Hanging around KC

Wow, I missed yesterday to post a blog. I got home after a long day of auction and then shuttling cars back to the warehouse for most of the afternoon. I was tired.

I only sat down in the big chair for just a minute, thinking I would make some supper later on, and the next thing I knew it was 10 PM. I was just out like the proverbial light.

So I did read a few blogs, and then just turned in. I wouldn't have made much sense anyway.

So today it was mow the yard day in the morning, and then back over to the car lot to work on the new to us cars that we brought home this week. Mostly cleaning projects to the interiors and waxing and polishing for the outsides.

We did get a replacement Nissan Altima for the one that we sold last Saturday. This one isn't as new as the blue one, but is more our demographic of cars that we handle. It is a 2005 2.5S but it has wheels and leather seats. It is still the 4 cylinder car that gets the good mileage, and does not have the skyroof.

It is a light silver color and is quite sharp. I believe it has about 55K miles on it. That is not too many, since we see them all the time with over 100K. Sometimes 150K.

Now we need to get them all on the internet, which is mostly Chris' job. I generally handle the logistics part of the deal where it takes two people to shuttle these all around.

Grandma Loyce has been taking care of the youngest grand daughter most of the week, and she even stayed overnight with us on Tuesday. You can not be partial to any of your grandchildren, as they are all gifts from God, but we really enjoy having Delaney with us.

But tomorrow we will have the second youngest granddaughter, to go swimming in the big pool over at the homeowners association pool for our development. It is a nice pool but it can become very busy. The gals that go in the morning, are usually the ones with small children. So grandma fits right into the group. Then maybe McDonalds for lunch. Areally big deal!

We are just hanging out here this week helping the kids and grandkids, perhaps making their lives a little easier as they go about their respective jobs.

More work

When you get up and commute with the 8AM traffic folks, life is not as pleasant. Seems like some son of a gun is in your face every mile. But commute I did this morning, as I had to deliver the dog to the dog salon.

She doesn't like going to the dog parlor, but now she is blind completely, and doesn't recognize where she is headed. I take her in the morning and Loyce picks her up when she is done in the early afternoon. Tonight she is really short on her haircut. Just right for the hot summer days.

I didn't do anything fun, today except the auction thing. If that is fun. We did deliver another car to a lady this afternoon, and then went to see the cars for tomorrow's sale. If we are to buy a car on an as is basis, it is mandatory that we have a chance to drive it first. Once you have the high bid, it is a little late to say now wait a minute, that car has thus and so wrong with it. Its the chance you take.

I did bring one of the cars we bought today home, and cleaned on the upholstery after supper. Amazing what a little soap and water can do.

Not too very exciting of a day, but then thats why they call it work.

Off to work

A normal day of work. I didn't go in until about 10 AM, because I am retired. LOL. Got to have some privileges when your old, right?

We did a bunch of book keeping and went to view cars in the afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary. Same old wore out stuff, that people do not take care of. Then they can't understand why the dealer pays so little for the used car when they trade it in. And heck he don't want it, so off to the auction it goes.

And most of us don't want it either. Reconditioning cars is a bunch of work.

So I came home and started in fixing my old recliner. I picked up a bolt that had sheared off and fell on the floor. Then it tilted sideways and wouldn't recline. Looked sad. So this afternoon my wife picked up the other half of the bolt. So off I went to get a carriage bolt that matched the pieces.

To Lowes we go. Oh ya thats where the geocache blue is located. So I read the clues. Next to the sledding hill. That says no sledding on a bunch of signs. I looked over the sign closest to the contractors doors but didn't see the little button case.

I went in and bought the bolt for 13 cents, but went to the grill section and bought 28 bucks worth of stuff. Typical for a trip to the man's candy store, don't you think.

I went back out and checked out the next sledding sign back around the side of the store where you couldn't see so easily from the front door. And bingo there it was. Just a little blue magnetic button. That unscrews to reveal the next number in the series. I wrote it down and returned the cannister to the hiding place.

Thats two out of the six that is necessary to put together the Lat, Long of the main cache. I think it is called Colors, or something like that.

Back home I replaced the bolt in the chair quite quickly, but there is a spring in the mechanism that is off its stud. I couldn't get it back on to save me. So after scratching up my arm reaching up into the works, and a few choice words, it finally relented and popped into place. Now the chair sits upright and the recliner works like it did before.

So with a bunch of blog reading and a phone call from a ham friend, that is the night.

More auctions tomorrow, so I will hang this up.

Grilling on Sunday

Do you remember these? We had them way back in the 60's.



I have returned to charcoal as the fuel of choice, because it doesn't flare up and burn things. I have big gas grills at the KC house and at the lake, but I do not like the results of gas grilling, so I have quit using them. Well unless I really need something in a hurry.

At the lake, I have a Char Griller with the side smoker barrel.


This thing is a monster, but it will smoke a bunch of meat and grill over the coals and all the good stuff. But it is not very portable. Takes up most of the second stall in the lake garage. And it will rust itself to death, if you leave it outside.

The last thing I need is one of these here in KC. No place to put it. Big gas grill is now taking up too much space on the patio. So today, I bought the old fashioned Weber kettle. The cheap one pictured above. They now have a GOLD one with an attached table, that they sell for over $300, but that seems like overkill.

So this is a silver model that wally mart sells for $85. Seems high, but it is built out of steel with porcelain coating. Guaranteed for 10 years. I tried to order a Weber Q charcoal grill on line, but the company is out of them for most of the rest of the summer. Everyone drop ships now, and no matter where you order it, it still comes from Weber. And they are out of stock.

Then I had to get a little fancy and buy lump charcoal.


This was a mistake. Over half of the chunks are little quarter sized pieces. And they fall right thru the fire grate. I lit the fire with an electric fire element, so as not to get any taste from petroleum fire starter or newspaper ink from sheets of paper.

But the fire kept falling thru the grate and landing on the bottom of the bowl, or out completely and on to the ash tray. Bummer!

I tried to do a drunk butt chicken, but the fire went out completely after about an hour. Had to take the whole thing apart and relight the fire. This time I split the chicken and grilled it directly over the coals.

It was as good as it could be! We ate way too much, but there was some left over. Not much though.

The Weber kettle was designed with briquettes in mind, so I am going to have to rethink that part. But we both thought the lump charcoal had a much better taste than the Kingsford briquettes. Even though the company (Kingsford) is less than 30 miles from our house. They are in Desoto, Kansas, on the way to Lawrence.

I think I can get the kettle into the back of the pickup, without taking it apart. But the legs just pull out, without any bolts to loosen. So it can go camping with us as well. Thats what I started out to get in the first place. Funny how these things seem to wind around on themselves.

I'll probably end up ordering the Q later, when they become available, but for now I'm having fun with an old fashioned kettle grill that works just as good as it did in 1960.