Daily Archives: January 17, 2015
Save The Date . . .
and The Time.
Gate Guarding for Fun? & Profit
Day: Wednesday, March 11
Time: 11:30
That’s the schedule for the Gate Guarding Seminar that Jan and I will be giving at the upcoming Escapade in Tucson, AZ, March 8 – 12th.
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About 3p Jan and I headed down to the Clear Lake area for her annual coworker get-together. Jan’s been getting together with her hospital coworkers ever since we started RV’ing the beginning of 2008, and they always have a great time.
Along the way, our first stop was at Brandi and Lowell’s in Katy to pick up some packages that had come it. They were off at a birthday party so we just made a bathroom stop, let Miss Kitty out to pee, grabbed our stuff, and got back on the road.
We had started early enough that I hoped we wouldn’t have a lot of traffic, especially since it was Saturday. And although our Garmin GPS Live Traffic Alerts system did give us the “Traffic Ahead” warning several times, showing anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes delay, they always evaporated before we got to them.
I dropped Jan off at the Longhorn Steakhouse a little after 5pm. The place was already starting to get busy so Jan wanted to her name on the list for a table for six, before everyone else got there at 5:30.
For my part, I went next door to get a new cartridge for my Moen shower faucet at the Home Depot. Although I found the 1222 cartridge I was looking for, HD does not carry actual Moen parts. Instead they only had a Danco version for $35, as in the Danco Universal Faucet Hose replacement that I got a couple of weeks ago while we were in Conroe. You remember the Danco Universal Hose that wouldn’t fit our Moen kitchen faucet, and when I called the company to complain, I was told this:
Next up, I called the Danco Co. up in Irving to find out why my Universal Kitchen Faucet Hose won’t fit my Moen faucet, even though the package says that it Fits All Faucet Brands.
The Danco Tech Support guy acknowledged that the hose would not fit my faucet, and that the Fits All Faucet Brands statement didn’t really mean that it fits ALL Brands, just a lot of them. Ironically the picture of the faucet on the box is my Moen faucet.
Yeah, that Danco. So I don’t have high hopes about this cartridge. But we’ll see.
I also picked up some Plumber’s Silicone Grease for the O-rings on the cartridge at the same time..
Then it was across the Interstate to our son Chris’. Since he has a floor jack I wanted to pull the right front tire on the truck to see what was causing a front end shimmy that started recently. It felt like an out-of-round tire, but when I ran my hand along the tread as Jan slowly drove forward, I couldn’t feel anything. Chris thought it might be a warped brake rotor, so this afternoon we were going to find out.
If it was a warped rotor, I would have to replace both rotors and both sets of brake pads. Only replacing one rotor can cause uneven braking problems, so it’s better to do both. And of course, while you’re in there you might as well put on new pads to go with the new rotors. All in all, not real hard to do on my Dodge Dakota, and only about $125 for the parts.
But as soon as Chris got the tire off, it was very apparent it was not a warped rotor. There was a bubble on the tire thread, but it was on the inside edge of the tire, which is why I missed it when I checked. It looks like a cord in the tire separated.
We went ahead and put the spare on, and I’ll get a new tire later in the week when we’re back in Conroe. Based on what I paid for my last new tire, the complete front end brake job would have been cheaper.
When Chris and I finished up, Linda had a delicious meal waiting for us, Pork Roast, Broccoli-Cheese Casserole, hot rolls, and sweet tea. Really, really good, and much appreciated. And she sent me home with leftovers. Nice!
Leaving Chris and Linda’s about 7:15, and heading in the direction of the steakhouse, I made a stop at the Baybrook Mall Starbuck’s to pick us up Chestnut Praline Lattes for the ride home. On my way there, Jan called to say to pick her up about 7:50pm.
Leaving the Starbuck’s about 7:30, I decided to swing by the nearby Lowe’s. Surely they carried Moen faucet parts. But no, just more Danco. And they didn’t even have the part at all. But they did have a Moen Cartridge Repair Kit for $2.49 so I grabbed one of those.
Picking up Jan right on time, we had a easy run home with no traffic, and got home about 9:30pm
And no more front end shimmy, either.
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Thought for the Day;
“Prediction is very difficult, especially if it’s about the future.” – Niels Bohr, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics
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