Goings On At Casa De Garabaldi

 Sincere Apologies for not posting for a week, that was not planned.  My job changed, I am still with my employer but I went to a totally different side of my job abilities with totally different job scope than before, and I also went to Dayshift, so I became a daywalker, and I started going to the gym after work so when I got home, between the Gym and the schedule change from "Nightowl" to "DayWalker" has kicked my butt, I was getting 4 hours of sleep for the first 3 days, then learning totally new processes by the time I got home, I was wiped.  No time to blog.

     Now to what has been going on here, a few thing..

Y'all "Remember a Post I did" when I upgraded the Fog Lights on my Focus..Well They had failed..I noticed it a few weeks ago when it was foggy and I had turned it on and I noticed no increased illumination.  When I got to the storefront, I looked at the glass and noticed that they were really dim compared to my headlights, so when I got out of the car, I looked at them....and sure enough....they were dim enough to qualify as nightlight status would have been an improvement.

      So I ordered new lights from Amazon...

     After popping out the old light, I compared them... I went with "Yellow" ones this time.

I installed it.....

    It works, so I finished the installation, then did the same on the other side.   The Dumpster was here for 12 days, I blogged about it on a prior "Casa De Garabaldi"

   Installation completed on the front, then I switched to the rear of the car.  I decided to switch the Rear blinker/illuminating/brake lights 3157 bulbs with LEDS with the built in Resisters.  You have to put a resister in the circuit to simulate a load or the car will think the light is burned out and you get the "Fast blinky".   

Well I started the Installation process...

        It works, but with LED type lights, you have to check to see if they work, they are polarized..if you turn on the switch, and it don't work, unplug it..and flip it over, then it will work.   *Note*   Occasionally despite the resister, I still get the "Fast Blinky" occasionally.  Would I do this again...Meh...I already paid for it but when the lights fail and eventually they will, I will probably go back to the 3157.  nothing Ventured...Nothing Gained.

   Well I have this old shed in my backyard that I keep assorted lawn stuff, Christmas Decorations, ete,ete.  Well the door doesn't lock and I don't want my lawnmower "wandering off" or some of my Christmas Decorations go missing, ete, you get the picture  So I had to figure out a way to put a lock on it...

I went to "Ace Hardware" and bought a Hasp and an "Outside Lock",   You can see my first attempt below it it, I had inadvertently flipped the hasp the first time....*opps*

      This is the back of the door, I wanted to make it hard to rip the hasp off.  Sure they could do it, but I wanted to make it "more difficult"

   Now where the loop would go was a bit more difficult due to the design of the door and the doorframe.

    

      I could only get two bolts and washers on the bracings...but if you look behind it...

  I was able to secure all 4 of the bolts...  So it is complete.  It won't deter a determined person, but to a casual thief..it will slow them down.

    

   We had Easter and I was preparing the meal and of course "Goofy" A.K.A D.O.G Pronounced "DEEYOOGEE" was looking pitiful and hoping for something to hit the floor...Well he was sure out of luck...I didn't drop anything and he was unable to "countersurf" anything....for a 13 year old dog, when it comes to people food, he will countersurf with the best of them.

       The day I was getting ready for work and I had the garage door cracked so "Goofy" can go outside and do his business and a bird flew into the house from the garage.  She flew into the Dining room and got hung up in the window/curtain.  Well I got her out through the French doors., That was my entertainment before I went to work

I was invited to a private event in Texas and due to situations beyond my control, I had to withdraw, I was annoyed.  I was looking forward to going,  oh well next year.  Well at the last minute, I was asked to run a cub scout BB shoot at camp, and I agreed to do so,  It has been a bit since I have done a Cub Scout BB shoot but I needed to "Go to my Happy Place" after having to back out of Texas.  So I went and set up

   I used Sawhorses, Pie Pans and 6 positions..

I was by myself and 6 is the max I will run because that is the most I believe that I safely control.  Others will do more...but that is me.

   The Kids had a good time, and surprisingly so did I.

   I also did some shooting with my  .22LR I have.

  I of course shot after the kids left.

   I then went to the "BlackBird Cafe" after the event, as is tradition.

    We had our first nice weekend, and I decided to wash cars...

The Focus got it first....

   Then the Spousal units Edge, Her's Was the dirtiest...Don't ask me why...

   Then I scrubbed "The Precious",   After washing the truck, I finished a project I had started at work...

    Its my Class III Hitch Cover, I had bought it 20 years ago, it had totally faded,  So I had taken some Aviation grade black paint, repainted the black on the Ford emblems, then got 3 grades of "Scotchbright" pads to repolish it.  It is a trick I learned to make brushed aluminum using the T7075 grade aluminum from work, I am pretty good at it. :)

    I was getting ready for work, got into the Focus and the car didn't crank..

 

.I got the "Battery Saver" on the Dash and I thought "Aw Crap"  Battery.  Never seen that before, but I surmised that was the problem.   So I took the truck to work, next morning I slapped a voltmeter on the Focus battery, and it was setting on 9 volts...not enough to crank the car.  dang...I shopped around for better price and the best price was at Sams Club for $129 for a Duracell.

   Whomever designed this had to be at the "I hate mechanics" stage of life, the battery was under the cowl and it was a pain to finagle out.  I had put a charger on the connections to keep my car settings, yeah it looked funny, but it worked.....so there :P

  I can't complain....I got 6 years on a factory battery....But the pain in the ass to change...Sheesh.

    And some humor for the Helicopter fans in the audience...LOL