That was a quick first half of 2022! It seems like it was just January…. Just this update today, as I will be busy installing some final trim on the guest house so the trim can be painted (see the bottom pics).

Our highlight from the Fourth was a short visit by Cowboy and Donna on their way from Illinois to the ocean. Cowboy accompanied Russ on our 2017 trip to Alaska and we’ve remained good friends since (as all the trip participants have). Somehow, I got no pics of the four of us!

However, to help them spot our place, I drove Patterson to the front of the property: It made for a couple good pics. 

Our lowlight from the Fourth was watching the dry hills a few miles to the south of us catch fire from idiots shooting illegal fireworks over the dry Horse Heaven Hills. I’d estimate the fire line was roughly 2 miles long. This morning, this section of the hills is black; thankfully, the fire(s) are extinguished.

On another note, I was surprised on the 3rd to see this CJ-3B sitting in our neighbor’s field across the road. This is the first time I’ve seen the 3B at their place. They were shooting at something, presumably marmots. I’ll find out more about the jeep when I next see them:

Finally, Ann decided it was time to paint the guest house, so I’ve been enlisted to finish up the exterior window trim (for some reason this was never completed). Here’s a before look at the rather bland colors:

Here, the red color is mostly completed, giving it much more of a “barn” feel. The dark blue will be replaced with white.

My new fuel pump arrived for Patterson, so I tossed the old one (which was a glass bowled hand-me-down from Chris McKay back in 2017) and installed the new one. Of course, the new one didn’t work. So, I did the usual over a period of a few days:

I checked the lines, I recheck the lines. I rechecked the rechecked lines.
I checked the clamps on the line. I installed different clamps.
I checked the cam for a groove or signs of it being worn (none that I could feel),
I reinstalled the electric pump to double check the lines and to check there was enough gas (there was and it worked).
I pulled the new pump and hand pumped it with some gas in a container (to prime it). It pumped by hand fine. I reinstalled the new pump, but no luck.

So, I pulled the old pump out of the trash (which had worked fine until late last year), reattached the fittings, and hand pumped some gas out of a small container (that worked).

With the old pump primed, I reattached it. The pump is now working.

That was a lot of work for little progress!!