Some goings on at Casa De Garabaldi

 A few things that transpired here for the past few weeks.

I Finished working a project on the The Spousal Units Edge, she loves her Edge but the car is a 2009 with 215,xxx miles on the car. 

 

 The car has been ultra reliable, just tires, brakes, gas kinda thing. But the car has developed an issue, namely Headlights, yeah they are hazed up and polishing don't work, plus one of the reflectors inside one of the lights broke, so it just "wobbles" around. Well I decided to replace them. First thing was put the car on a ramp, 

 

Then set up my tools, and replacement headlights and bulbs( since I was changing the headlights, why use the old bulbs).

 

 Then closed the garage door and turned on the headlights and set up tape to ensure alignment. 

 

Then proceeded to remove the front fascia. 

 

                                                         Unplugging the Fog lights

The Fascia is finally off.  To change the Headlights, I had to remove the Fascia.

      The Edge looks "nekked", LOL

                       My "Tool Table", the hardware is grouped by location.

    Started Removal of the Headlights, it was easy, Only 3X 10 MM bolts and the whole fixture slides out.

                                            The Difference in the Headlights

I then switched out the lights and bulbs including fog lights. 

 

You will notice that I wore gloves while handling bulbs, your skin has oils on them if it gets on the bulbs, it can shorten the lifespan immeasurably and you have to change them out early.

 

 I then reversed the process and closed the car up. Verified all lights worked and alignment is good.. Since the car was on ramps, 

 

I decided to do an oil change. I drained the old oil, then grabbed the filter and got the gasket wet with new oil, 

 

then filled the filter with oil, so when the car cranks, 

 

it gets oil a bit quicker. Most cars now the oil filter is "up and down",

 

 you hand screw it on making sure not to crossthread, Then hand tighten. I then added the required amount of oil per the manual, proceeded to finish up. I cranked the car to verify "no leaks no mess" cleaned up and put car in garage. Man, I though I was at work, lol

    When I went out of town and went to California for 2 weeks, I made a bit of change.  my buddy Mack mentioned new pistol, so I hopped on the Motorcycle and rode the 1.5 hours to his establishment to eyeball said pistol.

   This was my Dads Helmet, I added the "Desert Storm" stickers and it is like my Dad is still riding.

  Yes I bought a "Range Officers" model and fired 100 rounds through the pistol before I took her home.

                                This was my first 50 rounds, I saw a bit of breathing issues and my glasses sucked.  But I still had a blast, I was stoked :)   I changed the target and fired 50 more rounds, and did a bit better. 

On the way home, I stopped for the blessing of "God's Chicken Sandwich", kept my riding vest on because I was "Strapped", LOL  I was carrying my Glock 19 and a couple of magazines and I didn't want to "scare " the mundanes.

     Well I was busy this weekend, I decided to do some work on the car and the mailbox,  My Mailbox door rusted off, so I had to attach a new hinge to make it functional again.

 

                                                          Work in Progress

                                                                   Almost done

                                Ain't Perfect, but it will work, with my mailbox built into the brickwork, replacing it would have been a trick.

    While I was outside, I decided that the Focus was due for an oil change.  I never changed the oil on that car before, so I got the ramps out...

   

Put the Focus on the ramps (Best yard sale find my Mom found :)  )   crawled underneath and discovered that there is a cover under the car to protect the motor and increase aerodynamics..so I had to get my Torx sockets......

         Cover under the motor

    Loosening the torx screws that held the cover in place, there were 8 of them.

                                       The Cover on the floor of my garage.

                              Loosening the oil pan bolt.  And yes I check them things for metal shavings :)

                                        "Black Gold, Texas Tea"

    Filter was next after I let the oil pan finish draining, then I closed it up, and snugged it.

   Finishing draining.....   I let it drain, then I will wipe it down to ensure that there is no oil filter gasket stuck on the rings.....Yes it has happened to me a long time ago, and made a hell of a mess.

                     Fresh oil in gasket, then filled the filter.

                 Screwed the filter in, then wiped the filter to make sure that there were no leaks.

    Filled the oil, then wrote the information on the radiator shroud so the next time I have to do it, I know what I have to grab.

        I also dug out some stuff for my .45 that I had for my old 45, the one that got stolen back in 1992.  I decided to see if the stuff "fits " and see how it looks.

   My Bianchi Holster I had when I was in the Army.

       Old MP holster I got from my Dad back when he was an MP back in the 1960's

   My GI Shoulder holster I wore when I was a "Track" crewman and a couple of extra GI magazines I still have.

Plus my cookie jar with ammo in it.   Most of it are hollowpoints, Winchester Silvertips  and others, I had bought this stuff back in the early 90's for my other 45(the stolen one, still pisses me off) before the salad days when I could spend money on good ammo

Plus a few regular ball ammo.  The wife commented, only I would have ammo in a cookie jar.  I will hold off shooting this stuff for a bit until I consult with Mack some more.how the new 45 would handle it or if I should shoot it at all.