|
Post by wheelzman on Jul 8, 2019 22:25:06 GMT -4
We had good intentions of going to the church to weed the flower beds but got up late and Sharon called the doctor's about the rash she has on her forearms and so we had to go there and I went to rehab for another time and dropped off my papers while she was in the examination room. We ate breakfast at Mickey D's then headed over to the church. By the time we got done with the front and the back it was cooking hot and almost put me down. Whew! We headed back to the house and into the AC in time to get some relief. Sharon took me out for dinner in Canton at the Olive Garden and that made the day for us.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 9, 2019 6:31:00 GMT -4
Good Morning 15C(60°F) Sunny, light winds and TV Weather Girl says a 30% chance of showers even though I don't see one cloud in the sky yet. Spent most of yesterday running Nancy all over the city looking for certain varieties of flowers for her window box master plan(?). Marie found what she was looking for at the first garden center we went to but it took a half dozen more stops to get everything on Nancy's list. Mowed the grass with a mower that Dad gave me on Saturday because he doesn't need it any more now that the cemetery mowing has been taken over by one of the other trustees. First self-propelled mower I ever used and I LOVE it because there are a lot of steep sections that used to just kill my bad wing but with this one it just cruises along hills and all.
Marie has Rug Hooking group today and Lorne and family will be arriving this evening so I'll be in full blown clean and tidy mode LOL. My office is a cross between a man cave, a natural disaster, an auto parts store warehouse and a hoarder's house so the clean and sort project starts right here on top of my desk LOL.
|
|
|
Post by wheelzman on Jul 9, 2019 14:40:24 GMT -4
Well I tried to get another meal from Sharon and it didn't work. No dice today. We headed out for the church this morning and it was just sweltering hot. I thought it was going to put us both down before we got done. I stood up at one point and about passed out... Sharon came around the corner and said to me, " I'm done!" We came home and I watered the flowers then we sat on the swing on the back porch and that was that. Off to AC land and sweet dreams for all.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 10, 2019 6:17:08 GMT -4
Good Morning 12C(54°F) Sunny, light winds. Got all my "domestic engineering" done yesterday before Marie got home from rug hooking - house was clean and somewhat tidy and I even did two loads of laundry while I was at it. Was nice to have the truck sit in the driveway and not move all day for the first time in a long while.
Lorne and family arrived around 7:00PM and we discovered fairly quickly that 7 year old Hadassah is so terrified of dogs we had to put them in the back yard until they left for Nancy's house. 5 year old Aaron is just the opposite - soon as he came in the house he scooped up Annie Cat and carried her around for a few minutes. She immediately fell in love with him and followed him everywhere after that. He even went out on the back deck with the dogs for a long time petting Buddy and throwing a stick for Misty to fetch. Just before they left for Nancy's I blocked off the doorway between the kitchen and dining room and let the dogs in but the girl went ballistic and ran outside screaming soon as she saw the dogs. Lorne said she never interacted with a dog in her life before and he thinks she's just being a drama queen. All I know is it's going to be a long two weeks........
Heading out shortly to pick up Dad for bi-weekly blood work, grocery store, lottery tickets, ride on mower gas and pick up a prescription. After that I'm going to drop him off at his sister-in-law Cecelia's for a visit and she's going to drive him back home. I'm going to grab those two good trailer tires Benny gave me and two old mobile home rims and see if I can get them swapped out. Since they are 8X14.5 instead of the 215/60Ds on the trailer and are a couple of inches taller I'm going to have to put them both on one axle. What I really need is one more 215/60D to replace the one that got destroyed but they are hard to find. Really ticks me off because they were barely a year old.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 11, 2019 7:09:46 GMT -4
Good Morning 12C(53°F) Cloudy, high winds and showers. Got Dad all looked after yesterday AM then dropped him off at his sister-in-law Cecelia's on my way back home. Also managed to get those trailer tires changed at Mr Tire while I went next door to KFC for a chicken fix for lunch LOL. I dragged one of the AC units up from the basement and put it in the bedroom window and I think seeing as it's so cool out there today it might be a good time to bring up AC unit #2 for my office window. We went to Nancy's for supper with everyone and Lorne's wife Alison made the most delicious curried chicken I ever had. Marie's sister Mora and hubby Ross landed as well so we never got home until almost 10:00PM.
Alison was surprised by how many of our crowd shared her name. Nancy's husband's name was Allison, Tara's daughter is Alison, my grandfather was named Allison, my mother's middle name was Allison, I had a cousin Allison and my Cousin Mary Lou's second oldest boy is named Allison. Even Nancy's little dog was named Alison at first but that quickly got changed to Allie because everyone's dog and cat names seem to end with an "ie" or a "y". Nancy has Allie and Joey the cat and we have Callie, Annie, Buddy and Misty.
Today we have a plan for the whole clan to go to Two Rivers Wildlife park. I think it might be interesting to see how Hadassah reacts to all the animals because if she's already scared of Nancy's 3 lb Teacup Yorkie what the hell is she going to do when a Moose comes up to her at the fence looking for treats? Big draft horses, ducks, geese, chickens and goats roam free all over the park so it might be fun to see how she copes with all that.
|
|
|
Post by wheelzman on Jul 11, 2019 14:58:23 GMT -4
Okay Don, I'm going to the Draglist Nats over the weekend. See you in about three or four days. The Mercruz is doing it's first duty this weekend and will be giving it the full test. I hope all goes well.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 12, 2019 6:39:50 GMT -4
Good Morning 11C(52°F) Cloudy, foggy and light winds. Have fun at the Draglist Nats Wheelz - I wish I was in a position to go but it's too far from this part of the world and crossing the border would require a TON of preparation for me to even consider it(long story/don't ask). I'm sure someone will post a bunch of pictures on social media so I can see who and what was there.
We took Lorne and family to Two Rivers Wildlife Park yesterday and if Marie and I had not been doing our trail walks with the dogs we wouldn't have been in shape for the 3 hour walk through the place. Best part of the whole day was watching 5 year old Aaron hand feeding a giant moose. He was a long distance from the fence at first but I managed to call him over with only a couple of "cow moose grunts" that local hunters use to attract them in the wild. Some of the tourists were gobsmacked that I was able to call him over and even more surprised when tiny little Aaron had him eating food pellets out of his hand.
Today's plan is to pick up a prescription for Dad then see if this bad wing will hold up long enough to swap out the wheels on the car trailer's rear axle. Forecast is a little damp for later today so I'm hoping I can get it done before the rain starts.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 13, 2019 7:10:32 GMT -4
Good Morning 14C(57°F) Light winds and rain. Put those two larger trailer tires on the rear axle yesterday and immediately discovered the front axle was off the ground and the rocker between the two springs was bound up solid against the frame. So now it's back to the drawing board - keep trying to find one of those smaller 215/60/14.5s to replace the one that blew out and destroyed itself or get two more 8/14.5s to match the two I put on the rear axle. Finding the smaller one or even a tire store that sells them has been almost impossible so far but almost every truck/trailer shop has those 8/14.5s in stock.
Got some more disassembly done on the rear deck railings yesterday as well before I packed it in for the day. We went to "Ribfest" with the whole family for supper and then back to Nancy's for tea and cookies afterwards. Going to do a bunch of computer maintenance and backups on all our units then if it clears up I'll be back outside working on the deck.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 14, 2019 7:34:12 GMT -4
Good Morning 15C(59°F) Cloudy with showers. Went to the Port Morien Legion(close to Dad's) yesterday to their monthly country market and picked up 3 books for $1, $10 worth of baked goods and a 2 speed window fan for $5. Supper at Nancy's with Lorne and family then back home in time to watch the NASCAR bunch at Kentucky. Lorne, Alison and kids are heading out for a couple days to explore the Cape Breton Highlands National Park and stay at the world famous Keltic Lodge. My plan is get back to work on our back deck as soon as these showers quit. Got old railings that have to stay in place until the deck floor is replaced because they keep the dogs contained and needless to say it's a tricky operation to get the inside railing boards off and the 2X4 that's nailed to the floor they were attached to all the time not touching the outside railing boards.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 15, 2019 6:35:11 GMT -4
Good Morning 16C(61°F)Sun/cloud mix and high winds. Got a call from Dad yesterday AM saying he had a problem with his ride-on mower so off I went and after an hour of screwing with a VERY WORN OUT mower deck clutch activator we decided we're going to need a new one so that is today's first order of business tracking a new one down and getting it here ASAP. I got all the railings apart on the back deck that I had planned in only a couple of hours so at least I'm making progress. Still have to take the hold-down screws out of the gazebo frame and the swing to move them around the deck so I can get started on the flooring but the difficult part is done. Now we can tear up the old deck boards and replace them with the new ones one row at a time because the new boards are the same width as the old ones.
|
|
|
Post by wheelzman on Jul 15, 2019 20:48:22 GMT -4
Had a wonderful time in PA with old friends and some new ones too. Stopped at the Peekon Conservatory on the way home and it was surfer's paradise hot, humid and toasty. Saved a few drops for the plants on the way home and had a goota time.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 16, 2019 7:30:51 GMT -4
Good Morning 18C(66°F) Sunny, light winds. Spent most of yesterday AM pulling nails out of the first couple rows of deck boards and it went fairly well so I'm going to pull a few more rows' worth of nails then screw down some narrow plywood strips on the now loose boards to keep them from moving around. That way I can do a decent size section instead of fighting it one row at a time.
Lorne and Family will be back from their adventure in the Highlands today so Marie is going to stay home from her Tuesday rug hooking group to visit with them. We've got to go to Nancy's for that because Hadassah is petrified of our dogs and refuses to come in our house. I'll be pulling nails until sometime after 3:00 when I have to go pick up Dad's mower part that I got overnighted from Moncton, New Brunswick. Dad's Wednesday grocery trip, cemetery inspection and a couple more errands tomorrow then I've got to tackle replacing that mower deck clutch mechanism.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 17, 2019 7:04:56 GMT -4
Good Morning 20C(69°F) Black clouds and zero wind. Yesterday I pulled nails out of the deck floor, did computer maintenance, put the AC unit in my office and picked up the part for Dad's lawn tractor. Lorne and family decided to spend another day in the Highlands exploring so they won't be back until today sometime. I guess when you escape from big city Toronto and get a look at our Cape Breton Highlands National Park you just don't want to leave. Lorne has seen it all before but Alison is from Trinidad and the kids have never been out of the big city before so I guess they were just awe struck with the greenery, the mountains, the trails, waterfalls and the beaches.
Heading out now to get Dad for his Wednesday grocery run and a few other errands. When we get back I'm going to have to tackle installing that mower deck clutch unit because he can't be without his trusty ride-on mower for any more than a few days without getting in a panic LOL.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 18, 2019 6:42:38 GMT -4
Good Morning 16C(61°F) Sunny, light winds now but we had some major thundershowers overnight. Got Dad's errands all done yesterday AM then swapped out the new mower deck clutch lever mechanism and the bloody thing still didn't work. Fought with it an hour then drove it onto the back of my truck and took it to Kelly's Small Engine Repair to let a pro deal with it. I suspect that new cable we put on last month had a problem from day one because the lever was stiff ever since my brother Spencer put the cable on it and now it won't even move at all. Disconnect it from the deck and the handle and cable both move freely, idler pulley on the deck moves freely by hand but attach the cable and it won't move at all.
Cool pics from the Draglist Nats - that beast that Daryl was in reminded me of Jungle Jim's blue Nova. All of those Nostalgia Funny Cars sure took my memories back to a time(probably late 1960s) when I would wait patiently for the mailman to deliver the latest copy of the National Dragster. Back then I was probably the only one on the Island who was an NHRA member. Makes me wonder how many issues I've gotten over the years that I've been a member from 1967 until they dropped Modified Production in 1981. That ticked me off so bad I never renewed my membership until almost 20 years later.
Today I'm waiting for word from the small engine repair guy to come and pick up Dad's lawn tractor but until then I might work on the back deck once it dries up. No idea what Marie, Nancy and Lorne have planned for the day but I'm sure I'll find out before too long.
|
|
|
Post by Don @ Maritime Drag Racing on Jul 19, 2019 7:28:12 GMT -4
Good Morning 18C(66°F) Sunny and light winds. Worked on the back deck yesterday AM until the shade was gone plus my arm started to hurt bad around the same time so I packed it in for the day. Small engine repair guy wasn't answering his phone yesterday so I have no idea on the status of Dad's lawn tractor. Spent most of the afternoon and evening watching the LODRS race from Sonoma and texting brother Spencer who is at Miramichi Dragway for the NHRA Nationnal Open. He got his chassis certification renewed yesterday with no issues, made a couple time trials to set his throttle stop and he's ready for the Super/Gas 9.90 battle. Double event with NHRA "Wallys" for the winners both today and tomorrow so needless to say the place is packed.
Forecast is for 30C(87°F) today so I'm going to go out back and pull deck board nails until either I get too warm or my stupid arm starts hurting worse than it already does 24/7. Progress is slow but steady there - I've replaced 8 rows out of the 30 in spite of the bad arm making every little thing take twice as long as a normal person would take to do.
|
|