In-Laws and the Big Ditch

The LW's parents got here Thursday morning, we packed everything in the rented Tahoe, and stressed...uh...I mean...headed out. It was a pretty easy run up to the Flagstaff KOA and we found our spot after almost getting run over by one of the camp manager's rugrats on a scooter. CP had a grand time there on the playground with her mom and grandma.

We had a nice dinner at the Horseman's Lodge up the road, and were soon back for some sleep. Here's where the trip gets interesting. CP had missed her nap and gets all kinds of wonky when that happens. Well, we tried to let her sleep with grandma in the huge tent and that went well for 20 minutes or so. After all of the crying for mommy that the LW could stand, she went in, rescued CP, and brought her into our small 1.275 person Kelty tent. "Ahh...the tight knit family camping trip!", you say.....well, the weave in this particular knit was a little too tight, so I was soon off to sleep in the rented Tahoe. The seats in the truck wouldn't go all the way flat, so my lower back soon informed me that it was time to find a flat spot and find one I did - right beside the right front tire of the truck that happened to be about 7 feet from the road. Now, this wouldn't have been too bad except the only sleeping bag that was left for me to use was about 1.5 feet shorter than I am tall. It was a rough 3 hours of sleep that night.

The next morning was off the the big yellow M for some breakfast and on to Safeway for some water and stuff. We hit the road and found a gas station to fuel the thirsty beast we were in - only to find out that the card that we had planned to use for the trip was blocked. Well, I guess in all of the trip planning that I had attempted, I had forgotten to schedule the payment for said card. We pulled off of the road and I was able to recite the bank routing number and account number to the nice lady at the card company so we could use the card again. Now we were off.

The drive from Flag to Lee's Ferry is amazing if you've never really been to that part of the country. It's nice from there to the north rim as well. Amazing really...and you just have to see it. Parts of it are beyond description and it would take you close to, if not more than 1000 words just to try. We enjoyed the drive and it was nice to have the roadside geology book with us so we could interpret what we were seeing. At one point along Echo Cliffs, we stopped and CP got out to play in the fine red silt with her grandmother - she had fun. It was beautiful, and a little window into what's to come after the move. The next stop was Navajo Bridge, which was cool to see. Kinda scary though, seeing CP's head stuck through the railing...... (heart...skips)

We stopped in at Jacob Lake for some lunch and were treated to good stuff in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. If you're through there, it's a good place to stop. The bathrooms were pretty funny - as if someone had sandwiched three phone booths together - that's all the space there was. Still, the lunch and time out of the truck were great. Off to the north rim.

The campground was beautiful and getting there was nice. Again, you really just have to see it. Dykinga-like views at every turn. (google that name, you'll see) We set up camp in no time and then it was a scramble to get down to the lodge for dinner. The LW had finagled the best table in the place six weeks earlier, so we watched the sun set over the canyon at dinner through 10' tall windows. It's one of those things you look back on as just being unbelievable. Was I really there? What a day!

Well, after dinner we settled into the big tent this time with plenty of room and CP went to sleep easily after her full day. I settled down to sleep too, but only for a little while. I woke up feeling sick - nauseated and dizzy and scared of both. I stumbled over to the bathroom in the black dark to see if that would make me feel better, but it only got worse. I was panicked pretty badly and the wife helped some, but soon we were off to the EMT station nearby. The EMTs met us down at the lodge after the nice lodge ladies called them. I talked to Shelly the Ranger/EMT and it sounded like classic altitude sickness - she recommended descent and a trip to the ER.....in Kanab, UT. I've had altitude sickness before at 6500'-9,000' and this was a little different because I was having trouble feeling like I was getting enough air and heart palpitations were regular and intense. Well, I declined a $5000 ambulance ride and the wife said that she'd drive me there.

Off we went through complete darkness on a twisty road littered with hundreds of mule deer. 20 deer/mile for most of the trip. My wife is tough, but she was crying through sections of it. Worried about me and worried about leaving the parents with the bebe. She's tough and it was hard to see. She's the best thing to ever happen to me. We made it into Kanab two hours later and I was feeling a little better since we were down below 5000' - still a little goofy and nauseated though. The staff at Kane County Hospital were all super nice and got me in right away. We were both treated well and soon the doc had looked at my EKG and chest xrays. He told me that it was probably a combination of stress, dehydration, (extreme- 3hrs out of 45) lack of sleep, and the 8000' altitude. He gave me some crazy pills (ativan) to calm down the panic that seems to come when I can't get enough air. I'm sure it'll be an expensive lesson as soon as the bills roll in, but it's good to know I'm not dying.

It was good to get checked out and after about 3 hours, we were off to find a hotel in town. We found what appeared to have been one of the last rooms in town and were down for our 3 hours of sleep before heading back to the rim to get the rest of our party. They were happy to see us and we were soon packed up and headed back toward Flagstaff. We stopped at Lee's Ferry to play around on the way and it was cool. CP got in the water, and as her mother had instructed her not to do, got her butt wet. After a nice view and a whole lot of stress, we piled into the truck and headed up to the Lee's Ferry Lodge for a really nice lunch. It was a pleasant rest with only one spanking needed.

We were headed to the Hotel Monte Vista in Flag, which was to be a surprise for the father-in-law since we were to stay in the John Wayne Suite. Getting there was really not half of the fun though. The LW had forgotten to pack her thyroid meds, so she was crashing because of this, stress, and the fact that she'd had less sleep than me. It would have been easier if I'd actually printed directions to the hotel, but she still was able to get us there and check in. It was a good surprise for her dad and we soon crashed out.....really hard.

Her mom took CP around town and we rested while the LW fought off a pseudo-migraine. It was nice to relinquish command of the little person and just float for a little while. I woke up and the LW was gone - she'd headed to Target for meds, was treated well, and came back happy. She was rested and doing well when I woke up. We didn't really do dinner anywhere since the evening, for us, was kinda wrecked. CP, the LW, and the grandparents just snacked a bit before we all hit the hay for the night. At this point, I'm feeling ok, but by the end of the day, I could tell that I'd slept 8 hours out of the past 60.

Once again after laying down, I found that I couldn't regulate my breathing very well and just decided to give in to the crazy pills and get through the night. The LW and I talked and I worked on breathing...soon the euphoria and fatigue combined with a crazy pill sent me out for the night.

Sunday morning was bright and beautiful. We all went downstairs for coffee and muffins. The streets were relatively quiet and nice. It was a good start to the day and we were fueled up and off for Sedona. Our friends Carie and Brian had been there just the week before and told us that the west fork of Oak Creek would be nice for walking with the little person and they were right. CP had a blast walking in the creek with the walking stick that her grandmother made for her. It was a nice quiet break and I enjoyed it. CP played in the water and entertained us all. She just doesn't get enough instruction though - just not enough people telling her what to do. She soon became moderately crabby, but we were back to the truck and she was sleeping on the way through town and on toward Sky Harbor.

Everyone settled down a bit for a good traveling-food lunch at Jason's Deli in Tempe before putting the folks back on a plane. It was an interesting trip and an uneventful drive back to T-town. I'm glad that we did it because who knows when we'll be able to do it again.

As I told my mother-in-law, "it's not a great vacation unless someone ends up in the ER!".

419 or "hence I'll be sending a check good friend"

I've been playing with a Nigerian 419 scammer this week. I figure that if I can waste some of this moron's time, he won't be able to bother at least one person for a while. It's pretty funny. He asked me where to send the check and I told him to send it to my summer home in Washington D.C. and address it to my 'uncle' J.E. Hoover who was tending the place for me. Evidently, he didn't really look up the address or the name. I hope that someone at the FBI gets a kick out of reading that note.

For fun on your own, google for these:

419eater
Scam-O-Rama
Igbo Insults

Some Interest..

We had a few folks through the house this past weekend, but still no offers. Everyone so far has noted that we have a "cute little house", but I think what they mean is that we have a little house and haven't hit the right price point to trigger an offer yet. We'll switch some things up after the grand canyon trip this weekend and see what happens.

I put my dirt bike up on craigslist this weekend too. I hate to get rid of it, but there's no way to license it in KS since it has an ATV title. The proceeds will pay for the moving truck. My good friend Pat from CA is giving me a KDX220 in a box in a week or two, so that'll be a $500 motorcycle after I get it in shape and it'll get me where I want to go.

Mom, you didn't fail me...

..you just didn't fully indoctrinate me...and for that I'm thankful.

Grover Norquist's Bathtub

I think that Ol' Super Grover should have to swim in this kid's bathtub for a bit and consider what it's like to see your kids basically drown in it because the EPA's been dismantled by greed. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html

If he doesn't get enough here to change his mind, maybe he could then travel to Canon City, CO and see what a leaking tailing pond or two can do to a town.

Costco Car Rental

Yesterday I called the local "we'll pick you up" rental car company and spoke with a nice chap about how much renting a Yukon for our upcoming trip was going to cost. The website tells you to call for availability when you look for large SUVs, so I did. I was told that the rental was going to be $501 and some change. I knew that I remembered finding something cheaper, and was reminded by a voice in the back of the house that I had used the Costco membership stuff to search the last time. In a few clicks, I had the Yukon reserved for a day more than the outlet person had set up (to cover the 1200 miles we'll need) for $381. That's almost three years of membership costs made up on one purchase.

I'm not really a fan of big box things, but this company treats employees pretty well, especially when their competition is considered. We have a neighbor who has worked for Costco for over a decade and has a painful and potentially debilitating disease ....and they've stuck with him.

Mmmm Vancouver.....

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009093710/postcard-canada-why-i-missed-obamas-speech

Trumbo?

The LW and I caught the latter part of the American Masters show last night on Dalton Trumbo. It was an interesting show and I especially liked the letter to his daughter's school that he penned.

I wonder, as a non-believer in what soon will be a sea of sky-fairy flotsam, how my daughter will fare at school. She came home last week from preschool with the folded hands/god is great/early indoctrination stuff at the lunch table and was advised that she didn't have to do that. We'll see. I sometimes wonder how long religions would prosper if children weren't immersed in pick-and-choose religious stories before their ability to employ reliable critical thought were developed. It takes some a lifetime to shake off the early childhood things that our parents tell us are true.....sadly, most never make it. Victims of comfort.

Kids and Tarantulas

This evening, we headed over to "AntKewwie's" to see Teague and Caden. We had dinner and I got to shoot the breeze with AntKewwie's husband Brian. It was a good time and the noisy trio seemed to really enjoy themselves both outside before the sunset and afterward in the play room(s). On the way home, it was quite dark, but I managed to see a furry little critter on the side of the gravel road and skidded to a halt. CP of course, wanted to know what was going on, so I backed up and she could see the spider in the road and wanted out of the car seat to see it. We hopped out ran over in the beams of the headlights to investigate and the spider seemed interested in us too. CP loved it! When we go to the desert museum, the docents only let you get so close, but she had full access to this little guy. We stood there and watched him for as long as I thought safe for a gravel road out near the rez and then hopped back in the car, made sure that he wasn't under the tires, and passed slowly over the top of him. All the way home there was talk of spiders and she couldn't wait to tell the LW all about this exciting end to her great evening.

If you live in texas or have family members that do....

..you'd better hope that you never have any kind of fire....or anything else that requires a lawyer, for that matter.

Read this.

Buffoonery is now spelled with a capital t.

Up for Sale - Round II

Our friend, who is also our realtor, called this afternoon to see if we wanted to list the house again. We discussed how evidently a lot of folks got blown out after the May 1st new rules were implemented and how it seems to not be having the same effect now. Things are beginning to work finally, I guess.

Remember how our house appraisal dropped $33,000 in a few weeks last time? Well, let's hope that we don't have to deal with that again. We've considered renting it out, but getting the house sold will help us with our next home in KC and take some of the stress off of the LW and I.

Here we go!

Small Child Challenge

Bouts of loud laughter came from the back of the house and I was told to do this:
1. Lay on a flat surface on your back
2. Close your eyes
3. Have small child move around until you are head to head
4. Have small child put his/her forehead close to yours
5. Open your eyes

If you don't laugh out loud at the single-eyed monster whose hair is tickling your nose, you probably should have your pulse checked.

Good Read for Dads

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article6808127

Wheelchairs at the Tucson Tea Party?

The LW and I were passing Giffords' office recently during one of the Tea Party gatherings here in T-town and I was struck by the numbers of what appeared to be pretty healthy, fully ambulatory, white folks roughly the same age as my parents - you know, the last of the folks with pensions. What I noticed as missing were folks in wheelchairs, people with long term disabilities, etc. Where are they? It seems that the people with the closest contact with and dependence on the messed up aspects of the health care system that we have now, don't appear to be at these gatherings.

ALH TDI Injection Quantity Seals

Well, the B99 summer to D2 winter switch wasn't so nice to the seals on the injection pump on the TDI. Considering that it's a 2003 model with 118k on it, they did their job well. The last leak was the pump's head seal and that one was an interesting fix. I got the stuff from Dieselgeek and made sure that I ordered extra viton seals since I figured I'd pinch at least one. I found out that cleaning the seal land with a piece of safety wire made sure that all of the old seal was removed...learned that the hard way. For this leak, I ordered the funky tool from Metalnerd and the seal kit from Peter over at TDIParts.com.

I wasn't real sure about messing with the IQ block since it has the possibility of causing a runaway engine, but I had to dig in because it was leaking pretty badly. (insert memories of V8 Cat at almost full throttle) I checked the IQ with the VAG-COM after I got home from dropping off the little one at school the other day and it was at 2.8-3.0. Reading around on the TDIClub forums is beneficial, but there are enough red herrings in the forum threads to fill an ocean. If you enjoy that kind of thing, go for it, but I've worked flat-rate, and a bunch of "oh nooo, you can't do that!" style stuff just pisses me off.

So, here we go with the flat-rate get'er done fix.

I was working on a car that had been sitting a while. It doesn't appear to make that much difference other than you're going to burn your hands if you're doing this on a waiter...and if you're reading this and working flat rate - you shouldn't be working on this car.

Get brake cleaner, a 3/8 drive ratchet, 17mm wrench, adjustable wrench, hammer and small chisel, special funky socket, T20, and T30. Clean all of the leaky diesel crap off of the pump with the brake cleaner. Now, if you've read the stuff on TDIClub, it'll tell you to take off the wiring harness at the pump. That's BS for this pump and the funky special tool won't work on the screw that they put on the corner of this harness plug...so screw it.


Next up, get a scribe or a box cutter and make a mark around the edges of the IQ block where it hits the pump body. There's a ledge there that you'll see. Outline the IQ block with the scribe. Mark around the upper curve and the lower curves that you see in the photos below.


Next up - make two marks with the hammer and chisel. Now, don't go bangin' the crap out of this stuff because it's pretty soft. I made my marks where I could easily look down on them to line them up. I made them deep enough that I could easily see them.


Now take a 17mm and an adjustable wrench and remove the fuel line/banjo bolt and washer. Not much fuel will come out, but get your rags stuffed under the pump because the next steps will get your feet wet.

Pull the top three bolts and the funky special bolt and remove the top - if you need to replace the upper seal, and really, if you're going to spew D2 on the floor, why not just replace the upper seal? It's probably best to replace the upper seal and then put the bolts back on hand tight.

Now you can take the lower cover bolts off and rotate the piece enough to get the new seal in. Make sure that you get the pin (you'll see it) back into its spot back down in the pump. It won't fit back together unless it is put back into its spot.

You can now move things back to where the scribe marks say that they should be and put the bolts back in. Check the scribe marks against the chisel marks just to make sure that everything is in place. Being a bit off on this part could cost you an engine. Tighten the lower bolts, upper bolts and reinstall the banjo bolt. Brake clean off the diesel that spilled and you're done.

I did this and the IQ was bouncing from 2.8-3.0 before and was 2.8 when I was done. I may try the hammer mod just to get it up to 3.0 or a little higher, but it'll do for now. Total time messing with this was under 15 minutes from start to finish. Do this at your own risk - ymmv.

Just a Grill Away

I put some chicken out on the grill this afternoon after a trip to the pool. We were all starving, but CP was good and snacked a bit on trail mix before her salad was ready. My plan was to use up the last bit of the Gates sauce that I had, and it worked out fine. On the last trip out to check on things, I opened the lid and was met by a big cloud of sauce smoke. As the cloud passed, I breathed in a little bit and could almost see and hear the big flat steel lid on my grandfather's grill. I was right there in the summer house looking through the screen door to see what was cooking.

It smelled just like my childhood holiday weekends in Mississippi. My grandfather has an outside grilling room that he calls the "summer house". It's screened in to keep most of the bugs out and has plenty of fans as well as a double drying bay cast iron/ceramic sink. When I was growing up, just about every holiday trip to the delta meant that something was going to be cooking in the summer house.....and it was going to be good. It's funny sometimes how smells can trigger memory. That one made lunch better than I thought possible.

Gotta Be Quick

It looks like I've had the second TDI in as many months sold out from under me on Craigslist. There's an 03 Jetta Wagon that's the same color as ours with a different interior and transmission up in Albuquerque for $3000 with a toasted engine. The LW and I went to the bank yesterday afternoon to make sure that the money was there to get it and fix it, only to get home and find an email about how some guy from Santa Cruz is basically on his way to get it. Now the guy won't answer any of my emails or pick up the phone. What a deal.

On bigger ticket items on CL, I usually give the first person a chance at getting things in order. Since most folks don't have $3k laying around on the counter, it takes a day or so to get things going. The people who contact me about the item are then responded to with what's happening and are put in line for it. Seems pretty fair, but it seems that most folks treat the people as if they're responding to an $10 old box fan they're sellling and there's little to no order or courtesy involved.

The last car that I looked at on CL was a '92 VW Cabriolet. It was in pretty bad shape, but the autocheck wasn't too bad and the car didn't look like it was going anywhere. On the fist call, I asked about the title. The owner was selling it for his brother and didn't have it. Ok, well get it. He got the title and got it notarized, so I went to look at it. I drove all the way across town (an hour in T-town) with the toddler, only to find that this dumbass didn't even have the keys to the car. The steering wheel is cranked to the left, so how is one even going to get this thing cleanly up on a tow truck? I told him to call me when he had the keys.....still waiting on that one. =0) The car was selling at a price where I could fix the top, clean it up, and maybe make a few hundred dollars on it, but having to get keys or locks would have eaten most of that tiny margin.

Folks get these cars and don't put the Panzer skid plates on them to keep the oil pans from getting tapped by those concrete parking barriers that have rebar sticking up out of them. The concrete or the rebar knocks a little dent in the aluminum cast oil pan and the oil slowly drains out. Then, as the person is driving the car, (in this case on a trip to Santa Fe) the engine and turbo run out of oil, lock up, and bad things like metal parts coming through the block happen. There you are...on the side of the road...with a big, German- crafted boat anchor.

Ours has been saved twice by the plate because the city of T-town loves what they call, "speed humps". I don't really mind them and think they are a great way of traffic mitigation in quiet neighborhoods, but the city doesn't keep paint on them. If you're traveling through town on a dark street at the speed limit (25mph) and hit a speed hump, your car will almost certainly leave the ground. On the TDIs, it's not the takeoff, but the landing that gets you. See the deutschlanders that designed and built the car didn't see fit to add a higher weight front springs to account for the engine heft, so the front sits lower on the TDIs after the springs sag a bit. There are aftermarket 10mm spacers for the front struts, but that's down on the list from stopping the adjuster block leak that's dripping diesel down the front of the engine. Scheisse.

Pennies in Change

I took the Subaru in for an alignment yesterday and sat down in the sparse waiting room. There was an old hot rodder guy seated to my left and woman in her late 40s or so to my right. When I walked in, I must have interrupted an interesting conversation, because soon the topic rolled (back) to an exchange of jokes about a 20 ton lump of coal that was bound for Mt. Rushmore and various things involving black people swinging from trees. The woman talked about her Harleys, Harley envy, and various ridiculous stuff after this; she apparently likes the sound of her own voice. When I looked over to see what she actually looked like, I was surprised to see that she sat there in a mechanic's shirt with her name on it; this moron was out in town spewing her stupidity while basically representing someone's business.

Tucson Tea Party

It looks like the big money is playing both sides against the middle and that might just ruin tonight's movie night. Isn't it plainly visible that this is happening? The idea of some...any competition for big pharma and big insurance just won't fly. Some K St players make a few remarks in the right ears and all of the sudden the lowest common denominator on both sides cloud the issue so much that we're all stuck with that status quo for ten years or more. Who does that benefit? Big pharma and big insurance. Who loses? We all do.

What if we cut all of that soshulized medicine crap (aka Medicare/Medicaid) and let a shit-load of old white republicans like my parents take care of their aged parents with nothing - no government assistance programs? My southern white republican parents would shit a brick, for starters, but in the end, we'd all end up getting screwed....some more.

These insurance companies and drug companies need a kick in the ass and standing around yelling at house reps isn't going to do much, but it sure takes the heat off of them for a while - maybe long enough to ensure the status quo.

I want to know where the tea party was when the previous guy spent bajillions on this war profiteering crap (yeah, I got to go see some camels when his dad ran the show, thanks) and then doled out the prescription drug program. Where was the outrage?

1 & 3

Well, it appears that the place where we are and the place where we'll go back are at the 1st and 3rd spot on the America's Abandoned Cities list. Anyone need a house to rent in Tucson? The bay area's got culture and water....we've got cactus.