A Look Back Recap

Here's some of what has happened recently!!!

Years ago, the boys had been sledding down into the canyon. A few weeks ago I was out doing some yard work, and a trio of neighborhood kids showed up with a sled of their own and did some of their own sledding!!! Nice to see area kids still getting up to outdoor hijinks!!! I didn't take a follow up picture of the unceremonious dismount...

Back in December the younger and I had gone down and visited my mom around Christmas. My sister and her youngest son also came down, and we all met up at the John's Incredible Pizza near where my mom lives. My wife wasn't feeling well, we'd all been off and on sick during that time. My cough came back and hung on for a month or so after, but when we were all feeling better, I wanted to go visit my mom again. Surrogate came along, as well. Haven't made mention, but the restaurant Stacked that we'd been to a few times didn't survive the stupid times, but while we've been in the area my mom lives, I've searched restaurants in the area, and turns out not far away there's another Stacked!!! Naturally, that's where we went!!!

They've done away with the “order on an Ipad” gimmick, but you can still craft your burger to order. I've mentioned that I'll almost always make one with sauteed onions and bleu cheese, and there was a burger close to that already on the menu, for less than I could have one built for, including bacon. I had to specify sauteed onions instead of the raw it came with, and added garlic aioli, and it came out great!!! I also like the building better, as well, it has the same look as the one we used to go to, but the windows towards the street are able to completely roll up for a fresh air dining experience, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect!!! Photos came up with a look back collage of our visit, and Halloween 2015!!!

I did a whole post that was mostly about how the driver's side headlight on Kutcher has always given me trouble. At that time, I had gotten a socket that was touted as high temperature. Back in January, it happened again!!! I found out that there were some places that make ceramic sockets, so I ordered one, and got it going again. Not long after that, the headlight bulb itself burned out!!! Bought a replacement bulb, and took care of it yet again... for now (Jinx!!!)

Oh yeah, there's a shot of the new battery...

A friend of mine had bought his car with LED headlight bulbs installed, and a little after I'd replaced the socket, then the bulb on Kutcher, one of his had burnt out. He asked me if I could help him out with it, and I bought him a new set of bulbs and helped him install them. His high beam bulbs were still conventional halogen bulbs, and the set I bought had replacements for both, so I told him my tax for helping him was I got to keep the bulbs that still worked. Shortly after that, the driving light on the driver's side of Kutcher went out again. The lens has a small hole cracked through it, and it had rained, and I theorize that when it rains, cold water will splash on the hot bulb and break it. Anyway, the one low beam LED bulb I'd removed matched the driving light bulb, so it's now in there!!! Of course, it has kind of a bluish cast, while all the other three lights have the yellowish halogen cast, so it's an odd one out. One of these days, I'll get those yellow driving lights installed!!!

My wife had suggested going back to Pie 'N Burger again. Apparently, it is now our just after Valentine's Day tradition!!! They've got a lot of items with chili on it on the menu, and we hadn't tried it last time, so this time I upped my fries to chili cheese fries. It was OK, but I wouldn't recommend them for their chili!!!

We split a slice of peach crumble pie for dessert. Go there for the pie!!!

I had mentioned that one of the pumps at the local Arco had caught on fire last year. They still haven't replaced the pump, or done much with the awnings. They've got the pump boxed off, and it's been tagged up,

I had made mention that the new phone holder in Kutcher had some issue rotating out of the proper position, and I'd put in on the forward part of the center console, with the arm pretty much straight up, and that had done the trick. A few weeks ago, the suction cup came off, and I'd stuck it back. It didn't stay, so I pulled it out, gave it a good cleaning, and it held for a week, then was falling off again. Time to go to the drawing board... I took the arm portion from the previous one (it has the same ball mount for the holder part) and made up a piece of plastic with a little portion that came out, that I could mount to one of the bolts holding the center console down. It worked, but it was close to the emergency brake handle so you had to pull it up with a finger or two, and the phone was almost laying flat.

It kind of worked, but really not acceptable. I bent up a steel angle that would mount to two of the center console bolts, and used the same plastic base to mount it to the upright. Fairly solid, and a lot closer to where it should be!!! I may take it back to the drawing board again, and rotate the base a little farther back. Shouldn't be difficult.

Had the younger's birthday get together last weekend. It was pretty cool, we went on a short neighborhood walk, they played on the swing across the street, and played a little basketball (horse). I didn't get many pictures, and most of the outdoor ones didn't come out good because it was dark out. Here he is in a shirt my wife got him, after he opened the cologne I got him. He's said for years that he'd like to get cologne that smells of petrichor, the smell after it rains, and I found some!!!

A few weeks ago, they did another rocket launch from Vandenberg, and somehow it left this crazy looking contrail!!!

A few weeks ago we'd gone to Goodwill again, I forget what even for, but I found another shirt!!! It was the sale of the day tag, and my size, and in an underrepresented color!!! Interesting, the DeLorean pictured is unmodified!!! I took the picture here with the cam in my computer, possibly the first time I've ever used it for a picture!!!

I had seen this new Mountain Dew flavor, Baja Cabo Citrus, a few weeks before, but didn't buy it. When I was getting supplies for the boy's birthday, I picked some up. It's pretty good, the flavor makes me think it's heavily tangerine.

A Tale of Two Pricey Meals

Last week I had another follow up appointment with my orthopedic surgeon. He took another X-ray, and said it's progressing, but... with such a wide break, it could take up to 12 weeks, maybe more... so I've got another appointment in a month. I had to take off work an hour early to do so, and because of that, my break times got moved up. My lunch break is usually the entirely too early for me 10:45, but since I was leaving out early, it was moved to 9:45!!! Didn't really bother me, it actually spaced out my breaks more evenly. However, when we were waiting for the doctor, my stomach was speaking up!!!

We had been busy on actual Valentine's Day. I had offered to take my wife out to a late night diner in our area, be she declined. I was quite hungry after the appointment, so I suggested that, since it was just the two of us we could have our Valentine's dinner!!! Not far from there is a really nice steak house, and at first we headed over there, thinking that at the late afternoon time on a Thursday it might not be too busy. We got into the parking lot, and it was very full. There were a couple of spots quite far away, but we decided against going there. Nearby on the map, there's a place I'd seen and heard of before, Pie 'N Burger.

It has a much smaller parking lot, but they'd saved us a spot!!! Inside, it wasn't too busy. It's not too big, and there were a few open tables, but the counter isn't that tall which is often an issue for my wife, so we sat there. First thing, my wife orders a chocolate malt. Not a lot of places where you can get an actual malt anymore!!!

Burger is right in the name, and that's what I'd been thinking. They have several sandwiches on the menu, and then I saw they also have chicken pot pie. Oh, that sounds good!!! Whenever we go to a new place, I'll ask the waitress or waiter if they have a recommendation. She said the burger is really good, but one of her favorites is the chicken pot pie. I'm torn. Then my wife says, “Why don't I get the burger, you get the chicken pot pie, and we'll split both???” Genius. That's why I married her. Also, very Valentine-ey!!!

My wife told me to re create the quesadilla and burrito attacking pictures, and there you go!!! Both the chicken pot pie and the burger and onion rings were delicious!!! Oh, and since it's called Pie 'N Burger, chicken pot pie is also totally a pie, anyway!!! Oh, and the chicken pot pie came with a salad, and I got bleu cheese dressing. It was very chunky, awesome!!!

Of course, a place with pie as the first word in their name, gotta get a slice of pie!!! After everything we'd had we were nearing the limit, but the pies were one of the first things I'd looked at. They had a peach pie on the list that sounded pretty good, but then I saw they have a butterscotch meringue pie, I've never heard of such a thing, and butterscotch is one of my favorite, not often seen flavors, so that's what we got, once again to split. We even had enough left to take some home for the younger to try.

All of that totaled almost $70, plus a generous gratuity for great service.

Last night I had tickets from my work to a Kings game. We've been to several, and it's one of the younger's favorite sports. It was a lot of walking for a guy with a spiral fracture to the 5th metatarsal!!! Of course, I'd gotten the tickets well before that had happened. I was a little achey in my shin and where the break is after getting to our seats.

Every time we're at a stadium, we always get something to eat, and this was no exception. I thought we'd gotten some awesome nachos there before, and so when the menu had Super Nachos listed, that's what I was going to get. The younger got a tray of tendies and waffle cut seasoned fries, we both got sodas, and a pretzel to split. The nachos were underwhelming, it was a good sized bag of Tostito's and a cup of cheese and jalapenos, they were OK but not what I'd been thinking. I went through about half of them, and the boy had gone through the chicken and had some fries, and we swapped for the rest. The fries were a bit on the spicy side, but they had ranch, and it was great together. The pretzel had a split, making it look like a mouth!!!

It was Japanese Heritage night, and I just happened to take this selfie where we were both squinting pretty hard. I swear, it was not intentional!!!

The Kings were up against the Golden Knights, and it came out to be a great game for the home team!!! Kings scored first, in the first period. The Knights scored twice in the second period. Right at the start of the third, the Kings evened it up. There was a fight between a couple of the guys, and they both ended up in the penalty box at the same time, I'd never seen that happen before!!! Lots of action, and very physical with a lot of checks into the boards.

The Kings scored three more times in the third period. I feel like the Golden Knights were demoralized towards the end, but they never gave up. Oh, and since they switch ends every period, every single goal was on our end of the rink!!!

And here's a much better selfie!!!

There's the mascot, Bailey, taking a victory skate!!! He's always an entertaining character, in one part they had the camera on him, and he had a huge bag of popcorn and was throwing handfuls, and finally grabbed it by the bottom and helicoptered it!!!

On the way out, there were the ubiquitous hot dog carts with bacon wrapped dogs and grilled onions. I had been thinking of getting one before, and as soon as I smelled it, it was a done deal!!! It was glorious, but I really overdid it.

The stuff I got inside came to over $70, including a not as generous gratuity (it's nice that they deliver it right to your seat!!!), and the dog was another $10, so they both came out almost the same!!! Good times!!!

My Crappy Valentine

So, last weekend it was half price day at the junkyard again. My dad and I went. Didn't get everything on our lists, but got a few things anyway. On the way out, though, I noticed the drain gurgling in the kitchen, an ominous sound. As I was in the basement, I saw no water backing up at this point, but when I got back there was raw sewage aplenty.

It's an old house, 1924 construction. At least every year the main line of the sewer needs snaked out. About 60 feet back there's usually some roots growing in. In the last year I'd say it's been at least three times. I figured it was time again, but did note that it is getting more and more frequent.

My normal guy, an independent one man act who has always done well, turns out to no longer be doing weekends. Another plumber, a major chain I've used before, can't make it until the next day. I go online and find someone who can make it. A place that'll root out your drain for $79 looks promising, and can make it in a few hours. He gets here, says he can't guarantee it'll work, proceeds to break the drain from the washing machine and gets a little bit of roots out to where it drains down, then charges almost double the advertised price. Got there quick, but completely off my list now.

Two days later, I go down to repair the washing machine drain, and find it's backed up again. My normal guy doesn't even call back, the major chain comes out and won't do it because the access is in the basement. Driving home that evening I see the back of a van, I can't even see the name but it has "drains our specialty" on the back, and I get the number. They come right out the next day, snake the drain thrice to no avail, and end up sending their camera down to discover a root around 4 inches around going for about seven feet!!! Well, there you go.

So, anyway, there it is. If you want your fancy indoor plumbing, your 89 year old sewer line has gotta go, and since it's on a nice incline, it ain't gonna be cheap!!! Between half the payment on my property tax and the new sewer line, there goes exactly all of my gravy from last year!!! Guess we're not going on a fancy big vacation this year. All permits and inspections are included, though. Getting another clean out, this one on the outside of the house, put in, too. On the plus side, it's guaranteed for 25 years, so figuring $150 or so per rooter visit... I'm still money behind. Oh well.

Funny thing, I remember some years back, I was playing Runescape, mining with my rune pickax. I was getting set to head out somewhere, and was going to log out as soon as I got the one more coal. I messed up, though, the head came flying off my pickax, and my mind said that was the last coal, and I'd logged out just as I realized what happened. Quickly went back to the log in page, but by the time it was loaded and I got logged in, it was gone. I was more broke up about that than about how much I'm having to pay to get a new sewer line put in. My stomach actually hurt over my pixel pickax!!!

Here's a few pictures from the project. I like the first one, I call it "troll in a hole", and I'm thinking of using it for my new profile picture!!! The third picture is where they tunneled the new pipe where the old one was. I don't know how they did it, it's gotta be close to twenty feet!!! Fourth shot is the hole nearest to the house, it had two pipes coming out, then one down to the street. I have no idea how that works, it only seems like one goes. Last shot is water draining down the new pipes.

Happy Valentine's Day

I've had this picture saved for years, and somehow I always seem to forget to use it on Valentine's day!!! Ferrets to you!!!

Found the first couple of images on I Can Has Cheezburger. The last one, I don't remember exactly where I found, but it's been one of my favorites.

Googling the text at the bottom of it didn't help figure it out, but adding "kinky" to the end of the search did come up with some interesting images!!!