The Manic Mechanic

Jeff and I had a fairly productive weekend. There were a few things needing to be dealt with that required some running around at the end of the week, some stuff mailed out, trips to the credit unions, etc. But I think I got most of it all under control.

Saturday I did what anyone about to have major surgery on their back would do.

I split a one-third cord of firewood. X-D

Having a splitter made this doable. I sat on one of the logs, and had a little (dis)assembly line going. None of this stuff was big, maybe 24 inches in diameter at best. I tossed to pieces into wheelbarrows that Jeff would take to the woodshed and stack. Jeff did some mowing of the lawn and weeding of flower beds, which looks great. I did some tinkering in the garage. I noticed that the battery on the big tiller was toast. It was six years old, so it was time, I guess. I'm wondering about the battery in the tractor. It came out of the wrecked Dodge Shadow in '00. What did not enter my mind was how long the battery was in the car before. No dates on the battery itself, and it was the one which replaced the original, so it might have been 4-5 years old prior to that. It's still going strong, and still load tests well. Not bad for a 72 month AC-Delco aftermarket battery.

I wanted to change the oil in Jeff's truck for a while now, it's been sitting down at the garage for a couple weeks. The battery was dead in that when I wanted to move it on Saturday, and the charger did nothing to revive it. Another dead battery. So, Jeff and I went out today to run errands as well as to now buy a pair of batteries. Great timing. The truck is all done, Jeff has his own vehicle once again.

While out and about, we stopped into the new Performance Bicycle store that opened up nearby a month ago. Lots of nice rides. I'm thinking that once I heal up, Jeff and I will treat ourselves to a pair of new bikes, and do a lot more riding. But first, I need some repairs of my own.

Monday is the big day. WIith luck, you should hear from me in a day or two. I'll have Jeff keep people informed.

Cheers!

I can now rest a bit easier knowing that Jeff made it to Columbus safely for his three-day Dietary Managers confab. In the meantime, I'm certain to suffer at the hands (paws?) of SeparationAnxietyDog Kodi until he gets home early Friday evening. I was going to tag along with him as I had done before, but this was a shorter conference and it took place strictly during the week, with no weekend time to try and get together with the Columpeeps as before. Jeff will get a chance to meet with some of his foodie friends while there, so he won't be moping in his hotel room when the conference ends for the day.

He should also have the distinction of enjoying the company of the too-totally awesome champdaddy.

In the meantime, I am at work doing my usual, and upon going home and being attacked by Kodi, I will continue to make headway in the basement workshop cleaning up things and doing various fixits. It'll be a quiet coupla days.

First off, I have to thank everyone who left notes of concern and encouragement in my last post. The past several days, leading up to and after the anniversary have been rough, no doubt about it. I lost my 'true' family in one fell swoop, and it's devastating. I've been trying to learn that 'family' can go beyond blood relatives. I have Jeff's extended family, most of whom welcome me as one of their own. I have a few close friends throughout the years as well. And I have my Livejournal friends. Many of you I have never met in person (though I want to, believe me). So many of you brighten my day via your posts in so many ways. To have you guys and gals send some kind words truly means a lot. I don't feel so alone.

Trying to fend off depressive feelings and be useful has been the order of the day for a while now. My upcoming vacation with Jeff to Provincetown next week has been a huge motivation. On Thursday I came home to find that the windshield fairies paid a visit to the house while I was at work and replaced busted windshields in the truck and the Mini. Granted, I have no idea of the glass installers' orientation, so maybe calling them fairies is a bit presumptive. The insurance company made it easy for me to have the glass replaced under the comprehensive policy, a few phone calls with some unusually pleasant and helpful people from the insurer as well as the installers made what could have been a bit of an ordeal a nice surprise, especially given my background mindset and preoccupations. I came home from work to find two shiny new windscreens. The MINI's glass was sandblasted badly, despite it's relatively young age. A hard hit finally started a crack, and it wasted no time creeping across the glass. The truck's glass had been busted (from top to bottom, and in several isolated places) for a while, and I figured I'd be better off replacing it before the trip to stave off any potential eager constabulary from writing me up an inspection/safety tickie. No, I dont want to have anything spoiling the trip.

More work on the truck involved installing a three gauge pod on the dash, fixing burned out and darkened bulbs in the instrument cluster, replacing the onboard charger, cleaning things up, and installing the Star Trek horns. The latter does make people stop and look around. To make the trip a bit more comfortable I replaced my old Activator II time-based trailer brake controller with a Tekonsha P3 proportional controller. No more feeling kicked in the ass every time I let off the brakes with a trailer attached. Should be a lot safer as well. For something as mundane as a brake controller, the thing comes with a GUI. Unreal.

Since P-Town is best navigated on foot or by bicycle, I pulled out our two bikes and gave them a much needed tuneup. Mine was having perpetually flat tires; the last trip to pick up inner tubes netted me ones with Presta valves rather than Shraders. Since I have no adaptors to make use of those, I needed to get the proper tubes. While assessing what needed to be done, I inflated what was already on the bike. Filled the back tire, everything looked good, only need a tube, no tire. The front was next. Tire flopping on the rim. Air it up for inspection, all's well. Get set to check it out and I am greeted with "fffffPOW!!" as the tire slips off the rim and the tube explodes from the tire. I drop what I am doing, head to the bike shop at Dick's and get three new tubes (one spare), two bells and a light set for Jeff's ride. Come home, clean up everything, replace the tubes, tune up and lubricate everything then hit the street for test rides. The good news is I can still hit about 30mph. The bad news is that it ain't for long, unlike my younger days. Ah, well, it's not like I'll be racing in Provincetown. Two shiny bikes for the week. As I put them away, I noticed a bulge beginning to show up on the front tire of Jeff's bike. I guess that will have to be taken care of too. fffffPOW!!

Been making use of the new laptop. I set it up along with the scanner in the trailer this afternoon just to be different and began scanning the few dozen photos that Jeff's mom gave me to digitize to load into the digital photo frame we got her for Mother's Day. I plan on getting a similar frame for myself to show the countless photos of Mom that I have.

My only worry regarding the trip is the tires on the trailer. I made the 'mistake' of googling the brand ("Mission") after noticing they are made in China. I did not find anything encouraging. Even though I had no issues with the tires, all I have read are horror stories of blowouts on tires that have little use. Then comes recent news of a big tire recall involving several off-brand tires made in China (though not these, different village sweatshop manufacturer). Apparently, safety testing, quality control and integrity are lost on some people. This is what the cost of 'low prices always' brings us, along with governments being lobbied into allowing the various industries to regulate themselves. Le sigh.

If you made it this far, you probably missed the teal deer.

Look for an upcoming post regarding a LJ 'get-together' at P-Town. Details to follow, but it's looking like a Tuesday lunch bash at our place. Would love to see yas!