Good morning all, Been busy working on my 1989 Craftsman tractor and finally narrowed it down to the ignition coil that went bad after over 1,008 hours of use over the past many years. So I have one on order coming.
Recently the heat has been horrible, 110* yesterday and today the same. Not the most enjoyable to be outside unless your in the shade with a breeze blowing. Fortunately I generally have a nice breeze blowing, Thank God!
with the heat it's a constant battle to keep things watered enough and it seems I spend about 2 hours every day doing just that.
For the last three weeks I noticed that when I drove my car I had a definite pull to the steering wheel but only at one certain point in the Right front passenger tire per each rotation. Upon inspection I found that I must have hit something that really chew up the side wall to the extent I could peal some of the gash back and see the steel coards of the tire.
So this past Monday I decided to drive to Madera, about 35 miles down to the West in the valley. I took the back roads from my place which brought me out at Hwy 145 about 3 miles East of the beginning of Madera.
In traveling this way Hwy 145 dips under a BNSF Over pass and the was what seem to be a fairly long freight passing over head which I could see for the last half a mile as I approached the dip under the bridge above. Then I headed about another 2.5 miles approximately into the downtown area of the old farming community where I crossed over the Old SP Trackage just as I reached the Old 99 that ran through the West side of town but every thing was quiet. I turned North to go to my tire dealer about half a mile on the Left with some various old businesses across 99 on the West that back-up to the tracks. It took about out 30 minutes for them to start to work on my car and I kept watching and listening for the sound of a train to go by but nothing?? That seemed very odd as in the past it seemed that there was a train that would travel by either heading North or going South 15 miles down to the Fresno SP yard, but the line was quiet. After getting a new tire I headed North a bit up old 99 to a Jack-in-the Box and got something to eat and drink as their location has an unobstructed view the SP tracks and sat their as I ate my late lunch but never saw any activity on the Old SP Tracks. I'm not sure what was going on?
On the way back home traveling the back roads again I did notice where it looked like they were putting a much more modern bridge for the trains, maybe part of the high speed rail through Madera? But that was on what I referred to as the BNSF trackage that I crossed under before entering Madera when starting to enter the community. In actuality, maybe all the tracks in the Madera, Fresno area are owned by BNSF now?
As far as Sherrel: I'm also glad to know he is doing well and posting again. I've talked with him on occasion in the recent past.
Say Chet: Thanks for asking abboouutt mmee, yyyeeesss,,,,,, I'mm aaaaalllllmmmmoooooosssssttttt mmmeeelllllttteeeddd ! ! ! !