Good Morning! 75F @ 6:00AM. Sunny. High 108F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.
Wife and I are heading out to Napa Valley and Sonoma County, this weekend, for a few days of wine, wine, wine.
Don't forget yer summer wear and sun block; it's gonna be HOT! And forget about tastin' and drivin', the CHP loves the income generated by DWI stops. Sip'n'spit! The Hydro in Calistoga has good food and a fun atmosphere, Cafe Sarafornia also in Calistoga has an awesome breakfast burrito and good lattes.
Kudos all around for you and the boys, Buckeye. Ya dun good!
Kyle, if you liked Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul is kinda a prequel featuring the sleazy lawyer. Funny in a bizarre kind of way.
I was shopping for a new BBQ thermometer to replace the ever flakey Oregon Scientific one and saw that OE had a new model on offer. The problem is that they covered the thermocouple splices with some low temp material that vaporizes inside the metal sheath that protects the wires. Then the leads short and the temperature probe quits working. After the fourth probe quit, I took it apart and discovered the problem. Tried to fix it with high temp silicon based sheath, but the wires are so find I couldn't get them welded back together. So I called OE and asked if the probe from the new thermometer would fit my old unit. She was very nice, and said that they were out of stock on the proper probe, but that they would be available in August. I told her about my experience, and asked if they'd addressed the problem, and got a very evasive "Oh, I'm sure they did, otherwise they wouldn't be selling them again". That thread's worth pulling on, as I have four of the probes and I know it's a materials defect.
Started in on prepping the exterior of the van for paint yesterday. The old paint is pitted and crazed and mostly just has to come off. But first there are some stick on decal type stripes to be removed. A wire brush in the little angle grinder takes 'em off, but it leaves a mess of glue behind. Years ago I bought a bunch of rubber wheel things that are designed for removing those decals, but never got around to using them. So yesterday morning I pulled one out and put it on my portable drill to have a go. And you know what? Those decal stripes came right off, right along with all the glue, and it didn't even hurt the paint! Ran along pretty quickly, too. I'll save a little to show the bodyman, as his suggestion was single edge razor blades.:shocked:
I started on the rear hatch door, and ended up using a dual action (DA) air sander to take off the paint. I'd purchased a new style Velcro backing pad and matching sanding discs at the local automotive paint store, and gosh are they an improvement over the old glue on or peel'n'stick ones. But they still have the same old problem of coming loose at the edges, and when that happens it wipes out the Velcro teeth on the backing pad so a new pad comes loose even sooner. Probably have to go back to the drawing board on that idea.:laughing: Anyway, finished the hatch and started in on the big sliding side door. Got most of the paint off but still need to use the wire brush on the window frames and that one'll be done, too. Not too bad for a few hours work, but it looks like a long, dusty slog to get the rest of the body done. When I was finished I looked like a pink Pillsbury Dough Boy from all the dust. Yeah, I was wearing a dust mask, safety glasses, and ear muffs, and a few puffs from the air duster got most of it off.
When I broke for lunch it was already in the high 90s so that was it for the garage. Came in and fixed some lunch, had my talk with the lady in Oregon, did a little paperwork, then remembered the tomatillos I bought last week at the grocery. They were supposed to be for salsa, but I've been too tired to cook much lately for some reason.
Went on line and found a recipe that called for roasting the tomatillos under the broiler, and figured what the heck, I've never done that before! The directions said to roast 'em 'till they started to burn, and since I'm pretty good at burning things in the kitchen this might come out OK. And sure enough it did. Put the tomatillos in the food processor along with a double handful of cherry tomatoes, half a dozen garlic cloves, some salt substitute, half an onion, and half a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Punched the chop button a few times, just enough to leave it a little chunky, and the smell it made had me reachin' for the tortilla chips before I even got the lid off. All I can say is WOW! The roasting totally changes the flavor of the tomatillos, and combined with the smoke from the chipotles and the garlic, I had to stop right there and eat a bowl. And drink a Pacifico. And take a nap. Pretty much in that order.:licking::laughing:
Once I woke up I cleaned up the kitchen, and since I still wasn't hungry, I brought one of the cylinder heads into the kitchen to measure the volume of the combustion chambers. They matched at an even 49 ccs, so I pushed my luck and did the other one. Looks like one chamber is a little light, so it's back to the grind this morning.:laughing:
Hang in there guys, Friday's comin'!:thumbsup:
