-November 3 – finally picked up the WRX from Mark’s
shop. The axle seal was still leaking so
he took another look at it. He ended up
replacing the seal again and also the axle (it looked like it was rubbing a bit
on the inside of the seal). We could have
picked it up the day before but Wednesday is Susan’s busy day so we delayed
until Thursday. The transfer case was
bone dry after he test drove the car for 10 minutes so hopefully that
particular issue is done. Of course he
noticed a rattle sound coming from the drive shaft he replicated on the lift
for us. Weird but we’re not going to
worry about it at this time. It’s nice
to have the WRX back.
-November 5 – final rallycross of 2016. The last rallycross of 2016 was on the upper
course at CORE. The turnout was higher
than we thought it would be (54) with a lot of old veterans signing up and
coming out at the last minute. We arrived
at the site pretty early (7:15ish) so I got to help set up the course again
which was fun and interesting. The
morning course was short and quick so we were able to get five runs in. I was the first car off which is definitely a
handicap as the course was covered in silt and whatnot but I managed to be in
second place after the morning which felt pretty good (Susan was only one
second back in third). It was a smooth
morning with minimal course changes which we always prefer as they tend to
delay the event. I decided we’d have an
abbreviated lunch so we’d have time for extra runs in the afternoon and, for
the most part, we stuck to that plan.
Me (Max)
-November 6 – We slept in on Sunday before I bugged Susan
into getting out of bed. Susan wanted to
get breakfast which has been our weekend thing lately but I gave her a rain
check until we were finished getting un-rallycrossed. I also took the opportunity to swap out
summer tires for snow tires on the evo and put better all season tires on
Tia. Susan installed one of the new
seats we bought from Dan Hipwood a couple of weeks before and are going to try
it out before she decides whether we’ll keep it or not (the seat belt
configuration is different). At some
point we’ll want to install the seat speaker from the old seat into the new
seat too (a speaker in the head rest was an option on the Miata). We were going to do it right then but the
zipper on the new seat was jammed up and I didn’t want to risk tearing
something. We may have to have an
upholstery business fix the zipper for us.
Around 12:30 we finally headed off to get breakfast at
Breakfast on Broadway (BOB). It was
pleasantly not busy and we were able to sit in one of the larger booths for the
first time. The food and coffee were
once again fantastic and Susan convinced me to actually buy a bag of their
coffee (this was not hard to do). We
stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up various dog things for Susan to use to construct
a puppy-shower cake (Dan Hipwood and his SO Alina got a new puppy and are
having a “puppy shower” the next weekend) and finally washed the WRX at a new
fancy car wash (it was still filthy from its one rallycross a month ago). The rest of the evening had me playing video
games and Susan working on her cake while we watched movies and then Top Gear
on Netflix. It was a great way to end
the weekend.
The puppy shower cake
-November 10 – Susan and I went to dinner at Texas
Roadhouse. We saw another evo parked
there that looked suspiciously like Alvin and Kari’s and, sure enough, found
them and John and Karen already seated.
Actually what happened is John saw us walking by and grabbed me (just
about scared me to death). They had a
large booth so we joined them for dinner.
It was fun talking about this and that.
After dinner Jeff Freedman came by with our car trailer. He had borrowed it the day before to
transport his Land Cruiser to a shop to get some major engine work done. I convinced him to let me back the trailer
into its spot as it would have been a sad thing if he hit our neighbor’s
fence.
-November 12 – Susan and I visited Icon Lasik for our annual
eye exams. My lasered eyes are still
20-20 but Susan’s left is off enough that, if she wants to, she can have
another surgery. I think there’s a good
chance Susan will in the near future. We
left for breakfast with Susan’s left eye cartoonishly dilated. By the time we got to BOB it was after 1:00
and business was slow enough we got to sit at a table almost right away. The food and coffee were wonderful but our
table was close to the entrance and the harried patron and staff traffic was a
bit much. We did some light shopping at
Costco and then headed home where Susan took a nap. In the evening we went to Alvin and Kari’s
house for dinner and games. There were
11 of us there in total so we chose Cards Against Humanity to play since it can
accommodate lots of players. We all had
a lot of laughs with the ladies winning most of the rounds. Dinner was mac’n’cheese and ravioli and was
tasty. After Cards enough people left
that we could play Cabo which we did. We
didn’t finish a whole game but played enough to declare Kari the winner with
Susan in a close second. I actually
attempted to shoot the moon twice but my plan was discovered and thwarted by
Jeff. Kari’s Labrador Dandi is almost 13
years old and has aged quite a bit in the last few years. She still gets around but is having a tough
time. Ringo is still small and cute. We stayed pretty late talking about this and
that and making plans for Thanksgiving.
-November 13 – We actually got out of bed early (for us) at
8:00 so we could meet Kari and Alvin for breakfast at BOB. The wait at 9:00 (when we arrived) was around
twenty minutes but we found things to talk about to bide the time (there was a
Dodge Hellcat parked outside which was interesting). We eventually sat and Susan and (soon after)
Kari drank Mimosas while we gabbed about the housing market and some
politics. The food and coffee were tasty
again (of course) and we were fortunate enough to sit close to the bass player
(Sunday breakfast includes live music at BOB).
Once home Susan got in another nap before we went to Dan Hipwood’s home
for him and Alina’s puppy shower.
The puppy was a little lady named Pixel and was very cute and
puppy-like in every way. They had us
play a few games including matching up different language versions of “puppy”
to their country of origin and guess the length of the puppy’s tail. I think the best was a game where everyone
got three safety pins which would be relinquished if the forbidden word was
said. The word was “puppy” and I won (I
think the game ultimately was about finding out who had the worst character flaws). Toward the end of the gathering presents were
opened. The “cake” Susan made last
weekend was by far the coolest gift given and Dan and Alina loved it. Susan took pictures of the happy couple and
puppy for Facebook and future posterity.
It was a fun time! We also
returned the Miata front seats to Dan.
It turned out the seats actually sat a little higher than the original
seats and my head touched the hard top when we swapped them in. Oh well.
The gang
Susan's photos of the dramatic reenactment
-November 15 – We went to dinner at Lone Star with Karen,
John, Kari, and Alvin. It was a fun time
and we talked about all sorts of things including politics. This could have been a prickly subject if we
were not all in general agreement about Trump. We live in interesting times. We ended up staying at the mostly-empty
restaurant for a couple of hours before making our ways home.
-November 19 – Susan and I packed up the painting supplies
and headed up to John and Karen’s for food and art. We stopped on the way up to pick up chicken
and some powdered marinade packets (I’ve used it a few times with
success). When we got there I set about
cutting up the chicken and Susan mixed the marinade up. We made three kinds of marinade in three
separate baking dishes in case one proved unpopular with anyone. I only cut myself once but it was bleedy
enough that Kari had to finish up. After
an hour of baking we sat down to eat the chicken and a wonderful salad Karen
had whipped up. There was a clear
favorite among the chicken but all were tasty enough to eat. After the table was cleared we put down
construction paper, set up our easels, and laid out the paint and brushes. This time Kari found a koi fish painting for
us to work off of and Alvin took Karen’s place at the table. Painting has always been fun and it was again
this time. Lots of laughter later and we
were finished with our new works of art.
While the paint was drying we had pie and ice cream. There were two pies (cherry and apple) but
the cherry pie was some kind of mix of cherry and rhubarb which, though a bit
unusual, was tasty. Susan and I headed
home with full bellies and leftover chicken around 7:00 to take care of the
pugs.
-November 20 – We got up and went to breakfast up in
Commerce City at a place called Butcher Block Cafe. The food was standard fare and the coffee alright. It was packed when we got there but cleared
out somewhat before we took off. After
breakfast we headed up to the Mile High Flea Market. We didn’t really have anything in mind to
purchase and simply walked up and down all the rows of vendors. The demographics had us in the extreme
minority which was interesting as we heard more Spanish spoken than
English. It was a chilly morning but
soon after we arrived at the flea market the sun came out and the temperature
was pleasant. I eyed a couple of sombreros
but we didn’t end up getting anything.
On our way home we stopped at Costco to stock up on wine and lunch
meats.
Tweetie had been winking her right eye at us for the last
few days and we could see that the lower lid was swollen so we took her to an
emergency veterinarian (our regular vet wasn’t open). We were hoping whatever was going on would
clear itself up as it didn’t seem to particularly bother her but decided to be
sure. The vet did a couple of tests and
gave Tweetie a Benadryl shot. While
there was no concrete diagnosis we left with drops and eye ointment which
should clear up the irritation in a few days.
Surprisingly the bill wasn’t very high (they always seem to be $400+
whenever we go to emergency vets) and we went home and gave Tweetie her eye
medicine.
Tweetie's 13th birthday also happened to be Sunday and we reenacted the first picture we took of her when we got her at two months old next to a Mike's Hard Lemonade bottle to gauge her size. Yes, I had to hold her down for real again as she never learned how to stay. So cute!
-November 23 – Susan and myself drove to Kansas in the WRX
full of three pugs. We usually have the
habit of leaving the night before our planned trips but held back this
time. We left at 7:00 and went down
south through Kiowa to avoid morning traffic and because Google said so. Our trip was mostly uneventful.
Bella trying to get in the front seat (turd)
Our destination was Susan’s Grandma Norita’s home (40 Sunflower Ave) where John
and Karen were staying and prepping for sale.
Norita has recently moved into an assisted living facility a few minutes
outside of Hutchinson. The house was
empty when we arrived so we let the pugs wander the back yard while we waited
for John and Karen to come back (they were with Norita). Eventually John and Karen got back and Alvin
and Kari showed up. After letting Ringo
run around for a time Alvin, Kari, Susan, and myself went to check into our
hotel (we were at the same Holiday Inn and in rooms next to each other) and
then Olive Garden for an early dinner (Alvin and Kari basically hadn’t eaten
all day).
We had a nice time pestering our waitress for extra cheese
on everything and the food was pretty good.
John and Karen stayed at Norita’s home and met with a real estate agent
while we were gone. They were still
hashing things out when we got back and we met the agent (he seemed like an
affable fellow and had been their agent when they sold their flip home several
years ago). Eventually we packed up the
pugs and headed back to our hotel room for the night. The only real thing of note about that night
in the hotel was that Bella peed on the bed approximately 10 seconds after
Susan placed her on it. She also threw
up between our pillows at 5:50 in the AM.
Good times. Oh yeah, Sophie
jumped off the tall bed and apparently knocked herself silly. We think this initiated another seizure. Poor little thing seemed alright after a
time.
I made several trips to bring the hotel’s continental breakfast
to our room the next morning (there were no trays for food…lame!). The plan for the day was for us kids to drop
off our dogs at Norita’s home before driving out to see their previous home
outside of town (6006 Cactus Dr) to check it out. Then
we’d all head out to the assisted care facility to see Norita’s apartment,
visit, and take pictures before heading to Lone Star Café. Things more-or-less went according to plan
and we eventually found ourselves sitting at a table waiting for our
Thanksgiving feast.
The food was mostly traditional with the stuffing being the
only truly odd thing (it was very sweet… yuck).
After we finished and chatted for a time we hopped back in our cars and
went to Norita’s home (this time with Norita in tow). We had a nice time chatting about this and
that for hours before eventually tending to the dog’s dinner and attention
requirements. Once the sting of renewed
hunger was upon us again Alvin and I ventured to Wal-Mart to get dinner (par
baked pizza and pop). The Black Friday
sales start at 6:00 PM on Thanksgiving day at Wal-Mart and it was somewhat of a
challenge for us to get what we needed and leave the store at 5:15 (there were
lines of people all over the place with the store largely sectioned off). We prevailed in the end and after some baking
the pizza came out good enough to eat which we collectively did.
After a time Norita was tired enough to go back to the
nursing home and John and Karen drove her in Norita’s Oldsmobile. We stayed put until John and Karen returned
as there was still much to do. In the
end Alvin and myself watched the dogs while Susan, Kari, Karen, and John went
through the last things in the house deciding whether to keep or donate. By the end of the night Susan and I brought a
few boxes full of things back with us to the hotel. Once again Bella added some drama to our
hotel room when she managed to catch one of her claws on the carpet and left
many little bloody spots on the bedspread.
The next morning after another continental breakfast in our room
and some packing we bundled the pugs back into the WRX and started home. This time Alvin and Kari were in the lead and
Susan and I played catch-up. We ended up
getting gas at the same station that we stopped at on our way out (happened to
be a pretty good mid-point mile-wise).
For lunch Susan and I picked up Wendy’s just a few miles east of the
Kiowa exit off I70. We had passed Alvin
and Kari by this point as they stopped at Steak and Shake earlier. We were literally (literally) 20 seconds from
our home when Kari texted Susan saying they had just got home themselves. They beat us home! Continuing the theme of eating unhealthy food
we had pizza delivered that night. I am
not above some Black Friday shopping and took advantage of the deals to acquire
some Black Rhino gifts (we’re throwing a “Black Rhino” – same as a White
Elephant except the requirement is that the gifts be something you would be
happy taking home yourself).
Saturday was our recovery day and I ended up taking care of
the pugs and letting Susan sleep in. We
ended up doing very little which was very nice.
Dinner was Chinese delivery.
On Sunday we lazed around the living room before showering
and heading to Alvin and Kari’s for a BBQ in the early afternoon. Another couple was there (a Steve and a
Morgan) and we ate and talked about his adventures in Europe and his upcoming
move to Ashville the next day. Steve was
an old friend of Alvin’s from his days at Discount Tire. Twas fun!
I brought cucumbers to garnish my hamburger and the combination was
quite delectable. Sometime after Steve
and Morgan left Emily and Kevyn came by to utilize Alvin’s Amazon Prime account
to order a gift. Susan and I headed off
ourselves for some quick shopping at Costco before hanging with the pugs for
the remainder of the evening.
The WRX had made the trip to Kansas and back with nary a
problem so I had no qualms about driving it to work on Monday morning. The front passenger-side tire decided it was
time to go flat when I was around halfway to the office. Being smart-like-that I decided to continue
on albeit on back roads with my hazards on.
I made it in and some of the tire was still on the rim (basically just
around the edges).
After my morning
workout I called AAA and had the WRX towed home (I rode in the cab of the
truck). On the trip I found out that the
lack of snow this fall was having a devastating impact on the livelihoods of
tow truck drivers in Colorado. They are
all praying for frequent and heavy snow.
Understandable but I think that’s sort of like heart surgeons praying for
more people to have heart disease. Not
the same but in the same vein. My driver
was a nice guy nonetheless.
I turned 36 on November 30 and spent the evening with Susan
and the pugs which is precisely what I wanted to do on my birthday. We also got special birthday Subway sandwiches in that our local Subway was out of a lot of ingredients (most of the bread, various meats, and napkins) but the lady applying the veggies put so much on that our sandwiches were more like salads (it was awesome).
