Das Panzerwagon is back

Das Boot! Das Panzerwagon! The German toaster! Brave Little Toaster! Whatever silly names I make up for my car, it's been to the mechanic and I forked over a lot of money for new spark plugs. It seems the plugs were really worn down. What bugs me is that the dealer shop didn't say anything when we last went up there. So from the last visit to now, the plugs got that bad to misfire and gunk up? Of course I paid $500 for the repair. It was all in the cost of the labor. But the tank is back.

Leaf watch of '07

This weekend we went up to the mountains for some fall scenery. Yea, yea like we don't have leaves changing color here. It was a great drive. The traffic was light heading up and out of Atlanta. We went to Dahlonega, Elijay, and Blue Ridge. Drove around the Cherokee National Park. Somehow we took a wrong turn and ended up driving through Chatsworth, and into Tennessee. That was a bit scary being lost in unknown territory. Not too bad though. We passed by Lake Ocee and it was gorgeous. We want to make a drive up there again when it's snowing.

The only downside about the unintentional detour was that we missed out on driving through Helen. Oktoberfest is going on there, and the city's tourist site looked really appealing. Hopefully there will be some neat stuff to see in the winter.

On the way back to Georgia, we stopped at a rinky dink gas station to top off the tank, and we did wonder if we got some dirty gas. About 30 minutes before we got home, my check engine light came on. The car is rough idling now, so some research on the car forums leads us to believe that it could be two things. A dirty fuel injector, (most likely not) we put some fuel injector cleaner in the car, but the CEL is still on. Not the gas cap being loose, no air in the tank, but most likely the oxygen sensor went out on one of the cylinders. Goof says it sounds like it's misfiring, or just not engaging correctly. I'm running on 5 cylinders instead of 6, he thinks.

So the problem is, Stinky and friends can't ride in my car until I get it fixed. Hey it's a 7 mile drive one way to school! It's Thanksgiving week, so most repair places are running on limited staff and short week. The dealership we take the car for maintenance is about 40 miles away, in North Atlanta. So I must try and find a local repair shop that works on imports. There is one a few miles away, and it's an easy walk for me. Hey I can walk 3 miles with two dogs in 40 minutes, so it's not too hard for me. I have no idea the cost yet, most likely under a thousand, but more than $400.

The upside is that I got my food shopping done for the big dinner. I found a fresh turkey that weighs 16.3lbs Hey it was the smallest I could find for a whole bird. I love my dark meat, and the men happen to prefer white, so it works out. Today will be an easy day in regards to prep work. I'm going to prep all the veggies, and label the containers, so I will just be able to grab what I need and go at it. Otherwise, it's the usual house cleaning chores. Goof never did anything about his guitar stands, so I'm sticking them in the basement. Got issues with that, too bad. He had 2 weeks to think about it. I have to put the extra bookcases in the sewing room. I still need to find replacement screws and bolts. I have no idea where they went. Maybe in that coffee can of doom, that's sitting in the garage filled with nails, and all kinds of dirty gunk. Better don the scrub gloves to protect my fingers. Lord knows what's in there.

I'm looking out the dining room window watching the leaves fall in the backyard. Sheesh, the trees still aren't bare yet. Last night the three of us each wielded a blower in hand and tried to tame the mass of fallen leaves. There is an encroaching sea of brown leaves at the property. Hee hee, 15 ft to be precise. We blew them back and you can tell where the green belt space is. We have a 4 ft buffer of leaves on the side of Babymama's house. It's all on our side, but you get the idea. The front yard was easier to blow, it looks like the tree is just about done. We also blew the side yard next to Enabler's house. The tree on her side shits small leaves similar to a bay leaf. Those are harder to blow than the sweet gum and oaks. Well and pine needles too. Took seven bags to get all the stuff in the front up. There is a pervasive smell of deer poop in the green belt.

Goof bought quite a few boxes of C7 led lights for the house, and he got bummed out when he went to Home Depot and found they had led C9 lights there. He was hoping for really huge lights. We are going with the multi-colored ones this year. We picked up a nice wreath to put on the front door. I think we might put lights on the mantle this year. I kinda wish the fireplace was in the living room instead of the family room. Next year the house will be organized and furnished better.

Always something here

So it's been rather relaxing here at the parental homestead. Until yesterday. Dad was driving 880 near Davis St and somehow my car caught on fire. This was on Saturday. We really didn't know what was going on. We found out yesterday that there was a hole in the engine. There was no oil in the car. Now I had mentioned to my mom on the phone and in person that my car ate oil. It doesn't leak it, but somehow it loses oil. Dad was informed also, but oh well. Just in January Youngest Uncle and Postman's child had gone together and paid for a major tune up, alignment and tires. All of this totaled over $1K. Youngest uncle and Postman's child haven't driven the car for months as Dad had been using it. Somehow it didn't dawn on him or whatever not to check the oil. My poor car is toast now. We can only hope to donate it quickly. Mom took the tires, including my brand new Aquatred spare, and the cheapo hubcaps, and put her old tires on the car. Goodbye to a reliable vehicle. It was a great car,that worked it's butt off for me.

Goof went down to central GA last night. He left around noon today. He was caught in a really hard thunderstorm. Said he was driving 15 mph, the rain was so hard you couldn't hear the thunder. He saw a power pole hit by lightning, and the generator nearby exploded. He thinks he might not have closed the sunroof completely as the water was leaking into the car too. My poor car, at least it kept him safe. Alas the rain was south of us. We need that rain, but water does not travel north. Goof says the water police have been on the lookout for violators. He admits that he hasn't been watering since we left. I know I'm gonna have to be the waterer since we can water after midnight. There is no way you can ask that of him. I wish we had automatic sprinklers.

I'm invited by youngest uncle to go to the Police concert on Wednesday. That should be fun. They had a few extra tickets and since I'm here, why not. It should be fun. I haven't been to a concert in a few years. Last one was for New Order with Goof.

The vacation is almost over. We went to Chinatown yesterday and picked up herbs and tea. I had to borrow a suitcase from mom for all the stuff we have. Stinky's suitcase is now filled with herbs for his favorite soups. I also have a big stinky salted fish in there. Oh boy that should be interesting when we fly home. What will the TSA think of that? Stinky also wants to take his robosapien home. That will have to be carry on. I don't trust the TSA. Shame of things.

Oh there was a clip on Youtube that had me laughing.

Watch carefully. Within the first minute of the clip, all that glad handing that Bush is doing will back fire on him. Someone steals his watch. Albanian Ebay will have that watch up soon! Oh bummer never mind,it was just confirmed that one of Bush's security people have his watch. Whether it's a lie and they just have spares is another story. I still think someone stole it, and they just lied. Damn those gypsies! lol