February 2018

February 2 – we joined Karen, John, Kari, and Alvin at Texas Roadhouse for a steak dinner to celebrate Kari’s birthday.  It was a nice time though it was a loud experience.  As usual we enjoyed the food. 

February 3 weekend – Saturday morning began with coffee and me bugging Susan out of bed.  Now that we were mostly feeling better from our colds we wanted to get outside and get some stuff done.  After coffee was drunk we headed to the chicken coop with various implements and the intent to clean out chicken waste.  The coop was a mess and also contained a few cobbled-together shelves and a couple of vanities.  It took some time to scrape and sweep the floor with all up-facing surfaces covered in poop.  We removed all the wooden stuff and various items so just the bare walls and ceiling remained.  The work went surprisingly quickly and soon enough we were finished enough.  Our plan was to bring down all the tires stored in the garage so we jumped in the Suburban with trailer attached and drove up to the house.  We managed to load up the trailer with all of the tires and wheels so only had one trip to make.  Once all the tires and wheels were inside we dubbed the structure the “tire coop” and attached a lock we’d picked up the night before.  There is still more to do as all the junk from inside the coop is now piled haphazardly on the ground outside.  The plan will be to load it on the trailer to be deposited at the dump next weekend.  Next we drove the evo to the car wash to finally clean off the copious mud from nationals back in October.  I was a little worried it wouldn’t start but it did with little effort.  The car wash was busy and we surfed on our phones while we waited in line.  The evo’s wheel wells were packed with mud and grass which only came off with Susan’s picking at it with a small pry bar she brought along.  I made several passes around the car with the sprayer and then had Susan move the evo so I could clean up the ground a bit for the next car (there were many large piles of mud and grass).  Finally finished we hopped in the evo and drove home.  The clutch was noticeably slipping above 5,000 RPMs.  Once back I backed into the garage with Susan’s aid to where the evo will reside until I finish changing the clutch and replacing the timing belt.  We then spent some time removing some of engine components and the bumper before we called it for the day and finally went inside.  Susan hadn’t eaten all day so we ordered Jimmy Johns for dinner.  The remainder of the evening was spent with Bella on the couch.  She had spent a good portion of her day curled up on the puny mat by the garage door and was happy to be with us. 

Sunday began late with me on the couch and Susan making us coffee.  The plan was to load up the trailer with the chicken coop junk but we rainchecked that as it was snowing and bitter-cold outside.  As the “big game” was later in the afternoon we elected to veg on the couch until just before it was to start.  Then we dressed and went shopping.  Costco was busier than I’d anticipated though we made it out quickly.  Unfortunately I found the chicken we’d just bought had a tear in its packaging so we immediately went back to return it.  I’m not sure the guy who refunded our money believed my reason but I imagine he hears a lot of odd excuses so whatevs.  We then drove to Walmart where we bought food stuffs for the next week and lip balm for Susan who was suffering terribly after running out the previous day.  As the game was in full-swing we went to Long Horn for super-yummy steak.  A couple of years we also went to Long Horn for steak during the game and we’re thinking we might make it a tradition.  It was dark when got home which, I think, absorbed any remaining motivation I had to be productive so we finished the weekend on the couch with Bella watching the latest Netflix series on TV.  It was certainly a grand weekend. 

February 10 weekend – this was a weekend weather got in the way of some of our plans.  Saturday morning I slept in some and then hung on the couch while Susan slept on.  Around noon I received a text from Susan imploring I make coffee and I acquiesced.  It was around this time the snow that was lightly falling all morning became something else.  I don’t know if it was technically a blizzard but for several hours snow accumulated at a swift rate.  My plan was to work on the evo but the bitter cold defeated my space heater.  We were planning on driving up to a CORX meeting at 3:00 but the snow defeated our motivation.  Thus we rescheduled for the next day and hunkered down on the couch to watch the Olympics with Bella.  We had enough food in the house to survive and made ourselves some yummy baked chicken to eat.  It was a relaxing day for sure. 

Sunday morning we got up early enough to have breakfast at Great Beginnings with Jeff at 8:00 in the AM.  With snow-packed roads the joint was not busy which was nice.  This was my first time ordering completely a la cart and this suited my tastes much better than the regular menu options.  The food was good for all of us and we talked overly-loudly about this and that for a good two hours before going back home.  Our next appointment was the rainchecked CORX meeting from the day prior at noon.  At the appropriate time we made our way just north of Denver.  The meeting went well and we were on our way to do some shopping after a couple of hours.  I first drove through the Park Meadows Costco parking lot which was so busy people were circling around and around trying to find parking.  We noped out of there and went to Walmart which was also busy but not crazy-busy.  After exhausting our shopping list we were back home and, once again, watching the Olympics with Bella.  Hopefully the weather will be nice enough I can work on the evo and we can load up the junk from the chicken coop this next week. 

February 16 weekend – this long weekend began on Friday for me.  I took the day off to run errands and work on the evo.  I started by going to the DMV to pay for the WRX and trailer’s registrations and take care of a late fee.  We never received the WRX’s registration renewal back in August and we didn’t notice until the other day when I was working on our taxes.  Susan went out to the car to find the registration and saw the plate well and truly expired.  Whoops!  I entered an already packed DMV and found my printed number to be roughly 40 behind where the line was at the moment so left to do some quick shopping.  My trip to Walmart proved a bit too long as the DMV was just past my place in line.  No big deal though as my new number was only around 10 minutes from being called.  In the end the worst part of the ordeal was the $100 I had to pay because we didn’t notice our expired tags.  I then experienced the first world problem of wanting to shop at Costco before they were open.  Thus I sat in their parking lot with others so afflicted.  Eventually and with a rush the door was lifted and the 20 or so folks lined up filed inside.  My list was short as was my time spent at Costco before I was driving home to unload groceries.  My plan for the remainder of the day was to make a dent in replacing the evo’s clutch.  I was ultimately thwarted in my ambition as I needed someone to hold the brake pedal down so I could break loose the axle nuts.  I texted Susan that I was bereft of anything to do without her aid and her response was to point out the piles of chicken coop detritus and other various crap that was too big/heavy/awkward for the regular weekly trash pickup.  As the weather was beautiful and I had nothing else to do at the moment I set about loading up the trailer with said junk.  It didn’t take long to complete the task and, after using a handful of tie-downs for luck, I struck out for the nearest dump roughly 30 minutes away.  The trip was largely and thankfully uneventful.  I’d never been to the dump before and the attending attendant was kind enough to explain the process.  My vehicle and trailer were weighed and I received a yellow safety vest before moseying to the current dumping area.  The dumping itself was quick as I could toss our junk in basically any direction I chose.  In the subsequent re-weighing I found I had discarded 900 lbs of stuff.  Well worth the trip!  Around the time I got home Susan was leaving work which was perfect as I was able to get dinner started.  We watched a smattering of Olympics with Bella on the couch for the duration of the evening.  Bella had gone to work with Susan as she generally does on Fridays and was exhausted from the experience. 

Saturday we were up relatively early for a Saturday.  With Susan’s help I was able to get past the axle nut hurdle and commenced working down my list of instructions.  While I whiled away in the garage Susan cleaned the wood floor in the house.  Just in time to be a few minutes late we left our house around 1:00 for an appointment with Todd Briley at Front Range Airport (FRA) to talk about our usage of the site for rallycross.  Traffic was weirdly slow for an off-rush-hour drive and I tried to keep my complaining to a minimum.  The meeting wasn’t as “official” as we had hoped as our FRA contact wasn’t able to actually attend but we were able to tour the site and talk with another guy who worked there (it was Susan’s first time seeing the site’s majesty).  We then headed over to a nearby motocross park in hopes of finding the owner there.  Some contact had been made regarding possibly using a portion of their site for an event early in our season.  Unfortunately the person who needed to be present was not so we gave ourselves an unguided tour of their facilities before we split up and headed home.  We stopped Chili’s on the way and found the experience and food to be standard Chili’s-fare (i.e. sufficient).  Once home I set about working on the evo again until later in the evening when I showered off the accumulated gunk and then settling on the couch with Susan and Bella to, again, vicariously experience the Olympics through the TV. 

Sunday we woke with an alarm to have breakfast with Jeff at Great Beginnings.  As per usual the food and company were indeed great.  It didn’t take a lot of cajoling to convince Jeff to come over to help with pulling the transmission out of the evo.  It turned out his aid was much appreciated as the throw out bearing was quite resistant to coming off and we had to remove the pressure plate with the transmission still attached.  Eventually the transmission was on the floor and soon Jeff left to do laundry (apparently he had something like four loads to do) while I continued on continuing on.  The transmission was just about ready to slide into place when Jeff came by again to help and eat a chicken dinner Susan had prepared.  It took more doing than last time I changed the evo’s clutch but eventually we had the transmission attached to the engine.  Once connected and supported in a somewhat safe manner we ate yummy chicken.  After another bout of car work and chit-chat Jeff left to finish his war against dirty laundry and Susan and I went inside to clean up and indulge in some down-time on the couch with Bella. 

The plan for Monday was for me to try to finish the clutch work on the evo but Mother Nature messed it up.  It was snowing in the morning and cold enough all day that I had no desire to work on the car.  Thus I spent the entirety of the day on the couch with Bella.  While I wasn’t productive in a physical-sense I was able to revel in my forced-laziness.  Besides being lonely (Susan had to work) it was a nice day and good way to end the weekend. 

February 24 weekend – We got a slow start to the weekend.  I was up earlyish on Saturday but didn’t bug Susan out of bed until around 11:00.  We drove up to Rally.Build to talk about magnet trophies and ended up hanging out for a couple of hours chit chatting about this and that.  Since we were in the neighborhood we stopped by a Christopher’s Dodge as they had the correct transmission fluid for the evo.  On the way home we went to Costco in Southwest Plaza.  Nothing special about this except we hadn’t been for several months.  It’s weird to think about how we change our haunts when we move around the same town.  Almost like ever few blocks/miles in a city the businesses and locations repeat.  We also stopped at UPS to drop off Zappos returns (Susan’s first) and Walmart for groceries.  Once home we performed a quick cleanup of the kitchen table and prepped for dinner.  Kari and Alvin dropped by around 6:00 to grace us with their company and dine on yummy food.  They brought some of their tasty ciser they had made over a few years and their new doggie Piper.  Piper came from New Mexico and is a small-sized pup and is very sweet.  She was interested in Bella who was quick to defend her personal space.  Piper has a few nervous accidents but was overall well-behaved.  Our guests stayed late and we enjoyed their company. 

Sunday had us sleeping until the alarm went off at 9:30.  After dragging ourselves out of bed we dressed and headed to Great Beginnings to await Jeff for breakfast at 10:00.  As always it was a nice time and the food was yummy.  We talked life and cars (especially cars) before parting ways around noon.  Once home I commenced to fidget with the evo.  I spent all afternoon putting trying to finish up the clutch work.  Susan and Bella came out to sit in the sun for a time which was nice.  We’re hoping to acclimate Bella to the garage as she doesn’t deal well staying by herself in the house while knowing Susan and I are in the garage.  I was making significant progress when I managed to lose an important washer on top of the power steering support.  After fruitlessly trying to retrieve it using various implements I asked Susan to head over to our local parts store to find a replacement.  I stayed to keep working and soon Susan was back with several boxes of which one contained a copper washer that did the trick.  I called it quits for the day around 5:30 and Susan ordered Jimmy Johns for dinner while I showered off evo grime.  During the evening we watched Olympics with Bella on the couch.  I wish I was a bit more productive over the weekend but in the end it was a good one. 

Monday after work I stayed in the garage until late finishing up the evo which I was finally able to drive out of the garage. 

On Susan’s birthday we went to Saltgrass for a steak dinner.  The food was great and our server entertaining in his way.  We enjoyed a bottle of wine and had a very nice time.  Yay to another year! 

February 2018 has been a nice month for our little family.  Bella is such a doll and we love her antics.  I’m currently trying to get her to come to me when I am down on my haunches.  She gets hilariously standoffish when we do this and I’m using food to overcome her apprehension.  It’s hit or miss so far but I’m confident I’m more stubborn than Bella.  The weather has been all over the place as we’ve had warm and bitter-cold temperatures with a couple of snow storms peppered in.  The rallycross season starts in a few weeks and we’re looking forward to all it entails.