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%$(*#%#$@ Water Well.

Let me be clear. I have quite a vocabulary including "Colorful metaphors", but I don't have the words to describe how aggravated I am this morning.

It's cold, so I thought it would be a good idea to plug the heater tape in at the well. Let me describe the well. It is roughly a 7x7x7 concrete tomb buried in the ground at the highest point on my property. I drove the truck up, got turned around and climbed out to work on the well. The access hole is about 3x3. I wear a 54 jacket. Get the picture. I have to enter at an angle to fit. Yea I need to lose weight. So I get into the hole and start to plug the heat tape in. bzzzz, crackle, buzzz, pop, spark flying everywhere. I don't know why but somehow the heat tape unit shorted out the wires behind it. I was quickly running out of breath as the smoke filled my lungs. I could not get out quick enough to suite my needs. It has been about 2 hours now and I can just now get my breath back. Arg.

I hope the Well still works and it is just the heater. I called the local company that installed the heater tape. they said they would come out and check it out. I filled a 18 gallon tote up for the family so that if the well was not working they would have water for sanitary things.

Someone just wants to see how much I can take before I snap. It is a cruel joke but I hope they are impressed.

Yea, It's cold.

Welcome to winter. I went to bed with a warm 14-16 degrees outside. Got up this morning to a bone chilling 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Brrrr. I just started the truck. hopefully it will be warm when I drive to work.

I don't see the cat. I hope she snuggled up with one of the daughters last night and is too lazy to get up. The other alternative is that she will be one mad cat when she comes in from the out side.

Anyway. Brrrr.

The spatially challenged daughter.

The middle daughter did it again. Getting out of the truck last night I heard her just screaming. I'm trying to find out what happened and direct everyone into the video store so I can see. We step in and and I see her eye looks funny. While getting out she ran(Well Jumped) head first into the pillar of the truck. Completely missing the door, her eye took most of the hit. I knew last night she was going to have a shiner, pictures today show just how bad of one.

Focus update.

The shop took the transmission out of the Focus this week. It might survive. Looks like it needs a new axle, shifter cables(already planned), Clutch, throwout bearing, Slave cylinder, pressure plate, Shift tower stuff. They are going to clean it up and pull the case apart just to make sure there is not any other "Big Damage" to the transmission.

Funny, I just got some of the parts I ordered for the Focus last month. The batter dies and I needed to replace it. Bad part is the acid from the battery damaged the battery tray. I ordered a new one so the new battery did not bump around in the holder and get damaged. I also ordered a stub for the antenna. Last year the antenna caught the garage door and broke the old stub. Oh well.

Transportation update.

Ok. Last week was busy. Of course it sounded simple enough, Fix truck, then fix Car. Nah, not that simple.

Even though I replaced them less then 2 years ago, Both rear calipers are shot on the Yukon. Well not anymore, I had them replaced, AGAIN. (Yea, not 1 but 2 as in both rear.) I really want to keep the truck, I put a new transmission in it, brakes all the way around( third Time now for both ends), I had the injectors rebuilt, and I have replace all O2 sensors, and plugs, rear springs and shocks on all four corners. Yet the truck will still apparently go through brakes every year, and it still has an annoying lack of power at different times. It knocks when cold, needs new torsion bars so that the front end can be aligned , and the body is rusting badly. I have too much in it and I guess it has to stay.

The poor car. It has lived a life of pure abuse. For almost 2 years I have been driving the car with an intermittent shifting problem. Thursday, the Focus transmission finally decided it had enough and it quit. When it quit, the transmission took out the clutch, and stranded my wife and children, miles from home. ARG.

Anyhoo, The truck was done, so Diana called the shop and they towed the truck to her and picked up the Focus.

Truck ... Not again.

I got the truck to the shop today. Bad caliper, pads, and parking brake cable. The cable that broke cut up the tire. They will get parts in tomorrow. I'll be in CO for 2 days and return on Friday. Hopefully by then both the car and the truck will be fully operational. ;-)

Focus Shift Problems

Well, I finally got the Focus to a different shop. What they found was amazing. Some point in the past a hose clamp was dropped on the side of the engine. that clamp go bound up in the shifter cables. After test driving last night, it appears that the clamp wedged between the cables and would cause problems. The cables are also bad and I have a new set on order. Hopefully that will solve all the shifting issues I have had.

Weekend! 12/12

I have to say that I really like the weekends. Little slices of time that gets me away from my desk and cube.

This weekend was nice. It started slow and easy. I didn't sleep in, but after waking at 5:30am I lounged in the bedroom watching youtube videos. Around 8am Daughter-Julia came in and joined me. She read a Dragon-lance novel for a while and watched videos with me. At 9 we decided to go eat breakfast. We woke the remaining children, tucked the wife in bed so she could get more sleep and headed out.

Our local Kmart grill cooks a good breakfast, unfortunately for this dad with 4 children in tow, the grill was closed for a good cause. (Shop with a cop) A local floor store owner and Police officers also bought children new bikes if they did not have one. (26 or 27 bikes this year).

Me and the gang loaded back up and visited our local BK. When we got there it was already lunch. We ate in the store and left to pick up Diana for our by-weekly shopping. It was equally uneventful aside from the "Not again" moment with the truck. After switching drivers the brakes suddenly started acting very strange. (I have an appointment Tuesday to get that looked at.)

Sunday we stayed at home, mostly. I made Spaghetti Sauce, and Diana made BBQ Chicken and Rice. The rest of the day was just cleaning and watching TV.

More snow!

YES! The little Focus that can....Does. There has been snow, sleet, and freezing rain. The new tires are doing great. However, all this weather and all the stuff put on the roads to make them drivable has got me to thinking that I will wait till the summer to get the car painted. I got the mail yesterday and heard a crunch as the car hit the snow piled on the sides from the plow trucks. Then as I drove to work I could hear a 1/2 ton of cinders pulverize the rocker panels of the car. Since the paint needs to cure, I think it will be better to wait till the summer where I can save the car from the harsh winter elements.

It's early Saturday. I have just been joined by Julia. She is up early today! I don't have much planned today. We have to do our normal shopping and who knows what else.

Later

It worked!

Woke up this morning with 3-4" of snow, covered with sleet and rain. The the end of the driveway had a little more snow, plow trucks had driven by. The Focus handled it well. I felt comfortable driving in to work. Not as safe as in the truck, but I felt that I could go anywhere I needed to.

Found out that 99-07 doors fit my car. I'm hoping I can get one this weekend. I might try to install all the parts myself. Save some money.

Wind is pretty high tonight.

Later.

Wow it does clean up good.

I washed the car off today. It had gotten very nasty with the recent weather. Surprisingly, it really does not look that bad.

Tomorrow it is supposed to snow, sleet, rain. Oh boy. Very cold outside. I'm glad the stove is still working.

I decided to go with OEM fenders. I'll get them ordered next week. This weekend, I will try to pick up a new door. I don't know why but the drivers door is in very bad shape, the passenger one is in much better shape(no rust). I found this place in BigFlats, called Pick a Part. This weekend they have doors for $20. All I have to do is drive up and pull the doors off.

I still looking for a front and rear bumper cover. I want a more plain cover. Maybe the sedan ones will fit my zx3. I'll have to check in to that.

Later!

December 7th 1941

Almost forgot.

Today in History.

Attack_on_Pearl_Harbor

Dad's day out w/2 girls and a baby boy.

Whew, I am home and safe. Almost did not make it, the children out numbered me 3 to 1. ;-) We had a fun day, or at least the children tell me they had fun. Unfortunately, we did not make it to the big MCD's in the mall. Well we tried, they had torn it down and put up a food court. We did make it to a Chick-Fil-A. They had an indoor play ground and the children seemed to love it.

We got a new estimate for repairing the deer damage to my little car. I think I will be able to get it repainted and get all the bad stuff fixed. I need to decide how I want it to look when done. Should I have fender vents or not, smooth bumpers or wild ones, yada, yada.

While in Erie, we visited 2 Game Stops and I bought 3 PS@ games for the children. We have the Eye-Toy thing but someone scratched the disk and it would not play. I found EyeToy-play2, Antigrav, and Groove. The girls had a blast playing it when we got home. I also bought more memory cards so they had memory for each controller. I used my Club card for an extra 10% off.

I finally sent my parents pictures from a sitting we did when they were here in October. Almost forgot, when we got to Olean they package store was gone. As I was about to leave Erie, I put the diaper bag in the trunk and SURPRISE there were the pictures. This was one of the main reasons for me going to Erie anyway.

On the way back home, we were directed off the interstate in Salamanca, NY. It had been snowing and they closed the interstate down from there to Olean. Several accidents the emergency worker told me. Looks like I will get to try out the new tires soon.

Dec 5th 2009 Weekend.

Friday, our wonderfully warm coal stove decided that I had not spent enough money on it this year. After getting home Friday, loading the bin, and sitting down for dinner we were noticing that the stove was not putting out the normal amount of heat. For a few weeks, we had been tweaking the feed to get it just right. Long story short, the feed motor gears were stripped. Saturday, instead of my planned trip I spent the day working on the stove. It is back together, putting out plenty of heat and keeping the family warm.

Although a real pain, I have learned a lot from this stove. After reviewing all the maintenance items I have replaced on the stove this year, I think I can say that it has officially been rebuilt! The stove should last another 10 years now.

My middle daughter (Julia) baked cookies today. They smell good. Electra baked muffins yesterday and today. Abby has been the average 6 year old, playing on the game console. Henry has been fussy (diaper rash) but otherwise a happy camper. Diana has been showing the girls all the wonderful information available in the new Atlas we bought.

Yesterday, we discovered Henry’s reason for being unhappy. He started screaming, and it was not until changing time that we found out why. After putting some cream on Henry, he was still fussy. Henry would not settle down. I thought I would lay down with him. He would not have it. However, he did decide to fall asleep on Electra.

Tomorrow is Monday, I decided to take off and take Julia, Abby and Henry to Erie with me so I can get an estimate on the car. While there, I think we will visit the big MCD in the mall so they can play. I hope there is time and no one is fussy. I think Electra is going to spend quality time with Diana. Maybe they will do some schoolwork and a play a computer game.