Sunday, February 23, 2014

Spring Weather

Sunday morning was absolutely beautiful. I had been wondering for a while how to get a picture of the rig next to the University temperature sign since it not right next to the road. To get the rig close to the sign, I turned on the next road north and took a foot/bike path through the woods to just behind the sign where it joined up with the wide sidewalk. This was a wide, gravel trail so I figured that it would be wide enough. This photo was at 9 am (nice and sunny already!) and by 1pm the temperature had warmed up to +16°F. Quite a change in only a couple of hours. This is our version of Spring weather and this weather generally continues through March. Note the nice ice sculpture of the bear. It is the mascot of the University of Fairbanks sport teams. It looks especially well done this year. May I should go back and get some better photos.

For those following my saga of water in the carb problem, I plugged up the bowl vents on the bottom of both carb bowls with a little ball of plumbing putty just to see if the water may be drawn up into the bowl from condensation or something. Yesterday, I rode around quite a bit and there was no water in the bowls but the temperatures weren't really cold enough and I had only left the bike parked for about an hour. This morning, again no problem on the ~12 mile ride. The bike sat for several hours outside and this afternoon, I again had water in one of the bowls after riding about 6 mile. So the search continues...

Saturday evening - The change in diet and scootcommute weight loss challenge is still going well thanks in part to some wonderful recipe posts by Trobairitz. Here is todays meal. Kale salad w/peanut dressing, roasted cauliflower and broccoli and some quinua tabuleh. This serving was too much food and my only meal today. And all delicious! I made bacon cheeseburgers for everyone else but Bridget opted for this option (plus some bacon!).

14 comments:

  1. Really nice you-are-there photo! Love the bear. I think you have had a fairly mild winter. I hope your spring is fantastic for riding!

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    1. Yep, a pretty mild Winter but that's been the general trend since I've moved here 32 years ago. I haven't even had to dig out the "real" winter gear yet. The university temperature sign is a popular place for photos as you may be able to tell from all of the footprints. A few weeks back during a cold spell, the university swim team was out there getting a team picture taken (swim suits and bare feet). I should have stopped and taken a photo...

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  2. Richard:

    that's a nice temperature sign. Lucky thing you went early on a Sunday, and not on a weekday when it may be patrolled

    too bad about water in your carbs again. I thought you had the problem solved

    bob
    A weekend photographer
    or
    Riding the Wet Coast

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    1. It was pretty quiet this morning. I thought about just hopping the curb but then I remembered the path. Much easier.

      I may not even worry about the carbs anymore. It's easy enough to dump out the bowls but it's kind of a hassle.

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  3. There's vents at bottom of the bowls? I thought you were referring to the vents that are capped in plastic on the side of the carbs!

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    1. The bowl vents are this little brass tubes that extend from the bottom of the bowls, around the float and into the airspace above the fuel level. It also functions as the overflow in case the float valve doesn't seat properly. The new Bing bowls that come with the alcohol resistant floats don't have the vent tube though I don't know what they have instead.

      I'll try if for a couple more days.

      You mean the vacuum ports for setting the idle? Or something else. Maybe I should pull one of the carbs again. I've been avoiding doing that since I don't feel like rebalancing them.

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    2. RichardM, nope not the ports where one hooks up the tubes for vacuum measurement. I can't find a good picture...and even then, your carbs are different than mine. Basically, if you hook up an air hose (no more than 10 psi) where the fuel line goes into the radiator, apply air, the remaining fluids in the carburetor should vent out the vent I am referrring to. Way I did it last, the carburetor was mounted, a slight amount of gas in the bowl, applied air and noted where it squirted out (do this in a ventilated area of course).....

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    3. I'll try that tonight. I was concerned that there wouldn't be another way to vent the bowl to the atmosphere if I plugged up the vent/overflow on the bottom. But I figured that since Bing was selling a bowl without that tube, there must be something else.

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  4. The sky and snow look so nice in the sunshine. Of course having your rig parked by the sign just adds to it.

    Thanks for a shout out with the recipe. I am glad you liked it. If this was your one meal, did you juice the rest of the day?

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    1. The last couple of days have been absolutely beautiful. Dark blue skies, bright sunlight and clean snow. This IS spring!

      That was the only meal and had green juice in the morning (the other half of the kale bunch, cucumber, celery, tomato, apple and a small handful of blueberries).

      The next time I make the dressing, I'll cut down on the syrup as it spiked my blood sugar but it was delicious.

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    2. I was thinking it might have been a tablespoon too much syrup but didn't want the vinegar to overpower. Glad you liked it though.

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    3. I think that the peanut dressing would be good with a lot of things. It went well with the garlic roasted veggies that I had made.

      Kale must be popular now, the store was sold out yesterday...

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  5. What a brisk and sunny day. Blue sky and snow always works for me.
    The kale salad looks great. I am going to try that as well.

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    1. Blue sky, bright sun and nice clean snow. For me, it doesn't get much better than that.

      The kale salad was wonderful though maybe that peanut dressing would make just about anything taste wonderful. I had some of the leftovers with the garlic roasted cauliflower and broccoli and it was a wonderful addition.

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