TGIF!

 I am really happy it is Friday. With the "error" in scheduling this week, and having to push my paracentesis to Friday ... Let's just say I am ready to be popped and drained. I would not be surprised if they take 10L (max allowed to drain per Dr. orders) and there is still a couple left in there. Well, it will have to sit another couple weeks, and I couldn't get an appointment set up before that. My abdomen is just so distended, and the muscles around it are getting sore from all the extra weight and proportions. I cannot wait for 1pm to get here.

Slept good last night again. The smart ring says I only woke twice (bathrooms calls) and I slept just under 7 hours. I woke when the alarm went off, and the Youngest was just outside the bedroom door. Seems he picked today to do the battery thing. HE already had it out, so we went up and of course it is dead. So they couldn't test it. Well, I said we'd be back about 9am and see where it tests. I have a feeling I am buying a battery this morning. I priced them, for his car. I remember back when I was paying around $100 for a battery. Now, the cheapest they carry is $260. Not happy, but what am I to do?

Still no word regarding the Riders Convention, that my Post is hosting supposedly. What a mess up. I admit, I am stressing a little about it. That, and when details do come around, I have so many questions. At least I finally will be able to network a little with some of the chapters, and contacts for their Secretaries, to ask questions of. 

Tomorrow is the 1 year birthday of my grandson, Doc. They are doing a little pool party for him, and we plan on going for a little bit. Their apartment is sorta small, so having a large group of people is cramping it up. I think RM even said she would stop by for a bit. I hope so. RM offered up some shorts she had gotten that may fit me, PLUS she bought some Pickle Crack hot sauce, and a thing of pickle salsa just for me. The hot sauce I have had before but not the pickle salsa. I love pickle de gallo, but sometimes it is hard to find in the valley. I think my regular grocery does not carry that type, but do have that brand of pickles. Maybe it was Sprout's I saw it at ...

Aside from the car battery stuff, and my paracentesis ... I ain't doing nothing today. I know I will be wanting to be still after the draining. 

And that's all I got this morning ...

PeacE

Tuesday Morning Heat

 I'm sweating pretty profusely right now. Mostly because I just came in from outside, where I was watering the grass this morning. Is it hot out? I didn't check the temperature on my phone, but I m sure it has to be in the 90's already. Probably looking at near 110, though hopefully not over that temp. I'm probably sweating a little more than usual since I am fat and out of physical shape. Being out of work since March has taken its toll, though there are/were other ways to work on staying somewhat in better shape. I'm lazy, and I have no fear admitting it.

Other than that, welcome to Tuesday. Again nothing on the plans for the day. I may check with the middle Son to see if he would drop me off at the pub this afternoon, with a stop at the store enroute. There are a few things I would like to get there, and I could just send them home with him. Will have to check with him, since he just got up. I know we need to check the fluids in his car this morning. the check engine light came on for him the other day, and since he says everything seems to be running fine, we would check fluids, and maybe wait a day or two to see if it was just a bad sensor reading. I hope it is.

Other than that not much to talk about.

PeacE

Is That A Light Up Ahead?

 This past weekend left me feeling like I was walking into a tunnel, with no end in sight. I was frustrated, stressed, disappointed, and I am sure many other emotions of that nature. Despair? Prolly that, too. So many things just feeling "heaped" upon me at once, even though some of them have just "been there" for awhile, and the accumulation of multiples make it all just so much. Sigh.

Monday I took Middle Son for his road test for his license. He failed it. "Failure to stay at a complete stop for two seconds at two separate stops" was the reason cited for the failure. I kept my cool, and kept my mouth shut. We were able to schedule an appointment for a second road test for the next morning. On the way home, Son tells me he is sorry that he failed the test, and how much he is mad at himself for such a stupid reason to have failed said test. I sighed. I told him, that there is no where in the driver's manual that states you have to stay at a complete stop for two seconds. The Test Grader was evidently having a bad day, and wanted to be a prick and you just happened to be the one he took it out on. You do the test tomorrow, and everything will be fine. It is NOT your fault.

Tuesday we go in, and hey! some good news! The fee I paid the day before for the test and license ($25) does NOT need to be paid again. The application process doesn't have to be repeated. We were able to pretty much skip right to the test. Then I started worrying. He had a different tester, and was out much longer than the day before. I know they say to allow up to 30 minutes for the road test, but c'mon! Eventually, they made it back (about 15 mins total) and he re-entered with a thumbs up sign. Five minutes later we were on our way home. So Son now has his license.

I emailed my buddy J, who is my insurance agent, attorney, best friend, list goes on and on - emailed him the paper license to get Son on the insurance. Also drop the Charger that died last weekend. Also increase the coverage limits to the new State minimums. All said and done, my insurance went up $150 a month. Sigh.

I told the Son he was able to drive solo now. Which means his biggest priority (he admitted) was to find employment. He has a couple good leads he is going to follow up on at some point. hope he has better luck than I have had. Maybe being younger with no experience is better than being near 50 and so much experience no one wants to hire because of how much I would ask for....ARGH!

Speaking of nearing 50, my birthday is this Sunday. The Daughter and family is coming into town. The Oldest Son was able to get Saturday off work. We will actually be able to go have a full family dinner that night. Sunday I am sure I will end up at the pub doing some celebrating with friends. And no, it is not 50 this year.

PeacE

Edit: Since this morning, my insurance agent has contacted me. Found a policy that is at what I pay now, saving me $160/month from what the new one was going to be. While I was talking to him, I got an email in from the company I have trying to get on at, saying there is a project starting tomorrow and I will find out later this afternoon if I make the cut (and training is provided). Maybe something is looking good.

Frustration Level: Maximum

 Today started out nice. Slept in for a bit. Wife ran out and got some croissan'wiches from Burger King for breakfast. Drove out to RM's and took her to lunch a t a nice little cafe. Food was tasty (I had a Philly Cheesesteak and fries) in good proportions, for a real good price. We had a nice time catching up somewhat.

Then everything went hell in a hand basket. Driving home, my car starts overheating. I am only a mile from the shop that does our car repairs, so I drop it off, explaining I just had it in within the last two weeks for a coolant leak, that was fixed... what now? Having not made an appointment, I knew I could wait as long as Tuesday before they could find time to look at it. So I will be without a car for a few days I figure.

About an hour later I got a call from the shop. They were able to get it in and do the pressure test on the coolant system. Results are a cracked engine block. No bueno. We are talking engine replacement, and that is not happening. I have had this car barely a year, bought for $2300 and I've spent at least that much in miscellaneous repairs/tires/rims. No way am I spending $5K+ for an engine replacement.

So now I need to find a vehicle. But I need the money to get said vehicle. I could (and probably will try) to sell this one.... for parts or something. Tires and rims at least... I don't know. It wouldn't be enough to get another car. And I don't want to finance a vehicle.

I'm frustrated. It feels like I can't even go a week without something going wrong, or costing a fortune.

PeacE

Sometimes, I Just Don't Get It

 Yesterday was a pain in my backside. Wednesday, like I posted, got the Middle Son "trained" up how to parallel park. Spent time off and on all afternoon calling the DMV to try to set up an appointment for his road test. "Due to high volume of calls" I could not get through, and the recorded message kept saying to try back at another time. I thought, well, even with all the COVID crap going on, maybe we could just show up at the DMV office and if not do the test then, get an appointment set. I was tired of trying to call.

So yesterday that is what we did. Or rather tried to do. Drove to the location nearest us, and walked in. Then instantly stopped. They were not letting anyone in without an appointment. I explained how I had tried calling many times previously the day before with no luck even getting in a waiting queue. They -didn't care. All they could suggest was trying again starting at 7:59am (they open at 8). Really. So we headed back home. Both of us were feeling pretty frustrated regarding the issues trying to get this done.

Back home, about twenty minutes go by, I decide I will try to call. I already had told Son that he needs to also be trying to call off and on through the day to help get this done. On the first try, I made it into the waiting queue. Ended up on hold for almost an hour, and once someone was on the line, had an appointment for Monday 8:30am for his road test. Setting the appointment took less than 5 minutes. So basically a day and a half wasted trying to set this appointment. Government at its best. Sigh.

Good part is, we can move forward on this journey. Monday he'll pass the test, get his license. I'll be spending money adding him to the insurance policy, with raising the coverage limits per some new AZ law passed this past July. At least we already have a car for him, and don't have to try to find funds or a vehicle for him. I'm just mentally tired from this journey ... and so many other things this year, with the limitations that have been in place due to "everything".

My buddy J had called me mid-afternoon yesterday, mentioning that our favorite pub was re-opening. I guess they fell in the 'moderate' range in the business re-opening guidelines that the AZ government had set. My buddy was planning to be up there around 5, and asked if I was going. I had not heard about them opening, so I said I wasn't sure, but a short while after getting off the phone, I decided to go. I went to leave home, and my car wouldn't start.

I had just had it in this last week for the coolant leak. I had driven it Wednesday night with no issues. Thursday afternoon it would crank, but not catch - like it wasn't getting gas, or the spark plugs weren't firing. I tried for around 10 minutes with no luck. I did an Uber up to the pub, and knew I would be spending today dealing with the car. I walked out this morning, gave it a couple cranks, and it started. First couple times was like it was trying to get some gas, and by the third try, it caught. I turned it off and restarted it a a handful of times, checking to be sure it wasn't a fluke. Everything seems ok. I was worried that I would be calling a tow service to take it up the road to the car shop to have them look at it again.... and possibly being without a vehicle through the weekend. Would have to call RM and reschedule our lunch. But things seemingly have worked out that it is not an issue.

Just feels weird that I "apply" myself to getting something done, and nothing works right.... then BAM! after I give up, everything "falls into place". I wish this worked more often this way. I'd be working by now. the other house would be sold. I'd have the nicest looking yard in the neighborhood and people would drive by jealous of our nice cars. Okay. I was daydreaming a little there.....

It's Friday. I think I am going to go to the pub today for a bit. See some more friends. Read a bit more from my books. I'm at 127 of my 175 goal for the year, so am a bit ahead of schedule. Tomorrow I found a place near RM for lunch we will try. It'll be a first for her (I hope) as it is near her house, that maybe could be a place they can go to. Either way it will be nice to have some one on one time with Mom.

That's all I got today. hopefully nothing else will go wrong today.

PeacE

End of Week

 Friday is here. I am actually feeling decent about the end of the week.

Let's start with the Wife's tire problem. took the tire up Wednesday morning about 10:30, went back around 1 and it still wasn't done. No message/text so went back at 4:30 - still not done, but they had determined it had a sidewall tear/hole so a replacement was needed as they couldn't repair it. Why didn't they call? I have no clue.... So bought a new tire. Being transferred in from another location ( I think I wrote this before?). By 3pm Thursday, I still have not gotten a text/message saying it was done. Again, at 4:30 went up and they had not completed it yet. I explained my dissatisfaction with the assistant manager, and all I got as an excuse is " We are short three people today". I said I understood, but almost two full business days, for a tire that wasn't even being removed/replaced on the vehicle, was left for service, was a bit of bad business. no I did not get a discount. I did not receive future discounts (though I have been a loyal customer for 20+ years)...all I got was "I'm sorry" and waited another 20 minutes before they had it done. At least I have it now.

Picked up some new wiper blades for the middle Son's car, and an A/C charge kit. Headed home. Was going to do the tire thing on the Wife's van, but a thunderstorm moved in (we needed it!) and I wasn't doing that in the lightning. Got up at 5:30am today to do the tire change. Ran my car up ti the garage at 7am. Had the Son drive me back up at 8am when they so I could drop off the key and explain the issues. Before 9am, they called. Was a pressure relief valve in the coolant system, and was only going to cost me around $666 (heavenly number?) to fix, so I okayed it. By 9:30am they called and it was done. I'll end up getting an Uber up there this afternoon (three miles away) as no one else available to give me a ride there.

So, car issues done. Less than 1K spent. Better week than it was looking. Only thing left is to charge the A/C in the Son's car.

PeacE

So Not Happy

 This last week has not been fun.

Last Thursday we had gone to RM's for dinner. It isn't far to their new place... maybe 10+plus miles... and dinner was fine. On the way home, we had taken my car, and it started to 'overheat'. nothing dangerous, just temp gauge jumped up, never into the red, but higher than what is good. I have a Charger, and they are known (as well as the Magnums, which I had before) to have issues about the coolant, and being sensitive. I wasn't overly worried, thinking it had been a month plus since I had last checked levels, and in summer her in AZ, you should check more frequently, especially the coolant. I waited a day or two, as I had no driving to do, before checking it. Coolant was low, I couldn't find a leak anywhere, so topped off the coolant, and life went on. Tuesday, the Wife had a flat just a couple miles from her work. I had to drive out to help change it, and on the way back, again I started to overheat. I made it home, but drove most of the way home with windows down, heater on HOT and full fan blowing. Rather warm considering we broke another heat record that day. Now I have a couple spots of "standing fluid" on the engine. I topped off coolant, unable to find a leak still yesterday, and drove it up to Discount Tire (about 2.5 miles away) and coming home it started overheating again. So now am scheduling an appointment where we take our vehicles in for work. I'm guessing it is going to be a leak at the water pump (which is hard to see) and will cost around $1400 to fix (was last time on my Magnum). Sigh.

So, the Wife's tire... ran it up to Discount at around 10am. Dropped it off, said I would come back in a couple hours or so, so they could have time to just work it in. Was to be a plug/fix if possible, if not call me and we will set up to replace. Wife is at work driving on that donut spare. A short while later I get an email saying there is no charge, and the work completion on the tire is set for about 12:30. Around 1'ish I head back up, and come to find out they have not even looked at it yet, I showed them the email, the manager apologizes, and says it will be done by end of day. No biggee, I don't live far. I go home (this is when car overheated again). Before I get home I get a phone notification of email, was Discount again saying a no charge fee for fix, and completion time was now changed to 6:30pm (they close at 6pm - WTF?). At 4:30, I have the Middle Son drive me up in his car, and the tire is "just now" in the shop. They check it, turns out it is a sidewall damage and cannot be repaired, so had to get a new tire (another $156 out the window) and of course, they have none in stock.... and only 1 available from another location locally. Yadda Yadda, can have it there and done by mid-afternoon today. Supposedly. Theoretically. Hopefully.

No updates on the job situation.

Thankfully that economic check finally came, because it is disappearing fast now.

I just got finished reading RM's blog this morning that she posted yesterday. She and PT had gone "up north" for a few days for their anniversary. I guess this will not be going down as one of the better trips. As we all age, we tend to slowly lose the full use of some of our abilities, and I think PT has finally gotten to the point that it is time to remove the ability to drive from his list of things he can do. RM had mentioned there were a few instances on the whole trip that his driving could have put them in danger, or worse, someone else. Back in early July, when RM was moving, I remember spending some time with Sis, and we had a brief talk about when this day would come, and I was informed it is my duty to take PT's keys from him, as she was not getting involved in that one. I guess I need to talk to RM, and decide what might be the best way to do this, and soon. Sigh. Joy, oh Joy.

Deep breath. As I am sure RM will say someone said this all the time... This too shall pass...

PeacE

Plodding Along

Only Tuesday and had an expensive week already. Youngest Son broke the ulna and radius below hiw wrist yesterday in PE class. ER trip took most of the afternoon, and a orthopedic appointment tomorrow morning to have a cast put on. Took my car into the shop today. It was "chugging" that just started the other day. Turns out a tune-up and coil clean up was needed. Getting ready to go pick it up here shortly.

Still waiting to hear about any jobs.

PeacE

Some Weeks Just Suck

I had barely started work when Sis texted me that my Grandpa had passed that morning. Great start to a Monday. I am mixed with emotions even now as to what I should be feeling. Sad, obviously as a bit of grieving is in order. Happy, because he has moved on to be with Dad, Grandma, and Uncle Earl, plus the stress the uncles were under in with him at the retirement manor, managing things, etc. Needless to say, I was not planning on flying back to Indiana for the funeral, which is this weekend. Sis and Stuman are going.

Of course, today is Tuesday, and let's throw another zinger my way! Tonight on the way home from work, my check engine light came on, flashing. Felt a stuttering-type through the car (I was on the highway doing 60'ish). For a few miles I debated pulling over and shutting it off, but was worried if I did, I would not be able to re-start the car. So, may not have been the brightest thing, but I exited the freeway and took surface streets headed to my area of town. At red lights I had to shift into neutral due to some rough idling. Plus every time I accelerated, the flashing engine light would pop back on, but go off when decelerating, or at a stop. I took it ton the local Pep Boys, as they did the last work I had done (water pump). Their mechanics had just left for the day (yeah... just left) and they couldn't/wouldn't look at it until 7am tomorrow. So I had to leave it. Good thing Oldest son was able to pick me up and get me home.

Once home, I probably did another not so smart thing. I looked up on the internet what could be some possible issues with the flashing check engine light... and I was amazed at the array of issues. From carbon build-up in the cylinders, to mis-firing cylinders, catalytic issues, O2 sensor issues, lose connections in the injectors/wire/plugs, bad plugs, and of course stories about having to remove the heads and .... Now I feel more worried. And I have to take a personal day as I have no way to work tomorrow....

Here's an update with some good .... Boss just called me. He can get me to work, and either get me home, or can catch a ride with the parts driver (my old job). So now I don't have to waste a day not going to work.

Now if I could quit worrying about the car, ease the grief of losing a buddy and a Grandpa, and just chill tonight... that would be great

PeacE