Jun 11/12 - slowing down ? Really ?

Cassie seemed to be slowing down in that she'd stop after a couple of ball throws and rest.  Normally she would go for several long throws to the lake and back up to the deck.  Sandy looked for a vet in Sudbury and took her in and sure enough, she had an infected anal gland and is now on antibiotics.  The vet said that the infection could certainly slow her down.  What's with these anal glands anyway ?

So that was yesterday.  Sandy texted me "nice breaks" but of course that should have been "nice brakes".  I did her brakes the day before.  Rotors and pads for the front; pads only for the rear.  Both sets looked like they'd hardly been broken in.  What happens is that with all the sitting around over the winter in the dampness of the garage, the fronts especially end up with some rust and then a tiny bit of uneven wear and some vibration on light braking.  I bought these rotors and pads over a year ago but never got to them last year.

What a treat lifting Sandy's tires onto the hubs !  They're so light compared to the SUV !

However, I discovered a front drive shaft boot is leaking grease so it'll likely need replacing.  I'm going to talk to Jeff in Arnstein to see if he's willing to undertake this. 

2002.  It's getting pretty rusty in hidden places.  I still remember Sandy coming home from a trip to Toronto and having this car sitting in the driveway with a HUGE bow on the roof.  THAT was a once-in-a-lifetime surprise.  Top that one, will you ?

2001. The M5.  It's in much better shape, undercarriage-wise and engine-compartment-wise, as it doesn't sit in the damp.  Both cars' bodies are in excellent shape, no surface rust.  There had been a small patch on Sandy's car that I got addressed when it was down in Florida a few winters ago.  What year was that ?   I'd have to browse blogs to find out.

More mechanical work - I've now rebuilt the rear wheel that I killed in Sicily.  I need to take it out for a test ride but that won't happen today.  It just started raining !  That 100% chance of rain was certainly accurate. Yesterday was a beautiful day, if you don't count mosquitoes.

I've been trying to figure out where they're coming in.  Certainly some come in with Cassie - all that fur.  Some come in the door as we go in and out  I've wondered about the vent-a-hood and yesterday tackled that.  I hate taking that apart as it's always covered in grease.  Yes, sure enough, there was a lot of cleaning to do.  There were also a lot of skeeters stuck in the grease.  Did they find that grease from the inside out or from the outside in ?  Well, I guess we won't find out as I've now plugged the outside vent the way that I do in the winter.  It has a flap that somewhat closes but not mosquito-proof.

I also did some weed-whacking yesterday but more remains to be done.  A lot more.

And it was time for our monthly RUSA conference call last night.  There were a lot of weighty matters to discuss.

Onward !