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Well hello. This is one of those letters that most people hate (with no photos of people, just stuff). I however like them, and since I am tasked with the authorship, I have the freedom to post and write about whatever suits me. This week this suits me. When I procured the Bronco, the dash would "vibrate" when it was either driven over rough terrain, or at high speeds. The vibrating of the dash was not uniform across its entirety, but rather only on the passenger side. I had AJ look at it and he sent me this picture of the broken plastic bracket that holds the dash to the cab of the vehicle. I had a hard time seeing this defect (especially on a cell phone) so I have added the arrow to clarify the problem.

Once AJ found the problem, he didn't have any means (let alone time) to fix it prior to the trip out east. So he drove the bronco with a vibrating dash all the way here. I was rather amazed that the bracket wasn't metal, but Wyatt assured me that this is because it is an XL model rather than an XLT. I think that it is because it is newer than his and AJ's vehicles. I think that companies (Ford not exempt) keep trying to produce vehicles at cheaper and cheaper costs to themselves. I don't have a problem with this philosophy as long as the performance is not hindered. What it appears happens is that the vehicle performs the same on the test bed, and gets better milage, but the vehicles longevity suffers dramatically. I managed to find a piece of 14 gauge stainless steel, and then I cut a strip 6"x1" and folded it over upon itself (3"x1"). Since I lost my benchtop vise in our move, I used a torch and pair of pliers to bend it into shape, and then took a drill press and put two holes in it, and attached it in place of the plastic one. Fixed (for now).

This Saturday, I finished up the task of installing a light in one of the storage closets in the add-on room in our house. I am a firm believer that all closets should have lights, and Terra also subscribes to this way of thinking, so given enough "free-time" and these problems will be taken care of. What makes this job a little problematic is that the wall of the closets are not sheetrock, but rather OSB (orientated strand board). So to put a small hole in them requires the use of a drill and a jig saw rather than a little drywall saw. This project spanned the course of two Saturdays to complete. On the first day, I spent a considerable amount of time in the attic locating the

best place to drill a hole as to be in the correct location to be inside the wall. I needed to run a wire down to the outlet to get power for the light. After measuring twice I decided that I had the best spot and took a spanner bit and drilled a 3/4" hole. Just as I had drilled through the boards and before I could pull the drill back, the bit fell out and went down the hole. I looked and it appeared that I did manage to hit inside the wall, (dark hole) and would most likely have to kiss that bit goodbye. Well after this, I decided that I needed to wait until next weekend (had a baptism to attend) and I needed more time before I tore into the wall. Well, I guessed that I didn't locate the correct side of the stud,

So I cut a hole next to the electric box containing the outlet. Sure enough, as seen in the previous photo, I was correct on the placement of the hole. I went and found Kyle, and then employed him in helping me retrieve the drill bit that was still standing upright after striking the bottom plate. Kyle managed to retrieve the bit, and I then commenced the process of running some wires. I talked and talked about making these closets like Taylor in that when the door opens the lights come one, but that requires a lot of wiring around the door frame/jam, and I didn't want to cut any more holes in the OSB then I had to, so we opted for standard light switches.

The lights we chose were of the same design as the lights in Taylor with the exception that these bulbs were the T8 rather than the T12. I must assume that these bulbs are more "energy efficient" than the T12 bulbs (which means that they are more expensive and dimmer) but the T12 bulbs are becoming harder and harder to find in light fixtures. I have noticed that this same trend is also happening in light bulbs in fans. Now they come with bulbs that screw into sockets about 1/2 the size of a "normal" light bulb. Again I would assume this is done in the name of energy savings, and consequently they must cost more to purchase. It sure makes me wonder if these changes are done at the request of companies or government, and also if the total costs of owning / operating these lights over the life cycle of the bulbs is actually any cheaper or not. I suspect that it is not. This is only based on the fact that the ice cream light bulbs (florescent screw in light bulbs) seem to either last equally to incodesant bulbs or they burn out in about 2 weeks after installation, but they cost about 15 time the price of the incodesant bulbs do. I have also heard rumors that incodesant bulbs will no longer be for sale in the near future (thanks to government regulation or Interference). Any way, enough complaining about it, and back to the story.

Once I finally was able to tap the power in the outlet, I decided to run a line over to the new hole where the switch would be. I also ran an extra wire to switch for the other closet. That way when I get ready to put a light in it, I will already have a wire in the attic that I could use for power. It is the same amount of work currently but will save many hours of frustration in the future. Locating the exact spot for the hole in the light fixture was easy. I simply mounted the florescent light to the ceiling in location that it would end up, and drilled a hole up through the fixtures wiring hole into the ceiling. Then to locate the hole in the attic, I took a metal pole and ran it up through the light

so that it would poke through the insulation and I wouldn't have to go fishing for it. This idea worked out very well. It also gave me a good way to get the wire back into the light fixture. I simply taped the wire to the pole in the attic and then had Terra pull it back through the light. Once that was accomplished, I installed a coax cable and phone cord (both of which were absent from the addition room) and that way it would cover up the extra hole I had to make to find the power outlet. I then ran the wires to this outlet (but the other end just dead ends in the attic and can be hooked up later).

The final result was that the light coming from the closet is probably brighter than the light in the rest of the room. But you can see in the closet, and that was the goal of the whole adventure. It is hard to see the light switch here, but you get the general idea.

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