Monday, June 13, 2011

The Radiator Blues

Vicki and I went out to the stores today.  We went to CVS, right next to
Safeway on 4th St., then to Rite Aid on Farmers Lane, then to Lucky's in
Montgomery Village.  I was a little dissapointed that Rite Aid didn't have ice
cream cones. It would seem that the old Rite Aid stores that took over Thrifty
Drug Stores have the ice cream counters and the ones that were built new as
Rite Aid do not.

While Vicki was getting safety pins at Rite Aid (more later), I was picking
up auto parts at the Auto Parts store there.  I picked up 2 gallons of generic
coolant, a thermostat and a gasket.  The generic coolant was less than 1/2
the price of the branded coolant.  I figured this was a good place to try and
save a few bucks.  Now, about the safety pins.  The headliner is drooping in
the Buick.  So i called around and the only people who do that kind of work
are the automobile appolstery shop, yes, I checked Auto Detail shops and
just asked the guys at the gas station.  I miss spelled 'appolstery' after
checking Merriam Webster online but i couldn't find the word.  So, anyway
the auto appolstery shop told me that it would cost $ 250 to do the work.

I'm going to get some elmers glue and just see if i can stick it up there with
that...  Anyway, now about the safety pins, the head liner was drooping so
low that i was having trouble peering out my rear view mirror.  So, i took
a safety pin and rolled up some of the loose headliner into a tight roll, and
safety pinned it up.  Now I can see out my rear view mirror.

Hopefully, this thermostat will save me some money on gas.  Seems like a
10 minute warmup is probably burning up a lot of gas.  I can only begin to
tell you how much cutting that warm-up time in half would mean to me.
While Dave is under the hood, i'll have him check the freeze plugs.
He's going to do a cooling system back flush and install the new thermostat.

I've just been thinking about getting a playmate for Pesto.  Another cat
wouldn't be that bad.  They don't eat much. Heh, hey, the cutest thing
happened here earlier today.  Pesto managed to sneak into the bathroom
and go all postal on a roll of toilet paper, i had to toss it in the trash cause
it was shredded.  I guess it's worth it, just as long as she was having fun.

Also thought about getting a rat.  Rats are sweet little mamals, i had one that
would actually purr if i scratched it long enough.  I have 2 spare cages, so if
anybody wants a starter cage for either a bird a cockatiel (like i have) or a
pretty little parakeet, or just a rat, let me know.

Well, Vicki is waiting on a new pair of orthopedic shoes and if they fit well,
we'll resume walking.  I need to check around the building and see if there
are any people with dogs that i could take with me on walks. Back when
we were walking regularly we had a little Jack Russel that would come
along with us.  He was a great little guy, but he and his people moved out.

I checked with the maintenance man the other day and asked him if we could
get a community cork board set back up.  It's nice to be able to communicate
with the other people via a cork board.  I am going to push for that.  I think it's
essential.  For instance, i could put up an ad on the cork board, 'I walk daily,
can i take your dog with me?'  I like the MP3 player that Aunt Bonnie sent me
a few years ago, i think it really makes me look forward to our walks.

Okay, ta ta for now (ttfn)  God Bless Everyone

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Couple of sunny days

String together a couple of sunny days and what happens?


Last time i posted i was talking about a fair spring day, well it's less
than a month later and i think it's summer.  I don't expect much more
in the way of rain.  This rainy season is almost over.  I did notice that
there was a hurricane off the Baja peninsula.

Went to St. Vincent De Paul for a food giveaway on Wednesday,
you sign up and they let you get food once every 90 days, i got some
corn bread, some brie, a crab salad, a frozen chicken, and some cereal.

Then Friday the building food giveaway which is once a month.  I got
a roast there.  I cooked the roast today.  I cooked it in the crock pot
on low for about 8 hours unfortunately, it was dry.  I don't know what
i did wrong.  Kinda disappointing.

The Buick is doing something strange.  It seems to be using water
somehow.  I don't think it's a leak, and i don't smell steam.  It has
me worried.  Going to buy coolant on Sunday.

It is currently 5:00 on Saturday morning.

I'll have to check the calendar because, NBLUG will be happening
here pretty soon.  That would be the 2nd Tuesday of the month.
I really like NBLUG. I met a guy there called Eric Chu, and he
was very nice.  I still need RAM for my Laptop.  I need a 256
MB chip to stick in the backside of the laptop.  I also want to
find my KVM switch so that I can run at least one BSD machine.
There are some things that Gimp does that other things can't.
I can do good art with Gimp. The only problem is, i haven't the
foggiest where the KVM is located.  KVM stands for (K)eyboard
(V)ideo (M)ouse and it lets you share 2 computers while using
the same keyboard, mouse, and monitor.  This way you can have
2 computers running, but you don't have to deal with 2 keyboards,
mice or monitors.  Handy little device really.

Oh and there is Field Day again this year.  Amateur Radio Field Day,
the point is to get out to places that are off the grid and operate radios
as if, there were some kind of emergency.  It's practice.  We'll be
running off of Car Batteries for 12 Volts DC and topping the batteries
off with a generator (jenny)!  The get together this time around like
the last 2 years in a row, will be held at Lake Pillsbury which is kinda
remote, it's east of Ukiah, in the hills.  Lots of friends will be there,
Alan (N6VUD), Cody (K6MEU), Paul (KG6ABC), Ed (AG7D)!
Alan and Cody will be bringing their families with them.

I found my mummy bag and had Vicki sew up a rip in it.  I have
the tent but I still need to practice setting it up.  I think the problem
i was having was not extending the poles completely before trying
to feed them through the loops.

Anyhoo, i'll proofread this and post it.  We'll see if anything else
comes to mind.  Oh yeah, if you're reading this, you might as well
say 'hello' in the comments section at the bottom.  I need the
feedback.  Who knows, maybe I could help you set up your own
blog someday!

Goodnight Internet