Hi guys!

Had to take notes again! Here goes...

Hal- Did you go see that car yet?

Gem- How cool about your 1st cute little car! I was only allowed to drive land yachts!

TNMM- I have looked and looked at that Classic Mini picture and I can't figure out what is wrong with it. Please tell me so I can sleep tonight!
And congrats on your grad!

MINIxB- It WAS slow... better start posting more!

RG- Sorry about Viola. Reminds me... I need to find a PDR guy/girl too.

Cab-Happy Anniversary!
And BTW- the husband is NOT neat and clean in the car. Confused? Me too! He drives the BMW to and from work and there's spilled coffee and various food remnants and crap scattered about. The arm rests and handles are dirty too. Apparently when we take road trips his panties get all bunched up or something.

GKR- Diverse? Whatchoo talkin' about?

I kinda wanna go on a road trip.

 

Unfortunately I just haven't been able to find the time to drive up there and look at it. I have a major honeydoo project; we're adding a deck to the back of the house. There's currently a concrete pad out there. Deck is 12 by 24 feet that will have a roof over it. We'll also screen it in so we can let the cats out there so they can get some change of scenery.

Plus I've got the never ending task of mowing and trimming.

 

Unfortunately it'd probably take a whole lot more than 2-3 thousand to fix up that car. You'd have to buy new interior, new wheels/tires, paint it, and who know what else. It might not even come with a wiring harness and that'd be a pain in to boot to install just by itself. Not very good car for a first time Mini unless you've restored a car from the ground up before...

 

Happy Friday Freebs!!

 

Haven't met Hal, haveya? He's a quiet gearhead! He AND the missus can talk the talk!

 

Greetings all. It has been awhile for me. I have spent the last few evenings catching up on the latest in this thread. Wow, I truly got behind.

I have been going nuts in doing spring cleaning, about 20 years worth! I am going through every closet and getting rid of items that have not seen the light of day in years. (Must be a full moon or something.) Salvation Army and the library must think someone died and the house is being cleaned out. I have sent at least four car loads so far and still have more to go. Perhaps because I have seen that show with the two British ladies that go into houses that are totally awful I snagged the cleaning bug.

Speaking of bugs, I just picked up my bug from the VW Doctor last weekend, he had to have some clutch work done. Driving around with only one gear pretty much sucks. He is all better now and back on the road.

My sister's Coop had a bit of an accident. Well actually it was our Father that caused the accident. We have a work bench in our garage and we had some shelves stacked on it waiting installation. Father dear decided to hammer on the work bench with the shelves stacked on it and with the MINI sitting in the garage next to the work bench, oh about 10 inches away. I think you can already see a picture developing. As he hammered, the shelves began "walking" across the work bench. Oh yes, they toppled and hit her MINI. Nice 10" long dent near the gas cap with four distinct deeper dents along the way. She of course was in LA. Needless to say, I was heading down there too for the weekend and was the lucky one to have to give her the news. I took pictures and figured it would be safer to break the news to her while she was out of town and could not get at Dad's neck.

Anyway, long story short, he purchased one of those Billy Mayes "as seen on TV" kits and while we were both out of town proceeded to "hot glue" the device onto the side of her car and pull most of the dents out. It is not too bad but we will have the dealership finish up his handy work when we go back down in July for some warranty work on her seat. The handle on the back of the seat that makes it tilt forward broke on the drivers side about 2 months after she bought the car. That side of the backseat is pretty much worthless since you cannot get to it from the driver's side.

Coop is tramatized but Dad is still alive. We have told him that he gets shot the next time we catch him near the work bench with the cars still in the garage. With a jury of MINI Cooper owners we are home free with no prison time!

 

YAY!!!! It's Kikimowse!!! Welcome "home!"

 

Evening Freebies, happy WEEKEND everyone.
TN congrats on your son!!! woo hoo
KIKI welcome back! And yes I would be 1 of 12 jury members... :lol:
X you have some pretty awesome smilies I have never seen before!
Hal good luck with that honey do list! sounds like quite a project!

Ok so I have decided to "show" Nugget at a local British car club. I think this will be very fun to do just once to say i did it... Next Saturday I will be with 12 other local MINI/Mini's to show off our MINI's. I spent last weekend polishing up the car and vacuuming the interior and making Nug sparkle. I am excited until hubby read the fine print and said the boot and the bonnet need to be open for the judging...:eek2: holy crap how do you wash an engine????
X -I need your help - I'm sure in boot camp they taught you how to clean things with toothbrushes, well what are you doing this weekend? come on up!
Cab - if you are available I will pay you to vote for Nug! How about a bottle of pop? :lol: sorry. Oh did you get the email that Holly got her baby today!!! I bet she is out driving tonight.
Ok so tomorrow moring I will be out side cleaning an engine, anyone one welcome!
RG good luck with the repair!

Hope I didn't miss anyone.... if I did sorry...

 

Gem, you are so funny. (I didn't have to go to "boot camp" - us "ossifers" don't do it quite the same way enlisted do...although I CAN tell you a thing or two about cleaning stuff with dental tools. ) Just do the engine first - so that none of the spray gets all over the rest of the car - do a heavy duty pressure sprayer like in a do-it-yourself carwash.

 

Uhm,,,, ---Gem??? Don't make me come over there and slap you,,,, LOL


And I am having a serious problem this week,,, I miss my diet pop in the worst way ever...!!! Arrgh!!

I sent you a PM,,, doubtful we will make it next week....soooorrreeee!

 

KEEP THE FAITH, CAB, KEEP THE FAITH!!!! Hang in there! You can do it...just think of how GOOD it will feel not to have migraines!!!

 

Sorry X, I didn't know you did not do the boot camp thing. I thought everyone had to.
So please explain the difference, I understand enlisted enroll and do boot camp but how do you enroll as an officer? hum, inquirer minds....

Thanks for the engine advice, hubby bought some degreaser and today we will be pulling out the pressure washer! You were right on the money!!! thanks

 

No problem about making it, will miss you but hey who wants to invite someone to get slapped?

seriously, about the diet pop, remember I smoke, so I understand what you are going through and wish I could be of help, but I've quit about 4 times in my live and still go back. So the best I can say is hope you are well. Lame I know but remember the migraines!

 

I'd be very careful about using a pressure washer in the engine compartment area. The extra pressure can push water into components, especially the electrical/electronics of the engine. It could result in damaged and/or a non-starting or non-running engine. Please be careful!

 

Thanks Hal, I will check with him on his plan when we get started.... He is an electrician by trade, so could be my misunderstanding!!!
*Must learn stuff* I say to myself...

 

That's ok, kiddo - not many people realize there's a difference. Enlisted personnel go to "boot camp" or "basic training." We have a number of places for basic training, but the Marines have two: Parris Island (which is supposed to be the hardest) and somewhere on the west coast (Pendleton?) Anyway...then they go on to their Advanced Individual Training (AIT) where they learn the skill set they were recruited for, for instance Cook training, heavy wheeled vehicle mechanic training, infantry, etc. Their next step is their very first unit.

Officers are a little different. We have three commissioning sources: ROTC (Reserve officers Training Corps), West Point, and OCS (Officer Candidate School.) ROTC "cadets" go through an "advanced camp" during their junior year of college, which is SUPPOSED to be a culmination/final "test" of what they've learned in weekly ROTC training. West Point is a military college academy, so they get "training" "daily" supposedly. OCS "candidates" are either enlisted personnel who have been accepted into the officer program, or already-college graduates who can't do ROTC but want to be officers. The OCS guys have to have basic training, then they go to OCS training, then they're "ready" for their skill schooling (infantry, quartermaster, armor, etc.) We've got issues with standards of training in each of these sources, so they've instituted some stupid extra training (called BOLC) all junor officers now have to do on top of this, or their West Point training, or the OCS training - I won't go into it, gets me pissed off.

ANYWAY...technically, all of us go through some kind of rigorous "camp" like training, but it's not what most people think of as "boot camp."

OHHHHKAY!!!! Now that we're all thoroughly bored.... My bonnet won't open! I was detailing it last weekend and had no issues cleaning the engine compartment. I had to move the car, so shut the bonnet, and when I pulled the lever, i heard a louder-than-normal CA-CHUNK, and the lever just hangs there while the bonnet doesn't open. Anybody know how to pop the bonnet without the lever???

 

Oh crud X, your bonnet won't open?! That sucks. 'scuse my french, but that's a real bummer. Sounds like the cable snapped... sounds like a trip to your SA...

Sorry I've been quiet- been playing in the dirt now that the kiddos are out of school. My son, who's 9, goes to a school for kids with learning differences- It's a great school and has really helped my son overcome some issues... but the "awards and graduation" ceremony goes on forever... they have to praise all the kids for at least something. My daughter, wisely, took her nintendo ds (she's 9 as well, I have twins) because she knew it was going to be 2.5hours of <yawn> "little billy is always so nice to the spiders in the stairwell, so this year, Little billy is receiving the arachnopobic denial support award, which means, blah blah blah blah blah"

It was nice, yesterday morning, everyone let me SLEEP. woo hoo!

Ok, gotta get back in the swing (or back to the shovel). I'm heading out of town on Wednesday, leaving the kiddos with the hubband, while I fly up to Maine to open the family house up there. It will be interesting to see what the Maine woods have tried to do to the house (a converted 1740's barn... no insulation, no heat) I keep having dreams that a bear is living in the woods. Since I've seen porcupines, and Mom has seen moose, it's not a far cry to think a bear might be out there...
As long as it doesn't eat my Lobster we're fine
Sorry for the ramble, coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

 

THat's the rub - I can still see the cable attached to the lever...so if it snapped, it's on the other end. This isn't the first time this has happened - last time the dealer-service people did it. That is a deceptively THIN little cable, by the way! Unfortunately, the dealer is 40-50 minutes away, and doesn't open on Saturdays so I have to get off of work to do it. Grrrr...

Hee hee hee hee!!! That's funny. Nice for the kids, but funny.

Ooooooh, I hope you have a safe trip - and check all the beds, all the chairs, and all the porridge first thing, Mizz Goldilocks! Oh, YEAH, and have an extra lobstah for me please!!

 

Oh Puullease bring me back some fresh lobstah. I'm drooling on my keyboard.

I'll trade you some fine BBQ for it. Ribs, pulled pork, chicken; your choice.

 

X- thanks for the explaination! Interesting, not boring at all!

Is someone talking Lobsters??????? HUM, can i get in on this too?

 

X... what in the world have you done to yourself? I just read on one of the other threads that your hip flexer is all catywhumpus?

Talk to us dahlin' ... we can *heal* you! <may even throw in a few *out Jezebel's* for good measure>

 

I don't know what I've done this time. I just woke up Friday in pain like I've only had twice before - both times when I ripped my hip flexor muscle. Of course, having gone through this twice (with the threat of not being able to walk again if i did it a third time) I freaked out. I spent 3hrs in a (civilian) clinic Friday afternoon, winning myself an inconclusive x-ray (setting the stage for getting an MRI) plus super-dooper Naproxin (which generally doesn't do much for me) AND some vicodin. I really did try to stay off of it this weekend and it's not AS BAD as it was Friday, but it's not feelin' great. HOpefully it's just a pinched nerve.

 

I was thinking like $6-8k. But I haven't met Hal either... .

 

Looks like it's been kinda slow in here!

So UhOh- did you go to West Point??? Thanks for explaining the difference... I didn't know either. And BTW- what the hell are you doing that keeps causing you to rip hip flexors???

TNMM- When are you leaving for Maine? I'd love to see some pics of your barn house! I don't want any lobstah... don't like it. Imagine that... a "Mainer" that doesn't like LOBSTAH! Yeah, most people don't understand. But maybe you could send some "Red Barn Chicken" to me? mmmmm Here's the link: http://www.lobstersretail.com/restau...barn/index.htm

I don't know why it shows up in the "lobsters retail" but it does. This is where I HAVE to go everytime I go up there. I saw that they have a cheesy commercial... never knew that before... but the chicken is good.

Hey Cab- be good to yourself! Let yourself have ONE diet "pop" per day and wean from there. This cold turkey stuff is kinda too much. Everything in moderation, right? I used to have 5 or 6 per day but now I usually have one per day or every other day. Now I mostly drink Propel all the time.


And I don't know why I'm putting this smiley here... all I know is that I LIKE it!

Oh yeah, hey KIKI! Been awhile.

 

Hi everyone. I had to come into work early today to find out that all I have to do is make a couple plates (couple hours work..) and then I have nothing else to do for the rest of the day. I don't see why they called me in early if I have the my entire regular shift to do this stuff... (Although, one good thing about it is I asked my boss and he's letting me get off work early..)