Well…I guess that’s what I get from trying to get work done today…after I got the rides in and did the laundry, I read for a bit and then decided to change the oil in the car and that didn’t go well with not being able to gt the oil filter off…I wasn’t surprised with that…most people reef the damn things down with a wrench so, after the heat cycles, there is no damn way to get them off without tools…and it doesn’t help that there is no room around it to put a pair of channel loks on it…and I wasn’t going to pound a screwdriver through it..so I ordered a tool that uses a 3/8 drive that I can put my 3/8th breaker bar on with an extension to get it loose…and that tool will be here tomorrow so I guess I can wait…I did change the oil, though, since I was already dirty from climbing under the car…the drain plug came out easily and I had a short metric socket that fit…and being under the car, I took a look at where the drain plug and fill plug are for the transmission so I can change that oil out to a synthetic but the Ford mystery oil that I used in the old Miata went from 25 bucks a quart to over 50 and I need 3 quarts so I’m not paying 150 bucks for 2.2 quarts of oil…so I think I’m going to try Red Line synthetic that’s only about 60 bucks for 3 quarts and got rave reviews…it sounds like they put the wrong oil in it…probably a gl-5 instead of a gl-4 which has added additives that can damage the synchros…and the drain and fill for the transmission are right out in the open and easy to get to…so that will be on the agenda for next week…I’ll see if the plugs will come out after I get the oil filter off tomorrow…so that was my day and I’ve never had such a problem changing oil before…okay, the first one on the old Miata was a real pain getting filter off and I did pound a screwdriver through it to get it to turn…oh, I also took a wire brush to some bolts that had corrosion on them and then treated them with rust preventer to make sure it doesn’t come back…okay, I’m done for the day…
You think he’s whining now?
Well…of course the idiot is whining about the repubs not enacting his twisted agenda…and everything else since he doesn’t have the depth to understand that people just hate his ass and the damage he’s doing to this country and the American people…and he’s too stupid to understand that tariffs don’t work to bully countries anymore…just look at the response to his 50% tariffs on Canada that he has set to take effect on January 1st…so what did Canada do? They announced response tariffs on the US but made them take effect on the 8th of September with just enough time to do some political damage to the repubs before the mid terms…and he has whined about that, to…but he is going to be an even bigger whiner when we take the house this fall and run all the committees..how about the Oversight Committee? You know the one…whose job it is to investigate any fraud or lawbreaking in government…man, I can hear the whines already when idiot boy isn’t protected by his toadies in the House…and how about the Judiciary Committee whose job it is to investigate malfeasance in the judges and courts…can you say investigate the corrupt supreme court? These are just two of the committees in the House that will root out the criminality that is rampant with idiot boy…geez, I can hear his whining all the way from here in Michigan…and I can’t wait…
August 27th
Well…man, I’m worn out today and I can’t believe how riding in the rain takes it out of me…not sure why that would be but there is something to it…so today is going to be a little low key but I do need to run an errand to get my prescription and stop at aldis for things I forgot yesterday..and then I should change the oil in the car but that will have to wait til the car cools down…not changing hot oil….and this will be the first time I’ve changed it in this car so there will be some figuring out how not to spill oil all over…so maybe that wait til tomorrow…didn’t get much done yesterday but do the laundry and a little cleaning in the kitchen and today looks the same…I do have to mow the lawn at some point but that may wait til next week…I’ll take a look at that when I go out for the rides…at least the hornets are really gone so I don’t have to think about that today…I did get the gas cans filled and the 2 stroke oil in the 50-1 can…can you call them cans when they are plastic? That will give me enough to last til spring…not much to do today…just going to try to get moving and pour some more coffee down before I get out in a half hour or so….more later…
Got wet today…
Well…darn, got the first ride in today in the dry but the 2nd ride was another story….it rained harder than I’ve ever ridden in before and I was soaked through before I even got out to the beach…and then it rained harder on the way back…it rained so hard that I poured the water out of my shoes and have had them sitting out in the sun trying to dry them out for tomorrow…and that was after I soaked the water up from the insoles with paper towel…I even had to wash everything I was wearing including my hat that came through the washer better than I expected for 3 bucks…didn’t put it in the dryer since I didn’t want to shrink it…and I had to hose off the bike in the pouring rain to get all the sand/dirt/grit off it so the shifters and rear swingarm will work tomorrow…I’ll still need to wd the swingarm pivot to keep it from squeaking…but it was sill fun to be out there in the rain…and even some of the regular runners waved and laughed with the absurdity of being out in rain that heavy..oh, and I did go out for the grocery run and it cleared up enough to put the top down on the way home…I did change the wipers out for some beam types that I bought a couple of months ago since the passenger side was only clearing about half of it…probably the easiest wiper change I’ve ever done since the old ones came off easy and the new ones went on with just a little clip on the wiper…a good deal for 10 bucks a pair…okay, I need to make the coffee for tomorrow…
Can he be any more transparent?
Well…as Canada and the rest of the world along with a huge majority of Americans laugh at the idiot trump and his latest attack on our friend and neighbor Canada, idiot boy rolls out another of his transparent attempts to distract people from his stupidity and incompetence by proposing that Lake Ontario be renamed “Lake America” as he spouts the lie that “we won’t be doing any more trade with Ontario” for the reason…this is one damaged thing…I won’t call him a human being because he exhibits none of the qualities that make a human being…and he has lost the American people who feel friendship to Canada which is about 75% and that is before his stupid 50% tariffs really screw the economy of the midwest…as I’ve said before, he is the dumbest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen and that goes for the idiots who saddled us with him…can you imagine how nice and peaceful it would be if Kamala was president? No war in the middle east, no tariffs that are killing American families with inflation raging, no 5 dollar a gallon gasoline, and full respect for the US in the world…and the maga assholes gave all that up just to see their god king attack the people they hate…what a bunch of losers led by the loser king….geez…
August 26th
Well…up and moving at 5am again today but there is a reason for it…not a good reason but my reason…going to get two rides in before the grocery run but that is going to be a late one with having to push it back since I can’t pick up a prescription I need until 9am so there will be plenty of time to have a bagel and get the weight work in before I head out…it’s supposed to rain today but it looks like it’s splitting to the north and south leaving us dry…again…quite a bit warmer this morning at 66 instead of the 53 from yesterday morning and I’ll take that with not having to wear a fleece to stay warm..I did order some more shorts and cancelled an order that hadn’t been filled in 3 weeks and I can’t figure that one out…I’ve never had that happen ever from amazon but it’s just another piece of evidence that they just don’t give a damn and I really want to stop using them…I am going to buy 2% milk again this morning since I do like that I can taste it in my coffee and even when I’m having a glass with food…and I ordered some long sleeve t-shirts…3 for 12 bucks to replace the holey and worn out ones I’ve been using…man, I’m replacing almost my entire wardrobe for this trip and it really was about time…not much to do today…just the grocery runs and continuing to clean the kitchen along with reading…so I guess I should get to pouring more coffee down and having a bagel to get me started…more later…
RIP Dolly Parton
Well…one of the wags on Mastodon commented “it looks like god took the wrong 80 year old” and I have to agree…Dolly has been part of life since she started on the Porter Waggoner show and it was clear that she was a once in a lifetime talent…but over the years she became even more than that…standing up for people who couldn’t stand up for themselves and giving millions of dollars away to help the less advantaged in the world…and her defense of and funding of libraries across the country…quietly…made me know that this was an exceptional human being who did what was right even when attacked by the right wing assholes across this country…and she never wavered, she never compromised what was right…treating everyone who came into contact with her like long lost family…Dolly was an great example of a person to look up to and emulate…and the world is a poorer place with her gone…RIP Dolly….
Trump looks like a failed bully…
Well…good on ya, Canada for pushing back on the bully trump and walking away from any trade deal…and the comments that politicians there have made is exactly what I’ve been saying is the way to handle any bully…push back against his bullshit…and it was bullshit the idiot trump was proposing…Canada had to give up their sovereignty to get the deal and Carney called bullshit and walked away…and they aren’t pulling any punches in describing the utter nonsense that idiot boy was proposing…I mean giving the US veto power over any trade deal that Canada wanted to make? trump is so stupid and full of himself that he thought that Canada would roll over and give up being a country as the delusional asshole has been pushing for but the Canadians said “no way, hoser” and are rallying around Carney and his imposing tariffs to mirror what the idiot did…and you know who is going to pay for this? Yep, American consumers and in some border states that Canada supplies with electricity, Canada has floated the idea of just cutting them off and letting idiot boy try to fix that…politicians across the spectrum in Canada are making fun of the idiot and saying they will wait idiot boy out until his term is over and “sane people” will be in charge…that’s gotta hurt idiot boy…geez…
August 25th
Well…it’s another damn cold one out there this morning at 52 degrees and I’ll be layering on the clothes to get out before 7am…another late start with not getting out of bed til 5:30 but I don’t have anything to do today but the rides and going to the library so it will be another easy one…I found out yesterday that I don’t need to buy travel sizes of anything if I pack everything onto my checked bag so that is cool and makes it easier…I do have some hotel size shampoo that I can take to get started so I’ll have to dig those up…I realized yesterday that I went over 5,000 miles on the bike about 200 miles ago and just didn’t recognize it with all of the dead batteries and replacing the computer…so it does look like I’ll get to at least 6,000 miles this year and that’s not the least miles I’ve done since I moved out here…I was going to wash the car today but it’s going to rain tomorrow and I’ll just get it dirty again doing the grocery run so I’ll wait til Thurs…have to start drawing down the food supply so there won’t be anything sitting in the fridge when I’m gone so I’ll have to think about that and figure out meals today…and I need to call my doctor to have one of my bp meds called in so I can pick it up later in the week…and that is a pain…oh, well…need to get going so I can have a bagel before I go out and get another cup of coffee in me….more later….
Didn’t get much work done…
Well…okay, it was another easy day today and all I did was get the rides in late and went out to get fuel for the equipment and fill up the car…40 frickin dollars and it’s not going to get better anytime soon…but I have enough gas to get me to next year and that’s the first time I got gas for the equipment this year…it does help that I have a 5 gallon gas can for the mower and a 2 gallon for the string trimmer…the hornets really are gone since I didn’t see any today and it’s about time…never had such a pain getting rid of them before…persistent little suckers…I have been making a list of the travel stuff I need and I’ll order that tomorrow…I still can’t believe that I can’t have a normal sized sunscreen in my checked bag…or the generic voltaren that I need for my thumb pain…going to empty out my bathroom and take everything I may need for 12 days in Italy…it made me laugh today when a bunch of my Mastodon friends asked me if I’m going to post photos of my trip and keep a running commentary and of course I said yes…they said it was like being there for the UK trip and that made me smile and I’m so lucky to be able to take the trip…most people can’t afford to burn 5 grand just to travel and I realize that…I did talk to my daughter today to iron out some details and make sure we’re on the same page…I do need to study the itinerary to make sure I know what’s going on…okay…time to get ready for some tv time tonight…