Mayday, I say again, Mayday!
Supersquad Me
Saturday morning started out with a Supersquad event. Supersquad, for the uninformed, is a an elementary school aged cheerleading outfit of which my daughter is a member. Supersquad is famous around these parts, and they cheer at just about anything. Ribbon cuttings, high school football games, highway construction completion, you get the picture. On this day the Supersquaders were cheering at a "Kids in Motion" rally at San Angelo stadium (a stadium shared by both San Angelo high school football teams and the ASU Rams football team, and was featured in a 1958 issue of Architectural Digest for its earthen bleacher construction).
A shot of Madison(L) and Emily (R), who are like Simon and Garfunkel. Dahhling, they must be together, OK?
The Supersquaders didn't disappoint with their cheers. They rocked steady.
They are nearly in synch, much more so now than when they first picked up the pom-poms!
Check out that air!
Peacocks in the Road
Why do peacocks cross the road?
Why did I draw the neighborhood with the peacocks in the road? These individuals are some jay-walking fools, peacocking along wherever they feel like. At night they roost in the trees at the Pecan Creek pavilion on the shores of lovely lake Nasworthy. They also call out any time Debbie speaks loudly enough when she's on our back porch. It is pretty hilarious.
Outboard Angst
Since I'm not willing to spend $85 an hour on outboard motor mechanic labor, I'm now doing it myself. Since I have air tools, I can really tear stuff up, and even though I have the service manual for my outboard, wrenching on it can be an "adventure". You may have seen in an earlier post that I rebuilt my water pump assembly. In this installment, we tear off the carburetors (they need cleaning from sitting up for a year). What fun!
Here you can see the throats of the three hungry fuel/air mixers
Here you can see I've taken them off. Am I crazy?!
Weapons of Mass Consumption. They may look bright and shiny, but it is what's inside that counts!
So I cleaned them out. Still, the year-old gas and other things has the motor running at about 85%. I'm gonna need to get rid of the old gas, and maybe re-clean the carbs before this episode is over. Still, she runs!
This picture is proof that, a: there is water in West Texas and, b: I can pilot a boat (with Emily's navigation skills)
I've definitely got the water pump working... Look at that telltale!
Garage-mahal
My friends Tom and Angie are building a garage. I've not really helped Tom and Co. with the project that much except for giving him a hand or two on a couple of occasions. These guys built this thing themselves, which is very impressive. Even though Tom is relatively young (my age), he's from the old Iowa stock and he just gets things done. I admire his tenacity. I also admire Angie's brass, she gets right in there and does it all.
Garage-mahal in its eternal glory
Still, for all their strengths, and their two great kids, Tom and Angie have their weaknesses. Here they are, their pair of continually skunk-chasing, egg-sucking and stump carrying Belgian Shepherds:
I believe this scoundrel is Rascal. He likes to chew on stinky pig's hooves, one of which he has laid right before him. He's so black, he barely shows up in pictures. Forget about seeing him sneaking up on you at night.
This is Rebel, who likes to eat wood and rocks. Here you can see him eating a piece of a stump. Rebel is the elder of the pair.
Why my wife should not BBQ
I am usually handling all outdoor (and most indoor) cooking details around these parts, but today I was extra-busy with trying to get the boat going and doing other things. Debbie mercifully offered to help with dinner, so she did most of the prep herself. We were having some ribs and vegetables. While I was putting my boat up on the side of our house I heard this loud "pop", but I thought maybe a yard tool had fallen over in the garage or something like that. It turns out it was the very grill lighting flame stick exploding!
Debbie came around the corner laughing and asked if I heard that. I told her I did, and asked what it was. She was holding a handful of the shrapnel from the exploding scripto lighter. I was relieved to hear no one was injured (our neighbor and her two kids were out back as well). Still, I had to photograph the whole thing, or you all would never believe me.
I guess that grill gets pretty hot, and if you put the Scripto lighter close enough to it, it might explode like a Kia in downtown Ramadi!
Saturday morning started out with a Supersquad event. Supersquad, for the uninformed, is a an elementary school aged cheerleading outfit of which my daughter is a member. Supersquad is famous around these parts, and they cheer at just about anything. Ribbon cuttings, high school football games, highway construction completion, you get the picture. On this day the Supersquaders were cheering at a "Kids in Motion" rally at San Angelo stadium (a stadium shared by both San Angelo high school football teams and the ASU Rams football team, and was featured in a 1958 issue of Architectural Digest for its earthen bleacher construction).
A shot of Madison(L) and Emily (R), who are like Simon and Garfunkel. Dahhling, they must be together, OK?
The Supersquaders didn't disappoint with their cheers. They rocked steady.
They are nearly in synch, much more so now than when they first picked up the pom-poms!
Check out that air!
Peacocks in the Road
Why do peacocks cross the road?
Why did I draw the neighborhood with the peacocks in the road? These individuals are some jay-walking fools, peacocking along wherever they feel like. At night they roost in the trees at the Pecan Creek pavilion on the shores of lovely lake Nasworthy. They also call out any time Debbie speaks loudly enough when she's on our back porch. It is pretty hilarious.
Outboard Angst
Since I'm not willing to spend $85 an hour on outboard motor mechanic labor, I'm now doing it myself. Since I have air tools, I can really tear stuff up, and even though I have the service manual for my outboard, wrenching on it can be an "adventure". You may have seen in an earlier post that I rebuilt my water pump assembly. In this installment, we tear off the carburetors (they need cleaning from sitting up for a year). What fun!
Here you can see the throats of the three hungry fuel/air mixers
Here you can see I've taken them off. Am I crazy?!
Weapons of Mass Consumption. They may look bright and shiny, but it is what's inside that counts!
So I cleaned them out. Still, the year-old gas and other things has the motor running at about 85%. I'm gonna need to get rid of the old gas, and maybe re-clean the carbs before this episode is over. Still, she runs!
This picture is proof that, a: there is water in West Texas and, b: I can pilot a boat (with Emily's navigation skills)
I've definitely got the water pump working... Look at that telltale!
Garage-mahal
My friends Tom and Angie are building a garage. I've not really helped Tom and Co. with the project that much except for giving him a hand or two on a couple of occasions. These guys built this thing themselves, which is very impressive. Even though Tom is relatively young (my age), he's from the old Iowa stock and he just gets things done. I admire his tenacity. I also admire Angie's brass, she gets right in there and does it all.
Garage-mahal in its eternal glory
Still, for all their strengths, and their two great kids, Tom and Angie have their weaknesses. Here they are, their pair of continually skunk-chasing, egg-sucking and stump carrying Belgian Shepherds:
I believe this scoundrel is Rascal. He likes to chew on stinky pig's hooves, one of which he has laid right before him. He's so black, he barely shows up in pictures. Forget about seeing him sneaking up on you at night.
This is Rebel, who likes to eat wood and rocks. Here you can see him eating a piece of a stump. Rebel is the elder of the pair.
Why my wife should not BBQ
I am usually handling all outdoor (and most indoor) cooking details around these parts, but today I was extra-busy with trying to get the boat going and doing other things. Debbie mercifully offered to help with dinner, so she did most of the prep herself. We were having some ribs and vegetables. While I was putting my boat up on the side of our house I heard this loud "pop", but I thought maybe a yard tool had fallen over in the garage or something like that. It turns out it was the very grill lighting flame stick exploding!
Debbie came around the corner laughing and asked if I heard that. I told her I did, and asked what it was. She was holding a handful of the shrapnel from the exploding scripto lighter. I was relieved to hear no one was injured (our neighbor and her two kids were out back as well). Still, I had to photograph the whole thing, or you all would never believe me.
I guess that grill gets pretty hot, and if you put the Scripto lighter close enough to it, it might explode like a Kia in downtown Ramadi!
posted by Mark A. at 7:58 PM
1 Comments:
Busy weekend, eh?
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