Here are some outdated posts that I put on hold while the Rink forum was down.
Howard

Now that RinkWorks is perking right along, I will post my delayed posts:

So RinkWorks is down for another tuneup. I will post my posts here on Microsoft Word until RW is feeling better.
June 9, 2003 About 7:40 pm Monday
I saw a post by Dagmar. I wonder if that is *the* Dagmar who used to post here in an earlier century.
Howard

A few minutes later:
So long, long lost cousin, Mike.
I just got home a little while ago and found messages about my long lost cousin, Mike. He has died. What makes this so sad is that he leaves a young family. Also sad is the fact that I didn't get to know him until about five years ago. He became a long lost cousin simply because his mom and my Uncle Jim broke up when he was quite young and he was adopted by a step father and went by another name. Jim remarried too, and raised a new family. They are among my California cousins that I have known all along. Mike lived in Florida and by the time I made contact with him he was in poor health and spent a lot of time in a wheel chair. He was a ham radio operator and a computer person, so he was not exactly confined. I have seen him in person only three times, but I have carried on email conversations with him from the age of 60 until now. I guess he was 65 when he died on Saturday.

If there is a good side to all of this, it must be the cruise he took with his family only a few weeks ago. Willette and I had encouraged them to do that, because we have taken a number of cruises and have seen many people in wheelchairs have a high old time. Cruise lines have become very handicapped-friendly in the last few years.

Mike will be missed, not just by his wife and children, but by his extended family, his ham radio friends and people who knew him via the internet
Howard

8:pm
Somehow, I will get it all done.
Somehow, I am going to work in a trip to Florida, and then come home and leave for Indiana in six days. Wish me luck. I still have to load the scooters and some camping equipment. The battery in the car keeps going down and leaving us standed, so I have to decide if I want to:
1. Rent a car to go to Florida.
2. Take a chance on a car with electrical trouble.
3. Drive the truck to Florida and then come home and hitch the scooter trailer up and head for Indianapolis, still in the truck. (The car rides better.)


Earlier posts that were posted, but then got zapped by a glitch, I think:

Rinkworks posts deferred
Day one:
Rinkworks is down for repairs, so I am posting on Microsoft Word.
I think I know how Dr. Frankenstein felt when the lightning bolt brought his homemade monster to life.
"It lives! It lives!"
I'm talking about the vintage (1972) Vespa Rally that I bought in Pennsylvania in the fall of '01. The fuel system was gummed up horribly, and I didn't have the tools or the smarts to take it apart. There was a special tool that you have to have to reach inside the gas tank and detach the filter/cutoff/selector valve. By selector, I mean it selects C for closed, R for reserve, or right in the middle for off. This talented little device was caked with crud left from the fuel/oil mixture that evaporated in the tank years ago. That, plus a little rust. Naturally the inside of the tank, fuel line, and carburetors were all similarly gummed up.

I have been known to mess with a lawn mower carburetor, or even one on an old American-made scooter, but this little jewel was made in Italy and it had a slide instead of the butterfly that controls the mixture in this country. It had parts and pieces that I had never seen before.

To make matters worse, the owner's manual was in German and Italian, but no English. So I bought one of those "Haynes" manuals. Out of luck again! It seems the English and Americans have different words for mechanical things.

Finally, after more than a year, Ed, the guy who can fix anything, came by and cleaned out the carburetor. Then he reassembled it and put it back on the scooter. A few weeks later, he happened by and took the gas tank to his house. Then while I was traveling, he came by one day and put the shinny clean, freshly painted gas tank back on the scooter. He even left me a note:
"Dad,
Put the seat on, take scooter outside and fill tank with fuel mix. Check for leaks. See if it will start.
Ed"

Start it did. A couple of cranks and for the first time in over a decade, it was ready for the road. It came to life like the Frankenstein monster, roaring and giving off a thin cloud of blue smoke (Normal for a 2-cycle, or as the English say, a 2-stroke.). I rode it up and down the road a few times. Nice scooter. Heavier than my Vespa 90, and handles quite differently. There is more vibration in the handlebars, and the 180 cc engine has a real kick. I think I'll keep it.
Howard

Day 2
The car conked out. Wouldn't start. It had a new battery, so I knew that wasn't it, but it was. I took the battery back to Wal-mart and got another one. It starts now. Even a new battery can go dead.
Howard

Day 3
I've had it with this computer. I'm going to take it to my son-in-law in Georgia and let him wave his magic wand over it. Or give it the last rites. If this thing won't work, I'll get one that will. I haven't seen any of my digital pictures from our last cruise.

Speaking of traveling, our trip to Nova Scotia is tenatively set for the last week in July. I hope nothing comes up to knock us out of this one. I have been to all 50 states, but I'm still adding provinces.
Howard

Day 4
They caught Eric Rudolph! I hope that young cop gets the million bucks in reward money. I heard somebody say on TV last night that most crimes are solved because an ordinary citizen was alert. Not this time. Even at 21, this guy a professional lawman.
Howard