Thank You

Big hugs and kisses out to Candy.  She cooked up an awesome dinner this evening.   On Thursday's we normally go out to dinner with Marv and Belle, but we thought this week we would have them over as a thank you for using his truck and trailer to haul the Ranchero to the body shop.  Candy, baked up chicken thighs, mashed potato (every time I spell potato, I always look it up.  Don't want to be a Dan Quayle.) Corn and even made a cake.  It was AWESOME!

Just to give you an idea of what robots our politicians are, I did actually look up the Dan Quayle snafu to see what happened and this is what I found:  "Quayle was at the Munoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, N.J., when he relied on a notecard provided by the school on the spelling of the word potato, a word used in the contest. The notecard incorrectly added an “e” to the end of the word, and Quayle advised the student to spell it that way." Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/03/07/obama-flubs-spelling-respect/

Keep in mind I did find this information on the internet so it has to be true!  Imagine that not using your own brain and to know that the letter "E" killed your political career.

Dan my friend, this video is for you:

Where to begin

As the title states "Where to begin"  I have so many things rushing through my head, from work to my dinner this evening and the shit that is going down with ISIS, our president.  The list goes one.

First and foremost I would like to encourage you to sign up for the #‎Journey2aMillion‬ to help fight childhood cancer.   Please see the information below that I borrowed from a co-worker whose son battled cancer.

"Join ‪#‎Journey2aMillion‬ all September for a virtual walk/run/ride for National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. No cost to join a team, you just log the miles you already walk, jog, run or ride. If you use any of these apps/devices: MapMyFitness/MapMyRun/MapMyRide/MapMyWalk/MapMyHike/MyFitnessPal/PowerTap/Garmin/Fitbit/Jawbone/Nike+/Polar/Timex/Magellan/Fitbug/Suunto/Withings you can create a free MapMyFitness account & import/link from the one you already use. Please share/recruit others and join our team here:http://www.alexslemonade.org/mypage/1117502 Please share and thanks to those already on the team!"

Seems to me it would be a hell of a lot better for you to get out and walk/run/ride and get a little exercise instead of dumping a bucket of water over your head.  Not only that but if I read the FAQ correctly, http://www.alexslemonade.org/about/faq about 86% of the funds received go the help fight childhood cancer.

I am up to 14/miles for the month.   This challenge is just what I needed to get me walking and logging some miles.

I think I will stop here as I don't wan't to throw in a bunch of negativity combined with something that is so positive.

Labor Day

Wow the weekend is over, hope you had fun however you spent your Labor Day!   We spent most of our time working around and on the house.   We talked about going to the State Fair or to the Drive-In but we never made it.

I did get a couple of nice 5/mile hikes in.  Felt good to be out early in the morning.  I was lucky enough to see the Balloon launch on Saturday morning.   I counted around 32 of them, but could be wrong.  Of course I didn't have anything with me to take a picture.  Left the house early this morning,hoping I could see the Balloons again.  No such luck! and yes this time I was prepared.  I guess it was to windy this morning for them to take off.

What Color?

Originally I was planning on painting the Ranchero blue and white as I wasn't going to paint the dash, but have now decided to do so.  So I can really paint the car any color I want. I have so many options to choose from.  Below are some pictures of paint combinations that I like.

Whats your favorite?

And away we go

OK, so I got the call and we are loading up the Ranchero on Monday and taking it into the body and paint shop.  My guess is that it will take 4 to 6 months to get the car back.  Hopefully the next pictures I post will be of the car with paint done.  I am going to have the dash repainted so will need to have all the door trims, etc. redone as well.

Lucky Bastard

Wow, so this weekend was pretty busy for me.   I got an early Birthday gift which caught me by surprise.  I guess a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that it would be nice to have a TV on the back porch.   We can sit by the fire pit or in the hot tub and keep current with events.

Well Candy informed me that I needed to be home on Saturday as the cable guy was coming to install a wireless box for our new 32 inch TV that she bought.   She picked up the TV and swivel stand and Saturday morning I hung it up on the patio wall where we wanted it.   The cable guy showed up and after several hours, he had finished upgrading most of the equipment inside and added a wireless receiver outside under the patio.

It looked great by its self, but Candy had shown me a picture of how someone had used some old fencing for shelving on pintrest.   Even though they say the TV is wireless (no wires), you still have two power cords, one for the TV and the other for the wireless box.    Needing someway to hide the power cords I decided to build my own old fencing shelves like Candy had shown me.

Being the hoarder that I am, I had picked up some old fencing about three months ago from a neighbor down the street who was replacing their wood fence.   Yes, we stopped and knocked on the door and they said we could have all we wanted.   I ended up taking about 3 panels.  I had taken the panels to the shop and broke it all down so it would be usable for my needs.

Having wood ready to go, I sanded and put a coat of urethane on each plank.   Made all my cuts and drilled and screwed everything together and ended up with this!  My Gnomes that we bought at auction now have a home.

All together it took me about 4/hours to put this all together and get the new/old fencing sanded, nail gunned, drilled, screwed and hung up on the wall.  Bonus points if you can tell the the name of the show playing on the TV.

While I was at it I also had to redo the laundry room this weekend.   We used to have a stacked washer/dryer, but after having them fix the dryer four times in the last three months, we decided to replace both the washer and dryer with new side by side units.  We have been hanging our clothes outside on our makeshift clothes line I made.  Pretty sure our neighbors think we are white trash, but I could care less. On a side note, if you want to be successful you can't worry about what other people may think of you.

Anyway I hung up a new white cabinet and put in a rod so that we can hang clothes to dry as well or just making it easier to hang clothes when taking them out of the dryer.  Yes, I do laundry.  reminds me of a joke, ask me the next time wee see each other.

Checking In

I was looking and it has been a good month since I put anything down.  So much going on as of late, which is a good thing.  Still working on several projects at the shop.   

The Ranchero is ready to go to the paint shop.   This last weekend I finished sanding and cleaning the door jams.  Pulled out the bench seat and ripped out the old carpet.    I took it into the shop two weeks back and had the mechanic go through the motor and make sure everything checked out.   I have been having a problem keeping a charge and I wanted a compression test done.  They replaced the armature on the generator and I had one cylinder that the compression was low.  Had them pull the valve covers and check and set the valves.  She start up easy, sounds good and charges the battery.

I am guessing it will be another couple weeks before my paint guy is ready and worried it will take six months to get it done.   I am thinking I may want to use someone else.

This has been a good month for me.  We celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary.    Candy had a Birthday and I  set my schedule so I wasn't traveling this month.  I have been walking just about everyday, watching what I am eating and logging everything. Feeling pretty good and have dropped a couple of pounds, still have a ways to go.

Couple weeks back we went up to Denver to see Foxy Shazam.  We had a blast.  Stayed downtown at the Grand Hyatt, walked around,  had dinner and drinks and then headed to the show.  We got in early and had a meet and greet with the band.  I got a shirt signed and we took our picture with them.  They put on an awesome show. I don't know why I am such a groupie but I am.

With the walking I have been doing the last couple of weeks, it has been a combination of treadmill and trails.  I haven't taken many pictures of the flowers or wildlife this year.   We have had rain and lots of it.  Maybe we are finally out of our drought.   The yard looks awesome and we have hardly had to water.  The wild flowers are in bloom and the vegetation is going wild.  I snapped this picture the other day as I thought it was a nice grouping.

When I had the Ranchero out to the mechanic, I pulled out the sandblaster and worked on cleaning up a few parts.   My dad had given me some old radial engine aircraft cylinders along with some old aircraft instruments.   Still not sure what I am going to do with them.  I have a couple of ideas, just need more time.  Any way, I blasted one of them and painted it candy red.   I had some old gears that I picked up at a junk yard a year or so ago.  Candy had been using them in her flower pots.   I blasted them and they came out so nice, that we hung them on the wall in the living room.   Maybe this is my start to steam punk art.

With everyone doing selfies, I figured I should do one just so I can keep current.   I got a new hat for hiking, yes a little odd but you will remember seeing me.  OK so my judgement of things I share might be in question. LOL

Sunday

I got off my ass and did some real hiking this weekend.  Candy and I did a big hike on Saturday and this morning I took Eric and one of his friends out.  Saturday we did the 7 Bridges loop and Sunday we did Twilight Canyon.  It actually turned out to be pretty good week for me.   I manged to log 34.6 miles.  I have a bunch of projects I am looking to get done, but the will have to go on hold for the next couple of weeks.   I have pretty heavy travel schedule coming up.  I hope to be able to keep up my walking while on the road.  We shall see.

For the last couple of days we have been watching the aerial ballet that the Humming Birds have been performing.  Not sure what changed but we only one or two for a while and I counted eight of them this evening.  They are fun to watch and don't seem to be too afraid of us.  More so each other as they are chasing each other around the yard.

Again

I walked to work today but caught a ride home with Eric as it was raining pretty good. I will have to try to get a few extra in tomorrow,  We were in Wichita, KS. for the 4th of July.  I feel bad as I didn't get any pictures of the family together.  See this is what happens when you become numb to face book and other sm outlets.

Well that is my story and I am sticking with it.  Did you know that Horse Shoe crabs have blue blood.  I didn't either.  Just saw it on TV so it has to be true.  I did get one picture from our trip to KS and have included it below.   I need to check with Candy and see if she took any on her phone.

Hey

What's up friends?  I don't know why I can't get things going with this old blog.  I have a lot of things to write about, but just can't seem to find the time or make the time, like I should.   I walked to work today, so that is a good thing.   Actually got some pretty good distance in, just over 7.5/miles.

Ooh, the new Planet of the Apes is coming out soon and I am looking forward to checking it out.   I also want to see Tammy, from the commercials it looks pretty funny.  Let's see, from my last post, I have been in San Francisco and then off to Kansas for the 4th of July.  I have a couple of other trips already scheduled and it is going to be a busy travel month.

I need to load up the camera from my last couple of trips, hell I might have a few good pics.

Candy Robinson - Bolinas, CA.

When we were in Sausalito, CA we stayed at the Gables Inn.  It was OK, but parking was a bitch to maneuver in and out.  I was driving a bad ass Dodge Challenger with 5.7 Liter Hemi.   This bad boy got up and hauled ass.  Problem was that the traffic was so bad, that you couldn't really have any fun with it.  I did get a few chirps off here and there.  It even came in my favorite color, white.  It's probably best that I don't own one as I am sure I would wind up with a few tickets and my road rage would increase. "Dumb bastards, use your turn signals".

We got in some great hiking in California.  We hiked along Stinson Beach, Bolinas Beach, Muir woods and did a 7/mile hike from the beach up into the mountains.   We were out of the Inn by 6:30 AM everyday.  Believe me when I say it is true that the early bird gets the worm.  You also get the parking, best sites on the trail before other scare off the wild life and no traffic.

Stinson Beach - Low Tide

Matt Davis - Steep Ravine - Dipsea Trails

Muir woods had to be my favorite hike.  Once again we were one of the first ones in the park.  If you get there before the gate opens you don't have to pay to get in.  We came across squirrels, skunk, deer an owl.  I did manage to get a pretty decent picture of the owl.