Handy Things Part N+1

My little diesel tractor has been giving me trouble so I thought I would drain the fuel tank.  Surprise!  The fuel line goes in the top.  I grabbed a piece of hose, looked at it a minute while thinking about the taste of diesel, and drove over to the not-too-distant O'Reilly Auto Parts where I found a neat little siphon pump.  It even has a hose and nozzle you can hook up for use as a tire pump.  At my age, it is so much better than a mouthful of #2.  Being able to easily transfer liquids from one container to another is very handy.

On a side note, I'm not sure if it helped the tractor yet.  It is running better but will lose RPMs under a load.  It could be the little pre-injector pump that is giving trouble.  I'll probably pull some more lines loose tonight and see if I can figure out what's going on.  My nephew suggests running a quart of Dextron 3 transmission fluid through to lubricate the pump.  I actually don't use that much diesel and, since the gas station at the end of the road burned down a couple of years ago, I normally don't have the high-sulphur, tax-free, farm-only fuel (aka, red diesel) on hand.  I think that is what dries out the pump.  I may try it, though.  I have some stuff that needs to be knocked down, and I would like to get it running right. 

Everybody talks about duct tape and paracord, and those are good things to have on hand.  Next trip to Sam's, I'm replenishing my stock of duct tape.  One of the other things I keep on hand is black electrical tape.  It comes in handy for electrical stuff, naturally, but I will also use a little piece on a bolt, kind of like a lock washer.  I could use Loctite, but I don't always have that with me. 

For cordage, heavy fishing line is handy.  You can carry a lot in not much space.  Line in lighter weights can be used as thread.  Fishing line, especially monofilament, is one of those things you have to pay attention to when you tie it.  A single square knot stands a good chance of slipping. 

The other cordage I use a lot is trimmer line.  My dog has a little plastic house.  It would blow away in the winds we get here, possibly with the dog in it.  I tie it down with a couple of short pieces of rebar.  The first time I did it, I grabbed a piece of .105 trimmer line to go over the top of the hut to attach to each of the anchors I'd driven in.  I am sure that was more than five years ago.  The house was not blown over or away during the so-called Super Derecho we had in May, 2009.  This is when it was right over our place.  I haven't even had to put on a new piece of line.  I move the house around depending on the time of year so she can take advantage of shade, windbreaks, or southern exposure, and also to encourage her to poop in different places.  So this line is pretty durable stuff. 

No one can ever take away your knowledge and skill.  I have added a link for Lindsay's Technical Books to the sidebar.  Lindsay's has all kinds of books of various interests.  I have books from there on electronics, blacksmithing, small acreage management, backyard homesteading, mechanics, chemistry, distilling, and cheese-making.  Anyone interested in self-sufficiency or preparedness should take a look.  A lot of the books are old and otherwise out of print.  Much of the technology is antiquated and mostly forgotten.  Some of it is good to know.  Almost all of it is fascinating.  We like to think of ourselves as advanced, but I would guess that most of the "techie" people running around with smart phones have no idea how men back in the dark ages of the 18th Century built flintlock rifles or how the great engines of the Titanic were constructed.  They don't even know how to make the plastic for their cell phones.  I don't think it will happen, but we are one massive solar storm or one EMP attack from our own dark ages if it is up to the majority of people.