You can tell when the DJ at the classical station wants to take a longer lunch. She plays Ravel's "Bolero." That has to be in the top ten of classical music pieces that never should have made the cut.
Over 40 years of marriage Pam and I have come to an unofficially agreed upon division of labor. It has nothing to do with male & female roles, it's just what works for us. For example, anything that has to do with gardening has always been my responsibility, as is home repair, improvement, painting, etc. She does all the cooking from the room with the big white hot thing.
This presents a problem when she visits her mom in Michigan as she is doing now. Meals are the first issue, but pressed I can make a sandwich and cook a frozen pizza. It's the incidental stuff that creates problems.
I call it a grown-up version of hide and seek. I ran the dishwasher last night and the load included several things she'd used before leaving last Thursday, things I cannot identify, nor do I know where they go. So I find a place in a cupboard or closet where they will fit and call it good. When she gets back a week from today I will have forgotten where I put that big orange thing with the holes in it, but it's her problem at that point.
I prefer a home a bit more tidy that my dear wife, which means by day three of her absence I'm cleaning and picking up. This, too, involves storing things left on horizontal surfaces ("That's what they're for.") in places I will have forgotten 24 hours from now.
I've threatened to remodel the kitchen so that all countertops are on a 45-degree angle.
And what is it with women and kitchen gadgets? Is it somehow related to having two X chromosomes?
I found this in a cupboard while looking for a place that the orange thing with holes would fit.
Do I need to tell you my first thought when seeing it?
OK, moving on.
Steve called this morning, apologized for not calling yesterday as agreed upon, and said he wouldn't make it today. So we're planning on next Saturday.
Pat called me back and four of the five wheels are painted. I'll go out tomorrow afternoon to get them. He wants to sandblast the spare I bought at the junk yard so it looks better when painted, but that's no big deal. At least now I can have a rolling chassis.
I decided to fill the tranny with gear oil this morning so I pulled the fill plug and pumped in a gallon of 80-90 gear oil... and 15 minutes later watched it drain out the rear wheel on the other side.
GRRRR!
VW had a notoriously bad system for sealing the rear bearings that they improved upon slightly for the '67 model year and completely revamped beginning in '68. Alas, if you're restoring a '62, expect problems.
BUT...it may not be my fault. There's a spacer in there that is prone to wear and when I disassembled everything the one on the right side was not as good as I thought it should be. So I ordered a new one. Unfortunately, they are on indefinite backorder at all the usual (and reputable) VW parts houses. I found one on the site of a smaller shop and ordered it. When it arrived I could see it was about 1/4" thicker than the stock spacer so I called the guy. We talked about it and agreed it shouldn't make any difference; it just meant the axle nut wouldn't tighten down as far. Now I'm not so sure.
I've ordered another kit (the O-rings and gaskets can't be re-used) and when I disassemble it next week, if I don't see an obvious problem with my work I'll assume it's that spacer. Don't know for sure what I'll do after that. I may try re-using the old one, hoping it isn't too far gone to work.
John commented on last night's post that the Brewers/Cardinals series is being called the Suds Series. I like mine a lot better.
I synced the iPad this afternoon, a Saturday afternoon task that prepares it for use at church in the morning. This time it wanted me to upgrade the software before doing that.
I am now cloud-enabled. I'm not sure I understand the ramifications, especially since I don't have a smart phone (too stoopid for that). And I probably did a really dumb thing when I turned on some tracking thing that allows the iPad to know where I am at any point in time. But since I don't ever go anyplace interesting I figured I'm safe from big brother.
You don't suppose they can tell when I'm in the bathroom?
OK, I gotta run to the store and buy that frozen pizza. Then more cleaning.
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