This weekend was another tough one. After weekends like this it is almost a relief to go to work on Monday. I wanted to get a jump on my to-do list so as soon as we got from work on Friday I threw a load of laundry in the washer and had the bird cages cleaned just as the pizza came out of the oven. I really wanted to knock the stuff out asap so I could relax for at least part of the weekend. My list got another item on it Friday night when my neighbor across the street called and said he was ready to take down his old fence on Sunday. He is generously giving me his old fencing so I can use it to create a run area for Nicki.
I got started bright and early on Saturday. One of my items was not laborious, just time consuming. I had about 10 items that I wanted to get listed on ebay ranging from a Tampa Bay Bucs jersey to corvette parts. The process of taking the pictures and going through the listing process took me close to an hour. Has anyone else noticed thast Ebay has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive to list on? They nickel and dime you to death. Ali had to work Saturday so I was free to plow through chores as I pleased. Next I went outside and did the first oil change on the new tractor. Afterward, I did some wet and muddy mowing of the areas of the property that were still wet but passable enough that I could run the tractor through with the blades on the highest setting. It was a delicate operation to cut off the blades just as they started hitting heavy water. It also required a keen eye to avoid the muddiest areas to avoid getting stuck. Next up, weeding. During the heart of summer, weeding is a pretty thankless job. The ground is so wet that weeds spring up everywhere. In some areas there were so many little sprouts I stopped trying to pull them individually and instead resorted to scraping the areas with a tool to try to just rip them up as much as possible. By the time this was done I was drenched in sweat. It was only mid morning but already it was close to 90 and very humid. Then I dug up the Jacaranda tree we had only bought a month earlier. Even though I moved it to higher ground it was basically dead. I threw it in the back of the truck to return to Home Depot.
Next on the hit list was the Vette. I wanted to try to fix the engine error codes that have been causing the stuttering and hesitation. So I popped the hood and identified the parts that needed attention according to some advice I got on the corvette forum. So I made a list and headed out with Nicki. I returned the jacaranda tree without a fuss and picked out another one. Then I headed to the auto parts store and grabbed 2 relays, a throttle position sensor, a fuel filter and a fuel pressure gauge. It wasn’t cheap, around 100 bucks for everything. I headed home to plant the new tree and install the parts.
As I was removing the old parts from the car, I noticed something strange when I went to remove the TPS. It was held on with a plastic tie wrap. This can’t be good. After I cut the tie wrap I saw why. Yet another rig job. No wonder I was having problems. I installed the new sensor and relays but still got an error, which I expected until I could repair the connector. So I left the car to go plant the tree. I planted the new tree up on high ground, hoping to avoid the same fate of it’s predecessor.
Ali came home and then I got inspired to install the fuel filter I bought for the Vette. I read up on the procedure, it sounded a bit difficult, like most maintenance chores on the vette, but I was inspired to get it done. The instructions I had said the entire job should take no longer than a half an hour. The fuel filter is under the car, right next to the exhaust (odd place), so I put the car up on ramps to get to it. The car sits so low that even on ramps, there is precious little space under the car to manuever. So little that as I slid under the car, my chest was brushing the floorpan. As I squirmed under there, thoughts of the horror of the car rolling off the ramps ran through my head. If the car was on my chest I would probably be unable to yell for help so I would just lie there and then Ali would come out and find my dead body pinned under the car. Of course these pleasant thoughts didn’t stop me. I went at it anyway. This job sucked, bad. With the close quarters it was VERY difficult to get leverage on the nuts that had to be broken free. There were 2 nuts that had to come off the filter. The first one took me at least a half hour to get free. Once that was free, I started to have a small trickle of gas run down my arm. No big deal, I continued on, trying to get the second nut free. I have no idea how long it has been since the fuel filter was changed, maybe it never was. All I know was it felt like the nuts were welded on. Having better tools would have helped since I had to use 2 adjustable wrenches simulataneously to perform this miracle. As the gas continued to cover my left arm it started to burn and tingle, I ignored it and continued to try to get the proper angle to break free the stubborn nuts. At one point I tried to come under the car from the front. This was mistake as my head was positioned almost directly under the filter. As I pulled I took a good shot of gasoline into my right eye. This one I couldn’t ignore. My eye seared with pain as I wiggled out from under the car. I hurried inside and flushed it with water. The pain subsided and I could still see, so back outside I went. Unfortunately I had little choice but to continue my struggle. If the fuel filter is unhooked the car is dead in the water so I was in this till the bitter end. After a prolonged battle where I hit my head, strained from every imaginable angle and used almost all the energy I had left, it finally broke free. Damn I was happy. However, getting the new one in wasn’t very easy either. The metal fuel line had bent a bit from my efforts to release the nuts. To get it back in the proper angle so I could connect both lines to the fuel filter took many, many tries. Finally after a good 2 and a half hours, I fired it up, checked for leaks and was able to park the car. I threw my sweaty, grimy clothes directly into the laundry. My left arm still tingled. I unwound from the day by playing some Doom 3 which I’ll comment on more later.
Sunday morning I was awakened at 5:15 am by the dog. Evidently she had to go to bathroom so I trudged outside and let her relieve herself. I was determined to fall back asleep. After some tossing and turning, I fell asleep just in time to be woken up again at 7am by the alarm clock I forgot to turn off. Argh, screw it, I got up. After more early morning Doom playing, I went outside to pick up stuff so Ali could mow. As I was outside I saw my neighbor and he was ready to start disassembling the old fence. The disassembly was tough. The fence posts were right on the drainage ditch so they were in muck. The poles were buried at least 2 feet deep, some of the support posts were almost 4 feet into the ground. The smaller posts came out with some rocking back and forth followed by a hard pull to break the suction of the wet earth. The big ones required digging out around them and then some very strenuous rocking and pulling. The biggest one, the size of a dock piling, required us jacking it up with a floor jack. Of course it was hot and humid and there wasn’t a dry spot left on my shirt by the time the last post came out of the ground. I brought my truck over and loaded it up with the fence materials. I decided it would be a good idea to pressure wash them to get the junk off and then let them dry off in the shed for a few weeks. As I was blasting each one I came across a post that evidently was home to a huge ant colony. As soon as I moved the post, the ants poured out of several holes in the wood, ugh. That post got set aside. In order to store the posts in the shed I had to do some quick, makeshift organizing to make room. I backed the truck up to the underwater, muddy ground in front of the shed and unloaded it. Whew.
I came in and jumped in the pool to cool off. We ate some lunch, cleaned up a bit, then took a break as we went out to run a couple errands. Ali wanted to hit the pet store for some dog supplies and I wanted to go to an auto parts store to see if I could find a replacement for that connector that is damaged. I struck out at the auto store but we got our dog supplies and headed home. During the drive it was extremely painful for my arm that was covered in gasoline to be in the direct sun. It stung like hell. Chemical burn? Who knows.
My list was ALMOST complete, all I had left to do was vacuum the house. (Ali was handicapped all weekend because of a severe quad strain from her PT session on Thursday) Just as I started, our neighbors stopped by to tell us of their plans to try to buy a house in a development. They asked if we wanted to buy the house next to them. Of course to do so would not be inline with my long term plans. We currently are on a 15 year mortgage and are sitting in a position of strength as far as home equity goes. To move would probably require us dropping back to a 30 year mortgage and would more than likely scuttle any chances of Ali not having to work full time for the next 20 years. However, we totally understood why the neighbors want to move. They are 2 women in their 50’s who have to pay for the majority of maintenance for their house. They just can’t afford it. It’s too much work. So after a nice chat they left and I resumed my vacuuming. By 6 or so I was finally done with my list. Yuck.
Now even though I was quite busy working I did find a few hours to spend on Doom 3. Just when you think the game couldn’t get any more hideous or disturbing, it does. I have managed to battle my way into Hell, literally. Hell is a very scary place and evidently there are no flashlights there so I can no longer peer into those dark corners and see what is waiting for me. Although I still have awhile to go till the end, I am getting close enough I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Some of the visuals in this game have to be seen to be believed. Who thought this up?
The olympics ended last night. We watched a good chunk of it over these couple weeks. When they started we were in blackness still from hurricane Charley. We missed the first few days of it because of the round the clock news following the storm. Once it was available, I really enjoyed it. I always like the Olympics, summer or winter. It must be such an awesome experience to be an athlete in a world wide event like that. I’m jealous. I saw the marathon incident where a guy from the crowd jumped out and pushed the then leader into the crowd. That was wild and evidently simply a stunt for this loser to get attention. I also watched tape of the speed walking event. These walkers looked ridiculous. I think speed walkers make synchronized swimmers look cool. However it was compelling to watch, the race was 50k, over 30 miles long!!! The guy that came in second place literally looked like he was moments away from passing out. I genuinely felt bad for these guys as they entered into the stadium to finish. There was literally NOONE in the stands to cheer them on. I guess race walking is not a big crowd favorite. Even though it is silly looking, I have a new found respect for the sport.
The closing ceremonies were weird. The greek part of it was pretty much lost on me. To me, it was boring and silly. If you didn’t happen to see the video of the announcers towards the beginning of the closing ceremonies, you would have never known that one of them was a woman. She had a very man-ish voice that was very annoying to listen to. I never heard or saw either of these announcers before. You would think NBC would have at least put some familiar faces in the booth for the closing ceremonies. The funniest moment of the night was when Yao Ming spit on the guy interviewing him (accidentally) and then said “Oh Sorry” as he wiped his shoulder. That got replayed on the tivo a few times, it was really funny. There were tons of great moments in the games but the things that stick out to me are a couple bad ones. The US basketball team was an embarrassment. Yea they won the bronze but damn, NBA pro’s should DOMINATE. What a bunch of clowns, hopefully they learned a lesson. The USA 4×100 relay team were a bunch of cocky a-holes. Before the race they pretty much dismissed the rest of the field and made predictions of setting a new world record. Instead they got beat by a hair and took silver. I was almost glad they lost, I hate cockiness with a passion.
There is a another hurricane churning out there that has the potential to hit south florida. It used to be taken for granted that any hurricane will miss our area, now the exact opposite is true, everyone seems to be holding their breath on each new storm that has the potential to hit anywhere in the state. I guess we all fear that we could be getting payback for 40 years of hurricane free existence.
Over 5 thousand hits on the blog now, someone must be reading it besides the gnome.
Do I ever have a blog entry on Monday that is short?
