The day after, or five things make a post

[carbonel]

1. The guy from Ron the Sewer Rat (local drain-cleaning service; once it was just Ron, but now he has minions) has come and gone, and it's now safe to flush the toilet and do laundry.

2. Except that I don't need to do laundry anymore, because last night I trundled all the sopping stuff over to Pat WINOLJ's, and did it there. Her washer has a feature I really like: it separates out the times of cycles from the action of the agitator, so you can have a long cycle for delicate clothing. Which I find useful for delicates that have been soaked in water of dubious origin. Also, it turns out that dried cat pee comes out much better than I would have hoped, and doesn't seem to leave lingering stains in most clothing. On the other hand, it dissolved the fabric in the shoulder of a fancy jacket that was made of viscose or some such.

3. I also hennaed my hair while I was there. And made much of the cats. And cleaned up after the one who chose that time to divest herself of her dinner.

4. Tonight I take my car over to a guy in St. Paul to have the timing belt and water pump replaced. This is proactive car management, because if the timing belt breaks, the car dies. And the car has 173K miles on it, and I can't tell when the last time was that the timing belt was replaced. This is the first time I've dealt with a non-authorized mechanic, which I find a little scary. But several people vouch for him, and the cost is about a third of what it would be from my regular garage.

5. And tomorrow, I leave way too early, with Random the cat, to take a plane to New York. Random stays with txanne, and I meet my mother and go on a cruise to New England and Canada with my mother. I haven't packed yet, but I think just about everything is otherwise ready.

Comments

[pameladean]

Oh, good, I'm glad the laundry got done. I had contemplated inviting you to bring it here, but the laundry room is in such a state of advanced chaos that I was truly afraid you would lose half your socks and go home with all the missing napkins and an old karate costume. Also, our washer is not that smart.

I hope the cat delivery goes well and you have a nice cruise.

P.

cars and timing belts

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

Is a good idea to check it. Especially with the mileage you had on your car. I had one on a GrandAm give up at about 120,000 miles, ON THE HIGHWAY. Fortunately it was in urbia and there was a close, known exit that I was able to coast up and into a parking lot. I got lucky, the Grand Am has an exterior timing belt. Some vehicles have an internal one, when it shreds, the little pieces go into the crankcase. EEUW.

May I friend you? I came over her from Elise's LJ to look at further tales of oobleck. She may have posted the wrong link though. I also know txanne.

Re: cars and timing belts

[carbonel]

I have the car back, with timing belt allegedly replaced. (I believe that it was done, but I have no way to truly ascertain it.) The mechanic said the old one was a little stretched, but it's hard to tell if or when it would have gone *sproing!* My previous car (Mazda 626) had a timing belt die. It didn't shred the engine, but it was the last straw on a 22-year-old car.

You're welcome to friend me, but I think my only oobleck tale was as a comment to Elise's recent post. I also see we have a number of LJ friends in common.