Sunday, May 31, 2020

May 2020

Another abbreviated update for May – 


May 2nd weekend 

Saturday - Susan went up to paint with Kari, I stayed home and worked on E30 and Scrappy’s engine

Sunday – we went up to Kari and Alvin’s to hang out before John, Karen, and Jan came by for lunch and conversation, I left around 3:00 and Susan stayed to help paint more


May 9 weekend 

Saturday – we were up earlyish with Susan’s alarm to finish getting the house into a presentable state, Alvin and Kari came over for lunch and to help with projects, Alvin helped with the new swap motor (I had exchanged out the wrong one) and Kari helped Susan paint this and that, accomplished a lot, we cooked an asparagus casserole for lunch and Kari brought salad which was all wonderful, they left around 7:00

Sunday – up with Susan’s alarm again, after coffee we went to junk yard, pulled a bunch of miscellaneous bolts and some other bits, lucked into getting air vents off Jeep Commander which fit in our Miatas, stopped at car parts store for spark plugs, went to Walmart where we bought more automotive stuff and a couple of food things including chocolate candy, once home Susan painted house numbers with glass beads (same as the mailbox) and I toiled away at the engine for a bit, stopped around 5:00 as we were both tired from the productive weekend, spent the rest of the evening on the couch with the pups


May 15th weekend  

Friday – Alvin came over to help install Scrappy’s new motor, Susan made dinner, it took a while but the engine was in Scrappy by 10:00

Saturday – I was up early to work on Scrappy, spent much of the day doing this and that on car

Sunday – I was up earlyish to work on Scrappy, got a lot done, Susan ran errands for me twice, eventually stopped to mow the lawn for the first time this year, Dan Hipwood came by to bring us a tire rack which will likely come in handy, we witnessed Oliver catch and play with a baby bunny, hilarious, sad, and disappointing as he eventually let the bunny escape

On Tuesday we started Scrappy up for the first time.  We ran into an electrical issue on Monday which I was able to resolve with some diagrams and a conversation with the makers of the swap-kit we are using.  Such a relief!


May 22 weekend 

Friday – I was off, I got up with Susan, picked up tires from Tirerack, dropped them off at Walmart with other tires/wheels to be mounted, came home with Walmart deli lunch to put together rolling tire rack in garage that Dan Hipwood gave us, picked up mounted tires, returned recalled jack-stands at Harbor Freight (exchanged them for a set they had in stock and got a gift card for another set), stopped at Walmart for food stuffs

Saturday – after coffee went up to look at Scrappy at muffler shop, went to Costco to buy Zertec, drove to a different Harbor Freight to get more jack stands

Sunday – lazy day on couch, it rained most of the day

Monday – another lazy day, BBQ’d burgers for dinner

Tuesday – I finally shaved my COVID beard that I’d been growing since the stay at home orders began, face felt great but I didn’t recognize myself in the mirror


May 29 weekend 

Friday – Susan sold the original swap transmission (the one we were going to use for Scrappy) to a guy, we reassembled the E30’s driveline

Saturday – I was up early to work in the garage, I lowered car onto car dollies and pushed it to its old home in the garage, cleaned up and organized until waking up Susan around 8:30, we both finished cleaning and organizing in the garage, walked around spraying weeds we missed spraying two weeks before, hot and tired, ordered Domino’s for dinner (first time ordering food from a restaurant since the lockdown began), hung out on couch for the rest of evening

Sunday – I was up early again to play video games and feed the pups, got Susan up after 9:00 for coffee, drove up to Chris Dorsey’s to buy Miata suspension parts, drove by Alvin and Kari’s old house to see it unchanged, picked up lunch at Qdoba (the curbside service was lame), went to Michaels for fabric, went to Walmart for food stuffs, relaxed at home for the rest of the weekend


We’ve gotten updated news about our work situations.  Susan is start going into the office three days a week and working from home the other two.  Word has come down that the absolute earliest people will be going back into my office is after Labor Day.  

We’re hoping to participate in a mini-endurance race in June.  We’re reached out to a couple of Lemons teams about joining us and, if Scrappy is ready, we’ll sign up.  

The dogs are doing well.  All are cute and seem to be in good health.  

We wear our masks whenever we go out in public which makes us part of the majority and is nice to see.  

What a crazy year!

Friday, May 29, 2020

April 2020

Alrighty.  This update will be another short one.  Something about this COVID-19 pandemic is sapping my will to keep track of things and write them down.  


April 4th weekend – 


Saturday – slept in, didn’t do much of anything


Sunday – slept in, went to Best Buy to pick up ink cartridge, Susan’s work to pick up printer paper, my work so I could archive emails, Costco for gas, then Walmart for food stuffs (they had meat again – yay!)



April 11th weekend – 


Saturday – up with alarm, coffee, moved stuff from suburban to trailer, drove to Kari and Alvin’s to help them move, loaded up suburban and whatnot, caravanned up to their new house, secluded, lots of land, quirky, neat, unloaded, Susan helped Kari clean, hung out some, John, Karen, Ken, and Brian were also there, went to Costco and then Walmart on way home for food stuffs


Sunday – up with alarm, coffee, drove up to Lakewood to buy Miata motor and transmission from Chris Dorsey, I went home and Susan went to Kari and Alvin’s to help more, I hung out with the pups until Susan finished up and got home around 6:30, hung out for the remainder of the weekend


On Thursday I braved the snowy weather to pick up a gas pedal assembly for Scrappy, guy didn’t have it taken off car yet, stayed a long time to help remove it



April 18th weekend – 


Saturday – Susan went up to help Kari clean and hang pictures, I stayed home


Sunday - Susan went up to help Kari install contact paper on their countertops, I stayed home



April 24th weekend – 


Friday – I took off and just hung out


Saturday – did nothing


Sunday – went shopping in the morning, sprayed weeds in afternoon


Monday – I was off again, went shopping again


Additional thoughts and stuffs


The pandemic has made life so strange.  I spend the majority of my weekdays at the kitchen table logged in to work and doing my work thing.   Our slow internet is a constant issue but generally I can be productive. There was a survey from work some weeks ago asking how we were doing and when we’d prefer to come back into the office.  I chose the soonest option given which would have been sometime in late May at that time. Now the earliest anyone is going back to the office is after Labor Day. Ugh.  


With the help of Susan and Alvin I got motivated to work on Scrappy’s motor swap towards the end of April.  I’ve largely been unproductive outside of work which hasn’t been a good thing.   


Susan has been doing her work-thang and suffers the same internet-woes I do but she is far busier.  This leads to her having longer hours and she has to deal with two mandatory but generally inane check-in calls a day.  


The pups have been generally great.  So is Oliver the barn cat. He seems to enjoy his adventures outside his shed and likes to hang out with us when we are outside.