Keeping it Real

We did some garage work today. Paul installed a new block heater into the Geo. He had to drain the radiator, take off the heat shield and drop the exhaust manifold. Then he took out the old block heater and tested it. It really didn't work- it wasn't just the cord. Then he reversed the process, plugging in the cord from the new block heater into a short extension cord. (tools needed: assorted metric wrenches, scraping tool, wire, bucket and lots of rags). Works great. Bring on the cold!

I was working on the basement, still going through my old teaching materials, sorting, discarding, earmarking (see Ted, others can do it too!) and organizing. In a moment of guilt, Paul working on my car, I went out to see how it was going. Much to my surprise, it was warmer in the garage than the basement, due to our overcompensation for the freeze up last week. Then, not being one for standing around watching, I took one of the connections off the battery post and cleaned it off with baking powder, scraped it and replaced it. Also, because the Geo is so low to the ground, I was the lucky stiff to lay under the car and remove the old oil pan heater. Apparently my head isn't too big to slide under the bumper, unlike someone else I know. The new one goes on tomorrow when we buy some silicone adhesive to stick that baby up against the now clean oil reservoir.

We've also been discussing the myriad details to decide prior to leaving our house in the capable hands of Eric and Sarah. Some hot topics are: what should we do with our local phone, which vehicle should be in our half of the garage, what should we do about the garden, how do we invest any liquid money we have so that we can get to it easily but it still earns interest, what should we do about magazines, what info and contacts do we need to put on the iPhone, what will Ron need to get in case we need it, how will we reimburse Erin and Ron if they end up putting out any funds and finally, should we do our own taxes or take it to an accountant?

Other than that, we read, researched and ordered new backpacks, weeded through a mountain of old pens to discard the losers, worked on our computers and had a yummy dinner of baked potatoes from our stock from our garden. We'll see you tomorrow morning at Lulu's for cinnamon rolls.