Well, two days in a row? 😊
How are my lovelies? 😊
Evening Gratitude:
- I’m grateful that my hands and feet switched from being both crazy itchy and raw to just being raw. Last night as I was going to bed, they were absolutely miserably itchy, but today, pretty much all day, they’ve just been raw. So that’s really really nice! 🙂
- I’m grateful that I finally had a day where the jobs were all just reasonable. I did seven cars today, and none of them went sideways. That’s a nice change. 😊
- I’m grateful that whatever the toe issue was that I had appears to have finally turned the corner and basically healed. There’s some leftover evidence of issues, and the scab that has taken more than 3 weeks to heal is still there, but I don’t think my toes are swollen anymore for the first time in over a month. 🥳
- It’s been 3 or 4 days since I stopped taking my antacid medications, and funny enough, these last three or four days have been the best string of days I have had in quite a while. I still had a bit of heartburn today, but it actually felt more like normal heartburn instead of the craziness that I’ve been dealing with for the last three and a half months. Cross your fingers, I’m really hoping I’m turning a corner with this as well. 🤞
- I’m grateful that I’m able to help out my Hill family when they have broken cars. The first job I did today was for my niece and nephew-in-law who were a little stressed about having their car break down on them yesterday. Gratefully, I was able to swing by first thing this morning, diagnosed the car, and get it fixed very quickly.
- I’m grateful that my ugly beater van just keeps going and going.
- I’m grateful that my peter Vans gas mileage is better than I thought it was. When I filled up today, I did the calculations, and I’m basically getting about 13 miles to the gallon. That’s obviously not great, but that’s actually about the same as what my other van was getting, and this one is bigger and has a bigger engine. Too bad it’s so ugly that I have to send out disclaimers ahead of time to my customers. 🙃
- I’m grateful that the weather has been really beautiful. I think today was in the 60s. We’ve been bouncing all over the place, but it was absolutely beautiful today. I’d love it if we could have this weather all year round.
- I’m grateful for the people who have been giving me good reviews on Google and facebook. 😊
- I’m grateful that I have the willingness to write today despite being tired and pre-migraining.
First car of the day was a 2016 Honda Odyssey with a flashing check engine light, which of course means a dead misfire. It was a misfire on cylinder 3, and gratefully, it was just a coil pack that needed to be replaced. Greatly again, that particular motor was designed intelligently, so all six coil packs were accessible without having to remove the intake manifold. 🥳
Second car was one that had a clunking sound while driving. It was a Toyota highlander, 2012 I think. I wasn’t able to both do the things that needed to be done to make the sound and have my ears near where the sound was coming from at the same time, so I ended up driving over to Miguel’s shop, which gratefully was closed, and having one of Miguel’s mechanics well I was forcing the noise to happen. It took him all about 20 seconds to identify the problem, which was great for me. Definitely grateful for the assistance.
Third car was a girl who had a chirping belt and her radio wouldn’t work and neither would her trunk button. The chirping of the belt was because the crank pulley was wobbling, and the radio and trunk issues were just because they were a couple of blown fuses.
Unfortunately, car number four was one with some pretty major issues. It had zero compression on cylinders one and two, and very low compression on cylinders 3 and 4. Stinky for them. It was a 2014 Volkswagen Jetta that I think they didn’t realize they were burning oil in and ended up getting the oil so low that I think it damaged the timing chain and caused it to jump.
The fifth car was a 2014 Subaru outback that had one of The idler pulleys seize up. Fortunately, it didn’t damage the belt excessively, so I just put a new pulley on and kept the old belt.
Car number 6 was a 2012 Hyundai accent that was making a very slight creaking noise. Even with the lady out there helping me by doing the things that cause the sound to happen I still had a devil of a Time pinpointing the sound. I ended up figuring it out later without her there. I had to use braille as much as sound to figure out the problem, but eventually I traced it down to a partially seized sway bar link. 🥳
Last car was yet another Toyota tacoma. I’ve been working on a few of those the last few days. This one was a 2005, and they needed a new alternator. Gratefully, the store nearby had one, and grateful I was able to get it in without too much trouble. I finished up about 9:00 p.m., and I just got home about 10:30. It’s been a long day, and with me pre-migraining right now, I’m a little nauseated but I still have my taxes to do for the month of January. They are due by midnight tonight, so I’m going to eat some food and go get that done and then crash.
My love to all of you. 🥰
Love and hugs. 😊
Lift the World
~ stephen
Lift the World 