Seasonal Tires

A couple of widely spaces days in the 60’s and I decided to go ahead and take the Mini’s all-season tires off the Miata and put the summer Toyo R1R’s back on. It is still going to be a while before the temperatures are reliably above 50’s in the afternoon for the Miata to get more constant use, but it was nice to have the proper tires and wheels back on the car for todays drive. No more scraping the plastic fender liners with tires on the sharper corners.

The all-seasons are stacked under the workbench in the garage for now. The winter tires remain on the Mini because it may still randomly drop some snow on us for the next few weeks. And we have a trip, that may be taken in the Mini, coming up at the end of the month that requires some high altitude mountain passes that have a higher probability snow chances than here.

10.9 mile errand trip to the Post Office.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 12

 

Potpourri

Jigsaw Puzzles – We are still doing the jigsaw puzzle thing and enjoying it, mostly. This last puzzle looked like it could have been a nightmare judging by the cover if it was one of those with all the same shaped pieces, but it had a bunch of really weird shaped pieces. This did help a lot in spite of numerous times the piece that did go in a spot looked nothing like they’d fit when you picked them up to try them. When we finished this puzzle there was one piece missing. While we would usually shrug, circle the spot where the missing piece was on the box cover photo and re donate it, this time we opted to stop spreading disappointment and chucked it in the recycle bin.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – We are three quarters of the way through with Season 4 with only two more episodes to go on this coming Friday (its really Thursday ’cause time zones, but whatever.) While we are enjoying it, we are not nearly enjoying it as much as the previous seasons. So it was with not a lot of excitement that I learned they’ll be doing a Season 5. I’ll probably watch it, because, what the heck and I still read Beatle Baily in the comics and it hasn’t been funny for decades.

Jack Reacher – Back a month ago after I had watched the Amazon’s Jack Reacher TV series I mentioned that they had introduced a character from the book that really wasn’t in the first book that this series was based on. It is a U.S. Army Master Sergeant from the 110th MP Special Investigations Unit that Reacher was in charge of. Her name is Frances Neagley, but through out the series whenever Reacher says her name it sounds like he is saying Nealy. I wondered if they changed the name of the character for TV, but they didn’t, on the IMDB page it is listed as Neagly.

Miata – The below listed Miata miles comes from yesterday and because it was only 6 days from the last time it was driven, it started right up on the first try. This means that somewhere between 6 and 11 days is the point where the battery voltage drops below the point where the car will start.

7.3 mile round trip to the dentist.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 11

 

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

GOAT Edition of SORT
As of Monday, March 7, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
2004 BMW M3 2008 Jeep Wrangler 2016 Porsche Cayman
This week is pretty much my “Greatest Of All Time” SORT Bring A Trailer picks,
a BMW M3, a Jeep Wrangler and a Porsche Cayman.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to, if the reserve was not met.
Sports: 1994 Toyota MR2 Turbo Bid to $24,000 on 3/5/22
Off-Road: 1981 Nissan Patrol LG-61 Sold for $29,500 on 3/1/22
Touring: 1961 Volkswagen Type 2 Sold for $32,500 on 3/3/22

Plug-In Hybrid Miata?

The current rumors surrounding the next generation Miata is that it will be a plug-in hybrid or all electric. This post is not about that car, it is about the 2002 that we currently have.

We were going to take the Miata to Moore Park yesterday for our afternoon walk, but took the Mini instead. The Miata wouldn’t start, its battery didn’t have enough juice to even turn it over once. Just a click and nothing else.

I know I vowed to take it out once a week, but I looked back and the last time it was driven was 11 days prior. It has been too cold and we had a couple days of a light dusting of snow, so that we hardly left the house. A mere week and a half and the battery was, for all intensive purposes, dead. So I plugged in the battery charger and for this afternoon’s drive to go walking it started right up.

There must a fairly decent dark current somewhere…

16.5 mile round trip to walk 1.8 miles.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 10

 

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

So Long February Edition of SORT
As of Monday, February 28, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

Sport Off-Road Touring
1994 Toyota MR2 Turbo 1981 Nissan Patrol LG-61 1961 Volkswagen Type 2
One half scale Ferrari
from Japan.		 Perfect for taking the squad with you. A bamboo headliner and
a camper too.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to, if the reserve was not met.
Sports: Packard Bayliff LeBaron Convertible Sold for $64,949 on 2/23/22
Off-Road: 1974 Land Rover 88 Series III Sold for $36,000 on 2/25/22
Touring: 2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600 Sold for $253,000 on 2/22/22

Since The New Year

Right now the Miata is getting driven on average about 1 out the 7 available days of the week. Since the beginning of 2022 it has traveled a bit less than 100 miles, 98 to be exact.

I would say we go for a 2 to 3 mile walk on average about 5 out the 7 available days of the week. Since the beginning of the year we have walked a few miles less the Miata has been driven, or 89 miles.

Because I’m a weird individual, even if I will have no use for one, I have to carry car keys in my left front pocket or I will feel unsettled. Usually when we go for a walk I carry the Miata key because it gets less use than the Mini’s, so that means that key has been walked nearly as far as it has been driven.

Sport, Off-Road, Touring

President’s Day Edition of SORT
As of Monday, February 21, 2022 at 6:00 PM pacific time:

For President’s Day I decided to pick vehicles that said presidential…your mileage may vary.

Sport Off-Road Touring
Packard Bayliff LeBaron Convertible 1974 Land Rover 88
Series III		 2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS600
For some reason this reminded me of our 45th president. If this is good enough for Queen Elizabeth, it’s good enough for a president. This looks enough like a Buick so it is a fit for an American President.

Here is what last week’s cars sold for, or bid to, if the reserve was not met.
Sports: 2021 Porsche Cayman GTS 4.0 Sold for $108,000 on 2/15/22
Off-Road: 2018 Jeep Wrangler Golden Eagle Sold for $39,500 on 2/16/22
Touring: 2016 BMW 328i xDrive Sports Wagon Bid to $35,388 on 2/16/22