit and admiring all the pretty machines it was time to head back before the real storm hit. However, right out the door the snow was well on and the 'wagen fully covered and smogged up. It was going to be a typical 'first storm' drive back. One hour down and almost two hours back. Ugh, the worst was being trapped behind a FedEx truck doing 15mph on the flats and 5mph down the hills. This really took the wind out of my sails. Most people were driving as typical New England drivers did; most 5 under the speed limit with the exceptional fly by boys. One fly by was quite the spectacle; blew past the group of drivers on the interstate at plus 35. He was arse backed into a ditch the wrong way with one wheel off the ground shortly there after. I'd feel the fool to be that dude. Made it back into town ok, the 'wagen did as it always does; gets where you need to go. A lot of use of the old gearbox, not much use of the brakes.

The slush covered road back home

Back home, snow storms means cooking dinner out on the grill; always an enjoyable way to pass any type of storm. On this round the power when out for about three hours. No worries while grilling.

The next day was spent clearing the slushy frozen ice/snow mixture from walkways and the drive. While at the bike shop we talked about frame jigs for straightening out the tweaked frame. As I slugged it out scraping up sheets of ice from the driveway it occurred to me that I've a pile of steel collected from a fire escape someone was throwing away. Maybe this could be re purposed? Thoughts to ponder...

The frame as it awaits the next step towards repair

Today my attentions were spent on working with Yucca trees in the solarium and the non functional kitchen vent fan. The trees started with a single tree in 1980 and have grown to about twenty now, some as tall as 6 feet. Its time to cut them back and get back some room to enjoy the sun on that odd winter day. 

After about an hour sitting in the sun thinking about what to do with the trees, no extra motivation soaked into my head as to where to start; so on to the next chore of fixing the kitchen range hood fan. It been acting up for the past few months. You'd start it up, it'd run for awhile then shut down. Back and forth this dance we did until it just wouldn't fire off at all. Except it would run if the whole stove kicked up enough heat to set off an internal thermo switch. At that point, the fan would work fine until it cooled down. Bugger.

After a healthy dissection of the beast I arrived at the main control unit. I pulled the board out and tested it to the best of my abilities; check this, check that, test, test, test. I even de-solder components to isolate circuits. In the end I did what I really wanted to  and wanted all along; I bypassed the control board and put a switch between the power and feed wires off the board. Now one push of a button turns the fan and lights on full. That's all I need. On to the next...