12/29/14

Well, I have had an interesting couple of days since we last “spoke.”  Last Monday I was dangerously low on fuel in Fiona.  In fact I had enough when I got home to get about halfway to work on Tuesday.  Keep that little factoid in mind in a bit because the irony of it is… ironic.  Mom volunteered to fill the tank at Sam’s when we went to dinner.  I drove very cautiously to the gas station and as I was coming off the clover-leaf from I-30 onto 183, the car stumbled a little.  “Oh shit!” I thought and sweated out the rest of the drive.  I caught two red lights and worried the whole time we sat at them.  We made it to the pump and I filled her up.  Whew!  We went to dinner then home.  Tuesday morning I hopped in the car and headed to work as usual.  About halfway there (remember the irony?) it began to lose power… much like running out of gas.  I limped to the shoulder and stopped with the hazard flashers going.  The car idled fine but foot-to-the –floor only revved the engine to 1,500 RPM.  I called AAA and sat waiting for a tow truck. I called folks at work to make sure things were covered and said I’d be in when I could.  I called mom and arranged for her to meet me at the Hyundai dealer.  The tow truck arrived and I had him take me to there where I left it with the service department.  I dropped mom off at home and took her car into work.  I was only about two and a half hours late.  The dealer called later to say that the throttle body was dead and that they would have to order a new one… and with it being the holidays, he wasn’t sure how soon that would be.  I shrugged it off as, “It is what it is.”  Christmas Eve I had mom drop me off at the shop thinking I would do a few more things to Scooby Two and drive it to work Friday… and this week… and until they fix Fiona.  I installed a filter on the passenger side valve cover vent… and probably something else which I don’t remember.  John and I went to lunch and ran a few other errands and then I headed home.  I’d promised mom that I wouldn’t stay at the shop all day… hell, I wasn’t even going to go at all until Fiona crapped out!  So, I drove Scooby Two home and was quite pleased with its performance… that really should be in quotes because performance is definitely NOT what that car has!  What it did was drive nice and smooth, with little road and/or wind noise, at 60-65 miles per hour all the way home with nary a hiccough.  Christmas day mom and I picked up Nadine to go to Granbury for lunch at my sister’s.  Y’all may remember the name “Nadine” as the lady from the church who “gave” me that 1958 Triumph TR-3… the one I sold without telling her… she who I have been avoiding for the last few years.  Yeah, that Nadine.  I was a bit concerned that I was going to have to ‘fess up.  I did.  Somehow the conversation turned to Scotland and she mentioned that she and her mother went there when they went to pick up the TR.  “I guess that’s still in your garage then?” she asked.  Mom and I both said something to the effect of, “Well, there’s a story about that.”  I told her that last year, when we were forced out of the old shop, I had to down-size.  I went on to say that, after much soul-searching, I decided that the car deserved a proper restoration.  I said I found a member of the local Triumph club who bought it and is now restoring it in Flower Mound.  Nadine seemed ok with that so the subject was dropped.  When there was a lull in the conversation, I noticed that the wind and road noise in mom’s Lincoln was much louder than in Scooby Two.  I laughed at that internally.  Friday morning I drove Scooby Two to work and parked in the horseshoe drive out front since I knew I would be cutting out VERY early to meet mom, my brother, and two nieces at El Fenix for lunch.  Larry saw the car and was… well, he saw the car.  I talked to one or two others about it as well.  It seemed to make a positive impression.  I did a little “work” at my desk and watched “Basket Case” on DVD.  At around 1100 h I took off to meet the family at El Fenix.  After lunch, on the way home, I pulled up to a four-way stop with a Benbrook cop to my right who was turning left.  He rolled in front of me and I pulled through the intersection.  I watched as he started up the hill… and turned around.  He pulled me over in the Baptist church parking lot where I had my license, CHL, insurance card, title, and title transfer paperwork ready.  I ‘splained that I had been waiting until payday to transfer the title and get the inspection but the car was forced into service when my daily driver went into… um, service.  He hemmed and hawed a bit and when I suggested that I could go immediately to the Iffy Lube and get the inspection, he relented and let me go.  I went to Iffy Lube!  The car passed the inspection without a hitch and I was on my merry way.  Today I am going to cut out of work early and go get the license… I promise!  Saturday neither John or I wanted to work on anything at the shop so I suggested we go have the Supertrapp muffler I had removed from Lil' Wiggly installed.  This we did.  The car now has the “Boxer Rumble” but it is not loud at all.  I’m pleased with it.  Sunday I took the Mosin Nagant to the gun show to see if I could sell it in order to buy a bolt-action rifle in 5.56x45/.223 Remington.  I had one guy on the hook to buy it buy the ATM wouldn’t give him any money.  I had another offer me a low-ball price which, in hind sight, I should have taken.  I found the exact rifle I want and could probably have bought it with the cash I had and the low-ball money.  But, like a dumbass, I didn’t do it.  Now I’m kicking myself about it.  Oh well, maybe it will be there at the next show.  We’ll see.  This morning I gave Scooby Two a full ten minutes to warm up before heading out and it seemed to be very happy about that.  So I have ordered an inline heater which goes in the lower radiator hose so I might be able to shorten that warmup time.  We’ll see.  Well, since I doubt there will be anything new between now and tomorrow, this is going to be the last rant of the year.  Talk to y’all again in 2015!