truck repairs

February 11th, 2021

Adventure, food, Just things, Uncategorized

There was about an inch or so of snow this morning when I woke up and it has been very lightly snowing off and on all day. It was a little icy underneath it but it was right at the point of freezing vs. thawing so it was not very slippery. I needed to get the truck out to see about getting the wheel bearing fixed so I ventured out early this morning and got it to Les Schwab so they could have a look.

It tuns out it was not the wheel bearing after all; it was the whole damn hub assembly. Yet another $400. Still cheaper than buying a new car.

This means that pretty much the next five days I will be at home, going nowhere unless really necessary. They said it is in bad shape so I figure I should drive as little as possible and only when necessary. I don’t want to take any chances with getting myself (or anyone else) hurt or further damaging the truck. Or spending money on what is usually an overpriced tow bill on top of any other problems.

One of my new demitasse cups; it’s the red one with the handle

I stopped by the Post Office while on the way home to get my mail since it will be a few days before I can get out again. All I had was one package, and it was my vintage espresso cups I got from the online auction. As you can see by the picture above they are not very big, and actually tinier than I thought they would be. It’s hard to believe that I saw these on some websites for over $60 a pair! I got two pair in the auction – two black ones and two red ones like the one pictured above (and no…the green thing is not a giant lime). Unfortunately there are no saucers or spoons that came with them. Since an espresso is only a little over 1 oz. the cups are not big and are designed a certain way to enhance the espresso (much like a Sam Adams beer glass or a Guinness pint glass does). Science is everywhere whether you believe in it or not.

It’s looking like I’ll have plenty of time to be doing some cooking the next few days since I probably won’t be driving much. With the temps being in the 20s it was looking like a good day to make up a pot of chili…so I did, and it turned out pretty good. I even had two extra portions for the freezer. I also made up some fresh salsa to maybe have some nachos or chips & salsa. I will be making up some chicken & dumplings and biscuits & gravy for some rib-sticking warmth over the next few days as well. Unfortunately I did not get eggs while out but I have plenty of oats and fruit and a box of Cheerios I can eat for breakfast. I will definitely need to make a grocery run after the truck is fixed.

At least I can still get out with the dog for walks the next few days if nothing else. We just have to get through the next few days of cold weather and snow. So far we are not really seeing the winds they were talking about previously, but it looks like they have posted new watches/warnings about strong winds and up to another 3″ of snow in the area. I tossed another blanket on the bed so I’ll stay toasty there next few nights.

That is all for this post. Stay safe.

February 10th, 2021

Adventure, Just things, Outdoors, Travel, Uncategorized

We’ll just see about that…

AAARRGGHHHH.

I now have a wheel bearing going bad on my truck so I cannot do much driving until I can get it fixed. It is too dangerous to go very far with this problem (like I just did yesterday) and it could cause a lot of damage on top of the potential of getting hurt so it is a good thing I am close to town. This repair is beyond my scope of ability so there’s no chance of doing it myself and saving some money. I have heard an odd noise intermittently and wanted to verify my suspicions so I pulled up a video online just now and yep…it’s the same sound I am hearing.

I called the dealer earlier but have not heard back so I am going elsewhere. I will be getting it in tomorrow morning for a look. They can see what is going on so the right parts can be ordered. It is much closer and it might be cheaper anyway. Hopefully this is the last thing I need to fix for a while. I just keep telling myself “It’s still cheaper than a new car.”…

This morning it was mostly cloudy with a little sun poking through but it clouded up as the morning went on. It is cold and has been spitting rain, then tiny flakes of snow most of the afternoon and into the night so that just adds to the fun. Getting ready to call it a night, the snow is starting to accumulate in the grass. We also have some high winds moving in with some pretty serious gusts for all of tomorrow. It might be an interesting drive to get the truck looked at.

I did get a few things done today. I made a run to town earlier today to check the mail and grab some stuff. I also got something accomplished with my airline vouchers today. I got on the airline chat support and asked them if I could just use the vouchers to buy miles. They have a great chat support and I have used it several times to ask questions. It is fast, efficient, and I am not on hold plus I have a record of it to refer back to.

They said I could, but only for one of the vouchers. Apparently I was given two vouchers instead of just one for an issue I had that they took care of. She said she could “confiscate” the second one since it was accidental but was not going to. I said “I’ll swap the bigger one for more miles, thanks.” so I got another 5,000 miles and still get to book a flight with the other voucher. I have a few extra days to book with this voucher and in a few weeks I will be seeing how far out I can book an international flight with miles. That’s exciting!

Well, that’s all there is for now. Gotta get my butt outta bed in the morning to get the truck in early.

February 9th, 2021

Adventure, food, Just things, Outdoors, Road Trip, Travel, Uncategorized

Tonight’s featured movie is “Groundhog Day”. As if it is not enough that life imitates art right now, why not watch a movie about it.

Yesterday I got the truck out for a road trip/test drive. I had to go pick up something anyway so the timing was good. I left the house and had to make a few stops on the way. All was fine. As I was heading on to my next stop miles away, the Check Engine light came back on again. 🤬

I thought “💩” and went on ahead. It felt like it was running fine and when I checked the codes were just the same as before. After I made my stop I cleared the light again to see what happened. I got all the way back and then made another trip to town. The light is still off so that is a good sign. I did a live read on the truck while running and there are no issues showing up. Success!

After that, it was a little housework and then some pasta. And not really much else other than several walks with the dog. There was even (gasp!) some reading! The last walk around 10 P.M. was definitely cooler and a sign of things yet to be. A few snowflakes fell as we were out for that quick tour of the local “watering holes” that the dog frequents.

As for today, I finally got a road trip in. I needed to get out of the house plus I wanted to get a microplane to do some cooking. No, a microplane is not a tiny aircraft. It is a type of grater that is really shallow. I want to use it to zest some limes for some cilantro lime rice. A couple of the meal kits needed lime zest and it was difficult to get it using a knife edge. Then it was over to Trader Joe’s to grab a few unique snacks and some Gouda cheese (the sliced TJ’s Gouda is pretty good and makes a great breakfast sandwich with bacon).

The truck is really running good now that I got the part fixed. The light came on once today but I was driving over a rough patch and it triggered the light. I know there are a couple of broken exhaust bolts so I think what happened was the exhaust jiggled and it sucked in a little outside air, triggering the O2 sensors. I gained about 3 MPG more after the fix and it may get a little better as the computer adjusts. I guess once I can finally go get my stuff I can put my K&N air filter back in. That will help with a little bit more of a boost in power and mileage. I am really anxious to see how it does pulling the trailer now that it is running better. Hmmm…now THERE’S an idea…

Taking a long drive today helped out immensely and I recommend it if you need a break from the grind. Sounds like snow for this area so I am glad I went today. If the weather holds I may go someplace tomorrow but it is not looking conducive for a good day of driving where I want to go. Even the weather people are not quite sure what to expect yet. If I don’t get out that is fine too – at least there was today. I do still have a lot of cooking to take care of. I already picked up the fresh ingredients so it needs to happen in the next day or two. I will need to make a supply run for a couple of things at some point.

Calling this day in the books. A good night to all.

February 7th, 2021

Adventure, food, Just things, Uncategorized

Yep…it was a good weekend. Got some things accomplished.

Yesterday I woke up, had a shot of espresso and a cup of coffee, and said “I need to cook”. So I cooked. I got to try out my new (to me) Le Creuset stockpot and made what ended up being a huge pot of pasta…MUCH more pasta than I thought it was. I browned up some chicken Italian sausage, added some fresh garlic and lots of olive oil, stirred in some of the pasta, and I instantly had five meals’-worth of dinners from that.

With the pasta I had left, I portioned it out and added some Muir Glen Garden Vegetable red sauce, plus a dash of garlic powder and a drizzle of olive oil to each tray. I ended up with four of those trays but they are pretty hefty portions now that I look at them; I probably could have gotten another 2-3 dinners out of the bunch but I was also worried about having enough sauce. I was lucky I had that on hand, but I do have some canned fire-roasted tomatoes so I can make my own sauce from that. I can also use some to make salsa and have some cilantro, and a fresh onion a couple of jalapeños to do just that. In fact, that is why I bought a case of those tomatoes.

It was extremely windy yesterday. I mean horrible winds almost all day and then it was a little rainy at times. This morning I woke up and saw a bright sunny day and some gusty winds that have lasted all day; nowhere near as bad as yesterday though. When I saw that sun I figured the dog and I needed to be outside some. Plenty of walks but too windy to play with his flying disc that he loves so much. The week is shaping up to be poopy weather- lows in the teens and highs in the 20s/low 30s – so I am trying to get out and keep the dog happy too. That’s unusual for here; it happens a couple of times every Winter for about a week.

Seeing the forecast for this coming week, I saw that I was going to have to put it off for another week, so I finally got the problem emissions part replaced on my truck! I thought while it is windy, it is not raining or really cold, I might as well see if I can get it done today and I did. Took me about 5 minutes and $40 or so for the part. Saved another $20 from the dealer repair AND the OBD-II reader paid for itself as well. It is running better and after I cleared the light it is not coming back on and it runs better and is getting better gas mileage. Glad to have that done. I guess the fuel filter will wait another week. I will be borrowing some ramps from a friend and try to do that in his driveway. It is another five-minute fix. Well, it SHOULD be…

Now that I have that main problem fixed I feel much better about taking a long drive (it iorobabky woulda been fine), and I plan on doing that very soon. I’d probably have to do it so soon so it may be tomorrow or Tuesday given the weather that the forecast says is moving in. The fuel filter does not seem to be causing any issues and there are no codes in the computer for errors so I feel confident. I am so glad to have that finally done.

I just saw an article today about the pandemic and what to expect. I think that I may be a bit too optimistic about going to Europe (or anywhere international) even as early as Spring of 2022 according to this news story but everything is even less than uncertain for the foreseeable future. I am still watching some travel shows and keeping an eye on travel articles as it is something positive to look forward to. I reactivated my Scott’s Cheap Flights notifications (I stopped updates for a while since I felt it was pointless) and have been looking at prices in searches. I also realize there may be other options besides Europe but all of that remains to be seen given the constantly-changing pandemic regulations.

It is interesting to hear about a real push for high-speed rail in the U.S. That would be so cool and so convenient. I think once people see how easy and efficient it is to go around the country by train it would sell itself. The key, of course, is public transit infrastructure available near each rail station to get people close to where they want to go. It’s odd that in Europe public transit is something everyone does because they want to, while here there seems to be a stigma where it is the poor people who ride the bus. I have ridden public transit quite a bit in various places and it is a great way to get around. My fingers are crossed that we can finally make some progress nationwide on this.

It had a good run, but I think my 27″ iMac is ready to give up. I have been using it for videos in place of a TV but I noticed a few days ago that it was extremely hot to the touch. I used some canned air to blow it out and cool it off but it’s about used all the runway. I cannot upgrade the OS anymore so I am looking at recycling it and I will get some cash out off the deal. It’s ten years old and has moved all over the PNW with me to most of the 18-20 addresses I have lived at, and it is remarkable it stood up to that.

It’s why I buy Apple products.

That’s all for now.

January 25th, 2021

Adventure, food, Just things, Outdoors, Road Trip, Travel, Uncategorized

I had to buy a stick vac to clean my house. I do have a broom but it just doesn’t work on the rug that well. I guess the one I have in storage in MT will get sold and hopefully I can get rid of a few other things as well so I don’t have to haul some of it again. It’s really looking like it may be a bit before the ‘rona calms down but I need some of my things and am thinking of alternatives on getting my things.

One thing that I have been needing to get (that I do not have in storage) is some decent kitchen knives but they can be expensive. To get a really good one you need to spend some real money, but there are a couple of low-cost ones that get great ratings. I found some on an online auction so I what bid an amount that I considered to be kinda high (but low compared to what I though they were worth). Looking at the pictures of the knives, all 17 of them, I saw what looked to be a decent collection of hardware so I started checking the values to figure out how much to bid.

I watched the auction when it was getting ready to close and I still had the high bid by quite a margin. Suddenly it started to make a run and my bid was in serious danger. It got to the last minute and I won it…but by only 89 cents. What a close one since I had to refresh the screen to see how the bids were going. The last few bids told me that I had made the right call bidding the amount I bid on this lot.

One or two of them may have a little damage on the handle but I really think I scored a major deal. They look to be mostly, if not all, German-made J.A. Henckels/Zwilling knives. It’s an assortment of several different types. I think that just one knife is worth about what I paid for all 17. They will need some cleaning up and I guess with 17 of them I better start learning how to sharpen them.

I also got a Le Creuset enameled steel stock pot with colander at another auction. I think it may be vintage and from what I can tell they don’t sell the colander any longer except in stainless steel. It is in very good shape from what I see in the pics. I am also looking for coffee cups to fit the different sizes of my coffee pods as well.

After doing the laundry I went to the store to grab a couple of things to make up some more burritos. This time I will make up some with Southwest ranch chicken, black bean, and lime cilantro rice with some roasted salsa verde. Luckily I forgot the limes as I have no room in the freezer! All of the other stuff I made up has filled the freezer so I will be eating that for a bit to make some room. I have another meal kit coming this week, then another break for a couple of weeks. I certainly won’t be starving!

The forecast for snow was wrong and it was a sunny day for most of the day. I really need to get the filter on the truck changed so maybe I can look at that tomorrow if the weather is good. I might even make another attempt at the last spark plug. My arthritis hand still hurts so I don’t know if I can get it changed or not, but I did get 7 of 8 replaced and it does seem to run a little bit better. I need to call the dealer service department to see what the other part needing replaced was; that is on the reminder list for tomorrow.

That’s it for now.