I *did* it!!
I actually got through an entire Saturday without going to Lowe's!! Can you believe it? Good thing it was a weekend or I'm sure the stock price would have fallen dramatically.
I did end up going to Wal-Mart. I got a new motorcycle battery. I've never had to fill a battery with acid before. I was a bit worried about goofing it up and the directions which came with the battery weren't particularly helpful. It would appear that the person who wrote the directions does not speak English as their primary language.
Here is what the manual says:
1. Place the battery on a level place, and tear down the sealed tape on even place.
2. Softly inlay the filling funnel on the ports of the storage battery.
3. Take out the electrolyte container. Put it down straightly. Then pour through the funnel to the ports. Caution: Unless the electrolyte container is pushed down straightly, the battery may fall down, from which spillages may cause loss of eyesight and/or burns.
4. Be sure that bubbles are generating in all six cells of the electrolyte container and the level of electrolyte should be down.
5. After being sure that no electrolyte is left in the electrolyte container and funnel, remove them slowly from the battery and clean any acid stick to battery.
6. Place the sealing plugs fixed to the battery in the right positions of filling plugs.
7. Push the sealing plugs in until reaching the equal level with the top surface of the battery. When pushing the sealing plugs in, the equal strength must be given to all plugs simultaneously. Caution: Do not push the sealing plugs in one by one. Damage may result.
To use battery in a comfortable condition:
After filling the electrolyte, allow the battery to vitalize, with the filling plugs removed, for about 20 minutes. After then, fix the seling plugs to the filling plugs and recharge the battery at the normal charging current as given in TABLE of this Instructions.
The instructions are also written in German, French, Spanish and Italian. I can only imagine those translations are just as rough as the one from Japanese into Engrish.
Touring the Countryside
After I got the battery installed into the bike, I had to take it for a ride to charge it up, of course. So we had a quick zip up the road to the next town to get fuel and came back. I took a back road which is fairly smooth with a few twists, turns and hills. This is one of the cotton fields nearby. The cotton must be getting close to picking time. You can see the burst bolls on the plants in the field.
I stopped in at Mitchell's to get a soda and I discovered they have a lunch counter. I may have to get a burger or something in there. It's about 1/2 convenience store and 1/2 dining room. Didn't see any guns or ammo, but there's a nice collection of dealer stickers on the front door. And an advertisement for the concealed carry course that's required to get a carry permit in this state. Classes start the first Saturday of each month and are $75. I might have to take one in the next couple of months. If nothing else, I'd get some shooting time in.
Unpacking and Tidying Progress:
I did break down a couple of big boxes in the living room today. And put away some stuff on the coffee table. I even vacuumed. There's still detritus on most of the horizontal surfaces, however. I'll try to get rid of that tomorrow.
Other tasks accomplished:
I edged the sidewalk yesterday, but hauled away the remains today. I also hauled away the bits of sod that I dug out by the walk to help the drainage. I dug the grass out of another expansion joint in the driveway and watered some of the flowers. I also watered the fruit trees, dug some composted cow manure into the flowerbed by the front walk (and startled a large toad), and sprayed more Round-Up in the poison ivy corner. Most everything in the corner looks dead right now. I was able to get further back into the corner than before, so that was good. I'm going to keep spraying once a week until the end of the month. Then I'll clear the brush and think about digging things up. I also bought a month-by-month gardening guide for the area. It's divided into sections for shrubs, lawns, trees, etc. It looks to be a wonderful resource and it makes me want to run out and tackle the entire yard all at once (which would be a sure way to burn myself out and blow my budget). But it's getting me thinking.
Well, time to call it a day. I'll tell ya more tomorrow.
I did end up going to Wal-Mart. I got a new motorcycle battery. I've never had to fill a battery with acid before. I was a bit worried about goofing it up and the directions which came with the battery weren't particularly helpful. It would appear that the person who wrote the directions does not speak English as their primary language.
Here is what the manual says:
1. Place the battery on a level place, and tear down the sealed tape on even place.
2. Softly inlay the filling funnel on the ports of the storage battery.
3. Take out the electrolyte container. Put it down straightly. Then pour through the funnel to the ports. Caution: Unless the electrolyte container is pushed down straightly, the battery may fall down, from which spillages may cause loss of eyesight and/or burns.
4. Be sure that bubbles are generating in all six cells of the electrolyte container and the level of electrolyte should be down.
5. After being sure that no electrolyte is left in the electrolyte container and funnel, remove them slowly from the battery and clean any acid stick to battery.
6. Place the sealing plugs fixed to the battery in the right positions of filling plugs.
7. Push the sealing plugs in until reaching the equal level with the top surface of the battery. When pushing the sealing plugs in, the equal strength must be given to all plugs simultaneously. Caution: Do not push the sealing plugs in one by one. Damage may result.
To use battery in a comfortable condition:
After filling the electrolyte, allow the battery to vitalize, with the filling plugs removed, for about 20 minutes. After then, fix the seling plugs to the filling plugs and recharge the battery at the normal charging current as given in TABLE of this Instructions.
The instructions are also written in German, French, Spanish and Italian. I can only imagine those translations are just as rough as the one from Japanese into Engrish.
Touring the Countryside
After I got the battery installed into the bike, I had to take it for a ride to charge it up, of course. So we had a quick zip up the road to the next town to get fuel and came back. I took a back road which is fairly smooth with a few twists, turns and hills. This is one of the cotton fields nearby. The cotton must be getting close to picking time. You can see the burst bolls on the plants in the field.
I stopped in at Mitchell's to get a soda and I discovered they have a lunch counter. I may have to get a burger or something in there. It's about 1/2 convenience store and 1/2 dining room. Didn't see any guns or ammo, but there's a nice collection of dealer stickers on the front door. And an advertisement for the concealed carry course that's required to get a carry permit in this state. Classes start the first Saturday of each month and are $75. I might have to take one in the next couple of months. If nothing else, I'd get some shooting time in.
Unpacking and Tidying Progress:
I did break down a couple of big boxes in the living room today. And put away some stuff on the coffee table. I even vacuumed. There's still detritus on most of the horizontal surfaces, however. I'll try to get rid of that tomorrow.
Other tasks accomplished:
I edged the sidewalk yesterday, but hauled away the remains today. I also hauled away the bits of sod that I dug out by the walk to help the drainage. I dug the grass out of another expansion joint in the driveway and watered some of the flowers. I also watered the fruit trees, dug some composted cow manure into the flowerbed by the front walk (and startled a large toad), and sprayed more Round-Up in the poison ivy corner. Most everything in the corner looks dead right now. I was able to get further back into the corner than before, so that was good. I'm going to keep spraying once a week until the end of the month. Then I'll clear the brush and think about digging things up. I also bought a month-by-month gardening guide for the area. It's divided into sections for shrubs, lawns, trees, etc. It looks to be a wonderful resource and it makes me want to run out and tackle the entire yard all at once (which would be a sure way to burn myself out and blow my budget). But it's getting me thinking.
Well, time to call it a day. I'll tell ya more tomorrow.
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