(no subject)

We attacked Posi's control arm on his car again last night. Moira asked me this morning why it is that, whenever Posi and Juan and I all get together to work on a car, it involves the use of phrases like 'cutting torch'. I think the answer to that is really that, if a cutting torch hadn't been necessary, we would have managed to get it done, just the two of us.

After Juan spent a chunk of time trying other methods, he finally drove out to get his oxy-acetylene rig. He ended up cutting the control arm off of the car (I got to stand by with a water bottle to put out the burning rubber bushings between rounds of torch). The metal sleeve that the bolt passes through inside the bushing (which is what the bolt was stuck to) was bowed out about a quarter inch in radius from the build up of rust inside of it, which was holding it like a vice. Posi and I had tried not only full force application of a sledge hammer, but a bottle jack braced against car frame to move it and it hadn't budged. "Worst case scenario" was the phrase Juan used to describe it.

Amazing how that seems to keep happening to our cars.

By the way: seriously, anyone local to SE Wisconsin and NE Illinois (or even out by Madison too, since he lives there) who needs car work, just let me know and I'll connect you with Juan. He isn't always available, but he works for less than I think he's worth, and he really knows what he's talking about.

Anyway, I am showered and feeling much better. I'm going to work on more Ebay stuff today, I think. I also want to drive over to my parents' house and give my dad more of the modular hard drives I found in the garage that will fit the USB modular hard drive bay that I gave him a while ago. He should have plenty of removable storage!

Also: awful_horrid, I found that box of cable for you. I'll come drop it off sometime! Maybe next week?

I hope everyone's having a good day!

(no subject)

I am a domestic dog, but I'm still a working breed. I've been busy today.

I disassembled the dryer and got the igniter out. It promptly fractured into three pieces. I just ordered another one online. It's a neat little thing; it's a spiraling round shape that gets clipped into a bracket. It heats up and sits in the gas stream to ignite it. It looks ceramic, but that might just be because it's so old and carbonized from heating and cooling cycles. the part is about $26 with shipping.

I've cleaned up more stuff in the living room. To celebrate, I brought the two office chairs that I converted into drum thrones by removing their backs out into the garage to add to the next bulk trash pickup. I then brought the actual drum throne I got at a garage sale earlier this year out of the basement and played some Rock Band. It's been some time, but I almost think I'm better than I was before. I strongly believe in the power of subconscious reinforcement of skills.

There was a trip out to the hardware store in there too to buy a one inch open-end wrench for the gas fittings (though when I saw the price, I decided to try channel locks instead, which did the job just fine).

Below is what I look like today, because when moiracoon isn't around, I get to wear my bandannas, which she says make me look like an extra in a Cheech and Chong movie. *giggles* That's a fairy above my head that Moira and Mocha got me for Christmas (or maybe it was my birthday). She flaps her wings and flies around in a circle; it's great!




rileybear67 will tell me I need to smile more. But I really thought I was when I took the picture!

I need to get stuff together for the Dells trip soon too. We're staying at the Don Q tomorrow night, in the Paradise Cove room. At my raccoon's request, many pictures (of the room!!) will be forthcoming. It has one of the 300 gallon copper cheese vats that we became familiar with when we stayed last time in this room (which was many kinds of fun indeed), but this one has jets to make a sort of whirlpool.