At Long Last - Pyro is Fixed!

Automobile Files - 2 Comments » - Posted on June, 30 at 6:37 pm

It feels good to have my own set of wheels once again. I abhor having someone else chauffeuring me around. It took an incredibly long time to get Pyro fixed after that fender-bender back in February mainly because I didn’t have a steady and reliable flow of income anymore after getting laid off. Pyro still needs a paint job, but is otherwise repaired and running smoothly.

It really is lucky that some of my mom’s friends were able to work on Pyro for me. Otherwise I’d have never been able to afford getting him fixed this time around. The power steering was messed up, I needed a new hood, front bumper, passenger-side fender, headlight, and a few other parts as well. In the end, there is still technically one part that isn’t “fixed”. The air compressor was smashed to bits, however, a brand new one alone cost over $600 dollars. A used, but working one, cost about $400. The guys tried their damnedest to get that fixed. In the end they had to opt to put in a used one that wasn’t working anymore. I’m not that familiar with cars, but from what I understood, the arm of the air compressor connects with the power steering. Without the arm there is no power steering. I did not want a car without power steering, it’ a bitch to drive. So they found an air compressor with the arm intact. I don’t have an air conditioner in the car now, but I can deal with that.

I’ve been seriously considering getting the car painted black, and after seeing the car with it’s primer-black hood, fender, and bumper, I’m even more tempted. The whole “red cars are involved in more accidents” stereotype seems to be true, for me at least. Unfortunately I can’t even afford to purchase some of the Amazon books I’ve been oogling lately, much less a paint job.

My grandfather had some bodywork done to his truck not long ago by a friend of his. The guy cant do a lot of stuff since he operates his “body shop” out of his farm’s garage. He’s mostly set up to work on folks’ vehicles and equipment that gets banged up. But, if I should choose to paint my car black he could probably do it. I’m not sure he could match my car’s current paint color though. It’s called Burnt Orange and is this funny mix between orange, red, and rust. Since he’s set up for very basic stuff I figure matching the paint job might be a bit hard for him. But a primary color? That should be a piece of cake.

Of course, if I paint the car black then the information on my registration and title is no longer accurate. I suspect that would result in a trip to the DMV.

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Posted in Automobile Files | 2 Comments »

A Legend Has Died

Entertainment, In the News - 4 Comments » - Posted on June, 25 at 5:48 pm

I had a late night yesterday and didn’t go to bed until about 8 o’clock this morning. As a result, my day got started very late today. When I opened my main email account I was bombarded with the typical spam and adverts. “Store X has a sale on diamond engagement rings“, “buy viagra real cheap from us”, the usual.

Mixed in were news updates and one headline shocked me to the core: Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50. I’ve spent the past hour and a half reading over every single news article I can find and it’s still not sinking in. Michael Jackson is dead? It’s so surreal. He had an extensive physical to prepare for the tour, and it was reported that he was in perfect health. And yet today he is dead due to cardiac arrest.

Michael Jackson was one of my mother’s favorite artists. Growing up, I remember listening to and loving his music as well. “Thriller” was a wonderful song, but to be honest, I really loved the performance in the music video. “Billie Jean” remained my favorite Michael Jackson song of all time. To this day I honestly don’t know what to think about the molestation charges. What I do know is that Michael Jackson was a talented artist whose music I’ve loved since I was a child. The world has definitely lost a very talented artist and performer today and already the world seems a little duller.

Posted in Entertainment, In the News | 4 Comments »

No Barbecue in the Rain

Food and Drink - 3 Comments » - Posted on June, 24 at 8:28 pm

It’s Wednesday evening, and at long last, we finally got to have the barbecue that was initially planned for Sunday. For a while there it seemed as if the universe itself was conspiring against us. First, on Sunday evening, the night we initially planned to have the barbecue, the electricity went out. It came back on about thirty minutes later, and just as we were about to open the refrigerator to get the meat out the electricity flickered out again. It did that off and on for a couple of hours. In the end we felt it was safer to just eat something quick and easy just in case the electricity went out and stayed out for a lengthy period of time. We didn’t want to be opening the refrigerator a lot and letting the cool air out if the electricity was going to be out for more than a few minutes. A good decision since around 9pm the electricity went out in Vado and La Mesa and didn’t come back on until almost midnight.

Monday evening was comical, as my grandfather was invited out to eat with friends and neglected to tell us. So just as we were getting ready to start barbecuing he left. We opted for Sonic that night.

Tuesday, well, who wants to stand outside in the rain in order to barbecue? Certainly not me!

So for the past three days we’ve anticipated a nice barbecue and ended up altering our plans. Have you ever been eagerly awaiting a letter (or email) about something fairly important, and when you finally receive an official-looking letter (or email) that you think is it, it then turns out to insurance quotes or something else way off? That horrible letdown feeling is how we’ve been feeling. To top it off, some of the dairy and meat products in the refrigerator went bad due to the off and on attitude of our electricity on Sunday. Disappointment after disappointment.

But today we finally got around to barbecuing!

It ended up being fairly simple since the hamburger had to be thrown up into the freezer lest it go bad before we could barbecue it. We had bought it on Friday with plans for it on Sunday. With the way some of the other stuff in the refrigerator went bad we didn’t dare take a chance with the hamburger meat. So barbecue chicken, grilled corn on the cob, green beans, mashed garlic potatoes, flower onions, and grilled veggies were tonight’s fare.

Posted in Food and Drink | 3 Comments »

An Addition to the Collection

Home Life, Paw Prints - 3 Comments » - Posted on June, 14 at 1:38 pm

I’ve been told that, when it comes to dieting and cutting back on meals, my specimen collection works better than the best diet pills out there. Apparently there’s something about seeing critters preserved in jars (or paperweights) that makes folks loose their appetites. It doesn’t have that affect on me, but then again, I’ve always been weird.

I first started my specimen collection back in high school, my anatomy teacher had us dissect all sorts of interesting creatures and then, if we could remove certain parts of the specimen’s anatomy correctly and intact, he taught us how to preserve it so we could keep it. That was the big excitement and “goal” for us when we dissected a fetal pig for our final. Getting the brain out whole. After that it sort of grew from there. What kind of different creatures could I find and what species? Could I preserve them as well? I have an impressive collection of arachnids, reptiles, and amphibians. Today though I got a critter I never thought I’d add to the collection:

Denali caught a squirrel today and I was loathe to let her try to finish it off. It was fairly young and it’s parents were nearby and very upset she had stolen their young. How she got it remains a mystery. If it wasn’t for the fact that my mother’s dog, Big Mama, was looking out for, I think Denali would have been in serious trouble. She was so focused on catching, playing, then re-catching the young squirrel that she never noticed how angry some of the adult squirrels were. Luckily for her, in order to get to her they had to get past Big Mama and they couldn’t manage that.

We’ve had a very difficult time getting rid of these squirrels too. They’ve built a rather complex system of tunnels under the storage sheds and have entrances scattered about. There are some tunnel openings along the concrete ditch at the back of our property, about 20 feet from the storage sheds, exits along the irrigation canal on another side, another good fifteen to twenty feet away as well. In short, it makes removing them very difficult since, if you fumigate, you can’t get all of their nesting grounds. And to cut back on their breeding you have to alter their habitat and remove what sustains them. Kind of hard to do with ten pecan trees, a pistachio, and multiple fruit trees scattered around the yard.

It’s really weird too, we’ve always had squirrels, but never did we have such an…infestation before. I can’t even pin down exactly when they all moved in. You might see an occasional one before, but for the past couple of years, you can see multiple squirrels running around and they’re not that afraid of us either. The dogs, yes. Us humans, sort of, but only when we have something to throw or are attempting to get rid of them again. To top it off, these guys are mean too. I really wish Denali wold have never tried to tangle with one.

As such, I really didn’t want to let the little bugger go. Nor did I want to let Denali continue playing with it. These things are rather mean and Denali was pretty lucky she didn’t get bitten or clawed as it was. While I was outside to see what the commotion was, Denali almost got her eyes clawed out twice. Cat has a lot of luck. With no real alternative, the squirrel got added to the collection:

He’s now sitting on my desk and awaiting classification and recording.

Posted in Home Life, Paw Prints | 3 Comments »