Jan 26 - am I getting too good at this ?

I called the makers of Kroil this morning to ensure that they had my order (they did) and to ask if anyone retailed the product. I found that Fastenal does, or was supposed to, so I headed over to their location in Edgewater, which is 1/2 mile south of us.

They have a fascinating array of products ... but no Kroil. The guy had heard of it, could get it in, but my order was already underway or was supposed to be. He has substitute products, but I passed.

When I was working on the left hand side of the car, of course I was leaning on the brake calipers all the time and I thought that I should check to ensure that they were working smoothly. I felt that that left wheel was a little sticky. I went on the highway and gave the brakes a workout and sure enough, as I came home, I could feel some stickiness. Lifting the left side, I rotated the tire; lifting the right side, I did the same. The right side was noticeably harder to rotate than the left. These wheels don't spin freely anyway, since they do have a driveshaft, but there was a difference.

There was also a difference in the heat coming off the rotors. Yes, I know what that's from ! So, I worked the caliper a bit with a C-clamp and pumping the brakes and it seemed ok. I gave the brake a break :).

Christie showed up, but not before Abby and I took an unscheduled boat ride. Out front a dolphin was lingering too long in one spot, according to Sandy, so I dropped the boat in the water and we went to investigate. I was pleasantly surprised that the motor started as if I'd been running it only a couple of hours before ... delighted, in fact. The dolphin moved ahead of us as we got there and I followed it around. There didn't seem to be any problem. Sandy was worried that it was caught up in something, but all seemed ok.

Christie's visit was for me to strip her bicycle frame. That took a while -- her mountain bike hadn't been apart since it was built. I did have all the necessary tools though and eventually we had it stripped, leaving the fork on at this point. She's getting the frame and fork painted pink ! I'll then help her reassemble.

Things nag at me ... Sandy went off, in the M5 since I wanted to play with the X5 some more. Up again on the jack stands, I removed the caliper -- I am getting too good at this -- and really worked the piston. Back on the car, I took it for a spin and all seemed ok. I think that I'll probably replace that caliper though -- the other front caliper was replaced two years ago -- who knows, I might replace both calipers at the same time. They get a lot of abuse. There's still a lot of life left in the pads -- I replaced pads and rotors last summer -- but I'll probably do the pads at the same time, what the heck.

Yet again I thought back to when I paid a lot of money to have a caliper replaced. What a waste of money ... it's so simple ! I'll have to bleed that one when I replace it, but that's not a big deal.

I'm sitting outside typing this. It's sunny and 77F. Tomorrow will be colder. 75F. What a life ! We are supposed to get thunderstorms in the a.m. so that might hamper my biking, but that just means that I'll bike on Saturday, should that rain show up.

It's close to 4pm at this point; somehow another day in paradise has mostly gone by.

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It's a.m. again and we've had a smattering of rain overnight and a rain system is passing through. If it goes soon enough, I'll bike ... if not, then tomorrow. I checked the weather for Gainesville and it's showing showers next Saturday. If that holds, I'll probably skip that ride. I've got enough without opting for a rainy 300k. I can always do a Permanent. We'll see.

We had shrimp on the barbie last night, along with rice and broccoli. Simple. I used the wok on the grill.

I'm continuing to watch the Torchwood series by myself and I put on X-Files when we're both watching TV. I can handle one episode of each. Torchwood is pretty hoaky. X-Files has much better writing and dialogue.

Jason is supposed to leave for Florida today and we're expecting him and Lorraine either tomorrow late or more likely on Sunday. They'll leave here on the 1st, heading for their rental in southwest Florida.

I talked to Jerry last night and he's going to come down for the 1st week of March and do the 400k with me on the 10th. That could change, but that's the plan.

Onward ...