With a little help from my neighbor, Adam, I repaired the car. It was a leaking hose, in this case a heater hose. The broken piece was held firmly in place by one of those Ford special spring clamps that require three hands to remove. The repair is temporary, since the hose is also one of those manufactured assemblies that is part rubber and part metal – another brilliant engineering feat.
This gave me a chance to look over the other parts of the engine. I’m going to have to get my Cadillac back on the road. Driving this Ford is using up borrowed time, although I absolutely love having a station wagon. It is by far the most practical car I’ve ever owned. This is the unit picked up in Tampa on the way to San Diego back in ’03. When my pickup truck blew the head gasket while I was carrying six hundred pounds of toothpicks, but that is another story.Here’s another picture of the offending hose part. You can see that the hose had to be cut when nobody could get the spring clamp off. In the end, it was replaced by a proper worm clamp. I accept the malfunction graciously because it is probably more than coincidence that it was a heater hose the once or twice a year that I use the heater. It was a cold and blustery morning, which is why I’m sitting here with a mug of beef stew and typing.
I bundled up at noon and rode my bike into the Thrift. The day is developing into a wind storm. I also got to model for a series of clothes for sale. Damian was in today and there was a rapid exchange of ideas. One of which was the series of photographs I feel are the correct “catalog/catablog” approach to exactly what we have for sale.
I dropped into a typical chain of bars after work to see what they have for entertainment. Mostly along Dixie Highway, where I made contact with the bar owners along the way and people who keep the gate. Most of the taverns already have a steady group on Fridays. I’m lining up the work in anticipation of a band in the near future. Part of the approach is to make sure anyone I team up with cannot return as a single.
Let me expand just a tad on that last statement. What I'm saying is I got sick and tired of knocking myself out to get gigs as a duo, then having the guitar player scoop the gig as a solo. This happened three consecutive gigs in a row and to prevent it, the only option I have is to insist the guitar player learn my music. It works because no guitarist sounds as good alone as when I'm on the bass, and it is that total sound I make sure the club owner realizes he won't get with a solo guitarist. It works reasonably well.
The photos I mentioned with the vintage clothing are hilarious, but you’ll have to return tomorrow to view them. I’m busy and the neighbor is coming over to help me run a new gas line to the propane tank. It is one of those things I prefer to get done before the sun goes down. I’ve decided to go with the propane to be independent of outside sources, I’m sure I’ve said something about this by now. Every time I do this kind of work, I wish I had thrown it all in when I was younger and become an interior house painter. To hell with law and medicine, just be happy.
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