79\u00a0 bar falls 29.84 1mph ENE dew-point 61\u00a0\u00a0 Summer, hot, moving toward muggy<\/p>\n
Waxing Crescent of the Thunder Moon<\/p>\n
The cracks in the red car’s head were tiny.\u00a0 I saw them.\u00a0 They ran, in one instance, down the threads that hold the spark plug in place.\u00a0 While threading in a spark plug or under pressure, these cracks could have broken loose and allowed oil and exhaust gases to invade the spark plug and generally foul things up.\u00a0 Carlson was thoughtful in showing them to me.<\/p>\n
We’ve sunk almost $5,000 in this car this year. \u00a0 That’s almost a year’s car payments.\u00a0 Even so, we could put in the same amount next year and still be ahead of the game.\u00a0 It runs quite well now, though there is that piece that fell off on the way home.\u00a0 No kidding.\u00a0 A big chunk of something fell off.\u00a0 I’m going to take it back and ask them about it, but not today.\u00a0 It looks like a shield or rock barrier, not metal, rather some kind of composite, tarpaper like material.<\/p>\n
It’s 31-32 miles per gallon on the highway alone justifies keeping it in our two vehicle collection.\u00a0 The pick-up we’ll park for the most part in the not too distant future.\u00a0 $90 a tank to fill it up.\u00a0 Ouch.\u00a0 And it sucks the gas down, too, with its v-8.\u00a0 What were we thinking?\u00a0 It is, though, a useful vehicle for errands and landscape chores.\u00a0 Another advantage is its four-wheel drive.\u00a0 (Oh, come to think of it, that’s what we were thinking.\u00a0 In 1999, when we bought it, Kate still had call and\u00a0 hospital duty.\u00a0 She had to be able to get to where she was needed.) That makes it potentially important in a severe winter situation.\u00a0 Besides, pick-ups and SUV’s have lost significant value.\u00a0 We could get nowhere the value it is to us.\u00a0 So, it will stay, too.<\/p>\n
Our neighbor went to bed apparently healthy, then woke up the next day with MS.\u00a0 A striking and sudden life change.\u00a0 It has occasioned a major alteration in their lives.\u00a0 They went from the salary of a 58 year old career civil servant at the peak of\u00a0 his career to a fixed income household.\u00a0 This was six months ago.<\/p>\n
How it will affect their family dynamics over the long haul is an open question.\u00a0 The prednisone\u00a0 makes\u00a0 him cranky.\u00a0 He’s gone from an active guy who built his own observatory and sailed Lake Superior to a wobbly man who can no longer read.\u00a0 His mental acumen seems fine, but for now he wanders, lost in the bewilderment of this rapid change, as well he might be.<\/p>\n
Today is an inside day.\u00a0 I’m going to write on Superior Wolf, get ready for my research on Unitarian Universalism in the Twin Cities and, maybe, crack the case and clean off my cooling fan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
79\u00a0 bar falls 29.84 1mph ENE dew-point 61\u00a0\u00a0 Summer, hot, moving toward muggy Waxing Crescent of the Thunder Moon The cracks in the red car’s head were tiny.\u00a0 I saw them.\u00a0 They ran, in one instance, down the threads that hold the spark plug in place.\u00a0 While threading in a spark plug or under pressure, … Continue reading Back In Its Own Stall<\/span>