The kids and I drove over to Tuscumbia today to have lunch with my Dad. It was originally Terry's idea but we decided we should invade her plans.

On the way out of HSV I stopped to fill up the Charger. (Jordan pumped the gas.) Using mild hyper-mile-ing techniques I managed to achieve 25.5 MPG on the way to Tuscumbia. The original sticker listed the car as 18/25 so 25.5 was pretty good. Unfortunately the trip to lunch and then a short side journey dropped the average below 20. I did manage to get the trip average back up to 23.2 by the time I returned home though.

The side journey I mentioned was a quick trip out to Cane Creek Canyon Preserve for a short hike. Unfortunately everyone did not have good sensible shoes for hiking so we had to cut it short. We did get to see the water fall though so all was not lost.

This One Goes to Eleven

Yesterday was Jordan's Birthday. The big eleven. He missed the last day of school as we had previously made plans before they scheduled the makeup day.

I started his day with a couple of plate size pancakes smoothered in buter and syrup. His grandmother took him (and his seester) to lunch and a movie and then last night we had pizza and a chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate icing. He got several cards in the mail and has requested a trip to Wal-Mart and Best Buy in order to acquire some new stuff. Perhaps we will make a run to Wally-World tomorrow.

He seems to be settling into eleven just fine. Only four mores years until he gets a drivers permit. Amazing.

Jordan just asked me a tough question.

"Why is Iraq spelled with a 'Q'."

"But not a 'U'."

"Because isn't 'Q' always supposed to be followed by 'U'."

I didn't have an answer for him so we blogged about it instead.

Weekend Update

We had a busy weekend. For starters we had a most special guest. OK, it was just Terry. The kids were thrilled to see her.

Friday we saw the Narnia movie.

Saturday morning I hit a car show in Decatur at the annual balloon festival. Many nice cars, too hot for me though. After the show, I went to my mothers house were we had a birthday party. The part was to celebrate her, Terry's, and Jordan's birthdays. Speaking of which, today is Jordan's birthday. Terry bought him an MP3 player for his birthday. He has been plugged in ever since.

Sunday. Hmm. Can't recall a clue about Sunday.

Monday we saw the Indiana Jones movie. And I ordered a clutch kit for the Miata. Little Beth and David came over for dinner. And Brian is working on rebuilding the carburetor on his 1966 Mustang. Once it is complete, he is going to finally give in and sell it to G.

This morning I put another coat of paint on the trailing arms of the GMC truck. I haven't touched them in months. Once the Miata clutch is complete, I will probably finally get around to rebuilding the GMC's differential.

Time for school.

I could certainly get use to four day weekends. Today's plans is nothing. Now let me catch you up on the last few days.

I started Friday by rotating the tires on the Charger (7500 miles). I had to replace a few lugs on the front tire. They were deformed and I couldn't get the proper size wrench on them. This was the first tire rotation for the car, but I have had two flats already. My theory on the lugs is that someone had applied the wrong size socket to those lugs using an air gun. Gotta love that.

A simple tire rotation ended up taking almost two hours. That included a parts run for lugs.

Once that was complete, I met G', Bri, and David M. for lunch before heading back home to start work on changing the Miata's timing belt. David parked his Miata nose to nose with mine and we got to work. His car is a 92 with the 1.6L; mine is a 95 with the 1.8L. At first glance they are very similar but as things progress one really starts to notice the differences: Air box, thermostat housing, alternator brackets.

After a few hours I had to call it quits for the day. I estimated we were 30% done, David thought we were closer to 50%. At this point I had drained and removed, the radiator, removed the dual electric fans, the valve cover, the three plates covering the timing belt.

Next up for the day was helping Beth lock up her new house. She needed all the locks changed. First we went to the house to inventory what we needed. Next we dropped David off at his house. He was at our mercy for a lift since he no longer has a functional Miata. Step three involved finding a set of door knobs and dead bolts that matched the others in the house. We managed to find three out of four sets with matching keys. The key dude had already left for the day so she would need to make a return trip to get the remaining set to match the first three. This expedition ended with me be dropped off at home so that Beth could go pick up her son. Yes, his name is David also.

After grabbing a couple of tools, G' and I headed over to Beth's new house. The goal for today was not to replace all the locks, but simply to replace all the dead bolts. This would be good enough for now, because Ginger and I had other plans, we were going out to dinner at Bone Fish Grill.

Saturday morning David and I planned to start working on the Miatas at 7:30 AM. At about 6:30 AM I was in the getting a head start. I called him a few minutes later to ask if he had a socket. I don't recall if it was a 20 or 21 MM socket, but I didn't have it nor did he.

Yes I called David at 6:30 AM. He is an early bird and there was no risk of waking him up. He was sitting on has back porch drinking coffee.

David hit HD, Lowes, and two parts stores before he found the socket we needed. Fortunately it was only $6.

The socket was required to remove the crankshaft bolt. Having the right tool sure makes the job easier. At this point I could described a misadventure involving removing the timing belt and chipping the timing belt sprocket but no good could come from that so I will omit it.

At 9:15 AM we closed up shop again. I was heading for Decatur for a car show and David had to take care of some stuff he had been volunteered to do. The plan was to open the shop back up at 1 or 2.

The car show was nice though a little warm. My neighbor Brian went with me. While a the car show I saw Ginger's Aunt and Uncle. I saw a 1966 VW Beetle that wanted to follow me home, but I had to leave it there.

By noon I was beat. And about that same time David phoned in to say he had been volunteered for even more stuff and would be able to return until 1 on Sunday. Good for me. I think I took a nap. Then I watched some F1 and re-read the instructions for changing the timing belt. And finally I made a trip to the parts store. I knew going in that I probably wouldn't be able to get the sprocket until Tuesday. Unfortunately it was worse than that. They couldn't get it, so now I have to wait until Tuesday and try the Miata dealership.

Sunday AM started early. Beth had dropped off the other lock on Saturday morning. I skipped Church to finish up lock smithing and then returned home to assembled a basket ball goal we got Jordan for his Birthday.

At one I re-opened the Garage. At two David showed up with reinforcements (Bryant). On a Miata the power steering pump has to be removed to swap out the water pump. On a 95 Miata, the alternator must also be disconnected.

My plan for today was to show David how difficult it was going to be to replace the water pump. I would eventually convince him it was not necessary and once he had had made this decision, I would then try to convince him how important it was to change the water pump. Mind games. Ha!

The water pump swap went smoothly. At this point there were a few things I could put back together but basically I am stuck until I get the sprocket. Best case for that is Tuesday.

David has a hose he needs to replace. The parts store was no help on this one either. He needs the OEM part also.

It is looking like neither car will be running again before next weekend.

Today's plan was to do nothing. Ginger thinks the broken sprinkler needs to be fixed. These two plans don't coexist very well. I guess I will look at the sprinkler in hopes of switching back to my plan ASAP.

Cast Iron

As I sat here watching Jordan play Star Wars Lego on the Nintendo, waiting for the Barrett-Jackson Auction to start on the Speed Channel, I decided to find something to read. I have grown bored with YouTube and Google Video, as well as MySpace.

I headed over to Mr-Miata as it was the first blog I had ever read, and my motivation for starting my own blog. I thought I would traverse some of his links.

At the top of his list of Miata blogs is one called Ain't Chicken. I wonder why they didn't use Ain't Skeerd. Must have been taken. Off we go.

Now this is something I can relate to. This person, is obsessing over a purchasing a toaster oven. I am all about obsessing over purchases. Finding what you want is the high point of shopping and the research is the thrill of the hunt. Now don't think I enjoy shopping for shopping's sake, but how can one not enjoy shopping for a new power tool kitchen appliance. (Isn't a kitchen appliance just a power tool for the kitchen?) I fondly recall getting my first blender and food processor, and I was all for it when we got a Kitchen Aid. It's like a mini-drill press for the kitchen, only without drill bits or mortising attachments. I digress. Perhaps someday I will tell you about when I made my first purchase of Tupperware, wooden spoons, a cutting board, tea glasses, or the year I bought myself Revereware stainless steel mixing bowls for Christmas ('92). (These things I will liken to hand tools, as that is pretty much what they are. Hand tools for the kitchen.) (Each purchase is it's own story.) The mixing bowls by the way are the perfect size for making Toll House cookies. I digress again. And I haven't even mentioned Amazon.com yet. But this post is about cast iron.

So over on Ain't Skeerd Chicken, Carol asks "Who needs new cast iron?" Why me of course.

Back in college, I decided it was time to learn how to fry okra. I know you are probably tired of reading about me frying okra, but I promise I want mention it again until this summer, after I finish up here.

To fry okra properly you need a few things. The primary ingredient is of course a cast iron skillet. I had no relatives dying off leaving me their cast iron, which is either a good thing or a bad thing depending upon how you look at it, so I obtained some new cast iron from Wal-Mart. A very sensible 8" skillet for frying okra and a nice 6" skillet for making cornbread just like dear old Dad. (I even used his recipe, verbally passed down a whole generation.) A few years later I got a more reasonable 10" Lodge skillet which allows for a larger batch of okra, or perhaps some chicken.

My first experience seasoning a skillet was less than optimal. It required some Crisco, and a little guess work on my part, but no cleavage. I seem to recall I set off the smoke alarm in my efficiency apartment. Glory days.

I think I just found the cure for blogger's block. Now you will have to excuse me as I resume my normal blog subject matter: a red Miata and an old rusty truck.

I never got a deviled egg tray, but then some things should be reserved for the girls.

I think the auction has started. Latter I need to head back over there and find out if "Ain't Chicken" refer's to dare devel stunts or the fried stuff.

Yesterday morning I had the opportunity to go to Jordan's school and watch him perform in a Thankgiving play. He nailed his lines. I have video evidence to prove. Don't make me.

Too much cold weather here. It was raining this morning, top up. At lunch we had a wet 45 degrees. Yesterday during lunch there was a heavy down pour. I think I am ready for summer again. Bring it on.