Well…the car is fixed! It only took 40 minutes from the package hitting my porch and me getting in the car for a test drive…pretty damn easy and the cheap little bleeder I bought worked great and it took me about 5 minutes to bleed them…then I did a bunch of hard stops and when I got back here the wheel was cold to the touch and that is so cool…this is the fist caliper I’ve ever changed and it was so easy…and now the car coasts like it should and doesn’t try to stop between gears…it really made a difference with how the car drives and there is almost no brake pulsation at all…and that went from trying to shake the wheel out of my hand Tuesday when it first started…it’s not like I really like working on cars anymore…but now I know I can do calipers anyway…no big deal…going to be a good cocktail night tonight…yay!
Monthly Archives: July 2025
It’s funny…
Well…it’s funny that since I mowed my lawn this morning, there has been someone mowing all around me…I think we were all waiting for the rain yesterday so we could mow and get the lawns looking even again…and I even did an application of weed killer since the only thing really growing is weeds…still no part for the car yet but if it gets here before 5 or so, I’m going to install it today so I’ll have a nice relaxing cocktail night tonight…today was one of the worst days I’ve had in a while with not eating enough…the bike rides were a struggle and I felt dizzy on the bike and after I got off it…so I did what I always do and made some toast with peanut butter before I got the mower out and that helped…and I have one more meal to make that will be a big one with a pork chop potatoes and veggies…we have had lots of wildfire smoke here today and the little weather widget at the bottom of the screen says “smoke” and I’ve never seen that before…I did finish the 3rd book this afternoon so I can go to the library for 4 more tomorrow…and if the part for the car doesn’t get here til late, I can still get it fixed first thing tomorrow morning and that will mean a trip out to the beach…okay, need to start the last book…
Listen to Elizabeth…
Well…the repubs just like braking the law so much they have just come up with a scheme to control all spending no matter what is in the appropriation legislation…this is in direct violation of the law and the constitution and Elizabeth Warren is fighting back…spending bills say where and when the money is to be spent but the repubs want to let the idiot trump pick and choose where and when to spend money or not spend it at all…the executive branch does not have “the power of the purse” and needs to follow what the law says…once this scheme came to light, Warren did what every dem should do, stop cooperating with repubs completely since if they get their way, there is no sense in doing any spending bill if it can be ignored after the fact…and this would mean the end of democracy, it’s that important…so thank you Elizabeth…go twist some arms of dems who think the repubs can be trusted at all…geez..
July 31st
Well…damn, it was nice to be able to close this place up and not sweat through my sheets last night…and that was the first night in over a month that I could do that…it’s 59 degrees here right now so that will mean a light fleece when I get on the bike here in a few minutes….so damn worn out again today and I know it’s from not eating enough…again… so I’ll have to do better today…and I do have to remember to pre treat my right elbow/tricep since they were howling in pain yesterday as soon as I got on the bike…my allergies have hit the August levels of badness already and that is going to make the rest of the summer miserable…I used to only feel it in August but now they are bad year round and that sucks…oh, well…going to be running late all day today since I’m already late for getting on the bike…need more coffee first and then I’ll drag my butt off the couch and get going…it did rain here for a bit yesterday and it was nice to hear that…not sure if it will help my lawn at all but I’ve given up on it for the year…the part for the car is going to be here today and I hope it’s early so I can fix the car today…more later…
Got some things done today…
Well…I finally got a few things done today with an errand I had to run this morning…when I confirmed that the brake caliper is not fixed with soaking it with wd…I can’t see it taking more than a half hour or so to install it and get the brakes bled…just two bolts and the brake line to remove and that should only take about 10 minutes if the brake line bolt comes out easily…not going to change out the bracket that holds the caliper since they don’t wear out and they are a pain to get off…so if I get the parts early enough, I should be able to have it fixed tomorrow…I did get two loads of laundry done today since I needed to do bedding after sweating all night for weeks…running out of leftovers so I took some turkey bacon out of the freezer to use up some lettuce and tomatoes that are getting old…and then nothing but eating out of the freezer for a month or so…it did rain out here for a bit today and it’s still raining and the stupid assholes in the rental are standing out in it…they just have to have their party…creeps…
Explain this to me…
Well…with repubs continuing to lie that the tariffs are not going to effect prices at all, can someone explain to me why they are now touting a “rebate” of up to 600 dollars a person to help people pay the higher costs? With tariffs already estimated to cost a family of 4 over 4,000 dollars a year, it seems to me that this is just a bribe to take people’s minds off tariffs and give the repubs a talking point to be able to say “see, we gave you all that cash” and use it in the 26 election…but that family of 4 is still out almost 2 grand even after the checks…this is the repubs just making things up as they go since they are really willfully ignorant of basic economics…and they are counting on the dems continuing to be lousy in their messaging so the right wing mainstream media can drown out the truth…as always…geez…
July 30th
Well…damn, I really can’t keep up living on under 1,000 calories a day…and I’m on the 4th day in a row so the bike rides are going to be a chore this morning…up at 4:35 today and I’m so damn worn out that I should be able to sleep but no such luck…I did get the parts for the car ordered from amazon yesterday since the caliper was 15 bucks less and that bought me a new brake bleeder almost for free…and the stuff will be here tomorrow so I can do the work Friday and put this crap behind me…and this bleeder will work to bleed the clutch, too so I can do that next week…not sure what I’m going to do today or what the meals are going to be after only having some pasta and potato salad yesterday but I know it needs to be more than that…I do have tortillas to make some bean burritos and have the lettuce and tomatoes to go with it along with breakfast stuff but I really have no desire to eat anything…maybe I’ll go to the beach today…ha,h…the forecast says a steady, heavy rain this morning but it’s said that many times lately and we have had no rain at all…so I’ll plan on the assumption that it is not ever going to rain here again…more later…
Crap, seized a caliper…
Well…I guess this is to be expected from a car that was driven less than 1,000 miles over the past three years…it appears that I seized a front brake caliper this morning…the car wasn’t driving right and when I got home the driver’s side front wheel was too hot to touch and it was vibrating as I drove home…so, I tore it apart to look at it and greased the pins that it slides on…that didn’t work so I just took it apart and hit the piston with wd and I’m going to let it soak over night before I put it back together in the morning…then I’m sure I’ll have to go to zone and order one for 85 bucks…this must have been going on since I got the car since it really never coasted like a stick is supposed to when you push the clutch in…and a lot of rust fell out of the caliper when I took it off so I’m sure the piston won’t retract anymore…oh, well…looks easy to replace and I’ll have to get my one man bleeder working to bleed it…but I’m not going anywhere after doing the grocery run today so I can fix it when the part gets here in a couple of days
More fallout from the EU tariffs…
Well…I talked a bit about the idiotic tariffs that the idiot in chief just put on everything from the EU…and guess what percentage of lifesaving drugs comes from the EU? 60%…yep and as of AUG 1st, they will all be 15% more expensive…do you take Ozempic? 15% more…or how about wegovy, mounjaro, or zepbound…all 15% more…or humira, or stellara…or how about the miracle cancer drug keytruda…15% more…even botox is going up 15%…and it’s not just drugs that will cost more after these moronic tariffs…do you think insurance companies and even Medicare are just going to eat this cost increase? Nope, next year all insurance will go up in double digits just because of these tariffs…and idiot boy is still out there lying that he is going to decrease the cost of drugs by “1,000%”…yeah, he doesn’t even understand simple math…does that thousand mean that drug companies will pay us to take them? That’s how stupid this whole thing is…hey maga voters…did you vote to have the cost of your drugs soar? Stupid, stupid people…geez…
July 29th
Well…damn, another day of 90 degree temps today and it’s wearing me out…but I keep telling myself I love the heat and I really do but after a couple of weeks I could use a little relief…going to do the grocery run today since there are some things I need and who cares what day I do it? I wonder what happened to the pattern where storms come when the weather changes? I mean it’s going to go down into the low 80’s in a couple of days and there is no rain in the forecast…this is the manifestation of climate change that is local and I’m glad we have Lake Michigan to draw our water from or we’d be sitting here with no water to drink…going to do one bike ride before the grocery run so I need to get moving in 15 minutes or so…so, I need to pour more coffee down to jump start this old body….5 minutes before the day starts so I should get moving….more later…