That strange sound at 2 AM

So I awoke about 2 AM, not knowing why....

I laid in bed for a while, trying to figure out what had awoken me....

Then I heard it. That sound that I could not identify.....

Now, if you are a guy, you likely know each and every sound that your house makes (and why), each sound of every piece of machinery, the creaks and groans, the noise every mechanism makes, the sound every pipe makes as it expands and contracts, the groans that the structure makes as it cools or heats up, etc.

This one was none of those. It didn't fit. Wasn't "normal".

So I laid there for a moment, trying to figure out what it was.....
'Twas a low hum.
then it quit.

then it came back.

Then it quit again.
Pretty much about on a 4 minute interval.
Then it came back. More or less 60 hz. Kinda like what a battery charger makes at high amps.....

Strange.

I got up, walked the house....couldn't identify it. Couldn't even localize it.
Put on a pair of shoes and went into the garage. Nothing.
Went down to the basement.
It got a bit louder.

I tracked it down to the east wall. There are only two pieces of equipment there, plus the washer and dryer, both of which are not turned on....but I unplugged them just to be sure that they weren't the source. (They weren't).

Wasn't the water softener, either.

What WAS making that sound was the sump pump.
Seems that the motor (or impeller) was locked up. The motor was TRYING to start, but couldn't turn. So it sat there, stalled, for about 2 minutes, humming gently. Then the thermal cut out would shut off the power and it would cool down.
Wash, rinse. repeat.
(The usual failure mode for these pumps is the bottom bushing wears and they become too noisy for me to tolerate, necessitating replacement)

The sump pit was full, at about 150% of the normal level.

Luckily, (or perhaps it is just good planning, I dunno) I had a spare all set up and ready.
Unplugged the power, pulled the pit cover, unscrewed the union connection to the standpipe, pulled the pump out, put the new pump in the pit, connected the union, plugged it in.
Let it run while I put the pit cover back on.
Total time to change it out was less than 10 minutes, and that long only because I was still only half awake.

I firmly believe that if you need a sump pump, you need a spare on the shelf. "2 is one and one is none" and all that....
Today I gotta go buy a new sump pump.


ETA: And, of course NO-One has the pump I need in stock.
(I still have 2 serviceable, but worn and noisy units as a backup though),

Book recommendation:

If you read this blog regularly, then I think you'll like this book. IF you were born from the mid sixties to the mid 70's then you'll get most of the references.

HIGHLY recommended reading. One of the few that are worth the price:

The Heretics of St. Possenti by Rolf Nelson.

Well written, well thought out, well researched.
And just a damned good book.

I was not compensated for this recommendation. I just think it is a good read. As good as (although different than) the Grey Man series

Y'know...

Most people have forgotten by now that Jeffrey Epstein was (very likely) killed in his jail cell by persons unknown to keep what he knew quiet.

If he was a suicide case, then I still want to know how it was that the cameras and monitoring guards so conveniently were ineffective? Were those guards fired for incompetence? Were the whereabouts of all the other people working at the facility checked and accounted for?

You know (or at least, if you have more cognitive ability than cauliflower or cilantro, strongly suspect) that Epstein's death wasn't a suicide. Yet the media and our politicians have decided to let the case die a death by being ignored.
It shouldn't be ignored.

At worst, those "Guards" should be tried. Anyone close to the area should be watched for 5 or more years to see if they got a sudden financial windfall (or are strangely and suddenly killed in a freak bowling accident or something).

No matter how we slice it, it appears that Epstein was silenced. And our government, Law enforcement, and our Media is allowing whomever orchestrated that death to get away with it.

So much for the rule of law. 

Our "betters" would tell us differently though:

You rubes just don't know as much as Pelosi and her ilk do...

Yet this from a Microsoft poll:

Do you agree or disagree with Colonel Vindman's assessment that President Trump's request to have Ukraine investigate political rival Joe Biden "would undermine U.S. national security"?

14%

Strongly agree

2%

Somewhat agree

7%

Somewhat disagree

75%

Strongly disagree

3%

No opinion / Other

And , oddly,

No doubt after a great deal of coaching, the Democrats were able to find a witness to TheDonald's conversation with the leader of Ukraine.

Where has he been all this time? Hiding? Choosing to not say anything? Being coached on what (and likely what NOT) to say?

This is like Kavanaugh's accusers, or Anita Hill many years ago.

Why didn't this dude show up back when the accusation(s) were first made? Why wait until now? Yes, he told some other diplomatic staffers, but the Democrats knew all about this and withheld him until....now? Why? Why wait, (unless there was a carefully crafted information campaign to discredit Donnie)? 

Curious.

Truth:

"History does not repeat itself, but often rhymes"

Attributed to Mark Twain

That's because it is subsidized by taxpayers

US green economy has 10 times more jobs than the fossil fuel industry

What with federal and state governments tossing money at those projects with no worries about profitability nor reliability, what do you expect?

No report on who drove better

The Male rats or the Female Rats....

(and if they ever tried to teach the females to park, much less drive).


Plus then, there's THIS point...

Yes, I know...flame away.

I got wood.

Big wood.
I am pretty proud of the wood, in fact.
And it is all stood up and ready....
Not bad for someone who is old enough to be courted by AARP......







I mean, of course, firewood

3 cords of firewood, that is.

9 ricks and a bit more plus about a rick of bastard pieces...those that are too short, too twisted, too irregular or otherwise will not be stackable.

All split, stacked (except the bastards), under cover and ready for burning to heat the house this winter.

182 Airworthy again

Seem that a clamp on an intake coupler simply broke.
Just a fancy aviation hose clamp...(which makes it 8 times more expensive)
Probably an original clamp from 1975.
Just cracked and broke. And the coupler simply backed off until it slipped off of the intake tube. Fixed now.

We ordered replacements for two others just to be safe. 

I  did a full power run (100% power) for about 5 minutes on the ground, then let the engine idle to cool it off before taxiing to runway 18. Did a runup, then took off and did a pattern. 'Twasn't VFR weather, really, so I did one lap around the pattern and then a decent, if not great landing in a gusty crosswind.

Should be better weather tomorrow.

For now, it is fixed.

It's because most people don't like you....No, really.

Instead of trying so hard to get rid of Trump. why don't you DNC folks try a novel idea?

Stop running socialists. Stop promoting people who would punish success with higher taxes.
Stop promoting More State. More regulations. More "Government" (and Government "workers")
Stop decrying Free Speech (when you don't like what is being said).
Stop threatening our Second Amendment.
Stop threatening our way of life by threatening our energy supply.
Stop promising Free Shit (paid for by others) to folks who can work, but choose not to, or who have just entered the country.
Stop promising Globalism over Nationalism. We like our country. We don't wanna be like Europe.
Stop hating on the United States. Stop denigrating the citizens of this country for their successes.

Stop running crooked slimy people as candidates.

Y'all want to Get Rid Of Trump?

Give people something to vote FOR, rather than leaving them to vote for Trump because your candidate scares them too much to garner their vote.

(The same goes for you RNC type folks too, BTW...we don't want "DNC Lite". "Less Socialist, less Statist"  nor "less crooked than the last guy", nor another milquetoast legacy candidate.)

Donne was and is FAR from the ideal candidate. But he was far and above the other choices.
 Yet they haven't, as far as I can see, come up with anyone worth voting FOR. Nor has their message for the past few years been "Vote for our people because we are better" but rather "That Trump dude is bad because we don't like him!".

And so we are left with the "Lesser of the two weasels".

Sad, really. 

Dubble standards

It is a "lynching" when the persecution of a president is by Republicans and he is a Democrat. And the use of that word is acceptable....

However, 15+ years after, the use of that word is a Bad Thing....When it is used by a Republican to describe the 4th or 5th attempt by Democrats to unseat the sitting president.

And the Faux Outrage by the black Congressmen and women and Senators (and, of course, the Media) about the use of the word "Lynching" is outrageously funny to me. Like any of them have ever seen a lynching, or that it was only black people who were ever lynched.

It is as stupid as black people being triggered by seeing a noose on a Halloween display.

Is he an illegitimate leader?

I'm talking about the Prime Minister of our neighbor to the north...

Justin Trudeau.

He was reelected to his post, but not by the majority of the citizens of Canada. He lost the popular vote. 

Since our media and our Socialist Democratic Party government members claimed that our legally elected President was an illegitimate president because even though he garnered the majority of the Electorate votes, he narrowly missed the popular vote...

Are they gonna refuse to deal with Trudeau and his government from this point on? I mean, an illegitimate government isn't one that we can negotiate trade deals on, nor other matters of state, right? Treaties and other military obligations? Can't do it with an illegitimate Head of State, right? WIll his signature on any document even be recognized as that of the Canadian People?

I can't wait for the tapdancing to begin.

Odd: She sounds kinda like TheDonald....

So Angela Merkel had admitted that "Germany’s attempt to create a multicultural society has “utterly failed,”".

Duh. Who could have predicted that? Give people entire neighborhoods, don't force them to integrate (or even learn the native language) and then expect anything else??

Further:
“This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed,”
She said too little had been required of immigrants in the past and repeated her usual line that they should learn German in order to get by in school and have opportunities on the labor market.

Merkel said allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked

She said on Saturday that the education of unemployed Germans should take priority over recruiting workers from abroad,


Read the whole article

One wonders: How did they get there?

I mean, Fonda flew to her house in Washington a few weeks ago so she could be arrested last week, and again this week.....Protesting Fossil Fuels....

Did she walk to the protest? Or did she take a cab or use a car? Is that apartment heated with some kind of renewable fuel? Or is it electric or gas? How about the lighting? Is it done by electricity? Whale oil (a renewable) or solar charged batteries (doubtful)....

How about Sam Waterson? (another aging actor apparently addicted to the spotlight). How did he get to the protest? Walking? Bicycle (which would have been made using...fossil fuels....) Google says his house is in Woodbury Connecticut...a pretty long walk for anyone, much less an old man....

I'd believe these folks were True Believers if their lifestyles reflected it.

As it is, I only see a pair of hypocrites.

Well, that timing was good....

So I had promised I would take Ian up in the 182. Saturday was an awesome day.....Winds were 6-8 and from the south-ish.

Visibility was nearly unlimited and there were FEW clouds at 11000. A beautiful day to fly.

We met at the airport and preflighted. The plane was full of fuel, and we got in and taxiied.

Ian had never flown before, but had a great deal of time in a gaming flight simulator. He knew what all the instruments were for and he asked intelligent questions as we taxiied.

We taxiied to the runup area at the end of Runway 18, and started the runup checklist. Up to this point, everything was perfect....

When it came time to check the mags, there was a BIG drop on the right mag (more than 300 rpm), so I pulled the mixture to a leaner setting to clean the plugs.

The engine died. I pushed the mixture back to full rich as it was winding down, but it still died.

It wouldn't restatrt either, until I primed it. Normally, with a warm engine, the restart is after only a blade or two, no prime required. This time, it needed priming and ran like dogshit.

When the engine DID restart (and there were 3 planes waiting behind for me to take off(or get out of the way)!) it ran very rough and backfired. Acted like a fuel issue..as if it were running lean. Very rough. Wouldn't idle, I had to keep the throttle at half in order to keep it running at all.

"Doesn't look like we are flying today" I told Ian. "Sorry".

I waited for the aircraft on a long final and the one on base to land (just in case I corked up the runway with a dead engine) , then announced on CTAF  that I was having engine issues and would be taxiing on RWY 18. I taxiiied down the runway as fast as I could (not very fast) to the first turnoff and got off the runway. I was afraid the engine might die and I would be blocking the active runway, but we got there. I waited for 2 more taxiing aircraft to go past, then taxiied as best I could to the crossing at 9/27 and since there was no one on either runway, we crossed as fast as the engine power would let us (again, not very fast) and returned to the hangar, backfiring engine and running rough all the way. (There is really nowhere else to go or I would have pulled off and walked to have gotten the towcart, but the only place would have been the grass alongside the  taxiway).

I'm glad it happened on runup, as there wasn't enough engine power to get us fast enough to take off (I'd have had to abort), nor would it have been enough to keep us in the air had it happened after takeoff. I don't know if it is a mixture cable or a linkage issue, or some other fuel flow issue. Either way, I ain't flying for a while...

I checked the fuel, (again, after the flight taxi, did so during the preflight as well) and it appeared good (slightly blue (100LL)) and smelled normal. I checked with the person who had been fueled up immediately before me, (A flight school airplane) and they had had no issues. I don't think it is fuel quality (same fuel/same truck, 10 minutes apart). I had good fuel flow when I opened the fuel strainer bowl drain, more than enough to run the engine, so the issue is after that....like in the carburetor or something else past the fuel strainer.

Poor Ian didn't get his first flight today though.

We will see what the mechanic has to say on Monday.

Either way, I am grounded until the thing is fixed. It was a bit disconcerting though. Makes me REALLY want a twin now too.

'tis a shame

That the DNC folks care more about getting rid of Donald Trump than actually, you know, governing.

I mean, if they had spent all the effort that they have in somehow damaging Trump finding a way to make a decent budget, or passing some laws to help find a way to combat illegal immigration and help those who would be legal immigrants...perhaps a Guest Worker program....Perhaps combat poverty rather than continue it.....find ways to actually help the environment rather than create regulations that don't help but do strangle prosperity....

And if the Media were to spend as much effort telling the truth as they do propagandizing for the DNC causes.....

But the media

and the French Government still tell us the fire that destroyed the Cathedral was an accident:

Yet this happened three years ago,,,

The French court sentenced five Muslim women to lengthy prison sentences for attempting to blow up the Notre Dame cathedral.

The women, all converts to Islam, plotted to detonate a car bomb outside the cathedral in September 2016.

A good point relevant to the below post:

Leftists take not as well as a Government that thinks they can win a civil war:

"I would like Swalwell, Biden, O’Rourke, and Harris to note that what US gun owners consider play time is what a major news outlet can mistake for a major military offensive by the Forces of a NATO nation. Tell us again how resisting a tyrannical government is futile."

He's referring to the Knob Creek video mess

Very true.

Via Joel I bring you this:

Do we on the right get to squelch views which we find objectional?

Do we get to threaten (and possibly use violence) for those viewpoints and speeches which we dislike?

'Cause if y'all  are gonna let us pick and choose what ideas and speech are ok, then you aren't gonna like how that ends, either.

And if it takes violence, well, I think the Right has better ability to do it. Just best not to make it happen here, folks.

The only thing allowing your disgusting and outrageous speech and behavior is that we believe in the rule of law....
But if y'all wanna take that away, I think you will dislike the result.

Leftists Threaten To “Bring Out The Guillotine” If Theaters Show Jordan Peterson Documentary

Fake News

Really....

Seems that someone in the ABC file video department has some answering to do...

ABC issued a correction and apology Monday for reportedly using video from a Kentucky gun range while falsely claiming it depicted a fierce battle between Syrian Kurds and Turkish forces.

Notice all the folks with cell phone videoing the "Massacre" at Knob Creek in the video.

Remember, these news organizations think they can sell you dogshit and tell you it is Bean Dip...they think you (and all of their audience) is stupid enough to believe whatever they tell you...Sadly, for much of their audience, this is true, if only because no one questions what they see.

Driving instead of flying:

This time, the weather forecasters were completely correct.

I WAS gonna take MC to visit her sister in mid Michigan on Sunday.

Was planning on flying. But Ma Nature had other plans.

Sadly, the winds were a bit too much. While I CAN fly in 30+ knot winds, the crosswind component for my airport of intended landing (and the 3 closest alternates) was such that it would have been greater than that which the manufacturer recommends. And since I have to pay for the tires, I chose not to fly and instead drove.

'Twould have been a fast flight up though. forecast winds were 48 knots in an almost perfect tailwind at 5500 ft....The flight back, however, would have taken forever.


I obviously need to upgrade my airplane. Faster and more powerful. It's only money (and LOTS of it)/

As soon as I win the lottery.....

Question:

So Jane Fonda is gonna get herself arrested every Friday on one coast or another in protest of "Climate Change".....

And really, I doubt she has stopped using (private) air travel to move about the country.

One wonders how she plans on getting from home to that arrest site each week?
I sincerely doubt she will be walking.......


I suppose an aging actress must do something to keep herself in the spotlight though. 

Two hunnerd fifty Million dollars

That's what the activism of CEO Ed Stack has cost the Dicks Sporting Goods. 

And, of course, the stockholders of the company.

But hey, he made a good effort and I am sure all his Woke friends are impressed by his efforts.

Of course, this gesture made ZERO difference on the streets of Baltimore and Chicago and LA and other Democrat controlled cities where "Gun Violence" is so prevalent.

But hey, he made his point about "Assault Rifles" too. and his useless gesture only cost about a quarter of a billion dollars of stockholder money.

But I bet it makes for GREAT conversation at cocktail parties...

'Tis interesting

That the accusations against Joe and Hunter Biden are "baseless" while all the innuendo against Trump are "legitimate".

I sometimes enjoy watching he morning news just to see the hypocrisy.

Proof that the RIght has our share of Whackos

I mean, read THIS and see just how whacked and conspiracy minded some folks can get

Found on Kenny's site

'Twas pointed out to me last night

that the folks in California who are without electricity these past few days...those 800,000 + people...

Are the beta testers for the Democrats "Green New Deal" that the DNC folks will implement if they get enough socialists Democrats elected next year.

Lies and the DNC

So the DNC types are claiming the "Whistleblower" is "apolitical" and only "Occasionally" "Worked alongside campaign officials">

And "the check is in the mail" and "I won't....

Do they really think anyone but the True Believers will buy this? 

Y'know...

I'd be more impressed with the statements made by "Leading Democrats" about the severity of this Ukraine thing if they hadn't squandered their credibility with all of their statements about the severity of the accusations about the whole "Russiagate" thing over the past few years...

It really looks like they are just throwing lots of stuff against the wall and hoping something sticks....and hoping that this whole mess allows them more latitude for their fishing expeditions than The "Russia Russia!!!" thing.

Either way, it doesn't look like they have much, certainly not any more than they had with the Russia/Campaign influence debacle....

Interesting Again, that double standard thing:

Hillary and her Minions are dirty, and guilty of doing much worse than Donald ever did in Ukraine (and elsewhere)..But the Media isn't telling you that.

But then again, it would seem that they are working for the DNC, and against anyone else.

HT Insty

Dubble Stadndardz

So I HAVE to purchase health insurance.

The Feds said so....This was part of BarryCare "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care act". (Affordable! HAH). Yes, the current tax for failing to have "Acceptable" insurance is set to $0.00 (Thanks Donald Trump) but the mandate is still the force of law, if currently unenforced.

And yet, those same socialists people who applauded the Mandate for citizens are decrying the pending rule that will REQUIRE folks requesting an immigrant visa have similar health insurance or will be able to afford to purchase said insurance within 30 days. 

Odd, that double standard. They thought (and still think) that it was a good idea to require citizens to have insurance. Why not future citizens? 

Y'know....

The incredible "outrage" the left in frothing about the fact that Donald Trump dared to ask for Hunter Biden to be investigated by Ukraine....

Yet NO ONE has ever stood up to declare that Hunter is a "Pure as Ivory" kind of guy...

One wonders exactly how sleazy Joe's son really is. 

Warning order

The Valpo Gunshow is happening this weekend.

There was no spring show due to refurbishment of the expo hall.

But they're BAAACKK!.

I highly recommend this as one of the best gunshows in the midwest. Not on a par size wise with the Indy 1500, but easily the equal for quality.

Besides, I will be selling raffle tickets there on Saturday.

Come buy one.

"909" is gone

seven people died in a crash of a Collings Foundation B-17 bomber. 

A tragedy.

I've toured the "909" and met some of the folks who fly and maintain these aircraft.

No one knows what happened yet, but already people are telling us how dangerous these old aircraft are....

Blood dancing, if not to the degree that they do for a mass shooting.

But that is the Liberal way. 

double standards

So why s it that a late season 3 day heat wave is "Climate Change" and an indicator of a pending global climate Armageddon, yet the earlier spring unseasonably cool temperatures (that lasted WEEKS) were "just weather"?

Is there some sliding scale of which I am unaware?

Are there rules to this that bypass the normal scientific logic?

d

Murder

Amber Guyger: US ex-cop who killed neighbour found guilty

Despite the excuses made by Ms Guyger, and despite the treatment of the case by her fellow officers (they pretty much did all they could to whitewash the incident) a jury found her guilty. 

If this had been you or me, we'd likely never have gotten bail. 

Somehow went to the wrong floor, entered an apartment that had a RED doormat (her apartment didn't) and was furnished and painted differently (she claims she couldn't tell because it was dark) with the TV on and in a different location in the living room and shot a man who was IN HIS OWN APARTMENT. 

And she claimed it was in "Self Defense"...and thought that she could get away with that. 

I wonder if she will get a reasonable punishment...similar to that you or I would get had we "accidentally" killed a man in his own home? 

Odd:

So it seems that the number of babies born with Microcephaly "Caused by Zika" had declined almost to zero.......It is in line with the rest of the world where mosquito borne Zika exists.....

About 9 months after the insect growth inhibitor was removed from the drinking water, in fact.

Strange, that correlation. Really strange.

And you haven't heard about that from the media, despite their hyping the Zika threat.