I made it rain last night, enough to get the ground wet but not really soak in. I used the combined process of thoroughly watering the garden and leaving the jeep outside all night. If this weird weather keeps up I will consider more drastic action: watering all day, leaving the jeep out with the top off, leaving clothes out on the line, and setting out a delicate project in the driveway that must be kept dry.Thailand
The hedge we planted, some 200+ 6 inch sprouts, has taken off. They are now about 2 feet tall and well established. The bougainvilea has finally got established. It took a year. The great master plan of all this is to establish privacy in the yard so Somchit and Yupin can sunbathe. That sounds like a bad idea to me and will require the formulation of sun tan lotion combined with mosquito repellent.
As for jeepy things, the engine kill cable broke the other day, our shopping day, which meant that everywhere we parked I had to open the hood and manually activate the kill lever. I took it to our mechanic and Yunee and I wandered around while he checked things out. We came back to find a large coil of greasy oily wire dangling from a hole in the dash board. We were instructed to pull on the wire to kill the engine and come back the next day for a more aesthetic and permanent repair. The next day they fitted a massive hood release cable in. That will add to any potential thiefs confusion as pulling the hood release will just cause the engine to die. We aren’t too worried about theft however, as, aside from my deliberately leaving the jeeps appearance as 1 grade above abandoned/derelict, we have the heavy log chain to lock the steering wheel and a concealed padlock that connects the three shift levers together, locking the transmissions into 4 wheel drive low. So the critter could still be stolen, but will only travel at 4 mph and no reverse gear. See Mr. Beans Vacation movie where he tries to steal a motorized bicycle. 🙂

I am slowly getting around to rewiring the jeep. After 45 years of half assing and splicing the wires it is a serious rats nest. What is slowing me down is the cost of copper wire here which is ridiculously expensive, and finding super solid reliable connectors so I don’t have the same problem you had with your van’s computer cable. I am considering soldering pig tails to all the plug on connections which report to heavy duty screw or bolt connectors.
I am also going to move all the guages up onto the bar above the windshield. What with jeeps being a tad odd configuration wise, it requires the driver to only move his/her eyes up 6 inches to see the gauges as opposed to where they presently are where you have to look down and to the right 2 feet. And I have a few innovations I still need to impliment on the jeep. One problem is the combination of the diesel engines braking ability and the new tremendously overpowered disc brakes, I can stop the vehicle without ever applying enough pedal pressure to activate the hydraulic brake switch. Thus I am searching for a vacuum switch that activates whenever the engine drops to an idle. In other words, whenever my foot isn’t on the throttle the brake lights come on. All in all, we are quite happy with the jeep. Taking everything into consideration, it’s carbon footprint is almost nonexistent, it is recycled many times over, it is economical, and it is around 1000% beyond the life expectancy of any new vehicle made today.

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