Don’t judge me too harshly.

We joined the sheeple Friday, for some adventures in shopping. Randy had never done it before, and I thought he should experience it at least once (heh, heh, heh). We got up at 4:30 am and made it to our first store around 5:20. It opened at 5:00. We left the house with a plan. There were about 3 things we were looking for. Shopko was our first stop. This store is usually dead. Not Friday! It was packed! The check out lines snaked around to almost the back of the store. The stuff we were looking for was gone and the other things we might get (socks, t-shirts…) weren’t worth waiting in the lines. We had an hour to kill before the next store opened, so we stopped to get some breakfast. The next store was Office Max. No door busters there. Everything they had was also available on-line at the same price. So, it was much calmer. Remember, we were really just doing this for fun. (Seriously sick people, we are.) Since we were done, we checked out Target. Again looking for t-shirts and socks. It was slim pickins by the time we got there, and again not worth standing in the lines. The main thing that I noticed was that the prices really weren’t that great. Even the clearance stuff was only 50% off. Target has better sales throughout the year. I remember times when these sales were much better, with huge discounts. It was pretty disappointing. I kept threatening Randy with heading over to the mall, but that was just asking to much. Anyway, a fun time was had by all. And because we got up so early, we got a few things done around the house when we got home.

We got the other head off Saturday. Randy is going to take them in tomorrow. We're not in that big a hurry. We just need to get it done before it gets too icy. Only one busted knuckle. And that was on the first day. It should be good and calloused by the time we put Humpty Dumpty back together again.
Meanwhile...
We cleaned up in the shop. I got sick of reading doom and gloom, and political crap, and added some gardening, cooking, and lighter blogs to my list of reading. I still read some of the ones I removed. I just make it harder on myself to get them. We''ll see what happens next...

Yippee!

One side off! It was a bitch. Next is the other side. I'm sure it will be just as much fun. Then, Randy goes back to work! He'll take the heads to be reconditioned next week. And then, we get to put it all back together! Oh wait, after that, we get to put the sway control and weight distribution crap on the trailer. If we're lucky it will be freezing f*cking cold with sleet and wind by then.
Sorry for my foul mood. I pretty tired.

As I had mentioned, Randy has been off the last few days. We actually started on getting the heads off the Suburban. This is not a job for the faint of heart. I had no idea what a serious pain in the ass this was going to be. I’ve taken my usual position as tool runner (I’m even getting better at it), medic, etc. This time however, I decided to bag and tag bolts and removed parts. I’ve also been writing down each step on a legal pad. I’m hoping this will make it faster and easier to put this jigsaw back together again. I’ve been taking a few pictures as well. And, of course, I’m going to share…

I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but there is this black carbon sludge in the oil galley. (I know it's there twice. I couldn't figure out how to get the small one off without starting over.)

And now for the money shot...

I'm also resident photographer, so no pics of me.

One Hell of a day!

It just keeps getting better and better. I didn’t mention why exactly I didn’t care for the nosey neighbors. I will now. This morning the meter reader was down the street on her way to our house. I put Ruby on a leash, opened the gate, and walked her out side the fence on the edge of the road. She likes to smell all the smells outside of her yard. Plus, we’d be out of the meter reader’s way. Seemed like a good idea at time. Before I could do anything, the neighbor’s two dogs (lab mix & ridgeback mix) were on top of us. Although I had seen them out earlier, I also heard the neighbor whistle to call them back. I didn‘t see them when we went out to wait for the meter reader. So, I thought it would be fine. Apparently, they had been following her while she made her rounds. Anyway, there I am in the damn street spinning around with Ruby on a leash and these two big fucking dogs growling and biting at her. During this fiasco, I’m forced to stick my hand in the middle and let Ruby off the leash so she could at least run away. I did, and she did exactly what I thought she would and ran back into her yard. These two pathetic dogs didn’t care about Ruby anymore. All they wanted was her out of the way so they could have the human’s attention all to themselves. So, as calmly as I could, I walked the two dogs back to their home and close the gate, which had been left wide open. One might ask why I didn’t knock on the door and speak to the neighbor about the dogs being out once again. There are two reasons for that. Number one, I didn’t want to go to jail for beating the shit out of the stupid, pill popping, pathological liar, bitch. The other? That’s how we ended up with Ruby in the first place. Ruby’s story is an interesting one. I should tell it sometime. This whole little street has many interesting stories. I fondly refer to this area as the “Hell mouth.” Yes, I got that from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but it seems fitting.
Note: Although, the ridgeback did get purchase on her back end, Ruby is fine. Maybe a little bruised on the behind and ego, but no broken skin.

If that wasn’t enough, it was really windy today. The tarp came loose on the house side. So, I say to hell with it. I’m not going to waste another one of Randy’s days off to jack with a stupid tarp. Randy is going to be off next week. We’ll just hope for decent weather. I guess plan C is to just get the damn thing (heads off)done, so we can be ready to get the hell out of the hell mouth!

Plan B

It's a crappy picture because the truck was in the way. We haven't moved it under the tarp yet. We've had a pretty good rain, and it went pretty well. No real wind yet. It's actually not a tarp. It's some leftover construction stuff that goes on the walls when they build houses. (from Randy's former life) He knows what it's really called, but he's at work right now. (I wish I had remembered we had it before we bought the big tarp.) It's got a bear leaning on a house. So, it's cute and obnoxious. I've gotten to where I enjoy annoying the neighbors. It's really not as obnoxious as the big blue one. And, you can't see the bears from the road, but the nosey next door neighbors can! Plus, it blocks their view. Now we can work without as much of an audience and with some protection from rain and snow. The hard part is going to be getting Randy out there to get the heads off. He just loves working on cars. I don't blame him. He'll be glad though, when it starts getting icy on the roads.

On to plan B… The day after we put the big tarp up we had a light rain test that barely passed. The wind test did not go well. The tarp was just too big to pull and secure tight enough. So, we took it back down. We’ll use it for something else. That was a lot of work just to get some pictures of our cats. We’ve had nothing but rain or wind since. Winter around here is pretty yucky. Never fear! We’ve got another plan! We better get something done quick, because the really bad weather is coming. I’m hoping to get to it the next couple of days. Randy will be off. I’ll get the pics up as soon as we get plan B done.

One last inspection by the "big dog" Ruby.

Good enough. Bring in the truck.

That's it? I liked it better on the ground.

Now, I know it's not much, but it works for now. That is, as long as it doesn't rain too hard. We had a little rain last night. It's definitely not going to hold snow. We may work on it a little more. The thing to remember is that it's just temporary. If we don't damage it too much, I'd like to be able to use it for shade over the escape pod when it gets warm again. Anyway, Randy's going to have to take some more time off so we can get the heads off and take them in to be worked on. I don't quite get it yet. I'm sure I will when he starts on it. I'm just the tool runner, light holder, and resident medic on these jobs.

If you remember, one of our goals was to do the heads on the Suburban. So, Randy took off a couple of days, giving him a four day weekend. Sure, that would have given us enough time to get that done. However, there was some prep work to be done beforehand. In our part of Washington winter time mainly gives us rain, wind, and a little snow. So, we needed some sheltered area to do some work. Not an easy task on a small budget. The inspectors showed up while we were trying to figure out our plan of action with this huge tarp.

They did a very thorough inspection. So much so, they had to send one in and look for the lost crew member.

Don't worry! I got her!

Geeze! These guys worry way too much! Looks good to me. Carry on.