Being Busy On A Lazy Sunday...

 Yesterday,  The bottom bolt on my front brake Caliper Bracket fell out!   Just fell out... boom!  Gone.   How?  Why?   Well, I did go down a dirt road on our way to Stringtown yesterday.  But I did the brakes about a month ago and have had no problems.  I even torqued them to the proper spec!  At least I did for the Passenger side...  Hmm, Maybe I forgot to do it on the driver side.  

No matter!   We were stuck!  Brakes locked up and we were parked near the Cheese factory near Kalona.  Afer removing the tire, figuring out the problem, and realizing NAPA in Kalona closes at 3 P.M.  I was off on my bike.. IN the rain!  To score a bolt and 17 mm wrench.   It was 4.5 miles to the store, but Cheryl says it did not seem to take me very long.   After replacing the bolt, tightening it as tight as I could...  We were back home in less and an hour.   It was almost like it never happened. 

But...  Things bother you when events like this happen. ( You know.. Who wants to be stranded alongside the road???)   So today, I removed the two driver's side tires and inspected the brakes again.   This time I torqued them down to spec as best I could and even inspected the rear brakes that I did last year.   Everything looks good.   The funny noise we were hearing from the rear might have been just loose or dirty parts.   After taking everything apart and inspecting stuff,  I probably fixed it just by cleaning the brakes.    

Last Wednesday,  we took the Subie to the Local Mechanic and he said that there was rust building up on the parking brake, causing a "rubbing sound" that was bothering us. He filed it down and removed the parking brake permanently ( it was not working anyway...) so now the only sound is coming from the unevenly worn tires.  

While I was at it,  I changed out the blower motor for the defrost and heater.  I have done this before with Misty Dawn and Hello Kitty Subaru, as both of their blowers needed replacing in the past.  Blower's are just electric motors that wear out, just like my old Dremel tools.  ( the brushes wear out in them. )  They are fairly inexpensive, and just three screws hold them in place.   Easy!  ( Though, you do have to remove the glove box, and unplug everything... ) I get to do this all over again when the replacement cabin air filters arrive next week.   Good times! 

A bunch of little stuff I have neglected to blog about over the last week.   Kind of boring. 

But today!   We discovered GOLDEN OYSTER MUSHROOMS are out and about!  We scored a decent amount and are currently drying them. Good thing too, because we were completely out of Oyster mushrooms.   Cheryl wanted some for Pizza, but I "apparently" ate them all in my soups this winter. Opps.   

No matter!   Now that they are showing up, we will be able to gather them all Summer long... when we can find them.  Several of the bunches were too old to harvest,  so we are actually a little late.   The ones we managed to harvest were HUGE!  Usually we harvest them well before they get this big.   Cheryl cuts to caps off because the stems are a bit tough.  I personally like the chewy stems... just a little.   Too much stem will be like chewing leather.
As for ID'ing the other "non-edible" mushrooms I found two days ago,  they spoiled before I could properly key them out.   I do have the spore prints though, so I may still fire up the Microscope for some "Microscopic fun!"   

And that is about all for me today.  After a 10 mile run/bike,  Subie repair and maintenance, and Mushroom harvest and processing,  I'm ready to take it easy. 

Cheryl and Hiro look up new baking recipes.

I don't know how I used to work a 10 hour day, six days a week, scooping 20-30 lbs of fish for a living.  Oh, to be young again.   

But for now, I will play the "old man card" and sit back and tell stories to my blog.  So I can reread them in the future when my mind begins to go... (Hopefully not for a very long time.)  Thanks for stopping in .