August 1 – Susan and I went to dinner at The Parker Garage to celebrate our 14 year wedding anniversary. There was a Rocky’s game tonight so we decided to forgo our usual celebratory haunt Vesta which is located close to the baseball stadium. The Parker Garage is an upscale steak place and the listing agent for the Dogwood Estate had given us a gift card there so Susan suggested we give them a try. We had one of the blended wines on the menu, had a couple of appetizers, and shared a large rib eye steak. The food was great and we’ll probably eat there again.
We also finally had internet installed in the first week of August. I had mostly given up on having any at all and was delighted to have something. It’s terribly slow but we knew it would be when we bought the house so have come to terms with it. It turned out we didn’t have a phone line running to our house so Century Link had to have their contractors bury one for us. This shouldn’t have taken the month and a half that it did except that our neighbor whose land the new line would cross was chasing off the workers and made threats against them. Of course public utility easements were included in all the deeds for all the properties in the area so his posturing was ultimately moot; it just delayed us getting internet. In the end the contractors came and did their thing and we got our incredibly slow internet with which we’re happy.
August 5 weekend – Saturday was rallycross day at CORE. We received word the night before that rain the past week had both of the usual areas too water-logged to be used so we utilized an upper lot instead. This lot is used for truck racing and hill-climb parking and was plenty large enough for our needs. We got up early and were onsite before most. The mud almost did us in as the RWD Suburban struggled up the slick roads. It was a crawl but we finally did make it. The evo was still not running well so we drove the RS for the first time. I had bought some worn rally tires and wheels last summer that we finally got to use (they were brand-mismatched between the front and rear but we didn’t care). The course was indeed muddy but the ground was mostly dry by lunchtime. The afternoon course was a bit shorter than we usually like to run but everyone had fun. As we were not used to driving the RS Susan and I didn’t do very well. Nonetheless we had a great time. The event was over earlier than usual which was alright with us as it was nice getting home well before dark and we even stopped for dinner at Chili’s on the way.
Sunday Susan had set her alarm for 7:15 but we didn’t really get out of bed until around 9:00 as we were exhausted from the day before. In the morning a rallycross couple (Todd and Valerie Briley) had an open house at their new Subaru shop. The name of the business is Subie Doctor and they do everything from general maintenance to major mechanical work and eventually will obtain a dealer license to sell cars. As I was too tired/lazy the night before I had to unload and swap out the wheels on the RS so we could drive it up to the event. We were late but in time to enter the raffle and vote on the best Subarus in attendance. We had fun hobnobbing with the various peoples we knew there and even won a nice tire pressure gauge and shirt. We hope their business is successful!
On the way home we stopped at JC Penny in Park Meadows Mall for Susan to buy a couple of work shirts while I surfed on my phone. I had a strong case of the lazys when we got home and didn’t really accomplish much for the rest of the day. Susan was productive though and looked for mirrors at a few thrift stores and painted our mailbox a pretty purple with silver numbers. I discovered that one of my guitar hangers had fallen off the wall in my room along with three of my guitars. As is how these sorts of things go my best looking blue guitar sustained the most damage though fortunately it was limited to the back of the instrument. We ate leftovers for an early dinner and later I made some chicken with asparagus which was yummy. Not a bad weekend at all!
August 12 weekend – The weekend really began with me picking up the evo from a Longmont auto shop which had diagnosed the engine issues. We had dropped it off on Thursday night as a last ditch effort to figure out the problems. Turns out the catalytic converter broke apart inside itself and clogged the exhaust. The engine did not like this which is why it ran so poorly. Also (and possibly due to the backpressure) the map sensor (speed density) stopped working. I loaded up the evo on our trailer and brought it straight to our exhaust shop to have the cat replaced and the exhaust hanger repaired (it being ripped off a few events ago has had the exhaust moving much more than normal which likely led to the cat breakup). I found a puddle of oil on the trailer which turned out to be a result of the shop removing the downpipe. Evidently it touched the starter which caused an arc of electricity to blow a hole in the oil return line for the turbo (this connects to the bottom of the oil pan). Yikes. The exhaust shop ended up having to keep the evo all weekend as they had issues obtaining the necessary parts to complete the fixes.
Saturday morning we woke early and headed to Great Beginnings for breakfast. After another wonderful meal we drove to the Dawn house to pick up some of the final things there before the house cleaner was to arrive. She came promptly at 9:00 (the appointed time) and we soon left to go home. Once there I figured I had time to replace the thermostat on Jay and just finished before we needed to leave for our annual eye exams. We arrived on time but found out Susan’s insurance didn’t allow her to get her exam until November (about one year after the last one). Mine didn’t care so I had my eyes checked before we went home again (still 20-20). A few minutes after we got home a Century Link tech showed up to install a wall jack for our internet. This entailed running a line through the garage and along the side of the house. As we’re great helpers Susan and I volunteered to aid in the tech’s plight by moving our garage stuff around, pulling the cable along, and actually drilling some of the holes. It took around an hour to complete and we were happy with the results. No more running a phone line across the garage floor and through the kitchen and living room. Yay! This was the last of our scheduled activities for the day. Susan went to a couple of thrift stores and I tried in vain to mow the lower 40. I believe the electric motor in the mower was completely overtaxed from earlier mowing and now barely worked. As it was still less than 90 days since I purchased it I decided to return it to Home Depot. Susan came home just in time to accompany me on the trip. Fortunately there were no issues in returning the mower but unfortunately there were no obvious replacement mowers available. The model I returned could only be bought online and was now $100 more than when I purchased it on sale. Thus we just went home and I BBQ’d an early dinner. Figuring the cleaner was probably finished with the Dawn house we headed that way to check out her work. Success! The house looked MUCH better and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. The remainder of the evening was us hanging with Bella.
During the next week I picked up the now-fixed evo and had used rally tires mounted up at rally.build. We also met with a person from Echo Property Management about renting out the Dawn house. Hopefully we can have it ready to go soon.
Sunday we slept in a bit before I got up to feed Bella and make my way to the couch. My lower back was hurting quite a bit and I elected to essentially not do anything productive for the day as most bodily movements were torturous. Susan took Bella to the Parker Farmer’s Market where she got a lot of attention for being cute. I made us lunch of zucchini and chicken before Susan left to peruse The Brass Armadillo (a large antique store) for several hours. She didn’t get home until after 3:00 and came bearing a few items including a tray she wanted to use to hold all our coffee paraphernalia. We ended up ordering Domino’s for dinner and I elected to take a nap soon after. Susan woke me after an hour and again 10 minutes later. Then we finished the night and weekend on the couch with Bella again. Another good weekend in the books.
August 19 weekend – Saturday began with us sleeping in and then slowly getting up to greet the day. Susan and I spent the waning morning hours loading up the Suburban and car trailer for Sunday’s rallycross. A Century Link person was going to come over to hopefully “bond” our DSL but ended up informing me via a phone call that it would actually slow down our connection. Thus we cancelled the appointment. We were then off to Costco as we had some shopping to do. After unpacking our buyings we hopped in the WRX and drove up to Matt and Jana’s to celebrate their children’s birthdays with them. The kids were bigger than last time we saw them and acted their respective ages (2 and 4). We talked, watched the kids running around, and eventually ate some ice cream and cupcakes. We had a nice time and ended up staying until 7:00 before we headed home.
Sunday was rallycross day at USTDS. We were up around 5:30 and getting ready when Kubo came by to pick up and drive the rallybus to the site. We were out of the house and on our way after 6:00. Somehow we beat the rallybus to USTDS by a few minutes which gave us a little time to unload the evo. When the bus did show up I drove it around the site looking for a suitable area for the course. Last time we were there the copious rains of the spring had washed out some ruts here and there. Between then and this event the situation had worsened significantly and much of our usual racing space was unusable. Basically the course was set up in essentially the only way we could make it and luckily there was enough room to still have fun. It was as I was driving the bus over one of the terrible ruts when the amp inside bounced off its perch and crashed to the floor. Dang. Thus there were no announcements over the PA. Only 27 drivers participated and it was a close thing worker-wise but we managed. With the low attendance we got extra runs and ended up having six runs in the morning and another six in the afternoon. Remarkably not one car broke all day that I’m aware of though many tires were wore out. Despite a lot of sliding around and general mayhem I ended up in first with Susan not far behind in second (our first 1-2 finish in quite a long time). We were the last to leave the event at 4:55. Our day wasn’t yet complete though. Once home I showered and changed while Susan unloaded the Suburban. Then we packed up provisions to drive up to Nebraska to watch the eclipse the next day. Susan had been planning the trip for weeks and had everything staged. Bella-the-adventure-pug came along and we left the driveway minutes before full-dark. We were concerned that traffic might be bad but needn’t have worried as the drive was easy and we flew along a bit above the speed limit the whole way. Susan’s old co-worker and friend Julie lives in Ogalala, Nebraska and let us park the Suburban there for the night. We did make a brief pit stop at their local Wal-Mart and noticed quite a few RVs and trailers staying the night there. Our air mattress fit perfectly in the Suburban and held its shape all night (Susan had discovered and fixed a hole a few days earlier). Susan installed screens on the inside of the rear windows so they could stay open (and us bug-free) for the night. We were going to have a few cups of wine but I couldn’t keep my eyes open after the first one and soon feel asleep.
Monday morning we woke to thick fog. When Susan found me waking up she informed me there was a cop outside. It turned out that the guy across the street was a police officer and the car Susan saw was his (he wasn’t in it). That added drama to the otherwise quiet start to our day. Soon we were on the road to the town of Tryon which sat almost in the center of the path of the eclipse. The sky remained cloudy during the drive and we were worried our day would be foiled by the weather. Once we had parked and unloaded our chairs and umbrellas all concerns were allayed as the sun burned off the clouds and the sky was clear. We had parked in a large pull-off area that we think was used by the area’s road crews as there were many piles of fine gravel (the type spread on icy roads in the winter). There were maybe 10 cars already there so we felt safe that our presence would be permitted. I backed the Suburban in on the far east side of the lot and we were largely alone (thumbs up). We then shared a bottle of moon wine while we waited for the big event. I was honestly prepared to be disappointed but was amazed as the surrounding landscape got darker and darker. It was like the color was leeched out of the plants as the moment approached. Susan purchased eclipse glasses way back in January so we could stare as the moon did its thing across the sun’s surface. It was noticeably cooler when the sun was completely blocked. The eclipse was beautiful and I was happy to experience it with Susan. Bella was unimpressed and was asleep on a towel at this point. Once the main event was through we packed up and headed home. Traffic was heavy and slowed quite a bit at North Platte but once we were on I80 the going was fast. We arrived home just before 5:00 and were exhausted. I was so tuckered I took the next day off from work to recover on the couch next to Susan (she worked from home). I feel like we packed in a bit too much this weekend!
August 26 weekend – the weekend began on Friday after work when we showed Jay to a guy from Durango named Eli. We’ve tried selling Jay before and thought we’d give it another go so listed it earlier in the week. Part of the recent delay was due to the fact that it did not want to start despite a new battery and alternator and no signs that the starter wasn’t working. Turned out that the aftermarket horn was drawing too much juice from the battery and when I disconnect it the car started fine. We met Eli in a bank parking lot close to our house. He was a young guy and seemed very interested in Jay. We did the cursory stuff like opening the hood, doors, and looking under the car. When we were about to leave on the test drive he mentioned that he would probably rallycross the car. I was flabbergasted and was quick to tell him our involvement with local rallycross. The test drive was long and we went up by Centennial Airport to look for more adventurous roads. We ended up finding a large dirt lot that appeared prepped for paving. There was no one around and the local businesses were closed so I suggested he have some fun. He did! We spent around 10 minutes there with him flogging Jay at my encouragement. Susan saw the dirt packed on the sides of the tires and guessed what we’d done when we were finally back. Because he was interested in rallycross I told him I’d sell Jay at our friends/family/rallycross discounted price and he agreed to buy the car. So perfect.
Saturday morning Eli was to pick up Jay. While we waited for him to rent a car trailer we inventoried and stored over 60 trophies we had previously picked up from Ryan Sealey. He had stumbled across them earlier in the year at a neighbor’s house with a “free” sign. Most all of the trophies were baseball related with many being quite extravagant. He took all of them to his house to be repurposed for rallycross. As Ryan has largely passed the rallycross reigns to us and others we eventually picked them up. We were almost finished storing the trophies in the fridge storage building when Eli came by. He wasn’t willing to pay the high price for renting a trailer so asked if he could pick up Jay on Sunday but take care of paying for the car on Saturday. This was no problem for us and we signed the title over to him and accepted his cash. After this merry exchange we left to have lunch with Jeff at Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar at the Southglenn Mall. The food was alright and we had fun talking with Jeff for a couple of hours. After we went home I took a few minutes to swap out the headlights on the RS. When we bought the RS the headlights had just been replaced with cheap aftermarket HID headlights which worked some of the time (sometimes both worked, sometimes one worked and the other didn’t). It was earlier in the week that I had to drive home in the dark without either functioning and I decided to swap out the HID’s for the stock units. Luckily the previous owner still had the original headlights and gave them to us as part of the sale. They went in easily enough and worked immediately. I also had to change out a bulb on the taillights which I took care of at the same time. Happily the RS then had all of its lights functioning properly. I then had to quickly whip up garlic bread to bring to Kari and Alvin’s house where there was to be dinner and Cabo. We were just part of a menagerie of friends in attendance. There was a Marc, Allison, Mike, Nick, Brian, Ken and Randy there in addition to Susan and myself. Lots of car-related stuff was talked about and dinner was Costco par-baked goodness along with our garlic bread. Afterwards we sat down for a boisterous game of Cabo. It went several rounds as the new players quickly picked up on the strategies and did well. After a few dramatic rounds I emerged as the barely-victor. It was close to midnight when we finally left for home. We both agreed it was a great time.
Sunday was mostly plan-less but ended up being a busy day. I got up a bit before Susan and played video games on the couch until she awoke and asked if I would come with her and Bella to the farmer’s market in Parker. I acquiesced and Bella was ecstatic to get in her harness for the journey. It was still relatively early in the morning and not too crazy-busy on the closed street where the various stands were set up. It was mostly standard farmer’s market fair and we ended up buying some pickled asparagus and packets used to make dips. There happened to be an art fair going on right next to the farmer’s market and we briefly walked around. I was largely unimpressed and we left with our hands empty of “art”. Since I returned the old and broken battery-powered lawn mower the grass had still been a’growin’ so we stopped by Home Depot to purchase a new one. I opted for a gas-powered Honda. As Home Depot is unofficially ok with dogs Bella came along inside the store. We then dropped by Murdock’s where we purchased some rabbit repellant (fox urine pellets). Pets are actively allowed at Murdock’s and Bella was dazzled by the various smells. Once home I unboxed the mower just as Eli came to pick up Jay. Of course the car picked that moment to not start. Fortunately after a shake of the battery wires it fired right up and Eli was on his way. We’re hoping to see him driving our old car at the next rallycross. With that business done I decided to try out the new Honda and proceeded to mow. The lawn mower worked very well and I managed to hit the top area next to the house as well as all of the lower 40 on less than one tank of gas. Susan took the time to spread the rabbit repellant pellets around and spray the various weeds that had sprouted since the last time she sprayed for weeds. Once done with our yard work we were spent and, after a quick jaunt to the grocery store, I finally cooked us a late lunch. We then parked ourselves on the couch for the majority of the evening with an exhausted Bella (she rarely experiences so much excitement in a day) to watch TV and play on the internet. Susan did go outside to finish her brick project around the side of the garage at one point but I was satisfied to end the final weekend in August being unproductive.
The last week of August was largely unexciting with the most interesting thing probably being that we hired someone to clean the carpets at the Dawn house. I went over after work and promptly fell asleep on the floor by the front door. The guy was only a few minutes late and his light knocking had me conscious again. It took him around an hour and a half to complete and he did a great job. Hopefully we’ll have the house finally ready to rent soon.
