Despair tire and times

There's a automotive repair and tire place nearby to where I work. I like the convenience of dropping the car or truck there for my tire work first thing in the morning then walking the 3 or 4 blocks to the office on streets lightly trafficked before the morning commuters thicken. I'm afraid though by next Tuesday I will have been making my third trip there for what was supposedly the simple goal of having a tire replaced. The first visit was last Tuesday, made the arrangement for the tire replacement, walked to the office, a little later received a call - the rear two tires needed replacing as they'd suffered a parabolic warp or some such thing as the rear end of the car, the PT Cruiser, was out of alignment and in a manner of speaking the car had been dragging the tires along thereby warping them. Well call me out of touch but I never knew that the rear end of a car could get out of alignment. So I OK-ed the new tires and now need to add an alignment. Couldn't schedule it that day as they were booked up and I was off work and out of town the next day I scheduled for today. Dropped the car off, walked up to work, an hour later got a call... the lower front control arm bushings were worn out and will need to be replaced or the realignment would be useless. The catch, they'd have to order the parts and reschedule me in. Could have been Thursday or Friday but with things to do it would have been inconvenient so I went with the following Tuesday. I have no doubt that the work is needed, god there's 95,000 miles on the 07 that we bought in 08 with 12,000 miles. A lot of winter/pothole driving has passed below the suspension. I just wish it could have all come together in one long fund draining day so I could forget about it and move ahead. Now, twos weeks of driving with the new tires and needing a realignment/bushing replacement do the tires go bad again???

Thanksgiving Day weekend leftovers

Holidays that include time off from work I'd easily claim to be my favorites for that obvious reason but Thanksgiving and Christmas are automatic family and friends get together events that trump the other well deserved dedicated observances. Thanksgiving Day itself was terrific - we arrived at Ian and Ali's apartment around 12:30 greeted by Ali, her mother Mandy and her grandmother Rose Marie resting in the living room. Ian had gone to the nearby airport to pick up Ali's Dad, Victor and her older brother Victor John. This was the first time Carol and I had met Victor John who throughout our visit was a lot of fun to talk with, as was everyone else in her family. They had flown in from upstate in Victor's Cessna 182 (hope I got that close). I'd already had a beer going and a couple of the appetizers when they arrived. After we had been talking a short time Victor offered to take Ian and I up for a plane ride around the nearby region which I quickly accepted. Barely a five minute drive to the airport and we were in the parking lot adjacent to the FBO hanger facility. I'd never flown in a small plane before and as it had turned out the weather couldn't have been better - mild temperatures and very little wind with nary a bump or dip the entire flight. Victor is a very good pilot and I never realized how extensive the pre-flight was not that I thought we'd just jump in and take off. Well that went by too quickly but all was well back at the apartment with plenty more conversation before finally settling down to eat the fabulous traditional meal Ali had prepared with a perfectly cooked turkey, stuffing,  whipped potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole. There was plenty of wine to pass around, more food brought/prepared by Carol, Mandy and Rose Marie. Dessert were both apple and pumpkin pies with coffee and a couple of bottles of honey mead that Carol and I had brought along. By around 10pm things were breaking up and as it often happens I'm amazed how fast time has flown by. We spent the night in a local inn and then picked up Ian and Ali for breakfast a local restaurant before we headed home. Most of the remainder of the weekend involved odd jobs around the house with continued cool but fine weather to be outside. All said and done it was a fine holiday.

Never did take any pictures of the dinner but the way things were flowing the thought never crossed my mind but here are a few from the flight and breakfast.

Victor doing the pre-flight.

View over the hood.

 

Victor, myself and Ian. these photos are screenshots from a video clip.

 

Ali and Ian at breakfast.

Myself and Carol.

Where the turkeys roam

Almost enough of a frost this morning to make me think it had snowed over night is how Thanksgiving Day welcomed me this morning. Usually I'll step outside with the dogs first thing so it's been a strange overnight as I'd had them in the kennel yesterday for a two night stay. This morning Carol and I will be away for the holiday and spending the night at an inn. We'll be going to Ian's apartment for dinner with Ali and her parents and grandmother. Another one of those twists in routines that comes as your adult child lives their life on their own. We've been looking forward to going to their apartment and enjoying time with them. Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Technology bites

Well, sometimes. Yesterday afternoon I was dragging an email from my inbox to a folder then looked back at a blank box where there had been a bunch of emails yet to be sorted or discarded. Checked by backups - no help there, I'll have to look into that. I use Mozilla Thunderbird for  my email, no help in their support webpage. I seem to be having a lot of techno snafus lately, Thunderdud for the time being.