Year: 2018

Mmmm, Derby Pie

Today was the Annual Chocolate Festival at St. Mary’s Church which is used as a fund raiser for their school. There are fun and games for the kids, a small vendor area, a silent auction, a couple of spots for lunch, a bake sale, a used book sale and a plethora of chocolate goodies for consumption. As we do almost every year we dropped in for a brief visit to look at the used books, check out the silent auction and eat some chocolate based food stuffs.

We actually bought a few books this time after having not for the last couple of years because of becoming Kindlized. Donna picked 8 books to mail off the munchkins in Washington state for a quarter a piece and a couple of paperbacks for herself at a half a buck each (one of which she is reading by flashlight on the back porch as I write this.) I bought 5 for myself, so for eight bucks we came away with 16 books. Which is pretty good considering the 8 we got for our reading pleasure were “trade” paperbacks that retail for like $15-17 each.

We hit the bake sale where we spent a bit on some cupcakes and cookies before heading outside to buy some other chocolate goodies. Donna found some chocolate covered pretzels for herself and I snagged a slice of Derby Pie. We found a shady spot to sit and enjoy our treats. As I took my first forkful of pie and brought it up to my mouth I was bopped in the hands by a volley ball. I did manage to save the bite on the fork, but the rest of the container of pie hit the ground. Neither one of us saw it happen, but a ball somehow got loose from the octagonal corral where a couple of kids were hand batting it around. One of the older kids who was running the game was very apologetic, but the other one just hung her head. I brushed myself off and went back over and spent another 75¢ for a second slice. This time I kept my head up while eating.

Lost and Found

These two items have been sitting on the side of the computer desk since sometime in early June awaiting my blogging about them. Well, 4 months is about right for them to have ripened…

We bought the Mini in October of 2017 and for the first 5 months it received almost a monthly bath. It could probably wait a bit longer in between washings except aerodynamics and the vertical rear end ensures a very dirty back surface in short order. When we returned from our month long road trip in May I decided to do a deeper cleaning than the usual exterior wash and vacuum the mats.

Lost – While cleaning the backs of the leatherette front seats I felt a square shaped bump in the map pocket of the drivers seat. Turned out it was the jewel case for the BeeGees One Night Only CD. The case was empty and there wasn’t any CD in the car’s player when we bought it, so I guess the previous owner popped the disc out and forgot the case was behind the seat.

Found – I had remembered to make sure the spare tire, which is mounted under the car had a full load of air before the trip, but had never really checked to see if the jack, etc. that was needed to changed out a flat tire was complete. So while vacuuming the “trunk” area I pulled up the flat carpeted fiberboard that covers the tire changing tools. There is a jack, a lug wrench, a wrench to remove the spare, a couple other things required for the job and a square pack of what looks like folded white vinyl. It was unopened, I really didn’t want to open it, so I tried to look it up on the web, but there wasn’t any number or anything. I looked up the German words on the package, teile is parts and München is Munich, so no help. My best guess is it a drop cloth for put down on the ground when changing a flat so you don’t get dirty.

Happy Birthday Google

When I opened Chrome this morning right there on the new tab page was a Google Doodle that looked like those birthday cake candles in the shape of letters. When I opened a news page there was a note about today being Google’s 20th birthday. Well, now the the doodle make sense. But then I notice the image attached to the news bit and it looked nothing like the one I got. What the heck?

I opened a new tab and when I went to hit the play button on my Google Doodle, as my mouse reached the edge a title attribute box popped up with the phrase “Happy Birthday, Brian!” in it. What do you know, today is my birthday and Google knew it, so, cool or creepy or what the heck did I expect? Or more importantly, does there really need to be a comma after birthday and before my name?

Smile, There Are Cameras Everywhere


On Saturday’s return pass of the Gap, just a little after dawn, at around mile marker #5 we passed one of the ubiquitous photographers set up in one of the corners. As I went by I entered the corner too deep and crossed the white line. Knowing the photos wouldn’t be very good, I found the next pull-off so I could make a u-turn to make another portrait pass. I went through the corner a lot better this time, drove until the next pull-off for another u-turn. The third pass wasn’t for photos, it was because that was the way we need to be going.

Maybe a mile and a half further along towards the end of our return pass I surprised another photographer who was just setting up his awning. He quickly grabbed his camera and started shooting. I just made the one pass and continued on our way back to the hotel. I thought for sure he probably didn’t get a good look, plus I figured the first guy had enough chances to get a great shot of us already.

The first Dragon photographer had his vehicle wrapped with the company logo and name, 129Slayer.com, so I knew where to go to see those pictures. In the span of the 2 minutes it took me to make my 3 passes he snapped 42 exposures. I needed a Google search of “deals gap photographers” to find our second photographer, US129Photos, and our brief 20 second encounter with him netted just 6 exposures.

In the end, the best shot, came out of those 6 and is pictured above. I did also purchase 2 out of the 42 from 129Slayer too and they are below. It was a good thing I did go by him 3 times as both of the ones I bought came from the last pass.

Putting 67,000 Items in Moving Boxes

When we left Robbinsville this morning, instead of heading due south, we headed the other way towards the Gap. When we got to the Gap start point, instead of running through it, we just hung a hard left and turned onto NC28 south to enjoy that very windy road. For the first couple of miles it is as twisty as the Gap, but then the curves straighten out slightly to create a very entertaining drive along the north shore of the Cheoah Lake. NC28 to east on US74, a brief stint on the Blue Ridge Parkway, US276 and then US64 into Hendersonville.

We are headed home tomorrow after an overnight stop here first. My sister and her husband are moving from the Stricker Mountain Home to the new Stricker Golf Course Home a few miles away and we are going to help them get close to finished with the packing up. They close on the new house Wednesday and the quicker they can get moved into the new, the quicker they can get the old staged and for sale.

We were up a couple of weeks ago and spent two days with them packing most of the things from the kitchen, the craft room and the garage along with wrapping in plastic their seemingly 100s of framed prints. Today we helped them finish those rooms up and all that is left is really their clothes and their DVDs.

Somewhere along NC28 last night, between Deals Gap and Fontana Village, the CTBNL ran through the 67,000 mile mark.

Been There, Done That…

…Got the Dragon Sticker.

Hard to believe that it has taken over two years to get the CTBNL onto the Tail of the Dragon’s 318 turns in 11 miles, but it finally happened this morning. We applied our usual trick of an early start to get two full clean passes, both northbound and southbound, from the top of the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort.

Hot Lazy Cupholder

The other week, on one of the frequent trips to the north for bagels, we both noticed that the center console area of the CTBNL was hotter than normal. From past experience, I know that it is most likely caused by torn shift boots. Under the console are two rubber boots, one that closes the hole from the bottom of the car and one that closes the top of the transmission. I ordered them both from Jeff Bezos.

I’ve had the parts for a while now and yesterday I finally got around to replacing them. Much to my surprise the top boot was not ripped. This is the usual cause and because a torn bottom boot really has nothing to do with heat I was prepared to ship them both back for refunds. But I figured, as I was most of the way there, I’ll check the bottom one. It was ripped to pieces, so I changed it. It might have nothing to do with the extra heat in the cockpit, but the small boot does serve an essential purpose, to keep dirt and crap out of the transmission turret. Mazda hadn’t just put it there willy nilly.

Seeing as I still had half a roll of reflectix left over from my 2006 quest to reduce cockpit heat on the Emperor I thought now might be a good time to do the interior of the CTBNL. The console was out, so I went ahead and removed the two seats. I then pulled out a gazillion of those Christmas tree style fasteners holding the interior carpet in place. I peeled the carpet back and used the rest of the roll on the rear self, under both seats and around the transmission tunnel. I didn’t have enough to cover every square inch, but I hope what I did use helps a little bit.

In between my ordering the two boots and getting around to changing them, I received a second reason to pull the center console, the back cup holder lid wouldn’t snap closed. It closed, but might open from a slight graze of your arm or a sharp bump. I knew right away what the problem was because I had the same issue with the Emperor several years back. The tab that holds the bottom of the cup holder’s tension spring in place has broken off.

To fix it with the console out of the car, was a matter of removing the half dozen screws holding the cup holders to the underside of the console to free them up. The original fix from the Miata Net was drill a small hole to tie the bottom of the spring in place, but I have been using the Mark Booth method (found towards the bottom of this thread) of a washer and small screw into the boss. While I was there, I prophylactically applied the fix to the front cup holder.