Tag Archives: snow

AIT Comedy Of Errors

February 10, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

What was it I said yesterday about my truck repairs???

That I needed to… snow

Reinstall the front bumper stuff and grill along with a jerry-rig fix on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, rebuild it and install it Sunday.

What’s happened since???

I worked for 3 hours in the snow, with and sometimes without warm gloves. I got the bumper, bits, and grill on but didn’t have time to get to the jerry-rig. Last night I returned the sandbags to the truck bed, today I put the tailgate back on.

New Age Yuppie Camping — My bumper did not have it nearly this nice

My approach to today was to paint the bumper and then install the interior pieces. The bumper painting went well all things considering. It snowed over night and it was still cold today, including in the garage. I painted the bumper using a product specially made for painting bumpers — which was a trick — because the directions indicate it is to be used between 60 & 90F and the garage was … well, much colder. I pulled off the painting by making a small tent over the bumper using a drop cloth and two sawhorses and then heating the area using a cubicle heater. snow

After that things got interesting …

Hiilarious! The wrap up on my truck repairs produced a comedy of errors. I went to my truck — now parked outside — to install the face-plate that goes over the gauges. To get the space needed to put this in you have to put the vehicle in gear — to put it in gear you have to insert your key into the ignition and turn it part of the way. Since the truck started rough last night I thought I would run it a bit now to charge the battery. It cranked some and then konked out — dead battery, no surprise. Back to the face-plate… snow

I needed to reattach the headlight switch to the face-plate, which is held in by 4 little screws. While putting the first screw in the plastic receptacle broke … so, no face-plate installation today. I’ll glue the broken plastic bit tonight and install it tomorrow. On to the battery … snow

a shit-ton of tools — I had less than this … no really

When I went to pull the battery I put the few tools I had on the passenger seat for easier access to the battery. I popped the hood, got out the drivers side, and went to open the passenger door. I found it is frozen shut. Back to the drivers side to get the tools and pull the battery. Long story short, I need to loosen 3 bolts and the tools I had would only work for one of these. Inside the garage for another tool. Battery out, now for my battery charger. snow

snowy road lonely barn — Kinda like this but not really

I went to my storage space to get my battery charger. It revealed itself quickly, so back to the house to get the charger going on the battery. When I got back to the house I found I locked my keys inside of my storage area. There is a spare key, but right now it is half way across the state and won’t be back for about 24hrs … hopefully. So, my storage key is secure. My truck keys are secure. My house key is secure. All my keys are secure for the next day.

Fantastic.

Fortunately, I can look at this and laugh along with saying “Sometimes this happens.” Good thing I can laugh about it or I might still be outside kicking snow drifts.

PS — something else I said yesterday…

Did you have a frustrating day? I have a remedy for that — make cookies! Yes, make cookies and eat some. It will feel good. What will feel even better is to share your cookies. My book guides you through easy pan cookies, biscotti which is a joy to make, and other assorted cookies (along with some beverages and main courses you’re going to enjoy, but let’s focus on cookies). “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book forms — give a copy to a friend and add one to your collection at home. snow

Adventures In Truckdom

Back On The Snowy Sidewalks

February 8, 2019 BagpiperDon Leave a comment

And now, a snowy episode of …

ADVENTURES IN TRUCKDOM!

Jingle Trucks — Not quite this fancy, but you get the idea….

I’ve had my truck off the road during the past number of weeks to complete a few work items on my repair & improve list. There have been a number of delays due to schedule and a major appliance going out at home, and yet my dad & I have chipped away at the work when and where we can. Last night my truck reached a point where it’s ready to go back on the road for a while. This accomplishments with this round of work feels good — it looks like I’m starting to get on top of my to-do list.

Frosty weather, snowy weather, when the wind blows we all go together ... Today I plan to get the front bumper back on my truck — to get my truck in our garage I had to start with taking off both bumpers. Lately our temperatures have been as low as the upper teens and as high as the mid-30s — and we (finally) had our first round of snow. Right now we’re getting our second round of snow. For the next few days it looks like we’re supposed to get more of the teen temps to lower-30s and snow. Snow began to fall again this morning, and so far it’s sticking however it is our warmer wet-snow … and now I’m going outside to work on my truck.

Did someone put their truck in a ditch ... in the snow? — Not actually my truck … same brand and product line however

At this juncture I will skip how our western Washington snow IS in fact different than many other parts of the country, how we DO know how to drive in the snow VRS the southern transplants to Washington State that have no freakin’ clue (including how to drive in snow, rain, sun, etc), and how our wet-cement snow turns to ice along with being on hills that have more or less the same slope as parts of San Francisco.

SO — the remaining work to get my truck back on the sidewalks …. er, I mean, back on the road…

Reinstall the front bumper and other MANLY metal bits along with the grill. There is also a jerry-rig repair I want to finally complete on the grill.
Reinstall a few interior bits now that that the defrost and dash-board lights are operating again.
Replace the sandbags in the bed and put my tailgate back on — minor things, but necessary nonetheless.
Paint the rear bumper on Saturday, get the paint adequately dry, rebuild the bumper (license plate lights and etc-bits), and bolt the bumper back on Sunday.

Yeah, I think that’s it. The first step though is to get my winter clothing located following my move this past summer. I’m and old-school Pacific Northwest boy — up to a point I tend to shake off the rain and snow … but over and around this weekend we’re supposed to get hit with enough snow and cold AND since I’ll be laying on the ground to get bumpers back on … yeah, something a little more serious in the way of clothing is called for.

Oh … PS!

the snowmobile's red haired step child — When I grow up I wanna be a snowmobile!

This time last year my truck was off the road, in a garage, with my dad and I doing work on it. The winter before that I didn’t drive it because I didn’t need to. This is the first time in snow that I might actually get to drive my truck and see how it handles, how I do with it. I was starting to wonder if it was going to notoriously be ‘off the road‘ every winter and I was never going to drive it in the snow. I’ve been all ready for this year — sandbags in the back along with snow tires!

P-PS!

When it comes to inclement weather are you an in-door person? Do you prefer to curl up at home on the couch in a blanket, sipping a favourite hot beverage with a book? If so, grab your preferred online device and order a book — and not just any book but my book — “Make Your Own Darn Good Cookies“, available now on Amazon in paperback and e-book. Over 50 proven recipes including cookies, biscotti, coffee, coffee cake and apple sauce, along with a number of main-course comfort foods you and your friends are sure to enjoy!

Did that sound like an advertisement? If so, good — because I need to sell these things!

Movie, Review, Zombies

A Christmas Horror Story (2015)

December 20, 2017 BagpiperDon 1 Comment

Christmas is drawing near and things are melting down in the town of Bailey Downs … and at best, I rate A Christmas Horror Story as Yellow Puss.

A Christmas Horror Story clearly resides among its own as a B-film. It attempts to interweave four horror stories, each of which to varying degrees have little if anything to do with Christmas myth.

If you pay closer attention to this pot-boiler than I did, allegedly the framework of these stories are tied together by a character named DJ Dangerous Dan — a lonely late-night radio personality, waxing on about how he loves Xmas while hitting the eggnog while getting understandably abandoned by the radio station staff.

DJ Dan is played by none other than James T. Kirk — clearly a retirement job following his service as Captain aboard the infamous Starship Enterprise … who is probably the only actor you will recognize.

First Story – Three teens break into their school to investigate two murders that occurred the previous year. They mysteriously get locked in the basement and then — SURPRISE — the horror begins! This story has nothing to do with Christmas.

Second Story – A husband, wife, and their son go into the woods to chop down a Christmas tree. The son wanders off and gets switched for a changeling who mimics him and then — SURPRISE — the horror begins! Aside from the Pagany changeling and Christmas tree, this story too has nothing to do with Christmas. In other words, these first two stories are just FILLER to justify bringing William Shatner into the film and to bolster the other two stories into a 107 minute B-movie made in Canada.

Third Story – A yuppie family of four visit their elderly aunt and behave poorly. This attracts the attention of Krampus and while on their way home they are picked off one at a time. This is the first portion of the story where the filmmakers take liberties with Krampus mythos …. but then HolloWood has given us far worse. As a result this story has a little to do with Christmas.

Fourth Story – A fittingly Nordic-looking Santa Claus is at his workshop preparing for a busy Christmas when he discovers that his elves and Mrs. Claus have turned into zombies. He manages to kill them all and then for an unapparent reason Santa is then forced to fight Krampus. This is where the filmmakers quite unfortunately took the most gross liberties with the Krampus character (AKA Black Peter). Krampus gets turned into a villain — white hats, black hats … everyone needs a villain — the problem though is that in Krampus mythos he is only a threat to bad kids/people. In fact, Krampus and St. Nick have always worked together — on Krampusnacht (Krampus night) around December 5th he arrived to punish children who have misbehaved while of course Saint Nicholas would reward well-behaved children with gifts. In other words, when Krampus became suppressed his tasks were given to Santa who would ‘make his list of who’s naughty and nice’.

Don P. Scobie