Flat

On Tuesday I noticed that the driver's side rear tire was flat on the car. Hoping for an easy fix I took the tire to a local garage only to be told that a belt was broken and air was leaking out through cracks around the bulge created by the broken belt.

I didn't think to ask the mechanic what causes such things but wouldn't be surprised to learn that driving over curbs or through pot holes could be responsible. The car is insanely long and it's easy to cut corners short and drive over curbs.

After reading advice about how important it is to have all 4 tires the same diameter on an all wheel drive car I asked myself, "How often do I have the car in AWD?" The answer is almost never. Maybe once every 5 years. So, I fell back to replacing 2 out of the 4.

My experience with buying tires is that I can do my research, pick the tire I want and then end up buying something the salesman says is as good or better. Probably because they don't have that exact tire in the size needed for my car.

This time I hope to get the tire I want. I started at consumerreports.org and chose a tire based on their ratings. Then I went to tirerack.com and ordered 2 of THOSE tires ($108 each). The shipping cost is $35 but, if that's what it takes to get a better, safer tire then I think it's money well spent.

Energy Crisis

On Sunday I took the scenic route to Home Depot on the cycle and ran out of gas. I knew I was near the bottom of the tank but had planned to use the reserve to get to the nearest gas station. Imagine my dismay to find the fuel selector already set on 'reserve'. Yes, I am a twit.

A good Samaritan offered me some of his gas but Kevie arrived right before I poured the gas from his can. Cruising range on the bike, including the reserve, is 207 miles.

Replaced the bent front brake handle this weekend.

On the House

We're noticing considerable soot around the registers so the heat exchanger in our oil furnace must be cracked. The house was built in the mid/late 70's and the original furnace doesn't owe us anything. Will consider a gas conversion not only because of possible fuel savings but I much prefer to cook with gas and running a gas line to the house gets us closer to a gas range. I plugged in a CO detector we had in the closet so we'll know if it gets really bad.

We had a visit from Ben Franklin Plumbing on Saturday ($347) to fix a pinhole leak in the hot water discharge line. And they replaced the bathroom tub faucet which had developed a hole. The plumber told us that our problems stem from bad water quality, notably iron in the water. The last owner installed a water softener as a condition of selling the house and we've recently tried to stay on top of keeping it charged with chemicals. Hopefully this will address the quality issue.

Cycling

On Sunday the 3 of us went to the Italian Festival at Bellview Winery in Landisville. What a gorgeous day! The sun was shining and temps were in the 60's. Wine tasting, assorted foods, and a band made this a memorable time. We came back with some of our favorites like the Syrah and Chambourcin. And we bought pepper pasta and an apple pound cake. Good stuff. At 2:00 Chris & Kevie took off for the vineyard tour and I left to see Nadeem.

Landisville is about 20 miles from Millville so I had followed Kevie on my bike. Got to Nadeem's house an hour later and spent the afternoon with him and the kids. Fun, relaxing.

I'd had bad performance problems with the motorcycle ever since I started to ride it regularly this fall and was glad to see that running a tank of fuel additive perked it back up. When I got home in the evening I greased the chain (5704 miles).

The Washer

We had the washer repaired on Columbus Day after the spinning mechanism broke again, $165. He replaced a belt and a pulley. He said that the drain hose was kinked where it goes into the PVC drain pipe and that was responsible for the problem. Makes sense to me that if the tub is spinning and the water aint going anywhere that it could tax the mechanism. The repairman wired the hose to the subfloor to try to prevent it from happening again but it kinked again after a couple loads of laundry so we bought a metal goose neck at Lowes and hope that we have a more permanent fix.

On The Town

Martha & Brian were in NYC for a short vacation and we met up Tuesday night for dinner & a play. Great to see them and catch up.

The last thing we saw on Broadway was Movin' Out and before that was Spamalot. I didn't like either one but on Tuesday we saw August: Osage County and it redeemed my interest in Broadway. This wasn't a musical and it had a real story. It was about an extended family that comes together after the father goes missing. At 2.5 hours it was a long play but the time flew. I liked the dialog and the character dynamics.

End of Our Beach Season

On Saturday we took the boat to Chestnut Neck. It took less than 2 hours to get there. Didn't go to Spring Garden this year. Asked that they repack the stuffing boxes and fix the float in the holding tank. Now it always reads full regardless of when it was last pumped out.

We didn't unload the boat at Sunset Marina thinking that it would be easier to just pull the car up to the boat and unload once it was on land. We waited for a couple of hours for them to power wash and block it before we got access and then Kevie made another trip on Sunday to clean up and bring back another load. Next year we unload a bunch of stuff before we leave the dock and then just leave the boat for them to do their thing instead of waiting.

On Sunday I changed the oil on the car. Turn the key to run (don't start the engine) and step on the gas 3 times to reset the oil change reminder light. Mileage was approx 128,700.

I put a new battery in the motorcycle and it started right up but when I twist the throttle it dies. I can rev it up using the choke and have no problem riding after I get out of first gear. Went to the auto parts store and got one of those additives that promises to clean the carburetor, put it in and after some 80 miles of riding it is better but still not good. Will run the whole bottle through and hopefully avoid taking out the 4 carbs and cleaning them by hand.