Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas Everybody

Christmas Tree
My family's Christmas tree.


Tuesday, December 25, 2007 

Category: Life

Sunday, December 16, 2007

Off with its hood!


I acquired some replacement parts from a local auto salvage operation, a.k.a. junkyard. Your object should be to not have parts in a junk yard be in better shape than the parts bolted to your car. That is not the case for my Intrepid currently, however. I had to partially remove the hood liner to disconnect the windshield wiper nozzles.


As the Red Queen says, "Off with its hood!" Or something like that. My car looks better now? Right now there's only one obviously damaged body part visible (the front left fender), where before there were five (the fender, the hood, the bumper cover, the headlight, and the cross member).


Again, to have your hood resting comfortably on the side of your car is probably not the best. Your car maintenance tools should probably not include a vise grip (even it's a great tool) and a hammer, either. To get the replacement hood on the car, I had to bend the mangled fender out of the way with the vise grip and bang away on it with the hammer some. I forgot to take a picture of the replacement hood in place, so that will have to wait for another day.


Your trunk should probably not have in it so many parts that belong on the front of the car. Mine does. In this picture you can see: the right (original) and left (replacement) headlamps; the radiator cooling fans; some pieces from the original hood, like the liner and the windshield washer nozzles and tubes; the old crossmember (it's almost all hidden though); and the replacement fender. The fender is going to be a bit difficult to replace. So far I have had pretty good luck with the repair. Hopefully that will continue.


Sunday, December 16, 2007 

Category: Life

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Car repair on the web


I just wanted to mention that my recent blog about my Dodge Intrepid is not the first car repair I have documented on the web. Heh. It's not even the first about a Dodge. I am almost certain that distinction belongs to the page below that I created on tripod.com circa 2003 and from which the above picture is taken. It documents a repair I made to the window regulator on a 1993 Dodge Dynasty (not my car). And that is not the first window repair I ever did--I fixed the window on my 1987 Pontiac Grand Am. Sadly, I do not think I have any pictures of that door torn apart. That window had a hand crank. You know, the motor on one of my windows in my Intrepid failed, too, but that was under warranty so I didn't have to fix that one! As a bonus for Hood alumni, the page below has pictures of the car parked in no less than three different parking lots at Hood. See if you can identify them . . . .

http://93_dodge_dynasty.tripod.com/regulator/
Warning: tripod.com has pop-up ads!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007 

Category: Life

Monday, December 10, 2007

Smoke from house fire


I went to have lunch with my friend Dan at Cici's the day before yesterday, a.k.a. Saturday. While we were paying for lunch, a cashier pointed out the window at some smoke. When it started coming up again a second time, I went out to my car, got my camera, and took this picture. Dan and I tried to find what it was but couldn't, although we were close. I found out from the Herald-Mail that it was a house at 17521 York Road in Halfway. According to the fireman they spoke to, the fire probably started in a laundry room and spread to the second floor of the house. It's too bad the house burned down, but at least nobody was hurt.

P.S.: Once again, the dark smudge was not present in real life. I just got the camera back from warranty repair for the same problem. Hopefully it was dirt on the lens this time. We'll see.


Monday, December 10, 2007 

Category: Life