Miata Washings

Creepy Nutcracker

If you have small children it may be best if you don’t let them check the mail for the next few weeks, unless of course, unlike me, you don’t think this year’s Christmas Nutcrackers Stamps are creepy.

We went out this afternoon and cleaned the rest of the leaves off the driveway and sidewalks and such. Afterward I pulled the car out of the garage and gave it a washing. It was pretty dirty from the rains of a couple weeks ago and the drenching it got last Saturday on the trip back from HHI. Maybe tomorrow I’ll pull it back out and give it a wax.

For the first time in a while we went for a bike ride today. At first we were going to ride our single bikes this afternoon, but changed it to the tandem tonight. We went out around 7 PM when it was fully dark and cruised a couple neighborhoods looking at Christmas lights.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 54

Sunday

One more walk on the beach before loading up the car and we were on the road to Aiken by 8:00 AM. We like to get home so we can eat lunch at the house, plus we need the rest of the afternoon to grocery shop for the coming week and do the laundry without feeling rushed.

We also had time to watch a movie, rake leaves (front yard only) and I washed/vacuumed the sea salt/beach sand off/out of the Emperor.

Now I just have to tweak and re size the photos and edit the text for the condo web page, then type up the MMC meeting minutes from Thursday — tomorrow.

Started up, went down, back up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 26

82,000 White Rabbits

Tonight we watched episode 5 of 82 of TDTVS. It was the one we should have watched on Friday, but we weren’t home, we were in Myrtle Beach and I forgot to bring the DVD.

Finished up the weekend today by taking the long way home and snapped 10 more PO Portraits giving us a total of 23 for the 3 days. We are now 93% finished with the project and all that remain are the ones right around Charleston and the 6 military bases in the state.

Somewhere west of Branchville the Emperor cruised past the eighty two thousand mile mark, so when we got home I gave him a well deserved royal bath.

Started up, went down, went up, down again, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 370

Squeak Removal

I made an attempt to eliminate a couple of unwanted sounds that the Emperor has been making tonight.

First up was a high pitched ringing or whine that it seems that only I and possibly certain breeds of dogs can hear. I’m hoping that this is what it was in the past, a singing clutch actuation fork. A bit of grease needs to be applied on the fork where the slave cylinder rod touches it. It seems like there was still some grease on there, but I applied some more and worked it around a bit.

Second was the annoying belt squeal, mostly brief when the AC kicks in and occasionally long, loud and embarrassing on damp morning start ups. I’ve been treating this issue with belt dressing with limited success and decided it was time to attempt to tighten the offending belt. I have been avoiding this because I didn’t think that I could manage it without making it worse. Turns out in the intervening 25 years since I last tried tightening an automotive belt they have made it easy. Once you’ve loosened the mounting bolt, there is now a fancy screw that you can tighten with a wrench which increases the tension. Heck, if I’d known that, I wouldn’t have had to listen to that squeal for the past year.

When I finished the maintenance I pulled out Meguiar’s Quik Detailer and gave the car a sponge bath.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 326

80,000 Nothings

Tonight was the annual Bug Splat Rally for the MMC. Our slightly early start and the two brief rain showers we ran through on the loop conspired to make bugs scarce. Prize awarding was sketchy at best and as a matter of fact the Cleanest Car and Most Bugs Awards were given out based on pre-rally car conditions.

The rain was obviously my fault as I washed the car this morning to make the Emperor look pretty for tonight’s Club gathering. In mid Bug Splat loop His Highness crossed the Savannah River and crossed the 80K mile mark at about the same time.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 288

Official Cheese Doodle of the Boston Red Sox

Wise. They also make the Official Potato Chip of the team too.

“Looks like it is coming down on Landsdowne St, better call 1-800 Fifty-Four GIANT” “Dave how’s your new Azek Deck coming along?” “Now at Papa Gino’s, buy any Rustic Pizza and get a small traditional cheese pizza FREE!”

Not only do I hear all those commercials between innings of the baseball game, but now these guys are squeezing little comments into the middle of their play by play. I’m almost immune to the ads though, but something happened the other day that was very disturbing. When I fired up the media player to listen to the FRS, before the radio broadcast came on there was an actual video commercial. I don’t remember what it was for I was so in shock. Disturbing, I could no longer, turn on the game in progress and get in with the usual 1 minute delay, now I had to wait another minute sitting through yet another plea for my money. At least it doesn’t seem to be an everyday thing, I only saw it once, but my innocence is lost.

Washed the Miata yesterday because it needed it and I figured I was safe because they weren’t calling for rain for about a half dozen days. Today the Weather Channel revised their forecast, it is now going to rain tomorrow or the next day and then there is a small chance of rain for the whole rest of week.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 192

Group Shot

To commemorate this fine occasion we all gathered on the porch last night to take a group picture. I had a tripod in the trunk (for those HDR Post Office pics), I was going to be the photographer. With the help of my assistant Donna, before snapping the real thing, I experimented with some exposures and seating arrangements. Here is a composite. And while the real thing came out OK, I’ll never be a portrait photographer.

The other 4 cabinmates were more the late sleeper types so Donna and I packed our car and hit the road at around 6:30 this morning. The only disadvantage to this move was that we spent the first couple hours driving with the top up because of the cool temps. The big advantage and what made it all worthwhile was the fact that we had the roads all to ourselves. No Sequoyas to slow us down on the Snake, no nobody. We didn’t even come across another vehicle in our direction for any of the twisty stuff at all. We barely saw any cars going in the opposite direction either.

We got home at noonish and after lunch I washed the Miata even though it hasn’t been very long since the last one. We are long through with spring here in the flatlands, but in the Georgia mountains it is in full swing with both the pine and hardwood trees throwing off pollen, combine that with the 1/2 mile of gravel road to access the cabin and the Emperor really need a bath.

Started up, went down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 144