Well…just got the oil filter removal tool that I ordered and it looks like a clever little unit that grabs onto the filter with a cam action that tightens as you loosen the filter…so I’ll give it a try tomorrow morning after the rides so I can keep the old oil in the filter from contaminating the new stuff…I know it’s only about a pint but I don’t want the crap in the filter circulating in the new oil…the thing is pretty small and I have to compliment the design…if it works…I did order the red line synthetic trans oil today, too…62 bucks for 3 quarts but that is a hell of a lot better than the Ford stuff that would have been 150 bucks and I’m just not paying that just for oil…it looks like I can get my 18inch pipe wrench on the filler plug and drain plug if I don’t have a socket that will fit…I can always go to HF to get one if I need it…I am looking forward to having the trans work like it’s supposed to as the ratings say on amazon…I really do think they put the wrong oil in that is too slippery for the synchros to work right…they need some bite to be able to match the gears up correctly and the gl-5 is not the right one…the oil will be here Monday so I’ll change it Tuesday and take the car out for the grocery run Wed to test it…I did get the lawn mowed today and will do it one more time before I leave…oh, when I was on the 2nd ride and heading through the tunnel of trees, there were 5 deer standing on the trail and they didn’t move as I cut between them…these are the deer who have been just standing there before when I went by but I’ve never had 5 of them stand there…I guess they’re used to me…pretty cool…
All posts by James DeVol
Ha, stupid trump….
Well…can trump get an stupider? Yeah, we all know he can and the latest reporting says that he can barely dress himself anymore…but that’s not what this about…after idiot boy started to attack Canada and has the delusion that Canada is so dependent on the US that he can bully them all he wants, all you have to do is look at the GDP numbers to see how effective his stupid tariffs are…in the 2nd quarter the US economy eaked out a 1.5% growth rate…being dragged down by idiot boy’s tariffs…but Canada’s growth for the 2nd was 3.3% owing to a surge in exports and huge domestic investments…and do you remember what the tariffs and bullying led to? Canada has signed many trade agreements cutting the US out and these are just starting to show how smart Canada’s leadership was to abandon trying to deal with the idiot…and this is just the start for Canada and the rest of the trading partners who have said enough to idiot boy’s bluster and bullying…the rest of the world is not going to sign any trade agreements with the idiot and are just waiting for him to be gone before they even talk to the US…how do you bully someone who ignores you? It’s what I’ve been saying for quite a while…idiot boy needs to be isolated by the world because he is not mentally stable…and his bullshit is only supported by the maga faithful which is shrinking ever day…geez…
August 28th
Well…up and moving at 5am this morning and part of that is the almost full moon flooding my bedroom with moonlight…I may have to change the blinds in there to room darkening ones…it’s only 55 out there so there will be a fleece for the first ride today…I think I’ll wait til almost light to go out today since I really don’t have much to do other than getting the stuck oil filter changed and ordering the synthetic trans oil so I can change that next week…hope that helps with the hard shifting when it’s cold in the winter…still think they put the wrong oil in whenever they changed it…or if they haven’t changed it in 18 years…going to get the weight work in before I head out this morning since it’s a pain thinking about it all day and remembering to do it…I got the last pair of shorts I ordered for Italy yesterday and I wore a pair out for errands yesterday and I like them…they’re not cotton but I can live with that since I needed something new for the trip…and I’m getting used to the new walking shoes I bought and they look just a little stylish and I don’t know what I think about that….I’m the farthest person from stylish but it is nice to have new clothes for the first time in years…and that gives me 4 pairs to take with me…not much to do today…after getting the oil changed yesterday I won’t have to do that for a couple of years but I do need to get off my butt and clean the kitchen and plan some meals today…more later….
A bit of a weird day…
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….