I sat down here a couple of hours ago to do an extemp post on something that flashed through my head. Got a phone call. Off the reservation for a couple of hours and… I have NO idea what it was I was going to post.
It was probably going to be my best post ever. *heh*
Upcoming in the Road Ahead series: “Truth, Justice and The American Way” briefly discussed. Paring it down in bits n pieces of time.
Stealing 15-30 minutes here and there (w/o adversely affecting my schedule), adding up to about 2 hours’ time, I was able to save at least $100 today by doing five lil jobs on my lil econocar instead of having my mechanic do ’em. Of course, I still have to take it off stands tomorrow a.m. (Because I ran out of short bits I could rob from my day before it got too chill for my old bones and my light went. Yeh, I have artificial lighting available, but no I do NOT want to do it in the cold and with artificial lighting. 5 mins in the a.m. should do it.) The $100 savings is a conservative estimate. Glad to pay my mechanic for jobs I don’t have the tools for or can’t steal the time for (or can’t figure out or don’t have good enough wiring diagrams to deal with or… :-)), but why do it if I don’t have to?
Micro-mini-update: took ~15 minutes because…
1. Coffee-deprived brain didn’t reinstall serpentine belt. Almost seven minutes, mainly because I tried to use the wrong 14mm wrench on the tensioner pulley. Picked up the right one and it was a 30-second job. Oh. Well. Putting away ramp(s), jackstands, spacer 2″X8″X3′ board (used to make floor jack easier to use on the rough concrete of the driveway) and sundry tools n accessories (including two perfectly-shaped rocks i regularly use as chocks) < 5 mins. Wheel stuff < 5 mins. Still worth my time and effort, mainly because I KNOW I used the best parts available and paid detailed attention to doing the best possible job. Then there's the inestimable benefit of satisfaction from having done it myself. Always a plus (unless it’s something like balancing four Stromberg-Carlson carbs on a 12-cylinder engine–whatawasteoftime. How often does one need a skill set like that?).
Early sample of the “apple wine” is not bad at all. Nothing to write home about, but then I added two cans of concentrate to the secondary fermenter before I racked the brew into it, so I expect a lil more robust apple flavor in the finished product.
Even as the best revenge is living well, so I believe the best way to deal with the commies now coming into power in D.C. is to rise above their interference in our daily lives. They may steal my wallet, but they’ll have a hard(er) time stealing my ability to barter, build needed items from castoff junk or grow my own food. Just sayin’.
Thanksgiving is approaching. Of course, MY “Thanksgiving” celebration begins in June (6-4), is accented (BIG time) in October (10-4) and celebrated every year on 11-24, regardless what day the national holiday is celebrated. I’ll clarify that a bit more as The Day approaches.
Had an “extra” 12-oz or so (actually a lil more) of the molasses beer to bottle condition the other day, so bottled it in a 12oz bottle (of course). It’s not really had time to condition properly, but chilled it anyway and had a taste. Pretty good stuff. The rest should be ready to start refrigerating in a few days.
Hmmm, my comp isn’t recognizing the memory stick from my camera. Guess I need to see to that. *sigh* My Winder Woman has the one USB cable that works with our cameras (the one that’s left–*heh*) at work, so it’d be nice to transfer straight from the camera’s stick. Ahhh *thumps head* insert properly, deadhead… Works just fine. Hey, Perri, here’re the “kitty litter” fermenters:
Just basic fermenting buckets with different approaches to airlocks.
Time to take an early break for the company of the rack monster, I think.