Well…okay, it was warm enough and humid enough that I made today the last beach day of the summer…and to get there, I had to drive the car with the new transmission oil in it and it feels better…easier to get in all gears even cold which is a big improvement…and from the comments on amazon, it takes about 500 miles for the full amount of difference to show up…but I can live with it the way it is so it was worth the 65 bucks the oil cost…but the biggest thing I noticed was that the slight whine that I could hear in 5th gear is now gone and that matches what a few people commented…so far, so good…the water was a little chilly but warm enough for me to spend a half hour swimming…and I went out without sunscreen to get a little more color one last time…not burned at all but just a little pink since I went out at 10am and was back here before noon…it is a little bittersweet that another summer is gone but I know that I’ll have the rest of my life to enjoy the beach and water…hope it’s not only a year..but we’ll see…
They just don’t get it…
Well…the stupid in all of the people working for the idiot trump is just breathtaking…they seem to believe that because they are not being prosecuted for their crimes now, they will get a free pass for the rest of their lives…and let’s get this straight, idiot boy can’t pardon them from war crime charges at the Hague…like the drunk hegseth who continues to use “double tap” attacks to kill people who survive his unjustified attacks in the Caribbean…just last week it was reported that he ordered two of those attacks on people in boats that he says were transporting drugs but that independent investigators have found were just fishermen going about their lives..and that is not war but just murder and he has been warned that consequences are coming for those murders after we take the house and senate…and after we take the WH in ’28 and regain control of the justice department, this asshole is going to find out that only idiot boy has immunity, not his cronies who he doesn’t give a damn about…we’re coming for you petey boy…how does the rest of your life in prison sound? Geez…
September 1st
Well…another month starts and it starts late since I didn’t get out of bed til 5:50 and now I’m running late already…my ribs are sore from trying to get the drain plug out before I used the impact wrench and crawling under the car…and I don’t know why I’m still doing that at 73 but I really can’t pay someone to do something I can still do…and it does feel good to do things and not give in to age….not sure how buying coffee beans got away from me but, with the bag that is coming today, I’ll have over 11 pounds of them here and that’s enough to cover any more shocks in the market…but how could I resist getting a kilo for 13.47? That’s only a buck and change over the price when I bought the first bags a year ago and these deals are going away…I’m sure the next time these come up they will be well into the 20’s for a kilo…even though I can’t taste much, I can taste the difference between the cheap ground coffee I bought and grinding my own beans…and I have whole bean this morning so I’ll probably drink the whole 12 cups…it did rain here yesterday while I was working on the car and we had a little storm come through in the afternoon and that is how it should be instead of the damn drought we’ve had all year…going to wait to get my flu and covid vaccines until I get back from Italy and I hope that will keep me healthy this winter…I think I’ll take a look and see if I can get it done this week for protection as I travel…but that will be later…right now I need a bagel and more coffee and to get on the bike…more later…
I just realized this…
Well…after I worked on the car, did the weight work, and got the 2nd ride in, I just realized something…when I was pouring the old oil back into the bottles that the new stuff came in, it didn’t fill two bottles all the way…and it’s supposed to have 2.5 quarts in it…and there are no leaks so either they changed it and didn’t put enough into it, or over 18 years some of the oil just dissipated into the air…whatever the reason, it probably wasn’t good to have it so low on oil and I’m glad I serviced it to fix it…and now I have the rest of the day to read and take it easy and it’s only 11:50am…one problem with the old oil was that it smelled and no matter how much I scrub, I still smell that old oil and probably will for a few days…nothing smells like old gear oil…time for a break…100 of these for the month is not bad…
It’s a trump tax…
Well…I can’t believe I still have to keep talking about the idiot’s tariffs but here we are…listen carefully…the new tariffs idiot boy has imposed on Canada is a tax on you and me and we pay it…not Canada, not corporations, you and me…and this one is going to hurt us…just one example…54% of US toilet paper is imported from Canada along with 38% that is made here in the US…from Canadian pulp…so get the tp now while you can since the price is going up 50% as soon as the tariffs kick in…how does 2 dollar a roll for tp feel for you maga assholes? Everything else that comes from Canada will also be going up by 50%…so the lumber for new houses? Over 60% of what we use is imported from Canada along with the ingredient for fertilizer…so how do you feel about that maga farmers? You’re barely hanging on by your fingernails and now your god king just slapped you with a 50% price increase on something you can’t do without…I can see bankruptcies of smaller farms exploding from these tariffs and the price of all food grown here is also going to explode…did you think the big corporate farms were going to pay the tariffs? Ha,ha…if you did you are just as delusional as the idiot trump…growth here is already down to 1.5% in the last quarter (Canada’s was 3.3%) and this could tip us into recession…but idiot boy doesn’t care about anyone but himself and he shows it every day…geez…
The car is done…
Well…it worked out well when the rain started just as I was pulling up to the garage after the first ride today…so I jumped right into changing the gear oil in the transmission and it took about an hour with my transfer pump falling apart and spilling a bunch of oil on the floor…but I still had plenty and now it’s done…the oil that came out was regular dino oil and not synthetic since it smelled like every gear lube I’ve every used…the fill plug came out easily but I needed my impact wrench to get the drain plug loose…one little zap by the wrench and it was out so that was cool…and I checked the magnet on the drain plug and there were no metal shavings on it so that means no wear for me to worry about…if I do this again, I think I’m going to buy a little electric transfer pump since I can get one for about 20 bucks and that would be a lot easier…but I’ll never need it on this car so maybe not…damn, it feels good to have this done…and now I can sit here and have more coffee and read some news…I think it took more time to clean up my tools than to actually change the oil…but they are clean now and drying downstairs…yay!
August 31st
Well…damn, I’m running late already this morning even with getting up at 5:11 so I won’t have time to have a bagel before I get on the bike to get a ride in before the rain comes in at 7:30…so then I’ll work on the car while it’s raining and then go back out for ride 2…I do have to remember to write the checks for the taxes and water bill and get them paid this week and then I won’t have to think about bills until I get back from Italy…didn’t sleep for crap last night but I’m going to stop thinking about that and deal with it by just making more coffee in the morning…only have a little over 6 cups leftover in the carafe today so I’ll be making more after I get the bike ride in and car done…the car stuff has been hanging over me for weeks now and I just want it done…I can taste the difference between the cheap ground coffee I made yesterday and the whole bean I’m making later…I wonder how that difference would taste if I could taste like a normal person? I still have 8.8 pounds of beans in storage that I hope will get me through the rest of the year…the espresso beans I was getting for 15 bucks are now 25 so it looks like I won’t be buying any any time soon…not much to do today…okay, that’s not true, have lots to do and I need to get off my butt right now and get started….more later….okay, just went out to look for beans on amazon and found another type of espresso beans by Lavazza for only 13.49 a kilo so now I’ll have 11 pounds of beans on hand…and that will surely be enough to get me to spring…and if they are good, I may buy one more…who knows?
Ready for the transmission…
Well…the last piece of the puzzle of changing the oil in the transmission of the car just showed up so I’ll be ready to go tomorrow morning after I get the rides in…got a 6 point 24mm socket and a bunch of adapters so I could even use my electric impact wrench if I want…don’t think I’ll need that since the fill and drain plug are bathed in oil all the time so how can they be corroded and stuck?…if it all goes well, it shouldn’t take more than 45 minutes and then I’ll be done with everything I want to do to the car but wash and wax it and I may do that tomorrow, too…I think I’m done with the beach for the year so I can vacuum the sand out of it, too…the shifting is already a lot better with getting the air out of the clutch line but I just want it to shift when it’s cold…I did get out for 2 rides today but not until about 9 when the rain stopped and I still got done before Man U played at 11:30…and they won convincingly so maybe this will be a good season…it it rains in the morning, I’ll jump right on the car before the rides and get that done…didn’t get anything else done today but that’s okay, oh, I did give myself a haircut while I was waiting for the rain to stop…does that count for getting something done? Does to me…need to go down and charge the battery for the impact wrench…
I have something to say to the world…
Well…I have something to say to the world this morning after reading the reactions to the asshole trump and what he has done to the world in our name…here in the US most of us are also waiting for him to be gone and we have hunkered down to try to survive it…and just try to remember that he will be gone in 2 years along with his stupid cronies and I would ask that when he is, you give us the chance to repair the damage this moron has done…remember back to when honorable people were in charge here and the good things that happened when they were…read a comment this morning that said “we’ll never fucking trust you again” and I really can’t blame the world for that…we don’t trust this asshole, either but give the non maga good people here the chance to show that we can be good partners and all of what is going on is from one person…and only 30% of the people in the US support what the idiot trump is doing…so, when this nightmare is over, please give us a chance to show you the US is not trump and help us repair the damage he’s done…we’re going to do our part starting after the election this fall…
August 30th
Well…I don’t know how to act…got up at 5:10 today to a small thunderstorm that is supposed to last until noon or so I’m sitting here trying to figure out what the hell to do with not being able to get out on the bike…and it looks like I won’t be able to until noon or so and I think that will make this the elusive one ride day my legs have been needing for the entire summer…I wonder if I need to skip the bagel to make sure I don’t have too many calories today? Not sure yet but it sure is weird to not be out on the bike in the dark…oh, well…so that gives me the weirdest of mornings…don’t know what to do so I think I’ll just drink coffee and watch MotoGP in the background…for some reason both thumbs hurt today and I think it’s probably from trying to get the damn oil filter off…now that I know there is enough room around the filter to get a strap wrench on it, I’ll think about buying one but that doesn’t have to happen for a year since I won’t change the oil again for 18 months or so…and if the socket comes this morning, I may change the trans oil out today to take advantage of the rain keeping me off the bike…I really need to get cleaning since I want to have this place clean before I head to Italy and do need to start getting the packing started..still have stuff from the UK trip in my suitcase that needs to come out and I need to clean it before I start packing…and I have to remember to pack some compression socks for sitting on the plane for 7 hours across the Atlantic…it has finally hit me that I’m going to Europe in a couple of weeks and that is going to be so cool…and we are taking trains between the cities we’re visiting and I just love how nice the trains are outside of the US…okay, need more coffee and to figure out how to just sit here…that’s going to be hard..more later…