11/19/07

I got jack done on any of my cars over the weekend. My brother from Garland had the tailgate stolen off of his F-150 some time ago and I mentioned it to John the other night. I asked if his place had one and he said he’d check. They did but it was rough. He found a few more locally and sent me the phone numbers. I forwarded said numbers to my brother. He replied that he had bought one of the gates and wanted to know if I could pick it up for him. I cut out early on Friday and did that. Mom told him I had the gate so he came by on Saturday with Peggy, his granddaughter. Her name is actually Margaret but I call her Peggy 1) because somehow that is a nickname for Margaret and B) it might just annoy her parents in the long run. He and I installed the gate and I showed him where I was thinking of building the shop on the side of the house. He seemed happy with the idea. Peggy picked up some pecans from the yard, as kids are wont to, and then we went inside. Mom had spoken to our sister Linda and told us we were all invited to Granbury for the day. They decided that would be the place to spend the day but I said I needed to go to the shop and get Pat’s wheels off of Marty. Oh yeah, I did get something done now that I think about it. I'll get there in a bit though. Ok, before Bruce, that would be my brother, and Peggy arrived, mom and I tried the dishwasher to see if it worked. It did not. Well, it did but it wouldn’t pump the water out after it was done and therefore would fill up and flow out into the floor. We didn’t want that so while Bruce, Peggy, and I were outside, she called an appliance store to see if they could install a new unit before Thursday if she bought today, today being Saturday incidentally. They said they could so we piled into Bruce’s truck and went to the store. Mom picked a suitable unit and they did the transaction. I meanwhile looked at refrigerators to “match” the new dishwasher. We’re slowly getting rid of all the “Avocado Green” appliances and replacing them with black. It is very nouveaux. Anyhoo, I found a few I liked but we won’t be doing that anytime soon. Mom saw a cook-top/range unit we both liked and said she might do that before the end of the year. We all piled back into the truck and went to Spring Creek for some barbecue. They dropped me off at the house and I headed to the shop in Matilda. Pat called to see what my status was and I said I was on my way. We swapped the “new” wheels onto Marty and loaded Pat’s wheels into the back of his truck. Gregg showed up with his kid and we all stood around chatting for a while. Pat rolled his roadster out but decided against changing wheels after all. We all stood around for a bit more then went our separate ways. I, once again, didn’t change the oil in Matilda. I spent the evening drawing up my “plans” for the shop on the side of the house. I have a couple ideas that I think I like. I'll discuss it more with Gregg and see what we’re going to actually do. Sunday morning I went to the Cat’s baseball stadium parking lot for an autocross. Pat was going to co-drive with Tony in the Stalker. I saw Bernie Long and chatted with him for a while before finding Pat and Tony. Gregg showed up, again with the kid in tow, and we watched some cars run. Gregg left and the first session ended. Pat and Tony didn’t have to work corners until the third session so we piled into Fifi and found a taco stand for lunch. Pat bought and it was quite tasty. I had one of those Jalisco drinks, pineapple I believe, along with my three flour tortilla tacos. We headed back and watched the last of the group two runs before they were called to work their corners. I hung out for a bit to see a few specific cars run. One was an Elise, I really want an Elise. Another was an early eighties Celica convertible and the third was a Porsche 914-6, probably not a real one though. Once I had seen all of them run I headed home. Oh, Marty Smith showed up and asked if I was going to the shop later. He has bought an SR-20 from someone and wanted help unloading it. I said I'd call when I was on my way. As I left the autocross though, my eyes were drooping. I went home to take a nap. Two hours later, at around 1600 h, I called Marty to say I was on my way. “I already got it,” he said. I decided to forego the shop after all. I wasted the evening, as usual, in front of the TV and now I'm back at work. So there you have it. And now I'm going to lunch! Toodles.