The Peekaboo Bird Visits and I Go Get Some More Parts for the Van V8 Engine Conversion Project

Tuesday July 26, 2016 Jenner CA.

Peekaboo bird

I needed to go get some parts today for the van conversion project, but first I was going down to Jenner to kayak.

I put my boat in the water and paddled across the river to Penny Island and pulled into my regular spot by the green reeds to figure out which way to go today.

I was sitting there for ten minutes or so when I looked at the reeds to my left where I saw the peekaboo bird sitting there watching me.bird

 

It dove into the reeds when it saw me turn, but I could see it peeking at me.

About five  minutes later, it came back out. It was making a squawking noise.bird2

 

After a while, it presented me with the broken wing routine for a bit.bird4

 

I watched it perform for ten or fifteen minutes, then I moved off down along the islands edge.

Fog and an eagle

I was looking at the white egret when the bald eagle flew into view and the fog was starting to move in too.fogeagle

 

A deer on the island

I continued on down along the island’s edge as the fog continued to move in when I spotted the deer on the island.island

 

Here’s the deer I spotted just watching me pass.deerfog

 

Seagull hunting crab

Just off the lower end of Penny Island, I saw this seagull floating on the water and looking like it was hunting for little crabs.

It jumped up off the water and did this dive for a crab.dive

 

It dove into the shallow water for the little crabs as it would spot one.gull

 

Sometimes it was successful and got one of the little guys. The crabs are little one or two inch Dungeness crabs that come into the river to grow up some, if they make it as lots of things eat them.gullcrab

 

Foggy at the river’s mouth

I left the seagull at it and headed down into the fog towards the river’s open mouth area.seagull

 

I hung around in the fog watching things. These two surf scooters swam by.scooters

 

A baby deer watches me

Eventually I left and headed back up the river where the fog cleared and I spotted this baby deer along the shoreline. fawn

 

On the bottom end of Penny Island, I went past these terns resting on the gravel.tern

 

No peekaboo bird

I went back to the reeds to see if the peekaboo bird would show up again, but it didn’t.

However this dragonfly stopped by to lay a few eggs before taking off and  disappearing.dragfly

 

Headed to Santa Rosa for parts

I was off the water today by twelve noon as I needed to go to Santa Rosa to  exchange some parts and get some parts for my new V8 engine I’m installing in my van.

I needed to get the right pulleys, exchange my clutch kit for one that would fit and exchange the exhaust manifolds that I could see weren’t going to fit.

I went to Smoother’s auto parts where they helped me out. I got some pulleys, a new clutch kit and decided and ordered exhaust manifolds that fit a 1969 corvette figuring if they fit in a vet, they’d likely fit in my van.

I need a nap

When I got home I was beat so hit the couch for a bit before going out and working on the engine.

Success with the pulleys

I tried the pulleys. All the pulleys are aligned to whatever kind of water pump you have. Mine is what they call a short one as compared to a long one. The damper pulley below lined up with the water pump pulley, so I’m good to go on the pulleys. I still have to mount the alternator to also line up, but that should all work out.

Here’s the front of the new engine with the two pulleys aligned properly. I’m going with double V belts as I feel it’s the most reliable way. Not much chance of loosing a belt when there’s two of them.pulleys

 

The rest of the day, I sat around studying what I need to do next to get the engine together for installation.

That was my day for a good one.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to The Peekaboo Bird Visits and I Go Get Some More Parts for the Van V8 Engine Conversion Project

  1. Linda Conley says:

    Me too! (re: memory). Your name for that bird is apt, and pretty great. Thanks for your eye on that unique spot, and all the rest.

  2. Bob says:

    Hi Lindy, I remember looking up that bird once, but in my older age, I have a hard time remembering the names of a lot of birds and am sometimes too lazy to look them up knowing I’ll likely just forget them again so we get the peekaboo bird. It’s always helpful to know the names though and eventually I might remember them so feel free to name any birds you know as some other people might like to know too.
    Thanks,
    Bob

  3. Linda Conley says:

    You probably know that your Peekaboo Bird is a Rail, and I think it might be a juvenile Ridgway’s Rail,mwhich until recently was a Clapper Rail. It probably doesn’t care what you call it.

Comments are closed.