52°F and clear skies this morning, going up to 81° today.
We had another one of those "chamber of commerce" type weekends here; sunny and 70-ish all weekend. I took a vacation day Friday to have a class I trailer hitch installed on my car for the pending kayak trailer. I arrived at the trailer dealer at 09:00 and sat in their lobby for about an hour before someone came out to tell me that the hitch they'd ordered wouldn't fit my car.
They took me back into their shop and showed me the pollution filter that is mounted to the frame to the left of the gas tank ... right where the hitch needs to connect to the frame. They suggested I contact the Kia dealership to see it they have one that will fit this model. Figures. Nothing normal seems to fit this particular trim package of the Kia Rio 5-door. Getting aggravating. I called the dealer when I got back home, and was told their service advisors were all busy, but I would get a call back "shortly." It never came. Guess I need to call them again today.
Wife and I did get out to repair the pergola shade that was damaged during one of the recent high winds.
Felt like a wasted vacation day.
Saturday was too windy to do much outside, and became an energy conservation day. We both kind of needed one of those anyway.
Got up Sunday morning and jumped right into it. After feeding the chickens, I started hauling cardboard to the burn pile. The slight breeze made for perfect burn conditions, adding just enough oxygen to nicely feed the fire. Before I could haul anything, though, I needed to air up one of the cart tires. Hooked it to the rider and pulled it from the barn up to the garage. It wasn't taking air, and I saw that the bead was broken on one side. I took it off and tried a few things on the bench before remembering reading here some time ago that someone recommended using a ratchet strap to re-seat the bead. It worked! Thanks to whoever that was. Got the rest of the mowing done after that, then helped The Wife finish cleaning all the windows, as I have the "monkey arms" to get to the high stuff she can't easily reach. Fixed a couple of random broken things as well, and re-aligned the striker plate for the storm door on the front door, which has been giving us fits for far too long. Now, it opend, closes, and locks with just two fingers ... instead of the previous lifting, grunting, growling, and cursing.
I drove into Highland to the police department to buy a couple of 1-year boat permits for Silver Lake. The police department is the alternate location for those when city hall is closed on weekends and holidays. Then, she wanted to try a dry run on loading the kayaks on the new top racks for her car. It took a couple of tries before we figured out the best approach, but finally figured it out. I asked her if she wanted to take them somewhere, but it was starting to get too late. So, we carried mine out to the pond, slid it in, and took a couple of laps around it. We finally got one of them wet. This was my first time in (on) a kayak, and I have to say the balance is definitely different than a canoe. Going to be a fun summer.
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Drew, I download the pics I use here and elsewhere online onto a computer, then open them with either Windows Image Editor (work computer) or Windows Paint (home computer) and reduce the size with them. I see there have been a bunch of other options offered here as well.
Rich, one of the benefits of being a Quality Manager is that no one expects me to offer anything that is sugar coated. When they want the unvarnished truth, they come to me. When they don't, they avoid me. I've always liked what I do, but that may be one of the biggest benefits of this job.
Nice-looking new truck, Lou. Congrats.
Happy Anniversary, Mr & Mrs BEF. Quite the accomplishment.
Those are some seriously nice views, Eric. You picked a fantastic place.
Lite
