Monthly Archives: August 2019
A Big Surprise For Jan . . .
Work was just work on Monday. Still trying to get the mailing list straighten out for the Ad card that needs to go out.
The highlight of the day was the fact that coming home I saw the Now Open sign on the new Black Bear Diner that’s down in our area. So I called Jan and told her to get dressed, that we were going out to dinner.
Black Bear Diner is one of our favorite places that we always eat at out west , so we were happy to see one show up in Katy near Brandi last year. And now we’ve got one right down the road from us.
Although we both love their breakfasts, Jan went with a bunless burger with a side salad and fruit,
while I stepped up mine with Steak and Eggs.
Both really good. Glad to have them in the neighborhood.
And today, Tuesday, went like this.
Despite the fact that 10 hours into our 12 hour flight home from London this past May, Jan told me that if I ever surprised her with a trip/flight like this again, she’d rip my arm off and beat me to death with it, I did it again.
Nothing like living dangerously, I always say.
But I think I did good.
Jan has always talked about visiting New York City during the Christmas season, so Monday morning I put in a call to our resident travel agent/friend Chantelle Nugent to put us a package together. And working her usual magic, by the afternoon she had 3 choices for us to check out. And all 3 were in our favorite stomping ground area, Times Square, just a block or so away.
I had originally thought about waiting to surprise her with the trip either on her birthday the end of October, or our 52nd Wedding Anniversary the end of September, but everything’s cheaper the earlier we book, and I didn’t want to have to worry about reservations, etc., the closer we got to Christmas time.
So I took a chance and surprised her with it this morning. And since I still have both arms AND I’m still alive, I guess it was OK. In fact she said she had tears in her eyes.
Yep, I did good.
We are scheduled to leave on Southwest from Hobby at 6:30am on Thursday, December 5th and we’ll return on Southwest leaving La Guardia at 4:55pm Tuesday, December 10th.
We’ll be staying at the Hotel Riu Plaza New York Times Square, which is only about a block and a half off Times Square, right in the heart of Manhattan.
And even better, both breakfast AND dinner are included. Though probably we’ll only have breakfast there. But the option is always nice.
Jan and I spent two weeks in NYC in July 2009 passing through on our Newfoundland trip.
Somewhere in the middle we brought both Brandi and Miss Piper up to spend a week with us.
Hard to believe it’s been 10 years. And we’re really looking forward to doing it again.
Thought For The Day:
A WISE MAN ONCE SAID … NOTHING.
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Putting On The Brakes . . .
Catching up, this is Saturday’s blog. If you missed Friday’s that I posted earlier this evening, just scroll on down.
Finally this morning, the stars aligned, the sheep entrails were favorable, and the weather cooperated, mostly, so about 10am I was outside and ready to tackle changing out the rear brakes on our truck
After getting all my stuff out and getting the truck jacked up, I had the tire off, and the caliper off. Then after I pulled the old pads, I removed the brake line from the old one,
and connected it to the new caliper.
At this point I got one of the new rotors out and sprayed it down on both sides with brake cleaner to get the shipping oil off and then let it dry for a few minutes.
Then after sliding the rotor on the studs,
I installed the new pads in the caliper and installed on the mounts,
and I was done.
It was just a matter of mounting the wheel,
and tightening it down with my shiny new lug nuts
At this point it was about 11:45 so I went inside for some hydration and a snack. But before I could go back out and finish the passenger side, it started pouring down rain.
When it finally stopped raining, and the weather radar looked clear, I was back outside about 1:30 to finish up the other side. And as with most jobs like this, the second one went much faster than the first one. So I was finished up, packed up, and back inside by about 2:30.
Before that though, I did a quick test drive around the park to check things out and found the braking much better, but of course spongy since I hadn’t bled the air out yet.
Jan and I will probably do that on Tuesday morning. I need her to pump the brake pedal until we get all the air out of the lines.
And after a job well done, I decided to reward myself, and Jan of course, with dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse, our local favorite.
Very good as usual.
Thought For The Day:
“Always listen to experts. They’ll tell you what can’t be done, and why. Then go ahead and do it.” – Robert Heinlein
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