Should I be a whiner or just a grumpy old man who stay quiet?
My day generally starts with coffee and a Nature Valley Honey and Oats granola bar. Last week I started chewing and felt something sharp in my mouth after taking a bite and found a piece of plastic. Hm, did it come from the wrapper, in the bottom of the bowl or was it inside the granola bar? It should not have been there even though it didn’t cut my mouth, but wondering if I should eat the next bar in the 49 pouch box more carefully or contact General Mills to get it replaced (or see if there was a recall)?
This may have been the third year in a row that I’ve “pruned” the dry Christmas tree apart in the house rather than yanking it through the back door or having another disaster. Why didn’t I do this in previous years?
Brenda and I also made a trip to visit Katelyn, Drew and family in their new house in Whitehouse, Ohio. What a great community and beautiful home. So comfortable for them … and for us to stay in their guest bedroom and private bath (we call it the “sanctuary”). 😊
The girls enjoyed showing us around (a couple photos below) and I spent a couple hours playing with them in the playroom while Brenda helped unpack kitchen and pantry boxes — although we all eventually got into the act. It was a quick couple of days, but very enjoyable.
Took a screenshot of my iPhone’s Sirius XM app last month while listening to an old Casey Kasem‘s American Top 40 countdown on the 70’s channel.
There’s always something that catches my ear on the weekends when it comes to 1970s songs and thought it was a good choice for Music Monday.
The song was released as a single in the UK in June 1970 by The Kinks and released a bit later in that same month in the U.S. According to Wikipedia, “Lola“reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Kinks – “Lola” | 1970
It has become one of the Kinks’ most popular songs and was ranked number 386 on Rolling Stone’s 2021 edition of its “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. “Lola” was also ranked number 473 on NME’s own “The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time” list.
Last week we took our 2010 Acura RDX to our local repair garage, hoping for a minor rather than major issue. So far, so good.
The initial thought that it might be a solenoid controling the turbo wastegate turned out to be “not” the issue … and digging deeper required several more hours of labor. What was found was that the wastegate was stuck and the pushrod controled by the solenoid could not move it. Access is not easy, but before concluding that the entire assembly needed to be replace (likely the solution by an Acura dealer would be $6000-7000), the guys decided if I would leave it with them for the week that they would “try” to clean, lube and try to “unstick” the wastegate. After keeping it a few days more and squirting penetrating oil in and working it manually … it works. Now the question is just how long before it starts to stick and throw emission codes again?
While watching a couple of college football bowl games on New Year’s Day, I updated my “everyday carry” iPad with a new family wallpaper photo — slightly enhanced above. It was an opportunity to tinker with the new iPadOS 17 gadget feature (see stock and weather at lower left) anyway but the wallpaper photo needed updating anyway. Drew took the family selfie photo on the gazebo as we walked around the neighborhood over Christmas. Nice … thanks, Drew!
The LOW QUALITY, inexpensive replacement parts being sold these days is starting to irritate me; it is becoming a pet peeve. I have not notice this as much when purchasing OEM replacement part from the tractor dealerships or even for cars when it comes to big branded automotive part stores. Long gone are the days of cast parts and brass bushing … and even the plastic being used seems cheaper nowadays?
The latest replacement part issue has been the electric fuel pumps purchased for our Kubota ZD326s Zero-turn lawnmower. I’ve accepted that it is a part that might need to be replaced after years of service, but this is now the 4th pump in 15 years. The original lasted a long time (13 years), the Chinese-made replacement only about 3 years, then again last August with another. BUT … that last one only lasted only 4 months and the reseller would not replace it … instead told me to contact Amazon.
Of course the “4 months” was past the normal return date, but Amazon’s customer service politely indicated that they would refund my purchase price minus the shipping charge for the returning part. So I ordered on Amazon again, but from a different supplier hoping the quality is better (suspect they are all the same) and will be shipping the old one back in the Amazon box. It did give me an excuse to change the fuel filters again too.
While grilling “bacon wrapped” steaks (bacon was the problem) over Christmas this year on our Weber Grill … I “over-cooked” (or perhaps “fried”) the meat probe for the Weber iGrill temperature monitor. I knew when the plastic caught fire that it wasn’t good, but thought perhaps the braided wiring and probe itself might still be fine. It was not… and needed to be replaced. My son-in-law who coaxes me into using these tech gadgets by gifting them to me (not that I need much prodding) … volunteered to replace it. Too kind, but “my bad” … I appreciated none the less.
With the slower than usual week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, I opted to work on a few home repair projects … really notice the toilet problems when the family was here over Christmas. I ordered a valve repair kit for the media/game room toilet in the basement and a new flapper set-up for the Jack and Jill bathroom between the granddaughters’ bedrooms. All went smoothly … although really need to replace the shut-off valve in the basement with a higher quality quarter turn shutoff ???
We also put to use one of the Christmas gifts from Katelyn and Drew as well .. and Ikea Lazy Susan for the refrigerator. Nice!
And finally, the contractor came on the weekend to repair our pool house roof, soffits and soffits on the house that was damage by a freak windstorm in the late summer or early autumn. It was something I might normally do, but working on ladders or the steep part of the house roof is something I’m really not comfortable doing anymore (gallery photos below the break).
Jeff Evans, from Casualty Mitigation and Restoration, LLC, included a few “repaired photos” as IF this would have been an insurance repair. He also suggested that a power washing of the gutters and soffits might add some “bright” back to the aluminum and vinyl. Perhaps I’ll have him quote in the spring and paint the cupola on the pool house too???
Should I be a whiner or just a grumpy old man who stay quiet?
I ordered a valve repair kit for the media/game room toilet in the basement and a new flapper set-up for the Jack and Jill bathroom between the granddaughters’ bedrooms. All went smoothly … although really need to replace the shut-off valve in the basement with a higher quality quarter turn shutoff ??? 
