Sunday - the Update

Our ahem, friends at AccuHunch have been guessing for a week that yesterday would have a rain/snow mix. Didn't happen. I doubt anyone is upset, other than at the lack of anything resembling accuracy.

Today is more gloomy, with a grey overcast, falling pressure, and a forecast including a 60% chance of showers. When things start getting wet, we'll believe them.

Our schedule today is slower than yesterday's ... we slept in (not really a choice; it just happened). Morning coffee and a perusal of the Sunday paper, followed by a trip to Sears for utility shelves for the garage.

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Speaking of the paper, it has abandoned even its pretense at journalist integrity, by joining the suit demanding Joe Miller's employment records from the North Star Borough. The dog-pile continues to grow, as the Murkowski-ites try frantically to convince us that he's the one without integrity.

Hey, Lisa, you remember that concession speech you made when you lost the primary election? You might want to go back and re-read the part about what's best for Alaska, and all that. Your desperation to hang on the power & prestige are exactly why the majority of Republicans voted against you.

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I mentioned a few days back that two of our car door latches were being uncooperative. Fixing the driver's door on the car was a piece of cake, since it didn't want to latch, once opened. We simply sprayed the thing with lithium grease until it stopped being uncooperative.

The tailgate on my SUV was another story: it wouldn't open. I crawled inside, this morning, with the idea of removing the interior panel & working with the mechanism ... only not so much. All of the fasteners holding the panel in place are accessible only when the door is open. (There are times when circumstances sorely test my Christian resolve not to curse. I am only human, you know.)

However, there is a 5/8" wide opening at the bottom edge of the door, inside, just below the edge of the floor. This enabled me to snake the little red extension from the spray valve into the opening where the parts are supposed to move. I sprayed ... well, quite a bit of grease into that opening, and moved the nozzle around as much as I could.

I waited a few minutes & tried to open the door from inside the truck, by reaching out through the window & turning the exterior handle. (Have I mentioned there is no way to open the tailgate or window from the inside? Apparently, not one of Ford's better ideas.)

Nothing happened, so I finally called it quits and buttoned everything back up.

After putting away the tools & grease, I went back to the tailgate one last time and gave a tentative turn of the handle. Voila! it popped right open. There was quite a puddle of grease around the D-ring on the floor of the opening, which took several paper towels to mop up. But while the gate was up, I sprayed quite a bit more on the mechanism's moving parts, focusing especially on the hinged bits. I doubt we'll have any more difficult with said latch, this winter.

After that, we assembled the utility shelves & called it a morning. Youngest Daughter has brought us her copy of "How to Train Your Dragon", which we'll watch after lunch.

The only other task is to pack my bag - I'm flying to Missouri on Wednesday to visit with my dad for a few days.