A January to Remember

One down, one to go

January was quite the month!  In no particular order:

• Eolian's heat pump quit delivering heat.  It didn't take too long to determine why...  Tho the Freon pressure was acceptable when the compressor wasn't running, the suction side dropped to 0 psi when the compressor started.  We're nearly out of Freon!
  Clearly there is a leak, otherwise the Freon would still be in there.  The operative question is:  Is this a recent, big leak, or is this a long-term tiny leak?  The heat pump is about 5 years old, so I guess either is possible.
  I have ordered and have been delivered of a 5 lb container of the proper refrigerant, and a syringe full of leak-stop.  Now all I need is the opportunity to load those into the system.  But...
• Tho I am still recovering from the near-paralysis event I experienced late this summer, I had cataract surgery scheduled for January.  If you're not interested in this, skip ahead...
  A most interesting operation - takes about 15-20 minutes, and you are semi-conscious for the duration.  The room is darkened and you are staring into a bright light - you never really see the surgeon open your cornea, slide in an ultrasound probe that destroys your old lens and sucks out the pieces, and then slide in a new lens.  The anticipation is far worse than the operation.
  Here I am the day following - vision still a little cloudy and blurry - I was told to expect that.  But surprisingly, the view thru my new eye is quite different from my old one!  It is as if everything in my old eye is being viewed thru an amber/brownish filter.  Colors are much truer thru my new eye!  A huge and unanticipated advantage! 
  Other eye later in the month.  No more prescription sunglasses!  I can have Polaroid sunglasses!
• The heat exchanger in our gas furnace at our log cabin developed a leak - we could smell combustion products in the house when the wind blew.  It was under warranty, but the labor was going to be $1700.  Thankfully, the technician that confirmed the perforation of the heat exchanger assigned the cause to under-sized ductwork - ductwork that the technician's company had installed.  They agreed to eat the labor charges, as well as to modify the ductwork at their cost.  That was completed this week.
• Eolian's TV crapped out.  While we were watching it, it started to cycle thru red screen, blue screen, white screen, green screen, etc.  Nothing would break the cycle, including a last ditch bit of percussive maintenance.
  New TV ordered and installed last week.
• Tho it has less than 50,000 miles on it, the rebuilt engine that our Suburban's Previous Owner installed in it is obviously failing.  Aside from a defective valve lifter that randomly turns it into a 7-cylinder engine, it consumes a half a gallon of water for every tank of gasoline.  I have found and fixed all the leaks (there were many), but the water consumption continues.  I presume that the intake manifold is leaking into an intake runner (there's no water in the oil).  I have the receipts from the Previous Owner's engine - he got a Chevy long block for $1000 - that is an amazingly low price - apparently too low in fact.
  So the Suburban goes into the auto hospital for a new engine.  My son convinced me that I should save myself for working on the classics in the shop:  65 Mustang, 68 GTO, and the current project, 1959 Impala. So somebody else gets to wrangle this one.
• Oh, and I figured out how to make my Sailrite LSZ-1 sew successfully with Tenara thread...

And it's worth remembering, the month isn't over yet...

A January to Remember