Revisiting the Blogosphere

It's been quite a while since I actually blogged something.  The last post being only a poem kind of extended that lack a little while.  Actually, I really didn't have much going on to cover.

The first thing on most everyone's mind around here is the weather.  It never got out of the 60's all day yesterday, and it rained steady all afternoon.  Remember August?  We don't.  We still haven't had a hot August day yet, and here it is the 8th.  As I sit looking out the window in front of my computer I see more of the same:  The car windows are streaked with rivulets of water.  Yep, once again there is drizzle coming down.  Yesterday's famous Seafair Unlimited Hydroplane races on Lake Washington in Seattle took place in steady rain--Something that, according do the Seattle Times, has only happened one other time in 1995.

I managed to finally get something on our "to-do" list last week:  A new driveway gate.  Suzie built the old one several years ago and it has finally surrendered to the elements.  Parts of the frame were rotting and falling apart.  All of the fence boards were all still in good shape so we're keeping those (I love weathered cedar boards).  I have never built a gate before so I wasn't sure what to expect as far as hanging and hinging goes, but when all was said and done it came out pretty good for a pretend woodworker.  Both halves hang straight.

My poor ol' Neon has needed tires for a while now but I have been putting it off because the weather was pretty nice and didn't feel that good, deep tread was of a high priority.  When I did finally start looking into it, I found that the size of tires that it uses have pretty much gone obsolete.  They're only 13" tires, and while there are still plenty of 13" tires available (lots of small commuter cars used them), there aren't many choices to pick from.  Only a couple sizes, and nothing in a major brand.  My only real choice was to upgrade to a 14" wheel/tire combo.  I finally found a guy on Craigslist last week that had a set of nice tires on stock, steel wheels that I got for $130.  Score!  I decided to change them yesterday. Unfortunately, my little half-hour task turned into 2+ hours when I found out that the center hole on the "new" wheels was just slightly smaller on the inner lip and wouldn't sit flat against the brake drums.  I had to spend time with a high-speed grinder to correct that.  Once they were all fixed up to fit then I had to shoot them with a little corrosion-control pigment (spray paint) to keep them from rusting up.  Because my old wheels were 13" and the new ones are 14" my wheel covers don't fit, so now I'm driving around with bare, shiny black steelies (Sue shot the above picture of it yesterday in Seattle).  I'm just going to look for a set of chrome trim rings to put on it instead of wheel covers... Like the other picture shows.

Pretty racy eh?