Vacation at Home

I've been on vacation this week, sort of a last minute decision that I needed a break.  With just a handful of days off since vacation last December, it was more than overdue, and I did a pretty good job relaxing, even in the face of endless chores staring me in the face.

Since I live in a valley, there are not sunrise and sunset in the traditional "glowing orb on the horizon" sense, but we do have some interesting skies at all times of day.  Here, you can see the fog still lingering in the pass, awaiting the full rays of the morning sun to burn it off.  The streetlight at the base of my driveway and the moon in the sky are both trying mightily to hold on to the night, both oddly appearing to be equally bright, but the sunrise over the mountains will eclipse them both in less than an hour . . . .

I did get a few chores done around the house but I also did a tremendous amount of goofing off.  Had such a great time, I'm thinking about working next week to get the end of month reporting done for Seattle and Japan then taking another week off, just to make sure . . . . 

How About This Weather?

These pictures are a bit dated, Goldfish and I hiked up to the lake about a week ago now.  The weather has been perfect lately, lots of sun, temps about 60.

She was trying to take a "couple picture" but I wasn't cooperating.  This is probably the least offensive of the bunch . . . . apparently I don't behave well when someone else has the camera.

Heading back down, alas, we kept Chico on the leash the whole time.  Too many temptations here in our back yard, and we didn't want to spend the evening chasing him down while he ran himself to exhaustion after foxes.

These are, again, a week old.  The bike is all back together and running - I plan on taking it to work in the morning!

I fabricated the best fitting patch I could and then JB Welded it all together.  Time will tell how that works, I'll keep a close eye on it.  I found a replacement skid plate on eBay for twenty bucks but I still want to make an aluminum or stainless one this winter.  For now, we have the colors picked out to paint the house, I want to put up a wood shed before winter, and Goldfish's Mom will be here in a week or two for a visit.  Gotta head to bed - cheers!

KLR Update

With the engine pulled I'm doing some real thinking on whether I want to split the crankcase to do an inside repair.  I'm very tempted to take my time and try a repair from the outside to avoid having to shim the crank preload without all the specialty tools involved.  There is another way that is tempting as well - rounding out the hole in the crankcase and using an expansion plug.  No matter what I do, fabricating a stronger skid plate is definitely on the list for a winter project.

I think I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.  I've got the rock out and all the metal fragments removed - one good reason to split and strip the case would be to check the case bearings and really verify there was no damage from a low oil condition.  I've always loved working on motorcycles, from my very first Kawasaki 30 years ago, and this one is no exception - the important thing is to get it back together and get back on the saddle!  Cheers and good night . . .