I know there are people who would accuse me of "wasting time" because I'm not up at 5:30 AM and going to work on everything that needs doing! Gotta get up and do all that work that needs doing! Work work work! Until you die!
But there's a limit to how much one person can do. That limit is different for each person.
Besides the washing machine, I need to install the ceiling fan in the master bedroom. And there's this and that and the other thing, and probably half a million other little things, all of which don't include the things that I want to do.
Meanwhile, mild back injury, so even standing up from a sitting position hurts; and if I bend over while sitting there is rather a great deal of pain involved when I stand up, and I end up hunched over like a man in his eighties. Unless I am mistaken this is the dreaded "lumbago" since it's my lumbar spine that's giving me the trouble. And this is most definitely not muscular; it's dead center in the middle of my back, right where it joins the pelvis.
Still, the muscle relaxant helps keep all the lower back muscles from tightening up and making this that much fucking worse, so I take it. My back doesn't hurt at all when I'm laying down--there is absolutely zero pain--but once I'm standing, there's a residual ache.
So I do want to take it to the doctor, and get some clue as to what needs doing to fix this, so that I'm free to do what I want do, but of course that requires that I take time off from work.
Given my druthers, though, I'd go back in time and warn myself not to be an idiot: take the VW engine apart before taking it home, because you don't have any way to get it out of the car's trunk when you get there!
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That was 1988. Pulled the engine from a Beetle and tried fixing it up, but it wasn't having any, so I took it home to do more work on it. Had friends to help me get it into the car; but once home I was by myself and it was too late at night to ask Dad to help me. Reasoning that I had (not too long ago) lifted 200 lbs unassisted, I got the engine up on some boxes so it was level with the trunk lip, put my arms under the cylinders, and then made very sure to lift only with my legs. I carried the engine less than twenty feet, and--keeping my back straight--used my legs to lower the engine onto the table I was using as a workbench.
Slight twinge in my lower back afterwards, but it went away.
Fast forward to 2004. Got the '86 Fiero home from Iowa, needed to get it off the dolly, and--foolishly--gave it an experimental shove. It did not move, but afterwards, there was a rather uncomfortable sensation from my lower back.
"Old too soon, smart too late," as Mom used to say.
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Having seen a video on how to make cable ends, for control cables, I want to try doing that for the motorized bicycle, so I've got cables of a reasonable length. I've determined that the clutch cable can be shortened easily--the engine end can just be trimmed shorter, and I can see if I can remove the ferrule from the sheath and stick it back on, or if I just go without. The throttle cable, though, has beads on both ends. It looks as if the grip end of the cable will be easier to get right, so that's the end I'll trim.
First, however--before I do any of that--I want to try to get the thing running, just to see how it goes. The only permanent change I made to the bike was the 5mm hole I drilled in the handlebars for the throttle's locating pin. I could easily take the whole kit off and return the bike to its original configuration.
Once I've got that thing into some semblance of completion, I want to turn my attention to the dirt bike. Get it put back together and running, and rideable. Also to replace bad gaskets and replace all the screws with hex-head bolts.
I also need to replace the valve cover gasket on the road bike, and clean up all the oil that's leaked out.
...this is why I want a bike lift. My back troubles demand that the objects of my tinkering be raised to a reasonable working height.
* * *
Anyway, I told my wife that I'd work on the washer today, so I've got to do that. I don't know what the result will be, but we'll see how we do.