Good Morning! 53F @ 8:15AM. Partly cloudy this morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers this afternoon. High 59F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Spent a good part of yesterday cleaning house in preparation for the wrenching weekend Saturday and Sunday. Will probably do the same this morning. Also spent time looking for a Benchmade pocket knife that went MIA when I was cleaning up the rascally bender board while dodging rain showers Monday. i was using it to clean out the Philips heads on the screws so I could remove them from the boards, and think I may have left it in the dump bed of the RTV. Somewhere between the house and the final resting place of the 'boards I think I'll find my knife. I've walked it twice, and even got out the Harbor Freight metal detector and walked it again while sweeping. I know the detector works 'cause I found a big nail in the trail. I was happy to find it with the detector rather than with a tractor tire, but I also miss that knife. Went to the Benchmade web site and couldn't find one like it to order as a replacement, but did have some fun with their custom design tool and ordered one I think I'll like better. Even got a zebra print on the M4 blade...:laughing:
Also cut a chunk of foam off the 4x8 sheet I got at Home Depot to mock up the size of the stereo head unit I want for the van. Used it with the instrument cover to see if the head unit will fit and not drop too far down below the dash or extend too far back where it will hit the brake master cylinder. So now the plan is to either cut down a second instrument cover and mate it to the real one so there will be two sitting side-by-side on the dash, or make a custom one from fiberglass using more of the foam for a buck. I'm leaning more toward the custom one since the lines won't look right with the sawed off instrument cover, but a little Photoshopping today will help me decide.
I also learned this morning that the county has been planning to give CalFire the boot for more than a year, which is probably why I haven't heard back from my county supervisor when I emailed him yesterday to voice my concerns. I did hear back from both my state representative and senator, who say they'll be looking into the situation. Apparently the county thinks that they can take the money that they're paying CalFire and divert it into their general fund and not replace the services that CalFire had been providing. It's all been done on the down low, but now that word is out they're gonna get an ear full at next Tuesday's meeting. At least they're gonna get an ear full from me. It was CalFire that put a fire engine in my driveway last Labor Day when the Saddle Fire swept through here, destroying two homes directly across the canyon from me and burning to within a couple hundred feet of my place. A study I read this morning sez we're getting $50 million in firefighting and emergency response resources for $15 million a year, better than any deal the county can come up with on their own with any savings from a DIY plan. Might be time for some house cleaning on the board of supervisors come next election time, too.
Happy Hump Day, everyone!
