Mr. Aiken & Me

Donna and I went for a little bike ride this morning. First off we chased the 14% larger moon as it set in the southeast to the Post Office to mail something. Once the moon disappeared behind the clouds and the envelope disappeared in the slot we headed back northwest to go downtown and drop the power bill in the slot outside the SCE&G office. While we were that way we stopped in to see what the so-called founding father of Our Fair City(tm) was looking at. Near as I can tell he is looking down the Alley trying to catch a glimpse of a Tipsy McStumbles waitress. Thirteen miles is all our backsides could stand considering the last time we were on a bike was, as near as I can figure, around Thanksgiving last year.

After breakfast I went out and rinsed all the pine pollen and tree bits (seedling covers and flowering things) that were covering he Emperor. Because it is early in the spring yuck season I didn’t bother with soap, just water and a towel. Later in the day on a trip to the mall I parked, against the expressed consent of my wife, near a tree. In my defense, I figured it was through dropping stuff because it had tiny leaves already showing. I was half right, it wasn’t dropping solid bits, but when we got back to the car it was covered with tiny droplets of sap. At first I considered leaving it on there giving the pine pollen something to stick making the Emperor appear to be wearing a polka dotted robe, but instead when we got home I spent 45 minutes or so with some Quick Detailer wiping off that gunk.

During one of the top transitions while cleaning the outside of the car (I also cleaned and protected the leather seats) I noticed that the top was bunching up on the passenger side at one of the metal bows. Turns out, right where the bow has the radius between vertical and horizontal, the inner dark layer of fabric has been separated from the tan exterior layer. This means that this spot where the top material is very taught, only has one layer of fabric there which will probably tear in the not too distant future. I’m going to call the top guy over in Augusta to see when he can look at it and determine if it is fixable or it is new top time. If a new top is required it will be a big disappointment. The OEM top lasted 5 years and this one will have only made it half that long.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 979

A Walk in the Woods

We did a little geocaching this morning, very little, one cache. We also made a half-hearted attempt at a second and a no-hearted attempt at a third. The first one was worth the drive. A nice little 2.2 mile hike in the Stevens Creek Heritage Preserve. From there we headed into Augusta to test drive some candidates for our next new car. We drove four, nearly drove 1 and didn’t even sit in the sixth, but that is tomorrow’s post.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 975

Hello Mr. Aiken

In a story that would be perfect fodder for Garrison Keillor, Our Fair City(tm) yesterday unveiled a statue of a man that never set foot in the town named for him. Not only that, there were no known pictures of him, so the artist used photos of descendants and other folks from that time period to create his “likeness.” Read the whole story – Statue honoring Aiken’s founder makes its debut

In other news that could be just as well be set in Lake Wobegon, a new bar pub opened in the Alley on St. Patrick’s Day here. The alley is what serves for nightlife in the town that was founded by the president of the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company. It has several popular eateries, most with their own bar area and one end is anchored by a micro brewery. Apparently, the good citizens are aghast at the attire of the waitresses, sort of Hooters-ish with an Irish twist. Tipsey McStumbles draws ire opening day over skirt length

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 974

An Irish Family Tradition

Paddy had long heard the stories of an amazing family tradition. It seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able to walk on water on their 18th birthday. On that special day, they’d each walked across the lake to the pub on the far side for their first legal drink.

So when Paddy’s, 18th birthday came ’round, he and his pal Mick, took a boat out to the middle of the lake, Paddy, stepped out of the boat …and nearly drowned! Mick just barely managed to pull him to safety. Furious and confused, Paddy, went to see his grandmother.

“Granny,” he asked, “It’s me 18th birthday, so why can’t I walk ‘cross the lake like me fa, his fa, and his fa before him?”

Granny looked deeply into Paddy’s, troubled brown eyes and said, “Because your fa, your grandfa and your great grandfa were all born in December, when the lake is frozen, and you were born in August, ya right eejit.

This wasn’t intended to be today’s post, but with March Madness in full swing, it just turned out that way.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 972

Here Birdie, Birdie

When I first moved into the new digs in the back of the plant and I realized that I had a window, I have wanted to put a bird feeder in said window. We had looked a few places for a small feeder with a suction cup and have not found anything. Last week we were in Wal-mart and passed by the pet section and what did my wandering eye spy, but just the thing. It was dirt cheap at only $2.99, here were two left on the shelf, so I bought them both (the small bag of bird feed cost more than the two feeders.) I put one in my window and the other one went in my cubical neighbor’s window (Hi Mark!)

We have been waiting patiently for the birds to come flocking in to take advantage of the smorgasbord, but they have been reluctant to show. To be fair, where we are located is not the most bird friendly. There are no nearby bushes or hiding spots and there is also a lot of 18-wheeler trucks doing deliveries close by. Mark swears there was one bird that approached his feeder and flew off with out dining (at least a salesman in his office on Monday said it did.)

So, thinking like a duck hunter, on Monday & Tuesday evenings I made a Java Sparrow decoy.

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 971

No Dam Blogging On Monday

Last night I didn’t watch House and I didn’t download the torrent today either. The show is now officially dead to me. It started a couple weeks ago with the dream sequence show, during which Dr. Taub showed up to deliver a machine gun for blowing up something while driving a Hyundai Sonata. At the next commercial break, guess which car company had the first ad? Right, Hyundai, you get 20 points. And ended with the movie/musical very special Greg falls off the the wagon into a bottle of vicodin because Cuddy might die and she rewards his mis-guided concern by breaking up with him.

Instead of House, I watched something more “exciting”, the last couple of innings of a spring training game between the FRS and the MFY. I did not recognize a single player name mentioned for either team.

The rest of last night and then again tonight was spent vacation planning. We are going on another trip out to the west coast. Nine days of visiting western Washington, western and central Oregon with a brief foray into northern California (as long as the radiation levels are not too bad.)

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 969

CREEK XING


You found [Traditional Cache] Victoria Bryant State Park
The water didn’t seem too high as the Miata made it through fine with just a touch of belt squeal post creek crossing. This is our favorite park so far out of the 17 we’ve visited. We took a heart shaped BB game and left a Gingerbread Man watch. Dropped Mickey Mouse TB. TFTH


You found [Traditional Cache] Froggy
Our GPSr led us right to a likely spot. We searched and searched and came up empty handed. We read the clue, well, this spot certainly fits the description. Oh, wait, the clue applies reasonably well to the other side of the trail too. Bingo! There it was. Took nothing and left 3 frog shaped erasers. Found as part of the Georgia DeLorme Challenge (GCZ8XQ)


You found [Multi-cache] The King of Bridges!
We found this in spite of ourselves. First off, read the whole page through and secondly pay attention to what you read. I thought we needed ABCD to fill in the coords for the final so we figured with the clue included in the last paragraph we could wing it without having one of the digits. Sure enough we located the final stage only to be greeted with a combination lock! Huh? Re-read the cache description page and discovered that ABCD is for the lock and the final coords are right there on the cache page. Well we have three of the numbers, we’ll just try those and ten tugs on the hasp with the ten numbers on that last dial. Didn’t work. So we walked back to read the missing number off the green sign for B that we didn’t get on our first try. Turned around and walked back to the cache again. Entered our four numbers and it didn’t unlock. Now we are questioning our counting of reflectors on the bridge. My wife then read the questions out loud to me and when she got to D I had to do a Homer Simpson forehead slapping, “DOH!” That was the ticket. We took nothing and left a Matchbox car and a couple of pencils.


You found [Traditional Cache] Shaking Rock
We almost didn’t stop as we were tired from a long day of caching and still had many miles to get home, but boy are we glad we did. What a neat place. Left a book and took a Travel Bug. Thanks. Found as part of the Georgia County Challenge (GC1B074)

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Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 968