Notes from Mosquito Hill » Project 365

Stupid automotive tricks (P365: 9/5-8)

mack505 — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:41:23 +0000

9/5 – This one will probably take more explanation than it’s worth. It was time to do some P.M. on the cars, so I loaded Mrs. Mack505′s Nissan up on the ramps. Her car has a very long, low nose and it will drag on the ramps unless you use the plastic leaders to flatten the slope. It would seem that the retaining pins on one of my leaders are broken:

The front wheels spun and shot the plastic part under the rear wheels. There was no damage, but it made getting back down to terra firma interesting.

9/6 – The straighten function in my photo software couldn’t help this one. It’s been a long, hot summer. I’ve never seen tapers droop like this.

9/7 -Over the years, I’ve had to defend my Benz ownership. It really is a great little car, and it cost less than a Jeep Grand Cherokee when new. Still the perception is that you must be rich to own one. This isn’t helped by my fellow MB owners, a minority of whom insist on regularly doing stupid things with their Benzes. Case in point, from yesterday:

Yes, that’s a full load of 8-foot 2x4s sticking out the window of a C-class 4Matic. The other ends of them are hanging out the right front window. *sigh*

And finally, a peaceful evening for Sebastian:

9/8 – When you gotta nap, you gotta nap.

Can you spot the hurricane?

mack505 — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 14:48:45 +0000

9/2 – MBCR Hy-Rails seem randomly along the Newburyport Line

9/3 – Don’t let the pigeon drive the bus! Beth at the helm of the 93′ Songo River Queen II on Brandy Pond.

This was probably our last chance, as MDOT is planning to replace the RT302 swing bridge with a fixed span and trap the SRQ in Long Lake. Don’t get me started on that short-sighted stupidity.

9/4 – Goodbye, Earl! The sum total from the big, bad hurricane overnight was slightly more than 1/3″ of rain. We had more wind this afternoon than during the storm. Can anyone say ‘boy who cried wolf?’

An Old Friend (P365 – 9/1)

mack505 — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:46:38 +0000

Mrs. Mack505 and I are both gearheads. We’ve enjoyed an interesting fleet of cars in our time together, including a Rabbit, two Celica All-Trac Turbos, a Dodge Dakota, a Saturn, a Rodeo, a Land Rover Discovery (Series 1), two different Mercedes, two GMC Sierras, two Suburbans and a Yukon XL, a VW Cabrio, a Maxima, a Caprice wagon, and a mail Jeep; and those are only the daily drivers. At one point my favorite NAPA counter guy threw up his hands in exasperation and asked, “Don’t you ever buy anything normal?”

In some form, I’ve regretted selling all but two of them. I just enjoy cars of all types. (Well, maybe not minivans.)

My first full-size truck was a 2000 GMC Sierra K1500 extended cab short bed Z71 4×4. It was an early model which I bought in October 1999, and it was one of the first to have four doors and the 5.3l V-8. It’s even referenced obliquely in one of my old blog posts. I sold it prematurely in 2003 when we reorganized the family fleet.

Worse, I traded it locally. I saw it on the Chevy lot for a while, then it disappeared. Today in my travels I found this.

Last time I saw her, she had custom exhaust tips and didn’t have the ugly pipe rack. Enough of the custom details are there for me to be 95% sure it’s her, though. I’m glad to see she’s still going strong and looking good after almost eleven years. Except for that rack.

P365 – August 31

mack505 — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:28:31 +0000

August 31 – the best place around here in the evenings lately is the upstairs deck, once the sun goes down.

The Mac is Back (P365, August 25-30)

mack505 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 00:10:26 +0000

The Mac returned from the shop today, and it seems to be working fine. I’ve been shooting all week while it was gone.

August 25 – Cold and wet.

August 26 – feeding time at the zoo.

August 27 – Swan boats in the Boston Public Garden.

I couldn’t pass this one up.

August 28 – it speaks for itself. It was a great time.

August 29 – Bobkits at York’s Wild Kingdom

August 30 – It’s over 90 degrees, and we took the only car without A/C to do a full day’s worth of errands. It sure is fun to drive, though.

Cold cat (P365: August 24)

mack505 — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 01:29:01 +0000

I recently learned that Saimese cats are temperature sensitive. The dark areas on their faces, ears, feet, and tail are due to pigmentation reacting on the cooler areas of their bodies. When Chai first came to us she had a cold, and her face turned visibly lighter for a week or so.

Fast forward to last week. While we were away, we left the porch window open. The cats had access to the screen porch 24/7. Chai apparently enjoys the night air. Compare this current photo. . .

Chai – 8/24

. . .with this one from 7/28 during the heatwave. Pretty cool, huh?

Thirteen years

mack505 — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:52:42 +0000

August 23 – Thirteen years.

MacBook FAIL (P365 – August 22)

mack505 — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 03:05:39 +0000

This is actually a good thing.

The MBP was in for service again today, as the previous attempt didn’t fix it. This time it failed the graphics processor test, with a bad NVIDIA chipset. (This is what we suspected the first time.) Now that we have a diagnosis it’s getting fixed for real, and it’s under a recall. Hopefully it won’t cost me a cent.

That red bar sure looks scary though, doesn’t it?

A week without photos (P365: August 16-21)

mack505 — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:10:58 +0000

Photoblogging was light this week. In fact, it was nonexistent. We were out of town at the Big E in Springfield for the Mass Morgan Horse Show. Internet was limited to what I could access via the iPhone, although I did achieve one text-only post. The fairgrounds did have WiFi, but for $$$. I tried the free service at the local McDonalds, but we won’t discuss that any further. As I couldn’t find an access point which was both pleasant and affordable, you’ve had to wait. So without further ado:

August 16: I’ve never had a campsite with its own fire hydrant before.

August 17: Breakfast

August 18: Sunset

August 19: Terriers around Town. Beth loved the psychedelic one the most.

August 20: How could you not love this face?

August 21: Mrs Mack505, Scotty, and trainer Shawn Amazeen in the winner’s circle.

August 14-15

mack505 — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 00:39:18 +0000

August 14 – Along the New England Southern north of Concord, NH.

August 15 – the American dream. Five bicycles, a canoe, and a Jeep.