Miatatude

Made a bagel run early this morning. Well, I think 9:00 PM is early on a weekend. The sun was out and it was somewhere in the 40’s, so before I backed out of the garage I put the top down. Really pleasant drive, didn’t even need the heater. As I slowly turned into my neighborhood on the return trip I startled a couple of birds in the magnolia tree in the median. Well, I think 30MPH is slow for a 90 degree turn. The second one misjudged my approach so that he ended up sort of scrambling up the windshield, I heard his feet scratching the glass. The blow was glancing enough that I don’t think I killed him. At least I wasn’t showered in feathers or anything. I know I scared the shit out of him, because he left that on the window.

Started Up, now Down.

Made the run to Evans, GA to check the Miata Club’s P.O. Box. I has been nearly 2 months, but we never get any mail unless it is renewal time anyway. There were 5 pieces of mail, a credit card come-on, a flyer from a grocery store, a returned newsletter, a group buy offer on windstops from Serious Auto and a Christmas card for the P.O. Box just to the left of us. Almost put the top up when we started as the temps were in the upper 40’s. My wife said, “That’s what heaters are for.” So instead I put the boot on. When we got back from the drive it was after lunch and it was nearing 70 degrees, so I put the top up. I wanted to wash and wax the car.

Starting yesterday, I think I will list the status and the changes to that status of the top here in the last line. Might be fun to go back and count ’em up for a week, month, year…

Started down, now Up.

Started today with the top down, but put it up for the drive to work. They were calling for a 40% chance of rain and we must have been in that 40, ’cause it was raining now. We went out for lunch with the gang for a co-worker’s birthday and put the top down for the drive to eat. When we got to Ruby Tuesday it looked kind of threatening, so I put the top back up. After lunch it wasn’t raining, so the top came back down for the return trip. At work in the parking lot I put it back up, just in case. By quitting time the skys were clearing, so back down the top went for the drive home.

Up. Down. Up. Down. Up. Down. No wonder my tops only last 3 years.

As we left to go to work this AM, I looked at the scratch and it isn’t as bad as I originally thought. The first 1/4″, ground zero, is through to the primer. Then it skips another 1/4″ before scratching just the clearcoat for an 1″ or so. That still doesn’t change my feelings for umbrellas.

Good day to own a convertible. Dodged the drops from falling trees on the drive to work. Put the top up when we got there, just in case. After work we had to drive over to the Mazda dealer to run the Master’s Miata Club’s newsletter throught the postage meter. Lower 70’s in January. That is a little unuusual even for here. Not complaining made for a nice drive. Saw 2 other Miatas, both had their tops up – for shame. Saw 2 other convertibles, one of those new Volvos and a newer Chrysler Sebring and both of them had their tops down.

OK, I complained too much about the sun and now it is GONE. Cloudy and misty on the way to work, cloudy at lunch and cloudy and drizzly on the way home. I had to run an errand at 7:00 PM, Weather.com said it was 67 degrees out. Cool, I drop the top and back out of the garage. To quote Frank Barone, “Holy Crap!” The fog was thick as pea soup. Ran the errand slowly and when I got back, left the car in the driveway and snapped some photos.

This morning as I got into the car my wife asked, “Where is the umbrella?” I shrug, go back inside and grab one from the corner. She pops the trunk and I hop down the 2 steps to floor level and as I go to put the bumbershoot into the boot, I mis-judge the distance and place a 3″ long scrape on the back of the car. Yikes! Took the top layer of paint right off! That is the second time I have done that with an umbrella. The first one is not so bad and is really only noticeable if you know where to look. Or the light is just right. This one is pretty obvious, even to the most casual observer. Damn, I hate umbrellas.

Darn, this is getting tiresome, upper 50’s and sunny for the ride home. 🙂 Top down of course.

Managed to hit the traffic just so, so that I could run the one ess turn in town at a pretty good clip. Found out that the sidewalls of the new Bridgestone RE-930 tires are not nearly as stiff as the old RE-71’s, lots of squirm and scrub noise. I’m going to have to practice this maneuver more. Plus I might add a couple more PSI to the tires.

Sunny and lower 60’s for the drive home today. Turned the usual 6 mile commute into 25 miles of a top down, tunes up cruise. 🙂