Vincent The Dragon

I should be setting in the chair getting my treatment...but no...I got turned away because apparently Anthem, the insurance company has decided thats its too expensive there despite being on their Preferred Provider list. No one can give me a solution today because everybody is out for the holiday. well, it sure was fucking nice of them to make this decision then go off on holiday.

I did get a letter stating that for NEXT year I am denied and have to drive 4 hours round trip to get the stuff...which is NOT a solution unless they provide me with a driver. I can't do anything about it right now because that denial is for a plan I will not have next year as I'll be going on Williams group policy from work ...but they have not gotten their shit together and issues cards or policy numbers..oh, and it's also Anthem...

The medical system in this country is a broken mess and its managed by total morons

Our early presents to ourselves
Woot!

This be Meouth the one eye kitty.

She is doing okay.
She is home and setup in my office here with Prince to be around and will have the terror, i mean Shadow the kitten in the rest of the house so he is NOT around her until things calm down.
The Vet aides said she was a sweet kitty and purry.
Meouth is a senior cat but she's worth the effort.
She needs to gain a little weight though.

this is not my video

but it's relevant.
Right now one of ours is laying on the kitchen table.
Meouth is old and has been loosing weight.
Today I found her eye that she has always had problem with seemingly coming apart. It's a bloody mess, Vet will be called first thing when they open.

okay so...power steering in the truck exploded....still under its little warranty from the car place so they fixed it.

water pump exploded a week later....i noticed it was starting to leak a good bit and the shaft was wobbly while I was doing an oil change but we could not get it into the shop before it blew up...but it's still under warranty so they towed it and fixed it.

I feel like crap today but i am trying to get things done...leaving Monday to be in Kennesaw for a week doing a training class for work.

October 28th
Vincent and William got married !

The ceremony went well, the church and decorations we put together looked great.
Me and mom were up until 2am the night before working on the cake, which was fun and brought back memories.

I'll have some better pictures soon!

This is shadow.
Mewling from the woods.
He's not a stray and while it's possible he somehow got separated from his family, it's more likely he is a drop off.
He's in good health other than a cold in nose so to speak. He has obviously been inside a house and around people.

so far Meouth is okay with him and Prince is standoffish and a little hissy but is okay with the guy in the same room.
Letting them find each other by them selves and not pushing them together but it's a small house.

We have 2.5 weeks until the wedding so the little guy is going to have to make due until its over before he gets shots and something for his cold.
Being a small house having just the 2 cats was just fine by me but we can't say no to someone in need.

After standing around Walmart for several hours to get very much needed tires for my car I went home to check on Williams car, because he mentioned the power steering was whining. While we have been doing pretty good with money right now since Williams job is paying pretty good, the tires used up all my cushion....Will's car is out of steering fluid, like bone dry so a little investigating and sure enough, one of the lines has rusted through and is shot. Trip to auto store and like $200 in parts later I get to figure out how to replace these things. The $200 ate all of Williams cushion as well....It's now 9pm, i have not eaten. I think it may be fixed but i don't know. Extremely frustrating job as cars are horrible to work on now a days, everything is in the way, you cant reach anything and serviceability was the last thing on their mind. First time i fired it up after the replacement it promptly blew out all the fluid. One of the seals on the steering gear fell out as i was inserting the hose. Hour and a half later and its back on but i don't know if its sealed or working due to being out of fluid.

Wow...was that a job.
I have gotten pretty good at removing the intake and various parts that gain access to the drivers side of the car but this...this makes you want to strangle and entire office of engineers. Car is up and running ans all is well but the shear number of hours it took me.

Next time I will have to have someone help, the special tools i picked up Reeally helped. One day when we win the lottery, i'll have a kickass shop with a lift and a proper set of impact tools.

Alright, I have everything I need to replace my timing belt thats 30k miles past its due date.
Going to kick this off this weekend, who wants to help?

nice cat bed...

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Do NOT stare directly into the cute.
...
..
.
I warned you.
Presents from Wuf

So...after a bunch of driving around and not seeing anything worth having or outside of our price range...we had to go back into the buy-here-pay-here thing.
but, we found this
Its a 2004 Chevy trailblazer 4x4
Interior is good, nothing seems dented or busted, no leaks, 110,000 miles.
Bose sound package, Onstar, Navigation system (still seems to be active), DVD player and screen.
In the glove box is what looks to be a complete service history...and it was cheaper than I would have expected at the lot we got it from but they did not have it long.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that we got a good one.

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So had to buy the starter($105), put it on on Tuesday. Car boiling over...took radiator out and rinsed the crap out of it Wednesday, seems still clogged and car still overheats.
Bought radiator and thermostat Friday($160) and have been putting it in today. Car seems to run very cool now and no leaks....

You know that part earlier where I said I can't catch a break?
...
So my car is not wanting to start, you have to push start it about 50% of the time.
Something you can only do with a manual transmission by the way, so that odd third pedal has another use.
The car is also starting to overheat and is 30,000 miles past do to have the timing belt replaced.

The starter is not so bad, should run me $100 for the part and I can do that myself.

timing belt is a different matter... timing belt kit with water pump, radiator hoses, radiator cap, serpentine belts, new coolant, new refrigerant and PAG oil ...should run me about $300 in parts ....oh..and.

Thats how to replace it....

This is a project I have been putting off until I could afford it, i had a backup vehicle, i had vacation time, i had help...I am going to need help with this one.