Thanksgiving 2016

 I hope everyone had as nice a holiday with family and friends as I did. Like last year we had a gathering hosted by our friends Denny and Deena in their restaurant. I can't say enough good things about the effort they put into making a great gathering for us to enjoy. The detail in the food, table setting and decorations was second to none. Thank you.

 We had the responsibility of providing the mashed potatoes. I helped peel thirty pounds of spuds along with chopping onions. See, I can do things. You probably thought I sat in my lazy boy drinkin beer and scratchin my butt while others did the work.

 After the big meal we came back to the house to chill and catch up. The fact that I moved a couple of my bikes into the living room for winter storage didn't go unnoticed.

 A while back I told you we had a goal of finishing our bathroom remodel for this days activities. We met that goal and in celebration my wife challenged her facebook friends to post bathroom selfies. Nothin weird so don't even go there. It was a big hit and we had fun with it.

 The gentleman in the shower is not standing on a stool. Just sayin.
 I got a lot of positive feedback about the remodel. I needed it because I was feeling it could have been better. I guess that's just the way it is when you know where all the mistakes are. Anyway, I just installed whatever pieces my wife picked out. She should get the credit. I'm not sure which room will be next but we pretty much decided to just keep picking away, room by room, till we've been through the entire house. Except for a few coats of paint we really haven't done much here the whole time we were raising the kids. That's a lot of years of accidents, bangin stuff around, cracked plaster and artist endeavors that need to be addressed.

Later.

Ramblings

 Hey, let me tell you about whats been happening in my motorcycle world lately. Nothin. Notta. Zilch, zero. I did brush against the sportster while wiggling my way to the table saw. I stopped, admired it and wished I could take it for a ride. Does that count? I didn't think so. I won't be riding to work today so I'll be stuck in this rut for a while.
 Yesterday was a blow off day at work as I attended a service school for Husqvarna. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all but I already knew-it-all. The course was aimed more at beginners but we need to attend these things for warranty certification. If we make a claim and they ask us to do, say, a crankcase pressure test, they want to know we understand how. I guess there has also been a lot of claims for faulty ignition modules that weren't actually bad.
 I did find out an answer to a question I had about some saws that had issues. They would run rich and bog or die. When I heard the fix was them using a metal metering diaphragm with a film backing in a new carb, I wondered how the heck a metal piece could flex the same way as a piece of rubber (or whatever those things are traditionally made of). I have some of these replacement carbs so upon return to the shop I opened one up for a looksy.

 The diaphragm in the bottom left is the traditional style. The spiral wound metal one in the carb is the new (to me) style. Pretty cool. Well I think it is anyway.
 Saturday night we made it to Brooke and Mikes annual halloween bash. I went as a drunk chainsaw mechanic. My wife wore her scary monster mask. The chili was great. Being the anti-social bastard that I am, we didn't stick around for the hay ride.

 The bathroom remodel is still in progress. It's coming along fine but I'm having issues dealing with a room that's so out of square. That's all I'm gonna say about that for now.

Later.

Night Out

 The past weeks around here have been pretty quiet. My wife and I have been content to just relax at home and not really go out except to go to work or grocery shopping. Last Saturday was her work place annual employee appreciation party and we attended. Our daughter was home from college so we dragged her butt along.
 Woo Hoo, a night out! It wasn't so much about what we were doing but the fact that we were doing something. The food was good. For entertainment they had karaoke and some comedy act. That all sounded like squawking to me from the other side of the room. I was at the blackjack table.

  Ya that's me dealing. I don't work there but it turns out if you make snarky comments about the dealer he may "turn the tables" on you. I did alright and everybody won while I was dealing. Winnings could be cashed in for tickets that went into prize drawings. We won about the same amount as we did in the big powerball drawing...jack shit
 Of course my wife and daughter found the photo booth and dragged my ass into it.

This is my happy face. You don't want to see me when I'm grumpy.

 I guess we're pretty simple folk and don't care for a lot of drama. The highlight of the ride home was the full moon and I was alright with that.