In the Genes and not in the Manual

Once upon a time when I was a wee lad I did something I shouldn't have and to this day I am reminded of it by my mother. It happened before my memory started kicking in so I must have been 4 or younger. I don't remember why I did it but it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. Much like the lamp incident, when my kids break stuff my mother tells this tale:

I stuck gum in the tape deck of the stereo. It took my father quite a while to clean it out but to his credit he got it to work again.

How does an incident that happened 30 odd years ago relate to something in the present day?

DaBoy stuck some change into the CD player of the car, moments before we left on a two hour drive to Aunty K's. I wasn't sure exactly what (or how much) he put into the slot at first but I did manage to get a dime out of the dust guard. The radio still worked until I tried to place a cd into the player. It made for a long ride out and back. When we got there I went to lock the car with the key fob and.... nothing... huh?

I did what any good engineer would do, I RTFM'd and pulled the radio our to retrieve the remaining change (2 quarters). So the manual says the radio/accessory fuse is #8 under the steering column. The only problem is that fuse wasn't blown and the power door locks wouldn't work with the car off. If the car was running the power door locks would work.

WTF?

Tonight I did some more poking around and checked all of fuses under the dash. None were blown. ???
I also noticed the dome light would not work when the doors were opened but did work when the switch was flipped???

To recap: The radio doesn't work at all, the power door locks work if the car is on but not off, and the dome light only works if the switch if set to ON, not when the doors open.

I then checked the logical fuses under the hood and.....nothing. So I checked the remaining fuses under the hood and found #9 was blown. A 10 amp fuse labeled "Backup" ??? Replace that one and all is well.

The moral of this story? My son is definitely my son and wiring in the Honda is not as it labeled.

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The Long Weekend - Part 2

Friday's oddities

These lug nuts can't be legal

The worst looking, Charlie Brown tree on the Pike

LFD's Fire Ducks

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The LONG Weekend - Part 1

Friday

In the never ending quest to entertain and wear out DaKids, I took the day off and we all went to the Boston Children's Museum. The day was filled with it's own adversity's.

First, on the way out there a semi loaded with flour overturned on the pike, delaying us for over an hour.

This delay meant that we were going to cut the time very close to the last train out of the commuter rail station for a while. So we beat feat and nearly made the train had the directions not sent us to the wrong side of the station! OK fine, we head over to a red line T stop sort of nearby.

Have I mentioned they love trains?

Once we finally got to South Station we had a quick bite to eat then wandered over to the Museum. DaKids loved the sights and sounds of the city but DaBoy has this fear of people and insisted to be carried all the way there. (ouch)

When we got there the sensory overload began. There was so much going on between the kids and activities, DaGirl bounced from room to room faster than a high bounce ball. They had a blast:

Knocking over the life-sized chess pieces.

Broadcast on TV!

Flying the "airplane"

Riding in the rocket

Driving the float

Driving the Bobcat

There was a ton more they did that I could not get pictures of since there was so many people and rude little kids getting in the way. Not to mention trying to keep up with our kids. There were three adults and two kids and we still managed to lose track of each child at least once. Exhausting!

Once we deemed the fun was over, we headed toward The Barking Crab for a proper lunch (more like early dinner) but not before a little peaceful view of the city.

Or not

Once at the restaurant DaBoy promptly fell asleep in Aunty K's lap.

And DaGirl was just an "angel" with an umbrella in her hair

Next stop, the Lexington Fire Department to visit Uncle A. for our own personalized tour of the station.
DaBoy was so excited he couldn't contain himself and DaGirl was a bit cranky when we got there (we had to wake her up when we got there) but she eventually warmed up and was just as excited to be there.

DaBoy thrilled behind the wheel of the ladder truck

DaBoy trying on Uncle A.'s "hat"

DaMom sporting the oversize bunker coat and hat

Boots nearly as large as DaBoy

Norman Rockwell moment

DaGirl eventually woke/warmed up

They loved the ambulance (yes that's his tongue hanging out)

DaGirl with the "hat"

And what could be a better way to end a private tour of a fire station?  All the trucks to leave on a call of course.

Out goes the Chief

Uncle A.'s drives the ladder truck away

All in all it was a blast of a day!
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Best retort of the day

My Boss: I forgot to tell you what orientation we need the output to be.
DaGoof: Ugh, really?
MB: Let's look at the model.
*Opening files*
 (after much discussion)
MB: Damn, it's V not H. Does that make you hate me?
DaGoof: It's a good thing Christmas is a long way off, you've got a lot of reparations to make if you want to get a card from me.

Sim City meets plumbers nightmare - and it needs to change, again.

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Don't Mess....Part 2

In response to Don't Mess with OUR 'Hood I found this in the town paper:

10:25 p.m. – Police received a call
about mailbox vandalism on F____ St.
Through an investigation, police learned
four youths were horsing around near
the box, causing it to collapse. The damage
to the box was unintentional. The
youth who caused the box to fall
obtained a new mailbox for the resident
and no charges were filed.

A couple of things bother me about this; 1.) that mail box had been up all winter long. On this street a "snow deflector" is required or you have to pick your mailbox up after every storm (think large highway plows on rural streets @ 40mph) and a little nudge knocked it off?. 2.) "Horsing around", "unintentional" ...and left the mailbox in the middle of the road? Not cool. 3.) "No charges were filed"..... I hope they got the stuff scared out of them because we are far to lenient on our kids. Sure, no one wants to see "their" kid in shackles but if there are not proper consequences for actions what is to keep them from vandalizing again and again?
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"That Was My Idea....."

Now that I have received this message on the worst work week known to mankind, I'll re-post it.

Honest message, eh?
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How to Spend a Sunday Evening

DaMom has been "requesting" some new raised beds for the garden after the old ones imploded shortly after DaGirl was born. The old ones were cedar and worked well until we stopped keeping up with the garden and the weeds in and around the boxes held moisture close to the boards and "enhanced" the rotting process......and maybe, just maybe I may have run into a few with the lawn mower while trying to clear said weeds.

DaMom had been requesting new plastic raised beds as a Mother's Day gift. I had made two 4 x 12 foot boxes from plastic decking several years ago to supplement the 8 older wooden ones (did I mention it's a big garden?). She had been struggling all day to find a relative that would watch DaKids so we could go and get the plastic decking material.

As it turned out DaGirl and I ended up taking the Element and the trailer to a couple home centers to acquire the appropriate material. The first only had a back relieved, dark brown plank that wouldn't match the existing gray plastic boxes and might not work well turned on it's side. The next stop had the right stuff and $220 later we had the stuff for two 6 x 6 and two 4 x 12 boxes.

We got the napless children into bed and asleep by 7:45 so then I finally got out to start cutting. An hour and fifteen minutes later I had all the long lengths cut, the Upright/Corner Blocks cut & split, and the half of the uprights installed. I would have continued but the cordless drill battery had had enough.

Yup it's Dark at 9pm

Material Cut to Length

Upright/Corner Block Installation

Hopefully I can get the remainder attached before the weekend.
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