Ok -- it's time to vent.
In the fastener section of hardware at Home Depot they sell individual bolts etc. as well as small packages. The small packages are 98 cents each. Each of the small packages has a varying number of screws or washers in it, depending on size etc. I found what I was looking for in machine screws -- #8 x 1 inch but had to go through 4 packages on the shelf to find one behind that actually had the 5 screws that come for 98 cents. Why is that ? Well, because the first 4 packages on the hanger all had one or more screws missing. Why is that ? Well, because there were holes in the first four packages where someone had stolen one or more of the screws. So ... someone comes into Home Depot, having spent multiple $ worth of gas to get there, and steals a 20 cent screw. It really pi$$es me off, this kind of petty theft. I'm sure that people justify it to themselves as not stealing; not shoplifting; it's only 20 cents and they're a big company ... on and on. What if I walked into their house and took a spoon ? Would that be ok ?
Ok -- enough venting.
So ... I picked up my $4.00 piece of aluminum, my 98 cent packages of screws, washers, lock washers and nuts, a couple of hooks for the garage and a 10 roll package of electrical tape. Back home I cut the aluminum, bent it to the required shape, drilled a few holes and mounted the lights. I'll take some pictures ... I'll be well lit.
Next on my list was to finally change the switches at the front door. All the switches in the house are Decora switches except for the two at the front door -- perhaps there were no Decora dimmer switches available when the house was built, I don't know, but there was a rotating dimmer switch on the inside-entrance light and a "regular" switch. I replace both of them with Decora switches.
Next ... fix the satellite dish. That necessitated a dozen or so trips up the ladder onto the roof. Even though I have a satellite signal strength device for up on the roof, that just gives coarse aiming. It's a multiple step process to adjust horizontal, vertical and skew. it's done now ... hopefully to last for a while. The problem is that the mount is not all that secure on the surface of the roof and a small change in either of the three mount points translates into a fairly gross change of dish aiming.
Sandy and Abby were out for one of their 4 mile walks while I was doing the work on the satellite dish. It's just as well -- had she been here we'd have been yelling back and forth reading signal strength ... and if we were lucky not yelling back and forth at one another since it's a frustrating exercise at best.
She saw a whale ! Yes, a whale was cruising up the coast in sight of land and spouting occasionally. We don't have binoculars down here so there were no close-ups and I was occupied otherwise I might have been tempted to zip over to the beach with my camera and a telephoto lens. Such a picture would have been marginal at best anyway.
Next ... I need to change the oil in the X5. I'm watching TV right now (channel surfing when I was finding signal strength at various transponders having now hooked me on a movie). I may come up with other mini-projects .... who knows.
I was planning on going for a ride tomorrow, but the prediction is now for rain. I may go out asap in the morning anyway, taking a chance on rain. So far the prediction for next Saturday is for good weather, but of course it will be cool at 5am. I might as well get used to it.
Later ...
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Ok, I've been busy. I changed the oil and then found out how to access the backup lights since we were periodically getting a "check" showing up that a light was going. There's a panel in the lower tailgate in the X5 that pries/pops off with a flat screwdriver. I then went to the nearest Advance Auto Parts to pick up the light ... nope, out of stock, then went to the one in Edgewater a couple of miles further away and they had the lights in stock. While I was at it I used the engine code reader to reset the oil change indicator in the X5 and we're now good to go for another 10-12,000 miles. That will hold us until we're back down in the summer or at latest in September, at which point I'll change the oil again. It's good, and easy, preventive maintenance. Speaking of which, I need to do the same with the M5 -- not from mileage, but from sitting -- and it's due.
So why am I not watching the Super Bowl -- ha ! If you're asking that question, then you don't know me very well.
The following are pictures of the lighting setup. The LED on the fork and the flash-lit light on the handlebar are driven by the generator. The battery operated LED light on the left side of the picture is backup for the generator lights but also doubles as a flashlight when I'm fixing flats or whatever. It won't normally be on.
The center tail-light is generator operated; the other two are the ones that I added today with the aluminum bracket, and are battery driven. Both the battery headlight and tail-lights take AA's, so I'll carry spare batteries too -- not so much on this 300km ride where there's limited time riding in the dark, but on the longer rides.
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It's morning again. It looks like there are rain clouds all around so I'm not sure if I'll get out for a ride. I got my stuff out before going to bed last night but missed a few things ... no point in disturbing Sandy at this point. Tomorrow looks like a better day for a long ride anyway.
Before going out I always check the weather, the Doppler for rain clouds on the horizon (or over) and the hour-by-hour. The latter gives me wind speed and direction so I know which way to turn -- north or south. This morning's wind direction is weird, literally hitting all directions of the compass within a couple of hours. For maximum distance you'd want to have the wind with you all the time ... for maximum workout, the other way around !
We had Cobia last night for dinner, with rice and green beans. We had Cobia twice last year, as we recalled after it was purchased. The first time we cooked the fillet as normal, i.e. cooked. It was quite dry. The second time we seared it like Tuna and it was fishy tasting ... so we decided that it was not our favorite fish. The piece of Cobia that Sandy brought home was a piece of a fillet, 1.3 pounds, about 1.5 inches thick. Cooking this is almost like cooking a pork loin chop -- once it's cooked, it's dry. So ... I tried something different. I cut the fillet into 3/4 inch pieces so that we had a series of small steaks. Sandy did her usual seasoning thing ... then I barbecued them (about 8 pieces) in the fish-filet holder. I took them off after about 6 minutes, thinking that they were done, but they weren't, still rare in the center. I put them back on for another couple of minutes without the holder and took them off while still juicy. Mmmmm ... they were good. They're still a little fishier than we're used to tasting, but the meat melted in your mouth.
Now of course fish is not considered meat, according to the Catholics. Fish is fish. Should I have said that the fish melted in your mouth ? How about the "flesh" melting in your mouth -- somehow that sounds gross. I think that referring to it as either meat or fish is more appropriate, but fish, to me, is the whole fish. The meat of the fish is just that. Anyway, you knew what I meant, even if the term is not quite correct.
When I was young we had fish every Friday. That was a rule. The rule was there for a reason -- having fish was supposed to be a sacrifice, a penance, a hardship. I don't know if the church still teaches fish on Fridays. We have fish every day. Should I be eating meat on Friday ?
Once I was in school, my Mom and Dad would pick me up every Friday and we'd have fish for lunch. At least that's how I remember it. I'm sure that it couldn't have been every Friday because my Dad would be in work camps at times way back in the bush and wouldn't be home every night ... but having said that, I cannot remember him not being home. Childhood memories are always sparsely populated ! We would go to Tek's fish and chips for lunch on Friday's. I don't remember if Arlene was along for the ride ... she was three years behind me in school. Anyway, Bert Teklenberg and family, he being Dutch by birth, were family friends. Having said that, I remember roughly where they lived in North Bay, but nothing else. I did a Google some time ago and found that Tek's fish and chips was for sale ... but with Google you have no idea whether that web page is current and I was not interested in investing in a restaurant ! Oh -- I just checked -- Tek's Seafoods is still there, or at least it was 8 months ago. It gets good reviews. The reviewer had Tilapia. That was unheard of in "my day" -- they only had Haddock or Halibut.
One of the problems with a blog is the risk of repeating yourself. Sometimes as I'm writing I have a vague recollection of having covered ground before -- like Tek's above. I don't know if I did ... and I'm not going to search through my old blogs to find out ! Any readers will just have to put up with repetition. Oh -- I just searched through my emails and find that the reference to Tek's was not through my googling but Arlene's. She had sent me the "for sale" advertisement in March of 2008. I searched through my saved blogs and found no reference to Tek's. So ... perhaps I have not repeated myself ?!
Onward ... my plan for today was focussed on biking but I'd rather leave that until tomorrow if today is going to be patchy rain. What I'll probably do is go out for a short ride and then plan on getting out early, before light, tomorrow to do a 100+ mile ride as prep for next Saturday.
I have to do my taxes. Perhaps that will occupy part of my day. I'm still missing some tax slips but can come pretty close if not spot on, to the final numbers based on info on Quicken and online.
Onward ...
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