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Post by wheelzman on Jun 27, 2019 15:14:57 GMT -4
You did a good job of corrupting a fine young man with a disease that would last him a lifetime. Glad to hear you are finally going to get something done on your shoulder Don. 69/91 for the day and it was plenty hot and humid. I took Sharon on a ride and we stopped at a little joint for lunch on the way home. Got the Honda all dirty so we took it to the car wash and blew it off after getting home. We have been enjoying the AC all day in the car and the house. The humidity is just killing us so we are relaxing a bit. No plans for this evening and the weekend is looking rather gloomy with high humidity and hot temps to make it worse. No more garage sales for this guy as we only made a few hundred bucks and wasted two days doing it.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jun 28, 2019 7:18:22 GMT -4
Good Morning 15C(60°F) Sunny, light winds and a 30% chance of showers. Picked up Dad's month end prescriptions yesterday, refilled the string head on his gas powered week whacker, moved a bunch of car parts I had here in the basement to the bus and emptied out the box on the white truck in preparation for a dump run. Helped Marie plant some flowers in our window boxes then we had dinner with Marie's sister Mora, hubby Ross and their friend Jan who was visiting them from Vancouver. Food was good but we had rhubarb crisp with ice cream for dessert and my lactose intolerance is making me suffer for it this morning. I thought a little bit of vanilla ice cream wouldn't bother me but I was wrong.
Marie is off to a funeral today for one of her Tuesday rug hooking group who recently passed away from pancreatic cancer and I'm going to wait for my digestive system to stop it's protest before I decide what I'm going to do today. Lots of new stuff on Motor Trend on demand so I should be able to keep myself amused if I decide to just sit at my desk and wait for the tummy rumblings to go away.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jun 29, 2019 7:15:36 GMT -4
Good Morning 16C(61°F) Black clouds and zero wind now but it's going to get wet before the day is out. Got a truckload of yard junk to the dump yesterday - mostly rotten wood from an old potting bench and a homemade compost bin and that DAMN RAMP that I slipped and fell on and damaged my shoulder back in April. In that vein I got word that I will finally get that ultrasound on it on August 6th. How long after that I will have to wait for surgery is anyone's guess. Spent most of the rest of the day watching the live stream from Lebanon Valley. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKCTgS6J3E8 A few Maritimers in the fields there - 5 in Stock, 4 in Superstock and Allyn Armstrong's L/A 4 cylinder Opel in Comp who was #1 Qualifier with an 8.80 on a 9.37 in round one. After round 3 he slipped back in 4th so I'm not sure who he gets in round one today. Brother John was 1.07 under index in SS/BA with his 69 L88 Camaro but that was only good for # 8 qualifier. It felt a little weird yesterday to be the oldest person in the bike department at Canadian Tire getting a grading present LOL. Figured I was due because I went from Sportsman to Pro class. Spencer says that means if I go to S/Pro I should get a scooter and then a golf cart if I move up to Quick 16 or Top Sportsman LOL. Today I need to pick up oil and filter for Dad's ride on mower and a jug of 2% milk for him, take the new bike out to the garage and swap the gel seat and water bottle holder off the old bike to the new one. New bike will live in the garage until raceday when it goes in the back of the Ranger and heads to the track.
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Post by wheelzman on Jun 29, 2019 10:04:17 GMT -4
Okay, I went out to the S 10 to see if I could remove the Tork bolts that hold the seat in. I got the passenger's side lose but the driver's side is a no budge situation. The passenger's side is okay but the driver's side feels like I am sitting in a five gallon bucket. The foam is disappearing from it's intended location so I want to remove the seat to fix it. I had a ratchet and a 1 1/8 open end wrench on it to break it lose and it would not budge. I don't have an adapter for my 1/2" drive air ratchet so I will have to improvise. Back to the drawing board. Sharon is off to a secret sister's meeting at the church and the dog is sitting in front of the back door whining her head off.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jun 30, 2019 7:11:16 GMT -4
Good Morning 13C(55°F) Light winds and rain. Got Dad's stuff fixed up yesterday AM then transferred the gel seat and water bottle mount to my new bicycle then beat it back home just in time to see the first pair of cars go down the track at Lebanon Valley. I'm pretty sure I watched every pass in Stock, Superstock, Comp, Top Dragster and Top Sportsman. Also watched a bunch of the 10.90 throttle stop cars because they were so diversified and stock appearing.
Our Kenny arrived yesterday for the long weekend and he brought Nancy back home from Tara's. Tara, Cory and the kids made it here Friday evening but since there was no room for Nancy in their little car Kenny got elected to bring her home. Since it's wet out there I'll be doing computer maintenance today while glued to the race at Lebanon Valley.
Wheelz - I had the same seat bolt problem with my old blue truck. Turns out that the threads on the end of the bolt where they protrude through the captured nut in the floor had become crusty enough they wouldn't come up through the nut. I took a zip cut and cut the bolt off flush with the bottom of the nut and even took a little skim off the nut itself and then it came right out. Granted the heat from the grinding might have helped but at least the rusty part didn't have to fight it's way through the nut. I was also able to re-use the bolt so it was a win/win for sure.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 1, 2019 6:57:44 GMT -4
Good Morning 12C(54°F) Light winds and still raining. Forecast is really wet too - except for "cloudy" on Friday it's going to rain all week. Only went outside once yesterday and that was to get a screwdriver out of the truck's tool box. Rest of yesterday was spent watching the NHRA LODRS from Lebanon Valley and waiting for NASCAR's rain delay at Chicago to be over. Locals didn't get any further than round 3 at Lebanon Valley and the NASCAR race finally got rolling after a major rain delay. Don't know if you watched it yet so I won't post any spoilers.
Today Kenny is heading back to Halifax as well as Tara, Cory and family so it's just me, Marie and the Furballs at home. No plans on how to spend yet another rainy day other than continuing with my Holley Double Pumper education LOL. I spent a lot of time online lately watching videos, tuning tips and bugging the people on the Holley help line and now I think I'm starting to see the cause of our problem getting the truck to launch right. Problem is I need a Test and Tune session to verify my suspicions and we won't get one of those until July 25 Thursday evening or July 26 Friday which is an all day T&T session.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 2, 2019 7:14:19 GMT -4
Good Morning 11C(52°F) Fog/drizzle and light winds. Sort of a bad news day in all respects but life goes on and we just have to take the bad with the good. First off Brother in law Ross landed in the hospital yesterday afternoon. Took some kind of turn, went catatonic and rigid for a few minutes so they called 911 and the ambulance & paramedics came and took him to the Regional Hospital. He was talking and moving normally only a few minutes later and when he got to the ER they did a few tests but didn't see anything serious. The doctor suspected a TIA or small stroke and they monitored him closely for a few hours before they sent him home. They couldn't find anything on any heart related tests so we're all still in the dark as to what happened to him.
Going to the wake today for my old pal Kevin at the funeral home then the funeral tomorrow at the Anglican church a stone's throw from Kevin and Charlene's house. Also tomorrow it's grocery day for Dad so we'll get that done early in the AM so I can get to the funeral at 2:00PM.
Shoulder is NOT getting any better lately. I've hit a wall with the range of motion tests and exercises and the lump where that torn muscle is tangled up in the top of the bicep is getting harder. Still have a month to wait for the ultrasound and Lord knows how long after that for surgery.
One bit of good news is after watching many videos and reading articles and tips on the Holley double pumper I think I've figured out what I need to do to mine to get the starting line bog out of it.
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Post by wheelzman on Jul 2, 2019 19:13:58 GMT -4
Our range went on the fritz and we had to order a new one to replace it. The push membrane on the controller went on the blink and this was the second time since we had it. So off to Lowes to check one out with no bells and whistles unlike the one we have. It will be delivered on Friday so I took the old one out and stripped it bare. I went out this morning to load it in the GMC and about broke myself doing it. Two planks and a full array of grunting did the trick. I was drenched in sweat by the time I was done as the temps were in the 90's by then all the way up to 94 today. I went out and watered the flowers and about two hours later it poured down rain.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 3, 2019 6:47:21 GMT -4
Good Morning 10C(50°F) Black clouds and light winds again today. Dentist appointment yesterday then went to Kevin's wake and ran into a lot of Kevin's neighbors and other people I haven't seen since high school. Recognized a few of them but there was a half dozen or so that had to tell me their names. Seems like they all called me by name but I guess other than the color of the beard I don't look a lot different to them LOL. One of them told the story of how I left high school in grade 11 because I got in a "disagreement" with the Principal who told me I had to shave and cut my hair or I wouldn't be allowed back in "his school" and I would never amount to anything but a common hoodlum or unemployed bum.
Bottom line is I still have the beard and long hair plus red seal journeyman status in 3 trades - Millwright, Stationary Engineer and Wire Rope Specialist. After my first year away from school and working in the woods I made three times as much money as that Principal did, I had a 3 ton Ford flatbed and a 1964 409 Impala, two chainsaws and one full time employee. The day I bought the 409 the first thing I did was do a giant burnout in the school parking lot and a couple of donuts around the Principal's VW bug. He called the cops on me but I was gone long before they arrived and every student in the school got a little break while this was going on so I guess that's why they remember something I had almost totally forgotten about.
Heading out shortly to take Dad for groceries, ride-on mower gas and lottery tickets then this afternoon it's Kevin's funeral at 2:00PM.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 4, 2019 6:41:19 GMT -4
Good Morning 12C(54°F) Sunny and light winds. Busy here yesterday with groceries, mower gas and lotto tickets trip with Dad in the morning then back home for a couple hours, change clothes and then Kevin's funeral at 2:00PM. I kid you not when I pulled into the church parking lot you would have thought it was a car show instead of a funeral. There were so many musclecars they outnumbered the trucks and ordinary cars. Not sure if I can remember them all but there was a 1969 Hemi Super Bee, two 440+6 Road Runners, 440 69 Dart, half a dozen 340 Darts and Dusters, three 67-69 Barracudas, 67 and a 68 Chevelle SS396, 1970 LS6 Chevelle, 71 Pontiac Trans AM, 66, 69 and 74 Novas and quite a few newer Mustangs, Challengers and Camaros.
Ceremony was tough to get through but afterwards the "Kevin stories" were entertaining to say the least. Everyone had a memory mostly about his long-winded but extremely funny jokes and elaborate "Seinfeld" themed pranks and the nicknames he had for every single person he knew. We're all going to miss him big time.
Drag Racing Association yesterday evening in the meeting room in the tower. We decided on holding an all day Test and Tune session on Sunday and I spent the rest of the evening getting the word out on social media then two Ibuprofen before bed because my shoulder hurt like the devil.
Today the first order of business is to go pick up the wood to replace our 12' X 16' rear deck boards then take Nancy to the grocery store. Actually the first thing I got to do is to make a spot in the backyard for those 60 8 foot boards and clean out the box of the truck.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 5, 2019 6:21:33 GMT -4
Good Morning 18C(66°F) Sunny and light winds. Yesterday's plans went up in smoke right after I got home with the new boards for the back deck. Her Highness decided she needed Marie to help her clean out her basement and some closets and I had to ferry it all to the dump(3 trips) so yesterday's planned grocery run got put off until today. Lost the entire day I had all carefully planned out which then put an end to any possibility of changing the trailer tire, doing a carb rebuild(again) and taking the Ranger to Sunday's Test and Tune. Only had today to get it all ready but that's out the window now and tomorrow we have to go set up the track for the T&T session.
So all day Sunday I'm going to sit in my truck at the head of the staging lanes by the tower doors with tow straps and cleanup tools and watch from the best seat in the house. Best part of parking there is a lot of people come up to talk to you. Some even sit in for awhile and for towing and cleanup I don't even need to get out of the drivers seat.
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Post by wheelzman on Jul 5, 2019 17:13:28 GMT -4
The temp right now is in the mid 90's and starting to rain. The fourth of July party was a good one and we had enough food for everyone in the neighborhood. Well. almost. We had cream of chicken sammiches, oriental salad, cheese, potatoes, several kinds of taters, desserts galore and authentic New York cheesecake. Wow, it is really coming down out there now! I had to have several people help me to put up the canopies to cover the food and people so that nobody got showered on or cooked in the sun. Today we took all the goodies up to the garage in the S 10 and put it away before we husked and cleaned six dozen of corn at 13 a dozen. Later we finally got our stove and put it to work immediately on the corn and broke it in. We baptized the solid glass counter top too.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 6, 2019 6:47:17 GMT -4
Good Morning 20C(69°F)Sunny and light winds. Got up to 32C(90°F) yesterday which is really hot for this neck of the woods. We did groceries for us and Nancy then lunch at Wendys for a Baconator and back home to watch the NHRA LODRS from Indianapolis until it was almost time for bed. They had 130 entries in Stock and almost as many in Superstock so even watching yesterday's qualifying sessions was awesome. My old buddy Kevin would have loved it.......... Heading out to the track shortly to get set up for tomorrow's Test and Tune session. Carburetor parts are not here yet and the old mobile home spare I put on the trailer is flat so the Ranger will stay at Dad's this weekend. Gave my bad arm a little tweak yesterday so it's back to the Ibuprofen until the fire in my shoulder goes away again. At least I only have a month's wait until I get that ultrasound and we can see exactly what's screwed up in there. When we came out of the grocery store yesterday I saw this and just had to grab a pic of it. That's my 25 year old 3/4 ton Chev between newer Ford and Dodge 1/2 tons. Looks a lot smaller physically and only has 16" wheels instead of the 17s or 18s the new trucks have but we've got a lot higher GVW, larger brakes and a 14 bolt rear end. You would think at first glance my truck would be the lesser of the bunch but this proves that looks actually ARE deceiving LOL.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 7, 2019 6:32:12 GMT -4
Good Morning 18C(66°F) Sunny and light winds. Setup at the track was brutal yesterday with the temperature at one point hitting 36C(97°F). I couldn't hack it any more after 3:00PM so I went home and left the final few little jobs to the younger guys. I'm too old to be working in that heat and after a bout of heat stroke two years ago I didn't want to repeat that nasty little experience.
Rain didn't like auto racing yesterday - both LODRS races at Epping and Indianapolis as well as the NASCAR race at Daytona were all rained on or rained out. Forecast for here today is much cooler at 23C(74°F) but I will believe that when I see it. Yesterday it was supposed to hit 30C but we saw 36C by 2:30pm so needless to say that is only a guess by the weather people.
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Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 8, 2019 6:31:44 GMT -4
Good Morning 11C(53°F) Sunny and light winds. This is where I just spent 11 hours yesterday. Sitting in my nice comfy truck seat and out of the sun all day. Had to move the truck twice to tow cars, once to take printer paper up to the time card booth and one more time to pick up a couple of orange cones at the other end of the track. Super easy day for an old guy with a bad wing and the best seat in the house. Shoulder is pretty sore but I took one of the cemetery's self-propelled mowers home Saturday to see if it's any easier on me than our old shaky mower that vibrates the heck out of my shoulder. That's first on today's "list" this morning then at noon we have to take Nancy's mutt to the groomer. Our youngest boy Lorne is arriving tomorrow with wife and kids in tow for a couple of weeks so I imagine Marie will have lots for me to do the rest of today.
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