I didn’t have “break into my own home” on my Sunday bingo card, but here we are. After a long 90 minutes of traveling to & from the farm, swapping tires, labeling them, washing them, and torquing the whole lot down, and then taking the winter set to be stored at the farm once more, I was pretty tired out.
So we attempted a short bike ride which did not go over very well. My oldest has a new (somewhat adult) bike which she finds intimidating. So much so that she can’t recall how to pedal, steer or remain upright on the thing. I was not having any of the fits, fights, and tantrums and so I made her ride it up our street and back home again. She was fine, but chose to go cry in her room for a spell. Slammed doors included. Oh joy.
So I took my vehicle to go and fill it up with gas, and upon my return what do I find? The batteries in the front door have gone dead, and I don’t have the manual deadbolt key anywhere handy. Yikes. Luckily I am just a C hair shy of being too fat to fit through one set of windows, and I got in, swapped out all eight door batteries. That’s both the front & back door. Can’t get in the back as I have the screen door latched against the wind storms we’ve been having. Works a little too well, if you aren’t looking to cut through the mesh. As I’m not looking to do that repair again any time soon.
Alas I got in, with a bit of ingenuity, time, and the cover of trees to help me out a little. Glad that’s over and done with now. I’d be happier if I could get both cars tires swapped, but the van needs two new tires, and I don’t have them yet. Fun times.
Add into the mix my youngest having a play date that I wasn’t made aware of, and you have a pretty full morning on your hands. I even took the time to wash both cars while I was doing the tire swap. Can’t recall the last time I put either vehicle through the car wash. Metal parts aren’t going to like that salt residue all that much. I should find my power washer and get that set up for a Saturday morning car wash as we head into June & July. Could do the house windows while I’m at it. Try to peel the faux bloody hand prints off the brick work. They’ve only been there since mid October. Ha.
It’s times like this where I’m glad I bought the 3 ton jack, jack stands, breaker bar, torque wrench, and impact wrench. Makes doing my own tires far less hard on my back. A flat level driveway wouldn’t hurt either, but I’ll take what I can get out here in the streets. I don’t need them all the time but they shure do come in handy when you do need them. Boo-yah! Oh, and the wheel chocks too. With how inclined my driveway is, you best believe they get wedged in pretty good. You really see how far a car will roll back when you are tugging on a breaker bar to beat the 140ft/lbs of torque used to set the light nuts on over a very salty/briny winter. Glad for the ugga-dugga tool too at that point. 1150 ft/lbs of torque in my wrench. Real handy that thing is. Weighs a few pounds by itself. Top shelf.
That does it for me. I might tackle some paid work later on today so it’s ready for a 9:00am Monday morning review. But we’ll see if my back feels like it once I get home and put my feet up. I have a sneaking suspicion I’m being voluntold to go plant glad bulbs at the farm when I get home. May have to slow walk it. Speaking of Glad bulbs, we have a bunch of our own to plant too. Should get those in the ground tomorrow if I remember. Ciao Bella.
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