Pump it Up

My stand air pump got broken. Actually just one part of it got broken: handle. But how one can use  hand pump without the handle? Bike pump is not expensive to replace, but at time of corona-virus pandemic nothing is easy. A lot of stores are closed, hardware places (like Home Depot) are opened but you have to stay in the line to get in (and that face mask you need to wear). On-line orders takes weeks to be delivered unless you willing to pay premium price. These are strong reasons not to buy the new pump but  to fix the old one. Fix did not require anything to purchase: all components I found in my shed. And I was lucky that pump rod ends with thread, so nuts could be screwed on it.

On the photo above you see the pump without the handle and elements needed for the fix: two metal strips which I bought once on OHS closeout sale for pennies, piece of wooden stick, couple of screws, some nuts and  washers.

I drilled holes in the middle of strips and secured strips on the pump rod with two nuts and Grover washer :

Than, I prepared wooden handle and attached it to metal strips with screws:

And to make it look nice I painted handle in a grey color. How does it look?

And one last photo. Stand pump is OK for the bike but for car wheels it is too weak. I do have an electric 12V  car pump. It works OK but here is the problem, while working it may break fuse on the car electric system. (It is  not just the theory, it happened for me twice: both times I first attached pump end to the wheel and then turn the pump on).  The solution would be to power pump by home electricity. Indeed I do have 120V  power supply producing 12V/30A output and that can handle the electric pump load easy. So I attached to that supply cigarette lighter socket. Now pump can be powered up by the the regular AC source.

Willys Truck

I shot this picture last March at the shore of Lake Tahoe. My family and myself spent couple days there to get some skying at Heavenly. Normally in March there should be a lot of snow but not this year.  Once I took our cooker spaniel for walking. Next to the beach I found this nice truck  parked. It looked antique but well maintained.   A baby boomers couple  together with their dog (probably Irish Setter ) were sitting  in the car cabin. I could not recognize the car brand, so I  asked. The owner told me that it is 1955 Willys Truck. I am not very familiar with old American cars but Willys, of course, associated with famous army Jeep. The fact that Willys made trucks was unknown for me.   Was this truck really authentic? Alas, not. Owner explained that he actually built it out of three old trucks, one of them was Ford Bronco (car made at least 10 years later). And the small wheel on the side was not the part of original design:  just for fun.
I asked permission to picture  the trunk and owners kindly allowed. I did not have camera on me, but I did have a phone and made couple of shots. After that we started walking back to the motel. On our way back the truck passed alone. The engine worked loudly (as any motor of the car made more then sixty years ago), but  steady. While not authentic that restoration still was a really good job.
Next day we drove back to Bay Area. I checked my work e-mail box and read the  news: because of corona-virus outbreak  our office is closed and we ordered to work remotely. Several days later governor of California issued   shelter-in-place order across the whole state. This Tahoe trip  will be memorized as the last trip before the big change.