6/12/06

I did squat over the weekend. Friday, John Ullom called to see if we could do the Maxine sale that evening rather than on Saturday. I said we could so I went to the shop after eating dinner. He called around 2045 to say he might not make it until almost 2200 when the gates lock. I called Marty Smith to ask if he would be home to let us out and he said we’d be able to leave but not get back in. I called John back to say, “Come on down!” He and the wife arrived at about 2145 and began to look Maxine over. He was in and gave me a deposit. I handed the keys over and he was on his way. I'm a little sad to see her go again, but she’s still in the family. What’s really going to bug me if and when I get her back is the fact that John is a smoker. Oh well. Before he arrived I began looking at the ignition switch situation in George again. I looked in the junkyard 1200 out back and saw that the ignition switch was still in it but had been removed at some point in history. How did I know this? The “security” bolts, the heads of which break off when tightened, had been replaced by regular screws. I took a Phillips head screwdriver and removed it. Inside the shop I disassembled it in an attempt to remove the tumblers. I had no luck. I did have luck with the fact that one of the keys in the shop actually worked the lock though! I played with it for quite some time to make sure it wasn’t a fluke and finally installed it in the car. I tried it a few more times once installed and found it to work. You have to get the key just right in the lock and it will turn. Once in the “run” position, you have to push in just a hair more to turn to the “start” position. I think I'll get the hang of it eventually. John showed up, as I said before, and we began that transaction. I headed home after that and went to bed. Saturday morning my brother from Garland was coming over so I went ahead and hung out at the house. He showed up and worked on mom’s computer for a bit. We went to lunch and then all took naps once we got back. I decided I wanted to go get the Seven so I headed to the shop. I stopped off at O’Reilly’s and bought some ducting to route cool air to my feet. Once at the shop I decided that I didn’t want to remove the nose to fit the duct and installed the heat shield I had built before. I changed shoes and locked up the shop then headed out. I took off down towards the Motorsport Ranch but went to FM 5 instead. The heat shield seemed to do the trick. My feet were much cooler than they have been in the past. I did my hooning and headed for the house. I kept an eye on the temperature gauge the whole time because this was the hottest day yet for the car. The needle fluctuated slightly from a low of 190 to a high of about 200 degrees. Most of the time it was right on 195 degrees. Long periods of running on the freeway, 3,000 RPM or so, would cause it to creep up above the 195 mark but slowing down to below 2,500 RPM for a bit would cool it back down. The only time it got much above the 195 mark, up to what I'd guess was about 200 degrees, was when I really got in the gas for an acceleration run up onto 377. I think the cooling system is adequate. I got to the house to find a package from Amazon. It was the DVD collections of the BBC programs “Father Ted” and “Coupling” that I had ordered. I wasted the rest of Saturday watching a “Father Ted” marathon. Sunday morning I finished watching the final season of FT and took the Seven back to the shop. Oh wait, it was Sunday that I did all the hooning while watching the temp gauge. Saturday’s hoon was just a hoon. I did keep an eye on it, and I'll probably continue to do so, but I didn’t obsess about it like I did Sunday. Once I parked the car and drank some water, I decided I didn’t really want to work on anything so I went home again. I slept through some special features and interviews and such on the FT DVD then mom and I went to Taco Bueno for dinner. My cousin, first cousin once removed because she is my mom’s cousin actually, Teddie is coming to town and we’re all supposed to go to dinner tonight. Aunt Margaret will probably suggest Taco Bueno since she almost always does. I suppose I could eat there again tonight. I guess it depends on what I have for lunch today. Speaking of which, it is a quarter to noon. I think I'll shut down and go have some grub. I'm back, but I really don’t have anything to add. I'm not even sure why I came back. In fact, bye.