March 31, 2015

Sleep was pure hell last night.  Serves me right for drinking my strong coffee with lemon (which cured me of one headache, but resulted in another).  My mind, which spins at high speed, anyway, was on pure adrenaline last night and I considered so many things, usually the dark and foreboding ones.  It is always in the Darkness of the Night that those unbearable memories feel comfortable enough to come out and visit me.  I don’t really mind the visits, I just wish their timing was better <we all know I’m all about self-discovery>

I needed to be up early for my date with the mechanic- specifically the alternator.  I showered and headed out at the time suggested by Michael.  When I got there, they were both ready and Mike showed me how the alternator slides on a slot to tighten the belt.  I hung out for a bit as Michael showed me various things – it was high school all over again, except we weren’t located near Schlotsky’s (Where I would go visit Tommy & Gary).  Once I got home…I collapsed.  Not literally, of course, but I was soooo tired from all the night’s previous misery-revisiting, so…in true Spring Break fashion, I laid down for a bit.  Then the phone rang – it was Mike, IT WAS THE ALTERNATOR!!  Happy, happy news!  Not as happy as running our of gas, of course, but still better than other stuff.  He told me about a place in Sacramento called Bug..”formance!  Yes!  I was on my way there when the car died at your shop!”  He told me t call and order the refurbished alternator, which I did.  It should be in from the Bay Area tomorrow or the next day <dying here….>

Still so tired, but happy the bus was diagnosed,  I decided to get started on my mid-term.  I took quite a lot of time with it, looking up references for everything.  Somewhere in there I made myself a badass Tuna sandwich with jalapenos:  this is how excited my life is.  Somewhere in there also, I was contacted by an old AISZ friend who noted that my FB cover page says “You are entering Ilona Munzer,” which is a rad subconscious sexual stamen.  I am impressed with myself as it’s still in there, somewhere.  After all day..well, most of all the day, I was finished with my midterm.  

Twenty minutes later it was time to go get the kids, so I headed down the hill into El Dorado Hills to meet them with their second family.  They had a lot of fun with their friends for the last few days, but I hadn’t seen them in over a week, so it was nice for me.  It’s funny how their attitudes are so different when friends are around, yet within minutes of leaving them, they are my tribe again.  In honor of César Chavez Day, we headed for a Mexican restaurant in Orangevale I had heard a great deal about.  On the topic of Cesar Chavez…what about Dolores Huerta?  Heard of her, anyone??  She co-founded the National Farm Workers Union with César Chavez.  She is still alive and one hell of a woman.  Look her up.

As an unmet promise for Ethan’s birthday, I stopped by Raley’s to grab some dry ice and once at home, the kids did all sorts of fun experiments with it in the kitchen.  I had only purchased a pound of it, so next time I’ll grab much more and we will do even more experiments.  Fun adventures.  Hopefully my alternator arrives tomorrow and we can head out for a a night.  I’m on pins and needles….



Pictures:  This was my view for much of the day - two dogs chasing each other across my bed.  Really;  Our dry ice experiments.  As a side note - I  am always present when my kids do this kind of stuff.  

March 30, 2015

Such a long list of things to accomplish today – and even if the list didn’t exist, right now there is always schoolwork I can do, always cleaning to be done.  I am not sure a “vacation” would ever be possible again.  I have trained myself that there is no rest for the wicked.  I, of course, am a wicked one. 

I did actually manage to get a great deal accomplished – I had my ER bill reduced by 20% and paid that…from $5200 to $4100.  I also discovered that the insurance plan I have, which my work pays about $400 a month for the very worst plan (only me on it), only paid $99.50 of my $25,000+ ER bill.  The rest was for me to pay!  I am grateful though, because a $25,000 bill would have been soooo devastating.  I also set an appointment for Annie to get spayed, but I need to give her a bordetella vaccine.  I’ll do both, since they will be staying somewhere while I go to Terrapin Crossroads for some Hips.

After phone work, it was time to return and see about this fan belt.  I drove by Idle Wheels to return the 12 volt fan and saw someone from UM whom I also saw at the Les Schwab.  The guy who was so rude to me was getting bitched at from a very serious and mean looking lady about how he handled  paperwork.  I truly will avoid this place from here on out.  Stopped by Auto Zone – I gotta stay away from here, too, for a while.  I think they are tiring of seeing me, but I just noticed the battery was draining.  Not good.  Stopped by Grangers Automotive and Mike showed me (we climbed under the bus) what I needed to do for the fan belt.  I told him I’d unhook the auxiliary battery. AT&T where I paid a bullshit amount for shitty service, then I stopped by a feed store to pick up bordetella vaccines and home I headed.  Ever try sticking something up a Queensland's nose?  I'm surprised I lived through it.  Mabi sure is ornery.

 

 I put of a different shirt at home – I may have ruined one 

yesterday with grease, so I selected the La Bodega shirt as my automotive work shirt.  I clambered under that engine like a little monkey and soon had black hands again.  The parts which had made me so nervous two days ago where now old(er) hat to me and I felt much more comfortable.  I quickly learned, however, that I didn’t have the right tools to reach the second nut on the alternator, so I called up Mike who told me to head down.  I gathered up books and a few apples to eat before class and headed down.  I wanted to visit Bugformance, a VW shop in Sac before class.

 

I pulled into the shop and Mike told me to pull the car into the bay…only, it wouldn’t start.  The battery would fickle in a sad, depressed moan, but again, the blurbs of joy were gone.  WHAT THE HELL????  Michael (the other guy there) told me it wasn’t anything I did with the distributer, but I knew it had to have been something I did.  Mike was kind and told me that education is expensive.  You can either pay for it through books (no shit) or learn via mistakes.  I seem to be doing 

both.  He told me to come by in the morning so he could show me how to work with the alternator, then he smiled and said he had never taught a customer how to repair their car, because he wanted them to come back.  I assured him I would be back.  Michael drove me home and we talked about why I had a bus.  I mentioned the road triops, the fests, the teen years spent in garages with Kevin, as he fixed my Supra, or with Mickey and Blaine at Exxon.  I’d always wanted to learn, but the high-tech aspects were too much.  This is a good engine…I think I can learn a little here.  It sure is a project, that’s for sure.  "I'm alone again, without you"  <Dokken>  I miss my bus.

Pictures:  Me, happy, on the way to do some chores, then to Bugformance!!!; Lizzie Mae's connection to CRB; Lizzie Mae in Bay 2...very sad; Homework and nachos:  I'm pissed off and acting out the only way I can.

March 29, 2015

The day began with “hafta”:  Hafta do some vacuuming,  hafta do some laundry, hafta do some cleaning.  I was raring to go outside to the bus, but really…there comes a time when responsibility sets in.  A little music got the day going.  I’ve been on a Van Halen kick lately, not sure why.  I like both VHs – DLR and Van Haggar:  they offer different styles and that’s cool by me.  Fortunately, I am not a 100% responsible person, and after an hour or so, things were decent enough to let me go outside and I brought the music with me.

I felt like a kid in a candy store; I had all my tools out so I dove right in.  First I cleaned the wires on the distributer cap and used the liquid electric tape to seal those better.  I also cleaned other parts of the engine with rubbing alcohol.  I tried to get started on the belt, but it was a little intimidating.  I am looking VERY forward to getting those books.  Eventually, I had determined which nuts needed to be loosened and got it started.  It wasn’t long before I understood exactly what needed to happen, only it couldn’t:  The video showed a ratcheting/wrench set and I didn’t have one.  The crescent wrench worked ok, but the pulley turned every time I turned the nut.  I couldn’t find the slot to hold the pulley back.  I did everything possible, to no avail.  To ease my frustration, I got the terminal put on the wiring for the marine battery, but the grounding wire was too short.  I was stuck on either job, so I got everything back together again and headed off to Auto Zone.

Today, I officially met Alex, who has seen me, but not helped.  He was lost from the get-go as he is a Chevy guy, but he did suggest the pulley and the nut might need to spin in separate directions.  We went inside to get Rick, the manager, who knows VWs – only when I showed him the issue, he said I had already lost him as this pancake engine is different from the open VW bug engine. Well, shoot.  I mentioned what Alex had suggested, and he said that could work and he went inside to get the tools.  The problem was, while they had a 22 mm ratchet and I also needed a 24 or 25 mm.  Tomorrow I’ll go to a tool store owned by own of the parents at my kid’s school.   

Back at home, I got the marine battery hooked up with a little wire finagling, then I played around to see if the crescent wrench could play the role of a ratchet wrench, but to no avail.  I climbed in my bus to see if there was any reaction from Lizzie…nothing.  Not even a little blurb of joy from her.  I’m thinking I’ll have to figure out how to rewire the battery with the right kind of wire, the little 12 volt wire does nothing.  At some point, Annie went on a neighborhood hike.  I called and called, no answer from her, either.  Maybe she and Lizzie are in cahoots?  I heard my name being called and I knew…my neighbor Carol had Annie in her arms as she walked up the street.  After I put the dogs in the back yard, Carol and I played in the bus.  She used to have a similar one when she was 19 and told me stories of her parrot hanging out on the steering wheel.  How fun!  After we were almost eaten by mosquitoes, Carol headed back home and I loaded the pups in and we went for a cruise.  

  

I am at peace when I drive that bus.  I see why the drivers I have always seen look so relaxed.  It’s a whole other world.  I love the fact that it has the Porsche engine – no wonder I channel my dad when I’m in this car – I hear him in his 1972 911 Targa, shifting gears.  Granted, the Porsche sounded a bit different – shriller and faster, but it is definitely the same.  My Volkswagen Rabbit didn’t sound like this at all.  It’s good medicine, being in that bus.  It is a project, certainly, but I was filled with such in joy getting my hands dirty (despite the soap I bought at the shop, I can’t get all the grease off), reaching into the engine and getting to know her.  Good, good day.

Pictures:  Made in West Germany.  I remember those days, going through the airports in Frankfurt with soldiers and their rifles everywhere.  Different days, yet not so very different at all;  My assistants, making sure everything inside is in proper working order; The 10 mm is missing...of course it is, it is the one I wanted; Beautiful dropping of the sun.

March 28, 2015

I tore the sheets off last night – must’ve been a wild night of sleep which exhausted me:  I was pleased to sleep through most of the eighth hour.  Coffee and then a lovely conversation with my Saturday morning friend who showed me, once again, that relationships are difficult, even in the best of circumstances.  The humanness in us evokes arduous circumstances which are not easily reconciled and  I do not miss such times.  

I knew I needed to get some bills paid, yet instead sitting at the table in a “grownup” way, I did it all standing up against a messy counter which has so much stuff on it that I’m surprised I could see the checkbook I was writing in.  This kitchen has so many odds and ends from unfinished tasks – yet another open loophole in my life.  I wanted to get stuff accomplished, so I gathered the things I needed to return and headed out.  First stop was the Home Depot where much of the town had gathered to get those spring plants.  I parked in the back and went in search of that hose for the sink.  First shot – I went in myself and got a hose.  Failed.  Returned it.  Got a second, larger hose.  Failed.  Returned it.  Got a third hose with the help of an employee.  I noticed he had an incredible tape measure and commented on it.  HE GAVE IT  TO ME!  ~hugged him~.  This hose?  Failed.  Returned it.  Guy noticed me back tin aisle 7 again and helped me get another one.  4^th times the charm!  Installed hose, tightened the bracket and I was off! Headed to bring Ethan his key for his bike lock and showed L the bus.  I had questions about the auxiliary battery, but L had no clue.  Showed his gf the bus, too.  Off to Auto Zone!

Back at the place where I feel like my bus ventures are supported, the manager came outside with me again to answer questions and test the auxiliary battery.  THIS IS WHERE IT GETS INTERESTING AND I DISCOVERED I AM REALLY NOT DEAD IN TERMS OF ATTRACTION TO MEN!!! Sorry about shouting that part, but it’s a big fucking deal to me. A very handsome guy in his bike clothes came over to us and asked if he could help with any VW questions as he had extensive knowledge on them and BOY, did he ever.  After 5 minutes, the manager went back inside and this man and I talked for close to an hour – going over that entire bus, crawling underneath, looking everywhere as he explained so much stuff to me I thought my head was exploding and I couldn’t possibly remember all of it.  He showed me the ----(I forget what it’s called) and the ----, how underneath the ----is terrific to have as it makes things much better and the ----- is in good condition.  The ---- should be changed eventual so the oil stops leaking (something about an O ring) and the ----- is really clean, considering.  The way to change out the cable for the auxiliary battery is to ----- and then (with electrical tape) tie it onto the current wire and pull out through.  Seriously – I could go on for another 44 minutes; this is how much he knows.  Somewhere in there, he threw out what street he works off of and then later which road he lives on.  I was starting to get so self-conscious.  At one point he said I had dirt on my face and I laughed (not a husky sexy laugh either, but still) and said I was surprised it wasn’t all over my face.  Then I started wondering if I had something stuck in my teeth, but fortunately I hadn’t eaten lunch yet.   We talked about the engine and I mentioned how excited I was, learning all this stuff. He showed me exactly how to change the fan belt (which hadn’t been done during the tune-up) and how to clean the -----. He told me about the VW meet in the area (July) which I don’t want to miss and about a store in Sacramento.  I asked him for his number for when (not if) I had questions, and he gave it to me, though I think he seemed kind of surprised that I asked.  At one point,  we were under the car in the front as I gazed up at different parts and he told me not to be scared.  Oh, baby, you have no idea how terrified I am,  but my HEART is POUNDING!!!  What an incredible fear to have.  It is so fantastic to feel this again.  We went over the bus and the pain, the rust, the inside.  It was amazing as he is so knowledgeable about VW.  I thanked him for his help; he had taken a great deal of time out of his day to show and explain so many things to me. Then, as he rode off on his Ducati, I saw a second helmet in the back.  Damn it.  There hadn’t been a ring, though this means nothing as I wear a silver band and look at me.  There must be a someone in his life.  I went inside and bought the things he suggested (he is known here) and then headed back home, happier.

Once at home, I wanted to get right to he car, but I needed to walk the pups so we headed downtown.  I worked with then and heel a great deal and several people asked about Annie – the “beagle,”  I simply agree as I am getting so tired of explaining that she isn’t a beagle, has no beagle in her.  What difference does it really make?  She’s my dog.  They did exceptionally well with heeling – I’d drop their leashed and they’d adjust their walk to how quickly or slowly I was going.  At home I set up the halogen work lamp I had purchased last week, but it didn’t work, so OFF (again) to Home Depot to return it.  It makes a statement when an employee there whom I hadn’t even dealt with or spoken to earlier smiled at me and said “back again?”   Yep!  I returned something to Big Lots as well and then headed home.

A very late dinner was prepared and I headed outside to work on the bus.  It was about 9 by now.  I sat down ready to get my hands dirty again when I saw the size of the battery posts.  <Gulp…smile> Guess I’ll have to head back to Auto Zone tomorrow.  <big smile and heart flutter>

Pictures:  The sunset through my prayer flags; Look who I ran into?  Ethan flung him self on my windshield as I sat in the car at his dad's; My bus, sitting in the evening sun; Cloud duvet covers the town.