Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Washington's Day...

When I was growing up we celebrated Washington's birthday on February 22nd....no matter what day of the week that was each year (the same for Lincoln's Birthday).  At some point, I think in 1971, it became President's Day and is now celebrated on the 3rd Monday of February every year, but for me it will always Washington's Birthday.  Being the last day of this long weekend the park began to empty out around mid morning.

We spent part of the morning watching the Ice Dancing finals "live" from the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia......TLE loves figure skating and ice dancing a lot, and I guess I am not far behind her.  An American couple was favored to win, but the way these Olympics have been going we were a little skeptical....the reality has just not lived up to the hype in most cases.  As it turned out they won the gold medal handily, nevertheless, I watched their performance fully expecting some bizarre mistake, or accident to snatch gold from their grasp.  It never happened....in fact all 5 of the top couples skated pretty much flawless programs with Davis and White taking gold with a record setting score.  For once the reality lived up to the hype.  

In order to finish the conversion of my docking lights to LED I needed a 1/4" open end wrench to properly, and more easily remove the remaining screws holding the last two in place.  I don't have a 1/4" open end wrench.....my smallest is 5/16".....and except for this one sole application I have never needed one.  I hate buying a tool that has but one purpose, and will probably not be used again, but using the needle nose pliers to remove the screws was just taking too long.  TLE drove me over to Autozone where I found exactly what I needed for $5.  This little wrench has a lifetime warranty......that may turn into a few lifetimes as it will get used rarely, but for $5 the process of removing and re-installing the lights is significantly faster.  After our return I dove into converting the 3rd of four lights, and had it done in a little over an hour, so now there is just one more to go (left rear), and I will tackle that Tuesday.  I think I will also convert the porch light to LED while I am at it.  Some may wonder "why doesn't he use an adjustable wrench?"......unfortunately it just won't fit.....the space is very narrow, and only an open end wrench will work.

While I was working on the left front docking light Ozzie and his wife dropped by to ask about our Newell......Ozzie is one of the few people we have run into who knows about Newells.  He has been in the market for a pre-owned Newell for a while.....we spent at least 20 minutes talking about Newells in general, and about our coach specifically.

We had received a call from our son, Tim, earlier in the morning suggesting we meet he and his girl friend (Laila) at the Salted Pig for a late lunch/early dinner around 2:30, and, of course, we had to include our oldest daughter, Meredith, who missed our last lunch there.   Meredith arrived at our coach around 1:45 and we sat and talked for a while before leaving for the Salted Pig around 2:20.  Tim and his best girl, Laila, were there waiting for us, and we proceeded to have a great lunch.  Since I've been under 190 pounds for the better part of a week I decided to go for it and had my first hamburger in a few months.  They have several interesting burgers there including "The Really Good Burger" (what I ordered) which includes jalapenos, cream cheese and crispy onions along with a fried egg......I know....sounds really good, huh?  We ordered a plate of their "Filthy Fries" (laced with beer cheese, crackling dust, herbs and roasted garlic) as an appetizer.  Of course there was draft beer to be consumed......I had two pints of the Highwater Campfire Stout of which I cherished each sip.

Tim, moi and Meredith......this is the first time I've worn my Tabasco tshirt in a long time.....it's a medium....it fits perfectly now!  

Frankly, virtually everything on their menu sounds extremely appetizing to me.  Fortunately for me we will only be here a couple more weeks, so I won't have enough time to sample everything on the menu.  It was a delightful 90 minute meal, and is one of the things I am thankful we are still here to enjoy......more meals and more time spent with our kids.

Only a few more days until I get the 13 staples removed from my incision.....they are really beginning to bug me.

Thanks for stopping by!

4 comments:

  1. You keep eating like that and you may pop those staples one by one. Lol

    Davy

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  2. The great thing Davy, is I had that one big meal with two pints of beer, and still lost .6 pounds yesterday! Down to 188.0 now!

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  3. FYI, most of the screwdrivers with the removable bits are 1/4 in. just take out the bit and use as a "bit driver".
    BTW, you must be strong as a bull, that is one fast recovery you made since surgery, took me several weeks when I had mine done years ago. Good luck, glad to hear your doing well.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately Davy my access to the heads of the screws is not direct.....I have to use a thin open end wrench to get at all six of them from the side.

      Fortunately my physical fitness was at a good level when the injury occurred, which I attribute to my quick recovery. Frankly, I am somewhat surprised by the speed of my recovery, also.

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