Pressured, reverse curve, landmines

Well this weekend didn’t follow any traditional blueprint.  I had gone into it with two goals, get the oil changed in all three vehicles and pressure wash the pool deck/cage, one of my least favorite home maintenance tasks.

I tried to clear out some of the chores ahead of time by heading outside Friday evening and getting the weeding done.  While I was out there I snipped off some kale.  I figured I would try throwing it on top of my Friday night pizza.  I simply washed it off, cut it up a bit and threw it on top.  It actually turned out quite well.

So Saturday morning I tried firing up the pressure washer.  It didn’t want to start.  I have had this pressure washer for probably close to 10 years.  It already had a long term oil leak problem so I decided I was just going to get another washer.  After all, I had the mental target of getting the pool area cleaned so I had no choice, right? 🙂

I also told Ali I was going to pick up the dogs for the day.  Before I went to her place I stopped and got my oil change supplies which were substantial, in total I needed 16 quarts of oil and three filters.   It added up to a good chunk of change.  I softened the blow by utilizing 20 of my Autozone spiff dollars.

I then picked up the girls in the Tacoma and headed to Lowes to look at pressure washers.  I had a 10% off movers coupon I scammed off the Lowes website that I planned to use to save me a few bucks.

I found a Troybilt 3000 PSI model with a Honda motor that looked good.  It turned out the only one they had left was the display model.  I was a little leary about taking the display unit but the Lowes guy assured me it was just put together a couple days ago and should be fine, ok great.

When we got home I wanted to tackle the oil changes first.  All three fluid swaps went smoothly.  It’s funny how vehicles feel like they run better right after an oil change.  I’m sure it’s just my imagination though.

Next up was the shitty pressure washing, although having a new pressure washer to tackle the job admittedly made the job seem less arduous.   Well that feeling quickly faded and turned into frustration.

For the first 5 minutes of pressure washing I was really impressed, the new pressure washer felt noticeably stronger.  The higher pressure H2O was doing a great job of blasting green and black mildew off the white aluminum cage.

I had decided to do the outside of the pool cage first.  As I got around to the back side of the cage I noticed the pressure washer was acting strange.  When I would squeeze the trigger the engine would start to labor and the rpm’s would drop until I released it.  If I held the trigger long enough the motor would eventually shut off.  The longer I ran the washer, the worse this behavior became.  Eventually I could only blast water a few seconds at a time.

Well of course I was frustrated.  I got the new washer with the expectation it was going to make life easier.  Instead now I had to figure out what was wrong.  So I looked at a few things.  The water inlet looked clear and free of obstruction.  The oil level was a bit low so I added some.

The manual also said that having the water feed hose being longer than 50 feet could be a problem.  Well my hose was like 150 feet long but I never had an issue using a long hose with my other washer so I doubted that was the problem either.

So after checking out these things I started the washer back up and it ran great, for 2 or 3 minutes. Once again the erratic behavior returned.  I punched the off button angrily, knowing that there is SOMETHING wrong with this unit, damn display models…  The knowledge that I had to make a return trip to Lowe’s to address the problem did not make me smile.

It was now getting later in the afternoon and I had only scratched the surface of the pressure washing ahead of me.  I loaded the girls and the pressure washer back up in the truck and headed back to Lowe’s.  I told them there was something wrong with this one but I already know they didn’t have another one for me to exchange it with.  I figured I would just be getting my CC refunded and I would need to get one somewhere else.

The customer service rep checked with the Lowes in Estero and said they had 6 of them in stock.  She said I could go up there and get another one, not exactly convenient, but ok.  I was able to leave my problematic washer in Naples and headed up to Estero with a Lowes gift card they gave me to use to get the new washer to avoid having to redo the transaction on my credit card.

I threw my new in the box Troybilt in the back of the Tacoma, hoping to get better results although I knew I would not get time to try it out until Sunday. After dropping the dogs back off at Ali’s place I headed home.  I had time to put the new, new pressure washer together but that was it before I had to hop in the shower to get ready for a fund raiser.

The fund raiser was for the brother of a local triathlete/running club guy.  Actually it was to help raise funds to help his family travel to London to watch his brother compete in his first ever Olympic games in wrestling.

The event was very nice and turnout was strong.  There was a keg of beer and two pans of paella.  I actually watched and later helped a little bit in the paella preparation.  It was interesting to me to see how it all comes together.

I made sure to get my fair share of Bud Light throughout the evening as well.  I actually almost forgot to eat at all but eventually I grabbed a plate of the paella which was quite good.

I wound up spending the vast majority of the event outside helping out.  Compared to the other option of milling about and making small talk it was definitely the better option for me.

Ali was there, actually she was the one who told me about the event in the first place.  I really didn’t see/talk to her very much at all until the tail end of the evening.

At one point Jake got up in front of the crowd and gave a little presentation about his brother’s journey to the Olympics.  It was quite touching as he got choked up several times talking about it.  Obviously Jake is VERY close to his brother.

I stuck around to the very end of the event, helping with clean up duty, figuring it was a good idea to allow some time to pass before driving since I had a decent amount of Bud Lights.  Sean, my running club buddy with the same sounding but differently spelled name told me a bunch of people were going over to South Street, the place where I typically will hang out after board meetings.  Hmm well it was already after 10 at this point but I had no major plans for Sunday besides labor so I figured why not?

Well I had never been to South Street on a Saturday night, wow.  It was PACKED.  It was hopping with live music and alcohol flowing everywhere.  Our group had scored a table in the corner of the back room.  I sat down and just did some people watching, there was a LOT to see.

It was so loud in there it was difficult for me to carry on much conversation.  They had the Olympics showing on a number of the tv’s so that got a lot of my attention.  I also spent some time hanging on the outskirts of the bar with Sean.  The circle of people he knows is simply staggering, he is a true social butterfly.

Later in the night I was sitting back down at the table and was talking to Jake’s girlfriend.  Ironically, although I heard her earlier in the evening, it was only until later, when things quieted down a bit that I realized she had a British accent.  She seemed very nice.  She told me how her and Jake were heading over to London to see his brother compete and then are following up with a visit to Italy.  It sounds like a great trip.

So it was getting later and later and I was still there.  I had taken a 5 hour energy earlier.  I have to tell you, those things work.  I have used them several times in the last few months and without fail they seem to really combat the normal drowsiness that would hit me at anytime past 10PM.  It was now after 1AM and still was feeling human.

Well eventually everyone from our group had packed it in, leaving just myself and Sean to close things out.  Which we literally did, not leaving South Street until 2AM, a normal occurrence for Sean, a first for me.  Like I mentioned before, Sean has the gift of gab, something that helps him quite a bit when it comes to dealing with women.  My lack of this gift definitely is a negative in this regard, perhaps I hope that I can absorb some of Sean’s gift via osmosis.

We talked about various things to wind up the night.  I actually drank very little over that roughly 4 hour period.  I had one Miller Lite and half of someone else’s unwanted beer.  I dropped the top on the SSR and headed home with my Pandora Smashing Pumpkins channel playing loudly.

When I finally got home instead of going directly to bed I instead answered email, which made little to no sense.  Finally the 5 hour energy wore off and I drifted to sleep somewhere around 3AM.  Did you know they have Olympic coverage on NBC at 3AM? Neither did I.

I woke up Sunday morning in disbelief when I looked at my clock.  It was 10AM.  I don’t sleep till 10AM, ever.  On a typical summer Sunday by 10AM I will have biked, maybe run and be ready to hop in the pool to swim.  To just be cracking open my eyelids at that time  was bizarre and not exactly a welcome feeling.  I really don’t like starting my day late.

So I got up and looked at my perspective day.  I knew it was going to sort of suck.  My pressure washer merry go round episode the day before meant I had hours of wet work ahead, plus I hadn’t even touched the stuff inside the house that needed to get done.  If you know me at all you know that I HATE having my weekend back loaded with work.

So I drug the new pressure washer onto the pool deck, filled it with gas and crossed my fingers that what I experienced with the display model was an isolated incident.  Evidently it was, I spent 4 solid hours out there blasting away.  The new washer performed quite well. making the job slightly less annoying.  Unfortunately the washing process revealed a few screen trouble areas.  There are several sections that are torn along the spline, including one roof section, meaning I now have screen repair to do as well.

I have never tried to to replace/repair a section of screen on the top of the cage.  I am not sure if I want to try it or not.  I have these visions of me falling through the cage that aren’t very appealing.

So finally I finished up with the pressure washing.  My reward for completion was to head inside and knock out the indoor chores.  My mood was not light and fluffy.

One of the things that had to get done inside was my weekly bill paying session.  Part of this process once a month is pulling out the credit card receipts from a year ago (they are kept in a folder for each month) and shredding them.

Well last August was the epic Ireland trip so in my hands were all the credit card receipts from the adventure.  Instantly I was transported back there, each receipt had a back story to it.  It seems hard to believe that a year has passed already since the trip, the memories all felt so fresh.

Of course it is inevitable that reliving those memories delivered a sobering shot of pain.  The trip was filled with so many great experiences and fond memories, to contrast it with what is now our much different reality was just sort of sad. I allowed myself to dwell on it only briefly before I shredded the evidence.

It’s times like these that really make me feel like I need a total reboot of my situation.